Angry Metal Guy

Annihilator // Annihilator
Rating: 2.0/5.0 – Alice ain’t well.
Label: Earache
Websites: annihilatormetal.com | myspace.com/annihilatorofficial
Release Dates: Out Now!

No metal band has managed to frustrate and baffle me as consistently as Annihilator has over their long career. Their 1989 debut album Alice in Hell was a classic in the thrash genre and showed a band brimming with talent and energy. Founder, lead songwriter and guitarist Jeff Waters was hailed as a rising star and someone to watch closely. Since then, Annihilator has struggled mightily to live up to the hype garnered by their debut and their subsequent albums have come nowhere near that level of quality. In fact, many of those albums were either complete disasters (Refresh the Demon, Remains, All for You) or near disasters (Set the World on Fire, Metal). Each time a new Annihilator release was set to drop, I would pray for greatness and a return to form but mostly get mediocrity. Now it’s 2010 and we get their thirteenth album, simply titled Annihilator, and again the goods are not delivered.

Continue reading

Necronomicon // The Return of the Witch
Rating: 3.5/5.0 – Epic death metal that doesn’t sound fruity.
Label: Napalm Records
Websites: myspace.com/necronomiconmetal
Release Dates: EU: 04.06.2010 | US: 06.08.2010

There was a time where I loved all death metal and I mean all of it! When the death metal explosion started up in the mid to late 80s, I couldn’t get enough of the stuff whether good, bad or really awful. I just loved those Cookie Monster vocals. Over time however, as more and more bands glommed onto the style, my tastes refined and I steered toward those bands that were trying something different or unique within the genre. Canada’s little known death metal three piece Necronomicon (not to be confused with German thrashers of the same name) was always a band that did things a little differently and always earned my respect. In fact, Necronomicon helped jump start the whole “Egyptian themed death metal” style alongside Nile with their debut album Pharaoh of the Gods in 1999. Happily, their efforts to create unique death metal continue on their third album The Return of the Witch.

Continue reading

Bison B.C. // Dark Ages
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — Way cool record
Label: Metal Blade
Websites: myspace.com/bisoneastvan
Release Dates: EU: 9.04.2010 | US: 04.12.2010

Another record from Metal Blade’s Canadian installation and the third record from Canadian 70s-metal-meets-hardcore band Bison BC. This record took me totally by surprise, as I’d never heard of this band before and wasn’t really sure of what to expect. Honestly, all I had to go with was the look of the record and it looked very 70s. That fact alone hasn’t been very reassuring, while there are some bands out there trying to push the sound a bit, it just feels like another nostalgia movement that isn’t going anywhere to me so I tend to be pretty skeptical of such records.

Dark Ages, however, is maybe that white buffalo of the herd, then. While maintaining the fundamental foundations that you hear from bands like High on Fire or Barn Burner, that is, the thick low end and doomy feel, Bison BC pushes the envelope with a much more hardcore oriented vocal approach. The sound is also characterized by some old school sounding death metal riffs and some deceivingly proggy moments which I could have done with even more of actually. While the indie scene is getting their 70s prog on, the metal scene seems to be more interested in emulating the simplicity of Motorhead and Black Sabbath and less with some of the more progressive roots of the scene—something that is slightly remedied here.

I might be wrong, but there is definitely the feel that these guys were also a bunch of former crust punks or something. The record is produced much more like an old hardcore or metal album than most of the modern stuff that’s coming out and it’s a sound that I really like. The tones are thick and meaty, the drums are nothing but beef and the guitar tone is like smooth like butter while still being totally fat. This is one of the best features of the album, as you sort of zone in and out of their riffs, it really stands out how fucking heavy old school production really  sounds when you compare it to a lot of the modern production tricks and techniques that we’re hearing these days. All-in-all, the earthy tone from this Canadian foursome is a refreshing change of pace and Dark Ages has all the heavy riffs that a modern metal head could possibly want. For me, the highlights were definitely “Stressed Elephant”, which has a cool horn section at the beginning, some acoustic work at the end and is just generally totally epic, and the track “Die of Devotion” which is almost thrash, except that the chord and melodic choices are way more interesting. But “Wendigo Pt. 3″ which seals the record up is definitely the finest moment and it culminates in all that prog that’s missing from the more straight hardcore and metal stuff.

