Category Archives: Album Reviews

Monuments – The Amanuensis

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Alongside the likes of Textures and TesseracT, Monuments were one of the driving forces of djent during the movements’ initial explosion, back when it little more than an online community. In the following years, djent became huge news with bands such as TesseracT, Uneven Structure and Chimp Spanner taking the world by storm whilst Monuments were yet to release their debut album. Finally in 2012 Gnosis saw the light of day (with guest work from Chimp Spanner’s Paul Ortiz) with the band having a lot of ground and momentum to recover, but a set of songs that rightfully put them in the top crop of such acts.

 

Two years on and the band have a new album in The Amanuensis (Century Media), a new vocalist in ex-Periphery vocalist Chris Barreto, and, as a result, somewhat of an evolution to their palette. Chris’ vocals vastly improve on Matt Rose’s, with a range, diversity and bravery akin to Mike Patton. The typical transition between soaring singing and growls are present and done to a top level while elsewhere there are hints at his experimentation. ‘Saga City’ for example begins with a near gospel like soulful vocal passage before the song erupts.

 

The rest of the band seems rejuvenated by the new presence at front. As brilliant as Gnosis was, it did prove fairly straightforward with a more limited vocalist (well, as straightforward as a prog metal band can be), but here they are beginning to feel unshackled. Musically there is no huge departure from before, songs still have that recognisable tone and are founded on massive melodic passages and chugging riffs, but a wealth of ideas is beginning to creep through. Final track ‘Samsara’ brings the whole album concept full circle with a lyrical repetition of opener ‘I, The Creator’, a chanted incantation over a moody folky back drop.

 

The Amanuensis offers some of the bands most memorable and best songs such as ‘I, The Creator’ and ‘Garden Of Sankhara’ and the only niggle here is the thought of how much further they could take their sound now they have a vocalist with a huge dynamic and near seamless delivery. The Amanuensis is a bar-setter for djent, and still it only hints at the possibilities of what these guys can offer.

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9.0/10.0

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CHRIS TIPPELL

 

 


Incantation – Dirges of Elysium

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Long-time Pennsylvanian Metallians, Incantation, are back with their 10th full-length studio album Dirges of Elysium (Listenable Records). Though the Death Metal mood remains the same, this time around, they’ve taken to exploring the concepts of the Elysian Fields. A realm for the afterlife as originally described by Greek religious sects and cults, that held reservation for only those in relation to the gods. A place untouched by sorrow and shielded from storm. In their blasphemy, it seems, no human is fit for this luxury. The hierarchical ranks, set to determine what we deserve and the upbringing of faith through which some of us are indoctrinated has set the stage for an indignant rebellion. To tear down the walls of this incestuous Eden and expose it, void of self-righteous desires. Released on Listenable Records in June, as with their last 3 full-length albums, Incantation seems to have developed a good working relationship with these guys.

Despite family medical issues in the background, guitarist/vocalist John McEntee has managed to stay focused and on top of his game as the only original Incantation member, releasing his insanely catchy riffs and gutted, raspy vocals on ‘Dirges of Elysium’. Starting off the album with their title track, a spiral of ambient guitar work erupts from a sludge of deathly riffs. This instrumental track echoes with a ton of reverb and feedback from their cabs; rich and sizzling with anger.

Albums highlights were ‘From a Glaciate Womb’ who’s frost bitten stagger, transforms into a chaotic blizzard of ghastly double-pedal, cold, heavy bass tones and scratched up vocals shreds. It may be too repudiative for purist Death Metal fans, but the Doom goddess in me negates that sentiment. How can you deny those glorious drum fills?

‘Impalement of Divinity’, what a sacrilegious title. This track is brutal from the get-go and makes me want to headbang till my neck snaps. Kyle Severn’s pedal packs the punch of a battering ram, occasionally soothed by McEntee wailing on his guitar, rich and shimmering like liquid gold. Structurally this piece has spectacular production and on the engineering side, a good use of compression and attention to tone. Bass holds up the undertones of the guitar work on this album, despite being unneeded to showcase it’s isolated presence boldly. Sometimes a great bass player just knows when enough is enough.

