Metal music reviews, top albums and forums (2024)

3.75 | 2 ratings

UMUR

"Banished By Sin" is the thirteenth full-length studio album by US, Florida based death metal act Deicide. The album was released through Reigning Phoenix Music in April 2024. It´s the successor to "Overtures of Blasphemy" from September 2018. There´s been one lineup change since the predecessor as guitarist Mark English has been replaced by Taylor Nordberg. The latter is a relatively prolific name in death metal circles having performed with artists like Massacre, Ribspreader, and Wombbath (among others...). "Banished By Sin" was released to some controversy regarding the AI generated cover artwork, which many fans heavily critiziced.

Stylistically there are very few surprises on "Banished By Sin" if you´re familiar with Deicide´s output since "Till Death Do Us Part" (2008). Lead vocalist/bassist Glen Benton maybe sings more of his high pitched demonic vocals and thereby complimenting his raw throaty growling vocals which ultimately makes the vocal part of the album relatively diverse, but other than that this is Deicide as we expect them to sound these days...anti-christian/blasphemous lyrics and all. Although they can still whip up a storm of blast beats and fast-paced riffs, "Banished By Sin" is predominantly a heavy and mid-paced affair. Everything is delivered with great energy and skill though, so Deicide are definitely still a force to be reckoned with (scene veterans or not). The lead guitar work is blistering and powerful, and Steve Asheim as always delivers a sharp and brutal drum assault.

"Banished By Sin" features a clear, heavy, and powerful sounding production job, but to my ears it´s almost too polished for Deicide´s music style. A bit more grit would have suited the material better. Upon conclusion "Banished By Sin" is a good quality death metal release from Deicide, but it´s not an album which rival their classic 90s releases, which isn´t surprising since nothing they´ve released since the mid-90s have been able to do that, but that doesn´t mean it´s not a release worth investigating and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

• 1 day ago
• 0 comment
• Permalink
• Share
• Report #879881

3.17 | 2 ratings

siLLy puPPy

As one of rock and metal’s most distinct guitarists on the scene since the 1980s, MARTY FRIEDMAN has remained one of the most creative musicians beginning with his days with Cacophony, crafting neoclassical classics like “Dragon’s Kiss” and of course bringing Megadeth to the highest ranks of the world of metal music. Despite his contributions to the world of shredding and guitar virtuosity, FRIEDMAN has also displayed a firm command of exquisite compositional creation with emotive albums such as “Scenes” and “Introduction.” After relocating to Japan, FRIEDMAN has also delivered many albums worth of J-pop inspired metal and has proven that his relentless pursuit of new avenues of exploring where the guitar playing can go is virtually limitless.

Now well into his 60s and nearly four decades after his work with Jason Becker in Cacophony, FRIEDMAN is still going strong and returns in 2024 with his latest solo extravaganza, DRAMA which finds him back in the role of guitar god after seemingly exhausting his love of Japanese themed music set to the world of metal music. DRAMA is a near hour’s run of FRIEDMAN doing what he does best and that is namely delivering sharp melodic hooks in the form of some of the most phenomenal guitar playing moves in the known universe. Like most of his solo offerings, DRAMA is a mostly instrumental affair but also finds a couple tracks, “Dead Of Winter” and “2 Rebeldes” with vocal contributions.

Also joined by drummer American Gregg Bissonette of David Lee Roth, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai fame, DRAMA also finds some classical music support from cellist Hiyori Okuda and violinist Miho Chigyo. as well as offering emotive orchestrations with Japanese pianist / keyboardist Mika Maruki adding beautiful textures to his melodic tunes. Long abandoning the one-dimensionality of pure shredding, DRAMA offers a collection of mostly mid-tempo tracks that implement some of the now familiar exotic scales FRIEDMAN is famous for and while shredding seems to be MARTY’s laser preferred mode of guitar expression these days, he still has the ability to crank out some amazingly virtuosic moves however always in the context of the melodic composition at hand.

In many ways DRAMA sounds like a collage effect of some of FRIEDMAN’s 90s work with a mix of alternative metal riffing, slower clean guitar playing on various musical scales that are melodic and in the case of this album an emphasis on emotive atmospheres and subordinate instrumentation. Personally i prefer the instrumental tracks as the vocal ones don’t work for me (i assume FRIEDMAN is the singer) however many of the melodies and styles seem a bit recycled and there is even a reprise of the track “Triumph” in an updated form that first appeared on the 1992 “Scenes” album. Overall this album is a bit too much of what’s been done before for my tastes. I haven’t really been blown away by anything FRIEDMAN has done since the 2002 album “Music For Speeding” but it’s a well played and well performed album. A little too mellow overall and i wish there were more upbeat metal moments. It’s a good album but not one i would call essential in the FRIEDMAN canon. Great to hear him still doing his thing though!

