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Andreas Kisser - Hubris
I & II (Mascot Records) Review by Marco
Gaminara |
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This is definitely a tale of two halves, or CD's as the
case happens to be. Part I is electric and II is
instrumental/acoustic and both are bloody awesome. Written
over the last 12 years since Max left Sepultura, but not
quite being Sepultura enough to make it onto any of their
albums, he decided to release this as a solo project. But I
guess solo in this case doesn't mean doing everything on his
own, as some outthere have done, as he's got a plethora of
artists performing on various instruments contributing to
the overall epic nature of this release. Let's start with
'Hubris I' and it's first track "Protest!" and its very
tribal Amazonian tones, which morphs straight into "Eyphoria/Desperation"
where the powerful |
guitars and drums are very 'Roots' era and extremely
tribally influenced. Andreas does the vocals on "Eu Humano"
which is a slow and extremely powerful number with a
kick-arse lead solo to juxtapose his anger. "The Forum" is
completely toned down when it starts and has a very Nick
Cave like quality to it, but then it builds its heady drum
rhythm which the leads flow over like quicksilver and Vascoe
Faé's vocals give it a great rock quality it wouldn't have
had otherwise. Now this is where things get a little tricky,
as the song order appears to vary from what's on the sleeve,
if lyrics are to be believed. A good guitar riff can make a
song, but a couple of them together can really add so much
more to it, as they do on "God's Laugh", while Rappin Hood's
vocals are very Eddie Vedder in timbre, thereby adding an
amazing melancholy to the song which as a lively
instrumental it would've lost. The happy sounding "Virgulandia"
is very Brazilian in flavour, concept and lyrics with a
party or carnival vibe to it. "R.H.E.T." is again very
bouncy, with an infectious harmonica to help liven it up
even more. Taking a complete about turn "Em Busca Do Ovro"
is slow, melodic and while the guitars have a subdued power
in them, they are sorrowful and add to mood of Ze Ramalho's
raspy vocals. Going back to a more rock style "Lava Sky" has
simple timing signature and the changes aren't abrupt or
unexpected, but the speed the lead gets played at certainly
is. The sitar used on "A Million Judas Iscariotes"
effectively takes you to a sandy place where you can imagine
dust storms and amber sunsets for the fist 3 minutes, and
then the latter half where the guitar, drums and vocals kick
in it's a far more powerful rock song and a great ending to
the album.
I must admit that I've actually had 'Hubris II' on repeat
for well over a month, Steve has actually had to hurry me up
getting the review done because I've just had it on as an
ambient background to drown out the idiots I work with. Now
opener "Sad Soil" has a beautiful tinkering acoustic guitar
in the background, but the electric lead just keeps flowing
and changing and in some ways I wish it would just carry on,
but instead it fades into "World's Apart" with its plucked
guitar and pianoforte competing for attention. "Breast
Feeding" is far more allegro with a very Flamenco feel to
the way the guitar is played and various percussive
instruments that are used for time keeping. The tribal
rhythms of "Page" keep the thumping going with Andreas
showing his flair on the leads. He plays all the guitar and
bass on these tracks, but has a host of guests playing
various other instruments thereby giving a lot of it a very
jammed feel, which certainly keeps far more ad lib as it
were. The haunting melodies of "Domenicana" build slowly to
incorporate all its elements in the progressively heavying
(I know that's not really a word, but cope) song. Purely
overlaid acoustic guitars playing and accompanying
themselves to have so many layers it's like being in a room
filled by guitarists each trying to out play the other on "Vivaldi",
yet it's so crisp and refreshing at the same time. The
guitars on "0120" are used to keep time, while the wind
instruments literally blow you away, if you'll excuse the
pun, and in some ways have me envisioning the Amazon
rainforest with scenes of 'The Mission' and Ennio Morricone
in mind. The exquisite harmonies in the all too brief "Armonia"
take us into the title track "Hubris" with its rumbling
guitar and pounding drums and the vocals, albeit just
humming and ahhing. I'm not sure if exquisite really does "Mythos"
justice. The only track on the album not written by Andreas
is "O Mais Qverido", which in many ways is clearly apparent,
but somehow it still fits in perfectly with its very
Brazilian theme and tone. And then I just let it start all
over again so I can enjoy it once more, and I really can't
picture anyone else not doing the same.
www.AndreasKisser.com.br |
www.myspace.com/andreaskisser |
www.MascotRecords.com |
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Blue Cheer - Rocks
Europe DVD (Rainman) Review by Metal Mark |
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If I had to describe Blue Cheer in one word it would likely be
"volume". That's the first word that comes to mind when I
think about this band because their straight ahead sound
always hinged on assaulting one's ears by just being so
overwhelmingly loud. Of course a lot has changed over the
last forty some years for both this band and heavy music.
