I always had a soft spot for the legendary blues guitarist and singer Robin Trower. His Bridge Of Sighs album is one of my all-time favourites with the title track still able to stop me dead in my tracks and listen, regardless of what I am doing. Of course, that is just one album in a career now spanning his eighth decade. The 73-year-old guitarist has been in rich creative form of late; 2014’s Something’s About To Change, 2016’s Where You Are Going To and 2017’s Time & Emotion all proving to be solid releases with some of his live shows as busy as they were when Bridge Of Sighs hit the shelves in the mid-70s. Forging his reputation over a five-album tenure with Procol Harum, it was Bridge Of Sighs that catapulted Trower to mainstream success and attention. Coming Closer To The Day is a perfectly crafted blues-soaked album, in the vein of a certain Reverend Willie G, with soulful performances that have never sounded more alive, despite the obvious message in the title track.
As Trower states, “I’m saying that I’m nearer the end than the beginning, but that doesn’t scare me. Not at all. If I went tomorrow, I’d feel like I’d been blessed with being able to achieve an incredible amount as a musician.” The calibre of the songwriting is fabulous, as is Trower’s performances, handling all instruments except the drums. His bass lines are supple and rhythmic, his vocals growl and the lead guitar work only adds to his reputation as an all-time-great soloist. Smooth and relaxed, this is an album that you can put on to relax, drive to or work alongside. Its listenability is one of its greatest strengths. Highlights are numerous, but the playing on the title track is just sublime and effortless. An iconic bluesman, Trower is one of the greatest British guitarists of all time. His Marshall amplifier and Fender Stratocaster symbols of a man whose work is often underrated. This album is worth listening to time and time again. You owe it to yourself to do so. Quite magnificent. 9/10
Nihilism: Obscurite Noir (Self Released) [Paul S]
Nihilism have been in existence since 2015, the 4 piece are based in Thessaloniki in Greece. Obscurite Noir is the band's first album, it contains 7 tracks named Obscurite Noir I, Obscurite Noir II etc. I starts with some dissonant guitar that bodes good, if extreme things. After this intro the track blasts off into very orthodox, viscous Black Metal. Fast tremolo picked riffs, blast beats, harsh vocals and, despite the brutality, a very tuneful melody lead guitar over all the nastiness. II is slower and more dissonant than the first track. The verse section is a bit more blasting, but I feel that this song is less about all out attack, and is more about atmosphere. III is back to attack again, but on this track the attack has a bit of a hardcore feel to it. IV is much more dissonant and brooding, it’s a slower track where the riffs have more melody, rather than leaving that to the melody lead. Despite the slower tempo the track feels powerful, and has a lot of depth. This track reminded me of the last album released by Finnish Black Metal band Baptism.
V has an opening that is slow and dissonant like the track that came before it, but this time we get a very fast, aggressive blasting section, again with a melody lead. The song does get softer for a while, but we are quickly back to aggressive blasting till the end of the track. VI has a very fast intro, that goes into a softer section, before coming back out into really aggressive blast beats. The track is one of the most extreme on the album, the vocals feel very savage and nasty on this track. The ending of the song is slower, but massively heavy and powerful. VII is a short instrumental to bring the album to a close. I have really enjoyed listening to this album. The extremity and savagery is beautifully tempered by the melody brought to the table by the lead guitar. This gives the album a feeling of depth, and innate musicality. The songs are very well written, played and produced, for a first album this shows a huge amount of maturity that a lot of more established Black Metal bands could learn from. Great piece of work! 9/10
Fredrik Klingwall & Julia Black: Sentience (ViciSolum Productions) [Paul S]
Fredrik Klingwall & Julia Black: Sentience (ViciSolum Productions) [Paul S]
Firstly I should point out that this album is in no way any form of heavy metal (that's not a complaint, as the blog is called Musipedia Of Metal I thought I should point this out). This isn’t the kind of album I usually review, but as I found with the New Haunts album I reviewed last year, it is good to be taken outside your comfort zone occasionally. Fredrik Klingwall is a prolific Swedish composer and producer, he has produced keyboards for bands Leprous and Diabolical. Fredrik has his own solo projects called Ania Morte and Rising Shadows. On this project Fredrik plays Synths, Mellotron, Piano and Hammond Organ. Julia Black is a Romanian singer songwriter, she has worked as a solo artist and is also the lead singer in Apotheoses. In addition to music Julia has also created as a writer, poet and translator. The pair worked on the writing of this album for several years online. The duo are joined on this album by Gustaf Hielm on Bass, Mathias Olsson on drums and Vibraphone, Hannah Ekstrom on violin and viola, and Anna Dager on Cello.
