From the Dust Returned

Umbah - Enter the Dagobah Core (2012)

2012-01-31T07:36:00.005-05:00

For whatever reason, my paths have never crossed with Umbah in the past. Unusual, since the project has produced a dozen albums to date, but we can't all hear everything, and I'm willing to bet most of these earlier works were small pressings, self-released with a limited audience in mind. If Enter the Dagobah Core is any indicator of their quality, then I admit I might have missed out, because not only is this a high strung, entertaining manifestation of cyber industrial death thrash, but comforting proof that there are human beings far stranger than I out there. The kind I typically tend to hang out with. The kind we could all benefit from. Now, autothrall is no square, but Enter the Dagobah Core is a humbling, eccentric experience which fuses the geek-chic of its creator into a harness of spatial, spastic, plastic and technical absurdity which gives the aesthetic impression of flying a TIE fighter into a Macarena party while huffing glue and gasoline.

I'm not exactly a stranger to Cal Scott, the project's sole member at present. Or rather, HE is no stranger to the scene. He once slung the six-string for the fairly enjoyable British death bangers Necrosanct, who produced a pair of sadly forgotten second tier gems in Incarnate (1992) and Desolate (1993) through Swedish imprint Black Mark Productions. However, aside from the fact that it flirts with the extreme side of the metal spectrum, Umbah, at least in this present state, has little to nothing in common with his alma mater. Enter the Dagobah Core is more like listening to Germans Mekong Delta while you're trying to perform speed runs of Mega Man, or a clusterfuck of Florida hybrids Atheist and Hellwitch with Devo. In fact, I don't think I've had so much fun with a cybernetic metal beatdown of this sort since Alf Svensson's Oxiplegatz. Or, more accurately, Gigantic Brain's Invasion Discography, but while that was more of an alien abduction grind outing, this is more like a man entirely off his meds, shredding and growling his way through some 16-bit future.

It's not total chipset video game death metal like the amazing Norrin Radd, so the guitars still play an important part of the picture. However, the architecture of the songs here is absolutely batshine insane. With "Whispers of a Dying Sun Part I" alone, the first three minutes of the CD, we've cycled through warbling, pulsing electronic noise to dissonant spikes of driving thrash, tense and complex electro freakouts, and even an EBM framework or two which would not have been out of place on a KMFDM record. Scott's vocals engage a wide, schizoid array of personas that range from the usual rasp or death grunt to a more Gothic, doped up edge redolent of The Kovenant or Marilyn Manson, to bursts of nasal paranoia or even pitch shifted narrative via Darth Vader. There are no rules to which he strictly adheres, and this creates a massive sandbox of personality through which he gets to explore through the lurching, chugging diatribes of "Cosmic Garland", Cannibal Corpse gone psycho-hyper-fuck of "Rackborn Skin Expulsion" or destructo dancer "Zombinods".

I swear, I heard such divergent voices here as an opera singer and a horse whinny. The entire 13 track progression of the album feels as if its almost always about to burst at the seams, succumb to its own energized clutter, but Scott hurls one interesting passage after another in your path, and I found myself unable to turn away from it. Each successive spin drowned me in the chaos, a whirlwind of electronic drumming and choppy, thrashing precision. There must be six thousand riffs on this thing, and while not all are incredibly distinct of their own volition, the rapid, surefire succession of their arrival is bound to drill itself into even the most A.D.D. addled cranium. On the flip side, this is not something you want to listen to if you're sporting a pacemaker. Or if you have epilepsy. A few songs are mildly calmer, like "Mad Zu Chong", but in general you're dealing with a strobe light of frenetic industrial trance excess.

It's not the perfect cure for a hangover headache, because admittedly the music is so frivolous and fun to the point that its own goofiness burdens the listener's ability to take it serious. Enter the Dagobah Core is too spurious, synthetic and ridiculous for its own good. Certified crazy. But then, that's rather the point of the thing. Subject matter ranges from the obvious Star Wars influence (the title track) to Germanic physicists ("Dr. Geiger") and Chinese astronomer-mathematicians ("Mad Zu Chong"), and you get the feeling this guy had as much a good time choosing them as you will have listening to them. I don't know just how wide an audience a record like this will find, but I'd recommend it to nearly anyone with the eroded mental health to appreciate it's flabbergasting charms, or anyone who might appreciate a Mr. Bungle remix of Illud Divinum Insanus which DIDN'T suck. Can you imagine that? Nerd on, motherfuckers.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.umbah.co.uk/

Malasangre - Lux Deerit Soli (2012)

2012-01-30T09:21:00.009-05:00

While I've not encountered these Italians previously in their native, creative environment Malasangre, I did run across their material as Caput LVIIIM on the Tribute to H.P. Lovecraft - Yogsothery - Gate 1: Chaosmogonic Ritual of Fear compilation released through I, Voidhanger. Presumably that collaboration led to further interest, and thus their relationship to the label continues here with the third full-length from their primary outlet: Lux Deerit Soli, an apocalyptic musing upon the end cycles of the Kali Yuga described in the Hindu scriptures, or more bluntly, the decline of human civilization. A two part concept recording which begs some comparisons to their work on the Lovecraft compilation, though a good deal of the psychedelic spaciness so compelling there has been dialed down to promote a drier, darker, and if possible, more desolate atmosphere.

Lux Deerit Soli is structured upon a sparse framework of down tuned chords set against an ambient periphery. The note progressions shift in slow gradations over time, but 'time' is also the greatest demand on the listener. Each of the album's halves is over 35 minutes in duration, yet neither incorporates a wide range of variation. At times, the compositions feel as if they were much shorter tunes stretched to slow motion, but then this is a common characteristic of its chosen niche. You're not just getting a lazy Sunn O))) exposée of brash, unwashed distortion left to simmer in its own vapor trails for 20+ minutes; but more of a Khanate, with a jilted, sadistic atmosphere manifest through the interplay of vocals, distant feedback, percussion and drudging chords. Malasangre creeps along with a purpose, an elderly arachnid with a serious limp, steadily if surely closing upon its prey, but monotony can set in pretty early, and patience can be tested without the appropriate mindset for the experience.

The 'black metal' element of Lux Deerit Soli is found solely in the vocals, a pure salacious rasp that hovers off just below the level of the rhythm guitar, asserting its presence through several drawn out, bloody, harrowing snarls. Dire vultures ready to pick at the entrails of the collective mankind once we've emptied each others' mortal vessels. A protracted, necrotic breeze of decay whispered over the viscera, often transformed into grisly mantras or chants drawn from the album's conceptual source text. Malasangre will also involve creepy acoustics, lucid patterns of 3-4 notes repeated off and on the crush of the droning chords (around the 10:00 mark in "Sa Ta"). The bass is another 'hovering' component, throbbing and monotone at the intro to the album but eventually curving into primal, lightly distorted patterns that rarely falter from the confident minimalism of the guitars. Drumming ranges from stock funereal doom beats to tribal breakdowns, but it's important not to take his myriad fills for granted: they are essential in alleviating the potential ennui of the riff patterns.

Bands of this sort often pride themselves on consistency, and surely the Italians can claim the same: the two halves of the album do not diverge greatly from one another. "Sa Ta" is the more morbid and dark of the pair, but it's also the less intriguing. "Na Ma" has a more fulfilling palette, with more titillating feedback applied to the denser guitar sequences and a lot of dour, plucky clean acoustics into which a din of whispered apocrypha is embedded. Both, however, embrace the agenda of suffering and illumination that Malasangre feeds upon. That said, I was unable to wrest a great deal of interest or enjoyment from this record. Not that such a souring, elongated spurn on the face of Creation is intended to evoke the latter sentiment, but I found the limited selection of notes and rhythms to be forgettable rather than hypnotic, moistureless as opposed to a wellspring of spirit leeching miasma.

The atmospheric ingredients of Lux Deerit Soli and the lyrical inspiration are fascinating, and go a long way towards curbing my reaction towards the positive, but ultimately I was parched for a fraction more dynamics than simply feeling dead inside. Respectable, certainly. Worthwhile as background noise when mood allows. Yet somehow void of that crucial, elusive, haunting fiber that makes a doom record blacken my skies for any significant duration.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

http://www.malasangredoom.com/

Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales EP (1984)

2012-01-30T09:15:00.012-05:00

What I love most about the retrospective analysis of the metal music from my youth, that which I've matured alongside for decades now, is just how fascinating and divergent its evolution seems in the rear view mirror. How different nations and scenes contributed to parallel growth, structurally and lyrically. How particular releases launched a thousand ships like the fabled Helen of Troy, while others could not inspire disembarkation from even the scantest of flotilla. Funny then, that even among all of these coordinated fronts of competitive and emulous transformation, Swiss godfathers Celtic Frost stands as more or less an anomaly, an anthropological crossroads between the cultures of thrash metal, doom, hardcore punk, and the black and death metal scenes which had yet to fully embody their own identities.

It would be hard to take an accurate count of how many recordings have been directly inspired by Morbid Tales, because we're at a stage now where even its own aesthetic offspring are now at legendary status. Darkthrone is the perfect example. Both their death metal debut Soulside Journey and seminal black metal mutation Ablaze in the Norther Sky were openly, enormously inspired by Tom G. Warrior and crew, in atmosphere, attitude AND actualized riff structure; and I could name hundreds of shameless knockoffs of that enduring Norse outfit. Granted, Celtic Frost (and its prior incarnation Hellhammer) were not themselves without some precedent. Punk and hardcore music had by this point arrived and spawned a number of aggressive legends of their own (Discharge's Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing among them), while a not insignificant fraction of this band's relentlessness and filth might be attributed to UK demons Venom and Motörhead; lyrically the former and musically the pair. Tendrils of descent from the crushing pathos of 70s Sabbath are undeniable.

Even inclusive of these considerations, though, Morbid Tails is a distinct landmark on a trail of carnage that stems from the dawn of musical extremity to the ongoing struggle for attaining that next 'level' of aggression. By comparison to faster, more lethal contemporaries of the period like Bathory's self-titled debut, Slayer's Show No Mercy or Destruction's Sentence of Death, the material here often lacks finesse or the same knack for riffing complexity. Celtic Frost had cleaned itself up from Hellhammer, and the production values are noticeably more accessible and professional than the Apocalyptic Raids EP from the same year. That's not necessarily a positive, and I might personally prefer the earlier archetype to their first two releases under the new identity, but it makes sense for a band whose intent was growth alongside the emergent and diversified European underground of extreme metal. These days it's a badge of honor in certain scenes to produce the most amateur, afflicted and unwashed material possible, but by the mid 80s, that practice generally manifest as a symptom of having little to no budget.

However, fret not, heralds of grime, because Morbid Tales still retains the ruddy riffing texture and dynamic sensibility of its predecessors. Blazing, punk guitar passages are interspersed with slower palm muted hardcore/thrash sequences, the latter just as worthy of the primordial mosh pits as what the Stormtroopers of Death would soon start to build overseas. Of the five metal tracks on the EP (excluding "Danse Macabre"), there is a fairly even distribution of fast and slow material. "Into the Crypts of Rays", "Visions of Mortality" and "Nocturnal Fear" all feature rapt excursions into velocity, while "Procreation (Of the Wicked)" and "Return to the Eve" adhere to a plodding, crushing consistency which feels incredibly heavy despite the clarity and polish of the guitar tone. Martin Ain's low end and Stephen Priestly's drumming might not seem extravagant, but they add to the bruised ugliness of the music, in particular the syrup-thick bass which often competes with the guitar for attention, even if the notation runs a similar course.

I would like to spend some time discussing the signature components and techniques that these Swiss legends brought to the table. First and foremost, the corpulent and molten 'grooves' bear some mentioning. A strong example would be the opening for "Procreation (of the Wicked)", with its slosh of chords against strong palm muted chugging that is pretty much the default for how thousands of bands in various genres build a riff even today. Prior to this, I think only Sabbath could crush so hard ("Symptoms of the Universe", etc). But Celtic Frost also evolved a rare characteristic of opening and closing off certain measures with a simple, bended note that oozed torment while giving a false sense of 'incompletion' to the overall riff, a technique that progeny like Darkthrone would recycle for decades. They also stuck to a lot of very basic ascending and descending patterns or chords that helped solidify the grooves without scattering themselves over the fret board, like the incredible mosh riff in the lead-bridge of "Return to the Eve".

Most importantly, though, are the vocals of Tom G. Warrior, which sound like a man choking on crud while clearing his lungs, or some constipated, drunken drifter emerging from a bar in Zurich to take a squat in a dank alley of refuse. With the right amount of echo or reverb here, his bark sounds incredibly oblique, evil and memorable, and the guy's 'hoos' and 'has' and 'ooos' are just legendary, a clear remnant of his showmanlike, hard rock forebears. Surely there's a bit of Cronos and Lemmy in the 'spirit' of his delivery, but his thick accent ensures a unique quality that, to its day, I know I hadn't experienced. The lyrics are also pretty fucking impressive, paeans to the contrasted knight/serial killer Gilles de Rais ("Into the Crypts of Rays"), ritual magic ("Visions of Mortality"), the succession of original sin from the Old Testament ("Procreation of the Wicked"), the dreamstate ("Return to the Eve"), and even Lovecraft's Mythos ("Nocturnal Fear"). A pretty eclectic array of dark subjects delivered through thoughtful, image-thick prose that was well ahead of many of the band's metal contemporaries (internationally).

Despite all of its myriad qualities, and the many distinctions I've described herein, I will admit that Morbid Tales is not quite deserving of a bust upon the pedestal of perfection that others might claim. Its primal transgressions I take no issue with: not the simplicity of the songwriting structures, nor the predictable flow of the riffing. But, for example, I don't like the lead guitars, which are fleeting and messy but lack the energetic, unhinged pizzazz that bands like Slayer and Pestilence whipped up through the 80s. While consistent with one another, and the mood of both the iconic cover art and lyrical matter, I've never found all of the rhythm guitars to be that exciting ("Nocturnal Fear" and "Into the Crypts of Rays" have a handful I could do without). And then there are the experimental flourishes, not as eclectic and variegated as those later manifest to their sophomore album Into the Pandemonium, but not very interesting either. I like the wall of tortured howls that inaugurates "Into the Crypts...", but the 4 minute ambient ritual "Danse Macabre" sacrifices a little catchiness for its creepiness.

Screams, whispers, a piano here, a violin shred there, a morbid mantra. Acceptable for a Halloween evening, since it sounds like it might hail from one of those holiday CDs you buy at the grocery store; or as background noise for some obscure, Gothic seduction, but not something I would expressly seek out for its own allure... Fortunately, none of these minor mars can heavily compromise the surface area of the EP, and its importance as a cornerstone for the incessant thrash, death, doom and black metal lineage of the 90s and beyond still stands as it approaches its third decade of existence. It's not the peak of this band's repertoire (wait a year), nor a Lord of the Rings for extreme metal. I'd liken it instead to Robert Howard's original Conan stories: elegant but barbaric, crude but descriptive. But is the one really all that less influential than the other in the end? One final note: I was originally exposed to this and its successor EP (Emperor's Return) separately, so I'll review them as such. Today's crowd has the convenience of acquiring them on a single disc, which in no way decreases their individual worth, and makes for a rather consistent full length experience.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (obsessed by the nightmare's sound)

http://www.celticfrost.com/

Bathory - In Memory of Quorthon (2006)

2012-01-27T12:49:00.009-05:00

Finally, a Bathory collection which doesn't suck? Well, that all really depends on what format you choose to acquire it in, and what exactly it is you're looking for in such a fan package. For example, if I were to break it down into the three independent CDs which one can still seemingly purchase from Black Mark, it doesn't carry a lot of weight. But the full deal, with the poster, booklet, and bonus DVD is quite comprehensive in both CD and LP formats, and thus the preferred option. Surely this is superior to the awful Katalog comp or the individual Jubileum releases, but there are a number of what I'd consider strange omissions and the same miasma of incompleteness that populated the latter.

First off, you're getting a considerable number of remastered tracks, spanning the 1984 self titled debut through the 2003 swan song Nordland II. I've never had significant personal issues with the production of anything Quorthon had released for Bathory, just minor nitpicks, so this is not a major boon in my opinion, yet the fact that they're all given the treatment helps gel them together as a unified collection, despite the studio production variance of their roots. Choices are pretty good, with important cuts like "Blood Fire Death", "A Fine Day to Die", "Enter the Eternal Fire", "Raise the Dead" and such scattered about the three discs, but the selection is far from restricted to the classics, so you've got examples of the mid-90s thrash mediocrity ("War Machine") and a boat load of inclusions from the more recent Nordland sagas.

There are also quite a number of covers here, which were originally recorded throughout the Bathory canon, some appearing on various editions of full-length releases and some I'd never heard before. Some of the choices are very obvious, like "Ace of Spades" or "War Pigs" which are not that impressive other than getting to hear Quorthon's uneven accent. I found the KISS tributes to be much more entertaining and obscure choices, in particular "Black Diamond" which really benefits from the power placed in its translation. Lastly, though, you've got a pair of covers from the Quorthon solo career, namely "God Save the Queen" (Sex Pistols) and "I'm Only Sleeping (Beatles), and I didn't really enjoy them outside of appreciating the guy's obviously eclectic tastes. A few of the originals from the two solo albums are likewise present, like the heavy rock track "I've Had it Coming" or the atmospheric "Boy" with all its samples. Despite my disdain for the albums in general, these are not poor representations, though I would have clipped them in favor of more raw Bathory.

The songs with his sister Jennie Tebler are much less appealing. "Silverwing" is pretty boring crunch rock ala Evanescence with the female vocals flowing over them. Once they enter into a harmony, it's not so bad, but the solo strands of her voice sound like a miserable wannabe of Lacuna Coil or The Gathering. Nor do I much care for her version of "Song to Hall Up High", which closes out the third and last audio disc. It would have been far cooler, and really reflected a sense of completeness if the demo and rare tracks from the Jubileum collections had been gathered here. Still in print, perhaps, but considering the price for this boxed set it would not have set them back so much, and ultimately it might have spared the fans from wasting their money on the older collections if they hadn't already. So, some omissions that would dramatically improved the value of In Memory of Quorthon, but in the end you're still getting about 45 tracks, all remastered, so at least some minimum effort was applied by Black Mark.

Finally, there are the perks and 'omake box' goodies that usually come with these media boxed sets. The poster is absolutely retarded, nothing more than an advertisement for the set that you just purchased with a classic pic of Quorthon. I would have rather it just included the latter. The booklet itself is enormous, a pretty comprehensive biography with lots of photos and notes, but not necessarily anything novel or unexpected if you'd been following his career. The DVD itself is not brimming with content, just the full video for "One Road to Asa Bay" which is little more than a bunch of guys in armor, costume, riding a horse, etc all quite slowly to the roiling pace of the music; an MTV interview clip in which he discusses his transition from the occult lyrical focus of his earlier years to the folksier Norse mythology, and some random promotional footage also from the same 1990 era. Nothing too impressive here, least of all the video, but it's a decent add on for the diehard who might feel the urge to occasionally listen to his/her hero speak.

Needless to say, if you can get your hands on this collection, it stands head and shoulders above its predecessors. I wish it had more to it, and I'm sure everyone does, but as far as a posthumous memorial, it's comprehensive enough not to disappoint. I wouldn't say it was worth purchasing if you already own all the studio albums, but even then, if you want to show more financial support to honor the legend, it's far more reasonable than Jubileum or the needless Katalog. You are getting SOMETHING for your money here, which is more than I can say for a large percentage of shit-eating collections put out for major bands. As of 2011, a nice vinyl box also became available which includes a picture disc of the whole Bathory s/t. Keep that in mind when you're mining eBay, since the format is all the rage and very likely to become a collectible of high value.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

Necronomicon - Invictus (2012)

2012-01-27T08:22:00.005-05:00

The tenacity of second/third tier Teutonic thrash acts like Wicca, Vendetta, Accu§er, and Necromonicon is nothing short of inspirational. Even if the best most of them can muster are average beatings which pay tribute to their individual legacies, while dowsing them in the production standards of the present, the very fact that they've overcome large gulfs in their careers and returned with a sound remarkably inattentive to trends touches some murky space in my heart. Sure, some will argue that they're merely attempting to use the present rekindling of their genre as a 'second chance' at the spotlight, and that if they really cared they wouldn't have vanished in the first place, but the sounds I'm hearing on their records, while often flawed and unmemorable, do not at all mirror such a sentiment.

Necronomicon has long been a less structured, less impressive alternative to its popular peer Destruction, but there's no doubt that they've evolved their writing through time, and even less that they've improved as far as production. Earlier works like Escalation and Apocalyptic Nightmare had a particular charm to them, all thanks to the coat of amateurish grime that a low budget permits, but since reforming in the 21st century they've ramped up considerably for a more professional sound. In this, too, they reflect the changes of Schmier and crew, but where that band maintains a firm, angry thrashing presence, Necromonicon seems to veer off into a slightly power metal territory on a number of their tracks here, perhaps more reminiscent of Headhunter. Certain tracks here highlight this more than others. For example, "Invictus" itself has a riff in there that sounds a lot like on of Priest's "Painkiller" guitar progressions, while "Unleashed" and "Unconquered" are total power/thrash hybrids with leads that reflect the more driving, melodic side of the spectrum, akin to post-90s Rage.

Freddy's rasped vocals, however, remain almost fully within the snarled thrash camp that was represented on the earlier albums, and the combination of the Germanic raging mutes and chords and his fevered grit is one of the strengths of Invictus. As usual, Necromonicon is a fairly dynamic band. You'll get plenty of variation like the Iron Maiden bass break in "Unconquered" or the acoustic intro to "Face to the Wall" (another spot where they remind me of Judas Priest from the intro to "Night Crawler"), but the best parts of the record are almost unanimously where they throw down the gauntlet of aggression in "Pandora's Box", "Thoughts Running Free", though these too have a clear Euro power metal imprint circa Accept, etc. There's also a sweet re-recording of "Possessed by Evil" from their s/t debut (1986), and I love the sheer enthusiasm of the vocals and the bricklaying of the guitars. Perhaps an entire remake of the first two albums would not be such a bad idea in a modern context?

Ultimately, though, Invictus is not all that great an album, and I felt that it fell shy of even its direct predecessor Revenge of the Beast in 2008. It's not bad, mind you. Necronomicon has a mature, seasoned sound to them, but it rarely manifests in a song that endure in the memory for more than a few minutes. Add to this the derivative construction of many of the guitar riffs and you get another album which seems wholly content with settling into mediocrity. What I'd love to hear is for this band to go utterly fucking crazy. Look at the explosions Paradox has written since their own desire to once more breach the theater of warfare. Necronomicon once had a snarling, raw character to them redolent of Sentence of Death, and I would not be averse to hearing some of that over the redundant power metal riffs that saturate this record. Invictus is not a total shot in the dark: it's balanced and professional, it just doesn't excel in the songwriting, which is what I most look for in any record of this type. That said, if you LOVE that old German tone and the recent efforts from peers like Vendetta, you might give it a listen.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

http://necronomicon-online.de/

Bathory - Nordland II (2003)

2012-01-27T08:19:00.011-05:00

Released about 5 months after Nordland I, Bathory would not leave us waiting long for what was originally intended to be the second of four total chapters in the Nordland saga. Unfortunately, as we all now know, that would not turn out to be the case. Quorthon's tragic passing in the following year (2004) would retroactively establish Nordland II as the grand finale of one of the most important and influential legacies in all of metal. No pressure, right? Well, perhaps its not remotely fair to judge the record on such grounds, and I won't, but there is no escaping the fact that it often feels like a bunch of leftovers from the previous effort, or rather that he front loaded the content to the series and intended the garner interest on momentum alone with diminishing returns.

