Oh man. Where do I even start with these guys? Lets start with the obvious. They are unclassifiable. At best I could say that they are Avant Garde Metal. Essentially they use a loose template of metal and build everything else from there. Metal is the canvas but it is not the palette. These guys have been around since 1997 and have kept the same line up ever since. They originally started out as a Visual Kei band, but have since morphed into this Slipknot/Korn/Rammstein band that we can hear today. With downtuned guitars, slapping bass, hip hop rhythm and industrial sensibilities. They were originally born from the ashes of a rock band called La:Sadie's, but for whatever reason they disbanded. Or rather the then bassist left, but the rest decided to hire a new bassist and forge ahead under a new name, thank goodness. As I mentioned before, they've managed to keep the same line up ever since which is no mean feat, and you can really hear that in the latest album Arche. Which is quite possibly their best album yet. If only because it also comes across as the most focussed of their albums. Which also completely defies Angry Metal Guy's Law of Diminishing Records.
I first became aware of them due to their phenomenal album Uroboros. An album that for me was the album of the year of 2008 just about dislodging Opeth's Watershed. I had never heard anything quite like them up to that point. Uroboros has got what I consider to the be best album intro. Every they release something I let out a little noise of celebration. They are possibly the biggest musical phenomenon to be exported from Japan and by all accounts they are the biggest metal band in Japan since X-Japan. Which shouldn't be too surprising since X-Japan overlord Yoshiki helped to launch their career and 'hide' was a major influence on Kaoru guitar playing. The other remarkable thing about them is that they managed to do all of that without having to sing in English. The only other metal band that has managed international success using their mother tongue is of course Rammstein.
Visual Kei era
So they went through a stage of Visual Kei playing slightly more alternative rock, more akin to Jane's Addiction. But seemingly completely shed that image by the time they released Withering To Death. It feels a bit like they went through the same epiphany as Sepultura did when Korn released their brilliant debut album (Yes, it is brilliant). Withering to Death, is cut from the same mould as Korn's debut album, it's full of jagged edges, slight hip-hop bass lines, off kilter rhythms and maniac vocal stylings. The main difference being is that Kyo actually knows how to sing in tune, as well as flex his vocal chords into the suffering of every victim in the nine hells as described by Dante. All those usual pop influences have been swapped for something rawer, more energetic, avant garde and more personal. They are one of those bands that have managed to transcend any kind of genrefication. At best they would fall in Extreme Metal genre. They go from nu-metal to metalcore to progressive metal with the occasional dipping into pop. Amongst all the madness and surreal violence you get from them you also get nice little piano ditties like 'Shinsou'. Or they take a jazz foundation and turn it into some brutal like 'Asunaki Koufuku, Koenaki Asu'. Funking it out in 'Stuck Man'.
Kyo with blood on
face and chest
Now some of the puzzling things about this band is that some of the song titles are in English. But none of the lyrics are so that can get a bit confusing. Not that it actually detracts from the music. Kyo does apparently write extremely good lyrics. It's just that I can't be bothered to read the translations of them because they way I think of his vocals is that it's just another musical instrument. Talking about instruments. I can understand why Kyo gets as much attention as he does, I mean he completely and utterly outdoes Mike Patton in terms of vocal ability, but the rest of the band... Just wow, they are all individually amazing. On the bass front Toshiya seems to have taken some lessons from Jason Newsted, in the sense that the bass isn't just there to fill out some kind of void. But to be an active part of the songs without being the centrepiece. Though songs like 'Phenomenon' and 'Bottom Of The Death Valley' do put the bass front and centre to great effect. Both the bass player and the drummer, Shinya, provide excellent foundation that let Kyo, Die and Kaoru let their respective talents loose onto the listeners ear canal. The guitar riffing is great, but what is really special is the guitar noodling that comes in to surround the main riffs. Always subtle and never in the way, all seem to enhance the listeners experience. The sense of melody that they imbue is just out of this world. Often it feels like the songs are just about to descend into a gigantic mess, but it never happens.
By all accounts their live shows are something to behold. Prior to Uroboros Kyo used to, frequently and apparently, self harm whilst on stage. Due to his singing he's been hospitalized several times, couple of times because of oedema of the lyranx and vocal nodule dysphonia. Oh and partially deaf in his left ear. The man does suffer a lot for his art and from all the videos I have seen he squeezes every single emotion into his performance. As demonstrated in this video taken from their Tabula Rasa tour.
I am a little surprised why they haven't got as much of a recognition in Europe(Or maybe just in the UK) because these guys are one of the best bands out there right now. Pumping out quality album after quality album. And their evolution from Visual Kei band to what they are now has been fascinating.
This will be my fourth(duh!) part of writing about bands from Iceland. If you'd like to catch up here is Number One, Number Two and Number Three.
Ask The Slave, 2010
Ask the Slave, is an Avant-Garde metal band. I first heard of them and heard them when I attended Eistnaflug in 2008. The little I do remember from my alcohol induced haze was that I really enjoyed their music. Someone had remarked that they were the Icelandic version of Faith No More, I personally after listening to them would say that they are more akin to Mr. Bungle. There are a lot of genre lumped together into one song, lots of rhythms shifts and melody changes, but most of those don't sound out of place or forced. Valurs vocal does sound like he went to the Mike Patton school of Vocal Tormenting. He's easily the most versatile singer to come from Iceland. But everything he does regarding the singing is for the betterment of the song. Which is the wonderful thing about this band, while Valur could/would/should be the stand-out member, but he isn't. They all function like a well oiled machine, if one of the other instruments would be taken of the songs it would fall to pieces. So far there are two albums, "Kiss Your Chora" and "The Order of Things" out and one B-Side collection called "The King of Prunes", with a new LP, called "Good People, Bad Things" which is meant to be out next year. And yes I am looking forward to it. They also make some excellent music video's for example the song "Sleep Now" which sounds like a lovely ballad up until you watch the video and realise how creepy it actually is. It is one of those instances where the video makes a good song great.
