My Dying Bride - The Barghest O'Whitby

Genre: Doom Metal
Name: My Dying Bride
Album: The Barghest O' Whitby
"I doubt I shall ever come back..."

It's true; I have been neglecting this blog. The last post was almost three months ago, and that was hardly standard fare for DkP. I can only offer my apologies; unfortunately, personal issues have had me waylaid from my usual musical fare. However, the skies are beginning to clear, and once again, I can return to the wonderful world of web-logging.

On that note, let me turn your attention to the subject at hand. My Dying Bride, lords of all things doom, have granted us all with another release. This EP, titled The Barghest O'Whitby, is a sharp contrast to their last output; Evinta, a 3-disc, 14-track, orchestral work could not be more different to a this 27-minute, traditional, magnificently metal work.

Musically, this work is excellent. Taylor-Steels' drumming is second-to-none; Abé's bass complements it magnificently. The guitar work is masterly yet melancholy, the harmonies as heartbreaking as they are heavy; showcasing Craigan and Glencross at their best. They combines with Macgowan's virtuoso-standard violin to create howling, haunting melodies, befitting the cold, blusterous north-English moors, upon which this tale is set. That tale is expressed in as dolorous a style as might be expected by Stainthorpe. His vocal work is exquisitely agonised, and lyrically, it is exceptionally well-written. All in all, it is a brilliant release, exactly what has come to be expected from My Dying Bride.

Summary: A doleful, doom-filled, heavy-as-hell EP for all metal fans out there.
Lyrical Themes: A Barghest
Rating: 8/10

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Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn Of Events

Genre: Progressive Metal
Name: Dream Theater
Album: A Dramatic Turn Of Events, 2011
Not immortal, just a man...

Well, they're back, and so am I. Before we wander through this musical landscape, let me first inform you a little of the background.

From the very inception of Dream Theater, Mike Portnoy, winner of countless "best drummer" awards, and the second youngest ever inducted into the Hall of Fame, was a constant present. In his own words "Hell, my father even named the band". He was a constant link between the band and the fans, spent hours coming up with carefully individualised setlists for each concert, and was a figurehead who lead the band lyrically and musically.
However, these days were not to last. Portnoy, during his time touring with Avenged Sevenfold, weighed down by is innumerable side projects, approached the other members of the band to ask for a five-year hiatus. They didn't share his opinion - none of them were so over-encumbered as he - and eventually they decided to continue without him. They began searching for a new drummer, and, shortly before Portnoy contacted them to ask if he could come back, they offered the place to Mike Mangini, an excellent drummer who had set five World's Fastes Drummer records. Portnoy was rejected, and thus began a new chapter in the careers of both him and Dream Theater.

As the eagle-eyed and well-read among you will have noted, I am a drummer, and thus you will no doubt have concluded that I may well have collapsed into tears at Portnoy's departure, and vowed never to listen to Dream Theater ever again, in a foolish fit of anger and passion. If that is the case, then I'm sorry to disappoint you. Whilst Portnoy will be missed, this album is a shining example of Dream Theater's musical brilliance, and I could not recommend it more.

The easiest way to analyse this album is to go through and see what changed, and what didn't, with Portnoy's departure. The most obvious place to start, therefore, would be behind the kit.
Despite having chosen Mangini as their new drummer early on, it was not possible for him to be included in the writing process. Instead, he was sent songs with pre-programmed drums, for him to learn, and "add his own stuff". These were, on the whole, written, primarily, by Petrucci. This combination created a notable difference to previous Dream Theater drums. Indeed, at times, they sound less like a drum kit and more like a percussion section - the toms at the start of "Breaking All Illusions" for instance. However, this is certainly not bad - whilst the unique drumming may jar very slightly at first, due to its novel structure, upon repeated listens, it becomes very easy to appreciate them.

However, Portnoy was not just a drummer. He was also a major lyricist. contributing half the lyrics on Black Clouds and Silver Linings. His abscence led to Petrucci writing on eight of the nine tracks, and, whilst Petrucci is often a good lyricist, he is rarely a great one. Portnoy, on the other hand, regularly wrote excellent lyrics - "Home", "Honor Thy Father", "Never Enough, and, of course, the Twelve-Step Suite. As a result, whilst the lyrics on this album are not bad, they are very rarely amazing.
There is, however, one beneficial side-effect of Portnoy's departure to be found here. He insisted that all lyrics were presented with some form of musical layout as well - that is, taking the step from poetry to song, and thus the framework of a track was already required. As a result, the already infrequent lyrics of Myung were forced to vanish - he had not written since Scenes From A Memory. However, here, he makes a brief, and much heralded reappearance in Breaking All Illusions. I personally enjoy his lyrics, and thus am very grateful for his return.

Musically, as well, Portnoy had a great influence. In this album, you can clearly hear the keys becoming far more free. This is in part due to Rudess taking a greater degree of control (although Petrucci still remains a leader), but also due to Portnoy's absence - he was far more in favour of guitar work than the piano melodies we find here.
The result of this is a wide-ranging musical style. We have the traditional, heavy, metallic sections,as found in "Build Me Up, Break Me Down", and far more mellow songs, like the album's final track "Beneath The Surface". Beyond this, you will find a blues solo ("Outcry"), some mellow jazz ("Breaking All Illusions"), choral arrangements and even a deep-Amazonian lesser-spotted throat warbler ("Bridges in the Sky"). The range in style is only mirrored by the range of instruments - there's even a harp in there - and is just one of the things that makes this such a good album.

In conclusion therefore, I would - and do - commend this album to everyone. It's a fantastically progressive album, magnificent in conception and execution, and definitely worth a listen. It promises great things for the future - the return of Myung, the contributions of Mangini, and more of Rudess' excellent keyboard work. The only downside to this brilliant work is that it took the departure of an excellent and highly esteemed musician, lyricist, producer and friend to the fans to achieve this. Mike will be missed.

Summary: An exquisite opus from the true kings of Progressive Metal, and a beacon of things to come
Lyrical Themes: varied: relationships, the Arab Spring, Lifestyles, Shaman's dreams, et al.
Rating: 9/10, recommended
Track listing:
1. On The Backs Of Angels
2. Build Me Up, Break Me Down
3. Lost Not Forgotten
4. This Is The Life
5. Bridges In The Sky
6. Outcry
7. Far From Heaven
8. Breaking All Illusions
9. Beneath The Surface

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Tool - Lateralus

Genre: Progressive Metal
Name: Tool
Album: Lateralus
...Mention this to me

Simply put, Tool are one of the most progressive bands of all time.

Just take a look at the time signatures they use. "Schism" is written, according to the band, in 13 over 16 (or 6.5/8, depending on the band member), and then later goes into 11/8. "Lateralus" was written in a complex set of shifting signatures: 9/8, followed by 8/8, then 7/8, then back to the start.

However just using weird time signatures would not be progressive enough. The subject matter must be, in and of itself, completely bizarre. "Lateralus" is the perfect example of this. It has been assigned various interpretations; ranging from LSD to alchemy, but the most common one is the human quest for knowledge. This is mirrored by references to the Fibonacci sequence, the golden ration, a famous mathematical sequence, incarnate in the letter "Φ". The observant among you will have already noticed one: 987, hidden in the repeated time signatures, is the 17th number in the sequence. On top of this, Maynard, the singer, has carefully controlled his vocal work. Consider these lyrics:

Black
And
White are
All I see
In my infancy
Red and yellow then came to be
Reaching out to me
Lets me see.
There is
So
Much
More that
Beckons me
To look through to these
Infinite possibilities
As above so below and beyond I imagine
Drawn beyond the lines of reason
Push the envelope
Watch it bend*

The syllables for each line fit the sequence: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 5, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 8, 5, 3. But as if that were not enough, the timing itself is perfect. Maynard begins singing 97 seconds in. Put that in minutes, and you'll find that it can be written as 1.618 (give or take): the golden ratio.

I could just leave it at that. But there's so much more to say, like how the drummer thinks he can only drum well with a carefully forged gong inscribed with obscure symbols hanging behind him, and bases his patterns on the universal hexagram, or a bassist who has synaesthesia and thus paints songs, rather than writes them. I could go on for hours, pages, entire essays on the subject. However, instead, I shall simply finish by comparing Tool to liquorice. An acquired taste, but an unforgettable one, of which everyone who loves can never get enough.

Summary: Difficult, confusing and complex progressive metal, but excellent, and definitely worth the work.

