Die Wilde Jagd is Asenblut’s fourth album, it’s taken four years since the bands last album; Berserker. The five piece based in Germany have been making beautifully melodic Death Metal since 2006. There is an elephant in the room with this album, so we’d better deal with it straight away. The style of Melodic Death Metal that Asenblut play is almost identical to a style that is usually associated with Swedish ‘Vikings’ Amon Amarth. All the fundamentals of Asenblut’s sound seem to have come from the Scandinavian Melodeath giants. The guitar riffs are similar, the tempo and rhythms feel like they have been lifted from one of Amon Amarth’s (earlier) albums. There are at least 3 tracks where the rhythm section seem to be playing In Pursuit Of Vikings, the track Weder Gott, Noch Konige has the same kind of feel as Cry Of The Black Birds. There are so many Amon Amarthisms on this album that I would have called it cheeky if it were not for the fact that Asenblut are so good at sounding like Amon Amarth, that they actually sound better than the huge Swedes.
One thing this album has in spades is melody. The riffs are beautifully melodic, they also tend to be coupled with melody leads, one thing this band is not short of is great tunes. Seite An Seite is slow and driving at the beginning, but has a huge tuneful chorus, and the second half of the song is all about big, strong melodies. Drachentoter is mid-paced and again so full of great melodic moments, it’s impossible to listen to this without picking up and humming all the tunes. In addition to the beautifully melodic Death Metal, there are out and out blasters as well. The aforementioned Weder Gott, Noch Konige is a standout track on the album, it is similar in tempo and pacing to Cry Of The Blackbirds, but it’s such an adrenaline fuelled blast that you won’t mind. The track 300 is another fast, tight blast with a great central riff that drives the song forward, and as you’d expect it also boasts a fantastic melody lead.
Die Wilde Jagd is a great album. Yes, it sound just like Amon Amarth, but it sounds like that band when they were at their best. They sound like With Oden On Our Side era Amon Amarth, not the fat and flabby band that Amon Amarth have become. For the last few albums Amon Amarth have become almost a parody of themselves, churning out a sanitised version of their older sound, selling not really Death Metal to people who want to say they listen to Death metal whilst never actually listening to it. Amon Amarth are no longer capable of producing an album as good as this, if you miss Amon Amarth circa 2006 then you need this album. Ok, it’s another bands style, but as the Swedes can’t cut it anymore, you can get your ‘Viking’ Melodic Death Metal fix from Asenblut. 8/10
Deified: Anthrobscene (Sound Pike) [Liam True]
Hailing from Merseyside, unloading 2 EP’s and a full length album since their formation in 2013, the Liverpudlian quintet are dropping their new EP titled Anthrobscene. And have produced a great piece of underground UK Metal. Their sound is nothing new as it’s reminiscent of Lamb Of God, but, they’ve taken the formula, added their own twist on it and have come up with riffs aplenty.
Between the riffs the vicious vocals of Jamie Hughes ravage your ears as if it was a guest spot from Randy Blythe. The furious drum work of Jordon Stanley-Jones is like a machine gun and the breakdown work of all three guitars working in unison provide a hellish sound for the worlds current state. As soon as the intro track is finished, you’re met with the duel pounding guitars of Matt Pike and Alistair Blackhall cutting through you like a surgical scalpel while Stanley-Jones builds up for what may be the EP of the year so far.
The EP itself tells somewhat of a bleak and blackened story, much like the world right now. Every song on the album is beautiful. Sure with the small break Intermission, there’s a missed opportunity for more mayhem and destruction, but they make up with it with An Ode To Armageddon. And the final parts of An Ode... It’s oh so beautiful. If you’re a fan of Lamb Of God and Devildriver, than welcome their bastard son. Deified. 9/10
Ironstone: Prophecy EP (Self Released) [Simon Black]
With a technical skills and talent that belies their youth, Ironstone are a blisteringly technically proficient Melodic/Progressive Metal act hailing from Melbourne, Australia. This is a very tight little six track EP, with a quality of mix and production of an unusually high standard for such a new band (although to be fair prog musos tend to be the most technically proficient when it comes to equipment and getting the sound they want). Opener Downpour gets things off to a very positive start, which despite the technical twists and turns, still manages to sound commercially acceptable and a good hook to pull people into what they are about. The tone and sounds are fairly varied too and I particularly liked the more technically brutal Better Unseen. What makes this EP work is the absolutely razor sharp timing that give this EP a really modern and fresh sound which is so rare in the progressive world. Check out the drums and bass work on Killed A Man if you don’t believe me. I am also really impressed with vocalist Dan Charlton’s ability to switch from a clean to extreme style at will, like a young Chester Bennington without the angst but plenty of angry cynicism. A really interesting start, and I look forward to hearing a full album from these guys. 7/10
Astral Sleep: Astral Doom Musick (Inverse Records) [Bob Shoesmith]
Someone cleverer than I once said “…There’s two types of art. The art you like and the art you don’t”. So, I need to be objective about reviewing Astral Doom Musick as its properly out of my like zone. So here goes;
Hailing from Finland, Astral Sleep have a very niche corner of the metal market, probably hence why only the 900 Facebook likes. The album only consists of four (thats FOUR) songs and is 44 minutes of (what they describe as) experimental doom metal. The songs are apparently even accompanied by a board game in the 12” gatefold vinyl edition which they say; ‘…delivers the full album experience’. Not sure how that works but its definitely different.
Apart from being slow and dark Astral Doom Musick struggles to find any consistency of style. The four songs themselves (Vril, Intergratron, Schwerbelastungskörper and Aurinko) ebb and flow between slow and the painfully slow. The vocal duties seem to frequently change throughout, typically, in the opening track Vril, the attempts at traditional singing is often hilariously bad in places, but then when the doom/death metal growl vocal is switched on the track and again on Schwerbelastungskörper (translation: Heavy Load- Bearing Body… very apt) it really suits the dark mood they are so earnestly trying to create.
This variety of vocalising also switches between English and (I suspect) Finnish or German, its difficult to tell between tracks. The music is underpinned by some big overdriven, drop tuned guitars and background mood synths. Astral Sleep can slip from some very chunky riffing (like at the start of Intergratron) which gives a Rammstein-esque feel in places but there is all manner of meandering across the long tracks. The best of the four is definitely Aurinko, it still barely accelerates past a funereal pace but the vocals are now on point, backing vocals in place and the relevant gothic atmosphere created. Best of the (small) bunch.
The musicianship of Astral Doom Musick is competent and well produced and if you are into Finnish doom metal, explanatory board games and very slow gothic/Teutonic metal, you might want to check it out. It’s not for me. I found the album hard work and trying a little too hard to tick the stereotype boxes in parts. When they get it right (Aurinko) it quite interesting, when they don’t (Vril) it’s uncomfortable. 4/10
No comments:
Post a Comment