Angry Metal Guy

Iron Fire // Voyage of the Damned
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — Space metal equipped with a death ray
Label: Napalm Records
Websites: ironfire.dk | myspace.com/officialironfire
Release Dates: EU: Out now! | US: 02.07.2012

Historically speaking, I think the main reason our esteemed AMG hired me, the ever humble Steel Druhm, as a reviewer/minion [I prefer the term "bitch," actually - AMG] was to make me the resident power and traditional metal nerd (my amazing prose and rugged good looks didn’t hurt none either). While I’m predisposed to drool over most old school stuff (cause I’m old), I’m actually quite the elitist snob when it comes to power metal. There’s some good in that genre, but there are way more generic, bad and monumentally awful things lurking in the ether. Case in point, I’ve had a love/hate/meh relationship with Iron Fire over the years. Their Thunderstorm debut was decent and moderately rabble rousing, but things have been inconsistent since then and their discography reads like the good, the bad and the WTF? After being unmoved by their past few releases, I hoped for more from their seventh release, Voyage of the Damned. Turns out, I heartily appreciate the new lyrical slant toward outer space themes, as it’s a nice diversion from the usual “dragon ate my wizard’s maiden” schtick. It’s also safe to say, this is much better than expected and it slowly won me over, despite initial doubts. Roping in elements of Gamma Ray, Stratovarius, Grave Digger and Metalium, this features some highly enjoyable  Euro-power with some surprisingly heavy moments. It also delivers far less generic freight than past Iron Fire shipments. While not exactly a “must hear” album, Voyage ends up being a solid release from a band with a spotty track record.  Continue reading

Lance King // A Moment in Chiros
Rating: 3.0/5.0 —Good times, bland times
Label: Nightmare Records
Websites: lancekingvox.com/  myspace.com/lancekingvox
Release Dates: Out now!

Lance King, like Elvis, is everywhere. He’s sang for a ton of bands (Balance of Power, Pyramaze, Avian, Empire etc. etc.), he runs Nightmare Records and still found the time to record and release his first solo album, A Moment in Chiros. For those unfamiliar with his body of work, Mr. King is the quintessential prog-power metal singer. His voice is versatile, powerful and his range is impressive. He sounds equally at home alongside melodic power metal and thoughtful prog-metal. For his debut solo project, he’s brought in elements of both and made damn sure everything is super-duper melodic, even symphonic at times. To assist him in this endeavor, he recruited a mighty host of friends, including members of Anubis Gate, Beyond Twilight and Adagio. The final product (which was apparently written and recorded in only three months) will remind many of Empire-era Queensryche mixed with elements of  Dream Theater, Pagan’s Mind, Anubis Gate and of course, Lance’s other units, especially Balance of Power. There are moments where Lance and company shine as bright as the sun and there’s some interesting material here for fans of power-prog. However, A Moment in Chiros struggles with the consistency of quality and this ultimately hurts things, which is a real shame. Continue reading

Damn the Machine // Damn the Machine
Websites: Nope!
Released : 1993 via A&M Records

Here’s another overlooked and underrated gem for those of you searching for new (but old) listening material of high quality. Damn the Machine was the creation of original Megadeth guitar-wiz Chris Poland following his dismissal from Camp Mustaine. Though they only managed to release this self-titled opus, the quality is such that most listeners will ardently wish they’d been more prolific. Forsaking his Megadeth-era roots, Poland steered DTM into thoughtful, progressive metal waters with hints of jazz-fusion sprinkled (sparingly) throughout. He was also wise enough to surround himself with some seriously talented musicians (including his brother Mark on drums) and the result is nothing short of phenomenal. Not overly fast nor crushingly heavy, it successfully walks a fine line between balls and brains and echoes such better known acts as Queensryche, latter day Fates Warning, Black Album-era Metallica and even Kings X. Continue reading

Wow, what a long, strange journey through time and sub-genres it’s been. Here we finally are at the center of the metalverse. After all the lead ups (50-41, 40-31, 30-21, 20-11 | And here’s Angry Metal Guy’s first 40: 50-41, 40-31, 31-20, 20-11), these my friends are the big enchiladas of metal. The best of the beasts, the cream of the corpse paint. You were all so very patient and now you can finally rest peacefully, having attained full metal enlightenment from the Steel Druhm. If you disagree with any of these final selections, kindly think it over until you agree. Take notes Gibson.

