Lex Legion : "s/t"

 

When the King is away, the kids will play. This vocal is comprised of the top tier of King Diamond's band members. Pete Blakk and Andy LaRocque on guitars is worth the price of admission alone. But wait, there is more. Mikkey Dee took a break from the Scorpions to play on this album. Hal Pinto is covering the bass duties as well. Pagan's Mind vocalist Nils K LaRue joins the Swedes, bringing some Norse vocal power to things. His power metal style of vocals works well over things; there is clearly a King Diamond influence on what he is doing as he leaps up into falsetto. 

The opening track hooks me in more than the second song; some of this is due to LaRue's vocals defaulting to the more expected power metal style, though things are still a little darker. But not darker than King Diamond, I like 'When the Stars Align' more than "' The Resurrected' as power metal can come close to hair metal with song of the anthemic touches, and they work better when they stay on the more metal side of the equation. Even when the singer steers them in a more cock rock direction, at least the riffs are still there. I don't think I am being too picky in this regard, as I love Queensryche, which navigates this well. I think dropping some ofthe vocal layers might be the key here. 

I had to go back after my first listen to this album and start again at "Dreams of Darkness" as that is where things began to run together for me. Perhaps it's the way the tempo picked up. Though the chorus on that one worked pretty well. There is a "Them" feel to " Saviours". It works well, has enough darkness to balance things out. "Life Eternal" has a more straightforward chug. They certainly know who they are writing for. The instrumental outro works well. It would take these guys to come close to anything King Diamond does, which is a tall order, making this album worth a 9.5. 

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Looking Back in Anger at Dio's "Sacred Heart"

 Was working on a Top 5 albums of 1985 podcast episode and have fond memories of this album, so going to take a listen to see if it holds up. This is the last album with Vivian Campbell playing on it and marks the peak of the Dio solo years. There was tension in the studio during these sessions, but the album is better for it. It opens with a rocker in "King of Rock' N Roll". Other songs on this album might get more recognition, but the title track might be my favorite. Vinny Appice's playing works well to give this album drive, and he keeps things very deliberate on this one. 

"Another Lie' is everything I wanted from a Dio song; it has hooks and grit in equal measure while being darker than most of the other more commercial metal at this time. "Rock N Roll Children" has Journey-like Keyboards, and even as a kid, I could tell this was more accessible than his other songs, but it works for what it is. "Hungry For Heaven' was the other big single from this album, and while it is a more streamlined version of what he does, it is a great songwriting. "Like the Beat of a Heart" is heavier and the kind of metal Dio fans wanted delivered.

There is more of a Judas Priest-like swagger to "Just Another Day." As a kid, "Fallen Angels" was lyrically my favorite song on this album; it's also the darkest of those tracks. In today's culture 'Shoot Shoot" would have never worked lyrically, since everyone is afraid of guns. I will give this album a 10, as it's my favorite metal album of 1985. I am posting a link below to the episode if you want to heaqr more about it's place in 80s metal at the time. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlyTC5YDUYo

 

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Avatar : "Don't Go in the Forest'

These guys have always struck me more as a mix of power metal and thrash, than the kind of prog metal the press and their fan base tries to paint them as. The opening track finds theis leaning even further in the power-metal direction with a more rock n roll vibe in the guitar solo. Despite their image they do not sound all that dark. There is a more aggressive snarl to the second song, with a recycled Slipknot riff powering it and a bright pwoer-metal chorus to jerk the wheel hard left. 

Perhaps it is because they are from Sweden, but moments like "Captain Goat" even feel like they are dipping into folk metal, though it is less frollicking than some. It makes you feel like they should be cosplaying vikings rather than clowns. The title track tries to be darker, but I am not really convinced and it feels more like filler to be that a centerpiece of the album. I find the more carnival like mood of "Death and Glitz to be more entertaining. The sung vocals are a little over produced and too double tracked, to the point of it almost sounding like something AI would write. 

They are not as dynamic as most pwoer ballad on "Howling at the Waves". This lack of inspiration feels like it carries over into the marginally more interesting "Dead and Gone and Back Again' which is a stupid title that almost sounds worst when sung on the chorus. "Take This Heart and Burn" finds them getting heavier with harsher vocals but the harmonized guitar attack and power metal chorus takes some of the burn out. There are some sonically intersting moments on the last song but it is not as focused as the strongest songs here. I will give this album an 8, as they continue to capture what they do in a manner than should please their fans, it jsut feels like they know their days of riding the hype are numbered and trying to prolong it in the only way they know how, repeating what worked in the past. 

