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Heretic --- Morbid Angel --- 2003 (Earache)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...el_Heretic.jpg Yeah, I'm tapping into all The Batlord's favourites for this little excusion into death metal, aren't I? His Batship raves on about these guys being "bitchin'", which I can only assume means I'm probably going to hate them, but then, this is all about pushing boundaries so let's have a shot. As most of the albums I've listened to up to now seem for reasons best left undisclosed to have been recorded in the nineties, I wanted to take something a bit more recent, a little more contemporary, and so this is Morbid Angels' seventh and most recent-album-but one to be released. I'm a little worried to see that there are fourteen tracks on this, even moreso as the opener, "Cleansed in pestilence (Sword of Elohim)" goes right for the throat with a massive metal assault on the guitar. But that's nothing compared to the vocals of Steve Tucker, who makes Chuck Schuldiner sound like an operatic soprano! THIS is the kind of vocal I absolutely LOATHE! I can't make out a word. Not one. It's all just growling. And the music doesn't really appeal either; way too fast and not at all technical, though I'm told Trez Azagthoth is considered the most technical guitarists in death met --- oh hold on. That was a pretty fine solo. Hmm. Okay, well to be fair I'm basing my initial and immediate dislike of this band on one track, so far, and there are (God preserve my soul!) thirteen more to go, so let's see if my opinion changes as the album progresses. I do have to say it's a very short sigh of relief though when the opener ends, and then "Enshrined by grace" is a slower, doomier sound with some heavy, hevay drumming and grinding basswork, and a churning, snarling guitar with a whole minute before I'm subjected to Tucker's gutteral growl again. Jesus! The guy could be singing his shopping list for all I know ---- Chainsaw, duck tape, rope, bodybag, bottle of milk --- it's just impossible to figure out what he's singing. A great solo from Azagthoth lends the song a semblance of class, even if it comes across as a little indulgent, but other than that I have nothing good to say about this track. The third one is more of the same, and I really don't see any miraculous transformation about to happen here that will change my mind about this band. Problem is, everything's heavy which is fine, but to these ears it's all fairly similar and apart from the odd decent guitar solo I can't pick out anything I really like or can talk about. I know, Batlord: go do something useful, girl, like clean your makeup brushes or hang your knickers up to dry! Yeah well, you know, as I say this just is not my thing, okay? Deep breath then: let's try to review this properly. If we can. We're now up to "Praise the strength", which I sigh to see is over five minutes long. Okay, here's a good solo from Azagthoth but it's only short, and the blinding guitar and drum assault resumes, trying to bludgeon me into submission and take advantage of me while I'm down. It can, cos I have no defence against this. If I wasn't reviewing it for the journal I would have turned this off long ago, about three seconds into track one. There's another great solo to end and then we hit "Stricken arise", the first song to feature a writing contribution from drummer Pete Sandoval --- hey, I'm trying to write something interesting here --- with the previous all having been penned by Tucker and Azagthoth. Nah, don't see any difference in this one. Loud, crashing, manic drumming, pounding, churning guitar and a ragged, growly vocal. Same as everything else on the album to this point. Well, interesting drum solo, if you can call it that. Then, just when you think it's (blessedly) over, it picks up again for the final minute with screeching guitar, hammer drumming and a scream from Tucker. The next two tracks are both written by the axeman on his own, and "Place of many deaths" has some interesting effects in it at the start, sounds of voices crying and laughing, doomy drumbeats, a sort of high-pitched feedback on the guitar. At least this is different. Is it an instrumental? Well, at just over four minutes I would have said no, but we're now into the second and there has been no appearance from Tucker yet. Perhaps he's gone to have a flesh sandwich and a glass of blood --- newborn, of course! Yeah, we're heading into minute three and it's still just music, so that's definitely a plus. Seems like it is an instrumental. Not half bad if a little confused. The next one is much shorter, minute and a half, and it's called "Abyssous". This is definitely an instrumental, almost laidback by Morbid Angel's standards --- hell, almost a ballad! And then we're back to it, as Steve Tucker carves the last slice from their roasted human captive, drains his human skull goblet and picks up the mike to launch into "God of our own divinity", at which point I almost wet my knickers, seeing this is over six minutes long! Oh dear lord no! It's back to mach 2 drumming, pulsating axework and that voice, but at least we're getting near the end, with only five tracks to go. Less than twenty minutes and I can put this behind me forever. But what's this? A rather nice, almost but not quite introspective guitar piece? I had never expected to use that word in the same sentence as death metal, and certainly, given what I've heard of them to date, with Morbid Angel! But it takes off then into a soaring metal solo, which I have no problem with, and the longer it goes on the less I have to hear Tucker's --- oh. He's back again. How long to go now? Just over a minute. Okay. Next up is "Within thy enemy" (should that not be "thine"?) and Tucker doesn't give us a second's respite, growling like a wounded beast all over the first few seconds and then taking control of the track. Decent rhythm to it, and I have to admit to surprise to see my fingers tapping to it, but this ain't finding its way onto my ipod any time soon: it'd massacre all my poor Marillon and Arena albums, and kick the crap out of Rod Stewart, then blame it on Stratovarius! At least the last few tracks are all around the three minute mark, and as Tucker snarls the ending to this one an acoustic guitar and piano (???) open "Memories of the past", the first of three tracks penned solo by Sandoval, and on which he plays the piano and keyboards. Piano? Keyboards? Did I read that right? Maybe there's some small shred of hope for Morbid Angel to win me over after all... I very much like this. With a sort of Russian feel to it this instrumental track is stark and lonely, sad and despairing but something I can listen to. Finally. If all his compositions are like this then the ending of this album could be a big surprise indeed. Well, "Victorious march of reign the conqueror" (unnecessarily long and complicated title but let's not split hairs) has a very dramatic feel to it, with solid synthesiser and powerful piano, a triumphant aura and best of all, no singing! With a title like "Drum check", you probably know what to expect from the penultimate track, and indeed it's a storming drum solo, but I still prefer it to hearing Tucker sing. The final track is "Born again", which for me brings up uncomfortable associations with Black Sabbath, but this is nothing like that, starting off with a guitar riff almost out of the Trogg's "Wild thing", believe it or not, and continuing as a serious runthough on the guitar, showing what Trez Azagthoth can do, and why he is considered such a giant in his field. TRACKLISTING 1. Cleansed in pestilence (Blade of Elohim) 2. Enshrined in grace 3. Beneath the hollow 4. Curse the flesh 5. Praise the strength 6. Stricken arise 7. Place of many deaths 8. Abyssous 9. God of our own divinity 10. Within thy enemy 11. Memories of the past 12. Victorious march of reign the conqueror 13. Drum check 14. Born again Look, I went into this knowing that Morbid Angel were the litmus test. If I could handle them, I could handle anything. If there had been some sudden epiphany as I listened to the album and I realised I actually liked their music, I could take off this dress and throw away my stiletto boots. But I really didn't expect that would happen, and from the moment Steve Tucker opened his mouth I knew the chances of my ever listening to this band again had shrunk to virtually zero. Unlike Death, who I could take in small doses, the raucous, gutteral, unintelligible at all times vocals of the frontman made it impossible that I would ever listen to Morbid Angel again, never mind enjoy their music. I'm sure fans of the death metal genre will rise up and say I haven't a clue what I'm talking about, that I'm a pussy and so on, and they're probably right. This kind of music isn't my cup of rose-scented tea. It never was, I never claimed it to be and it never will be. There are some bands and genres I just know to stay away from, and with good reason. Still, at least I can say I listened to one of their albums, even if I hated it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm late for a bra fitting. ;) http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver1.jpg Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morbid_Angel |
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http://s5.postimg.org/l4a3a06zb/thabc_C.png CANDLEMASS: One of the first Doom Metal bands, from Sweden, hugely influential on the subgenre. Candlemass - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia CARCASS: Exteme Metal band from the UK, known for their obsession with hardcore gory lyrics and lurid album covers. Carcass (band) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia CELTIC FROST: Extreme Metal band from Switzerland, who had a big influence on the subgenre, as well as others. Celtic Frost - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia CHILDREN OF BODOM: Finnish Melodic Death Metal band, considered one of the top in the subgenre. Children of Bodom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia CLARKE, "FAST" EDDIE: Guitarist with Motorhead. Eddie Clarke - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia COHEED AND CAMBRIA: Progressive Metal band whose albums all follow the storyline of a science-fiction graphic novel written by the vocalist. Coheed and Cambria - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia CRADLE OF FILTH: English band who began as Black Metal but have changed to encompass elements of Gothic and Symphonic Metal in their music, allowing it to become more commercialised and accessible. Cradle of Filth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Outcast --- Kreator --- 1995 (Gun)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...toroutcast.JPG One of the big three German thrash bands, Kreator's vocalist utilises that sort of hoarse screaming that makes you wonder what kind of problems he's going to have with his throat when he gets older, but at least it's intelligible. "Leave this world behind" kicks the album off in fine style with a big grinding metal guitar assault, and while it's not as fast as your average thrash metal band it's no slouch either, and heavy as hell. "Phobia" gives me a real sense of mid-eighties Maiden, chugging drums and screaming guitars and quite a lot of fun really. "Forever" is another slow and grindy song that I must say complements Mille Petrozza's voice perfectly. "Black sunrise" is another slow one, but this time Petrozza's voice is "normal", very understated and low-key and you begin to wonder if this could be a balla --- nah. Silly thing to think really. It's a slow, crunching, brooding grinder sort of in the mould of Tiamat, but with edges sharp enough to draw blood. Nice guitar solo too. "Noncomformist" is the first time I've heard these guys hit any sort of groove and even then it's not as fast as I would expect a thrash band to be: Annihilator for example were much more heads-down than this. Great roaring guitars though and a good vocal, with a lot of energy and power. "Enemy unseen" stomps all over the place with anger and frustration, but again it's a slow, in general, song, with none of the fretburning, fingerscorching guitar histrionics and galloping drums of other thrash metal bands. The title track is another slow grinder, quite Sabbath in its feel, and I'd have to say my favourite so far along with "Paranoia", while things finally kick up a gear with the uptempo "Stronger than before". Odd to hear vocoder, of all things, used on "Whatever it may take", though the song is a good heavy puncher, and the tempo hits up again with "Against the rest", another fine guitar-chugging track but ends more or less as it began in a slow, powerful grind with "A better tomorrow". TRACKLISTING 1. Leave this world behind 2. Phobia 3. Forever 4. Black sunrise 5. Nonconformist 6. Enemy unseen 7. Outcast 8. Stronger than before 9. Ruin of life 10. Whatever it may take 11. Alive again 12. Against the rest 13. A better tomorrow I'm not quite sure how to take Kreator. At least on the basis of this album they seem more almost doom metal than thrash; certainly few of their songs hit the kind of speed even Maiden practice, and I always thought (correct me if I'm wrong Batlord) that thrash metal was traditionally played as fast as possible? That said, this is a pretty fine album and I'm glad I listened to it. I may sample more of Kreator's catalogue (should that be katalogue?) in time, and find this not to be typical of their output: perhaps their other albums are fast and heavy and deserve the description of thrash. For now though I'm thinking more a sort of slightly more uptempo doom, but certainly very impressive. http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver3.jpg Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreator |
For a band who have been around since 1994 Solsitice have a depressingly small catalogue, with only two studio albums to their name. Why? I don't know, but it seems (according to the rather small entry on Wiki) that they suspended operations in 2002, although it's not said to be an actual breakup. They plan to head back into the studio this year, but you would have to wonder if their fans are still going to be interested, given that their last album was in 1998? However metal fans are notoriously loyal to the point almost of stupidity, so perhaps their fanbase is intact.
