Serenity's last album was about the much maligned figure of Richard The Lionheart, here they've not strayed from the heroes of the Catholic Cross with a concept record about Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. He was the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire between 16 February 1486 – 12 January 1519 and increased the influence of the House Of Habsburg, especially into Spain. He was a slightly divisive figure as all historical leaders were but here they have chosen to tell his story loosely focussing on his love of the art of armour and the wars he fought. It's full of heroic numbers enriched with the anthemic symphonic metal that Austrian act Serenity have been playing for nearly 20 years. This album continues Serenity's journey in to being a more grandiose act, ramping up the heaviness but also the cinematic aspects of their sound, spreading into more modern flavours on tracks like Keeper Of The Knights.
One of the things that I've always enjoyed about Serenity are the vocals of Georg Neuhauser, who's stellar voice has been a constant for the band since their debut, unlike their American contemporaries Kamelot who have numerous changes it's his voice that makes me certain that this is Serenity record. As normal founder member Andreas Schipflinger's drumming is the backbone of these numbers adding a heavy touch even to more epic dramatic songs such as Souls And Sins as the string duo of Fabio D'Amore (bass) and Chris Hermsdörfer (guitars) show their mettle with the thick grooves of Fabio bolstered by the usual Serenity "wall of sound" production as Chris gets to move between electric/acoustic and classical guitars for a very varied guitar sound, he also adds growls to the heavier tracks which work well with Georg's more soulful, soaring cleans on My Kingdom Comes.
Despite the historical lyrical content, for many this will be akin to fantasy and like with Sabaton, you may learn something but mostly it's just a romp of symphonic power metal. Serenity continue to be one of the leading lights in their style of music and they show that they are the battle hardened band they claim to be. Ride with Maximilian and with Serenity, Gloria In Excelsis! 8/10
Deathwhite: Grave Image (Season Of Mist) [Alex Swift]
Few things are more compelling in music when an act achieves exactly the tone they were aiming for, despite not reaching faultlessness in every aspect. That’s why Deathwhite impresses me. Their music may not be the apex of dark metal or stoner – indeed their influences in that field are strong, yet with its lofty ambitions and embrace of the brooding and ominous, they wrap the listener in a cloak of darkness that they may not easily find an escape from. Funeral Ground opens with a riff that commands a sense of beautiful bleakness to swirl around and encircle, while the beating drums, subtle reverb on the guitar, and contrast between growled and melodic vocals continue to add to that enthralling sense of mystery and chaos they create across the opening track. In Eclipse proves a more throttling number with dueling electrics that gnash and bite, yet then slows in the verses to a drowsy, melancholic, ode to despair, the sudden sting of screaming and flailing instrumentals keeping a state of tension present.
Taking us further down the rabbit hole, Further From Salvation embroils you in blissful turmoil, the towering wall of noise, paired with our frontman’s soothing if strangely disquieting vocals, just absorbing everything in its path. True, there’s a sense of tedium that can come from the muddy production blurring everything into one, yet crystal clean production has a tendency to wreck experiences that get their immersive aspect from an uncompromising, mesmerizing, assault on the listener's comprehension. And furthermore, contemplative moments in the vein of Grave Image prove that Deathwhite is more than capable of giving the listener pause and allowing for allowing for rich, emotional introspection.
Among Us bridges the gap between those moods – its huge, juggernaut sound, yet its tendency to stay harmonious and to inspiringly soar, makes for one of my favourite moments on the entire record – still unpersuaded by static structures, the anthem takes us to visceral peaks and expressively piercing troughs. Meanwhile, Words Of Dead Men, builds its progressions around a mournful descant, providing the perfect soundtrack to the lyrical anguish, which stands out more here than at any comparable point throughout. No Horizon further takes me off guard with percussive and guitar elements that feel symphonic in the genre, as if these musicians have been seized by a bout of theatricality which even moves outside of the typically dim and ruminating nature of previous tracks. That element is still very much here, yet it’s challenged and lengthened by the sheer risk on display. Plague Of Virtue is probably the closest we get to a traditional metal anthem, yet even saying that feels like I’m damning with faint praise, given how all these songs sturdily refuse to settle into anything that could be considered generic or archetypal.
