Now on his eleventh studio outing, Manson is one of that select group of artists who can legitimately claim to have had a major influence not just in the musical world, but as a force for political commentary. I remember the furore in my home town of Nottingham when he first played there back in the mid 1990’s and the religious righteous protested outside of Rock City … nervously. A few short years later and he was on top of the world, second on the bill to Maiden at the opening Download Festival in 2003 and headlining the Birmingham NEC shortly afterwards off the back of the frankly spectacular Golden Age Of Grotesque (an album deeply influenced by his relationship with Burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese. And then he fell. His marriage to Von Teese collapsed, shacked up with a younger model, produced a series of frankly dire albums and took himself off into a corner to paint childlike watercolours in a huff whilst waiting to become his own tribute band. And that’s been the case apart from a brief return to form with The Pale Emperor a few years back, and sadly this album fits the same bill, at least in part.
I have always held Manson to be one of those artists who should probably reinvent themselves from time to time in order to confound expectations, in the way that those that Master the greasy pole of the Pop music world have to in order to outlive the fashions of their demographic age wise. Although we tend to be a bit more forgiving in the metal world when it comes to treading the same old ground year in year out, I would argue that Manson is far more alternative than metal anyway. We get a bit of a potpourri on this album, which Manson himself is keen to point out is intended to be conceptually a product of two halves, which is probably more noticeable if you have the vinyl version. Just to make the point, there are a few needle crackles and pops added to the mix so that those of us listening digitally don’t miss out on that vinyl vibe. His style is definitely much more popular on the first half of this album, and although the second half of the album is definitely darker and more traditional in tone for Manson, but I find myself missing the sheer anger and rhetoric of his early work, because quite frankly this day and age needs such a voice.
Sadly this voice, apart from lightly touching in that direction on album opener Red, Black And Blue is back to the more self-obsessed dirge of the Eat Me, Drink Me era, and once again whoever he is shagging seems to influence his output. This is an opportunity missed to make a comment for the times, and although the vibe and sound is distinctively Manson, it lacks the shock factor and sheer bile that made his early work so ground-breaking. As my dear departed mum would have said, he’s like the girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead – when he’s good he’s very, very good, but when he’s bad he’s horrid, and not for the right reasons any more. 5/10
Shattered Sun: Bled For You (Hammered Forged Records) [Liam True]
Being in the Metalcore scene is a fun but hard thing to do. With the many bands you compete with it’s hard to stand out and create a unique noise. Shattered Sun however have taken the core sound and used it to create amazing melodies and chorus’. Bled For You is a phenomenal record filled to the brim with enough riffs, air drum moments and singalongs to fill a sea. From the title track opener it paints the picture of the direction of where the album is going. Starting with guitarist Jessie Santos hitting the nail hard with the opening riff which then has vocalist Marcos Leal fire on all cylinders while drummer Juan Hinojosa hits fast and hard keeping pace with the rest of the album. From there on the band doesn’t let up. They keeping hitting harder, stronger and faster.
Being in the Metalcore scene is a fun but hard thing to do. With the many bands you compete with it’s hard to stand out and create a unique noise. Shattered Sun however have taken the core sound and used it to create amazing melodies and chorus’. Bled For You is a phenomenal record filled to the brim with enough riffs, air drum moments and singalongs to fill a sea. From the title track opener it paints the picture of the direction of where the album is going. Starting with guitarist Jessie Santos hitting the nail hard with the opening riff which then has vocalist Marcos Leal fire on all cylinders while drummer Juan Hinojosa hits fast and hard keeping pace with the rest of the album. From there on the band doesn’t let up. They keeping hitting harder, stronger and faster.
Never Enough shines the opening spotlight on bassist Joseph Guajardo showing his abilities while the rest of the band take over and enhance on the previous song. During the album you’re also treated to some background keyboards, courtesy of Henry Garza who also takes the helm on backing vocals for numerous songs. Shades Of Melodies, Letters To The Grave & Eternal are the slowest on the album but they more than make up for it in the musicianship throughout the band. Where My Heart Belongs & Until It Breaks proves the band has the material to headline big venues as the sound they have is unique, while the song writing is putting them on the path to be the next Parkway Drive. And they’re destined for bigger things. And clocking in at just over 30 minutes, they’ve shown they’re a force to be reckoned with. 8/10
Callejon: Metropolis (Warner Music Group) [Liam True]
Considering Metal is known across the world and you have many different bans from many different countries, you rarely hear bands sing in their mother tongue, most notably German. There are many known Thrash bands hailing from Germany but they all sing in English. The only bands I can think of that sing in their dialect are Rammstein, Schattenmann & We Butter The Bread With Butter. Now we can add the quintet German Metalcore group to the list. On their eighth studio album to date, and releasing their previous effort last January, they seem to be non stop on their third album in three years. With vocalist Bastian Sobtzick taking the lead with both clean and unclean vocals he leads the assault on title track Metropolis after a beautiful introduction from guitarists Bernhard Horn & Christoph Koterzina entwining their strings together to create a stunning riff as the opener.
