The View From The Back Of The Room: Panic Room

Panic Room & Matt Cook: The Globe, Cardiff

So progressive rockers Panic Room once again grace The Globe for their strong, emotionally charged prog rock that brings in jazz, folk, rock and also some pop to great style. First though was Matt Cook who took to the stage to no real commotion but proceeded to start his set to the small crowd.

Matt Cook

Troubadour Matt Cook wields a Gibson Firebird and as such can make many guitar sounds ranging from acoustic to heavy rock. He also uses a looper device to create his backing band much like David Ford. He opened with one of his own compositions a driving indie rock song on which Matt showed both his guitar prowess and his strong vocals, so far so good but what really won over the crowd and offset the slower more melancholic songs that Cook plays was his razor sharp humor, he introduced himself first as Phil Collins (luckily it was a joke) before promising a massive finale to the set. As I said his guitar playing was excellent and his vocals were too especially on super ballad Letting Go. As this was a showcase he filled his set with his own songs (available at the back for £5!) and punctuated by covers the main one being Fast Car by Tracy Chapman which was a great cover done with true style. The humor kept coming and I for one found him very funny with his between song banter. Throughout his set Cook took us through his Counting Crows like indie rock filled with soul before after some more strong solo tracks. The promised and greatly hyped ending came in the shape of Avicii's Wake Me Up which evolved into him screaming adverts (Bodyform and Calgon being the two major ones) and then ended with Save Tonight by Eagle Eye Cherry. Yes the ending was spectacular and Cook was very well received, a great showcase for the man and his talent, his own songs are good but after checking his website (the excellently named http://www.thatguywesawlastnight.com) he's also available for parties, weddings, bar mitzah's (probably) and anything where live music is required. Well worth seeking out and watching due to his excellent performance and true stand up style delivery of between song banter. 9/10

Panic Room

With the room full of 'Roomies' already warmed up by Mr Cook, the headliners had very little to do to win over the crowd so without further ado they came on to the stage and ploughed straight into the excellent Into Temptation which immediately showcased the band working at full power. Founder Jonathan Edwards drove everything along with his amazing all encompassing keys and synths, they are the main component of every track and they weave a musical web throughout the night, he is accompanied by the technical jazz style guitar playing of Adam O'Sullivan (who showcased his skills on second song Velocity which has a driving guitar rhythm), not be ignored are the full fat, fingerstyle bass work (and chief cheerleading) of Yatim Halimi and the heavyweight drumming of Gavin Griffiths who showed their mettle on Picking Up Knives and the carnivalesque I Am The Cat. Last but by no means least we have vocalist/guitarist/flautist Anne-Marie Helder whose voice is astoundingly good, although she is no slouch on the guitar or flute either backing Sullivan on the guitars on the heavier tracks. Starting a set with three new songs is a brave move but when your latest album is as good as Incarnate then I for one wasn't complaining, plus the real 'Roomies' knew all the words to the new songs anyway. The set was a mix of old and new with the slinky sounds of Chameleon, the folksy whimsy of I Wonder What's Keeping My True Love and the emotional power of Picking Up Knives all coming from the bands first three albums. Back again into Incarnate with the excellent Waterfalls which is an excellent live song and was followed by the old school I Am The Cat on which Helder prowled the stage, so far the band had weaved their magic through a myriad of songs each one different to the last meaning that the band were never dull, however sound goblins (or possibly over enthusiasm on Anne-Marie's part) meant a small gap in the set as the mic had to be fixed, this didn't pose a problem to the band who embarked on a jazz odyssey interlude to fill the time before descending once again into Incarnate with All That We Are, Nothing New, the super strong title track and Dust ending the main set in terrific style! Off stage for a small turn around and then back out for the encore which started off with a small two song acoustic set of Screens and Song For Tomorrow before plugging in for the final two songs of Close The Door and Promises a majestic set from the prog rockers who play mature, emotionally charged, progressive rock. Catch them if you can!! 9/10       

Reviews: Black Label Society, Band Of Skulls, Foxy Shazam

Black Label Society: Catacombs Of The Black Vatican (Mascot Records)

So the rock, the beard and of course the pinched harmonics are back (see Heart Of Darkness) on BLC's ninth release. Lead Viking Zakk Wylde found his acoustic catharsis on the Unblackened all acoustic release so this means that Catacombs Of The Black Vatican is left to be a full on heavy metal from the stomping opening of Fields Of Forgiveness which is a slow moving bruiser and has Wylde's trademark vocoder and leads into In My Dying Time (not a Zeppelin cover) and features some sublime soloing from Wylde, the metal ploughs on with Believe which makes for a killer opening trifecta showing that even sans booze Zakk is still wild! However as usual Zakk is not by himself on this record he is backed by John DeServio on bass and Chad Szeliga who aide Zakk's guitar histrionics, the album is full of heavy metal anthems that BLS do so well but they are punctuated four acoustic country-like songs the best of which is Angel Of Mercy which is a massive ballad in the shape of In This River closely followed by Shades Of Grey (how many is not given) which feels a lot like Prince with it's almost swing backing and explosive guitar solo from nowhere. This is another great album from Zakk and co the metal is back but as usual Zakk is not afraid to show his sensitive side but can still rock like buggery for the most part! 7/10     