As there are only two albums to choose from, we may as well go with their debut. Lamentations --- Solstice --- 1994 (Candlelight) http://www.darkdescentrecords.com/st...mentations.jpg There's an interestingly gothic opening not-quite-instrumental, with choral vocals almost reminiscent of the sort of thing you hear at those classical masses, then we head into the first real track, "Neither time nor tide", and it's as slow and crunchy as you would expect, with the vocals clear but almost mournful as Simon Matravers sings, his voice nowhere near as powerful as Candlemass's Messiah Marconius, but well able to handle the registers. Some good rocking-out guitar from Rich Walker and Gian Piras, and there's a something of an Iron Maiden feel to "Only the strong", though it's still slow and grindy. Nice bassy opening to "Absolution extreme", with soft percussion and much less snarling guitar. I'm already liking Solstice better than Candlemass: even the last song, which ran for eight minutes, didn't bore me in a way shorter ones from the Swedes did. I can see how it was said about these guys that they could cross over through the metal sub-genres, as they're not what I'd consider --- with my admittedly limited knowledge of the genre --- typical doom metal. They seem to have a lot more tricks up their sleeves, and it's a pity they didn't get the chance to release more albums than they have. Great solo in this from Walker, but despite another one in "These forever bleak paths", the song doesn't really move me in the way the others have. I do however like the strummed intro to "Empty lies the oaken throne", very Dio-esque, very middle ages. And now I realise there's a good chance this is an instrumental, as we're halfway through its four-minute length and there have been no vocals. And as it continues on I become convinced that it is instrumental, and so it proves, a nice laidback break from all the doom metal, and rather unexpected. Quite introspective, almost pastoral. Very nice. Then we're back to business with big heavy churning guitar and plodding, pounding drums for "Last wish", the vocal strangely buried in the mix this time, little hard to hear or at least make out. It gets a little better as the song goes on, Simon Matravers a bit easier to hear, but whether it's a problem of production or he just isn't singing as powerfully as up to now I don't know. The volume of everything seems to go down then as "Wintermoon rapture" begins, so I think I'll have to conclude that this is a production thing. A good hard song though with a somehow soft vocal and some really smooth guitar work which again shows how Solstice could easily cross from doom metal to prog metal or maybe even just standard metal with ease. Very versatile indeed. Great guitar ending to the song, and on into the longest track on the album. At just over nine minutes, "The man who lost the sun" again starts off on lonely bass joined by very slow, almost ponderous but deliberate percussion, and a dark "evil" voice narrates the first few lines before growling as if in agony or rage, then the proper vocal from Matravers comes in and it seems the production problems that possibly plagued the last two tracks are thankfully absent here, as everyone is clearly audible and can be understood. It's great how Matravers's voice complements the music the band play: it never seems at odds with it, struggling against it or overpowering it as happens in some metal. Solstice seem to be a very balanced band, and again I voice my regret that they have such a tiny discography for a band who have been in existence for as long as they have. It's an indication of how good they are that this song, nine minutes and change, is almost over and I haven't even realised it. Certainly did not drag or seem to never end, as some songs of this length have done for me. The album closes on a short track, in fact, the final two tracks are the longest and the shortest respectively, with "Ragnarok" not even hitting the four minute mark. It is in fact another instrumental, a much heavier, crunching one than "Empty lies the oaken throne", and forms a sort of end-credits theme to bookend the filmic overture that began the album, complete with dour tolling bells. Sheer class! TRACKLISTING 1. Lamentations IV 2. Neither time nor tide 3. Only the strong 4. Absolution extreme 5. These forever bleak paths 6. Empty lies the oaken throne 7. Last wish 6. Wintermoon rapture 9. The man who lost the sun 10. Ragnarok I guess I've been shown two different sides of doom metal then. Candlemass, despite their mass (sorry) appeal and importance in the sub-genre didn't really appeal to me that much. Well that's not fair: I liked their music, just thought it all sounded a bit the same and lost interest about halfway through the album. There is however something different about Solstice. I really enjoyed this album and I would be interested in listening to more. I'll have to hunt down their second and, so far, only album in due course. Hopefully they'll come roaring back, as they seem to intend to, with a great third album this year. For fans of the band it's been a long time coming, and I, who have only just heard them for the first time now, find that, rather surprising myself, I'm joining the clamour and starting to hope. http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver5.jpg Read more here[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solstice_%28UK_doom_metal_band%29]/url] |
Seven churches --- Possessed --- 1985 (Relativity)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ver_art%29.jpg Normally a band with a name like Possessed would have me running in the opposite direction, but I'm reliably, I think, informed this band is not Black Metal but Death Metal. Oh joy! Thank Satan for small mercies, eh? But since I've already heard a few Death Metal records this can join them. It's also said to be one of the most influential on the genre, and the band are credited with, whether intentionally or not, coining the very phrase "death metal", perhaps in the same way that Venom unleashed the idea of "black metal" some years prior. It's comforting, and yet not, to have the album open with the famous Mike Oldfield theme to my most hated of all movies, this time on the guitar, then all hell breaks loose as "The Exorcist" punches its way out of the album, and remarkably, I hate Jeff Becerra's vocals even more than those of Steve Tucker! Whereas the latter was a slow, grindy, growly voice, ths guy is all about speed AND growl, which makes it even less possible to make out what he's singing. The guitars are fast too, more in speed metal territory than death I would have thought, but what the hell does this girl know? ;) I envisage settling back and doing other things while I try to pick out any good points about this album, of which I venture to predict there will be few if any. Ten tracks, most of them around the three minute mark, equals around half an hour of pure misery for me. Oh well, all in the cause, all in the cause... And a big satanic growl introduces us to the delight (!) that is "Pentagram". Sigh. I've heard punk music that's more melodic than this, though no doubt I'll be told that death metal is not about melody, which would generally seem to be true. If then it's all about noise, power, speed and aggression, then this album has it in spades. Good guitar solo there, but the fretwork in general seems to fly off into kind of confused territory. There are certainly enough song titles that would make me think this was a black metal album --- "Satan's curse", "Holy Hell", "Fallen angel", the title track of course and "Burn in Hell", which is up next, all seem to point to a fascination with the occult. Though maybe it's a tongue-in-cheek thing? I could make a guess if I could understand any of the lyrics. I can't. This one's a little slower, though not much. Touches of Sabbath or Dio around it, but more a nineteenth-cousin twice removed sort of relationship than anything really solid. Okay well it just picked up ten gears and headed off at supersonic speed again, so I guess they can't stay "slow" for very long. "Evil warriors" (see what I mean?) showcases the talents of guitarists Larry LaLonde and Mike Torrao, the latter of whom seems to write the lion's share of the songs here: nine out of ten are his solo compositions with the other one being a collaboration with his fellow axeman. No wonder the songs are all so guitar-centric! A blazing fast solo from one or the other of the guitarists as the song heads into its final minute, and we're at the title track, and mercifully for my girly ears, halfway through the album. You know, now that I listen to his style, Becerra sounds like a much faster, more insane and less decipherable version of heavy metal god Lemmy. I see the similarities in the gruff growl. But I can usually tell what Lemmy's singing, whereas here? Could be anything. "Seven churches" doesn't add anything new to the mix. It's the same nuclear assault of guitars and drums with Becerra belching fire and smoke over everything vocally, like some fiery demon risen from the Pit, intent on revenge. His footsoldiers, the two axemen, fire off riff after riff in his honour as he swoops and dives, bringing death and destruction to all he touches, and revelling in the carnage he creates. "Satan's curse" takes off like a rocket and doesn't come down, probably deemed safer to explode somewhere outside Earth's atmosphere, while "Holy Hell" almost has some melody in it, and is so restrained in comparison to the rest of the album that I can actually make out some of the words Jeff Becerra is singing! Not all of them, of course, but a line here, a phrase there, more than I could up to now. Well, we've only got three tracks to go, and so far I'm still alive, though you can be sure the volume knob is down quite low; couldn't take this on high volume. What? Yes my new bra fits very well, thank you Batlord! Oh no! "Twisted minds" is five minutes long! I may just have to nip to the Ladies... No letup in the speed or power, and we're back to completely roared and unintelligible vocals, so normal service has been resumed. Actually, this seems to have almost a kind of boogie beat, if such a thing is possible in Death Metal? At times the odd melody leaks through, though the guys are quick to catch it, throttle it and toss it in the river before it can grow. Can't have that! Look out! There it is again! Catch it quick before --- ah! Thought we had a problem there for about thirty seconds, but we're back on track now. But what's this? "Fallen angel" opens on pealing bells, which do add to the atmosphere of the song, but take away from the general speed and anger of Possessed's music I would have thought. They do work well though here, so well done to the guys for utilising them. Oh and look: the album closer is called ... "Death metal". So they did coin the phrase. And I suppose they'd want the track to live up to that description. And it does. Unfortunately. TRACKLISTING 1. The Exorcist 2. Pentagram 3. Burning in Hell 4. Evil warriors 5. Seven churches 6. Satan's curse 7. Holy Hell 8. Twisted minds 9. Fallen angel 10. Death metal What a surprise that I didn't like this album. My ears feel like they're bleeding, my brain has I think been shook loose from its moorings and my whole head feels like it's just undergone some rabid, rampant, brutal sex attack. No doubt Batlord would say these are all signs of having just listened to a "bitchin'" death metal album. Yeah well, girly as it may make me seem, I'm just glad it's over and I think I can safely say I won't be listening to any more Possessed! http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver1.jpg Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possessed_%28band%29 |
Loving all these reviews so far Troll! I'm assuming you decided to start off with death metal, black metal and thrash stuff genre-wise for the month? Do you have some particular order of metal styles you'll be reviewing or did you pre-select/write up the reviews for all the albums beforehand?
Although I'm assuming you've already got all your ducks in a row, feel free to ask me or Batlord (and perhaps Lee as well) if you need recommendations to review depending on the metal genre. :afro: |
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I'm just worried I'm hitting too many updates at once but I hope the mods understand this is a one-off; if only they'd let me approve my own entries! Oh well. Plenty more to come... enjoy! And welcome! There's a tab running for you at the bar, of course... :beer: |
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Oh, there have been the odd weird team-up over the years between Metal bands/artistes and, shall we say, those from totally different genres? The obvious one to go for would be Lou Reed's collaboration with Metallica, or Aerosmith's teamup with RunDMC, but here at the Playlist of Life we don't like to take the easy or obvious path, so a little Googling unearthed this rather embarassing pairing. Who would have thought that the lead guitarist from one of the dirtiest, loudest, fastest and angriest Thrash Metal bands, one of the "Big Four" themselves, would align himself with rap icons The Beastie Boys? Kerry King and the Beastie Boys --- No sleep till Brooklyn http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...llBrooklyn.jpg When he guested on the song "No sleep till Brooklyn", apparently the script for the video called for Kerry to be thrown offstage by a giant gorilla. In typical Metalhead fashion, he refused: "If anyone's gonna fucking get thrown off stage it'll be that gorilla!" he snarled. Ah, Kerry, that's why we love ya! Here's the video anyway. For some reason they're all cartoon characters, which is fine, but why Kerry is depicted as a hot chick is somewhat beyond me. And, worryingly, something of a turn on... :shycouch: |
Morning star --- Entombed --- 2002 (Koch)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...rning_Star.jpg Time to move across the Atlantic and head towards the cold lands, by which I mean Scandinavia, not some madeup/copied country like in a certain member's journal ... Apparently the death metal scene is or was pretty well developed in Sweden, and Entombed are supposed to be one of the big noises (probably literally!) over there, so let's grab us some of that. For twenty seconds all you hear is a bass note repeated, to simulate a heartbeat, then some guitar notes followed by a crashing chord, back to the bass which reminds me of the opening to the seminal "Black Sabbath", and then the drums crash in and the guitars get going properly. It sounds quite epic, even gothic to me as "Chief rebel angel" starts in earnest, and compared to other death metal vocalists I've endur --- er, listened to recently Lars Goran Petrov is a lot more palatable and understandable. Yes, he roars, yes he growls but I can make out what he's singing. The music is also much more, well, restrained compared to their American counterparts. It's heavy, grindy but at least on this first track not headsplittingly loud or necksnappingly fast. Not yet anyway. Alex Helid on guitar seems to have it very much under control and there's definitely a sense of epicness about this. In fact, the song is over before I realise it, unlike the last few death metal albums where I was praying for it to end, and we're into "I for an eye" (see what they did there?), a faster song but still plodding compared to Morbid Angel or Possessed. Great solo here too from Hellid, and while Peter Stjarnvind is a powerful drummer he's not hammering the skins every microsecond like the others I've heard. He, too, has it under control. And again before I even realise it we're on "Bringer of light", which again is heavy and powerful but not just a mess of noise. In fact there's rather a nice little relaxed guitar passage halfway through, which even the silly "dark evil" voice put on by Petrov can't ruin. The guitars pick up then as the song charges towards its conclusion, and then the pace kicks into high gear for "Ensemble of the restless" but despite the speed there's still a feel of control and direction here. "Out of Heaven" is almost like Entombed trying to be Black Metal but failing because it's so funny in comparison, which is to say they can play and despite the gutteral voice Petrov can sing. "Young man nihilist" is a bit more messy, with Hellid going a little crazy on the guitar intro and not too much structure to the opening part of the song, but it settles down fairly quickly, powering along with great anger and passion, but a technical expertise that seems to be missing from much of the death metal I've so far heard. Perhaps the Swedes can teach the Americans a thing or two? "Year one now" is less than two minutes long, fast and furious, with hammering guitar and thundering drums, while "Fractures" is another hard and heavy pounder. To be fair, there's not an awful lot of originality here, nor that much difference from track to track, but of the death metal I've had to listen to thus far this is probably the album I would, if forced, spin again. The next three tracks, which precede the closer, are all short, just over two minutes each, and "When it hits home" has a nice little guitar riff running through it, and it's quite (dare I say it?) melodic in its way, while "City of ghosts" punches its way along with a very headshakingworthy rhythm and even some eastern influences in the tune, sort of "Powerslave"-era Maiden. Although if there are any ghosts in this city they're likely to be scared off by that bellowing voice! Another heavy assault for "You're about to die", wherein I'm sure I hear Petrov accuse someone of "Playing like a woman" (!) then the album ends on a slow grinder, as "Mental twin" shows the darker, grindier side of Entombed. But I still prefer them to Morbid Angel! TRACKLISTING 1. Chief rebel angel 2. I for an eye 3. Bringer of light 4. Ensemble of the restless 5. Out of Heaven 6. Young man nihilist 7. Year one now 8. Fractures 9. When it hits home 10. City of ghosts 11. About to die 12. Mental twin You can't I suppose say this is a more relaxed form of death metal, because I guess if it was relaxed then it wouldn't be death metal, would it? But this is definitely less frantic and manic than the US version, and there's a lot more structure and melody in the songs. I can understand the vocalist, even though he growls, so it's obvious he can sing, whereas I could not say for certain others like Steve Tucker or Jeff Becerra can: just cause you can growl doesn't mean you're a singer, not in my book anyway. But before I earn the undying enmity of Morbid Angel and Possessed fans, and other diehard death metalheads, I'll just say that although I don't think I'd ever be into death metal as a genre, or sub-genre, and would never listen to it for pleasure, if you were to strap me into a chair and stick a gun at my head and force me to choose, I would choose Entombed. The lesser of two evils. And quite possibly, to me, a case of the pupil becoming the master. http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver3.jpg Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entombed_%28band%29 |
Sounds of a playground fading --- In Flames --- 2011 (Century Media)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...und-fading.jpg Let's stay in Scandinavia for now --- who needs the blistering heat of the sun? --- and check out a band I once listened to but discounted immediately I heard that growl. Seems in later years In Flames toned down the growling and the screaming that had characterised their music for a long time and began to use more recognisable vocal options, so perhaps this, their so-far latest album, may be a but more accessible to a weak little girl like me. Nice jangly guitar sound to open the title track, though I'm waiting for an ambush of course. About a minute in the guitars kick in properly, but holy crap! They're melodic! Then they get a bit more chuggy and the vocal comes in. Well, it's screechy but rather like himself from Entombed I can make out what Anders Friden is singing. Quite easily, actually. The music is also what I would probably have to term the least death metal of what I've heard up to now. The title track is --- dare I say it --- catchy with a great hook in the chorus. Unexpected is not the word. Great guitar solo then from Bjorn Gelotte, very clean and polished, and far reduced in speed to the previous death metal bands I've listened to. Is that synth I hear? A bassy synth? Oh yes it most certainly is, as "Deliver us" starts, with the guitars joining in and the percussion hard and heavy but not of the skullcrushing or triphammer type I've been getting used to. Another fine hook, which would not be out of place in a power metal song really, and the vocals are less screamed this time. Very effective guitar work, some fine solos and the keyboards definitely add something to the song. "All for me" rocks along in a slower groove, with some nice measured and well-paced drumming, while "The puzzle" is harder and faster, the first song on the album to hit close to that sort of breakneck speed death metal seems to love so much. Even at that though it's still running to catch up, and the hooks are there again, so whereas Morbid Angel or Death just hammer out what is to me fast noise, In Flames are actually making music. The ending to "The puzzle" is really quite special, a great instrumental ending and then what I think is a high-strung guitar opens the next track. Whereas Iron Maiden once opined that fear is the key, In Flames believe "Fear is the weakness", and this track powers along nicely with a sense of frustrated anger from Landers, the next one quite anthemic with a great marching rhythm and screaming guitars carrying "Where the dead ships dwell". Very low-key and introspective --- first time I've used those words in conjunction with a death metal album! --- for "The attic", with a dark, ominous undertone that belies the music. Very atmospheric, then we're back rocking and headbanging with "Darker times", as Landers rediscovers his growl and his scream. "Ropes" is a bit more on the standard metal side of things, with more great hooks and superb fretwork, not to mention the clearest vocal from Landers I have heard on this album. Glad to hear he can sing normally too. Mind you, he's back roaring and growling for "Enter tragedy", which seems to again feature some keyboard work, courtesy of guest musician Orjan Ornkloo, then the inevitable "jester" song this time around is "Jester's door". Ever since they put it in the title of their second album the jester head has been In Flames' mascot, and every album since then has mentioned it in one way or another. A kind of clarinet sound on the keys accompanies a dark, spoken vocal as the song opens, very ambient and eerie. The lyric would seem to indicate though that this could be the end of the jester, as he mentions "I love you all/ Thanks for everything" and then announces that he's vanishing through the jester's door. There's little musical accompaniment to this track, lending more credence to the belief that it may have been the jester's farewell speech. We will see on the next album I guess. This could be further reinforced by the title of the track that follows on its heels. "A new dawn" features, of all things, cello played by Johannes Bergion, and it works well with the uptempo guitar and trundling drums. Some really nice laidback guitar here too, and the album ends on "Liberation" (yet more evidence that the jester is on his way out?) with another very welcome clear vocal and a pretty laidback, almost AOR sound if you can believe that. Very commercial and would make a great single, or a great track to play to your Metalhead friends and confuse them by asking who they think it is, cos it sure as hell don't sound like In Flames! TRACKLISTING 1. Sounds of a playground fading 2. Delivery us 3. All for me 4. The puzzle 5. Fear is the weakness 6. Where the dead ships dwell 7. The attic 8. Darker times 9. Ropes 10. Enter tragedy 11. Jester's door 12. A new dawn 13. Liberation Without question, this is the most enjoyable death metal album I've ever listened to. Purists may scoff and tell me In Flames are not death metal, or that I should listen to their earlier material, but I really like this and I don't care what anyone says. It's the first death metal (yeah, yeah!) album that I haven't just endured, prayed to end, or basically kept one ear on while doing other things. This one I really liked. The last track in particular surprised me with an almost prog/pop style, and I wonder if this is a new direction for the band? Longtime fans may hate this, but I must say I like it a whole lot. If that makes me a pussy, then hand me my tampax, because this is the kind of music I can actually listen to. http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver4.jpg Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Flames |
I'm all out of tampax but I have some pads that you can use.
