Inglorious make it 2 in 2 years, but is it good enough? A little over a year has passed since Inglorious released their debut album and no sooner than the tour drawing to a close was the announcement for a second album from Inglorious. In a possible nod to Van Halen, Inglorious’ second album is unimaginatively named; II and features an album cover of a woman against a dark Chicago alleyway striking a pose which calls back memories of Backstreet Symphony by Thunder or David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust. This imagery sums up Inglorious in a nutshell, as Inglorious play the sort of hard rock of the 70’s and early 80’s that would appeal to fans of Joe Lynn Turner era Rainbow, MkIII/IV Deep Purple and Marsden/Moody era Whitesnake whilst at the same time keeping the modern sound which has continued to make bands like Whitesnake and Deep Purple relevant in the 21st century.
Those who thoroughly enjoyed the debut album from Inglorious, will be pleased to know that there isn’t a huge departure from the sound laid down on II. If anything, II sounds more like a band who know what they want. The writing is more concise and even though only a year has passed, you can already see and hear the improvements in Inglorious’ writing. However, the most notable improvement is in their mouthpiece. Nathan James’ voice has always been decent, but there were times during Inglorious where his voice felt strained and forced, whereas with II, that doesn’t even apply. James’ voice is strong, soulful and melodic having all the touches of a young David Coverdale, Danny Bowes or Joe Lynn Turner in their prime. What is very fun about Inglorious is that throughout their music, a song may contain a little motif, a quip that makes you think: “oh yeah! I recognise that, that sounds like such and such a band” and this is not executed in a way which makes you scream plagiarism, but more in a way which makes you smile. This gives the band a real sense of familiarity and you will find yourself warming to II very quickly. Just as Inglorious began with a nod to Deep Purple’s live version of Highway Star from Made In Japan, II begins with a clean electric lick which is highly reminiscent of Paul Gilbert’s playing from the Mr. Big song; Green-Tinted Sixties Mind before launching into the opening song; I Don’t Need Your Loving, a song with a pure sexy soulful funk beat which oozes early Whitesnake as bassist Colin Parkinson and drummer Phil Beaver lock down a bouncing rhythm whilst James’ golden voice mourns along before the band deliver a chorus of an 80’s stadium band standard that will easily get inside your head. Inglorious follow this up with a pure rocker of once more, early 80’s proportions; Take the Blame. Take the Blame see’s Inglorious giving a good Joe Lynn Turner fronted Rainbow style romp, with guitarists Andreas Z Eriksson and Will Taylor worshipping at the altar of Ritchie Blackmore as they tear through a song that would appeal to fans of Can’t Happen Here or Spotlight Kid. When you listen to the work that has gone into these two songs alone, not just from Inglorious as a band, but from their production point of view, the fact that II has been mixed by the wonderful Kevin Shirley speaks volumes. Producers of Kevin Shirley’s calibre do not lend themselves to shit and II is certainly a far cry from that description and it is no wonder why I Don’t Need Your Loving and Take the Blame were chosen as the singles. Just like their debut album, II is tappingly catchy throughout, but the issue with this is similar to that of the first. Inglorious can and do write decent tunes, but most of II fails to stick in the memory, but that doesn’t mean that listening to the album isn’t enjoyable. Tracks such as; Making My Pay, Hell or High Water, High Class Woman and a ballad of Thunder standards in Change is Coming easily help anchor you into consciously listening and without these, II could easily be an album of passive listening background music. However, Inglorious have released two decent albums in two years and this proves that Inglorious are burning the engine hard and are far from running out of ideas. Inglorious know the music that they want to play, their target audience and with the backing of Frontiers Records coupled with the hard work that Inglorious are capable of, II shows that Inglorious aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. 7/10 Adam McCann
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Hungry for Helker South America has always been one of the most loyal areas of the heavy metal world. Its rabid fans have always graciously welcomed heavy metal bands in all shapes and sizes into their arms and made them feel special. It is certainly no surprise that because of this, South America is one of the leading exporters of heavy metal.
