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.
Here is another band, called Fjoergyn, that I had been aware of some time. I had given them a listen few years back and then somehow just buried the memory of it. I had liked what I heard. I recently re-searched for them on Spotify and it was worth it. They have been advertised as Avant-Garde Black Metal, while I agree with the Black Metal portion, I'm not so sure on the Avant-Garde one. Oh certainly they are unusual and unique. But I'd say they are more Progressive then Avant-Garde though how I'd exactly define the difference I am not too sure about. These guys aren't afraid to mix it, for example they've got a song on their album 'Jahreszeiten' called 'Wie Jahr Um Jahr', which seems to be built upon a lullaby in structure and it is beautiful to listen to (As it turns out there is a song on that album that uses a lullaby, but it's not this one). There is a lot of classical going on, some Viking Metal thrown in for good measure, it's epic as epic can be. We have our black metal screecher mixing it with a clean vocalists, flutes, acoustic guitars, lots of nature elements on display and all sung in the second best metal language available to humankind. One of the aspects that really drew me towards them was their album cover designs. Which I have to say are the least metal album covers I have seen, especially for a black metal band. Their light and full of rather pleasant colours. They've been around since 2003 in some kind of form, though to be honest there is only one guy left of that original line-up but for the most part it has contained two guys Martin L. who originally played the bass but now occupies the drum seat and Stephan L. who has done guitars, keyboards and all manners of different vocals. And for a long period they worked as a duo but currently they work as a five-piece with an extra vocalist and an extra guitar player. It had originally been conceived as Stephan as a solo project with the aim to get some orchestral compositions. But as with so many good things it got even better when he decided to add some guitars to it.
Ernte Im Herbst
Their first album came out in 2005 and it was called 'Ernte im Herbst', which roughly translates as 'Autumn Harvest'. But before I go into the music, just take your time and look at that album cover will you. It is beautiful. Something you can't say often about metal album covers let alone black metal album covers. It's beautiful, it's serene, it's tranquil. Like a Quantum Weather Butterfly that flaps it's wings to create a storm. I was half-expecting an album full of pan pipes with thunders in the background. Apparently this is a first of a trilogy regarding nature's revenge against humankind, which makes these guys metal eco-warriors a bit like Gojira. From the start we are lulled into this false sense of security in the form of sort of medieval orchestra with bells and suchlike then towards the end of the first song we get thrown into a black metal song with plenty of blastbeats. For a debut album it is really well crafted, well accomplished and really well thought out. The interplay between the vocalists provides a great contrast, as well as the acoustic instrumentation against electric. The symphonic element almost sounds genuine and not just something hammered with synths. In one song called 'Requiem', they manage to reinterpret Beethovens 'Ode To Joy'. The flowing melodies intertwine very well with the eco-viking brutality that comes with it. A lot of credit has to go to Stephan Löscher, he seems to be the mastermind behind Fjoergyn. His guitar work is excellent, his keyboard playing is excellent and his singing which goes from clean baritone to screaming, screeching and howling. In terms of vocal talents I'd say he ranks alongside Martin Wiese from Enid. He obviously has also been listening to a lot of Solefald and Vintersorg and has been modelling his singing to that style. The drum programming is really well done, so well done I never actually paid it any notice that they weren't real until their Last.FM profile pointed it out, though now that I listen to it again the double drums should have given it away but I suppose that is the good thing about good songwriting like the one that is one show here, you ignore like quibbles like that in order to enjoy the whole. Towards the middle we have an instrumental called 'Wenn Stürme Ruhen' which is another beautiful (I know I've been using that word a lot but it applies so often) I would pay good money to hear that song being performed by a proper orchestra. It comes with sort of renewed hope in mankind, though the song that follows quickly demolishes that. For a debut album it is almost as close to perfect as you could get.
