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| Billy Talent - 666 Live (WEA/Warner Music)
Review by Steve Green |
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While I wouldn't consider myself old, I'm a
youthful 41 years old, I am aware of the growing void between music fans
of my generation and fans of the never-ending crap that is lapped up by
the Kerrang generation. Ironically, a magazine that I worshiped in the 80s
when it was a real Metal mag. And as an "older" music fan, I'm also guilty
of lumping any band with a younger following into the pile that should be
avoided, and Billy Talent are one of those bands. I've heard them
described as emo and pop-punk, and they are neither of the two, to these
ears at least. Trying to narrow them down to something
everyone could understand, then I'd have to describe them as a
bit like a modern, more lightweight version
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of The Clash, with plenty of screaming and a bit of a hardcore(ish) influence. On the dvd, vocalist Benjamin Kowalewicz states
that his favourite band is Jane's Addiction, and I can also see that in their
music, with his vocals sounding like Perry Farrell... with his ass on fire...
This set contains a live cd and a live dvd. The cd contains 17 tracks
recorded in Germany, while the dvd was recorded at London's Brixton
Academy and again in Germany, with 2 separate performances coming from the
Fatherland. Whatever your personal taste is, there's no denying the energy
Billy Talent create onstage. And their songs are damn catchy too. After
first hearing them on the cd, they were instantly recognizable when I saw
the visuals on the dvd. I guess that's were their appeal lies. Songs that
are easy to absorb, perfect for a generation without the ability to think
for themselves. (bad generalization I know, but hey, pretty close to the
truth).
I wouldn't say this release has converted me into a fan, but I can say
that their appeal is obvious, even the Missus, who prefers her music at
the extreme end, complimented them a couple of times, which I have to
admit came as a complete surprise. Kind of the same way that the Offspring
were easy to enjoy, Billy Talent have hit on a winning formula that has
mass appeal. All music comes full circle, and in essence, Billy Talent are
The Clash, or Jane's Addiction for a new generation.
www.billytalent.com |
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Bushwhack - Bushwhack
(Self Released) By: Joe Florez |
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With a name like Bushwhack, I wasn’t sure what I was in store
for. I thought that this would be some sort of alt/metal/rock
band that would suck for miles on end. What I got was
something refreshing and inspirational. This is a brand new
band from the east coast that may be on the indie circuit now,
but should hopefully blow up big soon. This is a four piece
instrumental group that combines prog, rock, metal and all
sorts of ambiences. This is no text book instrumental disc
where you will hear countless guitar shreds and solos or long
winded drumming that will bore you after a while These guys
always work as a cohesive unit and it shows. |
| “In Solitude” is gentle on the ears with keyboards providing
the soothing atmosphere and some minor programmed beats are
inserted here. This intro of sorts sounds like something that
could be tacked onto a Nightwish or Lacuna Coil disc. “The
Greatest Wall” is where you get to hear it all. The drums and
bass fill the room with rhythm and the guitars are strummed
with emotion and the keys provide just the right touch of
feeling to set the mood and tone. It bounces back and forth
from heavy to soft. There are some elements of prog going on
here thanks to the performances. You can hear the influences
from the likes of Opeth to Porcupine Tree here. While some
artists try their damnedest to sound like their peers,
Bushwhack do it subtly. “Guacamole” is four cuts into the disc
and this is the first one that is more organic. There
are funky bass pluckings that spruce up this song. Well, at
least in the beginning and in some breakdowns, but otherwise
this is a metal song with punchy riffs and hard hitting drum
work. There is some nice percussions added to the mix as well
to prevent things from getting boring. Talk about showing
emotion. “Sea Of Tranquility” really makes you feel something
deep inside. While upbeat, it still has the capacity to be
sensitive and then out of nowhere rock out. This is a
composition that could be compared to a Steve Vai track. I
have to admit that I have never heard anything sound more
sophisticated and mature in a long time. What’s crazy is that
the guys playing on here aren’t even in their early 20’s yet.
This is absolutely wild. Music like this is normally performed
by adults in their late 30’s and 40’s. At any rate. The music
is upbeat for the most part with plenty of pacing and tempo
changes. The inclusion of jazz, oriental, Swedish melodic
metal sounds are all on here and then some. Now, this is how
an instrumental disc should be. There’s no filler, boredom or
anticipation to hit the skip track. At 70 minutes, this may be
a little long but it’s all good. You can listen to this in
small spurts. This is well crafted musicianship and for fans
of the names mentioned about or Dream Theater or anyone else
in the prog realm. Highly recommended.
www.bushwhackmusic.com |
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Devilish Impressions -
Diabolicanos Act III: Armageddon (Conquer Records)
review by Sam Thomas |
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It’s in the nature of things that, more often than not, I
“discover” a band when they are part-way through a career (or
have even ceased to exist altogether) and tend to work my way
through their back catalogue in reverse order. Devilish
Impressions are the exception to that rule (and indeed to many
other rules). I first heard them about four or five years ago,
when they had produced one self-released work. They are now
signed to a label, and have produced their second full-length
work for Conquer Records, “Diabolicanos – Act III:
Armageddon”.
