Only a year had passed between the releases of Onmyo-za’s debut album ‘Kikoku Tensho’ and sophomore record ‘Hyakki-Ryoran’, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from the massive improvement the latter is over the former. Where the debut had promising, but largely underdeveloped material, ‘Hyakki-Ryoran’ features some of the best music the band has released to date. While it is significantly more polished than its predecessor, it is also one of the most traditionally metallic albums Onmyo-za put out, if the cover did not give that away already. Likely the best Onmyo-za album for conservative metalheads to start with.
Unlike the album cover, however, ‘Hyakki-Ryoran’ isn’t just hellish aggression. In true Onmyo-za fashion, it is in perfect balance with melody, atmosphere and inventive songwriting. Those who have known Onmyo-za from after they broke through with ‘Koga Ninpocho’ might be surprised how the band sounds here. It’s still obviously the same band, with their core sound of traditional heavy metal riffs, subtle Japanese folk touches and the excellent vocal duo of Kuroneko and band leader Matatabi in perfect form. The songs are just slightly longer and notably more complex, while there is somewhat more room for influences from thrash and doom metal.
‘Hyakki-Ryoran’ starts out with my favorite Onmyo-za song. ‘Shiki Wo Karumono’ is largely a fairly conventional speed metal song with incredible guitar riffs, though the ominous semi-spoken – though somehow harmonic – intro and the horror-like mood it sets grant the track a unique atmosphere. Fans of speedy, traditional-sounding heavy metal with subtle progressive touches are relatively well off with ‘Hyakki-Ryoran’ anyway, with ‘Gekai Ninpocho’ and ‘Tenkyoin Kuruito Kuruwa’ being on the album as well. ‘Teito Makaitan’ was the band’s most aggressive track up until this album, even featuring growled vocals in the verses, but also a supremely melodic and catchy chorus.
When Onmyo-za slows down on this album, however, the full extent of their class is shown. ‘Ayako’, for example, is a masterpiece. While the track is devoid of tranquil sections and even features a twisted, unsettling middle section, the elegiac melodies that dominate the songs are enough for me to qualify it as the band’s first fanastic ballad. The actual ballad ‘Yagamu Tsuki’ is no slouch either, however, and features some of Kuroneko’s most powerful, emotional vocal work to date. On the other end of the slower spectrum, there is ‘Nurikabe’, the band’s first full-blown doom metal track, which would not have sounded out of place on a Ningen Isu record, had it not been for the mildly dissonant middle section and the superior vocal work.
Since ‘Shiki Wo Karumono’ – along with ‘Nemuri’ from the ‘Mugen Hoyo’ record – was the song that made me fall in love with Onmyo-za, ‘Hyakki-Ryoran’ was sort of an introductory Onmyo-za record to me. It may very well be the best album to serve as such for metalheads who are curious about the band, but not that familiar with all the tropes of the Japanese metal scene. ‘Hyakki-Ryoran’ could not have come from another country, but has enough metallic characteristics to sound not too alien for western metalheads. It is their first amazing album, from the tightened songwriting the the unbelievable improvement Tora’s drumming went through. A must-hear for anyone.
Burning Witches is a Swiss band that has been making a mix of traditional heavy metal and contemporary power metal for the last five years. I always found their music mildly entertaining, but something has changed with their new album ‘Dance With The Devil’. First off, there is a larger variation in tempos which greatly enhances the attention span of the album. Those who like myself have been bothered by the reliance on mid-tempo rhythms will certainly find that an improvement. Secondly, new singer Laura Guldemond – the second Dutch member after guitarist Sonia ‘Anubis’ Nusselder – adds an overwhelming degree of power to the band’s music.
While the overall sound of ‘Dance With The Devil’ is not all that different from their earlier work, Guldemond’s grit allows the band to take on a more aggressive and theatrical approach. At times, Burning Witches sounds like a more straightforward sister band to Hell, though the Accept and Judas Priest influences are still quite prominent. More attention has been given to the production as well, with exciting layered arrangements in the vocal and guitar department being the norm. Together with the pacing variation, this all accounts for a more consistently engaging listening experience.
The greater deal of aggression is naturally most prominent in the faster tracks. ‘Sea Of Lies’ and the excellent opening track ‘Lucid Nightmare’ are more or less equal parts modern power metal and the most melodic end of the thrash metal spectrum, with Lala Frischknecht laying down some of her most powerful double kick patterns thus far. The former also shows off Nusselder’s ability to construct a memorable solo section by effectively making her guitar parts sort of a mini-production within the composition. The delightfully energetic ‘Wings Of Steel’ is just begging to be sung along by thousands in front of the European festival stages.
