Gazpacho: Fireworker (Kscope)
With 20 years experience under their collective belts Gazpacho are not going to suddenly change tack and bring out 12 track record of pop rockers. In fact at this point of their career the Norwegian sextet are infinitely comfortable with their brand of atmospheric art rock which poses philosophical questions drawing heavily from literature and academia channelled through their introspective art rock facade. So then what have they offered here on Fireworker? Well much like their previous release Night this is one song split into 5 separate chapters which may not sound a lot but when you consider the sprawling, baroque opening Space Cowboy clocking in at 19 minutes (or one side on vinyl) it's a track you could consider as the 'ultimate' Gazpacho song with numerous shifts, some brilliant storytelling and tonal shifts that remind me of Gabriel fronted Genesis, especially from around 11 minutes.
The emotive vocals and dense musicianship offer you just what you would want from any Gazpacho offering and where as most bands may consider this track enough, as part of an EP maybe, but Gazpacho are brazen and confident enough to open with it. From here the eccentricity is very much in force but it never spills over into being cheap or cartoony. Gazpacho write songs that deftly make their way under your skin and into your psyche evoking emotion on Hourglass based around soft piano and orchestrations as it unwinds into the folksy title track which builds layers like Mike Oldfield. As I've said earlier there are few tracks in bands careers that reach the lengths and heights of Space Cowboy but Gazpacho somehow do it twice on one record with the closing Sapien a 15 minute crescendo that keeps you on tenterhooks until the closing moments.
Occasionally we tell you to let an album wash over you but Fireworker needs to be enjoyed as twilight descends preferably with a large glass of red wine, it's a hearty meal but one that fills and ultimately comforts. 9/10
Varg: Zeichen (Napalm Records)
German Viking/Pagan metal band Varg declare themselves wolves (their name translates Wolf in Swedish and Old Norwegian) and you can hear why when you set this new record off 739 kicks in with some ferocious blackened melodic death metal which brings the band back to their Viking worship after a brief foray into politics on 2016's Das Ende Aller Lügen an album that solidified the bands anti-fascist and anti-racist positions. Zeichen is their seventh full length and follows hot on the heels of Wolfszeit II their re-recorded debut album from last year. One would think that it was this retrospective release that inspired them to once again done the war paint and play Norse/Pagan themed music they have been making most of their career. Yes we're back in the land of longboats and pyres as 739 kicks in with the force of longsword to the neck the growled/screamed vocals of Freki coming in addition to his guitar playing. He's joined by Morkai and Garm on the guitars and Fenrier explodes from behind the kit.
The band have stripped back their sound to those early days and it means that songs such as Schildwall and the Auf Die Gotter both bring a groove that begs to be chanted back in the live. Now I can't do a review of this style of music without mentioning bands such as Amon Amarth or Turisas but I'd say Varg actually owe a little more to bands like Children Of Bodom. The album's centerpiece is Fara Til Ranar which features new member Fylgja's classical strains soaring on this tale of the Rán the Nordic Sea Goddess (similar to a siren). It seems like Fylgja is a full time member so it will be interesting to see how her vocals are used going forward but for the majority of this record is Viking influenced melodic death metal with lots of nifty guitar playing, an ear for a fist pumping hook and a nod to the grandiose, on the final two tracks especially having some theatrical moments.
If that's not enough in the special edition you get the whole album again but in alternative versions with special guests from bands such as Equilibrium and Eluveitie adding their musicianship. If German language Viking-themed melodic death metal sounds like something you can whip you luxurious braided hair to then it maybe worth grabbing the closest Longboat and pillaging Zeichen from your local record shop (please don't steal it buy it with money). 7/10
The Infernal Sea: Negotium Crucis (Apocalyptic Witchcraft)
Ah the new album from The Infernal Sea, or as they referred to in this house "my future father-in-law's favourite black metal band" (I mean they are the only one he's ever seen but still!). The Fenland (East Anglia geography folks) dwelling foursome are purveyors of some of the nastiest black metal maelstroms and they return with their third full length album Negotium Crucis. Now here comes the health warning, it's not for the faint of heart, there's not much room for lighter melodies and little folksy touches that some black metal bands. No Negotium Crucis is another slab of wretched, anti-religious black metal music that follows a Medieval concept, especially The Black Death and its aftermath that caused untold misery across Europe and is even more relevant at the moment.
Now I said black metal is the overarching sound but you often get some wild solos at the end of Befallen Order on the other hand God Wills It the filth ridden title track and Unholy Crusade have a black n roll groove powered by some sleazy HM-2. Still if you're not a fan of the black n roll elements, though if you tread the Left Hand Path I wouldn't want to know why, there is enough 'classic' black metal tremolo picking, frantic drumming and screaming for any hardened cvltist to throw their hand in the air and wave it back and forth in time to the blastbeats (if you know you know). Devoid Of Fear being an example of this as is the frankly blistering Rex Mundi a song that will ring in your ears for minutes after it ends. This is the 'proper' finale but the band have added a bonus song Into The Unknown which takes thing back to the raw foundations of black metal. Negotium Crucis continues The Infernal Sea's path of devastation, laying waste to all zealots in their path. 8/10
Orochen: Thylacine EP (Suicide Records)
The second EP this year from Swedish post-rockers Orochen, is their third in total and again much like Rich said in his review of their previous release Mechanical Eyes they still sit in the middle ground between heavy post-rock and neofolk. This EP Thylacine is named after the now extinct Tasmanian tiger and the EP deals with the question of who's next? Will our way of living recklessly ultimately lead to our own downfall? The EP was written, recorded and produced during the Coronavirus lockdown and as such is a reflection of it. No wonder then that it's a very insular with the introspective sound of Crippled Black Phoenix and Cult Of Luna with a feeling of distance at odds with the brighter sounding delivery of Long Distance Calling with the Burial Mounds a definite EP starter as it's a driving rocker to get the engine running. Quickly though we are taken into a deeper hole by Drift Away which funnels Mark Lanegan and Nick Cave through the paranoia of Pink Floyd's The Wall. There's a enveloping Nineties feel to Inside The City while The Jonestown Deathtape is just that...the final tape of Jim Jones, leader of the Peoples Temple cult just before the mass suicide-murder set to piano before it evolves into the heaviest song on the record with roars and huge orchestral swathes. It's another interesting EP from this Swedish project that brings together multiple strands of musical influence into one place very effectively. 7/10
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