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And Harmony Dies - Flames Everywhere
(My Kingdom Music) Review by Steve Green |
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Less is more, one very clever person said one day.
Unfortunately no-one told Italian oddballs And Harmony Dies.
Before I even tried to dissect what they've offered up, using
10 million different vocal styles just killed this for me as I
couldn't get into any sort of groove with it. Musically, I
love the hard hitting circus/fairground quirkiness. But man,
those crazy fucking vocals are something else. Imagine 50 King
Diamond clones, each with a different vocal pitch and each
with a different accent or affliction and then they all get to
sit in a line and they then each get to sing one line of every
song. No, it doesn't work, not in the slightest. And because
the vocals detract from everything else, this album is such a
big turn |
off, I'm left wondering why, one: why in the hell it was
released in the first place? and two: who the fuck is this
going to appeal to?
This album is 76 minutes long. And I'm not going to lie and
say I listened to the whole thing, as the skip button was too
tempting a proposition, and I don't think hearing every second
of this madness is possible for any sane man (or woman). But
if you really want to crush whatever brain cells you have
remaining, then give the last song an airing at full volume, a
cover version of Venom's At War With Satan... All twenty
minutes of it.
www.mykingdommusic.net |
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Audiopain - The Switch to Turn Off Mankind
(Vendulus Records) Review by Ray Van Horn, Jr. |
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You have to appreciate a thrash album that sounds like a
Twilight Zone episode in title. More and more it’s starting to
feel like a 20 year time portal has opened up and swallowed us
all as the current metal scene reaches out to every nook and
cranny it hasn’t yet touched, even if that means dropping
backwards to move forward. Even Billboard’s getting into the
act as they’ve taken a few minutes past their phoney idolizing
of corporate rap and primadonna pop that dominates their
charts and headline pages to give a Norwegian thrash act like
Audiopain a little bit ‘o love. One thing about Audiopain is
that you don’t need to describe them much further beyond trad
speed metal ala Dark Angel and Possessed; what |
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they do is just bludgeon you senseless for six consecutive
cuts, five at mostly the same tempo. There’s plenty of
blackened heart to The Switch to Turn Off Mankind, and
Audiopain’s refusal to deviate too far from their
thrash-minded course lends to its throwback charm; they’ve
been in the game for 11 years now and they know their niche
well. Not that they don’t luxuriant the hell of “Cobra Dance,”
“Holy Toxic,” “Hellbound” and the title song with layered
strumming and abusive beats that stay the course of the album.
Also noteworthy is Sverre Daehli’s raspy vocals that sound
like High On Fire’s Matt Pike at higher octaves. Dig it. For
you old school ‘bangers, this one’s going to give you all
you’re craving in your thrash diet, while for the newer
generation, The Switch to Turn Off Mankind is a pretty good
example of what the old days were like. Mosh it up…
www.vendulus.com |
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Dark The Suns - In Darkness Comes Beauty
(Firebox) By: D.W. |
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Dark. Somber. Keyboards. What to expect next other than the
latest from Dark The Suns, gothic/melodic/dark metal out of
Finland? Assuming one can reason from context, it is clear…yet
further investigation reveals…another dark melodic metal band
from Finland? Indeed we find ourselves at another northern
crossroads where the beaten path appears to extend in all
directions. Definitely reminiscent of later Sentenced, though
with much more emphasis on gritty vocals and keyboard
arrangements to establish the prerequisite goth atmosphere; no
female vocals to be found, however. The music is deliberate
and captures a sense of somber depression, although not too
intense, perhaps analogous to the emotional |
result after your girlfriend dumped you and the pizza you
ordered as solace was cold. All in the same night….fuck!
(Note: this isn’t some sort of projection….douche). Though
comprised of both all-too-familiar mid-paced tempos that
remain unchanged (unfortunately resulting in musical
stagnation during a listen through the course of the album)
and minor key variations with the occasional piano interlude,
the execution is generally well undertaken. The production is
excellent, and somehow or rather I’ve had a random hook stuck
in my head during waking hours, to the merit of Dark The Suns’
ability to keep a fairly gravitational effect from the ebb and
flow of hooks through weaving clean guitar and keyboard.
