Reviews: Konvent, a-tota-so, The Defaced, Gutterfire (Reviews By Matt Bladen, Matt Cook, Zak Skane & David Karpel)

Konvent - Call Down The Sun (Napalm Records) [Matt Bladen]

Danish band Konvent caused something of a stir with their 2020 debut album, a bleak, crushing, slab of blackened death metal, the band were touted as being the next great heavy band and sometimes this means that the band are flash in the pan and their second album is where they fall down. This is not the case with Call Down The Sun, the four piece have shown major signs of improvement here. Their songwriting is much more focussed and vicious, both the death and black metal elements are heightened and there's also flair that comes from some of the other extreme styles. 

A track such as Sand Is King a bubbling, brooding torrent of blackened sludge, it's a massive explosion of noise that shifts into the thundering devastation of In The Soot, bassist Heidi Withington Brink's syrupy bass rhythms guiding the darkness. Yes darkness, the main theme of this record seems to be the black times we live in, it has meant that this record is brimming with bile and actually shifts more towards the death metal style than the doomy riffs of their debut. Tracks such as Grains, are earth shaking, those basslines in sync with the sledgehammer percussion of Julie Simonsen, it's got a bit of pace behind it, followed by Fatamorgana which brings back the doom. 

Guitarist Sara Helena Nørregaard works her axe well as the riffs shift in time from blasting death to throbbing doom, bringing an industrial bite to Interlude, as we are brought into yet more grinding doom on Never Rest and Pipe Dreams, Rikke Emilie List's guttural vocals are a thing of beauty, dragged from the lowest level of hell, to conjure these vicious hellscapes. Closing out the record is the beautiful 7 minute Harena which has some violin and cello to really give the song a sense of melancholy against it's rawness. Call Down The Sun, dispels the 'difficult second album' syndrome, a fantastic record from this Danish foursome. 9/10

a-tota-so – Lights Out (bUTTONpUSHER) [Matt Cook]

This rocks. The trio of Marty Toner (guitar), Jamie Cattermole (drums) and Chris Marsh (bass) combined form the band a-tota-so, a curiously named Instrumental Mathcore band. However, their newest release, Lights Out, features a bevy of guest vocals that come together for one of the more interesting projects to have been born in the wake of the global pandemic. It’s simple: the group distributed already-finished tracks to musician friends and told them to do whatever floats their boat. What comes out the other side is a fascinating ride filled with nearly every vocal style there is. 

The idea is as plain as it is game-changing because each song has its own identity, aided by a different singer, which makes for an almost anthological layout. Black Mirror in music form, if you will. Squirrel Bite (ft. Kieran Hayes of We Come In Pieces) is as bouncy as an alt-rock song can be, brilliantly developing and maintaining a strong presence and pace. Spicy Nights (Jack Gordon, Irk/Platitude Queen) is a demonstrative work of singing, on top of a catchy melody and the greatest lyric: ‘He’s got a face like a fishing rod.’ Come again? The opening track Choke (Jake O’Driscoll, God Alone) is a staticky morass impressively structured. The harshest vocals appropriately were saved for last, provided by Ashley Tubb (Sugar Horse) on When The Waves Come. 

As for the most alluring and warm vocals, I AM features Aisling Whiting (Sang Froid) absolutely nailing it, standing as a chance to catch your breath from all the chaos coming before and after it yet not boring the listener into a daze. Collectively, a-tota-so took a risk – albeit calculated – and were handsomely rewarded with eight songs that each boast an identity, a distinctive quality and an ever-present feeling of freshness. It remains to be seen if more musicians take this idea and run with it. What’s clear is a-tota-so set the bar really, really high. 8/10

The Defaced – Charlatans (ViciSolum Productions) [Zak Skane]

The Defaced formed in 1999, hailing from Helsingborg Sweden the band started off as an amalgamation of members of Darkane, Soilwork and other musicians from the local area. During the first formation the band they have released three albums; Domination Commence (2001), Karma In Black (2003) and Anomaly (2006) before the band split up in 2008. Fast forward to 2019 the band began to reform due to Mattias Svensson making a phone call to Jens Broman asking him to collaborate on some new material that Mattias has been working on. From there it started to snowball and generate their reformation whilst producing their latest work Charlatans.

From the opening riff of Monochromic Void the band are not afraid to show their true colours with groovy feeling guitar riffs, to the big bombastic drums beats accompanied with the James Hetfieldesque vocal swagger, This is a band that embraces the sound of modern heavy metal to the fullest. With the guitars containing the nice full mid range body but sharp attacked precision it embraces the meaty chugs but also helps them cut through for soaring melodies in songs like Bleeding Ore. The drum arrangements on this album are exquisite, the chain gun constancy off the kick drum patterns in songs like Monochromatic Void and Celestial Display to the carefully placed kick patterns of Bleeding Ore elevate the bands groove to the next level. 

When it comes to the vocals the singer can go from James Hetfield of Metallica to Mastodons Brent Hinds harshness to soaring melodies that Bjorn Strid of Soilwork. My personal highlights from this album is the bombastic opener Monochromic Void that sets the pace for the listener with the syncopated chuggy riffs and double kick drum combo, the following track Bleeding Ore takes it back a few BPM to highlight the note choices to make those guitar riffs sound more anthemic. Combined with the drums spacing out the groove it lets the notes breathe to let the verse and chorus lines soar as a result. 

The stoner atmospheres of Celestial Display with the Mastodon inspired riffs and choruses to the eastern inspired Enter The Stage with it’s Phrygian based riffs combined with prog inspired drum beats that contain varying hi-hat patterns in which results tricking the listener to think the drum beats are odd metered. Enter The Stage also features of additional percussion elements to emphasise the eastern influences of the song.

I really enjoyed how this album kept it consistent with soaring heavy guitar parts, combined with pounding drums and anthemic choruses, but I did find that structure was to repetitive with the classic; main intro riff, verse, chorus and then repeat. So in future releases I would like to hear the band explore more different types of song structures, but then again if it isn’t broke don’t fix it. 8/10.

Gutterfire - Chill (Wormholedeath Records) [David Karpel]

Brisbane based Gutterfire! call themselves “upbeat doom.” Chill is their debut album where they set out to define what that means. The opener, Jack O The Leaves, comes out downtuned and heavy footed. The slow doomy tempo soon turns into a chugga chugga romp while the lyrics describe the title character wrecking evil havoc, or something. Singer Photon Jon’s vocal style is very reminiscent of some of the mid 90s bands that made grunge a lot more radio friendly than Mudhoney. This becomes clearer in the title track, Chill, his voice mixed clear over swaggering gritty grooves with metal guitar flairs and steadily driving drums. 

Suddenly it’s clear: he reminds me of Vinnie Dombroski of Sponge, which is actually a compliment. This Is Fine keeps to the formula established. It’s a meme song in which cliches come together lyrically as the mid tempo jammer picks up the pace for the chorus and the furious breakdown is a relief from the lack of diversity. There are no stand out performances during the consistent and conventional steady pace of each of these 10 songs. I kept listening because I respect working bands, their efforts, what they sacrifice to write, record, and go on tour. 

But my job here is to give an honest assessment of the output. Gutterfire! are just not doing anything impressive here. They sound like a fun live band to catch at a bar and, hey, you might buy their CD to support them on your way out. I don’t know if you’d play it too often, though. It’s their debut and they have a lot of talent to work with, but “upbeat doom” sounds more like “grunge light.” 4/10

Reviews: The Flower Kings, Oh Hiroshima, Deserted Fear, Kris Barras Band (Reviews By Matt Bladen)

The Flower Kings - By Royal Decree (Inside Out Music)

Ronie Stolt's The Flower Kings have been showing the world their organic, musically dense, poetic progressive rock that blends folk, symphonic, electronic, jazz, blues and funk. Like the classic bands of the 70's The Flower Kings have always had a keen ear for what works, their musical concoctions are packed full of delicate guitar lines, impenetrable walls of Hammond Organs and synths, soulful vocals and jazz-influenced bass and drum lines. 

On this 15th studio album they have done a lot of looking back, probably due to the pandemic, By Royal Decree is a mix of new songs and going back over older material that was left in Stolt's vault, in addition to going over this old material founding bassist Michael Stolt returns after 20 years to share bass and vocals with Jonas Reinhold. Now with so much material to sift through, it means that this record is a mammoth 92 minutes long across 18 tracks many of them stretching the run times in true prog style. Along with Stolt, Stolt and Reinhold is Mirko DeMaio (drums), Zach Kamins (keys), Hasse Fröberg (guitar/vocals) all of whom recorded the record in 2021 through a fully analogue mixing desk for an authentic sound that also brings back the sounds of their past. 

This is the running theme on this record, making feel as close to the early prog bands and their own first few records. Their tour for 2022 will see them playing songs from those early records. So By Royal Decree is really a retrospective record but with a mix of older and current material. It's a must for TFK fans, who will immerse themselves in all 92 minutes of it, however for anyone who may want to delve into The Flower Kings as a band it may be a record that's a little too specialist. Still a progressive rock masterclass, just one that takes a lot of investment. 7/10

Oh Hiroshima – Myriad (Napalm Records)

Ah Post-rock, guys and girls all staring intently at their instruments while crafting intricate, often totally instrumental soundscapes that bring a sense of the otherworldly. There are bands that do it brilliantly and some that meander a little too much, Oh Hiroshima are one of the bands that have found that sweet spot, where the music is enthralling but never spirals out of control in mess of reverb and single chord exploration. 

