Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats - Blood Lust (2011)

Electric Wizard led me to Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, and I do admit I consider the latter to be an evolution on the other's sound, making it a fraction more mainstream and adventurous in the process since they bring in a lot of other 70s influences to the Sabbath style, namely the Beatles. If you heavily fuzzed out the Beatles, gave them cool horror lyrics and an edge, this might be the result, Uncle Acid is like the nexus between Hammer Horror, distortion-drenched pop rock and the Rise Above roster. They have never let me down on a single album, and though they've recently moved on to a more theatrical, progressive leanings, I still listen across all their catalogue fairly evenly, with the possible exception of the debut, which was decent but crushed by Blood Lust in almost every category.

From the opening notes of "I'll Cut You Down", the sophomore is just brighter and more creatively conceived, with a nice pomp to the bass tone, and a rhythm guitar that constantly evokes nostalgia and atmosphere no matter how primitive some of its trudging riff structures. K.R. Starrs' striking vocals give you an Ozzy vibe without really channeling the Prince of Darkness, or perhaps they live up to the band's moniker by sounding like a psychedelic drug trip giving a voice. The feedback and distortion used on these and the guitars are excellent, it gives you that washed out, raw feeling not unlike Electric Wizard, especially their records around this same period, but the difference is in the songwriting, these never feel like garden variety evil doom songs, the menace is "Death's Door" or "Curse in the Trees" is how they groove along like a dude in a pair of bell-bottoms kicking perceived scorpions around his feet. The bass playing is simple, but I like how it curves up to those fuzzy guitars, and the drum kit here sounds pretty awesome too, though like their peers, it never needs to be too technical or flashy...

Just lots of fills and crashing, and in fact they're interesting in psyche pieces like the proggier "I'm Here to Kill You" that they'd probably sound great even without the other instruments. But all combined, this band is a total force to be reckoned with, and Blood Lust is compelling throughout its 43 minute length, from the catchy chorus of the opener to the belligerent flow of "Ritual Knife", the glorious voo-doom of "Withered Hand of Evil", or the almost 70s pure 'eavy metal' charging of the main riff in "Over & Over Again". The one exception for me is the acoustic finale "Down to the Fire", it's nice to turn off the amps perhaps and does eventually seem like it's going somewhere, primarily because Starrs' voice works well with the louder acoustic guitars, but it feels half-formed to me and just doesn't add much to what is already a bananas great freaking record. I could live without that, but otherwise Blood Lust is one of the best albums in an obscenely consistent catalogue. Nothing complex, just let it hypnotize you until you resemble the woman on the cover.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10]

https://www.uncleacidband.com/

Electric Wizard - Witchcult Today (2007)

Witchcult Today is one of those records that feels so simple and primal that you could just plug in, write it and record it on the spot, and that's not something I can always get down with unless its in the hands of a band like Electric Wizard. The Brits had long mastered their most daunting and crushing extremes with records like Dopethrone and Let Us Prey, and by the later 00s were settling into this catchier flow of raw, effective doom and sludge which I found just as hypnotizing as their formative releases. There is nothing pretentious or boring here, the music can speak for itself, exceedingly basic in construction yet just catchy enough to sing along with; this isn't some exercise in vapid repetition like Jerusalem but something with just enough variation and experimentation to fully immerse the listener whilst slowly punching them in the face.

Noisy, huge walls of fuzz that cascade at a crawled pace through Sabbath-like doom licks, it's that 70s foundation taken out to a wasted extreme, with very little concern for blowing out your speakers or sounding produced or polished...yet, the levels do somehow find a balance. The bass largely just plods along with the rhythm guitar, but that latter is so enormous that it's not about to find any competition in the mix other than Jus Oborn's wavering, drugged vocals, and that's only because they are genetically constructed to pierce through them. The drums might as well be trash cans, as long as they can provide the attention span with a steady pace to follow the catchy drudging. I can't tell you that a single riff on this record is original in any capacity, and yet I still enjoy it that much, because there's such a hideous conviction to how they're delivered. To be fair, they do layer in some melodies and bluesy wailings (as in the bridge of the title track) to create more depth, but this is the sort of record I might hate in the hands of someone less 'cool', if that makes any sense?

There are definitely some more psychedelic escapes here, like the noisy, quivering feedback of the interlude "Raptus" or the the moody mire of "Black Magic Rituals & Perversion", which sounds like the most atmospheric trad doom ever, given some ritualistic clout by the crazy fills and percussion as it transforms into this fuzz-fucked behemoth, only to later transform again into tribal droning noise with what sound like some reversed vocal samples. This shit is some of the most frightening they'd sounded since the aforementioned Dopethrone, and thankfully ground things back on planet Earth with the closer "Saturnine" and it's super-bluesy Sabbath lick and vocals that saturate the audience in stoner bliss, even if their lungs are as clean as a cathedral. Witchcult is just a transitive experience, like some of its own predecessors, the sort of record you come away from different than you went in, staggeringly heavy in tone but strangely accessible other than the weird bits. Cool blokes, cool cover, damn cool tracks, Lovecraftian and occult themes, what fucking else would you sign up for?

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10]

https://www.electricfuckinwizard.com/

Xentrix - Seven Words (2022)

Xentrix was another of what I'd dub the 'two and done' metal acts of the 80s to early 90s. You know, a solid debut thrash effort, a more promising sophomore (sometimes it goes in reverse), and then either they spend the majority of that latter decade in oblivion or diminishing returns. It's sad enough that the British band got a lot of its attention from a cheesy cover of Ray Parker Jr.'s theme to Ghostbusters, but they also put out some really weak records later on that all declined to resonate with me nearly as much as their first two. When they released Bury the Pain after their 2010s reunion, that was admittedly a decent offering, their best since 1990, and now Seven Words hopes to capitalize on the newfound energy and buzz, a new era 'sophomore' that could hopefully further reestablish some good will against the burgeoning scene of oldies and newbies.

It's a bunch of stuff we've heard before, of course. Initially the band had a lot of comparisons to Metallica, they were one that sort of broke out in the wake of your Master of Puppets or ...And Justice for All, but I think here "Behind the Walls of Treachery" or throughout the title track, I'm reminded a lot more of Testament, only a blander Testament which can't quite cultivate the excitement of that band on some of their more recent albums. Don't get me wrong, I don't cite this similarity as some major flaw of the band, I'm into the style, and Xentrix perform it with some maturity and dynamic ideas, but the lion's share of this record is just modern, meaty everyman's thrash which doesn't sound like it took a terribly long time to devise. They add just enough mood through the leads, and there is certainly a core Xentrix sound here which is carried forward from the early years, but if not for that scant melodic flavor, most of this would go in one ear and out the other because it's been done so much before...