Dark The Suns…is just another goth/melodic band. Yet there is
another face to this band, one that has room for improvement
in future releases, especially to change the damn tempo and
time signature. The overall musicality and audio aesthetic is
sound, but in the end the long term favor this album will hold
likely lies in the direction of the devoted to the genre.
www.darkthesuns.com |
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Heaven & Hell - Live Radio City Music Hall 2007
(SPV) Review by Strawb |
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The version I review here is the DVD and 2 CD boxed set. The
purchase was made the day after myself and Mrs. S returned
from the concert at Nottingham. I did not review that outing
as the site already has an excellent review from earlier in
the tour. Mrs S and I were pleasantly surprised by one thing
especially, Ronnie James Dio has an excellent set of pipes. It
is also good to see that he is still the prime exponent of
wearing tops with wizards sleeves. Being long time followers
of Black Sabbath we are fully aware of the talents of Geezer
and Tony. This was the first time either of us had ever seen
Vinnie Appice, but he held his own in this company. We have
discussed it at some length and if this was not the best gig
the two of us have ever been to together, then it is certainly
up there challenging for that spot. And we have been gigging
together since 1980………
For those who have had their minds blanked in the recent past,
the history lesson begins….. And in the beginning there were
Black Sabbath, four lads from Birmingham, England who |
created a genre of music which lives on to this day. The
original band produced a number of seminal albums, but
tensions within, meant the parting of the ways for the
original quartet.
Meanwhile, across the pond, Ronnie was plying his trade,
coming to my notice as the vocalist on another seminal album,
Rainbow Rising. It was here he first displayed to me, not only
his range but his excellent ability to sustain. He was invited
to join the now singerless Sabbath and accepted. Also in the
good old US of A, Vinnie perfected his trade and came to the
attention of John Lennon as well as playing in a number of
bands. He was also invited to fill a vacancy in Sabbath and
became their drummer. The two of them joined Geezer and Tony
and went on to produce a number of albums before furthering
their interests, Ronnie and Vinnie leaving to form Dio.
So we now jump forward to 2007, a year which must surely vie
for the title of the year of the reunion. I am sure that
contractual difficulties prevented any tour as Sabbath, so the
reformed band were named Heaven & Hell and chose to play
tracks only from that era when Ronnie and Vinnie were with the
band. By now the participants in this particular play were 20
odd years older. Do they still have it? Are there enough fans
out there to fill the venues? The answer to both of these
questions, and no doubt hundreds of others, is a resounding
‘YES’.
If you have seen the show during the tour then I would say
that the DVD is a fair reflection of it. The only omissions I
noted were that the drum solo on the DVD was about 8 minutes
shorter than the one we saw, and the moving lighting gantry
seems to have been added to the show since the recording was
made. And if your equipment is up to it, then you can enjoy
the visual excellence of HD and the aural standard of 5.1
Dolby surround sound, with only your ASBO preventing a
duplication of the concert volume.
The two CDs cover the DVD concert set list. The tracks which
are twenty five years old have the familiarity and eloquence
of a single malt of similar vintage. Some new tracks are
included. The quarter century aged are not necessarily what we
pundits would have assumed when the tour was announced, but
produce a concert of balance and contain something for
everyone. Each of the individuals involved are now proven
talents, but blend exceptionally well here. Were you aware of
the first track the four of them wrote together? You will be
when this platter is added to your collection.
There are a few extras, both on the DVD and contained within
this particular package. I am not a great one for DVD extras
and these do not rise sufficiently above the norm to warrant a
second watch. The pictures and posters within the set are well
worth having and the copy of the access all areas pass would
have been a treasure for the holder on the day, and I would
like to say that as one of this sites photographers, I would
only have given one limb for a similar item at a UK gig, or
maybe just a newborn child.
For those of you who saw the concerts, this package is a must.
For those who missed the tour, then I cannot see another as a
possibility, so this release may be your only chance to fully
appreciate what the lucky few have sampled. I am normally
reluctant to encourage readers to spend their money, but
having done just that to obtain this release I have no
compunction in saying this is a must have, BUY IT. |
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Insision – Ikon (GMR Music/Dental
Records) review by Sam Thomas |
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Ikon is Insision’s third CD, following on from “Beneath the
Folds of Flesh” and “Revealed and Worshipped”. Although they
are Swedish, they have eschewed the concept of melodic death
metal and gone straight for the jugular with brutal death
metal which is very much in the style of Morbid Angel or
Deicide. Or is it that simple? On reading the lyrics (one of
my favourite pursuits) I came to the conclusion that,
thematically at least, there’s definitely a leaning towards
black metal in there as well. Not to mention the odd touch of
grind. And the artwork definitely has quasi-religious
connotations as well. |
As you might imagine, this is not the longest CD in the world,
it clocks in at around thirty four minutes, during which time
you get nine tracks for your money, ranging from (my favourite
title) “A Ravenous Discharge” through to “The Magnet Soul”.
There’s quite a lot of serious talent on display here, just to
confound those who will insist that anything which mentions a
touch of grind must automatically mean simply noise. Fifth
track, “Into the Cold” has some very interesting channel
swapping at the beginning, along with a positively ponderous
opening. In fact, this whole album manages to be crushingly
heavy, and yet almost paradoxically to be played at a variety
of speeds without ever losing its momentum. By the time I’d
finished listening to this, I felt as though I’d had a close
encounter of the car-crushing kind with a steamroller. In a
good kind of way, obviously.