Finishing with the strongly composed Servant and the excellently written Return To Silence, we once more get to witness the full extent of ability at stake, before Grave Image leaves its final and lasting impression. Taken as a dark metal album this is brilliant, taken as a wider piece of art in the musical landscape it’s very well-executed if not absolutely flawless. Still, given my sporadic nature towards metal of this kind, and the lengths by which Deathwhite try to set themselves apart, there’s far more to admire here than to shrug off. 8/10
Dirty Shirley: S/T (Frontiers Records) [Matt Bladen]
An absolutely shocking name and a worse cover, it wasn't looking great for the debut album from *shudders* Dirty Shirley (the adult alcoholic version of a Shirley Temple cocktail). As with a lot of the bands on Frontiers it's a collaborative effort from musicians that are signed to the label, this time, the names involved are: Animal Drive vocalist Dino Jelusic and Mr Scary himself George Lynch (Dokken/Lynch Mob). With a man so respected on guitar this album is chock full of intense six string mastery and Lynch at his creative best due to Dino's very expressive vocals range. He's part Jorn, part Coverdale and part Myles Kennedy too a soulful husky nature to his pipes hits immediately on the driving opening track Here Comes The King a Dio-like rocker that swaggers as a "here we are, get ready", it's a fist pumper for sure followed by Dirty Blues which nods to the mid 80's era of Whitesnake where they revamped many of their older blues based rockers with virtuoso's like Steve Vai giving their chops, I Disappear on the other hand is much more modern even dragging things into the realms of Alter Bridge. As I said earlier the styles here are very diverse with Lynch penning most of the tracks as well as producing, Alessandro Del Vecchio is on mixing duty of course, giving numbers like The Dying more depth sonically. This is actually quite a good hard rock record though there are a few too many slower tracks and I'm sorry but points deducted for the band name. 6/10
Davey Suicide: Rock Ain’t Dead (Out Of Line Music) [Alex Swift]
If you’re going to win me over on an industrial metal album, the artist in question is going to have to bring exciting concepts to the table which move beyond the deliberately controversial ‘edgelord’ antics, splicing riffs and full-throttle loud production that constitutes the stereotypical view of the genre. NIN and early Rammstein might seem like a lofty standard to set, yet in my case – as someone who considers industrial to be one of their least favourite genres in metal, barely eclipsing Grindcore – precautions must be taken. Hell, much as I despise Ministry, I’ll give them their due for being clever. However, as his unfortunate namesake suggests, Davey sewer-side has no such regard for atmospherics, subtlety or well thought out messages.
From the assault on the eardrums that is Rock Ain't’ Dead, you know exactly what you’re in for. The entire song is….BWAAA!!! DEAFENING PRODUCTION, NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! F**K POSERS AND THE RULES! AREN'T WE JUST SO EDGY! This utter lack of talent continues on to Animal, featuring Young Guns who are also boring and insipid, for the exact opposite reasons. One Of My Kind has synthesizer elements that just do not interact well with the melody and make the track a tedious mess – a mess made more sickening by our frontman’s insistence on undercutting his mildly thoughtful lyrics in moments such as ‘There’s so much pleasure and pain, yet you still drive me insane…and the sex is great uh’. Death Won’t Tear Us Apart continues the war of vapid stupidity being waged, with an uninspiring set of melodramatic features, not aided by the fact that Davey-insensitive cannot conceive a coherent note, let alone convince his audience that he’s capable of showing emotion when thus far all he’s done is whine about how he doesn’t care if he offends or hurts your feelings. Not that it’s impossible to be shocking and emotionally compelling. Marilyn Manson achieved both, yet unlike the artists he probably admires, Davey *redacted*, does not care for artistry or slow, quiet consideration.
From this point, I was pretty much burnt out on my distaste. For a quick summary, the second half of the album is the same combination of unconvincing shows of sentimentality – Disappear, I Need You - badly mangled combinations and half-ideas, stuck into amorphous blobs – Flyaway, Addict – and pathetic moments designed to be deliberately offensive and upsetting – Bad Reputation, Riot. Suffice to say, none of this reassures me that the state of industrial is currently one worth admiring. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are artists in the electronic, alt-metal vein who deserve our support, but if artists like Davey dislikeable are getting attention instead, through shallow controversy antics, and an inbuilt immaturity towards their audience, we need to be asking serious questions about who we let rise to fame. 1/10
Among Us bridges the gap between those moods – its huge, juggernaut sound, yet its tendency to stay harmonious and to inspiringly soar, makes for one of my favourite moments on the entire record – still unpersuaded by static structures, the anthem takes us to visceral peaks and expressively piercing troughs. Meanwhile, Words Of Dead Men, builds its progressions around a mournful descant, providing the perfect soundtrack to the lyrical anguish, which stands out more here than at any comparable point throughout. No Horizon further takes me off guard with percussive and guitar elements that feel symphonic in the genre, as if these musicians have been seized by a bout of theatricality which even moves outside of the typically dim and ruminating nature of previous tracks. That element is still very much here, yet it’s challenged and lengthened by the sheer risk on display. Plague Of Virtue is probably the closest we get to a traditional metal anthem, yet even saying that feels like I’m damning with faint praise, given how all these songs sturdily refuse to settle into anything that could be considered generic or archetypal.