Having known their work from the beginning, it is interesting
to see exactly how things have |
developed over the years, because they certainly have evolved.
Originally there was a lot more focus on the dark atmospheric
nature of things, with a huge emphasis on sweeping symphonic
keyboards. This time around, things are a lot tighter, a lot
more controlled. There are three new members and with the
input of fresh blood seems to have come a new purpose.
The sweeping beauty that was apparent in the second release
“Plurima Mortis Imago” is still there, but this time around
there is that effortless quality to it that always indicates
an enormous amount of work. Quazarre is just as likely as ever
to be indicted for blasphemy with tracks like “I am the son of
God” (includes lyrics “I am the one who hanged on the fucking
cross”), so you may well be able to see that, in terms of
content at least, this is very much black metal. There are
also a lot of blastbeats, courtesy of Icanraz. Having said
that, you might well be thinking that we are talking black
metal, but that would be too narrow a category to encompass
this amount of talent.
According to the press release, I should be filing this under
“extreme black/death metal”, but I’d prefer to stick with
“dark atmospheric” I think. Although the band are definitely
heading in a black direction, I can’t think of a single black
metal band that they are at all like. In fact, come to think
of it, I can’t think of a single band of any description/genre
that they are really like. They are unique, original and
utterly talented. “Diabolicanos – Act III: Armageddon” is an
extremely well-constructed album, with so many different
layers and levels that it’s impossible to describe it
adequately. Perhaps the best thing I can say about it is that,
although I notice different things about it every time I hear
it, I never think “why is that piece there?” Whether it’s the
almost Gregorian chant at the beginning of “Rex Inferni”, the
soaring keyboards counterpointing Quazarre’s twisted ,
tortured vocals or the effortless guitar of Armers, everything
is in the absolutely most perfect place.
I thought that the previous album “Plurima…” was outstanding,
but now that Devilish Impressions have produced “Diabolicanos
– Act III: Armageddon” I can see that it wasn’t perfect. But I
have to say that I think “Diabolicanos…” might well be.
Quazarre has finally got away from his Asgaard roots, and the
band has reached new heights as they’ve forged their own
unique identity. The big surprise for me was that this an
“extreme” release, was readily appreciated by Steve, not known
for an affinity with my musical tastes. Guess that proves it,
really – this is a fucking awesome album.
www.devilish-impressions.com |
www.conquerrec.com |
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Eibon La Furies - Yours
Truly ... Eibon la Furies ... From Hell EP
(The Ministry for Infernal Affairs) Review by Crin |
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What the fucks going on here!! I gasped when the initial
distortion fuzz breached my sensory sentinels. This instantly
reminded me of the old English experimental Black Metal one
man act, Phantasia. A guitar heavy distortion overload with
unbalanced vocals and a chaotic arrangement set to an
unpredictable twists and unholy turns. Being the bastard
vision of Lord Eibon Blackwood, his Gothic setting being the
smog shit splattered city of London 1888, and more to the
point, Jack the Ripper and his acts of despicable gut cleaving
deeds. With a balance of slow atmospheric narratives and ball
crushing blastbeats, the cluttered sound is both awkward in
its presentation and invigorating in its brazened |
disregard for playing it safe, as many bands seem to do.
After a few spins there is the inevitable Cradle of Filth side
effects that will bleed from any female assisted Blackened
onslaught of this nature. The narrative parts [and there are
many] also hint at Dani Filth, and even Byron of Bal Sagoth.
It seems this excitable spoken word is a very English style
and one that works well here. But this is not the revolving
theatre of Cradle, nor is it blatant mimicries. There is a
vast depth of individuality that strives to burst from the
limitations of the production and basic elements to create a
vision of this magnitude. This is a very personal album, at
times arrogant, at times naive. Like a Victorian play set to
music. A dark fair ground symphony to the blood letting of a
madman set in the two tone optical extension of the music’s
rotten to the core ambience. If you close your eyes and listen
to the album unfold, you may awake on the cobbled streets of
Whitechapel with a shadow lurking in an alley leering from the
very eyes of Hell. One must still remember this is a low
budget release airing a relatively new band to an extremely
over populated scene.