Sounds of a Playground Fading sounds right up my alley and I'll give it a listen today or tomorrow. |
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As mentioned, over the life of this journal I have reviewed quite a few metal albums, some of which would fit well into this celebration of all things heavy. In this section I'll be linking back to some reviews, sections and articles you may not have read, or even know exist. There's no point in me rewriting them, or copy-and-pasting them, but you can follow the links to read them if you wish. These are the earliest ones; for convenience's sake I'm doing this chronologically. More to come later. Brave new world --- Iron Maiden http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._New_World.jpg http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1049293 Tyranny and Room V --- Shadow Gallery http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...albumcover.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...albumcover.jpg http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1051517 Rising --- Rainbow http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...nbowRising.jpg http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1053427 Paradise in flames --- Axxis http://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/0/0/4/100433.jpg http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1053869 Perfect balance --- Balance of Power http://photo.sing365.com/music/pictu...le/Perfect.jpg http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1054801 Thunder and lightning --- Thin Lizzy http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._Lightning.jpg http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1077103 |
Damnation --- Opeth --- 2003 (Koch)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...tion_cover.jpg Yes, I can hear it now: the mocking laughter as you all point and say "Look! He went for the least metal Opeth album! What a pansy!" Pansy I may be, but I've consistently been advised to check out Opeth and been put off by the death vocals. Here I'm told there are few if any, and the music leans far more towards the progressive metal side of things, so I'm hoping it may be a good choice for me. Sure, I could have chosen "Blackwater Park" or "Heritage", but I didn't, so sue me. The average settlement is ten thousand dollars. Written at a time when his grandmother died in a car accident, the album is dark and doomy, the first and longest track more even progressive rock than metal, with soft guitar and a very clean vocal, mellotron coming in and even the percussion gentle. Nice Santanesque guitar solo from Peter Lindgren, and that mellotron apparently is played by none other than Porcupine Tree's Stevie Wilson. This could be very good indeed. I really like "Windowpane" and it's a great start to the album, though again I suspect ardent Metalheads and fans of the band will be fuming at my choice. Meh, as Jarvis Cocker once remarked, it had to start somewhere, so it started there. Great keyboard work and some spooky effects from Wilson, Mikael Akerfeldt's voice very sombre and reserved, and some nice vocal harmonies in the song too. "In my time of need" is slow, brooding ballad with an almost robotic-like vocal in the verse, introspective guitar and some solid keyboard from the Porcupine Tree man. There's almost an acoustic backing to "Death whispered a lullaby", with a harder edge breaking through from time to time, pehaps showing echoes of Opeth's roots. An interesting kind of dual vocal then to "Closure", with a powerful and dramatic instrumental in the second minute, taking us right into a sudden stop, acoustic guitar and the resumption of the vocal, quiet and gentle. The guitar from Lindgren then goes all sort of eastern, bringing the song to its conclusion. More soft acoustic guitar greets us as "Hope leaves" opens with a sort of metallic, mono vocal (not like the robotic one of "In my time of need"; that referred more to the phrasing, the way it was sung than the actual voice used), the settles down into another low-key, mid-paced song, while the way "To rid the disease" opens puts me in mind of Floyd's "Nobody home", and again the keyboards play a significant role in creating the soundscape here. There's quite an ominous sound to them, and then in about the third minute Lindgren kicks in with an emotional guitar solo that gives way to single piano from Wilson before the percussion joins in and full keyboard pushes its way to the fore. A really nice, again quite Santana-influenced guitar instrumental before we end on "Weakness", a bleak, stark little tune seemingly driven on mellotron and guitar, very progressive as has been this whole album. Hardly anything to rock out to but a whole lot to listen to. Very impressed, and surprised. TRACKLISTING 1. Windowpane 2. In my time of need 3. Death whispered a lullaby 4. Closure 5. Hope leaves 6. To rid the disease 7. Ending credits 8. Weakness Yes, I know: this is not metal. Well, it is, Jim, but not as we know it. Opeth have for a long long time been associated in my mind with screaming vocals stopping me investigating what I had been told was really good progressive/death metal. Having heard this album, I'd say I'm well ready to go further, but I must bear in mind that most of the rest of their discography is probably unlikely to be like this. In fact, much of it may not be to my taste. I'll find out I guess when I start listening to their other albums. Well at least I can say with certainty that I like one of Opeth's works, and who knows, maybe I'll enjoy some of their other album, though the chances are that for that to work it will more than likely be the more recent stuff, as it seems they only really started to soften their approach in the last decade or so. For all I know, they could have gone back to the style of their earlier albums. Apologies then for this slight deviation off course on our journey through heavy metal and its many associated sub-genres. We hope you enjoyed it nevertheless, and without further ado we return you to your regular programming schedule. http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver5.jpg Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opeth |
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Another band that I can't say is my favorite, but I've had a burned copy of this for dogs years so I'm a lot more familiar with Possessed. Honestly I think they're more of a first wave black metal band than an honest-to-god death metal band. Obviously they're not black metal in the same way Darkthrone are black metal, but back in the eighties before the genre lines became solidified the line between thrash, black, and death metal could be very blurry. When I think of eighties black metal I think of the chaotic noisiness of bands like Hellhammer and Bathory and in my opinion Seven Churches has more in common with them than Death or Obituary. Of course those bands certainly have more in common with Hellhammer and Bathory than they do Cryptopsy or Suffocation, at least at first, but that's another story. |
To the In Flames post:
Very good album. It was a good listen when I heard it for the first time. I've heard some of the songs live when I saw them at Mayhem, and they perform so well! To the Opeth post: Easily one of my favorite Opeth albums. If you want another one like it, check out Heritage. |
Formed in Varese, Italy in 1997, Doomsword were a band born out of a project called 1014AD, which was a historical/classical music project based on the theme of epic battles, which more or less metamorphosed into the band Doomsword. Heavily influenced by US band Warlord, the members of Doomsword assumed titles, with Deathmaster and Guardian Angel being the founders, and after some strife with the original Guardian Angel leaving the band his replacement took the name Guardian Angel II. Nice.
Doomsword have released five albums to date, but this one caught my eye, dealing as it seems to with ancient Celtic legend, so let's give it a spin. My name will live on --- Doomsword --- 2007 (Dragonheart) http://www.metal-archives.com/images...56287.jpg?0743 You know, our own Music Banter crash-course on metal puts Doomsword in as Doom Metal, and with a name like that you'd surely not be surprised to find that were the case, but just now I don't see it. As the album opens there's a far clearer, faster, more power-metal almost feel to the music as compared to the slow, plodding, often dragging element I have so far heard in DM. But whatever the sub-genre the music is good, with "Death of Ferdia" kicking off the album in fine style. Now I know my Irish legends, and Ferdia was the brother of Cuchullain, the Ulster hero who defended the North against the red queen Maedbh and who is immortalised in the Irish legend "Tain Bo Chulainge" (Cuchulainn is pronounced "koo-kull-in" and the book is pronounced "tawn bo kul-inga", for those who want to know). Ferdia fought for the South and faced his brother, being killed by him. This track rocks along on a fine bouncing epic metal theme, not quite power metal but maybe like a slower Manowar, with some punching guitars and a fine vocal from this Deathmaster fellow. Cuchulainn's lament at the death of his brother is heartfelt: "Fate wanted us to live as brothers/And die as foes /Woe unto Éireann, /For the greatest of warriors has fallen!" Somehow Deathmaster manages to sound like he has an Irish accent, which is quite a feat given that he's Italian. He also delivers a nice little acoustic lament at the end of the song, attended by a fading chorus of sadness for the fallen warrior. A nice epic start to the album, and it continues with "Gergovia", in which Deathmaster again displays his prowess on the acoustic guitar. Then with the sound of thunderous hooves approaching electric guitar cuts in as Sacred heart lets fly with a dark, heavy riff before kicking it up a notch as the song strays a little into Maiden territory, just a bit. Nice marching drumbeat from Wrathlord and some fine solos from Sacred Heart go together to create a really powerful song, this time apparently based around a recounting of a battle against the Roman legions by Vercingetorix, the Gaul warrior chieftain, in which hundreds of Romans were killed and the legion driven back. With a big Thin Lizzy style guitar opening, "Days of high adventure" delivers what it promises, a riproaring tune that rocks along like nobody's business, although it mixes metaphors of very different legends. All great fun. And therein lies the fundamental dichotomy behind Doomsword. If they're to be considered Doom Metal, well there's very little doomy about them. There's no dark brooding, no depressing lyrics, no grinding guitars or slowly pounding drums; this is all about energy, perhaps not the energy of power metal but certainly a sort of energy. Maybe it's the epic nature of their music that pushes Doomsword into the Doom Metal category, but if so then it's a tenuous link at best. "Steel of my axe" would be at home on a Virgin Steele or Hammerfall album, and rockets along like no doom metal song I've heard, the likes of Sabbath's "Children of the grave" excepted. Probably the fastest song on the album so far --- what am I saying, probably? Definitely. "Claidheamh solais" (claw-iv sull-is) slows it down again but the track still crunches along faster than any doom metal song I've heard up to now. Another powerful vocal allied to a twin guitar attack that again hits Lizzy grooves along the way, also reminding me of a slower "Only the good die young". More in the Metallica or even early Sabbath vein is "Thundercult" (let's not have any unfortunate misspellings now, shall we?) ;), a much slower song and almost in the Doom Metal arena here, and perhaps weirdly comes across to me as the most boring and unadventurous, almost as if Doomsword think they should be doing a doom metal song, (yeah: I don't know if it's meant to be capatilised or not so I keep swinging from one to the other as the fancy takes me) rather than doing a song they like. Big vocal chorus in very much a celtic mode to "Luni" and it's another slow grinder, though once the guitars get going it sort of hits into almost an Irish trad reel type of thing. Odd, but fun. Pretty clear from the lyric this is a song about Vikings --- "Let me avenge my fathers/ By holding this priest's head/ Go forth now my warriors/ And burn this town to the ground./ May I die in Odin's name/ The monks shall be tortured and slain." No great thought put into this song I'm afraid, again a bit doom Metal (hah!) by the numbers. Bit disappointing really. "Once glorious" is much better, starting off on a nice slow acoustic guitar run, which after a minute gets electrified as we power into what is in fact the longest song on the album, just short of eight and a half minutes. It re-establishes the faster pace that characterised the first part of the album and pushes any Doom metal influences, as I understand them, to the background and out of sight as Doomsword go heads-down power/Viking metal on one of the better tracks on the album. "The great horn" (ooerr!) then closes the album in powerful and dramatic style, with an imagining of some sort of last great battle where all the warriors from history come back to fight, presumably against evil. Some great solos here and Deathmaster is on top form vocally. Very entertaining and a good closer, with some real old-school metal elements in it. TRACKLISTING 1. Death of Ferdia 2. Gergovia 3. Days of high adventure 4. Steel of my axe 5. Claidheamh solais 6. Thundercult 7. Luni 8. Once glorious 9. The Great Horn Having listened to this album through I would stick to my original contention that I do not consider this doom MeTaL (OK, I'll stop messing now!), if what I've heard up to now can be described as that sub-genre. Doomsword, to me, at least on this album, bear little if any resemblance to Solstice, Candlemass or even Sabbath. They're far more in the power, even prog metal bracket to these ears. That said, this is a decent album and while I wouldn't go mad looking for the rest of their material, I wouldn't be averse to hearing more. I like their themes, and even if the idea of using character names is a little cliched and silly, they certainly deliver a good product here. http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver4.jpg Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsword |
Monotheist --- Celtic Frost --- 2006 (Century Media)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Monotheist.jpg The final album by a band whose fans believed had sold out on their "Cold lake" album of 1996, came back strongly with Vanity/Nemesis and then broke up but reformed in 2006 to produce just the one album, which they claim is the last they will record and release. There's a squealing guitar and a big dirty sound to launch us into "Progeny", with a growled but understandable vocal from Thomas "Warrior" Fischer, pounding drumbeat from Franco Sesa and a grindy bass from Martin Eric Ain. Actually, it could be Ain singing, as Fischer is credited as "voice" whereas Ain is shown as "lead (and backing) vocals". Hmm. Very doom metal I would say at this point. Slow but crunching, almost suffocating at times. "Ground" continues the big heavy guitar sound, another slow, crushing track with a very angry vocal which basically runs along the lines of "Oh God! Why have you forsaken me?" A slow morose bassline then as "A dying god coming into human flesh" changes everything around, almost ambient in its way, dark and melancholic with a very low-key vocal. Some heavy guitar breaks through then and the vocal becomes a screaming growl as the song gets harder and heavier, though no faster. Xandria's Lisa Middlehauve then takes guest vocals for "Drowning in ashes", another downbeat, slow, restrained piece with a dark but clear vocal from either Ain or Fischer on the verses. Middlehauve sounds like an angel trapped in Hell, her clear soft voice rising against the Cave-like growl of I think I have to say it's probably Fischer, though it was Ain on the previous track. Much of this track is driven by Sesa on the drumstool, and he directs it very well. Guitar from Fischer screeches and rages almost in the background but forms a great backdrop for the two vocalists to perform against. There's supposedly a heavy influence on this album from the work of Aleister Crowley, and "Os abysmi vel daath" is the title of one of his books, another slow grinder with a snarly vocal and equally snarly guitars. Very Black Sabbath, this one. In the fourth minute there's a sound like the earth cracking and dark tortured voices issue forth as if from out of the mouth of Hades itself, Fischer's guitar adding to the cacaphony, then from nowhere the vocal punches back in. Effective, if a little knickers-shittingly-sudden! "Obscured" is one of the longer tracks, just hitting over the seven minute mark --- though by no means the longest --- and opens on feedback guitar and military drums before the bass kicks in from Ain and a laconic, lazy vocal which is joined by Simone Vollenweider as power chords from the guitar crash over the melody. Here the singing (the male vocal) reminds me more of Andrew Eldritch from Sisters of Mercy, very ominous and dark. There's very much a sense of gothic opera to this song; I'm almost surprised not to hear cello or some sort of orchestral instruments added in here. Great dark atmospherics here, and the double vocal works really well. A seriously grinding guitar then opens "Domain of decay", which then speeds up for about the first time on the album and sounds a little more thrash than doom, though it then kind of slows back down for the vocal, back up for the guitar riff, down for the vocal, and so on. By the midway point it's kind of settled in to a slow to mid-paced tempo with a serious solo right at the end. The tempo seems to be on the rise though, and "Ain Elohim" rocks along faster than anything Celtic Frost have done on this album so far. Hmm. Considering that "elohim" is a word for god, can it be said that Martin Ain has something of a divinity complex? ;) This track isn't long about slowing down into the familiar grind though, and the angry, gutteral vocal that these guys utilise is just the right balance for me: tough and snarly but not so much that you can't understand the words being sung. If more "extreme metal" bands sang this way I think I might listen to them more. Oh well. I'm sure they're all just crying into their bank balances. The album then ends on a three-part, three-track epic called "Triptych". "Triptych I: Totengott" is darkly ominous with deep bass and growling guitar (you would expect keyboards but no) and a scary-sounding screeching voice more or less speaking the vocal, getting more agitated, evil and incomprehensible as it goes on, trailing off in a malevolent laugh as the music takes over. Slow, doomy drumming and scratchy, keening guitar carry the rest of the tune until the voice comes back in with another horrible screech, as if of a creature in pain, or one of pure evil. I wouldn't play this loud late at night I can tell you! As the voice and music fade out "Triptych II: Synagoga Satanae" (who needs that translated?) opens on a big feedback guitar, and is by far the longest not only of the parts, but of the tracks, clocking in at a massive fourteen and a half minutes. The first two minutes are basically a buildup on the guitar, which then kicks in properly and takes the melody in a slow, dark, doomy rhythm until vocals come in, dark and grindy but nothing as unintelligible as in "Triptych I". About halfway through there's a dark spoken vocal, almost whispered, which is apparently Satyr from Satyricon. I'd have to say fourteen minutes of this is a little hard to take, as there's no real changes in the melody, which is not to say it stays the same all the way but there are not that many sections, as it were, so it seems to just drag on. To me. I guess if this was to be their final album they wanted to go out with a bang, but this just seems stretched beyond the breaking point. The closer, and third and final part of the trilogy, "Triptych III: Winter (Requiem, Chapter III: Finale") is an instrumental, sounding like it's on violin but I don't see any credited so will assume it's just guitar. Hardly any percussion and a rising, very dramatic and almost classical keening guitar which sounds just like a synth --- maybe it is, and not credited? --- and provides a really classy end to the album. TRACKLISTING 1. Progeny 2. Ground 3. A dying god coming into human flesh 4. Drown in ashes 5. Os abysmi vel daath 6. Obscured 7. Domain of decay 8. Ain elohim 9. Triptych I: Totengott 10. Triptych II: Synagoga Satanae 11. Triptych III: Winter (Chapter three: Finale) Definitely at the more epic, gothic end of the spectrum, at least as far as this album is concerned, this is music I could listen to but not necessarily an album I would choose to experience. The musicianship is first rate and the vocals are generally very capable, and there is additionally a sort of sense of dark gothic fantasy running through "Monotheist", parts of which could work very well as a movie or even videogame soundtrack. No doubt this is not how they always sounded and if I were to dig into previous albums I'd find a totally different band, but as a swansong this album is pretty damn cohesive and I suppose having had basically fourteen years to plan and write it it was going to have to. If the fans were upset about the guys selling out with "Cold lake", then they should be reassured that the glam metal tag that offended them on that album has been well and truly laid to rest on this, and if you need a headstone to mark the grave of Celtic Frost, you would go far to do better than this. http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver4.jpg Read more here Celtic Frost - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
