|
|
|
|
|
In Cold Blood - In Cold Blood
(Self Release) Review by Marco Gaminara |
| |
|
For some reason I've just come into a huge pile of Italian
metal CD's. A lot are from a couple years ago now, so shan't
be reviewed but as In Cold Blood have just recorded and
released this, it's good to go. This Roman 5 piece consists of
Fulvio on vocals and bass, Vito and Nicolo on guitar, Niccolo
on drums and Giuseppe on the turntables. Now if like me you're
wondering what that last bit's about, don't stress, his
presence nowhere near as felt as Jam-Master Jay, but you can
occasionally hear some scratching that actually sounds a bit
like plectrums being run down guitar strings, albeit doing
some other strange stuff too. Regardless, Fulvio's vocals are
nothing like Run or DMC's, but more of a shouted hardcore
variety. The guitars shred and keep pace with the more often
than not frantic pace of the drums. The bass is clearly
audible on the opening track "Hold My Own", as is the
animosity with which everything else shall be delivered from
here on in. Even the leads have an angry tinge to them. The
second track of this six track EP is "Under Concrete" where
the guitars are playing intricate riff exchanges blending into
each other and then back into two distinct rhythms again. "No
Sun" opens with a hefty lead and while the drums are manic,
the guitar rhythm is slightly slower giving it a far more
melodic feel, which the vocals play on. A jangly guitar gives
way to a heavily distorted one for "Unblind Eyes" but keeps
cropping up throughout to mess with your head a little. Some
kewl staccato drum work kicks off "Burn It Down", but that
settles down into a more predictable thrash groove with some
choppy rhythms and a really impressive lead. "Age of
Destruction" has a vocal melody that sounds anthemic and if it
wasn't for the gruff vocals would probably be something you
could see taking place at an arena venue with lighters held
aloft. But thankfully it's just the melody and the aggression
remains, even if there are plenty of weird sounds coming from
the turntables happening in the background.
www.InColdBlood1.com |
| |
Iron Maiden And The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal DVD
(Sexy Intellectual)
Review by Metal Mark |
 |
This documentary introduces the roots and origins in metal and
then tells the story of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal
from it’s start around the mid-1970’s up until around 1981.
They rely largely on interviews with journalists, various
insiders and musicians including former Iron Maiden members
Paul Di’anno and Dennis Stratton, Brian Tatler of Diamond Head,
Rob Weir of Tygers of Pan Tang and others from the scene. As
the title indicates, Iron Maiden get more focus than the other
bands so you get a great deal of early history on the band
plus various opinions on why the band was able to succeed.
There is also a decent amount of time spent talking about
other scene leaders Def Leppard and Saxon as well as second
tier bands Tygers of Pan Tang, Samson, Diamond Head,
Girlschool and Praying Mantis. There are a number of parts of
live clips and stills shown in the film as well. What I liked
about the film was that they allowed the participants to tell
their stories and give their views no matter what instead of
using clips to give one particular |
|
view. I like how they tied in the punk rock scene early on and
some of the people interviewed expressed the theory that the
punk rock scene may have delayed the NWOBHM scene but that it also empowered those
bands because they saw the punk rock bands using a DIY style
of promotion and followed that example. I also felt that most
of the people here were honest and it was refreshing to hear
views that it was a movement like any others in that there
were good bands and there were second rate acts as well. Now
it still didn’t help me to understand why people in the UK
didn’t accept High –N- Dry or Pyromania, but they embraced
Hysteria, but I guess that’s a question for another day.
However being that I am from the States I enjoyed the views of
this scene from people who lived in the area at the time. I
have long realized the importance of this scene, but not
having lived there I never thought of the community aspect of
the movement at least during the early years. They didn’t
cover some bands I love such as Raven and Venom, but perhaps
it helped the film to be more concise by just focusing on a
few bands. The only real downside is that is clocks in at two
hours and thirty seven minutes which is fairly long for a
music film with just a very limited amount of music. If you
love the topic then you may easily sit through the whole
thing, but others might have to take it over the course of a
little at a time. |
| |
|
Judas Priest - Nostradamus
(Epic) Review by Metal Mark |
 |
There are so many ways I could approach this review. I could
state that it has been 18 years since Priest have done a good
album and that this streak will now continue on. Perhaps I
could equate this album to feeling very hungry and then
opening a refrigerator full of food that is all of the food is
rotten and moldy. Or I could say that I didn't have to be
Nostradamus to predict that this album was going to be poor.
None of those really tell enough about what did or didn't
happen on this album though. I should be judging this as a
Priest album and I did, but I couldn't help but think about
Iron Maiden while listening to this release. Maiden and Priest
were arguably the two best metal bands of the 1980's yet now |
Maiden can do something like 2006's "A matter of life and
death" which is full of epics and all of them work. Priest set
out to do this two disc set filled with epics and quite
honestly virtually nothing works on this album. So why is
that? Well, I think it's because Maiden have long been about
building their songwriting skills and adding on thus epics
have become a natural progression for them. Priest had some
tracks like "The Sentinel" and "Victim of Changes" that were
not epics per se, but they certainly use a certain amount of
storytelling elements and they do it well. However these were
exceptions because Priest were primarily about go for the
throat metal rockers and that's what worked for them. That
doesn't mean they can't grow, but you have to know your
limitations or else you end up with two discs full of boring
crud and some of the worst written material of the year. I
thought Halford and Tipton were talking back around 1987-1988
about realizing that they shouldn't have used synthesizers on
Turbo because it wasn't metal and it wasn't them. So why are
they using synths again? I have no idea, but they overuse them
and they serve to bore me to tears and lose my attention
before the vocals or the main guitar riffs actually kick. I
wasn't too big on "Angel of Retribution" because I felt that
it seemed forced, yet Nostradamus is even less of a real Judas
Priest album. That's sad because this band was so steady from
the mid-1970's until the mid-1980's and it's shame to realize
that they may not have another good album left in them. Just
about every song just meanders around eating up time, but
making no impression and largely feeling more like background
music or bad horror movie theme songs.
