Category Archives: Album Reviews

Lancer – Second Storm

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The artwork for Second Storm (Despotz) is so metal that it really raises expectations of balls-to-the-wall metal, and Lancer deliver. This Swedish Power Metal band takes inspiration from bands like Iron Maiden, Hammerfall, and Helloween, and this is apparent from the very first notes of ‘Running From The Tyrant’ onwards. Despite their classic substance, they have a pretty modern sound, with a number of breaks that are straight up hard rock. The solos may not be the most innovative ever, but they are solid, and similarly most of the melodies are not hugely original, but are certainly very catchy.

Isak Stenvall sings much of the album in the classic high and reedy power metal voice. He also uses his lower range, but this does not always pay off. It mostly works well when the rest of the music is softer, as in the excellent build-up in ‘Running From The Tyrant’. However, the vocals are a little uncontrolled at time, and this type of voice in particular sticks out when it is not 100% perfect.

One of the highlights of this album is the chorus of ‘Iwo Jima’, which is not only catchy, but has a very symphonic sound to it and especially good rhythmic drumming by Sebastian Pedernera. Another is the power provided by guitarists Fredrik Kelemen and Per-Owe Solvelius in ‘Steelbreaker’. Similarly pleasing is Emil Öberg’s excellent bass solo in ‘Fools Marches On’. ‘Eyes of the Liar’ is just quality sing-along metal.

My favourite song off this album is ‘Aton’. This nearly-10-minute song is slower than the others on this album, but incredibly good! It has a little less Power Metal in style, and a little more Classic Metal. I love the way the vocals have a higher pace than the music, because it makes the lines very energetic and catchy. Stenvall also shows that he really can pull off clarity in those lower ranges, holding his own even in the soft. There’s even a very bluesy solo, and I only wish the rest of the band had powered though in the second part of that solo.

All in all, Second Storm is a very solid Power Metal album that makes up for what it lacks in originality with enthusiasm and melodies that has the listener bouncing up and down in their seat.

 

7.0/10

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LORRAINE LYSEN


Torver/Arcane North- From Moonrise To Moonset (split)

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The influence of nature and earth on black metal has become somewhat more of a recurrent theme in recent times. Some of black metal’s current champions such as Drudkh, Wodensthrone and Winterfylleth have embraced inspiration from such landscapes, in some degrees from their own locales rather than necessarily the stereotypical Satanic lyrical content of the genre’s forebears; also offering a more atmospheric approach. On this split, From Moonrise To Moonset (Blackwood), we see the contributions from two upcoming UK bands of such an ilk, with some variation in style and result.

The first half sees contributions from Torver, beginning with an ominous, gradually building introduction track, complete with wolf howling and strings, setting the tone and expectations quite high. The following tracks ‘Naked Moonrise’ and ‘Lunar Ritual’ are both bold examples of forward thinking Black Metal, alternating in pace between a slow crawl to more uptempo, and combining typical shrills with an eerie chant like drawl. A lot of positives to take but sadly it becomes unstuck by a thin production which buries the vocals far into the mix and kills some of its atmospheric air.

In the production stakes Arcane North’s half fairs a whole lot better and thus has a much more encapsulating tone to it. Vocally this is on much more familiar territory but elsewhere it still holds an ambitious streak, but is simultaneously familiar for the less au fait with the genre. As a result it is much more immediate and is certainly the more recommended part.

Neither band gives a complete or perfect offering, but both bands show a lot of potential, if not very much to differentiate in an arena that is starting to get a lot more crowded.

 

6.0/10

Torver on Facebook

Arcane North on Facebook

Blackwood Productions on Facebook

 

CHRIS TIPPELL

 

 


Violent Reaction – Marching On

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In our game you get sent an abundance of music, all of which come with tags and genres attached to them. With that said you’ll often begin listening to an album with a pre-conception already in place as to what you think it will sound like. One of the genres thrown around far too much is ‘Punk’. What is Punk? How do you define punk? Well, it is certainly a word which triggers immediate awareness of what an album should sound like, and to an absolute tee, the unit from Mersyside Violent Reaction have nailed the ‘Punk’ vibe, something so many other bands fail to do when tagged under the same bracket. Part of why they’ve nailed this idea so much is the fact that, attitude wise, they really couldn’t give a fuck, it’s in your face and aggressive and they don’t care.