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Lord of the Lost : "OPVS NOIR Vol. 1"

These guys are back with their grandiose take on metal that feels like it's gotten bigger this time around, and midway into the opening track, you can hear how they are moving up the bill on European festivals with this album. This comes after opening slots for Iron Maiden, which made them step up their game. Though they are sticking to what they have been doing up until this point in their careers and not dumbing things down for an American audience, so you are either into this or you are not. Yes, the ahrsher vocals might appeal a little more to Western audiences, but they're only one aspect. 

I liked the darker, brooding verses of "My Sanctuary," which flirted with a gothier sound, but the chorus was too upbeat in its anthemic declaration, which feels like something the 69 Eyes might have done. Sharon den Adel from Within Temptation lends her voice to "Light Can Only in the Darkness," bringing a symphonic metal sound to the forefront, which is the dominant element of the overall sound. This album sounds very European, as heard on "I Will Die In It", which works, but things start to get a little for theatrical on "Moonstruck" 

"Damage" finds the symphonic elements colliding with the more industrial influence to feel like VNV Nation jamming with Dimmu Borgir. It works better than some of the more flowery flourishes of the other songs. "Ghosts' follows a very similar formula to the previous song. To his credit, Chris Harms is one of the better singers to rise in prominence in recent years. "Lords of Fyre" sounds like they wrote this with Andrew Loyd Weber for a folk metal musical. It does build into a heavier section, and this album feels more metal than most of what I've heard from them. 

Predictably from the title alone, "The Things We Do Love" starts off as more of a ballad. When the drums kick into the verse works much better, and Harms' vocal phrasing is interesting to redeem the song of its sappier elements. "The Sadness In Everything" touches too closely into the sonic neighborhood of Nightwish for me. It does not feel dark or heavy, but like something from a more aggressive Disney musical. There is a similar drama to the last song, but it is more balanced with darker moods. Overall, this is an ambitious album. I appreciate the emotive qualities, sometimes they are just done in a manner that is not my thing, but I can still hear how they made the album they set out to make, for their fan base that wants this sort of thing so for that reason I will give this a 9.  

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Queensryche : " the Verdict"

Queensryche used to be one of my favorite bands. So much so I considered getting the logo tattooed on my wrist before it turned into a shit show. I was hard-core as I hung with them even into "American Soldier". When they split with Geoff Tate they lost me. I think even here it's proof that you can have someone who can hit all the notes that Tate could in his prime, but he doesn't put them in the same places with the same sense of theater, because well...he is not Geoff Tate. This might be there 3rd album with this guy, I know it's bad journalism to not know, but I do not give a fuck, because they were dead to me during this time. So I have a great deal of baggage I am having to put aside in order to give this album a shot.

t makes sense that the former Kamelot drummer would be playing with them on tour. The singer Todd La Torre, who got his start as a drummer plays on the album. But this begs the question what the fuck is the point without Scott Rockenfield. This is just Eddie Jackson and Micheal Wilton, trying to pass off originals as a Queensyrche cover band. La Torre who I was first very resistant to , does an admirable job of a Geoff Tate impersonation. I think what sells me more is he sounds more like a mix of "Operation Mindcrime" Tate with a side order of "Rage For Order" era. From a songwriting perspective it's all on the vocals as the other keystones of their sound are kinda dialed in. What this does have going for it is this is more metal than the later Tate albums. They experiment along the lines of what they did post-"Empire" on "Inside Out" . Speaking of "Empire" there is hint of that album on the song "Propaganda Fashion".

"Dark Reverie" is the first song where I think ...Ok this is Queensryche for real. So I am going to need more of these moments. It's not that this is a rocker in fact it's more of a power ballad , but all the marks they need to hit are there. There is a darker "Rage For Order" like tone to " Bent". This comes closer to sounding like them, until they speed and try to be heavier than it sounds like they comfortable. La Torre begins to remind me a little of Warrel Dane in a few places . "Inner Unrest" sounds like uninspired run of the mill power metal. "Launder the Conscience " is more of the same. It's not unlike the more ballad like "Portrait" that inspiration returns. They seem to do better on the power ballads. I'll give this album an 8 , it's better than I hoped for, but only marginally Queensryche, but the impersonation might fool you.