Band Of Skulls: Himalayan (Electric Blues Records)

Southampton's Band Of Skulls are a bit of an enigma hailing from southern Britain, they have always sounded like they come from the southernmost reaches of the USA with their sludgy, grungy, fuzzy, garage rock that has some big drums from Matt Hayward, some rumbling bass of Emma Richardson driving the majority of the rhythm and the melodic and riff heavy guitar of Russell Marsden. Now Band Of Skulls have always had an appeal to me mainly due to their dual vocals from Marsden and Richardson who share vocals duties giving their albums a very unique sound, Marsden has the midrange blues delivery of Jack White/Dan Auerbach from of The Black keys (a band they share a lot of similarities with) and Richardson has the smoky, soulful voice of Anna Calvi, both of their vocals meld well together to provide some excellent tracks. So three albums into their career do these down and dirty Brits still have what it takes, the answer is yes from the pulsating opening of Asleep At The Wheel, through the blues boogie of Hoochie Coochie, the haunting ballad of Cold Sweat and the almost U2 like Nightmares with its euphoric guitar. Band Of Skulls have always mixed many elements to their sound and this album is no exception, with fuzzy garage rock, through alternative rock/indie rock; see the Arctic Monkeys sounding Brothers And Sisters and even some killer blues-rock on the I Guess I Know You Fairly Well which has some serious soloing from Marsden. the latter part of the album is where the band really stretch their musical muscle on the brooding western feel too I Feel Like Ten Men, Nine Dead And One Dying and the Latin flavoured Toreador on which Richardson gives a simmering, sexually aggressive performance much like Anna Calvi who I've already likened her too. This is another great album in Band Of Skulls' repertoire and they remain somewhat of a special band in my heart with their excellent songwriting and musicianship combining to create another superb album. 8/10   

Foxy Shazam: Gonzo (Self-Released)

Seemingly out of nowhere Foxy Shazam drop their fifth album and the band that are Queen's heir (no pun intended) apparent and once again its filled with hard, glam, funk rock explosion full of madness, mirth and a lot of sexy, tongue in cheek music that is part Queen (obviously), part The Darkness with some Zappa thrown in to really throw you off the scent. Yes this a musical menagerie carries on the spirit of their previous albums, with Gonzo having the slow almost New Orleans blues style which has a huge amount Alex Nauth's horn, who has much more of a presence on this album than on previous record The Church Of Rock & Roll, it is followed by the synth filled Poem Pathetic which has Sky White's tinkling all over it before the segue into the fuzzy glam rock of Brutal Truth. This album is a bit more pop and also more scatter gun than previous works relying more on slower songs than the big ballsy rock songs if previous records possibly why it is titled Gonzo. I said earlier that Foxy Shazam were cut from the same cloth as Queen and as Queen were known for their experimentation I'm not going to say that this a bad album but it has a wider ranging style most of which is not rock but more soul and pop meaning the band have an almost ADHD style of musicianship which ends with the funk rock Zeppelin of Story Told. With nine tracks this album is a bit short but anymore tracks would ruin the atmosphere. Once again Eric Nally's vocals are as wide as his songwriting and Foxy Shazam have added another good album to their expanding discography. 7/10

Reviews: Lost Society, Kayser, Lord Symphony,

Lost Society: Terror Hungry (Nuclear Blast)

So last year young Finns Lost Society unleashed some quality thrashing for world on their debut album Fast.Loud.Death that record was full of speedy high tongue in cheek thrash full of songs about drinking, thrashing and more drinking harking back to the early days of Exodus and Anthrax as well as the new blood of Municipal Waste. Now Terror Hungry shows the band growing up (a little bit) and stretching their metal muscles a lot more with some riffs Jeff Waters would be proud of. Game Over still harks back to the debut with its riotous gang shout vocals and choppy guitar playing. The band have channelled their inner Megadeth and Annihilator on this album with some lightning guitarwork from Samy Elbanna and Arttu Lesonen who are ably backed by the blast beats of Ossi Paananen providing some skull rattling, fist pumping, pit starting thrash. No it's not big or clever as the lyrical content has gotten more adult but as with the debut there is still time for the occasional track based on drinking and partying see Overdosed Brain and Brewtal Awakening for your dose of silly alcho-fuelled metal. No this is not the reinvention of the wheel but it's not trying to be it's an album full of great thrash rich with razor sharp riffs, precision solos and the prerequisite amount of silliness for any thrash band. A good second shot! 7/10

Kayser: Read Your Enemy (Scarlet Records) (Review By Nick)