However, ‘Dance With The Devil’ is not just convincing at its most uptempo or menacing. Because of the larger number of fast moments, the mid-tempo tracks are more distinctive and powerful as well. ‘Necronomicon’ and the remarkably aggressive closer ‘Threefold Return’, for instance, have a driving undercurrent of danger, which fits Guldemond’s voice to a T. ‘Dance With The Devil’ and ‘The Sisters Of Fate’ have a bit of a gritty hardrock vibe. A true highlight is ‘The Final Fight’, which is an elegantly arranged eighties-styled Euro power metal anthem with a melancholic twist and another excellent solo section.
A band like Burning Witches is always in danger of being accused of lacking originality. Thinking so would be approaching them the wrong way, however. It is clear that the quintet wants to pay homage to their heroes from the eighties, but they do so without sounding tired or overly reliant on clichés. It does help that most of Romana Kalkuhl’s riffs have a somewhat modern bite to them, while the production is surprisingly natural and old school for power metal these days. Anyone who likes uncomplicated heavy metal with a mind-blowing vocal performance and a great number of fiery solos should give ‘Dance With The Devil’ a chance. It is easily Burning Witches’ best album yet.
Recommended tracks: ‘Lucid Nightmare’, ‘The Final Fight’, ‘Wings Of Steel’
Reliability defines Volcano. They have steadily released new music since their last line-up change in 2010 and all of those albums contain a consistently good mix of equal parts thrash metal and classic heavy metal, with some touches of melodic death metal thrown in for good measure. Between 2015 and 2018, the band released a new studio album every year in mid-July. And while all of those albums were good – ‘Melt’ (2015) and ‘Darker Than Black’ (2018) in particular – it is good that Volcano took some more time for ‘Godspeed’. It does dial back the intensity a little, but only in favor of more variation.
The songwriting credits may offer some insight on the varied nature of ‘Godspeed’. Former Gargoyle guitarist She-ja was always the main songwriter for Volcano, but ‘Godspeed’ is the first album that has input from each of the four band members. She-ja still composed half of the songs, so the album is still full of thrashy riffs, triumphant guitar harmonies and solos that are either bluesy or neoclassical. Overall though, ‘Godspeed’ sounds a little more traditional heavy metal than other recent works. ‘Ironbound’ era OverKill might be a good reference, not in the last place because Nov has a similar timbre to Bobby ‘Blitz’ Ellsworth.
Bassist Akira Tanaka has been contributing to the songwriting for a few albums now and he does seem to have a preference for the more melodic side of heavy metal. ‘I Decide Who I Am’, with its hyper-melodic, piano-enhanced verses, is a bit of a strange choice for the second song on the album, but the chorus does contain some of Nov’s greatest vocals on the record and She-ja’s guitar solo is nothing short of amazing. Closing track ‘Grief’ is a big, epic heavy metal track that kind of mirrors ‘Guardian Deity’, Akira’s closer for ‘Darker Than Black’, though not quite as thrashy.
Even more interestingly, ‘Godspeed’ is the first album that features songwriting contributions from drummer Shunsuke ‘Shun’ Ohyama. And if these songs are anything to go by, he is certainly welcome to contribute more. The hilariously titled ‘Lust In Peace’ has a blunt, hardcore-ish vibe in its riff work and a death metal-inspired chorus, but also some really classy lead guitar work. His other composition ‘Into The Flame’ kind of brings to mind ‘Melt’ highlight ‘Tokyo Panic’ in the way tight riffs and borderline chaotic verses alternate, but it is also a great deal more melodic. Definitely two of the album’s highlights.
Volcano is at its best when they thrash hard. Anyone who enjoys that side of the band has plenty of She-ja compositions to look forward to. ‘D.R.’, ‘Raise Your Fist’ and opening track ‘Salvage Sun’ are all scorching rippers full of fast thrash riffs and memorable melodies. ‘Get Wild’ is the trademark sleazy track, although it sounds less like rock ‘n’ roll and more like a mixture of Black Sabbath, latter day Loudness and Gargoyle this time around. His other two tracks are decidedly more melodic, with ‘Angel Son’ being an excellent mid-tempo heavy metal track and ‘Breaking, Saving, Killing,’ (yes, that comma is supposed to close the title) being a power ballad. The latter is not bad, but I wish they had replaced Nov’s “whoa-oh” chants with a guitar melody.
‘Godspeed’ is basically exactly what one would expect from Volcano at this point, for better or worse. Only those expecting the pronounced melodic death metal touches from ‘Mythology’ (2011) and ‘Melt’ may end up disappointed, as ‘Godspeed’ certainly is a more traditional affair. The extra half a year they took to make the album this time around has accounted for a more varied selection of songs, but the core sound of Volcano is still intact. Anyone who has as much of an obsession with thrash riffs and twin guitar harmonies will likely enjoy ‘Godspeed’.
