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Deadlock - Wolves (Lifeforce)
Review by Steve Green |
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This one's a bit of a strange affair.
Huge bombastic swathes of industrial keyboards, thrashing
guitars, vitriolic male Death vocals, frantic twin lead
guitars, moments of grinding madness... and a fragile female
voice that would be more at home singing dance music. I'm
actually thinking of the song Stars, originally by Dubstars
and covered by Lacuna Coil on their Halflife EP and Lindy
Layton of Beats International (Dub By Good To Me) And despite
my brains willingness not to like this, I can't help but think
it's rather good. Losers' Ballet throws yet another curveball
as the intro is a pure Operatic delight, before a Blackish
groove takes over and Deadlock don't half do a good impression
of Dimmu Borgir. With all
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the different styles, mad time changes et al, I'm once again
knocked down with a feather, to discover that Deadlock are
also Straightedge Vegans. All of this without even the merest
hint of hardcore.
The re-introduction of Sabine Weniger's vocals on Dark Cell
once again completely transforms Deadlocks sound. She
completely softens their aggressive edge and even after
repeated listens I still can't my head around it, yet the
songs are getting stuck in my head every time I hear them and
they are quite often still there when I go to bed at night.
Her vocals do make the band stand out in a very crowded market
and I'm sure that will work for them on a commercial level. On
the flipside, I do think it'll put off your more hardened
Metalhead, simply because her style has nothing to do with
Metal.
www.lifeforcerecords.com |
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Dead Syndicate - The Carrion Creed (Black Morning Star
Records) Review by Chris Davison |
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Sometimes life just isn't fair. Take, for instance, the
fortunes of bands. Why should it be that some extremely
mediocre bands should simply ape the musical stylings of
another without much aplomb, and then get so much hype and
fuss made over them that they end up selling a bucket load of
albums, while others will forever be in the shade. I have to
say that I have heard a tonne of great bands through my
reviewing gig here at Live 4 Metal towers, but other than my
ears, I often wonder who else listens to them. There just
isn't anything like the concept of justice in metal these
days. Perhaps I will be able to redress the balance here, with
the review of what is simply an astounding debut album from
this incredibly promising |
young band.
Let's get to the chase straight away. This is a really
engaging, well executed death metal album that owes a little
to modern Morbid Angel mixed with, say, the eccentricities of
Blessed are the Sick pre-faggoth David Vincent material. They
aren't as heavily influenced by them as 94.6% of all known
death metal bands, but what influences they have taken, they
have executed with a ruthless proficiency that belies their
youth and inexperience. Tracks like "Whore of Babylon", with
the dragging main riff, screaming guitar licks and eastern
melodies are going to be on your playlist for some time to
come. Seemingly everyone in this outfit appears to be a master
of their craft, and while it may be the axe slingers that
first make your ears prick up on the likes of "The Carrion
Creed", you'll soon also be left agog at the bass skills and
drum battery that accompany the six stringing sorcerers.
Vocally, the band opt for an old school American death metal
approach, which is to say that they manage to produce an
extreme guttural sound without sacrificing clarity of
phrasing. You won't find any of your
verse/verse/chorus/verse/chorus/verse shite here, either.
Songwriting wise, it's progressive and technical without the
need to constantly smack you over the head with long, drawn
out tedious jazz-like spazz outs.
The production, while undoubtedly professional, seems to unduly
favour the vocals and drums to the expense of the other
instruments, though not to the point of being a distraction.
No doubt that some of the more major players in our industry
would provide the extra cash in order to beef up the sound on
their next platter, (at the expense of each members first born
son, I wouldn't wonder). The lyrics vary nicely from the usual
esoteric fare through to discussions of first world war trench
warfare, and so yet again the cerebral young tykes seem to be
a step ahead of their more lunk-headed peers. This is really a
premium death metal album in waiting; I can only hope that
five years down the line, with a gold album or two under their
belts, whichever label they end up on will remix the album and
re-release it. As it is, this is a great album anyway - but
the band? The band are exceptional. I can only hope for good
fortune and that they can resist fucking things up.
www.deadsyndicate.net |
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Diagnose: Lebensgefahr- Transformalin (Autopsy Kitchen Records)
By: Dave Schalek |
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Hmmm…Autopsy Kitchen Records. A urine tinted, monochromatic
album cover with a photo depicting a man with mutton chops
strapped to a bed in a dirty hospital room looking as if it’s
right out of an old, buried KGB photo archive from the Soviet
Union. A weird, vaguely German sounding band name with another
weird, drug reference sounding album title. Hmmm…goregrind,
right? Nope, not even close!