Not that Nordland II is necessarily a negative experience. In fact, I feel that tracks such as "Sea Wolf" and "Blooded Shore" create quite a cloud of nostalgia for the Hammerheart album, and I admire the grit he exhibits in his vocal performance here and elsewhere on this sequel. Slow, pendulous heavy metal hammer riffs drowned in choirs, synthesized organs and steady drums that create a dramatic subtext to the sailing, drawn out voices in the late bridge of "Sea Wolf". Chunky momentum and crashing chords dialed straight back to the late 80s glories. I also feel that some of the longer tracks like the 10 minute "The Messenger" (with that incredible, simple melody) and the 12 minute "The Wheel of Sun" with its leaden grooves and gleaming spikes of zephyr-like guitars, are far better at balancing their content and shifting necessary gears of composition thank some of the whales from the previous album.

There are also no crappy thrash tracks like there were on Destroyer of Worlds. The closest the record comes is "Flash of the Silverhammer" a mid-paced chugger which reminds me of the older, primal doom/thrash crunch of their countrymen Memory Garden, making decent use of the vocals to carry what otherwise might be a dullard. Like Nordland I, there's an 8 minute tune which makes good use of a propulsive, brutal into ("Death and Resurrection of a Northern Son"), but I don't exactly love this song, and along with other middling fare like "The Land" or the desolate "Vinland" I just feel like it treads on previous ground. With Hammerheart, Blood Fire Death, Twilight of the Gods, Blood on Ice and Nordland I already out in circulation, I got the impression of rinsing and repeating here, which I'm sure might have stretched out its welcome if the ensuing chapters were to manifest without significant deviations.

In the end, as usual, evaluation comes down to the songs. Some of their older albums had them in spades, but Nordland II doesn't really have much to recommend it unless you're obsessed with its stylistic and spiritual forebears and demand more of the same. I'll grant that there are a few epic climaxes here, and an atmosphere which sparks up fond memories for the influential storms Quorthon rode in on, but it's not an album I would choose over others in the canon. Let's face it: the guy more or less created two massive, enduring substrata of the extreme metal realm, and both within a brief span of years. About 13 years after that period, nothing innovative or really interesting had manifest from Bathory. But he had nothing more to prove, and so he resigned himself to small tweaks on the existing formula. I like the simplicity of the lyrics here, their dependable imagery and adherence to the atmosphere or the songwriting.

But where Blood Fire Death summoned up an eternal wrath from my soul, called my imagination to war forever, this album is more or less a pleasant fjord surfing experience with a few gut wrenching moments of anger. A functional successor to Nordland I, and not a regrettable experience, but not a source for much fascination.

Verdict: Win [7/10] (none it shall claim or conquer)

Bathory - Nordland I (2002)

2012-01-27T08:18:00.006-05:00

After the split personality of Destroyer of Worlds, it was rather nice that Quorthon would return to a singular vision for its successor, the first half of his Nordland saga. If you couldn't already guess through a glance at the cover image, that vision entails a straight return to the Viking metal aesthetics of prior works Hammerheart, Twilight of the Gods, and the 'lost' album Blood On Ice. Only here, Quorthon has written a more substantial treatise on the subject, since both sides of the project total over two hours of material, and there are none of the banal pure thrash regressions that crippled Destroyer of Worlds. In fact, I feel like this first Nordland is perhaps the point at which he best expresses this style. Not that it's the best of his Norse journeys by a long shot, but because he gives it the ample space in which it needs to breathe.

Nordland I is very well paced to provide its narrative in the span of an hour. The intro passage "Prelude" is meticulously crafted to draw the listener into its antiquity, with blazing horns, war drums and the soaring clean choirs that had become a hallmark of Bathory since the late 80s. You can burn Necrolord's artwork into your mind, close your eyes, access headphones and then become a direct participant in Quorthon's Romanticized translation of old. With "Nordland" itself, the appropriate pomp and strength arrives with a thudding, mid-paced metal rhythm and drums that place it aesthetically between the climes of the muscle metal Manowar and the slower, intended swan song of Norwegians Immortal (Sons of Northern Darkness) who themselves owe Bathory a great deal for its influence upon their own career. Folksy dual melodies adorn its crested waves, and Quorthon uses a deeper clean vocal throughout the verses which showcases his own willingness to grow, even if his sum presence is still rough around the edges.

But "Nordland" is also symptomatic of one of the downsides of this extensive work: the lack of appreciable variation through its lengthier tracks. With a duration over 9 minutes, I would have liked to hear more happen in this piece outside of the predictable melodic progressions and the same, studied tempo. The same could be said for other swollen ingredients to the album, like "Foreverdark Woods". Its promising intro sequences features glinting acoustics, mouth harps and pretty much the perfect setup, but once the distortion is introduced you're just hearing the same chords repeatedly, a practice that might have worked in Quorthon's formative shift into the territory (Blood Fire Death), where the darkness and furor of the writing felt so desolate, fresh and hypnotic, but here it's just rather painted by numbers. No surprises wait in store for the listener through any of these longer tracks, and in this they differ from the stories upon which they draw their inspiration.

Really, Nordland is almost exclusively playing it 'safe', a practice treasured by some and trashed by others. Not a deal breaker for me, however, and I do admire that Quorthon has incorporated some faster material here sans resorting to the regrettable thrashing of the mid-90s Octagon. "Broken Sword" has a nice thrust to it courtesy of the driving double bass, as does the brute speed metal introducing "Great Hall Awaits a Fallen Brother", and the pair lends a well needed respite from the slogging pace of the contents leading up to it. Again, especially in the latter piece, Tomas plays with vocal potential, a clean melodic tone applied to the verse. Far from his best singing, but it functions well enough to discern that he's not a total hack, and this is the best of the longer pieces on the album, though it too only experiences a few shifts in tempo and could easily have been better packed. Shorter tracks like "Vinterblot" and "Mother Earth Father Thunder" don't suffer as much from the lack of variation, but they're really just covering the familiar ground of Blood On Ice and Twilight of the Gods without offering much embellishment.

Special mention should be made for "Ring of Gold", one of Bathory's best pure folk songs since the anthem "Hammerheart", and the acoustic guitars and vocal arrangements here feel lush and absorbing against the sparse samples in the background. In general, I find Nordland to be very well produced, rich and atmospheric, emblematic of Quorthon's mastery of this particular style. The drums don't suffer from the offsetting splash effect on Blood On Ice, and the mix is rich on various layers of depth, where Twilight of the Gods was perhaps an inkling too clean. There is a sense of airy fulfillment here which is sure to sate fans of those albums, and I think it's the best effort from Bathory beyond the year 1990, but not necessarily in contention with his rabidly influential works in the first 5-6 years. More of the same, perhaps 'too much' more, but a solid foundation for an hour of daydreaming that holds up after a decade.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10] (this land and heaven, forever tied)

Massive Assault - Death Strike (2012)

2012-01-26T12:07:00.006-05:00

Massive Assault is another one of those outsider bands who truly draws upon the Swedish old school roots to the extent that their own nationality (Dutch) becomes moot. Death Strike transports its prospective audience straight back to the 1988-1990 period, when bands like Nihilist/Entombed, Carnage and Dismember were approaching liftoff with their early recordings, and creatively they do not deviate far from the path. Perhaps there is a stronger punk and hardcore influence circa Discharge than a Left Hand Path or Like an Ever Flowing Stream, certainly more than a lot of the comparable upstarts you'll hear these days, but vocally and structurally these guys stick with what works, both to their credit and detriment.

A thick coat of fuzz is applied to the guitars, sort of the Sunlight style beefed up, and it totally churns up the ear canals, working as intended. The vocals have a rather brute edge to them redolent of the usual suspects like L-G Petrov or Ola Lindgren, perhaps a bit less impressive in the range and timbre of their delivery, but efficient enough. As early as the first track, "Driven Towards Death", you get a real feel for that punk influence I had mentioned, especially in that melodic riff around 2:40 which a sliver of indie rock gleam, but this is of course balanced off with far rougher guitar progressions, in particular a nice, dense tremolo picked sequence threaded in the verses. Other tracks like "Cycle of Violence" and "Finished Sympathy" have some pretty sick breakdowns, the former in which the drums cut out to heighten the impact and tone of the main riff, and the latter more of a mosh fueled, slower groove that keeps on thrashing for the majority of the playtime. These are tempered with a few slower, crushers reminiscent of Obituary like "Dismal Life" or some straight shots of late 80s death like "Chained".

There is certainly a huge range of acts currently deployed in this field, and Massive Assault writes with a sense of confidence and competence comparable to many of their contemporaries, possibly with a marginal increase in variation. That said, the band isn't quite so dark, heavy and crushingly potent as what a Tormented or Miasmal brings to the game, and I'd place them more alongside Swedes Mr. Death in overall style, or perhaps Mordbrand and Brutally Deceased, two other European bands abroad inspired by those same root Swedish influences. Death Strike is a fun enough record for a few spins, and I dig the loyal adherence to the old guitar tone and pungent production, but ultimately I felt like it had no lasting effect, just another familiar carcass thrown upon an overstocked heap of bands seeking a similar fortune through a loyal adherence to and abuse of their influences. Didn't love it, but certainly didn't hate it.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

http://massiveassault.tk/

Waning - The Human Condition (2012)

2012-01-26T08:02:00.003-05:00

In a world where drifting, melodic post-black metal acts are all the rage of late, it's practically offensive to me that Swedes Waning have not garnered more attention for their curious take on the style. Why spend the time and energy absorbing monotonous, effortless paeans to emptiness like the recent Lantlôs or Altar of Plagues releases when there is something so much more vibrant and effective just around the corner? Population Control was a promising lattice of compact drums, huge swaths of guitar tone and an almost organic influx of nihilistic urban-industrial subtext that permeated both the lyrics and composition; and it's successor, The Human Condition does it proud, if anything broadening the scope of the unsung quintet.

The guitars are kept simple, brazen and loud through cuts like "Beneath a Septic Sun", "Void" and "Continuum", presenting a cautious balance of consonance and dissonance while they wreak emotional trauma upon the audience. Virile melodic strains will often manifest off the primary thrust of the chords, but the careful threading of the bass against the dominant riffs creates a curious level of warmth and immersion, almost as if one were glimpsing out through a fluid womb to the blinding penetration of sunlight. Waning plays a lot with the tempo of beats, so that even a more straight ahead, driving riff is given an almost mechanical variation beneath, but the best parts of The Human Condition arrive when all of the varying instruments condense into some saddening contemporary black/doom passage like the bridge of the title track, through which tremolo picked guitars careen like crashing tears until the drums drop and create the bright, droning apparition of a climax.

Another contributor to the atmosphere is the vocal presence, which proves dynamic enough that no two tracks sound quite alike. Many feature the massive, drowning black rasp expected of the modern black metal genre, but then you've got a piece like the excellent "Through Fields of Mercury" in which a more somber, bitter tone is used to set up the more barbaric snarl. I could definitely make out an almost post-2000 Katatonia influence to the compositions, only this group embeds the dreamy, depressive riffing into a louder skeletal mechanism redolent of bands as widespread as Thorns, Neurosis, Void and Thralldom. The Human Condition doesn't haunt you from the woodlands, or harry you from antiquity, but it boldly screams at you from the surrounding, suffocating walls of brick, steel and plastic of the dystopia so many of us find ourselves lost in. It's abrasive and yet strangely calming, as if just knowing its pains are alive in your synapses is a comfort, and to that extent, I would place it just inches beyond its predecessor in terms of achievement and quality. Worth hearing.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

http://www.facebook.com/WaningOfficial

Bathory - Destroyer of Worlds (2001)

2012-01-26T08:01:00.003-05:00

Destroyer of Worlds is an aural exhibition of an important, almost constantly evolving artist who had at long last firmly settled into a particular style, or rather two particular styles, and thus it bears some striking similarities to both the past Bathory canons of the glorious Hammerheart, Twilight of the Gods and Blood On Ice Viking heavy metal trilogy, and the sodden and boring thrash that Quorthon thought for some reason he'd dial in during the mid 90s. The roots of both are set in the grimier blackness of Quorthon's youth, but now structurally manifest through either an emphasis on soaring male choirs, lead guitars reminiscent of the slower Manowar fare, and simplistic riffs that do not exactly inspire outside of their presentation as an atmospheric component; or in lame duck, barreling thrash rhythms that seem effectively pedestrian in intent and impact.

The problems I ran into with this album stem largely from its clear division of content. If one were to glance back at the discography, nothing here is necessarily new or out of place, but there is a crippling inconsistency to how the album flows as a whole. Sorrowful, plodding sequences like "Ode" or "Destroyer of Worlds" provide nostalgia for Hammerheart or Twilight of the Gods, but then you've got the clear delineation between that and a piece like "Death from Above", which while not as miserable as, say, Octagon, is at best fueled by mediocrity, cliche and a guitar riff that some random groove/thrash bar band in 1994 might have thrown together at a moment's notice. To Quorthon's credit, he at least tries to create a bridge between these two forces, this ying and yang: you'll hear some atmosphere, distant synths and such in a few of the thrash bits, but then you've got others like "Liberty and Justice" or the pure groove shite "Sudden Death" which amount to nothing more than massive crap stains over any potential the album might have woven.

Destroyer of Worlds is in dire need of a clipping, so swelled is it with middling content, so teemed with tripe. Not only the 6-7 shoddy bludgeoning thrashers (which, in addition to those mentioned include "109", "Pestilence", and the darker and mildly less annoying "Krom"); but also a few of the more spacious, drawn out pieces. For example, the 8+ minute closers "White Bones" and "Day of Wrath" seem rather dull and bloated: the former impregnated with some pedantic groove metal rhythms in the bridge, the latter for its almost Pink Floyd like progression and inane self-referential lyrics in the third verse. You know you're really running out of ideas when this happens, and this is yet another flaw with Destroyer. It retreads numerous prior trends in Quorthon's composition, but it offers no superior or even interesting slant on any of them...

I'm not willing to entirely throw this album under the bus. It's more of a weak and confused effort than one actively terrible, but at its best, even songs like "Ode", "Lake of Fire" and the title track are underwhelming, average shadows of past glories. The album never feels as if it's transitional, whereas just about every important step of the past felt exciting and revolutionary. Many other bands had by this point taken up the Norse mythos crown conceptually (Enslaved, Amon Amarth etc), so it makes sense that Quorthon was no longer exclusively focused there lyrically, but despite the broader prose, the music itself is not reflective of such expansion. The production values are fairly level throughout, the boxy and dense guitar tone and vocals being consistent even when he's shifting ranges, but as an album it feels both redundant and conflicted, indecisive about the next steps and thus suckling at the teat of prior missteps and majesties.

Verdict: Indifference [5.25/10] (encased in lead and steel)

Bathory - Katalog (2001)

2012-01-25T09:07:00.004-05:00

This is one of those perplexing releases that reeks of 'you have got to be fucking kidding me'. Just a few short years after Bathory had finished producing the largely useless Jubileum compilations, they go ahead and release ANOTHER. Katalog is your standard cash cow collection featuring entirely re-issued material. There are 11 tracks culled from the 10 studio albums (including the latest, Destroyer of Worlds), and presumably the intent was to con some young sucker into purchasing this as a 'sampler' of what to buy and experience next. Katalog was initially intended to be a promotional device only, so I assume it was meant for radio stations, zines or shops, but it was eventually decided to produce it in a commercial format.

The only way this works is as some sort of case study on the various transformations wrought through Bathory's career, but even then it's not worth the $.02, since you could just as easily build your own mix CD or shuffle your .mp3 playlist and achieve the same results. You'd assume each selection is meant to best represent the particular album it was initially released upon, but fuck if that's the case for the crappy Octagon ("War Supply") or average Requiem ("Distinguish to Kill"), which don't necessarily have good, at least not great songs. From the earlier archives, we get "Armageddon" (Bathory, 1984), "Possessed" (The Return..., 1985), "Enter the Eternal Fire" (Under the Sign of the Black Mark, 1987), a medley of "Odens Ride Over Nordland/A Fine Day to Die" (Blood Fire Death, 1988) and "One Rode to Asa Bay" (Hammerheart, 1990). All are good choices, but at the same time, more poignant when listened to in their native environment. Rounding out the track list are "Lake of Fire" from their new (for the time) effort Destroyer of Worlds, "The Woodwoman" from Blood On Ice and "Twilight of the Gods" from the album of the same name, plus another of the band's dingy, brief outros, a useless inclusion.

And that's it. No unreleased material, strong remixes or re-recordings, etc. Had this been a bonus disc included with Destroyer of Worlds (dropping "Lake of Fire"), it might have proved a sweet little perk aimed at younger fans who were not familiar with the band's legacy, but as a standalone product it's shit. Might as well just procure an envelope, stuff some cash or a check in it and send off to Black Mark Production asking for nothing in return. In the end, this is just as void of worth as those Lake of Tears compilations Black Mark churned out in 2004.

Verdict: Epic Fail [0/10]

Bathory - Jubileum Vol. III (1998)

2012-01-25T09:05:00.003-05:00

Because two near worthless Jubileum compilations were not enough, it was decided that a third be released 5 years later to incorporate material from Quorthon's mid-90s identity crisis circa Requiem and Octagon. Now, I'm not quite sure why such albums, the first quite mediocre and the latter downright awful would warrant such a treatment. Any masochist who was interested in such letdowns could surely just purchase them at barely double the cost, and there are no 'greatest hits' to be had in either case. The refinished songs included here from Blood On Ice had been so recently given an official album release that they also had no pressing need for a reprint, and they are so stylistically jarring to the content from the previous two full lengths that this is by far the most inconsistent of the comps.

Jubileum Vol. III presents one hour of material, 9 of its 15 tracks previously released through the 90s. From Requiem (1994), we get "War Machine", "Pax Vobiscum" and "Crosstitution"; from Octagon (1995) "Immaculate Pinetreeroad #930", "Sociopath" and "33 Something"; and from the entirely different Blood On Ice we've got "The Lake", "The Stallion" and "Gods of Thunder of Wind and of Rain". Not an an impressive roster by any standards, though I favor the last three simply because they are part of Quorthon's return to common sense, and the Norse themes he had begun to explore upon the masterwork Blood Fire Death. Even then, though, these are far better experienced on the full-length album with their neighbors, almost out of place among the more boring, straightforward thrashers. So in other words, about 60% of this collection is a rehash of null value.

We are left with the unreleased material, which hails from all over the spectrum. "Satan My Master" is the best of the lot, a pure grimy speed/black metal track from the s/t debut years which has eventually developed into one of their most popular classic tracks (covered by a large number of the bands they've influenced). Not that it's really one of their best, but the riffs are pure honest bludgeoning with Quorthon's rasp splattered all over them, and almost a punk undercurrent in the bass and chords. Another oldie called "Witchcraft" is here, a nice savage rush of gnarled speed with scintillating guitars, though the vocal bark is a bit repressed in the mix. "In Nomine Satanas" was the original incarnation of the track "Bond of Blood" which was later recorded for Twilight of the Gods, but obviously the subject matter was changed. I rather like this raw interpretation, but it's not cool enough that I'd go out of my way for it. Other than these, we're treated to an alternate vocal take on "Valhalla" (Hammerheart); and a pair of mediocre mid paced groove/thrashers in "Resolution Greed" and "Genocide" which probably didn't make it to the miserable Octagon and wouldn't have helped if they had.

In short, not a lot worth a damn, and I once again am left baffled as to why the rarer demo and cult tracks from all three of the Jubileum releases weren't just gathered in one place. Instead, Boss and Quorthon must have felt we all owed them another 30-50 dollars for next to nothing. Comparatively, Jubileum Vol. III might have more unreleased material than either of the earlier compilations, but as a collection of music of note, it pretty much sucks a bone. Better to listen to "Satan My Master" and "Witchcraft" elsewhere and save the scratch.

Verdict: Fail [3.5/10]

Nominon - Manifestation of Black EP (2011)

2012-01-24T09:16:00.004-05:00

Nominon were one of those Swedish acts barely filling out their death metal diapers when countrymen like Entombed and Dismember were already establishing names for themselves, and yet the fact that their existence dates back to 1993 puts them well ahead of the hordes of Left Hand Path wannabes we've heard in recent years. To date, they've produced a number of solid full length efforts like Diabolical Bloodshed (1999) and Recremation (2005) which provide the same tangible excitement as their forefathers, without seeming like 100% derivatives. To supplement their four albums, they've issued a number of short player EPs through their history, the latest of which is Manifestation of Black through their latest imprint, Deathgasm Records.

Obviously the value here is somewhat confined due to its brevity, but for what it's worth, the title track is one of the best the band has written in some years, with solid tremolo riffing and unbridled, demonic energy redolent of some of the heavier Dismember records. The tones are not a far cry from their most recent full-length Monumentomb: grimy and muddy distortion which leans more towards an organic representation than a heavily polished one, immediately creating an inherent, murky darkness that honors its title. "Burnt Human Offering" follows suit, not a hell of a lot more charming than the first track but fully consistent in style, and I do like the thrashing impulses buried near its aft. The drums and guitars here are quite rich, the bass appropriately dense and shadowing the rest of the mix, while the latest vocalist Henke Skoog gives a ghoulish performance that would make L-G Petrov and Matti Kärki proud.

All told, you're only getting about 8-9 minutes of new music here, and who can tell if it's going to be included also on their next full-length (their last EP, Omen, was not exactly bristling with exclusive material). I wouldn't reach for this over Nominon's first three albums, but it's decent and gritty old school death metal from one of Sweden's longest lived devotees of the form, and it has only to contend with its own shortness of breath.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.nominon.com/

Bathory - Blood on Ice (1996)

2012-01-24T09:15:00.004-05:00

By the latter portion of the mid 90s, Quorthon was in desperate need of a turnaround, as his once mighty Bathory institution seemed to be unraveling at its seams; his writing devolved into phoned in, dull thrash and groove metal which wouldn't have sufficed even a decade before its release, when the genre was still shaping up. I just don't see the appeal in creating a bold new genre of music, like the Norse themed folk-tinted metal that he manifest and progressed through the trio of Blood Fire Death, Hammerheart and Twilight of the Gods, and then sputtering out into something more pedestrian like Octagon, or Quorthon's grunge rock solo records, but thank fuck the man would come to his senses and return to the Viking path.

Granted, Blood On Ice was not a remarkable return to form. In fact, it wasn't even necessarily a new album, but enough of the content had been restored and supplemented from the original writing and recordings in 1988-89 that it feels like at least a sidereal movement from Twilight of the Gods. Originally, it would have served as a bridge between Blood Fire Death and its follower Hammerheart, and structurally, it's a lot like the latter. A lot of glorious, open passages guided by cleaner, layered vocals, with a handful of brief, folksy acoustic sequences ("Man of Iron", "The Ravens") to break up the more substantial bulk of the heavy metal tunes. Curiously, while I've never been the biggest fan of his cleaner vocal presence, Quorthon sounds admittedly tauter and more professional on some of these cuts than anything he'd done to their day (in 1995), and a few of the softer segments lend credibility that the guy could have written a pure folk record and built up a following that way.

Tunes like "Blood On Ice", "The Woodwoman" and "The Lake" rely heavily on their atmosphere just as much as Twilight of the Gods, so Bathory was continuing to move away from the central guitars so important to the first five records, instead writing riffs to support the woeful choirs of winter depression and unrest. But where this all comes together, like the acoustic sequence at around 3:50 in "The Woodwoman" or the enthusiastic canter of "Gods of Thunder of Wind and of Rain" which feels like Neil Young astride a long ship, you're getting a solid experience worthy at least of it's chronological predecessor Twilight of the Gods, if nowhere near as poignant and crushing as his seminal works in the style. There are some problems with the production, for instance the cheesy slap of the snare drum in "Blood On Ice", but in general, for something that was recorded and reworked from two different periods of Quorthon's career, it comes together fluidly.

