Well that was just a good gig I'm afraid and not a great one. I was expecting better things and the sound was pretty bad all night which didn't help matters one bit. First up was a band not listed on the ticket, namely Ancient Ascendant who played a kind of slowish death metal in the vein of Morbid Angel's slower songs. Surprisingly the sound for them was one of the best of the night. These guys were not bad although their songs were fairly meandering and a little bit boring, they weren't actually too bad at all.
Next came The Rotted with their grindcore/death metal mix. I quite like their last album and I far prefer the band to Gorerotted their previous incarnation. The sound was so so for them and went from being quite clear to a little muddy depending on how fast they were playing. They were ok but no great shakes in the end but got a good reaction from the crowd more or less.
Next up were Rotting Christ whom I've never been really able to get a handle on. They are obviously a very professional band and have been at this game a long time. They were actually better than I thought they were going to be especially when they slow down and play more melodic riffs which gets heads banging. The sound was again mixed depending on where you stood and I moved around a fair bit to try and find a good spot with varying degrees of aural success. Any how RC did what they did and got a good reception from a packed ULU.
Next up were Brummie stalwarts Benediction who I last saw supporting Death at the old LA2 almost 15 years ago now and my god how it's flown. Oddly enough their new singer said from the stage that he also was at that legendary gig and he can't believe that he's actually singing for Benediction now. These guys had big technical problems with one guitarist losing sound completely and the band having to play most of the gig with 1 guitar only. Not that it made a huge difference to proceedings as Benediction have a very one dimensional approach to death metal. No technical fretboard wizardry for these guys and very little in the way of melody. The 'heads down and bang away' approach was the order of the day. The frontman whipped up a good old storm and the pit action was pretty intense with a couple of fights breaking out and untold stage divers. The sound for Benediction was again not good and I barely recognised some tracks that were played although recalling Benediction tracks is never the easiest thing anyway! Nightfear was great from Transcend The Rubicon, although I missed Grind Bastard the title track from said album.
Benediction went down well but still everyone was just waiting for the mighty Bolties to take to the stage and finally at around 9.40 or so they sauntered to a packed and hectic crowd. Once again I must say I was very disappointed in the sound as from where I was the guitars were very low and I could mostly hear bass drums and vocals. During the set the sound fluctuated to acceptable standards but most remained fairly dull. I can't say that about Bolt Thrower though as the band seemed in fine form. Karl has the crowd eating out of his hand and the band are highly seasoned professionals although they don't have massive crowd interaction so to speak - they just allow the music to the talking. The set list was mixed between older and classic numbers and hearing tunes like the almighty Cenotaph never gets old as well as songs from my fave BT album, For Victory. The only song that I did miss out on was Where Next To Conquer which was sadly omitted but hey there's only so much time. The stage diving and pit was non stop mental with one guy fucking up his leg badly and limping out looking like he'll need an ambulance. One guy even stage dived with a brolly opened up, a somewhat funny site and reflective of the monsoon outside. Soon enough it was all over and I hurried out to be met by fierce driving cold rain. Great!!! Still it was worth to see the Bolties for the second time although I think it was more fun at the Underworld the first time as I recall.
Next gig is on election night when I will be "heeding the call" Hammerfall and Dream Evil as support. I vote for METAL!!!
Sunday, 2 May 2010
Saturday, 1 May 2010
Going to the Bolti house again!
Well I do love a curry but this Bolti is the death metal legend Bolt Thrower! Off to see them tonight with support from fellow stalwarts Benediction, Rotting Christ and The Rotted. Cenotaaaaaph!! Report later.
Saturday, 24 April 2010
The Return of Rhapsody
I have a hard time calling them Rhapsody of Fire by the way. It just doesn't roll off the tongue well in my opinion. ANyway having been a long time afficionado of Luca and co I was stoked to hear they finall escaped Joey's clutches and signed with Nuclear Blast for a series of albums the first of which is The Frozen Tears of Angels and what a come back it is. Rhapsody started to be less good on recent albums but this new record captures earlier vibes with both the return of actual speed metal and catchy vocals. In fact this album sounds like it would be the logical successor to Dawn of Victory. It's both pretty aggressive and very melodic and full sounding. Sure they don't have the big budget orchestra anymore but I guess they are getting back to the essence of what made them popular in the first place which can't be a bad thing can it now!