Like many fans, I
thought that when Halford returned to the fold that they would
get back to form, but that hasn't happened. Honestly
everything Halford did when he was out of Priest was at least
good yet now that he is back in this band they can't seem to
even get a spark going. I can't quite understand it and don't
want to believe it, but unfortunately Judas Priest appear to
have spent a long time making a real clunker.
www.myspace.com/judaspriest
|
| |
|
Prey For Sleep - ... A Bitter Beginning (Self
Release) Review by Steve Green |
 |
...A Bitter Beginning. A very apt title for this release. This one throws
a bit of a curveball when you first play it as it's a lot harsher than
you'd expect. A full on groove pummels away until the arrival of Hunter
Townsend's vocals. Man, the only way I think to describe his style and his
raucous delivery is to imagine Phil Anselmo having had his bollocks
stapled to his legs and then be told to scream in a painful hardcore
style. It sounds as if he must tear the lining of his throat every time he
gets near a mic. Musically, it follows a similar pattern to the vocals.
Raw as hell, but just a little bit more controlled, apart from Dave
Swanson's drums, which rattle along like there's no tomorrow. Tim Gerron
has done a brilliant production job
|
on this and despite the intensity of the music, every note is
crystal clear and as loud as can be.
Prey For Sleep have kept it tight for their first album-cum-MCD. Ten
tracks are beaten out in about 25 minutes and they take no prisoners along
the way and not an ounce of your time is wasted. So if you like brutal
metal with the vocals veering towards the hardcore side of things, then
check out these new bruisers on the block.
www.myspace.com/preyforsleep
|
| |
|
Pyorrhoea - The Eleventh: Thou Shalt Be My Slave
(Metal Mind)
review by James Young |
 |
Good grief, this is a noisy bastard. Yet another quality
extreme metal act from Poland on Metal Mind, Pyorrhoea, who
include two members from Hate, combine the intensity of
Behemoth with the grinding sensibilities of Napalm Death and
create a tight slab of brutality. The most prominent feature
is the drumming of Amon, which absolutely obliterates
everything in its path. Put the intense electrifying guitars
of Lukas and A.D. Gore over it, and you have some extremely
tight and competent metal, which revels in taking your face
off. The intense guitars have a tendency to grind, such as in
the intro to ‘Your Master - Your God’, and the vocals are of
the intense grunted variety, but there are occasionally |
some screams such as in ‘Liberation’. This is all wrapped up
with an excellent production, which manages to make the whole
experience sound decapitatingly extreme - you can even hear
the bass in ‘Miserable Existence’, which is a rarity in such
extreme bands as this. The songs vary from two to three
minutes in length, and never get boring, thanks to the insane
speed and energy of the playing. Of the few guitar solos which
are present, such as in ‘Hidden Under Sanctity’, there is a
grandiose feeling, but rather than resembling the more epic
sounds of Nile, it brings a more claustrophobic feeling to the
sound. What makes this band slightly different is their
willingness to occasionally use a rhythmical, almost
marching-style to their music. ‘Rules Of Slavery‘ is such an
example, starting with a pounding drum beat which gradually
evolves into extremely fast double bass drumming and blasting.
‘Bad Monk’ also uses such a technique, marching at first, and
building into an excellent climax.
It’s rare these days to stumble across a grinding death album
which stimulates the senses as this one. Hopefully it won’t
pass by unnoticed amidst the countless other extreme metal
acts. Just don’t listen to it if you have a hangover.
www.pyorrhoea.org |
www.myspace.com/pyorrhoea |
www.metalmind.com.pl |
| |
|
The Banner - Frailty (Ferret) Review by Steve Green |
 |
After the psychotic blues/punk drunken squalor of the unwelcoming greeting
that is "Welcome Fuckers", The Banner build things up in a menacing manner
until the almighty force of The Wolf is unleashed. Fuck this is heavier
than any monolithic doom and full force thrash assault, this simply slays
the fuck out of you. The huge riff that runs through the middle of the
song would make Tony Iommi proud, yet this is a whole lot heavier than
anything from the Ozzy era of Sabbath. And once Leechbath lets rip, it
feels as if the mix cannot contain the music. The song feels as if it is
going to rip through the cd and is going to burst out into every possible
direction. Quite simply, this is lethal. I had no idea what to
|
expect before I put this cd on, and it's left me completely stunned. Are bands allowed to be
this devastating?
It keeps coming in wave after wave of unforgiving brutality as A Hellbound
Heart fires out faster than Slayer, and heavier too. Yet for all of the
intensity and pure hatred that's seeping from every pore, this is still
easy to get into. Hell, Track 9, Dusk, could almost be considered
melodic!!! But it's not an album that you can take in large doses as there
isn't much light in this darkened chasm. Unrelenting ain't even close. So
if you want your head to be pummelled for 34 or so minutes, then take this
fucker by the horns and enjoy the ride, it's going to be intense...
www.myspace.com/thebanner
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