Honestly, the biggest complaint that I have about this record is probably that it’s not proggy enough. They sound like they want to prog it up, but then they always break it back down to the more simplistic hardcore and crusty stylings. While it definitely works and is definitely enjoyable, it left me frustrated waiting for Rush or Kansas to burst through all the “raaaah!” that was going on here. Fans of the neo-70s stuff, crusty punk and hardcore should definitely check this out. Though, I think most people should at least give these guys a listen, because Dark Ages is interesting, thick and heavy as the nearly extinct land mammal from which they take their name.

Aeternam // Disciples of the Unseen
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — Solid debut, can’t wait for more!
Label: Metal Blade
Website: myspace.com/aeternammetal
Release Date(s): EU: 15.02.2010 | US: 02.16.2010

Egyptian metal is apparently a genre now! I didn’t have any clue! I just thought it was kind of a thing that Nile did. And then it was Nile and Behemoth. And then it was Nile, Behemoth and SepticFlesh. And now it’s Nile, Behemoth, SepticFlesh and Aeternam! I think that counts as a genre! So, that’s pretty cool in and of itself. Oh, and it turns out that Aeternam is pretty cool themselves, leading to a generally all around happy feeling for a few fleeting moments before the general irritants that keep me so angry all the time come crashing back in.

Though, really, Egyptian Metal doesn’t describe much except the mode the band plays in all the time, so as a responsible reviewer it is my job to elucidate what exactly it is that this band is doing and what they’re doing well (and not-so-well). Like many other bands, Aeternam is fundamentally a melodic death metal band. Though, they border the line into what I would call “progressive” death metal, due to the use of acoustics, tribal drums and other not-necessarily-metal kind of things to build atmosphere and songs in general. But fundamentally Aeternam still whips out the melody, guitar harmonies and mid-paced riffs and growls enough to make you feel comfortable calling them melodic death metal. The other side to the band’s sound is a blasty death metal style that is definitely Nile influenced. However, due to differences in production and writing style (an ear more towards melody and drums much lower in the mix), the band manages to differentiate itself from the Egyptian metal giants pretty easily.

The writing on here is solid and dynamic, as well. Not only is the band obviously influenced by death metal bands, there is a pop sense and power metal sensibility on here that very rarely shows up in death metal. On tracks like “Esoteric Formulae” and “Goddess of Masr” you can definitely hear power metal influences (the two that spring to mind repeatedly are Iced Earth and Symphony X). One could say that this is partially due to the band’s vocalist, who has a great baritone range and is not afraid to show off his pipes. However, he’s also not overly showy with his vocals and they only grace a few tracks on the whole album, keeping them sparse and effective. However, there is a distinctively power/classic metal guitar approach on a lot of these songs.

Disciples of the Unseen is a fantastic debut record for this Canadian quintet. While the band isn’t breaking a whole lot of new ground, they are melding some sounds into something that is definitely their own! The more melodic take on Egyptian Metal with the fantastic grooves (like on “Ouroboros”) and excellent vocal performances, as well as a great band performance is definitely a recipe for success.  Some of the tracks on here (most notably “Through the Eyes of Ea”) are a bit too spotty, in my opinion, but in general the flow and consistency of Disciples of the Unseen are very good. In an era when metal is desperately seeking a new take on melodic death metal to take it into the future, a band like Aeternam might just have what it takes to work us in that direction with work like Disciples of the Unseen.

Barn Burner // Bangers
Rating: 1.5/5.0 — Pretty good album marred by very banal, lackluster vocals
Label: Metal Blade
Website: myspace.com/theinfamousbarnburner
Release Dates: EU: 15.02.2010 | US: 02.16.2010

I don’t know about you, but when I think about classic rock I think about vocalists. Guys like Steve Perry, Steven Tyler, Robert Plant, Geddy Lee.. you know, big voices, amazing melodies, and sure while you might not like every single person there, you appreciate what they offered in the sense of their huge influence and their technical skill. Hell, even look at early metal vocalists, guys like Paul Di’Anno, Rob Halford and Bruce Dickinson were all very different stylistically, but had gripping melodies, great presence and pushed forward with their sounds. So what fascinates me is that any band with sort of a classic rock influence and approach would ever select a vocalist with a 4 note range.. but I have now encountered it on Barn Burner‘s Bangers.

I do not begrudge a band its style. No, every band has its own style, for better or worse, and should be accepted for that style. And stylistically there are some very compelling things about the band Barn Burner, which is releasing their debut record on Metal Blade in about a week. The record is heavy and thick with a nice, old fashioned analogue sound that is pleasing to the ears and that is reminiscent of a time when men were men and bell bottoms were hip. The riffing is iron clad and enjoyable, pumping out excellent classic rock influenced licks that build tension and make you want to rock on tracks like “Medium Rare” and “Brohemoth”.  The foundation here is worth a listen to, really, ’cause this Canadian foursome has some pretty serious chops.