Looking for more unrelenting German thrash to add to your life but think you may have tapped the well dry? In that case might I suggest Kayser? Ok, they’re not German, but their music damn sure sounds like it! Hailing from Sweden the gents from Kayser present their brand of Swedish thrash in style with this offering. The fourth album Read Your Enemy is a prime example of what thrash should be, combining harsh vocals from the machine Spice, controversial lyrics with a barrel full of heavy throbbing riffs. From Bark And Bow to I’ll Deny You the albums pace is set and does not relent. Swaney and Jokke work hard in the background providing deep, heavy rumbling riffs that Spice (original vocalist of Spiritual Beggars) accepts with an open hand to lay down a brand of vocals not dissimilar to that of Beholder’s Simon Hall; Edgy, honest and emotion filled. As Dreams Bent Backwards is let loose the albums pace continues, but a more melodic tone is set. Jokke treats us to a few well placed solo’s while Spices vocals soften somewhat. Don't let this fool you though as Bob Rubens drums continue to hammer away at your ears throughout while the album soon returns to its original course with Read Your Enemy all the way through to Where I Belong. Read Your Enemy opens with a thunderstorm of a riff that is powerful enough to break your speakers. If you haven't picked up the theme yet, Kayser are loud and hey are heavy! Moving into the final part of the album the melodic undertone returns to the tracks. He Knows Your Secrets all the way to Roll The Dice have a great way of offering a soothing solo to let your guard down before beating you back in the face with more Kayser style riffage. Roll The Dice particularly has a brutal breakdown that will have you bent over your air guitars swooshing your real or imaginary hair side to side. Fake Rose is how Kayser chose to leave us; more of the same here but somehow stepped up a notch or two! Filled with everything this album has given us throughout. Fake Rose is the accumulation of what Kayser are all about: hard hitting relentless German esc thrash metal with a twist… a Swedish twist. Perhaps Sweden is more than Black metal band Sabaton after all? Only one criticism I have to tender here; Read Your Enemy is a twelve track brick of an album. I know there are longer albums out there, but being bombarded with this stuff for just under an hour with no let up was starting to become a little bit of work. However, if you're looking for straight up Testament like thrash meets Beholder attitude, I give you Kayser… 8/10

Lord Symphony: The Lord’s Wisdom (X-Production Records) (Review By Nick)

Keyboards, power solos, keyboards, drums and more keyboards I hear you shout? You must be referring to Lord Symphony… more to the point their latest album The Lord’s Wisdom. When the opening track of an album is a prelude there are two things that you can be sure of; there will be operatic backing vocals and you can be damn sure there will be songs as long as the quests they will inevitably to be describing. As the first full track Gate Of Lord kicked in I was truly taken aback by the musical masterpiece I was presented with. Keyboards, guitars, strings, operatic chants and majestic drums, for the first three minutes I was thinking the likes of Ayreon, Trans Siberian Orchestra and Rhapsody have missed a trick! That was until everything went horribly wrong. The vocals of Arif Hartoyo entered the equation and my borderline sexual feelings quickly diminished. Sounding like a very very poor Klaus Meine, Hartoyo simply cannot sing. Now I'm not one to unleash opinions like this on a whim and I feel bad saying this, truly I do, nut this is ultimately my opinion. To make things worse, every time Hartoyo enters a track the drums seem to be exponentially increased hiding the greatness of all the musicians but inexplicably not the vocals. Nevertheless I carried on listening hoping for a vocal improvement that alas did not come. Throughout the entire twelve-track album the band wow’d and astounded me with what can only be described as epic instrumentals and showcases of brilliant talent. Beautiful symphonic strings, majestic drums, sharp crisp guitar solos, memorizing keyboard support and obligatory yet haunting operatic backing vocals; but every time any kind of a head or crescendo was reached… it all came crashing down due to the earlier mentioned problems. For me this is nearly impossible to review as I feel it almost unfair to assign a score. Give me a Lord Symphony with a better vocalist or even presented simply as an instrumental project the potential could be endless. However as they are I fear they will really struggle to lift off. Call me shallow but the vocals and some of the production in this album is a mountain I tried to climb but couldn't get over and this truthfully disappoints me as there is something truly amazing here that may see the true light of day. 4/10

Reviews: Sonata Arctica, Delain, Massive

Sonata Arctica: Pariah's Child (Nuclear Blast)

Finland's premier power metal maestros' eighth album is a return to their early roots, this change in style was first alluded to on their last album Stones Grow Her Name. where as that album was the sound of a band coming out of their experimental stage and reverting to type, Pariah's Child is the sound of a band actively rediscovering their youth by going back to the ramped up, keyboard fuelled, power metal gallop of their genre defining debut Ecliptica. Frontman Tony Kakko has gone on record to say that Pariah's Child is "the album that should have been done after Reckoning Night besides Unia." he's right this is Sonata's first 'proper' power metal album in a long time; the galloping bass of new boy Pasi Kauppinen, the blast beat drumming of Tommy Portimo are back along, with the lightning fast guitars and keyboard runs from Elias Viljanen and Henrik Klingenberg driving the album along with gusto so Tony can work his vocal magic over the songs, telling tales of war Half Marathon Man and What Did You Do In The War, Dad? as well as songs from the heart on Cloud Factory and Love and most importantly song about wolves, yes that's right a treat for older fans the wolves are back on opener The Wolves Die Young, before things come to a head on the 10 minute symphonic opus Larger Than Life which is just that full of orchestras, choirs and massive bombast. A riotous return to the sound that made them, this is Sonata rediscovering their past and bringing it into the present. 7/10

Delain: The Human Contradiction (Napalm Records)