Whether they intended to or not, this San Francisco trio
certainly played a major part in shaping what would become
heavy metal. With their simple yet massive riffs, pounding
beats and thumping bass lines they transforming heavy music
while other bands were still trying to figure which
direction to head to. These guys are still rolling on as
they released "What Doesn't Kill You" back in 2007. It
wasn't perfect, but they certainly showed enough of the old
firepower. This DVD was recorded in Bonn, Germany back in
April of 2008. At this point in their career there isn't a
lot of moving around or between tracks banter, but |
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instead it's really just the band, their instruments and the
fans. That's enough because it doesn't take long to realize
that this band still has enough of the magic in their blood
to make this exciting. Blue Cheer always had that love for
basic blues rock in many of their songs, but it's easy to
forget that just do the layers of heaviness that they pile
on top. The band gets better with each song and you can hear
them becoming more comfortable as the set goes on. This band
deserves to be called legendary due to their contributions,
but you wouldn't know from their attitude. It's still just
three guys playing the kind of music they and letting the
fans soak it in. The show comes to a head on the final two
songs on "Doctor Please" and even more on "Hunter". They
just start peeling and tossing out beats and crazy riffs all
over the place all the while making it look easy. The sound
quality of the show certainly does the band justice as they
managed to capture all the textures and loudness of the
band. Now it did seem that they capture too many of the same
camera angles and they flashed faster than needed at times.
I also wished they had showed more of the fans than just the
backs of their heads. The disc also includes commentary and
an interview with Dickie Peterson plus a slide show and
other special features. Really a fine disc that lets us know
that Blue Cheer are not only still kicking, but still
capable knocking out a show of massive proportions. |
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Breschdleng - S/T
(Prevision) Review by Luke Goaman-Dodson |
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Breschdleng is a German hardcore/metal band in the vein of
Biohazard, early Hatebreed, and Helmet. Apparently, their
lyrics are in Swabian, a southern dialect of German, so I
have no idea what they're singing about, but there you go.
Opener 'Roschdich' starts off with a Kashmir-esque riff
vaguely reminiscent of a heavier Faith No More with a touch
of the intro to 'Wake Up' by RATM. 'Schdeffala' features a
nice 90s-style build-up dynamic with that compressed
drum-sound we all know and love, but unfortunately for me
the rapping segment lets it down somewhat, never having been
much of a fan of rap/rock crossovers. What this band is
really good at capturing is the kind of tense, strung-out |
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dynamic Helmet, Fear Factory, and early Korn did so well,
but unfortunately got a bad reputation after becoming so
overused in the late 90s and early 00s during the
regrettable nu-metal fad. While I can't say this release is
an instant classic, it's still nice to see a band doing
old-school hardcore-metal in this age. Anyone who pines for
the days when heavy music still had some testicles would do
well to check this out.
www.breschdleng.de/ |
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Charm City Devils -
Let’s Rock ‘n’
Roll (10th Street/Eleven
Seven) Review by Metal Mark |
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This Baltimore based band once went under the name of Forty
Acres. Now they seem to have more of a focus on their
direction and "Let’s Rock ‘n’ Roll" comes across as being as
much a proclamation as it is an album title. The band is
already gaining a lot of hype due to their being on Nikki
Sixx's label and their inclusion on the CrueFest 2.
Fortunately they are quite capable of backing up much of the
hype. Charm City Devils are a band with a solid appreciation
of classic hard rock and enough knowledge of what is needed
to keep their sound fresh. Many of their riffs have a sound
that is undeniably reminiscent of mid-late 70's AC/DC and
Aerosmith plus they know there way around some 80's style
power ballads. |
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They are not merely content to coast on the fumes of their
influences because they know how to kick it into high gear
too. The grooves are simple, but infectious and the band
never hesitates as they steamroll along. The guitar sound is
thick and chunky enough to really add some depth to the
proceedings. The vocals are clear, crisp and confident. The
production is sharp and loud enough to really bring out the
band's strengths. A band like Airbourne tries to run this
old sound on pure energy, but the Charm City Devils come at
with a bit more finesse and in the long run that makes this
a more memorable album. There were some definite moments
here where I think they could have opened up more and pushed
ahead to take some more chances. All in all it's the kind of
hard rock album that's easy to like from the very first time
you hear it. |
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Dark Celebration -
Phlegeton (The Transcendence of Demon Lords)
(Paragon Records)
By: Dave Schalek |
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I last heard from Brazil’s Dark Celebration on a split from
2007 with Sodamned on Brazil’s Face the Abyss Records.
