Saturday, July 21, 2012
Update: continuing education...
As said before, I am continuing to search for more Metal to write about, and span more subgenres than just the Thrash, Traditional, Death, and Crossover I am most comfortable with. Newer posts may feature some Nile (which takes more than a listen through or three to digest properly), Emperor (if I can just hear everything properly; there is good stuff in there, somewhere!!!....), Ripping Corpse, Terrorizer, and maybe even Rage Against the Machine. We'll see. Again, if anyone has some experience in the Black, Doom, Groove, Death, Power, or some other metal areas, and wants to share their own review/reccommend an album (proper credit will be given, of course), it would be a great help. It's all about spreading the Metal.
Death Angel - The Ultra-Violence
Artist: Death Angel
Released: 1987 RATING: 4/5
The Good: Another classic Thrash album, The Ultra-Violence stands as one of the strongest albums from the original Thrash Scene. It is also something of an anomaly in the band's career; subsequent Death Angel albums would feature more diverse songs, both in terms of style and tempo. Their debut is straightforward thrash, chock-full of complex instrumental play and crushing velocity. "Kill as One" is one of a few songs that showcase singer Mark Osgueda's gnarly high-pitched screams, which are as metal as it gets. The song also happens to be really good, too, as do "Mistress of Pain", "Evil Priest", "Voracious Souls", and the super-long, riff-laden title track. Drummer Andy Galleon plays well beyond his young age here (aged 14!!!), and guitarist Rob Cavestany establishes himself among the Metal guitar elite with his skillful, yet tasteful, axe work, and is definately one reason why Death Angel stood out from their peers. As a matter of fact, the whole band is incredibly proficient. The Ultra-Violence also happens to be one of those albums that just has that unquantifiable element known to us mortals as feel; Death Angel's albums after this one were certainly more mature, well-thought-out, diverse, and produced more cleanly, but in my humble opinion, none of the other albums would sum up Death Angel quite like The Ultra-Violence. So endeared to it are Death Angel's fans that, in commemeration of The Ultra-Violence's 25th anniversary, the band re-mastered and re-released this long out-of-print masterpiece and took to the road, playing the album in its entirety on tour. It's a pretty special album.
The Bad: The production isn't that good. "Final Death" is ok, but "I.P.F.S" is kind of out of place on this eight-song album. The title track can be excellent to one if they enjoy the amazing riffs and instrumental performances on it; however, its sheer length may be hard for someone to keep interested in it, especially with the lack of vocals. But these are small details that should not keep you from getting/listening to this album.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath
Artist: Mercyful Fate
Released: 1984 RATING: 4/5
The Good: Mercyful Fate's second opus isn't exactly an obscure record by Metal standards, but it would be remiss to exclude it from this blog for the sake of not being too obvious; supremely influential to bands throughout the Metal spectrum, Don't Break the Oath is as essential as it gets, well regarded by many a Metalhead. King Diamond's multi-range, acrobatic vocals are buoyed by Michael Denner and Hank Sherman's expert, classically influenced playing. The songs have tons of melody, and utilize synths and other atmospheric effects, with great results. Tracks like "The Oath", "Come to the Sabbath", "A Dangerous Meeting", and "Desecration of Souls" are full of energy and magic (so to speak), and are perfect representations of what the band is all about. And all of the Satanic nonsense is quite funny if you realize that they were really just singing songs to freak people out and have a laugh (not unlike bands like Venom and Slayer in their earlier years) more than advocating devil worship.
The Bad: If you are afraid of the Devil, well, you probably wouldn't listen to Metal at all, anyway. As mentioned, the lyrics aren't nearly as serious as those of the legions of Black Metal bands Mercyful Fate inspired worldwide. There is really nothing wrong with this album, and I strongly suggest that you make a point of listening to it if you love metal, or even heavy rock.
Evile - Five Serpents' Teeth
Artist: Evile
Released: 2011 RATING: 3/5
The Good: Evile's 2011 offering Five Serpents Teeth shows why they are different from other bands; they have a strong sense of melody, and still retain their brutality and speed. They are not afraid to slow it down slightly, as seen on tracks such as "Cult"; likewise, they also know when to crank up the speed of their songs, though they don't play fast just for speed's sake. The title track and "In Dreams of Terror" are definitive Evile songs. Fans of guitar solos and expert drumming will also like this record for the sheer skill and dexterity of Ol Drake (guitar) and Ben Carter (Drums). The whole band is extremely tight throughout.
