Category Archives: Album Reviews

Mgła – Exercises In Futility

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“The great truth is there isn’t one” is not only the opening line to the first track from Mgła’s latest opus Exercises In Futility, but a nihilistic notion that is imbued within their soulless take on black metal. Emerging from the black metal underground with the sublime masterpiece With Hearts Toward None (both Northern Heritage) released in 2013, Mgła have fast become one of the most exciting bands in today’s extreme metal scene. Consequently, the follow up Exercises In Futility was one of the most highly anticipated releases in black metal this year, so no pressure then.

No superfluous song titles here, simply ‘Exercises in Futility I’ to ‘VI’ are the track titles, and that is all that is required as each song cohesively blends to the next, an album best appreciated in its entirety, rather than picking out individual tracks. Mgła execute an effective balance; despair and hopelessness outlines the bleak tone, yet the sweeping guitar rhythms are majestic and uplifting. The production upholds a frosty atmosphere, whilst remaining crisp and bold. Guitarist Mikołaj ‘M’ Żentara utilizes harsh dissonant riffs, alongside flowing melodies, a feature of their music that makes for such a compelling listen. The tempo changes add a sense of unpredictability, ‘Exercises in Futility VI’ begins with a haunting clean guitar section, followed by a barrage of fast paced black metal riff mastery while ‘Exercises in Futility III’ has a more sinister feel with jarring discords over an austere melody.

Despite the overwhelming misanthropy that is conveyed, Exercises in Futility isn’t as depressing as the lyrical content would suggest, the seamless flow and rousing melodies are emotive and enriching. It’s an album crafted with passion and dedication, which is overtly evident in their music. Mgła have honed a pioneering sound that is now getting the recognition it so very much deserves.

Whilst compiling that albums of the year list, leave space near the top for this one.

 

8.5/10

 

HEATHER BLEWETT


Anathema – A Sort Of Homecoming

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They say you should never judge a book by its cover, but sometimes the front can tell you exactly what to expect and emphasise something’s importance. The stunning scene from Liverpool’s Cathedral which adorns this particular cover perfectly encapsulates not only the grandeur of the cathedral itself, but the stunning atmosphere that any Anathema show has to offer.

A Sort Of Homecoming (Kscope) gives both a live video and audio version of Anathema’s Liverpool Cathedral show; part of a run of stripped down, mostly acoustic shows across similar venues around the UK and Europe, but a show in the band’s home town shows a great personal significance and familiarity to them. Some brief, jovial heckles here and there do not detract whatsoever and even highlights the warmth their music generates.

Much of the set on offer has been in heavy rotation in recent tours, and of course the latest album Distant Satellites (Kscope) gets a heavy airing, but even the regularity many will surely have heard these songs before does not lessen their effect or their presence whatsoever, and in actual fact the band do a lot to keep them sounding fresh.

‘The Lost Song Part 2’ opens the show to a fairly sombre note and curiously is done so without its corresponding parts, as Lee Douglas takes the first vocal duties of the night, and once again showing her improving confidence each and every show. Elsewhere, the poignant ‘Dreaming Light’ becomes a duet with Vincent Cavanagh sharing vocals with Lee, and ‘Internal Landscapes’ gets taken to its bare bones and sees Vincent and Danny singing together. An uncommon airing of ‘Electricity’ also helps to keep this set unique, alongside stunning performances of the likes of ‘Ariel’ and ‘A Natural Disaster’.

The video performance of this does well to showcase the gravitas of the surroundings and offers a clear, well shot document of the event throughout, all the while sounding crisp and note perfect, making this a live album that holds a candle to many of the greats. The largely familiar set list could have been a pitfall for those who have seen Anathema regularly in recent years, but the band’s unsurprisingly resonant and strong performance, plus the originality of the stripped down song versions and the magnificence of the venue itself, make this a very special release, and shows just why these guys are held so dearly in the hearts of many.