This style of thrash doesn't quite have that immortal, hellish youth of the more blackened speed thrash niche, so it's really gotta go long on the songwriting, and there is just not much here to remember. Jay Walsh, who also did vocals/guitars on the previous album, does his best to sound like the earlier years, with a bit of added Chuck Billy heft, and the leads and more surgical riffs and melodies spice it up. The bass has a nice fat tone, the drums play it a little too safe, although that's in keeping with the older material I suppose. In the end, I simply would not be able to pick most of this stuff out of a lineup. They don't fuck around with the classic Xentrix formula, and so that's a plus for people who really want more of that, and I certainly banged my head to a few tunes like "My War" and closer "Anything but the Truth", but ultimately so little stands out in the crowd. If you're looking for an English response to Titans of Creation, slam it, but otherwise it had little impact on me.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

https://www.xentrix.co.uk/

Lucifer's Chalice - The Pact (2017)

On the surface, The Pact comes across pretty cool, with a simplistic and iconic sort of cover that aesthetically transports me back to the years of the NWOBHM movement, groups like Witchfynde or Angel Witch or Pagan Altar. Noting that this is a four-track album with occult themes would seem to deepen my interest, and once you're listening through you'll note they even pick up some classic samples from 60s and 70s horror flicks like Twins of Evil or City of the Dead. Unfortunately, I felt a little let down by the musical content of this debut, not because it's awful by any means, but because it seems so plain compared to what I might have expected from the title and lyrics, or the fact that it relies on tunes that are between 7-11 minute but doesn't tell a good enough story by way of the musical choices and structures.

The Pact is essentially blue-collar Iron Maiden worship, and while there is nothing at all with following in the footsteps of one of the (justifiably) most popular heavy metal bands of all time, they just don't do anything to further that or expand upon it. Now Eddie's crew have certainly explored a lot of dark and gloomy themes in its time, usually on the earlier albums, but the idea that one could transform that into something more sinister, occult, atmospheric is an appealing one. But when you listen to such basic, repetitive and unappealing riff progressions as you hear around the 3 and a half minute mark of the title track on this album, it's just immediately too bland to leave an impression. The basics are here, with a solid melodic production to the rhythm guitars, and some decent grooves in the bass playing which are reminiscent of Steve Harris, and a couple of the tracks like "Full Moon Nights" border on taking this where it needs to be, but I was constantly wishing the whole mood were darker, that there were some more dissonant and surprising choices in the notes, maybe breaking the mid-paced melodic anthems up to take some more chances.

Vocalist Charlie Wesley doesn't have a bad voice, he's clearly no Bruce Dickinson or earlier Mercyful Fate-era King Diamond, which he also slightly resembles...but who the hell really is? The issue is that a lot of his delivery is monotonous...where some lower or mid-range sneering lines would give this more of the evil vibe I'd have hoped for, he doesn't seem quite confident to spread out the delivery to the point where you get a more dynamic and cinematic personality that would itself help flavor the guitars a lot more. With titles like "Priestess of Death" or "Hung at the Crossroads", you'd expect something a lot more sinister beyond the samples, and The Pact comes up short. They lack the timeless earworm melodicism of the Angel Witch s/t, the doomy overtures of Pagan Altar, and even the more fun naughty hard rock and heavy metal of Witchfinder General and Demon, sticking with the safer bet of the world's most beloved metal band, but not in the same compelling way that they did throughout their classics in the 80s. Going by the fact that several of the members also play in darker bands of the doom or death variety, I would think they'd possess a little darker vibe.

I found much of this would just blend together and lack distinction. I'm not going to shit on this as entirely incompetent or inauthentic, it's not offensive to my ears. They clearly wanna give some love to their influence, and they're not exactly a 1:1 copy, the vocals are a little different as are the moods on a few of the riffs, but even among the ranks of whatever-generation modern throwback heavy metal this doesn't have much going for it. Think darker, more ambitious, if you're going to create such sprawling tracks as the opener here, take us on a journey. Go out on a limb. Make it look like it sounds, and yes I'm aware that history has given us hundreds of records that look a lot more evil than the musical content, but it's the 21st century and we know better. Old Sabbath, old Maiden, or old Hammer Horror films just hit the spot much more than this album can; huge shoes to fill, granted, but this doesn't even get its laces off.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]

https://luciferschalice.bandcamp.com/album/the-pact

Seven Doors - Feast of the Repulsive Dead (2023)

England's Ryan Willis has become somewhat of a commodity of late within the horror/death metal underground, launching a number of acts simultaneously and maintaining a fairly prolific release schedule over the past half-decade, managing a decent level of quality throughout. I'd covered his campy camp slasher collaboration Blood Rage not long ago, before going exploring through his other work, and one of the standouts was the debut full-length Feast of the Repulsive Dead by Seven Doors. This one caught me for its stronger songwriting, balancing out a number of influences to create something that doesn't fall too closely under the shadow of any one seminal death metal icon of the past. Looking at the cover, or perusing the song titles, you'd think you might be getting something in the vein of Cannibal Corpse or The 'Tish, but it never broadcasts an excess of brutality, honing in instead on accessible structures, solid riffs and great leads.

You can certainly catch a whiff of rancid Floridian gloom, with riffs like the lead-in to the title track channeling a bit of Leprosy or Slowly We Rot, and this is found throughout the album, with some slight touches of Chuck's more melodic riffing elsewhere. However, the meatiness of Willis' rhythm guitars and the blunt guttural catapult this into a more contemporary sound, one that might have populated the ranks of a label like Razorback Records had it come out 10-15 years ago. But Seven Doors goes further, with a lot of mosh-driven groove carving out the grave-dirt, a few tints of the more brutal death metal you'd expect, especially when the riffs ramp up in pace. It's also clearly finding its footing in the thrash roots that would later morph into that genre, in particular where he's let the guitar crunch off on its own to set up some exciting new progression. And that 'crunch' is awesome, a thick and clenching tone without going into HM-2 overdrive. But what really puts this record into the 'must own' category for me are the scorching leads in tracks like "The Morbid Mortician", well-composed and catchy flights that elevate an already-appreciable riff-set into something I want to keep spinning repeatedly. A few of the more elaborate solos do hail from guest guitarists like Paul of De Profundis, but the praise stands.

Drums are mechanistic, suited to the task and never stepping in the way, but this is one area in which the project could probably improve its personality. Don't get me wrong, the rides, the rolls, the fills, it's all placed where it needs to be, but a more acoustic kit would go a long way. I mentioned the gutturals, and they're quite solid if nothing nuanced or unique. He'll add to these some runty snarls so you're getting a more Carcass or Exhumed vibe, and I think the latter band is a pretty apt comparison...Seven Doors doesn't go as grindy as that, but it carries that same 'fun death metal' vibe that I admire so much about Harvey and crew, something I can put in the CD player and listen through without ever needing to skip tracks. Willis varies up the thrashing, the tremolo-picking, and grooves well enough while keeping consistent threads running through them, specifically the more clinical riffs he plants under some of the leads which chop out some of the most memorable moments across the album.

