Haunt is one of the best DIY bands in the USA right now, and have made a career of great heavy metal, and smart marketing tactics. Matt interviews Haunt’s Trevor Church to get the story.Dumb and Dumbest Episode #431 is streaming now and it’s all about Trevor Church of Haunt on Making An Income On DIY! Dumb and Dumbest is hosted by Matt Bacon (Dropout Media, Ripple Music, Prophecy Productions), and Music Publicist Curtis Dewar (Dewar PR). In addition to the podcast, Matt and Curtis also run The Music Marketing Challenges: low-cost, super high-value private training to bands and artists. DM Matt, Keefy or Curtis at the links below for details
Tag Archives: Traditional Heavy metal
ALBUM REVIEW: Tyrant – Hereafter
Tyrant’s long-awaited fourth album, Hereafter (ShadowKingdom Records), has come out under some rather interesting circumstances. In addition to serving as the Pasadena veterans’ first full-length since 1996’s King of Kings, Hereafter sees journeyman vocalist Robert Lowe at the helm in place of Glen May. The prospects of this collaboration are certainly intriguing, especially as a fan of Lowe’s work with Solitude Aeturnus and Candlemass. I wouldn’t go so far as to think of it as Tyrant gone doom, but it approaches their established sound from a noticeably different angle.
Mirror – Mirror
Latest of the new wave of stoner/revival/heavy metal bands, Mirror have an impressive and diverse collective CV of work behind them. A Face on the Doom scene, bassist Tas Danazoglou (erstwhile of Electric Wizard and Great Coven) is the main driver behind this band, along with drummer Jaime Gomez Arellano (Blutvial and Septic Tank). The band is very upfront with what to expect from Mirror (Metal Blade), their debut album: “The recording boasts strong melodic ideas with classic, heavy riffs inspired by the sounds of Scorpions, UFO, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple and the like.”
The album’s opener – ‘Mirror’ – is so ridiculously Maiden that it’s almost a surprise as the vocals start that it’s not Ol’ Foghorn himself making a guest appearance. Instead, Jimmy Mavromatis turns in a performance far more reminiscent of Blind Guardian‘s Hansi Kürsch. The song doesn’t suffer from it though – it’s the best of the bunch. ‘Curse of the Gypsy’ is a grandiose affair which reminds strongly of Ghost. The foot comes off the throttle for the stargazing ‘Year of the Red Moon’, where the inevitable Hammond organ makes its appearance and settles in for the remainder of the ride and ‘Heavy King’ is a fine track in the Deep Purple vein with a strong backbone and some lovely breaks from each band member. ‘Madness and Magic’ brings the (classic rock flavoured) doom and ‘Galleon’ brings us back to Killers-era Maiden, while ‘Cloak of a Thousand Secrets’ turns up the heat again for a boisterous hybrid of Blind Guardian and UFO. ‘Orion’s Sword’ servers an extended acoustic(y) intro to the closing track – ‘Elysian’ – which pretty much shoehorns everything from the rest of the album into one song.
As I’ve said before, revival bands often struggle to find their own sense of identity, but I don’t think this is true of Mirror. They’re honest about what they’re aiming for, they’ve delivered as promised and the end result does stand on its own whilst paying authentic homage to the giants of 70s metal. What lets Mirror down is the killer/filler track list (‘Mirror’, ‘Gypsy’, ‘Heavy King’ and ‘Secrets’ being the killers), and the dry production. Now, I fully appreciate that this sound is a central part of the feel the band are going for with this album, but it detracts from almost all the tracks, robbing them of the punch and depth that a richer sound would yield.
Nevertheless, a decent debut, and if you’re into the likes of Purson, Ghost or The Sword, you’ll probably get on with Mirror.
6.5/10
PHILIP PAGE
Wolf – Devil Seed
Niklas Stålvind has led his Wolf project for approaching 20 years, with Devil Seed (Century Media) being opus number 7. Along the way he has replaced each of the bands component parts several times over, yet has retained a focus of vision in the classic Heavy Metal sound that pours from every follicle of their newest outing.
Devil Seed starts well, and when Stålvind is on song, such as on the excellently titled opener ‘Overture In C Shark / Shark Attack’, his troupe are reminiscent of classic Accept, razor riffing with a touch of groove, a driving back beat, and a fist-in-the-air chorus. This is followed by ‘Skeleton Woman’ with its crashing open chords, darker prowl and powerful “Collecting Skulls!” refrain, calling to mind the vastly underrated Metal Church.
But from here on in, Wolf fall into the formulas and trappings of so many of their peers, not only unable to maintain consistency, but identity too, all too often sounding like a mesh of other bands, and, like so many others, not possessing distinctive character of their own. An unnecessary reliance on metallic mid-tempo nondescript riffs and cliché lyrics and titles, the like of which littered Judas Priest’s Jugulator and Demolition (both SPV), puffs out much of the album; ‘Surgeons of Lobotomy’, ‘My Demon’ and ‘Back From The Grave’ form a jelly-like spine of an album that bounces from good (‘I Am Pain’ and the prowling standout ‘The Dark Passenger’, which harks to Fight’s ‘Laid To Rest’) to mediocre. As if to prove the point further, the album limps home with stodgy duo ‘River Everlost’ and ‘Frozen’ before picking up pace and quality with closer ‘Killing Floor’, replete with Mercyful Fate riffage and bringing an energy sadly lacking from half the material.
Stålvind is a strong vocalist, not too dissimilar to Mike Howe, and certainly fitting for a Heavy Metal band. However, Devil Seed reaffirms that one man does not a band make, and a more creative and dynamic foil is needed if this Wolf is to ever step out from the pack.
6.5/10.0
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STEVE TOVEY