Alliance of Thieves Meshiaak 2016 Mascot Records Meshiaak are an Australian Heavy Metal band formed in 2014 featuring former Impellitteri drummer, Jon Dette and Dean Wells from Teramaze on the guitars. Meshiaak play a type of Heavy Metal that is akin towards Thrash Metal, however, there is more to Meshiaak with rhythms and grooves that can liken them more towards the Thrash end of Groove Metal. Alliance of Thieves is the debut studio album by Meshiaak and other than Dette and Wells, also features Nick Walker playing bass with Danny Camilleri also taking on guitar duties as well as the vocal duties. Meshiaak have a sound that would appeal to fans of Metallica and Slayer, whilst also towards Pantera and the likes of Machine Head. Meshiaak has chosen to produce Alliance of Thieves themselves with guitarist Wells at the helm, supported by vocalist Camilleri. Alliance of Thieves has an absolutely stellar sound with what sounds like big money behind Meshiaak, Alliance of Thieves would easily appeal to fans of Machine Head’s latest output with pounding blast beats, soaring harmonised vocals coupled with a deep melodic growl and twin guitar flurries that even Rob Flynn would be jealous of. The way that Wells and Camilleri have produced Walker’s bass sound to sound dominating and droning, yet melodic at the same time. In fact, the Machine Head influence is very strong throughout Alliance of Thieves and lyrically, Meshiaak stick within these boundaries. Alliance of Thieves is brimming with angry social observations focusing upon war, isolation, human insincerity and the wistful longing for a previous time. However, there are times with Alliance of Thieves where as talented as musicians as Meshiaak are, you can easily draw parallels between Alliance of Thieves and Machine Head’s 2011 album, Unto the Locust. This homage is most prominent in the final two tracks, the title track itself and Death of an Anthem. The former having overtones of the pre-chorus to Locust, whilst the latter is basically saddled with a bass riff that is eerily similar. Being pedantic aside, there are some very good songs on Alliance of Thieves, the opening track of Chronicles of the Dead will pull your face off and give you a huge dose of what Meshiaak are all about, whilst At the Edge of the World shows off Meshiaak’s raw talent with Last Breath Taken allowing Camilleri to deliver his vocals in a way that is reminiscent of Slayer. However, as decent as Alliance of Thieves is, a lot of the songs fail to stick and remain in your memory and it is only with playing the album itself where you can find yourself humming along. Meshiaak do have something on Machine Head though, at least Meshiaak know how to finish a song and don’t drag out a song to its death at 8-9 minutes plus like Machine Head do. Alliance of Thieves is a decent debut and great starting point for a band that sounds well and truly already bedded in. Alliance of Thieves sounds as good, if not better than their peers at times and would definitely appeal to fans of this genre and it will be interesting to see how Meshiaak follow this up. 6/10 Adam Drowning, Fading, Falling (Meshiaak)
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Diamond Head Diamond Head 2016 Dissonance Productions Diamond Head are a Heavy Metal band that are considered to be one of the most highly influential bands that were part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement in the early 80’s. With Brian Tatler still at the helm, Diamond Head are best remembered for releasing the seminal NWOBHM classic, Lightning to the Nations in 1980. Diamond Head have disbanded and reformed a few times in their career, but since original vocalist Sean Harris and Tatler went their separate ways in 2003, Diamond Head have maintained a generally stable release of albums. Diamond Head’s eponymous latest release is their 7th album and their long awaited follow up to 2007’s What’s In Your Head? Diamond Head is the first release with Danish vocalist Rasmus Bom Andersen, who replaces former vocalist, Nick Tart who left the band in 2014. The rest of Diamond Head is completed by Karl Wilcox on the drums, Eddie Moohan on the bass and Andy Abberley joining Tatler on the guitars. Diamond Head has been self-produced with the recording being completed by Adam Beddow. Diamond Head has a typically NWOBHM sound and at times, it moves to a more Classic Heavy Metal sound. Tatler has always had a distinctive guitar tone, that once more rears its head to identify the music as Diamond Head. The rest of Diamond Head tries very hard to capture the magic and tone of Lightning to the Nations and it nearly does, the whole album sounds very much as if it was recorded in 1980, of course there are some modern twists, in particular the bass groove to Our Time is Now is exceptionally clean and deep. Bones is the opening