Both their albums while being all over the place manage to suck you in and keep your interest throughout. And I personally am looking forward to the day when they open up for Mr. Bungle and Mike Patton walks on the stage then drops the mike stating he can't keep up.
Dr. Spock
Dr Spock, is a very unusual rock. Again we are looking at the Avant-Garde section of things. Most of all it is plain and simple good fun rock and roll or in their own words "Heavy Metal Cabaret with a dash of Surf-Porn Cartoon Funky Polka". By all accounts their concerts are once in a lifetime experience. Which doesn't really surprise me, in their ranks they've got the gruff voice from HAM, who continues barking orders and sounding like he's cursing the entire world. In the most jovial manner of course. It is very chaotic music that is on display, but at the same time even with my rather low-fi laptop speakers I feel like dancing like a mad cow and thrash my living room, the song "Sons of Ecuador" being the perfect example of this manic musical genius that is going on. But as far as I can see nothing new has appeared since 2008, which is a crying shame. But even with a short life they've left a long lasting legacy and much like HAM their reputation seems to be growing with their absence. And if only they had actually got into Eurovision with their song. It would have been perfect. But Ottar Proppee finally did manage to perform on the big stage in 2014.
Börn
Börn, now there is a certain amount of nepotism going on here in the sense that I probably wouldn't have given this band a chance if it didn't include family members. But to be clear I don't write blogs about a band that I don't like. It just so happens that this band includes my youngest sister on vocals and her boyfriend on the drums. They have been playing together in various forms of punk bands. The earliest incarnation that I know of was Tentacles of Doom, which then got changed into Norn, but they had to reconsider their name choices when it turned out that there is a black metal band in Iceland using the same name. So here we've ended up with Börn. And unfortunately I giggle probably way more then I should when I type in the url of their BandCamp site. On the whole I'm not a big fan of the punk scene. Never have been though of course like other genre's there are always bands that manage to captivate my attention. Börn being one of them. What this album reminds me mostly of are the first two albums by Killing Joke. There is this almost joyous tribalism running throughout this smog of despair. It all sounds exceptionally simple, all the instruments seem to be geared towards being rhythmic and, well, dancable. Alexandra barks out her lyrics with pure unbristled ferocious commanding singing, all about self-reliance, equality and independence. On this album she sounds like she could and should command armies. It would be great to see them and It Hurts To Be Dead play at the same gig.
Well today is a special day. For me that is. Maybe other people, but mainly me. This blog has been going on for a whole year now. It started of as just some rambling about music on Facebook, in the form of Facebook Notes. I had already written a few notes and wanted to expand it a little bit so decided to revisit Blogger and make a new account. I had already used blogger for my now defunct Judas Disciple and Mind of the Buddha. My very first entry was my defence of Sepultura's Roorback. Mainly I had just concentrated on writing about music, because I really really like listening to music. I didn't really expect to reach a big audience, this has purely been for my own satisfaction. Well... sometimes it does feel good when you receive nice feedback, it was especially nice when Queensryche shared my blog about them and all of the sudden I had this massive surge of like-minded Queensryche fans. Which I had never seen before. As most people will have noticed (and quite a few have commented on) I do have the tendency to write about heavy metal music. But from time to time I have also written about something completely different like Baby Dee, Jon Lord and Bill Hicks. Often I try to write about rather obscure bands that, in my mind, deserve a lot more attention. Bands like Xanthochroid, Thy Catafalque, and Blaze Bayley.
Then one day I came across this stupid meme shard by 9Gag on Facebook. About how people who are bullied should stop whining, or some kind of stupid shit like that and it pissed me off and then I got an apology message from an unexpected source. So I decided to write about my experience of being bullied at school. It was one of the most shared blogs I had written up to that point and I felt like a load had been lifted off my shoulders, again. Then I returned to writing about music. Shortly after I received a message from Throwdown Syndicate asking me if I fancied writing about them, something completely new to me. So I did. Then I started getting itchy palms about writing something else. One day while cycling I started noticing how many cyclists weren't using helmets, the following day I counted how many cyclists and how many of them were using helmets. It pissed me off so much that I decided to hit Google Scholar and Quest, thanks to me being in a university I was able to read even more studies. This was the result. This was followed up with a, uhhh, follow up to my bullying blog talking about the social impact and the social price we all pay for bullying.
I had been an avid reader of the Skeptical Raptor and other science-y debunk sites and wanted to get in on the game. Then after a little while I wrote a blog about the Flu Vaccine, which in turn got changed to Student Nurse Perspective entries. Then Mr Skeptical Raptor asked if he could reblog it, which I would have been a fool to say no to. Since then I've written about IT in healthcare, importance of education, being male and GMO's. These have been the most satisfying to write because I always feel like I've learned something after I've written them, and this series has also been my most successful one in terms of views. If there is one thing I will miss when I qualify it's the University's journal database. Sure I can probably still read the books, but I won't be able to access the database.
I still write mostly about music. But on the whole this blog has become my platform to vent out. I still use it to develop my writing skills. And I still publish on a very regular sporadic basis. I've tried to make money out of, but I don't think I'll ever be able to make a living out of it. Currently my income from this blog stands at 55 pence. As it stands I have had 11123 pageviews, which in the grand scheme of things isn't much, but in my little bubble it is a fairly considerable amount. This is the third month in a row where I get more then 1000 views. Which is fairly considerable for considering that at one point I was struggling to get over 200.
Thanks to the blog I have also come across some wonderful people, some who I'd tentatively probably call friends. I have no idea if I've got some regular readers, if I do. Please leave a comment... or not if you don't want to.
Iron Maiden is without a doubt my number one favourite band. They are the only band that I am willing to buy an album when it comes out. I've already written on blog regarding an album of theirs that is close to my heart.
