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Ambitions - Stranger (Bridge Nine)
Review by Steve Green |
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I've really liked the cds Bridge Nine have hooked us up with
in the past year or so. Most of the time they are high octane
slabs of Hardcore that are relentlessly going for the jugular,
and I expected exactly the same here. And upon hearing the
furious beginning of The Illusion, I was safe in the knowledge
of having my brains battered around for the ensuing 13
songs... Or was I?
To a degree, I would have to call this hardcore, as with the
beginning to The Illusion, yet Ambitions mix so many other
influences into the pot to soften the impact, that I'm
scratching my head in bewilderment as to how I'm going to
fully portray this. At times the vocals are |
so commercial, you'd swear this was a catchy Metalcore meets
pop band meets 80s rock band, such is the saccharine laced
chorus, but then an almighty groove kicks in and fist pumping
hardcore vein takes control once again, but never for long.
This really is a Jekyll and Hyde type of album. This type of
commerciality isn't normally my thing, but I do find this all
rather enjoyable and I cannot help but "bop along".
This album is fuelled by gang shouts one minute and a guitar
sound reminiscent of early U2 the next, the vocals flit
between aggressive and harmonious and despite the
schizophrenic approach, I'll semi-begrudgingly give this one
the thumbs up. I say semi-begrudgingly as I love their
hardcore stance, and I do like the commercial side of the
sound, although there is a bit too much of it on this album,
as they've not got the balance quite right, in my opinion. I
would have preferred a bit more aggression and
in-your-face madness. But alas it was not to be.
www.bridge9.com |
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Bam Margera presents - Viva La Bands Volume 2
(Ferret) Review by Steve Green |
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Jackass star Bam Margera puts together a compilation cd of bands he likes
to give the bands exposure. Yep, I can't disagree with that. Ok, I don't
like every band he chooses, but the sentiment is a good one. But the dvd
part of this set, which I'll come to later, should be banned and Ferret
should take some fucking responsibility for what they put out, especially
as kids will watch it and will be, ultimately, influenced by it.
The cd features 20 tracks, a load of them exclusive to this release, which
backs up my point of the influence Bam Margera carries. Pick of the bunch
for me is Dimmu Borgir's The Serpentine Offering, closely followed by a
couple of surprises, to me at least, The 69 Eyes, |
with Shadow Of Your Love and the pick of bands I'd not heard
before, Priestess with the groove laden Lay Down. I was also
(pleasantly) surprised to enjoy Viking Skull's Blackened
Sunrise. A few of the bands on here aren't Metal, so there are
a few to avoid, which takes us nicely to the dvd, which should be avoided at
all costs, particularly if you have kids.
Over the years I've done plenty of stupid shit, most of it whilst pissed,
but these days I've got to juggle being stupid with being a responsible
parent. Initially I was going to watch the dvd section with my 12 year
old, as she loves anything where someone suffers or blood and guts are
involved, think Takeshi's Castle and the Happy Tree Friends. All harmless
fun you can laugh at. Thinking the dvd was a Jackass style romp I was more
than happy for her to watch it, but I'm glad I watched some of it first as
there's no way I'd allow her to watch this crap. Beating shit out of a fat
guy who isn't fighting back is bad enough, don't these idiots know there's
bullying in schools? But when they were trying to slice open a live frog,
this dvd got ejected and is now destined for the bin. Mr fucking Margera
and whoever sanctioned this at Ferret should take a step back
and realise that kids will copy what they do and if they think
mutilating defenceless animals and bullying someone because of
their size is fun, then they are more stupid than I fucking
thought. The only reason this has been reviewed
is to warn people what to expect if they buy this. Avoid. |
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Belenos - Chemins De Souffrance
(Northern Silence Productions) Review by Crin |
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French Celtic Black Metal with French song titles, French
lyrics and a very purposeful sound. The French have offered
the metal world some fine exponents of various levels of
extremity, bands like, Seth, Aggressor, Arkhon Infaustus,
Osculum Infame, Anorexia Nervosa, Blut aus Nord, all mighty
acts of cult status. This is the bands fifth studio album and
I’ve never heard of ‘em. There a numerous such enigmas
inhabiting the underground where bands can exist perpetually
under the mainstream radar. The last album from Belenos was on
well established French label, Adipocere, so this band is no
newcomer, having formed in 1996. The music here is a tale of
two halves, the first being exceptionally well |
versed chanting chorus lines, atmospheric pagan guitar
arrangements and a darkly rancour hanging over the rumbling
songs. The second is the rest of the music is very self
regenerated; Gorgoroth
meets Bathory on a frosty Norwegian battlefield. The fact that
the former is so well presented makes the surrounding parts
seem just too uneventful. So how does an album like this
sustain its brain clawing intensity?
