Primitai: Rise Again (Green China)
So, a little late on this one (my bad) but one of my
favourite bands of the last few years Primitai return with their long awaited
third album. No time wasting form the Sandhurst lads as they run headfirst into
opening track “Fortune Favours The Brave” with their signature duel
solos and fierce rhythmic drums that give them the classic British metal edge
that we all love. Tom Draper and the wizard Srdjan Bilic guitars float on top
of pounding drums delivered by Chris Chilcott throughout the first track
providing me with great hope that Primitai have picked up from where they left
off with their fantastic previous album The
Line of Fire. Holding my breath as we slide into the next track “Scream
When You See Us” my worries are cast aside. The track opens again with
screeching solos and the crashing drums that quickly descend into nice running
thrash riffs that support the brilliant voice of Guy Millar. This husky tuned
voice has always impressed, as he is able to reach both ends of the spectrum
with surprising success and within this track he proves no different. Although
lyrically a little cheesy, Scream When You See Us musically contains
everything you want from a British melodic thrash band and hey, what’s wrong
with a little cheese now and then?
The next few songs are title track “Rise Again” and “Pound
For Pound”. More melodic in their tone these tracks demonstrate another
side of Primitai that shows off their skill and versatility. Miller holding
notes with great ease at times, while Draper and Bilic pull back from the
thrashing riffs and break out masterful solo after solo. Both of these tracks
left me gently nodding my head with a little smile on my face. Swiftly moving
on to “Driven Wild” and “The Cannibal” both of which open in epic
power metal style reminiscent of bands such as Hammerfall or even Powerwolf.
Stuffed full of story telling lyrics and thumping drums, these tracks have an
atmosphere about them that really pulls me in. “Holy Defender” through
to “The Huntress” return us back to some great classic British metal
that Primitai, in my opinion excel at. Miller’s voice particularly impresses in
Holy Defender as it almost creeps and slithers its way through the
track. “Blink Of An Eye” and The Huntress speed up the occasion
even further, Blink Of An Eye particularly standing out with a great
grinding riff that slides into brilliant hand thumping breakdown. Finally the album closes with “What
Watches Over Me”. The verses here reminded me an awful lot of Staind, with slow
weeping guitars and mellow hurting vocals from Miller; a side that I have never
heard from his voice before, but a side that I was really impressed with.
Despite the mellow melancholy like verses the song proceeds to jump into drum,
guitar and powerful vocal filled chorus’s that break the song up nicely,
finishing with an astounding accumulation of all of Primitai’s skills put
together in an instrumental that is fit for a king.
For me Primitai have returned with a cracking album that has
picked up where they left off, while at the same time advancing their sound and
style enough to change things up a little but still standing up for the style
of music that they clearly love. The only downside to this album is the lack of
an obvious anthem or two. Primitai for me are best taken in live, as they are
one of the best I've seen. It’s the passion that they show as well as the
anthems that brought me to love them, if they hope to pick up more fans along
the way this may be a slight downfall of this album. But hey, they still have
Nocturnal Hordes and Sin City for that I guess… 9/10.
Winterstorm: Cathyron (NoiseArt Records)
Not knowing much about Winterstorm I took the plunge and
delved into their latest album, one word I would use to describe the first song…
explosive. With no introduction needed the German lads show us what to expect
from them throughout this album, and that is Guitar, fiddle, flute, violin,
accordion, drum, keyboard and possibly a little bit of harmonica filled metal.
But alas there was no cowbell that I could hear...
As my ears adapted to the barrage of instruments thrown
their way the track “A Hero Rises” dropped in pace and the vocals of
Alexander Schirmer are introduced. There is nothing groundbreaking vocally here
but his voice is good enough to serve its purpose. For me Winterstorm are all
about the music and this continued with little let up as the next few tracks
from “Cathyron” to “Burning Gates” were unleashed. During these
tracks second vocalist Armin steps in and he sounds eerily like Mathias Nygård from Turisas, which therefore also
means any of the songs that he is involved in… sound like Turisas. However,
maybe this is because essentially, that is what Winterstorm are; a German
version of Turisas minus the horns. Carrying on from “Windkeepers” to “Elders
of Wisdom” this theory is even more compounded as the introduction on
operatic backing vocals and more tales of epic battles and travels are regaled
to us. Metalavial” however is a breakthrough of originality from the
band. Sticking to their trusted folk/battle metal style they use this to give
us a lesson in German metal mythology, a nice turn of pace and proved to me
that they could be something a little more original if they truly wanted.
Back
to the final few tracks and “The Evocation” to the “Elements Strife”
pick up from where Winterstom left off prior to Metalavial. Instrument
and melody packed Power/Folk/Battle metal that pleases the ear instrumentally
and shows off their undoubted skills. I’m unsure how to
approach this rating as far as Winterstorm and originality goes… there is very
little. If you’re a Turisas fan you will probably love them, but if you are
hard core Folk/Battle metal fan you will no doubt be a little disappointed. My opinion;
Winterstorm are Turisas only I would suggest musically with more skill and
talent. They are able to combine so many instruments while keeping them melodic
and not sounding like a car crash. Michi and Armin are able to ride their solos
and riffs alongside instruments of all obscurities and make it work. While Sebastian’s
various percussion is delivered with great aplomb and forms the bedrock of most
of the songs, supported well by the keys of Max. In conclusion if you want the
complete package with a little more originality despite in my opinion, them not
being as accomplished musicians as Winterstorm, look in the direction of
Turisas or Ensiferum. Ultimately Winterstorm are frustrate me as musically they
are very impressive but have no real form of their own yet with Metalavial
they proved they could do it!. A tentative 7/10.
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