THis album is chock full of great riffs and melodies. Luca and ALex are just great symphonic composers in my book. I am not a massive fan of Fabio's vocals as his pronunciation is not always the best or clearest but his actual voice is very good and in full control although he does like a good warble hehe! Reign of Terror sees the use of screaming vocals to counteract Fabio's wailing and it sounds very aggressive indeed with raging speedy guitars as backing. It seems Alex's keys have mainly taken a back seat this time and Luca is back where he belongs shredding and ripping his sweeps and fast picking at the front of the mix. The sound in general is pretty perfect, even allowing the bass to be heard clearly. The songs are catchy like in On the Way to Ainor which is perhaps the stand out hit of the whole album. Overall it's good to see them back on top of their throne as kings of symphonic power metal. First there's Rhapsody then there's all the imitators!
THis album is chock full of great riffs and melodies. Luca and ALex are just great symphonic composers in my book. I am not a massive fan of Fabio's vocals as his pronunciation is not always the best or clearest but his actual voice is very good and in full control although he does like a good warble hehe! Reign of Terror sees the use of screaming vocals to counteract Fabio's wailing and it sounds very aggressive indeed with raging speedy guitars as backing. It seems Alex's keys have mainly taken a back seat this time and Luca is back where he belongs shredding and ripping his sweeps and fast picking at the front of the mix. The sound in general is pretty perfect, even allowing the bass to be heard clearly. The songs are catchy like in On the Way to Ainor which is perhaps the stand out hit of the whole album. Overall it's good to see them back on top of their throne as kings of symphonic power metal. First there's Rhapsody then there's all the imitators!
Thursday, 22 April 2010
Comments on new albums
Lots of new music from 'biggie' melodic metal bands of late and it's time for me to pass judgement as I do tend to know it all when it comes to melodic metal. Let's start with what I would call my favourite power metal band in the whole world of recent times. Yes it's the return of the Saba war machine with their new opus Coat of Arms. Well I've played it twice now and of course it will get many more but it's enough to form a reasonable judgement. I expect so much from this band now that I must admit that Coat of Arms is not quite as good as I was expecting. If it was anyone else I'd be doing cartwheels but this is Sabaton man, I am expecting pure magic! I think the album is great but so far doesn't seem as good as The Art of War. Of course maybe it will grow on me the more I play it but at the moment it doesn't quite deliver the same knock out punch as it's predecessor.
Anyway here is my quick song by song.
Coat of Arms - Good speedy song with as usual killer chorus.
Midway - Not feeling it with this song yet.
Uprising - Mid paced heavy song. Good tune in the vein of Art of War the song.
Screaming Eagles - I don't recall too much about this song, needs more plays.
The Final Solution - Interesting song here. Mid paced and the most epic. Love the keys.
Aces in Exile - The first absolutely killer song. Fast paced bouncy and catchy as hell. Reminds me of Attero Dominatus material.
Saboteurs - Needs more plays but a good song.
Wermacht - Mid paced heavy song and growing on me to be a great song.
White Death - Hands down my fave song of the album at the moment. Love the guitar in this and the chorus is out of this world.
Metal Ripper - I like it but needs more plays.
I rate the album at 8.5/10 and believe it or not that's a disappointment to me!
Let's move on to another of my hotly anticipated disks. Namely Axel Rudi Pell's The Crest.
Ok the production on this beast is incendiary. That Axel guitar crucnh is in full force and effect. But the star in ARP has always been singer Johnny Gioeli for me and his performance on this disk is literally astounding! He sounds totally in top form with gut wrenching power. The album is a little more slow paced and epic than I would like overall but I absolutely loved it any way. It's got so much emotion and power. The riffs from Axel are great and everyone knows his solos are pretty average but it's all about the song with him and not showing off and Axel delivers big time again. I think I might like Mystica more than this still but The Crest is still fucking amazing whatever you look at it.
Wuthering Heights' Salt is next up for dissection and to be honest it's absolutely amazing. It's so ambitious in scope. These guys really throw the kitchen sink into their symphonic folk metal and of course with Patrik Johansson at the helm you can't go wrong. The man is just unbelievable on vocals and has few equals in melodic metal vocals. The music on this album is high textured and layered with instrumentation piled on thick. The melodies and intricacies wash over you song after song with bold and wondrous arrangements. I will have many more plays of this but even after two spins I know this is an amazing disk. Maybe still not as good as Far from the Madding Crowd but on a par with The Shadow Cabinet. Basically these guys have 3 massive albums under their belts in recent times.
