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Gojira - From Mars To
Sirius (Prosthetic Records)
By: Joe Florez |
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I have seen the name and even saw people with shirts bearing
the logo. Daniel Erlandsson from Arch Enemy would be a prime
example on their new DVD. Well, I read the biog to get a
better feel of the band and read the term “extreme”. My first
reaction is that it’s something fast and furious with nothing
memorable contained within. There’s only one way to find out.
Boy, was I about to be schooled. “From Mars To Sirius” was
released a year ago on the Listenable label, but Prosthetic
Records decided to bring this piece of plastic over to North
America so the kids be informed of this great group. This is a
French four piece outfit that is heavy as fuck. “Ocean Planet”
and everything else contained within |
wasn’t
what I was expecting. The guitar work is melodic, but strong
and emotional while the drums and slammed with great anger.
While it may be slow, there are moments when things are sped
up that include double bass drumming. In the end here, not
only was I impressed, but in complete awe by how good this
was. I just hope this continues. “Backbone” contains the usual
trademarks for this group that I am figuring out quickly, but
incorporate blast beats on occasion just to spice things up.
This is an easy genre to screw up if not done right. I have
heard bands like this, but fail with me because either their
performance was too amateurish or their composing just flat
out blew chunks. These guys get it right. There is an absolute
charm to their mayhem and while it may be too raw or even
something concocted from a garage this album speaks volumes on
many levels. First off, Gojira is NOT afraid to experiment with
sounds that aren’t as thunderous as the rest of their songs.
This not only adds more depth, but makes for a more
pleasurable experience. Take “Unicorn” for instance. I think
this is a beautiful track. It’s only consists of a guitar and
drums beaten at a slow, but gentle pace. There are whale
sounds protruding through the speakers which ends up making
this come off as sensitive, but it also manages to balance
things out because you need a break from the loudness after
fifteen minutes. You can call this hardcore vocal screams met
with metal, but that would do this group no justice because
they go well beyond that tag. To be honest, this is the
direction Meshuggah should have gone after “Destroy Erase
Improve”. Mastodon will come to mind as well, but I prefer
this. Isis, Killswitch Disbelief, Mithras and a few others
will definitely pop in your mind, but they got it right and I
am now a fan of this incredible band. I will definitely check
out the back catalogue and only hope that it’s just as good as
this. This CD has it all without coming off like a major train
wreck. Long live the loud and heavy.
www.gojira-music.com
| www.prostheticrecords.com |
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GPS - Window To
The Soul (Inside Out) Review by Steve Green |
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Because I'm vehemently
anti-religion in nature, the fact I think this is Christian
Rock, puts me off before I've even heard a note. The artwork
features A&R legend John Kalodner dressed and looking like a
modern version (albeit a 70s hippy version) of JC, and with
lovely!!! religious wallpaper for him to look pretty against.
Now I could accept this being tongue in cheek or an in-joke
with the band, but song titles such as New Jerusalem and
Heaven Can Wait, lumps this one in with the godsquad wank of
Stryper.
With my berating of religion out of the way (for the moment)
and with an attempt at a neutral demeanour, for what it is,
this album is ok. Featuring ex-Asia vocalist John Pane, it's
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as you'd expect, highly polished AOR/Soft Rock with slick
accessible choruses which fans of (for want of a better
reference point) Journey will lap up. But as much as I want to
enjoy this, the lyrical content just kills it stone dead for
me. My ambition one day is to convert a church into a house
and to live in it. But I like churches ONLY from an
architectural point of view. I hate everything they stand for,
which also leaves this album completely redundant as far as
I'm concerned.
www.insideout.de |
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Harpies - Echoes/Favour This (Fortune
and Glory) Review by Don Baird |
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With a biog littered
with quotes referring to being louder/better than Slipknot, of
course provided by kids rags such as Metal Hammer, I
feared the worst for my 1st Live 4 Metal assignment. But
thankfully my concerns didn't need addressing as this 2 track
single, apart from being aimed at a younger audience, was free
of the masked ones influence.
