Blind Ego: Preaching To The Choir (Gentle Art Of Music) [Simon Black]
Another act I had never heard of before this month, and this time it’s the turn of solo-project of German RPWL guitarist Kalle Wallne with the 4th studio album (5th in total) for this side outfit. I say ‘side’ or ‘solo’ project with a note of caution, as I suspect that like Avantasia, the spin-off may end up being more successful than intended, given that the end product is something of a supergroup with members from RPWL, Arena, It Bites and Legazy. The album falls firmly into the more accessible end of prog/hard rock bucket for me, veering towards radio friendly AOR at time, but varies in tone nicely enough to carry for its not overlong 49 minutes duration. It has nice cover to boot, which is crying out for a vinyl edition to show off from.
This really feel like a proper band, not a solo/studio project affair, and the 4th album was live, which would support this supposition. These guys have been recording and playing together for while, and it shows. The album doesn’t really hit its stride until the single Burning Alive on the third rack, but then carries the momentum forward well with a good variety of tone and style, and impressed me enough to stay on the player for a few spins and to go back and give the live album a listen. Burning Alive really is the strongest track, but album closer The Pulse and ballad Dark Paradise are worth checking out too, on what was a surprisingly enjoyable disk. 8/10
Surgical Strike: Part Of A Sick World (Metalville Records) [Paul Hutchings]
Initially formed in Hannover in 1993, Surgical Strike folded in 1996 with a demo to their name before re-emerging in 2014. The line-up for Part Of A Sick World includes three members who joined in 2019, Floridan Syebecke on bass, drummer Moritz Menke and guitarist Frank Ruhnke. They stand alongside Marcelo Vasquez Rocha (guitars) and vocalist Jens Albert on this feisty debut. It’s an uncompromising album, full of old school Bay Area style thrash but with added Teutonic fire. The Germans have clearly focused more directly on the US thrash scene in preference to the different approach of their countrymen in Kreator, Sodom, Destruction etc for the majority of their writing but they have also ensured more than a nod to the Germanic powerhouses, especially on tracks like The Breed which reeks of Kreator. It’s clear that Exodus are the big influence here, with Jens Albert’s delivery sitting closely to the Steve Souza/Paul Baloff execution.
This is straight up Heavy Metal from Sweden right down to the cheesy 80’s metal cover (which is just crying out for a piss poor battle vest patch) with the usual twin guitar and vocal tropes (interestingly they hail from Linköping in Sweden like Ghost, so maybe should ask Papa for guest slot). The problem is the likes of HammerFall have been filling this niche for a while, and have successfully broken out globally. Which is a damned shame, because this is an absolutely cracking album. Pacy, tight songs; cracking melodic guitar work, soaring vocals, clean top notch production and a sense of energy that belies the age of the musicians. Mindless Sinner need a whole bunch of stuff to happen for them to raise them out of the ‘also ran’ category (a better internet presence would be a start, plus some serious touring outside of Sweden), but a lot of their catalogue is on Spotify and this album is a first rate place to start. Album of the month for me. 9/10
Elegy Of Madness: Invisible World (WormholeDeath Records) [Matt Bladen]
Italian symphonic metal now with Elegy Of Madness from Taranto and the album opens with a a song I can only describe as metallic Enya before the more familiar strains of synths and strings come on Es. It's very predictable as with the operatic female vocals and growled male vocals, gothic swells and lots of mid-paced songs. I didn't really want to spend much more time with it than one play through, suffered through in the name of journalistic integrity, but I did and I didn't find much more to like about it, it's well performed, slickly produced (perhaps too slickly) however the songwriting sticks rigidly to tropes meaning that I've heard all of this before unfortunately. Invisible World is the bands fourth album so they clearly have a fanbase out there for their music. For me though Elegy Of Madness are just another band in the Poundshop Nightwish category. 4/10
Another act I had never heard of before this month, and this time it’s the turn of solo-project of German RPWL guitarist Kalle Wallne with the 4th studio album (5th in total) for this side outfit. I say ‘side’ or ‘solo’ project with a note of caution, as I suspect that like Avantasia, the spin-off may end up being more successful than intended, given that the end product is something of a supergroup with members from RPWL, Arena, It Bites and Legazy. The album falls firmly into the more accessible end of prog/hard rock bucket for me, veering towards radio friendly AOR at time, but varies in tone nicely enough to carry for its not overlong 49 minutes duration. It has nice cover to boot, which is crying out for a vinyl edition to show off from.
