Fireball Ministry is one of my favourite bands of all time, and one of many that never got the love from a larger public that they deserved. Yes, there was a video game soundtrack, MTV show appearances, and some big tours, but the true genius of this band was never fully realized in mass.
One guy who does get it, of course, is Todd from Ripple Music, who, for his Beneath The Desert Floor project, is putting out all of the back catalogue of the band. We are at the second of the Ripple rerelease set, this time with my favourite FB record and one of my favourite records of all time by any band, The Second Great Awakening.
Album two from FB, originally released in 2003, is perfect heavy rock and roll. The vocals and melodies from the good Reverend James Rota paired with the never-ending riffs of Fireball Emily could not have been more effective for a listener to both bang their head and have an earworm attached simultaneously.
Album two from FB, originally released in 2003, is perfect heavy rock and roll. The vocals and melodies from the good Reverend James Rota paired with the never-ending riffs of Fireball Emily could not have been more effective for a listener to both bang their head and have an earworm attached simultaneously.
Fireball Ministry is catchy as hell, and the choruses and bridges stick with you, as they have for me for over two decades, as this record has never been out of rotation for me. Zero skips and end to end perfect, King, The Simmer, Master Of None…it is really no use listing them off because all the songs on this record rule. The production and sound is exactly what it should be, perfectly balanced and capturing what this band is supposed to sound like. A desert island record for this reviewer, and one that everyone needs to hear if you have ever liked any band I have reviewed.
I am so happy Ripple Music is doing the rerelease and new vinyl pressings of the Fireball Ministry discography. All of their records are great, but The Second Great Awakening is special and pretty much perfect. Still sounds just as fresh now as it did in 2003. 10/10
Xenosis - Hermetic Transmutation (Transcending Obscurity) [GC]
I am so happy Ripple Music is doing the rerelease and new vinyl pressings of the Fireball Ministry discography. All of their records are great, but The Second Great Awakening is special and pretty much perfect. Still sounds just as fresh now as it did in 2003. 10/10
Xenosis - Hermetic Transmutation (Transcending Obscurity) [GC]
It feels like it has been a long time since a new death metal record has excited me, I truly love the genre and it was my first foray into extreme metal back in the day but sometimes it’s just so tiresome and lacks imagination to really get the blood flowing, saying this I can usually rely on Transcending Obscurity to put out interesting and challenging records, hopefully with Hermetic Transmutations Xenosis can keep the good name of T.O going and drop a killer record.
If the first minute or so of Sentient Shapes is anything to go by, I could be in for an interesting ride, its technically excellent and still punishingly heavy with time changes a plenty and new directions taken at the drop of a hat, the guitars are crisp but still have that dirty edge needed, the drumming is insane the only thing that gets slightly lost in the chaos are the vocals that feel slightly too low in the mix but overall a great start!
If the first minute or so of Sentient Shapes is anything to go by, I could be in for an interesting ride, its technically excellent and still punishingly heavy with time changes a plenty and new directions taken at the drop of a hat, the guitars are crisp but still have that dirty edge needed, the drumming is insane the only thing that gets slightly lost in the chaos are the vocals that feel slightly too low in the mix but overall a great start!
Prolapsed Twin Entombment is a quality title and the track itself is also quality, blasting drums take over everything and the guitars squeal and crush in equal measure, the bass shines through here as well to create a sound backbone for the craziness of everything else and the vocals do come though better on this track, wonderfully insane sounding music.
Spore Whore is just unrelenting brutality from the very second it starts to the end, it also has a jazz element in the mix of everything and the nature of the timing is truly brilliant, it jostles and shakes you from pillar to post without ever giving you a minute to gather yourself before the next onslaught is thrown at you.
It’s an utterly beautiful wave of noise that just keeps coming and coming and when its over your almost pleased because you can re-group, but then unfortunately Engravings For Dyslexic Clairvoyants is just a mid-album noting track, 1 minute of utter pointlessness and for an album with 8 tracks seems completely unnecessary!!
Thankfully, Rapid Metamorphosis is more of exactly the same bat-shit crazy technical death metal that the rest of the album has been, the way the song flows here feels slightly different to everything else, it seems to have a bit more of a mathcore tone, that death metal sounds are all there but the way the song goes just has that different feel.
It’s all done tremendously well though and continues the triumphant technical excellence that is the hallmark of any good tech-death band. The only slight gripe is some tracks can seem to go on slightly longer than is needed, like they always need just one more bit?
Sea Of Teeth is not one of those tracks however! It feels like they have just gone directly back to just full-on death metal, its not nearly as technical as the rest of the album and feels like a throwback to a simpler time, when death metal was just heavy and menacing, a glorious homage to days gone.