Thematically this guy likes his guts and gore, and Seven Doors certainly sounds evil enough to honor those zombie and slasher flicks, although it's not too heavy on atmosphere or dissonance. This is more 'Hatchet' or its sequels than 'The Shining', if that makes any sense, a workmanlike and entertaining effort with plenty of muscle in the production and performance, but not likely to haunt your dreams in between listens. We're so deep into the death metal generations by now that I'm sure many purists will find this style arbitrary and recycled, but I've found as I get older that I just don't grow tired of a well crafted album like this one. Good for Halloween, good for horror buffs, great for death metal fans approaching from a number of directions, whether old school or more extreme and gore-splattered. I hope Ryan will prioritize Seven Doors among his legion of output so we can get more in the future. 

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://sevendoorsdm.bandcamp.com/

Satan - Earth Infernal (2022)

If this were any other band, I might say that Cruel Magic would be a tough act to follow, but I was 100% confident that whatever Satan put out following that wouldn't disappoint, for the simple reason that they never have. And would you know it? Earth Infernal is another absolute killer of a record from one of the heavy metal bands on Earth that gives you the most for your money. A smart, scorching effort with all the speed and ambition of their other post-reunion works, and a potent mix that recaptures the roomy clarity and warmth of the three that preceded it. Dave Curle, who had engineered their last batch of albums as well as some of Blitzkrieg's modern output is still on board, so it's in the same wheelhouse even though Dario Mollo doesn't seem to have been involved this time around.

Other differences are that there's a slightly more occult focus on the lyrics here, though just as sharp and interesting as what they'd been writing for a decade before it. Musically it's still in the camp of the slick, rapid-fire rhythm licks contrasted against Brian's soothing and cautionary timbre, leading off with a couple absolute killers in "Ascendancy" and "Burning Portrait", and not taking a breather until the mid-paced rager "Mercury's Shadow" with a psychedelic and acoustic intro, and not for the last time on the album ("Luciferic"). There are no shortage of standout tracks, and some of the favorites are nestled deep in the roster like "Poison Elegy" which has some 70s epic hard rock vibes, or the ritualist crushing finale "Earth We Bequeath". But whether the band are gunning along at a maximum clip or taking their time with some moodier track, it's another album with nothing you'd really want to skip, there are compelling guitars all over the place, epic vocals, and one of the best rhythm duos in the business.

Satan has almost gotten so good that it's frustrating, and if there's any flaw here, it's that Earth Infernal doesn't really advance the sound at all beyond the albums before it. Make no mistake, it's still excellent, performed as well if not better than the other reunion albums, but it does arrive at a junction where you might expect them to branch out a little more, as they did when returning from their decades-old slumber. Not that it's necessary for them to evolve one iota, but you don't want your style to become too monotonous, and while Earth Infernal is too good to fall into that trap, another couple albums in the same vein as these last ones might push them in that direction. There are subtle differences in writing and production, and even a dip or two back towards older hard rock/metal that poke through, but I'd be fully on board with the Brits taking a few more risks to fatten the envelope of what they have to offer. A minor quip, though, because if you've enjoyed the band up to this point, then I'm sure you will find Earth Infernal utterly fucking awesome. Because it is.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10]

https://www.satanmusic.com/

Satan - Cruel Magic (2018)

Maiden thrives off its live legacy, while releasing overblown, overlong albums whose qualities are distilled and desperately in need of an editor, someone to tell them 'no' once in awhile. Judas Priest is on an upswing, granted, but only by emulating their 1990 breakout Painkiller. Saxon is rock solid, and have always been other than a handful of albums in the 80s and 90s. Tank is a clusterfuck turned tragedy. Grim Reaper, we lost you bro, and that sucks. Diamond Head is trying. Angel Witch is succeeding. Raven has kicked ass on the last two albums with the new drummer injecting some real power and contemporary extremity to the Gallagher brothers' estimable talents. But they're the only one that can even come close to the win streak that Satan has embarked on ever since their 2011 formation, and that's quite a compliment, because Brian Ross and company have a skill-set that leaves almost all of their peers from the 80s completely in the dust.

They might not have arena tours paying them hundreds of thousands per night, or VHS-1 documentaries galore; in fact they don't get attention commensurate to the amount of talent and effort they put into every recording. But Satan is the best NWOBHM band of the 21st century, and though it might be hard to pick amongst four such awesome new albums, one of those almost unparalleled runs in their sub-genre, Cruel Magic is my favorite Satan album. The masterpiece that has always been waiting beneath the wig of their demonic, grim reaping barrister mascot. This 10 tracks and 50 minutes of content compacts together all of the strengths of the band's career into some of their most intense, impressive, and immediately memorable material, and it represents the summit of a job done right, a reunion era that offers no fucks given for simply rollicking in nostalgia, laying down on their laurels. This is a record that punches as much forward as it punches back, and I don't mean through the use of electronics or cybertechnology, but by proving that their brand of musically-intensive, melodic heavy metal has so much more to offer than those who have given up on it as some relic of the past.

This one sunk its horns into me with the thundering "Into the Mouth of Eternity" and just never let me off the hooks. It's not always as frenzied as some of their other material, it actually keeps pretty tight reins on itself, and offers a good versatility of tempo and riff structure, but there's hardly a single note throughout this that ever felt misplaced. From the winding, blue-collar street grooves of the title track, to the eerie, mystical melodies of "Ophidian", this is an adventure cast in that organic, warm mix that the band has clung to throughout this new era. All instruments are absolutely clear, with rhythm guitars that feel punchy but never overdriven, bass lines that plod along with atmosphere and finesse of their own, and some very genuine drumming that feels like you're in the room with it. The leads are brilliant without being saturated in too many effects, they can create multiple dimensions just by the excellence of the note patterns, and Brian Ross has a great performance here which is often showing some more theatric elements as in "My Prophetic Soul". Italian producer Dario Mollo deserves a ton of credit for how well he framed the band's style on these first three reunion albums, an unsung hero of the band.

Every song is so good that you would never find me skipping any on a playthrough, but this is also one of the rare cases where a single/video is my favorite, "The Doomsday Clock", which has some of the most amazing, endless streams of riffs I've ever heard, drawing a lot from their Pariah years when they dazzled with tunes like "Puppet Regime". This is that busy, but fronted with those brief, beautiful acoustics, and those the classical guitar influence threaded through the faster hooks. Brian's vocal arrangements are absolutely bananas, with a little operatic counterpoint. Even the lyrics are great, here and elsewhere through Cruel Magic; they show some effort rather than dabbling in dumb metal stereotypes, and though I wouldn't call them poetic necessarily, they posit sensible and serious prose that can match the gravity and impressiveness of the musicianship. And when this tune transitions into the raging speed-metal piracy of "Legions Hellbound"...I'm a straight man, people, but goddamn do I whistle and catcall like a construction worker stereotype when this album struts on by.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.75/10]

https://www.satanmusic.com/

Satan - Atom by Atom (2015)

Life Sentence was one of the greatest comebacks launched in all of British heavy metal history, and as far as I'm concerned, the band could have packed it all up, called it a day, and been content. But that was never an option, because Satan's reformation was going to become the rule, not the exception...they were about to surge into a period of productivity and relevance that very easily eclipsed their 80s cult classics. Touring, studio albums, the works, and not only remaining steadfast to their original sound, but bringing with them the experience that the members picked up in Pariah, Skyclad or Blitzkrieg. Yes, if this album resembles Blaze of Obscurity just as much as Court in the Act, I don't think that's any mistake, these were essentially the same band, and the modern crop of Satan releases are richer for it.