• 8 days ago
• 0 comment
• Permalink
• Share
• Report #879763

4.04 | 5 ratings

UMUR

"A Mortal Binding" is the fifteenth full-length studio album by UK doom/death metal act My Dying Bride. The album was released through Nuclear Blast in April 2024. It´s the successor to "The Ghost of Orion" from March 2020. There have been a couple of lineup changes since the predecessor as guitarist Neil Blanchett has joined as the band´s second guitarist (he actually already joined in 2019 but didn´t perform on "The Ghost of Orion"), and drummer Jeff Singer has left and has been replaced by a returning Dan Mullins, who previously played with My Dying Bride in the 2007-2012 period.

It´s been quite a few years and albums since My Dying Bride released anything which surprised the fans of the band (the last time was with the release of "Evinta" in 2011), but My Dying Bride actually used to be (pre-2000) a pretty experimental death/doom metal act in terms of developing their music greatly between releases (the first five studio albums are quite different in sound and style), while still staying on the path of their trademark death/doom metal style. After 2000 they´ve released many high quality releases, but also a few less inspired ones. The latter are still quality releases, which could easily be other death/doom metal artists masterpieces, but when you set the standard as high as My Dying Bride have done throughout their great career, the fans also have very high expectations each time a new My Dying Bride album hits the streets.

"A Mortal Binding" is not one of the most unique nor is it one of the most adventurous My Dying Bride releases, and as a listener you get pretty much what you expect. So all the ingredients of a My Dying Bride album are in place. Lead vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe switching between death metal growling and darkly poetic goth tinged clean vocals, heavy doomy riffs and rhythms, atmosphere enhancing keyboards, and melancholic leads delivered by both guitars and violin. What "A Mortal Binding" does different than the last couple of releases is the focus on rhythm. My Dying Bride were always a relatively rhythmic death/doom metal act, but the return of Mullins has definitely pushed My Dying Bride in a more rhythm focused direction. So it´s not all just long droning power chords and slow minimalistic drumming.

The sound production is more raw, less polished, and more immediate than the last couple of releases, and at this point it´s a relief to hear that My Dying Bride still have a bit of grit in them. Opening track "Her Dominion" is the best example of that, as it´s a pretty heavy death metal track solely featuring growling vocals. Although other tracks on the album also feature death metal growling, "Her Dominion" is however a bit of the odd one out track on "A Mortal Binding", and I´d say the remaining tracks are more in line with what you´d expect from post-2000 My Dying Bride material. Highlights include "Thornwyck Hymn" and the 11:22 minutes long "The Apocalyptist", but as always My Dying Bride are impressive in terms consistency, and there´s nothing on this album, which isn´t quality material. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

• 8 days ago
• 0 comment
• Permalink
• Share
• Report #879762

3.67 | 2 ratings

UMUR

"Unicursal" is the second full-length studio album by US, Florida based death metal act Nocturnus AD. The album was released through Profound Lore Records in May 2024. It´s the successor to "Paradox" from May 2019, so it´s been five years betweeen the two album releases. There haven´t been any lineup changes, so the lineup who recorded "Paradox" is intact on "Unicursal".

Although the current incarnation of the band formed in 2013, drummer/lead vocalist Mike Browning has a long history in US death metal, being the original drummer and vocalist in Morbid Angel. After leaving Morbid Angel Browning formed Nocturnus and performed on their two classic albums "The Key" (1990) and "Thresholds" (1992) before being fired from the band he co-founded. He shortly formed Nocturnus AD in 1990 but changed the band name to After Death. In the period 2000-2013 After Death released quite a few demos (all material from the demos can be found on the 2007 compilation album "Retronomicon"), but in 2013 Browning opted to change the name back to Nocturnus AD. He always felt that Nocturnus was his creation and he wanted to carry on the legacy of the band, but since he had lost the rights to the name, he added the AD to avoid legal action from his previous bandmates who still owned the name. When playing live Nocturnus AD also play Nocturnus songs, so in effect (since Nocturnus haven´t been active since 2002), this is the closest you get to the real deal.

"Unicursal" is a concept album continuing the sci-fi story of Dr. Magus which was initiated on "The Key" and continued on "Paradox" (a sci-fi story mixing anti-christian themes, with futuristic sci-fi themes, and fantasy mystical themes). Stylistically the material on "Unicursal" naturally continue the sci-fi themed old school death metal featuring prominent use of keyboards, which the band also played on "Paradox". Browning is a raw shouting/semi-growling type vocals, and while his vocals aren´t the most powerful death metal vocals I´ve encountered and his staccato delivery can get a bit one-dimensional and tedious, he has a personal style which is more than you can say about a lot of other death metal vocalists.