However, despite the record being rock solid and thick there’s this guy who drones over it. I’m actually not kidding about the vocalist’s 4 note range. I think it literally is like four notes. I didn’t count them to be sure, so I might be showing some kind of terrible bias here, but honestly it feels like ONE note the whole time, so I’m being generous by saying that he has a four note range. I could publish my notes for this review, but I think it would just add insult to injury because they all say things like “Monotone melody. Band has great chops. Four note chorus.” and “Vocalist sucks.” Or my personal favorite: “Band good. Vocalist bad.”

Honestly, I’ve been trying to figure out who this guy sounds like but I really can’t come up with it. So imagine a guy with the range of Blaze Bayley and the delivery of Bob Dylan. And actually, he kind of reminds me of the vocalist from that stupid band 3 Doors Down, except that (shock!) that guy has a better range. That probably explains it. Sure, one could say that this is sort of punky and raw, but I don’t think that’s really true. Guys in punk can sing like Bad Religion or NOFX or Propagandhi and the list goes on. Paul Di’Anno was a punky, raw metal vocalist and he has some serious fucking chops when he wanted them! No, this dude pretty much just drones at the listener for 40 minutes and at the end you’re left thinking, “Who let that guy out of the bar bathroom?”

Now, I know that this is stoner rock and I have never claimed to be a fan of stoner rock. With tracks like “Brohemoth” and “Beer Today, Bong Tomorrow” you know what we’re dealing with here. But I’m pretty sure that the dudes from Led Zeppelin were stoned like ALL THE TIME and somehow Robert Plant still manages to be a compelling vocalist. I’ve heard death metal growls with more diversity and range than this dude. I want to say for the record so that it doesn’t seem like I’m just taking cheap shots at the dirty hippies that musically, aside from the vocals this band has a ton of potential. I really enjoy the sound and the production, it’s beautiful, old school and meaty. Those are things that are missing in a ton of modern metal and rock and so I feel kinda bad for these guys that they’ve been saddled with such a vocalist. If they could get someone who has a little bit more range and personality, these guys would probably do well enough that they could buy some really good weed.

Unexpect – In A Flesh Aquarium
Rating: 4.5/5
Band website: http://www.unexpect.com
Label: The End Records

In ages past super-grindy sporadic insanity was really the territory (should I say.. TERRORtory!! *cough*) of grind bands and then, more recently, it became part of the ‘metalcore’ scene as bands like Into the Moat and Between the Buried and Me began co-opting the sporadic nature of super tech bands into their sound. Apparently, however, Unexpect missed the memo that you need to either be grindcore or have a sentence for a name to sound like they do. And how do they sound? Aside from sounding totally awesome, they sound like “sporadicore meets how-Arcturus-wanted-to-sound-but-never-had-the-production-for meets Mr. Bungle/Primus.”

But really, In A Flesh Aquarium is probably one of the freshest things I’ve heard in the metal scene in a long time. These silly canucks have really managed to piece something together that is both creative and progressive while being terribly heavy and managing to avoid ubiquitous metal cliché. They blend a fine variety of creative instrumentation with a vocal approach that involves about 3 vocalists (from the sounds of it), including death growls, black metal screams and female vocals–but they don’t just rely on instrumentation and differentiated vocals define their sound; they write truly interesting and innovative music. They combine in jazz elements as well as sporadic grind stuff and they occasional nod towards good old-fashioned Norsky black metal and older goth stuff like Moonspell or Theatre of Tragedy. This dark, near goth, feel that they create is often offset by a grind aspect and then re-built with subtle violin melodies and female vocals or keyboards. Somehow all of this is seemlessly built into a sound–probably the most impressive part of the whole project–somehow they manage to make all of these sporadic influences part of a cohesive whole.

The album flows very well, though because of my admittedly poor (read: no) experience with French a lot of the lyrics are pretty much gibberish to me. There is a sense of insanity that permeates the whole record and doesn’t need lyrics (a conveniant blend of English and French) to get across. Each song is individual, but the whole album is definitely a cohesive point of excellent heavy metal writing. However, this is definitely an earphone album, if one ever existed. Because of how much differential instrumentation there is, the number of changes in voicing, etc., it sometimes is very hard to follow unless you’re listening to it very closely. The intricacies will be totally lost on you if you don’t really give it a serious, close listen. Those who have the patience to do so will be greatly rewarded by one of the best albums to have been released in the scene in a very, very long time.