Angry Metal Guy

Stormzone // Zero to Rage
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — Be TRUE to your (old) school
Label: SPV Records
Websites: myspace.com/stormzoneuk | facebook.com/stormzonemetal
Release Dates:  EU: Out now! | US: 11.22.2011

Way back as a newbie first year reviewer for the world-renowned Angry Metal Guy, no release floored me quite like Stormzone‘s Death Dealer.  Although I’d never heard of these Belfast hooligans, their hardcore NWOBHM worship and excellent song writing really got my blood riled up. Accordingly, Death Dealer got Steel Druhm’s only perfect score for 2010 and ended up my album of the year as well. Fast forward to 2011 and it’s a grizzled, jaded, cynical Steel Druhm that greets their new release, Zero to Rage. So, do things look different now that my doe-eyed youth has been drained away by long hours, crappy releases, zero pay and spiteful hate mail? Not really! They still embody the very essence of the NWOBHM style that I love dearly and still traffic in the ways of Saxon, Grim Reaper, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. When they hit their stride, they’re as metal as metal gets and no school sounds older. They also prove once again they’re capable of writing metal anthems that rock my metalverse. While this is a little less immediate than Death Dealer, it’s yet another mammoth dose of old style metal with enough hooks for a month-long fishing trip and enough muscle for an amateur bodybuilding contest. These guys have an infectious swagger and charm all their own and it’s still coming through loud and proud. So, don your high tops, skin-tight jeans and bullet belts and climb aboard the Way Back Machine™ as I set the dial to 1983! Continue reading

Riot // Immortal Soul
Rating: 5.0/5.0 — Johnny’s back…again!!
Label: SPV Records
Websites: riotrockcity.com | myspace.com/riotonline
Release Dates: EU:  Out now!  US: 11.22.2011

Steel Druhm is as happy as a pig in shite! You see, one of my all time favorite metal albums is Riot‘s Thundersteel. Although it was released way back in 1988, I still listen to it regularly and felt the burning need to write a Retro-spective Review of it a few months ago to spread the gospel. So masterful was that platter, Riot never even came close to equaling it with their later output. In fact, the immortal Thundersteel lineup only recorded one more album together (the very good Privilege of Power) and after that, things dropped off a lot. Now, twenty-three long years later, that powerhouse lineup has reunited to record a proper followup to their magnum opus. Naturally, I was skeptical they could re-bottle the might and magic and create something as brilliant, especially after so many years. Well, I was wrong to doubt, because Immortal Soul is the modern day version of Thundersteel and the best album of 2011 (so far). It has everything that made the Thundersteel sound so intoxicating.  There’s speed, power, wailing vocals, blistering guitars, top-flight song writing, amazingly catchy melodies, choruses and smart lyrics. It’s a winner every way an album can be and its the record I’ve been praying for Riot to write since ’88. If you love the classic, traditional sounds of Judas Priest (think Painkiller), Iron Maiden and especially American acts like Jag Panzer and old Agent Steel, this will blow you away. If you, like me, loved Thundersteel, prepare to be stunned, stupefied and shellacked. Continue reading

Fullforce // One
Rating: 2.5/5.0 — One half of a damn good album
Label: SPV Records
Websites: fullforce.se | myspace.com/fullforcesweden
Release Dates: EU: Out Now!  US: 07.26.2011

Well, here’s a release I can easily see falling through the Angry Metal Cracks. One is the first (and maybe last) release by a supergroup of sorts led by Michael Andersson, vocalist for Swedish melodic metallers Cloudscape and featuring members of such renowned acts as Dream Evil, Hammerfall and Yngwie Malmsteen. Now, we all know supergroups can be very iffy propositions and Fullforce is no different. It seems whenever a group of talented musicians get jammed into a room to write and record, disaster is as likely to result as triumph. So where does this one fall? Pretty much exactly in the middle of the two extremes. There’s some top notch, super melodic metal here and some rather generic, boring duds. What makes this album of particular annoyance to Steel Druhm is how good the good stuff is. With some real winners on display, its a total buzz kill to have roughly half the album fizzle out and fail to keep the momentum going Fullforce (yeah, you knew it was gonna happen at some point). OK, it’s time for your slightly bitter host to examine One in a non-bitter fashion. Continue reading