What we have here is the deranged, industrial noise/drone
manifestations of one Nattramn, who apparently wrote, and
performed, this album as part of his own psychotherapy during |
a stay in a psychiatric hospital called the Vaxjo Psychiatric
Ward. Nattramn is apparently also the brains behind the sole
release of Silencer, an over the top, suicidal (perhaps
literally) black metal project from Sweden whom I’ve never
heard of. In addition, one look at the MySpace profile of
Nattramn reveals a “fan” base that may just think that
suicidal black metal is more than a commentary on society, but
a cause to be championed and realized. Whatever.
At any rate, there’s no black metal to be heard on “Transformalin”,
which consists mostly of droning noise with a periodic,
deranged voice over from Nattramn. Frankly, this is pretty
boring stuff. Nattramn spends most of the first five minutes
or so saying “Transformalin” over and over in a gravelly voice
that eventually gives way to sub-harmonic tones that persist
for several “songs” before some additional, droning, mindless
ramblings/mumblings/deranged screams make various
appearances. Muted tones are sprinkled throughout the rest of
the album, which fails to raise my interest. As an entry in
the drone genre (I’m assuming that’s what we have here), this
is nowhere near the brilliance of Sunn O))). Ultimately,
there’s no music here to really speak of, and it goes on for,
get this, 68 plus minutes! Somebody shoot me now! Are you
kidding me?! Perhaps another stay in the hospital is in order.
www.diagnoselebensgefahr.com
| www.autopsykitchen.com
Post script: Actually, it’s sort of growing on me… |
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Finntroll – Ur Jordens Djup (Spikefarm) review by Sam Thomas |
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“Ur Jordens Djup” (“From the depths of the Earth”) is the
fourth full length release from Finntroll. It opens with a
brilliant instrumental which summons up pictures of a bleak
landscape at dawn with an invading army marching over the
skyline to wreak havoc. I’m particularly proud of myself for
coming up with that description before I’d used my
Swedish-English dictionary to discover that the track title
“Gryning” in fact means “Dawn”. The opener pretty much sets
the scene for the whole album: Finntroll are back, and on the
warpath! New vocalist Vreth carries on exactly where Wilska
left off in one of the most seamless changes of personnel I’ve
ever come across. |
The “humppa” influence is still strong, making this one of
those albums that it’s impossible to listen to and keep still.
There’s also a few darker, more atmospheric moments slipped
in, so that rather than just bludgeoning you with the music
(although there’s plenty of that) you also get to see the evil
side that Finntroll have kept hidden before. Here we get to
extrapolate from the mead drinking and axe swinging and get an
insight into the evil, malicious intent that precipitates the
fighting.
This is a much longer album than previous releases (55
minutes) and, although some of that time is used up to create
a pretty pointless “hidden” track (featuring what I would
guess is a drinking song, surprise, surprise), mostly the
extra length has been put to good use with a lot of extra
thought and work having gone into the construction of the
songs.
“Ur Djupet” opens with some mournful sounding Viking horns
calling from the depths of the earth. The most stunning
feature of this album is the degree to which the music manages
to convey a sequence of rich images that must cavort in
drunken nightmares through Finntroll’s brains – I don’t have
any problem at all with the lyrics being in Swedish, it makes
perfect sense that “the bawdy bastards of the crippled folk
metal scene” should sing in an alien tongue. After all, trolls
don’t speak English or wear suits, do they?
“Ur Jordens Djup” is instantly recognisable as Finntroll, but
it does differ from the last release “Nattfödd” in that there
is a new current of darkness and menace running close beneath
the surface. The anarchy of “Trollhammaren” (one of my
all-time favourite releases) is back, but it’s being
controlled to produce an unpredictable explosion of vitriol.
The trolls are no longer bothering to disguise themselves to
walk amongst mankind, they’re out for blood this time.