Delain are now on their fourth album and much like their compatriots (and brother (?) band) they have grown up and developed their sound becoming more pulsing hard rock than symphonic metal of their early years. Yes Delain have moulded their sound and now they sound a lot heavier than they did on their last few albums, relying more on the guitars of Timo Somers than on Martijn Westerholt's keyboards. This means the band have a sound more akin to Amaranthe or the Annette Olson era Nightwish and even a female fronted Kamelot, this comparison is at its most prevalent on the opening Here Come The Vultures which strats out with twinkling piano before the heavyweight riff kicks in, this style is carried on through Your Body Is A Battleground which features Nightwish's Marco Hietala on the hook filled self esteem raising track that is the sequel to We Are The Others from their last album. As usual there are some great quality guest vocalists with Hietala and grunter George Oosthoek on the very heavy Tell Me, Mechanist, both of whom appeared on the bands debut as well as a great cameo from screamer Alissa White-Gluz (recently announced as the new Arch Enemy singer) on The Tragedy Of Commons. As usual Charlotte Wessels' voice is amazing part operatic, part pop diva, see My Masquerade and the beautiful Stardust for more evidence, if more was needed, Stardust especially could be a number 1 with it's electro-pop backbeat. On their fourth album Delain have adapted their sound again, the band are still evolving but they are evolving into something that could just explode. They are slowly adding to their live repertoire with some well known track and on this evidence they could just be the successors to the WT's crown. 8/10

Massive: Full Throttle (Earache)

Earache are quickly throwing off their extreme metal roots and starting to favour more classic rock orientated bands. It started with Rival Sons, continued with The Temperance Movement and now Massive have joined the fray. Now hailing from Oz you would think that the band would sound like AC/DC but no Massive have the sleazy, swagger of one Guns N Roses if they were fronted by Buckcherry's Josh Todd. This is snotty, alcohol fuelled rock full of dirty riffs, big solos and lashing of attitude. Burn The Sun is straight out of the Axel Rose playbook, Hollywood and the bass led Dancefloor must have been half inched from The Royal Republic before Bring Down The City sets the bands sights on arenas. Musician-wise Massive have a lot of talent for a young band the rhythm section of Aidan McGarrigle (bass) and Jarrod Medwin (drums) who bring the swagger and propulsion to the rockers like One By One (which will be played to death on both Planet and Team Rock) added to this are the riffs of vocalist/guitarist Brad Marr and the Slash-like, blues-based solos of Ben Laguda. Yes Massive are ready to take on the world and with tracks like Big Trend Setter which harks to the arena-filling anthems of Black Stone Cherry, and Lacey which has more cowbell than famous producer 'The' Bruce Dickinson and Gene Frenkle could ever need. So where as Rival Sons and The Temperance Movement draw from the late 60's and 70's rock, Massive are stuck firmly in the 80's Sunset Strip bringing a gritty, punk influenced, hard rock to the modern era much like their label mates have done with their own chosen genre. Hell they've even got a mega-ballad in the shape of Ghost. This is a strong debut album from Massive who could just be (and probably will be if their label mates are anything to go by) just that with time. 7/10

World of Metal 8: Lost Insen, Arising Fear, Jesus Christ

Lost Insen: Here After (Self Released)

Lost Insen are from Tunisia and started life as Dream Theater cover band and you can hear the influence of the premier purveyors of prog metal right from the outset. With the organ drenched first track The Greedy Idiot, which also has a nice fat, crunchy guitar riff and a few time signature changes for good measure, not bad for 4 minute track, in fact all the tracks are relatively short for a progressive band with only the final, majestic, grandiose, middle eastern flavoured Freedom, It's All About clocking in at over 10 minutes ending the album in terrific style. Despite the short lengths the tracks are all excellently written and performed by a band who are obviously excellently talented, from the massively melodic When You Were Here to the heavyweight Breaking The Walls. The guitars and keys of Karim and Fadhel Bouazra work together brilliantly bringing the main body of the songs to life while be aided by Yessine Belghith's bass and Mehdi Braham's drums along with Oscar Zubelzu's strong vocals have more in common with Ray Alder than they do James LaBrie but they fit the bands intelligent progressive metal delivery and they at their best on the acoustic ballad The Way It Has To Be. This record is fantastic, it is one of the best progressive records of the year so far and I urge you to seek it out. Well done Lost Insen you have released and album that many bands can only dream of releasing in their career and never mind as their debut!! 9/10

Arising Fear: Beyond Betrayal (Self Released)

There really is a glut of German thrash metal around at the moment and Arising Fear are fast, furious and full of fury. Coming from the more modern style the band share a lot of stylistic similarities with Trivium and early Machine Head, especially with Alexander Rauh's vocals and on tracks like Deadly Embrace which features those trademark MFH pinched harmonics. The band combine twin guitar riffage and some metalcore breakdowns that hark to groove metallers like Pantera. This is a 10 track album that is full of anthems, Rauh's and Kevin Pöllmann's guitars are awesome, heavy, melodic and very fast with Tobias Möhring's drums and Thomas Franz's bass really bringing the heavy to the album, Möhring's drums especially are the driving force behind Day To Overcome which knocks you out of the blocks and has a massive melodic chorus. Arising Fear are a breath of fresh air to the German thrash scene sounding very American in their delivery which will stand them in good stead for the future. If you are a fan of Machine Fucking Head then you will really enjoy Arising Fucking Fear and their debut album, which is frankly an excellent modern thrash album from these young Bavarians. 8/10

