Reviews: Deafhaven, Greenleaf, Arch Enemy, Eonian (Pete J, Rich Piva, Thomas Megill & Mark Young)

Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power (Roadrunner Records) [Pete J]

Deafheaven are one of those bands that divide opinion and spark furious debate. Are they Black Metal? Are they Indie Shoegaze? Or jusy maybe a perfect combination of both. 

The bands debut album Sunbather launched a band into many minds, its dark sinister overtones and almost gentle dreamy pop sensibilities astounded. What followed was a few albums that didnt quite make the grade, that masterful debut eclipsing them. Until now.

One listen to Lonely People With Power shows Deafheaven to be as brutal as anything from the modern day Black Metal scene, with George Clarkes acidic vocals putting a lot of so-called kvlt screamers to shame. His raw vocals have a touch of a young Dani Filth about them, mostly high-end screeching that either compliments the coruscating cacophony perfectly or they fight against the more Indie Shoegaze elements. 

Both styles bring their own charms to this, admittedly, outstanding album, an album so much harsher than previous, disappointing album Infinite Granite. After the first of 3 interludes, Doberman erupts like Hell has been unleashed! The band locking into a ferocious groove that simply tears flesh from bone. 

The particularly nasty Amethyst is the highlight of an album full of highlights, Kerry McCoy and Shiv Mehra unleash some truly barbaric tremolo abuse while drummer Daniel Tracy and bassist Chris Johnson drive everything onwards at a crushing pace. Then there are the more gentle, dreamy moments like the soul-crushing Heathen which brings the album into a territory often tried by various artists that have failed. 

Deafheaven have succeeded in creating an album that straddles the bleak shoegaze-ness of My Bloody Valentine with the utterly ferocious black metal onslaught the likes of Wolves In The Throne Room craft. Interlude III lulls beautifully before Winona tears your face off with an almost Bosse-De-Nage rage, creating the juxtaposition of heartfelt beauty and dark pure evil.

If you need something rather unique, dreamy and full of fury then Lonely People With Power is for you. Imagine the sublime Alcest coupled with the atmospheric, suffocating battering Wolves In The Throne Room dish out and you have this jaw-dropping new Deafheaven album. An album that returns the band back to their more ferocious original guise. Long may it continue. 8/10

Greenleaf - Revolution Rock Deluxe (Blues Funeral Recordings) [Rich Piva]

When Greenleaf was conceived, I don’t think anyone though that the band would be as big and go on as long as they have, given this is year 25 for the collective. 

Some might even say that the “side project” has surpassed the original band, but that is a discussion for a different medium. Originally a 70s riff rock side project of Tommi Holappa from Dozer with some of his friends from bands like Lowrider and Demon Cleaner, the first Greenleaf record is very different than the Greenleaf of today, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t awesome, because it is. 

Revolution Rock was a not widely distributed and was quickly out of print from its original 500 pressing. That is, until now, thanks to Blues Funeral, we not only get a beautiful repressing of this long-lost gem, but we also get the first, also out of print, Greenleaf EP, all in a stunning package as Revolution Rock Deluxe that has fans of the band rejoicing.

Revolution Rock just kicks all sorts of ass. There is this kind of punk and garage rock feel to the record, MC5 and the Stooges, but with a Hammond Organ. Just listen to the first track, Vat 69, and tell me how you cannot be hooked. It is just raw, in your face rock. Now, the current sound of Greenleaf is actually one of my favourite bands, but when you look at the whole picture, you can’t help but to see the overall genius and skill that Tommi and whatever crew that brought along at the time has had. 

The organ is turned way up, which is exactly how I like it, on songs like Devil Woman. The fellas get all trippy at times too, like on Status: Hallucinogenic, Phase II, that turns the fuzz meter up to 11. You want their version of a Mountain song? Sure, go with You Got Me High, but really if Mountain and Fu Manchu did a split 7”. Going through this track by track would do it a disservice, just know that this is kick ass, high energy rock and roll that will get you going no matter what mood you are in. The EP is great too, giving you an insight into the frantic rock the band was looking to conceive in the early days, with a shout out to Daniel Liden for his amazing drum work.

Do not go into this thinking you are going to hear the same Greenleaf you have loved for the past decade or so. Go into this ready to get your ass handed to you by some high energy, raw, rock and roll. Major props to Blues Funeral for the amazing packaging for the vinyl. It is beautiful and does the record a major service. Excellent stuff all around and a major hole filled in a lot of Greenleaf fan’s collection. 9/10

Arch Enemy - Blood Dynasty (Century Media Records) [Thomas Megill Jr.]