They’ve got quite an old school Hardcore Punk edge to them – almost like early Madball, but mashed with The Ramones. Each of the tracks just flash by in such a whirlwind of chaos it almost forces repeat listens – it clocks in at only just over fifteen minutes, yet it is fourteen tracks long. The opening couple of tracks, ‘M1 Stomp’, ‘Leave Me Out’ and ‘No Pride’ will leave you breathless, but from there it is all pretty much the same thing.

Honestly on first listen you wouldn’t even notice if someone played those three tracks on a loop. It does all have quite a standard feel to it, they’ve not reinvented the wheel or anything like that but again this doesn’t fault the band’s attitude and approach.  If you’re after no frills snarling in your ears as a bit of an escape then you can’t really go wrong with Marching On (Revelation), it’s worth checking out.

 

7.0/10

Violent Reaction on Facebook

 

TOM DONNO


Vod – Tuurngait

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Tuurngait (Independent/self-released) is the second album from Quebecois one-man project Dave Tremblay, otherwise known as Vod. I tried to locate the font or alphabet the album’s titles are primarily given in; really I did. But I have a life, my wife and daughters were beginning to forget me, so enough: you’re getting the inuit-looking subtitles instead.

It’s a slow beginning but a crushing one, the brewing portent of opener ‘Inutuuvuq’ exploding into a sludgy morass of noise. The delightfully nasty atmosphere is graced by curious and inventive jazz structures especially in the soft, trumpet-led interludes of ‘Unnusarataaq’ and ‘Aqhaq’, displaying a creative freedom which initially proves compelling and magnetic, if a little difficult. ‘Itji’ shows a leaning toward the more progressive Post aggression of Isis and Cult of Luna with subtle, gradually swelling interludes, those freeform undercurrents not quite reaching Mathcore complexity but twisting the sound through a number of polyrhythmic stages.

The album really gains identity when the pulverising rhythms and swirling, plunking basslines kick into the riff and Tremblay’s terrible roar. The soft noodlings of ‘Ikuma’ are surrounded by barely controlled, brutal intensity, perfectly characterising the capricious moods of the sound; some phenomenal stickwork morphing grotesque atmospherics, robotic sampling and eerie tones into a somehow cohesive whole.

Unfortunately, Tremblay’s undoubted talent appears to grow too self-indulgent for his own good. The gradual influence of strings and a developing harder edge isn’t enough to detract from the fact that this evolves into an experience only fully enjoyed by the real muso. This apparent need to display technical ability starts to supersede song structure and by the closing, oscillating horror of ‘Unnuak’ it’s begun to grate rather seriously.  It’s staggering stuff of course, the quality cannot be denied, and there remain shows of power from the drums at least, but the rambling complexities wash away much of the interest long before the lazy horns of the closing ‘Anirniit’. Dampening that early promise, Tuurngait proves to be just too much hard work.

 

5.5/10

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PAUL QUINN

 

 


Royal Thunder – Crooked Doors

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When Royal Thunder appeared on the scene a few years ago, there was much hype and early praise for the band. It was a well deserved frenzy of high-profile tours and fests that made them a “buzz band”. You had to stand back and marvel at their music; unafraid to take tried and true elements of rock, blues, and proto-metal and not fall to into the cliches so many others do. Then an interesting thing happened on the way to album number two: coping with being band growing up under a microscope, and the implosion of a relationship within the band. Rather than crumble apart or mail it in for Crooked Doors (Relapse), you have the emotional maelstrom of a finished masterpiece.

Don’t be fooled by the beautifully picked guitars and dolefulness of ‘Time Machine’, the lead track of the album. What ‘Time Machine’ has done by starting with the direct rock approach and almost four-on-the-floor beat  is a clever device to lull you in. After the verse, chorus, verse of the first few minutes you are left with transformative middle passage not unlike classic Pink Floyd that doesn’t prepare you for the anguish to come. It’s not about feeling sorry for oneself either. The remainder of the song is a triumph of pained, passionate vocals and wah-soaked guitar leads.

