Album Reviews

[binnie]

Sylosis - Edge of the Earth

This is something special. Really, really special. It may be as good a slab of 21st century metal as you're likely to hear: aggressive, passionate, technically flabbergasting, progressive and yet flat our rocking, these guys have really cooked up something.............special. In Josh Middleton we may have the next metal guitar hero (the new Mustaine?): smokingly fast, precise riffage, dazzling solos and thoughtful, stirring tonal work allow this record to soar well above the oh-so-angry run of the mill metal. There is a maelstrom of stlyes here. The bedrock is progressive thrash for sure, but we also get hardcore vocals, medolic interludes, complex arrangements and emotive, thoughtful lyrics. Whether its the slow burn of the seething and symphonic opener 'Procession', the 'fuck me!' riffage of 'Kingdom of Solitude', the sheer biblical fury of 'Dystopia' or the masterful, elegant and sinewey birth of 'Empyreal', the quality here is staggering. It's the songs the sparkle - just when you thought extreme metal was getting cluttered, stale and cliched, Sylosis point the way forward, combining the progression of Mastodon and Gojira with the immediate face-melting power of old school metal.

What stops this record short of being a classic, however, is its length: 72 minutes makes for a punishing listen with music of this intensity, and you can't help thinking that editing a few of the tunes would have made the whole more impactful ('Sands of Time', for example, is much closer to peers like Chimera than anything else here). You can forgive them wanting to show off, though. When you can write something as bollock-achingly brilliant as 'A Serpent's Tongue' - perhaps the most conventional, and concise, tune here - then you would wail about it too. Not an easy listen, but an important one. All hail the new kings!!!!

[binnie]

Trap Them - Darker Handicraft

A black cover. 11 mat black pages. A single phrase in white letters - 'where there is no light, there is chaos'. Rarely has artwork summarized an aesthetic so clinically. Trap Them deliver 31 punishing minutes of sheer damage. Part of you will be tucked into a corner of the room, knees up to your chest, willing it to stop; the rest will be yearning for more; and ALL of you will react, because music can rarely make you feel so alive and so desperate.

Hardcore with no pretense, no scense and no gimmicky chain-gang choruses and breakdowns, this is epic. Bass-heavy and driven by tort guitar riffage, this is a more muscular sound than you might expect from something so immersed in punk. Brian Izzi is something of a genius on guitar - the sheer pressence of his pneumatic playing and dark, burnt tones is frankly staggering and makes Trap Them sound evil. Check out 'Evictionaries' is you don't believe me. 'The Facts' and 'Slumcult and Gather' sound like Entombed on speed; and there simply are no superlatives to describe how downright nasty 'Damage Prose' is. Even when they slow the pace they stagger - 'Drag the Wounds Eternal' is a disjointed, pulsating harpy hovering over the room in which you listen to it.

This is the best record I've heard in 2011 so far.

[binnie]

The King Blues - Punk & Poetry

This is a remarkable piece of work for 2 reasons. Firstly, it features songs written with charisma, bite and irony about subjects that matter: the recession, broken Britain, pornography, feminism and fatherhood. It does so in an intelligent and frank manner, in a manner we haven't really seen since Ian Dury. Secondly, this is a British punk album through and through - gritty, grimey, blunt, uncomfortable and hostile - but one which eschews the trappings of nostaliga and limitations of emulation in favour of a unique sound spiced with the ethos of The Clash, The Sex Pistols, and Sham 69, if not their methods. Take 'Shooting Fascists': a typical subject for classic punk fodder, played on........................................a ukuele. Talk about over-turning expectations! And so it is with the rest of this record. There are loud guitars, but they are mixed with reggae, dub, trip hop and pure pop. The references range from The Prodigy at their most nihilistic to Prince to Rage Against The Machine. This really is 'urban' music in an its grit and drizzle. It is also dazzlingly ambitious.

Vocalist Johnny 'Itch' Fox - with London working class swagger - could surely be the voice of a disenfranchised generation. You'd much rather your 15 year old kid was listening to something as expressive and provacative as this rather than that chap called Kanye. 3 albums in prove that this young guy is no one-trick poney. Angry, but not despondant, the songs always come first here. 'We Are Fucking Angry', 'The Future's Not What It Used To Be' and 'Shampoo' are remarkable achivements - concise, curiously understated, and containing their anger within a sense of melody and bounce. It's a little over-polished in places, which robs some of the songs of their bite, but The King Blues really do deserve to be a phenomenon.

[binnie]

From the vaults: Hatebreed - The Rise of Brutality (2003)

'Every drop of blood
Every bitter tear
Every bead of sweat
I Live for this.'

Pretty much sums it up. You'll hear bands with better songs, better playing, and with a damn sight more to say. But rarely will you hear one with more passion. Hatebreed's brand of metal and hardcore is based around 2 minute songs ripped to their fighting weight and void of flab. Unlike the wealth of 'metalcore' which followed, there are no preening melodic verses and oh-so-wearisome breakdowns here. This is music devoid of affectation: gang vocals, simple riffs, simple beats and simple ideas stripped back to their essence and played with balls. Finese? Forget about it - these are guys who live for the music and rarely get paid, guys who are fans first and rock stars second.