Lead track Echoes is definitely the better of the two. Ok, the
style is pretty clichéd in a quiet voice then a loud voice
kind of way, but it works. Nicola Honey can sing as sweetly as
her name suggests and she can also scream with more balls than
a rugby team. She's more Courtney Love than Angela Gossow,
although one of her main influences is P.J. |
Harvey,
which makes sense to these ears. Favour This isn't as potent a
track. It's the sort of track you've heard done many times
before (unless you are a teenager I guess) Think back to when
Household Name Records polluted your senses a decade ago
promoting Medulla Nocte et al and you are singing from
(roughly) the same hymn sheet.
This is a pre-cursor to a new album in 2007. Two tracks of
this grinding sweetness is easy to digest, although I'm not
sure I could cope with a full banquet.
www.fortuneandglory.co.uk |
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Hawkwind - Take Me To Your Future (Hawkwind Records)
Review by Crin |
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Hot on the heels of the impressive ‘Take
Me To Your Leader’
full length, comes this novel release in the form of a mini
CD/ DVD. The dual disc format gives audio on one side and a
visual set of video footage on the other, so twice the fun for
the price of one so to speak.
Hawkwind are an endearing time machine who have released 20
studio albums, numerous official and un-official live albums,
and are probably one of the most bootlegged bands of them all.
Trivia aside, main man Dave Brock has had a stable line up
around bassist, Alan Davey, and drummer, Richard Chadwick for
near on 15 years now, so the flawless musicianship is never in
doubt. But what of the actual direction of the music this time
out? |
First lets check out the audio, so fasten your space belts,
inhale from the pre-loaded bong and for those more experienced
star travellers, drop that acid tab.
Hawkwind seem to enjoy breathing new life into old classics
[The last album had a fine rendition of Sprit of the Age],
and here we are greeted with a re-working of ‘Uncle Sams on
Mars’ [originally found on the 1979 album, PXR5.] Apart from
the modern effects and polished production, it’s a straight
forward version and if you’ve never heard it, the original
will add some nostalgia, and if you have, you’ll like this
anyway.
Next up is a track that evokes the past and take us into the
present as the sonic waves sail the listener into the calmer
seas of an acoustic number titled, Small Boy’. Here we are
elevated into a mellow seventies atmosphere complete with a
Brock narrative.
It becomes apparent with the following two tracks that this is
a very experimental, electronic release as opposed to the more
rock arrangements I personally prefer. Arthur Brown again,
airs his poetic muse over a thumping bass line and as ever,
Dave Brocks flawless rhythms guitar.
The tracks remind me of a collision of past Hawk albums,
Church of Hawkwind, and Electric Tepee. The final track is a
pointless remix of the classic, Silver Machine, complete with
Lemmy’s guttural vocal delivery. It’s a track I shall never
play again intentionally as its inclusion here is as pointless
as a blunt spliff.
So, its paint by numbers Hawks with an emphasis of the
experimental side of the bands multi visual persona. The audio
side is decent Hawkwind swirling in a trippy atmosphere, much
like the very visual live shows the band can put on where the
instrumental side to their repertoire massages the senses into
a withering kaleidoscopic dream-scape. Now flip the disc over,
top up that bong and brew a few mushrooms.
DVD side:
Now here is where this release bursts into life, with 5 live
moments caught on camera. Images [live from a forthcoming dvd
‘Space Bandits], is a riveting glimpse at when Bridget Wishart
fronted the band. A rare female contribution to the vocal
duties. The hard driving rock that Hawkwind are equally good
at making is evident here and even more so, on the following
version of Utopia, taken from an Australian studio
performance in 2000, complete with bedraggled studio audience.