Pagan’s Mind // Heavenly Ecstasy
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — Thank heavens they changed course!
Label: SPV Records
Websites: pagansmind.com/front | myspace.com/pagansmind
Release Dates:  EU: 2011.05.23 |  US: 05.31.2011

Every now and then I find myself sweating a new release and sincerely worrying a band may have already seen its best days. This is one of those perspiration inducing albums. After three platters of excellent progressive metal that reminded me of the halcyon salad days of Fates Warning and Queensryche, Pagan’s Mind really screwed the pooch hard with their last release, 2007′s God’s Equation. Ditching nearly all of the things they had working for them in favor of a stripped down and more commercial approach, it was one of those albums that leaves fans befuddled, bewildered, betrayed and generally in an foul humor (I won’t go into the David Bowie cover, but it was bullshit ass!). With my confidence and fanboydom thus shaken and stirred, I didn’t know what to expect from these Norwegian metallers. Would it be a return to the prog-tastic spacey glory of their Enigmatic Calling and Celestrial Entrance works or a dash further down the path toward commercial oblivion ah la Krokus (yes, Krokus damn you, they were good once!). After much consternation and intestinal distress, I can report their fifth album, Heavenly Ecstasy is way better than their prior misstep, though it doesn’t fully return to their previous levels of excellence. Continue reading

Vicious Rumors // Razorback Killers
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — Warball, Murderball, balls for everybody!
Label: SPV Records
Websites: viciousrumors.com | myspace.com/viciousrumors
Release Dates:  EU: 28.03.2011 US: 04.05.2011

2011 is turning out to be a great year for metal thus far. I find myself giving out 4.0 and 4.5 left and right and there’s lots of new stuff I’m really enjoying. With all due modesty, I caused this to happen by predicting the new Belphegor would be one of my top picks unless we had a truly banner year in metal. Well, you can thank your beloved Steel Druhm for the self-jinx by sending him all the finest ales, meats and cheeses from across the lands. Moving on, we come to another surprisingly good release, this time by long running San Francisco vets Vicious Rumors. These chaps have been knocking around since 1979 and put out some great albums early in their career like their self-titled opus and Welcome to the Ball (their debut even featured mega guitar ace Vinnie Moore). After the tragic death of vocalist Carl Albert in 1995, there was a long dry spell of lackluster and mediocre albums and not until 2006′s Warball did they truly get back into vintage fighting shape again. After a lengthy wait, they finally return with Razorback Killers and once again show themselves capable of much ass kickery and name takery. Continue reading

Assassin // Breaking the Silence
Rating: 3.0/5.0 — Tanks for the memories [HEAD ASPLODE! - AMG]
Label: SPV Records
Websites: assassin-online.de | myspace.com/assassinthrashmetal
Release Dates: EU: 2011.02.28 | US: 03.22.2011

It’s old folks week at the Angry Metal Guy offices. That’s because I, Steel Druhm, am officially old and I’ve been tossed assignments for Tankard, Jag Panzer and now, Assassin, the long running, though unproductive German thrash troupe. Along with the aforementioned Tankard, Assassin was part of the German wave of thrash that hit in the mid 80s. Also like Tankard, these guys were in the back of the pack, far behind luminaries like Sodom, Kreator and Destruction. Their 86′ debut The Upcoming Terror was solid, reminded me of a poor man’s version of Artillery (who were amazing on their first two albums by the way) and some even considered it a cult classic. Their 88′ follow up Interstellar Experience was actually less than stellar and passed without much fanfare. After that there was a long period of inactivity due to equipment theft and they didn’t resurface until 2005′s The Club which was uninspiring to say the least (flaming coyote poo to say the most). Now they’re back with album four, Breaking the Silence and a nifty looking cover featuring the return of those bad ass tanks from their debut. So, did these gents fare better than those booze-hounds in Tankard whose album I only just defiled via review? Has the worm turned for these stoic thrashers or was their reformation as unfortunate an idea as wasabi flavored gummy bears? All these questions and more shall be answered so read on intrepid metal fans. Continue reading

Jag Panzer // The Scourge of the Light
Rating: 4.5/5.0 — Jag Fucking Panztastic!
Label: SPV Records
Websites: jagpanzer.com | myspace.com/jagpanzer
Release Dates: EU: 28.02.2011 | US: 03.08.2011

