Reviews: Reasoning Reflections, Dreamlord, Oak, Uncle Woe

Reasoning Reflections: Samsara (Self Released)

From Nicosia Reasoning Reflections' debut full length record is a "short sci-fi story about cycles of death and rebirth of the universe as viewed from the human perspective" Samsara is a progressive/technical death metal record that really reaches to some stratospheric highs as the tracks thunder with numerous time changes, fat breakdowns, fleet fingered guitar playing and heavy use of synths the album is bullet pointed by a three part Saṃsāra suite starting with the bass-driven opening of Explosion Sets The Canvas (Saṃsāra I), that sets the album off with a sound of modern Trivium. getting you ready for intriguing numbers like Inexorable Cognizance which has a maelstrom of brutal death metal riffage, guttural vocals but also some beautiful piano. The blistering Solar Breath and the choppy Oceans Of Clouds show some of the more of the clean vocals but still the intense prog metal style of the rest of the album. An absolute cornucopia of musical endeavour, Samsara is a journey that reaches heady heights it aims for Temporal Voyages brings some jazz jamming, as the album closes out with probably two of the most direct songs on the whole record; Symphonies of The Void (Saṃsāra II), Moksha (Saṃsāra III). There's real intelligence and brilliant music, this Cypriot band have produced a fantastic late addition to what has been an excellent year for music. 8/10

Dreamlord: Disciples Of War (No Remorse Records)

Dreamlord are a thrash metal band from Athens, Greece and they are a very old school prospect with pounding drums, riffs that get the headbanging and aggressive vocals. The band were formed in 1994 but their debut wasn't released until 2007, however this follow up has taken 12 years so was it worth the wait? Well it opens with the abusive one-two of the Slayer-like Out For Blood and the riff-fest of the title track which both gallop along at a fair pace before The 11th Hour brings more of a stomp and serves as  great showcase for lead guitarist Yiannis Glykiotis who moves between Kirk Hammett melody and Jeff Hanneman frenzies as the track climaxes. There is a definite darker style of thrash on this record with nods to Kreator, Slayer and Megadeth as Babis Paleogeorgos (rhythm guitar), Christos Peveretos (bass) and Nikos Kousounis (drums) crank out the riffs, keeping things moving along at frenetic speed, while showcasing their mettle on the instrumental Act Of God. If you're a thrash fan then Dreamlord will satisfy a lot of your cravings, but it won't redefine the genre. 6/10

Oak: Lone (Transcending Obscurity Records)

Portuguese doom band Oak, like things slow, really bloody slow. Formed by Guilherme Henriques (vocals/guitars) and Pedro Soares (drums), the two of them combine to drag out some atmospheric doom metal that brings a feeling of hopelessness and despair to your listening experience, over the course for 4 tracks and nearly an hour Lone fills you with a sense of isolation and dread. The issue I have with this record is that nothing happens for minutes at a time, much of it is very repetitive, which I understand is the point to build a haunting atmosphere but it does make the attention wander, unless you're totally committed to this style. Putting the two longest songs one after another does mean that it gets to be a struggle after the first two songs on the album, a shame but I really didn't enjoy this album because it does become too tedious. 4/10

Uncle Woe: Our Unworn Limbs (Self Released)

Uncle Woe are Canadian sludge band ramp up the psych, with psychotropic effects in force from the opening grizzled, fuzzy chords. The majority of the record is instrumental, with the guitars, bass and drums doing most of the work here the vocals drifting in and out on the first two tracks though on Mania For Breaking has the cleanest vocal on the whole album. To be honest I drifted in and out of this album as with a lot of sludge it can be a bit samey and a bit slow too. Still if sludge is your bag you'll find much to admire on Our Unworn Limbs. 5/10

A View From The Back Of The Room: Alter Bridge (Live Review By Matt Bladen)

Alter Bridge & Shinedown, Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff

Black Friday (the proper one) is probably the busiest night of the year, a evening of revelry that turns into carnage relatively quickly. This write however was on a promise, I'd bought tickets for this gig for my other half earlier in the year as both bands on the bill are favourites of hers. Unfortunately she was also working in Porthcawl in the lead up to Xmas so I had to drive too the seaside town to pick her up and make my way back into cardiff for the show which had a start time of 6:30. Luckily as most people were in the City Centre pubs drinking themselves into oblivion the roads were quiet so I made great time to get to Porthcawl and back. However after parking the car, which was also not as much as a hassle as I thought it would be, it was only at the venue that we encountered problems as the upped security and a packed venue meant long queues to get in. This meant that we missed most of the opening band The Raven Age, who were filling in for Sevendust the original openers on the tour. Sevendust couldn't play due to surgery needed by their drummer Morgan Rose just before they set out on tour.