#10: Queensryche – The Warning - “Roads to Madness” – Queensryche had a legendary run of great albums until they got all self important and sank into mediocrity and irrelevance. Some of their greatest material was on their debut and it was a mighty tough choice between this and “Take Hold of The Flame.” This gets the nod for its grim, brooding and melancholy atmosphere and emotional vocal performance by Geoff Tate. In fact, I think this song is his finest hour and showcases his considerable range and versatility. It’s also the song that hints at the male/female duets that would be so big on Operation: Mindcrime (though its Geoff approximating both male/female parts in the song’s last minute or so).  It’s a slow burning number for sure but it just gets better and better as it rolls along. They just don’t make em like this anymore, especially Queensryche!

#9: Agalloch – The Mantle - “In The Shadow of Our Pale Companions” – One of the best metal bands of all time IMHO, this album is their timeless masterpiece and this track is the centerpiece thereof. Long, moody, dark and depressive but also oddly cheery, it blew me away on the first listen and every time since. The somber and beautiful acoustic guitar lead in just builds and builds and you can almost see the mist shrouded forest towering above. The eerie black metal rasps are subdued and provide just the right hint of menace without taking away from the song’s tranquil, morose vibe. Over the length of the song, many emotions and moods are explored and there isn’t one note out of place. A creepy yet dazzling triumph.

#8: Helstar – Burning Star - “Run With the Pack” – Helstar has been plugging away in the traditional metal sphere since the early 80′s and they never really garnered the attention their talent deserved. Their long lost debut was host to several classic old timey metal songs, none better than this one. Leather lunged metal legend James Rivera (Destiny’s End, Seven Witches, Vicious Rumors etc.) was just cutting his tonsils as a singer and his raw, passionate performance here is flawed but metal as hell. The simple riffs are head banging heaven and the mood captures the spirit of 80′s metal better than almost any. What makes this rate so high is the stellar writing. Its just a great song, catchy, moody, simple but memorable. The original 1984 version has that special magic but the later re-recorded versions don’t. Run with the PACK!!

#7: Metallica – Kill Em All - “The Four Horsemen” – These days I hate Metallica with a passion that only one who once loved them intensely could generate. Of all their classic songs, this one was the undisputed champion in my mind. With one of the greatest thrash riffs ever known to man and aided by classic “old” Hetfield vox and some of Kirk Hammett’s best solos, its  a relentless rolling juggernaut of blatant badassery. Another of those note-perfect songs and arguably the best thrash song ever, it truly highlights how great these guys were and by extension, how putrid they are now. That makes me so St. Angry!

#6: Mercyful Fate – Don’t Break the Oath - “Gypsy” – The first two Mercyful Fate albums will always be near and dear to my black heart and Gypsy was always my favorite of the bunch. King Diamond was still making effective use of ALL his voices instead of relying solely on his falsetto and his dramatic vocal work here shows him at his best. The guitar work by Hank Sherman and Michael Denner shines brighter than the sun and the solo beginning at 2:09 is my favorite of all time, no exceptions. I spent most of my youth thinking King shrieks “You are a mule” at the end and I didn’t question it because the song was so damn fine!

#5: Black Sabbath – Heaven and Hell - “Heaven and Hell” – Yes, it seems madness to have a Dio-fronted Black Sabbath song at the very top of the list but in all honestly, and despite my love for all things Ozzy, this is their best song. Taking the doomy core of the Sabbath sound and fusing it to Dio’s world class vox and downcast lyrics, the band exceeded all previous heights (of which they had many) and created one mammoth and timeless piece of metal gold. That crushing main riff, the immortal opening line “sing me a song, you’re a singer” over the ominous bass, pure perfection. Dark as hell but instantly memorable, it stays with you for life and captures lightning in a bottle. Playing it nowadays really makes me miss Dio and that one-of-a-kind voice.