The most bizarre thing about this album has to be that the
liner notes include a section entitled “Extenders of reality”
which supplies a list of painters (at least the five I
recognise are painters). I haven’t worked out the significance
of this at all, but I’m sure there must be some. Maybe
Live4metal can run it as a competition question…
In summary: this is a very fine piece of brutal death metal
produced by some very talented musicians. Well worth
acquiring.
www.insision.com |
www.gmrmusic.se |
www.dentalrecords.se |
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Juicehead – The Devil Made Me Do It
(Misfits Records) Ray Van Horn, Jr. |
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Aside from being utterly serious to the point of tragic
fashion, punk rock also used to be just nutty fun,
particularly in the sects of Adrenalin OD, The Descendents and
The Adolescents. There really was a line where you could take
punk to the point of urgency and still keep it in a light vein
where you could just sing along like the alienated goof youths
we all were back in the day. Chicago’s Juicehead is quite
familiar with this noncommittal formula and they just plug in
and have a go on The Devil Made Me Do It, an album that
could’ve come out fighting with the aforementioned punk
pioneers, largely due to the grimy low-fi recording dub of the
thing, but also because it takes itself as seriously as giving
your |
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cats fish pellets as treats. Everything from the hollow,
clattery sound of Zac Dawson’s snare to the laissez-faire
three chord servings that yelps garage gourmet, Juicehead is
nevertheless a bloody fun punk-o-rama to the tune of “Open
Sore,” “Going Under,” “Same Old Song” and the silly
offensiveness of “Covered in Blood” that is almost
irresistible not to sing along to the chorus: “covered in
blood you don’t look so pretty, bitch you’re gonna die,
sticking needles in your eyes, you fucking whore…” Of course,
Juicehead isn’t wholly about irresponsible aloofness; they go
right for the throat against the Bush administration by
playing a soundbyte of Emperor W coupled with a television
laugh track on “Weapons of Mass Distraction,” which leads into
the pissed-off chum bucket protest of “Internal Bleeding.”
Juicehead also decides to tackle some ska and reggae later on
the album with “Never Say Goodbye” and “Shades of Gray,” all
part of a post-Sublime existence, but like the rest of the
album, Juicehead only pushes forth what’s necessary to jam
along to and they don’t try to overextend themselves, making
for a mostly agreeable diversion. Of these dabbling offshoots,
“Break of Day” is the coolest with its scat rhythm and dirty
riffs. For a band naming itself as a lighthearted swipe to the
skateboard artist of their label benefactors (which would be
Pushead, for the record), Juicehead is given as much allotment
to dick around with The Devil Made Do It and they don’t waste
the opportunity.
www.myspace.com/juicehead69 |
www.misfitsrecords.com |
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Lay Down Rotten - Reconquering The Pit
(Metal Blade) By: Dave Schalek |
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Germany’s Lay Down Rotten is a melodic death metal band with
which I have very little familiarity. I briefly heard, years
ago, bits and pieces of their debut full-length, entitled
“Paralyzed By Fear”, but never really gave the band a chance
as they faded from my awareness. Flash forward to 2007 and the
band’s fourth full-length in four years, “Reconquering The
Pit” on the European subsidiary of American giant Metal Blade,
surfaces in my mailbox.
Essentially, because I had completely lost track of Lay Down
Rotten, the band is an entirely new experience for me and I
had only a vague sense of “death metal or metalcore” from the |
cover art. Luckily, “deathcore” is not the case and what
actually transpires on “Reconquering The Pit” is catchy
melodic death metal without all of the wankery that the genre
has been known for over the last six or seven years or so.
Consisting of fast riffs, good variations in tempo, and vocals
eerily similar to Akerfeldt’s deep seated growl, Lay Down
Rotten avoids the use of keyboards to incorporate melody and,
instead, relies upon catchy songwriting to enhance various
guitar melodies. “Reconquering The Pit” results in an
interesting listen that blends together elements of straight
ahead death metal with plenty of all out blasts, excellent
riffing and songwriting, and guitar melodies and solos placed
in just the right locations within the songs.
Given the overabundance of mediocre melodic death metal that’s
out there, those of you wanting a little bit of melody with
your death metal, but wish to avoid all of the nonsense
present in most melodic death metal, would do well to track
down “Reconquering The Pit”. I intend to visit the band’s back
catalog. Lastly, I would hope that this quality band doesn’t
get lost in the massive heap that is Metal Blade Records and
deservedly gets the label’s support.
www.laydownrotten.com |
www.metalblade.com/english/artists/laydownrotten/bio.php |
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