As The Raven Age finished their final song, we took our place near the back and waited for the special guests Shinedown (7) who I was hoping would impress me more than they did when they supported Iron Maiden in the same venue. Back then it was the massive over use of pre-taped vocals that got on my nerves and detracted from the show, however as they took to the stage, after quite a long intro, it was obvious Brent's vocals were a lot better this time around, he was definitely singing live with the guitarists supplying the backing vocals, there was still some tapes but they were nowhere near as obvious due to the vocals being quite high in the mix. This tour was in support of their most mature album yet Attention, Attention opening things up with the bouncy Devil kicking things off, into Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom) which was welcomed as an old friend by the crowd. Then the band stopped. We got to the part of Shinedown sets that really annoy me, at every gig they stop and have the audience all say hello to each other. It's supposed to be a way of everyone interacting but really it kills any momentum the band have going. They proceeded to stop a few more times through the set making it a little up and down in terms of pacing as they also focussed on a lot of their slower, ballad material. Still the room loudly sang along with Second Chance, their cover of Simple Man and Sound Of Madness with then very partisan crowd enjoying every minute of it. Better than I'd seen them before but their mantra of being the best band on the planet is a little boastful.

No such boasting from Alter Bridge (7) who do always come off as humble when they play especially when they you can see that quite clearly technically gifted musicians. The flashy stage show of huge screens and lights showed the band in full arena headline mode as Mark Tremonti and Brian Marshall crossed each others paths numerous times using full length of the Motorpoint's stage as Scott Phillips sat atop his drumkit keeping pace. Many were here to see Myles Kennedy the band who has ascended to a higher level of fame due to him being the frontman of Slash's solo band (which he now has co-billing on). He is every inch a rock god, trading between lead and rhythm guitar with Tremonti, he has every person in the room hanging on every word of tracks like Isolation, Come To Life and Ghost Of Days Gone By. Since I've last seen the band you can see that they have really become true arena headliners, even going as far as to give away a signature Tremonti guitar on the fourth song!

Now I have had a problem with Alter Bridge live, it's that they are quite clinical and they get a little sterile  quickly, the four songs from Walk The Sky all blended into one another when mixed with tracks from One Day Remains and the one song from Last Hero. In fact the only songs that made an impact were the four from Blackbird and the three from Fortress (the last great Alter Bridge record in my opinion). The middle part of the set did drag a little it was only with Watch Over You that I got interested again as it led to Blackbird, Open Your Eyes and Metalingus. There is a huge distinction between their earlier songs and the later stuff, that's hard to ignore, as I've said a few times in this review Alter Bridge are now at arena headline level properly (though the Cardiff crowd was quite sparse at the back) and their songs now have to appeal to an audience that has come on due to Kennedy's other project, I may still find them a little bland on stage but their fans probably don't care what I think as they were throwing shapes like nobodies business to every song.    

A View From The Back Of The Room: Motionless In White (Live Review By Neil Lewis)

Motionless In White, Bristol O2 Academy,

Ahh the good old O2 Academy in Bristol. It’s a much-maligned venue amongst many of the MoM regulars and with good reason: it’s often an absolutely terrible place to watch bands. However I must give credit where it’s due as there have been some sightings of the green shoots of improvement during my past couple of visits there; for example the cage around the sound desk area which obscured the view for anyone in and around the bar is thankfully now gone and on my last two visits at least there were numerous stewards around the building ensuring exits and – crucially in my opinion – the stair cases at the sides of the main room were kept clear the whole night. Admittedly it helped that neither of the two shows I went to had been oversold (or were even sold out as far as I could tell) but as a certain supermarket loves to say: every little helps.

Something that didn’t help on the night under review was the rather massive queue I encountered when I arrived at the venue not too long after the advertised door time. Said queue meant that your writer missed the entirety of the first support act, Thailand’s Defying Decay. Unfortunate but sadly unavoidable. I did however catch all of the main support act Skold (6). Led by industrial legend and producer extraordinaire Tim Skold, the band that bears his sobriquet play an appropriate industrial/metal type sound which I found to be enjoyable enough but often seemed to lacking a killer hook or a catchy chorus or something memorable in general. Nevertheless both main man Mr Skold and his backing band (consisting of Nero Bellum on keyboards and Jon Siren on drums) put on a decent show. Tim himself also made a cameo during the headliners set when he performed his parts of Final Dictvm which he recorded with Motionless. Speaking of whom...

Motionless In White (9) have included a Bristol stop on pretty much every full UK tour they’ve done since their first visit over here in 2013, the majority - if not all - of which I have also attended. Over these years I’ve watched the bands’ audience grow, picking up new fans with their newer industrial/metalcore hybrid sound whilst simultaneously trying to appease fans of their older, pure metalcore sound. The latter I feel is a mistake these days but that’s just my own opinion which I have stated a number of times before. Having said that I was pretty happy with the set list chosen for this show as it leaned heavily towards newer material from the bands past two releases (this years Disguise and my album of the year for 2017, the rather excellent Graveyard Shift), and featured just the one tune (Puppets (The First Snow)) from their debut.

