Moonspell - Far From God (Napalm Records)
It's probably not controversial to say that without Moonspell the Portuguese metal scene wouldn't have the popularity it has today.
Much like Rotting Christ in Greece, they're a band with 36 years of music behind them and have down a lot to define what the Portuguese metal scene is today. Their frontman Fernando Ribeiro even runs a label that promotes the future generation of bands, so they're an act who are always forward looking and their new album is just the same.
On their fourteenth studio release you may think there would be a tendency to rest on their laurels but Moonspell don't do that and with producer Jaime Gomez Arellano (Paradise Lost, Sólstafir, Ghost) at the helm they have release an album is already being compared to their 1996 opus Irreligious, a mighty strong comparison as songs from their record still form major parts of their live show to this day.
Is this comparison warranted though? Let's dive in and find out, and we're off to a good start with Cross Your Heart which carries that flame of pioneering gothic rock that Moonspell are so associated with but it does feel like a throwback that 90's gothic rock explosion where metal bands wanted to make moody, broody music, case in point Paradise Lost's Draconian Times/Icon or Type Of Negative's Bloody Kisses/October Rust.
This dark romantic sound has been the result of five years of soul searching, rediscovering who they were back then and joining it with the band they are now, this means more keys, more throbbing bass and less of a metallic heaviness, that they don't get rid of completely though as Our Freedom To Fall is a distorted, fret sliding crush that borrows from Gojira's power while the last track Reconquista keeps the metal style as a powerful end.
Far From God is an album of dark passion and emotional substance, which features Fernando singing often with a close up whisper into the mic as the guitars jangle in the background while the synths creates atmospheres and bass/drums march ever forward on tracks such as Your Promise Of Light and Biblical.
The whole record is inspired by the tragic but intensely sexual figure of the vampire who Fernando had fallen out of love with due to recent Hollywood depictions, but his attraction to this tragic and mysterious figure was rekindled by Robert Eggers Nosferatu.
Bringing back the vampire as the major inspiration behind this record and for longtime fans it's a pioneering band in the genre, defining what gothic metal can be with the title track the most direct to that film and those early vampire stories of Stoker.
Using vampires, werewolves and resurrection as metaphors for existentialism, romance, passion and obsession, there's a divine opulence to this record, Moonspell taking back goth metal from the countless bands inspired by them, crossing oceans of time to define themselves as one of the planets premiere goth metal exports! 9/10
Witchsorrow - The Devil And All His Works (Church Road Records)
To paraphrase Super Hans' Big Beat Manifesto "Big Riffs Are The Best, Get High All The Time", this is pretty much the manifesto of Witchsorrow, although they'd add "Hail Satan" at the end as the Hampshire doom trio pledged their souls to rock n roll, over 20 years ago and are still paying homage to The Dark Lord to this day.
I mean everyone knows Lucifer has all the best tunes right? Witchsorrow certainly do as they play the sort of occult doom that was pioneered by Black Sabbath on this first four albums, when metal was still evil, still ominous and was for the outsiders and the discontents.
For me doom has never strayed from this path, the best doom metal bands are the ones that totally shun modernism and the ever changing music scene, they just want low end fuzzy riffs, lyrics about demons and witchcraft and psychedelia that is driven by a love of controlled substances.
Bands such as Cathedral, Electric Wizard, Saint Vitus and Candlemass are all in this category and as well as kneeling at the altar of Iommi, Butler, Osbourne and Ward, Witchsorrow have been lighting a candle for these other bands since 2006.
Formed by Necroskull (vocals/guitar) and Emily Witch (bass) aka Nick and Emily Ruskell, Witchsorrow is a living embodiment of their die hard attitude to heavy metal, drummers have come and gone but those ominous, cavernous, name your adjective, guitar riffs and evil, foreboding atmosphere never goes away.
This is music for metalheads who wear it on this skin and who like loud as humanly possible. There must be call as Witchsorrow have played Bloodstock numerous times, as well as Download, Arctangent and Desertfest (of course), so there's a following, one I wouldn't even call cult as I'm part of that group where heavy metal is part of life and things without it seems pointless, it's probably why doom and stoner have always been my major loves as they're honest.
