Album Reviews

[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.