The band have also grown a lot as performers too; whilst front Chris “Motionless” Cerulli has always dripped charisma the rest of the band are also equally as attention-grabbing on stage nowadays (especially new bassist Justin Morrow, who jumped to Motionless from previous band Ice Nine Kills and who appears to be an absolutely perfect fit for the band), although the larger stages and more elaborate stage sets the band are performing on nowadays certainly helps with that. The fans in attendance also played their part on this night with loud singalongs of fan favourites such as Reincarnate, Devil’s Night and immense set-closer Eternally Yours (in addition I personally spotted an amusingly high number of attendees singing along to the PA song played immediately following Motionless’ set – which just happened to be We Like To Party by the Vengaboys. Go figure).

Unfortunately Chris still relies a fair bit on what I shall charitably call “pre-recorded vocal elements”, although this didn’t bug me as much as it usually does for some reason as it wasn’t always quite so obvious – there were a couple of occasions when vocals could clearly be heard but no one could be seen singing, but these didn’t spoil the sheer enjoyment of the performance in my view. After all, it is the performance on the night that counts, and this was a first class one (and let’s not mention the fact that the keyboard elements of the songs were all present and correct despite the fact that the band don’t actually have a keyboard player at this moment). As this was the very last show of the tour – and of the decade – for Motionless, there was a palpable party vibe to the night, as evidenced by that Vengaboys track. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the show as I have done for every Motionless show I’ve attended thus far and I will certainly be going to see the band again if they continue to play Bristol – especially if the venue really does manage to sort itself out. There’s still a way to go on that front, but: skeletal fingers crossed

Reviews: Sidë Effects, Echoes Of Decay, Warcode, Hidden In The Basement (Reviews By Matt Bladen)

Sidë Effects: Expedition (Underground Symphony)

A vivid retelling of Homer's The Odyssey, Expedition is the debut album from this Athenian metal band. There is one definite influence here...Iron Maiden, from the 'Arry-like bass playing of band leader/lyricist/songwriter George Nidriotis, to the Air-Raid Siren vocals of Tasos Lazaris and even the production just screams (for me) the UK's premier metal act. The subject matter even lends itself to the historical fantasy style that Maiden have always been so keen on. A short intro leads into the galloping Into The Sea and from there Sidë Effects rarely leave the Maiden comfort zone, (they even have late album instrumental in Fields Of Stone). The drumming of Chris Bouvis has that metronomic style of Nicko McBrain as Kostas Grammenos and Andreas Zografidis duel with a twin axe attack made famous by Dave Murray and Adrian Smith. The title track has those classic melodic flourishes on top of driving progressive backing that makes it the first song echoing those Maiden epics such as Rhyme Of The Ancient Mariner. 

Though it's not as long or epic as For The Love And Land which clocks in at 10 minutes with numerous time and style changes. Both songs are bookended by the synthy ballad Light On My Steel where they move slightly onto the Manowar battleground. There's pretty much no other way to review this record, it's really hard to be objective on this one as no matter how much I want to be cynical about how much they sound like Maiden, I bloody love Maiden so I enjoyed this album immensely, if you like Maiden you'll enjoy it as it is so bloody similar, if you don't like them then you've probably stopped reading. Jump aboard the Expedition with Sidë Effects and hear of the tales of Odysseus, Homeric in every sense. 7/10

Echoes Of Decay: Dive Into Darkness (Self Released)

Formed in 2017 in Thessaloniki Echoes Of Decay are a band who you wouldn't want round for Christmas dinner, their atmospheric doom/death metal is misanthropic, gloomy and thoroughly miserable. The songs dredge along with elongated runtimes and gargled runtimes as maudlin piano that splits many of the songs with a downcast melodic sound. The band cite their influences as the obvious bands such as Paradise Lost, Opeth and Katatonia, while they also take from the post-metal side of Cult Of Luna and Neurosis. Dive Into Darkness is a dark and brooding with the first two tracks long slow doom numbers as Echoes Of Decay makes things a little faster but not by much. It's atmospheric yes but the grunting vocals are a little one-dimensional, this record is crying out for some soulful cleans and just s little bit of variation, like Obsession provides. There's nothing particularly weak here hit;s just been done before better, though if you want some introspection at the end of this turbulent year then I'd suggest Dive Into Darkness. 6/10

Warcode: Post Modern Delusions (Self Released)

Hailing from Trikala where there are as probably as many sheep as there are in Wales, Warcode do their best to frighten every single one of the wooly bastards with death/thrash metal assault. Taking their cues from the Germanic sounds of Kreator and Sodom with some of the second wave US thrash style from Exodus and Obituary. Warcode have an album full of distorted riffs that are brought thick and fast as the drumming bludgeons you to death with percussive blasts, even on the more grinding mid-paced Architects Of Immoral Dogma the drumming from Vasilis is devastating. Elsewhere though razor-sharp riffs of Bill and Milt slash at each other on numbers as Instigate The Suffering and the vicious Ruination while Vaios grunts and Sotiris brings the thunder with his bass. Will Post Modern Delusions change the metal landscape? No. Does it reinvent the wheel? No. Will it scare away your family on boxing day? Hell yes! 6/10

Hidden In The Basement: Cursed By The Sun (Self Released)

