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Precious Metal – Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces (Da Capa Press)

David E. Gehlke
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Precious Metal – Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces (Da Capa Press)

As print dies a slow and painful death, those who grew up devouring Metal Maniacs, Terrorizer, and Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles (read: anyone over the age of 25) are left with few little options. Luckily, in the span of five years, Decibel magazine has emerged as the pre-eminent extreme metal rag. And while we won’t go into reasons why Decibel is a worthy read (we don’t plug other publications for selfish reasons), it’s proven to be the only existing metal magazine on North American shores worth giving a flying-you-know-what about.

Central to Decibel’s worthiness is their “Hall of Fame” feature, which takes one classic metal album, interviews all of its living key players, and breaks it down. It’s vastly entertaining, especially those of the anal-retentive nature (i.e. yours truly) who want to know every tiny factoid about a classic album. WithPrecious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces, editor Albert Mudrian culls 25 of the best Hall of Fame into one excellent, I-can’t-put-this-down read.

The obvious suspects are included: Slayer’s Reign In Blood, At the Gates’Slaughter of the Soul, Entombed’s Left Hand Path, so on and so forth. However, the real charm of this book are the selections on Monster Magnet’s Dopes to Infinity, which turns into a shit-talking fest between the band, or the story behind Bob Rusay’s unceremonious dismissal from Cannibal Corpse during the recording of Tomb of Mutilated, or Kyuss drummer Brant Bjork freely admitting he was going through the motions during the band’s hallmark Sky Valley album.

Swathed in honesty, this stuff gets the nitty gritty of the albums in question. Even relatively recent releases such as Converge’s Jane Doe and Dillinger Escape Plan’s Calculating Infinity are included are give further weight to both album’s already immense girth.

The Hall of Fame idea one of those strokes that most metal journalists wished they would have came up with, so hats off to Decibel and its staff for bringing it to life. Totally recommended for anyone who craves knowledge on metal that goes behind and beyond the music. Gnarly.

www.decibelmagazine.com

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

The Legion – A Bliss To Suffer (Listenable Records)

David E. Gehlke
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The Legion – A Bliss To Suffer (Listenable Records)

A Bliss to Suffer is neither here nor there; a by-product of the generic nature of blackened death metal. It’s the brand of samey, hook-less extreme metal that has killed for lesser bands than The Legion, although one has to ponder if they’ll end up in that scrap heap in no time.

A lot of parallels to similar bands can be drawn throughout A Bliss to Suffer, whether it’s the Dark Funeral-inspired hyper-intensity of opener “Shining Redemption,” the orchestral movements of “Call of the Nameless Black” which are derived from Behemoth and Dimmu Borgir, and stripped-down, viral attack of “Blood, Be Gone!” and “Man Beast,” that harken to Marduk’s early 00’s output.

Since The Legion is without evil, harmonized hooks or subtle melodic flourishes, there’s nothing really to grasp here. It comes and goes, nothing registered, nothing remembered. “Blood, Be Gone!” is a killer songtitle, though.

www.myspace.com/legionsweden

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

Divine Heresy – Bringer of Plagues (Century Media Records)

David E. Gehlke
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Divine Heresy – Bringer of Plagues (Century Media Records)

Talk about picking the best time to release an album. Bringer of Plagues is going to be released right in the thick over a legal battle of the Fear Factory name, which, depending on one’s perspective, is a genius PR move or yet another maneuver in which to confuse the underground. We’ll stay neutral and focus on the merits of Bringer of Plagues which will probably not overtake 2007’s Bleed the Fifth, but might serve as one of the year’s most crushing releases.

Therein lies the problem: Bringer of Plagues is so over-the-top and sonically throttling, it’s overload. Drummer Tim Yeung is WAY to high in the mix; his double-kicks and blasts fight a constant battle with Dino Cazares’ guitars and it’s more of hindrance than asset. Of course, the duo hooks up for some rather uber-extreme moments during “Facebreaker,” “Enemy Kill” and “Darkness Embedded,” but subject yourself to repeated listens, you’re going to fill a bit bombarded.