Sade Et Masoch
In 2007 Fjoergyn released Sade Et Masoch. The title refers to Marquis De Sade and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. The men who lent their names to Sadism and Masochism. Now the album cover has a little bit more of sinister feel to it. Presumably the apple is meant to represent the forbidden fruit and the maggots for what happened after it was bitten. Or it could be representing the apple that Snow White was given thus we also have the angel wings. Who knows. But it is another very simple, very elegant cover. On this one Martin decided to take his place on the throne behind the drumkit. And boy does it show. The production is again crystal clear, the musicianship has improved and the songwriting that was already great has become that little bit greater. The melodies are bigger. The ideas thrown about all hold together. There are more notes taken from the Falkenbach book of Viking Metal. There is even some groove metal thrown in for good measure on the song 'Katharsis'. Stephan still duels with himself on the vocal front, though not as much as on their debut and does it well. With plenty of Norwegian style black metal vocal screeching. There isn't a weak spot to find on either of these albums.
Jahreszeiten
Then in 2009 they released the conclusion to their story called 'Jahreszeiten', which translates as 'Seasons'. This time we have a four piece playing. And now we're back to the elegant beautiful album cover. Again the cover completely betrays the content of the album, the only thing I could imagine it representing the end yet with the seeds of new beginnings floating off. The music follows the same game plan as the past two, but it's more fleshed out with those two added musicians. There is some great bass slapping going on which I always enjoy listening to, probably because of my love of Iron Maiden. Talking of Iron Maiden there are some great dual guitar playing going on on this album, with harmonized guitars that Dave, Janick and Adrian would be proud to play. Out of all three this album has to be my favourite, those two extra musicians added a lot to the sound even though the sound was already big, but they provide more oomph, more meat onto the juggernaut that is Fjoergyn. It all flows a little easier then on the previous releases, which you would only really notice when you listen to them in sequence. And my gods Martin proves what an excellent drummer he is on this album, with no unnecessary fills, knows when to show restraint and when to go full on ear canal attack. Some new idea's are explored for instance in the song 'Jera', Stephan decided that the best tactic was to narrate the song with orchestral music in the background and again that is a piece of music I would so love to hear with a full symphony providing the music. The main melody from 'Sturmzeit' is lifted from a German lullaby (Yes they exist) called 'Guter Mund, du gehst so stille'. Some Alt-Rock is attempted then aborted for a better song in 'Der Herbst ist da'. And some industrial is thrown in for good measure on 'Der Himmel fällt'. All in all it's a brilliant album, again they are unafraid to throw ideas about and see which ones stick. But the really great thing is that all of those ideas do stick.
Monument Ende
And now for their latest opus. 'Monument Ende', this was released in 2013. Now we have what could be construed as a classic metal album. Black with some greys, faded out trees and this beautiful red aureole. What it all means I have no idea, but it is another gorgeous album cover. On this one Martin decided to opt out of the lead vocals and hand in those reins to Marcelus, he had been playing the guitar for them for a while and does seem to be slightly more professional singer. Now Martin doesn't have to duel with himself. There is more death metal going on here then in the previous albums. They still follows this throw everything at the wall technique and somehow everything does. While they are obviously influenced by a lot of other bands, music is mostly derived from classical compositions. Those orchestra moments are done so well it's nearly impossible to figure out whether Martin did it all on his computer or if he managed to hire a small symphony in order to flesh out his ideas. There aren't really any weak songs, only songs that could be said to be weaker then others, but even that doesn't do justice to how really really good the songwriting is on this album. In fact not just on this album but all of them. My personal favourite has to be 'Thanatos', it's big and majestic, it leaves a trail of destruction after listening to it. There are black metal riffs, classic heavy metal riffs, galloping bass playing, harmonized singing. In essence it's the perfect song to showcase their talents. It most definitely wouldn't sound out place on a latter day Rotting Christ album that is for sure. The story seems to be centering around a destruction of a town, there is a malevolence permeating the whole album. One of the songs is even called 'Der Monolog des Antichristen', occasionally you will hear the laughter of children being slowly faded away into the sound of burning. Thankfully there seems to be some kind of salvation towards the end of the album, though it doesn't quite feel like it. It took them four years to create this album and it is four years really well spent. I'll be very excited to hear the next one because I would love to hear how they are going to top this album. So far they've improved every time they added another musician so the next one should be something groundbreaking.