Helker hail from the capitol of Argentina, Buenos Aires and since their formation in 1998 have released 5 studio albums, their latest of which; Firesoul was released after a 4 year break from the 2013 exceptionally well received album; Somewhere in the Circle. Fortunately for Helker, Firesoul picks up perfectly where Somewhere in the Circle left off as if there was no break at all. One of the main reasons for this is that there has been no change in line-up between these two albums and obviously, the natural chemistry that made the previous album so good is still burning away here. Unfortunately, long standing vocalist Diego Valdez, left Helker after 9 years at the helm just after the release of Firesoul and has subsequently been replaced by Aaron Briglia for the Firesoul tour. Helker have hiked forward with each release, with each album getting better and better, it is therefore no shock to find that Firesoul is easily the best album that Helker have released. This is down to all-round heavy metal legend; Mat Sinner producing Firesoul. Sinner has managed to get Firesoul sounding perfect, Sinner is not only Helker’s producer, but also their manager and mentor. Through Sinner’s guidance, Helker have been given the drive, determination and above all, responded to the positive criticism, taking it in their stride and adjusting accordingly. The dynamics on Firesoul push the album forward, hard rockers, mixed in with powerful heavy metal set against beautiful, soaring ballads. These songs rise and fall, nodding to bands such as Dio, Judas Priest and Iced Earth which evidently influenced Helker, these bands come through on Firesoul without ripping off their influential artists, but taking what they know and making it their own and it is this, coupled with fantastically written songs make Firesoul so endearing. Firesoul flares into action with Fight, a song with a riff so meaty it could belong to Jon Schaffer, but it doesn’t, this riff belongs to the guitars of Marino Rios and Leo Aristu. However, the Iced Earth influence doesn’t end there and Fight comes equipped with the sharp, accenting, emphasising backing vocals that we have come to expect from Iced Earth, but it is here where we get to see the versatile voice of Valdez who in between a more natural Dio-esque singing voice, manages to transfer this energy into the piercing banshee type wail of Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens for some real effect. Helker does not just belong to Valdez, For All the Eternity contains another head-busting riff from Rios and Aristy complete with obligatory pinch harmonics to boot. However, the best part of For All the Eternity comes during the instrumental break where Hernán Coronel becomes a true battering powerhouse behind a guitar solo of such precision, speed and virtuosity that wouldn’t be out of place on Helloween’s Keeper of the Seven Keys series. From here, Firesoul takes a less aggressive route and begins to plough head first into more traditional heavy metal in the style of Dio. However, Valdez does not have the youthful conviction and vigour that Ronnie James Dio eschewed with Rainbow, Black Sabbath or his early solo output, instead Valdez had the more worn in, experienced, yet no way less inferior voice of Dio’s later years. Playing with Fire comes with a riff that would fit easily amongst Dio’s most underrated albums, Angry Machines and Strange Highways with a riff that is textbook Tracy G minus the sparse production which dogged both albums. Elsewhere on Firesoul are more songs in the key of classic Dio, Where You Belong and You are in my Heart are fantastic slabs of traditional heavy metal and would appeal to any fan of the genre and although Vivian Campbell was no stranger to pinch harmonics, during the Dio-esque song; Break Your Chains, Rios and Aristu ever so slightly overdo the pinch harmonics and this becomes as tedious as listening to Zakk Wylde. There is also an element of power metal that lurks within Firesoul, but this power metal sound isn’t your standard grandiose, battle axes held high whilst fighting dragons. No, Firesoul has a touch of the metal opera and the ballads; The One and Empty Room offer a beautiful change of pace, the former of which featuring some of the best twin guitar harmony work that you will hear all year this side of Avantasia. Empty Room gives us a glimpse as to what may have been one of the greatest collaborations in heavy metal, Ronnie James Dio working with Tobias Sammet and begs the question to Sammet that if he ever needs another decent vocalist then he should look no further than Valdez. Firesoul is a great album from a band which keeps going from strength to strength and for any fan of traditional heavy metal or power metal, it is a must have for 2017. Unfortunately with the loss of Valdez, it will be interesting to see how Helker continue with Briglia as the vocalist, but Helker are full of surprises, watch this space. 9/10 Adam McCann Lacklustre album with a few saving graces Astral Doors deserve a little bit more credit than they actually get. Formed in Sweden in 2002, Astral Doors play a blend of heavy metal with power metal leanings, but also have a sound that is laden in that mid-to-late 1970’s keyboard sound and would appeal to fans of Dio era Black Sabbath and Rainbow, Mk III Deep Purple or Uriah Heep. As a band though, Astral Doors are far more than a throwback from a different era, able to chug it out with a modern twist that would also appeal to fans of Jorn, Primal Fear and Iron Savior. Since their inception in 2002, Astral Doors have had a steady release of albums. However, this progress was slowed down by vocalist Nils Patrik Johansson joined Sabaton alumni in Civil War before leaving in 2016. However, it is now 2017 and Astral Doors are back with their 8th release; Black Eyed Children.