Now from memory rather coffee stained memory I seemed to have gone into their career a little backwards, or sideways or hub-wards. The first song I remember hearing was the phenomenal Aces High, the first album I owned was Live After Death (In cassette form!) but the first studio album I owned was Fear of the Dark. Which I really really liked, but it somehow didn't feel like the Iron Maiden I first knew. So I left it for a little bit. Sometime somewhere someone gave me a VHS copy of Made in England which was filmed during their Seventh Tour of the Seventh Tour. And boy, oh man did those spandex trousers left quite an impression and not in a good way. But the songs. The songs were so so very very very good. There isn't enough wax for me to wax lyrically or poetically about this album but I shall try my best.
Bruce Dickinson and 80's spandex
Then I got this single given:
Can I Play With Madness
Which had two songs from an album I had not listened to by Iron Maiden. That album? Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. The best and one of the perfect albums of heavy metal. It would not be unfair to say that their creative talents had peaked considerably when they put out this album. That is not to say that all the albums that followed were shit... just not as good. I know there are people now probably shouting at the screen mentioning various names but I would argue that they haven't released a bad album, they've donesomeawfulsongs but not whole album full of them. But Seventh Son of a Seventh Son is just completely different. It is the perfect mixture of Wow! and Woah!
For those who don't know. This was Iron Maiden's seventh studio album, they were at their peak in terms of albums sales and touring relentlessly. They were at the top of their game. These guys had been touring together for 6 years at this point. They had released the rather odd Somewhere in Time, which has their best album cover though, which had featured fairly heavily synthesizers but had not really fully incorporated them. But on this one they completely embraced them and put them to great use.
Apparently Steve Harris had been reading Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card. And with Bruce Dickinson's interest in history and Aleister Crowley in particular it was only a matter of time when this would collide. Them two spoke for a while and then decided to make a concept album about the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.
The story follows a boy who is the seventh son of the seventh son(Betcha didn't see that one coming). In Moonchild he is being born and there is a fight going on between the Devil and an Angel regarding who's path he will follow. Throughout his life he struggles with his dreams, his visions and generally his life seems to be going down the drain. Fast. He tries, but in the end can't live with the burden. So the album ends on a cheerful note called Only the Good Die Young.
To be honest the concept went right over my head, still does in fact, but the music is impeccable. As a concept album it is really rather weak, nowhere near like say Operation Mindcrime or Christ.O or Brave. But what it does have a common musical thread running through all of the songs. There are two songs that are blatantly commercial namely Can I Play With Madness and The Evil that Men Do, but they are great. And the former has a video that features Graham Chapman! Apparently the former also started of as a ballad, and listening to it I don't understand how, but the latter could have very easily been a power ballad. But both are equally hard rocking and headbangable.
Then you've got the prog element that has always been there. To be honest regarding long proggy songs the best one they've ever done is The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. But the title song is an atmospheric masterpiece, but it's by no means the only prog song there, the other contender for prog-metal song on here is Infinite Dreams which has one of the most interesting guitar playing and very unusual song structure, considering that most of the time when they write songs they try to make sure that that the audience can sing along. But that is pretty hard with this one. But it's a great song though and you can feel for the character and the psychosis that is plaguing him. It sorts of meanders from being a power ballad to a fully fledged metal song towards the end with those patented Iron Maiden dual guitar attacks that are just so so very wonderful to listen to.
With all of this you also get Steve Harris galloping bass playing. I've yet to hear anyone else play the bass like he does, it is quite wonderful to listen to especially when he goes off on one like on The Clairvoyant which for a long long time was my favourite song from this album. Not sure which is my favourite song right now because whenever I put this album on I have to listen to it from start to finish. Each song individually is ranging from great to greatness, but listening to them all in sequence from start to finish just adds that oh so extra special layer on top of all of them. Bit like a smear of Mr. Vikki's BBQ sauce does for ham sandwiches.
Bruce Dickinson goes out of his way to show why he is one of the best voices to come from that Heavy Metal Era (Still has one of the best voices in fact) and mesmerises completely throughout and keeps you captivated in the story that isn't all there. He shows why he's called the Air-Raid Siren with gusto and puts his history degree into good use when writing his lyrics.
Dave Murray and Adrian Smith are the dual guitar players that every other guitar pair, it was such a loss when Adrian left. Though that is not a slight on Janick. But thank the Gods that both Bruce and Adrian returned and kept Janick.
The album ends with the same acoustic ditty and sinister words by Bruce Dickinson (Which he borrowed from the aforementioned Aleister Crowley) that it started with:
Seven deadly sins
Seven ways to win
Seven holy paths to hell
And your trip begins
Seven downward slopes
Seven bloodied hopes
Seven are your burning fires
Seven your desires
They still haven't bettered this album, though Dance of Death came pretty close.
So for people's enjoyments I'll share the album in two different formats.
This is part three of the Usual Locations series, which I don't think I'll be running out of material to write. Next I'll probably be writing about some Australian bands. Because the scene over there is really really something special.
Now. Here's the thing. I don't think I would have stumbled across this band through merely browsing. They do defy a little bit of definition, going only under the genre Alternative Rock. The short and sweet of how I came across this band is because the wife of the drummer sent me a friend request on Facebook. And of course being the good wife that she is she regularly puts up updates on when and where they are playing.
These gentlemen hail from Wichita Falls, Texas. Well as I said before they use the term alternative rock to describe their music, which as I said before is appropriate. There is groove and fun to be had, and some aspcets of post-punk also to be enjoyed. Listening to them they wouldn't really be out of place in the early ages of grunge... actually any age of grunge since the age was fairly short-lived. It is fairly obvious that they have been playing for a while, even if not in present form. All seem to be experts on their respective instruments, Kevin Gilmore in particular sounds like his dad was Animal and he raped an octopus. Sean Snyder rather elegently plucks away on the guitar, the guitar playing sounds deceptively simple and gleefully rants into the microphone, his vocal style also on occasions reminded me of Jimmy Pop especially on Macy. Nick Thorntons bass, now if only more bands would show of their bassists like they do here, it is not quite Les "Should have been a guitar player" Claypool style of bass-plucking. I don't know who mixed it but they've left plenty of room for everyone to enjoy themselves to their full potential and no one is stepping on anyone's toes.
Their combination is probably best illustrated in the songs Tragic Part and Macy. The urge to not only tap your feet to the beat but also the table and headbang just a little is nearly overwhelming, and I'd do it if I was home alone with the speakers on full blast but as I'm trying to make sure that everyone sleeps in the house I make do with tapping the floor with a slight to and fro shake of the head while the headphones are plugged in. But the two previously mentioned songs have so far been my favourite by far, but then again I only have a choice of four songs and all of them are great fun to listen to. Which sort of leads to what I find lacking. The fact that there are only 4 songs on Reverbnation. But then again those 4 songs have now made me want to see them in live setting, it's just a shame that there's a whole ocean stopping me from doing so. So it's a minor complaint.
In my adopted hometown of Lancaster, there is a band that I have been meaning to see for some time but never got the chance. Promethium. One of the great advantages on Reverbnation is that it gives you local charts and these guys have been in the top 10 for a while, but the first time I listened to them I wasn't that impressed. Yeah, they were functional and filled a certain musical hole that was missing in Lancaster. But it was nothing that I hadn't heard before and done better. But since then they've come in leaps and bounds and turned into something more and better. Old school heavy metal in the vain of Iron Maiden, with a modern twist. Generally I cringe whenever I see someone describing their music like that, bit like Lauren Harris or, uuuggh, Sonic Syndicate, I tend to shudder a little bit.
But Promethium delivered that promise, in spades. Under influence they put Iron Maiden, Soylent Green(Dafuq), Lamb of God, Every Time I Die and Soilwork. Now I can hear lots and lots of Iron Maiden and even quite a bit of Swedish Melodic Death Metal. But as for the rest, no. But to be honest what the musically reminded me the most of were Blaze Bayley first three solo albums.
These guys have decided to give Gary McGohan the centre stage. And boy does he deliver(Actually in some songs he also sounds like Sean Snyder). One of the most powerful singers I've come across, the only thing I would wish he'd lay of are the cookie monster growls, that is probably the only thing he can't do so well, The end of Gunslinger being a good example though Tribute to The Fallen does the cookie monster growl better, but not sure if it is Gary is doing it or someone else. But when he croons and sings he is world class, the semi-ballad Rain is a good song for him to showcase his rather immense talents. That is not to say that the rest of the guys don't deserve it, they do. The harmonized guitar attack is great to listen to and a bit refreshing to hear a band from a small city play with such professional gusto. The emotional breadth of the band is shown again in the song Nothing. Yes I'm a sucker for a good power ballad and Promethium have two of those on show on their Reverbnation playlist.
So next time their playing in Lancaster, I'll be there. Hopefully I'll be joined by plenty of others, because these guys like It Hurts to Be Dead deserve more attention than they're already slowly getting.
Xanthochroid are a band who, according to the Holy Book of Armaments, have been around since 2005 but somehow managed to go without publishing a full album until last year. What they had been up to form inception to THAT album seems to have consisted of rehearsing a lot. Because their debut album does not sound like a debut album. On any level. For those who've been hungry of full blown epic orchestral Black Metal (that does not involve Dani Filth) since Emperor should have their thirst and hunger quenched and satisfied with this album. So far they've done one demo, one EP and one LP. I haven't heard the demo, though I would love to, but the EP is classy as classiful classy thing. But the album, have I mentioned already how effing good the album is? No, and did I mentioned that it's called Blessed He With Boils, because it is.
I first came across these guys when I was just browsing through a dark port filled with filth and metal bands where I have no business being at. To be honest I just noticed "USA" and "EPIC BLACK METAL", those together would usually put me off. I'm not a huge fan of black metal let alone EPIC BLACK METAL. But the cover I have to say was really really nice. Real piece of art. Most of the time black metal tends to be wrapped around frost and tundras, but these guys decided to go for swamps and bog.
So I thought I'd check them out and all the reviews I read were positive. Very positive indeed. So I thought I'd just listen. And it just absolutely blew me away. Musically it is great, but it wasn't just that. It was the scope they were going for and the grandeur! Both of which they achieved on a level that I had not really heard of since Emperor's Prometheus. What did or didn't help was how similar Ihsahns and Sam Meadors vocals are. Especially when he goes full In The Nightside Eclipse style. Musically they draw inspiration from Opeth, Emperor and Cradle of Filth. They take plenty of story telling tips(without the voice-over) from Bal-Sagoth. On their Bandcamp site they wrote:
We spent nearly a year in the studio; writing, recording, re-writing, re-recording every element of this album.
Not to mention the many years before that we spent writing the actual
material; making sure every note served its purpose, every line
complemented its counterpart, and every lyric fit properly with our
story, because we wanted to create something special.
Well the plan worked. They definitely delivered on their promise because this is a tight package of evil black nuances that few bands are able to do. The ability of going from sombre acoustic to blistering blast beat black metal without losing momentum is just phenomenal. Yes there are moments which feel like they are slightly overstepping their talent boundaries but every time that happens they pull it off, with gusto and without too much pretense.
It starts of with an orchestral intro piece dramatically named Aquatic Deathgate Existence that leads nicely into a full blown orchestral black metal title song. Into a nice melancholic ballad called Winter's End. Followed by the riff fest of Long Live Our Lifeless King. Oh just listen to the whole album, it is worth it if you like your black metal and you miss the times when Dimmu Burger did good albums.
This is one of the best concept albums I've had the pleasure of listening to. One with one of the most coherent story, with a HUGE background as well. You can easily hear that as well in that they use the same common musical thread on the entire album. In between they also use a choir to narrate the story, as well as bringing some welcome relief from the constant onslaught of brick-wall black metal. There is easily enough ideas and themes here that could be separated for 3-4 further albums. Sam Meadors vocals provide an excellent focal point for (what could have so easily been nothing but chaos) the listener. When he's not shrieking like a drunken banshee, he croons like nobodies business. The way he manages to switch from croaking to clean, un-vilified singing is mesmerizing. If he ever jacked in metal and wanted to go solo with some un-adultered rock, I think he would be able to make a handsome living. Of course the drummer not only provides the rhythm grounding for all this potential chaos he also mixed and produced this phenomenal piece of work. He manages to keep the music sounding huge and crisp, without it being sterile.