Alter Of The Hound dials the tech back up to maybe 9 here, its not as intense as the rest of the album and the way the bass leads everything is really well done, the track has the more old school sound mixed in but still manages to sound fresh and challenging all the way through and you almost wonder if the drummer is actually human because the pace is always relentless all the way.
Even the slower more jazzy bits are still technical and demanding, I take my hat off to him, mega drummer! No Longer Human has the task of finishing the album and its done so in a wonderfully executed blast of madness, it squeaks, thuds and pummels in equal measure and never really eases up and is just another example of technical excellence in death metal form.
Well, well, well! That was a ride! I wasn’t familiar with Xenosis before this, but I certainly am now! A completely batshit crazy album with musical excellence dripping from every note on every track, if you like technical death metal then trust me Hermetic Transmutation will tick every box and leave you wanting more!! 9/10
Harboured – We’re Only The Love That We Lead (Lost Future Records) [Spike]
Michael Stancel’s idea of a lyric sheet is basically a civil engineering disaster report. Instead of the usual whiny, post-breakup oversharing, the Denver guitarist uses structural collapses, failing infrastructure, and moral decay as metaphors to anchor his sophomore album with Harboured, We’re Only The Love That We Lead.
On paper, a trio consisting of Allegaeon’s tech-death shredders (Stancel and bassist Brandon Michael) and Oak, Ash & Thorn’s folk-black metal drummer (Cierra White) should be an over-technical mess. But what they’ve actually built here is a massive, moody collision of blackgaze, post-metal, and alternative rock that refuses to stay in any of the boxes the internet tries to put it in.
The album creeps out of the traps with W.O.T.L.T.W.L, a slow-building, menacing crawl that quickly switches into a heavy, pounding dirge. It sets the stage for Dead Ringer, where White’s thunderous, piston-like drums and Michael’s throbbing, heavy bass lay down a raucous riot, with Stancel’s fizzy guitars and atmospheric synths giving the aggression a glossy but dangerous sheen.
What’s most impressive about this record is the band’s willingness to let their actual musical loves bleed through. Stancel has mentioned wanting to hear "what Phoebe Bridgers would sound like if she listened to Failure and Alcest," and you can hear that creative friction everywhere. There's a slippery, hip-hop-inflected groove and a high-pitched whirr on Sevin that sounds like Public Enemy trying their hand at black metal. You know that shouldn’t work but it really does.
The transition into Guardrail pulls the volume back, ushering in delicate, plucked guitar tones that feel like pure, fragile silk. Stancel's clean vocals are sweet and yearning, before the track opens up into a swirling, heavy-set pool of chugging guitars and throat-shredding roars. They navigate these high-contrast dynamics with a level of veteran focus that carries over into New Year's Day, which starts with futuristic, droning synths before veering headlong into a furious blizzard of drums and scorching post-metal ferocity.
Even when they lean into familiar tricks like using that distinct, scraping "cat-screech" guitar lick on Debts that you usually find in Gojira tracks, they make it their own, alternating between a moody, quiet verse and a raging chorus. The true highlight of the record, however, is Halifax. It begins almost like an acoustic, campfire ballad. This made me think of R.E.M. at their most reflective before a swift, thunderous rumble of the drums kicks the song into the blackgaze ether, screeching and roaring to an epic finish. You can practically smell the pine trees before the smoke takes over.
There are still surprises in the trunk. End Credits is a complete red herring. This is a straight-up indie-rock banger with driving guitars, a shimmering piano hook, and an earworm melody that sounds like a lost Snow Patrol anthem (in a good way). They close the book with a piledriver cover of The Faint's Agenda Suicide. It’s a choppy, thrusting, and aggressive finale, even if it pales slightly in comparison to the sheer brilliance of their own songwriting.
I love the sheer unpredictability of this album and it is what keeps me hooked. It’s a record that works because they let their actual influences, not just their technical pedigree, drive the vehicle. When you've spent forty years listening to the same four metal formulas, a record like We’re Only The Love That We Lead is exactly the kind of unexpected, left-field shock to the system that makes you glad you're still looking and also it underlines the opportunity that writing for Musipedia Of Metal gives us.
The album creeps out of the traps with W.O.T.L.T.W.L, a slow-building, menacing crawl that quickly switches into a heavy, pounding dirge. It sets the stage for Dead Ringer, where White’s thunderous, piston-like drums and Michael’s throbbing, heavy bass lay down a raucous riot, with Stancel’s fizzy guitars and atmospheric synths giving the aggression a glossy but dangerous sheen.
What’s most impressive about this record is the band’s willingness to let their actual musical loves bleed through. Stancel has mentioned wanting to hear "what Phoebe Bridgers would sound like if she listened to Failure and Alcest," and you can hear that creative friction everywhere. There's a slippery, hip-hop-inflected groove and a high-pitched whirr on Sevin that sounds like Public Enemy trying their hand at black metal. You know that shouldn’t work but it really does.