Jesus Christ: We Will Fight (Self Released)

Jesus Christ are a thrash metal band from Russia, they mix frenetic guitars with shouted vocals and lots of attitude, this isn't thrash in the Metallica/Megadeth style and is more like Anthrax in tone with the thrash speed mixing with the hardcore stomp and lots of anti-governmental rallying, with a name like Jesus Christ you would expect the band to have balls of steel. The guitars are straight out of the Spitz/Ian school of riffage and the vocals are pure Belladonna, see Blind Humanity and Traitor as two songs lifted straight off Among The Living. The band do try to expand their sound with death growls but other than that this is strictly thrash. A good album with some good songs let down by the production which is D.I.Y but lends itself to the bands sound. It's not big or clever but it is fun filled thrashing by a band that do what they do well. 7/10 

Reviews: Wolfmother, Gus G, The Oath

Wolfmother: New Crown (Self Released)

Andrew Stockdale put Wolfmother on hiatus to release his (admittedly very Wolfmother sounding) solo album. Now he returns with a new drummer and bassist/keyboardist which is if you remember the original line-up the band went forward with. Now can they conjure up the magic of their world beating debut? The short answer is no there are a few flashes of greatness that hark back too their self titled album. How Many Times, Heavy Weight, Radio and the title track are full of the riff fuelled rock that made Wolfmother popular in the first place. However seeing as Wolfmother were put on hiatus and guitarist/vocalist Andrew Stockdale indulged himself with a solo album, which had a mix of styles a few if which make their way on to this new 'mother record. I Ain't Got No is a pure Rolling Stones pastiche, wholeheartedly ripping off one of their biggest hits (no prizes for guessing which one), whereas Feelings is a four chord punk rocker that Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy would be proud of. This is a return of the Stockdale's baby and shows where he has his best ideas, on the back of a solid solo effort this is Stockdale back to doing his day job. 7/10

Gus G: I Am The Fire (Century Media)

Right lets get this out of the way first of all, Gus G's debut solo album does not sound like Firewind or indeed Ozzy so those looking for that will be disappointed. What the Greek virtuoso's debut does do is cover a spectrum of rock music with an A-list line up of guests. The main recurring member, other than Gus and drummer Jeff Friedl, is Mats Leven (the man who should be the singer of Firewind) whose strong smoky voice is perfect for the opening salvo of rockers My Will Be Done and Blame It On Me, so far so good, big, fat, melodic riffs good songwriting and some seriously fret melting solos, then things get a bit weird as the title track is an American alternative radio rock song straight out of the Hinder/Papa Roach playbook and features the vocals of Devour The Day's Blake Allison, so yes the song is good but it is a very rapid change of direction that leads to another two songs that are similar in style to I Am The Fire both having that alternative rock feeling with Long Way Down featuring the great voice of Alexia Rodriguez and is similar to Halestorm in feeling and the big, radio ballad Just Can't Let Go which is right out of the Kroeger playbook. Both of these tracks are bookended with instrumental tracks one is Vengeance (not the Yngwie one) and the other is Terrified, both of the tracks sound a lot like Racer X/Paul Gilbert instrumentals with melody and also virtuosic tendencies, bolstering the Gilbert comparisons is the appearance of Billy Sheenan on Terrified. The final part of the album features more walks through the rock genre with an AOR ballad featuring Evergrey's Tom S. Englund (Dreamkeeper), the Journey-like Summer Days which features Jeff Scott Soto (thus the link to Journey) and the last guest is a pleasant surprise in the shape of Steel Panther's Michael Starr playing it straight for once on the Bon Jovi meets Metallica Redemption. So this is an eclectic album that touches on so many different styles but they are all held together by Gus G's excellent guitar heroics, a great album that will have a wide appeal and will surely make Gus very, VERY famous across the pond (which one suspects is the entire point). 8/10

The Oath: The Oath (Rise Above Records)

When I first saw the press pic for The Oath I immediately thought the metal community are going to have a field day with this, an occult doom metal band fronted by two devastatingly attractive, leather catsuit clad, almost identical blondes, one the Swedish guitarist Linnea Olsson and the other German singer Johanna Sadonis. The two women recruited a bassist and a drummer (two bearded dudes, a Parisian and the drummer from Angel Witch) and set about constructing some dark, stripped down, occult doom is going songs about Satan, death and misery. So with the image set it was up to the music to prove that the band were more than style over substance and it does so excellently, imagine if you will a band that is part Danzig (naturally), part Sabbath (obviously) and part the Runaways especially on punkier tracks like Night Child and All Must Die. Olsson's guitar is very good with the right amount of stripped back, garage, heavy riffage and jangly, angular folk on Leaving Together. Sadonis' vocals are soulful, sonorous and powerful giving a gutsy performance on every track, especially the haunting Silver And Dust. This is a great album full of some strong traditional doom rock that will be for fans of Blood Ceremony, The Devils Blood as well as Cathedral, Sabbath and the old guard. As the album ends on the haunting, progressive Psalm 7 you feel like you've been taken on a journey by the two sorceresses that formed this band, a glimpse into their dark world. 8/10

