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Ace Frehley - Anomaly
(Bronx Born) Review by Metal Mark |
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I don't know what it is about Ace Frehley, but there always
been something about him that I have liked. My favorite KISS
member by far for what that's worth. Even though he has had
substance problems and questionable career decisions I find
myself still interested in him. Hard to believe that it has
indeed been twenty years since "Trouble Walkin'", but it
has. I am not sure what I was expecting from Ace at this point,
but I was interested in seeing if he had anything left to
give. The first three tracks of "Anomaly" are all much
heavier than I was expecting. All three were quite
entertaining. His vocals sound pretty much the same as
always, which was great. The guitar sound was a little
different, but it |
worked. Then he got into a rendition of Sweet's "Fox on the
Run". His voice sounded fine, but the music made little
attempt to do anything other than copy the original. It's an
alright cover, but it seemed to slow down the whole feel of
the album and unfortunately I don't think that the album as
a whole ever quite recovered like I hoped it would. Next up
is "Genghis Khan" which due to it's rambling approach had me
thinking of Spinal Tap's "Stonehenge". After this the album
is a bit of mixed bag although slightly more on the positive
side. Several of the songs in the second half of the album
remind me of material from "Trouble Walkin'" and even the first "Frehley's Comet"
album. So the second half is more typical Ace material, but
still enough to please fans.
In the end it's a decent, but
far from perfect album. Still this is far better than the
solo album from other KISS members and better than anything
KISS have put out in some time for whatever that's worth.
Still it's good to see Ace back in action and I am certain
that I will re-visit this album. |
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Arctic Plateau - On A Sad Sunny Day
(Prophecy) Review by Steve Green |
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With an album cover that sort of reminds me of Anathema's A Fine Day To
Exit, and actually, with a very similar album title, I think you know
what to expect here. Arctic Plateau is actually a one man band, Gianluca
Divirgilio, and it seems Signore Divirgilio has a liking for all things
ginger and melancholic. To be fair, On A Sad Sunny Day most definitely
has its own identity. It's a wonderfully mellow and gentle journey, and
while I'm not normally one of the shoegazing brigade, I can definitely
make an exception for this album. It's an almost perfect chill-out
album, with multi-layered guitars, which has to be said, sound stunning
via headphones, gently probing different parts of your brain, with a |
equally mellow vocal style, which is used reasonably
sparingly, to good effect. The only time the album livens
up, I'm reminded of the more soaring moments of Pink Floyd's
repertoire, and of course, of Anathema.
I understand that this won't appeal to everyone, but comes recommended
to all those that prefer the more mellow side of life.
www.myspace.com/arcticplateauinfo |
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Austrian Death Machine - Double Brutal
(Metal Blade)
By: Joe Florez |
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The surprise hit last summer was ADM’s debut Total Brutal
from As I Lay Dying front man Tim Lambesis, with songs that
were related to all things Arnold, is back with round two.
Appropriately titled Double Brutal, we are treated to more
savagery that deals with song titles related to Arnold’s movie
catalogue, but now included on this double disc are some
cover songs. More on that in a bit. Following the same
formula as the first time, we get this intro with the Governator
talking and being silly and explaining how it’s time for
more songs. Pretty funny stuff and then we blast off into a
song about Terminator 2 or T2 “I Need Your Clothes, Your
Boots And Your Motorcycle.” This one jams out hard as the |
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riffs are meaty and filled with rage and the drumming is
tight. Tim’s voice is filled with anger here just like
before, but definitely gets the blood pumping. Things step
up a notch with “Who Told You You Could Eat My Cookies” from
Jingle All The Way. This one hits the death metal range with
what else…cookie monster vocals from both Tim and Mr.