www.myspace.com/eibonlafuries |
www.eibonlafuries.co.uk |
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Essence of Existence - Tome III Terra Mentis (Mondongo
Canibale Records)
Review by Steve Green |
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A piece of sophisticated art from Slovakia. I actually read
about this album somewhere online, and, as if by magic, two
days later, it ends up on my doorstep, which is good as the
description of the album had intrigued me. Describing Essence
of Existence isn't particularly straightforward. They blend
fast paced, symphonic blackish metal, with Progressive
elements and a favourite of our Eastern brothers and sisters,
male and female vocals. Ok, the ingredients are pretty
standard, but these Slovakians make it sound just a little
different. Until I looked up the band line-up, I didn't
realise that they used a drum machine. The drum sound is
extremely mechanical, but I thought it was just the drums
having been over- |
produced in the studio. So that's a plus point for me, because
a bad drum machine sound can ruin a whole album. I also love
they way they flick between styles. Fast paced Black Metal,
hurtling at you at 1000 mph crashes headlong into grand piano
passages, angelic female vocals and industrial tinged
Euro-Metal, even a touch of Gothdom is included. This
bugger doesn't stand still for a second. But it makes for an interesting
journey as you never know what to expect next.
This is an observation rather than a criticism, but countries such as
Slovakia are a few years behind the Western countries in terms of, for
want of a better phrase, musical progression. The technological sheen
that frequents this album adds a different, more modern dimension to
what is essentially, a re-working of an old theme. It brings up-to-date,
the innocence that is at the heart of their music, which is otherwise
untarnished by modern traits. My only complaint,
their stupid pseudonyms: "Astral" - "Technology" - "n-gh" - "Fear"
www.myspace.com/essenceofexistence |
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Lehigh Valley Rocks! The
best of 1984-1994 (Fever Rock) Review by Metal
Mark |
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The Lehigh Valley area of Eastern Pennsylvania saw a number of
musicians like Richie Kotzen, Jimmy Degrasso and Robert Mason
get their start before moving on. There were also a lot of
local bands during the time between the mid 1980's and the mid
1990's. The idea for this compilation originally came from two
friends who were at first talking about just making a CD for
friends that would include songs from hard rock and metal
bands from the Lehigh Valley area. However the idea grew and
turned into to being an official two disc set with 30 tracks
from 27 bands. With that many songs there is a variety of
musical styles and heaviness ranging from Omynus who have an
AOR/hard rock sound like Journey up to |
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Atom West who play speed metal with some crossover undertones.
I thought that I had heard of a lot of bands and I have, but I
had only heard of a few of these bands before including Teeze who appeared on
Hit Parader's Wild Bunch, Dirty Blond who did a few albums and
Destroyer who I think got some mentions in the metal magazines
back in the day. Now some of these acts like Rock Haven sound
like a raw bar band and I can tell why they didn't get a lot
bigger. However, then you hear the smooth hard rock of Washed
and Kraken, the groove of Jolly Roger and heavy involved
riffing of Leviathen and you wonder why these bands didn't get
further. At least I am getting to hear them now though. With
the packaging we get a huge booklet where each band gets a
half of a page that includes the list of band members and most
entries include a band picture, information on when the band
was around and even information on any band members who are
still currently playing music. Overall it's a nicely
constructed compilation with most of the songs being of good
quality and it comes with great packaging. So I am glad this
project came out so those of us who didn't hear these bands
the first time around at least get to check them out now.
www.myspace.com/lehighvalleyrocks |
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Ninnixu - Collection,
2001-2007 (Non Compos Mentis Records) By: Dave
Schalek |
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USBM horde Ninnixu from Boston have been kicking it since
2001, but have never released, to my knowledge, a proper
full-length. As far as I can tell, this three-piece has
recorded a total of 17 songs over the course of a demo, a
couple of splits, and some “bonus material” appearing on
“Collection”, a retrospective of the band from Non Compos
Mentis Records. Basically, “Collection” is the sum total of
Ninnixu’s output, consisting of all 17 songs.
Although the first four tracks are from the demo and the
remainder from official releases, the low-fi production values
of this putrid sludge doesn’t exactly change all that much
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track to track. Simply put, Ninnixu is absolutely vile,
and that’s just fine with me. At times, Ninnixu consists of
old school, mid-paced black metal straight out the first wave
of the ‘80s, and, at other times, completely dives off the
deep end of sanity as if a collision between Beherit, Black
Funeral, and Abruptum were taking place in slow motion while
your head caves in from the absolute horror of it all. The
songs, which are ordered from 2001 to 2007, definitely show a
progression of sorts (or descent into insanity as the case may
be) with the older material decidedly within the realm of
‘80s-style black metal, albeit some haunting keyboards make
appearances, and then becomes increasingly disordered and
disturbing up to the present day with the latter material
descending into black noise/ soundscape structures with a
wholly unsettling vibe.