 

The supremely heavy ‘Forget You’ is more in the style you are accustomed to if you have followed the band from the beginning. Vocalist Mlny Parsonz shows off her range and advanced harmony vocals. She can deliver a bruised, bluesy line with the best of them, including the final refrain of “you better run for your life”. The bands has really learned how to build drama musically to unbearable levels. Guitarists Josh Weaver and Will Fiore weave parts in and out of each other, adding layers upon layers of motifs, adding to the tracks without ever sacrificing the heaviness. ‘Wake Up’ is another track steeped in dynamics and killer performances. Drummer Evan DiPrima is a silent assassin behind the kit. He never over-plays, but has equal moments of bombast and grace. Musically the DNA of this album is similar to the leap in maturity seen by a Mastodon, Baroness or Kylesa over the years, with the members of Royal Thunder knowing just how to transmute their songcraft into something new without ever feeling forced.

There are no throw away songs on this album, and every track rewards with repeated listens. From the dusky vocal lines and neat rhythms on ‘Forgive Me, Karma’, the rough cadences of ‘The Line’, to the classic “Desert Rock” charm of ‘Glow’; each song is an exploration to an inner-space of the bands’ resolute psyche. ‘Ear On The Fool’ is Crooked Doors‘ pièce de résistance. Almost tear rendering, anyone who has ever lost the “love of their life” and lived to tell about it, this track has your name all over it. The track also has the late era-Zeppelin vibe mixed with some of the better guitar interplay of a band like The Eagles down pat.

Closing out the album with the ‘The Bear I’ and ‘The Bear II’, they are less like the prog epic you might have imagined, and more like a funerary march, melting into a torch song. Crooked Doors is the sound of pressure cooking sand into glass and then into diamonds, all with with an alchemy fulled by magic and loss.

9.0/10

KEITH CHACHKES


Pombagira – Flesh Throne Press

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London-based stoner/doom duo Pombagira are a productive pairing. New album Flesh Throne Press [Svart] is their sixth album in just eight years, but have managed to create a two-disc, 90 minute engrossing monster. Themes covered range from “the dead and the necromantic discourse for conversing with ancestors,” while the title itself apparently “refers to the visceral experience of the grave dirt which presses in on the flesh,” which fits the mood of the record well.

The vocals from Peter Hamilton-Giles (Vocals, guitar) swing from haunting melancholic wail to almost Gregorian chant, his riffs swamped in layers of reverb and distortion until it’s a fuzzy drone. Carolyn Hamilton-Giles drums provide an equally languid backing track, but it’s a great pairing.

It’s densely heavy in the kind of Electric Wizard way yet provides of light and shade. The album shifts between quiet introspection and thick fuzzed-up walls of noise; 10 minute epics are interspersed with more serene and stripped back instrumental interludes to break up the journey and provide respite. There’s tinges of early Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd-esque psychadelica and even early prog rock thrown in to the mix.

It’s hard to nail down exactly what Pombagari’s sound like. There’s occasional psychadelica, drone, maybe even some shoe-gaze type territory. But whatever sub-genre you like, there’s plenty to enjoy about Flesh Throne Press (Svart) is spaced out, down tempo and very easy to immerse yourself in. Bottom line: It’s heavy, chilled and atmospheric. As long as you can cope with the 90 minute runtime, Flesh Throne Press is a great album for relaxing to and getting lost in.

 

7.5/10

Pombagira on Bandcamp

 

DAN SWINHOE


Katatonia – Sanctitude

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Initially pulled together as a tour to promote Dethroned & Uncrowned (KScope), which reworked the bands 2012 album Dead End Kings (Peaceville), the Katatonia acoustic tour of 2014 took on more significance with the decisions to expand the set to a full career-retrospective, booked in cathedrals, churches and chapels, and documented via Sanctitude (KScope), a live DVD (plus audio CD version) filmed at London’s Union Chapel.

