Buckcherry - Hellbound (Earache/Round Hill Music) [Matt Bladen]
Hellbound is the ninth record from Buckcherry and as they enter the realms of 'elder statesmen' of the rock scene they continue to release records that still manage to carefully balance their punk rock ethos with bluesy hard rock and some radio friendly ballads. Hellbound is no exception to this general rule of thumb, Here I Come and 54321 both having that choppy punk riffage, perfect for Josh Todd's sneer. A man who by all odds shouldn't be here, Todd still leads this rock act from the front the master of the party kicking out the jams and 22 years on since their debut, they continue to do so. Wasting No More Time is a bluesy backed melodic number that is followed by 'proper' ballad The Way. The title track gets a Rolling Stones like groove to it, and while No More Lies has the reggae backseat and synth coda from Zeppelin's The Ocean, Gun though is more akin to boogie rock with lots of cowbell! Still the life of the party Buckcherry are growing old disgracefully with a rock n roll soul. It's pretty much what you'd want from a Buckcherry record. 7/10
Hiraes - Solitary (Napalm Records)
Hailing from Germany, Hiraes are a thunderous melodic death metal band forged out of the ashes of Dawn Of Disease. Now the obvious comparison will be Arch Enemy due to the brilliantly angry vocals of Britta Görtz who's scream is blood curdling right from the off. Essentially Solitary is a debut album but from musicians that have paid their dues on the scene, it means that the melodic death metal sound here is refined and focussed like a precision cutting blade, rather than a chainsaw that death metal can often be, the dual guitar riffs of Lukas and Olli are textbook Gothenburg scene, blending those traditional metal values with the furious rage of death.
However they are not a one trick pony, due to Britta's versatile screams and growls the band can open up a little musically, Eyes Over Black has that clean guitar touch but also kicks into blistering death metal led by the battering rhythm section of Christian (bass) and Mathias (drums), which also features some nifty time changes for a big groove as it shifts into thrashy riffage, continued guitar workout that is the title track. Throughout the album there is also some really subtle uses of orchestration and synths that means Running Out Of Time ends with a longing piano piece. For fans of melo-death bands such as Arch Enemy and Amon Amarth, Hiraes' debut record will feature on your playlists for a while. 7/10
Sometimes you need a just need more occult retro rock so when you have exhausted your Lucifer, Blood Ceremony, The Blues Pills records out. Then I suggest checking out Demon Incarnate. Lots of organs, witchy vocals and proto-metal riffs are what Demon Incarnate bring to the table, based in the doom tradition, Leaves Of Zaqqum is the bands third full length and while the music here is decent enough, there are a multitude of bands that are doing this. The breathy vocals of Lisa Healy sit well on the groovy doom riffs with the aforementioned organs filling out the rest of the musical backing. The problem is no matter how good it is, Leaves Of Zaqqum fails to reach the heights of the bands I mentioned earlier. It's worth a listen but maybe just the one. 5/10
Graywitch - Rise Of The Witch (Sleaszy Rider Records)
Nicosia (Cyprus) formed, now Thessaloniki based band Graywitch play classic, leather wearing, chest beating classic metal. Their sound does feature some Maiden touches as you'd expect on Midnight Metal Queen and others but they sit in the European metal sound with Helloween and Accept the major influence. Night Demon and Old Salt have the Helloween vibe to them Spyros Vlachopoulos and John Boutzetis delivering some slinky dual leads on My Comrade as the rock solid rhythm section Thomas Chalkias and Aris Ioannou keep a steady pace on Witch Of The Damned. The only issue some may have are the with Dino Nassis who has a lower register than a lot of metal singers but he still manages to carry the power of these songs. It's a pretty good debut album from this traditional metal crew, with some refinement their second will be great. 6/10Demon Incarnate - Leaves Of Zaqqum (Metalville Records)
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