Recorded at London’s O2 Kentish Town Forum in September 2024, Liveforms is a live Album/Blu-Ray collection that is in the "An Evening With" format. This style of live show is particularly associated with the top of the prog metal/rock set so it's no wonder that after the organic, talent driven ascension of Haken over the years, they have chosen this style of presentation on their last tour.
The band themselves say it was on their "bucket list" to do something like this. Formed of two sets, each culminating in one of their monster recordings, Liveforms makes full use of brilliant visuals top augment the top tier performances in front of a partisan home town fan base.
Now I only have the audio edition so can only comment on that side, but there's a few quirks as on 3CD+Blu-ray, comprises all the music played on that evening, but things are laid out with Crystallised and Visions, the two epics appearing on one disc rather than at the end of each set, while on the LP version only the first set. The CD is both stereo & 5.1 Surround Sound, plus the Blu-ray has the full show in order and bonus features so unless you're a vinyl head that's the one to get as it's the most comprehensive.
Back to the music and the first set is the entirety of their latest album Fauna. Played in order you get to hear the complexities of this record writ large, Fauna being the album where Haken finally gels their progressive metal technicalities with this EDM and pop sensibilities. Track such as Taurus, The Alphabet Of Me and Sempiternal Beings are of course the choices to hear while Lovebite should be on you playlist already, especially if you've been putting 'Easy Lover' on your Instagram stories.
Playing an album in full is what these 'Evening With' shows are about, a chance to hear something special, something that may not be down again. The second set is choice cuts a 'best of' comprising some fan favourite numbers such as 1985, Drowning In The Flood and Cockroach King, closing out with early brilliance of Visions.
For Haken fans, Liveforms is pretty much the ultimate live record, if you were at the show it captures what it was like brilliantly, but if you weren't, then it shows what you missed but allows you to experience it in the comfort of you own home. 9/10
Grave Speaker - Rays Of The Emerald Sun (Electric Valley Recordings) [Rich Piva]
The description of the new record from Massachusetts stoner/doom band/one man project Grave Speaker is as follows: “The second release from Massachusetts doom group Grave Speaker.” Cool. Not a ton to go on, but since I was all over their self-titled debut from 2023, I knew what I was getting into, which is some fuzzy, bordering on lo-fi doom with stoner elements, reverb-y vocals and a leaning towards the early doom stuff of the 70s. Rays Of The Emerald Sun gives us six tracks that stay along that same dark path, with a couple of new elements, creating another satisfying record of fuzzy doom goodness.
Chosen One kicks us off, and is pretty much the prototypical Grave Speaker tune. Slower paced fuzzy doom, with the vocals I mentioned, some cool riffs, and drums that sound like they were recorded in a bathroom, but it all works. End Of Times fades in like Sabbath and stays there for a bit but incorporates some very cool guitar work to go along with the rest of the doomy fuzz that is growing all over Rays Of The Emerald Sun. I said there were a couple of new elements, and the vocals, and really the entire track, Sword Of Life would be one example. I love the layered chorus effect at the beginning of the track and how it goes along with the riff.
The song sounds like one giant ritual. The title track is the doomiest of the doom tracks on Rays Of The Emerald Sun, and feels like the most lo-fi of them as well, and this, in this case, is a compliment. Bones And Steel is where we hear a bit of something different too, as a more melodic approach to this song makes it stand out amongst the six on the record. Oh, and the cowbell. The addition of the key on the closer, Tower, is another nice upgrade, as it helps to add even more spooky mystery to an already spooky and mysterious record. Oh, and how about that Deep Purple solo towards the end? A great ending to the record for sure.
A nice step forward for the one-man band, Grave Speaker adds a nice second record to their discography with Rays Of The Emerald Sun. If you like your doom fuzzy and with a recorded-in-the-basement feel, The new Grave Speaker is for you. Really good stuff. 8/10
Stone Fist - Stone Fist (Go Down Records) [Liam Williams]
We have some new blood here with the debut self-titled EP from Italian stoner metal band Stone Fist. This EP is a little rough around the edges but they do have a lot of potential. It clocks in at just over 20 minutes long with 6 tracks.
