Reviews: Scorpions, Godless Truth, Blood Incantation, JIRM (Reviews By Simon Black, Matt Cook, Dr Claire Hanley & Rich P)

Scorpions - Rock Believer (Vertigo) [Simon Black]

Back when I was a wee spotty metal nipper, Scorpions were one of the bands that got my attention early. I think the first time I heard them was the classic Love At First Sting album which was their current studio release at the time round a friend’s place, but it was the fantastic World Wide Live double live album that not only cemented that love, but started my passion for the live album on the grounds of “if you can’t do it live, who cares if you can cheat in the studio?” Incidentally that’s a view I hold to this day, although to be fair the Scorpions have always been pretty competent in both arenas (and indeed stadiums when they were big enough to fill them). 

What drew me to them and indeed the whole of that run of fantastic albums from Lovedrive to Savage Amusement was their sheer catchiness, balls out anthemic song-writing, sheer energy and the ability to absolutely deliver the goods on a stage. Ironically the album that spanned their greatest hit was the point where that love affair fell off somewhat, as for me Crazy World didn’t hit any of the marks that attracted me to them in the first place and whenever I have listened to studio albums from the intervening years I have up to this point failed to find anything that came anywhere near hitting the high mark of that decade of excellence when they were the biggest thing musically to come out of Germany. 

The key words in that last paragraph are “up to this point”… Clearly something has changed in the seven year gap since Return To Forever, as this feels like the band I fell in love with once more possessing a sting in their tail. How much of this is due to the addition of Motörhead stalwart Mikkey Dee in the recording line up is difficult to say (although he’s been thumping the tubs live since 2016) but this is a band with a fifty plus year history that has spent too long coasting on its past glories and just going through the motions in the studio. No more it would seem… I remember seeing an interview with Rudy Schenker from the 80’s where he confessed that his ambition had not been to be the world’s greatest guitar player, but simply to be regarded as a fine song-writer, so it’s absolutely refreshing to hear an album that hits this mark once again. 

From the ballsy opener Gas In The Tank to the fantastically retro power ballad When You Know (Where You Come From) this record achieves a standard and consistency of both writing and delivery that has been missing for far too long. A frustration I have with studio material from the wilderness years, was that there was one or two stronger tracks on a given album, but surrounded by a sea of fillers. With Rock Believer Scorpions have completely bucked this trend. In fact the only material that I would class as filler has been held back for the second disk of the deluxe edition and this ruthless pruning and editing has benefited the outcome enormously. Add to this we have musical and vocal performances that are absolutely top notch and up there with their anthemic best, albeit with a wisely more modern sounding production mix. 

With this record Scorpions just reminded everyone why they have been one of the biggest selling hard rock and metal acts in the history of the genre, which isn’t a bad achievement given their age – not that this seems to be slowing them down in the slightest. 9/10

Godless Truth – Godless Truth (Transcending Obscurity Records) [Matt Cook]

Czech stalwarts Godless Truth have been fully ensconced in the technical death metal scene since the mid-1990s, but haven’t contributed an album since 2004’s Arrogance Of Supreme Power. Make no mistake about it: the band certainly didn’t have any rust to shake off leading up to the crushing new self-titled full-length. They’ve utilized an impressive but certainly not required bevy of guest appearances, most notably Joe Haley (Psycroptic), who not only mixed the behemoth, but also chipped in lead guitar work for The Eyechain. 

I could mention the riffs (of which there were many strong ones); I could wax poetic about the simmering vocals that are in danger of bursting at the seams. But what first caught my ears was the relentless, superb and methodical work put in by Petr Mikeš on drums. On Scissors, his legs simulate a howitzer. On Fortune Time, the drum blasts explode off the kit in bursts. On Bred In Greed, Mikeš opts for a bouncier bass pedal throughout. He exhaustively drums like his life depends on it. The exceptionally punishing percussion is adeptly aided by gigantic guitar work from shred masters Petr Švancara and Ondřej Černobila. 

Breathe Fire barks with the bite of a pit bull with a driving riff that has actual weight, like it’s stomping through the amplifiers. Album closer Wake Up To Obey is nothing short of invigorating. The solo is cataclysmic and dizzying. And to top it all off, Peter Gábor contributes a strong piano tone on RIP Cage which is given more time to breathe as it finishes the song which started off as grimy as ever before descending into technical pandemonium. There’s no fluff on this one. No superfluous solos or show-offy moments. It’s simply a band that is as technical as they are death metal inclined. 8/10

Blood Incantation - Timewave Zero (Century Media Records) [Dr Claire Hanley]

The release of a new Blood Incantation EP evokes a certain emotional experience. In essence, it’s the death-doom obsessed fan’s equivalent of being a child eagerly awaiting Christmas morning. Now, imagine if instead of bringing you the presents you’d been hoping for, Jolly ol’ St Nicholas gave you a few lumps of coal and Rudolph took a dump at the end of your bed. This, ladies and gentlemen, is how I feel about Timewave Zero (correction: how I initially felt). Rapidly cycling through the stages of grief, I went from denial (“this can’t be it!?”), anger (“where the hell is the metal!?”), bargaining (“there has got to be something else coming!?”), depression (“why have they done this!?”), and have finally ended up at acceptance.

