For Kissin’ Dynamite the 80’s never ended. They have been playing stadium rock since 2007, when they were a teenage band, but since then have been honing their chops on stages across the world. Not that they never had the ambition, writing songs that sound like Bon Jovi, exemplified here by the talk-box wielding More Is More. Like Mr Big on the title track/Learn To Fly and like Def Leppard on Raise The Glass and Queen Of The Night.
Defiantly in the 80’s sound but with modernity of the Scandi AOR scene, though Kissin’ Dynamite are German, so they rely on the twin guitar sound a bit more, putting the keys and synths in the background and focussing on the ‘rockier’ sound with When The Lights Go Out. On their second album for Napalm Records they add even more modern flavours to their style with lots of synthy vibes on the anthemic Iconic, the emotional AOR of Journey on The Best Is Yet To Come and a bit of country balladry on Not A Wise Man which would impress Bret Michaels of Poison.
Anthemic choruses, stadium sized songwriting and a whole load of fun, it’s hard to be critical of Kissin’ Dynamite, you’ve heard it all before but you’ll find yourself humming it for days. 7/10
Octoploid - Beyond The Aeons (Reigning Phoenix Music)
The solo band of Amorphis bassist Olli-Pekka Laine, Octoploid have been called 70's death metal, which probably a better description than I could come up with. Having only been a band for 2 years Beyond The Eons is their debut album and answers the question of what would modern day Opeth sound like with their early death vocals. All of the tracks delve into the likes of Jethro Tull, Camel and even Hawkwind but on top of it all there is 90's style DM growling which is a little jarring at first but you soon get used to it.
The vocals come from Mikko Kotamäki of Swallow The Sun but there are also contributions from Tomi Joutsen and Tomi Koivusaari (Amorphis), Petri Eskelinen (Feastem), Janitor Muurinen (Xysma, Mannhai) and Jón Aldará (Hamferð), allowing the harsh vocals to mingle with the cleans giving each song it's own presence. Alongside Laine in the rhythm section is seasoned stoner rock drummer Mikko Pietinen, Peter Salonen plays guitars and shows his experience in the psych rock scene, Samu Leminen and Ile Laaksomaa adding additional guitar parts.
Amorphis keyboard player Kim Rantala adds the synths, Moogs and organs here, Kasper Mårtenson (ex-Amorphis) getting to tinkle the ivories too. A real collaborative effort then between some of the more notable names in the Finnish metal scene. Produced with that warmness of the 1970's, Octoploid's debut album is quite odd at first with the clashing of psychedelic/prog rock and extreme vocals, but play it a couple of times and it does work well. 7/10
Aeons - The Ghosts Of What We Knew (Sliptrick Records)
The Ghosts Of War is the third album by Aeons and it takes them further on their musical journey than the previous two records. Apparently inspired by the technically proficient but progressively minded sound of bands like Born Of Osiris, Veil Of Maya and even early Opeth, low dwelling, introspective atmospherics lead so often into aggressive blasts of virtuosic death/modern/metalcore, for instance songs such as Blood or Circles are very melodic and dramatic, adding some of the Opeth influences but the pace quickly increases on the propulsive Circles.
Throughout the album the guitar interplay between Si Harvey and Scott Sayer is mind-blowing, furious riffs and fret melting solos are punctuated by moments of melodic clarity and single chord/note emotion, such as Ghosts or the arpeggios that go through the Slipknot-esque Thanatos. With Sebastian 'Seeb' Levermann of Orden Organ on mastering, The Ghosts Of What We Knew has a modern clarity to it, so you can hear the dense layers, intricate instrumentals and roared vocals. Bassist Joe Holland and drummer Justin Wallace provide the brutal and intricate engine room whipping up a storm on ragers such as Home.
Skippy Hilton has really good voice, both in clean and harsh, for me he makes it as sometimes bands like this can be let down by their singer but he carries emotion well on Machines and growls with all his might when things get heavier. That is my one criticism is that for a band that have the comparisons to some of the most progressive and aggressive bands around a lot of this record is quite emotional, slow and atmospheric. If you want outright prog death then Aeons may not scratch your itch. However if you’re a fan of bands Machine Head (modern day), Devin or even Slipknot (modern day) there’s lots to enjoy. 7/10
Isle Of The Cross - Faustus The Musical (Rockshots Records)
If like me you remember the MaYan project formed by the guitarist of Epica, Mark Jansen, then you’ll hear a lot of similarities in the new album from Isle Of The Cross. Both are metal projects, mixed and mastered by Joost van den Broek and both are towards the extreme side of the metalsphere, away from the brighter power/prog metal sound of Ayreon or Avantasia, Isle Of The Cross uses growls more, death/black metal compositions but still has the theatrical, symphonic, cinematic sound of all the bands I’ve mentioned. This is the second album from Isle Of Cross and band leader/composer/producer/musician Je Schneider has attempted to increase the effect of everything he started on the 2020 with a musical based around the cautionary tale about the legendary figure Faust and his dealings with magic and the devil.
It’s a tale that features angels/demons, Lucifer, Mephistopheles, Helen Of Troy and has been told for thousands of years in thousands of forms though this sticks to the Christopher Marlowe telling (Doctor Faustus) from the 16th Century, the pathos of Marlowe’s work captured by the multi-faceted cast of singers and progressive/symphonic compositions which always have a heaviness too them. Schineider wrote and recorded most of the music with Eric Gillette (Temic/Neal Morse Band) adding guitars, but there are five guest vocalists playing the parts I mentioned above. The lead character is played by Daniel de Jöngh of djent band Textures, while Angela Di Vincenzo of Secret Rule plays Helen, Matthieu Romarin ex-Uneven Structure is Mephistopheles and Charles Elliot of Abysmal Dawn is Lucifer. Using multiple vocalists means that the story can be told fully, the soundtrack is epic, dark and brooding while as the singers all work well together like a true ensemble.
While this may be a studio only project currently it’s something that will appeal to fans of symphonic extreme metal and anyone who loves a concept/opera metal. 8/10
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