Callejon: Metropolis (Warner Music Group) [Liam True]
Considering Metal is known across the world and you have many different bans from many different countries, you rarely hear bands sing in their mother tongue, most notably German. There are many known Thrash bands hailing from Germany but they all sing in English. The only bands I can think of that sing in their dialect are Rammstein, Schattenmann & We Butter The Bread With Butter. Now we can add the quintet German Metalcore group to the list. On their eighth studio album to date, and releasing their previous effort last January, they seem to be non stop on their third album in three years. With vocalist Bastian Sobtzick taking the lead with both clean and unclean vocals he leads the assault on title track Metropolis after a beautiful introduction from guitarists Bernhard Horn & Christoph Koterzina entwining their strings together to create a stunning riff as the opener.
Blut & Die Fabrik so hand in hand together as they both provide you with fast riffs and headbanging galore. Der Wald & Katakomben are the slowest songs on the album but still hit as hard as a cinder block to the balls. The most interesting thing about the album is that all vocals are in German. The album has samples, but they’re in English which I think adds to the effect of the album to some degree, making it more unique. The instrumentals themselves are gorgeous. The production is brilliant and the band sound like if Parkway Drive grew up in Germany and dined on the riffs on their Metalcore forefathers. All in all it’s a pretty solid record and one for the top albums of 2020. 8/10
Kind: Mental Nudge (Ripple Music) [Simon Black]
This is the sophomore album from this Boston-based Stoner supergroup, with possibly the heaviest and dirtiest sound I have heard in a long while. I mean seriously - this baby is mixed with such a high base, mid-range and gain that even with everything turned down, my teeth fillings still rattled – so the title of the opener Broken Tweaker seems rather apt. To be fair this may be a contender for the most definitive stoner tracker ever, as it encapsulates everything that makes the genre so distinctive in one track – the heavy mix, the slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick riffage, thundering drums and basswork strong enough to deliver dentistry with.
Song title irony is still in force with the Faster Number Two, which takes some of the heaviness out in favour of a more accessible pace, but still has the same hypnotic rhythms and Craig Riggs’s haunting vocals that take the listener so easily along. Bad Friend is back in familiar heavy territory, and slows the pace down for a whopping 7’42” run time – its heavy, epic and experimental and frankly brilliant. Helms takes a swing into a more 60’s trippy groove, which had the feel of early Pink Floyd at times, whilst sounding absolutely different and still dripping in Stoner, and then we’re back with a slab of fast paced heaviness for It’s Your Head. The title track is a masterclass in bass battery, but with a more gentle pace and again at another seven and a bit minutes takes its time to build to a crescendo of sheer damn heavy. They save the best for last with Trigger Happy, which feels like it’s trying to outdo Paradise Lost in just how slow you can take a piece of music without running out of steam, until we get about four minutes into the eight and a half, and it all goes early Black Sabbath quite, quite brilliantly.
This record takes its time – there’s only seven tracks over the forty odd minutes, but they are meaty, meaningful and have breathed life into a genre that at times can sound repetitive. The sheer variety of what can be done within the genre is what keeps this fresh, interesting and clearly one of the better Stoner acts I have heard in a long time. 8/10
Kind: Mental Nudge (Ripple Music) [Simon Black]
This is the sophomore album from this Boston-based Stoner supergroup, with possibly the heaviest and dirtiest sound I have heard in a long while. I mean seriously - this baby is mixed with such a high base, mid-range and gain that even with everything turned down, my teeth fillings still rattled – so the title of the opener Broken Tweaker seems rather apt. To be fair this may be a contender for the most definitive stoner tracker ever, as it encapsulates everything that makes the genre so distinctive in one track – the heavy mix, the slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick riffage, thundering drums and basswork strong enough to deliver dentistry with.
Song title irony is still in force with the Faster Number Two, which takes some of the heaviness out in favour of a more accessible pace, but still has the same hypnotic rhythms and Craig Riggs’s haunting vocals that take the listener so easily along. Bad Friend is back in familiar heavy territory, and slows the pace down for a whopping 7’42” run time – its heavy, epic and experimental and frankly brilliant. Helms takes a swing into a more 60’s trippy groove, which had the feel of early Pink Floyd at times, whilst sounding absolutely different and still dripping in Stoner, and then we’re back with a slab of fast paced heaviness for It’s Your Head. The title track is a masterclass in bass battery, but with a more gentle pace and again at another seven and a bit minutes takes its time to build to a crescendo of sheer damn heavy. They save the best for last with Trigger Happy, which feels like it’s trying to outdo Paradise Lost in just how slow you can take a piece of music without running out of steam, until we get about four minutes into the eight and a half, and it all goes early Black Sabbath quite, quite brilliantly.
This record takes its time – there’s only seven tracks over the forty odd minutes, but they are meaty, meaningful and have breathed life into a genre that at times can sound repetitive. The sheer variety of what can be done within the genre is what keeps this fresh, interesting and clearly one of the better Stoner acts I have heard in a long time. 8/10
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