Arjen Lucassen is the master of the concept album, he's made bloody loads of them alongside countless other projects but in the 90's he saw Robert Soeterboek performing with his band and was impressed by his soulful blues rock voice. As if he didn't have enough going on he decided to collaborate with Soeterboek on some songs. This led to a a wealth of songs from two creatives that became friends. With a load tracks recorded with Peter Vink on bass, Cleem Determeijer on Hammond, and Rob van der List on drums, some of those names may be familiar if you know anything about Lucassen's other projects.
Unfortunately in the grunge landscape it was never picked up and Soeterboek joined Wicked Sensation and Lucassen became Ayreon. However recently Soeterboek wanted to record a song he wrote with Lucassen called Annie Moore and Arjen agreed to help, despite rehearsing for the Ayreon live shows.
Revisiting this song they dove deeper recruiting Peter and Cleem on bass and Hammond again, Peter's wife Mirjam van Doorn on backing vocals and Koen Herfst on drums, re-writing and re-recording the songs they wrote together all those years ago with additional bass from Rob van der Loo (Epica), Irene Jansen on backing vocals and Marcel Singor on guitar.
So then The Long Lost Songs are just that; the rediscovered tracks of Plan Nine. So what are they like? Well most are in the vein of 70's blues hard rock vein, Annie Moore and Before The Morning Comes especially but there’s flirtations with country on Let It Ride and Long Cold Night, as well as The Beatles and glammy 80’s metal on Ice On Fire. Really it’s a jukebox of styles from virtuoso musicians, digging deep into the songwriting of Lucassen before he became the concept record maestro. Plan Nine are reinvigorated as a real band, like hard rocking Pinocchio, there’s lots, I mean two discs worth, to enjoy. 8/10
Demon - Invincible (Frontiers Music)
45 years of the Demon. Still led by frontman Dave Hill they were an integral part of the NWOBHM but much like fellow Frontiers signees Praying Mantis their music has moved away from into more melodic and progressive notions. Demon had the stage craft and showmanship of Ghost way before the Swedes did it but have also retained their early heaviness as they embellished it with keys.
Hill's voice is still unmistakable; soulful and gruff he carries the emotion and nostalgia of Forever Seventeen, this last song on the album reminding me of late period Magnum which after the unpleasantness of earlier this year will excite any fans of that legendary band. Karl Waye's keys are a major factor on this album, opening the Intro with some Lord/Lanzon neoclassicism.
The first slice of heaviness is Face The Master, Paul Fasker Johnson's bass anchoring the grooves as Ghost From The Past adds some bluesy guitars from Dave Cotterill and Paul Hume and a solid as a rock drumbeat from Neil Ogden, a lot of Invincible taking it's inspiration from the 1985 to 1992 period of their existence. The driving Beyond The Darkside is unashamedly mid 80's with the lead guitar breaks as is Rise Up. Hole In The Sky builds the drama Zeppelin style as Cradle To The Grave has that early dramatic sound.
Demon keep their quality of song writing high with Invincible. Melodic rock that is inspired by their influences from the 70's and their own style from the mid 80's. Proving that Demon are indeed Invincible. 8/10
Zig Zags - Strange Masters Vol.1 (RidingEasy Records) [Matt Bladen]
In 2019 LA stoner punk trio Zig Zags took a short break from the road, unfortunately this almost ended the band completely, drummer Dane leaving to do something else outside of music. The two remaining members Jeb Maheu (vocals/guitars) and Sean Hoffman (bass) talked about ending it but they felt there was more to do with the band so Jeb reached out to Josh Landau of The Shrine if they could borrow Jeff Murray to be their drummer.
As The Shrine no longer play live Josh said yes, Jeff said yes and Zig Zags live to zag another day! With a glut of material written, they scrapped most of it and settled on doing a record that has the live-in-the-studio feel to it. 10 tracks, bags of experience and a new dynamic, combining some re-recorded old favourites, in preparation to write an album of new material together. Basically a recorded live show, to see how well they gel as a trio after some time away?