Olympia. The speed on this one is quicker than the other
tracks and contains a cool solo that will make your head
dizzy. This is some heavy stuff. If I didn’t know better, I
would have thought that this was something left over from
the Cannibal Corpse guys. In addition to songs dedicated to
Conan The Barbarian, Batman & Robin, Pumping Iron, Commando
and other fine classics, we now get some cover jams. Judas
Priest’s “Hell Bent For Leather” was released on the ADM Christmas 3 track EP last year and has
made its way onto here. This one is faster, leaner and
meaner and with AAAAAAAARRnold joining in here, this is a
classic. A badass version of “Trapped Under Ice” from
Metallica had me cranking this one out to 11. As if this
track couldn’t get any better, ADM just did it. “Iron Fist”,
“Killing’s My Business And Business Is Good”, a Misfits
cover of “I Turned Into A Martian”, Agnostic Front’s “Gotta
Go” and a Goretorture cut? Holy Christ Batman! Tim really
outdid himself here. While the songs do tend to blend in
together after a while it’s cool because they are super
duper quick tracks that go by with the quickness. The whole
thing is just fifty minutes long and would have preferred to
have everything smacked into one disc, but that would ruin
the concept of Double Brutal. Man o man, these cool thrash
tunes will appeal to Slayer fans and the like as well as
some that enjoy death metal on a raw level. If you don’t
take the songs seriously then you will have a blast with
this like I did.
www.metalblade.com
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www.austriandeathmachine.com |
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Autumnblaze - Perdition Diaries
(Prophecy) Review by Steve Green |
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Before I received this album I had never heard of Autumnblaze. Those more
familiar with the band will know that their last album was released in
2004 and the band split in 2006. And on this album, we are promised a
tribute to "90s era Dark Metal" with names such as Katatonia, Anathema,
Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride + a few others being mentioned. With my
appetite suitably whetted, a stunning album should be in the offing....
Opener, Wir Sind Was Wir Sind, definitely deliveries on this promise,
but to me it sounds like Katatonia crossed with the Fields of The
Nephilim, with vocalist Eldron sounding very much like Carl McCoy. This
style isn't around for long as the vocals vary from melancholic |
(or should that be dull and miserable?), deathly and a
blackened snarl, which is used to good effect on the
wonderfully titled, I Had To Burn This Fucking Kingdom and
by track 4, Haughtiness and Puerile Dreams, we are back to
sounding like Carl McCoy again. The music and vocals tend to
vary a lot throughout the album, which for me, rob it of any
real continuity and the album sounds like it was recorded by
about 4 different bands.
Being perfectly honest, Perdition Diaries isn't really a bad album, but
I don't think there's enough here to make want to return to it any time
soon. www.myspace.com/autumnblazeband
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Hiems - Worship Or Die
(Moribund Cult)
By: Dave Schalek |
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Muscular one-man black metal from Italy with a bit of
whimsy? Not exactly what you’d expect, but that’s exactly
the case with Hiems, a one-man project from an individual
named Algol. First, the basics: “Worship Or Die” is the
second album from Hiems, released on Moribund Cult, and
comes across as a beefy version of newer Satyricon (Satyr
probably wishes he found some of these riffs himself)
combined with some of the blistering antics of 1349 (well,
before their recent downturn). Some gigantic riffs are
interspersed with a tempo ranging from a mid-paced dirge to
a full on blast. So well done, in fact, are the infectious
riffs that some serious neck snapping is going to take place
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spinning “Worship Or Die”. In short, this is not the work of
some pasty faced, skinny misanthrope hiding from the Sun in
his parents’ basement.
The whimsical aspects come in Algol’s decision to
incorporate elements into his scheme of black metal that fly
in the face of the conventional notions of black metal
aesthetic. For example, late in the album, the track “Hiems”
incorporates a wonderful organ solo that sounds inspired by
giants such as Rick Wakeman and Jon Lord (if you don’t
recognize these names, shame on you). The organ also carries
over into “290979”, and into the album’s closer, a clean
vocals version of “Race With The Devil”, an oft-covered
classic rock song from Gun (just about everyone seems to
have covered this song at one time or another). The result
of playing with these classic elements reveal Algol to be a
student of classic rock and serve as a reminder that metal,
in all its forms, is still ultimately a form of rock music.