This is another incredible album, full of ceaseless, quality riffing that doesn't just honor the traditions that birthed it, but pushes the medium forward even so many decades later. That's what I love about these newer Satan albums, and why I enjoy them even more than the beloved debut, because there's very little here that seems stuck in the slough of nostalgia. Yes, that's the sound, but Steve Ramsey and Russ Tippins are bringing a wealth of creative ideas to the riffing which span all those decades of heavy, power, even a little thrash, and it sounds just as potent in the 21st century as it did during the era of spandex and hair spray. Just listen to the craftsmanship in "Farewell Evolution" or "Ruination", you can't go even a few seconds without some explosive of delicious ear-candy. The variation is expansive, yes they do focus in a lot on flighty, melodic, fast picking lines, but the leads are uniformly exquisite, and there's a lot of glorious emotion packed into every single moment of the experience. Graeme's bass playing is as thick and flexible as ever, still a match against the rest of the band, and even Sean Taylor sounds more invigorated than ever he was in the 80s.

As for Brian, guy doesn't sound like he's aged a day, although he definitely stays in his stronger zone here, with less of the stray screams that occasionally permeated the earlier material. Hell, I think he just sounds better, listen to how his pipes carry out over the melancholic and powerful bridge in "Ruination", or how he can inflect a little nastiness in there like Michael Jackson used to on Suspended Sentence. But most importantly, the guy is just totally distinct...he sounds nothing like Biff, or Bruce, or Rob, or Ozzy, or John G., and yet he's every bit as good of a singer. Sure, he's not who you turn for if range is your only thrill, but his voice flows so well over this material, there's a wavering quality to his performance which seems like a confident, spectral general guiding his soldiers to battle. Add to this the impeccable, organic feel to the production on this record and its neighbors...the guitars are crystal clear and mighty without needing tons of extra fuzz or gain, it all feels so warm and perfect without seemingly like it has some poppy overpolish. Eliran Kantor continues to capture the debut album's spirit with the artwork he's provided for all these new Satan albums, and while it lacks the total surprising impact I felt from Life Sentence, this one is very nearly in that ballpark of quality.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10]

https://www.satanmusic.com/

Satan - Trail of Fire: Live in North America (2014)

There's an earlier, rare Satan live album that I've never heard that was put out a decade earlier than Trail of Fire, but for me this was the first time experiencing how their material translated onto the stage. I had an opportunity to see them in Boston some years ago, but was sick and had to give up my tickets. So this is a little bittersweet, though I have high hopes they'll make it through the area again and I can cross it off my bucket list of favorite bands that I've yet to catch. Ironically, I'm pretty sure I got to see Blitzkrieg at one of the March Metal Meltdowns in Jersey, must have been 20+ years ago. At any rate, Trail of Fire dropped right in the midst of one of the better ongoing reunion phases in all of heavy metal's considerable timeline, so I had very high expectations, that were met to an extent with this 15 track, 75 minute beast.

They cover a lot of ground here, leaning pretty heavily on the debut album with "Trial by Fire", "Blades of Steel", "Break Free", "Alone in the Dock", etc but avoid the rest of their 80s material in favor of much of Life Sentence...which, to be fair, is the superior stuff, but I would not have minded at all a few of the better Suspended Sentence/Into the Future tunes appearing for a better balance. I get that some of this was from their first US gig (even though the track list is taking from multiple shows on that tour), and people were highly anticipating the 1983 material they'd been listening to forever, so it does make sense, but certainly those other albums were good enough to merit some inclusion. There's also a very DIY/underground vibe to this recording, it's mixed well enough, where you can hear all the guitars, bass, and drums equally, with Brian soaring over the top, but it's also kind of washed out and distant feeling to some other comparable albums where they put the instruments straight to your face. At the same time, for that very reason, this also does really succeed in feeling more genuinely 'live'.

There's some crowd banter, a fun intro to the band, but they really get down to business, and it's here that it really strikes home to me just how amazing this reunion has proven. That they've managed to keep this same lineup, that most of the band members were in their 50s when they were playing this tour, it's both inspiring and intimidating. Let's be real, most of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden would simply stare in confusion at playing some of these songs, and this quintet is so professional and talented that they make it all seem effortless. Every lead and lick is flawlessly performed, at least within the margins of normal live error, and the intensity is maintained throughout the early and later material. I'm not sure how long all of the gigs were, this might have benefited from being clipped together from a few of them, but on the other end, we are getting our asses kicked for well over an hour by some of the best heavy metal to never break the ca$h barrier. Why isn't Metallica or Maiden taking this band out on tour? We all know why, they don't want to get sent home in an ambulance every night.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://www.satanmusic.com/

Satan - Suspended Sentence (1987)

I have a little bit of Mandela Effect when it comes to Suspended Sentence, or at least I thought I did, because I always equated this as more of a thrash album when I was growing up. I remember listening to this one almost as much as Court in the Act, possibly because I thought it just had a better mix in my headphones, but also because it was a little harder hitting and that mixed in better with my fixation Slayer, Death Angel, Metallica, Coroner, Kreator, Possessed, and all the other stuff I was so heavily into at the time I was transitioning from a pimply Middle School geek to a pimply High School geek with longer hair. Now that I've had so many years to get back to it, I realize that it might have been a bit of exaggeration...sure, this is more adjacent to the escalation of aggression that was transpiring, and many bands actually morphed into straight up thrash bands from their trad metal roots, but it's also a pretty smooth successor for how Court in the Act transitioned to Into the Future...this is a very natural extension.

Imagine the band took their debut, ramped up the bottom end, added a few more gang shouts to the chorus parts, and transformed some of their complex guitar lines into some more chugging force. That is the sophomore in a nutshell: a modified, leaden heavy metal bruiser which was prescient for a lot of the harder hitting European power metal to follow the next decade. The bass playing here is incredible, Graeme English cranked up a little with a thicker, fluidic tone that is just as prominent as the two axe lords he is locking horns with. There are still oodles of melodic noodles flowing above the pummeling pavement, to give this record plenty of atmosphere on tunes like the epic "Who Dies Wins", which for me is the equal of anything off the debut. In fact, there is about an EP worth of material here, that combined with the Into the Future, might have surpassed the debut in my estimation. The "92th Symphony" intro is a nice setup with its glistening harmonies, "11th Commandment" is unforgettable with those pluggy opening bass lines and some totally killer, thick mid-paced riffs. "Avalanche of a Million Hearts", a beautiful acoustic power ballad that erupts into Sean Taylor's thundering beats and some more riffs that have remained in my memory since first hearing them.

