Once upon a time, doom metal made up a fairly large portion of my musical playlist. Classic bands like Trouble, Saint Vitus, and The Obsessed were on heavy rotation in the Golota household. Sadly, my interest never progressed far beyond those founding bands. Doom metal predictably splintered into a billion subgenres, with each band competing to see who can play slower and/or smoke more pot (ooh, how rebellious!), which is how we ended up with boring, pretentious shit like Sunn O))) and Earth. To say I have not enjoyed any recent doom metal would be a massive understatement. Enter Demon Lung, and their new record The Hundredth Name.

Based in Las Vegas, Demon Lung checks all the right boxes as far as I am concerned. Their music is unquestionably doom, but constructed upon a foundation of legitimately well-written songs and riffs. If you can picture a sludgier  Candlemass, with a more occult vibe, you’re getting close. The drums sound like they were recorded inside a giant cave (I mean this in the best possible way). The guitar parts are actually interesting — a rarity in the genre these days. And if the song titles are any indication, the band shows the appropriate love to our lord Satan (no, not these guys).

But the real secret weapon here is vocalist Shanda Fredrick. Yes, female-fronted metal bands are fairly common and often gimmicky, but that’s not the case here. Fredrick’s voice is massive-sounding (I honestly thought the singer was a dude until I read the band bio) and conveys a very real sense of dread. Her performance here reminds me slightly of Christian Lindersson from Count Raven, with some vintage Ozzy vocal melodies thrown in for good measure. Most present-day doom bands are either too chickenshit to incorporate melodic vocals, or waste them on rehashed southern rock melodies, so Fredrick’s approach is a welcome change.

The Hundredth Name is fairly solid throughout, although there are a few extra-memorable moments. The Sabbath-y ”Devil’s Wind” comes to mind, as does Fredrick’s haunting bellow on “Eyes of Zamiel.” The relatively uptempo “Hex Mark” is a well-placed break from the oppressively sludgy material surrounding it. It’s also worth noting that the keyboard and organ work in the background is very tastefully done, and while not super-noticable, adds greatly to the vibe of this record. The occasional bits of acoustic guitar are real nice too. The production, by legendary sludge-guy Billy Anderson, is appropriately gigantic and dirty-sounding.

There are flaws, but they are few. The album’s pacing does drag just a bit during the second half, and there’s a bit of fat that could have been trimmed. Oh, and the 9-minute-long opener “Binding of the Witch” opens with 4 minutes of droning feedback, a.k.a. 4 minutes of my life that I am never getting back. But overall, this is a very well-written doom record, one that is influenced by all the right stuff, but brings something original to the table as well. The Hundredth Name is the first doom record I’ve actually liked in years, and what with female-fronted, Satan-worshipping bands being all the rage these days, Demon Lung may be on their way to bigger and better things.

The post Demon Lung – The Hundredth Name Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

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I’ve been waiting for this one for some time. As a big Dark Tranquility fan, I’ve weathered their style shifts and experiments with more commercial and more “modern” sounds. While 2010s We Are the Void was respectable with a few killer cuts, I ended up really liking the extended extras that were included on the limited edition release (which eventually became the Zero Distance EP). That group of songs encapsulated what modern-day DT does best: create melodic, but cold, sterile, modern death metal. I really wanted them to continue in that direction on Construct, but they thought otherwise. What we get is a type of career retrospective where they try to reconcile and merge the diverse sounds they’ve toyed with over the years. For long time fans, the best way to describe this is Projector mixed with We Are the Void. It’s easily the most restrained, melodic album since Projector and the dramatic clean vocals are back in force once again. It’s also their most diverse release, with thrashy tracks alongside new age-y stuff and a few poppy choruses. It’s instantly familiar, but alien all at once. Is this their Sounds of a Playground Fading? I’m sure some will see it that way, but it’s not anywhere near as bad. It’s very listenable and there’s good stuff here and while it keeps the band’s core sound, I don’t see this being hailed as a glorious new beginning for these respectable vets.

First up are the songs that sound like vintage Dark Tranquility, like “For Broken Words,” “Science of Noise” and “The Silence In Between.” These employ the tried-and-true formula of Gothenburg death with fluid guitar work, melody and deathy roars. These chaps were always able to make their material memorable and hooky and though Mikael Stanne has a true death rasp, he’s always been excellent at enunciation and making his vocals seem somewhat melodic. These chestnuts will hit home with any fans of the style, though they aren’t the heaviest songs they’ve ever penned.