 

9.0/10

 

CHRIS TIPPELL

 


Stellar Master Elite – III: Eternalism – The Psychospherical Chapter

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Okay, what’s the deal with bands who name themselves after song titles? Being honest about your influences is one thing, of course, but naming yourself after an album- or song-title – especially when it’s from an acknowledged classic of your genre – seems like one step up from being a tribute band and only playing covers.

Stellar Master Elite, you won’t be surprised to learn, are rather fond of Thorns, and the music on III: Eternalism – The Psychospherical Chapter (Essential Purification) takes its main cues from their eponymous classic debut. Shimmering, riff-heavy Black(ish) Metal drenched in spacey synths and effect-laden vocals, it also borrows openly from 666 International (Moonfog) and Grand Declaration Of War (Season of Mist/Necropolis), firmly embracing that late-90’s vision of the future that’s starting to sound like an artefact of a specific place and time.  Not that this is pure nostalgia – they’ve also picked up a beefy modern sound that lends a weight and power that few of its predecessors had.

There’s a lot to like about Eternalism – some genuinely effective riffs, a good sense of atmosphere and a strong vocal performance in particular can validate time invested in it – but just as many things against it. It’s very late 90s approach to experimentalism sounds almost twee compared to (slightly) more recent BM deviants like Blut Aus Nord or DSO. The slow pace and reliance on spooky noises can sap some of the energy from the music and create moments of boredom. Most of all, though, they suffer in comparison to the band they’ve taken their name from – while their sound is superficially very similar to that of Thorns, they lack the feeling of sheer, unbridled creativity and otherness that made that album such a punch in the face at the time.

Competent, often engaging but, ultimately, too content to simply re-tread someone else’s former glories, Eternalism is an album that just doesn’t have enough of its own character to justify its existence in a world where “weird” and “experimental” are often more common than generic.

 

6.5/10

 

RICHIE HR


Skindred – Volume

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If you’re already a member of the Newport Helicopter Crew, you’ll probably know all of this, but if you’re new to Skindred, then let me take a minute to give you some background.

Back in the mid-90s, popular music genres were much broader than they are today. Music labels were still confident in their ultimate power over distribution and exposure, and alternative bands had to have their own unique sound to stand out and grab the attention of A&R reps. In a dark, grimy, beer-soaked corner between metal, indie, dance & pop lived a group of bands that resisted all attempts at pigeon holing. Every band was an eclectic mix of influences and all were as different from each other as they were from the mainstream.

Alongside the likes of Senser, Pop Will Eat Itself, Collapsed Lung, Jesus Jones, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin and Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine was a four-piece Welsh juggernaut called Dub War. Mixing metal, ragga and punk with dub and hip hop, the band put out two landmark albums via Earache Records before splitting up in 1999 due to disputes with the label, and from the ashes (well – Benji) of Dub War rose the mighty Skindred.

Featuring a more driven, heavier and ultimately far more successful sound, Skindred’s first album – Bablyon (Bieler Bros./Lava) – was a critical and (eventually) commercial success having featured on a myriad of charts (twice #1 on the Billboard reggae albums chart!) by its 3rd release. Whilst remaining similar in tone and content to Dub War, there was more subtle focus of guitar riffing in both the writing and the (clearly superior) production. The second album – Roots Rock Riot (Bieler Bros.) – signalled a move away from the old Dub War approach, establishing the distinct Skindred sound (which I shall call Skank Metal) in its own right and delivering the band squarely into the arms of the metal fraternity. From then through to 2011’s Union Black (BMG), fans have been treated to massive downtuned riffs, shoutalong breaks, roughneck vocals and sub bass drops as the band have motored through headline academy-level tours and 50k+ festival crowds. Last year’s Kill The Power (BMG) throttled back somewhat with a mellower and more varied sound.