Serious Black : "Mirrorworld"

Sure there is shredding and the drummer is on it . The vocals are rather bland yodels with little  in the way balls to them. It has the trappings of metal without being heavy.  "Heart Broken" soul is the first song on here that really connects and it has riffs that sounds recycled Dio. The verses are pretty poppy, in more of a 80's. Aldo Nova fans would think this is metal. The pop metal continues on "Dying Hearts" that reminds me of some of H.I.M 's happier moments. At this point I would be reluctant to call this power-metal as it has more in common with the more radio friendly days of hair metal. The songs are about the length of your average radio rock song though the try to cram as much shredding into "You Are Not Alone" which comes across like Symphony X lite.

When power metal works for me , which becomes on an increasingly less frequent basis it is because there is a darker element to it and the cheese factor is dialed down in a way that doesn't make it sound too happy like Europe. There is enough of a hook to the chorus to make the title track not suck. I downloaded some deluxe version of this album, but for the purpose of this review I am only counting the songs that are not listed as bonus tracks for the sake of rating this album. "State of My Despair" is your typical bland hard rock fluffed up by the guitar. "the Unborn Never Dies" has a little more in the way of yodeling, and is faster but it's no heavier than the song before it and if we are supposed to be making some form of metal here then something needs to be heavy.

So I'll give this album a 6 as it has it's moments if you are feeling nostalgic for middle of the road eighties rock that mistakes hard rock with an emphasis on solos for metal. With few exceptions this type of thing is rarely heavy enough to be metal, and is tailored to give kids that got picked on in high school for their 20 sided dice the illusion of being into metal , where if they were really into metal they would have been listening to Morbid Angel and Celtic Frost, but they are pussies so unable to take anything heavier than this.

Witherscape :"the Northern Sanctuary"

I haven't checked in much on Post - Edge of Sanity  Dan Swano in recent year, despite being a fan of  Edge of Sanity.  So I am going into this hoping that kind of vibe is what this band is about.  The first few songs are along the lines of a heavier Symphony X without all the wanking, The vocal trade off is similar yet Swano can go into actual death metal growl." In the Eyes of Idols" packs much more of a punch. At times  this project might remind you of Opeth, but keep in mind Edge of Sanity came before Opeth so Akerfeldt was influenced by Swano. There is more rock injected into "Rapture Ballet" complete  with  Evergrey like vocal melodies that even hold hints of W.A.S.P in the phrasing. There are some power ballad like moments at are contrasted by death metal sections. After the  which first song it doesn't accelerate into anything monstrous, opting to marry almost  Whitesnake like melodies to  crunching build ups.

For me the more ballads scratch the itch that Iced Earth once hit. Most power metal is too happy for me and never packs the punch I want it too. Here these guys are not heavy like death metal despite   Swano pulling out some powerful growled vocals, At times the music swirls behind him more like the Cure. There is more of a prog metal groove to "Divinity". "God of Ruin" returns  to more melodic territory and hard rock vocal passages. The more impassioned vocals that come at the two minute mark are really strong. Under other circumstances many of the parts to this puzzle would come across as being cheesy if used in a different context.


The title track  that closes the album is 13 minutes long. Four minutes in things get pretty heavy as far as this brand of melodic-death metal goes. They also get pretty proggy too. "Blackwater Park"i a good frame of reference for how heavy things get, before they coast of into the trippy waves of 70s prog synths. If you are like me and don't give a fuck about a new Opeth coming out because those guys have become pussies, then you will appreciate the more metal moments captured with this album. I'll give it a strong 8.5. Century Media will be releasing this July 22nd.



7

Denner / Shermann : "Masters of Evil"

Here is the full length from the two ex- Mercyful Fate guitarists. Former King Diamond drummer, Snowy Shaw is playing drums on this and I'm a little confused why he didn't at least take care of the vocals in the studio as he is a better singer than this guy from Cage, who coated their first EP in a ton of cheese. Singing lyrics like 'we drink the angels blood" this should sound dark not like frilly pirate shirt wearing power-metal. The bottom line is obviously this guy isn't King Diamond, nor do I expect them to find some one to rival King Diamond, I just want something better than what this guy does. The problem with wasting time to put out mediocre metal is this is prolonging the Mercyful Fate re-union that may or may not come after King releases his next album. They do capture an ounce of the theatrical flare with a shade of darkness on "Son of Satan" , but most of this is lost when they launch back into to the more power metal like gallops. To Sean Peck's credit he hits some very Ripper Owens like notes.

