Ayreon: The Theory Of Everything (InsideOut)

Arjen Lucassen has returned to the project that was his first massive project. After 8 albums the project spiralled out of control getting more and more elaborate, bringing more musicians on his albums than any other project. He took a break from Ayreon and moved into other areas of music but now he has returned to it. Gone is the story of the Universal Migrator, The Theory Of Everything starts another storyline set in the modern era, rather than the previous albums sci-fi concepts. The album is made up of 42 separate tracks (Hitchhikers Guide...keep up at the back) split into 4 sections. This album also moves away from the previous albums as having few guests. The story follows a genius savant trying to find the theory of everything and the trials and tribulations he goes through, ranging from drug trials, to completion to death. The parts are all played by different singer with the two standouts being Kamelot/Seventh Wonder singer Tommy Karevik who plays the savant, and Nightwish's Marco Hietala as his rival. Other voices lent to the project are Michael Mills and Christina Scabbia as the boy’s parents, Grand Magus' JB as his teacher and Asia's John Wetton as the psychiatrist. So while the vocalists have decreased the guest musicians are ramped up in terms of legendary status, Lucassen plays all of the guitars and most of the keys (drums are handled by Gorefest's Ed Warby) Lucassen is aided by a plethora of classical instruments, but it’s in the keys section where the stars really shine, Jordan Rudress (Dream Theater), Keith Emerson (ELP) and the wizard himself Rick Wakeman all contribute solo's to the album and on the guitar front the only (and I use the term only loosely) is Steve Hackett. So to the album, it is hard to pick out a favourite song as this album is meant to be taken as a whole, but it moves and shifts through various phases each one sounding like an amalgamation of amazing progressive rock bands with huge keys and flowing guitar passages. The Theory Of Everything is meant to be taken as a whole and when it is it is simply stunning and brilliantly majestic. Yet another flawless entry into Arjen's magnum opus. 10/10           

Avatarium: S/T (Nuclear Blast)

Doom big heaping slabs of doom, something Leif Edling knows a lot about having been the bassist/lead writer of doom legends Candlemass. This is his new band, the songs were written with fellow Swede Mikael Akerfeldt in mind as vocalist but as he is phenomenally busy with his own band plans had to be changed somewhat. For the better well we'll see, the rest of the band are made up of Evergrey guitarist Marcus Jindell, drummer Lars Skold (Tiamat) and keyboardist Carl Westholm. The riffs are heavy slabs of heaving doom from the opening planet crushing chords of the 8 minute Moonhouse which turns into an acoustically led track in the verses, this change is straight out of the Akerfeldt playbook and it shows the startling nature of this new band which is fronted by the smoky jazz inflected voice of front woman Jennie Ann-Smith who is this bands key she has the perfect style for this misanthropic malaise. Pandora's Egg has more doom riffage and occult/mystical imagery than you can shake a stick at, this moves into the heavy as a led opening of the bands title track which has the creepy, haunting organ. This is an album of 7 massive doom tracks that will please Leif's hardcore following as well as welcome new fans. It strikes the right balance between being fresh and new as well as having that nod to things past. A great album for those who like their doom at its darkest. 8/10 

Kadavar: Abra Kadavar (Nuclear Blast)

Kadavar play 70's inspired rock and hail from Germany. Abra Kadavar is their second album and it follows on from their debut. Yes they can be seen as doom but they are so much more vocally they sound like JD from The Sword, and their weird beard persona and jangling psychedelic delivery brings to mind Hawkwind see the pulsing Come Back To Life which is driven by some pulverising bass. The doomy/blues comes to the furore on the howling Black Snake which moves into the jazz influenced Dust which goes all krautrock on our asses and Rhythm Of Endless Minds is a trip through a chemical addled brain. The band have just come off a long tour of the UK and Europe tour and I can see that this kind of retro, psychedelic rock would go down well in the live arena as they can stretch their muscles a bit and jam something bands like this do very well. On the album however they can flex just enough to keep your attention. All in all zehr gut!! 7/10

Airbourne, Orange Goblin & The Treatment, O2 Academy Bristol

So once more across the bridge to Bristol and into the Academy for night of rawk! Into the arena (Michael Schenker) and up to the balcony (Romeo and the Juliets?) we waited for the first act after filling up on rock juice from the bar.

The Treatment

First up were Cambridge rock upstarts The Treatment. I've been following their progress for a while and tonight was the slickest I've ever seen them. They not only have the songs but the look and the attitude. The look was leather biker jackets, tight jeans and Union Jack motifs that made them look visually like a mix of The Clash, The Sex Pistols and Guns N Roses. The band were on top form crashing out with the rip snorting Drink, Fuck, Fight, from their last album which started things off nicely meaning that drummer Dhani Mansworth could crash and smash, bassist Swoggle (who looks like he should be in Game Of Thrones) ran around the stage like Steve Harris on steroids! The twin-guitar of Ben Brookland and Tagore Grey meant that the songs had classic hard rock delivery to them and Matt Jones' vocals fit the music but can grate somewhat. The band took a risk and ploughed through a set of new tracks from their unreleased album but they were all strong full of chunky rock riffs and solo's meaning that their new album should be something a bit special as live they are now better than I've ever seen them they have worked hard on their delivery and most importantly their song-writing. With their sizzling opening ending with the sing along Shake The Mountain. 8/10

Orange Goblin

The band that have probably taken the award for hardest touring band several times over made their way to the stage as Ozzy blared from the speakers. Led on to the stage by Jon Hoare the one man riff machine began to blast out the riff for Scorpionica he was joined by the face smashing rhythm section from the suitably bearded Martyn Millard (Bass) and Chris Turner (drums) before finally the giant (continuing with The Game Of Thrones theme) himself Ben Ward marched out and began to roar, straight then into The Filthy And The Few which garnered the fans into a frenzy. Between every song Ben did the Ozzy two fists in the air hailing his hero and decked out in an old school Sabbath t-shirt. Goblin then slowed things down this the trippy Saruman's Wish. Before coming back to bludgeon us again with Acid Trial and the evergreen Some You Win, Some You Lose. This was a short sharp shock of a set in which Goblin came, saw and conquered and as the final duo of Quincy The Pig Boy and Red Tide Rising rang out the crowd had been welcomed to the house of Goblin. Still one of the best live bands out there, no bullshit, no sermons just straight up British heavy metal. 9/10

Airbourne

Airbourne hail from Australia, they play hard rock rooted in the blues and they have two brothers in the band. Yes the scene is familiar (as too is the sound) and the joke has worn stale but still it's when you see Airbourne live that it reinforces that they do sound an awful lot like AC/DC. With the Terminator 2 intro finishing the band came rushing onto the stage and dove headlong into Ready To Rock from the new album before Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast and Girls In Black brought the classics. The band are always full of energy and frontman Joel O'Keefe is like a psycho with his wild eyed stare and shirtless antics. However it's this unhinged madness that I wish to focus on as I've seen Airbourne a few times now and this crops up every time. Yes they have some good rock n roll songs that are perfect for a party atmosphere however Joel's insistence for having beer throwing competitions (which lasted about 5 minutes), doing solo around the crowd and then doing his obligatory climbing shtick meant that nearly 30 minutes of the set was taken up by guitar soloing and tomfoolery than actually playing the songs. Now maybe this is me being a cynic but the odd piece of theatre is great but when you are playing what is essentially bar room boogie, the long instrumental passages become more of a chore than a treat. Still I enjoyed Diamond In The Rough, BlondeBad And Beautiful and Stand Up For Rock N Roll. As they closed the main set leading to the Thunderstruck moment of Live It Up to start the encore. This moved into Raise The Flag which went on far too long with all the running about by O’Keefe and the final song was Runnin’ Wild which ended the set on a high. Like I said musically they are just what you want from a live band however they need to think about pacing a bit more. 8/10   
    

Death Angel – Underworld, Camden

My penultimate gig of 2013 arrived and I found myself at the Underworld in Camden for a night of old school thrash. The Underworld is a 500 capacity venue and is ideally suited to rock and metal gigs. What is also particularly pleasing about the venue is that the bar is located in a different part of the building to the auditorium, which allowed me to focus on the music without being disrupted by those in need of booze flavoured beverages.

