So have the years of excess finally caught up with Lowestoft's purveyors of stadium rock? Have the Darkness finally gone bonkers? Easter Is Cancelled isn't a seasonal album released too late, no it's the first conceptual record from guitar slinging brothers Justin and Dan Hawkins and the powerful rhythm section of Frankie Poullain and Rufus Tiger Taylor. They've gone completely balls out with it releasing a quasi-sci-fi, Guitar slinging Jesus, resurrection story epic which sees the band at their most impressive, expressive and genuinely cinematic. According to the band it's a "mini-rock opera examining the role of the musician in the barbarous culture of the world today." As well as being a "tale of love, loss and heartbreak, where redemption is ultimately found in the brotherhood of band friendship and the power of the guitar." So as you can expect it's totally over the top and unlike any of their previous releases, with a much larger scope.
They have spent time creating a theatrical album that starts off with the olde folk sounds of Rock N Roll Deserves To Die led by one Mandolin and Justin's impressive vocals before it blows up into the kind of rock histrionics The Darkness have always been known for. It's followed by How Can I Lose You Love which has the spiraling space synths mixed with a classic Darkness romance and the wild solos and highs so strong only a dog can hear. It's their most ambitious album to date with a sound that moves between all of The Darkness' album, Live Til' I Die could have featured on One Way Ticket To Hell with it's Queen meets Lizzy style storytelling all misty eyed and retrospective. It lends itself to this album's (fictional) biographical nature of the album with tracks like the proggy introspective Deck Chair they have expanded what many would think a The Darkness song would be, as does the title track which is a full on sci-fi rocker, with macho AC/DC-isms.
Heavy Metal Lover on the other had is a little disconcerting full of the bands quirky humour, as does the wild and reckless Choke On It which is a little filthy. As the album draws to a close with the six string worshipping We Are The Guitar Men it's a journey that has many twists to it but ultimately like all great West-End shows leaves you on a high. However that's not the end the Deluxe Edition, you get four more tracks including Laylow an acoustic folk number about a private members club in London which, and I quote, is "Frequented by celebs and trendy young professionals alike." In fact the four additional tracks are all stripped back lighter numbers, especially Confirmation Bias a bloody odd song which is just Justin's voice and a single guitar, performed as almost a lounge style, while Sutton Hoo sings of the 6th & 7th Century cemetery in East Anglia. In all of the jargon surrounding Easter Is Cancelled says it's a magnum opus and it's difficult to argue, long gone are the arguments that have followed the band about their debut album, this is The Darkness now and they are better than ever! 9/10
Blood Eagle: EP 1 (Nuclear Blast) [Matt Bladen]
Having recently signed to Nuclear Blast Records Danish band Blood Eagle have announced they will release their debut album To Ride In Blood & Bathe In Greed across three EP's for the the record label starting with this one and two more coming soon throughout the autumn. At only three tracks long it's got a lot of work to do to grab your attention but it does so with some brutalising death metal from the first moments. Blood Eagle are something of supergroup comprised of former members of Volbeat, Mnemic, Hatesphere, Illdisposed and Raunchy and drawing their inspiration from Napalm Death, Bolt Thrower and Morbid Angel. Feed On The Blood Of Man is a weighty opener with fast paced drumming, rumbling basslines and guttural vocals which breaks into some Mastodon-like grooves as it progresses showing that the band's description of their sound is well warranted, as the proggy middle section moves back into some explosive death metal devastation. It's an abusive start to the album as Unsung Zeros brings some grindcore speed while Impact Irreversible has some old school death metal crunch to close out these first three songs. It bodes well for the two other releases as it's a trio of savage death metal ready. 7/10
Starborn: Savage Peace (Iron Shield Records) [Matt Bladen]
Hailing from Newcastle Upon Tyne, the home of classic heavy metal bands as Venom, Raven and Satan, Starborn are another band who are laying a claim to being counted alongside these legends of the genre. Now they don't play NWOBHM, no Starborn, as you can probably assume from their name are a power metal band with some progressive touches too. The band try to fuse together US and European power metal styles meaning that you can mention names such as Helloween, Blind Guardian and Savatage. I Am The Clay has that USA metal heavy sound with it's distorted riffs and stomping break along and with a runtime of over 8 minutes it's also the second longest song on the album. However with Unwelcome especially it's pure galloping Helloween having a huge sing along chorus too and Lunar Labyrinth has some proggy chop and changing along with a straightforward speed metal dual guitar harmonies. In fact this album becomes more progressive as it moves towards the 9 minute climax of Savage Peace which wraps the debut album with the most epic track on the album. I'll warn you this isn't as instant as it seems, a few listens are needed to truly appreciate it but after those listens you realise this is a brilliant British power metal record. 8/10
Wind Rose: Wintersaga (Napalm Records) [Alex Swift]
Let’s not mince words here, this album is absurd. And no, I, unfortunately, don’t mean in a fun, playful way. Folk metal of a certain variable has a habit of being quite ridiculous. Alestorm and Amon Amarth prove that to be true, yet they get away with being over the top, as you can tell that they know how gimmicky they can be, and provide a decent musical backing to make up for the lack of lyrical depth. Indeed, acts in the vein of Blind Guardian execute this form of bombastic, grand folk-metal in stunning style. On that note, I don’t want to pretend that Wind Rose are terrible at playing their instruments. Keyboardist, Meranda, effectively replicates a traditional, Celtic sound, despite the clichéd nature of his hooks. Meanwhile, the rest of the band, while not achieving anything outstanding, are far from incompetent. Those were the positives, did you enjoy them? Good. The negatives include everything else!
Why is the production so ear-splitting that the synthesizers obscure everything else in the mix? Why do the songs seem so structureless and badly written? Why does the lead singer insist on alternating between awkwardly squawking his lyrics, and singing in a hilariously pompous voice? Why there are songs called Drunken Dwarfs and Diggy Diggy Hole? (It's from a video-game, I think - Bewildered Ed) And why are these musicians insistent on pummelling me with awful, arduous, painful clichés? They don’t feel like a parody, as much as they make me feel like I’m being continuously smacked across the face with a box set of The Lord Of The Rings – Extended Edition (The only true way to watch it - Movie Snob Ed) while being asked to quote gameplay moves from Zelda, breath of the wild in the language of the Orcs (Easy - D&D Ed). It’s not so much a fun experience, as it is a painful and tantalizing one, cloaked in an insultingly thin veneer of fantasy. Indeed, the answer to all of those questions should be simple: Wind Rose has sacrificed talent for aesthetics, and in doing so, has become a dull, insipid, offensive pastiche of a genre which should theoretically thrive on originality.
Little known fact: I wanted to be a fantasy writer when I was a teenager. I have poems, short stories, and notes towards a novel that I may one day finish. Speaking as someone who’s enticed by folklore and nature, any music influenced by that genre should reflect the breath-taking, rolling landscapes of Europe, should summon up images of ancient trades and crafts, being just vague enough to let the imagination wander, while being just detailed enough to unfurl a story. In the right hands, this music can terrify, beguile or awe somebody. It’s truly magical, how traditional music can move somebody. And yet, here Wind Rose is in the middle of it all, employing all that history for a cheap, crap, worthless gimmick. How dare they! In all honesty, I would rather suffer through the entire Hobbit trilogy again (Yes, even the first one) than have to hear a note out of these musicians, who clearly understand nothing about folklore or Celtic culture, or music. 1/10
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