Nightmare Blues is first up and this track has a nice gritty bass riff to start off with. The guitar joins in before the rest of the band comes in. There’s a bit of a punk vibe with the verses and choruses in this one sounding more like Ramones than any stoner metal band. There’s an instrumental bridge section, with the second half sounding similar to The Joker And The Thief by Wolfmother before the final verse and chorus.
A nice step forward for the one-man band, Grave Speaker adds a nice second record to their discography with Rays Of The Emerald Sun. If you like your doom fuzzy and with a recorded-in-the-basement feel, The new Grave Speaker is for you. Really good stuff. 8/10
Stone Fist - Stone Fist (Go Down Records) [Liam Williams]
We have some new blood here with the debut self-titled EP from Italian stoner metal band Stone Fist. This EP is a little rough around the edges but they do have a lot of potential. It clocks in at just over 20 minutes long with 6 tracks.
Nightmare Blues is first up and this track has a nice gritty bass riff to start off with. The guitar joins in before the rest of the band comes in. There’s a bit of a punk vibe with the verses and choruses in this one sounding more like Ramones than any stoner metal band. There’s an instrumental bridge section, with the second half sounding similar to The Joker And The Thief by Wolfmother before the final verse and chorus.
Track 2, Showbiz Bitch, is a bit heavier, with more of a thrash sound. There’s a nice bass solo after the second chorus with some trippy slide guitar playing along. The main riff takes us back in for the last verse and chorus and comes back once again for the outro of the track. Crazy Surgeon follows up with a return to the more punk sound of the first track. However, after the second chorus they change things up by stepping into some slow chuggy doom metal territory for the bridge. The main riff comes back in after but it plays right to the end instead of going back into the verse and chorus.
Space Trip is where the band earn that stoner metal band. This one straight up sounds like a mix of Kyuss and Hawkwind (and that’s not a bad thing!). It starts with some nice psychedelic clean guitar in the intro, which is joined by bass and vocals for the first verse. There’s no singing in the choruses, instead we get some drums and nice punchy distorted guitars. The clean guitar comes back in for verse 2 but this time the drums stick around. The second chorus ends with the clean guitar coming back in for the outro of the track.
The last 2 tracks are the best on the EP in my opinion. First up is track 5, Pornstar. This one has some nice groovy bass in the intro before the band come in. The verse and chorus are repeated and then after the second chorus we finally get a guitar solo! The main riff them comes back in for the outro. Then we get to the final track, Metal Zombie. Another strong bass led intro with some drums and a sustained note on the guitar before the rest of the band come in. The drums are great and this is a real sludgefest of a song (in a good way). After the second chorus the band decide to get a little bit proggy for the instrumental bridge section. The song ends with another verse and chorus.
The production on this EP isn’t amazing, but I think that’s what gives it’s charm. The songs are good and I think it gives us a good early glimpse of what this band can do. They’ve blended stoner metal with some elements of punk, thrash and prog and I’m interested in what direction they go in or what other styles they might dip their toes in with their next release. So for a debut EP, it’s a good effort and it’s got me wanting more, job well done! 9/10
Demeted - Rituals (Seek & Strike) [GC]
When the first thing I see is that a band claims to have a ‘’mission ‘’ and that is to express metalcore though modern lenses, I am a bit taken back because what does that even mean? Old school metalcore is shit? Well, it’s not it is clearly the best type and it set the template and was ground-breaking, so to brush it off seems very blasé, they may not ne doing that but that’s my impression! Anyway, Demeted are about to release a new EP called Rituals with its mission statement will it re-write the rulebook?
Opener Whispers takes over a minute to get going and is clearly and overtly long intro, because there is about 30 seconds of musical content and while it doesn’t really re-write any rules or sound much different to any metalcore you will hear it is a nice little blast of heaviness, Evoke starts with a flurry of big chugging guitars and rampaging drums, but while it all comes across well, it has an over the top electronic sound that seems to be the new thing in metalcore and it dilutes the anger and makes everything sound too clean, if this is how you want metal too sound then that’s fine we all have opinions but its not how I want it to sound.