Few death metal bands have climbed the commercial ladder of success to the heights Arch Enemy have reached. On March 28th, three decades after the band's inception, Arch Enemy graced the world of heavy music with their 12th album, Blood Dynasty, through Century Media. This is a flawlessly produced record. In my opinion, it is too flawless. My personal preference for death metal production are records sounding like they were ejected out the bowels of hell from a cannon, with vicious intentions to cause barbaric violence, and on fire. Blood Dynasty is very much not that. But that does not make it a bad record, quite the contrary.

This record is theatrical and extravagant. Arch Enemy stretch the melodic death metal banner to its outer limits, sometimes overlapping into the realms of power metal, neoclassical shredding and mid-2000s metalcore on this record. The guitar acrobatics are a circus side adventure throughout the entire record. I believe this would've been a better record had they ditched most of the song structures and committed entirely to making this a shred album.

To be quite honest, while the musicians on this record are precision technicians and seasoned professionals, I felt the writing slightly uninspired. Songs like March Of The Miscreants come to mind. Perhaps a few extra minutes of work on the lyrics would've done the whole band a favour. Lacklustre lyrics aside, Alissa White-Gluz vocal performance throughout was well executed. The clean vocals on the tracks Illuminate The Path and Vivre Libre were a nice change of pace.

Most of the tracks on this album seem to be collaborations from the Arch Enemy collective on Joey Concepcion's solo guitar record. This wasn't Arch Enemy's greatest record in their catalogue by a long shot, but it wasn't terrible either. It will definitely appease their diehard fans and can serve as a gateway record into death metal with some of the clean vocals. 5/10

Eonian - Born From Ice (Thunderflash Productions) [Mark Young]

Anyone for Symphonic/melodic death metal?

Ok, so for the interests of clarity I’m not too fussed for it in all honesty. In the past I’ve felt that sometimes it can be overblown and, in some cases, too ambitious and gets in the way of the song itself. That being said, I’ll always approach with a clean slate and then go from there.

Invocation is the start, and as half-expected it is a mood making intro track, a subtle acoustic piece that launches into Blood Of My Blood, which starts on the front foot with a super tempo and double bass approaching the speed of sound. Unfortunately, I took exception with the vocals, they sound muted within the mix especially when the dual shriek / growls are deployed. This changes when the orchestral parts come in and the vocals are given the due respect and space to shine. 

Elsewhere, everything else you expect is there and it’s a good start overall. The title track doesn’t waste time either, mixing in speed and technical ability in just the right balance. The symphonic aspects are there too but are kept to a level that suits the song as opposed to overshadowing it. The main vocals are clearer on here and it has a solid feel to it which for me shows they have considered that riffs are required first and foremost.

Similarly, on For All The Nights To Come the focus is on bringing the metal first and it’s as charged as Born From Ice but as you dig into it there is not a lot to it once you get past the speed and orchestral backing. Its simply ok but doesn’t provide anything that makes me go ‘fuck yes’. The piano led start to Máthair and mournful arrangement points me in the direction that this is either going to be a ballad of a sort or an instrumental. Luckily its neither, as its breaks those shackles and detonates to bring what is the high point here. Its not that its overly better than the others, it’s the overall build of it that makes it fly better. 

All the component parts are together and fit correctly and the use of the classical vocals lifts this further. There is a wonderful riff that comes in around 3.30 as the singing duel comes in, underpinning them both. For me it is the most complete song on here and as we navigate to its end, they hit us with The Emperor’s Hounds which comes across as a companion piece and is a showcase for virtuosity. Despite this approach, and the feel that comes with it I still lean into Máthair as a more complete song when you hold the two together.

Oathkeeper is the closing piece, acting in much the same way as Invocation, using its subtle moments almost as a thank you and good-bye for listening. Again, there is nothing wrong with this, except after the madness of The Emperor’s Hounds you would expect something like that close us out. So, they chose to drive a symphonic bus over ABBA.

Lay All Your Love One Me (in case you didn’t know is an ABBA cover, who made black metal in the 70’s…) comes in, and well your enjoyment of it will vary dependent on how much you like ABBA. I don’t know if its tongue in cheek or meant as a serious treatment and I’ll be honest it didn’t do anything for me.

Overall, I didn’t find anything I loved, but then I didn’t hate it either. I think that fans of this genre will take it to their hearts, but I don’t think others like me will find anything to make them sit and listen. I reckon that on metal club nights, that ABBA song will get played though. Like Limp Biscuit’s Faith. 6/10