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Reviews: Mastodon, Hellyeah, Protafield

June 26, 2014, 3:10 am
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Mastodon: Once More 'Round The Sun (Reprise)

Mastodon started their career as a bunch of stoner metal toting noise merchants from Atlanta and have rapidly become one of the biggest bands in progressive metal with their breakthrough coming with the gonzoid space/prog concept album Crack The Skye a theme that was continued on 2011's The Hunter which featured a myriad of genres throughout. Now with their sixth album they have dug back into their past for inspiration as much of this album harks back to the Remission and Leviathan albums with a lot more straightforward heavy metal with a few southern rock elements. With Tread Lightly you can hear the old aggression that stood them in good stead all these years but then with The Motherload the album gains a prog-pop bent with a massive chorus and some changes of pace and is the most sure fire single much in the same way Curl Of The Burl was last time. Yes the riffs of Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher still come thick and fast and the bass of troy Sanders drives the groove, see the Sabbathy High Road and as usual Brann Dailor does a stirling effort behind the drumkit. The prog is most evident on the title track which has some serious psychedelic elements to it as well as little bit of Lizzy with their sample of their Cowboy Song. The psych to  features on Asleep In The Deep. Now this album does take a few spins to unleash it's treasures but when it does you get an album that is forward thinking but also backward looking in style. There are the prog elements from the latter period the pure furious riffs of the early period but here is the major thing, as much as Mastodon are hailed as progressive metal heroes and yes they have released some great albums however Once More 'Round The Sun just seems a little safe for them. It is all a little to similar to their previous records, whereas usually they have had massive leaps between each record this one seems a little like a backward step. Still it is a technically proficient, melodic, heavy and very good record, just one that doesn't break new ground for a groundbreaking band. 7/10

Hellyeah: Blood For Blood (Eleven Seven)

Out of the bands that came after the demise of Pantera and the subsequent, much publicised loss of Dimebag Darrell, Hellyeah is possibly the one band that is closest in terms of style to the mothership. It's the band Damageplan should have gone on to be, full of Southern groove, biting riffs, Vinnie Paul's driving drums and the Chad Gray's strong, shouted vocals. Now Blood For Blood is their fourth album and there have been some chnages in the band since Band Of Brothers guitarist Greg Tibbett (also in Mudvayne with Gray) and bassist Bob Zilla have both left the group leaving Tom Maxwell as the sole guitarist and installing Kyle sanders as the four stringer. The album kicks off the the head stomping Sangre Por Sangre (Blood For Blood) which has an industrial age but the BLS style southern riffage kicks in again with Demons In The Dirt which is like SOil if they were massively pissed off! Yep few bands do this kind of chest beating, riff fuelled metal than Hellyeah and Vinnie conducts from behind his percussive pit, and they write the kind of songs that mean even when gray sings a ballad like Moth he sounds like he could beat you to death. Blood For Blood will not reinvent the wheel but what it does do is give Hellyeah their heaviset album to date and one that is full of authentic Southern groove metal, with a modern kick. Songs like DMF short for "Die Mother Fucker!" would scare FFDP and quite rightly, this isn't the music for posers or flash in the pans, this is the Great Southern Trendkill played by the people that were there! Getcha Pull!! 8/10

Protafield: Nemesis (Devfire Entertainment/Universal)

Now humour me if you will. Protafield are what Rammstein would sound like if they came from Bridgend. Touted as an industrial/electronic punk(?) band Protafield are the brainchild of Jayce Lewis formerly of the band Losing Sun, Lewis himself has already one solo album to his name, a mega hit single (Icon) in India and a BBC documentary to his name. Now his first album was a mixture of electronic elements and metal and it showed off Lewis' talent on all instruments and also his great voice. Since then he has recruited some musicians to form a band and they are now known as Protafield, With the EDM pulse of opener God Forced the album immediately shows you what its made of with tonnes of synths and electronic drum loops being merged with the more traditional band elements of guitars (Marc James who appears on every track but one) bass and drums. Much like the Rammstein albums this album doesn't let up with every track full of rampaging electronic music that also brings to mind some Zombie as well as the legend Gary Numan (who actually appears on Redesign). Severe Sever has a club like feel with some serious drumming from Jack Slade who is part man part machine. =Pure is a song dark enough to be linked with Lewis' promoter Dave "Darth Vader" Prowse and it is followed by the uplifting Perfect Defect which has a huge chorus and again some killer drums from Slade. The most epic track on the album is Wrath which features drums from Queen's Roger Taylor, it is one of the best songs on the album along with the dub filled Make Believe and closer Revolution which has a drum duel between Slade and Lewis and features Lance Henriksen as a Droid (true story Sci-Fi fans!) For fans of industrial metal (not sure where the punk bit of their description comes from) this album is very good, but it is one that will not break any genre boundaries, if you like industrial, electronic metal then you will love it if not then you may find it a bit dull. 7/10

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Another Point Of View: Vintage Trouble (Review By Paul)

June 29, 2014, 10:25 am
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Vintage Trouble – Bristol Bierkeller

Vintage Trouble are addictive. That first taste leaves you craving for more and every additional hit provides an immediate sense of satisfaction that quickly disappears and intensifies the craving again. My first taste was in the unlikely setting of the tent at Sonisphere in 2011 and then at a very sweaty Glee Club in 2012. Having been unable to see them in the Glee Club last year, it was inevitable that a trip across the bridge was in the schedule to maintain the addiction when VT announced their latest tour. If you haven't heard of this band, then let me enlighten you. Formed in LA in 2010, VT are Ty Taylor on vocals, Nalle Colt on guitar, Richard Danielson on drums and Rick Barrio Dill on bass. They play a combination of soulful bluesy rock ‘n’ roll with a down and dirty delivery. Possibly the sharpest dressed band in the world, it is in the live arena where Ty and the boys really deliver the goods. The Bierkeller has been around for a long time, and it’s about time it moved with the times and invested in some bloody air-conditioning. Sweltering conditions inside, combined with a capacity sell-out crowd made for a slightly uncomfortable evening although getting a little moist is very much a ritual for the Troublemakers (as VT’s fans are fondly referred to). Kicking off with Jezzebella, the room was immediately in full swing with much jiving and dirty dancing as Ty demonstrated why he is one of the best frontmen in the business. His voice is stunning, soulful and enchanting and his energy is infectious. As the band played through a selection of tracks from their debut album, The Bomb Shelter Sessions, their influences oozed through. From Ike and Tina to the Rolling Stones, this band capture them all in a perfect blend and spin it together with their own unique style and delivery. Ty is the perfect front of house, cajoling and spinning, encouraging numerous sing-a-longs and much air palming from the adoring crowd.

A couple of news songs were also delivered, including the excellent Low Down Dirty Dog. An acoustic session in the middle of the show was welcomed by all and allowed the pace to drop without losing any momentum. Not All Right By Me was performed to perfection. As the tempo built back up with the rocky Blues Hand Me Down, there was a real opportunity for the band’s high level of musicianship to come to the fore, with the guitar work of Colt spectacular. This band have been on a constant touring cycle ever since their formation and it really shows with extended and improvised versions of virtually every song. They are incredibly tight, clearly benefitting from playing support slots to a wide range of bands including the Rolling Stones as well as numerous headline shows. Nobody Told Me highlighted the softer side of the band before they played one of their most popular tunes, the infectious Nancy Lee which again featured extended improvisation and mass audience participation. It’s difficult to describe what it is about VT that is so addictive. Maybe it’s the humility in their delivery, maybe it’s the pure energy and infectious grooves of their songs or maybe it is a combination and the fact that you can't feel anything other than incredibly happy whilst watching them. As they closed their set, jumping off stage and heading straight through the crowd to sign items in the ‘Goods and collectables’ section, all around the ‘Keller were satisfied and sticky Troublemakers who will no doubt be back to see VT as soon as they can. A brilliant night once more. 10/10
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Reviews: Jack White, Mostly Autumn, Royal Southern Brotherhood

June 30, 2014, 1:46 pm
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Jack White: Lazaretto (Third Man Records)

So the Detroit musical madman returns with a second album of rootsy music harking back to his musical and geographical heritage. The first White solo album was an excuse for him to spread his wings and indulge in his love of rock, blues, folk and beyond it was different to his other works to be admired on it's own merit but retaining enough of his style to be beyond doubt it was his work. The first thing you notice about the record as Three Women (originally by Blind Willie McTell) kicks in is that it does seem more upbeat than it's predecessor with the Hammond (courtesy of former Mars Volta man Ikey Owens) driven funk of the first song gets you moving in your seat, before the gonzoid garage rock of the title track harks back to his first band, the pace changes again with Lillie Mae Rische's fiddle and country vocals bringing a southern longing to the album something that is revisited on Entitlement on which you can just hear the tumbleweed and smell the moonshine. As usual the White provides the vocals and most of the guitars with a huge cast of musicians helping him, the most notable of which is the returning Ruby Amanfu who appeared on the first album who is at her soulful best on Just One Drink. The fuzzy Highball Stepper is an instrumental that shows of Whites prowess and in the process brings to mind The Black Keys with it's explosive, fuzz fuelled guitars. Yes this isn't The White Stripes, the riffs from that band are not present, but what is present is a man who clearly is drawing from his inspirations in the Blues, Country and Folk, to create an album that is a myriad of styles and filled with the oddball, off-kilter delivery and lyricism and best of all he seems to be enjoying himself, a quality that is evident throughout the record. Old school, retro call it what you will this music never dies. Well done Mr White another cracker! 8/10

Mostly Autumn: Dressed In Voices (Mostly Autumn Records)

Mostly Autumn are now deep into their second phase with guitarist Bryan Josh and Keyboardist Iain Jennings now the only founding members (although Jennings has been in and out of the band) but they are still releasing high quality records with an ever revolving line up of musicians, (the latest change is the departure of drummer Gavin Griffiths who leaves to focus on Panic Room) Since Olivia Josh nee Sparnenn joined and vocals the band have become heavier with every record and yet again they get heavier with Dressed In Voices. Bryan Josh describes this album as a concept album about a murder that is made to live the life of the person he has killed, their past, present and future. So this is not a smiley record by any means and as Jennings' keys kick off the first track you can hear the ominous tones that foreshadow the rest of the album with the massive guitar parts driving the songs and Olivia's voice perfect for the light and shade when merged with her husbands, a rocky opener then before Jennings gets to bring you to your knees with his plaintive keys on Not Yours To Take which also has some heavyweight guitars from Bryan Joshj and Liam Davidson (also now left replaced by former guitarist Chris Johnson) as well as the pace driven by Andy Smith's bass. It is also a chance for Josh to show off his rich vocals that are part whispered part bellowed and merge perfectly with the sweet vocals of his wife. Running is probably the most Mostly Autumn song on the album with an emotional delivery and a soaring Gilmour like solo from Josh who has never shied away from his Pink Floyd influences, these get more prevalent after See You welcomes you to the dark middle section and Home has some seriously evil synth and when combined with Josh's almost menacing but yet emotive vocals it is all reminiscent of Pink Floyd's The Wall, as does The Library. The chills run down your spine on First Day At School on which is just vocals and piano for the most part until the final part moves into an explosive instrumental final section with Jennings, Josh and new drummer Alex Cromarthy driving the song into Jeff Wayne territory and the rock comes back with a vengeance on Down By The River which shows Josh in full Blackmore mode. despite the heaviness of this record the bands folk roots come through on Skin On Skin and The House On The Hill which features the whistle and bouzouki of Troy Donockley. Equally melancholic, uplifting, ominous and joyous Dressed In Voices is a modern day morality play that questions the nature of guilt while providing an amazing musical backing which ends with the MA classic ballad Box Of Tears which features former member Anne-Marie Helder on flute and vocals. A band that have always pushed themselves sonically have now created an album that sets them in great stead for the future, a heavy concept yes but it has made for a fantastic album. 9/10

Royal Southern Brotherhood: Heartsoulblood (Ruf Records)

Onto the second album and as Tiny Robinson said the train kept-a-rollin'. When a band is made of a Neville Brother and an Allman Brother you expect the best and this is what you get, classic blues, rock, soul, funk, country and jazz filling 12 tracks and leading to a hell of a ride fro blues fans, as they say on World Blues it runs through their veins and with the staccato riff and the slide guitar melody, you can agree but they don't limit themselves to one style, the ode to this music Rock And Roll sounds like the Eagles (Joe Walsh era) with a R&B backbeat. The band is based around the trio of Mike Zito's guitars, Devon Allmans' guitars and Cyrill Neville's percussion with Yonrico Scott's drums and Charlie Wooton's bass, filling in the gaps. Because of the dual percussion the albums have a definite element of funk drawing inspiration from Neville's own band see the smooth as silk Groove On and also features Neville's smoky vocal delivery and the almost tribal drums, the funky carries on with Here It Is and moves into Callous which sounds like a blues based version of Come Together by the Beatles with Wooton driving everything brilliantly. Zito's and Allman's guitars are awesome they compliment each other brilliantly and while Zito rocks, Allman has the blues touch of his uncle. Call it blues, call it blues rock call it whatever you want this second shot of rich, soulful, rootsy southern blues rock. A great second album from this so called supergroup, now a tour with Tedeschi Trucks Band calls...Please!!?? 8/10   
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A View From A Field: British Summer Time Festival Hyde Park (Review By Paul)

July 6, 2014, 10:03 am
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Black Sabbath Time – Hyde Park

Following their storming shows at the tail end of 2013 the announcement that Sabbath, the godfathers of metal would be concluding their world tour as part of the British Summer Time event at Hyde Park sounded pretty tasty. When the supporting bill was also released at the same time, it made a very tempting menu indeed and so on a dull overcast morning in South Wales that Matt and I set off on the First Great Western chuffer to London Paddington where we would later rendezvous with some of our metal brothers.
Arriving in London to be greeted by blue skies and scorching temperatures, the decision to wear shorts and t-shirts combined with lashing of sun cream and the obligatory cold cider to keep the inner temperature regulated proved to be a smashing one and we headed for Hyde Park to join the masses waiting for the gates to open. Having found shade for a very welcome 40 minutes under one of the massive oaks near the North entrance, we met up with Ben and Sharon before heading into the arena. As one would expect, food and drink were London prices (well, we were in London!) and the merchandise was the usual £25 for a t-shirt. We grabbed a cooling brew and, joined by James and Russell, headed for a suitable vantage point to catch the opening band on the main stage. *Here we must add our apologies to Buffalo Summer – we did want to catch you but it was too bloody hot to head indoors; we will catch you at Hard Rock Hell – honest!)

Soulfly

First up on the main stage – Soulfly. Primed to get proceedings off to a heavy start, Max Cavalera and his troops shattered the early afternoon tranquillity with a blistering set of classic Soulfly and Sepultura tracks in their short but brutal set. Despite having a nine album back catalogue, Max and the boys chose well and ensured that their brief was fulfilled in full. Opening with Prophecy, the band cantered along with early afternoon pits opening up at the front of the stage. Max Cavalera is never going to win awards for the most complex lyricist or for hugely structured intricate time changes but he knows what he is good at and boy does he do it well. Straight forward riffs combined with their South American heritage, machine gun drumming and guttural lyrics. Straight into Back To The Primitive which had me bouncing around with glee, and then Tribe from Soulfly which maintained the momentum. Although the sound was slightly disrupted by the afternoon breeze (most welcome in 26° heat) Cavalera and long serving guitarist Marco Rizzo continued to deliver a crushing guitar sound, with Rizzo shouldering the lead duties and combining with Tony Campos on bass on several occasions when Max decided to concentrate purely on vocals. Making up the quartet, Zyon Cavalera, Max’s son on drums; demonstrating once more the huge musical gene that runs through La Familia Cavalera. Unsurprisingly given the heritage, a large slab of Sepultura was served up, with Arise, Dead Embryonic Cells and then a huge Roots Bloody Roots with a guest appearance from Igor Cavalera, resplendent in a Hawaiian shirt. This produced the expected reaction with more pits opening up and a surprising number of old school Sepultura fans singing along to every word. Closing their short set with JumpdaFuckUp/ Eye For An Eye, Soulfly did exactly what was required. Short but oh so sweet and everyone who made the effort were rewarding by an excellent opening set. 8/10

Motorhead

With the crowd suitably warmed up from the Soulfly set, it was the legendary Motorhead who were next up on the main stage. The audience visibly swelled for the return to the UK stage of Lemmy, Phil and Mikkey. Much has been documented about Lemmy’s health problems over the past year, with a number of below par performances followed by their European tour cancellation. It was clear from reading the media reports that Lemmy had been pretty unwell; no-one has a defibrillator fitted lightly. So I’m sure that alongside the massive number of ‘Head fans, there were a number of curious on-lookers who were interested to see how well the great man’s recovery had been. Well, I am pleased to say that reports of the man’s demise have been massively exaggerated. A huge roar greeted Motorhead as they took to the stage. “We are Motorhead … and we play rock n’ roll” roared Lemmy as they blasted out of the traps with Damage Case. Phil Campbell, now a 30 year veteran for the band sported his fine Welsh flag guitar, peeling out the riffs and soloing like it was his last gig. Seriously, this guy is one of the finest guitar players in the business, criminally underrated in my opinion. With such a huge amount of great songs it must be a real bitch to select eight or nine songs to fill 45 minutes but as is usual, they mixed it up with old classics and a newie. Stay Clean was followed by a welcome Over The Top from Bomber before the outstanding Lost Woman Blues from Aftershock demonstrated the bluesy side of the band.  Plenty of banter from Lemmy and Phil during the set including their disgust at the lack of initial roaring from the crowd which soon changed. Phil in particular getting in the expected jib at the English football team as they introduced Going To Brazil. Killed By Death followed, with a quite unexpected and unusual guest appearance by Whitfield Craine from Ugly Kid Joe on vocals, (Yeah, I had to look him up too) [Would have been better had they played Born To Raise Hell with him but nevermind. Matt]. Inevitably the real big hitters concluded the set, Ace Of Spades inducing mass sing-a-longs before Mikey Dee hammered the opening to Overkill, possibly the best closing track of all time. At the end of the set the band looked deservedly pleased that their UK return had passed off in great style. All around people were beaming with pleasure and the awesomeness of a quite breath taking set. Power, pace, quality and just superb rock n’ roll. This was good as I've ever seen Motorhead which goes back to the early 1980s. There is still life in the Motorhead beast. 10/10

Following a wander around the site including quite a trek for the toilets (bleeding miles away … don’t they realise some of us are getting on a bit and don't have the bladder of a camel?) and a pleasant distraction in the form of some fine ladies dancing to the steel drums which had been providing a lovely local flavour and a real diversion from the pounding metal) it was time for band number three.