While the core of the compositions is more or less thrash oriented old school death metal the dominant use of keyboards and the blistering lead guitar work are some of the features which set Nocturnus AD apart from other death metal acts with the same base elements. The music on "Unicursal" isn´t terribly different from what Nocturnus put out in the early 90s, but I guess that´s the whole point. The novelty of having a permanent keyboard player in a death metal band wore off a long time ago, but that doesn´t mean the addition of keyboards to Nocturnus AD´s death metal music isn´t effective and atmosphere enhancing, because it certainly is. To my ears the keyboards have at times maybe become a bit too dominant and provide the music with an epic symphonic feeling, that´s a bit generic if you compare them to how the keyboards where used on the original Nocturnus albums, where they either provided an eerie effect or even worked as a lead instrument.

"Unicursal" is a well produced release, sounding clear and powerful, and featuring a lot of details. Producer Jarrett Pritchard has done a great job here. So upon conclusion "Unicursal" is another good quality death metal release from Nocturnus AS, cementing their return to the scene and showing the world that they still have lots to give. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

• 16 days ago
• 0 comment
• Permalink
• Share
• Report #879668

1.75 | 2 ratings

UMUR

"Levels of Perception" is the tenth full-length studio album by Dutch death metal act Pestilence. The album was released through Agonia Records in April 2024. It features twelve re-recordings of tracks which have appeared on some of the band´s earlier releases. Not all preceding albums are represented (there are no re-recordings of tracks from "Malleus Maleficarum" (1988) or from "Spheres" (1994)), but all other Pestilence studio albums are represented with at least one track each...

...and the tracklist is up for debate. It seems a bit odd to me, why Pestilence would chose to re-record no less than four tracks from their last album "Exitivm". Re-recordings are usually done to show how a current version of a group plays older classic material, but it seems Pestilence had another vision with "Levels of Perception". "Consuming Impulse" (1989) and "Testimony of the Ancients" (1991) are represented by two tracks each (I guess they didn´t dare leave out "Out of the Body") but that´s the only pre-reformation material featured on "Levels of Perception". It´s not that Pestilence more current material isn´t decent, but it just seems a bit strange to re-record material from 2021 on a 2024 release.

When that is said, there are unfortunately much, much worse things to say about "Levels of Perception" which is through and through a horrible release. I can´t call it anything else than an abomination and a terrible misstep in the discography of Pestilence. The material is what it is, but the performances and some of the new arrangements are tame and uninspired. Honestly it almost made me cry listening to the re-recordings of "Twisted Truth" and "Out of the Body", which are two of my absolute favorite Pestilence tracks, both of which are butchered here (Patrick Mameli how could you?).

But the performances and the weak vocals from Mameli aren´t even the worst here...it´s the production values. The drums were recorded live at one studio in 2021 and everything else was overdubbed at other studios during the next couple of years. Many artists have made live recordings of drums in the studio and have gotten great results from it, but that can´t be said about the drums on "Levels of Perception", which sound like they were recorded at a rehearsal space (and not at a studio like they are) using an old fashioned four-track tape recorder. This is demo quality sound production values. And it´s not just the drums. The guitars feature an odd high end tone which is grating on the ears, Mameli´s voice is distorted and you can´t always make out the words he sings (which usually isn´t an issue on Pestilence albums), and the bass is completely disconnected from the rest of the instruments in the mix...and bass player Joost van der Graaf often sounds like he is playing another song than the rest of the members of the band.

A pretty harsh critique, which I´m not happy to deliver since Pestilence have long been some of my heroes, but I have to call it like I see it. Honesty and full disclosure. Pestilence have some work to do, to drag themselves back from this disaster. Their next album better be the best album they have released since reforming in 2008 or they may find themselves a fan or two short. You don´t come back from something like this without some careful consideration and reflection in terms of what went wrong, and what should we never do again...a 1.5 star (30%) rating is warranted. I´m tempted to give an even lower rating, but I´m trying to be fair and at least give Pestilence some sort of credit for existing, but there really isn´t much to give them credit for after listening to this album.

• 22 days ago
• 3 comments
• Permalink
• Share
• Report #879582

3.94 | 9 ratings

siLLy puPPy

Along with Gorguts, Australia’s PORTAL was one of the earliest avant-garde extreme metal bands that started to expand the ever evolving world of death metal into ever weirder, creepier and more surreal territories. Founded in 1994 in the city of Brisbane, PORTAL developed a kindred penchant with Gorguts in experimenting with extreme dissonance, eerie down-tuned rhythms and a completely unorthodox methodology of composing its musical flow. While Gorguts embraced the more technical aspects of death metal, PORTAL favored dark depressive atmospheres that took a cue from the world of black metal and dark ambient music. The band also curated a surreal persona which kept the members shrouded in anonymity. The band’s unusual stage costumes were inspired by 1920s silent films with the intent of steering the focus on the music itself which included musical themes steeped in Lovecraftian concepts such as Nyalathotep, Yog-Sothoth, Azathoth and Cthulhu.