A few short comments on new disks. Solution .45 is pretty great with vox from ex Scar Symmetry man. I wasn't sure I was gonna like this but then I pressed play and woooosh! What a ride and what vocals!
Disdain's Leave this World Behind is a great debut of Swedish melodic metal with big riffs and vocals with the odd growled line. Some great tunage to sick your teeth into.
Next up for the chopping block is the return of cheese hounds Rhapsody of Fire from which I'm expecting big things. Also the new Soulfly album as I'm a big fan of their last 2 CDs. Till then I will spin Sabaton and the others some more and let the songs grow on me a little more and see if it can match The Art of War.
Anyway here is my quick song by song.
Coat of Arms - Good speedy song with as usual killer chorus.
Midway - Not feeling it with this song yet.
Uprising - Mid paced heavy song. Good tune in the vein of Art of War the song.
Screaming Eagles - I don't recall too much about this song, needs more plays.
The Final Solution - Interesting song here. Mid paced and the most epic. Love the keys.
Aces in Exile - The first absolutely killer song. Fast paced bouncy and catchy as hell. Reminds me of Attero Dominatus material.
Saboteurs - Needs more plays but a good song.
Wermacht - Mid paced heavy song and growing on me to be a great song.
White Death - Hands down my fave song of the album at the moment. Love the guitar in this and the chorus is out of this world.
Metal Ripper - I like it but needs more plays.
I rate the album at 8.5/10 and believe it or not that's a disappointment to me!
Let's move on to another of my hotly anticipated disks. Namely Axel Rudi Pell's The Crest.
Ok the production on this beast is incendiary. That Axel guitar crucnh is in full force and effect. But the star in ARP has always been singer Johnny Gioeli for me and his performance on this disk is literally astounding! He sounds totally in top form with gut wrenching power. The album is a little more slow paced and epic than I would like overall but I absolutely loved it any way. It's got so much emotion and power. The riffs from Axel are great and everyone knows his solos are pretty average but it's all about the song with him and not showing off and Axel delivers big time again. I think I might like Mystica more than this still but The Crest is still fucking amazing whatever you look at it.
Wuthering Heights' Salt is next up for dissection and to be honest it's absolutely amazing. It's so ambitious in scope. These guys really throw the kitchen sink into their symphonic folk metal and of course with Patrik Johansson at the helm you can't go wrong. The man is just unbelievable on vocals and has few equals in melodic metal vocals. The music on this album is high textured and layered with instrumentation piled on thick. The melodies and intricacies wash over you song after song with bold and wondrous arrangements. I will have many more plays of this but even after two spins I know this is an amazing disk. Maybe still not as good as Far from the Madding Crowd but on a par with The Shadow Cabinet. Basically these guys have 3 massive albums under their belts in recent times.
A few short comments on new disks. Solution .45 is pretty great with vox from ex Scar Symmetry man. I wasn't sure I was gonna like this but then I pressed play and woooosh! What a ride and what vocals!
Disdain's Leave this World Behind is a great debut of Swedish melodic metal with big riffs and vocals with the odd growled line. Some great tunage to sick your teeth into.
Next up for the chopping block is the return of cheese hounds Rhapsody of Fire from which I'm expecting big things. Also the new Soulfly album as I'm a big fan of their last 2 CDs. Till then I will spin Sabaton and the others some more and let the songs grow on me a little more and see if it can match The Art of War.
Saturday, 17 April 2010
Still Fighting for that 19th and record title...
What a day it was for reds fans everywhere! United scoring with literally the last kick or should that be head of the game and Chelsea getting a caning off of Spurs and with JT getting sent off to boot. We're still fighting for that title Carlo, you hear that? You're still the favourites but there's only a point in it and you've got to go to Liverpool and win. I'd love it, love it if we beat them!
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Suffocation Live!
Last night saw a very healthy turn out at the Underworld to witness a 5 band bill headlined by the New York death metal legends, Suffocation with support from Annotations of an Autopsy, Nervecell, Fleshgod Apocalypse and Burning The Masses.
