Reviews: Standover, Vaneno, Gaahls Wyrd, Fuzzriders (GC, Mark Young, Rick Eaglestone & Rich Piva)

Standover - When A Clenched Fist Is No Longer An Option (Gutter Prince Cabal) [GC]

There are so many different genres mish-mashed together and tagged onto hardcore nowadays it gets a bit tedious looking over them as you are never really sure what you are going to get. 

With a description of metallic hardcore I’m hoping Standover aren’t the usual run of the mill substandard metalcore bullshit that is everywhere at the minute, but I will give them their props as the title instantly got me interested!

I get slightly worried as Gloom starts as it doesn’t really do much for a minute or so apart from build up a moody slayer South Of Heaven-esque vibe and when we do get the song it is slower than I was expecting, it has got some nice riffs going on, but I think I was expecting a bit more ferocity? 

Thankfully I get exactly what I was looking for on The Noose which instantly throws all the shackles off and is the shot of adrenaline fuelled metallic hardcore I wanted, no its not metalcore thank God, its furious old school hardcore with metal influences and its wonderful.

Doomed is just an absolute barnstormer of a track from the opening GO! You just get surrounded by walls of big chunky riffs that just keep hitting and the bouncy groove they have is infectious and excellently executed throughout and the closing section is just utter carnage, anything that begins with a "BREAK IT DOWN!" is usually always worth listening to! 

Off The Leash ups the ante in the pace stakes and introduces a more punk style to the sound that will have you 2-stepping and windmilling around your room, in between ninja kicking your mum down the stairs a wonderful lesson in aural violence and how to hone the attack in just under 2 minutes. 

Sigh, Interlude then happens and annoys me more than it should as I was hoping it might actually have been a song but it’s not, aaaaanyway moving swiftly on Watch It All Burn begins with another more measured approach for all of 20 seconds before the big stompy hardcore is back but then it does slow down again and it actually sound pretty good, the different variations showing different ways on how to be heavy is always a pleasure to hear.

End You has such a catchy sound you are bound to come back to this track so often, its got groove, it’s got heaviness and it’s got the unapologetic anger that makes good hardcore so thrilling to listen too, the passion shines through and carries the song forward with a vigour and energy that is exciting to hear this force carries on into Forever Contempt. 

Which manages to include all the things that make hardcore the best music in the world, furious riffs, pounding drums, vocals that make your hairs stand up on ends and some absolutely huge beatdown sections that are frankly just ridiculous sounding in the best possible way! 

Dead To Me rockets out of the speakers with another fast and downright nasty hardcore punk assault that wastes not one second in letting you know how it feels, and the ride is exhilarating while it lasts.

Slave is one last boot to the face, it’s another song with variations and a mix of styles and I’m not sure what it is but it just doesn’t hit as hard as I was expecting and I think, to be honest probably shouldn’t have been the last song as for me I think that Dead To Me would is more of a statement and would have ended this record much in a much better fashion?

I thoroughly enjoyed …When A Clenched Fist Is No Longer An Option as it wasn’t trying too hard to be something it wasn’t, it was unapologetically angry hardcore and I that is what I love so much about it, it came, it saw, it smashed my face in and didn’t care about the aftermath. 

Yes, there wasn’t much variety but when your core sound is this good who needs it? Concentrate on what you do best, and you will get the results that matter, and this record is a statement to that. Heavy, angry and an absolute blast to listen to too. 8/10

Vaneno - Chaos Hostility Murder (Raging Planet Records) [Mark Young]

And once again I’m late with this and late to a party as Vaneno bring a slice of Portuguese sludge metal showing that bright sunshine isn’t a handicap when it comes to writing riffs of the dark variety. Its not a country I would associate with metal in general and it makes a welcome change.

The overall theme is here is efficiency, of building and delivering what you could say are simplistic riffs but they are dropped with an effective and undeviating approach that starts brightly but diminishes as the album moves forward.

Its straight in with DQSFLQSF, which shows off that simple but effective build as their album introduction and it clues you in as to the manner of entertainment we are about to receive. 

You could argue that given its short length that it could be a waste of energy and that they could have kicked off with Eldritch Truth, but where is the fun in that? At least they didn’t go for the cod orchestral approach and it sums up their less is more approach.

Eldritch Truth is all fat guitar which goes with a less is more approach but still manages to get its groove going. It’s all good stuff as they avoid going for the usual approach of a slow tempo or riffs that go nowhere. They blow through this with a purpose, getting from start to finish in what feels like a quick fashion, not letting the dust settle and its pretty cool hearing a band just having fun with it. 

They go lower with Chaos Hostility Murder which reminds me of Tom G.Warrior in how its phrased with them going for a direct hit, its simple but effective build does what it needs to do. And this is the thing, as we progress through the album, each track is effectively a statement on how to provide the audio equivalent of blunt force trauma to the skull.

