Anyone who has listened to British djent leaders Tesseract will know that he is the bands signature vocalist, mainly due to the fact he has a brilliant, wide, emotive vocal range. What you may not know is that he has contemporary, experimental pop project called White Moth Black Butterfly. Following from his 2017 debut album, Tompkins has revitalised White Moth Black Butterfly, working once again with numerous songwriters and producers to create a spellbinding record that draws as much from Art Pop of Peter Gabriel as it does the danceable Retro-Future funk of acts such as The Weeknd all while stylishly filtered through the electronic glint of Daft Punk. Along with Tompkins are Skyharbour's Keshav Dhar, string arranger/producer Randy Slaugh, drummer Mac Christensen and vocalist Jordan Turner. Added to these performers are saxophonist Kenny Fong who pars away on the moody Darker Days while The Contortionist’s Eric Guenther brings swathes of virtuoso keys to penultimate track Bloom.
It’s not a standalone record though as there are links to Tesseract strewn throughout like a cypher, the excellent Portals moving closest with its pulsating electronic drive. The addition of Jordan Turner is a revelation as her half-whispered breathy vocals are part way between Ellie Goulding and Portishead’s Beth Gibbons, perfect for the trip-hop influenced beats on Under Stars and Soma. Retaining a real string section also adds variation and brightness to the record, though the music has become more explorative and experimental on this follow up. It feels very organic and joined up despite being recorded across three continents, the smaller interludes linking the songs, contributing to that idea of being on an audio journey. The sequencing too, needs to be praised as there is a feeling of layering throughout this record with the dark Unholy acting as a cathartic blow-out before the more introspective/hopeful final duo of Bloom and the anthemic Spirits. Not really a solo album but almost a counterpoint to Tesseract, White Moth Black Butterfly is as musically interesting as its companion band, with real depth to it as well. 8/10
Rhapsody Of Fire - I'll Be Your Hero EP (AFM Records) [Simon Black]
Love ‘em or loathe ‘em, Rhapsody Of Fire remain one of the centrepieces of the Italian Symphonic/Power Metal movement, with so many bands from the genre in that country all splintering from that common root – to the point where one starts to wonder if there is anything else in the scene (there absolutely is, by the way, but you need to dig a little). Like most EP’s, this release is primarily a vehicle for the first single from the forthcoming Glory For Salvation album, which is the title track on here. Added to that is a re-recording of Where Dragons Fly, which dates back to the days when they were just plain old Rhapsody, plus a couple of live favourites. That would normally happily fulfil the run time criteria for most EP’s, but in this case we’ve also got four full bonus tracks that did not make it to the new album.
The title track itself is fairly light, melodic and radio fluffy stuff and not particularly representative of the normal belting but operatic standard that the band are known for. The first of these tracks is a quite syrupy ballad (The Wind The Rain And The Moon), which lyrically sounds like it’s part of a concept but which has a nice rich melody and the kind of guitar breaks that aren’t going to upset anyone before turning up the power for the end. The remaining three are all different versions of the same song with lyrics in different languages, which is why they have exactly the same run time of five minutes and nineteen seconds, bringing this EP in at a whopping thirty-nine minutes. I’ve reviewed plenty of albums recently that come in way under than that length, which makes me think this next album’s going to be a bit on the lengthy side.
Personally the lead tracks on here all tend to the lighter side and I prefer it when Rhapsody of Fire are belting on all cylinders (reminders of which we thankfully get from the recut and two live entries), but I guess I will have to wait for the full album for this. 6/10
Stormruler – Under The Burning Eclipse (Napalm Records) [Matt Bladen]
Under The Burning Sky was originally released independently in 2020, but is now being re-released by Napalm Records. The record is the debut album from US black metal duo Stormruler and its fantasy/history inspired slab of raging black metal with lots of gloomy atmospherics. It’s also 19 tracks! The longer pieces, spilt by the short instrumental interludes between them to maintain a fluidity, as of guitarist/vocalist Jason Asberry and drummer Jesse Schobel blast away with some 2nd wave black metal, all of which are pretty similar. They have a very modern sounding musical backing but vocals that are echoed and undecipherable, sounding as if they were recorded down a corridor. It may not be truly cvlt of me but this sort of croaked vocals on top of what is actually some pretty decent, if a little repetitive, music, does little for me. I’d have preferred if the interludes were woven into the songs themselves adding a touch of progression as well as some differentiation in the vocals. Still I’m sure the ‘real’ black metal fans will lap this up. 5/10
Love ‘em or loathe ‘em, Rhapsody Of Fire remain one of the centrepieces of the Italian Symphonic/Power Metal movement, with so many bands from the genre in that country all splintering from that common root – to the point where one starts to wonder if there is anything else in the scene (there absolutely is, by the way, but you need to dig a little). Like most EP’s, this release is primarily a vehicle for the first single from the forthcoming Glory For Salvation album, which is the title track on here. Added to that is a re-recording of Where Dragons Fly, which dates back to the days when they were just plain old Rhapsody, plus a couple of live favourites. That would normally happily fulfil the run time criteria for most EP’s, but in this case we’ve also got four full bonus tracks that did not make it to the new album.