With the final track, ‘Elysium (Eternity is Nigh)’, it seems like Incantation was testing us. As much as this album had been classically, there immensely catastrophic and pummeling presence, a 16:23 death/ doom track came a bit unexpectedly for most. To some, it’s been the turning point that flipped their opinion from “Shit, this is one of the best Death Metal albums of 2014.” to “Why the hell couldn’t they have edited it down? It sort of ruined it.” On the other had, I admire the band for taking a step forward into what has a bit of a Iverloch/Disembowelment vibe. Regardless whether we’ll need to agree to disagree on that one, Dirges of Elysium is definitely worth a listen by any Death Metal fan.

7.5/10

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CHRISTINE HAGER

 


Prong – Ruining Lives

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Tommy Victor (Danzig/Ministry) is at it again with his industrial/thrash outfit known as Prong. The newest release from the 3-piece is entitled Ruining Lives (Steamhammer/SPV), but I wouldn’t say my life is ruined since listening to this album. I have never had the opportunity to listen to Prong up until this point, but I was pleasantly surprised at all of the elements that Prong attack their listeners with. Industrial guitar tones, punk/thrash drum beats, the occasional break down, and the uniqueness behind Tommy’s voice were all present on this album and jive really well together.

For my first time listening to Prong I would say overall it was a positive experience and I will be digging for more as soon as I can. Having said that, I felt like the first four tracks were missing something that make them memorable to me. Maybe it was because the songs were not as aggressive as I had hoped. Perhaps the breakdowns seemed a little too forced and just put in to kill time. My philosophy, however, is to keep moving forward with the album and stay engaged with it. This time, I would say it worked out. From the album title track on through to the closing seconds of ‘Limitations and Validations’ I was head banging more and really digging the grooves that were being presented. The breakdowns, when they did occur, felt right. The aggression factor certainly increased exponentially as well where the guitars seemed to come alive and take a stranglehold on each track. Most importantly, these tracks became memorable, which is arguably the most important characteristic a song can have in this day in age where you can purchase single songs off of applications such as iTunes. Personally, I will buy and listen to a full album and listen to it front to back as intended so I can get the full feeling from the artists who wrote and recorded it. In other words, I buy a whole painting with a frame, not just a chunk of the painting that has some happy trees in it and ignore the beautiful mountains in the background. So to shift gears back to Prong, I would say my favorites off of this album were ‘Ruining Lives’, ‘Absence of Light’ , ‘Self Will Run Riot’, and ‘Limitations and Validations.’

The best part of finally getting to listen to Prong, was to listen to all the little bits and pieces that reminded me of other bands/artists who cite Tommy as an influence. Burton C. Bell from Fear Factory, Jonathan Davis from Korn, and even Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails all seem to utilize small pieces of Tommy’s work and it is even clearly seen off of Ruining Lives today. It is safe to say that Prong is not only a very important piece of the extreme musical world of today, but Tommy and company can still hang with the best as they have proved here on their latest.

 

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6.5/10

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TIM LEDIN


Steve Hackett – Genesis Revisited: Live at the Royal Albert Hall

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Memory doesn’t half play tricks on you, you know. I don’t think there was ever a time when the live album was an important part of the progression of an artist but I seem to remember from my own youth that the arrival of a live record was considered to be AN EVENT. An event you could have endless arguments about, for example, whether the live version of Iron Maiden’s ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’ on Live After Death (EMI) is superior to the studio version on Number of the Beast (it is, by the way). Today, the live album appears to be the perfunctory release of the couldn’t-be-bothered brigade, the contractual cash in, the how-can-we-milk-them-some-more cynicism.

 

It was with this context and mindset that I approached Steve Hackett’s latest souvenir of his Genesis revivalism from the Royal Albert Hall. The Genesis Revisited experience has been captured on live DVD and 2CDs – your humble scribe has had to make do with an MP3 download so I can’t comment on anything like multiple camera angles, artistic direction or anything like that – it’s just the soundtrack I’m going to review. But what a soundtrack!

