REVIEWS ARCHIVE - B |
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BAD HABIT
"[hear-say]" (Frontiers Records - provided by Zink Music) - 1½ out of 5 points - |
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Well hmm, and again hmm. Don't have a clue how I should describe this band, other than sugar, love, pop hard rock. First of all it sounds a bit like Def Leppard, but without the energy, and that tells quite a lot haha. First of all they could start looking for a replacement for vocalist Bax Fehling, who doesn't have what it takes to uplift the extreme boring music that comes out of the speakers. Bad Habit does not have what it takes to be amongst the leading hard rockers, it is like there is no feeling to the music at all.
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Benjamin
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BALANCE OF POWER "Heathen Machine" (Massacre Records - provided by VME) - 4½ out of 5 points - |
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3 years has now passed since BALANCE OF POWER "Perfect Balance" where out on the streets. But they have returned stronger then ever almost? Only one line up change since their previous album - Lance King (Vocals) is no longer a part of BALANCE OF POWER, instead he has chosen to join forces with the yet unknown band PYRAMAZE. The 3 years seems to have helped BALANCE OF POWER to write more well-written and composed material then I can remember, and I have always been a huge fan of BALANCE OF POWER, and there is no reason why I shouldn't continue to have the same feelings for the band. The new singer John K, is a great substitute for Lance King, I would dare and say that the music has become more exiting after his departure, and in that I do not mean that Lance King is a bad singer he just have the tendencies of high pitch in one or two occasions to many. John K has a fantastic spectrum within his vocals, there are a few singers that strikes my mind when I listen to his voice: Geoff Tate (Queensryche), Buddy Lackey (Psychotic Waltz) and even the high vocals of Lance King (Ex - Balance of Power) this gives the band a more wide perspective of writing music! This album surely must be the final breakthrough for BALANCE OF POWER since it has it all? Nice melodic choruses, hard pumping metal, A slight touch of brilliancy and most important a lot of energy of the music! This is without any doubt the record that I have been waiting for this year! But okay it is not over yet but my honest opinion is, it will be hard for any band to reach the level of this high-class release. But not everything is super, the one thing that BALANCE OF POWER always mess up their albums with is their ballads!! They suck for a good word, but luckily this time the ballad is not as awful as they use to be, but just not good enough. But this is without any doubt the best BALANCE OF POWER ever.
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Benjamin
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BALLISTIC "Ballistic" (Metal Blade Records - provided by Target distribution) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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This is a kind of rock n' roll metal updated with fast speed-drums and some ultra fast soli. The band is pretty new, but consist of OLD musicians from back in the 70'ies, as well as Rikard Stjernquist on drums (Jag Panzer). Overall, it's a pretty good disc with a lot of energy in it, but there's this feeling of…"just not good enough to get VERY high ratings"……! I think I need to be drunk to listen to this and I might rate it with a 5. The lead singer reminds me of a mixture of Bobby Blitz from Overkill and the lead singer from Gwar, and sometimes the music turns in those directions as well. Like early Overkill, that is - with a lot of riffin'. I bet that the Germans will go total apeshit about this one, but they tend to do that, once the singer just continues in high pitch aggressiveness……doesn't really matter, if he's out of tune in his phrasings. Well, it doesn't ruin the spontaneous aspect of the music, and the energy is there all the way. Listen before buying.
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Lars
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BAL-SAGOTH
"The Chtonic Chronicles" (Nuclear Blast - provided by VME) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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I can't for the life of me figure out if this album deserves a 5 or a 1-rating … I mean, what these British guys are doing is something highly original and something so over-the-top orchestral that it almost has the 5-rating imprinted on the CD cover. But at the same time the production sucks and sounds very synthetic (which isn't good when you're trying to do something this orchestral) and the overall theme of the music and lyrics is downright clichee and cheesy, in other words a 1-rating. Bal-Sagoth is easiest described as a band building a bridge between the high-speed power metal of Dragonforce, the classical orchestrations of Rhapsody and the melodic black metal of Dimmu Borgir or Cradle Of Filth. It's adventurous and daring, and it's extremely entertaining - but there are so many things about this album that SUCKS so much that I'm almost forced to throw the disc into the garbage bin after listening to it. The funny thing is that I have a couple of other albums with Bal-Sagoth and I've always been this bewildered about them, never quite figuring out if I love them or hate them. "The Chtonic Chronicles" are not gonna make my mind up for me - I'm really confused … what about you?
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Claus
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BARCODE
"Showdown" (Nuclear Blast - provided by VME) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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Barcode sounds like a less technical but more aggressive version of Invocator. Too bad nobody taught the band that not all music needs to be in E. Guess that these guys are doing a pretty good job, energy wise, but shouting metal does become boring with more than 3 songs, and with 16 songs on the album, you are almost breaking your jaw from all the yawning. Barcode is more than likely doing fantastic in a live situation (heard some rumours), where people can mosh and thrash around in front of the stage in the moshpit, and they get 5 svin from here for that, but on an album they definitely need some more variation. It seems as if you are hearing the same song over and over again, with a different chorus shouted throughout the song. I know that it would be a little bit too much to ask for a ballad in this case, hehehe, but something needs to happen in order for Barcode to get outside the die-hard fan level.
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Lars
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BATHORY "Nordland I" (Black Mark - Provided by Nordic Metal) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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How is it possible to like a band where the production stinks and the singer can't hold a note for the life of him? Hmmm, I don't know … but in the case of Bathory it really works fine for me. Even to this day, four of the "classic" Bathory albums stand as great highlights in the history of metal; the extreme black metal disc "Under The Sign Of The Black Mark", the furious black/death/doom disc "Blood, Fire, Death" and the two superb Viking/doom metal discs "Hammerheart" and "Twilight Of The Gods". And note you; these discs are all 10-15 years old! After a bunch of releases of mediocre quality over the past decade, Quorthon and his one-man-ensemble returns with another Viking-inspired disc, "Nordland I", which as the title suggests, is first half of a two-part saga. I am a bit saddened to say that "Nordland" doesn't reach the high quality of "Hammerheart" and "Twilight Of The Gods", but nevertheless holds enough interesting material to easily be ranked above all of the past decades titles. Quorthon still can't sing, the production is still horrible, but the melodies and the epic atmosphere of northern darkness, Viking-saga's and pagan gods is definitely there, and it's those that makes "Nordland I" worth your time.
