Volbeat: Rewind, Replay, Rebound (Vertigo Berlin) [Paul Hutchings]
Three years since the Danes delivered Seal The Deal And Let’s Boogie, they return with fresh zeal and vigour on their latest rockabilly metal fusion. It’s album number 7 from a band that are now well into their second decade, and their line-up has returned to stability with Kasper Boye Larson making his debut on bass. Meanwhile founders Michael Poulsen, Jon Larsen and ex-Anthrax guitarist Rob Caggiano remain. So, what do we make of this? Well, not a huge amount if I’m honest. Last Day Under The Sun is ghastly, a Eurovision pop tune which is only redeemed by a mediocre solo in the middle of the song, Pelvis On Fire follows, using the riff from The Munsters throughout and diving into the typical Elvis hip swinging style which in essence is the way this band deliver the majority of their songs. Die To Live rocks at pace, a driving riff pushing the song forward, the appearance of Clutch frontman Neil Fallon adding some gravitas whilst the funked up piano gives a real rockabilly feel. By now, if you hadn’t realised why our European cousins love this band so much before, the penny must have dropped. This is grade 1 Euro cheese which is loved so much abroad but struggles over here.
When We We Kids is garbage, with some dramatic operatic elements failing to really ignite. Throughout the album the Metallica feel of early releases remains and whilst I didn’t particularly enjoy this album, I will acknowledge that the band are solid musicians. It’s polished, slick and just a little bit dull. Much like their earlier albums, which I must admit I quite enjoyed, there is an amount of repetition which becomes stale, especially when the album is not many minutes shy of an hour. Sorry Sack Of Bones repeats The Munsters theme in the riff but is a solid, thumping chunk of hard rock. Cheapside Cloggers features Exodus/Slayer six-stringer Gary Holt and at least has a demonically heavy middle section where the riffs increase in intensity and a brutal Holt solo leaves the track smoking. It appears from nowhere and is gone as quickly as it arrives; at least it adds something. Two thirds of the way in and we get the random 0:38 Parasite: is this the Elvis Grindcore equivalent? I don’t know. After this I’d really lost enthusiasm but ironically the gem on this album is tucked away on the penultimate track, The Everlasting which is a dark, mysterious beast and the opposite of 90% of this album.
Volbeat have played it safe on Rewind, Replay, Rebound. They know what their audience want and to change that sound now would be career suicide. Once upon a time Volbeat were fun and original. Now, well, they will still pack out the halls on their forthcoming UK tour but it’s just a little stale in the main. Maybe the title really is a play on words? 6/10
Iamthemorning: The Bell (Kscope) [Paul Scoble]
Firstly, I should point out to the Rock and Metalheads reading this, Iamthemorning is not Rock or Heavy Metal in any way. The band use the tag Chamber Rock, which is probably why we were asked to review it. The term seems to refer to a couple of the tracks that have kit drumming on them, whilst also using instruments like Harps, Piano and violin, that would usually be associated with chamber music. Please don’t take that as a criticism, I’m just pointing out that this isn’t really the usual Musipedia Of Metal fare. So, this is a little out of my comfort zone, but that is no reason to complain, I’ve always thought comfort zones are very dangerous places, if you don’t get out of them occasionally, you miss so much. Iamthemorning are a Russian duo, based in St Petersburg, Marrjana Semkina on vocals and Gleb Kolyadin on piano. The duo work with several session musicians to realise their sound. The Bell is the band's 4th album.
The main sound on offer here, is ably demonstrated by the first track Freak Show. The track opens with Harp and vocals, and I should mention that the vocals are stunning, absolutely crystal clear and beautiful. As the track goes on drumming is added, to give the track a bit of drive, and we also get a fairly technical guitar solo. The track gets more dramatic as it gets to the final third, there is also a very pleasing saxophone solo. The overall sound is quite late sixties or early seventies, it reminds me of the singer / songwriter scene from that period. There is also a resemblance to The Carpenters, in fact as most of the tracks are basically piano and vocals, the comparison to The Carpenters is probably the closest reference.
