It's the rare reviewer that melds good taste with good writing and gives added perspective to the album. Excellent post.Originally Posted by binnie
Here's my review: this album kicks god-damned ass and the first two songs are probably the best 1-2 combo in heavy rock since Them Bones/Damn that River back in 92'. Fuckin' badass. In a world full of evil cocksuckers trying to eat your lunch, AIC gives you the balls to give everyone the middle finger. You're right and they're wrong.
Last edited by ODShowtime; 08-16-2013 at 05:32 AM.
gnaw on it
Cheers dude.
It's weird, but I can only listen to AIC when the sun ain't shining. We've had (rare) burst of good weather here for 4 weeks or so, and I've actually been praying for grey clouds so I can get my AIC on
The Power Of The Riff Compels Me
That was always my rule with Queensryche.
I think it's no coincidence that Seattle is a very rainy place...
From what I've heard, you don't get a whole lotta sun over there. Hearing you wish it away is hysterically ironical.I've actually been praying for grey clouds so I can get my AIC on
What this thread really needs, right at the top, is an index. A list of all Binnie's reviews and which page it's on in the thread. That way if you had a certain album you were curious about, you could find it quickly, rather than have to search it out...not that the reading isn't top quality, but to save time.
Stay Frosty, muthas!
You are right, this thread and it's reviews are really good, and an index would be very useful.
If someone wants to do the work I'm happy to edit the first post to include it.
OK, I shall compile an index. It may take a little while, however, as there are the best of 400 reviews in here!
Cheers for the suggestion
From the vaults: Zico Chain – Food (2007)
So you think that there are no decent rock ‘n’ roll bands left in the world? Or that those who pretend to be real rock ‘n’ roll are just a bunch of hipster kids stuck in a ramshackle loop of nostalgia? Well think again. Zico Chain are the sort of band you fell in love with at High School: the musical equivalent of that quirky, but effortlessly cool, senior girl who just doesn’t have to try, she just radiates whatever ‘it’ is that makes you obsessive. Taking the swagger and roll of classic rock and playing it through the scuzzy power of grunge, ‘Food’ is packed full of tunes that ooze clarity and simplicity – you don’t have to do complicated or clever if you have hooks and melodies like this. Opener ‘Pretty Pictures’ is awash with the slithering vocal lines that made the Stone Temple Pilots so eerie, whilst ‘Junk’ could have been on ‘Core’. The alt. rock colours and angles of ‘Nihilism’ and ‘Your Favourite Client’ have a feel of R.E.M (when they were good) about them, albeit in a much harder body. Elsewhere ‘Poll Over’ is slippery, sleazy rock ‘n’ roll and ‘No Hoper Boy’ – propelled by odd rhythms and elfin guitar lines – proves that this is a band that is just as good when they’re not doing turbo-charged. But perhaps best of all is the Nirvana/Pixies orgy of ‘Last Week’s Genius’, a furious tune propelled by a set of lyrics spat out like hipster crack for the soul.
‘Food’, then, is the perfect marriage of style and substance. Song-craft abounds, but at its heart Zico Chain tap straight into the nastiness at the core of all great rock ‘n’ roll – the point at which hedonism becomes all encompasing, and amoral. Lose licks, cheap thrills, and 32 minutes of pure dirty beauty.
Checked them out on you tube. Wow! That ROCKS! THX! Its sounds like "Avenged Manson Tool" or something...or maybe......
" You ever notice when I scream I sound like Mr. Bill on acid" DLR
Yep, I hear some STPs and some Velvet Rev.
Excellent idea! Binnie does kick ass reviews!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sodom – Epitome of Torture (2013)
Sodom approach experimentation in the same way that America approaches the metric system – ignore, pretend it doesn’t exist, and carry on regardless. ‘Epitome Of Torture’ consequently sounds pretty much exactly how you think it will sound – heavy, heavy, heavy thrash from one of the ‘Big Three’ of Germany. Sure, there are some modern nuances in the arrangements, but this is a fundamentally old school record at heart – the resulting power, heaviness and the DIRECT nature of the appeal is something which many of the band’s ‘80s peers could learn from as they continue to trot out disappointing record after disappointing record. On album number 14, Sodom are in your face with ripping metal brutality which is completely free of pretentions of being anything other than what it is: heavy. Very, very heavy.
Perhaps a little more straightforward that recent releases – the rather dazzling ‘In War And Pieces’ (2010) being a good case in point – the band also shows here that there was always more to thrash than out-an-out speed. Sure ‘Shoot Today – Kill Tomorrow’ is the joyous speed-freak fans will relish, but elsewhere the title-track has a classic-Sepultura vibe about it in the rhythms, vocal lines and time-changes (you really wish Max Cavalera would get back to writing stuff like this!) and ‘Cannibal’ is more about groove than it is speed. ‘S.O.D.O.M’ promises to be quite the live anthem, whilst ‘Into The Skies Of War’ (the most complex piece here) is ridiculously powerful – tapping into that relentless militia-like thud of all great thrash, it conjures up the image of a military parade in the USSR, and sounds like 50,000 jack boots hitting concrete. Bands in their 50s really shouldn’t still be this hungry.
Sodom, then, are the thrash equivalent of Motorhead. Both play out the twilight of their careers by serving up album after album of gems which can rival their ‘glory’ days, but which hardly anyone listens to. ‘Epitome of Torture’ adds another casualty to that rather tragic list of victims of the myopia which accompanies the nostalgia-driven world of rock in the 21st century.
I am currently compiling an index of the reviews in this thread, as suggested.
It is HUGE.
I think it best that I post it on this page (rather than on page 1) - if it goes at the top of the thread, it is so big that it will knock a lot of the page numbers out of line (albums currently at the bottom of page 2 will be on page 3, and so on) thus making the index a bit pointless.
Once I've done it, if Sesh could edit to first post of the entire thread to say 'INDEX ON PAGE 25' it would be appreciated.
