Category Archives: Reviews

Macabre Omen – Gods of War – At War

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Light the torches and raise the cries as pagan black metal band Macabre Omen return after 10 years with their follow-up to their debut studio album, 2005’s The Ancient Returns (Obscure Abhorrence). Coupled with the ominous cover, the name Macabre Omen brings up visions of cheesy melody lines splattered with lashings of awkwardly placed black metal. This is not a band that should be judged by their cover however, and while they may only be on their second album with just a handful of splits filling the gaps, the band have had a solid twenty years since conception to perfect their craft.

It’s a call to banners as ‘I See, the Sea’ opens the album with rousing calls reminiscent of ancient armies making their way into battle. Gods of War – At War (Ván Records) certainly has a touch of the epic about it, even as the melodic folk-inspired lines give way to more aggressive blasting under scream by vocalist Alexandros. While the opening track remained distinctly melodic, the album takes much darker turns, particularly on the title track where the black metal is dialled up. ‘Man of 300 Voices’ takes a different tone however; an acoustic opening to the track barely seems out of place, particularly as more traditional instruments make an appearance before moving into epic vocal lines that dominate the song.

Pagan black metal can be a hard genre to master, but Macabre Omen have managed to produce a sound that plants itself somewhere between the more Bathory and Graveland. Despite maintaining a consistent sound throughout, Gods of War – At War has successfully walked the line creating an album that has enough variety between tracks, but still maintains an identifiable sound that brings the piece together. While it may not be breaking any ground artistically, it certainly would hold its ground on soundtrack heading into battle.

 

7.0/10

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CAITLIN SMITH


George Kolias – Invictus

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If you are the kind of heavy music fan that enjoys fast drumming with catchy guitar riffs and a hint of blackened death metal, then George Kollias is your man. Coming from Nile fame, the heavy metal world knows George and his accomplishments as a drummer. However, he comes out swinging on his solo début, Invictus (Season of Mist). Outside a handful of guest guitar solos and guest vocals, George recorded all the rest of the instruments for the record. With eleven tracks that clock in around the fifty-four minute mark, there is enough glorious death metal to make even the crabbiest elitist entertained!

Track by track I found myself whistling guitar riff after guitar riff as they get more catchy with each song. It was tough picking out the favorites on this release as each song has its own interesting personality even after a handful of times through the album. I found the tracks that stood above the rest were the ones that sounded like new Behemoth or Septicflesh songs. Of course I am not saying George did covers or is “ripping them off”, but more in the sense that he was clearly influenced by his peers other work to help shape what he wanted Invictus to sound like. There are four tracks right in a row that I cannot seem to listen to unless they are right in order: ‘Aeons of Burning Galaxies’, ‘Shall Rise/Shall Be Dead’, ‘Voices’, and ‘Treasures of Nemesis’. I have caught myself at work on more than a few occasions either whistling the guitar riffs or smacking my two index fingers off of my desk as if I was George Kollias himself behind a set. Not taking anything away from the rest of the album (yes it is that good), but I just felt most connected to this stretch of the album.

Overall, I am more than pleased with the work done by Mr. Kollias here. Aside from the noted guests, George can play guitar, and boy can he play it well. Vocally he’s also quite gifted too! While not anything completely unique to the death metal world in terms of sound, Invictus has proven to all that George Kollias the solo artist is the real deal. Look out Dave Grohl, someone else in the world can play as many instruments as you do!

7.0/10

WORDS BY TIM LEDIN


Employed To Serve – Greyer Than You Remember

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Whilst all the talk around ‘Technical’ Hardcore may well be surrounding Palm Reader at the moment, and deservedly so, don’t let that stop you exploring other releases of the same ilk. Delivering that violently erratic smash-mouth style a la The Dillinger Escape Plan, Employed To Serve’s breed of music will hit you square between the eyes right from the word go.

The opening few tracks pretty much set the tone for the rest of the album – the band doing their upmost to not go down a path whereby you can predict what comes next. They’ve shunned the idea of a ‘normal’ song structure and instead launch through complicated arrangements, and mind bending riffs. A lot of the time, this level of description ends up putting people off checking this kind of music out, and like many of the bands playing a similar style will attest to, it can take time to get in to it. If you take the time around an album like this you will feel rewarded and some of these tracks won’t just become fodder to skip through on shuffle. Alongside the Dillinger type vibes on this album, there is an all round sense of bleakness, something made instantly plain by the track names, ‘Watching Films To Forget I Exist’ and ‘Greyer Than You Remember’ serving as clear examples. The absolute star of the show across the album is vocalist Justine Jones who delivers a performance containing so much venom you get a genuine sense that had she not been involved it would have been a lesser album as a result.