Volume (Napalm) is Skindred’s sixth studio album, following hard on the heels of the last release (only one year between releases rather than the usual two or more), and seems in many ways to have come full circle. From the outset with ‘Under Attack’ there is a distinct and nostalgic return to the Dub War vibe. ‘Volume’ and ‘Hit The Ground’ are sublime fusions of old War and new ‘Dred. ‘Shut Ya Mouth’ is sure to be a moshpit favourite – it’s going to sound monstrous live – and ‘The Healing’ is a swaggering singalong with a euphoric chorus and some random sampling for an outro. ‘Sound the Siren’ has set-opener written all over it, ‘Saying It Now’ returns squarely to Dub War ‘Million Dollar Love’ territory, whilst ‘Straight Jacket’ is possibly the perfect song to show the uninitiated what Skindred is all about, ‘No Justice’ is a punky skankathon, ‘Stand Up’s Slash-esque rolling riff displays some classic rock chops and the show is closed with the near-ballad of ‘Three Words’.

In an age of bands that sometime seem shameless in their adherence to the confines of their parent (sub)genres, Skindred are an inspiration. There’s still no-one sounding remotely like them. Long may they continue.

 

8.0/10

 

PHILIP PAGE


Whitechapel – The Brotherhood Of The Blade

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Whitechapel are a perfect modern example of the varying levels of success that one can achieve on different sides of the Atlantic. Debuting at the time when deathcore was either the next big thing or a blight, depending on who you asked, This Is Exile (Metal Blade) garnered some success in the UK and Europe, before their upward curve seemed to plateau. In the USA, however, they have a higher profile, raising themselves above cult status, with a fanatic fan base they affectionately call their “brotherhood”, from which The Brotherhood Of The Blade (Metal Blade) adopts its name.

The live performance of this package (a documentary is also available) comes from their Knoxville, Tennessee performance on the Our Endless War (Metal Blade) tour and sees them on very sold and fine fettle. Greeted with “Whitechapel” chants at the start, which shows the swell of anticipation, before the latest albums introducing brace of ‘Rise’ into ‘Our Endless War; erupts. All throughout, the performance is near studio perfect – and the band do not miss a beat or note despite technical flurries and breakdowns, whilst frontman Phil Bozeman sounds as furious as on record, showing a varied, if all too familiar range, of growls and barks.

While this live recording shows Whitechapel as a precise, strong and reliable live band, it also lacks any real magic, falling short of the truly great live albums we all know and love, and with the performance being studio quality, it’s hard to see how anyone beyond hardcore fans will find much of value that they won’t get from the studio albums.

What is abundantly clear, however, is how underrated this band is on the British side of the pond. With songs like ‘Possession’ and ‘Mono’ proving huge, ferocious but still accessible and memorable, it is clear that fans of the likes of Heart Of A Coward and even Parkway Drive would find much to love here. As Brotherhood… shows, Whitechapel are a vastly underrated and very reliable act with plenty in their arsenal to back them up. As a package however this will only prove truly valuable to those already in said cult of the blade.

 

6.0/10

 

CHRIS TIPPELL

 


Def Leppard – Def Leppard

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Unmistakeable. Distinctive from the very outset, Def Leppard’s eponymous new release (earMUSIC) starts off with Joe Elliott’s unambiguous voice asking “Do you really want to do this now?” over a quiet build before a slick guitar lick leads us into some stabbed power chords and album eleven is up and running in their own inimitable style.

Let’s get the obvious bits and bobs out the way first… No, it’s not as classic as Pyromania or Hysteria (Vertigo/Mercury) – it was never, ever going to be; that’s like expecting Metallica to hit the stardust and repeat Master of Puppets (Electra/Vertigo) – but, no, it’s not as saccharine as Adrenalize (Mercury/Bludgeon Riffola), and no, it’s certainly not boring, staid or irrelevant. In fact, it’s interesting how the electricity and energy courses through, with ‘Energized’ lyrically appropriate about how the band seem to have taken a shot in the arm.