INDEX: A - H
A – Hi Fi Serious – page 8
AC/DC – Black Ice – page 1
- Let There Be Rock – page 4
- Flick Of The Switch - page 7
Accept – Blood Of Nations – page 5
- Stalingrad – page 13
- Balls To The Wall - page 16
- I’m A Rebel – page 19
Aerosmith – Night In The Ruts – page 10
- Permanent Vacation – page 15
- Music From Another Dimension – page 19
The Afghan Whigs – Gentlemen – page 13
Against Me – White Crosses – page 7
Ahab – The Giant – page 21
Airbourne – No Guts, No Glory – page 2
- Black Dog Barking – page 23
Alabama Thunderpussy – Fulton Hill – page 4
Alkaline Trio – This Addiction – page 9
Alice Cooper – Welcome 2 My Nightmare – page 8
Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way To Blue – page 1
- The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here – page 24
The Almighty - Crank – page 4
Amebix – Sonic Mass – page 12
Amen – Amen – page 13
Anathema – We’re Here Because We’re Here – page 4
- The Silent Enigma – page 15
- Weather Systems – page 18
Angel Witch – Angel Witch – page 2
Anger Management – Beyond The Threshold of Pain – page 8
Annihilator – Annihilator – page 5
The Answer – Everyday Demons – page 1
- Revival – page 9
Anthrax – Sound Of The White Noise – page 4
- State of Euphoria – page 7
- Worship Music – page 8
Architects – Here & Now – page 5
- Hollow Crown – page 14
Armored Saint - La Raza – page 2
Assaulter – Boundless – page 9
Astra – The Black Chord – page 19
At The Gates – Terminal Spirit Disease – page 14
At The Skyline – The Secrets Of Life – page 19
Attica 7 – Blood Of My Enemies – page 18
Attica Rage – Road Dogs – page 24
Audrey Horne – Audrey Horne – page 4
- Youngblood – page 20
Auf Der Mer – Auf Der Mer – page 22
August Burns Red – Leveller – page 9
Avenged Sevenfold – Nightmare – page 3
The Baby Animals – Shaved & Dangerous – page 9
Sebastian Bach – Kicking & Screaming – page 8
Badlands – Badlands – page 1
Bad City – Welcome To The Wasteland – page 7
Bad Religion – No Substance – page 2
Baroness – Blue Album – page 2
- Yellow & Green – page 17
Bible of the Devil – Freedom Metal – page 1
Biffy Clyro – Blackened Sky – page 2
- Opposites – page 21
BigElf – Cheat the Gallows – page 4
- Hex – page 10
Big Linda – I Loved You – page 7
Billy Talent – II – page 18
Biohazard – Ubran Discipline – page 6
- Reborn In Defiance – page 18
Black ‘N’ Blue – Hell Yeah – page 7
Black Breath – Heavy Breathing – page 6
- Sentenced To life – page 13
The Black Crowes – Lions – page 22
Black Label Society – Order of The Black – page 3
- Sonic Brew – page 16
Black Moth – The Killing Jar – page 13
Black Tusk – Passage Through Purgatory – page 15
Black Sabbath – The Eternal Idol – page 3
- Technical Ecstasy – page 7
- 13 – page 23
Black Star Riders – All Hell Breaks Lose – page 23
Black Stone Cherry – Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea – page 9
Bleed From Within – Uprising – page 21
Bleeding Through – This Is Love This Is Murder – page 9
Bloodbath – Fathomless Mastery – page 15
Blue October – Approaching Normal – page 8
Joe Bonamassa – Black Rock – page 2
Bonded By Blood – The Aftermath – page 19
Boris – Attention Please – page 10
Brides Of Destruction – Here Come The Brides – page 6
Brijitte West & The Desperate Hopefuls – page 5
The Bronx – The Bronx III – page 1
- The Bronx IV – page 20
Buckcherry – All Night Long – page 3
- Confessions – page 20
Bullets & Octane – In The Mouths Of The Young – page 7
Burgerkill – Venomous – page 24
Bury Tomorrow – The Union OF Crowns – page 18
Cancer Bats – Hail Destroyer – page 1
- Dead Set On Living – page 13
Cathedral – The Carnival Bizarre – page 22
Cavalera Conspiracy – Blunt Force Trauma – page 8
Children Of Bodom – Relentless Reckless Forever – page 5
- Hate Crew Deathroll – page 14
- Halo Of Blood – page 24
Chimaira – Resurrection – page 5
- Age Of Hell – page 8
Chthonic – Takasago Army – page 9
Church Of Misery – Thy Kingdom Scum – page 24
Civil Wars – Barton Hollow – page 10
Clutch – Strange Cousins From the West – page 1
- Earth Rocker – page 21
Cobalt – Gin – page 17
Converge – Axe To Fall – page 3
- All We Love We Leave Behind – page 18
Gilby Clarke – Pawnshop Guitars – page 5
Communic – The Bottom Deep – page 18
Chris Cornell – Scream – page 1
Corrosion Of Conformity – C.O.C – page 14
Crank County Daredevils – Livin’ In The Red – page 12
Crippled Black Phoenix – 200 Tons Of Bad Luck – page 3
Crowbar – Sever The Wicked Hand – page 5
The Cult – Love – page 6
- Beyond Good & Evil – page 13
- Choice Of Weapon – page 14
Daft Punk – Discovery – page 10
The Damned Things – Ironiclast – page 22
Danko Jones – We Sweat Blood – page 12
Dark Tranquility – Fiction – page 5
Darkest Hour – The Eternal Return – page 5
Dead Letter Circus – This Is the Warning – page 10
Death – Scream Bloody Gore – page 17
Death Angel – Act III – page 13
- Relentless Retribution – page 21
Decapitated – Carnival Is Forever – page 21
Deep Purple – Come Taste The Band – page 3
Def Leppard – On Through The Night – page 12
- Songs From The Sparkle Lounge – page 20
The Defiled – Grave Times – page 4
Deftones – Diamond Eyes – page 2
- Koi No Yokan – page 19
Destruction – Day Of Reckoning – page 14
- Spiritual Genocide – page 19
Devildriver – Pay For Villains – page 1
