Like how Arctic Monkeys evolved from their scuzzy garage indie rock into a smoother psychedelic/lounge pop existence. Cambridge band Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats have always threatened to become more than just a doom leaning retro band and with Nell' Ora Blu they realise their potential as a band who could write soundtracks. Specifically soundtracks to the Italian crime/thriller classics of Argento, Giallo and Poliziotteschi, with this new album they have brought in cast members from films that were directed by these last too, including Edwige Fenech and Franco Nero, who perform together for the first time.
So with the cast sorted it's up to Uncle Acid to provide the musical accompaniment to what I think is a concept record and they do so with 19 tracks and over an hour of music. Now anyone who is looking for the riffy, occult doom rock of their earlier albums then here you'll get eerie audio journeys instead. You'll get spatial atmospheres, spooky textures and lush arrangements layered with lilting clean guitars, dreamy vocals on tracks such as Il Tesoro Di Sardegna, we're into the those late 60's vibes Arctic Monkey's brought into their music.
There's moments of refined jazz, psychedelic rock or both on Il Gatto Morto. They go towards avant-garde expressionism a lot but there are still brief forays into acid rock on Solo La Morte Ti Ammanetta, some Tangerine Dream/Giorgio Moroder modular synths on Il Ritorno Del Chiamante Silenzioso.
Weaving these sonic tapestries together shows both vision and skill and while plenty of bands use inspiration from movies, some even use lots of samples from old movies, doom bands for instance, but no one has taken it this far. I don't think they ever will or do it as brilliantly as Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats do here.
This is their final evolution as a band and it's a masterpiece. 9/10
Freedom Call - Silver Romance (SPV/Steamhammer)
Unless you have a heart of stone, there's no way you won't smile if you listen to any album by Freedom Call. The premier proponents of "happy metal" are now 25 years old and as such are celebrating with their new album Silver Romance.
A tongue in cheek reference to a silver wedding anniversary as vocalist/guitarist/producer Chris Bey has been married to Freedom Call since their inception, the primary writer behind their joyous, catchy, power metal. Be it the galloping title track, the poppy Out Of Space or the fantasy metal of Symphony Of Avalon where they claim Freedom Call are from a land beyond the sun, which I've never heard Germany called before.
However it sums up Freedom Call's role in the metal world, guilded in silver for all these years they are resilient to critics and to hardship, forging ahead with what they want to play for 25 years. If you've ever heard a Freedom Call album or seen them in concert it doesn't take long to start singing along, the choruses are easy and catchy as a cold from a student so it's not long until you're singing along here.
25 years of "happy metal" and no sign of slowing down, indulge in this Silver Romance. 8/10
Missiles - Weaponize Tomorrow (Svart Records)
Having just hosted that celebration of all things camp and poppy, there's been a lot of focus on Malmö over the last fortnight. But Swedish band Missiles and their new album Weaponize Tomorrow are the polar opposite the colour explosion that just happened, this is concrete grey, riddled with maudlin and introspection but with a beating animalistic heart, that inspires conflict.
Beginning as a side project by guitarist Gabriel Forslund of thrashers Antichrist, they've released a 7-inch before this but Weaponize Tomorrow is their debut album that is inspired by goth, punk, metal and industrial soundscapes. It was dubbed a Cold War album, the shadow of the Iron Curtain and friction of East Vs West captured in the frantic recording of this album.
So frantic and fractious that the band actually broke up after the recording and their aborted first gig/video shoot but Gabriel Forslund and bassist Linus Larsson both have talked about the band still being in existence despite this but with a format on how not to do it, so we can expect more from Missiles in the future which I look forward to on the back of this debut.
When Russia invaded Ukraine the title of the album was changed but it's message remains as relevant as it could ever be, the East and West are still at loggerheads 30 years after the fall of the Wall, the sense of unease and impending doom never went away just got replaced by new actors, but somehow the sparse iron coldness of the East has come back again.
Weaponize Tomorrow begins with some buzzing synths from Age Augustsson, his electronics lustre and oscillate as much as a lead instrument as the guitars. Forslund and Sebastian Gadd bring angular punk stabs, jangly post punk melodies and snappy riffs. Linus Larsson's bass has that lustful throb on Deathlike Love and Living In A Nuclear Town while Jens Rasmussen puts himself forward as a flesh covered Doktor Avalanche, putting metronomic beats that get your hips swaying as you imagine the strobes of an East Berlin bunker.
The invocations of that 80's post punk scene can be heard on each one of these eight songs, with Bahaus/Lou Reed coming on the unsettling End Of The Line, as Forslund's Andrew Eldritch-like baritone is heard clearly, with the likes of Type O Negative and Joy Division also viable comparisons. None of these matter that much though as Missiles fly in a sky of their own, music from Sweden that conjures “Aus grauer Städte Mauern” brilliantly. 9/10
Callus – Gravis Decennium (Trepanation Recordings)
Released as the final record on Trepanation Recordings (R.I.P) Gravis Decennium is the third album from UK heavies Callus. Like the crusty sore they take their name from, their music is painful, hard and abrasive, putting sludge, doom and thrash together and adding down tuned riffs, snarling vocal shouts and some forays into stoner grooves.
This record celebrates 10 years of the band by re-recording early material then getting Chris Fielding to make it sound like a truck slamming into a mountain. Due to the productions skill, it means that these songs sound bigger leaning more on long psychedelic passages of instrumental wonder such as on the woozy Dreameater before they re-route down the classic chugging sludge highway on The Primordial or unleash thrashisms on The Root Of All Evil, tracks such as Cycloid putting together both stoner fuzziness and thrash aggression for this Slayer meets Sleep sound.
Improving the sonics of these tracks can only be a benefit to Callus going forward, they are almost new songs all together. A loud way for Trepanation to go out and a continuation of Callus’ rise on the UK scene. 7/10
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