One of those blogs that I make a point to keep reading is Angry Metal Guy. I've found out about several great albums thanks to Mister Angry and his Merry Crew of Debauchery. Not only do they do quality metal reviews, but whenever they step outside the metal comfort zone it on the whole tends to be great stuff they write about. I also have a special enjoyment of reading lists and they do some awesome lists on there. But the one that influenced this blog entry was where Mister Angry had alluded that he might be leaving the site. Most of the list I concurred with, others I hadn't listened to. But there was one name that I had never heard of and the way he described it sounded intriguing and almost joyous:
Act III is a ride that shows off everything you need to know about this band and it’s an immensely entertaining ride—orchestras, Queen harmonies, and a 40 genre-style-changes later, you’ll just want to start the disc over again.
How can anyone resist a description like that? The band he was talking about? The Dear Hunter and their album Act III: Life And Death. Now due to the name I actually got confused and thought that they were referring to this indie rock/post punk band Deerhunter. But thankfully it wasn't. So I went on Spotify and gave it a listen. And then another. And then another. And then another. And then another. I think I forgo listening to any other album for about 5 days. It really is that good. So of course being the music nerd that I am I decided that I have to listen to EVERYTHING they've done and read more about them.
Casey Crescenzo
Of course since then I've found out that it isn't really them, it's a him. Casey Crescenzo is his name, multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire. He first hit the spotlight when he was a member of a band rather clumsily titled The Receiving End of The Sirens. I haven't really listened to that band but maybe I should. They apparently were categorized as Hardcore, which generally puts me off fairly soon. But I am going to have to put those reservations to the side. Since what Casey has done with The Dear Hunter has got me extremely intrigued. Casey had started writing stuff outside of the band for a while, material that he didn't feel would fit in the general oeuvre of The Sirens. After a while it would seem that they asked him to leave, presumably because his mind was else where. Ah well, their loss. And they folded a couple of years later. Their loss, our gain.
So Casey decided to throw his weight behind The Dear Hunter. The best way I could describe the music that The Dear Hunter comes out with would be that it is everything that Coldplay wish they could do, but can't. If Freddie Mercury were still alive this is the direction that Queen would have taken. And there is a little bit of Elbow in there as well. Nearly every genre is covered in some way or other and it all fits perfectly. The music swings from one mood to the other using one genre and blending into another. It all sounds very familiar without being repetitive and staying nearly flawlessly original. What we got was an epic concept album, actually. We got Three epic concept albums. All telling the story from birth to death of a character named The Dear Hunter. The story takes place in the later years of the nineteenth century into early parts of the twentieth century. In terms of scope and amount of ideas that are going on the only real comparison would be to Coheed & Cambria who did a five part story, two of which were comic books and three albums where they mixed Heavy Metal, Prog, Hardcore all being conducted with Rush mentality, in fact Casey's singing style is not that dissimilar to Claudio, if only a little less nasally. It is quite obvious that Casey is also an omnivore when it comes to music and he's not afraid to wear his influences in his sleeve.
Act I
The first album was called Act I: The Lake South, The River North, in which the main character is born to a prostitute and a soldier. The father doesn't care so the mother decides to try and raise The Boy on her own, so she renounces her old lifestyle moves to the countryside but in the end she returns back to being a prostitute most likely in order to support her child financially. This album apparently is also bit of a family affair Casey did most of the instrumentations, but recruited his brother to drum and his mother to do some backing vocals. While it doesn't go for the same uber-genre crossing as the subsequent albums, it is by no means any less interesting. There is a lot of classic feel to this album, with plenty of indie rock thrown in, with lots of harmonized vocals. Though in one song there is plenty of slow swing, jazz if you will thrown in the form of "The Pimp and The Priest" with this slight malevolent sound going right through it. It's a short album, well comparatively speaking, and it's a lovely album. Great starting point.
