Angry Metal Guy

Primal Fear // Unbreakable
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — Judas Pri-mal!
Label: Frontier Records
Websites: primalfear.de | myspace.com/primalfearofficial
Release Dates: EU: 20.01.2012 | US:  01.25.2012

Anthems baby, fucking ANTHEMS!! That’s what Primal Fear has been churning out since ’98 and that’s probably what they’ll keep churning out ’til they die (old metalheads never really die, they just become classic rock). While they began life as Germanic Judas Priest clones (mostly due to the Halford-esque vocal stylings of mega-voice Ralf Scheepers [Sheeples? - AMG]), they slowly evolved into their own sound, merging classic Priest, Maiden and Saxon influences with europower metal like Iron Savior and Gamma Ray (Ralf’s former band). In the process, they’ve become one of the most dependable, consistent stars in the heavy metal galaxy, releasing mindlessly enjoyable, rockin albums with moments of sheer metallic brilliance (basically, they’re the AC/DC of quasi-Judas Priest clones). Their ninth studio album, Unbreakable may be their best yet and packs one old-school, fist-in-the-air anthem after another. They know what side their bread is buttered on and they know their craft inside and out. There aren’t any surprises here beyond how catchy and consistent the songs are and the high level of classic metal enthusiasm they bring to the party. It sure ain’t proggy or forward-thinking, but this is metal-as-hell and that’s enough for Steel Druhm the Elder. Continue reading

Bullet // Highway Pirates
Rating: 3.0/5.0 — Yar, it don’t blow!!
Label: Black Lodge Records
Websites: bullet.nu | myspace.com/bulletsweden
Release Dates: EU: 04.02.2011 | US: 02.04.2011

Highway Pirates? Well, that album title blows more than the Last Airbender! If I didn’t already know the music of Sweden’s Bullet, I would likely skip over this release based on severe title failure alone. I mean, c’mon, Highway Pirates? Pair that with the painfully cheesy 80s style album cover and these guys are not doing themselves any favors from a strictly promotional standpoint. Thankfully though, I do know Bullet and what they deliver, which is 110% throwback retro metal/hard rock that sounds like a fusion of old AC/DC and old Accept. I was pretty taken with the goofy but infectiously rockin’ charm of their 2008 album Bite the Bullet and little has changed here as far as sound, style or intent. This is simple, neanderthal metal/rock without any attempts to be thoughtful or important in any way. Beer drinking music, drunken weekend music, call it what you will but this is fun and catchy stuff without pretense. Is it original? No. Is it modern? No. Is it good? Yes, yes it is. Continue reading

Grave Digger // The Clans Will Rise Again
Rating: 2.5/5.0 — Half baked clans
Label: Napalm Records
Websites: grave-digger-clan.com | myspace.com/gravediggerclan
Release Dates: EU: 01.10.2010 | US: 10.12.2010

Nobody, and I mean nobody does epic Scottish war metal better than those crazy Germans in Grave Digger! On their FIFTEENTH album The Clans Will Rise Again, the Diggers revisit territory well covered by 1996’s Tunes of War and we get all new tales of William “Braveheart” Wallace and his efforts to cast off the yoke of English tyranny and oppression. By now most know what to expect from a new Grave Digger platter since these guys are the AC/DC of Germanic metal and there aren’t many big surprises here either. You get some rollicking, guitar-driven, semi-thrash power metal numbers with the unique and harsh warble of sole original member Chris Boltendahl and few slower power ballads tossed in for atmosphere and such. Although there are significant consistency issues here, if you liked what they were cooking before, you’ll probably like this and if you didn’t, you still won’t. Continue reading

Therion // Sitra Ahra
Rating: 3.0/5.0 — Good, but tough for me to Sitra through.
Label: Nuclear Blast [EU | US]
Websites: megatherion.com | myspace.com/therion
Release Dates: EU: 17.09.2010 | US: 10.26.2010

All aboard the Trans-Si-Therion Express! Conductor extraordinaire Christofer Johnsson will be along shortly to check your Avant-card to be sure you are worthy of the long, strange and bewildering musical odyssey he carefully prepared for you. And quite a journey it is through Therion’s fourteenth album Sitra Ahra (fourth in the quadrilogy made up of Deggial, Sirius B and Lemuria). Continuing along with his own unique vision of sympho-orchestro-gotho-metal, Johnsson may well have outdone himself here in scope and excess. If forced to describe Sitra Ahra in one word, that word would be bombastic. If granted another word, it would be pretentious. If given but three more, they would be over-the-top. How pretentious and over-the-top is Sitra Ahra you ask? So pretentious that it makes Nightwish and Epica sound like AC/DC. So over-the-top, it could only be equaled by a production of The Vagina Monologues staring both Gwar and Immortal.  Now, clearly restraint was never the point here and Johnsson’s motto has always been “more is more” and that’s great. But when is more TOO much? Continue reading

Six Feet Under // Graveyard Classics 3
Rating: 2.5/5.0 — It’s hard to imagine how it could possibly be better…
Label: Metal Blade
Websites: sfu420.com | myspace.com/sixfeetunder
Release Dates: EU: 15/18.01.2010 | US: 01.19.2010

Six Feet Under is back with the third installment in their Graveyard Classics series, and fortunately for us, this time they’re not covering AC/DC songs. I suspect that the majority of you either know what these things are about, have heard them, or just don’t care at all so I’m not going to spend tons of time on this, but Graveyard Classics 3 is a cover record from the groove oriented death metal band Six Feet Under. Barnes and crew have, this time around, elected a bunch of their favorite tracks from before they were in bands and have warped them into death rock tracks. The result being sort of cartoonish and silly: but mildly enjoyable at the same time.

I’m not a big fan of cover records or tribute records, and I always think it’s really funny when bands cover something that was originally done with clean vocals but instead use growls (I’ve heard some pretty funny covers of Iron Maiden songs done in that way). But Six Feet Under does manage to pull off a few good covers on here and even manage to improve on one track (but that’s partially because Van Halen never had a vocalist I could stand—so of course it sounds better with growls). In my opinion the best covers are on here are Metallica‘s “The Frayed Ends of Sanity”, “Psychotherapy” from the Ramones and Prong‘s timeless classic “Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck”. Sure, they’re a little silly with Barnes growling over them—but it’s the party novelty kind of approach.

This will definitely be more interesting to longtime fans of the band than to the average listener, but it does have a certain charm to it. But given that the material isn’t even original, I can’t think that I would give it much more than an “OK”. Though, I haven’t listened to these guys in year, now I think I’m going to go back and listen to their discog… I love that track “Revenge of the Zombie”.