Jag Panzer has been an American metal institution since the early 80′s and they’ve always been a band that you could rely on to clobber you with enormous, powerful, top-notch heavy metal of the traditional school. They’re also the original American power metal act. Their take on power metal being far different than the textbook European approach, Jag Panzer were always much heavier, tougher and had more balls than the Helloweens, Gamma Rays and such of the Euro-school. Built around the mammoth, masculine and powerhouse vocals of Harry “the Tyrant” Conklin, the Panzer sound was always hard-edged, large and much closer to the NWOBHM style of Iron Maiden or Judas Priest. After a wait of nearly seven years since 2004′s Casting the Stones, The Panzer finally rolls again and we get album eight (nine if you count the long shelved Chain of Command opus), The Scourge of the Light. Was it worth the long wait? Does Moonsorrow piss in the snow? [Was the Pope a Nazi? - AMG] Of course it was worth it! Scourge is a welcome and mighty return to the metal throne by Jag Panzer and they brings us ten new slices of old school metal glory. Continue reading

Evergrey // Glorious Collision
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — May cause suicidal thoughts and general misery
Label: SPV Records
Websites: evergrey.net | myspace.com/officialevergrey
Release Dates: EU: 2011.02.21 | US: 02.22.2011

Doom metal is theoretically designed to make you feel sad and sorrowful. Some of it does the trick, some doesn’t. Oddly, the band that always manages to kill my happy happy joy joy moods completely and utterly isn’t even a doom act. Instead, its “dark metal” masters  Evergrey. These guys have made their bones writing increasingly depressive, raw and emotionally crippling music and here on their eighth album, the sorrowful Swedes still haven’t picked up their prozac prescriptions. Yes, Glorious Collision is another massive dose of buzzkilling, fetishistically downcast heavy metal that will make you feel bad about yourself, others and life in general. Doesn’t sound like much fun does it? Well, I doubt anyone will ever argue that Evergrey makes good times music and no, they aren’t much fun to listen to. They are however, very good at what they do and they craft some excellent and beautifully tragic music with powerful feelings. Continue reading

Sodom // In War and Pieces
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — The saw remains the law
Label: SPV/Steamhammer Records
Websites: sodomized.info | myspace.com/sodom
Release Dates: EU: 10.23.2010 US: 01.11.2011

Sodom, sweet Sodom, ever so reliable and happily predictable. They’re the thrash equivalent of your favorite concert t-shirt. It’s always there for you, it’s comfortable, beer soaked and you go way way back together. Since 1982 these German metal-meisters have given us thrash and more thrash with very little stylistic variation or experimentation and for most long time fans, that’s just how we want it. After all, Sodom always specialized in simple, brutal and dirty thrash metal with punk influences and they were proud to be a thrash band even when thrash wasn’t “cool” anymore. I never had to waste time worrying if they would start exploring jazz fusion, ambient soundscapes or become self important about the message in their music. No sir, Sodom was just Sodom. Thankfully, the comforting non-progression continues on In War and Pieces, their thirteenth platter and they continue to deliver their battle tested (and themed) thrash lunacy. Continue reading

Virgin Steele // The Black Light Baccahanalia
Rating: 2.0/5.0 — Davey D and the Virgins, lounge/wedding band for hire
Label: SPV/Steamhammer
Websites: virgin-steele.com | myspace.com/virginsteele
Release Dates: EU: 22.10.2010 | US: 11.09.2010

OK, what the hell is going on here? Why are metal’s elder statesmen forgetting to include metal on their metal albums? First Halford and now this? Virgin Steele has been around since forever (1982), and singer, keyboardist, pianist, composer David DeFeis is a near legendary figure in the metal scene who happens to hail from my neck of the woods in New York. Growing up, I always considered Virgin Steele a poor man’s Manowar (and I think these guys felt the same way). Although I was never a die-hard fan, they had some good early albums and DeFeis is a talented musician and truly gifted and versatile vocalist. However, on album twelve, the pompously titled The Black Light Bacchanalia, DeFeis and company have opted to create nearly ninety minutes of what can best be described as Manowar meets chamber music meets Vegas lounge music. Conceptually, easy listening/lounge  Manowar is the equal of other such self defeating ideas as room temperature fire and Shakespeare performed by mimes. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. Continue reading