Civil Service came on to my radar with their album /// LIGHT last year, the instrumental band wowed me with their cinematic style. They follow up that record with their new one DARK /// and while /// LIGHT was a record that explored illumination and the search for meaning.
This record however is about "the walls we crash into along the way", so this record is a companion piece a continuation, the other side of Civil Service as a band, a heavier, more introspective side that explores existential dread but also inspired defiance, especially on the final track Turn Out The Light where we actually get some aggressive shouts at the beginning that segue into anthemic dreamy swells.
The vocals from Liam Knowles (Hidden Mothers) and Scott Shepard (Blackshape) add an extra layer to the brilliance of DARK ///, despite being an instrumental band at their heart Civil Service do have a couple of guest features, alongside Knowles and Shepard, Luke Daly (Overhead, The Albatross) adds spoken word to the first track while Liz Heaton (Midas Fall) contributes more spoken words to These Cities Are Ruins.
This is a short track driven by oscillating synths, the programming and samples all bringing the cinematic touches to tracks such as Black Giraffe. You can hear the inspiration of bands like Mogwai, Mono or God Is An Astronaut on the propulsive guitar driven URBN DCY, as the piano driven beginnings of The Heurist is a gateway to that darkness that appears towards the close of the album, massive doom riffs switch into industrial pulse as the string-laden Every Beam Of Light Is An Invitation To Death swells and envelopes you.
An album where the roadblocks and futility of some parts of life are held in the spotlight of expansive musical brilliance. Ultimately DARK /// takes a different route than /// LIGHT however they are both journey's towards hope and better understanding. 9/10
Seven Blood - Life Is Just A Phase (Self Release) [Matt Bladen]
Seven Blood are an alt metal outfit from Germany, in the modern way of music industry they've been releasing singles for a while now to gain fans, which has seen them join Future Palace and Conquer Divide on tour. Life Is Just A Phase and it's a record that bristles with electronics, the thick groove riffs leading to anthemic, cathartic choruses.
The band are one who use emotion effectively, from personals lyrics filled with introspection and resilience, they're a band who are trying to connect with their audience in a number of ways through the emotive lyrics and the powerful music which they see as a release, their live shows and now this album, are spaces where their fans can feel empowered.
Seven Blood are a product of their heritage guitarist Oli Arnold and drummer Anfy Hartmann both were brought up in the German Democratic Republic, the urban decline of their childhood having a strong influence on their song writing as they struggled to know where they belong.
A similar longing to find a place comes from vocalist Azaria Nasiri who is the daughter of a Moroccan mother and Iranian father and this trio have let the music become a vessel to find somewhere to belong, extending it this to their fans too.
Born of frustration and crisis they were joined by bassist Josi Hille and now they have their debut to showcase their heavy meets melodic music. I've become the go to metalcore/alt metal guy in this publication, I'm not sure why, however with Life Is Just A Phase I've found another excellent addition to the forward thinking alt metal mob. 8/10
Skull & Crossbones – Time (Massacre Records) [Simon Black]
When you are a German Power Metal act, the constant benchmarks to the big Euro four acts in the genre must get a bit galling, but fortunately Skull & Crossbones are walking an even line between Power and more traditional Metal, but still with a very strong 90’s influence to their sound. Perhaps this isn’t surprising, given their pedigree as a band founded by former musicians from Stormwitch, which is stylistically not a million miles away from what we have here.
This sophomore release is my first exposure to them, and I have to say I was cautious going in, because this sub-genre has thousands of bands from the same corner of Europe ploughing all to similar furrows, but this was refreshingly original. OK, perhaps not if you are a follower of Stormwitch, but I spin a lot of Power Metal disks with this reviewing lark, and originality is increasingly a rare and scarce thing, but more important is a need to sound unique, original and fresh and in that Skull & Crossbones score well.
Partly it’s getting the balance right between trad Metal and the Power tropes, but more importantly it’s because these gents are quite good at crafting catchy and strong songs that don’t sound like what everyone else is doing. The instrumental work is tight and crisp, but with the kind of interplay and fluidity that comes from a band with a good chemistry, and long-term experience of working together, even though drummer Bernd Heining is new to the line-up, he’s seamlessly part of the sound and thunderingly precise to boot.
It’s vocalist Tobi Hübner who grabs my attention, with the kind of range and power of a that got me listening to bands like Judas Priest in the first place, he really holds the listener with his power and octaval range, although his melody lines sometimes follow those of the instruments a little closely, he gets away with it because he delivers such a soulful and charismatic performance.