Although, by far, the better band of the two, I found Dark
Celebration to be rather typical, pedestrian, and wholly
forgettable. Certainly, I would not have expected Dark
Celebration to have caught the eye of New York-based Paragon
Records, a label with a taste for obscure, well done black
metal.
Well, that’s exactly what has happened as Paragon Records
now releases the latest full-length, entitled “Phlegeton
(The Transcendence of Demon Lords), from Dark Celebration.
Dark Celebration play an old school version of blackened
death metal with simple riffs, a |
mid-paced tempo with a few blasts mixed in, and somewhat
annoying, nasally inflected rasps and gruff vocals that
occasionally fall apart and lapse into the vocalist’s normal
voice. At times, the music is catchy and reminiscent of old
Death albums (combined with a sort of happy “bounce”), but,
overall, the music is pretty amateurish and corny with
clichés galore. I seriously doubt that I’ll give this album
much of a listen again after completing this review.
Although there are a few interesting moments, “Phlegeton…”
is pretty boring and will, no doubt, be quickly forgotten.
In a word, eh.
http://paragonrecords.org |
www.myspace.com/darkcelebration666 |
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Divine Heresy - Bringer
of Plagues (Premium Records) By Nathan Ward |
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Divine Heresy are back with their second album, and first with
their new singer Travis Neal formerly of Pushed, after the
original singer Tommy Vext was let go. For those who do not
know Divine Heresy is Dino Cazares’ (Fear Factory) band,
with Joe Payne (Nile) on bass duties.
‘Bringer of Plagues’ is 11 tracks of blasting drum beats and
melodic riffs, giving the album an industrial feel, which
can be expected, looking back at Dino’s previous work. All
the instruments are clear and none of them overshadow the
other instruments. The vocals are a mix between clean and
the growling found in metalcore/post thrash, but you can |
understand what Travis is saying. The guitar has a powerful
sound to it without being muddy and overly distorted, which
works well with the quick bursts Dino can pull off and give
the melodic parts of the songs an interesting edge. The bass
follows the guitar giving the sound more power, without
overwhelming it. The drums have a similar sound to those on
Fear Factory’s ‘Digimortal’; that fast semi-clicking style,
whilst retaining the power, except that they are clearer.
‘Bringer of Plagues’, to me, feels like the follow up album
to ‘Digimortal’ had Dino still been in Fear Factory at the
time. It is a great blend of various metal genres and shows
Dino is still going strong. And it is a shame that the Dino
& Burton version of Fear Factory have cancelled their summer
tour, as I was looking forward to seeing them at Bloodstock.
www.myspace.com/divineheresyband |
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Onheil - Razor (Cyclonic
Empire) Review by Steve Green |
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If you are a fan of both Iron Maiden and of Black Metal, then I have got
the perfect band for you. Boasting a line-up that includes 3 guitars and
2 vocalists, this is a fluid slice of Iron Maiden influenced Black Metal
that will have you salivating before the opening number Out Of Darkness
It Comes has time to fully unravel itself. This, my friends, is a
stunning piece of work. The guitars flow like it's 1984 all over again,
but this time Eddie has been replaced by Satan as its mascot. I find it
impossible to keep still whilst listening to this album. The guitar work
is phenomenal, be it the lightning fast lead work that peppers the
album, or the more doom influenced beauty of Final Redemption, or the
furious blackened |
| riffing, fuck, it's all gloriously Metal!!!!!! I
listen to a ridiculous amount of new music every week and I need
something like this to really stand above the dirge of averageness that
attacks my hearing on a regular basis. This is a perfect combination of
Heavy Metal and its more extreme blackened counterpart and I defy anyone
with an ounce of metal running through their veins not to enjoy this
album. To quote my good friend Dave Schalek, "Buy or fucking die!!!"
www.onheil.nl |
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Onslaught - Live
Damnation (Candlelight) Review by Chris
Davison |
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It seems as if the 2000’s have been the decade of the reunion.
Every band and their neighbour have apparently buried the
hatchets of their previous arguments / heard the clarion
call of the cash register and come out with a brand new
album. It’s not always great news though, is it readers?
