Tag Archives: Blue Öyster Cult

Audio: Saviours Featuring Wino Stream B.Ö.C. Cover- Hot Rails

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Saviors flexi stream

California’s raging retro metallers  Saviours are streaming a new song today. The band has covered Blue Oyster Cult classic ‘Hot Rails’ with the help of doom legend Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich (Saint Vitus, Shrinebuilder) for Decibel Magazine’s Flexi Disc Series. You can stream the track from Soundcloud at this link or below:

Saviours’s drummer Scott Batiste commented on the track:

“When we did the Saint Vitus shows in 2009, we got to talking to Wino about our shared love for Blue Öyster Cult and one thing led to another… The recording was done almost five years ago! Shrinebuilder was coming through Oakland on tour so we set up the time at Sharkbite Studios with Billy [Anderson]. We did it in a day. He’s played it with us live a few times. The recording rules and his solo is totally insane.”


Wicked Inquisition – Wicked Inquisition

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PromoImage

In some people’s minds the history of the 1970s goes a little bit like this: a grey decade of bad fashion and even worse food. Three day weeks and striking miners; thank goodness for punk and Year Zero. Then there’s the rest of us who know a lot better – the 70s were packed full of heavy metal bands with the love of the riff, the art of the song and the odd pint of patchouli oil. It’s this latter version of history that Minnesota’s Wicked Inquisition have tapped into. And how.

This highly enjoyable album contains more cap-doffing to the 70s than a milliner’s emporium and the reverence for times past is so genuine and warm hearted that you can’t help but feel a large amount of affection for the band and their record. I’m writing this review with the record playing loudly in the background and I can see from the reflection in the laptop screen that I have a grin that is a mile wide; it’s THAT kind of fun.

This is doom metal, but doom metal put through a focussed, song-writing lens. The band appear to have as much in common with Blue Oyster Cult as they do with Sabbath and their ilk which is no bad thing. On ‘Black Magick Nacht’, the album’s opening salvo, we are treated to something akin to a riff masterclass that is genuine and genuinely thrilling. The tempo drops for the Sabbath dripping ‘Crimson Odyssey’ whilst the upbeat riffing of ‘Sun Flight’ is not unlike early period Iron Maiden mixed with Trouble.

‘M.A.D.’ is the most obviously “doomy” of any of the tracks here, a snaking riff and metronomic pace adding to the mood and ambience with aplomb. Meanwhile, ‘In Shackles’ is what would happen if Sabbath had downed a bottle of groove juice before recording Sabotage (Vertigo) it’s mighty and gripping.

The opening riff on ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ is straight off AC/DC’s Highway to Hell (Atlantic) masterpiece before jogging off for more 1970s riff shoplifting like some indiscriminate hoodlum. If you think I’m being critical, you couldn’t be further from the truth; the riffing here is joyous and inspired and the love of the music that this band have is as true and deep as the quality of their playing.

Wicked Inquisition (Tridroid) imbues a love of doom metal with an attention to detail and delivery that is admirable and enviable. It is not going to win any prizes for originality but for well-crafted heavy metal, it will do me, and you, very nicely indeed.

 

7.0/10

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MAT DAVIES


Avatarium – All I Want EP

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NB 3355-1 Gatefold LP (2014).indd

 

When it comes to going in blind on a release it can be the best or the worst of times for a listener, On the one hand you can discover an absolutely storming new band, or you might come across (as I have many times in the past) discover an album that could be vastly improved by sending the CD case out to the reviewer blank with nothing but an apology note and some chocolates.

All I Want (Nuclear Blast) by Swedish female fronted doom five piece Avatarium luckily falls into the first category. Its sweet yet substantial sound fills your ears with enough melody, crunchy drone and riff to keep even the most melodic rock or gnarly doom fan satisfied. The first two tracks are recorded in the studio, with the latter three recorded live, especially pack the punch all tracks hope to deliver on their first listens, with the album’s title track providing to be the highlight of the release with its soaring vocal line and clearly Sabbath influenced riffs.

It would be easy to make connects to the likes of Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult as touchstones for the band’s sound, which borrows heavily from the 60’s/ early 70’s early hard rock scene. But the album owes a great debt to the likes of Jefferson Airplane (certainly not Starship) especially in front women’s Jennie Ann Smith’s epic vocal range, she really has a great set of pipes on here and she shows it off throughout the five tracks on offer.

Overall, All I Want is a great EP from the group and shows a lot of promise in what is to come. The sweet mix of the almost Janis Joplin vocals and the low end of the 70s hard rock influenced doom under it makes a great pairing as they effortlessly work against each other, packing just enough low end and bottle to stop it from falling into the weak end of the spectrum.

 

7.0/10

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DAN O’BRIEN


Ghost & Selim Lemouchi Live @ Tivoli Utrecht, The Netherlands

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Selim lemouchi 2Tonight at Tivoli Oudegracht in Utrecht we get treated to one of the more controversial bands in the current heavy scene, namely Ghost (b.c.). The anonymous band are known for their Blue Oyster Cult-y sound with more of a danceable disco feel in the bass, their satanic lyrics and their exceptional show theatrics. They’re also known for not disappointing sound-wise and doing near perfect renditions of their recorded work, and tonight proves no exception. Opening for them is the much-anticipated new project of Selim Lemouchi, ex Devil’s Blood, named Selim Lemouchi & His Enemies, which doesn’t disappoint, but expectations were very high and not quite met because of the muddy sound.Continue reading →


Ghost – Infestissumam

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Ghost - InfestissumSince their Opus Eponymous debut dropped three years ago the nameless ghouls have enticed the greats of rock into their diabolical trap with a combination of a lavish stage show and the catchiest tunes Old Nick has given us in years. Yet by 2013 surely we’ve all gone back to our King Diamond and Blue Öyster Cult albums and cooled off. Not likely! Continue reading →