World Of Metal 7: Storm Cry, Pohl, Vengeful Ghoul

Storm Cry: Beginning Of Darkness EP (Self Released)

Bringing their music from Venice Italy Storm Cry are a colossal no messing Melodic Death metal band that deliver their music with the ferocity, at times, of an earthquake in your ears. Opening softly with the instrumental The Decent Leonardo Doro and his band lead you completely the wrong way up the proverbial path with a soft careless opening until The Sun Dies Here comes smashing into the equation. From the offset Storm Cry jam their songs with heavy leaping thrash riffs covered beautifully with melodic solos that really define this band. The SYS and Fear Now carry on providing me with punch after punch of dark riffage and magnificently uplifting solos. Roberto Bindi’s deep growling voice compliments the sound that Storm Cry has set out perfectly. Almost sinister in his delivery the vocals here really add an extra layer and edge of doom to this project. Finishing all too soon Void and title track The Beginning of Darkness end this powerful EP. With its unexpected turn of pace Void is almost lighter in mood, that is until the fearsome growls of Bindi’s vocals resurface bring the EP back to the crushing sound of darkness that I am starting to love. Francesco Pasinato and Doro really come into their own during The Beginning of Darkness throwing out thumping riff after riff while holding the rhythm at a perfect tone. The highlight here however is the drumming of Matteo Rizzo who relentlessly pounds away furious beats with the power and vengeance of a jackhammer, really impressive. Never hearing Storm Cry before I have to say I'm damn impressed, the Italian lads have clearly decided what they want from their music and have achieved that in a brutal yet almost majestic manner. My only two criticisms; maybe at times there can be a bit too much going on; halfway through Fear Now for example every instrument is at full force set to 11 and the sound does turn into a pile of noise briefly. The other? This EP just isn’t enough for me, here’s to a Storm Cry album in the near future! 9/10   

Pohl : Pohl II (Self Released)

Based just on the other side of the bridge from us, Bristol trio Pohl have recently released their second EP. In all honesty I've never quite come across a band like Pohl before; mixing hard bassy blues rock with a grungy yet almost stoner type feel to it, one thing Pohl cannot be accused of is being unoriginal. Opening track of  Cute Guy Alert is stuffed with enough bass to make your ears bleed. Hugo Morgan picks away incessantly at his bass strings laying down grove rhythms as deep and as grounded as you can imagine. Each track is solely based on these bass rhythms and ultimately makes Pohl what they are. Vocally there is nothing special here at all, but I get the feeling that isn't the bands biggest worry. As in Cute Guy Alert next track Eraser is introduced with pounding bass lines that quickly turn into fast moving groves. Controlled drums from Jamie Thompson deliver some sense of normality throughout the EP, however he can send his cymbals crashing to a crescendo when called upon. Eraser is slightly less understated and keeps your head bobbing along nicely, finishing how it started with a deep exaggerated grove line. The final track of Pohl II God Save The Queen (High on Death) is something completely different again, slow doom laden bass rhythms with very little rhythm guitar throughout. Focused mainly on the bass and sporadic drumbeats the Will Pearce’s vocals are synthesized this time to add an extra depth to the track that also adds to the somewhat organized chaos that is Pohl II. Dragging along slowly this track stalls the EP for me. Ultimately, despite the degree of fun the lads from Bristol represent, Pohl aren't really my cup of tea. I think however given the chance I would certainly take them in live as I can imagine it being an experience. There is no denying the imagination and the bravery Pohl have, particularly the talent of Morgan on bass. But maybe a few more degrees of direction are required to streamline Pohl’s sound a little more. 6/10

Vengeful Ghoul: Timeless Warfare (Self Released)

Vengeful Ghoul? Sounds like a band name ready for a concept album, preferably one aimed at a wronged Casper. Alas not on this album although the theme of war does run through the record with the opening track Chained Freedom opens with battle sounds and then goes on to run for 7 minutes of time signature changing, muscular heavy metal with thrash influences. So far so good then with an opening track as good as this it puts the rest of the album in good stead. So who are Vengeful Ghoul? Well they are metal band from Turkey and they play Power/Thrash metal which may sound a bit odd but to give you an idea they sound like Iced Earth, with some relentless riffage from rhythm riff-mistress Senem Undemir and some laser guided leads from axe-master Ozgur Nair both of whom are helped in their musical destruction by Volkan Beykoz's drums and Gorkem Buyukesmeli's bass who add to the metal madness with some rock solid rhythm making every song hard, heavy with lots of technical prowess, the finishing touches to the album are from vocalist Emre Kasapoglu who is from the Andi Deris and Tim 'Ripper' Owens school, with growling mid-range and a ear piercing screams. Luckily I love Iced Earth so I was banging my head and raising my fist to every fast and heavy track, the band have the right amount of grit, melody and technical ferocity, see the solo in Ruthless Crow and they are equally at home with fast thrashy passages as they are with slower more melancholic moments like My Crowded Solitude. Powerful, progressive and all around awesome this is a hell of a debut from the Turkish band. If you like power metal, a bit more serious and technical than usual then Vengeful Ghoul will definitely be one of your albums of the year! Superb stuff indeed!! 10/10 