If you had to distill Hatebreed to their essence, you'd find that they were about overcoming, about the positive application of aggression, not whiny angst. With the rumble of 'Doomsayer', the vitriol of 'Facing What Consumes You' and brutality of 'Confide in No One', what we have here is something which is crushing but ultimately uplifiting. Equally enjoyable for fans of Devildriver as well as the Cro Mags, this is the sound of a band on fire: it's just a shame that so many bands ripped the balls out of the welding of metal and hardcore.

[binnie]

From the vaults: The Cult - Love (1985)

Listening to 'Brother Wolf, Sister Moon' you have to wonder why anyone bothered to get into hair metal in the '80s. That tune is more moving in its subtelty that 1000 power ballads. Where most '80s bands were staccato, the Cult swayed and floated freely, assaulting the listener with a rich texture of glorious chords, riffs and dark, pulsating melodies. It's unapologetically flamboyant stuff, and a soaring middle finger to the post-punk snobbery rife in the UK at the time. Take the delicate power of 'Nirvana', a tune which welds the sexual urges of late '60s blues rock with the esotericness of The Cure and spices it with eastern influences; the timeless 'She Sells Sanctuary', a glorious, howling lament of entrapment and temptation; or the acid-fuelled pulse of 'Love', which is the aural equivalent of being engulfed by a bursting sun. It's welding of Doors-esque psychedelia and Zeppelin-fuelled riffery with the post-punk and new wave arrangements of the early '80s is almost symphonic in places, most noticeably on the efforvescent ballad 'Revolution' or the beautiful closer 'Black Angel'. What The Cult achieved here is substance without pretense, depth without being over-bearing.

It's a long way from the albums for which The Cult are best known: the pure, stripped down abandon of 'Electric' and the pomp rock grandiose of 'Sonic Temple'. In my opinion, however, The Cult were always at their most powerful when at their most ethereal. Beautiful, dark, shimmering and sonorous - and in the age of Bon Jovi, too.

[sadaist]

From the vaults: The Cult - Love (1985)

Excellent.

The Cult was that one band that metal heads & new wavers both were listening to. They were above being put in any specific category or genre. So fucking talented. It's not something I can listen to every day for a year like a VH album, but it's definitely time to dust those cd's off. Thanks Binn!

[binnie]

From the vaults: Exhorder - The Law (1992)

Popular wisdom suggests that the first wave of a musical genre is generally substantially better than those that follow. Exhorder offer one of history's exceptions. This 3rd wave thrash band released two classic - and I mean CLASSIC - albums: 'Slaughter In The Vatican' and 'The Law'. They stand up there with the likes of Testament, Death Angel, Exodus or Forbidden. What Exhorder added was a burst of new ideas, and a variety on the classic sound. The guitar sound here is rich and muscular, with plenty of bottom end to beef-up the sound; and Kyle Thomas's groove-ridden, soulful vocals have since been hugely influential - you can tell Phil Anselmo was listening.

What Exhorder realized is that speed doesn't necessarily equal power. Mixing extremes of tempos (death-defyingly fast with skull-numbingly slow) added dexterity and crunch to the songs and is a pattern which so many bands have emulated in subsequent years (most noticeably Machine Head, who have perfected it). With so much groove, power and crunch, comparrisons with Pantera are obvious. Exhorder certainly didn't have the songs to punch with that band; nor did they have the guitar pyrotechnics; but - as the likes of '(Cadence of) The Dirge' demonstrated - they did have the power. The heaviness here is oppressive. Opener 'Soul Searching' is bestial and savage, and could trade blows with anything any heavy band have put out in the last 20 years; and the leaden cover of Sabbath's 'Into The Void' is the sound of heavy being re-defined. In 1992 this was the sound of a game being upped. Metallica had taken metal into the mainstream; Megadeth were intent on making it more technical; and Anthrax were evolving away from their thrash roots. With Exodus, Forbidden, Death Angel and Possessed all having produced their best work, the unbriddled fury which had characterized thrash metal was in danger of passing. Exhorder played a significant role in keeping metal uncomplicated and powerful, and as a watershed album this remains pivotal.

Perhaps 'The Law' was not as complete a record as 'Slaughter....' In truth, their are too many ideas - both musically and lyrically - in some of these songs, a fact which prevents them gelling as compositions. But when it all comes together, like on the title cut or 'Unforgiven', it is quite special. Meat and potatoes metal subject matter such as anti-religion and corrupt society are considered in the lyrics, but they sit alongside other subjects - namely morality and mortality - which show a band striving to push boundaries. Sometimes Thomas reaches for profound and grabs purple, but the ambition is admirable. Kyle Thomas might be metal's forgotten man. Alongside Exhorder, he handled vocals in another chronically underrated band: Floodgate. Both deserve your attention.

[binnie]

Sodom - War and Pieces.

The latest album from Germany's other great metal band proves two things: firstly, that some old bands really can recapture former glories; and, secondly, that Germans do have a sense of humour - the band's website is www.sodomized.info!

What makes Sodom great is that they don't overcomplicate anything. They don't make music to dazzle technicians. They make it to kick your head in! This arises from a 3 piece sound, with power coming in slabs of thick, chunky riffage, power chords, and bass driven rumble. The opening title cut is classic thrash spiced with melody and a subtle sense of groove. 'Hellfire' and 'Storm Raging On' hammer along with a furious intensity, whilst 'Through Toxic Veins' alternates from the melodic and intricate to flat out slamming metal and 'God Bless You' is part power-ballad, and part anthem. The vocals here work well - not growled or grunted - but not sung either, they fit in perfectly with Sodom's empowering and grizzly aesthetic. They serve to add a sense of continuity to the compositions.