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What the ---? All I can assume is that the Metal Gods are either extremely pleased with me for running Metal Month (unlikely; I doubt they're readers) or are distracted by something, because the VERY FIRST random band I select this week turns out to be not only a power metal one, but one that has a discography! Now, hold on: I'm a little confused. It says they're unsigned .... oh wait: independent too. All right, so they released all their own material. That's allowed. Who are they? Oh yeah... http://www.metal-archives.com/images.../2745_logo.JPG meet "Between the Lines". No, not the most metal of names, and not a name you'd associate with this sort of music if you heard it out of context, but as one of the other sections in my journal asks, what's in a name? Originally conceived as Burning Pyre (MUCH more metal!) they were formed in 1994, but seem to have only released two demos under that name before being resurrected in 1996 as Between the Lines, or BTL. Under this name they released their debut album, but according to their bio they were "brought back to life" in 2003, so I guess we can assume "Step high", released in 1998, did not exactly set the world alight. http://www.metal-archives.com/images...photo.jpg?5400 Now, we come to something of a recurring problem. With the band being unsigned there is nothing on Spotify or Grooveshark for them, and YouTube comes up empty. Even my attempt to buy an album from my usual vendor is thwarted, so I suppose it's time to move on. These guys were German, by the way. But if there's no music to listen to then we can't feature them. So for I guess the third time it's a no-show for BTL! Perhaps the Metal Gods weren't so blind after all. They will have their little joke, won't they? Yes they will. Next up is http://www.metal-archives.com/images..._logo.jpg?0402 who are, like our delightful thrashers of last week, Violator, from Brazil, but they too are unsigned. So, can we find any music from them out there on t'web? Let's see: Spotify? No. Grooveshark? No - oh wait a sec! No albums, no, but they seem like they might have two tracks, which is better than nothing. Let's just check YouChoob... yeah I think I see one or two. All right then, let's do this thing! Band name: Iron Woods Nationality: Brazilian Subgenre: Pagan/Black Metal Born: 2001 Status: Active Albums: Ancient faith (2004) Journey to the paganism (2008) Live albums: None Collections/Boxed Sets/Anthologies: None Lineup: Holykran (Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards, Flute (flute??) Hammer (Bass) Guerriera Nox (Drums) (Again, I can't get too much information and their own website is in Portugeuse, and from what I can gather seems more interested in explaining what their band name means than anything about the members other than macho pictures of them standing looking menacing with axes and swords, so I guess with three members chances are they all founded the band. Maybe.) Describing their music, apparently, as "Pagan Battle Metal", there's not much else I can tell you about these guys, due to the language barrier, but they do have two albums so let's have a listen to what we can. Incidentally, wouldn't you think a guy who chooses Hammer as his pseduonym would be a drummer?? OK hold on just a minute: there is rather a lot of YT about them, so I wonder if I can cobble together a full album? Hmm. Let's see. Okay then. All except one track. That'll do. Pity it's the title but hey ho, there ya go! The journey to the paganism --- Iron Woods --- 2008 (Self-released) http://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/2/0/3/220373.jpg Well, leaving aside the fact that the title doesn't make proper sense --- these guys are Brazilian after all --- the album opens on "Battle glory", with the sound of wind, horses' hooves and a dark chant of some sort, with moody synthesiser in the background low but beginning to swell. Then the vocal literally screams at you and the guitars and percussion kick in, taking us on a heavy ride into what would probably be better termed Viking Metal. Can't make out the lyrics at all, another vocalist who uses death metal techniques, but I had a clue from the "black metal" tag. Oh well. The guitars riff well and set up a very decent melody, unlike our friends Violator from the previous session. Oh wait, about halfway through the vocal gets much more distinct, dropping down several octaves. Whether it's our pal Holykran or not I don't know but I really prefer that vocal. Doesn't last of course. Ah wait a minute! This song is over ten minutes long! Oh dear. What about the other tracks? Well mostly they're pretty long, with another one clocking in at eleven minutes, though I suppose I should thank my lucky stars because there is a TWENTY-SIX-MINUTE one, but it's the title, which I haven't been able to find, possibly because it overruns the time limit for YouTube. Saved by the rules! Decent dark keyboard line coming in here now, really adds something to the song as it slides into an instrumental section with some muttered spoken words. If you didn't get it from the sound of crows cawing at the start of the next track, it's "Twilight of the ravens", with a heavy pounding guitar and more unintelligible vocals. Ah but soon the more understandable vocal takes over and the song improves for a short while. "Samhain night" (pronounced "sow-un") is up next, and starts with , of all things, an acoustic guitar intro and my preferred vocal with some soft lush keyboard work from Holykran, then it kicks up in tempo and he screams his way through the track, though the other vocal is still singing too. Birdsong, droning synth and, er, flute open "Amantikir", with some choral vocals on the keys. Yeah well I'm not fooled guys. Even though the synth is now rising into a higher octave, I'm just waiting for the blastbeats from the drums and the punching guitars and there they are. No surprise at this point. Nice opening though. At least the "good" vocal is carrying this and it's very listenable, trundling along at a reasonable pace, and in about the fifth minute of the seven that it runs for it falls away to single acoustic guitar, more birdsong and surely that flute is coming back in? Um, no. Back into hard guitar riffs and galloping drums. Still, at least "Mister Screamy" didn't make an appearance. Favourite track so far. Next up is "Hail beer" (can't argue with that) with acoustic guitar and a deep, almost Nick Cavesque vocal, then fast screaming guitar and hammering drums as the song takes off with a sort of beer chant --- this must go down great at gigs. Great fun. "Sons of mother Earth" has more birdsong and flute --- not sure if these guys are serious or if this is meant to be a pisstake but that guy sure can play the flute --- low humming keyboards and soft percussion till the guitar breaks in and the keyboard goes into a kind of organ sound, the beat a slow march, powerful and dramatic. Then it picks up in tempo and again we have the "good" vocal, which I wish they'd just leave as the main vocal. So much easier on the ear. Now it's slowed down and the flute is back, soon joined by a much slower, grindier guitar and ponderous drumming, increasing in tempo a little until it all comes together nicely for a decent conclusion, the flute still in the mix there. As I say, the title track is next and it's the epic, but I can't find it anywhere so I can't feature it here. There, as they say, endeth the album. TRACKLISTING 1. Battle glory 2. The twilight of the ravens 3. Samhain night 4. Amantikir 5. Hail beer 6. Sons of mother Earth 7. Journey to the paganism Once you get past, or preferably, as in the last few tracks, exclude, the screaming hoarse vocal of Holykran, this band are pretty damn fine. Their music is certainly a mix between mid-to-fast Viking Metal and some sort of new-age metal, if such a thing exists. The use of flute and keyboards, and the taped birdsong in some of the tracks is quite innovative and lends to the idea of a paganist, naturalist sort of band who just happen to rock like anything. I'm not that sure I'd listen to their other album without a good reason, but I certainly didn't hate this. http://s17.postimg.org/93g3n3xr3/cleaver3.jpg |
All right then. We've looked at Doom Metal. We've listened to Death Metal. We've had a peek at Thrash Metal and we've even ventured into the murky, scary, noisy world of Black Metal. There is of course plenty still to come, but right now I want to feature the kind of metal I generally like, Power and Progressive. So coming bang up to date with one of the big names in the field of the former, here's the very latest from Finland's finest.
Nemesis --- Stratovarius --- 2013 (Edel) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ratovarius.jpg One of the leading power metal bands in the Finnish scene, and acknowledged as one of the greats in the world, Stratovarius have been around since 1989 and have released a slew of albums during that time, making them synonymous with the power metal and symphonic metal genres. A big guitar chord and rippling keyboards with choral vocals kick us off as "Abandon" opens proceedings, and the familiar hard and heavy rhythms we associate with this band are there in abundance. Great backing vocals really up the dramatic stakes and like most Stratovarius songs this one has a great hook to drag you in. Superb keyboard solo as even from Jens Johansson, matched by burning fretwork from Matias Kupiainen and it's a great start, matched easily by "Unbreakable", which is the first single released from the album. Beautiful lonely little piano line and synth backing is quickly joined by hard guitar and the tempo ramps right up. Easy to see why this was chosen to lead in the album: extremely catchy without being poppy, rockets along but still very airplay friendly and with a hook that lodges in your head and just won't let go. Singer Timo Kopipelto has just the right shade of an accent in his voice, not annoying but not sounding too Americanised either, and it's certainly a powerful voice. "Stand my ground" is the fastest track so far, with a touch of industrial thrown in there, just a smidgeon, the vocal sort of mechanised in parts. Again it's a winner of a chorus as Timo sings "No-one can bring me down/ I will defend my beliefs" then a fast and dramatic progressive-style piece in "Halcyon days", with Johnasson excelling himself on the keys. Each track just seems better than the last, and this certainly continues that trend. So many hooks in this album I had better be careful not to snag anything! Strange little industrial sounds on the synth again, dark voices and then choral vocals as the song hammers to its conclusion, taking us into "Fantasy" with a big keyboard intro and punching guitars but somehow with a sense of electonic pop about it in the keyboard riffs. Could be another single. This album is just jam-packed with great tracks. The stately, majestic, anthemic "Castles in the air" has power and pomp, opening with a deceptively laidback neoclassical piano line, and should go down well onstage, while there's more almost electropop synth in "Dragons", though with plenty of hard rock guitar from Matias to keep it firmly in metal territory. A slow rock cruncher then in "One must fall", again very anthemic with dark synth and grinding guitar, and a very nice bluesy end section with slow guitar and warbling keyboard, again very progressive in feel. Finishing on a big chorus and sharp guitar it leads into the only real ballad on the album, "If the story is over". Opening on soft acoustic guitar and fluty keyboard it has a gentle vocal from Timo and is a perfect power metal ballad. Orchestral synth swells in the background while choral vocals add in to the mix, and a stronger, more passionate vocal takes the song as it reaches its climax. Definitely see this featuring in "Velvet Fist" at some point. The title track is the closer, and it does not disappoint, delivering a final wake-up slap upside the head in case you were falling gently to sleep after the last track. A big bubbly excited keyboard intro, choral vocals and hammering guitar rock along at a great pace for nearly a minute before Timo comes in with the vocal, strong and powerful. To be honest, I would have preferred this track to be at the opening of the album, as it's a little unsettling to have such a rocker after a ballad which I think should really have closed it. Nevertheless it's a great song and certainly ensures you'll be singing the title cut as you switch off the computer, pack the album away, or shut down your ipod. TRACKLISTING 1. Abandon 2. Unbreakable 3. Stand my ground 4. Halcyon days 5. Fantasy 6. Out of the fog 7. Castles in the air 8. Dragons 9. One must fall 10. If the story is over 11. Nemesis Although it's only been two years since their last album, it seems like ages since we heard from Stratovarius. In their absence there have been pretenders to the throne, but now they're back in a big way. Another triumphant album full of songs you can sing, pump your fist to, shake your head to. So move over, Sonata Arctica, Wintersun and Nightwish, and make way, cos the boys are back in town, and they never sounded better! http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver5.jpg Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratovarius |
All is one --- Orphaned Land --- 2013 (Century Media)
http://www.metal-archives.com/images...74531.jpg?0656 Known for fusing the music of their native Israel with progressive, death and doom metal, Orphaned Land are one of the best known metal bands in that country, and their efforts to help bring about a peaceful solution to the Arab/Israeli conflict has led to calls for them to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. At the time of writing, this has not yet happened, nor really is it likely to. But it shows the deep committment and passion the band have not only to peace as an end, but to ridding their homeland of hatreds and prejudices that have hung over the Middle East for almost seventy years now. I really like the cover, with its melding of three religious symbols: the Star of David, the Turkish crescent and of course the Cross. Says so much with one image, and really brings the idea of the title of the album to life. There's no mistaking the arabic influences on the opener, and title track, and there's a real progressive metal punch to it as it rocks along with hard guitar and keyboards along with some other instruments I can't name but are probably ethnic to the region. Great vocal choir adds a sense of drama and triumph to the song, and the singer, Kobi Farhi has a nice clear voice. I think it's bouzouki, or oud maybe that opens "The simple man", a slower, more restrained piece with chugging guitar and measured, military drumming. Then it hits its groove and it's very arabic indeed. I believe Orphaned Land use belly dancers on stage, and I can see one gyrating to this certainly. The first ballad is also I think the B-side of their current single; "Brother" sways along nicely with a sort of orchestrated feel, while "Let the truce be known" is also slow but more of an anthemic feel to this, with eastern keyboard touches and riffs, a lot of power and drama and a sense of building frustration I would think too. "Through fire and water" has some very ethnic instrument opening it, maybe oud or saz, or even chumbush, if I had any idea what any of those are! Well, I know an oud is a sort of lute-like guitar, and saz? Another guitar/lute thing. Chumbush I don't know. But there are great female vocals and some orchestration with what sound like Israeli lyric making this one of the standouts on the album so far. A hurried, angry spoken vocal to "Fail" over harsh guitar and a rising sense of tension, with for the first time growled vocals and I have to say they don't grate; they actually fit with the overall atmosphere of this song. I don't mind them because I know the singer can and does sing, so on this occasion, though I probably would have preferred not to have any, I can overlook death growls. Excellent work on the guitar from Chen Balbus or Yossi Sassi, can't say which as they're both axemen in addition to Balbus playing the piano and, er, xylophone! Sort of Iron Maiden feel to the guitar here, and of course a very arabic sound. I must say I'm really enjoying this album, a lot more than I thought I would, though I had a feeling I would like it. I'm listening to it on Spotify for this review but I intend to buy it for myself. Next up is an instrumental, the only one on the album, and it's a mixture of guitar, oud and saz from what I can hear, called "Freedom". Impressive. The next two tracks are in either Arabic or Israeli, don't ask me which, but it's definitely a language with a lot of squiggly lines and dots! "Shama'im" is a slow traditional-sounding song, not too much of the metal about this: almost puts me in mind of Eurovision songs, though it's not that bad! Great effort again from the choir, and if I could speak whatever this language is I could tell you what it's about, but I can't so I can't. There's certainly a metal influence in the second one though. "Ya benaye" is driven on hard guitar and with a kind of crooning, chanting vocal from Farhi. "Our own messiah" then takes us back into English, with a snarly, gutteral vocal for a few seconds before it settles down in a hard rock grinder with some really nice vocal harmonies and keys. We end on "Children", the longest track at just over seven minutes and with a really nice lush keyboard introduction, very classical sounding which then explodes with both hard guitar and what sounds like violin but I think may be synth, stomping drumming and a great vocal. Excellent buildup near the end with a choir and vocal harmonies then a superb guitar solo and the whole effect is really of something coming to a triumphant close, which is definitely how I see this album. TRACKLISTING 1. All is one 2. The simple man 3. Brother 4. Let the truce be known 5. Through fire and water 6. Fail 7. Freedom 8. Shama'im 9. Ya Benaye 10. Our own messiah 11. Children Like many of the bands reviewed here this month, this is my first taste of Orphaned Land. They've immediately impressed me, both with their humanity and dedication to peace, and with their musical talent. I have a feeling I will be ordering some if not all of their albums before long. Israel is not usually a country you look to when discussing heavy metal: the Middle East is generally religiously and politically predisposed against such music, from what little I know of the region, viewing it both as "the devil's music" and being of "western influences". But if those who put the music down would only stop and listen to the lyrics, they might manage to see beyond their own blind prejudices and preconceptions, and realise that in a wounded, orphaned land, music can be the healing agent. You know, in the end, it may not be presidents or the United Nations or even Bono who brings peace to the Middle East. If they could only get all these guys to strap on strats and jam together, well, you know, music is the universal language, and sometimes it can just about make miracles happen. http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver5.jpg Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphaned_Land |
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Hey, get off my back! I asked for help but the two Metal Icons were too busy, so I just did the best I could. Some of the albums were selected purely down to the name; in Sepultura's case, I know about Dante (tried to read "The Divine Comedy" once) so that attracted me, and in Kreator's case it could have been any album but again I liked the title. You don't think I've managed, among all the other things I do, to review the discography and history of every metal band in just two months, do you?