Following their 2019 release Oscillation, was always going to be a lofty task but with the pandemic, being a boon to bands like this I suspect, the twosome of Jakob Hemström (guitar/vocal/bass) and Oskar Nilsson (drums) had more time to craft a worthy follow up, that again sees them raising the bar on their craft.  At just 7 tracks in length, there’s little room for ditties, they need room to breathe, but never shift to extreme lengths most of the songs coming at around the 6 minute mark. The album is built around the cascading, rhythmic rumble of Nilsson’s drumming, he gets going on the shamanic Nour, continues with Ascension right up to Hidden Chamber. It’s this percussion technique that sets a continuation throughout this record, allowing Hemström to multilayer his guitars and basslines, fleshing out the musical backing with brass and strings for added drama. Vocally too he whispers into the mic only when necessary letting the music breathe. 

It feels more simplistic yet more experimental than before perhaps the fact this is their first record as a duo, since their bassist left meaning that they approached the song writing in a different way, adapting the post-rock ethos to some shoegaze, ambient and even some indie influences. Recorded by Kristian Karlsson (pg. lost, Cult Of Luna) and mixed/mastered by Cult Of Luna’s Magnus Lindberg; Myriad singles itself out as where Oh Hiroshima are going in the future, frenzied yet controlled, achingly mournful but driven by hope, this is their next chapter and I will be reading it multiple times this year! 8/10

Deserted Fear - Doomsday (Century Media Records)

German melodic death metal band Deserted Fear follow up their 2019 release Drowned By Humanity with this 2022 record Doomsday. An apt album title due to the current situation in the world, it seems as though Deserted Fear are deliberately trying to ring in the end times with this fifth album of vicious, guitar driven melodeath. The band are a trio comprised of Simon Mengs (drum), Fabian Hildebrandt (lead guitar/bass) and Manuel “Mahne” Glatter (vocals/guitar) but they make a mighty racket across the 48 minutes of this album. 

Its a sound that was born in the Gothenburg scene created by In Flames, whose Artifacts Of The Black Rain is covered here, and Dark Tranquillity, who the band are supporting on their upcoming German tour along with Ensiferum. Doomsday is the most eclectic record the band have created with a mixture of influences that comes from thrash, death, black and even some slick modern metal influences on Follow The Light That Binds and Voices Of Fire. Though with The One Desire, they certainly can still deliver some nasty guitar fueled melodeath. 

There's two intros on the record at the beginning and track 6 which help create atmosphere across the record, linking things together for a more consistent, inviting listening experience. The variation also helps with this because of their inability to tour, the band spent more time crafting this album than on previous ones, making sure that it had a much broader scope. Tracks such as Reborn Paradise have an emotive edge adding some of the doom stylings, while the title track is an evolution of the melodeath sound. Deserted Fear continue to adapt and improve their extreme metal sound, a mature, but still malicious melodeath record from these Germans. 8/10

The Kris Barras Band – Death Valley Paradise (Mascot Records)

Anyone who has been following the blog for a while will know that I was a keen supporter of Kris Barras around the time of his second album, I thought his style of blues rocking had the potential to see him become the British Bonamassa, however with time as so often happens that initial firebrand blues rock sound became diluted in search of a more radio-friendly hard rock style crafted almost exclusively for the Planet Rock audience. This is obvious on fourth album Death Valley Paradise, where nearly all traces of the blues are gone, replaced by that NWOCR sound that seems to be all the rage at the moment. 

Now I’m not saying that the music is bad, Barras is a good singer and excellent guitar player and his band comprised of long time rhythm guitarist Josiah J. Manning and new rhythm section Billy Hammett (Drums) and Kelpie Mackenzie (Bass), play a key part of how this album sounds, according to Barras who struggled with depression over the Covid period, so this darkness and despair was brought into Death Valley Paradise. These feelings were used to inspire a heavier styled record that has influence from Shinedown, Black Stone Cherry and even Fozzy, bands who the numerous song writing collaborators on this record have also written for. 

The idea was to craft big, heavy sounding rock songs and ballads fit for the arenas they now find themselves in, mission accomplished I’d say but by doing this that spark of individuality has diminished a little. The album is basically about triumph over adversity and with songs such as My Parade and Chaos, Barras and his band feel as if they are very much rising from uncertainty back to where they belong. Nothing ground-breaking on this album but it’s got songs that will go down well with the partisan audience that will inevitably go in early to watch the band support Thunder on their upcoming tour. If a slightly edgier NWOCR sound is what you’re looking for add The Kris Barras band to your list. 7/10     

Reviews: Scorpions, Godless Truth, Blood Incantation, JIRM (Reviews By Simon Black, Matt Cook, Dr Claire Hanley & Rich P)

Scorpions - Rock Believer (Vertigo) [Simon Black]

Back when I was a wee spotty metal nipper, Scorpions were one of the bands that got my attention early. I think the first time I heard them was the classic Love At First Sting album which was their current studio release at the time round a friend’s place, but it was the fantastic World Wide Live double live album that not only cemented that love, but started my passion for the live album on the grounds of “if you can’t do it live, who cares if you can cheat in the studio?” Incidentally that’s a view I hold to this day, although to be fair the Scorpions have always been pretty competent in both arenas (and indeed stadiums when they were big enough to fill them). 

What drew me to them and indeed the whole of that run of fantastic albums from Lovedrive to Savage Amusement was their sheer catchiness, balls out anthemic song-writing, sheer energy and the ability to absolutely deliver the goods on a stage. Ironically the album that spanned their greatest hit was the point where that love affair fell off somewhat, as for me Crazy World didn’t hit any of the marks that attracted me to them in the first place and whenever I have listened to studio albums from the intervening years I have up to this point failed to find anything that came anywhere near hitting the high mark of that decade of excellence when they were the biggest thing musically to come out of Germany. 

The key words in that last paragraph are “up to this point”… Clearly something has changed in the seven year gap since Return To Forever, as this feels like the band I fell in love with once more possessing a sting in their tail. How much of this is due to the addition of Motörhead stalwart Mikkey Dee in the recording line up is difficult to say (although he’s been thumping the tubs live since 2016) but this is a band with a fifty plus year history that has spent too long coasting on its past glories and just going through the motions in the studio. No more it would seem… I remember seeing an interview with Rudy Schenker from the 80’s where he confessed that his ambition had not been to be the world’s greatest guitar player, but simply to be regarded as a fine song-writer, so it’s absolutely refreshing to hear an album that hits this mark once again. 

From the ballsy opener Gas In The Tank to the fantastically retro power ballad When You Know (Where You Come From) this record achieves a standard and consistency of both writing and delivery that has been missing for far too long. A frustration I have with studio material from the wilderness years, was that there was one or two stronger tracks on a given album, but surrounded by a sea of fillers. With Rock Believer Scorpions have completely bucked this trend. In fact the only material that I would class as filler has been held back for the second disk of the deluxe edition and this ruthless pruning and editing has benefited the outcome enormously. Add to this we have musical and vocal performances that are absolutely top notch and up there with their anthemic best, albeit with a wisely more modern sounding production mix. 

With this record Scorpions just reminded everyone why they have been one of the biggest selling hard rock and metal acts in the history of the genre, which isn’t a bad achievement given their age – not that this seems to be slowing them down in the slightest. 9/10

Godless Truth – Godless Truth (Transcending Obscurity Records) [Matt Cook]

Czech stalwarts Godless Truth have been fully ensconced in the technical death metal scene since the mid-1990s, but haven’t contributed an album since 2004’s Arrogance Of Supreme Power. Make no mistake about it: the band certainly didn’t have any rust to shake off leading up to the crushing new self-titled full-length. They’ve utilized an impressive but certainly not required bevy of guest appearances, most notably Joe Haley (Psycroptic), who not only mixed the behemoth, but also chipped in lead guitar work for The Eyechain. 

I could mention the riffs (of which there were many strong ones); I could wax poetic about the simmering vocals that are in danger of bursting at the seams. But what first caught my ears was the relentless, superb and methodical work put in by Petr Mikeš on drums. On Scissors, his legs simulate a howitzer. On Fortune Time, the drum blasts explode off the kit in bursts. On Bred In Greed, Mikeš opts for a bouncier bass pedal throughout. He exhaustively drums like his life depends on it. The exceptionally punishing percussion is adeptly aided by gigantic guitar work from shred masters Petr Švancara and Ondřej Černobila. 

Breathe Fire barks with the bite of a pit bull with a driving riff that has actual weight, like it’s stomping through the amplifiers. Album closer Wake Up To Obey is nothing short of invigorating. The solo is cataclysmic and dizzying. And to top it all off, Peter Gábor contributes a strong piano tone on RIP Cage which is given more time to breathe as it finishes the song which started off as grimy as ever before descending into technical pandemonium. There’s no fluff on this one. No superfluous solos or show-offy moments. It’s simply a band that is as technical as they are death metal inclined. 8/10

Blood Incantation - Timewave Zero (Century Media Records) [Dr Claire Hanley]

The release of a new Blood Incantation EP evokes a certain emotional experience. In essence, it’s the death-doom obsessed fan’s equivalent of being a child eagerly awaiting Christmas morning. Now, imagine if instead of bringing you the presents you’d been hoping for, Jolly ol’ St Nicholas gave you a few lumps of coal and Rudolph took a dump at the end of your bed. This, ladies and gentlemen, is how I feel about Timewave Zero (correction: how I initially felt). Rapidly cycling through the stages of grief, I went from denial (“this can’t be it!?”), anger (“where the hell is the metal!?”), bargaining (“there has got to be something else coming!?”), depression (“why have they done this!?”), and have finally ended up at acceptance.