This album has taken a while to produce (Nattfödd was released
in 2004), but it has definitely been worth the wait. “Ur
Jordens Drup” is a masterpiece, an absolute gem of an album
quarried from the darkest depths of an evil world. Buy it,
provide yourself with your favourite beverage and look forward
to an evening of riotous bliss.
www.finntroll.net
| www.spinefarm.fi
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Forest Of Impaled - Rise And Conquer
(Red Stream Inc) Review by Ryan Bartek |
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This is yet another punishing assault from Chicago’s Forest Of
Impaled. Rise And Conquer picks up where Forward The Spears
left off, even opening with a similar number. Little enigma
shrouds the lyrical pathos. The snarling, clenched-teeth
hatred is limitless. Each song is Dantesque in its quality of
violence. “This is a call to arms/This is a call to
darkness/This is a call to victory/This is a call to war.” No
better chorus sums up the entire volcanic action of the
record. Forest Of Impaled has grown technically as well, with
a wider selection of skin-peeling guitar riffs and blazing
leads. For the uninitiated, they resemble a souped up
Necrophobic complete with an exotic Melechesh flavor. Yet they
are far more bludgeoning |
in terms of brutal measure. Wickedly fast double bass work and
rabid drum rolls keep it pure, with a monolithic disdain for
all of humanity. So hardcore it’ll make you vomit blood.
http://www.redstream.org/Forest-of-Impaled-Rise-and-Conquer_RD14397.php |
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Francesco Fareri - Secrets Within (Lion Music)
By: Joe Florez |
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Guitar shredder Francesco is back again with another blazing
instrumental. I had his last release “Forbidden Dimension” and
while he is a talented player, the major problem I had with the
disc was that it wasn’t all that original. It also worked your
nerves because you couldn’t tell one song from the next as
they all seemed to mesh together. Most of the material sounded
like dated Yngwie riffs and there wasn’t much feeling. It
seemed to all come from a blueprint. Does he fare better here?
Let’s take a deeper look, shall we?
The interesting thing about Secrets Within is that it’s broken
up into two sections. The first half “Into The Dark Line” is
the typical shred fest that I remember while “Out Of The Dark |
Line” is a complete opposite. It’s melodic and all acoustic.
The title track simply takes off like a bullet without ever
looking back. The keyboard work is lightning quick while the
bass lines also move quickly. It has more of a futuristic feel
for some reason which makes it sound slightly different than
his previous efforts. After about thirty seconds or so when
you think that the song is going to be on this consistent
riff, there is a really complicated breakdown where the
guitars are finally introduced and the timing is mad whacked.
It’s all done so fast and then after that…poof! Frank comes in
a shreds. Ah, finally, after two minutes of going into warp
speed we get a nice break where things slow down and the ivory
keys give off this classic 70s rock vibe and the six stringer
seems to put a bit of feeling into his composing, but it
doesn’t take too long before the foot is taken off the brake
pedal and we fly off again. I was ready to skip this track
after a few minutes, but there is a lot going on here and it’s
worth it if you don’t sticking around. Slamming on the keys is
special guest superstar Vitalij Kurpij of numerous bands. “Circles” offers
some interesting aspects to the song because there are is some
jazz elements thrown in to this already heavily layered song.
Even though we are still in the whirlwind of cacophony,
“Destiny” shows a more progressive and technical side. It’s
not all about the flash and pizzazz. There is actually more to
the song than one would realize and to be honest I like this a
lot more than just performing at ludicrous speeds just for the
sake of it. After nine tracks of mass insanity, we get the neo-classical portion of the release that rounds out this effort.
“Parallel Lives” is a beautiful number that shows Frank
performing quite nicely on the keys with an acoustic guitar
coming in from time to time in this short track. Pretty much
the last batch of six songs are all
gentle and warm hearted. I wish that instead of having the
music separated on here, I wish that these slower ones were
inserted in between the fast paced songs.
Overall, this is a
much better release than the last one. The is a little bit of
unpredictability, but it’s all still been done before. There
is a bit of maturity exploited on here which is a good thing,
but I just wish that the shredding would be used minimally as
opposed to consistently because I can’t think of many people
that still put out products like this anymore. It’s not 1985
again. Also, this tends to be a little long in the tooth. At
72 minutes, that’s too much to handle. This would have been
better at 35-45 tops. Guitar wannabes may be enthralled by
this while others may be put off. It’s not a bad listen, but I
still want more out of my music and this isn’t cutting it for
me.
www.lionmusic.com
| www.francescofareri.com |
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Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys: The Legacy World Tour
2005/2006 - ‘Live in Sao Paulo’ Double CD and
‘Live On Three
Continents’ Double DVD (SPV) Review by James Young |
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The eagerly anticipated live release from the Keeper of the
Seven Keys: The Legacy tour is finally here, and my goodness
what a treat it is. There’s been very little live footage of
the German power metal legends put out since High Live a
decade ago, which felt fairly rushed, let down by its over
reliance on material from The Time of The Oath. As a
consequence, classics such as The Keeper Of The Seven Keys
were pushed out, which was simply unforgivable to many fans.
