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Alex Beyrodt’s Voodoo Circle - Voodoo Circle
(AFM Records)
By: Joe Florez |
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When my editor offered me the chance to review this disc, I
went to the site to listen to it and thought it was cool and
nothing more. I was then mailed the disc and after reading the
bio, I had no idea what I was in for. This is guitarist Alex
Beyrodt who is a phenomenal guitarist that has been in bands
with Sinner, Primal Fear and Silent Force for you power metal
fans out there. This is a super group that is rounded out by
Pink Cream 69 vocalist extraordinaire David Redman, Matt
Sinner and a couple of other well established musicians. Now,
if you are thinking that this is a hard rock album, then you
are correct. So, read on if you dig this stuff or look at
something else if you ain’t into it. |
Right off the bat, when
you pop this in you are in for an energetic hour of powerhouse
music that will shake the house. The minute I hear Alex’s
guitar work, Yngwie will come to most people’s minds as well
as myself except it’s not all that pretentious. Some shredding
ensues on the opener “Spewing Lies”, but not all over the
place. It’s mid paced, but packed with excitement and Dave’s
singing continues to sound strong and vibrant. The rhythm
section is on point and the 70’s style keyboards throw in a
dash of pizzazz to keep things spicy. The ivory keys add more
of a synthetic touch on “Desperate Heart”, but it’s when you
hear tracks like “Kingdom Of The Blind” and “Man And Machine”
where you hear metal, classic rock and blues slide guitar
action all take place under one roof and the results are
explosive. This disc isn’t all about going over the top, there
are even moments like “Master OF Illusion” where things are
brought down a few notches, but it’s made up in spades with
the powerful harmony vocals during the chorus and the music is
still packed with passion and sincerity. It doesn’t matter
what direction this man takes because it’s a guaranteed
homerun. There is nothing consistent on here because it
changes from track to track. The man knows how’s to compose
and hold your interest. This is a definite welcome surprise
and a great way to end 2008. If you want to hear the man’s
influence that ranges from the 70’s to Ritchie Blackmore and
beyond, then you must grab this. My only major gripe is that
this disc needs North American distro.
www.afm-records.com
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www.myspace.com/voodoocircleband |
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Artillery - By Inheritance
Re-Issue (Metal Mind) Review by Metal Mark |
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In 1990 Denmark's Artillery released their third album. It is
a departure from both “Fear of Tomorrow” and “Terror Squad”,
but it succeeds in being their most ambitious effort to date.
The previous two albums were awesome displays of bludgeoning,
straight forward thrash. However, it had been three years
since Terror Squad and Artillery were ready to spread out and
take a few chances. They became a much more technical band on
this release. The album begins with the 7:00 From Tashkent an
introduction with Middle-Eastern influences. Right away this
lets us know that the band had made some changes in their
approach. Next up is "Khomaniac" which has a long
build-up, but then tears into a rapid fire approach. "Beneath
the Clay (R.I.P) " emerges with a barrage of drums and then |
cuts and swerves through a storm of riffs and raging vocals.
By this point it's obvious that this is Artillery, only now
they were bringing even more to the table. The title track and
"Bombfood" follow
a similar pattern as Artillery start stacking up the layers of
guitars and just surge forward with a constant assault of
heaviness. My favorite track might by the closer "Back in the
Trash" because it contains enough riffs for three good songs.
They know how to structure the song though and get the most
out of each note. The only song I couldn't get into is their
cover of Nazareth's " Razamanaz". It's an okay cover, but it's
the second to last track and breaks up the feel of the album.
The album had a great flow going and this cover songs really
seemed out of place.
This re-issue also has six bonus tracks
including some demo tracks. Former Metallica producer Flemming
Rasmussen produced it and fortunately the treatment is closer
to "Master of Puppets" than it is to his work on "...And
Justice For All". "By Inheritance" is just a fantastic album
that much like this band was just unfairly overlooked.
Artillery knew how to created some of the best thrash of it's
time plus they actually progressed over the course of three
albums. Definitely a must buy for thrash fans because you will
not be disappointed. |
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Bison B.C - Quiet Earth
(Metal Blade) Review by Steve Green |
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Apologies all round for the extreme lateness of this review, but
ironically, my tardiness has resulted in an infinitely more positive
review for the band.
When I first received this cd, the first couple of spins left me thinking
it was ok, but it didn't warrant more than a "solid" type of review. So
over the past couple of months I've gone back to the album for one more
play before I reviewed it, then my chaotic schedule meant Quiet Earth
never managed to stay at the top of my listening pile. In the end I kept
putting the album on because I enjoyed it and I never quite got around to
writing the review...