Otherwise, there are a few numbers which are give or take, like "Vandal" and "S.C.U.M.", the titles of both enforcing that semi-thrash vibe I get for the record. These have their moments, but before I spun this again I would have had a harder time remembering them, or "Suicidal Justice". Nothing that would necessarily make you press 'stop', but they are not the equals of their peers for me. And that's the one reason that Suspended Sentence doesn't quite match Court in the Act or the amazing reunion period material. The production is a bit uneven here, too, half of the stuff sounds more polished and punchy than the rest...for example, "Calculated Execution" is a decent closer but lacks the power of the first three on the disc. Having said that, this is a robust, edgier Satan for the later 80s, some of the more creative magnificence of the debut traded in for something that might keep them afloat during times where more and more heshers were abandoning the trad stuff for the thrashing. It works well enough in that capacity, and there are a number of gems here that the years cannot sully, but it didn't seem to matter as the band would soon enter a 22 year slumber interrupted only by their time as Pariah.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://www.satanmusic.com/

Satan - Into the Future EP (1986)

Into the Future (aka the Dirt Demo '86) came out three years after Court in the Act, and I think that might be one of the reasons that Satan didn't initially explode as much as they could have. The major British bands at the time were churning out hits like an assembly line, with better production and more accessible songwriting, and even the members here were a little involved in other projects, and yes, they had the provocative name that was going to get them in all manner of hot water (ha ha!), so this didn't have quite the prolific impact; it wasn't getting in front of peoples' faces, or butts in concert seats. That said, the smudgy mushroom cloud (?) cover artwork on this EP might be ugly, but the music itself is a great continuation of the style on the debut, and I daresay I think the mix is stronger, giving a little more tightness and power to the instrumentation. Michael Jackson also has a slightly more controlled delivery than Brian Ross, with a little more dirt to the low end and some sharpness to the higher.

There are only four songs, at under 18 minutes, but the A-side for this one, "Key to Oblivion" and "Hear Evil, See Evil, Speak Evil" are certainly among the better 80s tunes they wrote, and ultimately would belong on a double-disc collection of career highlights. They showcase all of the band's great riffing techniques...complex, tremolo picked lines, packed with melody, a bit of shred or neo-classical influence, and most of all, propulsive power. Jackson's delivery is on point, he even has a few screams on here that I really enjoyed, they felt angrier and more controlled and not just an errant falsetto boast. There might be an added level of weight to how it sounds, and part of that is the production, but it's kind of a bridge to their sophomore album, which was trying to keep a little more current with the heavier, thrash environment around it. The only one of the four that slacks is "Fuck You", and that's not because the music is bad...it's amazing, but the fact that it's mostly an instrumental with just the dumb "Fuck you!" exclamation for the lyrics...when Overkill did this, they made it a straight to the face statement with an aggressive thrash song...here, the music deserved much more, or it should have gone full-on instrumental.

Otherwise, this is one dope, deserving follow-up to the debut, consistent while it moves them a little forward with regards to production. Unfortunately, it's hard to find on its own, but you can usually get it packaged with Suspended Sentence for a pretty killer value, if you can get it at all. I think the songs are also on the Early Rituals collection that came out through Listenable, but I haven't been able to check that one out. Anyways, this is definitely one that I can remember on cassette, spinning it next to Possessed's The Eyes of Horror EP because both of them combined would match the daily duration of my paper route job. The NWOBHM might have been dissolving as of this time, but the chops on display showed that Satan was prepared to take on all comers for the future.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://www.satanmusic.com/

Satan - Court in the Act (1983)

Though it would take years along my metal path to discover and process so much of the lesser known NWOBHM of the earlier 80s, Satan was a band I encountered fairly early on. I mean, there was no way I was about to resist a band with such a provocative, obvious moniker, one that my parents were very likely to snatch away from me as they did with a Slayer or Sabbat (until giving up entirely). But I definitely found all three of their older cassettes in the later Junior High/early High School years, and was proud to have them in my collection. I remember having a pretty superficial reaction at first, thinking these guys were nowhere near as heavy as Slayer or Metallica and that their name was actually misleading, but I quickly took a 180 on that opinion because the level of proficiency and ambition here was palpable.

Now, to be honest, I've never had a version of this on which I really liked the production all that much, the songwriting and performance seemed to vastly exceed the capabilities, it just seemed a little faint and tinny for me. But that's easy to forgive considering its age and the fact that these guys were literally running circles around so many of their peers in the intensity and complexity of their craft. Compare this to Piece of Mind or Screaming for Vengeance or something, and you can hear that Satan was on an entirely other level, more competitive with the budding thrash bands that had just started to emerge the same year from California. It's still very much in the vein of traditional, melodic heavy metal characteristic of its own scene, but it just cranked up the picking velocity and riff count. Next to this, even stuff like the first two Mercyful Fate albums would feel like a slog; I'm not saying that I like Court in the Act more than any of those albums I just named, because I think they've got better songs and production all around, but there's no doubt this is one fast, furious debut deserving of all the cult status and critical respect it's earned.

The two major weapons in the arsenal here are Brian Ross' distinct vocals, and the incredible guitar duo of Russ Tippins and Steve Ramsey. All these guys would excel not only here, but in other bands as varied as Blitzkrieg, Skyclad, Blind Fury, Pariah and Tanith, all of which have excellent records. Yet with Court in the Act, we get to hear them all in unison, and it's quite something to experience. Brian's voice has always felt more relatable to me because of its workmanlike sincerity; sure he has a bit of range where he needs it, but it literally feels like the guy down the street, or at the bar, just started fronting a heavy metal band. It's smooth, melodic, and works great with reverb, but it's never too over the top or screechy, in fact I find it the weakest when he does in fact scream, like that one disposable cry in the bridge of "Alone in the Dock". He can pull those off, but it's not what is interesting about his delivery. It's that mid to upper-mid range which has the most impact. As for the guitarists, they are just fucking unbelievable, spurting riff after riff of busy, calculated, melodic bliss, leads searing fluidly through the undertow, and with this production, sometimes it's hard to tell what is what.

There are at least four tunes on here that make my Satan playlist every time, from the classic raging (proper) opener "Trial by Fire" and epic, escalating "Break Free", to "Hunt You Down" with its great groove and gang vocals, and "Dark Side of Innocence" with its immortal, captivating melodies with a heavy riffing substrate that actually sounds suspiciously like an influence upon a lot of German power metal a few years later. I also really dig the creepy synth intro to the album, "Into the Fire", with the thudding electro percussive beats that stomp through the scintillating ambiance. Or the acoustic interlude "The Ritual" which is absolutely gorgeous and shows off the guitarists' skills in that medium. But I wouldn't throw out the rest of the tunes, either, they're all pretty solid in support of just a few that are more timeless. I emphasized the guitars and vocals, but Sean Taylor's drumming on this one is also pretty intense for the time, lots of good fills, and Grame English, another legend, keeps his bass lines busy enough so that you're not just engaged on that higher, melodic level, but what is supporting it.