Act II
The second album was titled Act II: The Meaning of, And all Things Regarding Ms. Leading. This album deals with the teenage years and very early adulthood. The story starts with The Boy burying his mother and setting off for the big city to figure out the history of his mother and possible fatherhood. Whilst there he meets a girl named Ms. Leading, they make love but as it turns out she is a prostitute working for the same pimp that his mother worked for. Eventually his heart his broken and he leaves, with a bad taste in his mouth. The music is massive! In scope, scale and grandeur. Not to mention that the album is also almost twice as long as the previous one. There is a lot more going on in terms of musicianship and general noise then in the previous album, the album starts of with a classical beginning and gets then thrown into hard rock territory. There is a lot of early 1900's feel to this album which when you consider the period it is meant to be set in makes, well, sense. There's swing to be had in great quantities and harmonized vocals set along with some screaming singing. But I wouldn't have it any other way because in my mind this album is a great teenage angst album without being overtly (and I hate to use the term but) emo. But there is this joyful playing that goes through all the album, especially when the swing and jazz comes through. And the melancholic moments occur on a fairly frequent basis as fits with the story. The best use of that would be in the song "Blood of the Rose". This is a great album and I would love to hear the material that was cut in order to shorten the album.
Act III: Life And Death
And the concluding album that ties up all the loose ends(well not really) and the pinnacle of the story arc is the aforementioned Act III: Life and Death. It is as close to a perfect concept album as you could get. The background for the album is the First World War. During this story he meets his half-brother without knowing. At one point during the war, there is a bit of downtime and a group of soldiers start sharing stories of their past lives and as it turns out his father happens to be one of them, where he talks about going to a brothel and sleeping with a prostitute called Ms. Terri. During this time the father is nearly killed only to survive because of the half-brothers heroic sacrifice and due to the fathers indifference The Dear Hunter poisons him. The story ends with him taking his half-brothers identity and walking away. If Casey makes good of his promise and releases a book that expands on the story of The Dear Hunter I will be buying it. As for the music on here, well it is again bombastic and grand. There is a lot going on with some serious genre-bending going on. One song ends with a traditional soldiers song, another song goes for folk music with great use of the banjo. There's also hints of arena rock with this big huge massive guitar going on a rampage, akin to Jeff Wayne's War of The Worlds. I don't think Casey will be able to top this album, but quite frankly he doesn't need to.
The Color Spectrum
After the massive story arc about The Boy, Casey decided to go for another huge undertaking and created an EP to represent The Colour Spectrum. Truthfully I haven't listen to all of those, but the ones I have heard have been very good in particular the Yellow Ep and Orange Ep. They all seem to go for this same genre bendifying music that had been done so well with the Acts. It really does help that Casey is a very very capable songwriter, helps even more that he's backed up by extremely capable musicians who assist him in getting his visions to the public. One of these days I will have to listen to all of the EP's when I get the time of course.
Since then he's put out an album named Migrant, this album came out this year and on it Casey really scales back the bombasticity. But thankfully he has enough talent to work with minimalistic approach. There is no concept threading all the songs, instead what we get are individual songs with individual focus. And it does give this open and unrestrained feel about it. The songs are good. I mean they are really good. All the songs are rather hard to define genre-wise, so the best category to use would be indie quite frankly as that is what it is.It is a lot more contemplative album with a more introverted sound to it, and in some cases it sounds more personal with songs like Bring You Down and Shouting at the Rain, the latter one also features an absolutely heartbreaking video. There is a lot more Elbow sounding songs as well, the perfect example of that being Whisper, songs that are sort of geared towards being played with a string quartet and big hearty choruses.
I think it is safe to say that The Dear Hunter have buried themselves into my ear canal and are flatly refusing to leave and I won't be asking them to leave.