Adimiron

I arrived too late to catch to catch Italians Adimiron but did catch fellow countrymen Extrema’s set. Apparently these guys have been around as long as the headliners but I have to admit that my knowledge of Italian metal is limited to Lacuna Coil and Fleshgod Apocalypse and I was unaware of them. Extrema delivered a strong set of Pantera style thrash with vocalist GL Perotti animated throughout. His vocal delivery is very much in the Anselmo mode, snarling and guttural and large amounts of audience encouragement. The band played eight songs from their catalogue of albums including a couple of tracks from their latest release The Seed of Foolishness. A relatively sparse crowd gave Extrema a pretty positive response with the front row warming up for the evening with a cracking display of wind-milling. The band closed with a track called From The 80s which was probably an apt summary of the entire evening. 7/10

Dew Scented

The main warm up quickly followed in the shape of German thrashers Dew Scented. Now if you like your thrash, Germany is possibly THE place to look to. The likes of Kreator, Destruction and Sodom have long been leading lights in the thrash movement and Dew Scented are of a similar ilk. And they were damn good too. Decent thrash does exactly what it says on the tin and Dew Scented didn’t deviate from what you would have expected, producing a fine 40 minutes of powerful and groove laden Germanic thrash which was appreciated by the crowd which had by now increased substantially. Opening with Sworn to Obey, Dew Scented made it clear that they meant business. Twin guitarists Rory Hansen and Marvin Vriesde laid down riff after riff along with some excellent soloing. Driving the band forward were the rhythm section of drummer Koen Hefst and Dutch bassist Joost Van Der Graft who was celebrating his 40th birthday. Later in the show Van Der Graft was covered in beer whilst the crowd sang a quite awfully out of tune ‘happy birthday’ to him. The focal point of Dew Scented is clearly frontman and original member Leif Jensen. Not only does the man possess a decent set of pipes, his interaction with the crowd was pretty impressive too with Jensen very keen to say thank you to all of the hardy souls who turned out on cold but dry London evening and constantly encouraging the formation of the inevitable circle pits.

Dew Scented have been around since 1992 and have released eight albums, all bizarrely starting with the letter I. Highlights from their set included Never To Return and the fast paced Thrown To the Lions from the 2012 release Icarus. Closing with Acts Of Rage from 2003’s Impact, this is a band who would go down a storm in the tent at BOA. Well worth checking out if you like a decent bit of thrash. 8/10


Death Angel

No messing about from Death Angel. Storming Straight Into Left For Dead from this year’s quite exceptional The Dream Calls For Blood, the Bay Area thrashers made it clear from the start that their only UK date on the European tour was going to be a memorable one. Anyone who witnessed their excellent set at BOA this summer would be aware of exactly what was going to be served up. Another track from TDCFB followed, Son Of The Morning before the first cut from their Debut album The Ultra Violence followed. Mark Osegueda is one of the most engaging front men I’ve ever seen, and as well as being able to deliver vocally in the live setting, he appeared genuinely grateful that there was a healthy turnout. Grateful I hear you ask? Indeed, because this was on the same night that a certain Black Sabbath were packing out the O2 arena not a million miles away. This meant that this was really a diehard crowd who were extremely engaged with the band. Over the next hour and a half Death Angel proceeded to deliver a quite brutal set combined of some older classics such as Thicker Than Blood from the Art Of Dying, Sonic Beatdown from the underrated Killing Season integrated with further tracks from TDCFB. Original guitarist and clearly the beating heart of Death Angel Rob Cavenstany was in particularly inspired form, shredding like crazy whilst maintaining the cool stage persona that he has always maintained. He was ably aided by Ted Aguilar on stage left along with the ripped Damien Sisson on bass and Will Carroll on drums. Death Angel have always had numerous time changes in their writing and their tracks contain intricate technical aspects not always associated with this genre. The evening flew by with one of the more interesting highlights a truncated cover of Love Gun by Kiss. A quick breather at the end of the main set was quickly followed by the killer encore of Lord Of Hate and Thrown To The Wolves which saw a final circle pit run for the entire the length of the song. Osegueda thanked the crowd several times during the show and provided a lesson in the art of being a metal front man. Death Angel are a band who should have been much bigger than they are in the UK. Tonight was an excellent reminder of the technical excellence that set them apart from many around them when they burst onto the scene in the late 1980s. 9/10

Triaxis, Counterhold and Blacksphere, Fuel Cardiff.

Ok, so first thing is first. I have never liked this venue for live music events as the sound is always dire and well... its just flat out not appropriate for live music either. I mean a "Cardiff's biggest rock club" playing Keane and Aqua in between sets? No, no thank you.
Annoyingly I experienced much of the same tonight but thankfully it wasn't quite enough to take the shine of a night of true honest metal music. Well, what I could hear of it anyway.

Blacksphere

This female fronted band haling from South Wales hit the stage when the venue was practically empty, taking advantage of this I wandered to the front, pint in hand to check these guys out. Only having the chance to see Blacksphere once before from a distance I was pleasantly surprised by what they had to offer. A short set of about 5 songs offered us 4 rhythmic and groove filled power metal songs with a booming bass provided by a man who was simply known as "Carl". It was clear to see that Blacksphere enjoyed what they were doing here with smiles across their faces. The crowd seemed to agree as of the few people who had arrived had made their way straight to the front too. The highlight of this band was lead singer "Gayn" such a powerful and smooth voice
coming from a lady built so pettily was very impressive. Although due to the sound issues it was very difficult for her to really hit her heights as anything too powerful seemed to break the system. All in all a great little set from a band I would like to see again in different circumstances. The only downside, the encore? ...a cover! A cover of My Immortal by Evanesence to be exact. Despite it being a cover of decent quality, I am never a fan of band such as this finishing sets with a cover. I always feel they should leave us with their best and all being well, hopefully wanting more. 7/10

Counterhold

Counterhold are classic heavy metal 5 pieced band from Cwmbran. Laced with grungy undertones Counterhold threw themselves into their set with some good energy. Front-man Steve Jenkins doing his best to involve the crowd as they slowly started to filter in, who, in the most part responded well. Similar sound issues meant that unfortunately the vocals and lead guitar we're at times barely audible and muffled. This was a shame as on occasion when Jenkins's voice was clear it was obvious he possess a voice that a capable of both silk like melody and a sharp howling growl when called upon. However this didn't stop the band from powering on. Offering up a set that contained tracks from their new album All Of Them Slain and what they professed to be a couple of oldies that they hadn't performed in a while. Each song was delivered with some definite passion, and this we can have nothing but respect for. The grunge and sprinklings of aggression make Counterhold a similar band to the mighty Beholder live, the breakdowns make it hard for you not to bounce your head up and down as the set progresses. The only concern I did have is that despite the set being enjoyable and the love these guys show for their music, the songs did seem to all roll into one with little variance that I could detect. On this night it didn't really matter at all as the crowd interaction from front-man Steve and the traveling support made the set a good laugh. However I feel a longer set on a different night may struggle to power on with such aplomb. Finally the lads gave the crowd a choice of two songs for their finale, a nice touch I thought. A unanimous vote for Stand Or Die lead Counterhold to deliver what I had come to expect from them, a wholehearted song that finished with a bang. If you haven't seen these guys check them out. On another day I would liked to have given these guys a little more but I feel I would be overselling a little bit despite the positives. A band that have a lot to offer in the coming years in my opinion, keep an eye! 7/10