Permit me to elaborate. The EP is entirely instrumental accompanied by prominent eerie, atmosphere-building synth elements, with tracks Ea and Io (presumably named after the moons of Jupiter) collectively amounting to 40 minutes of ambient noise. No riffs. No growls. No blastbeats. Forget what you know about Blood Incantation because this record is worlds apart from anything they’ve released. 

This divergence proved quite the shock and came without warning. Inner Paths (To Outer Space) on the last full-length was an instrumental, synth-laden track but how you go straight from the intricately composed yet eye-wateringly heavy space jams on Hidden History Of The Human Race to what greets us on Timewave Zero is a massive stretch, beyond comprehensible logic. While I’m absolutely all for musical evolution, such a rapid departure would make anyone’s head spin at warp speed. The EP is not something I’d actively seek out in normal circumstances, it is – however- nonetheless worthy side-project territory, but sadly my interest has been undeniably diminished by the fact the band chose to label this as ‘Blood Incantation’.

If you’re considering giving it a listen after reading this, just don’t say you haven’t been warned. Ultimately, Timewave Zero is not without its appeal but is certainly not what I signed up for when I hit ‘play’. If you’re predominantly a death metal fan, I can only describe it as going into surgery wanting a nose job but instead, you come out with a rockin’ pair of boobs. Sure, you’re not mad about your new rack, but it’s certainly not the outcome you expected. 3/10

JIRM - The Tunnel, The Well, Holy Bedlam (Ripple Music) [Rich P]

Out there. Really out there. That is my two-sentence description for The Tunnel, The Well, Holy Bedlam the new album from Stockholm’s JIRM. This is meant in the absolute best possible way. Being released on Ripple Music, one tends to think this will be some mighty fine amalgamation of stoner doom goodness, what Ripple does best and better than everyone. But what you get from The Tunnel, The Well, Holy Bedlam is all that heavy but with some serious psych leanings, which you don’t hear enough of in the genre today. There is some heavy trippy stuff going on here. A cosmic experience that both headphones and your favourite mind-altering substance would benefit from.

The Tunnel, The Well, Holy Bedlam kicks off with Liquid Covenant, which is the most straight-ahead song on the record. Swirling, heavy guitars trap you in a soundscape that prepares you for the trip ahead. I absolutely love the guitar sound on this album, and right from the first note you are sucked in by Karl Apelmo and Micke Pettersson’s playing. And man can Apelmo belt out those vocals. The harmonized vocals at about the five-minute mark are spot on and goosebump producing. This is just the start of the trip, like the upward tick, tick, tick of a rollercoaster. 

You head really starts to expand with the twelve minute plus Deeper Dwell. The guitar slowly and hypnotically drags you in until about midway when what seems like every instrument in the world starts playing at once, until suddenly a soft sax interlude brings you back down, all the while Apelmo is siren-singing you through the psychedelic landscape, until you hit a heavy bump three quarters of the way though that starts your descent towards hell, the band (and the sax) screaming all the way. 

 Next stop on the journey is You Fly, which feels like just that, the decent to hell was thwarted by a psychedelic angel that grabs you and starts the flight in the opposite direction, still accompanied, now by more urgent vocals and sax, until your flight steadies with an acoustic interlude. Now it’s time for your judgement, with the next track, Repent In Blood. The vocals are once again front and center as Apelmo passionately describes how “cold turns to heat” and “dry turns to wet” as his battle of good versus evil continues. This is my favorite track on the record. 

Carried Away keeps the heavy psych train rolling, continuing the amazing vocals trend and the guitars chugging you down the tracks until you reach dueling solos at the crossroads. Pestilence closes out this journey perfectly, with an Alice In Chains kind of groove before closing with a heavy psych soundscape that is the perfect end to this amazing quest.

So, it looks like I made up my own concept album with The Tunnel, The Well, Holy Bedlam, which is why it is so great. It brings you in to its world to the point where you feel every note and every howl. We need more excellent heavy psych in out lives, and JIRM brings it and brings it hard. Highly recommended. 9/10

Reviews: Farseer, Black Diamonds, Sanhedrin, Eulogy (Reviews By Matt Bladen & Simon Black)

Farseer - Crowned By The Hammer (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]

R.I.P Farseer 2007 - 2022

Since their previous record Fall Before The Dawn a lot has changed in the Farseer camp, David (guitar) and Baz (bass) left the group in 2021, while this album was in the mastering stages leaving just Bisset (vocals), Micah (guitars) and Alasdair (drums) as the sole trio. This record was supposed to be the two members swansong with the band, however as the album neared completion the band decides that Farseer would come to an end with Crowned By The Hammer. So what have this Glasgow metal crew left us with as their legacy? Well their debut full length brought lots of Teutonic Helloween influences, with touches of NWOBHM and speed metal too, Crowned By The Hammer retains these influences but it also brings in thrash and the harder edged American style of power metal. 

This latter sound is encapsulated on first track Into Oblivion which is cinematic and gets everything going with some thrashing riffs, the guitar duo of Micha and David showcasing their power. Following on from this is The Valient Dead, which is a speed metal explosion that's built on a crushing rhythm section of Baz and Alistair it has a really heavy backing but also tonnes of melodic lead playing. There's a lot to this record, it's more diverse than its predecessor, touches of Blind Guardian come on the proggy Calamitas where Bisset's vocals are used well against the off-kilter riffs, though the synths on it sound a bit like a child's toy. As both a follow up and a final album Crowned By The Hammer stands up as a way for Farseer to cement their legacy as a band. 

With the dramatic Grief Is The Price Of Love which sits in the middle of the album is a Iron Maiden style epic, the battering Karaethon is one of the picks on this album and King Forevermore is a dead ringer for a Nevermore song. I could go on about the myriad of influences on this album but what we have here is the final testament to a bloody good UK metal band. The members will hopefully go off to other things with other bands but the legacy of Farseer will forever be kept by Fall Before The Dawn and Crowned By The Hammer. 8/10

Black Diamonds - Floor 13 (Metalapolis Records) [Simon Black]

I’ve not had the pleasure before, but it seems that Switzerland’s Black Diamonds have managed to make a nice little dent in a scene that these days seems to be dominated by more Northern European acts. Whilst this more traditional 80’s influenced hard rock and melodic metal isn’t for everyone, it’s still got an incredibly loyal fan base and mini festival circuit of its own sufficient to allow acts in the genre to come and go like hairspray was still readily acceptable in public. The fact that this filler release until full studio album number five comes along has even happened underlines this point somewhat, but hey - they also have a new guitarist in Chris Johnson to run in, so a delta release like this makes perfect sense.

What we have here are a number of studio and live cover versions, some live renditions mainly of tracks from 2021’s No-Tell Hotel album and the odd acoustic track thrown in for good measure. The first thing I have to note, is just how damned good even this stop gap material actually is. I had not come across the band before, but on the strength of this listen I’ve already gone back and had an archival rummage, and have to say I’m impressed.

First off, the quality of the performances is top notch here. Live recordings on these sorts of release can be a bit hit and miss, but the quality of the mix and sound is really crystal clear, allowing all the players space to breath and deliver … and deliver they do. Vocalist Mich Kehl has an incredibly powerful voice and an even more charismatic presence. Last album’s title track, along with Turn To Dust and My Fate get the live treatment, but I also loved their rendition of Dio’s Rainbow In The Dark – a track covered often and butchered frequently, but here rendered with love, respect, polish and vocal credibility.

The Gary Moore/Phil Lynott classic Out In The Fields is also giving a loving rendition, as is Jumpin’ Jack Flash, although I’m not sure the down-tuning does it any favours and in fact the only track that’s under the par is a reworking of an early staple of their Black Thunder. The acoustic version of Reaching For The Stars however, is absolutely fab, and stands head and shoulders above its original version, making this a worthwhile collector’s edition for this track along. I’m not sure we need the behind the scenes track either, but overall I’m loving the rich sound and charismatic delivery this band have to show whilst we wait eagerly for album number five. 7/10

Sanhedrin - Lights On (Metal Blade Records) [Simon Black]

Brooklin based Sanhedrin like many acts have had their plans put on hold over the last two years. This crucial third album got completely shanghaied and like many of their peers the band have had to learn the art of remote writing and recording. That’s had a very strange effect on their sound, which to this point had sounded intimate, fresh and garage-studio in its tone and immediacy. To be honest if you compare this to the sessions of 2019’s The Poisoner album, it sounds slightly more flat and lacking in energy despite the vastly improved production sound. What they gained in technical sound-capturing they lose in edginess and that slightly dangerous ‘as live’ feel of the predecessor. 