Now, apparently. This is my fortieth entry on this blog. This is not by any means the first blog I have written. I used to keep one called Judas Disciple and another called Mind of the Buddha. The former was in Icelandic and the latter in English. Both pretty much died because (A) I couldn't be asked any more and (B) Social Networks took over. I returned back to blogging for two reasons. (1) I enjoy writing (2) because I wanted to hone my writing skills. So the general idea here is just to write. Whatever I feel like, mostly as people have no doubt noticed is that I like to write about music. Do I think that my opinion matters to anyone? No not really, but I don't see why that should really matter either. Do I have anything to add to discussions that are heavily covered? Yes I do. It might not be read always because people have this conception of me that I only ever write about heavy metal music, which is notalwaystrue. Yes I do like heavy metal, and it does make up bulk of what I listen to, yes I've written about Queensryche, twice. I've written about Iron Maiden, twice. I've written about Sepultura, twice. I've written about Disillusion, twice. But I'd like to think that my taste is a bit more eclectic then that. The focus for this entry is again on music. But this time it is in slightly different format. For some reason, and I can't really put my finger on why or when it started, I have always loved cover songs. Not sure what it is, but there is something so deliciously great about a well played cover song. But then again when there is something absolutely horrible when you hear a cover song done really really really badly. But then you hear some real corkers like Tori Amos doing Raining Blood by Slayer!
That is how a cover song should be done. The artist covering the song should make it their own, while still keeping a thread that just about hints at the original version. Like Nevermore doing Sound of Silence. I personally never really realized how dark those lyrics are until Warrel Dane sang them:
But they are not the focus of this blog. No the focus is on those bands that make it their business to make wacky cover songs, especially from Hard Rock/Heavy Metal. No I am not talking about something as generic as classically changed songs that has been done to death since Apocalyptica started doing their Metallica covers. No these are something else.
Hellsongs - Dirty Swedes
Hellsongs. These guys are from Sweden and have chosen to focus on doing lounge versions of famous heavy metal songs. They have consisted of three players, two of whom have stayed the entire time. The Keyboardist/vocalist Johan Bringhed and banjo/guitar/vocalist Kalle. They've had three female singers since their formation in 2004, My Engström-Renman. I've liked them since their first album 'Hymns in the Key of 666'. I've always enjoyed their rather exuberant and playful way that they convey so well through their songs like Symphony of Destruction, The Trooper and Seasons in the Abyss. I always feel that little bit happier whenever I've listened to them. The last album I listened to in full was 'Minor Misdemeanors' where you can enjoy summer and sunlight versions of Heaven Can Wait, Welcome to the Jungle and Youth Gone Wild. The main reason, besides their obvious enjoyment of playing, these song work is because these guys are amazing musicians.
Since then they've added electric guitars and drums, which I'm a little skeptical of but since I haven't listened to it yet I'll reserve judgement. But in the meantime I'll just swing my hips to the one's I have heard.
Combo De La Muerta, is an Italian band who chosen to cover songs in sort of Latin-Jazz-Mexican way. Unfortunately it would seem that they've quit since they published their only album 'Tropical Steel' in 2008 but it is a corker of an album. Here you can enjoy Breaking the Law, Peace Sells and South of Heaven. They manage to make these songs fit into a very smoky atmosphere, these could be played during the festival in Rio or maybe during Dia De Muertas. These songs are one some level extremely sensual and do make you want to learn how to salsa. Or maybe eat some salsa, or guacamole with popplers. And again as with Hellsongs these songs work because these guys are amazing musicians and obviously love the songs that they are playing.
Van Canto
Van Canto are probably the strangest band on here. Playing something they've chosen to call Hero metal A Cappella. They hail form heartland of power metal that is Germany and have been playing since 2006. This band consists of 5 vocalists, and one drummer. 2 doing the actual vocals whereas the other three replace the guitars and bass. Majority of their work has actually been based on their own original music. But they've received the biggest attention when they've covered Metallica (So they've got similar history to Apocalyptica). They've done Battery and Master of Puppets. But they've also covered Fear of The Dark, Wishmaster, Kings of Metal and Final Countdown They're control of their larynx is amazing to behold, but the star of the show has to be Dennis Schunke who has to be one of the best vocalists I've heard in a long time, could easily be one of the best vocalists going at the moment. If you don't believe me just listen to Kings of Metal again. And like Apocalyptica it might have started out as just another pet project to have fun with, it has now snowballed into something slightly bigger and they are well worth a listen in their own right not just as a cover band.
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.