This is Hawkwind at their blistering best. Dave Brock stood as
usual to the right with a deranged Harvey Bainbridge reciting
his prose to an ever confused group of fans. ‘You have to be
out of it to get into it, and into it to get out of it’
A one camera angle of Assassins of Allah [live winter solstice
2005] is a basic rendition of the live favourite, whilst the
1989 recording of Golden Void, taken from the Treworgey Tree
Farye, shows the band in a small venue showering one and all
with sonic debris.
The inclusion of the band rehearsing in a shed with all the
footage pointed at some women doing aerobics on the lawn [on
Dave’s farm, no doubt] is bizarre to say the least. Totally
ridiculous it may be, but I presume its an in joke that will
remain so.
As value for money goes, you can’t beat what’s on offer and
there is enough quality set amongst the sparse peppering of
run of the mill music/visual footage to make this an
essential part of any Hawkwind fans collection. As for the
newly ordained, it’s a great way [by no means conclusive]
insight to what this band are all about.
www.hawkwind.com |
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Incantation -
Primordial Domination (Ibex Moon Records) By: Dave Schalek |
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Make no mistake about it, Incantation’s first four albums
range from solid to absolute masterpieces (I’d also include
“Upon The Throne Of Apocalypse” in this description),
culminating with their best work, the third album “Diabolical
Conquest” in 1998. The follow-up, “The Infernal Storm”, was
excellent, as well. Throughout these albums, Incantation’s
style of New York (although they’re from Pennsylvania) death
metal consists of memorable, crushingly heavy riffs, slow
doom-like passages interspersed with speed, and deep-seated
growls from longtime stalwart guitarist/vocalist (post Craig Pillard) John McEntee.
In addition, Incantation is one of the few death metal bands
able to deliver a truly |
evil
sound, without crossing boundaries into black metal.
Although Incantation’s revolving door of line-up changes
finally began to end earlier this decade with a solid line-up
as a three piece with Kyle Severn on drums and Joe Lombard on
bass, the band unfortunately took a nosedive in quality with
2002’s “Blasphemy”. An utterly forgettable album, “Blasphemy”
was devoid of the aspects upon which Incantation excels,
namely the memorable riffs and ability to write interesting
songs with time changes. 2004’s “Decimate Christendom” was a
return to form, but, in my opinion, was not quite up to the
level of quality from albums past. At this point, you’d begin
to have the opinion that the band’s best days were behind
them.
Not so. 2006’s “Primordial Domination” is the album that
becomes the perfect follow-up to the one-two punch of
“Diabolical Conquest” and “The Infernal Storm”. “Primordial
Domination” has it all: crushing riffs from McEntee with solid
bass from Lombard, doom-like moments, time changes galore with
pummeling drumming from Severn, solid production, and an
overall punishing sound with sinister overtones. In addition,
there are a few passages here and there that are akin to
“Diabolical Conquest” ’s best moments, namely some acoustical
guitar tones that give way to a crushing riff. As always,
great artwork is a requirement for an Incantation album, and
“Primordial Domination” is no exception.
“Primordial Domination” is the album from Incantation that
I’ve been waiting for since “The Infernal Storm” and is an
excellent and welcome addition to the band’s classic
discography. Buy or die.
www.incantation.com
| www.ibexmoonrecords.com
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Kamelot - One Cold
Winter's Night (SPV/Steamhammer) Review by Richard Tomsett |
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Kamelot is quite possibly the best power metal act around at
the moment. A brief description for those not acquainted with
the band: think of the serious side of Helloween mixed with
Queensrÿche circa 1988, add grandiose, "symphonic" keyboard
arrangements (and not in a pansy, Rhapsodomy kind of way) and
a singer whose voice defines mellifluous and you'll be part of
the way there. They manage to embrace the confines of the
power metal genre and use them to their advantage, writing
impeccably arranged songs that manage to be catchy without
lacking depth, and never relying on unnecessary instrumental
virtuosity in place of good songwriting. Cheesy at times of
course, but once your head starts |
| banging
and you're lost in the magic you really don't care – and they
never come close to the fromage unleashed by, for example, Hammerfall, or even
DragonForce. "One Cold Winter's Night" is Kamelot's second
live album, the first appearing in 2000 after 1999's "The
Fourth Legacy". Six years on Kamelot have taken a large step
up, sparing no expense with an excellent mix and a host of
guest musicians to provide an absolute aural (and, so I'm
told, visual – unfortunately I have yet to see the DVD) feast.