It was my first time seeing the 'Suffos' and as I like to break my duck with bands and this bill was interesting enough for me to venture forth once again into the fiery depths of the Underworld.
First of all a Chicken Shish was called for in the kebab shop opposite then death fuckin' metal!
Burning The Masses came on. I know a little bit about this Cali deathcore mob. I am not a fan of deathcore at all but these guys are ok but still not my cuppa. Songs consist of widdle-roar-chug-scream-widdle-chug-roar and repeat till your blue in the face. The guitarists surely can play damn well but I'm not a fan and the sound didn't help them either.
Fleshgod Apocalypse came on finally after some technical problems with the monitors they finally launched into regular death metal. No deathcore in this band at all. Live they sound like Morbid Angel a lot. They have decent catchy riffs going on and got a real solid response from the crowd. I think I actually preferred them on record than live but once again the rather muddy sound didn't help matters. What was notable was a cover of At The Gates' Fear only 3 songs into the set which was a bit odd but was probably the best song they played. Solid but a little bit faceless.
Nervecell all the way from Dubai. These guy fucking nailed it and then some. Their sounds was much tighter and the way they play their riffs is very cool and tight with a thick groovy sound. The big front man thanked the crowd a lot and once again a great response. Their songs are damn catchy for a death metal band with plenty of cool riffs. They played a great cover of Bolt Thrower's Where Next to Conquer which is an awesome song in itself but the good thing was their own material did not disappoint next to that classic.
Annotations of an Autopsy - Uk's most brutal and heaviest death metal band. Lots of joviality and football banter from the gurning front man pre the gig starting as they readied themselves on stage. Lots of inner circle on stage banter then finally they played and what a set! Heavy grinding death metal with big chuggy riffs interspersed with speedier sections. Their earlier songs are more deathcore in nature and less to my taste but their new songs crush. The stage was overtaken by stage divers and mic grabbers at one point with everyone singing the final song and stage diving. The song Impale the Sun is just a massive highlight from these local boys. They played with huge smiles on their faces and as the front man said it was the best show they have ever played.
Suffocation - Finally it was time for the Suffos to hit the stage and lay waste. The sound was amazing for them from my vantage point I must admit. Not massively loud so that it crushed my ears but very crisp and good separation. I can't say I am a huge suffo fan at all and I wouldn't say I recognise even one song even but damn they played well. So tight and technical it's untrue and the sound made them even better. The wisecracking jester front man with more face pulls than you can shake a stick at, was hellishly fun to look at when doing his hand gestures in time to the music and his funny faces. As he introduced each song the packed Underworld went into spasms with outbursts of severe moshing and stage diving. There wasn't a wasted second in this set despite the bass player having a few technical problems which slowed the set down at one point. Derek the little dreadlocked guitarist was mental all night - like a whirling dervish spitting forth jagged tech riffs with great groove and style all whilst headbanging like a maniac with a big shit eating grin on his face. Finally at 11pm it was all over and the packed crowd was all Suffo-ed out. I am not a massive fan of Suffocation on record but live I was totally amazed. The songs just spring to life and the intensity with which they deliver these herculean, beastly tunes is not to be underestimated by any means. Now I know why Suffocation has the legendary tag!
It was my first time seeing the 'Suffos' and as I like to break my duck with bands and this bill was interesting enough for me to venture forth once again into the fiery depths of the Underworld.
First of all a Chicken Shish was called for in the kebab shop opposite then death fuckin' metal!
Burning The Masses came on. I know a little bit about this Cali deathcore mob. I am not a fan of deathcore at all but these guys are ok but still not my cuppa. Songs consist of widdle-roar-chug-scream-widdle-chug-roar and repeat till your blue in the face. The guitarists surely can play damn well but I'm not a fan and the sound didn't help them either.
Fleshgod Apocalypse came on finally after some technical problems with the monitors they finally launched into regular death metal. No deathcore in this band at all. Live they sound like Morbid Angel a lot. They have decent catchy riffs going on and got a real solid response from the crowd. I think I actually preferred them on record than live but once again the rather muddy sound didn't help matters. What was notable was a cover of At The Gates' Fear only 3 songs into the set which was a bit odd but was probably the best song they played. Solid but a little bit faceless.