- Beast – page 5
Dew Scented – Icarus – page 17
Diamond Head – Death & Progress – page 6
Bruce Dickinson – Skunkworks – page 15
Dillenger Escape Plan – Ireworks – page 17
Dio –Killing the Dragon – page 5
- Sacred Heart – page 13
Divine Heresy – Bringer Of Plagues – page 2
Dokken – Tooth & Nail – page 15
Doro –Doro – page 21
Down – IV: Purple EP – page 17
Dropkicks Murphys – Blackout – page 12
Duff Mckagan’s Loaded – Sick – page 1
Earth Crisis – Neutralise the Threat – page 9
Earthrone 9 – Lo-Def(inition) Discord – page 12
Emanuel – Soundtrack to a Headrush – page 3
Enabler – All Hail The Void – page 20
Entombed – Wolverine Blues – page 5
- Left Hand Path – page 13
Everclear – Slow Motion Daydream – page 13
- Welcome To The Drama Club – page 14
Every Time I Die – The Big Dirty – page 4
- Ex lives – page 14
Evile – Skull – page 24
Exciter – Violence & Force – page 22
Exhorder – The Law – page 6
Exodus – Bonded By Blood – page 7
- Impact Is Imminent – page 14
Extreme – Waiting For The Punchline – page 7
- Saudes De Rock – page 19
Face Down – The Twisted Rule the Wicked – page 6
- Mindfield – page 12
The Faceless – Autotheism – page 21
Faith No More – Album Of The Year – page 5
Fear Factory – Mechanize – page 2
- The Industrialist – page 14
Feed The Rhino – Mr Rec Eye – page 6
- The Burning Sons – page 17
Fight – War of Worlds – page 19
Firebird – Firebird – page 4
- Double Diamond – page 14
Flaming Lips – Dark Side of the Moon – page 2
Floodgate – Penalty – page 2
Flyleaf – Flyleaf – page 9
- New Horizons – page 19
Foo Fighters – Echoes, Silence, Patience, Grace – page 7
- Wasting Light – page 9
Forbidden – Forbidden Evil – page 12
- Omega Wave – page 14
Fu Manchu – Godzilla’s Eatin’ Dust – page 10
Gallows – Grey Britain – page 1
- Gallows – page 18
Garbage – Version 2.0 – page 5
Ghost – Infestissuam – page 22
Ginger – 100% - page 20
Goatwhore – Carving Out The Eyes Of God – page 1
- Blood For The Master – page 16
God Forbid – Equilibrium – page 16
Gojira – L’Enfant Sauvage – page 18
Guns ‘N’ Roses – Use Your Illusions 1 & 2 – page 4
- Chinese Democracy – page 13
Grand Magnus – Grand Magnus – page 1
- The Hunt – page 13
Graveyard – Lights Out – page 20
Halestorm – The Strange Case Of – page 24
Hammers Of Misfortune – 17th Street – page 12
Hanoi Rocks – Self Destruction Blues – page 10
Hatebreed – The Rise Of Brutality – page 6
Hate Eternal – Phonenix Amongst The Ashes – page 6
Haunted – Unseen – page 5
Heart Of A Coward – Hope & Hindrance – page 15
Heathen – Evolution of Chaos – page 12
- Breaking The Silence – page 15
Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know – page 1
Heaven Shall Burn – Deaf To Our Prayers – page 22
Hellyeah – Band of Brothers – page 16
Hell – Human Remains – page 21
Helmet – Seeing Eye Dog – page 5
- Meantime – page 11
Hermano – Into The Exam Room – page 11
High On Fire – De Vermis Mysteris – page 16
Holy Grail – Ride The Void – page 20
Husker Du – Flip Your Wig – page 3
Hypocrisy – End Of Disclosure – page 22
INDEX: I-Q
Iggy & The Stooges – Ready To Die – page 22
Ihsahn – After – page 23
Ill –Gotten Gains – page 21
In Flames – Clayman – page 7
- Come Clarity – page 21
In Solitude – The World, The Flesh & the Devil – page 10
Iron Maiden – No Prayer For The Dying – page 2
- The Final Frontier – page 4
- Somewhere In Time – page 6
- Killers – page 11
- Fear Of The Dark – page 17
Iron Monkey – Our Problem – page 10
The Jim Jones Revue – Burning Your House Down – page 3
Judas Priest – Point Of Entry – page 4
Katatonia – Dance Of December Souls – page 14
- Viva Emptiness – page 15
- Dead End Kings – page 18
Kerbdog – One The Turn – page 3
Kilgore – In Media Es Res – page 1
Killing Joke – What’s This For? – page 9
- MMXII – page 16
Killswitch Engage – Disarm The Dissent – Page 21
King Blues – Punk & Poetry – page 6
Kingdom Of Sorrow – Behind The Blackest Tears – page 8
Kiss – Sonic Boom – page 2
- Revenge – page 14
- Monster – page 18
Korn – Korn – page 13
Kreator – Phantom Antichrist – page 16
Krokus – Hardwire – page 22
Kvelertak – Meir – page 21
Kylesa – Static Tensions – page 12
L7 – Bricks Are Heavy - page 8
Lamb Of God – New American Gospel – page 1
- Resolution – page 12
Mark Lanegan – Whiskey For The Holy Ghost – page 11
Laruso – A Classic Case Of Cause and Effect – page 2
Life Of Agony – Broken Valley – page 8
Johnny Lima – Livin’ Out Loud – page 7
Living Color – Stain – page 11
Lizzy Borden – Deal With The Devil – page 22
Lost Society – Fast Loud Death – page 22
Love/Hate – Wasted In America – page 5
Lyrnrd Skynrd – Last Of A Dyin’ Breed – page 17
Machine Head – Unto The Locust – page 9
Mad Capsule Markets – Cistm KonFliqt – page 23
Mad Season – Above – page 21
Malefice – Awaken The Tides – page 8
Mammal – The Majority – page 2
Manowar – Battle Hymns – page 16
- Gods Of War – page 17
- Lord Of Steel – page 19
Marilyn Manson – Antichrist Superstar – page 14
Mastodon – Crack The Skye – page 1
- The Hunter – page 9
Masters Of Reality – Masters Of Reality – page 23
Maylene & The Sons of Disaster – III – page 1
Megadeth – Endgame – page 1
- So Far, So Good, So What – page 5
- Thirteen – page 9
- Youthanasia – page 16
- Supercolider – page 23
Meliah Rage – Kill To Survive – page 16