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Claus
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BATTLELORE
"Evernight" (Napalm Records - provided by Target) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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Finnish "beauty & beast"-metal act Battlelore is back with another disc. It's important to note that this is NOT the flamboyant style of female fronted metal/goth that we know from Within Temptation, Nightwish, Epica or the like - this is a much more groove based melodic death/doom metal style, having quite a bit in common with bands like old Theatre Of Tragedy, Orphanage or Paradise Lost with a mix of female and male vocals. The male vocal isn't exactly the best in the world, and Kaisa Jouki's female voice was way more interesting on their previous disc, "Third Age Of The Sun" (here she sounds very monotonous), but overall the band once again delivers a semi-solid product that really ain't as bad as I've seen certain reviews making it sound like. I'm torn between giving it a 2½ and 3 point review (the boring vocal melodies drags it downwards, whereas the occassional folk music elements push it upwards), but since I really liked their last disc, "Evernight" ´was quite a disappointment to me, and I can't really get myself to throw a full 3-pointer in their direction … we'll settle for 2½ this time.
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Claus
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BATTLELORE
"Third Age Of The Sun" (Napalm Records - provided by Target) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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Wooh - what the F**K happened here? I've always thought that Battlelore was one of those horrible bands that came forward based on their looks (they have a stupid image of looking like creatures taken directly out of The Lord Of The Rings saga) rather than their musical qualities. In other words, I've never even bothered to listen to their music in the past … until their 3rd CD, "Third Age Of The Sun", dumped in my mailbox. Holy shit, this stuff really is good, so much better than what I had expected, and since the label cleverly enough didn't include any band pictures with the promo, I can listen to the album without having to look at the stupid imagery of Battlelore. The music on "Third Age Of The Sun" is a nice mixture of groovy heavy metal, a bit of death, small parts of black/gothic atmosphere and some folk-rock parts. Imagine this band as a blend of Paradise Lost, Edenbridge, Theatre Of Tragedy and All About Eve. Especially the small parts that remind me of All About Eve (Kaisa Jouhki's voice quite resembles Julianne Regan's), such as in "Elves Of Lúva", are brilliant, and they totally hit the spot for me. But also the folk influences (for some reason I find these more evident towards the last half of the album) are great. To be honest, I still don't care about the image of the band, and the last song, "Gollum's Cry" is simply too much TLOTR worship. But, Battlelore just taught me a very valuable lesson - never judge a band based upon their image ever again, as there might actually be something cool hiding behind the first glance.
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Claus
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BEAUTIFUL SIN
"The Unexpected" (AFM Records - provided by Target) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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Uli Kusch with his new project….then I immediately think about some bad Helloween stuff from the late 90'ies or early 00's, but this is definitely different. First and foremost, the band/project is fronted by a female singer, and secondly, the music is way more straight out melodic heavy metal than Helloween, where the power is still held high. There are beautiful melodies present in almost every song here, and it all sounds very interesting. Even the vocals are strong and forceful, but my problem is that none of the songs stand out with that special stuff that makes your eyes pop out of your head, except for the instrumental track that sounds like a mixture of the original Miami Vice sound track and some late 90'ies Dream Theater trippin' out. The rest lacks the last touch that would make my point finger press the + button some more and make this a must-have album.
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Lars
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BECK, ROBIN
"Do You Miss Me" (Frontiers Records - provided by Atenzia) - 3 out of 5 points- |
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I am quite sure that Robin Beck is extremely tired of always being reminded in reviews and interviews that her most famous song ever was "First Time", used in a Coca Cola advertisement 15 years ago - but what am I to do, as that's the only thing most of us (including me) remembers her for? Sure, I was well aware that she did a couple of AOR albums, and also some more pop-minded stuff, but I never got as far as actually listening to any of them. In other words, "Do You Miss Me" is my first real introduction to the world of Robin Beck, and I can honestly say I never really missed her. The fact, that "Do You Miss Me" opens with the title song, where the main riff is stolen from Fate's "One By One" (of the "Scratch & Sniff" album), didn't really induce my lust for listening to the album. However, as time so often has shown, you shouldn't judge an album on first impressions, and I really have to re-evaluate my opinion on Mrs. Beck (or should that be Mrs. Christian - seeing that she's married to James Christian from great hard rock band House Of Lords?) and her music. "Do You Miss Me" is filled with really good AOR tunes, in the vein of Heart, Loverboy and Alannah Myles. Not really a big surprise considering that the songs are written by Desmond Child (written songs for Bon Jovi, Kiss, Kane Roberts etc), Michael Bolton, Marc Jordan (written songs for Joe Cocker, Chicago, Cher etc) and Amy Sky (songwriter for Cindy Lauper, Heart, Diana Ross etc). "Do You Miss Me" includes a lot of really great tunes, that are just perfect for Robin's voice, such as the ballad "The Safest Place", the more hard rocking "What About Us", and the melodic (although obviously stolen from Fate) title-track. All in all a very good disc, and I have to remember to give Robin Beck credit for more than just her Coca Cola hit in the future :-)
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Claus
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BECKER, JASON "The Blackberry Jams" (Shrapnel - provided by MNW) - ½ out of 5 points - |
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This is simply ridiculous! Jason Becker is undoubtedly one of the true guitar heroes of the eighties and his work with Cacophony, his solo album ("Perpetual Burn") as well as with David Lee Roth, are all awesome to say the least. But what the fuck makes the people at Shrapnel think that we would care the least about a collection of poorly recorded demo tapes from the mid eighties? The guy could play - oh yeah - but because of his unfortunate ALS disease, he hasn't been able to play music for more than 12 years now, so the only thing that his record label could release were old demo material. Can you say CASH-IN? The sound quality is horrible, and it's more a collection of short guitar-practices than a real demo - 31 songs, and only about 5 of them are worth listening to. The rest … forget it!
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Claus
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BEFORE THE DAWN
"The Ghost" (Locomotive Records - provided by Target) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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Very dark, melodic power/death metal from Finland(?). Lead singer is a mixture of growl and melodic singing, and it's pleasant for the ears. It reminds me of a simpler version of Mercenary, but with vocals that are not as high quality - still good though. Guitars are tuned into Hell and it gives the music the dark feeling, but it also means that the riffs are not that clear and it sounds as if most of the background guitar is very chord based…together with the bass it gives a strong base for the rest of the music but also makes the CD a bit featureless. I do believe that the drums are computer drums and that ruins a lot in my ears, since you don't get the feeling of a band, playing together. It's simply too tight, without having the nerve. Overall it's an interesting disc that needs your attention if you are fan of melodic death and want to support one of the up-coming artists on the scene.
