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Magnum - Princess Alice And The Broken Arrow
(SPV) Review by Steve Green |
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Circa 1982 and I discovered Magnum for the first
time. Soldier Of The Line, from Chase The Dragon was the song that broke
my cherry and it still remains one of my favourite Magnum songs to this
day. On subsequent releases, Magnum went from strength to strength and
their career peaked around the Wings of Heaven and Goodnight L.A.
albums. After that, their popularity waned, and so did the quality of
their work. By the mid-90s it was all over for the boys from Brum.
Since Magnum reformed in early 2001, they've released two comeback
albums, Breath of Life in 2002 and 2004's Brand New Morning... and I've
hated both of them. Bar the title
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track from Brand New Morning, the songs have been so weak,
that I never thought I'd like a Magnum album ever again, that
is until hearing a song or two from this album on Nicky
Horne's show on Planet Rock. Despite only hearing it the once,
Dragons Are Real stuck in my head immediately and I spent the
next 48 hours singing it at all hours of the day.
From the opening minute of When We Were Younger it's obvious that Magnum
are back on form. The warmth of their music envelops you immediately and
the classic mid eighties sound of On A Story Tellers Night is well and
truly back.
Words alone cannot describe how good they sound once again. Eyes Wide
Open carries on the traditional English feel of olde and although the
glass of Vacqueyras I'm drinking whilst doing this review is French,
Magnum have made sure my heart most definitely remains in Blighty. Like
Brothers We Stand takes it down a few notches as Bob Catley
reminisces over a lode of lush acoustic guitars, which are
complimented by keyboard maestro Mark Stanway's subtle
touches. A meaty riff greets us for Out Of The Shadows as
Magnum crank it up and that old familiar feeling of their mid
80s creative peak is felt once again. This is probably the
heaviest Magnum have sounded since The Teacher, albeit without
the ripping solo. Track five of eleven and it's the highlight
of the album for me. Dragons Are Real is so addictive, I can't
get enough of it. The core of the song is pretty simplistic,
but it's so catchy I sing it for days on end, especially the
na-na na-na part. I can't wait to hear this one live.
Inside Your Head, sounds more like a Jeff Lynne number than a
Tony Clarkin composition. And as with ELO, Magnum have their
weaker moments with ballads and this "lighters in the air
moment" isn't really for me, although the chorus is still very
strong. Be Strong, again showcases the heavier side of Magnum,
with Al Barrows bass thumping right at the heart of the song
with new boy Jimmy Copley banging out the sort of steady beat
that Phil Rudd would be proud of. Whilst, Thank You For The
Day, sounds exactly like I expected it to. Laid back with an
exceptionally classy, and big, chorus. Your Lies is up-tempo
and I kid you not, sounds like Abba's Summernight City, but
dipped in Magnum's special sauce (well it does to me anyway).
Desperate Times has such a strong chorus, that I'm tempted to
ignore the weak verses. For the time being I'll sit on the
fence with this one. Bringing up the rear, so to speak, is
You'll Never Sleep, an impossibly bouncy number that reminds
me of Out In The Real World, from Stream of Passions, Embrace
The Storm opus. A fine way to end a truly great album.
It's not just the familiar tones that make this album great,
it's the sheer brilliance of the melodies and the detail of
the compositions. Tony Clarkin has excelled himself with his
song writing and Princess Alice... is up there with Kingdom of
Madness and Chase The Dragon. Bob Catley, as he enters his
sixtieth year (sorry Bob) sounds even better than ever. The
man still has the perfect voice for Clarkin's compositions.
Princess Alice And The Broken Arrow is not just a classic by Magnum
standards, it's a classic in both Prog and Hard Rock spheres and I urge
fans of the band to rejoice in the rebirth of Magnum.
www.spv.de |
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Maryslim – A Perfect Mess (Wild Kingdom) review by Sam Thomas |
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Now let’s get this straight before I start: I’m not desperate
to have my music neatly arranged into categories, and I don’t
give a fuck about defining what is and isn’t metal. But,
sometimes, there are things which are clearly way outside
anybody’s definition of metal. That doesn’t necessarily mean
that they are inherently bad, far from it, I have the greatest
respect for classical music and enjoy listening to much of it.