There is a little more thrashing attack to "the Wolf Feeds at Night". Lyrically this is really rough. The riffs on this album are an improvement from the EP. When their singer goes into a more Ozzy like tone, he sounds much better. Once again the guitar solos are the most ripping aspect of their music. Shaw's drumming is good, the mix is a little weird his kick sound could have been given more love. "Pentagram and the Cross" is a less impressive display of their legendary status, as it's like pumped up hard rock. The title track is more metallic. The drumming fills the chorus perfectly and it sounds like the bass player is pretty on point when he emerges from the edge of the mix. Though when everything drops out later on in the album so his tone lays bare, it's kinda shitty, but it might be more of an issue in how it was eq'ed.  I guess this answers the question of what would Candlemass sound like if Ripper Owens started singing for them is answered here. Peck goes after some of the higher notes in his register with a strained grit that reminds me a little more of  Matt Barlow.

There is a darker guitar tone to the opening of "Servants of Dagon". The mood is not maintained for long and begins to fall apart at the chorus. They at least get more aggressive on "Escape From Hell". Lyrically it's another less thoughtful moment as it deals with drag racing against the devil. The main riff reminds me of "Painkiller". The album ends with "the Baroness". Five minutes into this one they try to pull off a melodic section similar to "Melissa" and it goes horribly wrong. This is however better than the ep, but can't come close to even touching King Diamond's least inspired solo work,so I'll give it a 7.5.

Amon Amarth : "Jomsviking"

If you make so called "viking metal" and consistently leave me feeling luke warm about what you do then there is a problem. This Swedish band who now finds themselves on their tenth album is not the only offender when it comes to this. It's not unlike how I felt when I went to the Norway exhibit at Epcot, they would leave you to believe there is nothing more to the culture than sweaters, trolls and Frozen. Granted of all the Scandinavian cultures the Swedes often come across as if they are overcompensating for birthing Abba and are the most welcoming of western culture. This album doesn't remedy that problem, but they continue to fine tune what they do.

What Amon Amarth does is use the twin guitar attacks makes up for the vocals by carrying the weight of the melodies . Amon Amarth also makes me feel like what they do has already been done by Unleashed, just with bigger production and a tad more Iron Maiden in the guitar harmonies. They also have a sense of hooks that appeals to kids who grew up on Lamb of God. "First Kill" is well written and executed it just doesn't give him the empowering feeling that really good metal normally bestows upon me when it touches my ears. They come off very arena rockish on "Wanderer" The vocals are the only thing that keep them firmly planted in death metal rather than power metal. As the song begins to live up to its title and wander it also loses my attention until the melodic breakdown that gets ruined by the spoken word section.

"On a Sea of Blood" picks up the pace, meeting  at the cross roads of thrash and death metal.When the vocals dip into the lower growl to join the more chugged groove the results are rather impressive. "One Against All" has some powerful riffing, but loses it at the chorus even with the gang vocals.Lyrically it's all Dungeons and Dragons foolishness. The vocals are well produced and I like it when he goes into the deeper growls. "Raise Your Horns" is equally parts 80's cheese and catchy modern metal. The accents adding by the layers of backing vocals are the songs' strongest quality.  When the speed up into the chorus it turns into the more typical viking metal drinking song. I can hear it going over big at festivals like Wacken.

"the Way of the Viking" feels like filler to me.  It's well played and they are hitting the right punches, but it's like LARPing vs a real battle. No manner of shredding solos can convince me otherwise. There is more of a thrashing attack to "Dawns First Light". The guitars sound bigger than they are heavy. The fact that there is more aggression to their sound than darkness is one of the x-factors that sets these guys in the middle of the road."One Thousand Burning Arrows" benefits from a more melodic backdrop and offers a little more emotional depth. These guys are no doubt riff machines many of them sound similar, but the chug always falls in just the right place. "A Dream That Can Not Be" is a little darker, touching on some meatier intervals with the lower growls helping to lower the mood before the female vocals come in. It's not Maria Brink, but the vocals have a similar quality.