The guitar has all the power it needs, the keys are always
clear but never dominate, and the crowd noise adds exactly the
right amount of atmosphere. The material is almost entirely
taken from their last three albums, with the exception of the
awesome "Nights of Arabia" – no bad thing given that these are
probably the best three of their career so far. Highlights
include an extended sing-along with "Forever", an absolutely
magical "The Haunting" and the whole of the "Elizabeth"
trilogy from "Karma". As expected, the band play almost
entirely flawlessly – the only noticeable errors being some
slightly messy guitar picking on "Center Of the Universe", a
small tuning problem at the start of "Elizabeth" and a very
slight vocal slip on "Nights of Arabia" – but these are minor
issues that take nothing away from the overall performance.
Kahn is completely in control and delivers an astounding vocal
display, cementing his place as one of the best rock singers
in the world, and the guest vocal appearances add greatly to
the theatre of the occasion. Should you buy it? Well I have to
say that I'm not sure if it's good value for money if you
already own the last three albums, though it's great hearing
the songs in a live setting (though if you do own those
releases you probably know that you love Kamelot anyway and
will get the DVD). If you don't know Kamelot and like power
metal though, you have no excuse. Awesome.
www.spv.de |
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Michael
Harris - Orchestrate (Lion Music)
By: Joe Florez |
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Once again the owner Lars Mattsson, owner of this very label
has signed on another guitar instrumental performing
neo-classical or in this case orchestrated music. I have only
known of this individual from way back when, but never
divulged into any of his discs. Well, since I have the thing I
thought I would dump it into my player for a few moments and
hear what is on the menu. You know, just give myself a taste
before really soaking my ears in this. Upon skimming all ten
tracks, I knew exactly what was being offered; heavily neo, I
mean classically orchestrated music in the vein of old Yngwie
material. Sounded good, but I’ve heard it all before. I have
to admit that I was impressed with the lead off track “Opus
|
| Conceptus.” The Intro was an acoustic guitar playing
neo-classical at a fast, by classy and difficult state. The
electric axe soon enough gets plugged in and slowly Mike shows
off his talents. The compositions includes a haunting
atmosphere and some string arrangements and by the tail end of
this, the drums and everything else are kicked into high gear.
I have never really ever heard a song composed like this. It’s
predictable to a slight degree, but then again I wasn’t ready
for this. “String Theory” is way more metallic and metal
sounding than the opener. It’s much livelier and energetic.
The guitars get a little bit more wild and despite being a
talented artist, Mr. Harris never gets full of himself and go
over the top. Everything is in control and performed with
class. It seems like with each track the momentum just builds.
“The Mad Composer’s Rage” proves to be just that as the fret
board work is a lot faster and more intense. Drums are being
slammed and the overall song is more complex, yet is full of
entertainment. Truth be told, I wasn’t actually prepared for
anything like this. My first listen or skim through this
product was all wrong. I was thoroughly impressed by what was
being served on this silver platter. When you first read about
this, sure it sounds like a carbon copy of recycled Malmsteen
riffs, licks and compositions, but when you get your hands
filthy with this thing you will find out first hand just how
unique and satisfying this can actually be. Guitar hero wannabe’s take note.
www.lionmusic.com
| www.michaelharrisguitar.com
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Orakle - Uni Aux Cimes (Melancholia Records)
Review by Crin |
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French Black Metal has few bands of wide acclaim, although the
actual underground scene is a vibrant one. There has never
been a French sound, unlike the Nordic scenes or even the
Eastern Europeans; rather the French have produced some very
cult and noteworthy additions to the genre as a whole. Bands
like Seth, Vlad Tepes, Deathspell Omega and Anateus, being
obvious bands of infamy.
