Frownland

I've been checking the updates for the GTT review alone. Gnaw Their Tongues, stat.

__________________

Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

The Batlord

There's a distinct possibility that Trollheart will be left catatonic, in which case we will never know the truth.

__________________

Trollheart

There are probably some of you who will say Frank Marino is not metal. There are even likely to be those among you who don't even know who he is. To the latter I say Frank is or was one of Canada's premier guitar gods, comapred to Hendrix so much that some accused him of being a clone of the great man. To the former I say listen to his albums and then make that claim, either the ones with his band Mahogany Rush or his later solo efforts, or indeed his work in the mid-seventies with April Wine.

I'm no real aficionado of the man, to be honest. The two tracks reviewed on the recent “Killer Watts” piece and one solo album is all I know of him, but that 1982 album gave me a nugget of excellence to hold onto, and even now, over thirty years later, this still crops up as one of my alltime favourite songs, and certainly one of my favourite anti-war anthems.
“Stories of a hero” (Frank Marino) 1982, from the lbum "Juggernaut"
Music and lyrics by Frank Marino

The song treats the onset of war as something to be feared in the case of the wife of the main protagonist, the hero in the title, and something to be excited about and yet a little apprehensive by the man himself. Although we're not told what war he is fighting in, it's obviously a relatively recent one, as the lines ”She stands alone on the platform looking sad” attest to --- we're not talking ancient times here. Probably World War I or II, and given that Frank's Canadian probably not Vietnam, though I guess it could be. A modern war anyway. Of course, I suppose it doesn't have to be a war involving Canada just because he's a native, but you'd imagine if he wants to make a point it would be concerning a war his country was involved in.

In the end, it's probably immaterial. War is hell, no matter who fights it, how it's fought or when it takes place, and that is the central theme of this song. Focussing less on the war itself and more on the personal impact on the couple, it tells the story of how the young man is called up for service --- ”The time has come/ Said the young man/ To his bride/ My train waits outside” --- and his wife's fear that he may not return. It's a ballad, but with a very strong guitar motif running through it and a hell of a powerful solo to end it into fade. But as ever on this section it's the lyric we're concerned with here.

We see the man take leave of his wife (we get the feeling, or I do anyway, though it may not be the case, that they are only recently married) and head off to the war. Though he is scared, and sorry to have to leave her, he assures her he will be back, but underneath it all there is a sense of excitement about this new adventure, as if he's looking forward to proving himself. ”Gonna be a big hero/ In his hometown” is what he hopes will happen. Sadly for him, yes this is what the end result is but he will not be around to bask in that glory. I also like the way Frank presages the young man's fate by changing one line in the chorus, from Soldier's gone to war/ Told her he's coming home” to ”Soldier's gone to war/ Don't know it but he/ Ain't comin' home no more.”

What I love about this song, and what really makes it stand out for me, is that the war is treated almost as an incidental. Nothing is mentioned of the young man's bravery, the presumably heroic feat that costs him his life. It's not important, certainly not to the woman he leaves behind as she receives the news of his death. Again, cleverly, nothing is said of how he died --- or even if he died, but you can make the very obvious inference when Frank sings ”The paper falls to the ground from her trembling hand/ The words they burn to her soul” Yeah, her man is not coming back home. Ever. Whereas in a somewhat similar vein, and a totally different genre, Paper Lace sang about the eponymous hero in “Billy don't be a hero” and described his act or courage/foolishness, here Frank completely glosses over what it was that got the young man killed. The cold hard fact is he is dead, and his wife is on her own in the world. ”World's gone so cold.”

The song then ends on an angry tirade against the futility of war, and how it can be and often is glamourised. ”The stories tell of bravery/ He was golden as the sun” It's also ironic, as he points out via the lyric, that men only become heroes if they die in war, not just if they take part in it. The soldier here will be remembered as a hero, but only because he fell in battle. Had he survived and returned to his wife, nobody would really remember him or mark him out as special. Yeah, death has that way of enshrining a hero in the memory, and a dead hero is always afforded more respect than a live one.

A fine, underrated song that makes its point in a very personal and understated way, and yet cuts to the heart of the matter, that bravery is useless when it gets you killed, and what after all are you really dying for?

(Unfortunately, the studio version seems to have disappeared from YouTube so you'll have to have a live version, slightly longer than the original)

”The time has come
Said a young man to his bride:
My train waits outside.
And though I leave
You know I'll keep you by my side;
She holds on a final time.

Soldier's gone to war,
Told her he's comin' home.
Soldier's gone to war
He's gonna be a hero in his hometown, lord.

She stands alone
On the platform lookin' sad
He waves through a pane of glass;
And though she hopes
He will be comin' home at last
Her heart knows what's gonna pass.

Soldier's gone to war,
Don't know it, but he ain't comin' home no more.
Soldier's gone to war
He's gonna be known as a hero in his hometown, lord.

Soldier's gone to war
Told her he's comin' home
Soldier has gone to war
He's gonna be known as a hero in his hometown, lord

The paper falls to the floor from a trembling hand;
The words they burn to the soul.
And though she cries, she doesn't really understand
The world's gone so cold.
Soldier went to war,
Told her he'd be comin' home.
Soldier went to war:
Gonna be a big hero in his hometown, lord.

And the stories tell of bravery, yeah:
He was golden as the sun.
Well he fought for you and he fought for me, yeah
And he died for everyone/
Stories of a hero.
Glories of a hero.

Well it seems as though the world ain't changed:
It goes on and on for years.
When men must die to be called brave
To earn respect among their peers.
Stories of a hero.
Glories of a hero.”

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

It may not. Get better than this I mean. After scouring through EM's short but not tiny list of Irish metal bands, and trying to avoid my home city for now, I kept coming up against the same problem: nowhere --- not on Spotify, not on Grooveshark, not even on YouTube --- could I find any more than two tracks from some artistes, and none from most. So I changed tack, and decided to leave the environs of EM. heading out into Googleland, where I typed in those magical words: “Best Irish Metal Bands”. A page called IrishMetal came at the top of the list (after some stupid advertisement for steel pipes of course!) and the first name there just drew my attention. I quickly tapped them into Spotify and lo and behold! Up they came with an album. Well, an EP.

