Portland Progressive Trad Metal band Sleepless just released their new album – Host Desecration on the Metal Warrior Records label. The album is chock full of crunching riffs, shifty time signatures, great grooves, and killer vocals! Ghost Cult is teaming up with the band to give away two (2) CD’s or a vinyl (1) to three lucky winners! The vinyl is due out in June! Enter on our post on Instagram! US residents only. Details to win here:
Jeff Hanneman, legendary guitarist of Slayer passed away on May 2nd, 2013, nine years ago today. Ghost Cult continues to fly the flag of Slayer high, and customarily we celebrate the life of Jeff, the music he made and the stages he left scorched. His legacy as a riff maker, songwriter, soloist, and metal personality has not been dampened since his death. In the time since he passed, Ghost Cult covered Slayer just as heavily in Jeff’s life, as they released a final studio album with Jeff’s contributions (Repentless), had a legend and friend hold down his spot live (Gary Holt of Exodus), released a comic book with Jeff’s likeness, completed their final world tour ever of two years, released an incredible film/music video trilogy (The Repentless Killogy), former bandmate DaveLombardo wrote a loving tribute to his fallen friend, and we have created two career-spanning retrospectives (read them here and here) on the end of the band. From the time Jeff passed and every night on that final world tour, Slayer honored Jeff during ‘Raining Blood’ with the “still reigning” banner. As we say every year at this time: Hail Jeff and hail Slayer!
This is the most New York show I’ve been to in a long while. It felt like one big local show. That’s what happens when all five bands come from here. That being said, this show started earlier, doors at the renovated Irving Plaza were at 6 pm. or 1800 for non-Americans. Every few steps you ran into someone you knew. I saw a lot of faces that this was their first show since you know what. It’s rare to see in metal shows nowadays but this show had a host! Bassist extraordinaire, Dan Lilker from Nuclear Assault and Brutal Truth fame. MCed the whole night.
Bay Area thrashers Vio-Lence might have only been around for eight years but what a magnificent near-decade it was. From their classic hyper-aggressive debut Eternal Nightmare (MCA Records) to the controversial lyrics of ‘Torture Tactics’ and a deliciously questionable vegetable soup and vinegar “vomit bag” plastic record sleeve, the band also launched the career of a certain Robb Flynn who went on to form 1990s game-changers Machine Head, eventually to be followed by guitarist Phil Demmel. With three studio albums under their belts, the band went their separate ways in 1993, only becoming a full-time going concern again in 2019.
Five years used to feel like a long time in music. Entire scenes have risen, consumed all and fallen away to be a nostalgic footnote (or an ever-lasting sea change) in the same length between Once Human‘s last release and Scar Weaver (earMUSIC), their re-birth of a third album.
They say no band is really an “overnight success” in the music industry. Like most cliches, that one has been ridden into the ground by lazy people. Rolo Tomassi has been a band for over fifteen years at this point, and if their ascent to the top of the underground metal genre has taken you by surprise, you just weren’t paying attention. The band has been DIY (with some proper distro mixed in) the entire way, making music on their own terms, gathering forces of fans and waves of respect. Wearing many musical masks and expertly jumping from Grindcore, to Thrash, Hardcore, Pop Rock and even Blackened extremism, the band has always sported loads of talent and great songs. For their debut album for MNRK Music, Where Myth Becomes Memory, the band is determined to change your perception of the band, even if you are a longtime fan.
I haven’t been to a show downstairs at The Middle East since 2014 when Septicflesh and Fleshgod Apocalypse tour together for the Conquerors of the World Tour, so needless to say, this was both an exciting and nostalgic night. Dragon plated shoulder armor, Dungeons and Dragons lore discussions, and a theory about a giant tortoise God that will take over the universe alongside Cthulhu fill the air with anticipation for the first band to take the stage.
Stormkeep – Tales of Othertime
Featuring members of Wayfarer and Blood Incantation, Stormkeep plays Melodic Black Metal with a particularly epic flair. Their first full-length album, Tales of Othertime (Van Records), reflects great deal of influence from such groups as Dissection, Emperor, and Old Man’s Child. The production is claustrophobically atmospheric without getting too raw, the guitar sweeps are flamboyantly choppy, the vocals put in the expected rasps with the occasional cleans shining through, and the keyboards reinforce the theatrical aura without completely dominating the proceedings.