What surprises most is the quantity of the quality. There are no duds here - 'Nothing Counts More Than Blood', 'Styptic Parasite', 'Feigned Death Throes' - this album just does not let up. A second disc of a live performance from the Wacken festival in 2007 serves to show that this new record stands up to Sodom's classic record. In this sense 'War and Pieces' goes some way to diminish the sense of disappointment which has greated the 'thrash revival' of recent years. These old dogs still have plenty of bite.

[rocking ron]

Does anyone hear the new SAXON cd named CALL TO ARMS ????

This British NWOBHM-band with frontman Biff Byford came up this month with their 20st?? studio album.

They also have a lot of live and best of.. albums in their catalogue.

Call to Arms do have that 80's vibe, when you listen to this it reminds you a little to some albums they've made in the 80's like Denim & Leather, Crusader and Destiny!!

Including this cd you get a 2nd disc (cd) with live stuff from their first show ever at Donington 1980!!!!

As good as begin 80's with the albums "Wheels of Steel" and their best one ever "Strong Arm of the Law" it will never gets again but "Call to Arms" is a fair Saxon album

and will not disapoint the die hard Saxon fan!!

Saxon is a real live band, I saw them in 1981 for the first time and totally I think 5 or 6 times. Also met the band after a show during a 'meet and greet'!!

Best songs on CALL TO ARMS : Hammer of the Gods - Back in '79 - Call to Arms.

Note : the song 'Back in '79' do have background-vocals from 60 or 70 Saxon fans!!!!

[binnie]

That's good to know Ron, as I've just bought 'Call To Arms'. I've not listened to it yet, but I'm looking forward to it now!

[rocking ron]

Please let me know if you like this one, and when you've got interest in bootlegs from this band just let me know 'cause I have over 40 'boots' ( cd's & dvd's ) from this great band!!


"And the bands played on"!!!

[binnie]

Black Breath - Heavy Breathing

Purified metal. Nothing more. Nothing less. Black Breath sound like a cross between The Entombed's death 'n' roll and DRI's hardcore thrash hybrid. A blitzkrieg of dark, early thrash is welded to steel girder riffs forged in hell by some behemoth and propped up by bowel-churning bass lines. The essence here is Venom, Motorhead and The Cro-Mags. It is a LOT of fun, and it's primitive and primal - this is metal not for the naval-gazing techno-geeks, but those who like it raw and dirty. Sure, it sounds like it was recorded in a bunker. But that adds to the atmosphere. As does the fact that they're not taking themselves too seriously: songs about cartoon Satanism, the undead and oral sex with a witch take you back to a time when Mercyful Fate were cool. Most importantly, however, is the fact that Black Breath sound like a BAND: a tight, powerful, unit intent on smashing and wrecking. With songs as good as the stupidly heavy 'I Am Beyond' and 'Black Sin (Spit on the Cross)', anyone in their wake should be scared.

[binnie]

From the vaults: Mudhoney - Under a Billion Suns (2006)

This, in my opinion, is the secret gem in Mudhoney's back catalogue. When the shuffling beats, horns, sombre guitar and downbeat psychedelia of 'Where Is The Future' welcome you into this wearisome journey of lost love, broken ambition and stoner dystopia, you know we're a long way from the power-riffing, free-flowing heaviness of 'Superfuzz Big Muff', the album that broke Mudhoney to the grunge generation. Sure, the appeal isn't as immediate - but growth is the signature of a great band.

The songs here have menace without machismo; power without pomposity. The sound is spare, honest and crackling with dirtworn sincerity. The edges are blunt, but there is an edge - a dark, carefree edge - nonetheless. The songs are perfectly composed around near perfect conceits. 'I Saw The Light' is a perfect example:

'You went down like a nuclear bomb
I saw a flash and bang you were gone

I saw the Light
I saw the Light
It devoured the sky, burned out my eyes
I saw the light

We leveled cities for miles around
Making love on the smoldering ground

Like radiation, love lingers on
Long after the damage is done'

A simple metaphor. But dazzling in its power - when combined with the disenchanted blues which makes up the song's music, the effect is yearning, like someone drowning in air. 'It Is Us' is '50s rock with pschoville menace and claustrophobic impact. 'Endless Yesterday' is a wonderfully understated, heart-wrenching balladry; whilst, converesly, 'Lets Drop In' provides the kind of loose chaos that evokes the early Alice Cooper Band at its most fractured. This is quite a collection of songs: heavy, and emotive, but also dark. Thus the humour on 'Hard On For War' - in which an old patriot explains that his warmongering ways are just a cloak to leave the young girls free of young guys ('Its Our patriotic duty to make love tonight). Genius.

Mudhoney have been heavier. They've rocked harder. And they've made more influential albums. But they've rarely been more perfect.