So these are the second Irish band I'm going to cover. Sadly, they don't even show on EM's list, so I can't tell you where they come from, and also perhaps sadly, they marry two concepts which for me can never sit easily together and will always be eyeing each other nervously, death metal and Christian Metal. But come on! With a name like this, for an Irish band, sure I had to check them out. Ya wide or wot?

Apocalyptic visions of divine terror --- ForChristSake --- um...

More points that mark this out as being a possible mistake on my part. 1) Lots and lots of umcomplimentary remarks on the IM website. But sure, what do they know? They're just another bunch of wankers like me. It's not like they're music critics or writers. 2) Sixteen tracks. Six-fucking-teen! Of death metal. Oh dear. 3) The vocalist comes in for a lot of criticism. Well, let's give it a whirl and see what it's like. You may have noticed that I don't have a year shown, because I don't know for sure, but the site seems to be touting it as a new album, so possibly this year. Label is also information I am not privy to.

From the title of course you know this is not going to be any happy-clappy, kumbi-ya, Jesus-will-save-you religious rubbish. From what I can see, this is the bad Jesus. The vengeful Jesus. The one who appears at Judgement Day and stands there, nine thousand feet tall with an awful scowl on his face and glares “Crucify ME, would you? Now I'll show you fuckers what pain really is!” Vengeance is mine, he sayeth, and soileth we all our pants.

I'm kind of getting used to deceptive intros, and here we have a soft keyboard and synth one leading in “Blackened lands”, though a hard chugging guitar cuts in then, with a sort of choral thing going in the background. Not sure if I don't hear any vocals yet or if they're so deep they're being subsumed into the mix, but the review I read --- which was less than complimentary --- maintained the vocals were too high in the mix, so it must be the former. Good shredding there on the guitar, and I have to assume now this is an instrumental as it reaches its last minute. It's not a long song --- three and a half minutes --- but for me it's a decent start, as what I had read about this band led me to believe they would be quite brutal, and this, well, isn't. So far anyway. Next up is “The hollow way of thinking”, and yeah, now we hear the vocals. Harsh but not indecipherable, sort of sounds like the singer (whose name I don't know) has a bad cold or a sore throat. I've definitely heard far worse.

That much said, I don't hear much structure in this song. It's mostly just the guitarist banging out the riffs, the vocalist roaring and the rest of them doing their own thing. Sort of a mixture of thrash and black metal I guess, neither of which are terribly good. Oh look! We're halfway through track three, “The leeches”, without me even realising it. That's how gripping and interesting this album is. To be honest, during “At the gates to depravity” (did you ever hear a worse title?) the guitarist sounds like he forgot how to play! Not that it seems it would particularly matter from what I'm hearing. Not impressed so far. It also doesn't help that the song is over eight minutes long! At least the next title sits well with a band who profess to support and I guess preach Christianity in their lyrics, though that seems to be all “Deliver us from evil” has going for it, as it's basically just a mess.

People talk about the “loose drumming” on this album, and I see now what they mean. At times it seems like the drummer has just decided to pound on the kit until someone stops him, and not necessarily in any sort of rhythm. Other times he just seems completely out of step with the rest of the band. At least there's a higher-pitched vocal here and some pretty decent guitar work, but it's still nothing I'd be proud to call Irish. In fact, its positioning as a Christian Metal band from Ireland is nothing short of embarrassing. I'm envisaging having a hard time getting through the next eleven --- yeah, eleven! --- tracks. If this is the best Ireland has to offer in the arena of Heavy Metal, then God help us all! (Pun intended) Play me some Planxty or Christy Moore, please! Oh, thought it was going into a bit of an introspective passage there on the bass, but we only got a few notes before it piled back into the usual headlong speed as it crashes towards its end. If only it were the end of the whole album!

But we must steel ourselves and soldier on. Well, ok, “Last call” has a nice --- no. It started with something of a hooky melody but within seconds had descended into another total mess, with some strange keyboard lines it seems thrown across the tune, like someone throwing down a coat at a party, not in the least bothered where they leave it. I thought I heard flute there in the mix too, but it's probably just my brain disintegrating, or maybe it's on the keys? Doesn't add anything to the song other than a further level of confusion though. At least this is a short track, and each one takes us closer to the end of the thing, so that's something to hold on to. The next one is long though, and looking fearfully ahead I see another six, a seven and an eight-minuter before we can consign this thing to the trashheap. “Shadow” is a little slower and grindier, with some decent riffs threatening to break through and the drumming almost in time, a sort of ominous sound on the guitar and synth taking the tune in the second minute, and doing a competent enough job with it.

There's an attempt at an atmospheric opening to “Serpent rising”, but the drums come in way too soon and far too powerfully, reducing and spoiling what might have been a nice effect. Now guitars blunder in and to finish the song off completely the vocalist snarls the lyric. Kind of retains a mid-paced boogie-ish beat, but let's be honest: it's really hard to take any of this seriously, especially when the almost falsetto vocal joins the harsher one. Oh. My. God. And not in a good way. Look, I don't care what religion you go with, or if you go with none, but death metal and Christianity just don't mix. It's offputting to hear what is clearly supposed to be a dark, evil voice intoning ”Look to Christ and live!” Just doesn't track man, just doesn't track. That whole growly vocal is almost always associated with death, black or in some cases thrash metal, and wittering on about God in that voice just doesn't work for me. It's almost funny, but then, it's not meant to be is it? These guys expect you to take them seriously, which is really hard to do.

“Red moon” has one of the darkest, dirtiest vibe I've heard in a song, but it's more I think a case of muddy production, or bad playing than anything intentional. Everything seems to almost fade into one mess of noise, and the only thing that rises in the mix is the vocals. “Walk among the dead” seems to finally get it right, with a dark, doomy sound driven by, for once, very competent drumming and a bleak synth line that makes the tune sound like something out of a horror movie, but it only last under a minute and a half, and is instrumental, leading into “Necronemesis”, which at least has a clever title. That's all it has. It's another hack'n'slash rocker that goes nowhere, very fast. Okay, to be fair, there's a very good solo at the end. At least there are only five tracks left, though one of them is eight minutes long, but to perhaps compensate for that, two are only two minutes long. Might as well get it over with then!

