I guarantee you the guys from Soen have to brace themselves for every review they’re going to read for two reasons. The first of these is that this band contains Steve DiGiorgio—heavy metal’s best bassist and best fretless for hire—and oh, right, Martin Lopez who we last saw as a member of Opeth. I have to say that I’m partial to these two guys as musicians (nothing against Ax, but Lopez is a special drummer) and so when I heard that this record was coming out I did some begging and got me a copy for review. Apparently there are other musicians in this band, but we don’t actually care The rest of the band is made up of by two Swedish guys—Eklöf, the vocalist and Platsbarzdis, the guitarist—for what is a four piece of alternative or kind of groovy progressive metal. Not progressive like Opeth or Vintersorg or Porcupine Tree but progressive like Tool. And by that I mean, they sound exactly like fucking Tool (that’s the second reason). 

It is undeniable, no matter how much one wants it to be, that this is a band that just simply sounds like Tool. You gotta get that out of the way. This Joel Eklöf sounds a lot like Maynard (though his accent totally reminds me of Åkerfeldt, whose accent I’d never thought about before). And frankly, the guitar work and the writing reminds me of Ænima and Lateralus a lot. There’s a lilt to the guitars and a slow groove to the bass. The fretless bass differentiates it a bit, but the tone and the production is really similar. And, frankly, Lopez is the kind of drummer who can also pull off Danny Carey’s tribal style as a backup—but of course still have his own style. He does this deftly and some of the most enjoyable parts of this album are performed on the drums and percussion which are outstanding.

So it’s with a bit of cognitive dissonance that I rate this as highly as I do, but sometimes you cannot deny good songs. And, well, these guys write some great fucking songs. There’s the groove stuff—straight up Tool worship like “Savia” and “Fraccions” which has a guitar part that is totally a “Schism” rip off. There’s the parts where they really break out the heavy end—not super often but it does happen like the life alterningly crushing riff from “Slither” after the acoustic breakdown or the beginning of “Oscillation” (or on “Canvas”). And then there’s Eklöf’s vocal proclivities. While he undeniably sounds like Maynard, one of the things that he does amazingly well is melody and harmonies. The end of the aforementioned “Fraccions” has some of the most heart-breakingly beautiful harmonies I’ve heard on a record and they’re simply amazing. The following track “Dalenda” has a chorus where, again, he shows off these harmonies and by the time I made it to the next track down the line “Last Light” and he broke ‘em out again, I was pretty much convinced.

In fact, it is the vocals that take this record from pretty good to great (or maybe even excellent). The songs are well-constructed, but highly derivative. And while the vocals are veeery Maynard, Eklöf’s performance and harmonies are the glue that hold all of this together. Unfortunately, the lyrics seem like they’re a little on the not-so-interesting side which is a shame. Instead of ripping off Tool‘s schtick and writing about philosophy and high-minded mumbo jumbo, they mainly seem to be writing about drugs. I might be wrong, but no one gave me any lyrics to check it out, so there you be.

In its totality, though, Cognitive is a pretty damn great record. While it is too derivative and it’s too easy to point out the source they’re plagiarizing (creativity is just well-disguised plagiarism—or like we used to say in my old band “People think we sound original because we rip off Amon Amarth, Ulver and Iron Maiden all at once!”), and so it’s hard for me to give this a higher score because of what I see as a lack of originality, there is an x factor here that bands that are just ripping someone else off simply do not have. The songwriting is great and it is a testament to Eklöf’s performance that I focused on him in a band where he’s playing with Martin Lopez and Steve DiGiorgio. So check this out and don’t write it off when you say “Oh, man, this sounds like Tool.” Give it some time and maybe the dissonance will give way and lead to bliss instead.

Related posts:

1. Spiritual Beggars – Return to Zero Review
2. Ihsahn – After Review
3. Amaranthe – Amaranthe Review

You need a certain amount of courage to name your album Death in 2012, don’t you? I mean this is one of, if not the, most used words in the metal world altogether and it usually reminds lots of fans with Chuck Schuldiner’s seminal band with the same name. On the personal level, I still find myself a little baffled by Ram’s title of choice for their third studio album in thirteen years of making heavy metal. Then again, some may ask me “but what’s in a name?” and I find myself remembering some awesome and meaningful titles like Oblivion Beckons by Byzantine, The Atrocity Exhibition…  Exhibit A by Exodus or Mumakil’s Behold the Failure and realizing that there’s a lot in a name.

