Frontiers Records knows their audience, because releasing the third album from The End Machine fits perfectly into their agenda, which is consistently releasing material from 80s hard rock/hair metal band supergroups that come together today to release new material that covers the entire spectrum of quality. The End Machine is the stings part of Dokken (Lynch and Pilson) and now with Girish from Girish & The Chronicles on vocals and current Tesla drummer Steve Brown (who replaced former Dokken Bandmate of Lynch and Pilson and older brother Mick) on Drums.
For some reason Frontiers lists The Quantum Phase as their second album on their website blurb, but this is clearly their third, following up two solid but nothing spectacular records. The End Machine is supposed to be the Dokken guys returning to the classic Dokken style, and I would agree that is the direction. What I will also say is the addition of Girish on vocals is a nice step up and improvement and the songwriting is better on album three as well, making The Quantum Phase the best End Machine effort yet.
Black Hole Extinction opens us up with some signature Lynch shredding and a sweet scream from Girish and off we go on a hard rock/metal time machine trip. It’s a nice and heavy track with great vocals and a nice chug along rhythm. Girish shows why he is one of the best vocalists in this genre today. The bluesy Shattered Glass Heart is a standout track and is very much a George Lynch style rocker and one of his best efforts on The Quantum Phase.
Does Frontiers demand that the production knobs are turned up to 12 every time? Why do they feel the need to make these records sound so slick? Maybe its just me, but the songs on The Quantum Phase would all be so much better with the production toned down about five notches. The songs are a bit generic at times, but overall, the playing and the vocals mostly make up for the weak spots on the best effort for The End Machine thus far and one of the better Frontiers albums I have heard in a while. 7/10
Kollapse - AR (Fysisk Format Records) [GC]
Not much in the way of info on Kollapse so a quick search on t’internet and I can see they are a trio for Aalborg in Denmark. I can see hardcore, noise, metal, sludge, and other promising descriptions online and they describe themselves as ‘’the gnarled feeling of emptiness deep in the pit of your stomach – a tortured scream against the bleakness of the world’’ and from that I feel that AR their second album will not be an easy listen!
They open up with AR which is 46 seconds of feedback and the already mentioned tortured screams which prepare you for Autofagia that comes in on a wave of crushing drums and a bass rumble that almost drowns everything out but the scuzzy guitars manage to battle through and set the atmosphere really well its all very slow and focused in the most deliberate way and it creates an uncomfortable and awkward listen but, in a good way of course!
Hailing from Hampshire but sounding a American as you like, Brit bruisers No Worth Of Man release their new EP What’s Your Damage. Opening with an introduction that’s something about vampires in Miami and our trio as the heroes sent to destroy them, first track proper is Into The Dirt which hits like Lamb Of God on Wrath where they upped the prog game a bit.
The riffs and overall musical experience are as you’d expect from a band whose songs are entitled Head Count Rising, Molten, Gutsplit and Severely Severed, there’s a poetic play on words within that last title but the song itself feels like the same uninspired sound that has plagued me throughout the album.
There are moments that veer away from the slogging repetitive blast beat, double bass drumming, the frenetic guitar riffing and guttural vocals but they are few and far between, as though treading away form the formula would be considered an act of heresy.
Needless to say, this isn’t one that I’ll be playing again, as I wrote the review I’ve tried hard to glean something positive from the album but it’s just not happening, I’ve even found myself suffering from a sense of Deja Vu, for I’m sure I’ve reviewed an album of similar quality before and written a very similar diatribe. JJ 3/10.
Black Hole Extinction opens us up with some signature Lynch shredding and a sweet scream from Girish and off we go on a hard rock/metal time machine trip. It’s a nice and heavy track with great vocals and a nice chug along rhythm. Girish shows why he is one of the best vocalists in this genre today. The bluesy Shattered Glass Heart is a standout track and is very much a George Lynch style rocker and one of his best efforts on The Quantum Phase.
The opening of Silent Winter makes me think Dream Warriors, sorry, I don’t do this on purpose. It is only at the beginning though, as this one picks up the tempo and is a little ripper, if you can have rippers on an album that is SO overproduced. Girish and George kill it though. Other highlights from Quantum Phase are the solo on Killer Of The Night, the vocals and upbeat tempo on Hell Or High Water, and the poppier very 80s Time. The album could have been one or two tracks shorter, maybe cutting out a song like Burning Man would have made this a more digestible in one sitting listen.
Does Frontiers demand that the production knobs are turned up to 12 every time? Why do they feel the need to make these records sound so slick? Maybe its just me, but the songs on The Quantum Phase would all be so much better with the production toned down about five notches. The songs are a bit generic at times, but overall, the playing and the vocals mostly make up for the weak spots on the best effort for The End Machine thus far and one of the better Frontiers albums I have heard in a while. 7/10
Kollapse - AR (Fysisk Format Records) [GC]
Not much in the way of info on Kollapse so a quick search on t’internet and I can see they are a trio for Aalborg in Denmark. I can see hardcore, noise, metal, sludge, and other promising descriptions online and they describe themselves as ‘’the gnarled feeling of emptiness deep in the pit of your stomach – a tortured scream against the bleakness of the world’’ and from that I feel that AR their second album will not be an easy listen!