Lyrical Themes: Obscure, and occasionally NSFW (not here). Includes drugs and human pursuit of knowledge

Rating: 9/10 - recommended

Track listing:

1. The Grudge
2. Eon Blue Apocalypse
3. The Patient
4. Mantra
5. Schism
6. Parabol
7. Parabola
8. Ticks and Leeches
9. Lateralus
10. Disposition
11. Reflection
12. Triad
13. Faaip De Oaid


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*Lyrics never officially published; just another example of Tool being ridiculous. Apparently, they have too much impact on the meaning of the song.

Also worth noting - comparisons that I had for Tool while writing this review were Marmite, Liquorice (made the cut), Onions and Parfait. I'm incredibly hungry.

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muukalainen Puhuu

Genre: Psychadelic Black Metal
Name: Oranssi Pazuzu
Album: Muukalainen Puhuu, 2009
...The Spaceman says "Everybody look down, it's all in your mind"...

Well, I think it's obvious that the first thing about this band that caught my eye was the name which is, to say the least, interesting (translated, it means "Orange Pazuzu", Pazuzu being a babylonian demon king of the winds, with a serpentine ahem phallus). However, I have higher standards for inclusion in this documentation of metallic awesomeness than merely an amusing name, and, fortunately, Oranssi Pazuzu have this in spades.

The album's meaning is "The Alien Speaks", and this, combined with the cover that is eerily reminiscent of Vashta Nerada, gives a great idea as to the sound of this album: it sounds like the musical outpouring of one of Scooby-Doo's space-suit-clad, manically-laughing, helium-addicted enemies. It is filled with high-pitched keys, jumping at odd intervals and tremolo guitar, used very effectively to create a slightly menacing and quite haunting atmosphere. Not being fluent in Finnish, I can not comment on the lyrical content, only the delivery, which is not particularly passionate, but well executed. The one criticism I have of this album is that the drums are not particularly imaginative, however, they are by no means dull. All in all, it is an odd, but interesting album, with a decent amount to be said for it.

Summary: What happens when you give Spooky Space Kook a guitar
Lyrical Themes: "The dark corners of space and the mind"
Rating: 8/10
Track listing:
1. Korppi - Raven
2. Danjon Nolla - Danjo's Zero
3. Kangastus 1968 - Mirage 1968
4. Suuri Pää Taivaasta - The Great Head From Heaven
5. Myöhempien Aikojen Pyhien Teatterin Rukoilijasirkka - The Praying Mantis of the Theatre of Latter-day Saints
6. Dub Kuolleen Porton Muistolle - Dub to the Memory of a Dead Whore (of Babylon)
7. Muukalainen Puhuu - Alien Speaks
8. Kerettiläinen Vuohi - Heretic Goat

Myspace
Download - coming soon! (well, -ish...)

Evoken | Beneath The Frozen Soil - Split

Genre: Doom Metal, Drone Metal
Name: Evoken and Beneath The Frozen Soil
Album: Split EP, 2010
Droning on and on and on

Unfortunately, there isn't really enough to say about this for a full review. I had expected very good things from Evoken, and thought that if I reviewed this split, I could talk about Beneath The Frozen Soil too. However, there was actually very little to say.

In this release, at least, Evoken did little to back up their apparant notability and success in the doom metal scene. Although the riffs on the guitar were vaguely interesting, the only change in dynamics or tempo were brought by the drums, which created only a weak illusion of speed - the riff would remain constant, but suddenly the drums would speed up significantly, without any change in melody whatsoever. This, it seemed was their only contribution to the "death" in their supposed "death/doom" tag. I found their music, at least in parts, closer to drone metal than traditional doom - it sounded more like Wreck Of The Hesperus or perhaps some less distorted Moss. This release is possibly not their best, but I cannot say that enjoyed their part in it particularly, as proven by the fact that I began to fall asleep. I will, however, investigate some other works of theirs, to see if they can redeem themselves.

On the other hand, Beneath The Frozen Soil seemed to be the better band, fitting more in the death/doom niche that Evoken had so skillfully avoided. The gutteral vocals were quite good, the guitar not atrocious, but nothing was particularly notable. They are worth a listen, but there is nothing that makes them stand out.

Summary: Fairly dull and unoriginal for the most part, but good "filler" music, if you want
Lyrical Themes: Suffering and Dissillusion
Rating: 5.5/10
Track listing:
Evoken
1. Omniscient
2. The Pleistocene Epoch
3. Vestigial Fears
4. Into the Primal Shrine
Beneath The Frozen Soil
5. Ironlung
6. Monotone Black I
7. Monotone Black II

Myspace Evoken
Myspace Beneath The Frozen Soil

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Draconian - Where Lovers Mourn

Genre: Doom Metal
Name: Draconian
Album: Where Lovers Mourn, 2003
It is said that Draco himself, when asked why he had fixed the punishment of death for most offences, answered that he considered these lesser crimes to deserve it, and he had no greater punishment for more important ones - Plutarch, The Life Of Solon

Of late, I have been trawling the internet looking for a good doom metal band whom I have not yet heard; it had occured to me that, whilst My Dying Bride, Swallow The Sun and Triptykon were all very good, even when I had every last song, it still wasn't enough. So, I have been for a stroll through the tubes, and come across a variety of bands - some atrociously bad, some hilariously awful, and some so unoriginal as to be the greatest acts of plagiarism since Nosferatu, but none that I genuiniely enjoyed for the music. None, that was, until Draconian came up on my radar.

They passed the initial checks - I hadn't heard of them before, and they didn't seem the usual satanist, bland, raging rubbish that passes for metal these days. I gave them a listen, and I was not disappointed - far from the expected atrocities, I was treated to a rather excellent and exceptionally enjoyable album - Where Lovers Mourn.

Draconian have several things that make it a cut above the rest - the exceptional vocals, the wide use of instruments and the ability to be cheesy without being cheesy. This is made all the more impressive by the fact that it is the band's first full-length album.

The primary reason for the vocals being so impressive - and of course bear in mind that vocals are more important in Doom Metal than many other forms of music (choirs, of course, excluded) - is because they come in so many varieties. For starters, they have two members of the band who are purely vocals - not singing and guitar, not singing and keys, not singing and violin - just purely their because of their voices. There are three different vocal styles in fewer than the first three minutes of the album - by 2:16 of The Cry Of Silence you have had clean vocals, female singing and then death growls. In addition, none of these are weak, or tacked on - each plays its own part, and sounds damned good whilst doing so. The singing harmonies on A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal (note the Wordsworth reference - Romantic era poetry and doom metal go hand in hand, it seems) are exquisite, and there is more excellent vocal work on The Solitude.

Aside from vocals, the instrumentation is very good as well - the two guitars work well together, and the bass is certainly interesting. But besides this they have a variety of other instruments employed to create a multitude of textures. For example, the piano on the end of track one is mournful indeed (my one problem is that it seems tacked on the end - the song fades away, then the piano fades in; the one thing which I dislike about this album is that they didn't integrate that piano more); the piano then appears quietly in the background in The Solitude. Besides this, there is an acoustic introduction to Akherousia and rather delightful strings to be found in tracks two and three.
The range of instruments, however, is not confined to riff-based melodies or chord sequences, as doom metal often can be - there are themes and even a solo or two to be found amongst the songs. All in all, it is musically very good.

As for the "cheese factor", all indicators would suggest that it would be there in abundance. The final line of The Cry Of Silence begins with "Oh my God", which has a faint air of a teenage girl complaining about her curfew to her mother, and throughout the lyrics there are spatterings of "thee" and "thou" and "art", and many more "olde worlde" words. In addition, they are no strangers to standard sound effects - their next album, Arcane Rain Fell would begin with the sound of rainfall, with a thunderclap just as the words begin (that said, Dream Theater got away with that). However, despite all this, somehow you don't cringe; somehow, it all actually works together and sounds rather good. It's not self-concious, and it's not overdone. The words and phrases all fit, thread and flow together well, creating a brilliant album which is definately worth a listen.


Summary: Excellent doom metal, in the vein of My Dying Bride; similar, but not derivative

Lyrical Themes: depression, lonliness, misanthropy

Rating: 9/10 - recommended

Track listing:
1.The Cry of Silence
2.Silent Winter
3.A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal
4.The Solitude
5.Reversio ad Secessum
6.The Amaranth
7.Akherousia
8.It Grieves My Heart

Myspace

Download

Discography - DELAYED DUE TO TECHNICAL HICCUP, expect it Thursday, or Friday at the very latest.
unfortunately, I am missing one demo (Shades Of A Lost Moon), their compilation (The Burning Halo) and one single (No Greater Sorrow). Links to these would be appreciated, and then this can and will be updated as soon as possible.