[binnie]

From the vaults: The Scorpions - Love At First Sting (1984)

In terms of success, the Scorpions were probably at their pinnacle on this record, but for me it is the point at which they began to lose their mojo. The point at which their sound became Americanized (read: simplified and overplayed) and more 'hooky' - traits which proved disastrous for Saxon, but which ultimately worked wonder for The Scorps bank accounts. It's a good record for its time, no question. 'Big City Nights' and 'Bad Boys Running' both feature punchy riffs, plenty of guitar hystrionics and the sort of choruses big enough to smash themselves into your cranium. So far, so '80s. Hell, we even have the 'classic' 'Rock You Like A Hurricane' a song fist-chompingly awful in its cringe-worthy ode to blow jobs: sure, it's a lot of fun, but what separates bone-headed (geddit?) moments like this from truly great rock 'n' roll debauchery is subtlety and tease (its the difference, say, between Bon Scott and Brian Johnson).

In the over-production of the time, the dirty, rough 'n' ready, rock 'n' roll piledrivers which made up 'Virgin Killer', 'Blackout' and 'Lovedrive' were long gone. There are some glorious moments, however: 'I'M Leaving You' is infectious in its Cheap Trick melodies; 'Still Loving You' is a power ballad with feel rather than saccahirine sentimentality; and 'Coming Home' alternates from heartfelt to hedonistic on the spin of a dime. It's just a shame that these songs are packaged alongside blatent filler like 'The Same Thrill' (rampant but aimless) and 'As Soon As the Good Time Roll' (in which ideas are stretched thinner than spandex).

The Scorpions are - no arguements please - one the greatest hard rock bands. I don't think we realize how much we'll miss them when they're gone. But, just like Judas Priest, it's the albums they made on the way up the mountain that contain their best work, not the ones which sold the most or scorred them the most chicks. 'Love At First Sting' is very much of its time, rather than timeless. It takes you back to a time when rock 'n' roll was about fun, pure and unadulterated. But it also leaves you curiously unsatisfied - you want bite, rather than sting. You also want a shot at the girl on the cover.

[binnie]

From the vaults: Diamond Head - Death & Progress (1993)

Few bands have been so influential and sold few records. Few have also been given more second chances. We all know about Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield and Dave Mustaine. But it might argued that, in reality, their fanboy obsession with Diamond Head has given the band a larger place on metal history than they really deserve. No-one could fail to be impressed with the 'White Album' and 'Borrowed Time', but DH sure burned out quickly after that. 'Death & Progress' is a case in point. It's not that there's anything fundamentally wrong with these songs. Indeed, for the most part they're well produced, well written, well played and, well, solid. It's just that they're not exciting. They plod and don't seem to contain any sense of yearning. You get the sense of a band experimenting - with sounds, with tones and textures, with the boundaries of what it was acceptable for rock to be in the 'grunge' era - but at heart, this is fundamentally conservative. We get a lot of Deep Purple. And not good Deep Purple. The fat, pony-tailed, chino wearing mid-80s Deep Purple. A lesson in choosing your muses carefully.

Its starts off well though. 'Starcrossed (Lovers Of the Night)' is easily the best thing here. Somewhere between Judas Priest and Led Zepp, its epic vocal and sleazy riff remind you why you loved this band in the first place. There are some interesting moments, too. 'Truckin' - depsite a rather purple set of lyrics - is expansive, open and poweful. But there are also moments of crippling mediocricy. 'I Can't Help Myself' is preening and pretentious blues rock that would have sat happily alongside Inxs or The Spin Doctors; and 'Calling Your Name (the Light)' and 'Run' try to combine Robert Plant's esotericness with Bon Jovi's hookiness. At that about sums it up. Like the band's previous outing - 'Canterbury', in which they had tried to marry prog and pop - 'Death & Progress' is the sound of a band which doesn't know what it wants to be.

In one respect though, you've got to respect DH for making it. In 1993 when the bands that idolized them were selling millions of records, it would have been easy for DH to have made a ballsy, but ultimately contrived, metal record. It would have been the obvious - and probably the sensible - thing to do. But, they opted to make the record that was inside them. It's just a shame that they weren't all pulling in the same direction; and that their second bite at the cherry came too late. For, in spite of everything, this is ultimately the sound of a band which sounded old. Plenty of death, but not a lot of progress.

[rocking ron]

The Scorpions are a great band, I've 'followed' them from the LP - 'BLACKOUT' (1980) and the album LOVE AT FIRST STING is also a classic one I think but BLACKOUT is my most

favourite 'Scorps' album!!


I also like their LIVE album "WORLD WIDE LIVE" and the studio album SAVAGE AMUSEMENTS (1988) , yeah I know... very very commercial, (too) soft etc.. but it takes you back

to those 'funny' eighties and put a smile on your face

And what they did very well was making ballads, a few of them became big hits everywhere on the planet and made them famouse!!

I don't like those songs at all and only listen to their 'heavy' stuff!!!

[binnie]

World Wide Live is a great, great album.

[rocking ron]

World Wide Live is a great, great album.

Yes it is for sure a very good album!!

From Diamond Head I only know the first album 'Lightning to the Nations' what was a typycal NWOBHM-album , at that time it sounded great but when you listen too it now it sounds a little 'poor' because of the ( thin ) production!!

[binnie]

There's no denying that the first two Diamond Head albums were pivotal releases for Heavy Metal. They've not aged well, though.