So why do I like this album so much? Well it's all about the groove. I
don't think it's fair to
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simply call Bison B.C. a stoner band, but they have such a
powerful, but laidback swagger that it's the sort of music you
just get swept along with. The twisted and utterly glorious
riffs drag you in, but it's the cool as fuck groove that the
rhythm section create that really finishes you off. Opening
number Primal Emptiness of Outer Space is so strong I could
quite happily stick it on repeat all day, as long as I had a
bottle of Jack to keep me company. So perhaps whiskey soaked
Stoner Rock is the perfect way to describe Bison B.C. It
certainly works for me.
Catch them on their European tour stating late January, which
unfortunately doesn't include any UK dates.
www.myspace.com/bisoneastvan |
www.metalblade.de
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Black Elk - Always a Six, Never a Nine
(Crucial Blast) Review
by Luke Goaman-Dodson |
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Upon seeing the band name and their hometown of Portland,
Oregon, I initially assumed Black Elk to be yet another one of
those North-western post-rock-inflected black-metal bands that
everyone seems to be masturbating themselves into a frenzy
about, but to my pleasant surprise they turned out to be a
rather excellent noise-rock band in the vein of Unsane,
Melvins, or The Jesus Lizard, with the kind of soaring, epic
guitar leads that recall early 90s Faith No More. Opener 'My
Last Shred of Decency' is raging little bastard until it gets
transmuted into a doomy breakdown about 2 minutes in.
'Hospital' is more melodic and features some fantastic use of
syncopation. 'Stab' almost recalls Akercocke with its |
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dissonant use of harmonics, while 'She Pulled Machete' is
probably my favourite track on the album, a mid-tempo chugger
that exudes menace. This is quite simply a magnificent release
from a band that probably would have been name-checked by Kurt
Cobain had they formed 20 years earlier. Anyone with a taste
for the noisier end of hardcore and metal owes it to
themselves to check this band out.
www.myspace.com/blackelk |
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Black September/ Thou - Thrive & Decay (Split)
(Self released)
By: Dave Schalek |
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Here’s a quick look at a two song, self-released split from
Black September and Thou. First up is “Under The Rising” from
Black September, a sludge driven and mid-paced outfit from
Chicago, Illinois. Upon listening to the track, the obvious
comparisons to Black September would be a collision between
Outlaw Order (the up tempo version of Eyehategod) and Soilent
Green. Also noteworthy are the vocals from Jen Pickett,
although the fact that the vocals are from a woman are not
noticeable. A good song and it is worth noting that Black
September have an EP under their collective belts, but are
unsigned and have yet to issue a debut full-length. Certainly,
the exposure that Black September garner |
with this split with Thou, an established band, should result
in a signing. I look forward to their debut full-length.
Rounding out the split is “Smoke Pigs” from Thou, another
sludge laden act from Louisiana that have already issued a
debut full-length. That album, “Peasant”, was issued on the
always anxiety inducing Autopsy Kitchen Records, and I gave
the album a generally positive review awhile back. “Smoke
Pigs” is a bit more up tempo than the tracks presented on
“Peasant”, and sounds even closer to Outlaw Order/ Eyehategod
than Black September.
Both of the bands on this split are promising, and I look
forward to future releases from each. I urge you to check out
audio samples from each at their respective band pages below.