#4: Judas Priest – Sad Wings of Destiny - “Victim of Changes” – Over their long and storied career Judas Priest explored many variations on their metal style but this early monolith of sound was one for the history books. From the slow fade in to that oh so simple lead riffs and on to Halford’s unrestrained rock meets metal vocalizing, something special is going on here. Slightly bluesy but anchored in metal by the heavy guitars, it weaves a strange spell and feels way more epic than it should (especially given the oddball lyrics). Halford’s poignant and emotive vocals in the back half of the song along with his glass shattering high notes put a huge exclamation mark on things and make this the high point of their enormous catalog of metal hits. Good God, PLUCK ME! (whatever that means).

#3: Manowar – Hail to England - “Bridge of Death” – Manowar takes a lot of abuse for their over-the-top approach to an already over-the-top genre (and for screwing over AMG’s beloved cheese whiz-ards Rhapsody of Fire) but man, their early albums were God-like. “Bridge of Death” is essentially their “Stairway to Heaven” and yes, I see the irony. Its the most epic thing since the Big Bang and from start to finish it screams METAL with every fiber of its loinclothed being. Joey DeMaio’s bass work is extra amazing and Eric Adams puts on his premier vocal performance, from quiet crooning to rafter-shaking screams and every note in between. You simply can’t listen to him singing “I know the one who waits, Satan is his name” and not get gleaming metallic goosebumps of steel. Even DeMaio’s silly distorted vox work well and who can argue with a line like “cut off my head, release all my evil”? The bells chiming “Joy to the World” at the end are simply Manowonderful.

#2: Iron Maiden – Number of the Beast - “Hallowed Be Thy Name” – Everyone has their favorite Maiden song and this is mine and also one of the best metal tunes ever composed. If anyone needed proof that Bruce Dickinson took Maiden to the next level upon joining, this is Exhibit A-Z. Taking the oft used “about to be executed” theme to glorious new heights, Dickinson lends his golden throat to a monster song and makes it even better. Great guitar riffing, Steve Harris’s usual bass heroics, a real knack for lyrical storytelling and an ability to wring every ounce of drama from the concept make this one very hard to forget. Songs and albums like this made the 80′s such a special time to be growing up a metal head. You bought the album, heard one classic after another only to crushed by this at the end. Hallowed grounds here folks.

#1: Rainbow – Rising- “Stargazer” – Not what most were expecting I’m sure but this song is the most rare and wondrous of all things heavy. You may argue that Rainbow was barely a metal band but that can’t be said about this song. Not only is this the best song Richie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio ever wrote or performed in their long musical careers, it’s also the premier metal song in existence. At eight minutes plus, it features a prodigious amount of mood, power and emotion. Dio’s world-shaking vocals never sounded as emotional, heartfelt and intense. Add in Blackmore’s fret mastery and you get the Mona Lisa of metal. Lyrically it paints a simple but very compelling tale and few could put the material over as well as Dio does. The final stanza where Dio goes off over that grandiose flourish is so amazing, especially when he starts singing about going home. Truly a case of everything coming together into a perfect moment of artistic expression. The only flaw is that it eventually ends. Massive.

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

Above Symmetry // Ripples
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — Same damn record, re-issued
Label: InsideOut
Website: abovesymmetry.com | myspace.com/abovesymmetry
Release Dates: EU: 2011.04.25 | USA: Digital: 04.26.2011

Progressive metal isn’t an easy place to be. Let’s face it, much of the world of progressive metal is a tussle between an old guard of old fans (the Neanderthals of Metal) who really like bands that sound like Dream Theater, Queensryche, and so forth, and then there’s kind of everyone else. It’s disparate, difficult to define and often pretentious as hell with little logic as to what is in fashion with which group. This is the natural outcome of genrefication, in my opinion, and part of that is a question of where a band can actually progress to. You’re either not heavy enough or you’re too heavy and you never please anyone. Few bands ever really manage to fall outside of these well-worn ruts in the road, but there are some fantastic bands in those ruts—Above Symmetry is one of those bands. Continue reading

Talk about buried and nearly forgotten classics! In their all too brief existence, Hollow walked the line between traditional and progressive metal and had a really compelling sound that fell somewhere between Mindcrime-era Queensryche, Crimson Glory and latter day Agent Steel. However, it always seemed they were completely overlooked and to this day I have yet to meet another metal fan who had even heard of them. Needless to say, I was mighty shocked but pleased to hear that Metal Mind Productions had remastered both albums and released them on one CD in time for the holidays.