As you would expect, Astral Doors start Black Eyed Children with keyboard soundscaping, building up and up into what feels like a live concert intro tape before a pickscrape announces the start of We Cry Out. We Cry Out begins with a riff that wouldn’t be out of place on the early Dio album, with its infectious chorus and blistering twin guitar harmony solo from guitarists Mats Gesar and Joachim Nordlund makes We Cry Out easily one of the best tracks on Black Eyed Children. It would seem that being a member of Civil War has had a lasting impact on Johansson. Johansson cut his teeth with Astral Doors as a possible successor to Ronnie James Dio with his fantastic heavy metal voice, Johansson easily able to switch from Dio’s melodic rasp to the soulfully deep larynx of David Coverdale or Jorn Lande. But with Civil War, Johansson sang with a higher, exceptionally unique squeal and it is this voice which Johansson chooses to use consistently on Black Eyed Children. Lyrically, Black Eyed Children is actually closer to Civil War than Astral Doors, tracks such as Walls, God is the Devil, Lost Boy and title track all bear the hallmarks of the historically tinged lyrics that is put forward by Civil War, in fact, Walls is possibly the best track that Civil War never recorded. As with We Cry Out, there are decent flashes of previous Astral Doors, Die On Stage features all the overly macho pomposity of the 1980’s about the joys of playing live, whilst Tomorrow’s Dead would not be out of place on Mob Rules with its Tony Iommi style picking clean riff before descending into the sort of grinding riff that Iommi would have been proud to write. Tomorrow’s Dead is heightened and highlighted by the fantastic drum and bass pattern from John Lindstedt and Ulf Lagerström, between them, they show that it isn’t always about how much you play, but what you actually play and this selectiveness makes Tomorrow’s Dead the best song on Black Eyed Children with Johansson giving his best Dio impression. Black Eyed Children is decent enough, however, many of the songs are unmemorable and fail to stick. The title track itself begins with a picking pattern that is reminiscent of Judas Priest in the late 80’s, but overall, the track tries its best to be a Dio-esque album closer, but drags on to nearly 9 minutes and doesn’t particularly go anywhere. Whilst there is some excellent playing throughout with Johansson showing what a talented vocalist he can be with his range of dynamics, there is a lack of sustenance giving the feeling that Black Eyed Children was a little rushed. Black Eyed Children is average at best and there are a few songs which save this album from being truly abysmal. 6/10 Adam McCann Running on Finite Let’s face it, Deep Purple are a bit like going back to an ex-partner. After a while of not thinking about it, something reminds you of a different time, you get that warm glow of nostalgia and familiarity before remembering why you stopped in the first place. In the last 25 years, Deep Purple have adapted their sound due to various circumstances. Firstly, guitar legend; Ritchie Blackmore left in 1993 creating huge shoes for his successor in the shape of Steve Morse. Secondly was the retirement of the late Jon Lord from the band in 2002, Lord’s position filled by the one and only Don Airey and lastly was the march of time and strain on Ian Gillan’s voice.