The Bad: As one of the more talented younger bands, Evile was expected, paraphrasing from Terrorizer magazine, to set the record straight as far as British thrash goes. While their chops are undeniable, this record dissapoints when considering their popularity. By this, their third record, the band just sounds boring. The songs here just do not quite grip the listener much and get repetitive. By the fourth or fifth listen, I started to just skip around tracks, and eventually disregarded most of the album save for the title track and "In Dreams of Terror". And even then, I got bored of those. While Matt Drake's awareness of the necessity of melody is admirable, though I don't like to criticize them for sounding too Metallica-like as many others do, I can't help but think of James Hetfield when I hear Drake sing. "Cult" is super boring, and the rest of the songwriting is average. Evile is a talented band, and they have some good songs, but they are far from front-runners as far as today's yonger metal scene goes, with bands such as Warbringer, Vektor, and Havok, among others, releasing stronger and more unique (or at least slightly more endearing, in Havok's case) albums than Five Serpents Teeth. It's worth a listen, but one could do better than this, even with Evile's prior records, Enter the Grave and Infected Nations.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Iced Earth - Days Of Purgatory (aka, let me explain)
Artist: Iced Earth
Released: 1997 RATING: 4.5/5
The Good: I need to explain something briefly. Iced Earth is amazing, and the albums that came before and including 2000's Horror Show are particularly super. This review is less to say that a compilation album beats any of their actual LPs, but I feel that this release is very important. The main reason for this is the re-recorded versions of classic Iced Earth songs, such as "Desert Rain", "Travel in Stygian", and "When the Night Falls" with Matt Barlow (One of Metal's finest) on vocals, a big improvement over the promising, but vocally marred first few albums before Barlow joined. Plus, this compilation includes such masterpieces as "Dante's Inferno" and "Burnt Offerings" from the album that shares its name with the latter song. In my opinion, this album is the best place to start discovering Iced Earth's superior brand of thrashy Power Metal.
The Bad: It's a compilation album (from the middle of the band's career, in fact), so of course there isn't room for everything they did. As mentioned, feel free to fully explore every album up to and including Horror Show after listining to this compilation, especially the tracks with Barlow, as Iced Earth are at their best with him manning the mike.
Armored Saint - Symbol of Salvation
Artist: Armored Saint
Released: 1991 RATING: 4.5/5
The Good: Armored Saint is extremely underrated, partly due to the fact that they don't play extreme metal in any sense of the word, but aren't glam either; think of a heavy metal Thin Lizzy with slightly less guitar pyrotechnics (Honestly, classic Thin Lizzy shreds harder than some metal bands.) Their anthemic, hard hitting songs are memorable, and yet still pack plenty of crunch. Symbol of Salvation is Armored Saint's strongest album, top to bottom, and contains a slew of should-have-been Metal classics like "Reign of Fire", "Dropping Like Flies", "Last Train Home", "Tribal Dance", and really almost every song here. It really is the perfect storm of a filler-less album that sounds totally inspired and free, with energy and emotion to spare. Ace guitarist David Prichard's final contributions to the band (he passed away shortly before the album was completed) are evident everywhere; he played on and wrote the songs in the album's demo tapes. His playing ability was just world-class, and incredibly emotional songs like "Another Day" and "Tainted Past" have his mark all over them. Well worth the time to listen to.
The Bad: It isn't quite extreme metal (a la Black/Thrash/Death, etc), but is definately heavier than albums by their peers, including Guns and Roses(...), Warrant, and others. So sometimes I feel like, after I've been listening to really fast music (particularly thrash), if I listen to this album, it sounds too slow. But then again, maybe that works for you; either way, if you can get your hands on this album, don't hesitate. It is worth every penny and more.
Dismember - Like an Everflowing Stream
Artist: Dismember
Released: 1991 RATING: 4/5
The Good: It's amazing how many debut albums end up being such awesome and definitive works, like The Legacy, Altars of Madness, In the Nightside Eclipse, Black Future, and this, the first album by Dismember. Like an Everflowing Stream sounds stripped down and basic compared to more complex works by bands such as Morbid Angel, Death, and Atheist, among others. This, however, does not take away from the quality of the album, which is strong. Unlike their American counterparts, these Swedes wrote more digestible, yet still brutal and technical, songs. The overall result is something like Obituary, harsh vocals and all. Memorable songs include "Dismembered", "Overide of the Overture", and "Skin Her Alive", but the whole album is a treat for the heavy music lover.
The Bad: The vocals sometimes sound like they are not mixed completely above the instruments, so they aren't always intelligible in the normal sense. Listen to the album, and you'll see what I mean. And on that topic, if you have the bonus track version, the vocals on a few of the songs are, well, not quite what they are on the original eight tracks, which in this case is not good. Still, this album is a winner, and deserves a listen for sure.
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