It’s been a while since I’ve had much to do with Steve Vai’s output. He was a huge part of my late teens and early 20’s (a time when my musical horizons expanded to appreciate more complex instrumental guitar techniques in an almost exact ratio with the realisation that I was never going to begin to play like that myself), but I’ve really had no idea what he’s been up to since the early 90’s. But he was a significant figure up to that point and for me he had been the big reason why David Lee Roth’s first two solo albums were so damned catchy, downright good and more importantly successful (and why all of DLR’s albums since Vai’s departure have not).
In addition there was the trippy as fuck but technically exemplary Passion & Warfare album that proved that he may not have the groovy chops of the more accessible Joe Satriani (but my word he could play without resorting to mere speed-based shredding) and his frankly bizarre addition into the tail end of Whitesnake’s most commercially successful phase (although to be frank that was an odd choice on both sides).
Either way, everything he was involved in was turning to gold for that 10 year period when his musical work and my participation were aligned. Then the 1990’s happened and for me Vai disappeared off of the radar - although with about fifteen solo records (live and studio) released in the intervening time, he’s been far from idle (although six years have passed since the last studio one). Stylistically this record is taking a very Jazz-Fusion yet accessible approach and despite the fact that adorns the cover with a triple headed axe with more strings than I thought were physically possible straight out of his 80’s heyday, the whole thing has been recorded using a Gretsch hollow body guitar of the style favoured by 90’s Indie bands for its rich semi-acoustic feel.
That doesn’t stop him layering incredibly well with his effect rack, but that full-bodied deep sound at the centre provides a really strong thematic baseline to the whole record, no matter in what directions the music goes. And this music is incredibly technically complex, with some frankly dizzying chord changes and progressions that would send many a shredder into a sheer panic attack. There’s always a danger with instrumental records that they can become over-wrought and self-indulgent when they are this technical, but the brilliance of this work is the fact despite that deeply technical musical architecture, the songs all remain accessible to the listener.
After all these years and disks, Vai really knows how to keep things accessible and focussed, but with the longest track on here only just scraping over the six minute mark nothing on here outstays its welcome. Those steeped in music theory are going to nod in acknowledgement, but the rest of us can simply nod on in catchy appreciation. Musically mellifluous, this is great ambient music, yet peppered with enough moments of stunning virtuosity to force the listener to pause, swoon and replay. And just like that, I’m that kid at a gig marvelling at the skill, loving the catchiness of the melodies and wishing that I could even to begin to play like that. 9/10
Dawn Of Solace - Flames Of Perdition (Noble Demon) [Paul Scoble]
Dawn Of Solace is the side project of Tuomas Saukkonem (Before The Dawn, Wolfheart). The band came about when Saukkonem wrote far too much material for Before The Dawn’s album The Ghost, some of which had a slower tempo and darker tone than Before The Dawn’s style so Saukkonem formed Dawn Of Solace to record this material. This is how the bands first album The Darkness came about, which has a Death / Doom style of slow and very heavy with harsh vocals. After that one album Dawn Of Solace went very quiet until 2019 when he decided to bring the band back, this time with the addition of Mikko Heikkilä on clean vocals.
This lineup has released one album; Waves in 2020, and now this follow up album. On Flames Of Perdition the style is closer to modern melodic doom, big heavy riffs, clean vocals and lots and lots of melody. There is a similarity with Swallow The Sun (although with no harsh vocals), Fires In The Distance or Chilean Band Rise To The Sky. The album opens with White Noise which is a mix of huge mid-paced riffs and slower but equally huge riffs, the slow and mid-paced parts vacillate before a great melody lead that is packed with melody and emotion comes in and drives the song to it’s conclusion. Next comes Erase; which has a verse section that is slow, heavy and brooding, before an up tempo, flowing chorus that is just huge with a great vocal melody that sticks in your head. Next up is the title track Flames Of Perdition.
The track opens with Piano and clean vocals, after a few bars a strummed acoustic guitar comes in and the feel is now very sad and melancholic. A huge and heavy riff drops that is accompanied by keyboards which feels dramatic. These two sections, piano, acoustic guitar, clean vocals and huge, heavy and dramatic take turns for a while before the heavy riff dominates and takes the song to its end. Dying Light is a mix of clean acoustic guitar riffs for the verse and heavy and huge uptempo chorus. The verse is great, and the clean guitar works very well, while the chorus is driving, purposeful and full of melody.