Recommended tracks: ‘D.R.’, ‘Into The Flame’, ‘Salvage Sun’
When things went quiet for a decade and a half after the release of their second album ‘Touched By The Crimson King’, I just assumed Demons & Wizards was finished. That would have been understandable, given that Jon Schaffer and Hansi Kürsch are incredibly busy with Iced Earth and Blind Guardian respectively, but then they assembled a tour line-up and announced their third album, simply titled ‘III’. It’s also simply very good. Better than the latest releases by both men’s main bands, while it lacks the consistency issues that plagued its predecessor. Anyone who enjoyed the band before will also enjoy ‘III’.
Stylistically, there is nothing too different from the other two Demons & Wizards albums. It’s still epic heavy metal that combines the hyperspeed palm muting of Iced Earth with the theatricality one might sooner find on a Blind Guardian record. It does seem like Schaffer and Kürsch allowed the songs to unfold a little more slowly and naturally this time around. Not that the songs are much longer than before – despite the presence of three eight plus minute songs – but it feels like Schaffer is less scared of sticking to the same riff for longer than eight bars. Kürsch’s vocal arrangements add plenty of variation anyway.
One could accuse Schaffer and Kürsch of playing things safe here. ‘Diabolic’ does sound like a darker reprise of ‘Heaven Denies’ in structure, the title is even repeated in its chorus, and ‘New Dawn’ has a notable, but passing resemblance to ‘Tear Down The Walls’. Overall, ‘III’ plays around with limited parameters, but manages to squeeze out as much as possible out of them. The album has an overall dark vibe, at least in part due to the relatively subdued tempo of the material – most of the songs are actually mid-paced. Not unlike Iced Earth’s 1995 release ‘Burnt Offerings’, but with much more consistent results.
Remarkably enough, ‘III’ can remain within the mid-tempo realm without boring the listener to death. Schaffer and Kürsch really wanted to give every song its own identity, mostly by creating different atmospheres for the songs. ‘Universal Truth’, for instance, has the feel of a dark ballad, but is too heavy to be classified as such. ‘Timeless Spirit’ and the somewhat overlong ‘Children Of Cain’ would qualify, though both build up to something bigger. The former actually feels like a southern rock epic with crunchier rhythm guitars. ‘Split’ and ‘Wolves In Winter’, on the other hand, represent the more aggressive side of the spectrum. Bombast is not as prominent as on the debut, but ‘Dark Side Of Her Majesty’ and ‘New Dawn’ would certainly appeal to those who loved the debut.
Though ‘III’ is not perfect, it is much better than anyone could have expected for a project that has been dormant for fifteen years. Sure, one could wonder why ‘Final Warning’ – highly enjoyable, but a blatant ‘Dark City’ rewrite – and the particularly Blind Guardian-esque ‘Invincible’ were not saved for Schaffer’s and Kürsch’s main bands respectively, but ‘III’ is strangely one of the least pretentious albums either musician has been involved with in recent years. For dark heavy metal that doesn’t drift too far into evil territory, remaining more traditional instead, ‘III’ should be a no-brainer.
Recommended tracks: ‘Dark Side Of Her Majesty’, ‘Diabolic’, ‘Universal Truth’
After nearly a decade and a half, Demons & Wizards broke the silence with an international tour in 2019. Later this week, the project of Iced Earth guitarist Jon Schaffer and Blind Guardian singer Hansi Kürsch will release their third album, simply titled ‘III’. The album is full of the intense, yet theatrical heavy metal the fans have come to expect from Demons & Wizards. Their record label Century Media provided me with an opportunity to speak with Schaffer about the album.
Have you stockpiled any compositions in the years between ‘Touched By The Crimson King’ (2005) and ‘III’? “Three of the songs have been written during the writing sessions for Iced Earth’s ‘Incorruptible’. Those were ‘New Dawn’, ‘Invincible’… And actually, ‘Universal Truth’ was a Sons Of Liberty song which I had already demoed with vocals. Those tracks have all been written around the same time. Once I knew I wasn’t going to use those for Iced Earth, I sent them to Hansi and he came up with some vocal ideas. I was about to go on tour with Iced Earth, but I was definitely interested in getting back to it once I got back.
This was in the summer of 2018, after which I went on a month-long hike through the desert of Arizona. A week after I got back, I flew to Germany, where Hansi and I had a few meetings to plan everything we’re doing now. When I got back, around November 2018, I started writing the rest of the album. The instrumental part of the album was done in my studio in March of 2019. The vocals were done in a studio in Germany.” How important is it for you to make a Demons & Wizards song sound different from Iced Earth? “There is no attempt to make it different, the same or anything in relation to Iced Earth. That’s just not the way I think. It’s just about being in the moment with the music and how it speaks to me. The only thing, from a productional standpoint, that I paid any attention to is how the kick and snare sounds related to the guitar tones. There are four different tunings on the record – standard tuning, my typical Eb tuning, C# and baritone tuning – so there are small, subtle differences when you compare the kick and snare sounds. And that was deliberate, but in terms of ‘I want the production to go this way or that way’… No. I just wanted it to feel good based on what we were doing.