The main sound on this album is a mix of Pop, Rock, and well, as I’ve found on at least 3 tracks, whatever genre Bond themes fit into. First track The Fall is a simple piece of minimal electronica with staggeringly good vocals, as one of this albums highlights is Julia Black’s vocals. Powerful, yet delicate and as smooth as silk, her voice is the centre of this album. The next track Black Snow (not a cover of the Triptykon song) is a beautiful ballad, Julia’s voice is like a cold hand on a fevered brow. The track also boasts some very good violin work. Collapse has a soft, dreamlike sense, there are some interesting electronic things going on. The track has a minimalist feel, for a lot of the verse the vocals are accompanied by drums alone. Into The Dark Hart has a bit more purpose and drive, the track has a great melody and a slight swing tempo. This is one of the tracks that sounds like a bond theme, it reminds me a little of the theme to You Only Live Twice by Nancy Sinatra. Vespering Bells is a short, soft song, the track has no percussion and has a bit of an ambient sense.
Memoir, again has the feel of a Bond Theme, the song features bells and has some beautiful, clear vocals. Last Breath, starts with quiet, whispered vocals that are not in English (not sure what the language is, I don’t want to guess, if you recognise it, let me know). The second half of the song has some very nice keyboard work and fantastic strings. Night Of Introspection has a bit of a brooding feel to it. It has a very strong string motif. the track is a little more soft and introspective in the middle before the strings come back in, and man, this is great. Estranged feels like a ballad, soft, emotional vocals and beautiful strings. Final and longest track At The Precipice is a slow brooding track, probably the darkest thing on the album. The song also contains lyrics from all the other songs on the album, in a spoken work style, this unifies the album in a delightful way. Brilliant way to end the album. Sentience is a fantastic album. Brilliantly played by consummate musicians, and written by true artists. It’s been nice to get out of my comfort zone for a while, if you feel like getting out of yours, I can highly recommend this album! 8/10
Black Pyre: Forbidden Tomes (Self Released [Paul H]
Hoping onto Bandcamp to pick this one up, as the tight bastards who make up Black Pyre wouldn’t uncurl their grapefruit sized claws to give us one at Fuel on 22nd February where they were the winning band in the M2TM second qualifying heat. Still, unlike their frozen black hearts, I’m all about sharing the love, so let’s have a listen to first EP Forbidden Tomes. Opener Marbas begins with a slow, evil riff before the earthy roar of Ajsjorn enters and the band hit warp speed with their frantic blast beats and riffing. It continues on Tenebrous Obituary, before an atmospheric interlude with the haunting Tones Of The Endless Void. Brooding malevolence follows on Dödsbron, a sprawling, deathly track, which simmers and rumbles. Closing this EP is the band’s ‘hit’, the mighty Summoning which is as explosive a track as I’ve heard for a long time. Snarling vocals, blistering guitar riffs, intense drumming from Dominus de Octopus (yes, really) and locked in tightly with Kjottflate, The Mighty Ravendork’s thundering bass lines. It’s raw, it’s wild and unwieldy but for a first release it captures neatly what Black Pyre deliver live. 6/10
Black Pyre: Forbidden Tomes (Self Released [Paul H]
Hoping onto Bandcamp to pick this one up, as the tight bastards who make up Black Pyre wouldn’t uncurl their grapefruit sized claws to give us one at Fuel on 22nd February where they were the winning band in the M2TM second qualifying heat. Still, unlike their frozen black hearts, I’m all about sharing the love, so let’s have a listen to first EP Forbidden Tomes. Opener Marbas begins with a slow, evil riff before the earthy roar of Ajsjorn enters and the band hit warp speed with their frantic blast beats and riffing. It continues on Tenebrous Obituary, before an atmospheric interlude with the haunting Tones Of The Endless Void. Brooding malevolence follows on Dödsbron, a sprawling, deathly track, which simmers and rumbles. Closing this EP is the band’s ‘hit’, the mighty Summoning which is as explosive a track as I’ve heard for a long time. Snarling vocals, blistering guitar riffs, intense drumming from Dominus de Octopus (yes, really) and locked in tightly with Kjottflate, The Mighty Ravendork’s thundering bass lines. It’s raw, it’s wild and unwieldy but for a first release it captures neatly what Black Pyre deliver live. 6/10
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