Musically this record is still very clearly from the same act though, retaining the same complex yet subtle song arrangements and yet it is more cohesive and structured than what went before. Added to which Erica Stoltz’s vocals feel very different this time out. This time she is singing in a much lower key, with a more guttural edge, which gives a more Rock ’n’ Roll feel to things, but loses the enigmatic haunting quality that attracted me to them in the first place. When you get over the glaring contrast and sound from the past, you can then start to listen to it for what it is, which is a highly engaging and much more strongly written piece of work. 

They may have lost some of the rough edges and some of the mood, but the songwriting is a vast improvement and I find myself enjoying it somewhat despite my reservations about the change of direction. That home studio feel may have gone, but what replaces it is a much tighter delivery machine and the chance for the songs to step forward a bit. 6/10

Eulogy - Live & Raw (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]

Live & Raw is a three track EP from South Wales heavy rockers Eulogy recorded featuring two new songs Fading Sun and Breathe along with a reworked version of Back To Life. Now this is a pretty apt album title as these tracks were recorded in a live setting in front of a crowd so the trio of tracks feel like a shirt gig completed with between song banter, giving you a feel for what Eulogy do on stage. Now a heavy rocking four piece they bring a radio friendly style of heavy rock with some great vocals that are heard very clearly even on top of the slightly muddied instrumentation. 

So Fading Sun gets us going with a Metallica-like riff, Breathe brings a touch the American metal scene as it slows things down, finally Back To Life closes the EP with a song that they have played numerous times live but here it does sound a bit more powerful than before. Live & Raw is an EP that keeps Eulogy's music out there before the release of their new album. Live & Raw is a meaty morsel that will keep hunger at bay. 6/10

Reviews: Crowbar, Sabaton, Vio-Lence, Endtime (Reviews By Paul Scoble, Simon Black, Richard Oliver & David Karpel)

Crowbar - Zero And Below (MNRK Heavy) [Paul Scoble]

Anyone who has been into heavy music for more than a few years will be very aware of Crowbar. The New Orleans based band have been active since 1990. In the thirty two years the band has been going they are now onto album number twelve. Crowbar released their first album, Obedience Thru Suffering in 1991, and their last, The Serpent Only Lies in 2016, so this new album has been 6 years in the making, quite a long time for Crowbar. 

So what have Kirk Windstein on vocals and guitar, Tommy Buckley on drums, Matthew Brunson on guitar and Shane Wesley on bass been up to since their last album? In a shock move for the fans, the band they have made an album of progressive free form Jazz! No, I’m joking of course, it sounds like Crowbar, all Crowbar albums sound like Crowbar. This may seem like a criticism, but it’s not; AC/DC and Motorhead both stuck to a formula, never moving too much from a sound that worked, and that hasn’t dampened my love for those bands. 

The real question isn’t if this is groundbreaking or not (it isn’t), but if it’s a good Crowbar album, and on this Zero And Below scores very well. As we all know Crowbar play big, heavy and in places very sludgy doom, if you’ve heard them before you will instantly recognise the sound and style. The album opens with Fear Will Bind You, which kicks things off in a fine fashion, with a mix of fast, driving Hardcore influenced riffs and other sections that are very slow and very heavy. 

Next up comes Her Evil Is Sacred which has a very heavy opening which introduces a slow, sleazy, song that slinks and slithers along. There is a return of the ridiculously heavy part from the beginning before the slithering returns and takes the song to its end. Confess To Nothing which is slow, measured and has a relentless feel to it, the chorus is slightly bigger than the verse section. The tempo doesn’t really change throughout which makes the song feel unrelenting and driving. 

Chemical GODZ is a mid-paced, purposeful stomp of a song that slows down occasionally for tri-tone infused Sabbath style riffs. Denial Of The Truth has a slow and heavy intro, before the song drops down to just drums and vocals for a measured and introverted verse, the chorus adds some heavy guitars, before returning to the minimal sound of drums and vocals. The track picks up the pace and intensity for a fast ending. Bleeding From Every Hole, the shortest track on the album, is a mix of fast hardcore sections and slow and pounding heavy as fuck sections. Turns up, Kicks you in the bollocks and then runs away laughing. Its Always Worth The Gain is mid-paced staccato riffs, mixed with other mid-paced riffs that flow beautifully, there are some fantastic guitar harmonies and a very powerful ending. 

Crush Negativity is a crushingly heavy beast of a song, some of the riffs flow really nicely and work very well with Kirks vocals (which are very good right through this album, but on this song they are the highlight), and some are more about pounding you into the ground, they are so heavy. The song comes to an end with blast of fast hardcore. Reanimating A Lie, is mid-paced and relentless, the song has an unstoppable feel with lots of energy, and a very slow and heavy end. 

The album closes with the title track Zero And Below. Zero And Below is slow and slithery with some very dark harmonies and a tuneful and melodic end, a very pleasing way to end the song and album. Zero And Below is a great Crowbar album. If you are already a fan, then definitely jump straight in, this is a good one, enjoy it! If you have never heard Crowbar before, then this would be a great one to start with, it gives you a great introduction to Crowbar’s sound. Most of all, the material on Zero And Below will work very well live, and as that is Crowbars natural habitat, this bodes well for future Crowbar live sets! 8/10

Sabaton - The War To End All Wars (Nuclear Blast) [Simon Black]

Power metal is a genre that here in the UK has a fraction of the support that it has on the continent. Part of this is down to the fact that bands don’t put in the touring work early enough in their careers playing the UK toilet circuit and consequently the fan base they need doesn’t get the chance to build. The booking agents who have a stranglehold on the market don’t help, as once an act does start to get somewhere in Europe, they ask for telephone number fees for shows over here for a band that hasn’t put the ground work in. So consequently unless a band has broken the market by touring as part of a support slot package, we simply don’t get to see them here, save for the odd token London show - usually in a mid-week graveyard slot in a venue a fraction of the size of what they might be paying in France, or Germany. Sabaton have bucked this trend. 

They put the work in early and a lot of people got to know them from the support slots they did with Dragonforce years back, meaning they were a safe booking bet for Bloodstock, who definitely took them to the next level and now Download is in on the act. They were on the point of an arena tour over here before the last dregs of Covid deferred it for a while, but the point is they put the work in and are a safe bet for a promoter. That’s why they are the band with the biggest selling Swedish metal album to date (Carolus Rex), along with the fact that live they really know how to deliver the goods. Given that on paper Sabaton are like many, many Euro power bands – they churn out consistently similar content every album cycle, there’s lots of thematic and story concepts on the subject of war and you know exactly what you are going to get each and every time. 

The difference between Sabaton and the endless cookie-cutter bands is that the quality is so consistently catchy and of such high quality that it really doesn’t matter if it feels overly familiar. This is a band that not only know how to craft each and every melodic and hook-laden track in a way that you cannot help but tap along to, but they are also experts into weaving them into a fluid conceptual album arc in a way that doesn’t bore or lose the audience. Part of the longevity and the distinctiveness is the fact this band revolves around sole-surviving founder member Joakim Brodén. His gravelly voice is so very different from most of the high end screaming of many power metal bands for a start, and I think that’s part of the reason why they are so much bigger than many of their contemporaries. 

Then there’s the fact that these boys really know how to craft a catchy track. There isn’t one song on here that doesn’t have that appeal, and ten albums of honing that skill have forged a band that manages to keep it sounding fresh and original each time. Then there’s the subject matter…This album is about the First World War and is the companion piece to 2019’s The Great War and listening to this album whilst a real war is unfolding around us is chilling to say the least. As I write this, Russia is busy bombing Ukraine back into the Stone Age on the grounds that if that lunatic Putin can’t have it, no-one can. 

It will either turn you off of listening to this record completely, or in my case add a much deeper emotional wrench and some empathy for the poor bastards fighting for their lives, or being ordered to kill people they recently called their neighbours because they have no choice. That’s what makes Christmas Truce in particular so damned powerful. It’s about that moment when German and British soldiers stopped shooting on Christmas Day 1914, but it’s a moment the world is watching and waiting to happen again in the East right now. Either way, it’s also one of Sabaton’s finest moments and is them at their finely polished best. 10/10

Vio-Lence - Let The World Burn (Metal Blade Records) [Richard Oliver]

This is a day that thrash metal maniacs across the globe never thought would happen - the release of new material from Bay Area cult thrashers Vio-Lence. The band originally split up in 1993 and apart from the odd reunion show here and there the odds were that the band were dead and over. That is until guitarist Phil Demmel resigned from his position with Machine Head and with vocalist Sean Killian having just recovered from kidney failure and a life saving transplant “this was the moment for the return of Vio-Lence”. 

The band have returned with a short, sharp and thrashtastic five song E.P. titled Let The World Burn and it very much harks back to that classic Bay Area thrash sound with the band ripping it out like they did back in the day on 1988’s legendary Eternal Nightmare album and the bruising follow-up 1990’s Oppressing The Masses. It is pure old school thrash but seen through modern lenses and with a suitably heavy production and mix. Vio-Lence were always on the more violent and aggressive side of the thrash coin (hence the band's name) and the material on Let The World Burn is no exception. The bands long break and the intervening years have certainly not softened them from the bloodthirsty opener Flesh From Bone, the bludgeoning attack of Screaming Always, the crushing chug and shredding solos of Upon Their Cross, the pounding aggression of Gato Negro and the chaotic attack of the title track. 