Probably not the best name for a band to be honest as Hidden In The Basement does tend to conjure images of serial killers, but the only thing these Larisa natives kill is anyone allergic to riffs. With three guitarists, one bassist and a drummer Hidden In The Basement are a heavy riffing stoner metal band. I've talked ad nauseum about the Greek affinity with stoner music so when a band like this bring to mind NOLA heavyweights Down and COC then it reinforces these remarks. As I said they have three guitar players giving the songs such as False Dawn a bit more depth. It's all pretty good stuff here, getting the head nodding with psych-drenched heavy rock riffs and grizzled vocals, things get woozy on The Witch, Hangover is driving while Wasted Nights brings more mind expansion. Cursed By the Sun yet again shows that Greeks are in their own league when it comes to riffage. 7/10

Reviews: Carcariass, Stormburner, The Curf, Gaslarm (Manus & Rich)

Carcariass: Planet Chaos (Self Released) [Rich Oliver]

Planet Chaos is the fifth album from French progressive metallers Carcariass. A band I haven’t come across before, Carcariass play a nice mix of melodic death metal and progressive metal with some leanings into technical death metal as well. The musicianship on the album is absolutely brilliant with some astounding guitar work from Pascal Lanquetin and nifty drumming from Bertrand Simonin. The vocals by Jérôme Thomas whilst not mindblowing are perfectly functional and complementary to the music. The downside to Planet Chaos is its excessive length and the quality of the material just isn’t sufficient to justify the album’s 68 minute plus duration. The music is top quality and the performances phenomenal but the songwriting isn’t as refined with a lot of the album whilst sounding wonderful is merely forgettable. There are some brilliant moments such as the synth laden wonder of Star Implosion and the melodic death metal majesty of Letter From The Trenches. Overall whilst it has its flaws Planet Chaos still is a very enjoyable album. Well produced, meticulously performed but just overlong and excessive. 7/10

Stormburner: Shadow Rising (Pure Steel Records) [Manus Hopkins]

Shadow Rising by Stormburner… as is made evident by the title and the name of the band, this is a pretty straight-up heavy metal record. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, because straight-up heavy metal, when it’s done right, doesn’t need to be anything more. There are no weird fusions here, no attempts to make anything out of the ordinary fit in with this style. It’s just heavy metal, and it’s good. With song names like Metal In The Night and Demon Fire, pretty much any metal listener will know exactly what to expect, and no expectations will be subverted. But the combination of screeching vocals, galloping riffs and grooving drums has worked for decades, and while it’s exciting to see metal go in new directions, traditional heavy metal isn’t going away any time soon, nor should it. 7/10

The Curf: Among Others (Lychnopolis Records) [Manus Hopkins]

This stoner rock album isn’t an awfully boring or torturous listen, but at the same time, it’s hard to really get that excited about or into. There’s fine musicianship and decent song-writing, but these songs just lack a certain energy that makes them come off a little lackluster. This might be the right music for some more chill atmospheres, but it’s hard to imagine anyone being all that eager for a record like this to drop. All that being said, this still isn’t a bad album. There’s some cool guitar work on it, and parts that are actually pretty enjoyable if you go in without expectations. The Curf shouldn’t be written off—this is still a band with potential worth giving another show. 6/10

Gaslarm: Creation Myth (Self Released) [Rich Oliver]

Upon doing my research for this review I saw that Gaslarm had quite a lengthy discography and so immediately assumed this was a long running band. Then I saw that the band formed in 2017 yet had a total of sixteen albums and two EP’s and confusion hit me. Then I saw that five of those albums including this one had been released this year. Then the alarm bells started ringing. Either Gaslarm has the most impressive work rate or they basically release any old shit. Unfortunately any old shit was the right answer.

Gaslarm isn’t really a band per se more of a one man project from Riff Lord aka Anders Lindeberg who is also guitarist in Age Of Nefarious and Excöriator. Riff Lord performs all instruments and vocals and whilst a very competent musician is an absolutely awful vocalist. Imagine a cross between Lips from Anvil and Cronos from Venom but absolutely tuneless and you have a summation of the vocals on this album. The songs themselves are either completely unremarkable or painfully awful with Know Who I Am has to be one of the worst songs I have heard this year. There is one decent song and it is an instrumental called The Race To Save Humanity. More like the race to save this album from complete failure. After eight songs which fail to inspire much if any hope the album finishes on an absolute butchering of Black Sabbath’s Children Of The Grave which was so awful I nearly switched it off.