No ego, no posturing, just heavy riffs for the people. What can you expect on Witchsorrow's fifth album? Well doom metal, unbound and ear bleedingly heavy, doom metal, as always but crafted by a band who are now veterans so can manipulate these well worn auditory terrors in their own way to make sermons that would easily fit into the catalogue of Sabbath, Wizard or Cathedral but are also wholly their own devices of evil.
David Wilbraham plays drums on the record, creating the percussive punishment but going forward Scott 'Doom' Taylor will be behind the kit bringing his experience from bands such as Vnder and Garganjua, as Nick and Emily still have things low, slow and fuzzy, Nicks vocals drenched in reverb as the prophets dictate.
They welcome a guest into their church, as Sammy Urwin of Employed To Secret gives a guest solo to closer A Quintessence Of Dust, however the rest of songs are the close knit team of heavy metal lovers bringing more doom metal to the mass hordes that live for it.
That's the basis of it Witchsorrow play the music they want to, inspired by Iommi and in league with Satan, prepare yourself for The Devil And All His Works. 9/10
The Pretty Reckless - Dear God (Fearless Records)
It's safe to say the rise of The Pretty Reckless has maybe taken a lot of the rock crowd by surprise, immediately written off due to Taylor Momsen's previous life as a child and teen actor. They've grown into one of the most authentic hard rock bands in the USA, due to their mix of punchy alt rock, blues, punk and classic hard rock driven by the rockstar attitude and gritty vocals of Momsen.
From their 2010 debut the signs were there that The Pretty Reckless were more than vanity project, having developed into great hard rock band with their previous album Death By Rock N Roll cementing them as true arena headliners, so where do they go from there? Well with Dear God they bring us their most emotionally raw record yet, inspired by chaos and moving into an outer body state between heaven and hell.
With themes that include "mortality, self-discovery, chaos, and redemption" as track such as Love Me shouts loudly with a lament to trying to find someone to love you, even if it's just a deity. Produced by Jonathan Wyman, Taylor Momsen, and guitarist Ben Phillips, all the songs were written by Momsen and Phillips and they go further genre-wise than they have before.
Dragonfire comes from country/bluegrass, the title track has some bluesy Fender Rhodes, When I Wake Up bristles with punk rock, while Spell On You is a big swaggering rocker for all the bad witches listening, Eye Of The Storm takes a step into politicised balladry as the final track Dark Days broods and ruminates on the divine and the mortal.
With the three part, Life Evermore acting as an intro, intermission and outro, I perceive Dear God as a musical, tracks linked with the themes I've discussed above but sequenced in a way that they provide individual stories that work just as well as a whole. Dear God is an opus from The Pretty Reckless, rock n roll with the grandest vision. 8/10
Red Dwarf Star - Red Dwarf Star (Pelagic Records)
Coley Dennis is perhaps best known for his work with krautrockers Mazerarti as the guitarist for the electronic rock collective. Red Dwarf Star is his solo project which takes influence from elsewhere, mind altering dream pop wrapped in a bubble of Midwestern post hardcore, 90's alternative rock and those psychedelic tendencies from Mazerarti.
Inspired by a feeling of loss and uncertainty, stemming from a move from the USA to Switzerland in 2015, it's a record that's introspective and personal, emotionally and musically, songs written for Maserati but didn't fit the vibe, more akin to "90's, Creation Records/Post-Hardcore" written/recorded with a D.I.Y ethos and very little outside help, it's almost the antithesis to the collaborative nature of Maserati, a solitary figure creating music that is just for them.
What's interesting for me are the vocals which sound heavily distorted with a vocoder and effect layered against Allen Epley and Jenna Fournier to bring a textured interplay that brings a sense of inhumanity that works well with separation and loss aspect of the writing, while invoking those Krautrock and 90's styles simultaneously.
Although it started out as fully solo Red Dwarf Star is now a band with one or two outside collaborators helping the full realisation, Mathias Poese of Jeffk joins on guitar for plenty of jangling melodies that blend with Dennis' for these expansive soundscapes while Blaise Brechbühl locks down the undulating grooves joined in the backroom by the urgent drumming of Alessandro Pascolo.
In the press pack it suggests Red Dwarf Star is for fans of Failure, Quicksand & Hum, but I'd also add some Steven Wilson and Fear Factory in their as well due to effect-laden vocals here, a continuation, a new beginning, a reason for being all in one record, it'll be interesting to see where Red Dwarf Star goes from here. 7/10
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