Angtoria - God Has A Plan For Us All

Genre: Gothic Metal
Name: Angtoria
Album: God Has A Plan For Us All, 2006
Music begets more music

I cam across this album while researching My Dying Bride, and discovering that Aaron Stainthorpe had done some of the vocals. So, after a brief excursion to Youtube, I decided that this band must be worth a listen, and I wasn't too disappointed.

This band has quite some musical heritage: The singer, Sarah Jezebel Deva, was a member of Cradle of Filth, the brothers Chris and Tommy Rehn have been in Abyssos and Moahni Moahna, respectively, and the bassist is Dave Pybus of Cradle of Filth (again) and Anathema and the drummer appears to have been from a certian My Own Grave (not the one that features on this album, however. Originally just Deva and Chris Rehn, who met while touring together, after a successful demo including the cover of a Kylie Minogue song, the band featured on a compilation and then recorded this in 2006.

As for the orchestration, you can clearly here the influence of Cradle of Filth in the extensive use of orchestras - this also is the result of C. Rehn's idea for a completely orchestral project. Throughout this album the orchestra, and especially the strings, provide a melodic background, to the extent that guitars are few and far between. However, the one purely orchestral piece does not live up to the rest of the album - the introductory track Awakening seems, whilst not quite atonal, to be lacking an actual melody, and is more a series of themes, placed one after the other, swiftly changing and never developed. Fortunately, in later songs Angtoria easily show that they are capable of much more.
Aside from the orchestra, there is also exceptional use of keyboards and synthesisers, especially in Suicide On My Mind, which add an interesting touch of variety from time to time. The percussion section is also very good - whilst the drums never seem divinely inspired, there is an interesting use of rhythm from time to time, and the more relaxed and mellow percussion on What The Wise Lady Said. Indeed, The Addiction sees the use of very good drums, reminiscent of E. S. Posthumus

However, I did have one or two problems. I won't mention about how dull it is that the entire album is in common time, but I will express a personal dislike for the singer's voice. Whilst in Cradle of Filth, she was very good; however, in this album, aside from the fairly predictable vocal melodies, there is just something, some sort of twang in Deva's voice that I can't get along with. However, that is just my opinion, and she is a very capble singer - in the intro to Confide in Me, there is an excellent moment when you start of listening to a violin, and then, slowly and subtley, it changes, until you have an epiphany when you realise that what was once a (very good) violin melody is now being sung, but you couldn't pinpoint the change at all. Besides this, there is a bit of variety created by the use of death growls in Original Sin, which create an interesting change whilst remaining comprehensible. Another variation is found in Original Sin, where Stainthorpe makes his token appearance with a spoken contribution.

In addition, the almost obligatory use of breaks does tend to wear a bit as the album progresses, since there is a moment in almost every song where everything just stops for a second or two, then carries on. As a musical device, it is somewhat overused, and rarely well executed - look at Suicide On My Mind. However, once again, there are moments where it is very, very good: for example the breaks in Deity of Disgust are excellent.

In conclusion, therefore, I would say this is a good album, but not a great one. It has its moments, but it also has its flaws. Overall, however, it is worth a listen, and I'd recommend it to any Gothic metal fan.

Summary: Interesting and well orchestrated Gothic metal, but with a few problems that need a bit of a patch

Lyrical Themes: "abuse in general"

Rating: 6/10

Track listing:
1.The Awakening
2.I'm Calling
3.God Has a Plan For Us All
4.Suicide On My Mind
5.Deity Of Disgust
6.The Addiction
7.Six Feet Under's Not Deep Enough
8.Do You See Me Now?
9. Original Sin
10. Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman Scorned
11. Confide In Me (as made famous by Kylie Minogue)
12. That's What The Wise Lady Said


Myspace

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Lupus Nocturnus - Suicidal Thoughts, Pt. 1

Genre: Doom Metal
Name: Lupus Nocturnus
Album: Suicidal Thoughts, Pt. 1, 2008
Latin Americans

Here is a midweek post for you, to make up for my computer's failings. I'm having to use a public computer to do this. Still, we struggle on nonetheless.

Lupus Nocturnus (latin for "night wolf") are a Mexican black metal outfit from Mexico (that's another flag for the wall-map) who have only two releases - a split EP with Infernal Hate (which was faster than this, and far closer to their "black metal" label), and this full-length. It's almost an hour long, but only four tracks, with one exceeding twenty minutes in length.

Musically, it's generally quite slow - closer to dark and doom metal than black metal. Compare it to Trancelike Void's heavier stuff, only less black and more grey - in fact, I believe that I even mentioned them in that review. However, the key difference between them and all the other black/dark bands out there is the vocalist. Note the careful avoidance of the word "singer", because I doubt many people would care to describe the sounds which pass his throat as singing. However, it certainly noteworthy - he manages to sound very similar to the wolf to which the band's name refers. This, I'll admit, could be seen as a novelty; however, I think that it is actually - well, not musical, but certainly an interesting change.

Aside from the vocals, however, there is not a huge range of musical ingenuity - it is, for the most part, the same old chords changing every bar or two - not varied or oddly timed enough for post-metal, not fast enough for punk. It's got low production value, but that, I feel, adds to the atmosphere, which it has in great quantities.

However, they are perfectly good at what they do, and their interesting vocals stand out from the (not too large) crowd of black/dark metal bands, thus making them worth a listen. Enjoy!

Summary: Good, for what it is. Worth a listen, if you like this sort of stuff

Lyrical Themes: Howling...

Rating: 7/10

Track listing:
1. Intro (Suicidal Thoughts)
2. Depressive Landscapes
3. Immense Loneliness
4. Dying On The Mountain


Myspace
Download

Dream Theater Bootlegs

Hey,

Sorry, but this week (note subtle hint at the possibility of regular posts) I don't have time for a full review. Instead, enjoy these covers of classic albums

Dream Theater have covered, live, these three albums: Number Of The Beast by Iron Maiden, Master Of Puppets by Metallica and Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd.

Enjoy!

Download Number Of The Beast
Download Master Of Puppets
Download Dark Side Of The Moon

Haken - Aquarius

Genre: Progressive Metal
Name: Haken
Album: Aquarius, 2010
Saint-Saens gets an update

VISIONS: COMING SOON!
Check back after October 25th for Haken's new album

Firstly, I would like to offer an apology for the recent (and not so recent) lack of posts. I have, like so many bloggers, it seems, had far too much on. However, the supply of time now exceeds my demand for it, and so time is cheap. Hence this post.

I was flicking through the blog the other day when I realised that I had posted no progressive metal at all. This, I felt, was a travesty. Therefore I resolved to post some as soon as I could, and could think of no better band to choose than Haken.

As with most of my random bands, I was at first drawn in, if you'll pardon the pun, by the artwork. But, unlike so many other albums, Aquarius lives up to the cover. It tells the story of a child born with fins and a tail, and what happens to it. But this is told exceedingly well. The singer is very talented, and the lyrics are also worthy of praise, although they occasionally leave a little to be desired.

However, it is the instrumentation that makes this album the masterpiece it is. Firstly, there a wide-ranging set of instruments is employed: trombones, trumpets, clarinets and flutes all add to the harmonies, and even the strings of a harp can be heard. However, it is not just this variety that makes it so good: the "core" instruments - guitars, bass and, for Haken, the keyboards all are brilliantly written and exceedingly well arranged. For example, if you take the introduction to the second track, Streams, you find the piano with a lovely melodic tune, then added too by some nice cymbal-work, with the other instruments coming in well over the top. However, the instruments are all playing their part - none are just filler.
They also ignore convention, as progressive bands tend to do, and often use odd time-signatures: for example, the chorus of Aquarium switches to 7/8 time for two bars, then back to more conventional times, and then back again. In addition, the songs are allowed to flower, given the full time they need to expand and develop themselves; often over ten minutes in length, they expand even up to seventeen for the final and fantastic conclusion to the album.

