Van Helsing's Curse - Oculum Infernum: A Halloween Tale (2004)

Large-cast rock opera records have been quite the rage in metal for years now, popularized by acts like Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Ayreon and Avantasia just to name a handful. For the considerable repertoire of its constituents, Van Helsing's Curse seems to be one that was highly overlooked, the brainchild of Twisted Sister and Widowmaker frontman and American icon Dee Snider, to pay tribute to his love for Halloween and horror classics. A so-called 'soundtrack' to the holiday, metalized and populated with a roster that I hesitate to call a 'supergroup' beyond Dee himself, Al Pitrelli, and a couple unsung veterans like bassist Greg Smith who has performed with everyone from Alice Cooper and Vinnie Moore to Hellion and the Plasmatics. Much of the lineup here is instead comprised of ensemble musicians, with trombones, trumpets, french horns, strings and a slew of backing vocalists to further its operatic nature and narrative.

Speaking of the 'narrative', it's dictated by Snider himself, and one of the components of the album I found the most cheesy and imbalanced with the more swollen seriousness of the orchestration. To be frank, this sounds about as basic as a Trans-Siberian Orchestra album in terms of how uninspired and straightforward the guitars are, and how obvious the rest of the instrumentation plays out, only its got that wannabe John Carpenter feel to it that is often nigh indistinguishable from a lot of films that would bite off the Halloween score long ago (I think there's even a bonus track for a later edition of this which covers that very piece). That's not to say it doesn't hit some original notes, in particular the vocal arrangements and a few Al's guitar fills that you might not expect going in, but they're all washed out by the terribly boring use of plodding guitar mutes or chord progressions that require literally no effort except plugging in a guitar. The production of the record is expansive, often giving it the feel as if its being bounced off the ceiling of some epic cathedral, but most of my issues came with the fact that it's an extremely consonant, uplifting, never appreciably dark or creepy, and just how many times do I need to hear re-interpretations of the Halloween tune or the opera staple "Carmin Burana"? Oculum Infernum just does not go far enough into the thematic territory it so wishes to capitulate towards, and settles for far too many generic thrills.

It gets a little more exciting when you get Al jamming in the bridges of pieces like "The Child", but even then it sounds awfully familiar...like you've heard some other rock opera bands he plays with. Some of the horns blare out in an appreciably moody fashion, as in the swooning "Tortured Soul". The Van Helsing family theme throughout is flimsy at best, a kind of generic 'good vs' evil' scheme, pitting off the monster hunters with vampires and other beings reduced to 'darkness'. A whole lot of the lyrics are presented in Latin to adhere to the album's operatic nature and the ancient struggle it presumes to represent. And, sadly, the most evil sounding part of the whole affair is the "Black Sabbath" cover near the end, threaded with lots of little proggy and symphonic touches, and operatic vocals that don't exactly expand upon its inherent darkness, but still manage to transform the piece as most worthwhile cover do. Apart from the corny voices Dee is doing, in true horror-circus fashion, I actually think most of the instruments sound pretty clear and full, but apart from an occasional bass groove or pick-up in the drumming, some of them don't have much to do.

Now, I like Dee Snider, not only as a singer but as an outstanding human being. I still spin a lot of Twisted Sister stuff and I like a few tunes from his other projects. But this one was clearly a miss, not of gargantuan proportions, but the effort in putting it together just doesn't justify the results on the disc itself. You could take almost any random Therion record from the mid-90s or beyond and get a more effective experience in the same vein, and those can often feel genuinely gloomy and evil, where Oculum Infernum struggles. Heck, Music from 'The Elder' crushes this. I can't say it's a great soundtrack for Halloween when there are just so many others available, either quality horror scores, goofy dance songs, or King Diamond and Alice Cooper albums you could rock out to. So who is this for? I guess if you're a HUGE fan of Dead Winter De...I mean Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and you want a fractionally more 'dark' version of the same, or perhaps TSO to swap holidays, then this might scratch your itch. I just found the whole thing too obvious and uninteresting, and thus I'm not too shocked that the project had such a brief shelf life.