Faith No More

I maybe in the minority here but Faith No More have never done anything for me. Despite owning most of their catalogue, I rarely play them, get bored stiff at the constant playing of Epic on the classic rock channels and to be honest, find them quite overrated. However, I appreciate that they have carved out a niche in the metal world. We were stood way back at the end of the arena and have a very limited view and so as they kicked off with a trio of tracks that featured on From Out Of Nowhere I was still nonplussed. Zombie Eaters, From Out Of Nowhere and then, I admit, a crushing Epic were served up to the huge crowd that contained massive numbers of fans who knew every word. Caffeine from Angel Dust continued the momentum and there is no doubt that this band are extremely good musically. Dressed with their ministerial collars and an ‘altar’ set with huge numbers of lilies scattering the stage, vocalist Mike Patton bantered with the crowd, especially after they had dropped Commodores cover Easy into the set which provoked a mass sing-a-long. They also aired a new track, Leaders Of Men which went down well before a huge gap, when I thought they had finished, before climaxing with Motherfucker and We Care A Lot. By that time we had made our way to the Barclaycard Theatre to worship at the church of Hell. I read reviews of the band the day after the event, where critics provided them with gushing plaudits I do wonder if it is just me. If so, that’s just the way it is. 6/10

Hell

Having been bathed in glorious sunlight all day, we stepped into the unnatural setting of the Barclaycard Theatre, designed part pub part Arabian tent with red velvet swashes   roof. It was so hot in there that it was indeed like stepping into the bowels of hell. Ah, yes, Hell. From North Derbyshire no less, as vocalist and all round thespian Dave Bowers reminded us at the end of the set. The tent was full to bursting as the strains of Gehennae Incendiis led neatly into the vicious soloing which opens Age Of Nefarious. Crammed onto a tiny stage, Hell burst forth likes a boil on Satan’s backside, delivering their fresh yet NWOBHM tinged sound. Front of house, full of theatre and animation, Dave Bowers is unlike any other frontman. Full of expression and drama, he patrols the stage, cajoling the audience and providing his unique delivery. Either side of the stage, Kevin Bowers and Andy Sneap provide the riffage whilst the ungodly looking rhythm section of Tim Bowler’s drums and the sinister Tony Speakman’s bass hold things together like superglue. Welcome To Hell followed with a pit opening up despite the heat. It was clear that the band had attracted a number of curious onlookers, some of whom left quite early whilst others were obviously entranced by the power of the band’s delivery. Blasphemy And The Master witnessed Dave Bower’s self-flagellation, a key part of the theatrics that Hell have established as part of their live reputation. Sadly no room for Darkhangel and the stilt walking Pan but the second track from Curse and Chapter, Something Wicked This Way Comes demonstrated how well the tracks from the new album have slotted into the set. Faith Will Fail was followed by final track Save Us From Those Who Would Save Us from debut album Human Remains, and included a right royal cock-up as Bowers fluffed the lyrics and humorously demanded a re-start.  For those who love this band, they can do no wrong. The strength of their music combined with the theatrics and thought that has been put into their stage show make them a must see every time. They would have been immense on the main stage though. 9/10

Soundgarden

Emerging back into the sunlight Soundgarden had already launched into their set with Let Me Drown. What struck us as we headed for a cooling beer before moving closer to the stage was how many people were content to ignore the Seattle legends. We headed closer and took up a reasonable vantage point as the band completed My Wave and Fell On Black Days. Although we were distracted and I took advantage to catch up with an old friend and his son during their set, if I said that Mailman was the next track the Soundgarden fans amongst you would have twigged that this was Superunknown in its entirety. Yep, the 20th anniversary of the album. The title track saw Mike McCready from Pearl Jam join them on stage before Head Down and the crowd favourite Black Hole Sun was delivered with aplomb. I like Soundgarden; a lot. I’d never seen them live before but again, I was not over enthused watching them. Maybe the sun had worn me down, but I think I’d prefer to see them in an indoor venue. Having said that, these guys did nothing wrong and Chris Cornell has one of the most brilliant voices in rock. He delivered every note superbly. Alongside him Kim Thayil is one heavy mutha, dropping riffs for fun. Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd are no slouches either, maintaining a crushingly heavy rhythm throughout. Spoonman was excellent and the band looked like they were really having some fun. Cornell is an excellent frontman and the crowd appeared engaged. They finishing with 4th July and Like Suicide, completing the entire 14 track album bang on time. It just appeared a little static and uninteresting. Maybe some bands I just like better on record. 7/10

Black Sabbath

And so, bang on 20:45, the sirens rang out over Hyde Park as Ozzy’s voice screamed “Let me hear you” before his evil chuckle and the opening strains of War Pigs blasted out over the Royal Park. No surprises in this set, which was very similar to that witnessed on their last UK dates in 2013. A blistering Into The Void, full of Tony Iommi’s sinister riffs was followed by a stunning version of Snowblind, Ozzy running around the stage urging the crowd throughout. Stage left, Geezer Butler plays that bass like a lead guitar, throwing down riffs and powering the band along. His playing allows Iommi to solo like a demon, which he does, wry smiles on his face. The band have clearly gelled on the 13 tour, smiles between them happen frequently and they really look like they are having a great time. Age Of Reason precedes the real old school with an ominous Black Sabbath heralding the first droplets of rain from the darkening sky. Behind The Wall Of Sleep led into NIB, complete with Butler bass solo intro. Stunning stuff and so incredibly heavy. These are indeed the true masters of metal. A large helping of Paranoid to follow with Fairies Wear Boots followed by Rat Salad with Tommy Clufetos’ powerful drum solo. A pounding Iron Man is followed by God Is Dead from 13, complete with my wife’s favourite lyrics “Out of the gloom I climb out from my tomb into impending doom”. Huge visual effects accompanied the entire show; images during War Pigs particularly poignant and the song remaining as relevant today as when it was written 44 years ago. This was a visual feast as well as the ultimate demonstration of 90 minutes of metal. Closing the main set with the crushing Children Of The Grave, it was left to Ozzy to urge us to be heard one last time, as Iommi teased with the opening chords of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath before launching into Paranoid which of course was the cue for the entire park to go batshit crazy, which it duly did. A huge firework display signalled the end of the show. If the Sabs don’t ever tour again, and let’s face it what is important now is Iommi’s health, then this was a fitting climax. If they do, then I will be making sure I’m there again. Absolutely brilliant. 10/10

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Reviews: Septicflesh, Divine Chaos, Fire Red Empress

July 6, 2014, 11:31 am
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Septicflesh: Titan (Seasons Of Mist)

Greek symphonic death metal legends Septicflesh (formerly Septic Flesh) have once again released another heavyweight symphonic metal album full of their traditional orchestral metal flair. The blast beats of Fotis Benardo kick off things in true to form style with the guitars of Christos Antoniou and Sotiris Anunnaki V driving things with their death/black metal aggressive speed riffing that brings to mind Dimmu Borgir and when the vocals of bassist Seth Siro Anton start to growl like a demon you get more of a sense that the band are very Dimmu-like. What sets them apart from a lot of the bands of their ilk, is that much like their Norwegian counterparts they have managed to incorporate orchestrations seamlessly over the top of their death metal assault. This album is relentless with the blast beats coming thick and fast the guitars just shredding like hell and the mix of guttural vocals and haunting clean vocals work well on Burn which slows in the middle for a huge guitar solo bolstered by strings. Like I said with many other bands this oppressive rampaging black metal could get a little tiring but with the perfectly executed orchestrations and symphonic elements it means that much like tour mates Fleshgod Apocalypse, Septicflesh hold your attention with the string ensembles, choirs and general cinematic feel of each track, despite doing this for longer than the italian whippersanppers! This much like countrymen Rotting Christ is the heavy side of Greek metal, it is anti-religion, anti-politics and generally angry and violently music that is bolstered by its symphonic elements. This is an album to be played on a stereo very loudly, or indeed in a live arena, the soundtrack to a (probably Sci-Fi) film yet to be made and with the industrial crush of Dogma, or the doom-like Prometheus (which is as jarring as the film of the same name) Great stuff from Septicflesh, a band for whom all this is all par for the course actually. 8/10 

Divine Chaos: A New Dawn In The Age Of War (Evil EyE records)

Now some death/thrash metal from deepest, darkest...Berkshire, yes with swirling maelstrom riffs, battery drumming and some screamed death vocals, Divine Chaos explode onto the scene with an album full of technically proficient, neck snapping, hair whipping death metal with a lot of old school thrash metal of Testament, Exodus and Death thrown in for good measure which mix together to create another entry into the modern wave of melodic death metal. With songs about war, politics and violence this is the standard death/thrash fodder lyrically, but all delivered with a snarling venom from Benny who is backed by the guitars of Gilmour and Chris O'Toole who are awesome with riff after riff, solo after solo trying to melt your face off with their six string assault. This is all while Tom Baker (no not that one) and James Stewart (no not that one) have the rhythm section to destroy buildings with, see Shadow Of God which is fuelled by hatred and blast beats. this album is relentless with furious labs of melodic death hitting you at every turn until Ignorance Everlasting sets out with a clean melodic lead intro before getting heavier and the main riff kicks in with more pit inciting metal. This is a hell of a record full of the kind of metal Testament, Dark Angel and Kreator play with punishing riffs, snarling vocals and some great songs that are brutal, heavy, fast and most of all technically perfect. The proficiency is through the roof with all the band members showing their chops on the final track Perpetual War Politics which is fast and furious before breaking down into an acoustic middle section that continues until the final moments all very Bloodshot Dawn indeed! A great debut from this British metal band who should rip apart a venue near you soon!! 8/10      

Fire Red Empress: Paint Me The Devil (Self Release)

Ooh this is a bit tasty!! The initial words I said as the riff for Left Unspoken kicked in with a vengeance bringing some big American stoner riffs, a heaving slab of Southern rock, some modern melody and a pinch of British punk. Imagine the Royal Republic & Black Stone Cherry playing with the Black Spiders and you wouldn't be far off. There are dual muscular guitars from Carl and Paul Gethin, the driving bass of Ben Picken, the drums of Luke Middleton keep you fist pumping and Nik Taylor-Stoakes' (formerly of Vallenbrosa) great ragged vocals. For a band that have not been around long they have a serious amount of talent, big ballsy rock riffs permeate the three tracks and gives you an instant kick of excitement with their hard rocking riffs. On these three tracks Fire Red Empress give you everything with Left Unspoken and the title track doing the best in the rockier stakes, full of big guitar riffs that Mastodon and indeed the Black Spiders bring to the table. Before Behind The Veil going all Soundgarden with its long slow grinding guitar and almost psychedelic trippy vibe with its huge throbbing guitars. A nice taster for (hopefully!) their debut album, more please gentlemen!! 8/10
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Reviews: (Hed)Pe, The Trews, Kaine

July 12, 2014, 1:31 pm
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(Hed) P.E. - Evolution (Pavement Entertainment)

Ever since their debut EP Church Of Realities way back in 1995 Huntington Beach's own rock veterans (Hed) Planet Earth (or Planetary Evolution if you prefer) have been steadily pumping out their somewhat standard blend of rap, punk rock and metal with the odd peppering of funk and reggae influences occasionally thrown in for good measure. If you're a fan then you probably know what to expect from each release. But given the title of this their ninth studio long player you could be forgiven for expecting a change to their usual formula. So is that what we get here? Not exactly. While the first half of the album (especially the opening double of No Turning Back and Lost In Babylon is full of your typical (Hed) fare things take a sharp turn for the more mellow on the second half, especially from the interlude/segue track nine The Higher Crown and into the final three tracks Nowhere2Go, Let It Burn and Hold On where I guess the Evolution begins. Now, there is certainly nothing wrong with a more mellow sound and indeed the band are certainly no strangers to this (see The Meadow (Special Like You) from probably their best known album Broke) but their previous forays into this area had, for me anyway, better songs. Frankly I find those last three songs to be a big let-down and almost do the rest of the album an injustice if those are what sticks in your head after listening to the whole thing. The final track Hold On in particular sounds to me like a studio out-take for some reason. That said there is definitely some good on this album - apart from the aforementioned opening two songs the lead single One More Body is a good choice to promote the album featuring Jared's semi-ragga style vocals (not quite Benji Webbe standard but I digress!) coupled with a strong chorus and the fourth track No Tomorrow is more or less standard (Hed) formula to the point where I wouldn't be surprised if this was chosen as the second single somewhere down the line. Lyrically also Jared appears to have dropped the many references to the Truth Movement that were so prevalent on the previous two albums, which I personally feel is to the benefit of his social commentary. Overall I found this to be kind of a patchy record that starts fairly strong but for me drops off badly towards it's end. Given that the early press releases trumpeted this albums alleged heaviness (some of which is on display admittedly, albeit the overall pace of the album as a whole is far, far slower than the sometimes frantic pace of it's predecessors which for a band who identify themselves as a punk rock band feels almost like the anti-thesis of that particular ideal when compared to their previous output but I digress again) I would personally consider this album to be more of a disappointing sideways step than a true Evolution. 5/10

The Trews: S/T (Self-Released/Fan Funded)

Canadians The Trews are one of my favourite bands and quite frankly the band I am at my most hipster with. Not many people in the UK know about them and I'm fine with that. I think they are great equally rock but with big chart aims, they write songs that sit in the same league as The Foo Fighters the draw from a classic rock legacy but add a modern twist with intelligent lyricism, humour and also realism to their songs. This last part was at its most evident on their sparse, melancholic previous release Hope And Ruin which was an album full of regret but also as the title suggests hope, the band seemed to shake themselves off a little on their EP ....Thank You And I'm Sorry which waxed lyrical about The Power Of Positive Drinking and made sure the band found their smile again (one for wrestling fans there). Anyway what about their fan funded self titled fifth album? Well firstly a self titled album is usually sign of a reinvention or a rejuvenation of a band and this is true of The Trews they sound a lot like they did on their first two albums, cranking out radio rock with fire in their belly and passion in their hearts! Ride In The Wake has a cracking riff to kick things off it also has a huge sing along rock chord chorus that is made to fill stadiums. Its a great song to start the album as it sets the tone especially with John Angus MacDonald's killer lead guitar which accompanies his Colin's huge voice perfectly. Age Of Miracles is a pop song that features one of The Trews' hallmarks which is lots of acoustics and some Celtic flavour before the love lorn ballad of Permanent Love slows things down so Sean Dalton can show off his drumming acumen. Yes this is the sound of a band revitalised and as the R.E.M sounding The Sentimentalist, the country influenced style 65 Roses on which Colin MacDonald shows off his soul, the reverberated electronic pulse of What's Fair Is Fair a theme that continues on Where There's Love which has a lot of Foo Fighters to it with the electric and acoustic guitars merging and Jack Syperek's driving bass as well as The Beatles-like Living The Dream which ends with a string quartet in true Fab Four style before ending with the clarion call of Under The Sun. The Trews is the culmination of the band's career so far; the stadium-size hard rock of their early years through the more modern influences of their latter period all rolled together with their love of acoustic instrumentation, see In The Morning (the bands first ever duet, featuring singer songwriter Serena Ryder). All these musical elements are added to the intelligent and at times emotional lyricism, the melodic and excellent song writing as well as a shed load of integrity, honesty and passion to create an album that pushes itself up to the top of the bands discography. If you are curious about The Trews start with this album, then work your way through their back catalogue, I guarantee you will find something! 9/10

Kaine: The Waystone (Self Released)

The NWOBHM is possibly the biggest movement in metal music as it had the ethos of punk but with better musicianship, bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and yes even Def Leppard have gone on to bigger and better things but the movement carries on however there are few British bands flying the flag for leather trousers and white sneakers metal. Most of the bands hail from the Scandinavian countries as well as Canada but Kaine are British based noise merchants that look to bring the twin guitar attack back to our shores. As the first riff of Iron Lady kicks off it immediately transports you back to 80's and the reign of the real Iron Lady with it's dual guitars from Anthony Murch (Lead), Rage Sadler (Rhythm) who also provides the vocals pitched somewhere between Dickinson's mid range and the shouted delivery of Dave Mustaine; especially on The New Wave. They have smashing drum fills and rhythms from Chris MacKinnon and big bold bass licks (and even a bass solo!) from bass man extraordinaire Dan Mailer who comes from the 'Arry Harris school of bass playing hard, fast and like a lead player. Sadler and Murch's guitars are great rich with riffs and solos to get your fist pumping and heads banging. Kaine have been around since 2009 and The Waystone is their second album and as such it is a very professional affair with lots of great performances, very good songs; especially Solidarity which is a slow burning track with lots of light and shade, the progressive epic This Soul Exchange which takes it's cues from Metallica as well as Entropy (Unrelenting Chaos) an instrumental is always a key feature of any great album (see Powerslave/ Ride The Lightning for reference). Yes Kaine are on a crusade to bring back the sound of the NWOBHM which they do on The Waystone but they are not a one trick pony, the manage to merge thrash and traditional British metal and on the 9 tracks of this album they convince you that it's not just the Scandinavians that can do retro trad metal we Brits do a fine job of it too!! 8/10

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Reviews: Judas Priest, Ted Nugent, Grave Digger, Demonic Resurrection (Bumper Review By Paul)

July 18, 2014, 2:53 am
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Judas Priest – Redeemer Of Souls (Epic/Colombia)

So a couple of years after the Epitaph finale, here is the return of the Metal Gods with their latest release, Redeemer Of Souls. Priest is of course comprised of living legends, led by one of metal’s true greats in the shape of the mighty Rob Halford. Their style has always been straight forward balls out heavy metal. They make no bones about it. This is what they do and if you don’t like it then you can fuck off.
I’ve always thought Priest were massively underrated in the UK until very recently; certainly for many years they appeared much more appreciated in the States for a long time. With Redeemer Of Souls, the Priest return to the quality of their reunion album, Angel Of Retribution, which was unbelievably released nine years ago? This of course is the first release to feature new guitarist Richie Faulkner and he has clearly given the band a new lease of life. Opener Dragonaut kicks off with a killer riff before crashing into its stride like a charging bull elephant. “Welcome to my word of steel” snarls Halford. Solos snake all over the place, Halford’s voice sounds excellent with his trademark operatic levels and harmonies on the chorus whilst the dual guitars of Faulkner and Glenn Tipton duel away in their customary style. Similar to old school Iron Maiden, the twin axe attack has long been the Priest trademark. Solid stuff with enough hooks to be memorable. The tempo continues with the title track which comes next; similar format, verse followed by chorus with driving bass and drums courtesy of Ian Hill and drummer Scott Travis and the double guitar work of Faulkner and Tipton complementing Halford’s superb delivery. 