Death sounds like a pretty straightforward record that lugs the crunchy guitar sound, muddy bass guitar & bass drum sound and that overall grittiness of heavy metal. So having not been familiar with Ram prior to this album, Death didn’t surprise me much because I didn’t really expect it to. There have been some moments that stood out for me, like the very good lead guitar work on “Comes From the Mouth Beyond” and “Release Me”. “Defiant” is all about the triplets and it keeps chugging away in threes as if it’s the only way to do business. “Frozen” is a traditionally structured ballad placed neatly in the middle of the album to turn the pace down a little bit, but much for my dismay, it gave way to the rather toothless “Under the Scythe” which didn’t create the desired contrast.

“1771” and “Flame of the Tyrant” have some bad ass riffs but that’s not really the center point of skill on display here. The only obvious proof for said skill that I could find was the solos. Copious amounts of said proof are on display throughout Death. The solo on the impressive “Comes From the Mouth Beyond” was the first one that caught my attention but a few extra listens brought the ones from “Defiant” and the aforementioned “Flame of the Tyrant” to my attention as well. The vocals are generally above average and convey an air of leather-clad confidence that linearly increases with every beer. They are, however, a bit too far in the foreground and draw more attention than they actually deserve. This increased emphasis on the vocals distracts the listener from the instruments being played behind it, but on many occasions, not much is happening there anyway. 

The fellows from Ram are by no means reinventing the old heavy metal wheel, and if they had intended to do so, they’re way off with Death.  As for individual skill, the guitar section will have to come in first for me and that is the result of the intelligent solos and riffs that still carry the stench of 80s heavy metal. When all is said and done, Death is an album that provides some good moments but doesn’t really have a distinctive character to set it apart from the norm.

Related posts:

1. Death Maze – Prodigy of Death Review
2. Impious – Death Domination Review
3. Demonical – Death Infernal Review

Loch Vostok

So, normally when I do these, I try to find records that are really the crème de la crème that we’ve simply just missed. This record isn’t quite there. But it is really solid progressive and/or power metal record with some death metal influences that sound quite Gothenburgy. With a vocalist who sounds like.. well, kind of every Swedish progressive or power metal vocalist ever, they deftly wander between Dark Tranquillity or Scar Symmetry kind of melodic riffing and choruses and more traditional prog/power sound. Tracks like the ripper of an opener “A Mission Undivine” even hint at an almost black metal influence at times before settling into riffing that is reminiscent of Nevermore or maybe a bit of Symphony X.

These guys also have a slower speed to them as well, and that’s a bit of where I lose them a bit. “Navigator” is kind of a mid-paced rocker/borderline ballad that has some good melodies, but it so unabashedly 80s hair band that I have a bit of trouble with it. The other issue I have with these guys is that the lyrics get a bit ESL and/or preachy at times. I get that it’s tough to write good metal lyrics, particularly in progressive metal and in another language, but sometimes the lyrics here are just, well.. bad. Not good. Obra. But these moments are mostly few and far between, honestly. And really, I’ve heard worse and even the best bands (*cough* Pain of Salvation *cough*) have shitty lyrics sometimes. It really only kills one song for me, “Taste the Flame” which just.. stinks.

With the notable exception of “Taste the Flame” though, this record is really great. It’s got some great songs, some excellent ideas and lots of awesome choruses. I personally love the tracks “Disconnection,” “A Mission Undivine” and “Repeat Offender” and the album feels a little front heavy, but there are some good moments on the back end as well. Overall it’s something worth checking out for fans of progressive metal, melodic death metal fans and all the fanboys of modern Swedish metal who love poppy, catchy tunes and aren’t expecting these guys to be rocking Liquid Tension Experiment chops when one talks about being “progressive”. Did I narrow that down too much? Just check the shit out.