Well, Onslaught did actually produce a worthy comeback on
their 2007 album, “Killing Peace”. It wasn’t up to the
exceptional standards of their thrash mini-classic “Power
from Hell”, but hey, the years have made my ears more jaded
then they once were. This then, is the recording of their
triumphant live showing at the damnation festival (see what
they |
cleverly did with the title?). While the years may have
rolled on, this sounds like a very hungry Onslaught hitting
the audience with all that they have. Mixing tracks from
their back catalogue with newer material, the real star here
is vocalist Sy Keeler, who roars, screams and goddamn sings
his heart out throughout the eight song set. While the
appeal of hearing numbers like “Killing Peace” may have an
appeal, I suspect that most of you all there will be getting
a hold of this to hear the old stuff given a new lease of
life, the rawness of the live arena and the strength of
modern production. Power!!!!!!!!!Frrrrrrrrrrrrooom!!!!!
Heeeeeeeeellllll!!!!!
www.myspace.com/onslaughtuk |
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The Gathering - The West Pole
(Psychonaut Records) Review by Steve Green |
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I know, I'm miles behind as ever and I really should have had this review
online when the album was released. After all, it is the The Gathering's
comeback album. And I'm in the same boat here as when Nightwish released
their last album, as in, I never cared about the bands last singer, so I
can look at this objectively. I've nothing against Anneke van
Giersbergen, but I could take or leave her vocals and the same goes for
The Gathering's music, if I'm being perfectly honest.
So anyway, here we have a new album, with a new vocalist, Silje
Wergeland (from |
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Octavia Sperati) as well as two guest vocalists, Anne
van den Hoogen and Marcela Bovio (from Stream of Passion) and what do
they do? The cheeky fuckers kick off with an instrumental !!!! You have
to laugh at their sense of humour... unfortunately, it's one of my
favourite songs on the album. And this is probably why I never got to
grips with this album and why my review is so bloody late, the album
ain't the most interesting I've ever heard. It's firmly entrenched in
Shoegaze/Indie territory and not even the odd appearance from Marcela
Bovio can lift my spirits here. A lot of the album, to be fair, is quite
pleasant, but it's not very exciting and the Showgazing fixation isn't
as enjoyable as, say, a more Gothic direction. By the halfway point, my
remote control comes into play and the skip button is kept quite busy as
the 2nd half of the album isn't as strong as the 1st half. The best
advice I can give is, try before you buy as you might very well sit a
few inches over on the fence from where I'm positioned. There some
good songs on the album, but not enough for me to recommend this album
I'm afraid. www.gathering.nl
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Yes I know this is the 2nd review of the new Voivod album
I've run in the past couple of weeks. But having got my
wires crossed about who was covering this album, I
couldn't really turn down Mr Earles 1000+ word epic could I? |
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Voivod - Infini
(Relapse Records-US, Nuclear Blast Records-Europe)
Review by Steve Earles |
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Make no mistake, this is an important and significant album
from an important and significant band. A huge influence on
the likes of Goijira and Mastodon. In some alternative
universe Voivod are bigger than Metallica, along with Danzig,
Diamond Head, Celtic Frost, and Sabbat (and Mortal Sin!
Their Mayhemic Destruction album is classic).
Voivod first emerged as part of the first wave of thrash
metal (all you copycat bands take note-there’s more to being
inspired by thrash than endlessly, boringly recycling
Testament and Exodus riffs, find another bandwagon to jump
on). Even on their debut War And Pain, Voivod were utterly
their own beast, as unique as drummer Away’s cover painting
of the |
Voivod itself, the band’s mascot and inspiration. Voivod’s
sound was unique for many reasons, the band had to do
everything themselves, they weren’t initially part of a
scene, so inspired by bands as diverse as Motorhead, Venom
(one of the most inspirational metal bands of all time-much
respect due), Die Kruezen, and Killing Joke. War and Pain
would be a huge inspiration on not only thrash, but also
what would become known as grindcore and extreme metal in
general. Follow-up, Rrrroooaaarrr streamlined this sound.
But it’s on third album Killing Technology that Voivod
really started to stretch their wings, particularly on the
anti-vivisection Ravenous Medicine, which to this day sends
shivers down my spine. Voivod weren’t just making songs,
they were telling stories, creating soundscapes, they were
an extreme metal Pink Floyd. Away’s drumming grew as
outstanding as his artwork. Snake’s vocals were and are
unique. Blacky’s bass was like a xyster being scraped across
human bone, and Piggy’s guitar playing, unique and special,
like the man himself. It’s totally apt that Voivod ended up
on Noise Records home of Celtic Frost, Sabbat, Coroner, and
Kreator. Like the mighty Frost, Voivod were number one in a
field of one, true rockers, true artists, an inspiration to
all. Incidentally, the reason Voivod ended up on Noise was
due to Celtic Frost supporting Voivod at their debt-clearing
World War Three Festival, Tom G Warrior took a demo tape
back to Noise records (pre-internet days remember!).