So, we get several simple songs with just piano and vocals. Sleeping Beauty is romantic and florid. Blue Sea is short, simple and very beautiful. Six Feet feels restrained, until a military drum beat comes in to make it more dramatic. Ghost Of A Story is up-tempo and feels late sixties in style. Lilies has a repeated arpeggio, Philip Glass feel to it. The Bell is very soft, delicate and features some very beautiful layered vocals. When the band get away from the simple but effective style I’ve described above, it helps the album to open up a little. Black And Blue has a very soft opening of just vocals and Mellotron. After a while we get a very nice acoustic guitar riff, that gives the song a little more energy. Again we get some exquisite layered vocals. Song Of Psyche has a folky, acoustic guitar feel to it, which adds some very nice variety to the album.
Probably the most interesting track on the album is second to last song Salute. This has an early seventies feel, particularly in the chorus. It’s dramatic and bombastic, it reminds me of some of David Bowie's early seventies work a little, whilst at the same time reminding me of Cher’s Gypsies, Tramps And Thieves a lot. It’s a cracking track, and put a smile on my face every time I listened to it. The Bell is a great album. Ok, it’s not metal or rock, but it is: beautiful, fun, dramatic, lilting, immersive, romantic, simple, complicated and very, very enjoyable. Yeah, it’s good to get out of your comfort zone occasionally. 8/10
Desert: Fortune Favors The Brave (Self Released)
Matt reviewed these power metal beasts in 2016 when their album Never Regret earned a favourable response from a man who knows his power metal. Based in Tel Aviv, Desert’s follow up album is the album that Sabaton should have made, Powerful striking war themed tracks, but with ten times the heaviness. It’s fast and frantic, with plenty of interplay between the keyboards and guitars and a heavy bass and drumming foundation which at times pushes the band into Blind Guardian territory. Indeed, there are times when vocalist Alexei Raymar pushed the Hansi Kürsch boundaries; nowhere more than on the soaring Sons Of War, where his full range enhances the track in style. Their ‘War Metal’ meets with a favourable response from me, mainly because they have retained an overall solidity. It’s commanding stuff, full of driving energy and with a pace that few can match and some enchantingly Arabic elements that add spice and fire [e.g. Hadjuk’s Revenge]. Certainly, a band that would captivate you if you stumbled across them in at a festival. I’d certainly struggle to leave before they finished. 7/10
Grave Siesta: Voidward Spin (Final Sunlight Records) [Paul Scoble]
Grave Siesta are a Helsinki based four piece. The band has been going since 2010 and Voidward Spin is the bands 3rd album coming 8 years after their self-titled debut, and 4 years after Piss and Vinegar. Grave Siesta play a very large style of Doom that sometimes gets fairly sludgy. It’s huge and sometimes quite bouncy.
The album gets underway with Bastardised, which has huge traditionally doomy riffs, and a bit of a stoner swagger to it. The track has a great tempo, that is slow, but bouncy and feels like it has lots of energy. The vocals are clean and very well sung. Great start. Next up is Depopulation Prayer which feels a little bit heavier than the track that came before it. The riffs drip with tritones, and has an overall feeling of brooding menace. Intolerance is heavy and very aggressive, the vocals are harsher as well, giving a much more sludgy and alternative feeling to this track. Next is Post War Peace, this track is much slower, but with a lurching, staggering tempo, that refuses to flow. The lack of syncopation is clearly purposeful and is an interesting rhythmically.
The next track is the slightly oddly titled, Seizures In A Castle, which is faster and very Hardcorey. The sludgy nastiness, is great despite the strange title. Next we get Vacant Throne, which is more harsh, sludgy viscousness, with harsh vocals. It’s another cracking piece of nastiness, the second half of this album is distinctly sludgy. Warfare And Pestilence continues the sludgy second section, but on this track they have added that slightly stonery swagger to the track, and my god, it works brilliantly. The album comes to an end with Weakness, the song has a soft intro before an up-tempo traditional doom riff kicks in. The track, although traditionally doom in the riffs, has a faster tempo, with some swagger and a little bit of sleaze. There is definitely a little bit of Orange Goblin about this track, it’s a fine way to bring a very good album to a close.
Voidward Spin is a great album. It works in a very simple way, it’s just a very good collection of very well written and played doom / sludge songs. All the tracks are engaging, the balance between harsh / extreme / nasty and open / pleasing / engaging has been handled very well. This is a hugely enjoyable album, well worth checking out. 8/10
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