Mercyful Fate – Don’t Break The Oath – page 17
Meshuggah – Obzen - page 4
- Koloss – page 17
Metallica – St Anger – page 2
- The Black Album – page 9
- Beyond Magnetic – page 10
Million Dollar Reload - A Sinner’s Saint – page 16
Michael Monroe – Sensory Overdrive – page 6
Ministry – Psalm 69 – page 11
- Relapse - page 15
Morcheba – Blood Like Lemonade – page 3
Mortod – The Myth of Purity – page 12
Motley Crue – Motley Crue – page 5
- Saints Of Los Angeles – page 11
Motorhead – Bastards – page 1
- The World Is Yours – page 3
Mudhoney – Under A Billion Suns – page 6
- Vanishing Point – page 22
My Dying Bride – A Map Of All Our Failures – page 22
Neurosis – Honor Found In Decay – page 21
Nevermore – The Obsidian Conspiracy – page 4
New York Dolls – ‘Cause I Sez So – page 2
Obituary – Cause Of Death – page 24
Oceansize – Self-preserved While the Bodies Float Up – page 5
Onslaught – Killing Peace – page 23
Orange Goblin – Eulogy For The Damned – page 12
Outloud – Love Catastophe – page 7
Overkill – Ironbound – page 8
- The Electric Age – page 13
Ozzy – Scream – page 2
- The Ultimate Sin – page 5
- Speak Of The Devil – page 11
- No Rest For The Wicked – page 15
Panic Chanel – One – page 2
Pain – Cynic Paradise – page 1
Pain Of Salvation – Road Salt – page 8
Pantera – Vulgar Display Of Power – page 13
Papa Roach – Metamorphosis – page 24
Paradise Lost – Faith Divides Us, Death Unites Us – page 2
- Tragic Idol – page 16
Parkway Drive – Blue – page 4
- Atlas – page 18
Pearl Jam – Backspacer – page 2
- Vitalogy – page 5
- Riot Act – page 10
Pentagram – Day Of Reckoning – page 23
Pig Iron – The Paths Of Glory – page 6
Primal Rock Rebellion – Awoken Broken – page 19
Prong – Cleansing – page 11
- Carved Into Stone – page 14
Queens Of The Stone Age – Clockwork – page 24
INDEX: R - Z
Rainbow – Straight Between the Eyes – page 3
Ratt – Infestation – page 2
Red Fang – Murder The Mountains – page 12
Revoker – Revenge For The Ruthless – page 6
Revoker – Chaos Of Forms – page 12
Rival Sons – Pressure & Time – page 13
- Head Down – page 19
Rocket From The Crypt – page 8
Romeo Must Die – Harship’s In Season – page 5
Royal Southern Brotherhood – Royal Southern Brotherhood – page 21
Royal Thunder – CVI – page 22
Rye Coalition – Curses – page 13
Sacred Mother Tongue – The Ruin Of Man – page 18
- Out Of Darkness – page 22
Saint Jude – Diary of a Soul Fiend - page 4
Saint Vitus – Saint Vitus – page 17
Saxon – The Inner Sanctum – page 5
- Call To Arms – page 6
- Rock The Nations – page 7
- Sacrifice – page 20
Scar Symmetry – Dark Matter Dimensions – page 2
Michael Schenker Group – Eponymous – page 10
The Scorpions – Love At First Sting – page 6
- Virgin Killer – page 10
Screaming Trees – Last Words: Final Recordings - page 12
Seasons After – Through Tomorrow – page 8
Senses Fail – The Fall – page 22
Sepultura – Roorback – page 5
Shadow’s Fall – Fire From The Sky – page 20
Silent Descent – Mind Games – page 22
Sinner – Crash & Burn – page 7
Sister Sin – Now & Forever – page 21
Six Feet Under – Unborn – page 21
Skansis – Leaving You – page 7
Skeletonwitch – Forever Abomination – page 10
Skid Row – Subhuman Race – page 1
- United World Rebellion – page 24
Skin – Fleshwounds – page 20
Skindred – Shark Bites and Dog Fights – page 2
Skunk Anansie – Wonderlustre – page 3
- Stoosh – page 16
Slash – Slash – page 2
- Apocalyptic Love – page 14
Slashes Snakepit – Ain’t Life Grand – page 4
Slaves To Gravity – Scatters The Crow – page 2
- Underwaterouterspace – page 7
Slayer – World Painted Blood – page 1
- Diabolus In Musicus – page 15
- Hell Awaits – page 22
Slipknot – Slipknot – page 8
Sodom – War & Pieces – page 6
- Agent Orange – page 21
- Epitome Of Torture – page 25
Soulfly – Enslaved – page 13
Soundgarden – Louder Then Love – page 12
- King Animal – page 19
Soulfly – Omen – page 6
Steak Number Eight – All Is Chaos – page 12
Steel Panther – Balls Out – page 14
Stone Sour – Audio Secrecy – page 3
- House Of Gold & Bones part 2 – page 24
Stone Temple Pilots – STP – page 3
- Core – page 10
Stonewall Noise Orchestra – Constants in an Ever Changing Universe – page 1
Strife – Witness A Rebirth – page 19
Suffocation – Pinnacle OF Bedlam – page 23
Suicide Silence – No Time to Bleed – page 4
- The Black Crown – page 9
Sunna – One Minute Silence – page 9
Supersuckers – Get It Together – page 1
- The Evil Powers Of Rock ‘n’ Roll – page 17
Swallow The Sun – New Moon – page 3
Sylosis – Edge Of The Earth – page 6
- Conclusion Of An Age – page 17
Tad – Inhaler – page 9
Them Crooked Vultures – page 2
Taking Dawn – Time To Burn – page 2
Tesseract – One – page 6
Testament – Demonic – page 10
- Dark Roots Of The Earth – page 17
- Souls Of Black – page 18
Therapy? – Crooked Timber – page 1
- A Brief Crack Of Light – page 11
Thin Lizzy – Still Dangerous – page 1
- Thin Lizzy – page 4
- Thunder & Lightning – page 17
Threat Signal – Under Reprisal – page 19
Three Inches Of Blood – Long Live Heavy Metal – page 13
Thy Art Is Murder – Hate – page 21
Tokyo Blade – Burning Down Paradise – page 8
Tokyo Dragaons – Hot Nuts – page 4
Torche – Harmonicraft – page 16
Tracer – El Pistolero – page 22
Trap Them – Darker Handicraft – page 6
Trivium – In Waves – page 16