Nervecell all the way from Dubai. These guy fucking nailed it and then some. Their sounds was much tighter and the way they play their riffs is very cool and tight with a thick groovy sound. The big front man thanked the crowd a lot and once again a great response. Their songs are damn catchy for a death metal band with plenty of cool riffs. They played a great cover of Bolt Thrower's Where Next to Conquer which is an awesome song in itself but the good thing was their own material did not disappoint next to that classic.
Annotations of an Autopsy - Uk's most brutal and heaviest death metal band. Lots of joviality and football banter from the gurning front man pre the gig starting as they readied themselves on stage. Lots of inner circle on stage banter then finally they played and what a set! Heavy grinding death metal with big chuggy riffs interspersed with speedier sections. Their earlier songs are more deathcore in nature and less to my taste but their new songs crush. The stage was overtaken by stage divers and mic grabbers at one point with everyone singing the final song and stage diving. The song Impale the Sun is just a massive highlight from these local boys. They played with huge smiles on their faces and as the front man said it was the best show they have ever played.
Suffocation - Finally it was time for the Suffos to hit the stage and lay waste. The sound was amazing for them from my vantage point I must admit. Not massively loud so that it crushed my ears but very crisp and good separation. I can't say I am a huge suffo fan at all and I wouldn't say I recognise even one song even but damn they played well. So tight and technical it's untrue and the sound made them even better. The wisecracking jester front man with more face pulls than you can shake a stick at, was hellishly fun to look at when doing his hand gestures in time to the music and his funny faces. As he introduced each song the packed Underworld went into spasms with outbursts of severe moshing and stage diving. There wasn't a wasted second in this set despite the bass player having a few technical problems which slowed the set down at one point. Derek the little dreadlocked guitarist was mental all night - like a whirling dervish spitting forth jagged tech riffs with great groove and style all whilst headbanging like a maniac with a big shit eating grin on his face. Finally at 11pm it was all over and the packed crowd was all Suffo-ed out. I am not a massive fan of Suffocation on record but live I was totally amazed. The songs just spring to life and the intensity with which they deliver these herculean, beastly tunes is not to be underestimated by any means. Now I know why Suffocation has the legendary tag!
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Faves list for 2010 so far
A list of my favourite albums of the year so far.
Annotations Of An Autopsy - The Reign Of Darkness
Heavy death from the UK. They look deathcore and used to be deathcore but this album is plain killer. Heavy brutal and grindingly midpaced yet catchy to boot.
Arkaik - Reflections Within Dissonance
Top class technical death brutality.
Astral Doors - Requiem Of Time
Great stuff as usual. Some corking rock tunes with vocals from Vallhalla!
Dark Tranquillity - We Are The Void.
Some people are disappointed. Sounds like regular top quality DT to me with slightly more black metal or darker influence in places. Production also seems less clear or crisp and more atmospheric.
Dawn Of Demise - A Force Unstoppable
Clinical death metal with very precise production.
Dream Evil - In The Night
Just brilliant heavy metal fun!
Fear Factory - Mechanize
Possibly as good as Demanufacture for me.
Fozzy - Chasing The Grail
Love Rich Ward's chunky riffs. Took me a while to get into this but now I'm a fan.
Gamma Ray - To The Metal!
Some great pm tunes from the Rays as usual and some so so ones.
Heidevolk - Uit Oude Grond
Heavy authentic folk metal. Quite serious sounding rather than jolly. Something in this album just rocks.
Human Temple - Murder of Crows
Melodic rock lushness to the max. Lep this stuff all day and night.
Jack Slater - Extinction Aftermath
Yeah top class tech death from the band named after the Last Action Hero character!
Kalmah - 12 Gauge
Kalmah normally always delivers top class melodeath with keys and riffs galore. This is no exception.
Orphaned Land - The Never Ending Way Of Orwarrior
Not a massive fan but this is always an epic and intriguing listen.
Overkill - Ironbound
I think the whole metal community is having one almighty jizzfest over this so who am I to argue. Cocks out!
Rage - Strings to a web
My fave disk so far this year. Purely amazed by the guitar riffs and solos from Viktor who is on smoking hot form on this release. Plus the catchiness of the tunes is immense from the veteran Krauts. Peavy uber alles!