Freed from the confines of pressures imposed by others, and without the pressure of writing to appease a label, the Leps got together to jam songs for an EP and ended with their walls down, letting the tide of creativity flow around them, and a whole album in their laps, with songs ‘We Belong’, ‘Let’s Go’ and in particular the excellent ‘Dangerous’ pure top grade Leppard. On top of the traditional Leppard fare that litters the album, ‘Sea of Love’ brings some playful blues, ‘Man Enough’ grooves in with a huge finger-clicking, neck-bobbing funking bass guurrrroove, ‘All Time High’ runs with the Boss and ‘Battle of my Own’ borrows from acoustic Zeppelin .

Relevance has become a redundant concept for bands and that Def Leppard are still going strong a full 35 years after their inception is testament to the fact that, even during creative lulls there is sufficient quality in the band to keep hundreds of thousands of fans engaged and along for the ride; this is a band that give lessons in every song in how to write hooks and, in their sleep, knock out better choruses than most other bands can dream of.

Yes, to a large extent, you know what you’re going to get, but in this case that’s not a bad thing. There will be detractors, and the album does, in true Leps style, tail off a bit towards the end before ‘Blind Faith’ closes things off with class and nods to The Beatles.  But, hey facts, kids… Def Leppard is an hour of quality classic hard rock tunes, and the fact that you’re listening to the best Def Leppard album since their heyday nigh on thirty years ago, is more than enough.

 

8.0/10

 

STEVE TOVEY


Abigail Williams – The Accuser

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Bands changing direction is nothing new in Metal. The switch Pantera made from hairspray and spandex to shaven-headed Punch-You-In-The-Face Metal is well documented; in just two albums, Ministry made the jump from ’80s New Romantic electro-pop to Industrial noise, and after only one album, Darkthrone laid their Death Metal riffs to rest and slapped on the angry badger make-up instead.

While certain acts get to make their transitions a relatively damage-free experience, others aren’t quite so lucky, having to suffer accusations of bandwagon jumping and selling out, usually for years longer than necessary. Celtic Frost were met with ridicule when they stopped writing dark fantasy lyrics about emperors returning and wicked things procreating and turned to singing about cherry orchards and sleazy dancing instead (okay, they might actually have deserved it – bad example). Opinion on Opeth has been split due to their ongoing transition into a 1970s Prog band, Machine Head still bear the scars of their Nu-Metal years, and everyone and their dog has an opinion on how Metallica went from ‘Metal Militia’ to ‘Mama Said’.

Originally hailing from the grim and frostbitten plains of Phoenix, Arizona, Abigail Williams still find themselves trying to shed the stigma attached to the Metalcore leanings of debut Legend (Candlelight), an EP recorded nearly ten years ago. After its release, founding member Ken “Sorceron” Bergeron edged the band towards a more atmospheric style of Black Metal rather than continuing down the previous route. This, plus several major line-up changes didn’t go down too well in some quarters, and a reputation for bandwagon jumping has followed them around since.

Any possible question of whether this kind of silliness bothers the band (now based in Olympia, Washington), or if it even registers on their radar whatsoever is answered on new album The Accuser (Candlelight) with savage immediacy as opener ‘Path of Broken Glass’ begins with a dissonant melee of icy blastbeats, feedback and frantic guitars.

Nope. As entirely expected, they couldn’t care less.

Possibly one of their best songs to date, ‘The Cold Lines’ follows next, crawling into the shadowy corners of the room and lurking there with an almost 1970s feel at its black heart. ‘Of The Outer Darkness’ begins with more feedback, quickly launching into a wall of blastbeats, rasping vocals and slashing guitars, slowing down for a while before building up to a frenetic conclusion. The melancholic ‘Will, Wish and Desire’ follows with some nice lead work, while ‘Godhead’ begins powerfully but runs out of steam a little towards the end. ‘Forever Kingdom of Dirt’ does the opposite by starting fairly ordinarily but ending strongly, and ‘Lost Communion’ may be fairly straightforward but it’s also one of the album’s strongest moments with its savage opening and monstrously catchy middle section. Things take a slightly experimental turn with the darkly gothic closer ‘Nuummite” which sounds like somebody kept The Sisters of Mercy in a steel cage for a week, feeding them nothing but raw meat and bitterness.