However, it is all very well to write music and stick words on the top of it, like an old glacé cherry atop a lovingly prepared cake. However, Hakenhave refused to do that. Their music works with their lyrics, not around it, and it is not made subordinate. I think that it fits the concept perfectly. Keeping to the same section, the piano fits perfectly with the story - it gives a great sense of the flowing water of the stream, with its tinkling melody. And it is not just Haken who had this idea. The more classically inclined amongst you will already be thinking of one Camille Saint-Saens, a Romantic composer who wrote the famous 14-movement suite The Carnival Of The Animals. One of the movements is called Aquarium, and the melody is carried by not one but two separate pianos, playing glissandos and Chopin-esque ostinatos. That, too, gave, and indeed gives, a brilliant sense of water.

If I had to make one criticism, however - and I probably do - it would be that the songs often do not work as well as individual tracks, but only as an album. There are a few that sound just as good on their own, but, for the most part, you have to spend a good seventy-seven minutes listening to the whole thing.

Despite this, however, due to the astounding music, the brilliant lyrics, the range of influences and the general excellence of the album, I would recommend this to all of you. Enjoy!

Summary: Brilliant melodies, written as music not as riffs, combined with a fascinating concept. Well worth a listen.
Lyrical Themes: A concept album about a mermaid, of sorts, born to a human couple
Rating: 9/10
Track listing:
1. The Point Of No Return
2. Streams
3. Aquarium
4. Eternal Rain
5. Drowning In The Flood
6. Sun
7. Celestial Elixir

Myspace

Download

P.S. If anyone can find and link me to either of their two demos, which I have not been able to track down, that would be much appreciated. Thanks, and enjoy!

Trancelike Void - Destroying Something Beautiful

Dual Review:




















Genre: Black Metal
Name: Trancelike Void
Album: Destroying Something Beautiful (2008)and Silhouettes of Misery (2010).
Deep Thought II

Thirteen posts and already I'm resorting to the same artists. Ah well.

Anyhoo, you may remember that last time I reviewed these Belgians, all the way back in April, I reviewed an EP of theirs, and, whilst it was good, it wasn't particularly great: 22 minutes and about 6 riffs. However, various sources informed me that I had picked a particularly unusal output for the duo, and I wasn't showing them in their true glory, so I promised a review of something else of theirs shortly.

And, as always, I forgot.


However, I went through my posts the other day to see what I'd promised you, and, sure enough there it was. A quick trip to the internet, and I have two reviews for you: the one I owed, plus interest.

Destroying Something Beautiful is Black Metal, but not in the syle of Abigail Williams. This is more abstract, more like Burzum or Lupus Nocturnus (both coming soon - well, soon-ish. Maybe a month). It's a mix of the heavy, pounding, slow, repetitious chords, distorted and layered on top of simple drums and new-age-esque, harmonious, abstract interludes, much shorter than their grittier partners. Also, for once, tracks labelled as interludes actually act as interludes, rather than just being a short sound clip they liked but couldn't actually fit anywhere else (I'm looking at you, Enter Shikari).

It is certainly more diverting than The Stone Pond, and keeps the attention far more easily. While it is perhaps slightly simpler - okay, significantly simpler in composition than that EP, which used more than three strings, I prefer it. This is mostly because it's just my thing - (mostly) instrumental, heavy, fairly depressing - and I can certainly see that people might not agree with me. However, this album has an advantage over its predecessor because it's possible to hear it without the volume raised to the maximum possible level.

Despite the interludes, which certainly create interesting diversions - and, in fact, even including them - this album remains probably far too simple for most people. The chords follow mostly the same patterns, with only the occasional diversion, the drums are simple and certainly aren't "driving", and the whole thing seems almost willing to fade into the background. Even the interludes only get your attention because they're not the same sequence on repeat. However, as I've said, this is what I like. It's my cup of tea (Earl Grey, no milk, no sugar, a little bit of lemon). I enjoyed it, especially the exceptionally atmospheric epilogue, which is closer to a none-acoustic Where The Trees Can Make It Rain


Silhouettes Of Misery, however, is much closer to that EP than Destroying Something Beautiful. For starters, it's acoustic, and therefore doesn't have those pulsing chords of Destroying Something Beautiful. It's based a lot more on simple, repeated riffs than heavy and distorted chords, although there are acoustic equivalents. But there is nothing to say on this album, really. I have just sat through the three-quarters of an hour it took me to play it through, and found nothing worth commenting on that makes it any different from Where The Trees Can Make It Rain. The only thing I can think of - and I'm really grasping at straws here - is that the drums appear more, but that's mostly because it's longer. There's nothing wrong with it, I didn't actively dislike it, but it just didn't do anything to grab my attention. It just made me sit and think (in this case, about html - how do I get one link to open two tabs?), and I that's probably the point. It certainly was a lot more effective in this regard than Destroying Something Beautiful, and I'm sure a lot of people like it. However, I'd only have it on as white noise, or as something peaceful if I were a hippy and wanted to meditate.

Overall, Trancelike Void are a band that, if not obsessively introspective themselves, certainly encourage their listeners to be. They do compose music that holds the attention like a sieve holds water, but when you return from the ether of your thoughts, you emerge into a calm and controlled auditory landscape, sterilised and peaceful, and fairly pleasant. That is what it's about, I suppose, and I'm sure many people find this helpful. However, I'm capable of thinking deeply without musical supplements, so certainly Silhouettes Of Misery isn't for me.

Summary: Calm thought-provoking music, but not something you can rock out to.
Rating: 7/10 and 6/10

Track listing:
Destroying Something Beautiful
1. Prelude: Descent
2. Part I: Everything Falls
3. Interlude I: Daydream
4. Part II: Fragile Conciousness
5. Interlude II: Nightmare
6. Part III: Total Desolation
7. Epilogue: Escape

Silhouettes Of Misery
1. Paranoid Melancholy
2. One Bridge Drowned
3. Blood
4. An Essence Of Tragedy

Myspace

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Abigail Williams - Legend EP

Genre: Black Metal
Name: Abigail Williams
Album: Legend (2007)
And mark this — let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.

This was a landmark moment for me. Back in the good old days, when the HMV metal section was three units wide, and they had bands other than the big four and Taking Back Sunday, I found this for but a trifle and snapped it up. I later found where I'd heard the name before - Arthur Miller's The Crucible, based on the Salem Witch Trials, hence the quote above (On a side note, it's a good play. Go out into the real world and see it some time). Anyway, I had my first black metal album, and I've never regretted it.

It is, unfortunately, quite short - 20 minutes, 5 songs - but it is brilliant. The Conqueror Wyrm is, for me, the flagship track. Its introduction catches you like a sever dose of cholera, and the sudden slow section stop your heart with sorrowful sublimity. Then as the song fades away and you are left with a crackling recording of an aged man, your pulse slowly fades away, flat-lining into the silence. Yes, this song probably isn't good for your health, but nothing fun ever is. Like catching bullets in the gap between your ear and your skull. That would explain why, with only one full-length release, they've already got 18 ex-members.

But its not just the one track that's awesome. The piano in Watchtower is exquisite, the vocals permanently sound just like a banshee "sucking a scream to stab me with", the drummer is probably the first octopus-human hybrid, and the guitar lines are simply superb. The lyrics aren't perhaps the most unique, but they're certainly not bad.

As always, however, there are moments where you suspect that they felt obliged to make the track longer but couldn't come up with anything, so just put some notes together and played them really fast. But fortunately these moments are few and far between, and even when they do occur, they're blissfully brief, and, at any rate, no worse than plenty of other bands.

In short, the whole thing is rather good, and is what got me into Black Metal in the first place. Go have a listen, and you'll see why they have always been in my ten favourite bands.

Summary: Melodic Black Metal, done very well
Lyrical Themes: Nonsensical metaphors in general, based on death, darkness and the cosmos. Some simply based around quotes.
Rating: 8/10

Track listing:
1. From A Buried Heart
2. Like Carrion Birds
3. The Conqueror Wyrm
4. Watchtower
5. Procession Of The Aeons

Myspace (no songs from this EP)
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Lamb Of God - Sacrament

Genre: Death Metal

Name: Lamb Of God

Album: Sacrament (2006)

Virginia: where Death Metal is good

Now, as you may have guessed from previous reviews, I am not the biggest fan of Death Metal. I have the odd band that deserves its place on my iTunes - Opeth, for example, or Lair Of The Minotaur (although the latter is mostly because of the names - I mean, "Assassins Of The Cursed Mist" is just hilarious), but as a general rule, I shun Death Metal, making sure that it is kept alone in the corner of the room with the Dunce hat on its head. I don't like it much. In fact, that is somewhat of an understatement. I think Death Metal did for Metal what Stalin did for Communism.