While the band would release its first self-titled demo as early as 1998, it wouldn’t be until 2003 that PORTAL its first bonafide album “Seepia” hit the scene which showcased the band’s unique display of seamlessly merging the worlds of technical death metal with the atmospheric bleakness of black metal. Unconventional arrangements, eerie atmospheric backdrops and a bombastic explosive delivery of blitzkrieg instrumentation made “Seepia” stand out like a sore thumb in the world of death metal that had in many ways become more formulaic as it became more popular. While the debut delivered a thunderous display of avant-garde death metal wizardry, the band was not happy with the outcome citing that the desire to weave in the atmospheric elements was unsuccessful due to the incessant pummelation of the senses displayed by guitarist Horror Illogium, original bassist Werm and drum abuser Ignis Fatuus.

The band spent the next few years honing its craft with a couple EPs before unleashing its masterwork, OUTRE, a title that literally means bizarre, eccentric and freakishly bizarre. This sophom*ore album found PORTAL coming of age with a much more expansive approach that took the world of technical death metal even further down the avant-garde rabbit hole. By this time the band had expanded to a quintet fronted by the eccentric chief growler The Curator who freakishly donned an executioner’s mask. Aphotic Mote joined Horror Illogium as the second guitarist and likewise bassist Elsewhere and newbie drummer Monocular joined the PORTAL team to craft one of the most startlingly mondo bizarro death metal dominant albums that the early 2000s had to offer. While initially inspired by the likes of Morbid Angel, Beherit and Immolation, PORTAL had expanded its sound into a world all its own which was as dystopian and far removed from what many would deem traditional old school death metal as one could possibly fathom at this point.

OUTRE wastes no time establishing its atmospheric presence with the short dark ambient intro “Moil” which cedes to the dissonant noise ferocity of “Abysmill” by implementing the same aggressive bombast as “Seepia” but with more nuance. While “Seepia” was a blitzkrieg of excesses, OUTRE immediately establishes an immediate emphasis on crafting a streamlined horrorscape of sound that features a more controlled restraint. A concerted effort to give each instrument its own role is the biggest leap of ingenuity on OUTRE with slow creeping bass lines, snare drum repetition and twin guitar dualities including slow slinking moments closer to doom metal than the world of frenetic death metal. The album also offers dark ambient interludes that connect tracks and place them into a more logical cohesive context which allows the Lovecraftian themes to bask in their own marinated ebullience. While the focus on atmosphere may have been firmly established, OUTRE refused to jettison the bantering sonic onslaught of fast reckless guitar riffing and resolute devotion to adrenalized speed rushes.

The band also developed menacing guitar tones that coupled with noisy production values offered and even further detachment from conventional death metal techniques, a term that some have referred to as “caverncore.”. Even The Curator’s vocal growls defied death metal conventionalities and lay somewhere between the emphatic raspiness of avant-garde black metal bands like Deathspell Omega and the guttural growls that death metal enthusiasts had become accustomed to. Attention to slower oozing bleakness as the emphasis allowed the aggressive elements to offer a more intricate contrast which heightened the surreal soundscapes even further. The use of varying tempos and moments of sluggish vagrancy allowed the atmospheric constructs to pierce the din and cast an overall tension that “Seepia” lacked. The album finds oddball moments such as the 2 1/2 minute title track that escape the world of all established metal norms and features a noisy display of unnerving chaotic din only to be followed by the most aggressive moments on “13 Globes” which reprise the “Seepia” styled pummelation effect only dripping in compositional unconventionalities and atonal dissonant guitar assaults.

In all its aggressive dissonant din OUTRE proved revolutionary in crafting a strange new style of death metal based extremism that utilized the technical aspects and abrasiveness of the world of death metal and married it with the atmospheric potentials that the world of black metal offered. The album straddles a strange line between many strains of metal and even adopts some of the characteristic of war metal in a battle-like procession into strange Lovecraftian realities where everything familiar seems twisted, mangled and intangibly mutilated into unrecognizable yet discernible patterns of technical wizardry. OUTRE is the album that put PORTAL on the world’s stage and it has become one of those landmark moments that prognosticated an entirely new strain of dissonant death metal bands that would follow. In the 2020s this may not sound as extreme with bands like Ulcerate, Gigan, Pyrrhon and Ad Nauseam having followed the lead but back in 2007 when this was released it really did take extreme metal into some of the strangest places yet experienced. This one is a grower. It took me a while and many listening experiences to wrap my ahead around it but after several years of soaking it in, i have to say that is is a cream of the crop release in the world of avant-garde metal.

