It’s been four years since the Finnish trio Vainaja released their second album Verenvalaja. Both this release and its predecessor Kadotetut were based on the discovered writings of Wilhelm Waenaa, the malicious preacher who lead an unholy cult and who ultimately burnt to death inside his own church. Kiviristi or Stone Cross is the prequel story dating back to the 19th century. Tales of human sacrifice at woodland locations recovered from Finnish Forestry records, Finnish tradition involves the Kivirsiti, an item with magical properties. Aligned with ancient pagan cultures, Vainaja explore the ritualistic slaughter that converted the man of God into one of the most feared characters in Nordic Occult history. The first of two EPs released on Bandcamp, there are a mere two tracks on Kiviristi. The opening song, Alistuneet Sielut is a behemothic glacial paced 13-minute slab of some of the most haunting death doom you could want.
Like a herd of megalodons marching across the tundra, Vainaja’s propensity for the heaviest riffs known to man resurface with a powerful venom. The eerie echoing narrative, in their native Finnish, reverberates throughout the track. Guttural bile induced lyrics, pummelling heavy riffs and thunderous drumming all combine in a reminder of the power of this mysterious outfit. The sheer horror that the track induces, with it’s weird, haunting feel, the tolling of the bell, Polku is a slightly shorter track at 8:48. It is disturbing. An eerie malevolent feel from the start, the crushing riffs are slower than Alistuneet Sielut. A horrific atmosphere pervades the track, a restrained urgency pulses beneath as the horror stories are explored. Vainaja remain an intriguing outfit. Four years since they last subjected us to their darkness, their return whilst unspeakably malevolent is welcome. 9/10
Album number 18 for the German axe hero and whilst Pell continues to sail under the radar his stats speak for themselves. Over 1.7 million albums sold in a career spanning nearly 40 years. Pell’s last album Knights was an enjoyable if unremarkable release. With a solid line-up around him, including the legendary Bobby Rondinelli back for his fourth album and the smoky rich vocals of Johnny Gioeli, the main question was really whether there was enough killer on Sign Of The Times. It starts well, with the intro of The Black Serenade giving way to the best opening song Pell has produced for many a year in Gunfire, a high paced robust heavy metal track that simply romps away with a fire in the belly. Bad Reputation follows, a rather insipid routine slice of melodic rock which is neither bad nor good. It’s just average.
Although Pell has dropped the mystical themes of previous albums in favour of a more modern take on the world, there is still plenty of reference to the past in the style that he plays. That’s no bad thing – old school heavy metal is totally enjoyable if done well, and the title track, with its thick keyboards (courtesy of Ferdy Doernberg), is a majestic seven-minute song which fits nicely into place on the album. Pell has always stated that he’ll do his music his way and be consistent rather than search for the ‘hit’. On Sign Of The Times he is once more crafting a collection of decent songs, which will satisfy his loyal fanbase without disturbing those unaware of the man. Pell’s guitar work is as impressive as always, locked in with the rest of the band, including Volker Krawczak’s steady bass lines.
There’s a distinctively old school feel to tracks like The End Of The Line, Wings Of The Storm and Living In A Dream, rich keyboards, plenty of drive and melody and of course, Pell’s smooth and fluid axe work. It’s fair to say this record is an improvement on 2018’s Knights. Even the obligatory ballad As Blind As A Fool Can Be isn’t that bad, whilst the closing track Into The Fire has an epic, Rainbow feel about it and draws another solid album to a triumphant close. If you like your metal with a melodic edge, quality guitar work and well-crafted songs, Sign Of The Times is probably worth a listen. 7/10
Chronus: Idols (Listenable Records) [Simon Black]
Sweden seems to be where it’s all happening at the moment. They may have a questionable approach to managing viral pandemics, but this country sure knows how to produce good Melodic Hard Rock bands, and Chronus are no exception to the cracking crop of releases the Swedes have managed in this the strangest of years. When I started with this album, the opening bars of Mountains Of Madness did not immediately grab me, but give it time - these boys are worth a little patience. Although the riffage is there from the get go, this album has some lovely interplay between the instruments. What at first sounds like a fairly simple chord and guitar structure completely hides some really quite subtle and technical interplay which gave me a lovely light-bulb above the head movement, like the first time your ear deconstructs the far from simple ‘weaving’ interplay technique The Rolling Stones have used for decades, that leaves you completely unsure which guitarist is playing what - check out the excellent Ghosts which particularly excels at this.
For many people overt virtuosity is off-putting, but these guys do it very subtly, because your head is focused on the whole ensemble. The most immediately striking thing when you get past the first track is Sebastian Axelsson’s voice and although his moniker sounds like a stage name born of the late 80’s, his tone is very Ozzy-like voice particularly on Shepherd. It’s distinctive, it’s haunting and it’s very, very effective. But if you just like it old fashioned HR/M, then Pharos or Memories have some lovely solid riffage that you can’t help but nod your head along to and are clearly going to work really well live.
At 25 minutes, it's not the longest running length, but since not one single song on here feels overlong and the quality is so consistently good, I don’t care one jot. Many a classic album worked perfectly well with the 80 minutes limit original vinyl enforced before the pressing quality would have deteriorated and the increase in length only really became a thing in the late 80’s when the CR started adding extra run time and the expectation that those minutes had to be filled, whether the band had enough to say or not. This band are saying what they need to. Short, punchy and highly effective. More please. 8/10
Asbjorn Daemonium de Noctis: Primordial Forest (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
Asbjorn Daemonium de Noctis is the frontman/guitarist of South Wales purveyors of frostbitten darkness Black Pyre. Now his human alter-ego released a solo record last year but obviously the lockdown has driven him mad enough to reconnect with the darkness although obviously (and for safety) the other members of Black Pyre do not feature here so it's just de Noctis by himself playing all you hear. Now the first thing you notice with Primordial Forest is that it is a much more rounded black metal sound than Black Pyre's debut EP, now this is to be expected as de Noctis (and Black Pyre) have improved exponentially and with all the studio gadgets at his disposal he can really ramp up the more gothic and atmospheric tones on Moonlit Aether.