My favorite tune here is surprisingly the expansive closer "The Revenge of the Blood on Ice", which more than any other places my psyche upon the same cold, battlestained vistas of the 1988-1990 material, and Bathory had long possessed a rare ability to write lengthy songs that incessantly draw the listener into their depths (since "Enter the Eternal Fire"). However, there is a bit of derivation and excess familiarity. For example, you'll hear a VERY familiar drum beat in the bridge of this piece, and a lot of the soothing, structured choir vocals feel as if they were just lifted from and slightly tweaked from Hammerheart. That said, compared to Octagon, this feels so enormously inspired, from the beautiful cover image to the obvious amount of effort Tomas placed in its salvage and reconstructive surgery. Rather than continue to crash along for another decade (aka Metallica), the Swede seems to have recognized his errors and righted them before they could run quickly out of control. Blood On Ice is not one of his best, but it comes near to compensation for the lackluster comps and albums that he'd been spewing forth since 1991.

Verdict: Win [7/10] (long tall beautiful people fallen lifeless to the ground)

Pharaoh - Bury the Light (2012)

2012-01-23T07:15:00.006-05:00

How does one surpass what might arguably be considered the best melodic US power metal album of the 21st century to date? Be Gone was just such a piece, an effort of impeccable craftsmanship in its gleaming guitar architecture, tonal mastery and the pinnacle of Tim Aymar's balance of fragility and focused fire. Composition that drew equally from 80s power, speed and progressive titans like Fates Warning, Omen, Helstar, Savage Grace, yet brewed it into a modern froth of finesse and accessibility. How do you top it? Or, more accurately, how do you live up to it? In the case of Bury the Light, Pharaoh's fourth full-length, you continue forging along the same path, with the same standard for memorable hooks and rhythmic versatility, and prove once and for all that you're not a band capable of dishing out anything less than your best.

No, it's not quite so inspiring and flawless as Be Gone, but Bury the Light is still likely to go down as one of the best albums of its type in this or any other year beyond the brilliant 80s. I felt as if there was an even heavier technical thrash influence circa Heathen or Paradox in the riffs of tracks like "The Wolves" and "The Spider's Thread", and the overall atmosphere through the 9 tracks seems somewhat darker and moodier, but it's hard to deny the traditional flair of straight drivers like "Burn With Me" which can counter the rush of power chords with elegant muted dual melodies, transient leads and an incredible level of skill. Guitarist Matt Johnsen is simply a force with his instrument, and he performs in a clinical yet beautiful style that waxes both an absurd level of precision and an ear for flinging the listener into the vortex of majesty and sorrow that defines the pensive lyrical vistas. Next to his prowess, the rhythm duo of Chrises Kerns and Black has its work cut out for it, but the pair matches every calculated shift in tempo and exudes an aura of professional complexity that you just don't hear among others in this field...

Pharaoh is one of the few metal acts recording today which gleans the genre's possibilities for the future instead of miring itself solely in the past. Thus, while you might feel familiarity for the traditional, beloved power anthem in a piece like "Castles in the Sky", there is no escaping how 'current' it feels, how snappy and adventurous and void of stagnation. Johnsen's myriad melodies cascade about the album's atmosphere like drops of crystal rain colliding into one another. The aesthetics of illumination and tragedy are inescapable, and yet the rugged, multifaceted edge of Aymar's delivery grounds the material in a way that some wimpier, traditional Kiske or Tate like screamer simply wouldn't do. There is a light at the end of this tunnel. This music still matters. There is hope yet for the eventuality of this oft ailing, laurel resting genre, and its agent provocateurs are a bunch of old schoolers from Pennsylvania who prove, once again, unwilling to let nostalgia alone control their collective voice.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10]

http://www.solarflight.net/

Bathory - Octagon (1995)

2012-01-23T07:14:00.004-05:00

Oh, those 90s. Nearly every metal artist of credibility running smack dab into an identity crisis, trying to decide whether he or she should 'go with the flow' or stick to his or her guns. Strangely, Quorthon is not an individual whom I would have expected to succumb to such follies, but yet Octagon stands as another bitter pill to swallow, and the absolute low point for the career of Bathory. Down from the mountains of the late 80s, to the sea level of Requiem and now fully submerged in mediocre riffing and writing, disposable vocals and elements that the Viking or black metal connoisseur of Quorthon's fan bast must have found tasteless and confusing. I can only speak from my own experience, but this album was an immediate shelfer, and if I hadn't been so materially inclined to collect the band's whole legacy, grounds for an immediate return.

Don't be fooled by the eight-pointed parallel to the pentagram on the cover, or the traditional font used in the logo here, this is NOT the Bathory you'd grown accustomed to and not something Quorthon has or will ever be recognized for, outside of the obvious chinks in his armor that it represented. I've seen a lot of tell about how this is the groove/nu-metal Bathory record, and while it drifts closer to that clime than any other, it's more of a failed attempt at modern and grimy thrash redolent of what Slayer were doing post-Seasons in the Abyss. You might catch hints of similar structures to those used by Machine Head, System of a Down or other tripe emerging out of the 90s, but Slayer is the perfect comparison for Octagon, since there are a number of riffs here that seem pulled directly from the Hanneman/King playbook. For example, the descending thrash rush in the opener "Immaculate Pinetreeroad #930". The mix of grooves and primal thrashing in "Psychopath" or the bridge of "Schizianity". Or how about the vocal architecture in "Sociopath"? Ring any of hell's bells?

Nothing is straight lifted, of course, but I felt as bored and irritated by this album as I had been underwhelmed by a Divine Intervention or directly appalled by Diabolus in Musica. It's not that Octagon wholly lacks a personality, or a few 'experimental' touches. For instance, there are a lot of dissonant passages embedded in the guitars, or stolid and raw post Helhammer grooves in tunes like "Born to Die" or "Schizianity", but the riffs are almost without exception predictably patterned to the point of no return. Not one charming, resonant vocal line or memorable guitar progression exists throughout the entire play length, and even when songs like "War Supply" embellish the neanderthal thrashing with noisier, infected atmospheres it still feels no more entertaining than a taut morning struggle on the toilet after a few bowls of bowel sluicing fiber heavy cereal. The only song here I can't say I totally hate is the moody, mid paced "Century" slugger which sounds like Hellhammer and 90s Slayer in a circle stroke. But it's not good, either...

The album ends with a cover of "Deuce" from KISS, but in all honestly this sounds nothing like any other track on the entire album. A straight hard rock version with slightly more crushing guitar production and Quorthon's wild, slathering rasped vocals, but contextually it doesn't fit in with the remainder of Octagon. By extension, Octagon doesn't fit in or belong to the remainder of Bathory's discography. Not because it incorporates unwelcome, unimpressive groove metal elements or terrible lyrics in tracks like "Psychopath" that feel like something an angsty teen would pen after being the last picked for volleyball teams in Phys. Ed class, but because it just fucking sucks. The songwriting is lamentable, the vocals pathetic, and all the lofty ambitions of previous (and later) albums are rubbed into the mire of contemporary industry driven revolt.

Requiem might have been the first case in which a Bathory album failed to inspire me to set someone or something on fire, or dream of the Eddas, but Octagon was the first and only that I want to run over with my fucking car. It's not clever, it's not funny, it's not interesting and it's nowhere near acceptable.

Verdict: Fail [2.75/10] (this is my fucking despair)

Blind Guardian - Memories of a Time to Come (2012)

2012-01-21T08:18:00.003-05:00

Interestingly enough, Blind Guardian has only smacked us once in the past with a compilation, and that was The Forgotten Tales in 1996, a gathering of odds, ends, covers and alternate versions that were previously only available on import singles and such. In fact, that collection was itself not domestically released at the time and I had to import it, but at least I was satisfied that I did not own much of the content. Well, that time has rolled around again, and once more the German power metal legends have satisfied this critic in that they show some due concern for their fans receiving a degree of value from what might have otherwise been a worthless repressing and reconfiguring of tracks to cash in on redundantly on their considerable, prior success.

No, most of the tracks here have at least been 'remixed'. Brightened and adjusted to meet the sleeker, 'modern' visage that Middle Earth's most lovable bards have presented on their latest studio full length At the Edge of Time. There's not a massive difference, in my opinion, and I doubt I'd ever spin this collection over the original incarnations, but the vocals in cuts like "This Will Never End" and "Imaginations from the Other Side" sound slightly more fulfilling in their presence, and the mix of the guitars less squeaky and distraught, a factor that was fortunately never enough to entirely curb my enjoyment of the albums in the first place. In other places, though, like "Follow the Blind" the vocals seem a bit wavier in quality, so to hear them so much more to the fore is not necessarily a positive thing. But at least Blind Guardian managed to add SOMETHING to the tracks, so for better or worse, they're not precisely the same.

The problem is that they've pulled off a bit of a 'dick move' reminiscent of Iced Earth's Days of Purgatory collection, where there were different versions available with varying degrees of content. Personally, I'm not fond of this practice, here or in video games or DVD sets or really anywhere. My opposition is not from a pure capitalist standpoint; clearly an individual can discern what he or she is purchasing in advance and make the choice to buy the better product. It just seems arbitrary and wasteful not to give all your fans the same amount of content, or to even waste whatever raw materials are essential to bother printing up separate products when it might save a whole lot of time and effort just to give everyone the full monty. For Memories of a Time to Come, this comes in the form of a third disc incorporated to the 'deluxe super special magnificent elite wonderful' edition, which features 70 additional minutes of content over 15 fucking tracks. Consider that Discs 1 and 2 are only around 51 minutes each, and then realize just how much you'll be screwed if you don't buy the deluxe version...

Obviously, I recommend that anyone who is actually interested in this would buy the fuller, more expensive and expansive version, because who knows if they'll just cave in and make it all available in some later pressing, and there's just so much more bulk to it. Great tracks like "Time What is Time", "A Past and Future Secret", "Lost in the Twilight Hall" and "The Script for My Requiem" are compiled there plus a few rarities like "Brian" from their 1989 live/demo promotional release, or "Dead of the Night" and "Lucifer's Heritage" from their Symphonies of Doom demo when they were actually called Lucifer's Heritage. In fact, that whole demo is here on the extra disc and it's been tweaked. But then, I don't really care for any of those particular cuts, they showcase a much rawer band in which Hansi has only the slightest trace of ability that he would later adapt into renown. The few tracks that Blind Guardian decided to fully re-record for this release were quite surprising. There's a good, heavy version of "The Bard's Song" which I love a lot more than the wimpier, acoustic versions that have long numbered as some of my least favorite content in their whole catalog. Ditto for "And Then There Was Silence".

Does Memories of a Time to Come justify the 30 beans (US) that you'll likely drop for it? That really depends if you have a huge problem with the production of their earlier records. It's not as you're getting a full remix of their discography, but the mix of oldies and from their early speed power metal years and somewhat more recent fare is interesting. A lot of favorites have been omitted like "Journey Through the Dark" and "Time Stands Still (at the Iron Hill)", and I just don't see myself desiring this experience when I could just listen to the originals and experience the full breadth of Somewhere Far Beyond, Nightfall in Middle-Earth, etc. This is a lovely package with a great looking cover, and I do appreciate the fully re-recorded versions, but it just depends how much money you wanna throw at the Germans, and how much you really need to hear the same songs with edited production. If you DO get it, though, don't waste your money on the normal two-disc version, or you'll just regret it.

Verdict: Indifference [5.75/10]

http://www.blind-guardian.com/

Coldworker - The Doomsayer's Call (2012)

2012-01-21T08:15:00.005-05:00

Coldworker is an act that has to date impressed me with both its prior full-lengths, but what I most find fascinating about this group is how they remind me of 80s English proto-grind acts like Napalm Death and Carcass and how they evolved their sounds into a structured, accessible brand of death metal, which for the time felt modern. To a large fraction of the audience, that was a good thing, and to a smaller number, a source of endless dismay, but thanks to such evolution, we have bands like this one who are unafraid to exchange some of that cult-punk credibility to expand their personal boundaries as musicians, explore a more dynamic stratum of metal without abandoning the core values of brutality.

Coldworker was never meant to be Nasum Mk. II, despite Anders' involvement, but its own distinct entity, yet some of those modern Swedish grind roots clearly shone through on the first albums, and to a lesser degree they remain. However, The Doomsayer's Call is easily the band's most diverse offering yet. Though I didn't ultimately find it so compelling as Rotting Paradise from 2008, it's an example of near flawless technical execution, not from the perspective of pure proficiency or wankery, because most of the riffing is appreciably down to earth, but the brick house polish of the rhythmic guitar punch and the ability to shift between grooving, angry mires of psychological death/thrash ("A New Era", "The Walls of Eryx") and explosive barrages of dissonant, blasted matter that teeters more on the 'extreme' ("The Reprobate", "Violent Society"). There are still bursts of that recognizable Nasum death/grind in a tune like "Vacuum Fields", but they're balanced off with tremolo muted sequences, sparse arpeggios and pensive spoken word vocals.

The influences are all over the place, from the dark octave grooving of "Flesh World" which will recall post-Altars Morbid Angel, to the sheer velocity of "The Glass Envelope" which Napalm Death might have recorded in the past decade, but Coldworker mix it all into a cohesion that continue to engage the listener through the full 13 tracks. That's not to say that I loved the album entirely: in fact I found it's the sort of fare that, while exciting to experience up front does not leave a huge impact in the memory. But this is not due to any lack of trying. They are metric boat loads of riffs here, and no song rests along some simple course, instead packing each minute with precision for both moshing and neck breaking. Anders Jakobsen is on fire, shifting tempos with mechanical ease and challenging himself far more than his own backlog, and the vocals of Joel Fornbrant are themselves quite percussive, though his delivery is often monotonous and familiar enough that I wouldn't call them a highlight of the recording.

In the end, though, The Doomsayer's Call does a heck of a lot right, and I'd easily recommend it to fans of Napalm Death, Benighted, Lock Up and Nasum. Don't expect the same sort of self indulgent brutality you get from a lot of the Californian tech DM bands so prevalent in this day and age, but if you're more into the manageable skill and beating that bands like Cannibal Corpse and Suffocation never fail to wring out of their recordings, then there's no reason you should not at least give this Swedish alternative a chance. A solid, dynamic and entertaining third album that strengthens their legacy.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.coldworker.com/

Magnetron - A Measured Timeframe (2011)

2012-01-21T08:11:00.009-05:00

While I recognize works of brilliance in every metal sub category, and feel equally at home in nearly any of them, I don't think it's a secret that thrash is a particular field I hold dear. The 'Golden Age' of this medium (let's say 1986-1990) has produced more of my absolute favorite works than perhaps any other in the metallic spectrum, and it's had what must be the most profound influence on my own writing and musicianship. So it's ever an honor to hear a band like the Dutch Magnetron, which manages to pay libations to various late 80s sources while eking out a niche of its own, maintaining an undeniable level of enthusiasm and sense of humor without writing itself into the same corner of nostalgic stupidity that so many of these faceless retro bands settle for.

Granted, these guys have been around the way a few times, forming in 1996 and producing a string of demos in a grind style before ultimately reforming to join the thrashing crusade of the 21st century, but clearly they've got an incredible grasp of the music they've pursued here, which is namely a merger of US and Germanic thrash. The intense, harried nature of the riffs is largely reminiscent of albums like Terrible Certainty, Release from Agony and Persecution Mania, but there's also a melodic, crunching current coursed through the compositions which brings to mind the West Coast second stringers like Forbidden or Defiance. The vocals have a bit of Tom Angelripper blitz to them ("Nice Teeth", "Compulsory Communication"), perhaps due to the accent of their author, but the pitch is a bit brighter, bloodier and more garbled. Gang shouts are used percussively and appropriately to maintain the excitement and velocity of the music, and to give it more of a street level appeal rather than the surgical Destruction vibe that the technical merits of the guitars might otherwise conceive.

Not all the progressions and patterns are 100% winners, but it's almost impossible not to get caught up in the flurry of aural violence and intensity that manifests through a track like "Born Witless" or "For Your Life Let Justice Be Accused". Rapid, dynamic and organic drums blast and fuse their way to the punctuation of the mute-streams in "A Bit Consideration" and "Right to Dislike", and there is constantly the sensation of something important happening or about to happen. That said, if the band lacks in one department it's probably the choruses, which never seem to burn themselves across the memory like those influential counterparts of old. Riffs will heighten and collapse, expand and contract all over the surface of the songwriting but they're not necessarily designed for emotional impact, just to keep the limbs flailing and heads banging in a step nearly impossible to follow without an acrobatic appreciation for the genre. The lyrics are a mixed bag, all relevant and meaningful, but occasionally a bit too cheesy and 80s ("Nice Teeth", or the Tankard-like "Rob a Bank, Buy a Tank").

Speaking of 'cheese', I was rather surprised by how much I liked the cover art. Has a very 80s feel with the simpler illustration style and the old school logo, but there's a great visual spin there which juxtaposes the role of human to vermin. I, for one, welcome our future space-rat overlords and hourglass brains, but more importantly it mirrors Magnetron's ability to imbue their nostalgia and humor with an actual message. The production of A Measured Timeframe is quite humble, with thin but effective guitars, never dowsed in any excess of effects aside from a tinge of reverb, so you get a very organic, jammed out feeling to the music which gives it a feel somewhere between Xentrix's For Whose Advantage? and Defiance's Product of Society. In the end, Magnetron offer reaffirmation that thrash can be fun without being dumb, exciting without pandering to the lowest common denominator, and old school sensitive without facing an immediate dead end. One of the better Dutch thrash bands of the 21st century to date, and one worth experiencing for its authenticity, if not for its good looks.

Verdict: Win [8/10] (rectifying previous conquests)

http://www.magnetronthrash.nl/

Bathory - Requiem (1994)

2012-01-21T08:10:00.003-05:00

Requiem doesn't feel so much a 'new Bathory' as one that branched off into an alternate reality at around the time it might have followed Under the Sign of the Black Mark, then somehow found its way back to the natural chronology of the band. After the pair of rather lacking Jubileum compilations, I would have taken just about anything new and original from the vaunted Quorthon, but was not expecting an album which clung so tightly to the pure thrash aesthetics one would expect elsewhere in the scene. Essentially, Requiem is what we might have gotten had Quorthon decided not to delve into his self fulfilling prophecy of viking majesty, but instead attempted to trade blows with a lot of the grimier, aggressive US and German thrashers that dominated extreme metal in the mid through late 80s.

As such, it's not all that poor of a choice. This was a musician unafraid to reinvent himself, who in doing so helped give birth to a number of sub-genres that remain massive today. Requiem is not some monotonous, point for point impersonation of Exodus, Slayer and Metallica, but there is clearly a bit of US street thrash influence circa Anthrax, Dark Angel, Exodus and S.O.D. in pummelers like "Suffocate", "Requiem" and "Distinguish to Kill", some of which even feature rock out solo breaks that also remind me of the more down home, contemporary American thrashers. The tone used on some of the meatier guitar lines is fairly boxy, redolent of the Finnish band Stone, but the fact that Quorthon sticks with his ghastlier black metal vocals through much of the disc does help it stand out from most of the other 'modern' thrash metal that was spewing forth to an unwelcoming audience in the mid 90s.

Unfortunately, I found them to be the least distinguished and charismatic of Bathory's repertoire to its day, with little but their dry, raw timbre to really propel them. Little of the memorable, vile slather of the Bathory s/t or Under the Sign of the Black Mark. The album inevitably becomes a potpourri of a few finer, choice moments and a bunch of average thrash riffing which, while not even bordering on incompetence, might not have even been effective if it arrived when that music was at its peak momentum. I really like the atmospheric intro to the title track with its distant tolling and eerie synthesizer, and Quorthon wrings a lot of corpulent thrust out of the ensuing, palm muted frenzy, but the riffs just aren't that memorable. Another piece I mildly enjoy is "War Machine", for the simplistic, swift flow of the central guitar and the use of sirens to create a belligerent atmosphere, but even this one has a filler riff in the chorus. "Apocalypse" has a bold, churning martial appeal to it, with some subtle melodic overtures that hint towards Blood Fire Death or Hammerheart, but it too falls shy of perfection.

Hell, even the cover image, while not terrible, is underwhelming, but I don't think I could argue that it didn't capture the stripped down aesthetics of the record. Requiem is the Bathory that might have been, were Quorthon not so inspired and inspiring in the first place, but just another in a sea of thrashers so crowded that some of its most brilliant European authors failed to garner the audience they deserved. This album was a little late for that boom, with most of the thrash audience moving on to hip hop, alternative, grunge and other 90s genre giants. It still sounds like Bathory, just not the one that would launch a thousand dragon ships and etch itself into the annals of immortality. A hollowed out headbanging experience, the aggression dialed up and the atmosphere available only in small pockets. It could get worse, and maybe it will...

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10] (now more dead than living)

Bathory - Jubileum Vol. II (1993)

2012-01-20T08:27:00.004-05:00

If it's not painfully obvious just how conniving Jubileum Vol. II seems in the long term, just take a brief glance through the track list. You'll find more tracks lifted from the same albums that the first volume outsourced the year before, and other rarities that were held back. Had Boss and Quorthon decided to just release the 4 obscurities there and the three here as a single EP, or perhaps tossed on some other unheard material, it might have felt a lot less cheap. Fuck, if they had just kept it in their pants until the later 90s, they could have combined the unreleased material from all THREE Jubileums to produce a single, comprehensive collection that would have been both mandatory and highly anticipated by their original fans and the many that joined the procession through their individual discoveries through the emergent black metal genre earlier that decade.

Nah, this just feels like an incomplete 'half' to shove on your shelf next to Vol. I and forget all about it. As proof of this, look at how they've included Bathory's OTHER track from the 1984 Scandinavian Metal Attack split, "The Return of Darkness and Evil". Granted, both of their contributions to the release appear elsewhere in the Bathory canon in a form that does not greatly diverge in quality, but I'd rather have these remnants in one place. The other gems here are "Burnin' Leather", a straight black/speed/thrash blitz from before the Blood Fire Death album was released with Quorthon's most Germanic, Mille Petrozza presence perhaps in all his legacy (not only for the voice itself but the syllabic patterns); and "Die in Fire", which was taken from the same 1983 demo recordings as "You Don't Move Me (I Don't Give a Fuck)". The vocals are a little more hacked here, but I still quite enjoy the primal riffing and think that element alone is just another of the myriad reasons Bathory has been such an influential band. Try and count how many of these throwback speed/black bands today owe their very existence to a tune like this...great that we can finally hear it.

But that's where the value ends to this collection. The rest of the tunes are just lifted off the full-length albums. Two more from Twilight of the Gods ("Bond of Blood" and the title track), which seems rather silly. It was their most recent record and yet now we've got 50% and 30 minutes of its content reprinted within 2 years. From the first three albums, there is a small contingent including "Possessed", "Raise the Dead", "Total Destruction" and "Call from the Grave", and then more of their Viking fare in the form of "Shores in Flames" (Hammerheart) and "The Golden Walls of Heaven" (Blood Fire Death). So, yes, now 5 of the 9 tracks from Blood Fire Death are also repressed for these two compilations...if anyone is THAT interested, why not just buy the damned thing and experience its full, consistent glory.

Alas, the same frustrations apply here to this release as they do for every other largely needless printing of plastics and paper that I've experienced, and it's difficult to regard Jubileum Vol. II as anything more than an incomplete commercial venture targeted at collectors and fanatics who will purchase this on its logo/brand name alone. Two of the unreleased tracks are worth hearing, as they'd not been available to those who bought the original pressings of the full-lengths. But the remainder of the content does not flow any better here than it did in its original configuration, and to most of good taste, Bathory's a good enough band to drop the 60-80 bucks on their exceptional backlog anyway. As it stands, the net worth of this particular collection is about as long as it takes to rip "Burnin' Leather" and "Die in Fire" to your portable mp3 player or desktop folder and then sell it off to some other sucker.

Verdict: Fail [3.25/10]

Bathory - Jubileum Vol. I (1992)

2012-01-20T08:26:00.004-05:00

While Quorthon has been on record to discuss his varying levels of involvement with Black Mark Productions and his relationship to its head of operations, Boss Forsberg (who also produced some of the Bathory albums), I don't think there's any dispute that Bathory itself was more or less the flagship act for the imprint. Through the years, I've often enjoyed the Black Mark signings, for example the Swedish psychedelic/doom troop Lake of Tears, who have released some of my favorite albums of the past 10-15 years. But really, if you consider how much of a cult following Bathory has developed over the years, and what a demand there has been for special editions, re-releases, vinyl and so forth, it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that Quorthon was the label's primary source of income.