• 22 hours ago
• 1 comment
• Permalink
• Share
• Report #879904

1.94 | 4 ratings

siLLy puPPy

If there was ever an award for the most head scratching career moves of the entire 1960s, VANILLA FUDGE must would surely win first prize. After a surprise hit debut album of nothing more than cover songs reinterpreted into the world of psychedelic soulful rock laced with heavy organ fuzz and showcasing some of the earliest traces of progressive rock and what would become heavy metal, the band followed with one of the most avant-garde albums to come out in the year 1968. While the debut featured familiar catchy pop songs including the top 10 hit remake of The Supremes’ chart topping single “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” the band quickly shifted gears into a strange collage album in the form of THE BEAT GOES ON in early 1968.

The year 1967 was the Summer of Love and offered a last air of innocent hippie glee before the calendar year 1968 roared in full force. The idealism of perpetual peace and free love were interrupted by a turbulent world stage where everything seemed to go topsy turvy overnight. The music of the era reflected this by shifting from simpler musical forms that had only just evolved out of the straight forward approach of rock and roll to headier and ever bolder musical experiments. The Beatles’ classic “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band” deserves the lion’s share of credit for upping the ante in the world of simpler rock forms that focused on singles as a means of marketing to a full-fledged concept albums in an art rock style which hit the world with the subtlety of a lightning bolt.

While the world of psychedelic pop and rock would sally forth unscathed with many simpler forms of rock continuing to occupy the hit singles charts, some intrepid acts followed the cue of The Beatles and went for the concept album avant-garde jugular. VANILLA FUDGE was one such band having never even released a single song of their own making and then suddenly delivering a followup album that recklessly abandoned all the rules and engaged in a fearless exploration into the unknown musical possibilities that could result from just simply going for it. THE BEAT GOES ON was basically a meandering sampling of the entire history of music without any regard to how things connected or fit together in any way, shape or form. Based on the smashing success of the debut, the album still sold its share of copies but quickly alienated any fans who were expecting a continuation of the band’s soulful psychedelic rock playfulness that put VANILLA FUDGE on the map.

Broken into four phases with various short snippets called tracks, THE BEAT GOES ON meanders through a maze of crossover classical music (Mozart, Beethoven etc), medleys of famous pop hits by Elvis Presley and The Beatles as well spoken word speeches and one of the very first recordings of all time sampled by Thomas Edison. The band retains its psychedelic rock at key moments with the already established fuzzy organ heft and heavier rock combo effect of the guitar, bass and drum but in reality there are no actual songs on THE BEAT GOES ON and merely samplings strewn together into a psychedelic haze of consciousness shifting. Clearly the year 1968 was a traumatic one for the world and the methodologies of finding the proper musical escape hatch were becoming bolder and more ambitious with THE BEAT GOES ON being one of those albums that at first listen may seem completely pointless but also when placed into the context of the time fits in with how the world of musical exploration was panning out.

The album is compared with Frank Zappa’s “Lumpy Gravy” however VANILLA FUDGE beat Zappa to the punch by a few months with a nerdy concept album that engaged in the everything and the kitchen sink approach. The major difference of course that being that Frank Zappa was a gifted and brilliant composer of the avant-garde and VANILLA FUDGE being a naive quartet of youngsters who didn’t quite have the chops to bring their ambitions to a high level of competency. While many really hate this album including the band itself as they blame this unwise followup as a total career killer, as far as experimental avant-garde albums go it’s not that bad. While its hardly any milestone of creative fortitude, as a historical reference point and unorthodox art rock album from 1968 it’s a totally listenable experience.

Luckily the band would quickly follow up with a new album of mostly self-penned tracks titled “Renaissance” but momentum had been lost and THE BEAT GOES ON has been ridiculed by many ever since. Personally i admire VANILLA FUDGE’s audaciousness as the band clearly had no idea of how to keep an audience enthralled. One of those cases of moving too quickly into an arena where the artistry wasn’t up to snuff. It would’ve made a lot more sense to release “Renaissance” first and establishing the band as a bonafide creator of its own material and sound and only then after retaining its momentum by releasing something like this a year or two later. But when all is said and done, THE BEAT GOES ON exhibits a trend of a musical expedition into completely uncharted territory and that’s pretty remarkable for a band that could’ve simply put out another album of psychedelically tinged cover songs. Despite not crafting the next great art album of all time, VANILLA FUDGE earned its place as a bonafide proto-prog act that helped propel the spirit of the evolution of the rock music paradigm. While results were mixed, the spirit of the creative process excelled.