“Inhalation asphyxia” tries very hard to be Slayer but is not worthy of licking their boots, while “Deification” (which at first I took to be “Defecation”!) starts with a slow, dark chorus and a grinding, Sabbathy riff, which is quite effective. I don't however expect it to last. The guitar flourishes placed over it are in fact really good and work in well with the overall melody. I'd say this is an instrumental, except that it's seven minutes long. And in the second minute it all goes into overdrive again, completely destroying the dark atmosphere they had built up so carefully. Now it's just another sub-standard thrasher. Oh well, can't say I didn't expect it. Well, “Inferno” has passed by unnoticed and now we're into the title track, not that it makes any difference. One more to go.

“Dawn of a new day” is the other short track, and you might expect it to be a ballad, or at least less frenetic than the previous fifteen tracks? Well, you know you'd be right. Lush synth, choral vocals, strings and a nice epic closer to what is generally a very subpar and generic album. I think I'd rather listen to Fleshgrind! At least I could laugh at them.

TRACKLISTING

1. Blackened lands
2. The hollow way of thinking
3. The leeches
4. At the gates of depravity
5. Deliver us from evil
6. Last call
7. Shadow
8. Serpent rising
9. Red moon
10. Walk among the dead
11. Necronemesis
12. Inhalation asphyxia
13. Deification
14. Inferno
15. Apocalyptic visions of divine terror
16. Dawn of a new day

There's really nothing good I can say about this album. It came across to me as just a mess: chaotic, undisciplined, and the odd bit of talent notwithstanding, really quite an amateur effort. Somebody reviewing this remarked that as an EP, this is way too long. I would agree. Even as an album, sixteen tracks is too many, especially when some of them hit over the seven minute mark. But then, if they were good I wouldn't really have a problem with that. This however has been a real chore to get through, and does not fill me with confidence for the state of metal in Ireland.

I hate to repeat myself, but let's hope we have better luck next time. Again.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Somehow, this got almost lost in the mix. I don't know how, because duga recommended about five albums to me, but none of them found their way onto my list before Metal Month II began, and it was only when double-checking this week how many I had left, to ensure there were enough days left, that I came across him and did a double-take. So I'm looking at this one, and apologies for almost ignoring you, man!

Foundations of burden --- Pallbearer --- 2014 (Profound Lore Records)

Normally, I've tried to stay away from albums released this year, as they would conflict with the “Freshly Forged” section, but as I almost missed duga completely, and as I've already listened to Megadeth and Carcass, I thought this was the album on his list most likely to interest me. So here it is.

Surprisingly, after six years in existence this is only the second album from these doom metal merchants. I see too that it has a mere seven tracks, but that most of them hit over the ten-minute mark, so it won't be like listening to an EP I guess. We open on “Worlds apart”, which is one of those ten-minuters, and has a nice, dramatic guitar to start it off, not sounding as slow or crushing as I've come to expect from doom metal. Quite tuneful and upbeat really. The vocalist is also a pleasant surprise, reminding me very much of early Ozzy. I certainly like his voice more than any doom metal vocalist I've heard yet, save perhaps himself from Doomsword. And I must admit I'm already really into this. It's far better than, again, most of the doom I've been subjected to this month. The guitar is crushing without being oppressive, if that's possible, and the drums are heavy but with purpose.

There's also some really nice vocal harmonies, though I see now that it's guitarist Devin Holt taking the mike for this first track, as indeed he will do for the third. Beautiful little solo there in the fourth minute; I feel this ten minute opener is going to go a lot easier than I had originally anticipated. Slowing down now into a darker, grindier groove, like someone walking who suddenly falls into quicksand or finds himself in setting tar. Good though; the music here is pretty superb. It's definitely descended into a darker groove all right, with an ending big and heavy enough to crush an elephant. That takes us into what I guess is as close to a title track as we're going to get, as “Foundations” introduces us to main vocalist Brett Campbell, and contrary to my fears, his voice is just as pleasant and decipherable as Holt's. Speaking of Devin, some great guitar work from him opens up this second epic.

“Foundations” runs for nearly nine minutes, and is slower and harder than the opener, Holt's guitar growling all over the song while Campbell sings in a somewhat slightly higher register than his bandmate, a vocal really more suited to AOR or prog metal I would have thought, though I'm certainly not complaining. When I saw these guys were doom metal I feared the worst, but this is not at all bad. In fact, it's very good. It might even be very very good. So good is it in fact that we're halfway through this second track and I hadn't really noticed. It's certainly not dragging, that's for sure! Even less predictable is the soft, laidback guitar passage that takes the song in its sixth minute, and although this winds up into a harder, more punchy riff as the track moves towards its conclusion, it's an unexpected turn, and very welcome.

I'm actually finding it hard to call much of this doom metal, or at least what I have come to see as traditional doom metal. It's more upbeat, musically, and clearer, and even a little faster than the doom metal I've listened to up to now. Definitely enjoying this. Hmm. I may have been wrong about the lead vocals changing per track; looks like both Holt and bassist Joseph D. Rowland contribute backing vocals, but I wonder why the Wiki page goes to such lengths to point out on which tracks each sings? Well, duga can probably clear that up later for us.

“Watcher in the dark” has a heavier, broodier feel to it and runs on a grinding guitar for about three of the almost eleven minutes it spans, with vocals only coming in at that point, the Ozzy sound back which makes me rethink the above paragraph. Does Holt return to take lead vocals on this song? Well I guess in a way it doesn't matter, as they all appear to be good singers. There's a darker, more dramatic feel to this, and although piano and Fender Rhodes have been mentioned I have to admit I've heard neither so far. An absolutely superb guitar outro that could very well have this song taking standout for me so far, something of a feat given how great the other two tracks were. Sense of Gilmour in there too, if you listen real hard. Again, it's a long song that's over before you even realise it, and we're into another (thank the metal gods) in “The ghost I used to be”.

Very reflective, almost oriental in ways opening, and I could really hear a violin here (though there isn't one: I just think it would have fitted in so well) as the song again rides along on a heavy but very melodious guitar line from Holt. Mustn't forget the vocal either, because it's quite excellent. In fact, just about everything about this is wonderful, and I am surprised, as I did not expect it to be anywhere near this good. There's a slowdown to almost a crawl in the last few minutes of “The ghost I used to be” with a kind of echo in the vocal that gives you the impression of chanting, then a really slick little guitar passage before the percussion thumps back in and the song moves into its eighth minute. Yeah, eight: already.

