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Mustasch – Parasite! (Regain Records)
Review by Chris Davison |
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Thrash, death, black, grind, gore-grind, ambient, cyber,
industrial, metalcore, death/thrash, power, speed, glam and
sleaze. What ever happened to honest to goodness Heavy Metal ?
You know, in the days before the genre police and forum
fascists succumbed to some sub-Brazil style of regimented
musical definition. It seems ever more obvious that the
exuberance of a metal scene that allowed musical honesty and
invention seems to have been stifled by sub-genre conventions.
Meanwhile, relatively few denim-und-leather warriors have
managed to keep the spirit of true, greasy, beer, chips and
gravy metal alive.
Mustasch (great name chaps – NOT!) have stormed out of the
Swedish scene, but unlike |
many of
their peers, they have avoided the rather worn paths of death
and black metal that have become, perhaps, a little too worn
these days. Mustasch hark back to the days of cowbell percussion, unashamed
guitar solos, organ flourishes, without necessarily sounding
like a retro outfit. Indeed, if they invoke any spirit at all,
it isn’t the over worn Iommi’isms of the 70’s being endlessly
rehashed again, but rather the early 80’s, and the beefier
bands of the NWOBHM. I think of bands like Saxon or the early
solo efforts of Ozzy Osbourne – chunky, meaty parcels of rock
infused metal all wrapped up in a tasty modern production
pastry.
Having already dented the Swedish top 40, supported Motorhead,
Rose Tattoo and Glucifer, it would seem that the band have a
relatively rosy future to look forward to. I certainly hope so
– as in more than one way, the cheeky outfit remind me of an
oft-overlooked band from their homeland, that being the
criminally under rated Transport League. Many of the same
components are there; the infectious drum and bass percussion,
the meaty rhythm guitar and the gravely soaring rock voice.
The production, likewise is top notch and produces plenty of
bottom end grunt to help propel these mostly mid tempo
numbers. A particular standout for me is fifth track, “Kill
the Light”, with its Candlemassian riffage, vocals likely to
appeal to a mainstream audience and hooks so large that they
could conceivably help catch blue whales. The free video on
the disc (Parasite), is also top quality, and I’ll be bound,
destined for MTV airplay, should they ever get hold of it.
There is a complaint however; with this quality, six tracks
just isn’t enough.
www.regainrecords.com |
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One Master -
Forsaking A Dead World (Self- Financed)
By: Dave Schalek |
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While briefly writing for another webzine, I reviewed
Massachusetts black metal band One Master’s demo from 2004.
One Master’s sound consisted of a rough combination of death
metal and raw black metal similar to the pioneers from the
‘80s with a touch of a Motorhead-esque, almost punk-like,
attitude. These influences ultimately resulted in a promising
release that was, however, marred by horrendous, poorly played
guitar solos. The solos were grossly misplaced and detracted
from the promise of One Master, resulting in an amateurish
sound as if recorded by a bunch of high school kids camping
out in their parents’ basement somewhere. I said as much in my
review of that demo. |
Perhaps One Master has taken note of my disorganized ramblings
(probably not, I won’t kid myself) from that review because
their self- financed debut, “Forsaking A Dead World”, has
completely excised the bad solos from the songs, and has
intentionally fuzzed out the guitar sound to produce a
professional sounding, raw black metal album very reminiscent
of Bathory’s first album with, perhaps, a hint of early
Satyricon thrown in for good measure, as well as the punk-like
attitude similar to that of latter Darkthrone releases. Also
gone are any traces of ambient, experimental passages, which
were briefly explored on the demo from 2004.
One Master’s delivery consists of mid-paced to near blastbeat-driven songs with simple, yet effective, melodies delivered
through droning riffs, rather than through soloing, although
some lighter guitar tones make appearances. The drums consist
of simple patterns with bursts of speed here and there. The
vocals are a black metal rasp similar to those delivered by
Satyr or Nocturno Culto, resulting in an evil sound.