[binnie]

From the vaults: Pig Iron - The Paths of Glory (2007)

The name says it all. These tunes are raw, thickset, and HEAVY, taking shape amidst the rubble of jamming. Voracious vocals sit over big Sabbath and Kyuss riffs which rumble with the distant thunder of a forgery. Somewhere low down here Budgie and the Edgar Broughton band are burried, scrambling around to gather their component parts. Sure, its nothing you haven't heard before. Indeed, Pig Iron are from the Saxon school of sophistication: brawn beats up subtlety; power kicks the shit out of pinnache. This is cave man metal for homo erectus, a primitive war lord bellowing to the troops of the metal present to take forth the standard. Black Label Society would kill to sound this vibrant. It's glorious in its limitaions. Despite the ill-advised Skynrdisms of 'Lord Kill The Pain', the free form exploration of the limits of riffs which make up '....And the Bodies Fall' (a behemoth 'n' roll), 'Another Mule' and 'Son Of A Bitch' (a twisted blues assault) deserve your attention.

[binnie]

Soulfly - Omen

Where so much metal looks for power in dazzling complexity, Max Cavalera finds it in blunt force trauma. 'Omen' - album no. 7 from his post Sepultura band - eschews the world music and tribal dabblings of Soulfly's history in favour of some straight ahead, uncluttered and uncomplicated free flowing riffed out fury. Opener 'Bloodbath & Beyond' sums it up: punk rock fury smashing into Maiden-esque melodies as Max's gutteral yelps soar over the top.

It's a patchy affair, mind. Moments of pure brilliance are tempered with those of flabby mediocrity unworthy of the name Cavalera. The school boy gore of 'Jeffrey Dahmer' and 'Off With Their Heads' feel rushed and undercooked. Despite its unimaginative title and subject matter (Nostradamus), however, 'Mega Doom' is a brutal composition of riffage and time changes; and what 'Lethal Injection' lacks in lyrical subtelty it makes up for in the power of its composition. Cavalera here re-discovers the furious rage of his youth. 'Great Depression' could have been on Sepultura's 'Beneath The Remains', whilst 'Rise of The Fallen' (featuring Dillinger Escape Plan's Greg Puciato ripping up the vocals) possesses and immense groove and a huge, Killing Joke-esque chorus. Like Sepultura or Soulfly at their best, 'Omen' captures the essence of Discharge smashing into Motorhead - 'Vulture Culture' and 'Kingdom' are cases in point.

Is it a classic? Probably not. Is it Max's best work? Not by a long, long way. But it reminds us of what Max Cavalera has given to metal over the past 25 years. Has anyone done more to open it up? Whether it be knocking the Anglo-American bias off kilter, injecting a furious sense of politics and protest into the fold, the utilization of unconventional rhythms, or the smashing of hardcore into metal, Cavalera has always been a delight to listen to in what ever form he chooses to 'fuck shit up'.

[binnie]

Saxon - Call To Arms.

There's a case to be made that the albums which NWOBHM bands are making 30 years after their heyday are - if not the most important - then certainly most consistent of their careers. Saxon make that case as strongly here as they have done on 'Lionheart' and 'Into The Labyrinth'. They do it, however, with a different approach. Gone are the hystrionics, the modern metal twists and the 'heavier than everything' approach to songwriting. In their place is a more hard rock, anthemic and hook orientated style of song craft and it works in their favour. This album recalls a time when metal was fun. Slippery, snakebite riffs, big chrouses, defiant lyrics and screeching solos all add up to make a heady brew of anthems which just keep on coming: 'Surviving Against the Odds', 'Chasing the Bullet'. 'Ballad of a Working Man'......it's relentless. The more epic touches like 'Mist of Avalon' (about King Arthur) recal '747 (Strangers In the Night)', and act as proof that Saxon have a hookier, romantic and even (dare we say it) whimsical side. 'When Doomsday Comes', by way of contrast, is a near perfect piece of polished power metal. Biff's vocals have developed a rasp with age, which only adds to their charm, and the whole record has a vintage feel without ever slipping into sentimental. Sure, 'Afterburner' is shit, but it wouldn't be a Saxon record without a dud.......


BANG THY HEAD!

[rocking ron]

Call to Arms is a good Saxon album like
I've said before !!

But for me personally the 3 best Saxon albums are still : STRONG ARM OF THE LAW = DENIM & LEATHER = POWER & THE GLORY

and ofcourse Crusader was a nice album what means that they've had their highlights from beginning till half time 80's !!!

But I hope they will go on 4 many years and "never surrender"

[binnie]

You rate 'Power & Glory' over 'Wheels of Steel'?

[rocking ron]

Wheels of Steel is also a killer album and I almost forgot how many good songs it contains ( and they still play live ) and having less 'fillers' then P & the G !!