Then there are the Projector-esque songs, like “Uniformity” (which sounds like mid-period Paradise Lost mixed with “Freecard”); “What Only You Know” which plays like an awkward love song with dodgy transitions between deathy and clean vox; and “State of Trust” which uses the cleans in a very poppy, but oddly effective way. Though I was never a fan of  cleans in DT’s music, they only fall flat on “What Only You Know,” which is an iffy song to begin with.

Then there are the wildcard numbers, like “Endtime Hearts” which sounds like goth rockers H.I.M. or To Die For with death vox added in. Also a bit offbeat is the slow, hypnotic trill of “None Becoming,” which is emotional, moody and almost doomy.

While they succeed  at changing things up quite a bit, the album as a whole has some flaws. Some songs just aren’t very compelling (“Apathetic” and “Immemorial”) and the overall energy level is a bit low low. Some songs only qualify as death metal because of Stanne’s vocals, as the backing music is so restrained and sleepy. The album also feels about two songs too long.

In the win column are Stanne’s vocals. Though he never goes as brutal as some in the field, his delivery is always dead-on and he injects nuances into his rasps that others can’t. He still has a noticeable Depeche Mode vibe when he sings, and it works here in the same odd way it did on Projector. Martin Henriksson and Niklas Sundin are fine as always, crafting interesting moods and feelings with their riffs as they back away from the modern, almost metalcore riffing they flirted with in recent years. Though they flash some technical chops when called for, they never go for the over-the-top fret-board heroics In Flames were known for and they always keep things restrained and in check. While I would have liked more venom and vigor to offset the melodic nature (like Omnium Gatherum does), that’s not what Construct is all about.

All things considered, I would call Construct a partial success. Despite some glitches, they managed to be quite diverse without completely “selling out” and losing themselves (though they’re going to get some guff for the overall mellowness, that’s for shit sure). I doubt I will come back to this as much as their classic albums, but it has a certain charm and it does grow on you. My concern is where they go from here now that they’ve done this historical salute to the varied eras of Dark Tranquility. I can’t see them getting lighter than this and remaining relevant, so where do they go? Steel Druhm just doesn’t know.

The post Dark Tranquility – Construct Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

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No, instead, Trials is a modern thrash band, with touches of melodic death bound deep into their riffy, progressive sound. Unfortunately, when people say “modern thrash” there is a tendency to think “metalcore.” This is not metalcore, instead this is a natural extension of the best thrash offered us in the ’80s and ’90s, without the fine aura of nostalgia. Here there be only riffs. Riffs and riffs and riffs and riffs. The sound is fat, occasionally brutal, and tough as shit. Even though the bass is too dropped in the mix (I LOVE YOU USHA! TURN IT UP!), that’s about the only complaint I have.

Check out “Believers in Black” and “Embracing Nothing” (and the epic cover of Priest‘s “Jawbreaker), if you can’t be arsed to listen to the whole album, but it’s available for your perusal and download in just about any format you’d like from the band’s Bandcamp. Trials also have a Facebook and given how old these guys are, they probably even have a Friendster account and a Livejournal. Hell, you can even stream the whole thing right here, in case you’ve got a broken clicking finger.

Oh, by the way, I asked ‘em 10 questions and I guess their guitarist Ryan Bruchert responded like the champ he is (still not Luca Turilli on a dinosaur, though). Catch ‘em after the embed here. And for full disclosure, this is Fisting Andrew Golota’s band. Does that make me biased? Probably. Oh noes!

1: What’s Your Favorite Kind of Cheese?

I sampled a cheese last week, which was a Columbia Bodensee Butterkase, and it smelled like week-old corpse vagina. At the time, it was long before its “sell by” date, which to me implies that if it smelled so abominable when it is fresh, braving the scent when it was actually spoiled might be similar to opening the Ark of the Covenant. I wasn’t sure if it was enough to just throw it in the garbage or if I needed a witchdoctor to purify my house of angry spirits. This cheese wedge knew my deepest fears.

Wait… what was the question again?

2: Why Not Mozzarella?

Mozzarella is great.

3: If You Could Break a String Live which Would It Be?

I have never broken a string live. If I had to, it would be Usha’s “G” bass string. She’d make the sacrifice for the sake of the show, I’m sure. Thrash metal or any sub-genre underneath it functions just fine on three strings per instrument.

4: Why Doesn’t Your Bassist Fight for More Place in Your Mix?

