Angry Metal Guy

Powerwolf // Blood of the Saints
Rating: 2.5/5.0 — Bark at the goon
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: powerwolf.net | myspace.com/powerwolfmetal
Release Dates: Out now!

German power metal/freak show act Powerwolf have been perplexing me since their 2005 debut. All corpse painted up and evil looking, they look like a black metal band but actually play sub-par power metal with traditional metal elements and coat the whole thing with cheesy theatrics and goofball pomp. I attempted to get into what they were doing on several occasions due to the buzz they were receiving but aside from a few scattered tracks, it was rough going. To me they always seemed generic and silly, though I appreciated their zest and zeal for entertaining. With this back-history, I naturally chose to approach their fourth album, Blood of the Saints with muted expectations. As usual, Steel Druhm is proven wise indeed. Blood of the Saints is arguably Powerwolf‘s best release thus far and packs several amusing and respectable songs, albeit, still laden with cheese and cheap theatrics. However, as a whole, its still the same Powerwolf product and that can’t lead too far down the road to the land of 5.0. For every decent song, there’s an equally painful one and a few are just laughable. While I know they don’t take themselves too seriously, sometimes silly is too silly and that’s the case here more often than not. Continue reading

U.D.O. // Rev-Raptor
Rating: 3.0/5.0 — Udo Accepts the consolation prize.
Label: AFM Records
Websites: udo-online.de | myspace.com/udoonline
Release Dates: EU: 2011.05.24 | US: 05.31.2011

U.D.O. is back! The diminutive Teutonic terror who’s gravelly cackle defined the sound of Accept for decades has resurfaced with yet another solo album (his thirteenth!). This time out however, he does so in the very large shadow cast by his former unit’s 2010 release Blood of Nations. That opus was a classic metal monster and ended up near the top of my best of 2010 list. Since Rev-Raptor will inevitably be seen by many as Udo Dirkschneider’s return salvo, the obvious question becomes, how does it measure up? Well, in all fairness, Mr. Udo has released far more records under the U.D.O. moniker than he ever released with Accept. That said, he’s still famous as the “voice” of Accept so the comparison is to be expected. In short, no, this isn’t on par with Blood of Nations, but its still a solid traditional metal album with some entertaining numbers that will make you bang your head the old fashioned way. If you’ve heard any of the prior U.D.O. albums, you know what to expect here since there’s been scarce variation across his long and storied discography. Its raucous 80′s style classic metal, much like classic Accept, with few frills but plenty of balls (to the wall) and the man’s trademark screech. If that sounds good to you, read on (AMG has already left the building and set it on fire). Continue reading

So instead of a review, today, you’re getting what is going to be a 5 piece attempt to shame the assholes over at Gibson, who apparently haven’t listened to heavy metal since 1984. While this list is bound to be controversial (trust me), it is also done with a very specific purpose in mind, which is to remind everyone that heavy metal has continued to exist since Nirvana sold a bunch of records. But, of course, the Anglocentric jackasses over at Gibson didn’t realize this. Anyway, this oughtta piss everyone right off, but hopefully someone involved in the creation of that list feels ashamed for having been such idiots. Note to old guys: shit still happens once you’ve stopped caring. Continue reading

Sahg // III
Rating: 4.0/5.0 — The Norwegian scene is dead, long live the Norwegian scene!
Label: Indie Recordings
Websites: sahg.no | myspace.com/sahg
Release Dates: EU: 30.08.2010 | US: Unknown (09.14.2010?)

Retro is the new new, apparently. Everyone and their dog is doing retro bands doing old school things with better (or at least louder) production and with the sensibilities of generations who have listened to a lot of music and decided that it’s time to come back to the thing that really seems to unite them: the 1970s. I, myself, have been listening to a lot of stuff from the 1970s lately, and especially the progressive rock movement that influenced many of the musicians from Scandinavia seems to be rearing its head in an interesting combination of traditional hard rock, heavy metal sensibilities and dudes who used to play black metal. Sahg‘s III embodies this movement sonically—and does it very, very well. Continue reading

In This Moment // A Star-Crossed Wasteland
Rating: 1.0/5.0 — Every time you play this record a Metal God dies…
Label: Century Media
Websites: myspace.com/inthismoment
Release Dates: EU: 12.07.2010 | US: 07.13.2010