Anyhoo, it's all relative. Some of the bands I could have chosen better examples from, apparently, had I known about them, but to use your own Genesis example, if I knew nothing about Genesis how would I decide between "Trespass" (cool title!) and the self-titled? I wouldn't know that one differed vastly from the other. That's why I could have done with some help. Meh, it's all rock and roll anyway, innit? See what you think of the next one... |
South of Salem --- Witch Mountain --- 2011 (Self-released)
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/3/0/3/2/303296.jpg Not to be confused with German metal band Mountain Witch, these guys first came to my attention purely by accident and only really because they are to my knowledge the only doom metal band to have a female vocalist. I could be wrong there of course, but I haven't heard of any others. Then again I'm hardly a doom aficionado (unless you're talking about the computer game!) so what would I know? But the idea of a woman singing the deep, throaty music of doom metal intrigued me and I bought their "Cauldron of the wild" album, and reviewed it some time back. I wouldn't say I was blown away by it, and in areas it seemed quite plodding (well, this is doom metal after all!) but it was an interesting experience. So here's their album prior to that. They don't seem to have released that much, from their inception in 1997 --- three albums and two EPs --- so there wasn't that much to choose from. This is almost more an EP in itself, with only six tracks total, although one is twelve minutes long. It opens on dark, screechy feedback guitar from Rob Wrong that then becomes grindy, sludgy, slow and stomping riffs before Uta Plotkin comes in with the vocal as "Wing of the lord" gets underway. Her voice really changes the overall style of the music: it's not deep, throaty, growly or really that heavy; I'd say sort of like if Janis Joplin had sung metal. It's very powerful though and being a woman she can reach much higher registers with less effort than her male counterparts. There's also a sense of the likes of Ann Wilson about her voice, very strong and at times edging into operatic territory. I've heard Wrong's guitar work before as I say and it's pretty damn good, though here he's a little restricted, not ripping off too much in the way of solos, and keeping a crunching main melody more or less all through the song. Some nice stuff at the end from him, then we're on to "Plastic cage", with a super little dark bassline before the guitars crash in. It's a little faster than the opener, though not much, sort of slow grind boogie feel to it. "South sugar" then is sort of more in the blues mould, heavy as hell and reminds me a little of a much slower Deep Purple. "End game" is a nice little melodic piece, shortest track other than the closer, which is basically a reprise of it. More boogie rock in this with a great vocal from Uta, possibly doubletracked unless she's invited in some other female to take backing vocals duty. The tempo slows down then in the last minute, very doomy and very effective. The epic is up next, and "Hare's stare" runs for twelve minutes and change, opening on deep acoustic guitar, low-key and laidback until the electric smashes in and Rob Wrong takes control of the intro. Lyric seems to be fairly political, though they seem to be hard to find anywhere to check. Definitely something about children in poverty or danger though. This is where Rob Wrong gets to show off what he can do on the fretboard, and it's mighty impressive. He's no Iommi but he can certainly play. Bit of an odd little spoken bit right at the end, then a reprise, as I said, of "End game", which seems to consist, rather cooly, of just a guitar solo to close the album. And how better to finish a metal album than with an extended piece of axework? Well, not that extended: the whole track only lasts just under a minute and a half. But a good way to close certainly. TRACKLISTING 1. Wing of the lord 2. Plastic cage 3. South sugar 4. End game 5. Hare's stare 6. End game (Slight return) Witch Mountain are certainly not the best metal band in the world. From what I've experienced here, they're not even the best doom metal band. But they are refreshing and new in ways, and they have one hell of a singer. Despite the name they don't seem to focus too much on occult or magic in their lyrics, and they definitely don't seem to espouse a Satanic sort of image. It's just a name, possibly a real name, a mountain that just happens to be called Witch Mountain. Or maybe it's a play on which mountain? I don't know. But they sure churn out some good metal. And in the end, isn't that what Man has striven for since he first jammed on headphones? Kiff! I'm asking you a question! ;) https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/i...LrfDKCnN5p1YSg http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver3.jpg Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphaned_Land |
Hail to the king --- Avenged Sevenfold --- 2013 (Warner Bros)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ltotheKing.png Oddly, this is the first time I've heard Avenged Sevenfold. Oh, I've heard of them, sure, but never really listened to any of their music. They seem to be one of the rising stars in the metal scene, and this is their sixth album, their first in three years. With a dark growling doomy sound attended by pealing bells we're suddenly introduced to a lone electric guitar far down in the mix then what sounds like a trombone but probably isn't anything of the sort. Hold on though: it is! As well as trumpet and tuba. Well I'll be a poseur's uncle! Tough, militaristic percussion cuts slowly in and the guitar then kicks in properly as "Shepherd of fire" (an odd occupation to be sure) opens the album. Vocalist M. Shadows has a raspy, very rock-n-roll voice, sort of brings to mind the likes of Richie Sambora. These guys are fond of using pseduonyms, and so we end up with Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance on guitars, and Johnny Christ (assuming that's not his real name!) on drums. Luckily though they have the talent to back up this penchant. It's a slow enough opener but with plenty of power and punch, and continues more or less in this vein with the title track, which of course you can imagine them getting great response to onstage, with many horns being thrown no doubt. I like the way the guitars kind of do their own thing, with the rhythm playing its own little riff sort of in the background while the lead punches out, well, the lead melody. Works very well. Slick little solo here too, then "Doing time" is the first one to really kick out the stays as the two axemen go wild, the tempo firing up to ten as Christ batters the drumkit (never thought I'd ever write that sentence!) and powers the whole thing along. "This means war" slows it all back down again though with a tough grinder, touches of Sabbath or Dio in it. A choral vocal opening in presumably latin to "Requiem", then it's hammering, machine-gun drums and strutting guitars for a dark, dramatic piece with the return of not only the brass section but also strings with violin and cello adding to the atmosphere. Expressive gentle guitar ushers in "Crimson day" which sounds like it could be a ballad. Very laidback with nice vocal harmonies, and when the electric guitar kicks in it really adds something to the song. Could see this as a single, no problem. Like the addition of keyboards, along with more cello and violin, and the guitar solo just puts the icing on the cake. Oh yeah: it is a ballad. Good smokin' rocker then in "Heretic" with a somewhat progressive feel to it, with a great sense of Iron Maiden in "Coming home" --- very close, in fact. Superb extended guitar solo and the reintroduction of keyboards courtesy of producer Mile Elizondo. Big trumpet and trombone intro to "Planets" with attendant guitar and rattling drums, and when it gets going the song rocks along with power and promise, and a forceful vocal from Shadows. We close on "Acid rain", which gets underway with a beautiful little piano melody courtesy of Jeff Babko, joined by some lovely strings and a crying guitar, which makes me wonder is this a second ballad to finish off the album? Oh yeah there's no doubt, and it's an excellent way to bring the curtain down on this fine album. You all know I'm a sucker for ballads, especially metal ones, and this is one the best I've heard this year. Superb. TRACKLISTING 1. Shepherd of fire 2. Hail to the king 3. Doing time 4. This means war 5. Requiem 6. Crimson day 7. Heretic 8. Coming home 9. Planets 10. Acid rain So where have Avenged Sevenfold been all my life? I need to check out some of their other material, because I definitely feel like I've been missing out. "Hail to the king" is without question one of the albums of 2013, metal or otherwise, and is sure to give them a big boost in getting back on top where they belong. I'm not going to use cliched phrases like "the return of the king" or "back on the throne", but if anyone had forgotten them, then this band is avenged more than sevenfold upon them. http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver5.jpg Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avenged_Sevenfold |
Born again --- Black Sabbath
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...abbathBorn.jpg http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1114572 A place where the sun is silent --- Alesana http://photo.sing365.com/music/pictu...+Is+Silent.jpg http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1115537 Madmen, witches and vampires --- Cain's Dinasty http://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/9/3/5/293516.jpg http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1124017 Repression --- Trust http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...0gyl6E-Ynw-khg http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1133299 Plug it in --- Mamas Boys http://www.trollheart.com/plugitin.jpg http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1135406 Ragnarok --- Tyr http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...r-official.jpg http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1146825 Master of reality --- Black Sabbath http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...of_Reality.png http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1147999 Juggernaut of justice --- Anvil http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...of_Justice.jpg http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1152774 Trinity --- Eden's Curse http://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/9/6/1/296138.jpg http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1171280 Hail to England --- Manowar http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ltoengland.jpg http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1192952 |
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Varjoina kuljemme kuolleiden maassa --- Moonsorrow --- 2011 (Spinefarm)
http://www.metal-archives.com/images...94425.jpg?4847 People who are better versed in the Finnish language advise me this is about death and the underworld, and you know, I'm going to have to take their word for it, cause I couldn't even say "Help! Someone is trying to kill me!" in Finnish without a native looking at me with astonishment and wondering why I was so interested in what they had in their sandwich. In short, my Finnish is slightly worse than my Turkish, which is to say, I can't speak or understand a word of either language. My friends over at Encyclopaedia Metallum tell me that the band's name came from a song by Celtic Frost, and that they began as a black metal band, adding folk elements and swinging in a more pagan/folk direction as time went on. This is their sixth and latest album, which is supposed to see them moving more back towards a black metal sound. It certainly has interesting instruments on it though, not the sort of thing you'd expect from a black metal band, with the likes of bouzouki, mouth harp, recorder, saw (?) and accordion to name but a few. Sounds like it could be a hoot. Or not. There are only seven tracks in all, but two are twelve minutes long and two are sixteen, so it's not like you're being shortchanged. The album opens on one of those twelve-minuters, "Tähdetön", with a hard and heavy guitar pulling us right into it as the drums pound out a doomy rhythm, slow but powerful. Unfortunately for me, it's another screamer and this time I can honestly say I have no idea what he's singing as it's not in English. But with a voice like this it probably wouldn't matter. Dark choral vocals join the melody as the guitars chug and cut away; there's not much evidence of those esoteric instruments I mentioned yet. Good powerful, dramatic music though, if you can ignore the singer. Which I find hard to do. What sounds like a fast keyboard run joins in and the song takes on a sort of folky feel, then "Hävitetty" is a short instrumental with very celtic indeed sounds and the sound of someone walking, perhaps over gravel, coughing a lot while the wind whistles in the background. Following this we're into another twelve-minute track, and this seems to be the pattern throughout the album: long song, short instrumental, long song, short instrumental. Big rousing choral vocal and punchy guitar and violin I think as "Muinaiset" opens and marches along with a kind of middle ages sort of melody. It's good as far as it goes, but I'm not sure it needs twelve minutes to make its point. Another instrumental interlude then as "Nälkä, väsymys ja epätoivo" basically carries on the sound effects we heard in "Hävitetty", with a man walking and breathing heavily, this time the sound of dogs or wolves baying is added and a deep dark ominous synthesiser line slides in and takes us into "Huuto", one of the two sixteen minute tracks, which starts off on nice acoustic guitar but soon ramps up on the back of electric and trundles along like a steam train. Some good keyboard work here and the guitarists certainly distinguish themselves. Again though: sixteen minutes? There is a great sense of drama and energy in the song, veering at times almost into progressive metal territory. The keyboard riff running through the latter parts of it really characterises the track. One more instrumental then and we're onto the final track. In "Kuolleille", our walking man seems to have left the dogs or wolves behind, but now it seems he's running and out of breath. The wind is still howling. He sounds as if he may be climbing. Then he lets out a blood-curdling yell, and I guess that's the end of him. "Kuolleiden maa" closes the album on another epic sixteen minute track, with churning guitar and solid keyboard and we have two blessed minutes of peace before Mister Screamy comes in with his vocal. Sigh. Oh wait, what's this? In idly clicking the "lyrics" tab on EM I see some kind soul has provided English translations! Well thanks whoever you are, but I'll be goddamned if I'm going to go talking about them now that the review is almost over. Maybe some other time. It's a damn fine conclusion to the album anyway, and were it not for the vocalist I think I could end up becoming a fan of this band. As it is, death vocals, grunts, growls, screams, call them what you will, have again managed to destroy my chance to enjoy some really good music. Damn them. TRACKLISTING 1. Tähdetön 2. Hävitetty 3. Muinaiset 4. Nälkä, väsymys ja epätoivo 5. Huuto 6. Kuolleille 7. Kuolleiden maa Always interesting to review something that's not in English, and I often have found that some of my favourite bands (Sigur Ros, Tyr, Olafur Arnulds) have been languishing in the "foreign language" section of my brain, where I have seen the albums but passed over them because they were not in English. Now, with a somewhat broader outlook on music, I've managed to discover quite a few non-English bands and have enjoyed most if not all of them. Despite the annoying vocal here, the final impression I'm left with is of some very powerful and moving music, and a style that is in the end rather hard to categorise, and refuses to be neatly packed away into one subgenre or another. http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver3.jpg Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonsorrow |
The Second Coming --- Eden's Curse --- 2008 (AFM)
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/0/5/6/205638.jpg I was so impressed with the third effort from Eden's Curse, "Trinity", that I went right out and hunted down their other albums. Turns out they only had two, though with a new one out this year that makes four in all, but I thought it might be appropriate, this being Metal Month an' all, to have a listen to their second offering, rather cleverly called "The Second Coming". They've only been around since 2006, so three albums over that relatively short period is not bad. Though, was "Trinity" an exception? Can we expect quality of that sort to have been the norm for this band? Well very little is the norm for them really. They're a cosmopolitan lot, with an American vocalist (who gives the band their name), German keyboard player and guitarist and an Italian keysman who replaced the German one. I see that Micheal Eden, the original vocalist, has left this year and that in fact the replacement keyboard player has himself been replaced and the only original members left in the band are the bass player, drummer and guitarist. However I haven't yet heard their new album and so I can't tell you if the new lineup is any good. This album features the original crew, with original keyboardist Ferdy Doernberg, who had been replaced by Allessandro del Vecchio on "Trinity". As that album did, "The Second Coming" opens on a weird little atmospheric instrumental, kind of echoing in some ways Rainbow's "The eyes of the world", with a sort of orchestral sound that settles into what sounds like a Russian folk tune, with dogs, or maybe wolves or even coyotes, baying in the background. A shot, it seems, rings out and people begin to scream and run, and we plunge right into "Masquerade ball" on the back of powerful keyboard runs from Doernberg and punchy guitar from Thorsten Kohne, and then Michael Eden's clear strong voice comes through. You'd have to allow that Eden's Curse often cross over into near-AOR territory, and the opener typifies this, though it's still a powerful, upbeat and strong song. Great but short organ solo and some superb vocal harmonies, and we crash into "Angels and demons", on a thick little bass line and sweeping synths keys before Kohne's guitar breaks through and the whole thing takes off. I have to wonder how the band are going to sound without Michael Eden, as his voice really is the lynchpin this band hangs on, but as I say I have yet to sample this year's "Sin". Expect a report in due course: till now I didn't even know they had a new album, never mind a new lineup. A real hooky song, this rocks along with great purpose and really wouldn't be very much out of place on the radio, sort of reminds me of a heavier and less commercial Night Ranger. Or maybe Millenium, who you won't know. A great solo from Kohne, matched by Doernberg on the keys, and the song rocks along to its conclusion, Eden's voice pulling it along liek a steam locomotive. Things slow down then, but not for a ballad. "Just like Judas" is more a power rock cruncher, with driving guitar reminiscent of the darker, heavier side of Maiden mixed with an almost Bon Jovi "Whoa-oh-oh!" chorus. One thing Eden's Curse do really well is write very catchy songs, and I find myself singing the choruses of