You will have to understand that Usha does fight for her bass to be heard in the mix, and the rest of the band does too. However, when attempting to live up to the standards of what makes a great metal album, there is a guideline that must be followed. Great metal albums like …and Justice For All and Slayer‘s entire catalogue (and why not? – Manowar) would not have the impact they had if there was a hint of low end in the mix. Even Cliff Burton knew to make his bass sound like a guitar, and he is argued to be one of the greatest metal bassists ever.

In the end, Usha and the band understood that while she has done a remarkable job writing bass lines and, personally, has been one of the smartest, most exceptional bass players I have had the pleasure of working with, the world just was not ready for a thrash metal band with a bass player. So, we drowned that bass in the mix like an unwanted adopted puppy in the river – except our scenario was much, much sadder.

5: When Do I Get My CD?

Don’t get our CD. It isn’t the ideal media that represents our work. Sure, it is the easiest way to listen to the album on different devices with nearly the accessibility that MP3 offers, but we are currently in the works of In the Shadow of Swords on 8 track tape. The idea originally was to release it on audio cassette tape, but we found out recently that there are other bands out there that are currently implementing that idea. We have to stay ahead of the game, and our attempts to be “unique” will not be outdone. Some disclaimers – you may be able to get an 8 track player through your local craigslist or by scouring garage sales in your local neighborhood. Also, with the song lengths being what they are, there is likely to be a few tracks that will be cut-off due to flipping the cassette tape over. Believe me when I say that it is worth it – it will sound unbelievable!

6: Have You Ever Considered Covering “The Prophecy” by Iron Maiden?

If we’re talking of covering an Iron Maiden deep cut, my vote is for “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner” long before we even consider “The Prophecy”. Sorry to break your heart. [I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU! - AMG]

7: Why Do the Terrorists Hate Us?

It was after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in the 1990s that terrorists expressed opposition to the introduction of foreign military to Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden criticized the Saudi royal family publicly and alleged that their invitation of foreign troops to the Arabian peninsula constituted an affront to the sanctity of the birthplace of Islam and a betrayal of the global Islamic community. Bin Laden issued a declaration of Jihad against the United States that signaled his emergence as an internationally recognizable figure, condemned U.S. presence in Saudi Arabia, and voiced opposition to U.S support for Israel.

8: Who’s Your Favorite TV Pundit?

I actually had to do a Google search – I am that unfamiliar with your pundits that exist in the world of television. Having said that, my favorite that I can think of would have to be Morbo.

9: If You Could Visit Any Planet What Would You Choose?

Venus. If I am going to die horribly in any atmosphere, it will be an atmosphere that rains sulfuric acid with hurricane winds blowing temperatures of plus 400 degrees Celsius. Venus will not only be the most merciful killer, but the most metal.

10: Wait, You’re in a Band?

Wait, this is an interview??

The post Ten Questions with Trials appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

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Remember when I called out for everyone to join The Resistance? Well this isn’t entirely what I had in mind… When you pull The Resistance apart first thing you’re going to notice is that the Swedish melodic(ish) death metal outfit includes members from one of the original ‘three kings of Gothenburg’ – Jesper Strömblad and Glenn Ljungström the two ex-In Flamers that bailed before becoming a part of Sounds of a Playground Fading‘s limp release. Outside of having core In Flames members, The Resistance also includes ex-Face Down members Marco Aro on deathly howls and drummer Chris Barkensjö. With a line-up like that and an EP release earlier this year (Rise From Treason) you’d be hard pressed, as I was, not to harbor some expectation that Scars with all its anger, conflict and aggressiveness would be the album that In Flames have failed to deliver of late.

Scars starts off with a promising bang, and opening line ‘Fire in the hole’ explosively delivers “Clearing the Slate”. Instrumentally the track is tight, the guitars and drums combine to sound like a hail of bullets flying full force at your chest. Marco has a vocal style that borders on a howling death growl in some instances and at other times hits full-on guttural in a mightily pleasing way, definitely the high point on Scars! Ultimately the track is like a swift, strong kick up the ass, blisteringly fast and completely merciless. The tracks that follow take much this same direction – relentless late-eighties or early-nineties era Swedish metal full of core-ish aggression, speedy repetitive riffing, heavy distortion, fast double bass and blast beats aplenty.

