Dazhbog isn’t the kind of band that I usually listen to. My music intake is pretty much 90% metal at least, with the occasional foray into rock, electronic music and pop/rap from my youth. But Dazhbog are a completely different proposition, mixing sweet synth lines, natural noises and piano lines. It’s a really odd experience for me, but admittedly quite refreshing.
Opening track ‘The Dawn Bloomed In Your Eyes’ sets the tone nicely. You’re guided through a soft, hazy mix of melodious piano lines, synths accenting the peaceful nature of the material, with hints of birdsong fluttering in the background. It is rather similar to, say, an intro or interlude of some symphonic goth metal album, say Nightwish or Within Temptation, but without pomposity nor complexity. This is a feeling that repeats itself throughout the album; it is purely and simply an ambient folk album, written to amplify and revere Mother Earth and all her treasures.
With natural sounds present in every song, the album becomes like one of those sleep aid tapes; it lulls you into a dreamy state, allowing you to absorb and appreciate the music. It’s good relazing music when you require nothing complicated, heavy nor thought provoking, just a desire to sink blissfully into benign rest. It can become rather overbearing after a while however, with enough subtle changes between each track to tell them apart, but yet not quite enough to inspire repeated listens. It is almost certainly too airy and light for most metalhead, but I can see people who are into bands like Zero 7 or Air to maybe get a kick out of it.
With such a heavy focus on metal in my musical tastes, there isn’t much room for an artist like Dazhbog. Yes, ‘Sunset: Legacy of Solitude and Love’ is indeed a nice, well played and relaxing album, full of moments to release tension alongside and it would no doubt be favoured highly amongst people who enjoy this sort of thing. However it is an album deserving of a time and place, and unless fully receptive to its charms, most listeners may find it a tad repetitive and dull.
Betnatnash play harsh, unforgiving symphonic black metal with large helpings of dissonance. They’re Mexican, and have opened for Dimmu Borgir there but that gives only a small hint of their sound.
After a suitably melodramatic intro, first track proper ‘Black Cyclone’ kicks in with some raging riffing and minor key keyboards lines. It’s an odd track, its 8 minute length mixing a huge array of influences together. We have thick industrial keyboard lines, tremolo black metal riffing and acoustic laden interludes almost, which sound quite pagan/folk metal esque. It is clear Benatnash aren’t here to make it easy for any of us to get them, and this theme continues into ‘Red Storm of Yr’.
Unfortunately, it’s a mix that doesn’t always work effectively. Certainly parts of ‘Red Storm of Yr’ sound chaotic, and not in the usual black metal style. The symphonic element isn’t necessarily overplayed, but it comes off as messy with almost jazz like disregard for timing. If executed well, this would be pretty impressive stuff, but for me it doesn’t work well. The songs are also, on average, too long for their own good. A more rigorous cutting of tracks are really in order for future works, as I did find myself skipping onto the next track too often. ‘Benatnash’ does offer something of a warped carnival atmosphere behind the rasping, which is pretty cool but it is unfortunately one of only a few highlights for me.
Benatnash have some interesting elements, and certainly a more original take on the black metal genre than many bands who resort to basic riff and screech mentality. ‘War Prophecies’ is solid enough, but solid doesn’t really cut it anymore. We want inspiring in our metal these days, and Benatnash simply fall flat. Too much mix and match, not enough quality.
The Acacia Strain have been peddling their patented brand of deathcore since 2001, and have pretty much perfected their modus operandi by the time ‘Continent’ arrived in 2008. Sturdy, slam ridden death metal that chugs, growls and thunders its way through its almost 40 minute length.
For a style that has almost become totally redundant in terms of originality and room to manoeuvre, the Acacia Strain provide you with a welcome batch of meat and potatoes hardcore, laced with a sharp, metallic edge. Darker than previous efforts, ‘Continent’ also wipes out all these tedious little attempts at experimentation that many bands use to distract the listener from the fact that they don’t have good songs. ‘Continent’ possesses those in spades, be it the thunderous chug of opener ‘Skynet’, the eerie Morbid Angel-esque intro to ‘Chthulu’ or the harmonies that permeate the riffing pleasure of ‘Baby Buster’.