nearly every track so far. Of course, no metal band worth its salt fails to compose a decent ballad, and Eden's Curse are no exception. "Sail on" rides on a soft keyboard line and chimy guitar, and indeed ramps up after about a minute into something that is ... really not a ballad. Fooled me. Another catchy, energetic song with some great vocal harmonies and fine guitar solos, it features some great rolling piano work from Doernberg too, as well as another cool but short organ solo. Definitely more on the melodic side of heavy metal, Eden's Curse nevertheless rock as hard as any band you know, and in many ways they remind me of one of my favourites, Ten. But again you wouldn't know them. "Lost in Wonderland" is a great example of their harder, heavier side, mostly guitar-driven and with a more forceful vocal from Michael Eden, though the AOR feel leaks in at the chorus. It's no bad thing though: this is their style after all. Very progressive and atmospheric opening to "West wind blows" but it soon kicks into life with Kohne's guitar taking charge and Eden's voice rising above the music as he bemoans not having been able to say goodbye to a loved one who has passed away. Ferdy Doernberg's screaming keyboard joins in and a great soundscape results, the song full of anger and regret. In contrast a big guitar passage opens "Signs of your life" and it rocks along with power and purpose, and one of the best hooks I've heard in a chorus for quite some time. Great lyric too: "Chasin' the rainbow /With pots of gold as far as the eye can see /Here comes the rain." Doerbnerg then outdoes himself with a heartbreakingly beautiful piano intro as the longest track on the album by a few seconds, "Man against the world", slides in with soft acoustic guitar joining and you'd wonder is this the ballad we've been waiting for, expecting? More spot-on vocal harmonies, this time sounding like there's a female in there though who it is I have no idea. This is definitely the ballad, and very nice it is. Very much piano driven with a great and dextrous display on the ivories by Ferdy Doernberg, the lyric is perhaps a little trite -- "If we all join hands/ If we all join hearts/ We can make a change for/ The children of tomorrow" --- but that doesn't really detract from the beauty of the song. It's back to rockin' hard then for "Raven's revenge", with Thorsten Hoehne cranking up his guitar again and letting loose, while drummer Pete Newdeck and bassist Paul Logue lay down the rhythm. Another lovely little piano run opens "Lost soul" with a superb little descending organ and piano line, and I must admit to being wrong. Again. This is the longest track on the album; at six and a half minutes it beats out "Man against the world" by a clear minute. Very anthemic, very energetic with piles of hooks again, but nothing that wouldn't be at home in any metalhead's collection. One of the catchiest songs is in fact the penultimate, "Games people play", with its infectious but low-in-the-mix keyboard lines and its chugging, just-happy-to-be-playin' guitar allied to a thunderously addictive drumbeat with Eden's vocals adding a final layer of quality over this that makes you think "Christ! Why was this not on the radio and a big hit?" Yeah, it's just that good. It's impossible to keep your feet still while listening to this, and the album comes to end on the rip-roaring "Ride the storm", another just ridiculously catchy song with more hooks than a really expert fisherman, a grinding pounding guitar that goes all Lizzy for a while, a passionate and powerful vocal from Michael Eden, and just one hell of a curtain call that marks the second Eden's Curse album that gets the double thumbs-up from me. TRACKLISTING 1. Reign of terror 2. Masquerade ball 3. Angels and demons 4. Just like Judas 5. Sail on 6. Lost in Wonderland 7. West wind blows 8. Signs of life 9. Man against the world 10. Raven's revenge 11. Lost soul 12. Games people play 13. Ride the storm Metal purists and harcore headbangers --- Batlord, I'm looking at you! --- will probably sneer that this is not metal. AOR, they'll say. Soft rock. Anything else, just not metal. But I defy anyone to listen to the guitars of Thorsten Koehne and call him anything other than an overlooked metal god in the making. This album, this band may have more melody than your average metal fan would prefer, but me, I like my music to be heavy and melodic, so it's a winner with me. Like Shadow Gallery, Balance of Power, Threshold and of course Ten, Eden's Curse produce massive hooks, satisfying choruses and fist-pumping anthems while still keeping it hard and heavy enough to, in my book at least, qualify them as at the very least melodic metal. Come on, give these guys a listen. You don't want to miss the Second Coming, now do you? http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver5.jpg Read more here http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/...s_Curse/102073 |
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Anyway, anybody can pick out the best albums. Don't you know by now I prefer to be a little less predictable? Now sit down before I have the bouncers request your departure... :band: |
13 --- Black Sabbath --- 2013 (Vertigo)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Sabbath_13.jpg Apparently the worst-kept secret in metal, though of course I didn't know about it, was the reunion of metal pioneers Black Sabbath with their original vocalist and frontman Ozzy Osbourne, and the release of their first new album in eighteen years, their first proper with Ozzy in thirty-five. Sadly, it's not the full original lineup as "contractual problems", whatever they may be, prevented drummer Bill Ward from joining up, so he had to be replaced, both for the tour and the album. But what of the album? Many bands have reformed, ostensibly "for the money" --- Eagles, Deep Purple, Take that (?) --- and although Sabbath never officially split, this lineup has not been seen together since 1998, and really not since "Never say die", twenty years prior to that. So was this just one big publicity stunt? After years of prostituting himself to reality TV, did Ozzy still have it? Would this even sound like the Sabbath we knew and loved? Right from the first chords we're back in 1970 and it's the emergence of a staggering new talent as Tony Iommi's dark, doomy powerchords introduce the perhaps appropriately-titled "End of the beginning". Even the echoey guitar riff is almost right out of the opener, and title track, to their debut. When Ozzy comes in with the vocal it's like he's never been away. So, then, is this a band trying to recapture former glories, copy-and-paste from their early albums, or is there anything new here? Well the riff soon gets uptempo and rocks along nicely, and I'm sorry Bill Ward but I couldn't tell you're not there: nothing against you but as I've mentioned before I can't tell a good drummer from an okay or even bad one. Good to hear Geezer Butler's controlling bass licks though. Also nice to see that the old guys (hey, they gotta be in their sixties now!) can still show the whippersnappers of today how it's done! Those super solos Iommi rips off almost effortlessly are abundant of course, and the whole band chugs along like a well-oiled machine that's been working together for thirty years, not one that has been missing a component for longer than that. Sabbath always had a great way of fusing heavy riffs and power with proper melody and great lyrics, something many of today's metal bands could learn a thing or two from. "God is dead?", the lead single opens on a dark, ominous guitar riff, much slower than the opener, with attendant "spooky" sounds in the background. Iommi then hammers his way into the tune, suffusing it with a brooding, menacing presence while Ozzy's voice has seldom heard as eerie since that opening track on their first album. There's also an element of "War pigs" about the lyric as Ozzy sings "Swimming in sorrow/ They kill steal and borrow/ There is no tomorrow/ For the sinners will be damned." Near the end it kicks up into a real boogie metal rocker on the back of Iommi and Butler's partnership, then "Loner" swaggers along as if it owns the street, and has quite a nod back to Led Zep in it. Slow laidback acoustic guitar then for "Zeitgeist", soft percussion which reminds me (and everyone else probably) of "Planet caravan" off "Paranoid", then we're back rocking with "Age of reason" and some great guitar histrionics from Tony Iommi. "Live forever" slows everything back down to that familiar Sabbath grind for a moment before taking off at a gallop, the beat driven by new guy Brad Wilk on the drumstool. Sounding like something you'd expect to hear from Hendrix, "Damaged soul" has a great opening line: "Born in a graveyard" and swings with a real blues rhythm, accentuated by some great harmonica from Ozzy. Some fine interplay too between Butler and Iommi, but when I hear that guitar riff the first thing I think of is "Crosstown traffic"... We close then on "Dear father", with a powerful guitar riff and a recurrence of the motif from that first song all those years ago. The guys really go all out on this one, finishing on a high note and even throwing in the rain, wind and pealing bells from their very first track, turning the clock right back to 1970. Nice touch, lads. TRACKLISTING 1. End of the beginning 2. God is dead? 3. Loner 4. Zeitgeist 5. Age of reason 6. Live forever 7. Damaged soul 8. Dear father There was a lot of hype about this album, good and bad. Would it live up to its promise? Would Ozzy be able to cut it after so long? Would it end up being a parody and tarnish our memory of the godfathers of heavy metal? Would Bill Ward's absence spoil the album? After listening to this several times I can say that to me it's Sabbath back to their best. I'm a Dio guy, but even I can appreciate that Ozzy was the driving force behind this band, and the place he deserves in metal history. Here he does an excellent job as not only an ambassador for metal, but as an example that some things really can get better with age. Back on the top of the pile, standing at the head of the metal army, returning to the throne --- whichever way you look at it, one thing is very clear from this album: Black Sabbath are back! http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver5.jpg Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sabbath |
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Perhaps odd, perhaps not, that the second in our "Triple Box Set" feature is again centring on a heavy metal band, but this is Metal Month and I wanted to do one of these for it. Had I not already reviewed the Virgin Steele triumvirate then that would have been perfect for this, but as I don't always know in advance what kinds of ideas I'm going to have from one week to the next I uploaded that when I thought the time was right, and it was well received. That band I knew something of, being a minor fan in my youth, but I can't say the same for Helloween. I know their reputation and like their music, but this will be the first time I've reviewed one, never mind three, albums by them. As is the format here, the three albums have to be linked. Often this can just be the fact that they're by the same band, but I like to try to establish a more concrete connection between the three than that. So here I've chosen what is essentially seen as a three-volume epic, with a gap of seventeen years between the second and third in the trilogy. Generally accepted as some of the band's best work, the "Keeper of the Seven Keys" series begins with the first album in 1987, followed by the second the next year. This was partially because the label refused to allow Helloween to release a double album to showcase their new lineup, featuring eighteen-year-old Michael Kiske taking over vocals from guitarist and previously also singer Kai Hansen, and partly because of the perhaps unexpected success of the first album which must have taken the label by surprise and made them kick themselves for vetoing the idea of a double. Keeper of the Seven Keys, Part I --- Helloween --- 1987 (Noise) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...eys_Part_1.jpg The opener is a short instrumental, very prog metal, called "The initiation", and quite cinematic with choral vocals, marching drums and Kai Hansen's guitar growling all over it. It leads directly into "I'm alive", the first track proper, and the first on which we hear what the new guy behind the mike can do. Michael Kiske certainly gives it his all, and perhaps the title might provide some of the impetus as he attempts to stamp his own identity on the song, cementing forever his place in heavy metal history, and in the annals of Helloween lore. Freed of the constraints of trying to double as vocalist, Kai Hansen is able to give full vent to his guitar work, and the track thunders along with power and passion, energy and a definite sense of intention. Great guitar solos pepper the song, and in fact it's fair to say that Kiske plays really a minor part in it, with most of its three-and-a-half-minutes taken up by Hansen's guitar histrionics. "A little time" then provides more of the same, bouncing along on a very Maidenesque rhythm, with Kiske even emulating the "Oh-Oh-Ohhh!" that Dickinson tended to utilise back in the eighties. The young lad doesn't seem strained on any of the vocal work so far, with a very controlled and yet powerful voice: he never screams or roars, nor seems to feel the need to growl. In some ways I would rate him as more a powerful AOR vocalist than a metal one, which is not meant as an insult or a slight, but I could hear him singing over keyboards as easily as he does here over Hansen's guitars. Co-guitarist Michael Weikath is also credited on the album but it appears he had injured his hand and was unable to play for much of the recording, leaving the axework pretty much in Kiske's hands. And what capable hands they are! "Twilight of the gods" ramps everything up to ten, with a galloping drumbeat from Ingo Schwichtenberg and thumping bass from Markus Grosskopf, Hansen's fretwork so good that at times it sounds like keyboards. Kiske is all over this, vying with the likes of Manowar and Hammerfall as he puts all the passion he can into his voice. Even so though, and considering the title and your expectations of the subject matter, this is where Helloween step beyond the likes of Manowar and Virgin Steele, with the lyric actually concerning not the old Nordic gods of Asgard but a war between superpowerful artificial intelligences on a distant planet. Kiske sings mournfully "Silicon brain powered voices /Are crying "attack" tonight/ Our gods are now fighting/ In anger, burning our world." Certainly not what I expected from this song. You can see why Helloween became one of the emerging talents and driving forces behind the power metal movement, and there's so much of them in today's power metal bands. An almost acoustic guitar intro gets us into "A tale that wasn't right" with a style which is sort of a cross between Gary Moore and Ross the Boss of Manowar. A slower song, it gives Kiske a chance to relax his vocal and yet stretch it, as he enunciates each word perfectly, hitting the higher notes with ease as the song breaks into something more of a punchier feel. Mind you, as with many power metal ballads, the lyrics aren't anything to write home about: "In my heart, in my soul/ I really hate to pay this toll/ Should be strong, young and bold/ But the only thing I feel is pain." Um, I know how ya feel, Mike! The album is really quite a Kai Hansen vehicle, the guitarist writing six of the eight tracks, and five of those solo. This is one of the only ones on which he has no input, although he does collaborate with his fretmate Weikath on the closer, but here the other axeman writes this solo. The next one up was chosen as the album's single, and "Future world" is a powerful slab of grinding metal, a good example of some of the best Helloween can churn out, with a guitar riff that's a little too close to Maiden's "22 Acacia Avenue" for my liking, at least at the start. As I mentioned, there are only eight tracks on this album, and one of those a short instrumental that opens the album. However, that is offset by the penultimate track, "Halloween", which I suppose could almost be seen as the band's signature tune despite the replacement of an "e" with an "a" in the word. It's a truly epic piece, running for over thirteen minutes, a big spooky guitar intro kicking it off with something similar to the opener, keyboard samples and choral vocals before it jumps into life alonsgside the twin rails of Hansen's snarling guitar and Schw -- Swic --- Schc -- Look, let's just call him Ingo, all right? It's easier to write --- Ingo's punch-your-face-in drumming. Four minutes in and the pace hasn't slackened once, and when Kiske screams you just hear Bruce Dickinson. Again, it's intended as a compliment. A great solo from Hansen takes us into the fifth minute, then it slows down on a sort of a horror violin sound as Kiske warns of the horrors that stalk the streets on this most supernatural of nights: "A knock at your door/ Is it real or is it a dream?