Bewitcher - Cursed Be Thy Kingdom (Century Media Records) [Richard Oliver]
Alongside bands such as Midnight and Hellripper, Bewitcher have been at the spearhead of a movement in the heavy metal underground and that is blackened speed metal. Taking the 80’s speed metal sound and adding in a touch of black metal attitude with more than a few nods to genre pioneers Venom. It is a movement that has gained lots of traction in recent years and has garnered quite a following meaning that Cursed Be Thy Kingdom which is the third album from Bewitcher is quite an anticipated album. Bewitcher formed in 2013 in Portland, Oregon and quickly turned heads with their self titled debut album in 2016 and its follow up Under The Witching Cross in 2019.
Those albums are chock full of 80’s speed metal throwback, blackened snarls and a fuck you rock & roll attitude. Cursed Be Thy Kingdom pretty much carries on where Bewitcher left off though there is also change in the air. Opening instrumental Ashe has acoustic guitars, bluesy soloing and a spaghetti western feel to it before the 80’s metal riffs come crashing in on Death Returns... Although the speed metal elements are still there they are very much toned down this time round and replaced with a more traditional heavy metal approach sounding like a blackened take on traditional metal revivalist bands such as Night Demon and Enforcer. There are plenty of fist banging heavy metal anthems throughout the album such as Satanick Magick Attack and Electric Phantoms which are impossible not to bang your head to whilst songs such as Cursed Be Thy Kingdom and Metal Burner bring the speed metal elements to the fore.
At the same time there are songs which take a more measured approach and are in a more mid paced traditional metal style such as Mystifier (White Night City) and Valley Of The Ravens. These slight variations in style ensures that this album retains your interest and it also helps that these songs are catchy as hell. It’s safe to say that Cursed Be Thy Kingdom is an absolute banger of an album. Whilst some fans will lament the blackened speed attack of the prior records, the sheer quality of the songs on offer here should win them over. 80’s metal worship with blackened aggression and bags of rock & roll attitude. It has taken me ages to write this review as I have spent most of the time banging my head which is always the sign of a great album. Bewitcher are very much proof that old school heavy metal is still alive and well and long may it continue. 9/10
Endseeker - Mount Carcass (Metal Blade Records) [Paul Hutchings]
There are two trains of thought about death metal today. One is that the genre is healthier than it’s been for a long time, whilst the volume of releases from average outfits may also suggest that the genre is in danger of saturation. Barely a week goes by without more albums dropping in the file for review which repeat the old school death metal style. Well, Germany’s Endseeker are very much a band cut from the OSDM cloth, but one that bring with their sound a huge slice of contemporary. Mount Carcass is their third album and has merely highlighted that it is a challenge to keep up with all that is out there. 2017’s Flesh Hammer Prophecy and 2019’s The Harvest are now on the list of catch-up albums after listening to this absolute beast of a record. 35 minutes of concrete shattering, riff heavy pounding, there’s little to dislike here.
Endseeker - Mount Carcass (Metal Blade Records) [Paul Hutchings]
There are two trains of thought about death metal today. One is that the genre is healthier than it’s been for a long time, whilst the volume of releases from average outfits may also suggest that the genre is in danger of saturation. Barely a week goes by without more albums dropping in the file for review which repeat the old school death metal style. Well, Germany’s Endseeker are very much a band cut from the OSDM cloth, but one that bring with their sound a huge slice of contemporary. Mount Carcass is their third album and has merely highlighted that it is a challenge to keep up with all that is out there. 2017’s Flesh Hammer Prophecy and 2019’s The Harvest are now on the list of catch-up albums after listening to this absolute beast of a record. 35 minutes of concrete shattering, riff heavy pounding, there’s little to dislike here.
The opening pile driver of Unholy Rites sets the scene, wave after wave of punishing brutality smashing through the aural senses. There is melodic undertones and hooks galore, and with the band stripping back their sound to a raw and more organic feel, it’s an instant hit. Sure, there a massive Entombed feel about it, the HM2 sound present and correct but sometimes you want that pulverising beast which bastes you like a spit mounted chicken, this is the bad boy. It simply stomps a size 12 in your face and storms off into the sunset. Whilst Mount Carcass is a fiery bugger, the title is a metaphor for modern society with an observation on the state of the world, the drive for money and the way we are led by madmen. The band focus on the changes in the political and global landscape and the constant impact on humanity’s comfort zone.
This is the album where Endkeeper nail their political views to the mast, venting their anger and frustration at the entire world. The title track is a comparison to the overcrowded slops of Everest, where climbers pay thousands of dollars to spend minutes at the top of the world, surrounded by bodies and rubbish of those who failed to make it back. Merciless Tide touches on the onslaught of conspiracy theorists who have gained a foothold, Pulling back to the roots, Endseeker’s ferocious onslaught combines a punkish attitude with a straightforward, uncomplicated approach which will only stop you nodding your head if you are without a pulse.
There’s also diversion from the politics. Unholy Rites is back to blood and guts of zombies whilst Frantic Redemption charts the story of the famous bear Pablo Escobar, who died after eating $15 million of cocaine. And there’s the closing track, a cover of the title track from John Carpenter’s Escape From New York which brings a new take on the classic movie song. With a production that links the past with the present, Mount Carcass is likely to feature quite highly in the 2021 polls. It’s a stellar release and one that deserves widespread audiences. 9/10
Arion - Vultures Die Alone (AFM Records) [Simon Black]
After ten years, Arion cannot be said to have an excessively prolific rate of output, so it’s probably just as well that quality over quantity is at the core of their methodology. They aren’t an act I’ve come across before and the music is a mixture of Melodic, Symphonic and Progressive Metal in fairly equal doses, with a very strong dollop of Modern Metal just to stop things from sounding in any way dated. Vocally Lassi Vääränen sounds very Chester Bennington – with that same deep soulful gravelly quality, brimming with energy and able to turn on the pathos at a moment’s notice.