There also seems to be a Meshuggah influence creeping into the riffs of ‘Continent’, breakdowns have a slight unpredictableness and drumming parts sound slightly Tomas Haake- like. Closing track ‘The Behemoth’ provides a perfect end to a solid album; a soaring instrumental that ebbs, flows and sounds completely different to what has come before. It’s generally difficult to add something like that into an album without it seeming like a gimmick or contrite, but it works here to great effect.
‘Continent’ is exactly what you want in a deathcore album; big solid riffs, breakdowns that are not overly predictable but welcoming, and a huge lack of pretension. That is why this band slay. Buy ‘Continent’ and bang your head.
A landmark addition to my collection, ‘Soundtrack from Film “Mabuta no Ura”‘, is my 1000th CD and it is probably my favourite release from Boris’s extensive catalogue. A band that never fail to surprise, enlighten and amaze, ‘Soundtrack…’ is something of an oddity in even their discography.
The record is a soundtrack to an imaginary film, dreamt up by the three members of Boris. It plays pretty much like a soundtrack; a number of shorter, acoustic and ambient led tracks mixes in with more traditional Boris drone and fuzz. It works very well, especially on tracks like ‘A Bao A Qu’, and the mellow closing epic ‘It Touches’. It’s a much more soundscape album than some of their other releases, like the ominous drone of ‘Absolutego’ or the rock and roll odysseys of ‘Pink’ or ‘Smile’.
‘Soundtrack…’ is an eclectic collection of tracks, rippling acoustics interplaying with fuzzy feedback suit the theme of the film soundtrack, but few tracks stay around long enough to constitute songs. Other bands would struggle to pull something like this off AND keep it interesting. But Boris have this unnerving talent that allows them to make the mundane interesting, and the interlude track can definitely fall into that category.
‘Soundtrack from Film ‘Mabuta no Ura” is yet another mind bending curveball from the masters of such a thing. Since you never know what to expect from them, your best hope as a Boris fan is to sit back and expect a masterpiece. For be it drone, psychedelical, sludge or stoner rock, a masterpiece it almost always is.
Thraw are a Slovenian five piece thrash band that could have, to be honest, come straight from the Bay Area circa the 80s. ‘Injecting Hate’ is their second demo, and it’s a pretty raw burst of thrashing riffs and gang choruses.
Their sound leans further toward an earlier Testament/Anthrax than say Megadeth or Metallica. ‘Angeleater’ in particular sounds very Slayer-esque vocally, with more traditional thrash yells being accompanied by the occasionally Arayan banshee scream, which suits in well with a couple of excellent Scott Ian style riffs. Interestingly for a thrash band, there is a lack of prolonged soloing in any of the tracks; the band relying more on thrashing riffs and interlinked bridges than say, wailing hundred note solos. Some good bass licks, like a bridge in ‘Angeleater’ or the funky intro line to ‘Induced Adrenaline’ also adds something to the mix.
Thraw play with a classic style which is becoming close to saturation point in the mainstream but they come across as genuine lovers of the style by not trying to do anything but emulate their heroes. This is true thrash worship, without mainstream dilution or a flashy Repka album cover.
Earth are one of my favourite bands. Well, now they are. I used to find some of their drone to be overly oppressive, and not easy to enjoy unless you were in the mood (i.e. chilled out and receptive). With their last release, ‘The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull’, Earth showed me how much I could actually love them. Its titanic shifts in tone, coupled with simple, Americana infused guitar work, is simply awesome. So when I discovered their debut EP for a paltry £4.80 online, I had to purchase it.
At only 27 minutes long, it’s remarkably short for an Earth release, and while featuring Kurt Cobain on guest vocals (a rarity in Earth’s discography) may seem gimmicky, this was released way before ‘Nevermind’, and longer before Earth’s Dylan Carlson lent Kurt his shotgun… The opening tracks ‘A Bureaucratic Desire for Revenge Parts 1 & 2′ are different from your normal Earth drone track, having noticeable percussion and vocals in them. They feel almost like a slow burn intro to the titanic ‘Ouroboros is Broken’, a much more conventional early Earth track. The two tracks offer what you expect from Earth: slow doom riffs that repeat almost endlessly with slight changes in tone and texture, only coupled with a thudding, tribal drumming and some background screaming over Carlson’s monotonous vocal line.
