After 5 years, Greek Power Metal machine Firewind is back with a new album, Immortals (Century Media). In that time guitarist Gus G has been touring with Ozzy Osbourne, and the band has gone through another line-up change, with Henning Basse now admirably fulfilling the role of vocalist.Continue reading
Incubate, long a mammoth 10-day bonanza, cut up this year’s fest into four smaller, weekend snippets, after deep reorganizations and troubles last year. Because of the bus time of year, and the sheer volume and spread of bands and venues Incubate offer, Ghost Cult decided to focus mainly on its metal program. Here is how we wound down day two!
The 10th and 11th of December saw the third weekend of Incubate 2016. Incubate is a festival with a very broad scope, where music, film, documentary, and art are brought together in Tilburg and spread over several venues. This Sunday, one of the ten venues, the Dudok, was curated by the folk from the Little Devil, Tilburg’s heavy metal beer bar and concert venue, under the name LittleDevilXL.
In light of their most recent album, Runaljod – Ragnarok, Wardruna went on a European tour, playing two sold-out shows at Tivoli Vreedenburg in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Ghost Cult journalists Suzanne A. Maathuis and Lorraine Lysen went to Utrecht on Sunday the 30th of November to find out more about the latest album and some of the academic background of the project from Einar Selvik of Wardruna. He is also participating in this weekend’s New York By Norse event in partnership with Enslaved’s 25th year celebration. Einar talked with us about songwriting, the Rune Trilogy, Norse history and lore, the next Wardruna album, and much more.Continue reading
Wardruna recently went on tour to promote their latest album, Ragnarok (By Norse), the last in the Runaljod trilogy. After selling out the seated hall for Tuesday night, an extra show was planned for Saturday night in one of the standing venues of the building. Having sold out this evening as well, the band was greeted warmly by over a thousand enthusiasts. Continue reading
On a chilly Sunday evening, the small venue of the 013 in Tilburg is slowly filling up with Hard Rock lovers looking for a nice evening of musicianship and fun. Continue reading
Jackson Firebird are an Australian hard-rocking duo who crashed onto the scene in 2012 with their debut album Cock Rockin’. Now they are ready to misplace our socks again with their second album Shake the Breakdown (both Napalm Records).
Although the album opener ‘Mohawk Bang!’ seems to lodge this album in the Stoner genre, with its heavy, dirty riffs and slightly distorted vocals over a small range, by the fourth song, ‘High Love’, Jackson Firebird shows their true colours combining the best of both worlds with the cheer and riffs of Rock n’ Roll and the hard crunchiness of Hard Rock in a combination that you can either dance or bang your head to. While it may not have quite the raw swing of, say, Cold Chisel’s ‘Yakuza Girls’, Jackson Firebird throw a whole lot of modern sound into the mix.
Vocally the styles range from stoner, through a lot of Rage against the Machine in songs like ‘Sick n Tired’, to a style I normally associate with bands like The Black Crowes in the verse of ‘Shake the Breakdown’.
The album also contains two splendid covers, the first being a somewhat Stoner version Queen’s ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’, the second a really fast paced and swinging cover of ‘The Clapping Song’, originally by Shirley Ellis in 1965. In both cases the songs are arranged and performed in a way that makes it sounds exactly right for this band; adaptations rather than covers.
This is a very strong album where the sound is excellent, the songs are great fun, danceable, and well composed. Australia has a vibrant music scene and bands like Jackson Firebird, and Airbourne before them, prove that the Aussie combination of Rock n’ Roll with something harder is definitely alive and worth spreading.
8.5/10
LORRAINE LYSEN
With a career spanning 25 years, Amorphis are a true powerhouse in the Metal scene, and with the arrival of their twelfth album, it seems there is nothing that will stop them from going on for another 25. Under the Red Cloud (Nuclear Blast), is a testament to the skill and heart of these musicians. It is perhaps a tad heavier than most of their recent work, but it is once again filled with amazing licks, lyrics, and compositions.
The title track has an excellent intro with guitar and piano gently combined before diving face-first into the metal. Throughout the album the vocals switch the between a beautiful, crisp voice and deep grunts. There does seem to be more grunting than on the previous few albums, and this corresponds to the rest of the music. Much of the middle section of the album has a lot of elements of Black Metal, and Tomi Joutsen’s deep grunts are well suited to the style. ‘The Four Wise Ones’ is probably the blackest of the songs, while ‘The Skull’ combines Power, Progressive, and Black Metal into something heavy yet uplifting, with surprisingly sensitive twists. ‘Death of a King’ adds a delightful whistle over the grunts and heavy riffs.
But not all is heavy or blackened on this album; ‘Sacrifice’ is pleasant yet dark Power Metal, while ‘Tree of Ages’ is definitely barking up the Yggdrasil of Folk Metal. There is a spacy keyboard solo in ‘Enemy at the Gates’ and even a somewhat bluesy mini guitar solo in ‘Dark Path’, which also features a stunning intro with piano and acoustic guitar.
One of the absolute highlights is the album closer ‘White Night’, with its hauntingly beautiful female vocals and well as lovely melodies in the male vocals and guitars. Of particular note is how the beats of the drums and vocals alternate in the chorus to create a very unusual yet captivating sound.
One of the most impressive elements in Amorphis’ music is the flow of the guitar licks which, unlike in many other bands, doesn’t stop as soon as the singing starts. In ‘Under the Red Cloud’, for instance, the motifs continue behind the chorus. The effect is one of great vivacity. Another winning ingredient has to be vocalist Tomi Joutsen, because of the great variety and energy he brings to his vocals.
All in all it is clear that Amorphis have once again delivered an excellent selection of music.
9.0/10
LORRAINE LYSEN
Nechochwen are classified as Folk Metal, but whereas most music in that genre is inspired by Celtic or Nordic heritage, this band finds its themes in Native American heritage. Heart of Akamon (Bindrune/Eihwaz) is their third record.
‘The Serpent Tradition’, the opening song of this album, immediately showcases the folk and the metal that are combined in this band. The acoustic guitars sound magical, and while the switch from heavy to soft was abrupt, the build back into heavy is very well done. The clean vocals are beautiful, as are the acoustic guitar pieces intermingled with the metal riffs, and there is a lot of variation. However, the end is once again rather abrupt.
The more acoustic-centred songs such as ‘The Impending Winter’, ‘October 6, 1813’, and the guitar section in ‘Traversing the Shades of Death’ are really well crafted and unique, while the metal sections and songs, such as ‘Skyhook’, are good but not truly remarkable.
The musical highlight of this album, however, is the instrumental ‘Kišelamakong’. It is a beautiful composition.
One point that this band could improve upon is cohesion. There is a bit too much of a split between folk and metal, and while ‘The Serpent Tradition’ for instance has sections where they blend together perfectly, this does not happen often or fluently enough on other parts of the album. Additionally, the switches between loud and gentle are at times too abrupt, while being very organic at other points. While each individual section is very good, the changes in speed in the introduction of ‘Škimota’ aren’t great. The addition of the drums helps keep the following variations together.
Finding a balance throughout the songs or even the entire album would make a massive difference. Still, there are a lot of excellent pieces of music and it is certainly an album worth listening to.
7.5/10
LORRAINE LYSEN