New vocalist Travis Neal is an acquired taste, who on more than one occasion resembles the work of Threat Signal/Arkaea vocalist Jon Howard. Neal has more of a modern metal attack and that ends up hurting songs like “Immortal Pain” and “Redefine.”

There are several winners here, namely the title track which just destroys, “Anarachaos,” a throwback to Fear Factory’s Soul of a New Machine days and “Letter to Mother,” which displays a nice round of guitar melodies from Cazares.

You’re not going to get much more extreme with the syncopated/staccato template than Bringer of Plagues. Cazares and Yeung have pushed this sound to the brink and how they plan on getting more extreme, is beyond anyone. It will beat you into the ground, but Bringer of Plagues is not so much of an improvement than a lateral step from Bleed to Fifth, so yeah, when that’s new Fear Factory album coming out?

www.myspace.com/divinehersyband

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

Celesty – Vendetta (Spinefarm Records)

David E. Gehlke
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0
Celesty – Vendetta (Spinefarm Records)

It’s split down the middle: if you’re a Finnish power metal band, you’re going to sound like either Stratovarius or Sonata Arctica. Not like there’s anything inherently wrong with that (is Thunderstone still making albums?), it just puts a cap on creativity. For Celesty, they fall on the Sonata Arctica end and yeah, it doesn’t help that Tony Kakko does guest vocals on this thing. It was nice of him to drop by, actually.

Vendetta unfurls like a typical symphonic power metal album and is usually at its best when singer Antti Railio is given some muscular, yet melodic riffing in which to belt over. This is none more evident during “Greed & Vanity,” where the line of “Oh how I hate it when I’m right” has somehow left an indelible mark on this scribe’s brain. “Autumn Leaves” gets the Kakko treatment and is augmented by flowery keyboards and a momentous guitar solo, making it very much Sonata Artica-fied.

In true Finnish power metal fashion, there are lots of pop elements being tossed about. “Feared By Dawn” (which is the heaviest and best jam here) and “New Sin” hold up this end and while they are power metal to the core, they have enough sugary hooks and dramatic pauses to be warranted inclusion for a movie script. It’s Hollywood Metal, Finnish style.

Surprisingly, there’s not nearly the glut of pompous Finnish power metal as one would think, so it’s not like Celesty is piling things on. Instead, they’re doing an admirable job of holding up what the predecessors created…nothing new to see here; rather an album very reminiscent of the classic works of the bands we mentioned from the onset and as you know, you don’t mess with the classics…you merely try to re-create them.

www.myspace.com/celestymetal

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

Fairyland – Score To A New Beginning (Napalm Records)

David E. Gehlke
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0
Fairyland – Score To A New Beginning (Napalm Records)

Fairyland, who without question have the worst name in all of power metal, won’t strike fear into anyone in the near future, but Score To A New Beginning has some legs to it. And since there are no new revelations in power metal (Lost Horizon was the last great, white, poorly-costumed hope), albums as well-constructed as this will always rank high in these parts.

Now consisting of one multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Phillipe Giordana, the band (or one man project) utilizes a revolving cast of vocalists to great effect. Marco Sandron of Pathosray handles the bulk of the duties, while Tony Kakko sound-alike Georg Neuhauser of Serenity does significant spot, giving Score… a thematic slant that might not had been achieved with just one singer.

Naturally, there’s little in terms of variety here; just Euro fluff, keyboard overload, maxed-out double-bass portions, and vocal pyro, yet there’s a handful of songs here that are near-worldbeaters. Case in point, “Assault On the Shore,” which opens with a fluid guitar/keyboard melody then drops into 70’s prog territory or “Master of the Waves” which is perhaps the best song Kamelot hasn’t written the past decade. “Godsent” and “Score To A New Beginning” also rank as top-notch, instantly memorable numbers.