Ah, now we hear the Fender Rhodes, and it has been worth waiting for as the shortest track on the album by a long way, “Ashes”, a mere three minutes and change, provides a lovely change with a soft vocal and what definitely sounds like violin but may be on synth. A ballad on a doom metal album? You'd better believe it. The closer then is the longest track by a little bit, as with a Sabbathy guitar riff unaccompanied “Vanished” kicks in and runs for almost twelve minutes. Some more beautiful Floydesque guitar here, the drumming suits it perfectly, almost like a heartbeat, and the singing is, dare I say it on a doom metal album? Yeah, I dare: angelic. The singing is angelic. There, I said it. Oh my fucking god I think I'm in love with this album. It is just amazing. No, I will not say it. No. Never. I don't use that word. Yes I know it applies, but I refuse on basic principles to use that overused word --- ah fuck it okay. It's awesome. Satisfied? Yeah. It's awesome. In fact, I'd go further: it's fucking awesome. I mean it.

TRACKLISTING

1. Worlds apart
2. Foundations
3. Watcher in the dark
4. The ghost I used to be
5. Ashes
6. Vanished

I feel about this album kind of the way I did when I first listened to Doomsword, or Stormbringer, or Urfaust recently. Just did not expect it to be this good and am really blown away by how incredible this album is. Again, whether it would fall under doom metal for me or not is debatable, however I am slightly disappointed that Pallbearer only have two albums, which means I only have one other I can check out. But certainly at the moment one of the albums of 2014.

And again, sorry duga for nearly missing you out. And thanks for the rec. I mean it.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Well so far we've failed, in my view at least, failed utterly to find a decent Irish metal band, so I'm turning to that font of all things Metal, The Batlord, who suggested these guys, whom I must admit I didn't even know existed, even though they come from my home town. Formed in 1993, Primordial became the first Irish black metal band and have since added touches of folk and of course celtic music to their sound. The album I'm going to look at, for no particular reason, is this one, their third of currently seven, with a new album due later this year.

Spirit the earth aflame --- Primordial --- 2000 (Hammerheart)

Interestingly --- and this had no bearing on my choice of album, as it holds true for nearly all their albums --- this has only eight tracks on it, though half of those are over seven minutes and two are over eight. A rolling, deep drumbeat takes us into the title track, one of the shorter ones at just under two and a half minutes. Squealing guitar joins the melody --- and it is melody; this does not sound like black metal, and in a good way --- before the vocal comes in from Alan Nemtheanga, and I'm surprised and delighted to hear he is not a growler, nor a screamer, but that I can very easily listen to his voice. He sounds defiant and angry, but that's about it. Soft jangly guitar and what sounds like keyboards though none are mentioned opens “Gods to the godless”, with a strong powerful guitar and thrashing drums, Ciaran MacUllaim racking off the riffs and Simon O'Laoghaire taking drum duties. It's another fine melodic piece with a lot of power and a very dark but completely intelligible vocal from Alan.

Ah, now he ramps up his vocals into a real black metal scream, but it's not quite as jarring as it could be, and he soon returns to his “normal” singing voice. You can definitely see the influence of celtic music and lore on this track, though from what I can see Primordial shy from bringing in the obvious whistles, uileann pipes and other instruments associated with Irish music. Refreshing, though I actually think their music could benefit from same. Sort of a reel on the guitar there from MacUiliam, the drums pounding slowly in counterpoint as it all builds up to a big finish. With a scream from Alan we're off rocking through the last minute or so, and I'm mightily impressed. “The soul must sleep” comes in on a gentle acoustic guitar and uses a quote from French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, spoken rather than sung, as the atmosphere in the song builds. A chugging, grinding guitar takes up the melody as the intensity increases before the music settles into a galloping beat that pulls it along.

All through the song Alan more or less speaks the vocal, making it kind of like Shatner doing celtic black metal --- now there would be a record! There's a real wall of sound being constructed here, and it's very effective as the song goes on, layer after layer being added until you're left with something really quite special. The last two minutes or so of the song are completely instrumental, MacUiliam taking us home on a punchy guitar line, and into the longest track, “The burning season”, which clocks in at almost nine minutes. This song seems to sing of human sacrifice and ancient rites, with the opening lines ”Bring the women/ And children before me/ Let us make rivers of their blood/ Bleed for me...I wish it so “ A hard, hammering guitar introduces the song with an ominous tone, before being joined by the drums as the first two minutes are taken in completely instrumental. Alan's vocal is much clearer and higher in his role as the chief druid or whatever he's supposed to be here, and the song rocks along on a sort of romping rhythm. Primordial seem to be another band who can play a long song and yet make it seem quite short; as we hit the seventh minute I'm surprised to see that we've come so far so quickly. Mark of a good song, and a good band.

Hard guitar bites through from a fade-in as we head into “Glorious dawn”, again taking the song two minutes in before any vocals are added. There is a sort of “druids' chorus” I guess you could say, with male vocals singing in unison before Alan begins to sing, which is not until the third minute almost, and is dark and growly this time. You can still make out what he's singing, but this time he sounds I guess like a proper black metal singer. Like all of Primordial's songs, or all on this album so far anyway, this song has a great sense of drama and power to it, and you can almost see the high priest standing in the stone circle invoking the ancient gods. There is some confusion here about guitarists: Wiki says there are two, citing Feargal Flannery as the other one, but EM maintains there is only one, and doesn't even include Flannery in the extended list of bandmembers, so I'm not sure who to believe. But if that's one man on the guitar he certainly creates one hell of a soundscape by himself!

The only instrumental on the album, “The cruel sea” is relatively short, just over four minutes, and rides on a very celtic-sounding guitar and rolling drums like crashing thunder, the tune itself like some ancient Irish lament. I feel the use of uileann pipes would really have helped here, but Primordial, though they are said to use them on other albums, don't seem inclined to include them here. The tune sort of reminds me of “She moves through the fair”, and I wonder if there are elements of that traditional song in there somewhere? Halfway through the booming drums fade out and MacUiliam takes the tune solo on acoustic picked guitar, almost like a bard strumming a lute in a forest somewhere deep in the heart of Ireland. The sound that follows that is very like uileann pipes, but I really think it's the electric guitar making it. The susurrating drums are back to help the piece to its conclusion, and take us into the closer.