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Lars
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BELENOS
""Chants De Bataille"" (Adipocere - provided by Adipocere) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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Ahh, my heart just starts jumping with joy whenever I read the words "Brutal Pagan Dark Metal" on any info-sheet accompanying a CD I'm about to listen to … ehh, not! I must admit I'm probably all wrong to review this disc, as already now I'm totally biased against this band. Seriously, how many brutal-pagan-dark-metal bands does this world need? I wouldn't even call Belenos that myself, I'd just stick with clichee-blackmetal myself, as this is actually what it all boils down to. Sounding like another rehash of the ideas originally set into stone by the multiple of Norwegian black metal bands in the mid-nineties (early Satyricon, Dark Throne, Emperor etc), Belenos's only redeeming character is in the French-sung lyrics and the occasional bretonic/celtic influences. To re-cap, this disc isn't bad in any way, but the originality level is only a few points above zero, and with a production that doesn't enhance the little originality left, "Chants De Bataille" (I guess that would translate into "War Cries" - how original!!!) deserves nothing more than a 2-point rating … and that's only because I'm in a good mood today.
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Claus
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BELPHEGOR
"Pestapokalypse VI" (Nuclear Blast - provided by VME) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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Belphegor is something as unusual as a death/black metal from Austria that I actually like! Heh, considering how long time it's been since I've heard some really good Austrian black (I guess we have to go all the way back to the early/mid 90's when ABMS (the Austrian Black Metal Syndicate) was at their most evil point in time and actually had a real "scene" going there in the alps, and we had releases from Pazuzu, Golden Dawn, Summoning, Abigor, Hollenthon and others. Belphegor however comes along with a release that immediately attracts my attention due to it's wonderful cover artwork; this is simply put EVIL and BEAUTY combined. And at closer sight (or listen) "Pestapokalypse VI" turns out to be a real asskicking affair of fast-paced death metal (think: Morbid Angel, Nile) mixed with black metal elements (think: Marduk, Dark Funeral). Perfect production for this kind of music - an amazing drummer - great solo's in the Slayer meets Morbid Angel vein - and of course a vocalist sounding like a possessed hell-hound (however they may sound). If you need an adrenaline-filled satanic death/black metal disc for pestering your neighbours with, this should do the trick.
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Claus
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BENEDICTUM
"Uncreation" (Locomotive Music - provided by Target) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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US metal band Benedictum is unknown to me. They should be pretty well-known in Germany, which in many cases say it all for me, but this band is actually more than just the average "get famous in Germany" crap. First of all, they are fronted by the most violent female in this business (when it comes to voice). She makes both Chris Boltendahl from Grave Digger and Nick Holmes from Paradise Lost seem like small choir boys, when she screams out her raspy vocals. It's not really my style, but it's definitely attitude and it's in tune all the way through the album (funny that 60% of lead singers are not???). The music is straight-forward technical heavy metal that I can't really label…maybe a mix of all the musical styles of the west coast in the States, going all the way from Seattle, through San Fransisco to L.A. and San Diego. So all in all, I don't have much bad to say about this album, but a: the production (horrible producer that has tried to blend too many things and have made a messy job, doing so) and b: the fact that the album becomes a bit too boring after 5 - 6 songs. Benedictum doesn't take the music into the extremes, and so the songs come to look too much like each other. Well, give it a spin. It's worth the chance.
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Lars
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BENIGHTED
"Identisick" (Adipocere - provided by Adipocere) - 1½ out of 5 points - |
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This is horrible grind/death metal - I really can't say much positive about it. The production is bland (all I hear is drums, drums and drums), the vocals are stupidly annoying and the "songs" are totally disjointed. Okay, I might not "understand" this style, but come on … I've seen people actually stating that it's technical death metal somewhere between Psycroptic, Iniquity, Dying Fetus and Cryptopsy … huh? I don't hear that. Sure, there are parts where they do small jazz-bits and parts where the guitar creates some industrial high-notes, but that doesn't really make it "technical death metal", does it? Okay, the drums are out there all the time … again, nothing overly "technical" about that either. In my opinion it's grind/death metal heard a billion times before, and 99% of those times were better than this.
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Claus
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BESEECH "Drama" (Napalm Records - provided by Target Distribution) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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You can't help thinking of the Finnish band HIM when listening to this gothic rock band from Sweden. Beseech make the same kind of gloomy, ominous music and melodies and the term "gothic" is very well put on this band. Dark minor guitar riffs with supporting pianos characterize Beseech, and with the mix of female and clean male vocals, "Drama" manages to become a quite atmospheric and moody experience. For a to-die-for progressive metal fan like my self, Beseech's fourth album is far to depressing and dark to me, but for a fan of the gothic rock/metal acts that seem to be very popular these days, "Drama" would be an excellent buy. Maybe that's why I think that Beseech would appeal to broad audience!
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Martin J
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BEYOND FEAR
"Beyond Fear" (Steamhammer / SPV - provided by Target) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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I've had this one lying around forever, and it's not because I hate it or anything like that, I've just had a hell of a time getting my thoughts onto paper for this one. Every time I've given it a spin I've been headbanging and rockin' out to it like crazy, as this is 101% heavy metal (with all that it encloses: lots of great riffs, high pitch voice, pounding drums etc). And every time the album is over I'm feeling very ambiguous about the disc. It's like at one side I really love the attitude and the music, and at the same time I feel it's way too calculated on Mr. Ripper Owen's behalf to create an album that rips (guess that's where he got the name from) heavily on his former and current employees in Judas Priest and Iced Earth. There's absolutely nothing new to be found on this disc - it's pure heavy metal as we've heard it before, with cool riffs that could come from any IE or JP albums of later days. It's great for the reasons stated above, and it's a total stinker for the exact same reasons … go figure …
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Claus
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BEYON-D-LUSION
"Intuispection" (Adipocere - provided by Adipocere) - 2 out of 5 points |
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I remember liking this band's previous effort, but I must say that this disc doesn't live up to the expectations I had. Lead singer Alexandra sounds very much like Anneke from The Gathering, but this doesn't make up for the fact that there are no catchy vocal lines on the CD here. Alexandra is also out of tune a lot of the time, and that is simply not ok, when you are the only voice to be heard on the CD (except for some very small aggressive male parts). The music is varied, but it doesn't stand out and give the listener anything special. It's actually plain boring, and you'd have to have smoked some funny stuff and be real stoned to enjoy this. Sorry.
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Lars
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BEYON-D-LUSION
"First Step To The Source" (Adipocere Records - provided by Adipocere) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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Hmmm, French band moving around in the "The Gathering + Sinphonia" sphere, which means female beautiful, and sometime aggressive vocals. The problem with this disc is that it's been heard a thousand times before. The CD is also only 4 tracks, so all in all I'm not really recommending it over any full-length releases. However, the band does have some cool ideas, so for the future, they'd be an interesting act to follow. For now, they need to focus a little more on writing complex and own style stuff.