• 22 hours ago
• 0 comment
• Permalink
• Share
• Report #879903

3.47 | 6 ratings

siLLy puPPy

VANILLA FUDGE was an unusual 1960s band in the fact that these New Yorkers that formed in 1966 successfully created an entirely new sound in the world of psychedelic soul rock all without writing a single song of their own on their debut release. Add to that the band somehow cemented itself into the history books as one of the earliest bands that forged the way for not only progressive rock but the world of heavy metal, both of which would become major dominant musical forces in the decade to come. Starting out as The Electric Pigeons and then truncating to just The Pigeons, the band changed its name to VANILLA FUDGE which referred to a group of white guys singing and playing music created by black singers and musicians.

VANILLA FUDGE was organist Mark Stein, bassist Tim Bogert, guitarist Vince Martelil and drummer Carmine Appice. While Stein handled lead vocals, the entire band engaged in intricate harmonies influenced by bands such as The Beatles and The Rascals only VANILLA FUDGE was a pioneering band in bridging the world of black soul music with the brave new world of psychedelic rock. The band’s eponymously titled debut emerged in 1967 and found instant gratification as it literally shot up to the #6 position on the Billboard album charts even before the release of the crafty cover of The Supreme’s 1966 smash hit “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” was released as a single and too shot up the charts. Graced with an impeccable sense of harmony and by playing cover songs at half the original speed, VANILLA FUDGE delivered an irresistible new perspective on well known songs on its self-titled 1967 debut.

This first album was unique in the band’s five album run that lasted only three years as it featured no original songs whatsoever however the band did contribute three very short self-made instrumental intros that were listed as separate tracks but in reality served as nothing more than short snippets that connected the cover songs. With no original songs to showcase VANILLA FUDGE made it count in their unique and original approach into how they interpreted each song. The band excelled at crafting a mix of top notch soulful harmonies with Mark Stein’s vocals showing a particularly engaging style that mixed traditional soul singing with bouts of wailing and extended vocal techniques. The use of acid rock organ runs, energetic drumming excursions and heavy guitar moments earned the band the reputation as one of the few American acts that bridged the gap between the world of 1960s psychedelic rock and the future worlds of prog and metal.

Following only a year after The Supremes hit #1 on the Billboard singles chart with “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” VANILLA FUDGE’s version shot up to the top 10 as well only stalling at the #6 position. The single was enough to keep the band’s album racing up the charts and propelling VANILLA FUDGE into the big time. The success allowed the band to tour with Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane and eventually the band would tour with Led Zeppelin as their opening act. The band was a major influence on Deep Purple with its emphasis on the use of bombastic organ heft and harder rocking moments of guitar and drumming. The album walked a delicate balance between beautifully delivered soulful harmonies laced with tender orchestrations and the contrasting hard rock, the likes of which had never been attempted.

To be honest i’m not a fan of cover albums for the most part and the mid-1960s found many newly established acts not ready for prime time releasing albums that relied too heavily on cover songs to fill up space but VANILLA FUDGE is the exception as they definitely reinterpreted a diverse set of covers all the while drenching them in the sounds of the organ-fueled excesses of acid rock and heavy psych. The album flows perfectly from beginning to end and the band members really did take full command of the cover songs and make them their own. VANILLA FUDGE’s debut is an excellent slice of traditional soulful pop songs transmogrified into proto-prog and proto-metal splendor. This one really is a unique moment in history since the band would follow with the avant-garde sophom*ore release “The Beat Goes On” before delivering an album of all original material on “Renaissance.” While i don’t want to love this one, i can’t help myself! It’s a brilliantly bold move from a band that masterfully crafted one of the most uncanny hybridization albums of the entire 1960s.

• 22 hours ago
• 0 comment
• Permalink
• Share
• Report #879902

2.81 | 4 ratings

UMUR

"Extremely Rotten Live" is a live album by Swedish death metal act Grave. The album was released through Century Media Records in April 1997. It features fifteen tracks recorded live on the 21st and the 22nd of September 1996 at the Showcase Theatre, Corona CA, USA. The band were apparently never satisfied with the album, because the recordings were culled from some of the earliests shows on their US tour and they felt that some of the later shows on the tour featured more tight performances.

The tracklist covers the band´s first four albums, one tracks from the 1993 "...And Here I Die...Satisfied" EP, and the "Reborn Miscarriage" track from the 1989 "Anatomia Corporis Humani" demo. As "Hating Life" (1996) was their latest album and they were supporting the release of that album on the US tour, "Extremely Rotten Live" features no less than five tracks from that album. So most of the material is old school Swedish death metal, but the material from "Hating Life" (and to a lesser extent the material from "Soulless" (1994)) is more groove oriented, so this is not the most representative live album in terms of what you normally hear at a Grave show. It was a short period of their career that they toyed with heavy grooves/riffs and throaty shouting vocals instead of brutal death metal growling, and they soon returned to a more old school death metal style, which they have stuck to ever since. That makes "Extremely Rotten Live" a historical document of what Grave sounded like in the mid-90s, but not a particularly good documentation of early- og latter day Grave.