Listening to Gaslarm was nearly one hour of my life I will never get back. I will award two points to the album - one for the competent level of musicianship especially the guitar playing and one to the stamina of Anders Lindberg for continually releasing material. I don’t know whether he is doing this for laughs or if he is genuinely serious about what he does but if Creation Myth is what his creative output is then please someone stop this man from recording albums. 2/10

Review: Violation Wound, Mountain Of Smoke, Solarys, Bestial Invasion (Matt & Liam)

Violation Wound: Dying To Live, Living To Die (Peaceville Records) [Liam True]

So Hardcore Punk isn’t really my forte, but I don’t mind it. With Violation Wound however, it’s opened the door for me a lot more. Imagine Dead Cross mixed with early Black Flag and that’s VW. From start to finish it’s an adrenaline packed Punk masterpiece. Granted it’s not your typical Punk, but a new wave so to speak. With the aggressive vocals of Autopsy frontman Chris Reifert leading the band through the 31 minute assault on your senses you don’t get time to think, speak or even know what you’ve just witnessed. Don’t get me wrong I know it’s supposed to be that way for the feel of it, but the production lets it down a little bit for me. I just like my music to be less murky and more clear if anything. It’s a personal preference, but I know most Punk bands go for the muddy sounding approach to their records. But at the end of the album you’ll find yourself putting it back on repeat because it has a fair amount of re-listens until it gets to ‘samey’. Make no mistake, they need a little bit more fuel in the fire to become known, but they’ve hit the nail on the head with this record. 8/10

Mountain Of Smoke: Future Sins (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]

This EP is available as a name-your-price download from Mountain Of Smoke's bandcamp so if you're a fan of heavy stoner metal similar to Orange Goblin then I'd suggest you pick this EP up as from the opening riff fest that is Trashcastle you get fuzzy, distorted riffs from Kyle Schutt a man who knows about riffs as his day job is a part of retro stoners The Sword. This is their first release as a four piece and while Schutt brings riffs locking in with Brooks Willhoite (bass and gravel-filled vocals) and PJ Costigan (drums) the most interesting part of this band is the pedal steel and synths from Alex Johnson who give this band and other world feeling take Plague Of The Powerless, yes the heavy reverbed bass is the main force the synths make it more unsettling. Things get weirder as the industrial instrumental Terminus build a Vangelis style soundscape into Zone Tripper which is heavily processed feeling like a synthwave number, though the last two tracks brings us back to more familiar ground. Mountain Of Smoke brings a unique take on sludge/stoner metal one that's worth investing in. 7/10

Solarys: Endless Clockworks (Wormholedeath) [Matt Bladen]

Solarys are modern melodic metal band and Endless Clockworks is their fourth album and their first since 2013. Now if you like bands such as Kamelot, Symphony X and Angra then you'll find much here, the synths underpin tough power metal riffs as the vocalist croons emotional lyrics. Now musically they are pretty basic, the guitarist is good but the vocalist doesn't really do much for me, he hasn't got much range and does warble a bit too much. As I said the guitar player Salvador Almagro is very slick, peeling off solos with ease as well as providing the stirring orchestral sounds for this album. As much as they try to aim for Kamelot etc, there are too many mid-paced numbers and nothing really sticks. Shame really as there is promise. 5/10

Beastial Invasion: Monomania (Nocturnus Records) [Liam True]

Power Metal has always been one of my my favourite genres. It’s cheesy. It’s catchy. And it’s pretty damn good. Beastial Invasion take it, and add hints of traditional Heavy Metal. It sounds like it would work, but it falls pretty flat to be honest. It’s not a bad album by any means, but the whole record seems forced, like the band aren’t being creative with each other, but just coming up with a tone and not improving on it. It does have some highlights with vocalist Vakhtang Zadiev showing some powerful vocals with the highs and growls he can reach. But that’s really it. It could be a lot better, but it could also be worse. Being on their third studio album you’d think they’d be more creative, but unfortunately not. Which is a shame because they do have potential. They just need to harness it. 4/10

Reviews: Nightwish, Palm Reader X Conjurer, Edge Of Forever, Deaf Radio (Matt & Manus)

Nightwish: Decades: Live In Buenos Aires (Nuclear Blast) [Manus Hopkins]

Live records are hit and miss. They’re also commonly used to fill contractual obligations to record companies, or to fill space between studio releases, and aren’t often released because they’re what the artists really want to put out. Still, some live albums have been excellent, and some have been incredibly successful. Decades probably won’t become the record Nightwish is known for, but that doesn’t mean anything about the actual quality of the record.

Nightwish’s last studio release was back in 2015, so it’s not hard to see this as a gap-filler, but it’s an enjoyable one at that. The essence and energy is quite well-captured, the songs sound excellent, and a listen to the record should make pretty much anyone wish they had been at this show, or can catch one in the future. It’s also definitely something with the potential to make fans excited for Nightwish’s upcoming spring 2020 studio album. 8/10

Palm Reader X Conjurer: Palm Reader X Conjurer (Holy Roar Records) [Matt Bladen]

Another covers EP this time from two of the most exciting bands on the UK scene, the self proclaimed 'arch-enemies' Conjurer and Palm Reader. Conjurer are the heavier of the two with a more death metal style while Palm Rader sit in the hardcore base. So let's start with the two Palm Reader songs, firstly we have Tire Me Rage Against The Machine's ode to the death of Richard Nixon, from their second album Evil Empire. As with all of the covers on this record it's close enough to the original to be recognisable but with the Palm Reader aggression mainly in the vocals, the second cover is Circles originally by Post-hardcore/emo act Thrice, now having never heard this song I can't comment on how near it is to the original but it adds a new more emotional side to Palm Reader's delivery.