The album kicks right down to business with the energetic opener Out Of My Life, with a driving pace and plenty of technical flourishes to illustrate the technical proficiency of this Finnish five piece and I am continually impressed with the expansive use of the guitar and keyboard dynamics, the interplay between which fools you into thinking there’s more than just the four instrumentalists in the mix. They also are not afraid to play progressively with those dynamics and this track faultlessly slips into a more slow-paced and haunting instrumental interlude without sounding the slightest bit jarring. The single Bloodline features a guest turn from Battle Beast’s Noora Louhimo, although you have to listen for it. The main power ballad In The Name Of Love takes the second guest turn from Cyan Kicks and although well-structured is a bit predictable and really the only weak spot on the disk, although I suspect it will become the second single because someone, somewhere in their organisation probably still thinks Eurovision is worth trying for (which is how they came to notice in the first instance if you were not aware). Fortunately there are plenty of belting fast-paced rockers on here to make up for it.
The ten songs on here keep themselves quite restrained length wise, with only one lengthy and quite beautiful instrumental piece passing the five minute mark (Where The Ocean Greets The Sky). It’s a credit to the musicianship that they pull that trick on the sole instrumental track so effectively, as like every other piece of music on here it does not outstay its welcome. Again the interplay between these musicians is what makes it flow and none of them is given too much predominance in the mix, although each can clearly and distinctly be heard to the ear – perhaps not surprising with Stratovarius guitarist Matias Kupiainen at the producer’s helm and to be fair the whole album has a similar production calibre as to be found on the last couple of records from the fellow Finnish Symphonic pioneers. To be honest, with the exception of the syrupy ballad, this is forty-three minutes of top-drawer Melodic earworms and definitely feels like one of those records that I am not done with yet. 9/10.
Arion - Vultures Die Alone (AFM Records) [Simon Black]
After ten years, Arion cannot be said to have an excessively prolific rate of output, so it’s probably just as well that quality over quantity is at the core of their methodology. They aren’t an act I’ve come across before and the music is a mixture of Melodic, Symphonic and Progressive Metal in fairly equal doses, with a very strong dollop of Modern Metal just to stop things from sounding in any way dated. Vocally Lassi Vääränen sounds very Chester Bennington – with that same deep soulful gravelly quality, brimming with energy and able to turn on the pathos at a moment’s notice.
The album kicks right down to business with the energetic opener Out Of My Life, with a driving pace and plenty of technical flourishes to illustrate the technical proficiency of this Finnish five piece and I am continually impressed with the expansive use of the guitar and keyboard dynamics, the interplay between which fools you into thinking there’s more than just the four instrumentalists in the mix. They also are not afraid to play progressively with those dynamics and this track faultlessly slips into a more slow-paced and haunting instrumental interlude without sounding the slightest bit jarring. The single Bloodline features a guest turn from Battle Beast’s Noora Louhimo, although you have to listen for it. The main power ballad In The Name Of Love takes the second guest turn from Cyan Kicks and although well-structured is a bit predictable and really the only weak spot on the disk, although I suspect it will become the second single because someone, somewhere in their organisation probably still thinks Eurovision is worth trying for (which is how they came to notice in the first instance if you were not aware). Fortunately there are plenty of belting fast-paced rockers on here to make up for it.
The ten songs on here keep themselves quite restrained length wise, with only one lengthy and quite beautiful instrumental piece passing the five minute mark (Where The Ocean Greets The Sky). It’s a credit to the musicianship that they pull that trick on the sole instrumental track so effectively, as like every other piece of music on here it does not outstay its welcome. Again the interplay between these musicians is what makes it flow and none of them is given too much predominance in the mix, although each can clearly and distinctly be heard to the ear – perhaps not surprising with Stratovarius guitarist Matias Kupiainen at the producer’s helm and to be fair the whole album has a similar production calibre as to be found on the last couple of records from the fellow Finnish Symphonic pioneers. To be honest, with the exception of the syrupy ballad, this is forty-three minutes of top-drawer Melodic earworms and definitely feels like one of those records that I am not done with yet. 9/10.
Infinite & Divine - Silver Lining (Frontiers Music) [Matt Bladen]
Swedish band Infinite & Divine are essentially a two piece comprising of Jan Åkesson and Tezzi (a/k/a Terese Persson. All the music is from Jan, with the exception of drums which are provided by Jens Westberg, while Tezzi provides all the vocals. Silver Lining is their debut record and it's very much in the style of Within Temptation, Delain et al, pairing heavy riffs with understated symphonics for more emotional power. Jan shows that he is a very talented composer bringing all of the musical elements of this album as it changes between hard rockers, AOR melodies and early 2000's metal. Now what really won me over on this record are the great vocals of Tezzi who has a rawer, more soulful voice than her contemporaries sounding a little like Ann Wilson or Pat Benatar rather than relying on operatic style.
Take a track such as Keep Moving On and you'll be able to hear that blues influence to her singing, Wasteland is 80's-tastic, Burn No More brings a little more of a galloping folk sound you would hear on Gary Moore's rock albums. So there very deep vein of melodic rock to be mined on Silver Lining with enough variation to keep your head bobbing. With the three 9/10 albums in this review from my colleagues, giving Infinite & Divine a lower score may seem to be detrimental to the album, but be aware that Silver Lining is a very good album, if bouncy, melodic rock with excellent vocals is your thing. 8/10