Orakle are an impressive addition to rich integrity of the
French Black Metal scene, with a sound that presents itself
beyond the trappings of the Dark Throne minimalism so obvious a
path for likewise acts to follow.
Here we discover a complex, melodic rage set to a hybrid
formula consisting of Mid era Arcturus |
and the
thrashing sharpness of Kreator. The clean vocals evoke the Arcturus
elements and the snarling vehemence anchor the sound to a
Black Metal base, yet there is so much more to the overall
picture.
The guitars weave solos to die for and spit their numerous
appearances over many levels of intensity. The band have been
around since 1999, and this is the debut album, so the
arrangements have had time to mature and settle into a near
perfect sequence of rhythms and intricacy.
The progressive nature of the music lends the sound more to a
melodic Death Metal band from Sweden or Finland, yet there is
a very individual thing going on here, where the light
keyboard backing blunts the rough edges of the guitars, to
form a cohesive wall of solid technical extremity. If you can
imagine Arcturus ‘Sham Mirrors’ melted into, Kreators
‘Terrible Certainty’, then you would have that basic framework
from where Orakles sound emanates and expands into their own
very digestible Metal.
As with many competent and well crafted albums that appear
year after year, I fear without the luck and the promotion,
this may disappear into mists of time, thus allowing for the
numerous mediocre shit to inhabit the prized label space
available.
Now that depends on you.
www.orakle.fr
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www.twilight-distribution.com |
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Peste Noire -La Sanie des siècles - Panégyrique de la dégénerescence
(De
Profundis)
Review by Frank Allain |
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Widely cited by many within the underground as being the
obscure black metal release of the year, Peste Noire present
an intriguing offering on this, their debut-full length. Once
the atrocious introduction is out of the way (it sounds for
all the world like a sixth-form jam session captured on a
Dictaphone), the French trio serve up a surprisingly melodic
and restrained platter of lo-fi black metal, laced with subtle
touches and excellent songwriting. That the band are indebted
to ‘Bergtatt ‘era Ulver is evident within the first minute of
the second track, however Peste Noire’s approach is somewhat
more ‘subterranean’ in nature – think torch lit dungeons and
echoing flag-stoned passageways as opposed to snow- |
covered
forests and windswept moorland. The band deploy mid-paced
strumming and acoustic elements with skill but this is married
to a more sinister atmosphere that never quite goes away.
Indeed, this is one of those albums that draws you in
gradually, the subtle, insistent riffing slowly uncoiling,
unfurling, dragging you ever deeper into a murky and
unsettling world.
Despite his shorthaired, jackbooted ‘BM thug’ appearance,
frontman Famine showcases an extraordinarily delicate touch
with both electric and acoustic guitar, the latter instrument
sparkling throughout several tracks and adding an almost
ethereal sheen to many passages. His voice rips forth as a
pained rasp, echo-drenched and desperate like the final
death-cries of a trapped and abandoned pot-holer. Bassist
Indria provides a sinewy undertow to the melodicism while
drummer Winterhalter demonstrates an insightful grasp of
dynamics, piling on the aggression with aplomb yet managing to
exhibit subtlety and restraint when required. All in all, this
is a captivating and extremely mature sounding release for a
relatively new band. For once, the hype is justified and
whilst ‘La Sanie des siècles…’ doesn’t smack you around the
face immediately like some recent releases within the genre,
any black metal enthusiast with true taste will find
themselves inexorably consumed by the intricate atmospheres
Peste Noire have created. Intoxicating, dark and quite
gripping. |
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