Hollow’s 1998 debut Modern Cathedral showcased an already mature sounding unit capable of writing powerful and memorable metal tunes with plenty of crunch and loads of hooks and melody. Also working in their favor were the outstanding vocals of Andeas Stolz, whose powerful and expressive voice really made the whole sound take flight. While Modern Cathedral had a lot of excellent songs (“Crusader,” “Can You Hear Me” and “Wounds”), Hollow didn’t reach their full potential until 99′s epic concept album Architect of Mind. This thing utterly blew me away and continues to be one of my favorite metal platters of all time. Mixing very very heavy, crunching guitars with soaring vocals and brilliant songwriting, every single track smokes and demands repeated spins. From the dichotomy between the crunching riffs and mournful vocals in “Transcending Sorrow” to the memorable and hooky ”Secluded Dreams” and the grim sadness of ”Alone in Darkness,” this album kicks more ass than Chuck Norris after a few too many vodka and Red Bulls. Add an intriguing concept involving cyberspace, artificial intelligence and mankind’s addiction to technology and you have something pretty damn special (imagine the theme and mood of Queensryche’s “Screaming in Digital” stretched out to album length). There’s a strangely touching and morose vibe throughout that makes the material even more compelling and this is right up there with the best metal concept albums of all time IMHO.  The re-issue sounds great, features a very well done presentation with a history of the band and separate booklets for each album. Impressive across the boards.

While I still wonder why these guys didn’t attract more attention in their day, I’m happy the metal world is getting another chance to hear these albums and give Hollow some well earned posthumous praise. Go buy this for yourself and several for your friends as gifts and don’t fuck up your second chance to hear some amazing metal!

Highlights: Every track is outstanding but “Transcending Sorrow,” Secluded Dreams,” “Binary Creed” and “Alone in Darkness” are tops.

Aspera // Ripples
Rating: 3.5/5.0 — Very good band, enjoyable record, but too derivative..
Label: InsideOut
Website: asperaofficial.com | myspace.com/asperaofficial
Release Dates: EU: 25.01.2010 | USA: 01.26.2010

Progressive metal isn’t an easy place to be. Let’s face it, much of the world of progressive metal is a tussle between an old guard of old fans (the Neanderthals of Metal) who really like bands that sound like Dream Theater, Queensryche, and so forth, and then there’s kind of everyone else. It’s disparate, difficult to define and often pretentious as hell with little logic as to what is in fashion with which group. This is the natural outcome of genrefication, in my opinion, and part of that is a question of where a band can actually progress to. You’re either not heavy enough or you’re too heavy and you never please anyone. Few bands ever really manage to fall outside of these well-worn ruts in the road, but there are some fantastic bands in those ruts—Aspera is one of those bands.

Aspera is not like much of the progressive metal that’s coming from Norway (which is where they’re from incidentally), but instead they sound a lot like Symphony X. This will not be the last time I say that—because Aspera sounds like Symphony X. Like, almost exactly like Symphony X. The music is great, heavy and riffy. The band is tight, with great keyboards and a lead guitarist that is just a hell of a player. The guitars and keyboards work together really well and are balanced out by a very excellent rhythm section. Like Symphony X, the writing is intelligent with excellent transitions, good dynamic movements, beautiful choruses and solid hooks litter every song. The choruses are amazingly catchy and will definitely get stuck in your head, and yet the arrangements of the songs are still progressive enough to make you feel nice and superior to your buddies who listen to non-prog bands. On top of all of that the record is beautifully produced—done by the marvelous Jens Bogren (Opeth, Ihsahn, Symphony X, etc.)—everything is neatly organized, tight as hell and the tone is really fantastic.

OK, so what are the problems? Well, I suspect that you probably already sense an issue. When the band’s bio says that the band “quotes bands like Pagan’s Mind, Pain of Salvation, and Symphony X” it’s actually a really nice way of saying “Aspera sounds like progressive metal, you know, progressive metal like you’ve heard before.” And while this is good in some ways, it feels comfortable, it also draws the listener back from the tracks thinking “Huh, don’t I know that riff?” Another major weakness is the vocalist. Unlike many progressive bands, singer Atle Pettersen isn’t a straight up bad vocalist. Instead, he’s a poseur. His performance on the record is spotty because he is at his roots a talented, choir boy singer who is trying his hardest to sound rock ‘n roll. Something his voice doesn’t have—and something that makes him a unique voice in my opinion. In a genre overrun with Rob Halford, Bruce Dickenson and Geoff Tate wannabes, Pettersen has a clean, clear voice that is strong and recognizable without needing to fake balls. Unfortunately, for whatever reason he has decided that in order to be a rock vocalist he has to have a wail and it makes him sound weak and silly, not tough and strong like he intends.

