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Moonspell - Under Satanae (SPV)
Review by Steve Green |
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She who must be obeyed (ie: The Missus) and I, tend to
agree on most things. But when it comes to Moonspell, we are
poles apart. She likes everything from Irreligious onwards and
I'm only a fan of 1995's Wolfheart. When Under Satanae
arrived, Sam was earmarked to cover it, upon it's first play,
she rejected it and passed it back to me with a look of
disgust. You see, this album is a collection of pre-Wolfheart
material that has been re-recorded and has been given a lovely
beefy production, quite fitting for such dark and glorious
material.
Moonspell were frequent visitors to these shores a dozen years
ago, thanks to Mike at The Devils Church and I managed to see
their first few UK gigs at such salubrious venues as
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The George Robey (which was one of London's shittiest ever venues)
and the thankfully more palatable Borderline. Wolfheart was an
album of its time and one that takes me back to an exciting
time in London's developing underground scene. Under Satanae,
which features re-recordings of Moonspell's Under The
Moonspell MCD, their 1993 demo, Under Satanae and their only
pre-Moonspell recording, Serpent Angel, which was originally
recorded under the name, Morbid God, captures that moment in
time perfectly. And now I'm playing this album, it's also
making me think of other classics from that era such as In The
Woods, HEart Of The Ages and the underground gem, Mare Veris,
by Norwegian Doomsters Paradigma. How I wish Live 4 Metal was
around back then for such an explosive time in terms of
musical discovery.
Under Satanae is a really exciting album to listen to in the
same vein as the other albums I've just mentioned. And I've
not thought that about Moonspell since their Wolfheart debut.
Tenebrarum Oratorium (Andamento I/Erudit Compendyum) is a
forceful slice of dark art, with Fernando Ribeiro growling as
if his life depended on it. I've not got the details of who
provided the female vocals on this album, but her voice
compliments the Mediterranean/Middle Eastern style perfectly.
The tracks that originally made up the Under The Moonspell mcd
are all in the same darkened vein, but darker still are the 3
songs from the Anno Satanae demo. Goat On Fire veers more
towards Black Metal, albeit with Moonspell's trademark sound
giving the game away. But this is a potent force that has
stood the test of time well, especially with the help of Tue
Madsen's excellent production. Heavier still is the Ancient
Winter Goddess, which will guarantee them a mass pit when they
play this album live in Lisbon on October 31st. Damn, I wish I
could be there. Bringing up the rear is the ball-crushing
Serpent Angel, from 1992, which is pure Black Metal and has
very little in common, with what was to become Moonspell. And
it's a great addition for Moonspell completists and shows what
a long way they've come from their more Blackened roots.
I loved this album and I'm sure fans of their early work will
too.
www.moonspell.com |
www.spv.de
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One Step Beyond - Beyond Good And Evil
(Grindhead Records) Review by Steve Green |
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Nothing to do with the band Madness, but this album is full
to the brim of craziness. I'm sorry for the image that this
creates, but imagine Napalm Death's Shane Embury and Primus'
Les Claypool getting it on together while on acid, and add
that to the catchiness of the Dead Kennedys. Think Chicken
Farm going head to head with Rambozo The Clown being fed
through a grinding machine, then you are getting close to the
chaotic carnage that is One Step Beyond. This is crazy
fairground music with a constant bass line smashing your brain
into submission. I can only take this a couple of songs at a
time as it's so in your face. Or in this case, inside of your
head.
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Thankfully, by the fourth number, Your God, everything seems
to settle down to a more sedate pace. Well, I was wrong as the
next number is a major blast fest, but at least the bass has
stopped pounding my head.