This leads up to the massive ‘Ouroboros is Broken’, 18 minutes of rumbling drone but presented in almost a more song like structure than say, anything from ‘Earth 2′. It is more doomy than drone, however the constant repetition of the same chord progression betrays the direction they would take later. When the percussion disappears about halfway through, it becomes a more familiar sound, and waves of droning, three note chords wash over the listener. It is surprisingly soothing.
‘Extra Capsular Extraction’ is an excellent snapshot of a band who know what they want to do with their sound, but are still new enough to tinker with elements to create what they want. Much more palatable now than it would have been in 1991 when it was originally released, it is the sound of a band starting out with little idea of the influence they would eventually have, but with no qualms about doing it anyway.
Third on my albums of 2008 list, and from a purely objective view probably was the best album released that year (pipped only in my list by two of my favourite bands Boris and Metallica), Enslaved’s ‘Vertebrae’ was a stunning continuation of the progressive nature of predecessors ‘Isa’ and the spectacular ‘Ruun’. The fact that the band were even capable of topping ‘Ruun’ with this album was viewed as unlikely, but somehow the band managed it.
Opener ‘Clouds’ sets the tone, an insistent guitar tone mixes with a driving drum line that at once opens up into a vast, expansive section that the band have begun to excel at. The following riff reminds of ‘Path to Vanir’ from ‘Ruun’, but is arguably more catchy. Clean vocals may rankle with hardened black metal fans, but Grutle Kjellson’s efforts here match in perfectly with their surroundings, sounding calm over the progressive sections and snarling fiercely over the more traditional black metal sections. Synthesizers mix within the riffing in the centre of the song to add that extra touch of the progressive.
The thicker, more atmospheric ‘To the Coast’ follows, bringing a darker, more black metal aspect to the album. It’s an ominous, rumbling track that invokes dread and melancholy, especially in the clean vocal sections. ‘New Dawn’ retains a more black metal feel about it, whereas a distinct Pink Floyd influence inhabits most of the songs. An album of tracks averaging over 6 minutes can become stale eventually, but ‘Vertebrae’ dodges that bullet by being interesting at every turn, like the unashamedly prog riff that opens ‘Ground’, or the moody ‘Center’ with its latter-period Katatonia-esque leading riff. What Enslaved have done here is taken the ferocity and raw spirit of black metal and melded it to the gleeful experimentation of 70s progressive rock, creating a monster release in the process.
‘Vertebrae’ is a benchmark, not only for Enslaved but for metal in general. It is a statement of intent that Enslaved will do what they want, heed no call to remain blacker-than-thou, but will follow their own path to metal Valhalla. ‘Vertebrae’ assures them of their place there, as it is a piece of art, not simply a music record. Breathtaking stuff.
Continuing my power metal entrance into 2010, (how good would that be, something epic while the ball drops in NYC?) ‘Crimson Thunder’ was a late Christmas present from my girlfriend. What I love about Hammerfall is rarely what you see is not what you get. Debut ‘Glory to the Brave’ is considered their best and a landmark in power metal, and by the time they reached this, their 4th, they were a pretty established band.
‘Crimson Thunder’ opens with the rousing ‘Riders of the Storm’, which will never fail to raise a headbang or two. It’s ludicrously catchy; I am still singing it now while writing this. Following tracks ‘Hearts on Fire’ and ‘On the Edge of Honour’ keep up the quality, the title track’s soaring momentum slowed only by an instrumental track before the classic ‘Trailblazers’ begins. It is at a higher pace that Hammerfall truly excel; if you left the epic cheesy ballads out they’d probably be better albums, but they wouldn’t be Hammerfall.
Vocalist Joacim Cans has a strangely high voice for a metal singer, which gives Hammerfall that recognisable quality. But it does begin to grate slightly over too many tracks, and melodic instrumental piece ‘In Memoriam’ is almost a relief. It’s a shame that the second half of the album’s highlight is an instrumental, as the opening half was strong. It becomes almost workmanlike power metal, with a couple of obligatory covers thrown in (Chastain and Yngwie Malmsteen). Don’t get me wrong, they are still good solid heavy metal tunes, but none gleam like the opener, or the slower, anthemic ‘Crimson Thunder’. Their ballads also divide fans; you either love them or hate them. Personally I don’t mind them too much, although I think even Hammerfall may have gone too far with ‘Dreams Come True’
It’s cheesy as hell, slightly samey and won’t change the mind of power metal haters, but it does possess some awesome heavy metal tracks, particularly the title track and ‘Riders on the Storm’ and is a solid enough album to justify at least one listen to make up your own mind. Not their best, but still not bad.