“Children of the harvest” is another long song, the second that runs for over eight minutes, and pounds along nicely on hard angry guitar and thundering drums, that vocal chorus or choir returning, and again it's three minutes before the vocal comes in, as Alan tells the sad myth of the Children of Lir. Cursed by their jealous stepmother to spend a thousand years as swans, the Children of Lir wandered ireland until released from their spell. The song of course is steeped in anger, despair, impotence and disbelief as the luckless children travel the land in search of redemption. A great basis for a song by an Irish metal band, and carried out with enthusiasm, talent and pride.

TRACKLISTING

1. Spirit the earth aflame
2. Gods to the godless
3. The soul must sleep
4. The burning season
5. Glorious dawn
6. The cruel sea
7. Childen of the harvest

Finally, after days of fruitless searching, an Irish band that doesn't make me cringe and wish I was English or Scottish or Welsh. What, American? Are you insane?? Primordial have a great slant on ancient Ireland and its myths, and if there is such a thing as Celtic Metal, then they're proponents of this for sure. Despite their being labelled as black metal, apart from the odd scream or dark growl from Alan Nemtheanga I don't see it, at least on this album. The themes are certainly not really those you would find in that subgenre, although they do speak of ancient pagan gods, so there is that.

But as a band from Ireland, and more, a band from my home city of Dublin, and even more, just down the road in Skerries, I'm glad to say Primordial have finally given me something to be proud of when it comes to Irish metal.

And it only took an American to unearth them for me. Thanks, Batty!

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Since time immemorial (well, since 1970 anyway) Man has struggled in vain to answer the burning question that will not go away. That question that keeps us up at night, tossing and turning, grinding our teeth until we have to get up and put on the albums and listen to them again, and even then we don't know for sure which is better: Black Sabbath's debut or Paranoid?

Now, at last, this question will be answered for all time. Thousands of people --- well, hundreds --- well, a lot --- well, a few --- well, okay, one --- one person has laboured ceaselessly over the last few months to unravel this enigma and come up with a definitive answer. Using scientific logic and empirical data, we will pit these two legendary albums against each other, to see who comes out on top.

Take your places, sportsfans! It's time to


VS

Although debate has raged through this forum, and others, as well as other media, as to which album is the best, I am not making a personal choice here. Each album will be rigorously tested under the criteria shown below, and points awarded for each. At the end, we'll total up the points and see who comes out on top. Could be a shock, could be a foregone conclusion. Even I don't know the result at this time.

Some of these may seem frivolous concerns, but they all go to make up part of the picture, so bear with me.

The first point is Year Released. This is easy. “Black Sabbath” came out in 1970, so did “Paranoid”, leaving the contest a dead heat.
Black Sabbath1, Paranoid 1

So no blows are struck. Each dances around the other, probing, feinting, looking for an opening.

Next we move on to Number of Tracks.
Black Sabbath has seven, eight if you include the CD reissue, but Paranoid has eight on vinyl, making it the clear winner in this section.
Black Sabbath 1, Paranoid 2

Paranoid lands the first blow. Black Sabbath reels back.

Now let's look at Album Lengths. It's all very well to have eight tracks when the other album has seven, but what if your eight run for less than its seven? This is clearly a case where size does matter, and the score comes out thus:
Black Sabbath runs for a total of 38 mins 12 seconds, while Paranoid hits in at 42 mins 7 seconds, so once again Paranoid takes the round.
Black Sabbath 1, Paranoid 3

Paranoid hits out again; Black Sabbath ducks but is unable to avoid the blow.

Now let's go track-by-track for length comparisons:
Black Sabbath Track 1 (“Black Sabbath)” 6:20
Paranoid Track 1 (“War pigs”) 7:57
Black Sabbath loses out to Paranoid's first track, so we have a score of Black Sabbath 1, Paranoid 4
Black Sabbath Track 2 (“The Wizard”) 4:24
Paranoid Track 2 (“Paranoid”) 2:53
Black Sabbath starts fighting back! Black Sabbath 2, Paranoid 4
Black Sabbath Track 3 (“Behind the walls of sleep”) 3:37
Paranoid Track 3 (“Planet caravan”) 4:32
Paranoid takes it again! Black Sabbath 2, Paranoid 5
Black Sabbath Track 4 (“NIB”) 6:08
Paranoid Track 4 (“Iron man”) 6:00
Black Sabbath edges it, just!
Black Sabbath 3, Paranoid 5. Closing the gap, but can the debut maintain this momentum or will it slip behind again?
Black Sabbath Track 5 (“Evil woman”) 3:25
Paranoid Track 5 (“Electric funeral”) 4:53
Paranoid hits back! Black Sabbath 3, Paranoid 6!
Black Sabbath Track 6 (“Sleeping village”) 3:46
Paranoid Track 6 (“Hand of doom”) 7:08
Clear winner for Paranoid, taking the score to
Black Sabbath 3, Paranoid 7
Black Sabbath track 7 (“Warning”) 10:08
Paranoid Track 7 (“Rat salad”) 2:30
Big fightback from Black Sabbath as it crushes Paranoid with its final track! Even if the seventh AND last tracks on Paranoid were added together they would STILL be shorter than the epic closer on the debut.
Final score after the individual tracks:
Black Sabbath 4, Paranoid 7
Although Paranoid has the extra track it has already scored its hit for having more tracks, so it's unfair to compare “Fairies wear boots” to an nonexistent track on the debut.

Paranoid is now raining blows down on Black Sabbath, which seems unable to avoid them and defend itself. Could this contest be over before it even begins?

Next up: Hit Singles. Yeah, we know where this is going don't we?
Black Sabbath, despite being the emergence of both this band and doom, indeed heavy metal itself, has absolutely no hit singles on it, while Paranoid scored a big top ten hit with the title track, giving it a clear victory here.