Now. I have not mentioned the EP, Incultus, that came out before. I wish I had come across it before the LP, but ah well it can't be helped now. Apparently the story and the world they created with the story is first set out here. It is here were we are first introduced to the brothers Thanos and Ereptor in the world Etymos. Their struggle against each other and eventual betrayal. What is interesting to hear on this album are the plethora of guest vocalists that sort of flesh out the story a bit better then they do on Blessed He With Boils. Natacha Nielsen did the album cover on here as well and it is again a album cover of desolate beauty. It sets the scene of what to expect really well and if I had been browsing through HMV (RIP) I would have bought both purely on the strength of the album covers. The music is definitely rawer on here and there's more done with black metal riffs, less orchestral work and the use of cookie monster growls also adds an extra effect. In a good way.
The talent pool that is floating in this band has extremely deep and I'm quite happy to float in it when my headphones are attached.
Well then, this is a new series. Now I'm going to look a bit more towards the usual suspects of places where you'd find usual music. The reason I decided to write this one was mainly because for the first time(and hopefully not the last) somebody actually wanted be to write about them. So thank you for asking.
Throwdown Syndicate is a band from Washington D.C., they play a variant of Rap Metal, or Ghettometal like they want to call it. I have to admit that as soon as I read the music description my back went up a bit. Metal/Rap. Not usually a mix I'm to fond of. I still remember the Nu-metal days, and those were not good days. But having said that I did have a copy of Limp Bizkit's Significant Other and Linkin Parks Hybrid Theory. Those albums have since gone their merry way of become Two fierce beer coasters. And it certainly didn't help when the first song is called Ghettometal. Thankfully these guys are nothing like the bands I've mentioned. Their a lot closer to Rage Against The Machine and WAR. Probably more the latter than the former. Which is great as I love both bands, RAtM is still close to my heart if only purely through their 'Killing In the Name' song. They've mentioned Bad Brains as a major influence. Now admittedly I've never listened to them, so I can't really comment on that one. But there is aspects of hardcore and punk on display here with plenty of blues and funk thrown in for good measure with thrash riffs spicing the pot. The only other band I could probably mention in the same breath as these guys is Body Count, the main difference being is that Throwdown Syndicate have written better songs and sound like they mean it.
The first two maybe three listens I was a little bit skeptical, but with further listens I've really started to enjoy most of the songs. First of all I have to say that I do love the groovy funk riffs and the fit perfectly with James Reeves vocal style. The problem I am finding with a couple of the songs is that they feel a little half finished. Take for instance the song 'Shaman' it does start of with this rather nice funky riff a la WAR, the drums do this nice little jazz rhythm and the bass. Oh my gods the bass on that song is HUGE! And it feels like it's building up to something, something big, something HUGE! With James spoken word floating on top. Then a guitar solo comes in sort of out of nowhere, and yes the guitar solo is good. This crescendo keeps on coming, but the peak never seems to come. And then the guitar solo fades and the listener is sort of left hanging, wondering what happened.
But then the song 'Shame' aside from the intro samples, that song just rocks. Plain and simple. I can well imagine it being a concert favourite. The riff is brilliant. The drums are again very very groovy and bombastic. The untitled song is another great song, thrashy as fuckery, funky like a gone off cheese, and James seems to be channelling the spirit of Derrick Green. Again here the instruments really do sync together. 'Discontent' is another song I would love to feel in a live setting. James goes straight for the jugular on this one, and does it great.
There are some great ideas being thrown about, some stick while others don't. Most of those that don't could, the ones that don't is the use of samples. James has got a very good voice and sounds very much like he's used to command. This band seems to be very much a labour of love and you can hear that in his earnest vocals and lyrics. He deeply cares about the subjects that he's singing about and that adds an extra layer of enjoyment for the listener. His guitar playing is well played and does some great riffage, and decent solos. His bass playing in some cases though sounds a lot better, and that is saying something. I always love hearing the bass taking a bit more of a centre stage to provide the groove. The drums seem a bit troublesome in the first song and the instruments don't mesh very well on there but it sounds like it would just take more practice to get over than anything else. but after that they seem to pick up the pace and give decent backing to the music, and as I said before on the song Shame and Discontent you can really feel and hear some great rhythms. The drummer Andy Och on the whole is a great choice.
The bottom line I would say is that this is a band that is worth following and see what they do.They've got the ideas, they've got the chops and they've got the attitude.
One of my favourite albums of all time is Back To The Times of Splendor by Disillusion. I still pull that album out regularly to listen to, 6 songs spanning nearly 57 minutes of eternal beauty. I bought my copy in 2004, and I was captivated. But also perplexed as to why they didn't get the press that they deserved! Here's a band that shits out an instant classic first time trying and barely a whimper was registered in the metal press. And I could not wait for a sequel. Which never came. But never mind, they did publish another album called Gloria in 2006.
What an absolute off the wall straight from the left field that was. And I loved it. Most people didn't. Most people wanted 'Back to the Times of Splendor II'. But with 'Gloria' Disillusion were showing their progressive side, which for some reason seemed to irk people. There were shouts of sell-outs going of course, but you can't really be a sell-out if you are not delivering what people want.
So what happened. Welll, what seems to have happened is that Andy Schmidt, nee Vurtox, got sick and tired of playing BTtToS live over and over again. And having the stress of trying to find a backing band and preferably a small orchestra as well. Probably wanted to play something slightly simpler. More hard hitting in some ways, and rest his larynx!