To that extent, it makes sense that the label would and will release all manner of collections and compilations documenting the band's evolution, and Jubileum was the first series of such. The aim here was to provide a good portion of the band's previously released material to prospective audiences, and then jazz it up with a few unreleased gems so the diehards had a reason to pump out the coin for them. Granted, Bathory is such a 'scene status' godfather for the black metal territories that damn near every fan owns their albums in some incarnation, and the last thing they really need is rehashed, redundant material when they would prefer demos, rehearsals or those few old live recordings that might have existed. But alas, this describes about 70% of the contents of this first compilation (and its successor), which is ultimately a lot more useless than not. Also, considering that that both Jubileum volumes I and II are both drawn from the band's early catalog (first six full-lengths), it's a bit lame that they were released independently and not as a 2-CD set...

11 of the track are re-pressed from the prior full-lengths, and the selection is nothing to scoff at in terms of sheer quality. "Blood Fire Death", "Dies Irae", "Odens Ride Over Nordland" and "A Fine Day to Die" all represent the very finest of the band's hours, and their finest album (Blood Fire Death), but they also incorporate a smattering of earlier pieces: "Enter the Eternal Fire" and "Equimanthorn" from Under the Sign of the Black Mark, "Sadist' from The Return... and "War" from the 1984 s/t. Hammerheart earns one proxy ("Song to Hall Up High") and the more recent Twilight of the Gods earns two ("Through Blood by Thunder", "Under the Runes"). So it's clear that Quorthon's choices here were biased towards the more viking themed material, a bias I share only in that it grants Blood Fire Death so much berth, but might not best convey the balance and evolution that the band exhibited in their formative years.

Of course, who gives a shit, because most of us who gave a damn already owned all these songs, and would only be interested in the rare bits. There's a version of "Sacrifice" here that was originally featured on the 1984 Scandinavian Metal Attack split (Bathory's proper debut) with other hopefuls like Finland's Oz and Sweden's Trash. I think we all know who got the best of that deal. Then, more importantly there are some rarer tracks like "Rider at the Gate of Dawn", a lush choir/synth instrumental of about 80 seconds that would have felt right at home on Blood Fire Death with its grim, warlike mount-trotting implications. "Crawl to Your Cross" is a dense and explosive black/thrash piece with a meaty, violent guitar tone somewhere in between the US bands Exodus and ZnoWhite. For 1989, this track was somewhat out of character for the band, since Quorthon was honing in on his viking/pagan medium, so it's understandable why it would have been left out, but I am glad to finally have heard it.

Lastly, you've got a real oldie, "You Don't Move Me (I Don't Give a Fuck") which was recorded in that total old school filth speed metal style that was further evolved on the Bathory s/t. Raw, spiteful and grimy, it's amazing to me just how much this nearly 30 year old piece sounds like the stuff you'll hear the Japanese band Abigail write today! My favorite thing on this comp, and the bass, vocals and licks are all superb despite the humble 4-track production. I can only imagine how much value Jubileum Vol I. would hold for me if there had been more material like this involved, but sadly it's just an exception to the rule. There's a lot of great music on the comp in general, but I can't think of a single reason it would be more appropriate to experience here than in its original landscape. It might have been a total bust, and been 100% rehash, but at least they felt some compulsion to pepper the contents with a few carrots on sticks for the jaded.

That said, this is still pretty useless if you're not a collector or completist. As a 7" with just the unreleased material, it might have shined. As it stands: no. Not the most shameless cash grab I've ever witnessed (check the stupendously redundant Lake of Tears compilations that Black Mark released far later), but kind of a missed opportunity nonetheless. If you DO happen to be one of the fourteen or fifteen interested parties on Earth who haven't yet experienced Quorthon in all his morning glory, then save the shells on this album and instead dive straight into Blood Fire Death, Bathory '84, Hammerheart or Under the Sign of the Black Mark, depending on your preference for his Satanist or Odinist epochs.

Verdict: Fail [3.5/10]

Bathory - Twilight of the Gods (1991)

2012-01-19T07:42:00.005-05:00

Over the Christian skulls, and through the waves, to Grandfather Odin's house we go. Twilight of the Gods, the 6th Bathory full length, would see the Swedes' transition to full-on Viking folk metal completed, and all within the span of a year since Hammerheart. Not that this would be the last evolutionary stage for Quorthon, who will continue to place the band on divergent paths through the mid 90s, but I don't think anyone could question that a good number of his albums from the Blood on Ice era and beyond felt like reiterations of the concepts and atmospheres he originally explored on the Viking 'trilogy' of Blood Fire Death, Hammerheart and this Twilight of the Gods.

This chapter is by far the most accessible in all of Bathory's history, and that's due to the high levels of friendlier rock polish in both production and composition, plus Quorthon's decision to focus almost exclusively on a cleaner vocal tone. Personally, I was saddened at this fact when I first purchased the CD, because I did rather admire the coat of grit he had applied to its predecessors, since all but abandoning the snarling and rasping pandemonium of the early albums. As I've mentioned, I find the man's pure singing voice to be inconsistent at best, as he was never blessed with the broadest range and seems to often stumble over his accent, but even at its worst there is a particular character to his floppy, cutting tone that is easily distinguishable from anyone else (sort of like the charm one might find in 'Engrish' bands, though this is not of grammar but delivery). He can hit a certain thread of melody in "Twilight of the Gods" or the soaring symphonic anthem "Hammerheart" which proves he's no hack, but there are a number of passages throughout this album, like the slovenly verses of "To Enter Your Mountain" in which further refinement and editing should have been mandated.

Musically, the focus is all on slick, clean and catchy chorus sequences and simple flowing rock chords, supported by choirs not unlike those found on Hammerheart. Bathory was no initiate to the use of the acoustic guitar, but here it was most heavily implemented as a base component of the musical landscape. It's nearly everywhere, and tracks like "Under the Runes" and "Blood and Iron" wouldn't be the same without the brooding, folksy undercurrent it creates. So much of the album is slow that it reminds me of a Viking Pink Floyd. Perhaps not so psychedelic, unless you're a raven or six-legged horse, but certainly as airy and atmospheric as that comparison would imply, with an assured, steady flow to the music that centers heavily on the simplicity of the rock chords and the flow of the vocal arrangements. The aim was to appear glorious, and even though this is far from a personal favorite in the Bathory repertoire, that end result is not one I could ever deny.

I almost wish that the use of voices here had been restricted to the choir sequences, though, like the drudging harmony used in "Blood and Iron", because when Quorthon breaks away for the lead vocal lines they often feel relatively shabby and off-kilter. With Hammerheart, I felt as if the man were riding some squall on a dragon ship and beseeching Ægir to let he and the crew pass the towering torrents around them, but here his presence seems to break up the smooth flume of the musical procession and there are cases like "Through Blood by Thunder" where he just feels like an emo suffering from a hernia. I found my earlier exposures to the album grating at best, especially in such spots as this, but through the years I've at least learned to tune them out and just focus on the underlying music, which, while rarely exemplary, at least serves for positive background noise to atavistic ruminescence or dorkier pondering. Though interestingly enough, there's a slightly contemporary slant to the lyrics (in particular the title track).

Ultimately, it's a good album, but not a showcase of Bathory at peak performance. I do like the meandering, fell majesty and tribal power of the drums, the constant kneading of the acoustics into the roiling, simplified chord structures and the sobering choirs, but at times I feel as if they're all being conducted by a drunkard. Still, this would be the safest to share with your dad, uncles and granddads over a mead. But your mom will still hate it. I can recall that this was supposed to be one of several swan songs for the band. It's solemn disposition certainly reflects that finality, and I'm sure that there are a great many Bathory fans who wish it had been the case, judging by the divisive reactions towards its successors, but it's not as if all the ensuing efforts were total refuse. Twilight of the Gods should be judged as the album which plied the safest waters in terms of a general audience, but it was quite risky at the time for the more specialized metal audience who at the time might have been more desiring of heaps of entrails and Satan. But then, they had Deicide (and many more) to whet their carnal appetites.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (we maintain we are in control)

Bathory - Hammerheart (1990)

2012-01-18T10:36:00.004-05:00

Hammerheart and its successor Twilight of the Gods were unique to me in that they were the only 'growers' I experienced in the whole of Bathory's body of work. Most other albums prompted immediate satisfaction or indifference, but Hammerheart took a span of years to accumulate its value when I was flooded with so much else at that precise point in metal history (1990), where thrash had churned out some of its most impressive and enduring works, and death metal was just digging in its heels. Of course, this was an instantaneous purchase much like anything else on the Noise Records roster, but I listened to it a few times, found that it was not as good as Blood Fire Death, put it on the shelf for a few months, extracted it, enjoyed it a fraction more, rinse and repeat for another two decades.

It's almost as if Hammerheart grows better not only with its own aging, but with mine. These days, as white threads being to poke out through the hedgerow of my facial hair, I've taken on a new level of appreciation for this trudging, Viking monolith, which nearly completed Bathory's transition from thrash and black roots to one of the forefathers of the pagan/folk metal advent that took a firm hold in Europe through the mid to late 90s. You still get a bit of rasped edge to Quorthon's cleaner tones, and the riffs possess a similar, inherent glory to those of Blood Fire Death that feel so legitimately atavist and Norse in nature, but the material here is slower, more atmospheric and drawn out. Tracks like "A Fine Day to Die" and "Blood Fire Death" itself were given plenty of space to breathe as they surged forth in their belligerent majesty, but here we experience pure paeans to the land and sea of the Sagas, tributes to the world not only of, but BEYOND the battlefields, and as such it's rather refreshing.

My favorite component to the music is the interaction of the horn sounds with the undercurrents of distorted guitar and the vocal arrangements. Some of this was carried forward from the fourth album, and yet here the orchestration reaches a new level of prevalence in that it's almost a rule and not the exception. The opening sequence to "Valhalla", leading up to the potent thrashing canter of its verse, is a fine example of how Quorthon has grown into a composer beyond the metallic instrumentation, and further evidenced by the soaring choirs he implements in this and numerous other tracks on the album. The tribal, measured Viking thrash of "Baptised in Fire and Ice" and the lurching, grooving bludgeon of "Father to Son" are other highlights, but I find that, considering the 55 minute length of the album, it's pleasant on the whole to experience, if not without some flaws. I could probably live without the obligatory ambient/choir outro, and the massive 11 minute opener "Shores in Flames" could have been slightly trimmed, but the majority of the compositions are compelling enough that I appreciate Hammerheart more than anything the band would put out later.

I've mentioned before that I've never been all that fond of the 'singing' Quorthon, but I should clarify that this is simply the limitation on the vocal chords the Gods granted the man, and not on his effort to better himself, to evolve through the process. He's no Celine Dion, but he works with what he's got. Through Hammerheart, really, you only get a taste of the cleaner tones (like the intro to "Shores in Flames"), and he largely adheres to the grimier, accented grit that was so prominent on Blood Fire Death, but you can surmise that he's further motivated by melody to match the atmospheres of the changes in the music. Hammerheart lacks the black metal core of its predecessor. What heaviness you witness here comes at either a doomed clip or a confident slower thrashing impetus, so it makes a whole lot of sense that the vocals needed to adapt along with this new vision.

In listening through Hammerheart, I like to imagine Quorthon as a skald, a minstrel-herald to the fire and wind who gives voice to and through the ice-rimmed storms that assail the ship on which he rides, and I'm sure this was the man's own motivation in choosing this style. And even where I don't love the delivery of each line, it's full proof of concept, which goes a LONG way to properly assessing and immersing oneself into the music here. The ideas might not have been all that unique, after all, we had Blood Fire Death a few years prior, and heavy metal bands like Faithful Breath, Thor and Manowar had already touted the Viking party line, but the 1988-90 Bathory era is without a doubt the point at which it was handled with what felt like genuine passion and enthusiasm, and not as a gimmick or excuse to wear helmet and furs, or to impress your groupies at the after party with the size of your 'axe'. To that extent, metal owes Quorthon another debt (in addition to that whole black metal thing), and this album, while not one of Bathory's best, indefinitely applies its titular implement to your beating hugr in a surefire, resonant succession.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (the rumours told of a man)

Bathory - Under the Sign of the Black Mark (1987)

2012-01-17T09:44:00.004-05:00

By the time Bathory's third full-length rolled around, thrash metal had produced a number of hallmarks in extremity which more than contested the Swedes' claim upon that end of the spectrum. Reign in Blood and Darkness Descends not only benefited from unforeseen levels of intensity and musicianship, but they were also incredibly volatile and pissed off to the point that they made almost anything outside of the German Big Three seem like turtles racing hares. That said, Under the Sign of the Black Mark was STILL a paradigm of aggression and evil, not through any sense of instrumental flatulence or compositional brilliance, but for the lack of all these things: the crass and compelling stench of darkness, filth and pestilence which permeates every lick played upon the album.

You wouldn't want Bathory (1984) or The Return... (1985) to hang about your local chapel or attend a family dinner, but when their successor arrived, it felt like every door and window in the village must have been shut tight and barred off, offerings of rams' blood smeared upon their wooden faces to ward off the evil that had strolled in upon a foul wind. This album is really that good, and in my opinion its pacing and structure placed the band firmly upon the pedestal from which Quorthon would never, and has never been shaken, despite the divisive evolutions that Bathory would endure in future years. Contextually, through my own perspective, I have long gone either way on the earlier albums in terms of their exact classification. They were thrash metal. Dirty Satanic speed metal. Death metal. Black metal. In retrospect, that latter category has since officially become 'a thing' of some importance, but one might still place them in all of these spheres at once and get no argument from me.

But Under the Sign of the Black Mark, at least for my humble self, feels like the point at which the levee broke on the top shelf of the Abyss, and all the damned and damning souls erupted through the crust, screaming in Bradbury-unison 'something wicked this way comes'. THIS is black metal, at its purest, borne on the nuclear zephyrs of thrash and speed and dawning into its own abominable, leering presence alongside another, more underground Scandinavian threat: Mayhem's Deathcrush. Bathory had to this point already been destined for immortality due to the spiteful, unapologetic atmosphere of The Return... and the vicious charisma of the self-titled debut, but Under the Sign of the Black Mark combines the two into a rapine rush of simple and effective buzzsaw riffing momentum, blazing fallen angel leads that cut the heavens with sighs of inevitable vengeance, and a rasped vocal so grimy and eternal as it barks through its acrobatic patterns that it feels as if Dead and Mille Petrozza found some arcane ritual through which to spiritually copulate in Hell and produce a slavering, ravenous offspring.

First, the decision to shorten the traditional intro piece was wise. Unlike "Revelation of Doom" or "Storm of Damnation", it arrives and departs swiftly with all its howling, scathing, and swelling ambiance, to the extent that I never felt myself thinking 'please get on with it' like the first two albums. And it morphs flawlessly into, "Massacre", one of the fraction of the tracks here that reflect the debut's sense for shoveling 2-3 burning guitar progressions at the audience and letting them stick like napalm. Simple, fast paced chords shift in serpentine cohesion while a louder, more disruptive, distorted bass tone (played by Quorthon) barrels below. The new drummer, Paul Lundberg is even more strenuous than his predecessor, and his performance here was a benchmark for the black metal genre as a whole. Unfeeling, callous mechanical human blast work with tunneling double bass, Lundberg makes it sound easy. All too easy. So maybe his technique wasn't on par with a Gene Hoglan, Bobby Jarzombek or Dave Lombardo: that's not the point of this, but to bludgeon you repeatedly like a burlap sack of bloodied coins.

What I find most amazing in listening back to the album is how the guitars actually somehow take a back seat to the louder vocals and drums, but the patterns are deadly, powerful and hypnotic enough that they catch your ear anyway. This was actually a process vaulted forward into the more glorious atmosphere of Blood Fire Death, but not many bands could make it work. The neck breaking, ominous grooves of "Equimanthorn", the chugging and oblique "Woman of Dark Desires", and the dire rocking fortitude of "13 Candles" are not fashioned from the most prevalent riffing sequences in the band's career, yet they forcefully carve their well deserved niches into the darker reaches of your mind with a haunting, hostile certainty. Speaking of Blood Fire Death, there's an even more prominent presage in the form of "Enter the Eternal Fire", a track that experiments with a grander, 7 minute structure and a lot of those flowing, Viking associated rhythms and hammer-drums that dominate their aesthetics in the near future. "Of Doom" is another of the many worth mentioning; the break and flow of the guitars here a tangible precursor to the sound that Emperor would master on their classic In the Nightside Eclipse in the ensuing decade.

The only, and I mean ONLY reasons that I can justify to give Under the Sign of the Black Mark a less than perfect score are simply that I found a teensy handful of the riffs (less than I can count on one hand) to be less engaging than the remainder, and the closing :25 outro as useless as the two that were on the first couple albums. Minor mars upon a near flawless countenance, but present nonetheless. That said, let them not dissuade anyone who has somehow evaded this album's infernal grasp to immediately correct that mistake, because Under the Sign is one of the most indomitable works of classic black metal, and hands down one of the greatest Scandinavian extreme metal works of the 80s. Period. No contest, with the exception of its next youngest sibling, an album I prefer due for its ability to transport me to a place I'd rather be. Whatever. Apples and oranges. Pikes and pitchforks. Own this, or suffer the consequences of your own, miserable, tasteless purgatory.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.75/10] (I stand at the jaws of the pit)

Bathory - The Return... (1985)

2012-01-16T07:34:00.004-05:00

To dub The Return... a disappointment would be like condescending to a good massage after a fit of passionate, memorable intercourse. It sure feels good, but it just cannot match the climactic intensity and release you were experiencing just a few minutes earlier. Or in the case of Swedish abomination Bathory, a year earlier. Don't get me wrong: The Return... is a puerile, forceful and even brutal album. I'd state with a straight face that it was more savage, primal, atmospheric and barbaric than its predecessor. But the riffs here are just not as good, the energy level somewhat curbed and a bit more emphasis on the weight and rock-groove of the guitars than the sheer blitz of dirty speed metal that dominated Bathory. That album was a straight razor of sinister intentions, this is more of a vulgar machete with a mildly dulled edge.

The band was still in a trio format, though Andreas Johansson replaced Rickard Bergman on the bass. The intro and outro play out much the same as on the s/t. "Revelation of Doom" is a bit creepier than "Storm of Damnation" due to the more roiling torrents of guitar distortion and the pronounced, if distant looped screams, but I still feel as if it just goes on too long. Give me just a minute of this, or cause something more to happen, because even in the span of 3 and a half minutes I grew a little tired of it, and the hidden :25 second outro is too brief and useless to stir up any reaction. There are a few songs which I found spiritual successors to the first album, like "Bestial Lust" or "The Return of the Darkness and Evil", the latter having some similarities to a straight Slayer speed thrasher ("Chemical Warfare") with corpulent tremolo picking in primal but menacing patterns. Most of Quorthon's snarling and rasping is well in line with the identity he had manifest earlier, but I actually found that it had less of a ghastly, wavering character and more of a focused, cutting grimness to it that was marginally less effective.

However, he does occasionally add some spice to the mix like the expansive backup gutturals in the chorus of "Born for Burning", or the more ritualistic growls in "Reap of Evil". Considering how few bands were using the style at the time, it's no wonder that The Return... is cited an influence upon the death metal genre as well as the black. Back in the early through mid 80s, a boundary of distinction had yet to really be drawn, so they shared a lot with Hellhammer in that small class of progenitors that transcended simple categorization. But what I find pretty clear about The Return... is that it has a far more muscled punk or hardcore influence than its predecessor. Songs like "The Rite of Darkness", "Sadist", "Son of the Damned" and "Total Destruction" brandish a lot of open, grooving chords that crash back and forth along the axis of the semi-burst beats. They'll often incorporate some solid mid-paced pure thrash riffs ("Born for Burning" and "Sadist", for example), but I rarely found any of the note progressions here to be as searing or diabolically enthusiastic as a "Sacrifice" or "Necromancy".

Aesthetically, The Return... is brighter and more dynamic than the generally moody darkness prevalent on the s/t album, and here there is really no contention as to its influence on a metric shit ton of later DIY black metal recordings in the underground. Once more it's produced by Quorthon and Boss, so it stands out from the mainstream in that Bathory never had the purse or the desire for tracking down some big name producer and wider cultural acceptance. Almost messy in its determination to tear and bludgeon the listener's brain, but the bass a fraction less pronounced (in both volume and composition) than it had been before. The drums seem a lot more crashing akin to the later Blood Fire Death, lacking that subtler constant tinniness that permeated the debut, and I found that the actual structure of the guitars very often serves as a foreshadowing to that later, monumental masterwork.

In the end, though, this is really no more than a 'good' black/thrash metal album. Worth owning if you love Bathory, worth owning if you enjoy the primordial sounds that would stretch and settle into the style so many enjoy and emulate today, but it's not possessive of their best material. It's louder and about 10 minutes longer than Bathory, and the lyrics on par, but those are the only areas in which some physical aspect matches or exceeds its forebear. I can't think of any legitimate reason why I'd break this out over any of their other 80s full-lengths, but it's probably on par with all of those later works upon which Quorthon decided he was a 'singer'. Fun enough for frenetic sessions of head banging, appreciable for its place in the canon, but it's no Deathcrush, To Mega Therion or Under the Sign of the Black Mark.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10] (a sorcery written in blood)

Bathory - Bathory (1984)

2012-01-16T07:33:00.008-05:00

To calculate the actual sum of influence perpetuated by the 1984 Bathory debut might prove inestimable to even the keenest of logisticians, because it's seething tendrils pervade numerous niches of the metal spectrum even today. I can't tell you how many bands I hear annually, via promos or research, that would be entirely content if the whole of their careers amounted to little more than an aesthetic tribute to THIS very album. To exist as nothing other than a shadow of the late Quorthon. Is Bathory the first proper 'black metal' record as far as the fundamental principles we equate to the genre today, disregarding the titular ownership via Venom? I do believe that a strong case could be made for such, at least as good a case as for any other particular work.

Of course, when I was young, and first experienced the Swedes' music, it was considered thrash or speed/thrash metal of a darker pallor than some of the popular Bay Area sounds. People had yet to kick around the 'black metal' tag as a proper sub-genre, and other favored progenitors like Destruction, Sodom and Kreator were clearly performing at a similar, vicious viscosity to Bathory's scathing inauguration. And yet the iconic, minimalistic cover, the classicist font of the logo and the repulsive timbre of Quorthon's youthful snarling best represent, at the very least, the birth of European black metal in its filthier format. That's not to say that Bathory was wholly unique even for its day. Clearly there are parallels to Slayer's rapid, hellish origins ("Hades" reminds me of "Black Magic") and a grimy punk rocking glaze redolent of the more extreme NWOBHM related acts like Motörhead, Tank and Venom. The Satanic/occult focus of the lyrics was also also not news by this time, as it featured prominently for several of the aforementioned acts. However, the fact that this was arriving from a non-German or American act was indisputably eye awakening.

Bathory was not an easy find for me at first. I combed the local import record stores with decent metal sections on a near weekly basis for such gems, squandering my paper route money on whatever was readily available rather than paying double for special orders. If they ever had the damn thing in stock, it was always gone before I arrived. I had to settle for a dub off a friend's cassette for years, and in fact I had purchased hard copies of Bathory's later efforts like Under the Sign of the Black Mark and Blood Fire Death before finally landing my grubby mitts on it (ironically, the only two albums in Quorthon's entire lexicon that I favor over this). Bathory was not a highly visible band in my neck of the woods. You heard mention in interviews or magazines, you saw a few of your favorite metal musicians wearing the T-shirt in photo ops. Metalians in my high school were busy sporting erections for Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, and most had very little attention span or funds to explore the thrash genre much deeper. If you encountered a guy or gal with a Testament or Nuclear Assault t-shirt other than yourself, you were blown over by the prospect of a kindred spirit. Meet your new best friend.