I feel the dynamic range of this album is a little bigger. Every song sounds very different and that gave us the opportunity to not have the same kick and snare sounds on every track. It lends itself well to these types of variables without it ever sounding like anything else but the same album.”
Vocal melody
“Hansi has different sources of inspiration for lyrics than I have. And that’s the cool thing. If I have a piece of music and I don’t really know what to do with it vocally, I can send it to Hansi to see what he wil do with it. If I’m driven to write lyrics and vocal melodies, if I have a clear vision of what the song is about, I will almost always save it for Iced Earth. Having said that, there are three songs on this album that I wrote the lyrics for. When I have a specific task, like when I go into the studio to write an Iced Earth album, I’ll write an Iced Earth album. But my songs have to move me. And I want them to move other people. Even before the lyrics and vocal melodies are added. The music has to make you feel something when you hear it.
‘New Dawn’, for example, was a song for which I could not hear a vocal melody. After I built the Independence Hall studio and hooked up everything, that was the second song I wrote there. And I liked it, but I just couldn’t hear a vocal melody. I liked the piece of music, but I just couldn’t hear it. I played it to Stu (Block, Iced Earth’s singer). He wrestled with it for about a day and he didn’t know either. I said: you know what, let’s not force it, I’ll send it to Hansi and I guarantee you he hears something cool in it.
And he did. He came up with something. But it’s a different kind of arrangement. If you mute the vocals and just listen to it instrumentally, it’s pretty difficult to pick out the chorus. It just doesn’t have that kind of structure. And that’s fine. But as I expected, Hansi came up with a bunch of cool parts and I think the song is really cool.
In terms of production, that’s one of my favorite sounding songs on the record, by the way. And it’s also the first song I ever wrote in C# tuning. It more or less came out of left field. I’m really happy with the way it turned out. It’s just a rare example of a piece of music that I could not hear any vocals to. Generally, I do. That’s the reason why I write so many Iced Earth lyrics and vocal melodies: because I hear them. If it’s something I don’t hear, but do like the music, that’s typically the material I co-write with someone else.“
Nature of the beast
Does Hansi write anything else than the vocal melodies? “Not really. I write all of that and send it to him. If doesn’t like something, he’ll tell me. But that never happened. He always gets a lot of inspiration from the stuff I send him. The only thing that tends to change is when he interprets a certain section as a chorus and we arrange it differently accordingly. The arrangement can always change based on what he interprets as verses, choruses and bridges. Those are the only changes that ever occur.
Usually, he sends me stuff of which the lyrics aren’t finished. Usually it’s nonsense, but it’s a way of capturing the melody and the cadence. And then we look what will be the big hook. And then it’s: alright, this is the chorus and this is what we build the song around. But generally, the arrangement is pretty close to the finished thing as is. The music almost always tells you what will be the chorus. Usually I instinctively know what it is, but always with the openness of changing the arrangement based on what I hear from Hansi.” Has that ever bled into what Iced Earth does? I always found it interesting that Iced Earth started experimenting with bombast and layering around the time the Demons & Wizards debut was released… “I think that was all part of the growth process. There were a lot of layers on ‘Burnt Offerings’ already. You have to realize that that was our first album with 48 tracks. If you’re given the technology, the temptation for musicians to use more tracks becomes pretty big. Of course you’re going to try and cram more ideas into it. That’s the nature of the beast.
The first two Iced Earth albums were 24-track albums. ‘Burnt Offerings’ was our first 48-track album. ‘Dark Saga’ and ‘Something Wicked’ were both 48-track albums. Then came the first Demons & Wizards album, which was part-analog and part-digital. The drums and rhythm guitars were analog, the rest was recorded digitally. ‘Horror Show’ was part-analog, part-digital as well. The next Iced Earth album was ‘The Glorious Burden’ and that one was fully digital. And that’s when the number of tracks became not an issue anymore. Then it got to: now I have the ability to do 160 tracks, woo!
You know… It can be a trap if you’re not careful, because you can get caught up in it and then you lose sight of the original concept of the song. I know I did. And I think a lot of guys get sucked into that. The fact that the possibilities are there doesn’t mean that you have to use all of it, you know?