The line-up of the band is ⅗ the same as it was when the band originally split up with former Overkill guitarist Bobby Gustafson joining on guitars and former Fear Factory bassist Christian Olde Wolbers joining on bass. They join the already established trio of Phil Demmel on guitars, Perry Strickland on drums and Sean Killian on vocals. Sean has always had a polarising vocal style which some people hate but I have always enjoyed his unhinged snarl. His vocals are on a very slightly lower register than from the band's heyday but they still sound as effective as ever matched with the sheer aggression of the music. Sean has also written the lyrics for this release with the music written by Phil. 

After a break of 29 years it’s safe to say that expectations are high for new music from Vio-Lence and it definitely delivers. With only five songs it is an E.P. that leaves you wanting more but a short and condensed release means that it is quality over quantity. With the band planning on regularly releasing new music and playing shows everywhere they can we definitely won’t be waiting long for our next dose of Bay Area thrash carnage. It’s safe to say welcome the fuck back Vio-Lence. 8/10

Endtime - Impending Doom (Heavy Psych Sounds Records) [David Karpel]

When the album cover is a ghastly poster for a horror movie, the tone is set. If that doesn’t grab the listener, the opening movie excerpt will: “With this knife do I draw out the blood, which is thy life!” So goes the start of Harbinger Of Disease, the dire first song on Impending Doom, a new album from Swedish band Endtime (formerly Saterniids) on Heavy Psych Sounds. Plucked from a scene of human sacrifice in the 1968 flick The Devil Rides Out, it perfectly reflects the atmosphere of these 5 explosive songs. Drums kick in along with the toll of a church bell and deliberate doom riffs crawl one limb at a time out of the ground with a snarl. Singer Christian Chatfield tears into the crunch sounding like a sluggish Steve Souza (Exodus), but ever more diabolical for the lack of speed, thrash, swing, or groove. With his slow-rip enunciation, he stretches each word not for melody but to match the trudge of the drums, bass, and guitars holding a steady--if pummeling--momentum. 

This is the consistent formula through all 5 tracks. It stood out to me, the distinct lack of variety, but I’m pretty sure that’s also the point here. Horror, after all, is blunt af. And what’s a classic horror movie without the threat of a nuclear holocaust? Without mercy, ICBM blasts as harsh as the waves of sudden shame that come to us when we consider what we know about what kinds of evil humans are capable of doing to each other and everything else on the planet. In this sepulchral day and age, it is no wonder that doom not only persists, but thrives. Endtime let the atmospherics of cynical horror–of the fantastical and of the real–soak through their measured, lurching, riffs and Chatfield’s shredding vocal performance. The end of ICBM transitions well into insane They Live (Can a more doomy movie reference be any clearer?). 

While the pace doesn’t pick up, synths and slow rolling drums erupt abruptly in tumbling walls of noise and sludge layered with mountain destroying riffs, evil synths, and those demonic barking vocals. Cities On Fire With The Burning Flesh Of Men (either a reference to a Dylan lyric or to a depiction of the punishment inflicted upon Sodom and Gomorrah or both) is an exploration of blithering rage. When the funeral keys start on Living Graves, the listener is well conditioned for the relentless riffage and time/space-continuum-tearing vocals cementing Endtime’s Impending Doom as the perfect soundtrack for modern misanthropy. 7/10

Review: Marillion (Review By Matt Bladen)

Marillion – An Hour Before It’s Dark (EarMusic)

After 30 odd years and 20 albums many bands are just riding the wave, playing jukebox, retrospective shows and half decent new albums as an excuse to go out and tour. Few bands are releasing quality, few bands are still writing and recording some of the best music of their career, but then few bands are Marillion. A fiercely independent act always, trends often bypass the band, they write and play what they want however they want. Having been at the forefront of the crowdfunding revolution, they are now given their rightful status at the highest echelon of the British prog scene. Now many acts would rest on their laurels but as I said many are not Marillion so following on from 2016’s F*** Everyone And Run (F E A R), which was quite rightly hailed as a masterpiece, the band have released their 20th studio album An Hour Before It’s Dark.

As its predecessor was the dark, this record is the light, feeling much more upbeat musically, though lyrically still broaching difficult topics, it ultimately is about hope, the lyrics reflecting on old wounds and the passing of time, along with the crazy state of affairs in the world, but with an optimism that if we show some unity we can bring back the balance towards what is good. Like with the previous album four of the songs here are segmented into parts, allowing them to unfurl naturally and create their own identity. Be Hard On Yourself is what gets us going on this 20th studio release and it’s a propellant effort, with a driving bassline from Pete Trewavas and insistent drumming from Ian Mosley, shifting through various motions as the theatrical vocals of Steve Hogarth draw you in to An Hour Before It’s Dark’s first optimistic track. Having heard this on their tour late last year, it carries as much wow factor as then, but as H himself said giddily, it’s not even the best song on the record.

There is a song here that could possibly be the best Marillion have ever produced, which is the wonderfully evocative Care, which closes the record with majesty. But overall, An Hour Before It’s Dark oozes quality, every Steve Rothery power chord, melodic phase and shining solo is a gift, Trewavas’ bass lines are an independent entity but also anchor what’s going on while Mosley’s drumming is expressive and bright. Having been produced at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, like the preceding record, it sounds wonderful, the right mix of analogue warmth and technological trickery. Murder Machines is an excellent single for the album, H singing "I put my arms around her and killed her with love" so tenderly but powerfully, the lyrics here dealing with lockdowns and isolation, along with relationships.

Mark Kelly's piano and synths drive the emotional The Crow And The Nightingale, a beautiful dark piece of balladry that is so associated with modern day Marillion, awash with lush soundscapes and introspection. It's simply beautiful as the first slow, flowing number on the album, a real tribute to Marillions use of tone and pace as it cascades into another brilliant Rothery solo to close out. Definitely this albums Pink Floyd moment. Reprogram The Gene meanwhile is a clarion call ending with the lyric "let's all be friends" its' yet again inspiring unity, a simple message but a complicated musical palette. Sierra Leone yet again brings more lyrical and vocal brilliance from H, weaving a tale against the sublime playing, it's almost dreamlike, drifting through it's 5 parts, as the mood fluxuates, although the whimsical style of the track comes through on all parts.

As I've said the idea of optimism is pertinent to An Hour Before It's Dark, it comes through ll on every song all the way until the stirring finale. The last song is of course Care, which I mentioned earlier and is not only this albums best cut, but one of the bands best songs period. The opening sets the tone with some whispered vocals, a full wall of keys/synths and some funky bass riffage, as we segue into the second part of the song which is actually the title track, I guess, repeating bleeps and some cascading drums, bring fourth part 3 which is mostly just a hair raising guitar solo. Marillion leave us with the final part of Care, a cathartic, explosion of sentiment and warmth, reminding you to seek out the good as the choral backing swells into the ethereal realms. These choirs come in the beginning, middle and end giving the record some continuity.

This is a magnificent record from a band that are influential, incisive and incredible. While F*** Everyone And Run (F E A R) was born in darkness, An Hour Before It's Dark is a journey towards the light. Perfect. 10/10

Reviews: Midnight, Sylvaine, Neptune Power Federation, Goodbye June (Reviews By Dr Claire Hanley, Matt Cook, David Karpel & Rich P)

Midnight - Let There Be Witchery (Metal Blade Records) [Claire Hanley]

Never a band to shy away from demonstrating their penchant for the perverse, Midnight return with their fifth full-length record, Let There Be Witchery. Telepathic Nightmare opens proceedings with a grinding descent into oblivion. Blackened speed metal at its finest, the fast-paced tempo delivered by the pulsing drums is layered with those characteristically unhinged, angst-ridden riffs that fans of the band will know and love. Yet, the tone and overall aural aesthetic of the record is noticeably grittier than that of the last album – Rebirth By Blasphemy. 

This is particularly prominent in frontman Athenar’s vocals, which sound even more ferociously feral than usual and only serve to strengthen the raw and rotten appeal of the record. Frothing Foulness is full of bravado, with a down-tempo chorus section that punctuates the otherwise driving rhythm of the track, and the emphasis on the chorus continues with chants of “In Sinful Secrecy” (alongside an intro that makes one hell of a statement, then unleashes this incredibly anthemic number).

If you haven’t felt the urge to properly spiral into anarchy by this point, Nocturnal Molestation will surely have you cutting loose. Possessing some of the catchiest hooks I’ve ever had the pleasure of abusing my ears with, and the mother of all gnarly, face-contorting solos, this track will have you starting riots (if only in your living room). Further highlighting their aptitude for the abysmal, More Torment takes the tempo down and dirty, as does Villainy Wretched Villainy. 

But that untamed energy always unapologetically returns; most notably in Snake Obsession and Let There Be Sodomy, the latter being every bit as deliciously depraved as it sounds. The almost military marching beat that features in Devil Virgin is a noticeable novelty; framed alongside some seriously groove-laden licks, and the crushingly infectious momentum of Szex Witchery holds the listener captive until the dark, ravaging outro fades into nothingness.  