Essentially, the music performed by One Master is not
particularly original, but it is certainly done exceptionally
well in their chosen style of raw black metal.
A great deal has been made of the exploding USBM scene with a
lot of attention being given to bands and projects all
seemingly related to Azentrius and Nachtmystium (certainly I’m
guilty of that, as gathered from the lavish praise that I have
dished out to Azentrius lately). However, the USBM scene has
shown to be diverse and resilient. One Master may not be
getting the all of the attention being given to others, but
they should certainly not be overlooked, as the quality of
this debut demonstrates. Highly recommended.
www.one-master.net
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Pink
Widow – Remains of Humanity EP (Unknown) Review by Samuel
Munch-Petersen
Three tracks long and not a moment too soon to hear something
of a Pink Widow. I could make that into a euphemism but I
won’t. Not today.
First impressions; Hundred Reasons meets Poison the Well. ‘We
are the Spiders’ Prey’ is something of a parody of what is
meant by ‘normal’. They claim to be influenced by the likes of
The Dillinger Escape Plan, Skindred and Reuben. I can
understand most of those but they certainly don’t sound like
them, which is never a bad thing; you want to sound
independent and solitary. Pink Widow achieves this and has
some awesome guitar solos and I haven’t heard good ones in a
long time.
The track even has rudiments of Spanish guitar work which
certainly spreads the sound around the spectrum.
I’m not so sure about the vocals on the second track; ‘Two
Evils’, but the musical resonance is unmatched and I can see
myself going to one of their gigs, which are at the moment all
over the UK and I shall hopefully see them soon enough. The
second track gets you moving and would be a good one to play
in a club as I can see the crowds moving to heavy bass
cranking and lush drum snaps. The guitars are constantly
shifting and surprisingly suppressive.
‘Phew! My Bus is Here’, an odd title you’ll agree and I’m not
sure about it. The title that is, not the track, the track is
fine. The title just seems a bit, shit in all honesty. It’s
there for the sake of being there. To add an element of
humour? Of British pride? Or to make it look as though they’re
clever to some degree. I don’t know, but I’d change it and
keep to the formula of what’s gone on before, don’t shift from
a metal, prog band to a band with names that reflect your
total lack of inspiration for track titles. They have
excellent tracks which are presented by their titles. The
title is the cover of the book and the music the content.
People say ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ but we all do. I
may be the only one that thinks you’ve gone off the tracks of
creativity with the last track but it’s something to heed.
Aside from my adamant dislike of the last track’s title, I
think Pink Widow are a band that are defiantly breaking into
the music world and no doubt will be big soon enough. Just
keep getting those MySpace users to hit your page and songs,
fucking MySpace.
www.myspace.com/pinkwidowmusic
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Spider Rocket -
Ever After (Hog Records) Review by Don Baird |
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I'm normally an all or nothing
type of guy, unluckily for me Spider Rocket fall slap bang in
the middle of no-man's-land. I neither like or dislike this
album and for a reviewer not to have an opinion it really
sucks when trying to convey the music and to write a review.
Sorry Ed if I meander just to up the word count. It's because
Ever After doesn't grab me by the balls and Helena Cos doesn't
have a strong enough voice to garner my attention except for
the occasional song, with Hate, Reasons For Deceit and What I
Want being the only songs to peak my interest. Unfortunately,
a rival for Courtney Love she most certainly isn't and she
needs to add some bite and some conviction to her performance.
Sing it like you mean
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it lady. Pace wise, it's pretty
pedestrian with no real highs or lows and no rockers to
relieve the boredom and no angst to light the fire my belly
craves. What else can I say? This may be a wet dreams for
insomniacs, but not for a livewire like me.
www.spiderrockets.com
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Stormcrow - Wounded Skies (Dwell
Records) Review by Ryan Bartek |
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The Italian black metal act Stormcrow hammers out a four track
E.P. here that is decent in design, but mangled by a far too
polished sound. Not that every BM record should sound like it
was recorded in a dungeon, but a little filth never hurts.