In someways this album is an improvement for the band, but it's really splitting bear hairs as they are not really doing anything differently than they have before, unless we are talking their earlier work, as they now sit firmly in the middle of the road for where mainstream metal is at today.I'll give this one a 7.5.

Denner / Shermann : " Satans Tomb"

Looks like we are going to be waiting a while longer for that Mercyful Fate reunion, King parades around the world now playing "Abigail" in its entirety, so Hank Shermann and Michael Denner have gotten together for this ep. The first song kicks in pretty heavy, for power metal at least. Cage vocalist Sean Peck is no King Diamond and in fact the weakest link of this out as they have Snowy Shaw , who once played with Fate so  we have three ex-members of Mercyful Fate rocking the crypts here. The title track opens the album and I think Shaw should have handled the vocals because Peck's vibrato is cheesy as hell, sometimes he sounds like Messiah Marcolin and at other Warrel Dane . The instrumentation is on point, the guitar playing burning with hell fire and Shaw's drumming has never sounded better. It's the multi-tracked vocals that annoy me. I love metal yodels. Some of my favorite singers are King Diamond, Bruce Dickinson, Geoff Tate, Dio, Halford, Gillan and even Matt Barlow. But all of those singers have more colors to their voice, and Peck does if we are counting straws he just sounds like all the cliches that people laugh at when they think of 80s metal.

"New Gods" takes its time before it is built up into and when it lands the chug is well complimented by the bass and drums. I hope this is not Peck's best King Diamond impersonation, though  I know it is and I also can't help but thinking if these guys go on tour they are going to cover Fate songs that this guys is going to butcher. He doesn't have the lower range grow so they pitch shift his voice and add effects to create that kind of sound. While great guitarists  it is once again evident that without King Diamond in the house their writing suffers. There is a riff in this song that sounds like it was lifted from 'Painkiller". The line " the new gods have returned again" is the best that comes from Pecks lips so far. If I was still 13 I think I would dig his voice more.

The album closes with "Seven Skulls" which has one of the albums best riffs. They also speed up into more of a thrash tempo once you get into the verses. There is no denying these guitarists work well together , but once you have worked with King Diamond the bar is raised way too high they should have gotten Ripper Owens. The riffage is flexed more tautly on three minutes in.  The lower effected vocals and the syncopation in some places are paying homage to King Diamond, it's just the execution is not always there. I find myself wondering how could they have been in a band with King Diamond and think this is alright for Peck to do? Anyway you have two legendary metal guitarists and a damn fine drummer bringing their close to a game, so musically it's higher than the 8 I will give it , but it depends on your threshold for caterwauling with no clear focus as to how this sits with you.

Huntress : 'Static"

The third album by Huntress is an improvement of the sophomore slump that hit them on "Starbound Beast" . There is a darker power-ballad feel to "Mania", but most of the songs are mid-tempo power-thrash with a NWOBHM slant to them. Sure the band is still a vehicle for Jill Janus, who might have questionable metal roots if you google her, but to Janus' credit her voice has improved and she is not doing much of the harsh vocals focusing on singing, giving her a more piercing attack to the notes in her upper register. Up until "Mania" there might have been some variance in the chorus, but many of the songs had a similar feel. The fact there were some catchy hooks to compliment the way the songs moved along made this less offensive than if I really put this under a looking glass to find what make each song stand on it legs and apart from the previous one, but can you do the same with any post-"Fly on the Wall" AC/DC or "post- "Rock n Roll" Motorhead? Yet those bands are widely regarded as classics.

 There is more power to the chug of "Four Blood Moons" . It takes off at a more punk paced cross-over thrash speed more in line with what went down in the 80s than the first half of the album. However it might be harder and pack more of punch , but it's not as well written as the five songs that come before it. The title track also sticks to a harder rocking ethic , but is more like the rest of the album than the song that precedes it. Jill's vocals more are almost always layered.So perhaps a few production choices factor into this, before you hate consider how production choices have given solo Ozzy as signature sound to his voice as well. The song title "Harsh Times on Planet Stoked" is very Spinal Tap, but the music rocks a good bit harder than "Big Bottoms" or "Hell Hole".