Overall, the songs presented on “Collection” are hit and miss,
which is not all that surprising for a retrospective covering,
frankly, very little material from a band that most of you,
including myself, probably never heard of. At any rate, at
times a bit typical and pedestrian, Ninnixu are at their best
when completely coming up with a total mind fuck and for that
reason, I can recommend “Collection” with gusto.
www.ncmrecords.com |
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Requiem - Premier Killing
League (Locomotive Records) By: Dave Schalek |
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This year, I made damn sure that Requiem’s latest album,
“Premier Killing League” on Massacre Records (licensed to
Locomotive), was correctly included in my 2007 Top Ten list.
In 2006, I was thoroughly blown away by “Government Denies
Knowledge”, Requiem’s previous full-length, but was negligent
by omitting the album from that year’s list. I’ve been kicking
myself about it ever since.
Just as 2008 begins, “Premier Killing League” lands in my lap
for review purposes. Frankly, I have been well aware of this
album since about July of 2007, and it has since seen
extremely heavy rotation in my playlist for about 6 months
now. Produced by Andy |
Classen, death metal producer
extraordinaire, “Premier Killing League” is a fucking death
metal monster, boasting an exceptionally heavy, thick
production, even more so than that of “Government Denies
Knowledge”, on top of layers of thick riffs, excellent tempo
variations, and a thick, prominent bass. In short, this is old
school death metal in the vein of Bolt Thrower and Blood Red
Throne at its absolute finest with no fillers whatsoever. In
addition, the dual vocals of the deep seated growl combined
with the Mitch Harris-style backing screeches once again work
extremely well on “Premier Killing League”. Throw in
politically-charged, war torn lyrical content, and you have
such an effective barnstormer of an album, it’s no wonder that
the Requiem once again vaulted into this year’s list.
Not a whole Hell of a lot changes from “Government Denies
Knowledge” to “Premier Killing League” in terms of style, and
that is just fine with me. Requiem is shredding up the
well-tread ground of the old school, but it’s so fucking good,
who cares if it’s not entirely original? It’s number three on
this year’s list. Go get it!
Post script: A U.S. tour of Bolt Thrower, Requiem, and Blood
Red Throne. Wouldn’t that be nice?
www.locomotivemusic.com |
www.requiem-net.com |
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| Scald - Fluke (Midhir Records) Review by Steve
Green |
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If you look below, you'll see my review of The Ocean cd. Although
sounding nothing like The Ocean, Scald follow a very similar path to them,
mixing a more energetic assault and an ambient theme. Except that they
don't mix the two styles together, they keep them completely separate.
The first five tracks are punk driven slices of crusty madness
that grind away at breakneck speed. I absolutely love the raw
energy and the pure adrenaline rush they give off. The dual
vocal attack, (both styles performed by Pete Dempsey) one
deeper, one fanatical barking/yelping in style, reminded me of
Wigan warrior's Narcosis' early work. Good stuff |
| indeed.
So far so good. Unfortunately I really struggled with the 20+
minute ambience of Passera. Now I'm a fan of ambient work, but the static, or whatever
effect is used in this song, makes it unlistenable for me. The first time
I tried to listen to it, I had to switch it off as because as soon as the
distortion kicked in, my ears switched off as I found it so grating. I've
since managed to sit through most of song without much interference to my
poor ears, although I still found it hard going in places as the sound is
very fucking annoying and I gave up after 16 minutes. Your hearing my be
less sensitive than mine, so check it out for yourself. Me, I'll stick to
the crust ladened grind of the first five tracks.
www.midhirrecords.com |
www.myspace.com/scald
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| The Ocean - Precambrian (Metal Blade)
Review by Steve Green |
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This release is huge. Two cds that cover most
spectrums of extreme music, as well as a few quieter moments and overall,
I have to say this is a very impressive release. Part I is the 22 minute
blast of the Hadean/Archean cd. Much heavier than the Proterzoic cd, it's
a downtuned maelstrom that incorporates hardcore and death with more
technical and Proggy swathes. Normally I'd run a mile if anything was
technical or jazzy, but this works a treat and although I was expecting to
hate it, I was left impressed with this on all levels.
Clocking in at just over the hour mark, the Proterzoic cd is much more
varied piece of work. A mellow jazzy intro, much more suited
to a smoke filled club (yeah I know smoking |
has been banned in the UK, but you get the picture) and with
throaty vocals to match, take this down the experimental/shoe
gazing road. It is hard to believe this is the same band that
performed on the first cd. I cannot imagine the two styles gelling
when played live. Although saying that, the violin backed Orosirian merges
the two styles perfectly. Much like being bashed around the head with a
pink sledgehammer!!! Joking aside, my point is, that when the band get it
right, the results are phenomenal. I even found Statherian strangely
hypnotic, I use the word "strangely" as it sounds like a musical jewellery
box on lsd!!!
Precambrian is most definitely a little different. Mixing death metal,
prog and more ambient tones isn't an everyday occurrence. It ain't going
to be to everyone's tastes, but for the most part, despite a couple of
glitches early on the Proterzoic disc, I thought it was very good listen.
www.metalblade.de |
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