The first track blasts at you from an erupting magma pit, the
rabid snares and guitar strums evoking a kind of Emperor meets
Slayer in a cement mixer of Gregorian chanting and spitting
grunts. It’s quite a remarkable track that is both catchy and
different. The second track sounds like Norwegian band Kvist
blazing forth in vast guitar strums and huge lashing riffs.
The following tracks do basically the same, so the initial
wonderment is tempered by a decrease of individual soundscapes,
the novelty of the quite remarkable song craft becoming more
in tune with the minds perceptions of what it is. The key to
opening this release from within, is by playing it several
times, having it on in the background as you do what ever you
do. This is a vast monumental release that offers something
slightly unique, thus making it worthy of your attention.
www.northern-silence.de |
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Deathcult - Cult of the Dragon (Dark
Essence Records) Review by Crin |
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This is torturous head fucking Black Metal spawned from the
very base grime of the genre.
The band features live Taake guitarist, Herr Ekkel, and even
Taake mainman, Hoest, as well as guest appearance from Dirge
Rep [Gehenna, Secht]. This album is definitely not for the
faint hearted and has no relations to the controlled melodic
variety of Taake. Here we are greeted with vomit vocals spat
from bile blazing lungs. The choking guitar flurry decimated
the air with hideously catchy riffs, the drum work is
breakneck hammer bashing that when set loose amongst the
guitars scalding tempo a great torrent of meat raw Black Metal
is born. |
| Purists will collapse with joy at the very primitive design of
the songs, the blood dripping music making the perfect
companion to a dying throat rattle. It is quite an achievement
to create such an infernal din and not be swallowed up in a
grinding swill of chaos. Necro is another good word we can
align to this corpse awakening Black Metal.
www.myspace.com/darkessencerecords |
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Drowning Pool - Full Circle (Eleven
Seven Records) Review by Adam Hawke |
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Drowning Pool are a hard rock band from Texas, playing a
‘straight up in your face’ style of metal. I remember them
with their hit song ‘Bodies’, which has since become a
favourite with most metal fans. I have heard their 2004 album
‘Desensitized’ and I thought that was pretty good, so when a
chance came to listen to their new album ‘Full Circle’ I leapt
at the chance. Bearing in mind this album is their third
album, with a new vocalist, new label and new management: will
things have changed for the hard rockers from Texas?
The answer is no. The album starts off well with the title
track ‘Full Circle’. Starting off heavy and keeping this all
the way through is Drowning Pool’s style and they do it well, |
however this album did surprise me somewhat. The song
‘Soldiers’ surprised me as it has quite a catchy beat and
heavy. Drowning Pool changed throughout this album, they did
slow their beat down once or twice for songs like ‘37
stitches’ which helps as listeners want different sounds not
just the same style throughout and like I said before, they
usually keep a fast pace in their songs, so thumbs up to them
for getting in a different pace. The vocals are good and
strong too which is a plus as many fans have quoted that
Drowning Pool have lost their touch since losing their
original lead singer in 2002. This is not the case as the
vocals in my opinion are strong and varied throughout. Every
singer is different and while its hard to match Dave Williams
(the original vocalist who passed away of a rare heart
disease), Drowning Pool have compromised and come back strong,
with the debut of their new vocalist Ryan McCoombs.
This CD is good, a good buy for long time Drowning Pool fans.
Although I’m a fan more of the older rock bands such as
Sabbath and Motorhead, I do like Drowning Pool’s style of
music and I enjoyed listening to this album. Its just the kind
of album I’d like to put on after a hard day at work and chill
out. A bold and accomplished effort!
www.drowningpool.com |
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Genocide - Apocalyptic Visions (Van
Records) By: Dave Schalek |
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“Apocalyptic Visions” by German act Genocide begins a black
metal triumvirate from Van Records that recently dropped into
my mailbox. Just about anything released by German black metal
label Van Records is going to get my attention fast, as the
label is responsible for Nagelfar and The Ruins Of Beverast
amongst others.
