Tag Archives: Dan O’Brien

Krokodil – Nachash

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For the past few months UK based riff lords Krokodil have been making all sort of headlines, most involving people referring to them as “Slipknot’s new bassist’s other band”, which is completely unjustified and harsh as it is hardly judging the band on its own merits. With all the coverage, the eyes of the metal world are on Krokodil as they prepare to unleash their debut album Nachash (Spinefarm) so it’s a very good thing that the album is rather bloody brilliant.

The band, which contains members from a menagerie of great British bands such as Cry For Silence,  Sikth, Gallows and of course the mighty A, as well as now Iowa’s own metal behemoth Slipknot, Krokodil sound like a well oiled riff making machine and from the sounds of Nachash the machine has been working overtime on this release.  With a heavy dose of Mastodon in its veins, Krokodil are a groove juggernaut that pummels all in its path with its three guitarists of fury, a decision that usually over complicates the material but in this case triples up the guitar tracks, like Helmet making it sound as heavy as a ten ton rhino that’s thinking of gaining a few pounds.

With a formula that blends groove based riffage with a later day Cancer Bats bounce and groove is a fantastic mix which keeps up the pace till the bitter end, this on top of the high quality production of the album which makes it sound colossal.  If the album does have a mild weakness it is that the vocals are a tiny bit one dimensional, the hardcore barks work well with the up tempo nature of the albums and work perfectly on the second track ‘Skin of The Earth’, but can come across as one note when the album gets into its final few tracks.

Overall, Nachash is a quality release from a band who deserve a lot more credit for their musical output and certainly do not deserve to be known simply as that other band with someone from Slipknot in, they’re not a DJ Starscream or Dirty Little Rabbits. As for this being the bands’ debut album, hopefully there will be even better to come from the band in the future, but for now Nachash is a cracking start to their career.  Its high tempo, riffy and most importantly contains quality throughout.

 

9.0/10

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DAN O’BRIEN

 


Obliterations – Poison Everything

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Emerging like a bile fuelled viper, Poison Everything (Southern Lord) is the third release from Californian based hardcore four piece Obliterations is a frenetic, dirty and all round in-your-face release that doesn’t let go from the second it sinks its teeth into you.

Taking influence from across the hardcore genre, from the organised precise chaos of Converge to the back to basics approach of classic Henry Rollins fronted Black Flag. To even some hooks and groovy riffs that is reminiscent of the first two The Bronx albums.

The record flies by with its run time of just over half an hour with its old school Black Flag influence running through the albums run time from its first second to its last. The Hardcore fury is nicely countered with a large slice of doomy Black Sabbath riffage in the albums more groove orientated moments, as well as its rumbling bass sound which chugs its way through the album making the record sound like a hardcore punk Motorhead.

The vocals are where the album steps into its stride, switching between Henry Rollins snarls and barks to Jacob Bannon shrieks and screams almost instantaneously.  Front man Sam James Velde pulls off these vocals seamlessly, sounding as if for his album preparation he gargled glass for a decade beforehand in order to transfer as much savagery into his delivery as possible.

Overall, Poison Everything is a great hardcore release from the band and is easily their best record to date. With all the snarl and aggression that you would want from bands such as Converge or Black Flag, Poison Everything does exactly what the band set out to do. The Sabbath riffs and Motorhead rumble and pace add all new depth to the release and lift it amongst most hardcore releases.

7.0/10

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DAN O’BRIEN

 

 


Sanctuary – The Year The Sun Died

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When you think of Seattle, the first things that usually come to your mind would be grunge, over priced coffee and a distinct feeling of melancholy which coincidentally has led to some of the best music ever to be produced, whether that be from The Melvins, Nirvana or Jimi Hendrix. Despite its rich musical history, you don’t expect Seattle to produce that many NWOBHM tinged thrash bands. After 25 years Sanctuary has returned with their new album The Year The Sun Died (Century Media) and in all honesty it might be worth the wait.

Despite the controversy surrounding frontman’s Warrel Dane’s decision to momentarily decommission progressive metal giants Nevermore to restart Sanctuary taking most of the press coverage around the release of this album, it would be foolish to not look at this album on its own merits. The Year The Sun Died is a sleekly produced modern trash album that packs one hell of a punch, in terms of its frenetic guitar leads and powerful drums that power the album forward like a charging rhino.

Warrel Dane recently informed fans worrying about his vocal ability that he could still nail the high notes from the bands previous albums and he has certainly proved his neigh-sayers wrong here.  Dane is on fine form with his powerful almost operatic NWOBHM vocals which draw the obvious parallels to them of Bruce Dickinson and Rob Halford.

While its certainly more of an early days of thrash album than the heavier era or Exodus or Kreator, The Year The Sun Died certainly has its moments of thrash goodness, but overall the album is more Diamond Head than Slayer.

Overall, Sanctuary have hit a home run with their return album. The riffs are there as well as the one of the best production jobs you are likely to hear this year, the albums sounds like a razor sharp turbo charged Judas Priest and has the kind of bite that came from the Andy Sneap produced Megadeth albums.  It is real treat for fans of anthemic, polished melodic metal.

 

7.0/10

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DAN O’BRIEN