Since that lacklustre album, there have been a few line-up
changes, bringing in Sascha Gerstner on guitars and Dani Löble
on the drums, along with some strong albums. We can now sing
along quite contently to the live versions of ‘Mr. Torture’,
‘If I Could Fly’, and of course ‘The King For 1000 Years’, and
it’s about time too! And you have a number of options as well
- available to buy is the CD jewel case edition, a double DVD
version, or both together. The choice is yours!
Let us then start with the double CD edition, which deals
exclusively with the Sao Paulo show, except the bonus tracks
of Occasion Avenue recorded in Tokyo and Halloween recorded in
Vizovice in the Czech Republic. These seem to have been thrown
on at the end to fill up the second disc, not that that’s a
bad thing, although the finale of Dr. Stein loses its impact a
little. Old favourites such as ‘Eagle Fly Free’, ‘Power’ and
‘I Want Out’ are all delivered superbly, alongside newer
numbers like ‘Hell Was Made In Heaven’ and ‘Mrs. God’. Andi
Deris’ voice has never really stood out on record in my
opinion - he can certainly hit all the notes, but everything
just seems a little flat and uninspiring most of the |
time. This is most definitely not the case here, as not only
does he nail every lyric to perfection, but he also makes the
oldies sound even better than when Michael Kiske fronted the band.
His brief but charming inter-song banter gives a nice sense of
interaction with the audience, who lap up every word he says,
erupting whenever he gives a hint as to what the next song
could be. Production-wise the album is faultless, delivering
enough crowd noise to set it apart from a studio recording
(and let‘s face it, each member of the audience knows each
song word for word), but not so much that you want the fans to
put a sock in it. There are plenty of opportunities for crowd
participation, with sing-a-long parts in the glorious ‘If I
Could Fly’ and opening melodies of ‘Power’, but the pinnacle
of the show is ‘Future World’, where a wonderful build up into
the final chorus makes for a wonderful feel-good climax.
The DVD is a whole other animal - again we have the Sao Paulo
show as the main feature on the first disc, but there are more
added features than there are outfits worn by Deris throughout
the set. Firstly we have the added fun of the guitar and drum
solos, as bizarre as they are. I’ve never really been a fan of
drum solos on live recordings as they never really capture the
excitement of being there. This didn’t really change my
opinion, although Dani Löble’s skills are absolutely amazing,
and it did bring back fond memories of being at the show when
those trademark orange Frisbees were flying all over the
place. What makes the disc really shine is the feature in
which a pumpkin pops up during certain tracks, allowing you to
switch between Sofia, Tokyo or Sao Paulo shows. It’s easy to
get carried away - only about six of the tracks have this
feature, and there are only two options in each case. Even
still, it’s a novel idea and makes for a much more interactive
experience than other DVDs out there, whilst increasing the
longevity no end. The footage itself, presented in Dolby
Digital 2.0 and 5.1 (which I’m sure means something to
someone) is great and captures the energy and fun of a
Helloween show. As expected, we have Markus Grosskopf grinning
like a Cheshire cat throughout, alongside the effortless
guitar strokes of the chain-smoking Michael Weikath. On more
than a few occasions do the band members partake in the corny
up-down guitar synchronisation, providing a wonderful stage
presence. The annoying slow-motion effects of the High Live
recording are still present, but are thankfully used much more
sparingly, alongside various split-screen shots which work
quite well.
On the second disc we have the Tokyo recording of the
underrated Occasion Avenue from The Keeper Of The Seven Keys:
The Legacy album, and the twenty minute long old chestnut
Halloween live at the Masters of Rock festival at Vicovice.
The road movie is perhaps overly long at fifty minutes,
consisting of lots of tour bus pratting about, backstage
shenanigans and tourist activities. It’s all the funnier
because it’s Helloween doing all the goofy activities, but
even still it comes across as a tad odd at times, and probably
means more to the band than ourselves. Perhaps I’m just bitter
because they would rather show the sunny beaches of South
America than the filth of the UK, but I suppose that was never
going to happen anyway. The interviews are slightly more
interesting from a fan’s point of view, addressing issues such
as how the members got into the band, life since they joined,
thoughts on other members, the new record and so on (including
a woman in a crowd brandishing two pumpkins of her very own).