Another interesting point, which drops this record down a bit for me, is that the lyrics are not good. The Steve Harris School of Lyrics Writing is apparently still open in Scandinavia and whoever is writing the lyrics for Aspera has taken all his notes directly from these guys. There is no subtlety, hardly any poetry and nothing remotely new or interesting in them. Lyrics in metal tend to range between the unfortunately bad and the passable, rarely ever being good, and for Aspera, a reading list of good poets and lyricists might be in order. To be frank, I can understand why so many power and progressive metal bands have begun writing thematically (stories, concept records, etc.) because this record which seems a bit more personal, is really just filled with rock clichés.

In the end, however, Ripples indicates what I see to be a bright future for this band of Norwegian youngsters. This is their debut record and they make a really good show of it with catchy tunes, smartly written tracks and they’re tight, tight, tight. One hopes that they begin developing some personality, working on convincing their vocalist that he isn’t Russel Allen and keeps fighting on. These guys have a bright future ahead of them if they can keep it together.

I just reviewed the new Behemoth record on here, and while it was good, there was one thing that had absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the record that stood out for me.  I couldn’t really include it as a major critique in the record, but now I can at least mention it… OV.

Ov?  Really?  The first time I saw this stupid thing was with the band Kult Ov Azazel.  And yeah, that was stupid, but I didn’t think much of it because, well, unfortunately intentional misspellings are standard fare in metal.  Katatonia for example or, some of my personal favorites are the misuses of vowels from other languages: Mötley Crüe (I’m not actually sure how to phonetically spell how that sounds, but if you were to pronounce it correctly it would be fucking ridiculous), Mötörhead is another one that thought that the “Ö” (O umlaut) was really cool looking.  But my personal favorite is the band Dååth which pronounces their name “Dath” like, rhymes with bath, but spells it “Doath” like the ‘o’ in the word boat.  And actually, two ‘Å’s, for those of you who don’t know, actually would be an extra long ‘O’ sound, since Å is actually two ‘A’s put together.

Let’s not even talk about nu-metal, which spells EVERYTHING wrong.  Travesties like Limp Bizkit, Korn, and of course Linkin Park, forcing their shared stupidity onto the rest of the world, which actually likes to spell words correctly.  And even can.  So not only are these assholes responsible for irritatingly blending hip hop and metal into a travesty which should despised, but they also encourage stupidity among our youth!

But, I feel like OV takes it to a new level.  How fucking pretentious do you have to be to intentionally misspell a common preposition like “of”?  Do you think it’s stupid to use said preposition?  Then use the fucking possessive/genetive case!  You know like “Metal’s stupid trends” as opposed to “Stupid trends OV metal!”  C’mon, this is ridiculous and unnecessary and it makes me want to start a fire and feed it with babies!  How hard is this stuff?  Not very, in my opinion.  But heck, you know me, I like to spell things correctly.  I even attempt to use proper grammar.

The sad thing is this, as a person who is interested in language, it is obvious to me that one cannot control how language is used.  Every generation and decade brings us new words (för de svenskar som läser: kolla boken: Världens dåligaste språk av Fredrik Lindström—den är skitbra och förklarar jättemycket om ämnet) and language is meant to be played with.  According to some linguists,  no matter what your grammar books say, if you’re an inborn speaker of a language  you physically can’t be wrong about your own language.  So we invent new words, spellings, combinations and we try our hardest to coin new phrases.  Things like “bootylicious” end up in the dictionary (and my spellcheck no longer picks it up) and life continues forward with English as a functional language.

But there is a little language fascist in me that just wants to smack all the jackasses who insist on misspelling words for the sake of being COOL.  Kvlt?  Ov?  Wëll löök hërë yöü möröns.. IT’S STÜPÏD! SÖ STÖP!

What a stupid fucking trend.