A highly infectious album paying proper respect to classic
influences, “Worship Or Die” is highly recommended.
www.myspace.com/hiems000
| www.moribundcult.com |
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Job for a Cowboy -
Ruination (Metal Blade) review by Sam Thomas |
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I’m not sure that “maturity” would have been the most obvious
word to spring to mind before I’d listened to Job for a
Cowboy’s second full-length album, Ruination, (after all,
even though there have been a couple of line-up changes
their average age is still probably something ridiculously
close to nineteen – apologies to Paul Hardcastle!) but after
hearing it, this is certainly one of the overriding
impressions.
Not that its precursor, Genesis, was in any way immature,
but this time around the lads from Arizona have moved on a
little and produced an album that, whilst not in any way
selling-out has shifted slightly away from the extreme end
of death metal and become ever |
so slightly more mainstream. Then again, “mainstream” isn’t
exactly the right word either, as tracks such as
“Constitutional Masturbation” and “Regurgitated
Disinformation” amply demonstrate. The killer guitars are
still there, provided by new boy Al Glassman (formerly of
Montreal’s Despised Icon) and Bobby Thompson, who apparently
have the ideal method for deciding who should play each riff
– whoever can do it best gets to record it. Democracy in
music – what a wonderful idea!
This album is heavy in a different way to many, dark,
unremitting death metal certainly, chugging, distorted, well
yes, obviously, but there’s a departure from their previous
offerings in that not everything is played at warp-speed:
“Regurgitated Disinformation” being a prime example of this.
The closing (and title) track “Ruination” is also very
interesting, with its slowed down, intro into a little essay
on horror that almost casts a shadow into Cult of Luna/Isis
territory.
Everything I’ve ever thought about JFAC being a band to
watch is demonstrated in spades by this powerful, controlled
release. And the artwork is stunning too. What more reason
do you need to buy it?
www.metalblade.com |
www.jfacmetal.com |
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Machines of Grace - S/T
(Self-produced) Review by Metal Mark |
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Once upon a time or around twenty years ago drummer Jeff
Plate (TSO, Metal Church, Savatage), vocalist Zak Stevens
(Circle II Circle, Savatage) and guitarist Matt Leff were in
a band called Wicked Witch that had some success playing
clubs in the Boston area. Fast forward two decades and the
the former Wicked Witch members have re-united and added
bass player Chris Rapoza to complete the line-up. The tracks
contained here are a combination of re-worked Wicked Witch
songs and new tunes. The sound is actually fairly varied as
I can hear Savatage, Dio, Whitesnake and Kings X as
influences. Due to the fact that 3/4 of this line-up played
together years ago the end results sound like a cross of
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hard rock and more recent sounds. What we end up with is
melodic tinged metal. Now I have to say that I didn't fully
take to this album on the first play. Actually I finished
listening to it and I had trouble getting into it, but I
felt like it deserved another chance. True enough, on the
second try it get began to settle with me. The songs are
well-crafted and the vocals are smooth. The production
boosted the sound as needed, but they wisely left the
instruments speak for themselves for the most part. Leff and
Stevens contribute some fantastic melodies and that's a
large part of what fuels their material. I never heard
Wicked Witch so I can't really compare these two bands
accurately, but I am sure it's safe to see that the
experience that the members have acquired over the ensuing
years have helped tighten their playing skills. That last
part is evident here because this is one of the best old
style metal albums that I have heard in some time. |
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Man Must Die - No Tolerance For Imperfection
(Relapse Records)
By: Dave Schalek |
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Even though they hail from Scotland, Man Must Die can be
very easily confused with any number of competent Swedish
bands toeing the line between thrash and death metal.