Athenar himself describes the new album as ‘a Midnight record’. Hardly a bad thing, you know what you’re in for (I myself will eagerly continue to jump on that ride until I spew, and then probably go back for more), and Let There Be Witchery undeniably offers up unparalleled intensity. Those who are looking for substantial variation from previous records, and within the record itself, might be disappointed but have no doubt missed the point. This is music to lose your inhibitions to, and it absolutely delivers in that domain. 9/10 

Sylvaine – Nova (Season Of Mist) [Matt Cook]

I know it’s not always good practice to put the cart before the horse when it comes to album-of-the-year candidates. But sometimes when you hear something truly remarkable, it strikes a certain chord in your gut, and you have no choice but to run with it. 

Enter Sylvaine, the one-woman multi-instrumentalist project headed by Kathrine Shepard. She takes on the vocals, guitars, bass, synths and arrangements. And Nova presents the listener with seven songs of diverse genres and careful compositions that simply stops me in my tracks. 

Filled with post-rock, shoegaze, doom and blackgaze, Nova awakens by way of a stunning choral piece with an atmosphere that is teleportive in its nature, almost achieving an out-of-body experience. Running over four-and-a-half minutes, it effectively holds its own and sets the stage for an authoritative 50 minutes to come. 

Mono No Aware explodes with punishing blackgaze wails that are so tortured and chaotic and alien that it could easily be delivered by someone who just witnessed their entire family bludgeoned to death one by one. The riff is instantly recognizable, and a post-Rock section is as stunning as it is conflicting, but as we are learning and will learn, Shepard is spot on with her compositions and the conflict is merely a perfect blend. 

Nowhere, Still Somewhere acts as a shoegaze fan’s sanctuary. The drum line is nice and simple, on par with the genre. In no way does it derail what was heard previously. Shepard peppers the song with her familiarly soothing singing. And then there is Fortapt. Translated as ‘Lost’ in English, she is anything but. Another remarkably composed song that clocks in at just under 12 minutes, the doomy guitar reaches Ahab levels which soon melts into a calming riff. Blackgaze vocals reemerge from the grave (torture chamber?). Shepard, who is depicted nude on the album cover, truly lays it all out on the table. 

Nova touches on various genres and styles yet still manages to create and flaunt a Sylvaine feel. Nothing ever sounds out of place and every second is meticulously accounted for. Though only released in the first week of March, Nova without question must be in the discussion for album of the year. The work of a single person, it’s a journey filled with pain, melancholy and self-reflection. 9/10

Neptune Power Federation - Le Demon De L’Amour (Cruz Del Sur Music) [David Karpel]

This album is so much freaking fun. The Neptune Power Federation’s Le Demon De L’Amour feels like a convocation for a theatrical, rock musical church service that slakes the thirst of fans looking for a worshipful party at the feet of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Rock Of Ages with a soundtrack that conjure 80s AOR, AC/DC, and Heart, among others. The band is super electrifying and tight, handling the various styles and time changes with expertise, but the highlight performance is the Imperial Priestess Screaming Loz Sutch, she of diminutive stature and galaxy sized voice. Easy comparisons to Pat Benatar or Ann Wilson can be drawn, but in the harder songs, Sutch also reminds me of Andrea Zollo from Pretty Girls Make Graves. 

This Priestess has her own playful style that swings between those matriarchs of rock to a gothy metal punch and a rudy punk in a span of 8 broken-hearted love songs. Weeping On The Morn starts the service and my, oh, my what a ripper of an opening! Triumphant, Europe-like, rising high guitars make a head-turning transition into a dirty Motley Crue-like anthemic swing. It also stretches over a risky 8 minutes. I love long songs. And I love when artists do something unexpected in their genre. While this track in its entirety jams, the long jam did feel long and I would still have loved the song if it had ended at 4 minutes. 

My Precious One is a killer track that at 3 minutes shows how good NPF can be in a shorter time-span. It’s a straight up 80s rocker with driving hair metal momentum and flashy solos galore. Baby You’re Mine exemplifies the aforementioned unexpected. With slapping bass lines, it’s a high-energy, funky af, alternative rock, college radio-ready song that the band pulls off with panache, though I’m not sure it fits in with the rest of the album. 

(So, maybe too unexpected?) Loving You Is Killing Me is an up-tempo song with shakers, stuttering, driving chords, and Sutch, again, fully bloomed. The Heart comparisons are impossible to ignore here and impossible not to enjoy. Stay With Thee is another up-tempo ripper given luster and glimmer with back up harmonies. That’s followed by charging Emmaline, another driving rocker that celebrates the band's progressive side, includes some witchy-ness that’s gone before you realize, and again Screaming Loz Sutch’s vocals demand your attention. 

Madly In Love sounds like the closing number of a musical that includes sweet harmonics, gritty guitars, and tons of energy. If Madly In Love sounds like a closing number, We Beasts Of The Night is the encore. Meatloaf is dead; long live Meatloaf! It’s actually a really pretty duo with Chris Penney of the band Private Function that is the most Paradise By The Dashboard Light song since Paradise By The Dashboard Light. While loads of modern bands seek to recapture a classic sound, reshape it, remix it, and modernize it with noodling and doodling, some stick to the tropes because, done well, they work.

The Neptune Power Federation fit well into the first group. While they pay a faithful homage to their musical roots, NPF create a completely new experience in their campy, full throttled version. This is a party album. While Sutch’s delivery can sometimes be too powerful, and there are points where the harmonies feel unnecessary, overall these songs are a joy to listen to. When Imperial Priestess Screaming Loz Sutch is at her pulpit, give a listen and you may find yourself converted. 8/10

Goodbye June: See Where The Night Goes (Earache Records) [Rich P]

Who was/is THE great American Rock Band? Aerosmith? Pearl Jam? Kiss? Definitely not the Eagles. My point is there is not a clear answer to this question. Ask ten people you may get ten different answers. The Tennessee trio Goodbye June would love to take that title and run with it, and their latest effort, See Where The Night Goes, the band takes their best shot, but does it get them the win?

The immediate comparisons that I read about when this band are mentioned are AC/DC and Led Zeppelin. I think both are lazy comparisons, but AC/DC would be the closest to me. Just because vocalist/guitarist Landon Milbourn can hit some serious high notes does not make them a Zeppelin clone for sure. To me, what Greta Van Fleet is to Zeppelin, Goodbye June is to AC/DC.

Closer comparisons to me would be By Your Side era Black Crowes or a more polite Buckcherry. That is not to say being heavily influenced by a classic band is bad. Something like 84% of the bands I listen to kneel at the altar of Iommi, so I get it. The problem with the AC/DC comparison is when I hear anything belted out by Bon or Brian and that Angus guitar tone there is an immediate feeling of danger. 

The club or bar that they were playing at in the early days or even the 20,000-seat area at any point though the nineties could go off the rails and something could get smashed. That edge, that sense of danger, is just not there, which may not have been what they were going for in the first place. When Milbourn sings “…I’m hanging from the chandelier…” on Baby I’m Back, I am not buying it, or at least he cleaned it up later in the day. Unlike when Bon is describing his murder for hire services, and you really can see him sitting in a crappy apartment waiting for that phone call. 

These guys can play for sure. The opening track, Step Aside, is a great opener, and sets up the album nicely and has the full strengths of the band on display. The guitar work is great throughout. The title track is a good straight ahead rock radio song (is there still rock radio?) even if it reminds me of a toned down Moneytalks. Breathe And Attack is another standout track and reminds me of another classic be it in a sanitized Hells Bells.

Take A Ride sounds more like something out of the late eighties sunset strip scene, when Milbourn is offering his “slice of American Pie” and drips that L.A. swag that made a lot of those bands rich for a couple of years at least. The production shines through on these and throughout See Where The Night Goes and is a major high spot for the album. This album excels when the guitar work is front and center. 

On the bluesy Nothing and the rocker Three Chords the band shines. Those are my two favorites for that very reason. These guys should lean more into their bluesy side for sure. The closer, Black, has a killer solo that really makes the playing center stage and closing the record strong. Set your expectations for a fun, straight ahead, radio friendly rock record and you will enjoy this. Ignore the comparisons and focus on those tracks where the guitar work shines and this should be a fun spring/summer record for those of you looking to drink some beers in the backyard while debating who is the best American band of all time. The correct answer by the way is Credence Clearwater Revival. 7/10

Reviews: Beth Hart, The Great Discord, Felskinn, Dan Patlansky (Reviews By Matt Bladen)

Beth Hart - Tribute To Led Zeppelin (Provogue/Mascot Label Group)

So many bands have covered Led Zeppelin, they are an influence for probably thousands of bands around the world. So here's another set of Led Zeppelin tributes however unlike the recent record that effectively just re-recorded one album by The Rolling Stones, this album is a mixture of songs performed almost as if it was a 'best of' or a 'live set'. So already were on to a winner, but add to this that the songs are performed by the incredibly talented Beth Hart accompanied by a hotshot band and a string section. Something that has been done before by Heart but never as an entire album been done like this by a high profile performer. 

The idea came from producer Rob Cavallo and engineer Doug McKean when during the recording of Hart's previous album she performed a cover of Whole Lotta Love (which she has done for a while live) a light bulb went on to do an entire album. It didn't come to fruition until the lockdown with Hart in heavy frame of mind she recorded her vocals to the instrumentals created by Cavallo on guitar along with Tim Pierce. Chris Chaney on bass, Jamie Muhoberac on keys there's also Dorian Crozier and Matt Laug on drums with orchestral arrangements by David Campbell. 