This is a 13 track album and as with many Priest albums, there is a little bit of filler included. Bloody hell, these guys are mainly in their late 60s so the fact that they are still delivering the goods (sorry!) is most impressive. Halls Of Valhalla isn't my favourite track on the album but the thing with Priest is that they are just masters of the metal riff. This track races along with aplomb and Halford proves that he can still hit the high notes. Solos are dripping through this album, with Faulkner and Tipton delivering killer efforts. Sword Of Damocles follows with thundering drumming but a slight variation in tempo, certainly more Maiden in delivery and a demonstration of their similar style. A sing-a-long chorus with a slower pace, Halford’s delivery is very similar to Mr Dickinson’s. No bad thing in my book. The second half of the album is, to my mind, a selection of traditional Judas Priest heavy metal. Down In Flames has the British Steel era feel about it, whilst Hell And Back would have slotted nicely into the Nostradamus opus released a few years ago. Meanwhile there is a very definite 80s feel to Cold Blooded with Halford providing his unique vocal style to strong effect whilst once again the dual fretwork is solid. Metaliser opens with the classic Halford scream and is a real headbanger of a track, galloping along, hooks reminiscent of the classic tunes from the Painkiller album. It sits nicely alongside Nightcrawler and Jawbreaker. The final tracks maintain a high standard, with Cross Fire the pick before the Beginning Of The End, a softer, introspective song closes the album. It isn’t going to set the world on fire but it is a rather tasty slab of metal from one of the old school masters. A new Priest album is always a welcome sound. Now let’s have a headline set at BOA 2015. That would be sweet. 7/10

Ted Nugent – Shut Up And Jam (Frontiers)

The motor city madman with the political views that would make Nigel Farage blush delivers his 14th album Shut Up And Jam to the unsuspecting rock world and it’s a bit of a stormer. I've had to set aside all of my views about Uncle Ted’s politics to review this piece of work so please don’t for one minute think I agree with any of his agenda. However, having grown up on a diet of the Detroit motor mouth thanks to Brett Perry exposing me to The Amboy Dukes, I have to admit that I've always had a soft spot for his musical ability. For me he is one of THE greatest guitarists to ever come out of the States. His earlier solo stuff like Free For All, Weekend Warriors, Catch Scratch Fever and Intensities In Ten Cities are all dripping with sublime guitar work and some top quality tunes (and like most rock in the 70s it was also dripping with misogynistic lyrics before you say it). His signature Gibson Byrdland provided solos that ripped you in half and who can forget the lengthy holding of the note at the start of Great White Buffalo? So what about his latest release? Well, Shut Up And Jam opens with the rock n’ roll driven title track, with the Nuge’s trademark vocals instantly recognisable and the licks flying around like a swarm of vicious mosquitoes. Nugent has combined with long time collaborators bassist Greg Smith and drummer Mick Brown along with the welcome return of the legendary Derek St Holmes on rhythm guitar and backing vocals. Fear Itself is a storming composition, with a blinding riff and catchy chorus. Although these lyrics are never going to win an award for depth, the Nuge writes to suit his style. A catchy hook on the chorus beefs the track up even more. Mr St Holmes takes lead vocal duty on Everything Matters, a bluesy number which has some really delicate guitar playing. St Holmes was of course, a staple part of the Nugent band for many years and supplied the vocals on a number of Nugent’s more popular tracks. He was also the basis upon which the writers developed the name David St Hubbins in Spinal Tap. 

She’s Gone features a guest vocal from Sammy Hagar whose voice fits the track superbly, with some ridiculous vocal interplay and another blistering track. This is followed by a mellower track, Never Stop Believing which kicks off with driving riffs, heartfelt soloing and then some of the Nuge’s most honest lyrics. A lovely song which focuses very much on Uncle Ted’s love of life, including homage to Martin Luther King. The album also has a bluesy version at the end which is quite stunning. Normal service is quickly resumed with I Still Believe, all about Nuge’s love of America and his patriotism is unwavering. As for the track, it clips along, tambourines and all whilst the Nuge’s guitar work crawls all over it like ants on jam. The next track is just brilliant. “Something smells good” says Uncle Ted before launching into I Love My BBQ. If you are a vegetarian tune out now! This is a tribute to the outdoor art of grilling. “Tofu just might kill you, a tossed salad makes you weak, I like to kill ‘em and grill ‘em, protein’s what we seek”. Hilarious stuff and it gets better. “Well the animals, they got rights, next to the mashed potato”. Throttledown does exactly what you’d expect from the title, a balls out instrumental which allows the entire band to showcase how tight they are. Whilst the focus is always on Nugent, his backing band really kick out the jams on this track. I don’t know how they recorded this album but I wouldn't be surprised if it was very much delivered in a few hits and in a group sound. Do-Rags and A.45 is a pulsing tune, with huge helpings of Dog Eat Dog from yesteryear. Ted’s usual vocal delivery with some excellent screaming vibrates through this one before the band launch into Screaming Eagles, another high paced track which races along. Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead has been kicking around in Ted’s repertoire for several years but is a fitting penultimate track with riffs and hooks galore. It is good stuff. I appreciate that Ted Nugent is a Marmite character. I don’t agree with his political views although I think he gets a worse press because of his giant gob. Ignoring that, this is an album which has some quite brilliant music and guitar playing of the highest quality. This is a return to form of one of rock’s most colourful characters. 9/10

Grave Digger – Return Of The Reaper (Napalm Records)

German power metal outfit Grave Digger have been around in various forms since 1980. Part of the early German metal movement, they have experienced many different line-ups and have an extensive back catalogue. Their debut album, Heavy Metal Breakdown is regarded as a bit of a metal classic. Return of the Reaper is their 14th album. I have to admit that, whilst I knew who they were, I would not have been familiar with much of their work. Opening with Return Of The Reaper, an intro track, the band then get the temperature boiling extremely quickly with Hell Funeral which has powerful drumming and some scorching riffs. However, if you are unfamiliar with this band the vocal style is either going to tick your box or get right on your nerves. I have to admit I found Chris Boltendahl’s delivery pretty poor. The guy just can’t sing. Power Play magazine recently referred to it as ‘unique’. That is being generous. Unfortunately the vocals took much of the focus away from the rest of the band’s playing. War God is another blistering paced track, huge riffs and almost blast beat drumming . Alex Ritt, the current guitarist is some player, cranking out solos at will, whilst the rhythm section of Jens Becker (bass) and drummer Stefan Arnold combine incredibly tightly. The musicianship is power metal at its best and this is a country that churns out power metal bands by the bucket load. The lyrics are exactly what you’d expect from this type of band; cue anthemic chanting and choruses, along with some abysmal rhyming. Using four lines which rhyme Agony, Mortality, Brutality and Tragedy is quite special. Tattooed Rider has borrowed the intro to Turbo Lover by Judas Priest, swirling keys washing over the driving guitars and stomping drive. This track really highlights the ‘uniqueness’ of Boltendahl’s voice, which is really gruff and tuneless. However, this band has clearly got a massive fan base so it must appeal to many.

Resurrection Day opens in familiar fashion, riffs galore with Ritt soloing furiously as the band gallop along. However, any band that uses the words ‘nasty smell’ in their lyrics loses points with me; “Shadows from a wasted land, Human rights facing end, wind carries a nasty smell, Evils breed ride straight out of hell”. Okay. Season Of The Witch is a stomper of a track, slower and bound to induce mass clap-a-longs. The lyrics are once again total gibberish, and given some of the shit that I listen to that is saying something; However, if you take this out of the equation then this is a quite brilliant metal track. Sing-a-long choruses, solos dripping out of every pore and a lovely change in tempo in the middle which has some of the worst singing I've ever heard. It would be brilliant in the sun at BOA with a beer in hand and 10,000 tone deaf metal heads singing along! The lyrics get even more ridiculous in Road Rage Killer, which as you will expect is a 100mph blaster. My favourite lyrics since Hail And Kill include the lines “On the road to Babylon, far away from Avalon, Walls can’t stop me, I’m on the prowl, Brought a couple to death, intoxicated by crystal meth”. Whooaa! What the actual fuck?? Despite all my sniggering at the classic metal lyrics I actually really enjoyed this album. It has all the Germanic influences you’d expect, with Helloween and Accept particularly evident. Grave Desecrator has early Udo all over it whilst Satan’s Host is Accept circa 1985. I won’t comment on the lyrical magic here apart from to tease you with another classic line, “Pray for mercy, I am your whip, Obey my prayer, suck my dick”. The obligatory power ballad Nothing To Believe which closes the end of the album allows Hans Peter Katzenburg to show his skills on the keyboard but despite that it is truly toe-curlingly awful. Grave Digger has obviously established a mark in the metal world and are deeply revered in some sections. This album isn’t dreadful by a long way and if you can accept the dreadful lyrics and vocal style then it may well float your boat. Mine is still aground. 6/10

Demonic Resurrection – The Demon King (Candlelight Records)

No messing about with Mumbai’s finest exponents of blackened death metal. A blood curdling roar of “the king is dead” opens their fourth album with The Assassination. This is blast beat heaven from the off with the frenetic pace that we’ve come to expect. Virendra Kaith’s technical drumming is quite breath taking throughout the entire album. The pace slows ever so slightly to allow some of the keyboard elements that have become essential to the metal genre; think Dimmu Borgir as just one example. Second track Facing The Faceless continues the relentless pace with Sahil ‘Demonstealer’ Makhija’s death growls ripping combining with the Trivium type harmonies. Indeed, it is the clean vocals that I really like in this band as they are of top quality. It has been four years since The Return To Darkness, an album that had synth heavy intros. No such luck this time, with each track hitting the ground at 110mph. New guitarist Nishith Hegde has a massive job in filling the strings of former guitarist Daniel Rego, who had a hand in the compositions on this release. The Promise Of Never is a more complex track, layered and with several opportunities for the clean vocals to shine through; Hegdge (from another band Albatross) delivering some tidy soloing whilst the synths of Mephisto finally get the opportunity to add some depth. Title track The Demon King is perhaps the most groove-laden of the tracks, opening with a heavy riff and spoken word before the blast beats kick in. The track still moves at a huge pace and is sure to open up the pits wherever it is played. Operatic synths swoop in and out of the track whilst Demonstealer’s vocals are pure evil. The rhythm section, completed by newest band member Ashwin Shriya power along as the track takes a deep breath, slowing to allow time for recovery as Hegde’s solo takes over and builds the momentum once more. Shattered Equilibrium could be the album’s masterpiece. Haunting keyboards provide an ethereal atmosphere which cascade over the carnage of the black metal assault underneath. This track remains true to the Demonic Resurrection death metal roots but demonstrates that the band, now in their 14th year have also progressed with real evolution in their writing. Although the blast beats can be a little trying at times, you have to admire the pure power and ability of this band and there is some beautiful elements of delicate technical playing evident in penultimate track Even Gods Do Fall. After witnessing their first UK show at BOA two years ago, it’s a shame that they aren't playing there again this year as they slay live. They are supporting Onslaught on their UK tour so if you get the chance check them out. Indian death metal is alive and kicking you in the knackers. A storming follow-up to The Return To Darkness and worthy of every minute you dedicate to listening to it. 8/10

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World Of Metal 13: Empty Yard Experiment, Nothgard, Gross Reality

July 20, 2014, 1:05 pm
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Empty Yard Experiment: Kallisti (Self Released)

Dubai is not the usual place you would think of when you think of progressive/alternative rock but much like Orphaned Land, Empty Yard Experiment bring the spirit of bands like Pink Floyd, Tool and King Crimson from the heart of Middle East. The music is emotive and haunting much like their name suggest. The album is split between full songs with segues in the middle to help create the atmosphere that this type of music needs. Sunyata starts things with piano and strings building into the heavy guitar opening of Greenflash which kicks into double kick drums and some heavy filled guitars and ominous bass-lines that are the staple of Tool as is the rhythmic middle section that erupts into the heavy final part. With two guitarists a bassist, drummer and a keyboardist the band have a big sound meaning that their songs are heavy, powerful and atmospheric. The keys of Gorgin Asadi come into play on segue Red with its electronic synths that lead into the instrumental The Blue Eyes Of The Dog which has a real Pink Floyd vibe to it with sterling guitar work from Mehdi Gr and Bojan Preradovic who also provides the vocals on the tracks that call for them, he has a Maynard-like grunge howl which he uses to great effect on Entropy which features a driving bassline from Kaveh Kashani and some great percussive flourishes from Josh Saldanha as well as Untitled which is a progressive acoustic track with some Middle Eastern influences throughout. You can't really pick out a best track on this album as it more about the whole album than individual tracks much liek the work of Anathema. A good album but a sound that has been done, still if you want an eclectic, musical adventure from a band that are not following the trend set out by their geographical location then you can do much worse than seek out Empty Yard Experiment. 7/10

Nothgard: Age Of Pandora (Trollzorn Records)

Nothgard are melodic death metal band from Germany Age Of Pandora is their second album and it puts them in the great position of being able to expand their sound to encompass more sounds, with three guitarists and some massive orchestral pieces the band have a huge sound and as the Hans Zimmer-like intro Of Light And Shadow starts off creating a mood that build with it's cinematic feel its then that the full pelt metal kicks in with all four guitars kicking in to the super speed Bodomesque riffage. Skaal, bassist Vik S and guitarist Daniel K provide the rhythms. With K merging seamlessly with front man Dorn R Crey on the leads of which there are many with dual guitar attacks and face melting solos throughout all anchored by the lightning fast blast beats of D. Ziegler who rives things along at a rapid pace. The band are very Bodom-like with death vocals coming from Crey who sounds a lot like Alexi Lahio and with the melodic death metal they play the similarities are hard to miss especially on the slower songs like Black Witch Venture which ahs a more clean delivery but is prime Are You Dead Yet. It's not only Bodom though there are elements of the Gothenburg scene too but for the most part it is Bodom that overrides everything and yet that is no bad thing as the band do what they do very well. This is powerful, technical melodic death metal with a lot of symphonic elements to flesh out their sound. the lyrics are great focussing on true life topics that work well over the excellent musical backing. Yes if you like COB then you will lap up this album, there is enough similarities to bring you in but also enough differences to make Nothgard unique. So on their second album these Germans have created a great album with songs like the awesome final three songs Wings Of Dawn, Mossback Children and the finale No One Holds The Crown they are ready to take on the world!! 7/10 

Gross Reality: Overthrow (Self Released)

America is the heartland of thrash metal and in the early nineties Gross Reality were one of the hundreds of Thrash bands that made their way across the country inciting circle pits and then dissolved however with the thrash renaissance in around 2009-10 Gross Reality came back to thrash again and thrash hard and heavy they do. With a sound that harks back to early Slayer, Kreator and Exodus they have lighting riffs, hollered vocals from Daniel Powell who assumes the Arya position of Bassist and Singer. The songs come thick and fast with speedy riffs from the two guitarists Roland Arthur and Jason Wheeler who also have the explosive soloing of King and Hanneman. Yes the band are treading over old ground but they do it well with some metal thrashing mad tunes like opener Worthless Humans, Generation 36 and the final title track Overthrow that are the longer more complex songs on the record that show that the band can expand their sound and write longer more technical songs. The band are no strangers to short sharp shocks either mind with I'm Absent, Haunting The Waters, the very Slayer sounding Human Resign all exploding from the speakers and kicking you in the teeth in under 3 minutes each. No it ain't big and it ain't clever but it is honest a band taking a second shot with some super speed riffs that will get the pits ferocious and will bring a smile to even the most hardcore Slayer fan. 7/10
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Reviews: Entombed A.D, Nothing More, Derdian

July 24, 2014, 2:49 pm
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Entombed A.D: Back To Front (Century Media)