Related posts:

1. Things You Might Have Missed 2011: Nami – Fragile Alignments
2. Things You Might Have Missed 2011: Mythological Cold Towers – Immemorial
3. Things You Might Have Missed 2011: Immolation – Providence

Talk about the right album at the right time! While I was never that big a fan of the symphonic bombast and Lord of the Rings fetishism of power metal acts like Blind Guardian and Rhapsody, I was tasked with reviewing the new Dragon- land opus over the same long weekend that  local movie channels played the LOTR trilogy nonstop in their full extended glory. Since Under the Grey Banner is yet another slobbering Tolkien love-fest, replete with elves, orcs, swords and sappiness (which completes their own trilogy started on their first two albums), it fit right in. Like their previous works, it’s a full-on symphonic cheese factory with enough grandiose pomposity to choke a Balrog. You know exactly what it will sound like and what will be included. Overblown keyboards, soaring vocals, choirs, frenetic neo-classical guitar wankery, it’s a big, overwrought symphonic mess. As such, it manages to work about as well as most albums of this ilk but at least it didn’t send me running for a shot of insulin until the midway point. While its nothing you haven’t heard before from the likes of Rhapsody or Labyrinth, its well done and quite entertaining at times in a too-close-to-Broadway-musical kind of way. However, it has it’s share of consistency issues and isn’t as strong as their 2004 Starfall release. That said, I’m sure fans of this type of Dungeons & Dragons™ music will love it like a +10 sword of sliceification. In case there was ANY doubt about the nerd-factor of this stuff, Dragonland created an interactive website with maps and narrations to help guide you on the mystic  journey they planned for you. Holy nerd bait, Batman!

Since this is a royally bombastic fantasy epic, you get the obligatory overlong intro and dramatic voiceover to set the mood before the first proper song hits. Luckily, after the long wait, it’s a doozy. “Shadow of the Mithril Mountains” is a speedy, energetic power metal tune with predictably soaring, epic vocals and all the grandeur they could fling against the recording studio wall. Jonas Heidgert flexes his vocal muscles to the limit and his singing really puts the song over exceptionally well, as does the Yngwie-ish fret-work on the song’s back-end. “The Tempest” slows things down while maintaining the epic vibe and again, the vocals make the song better than it should have been. Other high points include the galloping energy of “The Black Mare,” the uber-melodic strains of  ”Lady of Goldenwood” and the Enya-esque closer “Ivory Shores,” courtesy of Amaranthe‘s Elize Ryd (this could have been on the LoTR soundtrack). The title track gives you the whole fantasy kitten-kaboodle and between the voiceovers and the five-hundred guest vocalists, a decent song lays partially buried and obscured.

Sadly, all is not golden in Middle Earth and tracks like “Fire and Brimstone” and “Throne of Bones” get weighed down by Fred Johanson’s deep, super dramatic, quasi-opera baritone vocals that just don’t work and seem cheese- tastic (“Throne of Bones” may be the most Broadway-ready metal song to prance along in years). Likewise, several songs, while decent, seem very generic and bland (“A Thousand Towers White” and “Durnir’s Forge”). Making matters worse, some of the better songs are saddled with voiceovers that pop in and disrupt the flow and momentum (“Lady of Goldenwood” and the title track). In the final accounting, roughly half the tracks here are weighed, measured and found wanting.

The band’s performances are all quite well done, especially the vocals and the guitars by Olof Morck (Amaranthe, Nightrage) and Jesse Lindskog (ex-Dreamland) and some of their leads and solos are impressive indeed. The symphonics are mercifully kept just shy of overdone on several songs and Elize’s vocals are solid and graceful. If they penned a few more quality tracks like “Shadow of the Mithril Mountain,” we would be looking at a potential usurper of the jewel-studded throne of Luca Turilli but it was not meant to be.

In all candor and honestly, Dragonland was never up near the levels of the best in this genre. Despite some fun moments, Under the Grey Banner doesn’t bring them much closer and I doubt it will attract the Eye of Sauron. While far more palatable than what Dragonforce is doing, this is still middle-of-the-pack fantasy power metal puffery with too much elf and not enough orc. Add a point if you know who Gary Gygax is or if you belong to a LARP guild. Nerds!!

