A name... and face... that needs no introduction, Black Metal's eponymous household name has returned with his 3rd album Dread Reaver. Nine tracks of blistering Black'n'Roll with a bit more emphasis on the former as has been his modus operandi since this project's inception and Olve Eikemo has returned once again to demonstrate that in spite of all his well-documented struggles, you would be naive to write off the works of a man when his entire genetic make-up is ice cold riff gold.
The first minute of the album sets the tone with driving riffs, pounding double kicks, a *proper* shreddy solo, then Abbath gurgling unintelligibly after the initial blast fades out. Normal service is quickly resumed with Olve's iconic throaty rasp atop a fury of blasts. It's not long until you get that "welcoming an old friend back into your home" sensation and then you've realised he's drunk all of your whiskey and is sodomising your furniture but you absolutely let him get away with it because somehow he has enriched your existence. The onslaught continues until the track close with a fading scream as that old friend makes off into the night with his trophy table leg liberated from the confines of your living room. It's about as impactful an opening statement as Abbath could make to start the record.
Then Scarred Core kicks in and hot damn I could just go and start doing a jig - a drum beat that seldom changes throughout and pure musical infection in the guitars. Once again Abbath has been afforded the luxury of some undeniable musical talent amongst his line-ups for his releases and that theme continues with the furious solos that elevate the riffs and bring that relentless 80's thrash character to each track which is a signature ingredient of the appeal. Ole Farstad, take a bow. There's no instance where his often chaotic lead work comes across as gratuitous and if anything I could only describe it as vital. Mia Winter Wallace (of Nervosa fame, not Pulp Fiction) has returned again to the fold handling the bass duties and Ukri Suvilehto is responsible for turning the kit into some form of thinly spreadable paste.
All of which featured on his previous Outstriders record and if anything the genius move is keeping this group together as that's where the real blueprint for success lies.
Worth noting is that the song-writing approach has shifted for Dread Reaver. Gone are the upwards of 8 minute mid-tempo epics of previous era with no track breaching the 5 minute mark. This is condensed neck-breaking material force fed in rapid succession. Therein lies my main bug-bear with the record as a whole though as I do wish a little more could've been eeked out of one or two of the tracks, particularly when a number of them have intros albeit short - Dream Cull, here's looking at you, especially when the opening riff post-intro is classic Abbath. For what it's worth though that same intensity really suits other pit-inciting numbers like Septentrion, Myrmidon & Trapped Under Ice, and more than anything else this demonstrates the marked departure from the direction of his former project. Speaking of which though, the closing title track Dread Reaver oozes that vintage mid-tempo Immortal vibe whilst paying its own homages to Motorhead through the iconic chorus, but that former style is more in isolation than it has ever been on an Abbath record.
For all the reputational foibles that are so synonymous with Abbath (that this reviewer for one is glad that he's actively been trying to overcome), there's no denying that the man has the uncanny knack of churning out quality riff after quality riff and has been doing so for many a year now. Dread Reaver is further demonstration that this conveyor belt of spinal injury inducing axe-work shows no sign of slowing and whilst I cannot deem this to be anything that will shatter the fabric of the genre nor necessarily even Olve's best work..., it's Abbath, and Dread Reaver delivers shorter and more concentrated doses of the albums that preceded it. If you're a fan, you'll buy into every second and very likely end up breaking the speed limit if you're spinning it on the road. To the uninitiated, give it a whirl - more than anything else it's "fun" which is a very underappreciated attribute in this genre. I for one hope that Olve continues crab-walking for a long time yet. A very solid 8/10
Michael Romeo – War Of The Worlds Part 2 (InsideOut Music) [Matt Bladen]
Michael Romeo – War Of The Worlds Part 2 (InsideOut Music) [Matt Bladen]
The second part of Michael Romeo’s concept piece based on H.G Wells’ book, features one change in the line up but is still full of Symphony Xcess (sorry). Once again we have 13 tracks of incredibly cinematic progressive metal with orchestrations inspired by Hans Zimmer and John Williams, most of which serve as interludes between the songs or brilliant intros, though on Hunted both the stirring orchestral and the virtuoso guitar playing combine for a breathless instrumental towards the climax of the record. It’s not just all about the symphonic elements though, War Of The Worlds Part 2 is also full of the kind of anthemic metal Romeo has been the creator of with Symphony X for so many years. On the last album I stated that I actually thought it was better than the most recent Symphony X album, and Part 2 continues adding even more progressive and experimental flourishes.
Romeo takes the virtuoso, neo-classical guitar playing, of which he is quite rightly considered to be one of the best, to new levels of intensity and dexterity. However he also once again shows his ability in creating the incredibly dense, orchestral scores that are a key element to this record. He’s again backed by the rhythm section of John DeServio (bass) and John Macaluso (drums) but this time Rick Castellano, has been replaced by the more well-known vocals of Croatian singer Dino Jelusick, who has sung in Animal Drive, Trans Siberian Orchestra, Magnus Karlsson’s Freefall and as backing vocalist for both Jeff Scott Soto and now Whitesnake. Vocally similar to JSS and David Coverdale, it would also be remiss not to point out he also has a lot of Russell Allen too, in his husky, powerful tones.
