Blaze Bayley - War Within Me (Blaze Bayley Recordings)
Following up a triple disc concept album is a daunting task for any musician however there are few metal musicians as resilient as Blaze Bayley, he managed to forge a successful career after being leaving the biggest metal band on the planet, and for my money is the second best vocalist ever to front Iron Maiden, he has overcome some very serious personal issues and has also managed to have the most consistent solo career outside of the Maiden mothership.
So with eclectic offerings previously from Blaze, Blaze Bayley Band, the reactivated Wolfsbane, it's this incarnation of Blaze Bayley that has been the most successful cementing the man's legacy as a heavy metal survivor. What helps is that his backing band is basically Absolva, comprised of Chris Appleton (guitars), Karl Schramm (bass) and Martin McNee (drums) and it's Chris Appleton who has really taken the lead co-writing, producing and collaborating with Bayley. War Within Me is the first album with this line up that isn't part of the wider Infinite Entanglement concept series, so I was interested to hear what this first stand alone record in nearly 10 years.
Well it's obvious that Chris Appleton makes a continuing influence on this record bringing some more melodic metal stylings that sit between traditional British metal and European power metal, Appleton's dual lead sound vital to the galloping rockers with Schramm and McNee's tough rhythm section driving the thrashy title track and the anthemic Pull Yourself Up. Now this track is an indicator of this records very positive outlook blending hero worship of Alan Turing, Nikola Tesla and Stephen Hawking (which also continues Bayley's obsession with theoretical physics), with historical storytelling on 303 which is about the Polish & Czech airman that flew in the Battle Of Britain. The main theme of this album is triumph over adversity and it's carried well by the still brilliant, booming vocal of Bayley. As Every Storm Ends leaves you with it's optimistic outlook, you will definitely want to go back and listen to War Within Me again. Solid heavy metal from a veteran of the UK scene, play loud for maximum impact. 9/10
Sweet Oblivion - Relentless (Frontiers Music)
This record has been a long time coming. The original Sweet Oblivion album made waves by being a loving homage to the classic era of Queensryche but unlike any band that has come before that also has the Queensryche influence, Sweet Oblivion have the endless contact book of Frontiers President Serafino Perugino at their disposal and they managed to get the definitive voice of Queensryche himself Geoff Tate as the singer. It was a wonderful album for fanboys like me, but I did also think it may be a one off as does the world need another Queensryche? Well I have been proved wrong not for the first time as Sweet Oblivion (Feat. Geoff Tate) to give them their full name have returned with a follow up album.
Again it's an all Italian cast of musicians, however DGM's Simone Mularoni has been replaced as main songwriter/producer/guitarist by Aldo Lonobile, who has recently contributed to Secret Sphere, Timo Tolkki's Avalon & Archon Angel. So swapping one producer/musician extraordinaire for another is major change here as Geoff Tate remains the vocalist as the rest of the band is made up of Luigi Andreone (bass) Antonio Agate (keys) and Michele Sanna (drums). On this record Tate has been much ore involved with songwriting which accounts for the slight shift in style as the blatant Queensryche homage of the first record becomes more nuanced adding some melodic/AOR touches, Strong Pressure and Another Change are examples of this bouncy AOR sound.
Tate even got Lonobile to write him a special song (Aria) so he could sing it in Italian. Elsewhere though it's powerful progressive metal from One Again One Sin, Wake Up Call. Aria also features Walter Cianciusi and Dario Parente on guitar both of whom are in the Operation: Mindcrime live band, it's one of the strongest tracks on the album as both a Queensryche-like song and also pays tribute to the Italian musicians and label he is surrounded by. A more melodic offering than the debut with much more of the Operation:Mindcrime style through it. 7/10
The Quill - Earthrise (Metalville)
Earthrise is the ninth(!) studio album from Swedish stoner metal band The Quill. After ten records The Quill know their sound and they ain't gonna change it for anyone. What you get here is thick, juicy stoner metal riffage that is very much in the 70's rock vein but with a dirty biker ethos. Pinching from Sabbath on the swirling Dwarf Planet especially. There's also some Orange Goblin similarities but also their biggest influence is themselves. It's when you listen to this album of nine songs (of an original 20 demos), that you lament why The Quill aren't at the same level as Goblin, Monster Magnet or even some of their Swedish brethren like Spiritual Beggars (though bassist Roger Nilsson is a former member of the latter).
It's his grooving bass that drives tracks such as Left Brain Blues, locking down into the crunching rhythms with drummer Jolle Atlagic on the title track. Earthrise was conceived by The Quill during the pandemic and there's no sign of the band being disconnected, on songs like the Evil Omen they scrape the upper reaches of Sabbath psychedelic, the swirling guitars of Christian Carlsson and the Ozzy- but better vocals of Magnus Ekwall really carrying this and choppy 21st Century Sky into pure Black Sabbath territory. I reiterate that The Quill should be a much bigger band than they are, they have all the requisites to appeal to any lovers of 70's influenced stoner rock. I'd hold them in as high regard as bands such as Orange Goblin and on Earthside they show their worth again. 8/10
ScreaMachine – S/T (Frontiers Music)
ScreaMachine is a new project made up of Italian metal scene veterans. The musicians have been a part of Stormlord, Kaledon and Lunarsea respectively so they bring a lot of experience to the table. Formed by bassist Francessco Bucci the idea for the band was born around writing music inspired by their heroes of the classic metal sound. For what it’s worth the major sounds I can here on this record are Priest, Twisted Sister and W.A.S.P much of that coming from the melodic edges and Valerio “The Brave” Caricchio’s sneering vocal. What ScreaMachine have is a nice idea that is never really fully realised, the song writing is a little basic, the performances are precise but don’t really have a huge amount of soul, and is a little annoying is that they promise “one of the heaviest debuts of the year” and I can count on one hand heavier debuts this year. Also despite having two guitarists in the band, four hand-picked guitar players, including Simone Mularoni from DGM all add guitars to the record. For me the best song on the record is Wisdom Of Ages due to it featuring FIrewind frontman Herbie Langhans as guest vocalist and Steve Di Giorgio on fretless bass. If you want a proper ScreaMachine I suggest you check out Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens’ Beyond Fear record, as the song of the same name there is much heavier, and more satisfying than this record. 5/10