Angry Metal Guy

Aeon // Path of Fire
Rating: 3.0/5.0 — Techy goodness
Label: Metal Blade
Websites: myspace.com/aeon666
Release Dates: EU: 21-24.05.2010 | US: 05.25.2010

Swedish death metal, I mean real Swedish death metal with the legacy of brutality that everyone can identify in the form of (insert your favorite Swedish death metal bands here) lives on in Aeon, a band that hails from Östersund a city in Jämtland (which is basically in the mountains and towards the Norwegian border). Östersund, while not known for its thriving metal scene, has indeed birthed one of Sweden’s current and most brutal death metal bands who were signed to Metal Blade and released an album a couple of years ago entitled Rise to Dominate which really excited fans of the tech and (more-or-less) brutal styles of death metal. I believe when I was introduced to them the words “fucking ridiculous” were definitely involved somewhere in that conversation. Continue reading

Royal Jester // Night is Young
Rating: 1.5/5.0 – Surely you Jest
Label: Scarlet Records
Websites: myspace.com/royaljestermetal
Release Dates: EU: 12.04.2010 | US: ?

Hate is a very strong word and perhaps it gets thrown around too casually these days. After all, hate is a very ugly, negative emotion and even the angriest of metal guys should strive to avoid it. With that said, I hate Royal Jester’s debut album Night is Young. Maybe that sounds harsh but it’s the sad truth. It isn’t the musical style that brings me to hate it. Royal Jester plays Euro power metal and I really like Euro power metal when it’s done properly. I even like some of what might be called “happy power metal.” In fact, it seems I have become the resident power metal geek around these parts and that’s why this review ended up in my lap. However, after sustained, repeated listens to this album with an open mind, and giving this young band from Sweden every possible benefit of the doubt, there isn’t much good to say about Night is Young.

Royal Jester’s take on Euro power metal is painfully generic and unoriginal and it’s done in such a way that absolutely nothing about them stands out and grabs the listener. It seems as if these guys formed a band and ran down the Official Power Metal Checklist™ without any further thought. Fast guitars without edge or bite? Check. Rapid fire double bass runs? Check. Bouncy, happy sounding, utterly non-threatening music? Check, double check. Toss in an extremely nondescript singer and you have Royal Jester. In fact, everything about this band is derivative. From the Edguy themed album cover to the Edguy themed band name (I will refrain from bashing their completely awful name to avoid excessive crankiness).

Of the ten songs on Night is Young, none really stand out from one another. Each attempts to emulate the style of Freedom Call, Insania or Axenstar and all generally fail because this is just so damn plain and average. Of the lot, I suppose “Wings of Tomorrow” and “Born Again” qualify as best in show, but when things are this dismal, what difference does it make? Worst in show is clearly “If You Were Mine,” which is one of the most insipid, cringe worthy, and giggle inducing “metal” songs to come along in quite some time. This is the song you would NOT want to be playing when your other heavy metal buddies came over. Honestly, even your little sister would smack you around if she heard you listening to this pablum.

Basically, there isn’t a whole lot more to say about these guys and why prolong the pain? There is an old expression that applies here. “Success is easy, just be the first, best or different.” Royal Jester fails at all three. They are a clone made from another clone. Nothing here is new, interesting, exciting or even well done. It isn’t heavy and it sure isn’t powerful and only serves to exemplify why power metal has gotten a bad name among the metal intelligentsia. There are only two reasons I can see anyone buying this album: Either because they must have every new power metal album that comes out or they mistakenly thought it was Royal Hunt [or they're from the same town. Support local music! - AMG]. If you want to hear a quality power metal album, hunt down the new release from Sinbreed and see how this is supposed to be done. Stay far, far away from this flowery, candy- coated fiasco.

Steelwing // Lord of the Wasteland
Rating: 4.0/5.0 – NWOBHM Parmesan!
Label: Noiseart Records
Websites: myspace.com/steelwing
Release Dates: EU: 30.04.2010 | US: Import 05.04.2010

Steelwing? Never heard of them. I toss in Lord of the Wasteland to see what I am dealing with and POW!! I get punched right in the face by an angry, metal spiked fist from 1982! This Stockholm, Sweden based band may be young and only formed in 2009, but man can they bring the pure, unadulterated NWOBHM power to the party. On this, their debut album, they shamelessly steal the best recipes from Iron Maiden, Saxon, Grim Reaper and Warlord and cook up a surprisingly fresh sounding, if utterly unoriginal metal meatloaf of riffs and attitude with enough cheese coating to choke a mastodon. Steelwing gives you eight fast and furious traditional metal anthems played by musicians who clearly worship at the altar of early 80’s metal and know exactly how that epoch of metal should sound.