Interestingly enough, most of the older bands that were written off by the media in the 90’s as dinosaur acts, that were bloated and had expired have been writing the albums of their careers, most of which are back and stronger than ever. Deep Purple are actually no different, they have been experiencing, well, how else do you put it? a purple patch. This began with 2013’s Now What?! album which was met with hugely positive reviews and this rolls over into Deep Purple’s most recent release; InFinite. Just like the previous Deep Purple album, InFinite has once more been produced by esteemed legendary producer Bob Ezrin. It would seem that Ezrin has brought the best out of Deep Purple as InFinite has attained a sound that is classic Purple with a slight modern twist, this sound manages to hark back to the days when Deep Purple ruled the world, yet humbly shows everything which Purple have been forced to endure over the years. InFinite begins with the first single from the album; Time for Bedlam, which starts with a spoken word introduction as Gillan’s soliloquy is phased through a mechanical/computer effect – a bit odd, but it works, before launching into the classic Deep Purple sound, a distinct Hammond Organ hammering along with a distorted guitar that instantly likeable as Deep Purple grind along to a song that brings back memories of Pictures of Home. In fact, Time for Bedlam wouldn’t actually be out of place on Machine Head and that alone shows the strength of InFinite. Time for Bedlam isn’t the only track that has this vibe, Get Me Outta Here and All I Got Is You have all the classic Purple swagger, the latter having a rising arpeggio into a crescendo before Airey delivers a cracking synth solo that would appeal to any fans of Burn. One Night In Vegas could easily be the spiritual successful to Strange Kind of Woman, however, the track would also fit in perfectly on Purpendicular, the only downside is that it is saddled with a pre-chorus that sounds a little too much like Junkyard Blues from 2005’s Rapture of the Deep. The main reason why InFinite works is that it sounds like it was recorded in 1972 – a testament to not only the band, but to Ezrin too as both Morse and Airey sound as if they are using both Lord and Blackmore’s gear giving a sound that every Purple fan has been requesting for a very long time. However, there are a few downsides to InFinite, Gillan’s voice is nowhere near as powerful as his heyday and his lyrical worth has always been sub-par, but this is secondary to the music as it has always been with Deep Purple. As well as this, InFinite does tail off towards the end, Birds of Prey is not memorable in the slightest and having Roadhouse Blues finish the album is a ludicrous way to finish an otherwise decent album. Sadly, time is against Deep Purple with all the members in their late 60’s or early 70’s barring Steve Morse, it begs the question, never mind infinite, Deep Purple are now on finite time and if InFinite is to be their final album, then it is a good way to bow out. 7/10 Adam McCann Quoth the Raven… It is interesting to see that in 2017, we are starting to see bands appearing on the scene that are influenced by the music of the early to mid-2000’s. Bands such as Trivium, Bullet for My Valentine, Killswitch Engage and Five Finger Death Punch’s rhythmic double bass pounding in time with machine gun guitars is starting to appear with younger bands cutting their teeth alongside sweeping melodic patterns replacing the classic riff.
The Raven Age are once such band, formed in 2009 and containing George Harris, the son of a certain Steve Harris of Iron Maiden. The Raven Age burst onto the scene in 2014 with their self-titled EP and bolstered by prestigious support slots with Iron Maiden, Tremonti and Anthrax, The Raven Age hit 2017 running as they released their highly anticipated debut album; Darkness Will Rise. The first thing to note about Darkness Will Rise is the pure length of the album, 13 tracks clocking in at just under 85 minutes is a tall ask with the average length of each song at around 6 minutes. The main issue with this, is that back in 2014, The Raven Age’s self-titled debut contained 3 of the songs that are also featured on Darkness Will Rise; Eye Among the Blind, The Death March and Angel in Disgrace. This shows the nativity of a young band who find it difficult to trim the fat with an attachment to the songs that they have written. Many of the songs on Darkness Will Rise should have been trimmed back and go on a little longer than they need to, Promised Land, My Revenge and Winds of Change are all examples of this, but with a little future guidance and learning, this could easily be rectified. If anyone can offer advice, then George needs to look no further than his own dad. However, there is no denying the talent that oozes from The Raven Age, each member plays their part phenomenally and they work together like a well oiled machine. The drumming of Jai Patel never lets up and is actually one of the standout elements on Darkness Will Rise and would appeal to any fan of the likes of Slipknot, the only criticism that can be pertained to Patel is that during My Revenge, Patel’s cymbal can get quite irritating every second with it being so high in the mix. The guitars of Harris and Dan Wright fit the music perfectly, their down tuned mammoth riffing interspersed with their sweeping melodic passages are very much the in-demand sound with nods to Machine Head and Trivium it thoroughly shows the sort of music that inspired The Raven Age. One of the best ways to describe Darkness Will Rise is exceptionally melodic and that is down to the vocals of Michael Burrough. Burrough’s