White Stones: Kuarahy (Nuclear Blast) [Matt Bladen]
White Stones is the solo project of Opeth bassist Martin Mendez, he's the guy that does most of the moving when the Swedish prog titans play their live gigs, his four/five/who knows, mastery underpinning both the bands retro sounding modern sound and their heavier older material. This solo record is very much in the vein of 'old' Opeth. Mendez attributes the sound of this record his participation in a death metal bands 25 years ago, but mostly it comes from his Uruguayan heritage and his life in Barcelona where he moved too after being a resident of Stockholm since he was 17. The album Kuarahy means Sun in Uruguayan and while writing the album Mendez recorded the vocals with Eloi Boucherie but wasn't happy with them so Boucherie did them himself, he does a grand job with nasty screams and growls ideal for the groove-laden classic death metal sound this record aims for.
In fact there's a big dose of that other South American death metal act Sepultura here the Latin flare creeping abound (Ashes) though as does the sound of Opeth mainly due to Frederik Akesson contributing the lead guitar to every track except one which has the six string talent of Per Eriksson (Katatonia/Bloodbath) on it. After a brief instrumental Rusty Shell kicks things off with explosive blast beats coming from Jordi Farré, while Worms gets the grooves going Mendez adding lots of funky bass and guitar riffs. The One brings some more technical heaviness Eriksson's guitar cutting through while the percussive Guyra has an epic sound to it, with some crunching doom, while the prog ramps up for Infected Soul. Mendez has added Albert Martíand and Joao Sassetti on guitars for live shows so expect some in the near future, meanwhile we have this album which is a full of high quality death metal that sits as a counterpoint to Mendez day job. 8/10
Anubis: Homeless (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
With the Collins-era Genesis announcing their reformation and tour later this year (though tickets were £187 each!) there's never been a better time for Australian prog band Anubis to release their latest record Homeless, the bands sixth. This is a record that owes a huge debt to Collins, Banks and Rutherford built around a massive drum sound, a sheer wall of keys, some nifty guitar work featuring tonnes of brilliant slide playing and melodic soaring vocals.
It's a prog rock album with a smorgasbord of influences all the way through it, taking cues from the bands earlier albums while also introducing some more styles to the already dense musical style of the band. Anubis was formed by keyboard player David Eaton and vocalist/bassist/percussionist Robert James Moulding, they are still the driving force of the band creating the stories featured on this record most of which deal with "living and current reflection of an individual’s perception of the world in 2020" though not as a conceptual piece like their last release.
Along with the obvious Genesis overtones, there's also times where this cinematic prog brings to mind Radiohead and any of the projects featuring John Mitchell. Entitled especially has that almost funky style of prog featured in Kino as well as the balladic sound of Lonely Robot on the excellent White Ashes. Home has those gorgeous drums I was talking about earlier while Homeless takes some of the old Genesis sound due to the use of synths, as Sirens is a mini epic displaying Robert's expressive vocals. With strains of classic and modern prog and broad scope Homeless is another brilliant record from these Australians. 8/10
Afterbirth: Four-Dimensional Flesh (Unique Leader Records) [Paul Hutchings]
Born after three years of writing, the sophomore album from the Long Island group Afterbirth is as brutal as one would expect. Having initially formed in 1993, the band reformed in 2015, released their debut album The Time Traveller’s Dilemma in 2017 and are now back to lay waste once more. Complex and progressive, the album will appeal to those who enjoy Dying Fetus, Gorguts and Internal Bleeding. From the intensity of opening track Beheading the Buddha, Afterbirth deliver several short sharp shocks of viciousness. The album contains a mix of longer more punishing tracks such as Swallowing Spiders which contrast with the visceral sub-two-minute jabs like Minimum Safe Distance.
White Stones is the solo project of Opeth bassist Martin Mendez, he's the guy that does most of the moving when the Swedish prog titans play their live gigs, his four/five/who knows, mastery underpinning both the bands retro sounding modern sound and their heavier older material. This solo record is very much in the vein of 'old' Opeth. Mendez attributes the sound of this record his participation in a death metal bands 25 years ago, but mostly it comes from his Uruguayan heritage and his life in Barcelona where he moved too after being a resident of Stockholm since he was 17. The album Kuarahy means Sun in Uruguayan and while writing the album Mendez recorded the vocals with Eloi Boucherie but wasn't happy with them so Boucherie did them himself, he does a grand job with nasty screams and growls ideal for the groove-laden classic death metal sound this record aims for.