On tracks such as Just Before The Dawn there’s whiff of melodic AOR, as Hybrids brings back the dramatic style of Romeo’s day job as does Parasite. War Of The Worlds Part 2 is more progressive metal mastery from one of the biggest names in the genre. Theatrical, cinematic and glorious heavy metal, War Of The Worlds Part 2 is a welcome return from Romeo and co. With the addition of Jelusick, hopefully there will be some tour dates announced soon as I’d love to see this performed live! 9/10
Breathe Atlantis – Overdrive (Arising Empire) [Zak Skane]
This album starts off to a predictable metalcore suspense opening that consists of tribalistic drum and guitar stabs before it builds up to double kicks and liner chugged guitar riffs. At first I wasn’t really impressed because I’ve heard that formula so many times with bands like Bullet For My Valentine and Parkway Drive, so when a band at a smaller stature does it, it comes off quite beige. It wasn’t until the clean vocals kicked in that it grabbed my attention, with the soaring vocal melodies swooning from verse to choruses their take on the sub-genre became more interesting.
This album starts off to a predictable metalcore suspense opening that consists of tribalistic drum and guitar stabs before it builds up to double kicks and liner chugged guitar riffs. At first I wasn’t really impressed because I’ve heard that formula so many times with bands like Bullet For My Valentine and Parkway Drive, so when a band at a smaller stature does it, it comes off quite beige. It wasn’t until the clean vocals kicked in that it grabbed my attention, with the soaring vocal melodies swooning from verse to choruses their take on the sub-genre became more interesting.
The title track Overdrive generates some nostalgic 2009 era metalcore with the harsh to clean vocal trade offs as well as the dream scape sounding additional guitar tracks that contain sonic remints of bands like Dead By April and I Prevail. The nostalgia gravy train continues with the bouncing dissonant riffs and the catchy choruses with Savoir and Earthquake. Dead And Gone and Heavy Hearts show the bands more aggressive side with the bands pushing more of the meat and potatoes instrumentation to the front of the mix generating a more organic sound, with the lyrical hooks going in a more personal direction, tackling subjects like companionship and setting aside the past. Personally this is the best moments on this album.
Gates Of Hell and Out There oozes melodic death metal inspired lead lines and riffs that take a nod to bands like In Flames and Soilwork and finally their closing track takes us through a journey of ambient beginnings, atmospheric swells to drum break verses to anthemic choruses. Even though it started off on a generic start, Overdrive has become a great listen. The album has reat production; the guitars and bass sounded well recorded whilst the drums sounded realistic and well performed but most importantly the vocals sounded genuine and perfectly processed. The only criticism I would say is that, there could have been more different tempos or time signatures through out some of the songs to keep it interesting. Overall genuine and interesting take on metalcore but it’s on going to reinvent the wheel. 7/10
Daxx & Roxane – DROP (Self Released) [Simon Black]
There aren’t many occasions in this game when you come across a band who started out as a Thrash outfit and morphed into a Hard Rock one. It’s almost as if this New Wave Of Classic Rock thing was more commercially attractive or something? These London boys are a couple of albums in now, doing well with it reputationally and this release is intended to be a tween album stopgap from last year’s self-titled sophomore and whatever is coming (presumably next year).
It’s definitely one for the fan base and is four track EP with covers as diverse as Florence & The Machine, Sammy Hagar, Téléphone and Stevie Wonder. Hagar’s Heavy Metal opens proceedings, which although fast and furious and full of riffage, isn’t cutting new ground. Neither really is Stevie Wonder’s Superstitious, which let’s face it is not a novelty when it comes to covers, but the Florence & The Machine track Delilah works surprisingly well, by virtue of the fact that it the original is so radically different from what you would expect of a hard rock outfit.
There aren’t many occasions in this game when you come across a band who started out as a Thrash outfit and morphed into a Hard Rock one. It’s almost as if this New Wave Of Classic Rock thing was more commercially attractive or something? These London boys are a couple of albums in now, doing well with it reputationally and this release is intended to be a tween album stopgap from last year’s self-titled sophomore and whatever is coming (presumably next year).
It’s definitely one for the fan base and is four track EP with covers as diverse as Florence & The Machine, Sammy Hagar, Téléphone and Stevie Wonder. Hagar’s Heavy Metal opens proceedings, which although fast and furious and full of riffage, isn’t cutting new ground. Neither really is Stevie Wonder’s Superstitious, which let’s face it is not a novelty when it comes to covers, but the Florence & The Machine track Delilah works surprisingly well, by virtue of the fact that it the original is so radically different from what you would expect of a hard rock outfit.
Closing with Argent Trop Cher the EP ends on a bounce with a good anthemic floor-filler bringing to a close this enjoyable interlude that gives a slightly different take on where they are coming from influence wise. Roll on the album… 7/10
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