Chapel Of Disease: …And As We Have Seen The Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye (Van Records)
Chapel Of Disease are a 4 piece from Cologne in Germany. …And As We Have Seen The Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye is the band's third album coming 3 years after The Mysterious Ways Of Repetitive Ant. In all the research I’ve done for this review Chapel Of Disease have been classed as a death metal band, in fact their name comes from 2 Morbid Angel songs, but this album doesn’t feel that deathy to me. The first 2 songs are a mix of melodic death metal and melodic black metal. They have a strong melodic feel due to a melody lead guitar that runs through most of the material, in some ways a little like excellent British black metal band Wode. The second half of opening track Void Of Worlds is a curve ball as well. The song goes into a very pleasing soft section, with clean rhythm guitar and a lead part that is quite jazz like. This softer section has a part to it that is faster and actually sounds like Making Movies era Dire Straits!
Chapel Of Disease are a 4 piece from Cologne in Germany. …And As We Have Seen The Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye is the band's third album coming 3 years after The Mysterious Ways Of Repetitive Ant. In all the research I’ve done for this review Chapel Of Disease have been classed as a death metal band, in fact their name comes from 2 Morbid Angel songs, but this album doesn’t feel that deathy to me. The first 2 songs are a mix of melodic death metal and melodic black metal. They have a strong melodic feel due to a melody lead guitar that runs through most of the material, in some ways a little like excellent British black metal band Wode. The second half of opening track Void Of Worlds is a curve ball as well. The song goes into a very pleasing soft section, with clean rhythm guitar and a lead part that is quite jazz like. This softer section has a part to it that is faster and actually sounds like Making Movies era Dire Straits!
After a soft opening, third track on the album Song Of The Gods has a simpler, punky main riff that drives through the song, giving it a strong melodic theme. The song ends up sounding quite black and roll, it reminds me of some of Vreid’s material. Null begins with a soft melodic opening before settling down to a fairly doomy feel for the first 2 thirds of the song before getting all blast beaty for the last third, in a style that is quite reminiscent of MGLA. 1000 Different Paths has a very different riffing style to it, the vocals are also in a contrasting style to the rest of the album. Both riffing and vocals feel very gothic, but with lots of melody (something this album excels at). The final track The Sound Of Shallow Grey has that black and roll feel to it that was present on Song Of The Gods, in fact, in some places the riffing sounds more like a country rock album.
It’s a great uptempo track that brings the album to a close with bags of energy. …And As We Have Seen The Storm, We Have Embraced The Eye is a very good album. It has lots of different styles, but doesn’t feel disjointed; the album is held together by it’s innate musicality and melody uniting all the disparate parts. This is a really enjoyable album, highly recommended. 8/10
Space Coke: L'Appel Du Vide (Self Released)
Space Coke are a acid rock/space rock 3 piece from Columbia. On their Facebook page, and on anything else they get to write they have used the statement “If the amp don’t smoke, it ain’t Space Coke” which after listening to this album, must be pretty accurate, you can almost smell the burning cones. Space Coke play a brand of huge psychedelic doom. Massive guitar riffs that are backed up by enormous Hammond organ riffs, at a tempo that makes head-banging mandatory. Title track L'Appel Du Vide kicks things off in suitably huge fashion, clean vocals fit in with the immense riffing, in a way that makes me feel a little stoned just listening. Kali Ma is a little slower and maybe a little more measured, but still mighty despite the slightly less over the top style. Corpsewood Manor is a cracking uptempo piece of rock.
Space Coke: L'Appel Du Vide (Self Released)
Space Coke are a acid rock/space rock 3 piece from Columbia. On their Facebook page, and on anything else they get to write they have used the statement “If the amp don’t smoke, it ain’t Space Coke” which after listening to this album, must be pretty accurate, you can almost smell the burning cones. Space Coke play a brand of huge psychedelic doom. Massive guitar riffs that are backed up by enormous Hammond organ riffs, at a tempo that makes head-banging mandatory. Title track L'Appel Du Vide kicks things off in suitably huge fashion, clean vocals fit in with the immense riffing, in a way that makes me feel a little stoned just listening. Kali Ma is a little slower and maybe a little more measured, but still mighty despite the slightly less over the top style. Corpsewood Manor is a cracking uptempo piece of rock.