Overall then, this is some seriously high quality Hardcore music, whether you want to throw them into the Technical Hardcore bracket or Post Hardcore, it doesn’t matter – Greyer Than You Remember (Holy Roar) genuinely an exciting album which will hopefully hoist Employed To Serve on to more of people’s radars.

 

8.5/10

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TOM DONNO


Tesseract – Odyssey/Scala (Live)

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The ever daring and polarizing TesseracT continue to keep their ambitions high with the release of live album and DVD Odyssey/Scala (Century Media). Forgive the odd title as both sides contain the same set of songs. Odyssey was recorded across Europe during the Altered State tour while the Scala visual supplement was recorded at the posh London club of the same name.

What? Simply naming it Alive doesn’t quite cut when you’re used to adding ‘Concealing Fate’ to like half of your song titles.

Most importantly, Odyssey/Scala finds guitarist and ringleader Alec ‘Acle’ Kahney and the boys reuniting with original singer Daniel Tompkins 3 years after their last collaboration. And Tompkins does not disappoint, as his soaring vocals translate perfectly to the live format and shows no issues handling former lead Ashe O’Hara’s parts. Spending an afternoon with these kinds of talents seems like a good time, but something doesn’t quite work for me.

I have to wonder if the idea to make a concert film came after they planned on releasing the live LP. The only reason I ask is because Odyssey is the best way of the two to enjoy this evening with Tesseract. The songs feel much more alive on Odyssey while Scala has a very polished mix that almost gives the impression of being dubbed over at points. The heavier, double bass segments in tracks like ‘The Impossible’ and ‘Perfection/Epiphany’ sound like Tesseract want to give the most aggressive Periphery tunes a run for their money. Also the rousing closer ‘Acceptance’ make you wish they would let their hair down to the windmill headbanging position more often. Seriously dudes, the soaring melodies and quiet passages are great, but it’s fun to thrash out sometimes.

Something else not helping Scala is the unfortunate truth that Tesseract tend to be static as performers. With the exception of the charismatic Tompkins, the rest of the Milton Keynes’ crew is keener on standing in place. I’m not naïve, I didn’t expect the Dillinger Escape Plan style antics. That being said it’s a trend I’ve observed since I saw them open for Between the Buried and Me back in 2011. Also the bizarre MTV style editing can be jarring upon first viewing. For a band as sharp as Tesseract we shouldn’t have to sit through so many blurry and shaky camera angles.

Perhaps the decision to make this both an album and DVD was hatched after realizing that it’s barely over an hour’s worth of content so it was best to offer both variants as the greater value to the fans. While flawed, Odyssey/Scala is a testament to the appeal and skill of Tesseract who are able to release a quite capable live recording with only two proper full lengths under their belts.

7.0/10

HANSEL LOPEZ


Sirenia – The Seventh Life Path

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On The Seventh Life Path (Napalm), their seventh studio album, Norwegians Sirenia pull out all the stops to set themselves apart from others in the Symphonic Metal field. It’s refreshing to hear pure synth sounds, as in the intro to ‘Once My Light’, rather than merely a synth-orchestra, though the orchestra is in full force throughout and delivers all the bombast that Symphonic Metal fans could hope for. And from the very first song on the album it is already clear that the choir arrangements are equally dramatic as the orchestrals, with ‘Elixir’ featuring some particularly remarkable choral work.

There is a very pleasant contradiction between the low male vocals and high female lines. This contrast is even stronger because it is generally followed by grunts. Other great choir parts can be found in ‘Insania’, again contrasting with the grunts of Morten Veland, and in ‘Sons of the North’ where the male choral intro is quite unlike any of the other lines on this album. Unfortunately this song had a weird little thing going on with the drums in the verse that made it appear as if the song was skipping. This, however, was soon forgotten owing to the overall quality of the music, especially the disturbing piano solo.

Besides the choir, vocals are provided by Ailyn, who has the soft and sweet voice that is common in this particular genre, although she does sometimes hint at a more powerful voice. Some of the backing vocals on the beautiful ‘Tragedienne’ have a ballsiness to them that I really would love to hear in the main lines. As it is now, I am glad to have the grunts and choirs alongside the softer singing. There is one major exception though: ‘Contemptuous Quietus’ has a very deep classical sound very much like the voice of Simone Simons of Epica. This power really suits the music very well.

This album has a great amount of bombast on a bed of surprisingly heavy metal guitar, drums, and bass, with a layer of catchy licks and synths and a variety of vocals. It has a distinct character that will definitely appeal to fans of symphonic metal.

