Stone Axe - Stay Of Execution (Ripple Music) [David Karpel]
There’s a highway paved in every true rock and roller’s heart. Where it starts touches everything that follows. It can begin when the needle drops and Detroit Rock City carves out your entire future before you understand what’s happening. You’re 8. The song is two years old. Your neighbor has a brother who has KISS, Rush, Rainbow, AC/DC, and Thin Lizzy records, among others, and one day you’re there and hear what sounds like a radio announcement, channel changes, a gutteral revving engine, guitars, and the drums pick up. This is a time when muscle cars with thick tires and custom Chevy vans with murals and tails thundered at dangerous speeds around corners of this sprawling suburban neighborhood under the incessant South Florida sun. Kids on their dirt bikes and skateboards had to beware. That engine, that fierce urgency of the driving music, and “you gotta lose your mind in Detroit Rock City.”
You look through the albums and pick up KISS Alive! and turn it over. Long hair, smoke in the air, jerseys and denim, those two girls, that one on the right with her stony smile and her hand raised in a fist. So there is a mystical place where everyone’s having a good time burning the wick at both ends. It feels like it’s so far you’ll never get there because maybe the journey is the “there” of it, but then here it is, right there in that picture, a bunch of people who look as wild as you feel. When it happened to me, I couldn’t verbalize it at the time. What I do know and have known since: there’s no feeling in the world like when a good song or record gets through to you that deeply, whether you’re 8 years old, 52, or any age between or beyond.
Stone Axe, featuring underground heavy rock icon Tony Reed playing all the instruments and singing backup vocals while vocalist Dru Brinkerhoff belts out tunes with a voice full of whiskey, honey, and swagger, play pure, no frills, molten 70s rock with a tour van-load of sincerity and heart. A working band from 2008-2011, they put out two full-lengths, a live album recorded at Roadburn, and a smattering of singles and splits.
Stay Of Execution, to be released by the almighty Ripple Music, gathers some of those singles and splits into a whole and the result, while not a new album, per se, recaptures that early needle drop, that early wonder that inevitably leads to wander, that sense of urgency and soul in songs of love and loss and raging on. This is no mere nostalgia album. This is a 70s FM rock station that should have been. It’s that mystical, mythical lost 8 track of all the best songs of the era no one ever heard until Reed and Brinkerhoff tapped into the radio waves and ether and put them down on wax.
The tires grip the street and peel out from the first song, Fell On Deaf Ears. The windows down, the speakers blasting, you’re on your way to wherever the road will take you, wherever your hands white knuckled on the steering wheel will guide you, wherever your heart desires, until it feels like the “sun rose for the first time in our lives.” Reed’s musicianship is evident throughout and Brinkerhoff sings like the rock gods of old, full throttled, so soulful you feel the yearning yourself. Lady Switchblade plays on a Lynyrd Skynyrd That Smell-like riff with Brinkhoff’s smoked whiskey soul admitting his helplessness before this dark queen with her steel pressed against his jugular. There’s so much sincerity in the songs here. No ostentatiousness, no irony.
This comes through ever clearer on Sweet Sweet Time, a raw, slow burning blues number that’ll make you want to light someone else’s cigarette with empathy for their pain. Deep Blue hangs your chin and plumbs the soul before Metal Damage changes gear and hammers the pedal down, hounds of hell and all. For All Who Fly slows down and opens with strumming acoustics and a Southern flair, a preview of something truly special, as Reed gives the instruments a more spare presence, allowing Brinkerhoff to explore the low and mid ranges with some sweetly sentimental lyrics. King Of Everything is another bluesy track, a mid tempo song with cowbells, harmonies, and echoes of BOC.
Finally, The Last Setting Sun is a gorgeous ballad that nicely frames the album in lyrical images of the first rising sun of their lives and the last setting sun. Brinkerhoff sounds like Chris Cornell here and by the time the almost 8 minute song is done I’m convinced I’ve just listened to an instant classic, an album I’ll be listening to for the rest of my life, whatever road I’m on, whatever direction I’m going in. Stone Axe aren’t inventing anything, but they are celebrating glorious roots gloriously. 10/10
Messa: Close (Svart Records) [Rich P]
Italy has some amazing stuff going on in their heavy music scene, especially on the doom front, where one of my recent favorites in the genre, Bretus have been cranking out doom bangers for a few years now. Another strong contender in the Italian doom scene is Messa, who is back with their third effort, Close. Let’s see if Close lives up to all of the love that was given to their last album Feast For Water and all of the hype that has been thrown on Close.
Messa: Close (Svart Records) [Rich P]
Italy has some amazing stuff going on in their heavy music scene, especially on the doom front, where one of my recent favorites in the genre, Bretus have been cranking out doom bangers for a few years now. Another strong contender in the Italian doom scene is Messa, who is back with their third effort, Close. Let’s see if Close lives up to all of the love that was given to their last album Feast For Water and all of the hype that has been thrown on Close.
The short answer is “it does”. Haunting is the perfect word for a lot of what is going on here, for both Sara’s vocals and the overall aesthetic the record brings. This is immediately evident on the opening track, Suspended. Doomy riffs surrounded by that voice…it’s a perfect opening to a doom record. The band picks up the pace a bit on Dark Horse, where an upbeat tempo makes was for swirling guitars that match perfectly with that voice, with Sara explaining how she “…only sees with her eyes closed.” Dark Horse is a great track and really is a perfect example of the musical chops from the entire band. Dark Horse could be a nice contender for a split covers EP with Witchcryer and may be my favorite track on the record.