Reviews: Vandenberg's Moonkings, Vanishing Point, Ring Of Fire

Vandenberg's MoonKings: MoonKings (Mascot Records)

Adrian Vandenberg is a former guitarist of Whitesnake co-writing most of their comeback album Slip Of The Tongue, however all of the guitars on the album were done by some guy called Steve Vai. Still Vandeberg has made a career after his fling with Cov and co before hanging up his axe in 1994. 20 years later the man returns with his six string, a brand new band and an album full of hip shaking, powerhouse rock songs that our David would be proud of (old leather lungs himself appears on the final massive Whitesnake cover Sailing Ships). Vandenberg sure knows how to right a rock song with opener Lust And Lies having the dirty, lust filled swagger that the Snake have made their name doing, this moves into the Zep-like rockers Close To You and Line Of Fire which along with the mega-ballads Breathing and Out Of Reach, both of which would be a number one from 'Snake. As you can see I keep mentioning Whitesnake and that is because this album sounds a lot Whitesnake's more modern output with lots of hard rock riffage, killer solo's, big drums and bass from Mart Nijen Es and Sem Christoffel respectively. The whole band are rounded out by the great vocals of Jan Hoving who sounds like ex-Firewind singer Apollo Papathanasio doing a (brilliant) Coverdale impression. This an album for fans of the 'Snake and any hip shaking, python licking, hard rocking music. As a debut this a great, big songs, great production and excellent musicianship, however I wouldn't expect anything less from a former Snakeman, Cov only picks the best to back him and Vandenberg's MoonKings shows this in spades, as the band say on Nothing Touches "Nothing touches rock 'n' roll!" 9/10

Vanishing Point: Distant Is The Sun (AFM Records)

In all my years of metal I've only been peripherally aware of Vanishing Point and with Distant Is The Sun being their fifth album I thought it was about time I checked them out and I'm very glad I did as these Aussies play strong, melodic metal with progressive flourishes. The band fuse the heavy, crunchy guitars of James Maier and founder member Chris Porcianko who bring some seriously technical riffage to every song along with the blast beats of Christian Nativo, the bass of Simon Best providing the driving rhythms and Silvio Massaro's soaring melodic vocals. The band also have lots of symphonic elements with keys and orchestrations playing a part on every track giving the band a sound similar to American melodic prog bands Redemption, Shadow Gallery and Fates Warning, especially on the ballads like Let The River Run while the symphonic backed faster/heavier tracks like Distant Is The Sun and King Of Empty Promises have more in common with Kamelot or Sonata Arctica (who's singer Tony Kakko appears on Circle Of Fire) with their galloping rhythms and big orchestrations. This fifth record is a complex, progressive, melodic metal album that has touches of AOR, prog rock and of course metal. On the back of this album I think it's time I looked for Vanishing Point's back catalogue on the strength of this album. 8/10

Ring Of Fire: Battle Of Leningrad (Frontiers Records)

Ring Of Fire are a neoclassical metal band from the USA made of former Yngwie Malmsteen air raid siren Mark Boals, guitar virtuoso Tony Macalpine who programs the drums, both men are aided in their neoclassical mastery as usual by keyboardist Vitalij Kuprij and former Stratovarius man Timo Tolkki. So as usual the album is filled with the simply staggering guitar playing of MacAlpine who does things to a guitar that very few men can do, he works in tandem with Kuprij to pull some seriously fast riffs on the first two tracks Mother Russia and They Are Calling Your Name and then they conjure some mastery on the ballad Land Of Frozen Tears. This is a technical album with lots of great songs however there is one major downfall, the production of Tolkki is awful it's sounds very weak and muddy, it's similar to the Metal Hammer edition of Manowar's last album. Music like this needs crisp modern production to make it sparkle however this just means the album sound like a bad NWOBHM demo. Poor form indeed. 5/10

Another Point Of View: The Answer

The Answer – The Globe

The bar for this gig had been set extremely high following the previous night’s storming Lords of the Riff tour in Bristol but if ever there was a night to catch Northern Ireland’s The Answer, then St Patrick’s Day was it.

Unfortunately we once again got drawn into the time warp that is the Tandoori Mahal and as a result of spectacularly poor service we totally missed Blackwolf. How long does it take to serve four people in an empty restaurant for fuck’s sake??