Event Horizon has a clean opening riff that flows nicely, before the heavy comes crashing in. The chorus is huge, emotive and has a tempo that manages to be relaxed whilst also having lots of energy and sweep. The heavy and clean duke it out for a while before the heavy and huge chorus drives the track to it’s end. Skyline is a mix of introverted piano and lush vocals, mid-paced heavy riffs and fast and driving riffs that are the fastest riffs on this album. Fast isn’t the only surprise on Skyline; the track also boasts a huge analogue synth riff that is more seventies than platform shoes, and reminds me a little of Rising era Rainbow. The song ends with one of the fastest riffs on the album. Serenity starts with a slow clean guitar riff which quickly gets much heavier, but stays slow, emotive and brooding.
The track slowly builds in intensity, until a melody lead that is deeply melancholy is added, as this gets closer to the end another guitar is added so the melody lead is now huge, sad harmonies. A soft piano is added and this takes the song to its end. The album ends with a short guitar instrumental that is brooding, simple and direct. The copy of Flames Of Perdition I have contains 2 Bonus tracks, both of which are songs from the bands previous albums recorded with only acoustic guitar and clean vocals. The two tracks are enjoyable and well recorded.
Flames Of Perdition is a great album. it’s full of great riffs, fantastic vocals and some really great singalong choruses. The modern doom sound is very well realised and it sits well with a lot of the other acts that are making doom a really interesting sub-genre at the moment. The thing that stands out about this album is the amount and quality of the melodies, whether vocal, guitar or keyboard this album drips with melodies that will get stuck in your head. A beautifully melodic doom album, Highly recommended. 8/10
Celeste – Assassine(s) (Nuclear Blast) [Zak Skane]
Hailing from France Celeste are a four piece band that combined elements of sludge, black metal and doom metal. Since their formation in 2005 the band have had six releases including E.P under their belts with their upcoming album this year called Assassin(s) released via Nuclear Blast.
Hailing from France Celeste are a four piece band that combined elements of sludge, black metal and doom metal. Since their formation in 2005 the band have had six releases including E.P under their belts with their upcoming album this year called Assassin(s) released via Nuclear Blast.
Opening with Des Torrents De Coups we get introduced massive swirl of guitar chords accompanied with some tasty drum grooves before we get some blackened death metal riffs that suit the snarl that our front man is soaring over the verses. The track continues it’s blackened sonic swirling with its multiple layers dropping in and out to keep the composition interesting.
De Tes Yeux Bleus Perles wears it’s progressive death metal Influences on it’s sleeve with it’s classy Gojira inspired chuggy intros and it’s atmospheric tremolo picked sections and the instrumental (A) which is the bands most experimental track on this album with it starting off with some swelling atmospheric synthesizers before it comes with some thick doomy riffage.
Overall in this seven track album, the band have made a piece of work that holds it’s consistency but also allows room to breathe when it comes to experimentation and dynamics. 7/10.
The Risen Dread - Night Hag (Wormholedeath Records) [Rich Oliver]
Night Hag is the debut album of Dublin based groove metallers The Risen Dread. Following on from their 2019 E.P. Delusions, Night Hag is an 11 song concept album with the central theme of mental illness and each song focusing on an historical figure and their disorders. The music presented on Night Hag is a combination of sounds with elements of thrash metal, groove metal and metalcore with a sound very much drawn from the 90’s and early 00’s from the pummelling rhythm of Bury Me to the groove and chug of Sound Of The Unknown and the thrashy riffage of Fallen.
Night Hag is the debut album of Dublin based groove metallers The Risen Dread. Following on from their 2019 E.P. Delusions, Night Hag is an 11 song concept album with the central theme of mental illness and each song focusing on an historical figure and their disorders. The music presented on Night Hag is a combination of sounds with elements of thrash metal, groove metal and metalcore with a sound very much drawn from the 90’s and early 00’s from the pummelling rhythm of Bury Me to the groove and chug of Sound Of The Unknown and the thrashy riffage of Fallen.
Sepultura guitarist Andreas Kisser guests on single White Night whilst Brazilian composer Renato Zanuto adds his magic to the closing title track which is a departure from the rest of the album being very atmospheric and quite cinematic sounding. The musicianship throughout is excellent with some crushing riffs, ripping solos and a powerhouse rhythm section. The vocals are a bit single minded being very much in that metalcore/hardcore style which grated with me after a while. Whilst it does have a lot going for it and demonstrates plenty of potential, Night Hag is a bit of a lacklustre release.
It’s just that little bit too long and the album has too many 90’s groove metal and 00’s metalcore trappings that just don’t sit well with my own personal tastes in metal. If you get along with those styles then there is plenty here for you to get very excited about as this album contains great musicianship and bags of talent but just was not to my taste. 6/10
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