Some soothing sax opens up Orphalese, leading you to the siren song of Sara who absolutely owns this track. A quick instrumental interlude (more on interludes later) leads to another standout track, Pilgrim, a nine plus minute doom journey once again highlighted by Sara’s perfect doom voice and some excellent chugging guitar work. The issue for me is that Close is long. Like almost too long. You must be truly committed. The two tracks right in the middle of the album are both ten minutes long, which can sometimes make this album drag a bit, until you hit Leffotrack. Some bands do nice acoustic instrumental interludes to bridge tracks. Not Messa. They throw a 45 second black metal ripper into the mix to make sure you are still with them on their long journey.
Which brings them to the finale. Serving him which brings it all together to close out as we began. The seven plus minutes, the doomy riffs, the great guitar work (especially at about the six-minute mark), the haunting vocals are all present in the perfect way to close out Close. This is an excellent doom album, and like some excellent doom albums, it is very long and can tend to drag a bit. That is my only gripe with Close. Otherwise, you have some top-notch doom with excellent playing and the perfect voice for the epic journey. Highly recommended but put some time aside to commit and fully embrace the doomy beauty of Messa and Close. 8/10
Moonlight Haze – Animus (Scarlet Records) [Matt Cook]
Huge symphonic choruses. Elegant singing. Powerful riffs. And hooks for days. Admittedly, Italian collective Moonlight Haze don’t exactly change the game, but even with their by-the-book brand of symphonic power metal, Animus is exceptional in its simplicity. Chiara Tricarico carries the 11 tracks with angelic and pleasing vocals. And the team of Marco Falanga and Alberto Melinato shine both with effective riffs and adept guitar solos when called on.
Moonlight Haze – Animus (Scarlet Records) [Matt Cook]
Huge symphonic choruses. Elegant singing. Powerful riffs. And hooks for days. Admittedly, Italian collective Moonlight Haze don’t exactly change the game, but even with their by-the-book brand of symphonic power metal, Animus is exceptional in its simplicity. Chiara Tricarico carries the 11 tracks with angelic and pleasing vocals. And the team of Marco Falanga and Alberto Melinato shine both with effective riffs and adept guitar solos when called on.
Each song is catchy, and it’s easy to latch on to a vocal melody. Kintsugi showcases Tricarico’s ability. A piano interlude grows into a wonderful bridge as the full instrumentation takes over. For what Animus is, it’s a magnificent album. However, it doesn’t break the mold, and anybody hoping to be exposed to unique or never-before-heard techniques need look elsewhere. It doesn’t take anything away from the band’s talent, though.
On the titular track, Tricarcio shows she’s not a one-trick pony with unexpected harsh vocals. It gets the job done, but it’s obvious her forte is her beautifully clean notes. Curiously, the full-length ends with Horror And Thunder, a song that features male vocals that unfortunately really derails everything. It’s not easy to put a finger on Animus. It’s like ordering McDonald’s; it’s not the greatest burger in the entire world, but you know exactly what you are getting every time, and there is comfort in that certain familiarity. Do with that analogy as you wish. 7/10
Rosalie Cunningham - Two Piece Puzzle (Esoteric Antenna/Cherry Red Records) [Matt Bladen]
"Aw well come on over baby, step into my time machine" so said Grand Funk Railroad in 1969 and as soon as you drop the needle on Two Piece Puzzle, you are transported back into the Paisley clad, loon wearing, mind expanding world of the 1960's. This will be nothing new for long time followers of Rosalie Cunningham/Purson, as she has been flying her freak flag for long time now, delving deep into the music of that revered decade on her previous solo album too.
Now if you listened to that record you'd know that it was not an overly rocky album and neither is Two Piece Puzzle, there's a psychedelic folky vibe of bands like The Move and Caravan featured on Donovan Ellington (possibly named for Duke and the singer songwriter of the same name) bubbling organs and and brass that shifts into Donny Pt.2 which has layered acoustics of the Canterbury scene. It's all pretty impressive daddio, Cunningham a brilliant multi-instrumentalist and expansive vocalist sharing both the playing and vocals with her partner Rosco Wilson, thus the album title.
Duet featuring both of them playing parts on a swirling theatrical number that feels like early Genesis, it's even preceded by short spoken word piece The War that adds to those innate Gabrielisms, though Duet spirals out into some early Bowieisms too. Those early 70's sounds creeping in. Cunningham and Wilson take most of the instruments as I've said though Fairport Convention's Ric Sanders adds fiddle as and when. Things get more esoteric on Tristitia Amnesia where the Eastern flavours remind me of George Harrison or Aphrodite's Child.
The psychedelic muscles are flexed much more here than they were on the debut, possibly due to the time allowed for these songs to breathe but nothing ever loses control, a deft hand has been given to the album meaning that there's never too many overdubs or songs aren't layered beyond recognition. The 12 songs here are all probably a bit darker than the debut solo record and certainly more experimental. As Mr Leary would say "Turn on, tune in, drop out" 8/10