The songwriting also plays a fun game of contrasts with the six tracks consisting of four lengthy runs supplemented by a couple Dungeon Synth instrumentals. ‘The Citadel’ is a particularly striking example of the latter at work, putting in the sort of medieval swells and lonely trickles that would do Summoning proud, while ‘A Journey Through Storms’ makes for the most triumphant showing of the more orthodox Black Metal excursions. The album is very of its influences but with Stormkeep executing these tropes with such sincere fervor, the enthusiasm is contagious.
8 / 10
Wraith – Undo The Chains
Indiana’s Wraith has always been an enjoyable addition to the post-Midnight/Toxic Holocaust school of Blackened Thrash bands riding a gritty formula that is often simple but hard to truly screw up. Their third album, Undo The Chains (Redefining Darkness Records), shakes up the formula with some extra dynamics. Though still featuring a familiar mix of grimy riffs and filthy vocals, the band plays around with tempos more than before.
This is most apparent with the slow grind of the midway highlight ‘Time Wins’ though other tracks like ‘Gatemaster’ and ‘Cloaked In Black’ put in more mid-tempo chugs. Of course, there’s still plenty of fast hearty Thrash to go around and they even snuck a bit of Punk into ‘Born To Die’ and ‘Disgusting.’ Wraith albums always make fun listening for fans of the genre, but Undo The Chains is easily their best rounded effort.
8 / 10
Morgul Blade – Fell Sorcery Abounds
Morgul Blade’s first full-length is driven by a sound best described as Blackened Heavy Metal. The guitar leads and riffing patterns are driven by a dark Mercyful Fate-esque overcast with some tinges of Power Metal-inspired triumph while the vocals are in a near constant tug-o-war between baritone bellows and legible screeches. The production maintains a distant yet coherently grandiose haze all the while and there’s even a couple dedicated spots for some Synth layers to shine.
With these varying elements in a state of integrating and pulling apart, this would raise concerns that Fell Sorcery Abounds (No Remorse Records) is an incohesive listen. While ‘The Morgul Blade’ and ‘A Last Waltz of Gevaudan’ open on the album’s grimmest notes, things soon settle into an ominously anthemic air that comes through the most strongly on ‘In The Grip Of The Dark Lord,’ the Grim Reaper-esque ‘Sons Of The Night,’ and ‘The Five Will Ride at Dawn.’ I must admit the album might’ve benefitted from a consistently more upbeat pace, but this is a fun listen that lays down a neat template to develop even further.
8 / 10
The Night Eternal – Moonlit Cross
Coming off their 2019 self-titled EP, The Night Eternal’s first full-length does a lot to conjure the memory of In Solitude. Their Gothic tendencies are somewhat understated in comparison, but the combination of yelping baritone vocals and dark Mercyful Fate-inspired guitar acrobatics results in a similar blend of Doomy Traditional Metal. The first half is solid enough with ‘Son Of Sin’ putting in a particularly nifty Maiden-esque series of gallops.
The second half is where Moonlit Cross (Van Records) really picks up; ‘Shadow’s Servants’ is an enjoyable mid-tempo rocker and the rhythms on ‘Prison Of Flesh’ boast some forward momentum along with some extra conviction in the vocals that carries over nicely into ‘Closeness In Suspension’ and the closing title track. A rearranged track order might’ve made for an even more cohesive listen, but this is ultimately a fun niche effort.
8 / 10
Tower – Shock To The System
It’s been five years since TOWER released their self-titled debut, but their second album picks up where its predecessor left off. Shock To The System (Cruz Del Sur Music) continues to straddle the line between Hard Rock and Classic Metal with gritty rhythms, flailing twin guitars, and unhinged vocals ala Savage Master and Solicitor.
There’s been some solid developments in the songwriting as tracks like ‘Prince of Darkness,’ ‘Lay Down The Law’ and ‘In Dreams’ benefit from more fleshed out structures while ‘On The Line’ and the closing ‘Powder Key’ make for some hard-hitting rough and tumble Speed Metal. It’s a simple but effective execution that should sit well with old school Heavy Metal fans.
8 / 10
CHRIS LATTA
2021 has not been a good year for Power Metal. Whether that is genre-leaders Gloryhammer undertaking significant acts of self-sabotage and unforgivable prickery, or just the product itself – only Beast In Black‘s Eurovision bops came anywhere near denting our Album of the Year chart, causing a light scratch in the outer realms, with perhaps a dead cat bouncing Rhapsody of Fire with any legitimate claim to unfair treatment. Continue reading