In fact there's a big dose of that other South American death metal act Sepultura here the Latin flare creeping abound (Ashes) though as does the sound of Opeth mainly due to Frederik Akesson contributing the lead guitar to every track except one which has the six string talent of Per Eriksson (Katatonia/Bloodbath) on it. After a brief instrumental Rusty Shell kicks things off with explosive blast beats coming from Jordi Farré, while Worms gets the grooves going Mendez adding lots of funky bass and guitar riffs. The One brings some more technical heaviness Eriksson's guitar cutting through while the percussive Guyra has an epic sound to it, with some crunching doom, while the prog ramps up for Infected Soul. Mendez has added Albert Martíand and Joao Sassetti on guitars for live shows so expect some in the near future, meanwhile we have this album which is a full of high quality death metal that sits as a counterpoint to Mendez day job. 8/10
Anubis: Homeless (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
With the Collins-era Genesis announcing their reformation and tour later this year (though tickets were £187 each!) there's never been a better time for Australian prog band Anubis to release their latest record Homeless, the bands sixth. This is a record that owes a huge debt to Collins, Banks and Rutherford built around a massive drum sound, a sheer wall of keys, some nifty guitar work featuring tonnes of brilliant slide playing and melodic soaring vocals.
It's a prog rock album with a smorgasbord of influences all the way through it, taking cues from the bands earlier albums while also introducing some more styles to the already dense musical style of the band. Anubis was formed by keyboard player David Eaton and vocalist/bassist/percussionist Robert James Moulding, they are still the driving force of the band creating the stories featured on this record most of which deal with "living and current reflection of an individual’s perception of the world in 2020" though not as a conceptual piece like their last release.
Along with the obvious Genesis overtones, there's also times where this cinematic prog brings to mind Radiohead and any of the projects featuring John Mitchell. Entitled especially has that almost funky style of prog featured in Kino as well as the balladic sound of Lonely Robot on the excellent White Ashes. Home has those gorgeous drums I was talking about earlier while Homeless takes some of the old Genesis sound due to the use of synths, as Sirens is a mini epic displaying Robert's expressive vocals. With strains of classic and modern prog and broad scope Homeless is another brilliant record from these Australians. 8/10
Afterbirth: Four-Dimensional Flesh (Unique Leader Records) [Paul Hutchings]
Born after three years of writing, the sophomore album from the Long Island group Afterbirth is as brutal as one would expect. Having initially formed in 1993, the band reformed in 2015, released their debut album The Time Traveller’s Dilemma in 2017 and are now back to lay waste once more. Complex and progressive, the album will appeal to those who enjoy Dying Fetus, Gorguts and Internal Bleeding. From the intensity of opening track Beheading the Buddha, Afterbirth deliver several short sharp shocks of viciousness. The album contains a mix of longer more punishing tracks such as Swallowing Spiders which contrast with the visceral sub-two-minute jabs like Minimum Safe Distance.
Dreaming Astral Body is a curved ball, a 1:36 instrumental which stands out due to its gentle patterns. Normal service is returned for the remainder of the album with Blackhole Kaleidoscope ferocious yet progressive with multiple time changes and complex structures adding depth. Throughout this album the almost inhuman growling of Will Smith merely adds to the wall of sound created by David Case (bass), Cody Drasser (guitar) and the phenomenal drumming of Keith Harris. Brutal yes, but surprisingly nuanced and forward thinking too. 7/10
Satan’s Empire: Hail The Empire (Dissonance Productions) [Simon Black]
Back in the dark ages, when I were a Nottingham lad, there were certain bands that had gained an almost mythical status on the scene. Bands whose NWOBHM era influence was felt, not heard. Bands who having failed to land a full record deal at the time (one track only on a compilation in this case) and whose music was thereby consigned to the historical rumour mill unless you happened to have got your hands on cassette demos that traded at ludicrous prices at record fairs … and were often completely fucked and unplayable when you got them home. This decade has seen more than one such from the ashes revival (most notably Hell, although time and Judas Priest’s touring commitments will tell if that was anything other than a flash in the pan), and Satan’s Empire is looking just as positive.