According to the blurb the album was inspired by the likes of Darkthrone, Asagraum, Watain, Necronautical and Imperialist, and you can hear that in the excellent guitar playing (something de Noctis has really honed), with the rawness of Nightfall you have that classic blastbeating black metal sound, however with tracks such as Sacred Grove have a much more progressive sound to it, the with the ominous synths it's used as a build to the excellent Celestial Divination, Tranquility to is a synth drenched interlude almost that serves as a aperitif to the 8 minute epic Elegant Arbour. Primordial Forest ends with the doomy instrumental Summoning Waltz and it shows the progression of Asbjorn as a performer and hints at things to come when he rejoins his cvlt brethren after lockdown. 7/10
Although Pell has dropped the mystical themes of previous albums in favour of a more modern take on the world, there is still plenty of reference to the past in the style that he plays. That’s no bad thing – old school heavy metal is totally enjoyable if done well, and the title track, with its thick keyboards (courtesy of Ferdy Doernberg), is a majestic seven-minute song which fits nicely into place on the album. Pell has always stated that he’ll do his music his way and be consistent rather than search for the ‘hit’. On Sign Of The Times he is once more crafting a collection of decent songs, which will satisfy his loyal fanbase without disturbing those unaware of the man. Pell’s guitar work is as impressive as always, locked in with the rest of the band, including Volker Krawczak’s steady bass lines.
There’s a distinctively old school feel to tracks like The End Of The Line, Wings Of The Storm and Living In A Dream, rich keyboards, plenty of drive and melody and of course, Pell’s smooth and fluid axe work. It’s fair to say this record is an improvement on 2018’s Knights. Even the obligatory ballad As Blind As A Fool Can Be isn’t that bad, whilst the closing track Into The Fire has an epic, Rainbow feel about it and draws another solid album to a triumphant close. If you like your metal with a melodic edge, quality guitar work and well-crafted songs, Sign Of The Times is probably worth a listen. 7/10
Chronus: Idols (Listenable Records) [Simon Black]
Sweden seems to be where it’s all happening at the moment. They may have a questionable approach to managing viral pandemics, but this country sure knows how to produce good Melodic Hard Rock bands, and Chronus are no exception to the cracking crop of releases the Swedes have managed in this the strangest of years. When I started with this album, the opening bars of Mountains Of Madness did not immediately grab me, but give it time - these boys are worth a little patience. Although the riffage is there from the get go, this album has some lovely interplay between the instruments. What at first sounds like a fairly simple chord and guitar structure completely hides some really quite subtle and technical interplay which gave me a lovely light-bulb above the head movement, like the first time your ear deconstructs the far from simple ‘weaving’ interplay technique The Rolling Stones have used for decades, that leaves you completely unsure which guitarist is playing what - check out the excellent Ghosts which particularly excels at this.
For many people overt virtuosity is off-putting, but these guys do it very subtly, because your head is focused on the whole ensemble. The most immediately striking thing when you get past the first track is Sebastian Axelsson’s voice and although his moniker sounds like a stage name born of the late 80’s, his tone is very Ozzy-like voice particularly on Shepherd. It’s distinctive, it’s haunting and it’s very, very effective. But if you just like it old fashioned HR/M, then Pharos or Memories have some lovely solid riffage that you can’t help but nod your head along to and are clearly going to work really well live.
At 25 minutes, it's not the longest running length, but since not one single song on here feels overlong and the quality is so consistently good, I don’t care one jot. Many a classic album worked perfectly well with the 80 minutes limit original vinyl enforced before the pressing quality would have deteriorated and the increase in length only really became a thing in the late 80’s when the CR started adding extra run time and the expectation that those minutes had to be filled, whether the band had enough to say or not. This band are saying what they need to. Short, punchy and highly effective. More please. 8/10
Asbjorn Daemonium de Noctis: Primordial Forest (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
Asbjorn Daemonium de Noctis is the frontman/guitarist of South Wales purveyors of frostbitten darkness Black Pyre. Now his human alter-ego released a solo record last year but obviously the lockdown has driven him mad enough to reconnect with the darkness although obviously (and for safety) the other members of Black Pyre do not feature here so it's just de Noctis by himself playing all you hear. Now the first thing you notice with Primordial Forest is that it is a much more rounded black metal sound than Black Pyre's debut EP, now this is to be expected as de Noctis (and Black Pyre) have improved exponentially and with all the studio gadgets at his disposal he can really ramp up the more gothic and atmospheric tones on Moonlit Aether.
According to the blurb the album was inspired by the likes of Darkthrone, Asagraum, Watain, Necronautical and Imperialist, and you can hear that in the excellent guitar playing (something de Noctis has really honed), with the rawness of Nightfall you have that classic blastbeating black metal sound, however with tracks such as Sacred Grove have a much more progressive sound to it, the with the ominous synths it's used as a build to the excellent Celestial Divination, Tranquility to is a synth drenched interlude almost that serves as a aperitif to the 8 minute epic Elegant Arbour. Primordial Forest ends with the doomy instrumental Summoning Waltz and it shows the progression of Asbjorn as a performer and hints at things to come when he rejoins his cvlt brethren after lockdown. 7/10
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