Verdict: Indifference [5.25/10]

http://www.vanhelsingscurse.com/site/

Arakhne - Chronicles of a Dead Man (2012)

Arakhne is another of those bands that arrives out of seemingly thin air and then proceeds to make you feel really bad about your own, sorry ineptitude and lack of productivity. A cursory glance of the cover image and song titles doesn't really prepare for the bone breaking you are about to receive, but once it comes to the meat of the matter, I have to admit to being taken aback by how much effort was put into this set of songs. Self-produced, performed by only two individuals (multi instrumentalist/vocalist Raúl Cerna and drummer Samus Paulicelli, who guests here from Decrepit Birth), an album like this really has its work cut out for it, and it more than earns its paycheck; it pulls a double-shift and earns a lot of overtime. I'll be blunt: Chronicles of a Dead Man has a few minor production hurdles, and it's not the most innovative or unique sound, but the duo should rest assured that this is 48 minutes of mayhem which a listener is unlike to tire from. No, any exhaustion would simply stem from how hard, and how often, the songs apply their boots and fists to your body.

Aside from a handful of misleading, dirty thrash/groove riffs, Arakhne perform a pummeling, fast-based brand of death metal which plays like a hybrid of Krisiun, Hate Eternal and Behemoth, with hints of early standbys like Deicide, Morbid Angel and Vader. The riffs are legion, and conjured with an enormous amount of acrobatic detail, in particular Cerna's flashy flurries of complex picking that snake about the spines of the rhythmic battery like serpents on steroids. There are probably as many riffs here as there are miles to the planet Mars, and almost all of them fit into the punishing puzzle of aggression; from simpler breakdowns to meaty arpeggio runs that seem more functional than flashy in execution. The leads are all meticulously crafted and affected to stand out against the more complex, unending tirades of the rhythm guitar. In terms of technique, they're all relatively shred-worthy, but even if they're not that distinct or original, they do a lot to counterbalance that belligerent undercurrent in the writing. The drummer is a storm given flesh, and though I didn't feel as if the beats were perfectly mixed here, often muscling in on the other instruments when Samus erupts into an impressive blast beat, it's not such a common event that it warrants much complaint.

If the album suffers from any setbacks, they'd probably be in the last of really distinguished bass playing on the album. In Arakhne's defense, Cerna's already pulling triple duties here with the guitars, vocals, and the engineering album, but where I can even discern the bass, it simply seems to whip along behind the guitar, and considering how dextrous and proficient the music is elsewhere, it'd be great to have more standalone sequences where the low end could shine, or just vary it up under the blitz of the rhythm guitar. Also, though the poor man's David Vincent/Steve Tucker style vocals are a perfect match to this style, and delivered with due competent, I would have enjoyed a little more emotional variation, perhaps some streams to offset some of the bruising bluntness, or maybe just mangle up the inflection so it seems more murderous. Otherwise, the talent here cannot be understated; even the longer pieces like "Dead Men Tell No Tales" and "Surrender" succeed on the interchange of rhythms, leads, and throwing new twists at the listener. For a self-released album, Chronicles of a Dead Man exceeds even what a lot of industry veterans are capable of. Ambitious, relatively intense, and with a few tiny tweaks, this is a contender band. No question.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

Free download of the album is available at: http://www.arakhne.com/

Folkearth - Rulers of the Sea (2009)

Folkearth remains an intriguing concept: assemble a host of musicians from various folk/pagan metal bands, and create a series of albums which explore Norse history and mythology. It's a theme which has been beaten to death for many years now, but how often has it been beaten to death by committee? Rulers of the Sea is the 7th album in 5 years from this project, and this time out involves members of Dol Amroth, Frekkr, Folkodia, Hildr Valkyrie, Skiltron, Black Knight Symphonia, Excelsis, Sunuthar, Minhyriath and Seventh Sword.

Unfortunately, like its predecessors, it's really not that good. Sure, Folkearth uses all the appropriate instruments to construct a folk metal album: woodwinds, acoustics, and keyboards flow throughout the band's mug pounding pagan black metal core. Each track has its balance of melodies and raging rhythms, but the mix is rarely balanced well, with the folk instrumentation often blaring streaming too loudly over the central band. Multiple vocals are used, which range from average black barks to dorky clean vocals ("The Doomed Crusade" is an example) and surprisingly decent female cleans (also "The Doomed Crusade"). The metal riffs are serviceable but rarely stand out. It's as if most of the music was shelved from better folk metal albums by good bands, and then purchased wholesale and assembled to provide you this record. A few tracks poke the prows of their dragonships out beyond the crested waves of mediocrity, but it was an underwhelming experience.

Highlights: Cosmogenesis, I Am Fire, Apollonian Light

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

http://www.folkearth.cjb.net/