Wolfsbane - Live Faster/Kathy Wilson EP (Self Released)
As with any bands formed in the late 80s early 90s, production, mixing and mastering is always a bit of an issue when trying to discover what they sound like. Especially if those bands still are around today because a lot of them will have modern production techniques, now they will sound a lot slicker a lot sharper but going back to those early records you do tend to get quite hollow sound that was there after the vinyl boom during the error of cassette tape but before the digital CD sound.
A band like Wolfsbane have this issue with their first two releases, compare them to Wolfsbane Save The World and Genius, the difference is massive, (a massive noise injection if you will), so as Wolfsbane are back with a vengeance and they want to show everyone why they're for my money one of the best live acts on the planet. The band have decided to re-release both their debut album Live Fast, Die Fast and the follow up EP All Hell's Breaking Loose Down At Little Kathy Wilson's Place.
For a band to be in their 40th year and still have the original line up is a rarity, so Live Faster is billed as the their debut album re-imagined and re-recorded but with the original HMS (look it up) that made it. It's a completely new recording of the album as the band are now, Blaze Bayley still with that power and wide eyed intensity that comes through on the evergreen Manhunt, the raucous Money To Burn and slice of sleaze that is I Like It Hot.
Jeff Hateley (bass) and Steve Danger (drums) still lock in for the filthy bottom end but they're playing them the way they do now, the songs having evolved over the years on stage, either getting heavier or louder or both while still retaining the youthful exuberance of the originals but now featuring a rhythm section that is in total sync.
Guitarist Jase Edwards too rips through the riffs and solos like a man a 1/3 of his age but he also has all the production skills to make this a different experience to the original. With Jase behind the desk, re-recording Live Fast became a much more personal and enjoyable experience, while the original had Rick Rubin twiddling the knobs, Live Faster is perhaps a more genuine and honest reflection of how the band wanted things.
Because they aren't busy enough Wolfsbane have also remastered the 1990 EP, All Hell’s Breaking Loose Down At Little Kathy Wilson’s Place, as tracks such as Paint The Town Red, Steel, Loco and even the delightfully weird Kathy Wilson herself, all still feature in their set today so it makes sense for Jase to give them a sonic overhaul as well, having already done so once but after realising how difficult the EP is to get a hold of, he has re-remastered Kathy once again with the skills he has in 2025.
So two beloved records going back to where it all began, but both changed by experiences of those involved. Wolfsbane, live faster everyday and there's few that can catch them. 9/10
Excide - Bastard Hymns (Sharptone Records)
While recording Bastard Hymns at Down Under studio in Wilmington, DE with producer Austin Coupe, Carolina metal crew Excide drew from influences such as "Failure, Cave In, Snapcase, Queens of the Stone Age and classic western flicks." Throwing together all of these elements they've delivered a sophomore album that spans multiple genres, in a way that strongly reflects their influences but combines them in a way that is very modern.
Bastard Hymns is an intense listen, the ferociousness of hardcore collides with the groove of 90's grunge and 2000's nu-metal before unpredictably moving into glistening shoegaze atmospherics, post-hardcore anthemics and pop punk bounces, all underscored with technical ability and direct songwriting that has been honed on stage, over countless hours and relentless tours.
Their debut, Deliberate Revolver was well received, positioning Excide as ones to watch as genre smashing, up and corners in the hardcore scene, so with Bastard Hymns they have doubled down, on their unique approach, writing music for themselves and no one else. Now I'm sure that hardcore fans would be able to name all the bands that Excide are influenced by but just the small list they themselves provide will be enough for you to know that Excide pull no punches on this thrilling second record. 9/10
Adventure - Adventure 2000 (Apollon Records Prog)
25 years after it's initial release, Adventure, the debut album from Adventure, has been re-released in a remastered form. The album is said to have kick-started the Norwegian prog scene as these wandering minstrels combine classic prog textures with symphony elements inspired by the likes of Camel, Uriah Heep (Byron & Thain era) and even acts such as Magnum.
The neo-classical instrumentation, the Medieval atmospheres and the bardic journeyman lyrics all hark back to the bygone days of men in tights playing the Mandolin (The Wee Hours) as guitarists crank out solos inspired by Bach or Vivaldi and organs swell like some sort of church of complex arrangement.
The record has been remastered by Jacob Holm Lupo and having not heard the original I've got nothing to compare it too, but it at least sounds like an authentic vinyl record from the 70's so kudos if that's what they were going for. This isn't some throwback to a band lost in the mists of time though as Adventure are still going concern having released their most recent record in 2022, well two records that make up a two album concept piece!
They are still led by Odd-Roar Bakken and Terje Flessen who play the keys and guitars (through a bit more on the debut) and while Vebjørn Moen has been replaced as a vocalist (they now have two), this record is a very important piece of history for a band who did their bit to establish the Norwegian prog scene, and though it is now 25 years old, the music features on it is inspired by bands from 25 years before it. Double retro, can't get more prog than that. 8/10
Malemort & Cerbère - Aimless/Glace Mère (Rope Or Guillotine/La Harelle/Arsenic Solaris/Chien Noir)
I don't know what the collective name is for two trios however both Malemort and Cerbère are French based extreme metal acts that drag themselves from the torrid pits of doom and sludge to create abrasive, all consuming soundscapes fit for the apocalypse.
Contributing a song each, Malemort kick off with the 18 minute Aimless, a blackened, hellscape of a destroyed future, dissonant and visceral, the band showcase their first material since their debut here, deep in the writing stage if album two, this break from the studio shows off their harrowing approach to musical torment and bodes well for more evil things to come.
Cerbère's side of things is Glace Mère, which is a 16 minute descent into ice cold landscapes. Glacial bleakness that was recorded live in one day, and takes inspiration from the fantasy literature of Micheal Moorcock, the Parisian band are perhaps a bit more vicious than their doom wielding compatriots, siding more with punk and hardcore, there is a palpable aggression to their music, that both counters and works in symbiosis with Malemort.
Aimless then is a slow moving, nihilistic, descent into the abyss, while Glace Mère is a hardened, spite filled, journey across tough terrain that ends in madness. Two French bands who bounce off each other and deliver over half an hour of extreme music, I'll be awaiting what they both do next. 8/10
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