With the reverent gothic backdrop of the inside of the chapel, and accompanied on the stage only by candle light and music stands, it is not only in the re-arrangements of the music that this is a different Katatonia, with vocalist Jonas Renske and guitarist Anders “Blakkheim” Nystrom the only remaining members from the band’s “classic” line ups. Even the group for Dead End Kings has been torn apart, with Per Eriksson replaced by Bruce Soord (The Pineapple Thief) and Daniel Moilanen filling in on percussion, for the tour.

Unsurprisingly, the focus of the film is Renske and his world-weary croons and Nystrom’s and his reworked guitar lines. The addition of Soord is beneficial, as his supporting strums, softened backing vocals and supplementary keyboard work swell and embellish the Swedes delicate framing of a selection of their back catalogue.

With the bonus features of the DVD extending to an overlong and, sadly, boring interview only (which is a shame, as Nystrom in particular has a passion for the band that glimpses out of some of his answers that is untapped by the lack of interaction with a presenter), the focus of Sanctitude is the live performance. Unobtrusively filmed so as to feel as though the watcher was front row of the show, the band are sat throughout with Renske displaying dry self-deprecating wit during his low key exchanges with the audience.

While the minimal staging and direction match the stripped down songs, there is a nagging feeling that a shorter set would have made a more striking impact as several of the songs, shorn of their apparel and original guitar lines, sound too similar and at 80 minutes, attention does wander, particularly early on, and it is interesting that the set draws you in as it unfurls rather than impressing from the outset. Indeed, the opening five songs pass by pleasantly and prettily enough, nice renditions that blur together, until ‘One Year From Now’, the first real standout moment, is unveiled, showing just how well an acoustic Katatonia track can be done.

Other notable moments include ‘Sleeper’ and a dark, melancholic ‘Undo You’, while ‘Lethean’ spreads out into an introspective chorus as Renske’s Maynard-esque harmonies lilt and drift with the song. ‘Omerta’ carries a folky edge and ‘The One You Are Looking For’, complete with guest performance from Silje Wergeland (The Gathering), is an understated and sparse ending to the performance. However, the true show-stopping moment is a bare version of the rarely visited ‘Day’ from Brave Murder Day (Avantgarde), the track that first showcased the real template for the Katatonia sound.

Where Renske and Nystrom take the band next will be interesting to see, but one can’t help feeling Katatonia are better with some oomph to their songs. Not one for the casual observer, this is a release for the dedicated as Sanctitude draws a beautiful, if not fully encapsulating, end to another chapter of the bands career.

 

7.5/10

Katatonia on Facebook

 

STEVE TOVEY

 


Killer Refrigerator – The Fridge and the Power It Holds

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Ladies and Gentlemen, we are, apparently, at war. Not the sort of war that has been on your television news broadcasts, but with technology and appliances the world over. So say the slightly crazed minds of the creators behind Killer Refrigerator. The Fridge And The Power It Holds (Independent/self-released) is KR’s second album of scatalogical humour set to an old school death and thrash metal soundtrack that is every bit as bonkers as you might have already begun to suspect.

Kicking off with ‘Terrorvision’, I had a mental image of black drainpipe jeans, white high tops and old Stormtroopers of Death t-shirts as the band dive headlong into an absurd, whirligig of frenetic thrash metal and punky vocals . We move into more mid-tempo classic thrash territory of ‘Slaystation’ which is eerily like early period Nuclear Assault and no bad thing in my mind. ‘Shower Thrashing Death’ is two minutes of aural stupidity but I mean that warmly. Let’s be fair, any band that calls a song ‘Shower Thrashing Death’ and has a lyric that proclaims the coming of the “toilet gods” and how we will all “bow down to the toiletries!” is not exactly taking itself too seriously. And neither should we.

There’s an echo of Kerry King running through ‘Slave to the Easy Bake’ and a bassline that Dan Lilker would have been proud to call his own. On the title track, it’s totally apparent that this band have a complete love of thrash and death metal that despite the obviously stupid nature of all of this, it’s done with a large degree of love and affection.