/ On trembling legs you open the door/ And you scream. . . .on Halloween!" Yeah, I'm shakin'... :rolleyes: Another fine solo and we're heading into the seventh minute, then jangly guitar introduces something of a break in the music as Kiske delivers another powerful yet restrained vocal performance and Hansen winds up for yet another screaming trip up and down the fretboard.Slowing everything down then on the back of a military slowbeat before it all takes off again with some mad backing vocals, but I would have to say I find this track unnecessarily long. It's not that it feels overstretched or repetitive, and there's some great guitar work in it, but I think thirteen minutes was probably pushing it a bit. Maybe they wanted it to reflect the superstitous connotations of that number? I don't know, but I think eight or less would have been fine. Nonetheless, it's a great track and good value for money given that there are only seven other tracks on the album, two of which are short ones. Speaking of which, the album winds down then on "Follow the sign", the song on which Hansen teams up with his guitarist compatriot, essentially an instrumental that bookends the album. It's decent but I have to say nothing special, and a bit of a disappointment as a closer. TRACKLISTING 1. Initiation 2. I'm alive 3. A little time 4. Twilight of the Gods 5. A tale that wasn't right 6. Future world 7. Halloween 8. Follow the sign http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver3.jpg Keeper of the Seven Keys, Part II --- Helloween --- 1988 (Noise) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...eys_Part_1.jpg Much less a Kai Hansen production this time around, the followup to the wildly successful part 1 contains only three songs written by the guitarist, with four penned by the other axeman, who had by now recovered and was able to play both guitars and, for the first time, keyboards. Having written one track on the previous album Michael Kiske adds another two here. But it's Weikath who gets things rolling with two compositions, the opener another instrumental, loosely it would seem based around Pachelbel's Canon in D Major before one of the songs which would become a fan favourite and a mainstay of their set, "Eagle fly free" gets things underway. It will in fact not be until near the latter part of the album that we hear the contributions from Hansen in terms of songwriting. Ingo's maniacal drumming drives the beat and keeps this song rocking at full speed, while both Hansen and Weikath let fly with some great solos, though perhaps the standout solo of the song is the one on fretless bass, courtesy of Markus Grosskopf. It's interesting to see Helloween tackling some quasi-political themes here, though the lyric is laughable really: "Hey, we think so supersonic/ And we make our bombs atomic /Or the better quite neutronic/ But the poor don't see a dime." Yeah, I know they're German but I don't think that excuses such poor writing. However it is to be fair a pretty prevalent problem throughtout the genre, where "if it rhymes, use it" seems to be the mantra, with very little if any consideration given to whether the lines scan or make sense. Still, there's no doubting the classic status of the song, and it does have a very impressive and powerful vocal ending from Kiske. The first song written by the singer is "You always walk alone", which despite its balladic sound is anything but, a real headbanger with thumping guitars and a brain-melting rhythm. He sings really well, does Kiske, but I can't stop comparing him to Bruce Dickinson, as I really think the two sound quite similar, both in tone and style. Still, there are worse vocalists to be compared with! Decent lyric too, with lines like "Look at the drunk man, look into his eyes /See his strong hands/ But tomorrow they will tremble cold as ice" and "But if you can't see the life around/ You'll always walk alone." A grinding solo from Hansen with plenty of echo and then a kind of semi-boogie rhythm before the song takes off again on the back of Weikath's guitar, while "Rise and fall" has an almost punkish guitar melding with a Queen vibe, but it has some of the worst lyrics I've ever heard and it ends really weirdly. I mean, really weirdly. The approach of dark footsteps then drive in "Dr. Stein", one of the singles taken from the album and another song that would go to be a favourite. Not as breakneck as the previous song, or indeed any of the preceding ones, and betrays some of the dark humour that would leak into some of their later albums. There's a nice bassy intro to "We got the right", the other song written by Kiske, which hammers along nicely once it gets going, again not as heads-down speed metal as much of the rest of the album with a nice little introspective guitar solo in the middle. There's also a sense of Thin Lizzy and, again, Queen, in the later guitar work in the song, with some nice choral vocals, presumably made by Weikath on the synth. Quite a commercial song in its way, it's probably one of the better ones on the album so far, and is followed by "March of time", the first Hansen contribution, which kicks down on the pedal and racks the speed all the way back up. Kiske in is fine voice on this, almost dramatic at times. Another rip-roaring solo from Hansen as Ingo bashes away on the drumkit and keeps everything ultra-heavy, then "I want out" is another single and another popular track, boogeying along nicely with a great guitar attack, a lower register vocal from Kiske, until he hits the chorus that is. Good vocal harmonies on this too, and I can see why it was chosen as a single. Very anthemic, very much playing into the disaffected youth angle, mucho dinero to be made. Some of the best lyrics on the album too, quite prog metal in feel: "Hours of lust, hours of tears passing by before my eyes/ Today, tomorrow, yesterday...one life /Days of joy, day of sadness come and go /To pass me by/ A month, a year, one hundred years, they fly." I'm rather surprised to find that the title track, another thirteen-minuter, is written by Weikath on his own. That's quite an achievement. It's introduced on a soft little acoustic guitar, a gentle vocal from Kiske with some attendant keyboard lines, but this lasts for less than a minute before the heavy electric guitar powers in and Kiske's vocal changes to meet it. Uptempo percussion cuts in as the song develops and runs into its second minute, then a really surprising vocal hook appears in the chorus, almost incongruous to the previous parts of the song. This track slides into the progressive metal area, with a lovely Gilmouresque solo from Hansen in the eighth minute as the whole thing slows down into a nice blues vibe. Of course this doesn't last and the song builds up in power and intensity again as it heads into the final section, Hansen bringing in some classic influences as he flirts with Bach's "Tocatta and fugue" during one of the solos. Nice! A powerful, dramatic and thrilling end to the track wraps this up, and indeed did originally signal the end of the album too, as this was the last track on the vinyl version, but when re-recorded for digital media there was an extra track added, and "Save us" is the closer now, with a rather confused, NASA-style monologue opening a hard rocker that cannons along, and it's good but I think the vinyl album ended better with the title track. This almost seems tacked on, which I guess in some ways it is. TRACKLISTING 1. Invitation 2. Eagle fly free 3. You always walk alone 4. Rise and fall 5. Dr. Stein 6. We got the right 7. March of time 8. I want out 9. Keeper of the seven keys 10. Save us http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver3.jpg |
Keeper of the Seven Keys: The Legacy --- Helloween --- 2005 (Steamhammer)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...eys_Part_3.jpg A double album to link the two previous ones, it was seventeen years later that this album was released and a lot had changed within Helloween. Michael Kiske had been fired, and Kai Hansen had also left, so the basic core of the band that had recorded KotSK parts one and two was no more. In Kiske's place we find Andi Deris, with Michael Weikath now the main guitarist, backed by Sascha Gertsner and even Ingo is gone, replaced on drums by Dani Loble. The album kicks off with a very progressive metal sound, a spoken intro over dark melodies on the keys and then we launch into already the longest track on disc one, "The king for a thousand years", clocking in at almost fourteen minutes. It utilises more of the keyboards than had been the case on the other two albums, so much so that there are "additional keyboards" credited to Dersis and Gerstner, while the actual main keysman appears as a guest musician. The guitars of Weikath and Gerstner don't hold back either though, and you can hear the difference right away in vocals when Dersis gets going. His voice is a little more ragged, raw and less polished I think than Kirske's, more prone to growl and snarl than his predecessor was, but still a good singer. The sound on at least the first track is very much more rooted in the progressive metal sound than were either of the other two albums, with sound effects and choral vocals, and generally a slower sound than much on either part 1 or 2. The song seems to have a lot more in it than either of the two epics from the previous albums though, as I'm rather surprised to look and see we're already into the tenth minute, and this track hasn't dragged or plodded at all. It picks up in speed near the end, hitting more the power metal vibe I had been used to with the last two recordings, but still a sense of bands like Kamelot in the mix. I suppose it's an indication of Helloween's confidence in their ability and the loyalty of their fanbase that they could start an album off with such an epic, but it seems to work. Michael Weikath appears to have, by this time, stepped back from the songwriting, and only three of the thirteen tracks across the two discs here are penned by him solo, with the opener a group effort. Even at that, the lyrics here have improved considerably --- "We are king for a 1000 years/ We are king of a million tears/ We're the ones who bring desire/ Blinding their greed and fears/ We are king of fallen men." Andi Deris, in fact, seems to have taken on the lion's share of the composition, most of it by himself: he pens five tracks on his own and collaborates on two others, not counting the opening epic. "The invisible man" is a little more uptempo but still nothing like the breakneck speed we've heard on the previous two albums, with a lot of really catchy hooks in it, though this one is mostly driven by the guitar sound of Weikath and Gerstner, with some fine soloing. I must say, I've nothing against Deris but I miss the clearer, purer voice of Michael Kiske, and think that Helloween suffered from his loss. One thing I do notice about Helloween is that for a metal band they're not afraid to embrace their, shall we say, Christian side, with songs about angels and gods, Heaven and Jesus, titles like "Mrs God" and "Born on Judgement Day" and with Satan, when he appears, seen not as an ally but a foe, not as a role model or "dark lord" but as something to be fought. Of course, much of their lyrical content is at the very least humourous or tongue-in-cheek, and I'd never think to accuse Deris and Co. of being a Christian metal band --- perish the thought! --- but it's refreshing to see them shy from prayers to the devil or glorifying evil, even if many of the bands that do this have again their collective tongues wedged firmly in their cheek. One of the only three songs written by Weikath, "Born on judgement day" (what is it with the American spelling, dropping the "e" after the "judg"? That's not how it's spelled!) kicks the tempo up another notch, with a big powerful chorus and a certain return to power metal on this, and surprisingly mature and heartfelt lyric, then "Pleasure drone" is fun but really nothing special, while "Mrs God", despite the controversial title, comes across almost as a new-wave pop song than a metal one. Very weird. Also the shortest track on the album, and features a rather odd vocal performance from Deris. Really don't like this one. Low point of the album for me. "Silent rain" happens to be the title of one of my favourite songs from Ten, but then you wouldn't know anything about that. It's a ballad on their album "Babylon", but not here. It's a fast rocker than closes disc one with a very Maiden feel to it (I know, I know!) and some fine unfettered drumming from Loble. If ever a Helloween song touched on a taboo subject, this one has the dirty handprints of child abuse and paedophilia all over it. Jarring stuff. Disc two kicks off with another epic, the eleven-minute "Occasion Avenue", which features at its opening a radio tuning to different stations, all of which are, coincidentally, playing Helloween songs from the last two albums. Eventually an acoustic guitar introduces a distant, almost mono vocal before thick heavy bass and slow-pounding drumming ushers in the track fully, with choir-like vocal harmonies and heavy keyboards. The guitars and rhythm section then get going as the song trundles along, and it's hard and heavy but again nothing in the speed stakes to the last two albums in this series. The song has almost two separate identities, one being a fast hard rocker driven by the twin guitar attack of Weikath and Gerstner, the other is a sort of semi-cinematic, Dioesque grinder with the choral harmonies and keyboards laying down the soundscape, and "Occasion Avenue" kind of alternates between these two over the first six minutes of its run. A great little guitar solo takes it into the sixth minute after which the song gets a little stripped back, with a menacing, almost snarling vocal from Deris and echoing guitar and pulsing bass. A military drumbeat then picks up as soft laidback keyboard and piano come in, the song slowing down now in the eighth minute in a very progressive vein before it comes back up on hard guitar and insistent bass, the choral vocals joining in now as the two halves of the song begin to meld, and it's quite a satisfying thing to hear. The first (only?) ballad on the album then features a duet between Deris and Candice Night, Mrs. Richie Blackmore, on the back of soft piano as "Light the universe" slows things down and gives us a chance to see how Deris handles the softer material. I must say he does quite well, though it's Night who makes the song. In fairness, I wouldn't put it up against some of the other great metal ballads I've heard, but it's a decent song, and Friedel Amon does a fine job on the piano. We're back rockin' and headbangin' then with "Do you know what you are fighting for", which has some really catchy guitar riffs and a good chorus, while "Come alive" has again certain elements of AOR (or at least, melodic metal) in it, with a song that I could hear on the radio with a lot of commercial potential. A slow organ intro to "The shade in the shadow", but it quickly ramps up on frenetic guitar, with a pretty good vocal from Deris and things keep speeding along with the tongue-in-cheek titled "Get it up": some great guitar histrionics here. The album closes on "My life for one more day", not an epic but almost seven minutes long, and a good fast rocking closer. In fact, since "Light the universe" the pace hasn't really slackened once as the album pounds towards its conclusion. I still prefer Michael Kiske behind the mike, but Andi Deris is a decent replacement and this album a good followup, even if it's almost two decades later, to the first and second parts of this trilogy. Interestingly, the lyric to "My life for one more day" hint at a continuation of the story of the Seven Keys: in Part II they were thrown into the seven seas by the hero --- whom some say is Jesus; personally I don't see it --- but it would appear one has been recovered by the Lord of Lies as Deris sings "Satan has taken and hidden painstakin'/ One of the Seven of Fate /Out of the sea; he has buried it/ Under the mountain of greed" and it would seem to be up to the hero --- new or old, I don't know: perhaps Helloween are talking to the fans here? --- to undertake the quest to retrieve it: "The last key you have to find/ And so will save mankind ." To be continued? TRACKLISTING DISC ONE 1. The king for a thousand years 2. The invisible man 3. Born on Judgement Day 4. Pleasure drone 5. Mrs. God 6. Silent rain DISC TWO 1. Occasion Avenue 2. Light the universe 3. Do you know what you are fighting for 4. Come alive 5. The shade in the shadow 6. Get it up 7. My life for one more day http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver3.jpg Great as these three albums are, and I can understand their place in the pantheon of metal divinity and their acceptance as being some of the first and seminal power metal albums, which laid down the basics for much of what was to follow, I don't get the link between them. Other than the name, and a vague reference to the Seven Keys in the closer to the 2005 album, there doesn't seem to be any common thread going through the three albums. There is no basic concept --- even within each album, that I can see --- and no recurring themes other than those we now associate with this genre. There's no story told, no tapestry revealed by the three albums, no overarching motif or story arc, so I have to wonder what links the three? Was it simply, in the case of the final album here, a marketing ploy to suck in those who had enjoyed the first two albums? Or is there something I'm missing? Rather like already-reviewed Virgin Steele's "The marriage of Heaven and Hell", there is to my eyes and ears nothing to tie the albums together. Not that I suppose that matters too much, but unlike say Kamelot with "Epica" and "The black halo" or even Shadow Gallery with "Tyranny" and "Room V", neither album follows on smoothly from one to the other, and were they titled differently I doubt anyone would consider them related. That said, they are certainly three great power metal albums, although I wonder if seventeen years between the second and third parts was not asking a bit much from the fans. Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helloween |
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There have certainly been some Metal standards, and songs, that have been covered by odd artistes, whom you would not associate with Heavy Metal at all, but occasionally a Metal band will cover a song that is just, well, so far removed from Metal that it beggars belief. In a recent review of the album "Are you dead yet?" by Children of Bodom, to be published later in the month, I was just totally amazed that they seemed to have recorded a cover version of Britney Spears' "Oops ... I did it again!" I couldn't for the life of me imagine what it would sound like. Surely they would send it up to high Heaven --- or in this case, down to low Hell? --- but could it be possible that they were closet Britney fans, and wanted to do the song justice? Is it even feasible that they might attempt a proper version of it? Well, to my amazement they did a pitch-perfect copy of it, right down to ... nah, just yankin' your chain! They did however draft in the services of Jonna Kosenen, though who she is I don't know. Interesting use of the keyboard and it's just hilarious to hear Alexi Laiho's gutteral vocal with the hammering guitars battering the song to pieces. Just brilliant. You know the original probably --- how many of us will not admit to watching at least one Britney video for, ah, relief? --- but here are the two side by side. Finally, you can throw the horns while listening to Britney! Yeah yeah: we'd all like to throw something else... ;) |
