Jack The Joker - The Devil To Pay In The Backlands (Frontiers Music Srl) [Matt Bladen]
Brazil has a strong connection to prog metal Angra, Shaman etc but now you can add the name Jack The Joker who release their album The Devil To Pay In The Backlands as a debut for Frontiers Music a label who have signed some brilliant prog bands recently, but Jack The Joker are probably the most modern sounding as they are clearly influenced by Haken, Caligula's Horse and Leprous.
Neblina or You Where I Belong for instance has some chunky bass lines from Gustavo Pinheiro creating a jazzy/djenty rhythm along with drummer Vicente Ferreira, You Where I Belong is a particular favourite on this record as it sounds like a Dirty Loops song and I love a bit of Dirty Loops. On Between The Sky Lines there's plenty of soaring highs matched with introspective melodies while Denied counteracts it with some harsh vocals, as Raphael Joer commands your attention with his incredible voice.
They also link to their countries linage as Angra producer Adair Daufembach sits behind the desk, XV taking some inspiration from the neo-classical/power metal sound of Angra and Symphony X too, guitarists Felipe Faco and Lucas Colares shredding up a storm. Along with all of their prog inspirations the Brazilian band also incorporate the traditional styles of maracatu, forró, baião, and frevo into this debut.
The album title is inspired by a famous Brazilian novel and the band have used the themes of this book on The Devil To Pay In The Backlands to infuse their music with the sense of conflict that is so present in the novel, Sun for instance is a track that features several shifts in tone as if in an intense war with itself, the duality in the vocals there as both good and evil. The theatrical touches increase on Cabaret which features some guest vocals.
However even without them Jack The Joker have released a record that impresses, Hope leaving you breathless with it's epic scope and run time as it shows off the technical and emotional parts of Jack The Joker's résumé perfectly. I doubt you'll find many albums better than this in 2025 it's absolutely superb modern prog metal. 10/10The album title is inspired by a famous Brazilian novel and the band have used the themes of this book on The Devil To Pay In The Backlands to infuse their music with the sense of conflict that is so present in the novel, Sun for instance is a track that features several shifts in tone as if in an intense war with itself, the duality in the vocals there as both good and evil. The theatrical touches increase on Cabaret which features some guest vocals.
HÖG - Blackhole (RidingEasy Records) [Rich Piva]
RidingEasy Records doesn’t release a ton of debut albums, but when they do, boy do they hit the target. My two most recent examples are the killer records from Magick Potion and Dusty Rose Gang, both of which I gave very high marks to in my reviews and are two records that absolutely rip. Those debuts are two of my favourite albums in recent times, not just favourite debuts, which tells you how much I am on the same wavelength with the masterminds at RidingEasy.
RidingEasy Records doesn’t release a ton of debut albums, but when they do, boy do they hit the target. My two most recent examples are the killer records from Magick Potion and Dusty Rose Gang, both of which I gave very high marks to in my reviews and are two records that absolutely rip. Those debuts are two of my favourite albums in recent times, not just favourite debuts, which tells you how much I am on the same wavelength with the masterminds at RidingEasy.
Well, they have outdone themselves this time, with what will be in the running for my album of the year, the debut record from the filthy, dirty, grimy riff masters from Portland, Oregon’s HÖG. I listen to a lot of new music (A LOT), and it is not often that a record makes me stop in my tracks like Blackhole did the first time I put the promo on. All I could muster was “Holy shit”, because the eight songs on this record just kick so much ass.
What does Blackhole sound like? Like Motorhead if they were more bluesy and proto and had a guitar virtuoso in the band that could shred with anyone doing it today. Like if Grand Funk were a proto metal band. Like a brawl between three or four rival motorcycle gangs where everyone walks away with at least something broken. This is 35 minutes of non-stop action, kicking it off with the killer guitar stylings on Don’t Need You. Holy crap, you know you are in for it with just that opening minute, before the vocals start barking at you. So heavy and so very cool.
Life Too Late keeps everything moving at breakneck speed, with more of the Lemmy vibes but in HÖG’s own special way, creating a punk rock band that rides Harleys thing that permeates throughout Blackhole. The solo just rips, too. The title track has such a great riff, and is where a much, much heavier version of Grand Funk description comes from. The drumming and bass playing on this track is just so great. I sound like a broken record here, but that freaking solo!!!
Just when you think you know what direction this record is going to go in, Bring You Down comes on and sounds like something off of Manic Frustration, vocals and all, until it speeds up and goes all thrash on your ass. City Witch is the most straight ahead Motorhead worship you get on Blackhole, and it is executed as well or better than anyone who has tried in the past.
Shallow Earth slows it down and goes all dirty doom on us, until it kicks in and you are assaulted by the riffs and the heavy proto goodness it brings. My Mind (Is Getting Heavy) goes in a garage punk, Blue Cheer on speed direction and I am very much here for it. You lose none of the energy and shredding on Free, somehow keeping all of it going for 35 straight minutes.