 

“Welcome to the Last Night of the Progs” says Hackett at the start of ‘Dancing with the Moonlit Knight’. It’s part gag, part slight embarrassment – you get the idea that Hackett knows that the passionate throng in front of him are coming to this gig with massive expectations and Hackett is humble enough to not want to let them down. He doesn’t as ‘Dancing with the Moonlit Knight’ is just, well, fantastic actually. You won’t get me to suggest that I didn’t miss Peter Gabriel’s eccentric and evocative vocals, but Hackett’s singer, Nad Sylvan does a terrific job and if you haven’t got to grips with how brilliant a guitar player Hackett is then this is a great jumping on point. His solo on ‘Fly On the Windshield’ is spellbinding, and I say this as someone who usually finds this sort of stuff irredeemably awful.

 

With an artist like Hackett you were never really going to get short-changed though were you? This is a man who cares too much about the music, the fans and the experience than to turn in a “will this do?” effort. The set list appears to have been curated with care, respect and with an ear for the natural ebb and flow of live performance; there’s an attentive and graceful rendition of ‘Return of the Giant Hogweed’, a heartwarming ‘Fifth of Firth’ and when we get to it, as you know that we inevitably will, a performance of ‘Supper’s Ready’ that only the most churlish would consider to be anything other than exquisite.

 

Truly, there has been a huge amount of care into this event: whilst I would not be as daft or effusive as to suggest that this is better than the original what the performance does do- and in spades- is remind me of how brilliant Hackett is, how great Genesis were and how much of a prog-head I really am. That’s quite a feat. A lovely, lovely album of what must have been a lovely, lovely night.

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8.0/10.0

 

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MAT DAVIES

 

 


Fallujah – The Flesh Prevails

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One of America’s best kept secrets, Fallujah have made quite the impression in their home nation during their relative infancy. The well-received full length The Harvest Wombs and last year’s Nomadic EP were fine slices of the band’s impressive mix of melodic progressive metal and blistering, ferocious death metal, whilst the UK saw a brief but well taken support slot on Suffocation’s European tour. Now finally the band are about to get some well-deserved attention European attention with latest release The Flesh Prevails (all via Unique Leader).

 

The initial brace of songs are archetype of what this band can do when at top gear. Opener ‘Starlit Path’ begins in a manner of ambience before slowly creeping forward with blast-beats, chugging guitars and then a guttural bark from Alex Hofmann. This slow build encapsulates this bands formidable streak and perfect marriage between the two contrasting styles in one cohesive mesh. Following tracks ‘Carved From Stone’ and ‘The Night Reveals’ have less of a growth, but still are prime examples of their prowess as masters of the time old cliché of melodic yet heavy.

 

Things begin to lose momentum in the latter half of the album, which takes its foot off the gas and feels less straight for the throat. Much of these latter tracks, such as ‘Allure’ and ‘Alone With You’, shed vocals almost completely and have less of a death metal focus, with hints of a video game soundtrack. These tracks feel all the more improvised and jammed out and prove good showcases for their talent, but lack in necessity.

 

What started off so promisingly with an initial barrage of force, sadly becomes fragmented and surplus, if not dull. Shed some of this and The Flesh Prevails would have made a great EP release, but instead brings with it a lot of baggage.

 

7.0/10.0

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CHRIS TIPPELL

 

 


Alestorm – Sunset on the Golden Age

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Scotland’s favourite purveyors of Pirate Metal, Alestorm, have once again sailed into port with a new album, Sunset on the Golden Age (Napalm). Keeping a shtick going after four albums is no easy task, but Alestorm do a fair job at showing there’s some life in the old sea dog yet.

 

Captained by Christopher Bowes (vocals & keytar) and his merry crew (Dani Evans – guitars, Gareth Murdock – bass, Elliot Vernon – keyboards and Peter Alcorn – drums), Alestorm have always had their critics and with Sunset on the Golden Age they’ve made an album that shows them at their best and worst.

 

The album’s lead single ‘Drink’ is the typical feel-good shanty you expect from the band with lyrics about alcohol, folky tones and shout-a-long choruses, it’s addictively catchy and good fun. Other early tracks such as ‘Walk The Plank’ and ‘Magnetic North’ are great, combining those folk elements with bombastic horns resulting in some of the most energetic music they’ve made in a while. Back Through Time‘s ‘Death Throes Of The Terrorsquid’ showed that the band could mix their Rum & Cutlass style with serious musical chops, and there’s a couple of moments on where they show the same of musical aspirations here.