Triaxis

Now for the main event and a band I have held close to my heart since the first time I saw them, Triaxis. Haling from Port Talbot way these guys have proven to me on many occasions they know what they are doing and how to do it, tonight was no different. This slightly shortened set consisted predominantly of tracks from latest album Rage & Retribution and wow were we treated! The set opened up strongly with the in your face track of Sand & Silver... shredding riffs and mini breakdowns galore supported perfectly by one of the finest voices in music, supplied by the birthday girl Krissie Kirby. Each time I see this band I become more and more memorized and stunned by the quality and power of this ladies voice, simply immense. With no let up the band slid straight into the next tracks consisting of favourites Under Blood Red Skies and Sker Point, both delivered flawlessly and again with great passion from the band. The front row breaking out into air guitar and song united...
From drummer to vocals Triaxis to me really are a complete band, and this showed in the offering of The Infected... Clare Wilson laying down some fantastic rhythms while Owen pounded away on the bass standing on every object that he can find... a real highlight of this song is the jaw dropping talent of lead guitarist Glyn, fingers flailing up and down the neck of his guitar producing some of the finest sounds you could hope to hear from an instrument. The set moved on with a track from debut album Key To The Kingdom; Lies. Another favourite of the fans... and clearly the band also as they again threw themselves full force into the moment. As the set drew to a close some good and bad news was announced. The good news is that Triaxis are hitting the studio to start work on their 3rd album, the bad news; no more live gigs as a result (Booo!). Anyway, the final two songs were dealt with the in the manner that Triaxis only know how, a full on assault of music and vocals as Owen and Glyn undertook a fine impression of Status Quo mid track.
The final track was some what of a let down initially when announced for reasons I mentioned earlier... a cover. This though was a fine cover with a Triaxis twist. Iron Maidens Hallowed Be Thy Name rang out through fuel supported on mass by the fans as Krissie hit every note perfectly which taught me a lesson, if you are going to end a set with a cover do it properly and most importantly do it your way. The only disappointment that struck me in this set was again the sound, at times the wonderful voice of Krisse's was muffled and you could see that as the set went on she unfortunately was having to pull back a little vocally and with the microphone. Not the bands fault but this seemed to be a theme throughout the night, as I expected...
I cannot wait to see this band live again and hopefully many more times after that because they are quite simply a treat! If you want to see how metal should be produced performed and delivered live look no further than Triaxis 10/10

Electric Six – Glee Club Cardiff

A Monday night and time for the annual pre-christmas party with Detriot’s finest, the amazing Electric Six. Having missed these guys last year where they performed Fire in full, there was no way I was missing out on them again.

A quick warm up from Andy D Presents the Weekend (8/10) had the audience laughing and in a very good mood for the arrival of Dick valentine and Co. The band opened with Nom De Plume from their very good recent release Mustang before firm favourite Jam It In The Hole got the place moving. The audience, as usual an eclectic range of old school metal heads through to young hipsters, was in fine spirit, and DV’s usual zany onstage charisma only encouraged the crazies to greater efforts. Dick is the central focus of Electric Six and is one of the funniest front men around today. He constantly referred to the "nine available Electric Six albums available at the Merchandise stand at very reasonable prices" before hitting the audience with a quick Ian Watkins joke, complete with cries of "too soon" from the audience.

The band played a mix of old favourites and new tracks from Mustang. Down at McDonnelzzz was followed by Heavy Woman and Jimmy Carter from 2005’s Senor Smoke. After Dirty Looks it was time for the introduction of the ‘white wolf’ guitarist Johnny Nashinal who started the opening riff to Gay Bar: cue moshing and a wide variety of shapes being thrown by the audience who by now were going for it big time. Throughout the set Valentine engaged with the audience with his trademark deadpan delivery. However, it would be nothing without the rest of the band and this is what makes Electric Six so good. They can play. Alongside the white wolf was Da Ve on guitar, supplemented by the keyboards of Tait Nucleus and the rhythm section of Smorgasboard and Pecussion World. These guys are just consummate professionals. As you look at around at an Electric Six gig all you see is smiling faces as people have a really good time. Despite a few sound problems which necessitated Dick Valentine providing a rendition of one of his solo pieces, Show Me What Your Lights Mean, there was little let up and a cracking Clusterfuck led into the final few tracks which were just awesome. The always brilliant Danger! High Voltage was followed by the hilarious Adam Levine, the less than complimentary ode to the Maroon 5 singer, and then the triple whammy of Dance Epidemic, I Buy The Drugs (Mrs H whirling like a demon by now) and finally Dance Commander to top of a truly fabulous night of entertainment. If you aren’t aware of this band (how could you not be? Editor), check out Fire and last year’s live album Absolute Pleasure for a taste and then make sure you book yourself a ticket next time these guys are in town. You won’t be disappointed. 9/10

World of metal is a new feature that will concentrate on underground and unsigned bands from around the world. It's a little bit of something new! I hope you guys like it! First we have Alt-metal, melo-death and thrash from across the globe.

Rose & Milk: Manekeni (Global Metal Promotions)

Rose And Milk are an alternative rock band from Belarus. Manekeni is their first EP and it is made up of 7 strong songs. I don't know any of the songs, but with help of Google Translate I found the track names (they are in Russian) and the EP kicks off with the driving Exception To The Rule, which mixes some chunky riffage, with some synths and samples giving the band a sound similar to a more upbeat NIN or even Linkin Park in some places (mainly though they are similar to little known American band RA). The band have some great songs with some excellent solos, see Calendars To... and you can feel the emotion in the lyrics even though they are in Russian, especially on the ballad I Release. Like I said despite the language barrier this is a well-produced album full of strong Alt-rock songs that would be excellent in a live arena. The EP is crisply produced and the band work through 7 great rock songs with excellent musicianship and uncapped enthusiasm. A great little EP that I implore you to look for if you get the chance. 7/10

Rainwill: Zeroed By Progress (FONO Ltd)

Rainwill are a Russian melodic death metal band hailing from Voronezh. Zeroed By Progress is their second album. This is Melo-death by the numbers with blast beat drumming, heavy as iron guitar riffage full of twisting rhythms and relentless, guttural death vocals and clean vocals mixing well together on tracks like Pleasure From Amusements and the synth heavy Value Of Life. Things take a break with the acoustic Starving before the Trivium-like Hatred Rises. Yes it has been done before but if you want a circle pit starting thrash fuelled melo-death album or something to fill your ears until Soilwork release their new album then Zeroed By Progress will give you your recommended daily allowance. The songs are strong, the musicianship precise and the synth elements add a bit of texture to the brutality meaning especially on instrumental break Model2 which is just synths and some clean guitars and gives way to the djent like Last Man Who Saw The Day which is one of the best tracks on the album. It's these synths that make the band stand out a little from their peers and also brings comparisons to Soilwork. This is a must for fans of the genre but it has enough variety to entice those who pick and choose as well. 7/10