This is their second album, and is full ahead traditional British NWOBHM metal in the early Saxon vein, with a liberal helping of Hammerfall in the lyrical style. The production is clear (although also clearly budget), but focuses on what it needs to – presenting the music and allowing you to hear what the musicians are up to, although for my taste the drums are a little bit too muffled in the mix, which is a shame, because there’s some really skilled footwork from Magpie going on there however Wayne Hudson’s clearly distinguishable basswork helps compensate for this. The twin guitar work from Paul Lewis and Sandy McRitchie is nothing too flashy or overtly technical, but then it doesn’t need to be, and concentrates instead on what the genre does best – solid power chord riffage and back to basics melodic solos that move the heart strings, rather than being too focused on moving the guitar strings at 80 m.p.h. And check out singer Derek Lyon’s singing. This guy has some great metal pipes – strong, harmonious, and with occasional bursts of screamage that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Priest album, although sometimes the phrasing is a bit obvious, and they should use the layered backing vocals in top track Black more frequently.
The album starts where you expect it to for the genre, but moves to a more modern metal song structure and style as the album goes forward, which to be honest is refreshing, as it gains momentum as it goes rather than sputtering out early as too many do nowadays. 80’s A&R men always used to say that a band had 10 years to write their first album, and if the labels were lucky had enough left over to fill a second, often hitting a wall when having to write number three to a deadline. This is a band that have been around on and off for a while, but don’t have a lot of material to show for it out yet, so it will be interesting to see what happens next. In the meantime, I have a debut album to go back and listen to. 9/10
Satan’s Empire: Hail The Empire (Dissonance Productions) [Simon Black]
Back in the dark ages, when I were a Nottingham lad, there were certain bands that had gained an almost mythical status on the scene. Bands whose NWOBHM era influence was felt, not heard. Bands who having failed to land a full record deal at the time (one track only on a compilation in this case) and whose music was thereby consigned to the historical rumour mill unless you happened to have got your hands on cassette demos that traded at ludicrous prices at record fairs … and were often completely fucked and unplayable when you got them home. This decade has seen more than one such from the ashes revival (most notably Hell, although time and Judas Priest’s touring commitments will tell if that was anything other than a flash in the pan), and Satan’s Empire is looking just as positive.
This is their second album, and is full ahead traditional British NWOBHM metal in the early Saxon vein, with a liberal helping of Hammerfall in the lyrical style. The production is clear (although also clearly budget), but focuses on what it needs to – presenting the music and allowing you to hear what the musicians are up to, although for my taste the drums are a little bit too muffled in the mix, which is a shame, because there’s some really skilled footwork from Magpie going on there however Wayne Hudson’s clearly distinguishable basswork helps compensate for this. The twin guitar work from Paul Lewis and Sandy McRitchie is nothing too flashy or overtly technical, but then it doesn’t need to be, and concentrates instead on what the genre does best – solid power chord riffage and back to basics melodic solos that move the heart strings, rather than being too focused on moving the guitar strings at 80 m.p.h. And check out singer Derek Lyon’s singing. This guy has some great metal pipes – strong, harmonious, and with occasional bursts of screamage that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Priest album, although sometimes the phrasing is a bit obvious, and they should use the layered backing vocals in top track Black more frequently.
The album starts where you expect it to for the genre, but moves to a more modern metal song structure and style as the album goes forward, which to be honest is refreshing, as it gains momentum as it goes rather than sputtering out early as too many do nowadays. 80’s A&R men always used to say that a band had 10 years to write their first album, and if the labels were lucky had enough left over to fill a second, often hitting a wall when having to write number three to a deadline. This is a band that have been around on and off for a while, but don’t have a lot of material to show for it out yet, so it will be interesting to see what happens next. In the meantime, I have a debut album to go back and listen to. 9/10