 

The self-titled closing track is an ambitious 11-minute beast, while ‘1741 (The Battle Of Cartagena)’ is easily the musical highpoint. A seven-minute multi-part epic, it shows the band have more to offer than gimmicks and can compete with the likes of Turisas and Korpiklaani when they want to. Sadly it’s mostly downhill from here.

 

‘Wooden Leg’ is a short sharp thrust of hardcore punk given a pirate makeover, while tracks such as ‘Surf Squid Warfare’ and ‘Mead from Hell’ add almost thrash elements to mix. While they aren’t terrible, they don’t stand up to the focus and quality of the first half of the record. Alestorm have a history of cheesy pop covers, and, depending on your point of view, their latest cover of Taio Cruz’s ‘Hangover’ is either a genius or downright awful. Horribly catchy, but sounding like a Nu-Metal meets Ibiza pop song, it’s completely at musical odds with the rest of the album but no doubt destined to become a sing along classic.

 

Though enjoyable, Sunset on the Golden Age is a mixed affair. It swings from high quality booty to Pirates of the Caribbean-esque clichés and cheap jokes, and generally lacks cohesion or consistency, much like a rum-soaked pirate in many respects. It won’t change your view on the band, but if you liked previous jaunts, this could just be the ship for you.

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7.5/10.0

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DAN SWINHOE


Midnight Masses – Departures

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Former …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead member Jason Reece is well known for being an Indie Rock enfant-terrible, destroying equipment and playing squalling discordant alt rock á la Sonic Youth. Yet with Midnight Masses, Reece has looked to produce more gentle, soulful material which still beats with the same black heart of his main act.

 

Manifesting in 2008, Midnight Masses have been labelled with many genres such as ‘Gothic Americana’ and ‘Grunge Gospel Folk Rock’. Truly there is no easy way to encapsulate this band into a catchy genre sound bite, and they are all the better for it. Singer Autry Fulbright’s take on his band’s multifaceted sound is “The sound of a city… In the middle of a desert” whatever that means.

 

Amassing over 14 members, Midnight Masses weave hazy psychedelic landscapes with some 1960’s atmospherics, Gospel vocal passages and Krautrock textures. Think Josh Homme, Neu! and Unkle jamming under an isolated desert sky and you’ll be close. As experimental as this all sounds, there are some very catchy tunes on Departures (Superball/Century Media),‘All Goes Black’ has a beautifully catchy chorus despite the melancholy overtones that permeate its every nuance. Since Fulbright wrote their debut to cope with the loss of his father, several other members of the group also experienced the loss of loved ones which accounts for the largely solemn feel.

 

Introspective and indulgent, painting with a myriad of styles Departures occasionally loses its way. When following the path of gothic alt rock on ‘Am I A Nomad’ or the surprisingly upbeat ‘Clap Your Hands’ provide a much levity from navel gazing to produce moments of true beauty. Undeniably talented, the overall impact is blighted by a lack of cohesion, leaving the mind able to wonder aimlessly when it should be focussed on the journey ahead.

 

Grief and loss have made some truly extraordinary records, yet the lack of clear direction towards either big city lights of earthy rural darkness leaves us somewhere in no man’s land.

 

6.0/10.0

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ROSS BAKER


Amberian Dawn – Magic Forest

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It would be fair to say Amberian Dawn is not necessarily the first, or possibly even the fifth or sixth name, you’d think of when throwing the term “Symphonic Power Metal” about (or powerful, melodic metal with classical female vocals, as the band prefer to be described). Their career has flown well and truly under the radar, releasing to date a solid if unspectacular back catalogue with former singer Heidi Parviainen, and the Finnish troupe have yet to have that breakthrough album, or step up in class. A shuffling of the pack has seen the band reunite with several of its former line-up, and bring in the classically trained Päivi “Capri” Virkkunen take over the vocals and lyric writing, and both moves have strengthened their hand significantly.

 

Magic Forest (Napalm) combines up-tempo guitar-driven melodic metal, a stage-musical bent with sweet, catchy, cherry-on-top choruses. Pulling out an unusual trio of Andrew Lloyd-Webber, particularly ‘Memorial’ replete with guest male opera vocals from Markus Nieminen, ABBA (‘Warning’ and ‘Cherish My Memory’) and Nightwish as core sounds, Amberian Dawn also combine classic Helloween and Metallica tinged riffs with a dramatic fantasy narrative feel to their songs.