Sarcolytic - Thee Arcane Progeny
Usual clinical brutal tech death. Good stuff.
Sinbreed - When Worlds Collide
New top class pm band with heavy production and great vocals. A really top notch debut!
Sunrise - Trust Your Soul
Ukranian Strato Arctica copy. Who can deny humming these tunes under your breath? (whaddya mean all of you!)
Sworn Amongst - Severance.
Very young heavy modern UK thrash. Great punchy riffs with thunderous raw production.
Versailles - Jubilee
You may hate them but the band is just amazingly talented musically speaking and very ambitious in their grandiose OTT arrangements, buzzard in all!
White Wizzard - Over The Top
Well if you're gonna copy a legend at least do it well and WW do it better than many!
Wig Wam - Non Stop Rock and Roll.
Norwegian glam rock popsters with another hokfilled bunch of tunes.
Winter's Verge - Tales of Tragedy. Cool heavy power metal from Cyprus. Produced by Lia from Mystic Prophecy so killer sound guaranteed. Singer is weak link but he's kinda acceptable/quirky and sometimes sounds like King Diamond.
Heavenly - Carpe Diem. More Queen inspired epic power metal from the French combo. Virus maybe a little better but Carpe Diem kicks loads of ass in it's own right. A very late 2009 release and too late to make that list so it goes in the 2010 list.
Disappointments:
Well there's been more than these but these are the most notable ones for me.
Royal Hunt - X. I mean it's good and would be acceptable for most bands but this is RH (a killer band) and I expect catchier tunes with better melodies after the last album which was plain awesome. Maybe I need to work a bit harder with this one though.
JO's Pain - Festival. Again acceptable but I can't really get into any latter day Oliva disk. I'm more or less out after HOTMK barring a few songs here and there.
Eluveitie - Everything Remains As it Never Was.
Unexciting follow up to the great last album. That acoustic album slowed all the great momentum down IMO.
Charred Walls of the Damned - st.
First song is real good then it just gets boring after that. The production is also as clear as mud which is more than half the problem for me.
Top 5 as it stands
5. Versailles - Jubilee
4. Heavenly - Carpe Diem
3. Astral Doors - Requiem of Time
2. Dream Evil - In the Night
1. Rage - Strings to a Web
Forthcoming challengers are Wuthering Heights - SALT and Sabaton's new disk Coat of Arms which will make huge waves both. Kamelot's effort better be better than Ghost Opera. Scorpions - Sting in the Tail is hopefully as good as Humanity: Hour 1. Cathedral - The Guessing Game should get my head nodding. Let's see what Avantasia can deliver in their 2 albums. Masterplan - Time to be King with Jorn back on the mic promises great things and will surely deliver as you can't really go wrong when you have Jorn singing in your band. Axel Rudi Pell - The Crest is a no brainer guarantee of a good time if you like melodic rock/metal with awesome vocals. The big cheesefest Rhapsody of Fire comeback is building some momentum. Grand Magus - Hammer of the North promises majestic power doom from the title alone. On heavier realms the new Nevermore album should crush and Exodus' Exhibit B should get heads banging. Manowar's Hammer of the Gods will finally be released you cheesehounds! Finally The Final Frontier will be released and hopefully it's good and possibly a fitting end for the Irons!
Annotations Of An Autopsy - The Reign Of Darkness
Heavy death from the UK. They look deathcore and used to be deathcore but this album is plain killer. Heavy brutal and grindingly midpaced yet catchy to boot.
Arkaik - Reflections Within Dissonance
Top class technical death brutality.
Astral Doors - Requiem Of Time
Great stuff as usual. Some corking rock tunes with vocals from Vallhalla!
Dark Tranquillity - We Are The Void.
Some people are disappointed. Sounds like regular top quality DT to me with slightly more black metal or darker influence in places. Production also seems less clear or crisp and more atmospheric.
Dawn Of Demise - A Force Unstoppable
Clinical death metal with very precise production.
Dream Evil - In The Night
Just brilliant heavy metal fun!
Fear Factory - Mechanize
Possibly as good as Demanufacture for me.
Fozzy - Chasing The Grail
Love Rich Ward's chunky riffs. Took me a while to get into this but now I'm a fan.
Gamma Ray - To The Metal!