Amazingly, this is not even close to my favorite Satan record. I appreciate it a lot, it's one that I often revisit, at least for my favorite songs, and it's the best of their earlier output...but Satan is also my favorite NWOBHM band of the 21st century, and we'll get into why. Court in the Act definitely sets the standard, even the iconic logo and cover artwork style, and this is pretty much mandatory if you're into that British stuff, and should sit in your collection alongside the debuts of Angel Witch, Tank and Diamond Head, and all the Raven, Saxon, Venom, Maiden and Priest you can muster.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

http://www.satanmusic.com/

Iron Maiden - Senjutsu (2021)

It might be tempting to take my recent review of Book of Souls, copy and paste it with all the appropriate titles changed, because Senjutsu suffers from a lot of the same issues I had with that record. However, I think the difference is that the lows here are lower, and the highs are debatably higher than anything on that 2015 offering. Keep in mind that this is still a legendary band, capable of legendary metal tracks, with much of its classic roster in place, taking its sweet time between new studio offerings, yet unable to really compose on the level of their younger selves, with all that money, and all that time. Don't get me wrong, they have EARNED such breaks, unquestionably, because of their incessant touring and advanced ages. Iron Maiden has nothing to prove, with a stellar, classic backlog, loads of popular merchandising, and tours that do their damnedest to give you your money's worth. The band has given me so much that I cannot really ask more of them...

Still, I'm baffled why a band with such an enormous resource pool can no longer create the sort of top shelf tuneage which put them on the map. On its surface, Senjutsu does look cool...I dig the stark simplicity of the artwork (as with Book of Souls), and Samurai Eddie is surely a thing. The 81-82 minutes of this might have easily been quashed onto a single CD, but once more the band has opted for the double-album, with a number of lengthy tracks, although nothing as long as on the prior disc. We're talking several pieces that are 9-12 minutes, and the odds of Maiden being able to fill all that bulk with the quality of a "Powerslave" or "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" seem bleak. The first single I heard off this, "The Writing on the Wall", had a decent animated video, and a folky feel to it which felt fresh for the band, although it's ultimately a pretty dull track without a memorable chorus. "Stratego" had me more excited, the flow on that one brought me back to the Maiden I loved of that mid-to-late 80s period, but with a slightly fresh mood to it (and another animated video). That's still one of my favorite songs on this album, but if you're asking me to put together a collection of a few dozen tracks for a road trip, it's not going anywhere NEAR that list.

Most of the lengthier tunes here feel rather empty, not that they lack emotion or melody, because Bruce still delivers as one of the high points of Senjutsu; but I almost never feel like there is any positive payoff to spending all that time within the music. There are tracks like "Lost in a Lost World" which feel like pure callbacks to some of my favorite Maiden material, but then there's nothing new or remotely refreshing about them. The shorter tracks here ("Stratego", "Days of Future Past") are much more engaging, while cuts like "Death of the Celts" and "The Parchment" seem to be building to something impressive, and then the work crews up and retire for a lunchbreak and never return. "Hell on Earth" is more successful at grabbing me, but again all the good stuff could have been condensed to a track half the length and I would have missed nothing.

Now that I've covered my disappointments, I will say that I don't quite dislike the album, this is not Nostradamus by a long shot; it doesn't suck at all, and it once again squeaks by on some of its positive factors. The production feels a lot more natural and resonant to me than The Book of Souls' smoother, cleaner mix, and as a result the historical, windy, epic nature of the lyrical matter seems better suited to the sound of the actual instruments. It's just as pleasant to put on in the background as its predecessor, because hey, that's Iron Maiden back there. But compare for a moment what this band is churning out compared to some of its peers...the last two Saxon albums kick ass in their traditional blue collar heavy metal. The most recent Judas Priest album was the most charged up they've been in almost 30 years. The last four Satan albums, since the reunion, leave Iron Maiden and every other NWOBHM or NWOBHM-adjacent band in the fucking dust. Bruce and the boys just sound bored and exhausted by comparison, and I hope that with these last two double albums, they've shaken off these 'epic' urges, and can fire off a few more concise efforts like Piece of Mind or Number of the Beast before we have to inevitably say goodbye to one of our favorite bands. Senjutsu is decent enough, but could have been so. much. more.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

https://www.ironmaiden.com/

Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls (2015)

Iron Maiden's first double-album arrived at an era in which the band would be highly unlikely to fill 90 minutes with the sort of immortal, quality material that marked their ascent through the 80s, but the hope is that you can pick through all of its bloated carcass and find a few bits of tasty meat within, which you can then carve away from the fat. After years of trying, I can't seem to find enough of that choice protein. The Book of Souls is no hit machine, but rather the sort of record one grows to appreciate merely because of its experiential qualities. A good 90% of the material present on these two discs is harvested from similar and superior songwriting from across the band's past, but reconfigured just enough to feel like it still might be relevant, and the result is a pretty pleasant chunk of Iron Maiden lite that is well suited to background aural radiation...but you see, it's still Iron Fucking Maiden, and that matters.

I enjoyed this one for what it was when it first dropped, but admittedly had it shelved for years before deciding to finally draft up some thoughts on it. Listening now, it's much as I felt back then, professionally and competently executed Maiden with all the trademarks: mid to slow, plodding, majestic rhythms that occasionally stir an emotional response, Bruce Dickinson's distinct pipes sounding as well oiled as they've been in the 21st century, and a lot of interesting subject matter to inspire its lyrics. Toss in a production so clean that you could sniff Eddie's mummy dust off its surface without contamination, and add to that a rather simplistic but effective cover with the mascot looking his creepy best. Being an hour and a half of content with 11 tracks, there are bound to be a lot of overstuffed songs, and few of them really warrant the riffing and arrangement to justify that; but even if you take "The Red and the Black" at its 13 minute whole, there is still enough of the dreamy escapist quality to their classic material circa Somewhere in Time or Seventh Son of a Seventh Son or even Brave New World to not hit the Skip button. "Empire of the Clouds" at 18 minutes seems a little more adventurous, akin to a "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", sans the excellent payoffs and narrative quality of that track.

When they do occasionally manage to pick up the pace for chunks of  "When the River Runs Deep" or "Death or Glory", you immediately perk up, because it just stands out from the more gleaming, polished melancholy that comprises so much of the remainder. Both of these tunes are worth hearing extracted from The Book of Souls as a whole, but even then if I were to compare them to the classics of yore, they still tend to come up short in terms of having legendary choruses. The leads throughout the album are serviceable, but again you rarely get anything past 'just alright', and Iron Maiden is never a band that should settle for 'just alright', or anything less than excellence. I've seen other refer to this album as Iron Maiden 'covering' themselves, and I don't know that I agree with that, it all seems genuine enough, only played too safely, like the well of ambition behind these legends has run dry, and they've sealed it off rather than wait for that rainfall of ingenuity to arrive again. The Book of Souls gives them something more to tour on, to rally around, to churn out a bunch of non-challenging, acceptable tunes, but I'd much rather they tried to kick us all in the proverbial balls again (in a good way, not a Virtua XI way) and fail, then summon up another lukewarm offering like this one.