Related posts:

1. Bloodbound – Unholy Cross Review
2. FullForce – One Review
3. Shadows’ Grey – Bonjour Tristesse Review

Sweden’s Netherbird is aiming to be the angry black metal bird that revamps the music industry. Although they aren’t particularly well-known yet, their 2010 release Monument Black Colossal met with my approval and I found their Cradle of Filth-meets-Dissection style of symphonic heaviness quite enjoyable. Since that release, they appear to have adopted an unusual marketing approach for their music. They’ve announced their intention to release three EPs over the next year, which together would comprise their next full-length album. As we speak, Shadows and Snow, the first of these planned EPs, is available for free downloading on their home page. It’s unclear if the future releases will be free or not. Whether this new approach will catch on or not remains to be seen but hey, free downloading from the band itself is always damn cool. So, is this worth the price of…free? Yes, it would be worth it even at twice that price (whatever that means). While very short (three songs and a musical interlude), Shadows and Snow features well crafted, engaging black death with enough personality to stand out from the frostbitten, frowning hordes and in these days of black metal malaise, that’s high praise indeed. Oh, and it’s free too!

The title track is a lengthy opener with a nicely gloomy, frigid vibe that slowly ramps up into something akin to epic viking metal with symphonic fruitery around the edges like a garnish. The Cradle of Filth influences are still present but the riffing has more in common with vintage Dissection (though this is way more laid back and melodic than either of those renowned acts). Nephente’s vocals alternate between charmingly black cackles and guttural death croaks (he even does that cool Dani Filth tea kettle scream at times) and the main riff pattern is engaging and sturdy. Hell, they even bust out some well placed and mournful strings a la My Dying Bride. It’s quite a mammoth track for the money! Follow up “Twilight Gushes Forth” (gothy porn title supreme) opens with Dracula’s castle keyboards before taking on Amon Amarthy battle riffery for a mid-paced stomper well suited for war marches. Closer “Ode to the False (Esse non Videri)” is exceptionally anthemic for a black metal song and has some cool, convoluted trem-picking paired with vocals that could appear on the new Arch Enemy album. I don’t mean that as a slight but Nephente does sound like Angela Gossow when she does her “blackened death” thingee.

As with their last release, the guitars of Bizmark and Johan Nord are appropriately black, bleak and catchy. They aren’t doing anything new per se but they write consistently engaging riffs and toss in some interesting playing   choices (check out 4:30 and onward on “Ode to the False”). These guys can play well and there’s some solid professionalism on display throughout. I’m also a fan of Nephente’s vocal approach and he elevates his game on these songs. While I’m greatly weary of symphonics in black metal, the way Netherbird incorporates it doesn’t perturb me. It’s there but its on the periphery and adds mood without overwhelming or distracting. There’s a lesson here for all the other tooty fruity sympho bands out there. Less is more.

Although painfully short, this album teaser (or new release paradigm) showcases improvement from their last platter and sees Netherbird coming into their own. What can I say? I like the cut of Netherbird‘s jib. They write thoughtful, melodic black metal and they do it well. They remain a band to watch and you just can’t beat the value here. Steel Druhm never refuses a bargain. A coupon for day old sushi? I’m in!

Related posts:

1. Netherbird – Monument Black Colossal Review
2. Trident – World Destruction Review
3. Demonaz – March of the Norse Review

In 2010 Pain of Salvation, best known for their progressive stylings and vocalist who wishes he could talk rhythmically like Mike Patton, released a record that blew me away and shook their fanbase: Road Salt One.  It was shocking mainly because it was a largely not tech-geek-progressive and it was very 70s rock influenced. This left some long-time fans peeved, at best. They wanted something different. Well, Road Salt Two is definitely not that something different. It is stubbornly more of the same and it may have lost a bit of its luster with a year to sit on it.

Road Salt Two is yet again a dirty 70s rock influenced record without a metal riff to show for the 51 minutes of music that are contained within. It starts out with the “Road Salt Theme” (which, actually, doesn’t appear to be thematically in context with the first disc) and drops right into blues-based rock riffing in “Softly She Cries.” While a tad banal at first, it gently transfers back into the “Road Salt Theme” so smoothly that the inattentive may straight up miss the development. This exemplifies the writing on this album, actually. As I pointed out in reference to Road Salt One, Gildenlöw takes the most hackneyed, clichéd and overdone genre in the entire world (blues rock) and adds a personal twist to it that makes it not only enjoyable but deep and fascinating. “Conditioned” works like this as well. It starts out like a fucking Lenny Kravitz song and then morphs into something sinister and/or melancholy.