Black Sabbath 4, Paranoid 8

Another uppercut takes Black Sabbath and its eyes are a little bleary now.

But let's forget hit singles. Sabbath were never a band who were about chart hits. Which of the albums has the most Sabbath standards on it? Let's take a look.

With one track less, Black Sabbath is probably not in the greatest position, and other than the title track and NIB, I think that's it, two tracks. Whereas Paranoid has of course the title, “War pigs” and “Iron man”, so again it takes the prize.
Black Sabbath 4, Paranoid 9

Seems like Black Sabbath is about to go down...

How about Album Sales? Which of the two albums shifted the most units? Well, Black Sabbath was possibly a two-edged sword: first, nobody had really heard anything like this before, so it was unanticipated and some people might have wondered about buying it, whereas by the time Paranoid rolled around almost eight months later, excitement would have been at fever pitch, and everyone who had bought, or wanted the debut would buy the new album. Add to that the chart impact of the title track going to number four and it was likely that Paranoid reached more new fans than the debut had. It looks like this could be another bloodbath!

Well, not quite. Paranoid does get it, but Black Sabbath does not disgrace itself. The latter sold 1.6 million copies, while the debut could (only) manage one million. So again, Paranoid gets it.

Black Sabbath 4, Paranoid 10

A vicious punch to the chest, Black Sabbath is winded, legs shaky...

How about Status? Surely both albums went at least Gold, if not Platinum? Let's see; Black Sabbath Platimun in both the USA and the UK, Paranoid Platinum in Canada (sounds like the name of a prog rock band!), Quadruple Platinum in the USA and SIX TIMES Platinum in the UK! Oh yeah, Paranoid knocks it out of the park here! No contest.

Black Sabbath 4, Paranoid 11

A sneaky little rabbit punch almost floors Black Sabbath, but it keeps its feet and the ref sees the illegal move, orders both fighters back to their corners for a minute. Gratefully, Black Sabbath sucks in breath and spits out teeth.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

ROUND TWO!

How about Album Covers? Well Black Sabbath wins it easily here: a dark, scary, somewhat ambiguous picture that manages to be both evil and harmless at once, while with Paranoid there's an out-of-focus blurred shot of some guy with a sword. Get in!
Black Sabbath 5, Paranoid 11

Black Sabbath comes out swinging at the bell, surprising an overconfident Paranoid, which thought its opponent down and out. Paranoid reels back, unaccustomed to taking punches, and Black Sabbath presses home its advantage.

Producer? No, the same producer (Rodger Bain) worked on both albums, so it's a no-score draw, leaving the overall total unchanged. What else?
Let's pit the Opening Tracks against each other, then the Closing Tracks. Opener on Black Sabbath is of course “Black Sabbath”, and how can you win against that? Well, Paranoid has “War pigs”, so it's closer than you would think. But for sheer impact upon the world of heavy metal and for those scary, disturbing but wonderful first three notes that heralded the birth of Heavy Metal, Black Sabbath has to get my vote.
Black Sabbath 6, Paranoid 11

Black Sabbath punches, ducks and dives, lands a few killer blows. Blood in its eyes has turned now to bloodlust, and it fights like a thing possessed. Unsure after all this time, and having anticipated an easy victory, Paranoid dances away...

Closers then? Black Sabbath has “Warning” while Paranoid has “Fairies wear boots”. I think this has to go to the underdog (at this moment) again, not only for the sheer epicity of the closer on the debut, but also the fact that the closer on Paranoid mentions fairies. Ugh!
Black Sabbath 7, Paranoid 11

Black Sabbath follows Paranoid around the ring, murder in its eyes and Paranoid, seeing the change in its opponent, flinches back, looking for an opportunity to get some blows in. But Black Sabbath's defence is good and Paranoid cannot land a single punch. The crowd rises to its feet, suddenly cheering the underdog. Those who have bet on Paranoid sulk grumpily or exhort the opponent to make a fight of it!

Lyrical Content is very important. On Black Sabbath we have a song about, possibly, Satan being chosen or something, the antichrist maybe? Who the hell knows? But it's dark and unnerving. Then we have a song about a wizard, nightmares and then the devil getting married? Followed up with a really pastoral little lyric about, well, a sleeping village and ending on the big heavy broken love affair in “Warning”. Mind you, they do have to lose points for having a cover version on their first album, so let's score the tracks out of 10 for lyrics, where 10 is a great and different and interesting lyric, and 1 is pure crap.

“Black Sabbath” 10 (obviously)
“The wizard” 8
“Behind the wall of sleep” 8
“NIB” 10
“Evil woman” 1
“Sleeping village” 10 (I award it such a high mark because it's so unexpected and so simple, yet it works so well. It's the last thing you'd expect to hear Ozzy singing about on this dark album of dark albums)
“Warning” 7 (It's a little cliched, though not too much)

So that's a total, out of 70, of 54. Not bad. Now how about its rival?

Start off with “War pigs”, totally class anti-war song, followed up by the title track, with warning of manic depression and possibly suicide, then “Planet caravan” earns points for being totally different and a real change of pace, before we hit another classic, the superb “Iron man”, about, well, a man of iron. A giant man of iron, of course. And that's just the A side!
So, scores then:
“War pigs” 10 (of course)
“Paranoid” 10
“Planet caravan” 8
“Iron man” 10
“Electric funeral” 8
“Hand of doom” 8
“Rat sald” 6
“Fairies wear boots” 5
A grand total of 65 out of 80.

So it's very close, and I'm going to call it a draw. However, rather than last time, with a nil-nil deal, I think both albums have earned their points here so we'll make it a 1-1 score. That leaves the current standings at
Black Sabbath 8, Paranoid 12

Caught in a clinch, each fighter strives to best the other, but neither can land a blow. After some moments, the ref blows his whistle and forces them apart. The two opponents eye each other, warily, tired, but determined, and return to their corners.

ROUND THREE!

Now we come to what I like to call “Off-tracks”, that is, tracks that seem out of place or that don't quite look or sound like they belong on the album.
Black Sabbath has the cover version “Evil woman”, but everything else is pretty cool. I would venture to say “Sleeping village” is an off-track though. Paranoid on the other hand has really only “Planet caravan”, so it looks like Paranoid takes it again.

