I always get that little pang of excitement when a new album from a veteran thrash band drops swiftly followed by a moment of worry that the new album won’t live up to expectations. Thankfully any worry can be dispelled with X which is the tenth album from Danish old schoolers Artillery. This is the first Artillery album since the sad death of founding member and guitarist Morten Stützer in 2019 leaving his brother Michael Stützer as the sole founding member in the band. Thankfully the band have done Morten proud and released a cracking album with X. The later albums of Artillery have been far more in a power meets thrash metal style especially since the inclusion of vocalist Michael Bastholm Dahl in the band in 2012 and his very melodic power metal vocal style. That is still very much the case with X though I feel that the thrash elements have been ramped up a fair bit after the somewhat lacklustre The Face Of Fear album in 2018.
This is still a very melodic album but the use of melody is perfectly mixed with some hard hitting thrash action. The trio of songs that open the album are very much a statement of intent by the band with The Devils Symphony storming out of the speakers at you. In Thrash We Trust is the thrash anthem you would hope and expect it to be whilst Turn Up The Rage proves to be an absolutely anthemic banger. There are some more restrained moments on the album such as Eternal Night and Varg I Veum which lean into far more trad and power metal territory whilst The Ghost Of Me is a proper full on metal power ballad. These songs are equally counteracted by speedy raging thrashers like Force Of Indifference and Beggars In Black Suits which are designed for exercising those neck muscles. The band sound on absolute fire throughout the album with Michael Stützer and new guitarist Kræn Meier pack in a pile of killer riffs aided by a razor sharp and meaty guitar tone whilst bassist Peter Thorslund and drummer Joshua Madsen form an absolutely formidable rhythm section.
Vocalist Michael Bastholm Dahl continues to impress with a powerhouse performance. Whilst his voice is very melodic and would normally be more suited to power metal and traditional heavy metal, here it is a bit more toned down and more suited to a thrash band. Melodic vocals are quite a rarity in thrash metal these days and Artillery show that they definitely still have their place and can work in a thrash metal context. Despite the sad loss of Morten Stützer, this definitely hasn’t held Artillery back and X is one of the strongest albums they have done in a while and probably their best since When Death Comes in 2009. It is far more thrashy than they have sounded in a while and definitely has some throwback moments to their old school albums such as By Inheritance and Terror Squad whilst still pulling on influences from traditional and power metal. If you like your thrash fast, heavy and intense yet highly melodic then this album could not come more highly recommended. 8/10
Bala - Maleza (Century Media) [Matt Bladen]
Maleza (Undergrowth) is the third album from Anxela Baltar (vocals/guitar) and Violeta Mosquera (vocals/drums) the Spanish duo that make up Bala. This third album is another 24 minute rage through a tornado of punk/grunge/stoner delivered primarily in the Spanish language. When I say delivered I mean shouted at full volume by both Anxela and Violeta as musically there's an organic sound of being a two-piece built on just drums and guitar. Having toured in the UK, Australia and Japan, they have channeled this live experience into their third album for a very direct powerful offering. It's also quite mixed in it's sounds despite a short run time. The thunder of Hoy-No, the frothing Cien Obstáculos, the stop-start Agitar all kick up the speed quotient while Quieres Entrar is slower and much more atmospheric as Bessie brings more than a touch of Sabbath. Fuzzy distortion, frantic percussion and bucketloads of attitude Maleza is Bala announcing themselves to a wider audience with this shock of bristling alt-rock. 7/10
Levara - Levara (Mascot Records) [Matt Bladen]
L.A trio Levara are a band that in their short existence have supported AOR legends Toto, so they clearly have quite a pedigree. What helps is that Levara six stringer Trev is Steve Lukather's son, he is a chip off the old block with the same talent for blending blues with slicker modern rock riffage. Joining him is Brit Josh Devine who was behind the kit for One Direction and French vocalist Jules Gali. Like Toto Levara are a band that truly encapsulate their time, as Toto are your stereotypical 80's sound, Levara are very much a band for the 21st Century sounding like acts such as Daughtry and Shinedown, radio friendly rock music with some electronic shivers and pop sheen. The trio are very much focussed on inspiring the youth to discover music with anthemic, feel-good songs that are designed to be sung aloud.