The time traveling party kicks off with Enter the Wasteland, an intro track that sounds more than a little like Diamondhead’s “Am I Evil” (and I am 100% sure that was intentional). This intro gives fair warning of exactly how these youngsters intend to bludgeon you for the next hour. What follows is one classic 80’s metal onslaught after another that will transport older listeners back to a time when this whole “heavy metal” thing was new, exciting and unpredictable. If you were a metal fan in the 80’s, you simply can’t hear tracks like “Roadkill” (the first single and video), “Headhunter” or “The Nightwatcher” and not smile ear to ear.

All the songs feature Maiden-esque guitar riffs, galloping drumming and some WAY over the top metal vocals by frontman Riley. In fact, so over the top are the vocals at times that you have to wonder if certain parts of the poor guy’s anatomy are stuck in a crushing device (ex. near the end of “The Illusion”—guys, don’t try to hit that note while singing along or you’ll be visiting the doctor for an unpleasant adjustment). Every track is straight forward in structure and all exemplify good, old fashioned, metal songwriting. There aren’t any really weak tracks  here and all rock pretty damn hard (“Roadkill”, “The Illusion”, and “Headhunter” being my personal favorites). The production is crisp and clear enough to bring everything over properly and the instruments are all given their own space and chance to shine. The lyrics are so painfully metal and clichéd that even Manowar would cringe and look away, but that only adds to the cheesy fun factor. This is exactly why Lord of the Wasteland works so well. It’s fun as hell!

The star of Lord of the Wasteland is undoubtedly the guitar work by Robby Rockbag (awe-inspiring pseudonym) and fellow axe man Alex and together they generate one catchy, memorable riff after another and keep things blasting along at a breakneck pace throughout. This album is an air guitar player’s wet dream and may cause guitar elbow if not used in moderation. Honorable mention has to go to vocalist Riley, who I hope suffered no debilitating groin injuries during the recording of this album.

Fun and pure nostalgia aside, if you have a soft spot in your angry metal heart for the type of music that was being churned out by Iron Maiden and Saxon in the early 80’s, then Lord of the Wasteland should be a big hit and take you back in time.  Steelwing knows how to write and play some very catchy and infectious metal and they put on a clinic of era-specific metal worship (like Hammerfall without all the poserism). Well, since I’m stuck back in 1982 now, I’m going to write Kill ‘Em All before Metallica does and put them out of business before they grow up and destroy the world. All Hail the Past!

Trident // World Destruction
Rating: 2.5/5.0 — OK, but not special
Label: Regain Records
Websites: trident666.com | myspace.com/tridentofficial
Release Dates: EU: 22.03.2010 | US: 04.06.2010 [?]

An outgrowth of the ideas of a former Dissection guitarist (Johan Norman) and a couple of members of the band Necrophobic, Trident hits the stores on the 22nd of March throughout Europe and hits a totally virgin audience. These guys pretty much came out of nowhere—having basically played locally in Sweden and apparently they circulated a demo or something that got them picked up by Regain. Formed in 2007, Trident is a blackened death band in the veins of the aforementioned bands and is yet another Swedish assault on Christendom and the senses that will surely inflame passion in some corners.

World Destruction is not a revolutionary record that is going to make you want to drop everything and jump on the new wave of Swedish blackened death or anything. It is that good blend of black metal and Swedish death metal that bands like Necrophobic and Dissection have done extraordinarily well over the years. The vocals are raw and evil, high in range and they match the blast beat laden rhythm section well. The guitar work is well done, fast, sweepy with lots of trem picking and staccato riffing and it’s pretty much par for the course. However, the dynamic nature of the record is pretty much fast, faster and fastest. There are very few slow parts, but when they do come up they are more than welcome—interrupting what, at times, can start to lose its extremity because of its uniformity.

Let’s cut right to the core of this record, though: you have totally heard this before and you’ve heard it done way better. While there are standout tracks (particularly toward the end of the record), World Destruction is not a standout record. The riffs are good, the players are excellent and the production is solid. But often times the guitar melodies are weak, the song structures are standard and there are only a few moments that break away from this monotony. Which is sad, because there are excellent ideas on World Destruction. But instead of being executed well and offset by something a little bit more unique or technical, it pretty much just feels like run of the mill blackened  death metal.

Fans of the aforementioned bands and the Swedish black metal scene will probably find things they like on World Destruction. Particularly the tracks “Stockholm Bloodbath”, “Slaves to Anguish” are strong and the title track “World Destruction” is a total fucking scorcher, with amazing riffs, vocal performance and feel. But sadly enough, World Destruction, unlike its title track, is largely unmemorable and uninteresting. We know what the guys in this band are capable of, and therefore look hopefully to future releases—but this isn’t going to replace any of your Dissection or Necrophobic records in your playlists.