The record also has its more “downy frowny” parts like third track “Healing Now” or “1979,” which borders on nostalgic crap but has its own naïve charm. “Through the Distance” is reminiscent of “Sisters” in tone and vocal performance, but it doesn’t have the same emotional poignancy. These tracks work to build the valleys in the grittier, more progressive landscape that is this second Road Salt installment and they work well in that. The peaks, then, are “Eleven,” “The Deeper Cut,” “Mortar Grind” and the 8 minute and 43 second “The Physics of Gridlock” which is a particularly excellent song. These show off a more progressive Pain of Salvation than we saw on Road Salt One. On these tracks the rhythm section performs admirably and really convincingly, making for some fantastic, driving and yet subtle music.

What finally makes this album a great record is that the songwriting is top-notch and the feel is spot on. Gildenlöw’s vocals steal the show again, but unfortunately the entire album doesn’t live up to what I see as the best track “To the Shoreline,” which should be the marquee track from this album (and should be their 2011 Melodifestivalen entry). It’s a faster track with a flute part that sounds like something that comes straight off of Camel‘s Snow Goose. The track is only 3 minutes long, but it’s just a tremendous piece of writing that I have listened to probably 300 times since I got the record. Unfortunately, that means that the rest of the record pales in comparison, and that kind of sets it back.

The other major critique that I had of this record was that the “characters” if you will, sound like case studies from someone’s book on personality disorders. Really? She feels empty inside? Like a black hole? Has she been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, by any chance? Her unpredictable mood swings definitely seem like they fit the criteria. And the main dude sounds like he has a hell of a Jesus complex, out saving the ladies left and right. While this was definitely there on the last record, it didn’t feel as hackneyed. On 2 we’re forced to sit through three songs where Daniel rhymes “cry,” “die” and “why” in a number of different constellations and it comes off as a bit uninspired at best.

Even if it’s a lyrical bust, musically Road Salt Two is a smashing success, even with all the caveats. I understand that it can’t be easy to do a project like this and I think others who have tried to do similar things have also probably looked back on them and felt like they didn’t come off as well as they could have (Opeth, and Guns ‘N’ Roses both come to mind). And really, it’s tough for me to listen to both records all the way through in a single sitting. But on its own, Road Salt Two is an enjoyable disc from a talented group who has now definitely lured me in. I’ll be checking out whatever they do next and hoping it will be as great as this is.

Related posts:

1. Pain of Salvation – Road Salt pt. 1 – Ivory – Review
2. Pain of Salvation – The Second Death of Pain of Salvation
3. Wuthering Heights – Salt Review

As I listen to this unheralded piece of nasty, morbid, old school death, one word comes to mind: Spewage. That’s the best way to describe what you’ll be getting here. Morbus Chron is a Swedish band playing filthy death metal like Autopsy, Death and Massacre. This breaks the current trend of following in the footsteps of legendary countrymen Entombed, Dismember. It’s still plenty retro but not the typical Swedish retro. Basically, their raucous debut Sleepers in the Rift sounds like something spewing from the underground in the late 80′s and it’s wonderfully repellant, low-fi, non-techy and makes you feel like you need to be disinfected and vaccinated. It’s underproduced, muddy, discordant and vile all the way but somehow manages to be catchy. What more could one ask for? Nothing!

After a creepy lead in, things get crusty immediately with “Coughing in the Coffin.” This had me smiling right away with its shaky, raw guitar tone and the insane, raspy vocals. After a quick start it devolves into a great, ominous doom riff at 1:50 and plods along like that for just the right amount of time before kicking back into sloppy, frenetic thrash speeds again. It’s an instantly likeable old school death gem that will jangle and discombobulate the senses. Followup “Creepy, Creep, Creeping” is more of the same with big thundering drums and its a thing of old-time beauty when vocalist Robba shows his Tom G. Warrior appreciation by adding a heartfelt “Ew!”  ”Bleh!”  ”Blarg!” after every lead break. His vocals sound quite rabid, and you can almost see the foam flying as he screams (especially from 3:15 onward). All the songs have an endearing old school approach and a few really end up being mini-classsics like “Red Hook Horror” (relentlessly hammering, discordant death attack), “The Hallucinating Dead” (outstanding riff patterns that swarm and menace) and “Ways of Torture” (great homage to the first Death album).