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Lars
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BIG BIG TRAIN "Gathering Speed" (Big Big Train - provided by Big Big Train) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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YES worship, that's what Big Big Train offers here. A British band playing progressive rock in the old school 70's style as we know it from Yes, Genesis and even a little bit of Marillion. Mainly it's from the archieves of Jon Andersson, Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe the inspiration is drawn from, and that's what makes "Gathering Speed" a very nice, but also very predictable album. Vocalist Sean Filkins sounds like a dearinger for Jon Andersson, and musically this is definitely a good ensemble. But with that said, there's too little in this album that can be called adventurous - it's like Big Big Train are content with just being a second-rate Yes clone, and it appears as if they have no original ideas themselves. I wish they would try to create something on their own, and perhaps use the voice of Laura Murch a bit more - for now it's mainly used as a background "instrument", that here and there falls in with some wailing, but never really lets loose and takes control of the songs. Big Big Train should appeal to those who can't get enough of 70's prog rock - but in the big picture this isn't a band we're going to hear about in the future, as they just are too easily forgotten. www.bigbigtrain.com.
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Claus
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B.IMPATIENT
"Intensity" (Locomotive Records - provided by Target) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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Here is what I'd normally refer to as High School rock, whereas the biography says Pop/Rock. I guess that something in between would be a good description. The songs on this album are well done and performed the way this music is supposed to be, but it doesn't really get into one's head, other than being background music. Nothing really stands out as THE song that could make the listener more interested in hearing it again. Brigitte Berg on vocals does have a nice voice and she's singing pretty good, but it doesn't make the songs that much more irresistible, and as such, B.Impatient offers nothing that hasn't been heard before in better versions. This is another album with way too many songs on it, by the way.
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Lars
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BLACK LABEL SOCIETY
"Mafia" (Artemis Records - provided by VME) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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Everybody should know Zakk Wylde. If you don't, you have not been following the HM history from back in the old days. To those who don't know who he is, he is the guitarist that does all the guitar work for Ozzy. Black Label Society is his own band, that sounds exactly like Ozzy (musically), with a darker version of a mixture between Ozzy and late Layne Stayley on vocals. It's pretty cool and groovy, with nice riffing and interesting melodies/solo's, but it never really gets under the skin of the listener and rip your balls to shreds. Hmm, I don't really know what more to say?
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Lars
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BLACKMORE'S NIGHT "Past Times with Good Company" (SPV - provided by Nordic Metal) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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Ritchie Blackmore is an artist that needs no introduction, and with his current act, Blackmore's Night, he yet again shows what a pure and fantastic musical genius he is. Blackmore's Night has previously released three studio albums and this is the first live experience from their hand. It's a double CD and consists of 15 melodies inspired from the 16th century, and Blackmore has blended it with a fresh mixture of rock, pop and folk, and combined with the adorable, beautiful and emotional voice of Candice Night, "Past Times with Good Company" is a great musical journey back to the middle ages.
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Martin J
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BLANC FACES
"Blanc Faces" (Frontiers Records - provided by Atenzia) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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The debut album by Blanc Faces is a nice little gem of very melodic hard rock / AOR. Rooted somewhere in the borderland between Journey, Hardline, The Storm and even some early Bon Jovi stuff, the band is led by the two American brothers Robbie and Brian La Blanc, backed up expertly by a bunch of (at least to me) unknown musicians. Robbie's great voice is the centrepiece here, reminding me of Lou Gram (Foreigner), Jim Peterik (Pride Of Lion) and Stan Bush - a very versatile voice that fits well into this style. The music itself might not be the most "original" within the genre given, but it's quite entertaining, and that's what raises Black Faces above the standard.
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Claus
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BLAZE "Blood & Belief" (SPV - provided by Scanbox Entertainment) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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Blaze is back from the (almost) dead….After having been found in the gutter, going through self-acknowledgment of his drinking problem, and countless other information that I really don't care about, we now have the new album "Blood & Belief" in our hands. I seem to really have liked the previous album by this English madman, but this time he obviously didn't care about singing in tune, and that certainly is THE important thing, when you release an album in your own name, and you're the singer. Everything else can actually suck, as long as you're doing a fantastic job. Then you can always claim that the musicians were bad, but you weren't yourself. In the case of Blaze, the music actually has the potential of several hits, and it really is well performed (apart from a couple of out-of-tune bends in the solo's), but Blaze's performance is only mediocre. He does have a powerful voice - like it or not - but for Christ sake: Use some pitching or something for future albums. Best song: "Regret".
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Lars
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BLAZE "As Live As It Gets" (Steamhammer / SPV - provided by Nordic Metal) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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Another live album, hahahaha. Well, this time the big boss is excused. I DID review the last Blaze album and thereby it of course qualifies me to review the live album as well. "As Live As It Gets" is a pretty decent live thing. Blaze is singing like he has always done. Very nasal and belly-like. The drums, guitars and bass have (in my ears) all been produced, and that irritates me a lot. It ruins a part of the live feeling and if it was up to me, there's be a law against doing any production on a live album, but I'm only a Demi-God, not a politician. The songs on this double album are mostly from Blaze's 2 studio albums "Silicon Messiah" and "Tenth Dimension", but we also find a couple of Iron Maiden tunes from the albums that Blaze himself appeared on + a Blaze version of Led Zeppelin's "Dazed And Confused". All in all, a cool live album, but in these days of overcrowded markets for music, this is surely to drown among the other quality products.
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Lars
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BLAZING ETERNITY "A World To Drown In" (Prophecy Productions - provided by VME) - 4½ out of 5 points - |
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Now, this is some deep, dark, melancholic stuff … having been involved with the band on a professional level earlier on (I was their manager for 2½ years around the time they made their debut album), I should have seen this one coming, but to be totally honest, I didn't. This one took me by surprise - and in a good way. The band always had it in them, from their beginnings as a black metal band of their old demos, through their dark/death/doom metal days of the debut album, Blazing Eternity has always been on the forefront of the dark metal scene in Denmark. "A World To Drown In" is by many ways an extension of the path set forth on "Times And Unknown Waters", with an even darker impression and less of the brutal metal parts. Actually, I'm not even sure if Blazing Eternity is METAL any longer!?! This is more in the gothic/dark wave style, of bands such as Katatonia and Anathema, with the pop-like choruses of The Cure and Depeche Mode. Not an expected move by a band once a front-runner on the Danish black metal scene, but it works so damn well for Blazing Eternity ´03. Listen to songs like the 8+ minute long titletrack, the sad "To Meet You In Those Dreams", the short instrumental "Procession" or the awesome cover song "En Nat Bliver Det Sommer" (originally by Danish pop-group Love Shop). Lots of great melancholic guitar riffs here, and those looong-winded melodies, that is a true characteristic of the style. The vocals are this time sung by guitarist Morten Lybecker, who reminds me of some pop-icon that I can't put my finger on … perhaps Morissey? Not my favorite vocal style, but here it works great. I do miss the more aggressive voice of Peter Meschnikow, although he still appears here and there on the disc, but perhaps they just decided his style was too far away from where the band was going? Hmmm, anyway, he still writes most of the lyrics, and for those who care about that (lyrics!) then I can only say that Blazing Eternity has some damn touching lyrics … sadness, despair, melancholy, desperation … and here and there a glimpse of hope. Just like the music, filled with emotion, but never touching the ridiculous or self-indulgent.