I might have talked about before how this one particular VHS influenced my musical appreciation, it was a Kerrang Heavy Metal Kompilation. On it were such heavy metal luminaries as Iron Maiden, Queensryche, Armoured saint and... uhhh... Marillion. Yes Marillion, the progressive luminaries who started out as pretty much like a Genesis tribute band. The song by them that was on this video was a wonderful ode to paranoia called 'He Knows You Know'. Which is a very unusually short and commercial song by them, especially considering that it was when Fish(nee Derek William Dick) leading them. I, of course wasn't to know that he had quit and had been replaced when I came across a CD called 'This Strange Engine', which was being sold in my home towns shop. This was in 1997. I was expecting some rather heavy progressive heavy metal album only due to that song I had heard from Kerrang!
So I was just a little bit shocked when the first song was more of an epic sing-a-long song, 'Man of A Thousands Faces'! With acoustic guitars, piano's, choirs, EPIC CHORUSES! Loved it immediately, but by the goodness of the Metal Gods this was too much lack of metal, but I stuck with it. Then the next one is a bit of AOR pop, 'One Fine Day', still my favourite song of the album, but by Joe it's not metal. The lyrics as always from Marillion are great, this one ponders on our longing just for that one fine day to appear while we work and work and work, hoping that it will all be better when we retire. In the meantime the rain just keeps on pouring, but then when it all does turn out for the best we still don't want to believe it. Cue a rather nifty guitar solo from Steve Rothery.
Now there's a guitar player who hasn't received the accolades and attention he really truly deserves, bit like AndreasKisser of Sepultura. His way of playing is rather understated, but full of melody. He seems to go for the less is more approach and never overstays his welcome, but he always adds to the music. Though you'd hardly notice him there when he's there, the hole would be greatly felt if he left. The songs 'One Fine Day', 'Estonia' and '80 Days' show just how good he is.
The other highlight is of course Steve Hogarth, the man who replaced Fish. He's got a much warmer and melodious singing voice than Fish. Suppose the only thing he hasn't got that Fish did was a rather brilliant word play in the lyrics. But Steve doesn't need to pun his songs, he just writes great stories in lyrical form which on the whole is more interesting than punning. Steve has now been with Marillion for longer then Fish, and released more albums. And although I do like the the Fish Era albums, I still prefer Hogarth's period. For example on the song 'Memory of Water', where Steve has to carry the tune pretty much on his own, I doubt that Fish could have done the same thing.
Now finally after such a long wait, finally we have a metal song! In the guise of 'An Accidental Man' though to be fair it's not really. It's the hardest song on the album and would qualify as a hard rock song, but heavy metal? Maybe in the 70's possibly in the 80's.
What is probably most evident from this album is that there's a strong focus on making songs that the audience can sing along to. But unfortunately that sort of fails a little bit with 'Hope for the Future', it's not a particularly bad song. It just pales a lot in comparison to the rest. It does have some great up lifting lyrics like the rest(bar Memory of Water and This Strange Engine), but on the whole it is probably the only song that can be truly called ordinary(take that Allmusic) on here.
The pinnacle of the album though is the title song, which is an ode to all of those 70's prog rock bands. It goes through nearly all the emotions you can go through. Mark Kelly can finally take centre stage with some great Rick Wakeman-like keyboard flourishes and solo's, Rothery goes ballistic going through his guitar pedals and changing the guitar tone several times, Hogarth goes all falsetto on us, Ian Mosley and Pete Trewavas do all they can to keep up, hold up and show up wherever and whenever they can! There's the expectation that this will all crumble any minute, but the song finishes just as it all should but doesn't. After 15 minutes.
To be honest I was a little shocked at the time when I listened to the album, I was not that enchanted back then, besides Man of a Thousand Faces and One Fine Day, I could just leave the rest. But it kept on coming back, the album that is. And as I've grown older I've started appreciating it more and more. So this blog is written with my 30 year old ears, but using the memories of my 14 year old self.