I can see this working well live, however I don’t think I’m going to be seeing them anytime soon as so far they have yet to play outside of Germany, but the well-crafted stories they weave with these ten tracks work really well. Not only do they avoid sounding like any of their musical peers, but there is plenty of variety to these arrangements as well, which means the album passes well without sounding repetitious, contrived or clichéd. All in all, a highly pleasant surprise. 8/10
Mausoleum Gate - Space Rituals And Magick (Cruz Del Sur Music) [Simon Black]
Now this is a little odd..
Mausoleum Gate hail from Finland, and despite having been going for nearly twenty years and onto this, their third studio album, I had never heard of them before. Nothing unusual in that – there are hundreds of thousands of bands across a hundred different splintered sub-genres, all loosely falling under the category of Metal, by virtue of tracing a loose, but indubitable lie back to what four Brummie lads pulled off on the 13th February, 1970 (a few days after I was born) and promptly changed the world.
This record could have come from that era. With a loose and retro production feel, and the kind of influences taking in Prog Rock arrangements of the period (Traffic and Procol Harum spring immediately to mind), as well as some of the more spooky Occult sounding stuff that Coven and Black Widow produced, and with a vocalist who could probably now earn a good living in any kind of Ozzy-era Black Sabbath tribute act, it’s easy to see why.
I can see this working well live, however I don’t think I’m going to be seeing them anytime soon as so far they have yet to play outside of Germany, but the well-crafted stories they weave with these ten tracks work really well. Not only do they avoid sounding like any of their musical peers, but there is plenty of variety to these arrangements as well, which means the album passes well without sounding repetitious, contrived or clichéd. All in all, a highly pleasant surprise. 8/10
Mausoleum Gate - Space Rituals And Magick (Cruz Del Sur Music) [Simon Black]
Now this is a little odd..
Mausoleum Gate hail from Finland, and despite having been going for nearly twenty years and onto this, their third studio album, I had never heard of them before. Nothing unusual in that – there are hundreds of thousands of bands across a hundred different splintered sub-genres, all loosely falling under the category of Metal, by virtue of tracing a loose, but indubitable lie back to what four Brummie lads pulled off on the 13th February, 1970 (a few days after I was born) and promptly changed the world.
This record could have come from that era. With a loose and retro production feel, and the kind of influences taking in Prog Rock arrangements of the period (Traffic and Procol Harum spring immediately to mind), as well as some of the more spooky Occult sounding stuff that Coven and Black Widow produced, and with a vocalist who could probably now earn a good living in any kind of Ozzy-era Black Sabbath tribute act, it’s easy to see why.
Let’s get that one out of the way first, because Jarno Saarinen is tonally a dead ringer for the late great Mr Osborne. A little less wailing, and with his own distinctiveness in his delivery, but the fact is it adds to the overall smorgasbord cauldron of sounds that hail from the late 60’s but which set the tone and direction for everything that came after.
I can’t compare to what went before, and to be honest there’s probably no point in bothering as three of the six in the line-up are new faces, but as a reader, it’s probably a more honest review, as I have no choice but to come at this fresh. The Prog influences means that these songs take their time but keep the interest in doing so.
I can’t compare to what went before, and to be honest there’s probably no point in bothering as three of the six in the line-up are new faces, but as a reader, it’s probably a more honest review, as I have no choice but to come at this fresh. The Prog influences means that these songs take their time but keep the interest in doing so.
There are only six tracks on the whole record, but it really feels like all six of the players are contributing something here. The complexity in the arrangements doesn’t jangle within each track as it’s like an interesting story told over a pint of good ale – sometimes the journey is more interesting than the destination, and with some cleverly arranged harmonic twists and flourishes along the way you may not be sure of the point of the song, but you probably enjoyed the ride.
That said it can get wearing by the time you get to the end, and although there is a lot of tonal variety within each of the tracks, it’s a bit like being strapped to a slightly psychedelic rollercoaster most of the time. At least until you get to the title track, when things take a more Hard Rock turn, with a more driving beat and the kind of sound that wouldn’t feel out of place on an early Ghost album yet driven by a more straight ahead Graham Oliver era Saxon riff.
As I said from the outset, this is an odd record. Yet somehow it works, if only enough to make you wonder what you have just heard was real, thereby earning it another spin, and I can definitely see this stuff working live (green smoke optional). 6/10
That said it can get wearing by the time you get to the end, and although there is a lot of tonal variety within each of the tracks, it’s a bit like being strapped to a slightly psychedelic rollercoaster most of the time. At least until you get to the title track, when things take a more Hard Rock turn, with a more driving beat and the kind of sound that wouldn’t feel out of place on an early Ghost album yet driven by a more straight ahead Graham Oliver era Saxon riff.
As I said from the outset, this is an odd record. Yet somehow it works, if only enough to make you wonder what you have just heard was real, thereby earning it another spin, and I can definitely see this stuff working live (green smoke optional). 6/10
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