vocals are actually quite good considering the sort of melodic metalcore/groove metal that The Raven Age play, Burrough has a voice which sells records and it is no surprise as to why he fronts the band, Burrough’s voice is melodic and would appeal to fans not just of metalcore, but also older fans of the nu-metal era – it is interesting to note that The Raven Age avoid the metalcore cliché by refraining from using growls in their work and it pays dividends, however, the band needs to lay off the pinch harmonics. During Darkness Will Rise, you will notice that there are little glimpses of Harris’ lineage, The Death March contains an Iron Maiden style gallop with an obvious nod to his dad, whilst The Dying Embers of Life contains a vocal melody from Burrough that is straight out of Iron Maiden’s more recent output, reminiscent of Blood Brothers, Dance of Death or Where the Wild Wind Blows. However, other than the length of the Darkness Will Rise, the other huge criticism is of the production of the album, yes, it’s a high end job, modern, sleek and obviously very costly, but all the instruments seem to be on the same level giving Darkness Will Rise a huge one dimensional feeling with the massive lack of dynamics making the album feel like one long slog and it is this that lets the album down. For a debut album, Darkness Will Rise is decent enough and there are bigger things instore for The Raven Age. If you are fan of metalcore or groove metal then The Raven Age will be right up your street. However, there is a large section of the metal community which will sum this up as meh and average at best. 6/10 Adam McCann Vampire deliver some bite Death metal and Sweden have a special relationship, from the chainsaw attack of Entombed to the more progressive flair of Meshuggah and Opeth, to melodic scene of Gothenburg that spawned bands such as At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity and In Flames. The gravity of these bands shook the world and provided an alternative to the whiny angst of nu-metal.
20 years on and the world still looks back favourably on bands from Gothenburg, but that is by no means a free meal pass. Also hailing from Gothenburg are Vampire. Vampire mix a blend of good old thrashin’ death metal in the style of Possessed and Death with a pinch of home grown melody and it works sublimely, before you realise it, Vampire are on to something here. Vampire released their self-titled first album back in 2014 to a rousing critical acclaim and 2017 see’s the band release their highly anticipated second album; With Primeval Force. With Primeval Force begins with Knights of the Burning Crypt and the sort of riff that made In Flames famous before the unsheathing of a blade descends into a Death style verse that wouldn’t be out of place on Scream Bloody Gore. When you begin with a standard as high as this, you know what to come is going to be magical. Knights of the Burning Crypt has an outro that features acoustic picking alongside some excellent riffing that harks back To Mega Therion era Celtic Frost, whilst Scylla contains a choral outro which, in all honesty completes the album. With an album that clocks in at under 40 minutes, Vampire waste no time in smashing down the boundaries. He Who Speaks contains a hypnotic chanting chorus of Tlatoani; a word of Aztec origin as vocalist, Hand of Doom’s vocal tendrils creep out, pulling you into his thrall. Even by the second song on the album, With Primeval Force has you and any old school death metal fan would be a liar if they said they didn’t like or appreciate this album. The history links contain through songs such as Skull Prayer which contains references to Ashem, Deva, Namtar and Allatu, all of which have links to various religions such as those worshipped in ancient Mesopotamia, Persia and the Indian subcontinent, conjuring up images of hooded acolytes, chanting around a sacrifice. Tracks such as Metamorfosis and Skull Prayer would easily interest any Venom fan with its black metal lyrical leanings against the distorted guitar and double bass drum beat of death metal. These comparisons don’t just stop here, Midnight Trial once more has all the hallmarks of Death and Venom. However, Midnight Trial also adds a more thrash metal element to it and brings about a feeling of what would happen if Chuck Schuldiner covered Liar from Megadeth’s 1988 album; So Far, So Good… So What! with its quick fire rhythmic vocal delivery suiting the song perfectly down to the ground. Of course Vampire landed with critical acclaim, however, With Primeval Force takes their career up a notch and is a huge leap forward. Not only is With Primeval Force enjoyable, it is highly infectious and never lets up, which causes the album to be constantly played. Vampire do not deserve With Primeval Force to go under radar because they have released one of the best death metal albums of 2017. 9/10 Adam McCann Maiden California Let’s face it, one of the greatest things to happen to music in the last 25 years is the dawning of the age of the internet. Years ago, you’d have to trawl through music magazines or wait for it, actually go outside! Venturing into the nether to find a record store that met your needs and maybe, just maybe you’d find what you were looking for or gamble a chance on an album with a cool artwork on the cover. These days, life is much simpler, you no longer need to leave the house with a huge shift towards digital sales supported by the likes of iTunes, YouTube, Deezer and Spotify. These programs link and recommend different and related artists based on your browsing history, therefore you are considerably more likely to come across something new or unheard before.