Dark Season: Cruel Domination (Self released)

Dark Season are a metal band from Italy and they play blackened thrash with some electronic elements. The riffs come thick and fast from the Shadow Of The Evil withNeshmet and Artax shredding for their lives and Zaurak having a gruff delivery which gives the band a similar sound to Children Of Bodom and a thrashier Lordi in the vocal department. This can be seen at its best on Channel 666 which has some huge keyboard riffs and face melting solos. This is and album full of great tracks such as the head splitting Going Down which has a killer solo in the middle that just gets faster and faster before a massive breakdown outro, the final heavy hitter This Cruel Domination which is full of modern metal riffage and some huge keys, Interceptor changes tact and is just old school thrash. This is an album that merges classic sound of Testament with the modern thrash Trivium as well as bringing in some electronic and black metal elements to create a great sound that is split over 8 excellent tracks. Some nice new noise from Italy go check them out. 8/10

Love/Hate came out of the Sunset Strip at the same time as G'N'R and Skid Row and were burning brightly for the brief time in the early 90's before grunge came along. Led by the sleazy vocals of Jizzy Pearl the band had two massive albums (Blackout In The Red Room and Wasted In America) one massively stupid stunt involving the Hollywood sign and a crucifix and then faded into relative obscurity with Jizzy fronting  few bands of similar ilk most notably Ratt until the return of Stephen Pearcy. So now Love/Hate have returned with a mini-album that kicks off with the punk like Hanging You Out To Dry before the more old school hard rock swagger of Sunny Day and You're Making Me Nervous. This is an album of two parts with the first three songs hard rocking tracks with Pearl full of gritty aggression and the last three are more laid back balladic affairs with the sun (and organ) drenched I Don't Want To Be Your Baby sounding like The Black Crowes mixed with Rod Stewart (Faces) the middle eastern flavour to Love Is All is a trippy spiralling song with lots of guitar solos which is followed by the country/blues of Too Late. If I'm honest I prefer the second half to the first as I think it suit Pearl's vocals more. Now whether you were a fan of the band originally is immaterial this is the sound of a Sunset Strip survivors all grown up. 7/10

So with a short turn around the demon child shone through the curtain and we got the clarion call of "I Can't Fucking Hear You!!" from the Ozzman over the P.A and the crowd were uproarious with their cheers. So with a small wait the curtain dropped and the first classic chord of War Pigs rang out through the arena. The crowd sang every word of the song back with Sabbath as they cranked out the 6 minute plus song. With Ozzy inciting cheers claps and woah's all while jumping around like a mad man, the Iron man himself Iommi and Geezer butler were stoic and statuesque but brought every crushing classic riff as Tommy Clufetos imitated and at times excelled Bill Ward on the skins. The political rallying of War Pigs moved into the dirge-like Into The Void which distilled stoner metal into one song and was followed quickly by the awesome doom-laden Under The Sun. The band paced themselves with a wide ranging set list and seemed to be on top form. Iommi is still one of best guitarists around bringing the riffs and killer solos, Geezer also is a supreme bassist his fleet fingered playing most visible on the intro to N.I.B which is his masterpiece. The wild card as always is Ozzy who can be hit and miss however his voice was on top form throughout singing like a man a third of his age, and every occult, political, drug worshipping note audible with the crystal clear audio. Speaking of which Ozzy is still an excellent frontman making light of his recent problems and mentioning Christmas and the bands former love of the white stuff just before going into the driving Snowblind the newbie Age Of Reason before taking back to the very beginning with that one genre defining riff of Black Sabbath which went into the bluesy Behind The Wall Of Sleep. Back to number one album 13 with End Of The Beginning which blended in seamlessly with the rest of the Sabbath classics and moved into Fairies Wear Boots which was accompanied by a video that wouldn't have looked out of place in a German club with all of the leather and chains, and was just one of the many amazing visual feasts that accompanied the band throughout. The instrumental Rat Salad came next and gave Clufetos a chance to show off his mettle in an amazing drum solo (two words that don't really go together usually) this small break in proceedings was followed by the stone cold classic of Iron Man (Tony's showcase) which still sends chills down the spine with Ozzy's vocoder vocals and that riff which was quickly followed up by God Is Dead? and the final one two of Dirty Women (which I've never really liked as a song to be honest) but it led to the amazing Children Of The Grave which ended the main set with a mass jump along. The lights went out and all was dark as Ozzy started his chant of "one more song" which rang out as the band came back on to the stage to another rapturous applause. The first chords of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath filled the arena and then burst into their uber anthem Paranoid which left everyone on a high as they sang every word along with it. Seeing as they are all in their 60's (except for Clufetos) Black Sabbath are still about 50 times better than any band on the circuit it's both nostalgic and modern an ageless band playing the songs that made a genre in their hometown. I can think of no better way to end 2013!! Simply staggering! 10/10             

China, a country not really known for its heavy metal output, but much like their neighbours Japan they do seem to be obsessed with power metal with massive progressive/symphonic influences as well as some Asian ones on tracks like the mega-ballad I Will Never Forget which is an excellent duet with a great female vocalist. Things start off with the electronic instrumental The Light Of Polaris before we are brought straight home with the title track which is very Stratovarius like, with some powerful guitars, huge keys and driving rhythms. The band all play excellently and really bring the power metal home with some killer solos, great galloping riffs and lots of keyboard and some progressive passages throughout. The band have English lyrics with vocals coming from Thomas Winkler who fans of cheesy power metal may recognise as the singer of power metal lunatics Gloryhammer, his vocals are similar to those of Tony Kakko of Sonata Arctica (another band Barque of Dante sound like) as well as the Timo Kotipelto from Stratovarius. For fans of progressive power metal this is a dream, full of pomp and massive hooks then look no further, for anyone else this may be overkill. Still from a country that doesn't do a lot of metal this is a well written, well produced and most of all very strong power metal album. 8/10     

So it's that time of year again where we find out what the readers and contributors list as their top ten albums

Matt Bladen’s Top 10 of 2013 (In no particular order, except for number 1 & 2) 

Review of the year 2013

So here I am listening to Voodoo Six’s Songs to Invade Countries To, one of the many albums that passed me by in a quite brilliant year for our genre, whilst reflecting on some of the events that made 2013 so memorable. Bear with me as I reminisce a little. After all, it won’t be long before I won’t be able to remember stuff like this; I am getting on you know.
2012 had finished with a double helping of Alcest and Katatonia in London and Bristol, and 2013 was already shaping up nicely with a number of classic rock artists lined up or rumoured to be touring. As it turned out, 2013 was indeed a year for the old guard to flex their muscles and keep the youngsters at arm’s length.

My first gig of 2013 didn’t arrive until 27 January and also involved my first visit to The Limelight venue in Belfast. Having been distraught at having to miss Orange Goblin at Clwb Ifor Bach due to work commitments, my joy at discovering that not only were the mighty Goblin in town when I was there but also that my hotel for the week, the god awful Holiday Inn in Ormeau Avenue, was directly across the road from the venue, was substantial.  Two sterling warm up sets from local band Triggerman and Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell led to a crushing evening from Ben Ward and co with the metal fraternity of Northern Ireland rocking out in frantic style.