Unfortunately that’s where my attention starts to wane. While Scars is not a bad album per se, there are aspects that drag it down and there’s not much that makes it stand out from the slew of albums already in the market. It goes without saying, Jesper’s a talented musician, he’s ranked highly among the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of all time by Guitar World and his work with In Flames doesn’t lie, but this album feels more like a jam session for him than a project that has his full creative attention. There’s no real experimentation or feeling that he’s pushed himself and mostly the riffs and aggression have been done and been done and been done before. I’m also not a fan of the drum work on Scars. While it’s not the playing that’s a problem, it’s a recurrent feeling of disconnection or lack of cohesion between the drums and the rest of the musical layers – the hugely delivered closing line of “Expand to Expire” probably sums up the overall attitude of the album… ‘Ah fuck you!’.

The production and mix on Scars was done by Sweden’s Bohus Sound Recording and more specifically Roberto Laghi. He’s used a neoteric or contemporary style on Scars that adds an ‘interesting’, not unpleasant, clarity to the nostalgic brutality. Robert’s worked with the likes of Diablo Swing Orchestra on their No. 3: Pandora’s Piñata album and In Flames with Sounds of a Playground Fading, and seeing that his specialty is pop/rock, in all honesty I’m confused as to why The Resistance used him to achieve their death sound.

I’ve pointed out a lot of negatives on this album and I’ve done that because I see huge potential for The Resistance - they’ve got a great vocalist with an unusual singing style that I’d like to hear a hell of a lot more of and Jesper and Glenn are 100% capable of fret-board wizardry. High points on the album are the tracks “Imperfected” with its crushing, crunchy riffage and catchy-as-hell chorus and “An Eye for an Eye” with its near-relentless pounding wall-of-noise drum intro. This is one place the drum work kicks-ass – I’d definitely recommend cherry-picking these two tracks. Scars is a decent debut and I’m keen to see what angry The Resistance serve up next!

The post The Resistance – Scars Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

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I wouldn’t blame you for having the thought in the back of your mind for giving Slidhr‘s album a miss based solely on the fact black metal has become rather over-saturated with copycats and generally uninteresting bands. I hear the pitchforks raising already so allow me to stress that I adore black metal, it being one of my favoured subgenres of extreme metal, but I really have fallen out of touch with recent acts over the last five years. This is due to them being so dependant on the innovations of their forebearers, with more bands relying on that style instead of innovating and creating a style of their own. It leaves somewhat of a husk – aesthetically pleasing material without the individuality to give it life or the ability to resonate in any way.

Allow me to attempt an argument in Slidhr‘s favour though, because there are several things they do right that other bands simply can’t seem to get a grasp on. For example, Aosoth from France have such an alluring, opaque sound, but just don’t have the composing and organizational skills to back it up. Deathspell Omega have a brilliant style of dissonant, chaotic riffs, but unfortunately it’s a sound that can tire out very quickly for some listeners and become gimmicky. Then you have more forward-thinking bands such as Woe (US) that have interesting instrumentation and approach to black metal, but forgoe dark atmospherics. Slidhr doesn’t only seem to be aware of the things these bands do correctly, but also what these bands do wrong and they intertwine every aspect of modern black metal without any apparent blunders to speak of. Mix the good points, fix the bad points and bam – Deluge by Slidhr.

Mind you, that analysis comes across as rather trivial, and there is certainly more to this album than taking what other bands do. First and foremost Slidhr appear to be orthodox black metal with a slightly dissonant vein, very much reminiscent of European modern black metal, but other things become apparent as the album unravels that mark them as something else. Notable is the reserve this band exercize - even the loudest and most chaotic parts are handled with equal amounts of intensity and grace. None of the organizational skills get lost in translation through the intense pacing of the blackened tones; a common pothole in modern black metal. Couple this with the fact there’s some commendable layering on this album just waiting to be unravelled, along with how subtly it’s handled. I’ve always been one to reward a band for refusing to rest on their laurels and wearing their achievements on their sleeves.

As for individual tracks, a great achievement of this dense ten-track record is that none of these tracks really resemble each other past the natural similarities that come with black metal territory. The structures of the tracks constantly waver as do the performances. The drums rarely stick to simply carrying the song’s energy and the guitars often intertwine riffs together, often making  it difficult to decipher them without repeated listens. Some of the tracks even have subtle samples that add a lot of weight and personality to them – and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you missed them on the first play through, especially considering the opaque, dense and unforgiving style of production and playing. Yet for something so opaque and dark, it’s unusually clear.