Funny, then, that of any of the 'second tier' of speed and thrash in the 80s, Bathory has left one of the most enduring and massive legacies. Few metal bands can match their aesthetic imprint count for count, and even some of the 'big' names owe Quorthon a beer in Hell. For example, you could lie to yourself and then try to convince me that Burzum's "War" was not a spiritual rehash of the track "Necromansy" (not Bathory's "War"). The riffing pattern is very similar. Or that Witchery's explosive black/thrash cut "The Reaper" was not an atavistic nod to this previous Swedish "Reaper", which has a decidedly familiar chorus. And what of the vocals in general? Cronos might have had a crude and carnal mean streak coursing through his pipes, and Schmier a more pinched and nasal wrath on Sentence of Death, but Quorthon's biting vitriol is like a musical Genghis Khan, its seed spread through countless tens of thousands corpse painted progeny who only rarely rival the fiber of their ancestor.

As far as its production qualities, Bathory was far from a highlight for '84. Glossier 'mainstream' efforts like Powerslave, Metal Heart, Defenders of the Faith or even Ride the Lightning proved that metal had come a long way from the toiletry of its demo years. And yet, Quorthon and Boss wrung out a primal and methodic sound here that too transcend into aesthetic immortality. Not as messy, raw and reductive as Venom's Black Metal, perhaps, but equally sinister. Stefan Larsson's drums have a thinner, backing tone that never intercedes over the concentrated acid of the guitars or the wretching diatribes of the front man, played largely in a punk rock fashion with loads of tinny cymbal crashes (though the supporting bass drums are noticeably thick). The bass of Rickard Bergman isn't dowsed in a load of bold distortion, but instead threads moodily below Quorthon's rhythms and leads; only rarely breaking away from the guitar progression, but where it does ("In Conspiracy with Satan", for one) it creates a warmer, morbidly glorious atmosphere.

But most importantly, Quorthon showed himself a relatively accomplished guitarist early on, and some of my favorite moments on this debut are when his frivolous leads tear off the rhythms in the bridge of a "Sacrifice" or the rocking "Raise the Dead". There is some degree of amateurish sloppiness in a few of the solos, or the riffing in general, but in general you'll be too hypnotized by the sheer cruelty and velocity. The song structures are relatively primal here, rarely featuring more than 2-3 riff variations, but none lack for a thriving infernal energy, and the brevity of the tracks average around 3 minutes never allows the listener's interest to wane. In fact, alongside Slayer's Reign in Blood, this is one of the best short playing thrash albums of the 80s, in and out faster than a desperate drunken tango with a prostitute. Slam, bam, thank you ma'am, the cash is on the dresser and I'll try not to trip on the sticky jeans around my ankles while I fly down the stairs. 27 minutes of sinful pleasure beget a lifetime of damnation.

It's not perfect. Personally, I find that the windswept, distant chanting and tolling of the "Storm of Damnation" intro could have been clipped in half to better swell the anticipatory momentum for the first metal track, "Hades". The outro could have been snipped entirely. A few of the later cuts like "War" and "Armageddon" never really hit me with an ace riff like the rest, though they are no less despotic and relentless than their neighbors. The lyrics are all appreciably extreme for the time, but some of them seem better ordered and paced than others, and certainly they provided fuel for a great number of faux Satanists and provided ample fuel for the genre's Christian right-wing antagonists. I always got the feeling that Quorthon was just doing the whole 'evil' thing for show, and that he never really had his heart in it, a notion that was enforced by Bathory's later switch almost exclusively to Norse/Viking themes. But, that said, who the hell WASN'T doing it for show? Maybe King Diamond and Cronos were serious about it at some point, but Tom Araya's a bleeding Christian.

You don't get a chance every day to formally review something that has left such an enormous impression upon such a huge chapter of your life in entertainment, and Bathory is clearly one of the cornerstones. Rolled out of the very depths of the abyss for your amusement. A ripping rout, unapologetic in its backlash towards the mainstream of heavy metal that was making headway at the time of its arrival. Some bands burned churches to make a name for themselves, but some, like this one, just burned your fucking ears off.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.25/10] (where the cold and darkness meet)

Thunderkraft - Totentanz (2012)

2012-01-15T08:15:00.005-05:00

Thunderkraft released a fairly excellent debut effort, The Banner of Victory, back in 2005, which provided an interesting spin on the death metal genre involving lots of symphonic elements, a touch of industrial and groove metal and pagan warfare lyrics one generally associates with artists of a more directly heathen/black metal style. It's taken the Ukrainians some time for a followup, but it's arrived in the form of Totentanz, a more accessible and dynamic sophomore. There have been a few changes, namely in the less brutal choice of vocals and a stricter adherence to melodic black metal progressions in the riffing, but in general they paint with the similar broad strokes that such an eclectic hybrid would naturally imply.

A lot of the electronic ingredients tend to accumulate in the intros to pieces like "Mass Defect", "A Crumpled Story" and "Totentanz" itself, frivolous and brief techno sequences that tend to part when the metal riffing arrives, but there are points at which they play a more prominent role, as with "Towards a New Dawn", more or less a martial ambient track into which a beat kicks up and lots of cutting vocals, thumping drums create a pompous atmosphere. Personally I found that tracks like "A Crumpled Story", which balance sampled strings with death/thrash riffs and lots of industrial clanging and more progressive passages provided the most interesting and memorable highlights of the album, but it's a fairly consistent listen throughout provided you don't have an inherent aversion to such major use of synthesizers and lack of a punishing or truly carnal environment in the production and guitars.

Not a lot to compare this to. Perhaps a dash of Germans Die Apokalyptischen Rieter or a more electronically infused alternative to Nokturnal Mortum's folksier exhibitions. Perhaps a metalized, symphonic EBM. A few of the dirtier, groove oriented rhythms felt pretty shabby and 'jump the fuck up' to me, in particular that riff coursing through "The Future World". I also felt that the vocals for the previous album were a lot stronger. But those small gripes aside, the band gets some credit for sticking its necks out and attempting something different. With members of Astrofaes, Munruthel, and other Ukrainian alumni they've drawn upon a wide range of sounds to tread outside their normal proving grounds, and there's quite a lot to engage the ear, even if it won't all stick to the listener.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.myspace.com/thunderkraft

Anguish - Through the Archdemon's Head (2012)

2012-01-14T10:00:00.004-05:00

Many people like to spend their intellectual space dreaming of what might have happened if they made this or that choice in life. Or deep speculation on the future of this or that institution, technological advancement or what have you. But I find myself idly pondering the questions that really matter. For instance, what would have resulted if Candlemass circa 1986-88 had hired on Quorthon of Bathory to deliver his dirtier, gravel gutted tones over their Gothic tinged traditional doom metal? This time, there is an answer to my query: Anguish. A Swedish band, paying tribute to at least two of their mightiest metallic countrymen, bastardizing disparate elements to such a successful degree that you wonder why it hadn't happened in the first place...

You can certainly hear that Candlemass feeling to a good number of the guitar riffs, several of which feel more or less paraphrased from the elder Swedes' lexicon by way of Black Sabbath, but the presence of J. Dee's harsh, constipated drawl makes all the difference. The guitars have a potent, airy tone about them which creates a timeless tunnel back to that Golden Era of doom, but feels fresh even in the current day, and the drudging, depressive chords give you that same impression of a group of monks climbing a hill with wooden crosses that you got from efforts like Nightfall or Ancient Dreams. Simple, mournful melodies will often ring out above the chunky rhythm guitars to create a slightly more modern death/doom atmosphere redolent of other Swedish acts like Memory Garden or Isole, but largely the composition falls squarely into the old school camp, not broken and in no need of fixing.

This is a lengthy beast of an album, nearly an hour long, and I'll be honest that a few of the more swollen outings like "Dawn of Doom" and "Morbid Castle" wear and tear their welcome ever so slightly, but most of the cuts clocking in around 6-8 minutes fill out just the proper space and thoroughly kick ass. The funereal "When the Ancients Dare to Walk" and "Lair of the Gods" feature just a few of the dozens of highlight riffs on the album, and I totally admire this band's ability to break off the drums and just crank out an amazingly effective, engrossing riff that drags the listener ever lower into the sodden gears of sadness that the bitter vocals so earnestly accented through the vocal presence. In general, the band moves at a level lurch, but a few infusions of muted might hover in at a mid pace and help break up the desolate procession. The apocryphal, antiquated lyrics and titles stretch the imagination back through the millenia, and the production is incredibly well suited to the architecture of the guitars and vocals. A few of the hedgerows need some trimming, and a bit more variation in tempo wouldn't kill them, but on the whole this is one hell of a debut worth experiencing whether your poison is Solitude Aeternus, Candlemass, St. Vitus or Count Raven.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/anguishdoommetal

Anvil - Monument of Metal (2011)

2012-01-14T09:59:00.007-05:00

Monument of Metal is the second of Anvil's major compilations, and about the best I can say for it is that it's a fraction less worthless than its predecessor Anthology of Anvil. Sure, these releases keep to the alliterated titles the Canadians enjoy employing, and this one's got a fancy Robb Reiner cover which should thrill fans of the documentary who like that the drummer's into that, but in the end, all you really get are songs the the long term devotee has already heard, in some cases for many years. Granted, this is a more strategically positioned package meant to capitalize on the success of the film and upwards momentum of their latest studio offerings, both returns to form, but it's ultimately a massive missed opportunity to sate both the new and old audience...like so many other comps of its kind.

This could very easily have proven a great value had it consisted of 2-3 discs, perhaps with one devoted to lives and another to rare demos and unreleased studio tracks, but instead it's just one crammed disc, nearly 80 minutes of material, almost all of which is previously available on one of the band's 14 full-lengths, lives, or as a bonus track on a prior album. A handful of these are the 're-recordings' of classics: "Metal on Metal", "Winged Assassins" and "School Love", all of which sound pretty potent in their new incarnations but lack the character of the originals. "Thumb Hang" is a 'lost classic' of Anvil history, but was already included as a bonus on This is Thirteen (along with a remake of "666", which is also here). You might remember the scene in the Story of Anvil film about how this was their first written song, relating to torture in the Spanish Inquisition. While I've never heard the original rehearsal version, this sounds as if it must have been updated as more atmospheric. It's a slow, strong mover with decent, arching melodic vocals that has a similar appeal to "Concrete Jungle" or "Forged in Fire". Some sentimental value, but not entirely catchy.

Otherwise you've just got a bunch of rehashed material from the bands various full-lengths. I don't really see the point of including something from Juggernaut of Justice, which was still fairly new as of this compilation, but the title track is nonetheless present. A number of other choices are questionable. "Plenty of Power" from the album of the same name? Why bother? "Race Against Time" from Still Going Strong? "Park That Truck" from Speed of Sound? I realize their intention is to incorporate something from all the albums, but far better would have been to just dish out the quality goods. I mean, the point of Monument of Metal is to give the band's newer audience a taste of what they've been missing out on, so where is "Blood on the Ice", "Concrete Jungle", "Forged in Fire" or a number of their other pieces? Hell, where's "Smokin' Green"? They do include some of the necessary cuts like "Mothra", and surprisingly "Fire in the Night" from my fave Anvil outing Pound for Pound (great song), but it feels like an inconsistent sampling at best.

Presumably you'd just buy this if you were brand new to the band, checked out This is Thirteen or maybe Juggernaut of Justice and wanted to purchase a collection of the 'best' from their extensive backlog. You'll be disappointed, because these are not necessarily their best. I cannot recommend enough that you take the more direct route and purchase their early albums. I've always found metal tracks to be best experienced on their native recordings, even if that means they are surrounded by tracks one might feel are 'filler' from that same era. It's a far better representation of a band, and in the age of the internet you can already sample just about anything you'd want to begin with. This is part of the reason I hate comps like this, which simply don't go the extra mile to fulfill the long term followers. Not worth the money. Surely in 30 fucking years there were plenty of rare cuts, extra live recordings and such to cull material from? Monument of Metal might feature a few re-recordings you don't own from the original albums where the songs were first spawned, but otherwise its just furnace fodder.

Verdict: Epic Fail [1.5/10]

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Anvil - This is Thirteen (2007)

2012-01-13T07:39:00.007-05:00

I've already gone on at length about Sacha Gervasi's documentary on the life and times of aging Canadian rockers Anvil, and even written a full review for the film, but I do feel it's crucial in understanding and interpreting the mindset of these gents so late in their careers, performing in a field generally reserved for the young, testosterone bleeding hellions with something to prove. Not that Robb Reiner and Lips Kudlow have ever lacked in that androgen hormone, as their long legacy of silly sex songs has amply proven, but these guys were really at a stalemate by the middle of the 'oughts. Albums like Plenty of Power and Still Going Strong were middling and underwhelming, and while Back to Basics (2004) marked an improvement in actual songwriting, the vocals were weak enough to dull its effectiveness.

Enter This is Thirteen, and the band's decision to shell out some cash and reunite with British record producer Chris Tsangarides. A wise choice, as it turns out, because this was the best Anvil record since Pound for Pound, or should I say, the first GOOD album the Canadians had issued in nearly 20 fucking years. This is huge, ugly sounding heavy metal the way these boys were playing it through the 80s, polished but pummeling. Now, I can't squarely lay the credit on Tsangarides' shoulders alone. To be honest, the production itself was not a major issue for me in experiencing the band's output from '92-2004. Worth the Weight might have been a little dry, and Plenty of Power a little clean and stale, but the real stigma was the lackluster songwriting. Never outright bad, and there were acceptable tracks strewn through the Mausoleum and Massacre years, but none of them comparable to the first five full-lengths...

Well, now we've got the songs. And the sound. Even the vocals have made a turnaround, no longer the lazy, dry and disheveled presence of Back to Basics but the more vibrant, howling and piercing range he exhibited in the band's formative years. As early as "This is Thirteen", the first track on the album, a slow and superstitious lurcher redolent of "Metal on Metal" or "Forged in Fire", Kudlow stretches himself to the limit, and it never once drags down the effective drudge and doomed sensation of the riffs beneath. Songs like "Worry" and "Flying Blind" sound like they're being launched out of the 80s via rocket and crashing directly into your stereo speakers, and even if they're not among the best the band has written, they still carry that inherent enthusiasm that made Anvil so exciting in the first place.

Personal favorites here are "Bombs Away", in which Glenn Five gets to strut his formidable fingers below a set of concrete, flowing chords that channel the listener straight into the band's prime. "Game Over" also kicks some serious ass, bringing a little of that dirty Motörhead smear back into the band's repertoire, with some bluesy shuffling, and again, strong bass lines. It's also pretty hard to find fault in "Should'a Would'a Could'a", "Ready to Fight" or "Axe to Grind" which all feature a fond mesh of NWOBHM and 80s power metal virtues. Hell, the closing cruiser "American Refugee" even has Lips sounding like a Mike Muir guest spot. On the other hand, there are a few tracks that admittedly lag behind. The slow "Big Business" with its' Iron Butterfly wannabe riffing was far from a highlight, and I could go either way on the grooving of "Feed the Greed" or the somewhat bland "Worry".

Yeah, there's nothing here on the level of a "Blood on the Ice", "Metal on Metal" or "Fire in the Night" but that's to be expected. The genre was far fresher in the 80s and its works will always, for all history leave a stronger impression on both those who got to experience them the first time and those newer and younger fans who awaken to their glories decades hence. That Anvil finally pulled their shit together and ceased their incessant string of mediocre, going nowhere albums that stretched back for many years. Not that they had ever entirely given up on their dreams, but This is Thirteen sounds like a band which has gotten over its midlife crisis, grabbed its Viagra or tantra lessons or whatever and finally become reinvigorated, reassessed of its own inherent magic. There is nothing wrong with good old heavy metal music. There never was, and never will be, no matter what trends might arrive and conspire towards it becoming obsolete. Never gonna happen. Anvil's 13th record is far from amazing, perhaps, but it's proof positive of an enduring legacy and genre, and that sticking to your guns will eventually put you on target.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Inferion - The Desolate (2012)

2012-01-12T07:20:00.011-05:00

Despite an extremely low profile, Floridian black attack Inferion has existed for quite some time, about 15 years by the time this album was completed, though it's finally seeing release in the year 2012. I will readily admit to having no exposure to the band's demos or 2003 full-length debut, but if The Desolate teaches me anything, it's that there is a truly talented core to this group which manifests almost entirely through the guitar riffing. Frustratingly, I felt that there were certain attributes of the production and drum programs that betrayed the overall quality of the music, but even if this fact dampened my inevitable reaction to the whole of the work, there is simply no denying the duo's ear for effective melodic textures.

The thick, boxy tone to the guitar is highly conducive to wringing out emotion from the sorrow spun chord sequences of "Among the Twilight" and "Forgotten Ethereal Visions", and I was often reminded of that hypnotic effect a band like the Germans Endstille often evokes in me, though Inferion also use a lot of straight, melodic tremolo sequences redolent of Swedish acts like Dark Funeral. There's also a current of clinical death metal found in the bridge of opener "Among the Twilight" and the later "Purest Evil", which leads me to believe the band might have evolved from a black/death hybrid, though the latter style is clearly the less represented. My favorite tracks were strangely the most atmospheric, like the tear stained trills that permeate the instrumental "Numerous Lactations" or the driving, rocking closer "Withering Deities" which operates off these dense, textured chords and hypnotic bass curves which are captivating.

Alas, while the construction of the guitars is in general quite well polished and thought out, there are a pair of factors which diminished my enjoyment of the album. The mechanical drums, for one, while programmed meticulously to match the riffs and melodies, simply felt too forceful and emotionless, a characteristic that just didn't jibe with the chords. Obviously there are a lot of black metal albums that I love which employ this technique for various reasons. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. In this case a live drummer would give the grand, swelling architecture of the guitars so much more room to breathe through. The other detriment was the vocals. It's your typical, abrasive and loud rasped layered with some underpinning growls, but through The Desolate it grows rather overbearing, monotonous despite the duality of tones...

I'd love to hear more variation there, whether that be through the employ of cleaner passages, or a more saddened snarl without such brute force as this. Granted, the multi instrumentalist and songwriter Nick Reyes did some of the mixing, mastering and vocals while he was deployed in Iraq, so some leniency is required, but I still got the impression that Inferion is struggling to break entirely free of its larval stage, the wings still unable to completely unfold. Also, I can't compliment the choice in cover or logo font. Those need to go. Period. Otherwise, I would be remiss to discount the potential here. If Reyes can write more of these rich, emotional passages and embellish them with more interesting vocals and the flexibility of acoustic drums, we could have another unsung, and fairly unique USBM force just waiting in the wings.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Inferion/121467614565453

Anvil - Back to Basics (2004)

2012-01-12T07:20:00.009-05:00

After about 14-15 years of towing the lines of mediocrity, Anvil had begun to have the opposite affect of a fine wine: aging poorly. So it comes with great relief that Back to Basics, for the most part, does live up to its name. That's not to call it a righteous comeback, or even a really good effort, but for what it's worth, the guys seem to have dug in their heels and committed to writing some decent music this time around. There are still a few shitty pieces to be found, but in general I found at least the guitars here to offer some value, whether they're molded in the straight raging metal fashion of their numerous 80s ventures or the affable hard rocking throwbacks that the band have never fully shaken off.

But there is one serious issue with Back to Basics which precludes it from ever ranking among the band's better works: the worst Steve 'Lips' Kudlow studio vocal performance in the history of the band. Now, the guy's never been one of the more refined voices in the genre, and I can't count how many times I've seen critics claim that his presence on the microphone is the critical factor in holding the band back from ever achieving a greater success. But I must entirely disagree with that sentiment. Kudlow's got an honest, down and dirty style which is a perfect match for this workmanlike, aggressive traditional metal sound, and he generally got on well enough in either his lower, gravel pitch, howls or shrieks on their earlier records. Not the case here. The man hits his notes, yet he sounds tired, beat up, and frankly I don't see how they made it out the door in this final form...

Exhibit A: check out a few of the more hard rocking, older school tracks like "Can't Catch Me" or "Keep It Up". The tone of the guitars is great, the riffs themselves pretty driving and engaging, and yet the vocals sound like a lazy rehearsal that the band decided not to re-track. Even the backing vocals throughout the album seem bland and lacking confidence, and it surely cripples the album from being their best since the 80s. In particular, his performance on the power ballad "Cruel World" is awkward to experience, not that the song would be great otherwise. But say, for example, you took "Can't Catch Me", removed Lips and threw on a girl rock band like the The Donnas, Girlschool or The Runaways. Could have even kept the shitty but well meaning anti-infidelity lyrics and the thing might even end up on MTV. Or would have, at some point...

Anyway, he doesn't muck up the whole process here, and he's acceptable on most of the better Back to Basics tracks. Like the previous album, Anvil kicks this one off with a stock, mid paced power metal chest pounder in "Fuel for the Fire". The riff progressions aren't all that unique, but it's nonetheless bangable (in head form). "The Chainsaw" is another standout, with its dark and distorted intro and drudging, dirty grooves. I rather like how the music implies some sort of serial killer mood, but the lyrics are actually about deforestation. Lips sticks to his lower, angrier range ala Algy Ward or Lemmy Kilminster and it doesn't stand out so sorely as some of the neighboring tracks. "Fast Driver" has some force behind it, and "Bottom Feeder" has quite a good groove to it, with Robb Reiner's wildest drumming on the whole record (though the vocals are a bit embarrassing).

Back to Basics might have been a minor success had they spent more time waiting for a better vocal take, whether that involved a few 'cheats' and edits or not. I appreciate the honesty with which these guys have always approached their writing, but in the end I still want the finished product to kick my ass, and this album doesn't. It's one of the better albums with Ivan Hurd on the guitar, and the last full-length he'd fully partake of (a few of his solos wind up on This Is Thirteen), but unfortunately this fact would not coincide with some riveting return to form. Hey, at least the cover art is better than that last batch.

Indifference [6.75/10]

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Nowen - Essence of Fear (2012)

2012-01-11T07:06:00.006-05:00

Nowen's 2010 debut Nothing But Hate was a decent, rare hybrid of death and thrash that unfortunately did not rise to the radars of so many who might have enjoyed it. But the Finns have returned for another go at that elusive recognition, this time with a firmer grasp on compositional structure and a more methodical, muscular array of production values that might help their appeal towards the younger, wider audience. Where the first album placed its focus on a brighter, thrashing set of guitar progressions, Essence of Fear almost serves as a treatise on what might have happened had the Floridian legends Death mutated into some hybrid of Spiritual Healing and thicker toned melodic Swedes like Arch Enemy, Hypocrisy, Unleashed and Amon Amarth. A peculiar way to describe this, and perhaps not always on the mark, but then, these guys are one of those unique if not innovative acts that do not so easily fall in step with any particular categorization.

This is reflected in the broad, yet consistent dynamic range of the album. The band will alternate between double-bass driven old school tremolo death metal riffs highly reminiscent of albums like Leprosy or Spiritual Healing ("The Egotist", "The Honor"), and swaggering melodic epics like "Sacrifice for Nothing" which would not be out of place on Twilight of the Thunder Gods (though it's not THAT catchy). They also rip into a threw propulsive thrashers like "Deadly Force" and "Path of Destruction" that resemble a hypothetical jam session between modern Destruction and the Angela fronted Arch Enemy material. All of this is performed with an incredible level of taut precision, and the tones here are unanimously strong, whether it's the steady cement drumming, the loud and curvy bass or the punchy, spurious guitars. I would not call the band excessively indulgent or flashy by any means, their prowess is determined wholly by their ability to gel as a unit, a symbiosis that is nearly mechanical in its execution.