I think it’s a natural progression that if you have the technology at your fingertips, the temptation is almost overwhelming. But for me… I’ve reached that point by getting some of those things out of my system with ‘Crucible Of Man’, ‘Framing Armageddon’ and ‘The Glorious Burden’. Those albums have so many parts… On ‘The Glorious Burden’, we had a full orchestra on ‘Gettysburg’ and all that, which was cool, but I got it out of my system. And then with ‘Dystopia’, I decided to go back and make a more straight-up, raw metal album. And then we went a notch back even further with ‘Plagues Of Babylon’, when we got even more raw and back to the roots. And I think with ‘Incorruptible’, I found a balance between the two.
I don’t know what will be next, as I haven’t started working on it yet. But after this Demons album comes out and I take a bit of a break, then I will get back to Iced Earth zone and I will do whatever feels natural at that time.“
Challenge
Speaking of layering: there’s always a lot of it going on in Demons & Wizards’ music. How difficult was it to interpret that music for last year’s tour?
“It was a small challenge. At some point, you have to focus on which is the most important part in a certain part. If there’s four different guitar parts and harmonies and what not, you just have to choose which of the parts are the most recognizable for someone who has not heard the songs before. That’s what we did when Jake (Dreyer, Iced Earth’s lead guitarist who also toured with Demons & Wizards as their live guitarist) came over to figure out the live parts. I transferred the old two inch tapes and I found the old hard drives of ‘Touched By The Crimson King’ to analyze every track. I was listening and though: man, I can’t even remember playing this at the time.
You just have to pick which part is the most obvious based on the way it was mixed at the time and which part jumps out. And from there, we move on. That’s how it goes with the vocals as well. Hansi always layers so many vocal parts and different harmonies. That is one of the reasons why we got the backing singers for the likes of Wacken, so we could make it as big as possible and still keep it somewhat realistic in terms of expenses. It was a small challenge, but not as difficult as I thought it would be. Some things of this new album will be a bigger challenge.” Does that mean you are planning new live dates with Demons & Wizards? “There aren’t any plans, no. The plan for 2020 is studio time for Iced Earth and the same for Blind Guardian. Iced Earth and Blind Guardian are both successful, busy bands. The biggest challenge for Hansi and me is to work around those schedules. But even if we did, there’s all these guitar tunings. Eb is the typical Iced Earth tuning and even for Demons & Wizards, but there are exceptions. That could be a challenge if we ever play these songs live with Demons & Wizards. There are four different tunings on this album and a bunch of songs from the past that are in D. If we ever have any fly dates, we’ll lose quite a bit of money on travelling with all these differently-tuned guitars, haha!”
Hotel California
Traditionally, Jim Morris plays all the guitar solos on a Demons & Wizards album. Why did you approach Jake Dreyer to do a couple as well this time? “I would have been fine with Jim playing all the guitar solos like on the earlier Demons & Wizards albums, but there were a couple of songs that demanded something else. Jim is 61 and he grew up with Jeff Beck, Clapton and David Gilmour. And that’s great, but a song like ‘Split’ asked for Jake’s style, as it’s an aggressive heavy metal track. On ‘Wolves In Winter’, Jim tried a part and that was pretty cool, but when Jake played the same part, it just worked better.
When I asked Jake to play the Demons & Wizards material live with us, I thought it was cool to let him play some solos on the new album. He would come over to figure out the parts for the live show anyway. And on ‘Timeless Spirit’, I wanted a ‘Hotel California’-like vibe at the end from the moment we started working on it. So one late night, I recorded Jake’s solo which begins right after the heavy part at the end starts. It was just a brilliant take, so we kept it. One or two days later, I sat down with Jim and Jake to guide them through the piece.
Jake has a really cool vibrato and a good sense of melody. He can play all the shred stuff, but also what I call the ‘grown man shit’. And that’s what cool about the dueling guitars near the end of that song. You’ve got the old school dude and the younger guy who has an old soul approach. I think it’s a really nice trade-off. And then you get to the ‘Hotel California’ part where they play in harmony. That was one of the highlights of the recording sessions for me.“
‘Skunkworks’ may just be Bruce Dickinson’s most controversial solo album, as it is quite likely the least metallic album the legendary Iron Maiden frontman ever released. But while the alternative rock on the album is quite a bit different from what Dickinson was known for, it is a much more natural follow-up its predecessor ‘Balls To Picasso’ than it often gets credited for. Sure, there is less distortion and the compositions are a lot less dense, but ultimately, ‘Skunkworks’ is full of fresh, classy songwriting executed with a degree of spontaneity and freedom that is quite hard to find on metal records.