Night Demon have that sound which harks back to a different era, that era is the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) which swept over the United Kingdom during the late 70’s and early 80’s and if you didn’t know any better, you’d say that Night Demon stood alongside the likes of Iron Maiden, Angel Witch and Saxon in 1980. But you’ll be surprised to learn that Night Demon actually formed in California in 2011 releasing their debut album; Curse of the Damned to critical acclaim in 2015. On the back of this success, 2017 see’s Night Demon release their sophomore album; Darkness Remains. Curse of the Damned cut its teeth from the template laid down by Diamond Head’s 1980 masterpiece; Lightning to the Nations, even vocalist Jarvis Leatherby sounded like the offspring of Sean Harris and indeed, there are still songs on Darkness Remains which have the Diamond Head flair, such as Stranger in the Room and Welcome to the Night which would appease any fan of Lightning to the Nations and Borrowed Time. But, with Darkness Remains, Night Demon spread out in the NWOBHM territory with plenty of the songs pointing towards the Iron Maiden end of the spectrum. The early Iron Maiden-esque sounds are littered all over the place, not only is Leatherby’s voice slightly raspier, particularly on tracks such as Life on the Run and Dawn Rider which gives the vocal delivery a real trip down memory lane to the first time you heard Iron Maiden or Killers with Paul Di’anno, but the song Maiden Hell basically tells the story of Iron Maiden through the lyrics – quite cleverly done if not a little clichéd. For the trained Maiden fan, there are little homages dotted throughout and this makes Darkness Remains much more fun as you play the game of: “oh yeah, that’s from that song etc”, for example, Welcome to the Night towards the end has the galloping high bass sound from Phantom of the Opera, whilst Dawn Rider settles into a riff that brings a smile to your face with a salute to Rime of the Ancient Mariner. If you’re starting to think that maybe Darkness Remains isn’t for you, then there are other nods to other bands, Life on the Run begins with a riff straight from Judas Priest and ends with a high-five to Ace of Spades, whilst Dawn Rider begins with all the tenacity of Overkill. On Your Own would make any Kiss fan smile with an intro drum beat as near as possible to Do You Love Me? whilst Black Widow has a chorus of backing vocals that wouldn’t be out of place on Mötley Crüe’s Too Fast For Love with Maiden Hell having an ascending guitar pattern soundbite in the solo that is reminiscent of Pictures of Home from Deep Purple’s seminal album; Machine Head. Darkness Remains is an excellent slice of NWOBHM and what you have to remember is that by no means is the album a rip off of Iron Maiden and other bands, it is a homage, a nod to a band who knows where they come from, taking everything in their stride and creating their own sound. Night Demon have created an album that is an absolute joy to listen to, not only are the tracks fun and full of the riffs and melodic breaks which make you crack out the air guitar, but each song is well crafted with the only average song being the instrumental; Flight of the Manticore. However, with an album that clocks in at under 40 minutes, Darkness Remains definitely leapfrogs the ‘difficult second album’, so what now? Well, more of the same lads. 8/10 Adam McCann Saint of the Average Souls There was a brief time when melodic hard rock ruled the airwaves, bands with big stage shows and even bigger hair, flashy guitar solos with lashings of keyboards born out of the love for bands like Kiss, Journey, Foreigner and Van Halen. The year is 1988 and House of Lords are on the up, but the focus of the media would soon shift away from melodic hard rock with the bands that were at the forefront of the movement forced below the radar. However, after a 15 year absence from mainstream view, House of Lords and indeed melodic hard rock began to resurface aided by growing record labels such as Frontiers Records.