There are, on Encyclopaedia Metallum over twenty-six thousand Death Metal bands, accounting for over 35% of the total number of bands on the website. By contrast, Thrash Metal has only 17 thousand, Heavy has only 11 and Power a mere 5 (they have 11 genres in total, so the mean value is about 6,000. Death metal has over 4 times this amount).
This is, of course, not counting the thousands more bands out there, as yet unsigned. The true figure is probably over thirty thousand, even being conservative. Death Metal is saturating its own market. To bring it closer to home, a friend of mine quit the band purely because it was Death Metal, and he realised that it was never going anywhere.

But why does this subgenre proliferate, whereas others remain confined to the shadows and lurk in the depths of obscurity? I think the answer is fairly simple - it's easy to play.
Most Death Metal songs are in commontime and are played in straight quavers, semiquavers and crotchets. Most Death Metal songs are riff-based and use repeated power chords as their main tune. Most Death Metal songs are short, most Death metal songs have a bass copying the guitar and most Death Metal songs have, in some form or another, the beat blast drumming. It is this kind of simplicity that often drives people to metal in the first place – they’re sick of hearing the same I-IV-V-I chord structure on the radio, with whichever band happens to be popular at the moment droning over the top about whichever girl the singer saw on the train going to the recording studio.

Let me assure you that I accept this is a generalisation. I know that not all bands are play in 4-4, not all bands keep to the same chord pattern for the whole song and not all bands have unoriginal and ancillary drums, but it is perfectly true for most Death Metal bands, and that cannot be disputed.
Everything about the songs is designed to sound difficult: Yes, the songs are fast, and yes, it is difficult to get up to that speed, but not that difficult – most guitarists or drummers can play at these speeds, and whilst they should be proud of this, it is not a unique feature – these are not a “select few” by any stretch of the imagination. The vocals are designed to sound hard to replicate, and yes they are – you can damage your vocal chords significantly by doing this, even to the point, supposedly, of throat cancer. They are difficult to do, in the same what that it’s difficult to swallow a live grenade whole – that doesn’t mean that it’s impressive.

But besides this, everything seems added-on to the main piece. Let’s look at it on an instrument by instrument basis. The Guitar is often just the same one or two simple riffs on repeat. The bass usually is just mirroring the guitar, and the drums are just there to add to the noise. The vocals – well, I’ll get onto them in a minute, if you can bear the suspense.

In short, the entire thing is just noise, with these things added on to give the pretence of music. Every instrument is there simply because it “needs” to be there. You couldn’t have a band without a guitar, so let’s throw something in for that. The same for bass, and the same for drums, and the same for vocals.

But the vocals themselves demand attention in their own right. Firstly, unlike most other genres, they are not poetic, nor are they designed to be. They are, often, prose. There is nothing wrong with that at all. But look at the contents:

My Latex Queen, by Dark Funeral
Latex queen - feel my tongue in deep
Whirls around - climax is almost found
I rise to my feet - erection slides in deep
I pound you hard - latex queen feels so sweet
Feels so sweet...

Psychopathologist, by Carcass
I like to slide my hand inside your stomach
And rip out the putrid remains,
Drink the pus and munch on the internal organs
Until all the casket is drained.

Necropedophile, by Cannibal Corpse
I begin the dead sex, licking her young, rotted orifice
I cum in her cold cunt, shivering with ecstasy
for nine days straight I do the same
She becomes by dead, decayed child sex slave
her neck I hack, cutting through the back
I use her mouth to eject

Another song, from the aforementioned band of my friend, was called “Trepanation”. For those of you who don’t know, that’s the practice of drilling holes in people’s heads to relieve headaches. And yes, it was described in graphic detail.

These lyrics are disgusting – intentionally so. And that is part of the problem. The whole point of Death Metal is “sticking it to the man”. It’s about dragging up the sordid elements of humanity, about the hypocrisy of society, about breaking free from social norms and doing your own thing – Anarchy. (Ironically, you’re not, because there are twenty six-thousand other bands doing the same thing, but that’s already been said). There’s nothing wrong with that. But instead of pointing out these problems, or commenting on them, they instead simply try to shock people. They want people to be revolted. They feel obliged to, as a Death Metal band. Occasionally, they put on a facade of intelligence by using long or scientific words – Putrefaction, enzyme, lecherous – but overall these add nothing – they are describing these things for the sake of it. They are easy to write about, and they have great effect. When you’re trying to add lyrics to a song, why not just fall back on this generic and unoriginal topic? It’s a quick, simple fix.

Now, I coul abide all this – I don’t complain about the Satanism or National Socialism abundant in Black Metal. I don’t complain about My Dying Bride’s “erotic” lyrics. I don’t complain about the more simplistic and dull melodies found in much Thrash metal – if it were not for one thing. Death Metal is seen as representative of all metal. And this infuriates me.

Ask any fan of The Killers or of Jay-Z or of Eminem what metal sounds like, and they will always, without fail, say that it is screaming and fast and loud. Never mind the fact that Metallica, the most famous metal band in the world (open to dispute, but I would say so) are not representative of this. Death Metal makes its mark – it crops up in the news as the reason why some teenagers have murdered some other teenager, for example, and people assume that all metal is like that. And that is simply not true. Not all metal is angry. Not every metalhead is a Satanist. We don’t all run round in corpse paint with knives in our hands trying to mutilate defenceless old ladies in Tesco before devouring the beaten heart with our recently-bought ketchup and chips. We are all tarnished with the same brush. And that is unfair.

So, in summary, the reasons I hate Death Metal are as follows:
1. It’s simple to the point of being boring
2. It’s far too dominant for its own good
3. It is designed purely to shock, and no thought that goes into either the lyrics or the music
4. It is seen as a representation of all metal, and hence people have preformed opinions about you when you say you listen to “metal”.
5. It’s not very good.

My apologies for this somewhat excessively long rant and for who disjointed it is. I will come back to it and edit it at some point. Now, onto the main business of the post.

After all this, you may be wondering why I have put Lamb of God up for your listening pleasure. It’s this simple: they don’t suck. They are one of the few Death Metal bands who, for one reason or another, don’t actually sound like the defacatory matter which their song is describing. The reasons in Lamb of God’s case are as follows. The riffs, whilst they are riffs, are interesting, and aren’t just simple chords on repeat. The lyrics actually have required some thought, and are about something the writer actually knows about, or has experienced (which I hope so much can’t be said about Cannibal Corpse). But, most of all, the drummer is a god.
This album in particular embodies all these features, so that is why I have posted it. Yes, it’s fairly old , but for those of you who haven’t heard any Lamb Of God before (do you live in a cave?), it’s a good starting point. But most of all, it proves that there is such a thing as good death metal
Enjoy!



Summary: Death Metal sucks, except for this album, and a very few others.
Lyrical Themes: Anger, Why Various Unnamed People Suck, Posers
Rating: 8/10

Track listing:
1. Walk With Me In Hell
2. Again We Rise
3. Redneck
4. Pathetic
5. Foot To The Throat
6. Descending
7. Blacken The Cursed Sun
8. Forgotten (Lost Angels)
9. Requiem
10. More Time To Kill
11. Beating On Death's Door

Myspace
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Saturnus - Martyre

Genre: Doom Metal

Name: Saturnus

Album: Martyre (2000)

Who says metal can't be soothing?

Saturnus, as far as I can discover, have very little particularly interesting or noteworthy about them, so I cannot fill this post with my usual random useless titbits of information, except for the fact that they have had 8 ex-guitarists, which, all things considered, is quite a lot.

Anyway, on to the main business of the day: the album itself. Whilst the band may not be noteworthy, the music certainly is. This starts, like all good Inspector Morse episodes, with a choir, vocalising an exceedingly plaintive tune, which immediately grabbed my attention - I'm a sucker for choirs, not least those who sing in Latin. This artfully arranged piece, cryptically named "7" is followed by the equally excellent "Inflame Thy Heart", which changes styles significantly - no more the choral majesty, but rise the growled death vocals, complete with obligatory raven and night references. The guitar line is exactly slow enough to maintain interest while inviting contemplation (compare with Sunn 0))) ). But the excellently stately fretwork is swiftly surpassed by the piano, wrapping up the song with ornate and sorrowful ease.