Often defined as Dickinson’s grunge record, ‘Skunkworks’ suffers from unfair labeling due to the time it was released. Sure, Jack Endino produced the album and there are some audible Soundgarden-isms here and there, but ultimately, ‘Skunkworks’ sounds much closer to ‘Counterparts’ era Rush to me than it does to Pearl Jam or Nirvana. Obviously, the album was doomed to be a commercial failure, as metal elitists would see the album as a betrayal, while Dickinson is too closely tied to the type of music that the grunge audience – not the Seattle bands, mind you – were rebelling against.
Castle Records might be partially to blame there, as they refused to release the album under the intended band name Skunkworks. That would have been more than just a moniker; by wanting to release the album under a band name, Dickinson basically told the world that the music on this album was not his, but a band product. Guitarist Alex Dickson co-wrote each of the thirteen tracks and the musical interaction between him, bassist Chris Dale and drummer Alessandro Elena is noticeable. Despite having some tight hooks and structures, it would not surprise me if the arrangements were a result of lengthy jamming.
Despite various approaches, ‘Skunkworks’ is very stylistically consistent. Most of the songs are built upon swift, simple rhythms upon which Dickson lays down clean riffs with a small, but noticeable raw edge. There are exceptions, slower tracks like the mysterious ‘I Will Not Accept The Truth’, the intense and brooding ‘Dreamstate’ and the almost doomy closer ‘Strange Death In Paradise’. But generally, if you like the uptempo, surprisingly upbeat rockers ‘Innerspace’, ‘Back From The Edge’ and the particularly enjoyable ‘Solar Confinement’, you will enjoy the rest of the album. Dickinson soaring on top of it may sound unconventional, but that is exactly what makes ‘Skunkworks’ a fresh take on alternative rock.
Ultimately, the lack of commercial success for ‘Skunkworks’ is somehow easy to explain, but much harder to understand. Once you turn off the part of your brain that keeps reminding you that you’re listening to the guy that used to be in Iron Maiden, what you are left with is simply a strong rock album that deserves to be seen in a more positive light. It is remarkable how well Dickinson’s massive voice fits the material and the musicians obviously work well with each other. Of course, it is not as overwhelming as ‘The Chemical Wedding’, but it may be Dickinson’s most interesting solo release from an objective musical perspective.
Recommended tracks: ‘Solar Confinement’, ‘Inertia’, ‘Dreamstate’, ‘Innerspace’, ‘Strange Death in Paradise’
‘Hittin’ The Note’ was the first and only studio album The Allman Brothers Band recorded without either of their legendary founding guitarists. Duane Allman died way back in late 1971 and Dickey Betts was asked to leave the band in 2000. For a guitar-oriented band like The Allman Brothers Band, this could be disastrous. With replacements like Derek Trucks and Gov’t Mule frontman Warren Haynes, however, there was nothing to worry about. Especially with Haynes, who also acts as co-producer, tightening up the songwriting significantly. As a result, ‘Hittin’ The Note’ rivals ‘Shades Of Two Worlds’ as the band’s best post-reunion release.
Musically, ‘Hittin’ The Note’ sounds notably more focused than its meandering predecessor – by no less than nine years – ‘Where It All Begins’. Since this is The Allman Brothers Band, the music is still rather jam-heavy, but the songs feel less like mere vehicles for extended jams. Betts’ departure also means that the music is notably less country-oriented. Of course this was not Betts’ only trick, but as main songwriters, Haynes and singing keyboard player Gregg Allman are obviously more strongly inspired by blues and soul. Even the acoustically-based ‘Old Before My Time’ and ‘Old Friend’ sound folky and bluesy respectively.
At times, it can become fairly obvious that the main songwriter on the album – Haynes co-wrote all the non-covers on ‘Hittin’ The Note’ – is a member of Gov’t Mule. The dry, funky blues of opening track ‘Firing Line’, the fierce and tight ‘Maydell’, the gritty blues rock of ‘Rockin’ Horse’ and the relatively low-key, rumbling soul blues of ‘Who To Believe’ could easily have been Gov’t Mule songs had they had slightly different arrangements. Those arrangements are relevant though. At least half of the Allman Brothers’ sound is about their unique rhythm section (drummers Jaimoe and Butch Trucks and percussionist Marc Quiñones) and how well the musicians play off each other.
Nowhere is this musical interaction as obvious as on the twelve minute ‘Instrumental Illness’. The Allman Brothers Band has a history of fantastic instrumental tracks and this one is no different. Its playful, jazzy vibe conjures up memories of Betts’ masterpiece ‘In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed’, but ‘Instrumental Illness’ is more tightly composed and arranged. There are more parts, which appear to be designed to let every musician shine without diverting your attention away from the stellar playing behind the solos. ‘Desdemona’ has a middle section like that as well. It starts as a fantastic slow blues with a heartfelt vocal delivery by Allman, broken up by what almost feels like a slower take on the jam in ‘Whipping Post’.