 

7.5/10

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LORRAINE LYSEN


Shadow Age – Silaluk EP

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Oh, Jesus. Richmond, Virginia has proved a fertile ground for the heavier end of metal over the last two or three years, but the cheesy 80s synth and tinny-sounding drums that overshadow Silaluk (6131), the début three-track EP from quartet Shadow Age, sadly give me all the wrong kind of chills.

Changing their name from Colony some months ago, their ethos has remained post-Punk yet the feel loses some of that intensity. The rapid bass of the opening title track underpins coldly mellow strings, while lacklustre yet melodic vocals, a cross between Barney Sumner and Morrissey, enforce the pervading Mancunian air. Sadly, save for the lead shimmers and slightly more urgent delivery of ‘A Portrait of a Young Man Drowning’, the first two tracks have more of the Indie / Pop of New Order than the angular, piercing swagger of forefathers Joy Division.

It’s the booming drums and Post-rock leadwork of the moody, balladic closer ‘Innocence’ that finally give this outing a bit of steel. The building swathes of pensive atmospherics take the listener into Shoegaze territory, that Smiths vocal link ever more apparent and lightly dusted over the emotive instrumentals which are evocative of the heady days when both U2 and The Sisters of Mercy were both capable of appealing to the harder rockers among us. The sound that Shadow Age are peddling is indeed an attractive one in many respects, but overall it’s missing a row of teeth which would generate real interest outside the NME readership.

 

6.0/10

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PAUL QUINN


Darke Complex – Widow EP

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So-called ‘anonymous’ bands seem to be all of the rage nowadays, with bands such as King 810, The Hell and Ghost BC attempting, and often failing, to keep their identities secret. Although this is often used as a gimmick, Darke Complex have definitely managed to use this to their advantage, intriguing metalcore fans from across the world and managing to create a loyal fan base. The mysterious band refers to each member as a number from one to four, so excuse the rather ambiguous review!

Opening track ‘Crows’ is full of grindcore-like riffs and heavy breakdowns, instantly proving the musical direction of Darke Complex. The filthy bass-heavy music merges perfectly with the harsh vocals of the anonymous vocalist(s), creating something both unique and exciting. There are so many different elements to this song which may seem like it would be disorientated, however, they merge together extremely well. If you played ‘Crows’ to someone who had never heard of Darke Complex before it is safe to say that they would either absolutely love it or completely despite it.

‘Frigid’ includes rap-style vocals, which fuses perfectly with the ominous and almost grime-like music. This track does not sound like metalcore music at all, but more like horror-style rap music. With every track sounding completely different than the last, it is clear that the Darke Complex are using their anonymous identities to explore many different styles and genres of music without any pre-conceptions.

Final song ‘Intrusive Thoughts’ is hard-hitting and furiously fast, proving that the Darke Complex do not like to slow the pace down. With such energetic music it would definitely be interesting to see exactly what the Darke Complex are like live: if it is anything like their Widow EP (Spinefarm) you should expect carnage!

If you are an open-minded metal fan who enjoys listening to something which breaks stereotypical genre constraints then you should definitely give Darke Complex a listen: even if you do not like their music you will probably end up respecting them for their experimental nature.

 

9.0/10

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JULIA CONOPO


Needs – Needs

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Needs are a Punk five piece hailing from Vancouver in Canada, and whilst their homeland may well garner a reputation of kindness and chilled out vibes, somebody better tell these guys that! Their erratic delivery of punk on this self-titled release (File Under Music) feels almost neurotic and overall makes for a very strong release. Don’t think anyone is doubting the Canadian level of humour which is on display here in abundance, either as some of the track titles alone should pick up some kind of reward – ‘Clowns To The Left Of Me, Dzhokhars to the Right’ and ‘We Don’t Know Why We Are Protesting is Why We Are Protesting’ are two particular gems in that respect.

A key aspect to this record being altogether very impressive is the fact that whilst aggressive sounding, they’ve injected their music with a whole load of fun as well. You can already envisage people bouncing around at live shows singing along to some of the lyrics. A good example of this is with the track ‘We Forgot the Records to Our Record Release Show’ which displays a high tempo punk sound underneath some genuinely entertaining lyrics, “What am I doing? No seriously, what am I doing. I’m 36 Years Old, 37 in a couple of months” – a sentiment which no doubt a hell of a lot of bands will be able to identify and relate with.  

Overall then, this album is indeed a strong dose of Punk which will hopefully not go completely under the radar. Needs are evidence of the fact that if you search hard enough amongst the million bands out there at the moment, you will find a gem, and an entertaining one at that – this is definitely worth checking out.