Trouble – Plastic Green Head – page 21
UFO – Mechanix – page 5
- Lights Out – page 7
Union – Siren’s Song – page 10
- The World Is Yours – page 21
Upon A Burning Body – Red. White. Green – page 17
Vain – Enough Rope – page 13
Velvet Revolver – Contraband – page 11
Viking Skull – Cursed By The Sword – page 19
Vision Of Disorder – The Cursed Remain Cursed – page 18
Voivod – Target Earth – page 20
Volbeat – Beyond Heaven/Above Hell – page 3
- Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies – page 22
Walking Papers – Walking Papers – page 19
WASP – The Headless Children – page 7
Oliver Weeks – Evil’s Back – page 7
While She Sleeps – This Is The Six – page 18
Whitesnake – Forevermore – page 5
The Wildhearts – Chutpah – page 1
- Must Be Destroyed – page 10
Will Haven –Voir Dire – page 10
Witchcraft – The Alchemist – page 14
- Legend – page 21
Wolf – Ravenous – page 1
- Legions Of Bastards – page 22
Wolfmother – Cosmic Egg – page 4
Wolfsbane – Wolfsbane – page 7
- Save The World – page 13
Wolves Like Us – Late Love – page 8
Yob – Atma – page 19
Zico Chain – Eponymous – page 13
- Food – page 25
Rob Zombie – Hellbilly Deluxe – page 5
36 Crazyfists – Collisons and Castaways – page 3
Blimey!
You should really get paid for this, Binnie.
Show your wares to some magazines, or something ... that is a huge amount of work, writing reviews week after week like that.
I salute you, and the special kind of craziness that must drive you to keep doing it.
THINK LIKE THE WAVES
Awesome, you did it!! And so fast!!OK, I shall compile an index. It may take a little while, however, as there are the best of 400 reviews in here!
Cheers for the suggestion
Thanks a lot, Binnie.
Dew Scented – Insurgent (2013)
A stop-gap release from this fine band of German thrashers, ‘Insurgent’ features a mixture of live tracks, 10 covers and 3 tunes from the band’s new line-up. It is consequently not an essential release, but one which nevertheless packs plenty of punch. After two decades of delivering blistering thrash (this is surely one of the very best of the ‘modern’ thrash bands) 2012’s ‘Icarus’ was something of a career high – it is something of a shame, then, that line-up problems have led to the tinkering of a winning formula. The new tunes here are good, but certainly not of the calibre of last year’s release. Slower, and experimenting with groove and the darkly melodic aspects of the band’s sound, ‘Confronting Entrophy’ and ‘Guided By The Dead Light’ certainly pack plenty of bowel-splitting riffage, but you do sense that this is a band which works better at speed. The live tunes certainly testify to this, with the hulking ‘Storm Within’ (what a neck-snapper of a riff!) being a particular highlight. But perhaps the real triumphs here are the covers. It is always a very cool thing when bands throw knew light on some lost gems, and Dew Scented’s covers of Prong’s ‘Steady Decline’ and Wasted Youth’s ‘Good Day For a Hanging’ are, quite frankly, immense. Perhaps best of all is their take on Incubus’ (not the poofy rock band) ‘Sadistic Sinner’ – biblically heavy, this is the sound of one killer band playing tribute to another one. Incubus never received the props they deserved – it would be a cruel irony if Dew Scented’s career panned-out the same way.
^^^^^^^
And now the index is out of date.....................
From the vaults: Candlemass – Death Magic Doom (2009)
The image which always comes into my mind when I hear Candlemass is Thor at the realm of a gigantic warship which plods slowly and menacingly through the ocean. Few bands sound as lumbering and granite heavy as this bunch of Swedes, whose legendary brand of doom manages to achieve sooooo much with more heaviness with very little playing. At once uncomplicated and melodramatic, the power here – as on all Candlemass records – is incredible. Propelled by the chronically underrated Robert Lowe, whose vocal melodies here are sensational, and the twin guitars of Lars Johansson and Mappe Bjorkman, whose rich, torque-filled tone sound like the exhausts on the devil’s chopper, ‘Death Magic Doom’ is quite a record. It is far from the lofty heights of the band’s classic releases – ‘Epicus Doomicus Metallicus’ and ‘Nightfall’ - but, as is so often the case with seminal bands, being a pioneer early in your career should not leave you shackled to irrelevance in your twilight years.
That is especially the case when the songs are as strong as these. ‘If I Ever Die’ is surprisingly up-tempo for Candlemass – sounding something like Dio-era Sabbath, this is a the sound of a bomber prowling the skies. ‘Hammer Of Doom’ – awash with tolling bell and cavenous guitar – has the elemental magic of the first Sabbath record, but Candlemass make it their own rather than walking the furrows of cliché – it is a screaming metal belter. ‘The Bleeding Baroness’ is epic doom fuelled by crunching riffage, whilst ‘House Of 1000 Voices’ is the song for which the term ‘crushing’ was invented – you’ll throw your neck out for days! ‘Dead Angel’ and ‘Clouds of Dementic’ might be weaker affairs, but when the band kicks into ‘My Forever Dreams’ – a classic band on classic form with a classic song – all is forgotten.