The Conjurer songs will be a little more familiar to the metal audience, firstly it's their version of Mastodon's Blood And Thunder a track they have been playing live for a while. Now this is basically the original version but with all guttural vocals not the three pronged sound of the Atlanta natives. if you've heard it live you'll know what to expect, the real attraction of this EP is their cover of Vermillion Slipknot's 'ballad' from Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses which adds the death vocals to the cleaner sounds that appear on the Slipknot version (a song that signalled Slipknot's change into a more multifaceted band). As good as both bands are this is just a covers record, obviously done as a bit of fun but it doesn't really show the best attributes of either band, still worth a listen. 6/10

Edge Of Forever: Native Soul (Frontiers Records) [Manus Hopkins]

It’s almost surprising that Edge Of Forever isn’t named after a geographical location, as their music fits in perfectly with that at the 1970s AOR giants. The essence captured by Native Soul is impressive for a record that’s come out so long after the advent of this style, but it’s a welcome change of pace in today’s rock climate. It’s the vocal melodies that really drive these songs, particularly on the catchy choruses, but the instrumental work is notable as well. Overall, this is a strong rock album, the type of which there should be more coming out these days. 8/10

Deaf Radio: Modern Panic (Ihaveadrum Records) [Matt Bladen]

The second album from Athens/London based rock band Deaf Radio ramps up the QOTSA influence in their music to another level. From album cover that definitely reminds me of Like Clockwork and Villains to the songwriting which brings an amalgamation of fuzzy garage rock, creepy alt psych, desert stoner grooves and even some pop inflections. Take the first two songs, they couldn't be more different Death Club is propulsive rocker with the fuzz overdrive on full, while Animals is much more expansive with haunting vocals and a dark atmosphere. Panos Gklinos pumps out guitar riffs along with Dimitris Sakellariou while giving his best Josh Homme impression vocally (Dance Like A Reptile).

It's the engine room of George Diathesopoulos (drums) and Dimitris Georgopoulos (bass) that deserve the spotlight though as they get the grooves going on the faster paced tracks while also stimulating the more atmospheric 'romantic' numbers like the title track and dramatic psych rockers like Astypalea. When they were ready to write Modern Panic Deaf Radio apparently wanted to start from the ground up, redefining their identity as a band. The songs reflect on "modern society’s issues such as lonerism, homophobia, racism, drug use and social media addiction." all very recognisable problems in today's society.

Whereas their debut was off kilter, full of jangly guitars and lashings of groove Modern Panic is for a more refined talent, much like the QOTSA of today, this is music with slicked back hair and a sharp suit that conceals a razorblade and fangs, it's the audio equivalent of the Peaky Blinders, refined but vicious. Don't panic just listen. 8/10

Reviews: DeWolff, The Murder Of My Sweet, Lovekillers Feat. Tony Harnell, Elyrean (Paul H, Rich & Matt)

DeWolff: Tascam Tapes (Mascot Records) [Paul Hutchings]

You can find more detail about this interesting Dutch outfit in the previous reviews on the blog. Matt enjoyed their last studio album Thrust back in 2018 and the band released a second live album in spring 2019. Tascarn Tapes is slightly different though. It’s totally stripped down. No drum kit, no Hammond and no guitar amps. Yes, this was written, performed and recorded on the road for less than 50 euros. For that alone, you must commend the band. Singer Pablo Van de Poel explained that the reason for this was “partly because it seemed fun and it was about time to do something completely different and partly out of necessity. It was recorded in tiny crammed little spaces like the back of our touring van or in some tiny backstage somewhere, so we had to use portable stuff like a drum sampler and pocket synthesizer to make it work.” Recorded on a Tascam Porta Two, a four-track cassette recorder from the 1980’s. The only equipment they used was a sampler with some rare soul and funk sampled drumbeats loaded in by drummer Luka Van de Poel, a battery powered synthesizer and a guitar, all plugged directly into the recorder.

Not being familiar with their previous work made it easier to be objective. For a start, at 32 minutes in length, it’s not going to over burden you too much. The longest track is just over three minutes duration. The soulful Northpole Blues starts things off, the harmonies of the trio (completed by Robin Piso on keys) instant before the track veers crazily into an electrobeat conclusion. The fuzzy riff for Blood Meridian I brings the guitar into play; Pablo’s high-pitched vocals high above Piso’s soaring keyboards. The song is inspired by Cormac McCarthy book of the same name with the later Blood Meridian II is written through the eyes of the outlaw in the story. Elsewhere the gentle organic meander of Rain echoes Rival Sons, and the road trip lifestyle ode of Made It To 27 has a Robert Plant blues vs world music hybrid feel. Awesomeness Of Love blends a Zeppelin riff into its body whilst Love Is Such A Waste combines The Beatles and ELO in unique style.