www.myspace.com/thouband
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www.myspace.com/thebandblackseptember |
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Celebrant - Spawn Of Chaos
(Trinity Records) Review by Steve Green |
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This review will probably sound a little harsh, when it's not supposed to
be negative in any shape or form. The fact is, it's impossible to go crazy over every album that heads our way, the same
way that not every band are destined to be World beaters. Belgium's
Celebrant are good, but I feel they are never going to become legendary,
nor anything remotely approaching it. But on the other hand, I've not got
a bad word to say about this album either. It's crushing Death Metal, with
groove laden vocals and a few Slayer-esque guitar parts and pulverizing
Entombed style rhythms which are cool to groove along with and at other
times, it's just pure Armageddon: All out blasting and sounds of war. For
what |
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it is, a raging slab of straightforward Death Metal, it's a
very good album and a very enjoyable way to pass 31 or so
minutes... And that's it. No drama, no fuss, just a quick in
and out job, a swift destruction of your hearing, and then
it's time to go home for tea with mummy. So for a quick fix in
brutality, head on over to
www.myspace.com/celebrantdeathmetal |
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Cirkus - Let The Madness Begin
(Self-produced) Review by Metal Mark |
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Looking at the cover of this CD had me believing they were
going to be a glam band of the 1980's variety. Sweden's Cirkus
certainly took a few lessons from that sound, but they are far
more influenced by 1970's rock and hard rock. Actually it took
a few songs for me to warm up to them because they start out
sounding jumbled and messy. By "Hard Headed Woman" they seem
to settle in and pull everything together. Cirkus subscribe to
a raw guitar sound that adds some much needed texture to
their fairly basic approach. They bring in a variety of
influences including T.Rex, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper and maybe
even BTO as the push and stomp their way through. I enjoy the
guitar tone and see some potential |
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here for certain, but even after repeated plays I still felt
cold towards this album. The vocals are going through the
steps, but they lack depth and that certain soul that this
type of music demands. The music fares much better and the
band knows to create some powerful grooves, but they don't
always know how to sustain them. On several occasions they
launch into a song with some real promise, but then fail to do
enough to keep the ball rolling. It was almost like they shot
their load early and then tried to tromp through hoping to
just skim on to the end. There were just too many moments
where the peak came too soon and they just didn't have enough
going on to maintain my interest. I liked some of their ideas,
but couldn't shake the feeling that could have really
benefited from spending more time on pulling together their
ideas. So in the end this Cirkus wasn't as fun
as the big top variety and they far too restrained to release
any kind of madness. Maybe next time though.
www.myspace.com/rouxdcirkusmusic |
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Closer - A Darker Kind of Salvation
(Pulverised) By Robert Cheesewright |
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“A morbidly interesting approach”- Okay, little about this
album is morbid, but it is interesting. Closer consists of
five young musicians from Sweden (if they’re young compared to
me, they are young!). It’s hard to characterise Closer’s
style. There is a blend of black and melodic death metal in
there, but more obvious is the pop-sentiment and funky-bass
which makes this album better to dance to than to headbang.
It’s an odd sound, but it works.
‘A Darker Kind of Salvation’ has all the ingredients of a
heavy metal album; furious riffs, double-bass drumming and
aggressive vocals, but isn’t a heavy album. Some would say |
this is ‘watered-down’ black metal album designed merely to be
marketable. That would be unfair, because whilst this album’s
funky style make it marketable it is fascinating and
fun...should a metal album be a funky-fun-dance album, though?
Even if it isn’t what metal should be, I like it. That is,
except for the chorus of ‘This Hate’, a terrible cringe worthy
affair reminiscent of all the horrid trademarks of pop-nu-metal.
The album’s opening could be that of a Meshuggah record and is
instantly promising. The heaviness largely disappears for the
rest of the album, but the technical proficiency remains. The
title track offers another rare treat for metal;
call-and-response vocals- again odd, but effective. In fact
“odd, but effective” characterises the entire album quite
nicely. ‘Open Your Eyes’ starts like the theme to The Pink
Panther rather than metal and I find myself dancing in my
chair. ‘A Darker Kind of Salvation’ will get repeated plays,
but I will remain confused as to whether I ought to feel
guilty for liking it so much.
Closer are coming to a venue near you, so long as you live in
Sweden.
www.myspace.com/closersweden |
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Defiance - Beyond Recognition
Re-issue (Metal Mind) Review by Metal Mark |
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By 1992 the thrash scene like many other genres of metal and
hard rock was falling out of favor. That didn't stop Defiance
though as they were actually getting better on this their
third album. On their first two releases Defiance were very
much like fellow Bay area thrashers Testament only maybe an
album behind them style wise. However, while many other bands
of this style were slowing down, Defiance actually became
heavier and faster as they went along. Unfortunately the fan
base for this type of music was slimming down so not as not
people were witnessing the fairly impressive transformation
that Defiance made over the course of just a few years. The
lyrics were the same old thing, but the playing had |
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gotten tighter as they worked on more pace changes. The sense
of control that the band administer to the tracks on this
album is certainly worth noting. Unlike a number of their
peers, Defiance were not out to become more accessible. They
knew the brand of metal they wanted to play and they just kept
chipping away at it and growing stronger at their craft. Their
music is the same type of thrash that was so big say around
87-90. It still worked in 1992 because their songwriting had grown leaps
and bounds from their 1989 debut "Menace to Society". This
re-issue includes seven bonus tracks with some live songs and
some demos. Once again another impressive package from the
kind people at Metal Mind who know to add on the extras. So
the third release from Defiance is definitely worth getting
for fans of old school thrash. |
