So I love Opeth and Meshuggah and Machine Head and Metallica and Testament and Fear Factory and Oceansize and yadda yadda yadda. But strangely I also have a bit of a soft spot for Christian/positive thinking rock bands, too.
Weird, as I have less than no interest in religion. Maybe its the indefatigable cheeriness of a lot of these bands that appeals to me.
Anyhoo, today I've come across Reform The Resistance, a Christian three-piece who were called Justifide a few years back. I am assuming that the name change hasn't also meant an overhaul of their belief system.
I read on the web that The Truth Is Dangerous was recorded in 2010 so not sure how it has found its way to my door in the second half of 2012 but better late than never as its a reasonably strong album, featuring one song in particular that you simply must hear.
Read full review at This Is Not A Scene
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Friday, 3 August 2012
Review of Silencing Machine by Nachtmystium
Another illegible band logo, another black metal band, this time Nachtmystium who, despite the name, are from the US and led by guitarist/vocalist Blake Judd.
I can't be any more specific because the band's bio neglects to mention anything useful like this. Hey ho. One of the web sites describes them as a psychedelic black metal. I'll have to leave it up to you to work out what that might mean.
First couple of tracks Dawn Over The Ruins Of Jerusalem and the title track seem to fulfill all the criteria you would want in a black metal band. They storm along in a hail of fierce growls, pounding drums and colourless guitars but are not disagreeable as such...
Read full review at This Is Not A Scene
I can't be any more specific because the band's bio neglects to mention anything useful like this. Hey ho. One of the web sites describes them as a psychedelic black metal. I'll have to leave it up to you to work out what that might mean.
First couple of tracks Dawn Over The Ruins Of Jerusalem and the title track seem to fulfill all the criteria you would want in a black metal band. They storm along in a hail of fierce growls, pounding drums and colourless guitars but are not disagreeable as such...
Read full review at This Is Not A Scene
Monday, 21 May 2012
Review of Seven Rages of Man by Blue Gillespie
This is one of the hardest reviews I've had to write, and I'm not sure quite why. I think its because this album is really tough to listen to, and its important to say that that is not because it's a bad album. On the contrary.
Blue Gillespie are an independent prog/metal band from Newport, South Wales and Seven Rages of Man is their second album. Evidently they see the character "Blue Gillespie" as a collective alter-ego who represents the hidden darker side of each of the band members.
Now, you might say that's a little pretentious, but let's put that aside for the moment and ask the important question: Is the music any good?
Oh my laws yes.
Opener Prologue - natch - introduces us to rumbling drums, strident guitars and the very forceful vocal presence of Gareth David-Lloyd...
Read full review at This Is Not A Scene
Blue Gillespie are an independent prog/metal band from Newport, South Wales and Seven Rages of Man is their second album. Evidently they see the character "Blue Gillespie" as a collective alter-ego who represents the hidden darker side of each of the band members.
Now, you might say that's a little pretentious, but let's put that aside for the moment and ask the important question: Is the music any good?
Oh my laws yes.
Opener Prologue - natch - introduces us to rumbling drums, strident guitars and the very forceful vocal presence of Gareth David-Lloyd...
Read full review at This Is Not A Scene
Thursday, 19 April 2012
Review of Intersections by Mekong Delta
If I were a Mekong Delta fan I'd probably hate this album.
No self-respecting fan wants a band to re-record their old songs. It smacks of desperation and a lack of ideas and is just a bad idea all round. Also, they invariably miss out a couple of your favourites and include one or two you could quite happily live without.
But as I'm not familiar with Mekong Delta, a German metal band who have been going for 25 years, I'm going to put aside my scepticism and look upon this as an excellent chance to catch up on them.
These ten tracks are taken from the band's first few albums released in the mid-80s to mid-90s period.
After my first run through the obvious thing to hit me is quite how I have never heard of them. They must have well and truly kept themselves under the radar.
Which is crazy because they are a really good band.
Having started in the 80s you'd say Mekong Delta are at heart a thrash band but there is plenty more things going on to keep your interest. The guitars are mostly furious chainsaws but on track four The Healer, for example, there is almost a Rush feel, which is unexpected and highly agreeable. Vocalist Martin LeMar is very Bruce Dickinson-like but there's no shame in sounding like one of the most prominent metal vocalists ever. I read that LeMar only joined in 2008 so I have no idea how he compares with previous vocalists.
As well as the aforementioned reference points the other band I hear at various points throughout Intersections is Voivod, one of the most interesting, intriguing and enormously under-rated bands to come out of the thrash period. I hope Mekong Delta don't mind that comparison.