In short, ‘Hittin’ The Note’ is exactly what one would expect from The Allman Brothers Band, just done somewhat better than usual. It is definitely one of my favorite three studio albums of the band and I think that is mainly due to the fact that the focus is on strong songwriting in which to incorporate spirited jamming rather than making the jams the center of the album. Whatever the case, anyone who is into bluesy rock music should hear this album, if only to hear that even without Duane Allman and Dickey Betts, the band was capable of some mind-blowing work.
While Lovebites’ sophomore album ‘Clockwork Immortality’ was good, it was also a little too close to melodic hardrock to not be worried about the band’s future at times. Fortunately, ‘Electric Pentagram’ is a lot more metallic. In fact, the song titles may even suggest that the band is overcompensating for the AOR-isms of ‘Clockwork Immortality’. There may be some truth to that statement, but that should not matter too much with a set of songs this strong. ‘Electric Pentagram’ is crammed full of intense riffing and soaring lead guitar work and has a degree of consistency that ‘Clockwork Immortality’ lacked.
It may not seem fair to compare this album to its predecessor as much as the opening paragraph of this review does, but in many ways, ‘Electric Pentagram’ feels like a reaction to ‘Clockwork Immortality’. There are no ballads to be found on the album, not even of the power-ballad-turns-epic-power-metal variety like ‘Edge Of The World’ from the debut, and the volume dial is basically up to eleven all the way through. That latter productional trait is one of the very few notable flaws of ‘Electric Pentagram’. Seventy minutes of this mastering job can be exhausting to the ears, especially on headphones.
Furthermore, the way Lovebites storms out of the gate with the fierce, thrashy ‘Thunder Vengeance’ is devoid of any subtlety. The main riff is quite cleverly written, with the timing of the accents shifting a few times between the palm-muted semi-gallops at warp speed. ‘Set The World On Fire’ is another ripping thrasher, this one with a triumphant power metal chorus. Melodic, yet intense power metal is Lovebites’ forte, of course, and ‘Electric Pentagram’ is not lacking any of these songs. The epic ‘When Destinies Align’ is particularly powerful, ‘Golden Destination’ gallops along convincingly and ‘Signs Of Deliverance’ is full of awesome Helloween-isms, while ‘Today Is The Day’ is punchy and reminiscent of ‘Don’t Bite The Dust’ in the construction of its vocal melody.
Although there are no ballads, there are some surprising moments that do not necessarily fit any of the previous descriptions. ‘A Frozen Serenade’ in particular is a refreshing take on the Lovebites formula. The guitar riffs are as propulsive as on the other tracks, but the overall more restrained rhythms and gorgeous melancholic melodies give the song a completely different feel. Miyako’s acoustic solo is a pleasant surprise and the song is tailor-made for Asami’s stellar soul and R&B-inspired vocals. The shuffle feel of ‘The Unbroken’ is rather atypical as well and the hardrock-ish heavy metal riffs of ‘Dancing With The Devil’ bring late eighties Dio to mind.
Lovebites may never be able to top their incredible debut ‘Awakening From Abyss’. ‘Electric Pentagram’ is just short of that album’s brilliance as well, but it certainly is closer to it both stylistically and in terms of quality than the intervening album. While the keyboards are still slightly too prominent at times, guitarists Miyako and Midori dominate the album and most of the songs are winners. Even the less remarkable ones are not particularly skipworthy this time around. Lovebites is still one of the most European sounding power metal bands Japan has to offer these days and ‘Electric Pentagram’ once again blows several similar sounding European bands out of the water.
Recommended tracks: ‘Thunder Vengeance’, ‘A Frozen Serenade’, ‘Set The World On Fire’, ‘When Destinies Align’
Late seventies Rush has always had a great reputation among fans of progressive rock and metal. And not without reason. Rush managed to inject all the clever twists and melodic touches that the likes of Genesis and Jethro Tull had into their music without ever losing the heavy, Led Zeppelin-esque force that so many progressive bands sacrificed in the process of making their music less immediate. To me, ‘A Farewell To Kings’ is the Canadian trio’s crowning achievement, because it manages to strike a balance between all the elements that make them the band they are unlike any other of their albums.
After a bunch of great short, punchy songs, but underdeveloped and meandering epics on ‘Caress Of Steel’ and possibly the best side-long song of the seventies followed by a handful of largely unremarkable shorter tracks on ‘2112’, ‘A Farewell To Kings’ finally gets everything right. The long songs are a bit shorter this time around, though there are still two that pass the 10 minute mark, which causes the band to sound a tad more focused than before. Where in the past, the band’s amazing performances pushed some of the less remarkable passages over the edge, ‘A Farewell To Kings’ is tight and powerful all the way through.