I do not make it a habit to giving debut records a perfect score, but HÖG have left me no choice. When you want to just flat-out rock and rip people’s face of with some unbelievable shredding and Motorhead meets Grand Funk meets Blue Cheer awesomeness, just turn on Blackout and turn it up as loud as it can possibly go. A stop-in-your-tracks ripper of a release and one that will stick with me for a very long time. 10/10
Desaster – Kill All Idols (Metal Blade) [Spike]
Thirty-plus years in and Desaster still sound like they’re playing with lit matches in a bomb store. Kill All Idols is lean, vicious blackened thrash, raw enough to sting, tight enough to stick and it wastes no time proving it. Great Repulsive Force barrels out of the gate with a rusted buzzsaw tone and that familiar Desaster swing; my goldfish attention span was toast inside the first riff.
Emanation Of The Profane and Towards Oblivion keep the pressure high, whiplash tempo shifts, tremolo lines that bite, and a rhythm section that punches holes in the wall. The title sentiment arrives via Kill The Idol, a snarling, compact statement piece that spits contempt without slowing down to underline it. Mid-album, Ash Cloud Ritual and Fathomless Victory add heft and a touch of epic flair without sanding off any edges; the chorus work lands like a boot on the throat.
There’s more variety here than the raw veneer suggests. Throne Of Ecstasy stretches into a darker, more grandiose stride, while They Are The Law throws a punkier shoulder into the mix, short, mean, and built to be shouted back from the floor. “Stellar Remnant” slips a cold melody under the din, and closer Idols’ End (Outro) lets the smoke curl as the room stops spinning.
Production is purposefully unvarnished. It feels live, hot, and a little dangerous, so the riffs scrape, the drums crack, and Satanic barks cut straight through. It feels captured rather than constructed, which suits these songs down to the scorched earth.
No reinvention, just refinement: Desaster doing what they do, a little nastier, a little leaner, absolutely locked in. It grabbed me inside 30 seconds and never loosened its grip. 8/10
Dragonsclaw - Moving Target (High Roller Records) [Simon Black]
Dragonsclaw are not an act that have crossed my radar before, despite having been around for a decade and a half and are the primary focus for music industry and current Alcatrazz frontman Giles Lavery. That said for a decade and a half of output, this is only their third full length release, and I suspect they have not penetrated too deeply outside of their native Australia as yet.
Dragonsclaw are not an act that have crossed my radar before, despite having been around for a decade and a half and are the primary focus for music industry and current Alcatrazz frontman Giles Lavery. That said for a decade and a half of output, this is only their third full length release, and I suspect they have not penetrated too deeply outside of their native Australia as yet.
Musically this straddles mid-80’s Traditional Metal when it was trying to crack USA radio stations and the sort of mid-tempo Power Metal that the Eurozone is riddled with, without being handcuffed to either of those styles.
Frontman Lavery has a strong and charismatic presence, with a powerful and meaty range on him, carrying the melodies and indeed the songs very well. The songs are mostly really strong when it comes to creating a moody and haunting atmosphere, which Lavery is clearly really comfortable with. Interestingly a lot of Ben Thomas’s guitar work focusses on rhythm layers, with the flourish and depth being added by Ray Martens integral keyboard work.
Frontman Lavery has a strong and charismatic presence, with a powerful and meaty range on him, carrying the melodies and indeed the songs very well. The songs are mostly really strong when it comes to creating a moody and haunting atmosphere, which Lavery is clearly really comfortable with. Interestingly a lot of Ben Thomas’s guitar work focusses on rhythm layers, with the flourish and depth being added by Ray Martens integral keyboard work.
Although Thomas is more than capable of added a thoughtful and well-structured lead break that is less shred and more mood focussed. The interweaving of the melodies is what the band are very focussed on, which makes Lavery’s job of telling his lyrical stories much easier but has the net effect of putting the whole band a little bit in the background.
That said, sitting back and enjoying him deliver is a pleasant experience, as too many acts suffer from too many competing musicians trying a little too hard to show you how clever and technically skilful they are, so it’s nice to just listen to a band working as a team to focus on memorable melodies.
That said, sitting back and enjoying him deliver is a pleasant experience, as too many acts suffer from too many competing musicians trying a little too hard to show you how clever and technically skilful they are, so it’s nice to just listen to a band working as a team to focus on memorable melodies.
The songwriting is remarkably consistent and there’s a couple of tracks with serious earworm potential that I suspect I am going to come back to (Don't Break The Silence Again is particularly catchy), but this act have polished their writing here and the record has little unnecessary padding, but then when you’ve had twelve years between releases that’s perhaps not surprising.
Given that Lavery has a fairly busy calendar fronting Alcatrazz, managing and producing other acts, not to mention co-running his own label (Louder Than Loud) and not resident down under anymore it will be interesting if this project moves forwards again, but either way it’s been a serendipitous discovery. 7/10
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