Track 3 is more brash and abrasive, and brings to mind My Dying Bride with its temptress-based lyrics, and, in short, is a sharp turn from the past tracks. This is followed by another contrast, and another, and the whole is soon less than the sum of its parts. Whilst this album is made up of excellent songs, they do not fit together - they are great individual songs, but this album has the feel more of a compilation than an album in its own right.

"Lost My Way" is, for example, close to thrash (not quite, but getting there), and whilst it is an excellent track, with amazing backing vocals and guitar riffs which demand, and receive, undivided attention, it's not quite what the album left you expecting.

The closer, however, does precisely what is required. The acoustic intro, followed by keyboard backing and suitably whispered devotions to some bright-eyed girl. It gives an excellent sense of closure, whilst leaving you wanting more (if you'll excuse the somewhat cheesy oxymoron).

As a whole, the album is worth a listen. The vocals, be they choir, clean or cathartic growls, are not, as on other albums, an obligitary addition, but complement the music very well; the drums are simplistic but effective; the guitar carries mournful music with ease and efficiency; in short, excellent doom metal.

Summary: A great introduction to Doom Metal. If you haven't heard any before, or are being recommended it, try this.
Lyrical Themes: Sorrow, Loss, Death, Temptresses
Rating: 7/10

Track listing:
1. 7
2. Inflame Thy Heart
3. Empty Handed
4. Noir
5. A Poem (Written In Moonlight)
6. Softly on the Path You Fade
7. Thou Art Free
8. Drown My Sorrow
9. Lost My Way
10. Loss (In Memoriam)
11. Thus My Heart Weepeth for Thee
12. In Your Shining Eyes

Myspace

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Carach Angren - Death Came Through A Phantom Ship

Genre: Symphonic Black Metal

Name: Carach Angren

Album: Death Came Through A Phantom Ship (2010)

Don't listen to this alone

It's back.

Sorry for the delays. As I said, I had a lot on my plate. But it's all finished now, so expect more of these.

Now, the main business. I'll make no bones about it: Carach Angren are, by a long, long way, my favourite Black Metal band. They haven't done a huge amount: a couple of EPs and a pair of full length albums, but what they have done is astounding.
This album is certainly their best work, and I'll tell you why.

When I first heard of this band, I didn't expect much of them: the subject matter didn't seem particularly unique, their names were obviously fake, and they just seemed pretty much standard: nothing notable, but possibly worth a listen.

I set off that night, plugged in my headphones and set the album running. Electronic Voice Phenomena seeped into my ears like blood through a rotten floorboard. My heart raced and I had scarcely rounded the corner before I was checking over my shoulder for cursed daemons of the night or other beings from the netherworld and dragging my twitching hand from the skip button. My shadow had become a doppelganger, intent on devouring me. The street lights flickered as if controlled by some malevolent force. The very air had frozen, in anticipation of my impending bloody slaughter. In short, the atmospheric opener scared me more than any thoughts of a serial killer ever had, would or could. Quite a good start.

I no longer paid any attention to where I was going; my feet took over as I focused on this audible ambrosia that was filtering into my ears. I was shocked to discover myself in the park when I looked up. The Sighting Is A Portent Of Doom kept up this unsurpassed style, with brilliantly arranged orchestral movements blending seamlessly into the driving guitars and double-bass drums. The brass comes in to close it, perfectly timed, with echoes of the Wolf theme of Prokofiev.

But it only got better. The third track is practically a horror movie in itself - I never thought that I would class shotgun blasts and falling corpses as music - and there on the tale of the nautical psychopath is mirrored perfectly by the backdrop of excellent orchestration and just general musical brilliance. Themes are played that are practically perfect, and I cannot find a single bad note or undeveloped phrase in the entire thing. Not once do they resort to blast-beat drumming, nor to simplistic rhythyms for but an instant. Yes, they do sometimes base themselves, briefly, on straight 16th bass drums, but never at the expense of the song, and never with every thing else made simple: always they have something interesting, something that seizes your ear and props it open with matchsticks.

But what makes this so special is that it is, in the absolute meaning of the word, unique. No other band could come up with this, nor would be able to do it justice when covering it, and I don't say this lightly. This is most easily shown by the lyrics. During Bloodstains On The Captain's Log, they list the cargo of the ship. Now, I know that sounds dull, even on a par with The Catalogue Of Ships (if you don't get the reference, get out. Now.), but it isn't. Somehow, "ivory and opium" is exactly what you want to hear. You realise that it's a "glimpse in his eyes", not a glint, that would be different. "A vicious false dog" is the perfect description. As you can see, the lyrics are certainly different. My personal opinion is that they were written in Dutch originally, and then translated. Certainly, that would explain "Weigh the anchor and hoist the sails!
Work harder you drunken snails!
For treasury like pepper as gold.
Let this nautical voyage begin.
We are powered by strong European winds."

But if you want a true measure of their individuality is the 6th track, which acts as an interlude: Al Betekent Het Mijn Dood (Even if it means my Death). The entire song uses just one tom (or perhaps timpani). There are sound effects of the ship, and you can even hear actual singing (not shrieks) - and it's rather good singing too. It exquisitely conveys fear, without need for screams or speed, but simply with a few violins and some trombones. It show their skill at arrangements, if nothing else. It is, in short, the perfect example of why Carach Angren should be a lot more famous than they are.

Summary: The pinnacle of Black Metal. Think Abigail Williams meets Beethoven at the cinema whilst watching a Ghost Ship. Oh, and they're both on LSD.
Lyrical Themes: It's a concept album about ghost ships, possession and divine curses.
Rating:9/10

Track listing:
1. Electronic Voice Phenomena
2. The Sighting Is A Portent Of Doom
3. And The Consequence Macabre
4. Van Der Decken's Triumph
5. Bloodstains On The Captain's Log
6. Al Betekent Het Mijn Dood
7. Departure Towards A Nautical Curse
8. The Course Of A Spectral Ship
9. The Shining Was A Portent Of Gloom

Myspace

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Giant Squid - Monster In The Creek

Genre: Sludge Metal, Post-Metal, Progressive/Experimental

Name: Giant Squid

Album: Monster In The Creek (2005)


Sludge without distortion...

I came across this band after re-igniting my interest in Sludge/Post-Metal after buying a CD. Not just any CD, but a CD that spins. More on that another time, however. I heard about Giant Squid, who seemed to fit my criteria completely: I'd never heard of them, nor had anyone I'd spoken to, they were obscure, had a cool name and were, for the most part, impossible to find.
There were no CDs to be found anywhere, and a cursory search of the internet revealed nothing. Eventually, I found what I was looking for: a passworded .rar. After much detective work, with just a user name, I found myself in Portuguese webspace, and, with my (not so) excellent linguistic skills, found the original file, complete with password. And my gosh, was it worth the wait.

Now, personally, I wouldn't class Giant Squid, or at least this EP, as metal. Maybe not as Progressive. Probably not as Post-Metal. Definitely not as Sludge. But clearly I must have my definitions wrong as everyone else seems to think they are. But I adamantly say that they're not.

Now, why would I say that? Well, let's cycle through the genres one by one.
Progressive is out the window because most of it is in simple time signatures. Admittedly, they have a keyboard, but that's not enough. A keyboard alone doesn't make your band progressive.
Post-Metal... well, they're not quite arcane enough. Post-Metal needs to be cryptic and odd and just generally slightly unnerving, like seeing a chainsaw lying around untended in a psychopathic ward in an asylum, or that bit in a level where it's really quiet and empty and there's nothing to kill, but you know that any second the zombie hordes will show themselves. It isn't quite that unusual, or at least, not in that way.
And as for sludge, well, let's just say that distortion has never been important to them, and they don't scream.

So I have dubbed them with the catch-all term "experimental" (the equivalent for rock is that most annoying of terms "Alternative"), and leave it up to you as to what to term them.

Anyway, back to the music.
When listening to this, I'll admit I had to force myself through the first track. Aurielle Zeitler's vocals aren't brilliant, to say the least. She can't carry a song. However, when she reappears in other songs, she makes up for it, and sounds a lot better. But, if you can grin and bear it, "Monster In The Creek" is a good song.

The EP itself has an interesting basis: it's mostly about the the Jersey Shore Shark Attacks of 1916, upon which the novel Jaws was based. It was also self-released - they called themselves Tyrannosaurus Records, which is rather good, as names go.