 An early contender for one of albums of the year arrived around the same time in the shape of Audrey Horne’s Youngblood. A straightforward classic rock album with shades of Lizzy and Maiden, this remained on my playlist all year and deserved a better rating that the 7 given in Metal Hammer. Another release notable of praise around the same time was The Divinity of Purpose from Hatebreed. I don’t really care what others think, this band mix their hardcore with metal perfectly and whilst they are certainly a little formulaic, the Connecticut outfit usually do it for me. They will be welcomed back to BOA in 2014.
Deep into February now and a night of pure class at the Coal Exchange as rock legends UFO rolled into town. This is a band that means a great deal to me, having been only the second band I ever saw live (sandwiched between Saxon and Thin Lizzy with Lynott). A healthy crowd of mainly middle aged males assembled in Cardiff Bay to watch Greek outfit 4Bitten kick off the evening before a stunning set from Mogg, Moore, Parker, Lehmann and Raymond. Think UFO and you think of Doctor Doctor or Rock Bottom, but this band have a massive back catalogue of top quality music. The following night saw us head to Bogiez for an evening of Swedish Metal with the fantastic Grand Magus ably supported by speed metallers Primitai who put in a workmanlike shift before the packed house enjoyed some traditional heavy metal from a band that never disappoint. The sight of JB and Fox urging the crowd in sing-alongs with some of their anthemic tracks from Iron Will and The Hunt was just brilliant. As a certain Editor stated, ‘you could watch them every week and never get bored’.

A plethora of new releases arrived in February: These included the Andy Sneap produced Sacrifice from Saxon which is surely one of their finest ever works, Lights Out from Swedish outfit Graveyard and power metal at its finest in the shape of Nemesis from Finnish veterans Stratovarius. However, one of the albums of the year also arrived at this time in the shape of The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories) by prog lord Steven Wilson.  Later in the year I was lucky enough to see him live. This album grew and grew on me throughout the year and was another that hit my top ten. Not quite so breathtakingly brilliant was the decidedly average Temper Temper from Welsh outfit Bullet For My Valentine which limped to a 6 in Hammer. I was thinking about BFMV recently, and realised that amongst all of our crew that frequent gigs with me, these are about the only band which generates universal apathy. The next great hope for UK metal don’t do it for any of use apparently. A couple of other releases that are also worthy of mention at this point: The bluesy debut from Mikey Moody’s Snakecharmer and the psychedelic fuzz of Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats Blood Lust. Both bands would feature in the live arena for me by the end of the year.
Moving into March and due to a nightshift which couldn’t be changed I missed out on the chance of seeing Charlotte Church in Clwb (Yes, you did read that correctly … and I would given half a chance) and so made do with Gibraltar’s own Breed 77 back at Bogiez two nights later. Now I often found myself half cut by the time I got to Bogiez to see bands and this event appeared to be no exception as I have a t-shirt from support band Seven Deadly which I had no intention of buying. Anyway, our usual cohort rocked up in good time for a change to witness a cracking performance from the ex-Panic Cell outfit which was just as well as the next two outfits Left Unscarred an For the Imperium were pretty dull (obviously fuelling my alcohol consumption). Luckily Breed 77 put in a top performance with their rather unique Latin/metal crossover sound lapped up by a small but enthusiastic crowd.

Another month and another storming album arrived. This time the Metal Hammer 2013 album of the year, Earth Rocker from Maryland outfit Clutch. And oh my god, what an absolutely incredible album it is. In my opinion this album is fully deserving of the accolade of album of the year; from the title track with its groove laden anthem, sure to remain a favourite on their set list for many years to come, through to the catchy choruses of Mr Freedom and the hard rocking Unto the Breach this is a masterpiece and sits nicely alongside the legendary Blast Tyrant in their catalogue. Super stuff. Of course, for ever masterpiece that arrives, a truckload of crap usually accompanies it and this month the winner was Anthrax for their cover of Rush’s Anthem on Worship Music/Anthems. Whilst I will admit it isn’t as bad as MFH’s cover of Witch Hunt it still sucks. No-one should cover Rush. Period. I missed a few albums this month. Apologies to Finntroll and Kvelertak in particular whilst I’m not at all disappointed at allowing KSE, Buckcherry and Bleed From Within to pass me by.

Back to the arena and the next gig saw us decant to our regular haunt at the O2 academy in Bristol for the Jagermeister Music Tour. Welsh rockers Revoker made a decent start to the evening before The Defiled bored me shitless. Luckily it was time for the French organ rearrangement known as Gojira to follow and as usual with these guys it was time to strap down your spleen whilst they blistered through 45 minutes of ear splitting classics. Following Gojira is a pretty difficult task but the nameless ghouls and Papa Emeritus who comprise Ghost did the job. I have to admit I wasn’t particularly impressed with them at this gig but found them a much more entertaining outfit supporting Alice in Chains later in the year.

Moving swiftly into April and a couple of early gigs to get the blood pumping. First off, a welcome return to the magnificent Coal Exchange and a chance to renew my acquaintance with Dave Brock and Hawkwind. The main set comprised of the 1975 classic Warrior At The Edge Of Time and a rather splendid show it was too. A very good turnout were given a real treat with dancers and the lightshow that the Hawks always provide. The following night it was back to Bogiez for a very different kind of evening. The always brilliant Bloodshot Dawn kicked of proceedings; the first of three gigs I would see these guys at during 2013, quickly followed by the kick in the nuts that is Beholder. At this point it is worth pointing out that Simon Hall, the man mountain that is front of house with Beholder, managed to encourage one of the most incredible sights ever seen in Bogiez … a four man mosh pit that included Nicholas Hewitt and your good self. A once in a life time opportunity which should have been captured on DVD for prosperity. Maybe not! Headliners Scar Symmetry were a bit of a let-down with their technical metal not really floating my boat but a pretty good evening overall.

Despite the 30 odd gigs I managed this year I also missed a couple of excellent shows. A couple of the most notable being the Von Hertzen Brothers a couple of nights later in support of their excellent Nine Lives album, the Zeppelin-esque Rival Sons and thrash veterans Ill Nino. Such is life. April also provided some very good releases which included the bubblegum trash Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor from shock rocker Rob Zombie, Elvis infused Metallica style Danish metal from Volbeat in the form of Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies and Infestissumam from Ghost, an album that has grown on me throughout the year. The final Cathedral album, The Last Spire was also released around the same time and proved to be a fitting swansong for one of the doom genre’s greatest bands. And whilst I’m wittering on about other releases, don’t forget Earth Blues from Spiritual Beggars, complete with ex-Firewind vocalist Apollo Papathanasio. A solid slab of 70s rock which is well worth a spin.

Finishing the month were two contrasting gigs. First up, california’s Counting Crows who played a breath taking Country/AOR set at the acoustically brilliant Colston Hall in Bristol before the month finished with a blast as Barnsley tea drinkers Saxon bludgeoned the capacity crowd at the O2 Academy in Bristol with nearly two hours of new stuff from Sacrifice and of course a plethora of old favourites.  As a certain Mr Brett Perry says, you never get a bad show from Saxon.
Missing the carnage of Hatebreed at the Solus the following night (how was the place still standing after that?) and avoiding KSE at the start of May my next gig actually took a whole month to arrive in the shape of Canadian legends (and my all-time favourites) Rush at the LG arena in Birmingham. This came directly after an incredible four day break in Venice so I was well rested and full of cheer as I sauntered from our hotel to watch three hours of sheer quality. Every time I see Rush I realise why I fork out a large wedge of cash for the privilege. Their shows are simply stunning and the addition of the Clockwork Angels String Ensemble for the middle section of the show was inspiring.  From the sublime to the ridiculous a few nights later as I finished a sparse month gig wise in the dirty ‘Port to see Cwmbran outfit Counterhold deliver a storming set before the Nottingham loons Evil Scarecrow delivered their usual set of parody combined with high quality metal. A brilliant warm up to one of the most enjoyable sets at BOA later in the year.