My first review of the year, but actually my second CD, since the Royal Mail seemed to not want to give me my Christmas CD in 2009. I bought this on a whim, having enjoyed a few tracks on Myspace. It was the first victim of my Random CD Generator, from a few days before Christmas last year. To be honest, I’d never heard of these guys before this happened, but they’re from Philadelphia and they rock pretty hard.
The first thing that strikes you about ‘Be Gone’ is its amazing cover art. It adds a feel of the epic before you even listen to the album; stone structures draped in vegetation while the sky and sea sit peacefully in the background. It certainly provides a contrast to traditional power metal covers of dragons, battles and the like. The music reigns in power metal histrionics to produce a slick, galloping collection of tracks. Catchy metal anthems are the order of the day here, with ‘Rats and Rope’ being a particular favourite. Opener ‘Speak to Me’, has a nice Maiden-esque intro riff, and the vocals remind you of Hansi Kursch or Ripper Owens. ‘Be Gone’ is an album that drips quality, from the solos to the sublime melodic streak that streaks through every song.
Reminscient of Firewind’s more straightforward moments, ‘Be Gone’ is a sterling heavy metal album that does nothing new, but doesn’t need to. In fact, its dedication to the art is what makes it such a rewarding listen. Its a feel good album, and if you don’t feel roused by tracks like ‘Cover Your Eyes and Pray’, then you should check your pulse. You may, in fact, be dead.
WOW. I woke up this morning to find the new Nile album ‘Those Who the Gods Detest’, sitting on my doorstep. It was like Christmas morning, but with the fear that Santa was on strike. New Nile albums are like religious experiences for me; I receive the holy gift, listen to it constantly for the next 3-4 days, and then realise that yet again, I am in the company of probably the greatest death metal band that has ever played. A massive claim, but even legends like Deicide and Morbid Angel have dropped a less than stellar one or two (I’m looking at you ‘Insineratehymn’ and ‘Heretic’). Nile have never made a bad record, period. Sure, ‘Ithyphallic’ is probably the weakest, but it still destroyed 99% of the competition, and was THE death metal release of 2007. But this new one is, well, possibly their greatest work.
Opening track ‘Kafir!’ is devastating. Similar to ‘Cast Down the Heretic’ from 2004’s ‘Annihilation of the Wicked’ to begin with, you are immediately assaulted by a blitzkrieg of sound. Using the phrase ‘There is no God but God’ (the first words heard by a newborn Muslim), Karl Sanders and co create a sandstorm of pummelling death metal, relentless in its savage delivery. Mixing the band’s trademark technicality with some punishing doomy breaks, interspered with Arabic chanting. It’s possibly the most inspired slice of death metal this year, and what follows is nothing less.
The album’s more eccentric areas, instrumentally, are rewarded with a higher place in the mix; no longer do the Middle Eastern tones dissipate amongst waves of riffs, but become much more prominent as the album moves through its tracks. Yet again the band stick very close to the Egyptological theme that made them such a breathe of fresh air to start with, and Karl Sanders’ liner notes are yet again extensive and well written, adding a completeness to the package that many bands forget. You can almost feel the dusty tombs come to life with every thunderous riff, insane blastbeat and roaring growl.
It’s a rare band that can sound exactly the same and yet totally different on each record. Gojira are one of these bands, and so are Nile. Their thick, technically devastating sound, littered with all kinds of Middle Eastern tones and brutal drumming is instantly recognisable, but the solo work of Sanders has clearly added things to each track, for example the creeping menace of ‘4th Arra of Dagon’ comes across as the metal equivalent of ‘Saurian Exorcisms’’s more evil moments.
Their best work ever? Well, purists may choose ‘Black Seeds of Vengeance’, and my personal favourite has always been ‘Annihilation of the Wicked’ (it was ‘Lashed to the Slave Stick’ that got me into death metal) but ‘Those Whom the Gods Detest’ is probably their most impressive work to date. Simply awe-inspiring.
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