Andy uses on this album mostly, baritone singing, bass singing, occasionally he'll a sort of melodic spoken word or pure spoken word and only couple of times will he break and use his death rattle. I loved his vocals on BTtToS but he really does come into his own on Gloria. His vocal performance on here is simply glorious. The overtly German pronunciation of some words that has sometimes distracted me in the previous album and the EP's released before that. I might be putting a lot compliments onto him, but the man deserves it. Though of course I don't really want to take away from the rest of the band, the drummer Jens Maluschka does fantastic job as well if only in keeping up with Andy's vision. The fills and the rhythm are just right every time and always interesting as well. Just listen to this song:
Though where Gloria really wins is how unusually built it is. It weaves, breaks and turns in all sorts of directions, but those weaves, breaks and turns are never unnecessary and most importantly never for show, well maybe a little but it never feels like it. I hesitate even calling this album Metal, because there is so much else going on but no other label really fits, and with metal being THE most diverse genre going it is probably the only label that fits. The closest would be industrial metal, some people will probably complain(and did) about how similar Andy sounds like Till, but the proof is in the listening. And while I love Rammstein, they haven't put out an album that sounds as interesting as this one. Yes in one song "The Hole We Are In" starts out as blackish Death metal song, but then just towards the end swerves into sort of lounge-ish dance song.
Then there are two instrumental songs one of the called Lava which always makes me envision flying over Iceland and seeing two separate volcano's going off in between grassland and black deserts. Maybe the reason I imagine flying is because of the previous instrumental called Aerophobic. Both of these tracks are very bass heavy and often it sounds like they've thrown away the guitars and replaced them with basses.
So as I said previously no it isn't 'Back To The Times of Splendor: In search for more money' that everyone was hoping for (me included) but it is a brilliant album completely blew away any misconceptions (mine included) about these guys and proves that they are quintessential progressive musicians. But the only problem is that this album was released in 2006, and nothing has been heard or seen since of these guys. Which makes me a very very sad blogger.
Soo... with all my writing on heavy metal and the like. I started thinking about an album that I've got in my collection and only comes out of my collection every 3-5 years or so now. Why? Well, every time I listen to it nowadays I cringe... just a little. But enough. I was in my teens when I saw this album on sale in my local store, and for some reason I got really really fascinated with the album cover. The overwrought testosterone on display. Plenty of metal on display. At the time it was my favourite album bar none. My teenage hormones overloaded. Big time. This was THE BEST BAND IN THE WORLD! They are the Kings of Metal. The true warriors of True Metal. The Loudest Band in Existence. The True Heirs of True Metal. The power that was being displayed was just AWESOME. Even the ballad was great. Those drums. Those guitar licks! Those basslines!! That VOICE!!! I mean they even have a song called Number 1 singing about how they are Number 1!
Nothing could compare to these Metal Gods. The cover was one of the best I had ever seen. The songs suitable simple to sound extremely complex to my teenage inexperienced ears. Bombastic and overblown, but fucking hell I didn't care. It was the hardest, fastest and most emotional album in my very very very small collection.
I did at some point acquire Hail To England, which unfortunately was to my ears just an unlistenable mess, turgid turd of an album that should never have seen the light of day or my money. Bridge of Death was good and the verse sections of Kill With Power were okay, but the rest was as bad as anything that Limp Bizkit shat out.
Oh dear.
Now that I look back. With slightly older eyes and listen to it with even older ears, I cannot really hear what it was that I used to love about this album.
For those who do not know Manowar, they are the self styled loudest, heaviest, truest metal band in the world. Today. Their motto is DEATH TO FALSE METAL, I'm still not sure what False Metal is, but what the hey lets just say that it's Linkin Park for the hell of it. But yeah, they dress in loin cloths and lots and lots of leather, well oiled and worked out muscles. They sing about Nordic Gods, Klingons without the foreheads, used Orson Welles to provide narration in their first album and when the remade that album they hired Christopher Lee as a replacement, you can never see the face of their mascot(Presumably the artist is just shit at painting faces, like a reverse Da Vinci), motorbikes, guitar solos, how they are united in everything lots of death and Valhalla singing, choirs, Wagner worshipping, songs about Heavy Metal and how they are the best and truest heavy metallers, overlong over complicated bass solo songs and so on and so forth.
It all started in the 80's, DeMaio was a roadie for Black Sabbath and during one of the tours he met his soulmate called Ross The Boss. Yes... Ross... The Boss. Somehow they found a drummer and their shining light of a singer Eric Adams. DeMaio has since got rid of Ross... The... umm... Boss, who now has a solo band called Ross The Boss. DeMaio apparently is the, mmm, brains, of this band. He writes most of the music, all of the lyrics and is generally the one who plans and pans out their ideal image and such like.
Now, this I will concede. Eric Adams is a phenomenal singer. Though he does use his 'rough' whiskey voice on most of the songs on Louder Than Hell, which does irk a little bit. But he actually pulls it off. But then he utilizes his natural voice on the power ballad Courage, a true lighters in the air, hug your metal brother song if there ever was one and most of King. He breaks out in falsetto during The Gods Made Heavy Metal frequently. The man has pipes made of steel, no doubt about that.
Karl Logan is a fairly nifty guitar player, nothing remarkable. Just a slightly heavier version of Ross... the Boss. Though he does get a chance to shine in both Today is a Good Day To Die and My Spirit Lives On. The latter one he is trying his very very best to channel Yngwie Malmsteen. This was his first album with Manowar, so I suppose he was still just finding his feet (fingers).
DeMaio. Well. Meh. He provides a good base with his bass (See what I did there!). Might just be a little bit one-dimensional with his music and lyric writing. But so far he's managed to make a living out of the same songs since the early 80's, so who am I to argue.
Scott Columbus, may he rest in peace, apparently needed specially re-inforced drumkit due to his heavy hitting. But it doesn't really come across on this album.