The riffing by Edde and Robba is crude and unrefined but catchy and engagingly chaotic. This isn’t the technical fret-fest that can heard on many modern death metal albums but the sloppy, going-off-the-rails quality of much of it  makes it tons of fun. Robba’s vocals are more in line with those of Evil Chuck (Death) than the l0w-register grunters that are so common these days. He screams, wails and wretches but rarely opts for the full on Cookie Monster schtick.

The production might have cost as much as a few cases of cheap beer and an old Slayer CD. It sounds like a rusty garbage can with a demon inside, being thrown down a long steel staircase. It’s a festering death metal soup with the vocals way out in front and drums that sound like they were recorded in a hallway. Echo city baby! I guess that’s the DIY way of approximating the sound of the titular rift. As rough and unpolished as the mix is, I honestly can’t imagine this material being presented any other way. Its soupy death and deserves a soupy mix.

A very pleasant and ferocious blast from the past, Morbus Chron is onto something here. If you love the insanity of Autopsy, this is a going to bring a deranged smile to your mug. Strange how a retro death album can be such a refreshing change from the other retro death albums. AMG would view that as a scorching indictment of the metal scene and the paucity of original ideas. As I’m not in the mood to be cynical or throw down a tirade today (although it’s mostly true), I’ll just suggest you check this out, original or not. Bad ass cover too!

Related posts:

1. Necrovorous – Funeral for the Sane Review
2. Demonical – Death Infernal Review
3. Blood Mortized – Bestial Review

Well, here’s a release I can easily see falling through the Angry Metal Cracks. One is the first (and maybe last) release by a supergroup of sorts led by Michael Andersson, vocalist for Swedish melodic metallers Cloudscape and featuring members of such renowned acts as Dream Evil, Hammerfall and Yngwie Malmsteen. Now, we all know supergroups can be very iffy propositions and Fullforce is no different. It seems whenever a group of talented musicians get jammed into a room to write and record, disaster is as likely to result as triumph. So where does this one fall? Pretty much exactly in the middle of the two extremes. There’s some top notch, super melodic metal here and some rather generic, boring duds. What makes this album of particular annoyance to Steel Druhm is how good the good stuff is. With some real winners on display, its a total buzz kill to have roughly half the album fizzle out and fail to keep the momentum going Fullforce (yeah, you knew it was gonna happen at some point). OK, it’s time for your slightly bitter host to examine One in a non-bitter fashion.

Having been familiar with Michael Andersson’s work with Cloudscape and enjoyed much of it, I was interested to hear what direction he would go with One. Well, its not much different than Cloudscape stylistically. As opener “Mythomaniac” washes over the listener, they’re greeted with brisk, energetic metal with a major emphasis on melody, catchiness and classy performances. As openers go, it’s a very good one and it straddles the line between the AOR hard rock sound of the Allen/Lande albums and the crunch and prog of Symphony X. Andersson’s vocals are well done and compelling and his band backs him up admirably. However, its the followup “None of  Your Concern” that really grabbed me and smacked me silly. This is humdinger of a ditty and super addicting. Again in the vein of the Allen/Lande albums, it takes an infectious hard rock style and gives it just enough metallizing to kick copious ass. Great guitar work, excellent vocal phrasing and a big hooky chorus that will keep you coming back for lots more. With “Heart and Soul” they pump up the heaviness and intensity and its another instantly accessible gem with a winning chorus. Clearly these guys can bring the tools to the tradeshow and by this point I had visions of 4.0′s and 4.5′s dancing in my iron head.  The next two tracks are also rock solid and keep the winning streak alive and then, it comes to an abrupt halt.

The album’s second half feels like it was written by a completely different group and the intensity, catchiness and overall quality take a significant step backwards. Songs like “Rain” and “Suffering in Silence” have moments of quality but feel flat, sterile and bland. Worse yet, numbers like “Wall of Secrets,” ”Father Spirit” and “Into the Cradle” never seem to get going at all. There’s a partial recovery near album’s end with “I Bleed” but by then, I’d been ravaged by the Filler Gremlin™ and I was greatly displeased by this.