"Extremely Rotten Live" features a sound quality which is decent and detailed enough considering that this was recorded live, but it´s not a particularly powerful or well sounding production. It doesn´t take more than a few tracks before my ears tire from the sound and when the material is of such differing quality too, it makes for a pretty uneven listen. So upon conclusion "Extremely Rotten Live" is unfortunately a missed opportunity and considering how seldom death metal bands are given the opportunity to record a live album, Grave´s frustrations with this release are understandable (I´m a little frustrated too...). A 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating is warranted.

• 1 day ago
• 0 comment
• Permalink
• Share
• Report #879884

3.00 | 1 rating

UMUR

"Gruesome Acts of a Deranged Mind" is the debut full-length studio album by UK goregrind act Organic Brain Disorder. The album was released through Bizarre Leprous Production in October 2023 and reissued by Acid Redux Productions in April 2024. Organic Brain Disorder is a one-man project with Brazilian born, but UK based Corvo handling all instruments, drum programming, and vocals. Organic Brain Disorder released a demo (titled "Demo 2023") in August 2023, but other than that, this is the first release by Organic Brain Disorder.

Stylistically you get a filthy, fast-paced, yet sharp and clear sounding goregrind style on this eleven tracks, 16:01 minutes long album. The vocals are low-in-the-mix distorted growling, which have that nasty juicy quality to them, which many goregrind bands favor. There´s a strong harcore/punk influence heard, and sometimes I´m reminded of early Napalm Death. At least when it comes to the instrumental part of the music. The drums are programmed, and Corvo has done a decent job with the programming. The sound production is powerful too, and "Gruesome Acts of a Deranged Mind" is overall a well produced release.

Upon conclusion you won´t hear anything on "Gruesome Acts of a Deranged Mind" which you haven´t heard before. So innovation and uniqeness are not features found here. But if you enjoy the goregrind style you could definitely spend you money worse than on this album. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

• 1 day ago
• 0 comment
• Permalink
• Share
• Report #879883

3.00 | 1 rating

UMUR

"Monsters" is the second EP release by Danish rock/metal act Vola. The EP was independently released in October 2011. It follows the release of the band´s November 2008 debut EP "Homesick Machinery", although the two EPs are bridged by the March 2010 one-track digital single "Glasswork". The EP features four tracks and a playing time around the 20 minutes.

Vola pretty much continues the electronic/keyboard tinged mellow rock/metal style, which is occasionally spiced up by heavier chugging metal sections, which they initiated on "Homesick Machinery", but they´ve become both heavier and more hard hitting while also becoming more pop/rock mainstream oriented, which is a bit of a feat really. I´m not sure how they do that, but it works pretty well with the heavy riffs and rhythms and the melodic and melancholic atmospheric pop/rock oriented sections. Some tracks work better than others, but when Vola strike the right balance between the mellow/melodic and the heavy, they strike gold (like they do on "Controllable"). I´m sometimes reminded of a less progressive oriented Caligula´s Horse, because of the balance and dynamics of the music.

"Monsters" features a high quality production job. Powerful, detailed, and dynamic. A professional sound production like this one is needed for Vola´s music to be given the best conditions to shine. This kind of music wouldn´t work with gritty and murky sounding production values. Compared to the otherwise good quality of "Homesick Machinery", Vola have taken a good step forward on "Monsters". Some of the immaturity of the songwriting and the production techniques of the debut EP have been weeded out here, and the added heaviness suits Vola well. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.

• 1 day ago
• 0 comment
• Permalink
• Share
• Report #879882

3.50 | 1 rating

UMUR

"The Wind-Up" is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish metal act Memfis. The album was independently released in September 2006. Memfis formed in 2003 and released two demos and a 2006 eponymously titled EP before recording and releasing "The Wind-Up".

Stylistically the material on "The Wind-Up" is a quite interesting combination of progressive post-hardcore (Burst, early-The Ocean Collective...etc.), progressive metal, and melodic/progressive death metal (Opeth is an influence here). Lead vocalist/guitarist Mattias Engström has a raw voice and delivers both brutal screaming hardcore influenced vocals and semi-growling (the are a few clean vocal parts on the album delivered by guitarist Johan Boqvist). The music is generally very dynamic and changes from beautiful melodic parts to more brutal agressive parts in varied tempi. Epic melodies, guitar harmonies, and mellow sections are contrasted by aggressive and brutal parts. It´s all delivered by a skilled band, who also understand the dynamics of writing a memorable and intriguing song.