The Messiah-era of Candlemass will always be the ‘classic’ one, but ‘Death Magic Doom’ proves that the Robert Lowe era has plenty to offer too. Indeed, it’s probably the case that his wider vocal range means that the band can explore more terrain musically – just as Sabbath gained more with Dio than they lost with Ozzy. Fantasy and gothic lyrics, the fundamental musical components of heavy metal, and dark enough to please the devil, this is heavy metal at its most unapologetically dramatic. Few bands make music as good as this – that it isn’t Candlemass’s best should not prevent metalheads from exploring it further.
Nice job Binnie! Thanks.
See, the index is already paying off, because I missed this review when it was posted!
Exciter are from Ottawa, which is near where I live, and where I grew up for a time. I had a friend who is the only person I've ever known who had an Exciter t-shirt! He'd play this album all the time and it had an enrgy that had to be admired from a bunch of young guys from Ottawa. What I always took away from it was the album cover- used to make me laugh....The hand, which was so obviously of a white guy, painted to look black with shoe polish, dropping a switchblade as a woman's hands (white woman) push a door with all these broken locks, closed against it......The pink blood dripping down the door...laughable in it's absurdity, but also very typical of 1980s album covers. I remember women's groups in Canada making a big deal about the imagery, and frankly, I can see their point 30 years later. HA.
Done!I am currently compiling an index of the reviews in this thread, as suggested.
It is HUGE.
I think it best that I post it on this page (rather than on page 1) - if it goes at the top of the thread, it is so big that it will knock a lot of the page numbers out of line (albums currently at the bottom of page 2 will be on page 3, and so on) thus making the index a bit pointless.
Once I've done it, if Sesh could edit to first post of the entire thread to say 'INDEX ON PAGE 25' it would be appreciated.
In the longer term we should do something cooler with this once we do the new site design.
Ok. I'll keep the Word document I created updated.
(And keep buying and reviewing records, of course
Saint Vitus – Lillie: F-65 (2012)
Still disappointed with the new Black Sabbath record? Well, after you’ve bought the new Church of Misery album, pick up this one. Then buy both band’s back-catalogue (and procure a bong the size of Utah) and enjoy………………..
Named after a barbiturate the band used to take back in the day, ‘Lillie: F-65’ is the first Saint Vitus record since 1995’s ‘Die Healing’, and the first to feature Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich on vocals since 1990’s ‘V’. No, it’s not a patch on the records they made in the ‘80s. But it is rather splendid nevertheless. Like other US Doom pioneers Pentagram, there is something very elemental about Saint Vitus. This is metal at its most sparse and devoid of histrionics – metal that is about the music’s presence rather than playing. And there’s certainly plenty of atmosphere. ‘Let Them Fall’ is characteristically spartan doom. Played at a pace in which most bands would sound dull, tunes like this reveal the core of SV’s talent – all of the component parts, the fuzzy guitar lines, the lyrics, the melodies, have to be of a superbly simple quality for the magic to emanate from the music. On ‘The Bleeding Ground’ Dave Chandler and Weinrich trade off, the latter’s sandpaper larnyx the perfect foil for the former’s funereal guitar. There is something very stoic about music like this – powerful precisely because it is understated (eschewing the ultra-aggression of most modern metal), this is an unmoving aesthetic which gives birth to jet-black ditties like ‘Blessed Night’ and the crushing power of ‘The Waste Of Time’. ‘Raw’ doesn’t even come close here – this is a band captured very much in the moment.
But you just wish that there was more. At just 33 minutes – a considerable portion of which is wasted on largely forgettable instrumentals – this record can’t leave you feeling unsatisfied. A stoner vibe is all well and good, fellas; but sometimes you’ve got get the job done. So, ‘Lillie: F-65’ could have been one of rock’s great comebacks – instead, it serves as a powerful reminder of the quality of a truly legendary band.
The Dillinger Escape Plan – One Of Us Is The Killer (2013)
Trying to explain what TDEP sound like to someone who has never heard them is like trying to explain string theory to Paris Hilton, or modesty to Will.I.Am: in short, taxing. Often termed ‘mathcore’, TDEP have been making a colossal racket for 15 years or so by writing songs which jolt from riff to riff, impossible time-signature to impossible time signature, on the spin of a dime. That you can SING music this complicate is a testament not only to the band’s incredible talents, but also to the size of the hooks that they somehow manage to lay over the top of this frustrated maelstrom of noise. Easily one of the most innovative and influential bands of the past generation, ‘One Of Us Is The Killer’ continues TDEP’s relentless surge forward with few signs of let up. It may even be the most complete and agonizingly aggressive displays of musical dexterity they’ve served up since ‘Miss Machine’ (2004). And THAT is saying something.
It’s not just the amount of music that is crammed into these songs that kills, or the intensity of the delivery. It’s the variety. Opener ‘Prancer’ is as aggressive as TDEP have sounded in a looooong time. This is not just angry, this is music that seeths. ‘When I Lost My Bet’ has the sort of wounded animal chorus that the early Rollins Band albums featured, and is equally as abrasive – there is no bullshit here, just concentrated anger. ‘Understanding Decay’ and ‘Hero Of the Soviet Union’ are the epileptic, spasming metal we’ve come to expect from this band, but the title track is something altogether other. Sounding like Faith No More doing lounge jazz (before culminating in an explosion of classic metal) is fairly conventional in terms of structure and content – what staggers, however, is that even when they do ‘normal’ TDEP sound defiantly distinct. Greg Puciato serves up yet another masterclass in metal vocals and lyrics, crooning, screaming and spitting in equal measure – when he bellows ‘You are the scum of the earth/ You are the scum of the ocean’ (‘Hero Of The Soviet Union) no-one else even sounds close. We have Phil Anselmo like goddery on display here.
When the end of year ‘Best Of’ lists are compiled, it will be a crime if ‘One Of Us Is The Killer’ is not near the top. A glorious, ravaging orgasm of noise which surges from the speakers and bounces across the room like severed limbs from canon fire, this is a dark, infectious and captivating journey through what it must be like to inhabit a mind driven insane by anger. That we’ve come to expect this level from TDEP is a sign of how truly gifted they are
Binnie ..great work on the index . Your definitely a credit to the army .