Swedish Death N Rollers Entombed are no more after a major bust up involving the name Entombed is now owned only by the four original members meaning that vocalist L.G Petrov and the most recent members of the band have now split from original guitarist Alex Hellid and formed their own version of the band called Entombed A.D. Now nothing has changed with this new band they sound an awful lot like Entombed which is no bad thing as this is powerful, hard rock with lots of death metal flourishes. There isn't the super speed of many death bands but there is lots of heavy dark guitar work and ripping solos from Nico Elgstrand who brings his talent to the table in abundance. Although Victor Brandt and Olle Dahlstedt are no slouches either mind with Bedlam Attack led by Brandt's bass and swelled out by Dahlstedt's blast beat drums. The band work through death metal, but they also add lashings of doom and some big stompy thrash on Second To None which has elements of classic thrash with vocals of Petrov being a real treat as he has a great death metal growl but also a harsh raspy 'clean' delivery. This album is good with some killer riffs from Elgstrand, a huge rhythm section and some massive gang vocals that will go down well in the live arena especially the one two of Waiting For Death and Eternal Woe which will get heads banging and fists pumping! A great album that doesn't deviate from it's predecessors, but is all the better for it; different name, same quality death metal. Can't wait to see the pits at BOA. 7/10

Nothing More: Nothing More (Eleven Seven Music)

Sometimes there are bands that defy all expectations, Texans Nothing More are one of those bands, when i first saw them they seemed to have the look and feel of a Kerrang! band, what I mean that is a band that will be heavily touted by the weekly rock mag who do at times seem to favour style over substance. Nothing More seemed like that band...until I played their self titled album. Yes it is modern record that can be lumped with the djent tag but Nothing More are so much than a genre tag. As the electronics of the intro Ocean Floor gives way into the This Is The Time (Ballast) the band set about blowing you away with their immense talent, yes the palm muted guitars of the Djenters are there but the band have lots of other things to add to the mix with the industrial sounding Christ Copyright based heavily on Mark Vollelunga's amazing guitar playing and Daniel Oliver down tuned bass. The band are very hard to place musically as with Mr MTV they have a lot of hard hitting nu metal mixed with a sample of Dire Straits' Money For Nothing (I kid you not!) then they move into Emo stylings of First Punch which sounds like Papa Roach. It moves into the acoustic instrumental Gyre which also features their heavy use of samples and drums from both Drummer Paul O'Brien and Vocalist Jonny Hawkins. This breaks up the album a bit and leads to their second half which builds kicks off with The Matthew Effect which has a killer stop start riff and a massive chorus and leads into another super ballad I'll Be OK which has some similarities to 30 Seconds To Mars especially with the final electronic outro. As I said Vollelunga's guitar is brilliant it is melodic, uplifting and for the most part very heavy even on ballads like Here's To The Heartache. The rhythm section of O'Brien's seriously excellent drums and Oliver's leading bass adding the massive bottom end to the tracks, the final cherry on the cake are Hawkins' voice which are amazing; melodic, emotional and varied pitched somewhere between Myles Kennedy; see If I Were Here, The Mars Volta's Cedric Bixler-Zavala on the proggy Sex & Lies and Coheed And Cambria's Claudio Sanchez. This is very much a post milleniual album taking ideas from everywhere to produce a strong debut full of big songs that will surely have them headlining soon enough, for once you can believe the hyperbole that the 'metal' magazines give you. Nothing More will live up to it!!! 10/10    

Derdian: Human Reset (Lion Music)

You can't think of Italian Power Metal without thinking of Labyrinth who are indeed the kings of this particular sound. Derdian have a lot to live up too but Human Reset is their fifth album so anyone would think that they would have established their own sound away from the bigger brothers. Unfortunately this album is dreadful, the production is dire with everything sounding very hazy and low in the mix, the instruments are good with some good riffs, solos and keyboard runs but when coupled with Ivan Giannini's awful vocals they are rendered limp as his poor voice overrides everything else on the record. As far as power metal goes this is above standard but its those two things I've previously mentioned that mean that this never really gets into the upper echelon. 5/10

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World Of Metal 14: Machinergy, Disforia, Cobra

July 25, 2014, 12:57 pm
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Machinergy – Sounds Evolution. (Self released) [Review By Nick]

Hailing from Portugal the gents from the quite frankly awesomely named Machinergy bring us their new album Sounds Evolution. Filled with deep dark grungy thrash this album really is one to take your anger out on. Opening with title track Sounds Evolution we are thrown into a fast paced flurry of rhythmic guitars and drum destroying that really spikes your interest from the off. As the drums slam away relentlessly behind the guitars and vocals of Rui Vieira, you can hear how blatantly dark, evil the vocals are as they are delivered with an almost pained edge that really does add a touch of agony of emotion to the track, however this does not end here. Moving into Furia and Machine Gun Anger the beat down upon the band instruments continues, loud heavy and pain filled these tracks ooze both meaning and skill. Rui’s guitars although not outlandish become mesmerizing which is only further compounded by the whipping that Helder Rodrigues’s drums receive. Its only at this point it hit me… these guys are a three piece! But hell do they sound like one? …not in any way! The sound and brutality Machinergy manage to beat out of their instruments is truly brilliant. The album drops in pace but not in sound for Venomith, stuffed full of hard edged riffs the context on which he album is based continues. Antagonsita possibly the song of the album it is a beauty of track rammed full of everything a metal song should have; brutality, vocal and instrumental emotion and heavy dark undertones. Cada Falso steps up the game further, adding more lashings of hard sharp riffs with quick tone changes and direction of speed. As the album comes to a close Machinergy continue as they have throughout the album, but it is hard not to notice the slightly more melodic riffs that enter the game from as well as some sublime operatic female backing vocal Waterwar through the instrumental track Hammer which is crammed with wonderfully placed mini breakdowns that send your head shaking side to side and your fist hammering down on you knees with great assertion. Final track Paraphernalia is somewhat disappointingly placed in my opinion. Probably the weakest track on the album, that is stretched out and feels very bare compared to the rest of the album until the riff kicks in on the very simplistic chorus. It a shame really as an album of this quality deserves a much better ending! So, hard day at the office? Come home finding you want to break shit? Why not try this gem of an album first and save a bit of money. Let Machinergy forcefully insert their brand of dark emotion filled grungy thrash into your ears and see how that feels, let me tell you… it feels damn good! 8/10

Disforia: The Age Of Ether (Self Released)

Disforia come from the the home of the Mormons; Salt Lake City, Utah but don't expect any cheesy pop Osmonds style. No Disforia are a progressive/power metal band, The Age Of The Ether is their debut album and things start off slowly with intro Essence which explodes into the fast and furious opener Chaos which has some speedy intro before breaking into some off time riffage backed by some lush orchestrations, the band so much into this four minute track it leaves you breathless and baying for more. With dual guitars coming thick and fast as well as keyboard the melodic side of this band are well catered for with the six stringers and the ivory tinkler both catered for on the solo front. This is somewhat of a concept album with little snippets of storyline spliced throughout the album, it beats me what the concept is about but it seems like it is heavily reliant on Sci-Fi imagery, as every good prog metal album should be! The band sound a lot like early Pagan's Mind with their intensely progressive approach but with lots of power metal melody and gusto. Dream Eater has a tasty 8-bit keyboard intro to it as the drums furiously beat out the rhythm, the vocals too are great reaching the massive highs as well as some guttural roaring on Dream Eater particularly which much like its predecessor has so much going on it's hard to keep up with, from the technical guitars and the little synth flourishes over the top of the big metallic guitars, the track sounds like it should be on a 1980's racing game! The gutteral roars continue on Creator's Creator and put me in mind of a power metal Opeth (especially with the lavish use of organ and mellotron throughout) or indeed little known proggers Mutiny Within (a band I like a lot!). Creator's Creator marks the beginning of the long songs that every prog band needs, in fact the next four tracks, barring instrumental Infection are over 7 minutes long!! Vocally singer John Yelland sounds a lot like Blind Guardian's Hansi Kursch, a band Disforia sound a huge amount like and I thought I was going mad when I heard him apparently duelling with himself until I found out the other voice was Hansi himself appearing on The Dying Firmament. As you can appreciate I nearly injured myself when I found this out as I am a dyed in the wool Blind Guardian fan. After the second instrumental things kick off yet again with the gloriously cinematic Beyond The Walls Of Misery which leads into Lunar Sunrise which is the final 7 minute plus track and features the vocals of Miss Brittany Hayes from Canadian Power/Death metallers Unleash The Archers. As the final notes of The Ethereal ring out Disforia have taken you on a musical journey full of twists and turns. The performances on this record are amazing and they are only bolstered by the amazing production job. If you like progressive/power/speed metal that is intelligent, amazingly played and all encompassing then find this album!! It is immense!! 10/10

Cobra: To Hell (Austral Holocaust Records)

Leather, chains, bullet belts and heavy metal; things that go together wherever you are in the world and with the retro metal revival still going strong its time for the metal loving South Americans to have a shot at the crown co-held by the Swedes, the Canadians and the Brits. Peru based Cobra are here to play old school NWOBHM and from their album cover (a denim clad hero being sucked into the fiery depths) onwards you know what to expect. This is dual guitars, four-four drum patterns, low slung bass and helium vocals that echo Priest, Maiden etc that came before them. The inaugural track Beyond The Curse builds from it's guitar solo intro in way reminiscent to Diamond Head's classic Am I Evil? before the bass gallop kicks off the track proper and the guitars ring out like Dave and Adrian. To Hell is Cobra's sophomore album and it is played with real grit and determination, yes it has been done before but you have to have balls to open with an eight minute plus track, which admittedly is really good blending together all of the hallmarks of this kind of leather clad retro metal. Augusto Morales' bass leads everything with his Harris-like runs that pave the way for Nito Mejía and Andrés Rhor's twin guitar attack and Harry "El Sucio" (Dirty Harry in English language fans!) shrieked vocals that may be this bands Marmite, you will either love them or hate them. Personally I think they fit the music perfectly and he is doing very well to tell the stories of War on Fallen Soldier, bikers on Rough Riders, which has a hell of a solo outro and also sex on When I Walk The Streets. Oh yes these Peruvians have what it takes to challenge the big boys of Europe and North American, they have the riffs, the solos and indeed the ear piercing vocals to be featured on the next Enforcer tour for sure. It shows that when you have a passion for something you inevitably do it as well as your idols, good stuff indeed. 8/10  
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The View From The Back Of The Room: Mostly Autumn

July 28, 2014, 11:41 am
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Mostly Autumn, The Globe

Mostly Autumn are one of the most anthemic, emotive live bands on the UK circuit. Tonight was my 15(?) time seeing them and I brought two very good friends who had never seen them to witness the live power of the British prog/folk rockers. Coming on to no intro music the band immediately opened with what is now their signature opening track Deep In Borrowdale which gets everything rocking at a great pace as the beckon us to "Come On Up" and with the fast instrumental finale had front woman Olivia Josh spinning and bashing the tambourine like Ms Nicks. As is the norm with Mostly Autumn the touring line up changed again with the only band leader/singer/guitarist Bryan Josh, Singer Olivia, Keyboardist Iain Jennings and bassist Andy Smith the only members retained from the last tour, new drummer (former stand in drummer) Alex Cromarty showing he is perfect for the role playing with some serious drums on Gaze. The two other members on this tour are former members Chris Johnson on guitars and in a real treat for long term fans Angela Gordon on flutes and backing vocals. These two added a new dynamic to things with Johnson's rhythm playing being a particular highlight (as it always is). the set was drawn from the newer albums with Olivia on vocals. Second song in was Drops Of The Sun which is still one of my favourites, Changing Fast and Never The Rainbow came next and then we went into Rain Song which was a track Jennings, Johnson and Olivia used to play in Breathing Space and as is the norm with Breathing Space the track was led by Jennings' huge keyboard riffs that are a key to MA's sound. After Rain Song the band played the classic Evergreen which is so full of emotion it always gets the crowd going with it's raw emotion and explosive latter half. As the first set drew to a close we got more rock until the first set ended with the jarring and hugely emotive Questioning Eyes which builds up the drama as it progresses and shows off Olivia's amazing vocals before climaxing in a wave of joy at the end finishing the main set.

Here we got  a break before which Bryan announced that the second set would be the entire new album Dressed In Voices which piqued my interest as I think it is one of the best albums they have made. So without further ado they launched into Saturday Night before the piano led Not Yours To Take started to build the darkness that goes throughout this album, through the ballad Running and onto the very dark Home as the story of a man who is murdered and grabs the murder to show him what life would have been like if he had lived. The haunting First Day At School followed and changed the nature of the set totally with all the couples holding each other tightly as they had done on Evergreen and Questioning Eyes. This is the power of Mostly Autumn's music they can move you to tears or rock your head off shown on Down By The River this then moved into the folk of Skin On Skin and The House On The Hill. The penultimate track ended the album brilliantly with the Gilmour-like guitar of The Library showing off Bryan's guitar prowess and leading to the end of the album play through. The encore of classic epic Heroes Never Die exploded to life as always with Bryan playing his searing solo at the end before the acoustic folk of Tonight finished things off with power. Yet another great gig by Mostly Autumn and one that brought smiles to the faces of my compatriots, Mostly Autumn are a live band that should be witnessed live as they truly are one of the best live bands around!! I encourage people to see them whenever possible and if you have seen them take someone else as a joyous experience is better shared!! 9/10        
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Reviews: Tesla, Steven Wilson, Falconer

July 29, 2014, 2:50 pm
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Tesla: Simplicity (Frontiers)

California band Tesla are now in their 32nd year of playing blues influenced, hard rock music but weirdly Simplicity is only their seventh studio album. As the title suggests this is a return to their roots forgoing the modern techniques they had on previous release Forevermore and going back to their roots bringing in analogue recording methods and keeping everything nice and simple. However that doesn't mean this album is stupid no as is the norm with Tesla they have some clever lyrical content and mature blue-collar hard rock that has always set them apart form their contemporaries. The from the first LP crackle of the album the guitars of founder member Frank Hannon and relative new boy Dave Rude (he replaced original guitarist Tommy Skeooch) immediately kick in with some melodic guitar runs before the big riff of MP3 which bemoans modern technology in general and has a talkbox guitar solo in the middle something I thought only Black Stone Cherry did now! Yes this certainly is the sound of Tesla returning to their roots with funky, hip shaking rock and roll throughout, Ricochet is the embodiment of this a hard rock song about being in a hard rock band that has a big fat riff and references Uncle Ted himself what's not to like? It also continues Tesla's tradition of having a great track as the second on the album. Hannon and Rude drive this album with their excellent guitars but on Rise And Fall you can hear founder members' Brian Wheat and Troy Luccketta's, bass and drums providing the main thrust of this slow burning track that brings the blues back to the album with its funky bass driven rhythm that leads into the acoustically boosted So Divine...which harks back to Tesla's seminal Five Man Acoustical Jam but it is crossed with a bit of Buckcherry in the chorus. Much of this is due to Jeff Keith's scratched vocals which have always been one of the drawing points of Tesla for me, he has one of the most authentic and recognisable voices in rock much like Steven Tyler of Aerosmith a similarity that becomes clear on the countrified Cross My Heart and Honestly both of which wouldn't be out of place on Toys In The Attic. Other great tracks are the rapid fire Time Bomb and Flip Side! as all the songs are very different but all have that quality stamp. In fact this idea of not conforming pretty sums up Tesla in general they are a band that do exactly as they want to whether it is popular or not. Some may think that their time is long gone but with Simplicity these 1980's survivors have produced a high quality hard rock record. 8/10   

Steven Wilson: Cover Version (Kscope)

Porcupine Tree main man and all round prog rock revivalist Steven Wilson has compiled his 2 track singles together for this release they were originally released on various formats between 2003 and 2010 through Wilson's own Headphone Dust label. The singles were made up of one cover and one original song (with The Uniquiet Grave being the only exception as it is a traditional arrangement) and were done on the spur of the moment while he was travelling etc meaning they haven't really got the production values and huge multi faceted sound of either Porcupine Tree or Wilson's solo stuff especially. So you have to ask yourself as you put the CD in the player how are these songs? For the most part they are good, with the cover versions being a particular highlight, the opening salvo of Alanis Morissette's Thank U he manges to make one of Morrisette's signature songs more melancholic than the original with his sparse use of piano and acoustic guitar and haunting vocals that bring the spiritual message of the song home without the rockier distractions of the original. The almost Pink Floyd sounding Moment I Lost You is a short song that wouldn't sound out of place on Wish You Were Here. Next is The Day Before You Came which is an ABBA cover that gets a dark reworking, does away with the synths of the original and shows that ABBA were so much more than a pop band. Like I said the covers actually stand out more than the originals but you can here a few hints to both the latter PT albums and his solo records in the original tracks but they are your usual Wilson stuff full of sadness, lament but performed in an uplifting way. A Forest originally by The Cure is made much harsher and slowed down to a crawl with the synths making it sound no to dissimilar to Wilson's No Man project. Four Trees Down is slightly folky and has a nice clean guitar solo from Wilson who obviously plays every instrument and leads into the The Guitar Lesson which was by Momus a band that seem to have a lot of similarities to Wilson's brand of morose music in a song with some serious relationship issues. Anyway things don't pick up in terms of mood on the The Uniquiet Grave which is a song about mourning a true love. As is normal it is up to his Purpleness to pick things up as Wilson throws in a cover of Sign O The Times which is still as bass and synth heavy as the original but does have a bit of a guitar freak out at the end which all comes together to be one of the best covers on the record and it is followed by one of the best originals in Well Your Wrong which sounds like latter period Beatles. This is a bit of mixed bag but some of these covers are inspired more so than the original tracks. A nice little filler album from the master of modern prog. 7/10  

Falconer: Black Moon Rising (Metal Blade Records)