This album does manage to squeak by on my scale, hitting all the superficial chords I expect, with decent lyrics and production, but there's just no "Wicker Man" here. No "Can I Play With Madness?". No "Powerslave". And hearing how obviously competent the band remains, I think they could still pull such glories off, it's just going to require a little more pickiness in the writing phase, and a long look in the mirror without the shave.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

https://www.ironmaiden.com/

Cradle of Filth - Existence is Futile (2021)

The cover art to Existence is Futile offers a lot to unpack, some sort of devilish orgy processing center against the burning wastes of Hell, with the unfortunate tortured and ravished souls farting ravens out of their butts before being fed to the Big Guy. A little unusual, but in that classic, literary sense that Cradle of Filth are such proponents for, and clearly the most interesting that Artūrs Bērziņš has yet created for the band. But what isn't nearly so strange is how absolutely killer this album is. They'd been cruising along with newfound success and critical respect for (in my estimation) the six albums before this one, but Existence is Futile is so dynamic and well-released that it almost instantly thrust to the top echelons of their entire discography, and it's since grown into my fave that they've written since 2000's formidable Midian.

By this point you know exactly what to expect, the Brits' hybrid of black, thrash, death and Gothic metal dowsed in synth-driven symphonics, poetic lyrics and the vocal array of a flight of imps of various shapes and sizes. But with this record, everything is just so flawlessly integrated that there's never a single second where I feel like a keyboard or effect oversteps its place. A lot of albums making such heavy use of orchestration run the risk of drowning out their metallic core, but not here, as every sinister lick is crystal clear, the bass lines brood along effectively and Skaroupka's drums are at their usual peak, like a storm hovering over a decaying castle on a rain-slicked hillside. The female choirs, the arrangements, this record is probably the closest they've come to a true 'symphonic metal' style, without going too overboard and ridiculous like a Dimmu Borgir or Fleshgod Apocalypse when they went into arguably hyper-orchestrated territory on certain efforts. This just feels 'right' the entire time, like you're signing up for a full, cinematic experience, a silent lost horror epic which has been given an entire score by the filthy libertines, and you are never jerked from its grasp.

In fact, though I won't say the album is perfectly catchy throughout its near hour of material, it is quite hard to pick out particular favorites because all the tunes are so bloody consistent. I love that technical thrash riffing that pulses below the orchestration of "Crawling King Chaos", or the Sabbat (UK)-like thrash and melodies that catapult into "Black Smoke Curling from the Lips of War", but even the softer interludes with their piano lullabies are good, and I loved the doomy swagger within "The Dying of the Embers". It's really just one that I'll happily spin fore to aft, with a great Scott Atkins production and the usual high standards for layout and packaging. It falls short of a masterpiece, perhaps, but Existence is Futile easily joins Midian, Dusk and Her Embrace and the 'Re-Mistressed' version of Cruelty and the Beast as a go-to album from these persistently entertaining ghouls.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

https://www.cradleoffilth.com/

Blood Rage - Welcome to Crimson Pines EP (2022)

The VHS cover reference, the obvious Friday the 13th parallels, and the title definitely seem like the setup for a fun slasher metal record from this newer British band. The retro-synth intro/sample is also great, and then they bludgeon you directly in the face with meaty, gruesome, old death metal which reminded me of ancient fucking Bolt Thrower of all things, with a slightly more contemporary sense of groove; or perhaps a less intense Mortician, with some more accessible songwriting and leads tossed onto there. Either way, Blood Rage doesn't really follow any of the trendier death metal waves of late, or perhaps it might fit in best with the caveman death popularized through cool labels like Maggot Stomp, but it's not quite the same.

Now this is obviously a for-fun project, and not too serious, so I can forgive a few inconsistencies in the production, like how the vocals just seem too loud and overbearing for the instruments (as in "He Came Back"). When you've got multiple guttural growls and then even some crumby sounding rasp behind it, and they just seem to drown out the visceral riffing and beats. The production on the guitars is awesome, just loud and crunchy as fuck, in fact the tone makes up for any lack of nuance in the overall quality of the riffs, and once the screaming samples and chainsaws show up you are having a blast. The titles and lyrics are hilarious ("Skewered with a Tent Stake", "Campfire Immolation") and appropriate to the slasher niche the Brits are paying tribute to. Ultimately, this isn't something you're going to spin repeatedly forever, but an engaging, brawling disc when you're in the mood to just shut down and mosh your mind. I can only hope they'll put out some other slasher hero tributes, perhaps theming one EP after each of the big guns. Just an entertaining beatdown and a reminder to survive the great outdoors by not being there.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

https://bloodrage.bandcamp.com/album/welcome-to-crimson-pines-2

Blackstar Rising - Barbed Wire Soul (1997)

It's always interested me that so many of the Carcass alumni spent their time during their mainstay's hiatus forming or joining bands that were oriented towards more traditional hard rock, heavy metal or even stoner rock in the case of Michael Amott's Spiritual Beggars. I think for the rest of the blokes, Swansong was the clear indicator of this direction, and album I wasn't terribly thrilled about, being so fanatic over the three albums before it. In hindsight, it had some fairly catchy material on there, but it felt like a real watering down of the deatht/thrashing they had perfected with Heartwork, and perhaps just too distant from their goregrind roots to even consider it the same band. For those on board with that album's sound, however, there was BlackStar Rising, the band they formed in the other's wake, which could now further that hard rocking style without the burden of a brand name associated with medical textbooks and meat repulsion.

Barbed Wire Soul is a little more seasoned than Swansong, a mix of hard rock tropes from the 70s and 80s but with slightly more aggressive riff-work and musicianship than you'd encounter from any band of hair-sprayed sellouts working the Sunset Strip. It's almost like someone metalized Aerosmith, and changed the vocals to sound a bit more road-worn and limited in range than Tyler. There's a bit of obnoxious and generic boogie behind some of the tracks, but never to the point it gets annoying, and on tracks like "Sound of Silence" or "Give Up the Ghost", it's apparent they were trying to be creative in a space that would be considered more traditional. In fact, the latter and several others do feel like they could have been Swansong outtakes, but now they weren't afraid to ramp up some of the bluesy qualities and the 'party' rock & roll mentality that they were probably denying themselves complete access to while still in Carcass. Obviously, these guys are overly competent for this style of rock, so it's too their credit that they take a step back and really fall in to relish their roles.

Having said all this, while Barbed Wire Soul is a decent record, it's sometimes cheesy and not all that memorable compared to anything they had written other than perhaps Swansong or the truly crude Reek of Putrefaction (unless you are a goregrind fanatic). It's certainly more accomplished and varied at exploring this hard rock style than Swansong, but do I like it more in the end? I can't say that for sure, only that it's nowhere near as good as a lot of the Spiritual Beggars material; but I was happy they got the chance to get this out of their systems, and later return to proper business with the successful Carcass reunion material, which is not the be-all, end-all some make it out to be, but light years more engaging for me than BlackStar Rising.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

Cradle of Filth - Midnight in the Labyrinth... (2012)

Cradle of Filth's music already has such a natural sweep and bombast to it that converting the metallics into sheer orchestration only seemed natural to me around the time Midnight in the Labyrinth, or Songs for the Recently Dead and Arisen showed up. This has always been a band refined at marketing, putting out elaborate products, focusing in hard on their videos, image, and so forth, and thus you shouldn't expect any less when they drop the heaviness to release a two-disc, 2 hour 20 minute collection of cuts across transformed into pure symphonic cheese from across their catalogue to date (in 2012). Unfortunately, while so much of this release is exactly what they promised, I can't help but feel that only the second of the two discs was actually necessarily...