The Crusade --- Trivium --- 2006 (Roadrunner)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...he_Crusade.jpg One of The Batlord's favourite bands (!), Trivium are high --- not number one but in there --- on his list of Poseur Metal Bands, and he really seems to hate them. This, it would appear, is their "most poseur" album, veering away from the death growls (thank the Metal Gods!) and metalcore influences of the previous albums, and containing a more mythological/fantasy line in lyrics and song subjects. I must say, "Ignition", the opener, sounds a lot less like I expected it to. Very raw, very sort of haphazard in its arrangement, a little amateurish if I'm honest. It settles down though and eventually has a nice hook in it that reminds me a little of Ten. Trouble is then it takes off again, back more or less in the style it opened, and it's almost as if this is two songs: the verses sparse and raw, while the chorus is much more melodic, structured much better. As if they can't make up their mind what they want to be. Will this be typical of Trivium's music as the album goes on? Well, following "Ignition" we get "Detonation", which seems quite similar to the previous track, although it strides along with a certain swagger, driven on Travis Smith's drums and the twin guitar attack of Matt Heafy and Cory Beaulieu. Yeah, it's decent enough and seems to hold together quite well. Good guitar solo. "Entrance of the conflagration" (huh? Does that title even make sense?) rocks along with great enthusiasm and energy, thundering, rattling drums and screaming guitars, and you know, at least Heafy doesn't growl! The pace doesn't slacken for "Anthem (We are the fire)" though there is a certain sense of derivativity about it. Rocks well though. "Unrepentant" is good too, though I'm not seeing too much here that really stands out. It's all pretty decent but nothing that really differentiates one track from another, and they're kind of blurring together a little. That's not really fair, but I am finding it hard to find interesting things to write as the album winds on. Well, "And sadness will sear" is slower, a bit grindy and seems to have some sort of sitar-like sound, so that's different. Sort of little progressive metal touches in the guitar riff, and a nice expressive solo too. I'd definitely list this as my favourite track on an album that, so far, has been mostly unremarkable. There's a real power metal feel to "Becoming the dragon", and so far I've heard neither growl nor scream --- oh wait, there they are! Well, just sort of incidentally really. Great steamhammer drumming and powerful fretwork from the boys, but you kind of begin to wonder are their hearts really in it or are they just going through the motions? More fretburning on "To the rats" and the hammer is well and truly brought down as the band break the speed limit, thrashing along at breakneck speed, but they still manage to throw in a pretty catchy hook in the chorus. It's the same problem as with the opener: the main part of the song is chaotic and disorganised while the chorus seems to bear no resemblance to it. It's more of the same for "This world can't tear us apart" --- good, or at least not bad, but nothing that blows my skirt up --- and "Tread the floods" more or less treads (sorry) the same path, though it can't be denied there's some great guitar histrionics going on. Trouble is, superhot fret madness on its own does not make great songs and while there are some good ideas here they're kind of muddled and not very well thought out. In my opinion. Yeah. The next two kind of just slide by for me, and the album ends on the title track, an eight-minute instrumental which is of course largely guitar wankery but pretty damn good. TRACKLISTING 1. Ignition 2. Demolition 3. Entrance of the conflagration 4. Anthem (We are the fire) 5. Unrepentant 6. And sadness will sear 7. Becoming the dragon 8. To the rats 9. This world can't tear us apart 10. Tread the floods 11. Contempt breeds contamination 12. The rising 13. The Crusade All in all, I'd have to say I don't have a huge amount of praise for Trivium, but neither do I think they're the worst out there. A lot of their material is very derivative, as I've said earlier, and for me they could be even more accused of being a poseur band than Dragonforce, so I see where His Batship is coming from. That said, they can play certainly and their singer is okay, but again the confused nature of their songwriting and the execution of their songs is a little hard to get my head around. Seems like they could have one or two really good songs if they tried, but they seem happier to kind of just dance around, wave guitars and not take their music too seriously. I suppose that, in the end, could prove to be the undoing of them. If you don't take yourself seriously, then how can you expect anyone else to? http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver2.jpg Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trivium_%28band%29 |
Twilight of the Gods --- Bathory --- 1991 (Black Mark)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...f_the_gods.jpg Starting out as one of Scandinavia's first black metal bands, Bathory changed their style after 1990 towards a more viking/gothic metal approach, and this is where this album falls, their followup to "Hammerheart", on which the style is said to have changed first. At this point the band had shrunk to basically a one-man unit, comprising only Quorthon, founder of Bathory, who plays every instrument and sings on this album. Good man, Quorthon! With only seven tracks, the album nevertheless falls just short of the hour mark, this being due to the opener running for fourteen minutes, while there is also a ten minute song on it. We open on the title track, mirroring the struggle at the end of the world in Norse mythology, called "Ragnarok", when the gods would war against each other, good versus bad, in a battle that would end up destroying both sides and leaving humans free of gods. A howling wind blows across an icy plain, in the distance a guitar chimes out like a lonely sentinel, a witness left to observe the fall of the Gods of Asgard in their final climactic battle. Suddenly, heavy militaristic drumming booms out and deep choral voices add their lament; this is a battle chant, but a battle the participants know they are fated to lose. There's a sense of desperation, of finality and fatalism, but also heroism and stoicism, pride and determination to face the end with honour, and to fall bravely in battle. All has been foretold, there is no cheating prophecy and the Gods know that. Thor steps forth, his eyes flashing fire, his mighty hammer in his hand, and faces his half-brother Loki, smaller than him but in terms of evil twice his size. Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge, shakes to the sound of battle, echoes with the screams of dying men, rings to the sound of steel clashing on steel. (Yes, I love Norse mythology, in case you were unaware!) Quorthon's vocal breaks in now, joining the cry of the wounded, the lost, the dying, the music swelling behind him like a battle cry, a last fist raised in defiance as the Gods ride to war one more time and face their age-old enemy. I have to say, for a fourteen minute song, we're halfway through it and it hasn't really changed much, but it's certainly evoking the spirit of Ragnarok. Against an expressive guitar piece a spoken vocal opens "Through blood by thunder", which turns into another anthemic cruncher with a real feeling of pathos and tragedy with some great fretburning action, and on into the second long track. Of seven tracks here, three have the word "blood" in their titles, but then when you're dealing with the final battle for Asgard I guess that's expected. "Blood and iron" opens with more introspective guitar, some acoustic, quite relaxed and moody, which takes it into the second minute of the song, after which the power chords churn out and percussion hits. Again, it's a slow, grinding marcher with another spoken vocal this time telling of Man's discovery, through the gods, of steel which could be forged into swords. And ploughshares. But mostly swords. "Under the runes" has a very Led Zep/Dio sound to it, very dramatic and powerful, bringing in the choir again and racking off a superb solo near the end. Sounds sort of like a sitar at the beginning of "To enter your mountain", and you can see the deep effect of doom metal on this music. It's all slow and grindy though with a certain gothic and at times even progressive metal influence. "Bond of blood" is another plodder with heavy guitar and choral vocals, then "Hammerheart" is really clever, with lyrics given to Gustav Holst's "Jupiter, the bringer of Jollity" from "The Planets Suite". Great job, and an excellent closer. Perhaps odd that this is the title of the previous album, but there you go. TRACKLISTING 1. Twilight of the Gods 2. Through blood by thunder 3. Blood and iron 4. Under the runes 5. To enter your mountain 6. Bond of blood 7. Hammerheart Although this never got going with any even slightly uptempo tracks, my approval was always assured by the fact that it deals with Norse legend, and particularly Ragnarok. When you consider this is all the work of one guy it's pretty staggering. Quorthon certainly knows his Norse mythology and brings to life the world of Asgard and the Aesir here in a way I've seen few other bands manage. Although this was a change in direction for Bathory I certainly enjoyed it and I may look back into their catalogue --- or forward, from here --- they have twelve albums in all, and though some of the earlier ones may not be to my taste I feel sure I may find at least a few that will be. For Asgard, Valhalla and Odin! http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver5.jpg Note: I have just read that Quorton died from heart failure at the age of thirty-eight in 2004. A sad loss, considering the talent displayed here, and such a pity we will hear no more from him. Based on that, I definitely need to listen to more Bathory. RIP man. Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathory_%28band%29 |
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You have pleased me. If I had to pick a fav metal band, along with Hammerfall and Manowar, I'd probably have to go with Bathory. When they play black metal, there isn't any extreme metal I like better, and when they play viking metal they are one of the most unique metal bands I've ever heard and there are none more epic in any musical genre I've ever heard. Fantastic stuff. You'd probably want to stay clear of their first four albums though. If you hate black metal then there is nothing for you there. If you dig Twilight of the Gods though, Hammerheart, Blood On the Ice, and the two Nordland albums are well worth your time. They're all truly quality. |
Thanks Batty. When I say predictable I of course don't mean my reactions, which are all expected --- though some albums did surprise me, such as In Flames and Doomsword, to name but two --- but the expected choice of album. I mean, if I reviewed Motorhead everyone would expect "Ace of spades", "Overkill" or "Bomber", in fact I plan to review "Bastards". I know nothing of the album but like the title, and the fact that I know nothing of the album. Some of the choices were invariably down to title, as in the Bathory one, others were taken in order to move along the timeline: I'd reviewed an album from the 90s, so the next one would be one from the 80s and then one from the 2000's and so on, so that it didn't get too stale. Then of course there are the too-obvious, like Metallica's Black album or Master of Puppets, or Sababth's Paranoid. Sometimes I prefer to veer a little left when choosing albums.
Doesn't always work of course. Go off the beaten path and you could find an album everyone hates, that is totally misrepresentative of the artiste's work, or just plain sucks. But using Wiki or RYM was just an easy out to me, although I did research the bands on Wiki, and in general if I saw an album by say a death metal or thrash metal band and the entry said it was less aggressive or with less death growls than previous ones, I would usually choose it. But, and it's a big but, I stayed with "Seven churches" for Possessed and "Heretic" for Morbid Angel, so I tried not to always take the cheaper, easier-on-my-ear way out if I could. At any rate, hope you're all enjoying it and there's plenty more yet to come... |
The shadowthrone --- Satyricon --- 1994 (Moonfrog)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._satyricon.jpg We've had the primary Swedish black metal band in Bathory, now let's cross over the fjord and head to the darker lands. Satyricon are acknowledged as one of the driving forces behind the early black metal movement in Norway, and this is accepted generally as one of their finest albums. It's their second, and again my first introduction to the band. I think I got lucky with Bathory; I don't expect to be let off so lightly with a second black metal band. But as they sort of said in Futurama, you gotta do what you gotta do... Well there's a gutteral growl which doesn't do anything to assuage my fears, then "Hvite Krists død" (which apparently translates as "White Christ's death") gets going, with hammering guitar, pounding drums and that black metal sound I love so much! :rolleyes: Yeah, this is going to be a blast, I can tell! Well now let's not be too hasty. Things settle down for a nice keyboard passage and soft bass, over which Satyr speaks in I assume Norwegian for a few moments, but that doesn't last --- hoenstly, did we expect it to? --- and we're back chasing the devil with a guitar. Yeah well it's not the worst black metal I've ever heard this month. Hey, there's even some rather nice piano! Then a big gong sounds and sharp guitar takes us out. Much faster then is "In the mist by the hills", with more gravelly, scratchy singing from Satyr and pound-you-into-submission guitar from Samoth and Satyr himself, who also plays the odd bit of keyboards for good measure. Frost, on the drums, goes total overkill here near the end, and keeps going into "Woods to eternity", with the guitar almost restrained in comparison. Almost. But then they surprise me again, smacking me upside the head with a really nice soft acoustic guitar passage which leads into a harder electric one but is still quite --- can I say this? --- pastoral? Certainly sounds like it. The fact that Satyr keeps his gob shut while it's playing is a plus too. "Vikingland" has an interesting chorus and warrior-style backing vocals with I must admit a very sharp guitar that I really like. On the minus side, Satyr's back. "Dominions of Satyricon" then is the epic, a nine-minute track that goes through many changes over its length, opening as a sort of marching anthem and then changing to heads-down headbanger with shredding a-plenty before returning to a slightly sped-up anthem, and all this in the first two minutes! A triphammer drumbeat takes us into the fourth minute with, I'm glad to say, a minimum of singing from old Satyr. Sure he'll be back though: ah yes, here he is! "The king of the shadowthrone" keeps the energy pumping high with rattling guitar and thundering drums and then, just as it's trundling along nicely they pull out the old acoustic, send the drummer to make the tea and just chill, for a few seconds. Mind you, it's not any time before Satyr is pounding on the electric and then he does another one of those dark voiceovers that crack me up so much. Oh. And that's the end. Of that song. And almost the album. There's a kind of horn intro and some rather nice piano --- played I believe by the devilish one --- to close out on "I en svart kiste", which Wiki tells me is Norwegian for "in a black coffin". Tore, if you're reading you can tell me if they're right. It's a nice symphonic/gothic piece, with deep bassoon or summat, probably synthesised I guess but it sounds well. Just hoping it may be instrumental, as we're about halfway in and no vocals yet. Well, choral vocals on the keys yes, but no singing. Not yet. Yeah, it's an instrumental, and a nice one to finish on too. TRACKLISTING 1. Hvite Krists død 2. In the mist by the hills 3. Woods to eternity 4. Vikinglands 5. Dominions of Satyricon 6. The king of the shadowthrone 7. I en kvist svarte Musically I can really dig these guys. I get where they're coming from. It's my old bugbear again, death vocals, that's turning me a little from listening to more of their music. Satyr has the kind of voice that makes you think of nails scraping down a blackboard, but he can certainly play the guitar and he does a fine job on the keyboards on the last track. This was not nearly as bad as I had led myself to believe, and given that it's an early album and very clearly black metal I think I did ok with it. Nevertheless, this subgenre is never going to be my thing, but I wanted to make sure that there was something for everyone across the wide wonderful spread of heavy metal, so there's some black metal for yaz. Next up, it's System of a Down. http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver3.jpg Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyricon_%28band%29 |
Toxicity --- System of a Down --- 2001 (American)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...albumcover.jpg Something concerns me about this band. Wiki lists them as a "rock" band, not a "metal" band, but I believe they're accepted as part of the nu-metal scene? I don't know; like so many bands here this is my first encounter with SOAD, so forgive me if I'm introducing a band who should not be included, but I'm going on popular opinion, so let's see how this pans out. Choppy guitar chords that start and stop, a whispered vocal, pauses, silence, more guitars then the melody kicks in properly as "Prison song" starts, with a vocal that sounds more like something out of a reggae song to be honest. Okay it's heavy but is it metal? Well, apparently SOAD are supposed to utilise an awful lot of different influences so let's not discount them right away. It slows down in the middle and we get some gratuitous growls while vocalist Serj Tankian carries on. It's energetic, it's almost funny in places. Not too sure if I'm meant to take this seriously? Anyhoo, next track is "Needles", with a big heavy drumbeat and churning guitars, vocal is sort of spoken/shouted almost in a punk fashion, then "Deer dance" has the reggae-ish vocal back, tripping along nicely then Tankian starts shouting again. Is this metal? I still don't know. I wouldn't categorise it as such, personally. Not so far anyway. "Jet pilot" just flies along at Mach II, then slows down into an almost traditional format, like a folk song in arabic or something, then flies off again. SOAD seem to relish mixing different styles and genres in even one song, which to my mind makes it hard to decide whether or not you like them. Things don't change really until "Chop suey!" has a nice introspective guitar line, but then that becomes a harder one and the vocal is another rapid-fire delivery for part of the song, dropping back on soft piano to an almost balladic style before returning to the original delivery. Quite annoying really. There's a sense of the innate silliness of some of the vocal performances of The Divine Comedy in "Bounce" and then a rising, sort of intense vocal in "Forest", while "ATWA" is kind of a mess with Tankian snarling "You don't care/ How I feel!" Sort of sums up my mindset on this album, I have to say. I think I'd rather listen to some doom metal. Or even black metal. Yeah. Even Venom would be preferable to this. Well, might be a close run thing. I really don't like this. SOAD are trying to be too clever, too wacky and it's as I said already very annoying. The title track runs on a nice chimy slow guitar run and a decent vocal but of course, as we'd expect by now, that soon gets kicked in the nuts as the rowdy shout breaks out and the guitars and drums go crazy. Sigh. At this point, heard it all before guys and it's not innovative or funny any more. For me, SOAD doesn't stand for System Of A Down, it means Settle On A Direction! They seem to be constantly flying off at tangents, mixing rhythms, melodies and genres so much that their music just comes across as a confused, haphazard mish-mash, as if they're just trying ideas out to see how they work. Personally, I feel they don't more often than they do. It's exhausting just trying to keep up with the constant changes. There's some nice guitar work in "Psycho", and the closer "Aerials" has finally settled down into a decent tune; it's a pity they didn't just concentrate on playing to their strengths on this album, instead of just jumping around all over the place like a bunch of Tasmanian Devils on crack. By now though I really couldn't care less. Time to write the outro and forget all about this band. TRACKLISTING 1. Prison songs 2. Needles 3. Deer dance 4. Jet pilot 5. X 6. Chop Suey! 7. Bounce 8. Forest 9. ATWA 10. Science 11. Shimmy 12. Toxicity 13. Psycho 14. Aerials It's been said that it's hard to pigeonhole SOAD and I can see why. They really don't seem to be able to settle on one genre, musical style or idea and stick to it. Diversity is all well and good, but not in the same song! It's just too much of an effort to try to sort it all out, and really it is sad because right at the end of the album when they calm down and start playing and singing like a "normal" band, they do very well. But by then I'm already on the bus home and have missed the last few tracks of the encore. Not a gig I'll be looking at ever returning to. As for the original question I posed at the outset: are System Of A Down metal? I still sure as hell don't know, however now I also don't care. http://www.trollheart.com/cleaver1.jpg Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_of_a_Down |
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