Since that point, another decade has passed and melodic hard rock has solidified its foothold, alongside this, House of Lords have released their latest in a steady stream of albums; Saint of the Lost Souls. As you would expect, Saint of the Lost Souls is full of the honey glazed melodies that you would expect from House of Lords and James Christian’s voice sounds as good now as it did in 1988, even if he has started to resemble a Joe Lynn Turner waxwork model. Saint of the Lost Souls does however contain a decent amount of the melodic hard rock fodder that you would expect from House of Lords with many of the songs falling into catchy songs with big chorus’, but ultimately unmemorable. The album begins with the lead-off single Harlequin, which is a bit of an odd choice, the track itself is rather flat and one dimensional and a perfect example of the melodic hard rock fodder mentioned above. However, there is an endearment to Harlequin, you want to like it, maybe not at first, but once the Magnumisms take over, the record becomes quite enjoyable, in that throwaway melodic hard rock kind of way. The main issue with House of Lords has always been in the song writing and once more this rears its head. Even if some of the tracks are growers, most of the songs are catchy foot tapping songs that pull you in, but not everything can be perfect as these are saddled with melodic hard rock by numbers lyrics and can be seen during New Day Breakin’ or The Other Option and of course, what melodic hard rock album wouldn’t be complete without a sickly sweet ballad? The Sun Will Never Set Again isn’t actually a bad ballad, so get your lighters at the ready with your best Desmond Child style whoa whoa whoa singing voice and ignore the fact that when The Sun Will Never Set Again gets going, the acoustic guitar sounds exactly like Alone by Heart. But, if you are looking for a song that harks back to the glory days of House of Lords, then you will find it in the title track, a sweet slice of nostalgia that lets you remember that somewhere it is always 1988. There are a lot of songs on Saint of the Lost Souls that have an overtone of ‘something else’, both Hit the Wall and possibly the best song on the record; Grains of Sand have an element of Def Leppard and they wouldn’t be out of place on 2008’s Songs from the Sparkle Lounge. Whereas Reign of Fire oddly has an ending that is as near as you can get without actually being Basket Case from Green Day, with The Art of Letting Go having all the writing hallmarks of a Bon Jovi song. The truth of the matter is that Saint of the Lost Souls is another House of Lords album, it will not set the world on fire and the bands glory days are well behind them. However, there are those out there that are huge fans of melodic hard rock that will adore this album and at the end of the day, House of Lords know their market, their loyal fan base will rabidly eat up Saint of the Lost Souls and they will enjoy it. 6/10 Adam McCann Ad Victoriam Heavy metal and history have always walked hand in hand together, whether addressing war, serial killers, ancient rituals or texts, there is no denying that heavy metal fits this like a hand in a glove. As a genre itself, there are those that choose to focus on historical themes more than others, accolades for this go to Sabaton and Civil War for their themes on war, Nile for incorporating ancient Egyptian themes and instrumentation into their death metal and Amon Amarth for well, Vikings. However, Canada’s Ex Deo have chosen their era of speciality as the Roman Empire.
Ex Deo began life as a side project for Maurizio Iacono of Kataklysm and after a short break, Ex Deo are back with their third album; The Immortal Wars. This album chooses to focus on The Second Punic War fought between the Roman and the Carthaginian Empires, two growing empires that would inevitably clash over who controlled the Mediterranean. The Immortal Wars is interesting because it is split into two distinct sections split with an intermission; part one tells the story of Hannibal whilst part two tells the story of Rome. This layout makes the album both easy and interesting to listen to and follow. Let a thousand horns and war drums signal the start to The Immortal Wars as Ex Deo waste no time in getting to the point with The Rise of Hannibal. The Rise of Hannibal is exactly what it needs to be, it’s angry, frothing with venomous bile for the Roman nation, with the Carthaginian’s still licking their wounds from the First Punic War. General Hannibal swears by the blood of his father that he will never be a friend of Rome; this is just one of the many soundbite interjections that help push the story along and give the feeling that you’re stood with Hannibal on the battlefield or stood amongst squabbling Senators on the floor of the Roman Senate. The Rise of Hannibal seriously sets the tone for the remainder of The Immortal Wars. The Carthaginian side of the album is hell bent on destruction and this suits the vocals of Iacono perfectly who coherently growls his way through in a way that those who are not a fan of this type of death metal would be able to follow and actually enjoy. Hispania (Siege of Saguntum) and Crossing of the