So I admit, I’ve never heard SoCal pop rockers In This Moment before. This review will be completely devoid of comparisons to their last two records. Nor will it be filled with witty insights into how the band has changed over their time and whether or not this is a darker record (of course, every new record is the darkest, heaviest, etc., that any band has ever done, so trust the bio about as far as you can throw Arnold Schwarzneger). No, this is going to pretty much be a tirade about how much I really don’t like this album at all or the style of music or basically anything about this at all except for Maria’s clean singing voice, which is very good. You are warned. Don’t throw a fit in the comments because I hate your favorite band: I’ve already warned you. If you read past the jump then it’s your own fucking fault. Continue reading

Audrey Horne // Audrey Horne
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — Ozzy meets modern rock! Catchy, well-produced, commercial.
Label: Indie Recordings
Websites: myspace.com/audreyhornemusic
Release Date: EU: 01.03.2010 | US: 03.01.2010 (?)

It’s been a long time since a sort of standard modern rock or traditional metal band really showed off anything that this Angry Metal Guy appreciated. For the most part, modern rock has been rehashed BS and overrated post-Seattle scene leftovers. The bands that have tried to convert their sounds (see: the remnants of Guns N’ Roses meets STP or Europe‘s latest incarnation) have really failed at it because the sound is, at its root, boring as hell. Rehashing rock again with thicker guitar tone and a vocalist who will never live up to the classics is pretty much a good way to guarantee that your vocalist buddy goes to rehab, but not much more. Whatever happened to Buckcherry again? Oh right. Flash in the effing pan.

So, it was with great surprise that Audrey Horne is none of these things. Instead, Audrey Horne is a smartly packaged modern rock band with pop, pizazz and some seriously above par songwriting skills. And where are they from? Oh, you guessed it: NORWAY! Wait, you didn’t guess that? That’s right, Audrey Horne, my metal brethren, is made up of a bunch of Norwegian metal dudes who apparently are also suckers for trad rock and metal and who, instead of going the “let’s try to be Iron Maiden” route, went the “let’s make pop rock” route in their quest to pay homage to traditional metal. And they pull it off. It’s just funny to see that Ice Dale (Enslaved) is in this band. ‘Cause he’s in like every project on Indie Recordings. Anyone else notice that? Honestly, I think it’s one of their signing requirements. “Well, we only sign Norwegian bands and you gotta use Ice Dale on guitar.”

But on to the music. This is not a metal album. This is modern rock with pretty good riffs, great melodies and no shortage of wall of sound guitars. This is the kind of thing your buddy would show you and you’d say “Oh, yeah, that’s alright.. but have you heard…”. It’s the kind of thing you’d pick up, but your girlfriend would listen to more than you. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if these guys got picked up by Roadrunner and sent on tour with Nickelback. This is not meant to be an insult (because honestly, these guys put Nickelback to shame in terms of talent, song writing, originality and non-annoyingness), but the sound is palatable, sweet and catchy as hell. However, the listener feels like they’ve heard this before.. but just can’t place it.

That said, we like it! While the record drags on a little at the end, the songs on here are well composed and catchy. The opening track “Charon” bursts out the door to open the record (after the intro track “Vultures”) and had me immediately hooked, largely because of vocalist Toschie’s mix between Ozzy and Scott Weiland and his adhesive melodies—you will have this chorus stuck in your head for days afterwords. The introductory Ozzy channeling isn’t the only time it happens. Instead it can be easily seen on tracks like “Blaze of Ashes” and “Bridge and Anchors”. But these guys are really at their best when they’re doing something that’s a little bit more akin to Tool‘s sound, with sort of atmospheric, melodic verse parts and big, memorable choruses like on the song “Pitch Black Mourning” and “Firehose”. The  only major misfires are ballads. This record contains a couple of them and they are no good.. just no good. Let what is dead stay dead, guys. (Really? “Sail Away”? REALLY?)

Audrey Horne is really good at what they do, but what they do is going to strike different metalheads in different ways. I can see this being really popular with sort of older, more traditional metal fans who are probably in the same age group as the guys in this band. They’re going to find everything they want: catchy choruses, good guitar solos, retro keyboard sounds and highly melodic vocals that harken back to when men were men and they had frills on their jackets. If you’re into that, or into post-grunge modern rock, then we suggest you check this out. ‘Cause, these Norwegians do it better than any American band this Angry Metal Guy has heard in .. well .. years.