Monster Magnet - A Better Dystopia (Napalm Records) [Matt Bladen]
New Jersey veterans playing a collection of obscure 60's & 70's psych and proto-metal? Yeah that'll do. There is probably no better band on the world to do this than the space lord muthas themselves. Dave Wyndorf is living his fantasy here wailing, shouting and crooning as if Jim Morrison himself was reincarnated through the 64 year old founding member. It's clearly his influence that has led to this covers album many of these songs and bands coming from Wyndorf's youth, even providing an intro to the record with The Diamond Mine which is a recitation of DJ Dave Diamond who spearheaded the psych/acid rock scene. This ear for detail and the selection of perhaps some of the more obscure acts of that period, lends itself to becoming more like a traditional Monster Magnet record to those unfamiliar with the originals.
Though the first proper track come from British space rockers Hawkwind (Born To Go), this gets the engines running as we set the controls and aim at the stratosphere, only the filthy punk metal of Motorcycle (Straight To Hell) dragging us back down to earth . Wyndorf's band kick out the jams with fuzzy garage riffs, punky rhythms and those frenzied Wyndorf vocals, they run across the gamut of brain frying acid rock, tough proto-metal and intergalactic space grooves. As I said A Better Dystopia is a coves record but if you're not Peter Fonda or Dennis Hopper then you may have missed these songs, so what we have is another brain-blowing Monster Magnet record, where the inspiration illuminates how the band came about in the first place. 7/10
Bloodbound - Creatures Of The Dark Realm (AFM Records) [Simon Black]
I will be honest. I was putting off listening to this one. I tend to review a lot of the Power Metal albums we get sent, and consequently after a while a sense of trepidation can set in at the thought of yet another concept Sword & Sorcery from somewhere in Sweden. There are after all, rather a lot of them about… and their last record was a bit of a let down. However, in this case I need not have worried.
Many of these concept records suffer from being at the mercy of the two contradictory forces of the band who has spent months crafting the thing and knows every intimate detail of the story and musical concepts balanced against the passing through journalist with a mountain of reviews to get through on top of the day job. To be fair, we’re like the punters like this in the streaming age – if you buy music on spec, you invest time to give it a fair amount of airplay, but streaming has meant people pick and choose with a lot more speed, so you can lose a listener much quicker now than in days gone by. My methodology is always to not commit fingers to keyboard until after the first full listen, indeed usually during the second, with a skimmed third of the highlights a little later before submission to check I still feel the same way. Sometimes these conceptual pieces need an awful lot of listens to even begin to be able to unpick them, but with eight previous albums under their experienced belts, Bloodbound have learned to think about this from the audience’s point of view. This piece retains immediacy throughout, and yes, although there’s clearly a story – but that unfolds after the first listen.
That crucial first listen gives the audience the feeling that first and foremost there’s an album of a dozen well-crafted bits of Metal to enjoy. If you’re just hooked by the songs as single entities then, you are going to come back to the album, and that’s how you build a fan base in a really crowded marketplace. Musically these are accessible solid Power Metal in the Euro tradition, and that means clean vocals, plenty of speed and some considerable instrumental virtuosity from the musicians. As ever with Bloodbound, the melodic and anthemic sensibilities are well crafted into the songs, so you are along for the ride even if you’ve no clue what the story is about yet. I make this sound effortless, but this is the consequence of a band that’s made these kinds of errors in the past and learned from them whilst keeping an infectious sense of fun throughout. A welcome return to form. 8/10
Bloodbound - Creatures Of The Dark Realm (AFM Records) [Simon Black]
I will be honest. I was putting off listening to this one. I tend to review a lot of the Power Metal albums we get sent, and consequently after a while a sense of trepidation can set in at the thought of yet another concept Sword & Sorcery from somewhere in Sweden. There are after all, rather a lot of them about… and their last record was a bit of a let down. However, in this case I need not have worried.
Many of these concept records suffer from being at the mercy of the two contradictory forces of the band who has spent months crafting the thing and knows every intimate detail of the story and musical concepts balanced against the passing through journalist with a mountain of reviews to get through on top of the day job. To be fair, we’re like the punters like this in the streaming age – if you buy music on spec, you invest time to give it a fair amount of airplay, but streaming has meant people pick and choose with a lot more speed, so you can lose a listener much quicker now than in days gone by. My methodology is always to not commit fingers to keyboard until after the first full listen, indeed usually during the second, with a skimmed third of the highlights a little later before submission to check I still feel the same way. Sometimes these conceptual pieces need an awful lot of listens to even begin to be able to unpick them, but with eight previous albums under their experienced belts, Bloodbound have learned to think about this from the audience’s point of view. This piece retains immediacy throughout, and yes, although there’s clearly a story – but that unfolds after the first listen.