The best song is by far "Dare We Ask The Widow?", which is typical of the album - it's mysterious, with a haunting opening guitar line that wouldn't seem too out of place a Zelda game. I haven't quite worked out specifically what it's about, but I'm not sure I want to - It can be about anything, and sounds like it should be. The chorus is exquisite, and it's here that Ms. Zeitler comes to her prime. Indeed, this song could be Post-Metal, now I think of it - it's haunting, and odd, and definitely sounds like that bit where the zombies are hiding round the corner.

The EP generally does itself proud: the keyboard and guitar alternate the melody well, and, although the drums sometimes jar slightly, the simplicity makes a change (especially from Tool - 6.5/8 makes for interesting drumming sessions, let me tell you). But, in general, it's very good. It has a somewhat relaxed air about it - none of the songs are particularly fast, nor do they need to be. Occasionally the vocals do break into near shouts, but not enough to make it a trend, and again, they don't need to. The whole EP is clean as a whistle: clean guitar, clean vocals, clean keyboard (can you have a dirty keyboard?) and even clean drums, with open hi-hats being the norm, and I mean that - I think his pedal must be broken. Or he needs double bass for very slow rhythms.

In conclusion, this EP is well worth a listen. It's perfect for that space in a playlist where you need a breather, or an interlude, but it also is perfectly capable of being what you rock out to, or even, at a push, headbang. Fortunately, you don't have to go to Portugal to hear it.

Summary: Not quite mystic, but getting there. Clean, simple, minimalist.
Rating: 7/10

Track listing:
1. Monster In The Creek
2. Dead Man's Creek
3. Age Of Accountability
4. Throwing A Donner Party
5. Dare We Ask The Widow?
6. Lester Stillwell

Which genre would you say they were? Do leave a comment (The bit where it says "X guitarists have auditioned for the band")

Myspace

Download (from a non-Portuguese and non-passworded website)

Netherbird Dual Review

Genre: Melodic Black Metal

Name: Netherbird

Album: The Ghost Collector (2008) and Covered In Darkness (EP, 2009)


Malice Through the Looking Glass

I have good news and bad news: The bad news is that I won't be able to buy a Netherbird CD this weekend. The good news is that they offer two available for download on their website! With the booklets as .PDF files! They, my friends, are awesome, which is only further proven by the fact that, on their facebook page, if you ask a question, leave a comment or just headbutt your keyboard, they reply. Awww, shucks... ain't that just dandy?

Netherbird, until very recently, had no line up - that was, apparently, part of the point. The vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist shared "a vision on how to write and record metal music without the limitations of a set line up or metal". They, however, have now procured a bassist, presumably from some form of lost-and-found, and have set themselves to release their second full length CD on May 15th (besides this, they have three each of EPs and Singles).

I plugged my ears in and bathed in the intro to The Ghost Collector. This track, "Dead Grid Incantation", has lyrics worthy of Carach Angren, and music just as good. The postponement of the final whisper of terror only adds to the tension, which is shattered by the sonic violence (and we all love gratuitous violence) of "The Blackest Breed", the first song of theirs I heard, and the only song I needed to hear to get hooked. The sublime blending of high-pitched black metal shrieks and deep death-metal doom-laden vocals create a chorus of epic sonic attributes, and the pair of tracks set the perfect tone for the following songs.

And not only are the vocals good, but the lyrics are poetry par excelence. The epitome of this can be found in the second track - "The darkness is our salvation now, / We have all become malice in wonderland" is simply exquisite. Ever since I heard it, I've been cursing myself for not having thought of it first.

The rest of the songs do not disappoint. The exemplary examples of black metal are rounded off brilliantly with the strings of an orchestra, and are interspersed with the occasional atmospheric piece, the most notable, and probably my favourite, being "Boulevard Black (Reprise)".

This excellent track is preceded by the centrepiece of the album, "Boulevard Black": 14 minutes of snares, bass drums, guitars, keyboards, piano, an orchestra second to none (well, maybe London Philharmonic) and, of course, screams which pierce your very soul and drag you down to the lowest levels of Beelzebub's palace of punishment and pain. And following this dramatic track, you are met by my aforementioned favourite: the piano is simply excellent, once again bringing back memories of "Electronic Voice Phenomena". In short, these guys really need to tour with Carach Angren.

Having now turned my attention to the EP, "Covered In Darkness" (nice pun), I found myself desperate to find out who these bands were. Annihilator and Paradise Lost are just outside my musical circle, with the former only existing on a Painkiller live album and the latter constantly nearly breaking in, but always superseded by someone else. However, this EP has been the greatest propaganda on behalf of the four bands covered that I've ever met. Paradise Lost are covered to begin it, with the quite scary intro to "As I Die" rattling the bones before we move on, and eventually we reach "Alison Hell", by Annihilator, which has captured my ear and my heart. All the covers are excellent, and inspire me to both explore the covered bands music, none of which I have heard before, and also to buy more Netherbird. Anyone who can cover something so well (especially songs not originally made for black metal) clearly has a very musically talented mind.

Summary: Excellent examples of why keyboards should be compulsory for any Black Metal band. Instantly shooting up to at least my top three, if not higher.
Rating: 8/10
Track listing:

The Ghost Collector
1. Dead Grid Incantation
2. The Blackest Breed
3. Carcass Symphony
4. Adrift On The Sea Of Misery
5. LightHouse Eternal (Laterna Magika)
6. Hidden Beneath Flesh Pest Ridden
7. The Beauty Of Bones
8. Forever Mounful
9. Adrift Towards Eternity
10. Blood Orchid
11. Ashen Nectar
12. Boulevard Black
13. Boulevard Black (Reprise)

Covered In Darkness
1. As I Die (as made famous by Paradise Lost)
2. Nepenthe (as made famous by Sentenced)
3. Alison Hell (as made famous by Annihilator)
4. Firmament Vacation (as made famous by The Soundtrack Of Our Lives)

Myspace

Download

Netherbird (Promo)

Hey guys,

Facebook adverts are an awesome way to find crazy bands: I found Moss (there's another promised review) that way, and now have found "Netherbird", a Swedish (they're always Scandanavian in some form or other) black Metal ban. I think that, from what I've heard so far, they're absolutely epic. Expect a review shortly, as soon as I've pieced the money together to get the CD (most likely not prior to this weekend).

Until then, to sate your appitite, here is their youtube page: Listen to that and tell me it's not absolutely awesome.

Abigail Williams have some tough competition, methinks.

Echo's Wolf out.

Coheed And Cambria - Year Of The Black Rainbow

Genre: Debateable. Supposedly Post-hardcore or Punk, I say Progressive Metal

Name: Coheed And Cambria

Album: Year Of The Black Rainbow (2010)

And the speakers played black...

Coheed and Cambria have been one of my favourite bands ever since a friend played me one song - just one - from the album "Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV, Part One: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness" (yup, it's a long title). I eagerly anticipated this album, and, dashing into my HMV snapped it up as soon as I could.
My expectations had been high for this album, having recently bought my own copy of the aforementioned album (their best, in my opinion) and The Sheep, a Rock Band fanatic having told me that "Guns of Summer" was now officially the hardest song on Drums. I was, in short, setting unreal expectations. After all, Coheed & Cambria are, unfortunately, only human.

Before playing the CD, I noticed the lack of any 'Suites': There were no songs all under the same name, as their had been for the Velourium Camper (In keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth), the Willing Well (Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Part I) and The End Complete (Part II: No World For Tomorrow). This was a disappointment for me: I had found that C&C reached their pinnacles in these sagas of sorrow. In addition, the artwork was mostly abstract, rather than the detailed, if bizarre, images of before. The only image I can remember is the "ashen crow", and there were others, but they weren't pictures of anything, especially not of the story: they were simply images.

I seated myself in front to the CD player and awaited the excellence. After a very atmospheric intro track, The Broken leapt forth with lyrics of the type I'd come to expect from Claudio Sanchez - "Your red lips speak of painted figures, The teeth of mangles little listeners, The thoughts that hide your rusty scissors and hooded men" is a prime example: it's dark, nearly nonsensical and creates the perfect image in your mind. Alas, that's all that seemed to seize my heart: The guitar seemed to have been stolen from another track and, for reasons I've never quite worked out, I've never really listened to, or though much of, Coheed & Cambria's drummer, which is foolish, because he's really quite good.