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Claus
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BLIND DATE
"Blind Date" (Perris Records - provided by Perris) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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Recorded originally back in 1991 and then completed in 2003 makes the "Blind Date" album quite a diverse affair, both in the quality of production, but also in terms of songwriting. Some of it is actually quite good, and would have fitted right in with major bands of the late eighties/early nineties, such as White Lion, Nelson, Danger Danger, Steelheart or XYZ, whereas other songs reminds me of the local band at school, who couldn't really play, and even less knew how to write a good song. At least guitarists JB Slimp and Mark Ellis knows how to deliver some good solo's, that the guys in the band at school wouldn't be able to compete with. Okay, in all fairness, the music at hand here isn't the most technically adventurous sort, so what matters isn't the individual musicians, but more-over the groove of these mid-tempo rock'n'roll tunes - and yes, they aren't that bad, just outdated by a million light years.
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Claus
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BLINDED COLONY "Divine" (Scarlet Records - provided by Target Distribution) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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Blinded Colony (BC) is a new fresh approach on the Swedish Melodic Death Metal scene. There is no doubt where these young lads have their inspiration from, bands such as (Soilwork, Arch Enemy and In Flames) are easily to recognise through (BC). The "Divine" album is a really good debut album; they are really good to mix aggressive elements with the melodic elements without loosing the sparkle in their aggressive approach. A track as "Selfobtained Paranoia" is really high standard even compared with the big league bands in the same vein as (BC). There are a few things that stills needs to be improved before the hit the nerve with the audience, and that is one of the most important things which is a better production, the hard pure sound sometimes become missing. The last thing to be mentioned as a minor problem is the Niklas Svensson's voice, which needs a lot of practice especially on the melodic catchy choruses. But no matter what this is a band who we all should have an eye on.
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Benjamin
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BLIND GUARDIAN
"A Twist In The Myth" (Nuclear Blast - provided by VME) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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Releasing albums with a 4 year span in between is always a great risk taking. Make just one bad album, and you actually have 8 years between 2 good albums…make 2 bad albums, and you do the counting yourself! This doesn't mean that Blind Guardian make bad music at all, but that they have become slaves of their own perfectionism, having to use so long time to make albums. This time, I was even presented with a single some months ahead of the release of the real album, and I thought it to be a strange choice to use "Fly" as a single, when it definitely didn't have hit potential, neither classic potential. Normally, you'd choose the best or one of the best songs for the single, and I really didn't think that this song would be one of those. A couple of months later, I find myself pretty surprised to find out that "Fly" actually is the best and most interesting song on this album. We are dealing with a not so pompous Blind Guardian, as on ONATO or NFIME, but still there are the lead guitars, filling every hole in the sterile landscape. "A Twist In The Myth" sounds like a band that wants to take their music into a new and modern level, but hasn't really been able to focus on the things that made them big, namely raw power and energy. There are simply no memorable songs or catchy refrains as there used to be in the old days (and I am not a conservative that just wants everything to stay as it used to be), and this was Blind Guardian's strength before the new millennium. I am not saying that this album is a bad one, as it still holds high quality in both production and performance. It is just sad to see some of your old heroes decline instead of incline. Give it a spin, and you might think differently than me.
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Lars
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BLIND GUARDIAN
"Fly (single)" (Nuclear Blast - provided by VME) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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If Blind Guardian used to be the ultimate progressive power metal band, they are hereby renamed the ultimate progressive power rock band. The difference in the sound between old days BG to today's soft guitars and large choirs have taken away the edge that made the band so extremely powerful and raw. Fly is a good song with a chorus that is easily remembered, but you have to demand some more from a band of their caliber than this queen wannabe song. I do hope the full album will offer some more metallic material that can pull Blind Guardian up from the hole of no rhythm guitars that they have fallen into. Great production, but no balls in the guitars, and it's killing the song a bit.
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Lars
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BLIND STARE
"Symphony of Delusions" (Arise Records - provided by Arise Records) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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Take a dash of power metal and mix it with an equal amount of black metal, and you've got Blind Stare. This band actually has most of what I'm looking for when listening to music; Balls, intensity, melody and technical elements. They make frequent use of keyboards, which gives an atmospheric and melodic touch to the music. The guitar riffs are powerful and hard pounding, just the way I like it. The only real negative is the vocals. I don't really like when you can't hear what the singer is actually singing (apart from Alexi, Children of Bodom, where the music more than compensates for his awful vocals). Unfortunately Blind Stares' music doesn't compensate Eino's (singer) performance the same way. On the other hand I truly understand WHY Eino choose his way of singing as growling. On a couple of songs he sings with a clean voice, which is nothing more than … well, bad! But in conclusion Blind Stare kicks metal ass, and I'm sure that fans of Children of Bodom would appreciate "Symphony of Delusions".
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Martin J
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BLOOD STAIN CHILD
"Idolator" (Dockyard 1 - provided by VME) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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Blood Stain Child is a Japanese thrashy melodic death metal act. Their sound is very European, but since they come from a country that doesn't offer many bands in this genre (I can't even think of one to be honest), they don't suffer from having a special "area-based" sound (like Bay Area and Gothenburg for example). This makes Blood Stain Child sound a bit unique. But this is the bands third release, and I have never heard about them before. I guess this is because the world is an unfair place. Blood Stain Child emphasizes on raw energy, which is sometimes paused to give space to a small atmospheric part. This works quite good for them. I should actually love everything about this album, but I just miss something. Is it balls? Is it attitude? Is it hooklines? I don't know, but sometimes this album just strikes me as if it is trying to be something it just isn't? I have the same feeling with Dark Tranquillity's album Projector, which I - as with this album - really like, but just didn't click the right way for me. Either way, if you are a fan of Dark Tranquillity, Children of Bodom and you always wanted a much less hysterical version of Dillinger Escape Plan, then you are bound to like Blood Stain Child and their third album "Idolator".