At times raucous, at other times gentle and delicate, this is an album like few others. With much of the music now stale and repetitive, DeWolff have taken old ideas and brought them fully into 2020. This is interesting, stimulating and when you consider the way in which it was collated, it’s no wonder that the band can count Seasick Steve and Roger Glover amongst their admirers. 8/10

The Murder Of My Sweet: Brave Tin World (Frontiers Records) [Rich Oliver]

Brave Tin World is the fifth album from Swedish melodic metallers The Murder Of My Sweet. Another band I have never heard of before I had no idea what to expect going into this album but what I got was a very ear pleasing blend of melodic hard rock and symphonic metal. This album has a very nice relaxed energy about it with some very well written and hook laden songs. The symphonic elements are very subtle and not in any way overblown whilst the AOR elements give the songs a very slick melodic sheen. The performances are all very good and singer Angelica Rylin has a very pleasing voice. The songwriting is excellent with highlights including Tin Soldiers, Reasons To Live, Hit The Ground and Keeper Of The Flame. Brave Tin World is a great melodic rock/metal release and whilst not something I would generally listen to out of choice it was definitely not an endurance to get through. Well crafted and well produced songs.  7/10

Lovekillers Feat. Tony Harnell: S/T (Frontiers Records) [Matt Bladen]

American singer Tony Harnell is probably best known for fronting Norwegian rock band TNT, he was the bands longest running singer until recently along with stints in various bands the most notable of which being Skid Row. Lovekiller's is the newest release to feature Harnell's wide vocal range, written along with producer/keyboardist extraordinaire Alessandro Del Vecchio, and some other writers as well as being produced by Del Vecchio. It means that Lovekillers is an album of slick, melodic hard rock, AOR of the highest level pairing big ballads such as Bring Me Back with more straightforward rock tracks such as Now Or Never, Alive Again which are wrapped around the huge keyboard swathes of Del Vecchio and the insistent guitar and drums of Gianluca Ferro and Edo Sala, this is premium quality AOR, the likes of which Harnell hasn't been apart of since those heady days of the 'classic' TNT albums, his vocals soar on on Higher Again, but he can croon with emotion on numbers like Heavily Broken. Yes it suffers from ballad bloat but if polished melodic rock is your thing then this album featuring one of 'the voices' of the genre. 6/10

Elyrean: Blacken The Sun (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]

This debut E.P from Staffordshire technical thrashers Elyrean has been a long time in the making, numerous line up changes have hindered the band but they now have a solid four piece line up and after a fair few gigs Elyrean have unleashed their debut on the world, the EP is 7 tracks long but one is a string prelude and one is an instrumental interlude, the first track proper Unhallowed has blasting drums, technical thrash riffs and underlying strings to give a grandiose feel to the song. It's no surprise that they state their influences as Sylosis, Machine Head and Bloodshot Dawn as they have tried hard to make this album as virtositic as possible bringing various musical styles to the over-arching thrash sound but mainly there's death and black metal fury mixed with some more cinematic sounds.

Now what I would say is that the true scope of this EP is limited by the production a little, still that never really detracts too much from what are some good songs, my head was nodding throughout and the choice of putting a orchestral interlude is inspired as it gives you a chance to regroup for the final two numbers the starting with the excellent Fallen Ground and ending with the mini-epic Swarming Darkness. When you see that all the additional instrumentation was also played by the band members you can see how talented they really are, but it never really reaches that level it aspires to. I suggest you pick up Blacken The Sun if it sounds like something you like and keep an ear out for Elyrean in 2020. 7/10

Reviews: Thunder & Lightning, Murray & McGowan, House Of Shakira, Ancient Crown (Reviews By Paul Hutchings)

Thunder And Lightning: Demonicorn (Self Released)

No end to the German conveyer belt of power metal with Thunder And Lightning’s latest release Demonicorn. The Berlin based outfit have been delivering their brand of metal since 2004 and whilst I will admit they are new to my ears, their style of music is actually a lot easier to bear than many of the hyperactive delivery of some of their countrymen. Opener All Your Lies combines traditional metal with the frenetic speed of power metal and instantly Norman Dittmar’s clean strong vocals grab the attention. The title track follows, a thick riff heavy track, with much more heft than maybe expected. This is solid fast and enjoyable. There are elements of Sabaton, Priest and Helloween mixed here.

Demonicorn contains some superb guitar work, lead guitarist Fabrizio Agabiti making his full-length debut with the band after joining two years ago shredding for fun on Demmin, a song about the largest mass suicide in German history which took place in May 1945 in the German town. A brave move to tackle a subject that for years was banned in East Germany. The album impresses as it progresses, The Temple Of Death a soaring, bludgeoning track which captures some of the best elements of power metal and uses it in a much heavier style. Gods For A Day continues the journey, and by now I’m thoroughly engaged. Salt To The Wounds drips with melody but carries a steel backbone Whilst closing track Telltale Signs tackles terrorism in a robust and bombastic manner. Demonicorn is bombastic, fun and above all a cracking listen. 8/10

Murray And McGowan: Out From The Inside (Self Released)

Neil Murray: bassist with a multitude of rock bands ranging from Whitesnake to Thin Lizzy to Black Sabbath and all stops in between. He’s been part of the We Will Rock You musical for many years and is still part of Snakecharmer. Even so, this album is a bit of a mystery, with little information available. It’s been released almost under wraps. Recorded at Ken McGowan’s Blackberry studio on the South Coast over a nine-month period, Out From The Inside is 13 tracks of classic rock, in the vein of Lizzy, Bad Company and Skynyrd. Slick and competent, the shock here is that Murray takes not only the bass lines and keyboards but also the vocals.