Throughout the album there are great moments; moments where you go, what about that bit where...
Shades of Doom has a great solo section, Sphere Eclipse has a fantastic fast riff that refuses to lie down, and final track Prophecy is the most heavenly thrash-fest.
Ultimately this album introduces me to a band I'd never heard of - which baffles me, but I guess I can't listen to every metal band that has ever existed - and makes me want to check out all their stuff.
On those terms I'd say Intersections is mission accomplished.
No self-respecting fan wants a band to re-record their old songs. It smacks of desperation and a lack of ideas and is just a bad idea all round. Also, they invariably miss out a couple of your favourites and include one or two you could quite happily live without.
But as I'm not familiar with Mekong Delta, a German metal band who have been going for 25 years, I'm going to put aside my scepticism and look upon this as an excellent chance to catch up on them.
These ten tracks are taken from the band's first few albums released in the mid-80s to mid-90s period.
After my first run through the obvious thing to hit me is quite how I have never heard of them. They must have well and truly kept themselves under the radar.
Which is crazy because they are a really good band.
Having started in the 80s you'd say Mekong Delta are at heart a thrash band but there is plenty more things going on to keep your interest. The guitars are mostly furious chainsaws but on track four The Healer, for example, there is almost a Rush feel, which is unexpected and highly agreeable. Vocalist Martin LeMar is very Bruce Dickinson-like but there's no shame in sounding like one of the most prominent metal vocalists ever. I read that LeMar only joined in 2008 so I have no idea how he compares with previous vocalists.
As well as the aforementioned reference points the other band I hear at various points throughout Intersections is Voivod, one of the most interesting, intriguing and enormously under-rated bands to come out of the thrash period. I hope Mekong Delta don't mind that comparison.
Throughout the album there are great moments; moments where you go, what about that bit where...
Shades of Doom has a great solo section, Sphere Eclipse has a fantastic fast riff that refuses to lie down, and final track Prophecy is the most heavenly thrash-fest.
Ultimately this album introduces me to a band I'd never heard of - which baffles me, but I guess I can't listen to every metal band that has ever existed - and makes me want to check out all their stuff.
On those terms I'd say Intersections is mission accomplished.
Saturday, 31 March 2012
Review of The Weight of Oceans by In Mourning
Last week I reviewed the most anticipated metal album of 2012. This week I have the second most anticipated: In Mourning's third album The Weight of Oceans.
The band's first two albums, The Shrouded Divine and Monolith, are both supremely accomplished pieces of work in the melodic death metal / progressive black metal field so this third album has a lot to live up to.
After the first track, called Colossus - a nice link to Meshuggah last week - I sit back in my chair to reflect.
By heck, it is phenomenal.
Everything that is marvellous about In Mourning, everything that is marvellous about metal is encapsulated in this track.
Bass and drums start, with keyboards playing a refrain that conjures up the atmosphere of the movie Blade Runner. Then a guitar comes in playing an understated melody. Things begin to build and what sounds like about eleven guitar tracks explode into life.
It is utterly magnificent.
Colossus continues to be utterly magnificent for its entire nine and a half minutes. Indeed, the final section, the last 90 seconds or so, are so beautifully, brutally, brilliant that I make this assertion:
If there is a better metal track released in the rest of 2012 I will eat my hat.
I don't have a hat. Instead, I will eat my Oceansize T-shirt and post the video of me eating it on YouTube.
Right, now I've got the rest of the album to listen to.
A Vow To Conquer The Ocean, the second track, suffers only because it comes after Colossus. Apart from that, it is another excellent seven minutes of metal. An uptempo opening thunders into a slower passage with vocalist/guitarist Tobias Netzell roaring his head off.
Track 3 From A Tidal Sleep demonstrates In Mourning's complete mastery of dynamics and of craft. Even within such a brutal musical genre songwriting is all-important and In Mourning, continuing on from their first two albums, show accomplishment to match Opeth...and no finer compliment can be paid.
Fourth track Celestial Tear is a ballad. Sure, its got some noisy guitar towards the end, but basically it's a ballad. Tobias Netzell gets to show off some clean vocals and in the process makes us realise he is one of the best metal singers around.
Convergence bursts out of the speakers, featuring more excellent guitar work from Netzell, Björn Petterson and Tim Nedergård. It almost goes without saying that Christian Netzell's drumming and Pierre Stam's bass work are also exemplary. I don't usually mention individual band members in my reviews but it feels right and proper to do so this time.