They open up with AR which is 46 seconds of feedback and the already mentioned tortured screams which prepare you for Autofagia that comes in on a wave of crushing drums and a bass rumble that almost drowns everything out but the scuzzy guitars manage to battle through and set the atmosphere really well its all very slow and focused in the most deliberate way and it creates an uncomfortable and awkward listen but, in a good way of course!
DØD barges its way into life on another wave of big dirty bass lines and sparse drumming that still manages to hit you right in that sweet spot the guitars again seem to almost get a bit lost in all the controlled chaos and seem to take a back seat but that is not taking anything away from how they sound because they still manage to create an unholy noise and the vocals really are uncomfortable in some places and that in turn makes everything just sound that little bit more bleak and harrowing.
Form is a lurching behemoth that just slowly and surely sizes you up with its precise drum work and the hugeness of the bass that drops in and out of strummed and melancholic guitar work all layered onto another painfully extreme vocal performance its feels like you are being slowly constricted and suffocated by the rhythms and engulfed by the sadness of it all and it’s a compelling and painful experience all at once, Dekompostion is usually be something that if I saw the length of I would baulk (8:24) and maybe not bother but way this record just keep dragging you back in is something special.
It is full of off kilter and manic drums that fight for room with the ever present rumble of the bass and always fighting for light amongst the darkness is the guitars that once again have a way of creating an atmospheric doomy feel to everything they touch, they may not be the main thing you hear but when you do they always hit their mark in spectacular fashion and there are so many twists and turns in the way this song pans out it always keeps you guessing.
Kokon has a bit more forward pace than the rest of the album and that helps everything and moves you into another realm of uncomfortable-ness because just as you were getting used to the slow nature of the torture it all steps up but as with most of the songs so far they know how and when to slow things right down and re-introduce the creeping feeling of unease seeping through every note recorded so far, and just like that album closer Transformation is here and boy does it take a while to get going! 2:56 to be precise and unfortunately when it does kick into life it doesn’t really do much it’s a largely vocal free number and although it does add something to the whole bleak nature of the album but just feels unnecessarily long for what it is and a frustrating way to end!
I will be the first to admit that this sort of thing isn’t usually for me but, when it’s done like this you cant help but take it all in and try to comprehend what is going on and when you sit back and really take it all in the reward is there for you, its not an easy listen and probably way to dark for some people but if you want an album that will challenge your thinking and haunt your thoughts this is well worth a go! 8/10
No Worth Of Man – What’s Your Damage (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
I will be the first to admit that this sort of thing isn’t usually for me but, when it’s done like this you cant help but take it all in and try to comprehend what is going on and when you sit back and really take it all in the reward is there for you, its not an easy listen and probably way to dark for some people but if you want an album that will challenge your thinking and haunt your thoughts this is well worth a go! 8/10
No Worth Of Man – What’s Your Damage (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
Hailing from Hampshire but sounding a American as you like, Brit bruisers No Worth Of Man release their new EP What’s Your Damage. Opening with an introduction that’s something about vampires in Miami and our trio as the heroes sent to destroy them, first track proper is Into The Dirt which hits like Lamb Of God on Wrath where they upped the prog game a bit.
I said trio as there are only three members of this band, Alex Punchard playing all the riffs, chugs and lead breaks on guitar and bass while Gareth Lucas smacks the hell out of the kit and supplies the samples, the trio rounded off by the never clean growls of Peter. It’s aggressive groove metal that has seen them expand a little more as a band due to working with Fredrick Nordstrom, who adds his metallic production sound to these four tracks.
There’s not much else to say other than if you like groove metal with a proggy tinge, ala Lamb Of God then you’ll enjoy this matured version of No Worth Of Man as they are pretty close musically to the Virginian veterans. 6/10
Mutilated By Zombies - Scenes From The Afterlife (Redefining Darkness Records) [James Jackson]
What’s great about this album from Death Metal act, Mutilated By Zombies is that the tracks are mercifully short. The Iowa based three piece, peddle the same formulaic style of Extreme Metal that Death Metal all stars Cannibal Corpse and Deicide have been churning out since the early 90’s, whilst it may have been a shock to the system at the time, personally I feel that the visceral impact of Death Metal is less a Hammer to the face and more an annoying itch in a hard to reach spot.
Mutilated By Zombies - Scenes From The Afterlife (Redefining Darkness Records) [James Jackson]
What’s great about this album from Death Metal act, Mutilated By Zombies is that the tracks are mercifully short. The Iowa based three piece, peddle the same formulaic style of Extreme Metal that Death Metal all stars Cannibal Corpse and Deicide have been churning out since the early 90’s, whilst it may have been a shock to the system at the time, personally I feel that the visceral impact of Death Metal is less a Hammer to the face and more an annoying itch in a hard to reach spot.
The riffs and overall musical experience are as you’d expect from a band whose songs are entitled Head Count Rising, Molten, Gutsplit and Severely Severed, there’s a poetic play on words within that last title but the song itself feels like the same uninspired sound that has plagued me throughout the album.
There are moments that veer away from the slogging repetitive blast beat, double bass drumming, the frenetic guitar riffing and guttural vocals but they are few and far between, as though treading away form the formula would be considered an act of heresy.
Needless to say, this isn’t one that I’ll be playing again, as I wrote the review I’ve tried hard to glean something positive from the album but it’s just not happening, I’ve even found myself suffering from a sense of Deja Vu, for I’m sure I’ve reviewed an album of similar quality before and written a very similar diatribe. JJ 3/10.
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