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Friday 25 October 2019

Reviews: Airbourne, Crystal Viper, The Grand Mal, ADE (Reviews By Matt Bladen)

Airbourne: Boneshaker (Spinefarm Records)

Five albums in and Aussie rock n roll machine Airbourne show no sign of slowing down, in fact they may have become bolder than ever before. This time they have entrusted the production of this record to Dave Cobb the biggest name in Nashville who has produced Chris Stapleton and the ‘Star Is Born’ soundtrack. He has lent this album warmth that previously hasn’t been heard on Airbourne’s albums, it means Boneshaker sounds like AC/DC (of course) but anything pre-Back In Black where it was all about getting it done. Just 30 minutes of music means there’s no time for messing about, this is high voltage rock n roll from the opening chords of Boneshaker, through Burnout The Nitro which gets the foot tapping and the head banging with its insistent percussion, open chords and sing along chorus that explodes into wild frenzied guitar solos. The band sound as wild as ever here, it’s got the same raw, stripped back feel as their debut record and is not short of anthems with the fist pumping This Is Our City the groovy Backseat Boogie and album closer Rock N Roll For Life all giving you that feeling of immense, but simple, pleasure as they pump out of your speakers. Airbourne are a band who does what they do better than probably anyone except for the originators and after a few albums of relying on the technology over the power of rock n roll (Black Dog Barking) Boneshaker takes things back to just the classic hard rock format. Play it as loud as you can and choose Rock N Roll For Life! 9/10

Crystal Viper: Tales Of Ice And Fire (AFM Records)

The Polish heavy metal act formed by singer, guitarist and composer, Marta Gabriel. Tales Of Ice And Fire is their seventh studio release, it's been heralded as a heavier, more intense and darker, release than anything before while retaining their classic metal sound. It's got a big heaving dose of Judas Priest as Gabriel trades off with guitarists Andy Wave and Eric Juris on opener Still Alive and they bring the Gothic sounds of Helstar on Crystal Sphere. Now musically I like this album, it's chock full of galloping classic heavy metal riffs, splitting the album with the classical sounds of Prelude and Interlude. The issue I have with Crystal Viper are Marta's vocals which for me fall flat, attempting the Halford sound but not really living up to it. Still as a NWOTHM band Crystal Viper are nothing groundbreaking but worth some of your time. 6/10

The Grand Mal: S/T (APF Records)

Hailing from that hub of groovy stoner rock, Oxfordshire, The Grand Mal are made up of members from Desert Storm, brothers Ryan and Elliot Cole (guitar & drums) and Mother Corona, Dave-O  (vocals) and bassist Rob Glenn. They formed in 2015 but this self titled release is their debut album, they haven't been idle though as like all good riff bands they have toured the country numerous times cranking out their own brand of heavy, forging these tracks in the fires of the live scene, so they can be unleashed on this debut record. Sound wise The Grand Mal are an amalgamation of both bands with some thick, sludgy riffs coming on Burning Truth which does occasionally move into desert rock and more traditional stoner riffs on Liquid & Dust.

However it's also more than that, every single track brings something a little different meaning that you're never complacent, Butthole Surfers mainman JD Pinkus said they were “like Queens of the Stone Age mixed with 80’s Ozzy.” and while that may sound like a car crash it's surprisingly accurate, take the funky Pig In The Python which has a acerbic vocal, some big swaggering riffs and a great solo section, it's on Black Spiral they get the closest to the Sabbath Worship with doomy riffs and drawn out vocals. The Grand Mal is a very impressive debut album from this semi-supergroup, ideal for those of us who follow the underground stoner scene closely, great then that they've signed to APF the label spearheading the riff monsters of the underground. This needs to be played loudly but to appreciate it's nuances, especially on the space prog-laden final track Significant as well as the distorted heaviness of what came before it. 8/10

ADE: Rise Of The Empire (Extreme Metal Music)

Fourth album from Italian death metal act ADE is more of the same from a band who can be seen as mixture of Fleshgod Apocalypse and Nile, however unlike the American sarcophagus enthusiasts, ADE are more concerned with the glory of Rome and on this album the rise of it's Imperium Sine Fine (Empire Without End), specifically the age of Julius Caesar as he declared himself both Emperor and God. ADE share a lot of similarities to Ex Deo, especially with the topics they sing about but musically this more technical death metal than Ex Deo's more symphonic sound. Now I have said before that I have classics degree, with particular focus on Caesar and the beginning of the Empire.

So I could go into how historically accurate tracks such as Chains Of Alesia and Ptolemy Has To Fall are, but I'll focus on the music. With the guttural vocals, explosive blastbeat barrages and rapid fire guitars underpinned by technical bass licks on numbers like Once The Die Is Cast. Now you could write this off as Nile with a different theme however the band avoid this by using a lot of traditional ancient Roman instrumentation in their music overtly on Once The Die Is Cast and the Arabic flavoured Gold Roots Of War. These last two songs slow the pace but the speed returns on Supress The Riot and Vendi Vidi Vici as Imperator closes the album out with the ascension of Caesar to emperor closing out this very violent part of Roman history and also this at times brutal death metal record. 7/10   

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