Blue Öyster Cult: The Symbol Remains (Frontiers Records) [Paul Hutchings]
It’s been nearly two decades since Curse Of The Hidden Mirror was released. 20 years? How the hell was this allowed to happen? Well, at long last, the hard-rocking pioneers Blue Öyster Cult are back with their 15th long player. The New York outfit have been well eulogised in these pages for their live shows, but it’s incredibly satisfying to get the listening gear around some new music at long last.
BÖC is an outfit that is unphased by the passage of time. They play the music that they want to play, combining beautiful harmonies with hammer down heavy riffs, intricate melodies with jazz forays, thick heavy metal with more melodic, AOR styles. That’s the whole attraction about BÖC. You get what the band feel they want to deliver. The Symbol Remains may have taken a long time to arrive, but it certainly does provide value for money with 14 tracks spanning over an hour of top-quality music.
It’s been nearly two decades since Curse Of The Hidden Mirror was released. 20 years? How the hell was this allowed to happen? Well, at long last, the hard-rocking pioneers Blue Öyster Cult are back with their 15th long player. The New York outfit have been well eulogised in these pages for their live shows, but it’s incredibly satisfying to get the listening gear around some new music at long last.
BÖC is an outfit that is unphased by the passage of time. They play the music that they want to play, combining beautiful harmonies with hammer down heavy riffs, intricate melodies with jazz forays, thick heavy metal with more melodic, AOR styles. That’s the whole attraction about BÖC. You get what the band feel they want to deliver. The Symbol Remains may have taken a long time to arrive, but it certainly does provide value for money with 14 tracks spanning over an hour of top-quality music.
In some respects, The Symbol Remains presents as almost a summary of the band’s career, it demonstrates the fluid, easy style which has always been a constant in their music. Opening track That Was Me is the traditional hard driving rock song that BÖC do so well and sees the return of founder Albert Bouchard on cowbell and backing vocals. There’s the frantic old school rock n’ roll of Train True (Lennie’s Song), the smouldering Edge Of The World and the retro rocker The Return Of St Cecelia with the thick layered keyboards of Ritchie Castellano, finally making his recording debut with the band along with long serving drummer Jules Radino. Alongside Castellano and Radino, founder member Donald ‘Buck Dharma’ Roeser and Eric Bloom play some mean guitar, whilst bassist Danny Miranda, back for his second spell keeps it simple with his dependable performance. It would also be unfair and cruel to say that BÖC are simply phoning it in. Even the more simplistic sounding songs have subtle nuances, time changes and additional tweaks that ensure that there is ample to enjoy.
There’s the heavy metal grind of Stand And Fight, the gentle Florida Man and the dramatic, dark riff heavy The Alchemist, all delivered with a supreme sophistication that few musicians can match.
Several of the tracks here have input from novelist John Shirley, a long-time contributor of the band, whilst Roeser, Bloom and Castellano have done a fine job on the production of the album. The Symbol Remains is a fine return and a clear statement that BÖC remain an important band in the world of hard rock, over 50 years since they first delivered their eponymous debut. It’s a warm welcome back to one of the slickest bands in rock music. 8/10
Corey Taylor: CMFT (Roadrunner) [Paul Hutchings]
If you want to discover the musical definition of schizophrenia, this might just be the place to start. Frontman of one of the biggest metal bands on the planet over the past 20 years, Corey Taylor needs no introduction. In fact, the only surprise here is that given how hyperactive he is, that it’s taken until now to release his debut solo album. Renowned for leading the nine masked boiler suited machine Slipknot for over two decades, it’s worth stating from the start that if you expect the bone crushing, percussion driven carnage from the Des Moines outfit, you are going to be brutally disappointed.
As the man himself says, his musical tastes are all over the place. What we get here is 13 tracks which are basically a mind storm of songs that Taylor has written. They range from country blues, rapping riff driven hip hop through to raging rock and even pop soaked ballads. The album was recorded at Hideout Studio in Las Vegas with producer Jay Ruston, CMFT features Christian Martucci (guitar), Zach Throne (guitar), Jason Christopher (bass) and Dustin Robert (drums).