But the song Power & the Glory is still my all-time favourite Saxon one and I like the production/sound more on this album and have seen them live during that tour so maybe this is the reason that P & the G has more impact for me personally but okay, I give both a 9 on a scale from 10

[binnie]

Michael Monroe – Sensory Overdrive
With a band featuring Steve Conte (New York Dolls), Sami Yaffa (Hanoi Rocks) and Ginger (The Wildhearts), this was always going to be cooler than John Travolta’s favourite dancing shoes. And cool it is. An arsenal of Ginger-penned songs sparkle with pop-rock genius. Uncluttered with ego and frills, the ingredients are few and perfectly balanced: fuck-off riffs, silky choruses and performances which sizzle and crackle with all the fire of ageing desperadoes kicking the crap out of the last chance saloon. Jack Douglas’s raw production plays to the power of that simplicity, and he’s extracted the best vocal performance from Monroe since Hanoi’s glory days – THAT voice is punkier, raspier in its tones, with Monroe barking the lyrics and eschewing the more effeminate end of his delivery. ‘Got Blood’ is a furious rock ‘n’ roller cooked in eternal piss ‘n’ vinegar; ‘Later Won’t Wait’ is Cheap Trick in a bar brawl; and ‘78’ has an old-skool punk bite which only guys who couldn’t give a flying fuck whether you take ‘em or leave ‘em could pull off. But it’s the opening and closing tracks which really kill: ‘Trick of the Wrist’ – with its bulldozer bass and slippery chorus – is the grizzly swansong of an ageing rock God; and mixing Lemmy with Monroe on ‘Debauchery on a Fine Art’ is like tattooing BADASS on your forehead and breaking anyone who gets in your way. You’ll not here a more fun record this year.

[binnie]

More on the way.

I'm re-listening to something right now which is fucking incredible.

[rocking ron]

Is "Sensory Overdrive" a better one than "Not fakin' it" and "Life gets you dirty" in your opinion ???

I love that (cover)song he did with Axl Rose (G'n'R) from the "Spaghetti Incident"album : ÁIN'T IT FUN'', and ofcourse some stuff he did with Hanoi Rocks!!!

[hotsummerknight]

There's no denying that the first two Diamond Head albums were pivotal releases for Heavy Metal. They've not aged well, though.

i disagree .. "Living on .. Borrowed Time" still sounds great. It's been more or less a permanent fixture in my car's cd changer the last few months.

[binnie]

Is "Sensory Overdrive" a better one than "Not fakin' it" and "Life gets you dirty" in your opinion ???

Yes. It's more consistent and flat out rocks harder.

[binnie]

i disagree .. "Living on .. Borrowed Time" still sounds great. It's been more or less a permanent fixture in my car's cd changer the last few months.

Like I said, they were good albums. Important albums. But they sound chronically dated today - the production is ropey at best.

I'm a big DH fan - I saw them last weekend. But there's the myth around them which claims that they should have been huge and misfortune got in the way. I think that's crap - the reason that Maiden. Motorhead and other '80s bands got bigger is largely because they were better. If Lars Ulrich hadn;t been a big DH fan, they'd be little more than a footnote these days - although they made some very, very good music, they've been elevated to greatness by the attention lavished on them by Metallica.

[rocking ron]

I agree bands like Maiden, Motorhead etc are better than Diamond Head but it has also to do with a little luck, I mean good producer,management, support act of 'big'bands , festivals and time period ,

especially 'time period' for example when David Lee Roth had brought out the album "A little ain't enough" in 1989 instead of 1991 with grunge upcoming it would have been a million-seller!!!

But..if....

[binnie]

Hate Eternal – Phoenix Amongst The Ashes

You can’t headbang to this. You probably couldn’t mosh to it. And you CERTAINLY couldn’t dance to it. There is little in the way of constant rhythm in this sensory deprivation. Hate Eternal are the musical equivalent of a black hole, punishing the listener and destroying emotions. And yet, their music is utterly compelling, existing for extremity’s sake and plundering the depths of humanity’s darkness without puerile glorification. This is death metal of the most brutal variety. But Hate Eternal show how divergent that genre can be: ‘Thorns of Acacia’ harks to death metal’s heritage, sampling Bathory, Possessed and Morbid Angel in an epic of collage of riffs and relentless aggression; whilst ‘Haunting Abound’ is discordant, based around short, pulverising riffs and oft-kilter time signatures which make for a viscous, swampy sound – both are a stark contrast to ‘The Eternal Ruler’, which cuts through the air at an unnerving speed. Powerful, bleak and desperate, this is a claustrophobic listen – the blast beat frenzy of ‘The Arts of Redemption’ is punishing, but it is the title track, which sounds like a song ingesting itself, where you realize the dark genius at work here.
At 41 minutes, Hate Eternal are clearly aware that this music is overbearing. It’s an impressively confident deliverer of extremity. Not a paradigm shifter, but a near perfect slab of death metal with the genre’s 25 year history in mind and its future in sight. Where so many reach for dazzling complexity and polish away their power, or diminish the shock value of their music with a relentless gore fetish, Hate Eternal here make a calculated, yet raw, barrage of brutality which never veers close to the ridiculous.

[binnie]

From the vaults: Iron Maiden – Somewhere in Time (1986)

This has always been the ‘odd’ album in Maiden’s catalogue. A much more ‘up’ album than what had come before, and featuring not only synths but a curiously light-weight guitar sound in places, ‘Somewhere….’ was in many ways an album of its time. In hindsight, Maiden’s urge to mix things up a little is understandable. Following the relentless album-tour-album cycle – which had culminated in the epic world tour for the ‘Powerslave’ record – you can see how an artist would like to avoid repeating themselves, and how success could encourage the ego to let the creative juices flow.