I've heard of Falconer but I've never really heard anything by them, I thought Black Moon Rising is as good a chance as any as it has been touted by many the Power Metal album of the year. Well from as the heavy speed metal riffage of Locust Swarm kicks in you would be inclined to agree, these Swedes have all the hallmarks of pure Power Metal the double kick drums the galloping bass the dual guitars and lots of keys too. The band are linked to the more folk side of Power Metal and you can hear that influence in Scoundrel And The Squire, At The Jester's Ball and There's A Crow On The Barrow, all of which have lots of folk instrumentation as does Halls And Chambers which is possibly the best song on the album. So the guitars of Stefan Weinerhall and Jimmy Hedlund are great full of razor sharp metal licks and fret melting solos, the bass of Magnus Linhardt rampages and the drums of Karsten Larsson are strong and powerful. The downfall of the band is vocalist/keyboardist Mathias Blad who despite having a strong theatrical voice he doesn't really do it for me, a lot of his vocals sound laboured and jar slightly with the muscular metal behind it. This could be because I associate this kind of metal with Blind Guardian and he just doesn't have the range of Hansi Kursch, like I said his vocals are good if he stays in his mid range but they seem a bit strained in the higher notes. Still this is a strong album and after repeated listens Blad's voice does grow on you but it is likely to alienate a few Power Metal aficionados. Try it and make your own conclusions, you are guaranteed to find something you like. As for me Falconer will remain on my periphery in future. 7/10  
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Reviews: Opeth, Overkill, The Dagger

July 30, 2014, 11:59 am
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Opeth – Pale Communion (Roadrunner) [Review By Paul]

Heavy metal. How do you define the genre? With a myriad of dazzling combinations and off-shoots, it is virtually impossible. From Death Metal through to Progressive Rock, from stoner to Djent, it simply defies categorisation. And with that gibber jabber we move seamlessly to the 11th studio album by those brilliant Swedes Opeth. It is no secret that I adore this band. I’ve seen them numerous times and have marvelled at their evolution from 1994’s Orchid through to the Eastern jazz fused progressiveness of Heritage. Every release has built on the previous offering, which in recent years has alienated sections of their hard core devotees who wished that Opeth would remain rooted in the 1990s with death growls and vicious bowel ripping delivery. Unfortunately for them, this band are not one to stand still. Pale Communion has been already been described as the missing link between Damnation, Ghost Reveries and Heritage. I can’t argue with that. It is a simply stunning piece of work, intricate and delicate, delicious and dreamy and stands alongside releases from Anathema, Triptykon and Alcest in my top ten of the year. It might well have reached number 1 already.
Opener Eternal Rains Will Come kicks off with a groove laden jazz style intro, with some classic mellotron chord work from Joakim Svalberg, whose keyboard playing is excellent throughout. He’s been with the band since Heritage was released in 2011 although it was Per Wiberg who contributed to that album. The track then mellows with a gentle piece of piano and guitar providing a calming presence before the mellotron kicks back in and the track builds with some delicious harmonies from Mikael Akerfeldt. This has the hairs on your neck standing on end and demonstrates the progressive influences of Camel, King Crimson and even Van Der Graft Generator. The melodic delivery from the band’s driving force is another reason why this album is so good. Akerfeldt’s voice when singing clean is beautiful. The album is laced with string instrumentation, a new step for Opeth but something that Akerfeldt has been interested in for a long time. The first release from the album was track two, Cusp Of Eternity, should be a familiar tune to Opeth fans by now. It crashes along with Akerfeldt’s delivery combining with the powerful rhythm section of Martin Axenrot’s drumming and Martin Mendez’s hypnotic bass. Svalberg’s keyboards underpin the track whilst there is ample opportunity for Fredrik Akersson and Akerfeldt to show off their sublime axe work. Cusp Of Eternity also displays heavy leanings towards Eastern musical influences which are noticeable in many of the albums songs. Moon Above, Sun Below is a natural progression from Heritage. A ten minute meander through numerous time changes and tempos, it ebbs and flows like a great river, combining all of the elements of the band into a stunning piece. This track has many of the characteristics of Storm Corrosion, the side project of Akerfeldt and the masterful Steven Wilson, who has provided mixing duties for this album. At six minutes in the track goes quiet and an eerie evil atmosphere takes over. Who said you had to play at 900 mph to create the shadow of death? This is sinister stuff at its best. Elysian Woes opens with a combination of Akersson’s acoustic guitar and Akerfeldt’s harmonies (which with Svalberg can now be recreated live). This is a delicate track with some lovely melodies that still have the distinct Opeth guitar sound. Waves of keyboards wash gently over the guitars as the track develops and the story is told. At a mere 4:47 this is one of the shortest tracks on the album but one of the most beautiful. Goblin is the album’s instrumental and whilst it is still very much on the melodic side once again it has the clearly defined Opeth sound. Much more of a progressive jazz feel about this one, combined with the 70s groove of Deep Purple, Camel and others of the genre. More acoustic work at the start of River, with the harmonies and melody combining beautifully as it increases in volume and momentum; some sterling guitar work lifts it higher before Svalberg’s keyboards once again provide the underlying current. Penultimate track Voice Of Treason is a progressive epic, weighing in a mere eight minutes. This track is laced with an oriental feel, moody and full of emotion; a slow burner with a hint of Deep Purple alongside the Eastern promise. The final song, Faith In Others merely rubber stamps yet another masterpiece from a quite astonishing band. Astonishingly structured, intricate, sensitive and perfectly layered. The evolution of this band continues apace and I for one am enchanted. This is a stunningly perfect album and once again demonstrates the evolution of a band who clearly refuse to be shackled or stereotyped. 10/10

Overkill – White Devil Armory (Nuclear Blast) [Review By Paul]

The opening strains of intro XDM leave you in no doubt where this album is going. The 17th album from thrash legends Overkill is yet another bristling release in 2014 that smashes your face in and leaves you smiling even though you are spitting out your teeth at the same time. Armorist kicks of the album properly, a full frontal thrash attack, peddle to the metal as the band demonstrate that they don’t give a fuck. This is an old school thrash assault. What grabs you immediately is the intensity of the band’s playing. A battery of drumming from Ron Lipnicki combined with the driving bass lines of original member D.D Verni and the snarling aggression of Bobby ‘Blitz’ Ellsworth. Down To The Bone continues in the same vein with some terrific soloing from Dave Linsk and all round solid guitar work of Derek Tailer. You can’t argue with any of this album; it simply does what it says on the tin … if the tin said blow your bollocks off and nail them to a tree. Pig is five minutes of all out blasting delivery. The irony of writing a review of Overkill at the same time as I've been waxing lyrical about the evolution of Opeth is not lost on me. Overkill do thrash. Fact. That is all. Bitter Pill has all the riffs that Dave Mustaine could ever need. You can listen to Overkill and never need to listen to any other thrash bands. 34 years and counting, this is almost the blueprint of thrash. Stomping Anthrax/Metallica type riffs, the Slayer balls out onslaught, the visceral vocal delivery of Exodus, it is all here. There is little left to say. This is an album that demonstrates that true legends just get better. It slays from start to finish and the bonus track Miss Misery is a crushing Nazareth cover enhanced by the guest vocals of Accept frontman Mark Tornillo. Just a shame we can’t have a face melting at BOA this year. 8/10

The Dagger: The Dagger (Century Media)

Sweden seems to be the home of rock at the moment especially late 70's early 80's sounding retro rock packed with riffage. The Dagger are a band cut from the same cloth of as Graveyard, Freefall And Troubled Horse, which is odd when you find out that three of the members are from brutal death metal bands like Grave and Dismember. As I said The Dagger have a similar sound of riff fuelled rock that also straddles the NWOBHM boundaries Ahead Of You All shows this with a riff that comes out of the Maiden/Priest/Saxon school. Quite frankly this album rocks! It is a a riff filled hard rock album that harks back to a simpler time when bands didn't need studio trickery just great songs and a heap of attitude. The Dagger are not just another NWOBHM revival band though they are nearer in style to the late 70's hard rock bands like Rainbow and Deep Purple, much of this comes from the driving rhythm section, of Tobias Cristiansson on bass and Fred Estby on drums that have a force and power that means all the songs have a huge bottom  and rhythm even the slower songs like Ballad Of An Old Man. This song in particular shows off another one of The Daggers musical traits as it has a real  Rainbow vibe with its Blackmore style guitar solo and big organ stabs. In fact the spirit of Blackmore looms large over this band as I have alluded to with all of David Blomqvist's guitars emulating the Man On The Silver Mountain and with an unknown keyboardist adding the amazing Jon Lord style organs to tracks like the bouncy Skygazer which has the title and also the lyrical content of Dio's work. Much of the Rainbow/Purple sound comes from vocalist Jani Kataja who is a dead ringer for Gillan albeit without the ear piercing highs however he can also channel both Dio on Call Of 9 and Biff Byford on the NWOBHM thrust of Electric Dawn and the fist pumping 1978 which is surely this bands call to arms and also their main period of influence naming many of the classic rock and metal albums that came out during that year with special mentions to Priest a band that has obviously influenced the track, this is followed by Dogs Of Warning which must be from Mob Rules or Heaven And Hell with it's Iommi-like chug. This album truly rocks it full of massive songs that like I said hark back to better time but don't stay in the past they are brought bang up to date by this young band. If you are of the opinion that Judas Priest sold out after Killing Machine, Rainbow ended when Dio left and the only vocalist for Purple is Ian Gillan then you will lap this album up! Everyone else still buy it and play it loud, proper rock the way it used to be!!! 9/10       
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Reviews: Alestorm, Upon A Burning Body, The Blues Pills

August 15, 2014, 11:12 am
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Alestorm: Sunset On The Golden Age (Napalm)

Garrrr!!! Ahoy mateys!! Yes get your eye patches out and get the rum flowing people the fun loving Pirate Metal merchants from Scotland are back with their fourth album of alcohol fuelled, metal shanties. Main man Chris Bowes has had a break after the last album forming the mighty (and totally bonkers) Gloryhammer, with this creative release from sea faring silliness, it means that the band can now plunder more Pirate themed material meaning that their fourth album has a hull full of metal madness, with the usual songs about wenches, mead and of course rum! Throw in the occasional squid fight and I'm sure you are aware of what Sunset On The Golden Age is going to sound like. As the first chord or Walk The Plank kicks in the keys swell and the band kicks into quite a heavy riff to start the album, the song is unsurprisingly about walking the plank but what strikes me is that the song has a real thrash feel and an explosive solo from Dani Evans that comes from out of nowhere. The second thing I noticed was how multi layered the keys are this could be because the band now have two(!) keyboardists, Bowes himself and Elliot 'Windrider' Vernon both of who add massive texture to the sound, more than just the normal accordion sounds. Drink is a folky track that still has a heavyweight riff and a huge gang chorus and the folk continues on the acoustic opening of Magnetic North which is a sea shanty with metallic backing. The rhythm section needs a mention too with Gareth Murdock and Peter Alcorn doing a great job anchoring the songs in the briny deep. Yes this is a another good album but one that has much more mature structure musically even if the lyrics are still juvenile (although this is part of the point).The album has some more fleshed out sounds to it as well from the surf rock of Surf Squid Warfare to the cover of Hangover originally by Taio Cruz and Flo Rida and weirdly it works as a pirate metal anthem. The also album features two longer tracks with the 7 minute plus 1741 (The Battle of Cartagena) starting off with an 8-bit opening before the mini epic sets sail with its story of Pirates versus the British Navy! The second epic is the closing title track which at 11 minutes is hell of a song about the golden age of piracy (1680-1720). So all in all this is another great pirate metal album to drink and plunder too, but it doesn't stop there the special edition features an acoustic greatest hits set called Rumplundered and this too more than just a novelty. So hoist the mizzenmasts, fly the Jolly Roger high, pour yourself a pint of rum and get the pirate party started!! 9/10 (I apologise if I got carried away with the puns!)

Upon A Burning Body: The World Is My Enemy Now (Sumerian Records)

"I'm Not Sorry For The Way That I Am!" screams Danny Leal on Red Razor Wrists the first track on the Texans third album. You want to believe him as Upon A Burning Body have gained a lot of attention for their antics away from music, the most recent of which was the staged disappearance of the frontman which ended in disaster and a annoyed a lot of people the band's fans included. What they should do is let the music do the talking and with the mix of electronics and heavy groove metal with death vocals. The band are lumped into the deathcore genre and you can hear some Suicide Silence as well as some Whitechapel in their groove based beat down filled heavy metal, the djent palm muted riffs are there with Ruben Alvarez and Sal Dominguez providing a maelstrom of riffs on every track coupled with Ramon "Lord Cocos" Villareal's furious blast beating behind the kit and Leal's growled vocals. The songs are good and the music is big and heavy like most modern metal/core music few solo's but lots of huge breakdowns to get the pits moving and the heads banging. As much as this album will probably appeal to metal fans under the age of 20 to me the band sound a lot like Slipknot with the electronics, breakdowns and lightning fast riffage and percussion there doesn't seem to be much in the way of progression or free thought, every song on here could have come off Iowa. This coupled with their blatant attention whoring puts me off the band however based on the music alone they have a released an album that does everything they have ever done but nothing more, it is a solid effort from a band that make it easy for people to dislike them. 6/10

The Blues Pills: The Blues Pills (Nuclear Blast)

Their 2013 Devil Man EP blasted the Swedish retro styled rockers The Blues Pills into the public consciousness. It was a four track EP that showed The Blues Pills psychedelic blues rock to the world the band were likened to Big Brother & The Holding Company, Jefferson Airplane as well as more modern fair like Saint Jude. Their debut album only features two songs from the previous EP, that song is the evil sounding Devil Man and the swampy sounds of The River (now titled River). This means that we get 8 new tracks of retro flavoured Blues rock. The bands sound has fleshed out a bit on the LP as they have incorporated the bass driven blues rocking of Rival Sons, especially on the opening thrust of High Class Woman which could have come straight off Head Down. Second track Ain't No Change could be a Vintage Trouble number while Jupiter has an echo-filled, psychedelic middle section. The album is filled with retro rock riffs that come straight out of the Age of Aquarius with the pulsating percussion of Cory Berry and thumping hum of bassist Zach Anderson (the two Americans of the group) driving the songs especially on Black Smoke which features a huge guitar freak out by French guitarist Dorian Sorriaux at the end of the track on which he does his best Hendrix impression. The band is completed by Swedish singer Elin Larsson who has a majestic voice part Joplin, part Franklin able to sing smoky soul songs like Astralplane and No Hope Left In Me but also the big rockers like the aforementioned Devil Man and the proggy reworking of Chubby Checker's Gypsy. The record ends with the dynamic Little Sun which has a sprawling delivery and climaxes the albums excellently. This is a strong record for a band that are part of the ever burgeoning retro fuelled rock revival, The Blues Pills have delivered a great debut album that is bolstered by Don Ahlsterberg's analogue production. If you like your rock flavoured with blues and lashings of 60's psychedelia then The Blues Pills is the album for you!! 8/10
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The View From A Field: Bloodstock 2014 (Live Review By Paul)

August 17, 2014, 10:57 am
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Bloodstock 2014- Catton Hall, Derby

Thursday   
        
At the ungodly hour of 7:00am the crew departed for the hallowed turf of Catton Hall for our annual weekend of pure heavy metal and good times. Our earlier planning had paid off as all parties arrived at the rendezvous site, Strensham Services on the M5 by 8:45am, gripped with excitement and anticipation. An hour and a half later we were queuing with the other early birds at the main gates, cider already open under the blazing sun. This team knows how to get pitched early and by 1:00pm we were all set up. Seven beautiful tents in a circle with our gazebo centre stage, providing some welcome respite from the beating of the sun’s rays. A couple of trips to the cars allowed us to bring about a gazillion cans of cider and at least three pigs worth of bacon to the pitch. All set up and ready to party! Oh, except for Nick who managed to lock his keys in the boot of his car. All credit to Admiral Insurance who sent a Saxon loving recovery man to break in and retrieve them. Last year it was Burton A&E, this year Admiral Insurance who wins our legends award. 
Last year we jokingly referred to having a Sunday roast at BOA. Don’t chuckle, dear reader, this happened. Lamb chops from Matt, veg from Brett, potatoes from Paul and Nick’s gravy meant that at 5:30pm we were sat, resplendent in our new Musipedia polo shirts, tucking into a full fucking roast dinner. Awesome stuff. Of course, as anyone knows, a roast needs a decent wine to accompany it. We didn't have that but we had Brett’s 15 litres of rose which was just the job. Unfortunately, Brett decided to pour a substantial amount down his front (and into the mouth) which resulted in first casualty of the day at 7:00pm. Yes, Brett hit the deck like a giant redwood. Nurse Nick checked Brett’s pulse, put him in the recovery position and then said “right, let’s get some thrash”.  Later that evening Brett was apparently observed crawling on hands and knees towards his tent before passing out again on the floor. This man is a legend.

Into the arena for our first visit; past the Showsec Nazis on the gates (who were one of the low points in the otherwise excellent organisation) and there was the rather enticing Sophie Lancaster tent. Caught in its gravitational pull we entered just as UK thrash band Incinery kicked off proceedings in fine style. Incinery(7/10) play old school thrash which went down well with the good sized crowd. A few early pits opened up in response to the all action delivery and the band received a very positive reaction from the crowd. Straight forward metal is the middle name of Monument (8/10). Their Maidenesque delivery proved very popular as the numbers in the tent swelled and heads all around started to bang. Frontman Pete Ellis is the real star of this band, doing his best Bruce Dickenson impressions throughout, engaging with the crowd and possessing an air raid siren of a voice. The band recovered well from some early sound problems to provide a solid set of pure old school type heavy metal. We gave pythonesque outfit Jaldaboath ten minutes but they were just a little bit too boring and with the beer still calling we headed back to the tent for a few more tins before bedtime.