The song was good, don't misunderstand, but it wasn't Coheed & Cambria. I simply took it in my stride as a blip, and listened to the eagerly-awaited Guns of Summer. Alas, it seemed to be more of the same: Sanchez' lyrics, but guitar from a combination of Tool and Metallica, with maybe just a hint of Megadeth, all merged into a synthesizer-like machine, which seemed too fast for its own good, not like the usual shredding of the twin guitars. It was very, very odd. And it continued in this vein, even progressing by the fourth track to screams. Coheed & Cambria never scream - their lyrics are too poetic for such a thing. I desperately checked the CD, but I had not been mistaken: it was Coheed and Cambria blaring through my speakers.

The fifth track - "Far" - brought to centre stage something that had been annoying me the whole time, nipping at my heels. I ignored my worries that this was possibly the mellowest song on the album (misplaced) and focused on the music. It was like the other three bands I've mentioned, but not really: it only bore a passing resemblance to them. But nonetheless, it sounded familiar. It was as this song faded in that I realised: This entire album was actually Cult Of Luna! Somehow, during the recording process, the whole thing had been sped up. This came all the more evident during "This Shattered Symphony": the guitar line in the Chorus is nearly stolen from Leave Me Here, my favourite Cult Of Luna song.
But besides the speed of the songs, there was another key difference. If you listen (or at least, when I listen) to Salvation by Cult Of Luna, the entire album, despite the distortion, gives off an aura of minimalism, and a clean, uncluttered sound; much like the album cover: The speakers seem to play 'white'. This album was living up to its name, however: It was ridiculously dark. Coheed & Cambria had been serious before, but not spooky, not actively verging on the point of horror. This album sounds like the mind of a serial killer, or the thoughts of a scizophrenic madman. That's not bad, but, my gosh, it's not Coheed & Cambria. As I listened to this, I began to dread the oncoming apocalypse, the end of humanity and all bad things that are fated to pass. In short, this album was amazing: the album played 'black'.

Eventually, Coheed & Cambria seemed to have muscled their way into the recording studio, and you can hear them warming up in tracks such as "World Of Lines" and "Made Of Nothing (All That I Am)", with excellent backing vocals, a trademark of theirs, but the apocalyptic feel returned towards the end, after the partially acoustic love song "Pearl Of The Stars" (well worth a listen), even with their presence, evident in the names of the songs: "When Skeletons Live" and "The Black Rainbow".

The album ends brilliantly on said track, a very typical ender for C&C in the form of a long, spooky, dark and slow piece (See "The Willing Well IV: The Final Cut"), and I was just about believing that Coheed & Cambria had, if nothing else, at least overseen the production of the album, and maybe jotted down the lyrics. But I was not sure why this was how they had opened the Amory Wars saga (inside knowledge required here, I'll explain in a footnote): the end-of-the-world, dystopic feel was more suited to the ending, surely, after the destruction of the keystone?

I love the album - it haunted me more than my black metal whispers of ghost ships, tales of zombies and even my favourite post-hardcore album "Worse Than A Fairy Tale", which describes, in graphic, if poetic, detail the deeds of one invented serial killer in and around a certain Saylor Lake. It had the atmosphere of a doomed mission to reignite the sun, and was brilliantly written and excellently played, with guitar lines to rend hearts and licks that could kill the weak of heart in an instant. It just wasn't Coheed & Cambria, though, and I wasn't sure at first. But if this is the direction that C&C are going in, post Amory Wars, then I'm all for it. As soon as the CD finished I played it again, and a third time, not moving from my seat, just revelling in the sheer majesty of it.

In short, I would recommend this album to anyone, but, if you want to know what Coheed & Cambria are really like, then get hold of a copy of either of the "Dear Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV"s, which are by far their best pieces.

Rating: 9/10

Summary: Apocalyptic, nightmarish visions of doom and filiacide.

Lyrical Themes: The opening of the Amory Wars (Parents try to kill their children for complex reasons, and the kids flee to destroy the universe, obviously)

Track listing:
1. One
2. The Broken
3. Guns Of Summer
4. Here We Are Juggernaut
5. Far
6. This Shattered Symphony
7. World Of Lines
8. Made Of Nothing (All That I Am)
9. Pearl Of The Stars
10. In The Flame Of Error
11. When Skeletons Live
12. The Black Rainbow

Myspace
Download blocked by DMCA, twice. Therefore, buy it from here.

Steel Panther - Feel The Steel

Requested Review:


Genre: Hard Rock, Metal, Glam

Name: Steel Panther

Album: Feel The Steel (2009)


My apologies for the vulgar language below..

Talk about a one-track mind...

Well, I think that Metacritic has got it dead right for once: They gave a review (at time of press) of 55/100. Steel Panther have been around since 2001, and this is their second release (the first that is all music) and fourth name (the others being Danger Kitty, Metal Shop, and Metal Skool). If you glance at the track listing below, I think you'll get an idea about what their songs are about.

The album can be summed up by the fact that the first word is "fuck". If Corey Taylor can be lampooned for his overuse of particular four letter words, I fail to see why Steel Panther can get away with it: there a 32 uses of "Fuck" or derivatives in the album, excluding repetitions (in choroi, for example), and those are only the ones in the booklet. In total there are 77 words that have been obscured with at least one asterisk, by either the record company or Steel Panther themselves, though I fail to understand why: it's not as if anyone who's reading this is going to decide not to complain because of a couple of asterisks.

Even if you do not find this annoying, the lyrics aren't exactly imaginative: "I wanna f*ck you, you f*cking wh*re" (their asterisks) is standard, and the fiery torments of Beelzebub and all of his minions take place in an area described as "really really really really really hot" (which takes up two lines). To be honest, if you asked my dog, he could probably come up with better lyrics than that.

There is only one song that is not based around what the vocalist would like to do to members of the opposite sex, and only one of those that's not completely vulgar (Eyes Of A Panther, which is, aside from "Death To All But Metal", the only actually acceptable song on this). I can understand songs making fun of things - Two acquaintances of mine have done a pair of songs, one of which is called "Two Fatties On A Bench" (but the title of the other one eludes me), based on this. I remember fondly the song "London Underground" which made the circuits in 2005. But this is "an exercise in taking jokes too far."

There are occasional moments of musical flair when "Satchel rips it up", and the hammered dulcimer at the start of the second track is an interesting touch. Party All Day sounds, for the most part, a little like Bon Jovi (take that how you will). There are these occasional moments, but not enough to compensate for the sheer lack of even vaguely interesting acoustics elsewhere: the bass is incoherent, the drums could fit any song, and the riffs are more often than not predictable, dull, or simply standard. In short, their is no prowess to be found in this veritable peal of pandemonium.

But I could abide all this - I'd never listen to it again, but I wouldn't actively hate it - if they hadn't brought down a variety of other people with them: hidden on the CD are Brett Anderson and Allison Robertson of The Donnas, Matt Nelson, Justin Hawkins from The Darkness, Anthrax's Scott Ian and one of the Atomic Punks; namely, Joe Lester. None of those particularly annoy me either. But then they brought in the aforementioned Corey Taylor on three - three! - tracks and M. Shadows on another. That's a total of eight guest musicians (far too many, in my opinion) and
lowered two of my favourite metallic heroes to their level, thus incurring my wrath. I know, it's terrifying. But at least you guys won't damage your ears. Please, take my advice and burn any copies of this CD you may happen to see. If you don't take them out of the shop first, it's not stealing!

And just to show that I'm not the only one who finds this atrocious, I thought I'd give you a few other quotes:
"Steel Panther's ability to create songs that sound like they came from 1987 is commendable. That's about as close to clever as it gets, though. As David St. Hubbins said, "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever," and Saenz's locker-room humor wears thin quickly." - Allmusic - NME
"only those with a retarded grasp of comedy would want to sit at home and listen to fifth-rate, crass glam-metal parodies with titles such as ‘Asian Hooker’ and ‘Stripper Girl’."
"They can still be fun dealing with other topics than sex." - TheLineOfBestFit.com

Rating: 2/10
(Below that, and it's classed as hip-hop, R'n'B or rap)

Summary: It's vulgar, unimaginative and is much like the "Girl From Oklahoma" - she sucked, too.

Track listing:
1. Death To All But Metal
2. Asian Hooker
3. Community Property
4. Eyes Of A Panther
5. Fat Girl (Thar She Blows)
6. Eatin' Ain't Cheatin'
7. Party All Day (F*ck All Night)
8. Turn Out The Lights
9. Stripper Girl
10. The Shocker
11. Girl From Oklahoma
12. Hell's On Fire

If, despite all this, you really want to hear this atrocity:
They don't have Myspace, but here's their website
You want to download them? Really?
All right, if you insist... Download