Musically the compositions have that epic magic that Zep managed to bring to their music the heavy rock sound fusing well with the orchestral manoeuvres. They don't move away from how the originals sound because why would you? This is all about paying homage to the band as accurately as possible but with a cinematic scope and those incredible vocals from Beth Hart. She channels Percy's machismo and power throughout adding her own swagger to it. 

The opening trio are Whole Lotta Love, Kashmir and Stairway To Heaven, yeah they've been done millions of times and here they're just as good as you want them to be but this album really shines with the other 6 songs, The Crunge is a great choice, Good Times Bad Times is full of energy but the two medleys and the final song are where this record hangs it's hat. Dancing Days/When The Levee Breaks is a inspired both songs knitted together perfectly for maximum effect as No Quarter/Babe I'm Gonna Leave You is oozing with emotion. 

The finale is The Rain Song where we get the full effect of Zep and Beth Hart's collective power, Hart having always had the spirit of Zeppelin throughout her career. Yes it's a covers record but a good covers record with A-list performances all round. A must for Led Zeppelin and Beth Hart fans. 8/10

The Great Discord - Deam Morte (Pazuzu Recordings)

Deam Morte translates from Latin to "Goddess Of Death" and it's thrilling culmination of what Swedish avant-garde progressive metal band The Great Discord have been leading up to in this first phase of their career. Frontwoman Fia Kempe is the creative force behind the band and it's her eclectic vocals and Feminist lyrics that are the cornerstone of this new album, sounding pissed off one minute and broken the next, she evokes the Goddess Of Death throughout destroying on the modern progressive crush of Noonday Devil and Avarice. 

Now you could go on for hours trying to explain what genre this album falls into, however it would be futile as The Great Discord have always been so eclectic that really only the words progressive or experimental can cover. Wildfire is built around twitching electronics and some dreamy vocals from Kempe, Dies Irae brings industrial crushing whereas No Light has a uplifting Eurythmics meets Lady Gaga meets metal amalgamation, ending the record on a high. 

I'll be honest though having seen the band live on record you don't really come close to how terrifying and crushingly heavy they are on stage. Though personally I'd love to see the Gula played through a huge speakers. Yet more oddness from these Swedes that pleases and confuses. 7/10  

Felskinn - Enter The Light (ROAR! Rock Of Angels Records)

Swiss melodic metal band Felskinn come roaring back with their fourth album Enter The Light. Frontman Andy Portmann is again joined by bassist Beat Schaub and they have put together a new line up that features Martin Rauber (Wolfpakk) and Tom Graber (ex-Crystal Ball) on guitars, Ronnie Wolf (Lunatica) on drums, the two guitarists co-writing the album with Portman, while Rauber produces the record which is mixed/mastered by Jacob Hansen. 

Enter The Light is a really upbeat record, taking heavily from the Teutonic metal scene with a particular influence of a band such as Edguy, Freedom Call and Masterplan, the Edguy elements come from Andy Portmann's vocals which are brilliant while musically they have decent fusion of pumping melodic metal and raise your fist and yell hard rock. 

The PR that came with this record states that they consider their music upbeat, and with tracks such as Enter The Light, Your Life Is Mine and Driven they prove that they do prefer to keep the pace going. There also seems to be a bit of a Christian theme to the lyrics but not overly so. Enter The Light is Felskin revitalised after a 5 year gap since their last release. For melodic metal fans it's a treat. 7/10  

Dan Patlansky - Shelter Of Bones (Virgin Music Label)

Dan Patlansky keeps things classic in his blues, yeah there's modern twist as you'd want from this hotshot South African, but Shelter Of Bones sticks to the classic blues styles adding a few rock n roll flourishes for good measure on the strutting Selfish Lover, which not only showcases Dan's playing but also his soulful vocals. Shelter Of Bones was recorded over a three year period the pandemic helping him to craft the record the way he wanted without much worry of timescales. He also produced the album so it sounded just how he wanted it too. 

Accompanying him here are Dean Barrett and Tom Gatza on keys, the latter adding some extra emotion to the late night balladry of Lost. Andy Maritz takes up the drum stool and there are myriad of bassists plucking on this record. Shelter Of Bones is a blues record through and through with moody atmospheres on I'll Keep Trying and Sweet Memories Patlansky is in his element here, but it does sound as if he's emulating some of the bigger names in the game. There have been some killer blues records already this year and even though I appreciate what Patlansky is doing, for me this album does petter off a bit. 6/10

Reviews: Naxatras, The Same River, Mind Erasure, Trailer Park Girl (Reviews By Matt Bladen)

Naxatras - IV (Self Released)

The fourth album from Greek psych/proggers Naxatras, sees them expanding their scope yet again. What was once a trio of jam rock journeymen, exploring the realms of mind expanding music, is now a four piece adding synths/organs/keys to the mix, for yet another shift in their sound. Featuring John Delias (guitar/vocals), John Vagenas (bass/vocals), Kostas Charizanis (drums/percussion) and Pantelis Kargas (keys/synths), Naxatras have been steadily moving forward in their own expressive creativity, recently featured in one of the Onassis Foundations, Stages A/Live shows where they provided and audio visual feast from rural Akontisma in Kavala. IV is a bit more song focussed than their previous feasts, heavily influenced by bands like Pink Floyd, Camel, Hawkwind and King Crimson. 

The swirling rock jams give way to esoteric, shimmering atmospherics, some punchy heavy rocking  and shorter, more direct run times, away from their previous penchant for a labyrinthine workouts, especially on their previous album. Not that these tracks lack any body, there's plenty of instrumental prowess on offer, the inclusion of the keys/synths making Naxatras' fourth record that bit more ambitious than before. A track such as Omega Madness is drenched in Hawkwind; quark, strangeness and charm, driven by a throbbing bass with twitchy synths throughout. Radiant Stars brings the style of funk Nile Rodgers would groove to, though Horizon is a bit more ethereal, though it phases into chunky rocking and one hell of a guitar solo.  

Each album from the band has been very much analogue based but here they have brought in much more modern elements, Journey To Narhamon featuring a bit of synthwave Floyd as Eva Seitanidou brings some vocals that also make me think of Aphrodite's Child. As The Answer has yet more Pink Floyd (pre-Dark Side) sounds coming through, it's one of the many songs with vocals as even though Naxatras love an instrumental, letting their virtuosity and craft shine through. This fourth album has more vocals than before, balancing out the record a little bit more. Naxatras improve with every album, but on IV they have outdone themselves, an incredible psychedelic prog rock experience. 9/10  

 

The Same River – Weight Of The World (Electric Talon Records/Sliptrick Records)

Founded in just 2019, Athenian foursome The Same River dwell in the hallucinogenic realms of bands such as Sabbath, Uncle Acid, Monster Magnet and countrymen Nightstalker. Consisting of Diamond PR (Vocals, Guitars, Synths), Theodore Ntilgeris (Guitars), Dimitris Georgopoulos (Bass) and Fivos Katsifloros (Drums, Percussion). The Weight Of The World is their first full length studio album, their previous record Live At The Black Box was ‘live-in-the-studio’ EP to show what The Same River can do, however Weight Of The World is this ambition fully realised. 

What we have on this record is 8 (9 on the digital edition), tracks of psychedelic doom, from the opening duo of Intro/Crossing The Rubicon and The Oath Of The Fire Bringer there’s such a strong Monster Magnet level of head fucking that you’d be forgiven for thinking this was them. Swirling riffs, throbbing basslines and insistent percussion all feature heavily with the fuzz lingering for moments after the tracks finish. The Same River and the final song We The People… both are focussed on long slow brooding and hypnotic elements. 

Things get almost shamanic on Voyage/The Great Sea, the ethos of the band built on philosophical lyrics and transcendent musical visions, of course rooted in those 60’s vibes, the band preaching love tolerance and understanding as well as their countries deep history with philosophy all through the the power of riffs. If you’re not up to date with your Heraclitus, Aristotle, Socrates or Plato or the mythology surrounding Sisyphus or Prometheus, never fear as you’ll still get to indulge in some great psych/doom rocking from this Athenian band. My advice is to pick up this album along with Naxatras, go up into the wilderness and just tune out man! 8/10

Mind Erasure – Connive (Self Released)

There’s a little bit of turmoil around this debut record from Corfu based metal band Mind Erasure. They have been around since 2007 but there have been numerous line-up changes in that time, the most recent being founding member Dimitris Garnelis, who left shortly after the album was recorded, leaving just Vasilis Koskinas (drums) and Lampros Stathis (bass/vocals) in the band along with new guitarist Spyros Servos. 

This trio play blackened death metal, but despite being a trio this album has very cinematic sound, the instrumental Proem opening with layers of orchestral sweeps and acoustic guitars to build drama, for what I believe is a conceptual record. There’s a lot of influence from bands such as Behemoth and Immortal, tremolo picking and squawked vocals but then there’s big whacks of death metal too with Azrael and Connive, coming from the more epic side of bands such as Bloodshot Dawn and Fleshgod Apocalypse, the huge choir bringing a sense of scale as the cinematic style shifts into the bludgeoning Mind Erasure, that has all the traits of Behemoth. 