Swedish death/ thrash is an oversaturated genre just like
any other these days, and most of the bands playing in the
genre are interchangeable, Man Must Die included. The
outfit’s first two albums are good examples of the genre
with excellent musicianship, better than average songwriting
and so on, but not much separates Man Must Die from their
Swedish brethren.
Not much changes for Man Must Die on “No Tolerance For
Imperfection”, released on |
Relapse Records, except for the periodic inclusion of
elements of metalcore and bits of
melody here and there. The metalcore influence rears its
ugly head in the form of the odd breakdown or two, but, for
the most part, “No Tolerance For Imperfection” is yet
another entry in competent Swedish death/ thrash. As would
be expected, Man Must Die continue the stellar musicianship,
write fairly interesting songs with some variation for a
genre that’s hard to stand out in, and back it all up with a
crystal clear, beefy production.
No doubt, you’ll find yourself nodding along with “No
Tolerance For Imperfection” as you listen, but you’ll
probably end up forgetting all about it soon afterward. As
is always the case, that is the hallmark of a second-tier
band, and Man Must Die firmly reside within that status.
Still, “No Tolerance For Imperfection” is a good album, but
you’ve heard it before.
www.myspace.com/manmustdie
| www.relapse.com |
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Megadeth - Endgame
(Roadrunner Records) Review by Maya Ahuja |
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It had been a long time coming; the release of possibly the
‘final’ Megadeth album, and of course Chris Broderick’s
first album with the band. Monday the 14th of September was
to be en-christened ‘Endgame Day’; St Megadeth Day was here,
well in the UK anyway!
Roaring off with the first track ‘Dialectic Chaos’ this is
the album’s suitably more complex and rhythmical descendant
to ‘So Far’s … ‘Into the Lungs of Hell’, which stampedes
straight into the rest of this wonderfully pure thrash
album. Segueing into the first vocal track of the set ‘This
Day We Fight’ this is one hell of an aggressive mother that
certainly takes no prisoners (true droogs will excuse my
very un-intended pun) as it canters |
unstoppably away, faster and more furiously than perhaps any
Megadeth track written in recent history. If this is how the
tour will be opening each night then I’m first in line for
some very potent anxiety drugs to keep me sane until the
Megs hit our shores.
Moving to the melodically fluid ‘44 Minutes’ but nonetheless
snarl-infused in all the right places, this track promises
to be suitably popular in years to come. The fretwork is
stunning (with the outro foremost in my mind) and the solos
are perfectly balanced against the stable undertones of
LoMenzo and Drover’s brutal bulleted bass line and drums.
‘1,320’ is about Mustaine’s love of drag racing and this
beast screams in homage to ‘Killings is My Business’ ..’
‘Last Rites/Loved to Death’ which is certainly no bad thing
in my book and it’s an honour for the listener to hear that
this is real raw Megadeth at their best. Rhythmically
complex it may be harder to headbang to consistently but
after hearing the solos you’ll be in stunned still in awe!
With no let up at the veritable metal feast set before us we
are straight into the classic thrasher and rocky ‘Bite the
Hand’. This is all Broderick soloing that oozes down the
sides of a well oiled machine and sits comfortably within
the clean contours that form the Megadeth Mercedes. ‘Bodies’
is an epitaph to Mustaine’s troubled past and the listener
is drawn to the lyrics amongst the sparse gravelled chug
beneath. The solo section is beautiful with its staggered
descending chromaticism moving you closer to his
reminiscence before plummeting below to the proverbial abyss
where we find the loitering militant title track ‘Endgame’.
A sure fire soap box you cannot help but sit up and listen
to Mustaine’s bellowing the sublime discontent beneath.
In a moment of deceptive quiet calm we enter all that is
dark, cruel and twisted, ‘The hardest Part of Letting Go’
weaves the story of a murderer incarcerating his ‘love’ in a
wall. It creeps with acoustic guitar over beautifully
engineered synthesized strings (that would have sounded even
more breathtaking if they had been authentic, and yes I
would have paid Megadeth to let me play!) it’s not long
before the stillness is disturbed by the classic triplets
that gallop over the grave of the chosen one themselves.