The result is a rather odd collection of songs, rather than an album. Moments of genius are interspersed with mediocrity. ‘Sea Of Madness’, with its awkward twists and turns, sounds like a pop song wrestling to escape a metal bag; and ‘Deja-Vu’ sounds like a Maiden covers band who decided to write their own material. But there are some moments on true inspiration, mostly thanks to Adrian Smith: ‘Wasted Years’ is simpler (and consequently more powerful) than much of Maiden’s catalogue, a hookier song which sees heavy metal preaching to the lost around an infectious guitar melody. ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’ is an emotive piece which uses delicate synths to create a subdued vibe around this tale of a brooding outlaw. ‘Caught Somewhere In Time’ is also something of a lost classic: featuring Maiden in full gallop, its glorious hook and chunky riff kicks the album off with a nod to the band’s own heritage. Beautiful.

The sad thing is that the other tunes just don’t gell with these compositions. There is nothing much wrong with Harris’s ‘Alexander The Great’. Its epic narrative and monstrous heaviosity are very Maiden, but its feels cumbersome and out of place, a ghost from Maiden’s past in a record which was reaching towards their future. Perhaps this level of individual band members penning tunes was a sign of the beginning of the end, a sign of artists pulling in different directions. Whatever the case, the result was an album that was far from the Maiden of the early ‘80s: no more the behemoth bellowing metal, the mood was more celebratory of their iconic status (even the artwork referenced their illustrious career) as they experimented with pastures poppy. This was the sound of a band in the twilight of their prime, and perhaps lacking the focus of their ride to the top.

[binnie]

From the vaults: Biohazard – Urban Discipline (1992)

Years before Evan Seinfeld married a porn star; years before nu metal welded metal and hip hop in a more trite and annoying manner; and years before they all started to look like a pack of faded gigolos, Biohazard were a sheer powerhouse of a band, and one which roared. The kids playing in the chalk outline of a murder victim on the cover artwork say it all – this was ‘urban’ music in the true sense of the word, broken, wounded and angry. Biohazard’s songs sacrificed form for content and sounded as sophisticated as the concrete on which they were reared. Hardcore, metal, gang vocals and hulking riffs smash together in a sound that does not let up: pure warts ‘n’ all blue-collar music from the school of hard knocks and broken teeth.

‘Black & White and Red All Over’ is a tsunami, the classic title-track is riotous, and ‘We’re Only Gonna Die’ is a glorious punk hyped up on steroids. 20 years on, the stench of nu metal has tainted any amalgam of metal and hip hop – but the sheer cry of desperation and end of the line frustration in the likes of ‘Punishment’ has an appeal which in universal rather than exclusive to the Bronx. Sure, it’s undercooked here and there, and overlong. But Biohazard were a lot more than we remember them for.

[binnie]

From the vaults: Face Down – The Twisted Rule the Wicked (1997)

This record was a world away from the sounds which ruled heavy music in the mid-90s. Bass-heavy, rawkier, and blending shades on industrial and thrash, Face Down were a long way from the emerging strains of nu metal, and in many ways were pushing the boundary a lot more than Pantera or Sepultura, both of whom were riding high at the time. The result was a powerhouse: the misanthropic lyrical fodder which makes up most metal records given a sense of pure joyous abandon by the crushing, tank-like battery of the band beneath it. The one-guitar line-up allowing for looseness amidst the staccato sea of their peers.

With its stop-start riff, ‘Self Appointed God’ is reminiscent of White Zombie, whilst ‘Waste’ hints at Prong. ‘Slender Messiah’ is a lost ‘90s classic, its blustering riffage and drum battery making a wall of sound which blasts from the speakers. There is a lot to love here: ‘Dead Breed’, ‘Cleansweep’ and ‘For Your Misery’ are all rolling-thunder metal which glory in leaving their edges rough where many of Face Down’s Scandinavian peers revel in being over precise.

In truth, the songs lack the nuances of 1994’s ‘Mindfield’ (the band’s masterpiece). And it’s true that there are some clunkers – on ‘Life Relentless’, for example, Marco Aro appears to be singing a different song to the one his band are playing. But it you’re seeking out a metal assault which is utterly aggressive without ever being oppressive, then you’d do a lot worse than starting your search here.

[binnie]

Revoker – Revenge For The Ruthless

As metal has become more extreme, it has also become more earnest. The ‘worth’ of a band in many modern circles is often judged not only by how far they steer away from conventional ‘pop’ song structures and length, but also by how emotionally impactful they are and how seriously they take ennui. And that, in many ways, is fine – indeed, progression is essential to evolution.

Revoker don’t know anything about ennui, however. Mention it to them, and they’d probably think that it was an exotic brand of vodka they’d yet to try. What makes this album so refreshing is how much FUN it is. This is metal the way it used to be. Not in the way it sounds – they’re hardly consciously ‘retro’ – but in its ethos. Revoker want to make you fight or fuck, and they’re not apologizing for it. What you get are big drums, big riffs, powerchords, and clean vocals belted out. They also understand that at its heart, metal is a little bit silly. Indeed, they have a song about ‘Psychoville’ (‘I think I’m going schizophrenic’) and many more about mindless sex, drugs and violence. It’s a pure collection of clichés. Witness the following lyrics: ‘I gamble every day/ With a bottle of whiskey, what more can I say’. Not a lot, apparently. They’ve certainly not got the gift of the gab when it comes to the ladies: ‘You’re in my scope and I know you’re easy/ I wanna have some fun/ Unzip my pride/ Hold on and enjoy the ride.’ It’s not Bon Scott, is it?