 

7.0/10

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TOM DONNO


Secrets of the Sky – Pathway

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An hour of the stormy, seaside-style intro to Pathway (Metal Blade), the second album from morose Oakland sextet Secrets of the Sky, would truly be the most hypnotic, serene experience. It’s real chill-out stuff, like those relaxation CDs you get from The Range. The band’s début, To Sail Black Waters (Kolony Records), was a heady mix of ephemeral beauty and harsh wastelands, and this effort proves no less expressive in both areas.

The first track in earnest, ‘Three Swords’, sees atmospheric synth course through steely riffs, dreamlike harmonies and hostile, agonised screams. There are brief interludes throughout the album; the more ominous ‘II’ leading appropriately into the balladic ‘Angel in Vines’s mix of doom-laden riff and rhythm, coated in a mix of death growls, blackened rasps and delicate, oft-whispered lilts. The accompanying soft, jangling leads make the whole reminiscent of a shoegazing Scorpions; it’s a stunning track, enveloping the listener in evocative waves of lush sound.

The utterly miserable ‘Another Light’, however, is the sound of a soul past the point of despair; sunk into exhausted apathy. Yes friends, this is no cheery experience and it sadly becomes increasingly cheapened by those brief synth and clinical lead inclusions, periodically dragging a powerful and harrowing sound into the occasionally cheesy realms of Melodic Death. Only the sluggish pace, anguished roars and ‘cleans’, and a pensive acoustic coda save ‘Garden of Prayers’ from wistful mediocrity.

Sadly the passion is also diluted, not helped by a crystal-clear production, resulting in what is undoubtedly intended to be a highly emotive outing being robbed of a significant dose of the required spirit. The brute force of the largely faster, nastier ‘Fosforos’ finally displays the element of grit that’s been missing: the closing half of wrought, sinister lead surrounded by the vicious vocals and pummeling drums of the opening section. A return of those hushed intonations over cold lead twangs in the anodyne, prosaic ‘Eternal Wolves’, however, embodies the flaws which ultimately stick in the mind.

Though by no means a poor effort, and musically accomplished in spades, Pathway is nevertheless short of real feeling.

 

6.5/10

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PAUL QUINN


Coal Chamber – Rivals

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Thirteen years is a long time. And lots of things have happened in the time frame since Coal Chamber’s last album, 2002s Dark Days. Let’s see what’s different. Physical copies of albums don’t sell all that well. Boy bands gave way to something even more horrifying in Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus. Rock Band and Guitar Hero were an odd fad. EDM unfortunately exploded onto the mainstream.

Oh and Nu-Metal was swapped out as the popular sub-genre by Metalcore and/or the New Wave of American Heavy Metal. Even Coal Chamber’s frontman Dez Fafara switched scenes and released six consistently solid albums with Devildriver.

So the question becomes what can Coal Chamber, Nu-Metal pioneers that suffered a fiery first death, offer this brave new world of extreme metal? In new album Rivals (Napalm Records) just maybe their strongest and most focused release ever.

Lead single ‘I.O.U. Nothing’ sets an aggressive and confident tone that permeates the following 38 minutes. And confidence is the right word here as Coal Chamber sound like a new band as opposed to one trying recapture its former glory. It’s all mid-tempo crunch from there on out with über-producer Mark Lewis providing a clean, but menacing mix. It’s public knowledge that their 2003 onstage demise was dramatic and highly amplified by substance abuse, but time does really seem to heal all wounds here. Dez and Co. have taken years of successful and momentum gaining reunion tours and channeled it on Rivals. For the faithful, ‘Suffer in Silence’ and ‘The Bridges you Burn’ are straight Nu-Metal rippers from when the genre had teeth instead of gimmicks. But there is musical progression as well, ‘Another Nail in the Coffin’ and the title track are more in sync with Devildriver’s punishing groove than channeling the 90s.

Not every blow connects, ‘Light in the Shadows’ and ‘Empty Handed’ feel more like afterthoughts or songs that couldn’t quite crack it on Dark Days. But the important take away in Rivals is the energy and level of commitment. Especially from a band that didn’t need to release a new record and continue touring. Drummer Mikey ‘Bug’ Cox and guitarist Miguel Rascon had been toying in other musical ventures for years and we all know what Fafara has been up to. They didn’t need to, but the great news is that they wanted to.

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Rivals is a solid recording even if you didn’t take Coal Chamber or the sub-genre they had been associated with seriously. And in defense of Nu-Metal, for how many kids (myself included) was that a gateway drug to other bands? Maybe I wouldn’t have eventually learned of Relapse Records if I didn’t start with Korn and Mushroomhead first. Maybe there’s a great column waiting to be written on the importance of Nu-Metal, but that’s for another time.

So if not for the strong music, respect Rivals and Coal Chamber for being available to a new generation of young and hungry metalheads.

8/10

HANSEL LOPEZ