Black Sabbath 8, Paranoid 13

Determined to go on the offensive, Paranoid launches at Black Sabbath, a flurry of blows landing about its head and shoulders. No, not the shampoo!

Chart Positions you say? We don' need no steenking chart positions! Ah but we do, and here we find Black Sabbath topping out in the US at 23, UK at 8 while Paranoid does considerably better, making 12 in the US and topping the charts in the UK, giving Sabbath their first number one album. Again, Paranoid wins this round.

Black Sabbath 8, Paranoid 14

Suddenly, Paranoid sees an opening and darts in! Its newfound confidence its undoing, Black Sabbath is taken by surprise and reels back.

What about Critical Acclaim? Both albums were more or less slated originally, but time was much kinder to them and eventually both were recognised as important, even vital albums in the heavy metal genre, if not in fact the very first ones which could be properly termed as heavy metal. Who did best, or did anyone, with the passage of time?

Black Sabbath: panned on its release, later hailed as the coming of heavy metal and the album that started it all. Paranoid pretty much the same. Calling it a no-score draw here.

More dancing, more feinting, the crowd get restless as neither fighter commits to an attack, watching their opponent, waiting, waiting...

Are there any Bonus Tracks, or were any Special Editions released? Let's see... looks like there were three special editions of Black Sabbath, one released in 1986 with a bonus track (a live version of “Tomorrow's dream”) one CD reissue in 1996 with “Wicked world” as a bonus and two reissues in 2009, with separate and different tracklistings for both the European and US editions. Yeah, there seems to have been some other reissue in 2004, but the only “bonus track” on that was “Evil woman”, which wasn't apparently included on the original US version, so I'm ignoring that one.

Paranoid seems to have had just the one reissue, in 2009, and although there are extra tracks they're all just alternate versions of the original songs. Another 1986 reissue did however feature a live version of “Wicked world”. Nevertheless, I think Black Sabbath gets this one.


Black Sabbath 9, Paranoid 14

WHAM! Black Sabbath suddenly launches an attack, catching Paranoid off guard. Paranoid staggers under the unexpected blow, legs wobbling. The crowd begin baying for blood again. Men rise to their feet. People nervously think about the "sure thing" they bet on before the fight...


Let's go back to Track-by-track Analysis and look at the actual Structure of the albums. Though few if any tracks can be said to be bad, did the positioning of each work in the overall context of the album? For Black Sabbath you have the title track followed by “The wizard”, which is perfect, then “Behind the wall of sleep”, which is mostly more a kind of hard rock/blues boogie, but fits in well, and then NIB, again perfect. Unfortunately then comes the cover of “Evil woman”, which breaks the pattern, then the quiet reflective “Sleeping village” establishes a semblance of eerie quiet before “Warning” brings it all to a crushing close. So other than the cover, pretty much perfect.

Paranoid couldn't start better, with “War pigs” then the title track, with the flow broken nicely by the lush “Planet caravan”, and followed up by “Iron man”. One hundred percent perfect first side. The doomy and perfectly titled “Electric funeral” is a natural successor to “Iron man”, with “Hand of doom” keeping everything dark and bleak until “Rat salad” provides some light relief as the tempo increases and we get a blues rocker with some Santana in there, and closing on “Fairies wear boots”, great track with some fine humour.

So Paranoid has no bad tracks, in terms of flow, whereas Black Sabbath does suffer slightly from the inclusion of the cover, and therefore loses out this round.

Black Sabbath 9, Paranoid 15

Spurred on by the crowd's taunts, Paranoid steels itself and launches into an attack which takes its opponent by surprise. Black Sabbath was beginning to think there was no fight left in Paranoid, but now it's the one reeling back under a hail of punches...

Now we go to see how many tracks from each appear on Sabbath Compilations. Although there are eight collections in all, “The Dio years” covers, well, the Dio years, so we'll leave that one out. Also “The Sabbath stones” features material the earliest of which was released in 1983. That's out too. Not to mention that “Black Box” is a collection of every Sabbath album in its entireity up to 1978. Oh, and “The rules of Hell” is yet another Dio compilation, leaving us with four compilations to consider.

We sold our soul for Rock'n'roll (1976):- Black Sabbath, 5 tracks; Paranoid, 4 tracks.
Symptom of the universe (2002):- Black Sabbath, 5 tracks; Paranoid, 4 tracks


Greatest Hits (2006):- Black Sabbath, 3 tracks; Paranoid, 3 tracks
Greatest Hits (2009):- Black Sabbath, 4 tracks; Paranoid, 4 tracks

For some reason the collection I have, the cool one with the painting “El triumfo de la muerte” on it, is not included. Seems it's not an official version or something. Boo. Anyway, what have we gleaned from this then? Well, two of the collections offer equal space to both albums, using four tracks from each, but where there's a difference it's Black Sabbathh that gets the nod, with 5 tracks from it on two compilations whereas its rival only gets 4. So Black Sabbath takes this one.

Black Sabbath 10, Paranoid 15

After a brief and sudden flurry of attack Paranoid is driven back by the fury of an opponent growing in confidence. Black Sabbath has it on the ropes now.

The last criterion I can explore is how various magazines, websites and even personal lists rate the two albums against each other. So I've gone trawling the web and the results are below. Some rate one album over the other, while some don't rate one at all while rating the other. I'll tally up the total at the end.


VHI Top 40 Metal songs: "Iron man" and "Paranoid"

Kerrang! Top 100 metal albums: Paranoid 39, Black Sabbath 31

Metal Hammer same: Paranoid 9, Black Sabbath 13

Guitar World Best 10 metal albums: Paranoid 1 , Black Sabbath not there

Some loser on RYM: Black Sabbath 46, Paranoid 13 (He also has “Close to the fucking edge” on his list!!!