Unfortunately, if there's one component here I don't love, it would be the vocals. Not that they aren't fitting for the style, or lacking some variety themselves, but the harsher midpoint betwixt the rasp and guttural just isn't my thing. In places I was reminded of a male Angela Gossow with a dash of Chuck Schuldiner. In Lappis' defense he also churns out some lower gutturals, but then even these feel rather bland. The richness of the guitars and rhythm section might be far better paired with a style that has more character to it. In the mix, these vocals are loud and center, but they have no real capacity to snatch attention away from the guitars. That said, they're not a major negative here, I just had the pervasive feeling that there was enormous room in which they might improve. In general, Essence of Fear is slightly tastier than Nothing But Hate. I think I liked the energy and momentum of that album more than this, but I can't deny that the power of the riff set here is more enduring. Anyway, it will be interesting to see if a band who so carefully bounces between modern thrash, old school late 80s death and melodeath can find its audience.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

http://www.myspace.com/nowenband

Anvil - Still Going Strong (2002)

2012-01-11T07:05:00.006-05:00

Much like the irony of Plenty of Power was its treacherous lack of said power, the irony inherent to Still Going Strong is that Anvil was clearly not going strong. Is this a better album than its dialed in, subdued predecessor? Yes, but only by the slightest of margins, and in truth the 5th album in their Massacre deal shows an irritable lack of consistency. The plan here was apparently to bake a nice, thick home cooked crust and then insert some fruit filling which was well past its expiration date, but not a chef in the house would be fooled. It's a pity too, because this is also the 5th album with their second best lineup, so you would think that they'd somehow gel in writing and lay us all flat with something after about seven years of touring and albums together...

Still Going Strong at least starts out well enough, with the straight power bruiser "Race Against Time". The clinical muted intro riff had me hopeful that the band would be pulling out another dark track of "Blood on the Ice" quality, but what manifests is a straight rager redolent of the stuff Saxon were writing on albums like Metalhead. To be honest, Lips' voice functions fluidly with this beefy, driving guitar tone, the chord selection is satisfying and any fan of mid-paced European power/heavy metal can easily bang his/her head off. Not extremely catchy, but better than anything from the previous album. "In Hell" seems to continue this pattern, albeit lurching along like one of the band's primordial classics "Metal on Metal", "Forged in Fire" or so forth. I don't like this tune so much as the first, and Lips' screams seem a little limp, but it still sounds vibrant enough that expectations are not entirely spurned.

Leave that spurning to the next chunk of the album, which begins with "Holy Wood", a wimpy hard rock tune with powerful drums that sounds like something Motley Crue would have loafed out in the last decade. Dull riffs, cheesy chorus, forgettable lead. Ditto for "Still Going Strong", another pro-metal/hard rock track in line with "Real Metal" from Plenty of Power. Only this time, they only reference themselves once in the final verse, and spend the rest of the lame lyrics waxing about how heavy rock is still around after 50 years. I'm not saying this is something we shouldn't celebrate, but pretty much anyone listening to an Anvil record has never STOPPED that self-same celebration, so the combination of lame lyrics, repetitive chorus and bad rock bludgeoning feels like a black hole opening to consume the few good songs on this album. Other lackluster showings here include the swaggering, predictable hard rock of "Don't Ask Me", the indulgent drum solo "White Rhino" and ANOTHER self-affirmation track in "What I'm About".

Still Going Strong does pick up again with the closing tracks "Sativa" and "Defiant", the former another of the band's crunchy metal marijuana tributes and the latter a decent, mid paced power metal chugger, but by then its really too late to give much of a fuck. As an EP with only the first and last pairs of tracks, it might have been a decent teaser for a full-length in the same direction, but ultimately the total riff count is hardly more interesting than Plenty of Power. That said, the album does feel as if the band had given itself a talking to, or a swift kick in the ass. Everything feels more enthusiastic. The production and performances brighter, and Lips not sounding as if he were about to start yawning in between lines in the vocal booth. A major sag down the middle, much like the aging players' physiques by this point, but maybe a glimmer of something better to come. Maybe.

Verdict: Indifference [5.25/10]

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Förgjord - Sielunvihollinen (2012)

2012-01-10T08:01:00.006-05:00

Finland's got a long history of churning out some of the coldest tones in all of black metal, from Horna to a great many younger bands, several of which populate the Hammer of Hate imprint. In recent years, acts like Anguished and Vitsaus have carried the torch for this aesthetic and label, but there's another wolf in the woods with one of the most raw, natural skill sets you're likely to hear in all the genre: Förgjord (aka 'Destroyed'). These Finns have quite a lengthy history behind them, forming in the middle of the 90s, but really only becoming productive into the 21st century, with a number of demos and their 2008 debut Ajasta Ikuisuuteen. I remember that album, but only with a passing appreciation...a negligence I'm not likely to repeat with its superior successor, Sielunvihollinen.

This is basically one of the most frost-tinted, grimy black metal sounds you're going to hear in the coming year, though not lacking for variation. Traditional tremolo melodies are alternated with thrashing palm mute sequences and cruising punk-based proto-black chords that borrow from the Norwegian greats Darkthrone in style and substance. The rasped and forked mantras of Prokrustes Thanatos casts Finnish incantations and evil through the sub-zero night of the stripped down atmosphere, and the whole thing sounds like the band were rehearsing outdoors. I do find that the vocals, while effective enough, are often so loud that it serves to the detriment of the backing music. Not so much that you can't make out most of the riffs, but noticeably unbalanced. Otherwise, tracks like "Musta Lintu" and "Viimeinen Myrsky" shifting between ritual, repulsive grooves and blasted abandon, drawing up comparisons to Deathcrush, Ablaze in the Northern Sky and some of the more malicious, primal Horna material.

But there is one other side to Förgjord which is not all that common upon this ultra blackened field, and that is their abundant use of acoustics. Not only in the intro "Suokaste", which also features a flute line, but also dispersed through the opening sequences of "Sudeksi Syntynyt" and "Viimeinen Myrksky". The patterns are quite simple, but the use or organs or other atmospheric embellishments creates a major contrast with the rigid pummeling of the distorted riffs, and thus the album feels a lot more dynamic than others of its niche. That's not to say that Sielunvihollinen is by any means an exemplary entry into this genre, for it suckles the same sources as so many others and rarely deviates from the riffing familiarity of old, but it's quite an engaging and unpleasant sliver of wintry chill nonetheless. Even at its most tranquil, there is no warmth. Only misery and spite; icy tongues that lick the listener's ears while injecting poison into his soul. Unforgiving.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

Nattfog - Mustan auringon riiti (2012)

2012-01-10T08:00:00.004-05:00

Another Hammer of Hate discovery, Nattfog was born from the rhythm section of the Finnish Norns, whose In Fog They Appear demo (2005) I had previously reviewed for its CD release through the young but promising Voldsom imprint in 2009. Though utterly straightforward and often repetitive, that was still a good showing with a strong sense of immersion, a characteristic which has clearly been passed along to Nattfog. Simplistic guitar passages drudge along in dense, escalating structures of tension through which the carnal rasps continuously stretch and flow, and there's a corpulent sense of sadness and fell glory throughout the duration of the debut which creates a greater whole than its riffs, vocals or musicianship alone might cultivate.

I'm definitely getting a Burzum vibe here, if only for the primal majesty of the chord choices, or the plight of the plucky, ringing synthesizers in instrumental "Kosmisen Usvan Ympäröimänä". But perhaps more prevalent is a Summoning influence. Especially in the intro ("Blinding Fog") or the extensive, martial sorrows of the closer "Kaksitoista Askelta Luvattuun Valtakuntaan". The drum beats to these are fashioned with a tribal, warlike consistency that gives off that same medieval/Middle Earth impression, especially when joined by the droning synthesized horns in the latter. However, the band definitely differs when it comes to the metallic content, or more accurately the thick tone of the chords. The resonant, resilient rasp of the vocals has more in common with Horna's mid period than the suicidal shrieking of Vikernes. When it all gels together with the raw, crashy drumming, streaming Bathory melodies and thick bass lines in the surge that is "Reaching to the Stars", you begin to witness Nattfog at its best...

I would point out, though, that this is far more of an atmospheric experience than one in which the listener will want to pick through the individual details. No individual element of this album would be worth much on its own, and the guitar progressions are unanimously predictable and familiar to those who have been following the genre for a decade or so...not one will ring out in your head repeatedly to the point that you'll feel some subconscious desire to return to it. That's as tangible a weakness here as it would be just about anywhere in the metal spectrum, but Mustan auringon riiti scrapes by on its sum, grisly valor played out at slow to middle pacing. A 43 minute torrent of sorrow and antipathy which accumulates on the listener's conscience like cold rain on a poncho and hat, burying him or her in a formidable tide of antiquated tears.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.myspace.com/nattfog

Anvil - Plenty of Power (2001)

2012-01-10T07:58:00.003-05:00

The 90s felt like a decade of lost causes for traditional metal bands, and it would have been nearly impossible for a group like Anvil to make any headway when the misguided youth were awash in the revolting tides of gangsta rap, boy bands, grunge and the 'alternative' rock scene which was born of numerous genres. So many of those apes who were newly drawn to metal, or formerly enamored of thrash, USPM and NWOBHM would become converts to the raging tough guy and drug addict attitudes of bands like Pantera and Cypress Hill, so what could be left for an Anvil or an Exciter? Not a whole fucking lot, so it's a miracle than such acts managed to stay afloat when it seemed like the world was ready to shove them face first into the dust. Thank the stars for metal festivals, Europe, Japan and that dwindled population of loyal headbangers who somehow kept it all worthwhile!

Sadly, I can't follow up such sentiments with any proclamation that Anvil would soon return to relevance, or write that long-anticipated comeback album we all knew they had in them. Why, I myself had been waiting for such an album since 1988's Pound for Pound. For a decade they had toiled with the law of averages. Plenty of Power had plenty to prove, and yet it manifest as what must be one of the band's most joyless exercises in composition to its day. The gaudy, ugly cover art might bear some relevance to the title, but it's one of the worst in their discography, and the songs aren't much better. Anvil were attempting to tap into the 'issues' of these times, tackling internet addiction ("Computer Drone"), turn of the century Armageddon ("Ball of Fire"), or the plight of the middle class everyman ("Disgruntled") that they'd been on about since Strength of Steel in 1987, but then tempering the seriousness with "Pro Wrestling" or the sad pair of self affirmation tracks in "Groove Science" and the lame "Real Metal"...

Seriously, you don't need to justify your existence as a metal band with weak 'I don't give a fuck' lyrics aimed at critics and the non-metal audience, nor by listing off some of your past album titles in one of the verses. Or, rather, if you do this, the music had better be damn good enough to forget such pitiful prose. "Real Metal" is instead one of the most pathetic tracks on this album, a mix of uninspired demi-thrash rhythms upon which a half-decent lead is wasted. Compare and contrast this with listless numbers like "Ball of Fire" or "Plenty of Power" itself, mediocre riffing made even worse by the phoned in vocal patterns that show only a faint resemblance to any of that rugged charisma Steve Kudlow exhibited through the 80s works. He's not heavily relying on his Lemmy-like lower grit as much as he was on the previous pair of albums, but he's got very little to show for himself here, on an album that includes not even ONE good chorus, and a metric fuck ton of boring hard rock Skid Row boogie riffs in songs like "Beat the Law" or "The Creep".

Not every song here sucks entirely in the composition category, but almost any case of the guitar getting interesting is only due to its deviation from the norm. They once again try the tremolo proto death lines in "Pro Wrestling"; and "Computer Drone" incorporates some decent, leaden grooves through the oozing bass lines and slow, thrashing chops. But the majority of the tracks never reach any of the excitement levels that one would find on Forged in Fire or Pound for Pound in the 80s. The production is clean but lifeless, and strangely enough there's no silly sex song on the core album (not counting the bonus track "Dirty Dorothy"). As much as I'd been pining for Lips and company to kick that tradition, it's sad that it had to come amidst such an uninspired crop of songs that should have been left on the cutting room floor. Plenty of Power is not the worst album in the history of our species, nor even particularly terrible, but it's the first time I think I ever felt that the band sounded 'old', a strange descriptor to cross the lips of such a lover of old as I.

Verdict: Indifference [5/10]

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Anvil - Anthology of Anvil (2000)

2012-01-09T07:51:00.004-05:00

It had to happen sooner or later, and I'm surprised it took as long as it did, but at last, the very first official Anvil compilation arrived through Metal Blade, their former imprint through the later 80s. I mean, we all know just how much anticipation the band's audience had built up to hear songs that they already owned, right? Oh wait, no, because the only fans that would snap up such a release as this would be those interested in rarities, unheard live cuts and previously unreleased recordings that actually justify it's existence. Curiously enough, Anthology of Anvil provides none of these. What it does is grant the purchaser nearly 80 minutes of sloppy seconds, or rather, tracks that are best experienced in their native album environs.

Face it, this was nearly a decade before their documentary flick thrust them briefly into the spotlight they had only glimpsed at in the earlier 80s, and the Canadians were in no way a hot commodity. The diehard following was divided between a group of devoted old schoolers who already own the Anvil albums, and perhaps a small handful of newcomers who were ahead of the curve in that 80s heavy metal nostalgia which has since exploded. There was absolutely no reason to release a collection of redundancies like this one apart from scraping a few bucks. I'll give Metal Blade credit that they've managed to include cuts from each of the band's 9 studio full-lengths to its day, and even one selection from the live record. Perhaps some snappy licensing maneuvers were involved there, but in the end the result is the same: repackaged content with no clear incentive for a purchase.

Yeah, they include a lot of the band's best songs: "Metal on Metal", "Blood on the Ice", "School Love", "Forged in Fire (live)", "Mothra", "Winged Assassins" and "March of the Crabs" all deserve their slots on this roster. For the newer stuff, not so much. "Speed of Sound" and "Smokin' Green" I can see fitting here, but then there are a few others like "Bushpig" and "Doctor Kevorkian" that don't really belong (even if the latter had a video). You're looking at an average of about 2 tracks per album, so it might even come off as a decent sampler: if it were free or at some heavily discounted price (like a dollar). At the full price of a record? Fuck no. An absolute, el Gigante fuck no. With the advent of the internet, I'm sure you can stream just about every song on this disc somewhere...you even could in 2000. There's your sampler. For anyone who actually cares about this band, buy their albums on tour. Or some merch. Give them something of value to them, and get something in return. Track down the old 80s vinyls. I have a few of them, and they're sweet. Anthology of Anvil is just another coin-spinning emblem of commercial emptiness, a void to avoid.

Verdict: Epic Fail [0/10]

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Anvil - Speed of Sound (1999)

2012-01-09T07:49:00.004-05:00

Indifference and respect. Two words that, combined, defined my reaction and relationship to the 'mid period' of Canada's enduring metalsmiths Anvil. Loved that the band were continuing to craft their music with the same love and loyalty that they originated in their first decade of output, and loved that they were trampling on down the road and proudly shucking off whatever trends were flown into their faces, without ever seeming 'dated'. Just didn't love the actual songs they were writing. Speed of Sound is, unsurprisingly, a pretty direct extension of the sounds wrought from the two previous records, and yet, if set in the square circle against its Absolutely No Alternative, I believe this album would come out on top, forcing its predecessor to tap out in the third round.

That doesn't mean Speed of Sound is great, or even really good, but there are a few tunes here which even my jaded arse would have to admit to being catchy enough that I'd listen to them more often than anything from Absolutely... or Worth the Weight. The first is the title track, a chunky and pissed off track that represents their first return to the aerial theater since their classic "Winged Assassins". Granted, the "Speed of Sound" chorus is predictable, but I love the overt use of the wind and explosion samples, the solo sequences in the bridge and the way the guitars just dig into a moderate, mid-paced chugging power metal style. Robb Reiner lays the listener out flat, and even if there aren't any particular 'money riffs' it's a job well enough done that it breeds heightened anticipation for the rest of the rock. Another highlight was the cheesy but entertaining "No Evil" in which the band utilizes creepier riffs, atmospheric keys, bells and even some tremolo death metal riffing to exit their comfort zone for a 'haunted house' effect.

For the rest of the tracks, the label 'okay' would be the height of praise I could reward. You've got your signature sex anthems like the "Man Over Broad" (haw haw haw) and the "Mattress Mambo", but neither is much good musically apart from the clever use of the guitar in the outro of the latter to simulate the some creaking cot of coital ecstasy. Anvil continues to reel in the topical material with the child violence anthem "Blood in the Playground" and "Deadbeat Dad", but again, these are quite average arrangements of grooving power/thrash. Then there are a few here which are flat out dumb, like "Bullshit", "Secret Agent" and the domestic terrorist themed "Park That Truck", all of which might have about one and a half decent guitar riffs between them. Speed of Sound is mildly dirtier than it's predecessor, with a sodden, churning guitar tone. Lips is still centered on his lower range vocals circa Lemmy Kilminster, but he exhibits a wider range throughout the album, with a few glorious howls channeled straight from the 80s. Otherwise, this is admittedly interchangeable with either Absolutely No Alternative or Plugged in Permanent: competent, marginally entertaining, but never the band at its best.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Anvil - Absolutely No Alternative (1997)

2012-01-07T10:18:00.005-05:00

Absolutely No Alternative is just another of those 90s era Anvil records which, while doing nothing particularly wrong, failed to further the band's influence and audience. Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate the band's overt, titular stance on the dregs of that decade which crippled metal music to begin with, but there is ultimately so little to distinguish this effort from its neighbors, nor does a single song from its selection belong on a career highlight reel. At the very least, this proved a cement lining for the Canadians' relationship with Massacre Records, which began with its predecessor and endured 'til Back to Basics in 2004. It was good for Anvil to have a home, but I'm not sure they ever capitalized on that security.

This was more or less Plugged in Permanent part II, the only differences being that the band dialed down the energy and enthusiasm a small fraction, and Lips stuck almost exclusively to his lower vocal range, leaving the impression that Anvil were going for a Canadian Motörhead vibe with a more complex (but less bad ass) palette for guitar composition. A handful of tracks here are engaging and fun musically, namely the chunk in the middle of the playlist that includes "Hair Pie" and "Rubber Neck", but nothing really leaves a lasting impact. There are a great deal of strutting, grooving guitars performed at fairly explosive speeds, with an enormous influence from the boogie of 70s hard rock and its evolution into the NWOBHM sound, but you'll also hear a consistent undercurrent of primal, thrashing patterns that the band had always manifested, even in their formative early 80s material. That said, so few of them are arranged into unique or memorable patterns that when something DOES, like the bright, atonal chords woven into the song "Green Jesus", they really make me pine for an Anvil that would stretch itself further...

Not all THAT much further, but whenever this band waxes creatively, it shines through their tendency towards drab, light-hearted predictability. I also found the lyrics throughout the album to be a strange, subdued contradiction. It's not that the Canadians haven't always flaunted their silly sex themes alongside the more serious contemporary issues, but it just seems so bizarre to have social themes like "Hero by Death" and "Black or White" pressed up against more lovingly exploitative titles like "Show Me Your Tits" or "Red Light". I mean, I like breasts and vaginas as much as the next guy, if not more, and Kudlow and the gang are obviously not attempting to flaunt misogyny, but I guess I just never noticed how much of a contrast it creates within the space of an album. That aside, this is stock Anvil for the period. Great drums, goofy lyrics, competent leads, decent bass lines, a handful of riffs that will whip the listener into a headbanging frenzy: all too easily forgotten within an hour or so of the experience.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Wolfnacht - Project Ordensburg (2011)

2012-01-06T06:51:00.005-05:00

Perhaps the most enduring of Greece's NSBM acts, Wolfnacht has enjoyed a steady stream of underground interest and has never quite rested on any particular laurels throughout 13 years of output. Some of Athalwolf's earlier works incorporated a heavy punk/race rock influence, and some were almost pure traditional black metal, while others bounced back and forth. In general, I've found that I preferred the more focused efforts like Heidentum and Zeit der Cherusker, or the more symphonic strains of side project Zofos, so I was rather satisfied that he incorporated elements of all three into his latest full-length Project Ordensburg, an album that makes no secret of its bones to pick or its pride to bear.

One of the dominating characteristics here is the use of a groaning, croaking lead vocal which gives off that same decrepit vibe you might feel from Inquisition. But this is more forceful and prominent, less garbled. Athalwolf supports it with the more familiar blackened rasp and in combination it creates a chilling effect to the march of the chords and melodies. However, I will say that I found it more effective on the songs with German lyrics like "Wotans Wildes Heer" rather than the English of "Aryanismos". The keyboards here are well implemented, swells of string and choir that mesh fluidly in with the potency of the guitars. In particular I LOVED the pomp of the intro to "Aryanismos", before the tremolo melodies streamed into the fray. Another very strong component to this music is the bass playing. He creates an almost progressive feel to the lines, loads of fast picking that creates a harried curvature which often diverges from just copying the guitar pattern. Athalwolf is no 'less is more' black metaller, he's quite competent on each instrument and delivers a lot more than the bare minimum the genre often manifests.

I don't have a lot of gripes, as Project Ordensburg keeps the listener engaged for the most part. Certain tracks like the brooding "Durch Nacht Zum Licht" provide a nice counterbalance to the peppier melodic assertions, and very few were not worth hearing. I do feel that the vocals, while cool, were mixed a fraction loudly on the album. They're distinct enough that they would have still functioned against a more powerful balance of guitars and synths. The writing is a little less coherent than a Heidentum, with a broader dynamic range that segregates, say, the lunar waltz of "Wehrwolfheid" from the fell, glorious chills of "Hordaland" or the power-black cavalry charge of the title track, but most of its was enjoyable, and the production consistent. Wolfnacht is without a doubt one of the more talented one man black metal forces in this particular political niche, whether one subscribes to his beliefs or not, and Project Ordensburg, while not his best writing to date, is a clear victor over that middling EP he released in 2010.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

http://wolfnacht.com/

Anvil - Plugged in Permanent (1996)

2012-01-06T06:44:00.005-05:00

As much as I've enjoyed Anvil in the past, and as much as I always want to sympathize with their plight after seeing their documentary, I don't think it should surprise anyone why they had to endure such a sagging relevance for so long a time. The Canadians just weren't writing the flagship, crowd pleasing cuts that they were once known for, and throughout the 90s they failed to produce a single album that I could compare favorably to a Metal on Metal, Forged in Fire or Pound for Pound. 1992's Worth the Weight was a real lull, with an almost emotionless emphasis on technicality (drums and guitar) over quality. An interesting shift in priority, but thankfully for its follow up they'd return to a more entertaining aesthetic.

Plugged in Permanent does not mend all the fences, and it's not a major improvement in terms of enduring anthems or strong composition, but it's at least far more lively and vibrant than its predecessor. Sebastian Marino had flown south to join Overkill, so they brought on a newer 'permanent' replacement in Ivan Hurd. Worth the Weight was also the swan song for long term four-stringer Ian Dickson, so they acquired Glenn Five, who has since proven an icon for the band, not only for his shaved head and braid flinging around at live sets, but also his more ample use of his instrument, plunking along adventurously below the bludgeoning dual current of the guitars with far more of a natural, quirky curiosity than his forebear in the position.

In a sense, Plugged in Permanent was the birth of the 'second classic lineup' for Anvil, one that many who experienced them on the various small tours and festival dates they performed in the later 90s on into the 21st century would recognize, before their recent resurgence. There's still quite a lot of musical intensity here, though instead of the intricacy of the guitar-chitecture it's delivered here more through sheer speed. Unlike a lot of their 80s output, you don't hear much slow material. "Guilty" is a dull bone cruncher bringing up the rear, and "Destined for Doom" lives up to its namesake, but otherwise the songs here are played fast and frenzied, which keeps Plugged in Permanent far more exciting than it is interesting. Cuts like "Racial Hostility", "Face Pull", "Truth or Consequence" and "Five Knuckle Shuffle" hurry along with something to prove, but none of these really deliver the money shot riffs or chorus you'd hope for. Okay, "Five Knuckle Shuffle" might deliver a 'money shot', but of a different sort...

A few of these tracks were minor hits for the band, or at least made it into the circulation of their live set: "Doctor Kevorkian", which they filmed a video for, and "Smokin' Green". The former is not all that great of a song despite its choppy attitude, but the latter, despite being a pedestrian marijuana hymn lyrically, is actually one of the strongest of their 90s tunes. Killer leads abound, and it's effectually the apex of the vibrant waves of energy that thread through the 46 minutes of material. I feel like, next to this, most of the others are lacking that something 'extra', but I'd still take them selection over almost anything on Worth the Weight.