However, “A Perfect Mess” ain’t metal. And it ain’t good.
Maryslim are a bunch of Swedes who don’t play death metal. Not
a problem: you shouldn’t have to choose which music to play
based on your country of origin. What they |
do play is just so bland and boring that there is no need for
a category for it. The album was produced by Peter Tätgren, he of Hypocrisy fame,
and noted for producing, amongst others, Children of Bodom and
Dimmu Borgir. Well, everyone’s entitled to be associated with
at least one lousy project.
“A Perfect Mess” is an incredibly appropriate title for this
album – I’d only question the use of the word “perfect”. It’s
a collection of pop songs performed by a band who are as
devoid of talent as they are of originality. Even more
surprisingly they’ve managed to persuade Jyrki69 (69 Eyes) to
perform on a couple of tracks (including a nausea –inducing
cover of The Sisters of Mercy’s “This Corrosion” ).
Personally, I’d have insisted on remaining anonymous!
The whole sound is so manufactured that you can almost imagine
it coming with the rider “no musicians were harmed in the
making of this album”. Only the ears of anyone unfortunate
enough to listen to it. Whiny, self-obsessed and unnecessary
are just three of the adjectives that spring to mind. On
balance, I really don’t like this and can see no merit
whatsoever to it. I note with interest that it was recorded
nearly a year ago – maybe someone was not too keen to release
it quickly. I wonder why.
www.maryslim.com |
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Masterplan - MKII (Candlelight Records)
By: Joe Florez |
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Wow! A major blow was thrown into the mix last year when vocal
God Jorn Lande called it a day here and drummer and fellow
part in crime to Roland Grapow, Uli Kusch said adios. Honestly,
filling a man behind the mic after that would be no easy task.
On the other hand, a drummer is easy to find, but one with
monstrous talent would be a task as well. Enter drummer for
hire Mike Terrana who has proven himself to be the wildest and
best in the metal biz to take over the skins and former Riot
singer Mike DiMeo is at the forefront. Did the band look like
it was in jeopardy? Yes! They were quite a refreshing band to
listen to and with that formula all shaken up, I wasn’t sure
if they would be able to bounce back. |
Now, Masterplan would be
put to the test to see if the fans would still accept them.
“Warriors Cry” does bring the house down in typical power
metal fashion with rapid fire double bass drumming and
electrified guitar work that provides great melody. Now, it’s
all down to Mike and his lungs and to be honest I’m not quite
sure about his voice. He does have a higher range and while I
am doing my best not to compare him to Jorn, his singing is a
little flat for my taste. Sure, he can hit the highs and go
for the mid range, but there’s no real depth to his vocal
chords. The music is decent, but not enough to sell me yet
even if there is a blazing solo from one Mr. Grapow.
Immediately after the trail blazing song we get “Lost And
Gone” that puts the brakes on the speed and opts for a slower
tune, but retaining some of its heaviness and laced with
strong keyboard accents. Mike really makes an effort to go in
different directions with his voice and yes I do buy it and
think that it works. The mid paced ‘Keeps Me Burning” shows a
bit of versatility as the guys prove that they have more than
one direction in their heads. There is some muscle behind this
one without ever going over the top in every aspect. I was
really surprised in the end with what Roland came up with in
terms of compositions. All the tracks have a bit of diversity
as I was expecting nothing more than clichéd power metal tunes
that kids with long hair would raise their fists to. This is a
more mature outing even though the fire burns with each
respective song. The tempo changes are there every time making
sure that there is something on here for everyone. While it
did take me a while to warm up to this, I did find it
enjoyable. Mike’s voice is tolerable as well. I just had to
get used to it as well.