But looking at metal for finesse is like looking at OJ for sincerity. Sure, by any objective standards the songs here are not great. But it doesn’t matter, because they’re delivered with such attitude, such a lust for life, that their appeal is timeless. They’ve an ear for an anthem - ‘Stay Down’ and ‘All Rise’ will be in your head all day – and an ability to incite fist pumping and head banging at will. This is what makes metal universal: that sense of defiance. Thus ‘Don’t Want It’, an ode to the resentment felt by any school leaver in a dead-end job who’ll do anything to stop being an automaton. Coupled with the likes of ‘Thief’ and ‘Time To Die’, they have quite an arsenal of metal seeped in Ozzy, Saxon, Skid Row and Drowning Pool references.

All that, and they’re from Wales. Brilliant.

[binnie]

Feed the Rhino – Mr. Red Eye

Displaying a sound which mixes stoner rock’s heaviness with post-hardcore’s schizophrenic song structures makes for a tremendous weight on this debut record. The influence of Every Time I Die’s balls-out rock ‘n’ roll approach to hardcore – bottom-heavy, big riffs, and tempos which switch and skitter along time-signatures far outside the conventional – is pervasive, but Feed the Rhino are not a copy-cat band. At full tilt, they sound like gang warfare. But it’s when they mix vehemence with softer hues that they really sizzle. The tonal guitar work on ‘Rotten Apples’ is proof that there is more to this band than indolent anger, ‘Empty Mirrors’ is a haunting tale of broken love, and ‘No-Where Lane’ is delivered in a whispered, sombre manner. The lyrics are provocative and powerful (see ‘The Butchers’ and ‘One For the Ponces’), even if they shouted vocal style actually robs the words of some of their potency. Punchy and powerful, visceral and venomous, Feed the Rhino speed through most of this 36 minutes on full charge and wounded. Impressive as this debut is, it’s those more restrained moments that really show the potential for growth.

[binnie]

More on the way.

I'm re-listening to something right now which is fucking incredible.

And here it is

__________________

Tesseract – One

This is easily one of the best debut albums I’ve ever heard: so focussed, so unique, and so clear in what the band wants to be. Its heavy, Jim, but not as we know it – crushingly, gut-wrenchingly heavy, a heaviness which amplified by the emotional weight of the music behind it. Soft/heavy dynamics rule the roost here: slabs of Messhuggah-esque 7 string angular riffage butcher the space between the speakers and your ears, before giving way to softer, more ambient sounds as an atmospheric backdrop. A heroic rhythm-section of Jamie Postones and Amos Williams deliver pulsating drums and oft-kilter rhythms to power this forward, and the whole thing is topped-off with sonorous, other-worldly vocals.

Sounds impenetrable doesn’t it? What makes all of this complexity work, however, is the sheer quality of the songs. There’s little in the way of egotistical show-casing here – Tesseract play as a band, and the whole always comes first. ‘Nascent’, for example, features some pulverizing riffs off-set by sombre vocals and ambient interludes, yet it never feels fractured or contrived, largely because Tesseract have such a strong sense of their own aesthetic, and aesthetic which on ‘Lament’ becomes an assault on the emotions as well as the senses. People are calling this ‘Djent’, but that’s just a silly label. It’s Cure-meets-Meshuggah-meets-Deftones style is beyond innovative, and conjures up a schizophrenic version of Tool. But like many great – truly great – bands, Tesseract are beyond classification. Is it metal? Its heavy, certainly, and packing riffs you’d die to write. But it also surprises you in a way that metal often doesn’t. ‘April’, for example, is an uncomfortable take on obsession, a thinking-man’s ‘Sex Type Thing’. Few bands can roar and whisper quite so competently and movingly.

It’s a dense work which rewards persistent listening. It’s not been created to party too, or for disposable listening and radio play – it exists for on its own, expansive terms with no commercial compromises. And yet, it compels you to listen. When we’re treated to work of this calibre and inventiveness, you know that heavy music is in safe hands. They could be game-changers.

[binnie]

From the vaults: Brides of Destruction – Here Come the Brides (2004)

This debut record from a band featuring Nikki Sixx and Traci Guns was the sound of multiple personalities wrestling to steer the ship. It’s one of those records that you own and love even if you recognize that it is fundamentally flawed. It does, however, contain a couple of absolute gems. None more so than opener ‘Shut The Fuck Up’ – who can’t identify with that? A out-and-out punk rock song, this was the sound of LA humping The Sex Pistols whilst Johnny Thunders conducted, a real cocktail of bent nails and broken glass built around a pile-driver riff and some tasty ‘Whoa-oh-ay-oh’ gang vocals. Add in a host of other fucked up little rock ‘n’ roll songs – ‘2x Dead’, ‘Brace Yourself’ and ‘I Don’t Care’ – and you’ve got a good time record which makes you want to fight and fuck. Possibly at the same time.

It’s a shame, then, that the band diluted the impact by adding some softer options. There’s nothing much wrong with ‘Revolution’ or ‘Natural Born Killers’ as stand along tracks, but their pop-rock soundscapes seem oddly out of place here – more puppy than pitbull. Yeah, it’s not ‘LAMF’, but some of the songs here will kick your ass all week and twice on Sunday. With so much potential, it’s a shame that Sixx and Guns couldn’t keep it together.