This really feel like a proper band, not a solo/studio project affair, and the 4th album was live, which would support this supposition. These guys have been recording and playing together for while, and it shows. The album doesn’t really hit its stride until the single Burning Alive on the third rack, but then carries the momentum forward well with a good variety of tone and style, and impressed me enough to stay on the player for a few spins and to go back and give the live album a listen. Burning Alive really is the strongest track, but album closer The Pulse and ballad Dark Paradise are worth checking out too, on what was a surprisingly enjoyable disk. 8/10
Surgical Strike: Part Of A Sick World (Metalville Records) [Paul Hutchings]
Part Of A Sick World contains 11 tracks, all of which contain enough razor-sharp riffs, pulsating breakdowns and punishing speed to please thrash fans. Subject matter focusing on the state of the world today and the demise of humanity is a feature of many band these days and Surgical Strike are not afraid to get stuck into the modern world issues. From opener Dead End Gone, the mighty title track and the explosive conclusion with The Breed there is little here to complain about. A bit repetitive? Well, a lot of thrash is exactly like that. Part Of A Sick World may have taken the best part of three centuries to arrive but it’s certainly likely to be enjoyed by the worldwide thrash community. 7/10
Mindless Sinner: Poltergeist (Pure Steel Records) [Simon Black]
So, some bands strike ground and go on to be major influences on our favourite genre of music, and still get to play to appreciative crowds 30, 40 or 50 years later (ups and downs in overall metal popularity notwithstanding), and some don’t. Others are hugely influential in the underground, but don’t go anywhere at all until much, much later (think Hell). Time will tell if Mindless Sinner fall into the latter category. So, here we have a band that in 1981 (like their NWOBHM counterparts in the UK) took huge influence from their most obvious musical progenitor, Judas Priest and are still at it here in 2020. But you hadn’t heard of them, right? Neither had I. This band never really got over the parapet of their native Sweden back in the day, have changed names 3 times (from Purple Haze, to Genocide, to Mindless before settling on Mindless Sinner), have had whole decades of non-activity and seem to be resurrecting themselves from a standing start over the last 7 years. So, it’s not going to be easy for them.
So, some bands strike ground and go on to be major influences on our favourite genre of music, and still get to play to appreciative crowds 30, 40 or 50 years later (ups and downs in overall metal popularity notwithstanding), and some don’t. Others are hugely influential in the underground, but don’t go anywhere at all until much, much later (think Hell). Time will tell if Mindless Sinner fall into the latter category. So, here we have a band that in 1981 (like their NWOBHM counterparts in the UK) took huge influence from their most obvious musical progenitor, Judas Priest and are still at it here in 2020. But you hadn’t heard of them, right? Neither had I. This band never really got over the parapet of their native Sweden back in the day, have changed names 3 times (from Purple Haze, to Genocide, to Mindless before settling on Mindless Sinner), have had whole decades of non-activity and seem to be resurrecting themselves from a standing start over the last 7 years. So, it’s not going to be easy for them.
Elegy Of Madness: Invisible World (WormholeDeath Records) [Matt Bladen]
Italian symphonic metal now with Elegy Of Madness from Taranto and the album opens with a a song I can only describe as metallic Enya before the more familiar strains of synths and strings come on Es. It's very predictable as with the operatic female vocals and growled male vocals, gothic swells and lots of mid-paced songs. I didn't really want to spend much more time with it than one play through, suffered through in the name of journalistic integrity, but I did and I didn't find much more to like about it, it's well performed, slickly produced (perhaps too slickly) however the songwriting sticks rigidly to tropes meaning that I've heard all of this before unfortunately. Invisible World is the bands fourth album so they clearly have a fanbase out there for their music. For me though Elegy Of Madness are just another band in the Poundshop Nightwish category. 4/10