New albums continued to arrive during May and these included a real grower in the latest release from Alice in Chains, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here which did little to start but developed into one of my favourite releases of the year. Alongside this, Deep Purple proved that there remains plenty left in their tank with their Now What?! Release, heavy on Hammond in tribute to Jon Lord but also a pretty rocky release overall. Tesseract dropped in a contender for album of the year for many with Altered State, with more traditional fare from Airbourne and a return to form for Queens of the Stone Age.

Moving swiftly into June and again a slow start for gigs but not for the music with the arrival of a slab of the heaviest metal of the year in the shape of 13 from Black Sabbath. The return of the behemoths of heavy metal was welcomed in every quarter, and unlike many other heavyweights there is simply no-one I know who doesn’t love this album or this band. From the first single God is dead? To the sinister tolling of the bell at the end of the album this was a work of absolute quality. No wonder it won many of the awards for album of the year. They say timing is everything and unfortunately for Megadeth they put out Supercollider at around the same time. Some collision! Still, it will be interesting to see them headline at BOA next year won’t it? Won’t it? Other notable releases around this time included Furosity by Monster Truck. The self-titled Scorpion Child release as well as Skull by Evile.

Time for a bit of stadium rock next and a trip to the Cardiff City Stadium to see the pearly whites of New Jersey’s favourite sons, Bon Jovi. As regular readers will know, I saw this lot headline at Donnington in 1986 and this gig was about as far removed from that as it was possible to be. Having been thoroughly disappointed by the Tiny Rebel brewery’s offering in the City Centre the good CMH and I were confronted by the nightmare of a Bon Jovi crowd; all women in sparkly cowboy hats and pissed up on cheap cider, accompanied by the type of bloke who hugs his male friends at Sterophonic gigs. As for the music, well, there is a review on MOM; suffice to say it won’t make my top ten gigs of the year. A couple of weeks later however, we were fortunate, no honoured, to make our way to the legendary Hammersmith Odeon to see Southern boogie at its finest as those good ‘ole boys ZZ Top laid on my gig of the year. Stunning in simplicity and yet technically awesome.  Disappointed to miss the quality of Vintage Trouble in Cardiff two days later but sometimes things have to give.

Meanwhile the albums continued to fly out as we began the crew’s countdown to our annual pilgrimage to the hallowed turf of Catton Hall. New arrivals included All Hell Break’s Loose from Black Star Riders and the unnervingly Lynott sounding Rick Warwick, eastern offerings from Oprhaned Land and Viking tales from Amon Amarth. Obviously, checking out the blog is the easiest way to track the releases; I’ve just pointed out some of my favourites. The last day of June arrived and two new recruits for BOA were confirmed in Alex and Chris, fresh from the hell of Download earlier in the month. Despite the usual crap weather and exhaustion that goes with Download, they managed to see the Maiden England set including THAT spitfire. A good start to their festival days and more was to come.

A return to the Forum in Kentish Town was next on the agenda and a sold out show from Clutch. An extremely hot and sweaty gig with a very aggressive and raucous crowd saw the Maryland outfit deliver a near perfect set including nine numbers from Earth Rocker. The following night it was back to Bogiez for the Head Bangers Balls, the annual charity gig which saw me renew acquaintances with Bloodshot Dawn as well as witness some fiery old school from Reign of Fury and a super set from Triaxis who always impress. Two weeks later it was another chalk and cheese session, with Bloodshot Dawn (again!!) and the technically masterful Scandinavians Wintersun in the sauna known as the O2 2 in Bristol. I have only ever sweated once as much as that gig and that was at CF10 watching Sylosis a few years ago. Brilliant music, disgusting venue. The following night it was the marathon session which passes as a Bruce Springsteen show. Three and a quarter hours and the man was still going as we headed down Westgate Street. One of those to tick off the list for me; no doubting the man is brilliant but I got the feeling at the end of the show that he was actually enjoying it more than the crowd.

The end of July saw the inevitable change from the hot weather just as Brett, Matt and I embarked on our first trip to Ebbw Vale’s Steel House Festival. Matt has reviewed this one in depth but I’ll take a minute to reflect. What a brilliant festival this is and what a line up we had. Set in the beautiful surroundings of the Brecon Beacons national park on a working farm, the camping was just so easy, a two minute walk to the arena, local real ale from the Tudor Brewery ( a mere two miles down the road) on draft at a reasonable £3 a pint with decent food at tidy prices. The line-up was pure classic rock with a load of cracking newbies included too. Highlights for me: The Temperance Movement – storming rock in the vein of The Black Crowes, Trucker Diablo from Northern Ireland, Snakecharmer who delivered a healthy smattering of old school Whitesnake along with tracks from their aforementioned self-titled release and the headliners. Saturday night in pouring rain saw the return of THE FUCKING EAGLE as Saxon delivered a ball-breaking hour and a half of classic NWOBHM and Sunday evening finally (after a typical delay – who said the Germans were efficient) concluded with The Michael Schenker Group performing a really smorgasbord of old school MSG, Scorpions and UFO tracks. The huge advantage of this festival was that, as it had continued to rain for most of the weekend, we had packed up all our gear and headed for home as the final notes blasted out. Home in 30 minutes from a festival is not to be sniffed at. However, the rain did provide us with the idea of a hydraulic gazebo, and Saturday afternoon at Steel House saw the bizarre sight of the three of us successfully bidding on such an item in time for BOA. Excellent work and we were now festival ready for ever!!

Just for a change there was a limited amount that tickled my musical buds in July although special mention to The Wild Hunt from Watain that really grew on me with repeated listens. As for Five Finger Death Punch, I just can’t deal with these guys which is a real shame having seen their first UK live performance several years ago. They just leave me flat although the overexposure in Metal Hammer probably doesn’t help.
Anyway, onto the business month of the year and the return to Bloodstock Open Air. This year we thought we were virtually unbreakable in our preparations. Tents – check. Gazebo – check. Chairs – check. Table and fold out benches – check. Bacon – check. Beer – aarrgghhh! Ran out on Sunday morning. This led to your hero sat outside a Tesco express at 8:30am on the Sunday morning having casually strolled in to purchase beer only to be told by the assistant in no uncertain terms that Sunday opening prohibited the sale before 10:00am. Fuck. You have to remember that this was long after the corn beef tin incident and the visit to Burton A&E, the most metal A&E unit in the UK and the only one to get a review in a heavy metal blog. Apparently the offending corn beef was hovered up by a camp mate before we’d even got to the taxi. (you know who you are!) However, what a weekend. Beautiful weather, a great crew and some top notch music. My highlights included Evil Scarecrow’s crazy show in the tent, Slayer’s dignified tribute to the recently passed Jeff Hanneman, the teutonic metal of Accept, the old school thrash of Death Angel and Exodus and the triumph of Hell, complete with Brett’s now legendary tears. All in all this year BOA hit all the heights and I’ve already got my grubby mitts on my ticket for next year. Even with Megadave.