Deluge is a chaotic yet unusually organized and immaculate record. The name of the album would signify more of a huge, massive, in-your-face affair, but Deluge is far more focussed, less sudden and more inclined to reward patience and focus. It rewards on many levels due to instant, immediate appeal, enough layers to unravel and diversity to tap into to make repeated listens just as enlightening as the first. Couple this with stellar production and you’re onto quite the winning combination that many black metal acts these days unfortunately starve us of.

There’s absolutely no innovation beyond the transformations and refinement of well-known conventions, but much of what Slidhr does right would be lost if there were. Deluge is a well-rounded, well-executed modern black metal album that any fan of the genre will find enjoyment in.

The post Slidhr – Deluge Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

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I’m not one to suggest there can ever be too much war metal, and while Bolt Thrower has ground to a halt for the time being, there are plenty of bands trying to keep the flame of strife and global conflict alive. Hail of Bullets may be the most prominent at the moment, but the recent Just Before Dawn debut is good enough to challenge them for world domination. Finland’s Decaying also have a tank in this battle, and their 2012 Encirclement album was a well done, Bolt Throw-y dose of ugly death metal with a heavy war theme and vocals that could easily pass for those of the great Martin Van Drunen (Hail of Bullets, Asphyx, ex-Bolt Thrower, ex-Pestilence etc.). Now they’re back with The Last Days of War and hoping to carve off a bigger piece of the war market. Unfortunately, though they try mightily to emulate the basic Hail of Bullets blueprint and crafted some harrowing odes to battle and death, they are once again severely let down by a weak, soft production with almost no power in the guitars (even worse than on the last album). As a result, The Last Days feels somewhat washed out, tepid and despite some good writing, it often feels about as intimidating as a paintball squad reenacting the War of 1812. Somehow (and I’m not sure how exactly), it still works and is  worth checking out for all war metal afficiandos.

Though the album promo reads that Decaying focused on a more doomy sound this time around, I’m not sure I hear it. They always had a doomy vibe mixed in with the thrashier segments similar to what Hail of Bullets and Asphyx do, and they keep the same style here. Most songs mix a mid-tempo romp with the murky, ominous parts. The Hail of Bullets influence is impossible to miss on numbers like “Code Name: Overlord” where Matias Nastolin does a drop dead perfect impression of Van Drunen (seriously, it’s spooky how close they sound). His frenzied vocals elevate the song above average and because the guitars sound as mean as a kitten, his roar is the only thing keeping things truly heavy and mean. “The Ardennes Offensive” is faster and adroitly intersperses effective doom segments. “Passchendaele” (yep, another song on the topic) is the biggest “doom” track here, with loads of grim, stuck-in-the-mud riff lines and a dark feeling that complements the subject matter. Epic length closer “The Pacific” also works the doom concept in well with forlorn, unhappy leads (especially the opening riffs).

The only track that falls flat for me is ”Firestorm,” which despite some nifty riffs and cool moments, is far too long at 7:30 and really should be trimmed by two or three minutes. It drags between cool moments and had me moss-gazing with the best of em (i.e. AMG). Working in the band’s favor is the relative shortness of the album at 46 minutes. This prevents the doom and crush from getting too monotonous, which at times hurt Encirclement a bit.

This material would be much less convincing without the top-notch vocals of Nastolin. He allows the band to overcome some really intrinsic errors in production and mix and his ranting and raving provides a much needed edge. The riffing and soloing from Nastolin and Henri Hirvonen is solid and frequently manages to convey the grim, gruesome feel of a battlefield and the horrors of war. If they weren’t so utterly hamstrung by the production, their work would be vastly more impressive and impactful.

Overall, a pretty solid release by a talented, but still unsung band. It kills me how weak the mix is, but you can’t put the warhorse back in the bag. It’s a testament to their writing and playing that The Last Days of War ended up this listenable, despite the pussy-willow guitar sound. All I can say is, they had best murk it up on the next album or there really will be a war!

The post Decaying – The Last Days of War Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

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The awesomely-named Surgeon is a trio from Philadelphia, and according to them, they play progressive metal with a touch of doom. Their second album is out this week and goes by the very metal name of Chemical Reign. I was unable to find any trace of their first album on the Interwebs, and as it turns out, “Surgeon” is not the most Google-friendly of band names (although I now know where to get a gastric bypass done). So other than the blurb above, from the bands’ own website, I’m going in completely blind.