Maleza (Undergrowth) is the third album from Anxela Baltar (vocals/guitar) and Violeta Mosquera (vocals/drums) the Spanish duo that make up Bala. This third album is another 24 minute rage through a tornado of punk/grunge/stoner delivered primarily in the Spanish language. When I say delivered I mean shouted at full volume by both Anxela and Violeta as musically there's an organic sound of being a two-piece built on just drums and guitar. Having toured in the UK, Australia and Japan, they have channeled this live experience into their third album for a very direct powerful offering. It's also quite mixed in it's sounds despite a short run time. The thunder of Hoy-No, the frothing Cien Obstáculos, the stop-start Agitar all kick up the speed quotient while Quieres Entrar is slower and much more atmospheric as Bessie brings more than a touch of Sabbath. Fuzzy distortion, frantic percussion and bucketloads of attitude Maleza is Bala announcing themselves to a wider audience with this shock of bristling alt-rock. 7/10
Levara - Levara (Mascot Records) [Matt Bladen]
L.A trio Levara are a band that in their short existence have supported AOR legends Toto, so they clearly have quite a pedigree. What helps is that Levara six stringer Trev is Steve Lukather's son, he is a chip off the old block with the same talent for blending blues with slicker modern rock riffage. Joining him is Brit Josh Devine who was behind the kit for One Direction and French vocalist Jules Gali. Like Toto Levara are a band that truly encapsulate their time, as Toto are your stereotypical 80's sound, Levara are very much a band for the 21st Century sounding like acts such as Daughtry and Shinedown, radio friendly rock music with some electronic shivers and pop sheen. The trio are very much focussed on inspiring the youth to discover music with anthemic, feel-good songs that are designed to be sung aloud.
The singles such as the punchy Automatic, has repeatability that will be all over FM radio, hooked on a big vocal from Gali and a powerful guitar solo that breaks out from the first pumping main body, it's a harbinger of the rest of the album, though it's different enough to Chameleon, to bring variation. Though Chameleon has yet another colossal chorus, a trick that keeps you listening. Ballad-wise Ever Enough and No One Above You both are on the right side of saccharine, not to be overly sickly. As with a lot of the American Radio Rock bands there are probably too many ballads but these do well on US radio so you can understand why. The performances here are very good and the songwriting is also exactly the sort that will see them climbing up the ranks of the rock world very fast. A slick rock record which is far to accomplished to be a debut. 7/10
The Ember, The Ash - Fixation (Prosthetic Records) [Richard Oliver]
Fixation is the second album from The Ember, The Ash which is another solo project of 鬼 more commonly known as Canadian musician William Melsness (also of Unreqvited) who performs all instruments and vocals on this album. The Ember, The Ash mixes symphonic black metal with deathcore and the result is a mix of some very good sounding symphonic black metal and some truly dreadful deathcore. The meshing together of these two genres doesn’t really work as you get some great symphonic death metal part with a tacked on breakdown section which just spoils the whole flow (which isn’t helped by the fact that this reviewer despises deathcore style breakdowns). The deathcore heavy songs such as Strychnine and the title track are at the start of the album meaning that the second half is far more enjoyable with songs such as The Colossal Void and Celestial Fracture playing far more to the symphonic black metal sound with blast-beats, savage riffs and huge symphonic soundscapes.
The Ember, The Ash - Fixation (Prosthetic Records) [Richard Oliver]
Fixation is the second album from The Ember, The Ash which is another solo project of 鬼 more commonly known as Canadian musician William Melsness (also of Unreqvited) who performs all instruments and vocals on this album. The Ember, The Ash mixes symphonic black metal with deathcore and the result is a mix of some very good sounding symphonic black metal and some truly dreadful deathcore. The meshing together of these two genres doesn’t really work as you get some great symphonic death metal part with a tacked on breakdown section which just spoils the whole flow (which isn’t helped by the fact that this reviewer despises deathcore style breakdowns). The deathcore heavy songs such as Strychnine and the title track are at the start of the album meaning that the second half is far more enjoyable with songs such as The Colossal Void and Celestial Fracture playing far more to the symphonic black metal sound with blast-beats, savage riffs and huge symphonic soundscapes.
There are still some breakdowns to be found in these songs but they are far more scaled back resulting in the songs being far more listenable to my ears. Album closer Consciousness Torn From The Void is the most vast and epic song on the album and the clear highlight. A case of definitely saving the best until last. The musicianship is fantastic throughout with some great guitar work and keyboard playing. I’m not sure if the drums are programmed or not but if the drums are real then 鬼 is also a formidable drummer. The vocals left a lot to be desired for me being very much in a ‘core’ style which I found very grating. Fixation is a bold experiment mixing together these two different styles but for me it didn’t really work. It’s a shame as there are some brilliant blackened parts which are then completely ruined by banal, stupefying deathcore breakdowns.
So basically this is an album of two polars - wonderful symphonic black metal and woeful deathcore - meaning that when this album has its good moments they are really good but when it goes bad it crashes and burns. If you like bands such as Dimmu Borgir, Abigail Williams and Cradle Of Filth and can also stomach deathcore then there will be plenty for you to enjoy here but if like me a chuggy breakdown makes your eyes roll so hard that your eyeballs turn 360 then this album is probably best avoided. 5/10
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