Although The Accuser isn’t perfect – the slower sections hold the interest more than the occasionally one dimensional faster material, and there are a few moments when you have to remind yourself you’re not actually listening to Emperor – it does hang together neatly, and with more than enough twists and turns to keep you interested. Forget the naysayers. Abigail Williams could very well have delivered the best album of their career to date.

 

8.0/10

 

GARY ALCOCK


Kristian Harting – Summer of Crush

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Much as with Eddie Vedder’s ukulele musings, there’s often debate as to whether the somewhat-less-than-Heavy products of Rock stars deserve attention from the scene purely because of their purveyors’ status. Step forth Dane Kristian Harting, whose early Thrash / Noise tendencies are sacrificed in favour of a spiky, summery Americana.

There are moments of true beauty within Summer of Crush (Exile on Mainstream): the harmonies of opener ‘Traveller’ and ‘White Spirits’ touching the heart alongside Harting’s honeyed airs, the latter tracks squalling lead guitar adding a post-style crush to an acoustic riff which evokes those late ‘Hippy’ highs such as CSNY. ‘Temporary Rooms’ and ‘How High’ have a Country Pop twang, the vocal adding some real sunshine to worlds normally coated in a hellish darkness.

The insouciant chanting of the brief ‘I Am You 2’, fired by a pedal-affected riff which resonates through the instrumental ‘Spirits Revisited’, adds experimentation and atmosphere to a largely stripped-down sound. ‘Ship Of Fools’, meanwhile, sees those of us of a ‘bongo’ bent patted into ecstasy alongside a harsher yet still melodic vocal and more atmospheric organ, increasing to a euphoric crescendo in not dissimilar fashion to early 90s Rock adventurers Largo.

More hostile squealing punctures the fragile, sparing lilt of ‘Digging Up Graves’ and it’s here that one fully realises the level of creativity and skill on display. It would be easy for these brief flurries of Harting’s roots to stick out like sore thumbs and make a track ‘clunky’ by merely not belonging. Here, they have an organic meld like instant displays of emotion: the fizz of lead squalls in the hypnotic, dreamy ‘South North Passage’ epitomising the rude disturbance of a deep meditation, telling its story wonderfully.

The main feature is of course that light melody, reminiscent of late Beatles or Oasis in the penultimate ’Soul Sister’: an edgy, electro-brushed ballad which could be the final straw for some yet, for those of us who are capable of appreciating the softer things in life, the gathering of the most heavenly aspects of an album both delightfully enticing, and just barely Rock.   

 

7.5/10.0

 

PAUL QUINN


Gama Bomb – Untouchable Glory

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By 1990, the Thrash scene was dying on its feet. The cracks had been apparent since the previous year, but by ’90, a large number of bands were beginning to call it a day, leaving only the biggest and most adaptable to survive in a depressingly thinning field. While some faded away, losing fans by continually retreading old ground, others tried to incorporate more diverse elements such as Jazz and Funk, hoping to save themselves by appealing to a slightly different audience. Unfortunately, with the Grunge and Alternative scenes banging down the door it was clear the game was up. So around 1992, and barring a few notable exceptions (there are always exceptions), Thrash was essentially coaxed into its little wicker basket for a final, one way trip to the vets where, due to an unfortunate clerical error, it would eventually end up being buried in the same plot as the Glam Metal scene at a nearby Pet Sematary.

Music trends tend to come in cycles though, and in good old-fashioned zombie movie tradition, sometime around 2004 the decomposed corpse of Thrash was exhumed and re-animated. The Destruction t-shirts and bullet belts came back, but things weren’t the same. Even at its height, the UK’s contribution to the global Thrash scene barely amounted to a fistful of select names, but during this recent revival, quite tellingly, there have been even fewer of any real note. In fact, only two names have stood out. One begins with an E, and the other is Gama Bomb.