Permit me to elaborate. The EP is entirely instrumental accompanied by prominent eerie, atmosphere-building synth elements, with tracks Ea and Io (presumably named after the moons of Jupiter) collectively amounting to 40 minutes of ambient noise. No riffs. No growls. No blastbeats. Forget what you know about Blood Incantation because this record is worlds apart from anything they’ve released. 

This divergence proved quite the shock and came without warning. Inner Paths (To Outer Space) on the last full-length was an instrumental, synth-laden track but how you go straight from the intricately composed yet eye-wateringly heavy space jams on Hidden History Of The Human Race to what greets us on Timewave Zero is a massive stretch, beyond comprehensible logic. While I’m absolutely all for musical evolution, such a rapid departure would make anyone’s head spin at warp speed. The EP is not something I’d actively seek out in normal circumstances, it is – however- nonetheless worthy side-project territory, but sadly my interest has been undeniably diminished by the fact the band chose to label this as ‘Blood Incantation’.

If you’re considering giving it a listen after reading this, just don’t say you haven’t been warned. Ultimately, Timewave Zero is not without its appeal but is certainly not what I signed up for when I hit ‘play’. If you’re predominantly a death metal fan, I can only describe it as going into surgery wanting a nose job but instead, you come out with a rockin’ pair of boobs. Sure, you’re not mad about your new rack, but it’s certainly not the outcome you expected. 3/10

JIRM - The Tunnel, The Well, Holy Bedlam (Ripple Music) [Rich P]

Out there. Really out there. That is my two-sentence description for The Tunnel, The Well, Holy Bedlam the new album from Stockholm’s JIRM. This is meant in the absolute best possible way. Being released on Ripple Music, one tends to think this will be some mighty fine amalgamation of stoner doom goodness, what Ripple does best and better than everyone. But what you get from The Tunnel, The Well, Holy Bedlam is all that heavy but with some serious psych leanings, which you don’t hear enough of in the genre today. There is some heavy trippy stuff going on here. A cosmic experience that both headphones and your favourite mind-altering substance would benefit from.

The Tunnel, The Well, Holy Bedlam kicks off with Liquid Covenant, which is the most straight-ahead song on the record. Swirling, heavy guitars trap you in a soundscape that prepares you for the trip ahead. I absolutely love the guitar sound on this album, and right from the first note you are sucked in by Karl Apelmo and Micke Pettersson’s playing. And man can Apelmo belt out those vocals. The harmonized vocals at about the five-minute mark are spot on and goosebump producing. This is just the start of the trip, like the upward tick, tick, tick of a rollercoaster. 

You head really starts to expand with the twelve minute plus Deeper Dwell. The guitar slowly and hypnotically drags you in until about midway when what seems like every instrument in the world starts playing at once, until suddenly a soft sax interlude brings you back down, all the while Apelmo is siren-singing you through the psychedelic landscape, until you hit a heavy bump three quarters of the way though that starts your descent towards hell, the band (and the sax) screaming all the way. 

 Next stop on the journey is You Fly, which feels like just that, the decent to hell was thwarted by a psychedelic angel that grabs you and starts the flight in the opposite direction, still accompanied, now by more urgent vocals and sax, until your flight steadies with an acoustic interlude. Now it’s time for your judgement, with the next track, Repent In Blood. The vocals are once again front and center as Apelmo passionately describes how “cold turns to heat” and “dry turns to wet” as his battle of good versus evil continues. This is my favorite track on the record. 

Carried Away keeps the heavy psych train rolling, continuing the amazing vocals trend and the guitars chugging you down the tracks until you reach dueling solos at the crossroads. Pestilence closes out this journey perfectly, with an Alice In Chains kind of groove before closing with a heavy psych soundscape that is the perfect end to this amazing quest.

So, it looks like I made up my own concept album with The Tunnel, The Well, Holy Bedlam, which is why it is so great. It brings you in to its world to the point where you feel every note and every howl. We need more excellent heavy psych in out lives, and JIRM brings it and brings it hard. Highly recommended. 9/10