Even though this is far from a perfect
record, it’s good enough to make the grade and there is still
room for improvement which is good because I wouldn’t want the
band to peak already and take a nose dive the next time
around. I think there is still an ace up their sleeve that
will be used next time now that we know that this line up is
stable and the experimenting stage is over. I like this
record, but I can’t wait for the next one. There is plenty of
room to outdo themselves. www.master-plan.net
| www.candlelightrecords.co.uk |
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Memories Lab - Empathy (Self Release)
Review by Steve Green |
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There's no doubting the talent of
Italian progsters Memories Lab, on this their 3rd demo
release. The only choice to make is to whether their take on
Prog/Power Metal is to your liking. Having started off as a
Dream Theater covers band, whether they still sound like DT
now, I'm not qualified to make that judgement as I don't
listen to James LaBrie & Co, but what can I tell you is that Memories Lab veer from acoustic and mellow, through to
complicated and over-bearing, with the less complicated and
more accessible material much more to my liking.
The first couple of numbers are very easy on the ear.
Epilogue: A New Beginning is
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atmospheric and extremely mellow, whereas Hydra injects a
modicum of energy and a fine smattering of metallic edged
guitars mixed in with the acoustic foundations. Guitars and
vocals soar accordingly as the time signatures become slightly
more complicated. And just to confuse me, Hydra runs directly
into track 3 Just Excuses and I don't realise I'm listening to
a different song until I look at my cd players LCD. Around the 3 minute mark, the
melody seems to disappear and a musical wankfest takes over
and my enjoyment begins to wane. Thankfully, with the return
of Giovanni Girone's vocals towards the end of the song, the
melody returns too. Final Day starts off, once again, in a
pretty mellow way, yet at around the halfway mark it gets
noticeably heavier and takes on a much more menacing persona.
Final number Tears And Blood is too bass heavy and the melody
has to fight it's way out, which it does after about 90
seconds, but by then my attention span had been lost to the
great daydream in the sky. In all honesty, the song is too
messy by half and does nothing to enhance this demo. Make your
own mind up at
www.myspace.com/memorieslab |
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Middian - Age Eternal (Metal Blade) Review by Chris Davison |
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The clichéd review is supposed to start, "I didn't think I
would like this, as I'm not normally a fan of genre X, but
band Y has changed all that!". In some respects, this is going
to be a reverse of this cliché. Middian are a doom(ish)
outfit from Oregon, formed in part from the ashes of Yob.
Accordingly, so their blurb says, this is should be an
eclectic mix of metal styles, incorporating doom, stoner and
dark rock, among others. As one of the pre-eminent doom heads
here at L4M towers, you'd expect me therefore to be salivating
at the prospect of listening to this album over and over.
Wrong.
You see, it's not necessarily that I dislike it, per se. It's
more that there is an absence of stuff |
here that I do like. Long, meandering tracks kind of crawl by
with little to differentiate between them. There is more than
a passing Neurosis influence in these gruff, bristling doom
sections, which to be honest probably has a healthy amount to
do with my ambivalence. I may be one of the only metal critics
who doesn't feel the need to fall to my knees and fellate the
Neurosis fellows, and I certainly don't feel the need to do it
with any band influenced by them, even with the added twist of
more deranged vocals and moribund stylings.
Look, the long and the short and the tall of it is this; I
couldn't find anything in particular to like or dislike here.
I can certainly appreciate "damned by faint praise" as a
phrase in this incident. You may go ape for the stoned out
ramblings of what sounds like, to these ears, an uncensored
and tedious jam session in dire need of some pruning and song
writing skills. I don't. Sorry.
www.metalblade.de |
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Nagelfar - Virus West (Reissue) (Van Records)
By: Dave Schalek |
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German black metal drummer Alexander Von Meilenwald continues
to maintain a heavy workload, to say the least. Van Records,
based in Germany, has just released the excellent debut from
Kermania, “Ahnenwerk” (featuring Von Meilenwald), as well as
“Rain Upon The Impure”, the new magnum opus from Von
Meilenwald’s main creative outlet, The Ruins Of Beverast. Von
Meilenwald originally made his mark, however, with Nagelfar, a
great black metal band with progressive touches.