Space Trip is where the band earn that stoner metal band. This one straight up sounds like a mix of Kyuss and Hawkwind (and that’s not a bad thing!). It starts with some nice psychedelic clean guitar in the intro, which is joined by bass and vocals for the first verse. There’s no singing in the choruses, instead we get some drums and nice punchy distorted guitars. The clean guitar comes back in for verse 2 but this time the drums stick around. The second chorus ends with the clean guitar coming back in for the outro of the track.
The last 2 tracks are the best on the EP in my opinion. First up is track 5, Pornstar. This one has some nice groovy bass in the intro before the band come in. The verse and chorus are repeated and then after the second chorus we finally get a guitar solo! The main riff them comes back in for the outro. Then we get to the final track, Metal Zombie. Another strong bass led intro with some drums and a sustained note on the guitar before the rest of the band come in. The drums are great and this is a real sludgefest of a song (in a good way). After the second chorus the band decide to get a little bit proggy for the instrumental bridge section. The song ends with another verse and chorus.
The production on this EP isn’t amazing, but I think that’s what gives it’s charm. The songs are good and I think it gives us a good early glimpse of what this band can do. They’ve blended stoner metal with some elements of punk, thrash and prog and I’m interested in what direction they go in or what other styles they might dip their toes in with their next release. So for a debut EP, it’s a good effort and it’s got me wanting more, job well done! 9/10
Demeted - Rituals (Seek & Strike) [GC]
When the first thing I see is that a band claims to have a ‘’mission ‘’ and that is to express metalcore though modern lenses, I am a bit taken back because what does that even mean? Old school metalcore is shit? Well, it’s not it is clearly the best type and it set the template and was ground-breaking, so to brush it off seems very blasé, they may not ne doing that but that’s my impression! Anyway, Demeted are about to release a new EP called Rituals with its mission statement will it re-write the rulebook?
Opener Whispers takes over a minute to get going and is clearly and overtly long intro, because there is about 30 seconds of musical content and while it doesn’t really re-write any rules or sound much different to any metalcore you will hear it is a nice little blast of heaviness, Evoke starts with a flurry of big chugging guitars and rampaging drums, but while it all comes across well, it has an over the top electronic sound that seems to be the new thing in metalcore and it dilutes the anger and makes everything sound too clean, if this is how you want metal too sound then that’s fine we all have opinions but its not how I want it to sound.
Basilisk has all the components you want, staccato riffing and a wall of drums that engulf and don’t stop and the vocals sound furious and direct and while the pinpoint and crisp sound is once again present the way the song is arranged allows for a bit more of the savageness to show through, Naiad then manages to throw in some djent/mathcore rhythms at the start before falling back into the more traditional metalcore style with heavy/melodic vocals, the styles chop and change throughout the rest of the song and it’s a good way to show they aren’t just a one trick pony but once again it loses a bit of nastiness with the electronic sounds really pushing through again.
Rituals is definitely the song where they just focus solely on being a metalcore band and it’s a blast, the drums are fast and unrelenting and the guitars show no mercy, its focused and sharp from the first second to the last and really hammers home that when its done correctly metalcore can be invigorating and nasty at the same time. Inheritance closes the EP and here that electronic sound REALLY takes over and the whole song is swathed in the sound, and it actually takes the enjoyment away for me, the music sounds like it is ok but the way it’s played but overall, the sound just does nothing for me!
Rituals for me was a bit of a mixed bag, there were good bits and average bits, nothing I really disliked but also nothing that really gripped me, it sort of just coasted along and was there in the background just happening? As mentioned, the overtly electronic nature of it all was not for me but there is definitely something interesting in places and with a bit more time I am sure Demeted will hit their stride. 6/10
Rituals for me was a bit of a mixed bag, there were good bits and average bits, nothing I really disliked but also nothing that really gripped me, it sort of just coasted along and was there in the background just happening? As mentioned, the overtly electronic nature of it all was not for me but there is definitely something interesting in places and with a bit more time I am sure Demeted will hit their stride. 6/10
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