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Mads
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BOALS, MARK "The Edge Of The World" (Frontiers Records - provided by Nordic Metal) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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Guess you all know the name Mark Boals. If not, he has been working as a vocalist with Yngvie Malmsteen and Ted Nugent as well as a lot of others. Edge Of The World is a pretty fine piece of music, with similarities to some of the stuff from Coverdale/page and in general hard rock. There are certain hints of heavy metal in this album too. It has a cool production and the musicians appearing on the disc are amongst others: Erik Norlander, Vinny Appice, Virgil Donati and Tony MacAlpine. The biggest irritation on the album is that Mr. Boals tries to out-do himself on each and every song. This means that all songs on the album ends with Mark Boals screaming in a falsetto from another world, and it gets on ones nerves, when it's done constantly. There's no doubt about the man's singing talent and that he has a butter voice, suiting almost all music lover's ears. However, when al song end the same way, it all becomes too much and it takes away the pleasure of listening to a whole album by this fine artist.
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Lars
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BODIN, TOMAS
"I Am" (Inside Out / SPV - provided by Target) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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Brilliant! Yet another chance for me to say lots of bad things about my "hate-band" #1; The Flower Kings. Utterly brilliant, and I have to thank Inside Out for giving me that opportunity. Ok, quit joking around, and get to the point Claus - your hatred towards The Flower Kings has already been told in several reviews around here, ok?!! Well then, let's get to the core of this album called "I Am": it's a so-called rock opera, created by The Flower Kings' keyboardist Tomas Bodin, divided into 3 parts - each of them with a playing time around the 20 minute mark. Musically we're somewhere in the territory between old school prog rock (think Yes, ELP, Pink Floyd, Genesis, King Crimson) blended with some flower-power-hippie-touches that would fit well on the musicals "Hair" or "Jesus Christ Superstar". To be honest, this isn't as bad as I had expected (hoped for?), and my first compliment has to be given to vocalist Anders Jansson, who occasionally sounds like a young Ian Gillan. This guy provides some seriously cool vocals on the entire disc, and he is the one that makes it way more interesting than any album by The Flower Kings. Musically the 3 part rock opera is quite boring, with only the middle-part having some uplifting moments. I do not doubt for a second that the guys involved (besides Bodin, there are 2 other guys from TFK as well as the guitarist from Glenn Hughes' band) are great musicians, but the songwriting skills are really low (except of course if you consider boring songwriting to equal great songwriting). Sorry, but TFK or no-TFK; "I Am" is not an album I'll go listen to again any day soon.
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Claus
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BOG MOROK "Azoic" (CD-Maximum - provided by CD-Maximum) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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Not many Russian band are worth the time of day, but Bog Morok actually succeeded in convincing me that there is something good to be found in the metal scene of Russia. With a sound somewhere between the doom of Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride and the gothic / alternative music of Pyogenesis and Anathema, Bog Morok is a good offer on the heavier side of the metal scene. The vocals aren't always that convincing, but the band adds a certain "atmosphere" to their songs (occasionally enhanced by electronic sounds), and they have a good focus on melodies not unlike many of the Swedish melodeath bands of our time, (yet, of course not in that speed, as Bog Morok is more doomy). Definitely among the best stuff I've heard from Russia since … well, since forever.
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Claus
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BONFIRE
"Double X" (Escape Music - provided by Zink Music) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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Yes, it's apparently the "in-thing" to do right now, writing songs about 9-11 … even for a German band, who probably couldn't care less about what went down in New York a couple of years ago, huh? Allright, if that's what they want, fine enough, Bonfire should be allowed to write songs about that, just as well as tons of other bands. So the new album by Bonfire opens with "Day 911", which I do have to say is one kick-ass tune, and by far counts amonth the very best this band have written in the past 15 years. Actually, I only liked the first 3 Bonfire albums, "Don't Touch The Light", "Fireworks" and "Point Blank", so this disc marks a welcome return to good classic hard rock with a nice powerful crunch. Not unlike Pretty Maids, Impellitteri and bands in that vein, and as the saying goes; that's just the way I like it! Unfortunately not all that glitters is gold, and a few of the songs loose the energy of the first track, and the song "Rap Is Crap" is … yepp, CRAP! I've never understood why different music genres need to make "fun" of each other in their songs - it's kind of irrelevant to do so. With that said though, "Double X" is by far the best Bonfire album since "Point Blank", so if you're a Bonfire fan, or just like good melodic metal / hard rock, then this is a disc to get your greasy little hands on.
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Claus
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BOOK OF REFLECTIONS
"Chapter II - Unfold The Future" (Lion Music - provided by Zink) - 1 out of 5 points - |
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Below standard power/prog metal tracks with bad production on top of it (no power in the guitars, weird vocal mix and some ridiculous computer drums all over). The vocal performances aren't any good either: Martin LeMar (Tomorrow's Eve) delivers a merely okay'ed job, whereas Björn Jansson (Beyond Twilight / Tears Of Anger) and Lars Erik Mattson (bandleader, guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, producer, label manager and apparently also "vocalist") really doesn't suit my ears at all. Lars Erik is a very good guitarist and that's the only thing that saves this disc from complete failure - really a shame that he didn't put together a more solid product and especially that he settled for a lousy drum computer!
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Claus
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BORKNAGAR
"Origin" (Century Media - provided by EMI) - 1 out of 5 points - |
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Why would a "black metal" band want to record an acoustic album? How stupid is that? Okay, Borknagar hasn't really been a true black metal band for years now, but still … What we get here is very laid back (boring), emotional (boring) and atmospheric (boring) songs, that supposedly have their roots in Norwegian folk music. Let me just quote from the official biography: "melodic and harmonic experimentation, coupled with a multitude of vocal styles", "complimenting myriad of atmospheric soundscapes and harmonic interludes" and "flowing rhyythmic river with artistic accentuated timekeeping". Ehhh??? BULLSHIT!!! I guess the codeword for me when listening to this disc is BORING!