Nagelfar released three albums over their ten-year career with
the last album being “Virus West”, originally released on Ars
Metalli in 2001, and largely considered to be their best. |
Thanks to the geniuses at Van, now is your chance to grab a
hold of this gem, with a reissue of this classic. The first
two albums from Nagelfar, “Hunengrab Im Herbst”, and
“Srontgorrth” (an album somewhat marred by personnel
disruptions), are also excellent, but all of the elements of
Nagelfar came together on the release of “Virus West”.
Consisting of exceptionally powerful, fast black metal with a
progressive, Teutonic touch, “Virus West” fires on all
cylinders and is simply a must have. Fast chords and a great,
screamed rasp back up the deeply powerful bass and drums from
vocalist Zingultus, who later went on to appear in Graupel. In
addition, moments of haunting, clean vocals, intoning what
seem to be examples of German hymns, make numerous appearances
as well as such disparate elements as horns and timpani drums.
Never far away, however, is the base of the music, an
excellent example of brutal, fast black metal reminiscent of,
say, bands such as Marduk and Dark Funeral. These elements
combine together to produce some excellent, frankly catchy,
songs that you’ll literally find yourself humming along to.
Unfortunately, Nagelfar seemed to have been spent as a
creative force after the release of “Virus West” (a very
limited EP did appear in 2003), and broke up for unknown
reasons. Luckily, from the ashes of Nagelfar, rose Graupel and
The Ruins Of Beverast, two excellent bands with different
directions. Nagelfar, however, is definitely the progenitor of
those bands, and “Virus West” is very highly recommended. Buy
or die. www.van-gbr.de
Post script: This release does not contain the two bonus
tracks that appeared on an earlier re-release of the album. |
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| Nephwrack – The Once &
Future King (Self Release) Review by Steve Green |
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Fuck me, opener Legion is a dire way to
start your debut album. No cohesion, no direction and a dire
drum sound is not the way to win over new listeners.
Thankfully, and I really mean that, Blacks The Sky sounds a
whole lot better. Nephwrack offer a melodic take on Metal and
one that’s easy to digest (despite the plethora of cheese).
I’m in two minds whether to call it old school, but the
mixture of different styles gives it too clean an edge for
that. And it’s the mixture of sounds that is Nephwracks
downfall. Cold Skin has a verse that reminds me of The
Offspring vocally and Iron Maiden musically (there’s actually
a lot of Maidenisms scattered throughout the album), but a
very weak, tuneless chorus simply
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kills all the good work of the verse. Fall Of Empires, ain't bad at all, although the
woahs need just a little more work. Teargas has a stack of
energy, that is until the chorus. Yet again a piss weak chorus
is the bands downfall. Neither the hooks nor the melody lines
are there and the vocals aren’t strong enough to garner any
attention, that is until we hear a deathly growl that is a
100% better on your ears.
By The Light is excellent and is a complete transformation.
The energy is again right up there, but this time the chorus
is spot on and the song works on every level, the acoustic
break, the scorching solo, the vocals. Everything is absolute
killer. So why couldn't this type of quality be heard before?
The goodness continues on Leviathan Rises, a mellow acoustic
number, that is totally captivating, until the an injection of
Metal ups the ante. The metallic half of the song is good in
its own right, but I would have included it as a separate song
as the acoustic piece was working so well. This album is so
Jekyll and Hyde. Just as my opinion was changing, Underclass
kills the flow once again and all the faults I've mentioned
before rear their ugly heads. Cut Down is blessed with some
great guitar work and with a cool chorus and is contemporary
enough to reach a huge crossover/mainstream audience. Signing
off in a peaceful way is Messiahs Day, another classy acoustic
anthem, which does serve up another potential hit single.