Alps take you on a better journey than any history book could and this is down to the song writing, Iacono and the rest of the legion have excelled themselves once more, a certain feat indeed since 2012’s Caligvla was a pinnacle for Ex Deo. Following an intermission, this is where The Immortal Wars steps up its game, Cato Major: Cathago Delenda Est! focuses on the Roman fightback against the Carthaginian army and is written in such a way that if you felt sympathy in the first half of the album for Hannibal and his plight, the second half will have you rooting for a Roman victory – once more a testament to Iacono’s song writing. The second half is bursting with fantastic orchestrations, a horn and woodwind section behind the hammering of death metal, songs such as Ad Victoriam (The Battle of Zama) and The Roman are seriously enhanced by the atmospheric orchestrations that actually make The Immortal Wars so endearing. The Immortal Wars is the highlight of Ex Deo’s career so far and the album gets better with every play. If you’re a fan of history and metal, then go and buy it, it’s fun and brilliantly put together. The only downside is as good as Kataklysm are, they will always take priority over Ex Deo and that is actually a shame. Buy it, play it loud and exclaim: “I AM ROMAN!” 8/10 Adam McCann Conform or Die! It has been in and around 30 years since the brutality of thrash metal owned the world and although many of the bands changed their sound when the decade tipped over to the 90’s, it is undeniable the sheer amount of bastard children that thrash metal left in its wake. These kids didn’t care about nu-metal or metalcore, they turned up it loud, took Whiplash by Metallica as their national anthem and adopted the motto of thrash ‘til death!
The thrash scene began to rumble again with the likes of Warbringer and Havok with both bands releasing their debuts in 2008 and 09 respectively. Whereas the former spend their time priming their weapons for a full frontal assault in the style of Slayer; Havok choose to incorporate the fast and intricate riffs that are associated more with Megadeth in the late 80’s and early 90’s. After releasing 3 albums on Candlelight Records, Havok signed with Century Media Records and after a 4 year break, Havok are back with their latest album; Conformicide. Beginning with a clean picking reminiscent of Megadeth in their prime, Conformicide kicks off with an anthem of rebellion with F.P.C. – an acronym for Fuck Political Correctness and from this moment on, this sets the precedent for the album. Following this lovely clean intro, F.P.C. descends into the groove type riffing more synonymous with Testament before wait for it, a funky bass line kicks in as the guitars drop out giving the song more of a Suicidal Tendencies feel, especially when coupled with the anti-establishment lyrics that will not only rule over F.P.C. but also lurk around Conformicide in general. Havok vocalist Dave Sanchez has possibly the ultimate thrash voice, his vocal delivery falls somewhere between Dave Mustaine style gritted teeth evident in the break down in Hang ‘Em High and Dogmanical at a lower decibel, to a Steve Souza style screech that wouldn’t be out of place with Exodus, all of which come together to make Havok so appealing. Sanchez also manages to pull a decent impression of Chuck Billy during the chorus of Circling the Drain which wouldn’t put the song out of place on The Legacy. The musicianship on Conformicide is fantastic; the guitars of Sanchez and Reece Scruggs tear, riff and shred their way along that would appeal to any Megadeth, Exodus and Testament fans with some excellent twin guitar work, stop/start riffs and chant style chorus’ during Intention to Deceive. Intention to Deceive even starts with that satirical style news bulletin that wouldn’t be out of place on a Megadeth record and the drumming alone would tweak the ear of any Pantera fan with blast beats on the bass drum reminding us of Vinnie Paul in his prime; Ingsoc even goes as far to have a Walk style build up before coupling itself to a shredding riff straight out of the book of Dimebag himself. However, the twin guitar harmony that runs behind the final chorus is absolutely brilliant, it makes Ingsoc, with its 1984 Orwellian chorus, one of the standout tracks on Conformicide and just goes to show the musicianship that Havok are actually capable of. There is a slight downside to Conformicide though and that there are points of the album that feel as if the song is a tad too long. Conformicide clocks in at just under an hour and as good as the songs are, they could do with being shaved down a tad, but other than that Conformicide will be a great addition to any thrash metal fans collection. Conformicide is a balls to the wall, good old fashioned thrash album. It is thoroughly enjoyable throughout and becomes more addictive with each play, it continues a strong run of albums by the Colorado thrash band and alongside Warbringer with the future of thrash is looking bright and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. 8/10 Adam McCann |
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December 2016
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