Opening with the furious stomp of HWY 666, Taylor and band kick things off with a bit of fast and frantic country rock which has more than a nod to The Charlie Daniels Band’s The Devil Went Down To Georgia. What comes to mind more than anything is that despite the ego, Taylor possesses one of the finest voices in rock today. The man can sing. After HWY 666, it’s a real eclectic mix of styles and songs. The pop song Black Eyes Blue, one of the pre-released singles is a ghastly pop ballad and best skipped over, but the powerpunk sensibilities of Meine Lux bursts with energy, and demonstrates that Taylor is definitely his own man when it comes to writing.
Taylor makes no secret of his love of ‘good music’, and he’s clear that you can find it in any genre. "I think because of that, that has really influenced me over the years – not only influenced my musical styles in the writing that I've done, but also the song writing that I've done”. Nowhere is this more evident than in the brooding Silverfish, which showcases not only Taylor’s soulful vocals but the quality of the musicians he has assembled to support this first record, with some beautiful steel guitarwork.
The dark Culture Head is possibly the heaviest track on the album, whilst Taylor returns to the pop punk driven riffing on Everybody Dies On My Birthday, his ever-bubbling angst surfacing with dramatic effect. The other single from the album, CMFT Must Be Stopped is both brilliant and frustrating in equal measure. A song aimed at the WWE market, it’s anthemic, with a driving riff which is over-layered by several rounds of rapping, not just from Taylor but from the double guest appearance of rappers Tech N9ne and Kid Bookie adding depth and gives the track more credibility. [of note is Taylor’s guest appearance on Tech N9ne’s Bitch Slap, which is well worth a listen]
CMFT is most definitely closer to Stone Sour than Slipknot and I don’t think that is a surprise. Taylor’s ability to separate his styles from project to project is one of his main strengths. This won’t appeal to some of the hardcore metal fans but then Taylor is no longer an underground artist. It’s certainly a more enjoyable album than I was expecting. 7/10
Several of the tracks here have input from novelist John Shirley, a long-time contributor of the band, whilst Roeser, Bloom and Castellano have done a fine job on the production of the album. The Symbol Remains is a fine return and a clear statement that BÖC remain an important band in the world of hard rock, over 50 years since they first delivered their eponymous debut. It’s a warm welcome back to one of the slickest bands in rock music. 8/10
If you want to discover the musical definition of schizophrenia, this might just be the place to start. Frontman of one of the biggest metal bands on the planet over the past 20 years, Corey Taylor needs no introduction. In fact, the only surprise here is that given how hyperactive he is, that it’s taken until now to release his debut solo album. Renowned for leading the nine masked boiler suited machine Slipknot for over two decades, it’s worth stating from the start that if you expect the bone crushing, percussion driven carnage from the Des Moines outfit, you are going to be brutally disappointed.
As the man himself says, his musical tastes are all over the place. What we get here is 13 tracks which are basically a mind storm of songs that Taylor has written. They range from country blues, rapping riff driven hip hop through to raging rock and even pop soaked ballads. The album was recorded at Hideout Studio in Las Vegas with producer Jay Ruston, CMFT features Christian Martucci (guitar), Zach Throne (guitar), Jason Christopher (bass) and Dustin Robert (drums).
Opening with the furious stomp of HWY 666, Taylor and band kick things off with a bit of fast and frantic country rock which has more than a nod to The Charlie Daniels Band’s The Devil Went Down To Georgia. What comes to mind more than anything is that despite the ego, Taylor possesses one of the finest voices in rock today. The man can sing. After HWY 666, it’s a real eclectic mix of styles and songs. The pop song Black Eyes Blue, one of the pre-released singles is a ghastly pop ballad and best skipped over, but the powerpunk sensibilities of Meine Lux bursts with energy, and demonstrates that Taylor is definitely his own man when it comes to writing.
Taylor makes no secret of his love of ‘good music’, and he’s clear that you can find it in any genre. "I think because of that, that has really influenced me over the years – not only influenced my musical styles in the writing that I've done, but also the song writing that I've done”. Nowhere is this more evident than in the brooding Silverfish, which showcases not only Taylor’s soulful vocals but the quality of the musicians he has assembled to support this first record, with some beautiful steel guitarwork.