The title track itself is fairly light, melodic and radio fluffy stuff and not particularly representative of the normal belting but operatic standard that the band are known for. The first of these tracks is a quite syrupy ballad (The Wind The Rain And The Moon), which lyrically sounds like it’s part of a concept but which has a nice rich melody and the kind of guitar breaks that aren’t going to upset anyone before turning up the power for the end. The remaining three are all different versions of the same song with lyrics in different languages, which is why they have exactly the same run time of five minutes and nineteen seconds, bringing this EP in at a whopping thirty-nine minutes. I’ve reviewed plenty of albums recently that come in way under than that length, which makes me think this next album’s going to be a bit on the lengthy side.
Personally the lead tracks on here all tend to the lighter side and I prefer it when Rhapsody of Fire are belting on all cylinders (reminders of which we thankfully get from the recut and two live entries), but I guess I will have to wait for the full album for this. 6/10
Under The Burning Sky was originally released independently in 2020, but is now being re-released by Napalm Records. The record is the debut album from US black metal duo Stormruler and its fantasy/history inspired slab of raging black metal with lots of gloomy atmospherics. It’s also 19 tracks! The longer pieces, spilt by the short instrumental interludes between them to maintain a fluidity, as of guitarist/vocalist Jason Asberry and drummer Jesse Schobel blast away with some 2nd wave black metal, all of which are pretty similar. They have a very modern sounding musical backing but vocals that are echoed and undecipherable, sounding as if they were recorded down a corridor. It may not be truly cvlt of me but this sort of croaked vocals on top of what is actually some pretty decent, if a little repetitive, music, does little for me. I’d have preferred if the interludes were woven into the songs themselves adding a touch of progression as well as some differentiation in the vocals. Still I’m sure the ‘real’ black metal fans will lap this up. 5/10
The Vicious Head Society - Extinction Level Event (Hostile Media) [Simon Black]
Progressive music within the world of Rock and Metal is a very niche taste. Whilst most of my fellow Metalheads can all agree that although the Progressive bands generally represent the pinnacle of technical musicianship, unless you are particularly into it, many find that element to be something of a turn off and would opt for something more musically accessible. To be fair Dream Theater – probably the most successful band in the genre, took a really long time to consistently work out how to manage to juggle those two (on the surface) contradictory poles of force and even then they occasionally drop the ball (as anyone who has endured The Astonishing will tell you).
Ireland’s The Vicious Head Society have been quiet for a while now, and four years has passed since their debut Abject Tomorrow. That’s a long time for a young act to be out of view, although to be fair two years of a global pandemic don’t help. Appropriately enough, the subject matter for the record is a series of stories exploring the end of the world, which to be fair all of us are finding less of an extreme fictional topic than we did in 2019. It’s a thematic concept rather than a story arc, as there are seven different stories exploring the subject and a couple of simply dazzling instrumental tracks to boot.
For those like me who get off on technically complex music, then this is an absolute treat. The skill level here is little short of phenomenal and whilst running the gamut of Prog influences, they manage to retain a distinctive sound of their own, hidden in the twists and turns of some of the more subtle progressions and time changes. What this means in plainer English, is that this categorically doesn’t sound like a recording that is designed to say “Look at us, we’re good” by showcasing the instrumental prowess of the individual band members, because each and every song feels like it was written by a cohesive living breathing band gestalt entity. OK, they are all bloody good with their hands and fingers as well, but the point is the whole feels greater than the sum of the parts. Tracks like On A Silver Thread illustrate this well, as it’s one of the melodically more accessible numbers, but when the instrumental breaks inevitably start it’s not about one player soloing.
The alternation of two clean and aggressive voices makes a huge difference too. Nathan Maxx’s more clean approach is far from squeaky clean though and has enough rawness and edge to it to drag the emotion out of the performance, where something more operatic would have left them sounding like every other act in the genre. The contrast from Andy Ennis’s growls is distinct and gives a good sense of tonal balance to the piece. Like all Prog, it takes a good few listens to really get to appreciate what these chaps are up to, but when the music is accessible enough on first listen then this isn’t likely to be a chore. 8/10
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