Heavy Metal

U.D.O. – Steelhammer Review

By Steel Druhm on May 25, 2013 in 2013, 3.0, AFM Records, German Metal, Heavy Metal, Reviews, Heavy Metal, 7 comments

“U.D.O. (i.e. Udo Dirkschneider), the voice of Accept is back with his umpteenth album full of typically old school, Germanic heavy metal. As with all his previous platters, Steelhammer is Accept-ish in design, with nods to Teutonic power metal like Grave Digger. Sometimes speedy, sometimes mid-tempo, the man and his band traffic in meat and potato metal riffs with his now classic raspy snarl dropped on top thereof. While you have to admire his consistency, it doesn’t always lead to memorable albums, though you can usually count on a handful of above-average ragers. 2011s Rev-Raptor was a rather fun and engaging outing, and Steelhammer follows right along in the same cheesy, but familiar mode.” It’s Udo and his band U.D.O. and that means more Germanic metal with silliness, hooks and Accept-isms. If you liked any of his other 200 albums, you’ll probably like this too.

Joel Grind – The Yellowgoat Sessions

By Steel Druhm on May 25, 2013 in 2013, 3.5, American Metal, Hells Headbangers Records, Reviews, Thrash Metal, Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, 3 comments

“Whoa! Steel Druhm did not expect this thing to kick anywhere near as much ass as it does. In fact, this is an insidious ass-kicking machine, free from the lab and turned loose on mankind with naught but ill intent. The author of this wanton hiney massacre is one Joel Grind, the force behind the old school, retro thrash band Toxic Holocaust. Between albums he apparently felt the burning need to craft this hugely lethal collection of thrash anthems under this eponymous project name.” Imagine if old Bathory got humped by Motorhead and Slayer and you would have a good idea what this goat sounds like. BAAAAH!

Spiritual Beggars – Earth Blues Review

By Steel Druhm on April 26, 2013 in 2013, 4.0, InsideOut, Reviews, Stoner Rock, Swedish Metal, Heavy Metal, Stoner Rock, 6 comments

“One of our readers recently commented that we convinced him the only independent bands were stoner/doom bands. That sentiment is surely understandable given the enormous volume of the stuff cropping up these days. It’s not limited to independent bands either, as Spiritual Beggars clearly demonstrates again on album number eight, Earth Blues. Since Michael Amott’s (Arch Enemy, Carcass) long-lived stoner/retro-rock project clearly isn’t going away, you might as well put on the obnoxiously colorful tie-dye shirt (the theme this time appears to be radioactive orange) and enjoy the homage to all things late 60s/early 70s.” Set the lava lamps to “wake and bake” and get settled into your bean bag chairs, the Spiritual Beggars are back to shake your VW van! Steel Druhm shook off his contact high to tell you if this is worth your free love.

Ghost – Infestissumam Review

By Steel Druhm on April 24, 2013 in 2.0, 2013, Heavy Metal, Loma Vista Recordings, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Heavy Metal, 54 comments

“Like many others in the metalverse, Steel Druhm got caught up in the hype surrounding the strangely addictive pope-isms of mysterious cult rockers Ghost and their stellar debut Opus Eponymous. They had a wicked sound, a cool, throwback charm and the tunes were as catchy as athlete’s foot. While there was a nagging worry they might be a one-off novelty act and would fold up shop like a fly-by-night carnival, I was anxious to get my hands on the not so long-awaited followup, Infestissumam. After some time with the album and after giving this serious thought, I’ve come to the conclusion that Opus Eponymous was their version of The Warning, and Infestissumam is their attempt at a Rage for Order. While Queensryche was able to make the jump from a straight-forward metal album to a more cerebral, progressive sound due to elbow grease, spit (courtesy of Mr. Tate) and sheer talent, Ghost is not quite so lucky.” Ghost blew away the metal world with their debut, but Steel Druhm thinks they may be haunted by their own early success. Join him as he goes Ghostbusting.

Memory Garden – Doomain Review

By Steel Druhm on April 15, 2013 in 2013, 3.0, Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Metal Blade, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, 4 comments

“I’m a sucker for the name “Memory Garden.” I love the classic Trouble song with that title and I’ve always appreciated this group as well. Part of the moniker love is due to having worked in a cemetery bearing that name during grad school (yes, Steel Druhm was a legitimate grave-digger), but the talent, class and polish of this outfit doesn’t hurt none either. These Swedes play a type of progressive doom that sounds like a mix of Candlemass, Memento Mori, Nevermore and Lansfear with some similarities to the material off Tad Morose’s classic A Mended Rhyme. Never too slow and dirgey, they infuse just enough traditional and power metal ideas to move things along and they bring an exceptionally high level of musicality to the table so everything goes down smooth as buttered silk.” Proggy, melodic doom should sound good to even the most attention challenged of metal fans. Even moss peeping, anti-doomers like AMG himself might enjoy the tasteful stylings of Memory Garden.