The dark Culture Head is possibly the heaviest track on the album, whilst Taylor returns to the pop punk driven riffing on Everybody Dies On My Birthday, his ever-bubbling angst surfacing with dramatic effect. The other single from the album, CMFT Must Be Stopped is both brilliant and frustrating in equal measure. A song aimed at the WWE market, it’s anthemic, with a driving riff which is over-layered by several rounds of rapping, not just from Taylor but from the double guest appearance of rappers Tech N9ne and Kid Bookie adding depth and gives the track more credibility. [of note is Taylor’s guest appearance on Tech N9ne’s Bitch Slap, which is well worth a listen]
CMFT is most definitely closer to Stone Sour than Slipknot and I don’t think that is a surprise. Taylor’s ability to separate his styles from project to project is one of his main strengths. This won’t appeal to some of the hardcore metal fans but then Taylor is no longer an underground artist. It’s certainly a more enjoyable album than I was expecting. 7/10
BleedSkin: Blood Reign (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
Blood Reign is the debut from Belgian death metal band BleedSkin. According to their bio they are influenced by bands such as Cannibal Corpse, Abnormality, Behemoth, Dying Fetus, Benighted, so you can very much guess how they are going to sound, they have also toured with bands such as Sinister and Blood Red Throne so have to be able to come up with the goods to stand up with extreme acts like this? Well they certainly have the 'extreme' tag sorted with songs such as Perverted Feelings, Perversion Of Mankind and The Dead Sale all full of lyrics about butchery, violence and dismemberment so it moves into the Cannibal Corpse realms very often. Explosive, double kick drumming comes Julien Vanhees, there are some rusty buzzsaw riffs from Rémy Adam (bass) and Céline Mazay (guitar) while Benjamin Lefèvre explodes with some lead guitar fireworks as Anouk Debecq screams like Corpsegrinder in a bad mood. Blood Reign is a bloody, brutal death metal record from this Belgian mob. 7/10
Goditha: A Rock Opera (Symmetric Records) [Matt Bladen]
I'm quite partial to a rock opera, I love Avantasia and the various Ayreon, I even had a soft spot for the very rare Aina concept album. So I was quite excited to check out this new rock opera created by Greek songwriter-composer Elina Englezou with help from the polymath Bob Katsionis her vision of a theatrical, cinematic concept record has come to fruition. This is a medieval fairy-tale in which Goditha, a young girl is betrayed and blinded by hatred. She surrenders herself to Daeva, the Princess of Darkness in order to get revenge. So it's a dark occult fantasy record that blends metal music and classical instrumentation such as strings and wind instruments. Blood Reign is the debut from Belgian death metal band BleedSkin. According to their bio they are influenced by bands such as Cannibal Corpse, Abnormality, Behemoth, Dying Fetus, Benighted, so you can very much guess how they are going to sound, they have also toured with bands such as Sinister and Blood Red Throne so have to be able to come up with the goods to stand up with extreme acts like this? Well they certainly have the 'extreme' tag sorted with songs such as Perverted Feelings, Perversion Of Mankind and The Dead Sale all full of lyrics about butchery, violence and dismemberment so it moves into the Cannibal Corpse realms very often. Explosive, double kick drumming comes Julien Vanhees, there are some rusty buzzsaw riffs from Rémy Adam (bass) and Céline Mazay (guitar) while Benjamin Lefèvre explodes with some lead guitar fireworks as Anouk Debecq screams like Corpsegrinder in a bad mood. Blood Reign is a bloody, brutal death metal record from this Belgian mob. 7/10
Goditha: A Rock Opera (Symmetric Records) [Matt Bladen]
Elina plays classical & 12-string guitars, balalaika and ocarina as well as creating the concept and writing the lyrics/music with Bob Katsionis having acoustic & electric guitars, bass, keyboards as well as production and mixing duties. They have also brought in various classical players along with a multitude of singers to give the characters life. The most notable of all of them are Maxi Nil (Jaded Star), Henning Basse (Firewind/MaYan/ Sons of Seasons), Angel Wolf-Black (Triaxis/Vivaldi Metal Project), Iliana Tsakiraki (Enemy Of Reality), Marios Karanastasis (The Silent Wedding), George Eikosipentakis (Inner Wish) with narration coming from Greek actor-singer Stratis Steele (Endomain).
Now this is all well and good but unfortunately the album itself has a few problems. Most of the album is quite slow with the majority of the tracks here relying more on the classical balladry than the heavy metal/hard rock/progressive rock of Ayreon/Avantasia, this and the deep narration makes things creep slowly across the 18 song run time. Herein lies the other issue which is that the album is extremely long with the plot meandering a little, I thought the record had ended with the main characters sister taking revenge (SPOILER) but it was only track 12! Kudos for the concept and writing as well as the musical dexterity shown but this is just a little too middling for me to really sink my teeth into. 5/10