Mustaine’s overly gravely and vulnerable hollering stretch
into the darkness and loneliness of the killer himself and
warp this tale of love. This is Mary Jane grown up, jaded
and altogether more maniacal.
Saddled next to the crazed single release of the album
‘Headcrusher’ decides that any overindulgent epic
romanticising is over and that indeed the ‘torture should
begin’. If this was in any way a taster to what we were to
expect of ‘Endgame’ it was certainly the right track to
pick, with its’ dark undeniably ‘angry’ vocals, to the
brutal unrelenting guitars; and if this is what torture a la
Megadeth feels like it certainly brought me back for more.
‘How The Story Ends’ brings us back to the battlefield with
its deceptively complex rhythms and intense politicizing.
Leading effortlessly to the final lusciously bass-lead ‘The
Right to Go Insane’ this is an ernst track echoing the
World’s voice of economic unrest and is certainly a topic
only Mustaine could pull off with as much eloquence.
Broderick’s soloing screams from the dark like the ghostly
insanity that plagues the songs victim leading straight into
Mustaine’s trademark blues fuelled chromatic craziness,
naturally and properly being the last word on the subject
and album.
It’s screamingly apparent from the lyrics that Broderick has
the lions share of solos on the album and as a Megadeth fan
for many years this is something I initially might have
taken issue with but after a listen (first from the bands
Myspace) the album is still undeniably ‘Dave M’. Broderick’s
playing sits effortlessly within the content adding another
shade of colour to the lugubriously dark metal pallet that
has existed and grown since 1983, it is easy to see why he
is fast becoming the favourite guitarist of Mega fans
everywhere, myself included. For those that know Producer
Andy Sneap’s impressive catalogue of work (Nevermore,
Exodus, Arch Enemy to name a few) it is unequivocal that his
mark is all over this record from it’s heavier, grittier
tones in the bass through to guitars to the clarity of
placement of the vocals, the man just knows how a thrash
record should sound. I am sure that I am not alone in
praying that it is not the last we hear from our favourite
snarling red-head as I am as there is so much more Megadeth,
with this truly stellar line up has to give. |
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Merrimack - Grey Rigorism
(Moribund Cult)
By: Dave Schalek |
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The French black metal scene pretty much has it all. Bands
such as Blut Aus Nord, DSO, and Antaeus are regarded as
black metal elite in a country with a particularly strong
and varied black metal scene. Occupying their niche, and one
of no less importance, are Merrimack. To that end, the
ever-reliable Moribund Cult Records issues Merrimack’s third
full-length, entitled “Grey Rigorism”.
Merrimack reside on the more brutal side of the black metal
spectrum with a delivery on “Grey Rigorism” quite similar to
latter day Marduk. Employing plenty of tempo changes with
plodding dirges mixed in with the all out blasts, Merrimack
have a similar |
blasphemous brutality to their approach to black metal.
Rather than going all out, though, Merrimack seem to be more
intricate in their songwriting, and employ
one or two moments of melody, as well.
For the most part, the formula works as Merrimack feature
good musicianship, strong songwriting, and a powerful
production on “Grey Rigorism”. The inclusion of a few spoken
word passages in French are effective, as well. However,
“Grey Rigorism” lacks a bit of the power that drips from
Marduk, Horde Of Hel, and Funeral Mist, cousins all of
Merrimack, and is a bit too clean for its own good.
Minor detractions aside, “Grey Rigorism” is a solid effort
and the album, combined with Merrimack’s inclusion on the
long awaited Marduk-headlined tour of the United States,
should dramatically raise Merrimack’s visibility.
Recommended.
www.myspace.com/merrimackofficial
| www.moribundcult.com |
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