At least that what’s I’ve gleaned from the magic of the interweb. If so, this will be the first time I’ve ever heard Murray open his mouth. In all previous bands I’ve seen him in he has rarely even added the briefest of backing vocals, content to lay down the bass whilst avoiding the spotlight. Well, whatever, this album is a polished piece with McGowan adding some sweet blues style guitar work and Chris Allen keeping time with ease. With Christina Wood adding backing vocals on Living The Dream, a funky honky-tonk number which adds brass to the mix. All in all, a rather comfortable but highly entertaining release. 7/10

House Of Shakira: Radiocarbon (Frontiers Records)

Formed in Stockholm in 1991, House of Shakira is a band with some pedigree. Radiocarbon provides 39 minutes of high-quality melodic rock which echoes their influences such as Journey and Van Halen. With the smooth vocals of Andreas Novak leading the way, there is plenty for fans of melodic rock to enjoy. Elements of Def Leppard on tracks like Radiocarbon should get the Joe Elliott fans dancing whilst the high-pitched harmonies of Matts Hallstensson and Basse Blyberg will appeal to those whose tastes sit with Journey, Foreigner and Eagles. I can’t hear much in their sound of Sabbath, but the glam trash of Kiss does surface from time to time, for example on Sweet Revenge which is a banal song but one that is delivered with an upbeat tempo. Melodic rock is a genre I generally struggle with; its lightweight feel and dramatic lyrics often too overblown for me. Here, the band are tight and polished, a up-beat almost pop-rock flavour for most of the time. It really does little for me, but as melodic rock goes this is near the top. 7/10

Ancient Crown: Blood Evolved (Self Released)

Blood Evolved is the debut release from this five-piece from Syracuse, New York. It’s a right gnarly bastard, a hybrid cross of thrash and death metal with the faintest hint of industrial gothic. Ghost of Future Vision is a roaring opening, the strained vocals of Andrew Hulburt better when he’s spewing up his lung as the duel guitars of Buddy Fishcal and brother Barry Hurlburt rage with chainsaw effect. Clean vocals are employed on Helm Of Awe, a raging Mastodon influenced almost death-sludge beast which races away, increasing in tempo and ferocity to a punishing velocity. On Primal Fire continues the intensity, thick heavy riffs, punishing drumming and a guttural delivery combine. This would be exhausting live. Think the intensity of early Mastodon combined with Neurosis and a chunk of fat death metal. Continue to pour oil on water and the flame will increase. Such is the obliterating progress that occurs here and by the time you arrive at Above And Beneath this is simply a pummelling that the referee should stop, such is the brutality. A vicious, aggressive and back breaking slab of metal to end the year. 7/10

A View From The Back Of The Room: Spectral Voice (Live Review By Matt Bladen)

Spectral Voice, Flowering Blade, Tides Of Sulphur & Cryptworm, Fuel Cardiff

So another mid-week gig at Fuel Cardiff and again another mix of acts. I once again was accompanied by Mr Deeper Shades himself for three acts I'd never seen and an entire show that was new to him.

First at bat were Bristol death metal act Cryptworm (7), the trio took to the stage and plowed a furrow with some evil sounding death metal, no for me the bass was not audible for much of their set with the nasty guitar and loud as hell drums dominating except for on one song where the bass was only audible for some slinky bass leads. An impressive first viewing of some down the line death metal from just over the bridge

Next up were a band I'm very familiar with Tides Of Sulfur (7) are probably one of the angriest bands on the South Wales scene with their politically inspired music that blends sludge, death and even some hardcore sounds was perfect for a gig taking place on the week of one of the most important elections ever. Just two songs in the guitar cab seemed to fail from the sheer fuzzy force as Snake fixed it Chris and Tom noodled a little before they returned to the intensity ending with the raging 'Orrible Cunt which broke down at the end, they weren't everyone's cup of tea but I'm always love watching Tides play live.

Then things got weird...Flowering Blade (0) were next now this was a member of the headliners playing an industrial/noise set, now noise I struggle with but at least they often use instruments what this was, was one long pulse with the occasional stab to change the sound, but essentially he was 'playing' one long stomach churning pulse. Now it was less a performance rather live intro that eventually segued into the headliners but I'm sorry, it lost the attention of much of the room, especially me who basically generates pulses of different types for a living.

Still with the previous 'set' coming to an end, it was time for Spectral Voice (6) who enveloped the room with doom/death metal, now considering they feature 3/4's of Blood Incantation you could expect sci-fi technically but this is very earthbound, yes it's ominous and very bloody heavy, but it's also really, really repetitive (and I love doom) especially after the appalling intro. Unfortunately after two drawn out numbers we'd had enough and left walking into the miserable night reflecting that some times it's the more underground acts that make the night.