The lyrics here are not a strong point, with a lot of nap inductive PC ranting in "Destined for Doom" and "Racial Hostility", but I admit that I really like how Lips uses a lower, more gravelly vocal tone throughout a lot of tunes like "Face Pull", "I'm Trying to Sleep", as if he's channeling a bit of his pal Lemmy Kilminster. If only the songs had been a little more memorable overall, I might cite this as a true return to form, but despite the appreciable enthusiasm of the writing, it has never left much of an impact crater on my mind. A step back in the right direction, sure, but I think Anvil needed a leap.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Anvil - Worth the Weight (1992)

2012-01-06T06:42:00.005-05:00

The Anvil of the 90s turned out to be considerably less appealing than that of the 80s, not for any lack of trying but for a lack of those same, memorable results that numbered their formative output among the best heavy metal exports of Canada. Part of this was due to the decreasing popularity of the style they played, and a larger part was their misfortune at being tossed around between labels, shifting management and band members. Full-length releases were scarce, at least in the former half of the decade, and what we were given was hardly anything to write home about. That Worth the Weight was the band's most thrash oriented album is no coincidence, as the band had brought aboard Sebastian Marino to replace Dave Allison, a man many might know better for his later move to the East Coast staples Overkill.

So what we have here is what must be the most technically inclined and frenetic of all the Anvil recordings, with the implementation of tremolo riffing (as in "Embalmer") and a copious load of frantic lead sequences which feel incredibly structured compared to the previous record Pound for Pound. From a proficiency perspective, Kudlow and Marino really shine here, and there's no shortage of innovation to their playing, at least compared to prior Anvil records, but this factor is betrayed by the dearth of quality sing-a-long songs. The war drums and harmonics which lead into "Pow Wow", the shrill vocals used in the chorus of "Sins of the Flesh", the straight muted thrashing rhythms (and sexual double entendre) of "Bushpig" and the groove and drive of "Infanticide" all seem like a fresh canvas for the Canadians to paint upon, though stylistically they don't deviate a lot from the formulas on prior albums. Unfortunately, none of the songs really have an impact. The drier, spiffier guitar tone fits the new paradigm of the writing, but it feels nowhere near as heavy as its predecessor, and even though the note sequences can seem intricate and explosive, they're rarely if ever memorable.

Even worse, the vocals are rather limp throughout. There are these points at which Lips emits these puerile screams on tunes like "Infanticide" and "Embalmer" where I felt myself cringing, and yet by far the low point of their career to its day was the balladry of the opening sequence to "Love Me When I'm Dead": "Sadness", in which the vocals meander all over the spectrum, the only ligament to bind them the awkward means by which they panhandle the depressing lyrics. Anvil had spared us such atrocities in the past, but clearly Worth the Weight was not the place to start in on this tripe. There are some positives to the album, like the sheer ability wrought through the guitars, and the fact that they didn't become an all-out, Pantera worshiping tough guy groove metal band like so many other speed, power and thrash metal acts from N. America in the 90s, but after the climactic and immensely fun Pound for Pound this record felt rather lifeless, dry and uninspired. In short: it wasn't worth the wait.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Anvil - Past and Present: Live in Concert (1989)

2012-01-05T07:48:00.004-05:00

Eight years and five studio full-lengths into a career seems a very reasonable point at which to release a live record, and so for their final Metal Blade outing we were treated to Past and Present: Live in Concert, recorded in San Pedro, California. Having seen the band a number of times at fests and other gigs in the states, and I can say that they do put on a pretty fun show, Lips the proverbial heavy metal front man with a riotous presence. However, I cannot attest to having ever heard them sound THIS good in such a setting, so credit should be given to the band, the producers and the man at the sound board for delivering such comprehensive clarity. In fact, the album might seem a little TOO clean, in that the set selections so eloquently capture their studio atmosphere.

But basically, anyone who loves the collective 80s Anvil output is bound to enjoy this mix of favorites. Personal highlights from their career like "Blood on the Ice", "Forged in Fire" and "Metal on Metal" each sound fabulous. Material from Hard 'n' Heavy is nowhere to be found here, but that's never been their most popular, so if there were to be an omission that album makes sense. Metal on Metal is well represented with the title track, "Mothra", "March of the Crabs", "Jackhammer", and "666"; while Forged in Fire is covered through its own title track, "Motormount" and "Winged Assassins". Only one track makes it from Strength of Steel ("Concrete Jungle", a wise choice) and then "Toe Jam" joins "Blood on the Ice" from Pound for Pound, which was their latest at the time. The final three tracks on the album are each medlies of two songs ("March of the Crabs/Jackhammer", "Metal on Metal/Winged Assassins" and "666/Mothra"), which I found a bit unusual, since splitting these would have made the CD at least flow better...it'd be nice to visit the latter halves of these without fast forwarding.

I might have liked another track or two from Pound for Pound in the set, but what the band has included here all sounds excellent, with a clean and punchy guitar tone, solid bass plugging courtesy of Ian Dickson and vocals that feel quite authentic to their former, studio incarnations. Granted, you won't get a lot of the added howls and layered screams from the records, but in a way this more stripped approximation of the material delivers just as authentic experience even if Anvil seems mildly less 'wild' throughout. The mix is superb: while I would normally think that Reiner's drums might steal the thunder, they're kept appropriately balanced so that the melodies and minor vocal nuances shine through. Crowd participation is present, but never overwhelming, you'll hear this most in between the paired up tracks. In all, Past and Present is a rock solid representation of the band's material, perhaps not set up in the most explosive set list progression in this track order, but as smooth and clean as other quality live albums from the 80s like Live Without Sense, Live After Death and so forth. Further proof that the Canadians were a 'total package' deserving much more attention than they received in this time.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Anvil - Pound for Pound (1988)

2012-01-05T07:46:00.011-05:00

Strength of Steel might have churned Anvil to a halt as far as the band's linear progression in the 80s, but that doesn't mean that their later efforts were entirely void of individual distinctions. Take its 1988 successor, Pound for Pound for example, which draws upon all the ire and wrath that the Canadians previously hinted towards, and then dials it all up to 11. This is easily my favorite of their catalog to its day. To this day. A darker, volatile and dynamic effort which does not ignore the proto-thrash leanings the band exhibited through the early 80s output, and riff for riff their strongest in terms of branding itself to the memory. What bluesy hard rock influence remains here is delegated to a pair of brooding, doom laden crushers, and even the frivolous and silly sex songs are delivered with speed, passion and menace.

It helps that Pound for Pound also features my favorite Anvil track, and perhaps the greatest tribute to the sport of hockey in all of metal music. "Blood on the Ice" is a monster of hammering speed/thrash rhythms, eerie tapping melodies and dire, violent lyrics which celebrate the game's more entertaining, gladiatorial components. You'll note that Lips' vocals are honed in on a lower, grimier range which is the case for almost every song on the album, and I rather like the tactic as it helped gradate the band towards the more hostile climate of aggression that was popular in this period, without abandoning the manly, muscular heavy metal roots akin to Manowar. But the composition itself was just brutal for this band, every guitar lick incredibly well incorporated into this structure of blades, sticks and fisticuffs. I hail from the admittedly hockey saturated New England populace, and just 30-60 seconds of this track is all it takes me to wax nostalgically for the bleacher-based vertical mosh pits (complete with crowd surfing) that the restless jocks at my high school used to conduct much to the dismay of the rest of the town...

But then, just about every song on this album with the exception of the useless 14 second outro snippet "Cramps" is worthwhile. There are slower, thundering heavy/doom pieces like "Senile King" and "Corporate Preacher" that are bursting with screaming leads, arching rock grooves and some of Kudlow's tightest, glorious howling yet. Frenzied, memorable speed metal surges with Lips' tense screaming like "Brain Burn" and it's simply but gluey chorus, or "Machine Gun" which is one of the heaviest beatings this lot has ever meted out. It wouldn't be an Anvil record without a few smut anthems, and the orgiastic square dance of "Toe Jam" and condom praising "Safe Sex" fill that soggy purse here; yet both are fast, driving, and loaded with a fuck ton of riffs and lovable, noodling excess that make them seem almost too serious for their lyrics.

Another personal favorite here, second only to "Blood on the Ice" would be "Fire in the Night" a slower paced cut which I'd gladly place on the level of past transgressions like "Metal on Metal" and "Forged in Fire", though this is busier and far more pissed off, Lips often sounding like the great Savatage frontman Jon Oliva at his most furious. "Where Does All the Money Go?" might be my least favorite of the full-length cuts on this disc, with a lot of the 70s rocking swagger that populated their earlier work, but it's not at all bad and the guitars are a bit more complex than something like KISS (if not as catchy). And even here, Robb Reiner is bludgeoning along with enough force that he could likely cave in a human skull with a snare roll. No wonder the guy was probably sought out by a number of higher profile acts at the time, a real human steamroller who gives a lot more than any perceived, percussion indulgence might take away.

The leads should also get a mention: they're wild, dirty and not enormously catchy, but they add this sporadic layer to the pummeling rhythmic substrate which comes across like a molten steel bukkake jerking session. This was Dave Allison's last studio album with the band, and he makes it count as he and Kudlow exchange their shrill, shrieking fretted diatribes. I've heard some gripes about the production of Pound for Pound, and to be truthful I can hear how it might not be so smooth as Strength of Steel or Forged in Fire, yet I admire the tension it creates, the pools of shadow hiding beneath the darker note progressions and the faltering, stormy heights of the higher pitched screams where they appear. This is one hell of an album. Bad ass defined. Period. If 1988 hadn't been so overly choked with higher visibility records the likes of ...And Justice for All, Operation Mindcrime, So Far, So Good So What and Seventh Son for a Seventh Son, or an undercurrent of both US and European brilliance in the thrash genre, an effort like Pound for Pound might have gotten the attention it rightly deserved. But it's never too late, and if there's a single Anvil experience I could recommend over any other (excluding the documentary), this would be the one.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10] (pile up, punch out in the end zone!)

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Timeghoul - Complete Discography (2012)

2012-01-04T11:00:00.006-05:00

A few years back, I wrote up a review for this Missouri obscurity's second demo, Panaramic Twilight, a rather unsung and exemplary foray into science fiction inspired death and doom which has seen a resurgence in popularity thanks to the widespread 'word of mouth' that is the internet. Dark Descent Records has thoughtfully paid heed to the myriad cries for a reissue, and thus both of the band's mid 90s tapes are now available in one convenient location, with new artwork, packaging and lyrics. It couldn't have come at a better time, honestly. The hydra of death metal nostalgia is in full bloom, its many heads devouring new generations who have tired of the technical excesses of the genre's modernization, and Timeghoul manage to fit that old school bill while retaining a progressive, dynamic personality all unto themselves, in a rare space between the sounds and aesthetics of Nocturnus, Deicide and later Pestilence records upon which the Dutchmen flew off into space.

Of the two demos included, I must admit some favor towards the Panaramic Twilight material (1994). It seems far better organized, cleaner and more approachable as far as its production values, and incorporates a grander, more absurd narrative. But there isn't a massive stylistic gulf from the Tumultous Twilight sessions (1992). The songs went from 6-7 minutes to even more expansive lengths, but the core techniques remain much the same. A burgeoning, low end death metal frenzy incorporating all the brutal squeals and early Deicide chugging you could ask for, complete with low gutturals on a level not unlike Demilich. More intriguing is how the band incorporates a lot of the clinical, surgical guitars that dominated late 80s tech thrash opuses like Watchtower's Control and Resistance, Deathrow's Deception Ignored or a handful of the Mekong Delta records. It creates this constant sense of exciting variation in which the listener cannot fully predict what will happen next, and that's part of what keeps me glued to BOTH of these demos, and generates a pang of sadness that they weren't able to take it all further.

Timeghoul took chances, and a lot of this can be heard in the breadth of vocal choices. They can pull off chanted, unnerving clean harmonies ("Boiling in the Hourglass") or the grunting/rasping hybrids made popular by Glen Benton ("Occurence on Mimas"). I prefer the actual gutturals to an extent from the first demo, but the creepy ambient breaks, morbid cosmic intro transmission ("Occurence...") and aforementioned chants really make a wealth of difference. The lyrics are superb, especially for those into science fiction and horror, whether that be the grim future revealed through the Warhammer 40K fiction or the more ominous, isolationist atmospheres wrought by the legendary Arthur C. Clarke. Like Nocturnus and Voivod, this band excels at taking the listener to its source of creative chaos through both the words AND the music, and the marriage of pummeling, sporadic rhythms and frightening speculative brain candy was a huge part of its appeal to me personally.

I am a god, the prime being
I shall impale you
On the crumbled pillars of the millenia

I can cite a few minor gripes with the production of the earlier demo, such as the fact that the tone of the guitar is a little ruddy and some of the rhythm notes lost behind the percussion of both the drums and vocals, but this was pretty typical of early death metal albums in that whole Roadrunner and Earache scene (particularly some of the Morrisound productions like Deicide and Gorguts). And really, it's a demo, so one can't expect too much. Not to mention that Timeghoul addressed all of this the improved Panaramic Twilight, and songs like "The Siege", "Gutspawn" and "Infinity Coda" are well worth hearing regardless of the mix. Ultimately, this is a band which deserves to be experienced by all who missed them the first time around, and a Complete Discography is the perfect vehicle. Whether anything further comes of this is anyone's guess, as the band's own website seems rather nebulous on the possibility, but either way, this is worth the investment for any sci-fi death metal sicko dreamer.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (he stepped into the ceaseless beyond)

http://www.timeghoul.com/

Anvil - Strength of Steel (1987)

2012-01-04T07:38:00.005-05:00

Strength of Steel is about the point at which I realized Anvil were not likely to progress much further. I don't say that like it was the end of the line for the Canadians, we all know otherwise, but the fact remains, that, directly in the middle of the 80s, when metal bands were exploding all around them, they spent four years to come up with an album that sounds more or less like a direct continuation of Forged in Fire speaks volumes as to their potential when records like Master of Puppets, Reign in Blood, Peace Sells... and The Dark were reaping whirlwinds of attention, and the genre as a whole had burst into the mainstream alongside the more fickle, empty headed glam and hard rock that served as its gateway drug.

Primarily, thrash had arrived in full force and stolen some of the limelight away from the bands that were sticking more to that heavy/speed or more traditional sound, and I think Anvil was absolutely a band to suffer from this shift in paradigms, along with countrymen Exciter. But where that band was still playing in a very fast, breakneck speed for their niche, Anvil stayed focused in on the slower brand of heavy metal that made their songs like "Metal on Metal" and "Forged in Fire" cult hits. Strength of Steel is quite a slow to mid paced record overall, and this time that fact does not always work out in their favor. In particular, the opener "Strength of Steel", while it exhibits some decent melodic singing from Steve Kudlow, and a few of the other cuts like "9-2-5" just don't pull their weight. The former is more like an intro to the record, but the constant repetition of the title seems a little uninspired and obvious, while the latter is just too repetitive, though once again, I like how Lips is stretching his pipes.

Then again, there are a few pieces here which use such measured momentum fully to their advantage. "Concrete Jungle" is a heavily atmospheric song, even more so than "Forged in Fire", and the use of the guitars as ambiance was quite impressive and unique for the period, when most bands were focused on hard hitting riff after riff. This track is also symbolic of the highly urban, middle class lyrical observations that dominate this disc, and I'm sure it's now slang use of the good old 'n' world turns heads even to this day, though the context in which it's used does make sense for the song and was doubtfully meant to offend. I also quite enjoy "I Dreamed It Was the End of the World", which has a great deal of swagger to it, and features my favorite guitar licks and chorus here, but doesn't exactly pick up into faster territory.

Of the rest, I found a sort of mix of those I enjoyed, still enjoy and then others which I couldn't care about or remember if you trained me to with some electric shock treatment. The closer "Paper General" is pretty good, with brazen melodies similar to what Running Wild were writing in the latter half of the 80s, and "Cut Loose" and "Straight Between the Eyes" are reasonably entertaining, though the lyrics are mediocre at best and I don't like the vocals on the latter (the harmony reminds me of tripe like Bret Michaels), which involved Dave Allison. The instrumental "Flight of the Bumble Beast" has some decent leads and guitar progressions, but I almost wish they'd lengthened it and added some vocals. On the other hand, "Mad Dog" is a track I particularly revile, one of those generically plotted blues/hard rock hound dog pieces which sounds like it was added more as a joke than anything. I'm also not fond of "Wild Eyes", which feels a little like "Forged in Fire" in the verse, with those lurching guitars and counter chords; though in truth it's a cover of Canadian rockers The Stampeders and the vocals aren't much alike.

I will say that Robb's drumming here continued to improve, with a lot of double bass and dynamic tension that honestly manages so steal the thunder away from the guitars and bass. Lips has also really settled into his range, and this was perhaps his most concrete, if not the most memorable performance to its day. Dave Allison doesn't do lead vocals here at all, but perhaps that was for the best. Production wise, it's slick and clean like Forged in Fire but there is still some depth to the guitar, and certainly the drumming. Considering that it arrived after an uneventful quartet of years (unless you count Backwaxed), and that it was the band's debut for Metal Blade, I had hoped for much more, but while it actually managed to chart on Billboard here in the states, it felt like a clear halt to the momentum they showed in the early 80s. There are good songs here (still), and it's a 'good album', but not the blockbuster they needed.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (in the land of the predator)

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Anvil - Backwaxed (1985)

2012-01-03T07:21:00.010-05:00

So "Butter-Bust Jerky" examined the joys of splashing your man-wax on a lover's bouncing assets, and now we've got a compilation named for a title track in which Anvil entreats us on the joys of a similar emission along the contours of her backside... perfectly acceptable to all us perverts in the audience, but it makes me wonder if part of the band's plight in not reaching the level of their North American peers in the mid 80s might have had something to do with such colorful lyrical exploitations? Probably not, but I doubt it helped. After all, "Bang Your Head" wasn't about THAT head, and "We're Not Gonna Take It" was not, at least in my estimation, a hard rocking anthem for premarital abstinence.

Backwaxed arrived at a period in which Anvil were somewhat inactive in terms of their studio output. Having rocked out three albums in three consecutive years (1981-83), the band was busy gigging, dealing with personal shit and inevitably, seeking out a larger label deal (this was the last release through Attic records). So until 1987, in which Metal Blade and the band would collaborate for Strength of Steel, this was all we were getting, and it's a mix of redundant tracks from the prior full-lengths and studio outtakes that were recorded during the sessions for both Metal on Metal and Forged in Fire. Sadly, these are hardly hidden gems, but frivolous pieces of fluff which I would also have left off the full-lengths due to their relative ineptitude.

Four of the five rare cuts were unreleased, except "Steamin'" which had appeared on the band's rare s/t EP in 1982. I'd never gotten hold of that, so it was cool to finally hear it...until I actually heard it, and it's basically your typical throwback hard rock sex track similar to what they had written on previous albums, but the lyrics suck and the music is not much better despite the bluesy burn of the lead. Two others ("You're a Liar" and "Fryin' Cryin'") also suffer the same fate, with useless and uninteresting riffs and a pretty piss poor performance of Dave Allison's vocals on the former. Then there's the instrumental "Pussy Poison" which is faster paced Priest style speed metal with some crazy flange on the opening riffs, and "Backwaxed" itself, which is a pretty loud and proud means of celebrating the 'pulling out' method of doggy style birth control, and ironically far more memorable than any of these other obscurities...

As for the rest, they basically decided to fill out 37 minutes of play time with five selections from the earlier albums. Some strong songs here, like "School Love" off Hard 'n' Heavy and "Metal on Metal" from the sophomore of the same name, rounded out by "Jackhammer", "Scenery" and of course the "Backwaxed" companion piece "Butter-Bust Jerky". But I can't help but feel this was both a retarded and redundant choice. Why not huck a short live set on the album instead? Or some demo reels? Fuck, give us SOMETHING we do not already own. The ways these are just tacked onto the end feels pretty lazy and heavily cripples the compilation's value as a whole.

Ultimately, the only tunes here that are not a waste of time are "Backwaxed" and "Pussy Poison", but neither is worth paying whatever outrageous amount it might require to get one's hands upon this release, and really, even they are not at the level of most of the fare on the first five albums. That said, these songs are not available elsewhere. Even the later, comprehensive anthologies don't sport them, so if you're an absolute die hard or manic collector, it might be worth having for completion's sake. Otherwise, listen to "Backwaxed" on Youtube or something, laugh at the funny lyrics and move along.

Verdict: Fail [3.5/10] (I've got a method that ain't thought of yet)

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Anvil - Forged in Fire (1983)

2012-01-03T07:19:00.010-05:00

It's often the case that a band seeing a brief and sudden splash of success will attempt to closely emulate that success, if not note for note than at the very least aesthetically. Metal on Metal was likely not a commercial breakthrough on anyone's scale, but clearly that leading single was far more resonant than anything off the debut album, so it makes sense that Anvil would follow it up with a similar lead-in title track on Forged in Fire. Not that these have been the only two tracks in this style by the Canadian old timers, and not that "Forged..." is in any way a direct knockoff of its spiritual precursor, but it's difficult not to come away with a sense of deja-vu for the first five minutes of this third album.

Fortunate then, that "Forged in Fire" is one of the clear highlights of this disc. Set at a dangerous, slow groove, it lurches along at a spidery pace while Lips performs a treatise on metallurgy, the duality of which would not escape even the most addle brained headbangers. The vocals trade off on the signature sneers and howls, while the thud of the bass sets the momentum. I rather liked the glistening strings of melodic feedback throughout the bridge, which set at atmosphere even greater than that of "Metal on Metal", but probably the most interesting element is the counter point of the guitars in the verse. It's also an introduction to a 'cleaner' Anvil, at least in the tone of the guitars and tidiness of the drumming. Clearly more polished than the sophomore effort, with a dearth of rawness in the chords, but that said the music is stylistically quite similar to Metal on Metal and the heavier cuts found on Hard 'n' Heavy, 'pound for pound' their most muscular effort to date, if you'll forgive the foreshadowing.

That's not only due to the pace of many of the tracks here, but also the drumming. Once again, we're faced with a performance that might audibly come off as less menacing than the prior LP, but in terms of technicality Robb Reiner seems somewhat more energetic and advanced, as if he's slowly evolving along with the riffs. Outside of the title track, favorites here include "Free as the Wind", a nice atmospheric speed metal piece which served as a peculiar presage to the late 80s stint of Germans Running Wild, even funnier as the first lyrics in the song are, in fact, 'running wild'. "Make It Up to You" has a bit more of a commercial appeal, sort of like Heart meets REO Speedwagon, but while the lyrics are shitty, the music is incredibly catchy. And then, of course, you've got the closer "Winged Assassins" which serves as the ultimate Anvil tribute to aerial combat, pretty fast for the band at this time and incorporating some of Lips' better vocals on the album.

There are a number of tunes ("Shadow Zone", "Hard Times Fast Ladies") in which he utilizes a shrill, shrieking tone that almost devolves into parody, but thankfully the music is great; and others where he uses the same style of screaming more effectively ("Motormount"). We've also got what must be the best of the Dave Allison fronted tracks here in "Never Deceive Me". It still feels heavily influenced by that 70s rock that the Canadians have a hard time shaking out of their set, and far from perfect, but good enough that fans of KISS, Boston and so forth might dig it. And then, of course there's the mandatory ridiculous sex song, which is even more laughable and absurd here in that it's distinctly about ejaculating on your female partner's chest and having her rub the results onto her preferably large mammaries. This is, of course, the "Butter-Bust Jerky", and yet I know that even reading that has the potential to scar you for life. I apologize, since Anvil is not likely to.

Overall, various gripes and coital eccentricities aside, the album is quite consistent in quality and I believe it's nearly a match for Metal on Metal. Song for song, there's a lot of excitement, some tearing leads, and a laudable atmosphere which prove that Anvil were continuing to evolve as songwriters. The best was still yet to come, but they were well on their way, and Forged in Fire has a timelessness about it that is hard to ignore (much like the debut).