Score To A New Beginning proves that for once, not deviating from the course nets results. Nothing heard on these 10 songs haven’t been beaten to death by every other Euro power metal band, but Giordana must have caught fire during the songwriting process, as this album has proven to be one of the few weighty, go-to power metal albums of 2009. Well done.

www.fairyland-metal.com

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

Godflesh – Songs Of Love & Hate/Love & Hate In Dub/In All Languages DVD (Earache Records)

David E. Gehlke
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0
Godflesh – Songs Of Love & Hate/Love & Hate In Dub/In All Languages DVD (Earache Records)

Musically, you can’t fault this little box set at all. Originally released back in 1996 Songs Of Love And Hate was a bleak masterpiece that has stood the test of time thanks to it’s powerful product. Whereas previous Godflesh efforts have dated thanks to poor mixes, this record is still as harsh and bleak as when it was released. Big, meaty riffs abound over sparse industrial beats and thudding bass notes while Justin Broadrick’s vocals are simplistic in approach, raw and howled, being more rhythmic than anything previously.Songs Of Love And Hate is rarely broadcast as an essential Godflesh album, but it shows them the height of their industrial strength. Having gone for out and out noise in the past (Godflesh) and bringing in melodies (Pure), the blueprint this time was simple – battering, machine-like songs with massive, often Helmet-like, repeated riffs. The chugging thump of “Gift From Heaven” is a great place to start if you’re not familiar with this album.

Followed in 1997 by the remix album Love And Hate In Dub, the original songs were stripped down to their bare bones and in many cases, rendered much, more atmospheric. The industrial elements are carried across, especially in the bass sound and unlike most other remix albums, instead of just firing some pumping beats underneath, these songs have been fully deconstructed. “Almost Heaven (Closer Mix)” for example, shows a complete tear down, “Frail (Now Broken)” hints at the direction which would eventually be taken by Jesu, while “Gift From Heaven (Breakbeat)” is reworked into a darker, much more spacious piece. The groove of the original album remains intact and given a new twist here on a record that holds its own definitely against the source material.

Despite bringing together Songs Of Love And Hate and it’s follow-up remix album, Love And Hate In Dub this collection won’t offer up much to the hardcore Godflesh fans as there’s no bonus material whatsoever. The In All Languages DVD included here has also been released previously, although it’s notoriously difficult to get a hold of, so that’s a plus for anyone who doesn’t have it already.

For £10stg you can’t really give Earache grief about this but some linear notes, like from the Iron Monkey box, or a few unreleased/bonus tracks/mixes would have sweetened the deal for those who already own these albums.

www.godflesh.com

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

Ava Inferi – Blood of Bacchus (Season of Mist Records)

David E. Gehlke
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0
Ava Inferi – Blood of Bacchus (Season of Mist Records)

Now having fully severed ties with Mayhem, guitarist Rune Eriksen (aka “Blasphemer”) can now turn his focus to Ava Inferi, a far less black metal-tinged outfit with two albums already under its belt in the form of 2006’s Burdens and ‘07’s The Silhouette. Avant-garde Goth appears to be the band’s forte, as Blood of Bacchus, like its predecessors, offers up some quirks – both good and ill-advised –that ultimately cause this effort to come up short.

Blood of Bacchus starts promising with the duo of “Last Sign of Summer” and album highlight “Colours of the Dark” emerging as the kind of emotive, lush numbers that would endear Ava Inferi to the pure Goth crowd (read: Bauhaus, Nosferatu, etc.). Singer Carmen Simoes (who also done work with Moonspell) alternates between a beefy operatic yelp and your standard Goth mistress on “Last Sign of Summer” while Eriksen cues in some well-placed guitar runs. This is where the album climaxes. The rest is forgettable.

The remainder of Blood of Bacchus is bogged down by the band’s inability to create dynamics with Simoes’ vocals. She’s oftentimes given a dull, drawn-out riff in which to sing over and since melody is not in the band’s repertoire, the results never take flight. Just reference “Be Damned” or “Memoirs,” two numbers that show a sharp drop-off from the opening brilliance of the album – it’s somewhat of a letdown, actually, considering how adept Eriksen became at painting bleak, complex pictures in Mayhem and on The Silhouette.