Friday

Waking up to decent weather on Friday morning, the crew had high hopes for the day. This was mainly because of the main stage openers Bloodshot Dawn (8/10), who we have championed for a long time. We’ve seen BD many times over the past few years and it was genuinely intriguing to see how Josh and the boys brought their technical death metal to the main stage. Boy did they kill it. A brutal 40 minute set with a number of tracks from their self-titled debut as well as the airing of a new song which was excellent. Former drummer Doug Anderson joined the band on stage for a well-deserved round of applause and lead vocals on Illusion Aesthetic. A big performance from a band that stood up to the plate and stomped all over it. I’m already looking forward to their November tour. Unfortunately, despite putting in the effort, Entombed AD (6/10) were pretty dull and uninspiring. Their latest album Back to the Front is a decent long player with some good hooks and riffs. Live, the guys appeared a little jaded and were unable to maintain my attention for the whole set.

One of the joys of BOA is the fact that the arena is a mere five minutes from the camp site and so I gave Primordial (Primordial were good but not really sunshine material, they would be better indoors- Matt) and Flotsam and Jetsamthe swerve and headed back for a round of bacon sandwiches and a few cans. However, we were back into the arena in good time for the arrival of New Yorkers Prong. Led by veteran Tommy Victor, Prong (8/10) delivered a storming set, with a nice mix of old classics and a couple of tracks from the excellent Ruining Lives release. Prong has a real raw energy about them with bassist Jason Christopher supporting Victor in coercing the crowd to get moving. A true power trio, the sound was immensely heavy. Closer and all time Prong classic Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck had the entire place moving. The atmosphere then took a darker turn with the arrival of Thomas Gabriel Warrior and Triptykon (8/10). As the clouds gathered, Triptkyon delivered 45 minutes of melancholic doom and dark metal. A mere five songs in their set, they provided some of the darkest moments of the weekend. Opener Black Snow set the tone, along with Altar of Deceit from the excellent Melana Chasmata before things got a bit quicker with Hellhammer track Messiah. As the rain started to fall, Mr Warrior noted with some satisfaction that this was the second time he had summoned the rain to BOA. His name was subsequently banned from our tents for the rest of the weekend.
A quick charge to the Sophie Tent as the heavens opened meant that Winterfyllyth (7/10) obtained a few more admirers than they might have expected. A brutal set of UK black metal was provided by possibly the most unlikely looking metal band of the weekend. Honestly, this lot look like a bunch of dentists but the sound that they create is far and above anything that the dental school can generate with a phantom head. This was my first time watching Winterfyllyth and they totally deserved the reception they received. I'm looking forward to catching them again with Behemoth later this year.  Meanwhile the younger members of our party braved the elements to catch Jamie Jasta’s Hatebreed (8/10) tear it up on the Dio stage. During the weekend there was much debate about the musical ability of these “angry white men” but the feedback was that Hatebreed delivered in much the same way they did two years ago. It may not be your bag but they deliver what you want if you like them.
 A 30 minute wait due to “technical bollocks” meant that most of us only caught the opening chords of Allegiance by Dimmu Borgir before heading off to the tent. However, what I did see suggested that the band remain a decent live act, despite the absence of guitar sound in the opening few minutes. Silenoz and Galder might as well have not been on the stage in parts. However, another band gained much appreciation and respect as a result. This was Skyclad (8/10) who have been around for many years, leading the folk metal genre with their combination of thrash with huge doses of electric violin. Lead guitarist Steve Ramsey and bassist Graeme ‘Bean’ English would also be on duty later in the weekend with final night Sophie tent headliners Satan; however, along with the bounciest violin player in metal in Georgina Biddle and brilliant vocalist Kevin Ridley, they helped deliver an extremely energetic show which commanded a healthy audience. After the deluge that Tom Warrior and co conjured up earlier in the afternoon, Skyclad was just what the doctor ordered and there were smiles and jig pits all over the tent.
A quick jog back to the main arena for a rendezvous with the crew and then it was time for the Friday night headliners. As Down entered stage right, Phil Anselmo began his tedious utterings. I love this band but his vocal delivery and constant aggression and profanities for no apparent reason (do you use swear words as a substitute for intelligent speak?) make watching them incredibly difficult and it was a no-brainer to head back to the Sophie tent for Greek metal legends Rotting Christ. These were a band I’d never seen before but with a Greek in our midst it was not only polite but also a bloody brilliant decision. Rotting Christ (10/10) were THE band of the day by a mile. Not so much the death metal I’d expected but awesome thrash in the vein of top quality Slayer and with a stage presence to match. Atmospheric lighting helped to create a real dark environment as Sakis Tolis and his band punched a hole in the end of the day. Those of us who made the move to the tent wore huge smiles as we were absorbed into the set which was full of blasting riffs from Tolis, guitarist George Emmanuel, bassist Vaggelis Karzis and drummer Themis Tolis. An excellent evening to conclude a brilliant day of metal. And things were only going to get better on day 2.

Saturday

Emerging on Saturday morning to a cloudy but dry day, our crew were ready to go from early on. Fuelled by bacon, scrambled eggs and cider we made our way to the main stage for one of the most anticipated sets of the weekend; the elevation of the mighty Evil Scarecrow (10/10) to the main arena. Last year the Scarecrow blew the roof off the tent and was rewarded with the opening slot on the Dio stage. And what a set it was. Incredibly we had five Scarecrow virgins in the party, along with the rest of us gnarly veterans who had provided a full briefing in all things Scarecrow before we left the tents. Scarecrow hit the stage at pace and led by Dr Hell proceeded to spend 40 minutes laying waste to the main arena with their comedic black metal. Now, they are funny as hell but don’t forget that they are also exceptionally talented musicians with some great songs. Of course, the usual ridiculous sight of 10,000 (estimated) people scuttling left and right across the field to Crabulon, the robotic movements during Robototron and the homemade ‘grass poppers’ all added to the fun. The disbelief in the band’s faces was a delight as they attracted a huge crowd. Airing a new track for the first time in a good while, Space Dementia, complete with new improved robot was excellent and whets the appetite for the new album. Pledge your money folks. We need these guys on a headline set before too long.
Time for a quick wipe down with a couple of drinks after all that excitement which meant that Shining didn't get a look in. Back in plenty of time for one of the sets I was most looking forward to, Israeli outfit Orphaned Land. Now, I was in the rare position of being the only one who had seen this band out of our entire crew and having built up how great they were, I was willing them on with every sinew in my body. Not that I should have worried as Orphaned Land (10/10) delivered a beautifully paced set. Opening with All is One from their last album, they provided their Eastern tinged metal in stunning fashion with tracks from their last three albums. I openly admit to having a few tears in my eyes as Kobi referred to the conflict in Gaza and their relationship with the excellent Palestinian outfit Khalas when introducing Brother. A mix of tunes from Mabool and the excellent The Never Ending Way of OrWarrior kept the metal quota high and as I watched Alex dancing along to an Israeli couple at the front I had a smile I could barely contain. The verdict from the crew was universally positive and we are already plotting how to get to London next year to watch them support Blind Guardian. In the meantime I'm trying to work on a day at head office to catch OL playing Mabool in full in London later this year. Great stuff indeed.
Having seen Crowbar earlier in the year I headed for the Sophie tent to watch Conquest of Steel’s (3/10) final show. Thank fuck for that. They were dreadful and I lasted a whole two songs before I headed back to watch Kirk Windstein’s bearded brothers. Crowbar (8/10), on the other hand, are bloody heavy live. You know what you get with Crowbar – huge crashing riffs and the feeling of being hit by a juggernaut. A huge Walk with Knowledge Wisely from their latest release Symmetry in Black was followed by a number of Crowbar classics including a blinding Planets Collide to conclude the set.  It was time for something a bit easier on the eye after Crowbar with the lovely Christina Scabbia and Lacuna Coil. Now the Italians are always good value and this was no different with a selection of tracks from Dark Halo interspersed with classics such as Heaven’s A Lie. The only problem I have is that Andrea Ferro, endearing as he is, just can’t reach the vocal performance of Scabbia and as a result his vocals on occasion actually detract from the overall song. Still, they are always relatively decent and this time was not different (7/10). I skipped the end of Lacuna Coil’s set to ensure a prime spot for the Orphaned Land (9/10) acoustic set of the Jägermeister stage. This was pretty special and the band cut it big time with a mixed set included some acoustic versions of the day’s earlier set and some very early stuff from the 1990s and a perfect version of Let The Truce Be Known from All is One. Watching the band from a yard or so was quite breath taking and a very special moment. 
Having given Children of Bodom the widest of berths and obtained some welcome refreshments from the tent, we headed back in for one of the most brutal sets of the day. Carcass (9/10) arrived and basically blew the shit out of the main arena for an hour. Frontman Jeff Walker’s delivery is drier than sandpaper but their music just makes you bleed. A brutal force ten gale of death metal was delivered perfectly with a range of classic tracks and a smattering of newish stuff from 2013’s Surgical Steel. This was a real master class in old school death metal and Carcass received a huge reaction. We then moved to the evening’s headliners. Was it to be black metal legends Emperor or Vinnie Paul’s HellYeah? We headed to the tent but dear god, what the actual fuck? Lead singer Chad Gray, also the main man in Mudvayne got up my nostrils in about four minutes with his nu-metal approach. After two songs I could take no more and headed back to the main stage to see Ihshan and his crew blasting the crap out. Impressive light show but so boring. Oh dear; controversial? Yep, I don’t like Emperor and as the rain started to fall again I went shopping. Yes, metal shopping. At least I got some new CDsJ.

Sunday

After a night on the lash, Sunday morning broke to a different kind of lashing; quite astonishing amounts of rain on the tents. Emerging later than usual, it didn't stop the morning bacon fest or the opening of a few tinnies before we braved the conditions for the main arena again. First up for me were Dutch outfit Revamp. A good sized crowd were already inside as Floor Jansen and Revamp (7/10) battled through some atrocious sound problems. A decent enough set with Stief in particular staring at the stage with his jaw open. However there was a clash imminent so I scurried off to the New Blood Stage to catch Cardiff band Akb’al. I’d seen Akb’al at the final of the Metal to the Masses in Cardiff to earn their slot at BOA and had been very impressed with them. I was not disappointed in the tent as Akb’al (9/10) played a stunning three track set which was both heavy and progressive and generated an excellent response from the small crowd. Michael Young-Temple on bass, djembe, didgeridoo and growling was the band’s focal point whilst guitarist and singer Thoby Davis held his own with a beautiful clear voice and some excellent guitar playing. Fellow guitarist Rob Miles provided some rhythm but mainly lead guitar whilst drummer Mik combined with Young-Temple to lay down the groove. Our only disappointment was our inability to queue on the correct side of the stage to grab hold of a freebie or two. Anyway, Akb’al was refreshing and quite stunning.
As the disappointing news that Graveyard’s delayed arrival meant that their set had been moved to later in the day and that they would clash with Amon Amarth filtered through, Biohazard crashed onto the stage which prompted me to head to the tents once more for liquid refreshments. As we returned for Obituary, our heads were turned by the sound of quality power metal and we discovered an absolute gem. Yes, Stormzone from Northern Ireland had just launched into their set in the Sophie tent. Unsurprisingly, mere minutes after Nick, Stief and I entered the tent, Matt and Kona also arrived. That boy can sniff power metal out at a thousand paces. Anyway, Stormzone (8/10) were great, playing a set of straight forward but excellent melodic power metal in the Iron Maiden and Saxon mould; lots of choreographed moves which at one point had us convinced they must be German!  They played a range of tracks including tunes from their latest release, the excellent Three Kings and earlier release Death Dealer. Stormzone will be supporting Saxon and Hell and will also be at Hard Rock Hell so I shall look forward to at least another two encounters with John ‘Harv’ Harbinson and band.  Unfortunately that did mean we missed the brutality of Obituary apart from the last strains of Slowly We Rot. A shame.
It was time to head down to the front for an hour of classic British heavy metal in the form of Yorkshire’s finest tea drinkers, the mighty Saxon (9/10). Now, this is a band that in a lot of minds has enough about them to headline and it was clear from the opening bars of Sacrifice that Biff and co harboured similar feelings. A quite awesome set, full of classic tracks including my all-time favourite And The Bands Played On as well as the obligatory Wheels Of Steel sing a-long before the ace of all aces was pulled and no less than Megadave himself, Dave Mustaine joined Saxon on stage for a ripping version of Denim And Leather. As Brett and I collapsed into our usual Saxon inspired emotional state, we were able to wipe the debris from Nick, Stief and Kona whose Saxon cherries had popped for the very first time. Mine went too … 32 years ago!
A quick wipe down and it was back into the throng as the strains of Father Of The Wolf heralded the arrival of those Scandinavian Vikings Amon Amarth (10/10). I've seen these guys several times but bloody hell; this was the headline show that never was. Huge dragon heads, pyro galore and an hour of blistering melodic death metal. Deceiver Of The Gods, Cry Of The Blackbird, As Loke Falls, Guardians Of Asgaard; get in and bang your head. Johan Hegg and crew were determined to deliver a set to remember and they achieved that with ease. Finishing with the ultimate one-two, Twilight Of The Thunder Gods and Pursuit Of Vikings, Amon Amarth demonstrated why they will headline BOA within the next two years. Stunningly brilliant and totally cool.  A quick sprint to the Sophie tent caught a short bit of Graveyard but it would be harsh to provide a review on two songs. Suffice to say Ant was enjoying the mellowing effect.

We moved to the final band on the RJD stage, disappointed that apparently Sophie tent headliners and NWOBHM stalwarts Satan had been pushed back to a 10:45pm start to ensure that everyone could watch Megadeth. Wow! Thanks Dave! As it happens, Megadave played a blinder and it was worth staying to watch the full show (unless you are Stief of course). Opening with Hanger 18 and seguing nicely into Wake Up Dead this was Megadeth (9/10) at their finest. A full light show and visual effects kept the attention focused, whilst A Tout Le Monde, She Wolf and Skin O’ my Teeth kept the audience fully involved.  Long time bassist Dave Ellefson laid down the foundations with Shawn Drover’s powerful drumming, allowing Mustaine and Chris Broderick to deliver some fine riffs and solos. Having shown his softer side when getting a young fan up on the stage, Mustaine closed the main set with Symphony Of Destruction and the ever brilliant Peace Sells. An interesting choice of encore, with a cover of Thin Lizzy’s Cold Sweat before Holy Wars wrapped up a stunning weekend on the main stage. A final dose of metal in the form of Satan (8/10) in the Sophie tent completed the musical entertainment for another year. Big thanks to all the crew that made this year yet another brilliant weekend. I'm already in the queue for next year but please BOA, dangle the carrot of a headliner before too long. We need incentives. Cheers!
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Reviews: Accept, Dragonforce, Peter Pan Speedrock

August 20, 2014, 1:04 pm
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Accept: Stampede (Nuclear Blast)

Stampede is a good name for an Accept album as it encompasses what Accept do; they rush in riffs flying at speed as the drums and bass rumble the ground and Mark Tornillo screams over the top and as the final chord of the title track finishes you feel like you've been trampled by rampaging buffalo. Accept have always been one of the stalwarts of metal and they know exactly what they are doing when it comes to albums, the band have also seen a resurgence since their reformation with Tornillo they are still the band that made Fast As A Shark all those years ago but they are old wiser and louder! Wolf Hoffmann and Herman Frank's riffs are razor sharp driving the Teutonic Metal assault with six string fury and Stefan Schwartzmann and Peter Baltes anchor everything with the heavy percussive back beat. Everything is topped off with Mark Tornillo's great vocals who is near enough to follow Udo but also has his own definitive style. Despite the speedy album title the album grinds to a halt early on with the sickly ballad Dark Side Of My Heart and the frankly turgid Fall Of The Empire that just drags along. Things pick up again with Trail Of Tears but again descend into ballad territory on Wanna Be Free. 200 Years and Bloodbath Mastermind up the speed again. The bluesy From The Ashes We Rise is very good and very dark with lots of killer soloing, however for the most part this is an album of two halves part of it has the big German metal anthems with the super speed riffage, some songs are big fist pumping rockers but a lot of the album is filler with The Curse being a big offender as it sounds like it could be on a Journey album. As the contemporary and hero worshipping second track Accept are a Dying Breed unfortunately this albums shows signs of them slowing down, the beast is still there but in parts of this record it may be napping. 6/10

Dragonforce: Maximum Overload (EarMusic)

Dragonforce MKII return with their second album with Marc Hudson handling the vocal duties (since the album has been released long term drummer Dave Mackintosh has also left). As the last album showed Dragonforce have streamlined their approach gone are the 8-9 minute songs of their original albums, having been replaced by shorter, frankly more tuneful songs. However the key Dragonforce sound is there from the 240bpm (the fastest they have ever done) opening track The Game you know you are deep in Dragonforce territory, the lyrics are as usual nonsense based heavily in fantasy, tragedy and indeed love. The song is lighting fast, heavy, due to the backing vocals of Trivium's Matt Heafy, but also melodic with the dual guitar attack and the keys of Vadim keeping things lighter. Again Sam Totman and Herman Li do things to the guitar many can only dream of, Mackintosh drums up a storm (replacement Gee Anzalone will have a lot to live up too), Vadim again plays the keys like a demon and adds the prerequisite video game noises, Fred Leclercq brings a considered almost progressive bassline and Marc Hudson's vocals are even better on this record he has truly found his voice! As far as the songs go Three Hammers is a look back at their first album, Symphony Of The Night sounds a bit like Savatage with it's classical keys and guitars, The Sun Is Dead is a true progressive rock song written entirely by Leclercq it gives a new edge to Dragonforce's sound before we crash back into old school territory with Defenders and Extraction Zone. The final track on the main album is a supercharged version of Ring Of Fire (yes the Johnny Cash song) and it is very good indeed. The special edition features six extra tracks first is Power & Glory which unfortunately (fortunately?) is not a Saxon cover but is still good, You're Not Alone is a mega ballad, Chemical Interference has the classic Dragonforce guitar break and Fight To be Free is an early faster version of Starfire. The bonus tracks are well worth having indeed. Dragonforce have come back with a bang on Maximum Overload it is the perfect mix of old and new with the band going from strength to strength!! 8/10        