While I think the more crazy material is harder to digest,
it's much more impressive than their more accessible material,
which doesn't have the same impact. Mirrorstance doesn't
really cut it for me, but the material that funks it up like
the Infectious Grooves, or the crazy grinding shit, has a huge
impact and makes One Step Beyond stand out a mile. This won't
be everyone's cup of tea, but you are going to have to marvel
at the dazzling musicianship and the sheer nuttiness of their
songs.
www.myspace.com/onesteprockstar |
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Ritual - The Hemulic Voluntary Band (Inside Out)
By Metal Mark |
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I think that its obvious Ritual had a lot of ideas floating
around while writing this album. They seem to have aspirations
of bringing in classic rock, progressive rock, folk, jazz and
even some hard rock, at least in the vocals. Most of the music
tends to lean towards the 1970’s. Unfortunately this album
seems to be a case of trying to do too much and they wind up
not really doing enough of anything and it comes across a
little boring in the end. Although they sprinkle in elements
of several different styles, they never seem to master any or
blend them together well either. There is no doubt that the
playing skills are there, it’s just a bit bland for my tastes.
I kept waiting for either some hooks some powerful build-up
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neither ever came. The changes are more subtle in approach and
that may appeal to some people, but it left feeling a bit
cold. The vocals were smooth throughout and I love the
production overall. I certainly made several attempts to see
if I was missing anything, but inevitably I came to the
conclusion that I listed above. My hopes were that it would
become exciting or musically stimulating or even fresh in some
way. However the band barely touched on any of those
expectations and seemed perfectly content to slide from track
to track managing only slight bursts of energy scattered
throughout. There are a number of progressive rock bands that
I enjoy, but Ritual’s latest effort was a little too lukewarm
for me. www.insideout.de
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Rosetta - Wake/Lift (Translation
Loss) Review by Steve Green |
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The biog for this one is so enthusiastic, claiming that
Rosetta have made "one of the most crushing follow-up records
known to man". You know what, that means bugger all to me as
this is not the sort of music I normally listen to. I can tell
you whether I like it or not, but as for comparisons within
their peers, then I am NOT your man. And I'm not even going to
blag it by doing a bit of research. Hey, at least my views
will be completely unbiased.
I actually think this is quite a cool album. The melodic lead
guitars take up a huge chunk of the mix, with the music being
pretty low down and constantly on the verge of exploding. The
vocals are turned right down and Mike Armine is probably
screaming his balls off at
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150 decibels, but his voice is buried really low in the mix
with the bass taking centre stage as it rumbles through the
mix. The result is as potent as fuck.
Call this experimental, avant-garde, post hardcore with furry
bloody bells on, I don't care. It's mesmerizing in a strange
sort of way, probably because I've not been exposed to this
type of music before. But it's definitely cool to kick back
to. I like it.
www.translationloss.com |
www.myspace.com/rosetta |
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Siebensunden - Teratologen (I Hate Records)
Review by Chris Davison |
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There are, of course, some records that you can put on to play
happily in the background while you get on with other
activities, producing a kind of gentle burbling muzak to
accompany the hum drum activities of your pathetic existence.
While metal as a whole is pretty resistant to that, with
enough time all but the most extreme of sounds can be ignored
by the listener who has built up an immunity to aural
violence.
If you tried to put this two-track release on as a background
to you completing any activity, things would end in disaster.
Pop this in your CD player in the kitchen, for example, and
you may find yourself absently mindedly stabbing yourself in
the guts rather than chopping |
the carrots. Likewise, if you play this in the car, you're
just as likely to deliberately steer into the path of an
oncoming 18 wheeler as you are to successfully complete your
journey. This then, is not feelgood music. Extremely
dissonant, slow, industrialised blackened doom if the order of
the day here, with single chords lasting longer than entire
seasons, and a drumbeat slower and more irregular than the
British rail network. Extremely fuzzy, sludged out doom riffs start and stop in an
organically creepy fashion, while extremely odd
almost-falsetto vocals spout off about incomprehensible things
in a language I assume may well be Swedish. Whatever is being
said, the tone and demeanour of the phrasing brings to mind
Confessor on very strong psychoactive drugs.