That crucial first listen gives the audience the feeling that first and foremost there’s an album of a dozen well-crafted bits of Metal to enjoy. If you’re just hooked by the songs as single entities then, you are going to come back to the album, and that’s how you build a fan base in a really crowded marketplace. Musically these are accessible solid Power Metal in the Euro tradition, and that means clean vocals, plenty of speed and some considerable instrumental virtuosity from the musicians. As ever with Bloodbound, the melodic and anthemic sensibilities are well crafted into the songs, so you are along for the ride even if you’ve no clue what the story is about yet. I make this sound effortless, but this is the consequence of a band that’s made these kinds of errors in the past and learned from them whilst keeping an infectious sense of fun throughout. A welcome return to form. 8/10
Vulture - Dealin' Death (Metal Blade Records) [Matt Bladen]
Vulture have in the past been lumped in with the multitude of NWOTHM revival bands, but their sound has always been much more akin to speed metal the NWOBHM. They consider their debut a but of mis-step as it was a little to light and melodic for the direction they wanted to go. It looks as if Dealin' Death has allowed then to become what they wanted to be. A full on thrash metal band. As soon as you get the first notes of this record you can hear that there are massive Annihilator vibes vocally and because of the numerous ever shifting riffs. There's clearly a darker tone to this record with horror inspired lyrics, the blood and gore imagery accentuated by the schizophrenic singing style, that has the Alice In Hell-era nailed.
The band also bring some cinematic/gothic/b-movie sounds to songs such as Gorgon and Multitudes Of Terror but mostly these Germans crank out dirty second wave thrash with a savage guitar attack that ungulates and shifts jaggedly, the fuzzing bass and high treble of the drumming, harking back to that 80's production style (you know like it sounded on cassette). Unfortunately my issue with thrash still stands and even though it's only 10 songs by about song 6 they all started to sound the same (the exception are the previously mentioned Gorgon and Multitudes Of Terror). For thrashmaniacs Vulture are keeping that thrash sound alive but for me I'll go and listen to Never, Neverland. 6/10
Lovebites - Glory, Glory, To The World (JPU Records) [Simon Black]
All female Japanese outfits have been garnering an unnecessarily rough handling on social media in recent years. As always when the labels start pushing particular concepts in search of the next big thing, the world cries “Fake” and the online negativity begins, without bothering to actually check out what they are musically capable of - which really gets on my nerves. As anyone who has actually seen Baby Metal live will tell you, the anti-hype and label image belies what the musicians are truly capable of – most walk away pleasantly surprised and Lovebites are no different. This is not prefabricated commercial fluffery, but well-crafted and blisteringly delivered Speed Metal of the highest order.
This EP has been around digitally for a while and is now getting CD and vinyl physical releases at the end of the month. The focus of the physical version of the EP is primarily due to the contribution of the final track Winds Of Transylvania for the Anime Vampire Film Vladlove, with all five tracks having done pretty well in their native Japan. This is my first time hearing their material, and it was not what I was expecting.
To be honest. The title track, although perfectly well executed in itself is actually not the strongest. No Time To Hesitate really takes the speed and groove up a notch, with Thrash sentiments and time changes aplenty. There’s also some superbly executed technical excellence in here and the band are not afraid to take the time to give that skill a chance to shine, with some positively blistering interplay between the instrumentalists – of which Paranoia is probably the best example. This maybe fast, but it takes its time as well with 28 minutes of run time across the five tracks, which gives plenty of opportunity for experimentation and virtuosity.
Lovebites - Glory, Glory, To The World (JPU Records) [Simon Black]
All female Japanese outfits have been garnering an unnecessarily rough handling on social media in recent years. As always when the labels start pushing particular concepts in search of the next big thing, the world cries “Fake” and the online negativity begins, without bothering to actually check out what they are musically capable of - which really gets on my nerves. As anyone who has actually seen Baby Metal live will tell you, the anti-hype and label image belies what the musicians are truly capable of – most walk away pleasantly surprised and Lovebites are no different. This is not prefabricated commercial fluffery, but well-crafted and blisteringly delivered Speed Metal of the highest order.
This EP has been around digitally for a while and is now getting CD and vinyl physical releases at the end of the month. The focus of the physical version of the EP is primarily due to the contribution of the final track Winds Of Transylvania for the Anime Vampire Film Vladlove, with all five tracks having done pretty well in their native Japan. This is my first time hearing their material, and it was not what I was expecting.
To be honest. The title track, although perfectly well executed in itself is actually not the strongest. No Time To Hesitate really takes the speed and groove up a notch, with Thrash sentiments and time changes aplenty. There’s also some superbly executed technical excellence in here and the band are not afraid to take the time to give that skill a chance to shine, with some positively blistering interplay between the instrumentalists – of which Paranoia is probably the best example. This maybe fast, but it takes its time as well with 28 minutes of run time across the five tracks, which gives plenty of opportunity for experimentation and virtuosity.
Dystopia Symphony at nearly seven minutes of run time illustrates this perfectly, with some superb keyboard and guitar interplay that borders on the Progressive. It also works better if you take the time to give it repeated listens, allowing the opportunity to pick up the subtleties in the structure and my interest is definitely piqued enough to go and give their two full length studio albums a listen, which is not something that happens every day. 8/10