After a refreshing break in Turkey, which was about as far removed from BOA as possible, the next gig arrived in the form of Rome and Egypt albeit in Bogiez once more. Yes, the Maurizo Iacono driven side project Ex Deo were in town and following their set at BOA I was eager for more. They didn’t disappoint, unlike Nile who had blown me away at BOA in 2012 but for once really failed to connect in a much curtailed set (due to a schedule that involved catching a ferry I am led to believe). As much as Nile was a let-down,  the next band I saw were an absolute inspiration. Fleetwood Mac at the O2 arena in London were simply beautiful and two hours passed in seconds. Ignoring the usual twats in an arena crowd who were clearly there for the “event”, the Mac were just brilliant. Highlight for me: Lindsay Buckingham’s guitar playing. The man has a severe dose of Asperger’s but he can shred like few around him. And then there was Stevie. Enough said. *sigh* (I wholeheartedly agree Ed)
And that was it gig wise for September. What about the releases I hear you cry. Okay, September unleashed a massive load of metal that gushed all over us (enough of this smut). They included the rather good Feast from Canadian thrash merchants Annihilator, This Savage Land from the Black Spiders, the number one H classic rock tribute Hail to the King from AX7, Dream Theater’s self-titled release, The Temperance Movement, an absolute stormer from Bristol’s Onslaught in VI and the heavy hitting Fortress from Alter Bridge. Phew. I need a tissue. Oh. And I forgot Surgical Steel by Carcass. Ouch.

October promised much but started with an evening of absolute farce as White Wizzard disappeared up their own arse at one of the last Bogiez gigs. I’ve never seen such comedy before and all hail Monument and singer Peter Ellis who rescued something from the ashes. The diatribe that followed on White Wizzard’s facebook page in the following weeks was absolute comedy gold. Good luck in rescuing this situation Jon Leon. A couple of nights later it was off to another type of Odeon to watch Through the Never, the Metallica film. In summary, the music was great; the film was a bag of hairy balls. There. Luckily order was soon restored to my galaxy as Matt and I ventured to Bristol once more (we should rent a bloody flat there for everyone to crash at the amount of time we all spend there) to the Colston Hall for the quite magnificent Steven Wilson and his band. A quite superb evening of musical entertainment with only two moments to disturb me. One was the length of the queue at the gents halfway through the set (you get the idea of the audience demographic from that) and the other was seeing Nick Beggs on bass. Yes, the Nick Beggs who I had seen with Kajagoogoo in the mid-1980s at St David’s Hall when my sister had needed an older escort (yes, that is my story and I’m sticking to it *hums ‘too shy shy, hush hush, I do I’ quietly*).  A change of scene two nights later with an evening with Jeremy Hardy providing some excellent comedy before a rare visit to the soulless hanger that is the Motorpoint Arena for the triple bill of Halestorm, Shinedown and Alter Bridge. All I’ll say is that if you are going to do six songs, don’t include a drum solo and don’t EVER try and do Dissident Aggressor as a cover. Even Slayer struggled compared to the Metal Gods. Shinedown were great fun in the Great Hall last year although I reckon that might have been influenced by the amount of beer we’d had. This time they started brightly and then bored us senseless. At one point I saw the second member of the crew weeping at a gig this year as Matt broke down when they covered Skynyrd’s Simple Man. Alter Bridge did what Alter bridge do, and they played Blackbird so I don’t care.

After a week away with work in West Wales and our inability to get tickets to see The Answer in The Thekla, I trooped along to see something very different in the form of Ozric tentacles at the Globe. Great venue and next year The Answer will play there. I’ve already got my tickets this time. The Ozrics were ace. Totally spacey and a nice change. Three nights later and my father’s day present finally arrived although I had to travel to Wolverhampton for it! A great present though at the smashing Wulfrun Hall with an evening of gothic metal; Katatonia playing Viva Emptiness in full, Lacuna Coil delivering a great set before Paradise Lost blew away my memory of their last sound plagued set in Cardiff with a 25th anniversary set that was just incredible. This was another heavy month for new releases with gems from In Solitude, Fleshgod Apocalypse, a quality release from Trivium and an absolute belter from Motorhead with Aftershock. This album has become my best buddy in the gym. Ideal for training with, laced with a bluesy feel and some of Phil Campbell’s most soulful guitar playing. You have to check this out. It made my top ten.

Into the home straight now with new releases from Satyricon and Hell catching the ear in November. However, this month was all about endurance for me with a meaty four gigs in six days in three different countries. First to Belfast to see Satyricon in majestic form at the Limelight. Frost wins my award for the scariest drummer in metal, not to mention one of the finest and this was another of my top ten gigs of the year. Two nights later I was at the Garage in London to finally catch Israel’s Orphaned Land and I wasn’t at all disappointed. An excellent night with some cracking supports on a truly multicultural bill. Roll on Friday and it was off to the O2 in Bristol (inevitably) for the Hammer Defenders of the Faith tour. Now, I went purely to see Hell and thanks to Brett and his O2 phone we got in and on the barrier to witness a mere 25 minutes of pure quality. I haven’t washed my head since Dave Bower cast the devil out (not that he did a very good job). Anyway, we retreated quickly after that and suffered as Bleed from Within did their shouty thing before my first ever viewing of Liverpool’s finest Carcass which was far more enjoyable. I’m pleased these guys will be at BOA along with DOTF headliners Amon Amarth who delivered a set the Thunder Gods would have been proud of. Finally, the week ended on a massive high with great sets at the Newport Centre from The Walking Papers, Ghost and a fabulous Alice in Chains who I felt delivered their best performance I had ever seen from them.

Annoyingly I was too slow to get tickets to see The Temperance Movement at the Globe a few nights later (although I have made a quick move to secure tickets for next year at the Great Hall) and so it wasn’t until early December that my next gigs arrived. The annual December visit from Detroit’s magnificent Electric Six to the Glee Club duly arrived along with the guaranteed hang-over the following morning (too much Guinness your honour). Straight off to London to the underworld the following night (hangover still kicking me occasionally) for a kill or cure evening with bay thrashers Death Angel who were excellent. I missed the latest visit of Triaxis and Counterhold as I was on a Tolkien trip (good it was too) before the final gig of the year. And what a way to finish. A trip to the LG Arena in Birmingham in the Sabbath mobile to see Ozzy, Tony and Geezer deliver one of the sets of the year. Stunning all round. The return trip was driven heroically by our inspiration Brett who managed to negotiate, wind, rain, hail, fire and diversion to get us home in one piece despite a lousy cold (which he also shared with me … thanks L).
So there you have it. My year in review. I’ve deliberately avoided commented on some of the deaths that affected the world of metal or some of the other topics (Randy Blythe for example) as they don’t need my comment.

As 2014 comes tearing towards us, I’m looking forward to a lot in the world of music. New releases, gigs (already a number are booked including The Eagles in May) and a bigger, better and even more prepared crew for BOA 2014 which will include the first visit of a certain female member of our gang. On top of this, a house move, a few short holidays and the constant uncertainty in the workplace will ensure life is never dull.

Thanks for reading – A happy new year to you all.