Finally, two videos for the daft ‘Mrs God’ and the slightly
more serious (and downright marvellous) new single ‘Light The
Universe’ complete the neat little bonus package.
So there we have it - given the choice, I would recommend the
DVD over the CD for the awesome special features, but it goes
without say that any self-respecting Helloween fan should get
their hands on both. If you missed them on the tour or want to
relive the memories from the show, this is an essential
purchase. Happy, happy Helloween, woah-oah!
www.spv.de |
www.helloween.org |
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Intense - As Our Army Grows (Napalm
Records) Review by Steve Green |
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I saw Intense last year
at the warm-up show for the inaugural ProgPower UK Festival. I
have to say they didn't do a lot for me, so when this album
arrived, my expectations were not the highest. Well, I've no
problem in having to eat my words, as this album is pretty
damn good.
I guess the best way to describe Intense is, cheese free Power
Metal. This isn't your average Power Metal either. It's well
structured, well thought-out and is in a class above many of
our European cousins and veers more towards the likes of Iron
Maiden and Judas Priest and American bands Iced Earth and
Nevermore. The comparisons stand up more on |
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the opening three numbers, which are by far the albums
strongest. Anger of the Ancients, Mirror Shroud and Our Last
Hope all stand head and shoulders above the other tracks,
which although may suggest that the album is a little top
heavy, it's more a case of these three numbers are just so
good, nothing else can match them. Fear Is Not Enough is again
pretty close to the Iron Maiden/Judas Priest formula, but
you'll not hear any complaints from me about it as neither of
these bands will be around forever and we need some young(ish) blood to take over
the reins. And their potential is confirmed in the Chronicles
of the New Flesh, trilogy which closes out the album. It's
more Progressive than Power Metal and it's a direction I can
easily see Intense drift into. Whatever pigeonhole you decide
to lump them in with, the maturity in this trilogy,
highlight's that extra ounce of class that might make all the
difference. If my recollections are correct, I think vocalist
Sean Hetherington left his position as co-promoter of
ProgPower to concentrate on Intense. With the evidence in
front of me, I think he did the right thing because As Our
Army Grows has the potential to catapult them into the big
league. Superb
www.intense-uk.com |
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Machine Men - Circus of Fools
(Century Media) Review by Jesse Ketman |
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Badass. I’m really not quite sure how else to put my
thoughts into form. With the state of power metal in a
seemingly eternal purgatory, with little to no evolution
overall and a gross plethora of groups whose differences from
each other are nebulous at best, we fans get our fresh air
when and where we can. Iron Maiden will never get old, Blind
Guardian are still reliable, veering off into experimental
regions, Dragonforce is (as we all know) the new boy wonder on
the block, and still widely unknown bands like Brazil’s Angra
are slaving away to create symphonic, technical marvels behind
the sidelines. I’ve said it many times before, but I just have
to reiterate that Finland is fast becoming the fucking shit!
I’ve fallen in love
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with so many Finnish artists over the last few years:
Nightwish, Children of Bodom, Finntroll, The Wake, etc.
Machine Men, however, now to me represent the new breed, both
of power metal and Finnish metal. Circus of Fools is a
thunder-fueled, crushing, harmonic beast, with fantastic
thrash riffery overlaid with beautiful leads and sweeping
vocals. There’s a lot of air beneath the wings here, but just
because you have room to breathe doesn’t mean Machine Men will
let you off easy. Most importantly, and this is going to cause
some steam, I’m fully possessed by the belief that Toni
Parviainen is the best traditional metal singer since
Dickinson, with the possible exception of Hansi Kursch. He is
so full of life and passion that it’s invigorating just to
hear him. Ironic and unsurprising, then, that Machine Men
started life as a Maiden cover band. This flavor is readily
apparent in all the material, but it never feels like any of
the stale knockoffs that have popped up over the years. These
Machine Men and their wonderful music are skyrocketed out of
the mire not only because of great talent and solid
production, but in reaction to their energy. This is
passionate shit, and falls in law with my iron law of
incredible music: Make me feel what you feel! If you’re a good
doom band, then I better be crawling up into the fetal
position and weeping for love and sanity lost. Likewise, a
good thrash album, eg. Kill ‘em All, will make me chug my 40,
jump up on the table, and start violently whipping hair with
abandon. Machine Men cast a mystic spell for 40 minutes that’s
guaranteed to send any old Maiden fan into a nostalgic fit,
and all imitators running to the fucking hills. Badass.
www.centurymedia.com |
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