There are no niceties, no subtle moments or acoustic interludes. It is just a straight up beating. Dark Lord is a prime example of this; feedback heralds another crushing rhythm display that does its job in the most competent manner. 

And because its like this, it makes for a difficult review in that once the main tracks start, they are generally repetitions of each other and I’m reminded that maybe they don’t feel the need to constantly reinvent and that they have found a groove that works for them and have become good at doing it. 

The downside is that the songs tend to blur into another in terms of how they sound. God Complex brings more of that direct riffing, its decent enough but not different enough to mark it out from the others and by this point you have gotten to a point where you have heard all they have to give.

Sludge Hammer is the start of the final three songs and livens things up by busting out a well-placed solo and Necropotent continues that blunt force treatment but I’m past it in all honesty. Reflecting on the songs that lead up to Yeti, I’m minded that they are good songs, but they become better if you hear them in isolation from the others. 

You can’t pick out a best track because they are all as good (or bad, depending on your preference) as each other. So obviously Yeti decides to up the ante a little, picking the pace up enough to build momentum and give the album a proper send off.

So where does that leave us? Well, it is a suitably brutal listen and I think that fans of sludge will give it the love and attention it requires. For the casual, it was fine. There was no surprises or ground breaking moments just a set of good metal songs to listen to. Your enjoyment will depend on your tastes and who knows they might just become your favourite band to come out of Portugal. 

What is apparent is that they have gotten themselves to a point where the old maxim of ‘if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it’ is liberally applied so yes, the songs are heavy enough but then repeat the same thing until the end. 7/10

Gaahls Wyrd – Braiding The Stories (Season Of Mist) [Rick Eaglestone]

Norwegian Grammy-winning esoteric metal entity Gaahls Wyrd are well known for their unwillingness to conform with trends or tradition instead favouring the beating of their own spectral pulse as their unveil their long awaited second album Braiding The Stories.

The album opens with the emotive storytelling narrative piece The Dream which serves as a great introduction with atmospheric soundscapes which flows into the longest offering on the album the title track – Braiding The Stories which is a great demonstration of the band’s ability to incorporate varying styles under one umbrella, the use of time also allows to them to really encapsulate the overall depth and bleak aesthetic.

This is then followed by Voices In My Head which is more like a film score piece but is does compliment Time And Timeless Time which is easily the albums most blistering track with some absolutely blistering drum patterns. 

Delving into almost prog territory is And The Now which is placed nicely alongside the ominous tones of solo driven Through The Veil before the album’s crowning glory Visions And Time fires through with an underlying level of chaos and sweeping soundscapes.

Concluding with the duo of NWOBHM tinged Root The Will & ambient bass laden Flowing Starlight ends what has been an overall well-constructed vessel of aural delectation.

“I always work with the subconscious,” Gaahl says. “This time, I wanted the listener to fall into the album.”

A subconscious journey into mystifying terrain. 7/10

Fuzzriders - I Like It (Electric Valley Records) [Rich Piva]

Italy’s Fuzzriders new record is definitely stoner rock. It is definitely fuzzy. It definitely has riffs. Cowbell too. Most of it I dig. But something in the sound is holding me back a bit. It could be the vocals, which are recorded weird. It could be the overall production which sounds kind of lo-fi, but when I usually mean that as a compliment, I don’t here. 

The drums are right up front in the mix and sound a bit out of place too. So, you can see my conundrum with the two forces working against each other on their latest output, titled I Like It.

Do I though? The short answer is yes. The opening title track is a fun little stoner ripper. Sometimes, track two, has the aforementioned cowbell and a cool, slowed down psych-y part with some nice guitar work. The band’s bio calls out Fu Manchu, Nebula and Dozer as reference points, and Like A Worm lives up to that, but this is one of the examples where the vocals and I are having some issues. 

Same thing with the next one, Old Man. But I really dig it when they change tempo and the guitar takes over, which is why this one and Sometimes are my two favourite tracks on the record.

I really think Fuzzriders excel in the slower songs, like the psych heavy slow burn I’m Rotten and the mid-tempo rocker Your Infection (more cowbell goodness). Speaking of cowbell and Fu Manchu, check out Can You Dance, but once again I struggle with the vocals. 

The riff on On The Road is right out of the 80s Sunset Strip and is a cool little track that also ranks up at the top for me on I Like It. Snake Skin is almost nine minutes long, and could have been a couple minutes shorter, but it is still a nice way to end the record as it incorporates those tempo changes and fuzzy psych guitars into the mix very nicely.

Taking the strange production out of the equation, I Like It is a solid stoner with psych leanings record. Maybe it is my ear, so don’t let my comments on the production stop you from checking this one out, because Fuzzriders get it for sure. 7/10