But yeah. I've still got this album in my collection, I will probably never get rid of it, unlike my copy of Korn's Untouchables or Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory. And while I was writing this I listened to it again. And actually, yes there are cringe worthy moments, like when they sing:
"Wearin Leather On A Horse Of Steel I Ride"
"Had To Punch My Teacher Out Now He's Chilled
I Might Stay In School Or Die In Prison
Either Way It's My Decision One More Beer And Heavy Metal
And I'm Just Fine"
"Brothers Of Metal
We Are Fighting With Power And Steel
Fighting For Metal Metal That's Real"
"The Gods Made Heavy Metal And They Saw That It Was Good
They Said To Play It Louder Than Hell We Promised That We Would
When Losers Say Its Over With You Know That It’s A Lie
The Gods Made Heavy Metal And It’s Never Gonna Die"
"The Time Has Come All Training Done
The Muscle And The Blood Will Come To Pay"
But you know what, yes it is all very silly, but the music isn't bad, Eric Adams has got great pipes, and on a drunken night this is quite enjoyable to put on. So far all of you who haven't listened to it, here's the whole album.
Blaze Bayley is a man who's career I've kept a fairly close eye on. He was working as the frontman for my favourite band of all time, when I first started getting into metal. I bought Virtual XI when it came out and loved it back then, still like it now. I just wish that the rest of guys had held Steve Harris down, and hired some one competent to mix and produce that album, oh and The X-Factor(Oh and if someone could have hidden the notes from The Angel & The Gambler that would have been even better). After listening to some of the Wolfsbane stuff I can understand why he was hired as Bruce's replacement, and of course after hearing how dark X-Factor is, Blaze's vocals fit perfectly.
But couple of years later he was asked to leave, in favour of the return of Bruce Dickinson.
Which in so many ways was the correct decision. That year (2000) we were honoured to be bestowed with TWO excellent heavy metal albums. One being Iron Maiden's Brave New World, and the other Blaze Bayleys Silicon Messiah. While Brave New World was a good album, Silicon Messiah was a mother-fucking great album! It just sounded to good, and Blaze sounded revitalized. Like a man with a point to prove, which he did in spades. Blaze has always had an interesting voice, a very bass oriented baritone, he carries his notes very well and has a lot of passion. There isn't a lot of breadth to it, but he more then makes up for that in emotion and he never hits a false note either. For that record he hired 4 extremely hungry (metaphorically of course) and extremely talented musicians. And boy do they let rip throughout the album. And the one that came after this Tenth Dimension. Which follows in the same Sci-fi tinged Heavy Metal. During the early part of his career Blaze hired master music producer Andy Sneap, who does have this amazing ability to make things sound big, clean, yet not too polished, with a HUGE emphasis on the guitar sound. No wonder he has done jobs for Nevermore, Megadeth and many many more. Now maybe if only Steve Harris had hired him for both X-Factor and Virtual XI they wouldn't have been so violently shat upon. On his very first album Blaze wrote a song that he still hasn't been able to top, and probably never will. Not that it matters that much, but this song is massive, it's huge, emotional, victorious, ponderous and all around a beautiful song.
Unfortunately it wasn't to last. The band started slowly crumbling, with the drummer leaving first, followed by the bassist. Still he did have the guitarists left, and Andy Sneap was still around to help when Blood & Belief came out. This one was a lot more personal record. It seemed that Blaze's world was coming apart, as can be demonstrated in the song Hollow Head, which apparently was written using Blaze's counselling sessions. In some ways it's also the most controversial song he's done, but that's more to do with fucking metal hipsters who didn't like that fact that it had a lot of groove going on.
There were some other great metal assault tunes like Alive and Tearing Yourself to Pieces. The former being a song where Blaze releases his catharsis of hatred towards his critics, very much like when Iron Maiden did a song(With Blaze) called Virus. As can be guessed Blaze doesn't have much love or patience for those who continually criticise him for nothing else except replacing Bruce Dickinson. Which unfortunately is a legacy Blaze will never get rid of, and shouldn't either. The latter is about... well I'm not entirely sure. It's sort of seems to be in the same vain as Alive... and Virus. But it's got a great groove, fantastic riff and a brilliant chorus section. It would appear that it's about someone who bigs himself up, but refuses to show why he thinks he's such a big guy. Essentially, possibly maybe it's a take down of bullies who suffer from low self esteem and penis envy.
But where Blood & Belief really really strikes gold is in the Power Ballad department. There are three absolutely mind boggling, lighters in the air, hair at the back of your neck rising power ballads to be shown. Blood & Belief, Life and Death and Regret. The one I can relate most to is the last one, where Blaze puts all of his regrets on the table, about all the things that could and should have happened, what he should have, could have done instead, how he should have learned his lesson sooner, that there's a hole in his chest. At first it could be said that he's singing about his time in Iron Maiden, but then again we don't know that for certain. But as I said before, this song is the one I can relate to the most, and it always without fail brings tears to my eyes when I listen to it.
Then things started going tits up. The rest of the band left. With Blaze having to piece is all together again. The one theme that has been going throughout of Blaze's career is that he soldiers on, never gives up, no matter how often life kicks him in the teeth.
After working with several journeymen musicians, even publishing a live DVD, he came across the Bermudez brothers. Formerly of Under Threat Columbian fame. Well sort of anyway. Under Threat play this Thrashy Death Metal, who's singer was probably their weakest link but musically. Not bad. Not bad at all. And thankfully those influences can be heard on the the two albums he made with them. With them he was joined by a guitarist and artist called Jay Walsh, who also created the album covers for both of the albums that he played on. And of course there's a journeyman drummer, who also wrote a book about their experience of working together called At The End of the Day. To round all of this off Jason Edwards from Wolfsbane did the music production, now there's a man who also deserve a great future in that field. Because the job he does on these two albums was phenomenal.
The first one being The Man Who Would Not Die, it seems now that with every album he has to make the point again that he's here, and he's here to stay regardless of what the nay-sayers say. Again it's just a journey of thunderous heavy metal, maybe slightly heavier then previous output. Which isn't surprising considering the musicians backgrounds. It starts galloping with the title song, and doesn't really let up one bit. Even the power ballad which is probably one of the most touching love songs I've heard. And it all ends with an absolute monster of a track called the Serpent Hearted Man.