Now stop sitting on ya laurels and review the Winery Dogs Cd I love it and wanna know what you think ,its totally not my usual cup of tea but it works
fuck your fucking framing
From the vaults: Nirvana – Nevermind (1991)
For many hard rock fans, ‘grunge’ was defined by what it wasn’t rather than what it was. The ‘absence’ of stage-presence, or at least the glitz and glam; the rejection of the ‘hey Mom, look at this!’ style of guitar heroics in favour of a song-over-ego approach; and the abandonment of hair-spray in favour of plaid. But, in truth, what separated ‘grunge’ from what came before was a completely different attitude. Generation X, for whatever reason, didn’t feel the ‘nothin’ but a good time’ vibe of the decade before, and whilst their detractors heard only what was missing, the grunge bands themselves pointed to what was there in spades – earthy emotions, genuine expression and an approach which favoured simplicity over complexity. Indeed, when seen as an extension of the alt.rock movement of the ‘80s – rather than as a reaction against Hair Metal – grunge makes a hell of a lot more sense, and no longer appears to have come completely out of the blue. Nirvana had far more in common with Sonic Youth and REM than anything you might call ‘metal’, but by the same token they also had far more power and clout than the Patridge Family with guitars of Poison and Warrant’s ‘Metal’.
‘Nevermind’ was not the best-selling grunge record – that tag goes to Pearl Jam’s ‘Ten’, a record that was really just a dirtied-up Classic Rock masquerading as something new. Nor was it the ‘best’ grunge record – that tag surely goes to either Alice In Chains’ ‘Dirt’, or Soundgarden’s ‘Badmotorfinger’. Hell, it wasn’t even the best Nirvana record – ‘In Utero’ was a far, far superior album. But ‘Nevermind’ defines grunge precisely because it encapsulated so much of the zeitgeist, and so much of what grunge was about: injecting a punk aesthetic back into pop music, and welding together edge with melody. And it flat-out rocked. Sure, it was simple – but making something this powerful from something so simple is close to genius. And it felt more real, and less of a performance than what happened before – more human, if you will. Much of that was down to the rawness of the sound, but Butch Vig had proven himself a very clever producer – there is plenty of studio magic here – over-dubs, multilayered vocal harmonies – but they add tone and shade which amplified the band’s power where in the previous decade they had added a sheen and shine which detracted from it. Almost a quarter of a century on, this is a record which stills arrests attention.
It was all about the songs, stoopid. If the band’s first record – ‘Bleach’ – had been about blustering power, here Nirvana were all about the songs and putting the melodies first. Dave Grohl’s drumming had a classic, American rock feel to it, stripping the arrangement of the songs down to essentials in a way that Springsteen and Petty would be proud of. You here that simplicity in ‘Come As You Are’ – a musical revenge of the nerds – a song propelled by the most uncomplicated of bass-lines; or in the acoustic closer, ‘Something In The Way’ – does music come much more beautiful than this whisp of a song? Cobain touched on themes far from synonymous with multi-platinum records – the abducting/rape trauma of ‘Polly’ being a standout – and in a sense it worked not because it shocked, but because it provided something so distinctive in such a melodic form. But they were never overly austere – ‘Territorial Pissings’ is the sound of a band content to be goofy, and the deeper cuts like ‘On A Plain’ and ‘Drain You’ show an out-and-out rock ‘n’ roll band in shit-kicker form. It is songs like these that jump out far more than the ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, the best cover of ‘More Than a Feeling’ ever recorded.
Even those who didn’t like grunge would have to admit that it ultimately widened the palette of heavy music – lyrically, Cobain and the other frontmen presented a heavy sound which was open to expressions of vulnerability and tenderness in a way that the alpha-male metal of the ‘70s and ‘80s had not been. Much of the lyrical content of the ultra-heavy bands which trip over one another in the 21st century owe a great deal to records like this. Ultimately, in trying to explain why this record kicked off an explosion, it is easy to over-complicate the explanation, to focus on what it was about grunge that was unique or different. Perhaps it is wiser to think about what it had in common with the rock’s past – here was a record of rebellion, of teenaged awkwardness, of striving, and, most of all, 3 minute tunes you could sing after first listen. Is there anything more thrilling than that?
I was listening to this again at the weekend, it's a really good album.
I've had Voodoo Highway in heavy rotation for nearly 20 years now. Loved that swampy vibe and shoestring budget sound.
Diamond Plate – Generation Why? (2011)
There are probably as many thrash bands now as there were at the genre’s height in the mid-80s. Some of it is very, very good – the blistering fury of Vektor, the technical brilliance of Sylosis and Revocation, the proggy leanings of a revived Heathen (a chronically underrated band), or the puerile ephemera of Lost Society – but, in truth, much of it is mired in myopic nostalgia. Diamond Plate can be added to the ‘fuck me THIS is metal’ list. They are separated from the pack by two things: 1) they do not try to emulate The Haunted (the failing of so many bands); and 2), they write distinctive songs, each with their own character, rather than throwing together a whoosh of riffs into a mosaic of metal with no real focal point. Add in a production raw enough to capture the fury of what thrash should be about, and a guitar tone that could melt granite at a thousand paces (seriously, holy FUCK) and you have a mighty fine piece of metal indeed.
Listing the highlights quickly becomes redundant, but the title track could grate your face; ‘Fools Paradise’ captures the ‘non-heavier’ militia march of mid-paced Slayer; and ‘Relativity’ blends the vintage venom of Exodus, Forbidden and Dark Angel with some technical neck-snapping guitar. Konrad Kapier and Mario Cianri lay down some serious – and seriously exciting – shredding, and on the likes of ‘Pull The Trigger’ and ‘At The Mountain of Madness’ you can hear lesser bands weeping in the distance. That guitar tone is utterly ridiculous.