In much the same way that Evil Scarecrow have appropriated and twisted the black metal genre then so Killer Refrigerator have taken old school thrash, horror tropes and high school humour and created a small part of the musical universe that is uniquely theirs. It’s unequivocally lightweight and a bit samey in parts: there is only one joke here and whilst it’s amusing enough, you can’t possibly keep on telling it without it wearing a little bit thin. There’s a level of inevitability about that but whilst it’s here, the band are smart enough not to outstay their welcome.

Fresh, stupid, silliness.

 

6.0/10

Killer Refrigerator on Facebook

 

MAT DAVIES


Palm Reader – Beside The Ones We Love

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Palm Reader are one of those bands who have been steadily bubbling under the surface in recent years. Their live shows have consistently impressed, and often outshine anything they’ve put down on record. Now whilst this is the common view with Palm Reader, wait until you hear Beside The Ones We Love (In At The Deep End). It may be considered a bit of a dark horse, but this is almost certainly looking like one of the albums of the year. Similar to the Architects release last year, this truly could be the album to explode them above surface and into the consciousness of a far larger audience.

Fundamentally the band are often tagged under the ‘Hardcore’ scene, but as soon as you throw this record on and ‘I Watched The Fire Chase My Tongue’ explodes into an absolute onslaught of noise you’ll immediately begin to draw comparisons to the Mathcore style of The Dillinger Escape Plan. That is because Palm Reader haven’t just produced stuff similar to what they’ve done before, they’ve taken their sound, expanded on it and struck absolute gold.

It doesn’t really let up either as ‘Pedant’ and ‘By The Ground We’ve Defined’ keep it rolling and pummelling into your face. Creatively on this record, Palm Reader have gone completely beyond what they’ve done in the past. You’ll listen back to this album a lot, not only because it is absolutely brilliant, but because with each listen you’ll still be surprised by each little twist and all the nuances, it constantly changes path down a road you don’t expect. Again this will easily ignite comparisons to the great Dillinger Escape Plan, but this album is that good, it truly is of that level. Because even despite all the frenzied powerful riffs throwing you all over the place there are still really anthemic chest pumping moments, most notably on ‘Sing Out, Survivor’.

When a band begins to build hype, and you’re not absolutely convinced on what they’re able to do to live up to it, there is no better feeling than hearing said band release a record which grabs that hype and throws a grenade in its mouth. Palm Reader’s stock will rise with the release of Beside The Ones We Love and it is absolutely what they deserve.

A phenomenal record from an extremely talented band.

 

9.0/10

Palm Reader on Facebook

 

TOM DONNO


Apophys – Prime Incursion

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For those who get their kicks from death metal bands with sci-fi lyrical concepts rather than tried and tested blood n’ guts themes, the debut record from Dutch stargazers Apophys will be more welcome than cast iron evidence of Area 51’s nefarious deeds. Featuring current members of God Dethroned and Detonation in their ranks, the quintet have recorded one seriously heavy record in Prime Incursion (Metal Blade) and have set the bar very high for fellow competitors who believe in scheming reptilians rather than bloodthirsty demons.

The band deliver a systematic battering over the course of nine tracks that hit harder than a sledgehammer, yet still find the time for the odd bit of noodling or a breakdown in speed to collect themselves before the onslaught begins again. Aided by a seemingly inhuman drummer who wields his double-bass pedals like pneumatic drills, the atmosphere remains tense and punishing throughout. This is best demonstrated by the sinister film quote and monstrous groove that begin ‘The Antidote’ while opening track ‘Dimensional Odyssey’ is a no-holds-barred bludgeon that brings to mind vintage Decapitated. Elsewhere, the eerie melodies of ‘Ego’ conjure images of an abandoned spacecraft drifting into the void, the slaughtered crew a testament to the madness which occurred there.

Clocking in at a mere thirty-nine minutes and thankfully avoiding pointless interludes that plague fellow bands with progressive ambitions, Prime Incursion gets the job done in uncompromising style and shows a band with an equal level of talent and prospects. The riffs are devastating, the vocals guttural, and the rhythm section is out of this world. Fans of the likes of Abiotic and Slugdge would do well to check this out when they get a break from listening to the police scanner.

 

7.5/10

Apophys on Facebook

 

JAMES CONWAY