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Claus
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BOZZIO & SHEEHAN "Nine Short Films" (Magna Carta - provided by MNW) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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Totally musical geniuses these two guys - incredible! Billy Sheehan (a.o. known from Mr.Big, David Lee Roth, Talas) and Terry Bozzio (a.o. known from Bozzio/Levin/Stevens, Frank Zappa, UK, Explorers Club) are two of the most experienced musicians on the fusion/prog/hard rock scene, and on their new album "Nine Short Films" this shows. Damn, it's simply unbelievable what these 2 guys can do with their instruments; Terry rules on those drums, I can't remember ever hearing a drummer as technically busy, yet playing with so much musical excess and attitude as he is showcasing here. And Billy is an incredible bass player (just listen to the Rush-reminding song "Black Wisdom"), with a rhythmical sense beyond the incredible, yet able to use his bass as a lead/solo instrument when needed be. A thing that sets this disc apart from most other "instrumental-fusion-prog-rock" albums of our time, this one actually has vocals on it. Not a singer as such, but instead Terry is talking above the music. This gives the songs a really good flow thus making them more "memorable" than we'd otherwise come to expect from this type of project bands. "Spoken-Word-Fusion-Prog-Rock"!!!
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Claus
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BRAINSTORM
"Liquid Monster" (Metal Blade Records - provided by Target) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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Brainstorm have stormed the charts everywhere in the last couple of years through releases such as "Ambiguity", "Metus Mortis", Soul Temptation" and now "Liquid Monster". I have always had a weakness for the band, and their live performances have swept away the last doubt there might be. Nevertheless, I actually think that Brainstorm have made their less fantastic album to date. Not because it is played badly, not because of boring songs, not because of shitty production or any of the other things that makes an album a crappy one. Brainstorm's biggest enemy is the repetitiveness of the band. Their songs sound exactly the same as they did on the former albums, and you wouldn't be able to make me distinguish between 2 of their mid-tempo songs from the last 3 albums in a "blind-test", even if I have all the albums and adore the music. Andy B. Frank, whom I have always held as the Brainstorm's biggest asset, has now become the weakest link, as he has not been able to develop his singing style, but actually even practises this in the exact same way in his other band Symphorce. It becomes too much, to gear that same phrasing over and over again. Obviously, Brainstorm did not have a real vocal producer, as it would have given Andy something more than his (good) vocals. He has the talent to become a world star, but needs that last push of variety. The production of the album is as always no less than amazing, and that definitely pulls in the right direction, as does the screaming twin guitars that resemble Thorsten Ihlenfeld and Milan Loncaric. I can't complaint either about the pounding bass of Andreas Mailänder or the extreme tightness of Dieter Bernert on the drums. I just think that Brainstorm has reached the time for a real concept album, where songs can be 15 minutes long or only have a playing time of 2 minutes…just for them to show that they are capable of doing something different than the usual, trying to make some epic masterpiece that doesn't necessarily has to be within the borders of the archetypical power metal song. I know that it normally works with the media of certain countries with consistency, but I don't think this is going to last if Brainstorm insist on making "the same" album every time.
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Lars
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BRAINSTORM "Soul Temptation" (Metal Blade Records - provided by Target distribution) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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I have a dream!!! A dream where Andy B. Franck would try to vary his singing and his phrasing a little from album to album and lose that nerve wrecking accent (it's not called "BLINT", but "BLIND"…it's a "D"!!!!!!! - and it doesn't rhyme on the word "Side"…..!). As it is now, this is just another Brainstorm album, sounding exactly like the other ones, where he has been the lead singer. The songs are better than on "Metus Mortis", but definitely not better than on "Ambiguity" and it annoys me that Brainstorm does not possess the power to re-invent themselves. Here, the songs are true copies of the former material from the band's hands, just twisted a little in the tempo. The pumping on the low E string (or A sometimes) is getting innerving to the point of irritating. The album that was supposed to be Brainstorm's REAL break-through is nothing but a simple rip-off of the band that used to be original. The crazy part of it all is that it still appeals to me so much that I hand out a 4/5 character…….could you imagine what it would have been, had the guys spent a little more time on being compositionally original?? Brainstorm will succeed in laying down the world in front of their feet, but they need to do better than this time in my honest opinion! The song "Fading" is simply boring, while the song "Forever" is definitely the best on this album.
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Lars
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BRAND NEW SIN
"Tequila" (Century Media - provided by EMI) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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My first encounter with Brand New Sin, even if this album is their 3rd or 4th. If I were to compare to other bands (and I have to, I guess), I'd say Danzig, The Cult and Corrosion Of Conformity mixed with southern blues rock. It's decent, but no further than that. I definitely don't like the extremely nasal vocals and the horrible production (I simply can't believe that Joey Z has produced this and George Marino has mastered it!!!). It is ruining the picture of an ok album that could have caught my attention, had it been ok, sound-wise. The snare drum sounds like a bucket and the guitars sound way too bass-like, with grungy distortion. Brand New Sin definitely doesn't impress me. The music is no bad, and their version of "House Of The Rising Sun" is cool, but check it out before buying.
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Lars
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BRAZEN ABBOT
"A Decade Of Brazen Abbot DVD" (Frontiers Records - provided by Atenzia) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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The "A Decade of Brazen Abbot" DVD is a nice little 1½ hours affair, with quite decent live recordings from their first tour in songwriter/guitarist Nikolo Kotzev's home country Bulgaria. I'm using the word "decent" since it's not really a full production as we're used to from most official DVD's nowadays, but more on a low-budget basis with pro-camera work. For those who don't know the music of Brazen Abbot, I can tell you that we're moving around in the Deep Purple/Rainbow worshipping area here, which definitely isn't a bad thing. I've always liked this band (or should I say project?), and although the novelty factor is almost non-existent, the quality level is very high. Nikolo himself is a brilliant guitarist, as this DVD clearly shows, and vocalist Joe Lynn Turner (ex-Malmsteen, ex-Deep Purple, ex-Rainbow) is quite the good singer … although I do feel his voice is beginning to show the wear of time. There's a couple of interviews on here as well with some of the singers that has also participated in the Brazen Abbot projects throughout the years, such as Jorn Lande, Glenn Hughes and Goran Edman. Unfortunately there are no songs with those guys on here, and that's really a minus on behalf of the DVD. Oh well, we can't have it all, and I must say that for all Brazen Abbot fans this DVD comes highly recommended. If you don't know of the band before, you might better just check out some of the albums, in particular the "Nostradamus" project disc, which is as good as classic hard rock gets.
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Claus
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BROKEN ARROW "Abyss of Darkness" (Scarlet Records - provided by VME) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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Apparently the 80's never die - and should they? This Italian band brings us back to the good old days with straight forward heavy metal, which is to say that "Abyss of Darkness" makes me think back to when Manowar and Savatage were in their prime. The characteristic of this album is ultra simple metal but with charm and a nostalgic retrospect. At times, though, Broken Arrow brings up some, still simple but, all in all, quite cool guitar details (like Savatage master to perfection) that sneaks in between all the trivialities in the music and gives "Abyss of Darkness" a lift towards the better. Unfortunately Broken Arrow has chosen to make use of keyboards to give the songs a more or less atmospheric touch, but with no luck whatsoever. On the contrary. The effect is implemented in a way that makes it sound like they only used the keyboard just for the sake of it, and not with the intention to bring an extra dimension to the music. Also the production could be better. The levels and volume varies on 2-3 tracks compared to the rest of the album, and it strikes you immediately. But apart from that Broken Arrow's debut album is "okay" and I should say that "Abyss of Darkness" is very suitable for sing-a-long live performances :-) and the melodies in the music are very memorable and have a flow that makes it listenable.