On the shorter side of the spectrum, ‘Closer To The Heart’ is probably the first truly radio-friendly song the band ever recorded. It is done on their own terms, however. Built upon twelve string acoustic strumming by Alex Lifeson and containing several changes in dynamics, it is barely believable that the track is under three minutes long. So is ‘Madrigal’, which is more folky in approach and brings to mind ‘A Trick Of The Tail’ era Genesis. ‘Cinderella Man’ is a more typical Rush song somewhat in line with ‘Lakeside Park’ from ‘Caress Of Steel’.
The powerful opening track is the middle ground on ‘A Farewell To Kings’. It is not as concise as the aforementioned songs, but it also is not a big, sweeping epic. There are some powerful riffs in the track and some of Geddy Lee’s most impressive vocal work to date: it’s still high-pitched, but full of passion. One of my favorite Rush songs. The same can be said about the following ‘Xanadu’, which tells the tale of an immortal man descending into madness both musically and lyrically in a highly dynamic 11-minute track. The other long song, closer ‘Cygnus X-1’, is slightly more fragmented, but such a masterpiece of progrock musicianship and massive riffs, that it is easy to forgive the band.
In hindsight, ‘A Farewell To Kings’ can be seen as a transitional effort between Rush’s more proggy early days and their more accessible work that started with ‘Permanent Waves’. But of course, it is not that black and white, if only because ‘Hemispheres’ was released in the intervening years. I do have the feeling that it often gets overlooked due to being sandwiched between ‘2112’ and ‘Hemispheres’, both of which have huge, sprawling epics, but in fact, it is my favorite Rush album. Sadly, Neil Peart’s death three weeks ago means that they will never top it.
Recommended tracks: ‘A Farewell To Kings’, ‘Xanadu’, ‘Cygnus X-1’
While I welcome the increasing influence of early eighties post-punk in rock music, many bands attempting the style try to stick to the genre’s conventions slightly too closely to really make an impact. Grave Pleasures is an exception to the rule and have been so since their inception as Beastmilk. Of course, we are dealing with an experienced bunch of musicians here, but what really makes ‘Motherblood’ stand out is the quality of the songwriting. The atmosphere so vital to post-punk and gothic rock is here, but so are powerful arrangements and memorable melodies. ‘Motherblood’ is style and substance.
Having said that, ‘Motherblood’ is easily the best record these musicians have created together thus far. The guitar arrangements are more interesting than on predecessor ‘Dreamcrash’ and the overall sound is somewhat more urgent, largely due to the guitars of Juho Vanhanen and Aleksi Kiiskilä having a little more body. They are slightly heavier, adding a subtle doom metal-like atmosphere to the album. Valtteri Arino, in addition, is a surprisingly playful-sounding bassist, almost jazzy compared to the angular approach post-punk is known for. Mat McNerney, meanwhile, goes over the top in his passionate over-the-top vocal delivery, but never so far that it veers into self-parody.
Post-punk and gothic rock bands with more than one guitarist are often known for their interesting guitar arrangements and Grave Pleasures is no different. Even when Vanhanen and Kisskilä are playing in unison, they make sure that their guitar sounds differ enough to create a large, impenetrable wall of guitars. Arrangements are a forte for Grave Pleasures anyway. For example, the chorus of ‘Deadenders’ is made extra explosive by its sudden subdued introduction. Sometimes it’s a simple matter of removing or adding cymbals in Rainer Tuomikanto’s drum parts, sometimes it’s adding an extra guitar layer, but Grave Pleasures knows how to wring everything out of the songs on ‘Motherblood’.
Every song on ‘Motherblood’ is worth hearing, but there are of course a few stand-out tracks. ‘Joy Through Death’ is fairly well-known because of its video, but truth be told, it is also one of the better songs on here with its deceptively simple riff and memorable chorus. The powerful ‘Mind Intruder’ is probably the heaviest track on here and as such, probably the best track for fans of the members’ metal bands to start with. ‘Doomsday Rainbows’ leans on a bunch of quality riffs that leave lots of space for McNerney to excel, while ‘Be My Hiroshima’ is so catchy that it refuses to leave your mind.
Grave Pleasures isn’t really a typical band for any genre. Some band members bring metal influences to the band, but they aren’t really metallic at all. There’s an undeniable gothic rock atmosphere here, but overall, the music is simply too blunt and forward to fit that moniker. And while I feel comfortable whatsoever calling their music post-punk, it is quite a bit heavier and looser than most people would expect from bands in that genre. They almost sound like a seventies rock band playing goth or vice versa. But whatever it is, it works. Very well even.
Recommended tracks: ‘Mind Intruder’, ‘Joy Through Death’, ‘Deadenders’
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Kevy Metal 