Add to this the little spoken word parts and Connive is quite a well-rounded blackened death record that tries it’s hardest to not sound like just three guys playing fast riffs, adding layers of strings and choirs to tracks such as Last Stand, which along with the symphonic sounding Cataphasia features guest vocals from Toni Hatakka of Hanging Garden. Rounding out the album is a three song suite that links everything together that has come previously. An album such as Connive is impressive if not a little overdone, but there’s going on for the long gestation period to be warranted as with each play you uncover something else to enjoy in these songs. 7/10

Trailer Park Girl – The Mixtape EP (Self Released) 

Sometimes you only need a couple of songs to get a feel for a band, this is usually why bands release EPs as their first records. Trailer Park Girl from Patras have followed this method and delivered The Mixtape EP after only being a band since mid 2021, they are also looking to release their full length I April but for now let’s give this EP a spin. On the first listen you can understand why they cite 60’s-70’s Brit rock as influences as the foursome are drawing from the British invasion as well as the alt/garage rock bands of Detroit, biting guitars and lots of fuzz. Although a name like The Mixtape to me indicates perhaps covers, the songs here are all their own and also there’s no wild curveballs that you may expect from a record with this name either, just four songs of focused, hip shaking rock that has been designed to get the toes tapping. 

Now there are two singer here, which does throw you off a little, but then I suppose it’s going for a sound similar to The Kinks, Jefferson Airplane and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs as well. Singer Igiso Oikonomopoulou and guitarist Efstathios Messinis bring a harmonic sound to the vocals, as Messinis provides the choppy riffs. There’s more than hint of the Brit Pop scene from the early/mid 90’s too on the trippy Acid Ballerina which takes on the likes of Lush, while People Used To Talk About The Weather has an attitude similar to The Arctic Monkeys. Heavily inspired by British bands in the garage/Britpop/Indie scene The Mixtape EP displays that these Greeks have musical style that is quite unique in their country. Let’s see what the full length holds. 6/10

Reviews: Hammerfall, Timeless Rage, Spirits Of Fire, Serious Black (Reviews By Matt Bladen & Simon Black)

Hammerfall - Hammer Of Dawn (Napalm Records) [Matt Bladen]

The one problem I have with this album is Not Today. The ballad kills a lot of the momentum the Swedish power metal survivors have built up on the preceding six tracks, luckily the blistering Live Free Or Die comes next and things manage to pick back up again. Hammer Of Dawn is their twelfth studio album, coming after they have re-released their third record Renegade last year, this is an album that shows where Hammerfall are as a band in 2022. Led by Joacim Cans (vocals) and Oscar Dronjak (guitar), the elder statesmen of Swedish power metal, are lucky to still be here, weathering the storm of nu-metal, while staying true to their anthemic style. 

Kicking things off is Brotherhood a tribute to their Templars fan base, getting the engine running as the pace is kept insistent with the final track No Mercy. Production is spread between Pontus Norgren, Oscar Dronjak, Fredrik Nordström and Jacob Hansen making for a huge sound, exactly what you'd want from power metal. With the exception of Not Today the rest of the album is split between double kick drums, flowing guitar solos, massive backing choirs on the title track and No Son Of Odin, the songs finished off by those so familiar Joacim Cans vocals. However here there is an additional voice on Venerate Me as King Diamond himself lends his pipes for a bit of extra creepiness. 

With the one exception that puts me off as little, Hammer Of Dawn is Hammerfall maintaining their position at the head of the European power metal table. Chest beating bravado and shout along anthems abound. 8/10  

Timeless Rage – Untold (Metalapolis Records) [Simon Black]

This album has been a long time brewing for a debut. The band started in Germany in 2012 and got the bit between their teeth for their debut Forecast EP shortly afterwards, with some support slots with credible acts like U.D.O, Battle Beast and Bonfire helping them forge a name for themselves. So far so good, but then the scourge of bands everywhere bit and the line-up collapsed, before cementing again in 2019 … just in time for the world to go to shit! Thanks COVID! Anyway, ten years after first forming and finally a full length album is with us. 

When you have such a long gestation period, the chances are the material has been well crafted and polished, even if it hasn’t had the benefit of honing down what works to a live crowd. I can’t fault the performances on here. For a self-proclaimed symphonic act, vocalist Frank Breuninger has quite a distinctive, raspy voice perhaps more normal for a straight ahead traditional metal outfit, but either way he delivers very charismatically and distinctively. Musically this feels more like power metal to be honest, but that’s just as likely to be the fact that like many German acts in the genre the line between the two is a lot more blurry when you don’t have a female front person. 

The music certainly has energy and there’s a lovely well-crafted level of production going on here that gives the band a rounded feel. Where I struggle with this is that the song-writing embraces the technical complexity of the symphonic but needs some more rabble-rousing melodic backbone to take it to the front through much of its length. Great playing, charismatic performances; but no catchy anthemic hooks and riffs to hang it all from in the instrumental side of things for much of the run time. The strongest impression made is that of the vocals, which is frustrating as it feels like it could break free of this more frequently. There are moments when it absolutely does – Piece Of Heaven stands out well, with some fist-punching moments that you can tell will get a crowd going even though this is one of the longest songs on the record, but often the overall feel is a little too rambling and un-focussed on a lot of the material. 

Is it bad? No, absolutely not. But its moments of promise don’t always deliver the goods as often as they could and I get the sense that being such a long time coming is a part of the problem. When that happens it’s because some songs tend to have been around for a while and adopted by the new members, when actually the best thing to do is to start writing from scratch with the new line up and forge a new path. Generally the later songs are the stronger, with a more fluid interplay and cohesive band feel to them and had the writing been consistently at the level of 2 Elements and Warrior, with its infectious keyboard riff which should have opened the record, then this would be scoring a little higher. Nonetheless, one to watch… 7/10

Spirits Of Fire - Embrace The Unknown (Frontiers Music Srl) [Matt Bladen]

Based around the idea of Judas Priest meets Savatage, Spirits Of Fire consist of Chris Caffery (Savatage/TSO) on guitars, Steve DiGiorgio (Testament) on bass, Mark Zonder (Warlord) drums and on their first 2017 they were joined by Tim 'Ripper' Owens on vocals, but now in 2022, the mic has been passed to Fabio Lione (Rhapsody) now and producer Aldo Lonobile (Secret Sphere/Archon Angel/Sweet Oblivion) adds his prowess to yet another heavy metal masterclass. Chris Caffery writing songs that are heavily influenced by Priest, take a track like Wildest Dreams where there's that mid-paced grunt, and a big chorus where Lione stays in his falsetto register. 

The rhythm section of DiGiorgio and Zonder give those speedy runs and grooving beats, Shape Of  A Fragile Mind getting lots of bass runs and powerful drums, it's possibly the most Savatage offering here, Lione relying on the snarl a bit more. While Caffery's guitar pyrotechnics are at their best here as well, playing with the verve and virtuosity he has brought to his entire career, however here it seems to be his most creative playing possibly due the record being very much his baby, Lonobile and Lione adding to the writing process. 80's shredders like the title track, My Confession and the dark Ressurection all are in the vein of The Metal Gods, while even the theatrical Sea Of Change is loaded with Priestisms and slinky lead playing. 

Much like the debut, Embrace The Unknown (surely a metaphor for the last few years), is jammed with wall to wall classic metal riffs and with Lione replacing Ripper, you don't even really hear much of a difference, except perhaps Lione has a more dynamic delivery. Spirits Of Fire are a band that will still gladly defend the faith. 8/10     

Serious Black - Vengeance Is Mine (AFM Records) [Simon Black]

International power metallers Serious Black return with their sixth album Vengeance Is Mine. The band was formed in 2014 by bassist Mario Lochert with guitarist Dominik Sebastian also staying the course and remaining an original member of the band. The band has earned the moniker of a supergroup due to the inclusion of members of band such as Helloween, Blind Guardian and Tad Morose in the line up over the years. Joining the band on Vengeance Is Mine is returning drummer Ramy Ali as well as fresh blood in the form of Bob Katsionis (ex-Firewind) on guitars and keyboards and Nikola Mijić (Eden’s Curse) on vocals replacing Urban Breed who departed the band in 2021.

I really wasn’t very keen on the previous album Suite 226 when I reviewed it in 2020 so I’m happy to say that Vengeance Is Mine is very much an improvement. The band have a great mix of European power metal and traditional heavy metal in their sound with big hooks and massive choruses aplenty as well as driving riffs, great guitar solos and a solid pounding rhythm section. The vocals from Nikola Mijić are fantastic and his highly melodic style sits well within the band and the songs on the album. You get solid heavy metal anthems such as Rock With Us Tonight, Tonight I’m Ready To Fight and Just For You, power metal theatricality on Soldiers Of Eternal Light, The Story and Queen Of Lies as well as the obligatory ballad on Ray Of Light. Like most power metal it is full of drama but there is a darker tone and an added grit to these songs than your usual flowery Euro power metal which is nice to hear.

The one criticism that can be levelled at Vengeance Is Mine is that at thirteen songs and a running time of over 53 minutes there are some throwaway songs to be found on the album. Most of these are found early on in the album as Vengeance Is Mine is an album with a far stronger second half. The quality never nosedives but the songs for me later on in the album struck more of a chord with me. Overall after the disappointing Suite 226, Serious Black have redeemed themselves with a vastly enjoyable and melodic album straddling the border between power metal and traditional heavy metal. 8/10