Chemical Reign kicks off with the slow churn of “The Creeple,” and I am intrigued. The riffs are crunchier than a mouthful of gravel, and the crystal-clear production sounds damn nice to my ears. The almost-poppy “Watching You” is solid, as is ”Greed,” a midtempo crusher with some fancy fretwork. Other highlights include the glorious harmonized leads of “Hamburger Factory” and the weird, “Raining Blood”-quoting “Animals.”

Guitarist Lydia Giordano has legitimate old-school chops and is clearly the star of this show, with a stinging tone and melodies that cut like knives. In true classic-rock fashion, she may not play thousands of notes, but she’s playing the right ones — check out those haunting leads on the title track for proof. Drummer Ruston Grosse is no slouch either, with a resumé that includes Woe, Rumplestiltskin Grinder and motherfucking Master (!!!), although Surgeon is a far cry from any of those bands.

Sean Bolton is certainly a more than competent bassist, but as a lead vocalist he’s generic at best. He has his moments throughout the album, but overall, he’s pretty one-dimensional. Mastodon‘s much-reviled clean vocals are a pretty apt comparison. Also, the occasionally silly lyrics give the impression that he might take his job slightly less seriously than he should. His vocals grow on you after a few listens, but they’re still an odd match for music this refined.

I’m a little confused as to where Surgeon gets off calling themselves either progressive or doom. There are some bits on Chemical Reign that can pass for prog, but they are few and far between. And I have no idea where the doom reference comes from at all, unless Surgeon defines “doom” as merely not playing fast. At best, this is “progressive” with a lower-case P, with the focus on songcraft rather than technicality and/or complexity. It’s the same tenuous link to prog rock that bands like Hammers of Misfortune and 3 have been saddled with.

But the label doesn’t matter — if Surgeon wants to tell the world that they play old-school Gregorian Chant with a hint of New Jack Swing, that’s OK with me. But my main gripe with Chemical Reign is that it’s pretty non-directional. Most of the songs cling to the same mid-tempo pace, with few payoffs as far as dynamics or interesting change-ups. The songs do go through a bunch of different movements and parts, and the guitar layering is pretty clever, but few of these songs live up to their potential.

These motherfuckers can obviously play, and they have a true talent in Giordano. But I want the riff that makes me put my fist in the air involuntarily, the lyric that sticks in my head for weeks, that guitar solo that has me grinding my teeth — these guys are missing the songs that do THAT to people. Granted, almost everybody else is missing those songs, too. But I sense that Surgeon has the potential to pull it off, and that makes it all the more frustrating when they fall short. In the meantime, if you want to hear some solid heavy metal with some depth to it, check out Chemical Reign, and keep an eye out for album #3.

The post Surgeon – Chemical Reign Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

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For a lot of bands, the album title Life Sentence would be a clever moniker, a reference to the penal system with the potential for lots of imprisonment imagery, but it might not say anything significant about the band’s core identity. For Satan, Life Sentence effectively portrays every band member’s relationship to heavy metal. Satan were founded in Newcastle, U.K. In 1979 and were instrumental in establishing the movement that has come to be known as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Though they languished in obscurity for much of their early career, their style, which exhibited aspects of very early thrash and speed metal, would go on to help define both genres.

As the retro-thrash movement has grown and interest in some of the earliest thrash metal and NWOBHM bands has grown, groups like Satan are finding a new and enthusiastic audience. After agreeing to a one-off reunion to play 2004′s Wacken metal festival in Germany, Satan officially returned to activity in 2011. After a string of festival dates, Satan have finally released their first new material in decades with Life Sentence.

Satan‘s history is a little convoluted, with numerous line-up and even name changes making things complicated. Their 1983 debut, Caught In The Act, and their third album, Suspended Sentence (1987) were released as Satan, while in between they released the album Out of Reach under the name Blind Fury in 1985. They later changed their name to Pariah, releasing two albums and folded in 1989, then got back together for one more album as Pariah in 1998 before returning to the netherworld. But, like a bad rash or an evil ex-boyfriend, Satan keep coming back, and thirty years after their first full-length album as Satan, they’ve returned to rightfully reclaim their throne.

So, what does Life Sentence sound like? Pretty damn close to perfect. With the weight of their history and cultural cache hanging over this reunion album, it would be very easy for Satan to have failed, to have lost the fire or succumbed to hubris. Instead, Life Sentence sounds as though it emerged from a time capsule, sealed away when Satan were originally at the height of their powers. I imagine that they had planned this all along and stored this album for decades, knowing the world would one day need them again, like a dormant superhero who returns when the world again needs saving [My kind of superhero! --- Madam X].