Skull Fist are one of the main bands to have come out of the Canadian NWOBHM revival along with Cauldron and Axxion. There has been a gap of 3 years since the band’s debut Head Of The Pack the reasons for this are numerous, the most major being frontman Jackie Slaughter's broken neck from Skateboarding, but the band are back with a much bigger sound than on the debut which had a very trad sound in terms of the full pelt speed metal riffs and the D.I.Y production. This second full length has a similar style with super-fast riffage coming from Slaughter and Johnny Nesta, who kills with his face melting solos. The rhythm section too are a well-oiled machine with galloping bass and drums driving every song and provide Slaughter with a traditional metal base for his helium filled vocals. With any bullet belt revival band it's all about authenticity and not being too much of a copycat band, Skull Fist are neither of these things yes their songs homage the greats of the 80's when white hi-tops and harlequin spandex were the order of the day but Skull Fist expand their sound a little bit bringing in a bit of Sunset Strip style sleaze on Bad For Good which wouldn't sound out of place on a Ratt album. This is another excellent album from the crazy Canadians and with tracks like the title track, Call Of The Wild the super-fast Sign Of The Warrior, the fret wanking instrumental Shreds Not Dead and the explosive finale of Mean Street Rider. For anyone that was there the first time this is a great album to reminisce to, for those who weren't it is fast, furious metal madness. 7/10 

Continuing our journey through independant metal from around the world

The Brew are a classic rock influenced trio hailing from Grimsby and this is their fourth album and quite frankly I'm disgusted with myself that I haven't heard of this band before, they are staggeringly good. Lots of blues based fuzzy guitar riffs, powerhouse drumming and driving bass lines that are reminiscent of Cream (Mute and Pause) Jimi Hendrix on Repeat, The Who on Fast Forward and lots of Zep especially from Kurt Smith's drumming. Obviously they don't just stay in the classics they bring forward a more modern vibe which shows that the band are drawing on their influences rather than copying them wholesale. Guitarist/vocalist Jason Barwick has an anguished blues howl an squeezes as much emotion out of his guitar as possible, this along with Kurt's drumming and Tim Smith's voodoo bass lines see Repeat, give the band a hip shaking, hard rocking modern rock vibe but with just enough retro to keep the Classic Rock crowd happy. The band have obviously drawn on their extensive touring schedule with bands such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Chickenfoot and the Tres Amigos ZZ Top as this record is chock full of great rock and roll songs that burst to life thanks in a big part to Toby Jepson who has become somewhat of an extraordinaire and makes this album crisp and bright in the producers chair, obviously the other half of the bands power comes from their excellent song craft and supreme musicianship. This album is a hell of a record and has everything I like from a hard rock band, personally I will be seeking out the bands back catalogue but for now I just going to play this one until my neighbours hate it!! 9/10     

Axel Rudi Pell: Into The Storm (Steamhammer)

Dutch symphonic metal legends Within Temptation and much like the titular monster this album has many different heads and spans a wide range of styles all of which are anchored with the bands symphonic metal past. This is nothing new the bands last album The Unforgiving was much more hard rock than symphonic metal however unlike that one this does not have an overarching concept it is just a collection of very strong metal tracks. The band have seem to done what is popular currently and added various guest vocalists on the record, after the chunky modern metal opening of Let Us Burn (which still has big choirs and orchestral passages) the next three songs differ wildly and they all feature guest vocals. Dangerous has the unmistakable vocals of Mr Howard Jones who provides the super speed metalcore style track with some classic metal style crooning, next up is the symphonic-rap-metal madness of And We Run which features Xzibit in the verses spitting rhymes over the piano led track that Jay-Z and RUN-DMC would be proud of. The third song in this trifecta is the first single Paradise which is a symphonic metal fans wet dream as it features vocals from Sharon den Adel and Tarja Turunen in a dramatic, OTT, orchestra backed, opera-metal that both artists have done excellently through their careers (and yes it does sound like Nightwish). The rest of the album is filled with more symphonic influenced metal with some killer riffage from Westerholt (no longer a touring member) and Ruud Jolie who also provides some Maiden-like solos on tracks like the galloping Silver Moonlight which has to be a Grand Magus song surely? There are also some more left field choices with Edge Of The World having the sound of a modern electronic chart hit ballad, like some Katy B mixed with Imagine Dragons. Tell Me Why is a progressive song from the bands past full of harmony vocals and Westerholt doing a good guttural roar, the album closes with another guest this time Soul Asylum's Dave Pirner who provides his rasp to the Celtic sounding ballad The Whole World Is Watching. Within Temptation have matured on this record, they are now comfortable with their past and are looking forward to their future; this may be one of their career best albums. 9/10            

Skindred always known as one of the best live bands on the circuit and as the intro tape of Thunderstruck and the Empire Theme from Star Wars blared through the P.A the band made their way to stage, bedecked in their Skindred branded suits and moved headlong into the rush of Rat Race which was followed up by the shout along of  Stand For Something both tracks keeping the fans jumping, moshing and pumping their fists with glee, this followed into Doom Riff and it's "whoa" chorus before the first song from the new album came in the shape of the excellent Ninja. With those first 4 songs Skindred showed that they have more talent and can generate more excitement from frontman Benji's sunglasses than many bands do in their entire set. The band throughout were on fire with Mikeydemus providing the riff rock riot (sorry) and Dan Pugsley driving the rhythms on his bass, special mention has to go to drummer Arya Goggin and DJ/Samples Dan Sturgess who I'll mention later in detail. Still the band's driving force is Benji who oozes charisma and is somewhere between Freddie Mercury and Del Boy Trotter (if he was from Newport of course!) his between song banter is second to none and you genuinely don't know what he will do next. The Ragga was brought to the front on State Of Emergency and Selector and the dub infected Cut Dem which led into oldie Babylon and the heavy as hell Bruises which destroyed that dared to pit. So after this was mid set intermission which involved a drum solo mixed with a sample mash up section which saw House Of Pain, The Beastie Boys, Queen and The Prodigy mixed together and turned the O2 into a club like atmosphere and allowed Benji to return to the stage after a costume change before moving into two new ones with Kill The Power and Worlds On Fire set to become future set main stays, after another mash up of Macklemore with metal the band started to play Sad But True which moved into the classic double whammy of Trouble and Pressure. The final part of the night is where things went a bit strange, the band played Saturday from the new album which just seems to be a bit made for radio and sounding like weak pop-punk, not the music Skindred should be making at this point in their career and it shouldn't be played this late into the set especially when it was followed by the still venue levelling Nobody which ended the main set. So 11pm and the band were running over a brief intermission another costume change and then they arrived back on stage with newbie We Live which seems was better in the live arena, but it does seem to be a rare misstep for the band as it does sound like AOR (and not in a good way) still all this was washed away with the final hurrah of Warning which featured the now legendary Newport helicopter and a wall of death. With the final chord echoing throughout the arena the opening strains of Carly Simon's Nobody Does It Better rang through the O2, it is hard to argue with it as the band get better every time. Not bad for a band that are perfect!! 10/10     

Arriving on stage to no fanfare and no intro were Florida's Less Than Jake, who had a pretty hard act to follow. Sadly they simply couldn't follow the previous act as the audience appeared to be a little drained as well as thinned out for their set. Again a sort of greatest hits setlist ensued featuring the bands excellent song titles (Sugar In Your Gas Tank, Help Save The Youth Of America From Exploding, Last One Out Of Liberty City, The Science Of Selling Yourself Short et al) along with a light sprinkling of the best tracks from last year's rather excellent See The Light album, most notably set opener Good Enough and My Money Is On The Long Shot. A snatch of the RBF atmosphere briefly returned for the audience participation number Look What Happened but frankly the crowd appeared drained by this point and the enthusiastic reaction to the start of the songs had petered out a bit by the middle of most of them. It was something of a shame as the band were certainly putting on a great show but the electricity in the audience was fizzling out. Oddly the band chose to end their regular set with what I would say is their most recognisable song (All My Best Friends Are Metalheads) and the encore threesome of Johnny Quest Thinks We're Sellouts, Plastic Cup Politics and Gainesville Rock City were rather odd choices in this writers opinion. Always leave them wanting more, so the saying goes, and there was certainly one band on this bill that did just that. Sadly, and as good as they were, that band on this night were not Less Than Jake (8/10).

Frozen Hell: Rise! (Self-Released)