This was the groups demo -- and for a demo it is slick -- but
Dwell Records should have left it as such and let them run
wild with a full length. Not far from a less-developed Dark
Funeral, Stormcrow is modern black metal that doesn't really
press the limits here. It's predictable yet still has enough
gunpowder to pack a punch. There are some good riffs, and the
drumming is pretty solid. Bombastic onslaughts, hyper-blasting
beats, grim vocals laced with reverb, medieval minor |
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progressions. The entire group is pretty solid actually, just
plodding on territory previously established and done better.
Yet as I said, this is only a beginning, and it is obvious
that Stormcrow will be dropping something far more vicious and
original in the coming year. Keep an eye on these boys.
www.dwellrecords.com |
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To-Mera -
Transcendental (Candlelight) Review by Steve
Green |
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Transcendental is such an awesome jaw-dropping
album that I think that even Joey Deacon, the cerebral palsy
victim much revered by To-Mera bassist Lee Barrett, would be
leading the rounds of applause were he still alive today. In a
nutshell, this is "turn-on-a-dime" - "tighter than a ducks
ass" - Progressive Metal with more twists and turns than a
years worth of Coronation Street and Eastenders put together.
Do you get the picture or do I need to ramble on some more?
The opulence of Traces, masks completely the journey that's
about to follow. And I do feel
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listening to Transcendental is like partaking in a journey.
From the beauty and melodic grandeur of Blood, the swarming
guitars that dominate Dreadful Angel, passing through the epic
Gothic/Blackened splendour Born of Ashes, it feels like the
soundtrack of my weekly trip through the Derbyshire Dales on
my way home from Manchester. Often beautiful (passing through
the reservoirs alongside Longdendale) which is represented by
the stunning vocals of ex-Without Face singer Julie Kiss and
from beauty, you progress straight into the bleakness of the
windswept moorland surrounding the A628 that runs across the
very top of the Peak Districts National Park, which is
mirrored by the starkness of album closer Realm of Dreams.
Even if you've no idea of the area I'm describing, all I'm
trying to translate is the visual appeal of To-Mera's music.
It's strength is that it transports you away from where you
don't want to be. But right now I'm quite happy to sit here
and to put Transcendental on
repeat just one more time...
www.to-mera.com |
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Tony Naima and The
Bitters – Dismember (Regain Records) Review by
Chris Davison |
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Ok, so this is clearly going to win the award for barmiest
album to grace my doorstep this month! Tony Naima, is,
according the accompanying blurb, “…(a) promising Swedish
singer and songwriter”. No, I’ve never heard of him either,
but of course it could well be that he’s a hit over in Sweden.
Tony has a penchant for penning twangy guitared, wistful
country tinged adult rock, with clean vocals and a soulful
chorus with female accompaniment. By now, I suspect that 99%
of our regular readership will be thinking, “What the hell is
this review doing on Live 4 Metal?”. Well, dear reader, step
away from the keyboard and desist from writing your |
email of
complaint. There is a link to metal, and the clue is in the
title – Tony Naima and his ensemble have recorded eight tracks
by the heavyweights of authentic old school Swedish death
metal.
I suspect that this is likely to be a curio to either the
eccentric metal head, or as an amusing side note to the pseuds
who frequent the indie-pop scene; all of which is rather a
shame given the obvious care and warmth that the band have
invested in these covers. Sure, they’re not in a style likely
to appeal to most of us into extreme metal, but that aside,
it’s hard to resist the infectious charm of hearing “Crime
Divine” being turned into a waltz, or a skiffle style “Where
the Iron Crosses Grow”. You won’t, I’m sure, be beating a path
to the door of Regain to get a hold of this, but if, by chance
you manage to sneak a listen, don’t worry. I like it too.
www.regainrecords.com |
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