Peter Pan Speedrock: Buckle Up And Shove It! (Blitzcore Records)

Dutch band Peter Pan Speedrock are a band that are just distilled aggression, sweaty, shouty, four chord aggression! This is punk n roll at it's finest but with a lot of hard rock tendencies think Motorhead playing Sex Pistol's covers (Yes I'm aware it actually happened). Buckle Up And Shove It! is the bands eighth(!) album but frankly I've never heard of them but they are right up my street, gritty punk guitar riffs, aggressive throat shredding vocals, searing finger bleeding solos and a huge helping of aggression. See Tunnelvision as an example of the band's sound, coming straight from Motorhead's Overkill era with battering drums, rumbling bass and distorted guitars as does Heart Full of Soul. The album rarely slows down as the Dutch band bring song after song of sleazy Punk N Roll that just makes you want to drink, fuck and fight (not necessarily in that order). As with all bands of this ilk they are probably bloody brilliant live as they are a heavy hitting power trio, but they are no slouches on this record either as they have released 12 killer tracks of balls to the wall punk rock from the surf rock of Whatever Man, the percussive Note To Self which climaxes in a guitar freak out, the almost countrified Wide Eyed & Thirsty. The band can also do a mean cover adding a bit of grunt to The Dammed's New Rose (as if the original wasn't sleazy enough). This is great album and if you like bands such as Viking Skull, Supersuckers, Nashville Pussy and of course Motorhead you will love this album. Get your leathers on, grab a beer, buckle up and shove it!! 8/10  


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Another View From A Field: Bloodstock (Review By Nick)

August 26, 2014, 10:31 am
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Bloodstock 2014

Once again our annual pilgrimage to Derbyshire was under way, after some finite planning and organisation everything seemed to fall into place. Tents were erected, flags were raised, false tents were taken down while gazebos stood tall. Following our simply magnificent Sunday roast (on Thursday) cooked for twelve on a mere four stoves… four people! We were ready for some musical delight, so to the Sophie tent we went just in time for Incinery.

Incinery

These thrashers hit you with fast, hard riffs and do not compromise at any point during the set. Full of shredding solos and neck snapping breakdowns Incinery impressed me for a first viewing. Front man James Rawlings has an odd yet satisfying growl come screech that settles nicely into the sound the rest of the band lay out. Despite all these positives; looking back I do feel that everything was a little samey throughout. Nonetheless, a good start to Bloodstock for me 8/10.

Monument

Time for some true British heavy metal as Monument hit the stage. Having seen these guys a few times before I have discovered the success of their set lies heavily on the mood/performance of vocalist Peter Ellis. Tonight, he was on form. Monument rattled through a forty minute set in what felt like ten. Deep booming bass lines, dual guitar melodies and a powerful voice tat would make the likes of Bruce Dickinson and Sean Peck shake in their boots. All I can say about these guys is they bring back the old school, make it a little more modern and inspire you to the point that you realise some of the music you own, just isn’t really metal 9/10.

Jaldaboath

Replacing Phil Campbell at short notice (Which for me was good news) was Jaldaboath. A unknown entity to me, so I decided to hang around and see what all the fuss was about. Entering the stage to a fanfare of trumpets and dressed in medieval attire the gents from Jaldaboath kicked in with great little grove and bass laden riff that made your head bounce nicely. With a little thrash riff thrown in for good measure I between things weren’t looking or sounding too bad, until the vocalist entered the stage and everything seemed to stop as he proceeded to talk/rap every lyric with virtually not instrumental backing. This perplexed me as it killed any momentum the band had and felt very disjointed. Hoping this was just the one song I hung around a little more but also, this appeared to be the trend for Jaldaboath, and not one I was getting on with. So I headed back to camp for some booze and biscuits thining…. Bring back Phil! (4/10)

Day two and an early start as it was time for Paul and myself to engage full fan boy mode for Bloodshot dawn. A lovely breakfast of bacon, bacon and more bacon warmed our bellies as we wandered over to the main stage.

Bloodshot Dawn

Making sure we were fairly close to the stage we waited for what for me has been one of the breakthrough band in the British metal seen over the past few years. Having seen thee guys live many times at both festivals and venues as small as your thumb I was eager to see how they managed the main stage of such a prestigious festival. As Josh and the band entered the stage they treated us to a plethora of tracks from their EP, first album and even a track from their much anticipated new album. Filled with their signature technical thrash riffs that I love them for, the pace changes were timed perfectly as were the melodic riffs that jump from high to low making you damage your imaginary guitar frets. New drummer Janne Jaloma beat away at his set getting every bit of edge he could from them while Josh’s vocals seemed to once again be better than ever as he growled and screamed with great purpose. The sound the band produce was and is flawless! Each instrument added something to the performance and stood out without masking another and the lads, although humble they commanded the crowd well. Calling for pits that the crowd delivered. Not much to look at I grant you, but that doesn’t matter as your head will be down playing air guitar and bouncing 90% of the time. Definitely worth their slot on the main stage and surely worth a return with a higher placement in the future? Simply brilliant.10/10
Entombed A.D

Not knowing much about Entombed A.D but hearing a lot about how they came to be I stood around to give them a chance. Filled with heavy grungey thrash like riffs and angry vocals I can see how they appeal to some people. For me I found it hard to decipher when one song ended and another began which is never really a good characteristic in music. When they introduced us to some more modern tracks it had a bit more pace and life to it but still not enough for me, Entombed did what they do and I cant really fault their skills. Very static on stage but they still seemed to be enjoying the experience of the main stage. However, when you see a person wearing their shirt walking away from their set, that kind of says it all. 5/10.

After this there was nothing much else that pulled me in on the band lists, so I returned to the camp site with fellow Musipedians Paul and Stief to invest in some more booze and a pot noodle or two… mmm tasty! 

Throughout the first day and a half many times we had spoken about how Triptykon always demand rain for their set and how on the previous occasion Triptykon and Tom G Warrior were at Bloodstock it proceeded to rain the proverbial cats and dogs mid set. With the weather so far being wonderfully warm and sunny… this couldn't happen again, could it?

Triptykon

Entering the stage to a doom filled gloomy backing track Tom G and the rest of Triptykon proceeded to play a five-track set of the slowest darkest music that you ever could hear live. But my god it worked well! Only having one opportunity to see them once before in a small venue I already knew I would enjoy this set, however outdoors Triptykon are a completely different game all together. The sound the produce echoes and resonated around the festival site as thousands of people slowly drop and raise their heads in unison, in a weird kind of worship trance. Despite his reputation Tom G was smiling between each ten plus minute track, clearly loving every minute on stage. Then came the scary part; once again the band demanded rain on this sunny day before their final offering of The Prolonging where halfway through the clouds overcast Catton Hall and proceeded to open with a down poor of rain! It f**king happened again! Still, no one budged as they Triptykon finished their set to rapturous applause and chanting. A band I will definitely be seeing again in the future but next time… indoors. For now I'm calling the warrior, the wizard. 9/10

Now away I ran to the Sophie ten to get away from the still pouring rain but mainly from in my opinion one of the worst bands ever gifted to music… Hatebreed *shudders*

Winterfylleth

Again another British band I have seen on a few occasions that have done nothing but impress me each time. A black metal band that base their music on the ancestry and folk law of Britain they represent black metal with a twist. Fast passed technical riffage with a melodic base allow Christopher Naughtons almost haggid voice to regale us with stories and myth from our history. A band that uses pace changes to its fullest in order to hold your attention and highlight a new mood within the song. Winterfylleth tell stories with their music and damn do they do it well! Brief sound problems aside this was a fine performance from the lads, although not their best they certainly id themselves no harm and certainly gained more fans in the Musipedia 8/10.

Now that the angry music Nazi’s had vacated the main stage, back to the main stage we headed as the rain had seemed to ceased, and Dimmu Borgir were awaiting, or rather we awaited them… for 20 minutes.

Dimmu Borgir

Coming onto the stage twenty minutes late the band still insisted on using their intro music that lasted a further five minutes. It soon became evident why as they clearly needed more time to fix whatever issues they had as when the first track kicked in all that could be heard was the drums and vocals. This persisted on into the second track where myself, Paul and Matt decided to head to the Sophie tent. We’d seen Dimmu many times before and we know what they’re about… unlucky guys!

Skyclad

Jigging and swinging in circles before we even entered the tent we got the tone of Skyclad as soon as we were close enough to hear them. Folk metal! Filled with great melodic solos, light thrash riffs and plenty of fiddles Skyclad are the epitome of a happy metal band. Jigg pits opening up left right and centre in a packed tent surrounded by bopping heads the crowd joined in happily with the sing along chorus’s and sing and reply sections. A good laugh and as well as some cracking music delivered with great skill and aplomb, alas there was no cow bell! 9/10

Avoiding Down with as wide a birth as I cold possibly give them without leaving the festival I decided to check out Rotting Christ. Never seeing them live I had heard a few of their songs before and liked what I have heard. This however turned out to be the best decision of the weekend!

Rotting Christ

Smoke filled the Sophie tent along with a dim orange glow of light as the figures of Rotting Christ entered the stage. Opening with some Greek chanting the band had us hooked form the off. Displaying a set dominated by tracks from their new album Rotting Christ proceeded to suck us all into their set which was a far cry from their advertised genre of death metal. Instead what we were given was a deep dark thrash sound that forces your head down and opens your ears. Every song was different but contained stunning breakdowns of slow thrash riffage with equally as dark solos. The atmosphere in the tent was eerie as the crowd just stood listened and lost themselves in what the band had to offer. The rough gravely death vocals were gently and purposely hidden behind the instruments, to add to the haunting presence of Rotting Christ. At times the band showed dual guitar skill and performance that even Accept would be proud of, as their hair flew around in circles it was clear to see that the band themselves were just as hooked as we were. As the set came to an end with more Greek chanting the crowd duly joined in giving everything they had left. There was a short but understandable silence after the last note faded, as the crowd took in every last second. Then came the uncontrollable applause and chants that carried on long after Rotting Christ left the stage. From the music and atmosphere to the simplicity of the bands stage presence and movement I, and from what I could see everyone else were left almost dumbfounded. Haunting, majestic and beautiful… purely outstanding 11/10. (I'll let this score pass..once-Matt)

After this we spent a few hours drinking and reminiscing the day (particularly Rotting Christ) and planning the next day of metal that was ahead of us. Following a night of some sleep no thanks to the camp site next to us blaring out Powerslave on repeat for hours on end throughout we all awoke to more bacon… and headed straight to the main stage for Evil Scarecrow

Evil Scarecrow.

Despite having seeing Scarecrow many many times I was still as excited as a child to see them. Arriving early we made it as close to the stage as we could, formed two lines and did our pre Scarecrow stretches (No… really, we did). Entering the stage in glorious fashion on a wood horse Scarecrow powered through their set with the humble passion and dedication they always do. Engaging the crowd at every turn as they cracked out songs such as Blacken The Everything, Robototron and the mighty Crabulon! Ten thousand plus claws, robots and crying whimpers spread across the Bloodstock field, it looked stunning. Even the on stage security were loving it! These guys will never get boring, and with e new album on the horizon, what song will they possibly drop??! Notwithstanding Scarecrows passion and performance, the thing I love most about them is their true humbleness. These guys honestly cannot understand why everyone likes them so much and really do think we’re all crazy, and I like that 10/10.

A quick mention here to Babylon Fire, I was torn for a while on whether to see these guys as they clashed with Scarecrow. I have seen these guys twice and they have impressed me greatly on both occasions. With this being lead singer Mark D’s last show with the band it made it an even harder decision. But, call me fickle, Scarecrows allure was too much. Now I don’t know how many turned up to Babylon’s set but I hope it was a good send of for Mark, and if you ever do get the chance to catch these guys live, take it… you wont regret it!

So, back to the camp to recover and consume more booze and pasta until the much hyped (by Paul) Orphaned Land.

Orphaned Land

As earlier mentioned, Paul had done all he can to convince myself and the others of this bands quality. So, there was a lot riding on this set for Paul… no pressure Orphaned land! However, to be fair to Paul he was not wrong! Orphaned Land represents a somewhat peaceful quality in metal. Deep thrash riffs at times supported nicely by a few brief cutting solos. The main attraction here though is the voice of vocalist Kobi Farhi, wow what a voice! Smooth, gentle and flawless for the melodic sections and the Israeli chanting, but also able to pull out a deep howling growl when called upon. These guys are deceptively heavy and know how to put on a good show. Two things I learnt from these guys are; peace sells (sorry) and never underestimate the power of clapping! Will without doubt be catching these guys again 9/10.

A quick walk over to the Sophie tent where we thought we would give Conquest of Steel a listen, but nope… not for me. Very cheesy with way too much effort put into visuals that I can only assume is meant to distract us from the poor vocals. When a full sized steel sword was draw and waved about for no apparent reason I was out.
Another quick break in the campsite to refresh and down some ibuprofen for my aching back then back to the main stage for the beginning of Lacuna Coil.

Lacuna Coil

There is not really too much I can say here that you haven’t already heard about this Italian outfit. When you book Lacuna Coil you know exactly what you are going to get. A good band that works hard to entertain the crowd and will always mix their setlist up a bit to keep us on our toes. As always the main focus is on Christina, be that through the bands choice or the crowds its always going to be that way. Every time I see this band Im always surprised by the quality of Christina's voice. I don’t know why as every time its flawless. But for some reason convince myself otherwise before every gig… again she did not let me down. I didn't hang around for the entire set as Orphaned Land were playing on the Acoustic stage ad that I did nit want to miss after the earlier showing. Lacuna Coil did what they did and they do it with style and the decorum they always represent. I’ll always have time for this band 8/10.

Orphaned Land (Acoustic)
Managing to find a sneaky front row side view of the stage we were ideally placed for this set. Granted it’s a little awkward when the band are a yard away from you and proceed to make eye contact but hey ho… its worth it. Also, great respect to Paul for not getting his fan boy on and managing to summon the strength to not ask for a photo. The camera was out my friends, but he pulled through and put back in his bag for safekeeping. Orphaned Land took the stage once more and played through a set similar to the one we had heard earlier, only this time the intimacy made it just that little bit better. Kobi’s voice impressed me once more, as did the sincerity of the band. It was easy to see that the guys loved not only their music but believed in the message it was sending and the power of their music. More clapping was on the menu as the nearing one hundred strong crowd sang and clapped along on awe. I'm really starting to love this band 10/10.

After this Matt, Paul, Stief and myself took a wander round the record tents and purchased some music and goodies then headed back to the camp-site to ready ourselves for the mighty Carcass!

Now before I get into the performance I'm going to have small rant (sorry matt). During this set unfortunately someone fell ill and the band had to be stopped mid song. The power was cut and the person was tended too, and rightfully so. Front man Jeff Walker was civil trying not to make light of the situation while keeping the crowd happy. As the situation was resolved the band cracked on with their set when a message was delivered to Jeff that their set would have to be cut short and again, rightfully so Jeff flat-out refused. This did become a recurring theme between every song, as it was clear that this annoyed the band. My argument is when you have a band like Carcass, one of the kings of British metal the very substance that Bloodstock is supposedly based upon you treat them with the respect that they deserve and you forget about the five minutes that was lost… its five minutes! If you do need to save time, take it off the Emperors set. This is a band back for year to make a quick buck or two and then will bugger off back to whence they came from. Their ideals are clearly completely different and in my view, not in the keeping of Bloodsock or the metal community. Priorities need to be made clearer, festivals should not have to grant headliners up in cotton wool or grant there every whim at the expense of a better and more cultured band… anyway. Rant over.

Carcass

Heads down and air guitars out for an hour is the order of the day when you are taking in Carcass live. Despite their age and plethora of albums they have to choose from this band never get boring live and never give less than 100%. After such a long career and a short hiatus these guys still love what they do and aim to leave their fans smiling (the basis of Jeff’s earlier outburst). A set that included a range of songs from Surgical Steel as well as Symphonies of Sickness and Choice Cuts, a set for all the ages really. The characteristic hard heavy thrash with brutal bass lines that are resilient and unforgiving in delivery continued for the entirety. The screeching sinister voice of Jeff is one that requires little effort but gives so much to the sound of Carcass. The basis to which both their music and live performances relies so much on this threatening voice. All issues and outbursts aside Carcass put on a great set and proved to me and many others once again why they are one of the titans of not just British heavy metal but metal across the world 10/10
The evening came and our day of music had pretty much come to an end. With Emperor unsurprisingly not impressing and Hell Yeah delivering some good music that could hardly be heard over the front man's constant swearing. So, we did a little more shopping instead before heading back to the campsite for some booze and this time… a tasty slightly overpriced burger.

A morning spent at the camp site storing our energy for the quality on offer in the afternoon. First band of the day for us was ReVamp… I shall hand you over to Stief.