Formed in 2002 and following three strict self-imposed rules (no clean guitars, no ballads and no synths), Gama Bomb delivered their first album in 2005, the independently released Survival of the Fastest to positive reviews. Citizen Brain, Tales From the Grave in Space (both Earache) and The Terror Tapes (AFM) followed, while the band established themselves as a consistently entertaining live act.

New album Untouchable Glory (AFM) follows the fast and thrashy Gama Bomb blueprint to the letter. Every song has fast riffs, fast drums, fast vocals, and every song sounds like it’s racing you to the end. Unfortunately, every song also seems to just blend into the next one. There aren’t actually any bad songs on Untouchable Glory, but there just aren’t any great ones either. Opener ‘Ninja Untouchables/Untouchable Glory’ and the wonderfully ’80s sounding ‘Ride The Night’ are the best of the bunch as they actually contain something memorable – some brilliant Kung Fu backing vocals on the former and a top class chorus on the latter. ‘Witching Mania’ is another quality track, but overall there’s nothing that will immediately stick in the memory. Dedicated fans will undoubtedly familiarise themselves with the lyrics and be able to recite them perfectly by the time the band play them live, but there’s nothing on Untouchable Glory to come close to the instant catchiness of ‘OCP’, ‘Hammer Slammer’, ‘In the Court of General Zod’ or ‘Bullet Belt’.

 

5.0/10

 

GARY ALCOCK


Escape The Fate – Hate Me

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Hitting their tenth anniversary, and releasing their fifth album, post-hardcore success story Escape The Fate are in the position of having to prove themselves all over again. Hate Me (Eleven Seven) saunters in on the back of a mixed response to the bands’ last two releases, the experimental Escape The Fate (Interscope) and 2013’s step in the right direction Ungrateful (Eleven Seven) whilst seeing the band integrate new guitarist “Thrasher” Gruft, TJ Bell move from four to six strings and having to respond to Max Green’s destabilizing return and subsequent second departure.

Yet fans need have no worries, for the shifting sands have left the band on stronger foundations, and as the grains slip away, it is on a sure footing of modern heavy rock they stand. Kicking off with a metalcore-spiced rager, it isn’t long before the growing Linkin Park influence in their sound shines through, with euphoric synths and electronics embellishing more mature, uplifting tracks like ‘Live For Today’ and ‘Alive’.

Not ones to want to dish up a string of repetitive cut and paste numbers, Escape The Fate show they can turn their hand to more emotional, sincere moments, that they can slam and djent, and (despite being a little too close to stealing the guitar shuffle from ‘Beautiful People’) in ‘I Won’t Break’ they can craft an anthem that belongs over a montage of chair shots and stare-downs, building up a WWE pay-per-view.

It’s an nebulous thing to try to define what “better songwriting” is, but Escape The Fate have found the key to it – producing a diverse yet distinctive selection of tunes that do what they set out to do; ‘Breaking Me Down’ tugs the heartstrings and screams radio play, ‘Just A Memory’ inspires fists and voices to raise in union, ‘Les Enfants Terribles’ is dark, twisted, heavy and grooved up and ‘Get Up, Get Out’, with its Sound Of Madness (Atlantic) swagger, is a straight up banger.

It’s no easy thing to have lost several song writers along the way and still come out the other side victorious. Craig Mabbitt’s strongest recorded performance to date helps, the hand of Chester Bennington around his vocal chords wringing out the right hooks and darkened melodies, but it is the contribution of the whole that is the key in maintaining energy, heaviness, and stronger output. Hate Me is the sound of a band pulling out the stops to create not just a return to form, but a refined new standard for them to live up to going into their second decade.

And they’re not even in their 30’s yet…

 

8.0/10

 

STEVE TOVEY