The songs pour out, molten and smoldering  one after the other. The riffs have a kind of monumental perfection, a divine simplicity that, once you hear them, you can’t imagine a world without them anymore. It’s a pleasure to listen to, fierce and fiery, unbelievably catchy and blood-igniting. It has a particular kind of energy that makes you want to get out and do something – it’s perfect for listening to on a long, stomping walk, and is sure to fill your imagination with epic battles and adventures. “Siege Mentality” is a study in mid-tempo thrash mastery; “Incantations” is a swirling, melodic vortex; and the doomier, more atmospheric and dark “Tears of Blood” is at once appropriately heavy and refreshing.

There are small moments of imperfection, of course. “Another Universe” starts out at a gloomy crawl before picking up in the middle, making the pacing at the end of the album a bit off. And, while not necessarily a flaw, Satan have chosen to use a modern production. While I think this leads to some excellent choices, like the glossy, almost silken quality to the vocals (which are overall a highlight of the album), some listeners might be put off by the lack of old-school grit. Aside from these quibbles, Life Sentence is an exceptional effort from a band that deserves the title genre-defining. One of the giants of the old world has returned. [All hail Satan! --- Madam X].

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Sweet mother of Jesusabub, is there no relief from 2013s merciless crusade against bands I like? One by one I’ve watched them fall to some diabolical curse of ungoodness and all I can do is stare at the release schedule with unease and wonder…who’s next? The answer is Finland’s bullet-belted cheese mongers, Battle Beast. As you may or may not care to remember, I made quite a fuss over their Steel debut due to its infectious brand of Euro-power tinged with traditional metal. It was ridiculously cheese-tastic, but it had more balls than a gym teacher’s storage closet and every song was an earworm Paul Atreides himself would be proud to ride. A huge part of the band’s charm came from the leather lunged power and presence of front woman Nitte Valo. She was part banshee, part rock star, all metal and her pipes were impossible to resist. Naturally, she bailed and now the Beast is fronted by new femme fatale  Noora Louhimo and though she’s good, she’s no Nitte. Along with the line up change comes a new fixation on hair metal and a more slick, commercial sound. While some of the essential elements of the band remain (lion-men fighting robots), their sophomore opus is a mere shadow of Steel and has way too  many boring, uninspired, power metal nuggets. Oh, the humanity!

Though I was intensely unhappy to hear of Ms. Valo’s exodus, I approached this with an open mind and opener “Let It Roar” gave me reason to hope for great things. It’s very much the same type song that graced Steel and Noora acquits herself well, showcasing aggressive, in-your-face vocals and respectable range. She’s paired with the Grave Digger-like rasps of guitarist Anton Kabanen and the result is a face-ripping barnstormer of a tune. However, that’s as good as it gets and the remainder is a mix of catchy, but wishy-washy, 80s bubble gum metal and some harder, but less memorable tunes. On the good side of the pond, “Out of Control” and Out in the Streets” are accessible, Lita Ford-ish lite metal and they have an undeniable hook factor come chorus time. “Into the Heart of Darkness” is heavier, memorable and sounds a bit like Mike Howe era Metal Church, but the twinkling keys and concerted effort to make it more commercial undermines it. “Raven” is heavier still and Noora shows she can get rough and raspy when needed.

Sadly, the last six songs (out of an unlucky thirteen) contain but one respectable tune (“Kingdom”), with the rest falling between bad (“Over the Top,” “Black Ninja”) and uninteresting (“Machine Revolution,” “Fight Kill Die”). In an inexplicable move, they end with the song “Rain Man,” which has exactly the same chorus as “Raven” except Noora bellows RAIN MAN instead of RAVEN, thereby making me think of Dustin Hoffman standing there looking worried and in need of hugs and clean underwear. That’s not fookin metal.

Before the finger-pointing starts, I want to stress that the material doesn’t fail because of Noora’s vocals. She can play this game with the big boys and I came to enjoy her vocals quite a bit after I got over my Nitte-picking. She can sing with power and also sound quite hypnotic when she wants. If she was given material as good as the Steel stuff, I’m sure she would carry the day with aplomb. Sadly, the band seems to have shot their creative wad and could only cobble together half an album’s worth of decent material. The more melodic approach also strikes me as misstep. They open with such a rabble rousing anthem, then proceed to dial shit back from 11 to 7 (have they learned nothing from Spinal Tap? If it goes to 11, turn it to 11!!). Another complaint is the paucity of Kabanen’s wild screech/rasps. He blows the roof off on “Let It Roar” and then falls silent for the rest of the album. That seems a rather poor choice.