track from Diamond Head and sets the pace for the remainder of the album and gives us the first glimpse of what to expect from Andersen. At first listen, Andersen’s voice can seem a little generic and weak, however, this is not the case, as the album progresses, you find that Andersen’s voice is very versatile, easily being able to hark back to a similarity with Harris’ voice whilst being nowhere near a straight up imitator, Andersen stamps his own mark all over Diamond Head and let’s hope this is the start of a new era of prosperity for Diamond Head. There are tracks on Diamond Head that would not be out of place on Lightning to the Nations, Shout at the Devil, Wizard’s Sleeve – even though it does contain the chorus ‘can I come inside your wizard’s sleeve’, Speed and Diamonds. The latter is a fantastic slice of pure NWOBHM gold. Diamond Head isn’t all about recapturing their youth, there are tracks on the album that show a different side to them, the slow brooding of Set My Soul on Fire, the Black Sabbath inspired groove to Our Time is Now, the Led Zeppelin rhythm which gives way to a classic Diamond Head romp with Diamonds. However, it is the final Middle-Eastern flavoured Silence which steals the album, it is a slow burner, building up to near Stargazer proportions that brings a close to an album that has been a great surprise. Diamond Head is a great album by a band that has had their fair share of ups and downs, but Diamond Head is infectious, it will grow and before you know it, you will have a serious contender for one of the top spots comes year end. 9/10 Adam All the Reasons you Live (Diamond Head)
Cemetery Junction Demon 2016 Spaced Out Music Demon are Heavy Metal band that rose to prominence during the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Led by Dave Hill, Demon released the NWOBHM classic, Night of the Demon in 1981. Demon originally called it a day in 1992, but reformed in 1997 with a sound that has moved more to a radio friendly Hard Rock sound than the NWOBHM style that they rode the crest of the wave with. Cemetery Junction is Demon’s 13th studio album and is the follow up to 2012’s Unbroken. Cemetery Junction ploughs a similar path to Unbroken with the only line-up change being the addition of Karl Waye on the keyboards after the departure of Paul Farrington. This brings the Demon line-up to be completed by founding vocalist Dave Hill, David Cotterill and Paul Hume on the guitars, former guitarist Ray Walmsley now plays the bass with Neil Ogden on the drums. Cemetery Junction has been produced by one time Clay Records owner, Mike Stone and Hill with a sound that many people won’t be accustomed to when thinking of Demon. What you have with the production of Cemetery Junction is a record that sounds restricted, whether by funding, ability or studio. However, it is not all about the production and there are some decent songs which prevail over this initial barrier. What you get with Cemetery Junction is an album that shows glimpses of Demon’s past, present and possibly future in what can only be called a mixed bag. The opening track from Cemetery Junction is Are You Just Like Me (Spirit of Man) which brings back memories of the seminal album, Night of the Demon. However, the sound of the glory days ends there with the songs on Cemetery Junction ploughing at a more Hard Rock/Melodic Rock furrow with the extremely early 80’s sounding Queen of Hollywood and Turn on the Magic sounding like an early version of Magic from 1981’s Difficult to Cure by Rainbow. All that aside, there are some very good songs on Cemetery Junction, the title track in particular is quite catchy, Life in Berlin is another Hard Rock style song that will get stuck in your head alongside The Best is Yet to Come. The main issue with Cemetery Junction is that most of the songs fail to stick and feel distinctly average. These days, Hill’s voice seems rather shot and worn out with some songs, especially the ballads Thin Disguise, Miracle and Someone’s Watching You with Demon straying into Magnum territory with Hill’s voice sounding a lot like Bob Catley’s. In this similar vein, the penultimate song on Cemetery Junction, Out of Control has the vibe of modern Deep Purple with Hill actually doing an accurate impression of Ian Gillan’s voice these days. Cemetery Junction is sadly, rather a distinctly average album with some of the tracks being very good, but the album is also weighed down by filler and some rather grotesque ballads. Cemetery Junction will not be the worst album this year, however, it has been eclipsed by peer bands such as Diamond Head, Tygers of Pan Tang and even Steve Grimmett’s Grim Reaper. 5/10 Adam Are You Just Like Me? (Spirit of Man) (Hill/Walmsley)
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November 2016
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