Annihilator: For The Demented (Neverland Music Inc)
Album number 16 for the crazy Canadians and it’s a quite fantastic return to form. It’s only been two years since the solid Suicide Society was released and is the second Annihilator release this year following the summer Triple Threat package.
Opening with the BOA previewed Twisted Lobotomy, it’s immediately apparent that Jeff Waters has returned to the snarling Megadeth style which the band followed on the first four albums. Skin slicing riffs, battering drums and the underlying melody which has been a constant in this band are all present. The speed is an essential component of decent Annihilator with that huge stomp which underpins all quality thrash. One To Kill speeds like a youngster in a stolen motor before the title track opens with a chunky riff before embarking on a slower paced chug which also contains an interesting breakdown with what appears to be some keyboards! Never! Yes, it’s almost Ghost like for a few seconds until a searingly hot solo snaps your attention back to the front.
The Demon You Know maintains the thrashing, whilst Altering The Altar changes pace once more with a synthesiser introduction quickly giving way to duel riffage and another battering from that drum programming which Jeff Waters seems to favour in the recording process. Indeed, Waters is credited with nearly all the vocals, guitars, bass and drumming on this album with the only other band member credited is guitarist Aaron Homma for a solo on On To Kill. However, bassist Rich Hinks co-writes all the music with Waters so maybe there is more to Annihilator than Jeff Waters these days.
The album closes with the eerie instrumental Dark before the poignant Not All There ends on with a disco-fused break down and numerous changes of pace. Consistently good over the past few years, For The Demented continues the quality that we’ve come to expect from a band that are as essential to the thrash genre as Megadeth, Metallica and Anthrax. Their slot with Testament in 2018 will be one to savour. 9/10
Evertale: The Great Brotherwar (NoiseArt Records)
Power metal bands these days seem to be great in number but not always great in sound or quality. Few bands grab my attention in this genre except for Blind Guardian. However, their countrymen Evertale’s sophomore release, The Great Brotherwar is one of those albums that grabs your attention from the opening chords and holds your attention from start to finish. The band, who has been in existence as Evertale since 2006, comprises Matthias Holzapfel on lead guitar, Matthias Graf on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Marco Bächle on bass and new drummer Cornelius Heck. Empire Rising sets the tone, fast and frenetic power metal which has the speed of Dragonforce with the quality of Guardian.
The impressive speed is spot on whilst the vocals of Graf combined with the backing vocals of Holzapfel and Bächle superb. With fantasy lyrical content, huge slabs of imperious pomp and brilliantly crafted songs such as The Swarm, Chapter 666 and And The Dragons Return, Evertale weave their compositions cleverly. The title track is just magnificent, clocking in at over seven minutes but total quality. It’s rare that I get so enthused about power metal but there really is nothing wrong at all here. It’s simply a demonstration of how enchanting it can be when done right. This may well launch into my top 10 of the year. It’s that good. Stunning guitar work and a solid rhythm section with Heck’s drumming sensational throughout make The Great Brotherwar one of THE albums of the year. 10/10
Hanging Garden: I Am Become (Lifeforce Records)
This is the fifth album from the Finnish outfit and if you like a bit of black metal mixed with melancholic doom of My Dying Bride, Swallow The Sun you will certainly find enough within this 45 minute release to interest you. The album deals with emotions and feelings that we experience from loss, death and yearning and with subject matter like that you soon lose yourself in the swirling intricacies which cascade from the start.
With elements of progressive metal, black metal and even electronica and industrial (Konta), this is an detailed and thought provoking piece which envelopes the listener from beginning to end. The doom oriented feel is interspersed with light and dark moments, such as Heathfire which moves at pace, the clean vocals of Elysium and the female vocals that lift album closer Ennen. Whilst the band is relatively unknown, this is an album which is well worth a listen. 8/10
Madam X: Monstrosity (EMP)
Way back in 1984, this 14-year-old metaller couldn’t get enough music. In those days it was word of mouth and Kerrang! that were your main sources of information along with the two-hours on a Friday night. One band that arrived in a bang was American Glam Rockers Madam X, whose debut album We Reserve The Right was full of downright sleazy rock. The band comprised sisters Maxine and Roxy Petrucci on guitar and drums respectively, with vocalist Bret Kaiser and Chris Doliber on bass.
Their image was shocking for a young lad, Kaiser and Doliber glammed up to the hilt whilst the sisters appeared on the album cover scantily clad with massive hair. That was their only album but in 2014 the band reappeared and Monstrosity is their first release since that “classic” of 1984. You’ll probably be unsurprised to note that this album connects seamlessly to their debut with 40 odd minutes of wham, bam, thank you Mam throwaway hair metal. I can’t say it’s bad but if there is one genre I struggle with it’s the glam/sleaze vein and this is no exception.
Three-minute tracks are churned out with ease, and the reprise of the opener to We Reserve The Right, High In High School, which is the penultimate track sits so comfortably alongside the new songs that you seriously can’t tell the difference. It’s flashy, it’s trashy, it’s Poison, Crüe, Steel Panther and all the others rolled into one. I listened to it once – it bounced off me and that’ll do thanks. 6/10
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