Some great pm tunes from the Rays as usual and some so so ones.
Heidevolk - Uit Oude Grond
Heavy authentic folk metal. Quite serious sounding rather than jolly. Something in this album just rocks.
Human Temple - Murder of Crows
Melodic rock lushness to the max. Lep this stuff all day and night.
Jack Slater - Extinction Aftermath
Yeah top class tech death from the band named after the Last Action Hero character!
Kalmah - 12 Gauge
Kalmah normally always delivers top class melodeath with keys and riffs galore. This is no exception.
Orphaned Land - The Never Ending Way Of Orwarrior
Not a massive fan but this is always an epic and intriguing listen.
Overkill - Ironbound
I think the whole metal community is having one almighty jizzfest over this so who am I to argue. Cocks out!
Rage - Strings to a web
My fave disk so far this year. Purely amazed by the guitar riffs and solos from Viktor who is on smoking hot form on this release. Plus the catchiness of the tunes is immense from the veteran Krauts. Peavy uber alles!
Sarcolytic - Thee Arcane Progeny
Usual clinical brutal tech death. Good stuff.
Sinbreed - When Worlds Collide
New top class pm band with heavy production and great vocals. A really top notch debut!
Sunrise - Trust Your Soul
Ukranian Strato Arctica copy. Who can deny humming these tunes under your breath? (whaddya mean all of you!)
Sworn Amongst - Severance.
Very young heavy modern UK thrash. Great punchy riffs with thunderous raw production.
Versailles - Jubilee
You may hate them but the band is just amazingly talented musically speaking and very ambitious in their grandiose OTT arrangements, buzzard in all!
White Wizzard - Over The Top
Well if you're gonna copy a legend at least do it well and WW do it better than many!
Wig Wam - Non Stop Rock and Roll.
Norwegian glam rock popsters with another hokfilled bunch of tunes.
Winter's Verge - Tales of Tragedy. Cool heavy power metal from Cyprus. Produced by Lia from Mystic Prophecy so killer sound guaranteed. Singer is weak link but he's kinda acceptable/quirky and sometimes sounds like King Diamond.
Heavenly - Carpe Diem. More Queen inspired epic power metal from the French combo. Virus maybe a little better but Carpe Diem kicks loads of ass in it's own right. A very late 2009 release and too late to make that list so it goes in the 2010 list.
Disappointments:
Well there's been more than these but these are the most notable ones for me.
Royal Hunt - X. I mean it's good and would be acceptable for most bands but this is RH (a killer band) and I expect catchier tunes with better melodies after the last album which was plain awesome. Maybe I need to work a bit harder with this one though.
JO's Pain - Festival. Again acceptable but I can't really get into any latter day Oliva disk. I'm more or less out after HOTMK barring a few songs here and there.
Eluveitie - Everything Remains As it Never Was.
Unexciting follow up to the great last album. That acoustic album slowed all the great momentum down IMO.
Charred Walls of the Damned - st.
First song is real good then it just gets boring after that. The production is also as clear as mud which is more than half the problem for me.
Top 5 as it stands
5. Versailles - Jubilee
4. Heavenly - Carpe Diem
3. Astral Doors - Requiem of Time
2. Dream Evil - In the Night
1. Rage - Strings to a Web
Forthcoming challengers are Wuthering Heights - SALT and Sabaton's new disk Coat of Arms which will make huge waves both. Kamelot's effort better be better than Ghost Opera. Scorpions - Sting in the Tail is hopefully as good as Humanity: Hour 1. Cathedral - The Guessing Game should get my head nodding. Let's see what Avantasia can deliver in their 2 albums. Masterplan - Time to be King with Jorn back on the mic promises great things and will surely deliver as you can't really go wrong when you have Jorn singing in your band. Axel Rudi Pell - The Crest is a no brainer guarantee of a good time if you like melodic rock/metal with awesome vocals. The big cheesefest Rhapsody of Fire comeback is building some momentum. Grand Magus - Hammer of the North promises majestic power doom from the title alone. On heavier realms the new Nevermore album should crush and Exodus' Exhibit B should get heads banging. Manowar's Hammer of the Gods will finally be released you cheesehounds! Finally The Final Frontier will be released and hopefully it's good and possibly a fitting end for the Irons!
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