ReVamp (Review By Stief)

Despite the rain, ReVamp come on to a sizeable crowd and a warm reception. They immediately burst into The Anatomy Of A Nervous Breakdown : On The Sideline followed directly by The Anatomy Of A Nervous Breakdown: The Limbic System, both of which gives the crowd a taste of Floor Jansen's vast vocal range, changing flawlessly from clean vocals to brutal growling during On The Sideline and showing off her soaring operatic skills during The Limbic System. Microphone problems essentially turn Head Up High into an impromptu instrumental performance, giving the audience a chance to focus on the rest of the band, who give a solid performance throughout. Despite these problems, Floor manages to continually engage with the audience, who seem to be perfectly happy to headbang, vocals or no vocals. Whatever problems there were are cleared up for the title track of their latest album Wild Card, which is followed by classic song Here's My Hell. They then break into the third part of the Anatomy trio of songs, Neurasthenia, with guitarist Arjan Rijnen filling in for Devin Townsend's vocals quite nicely. ReVamp then end with a one-two hit of In Sickness 'Till Death Do Us Part: Disdain and Wolf And Dog. With a roar and a chant of ReVamp from the crowd, it wouldn't be surprising to see Revamp further up the bill of Bloodstock in a few years. 9/10


Back to the tents again after a further peruse of the record tents then Paul and I set off with devious plan to catch Obituary. However, as we walked past the Sophie tent a beautiful sound of a Dickinson-eque voice caressed our ears and drew us in where we were presented with Stormzone.
Stormzone

After much deliberation and refusal to believe what we were hearing, we were astounded to find that British power metal actually lives! Old school power metal at its best is what this band produce. High-octane vocals with quick paced ascending descending riffs and plenty of cheesy lyrics to go around. All the band moved around the stage with vigour and purpose as they were clearly in their element as the shovelled this beautiful music down our ears. Air guitars we at the ready and as Matt snuck in beside us we threw away our cares and lost ourselves in this music. Apparently supporting Saxon at the end of the year, I CANNOT wait to catch these guys again 9/10.


Saxon

So this was it one of the moments I had been waiting for, the popping of my Saxon cherry. Having grown up listening to Saxon I am ashamed to say that I have never had the chance to see them live and wow… what have I been missing! Entering the stage to a sea of applause Biff and the band wasted no time in ploughing through a set of great hits with the large majority of the crowd singing along to every syllable. Motorcycle, Hero, 747, Princess and Wheels Of Steel to name but a few echoed across the ears of thousands. Biff’s voice sounding as good live as it does on the albums that I have come to love. Each member playing with a smile of their face, there was a mutual love and respect that could easily be felt. A surprise appearance from MegaDave himself could have ruined it all… but no not even this man's ego could take anything away from the mighty Saxon. For me these guys should have been headlining and I doubt many people would have complained if the had. Stonking! 10/10.


Amon Amarth

Another contender for future headliners and probably should have been this year took the stage and quite frankly destroyed it. This review will be brief as all you need to know is there was smoke there were pyro’s galore, there were serpents and there was a giant hammer. Couple all this with a set list of Amon Amarth’s greatest hits delivered with astounding energy and flawless presentation what you get is a crowd that is not quite sure what just hit them… but f**king loved whatever it was! 10/10.

Megadeath (aka MegaDave)

A band that I have seen twice before and has, on both occasions, let me down greatly. I had planned to skip this and catch Satan for a bit of a change up. But, MegaDave himself appeared to have played the ego card again and ensured no one else was playing while they were on stage… poor sport. So, I stood and I watched as a string of hits were deployed to the die-hard fans delight and in all honesty, to my approval also. Now, for me Dave’s voice is simply poor and I will never ever be swayed of this, but this time unlike previous occasions there seemed to be life in the band as well as Dave himself. There was effort, which I had never seen from them before live. It gave the songs more life and I began to see what Paul and Matt had been trying to convince me of. Nothing special production wise but I stood happily bobbing my head and strumming my mystical guitar as the set flew by. Fair play MegaDave… you win this round 8/10.


So the sad moment arrived as Bloodstock came to an end. A great year again considering I thought this to be the weakest line up for the festival in a number of years when considering the entire weekend. The music ranged to the jaw droopingly good to the shockingly bad, but at the end of it all there was booze, there were friends and most importantly… there was metal! 10/10.


On a final note, 10/10 to Admiral insurance and NCH Autos of Tamworth who managed to break into my car without a scratch when I locked my keys in the boot outstanding service… oops! Finally, a shout out to the person who found and returned Matt’s camera when he lost it during Megadeth; With or without the ass pic, you would never have got such community at other festivals such as Download or Sonisphere and that is a fact, also the reason that Bloodstock is without doubt the best music festival to currently grace the shores of Britain.










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World Of Metal 15: The Filth Hounds, Iron Void, Craving

August 26, 2014, 10:33 am
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Sticking to Europe and especially Britain for this one with two unsigned British acts and one German act too. Lets get too it!!!

The Filth Hounds: Release The Hounds (Self Released)

Straight out of the North East of England come The Filth Hounds and they play dirty, rock n roll mixed with some top notch melodic metal. The band have been around since 2011 and they are similar in style to Attica Rage as they are filled with big heavy rock n roll riffs and from the Motorhead styled opening track Nowhere To Go they start things off in style as this song breaks down in to a final section that is very NWOBHM with Diamond Head being a particular influence on the track. There is also elements of punk on Good Love Calling and sleaze rock too with the dirty Too Damn Good having the same kind of sound as those 80's gutter snipes from LA, I Can't Hide has a slightly modern alt-metal tinge to it but it's the NWOBHM vibe that proceeds everything with the sounds of Raven, Jaguar and even Angel Witch so prevalent in the bands riffs, solos and Bryan McGill's vocals. The rest of the band are great too with the rhythm section of John Allom's bass and Damien Donelly's drums giving the songs their thumping bottom end, on top of which McGill and Nigel Pickett riff like hell. They also show their softer side on So Blue which shows of McGill's voice excellently with it's slowed, melodic, bluesy vibe that evokes early 90's hard rockers Little Angels and Thunder. You can tell that this band are one that do everything themselves, the production is rough and ready, but it suits the album perfectly as it gives them an early 80's authenticity. This is a thumping debut from The Filth Hounds who live up to their name with 7 tracks of filthy, rock an roll with a nod to the 80's metal scene as well where punk and metal mixed together so well. Hooked On Love is another NWOBHM influence track and the thirteen minute final track The Trilogy is worthy of any Maiden album with it's light and shade dynamics, big guitar hooks, drama filled lyrics and slow burning delivery. This is a hell of an album that is not a revival record its a band playing new music that harks back to their influences rather than copying them. Well done chaps!!! 8/10         

Iron Void: Iron Void (Barbarian Wrath)

Doom, something we Brits excel at, could it be the weather? I don't know but we revel in being miserable from Cathedral to Paradise Lost the usually plucky British have always been very happy to play brooding, slow, down tuned riffs with lyrics about death and misery. This three piece from Wakefield are pure doom to the ground, big crushing riffage from Steve Wilson on guitars, who does his best Iommi throughout, and Jon "Sealey" Seale who is the big, bad, bass driving the heavyweight gloominess along with Damien Park's crashing percussion. This is authentic, old school doom with the slow creeping riffs that Messrs Iommi, Dorrian and indeed Albert Witchfinder and their not-so-merry band of men peddle. From the creeping doom of Black Sabbath style Those Who Went Before to the rampaging Own Worst Enemy which is prime Orange Goblin, we then go through Candlemass and Revered Bizarre especially on The Burden Of Regret which features Seale's howling vocals on top form over it's fuzzy riff. This is an album full of serious British doom metal harking back to the late 60's early 70's with the songs and indeed the production all evoking the true doom of that era. If you like Goblin, Cathedral and indeed Sabbath this album will be for you rich with riff after riff of prime British doom. A cool album from these young doomsters, get the album quick as it is limited to 666 copies. Great stuff indeed!! 8/10

Craving: Craving (Apostasy Records)

Craving are a true world of metal in one band!! The 10 songs on this album are in their native German as well as Russian and English, because of that this album is never samey, each song has it's own style and delivery but as well the band fill their musical passages with furious blast beats from Maik Schaffstädter who drums relentlessly on this album bringing a wall of noise to proceedings. Released in 2012, the band have a black/folk metal style that is mixed with the Gothenburg melo-death. so imagine Moonsorrow mixed with Children Of Bodom, In Flames and little pinch of Amon Amarth thrown in. The guitars ring with folk tendencies, see the intro to Lug Und Litanel and also it's synth outro that has a real Celtic edge but they also riff mightily Thorsten Flecken and Ivan Chertov wielding their axes with aggression on every riff and solo, ah yes solo's there too many to mention, the fret wankery is rampant and that mixed with the rasps and roars of Chertov and guest vocalists Helge Stangand Sole Genua who battle it out on the final track. As for the rest of the album opening track Lord Of The Flames is straight out of an Amon Amarth album with it's almost Viking Metal feel and super speed drumming before the guttural roars come in and this folk metal continues on By The Blowing Wind which could be Turisas quite easily. The Nameless is solo's galore. Yes the band have a massive folk influence on their music that infects every song separating them from the normal melo-death sound. The production of this debut is also good and it stands the band in good stead for their future releases. A strong debut album from this German metal monster!! 8/10

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Review: King 810 (Review By Neil)

August 27, 2014, 9:42 am
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King 810: Memoirs Of A Murderer (Roadrunner)

The town of Flint in the US state of Michigan is not a pretty place. Consistently named as the most violent city in America the town's population of 100,000+ are policed by a force with fewer than 200 officers. Consequently crime runs rampant and the streets are lined with abandoned homes. From this background of serious social decay come King 810 and just like the city whose area code appends their name their first long player Memoirs Of A Murderer is not for the faint of heart. Presented as three “chapters” (structured as the id, ego and super-ego; each one bookmarked by vocalist David Gunn's spoken word Anatomy monologues that began on their taster Proem EP) this is an album featuring more depth and variety then you might expect if you've ever heard the band's music before. Their 2012 debut EP Midwest Monsters showcased seven tracks (one of which - Murder Murder Murder - has been re-recorded for this set) of aggressive hardcore beatdown-esque drumming by Andrew Workman overlaid with guitarist Andrew Beale's sparse staccato riffs and Gunns ultra-aggressive rap vocal delivery, all ably underpinned by bassist Eugene Gill's low frequency grooves. There is obviously more of the same here for the most part with the first three tracks Killem All, Best Nite Of My Life and the aforementioned Murder Murder Murder sticking rigidly to the bands previous formula of hardcore/nu-metal collision. Track 4 however (Take It) suddenly sees the band veer off into unexpected territory with it being an acoustic number. It's not the only track of it's kind either – Eyes, Devil Don't Cry and the album closer State Of Nature all variously feature acoustic guitars, a piano/keyboard, a string quartet and clean vocals. Almost certainly not what you would expect if you have heard King's music before. Additionally the powerful and thought provoking Write About Us clearly owes more than a small debt of gratitude to Queen's seminal We Will Rock You.
Having said that it is front man David Gunn's performance both vocally and lyrically that really marks this album out in my opinion. His vocal delivery on Treading And Trodden and Boogeymen in particular sound like the tormented confessions of a truly haunted soul. Gunn's delivery won't be to everyone's taste of course and many may find his voices grating especially given that they are front and centre in the mix but to this writer his growls, screams, wails and audible inhalations really add to the dark, brooding atmosphere conjured up on this album. Lyrically too Gunn turns up (or should that be down?) the darkness, recounting frank and forthright tales of murder, haunted thoughts and dead friends, foes and loved ones. The lyrics of the aforementioned Write About Us end with a list of some of Gunn's friends growing up and the fate they met. Many are either incarcerated or are no longer with us. It's sobering stuff, especially given that Gunn himself is just 28 years old. Memoirs Of A Murderer is an album that – more than any non-concept one I've heard recently – demands to be listened to as a single piece of work, despite the fact that there's no overarching story. Given the musical distance between some of the songs on this album it's to the bands credit that it sounds and feels like a cohesive whole. It's also an album that certainly won't be for everyone (some will no doubt find the often simplistic groove-based nature of King's heavier beatdown influenced numbers boring and others may be turned off by the grim lyrical content), but if you are a fan of any kind of *core or nu-metal band then I would recommend that you at least give King 810 a listen (Fat Around The Heart is an excellent place to start), and be thankful that you don't live where they do (10/10).
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Reviews: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Unisonic, Halcyon Way

August 30, 2014, 10:51 am
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Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Hypnotic Eye (Reprise Records)

Tom Petty has always been the last bastion of the American dream, his songs no matter how forlorn, have always encompassed and strived for that American Dream imagined at Ellis Island. Petty and his working class countrified rock has always had a glint of hope in all his songs however the man maybe losing his can-do spirit it on his thirteenth album. The rocking American Dream Plan B is an opening number with an agenda, it's a clarion call to the disenfranchised to strike back at the greed that has no become the norm in the upper echelon of society, ruining his American Dream with their "Political Scheme". Musically the album harks back to his first two albums with The Heartbreakers who also support him on this album. The triple guitars of Petty, Mike Campbell and Scott Thurston is at the heart of the songs especially Red River which is old school country Petty in a song about love and loss, along with Benmont Tench brings the keys, synths and organs adding Ron Blair's bass and Steve Ferrone's drums also providing the rhythm section see Fault Lines. This album is the sound of a man re-evaluating his lot in life on Full Grown Boy and Sins Of My Life you can hear this in full effect. This album is a lot rockier than many of Petty's releases you hear the influences of Mudcrutch as well as the burgeoning blues sound that started on previous release Mojo, the seedy smoke of Power Drunk is where the blues comes out to play as Petty once again rallies against those in charge, Burnt Out Town is another bluesy track with some killer harmonica blasts. All You Can Carry is the song where you hear Petty trying to escape his Dream rather than running down it. Still U Get Me High is another love song that reinvigorates the expectation again, this album is by no means a sad one, but it is angry and in places introspective with this last man standing finally starting to wean in his youthful resolve, he has managed to turn this resolve towards the big government corruption and indeed his own mortality on Forgotten Man. Yes Hypnotic Eye (named for the Eye Of Providence on the one dollar bill) is possibly Petty's best album in years, it is the sound of our favourite american hero rallying against the establishment, while drawing on the sound of his youth. An excellent album! 9/10

Unisonic: Light Of Dawn (earMusic)

Unisonic released their debut album in 2012 and despite the talent involved the album disappointed slightly, although it was good it could have been so much more. Unisonic marked the first collaboration of Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen since The Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 1 but in spite of the history between them the first album was more AOR/Hard Rock orientated than anything they produced in Helloween, much of this was down to bassist/producer/writer Dennis Ward who put his seal all over it, don't get me wrong yes it was a good album and many of us accepted that if this was what they were going to play then so be it, however with the small glimpses of the past we knew the power (metal) was still there. The first album may have been slightly disappointing but as the orchestral intro Venite 2.0 moves into Your Time Has Come it's like the last 30 years hasn't happened as we are back in prime Helloween territory with the galloping bassline from Ward, some rampaging drums from Kosta Zafiriou, the best guitar playing Hansen has been involved in since the glory days, the twin guitar attack he has with Mandy Meyer harks back to one he had with Mr Weikath all those years ago. On top of this top quality power metal assault are the stratosphere bothering vocals of Kiske who is top form throughout with his majestic vocals. Fans of Helloween will be grinning from ear to ear on this opening track it is a blast from the past, a rampaging power metal masterpiece. Just as you get your breath back the bass lead intro of Exceptional which brings you back into the AOR territory with the love paean on top of a bouncy hard rock backing and a middle section that just calls for audience participation, the thrashier For The Kingdom brings back the kick drums, the harder edge and the sublime solos along with a whole hunk of keys from Günter Werno. Yes on just the first three tracks you can tell this album is going to be awesome, from the scorching solo on Not Gonna Take Anymore, to the hard rock of Night Of The Long Knives, the 80's riff-fest of Find Shelter which has a few nods to the progressive, before the pace finally slows on the double ballad whammy of Blood and When The Deed Is Done before things pick up again on the metallic Throne Of The Dawn and continue this way through until the amazing album ending You And I which has tinges of Bon Jovi and a mountaintop guitar solo. This album is simply stunning!! It may just be the best power metal album of the year, in fact I have no doubt!! 10/10

Halcyon Way: Conquer (Nightmare Records)

Atlanta based progressive metallers Halcyon Way are now on their third album and it continues their particular brand of intensely technical modern metal. The title track starts the album on a strong point with the percussive beat starting things off before the guitars come in with their thrash modern riffage but also the mainstream hooks of Disturbed but also a lot of Shadow Gallery with their technical delivery. The guitars rip out riff after riff with gallops, breakdowns and some thrash passages see Conceived In Torment which also shows off the explosive drumming of Ernie Topran. One of the bands key selling points is the voice of Steve Braun who can hit the big highs when required but also has a hell of a rasp and with the growling backing vocals in the heavier parts like Hatred Is My Cause. Stylistic the band change over and over on every song but maintain their own style of delivery throughout with the Maidenesque rhythms of Militant and on Home they have the sound like Architects as it has an almost metalcore style as well as the bouncy pop-like The Poisoned Apple which has tinges of emo. Now I've said the vocals is the key selling points but it could also drive people away as it can be an acquired taste. This is a good album yes but when you have bands like Haken, Aeon Zen, Above Symmetry and Borealis flying the flag for modern progressive metal you find your self wondering where Halcyon way fit into the picture as they don't seem to have anything that makes them stand out. Yes they are modern and progressive but with legends like Symphony X and Dream Theater all still doing the rounds then it means Halcyon Way are a little lost in a genre. They are not intensely progressive but they do have some catchy hooks and some heavy riffs. I think this album is a little bit of try before you buy, but for me they just seem a little adrift and samey sonically. 6/10    
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