Finishing with the strongly composed Servant and the excellently written Return To Silence, we once more get to witness the full extent of ability at stake, before Grave Image leaves its final and lasting impression. Taken as a dark metal album this is brilliant, taken as a wider piece of art in the musical landscape it’s very well-executed if not absolutely flawless. Still, given my sporadic nature towards metal of this kind, and the lengths by which Deathwhite try to set themselves apart, there’s far more to admire here than to shrug off. 8/10
Dirty Shirley: S/T (Frontiers Records) [Matt Bladen]
An absolutely shocking name and a worse cover, it wasn't looking great for the debut album from *shudders* Dirty Shirley (the adult alcoholic version of a Shirley Temple cocktail). As with a lot of the bands on Frontiers it's a collaborative effort from musicians that are signed to the label, this time, the names involved are: Animal Drive vocalist Dino Jelusic and Mr Scary himself George Lynch (Dokken/Lynch Mob). With a man so respected on guitar this album is chock full of intense six string mastery and Lynch at his creative best due to Dino's very expressive vocals range. He's part Jorn, part Coverdale and part Myles Kennedy too a soulful husky nature to his pipes hits immediately on the driving opening track Here Comes The King a Dio-like rocker that swaggers as a "here we are, get ready", it's a fist pumper for sure followed by Dirty Blues which nods to the mid 80's era of Whitesnake where they revamped many of their older blues based rockers with virtuoso's like Steve Vai giving their chops, I Disappear on the other hand is much more modern even dragging things into the realms of Alter Bridge. As I said earlier the styles here are very diverse with Lynch penning most of the tracks as well as producing, Alessandro Del Vecchio is on mixing duty of course, giving numbers like The Dying more depth sonically. This is actually quite a good hard rock record though there are a few too many slower tracks and I'm sorry but points deducted for the band name. 6/10
Davey Suicide: Rock Ain’t Dead (Out Of Line Music) [Alex Swift]
If you’re going to win me over on an industrial metal album, the artist in question is going to have to bring exciting concepts to the table which move beyond the deliberately controversial ‘edgelord’ antics, splicing riffs and full-throttle loud production that constitutes the stereotypical view of the genre. NIN and early Rammstein might seem like a lofty standard to set, yet in my case – as someone who considers industrial to be one of their least favourite genres in metal, barely eclipsing Grindcore – precautions must be taken. Hell, much as I despise Ministry, I’ll give them their due for being clever. However, as his unfortunate namesake suggests, Davey sewer-side has no such regard for atmospherics, subtlety or well thought out messages.
From the assault on the eardrums that is Rock Ain't’ Dead, you know exactly what you’re in for. The entire song is….BWAAA!!! DEAFENING PRODUCTION, NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! F**K POSERS AND THE RULES! AREN'T WE JUST SO EDGY! This utter lack of talent continues on to Animal, featuring Young Guns who are also boring and insipid, for the exact opposite reasons. One Of My Kind has synthesizer elements that just do not interact well with the melody and make the track a tedious mess – a mess made more sickening by our frontman’s insistence on undercutting his mildly thoughtful lyrics in moments such as ‘There’s so much pleasure and pain, yet you still drive me insane…and the sex is great uh’. Death Won’t Tear Us Apart continues the war of vapid stupidity being waged, with an uninspiring set of melodramatic features, not aided by the fact that Davey-insensitive cannot conceive a coherent note, let alone convince his audience that he’s capable of showing emotion when thus far all he’s done is whine about how he doesn’t care if he offends or hurts your feelings. Not that it’s impossible to be shocking and emotionally compelling. Marilyn Manson achieved both, yet unlike the artists he probably admires, Davey *redacted*, does not care for artistry or slow, quiet consideration.
From this point, I was pretty much burnt out on my distaste. For a quick summary, the second half of the album is the same combination of unconvincing shows of sentimentality – Disappear, I Need You - badly mangled combinations and half-ideas, stuck into amorphous blobs – Flyaway, Addict – and pathetic moments designed to be deliberately offensive and upsetting – Bad Reputation, Riot. Suffice to say, none of this reassures me that the state of industrial is currently one worth admiring. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are artists in the electronic, alt-metal vein who deserve our support, but if artists like Davey dislikeable are getting attention instead, through shallow controversy antics, and an inbuilt immaturity towards their audience, we need to be asking serious questions about who we let rise to fame. 1/10
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