Probably the most direct track on offer here, channeling those early seventies riffs, maybe a little like Deep Purple (reminds me of Highway Star, now there's a great song to be compared to!) Next up we have a very good cover of The Velvet Underground's Venus In Furs, which Space Coke have made their own, but without changing it so much it is unrecognisable. After a short instrumental (Noise Jam), comes Lucid Dream, possibly the heaviest thing on this album, it has a very driving, powerful rhythm. Thelmic Ritual keeps the huge psychedelic rock/doom feel going. Before final track Evil, brings the album to an end in a kind of psychedelic, soulful way. Evil is half space rock half gospel soul. Evil is a cracking track, really original and a great way to end the album! I have really enjoyed this album! If you like hugeness, or massive riffs you need this album in your life! 8/10
Bane: Esoteric Formulae (Black Market Metal Label)
Bane were originally from Serbia, where they released 2 albums, before main-man Branislav Panic relocated to Canada. Esoteric Formulae is the first album since that move and since Branislav put together a new lineup. The music on offer here is basically melodic death metal with maybe a little melodic black metal as well. We get 10 tracks, an intro and an outro with 8 proper tracks in the middle. The first track The Calling Of The Eleven Angels kicks the album off with fast, tuneful melodic death metal. After a fairly uptempo beginning the song settles down to a mid-paced cadence, which seems to be a standard feel for Bane on Esoteric Formulae. The next song Beneath The Black has a fairly choppy thrash feel to the verse sections, with that mid-paced feel to the chorus.
The album continues in this vain, fast occasionally blasting parts, that always seem to go back to slower paced sections that feel interchangeable. Although all the bits on their own are fine, none of the songs on here stand out as they all have the same template. The only exception is the track Into Oblivion, which has a slower, more death/doom feel to it. The song feels like it has a definite intent, and is powerful and driving; by far the best track on the album. I realise that this review is probably sounding pretty negative, but this is in no way a bad album; it’s a perfectly acceptable piece of melodic death metal, very solid and enjoyable. However, there are a lot of good melodic death metal albums about at the moment, and if you are going to make this style of death metal you need to stand out. The songs on this album are just to similar, it needs more originality if it is going to stand out. A good, solid, but unremarkable album. 7/10
Green Death: Hallowmass (Combat Records)
Green Death hail from Des Moines they’ve been going since 2012 and Hallowmass is their third album, coming 3 years after Manufacturing Evil. According to the bumf that came with this album “Green Death are re-defining Thrash”, I have to take exception to this as, well, they aren’t. There are only 2 tracks on this album that come close to thrash (we’ll come back to them later). Most of the material is a fairly modern take on heavy metal. There are elements of power metal, doom, NWOBHM and even some Nu Metal mixed up here. A lot of it is quite slow and plodding, and doesn’t feel that inspired. The music is a problem, but the vocals are a far bigger problem. Vocalist Sol Bales has a pretty good voice he can hit notes and hold a tune, that isn’t the problem. The problem is how he sings. He has a style that is so over the top it’s almost comical. It feel like he wants to prove how well he can sing so much, he just tries too hard.
Green Death: Hallowmass (Combat Records)
Green Death hail from Des Moines they’ve been going since 2012 and Hallowmass is their third album, coming 3 years after Manufacturing Evil. According to the bumf that came with this album “Green Death are re-defining Thrash”, I have to take exception to this as, well, they aren’t. There are only 2 tracks on this album that come close to thrash (we’ll come back to them later). Most of the material is a fairly modern take on heavy metal. There are elements of power metal, doom, NWOBHM and even some Nu Metal mixed up here. A lot of it is quite slow and plodding, and doesn’t feel that inspired. The music is a problem, but the vocals are a far bigger problem. Vocalist Sol Bales has a pretty good voice he can hit notes and hold a tune, that isn’t the problem. The problem is how he sings. He has a style that is so over the top it’s almost comical. It feel like he wants to prove how well he can sing so much, he just tries too hard.
There are places where he hits a big note and then half a dozen other notes as well in the style of Mariah Carey; which is fine if you are a pop diva, but on here it sounds like an affectation. It’s almost like a metal version of the posh voice your Auntie puts on when she is on on the phone. The ‘over the topness’ of the singing isn’t helped by the music being very low in the mix, Bale’s affectation wouldn’t be so irritating if this was mixed well. Probably the worst example of how much this album doesn’t work is on the track Sacrament, which is slow and plodding, with a terrible chorus, genuinely a dreadful, risible song. Another awful track is She Couldn’t Live which is slow and dreary. This is quite a frustrating album. Although at least 80 percent of it is dire, there is a quite decent 20 percent.
The tracks I Am Eternal and last track Sickle And Scythe are really good pieces of thrash. Plus on these two tracks Sol Bales changes his singing style and suddenly it works. These are two great tracks! Bales voice gains a rasp and become a little harsh, and it’s great. If he’d sung the whole album like this, Hollowmass would be getting a much higher mark. The title track Hollowmass is a decent song. Although it isn’t fast and harsh, the vocals are handled in a much more subtle way, no histrionics, the chorus is very strong and it stands out on the album. Another way this album doesn’t work is that it’s too long, with 14 tracks, some of them quite long, Hollowmass seems to go on forever. Simply cutting 4 tracks would massively improve the album (although they might have a hard time working out which tracks to cut).
This isn’t a good album. If the band can concentrate on the bits that work; the faster thrashier music, and harsh rasping vocals, they really could have something. But this album really doesn’t work. I am relieved that I have now reviewed this album, as I now can stop listening to it! 5/10