Reviews: The Damned Things, Lord Vicar, Per Wiberg, Siderian (Paul H)

It’s taken nearly ten years since the debut album from The Damned Things, Ironiclast. For those who have forgotten, this is a super group that consists Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian, Fall Out Boy's Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley, Keith Buckley of Every Time I Die and Dan Adriano of Alkaline Trio. With Adriano replacing Josh Newton on bass and Rob Caggiano no longer in the fold, and with a schedule which didn’t allow the band to join together once in the studio, this is an album that has been put together in the high tech age with all parts completed separately in various locations. if memory serves, Ironiclast opened with the catchy Handbook For the Recently Deceased and then faded badly. Well, ten years on and High Crimes opens in similar style with the punk thrash of Cells. A couple of sharp riffed tracks in Something Good and Invincible are average before the Manson stomp of Omen, its industrial chug at least propelling the track forward. I’m not a fan of Buckley’s vocal, but it works well on this release. More in your face aggression on Carry A Brick, but it all becomes a bit repetitive by the time Let Me Be (Your Girl) arrives. Maybe it’s just not my style. It’s well played punchy metal, but there is a lack of cohesion that maybe comes from the way it was put together. 6/10

Lord Vicar: The Black Powder (The Church Within Records)

Formed from the ashes of Reverend Bizarre by guitarist Kimi Karki in 2007, Lord Vicar is one of the heaviest doom bands I think I’ve ever heard. The Black Powder is the Finns fourth full release, following 2016’s Gates Of Flesh and it is a powerful, at times oppressive piece of work. Opening with the 17-minute Sulfur, Charcoal and Saltpeter, a meandering and captivating piece which slowly builds in both intensity and passion, the Finns slow the pace to a haunting conclusion before building Descent with an enormous, crushing riff. This is an album that should be adored by fans of massively heavy, smothering doom although it undoubtedly won’t be one to put on for some easy listening. 

Apart from the fast-paced Impact, which is fast enough to require a neck brace by the end with its jagged pumping sound, most of The Black Powder is slow, powerful and generally gargantuan in proportion. Repeated plays have left me more and more enamoured by this album. Enough power to supply a small town, Lord Vicar, whose line-up is completed by Christian ‘Chritus’ Linderson on vocals, Gareth Millstead on drums and bassist Rich Jones, harness the best of Sabbath, Trouble and Candlemass to name just three and take the sound to another level. The slab splitting Levitation is case in point. If you love enormous, overpowering doom at its best, Lord Vicar will be for you. I think it’s a brilliant album. 9/10

Per Wiberg: Head Without Eyes (Despotz Records)

Who is Per Wiberg I here you ask? Wiberg is a multi-instrumentalist, known for his work on keyboards with Opeth, Candlemass and Spiritual Beggars but also Clutch/The Bakerton Group, Switchblade and Kamachatka amongst others. Head Without Eyes is his debut solo album and as Wiberg states, it’s time to come out of the comfort zone. An album he feels he need to make. “Time for a different kind of heavy”. Well, the man has certainly produced something a little different. With Wiberg playing all instruments apart from the drums (Karl Daniel Liden – Katatonia, Crippled Black Phoenix and Lars Skold – Avatarium, Tiamat), this is a surreal trip through a soundscape which combines elements of Killing Joke, Van Der Graaf Generator, Hawkwind, Swans and even Talk Talk. Dark, sinister and doom filled, with melodic parts at times underpinned by space experimentation.

Pass On The Fear is terrifying, a building tension that slowly fades leaving a level of unease; Get Your Boots On is a totally different beast, with an industrial pulse that echoes Richard Z. Krupse’s Emigrate. The masterpiece on the album is Anywhere The Blood Flows, an eleven minute plus song which has some ethereal backing vocals from Billie Lindahl (Promise And The Monster). Pile Of Nothing is disturbingly threatening, a heavy crashing riff adding to a suffocating doom track which once again features Lindahl soft vocals. The album closes with Fader, Wiberg’s vocals and his mellotron the only instrument for the first three minutes before the album builds slowly but with another almost oppressive intensity into some explosive heavy doom. Head Without Eyes is certainly one of the most interesting and creative albums of 2019, despite its dark and brooding feel. 7/10

Siderian: Origins (Self Released)

Siderian is a five-piece band from Northamptonshire. They play fast and ferocious groove ridden metal with a vicious undercurrent. Formed initially in 2015, the band produced a debut EP before reconvening in 2017 after line-up changes and pushing hard with EP Lizard Method Statement later that year. Now they hit even harder with debut album Origins. This album simply erupted from the speakers and continued to smack me around the face for the entire 41 minutes. Tracks such as With The Tide, Voices and Lizard Method Statement lacerate indiscriminately, whilst the screaming roar of vocalist Dave Pope fits the band’s sound perfectly. Vicious riffs from the duel guitars of James Upton and James Evans overlay a concrete foundation which drummer John Booth and bassist Chris Cox lay down. It may be a little Lamb Of God in style, but when the groove is this filthy, who the fuck cares? A band to watch out for in the future, this is decent stuff. 7/10