On one hand, you have to hand it to Ava Inferi for at least venturing outside of the very insular box that is modern Goth metal. It’s a little too easy to get this stuff carried across and since there are hardly any of those elements (read: voluptuous vixen in tow, big, booming pop songs), Ava Inferi find themselves swimming upstream. Eriksen has proven to be a force to be reckoned with, so write these guys off yet. Now, where’s that copy of Grand Declaration of Warfloating about…

www.myspace.com/avainferi

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

Goatwhore – Carving Out the Eyes of God (Metal Blade Records)

David E. Gehlke
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0
Goatwhore – Carving Out the Eyes of God (Metal Blade Records)

God is the target this time out for Goatwhore. Not Hurricane Katrina or the painstaking healing process singer Ben Falgoust endured after a 2003 van accident. It’s a fitting approach for the New Orleans quartet and with Carving out the Eyes of God, this has translated into what could be their finest hour, outlasting the very solid A Haunting Curse and seminal breakthrough Funeral Dirge For the Rotting Sun.

Hats off to producer-in-demand Erik Rutan (Hate Eternal, Through the Eyes of the Dead, Cannibal Corpse) for pushing the guitars right to the front of the mix. Sammy Duet’s guitars dominate the bulk of the album, allowing for his sub-Celtic Frost riffs to take hold. This is none more prominent on “The All-Destroying,” where Duet weaves punky, cross-over thrash with thick, muscular riffing.

In fact, there are multiple Grade-A riffs across the board. Check out the winding speed-picking of the title track, or the sludgified action of “Provoking the Rituals of Death” or the To Mega Therion-Southern-style romp of “Reckoning of the Soul Made Goddess.” Duet and co. taken primal, pre-90’s riffing to a new level and couple that with Falgoust’s all-out assault on organized religion (lots of insightful, quality lyrics here) and this amounts to what is the most varied Goatwhore album to date.

Already the subject to much buzz in the underground, Carving Out the Eyes of God could very well be the album that vaults Goatwhore to the next level. It’s good enough, that’s for sure.

www.myspace.com/goatwhore

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

Doro – Fear No Evil (AFM Records)

David E. Gehlke
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0
Doro – Fear No Evil (AFM Records)

With 25 years in the business and God knows how many albums under her belt, the legendary Doro is always up to something. Whether it’s cutting the 2009 Wacken theme song, doing some symphony work or hooking up with her various gal pals for a duet, Doro is anything but static. In spite of its glaring production flaws, Fear No Evil is another respectable album to add to her canon, full of the atypical songs about perseverance, unity, and might.

Vocally, Doro sounds great and that’s largely because she’s never put herself in the position to overextend her voice. Her raspy, punkish cat call still packs a lot of punch on otherwise punchless numbers like “Running From the Devil” and “Caught In A Battle” which forces the aforementioned production faux paux’s (read: drum machine) to rear its ugly head.

The centerpiece of the album is “Celebrate,” which features nine, count ‘em –nine of Doro’s friends, most notably Biff Byford (Saxon), Floor Jansen (of the now-defunct After Forever), Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy) and Liv Kristine (Leaves Eyes), to name a few. The song itself is what you’d expect: a call to arms celebrating Doro’s dedication to rock/metal, backed by a massive chorus from the above parties. Frankly, you can’t make out any of the voices, so the impact is lessened.

Former Nightwish siren Tarja Turunen joins Doro on “Walking With the Angels,” which is probably the best song here. Turunen weaves her earthly magic and combines nicely with Doro for a soft, radio-friendly ballad that will most likely be pushed to the metal masses.

It’s hard to say if there’s a real need for new Doro material, as the clamor for her Warlock and early 00’s work will no doubt be deafening in the live setting. Still, she keeps on popping ‘em out and still looks as good as ever at 45. Doro just can’t lose.

www.myspace.com/doroband

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)

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