Producing a record which sounds like Testament did in the mid-90s – thrash intensity, but with groove and a darker aesthetic – Diamond Plate are a band which deserves to be more widely heard. Worship the riff, and burn down the altar!
Tesseract – Altered State (2013)
Whoever said that metal couldn’t be beautiful? Or that ultra-technical music has no soul? ‘Altered State’ – album number 2 from djent pioneers Tesseract – proves them wrong on both counts. Put simply, this is an album of the year contender – a staggeringly original, refreshingly ambitious, and incredibly human piece of music. Following multiple singer woes, the band have now settled on Ashe O’hara as frontman, a decision which has allowed them to develop their natural melodic sense and has garnered ‘Altered State’ with a fantastic set of lyrics which provide depth without any pretension. That understated brilliance is matched in the music, which balances superhuman dexterity without falling into a hint of showiness. The unconventional time-changes and polyrhythms of Jay Postones (drums), Aele Kahny and James Monterith add luscious textures with never feeling nod-and-wink ‘clever’ like to much technical music. The emotion is heightened by the delicacy, not removed.
Perhaps not as overtly heavy as the band’s debut – ‘One’ (2011) – the influence of Meshuggah is less apparent, probably in response to the djent clones who have been climbing on Tesseract’s coat-tails, in favour of a heady of brew of ‘70s prog. The added poise is impressive, and the dreamscapes of opener ‘Proxy’ owes more than a little to Tool’s rhythms and quirky melodic eeriness. The incredibly beautiful ‘Retrospect’ switches from A Perfect Circle-esque introspection and the serious stomp of an incredible riff, whilst in ‘Nocturne’ serpentine melodies and ball-crusher riffs combine in an inventive manner. Even when there is a real clout to the band’s heaviness – ‘Eclipse’, ‘Exiled’ – it never overwhelms the listener or drops below captivating.
Controlled, but inspiring; metallic, but never one dimensional; emotive, without being limp-wristed – this is not an album propelled by euphoric rock ‘n’ roll abandon: but it is a cleansing, epic burst of music. Refreshing in every sense of the word.
Tesseract !!! I missed your One´s review, but thanks to the Index, I found it at page 6.
I agree with both reviews, Tesseract is beyond classification, an awesome band. They changed the vocalist again, Dan was great, I read he is in other good projects, Ashe O'hara is so fresh and perfect for Altered State album, clean, heavy without screams, I watched on YT some recent shows, and he is great live.
I hope on day I can watch Tesseract live.
I saw them live (with Dan, not Ashe) and they were excellent - a really heavy, but very moving, band.
From the vaults: Sepultura – Nation (2001)
The second, post-Max Cavalera era of Sepultura gets a bad press. Or, more accurately, it gets next to no press at all. It is unquestionable that this band made their best music with Max – from ‘Beneath the Remains’ (1988) to ‘Roots’ (1995) – but to practically write-off almost two decades of music from a band who were not only thrash pioneers, but pioneers of metal as a world music, is a shocking display from the metal press.
‘Nation’ – the band’s second post-Max record – is something of an album in transition. Let’s be clear from the off: this is no classic. There are waaay too many tunes here, a sign of a band in identity crisis and who are throwing in the kitchen sink – we switch here from the 1 minute blast of hardcore punk that is ‘Revolt’ to the tortoise pace of the industrial tinged ‘Border Wars’, and you wonder which band Sepultura wanted to be, a feeling that only increases with the second-tier nu metal of ‘Vox Populi’ or the dire Bad Brains pastiche of ‘Uma Curu’.
But perseverance reaps rewards. The tribal elements which made Sepultura so captivating are still there, as is Andreas Kisser’s cracked concrete guitar tone, and in Derrek Green they found a frontman with a distinctive voice. ‘Sepulnation’ slams out of the blocks with the groove of metal nu and raucous, buzzsaw guitar. The heavy grooves of ‘Saga’ were made for a couple of thousand people to go nuts – the snap of the hook ‘No surrender. Saga. We fight’ is epic – and the presence of Jello Biafra elevates ‘Politricks’ to another level. Although most of this record is a long way from the full tilt thrash of the band’s heyday, when they do delve into their comfort zone – ‘Who Must Die?’, ‘Reject’ – they do so with aplomb.
The presence of such gems amidst such utter mediocrity renders a whole which is all the more unsatisfying for being so unbalanced. If there’s a key problem, it’s the absence of the snappy hooks which were so important in the band’s past – songs written for atmosphere, feel and vibe tend to blend into one mosaic of music without the hooks to make them memorable. But crank it loud enough, and that Sepultura roar, and Iggor Cavalera’s rhythmic stomp and primal thud, are there in abundance. ‘Nation’ is not close to a classic – but it does deserve more attention than it received.
From the vaults: Onslaught – Sounds of Violence (2011)
The second reunion record from UK thrasher Onslaught is packed full of meaty metal and is the sound of a band who wants to march onwards and upwards, not simply wallow in some middle-aged nostalgia trip. Onslaught always had songs which were way bigger than the level of success they achieved, and they don’t disappoint here. It is a crying shame that more metalheads won’t hear these tunes. Opener ‘Born For War’ manages to be hooky and brutal, injecting the groove of a rock ‘n’ roll stomp into thrash abandon – the time-changes snap things into something epic. Full-tilt thrashers like ‘Rest In Pieces’ and ‘Suicideology’ are more than a match for anything the endless new-wave of thrash bands can muster, and ‘The Sound of Violence’ is, well, you guessed it……..
At mid-paced – the point at which most thrash bands come unstuck – Onslaught remain convincing – ‘Code Black’, for instance, is a thudding classic – and in the crisp and powerful production of Jacob Hanson dresses an old skool thrash attitude in contemporary clothes. On this form, Onslaught can more than keep pace with the likes of Testament, Death Angel, Kreator and Sodom. But, then again, they always could.
I'm no binnie, but I'll review two albums I picked up today.
Korn - The Paradigm Shift
Alter Bridge - Fortress
They both kick ass. Go buy them now!
Both are on my 'to do' list
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