Well to my ears pretty fucking well, the bastard lovechild of Sabbath (Voices Of The Paranoid), The Stooges (My Lighter) and Suicidal Tendencies (Punk Fucking Metal), they cross between all of the above while delving into both parts of the CoC catalogue (with Pepper and without) and more contemporary acts such as Kverlertak and Bokassa. Recording in the newly opened Discount Mirrors studio owned by John Dwyer of Osees, these tracks get a sonic overhaul and are more vital than ever, there’s even a cover of Agent Orange’s Bloodstains to finish you off.
Demon - Invincible (Frontiers Music)
45 years of the Demon. Still led by frontman Dave Hill they were an integral part of the NWOBHM but much like fellow Frontiers signees Praying Mantis their music has moved away from into more melodic and progressive notions. Demon had the stage craft and showmanship of Ghost way before the Swedes did it but have also retained their early heaviness as they embellished it with keys.
Hill's voice is still unmistakable; soulful and gruff he carries the emotion and nostalgia of Forever Seventeen, this last song on the album reminding me of late period Magnum which after the unpleasantness of earlier this year will excite any fans of that legendary band. Karl Waye's keys are a major factor on this album, opening the Intro with some Lord/Lanzon neoclassicism.
The first slice of heaviness is Face The Master, Paul Fasker Johnson's bass anchoring the grooves as Ghost From The Past adds some bluesy guitars from Dave Cotterill and Paul Hume and a solid as a rock drumbeat from Neil Ogden, a lot of Invincible taking it's inspiration from the 1985 to 1992 period of their existence. The driving Beyond The Darkside is unashamedly mid 80's with the lead guitar breaks as is Rise Up. Hole In The Sky builds the drama Zeppelin style as Cradle To The Grave has that early dramatic sound.
Demon keep their quality of song writing high with Invincible. Melodic rock that is inspired by their influences from the 70's and their own style from the mid 80's. Proving that Demon are indeed Invincible. 8/10
Zig Zags - Strange Masters Vol.1 (RidingEasy Records) [Matt Bladen]
In 2019 LA stoner punk trio Zig Zags took a short break from the road, unfortunately this almost ended the band completely, drummer Dane leaving to do something else outside of music. The two remaining members Jeb Maheu (vocals/guitars) and Sean Hoffman (bass) talked about ending it but they felt there was more to do with the band so Jeb reached out to Josh Landau of The Shrine if they could borrow Jeff Murray to be their drummer.
As The Shrine no longer play live Josh said yes, Jeff said yes and Zig Zags live to zag another day! With a glut of material written, they scrapped most of it and settled on doing a record that has the live-in-the-studio feel to it. 10 tracks, bags of experience and a new dynamic, combining some re-recorded old favourites, in preparation to write an album of new material together. Basically a recorded live show, to see how well they gel as a trio after some time away?
Well to my ears pretty fucking well, the bastard lovechild of Sabbath (Voices Of The Paranoid), The Stooges (My Lighter) and Suicidal Tendencies (Punk Fucking Metal), they cross between all of the above while delving into both parts of the CoC catalogue (with Pepper and without) and more contemporary acts such as Kverlertak and Bokassa. Recording in the newly opened Discount Mirrors studio owned by John Dwyer of Osees, these tracks get a sonic overhaul and are more vital than ever, there’s even a cover of Agent Orange’s Bloodstains to finish you off.
Play as loud as you can. 8/10
Hemotoxin - When Time Becomes Loss (Pulverised Records)
With that band name, death metal innit? Yeah it is, particularly the extremely janky, technical death metal that rapidly flits between riffs, packing as many of them into a song as clowns do into a small VW Beetle. It makes for a rapid fire 30 minute blast of cosmic death metal, progressive as it can be, technically impressive but steamrolling.
With three previous full lengths the spirit of Chuck Schuldiner is strong with bandleader Michael Anthony Chavez, he musically worships at the altar of Death as well as Cynic and Atheist, basically any band that has successfully put progressive compositions and virtuoso playing with death metal and made it work.
Joined by producer Andrew Lee on lead guitar and Scott Fuller on drums, Chavez plays the bulk of the music and does the vocals on this fourth album, displaying his wizardry with every song be it on guitar or bass, while relying on some special guests; Donnie Small, Andrew Lee and Tony Barhoum to add the leads and solos.
Hemotoxin don’t stretch their Death worship too far on this fourth full length but for fans of breakneck riff shifting When Time Becomes Loss will be a worthy investment of half an hour. 7/10
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