Kaledon – Altor: The King’s Blacksmith Review

By Steel Druhm on April 14, 2013 in 1.5, 2013, Italian Metal, Power Metal, Reviews, Scarlet Records, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, 10 comments

“This album has been giving me fits. I initially confused the band with a power-prog outfit and volunteered to review it. Well, it’s about as far from power prog as Earth is from the Sun. No, Kaledon is a super mega cheesy symphonic power metal ensemble from Italy and they desperately want to be the next Rhaposdy of Fire. To that end, they pile on the swords, sandals, Spartacus and silliness (and they even roped Fabio Lione into guest vocals somehow). Though this is their seventh album (most being part of concept series called Legends of the Forgotten Realm), I had somehow missed them all, which is fortuitous, because from my investigations, they aren’t very good. In fact, they assault the listener with some of the most generic, uninteresting power metal in recent memory. Altor: The King’s Blacksmith is a heaping helping of cheese coated fruit, unfit for consumption by all but the most ardent LARPer.” Steel Druhm doesn’t like LARPing, but he does like power metal, even cheesy power metal. Doesn’t seem as if he’s liking this slice of spoiled Rhapsody pie though….

Amorphis – Circle Review

By Steel Druhm on April 9, 2013 in 2013, 3.0, Death Metal, Finnish Metal, Heavy Metal, Nuclear Blast, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, Heavy Metal, Progressive Metal, 34 comments

“If Amorphis fanboyism was an infectious disease, the AMG offices would surely be quarantined due to the terminal cases both AMG and myself suffer from. I’ve always regarded their Tales From the Thousand Lakes as the greatest melo-death album of all time, and few bands can boast a run of releases as consistently brilliant as Eclipse through Skyforger. The Beginning of Times had some great songs, but was overlong, a bit bloated and dragged badly on the back-end. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in expecting a big bounce back from the Finnish titans, and it was with typically high expectations that I welcomed the Circle promo when it finally arrived.” Amorphis is the big fish in the thousand lakes of Finnish metal, but will Circle keep them at the top of the food chain or consign them to the role of bottom feeder? Join Steel Druhm as he fishes for answers.

Blackshine – Soul Confusion Review

By Steel Druhm on March 30, 2013 in 2013, 3.0, Heavy Metal, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Thrash Metal, Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, 3 comments

“And now for something completely different. Blackshine is an underground Swedish act sporting an interesting blend of thrash and hard rock. Though I’ve seen them refered to as “death n’ roll,” I never found that to be an apt descriptor. Their sound is like a raucous blend of First Wave Bay Area thrash, Motorhead, Sentenced, a wee bit of Wolverine Blues-era Entombed and a smattering of stoner/biker rock.” If that sounds like a heady brew of influences, join Steel Druhm as he gets his Blackshine on.

Avantasia – The Mystery of Time Review

By Steel Druhm on March 26, 2013 in 2013, 3.5, German Metal, Heavy Metal, Nuclear Blast, Power Metal, Reviews, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, 23 comments

“You have to give Tobias Sammet his steely props. He doesn’t do things half-assed. Nope, he goes big, bold and lets the Metal Gods sort shit out. His Edguy material is plenty pretentious and overblown, but it can’t hold a magic candle to the sheer pretentious pomposity and bombast of his Avantasia project. Taking cues from Arjen Luccasen’s Ayreon outings, Sammet drags in every singer, guitarist and hanger-on he can and it seems he’s playing a metallic version of Pokemon (gotta catch em all). His last feat was the impressive double release of the Angel of Babylon and The Wicked Symphony albums (my fanboyish reviews of which, landed me a spot at AMG Industries, Ltd. for some reason), and I was very curious how he could top those massive platters of symphonic excess.” So how exactly does Mr. Sammet top his prior output? Steel Druhm is here to unravel the mysteries of time.

Serenity – War of Ages Review

By Steel Druhm on March 18, 2013 in 2013, 4.0, Austrian Metal, Heavy Metal, Napalm Records, Power Metal, Reviews, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, 17 comments

“Serenity have been releasing solid power metal albums for a while now, but so far they seem to be fairly underrated. I really enjoyed their older releases, especially Fallen Sanctuary (“The Heartblood Symphony” is a great fucking song). No small part of their appeal comes from the fact that singer Georg Neuhauser sounds a lot like Sonata Arctica’s Tony Kakko, but Serenity’s music is heavier and more ballsy than anything Sonata has attempted in ages. War of Ages sees the band right the flagship and find the proper balance between their increasing symphonic leanings and their prior metal edge. The result is a good approximation of what Kamelot would sound like if they replaced Roy Kahn with Mr. Kakko and continued on their merry, pirate-shirted way. ” Do you like Sonata Arctica? Do you like Kamelot? Well according to Steel Druhm, this is so deep in your wheelhouse, you’ll never get it out!