I went to see them playing in Lancaster in the Yorkshire House. And I have to say that it was one of my favourite gigs that I've ever attended. I lost my hearing for three days, and it was worth while Blaze ripped through his back catalogue and even did some Iron Maiden songs as well. I had the opportunity to speak to Jay whilst out back smoking in between bands. Got a picture taken with Blaze! So I was an extremely happy metal bunny.
I can imagine that this period was probably the hardest for Blaze, but not musically speaking. Sweet Jebus, he had a sweet band going on. Had just released a brilliant metal album and was about to release another. Then in 2008, his wife died.
Then the following year his father had taken ill and died after battling an illness.
I just... I just... No. I've got nothing. Except enormous respect. He still toured through both of those tragedies. And I was always struck by that tattoo he had on his shoulder with scissors and a microphone crossing each other.
Through all of this, he still managed to publish Promise & Terror. Which was a logical continuation of solid block of newly minted metal. No new ground being broken, just solid lumps of metal assaulting your ear canals like re-inforced cast iron gondolas sailed by Charon himself. But the real crown jewel are the last four songs. Remember when I said that Blaze will probably never release as good as a song as Stare At The Sun. Wellllll, I lied. He did four songs tying with all the emotional shitstorm that had been plaguing him. The thing is, while each song are individually great, they are even better when listened together.
Sadly again, this wasn't to last. There were some major problems in camp, and Blaze dissolved the band citing financial and medical reasons. The financial aspect was mainly because of the Bermudez brothers Visa's, and the medical being Blaze's own fragile mental state.
Since then Blaze has been touring by hiring local bands all around Europe. Been doing stuff with guitar wiz Thomas Zwijsen. Mainly on the acoustic front. He's also toured with another former Iron Maiden singer and benefit fraudster Paul Di'Anno. And published another album bravely called King of Metal. Now it has to be explained that when he's singing about King Of Metal, he's not singing about himself but rather his fans. Then there are rather touching tributes to both Ronnie James Dio and Dimebag. The only thing is I've listened to the album a few times, and I just can't get myself to like it. I want to. The lyrics are as good as ever. But musically... and possibly production wise, well the whole instrumentation sounds a bit flat, there's hardly any oomph going on there especially on the guitars. What made such a big difference on the last albums was that Blaze had guys who were very very guitar oriented producing and mixing the albums... and that album cover. I just can't. I can see what he's going for and I'm really happy to see him going on.
But now that the Best Of is coming out with two new songs, I think the next album might actually be good if those two songs are any indication of what is to come. Though again, he might want to get either Andy Sneap or Jason Edwards to do the mixing again.
I am Metal
I hear Metal
I see Metal
I feel Metal
I think therefore I am
Brain
Police is one of the biggest rock bands in Iceland, all in all they have been playing since 1998. Though they seem to
go through regular cycle of touring, someone quitting or all of the
them quitting, then lots of kisses to make up, then touring. The name
comes from a song by the almighty and all powerful Frank Zappa, called
"Who Are The Brain Police?".
Their biggest influences are without a doubt Kyuss(the fact that they
regularly cover 100° should be a good clue), Fu Manchu and Monster
Magnet meaning that the play Stoner/Desert Rock, with a big party vibe.
Their gigs tend to be sweaty and full of life and thrashing about. So
far they've released 4 albums, But they haven't released an album since
2006, called Beyond The Wasteland
in 2006, which didn't feature the founding guitarist and it got
lambasted. For reasons I do not understand, fair enough it doesn't have
songs like Jacuzzy Suzy, Johnny Babas or The Journey is The Destination.
It's not intense as the self titled album, it is more relaxed and
probably bit more funky. The focus is more on the bass and the singer,
who if Soundgarden ever wanted to continue without Chris Cornell, would
be the perfect replacement. Though there are undoubtedly good rock songs
on there like this one:
Botnleðja
is a punk rock band that decided to reunite last year after many many
years of non-activity(one of them became a nursery teacher). They
started of, in 1994, as very basic very simple punk rock band that barely knew how
to handle their instruments, into some fun loving punk rocksters who blended in brass instruments, into a mature punk rock band... only kidding.
And from what I can hear of the new album that they released this year
sounds like a great amalgam of all the stuff they had done in the past. They are one of those bands that just ooze fun and frivolity from every pore.
For some time they were heavily associated with Blur, because when Blur
played in Iceland Botnleðja were their supporting act, and Blur tried
their best in helping Botnleðja getting famous, so assisted with their
tour in the UK where they played under the name Silt. In fact if you
listen to Song 2 by Blur, you'll hear that influence. In their time
they've released 5(possibly 6) albums, but only one of them got an
international release, Icelandic National Park, which has a wonderful
album cover.
Emiliana
Torrini, has been around for as long as Botnleðja. But her strengths
lie purely on ethereal beauty of her voice. She's done electronic music,
acoustic and pop, and always done it very well. Most people will know
recognise her from The Two Towers, where her contribution was Gollum's Song.
What does bug me very often, is that because she's Icelandic, Female
and Sings, people's first automatic reaction is either "Does she sound
like Björk?" or "She sounds like Björk?", my responses to that are
usually "No" and "Fuck off". Although she does have a solo career going
on it doesn't seem to stop her from writing songs for/with people like
Kylie Minogue, Moby and Sting. She had released three albums in Iceland
before embarking on a moderately successful international career. First
up was the electronic laid back Love in the Times of Science with classy songs like To Be Free, Baby Blue and Easy. From there she went to the acoustic Fisherman's Woman where we can close our eyes and relax to Honeymoon Child, Heartstopper and Serenade. And straight into fun loving poppy jazz of Me and Armini where she had a rather big hit in the form of Jungle Drum and the rather jolly title song.
It has to be said that she comes across as a fun loving elf with a
constant smirk on her face that just makes her adorable and every level.
Well, that's part 2 finished. I've got some ideas on what to write for part three. But reminders are also good.