With just two tracks (albeit each one weighs in at well over
twenty minutes), listening to this demands the attention and
effort of the listener. Play it with the lights off and you
may well find yourself faecally embarrassed. This is scary,
nasty and utterly degenerate filth. Thus, with one eye on what
a complete shambles the world is today, why not tune in, turn
up and howl along. It doesn't matter that you don't know the
words: the sentiment alone will suffice.
www.ihate.se |
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The Big Sleep - Son Of The Tiger (Tangled
Up) Review by Steve Green |
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You never know what to expect
when you receive a cd from the good folk at Tangled Up. They
never send us any Metal, but why should they as they aren't a
Metal label, but there's always something in their releases
that the Metal fraternity can latch onto. Son of The Tiger ranges
from ballsy, sonic guitar led workouts that fans of everyone
from Sonic Youth, Nirvana to Neil Young and even Hawkwind
could rock out to, to more mellow shoegazing moments that make
you mong out.
With the rockier numbers, I can't keep my feet still, gliding
along with Sonya Balchandani's smooth tones and the ever
rockin' rhythm section that could give the Ramones a run for
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money, were they all alive, obviously. This is caustic stuff.
The mellow moments make you drift away into your own little
word and shoegazing has never been such an apt
expression. Although listening to this on headphones with a
perfectly clear sky and millions of stars to focus on would
probably be good fun too. That is until you'd make yourself
dizzy with endless circumnavigations around the garden.
I don't think there's enough here to keep your average
Metalhead happy, but those of a more mellow disposition will
enjoy this, as will those that prefer their Grunge to their
Thrash.
www.tangleduprecordings.co.uk |
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Waterclime - Imaginative (Lion Music)
By: Joe Florez |
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I have to say that I was once a huge Vintersorg fan. It seems
like when most people are digging him between that and his
time in Borknagar, my interest dwindled tremendously. I think
the final nail in the coffin for me was his non stop over the
top dramatic voice that is so rich and thick. Yes, he can
sing, but it was just not cutting it for me anymore. Is there
any other style he can do beside black metal and the
theatrical? I wasn’t exactly fond of the first Waterclime disc
and when I received this, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to even
listen to it or pass it on. Well, I couldn’t help my curiosity
and it got the best of me. So, I popped this in. I knew that
this was classic 70’s prog/rock, but a smile was quickly put
on my face when I |
heard the first track “Vision Or Void.” It has a very dated
vibe, but I love this. I am impressed with this mere song for
so many reasons. First, he played everything on here himself
and each instrument is played to perfection. This is a near
impossible feat if you ask me. Secondly, Vintersorg’s voice is a bit thin here, but I dig it.
He can alter his voice a bit if need be. What a change of
pace. Lastly, the music is just wonderful. It a mix of vintage
ELP prog thanks to the complex drumming. The spacey Hawkwind
like vibes are tripped out and then even jazz atmospheres make
an appearance on here. What sounds like a xylophone is thrown
on here for good measure. This is such a layered song that one
listen isn’t enough. While my initial listen was a pleasant
one, I must go back because there is so much going on. The
major issue here now is if the musicianship and interest can
remain for the duration. “Flashes” adds flutes to the mix of
jazz and prog to give it that folk feeling and despite the
fact that there is a lot going on, it actually works. “Body
Migrated” throws in the kitchen sink as he adds horns to the
mix of things. You would think that the band Chicago was hired
to perform on here. As opposed to the other songs on here,
this one doesn’t sound as dated. It has a touch of modern
flair. In the end, I wasn’t expecting something so out of left
field, but in a fabulous way. This disc has it all from soft
jazz to mellotron's to organs to percussions, horns and so on.
This is a well crafted disc that old school prog heads should
dig even if you you never heard of the man responsible for
this. Not only do I suggest multiple listens to soak in
everything, but to get the full experience I suggest that you
pull up a chair and put your headphones on. This is one
incredible journey. I loved every last drop of this…even the
vocals.
www.lionmusic.com |
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