There were plenty of synths on Steel, but they were used to create an epic flavor. Here, the keys remind me way too much of Judas Priest‘s Turbo album and they veer into bubbly, dance club electronica at times too. The guitars are often too subdued and fighting for space, and without a big guitar sound, this stuff feels fairly flaccid. At least the solos by Kabanen and Juuso Soinio are wildly exaggerated and amusing in a true metal way.

Battle Beast feels like a safe, watered down album by a band that believed they were on the verge of something big. Gone is the tongue-in-cheek, nerd-raging flair and fuck you attitude that put Steel on the map and without it, Battle Beast is just another cheesy power metal band with a chick singer. I think I deserve more out of this relationship. In short, this Altered Beast don’t hunt.

The post Battle Beast – Battle Beast Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

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Gawd, is it possible it’s really been 30 years since V and Robert Englund rooted their reptilian claws so firmly into my life! My head very nearly exploded when I came across this, the first full-length release by Swedish deathgrind band Quest of Aidance and I discovered that Misanthropic Propaganda is in fact a V concept album based on the original 1983 television series. Yes really! Misanthropic Propaganda follows on from their 2007 EP Dark Are The Skies At Hand and while there has been an extended break between the EP and this full-length, its done Quest of Aidance a world of good. Dark Are The Skies At Hand contained a mismatch of material, with part of the album referencing a Predator concept and the rest V. With such a blatant mismatch of ideas and the chaotic combination of the grind micro-song trend, the EP left me flat. Seven years later, Quest of Aidance return with their take on death metal’s technicality and grind’s brutality; crashing the two together in a head-on collision that reminds me of a Dying Fetus, Misery Index mash-up with some Travis Richter The Human Abstract progressive elements thrown in for good measure. Feeling those hunger pangs setting in yet? [I'm so hungry, I could eat a huge mouse!! --- Steel Druhm].

While Quest of Aidance may not be well known, its individual members surely are. Founding members Christian Älvestam (Miseration, Solution .45, Torchbearer,  ex-Scar Symmetry, ex-Syconaut and ex-Carnalized) and Christian Lundgren (Miseration, Vomitous and ex-Carnalized) handle the rhythm and lead guitars on the album. Their fast, shreddy, progressive guitar work ranges from militaristic, stabbing assaults on “New Storm Rising” to brutiful [Are you making up words like Alex does? --- Steel Druhm] riffs and solos that seem instantly familiar on tracks like “Deadly Viral Strain”, “Section 34”, “Sothis Allegro” and the thought provoking “Like Shadowing Suns”. Session drummer Oscar Nilsson (Miseration, Saint Daemon and Despite) is a dynamic and vital part of Misanthropic Propaganda, providing a near-relentless skull pounding of well-timed blasts and palatable, whirlwind fills offsetting and adding to the contrasting synth elements in tracks like the “Deadly Viral Strain” and “The 5^th Column”.

Much like the Visitors, Quest of Aidance have a two-pronged approach to their vocal style, in one instance they’re lambasting you with seething, deep-throated, growls and the next you’re under siege by venomous, larynx-shredding screams reminiscent of Travis Richter’s vocals on The Human Abstract. Vocal highlights include the offset growls and screams in “To No Avail”, “Syrian Breed” and the angry assault of “Anyx”.

Swedish artist Pär Olofsson does an outstanding job of hitting you with the full lizzardly, doomridden visual aspect of Misanthropic Propaganda, successfully bringing this monster to life. Pär’s art specialty lies in dramatically representing death metal using visual arts that include aliens, zombies and the apocalyptic and his previous works grace albums like Immolation’s Majesty and Decay and Spawn of Possession’s Incurso and Noctumbulant to name just a few — gotta say I love this creepy-as-hell album cover!

The clean and modern production used on Misanthropic Propaganda makes picking up on Daniel Valström’s (Syconaut) vocals (the lyrics and the album’s concept) remarkably easy, and therein lies my gripe. Being that this is deathgrind and is supposed to make you get up, mosh and destroy your living room, the album feels as though it’s missing some of the savagery and malice.

If you’re able to overlook the “modern production” issues and you take time to allow the wormy intricacies to wash over and immerse you in Misanthropic Propaganda‘s concept, this album’s depth will captivate you.

The post Quest of Aidance – Misanthropic Propaganda Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

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