Sirens completely changes the mood and is a minute and a half of piano. To coin the most appropriate cliche, it is the calm before the storm.
Final three tracks Isle Of Solace, The Drowning Sun and Voyage Of A Wavering Mind actually sound like a band with the power of the ocean behind them. I don't want to pick apart each track. I think you should savour them as I am doing. Revel in the collective majesty of these final three tracks and then immediately go back to the start, put on Colossus, and listen to the whole album again. And again.
This is modern-day metal at its very best. In Mourning deserve to be enormous.
Actually, it sounds like they already are.
I reckon my Oceansize T-shirt is safe.
The band's first two albums, The Shrouded Divine and Monolith, are both supremely accomplished pieces of work in the melodic death metal / progressive black metal field so this third album has a lot to live up to.
After the first track, called Colossus - a nice link to Meshuggah last week - I sit back in my chair to reflect.
By heck, it is phenomenal.
Everything that is marvellous about In Mourning, everything that is marvellous about metal is encapsulated in this track.
Bass and drums start, with keyboards playing a refrain that conjures up the atmosphere of the movie Blade Runner. Then a guitar comes in playing an understated melody. Things begin to build and what sounds like about eleven guitar tracks explode into life.
It is utterly magnificent.
Colossus continues to be utterly magnificent for its entire nine and a half minutes. Indeed, the final section, the last 90 seconds or so, are so beautifully, brutally, brilliant that I make this assertion:
If there is a better metal track released in the rest of 2012 I will eat my hat.
I don't have a hat. Instead, I will eat my Oceansize T-shirt and post the video of me eating it on YouTube.
Right, now I've got the rest of the album to listen to.
A Vow To Conquer The Ocean, the second track, suffers only because it comes after Colossus. Apart from that, it is another excellent seven minutes of metal. An uptempo opening thunders into a slower passage with vocalist/guitarist Tobias Netzell roaring his head off.
Track 3 From A Tidal Sleep demonstrates In Mourning's complete mastery of dynamics and of craft. Even within such a brutal musical genre songwriting is all-important and In Mourning, continuing on from their first two albums, show accomplishment to match Opeth...and no finer compliment can be paid.
Fourth track Celestial Tear is a ballad. Sure, its got some noisy guitar towards the end, but basically it's a ballad. Tobias Netzell gets to show off some clean vocals and in the process makes us realise he is one of the best metal singers around.
Convergence bursts out of the speakers, featuring more excellent guitar work from Netzell, Björn Petterson and Tim Nedergård. It almost goes without saying that Christian Netzell's drumming and Pierre Stam's bass work are also exemplary. I don't usually mention individual band members in my reviews but it feels right and proper to do so this time.
Sirens completely changes the mood and is a minute and a half of piano. To coin the most appropriate cliche, it is the calm before the storm.
Final three tracks Isle Of Solace, The Drowning Sun and Voyage Of A Wavering Mind actually sound like a band with the power of the ocean behind them. I don't want to pick apart each track. I think you should savour them as I am doing. Revel in the collective majesty of these final three tracks and then immediately go back to the start, put on Colossus, and listen to the whole album again. And again.
This is modern-day metal at its very best. In Mourning deserve to be enormous.
Actually, it sounds like they already are.
I reckon my Oceansize T-shirt is safe.
Monday, 19 March 2012
Review of Koloss by Meshuggah
So here it is. The most anticipated metal album of 2012.
The Scandinavian monster that is Meshuggah deliver their seventh album, four years after the previous one, Obzen. I do not expect them to have mellowed much since then so I put Koloss on and brace myself.
I am not disappointed.
Opening track I Am Colossus pounds directly at my temporal lobe in a way that feels terrifying but necessary.
With Meshuggah perhaps more than any other current metal band there is nothing to be gained by describing the songs in terms of what is going on technically. That would take away the magic and wonder. You can only describe how listening to Meshuggah makes you feel.
And that doesn't mean simply saying it makes you feel like you want to rip your own head off.
Track 2 The Demon's Name Is Surveillance hammers at you, the bass drums a relentless barrage, the guitars doing all sorts of craziness. It makes me grit my teeth and clench my stomach muscles as I listen. I ask you, what other band can make you do that?
Do Not Look Down does not sound like an order. It sounds like a warning. It sounds like looking down would just be the worst thing I should do, so instead I keep my eyes firmly facing the front, my head nodding as I do my best to follow the unnervingly odd time signatures laid down by one of the great metal drummers of our time. Behind The Sun continues the pummelling but the guitars in the background offer beauty like a rose on a battleground.