The love of prog sort of seems to stem from this album. It is not my favourite by Marillion, no that would be Anoraknophobia. The to be honest as well the prog scene is a minefield to walk through, especially when your standard is the song and not the instrument-masturbation-ship. Which is were Marillion is king, the manage to make proggy songs, but without draining your interest in the song itself.
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
Ever since writing about Thy Catafalque, I've been dipping more into the music scene in Hungary. What I have found is a veritable melody treasure chest. Most of the ones I'll be talking about work in the Metal genre bar one. So I'll get this one out of the way right.
The Moon And The Nightspirit, is a folk project headed by Ágnes Tóth and Mihály Szabó. They play this mystical pagan traditional folk music and since the second album they've sung in Hungarian. The duet have been active since 2003. Up to now they've released 4 albums, 'Of Dreams Forgotten and Fables Untold', 'Regõ Rejtem' ( I conjure Magic), 'Ősforrás'(Ancient Sources) and Mohalepte (Moss). The music is filled with traditional musical instruments, along with all the standard folky ones(flute, drums, violin) and they do manage to create a magical universe (even though I have no idea what they are singing about), and not that fancy pancy universe with unicorns and ever healing nature. But the one that where while some creature are friendly there are also the monsters in the dark, there are songs full of desperation, songs full of joy and songs full of sadness and melancholia. All in all it seems like the songs represent the way nature actually is, an amoral being that doesn't care whether you live or die. The majority of the singing is done by Ágnes Tóth who has featured before on albums by Thy Catafalque, and have to admit that she has become one of my favourite folk singers out there outshining most stars like Candice Night. There's this refreshing and beautiful honesty in the way she carries tunes. Mihály Szabó does provide a nice bass full counter point to Ágnes Tóth fragile soprano vocals as well, by being the manly man in the forest clothed with leather loincloth. With every album they've been able to expand their sound, and have since added two more members to flesh out the sound. I for one can't wait to hear their next offering.
It would seem that every country need their version of Mr. Bungle, and the Hungarian one is Damned Spirits' Dance. First time I came across them was when I was browsing my favourite Music Labels webstore, Code666, and they had this odd band, with a rather stupid name. And their album cover didn't help either. And neither did the album's name. Weird Constellations. But I got the album, and it nearly blew me away. Wow, as I said before these guys are the Hungarian Mr. Bungle, which is as good a compliment as I can give really. They've only released this one album, and an EP... oh and a demo. These guys started out as rather high brow melodic Black Metal, like so many other bands do. It does seem like to be the standard to start of as either Black Metal or Death Metal(In some rare cases, j-pop) before trying to go Unfortunately according to Metal Archives, these guys are now On Hold. Which is a real shame because I was really looking forward to the follow up, hopefully with slightly less ridiculous cover and album name.
This next band, are as far as I'm aware, the biggest metal band from Hungary (Someone correct me here please, if I'm wrong). At least the on that gets the most mentions. Sear Bliss, they play a form of atmospheric Black Metal, like no other. Which is probably a good thing because what they do include is brass instruments. And when you least expect it they breakdown into playing this big band brass section in their songs. I don't think any other band could actually get away with it, still sound coherent, melodic and atmospheric. They've been around now for 20 years and have been steadily releasing albums since, all with bassist/vocalist András Nagy at the helm. His vocal style does need getting used to, best probably described as Dani Filth with more testosterone. But it definitely fits the mood that he goes for. The other thing that is worthy to mention is his bass playing, which comes directly from Steve Harris school of thought and at times it sounds like he's playing a fretless one at that. In the last album 'Eternal Recurrence' there is a lot of harmonized singing to complement András ,ehemm, singing. What seems to connect the albums together as well is that it seems like their about this doomed Space Pirate Ship... Think Disney's Treasure Planet with more metal.
The other band I was going to write about was Dalriada. But to be honest I haven't listened to them enough to make an opinion, the only reason I know that they exist is because they somehow beat Thy Catafalque's Rengeteg to Best Metal Award in Hungary. So it wouldn't really be fair of me to do a write up until I've had a good listening session.The bits and pieces I have heard have got be me intrigued to say the least. Arkona springs to mind straight away.