Verdict: Win [8/10] (made for pounding a massive weight)

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Ominous Crucifix - The Spell of Damnation (2012)

2012-01-02T07:17:00.005-05:00

Mexico's Ominous Crucifix is another of many 21st century bands culling an influence directly from the late 80s/early 90s death metal roots, and yet it takes an alternative approach to the majority of younger acts channeling Left Hand Path, Mental Funeral and Mortal Throne of Nazarene into a reverb drowned present. No, their F.D.A. Rekotz debut The Spell of Damnation might better be compared to the warlike ministrations of classic Bolt Thrower, at least in the drumming and atmosphere, though the vocals have a bit more ghastly breadth to them which recalls a Schuldiner, Reifert, Tardy, van Drunen or Kam Lee rather than the gruffer, drier Karl Willetts. In addition, there is a fibrous, textured guitar style which resonates with the 90s work of New Yorkers Immolation, only the production here is a lot more raw, and the riffs never so dynamic.

A lot of slower, double bass driven passages make for the majority of the album. Bricklayer death metal. One gets the impression that the lower muted rhythm guitar sequences are churning up his or her guts into wet, bloodied cement, and then steamrolling it with mobile artillery. The bass plods along beneath the dense guitar tone as if it were near-coagulated blood streaming through the gutters of the battlefield. Vocalist 'Rubens the Mercurial Herald' hurls a lot of panning, carnal syllables about the primary vocal line, and you definitely get the same sense of up front shock and extremity that you did in hearing those classic 90s death metal records, yet he doesn't ever sound particularly hostile or abominable, and part of this is just the banal lull that the supporting riffs often create.

Tunes like "Putrid Purity" and "Primitive Sun" balance off rather mediocre chugging grooves with the more caustic, atmospheric tremolo patterns, but while I can't claim to have been snared by any of the riffing progressions here, Ominous Crucifix never ceases to create this sure sense of momentum, from the cradle to the grave. One could easily envision fans of primal and simplistic US death circa Jungle Rot or War Master lurching and lumbering about a pit to this music, and they certainly have a penchant for slowly building up atmosphere through the tracks, not to mention an appropriate choice of frightening samples to inaugurate "Defiling the Altars of an Absent God" or "Third Day Resurrection". Ultimately, though, the Mexicans don't hurdle the writing barrier to the extent that I feel compelled to continually revisit their music.

If you're into spacious, simplistic chugging and moiling death metal and you don't set the bar all that high, then there would be no reason to miss this out. The Spell of Damnation delivers what it needs to that it might feed off its own, consistent flow of pummeled viscera, but unfortunately, nothing more.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

http://www.myspace.com/ominouscrucifix

Anvil - Metal on Metal (1982)

2012-01-02T07:14:00.006-05:00

Anvil might have had a pretty good start with Hard 'n' Heavy, but it was the sophomore Metal on Metal that would usher in a new wave of attention towards the Canadians and very nearly hand them a hall pass to the level of notoriety bursting like fireworks around a select handful of other North American metal luminaries in the same era. Yeah, we all know how it turned out in the end, but no one can deny that this time, the band came strapped with more than just the good intentions and raw testosterone of their heavily hard rock influenced debut. This time they brought a 100% genuine anthem with them that would remain their best known song for all the decades to come. In fact, there are people out there who likely know Anvil ONLY for the track "Metal on Metal", as if the rest of their storied saga could be swept under the rug.

And it wouldn't be hard to plead their case, because this is one of those timeless monsters that simply won't escape your memory once it's pounded itself in there. Personally I loved the clever use of their namesake in this and other album/title track selections, but beyond that you've got this unique, dark and swaggering brute which features the appropriate metal clanging gimmick that you'd expect from the title. Immediately we're introduced to a darker, heavier Anvil with far more muscular guitar tone, and Steve 'Lips' Kudlow, while still utilizing the same range as the first album, seems as if his balls have dropped, or he smoked a few packs before churning this out in the studio. Huskier, manlier, and bolder, the near growls in the bridge stand out as a welcome warning that you are about to get your skull caved in by the weight of it all. Doesn't hurt that the lead burns like molten steel, the backing shouts are well developed and the damned central guitar riff is one of those so simple and effective that many other bands were probably slapping themselves in the forehead that they didn't come up with it.

But that's not the only great track here, and a number of its neighbors possess a rather startling depth that I don't remember experiencing on much of the debut. The year before, the Canadians had written the first good metallic tribute to a Stones' tune I'd yet heard, and here they unleash the first to a Toho monster in "Mothra", and a good one. Solid, mid-paced Judas Priest riffing helps spin the saga of the fictional Japanese beast while spurious leads help glide it into a finely structured chorus and a killer breakdown riff which yet again seems like a precursor to thrash. Lips is all fucking over this song, and the robotized vocals at the finale are another nice touch. Another legendary Anvil cut is the instrumental "March of the Crabs", also pretty effective as it allows Reiner's pummeling abilities to rise to the fore behind the rise and fall of the melodies, and fuck, the very EXISTENCE of this piece on the album just goes to show that these guys were getting serious...

Alas, not all of the writing here lives up to this same, impressive standard. We've got another Dave Allison fronted track called "Stop Me" which by this point feels like another band entirely, and a girl anthem called "Scenery" in which one of the riffs is a bit close to "Crazy Train" for my comfort (though the song is not entirely without merit). Others, like "Tag Team" in which Lips channels a bit of Gene Simmons' rugged vocal appeal is not all that special, or the driving if bland "Tease Me, Please Me" and "Jackhammer" just can't compare to a song like "Metal on Metal", and perhaps that's the reason the album wouldn't have the staying power the band needed to ride their momentum to the top. Don't get me wrong, there are a few other delicious tunes here like "Heat Sink" and "666" to strengthen the back end of the record, but it doesn't have that pure track by track appeal that contributed to the success of an album like Kill 'Em All or Number of the Beast.

Metal on Metal deserves a lot of credit, though, for the clear evolutionary path it represented for its progenitors. Louder, brasher, and far happier, the woodshed studio tones of the debut were dropped here in favor of a more industrial strength workspace, and this is felt in the thunder of the guitars and the raw weight of the guitar tone. Even the bass of Ian Dickson sounds more metal on this effort, thunking away with abandon even when he hasn't got an interesting line to engage. This transformed Anvil from a rather average sounding, fun hard rock/metal entity into something to be respected and perhaps even feared, as the celebrity roundup on their documentary film will attest.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (to hell with tomorrow)

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Anvil - Hard 'n' Heavy (1981)

2012-01-02T07:12:00.007-05:00

Many people were probably introduced to the Canadian mainstays Anvil and their blue collar heavy metal struggle through the Anvil: The Story of Anvil documentary in 2009, but it's quite interesting to note that aesthetically, things have not changed much in their camp since their full-length debut over 30 years ago. Hard 'n' Heavy does emerge from that hazy, hard rocking blues underworld that better known peers and predecessors like Judas Priest, Accept and Saxon all traipsed about on their respective debuts, but their mix of serious, sexual and silly lyrics is one that they'd maintain until what is now going on forever. There are only a few tracks here that I'd deem truly 'great', but as a whole the debut has that remarkable ability to feel fresh even today, when the genre as a whole has evolved to the point that some of its more extreme artisans have become the auditory equivalents to things like fifty car pileups and industrial grade blenders.

There's a particular youthfulness here that not only ties to the lyrical content, but also the reality that Steve Kudlow was only in his mid 20s when it released through Attic. Hard to believe that 'Lips' was ever a strapping young man, but here it was, and the inexperience does often show in the writing. Not that there is anything petulant or entirely immature here, but a few of the guitar riffs are so basic that even by the early 80s they felt familiar. On the other hand, Hard 'n' Heavy certainly sounds seasoned enough in the studio, with a great balance of crisp guitar tones circa both Kudlow and Dave Allison, and Robb Reiner's strong, workmanlike drumming which feels like it's coming from the room opposite you. The central focus is on Lips' vocals, which were and remain among the more unique in the heavy metal spectrum. His tone is both boisterous and fragile, manly and about to shake apart, but he deserves credit for his ability to pitch between brief shrieks, enormous chants (as in the bridge of "School Love") and the steady mid range that he generally associates with the verse lyrics.

Not all of the tracks here have ever had the same level of impact on me, but at least it opens with a bang in "School Love", one of the more badass with a big if predictable verse rhythm and some of the band's better early licks. Especially that proto-thrash sequence in the bridge at around 1:30 which seemed a few years ahead of its time. My other favorites are "Bedroom Game" and "Ooh Baby" which both seem like pure, driving Priest worship with a dash of Deep Purple; and "Hot Child" which is loaded with these great, rocking guitar grooves that instantly hook themselves to your ears before the first verse canters into its march-like, percussive structure. This one also has a great, atmospheric chorus which carries off into the rafters. I'd like to also give some credit for Anvil's cover of the Stones' "Paint it Black". It initially fooled me into thinking it might be a cover of "Barracuda" thanks to the opening triplets, but I actually quite like how Kudlow's vocal just soars in the chorus segments, making for some mighty entertainment.

One of the problems I have with the album is that a few of the tunes feature Allison on lead vox rather than Lips. He's not got a bad presence, per se, but he immediately changes the landscape so I feel like I'm listening to something KISS or Poison would have released in the mid to late 80s. Sort of a controlled, rocking abandon that just doesn't measure up to the better tracks. A lot of these early bands suffered from a bit of an identity crisis as they were just starting to hit their strides, and for Anvil, this was that moment. "I Want You Both (With Me)" is the bigger culprit of the two Allison is fronting, but "Oh Jane" is not a whole lot better despite the stronger guitars. That said, neither is really enough to mar the album's overall quality to the point that it fails to entertain. You'll notice a difference, but neither is inferior to the heavily 70s rock inspired "At the Apartment" or the she-demon/Australian rock tribute "AC/DC", the latter of which has the most generic riff here.

Hard 'n' Heavy is a great album if you're into long summer drives to the beach or if you suffer crippling nostalgia for the late 70s and early 80s when the Trans Am was the material pinnacle achievement of masculinity. It's got songs about chicks, school, chicks, and...more than one chick at a time, so we're not dealing with the same level of variety that you'll find on later efforts like Metal on Metal or the excellent Pound for Pound. Spiritually it seems like some unsung spiritual precursor to the feel good vibes of Priest's Turbo or a whole lotta shitty 80s glam rock, but there is certainly enough of that later, harder hitting Anvil not to pass this by in your quest for classic sounds. One of those 'static' works which never seems to age, despite itself, aside from the pedestrian, but not out of place lyrics.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10] (there's more than one way to play the game)

http://www.anvilmetal.com/

Autothrall's Top Metal Albums of 2011

2012-01-01T08:47:00.032-05:00

Overall 2011 was not a match for either 2009 or 2010 in terms of sheer quality, but it's clear that the various genres are continuing to expand, and in some cases, contract. Old school death metal is back in full force, and we saw a few old friends return in spellbinding configurations. Unfortunately, a lot of letdowns as well. This list of 50 is drawn from a pool of 598 new 2011 full-lengths & EPs I've listened to, at least once, through completion; around 370 of which I actually reviewed.

The Mandatory 20

01. Vader (Poland) - Welcome to the Morbid Reich
02. Antichrist (Sweden) - Forbidden World *debut album of the year*
03. Flourishing (USA) - The Sum of All Fossils
04. Septic Flesh (Greece) - The Great Mass
05. Virus (Norway) - The Agent That Shapes the Desert
06. Deceased (USA) - Surreal Overdose
07. Negative Plane (USA) - Stained Glass Revelations
08. Sabbat (Japan) - Sabbatrinity
09. Burzum (Norway) - Fallen
10. Morbus Chron (Sweden) - Sleepers in the Rift
11. Doomsword (Italy) - The Eternal Battle
12. Arch/Matheos (USA) - Sympathetic Resonance *comeback album of the year*
13. Pagan's Mind (Norway) - Heavenly Ecstasy
14. Barbarian (Italy) - Barbarian
15. Omitir (Portugal) - Cotard
16. Midnight Odyssey (Australia) - Funerals from the Astral Sphere
17. Enslaved (Norway) - Sleeping Gods EP
18. Sonne Adam (Israel) - Transformation
19. Vektor (USA) - Outer Isolation
20. Mitochondrion (Canada) - Parasignosis

Should Thy Wallet Desire to Thin Further

21. Oranssi Pazuzu (Finland) - Kosmonument
22. Jute Gyte (USA) - Impermanence
23. The Crevices Below (Australia) - Below the Crevices
24. Cruciamentum (England) - Engulfed in Desolation EP
25. The Wounded Kings (England) - In the Chapel of the Black Hand
26. Blut Aus Nord (France) - 777 Sect(s)
27. Taake (Norway) - Noregs Vaapen
28. Anubis Gate (Denmark) - Anubis Gate
29. Enslaved (Norway) - Thorn EP
30. Sarke (Norway) - Oldarhian
31. Satan's Host (USA) - By the Hands of the Devil (also this)
32. Samael (Switzerland) - Lux Mundi
33. Entrench (Sweden) - Inevitable Decay
34. Demonaz (Norway) - March of the North
35. Myrath (Tunisia) - Tales of the Sands
36. Helheim (Norway) - Heiðindómr ok mótgangr
37. Demonical (Sweden) - Death Infernal
38. Hell (England) - Human Remains
39. Feral (Sweden) - Dragged to the Altar
40. Leviathan (USA) - True Traitor, True Whore
41. Tyranex (Sweden) - Extermination Has Begun
42. Balance Interruption (Ukraine) - Era II: Deserts of Ashes
43. Oremus (Poland) - Popioły
44. Skogen (Sweden) - Vitjod
45. Arkona (Russia) - Слов0
46. Miasmal (Sweden) - Miasmal
47. Antediluvian (Canada) - Through the Cervix of Hawaah
48. Cannabis Corpse (USA) - Beneath the Grow Lights Thou Shalt Rise
49. Havok (USA) - Time is Up
50. Azarath (Poland) - Blasphemer's Maledictions

Bear in mind that this by no means the full share of 'good' albums this year. These were all scored [8.25/10] or higher by myself on the blog, 82% or higher on Metal-Archives. If I had to list everything that was decent or better, we'd be here a long time, but feel free to scroll through the site using tags. As for the year's greatest disappointments, I'm going to have to stick with Morbid Angel's tragic Ilud Divinum Insanus. The latest efforts from Arch Enemy and Lantlos were likewise miserable, but then, I had no real expectations for them to begin with.

As far as albums that I found 'overrated', there were a great number. A lot of the cavernous, 90s retro death circa Autopsy and Incantation went absolutely viral this year, and bands like Disma and Necros Christos were very heavily talked about, not to mention Autopsy's long awaited full-length comeback. I actually liked that trio of albums to some degree, but found them nowhere near as brilliant as many have raved on about. Perhaps it was the pretty cover art, because all three were gorgeous looking. No, it was likely the latest Ulcerate where I found my reaction most at odds with the majority, but Liturgy's disjointed and pretentious Aesthetica is by far the most overhyped by all the hipster rags out there who wouldn't know good metal if they pierced their own genitals with it.

The Not Metal 20

I was pleasantly surprised by all the wonderful electronic sounds I was hearing this year, whether they be from the more traditional EBM/Industrial and ambient/chill sectors or more experimental hybrids of pop and rock. My choices here certainly reflect that fascination, though again, not a particularly impressive year outside the metal sphere either.

01. Ferri (Japan) - A Broken Carousel
02. Haujobb (Germany) - New World March
03. Zombi (USA) - Escape Velocity
04. Zola Jesus (USA) - Conatus
05. Sopor Aeternus (Germany) - Have You Seen this Ghost?
06. Maaya Sakamoto (Japan) - You Can't Catch Me
07. Foster the People (USA) - Torches
08. The Book of Knots (USA) - Garden of Fainting Stars
09. Amon Tobin (Brazil) - ISAM
10. Biosphere (Norway) - N-Plants
11. Imperative Reaction (USA) - Imperative Reaction
12. Washed Out (USA) - Within and Without
13. VNV Nation (England) - Automatic
14. Tim Hecker (Canada) - Ravedeath 1972
15. M83 (France) - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
16. St. Vincent (USA) - Strange Mercy
17. Carbon Base Lifeforms (Sweden) - TwentyThree
18. Bjork (Iceland) - Biophilia
19. MC Frontalot (USA) - Solved
20. Dredg (USA) - Chuckles & Mr. Squeezy

Top 10 In Cinema

Another year in which I didn't find myself entirely blown away by my film going choices, as is evidenced by the #1 slot going to a campy (but admittedly excellent) exploitation flick. As usual, some strong foreign options and a couple good sequels and big budgets though none of them were exemplary.

01. Hobo With a Shotgun (Canada)
02. Melancholia (Denmark/France)
03. 50/50 (USA)
04. Drive (USA)
05. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (USA)
06. Limitless (USA)
07. Ironclad (UK/USA)
08. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 (UK/USA)
09. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (UK/USA)
10. Rango (USA)

Props also to the Asian films Outrage (Japan) and I Saw the Devil (Korea), which technically released in 2010 but I only got around to experiencing this year. Awesome. Films I have yet to see but might end up on an edit of this list if I do enjoy them: Hugo, Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows and Super 8. There are probably others.

Top 10 In Gaming

Quite a satisfying year in both PC and console gaming. Though I'm still devoting a lot of time to raiding and content in Cataclysm, I've gotten the chance to enjoy a great selection of other titles. I may not have finished some of these choices, but even from what I've gleaned so far they are highly fulfilling.

01. Minecraft (PC)*
02. Dark Souls (PS3)
03. Bastion (PC)
04. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PS3)
05. Terraria (PC)
06. Stacking (PS3)
07. Magicka (PC)
08. Frozen Synapse (PC)
09. Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii)
10. Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One (PS3)

* I know, I know, but it officially released this year.

Games I haven't yet tried: Arkham City and Assassins Creed: Revelations. Also I haven't put in enough time yet with Portal 2 that I could make a judgment call.

Cruel Force - Under the Sign of the Moon (2011)

2011-12-30T08:27:00.004-05:00

I remember listening to this German band's first full-length The Rise of Satanic Might last year and thinking, while it had some potential, that Cruel Force were an authentic if brash and unmemorable entry into that blackened thrash cauldron which also stirred up names like Nocturnal and Witchburner. Lots of tangible, demonic energy and a clear love of the forebears Sodom, Destruction, Kreator, Venom and Bathory, but little by way of great riffs that you want to spin on endlessly. Having long considered the guitar progressions to be crucial to this niche, that's really a deal maker or breaker where I'm concerned, and unfortunately, Under the Sign of the Moon is not a whole lot better at their conception.

There are clearly strong points to the band, not the least of which are the cool logo, nostalgic and colorful cover image, and the enormous production of the record. Carnivore's vocals go for more of an expansive, death metal growl over the filthy speed/thrash metal of the guitars, and it does create this ominous, spacey sensation which I could appreciate. The construction of the riffs is basically pure dirt derived from the first few Venom records and them tampered with a bit of Bathory's s/t debut, Sodom's In the Sign of Evil and perhaps a pinch of Motörhead's robust simplicity and driving, distorted bass tone. Every now and then, like in "Obscure Evil" they will tear out this proto Teutonic death/thrash sequence, and a bit of Hellhammer groove, but even at these moments the patterns are rather predictable and wouldn't seem all that menacing or evil without the massive, raw tones in which the songs are recorded. Cruel Force is not a one trick pony, though, so you'll hear some variation in the slower strut that opens "Chants of Mayhem" or the more atmospheric, heavy metal finale "The Gallows Prayer".

In the end, this is just another case of a band doing just about everything right to appeal to their target audience, and yet not entirely following through with the songs I want to headbang over for years to come. I found myself getting into this only a margin more than the first album, but not nearly so much as other black/thrash hybrids like Nocturnal's Arrival of the Carnivore, Witchtrap's Sorceress Bitch or Aura Noir's cult recordings Black Thrash Attack or Deep Tracts of Hell. However, if you're a total sucker for this sincere, archaic flavor and often find yourself perusing the Hell's Headbanger catalog then you should by all means at least give this a run through. Not as catchy as it looks, but a fairly honest take on the beloved bastardization of these two styles.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

http://www.myspace.com/cruelforce

Antichrist - Forbidden World (2011)

2011-12-30T08:24:00.007-05:00

Fuck this band for taking everything I so loved about the early, aggressive thrash from both the Bay Area and German scenes, mashing it up, adding a relish of kinetic, blackened vitriol and then feeding it to me all over again. How is it that Sweden keeps churning out bands like this, or rather not exactly like this but from all over the metal spectrum, in such quantity and quality? It's like they have something in the soil over there that makes its way into their plants and livestock and inevitably ingested into some metallic lobe in their brains. Born metal, living metal and spewing metal into the ears of the rest of the world, so that we must writhe in the envy. For sure, there is nothing remotely unique about Antichrist. They couldn't even come up with an original band name. But with music this incendiary, exciting and enthusiastically vicious, they've done one better than innovation: coming up with what is the most fun release of its kind in many moons. Some of the most fun I've had all year in this genre.

The last blackened/thrash album I had such a strong reaction towards was Abigail's Sweet Baby Metal Slut in 2009, but that was a lot cruder with some straight speed/heavy metal undercurrents balanced off by the harsh barking. Antichrist is more explosive and refined, at least in terms of velocity and the business of the riffing, but lyrically and aesthetically it's just as primitive. Imagine if you might pick around in the time stream of the 80s and draw forth the very best elements of Destruction's Sentence of Death, Kreator's Pleasure to Kill, Slayer's Hell Awaits, Bathory's first few albums, vintage Possessed and Venom's Welcome to Hell and then breed them together for several generations in some dank, forgotten kennel in a corner of Hell. About a century hence, or rather 20 years give or take, the offspring of their offspring finally emerge from some crack into the mortal purgatory and unleash the devil's music upon the unsuspecting. Forbidden World is not 'news', perhaps, and hundreds of other bands have followed a similar path, but treacherously few with such ripping, diabolic finesse.

The first two traits that stunned me into submission here were the vocals and guitar tone. Front man Steken has this impressive, abominable ability to sound as if he is screaming and rasping at precisely the same time, as if he were singing from not only his mouth but some cut in his throat simultaneously. Whether it's single tracked or double tracked makes no difference. The guy is part Schmier, part Jeff Becera, part Tom Araya and perhaps a hint of 'Hellbutcher' Gustaffson from fellow Swedes Nifelheim. The guitars are nice, crisp and crunchy, yet their fuzzy nature never falls behind the intense pace of the music. I can't promise that every pattern on the disc isn't at least derivative of some past recording, but the notes always play out like pitchforks being stabbed through your spine at incredible speeds and as a result you've got no choice but to flip about like a marionette of unwitting carnage. In addition, Antichrist has done well to cast the leads in a brighter, spurious tone so they leap off the rhythms like evil incantations leaping off some weathered scroll.

Selecting particular highlights here is almost impossible since every song is so entertaining, but I feel like "Militia of Death", "Victims of the Blade" and "Sign of the Beast" are all fine examples of their uppity thrust that would immediately impress anyone into the more extreme speed and thrash of the mid-80s, or the blackened variations since. The Swedes can also show a softer and more atmospheric side to their music in the titular "Forbidden World", a gorgeous acoustic interlude, but this is an exception to the rule. Other points of interesting include "Necropolis" and "Minotaur", both of which are 8 minutes long and have a more varied, epic structure that often recalled some of the Japanese Sabbat's more ambitious offerings. The leads are almost always intensely memorable, the tremolo and muted guitars engaging and loaded with twists and turns, and the vocals simply incredible. About the only thing I could not count in their favor is that the lyrics and titles seem pretty derivative of their influences (if not poorly composed). But then, if something is this damned good, I maintain that there is always room for more.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.75/10] (die by the spells of the dead)

http://sv-se.facebook.com/pages/Antichrist-Swe/194267540607866