The Hurt That Finds You First is an absolute face-melter and is my favourite after the first play of Koloss. It is fierce and wild and the extra layer of guitars makes its even heavier than Meshuggah usually are. If that is possible. There is also one of those quiet passages which Meshuggah do so brilliantly. It is haunting and finishes the track in an understated way. Understated is not a word you often associate with Meshuggah.
Marrow kicks off with a classic off-kilter guitar riff before crashing into a marvellous Meshuggah groove. For a band renowned for being so tight - and they still are, don't get me wrong - there is a rather wonderful louche, loose feel to this track and Koloss in general. There is a real organic feel to the material and I wonder if its that that makes Meshuggah stand out from the rest. There simply is no other band quite like them.
Swarm positively gallops towards you like a desert wind howling across the Sahara. The guitars are ferocious swarming scarabs eating everything in their path. Demiurge not only has a great title but is heavy as all get out. By now I actually do want to rip my own head off but Meshuggah have made that sound like a good thing.
Final track The Last Vigil is a cross between 70s Berlin-era Bowie and Oceansize in one of their ambient moods. Its a gentle end to what has been a ferocious 45 minutes yet still has the capacity to unsettle. I'm reasonably confident that its not a pointer to a next, completely ambient, Meshuggah album but it closes Koloss in an unexpected but nevertheless satisfying way.
It is nigh on impossible for such an anticipated album to totally live up to expectations but Meshuggah set the standards for what metal is in the second decade of the 21st century.
Meshuggah is Koloss.
The Scandinavian monster that is Meshuggah deliver their seventh album, four years after the previous one, Obzen. I do not expect them to have mellowed much since then so I put Koloss on and brace myself.
I am not disappointed.
Opening track I Am Colossus pounds directly at my temporal lobe in a way that feels terrifying but necessary.
With Meshuggah perhaps more than any other current metal band there is nothing to be gained by describing the songs in terms of what is going on technically. That would take away the magic and wonder. You can only describe how listening to Meshuggah makes you feel.
And that doesn't mean simply saying it makes you feel like you want to rip your own head off.
Track 2 The Demon's Name Is Surveillance hammers at you, the bass drums a relentless barrage, the guitars doing all sorts of craziness. It makes me grit my teeth and clench my stomach muscles as I listen. I ask you, what other band can make you do that?
Do Not Look Down does not sound like an order. It sounds like a warning. It sounds like looking down would just be the worst thing I should do, so instead I keep my eyes firmly facing the front, my head nodding as I do my best to follow the unnervingly odd time signatures laid down by one of the great metal drummers of our time. Behind The Sun continues the pummelling but the guitars in the background offer beauty like a rose on a battleground.
The Hurt That Finds You First is an absolute face-melter and is my favourite after the first play of Koloss. It is fierce and wild and the extra layer of guitars makes its even heavier than Meshuggah usually are. If that is possible. There is also one of those quiet passages which Meshuggah do so brilliantly. It is haunting and finishes the track in an understated way. Understated is not a word you often associate with Meshuggah.
Marrow kicks off with a classic off-kilter guitar riff before crashing into a marvellous Meshuggah groove. For a band renowned for being so tight - and they still are, don't get me wrong - there is a rather wonderful louche, loose feel to this track and Koloss in general. There is a real organic feel to the material and I wonder if its that that makes Meshuggah stand out from the rest. There simply is no other band quite like them.
Swarm positively gallops towards you like a desert wind howling across the Sahara. The guitars are ferocious swarming scarabs eating everything in their path. Demiurge not only has a great title but is heavy as all get out. By now I actually do want to rip my own head off but Meshuggah have made that sound like a good thing.
Final track The Last Vigil is a cross between 70s Berlin-era Bowie and Oceansize in one of their ambient moods. Its a gentle end to what has been a ferocious 45 minutes yet still has the capacity to unsettle. I'm reasonably confident that its not a pointer to a next, completely ambient, Meshuggah album but it closes Koloss in an unexpected but nevertheless satisfying way.
It is nigh on impossible for such an anticipated album to totally live up to expectations but Meshuggah set the standards for what metal is in the second decade of the 21st century.
Meshuggah is Koloss.
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Review of The Emptiness Within by De Profundis
De Profundis have a rubbish web site. Presumably they know that, but I felt it important to mention it up front rather than hide it away somewhere in this review. However, if they do already know, why aren't they doing something about it?
I always look at a band's web site when I'm about to review something. Mainly to find information on the band itself so that I can pass on that information to you, the reader, but also to get a feel for the band. As this web site doesn't work properly, I shall have to go elsewhere.