 

Capri carries a strong, saccharine voice, reminiscent of Anette Olzen, and due to the Doctor Parnassus feel of some of their songs, the Nightwish comparisons that have plagued Amberian Dawn over the years are reinforced at times, both in excellent ‘Son of Rainbow’, and the title track with its dancing Labyrinth (the film) texture. Alongside this ‘Dance of Life’, with its memorable keyboard and guitar patterns, recalls Within Temptation.

 

Magic Forest in and of itself won’t catapult Amberian Dawn to stardom, but it should move them several rungs up the ladder to being a band worth paying some attention to what happens next. Now they’ve found a sound that combines Disney, Phantom of the Opera and symphonic power metal, they are finally finding their niche and developing the playful enchanted touches that give them a more distinctive and interesting sound. Push and develop their cinematic side and it might not be too late for Amberian Dawn to make a name for themselves.

 

7.5/10.0

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STEVE TOVEY

 

 


Taatsi – Amidst The Trees

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Following up from their demo Season of Sacrifice earlier in the year, Amidst the Trees  (Forever Plagued Records) is the debut album from Finnish two-piece Taatsi. Taking their name from a sacrificial stone located in northern Finland, everything about this bands image conveys a connection to nature and ancient spirituality, retreating from humanity and returning to the earth. Its apt then that they describe themselves as ‘Nature Mystical Black Metal,’ with each track fitting firmly within atmospheric black metal.

 

At just 30 minutes long, album cycles through keyboard melodies backed by mid-paced guitar harmonies and topped off with distant screeches from vocalist A. When done well, atmospheric black metal can transport the listener to cold and distant lands, carving out vast mental landscapes of forests and mountainous peaks. Taatsi however have failed to inspire, lending more to directionless meandering lacking any real sense of progression.

 

While the keyboards go some way to creating mystery, from opening track ‘Malign Ghost of the Wood’ to closing track ‘Hunts in the Night’s Mind,’ they dominate the sound, forming a constant barrage of noise.It doesn’t take long for the sound to become tiring and repetitive, lacking in any real inspiration or new ideas throughout with only slight changes of style in tracks like ‘Gateways of the North’.

 

While certainly not a bad album, Amidst the Trees has nothing new of inspiring about it. The constant inoffensive and repetitive nature of the album leave it languishing among the masses and ultimately, although the album plays at earthly spirits and ancient wisdom it fails to really inspire or capture any depth of the imagination.

 

 4/10

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CAITLIN SMITH


Belphegor – Conjuring The Dead

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Belphegor are one of those sorts of bands – you know the type. Settling early on for a familiar combination of established styles, they achieve a degree of success for doing what they do well and without pretension. The inevitable backlash kicks off after the album which is widely regarded as being their best and they’re accused of “selling out” when they sign to a comparatively big label. The rest of their career is then spent putting out variations on the same basic formula while the fans argue about whether they’ve truly regained their early quality. It’s a dance we see a little too often in a genre that would like to see itself as beyond fashion, and Belphegor seem to be following the established pattern well.

 

Conjuring The Dead (Nuclear Blast) picks up where they let off from with the supposed “return to form” (according to some fans, anyway) Blood Magick Necromance, with the same combination of catchy Death Metal and atmospheric Black Metal that the band have firmly established as their own. There is a sharp focus on song-writing here, most songs being based around a catchy riff or verse structure, and Erik Rutan’s production gives the band a punch they haven’t always had. Opener ‘Gasmask Terror’ is exactly the slap in the face they need, a neck-snapping catchy assault that allows them to release the throttle on some later tracks without losing too much steam. Calling this music “accessible” sounds like some elitist slur, but within the conventions of Black/Death Metal Conjuring The Dead very much errs on the side of catchiness and safety, being enjoyable, but not in any way threatening or challenging.

 

Conclusion – it’s a Belphegor album! If you care enough to actually hear it, the chances are that you know what it’s going to sound like already. To an impartial ear it sounds like a pretty decent one, but no doubt hardcore fans will take up large chunks of Metal Archives’ bandwidth arguing its exact place in the canon. The rest of us will probably enjoy it while it’s playing and then promptly forget about it.

 

6.0/10.0

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RICHIE H-R