So it was onto the main event without a musical warm up. Luckily we'd all had a good liquid warm up and clutching pints of Guinness we lurched our way to the front as the band launched into New Horizon from the latest long player release. Bluesy and with a bucketful of soul, they followed this with Road Less Travelled, generating masses of energy from the packed audience who appeared as determined as the band to have a great night. Founder and guitarist Paul Mahon cuts a fine shape stage left, ably supported by James Heatley on drums and bassist Micky Waters. Musically The Answer are quite superb, driving hard rock with a classic melodic undertone, as demonstrated with fan favourite Trouble from Revival which preceded the first of four tracks from debut album Rise, the anthemic Under the Sky.  The rhythm section of Heatley and Waters are quite happy to deliver the base from which Mahon can demonstrate what a decent guitarist he is. However, the star of this band is frontman Cormack Neeson.  With his tousled blond locks cascading down in a mane so reminiscent of a certain Robert Plant,  Neeson has a voice and the charisma to carry the band forward and he does this with ease, delivering a vocal performance that old Percy would surely approve of. Following Concrete, the band threw in a well appreciated cover of Cradle Rock, made famous by another Irishman, the legendary Rory Gallagher. By now the band were in full swing with Neeson offering swigs of Jamesons to the front row. The chart friendly Nowhere Freeway turned into a full scale sing along with our crew hollering tunelessly (speak for yourself Matt), Guinness flying everywhere! Spectacular followed; cue even more awful singing and much fist pumping as the temperature continued to rise and the party accelerated towards the climax. A slight change of pace for the blues soaked Memphis Water allowed everyone to get their breath back with Mahon soloing centre stage whilst Neeson had a quick break.  Closing with Come Follow Me the band then finished with a quick one two of Comfort Zone from Everyday Demons before Preachin’ brought the evening to a typical Baptist revival church style finish.  A brilliant evening with more than enough to rival the previous evening’s entertainment, Highlights of the evening? Clearly the excitement on a certain female member of our party who on her way down the stairs at the end of the set bumped straight in Cormack Neeson, and ended up with a massive hug from him! To be fair, I’d have hugged him too! The other highlight was finding out that The Answer will be at Steelhouse in July. Excellent news!

One complaint? Put Demon Eyes back in the set as I love it. One fear: after 12 years the band appears to have plateaued a little and, as much as I love seeing them in small venues, it would be great to see them get a bit of wider exposure to allow them to progress. Maybe they need AC/DC to get back out on the road again. 9/10

A View From The Back Of The Room: Lords Of The Riff Vol.1

Lords Of The Riff Vol.1: Monster Truck, Scorpion Child & Buffalo Summer, Exchange Bristol

Back from Hammerfest and after a quick change, across the bridge and into the tiny Exchange for what was the sold out first show on the Team Rock sponsored Lords Of The Riff tour which was a showcase for young acts. When I say sold out I mean it as the venue was packed tighter than Coverdale into his trousers, there was no room to breathe and the venue warmed up quickly, still sometimes its nice to see a venue sell out for 3 lesser known bands.

Buffalo Summer

Due to the queue to get in we managed to catch the last half of the set by Welsh rockers Buffalo Summer but when the band were grooving nicely to their brand of Zeppelin-like rock playing selections from their debut album and also some new tracks (which sound very good indeed), with lots of funky old school riffs and tracks like Down To The River which has a sing along middle section, as well as A Horse Called Freedom and the foot stomping She's All Natural. Buffalo Summer did a great job of warming up the crowd and put everyone in that 70's mindset that was needed for the rest of the evening. 8/10

Scorpion Child

This show was a double headliner and the closer switched every show this time it was up to Monster Truck to follow Scorpion Child and boy would they have a hell of a job. The Texan band strolled on to the stage with Orange Goblin's Ben Ward looking on and the now four piece (this band has more ex-members than Spinal Tap) plunged straight into the gutter blues of Kings Highway and it hot me as soon as they started to play that this band are very similar to Percy and co. Kings Highway has a very psychedelic Zeppelin vibe to it with Christopher Cowart busting out the Page like riffs and Aryn Johnathan Black having the mystical stage craft and vocal gusto of Plant (albeit through a mic that was knackered leading to feedback) still for 40 minutes the band managed to bewitch the audience with their heavy, psychedelic rock perfect for those with a some medicine to smoke. The relentless riff of Polygon Of Eyes with its awesome chorus came next as did Salvation Slave (more Zeppelinisms), The Secret Spot, Liquor and their cover of Keep Goin' originally by Lucifer's Friend. The band were a revelation to watch, they were heavy, groovy and slightly unpredictable with Black getting into the audience more than once. Scorpion Child blew the roof off the Exchange with their riff heavy-psych rock which ebbed and flowed throughout the set. An absolutely killer set from the Texans that Monster Truck were going to have to work hard to follow. 10/10

Monster Truck

So on came the Canadians, again a four piece but this time loaded with a keyboard to bring the Purple to proceedings. Considering that Monster Truck are from North of the border they sounded the most Southern of the two band kicking off with The Lion which was all blustering riffs and big organs yes they got the place rocking and worked their debut record playing For The Sun, the ballad My Love Is True, the excellent Sweet Mountain River (which sounds like both Black Stone Cherry and Mountain) before the well known track Old Train came in the middle of the set. Don't get me wrong Monster Truck are good at what they do the bass, guitar, drums and keys all work together and the vocals of bassist John Harvey and guitarist Jeremy Widerman work in tandem and give the band a sound similar to fellow Canadians Priestess, however you can help feeling that the songs are all a bit samey and after the sheer white hot brilliance of Scorpion Child, Monster Truck couldn't follow. I'd go and see them in heartbeat but I think they were just a victim of circumstance. 8/10