Their MySpace page tells me they are a progressive black metal from London. Excellent. I'm always looking out for British bands to get into; so much easier for me to go and see live. The MySpace page also says "the band continues to work hard to share its musical vision of despondency and negativity with the world."
Well, that's cheery.
Mind you, with a title like The Emptiness Within I guess I already had a clue.
Three tracks in and the first thing I've noticed is that there doesn't seem much bass, which is a bit odd for this kind of stuff. Track 3 Silent Gods is an enjoyable six-minute workout with surprisingly melodic guitars and pounding double bass drums but the bottom end is very underwhelming. Nevertheless, the track moves about nicely, in an almost Iron Maiden-like way, and comes to a satisfying conclusion.
Likewise the next couple of tracks.
In fact, by track 5 Twisted Landscapes I'm beginning to think De Profundis are nowhere near as bleak as they seem to think they are.
And I mean that as a good thing. Throughout the album the guitars soar and swoop brightly and the barked vocals add another texture rather than sounding like someone who just wants to bite your head off.
I wonder if De Profundis have parked their musical vision of despondency and negativity and emerged into the sunlight. I don't know how this album compares to the previous two but if this is a conscious effort to be less glum then I think they have made the right decision.
Heck, track 6 Release skips along positively brightly before the guitars kick in with a neat riff. This brightness continues for the next seven and a half minutes. There's even a jazz ending. Not very often you hear piano on a metal album. This is good stuff, it really is. Not earthshattering, but certainly interesting.
Track 8 Parallel Existence has more jazzy stuff but it works as a contrast to the blistering riffs elsewhere in the song.
Final track Unbroken (A Morbid Embrace) is doing more of the above but without sounding repetitive and at the end of the first full play of the album I have realised I like the album a great deal and am looking forward to playing it again. Not always the case with the albums I review.
De Profundis show much more promise than I originally expected from a band with a logo that looks like so many others and a web site that simply doesn't work.
I absolutely, whole-heartedly recommend this album to all you metal heads out there and I will be checking out their first two albums and seeing if they are playing anywhere local. They look pretty lively on YouTube and that's good enough for me.
I always look at a band's web site when I'm about to review something. Mainly to find information on the band itself so that I can pass on that information to you, the reader, but also to get a feel for the band. As this web site doesn't work properly, I shall have to go elsewhere.
Their MySpace page tells me they are a progressive black metal from London. Excellent. I'm always looking out for British bands to get into; so much easier for me to go and see live. The MySpace page also says "the band continues to work hard to share its musical vision of despondency and negativity with the world."
Well, that's cheery.
Mind you, with a title like The Emptiness Within I guess I already had a clue.
Three tracks in and the first thing I've noticed is that there doesn't seem much bass, which is a bit odd for this kind of stuff. Track 3 Silent Gods is an enjoyable six-minute workout with surprisingly melodic guitars and pounding double bass drums but the bottom end is very underwhelming. Nevertheless, the track moves about nicely, in an almost Iron Maiden-like way, and comes to a satisfying conclusion.
Likewise the next couple of tracks.
In fact, by track 5 Twisted Landscapes I'm beginning to think De Profundis are nowhere near as bleak as they seem to think they are.
And I mean that as a good thing. Throughout the album the guitars soar and swoop brightly and the barked vocals add another texture rather than sounding like someone who just wants to bite your head off.
I wonder if De Profundis have parked their musical vision of despondency and negativity and emerged into the sunlight. I don't know how this album compares to the previous two but if this is a conscious effort to be less glum then I think they have made the right decision.
Heck, track 6 Release skips along positively brightly before the guitars kick in with a neat riff. This brightness continues for the next seven and a half minutes. There's even a jazz ending. Not very often you hear piano on a metal album. This is good stuff, it really is. Not earthshattering, but certainly interesting.
Track 8 Parallel Existence has more jazzy stuff but it works as a contrast to the blistering riffs elsewhere in the song.
Final track Unbroken (A Morbid Embrace) is doing more of the above but without sounding repetitive and at the end of the first full play of the album I have realised I like the album a great deal and am looking forward to playing it again. Not always the case with the albums I review.
De Profundis show much more promise than I originally expected from a band with a logo that looks like so many others and a web site that simply doesn't work.
I absolutely, whole-heartedly recommend this album to all you metal heads out there and I will be checking out their first two albums and seeing if they are playing anywhere local. They look pretty lively on YouTube and that's good enough for me.
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