In fairness, the performances themselves are great from beginning to end. Andersson is a very good vocalist and his professionalism is always apparent. While he doesn’t possess the most unique style or delivery, he makes the most of his voice with a lot of excellent vocal choices. Likewise, the guitars by Stefan Elmgren (ex-Hammerfall, ex-Lost Horizon, ex-Cans) and Carl Johan Grimmark (Rob Rock, Narnia) are impressive and they do their share to keep things lively, provide meaningful solos and sundry noodlings. These guys are all solid, experienced musicians and the first half of One shows the great things they’re capable of doing together. Sadly, their songwriting lets them down badly on the back half.

Half a great melodic metal album, One is a  paean to iTunes and such similar MP3 tools that allow the buyer to cherrypick tracks. If the first half was released as an EP it would get a big fat 4.0 or better. While the second half is a downer, I’m impressed enough with Fullforce to hope for a second album and more consistent songwriting. If you like melodic metal with a hard rock vibe, give this a sampling but avoid the second half if possible.

Related posts:

1. Zero Illusions – Oblivion Review
2. Bloodbound – Unholy Cross Review
3. Powerwolf – Blood of the Saints Review

It’s Angry Metal Confession time kiddies. Steel Druhm has many things he should confess but for now, lets focus on aspects of the metal scene I’ve grown weary of. First up has to be symphonic black metal. Its been done, overdone, redone and ultimately, undone. Another very overused gimmick is beauty and the beast vocals (death metal vox paired with soaring, usually operatic, female vocals). Since Theatre of Tragedy came out with Velvet Darkness They Fear, every gothic metal band under the moon tried their hand at the style and while it can be amazing, it’s been overblown in a major way. Because of the staleness in this approach, only the very best practitioners leave any impression on me. Draconian is one such expert unit and while I liked their early material, I LOVED their 2008 release Turning Seasons Within. That opus managed to balance heavy doom with ethereal gothic sensibilties and they made the beauty and beast approach work magnificently. Now with A Rose for the Apocalypse, these Swedish glumsters have done it yet again and offer a top quality gothic-doom/death album brimming with emotion, intensity and dark atmosphere. Its good enough to make me rethink my position on the entire paradigm and its a real slobberknocker of a metal album.

Draconian always excelled at long, doom metal set pieces that made maximum use of the dichotomy between the raw death rasps of Anders Jacobsson and the beautiful, emotive voice of Lisa Johansson (Shadowgarden). Opener “The Drowning Age” picks up right where Turning Seasons Within left off and its a great choice for the lead track. Starting off powerful and heavy, it soon locks into the traditional Draconian sound with a great doom riff that reminds of Brave Murder Day era Katatonia and really old Paradise Lost. Anders has a great death croak and when Lisa joins in she’s as enchanting as always. Over the next seven minutes they give a clinic on how to make this dueling vocal style work. Its as good as anything off Turning Seasons and contains the memorable line “let’s bring our gods to the gallows.”  The rest of the album rings with equally high quality gothic tinged death/doom and songs like “End of the Rope,” “Elysian Night” and “a Phantom Dissonance” manage to be heavy as hell but  memorable and addicting after just one listen. Not all the songs grind along at a doom crawl and they wisely shake things up with more aggressive tracks like “End of The Rope” and “Deadlight.” They also bring back violins with good effect on tracks like “The Last Hour Ancient Sunlight.” None of the ten tracks are weak and there’s enough diversity in approach and tempos to keep things from getting boring.

This time out Lisa’s vocals are pushed further into the forefront and it works well. She has a great tone and she never goes for an operatic approach or over-sings. She lets her rich, beautiful voice do its job without forcing anything (listen to her haunting vocals on “Elysian Night”). She sometimes reminds of Marjan Welman (Autumn, Demiurg) and sometimes Anneke Van Giersbergen (The Gathering). Whenever she comes in, her voice captivates and it really meshes well with the death vocals (especially during “Deadlight” and “A Phantom Dissonance”). Also worthy of praise is the guitar work by Johan Ericson and Daniel Arvidsson. They provide an impressive array of great doom/goth riffs and a lot of it is both heavy and tasteful. The riff at 4:30 on “The Drowning Age” is stellar as is the depressive opening to “The Last Hour.” At various times during album, the riff phrasing reminded me a lot of unsung but great Finnish doomsters Rapture (who all doom/death fans should seek out ASAP).