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Martin J
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BROKE-[N]-BLUE
"The Waiting" (MTM Music /SPV - provided by Target) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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I never heard of this band, but apparently they are a Swedish band based around guitarist Lars Abrahamsson and vocalist Eva Abrahamsson (another married couple? Or perhaps brother/sister?). According to the info-sheet this band had really good feedback on their old demo's and their debut album - even making t into the charts in Korea. Hmmm, might be, might be … nevertheless, we have to review their second disc now, and what can we say? First up, the music is really not Swedish sounding - instead I'd characterize it more as US-style AOR in the vein of Bad English meets Heart. Not bad! Secondly, the album has two main focuses (besides the song writing of course); 1) the vocals divided between Eva and a guy called Peter Gustavsson - both of them are really good singers with a certain identity to their voices, and 2) the awesome lead guitars of Lars; really inspiring solos and with a brilliant tone to them. The only downfall is that not all the songs are of equal quality, but those songs that stand out, are really worth remembering, such as "Midnite Show", "The Waiting (for a life)" and "How Does It Feel". For the main part of the album I felt entertained, and that is definitely the purpose of music, so in that sense Broke-[N]-Blue delivered the goods perfectly - for that I'll give them a 3 out of 5 score.
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Claus
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BULLET
"Heading For The Top" (Black Lodge Records - provided by Target) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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If I ever wanted to go back to the late 70's/early 80's and the true spirit of Australias's finest rock'n'roll band ever, AC/DC, then I need look no further than across the pond to Sweden, where the 5 guys in Bullet presents some of the best AC/DC ripoff I've ever heard. The attitude and the quality of these songs are enough for me to immediately throw a 5-rating towards these rockers, but the relevance and the lack of originality pulls away the first point. And when the production to my ears are a bit too 80's, and not updated to today's standard (although I'm sure it's a deliberate choice), I simply have to drag yet another point away from this otherwise cool disc. The truth be told; I think this band is FUN to watch live, and the disc really ain't bad in any way whatsoever (in fact, it kicks MAJOR ASS), but I'm 99% sure that I ain't gonna be playing this disc anytime soon again.
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Claus
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BURNING POINT "Feeding The Flame" (LMP / SPV - provided by Nordic Metal) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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A wise man once said: If you can't sing, don't! And that wise man was me. God damn the vocals on this album annoy me. I really hoped that Pete Athonen would improve on his vocal performance on "Feeding the Flames" compared to the first album "Salvation by Fire", but no - I wasn't that lucky, and that is a shame, because the music, also like their previous album, reeks of energy and melody. Normally I can divert the vocals on an album like this and just enjoy the music, but in this case it's impossible. It simply can't be done. This over-vibrating vocal draws far to much attention and leaves you with a tick and the need to break something in order to maintain your sanity. That pisses me off because these guys actually show musicality that leads you back to the classic metal of Accept, Black Sabbath and occasional Yngwie Malmsteen, besides being energetic in Children of Bodom style (without being black metal at all, though!). And if it wasn't for the vocals, "Feeding the Flames" would get 11/2 or 2 points more. So here is a little plead to Pete Athonen: "Concentrate on you guitar playing instead of ruining the listeners musical experience with your ridiculous vocal."
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Martin J
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BURNING SKIES
"Desolation" (Lifeforce Records - Provided by Lifeforce) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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To me LifeForce is one of those labels who constantly manages to find new and unique bands, while giving them the proper promotion; so it was with some enthusiasm that I popped the new Burning Skies album "Desolation" in my spinner. To my big surprise Burning Skies has been around for quite some time now, and "Desolation" is their second album - and third in total - released through LifeForce, yet I have never heard about these British lads. Anyways, enough with this and let's get on to the music. Burning Skies play metalcore or hardcore as some might say, but do not let this scare you off, because there is a lot of other things to this. Sometimes there are reminiscences to classic thrash ala Slayer and there are a lot of influences from the Swedish scene like Meshuggah, Dark Tranquillity and even Entombed. The first things you notice are the vocals which sound a lot like Bredahl from HateSphere due to the variation in the vocals and the vocal melodies. The vocals harmonize so well with the music, which I think is a rarity within this genre. But to not give too much attention to Merv I have to mention his very well playing band. They are playing very well and manage to keep a typical metalcore groove to then move on to blasting and brutal death metal that works as a bridge to a melodic part which then moves on to a surprising time change and then a very interesting piece. I guess you can say that if you mix bands like Lamb of God, Textures, HateSphere and Dark Tranquillity you more or less have what Burning Skies sounds like. Unfortunately for Burning Skies their heavy inspiration from the metalcore scene does that a lot of the stuff on the album has been heard 1000 times in a thousand different bands in the last few years, and while only a very few them sound as fresh and unique I cannot help but drag them down on this. Rest assured though that this album has something you have never (or rarely) heard before in the metalcore scene. Their instrumentation is top notch, and I - after 7 listens - I still find some neat details, which just underlines what a consistent and great album "Desolation" actually is.
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Mads
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BY NIGHT
"A New Shape Of Desperation" (Lifeforce Records - provided by Lifeforce) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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I'm sure I can't be the only one who sometimes would have wished for a more "simplistic" and "easier-listening" version of Meshuggah, right? I'm probably also not the only one who've several times caught myself thinking that the industrial-attacks of a Fear Factory or Mnemic were a bit too much and didn't have the melody needed, correct? Or that Opeth and Extol should have been a little less progressive and self-indulgent … Well, for those of us who do like the bands mentioned above, but just want it a bit more simple and melodic, the Swedish act By Night should be quite perfect. While trying to keep it "basic" the band still manages to introduce more twists and quirks in their 11 songs on this album than most bands manages in their entire careers. Add a little touch of thrash (think The Haunted) and a pinch of metalcore (think KSE) and we're close to defining how By Night sounds like. Songs like the Extol-sounding "Cursed By The Thought", the almost Into Eternity-like "Walls Of Insecure" or the kick-ass opener "The Truth Is Sold" is a clear evidence of why By Night should be a band to look out for, as a fresh take on the aggressive tech-metal scene.
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Claus
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