I found listening to The Once & Future King infuriating. Half
of the album bordered on World class, yet the other half was
excruciatingly terrible. In my humble opinion, I think the
band need to work on material that suits Christian Francis'
voice, something they've not done to great effect on the
weaker numbers. Leviathan Rises, Cut Down and Messiahs Day
show a band that have huge potential when they get it right.
And I hope on album number 2 they do.
www.nephwrack.com |
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Obscurus Advocam - Verbia Daemonicus (Battle Kommand Records)
By: Dave Schalek |
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Azentrius looks across the Atlantic to what is probably the
best black metal scene outside of the U.S, and that is France.
With giants such as Antaeus and the mind blowing Deathspell
Omega to contend with, any band emerging from the French scene
nowadays has to fight for notice. Enter Obscurus Advocam and
their debut full-length, “Verbia Daemonicus”, on Battle
Kommand Records (with distribution help from Southern Lord),
itself becoming, quite possibly, the best black metal, for the
most part, label in the U.S underground.
Obscurus Advocam has been kicking around in one form or
another since a demo in 2003, |
and consists of some veterans of the French scene, notably
from Glorior Belli. However, rather
than the all out assault of Glorior Belli, Obscurus Advocam’s
2007 debut consists of some mid-paced black metal reminiscent
of, perhaps, a slower version “Rebel Extravaganza” or
“Volcano”- era Satyricon (that’s what came to mind) with
plenty of hardened riffs, excellent bass lines, and variations
in time signatures combined with a few all out blasts.
Livening up the music is an acoustical touch or two, a trace
of ambience, and some great accompanying bass work that is
very noticeable and stands out. In addition, the comparisons
to, say, “Volcano” and the whole black ‘n roll sub-genre are
warranted on such tracks as “Endarkenment”, which consists of
a mid-paced, rock ‘n roll riff with a beat right off of a
classic rock album. The match between black metal and rock ‘n
roll has never been a perfect one in my opinion, but Obscurus
Advocam is able to pull this off in a better, more
interesting, fashion than, say, “Now, Diabolical” from
Satyricon, probably the progenitors of this movement, if you
want to call them that.
“Verbia Daemonicus”, therefore, becomes somewhat of an
original release from the French scene, which already has some
of the other, different sub-genres of black metal well
represented. Certainly, this is a solid release worth your
effort. www.battlekommand.com
| http://obscurus.advocam.free.fr |
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Paganize - Evilution Hour (Candlelight Records)
By: Joe Florez |
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Ready for this one? The Godly drummer Trym from the almighty
Emperor and Zyklon in here as a permanent member of a band
that plays straight up heavy metal. I thought the day would
never come where he would give his feet a bit of a break and
opt for something that is lighter paced. This one really
slipped under the radar as they have released two demos before
putting this debut out and have been going at it now for just
about five years. At any rate, here they are ready to take on
the true metal scene.
“The Hour” is a straight 4/4 tune with
twin guitar attacks, high pitch vocals from Geir and drumming
that goes from mid to fast paced. Sure, there is some double
bass action, but |
never reaching the heights of his other bands. The steel
guitars have a slight Iced Earth tinge to them, but don’t
mirror them exactly. It has that dated feel of 70’s-80’s hard
rock classic metal vibe and nothing more. Believe it not, the
guys opt to be retro rather than mix it with the modern times.
“Conscience” is slightly better than the opening track as Geir swings his voice back and forth from
high singing to a more crooning tone. The drums get intricate
at times, but never going over the top. The solos on here have
some shredding attitude on here, but this one is packed more
with being melodic and containing some quite memorable riffs.
The tracks float around back and forth making
sure that each fans gets exactly what they want. I am more
than positive that fans will have their fists raised in the
air and pumping when they decide to hit the road. I would have
never expected anything like this from Trym, but we all have
more than one type of taste, no? When you listen to this, a
lot of throwback bands will come to mind: anything from
Heretic to Hellstar, Priest and numerous others that have
paved the way. With the resurgence of old school metal making
its way back, this should fit nice and snug in you’re your
collection.
www.paganize.no
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www.candlelightrecords.co.uk
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