"The Wind-Up" is well produced, featuring a powerful, clear, and detailed sound production, which features just the right amount of organit grit to not sound sterile and polished. Upon conclusion "The Wind-Up" is a good quality debut album from Memfis, and they deserve more attention than they got with this release. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

• 1 day ago
• 0 comment
• Permalink
• Share
• Report #221971

3.00 | 1 rating

UMUR

"Glasswork" is a one-track digital single released by Danish rock/metal act Vola. The single was independently released in March 2010. After the release of the November 2008 "Homesick Machinery" EP, Vola went through several lineup changes, which may have resulted in "Glasswork" being their first release since the debut EP. "Glasswork" is exclusive to this release and does not appear on any of the other early career Vola releases.

Stylistically "Glasswork" is a melodic rock song which is relatively straight forward and features a melancholic atmosphere, some nicely melodic lead vocals, choirs, and harmony vocals. But typically for Vola the song gets heavier towards the middle and the melodic rock is succeeded by heavy yet still atmospheric and slow building riffs and rhythms, before "Glasswork" ends in a more mellow style. Personally I find the first couple of minutes of "Glasswork" a bit pedestrian and mainstream pop/rock oriented, but fortunately Vola manage to surprise the listener with more progressive songwriting ideas as the song progresses. "Glasswork" is a well produced release too, and upon conclusion it´s a nice little stop gap release between their two early career EP releases. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

• 2 days ago
• 0 comment
• Permalink
• Share
• Report #879876

4.53 | 21 ratings

UMUR

"A Twist of Fate" is the debut EP from US progressive metal artist John Arch. The EP was released through Metal Blade Records in June 2003. Arch left the music business in 1987 after fronting the first three Fates Warning albums, and this is the first we´ve heard from him since. He is helped out by his former Fates Warning bandmate Jim Matheos on guitars and keyboards (Matheos also co-wrote some of the material on the EP), Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater, Transatlantic..etc) on drums, and Joey Vera (Fates Warning, Engine, Mercyful Fate, and Armored Saint) on bass. So the lineup who recorded the material featured on "A Twist of Fate" are seasoned and quite prolific.

The first three Fates Warning albums are a hybrid of heavy metal, US power metal, and progressive metal elements, but "A Twist of Fate" is a much more focused progressive metal release. While the EP features both present- and former members of Fates Warning and Dream Theater, who are both considered some of the greatest and most successful progressive metal acts from the late 80s/early 90s, Arch has crafted a release, which sounds like neither, although the music of course features some of the same stylistic elements used by those artists (this is after all still a progressive metal release).

"A Twist of Fate" features only two tracks. But both the 12:25 minutes long "Relentless" and the 15:38 minutes long "Cheyenne" are progressive metal epics. The tracks are quite complex in structure and to those familiar with the Arch/Matheos project, which Arch would form with Matheos some years down the line, the material on this EP are quite similar to the sound of the output by that project. Dynamic, and when it´s called for, nicely heavy progressive metal with the incredible voice and high pitched delivery of Arch in front. He hasn´t lost a beat in all those years, but maybe his voice isn´t worn because he hasn´t toured as much as his contemporaries. He still hits the really high notes with ease and showcases his famous legato and vibrato techniques. In other words a world class singer, who has his own distinct sound and voice, and singing over intriguing, varied, and well written material as he does on "A Twist of Fate", it just feels like sun, moon, and stars align...in terms of "classic" progressive metal styled releases, "A Twist of Fate" is highly recommendable and a 4.5 star (90%) rating is deserved.

• 4 days ago
• 0 comment
• Permalink
• Share
• Report #215626

3.22 | 16 ratings

UMUR

"Eternity" is the debut full-length studio album by US power metal act Kamelot. The album was released through Noise Records in August 1995. Kamelot was formed in 1991 and released a couple of demos before being signed for the release of "Eternity".

Stylistically the material on "Eternity" is melodic US power metal with both traditional heavy metal- and semi-progressive metal leanings. There are couple of Euro power metal elements in the music too, but on this album I´d put Kamelot in the melodic US power metal camp. Lead vocalist Mark Vanderbilt has a very strong voice and a commanding delivery and he sometimes sounds a lot like Geoff Tate (Queensrÿche) and to a lesser degree like Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden). Kamelot are a very well playing act on all posts though, and you´ll be treated to both a powerful playing rhythm section, tasteful use of keyboards, and the relatively hard-edged (for the genre) and melodic guitar riffs and leads by Thomas Youngblood.

The tracks are well written, epic, melodic and memorable, but still heavy and powerful, and the band generally strike a great balance between the raw and the melodic on the album. "Eternity" also features a powerful and detailed sound production, which suits the material perfectly and upon conclusion it´s a high quality debut album by Kamelot and a promising start to the band´s career. They haven´t invented the wheel or anything like that, but it´s a solid release and especially fans of early 80s Queensrÿche are recommended giving this album a listen. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

• 4 days ago
• 0 comment
• Permalink
• Share
• Report #222097