Reviews: Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Deafheaven, Six Foot Six, Fucked & Bound (Matt, Paul S, Simon & Liam)

Deafheaven: 10 Years Gone (Sargent House) [Paul Scoble]

Deafheaven have been making music together since 2010. The San Franciscans have released 4 studio album; Roads To Judah in 2011, their breakthrough album Sunbather in 2013, New Bermuda in 2015 and Ordinary Corrupt Human Love in 2018. The band have been one of the biggest bands in Post Black Metal, a style that is synonymous with Deafheaven. 2020 marks the bands 10th anniversary of releasing their demo on Bandcamp on June 1st 2010, something that was supposed to have been celebrated by a tour with Inter Arma, Greet Death and All Your Sisters. The band had planned on doing a set that encompassed their entire career, including the track Daedalus, the first track written by the band. However, as with pretty much all plans made for 2020, the tour had to be cancelled, leaving Deafheaven with an anniversary, but no way to celebrate it. So, the band have taken the planned setlist and have turned it into a “Live” in the studio album, probably the closest they could get too doing a tour. 

10 Years Gone was recorded at Atomic Garden studios and was produced by Jack Shirley. The production and sound on this album is superb, crystal clear and perfectly mixed, it sounds like a studio album, but in the circumstances that is understandable, and is much better than using canned audience noises and applause. The setlist covers the bands entire discography, from the aforementioned Daedalus, through Language Games from Roads To Judah, Vertigo, The Pecan Tree and Dream House from Sunbather, the single From The Kettle Onto The Coil, Baby Blue from New Bermuda and Glint from Ordinary Corrupt Human Love. As a Deafheaven fan I can say that that is a great setlist, which I would have loved to see live, and am grateful they decided to record it in this way. Whenever I listen to Deafheaven I am always surprised at how savage and nasty the blasting Black Metal sections are. The feel is fast and viscous with really nasty vocals and is as extreme as any second wave Black Metal bands (something that really annoys the orthodox Black Metal fans). However, no matter how nasty these sections are, I always find I’m most affected by the beautiful Post Black Metal sections that feature lush, layered tremolo picked riffs that are just gorgeous. 

This interplay between harsh and savage Black Metal and breathtakingly ethereal Post Black Metal is what has made Deafheaven special and is the reason Sunbather had such an impact in 2013. 10 Years Gone is a great “Live In The Studio” album. The band have made the best of an unfortunate situation, cancelling their anniversary tour must have been painful for the band, but the way they have reacted to this is great, we weren’t able to see them live, but this album is a very worthwhile and effective alternative. For established fans this is a great collection of songs, if you aren’t a fan already, then this is a great sampler of their best material, if you’ve never heard the band before, then this is a fantastic introduction. 8/10 

Six Foot Six: End Of All (Scarlet Records) [Simon Black]

You know, occasionally slaving over a keyboard trying to crank out reviews for hundreds of records a year wears you down (I know tough gig, huh?). But then something like this little beauty comes along and kicks you up the 2020 and makes it all very, very worthwhile. Sweden’s Six Foot Six have not been around long and what started as solo project for vocalist /guitarist Kristoffer Göbel (Falconer), has now become a well-regarded act onto their crucial sophomore release. Melodic Metal has been in the doldrums for a while, with a positive deluge in recent times of new acts trying (and failing) to recreate a heyday they were simply not alive for. However, this Swedish four piece (like the excellent fellow Swedes Dynazty) absolutely nail the balance between Classic and Modern Metal. The first single Welcome To Your Nightmare starts things well, with a cracking catchy beat and a vocal melody line that gently pulls you into the album. 

The vocal approach takes me by surprise from the get go, as Göbel teases and tantalises in a very distinctive, yet subtle and theatrical way, before opening up as the song really gets going. His voice is quite confidently restrained throughout – but it is clear, hearty and charismatic - proving that you don’t need to gargle gravel or scream like your testicles were on fire to be effective. By the end of this first track, I’m tapping along like I’m listening to an old favourite. Air guitars on standby, chaps...Title track End Of All keeps it going, with its bouncy beat, ridiculously catchy vocal melody riff lines which completely at odds with the somewhat dark subject matter of the lyrics. It’s also got a crackingly simple but effective instrumental section, which throws just the tiniest bit of shredding in to prove that they could go much further if they wanted. Which they do on the much heavier In God We Trust, which rips in with a catchy opening hammered riff and a pile driving verse. There are so many catchy Melo tracks on here that this feels like a record that will work well played in its entirety live. In The Eyes Of The World and Blood Will Out, coming at the point where an album often starts to lose steam, keep the energy and flow moving even though they’re far from the strongest tracks on here. 

Final Vittoria plays with the format again, and what we get is a very theatrical (not operatic) mood piece that showpieces how effortless and natural a frontman they have in place here. The only weak link in the pack is I Am Your King, which doesn’t have the same production feel as the rest of the album, and I can’t help feeling it might have a different production origin. It also takes the experimentation a little too far, losing that punchy melodic coherence we see through the rest of the album, but to be honest this is really a minor glitch on what is otherwise a superb record, that flies through is fifty-five minutes in a blur. This may have started as a solo effort for Göbel, but with the support of Christoffer Borg on guitar, Markus Gustafsson on bass and Henrik Hedman on drums what we have is band firing on all four Very Metal cylinders and is a massive improvement on their first album. This really has been a damn fine year for Swedish Melodic Metal and this opus is a cracking addition to about the only positive aspect to 2020. Roll on a UK tour please chaps, as air guitar at home is wearing a bit thin. 9/10

Fucked & Bound: Suffrage (Quiet Panic) [Liam True]

Grindcore is a wacky genre, as most people are probably familiar with Napalm Death or Pig Destroyer being their gateway bands to the genre. Fucked & Bound however take the styles of both bands into account on Suffrage. The raw production of Pig Destroyer & the hard hitting twisted distortion of Napalm Death. It’s a change from the normal sound Grindcore puts out as it has more Punk influences through the riffs of the mangled guitar tone of Brian McClelland to the frantic drumming of Matt Chandler puts the songs into a new realm of warped Grindcore. The vocals are absolutely larynx shredding as vocalist Lisa Mungo unleashes her dystopian voice upon the 14 track album. Astonishingly it packs a big punch as it only rolls for 23 minutes. From start to finish there’s no breaks. Nothing slows down. Everything is full gear, full force and full incendiary as the band erupt their fury into your ear drums as you succumb to the demonic noise. It’s deadly. It’s fast. And it’s extreme. It's the soundtrack for 2020 as it’s as fucked up as the year has been. And It’s perfect. 9/10