Now, both of them are nearly identical, with the first one track longer, but the issue for me is that I had absolutely no interest in wanting to hear the narration from Dani Filth and Sarah Jezebel Diva. Filth is still putting sinister filters on his vocals as if he was still singing to the Gothic/black metal version, even going into a growl or two, and the whole thing seems boisterous, blustery and tremendously goofy. Did anyone really ask for this? One can certainly argue for the choir parts, they definitely contribute to the rousing evil feel of these epic compositions, but I am more than happy with the second disc, which simply converts a lot of the band's great tunes into pieces I can now use as a backdrop for a Gothic horror RPG, or even a glorified and more heavily produced dungeon synth album. Hearing "The Forest Whispers My Name", "Cruelty Brought Thee orchids" and "Dusk and Her Embrace" in this format is wonderful, really justifies the product, and they even keep the choirs though they are placed a little lower against the synthesized orchestra.

You can tell that some of the tunes here would be better with more natural instrumentation, but despite that I still think their material renders down to this version quite sincerely, as its obvious when they're composing a lot of the metal material they've got a Dark Wagnerian vision in mind to begin with. The organs and other tones simmer against the roiling storm-clouds of the bands' twisted British poetic imagination, making this perfect for a period piece vampire battle or some other Transylvanian epic, it's not all evil and creepy sounding, so bear that in mind; it's not such a great score for some unnerving Lovecraftian horror, but for something more historical it's wonderful. If only a little of the ego had been held in check, and they'd instead given us TWICE the songs in the pure instrumental/choral realm, this would be a home run release, but it ends up partly as corny as the digitized cover photo. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe there's a group of CoF devotees who really want to hear Dani's lustrous, demented narration while they bob for apples and compare spider-web tattoos, but I think Midnight in the Labyrinth is brought lower than its potential for this overindulgence.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

https://www.cradleoffilth.com/

Imperium - Ex Mortis Gloria (2022)

I am all about the Ancient World, and England's Imperium are all about taking all of that history, that conquest and culture and architecture, in particular of the Roman variety, and then filtering it through a lens of brutal whoop-ass that will absolutely be sending me to an appointment with my chiropractor. While at times the contrast between extreme modernity and thematic classicism can seem disjointed, there is just enough use of atmospherics to feel like it isn't out of place. But I will warn the potential listener: this record is almost suffocating in its total intensity, while the band is smart enough to let a few of the riffing sequences air out, to create some pauses amidst the pummeling, when this bands fires on all cylinders it can almost prove dizzying.

The main cause of this is the incredible interplay between guitarist Mike Alexander, a name that should probably be on everyone's lips after hearing his ceaseless volley of frenzied, fluid, complicated riffs, and the drummer, Swedish veteran Janne Jaloma (Night Crowned, Dark Funeral, Aeon, and many others), who is like caged thunder, battering his kit at levels of extremity that I hardly believe. Complement these two with a vocalist whose broad snarls, growls and howls make a necessary contrast against the sweltering complexity and you've got a force to be reckoned. I mean, Ex Mortis Gloria is really one of those albums you find yourself listening to and wondering if we've just gone too far? But then the band will reel you straight back in with a measured, elegant lead like that of "Indignitas" and keep you just grounded enough to not lose your shit entirely. If you've got a weak heart, however, this might be one you want to ingest in smaller doses, or at least turn it down a smidge from the volume I was stupid enough to experience it at.

I cannot imagine this album not taking Imperium places, for all its intensity it relies more on sheer musicality than dissonance, and while the faster material can grow exhausting, there is plenty more going on. It easily breaks the proficiency scale, its got that nice historical theming going for it akin to an Ade or an Ex Deo, and it ticks every brutal box, crumples up the test and asphyxiates you with it. Now if you'll excuse me I need some oxygen.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/imperiumuk

Hell - Curse & Chapter (2013)

It's strange and bittersweet to be reviewing this sophomore album posthumously, because at the time this one dropped, Hell had top-of-the-world potential, and they could do no wrong unless massively fucking up, which Curse & Chapter does not. While I might not have been a worshiper on the same levels as others I know, I still really enjoyed the amount of effort they put into the production and personality of their debut Human Remains. The fact that it was a reincarnated NWOBHM band, being given a fresh kickstart by a huge fan (in Andy Sneap) whose own legendary band Sabbat were pretty much the only one pimping this group through their own career, is just icing on the cake. Glorious.

As I hinted, Curse & Chapter does not disappoint, even if it doesn't possess quite the perfect set-up as its predecessor. Insane, operatically-informed heavy metal which infuses whatever aesthetics of power and thrash it desires, the material relies heavily on the vocal strength of David Bower, who just owns it once again. His frilly, shrieking, manic sounding voice is once again an instant win for the amount of character he gives it. He can snarl, growl, and freak out, then just belt out something more powerful and sustained effortlessly, and he is always bending his lines to keep each fresh and fearsome. He can also do some nice counter vocals with the backups, or the deeper sort of guttural narrative that we all know Martin Walkyier probably would have used had he stuck with the Hell reunion. Apart from his performance, the twin guitar attack of Sneap and Kev Bower is formidable, bringing a good degree of variance, between choppy and powerful chords, to acoustics, wild leads, and it all sounds fresh and modern like a lot of Sneap's studio work.

As usual, the theatrics and orchestration play an important role, used to great strength in tracks like in "The Disposer Supreme" or "Darkhangel" before they clobber you over the head with the heavy-ass, thrashing riffs, and then shift again into an almost Maiden-esque vocal harmony. This was pompous, adventurous, unapologetic heavy metal which, while carried over into the live performance, wouldn't even have required costumes because it just rubs off so well on the studio recording. Another thing I really dug about this album is that at times it reminded me of a British Nevermore...Bower's delivery is in some ways reminiscent of the great Warrell Dane, and certainly some of the more involved riffs, which is probably no surprise since Sneap worked on a lot of the Americans' albums from 2000-2011.

Curse & Chapter isn't always extremely catchy or memorable, but it's timelessness comes from how it takes command of you from the operatic opener and holds your attention as it transports you into its world of occult revelations and clerical conspiracies (see what I did there?), with a brazen, polished production and a level of identity you just weren't going to find in the old geezer British metal bands of the time. If I were Iron Maiden coming off The Final Frontier, or Judas Priest scraping together the lukewarm Redeemer of Souls, I'd be pissing down my leg when I heard this fucking band, because it might have made them irrelevant if they hadn't gotten their shit together (which, to be fair, they did). Exciting compositions, bewildering musicianship, and just the right amount of controlled chaos, it's a bloody shame that in hindsight this would be their last studio album. History repeated itself. We never got enough Hell in its original incarnation, and while they hung on for some years after touring off this material, we never enough in this one. Resquiescat in pace.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

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