Another loser (Seriously? Marillion? Queen??) Black Sabbath 56, Paranoid 9

Metal rules.com --- Black Sabbath 17, Paranoid 24

metal descent.com: Black Sabbath 8, Paranoid 1

Village Voice: ten metal albums you must hear before you die: Black Sabbath 1, Paranoid nowhere

Vinyrevinyl: essential metal albums: Paranoid 3, Black Sabbath nowhere

Digitaldreamdoor: 100 best heavy metal guitar riffs: Black Sabbath 2, Paranoid 4

Music radar.com: Black Sabbath 37, Paranoid 7

So altogether then we have a total amount of votes from these lists --- where one was placed above the other or one did not feature while the other did – of Black Sabbath: 4
Paranoid: 8
So Paranoid clearly gets it here, leaving the current standings at
Black Sabbath 10, Paranoid 16

Thought to be on the verge of defeat, Paranoid finds reserves of strength from somewhere and fights back, pushing Black Sabbath towards the other side of the ring. The crowd goes wild. THIS is what they came to see! What a contest!

One more thing to factor in; well, two really. Impact on the genre/music as a whole has to go to Black Sabbath, so it now stands at
Black Sabbath 11, Paranoid 16

Black Sabbath rallies, throwing a series of punches at its opponent, who moves back...

and finally, and definitely least, your own snipings on my thread about Metal Month II, wherein the general consensus was that, of those who bothered to vote, Black Sabbath came out on top by 4-2, so one more for the debut.
Black Sabbath 12, Paranoid 16.

... onto the ropes, where Black Sabbath continues to pound on its opponent. The fight has turned completely 180 now. Are fortunes, thought safe, about to be lost at the death?

But no: the extra points count in Paranoid's favour and it rallies its strength, forcing its legs to bear it up and deliver a series of pummeling punches that floors Black Sabbath.

Eight ... nine ... TEN! You're OUT!


So we have a clear winner at the end. Although Black Sabbath took an early pounding and looked likely to be left choking on Paranoid's dust, it rallied well and by the end there's not that much separating the two. But in the end there can only be one, and though I don't personally agree with the result, science cannot be ignored and this is what it says:
The winner!

Not quite by a knockout but still by a vote of 16-12.

Note: If anyone thinks there is some other method I could have used, or some criteria I did not employ, well it's too late now! I honestly went through absolutely every aspect I could think of of each album to try to make sure that I covered every possible, um, possibility. I don't think there's anything more I could have done. No doubt those who agree with the verdict will nod and say justice was done, whereas those who believe (like me) that the debut is far superior will shake their fists and cry “Fix!” But in the end, it was simply a case of letting the facts do the talking, and this is their unavoidable conclusion.

Whether or not you agree with the outcome though, one thing I think we can all agree on is that these are two of the finest and most seminal albums ever to grace the genre, and for Sabbath to have recorded both in the same year is, quite simply, a phenomenal feat that I believe was never equalled.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

It'll be on the final day. You wouldn't want me not to be able to close out the month, would you? Sit in a corner and rock back and forth, mouth silently forming the words over and over "It's just an album. It's just an album..."?

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Well, I sure didn't like their music but at least Fleshgrind were funny. Almost hilarious in fact. If I get something similar this time I really won't bitch. But with my luck I'll get some dour doom metal band who play one note every hour and fill their songs with drivel about the futility of existence and the bleakness of the cosmos. Come on guys: throw me a bone on this, the last visit of Metal Month II to

Why am I even asking? The metal gods hate me, and continue to rain down extreme metal band after extreme metal band on my poor shoulders. And if those bands can be unsigned or at least without any music available, so much the better. Grindcore? We'll give you fucking grindcore till yer ears bleed! What do they have against my progressive, power or even standard metal? What?

Well this is interesting. And unexpected. The subgenre tag is empty, and this band are just described as (gasp!) heavy metal! They have an album, but it must not have done very well because they clearly can't afford any logo. The album, their only one, came out in 1988, so would anyone like to run down to Paddy Power and throw a bet on that I can find it? Great name: Diass. Wonder if people ever said to them “I'm gonna kick you in Diass”? Probably not. Oh, just to add a little flavour, they're Japanese. Right, come here mousey mousey...

No. Thought I was getting lucky (why? What in the entire run of “The Meat Grinder” since its inception has ever given me the slightest stroke of luck? Why would I think that would change now?) but it was some guy called DJ Diass. Sigh. Well, obscure they may be and obscure they must remain, as I trudge heavily on, my eyes squinting ahead in the inky gloom for some glimmer of light that might lead me to ...

... a German death/thrash metal outfit. Oh great. At least these boys can afford a logo. And doesn't it look tough and hard?

They have one album, and weirdly, before that, one live album? Anyway, let's ssee if they're our huckleberry for this finale. No, almost: but that's a band called Vellocet, who to be honest look a whole lot more palatable to me. But no luck with Vellozet. With a z. In case anyone is grunting “Yes there is! You can buy their album ...” let me just stop you there. These are all random bands, bands I've never heard before and most likely the bigger percentage of them I will hate. So I will look for their music online with streaming sources or with YouTube, but I will be crucified and made listen to looped albums of grindcore before I will shell out even one cent for an album I'm probably gonna hate. So if it's not available for free, to misquote my made-up family motto, it ain't for me.

It ain't for me.

On we go. And this time it's melodic death metal. Oh joy! But they're from Mehi-co and only have the one album released in --- hmm: 2012 --- possibility?

Nah, too close to dementia, which are the only results that come up. So this is my last shot on this final visit. If I don't get something I can work with here, then it's all over for Metal Month II. Let's say a quick prayer and hit that button!


Well, they may be split up but at least these boys from Portugal have a decent amount of albums, so you never know. A thrash/death metal hybrid, so they may not be too bad. If I can find any of their albums online, that is!

No luck. They haev three albums but I can't find enough videos online to make up even one. Like one track off one album, two off another, one off an EP. Meh. Fail. What a pity.

And so we draw to a close our last look into the tumbling metal maelstrom that is the Meat Grinder. As ever, we've been less than lucky with our choices, and really, when you consider how many metal bands are out there, it's quite extraordinary that I have not been able to come across even one that falls into my own particular sphere of interest. But I have to put a limit on this, otherwise I could keep clicking Random forever. I'd eventually get a decent band, I assume, but I'd probably be too old to care at that point.

So here's where it ends for now. It's been sort of fun, and no doubt we'll find ourselves in here again at some point in the not-too-distant future. But for now it's goodbye to the machine, and hello to a more ordered form of metal. We now return you to the final week of Metal Month II. Thanks for playing.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018