The transition into Guardrail pulls the volume back, ushering in delicate, plucked guitar tones that feel like pure, fragile silk. Stancel's clean vocals are sweet and yearning, before the track opens up into a swirling, heavy-set pool of chugging guitars and throat-shredding roars. They navigate these high-contrast dynamics with a level of veteran focus that carries over into New Year's Day, which starts with futuristic, droning synths before veering headlong into a furious blizzard of drums and scorching post-metal ferocity.
Even when they lean into familiar tricks like using that distinct, scraping "cat-screech" guitar lick on Debts that you usually find in Gojira tracks, they make it their own, alternating between a moody, quiet verse and a raging chorus. The true highlight of the record, however, is Halifax. It begins almost like an acoustic, campfire ballad. This made me think of R.E.M. at their most reflective before a swift, thunderous rumble of the drums kicks the song into the blackgaze ether, screeching and roaring to an epic finish. You can practically smell the pine trees before the smoke takes over.
There are still surprises in the trunk. End Credits is a complete red herring. This is a straight-up indie-rock banger with driving guitars, a shimmering piano hook, and an earworm melody that sounds like a lost Snow Patrol anthem (in a good way). They close the book with a piledriver cover of The Faint's Agenda Suicide. It’s a choppy, thrusting, and aggressive finale, even if it pales slightly in comparison to the sheer brilliance of their own songwriting.
I love the sheer unpredictability of this album and it is what keeps me hooked. It’s a record that works because they let their actual influences, not just their technical pedigree, drive the vehicle. When you've spent forty years listening to the same four metal formulas, a record like We’re Only The Love That We Lead is exactly the kind of unexpected, left-field shock to the system that makes you glad you're still looking and also it underlines the opportunity that writing for Musipedia Of Metal gives us.
You get given diamonds like this to listen to and in this case run off and buy the physical album. 9/10
Dutch Elm - Dutch Elm (Ripcord Records) [Adz Redpath]
Dutch Elm are an intriguing instrumental band hailing from Newcastle in the U.K. and having built their own prog rock sensibilities since 2016 this is their first full length release after several establishing singles.
Dutch Elm - Dutch Elm (Ripcord Records) [Adz Redpath]
Dutch Elm are an intriguing instrumental band hailing from Newcastle in the U.K. and having built their own prog rock sensibilities since 2016 this is their first full length release after several establishing singles.
This is technically an album although does feel more like a stretched out E.P in both concept and musical variation. However that being said this doesn't get boring or feel like it lulls at any point, it has strong musicianship and themes throughout.
The production here is very solid although a touch overzealous with the top end where the guitars and cymbals are concerned a slight shrillness does hit home on certain sections in particular when I took it to A/B on my studio monitors but this genuinely doesn't detract from a very strong release here in most every aspect otherwise.
I will state what many will expect and feel, this with the right vocals would be a release that could have massive traction in particular with the likes of Muse fans, which strikes even more home when you hear the final track Soledad Brother, if these vocals ran throughout then it would open a lot of doors for this band, with huge commercial viability from a group of young guys who have massive potential on show here.
The production here is very solid although a touch overzealous with the top end where the guitars and cymbals are concerned a slight shrillness does hit home on certain sections in particular when I took it to A/B on my studio monitors but this genuinely doesn't detract from a very strong release here in most every aspect otherwise.
I will state what many will expect and feel, this with the right vocals would be a release that could have massive traction in particular with the likes of Muse fans, which strikes even more home when you hear the final track Soledad Brother, if these vocals ran throughout then it would open a lot of doors for this band, with huge commercial viability from a group of young guys who have massive potential on show here.
That being said this release is an enjoyable and easy listen, whilst not feeling hugely original in sound or concept it stands tall with a bright and captivating feel throughout, my personal favourite being You're Not Invited To That Riff with its groove ridden bass guitar from Callum Bell and some great guitar work on show from Matthew McKenna and Lewis Ticket with simple and iconic melodies that truly lend themselves to a repeat listen, supported throughout by the creative and solid drums from Liam Bird.
I would personally be very intrigued to catch these guys live as I've a sneaking suspicion that if they can keep as tight as this release and given the right amount of energy then they could well turn heads across the country and further afield as they are on a clear upward trajectory. Keep expanding the vision and maybe add some more of the excellent vocals and expect to be heard far and wide in the near future. 7/10
I would personally be very intrigued to catch these guys live as I've a sneaking suspicion that if they can keep as tight as this release and given the right amount of energy then they could well turn heads across the country and further afield as they are on a clear upward trajectory. Keep expanding the vision and maybe add some more of the excellent vocals and expect to be heard far and wide in the near future. 7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment