Ross The Boss – 3-9-2018
Saint Vitus Bar, Brooklyn NY
All Photos By OJC PhotographyContinue reading
Tag Archives: AFM Records
Gus G. – “Letting Go” Video Released
Gus G. will be releasing his highly anticipated new album, Fearless, on April 20th via AFM Records. Continue reading
Soil Live At O2 Institute Birmingham
Leaves’ Eyes – Sign Of The Dragonhead
After switching over to a new vocalist in April 2016, following the seemingly acrimonious departure of Liv Kristine, Leaves’ Eyes presents their first album with Elina Siirala on vocals. The new record is titled Sign Of The Dragonhead (AFM), and once again dives Dragonhead first into Nordic mythology and culture. Continue reading
Firewind Releases Hands Of Time From Immortals
Firewind will be releasing Immortals on January 20th, 2017 via Century Media Records in Europe and AFM Records in North America. Continue reading
Flotsam And Jetsam Books US Tour With Helstar And Hatchet
Elite old-school thrashers Flotsam And Jetsam announced dates for their upcoming year-end headlining dates as part of their the “Touring the Forbidden Territories Tour 2016/17”. Texas thrash/power metallers Helstar and Hatchet will act as direct support. See the tour dates below:Continue reading
Video: Flotsam And Jetsam Releases Awesome Lyric Video – Seventh Seal
Second Wave of American Thrash masters Flotsam And Jetsam have released a lyric video from their recent self-titled album, released in May from AFM Records.Continue reading
Flotsam And Jetsam – Flotsam And Jetsam
In theory, the new Flotsam and Jetsam album Flotsam and Jetsam (AFM Records) should be called Regeneration. Their press brief says that the band really started in 2015 with the line-up of Eric AK, Mike Gilbert, Michael Spencer, Steve Conley, and Jason Bittner (Shadows Fall). For this, I gave Flotsam and Jetsam a fresh listen, forgetting the past albums and attacking Flotsam and Jetsam as a new separate entity. The new album Flotsam and Jetsam is twelve songs lasting 56 minutes. It’s an hour that goes quickly by as the tracks seamlessly blend from one song to another.
The first thing that struck me was the heaviness of opening track. ‘Seventh Seal’ is has a heaviness that weights it down. If it weren’t for the guitar lines and jaunty pace of the song, it could be a doom song. There is something about the song that claws at you and keeps you earthbound. ‘Life is a Mess’ has the same thundering drumming as ‘Seventh Seal’. The vocals have this nu-metal rap feel with 90s metal singing. I hear shades of Testament in the guitar parts. ‘Taser’ opens up like a muscle car on an open backwoods Texas road. It’s fast and it’s wild. The vocals are a bit strained, but the music more than makes up for it. ‘Taser’ has a swagger about it. I went into ‘Iron Maiden’ wanting to love it because I love Iron Maiden. True to form, it’s a Bruce Dickinson epic lyrics love fest. It’s a bit of the ‘Trooper’ in new clothes. I nice wink wink nudge nudge to a great band.
The rest of the album is more of the same. Solid tunes that follow the tried and true metal formula. Flotsam and Jetsam the album has lots of guitar solos in all the right places and heavy drumming and bass playing keep everything solid. Some of the songs are a bit chunky and plodding while others have interesting accoutrements. If you like Overkill and Testament, you’ll enjoy Flotsam and Jetsam.
7.0/10
VICTORIA ANDERSON
[amazon asin=B01CE00Q8O&template=iframe image1]
Graveworm – Ascending Hate
With Ascending Hate (AFM) the Italian Symphonic Black Metal band Graveworm presents their ninth studio album – a beastie that has been three and a half years in the making, but well worth the wait!
One of my favourite elements on this album is the piano which is overlaid on the music, for instance in ‘Downfall of Heaven’ or ‘Rise Again’; the contradiction between the black metal and the more sensitive piano really adds depth to the compositions. Another contradiction that really made me happy was that between the music and the lyrics in songs like ‘Blood Torture Death’ as never before have lyrics like those been sung of such a cheerful melody.
The opening track, ‘The Death Heritage’, is one of the highlights on this album, and sets the bar really high. It has a nice acoustic intro on classical guitar, which is then penetrated by heavy, electric distorted guitar before the metal ensues, with blast-beats and grunts, and you can really appreciate the skills that went into the composition. The guitars add melodies that support the growls, and the synth-heavy breaks are also very tasteful and mysterious.
‘To The Empire of Madness’ has very good drumming, and a lovely acoustic break which is interspersed with more metal. The guitar riffs are once again excellent and the grunts, like the rest of the song, are very dynamic, meaning that it holds the attention from start to finish. The acoustic outro is one of the many points on the album where you really get to admire the skill and tastefulness of guitarists Eric Righi and Stefan Unterpertinger.
‘Stillborn’ features yet more incredible instrumentation from all musicians, with a slower pace but is very intense. ‘Liars to the Lions’, on the other hand, is very fast, but it also contains those intense melancholic sections that Graveworm excels at, while despite the clear and polished sound, ‘Sons of Lies’ has a lovely gritty atmosphere. The switch that Stefano Fiori makes between his low and high grunts is one of the reasons I really enjoyed this track.
The closing number of the album is ‘Nocturnal Hymns Part II’. The first Nocturnal Hymns featured on the 1999 As Angels Reach the Beauty album (Serenades), and this new version uses the old motifs to create a more modern and heavy song. It is once again very dynamic, and the guitar riffs halfway through really build a lot of tension. I think this is a very strong finish to what is a very strong album, and it is great to have older work reprised this way.
8.0/10
LORRAINE LYSEN
Ektomorf- Retribution
Ektomorf are one of those bands who stick to what they know. Back in Hungary in the mid-nineties, front man Zoltan Farkas stumbled upon a simple formula; groovy down-tuned riffs, tribal drumming, lashings of guttural aggression and the odd Nu-metal influence. Unfortunately Max Cavalera’s Soulfly got there first.
Queue 20-odd years and 9 albums worth of music many deride as some form of Cavalera worship, flattery, or plagiarism. Their latest effort, Retribution (AFM Records), does little to silence the critics, but gives the fans a well-crafted and energetic slab of what they like. Opener ‘ You Can’t Control Me’ is a pummelling slab of aggression, primal but satisfying. ‘Ten Plagues’ and ‘Who The Fuck Are You’ keep up the primal feel, tinges of 90s Machine Head and early Slipknot can be felt in amongst the mix.
Yes there’s little here that hasn’t been done already on various Sepultura, Soulfly or even previous Ektomorf albums, but the band keep the music up to a decent quality it’s rare to say that a whole album is basically free of duds. With a 45 minute run time, it doesn’t overstay its welcome. Few songs breaking the four-minute mark with every song short and straight to the point. There’s plenty of hooks and shout along moments throughout, whether it’s ‘Mass Ignorance,’ ‘Numb And Sick’ (featuring Ill Niño vocalist Cristian Machado) or the self-explanatory cover of Verbal Abuse’s ‘I Hate You,’ and even a mis-judged acoustic love song in ‘Collapsed Bridge.’
With Max taking his Tribe further into Death metal realms, Ektomorf sound more like classic Soulfly than Soulfly themselves do these days. Which is no bad thing. They’re a decent band who know what they do well and do it unapologetically time and time again. Retribution is no exception to that rule, and that’s ok.
6.5/10
Ektomorf on Facebook
DAN SWINHOE