First of all, there are no less than three (!) bands from
Germany calling themselves Genocide, at least one with NS
tendencies. However, this trio consists of pure, unholy black
metal that’s decidedly anti-Christian in the sense of the
rawer acts of the Norwegian second wave. And that’s exactly
what you get with “Apocalyptic Visions”, the band’s first |
full-length. Pure “Det Som Engang Var”- era Burzum worship
combined with Darkthrone’s three early classics is Genocide’s
bread and butter, if you will. Raw, no frills black metal that
consists of all out blasts and rapid chord progressions, all
the while liberally mixed up with slower, bludgeoning riffs
and simple rolls and fills. Although this is rather typical,
raw black metal, the chords have a rather hypnotic, dissonant
quality that go a long way towards distracting you from the
fact that you’ve heard all of this before. Rounding out the
homage are some nice bass lines and typical Varg-style
shrieks. Strangely enough, however, the production is
noticeably much clearer, although not exceptionally powerful,
than the raw classics of the past, with each instrument
clearly heard. Also provided is a 16-page booklet with the
usual woodcuts, war machine photos from World War II, and so
on.
Certainly, there’s nothing new here, but Genocide does a
pretty good job of treading well proven ground with a good
release of raw black metal.
www.van-gbr.de/ |
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Haive - Mieli Maassa (Northern
Silence Productions) Review by Crin |
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A
one man Finnish pagan Metal act that draws upon the likes of
mid-tempo early Amorphis, and demo era Pyogenesis, for its
brooding heathen atmospheres.
This is the debut album and for its entire monotone, one
dimensional aesthetics, the overall sound is easy to absorb
and warm in texture. With a repetitive riff rolling over the
plodding percussion, snapping vocal utterances issuing forth
their desolate intent, and an overlapping guitar arrangement,
the songs are both infectious and lazy groove flowing anthems
to the frozen north. Here is a creative individual who has
taken the nihilisms of the Black metal Viking sound into a
warmer climate, albeit still feeding of the minimum of riffs.
At times the |
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evil smelling vocals are replaced with a typical Viking clean
chant, guitar solos slither in and out of the chugging riffs,
adding some twists to the otherwise repetitious brooding
songs. The sound is thick and lush, and for an underground act
of this unknown quality it is a very polished, professional
endeavour. I would plant this album in the atmospheric
nationalistic pagan metal zone where the likes of Hate Forest, Drudkh, Falkenbach, Graveland, etc, all
reside. This has none of the dynamics of Hate Forest, or the
epic chill of Graveland. Here is a far more lamenting beast, a
slithering Dark Age emotion enraptured by the cold chill of
smoking plague pits and distant barren landscapes. There is an
embittered atmosphere that permeates every track, thus keeping
a raw edge to the otherwise pagan inspired music.
www.northern-silence.de |
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Impaled Nazarene - Manifest (Osmose
Productions) review by Sam Thomas |
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Impaled Nazarene. Well, there’s a name to conjure with. Metal
(and particularly extreme metal) has its legends and its tall
tales, its hard-luck stories and its catastrophes. But if ever
there was a band that endured more than its fair share of
downright unbelievable bad luck, then these Finns would have
to be top of the list. From the early days, with problems with
equipment through to having the wrong CD removed from sale in
France and sabotage of the electricity supply at a concert,
these guys have seen it all. And yet, they’re still going.
Well, with the obligatory line-up changes, obviously… |
This is Impaled Nazarene’s tenth album, and their longest work
so far. It’s also (in my opinion) much stronger than their
earlier work. I hesitate to use the word “matured” in
connection with this particular band (and in any case they’d
probably regard it as an insult) but suffice it to say that
they have definitely evolved over their seventeen year career.
For some reason, they have decided to kick off with what I
would describe as almost two intros, the first, unsurprisingly
referred to as an intro, and being very much in the style of
Finntroll’s intro on “Ur Jordens Djup” or the haunting little
“The Fallen Arises” from Dimmu Borgir’s “In Sorte Diaboli”.
Just to prove that they can do it differently, this is
followed by “The Antichrist Files” which could equally well
serve as an intro whilst (of course) exhorting us to worship
Satan. Then it’s back to what passes for normality – breakneck
speed, shredding guitars (remember Alexi Laiho was once a
member of Impaled Nazarene – that’s one tradition they have
kept up with UG) and vocals delivered in a spewing style that
really does deserve the description “vomit” rather than
“vocals” on the sleeve notes. There are as always, some
delightfully titled tracks, “Funeral for Despicable Pigs” and
“Goat Justice” being my personal favourites, but overall the
thing that distinguishes “Manifest” from previous offerings is
the quality of what’s on offer. Gone are the days of Impaled
Nazarene sounding as though they were recorded on a cassette
recorder held by someone with St Vitus’ dance, this is crystal
clear.
All told, this is far and away Impaled Nazarene’s best work to
date, and if extreme Finnish metal is your thing, you should
go out and buy it. Immediately.
www.osmoseproductions.com |
www.campnazarene.com |
www.myspace.com/impalednazarene |
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