Dimension Hatross really refined their sound, blending
metal, progressive, punk, industrial into a never equalled
sound. It was around this time that Piggy would suffer
cancer for the first time, on this occasion recovering
(ironic for a band with tracks like Brain Scan). Just watch
the haunting video for Tribal Convictions for proof.
Voivod’s next album Nothingface was their first on a major
label, featuring brilliant songs, great performances, an
increased musicality, it was years ahead of it’s time. If
released now it would be huge, bands like Goijira, Dream
Theatre and Opeth bringing fine progressive metal to the
masses. It even featured a marvellous cover of Syd Barrett
era Pink Floyd’s Astronomy Domine-which they totally made
their own. This was the commercial peak. On the subsequent
tour, Voivod were supported by Soundgarden and Faith No
More, two bands that would soon eclipse them, Soundgarden in
particular riding the crest of the grunge wave that would
swamp so many metal bands. The next album Angel Rat, while
it marked the departure of Blacky, is a fine effort, as was
The Outer Limits (some versions of with 3D artwork). Fix My
Heart from The Outer Limits is an amazingly catchy metal
song, else where there is much fine progressive metal, and
another Floyd cover, this time, The Nile Song. Sadly, Snake
quit, and Voivod became a trio with bassist/vocalist Eric
Forrest [E-Force] for their next three releases, Negatron,
Phobos and Knonik. While different to what came before, Eric
Forest gave his all to Voivod, and Phobos is a fine heavy
progressive effort, featuring a fine King Crimson cover, and
their first recorded collaboration with future bassist Jason
[Jasonic, everyone in Voivod has to have a nickname!]. This
era of Voivod even played a Venom cover live, in League With
Satan (as can be heard on the triumphant live album Voivod
Lives. This version of Voivod was very heavy, even playing
with such fine bands as Neurosis. This version also demoed
the final part of the Voivod character’s story arc.
Something I hope will be released someday. Sadly, Eric
Forest was seriously injured in a crash, and after the live
album, this version of Voivod disbanded. It looked like the
story of Voivod, the seemingly indestructible band was over.
Until fate took a hand. Tired of the disrespect and bullying
of his Metallica band mates, who’s unpleasant behaviour
speaks for itself, and seemed in direct proportion to
Jason’s decent behaviour (Like so many people you meet in
everyday life, Metallica have an appallingly low sense of
self-awareness, and still have no idea that they were
responsible for bullying Jason out of the band, Contrast
their behaviour with that of Deep Purple in the 70s, where
each of the members gave a generous gift to David Coverdale
to he wouldn’t feel like the poor relation. Treat people
decently and you get better results, lesson to us all).
Instead of coming out with homophobia (Hetfield), becoming a
fashion victim (Hammett) or suing the fans that made him
rich (Ulrich), the other three should have followed their
erstwhile band-mate’s example, and concentrated on becoming
better musicians and songwriters. Jason hooked up with
Voivod as their new bassist, rejoined by Snake, Piggy and
Away were galvanised, producing the fine Voivod album, and
touring with Sepultura and supporting Ozzy at Ozfest (where
Jason was Ozzy’s bassist!) Jason played two sets a night,
the difference being in a band with good musicians and
decent people makes. Sadly, on the verge of a major
comeback, Piggy succumbed to illness again and this time did
not recover. He did however, leave enough material for two
further Voivod albums, the first Katorz (as the Quebecois
considered it their 14th album), and finally the aptly named
Infini, their last with Piggy’s input. It’s a fantastic
monument to Piggy, it’s amazing how warm and band-orientated
it sounds considering it was constructed in Canada and San
Francisco using the tracks on Piggy’s laptop (the great man
kept recording until he no longer could hold his guitar).
From the 21at century Motorhead groove of God Phones, to the
typically Voivodian Global Warming, and the catchy Krap
Radio, it’s an awesome album, from one of the most
influential metal bands of all time. From Piggy’s unique
riffs, to Snake’s heartfelt vocal, Jason’s outstanding bass
and Theremin playing (Metallica’s loss is Voivod's and our,
gain), and Away’s powerhouse grooves and fills. My favourite
metal album of the year from one of the most important bands
of my life, and I hope, not their last, as the surviving
members have a lot to offer and Piggy’s legacy should not be
allowed to die, after all he dedicated his life to it. Piggy
is dead, but his memory will never die. Long live Piggy and
long live Voivod!
www.voivod.com |
www.relapserecords.com |
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