Yet another highly impressive release leaves Draconian at the very tip of the gothic doom/death spear. They keep refining and perfecting their take on the style and with results like this, there isn’t much negative one can say. This is the equal of the great Turning Seasons Within and likely to be one of the best doom metal releases this year. Its all about finding the beauty in darkness and these folks have the knack for crafting bleak, haunting music that remains memorable and accesible. Give this a listen and bask in the gloom as beauty and the beast gets a temporary reprieve.

Related posts:

1. Shadowgarden – Ashen Review
2. Angrily Unreviewed: November’s Doom – Aphotic
3. Loss – Despond Review

For today’s selection, we have the up and coming Swedish black metal act Rev 16:8 (formely known as both  Bloodshed and Scythe). Ashlands is their second release and up until I got the promo I’d never heard a thing about them under any of their numerous names (of all of them, the new one is the pitts). They play what could be called modern black metal and Ashlands is loaded with rough, ugly black metal mostly played at blasting speeds. While they don’t exactly reinvent the wheel or bring anything very new to the genre, they execute well and some of the material shines with potential and talent. In a field that has grown increasingly overloaded with copycat acts and stagnation, do they have what it takes to rise above the black masses and stand out? Well, not yet but maybe soon.

Wasting no time getting to the blackness, Rev 16:8 forgoes the near mandatory intro of wind whistling through dark woods and over grim mountains. Instead they unleash the hounds with “Agenda” which goes right about the blast beating, fierce trem-picking and the intense and varied vocal assault of lead man Talon. Its not original in any sense but its intense, powerful, raw and ugly. There are solid riffs scattered throughout and they’re delivered with a raucous guitar tone. Talon alternates between black cackles, death roars,  strange commanding military-like barks and pained spoken segments and the variety gives the song a slightly deranged, schizophrenic feeling. Its a solid, blistering number with clear parallels to Dark Funeral and Marduk as well as traces of the less symphonic works of Dimmu Borgir. They’re not exactly copying any of those established acts but its safe to say they were influences. The beatings continue with tracks like “Ashlands,” “Blackline Sundown” and “Serenades,” all  pack a respectably raw, nasty wallop. However, its the few times Rev 16:8 departs from the blasting and try something different that end up being the album high points. On “The Chase” they go for more of an ugly, black n’ roll thing with a slower pace and basic rock song structure. Its still nasty and vile but has an undeniably cool groove and swing to it that sets it apart and makes it more memorable. On “Coal Mirror” they slow way down and go for a creepy grind loaded with tense atmosphere and anguished wailing. Its very effective and another standout moment.

The biggest knock against these chaps is the tendency toward a generic feeling on some tracks. While decent, tracks like “Serenades,” “Rust Retinal Vein” and “When Your Words Are Obsolete” have a certain blandness to them that hurts the album. I listened to them a bunch but was always left with a “so what” feeling. Another negative are the two ambient interludes that take up space and don’t add anything to the album’s character.

That said, Talon’s vocals are a success and his use of multiple styles instead of just a standard black croak really helps get the music over and at times he carries songs with his vocal lunancy (“Blackline Sundown” from 1:00 onward as he seems to be having seizures and orgasms simultaneously). Likewise, Talon and Nefastus come up with respectable black metal riffs on most of the songs (especially “Ashlands” at 2:25 and “Coal Mirror” generally). The absence of keyboard and any type of fruity symphonia is an additional pleasant choice as I’m growing mighty tired of symphonic black metal lately.

So basically Ashlands ends up a decent but unexceptional release.  It definitely showcases some interesting potential and a few interesting ideas but overall it isn’t an essential purchase. I predict good things in the future for them if they focus on the experimental aspects of their sound and avoid falling into the rut of generic blasting.

Related posts:

1. U.D.O – Rev-Raptor Review
2. Iskald – The Sun I Carried Alone Review
3. Nadiwrath – Nihilistic Stench Review