They take more of a Judas Priest style chug on " Noble Savage". At this point in the album I can appreciate the nods to classic metal, but want to hear the moments that don't sound like the could have come from "British Steel" because that is who this band really is. Unlike say Ghost, they stir up their influences enough to where it sounds more like an era than the band straight up jacking riffs or paying overt homage. The guitar solos are spot on for that time frame, but don't have much personality of their own and marginal shred factor. They fire off harder  on "Fire In My Heart" toward a pre- thrash era of metal, and Jill's voice takes on a coarser tone but is still sung. This is one of the album best moments as it marries their  melodic nature with a fair amount of heft. The riff coming out of the second chorus is particularly mean and finds Jill reaching up into the higher part of her register. Here the guitarist shows me who is really is and dishes out a more personalized solo. "Black Tongue" is a bonus track, but I am going to go ahead and count it as part of this album. She uses a harsher voice for the chorus, where the other melodies sit somewhere between Metallica and Judas Priest, which when it comes to 80s metal is good company to keep. Overall this might not be the most original collection of songs, but they have equal amounts of power and heart in them that I did not hear on the previous album so I hear this as a step forward for the band, filling a gap left by 3 Inches of Blood, so I will give this an 8.




 

Iron Maiden : " The Book of Souls"

Iron Maiden is right behind Black Sabbath when it comes being one of  the most revered classic metal bands  of all  time. This is for good reason as they have they have maintained tons of integrity over the years even if they did break down and use keyboards and made the poor choice of trying to replace Bruce with Blaze, line up changes and tweaks to nuances in there sound aside , in the bigger picture of their legacy, they have never really whored themselves out by appearing on American Idol sadly something Rob Halford can not say. So for me the bar is held really high when it comes to this band, and if you have any questions as to my devotion to the band all I need say is I have the " Number of the Beast" album cover tattooed on my left forearm ...what do you got ? So I have been upping the Irons since 1984.

Going into this album the trepidation I had in regards to how it would uphold their legacy was due to the Dickinson's much publicized battle with throat caner and how that effect his voice. Then there was the cowbell infected lead single off the album "Speed of Light" that might have quelled my fears of will Bruce still have it and replaced them with will this album be filled with cheesy rock n roll? Once I got past  the synths the band once claimed they would never use which open the new album and focused in on Bruce flexing his invincible Iron pipes, I was able to breath easy at the very Maiden gallop  of "If Eternity Should Fall".  The the first thing that came to mind is musically the song would not be out of place on "Somewhere in Time".  A common theme with this song and many other is the tendency to sprawl out and leave a labyrinth of  guitar harmonies , solos and progged out bridges. When it comes to Iron Maiden I am more than ok with that. You know how thrilled  I am about the rock n roll cowbell that leads off "Speed of Light" , which doesn't feature the band's best lyrics, but I would not go as far as to say they are just punching the clock.

After the single comes "the Great Unknown" where you might begin to notice the band is utilizing a broader scope of guitar sounds. Embracing a darker melodic sensibility recalling the moodier moments from "Fear of the Dark"before bring down a more satisfying chug. It also is worth mentioning that given their ages we might need to accept the fact  this could very well be the last studio album . By the time I got to the bass chords that lead into "the Red and the Black" showing  even Steve Harris was willing experiment tonally, I became willing to accept this album as a fitting swan song. I would rather this be the end than for them to put about two or three embarrasing album like Paul McCartney keeps insisting on. "The Red and the Black" finds the band  galloping into the kinds of riffs and melodies that power metal bands have been biting off of for years. It reminds me of "Alexander the Great". There are some choruses of woah woahs , before wandering off into another proggy solo section where the reaffirm that they put the epic in metal.

With the more rock feel to the riff  leading into "When the River Runs Deep".Bruce drops down into his huskier "The Evil That Men Do" mid-range. Aside from "Speed of Light" this is the only other song that doesn't reach as deep into their well of inspiration.  But even Maiden just dialing it in is better than the collective whole of  Swedish metal has been able to accomplish. The title track closes the first part of the album, for people who still buy albums this is being sold as a double album. The title track is one of the album's heavier songs with a creeping riff that is darker than much of their more recent material. This is also one of the album's heavier songs.  The tight riffing forms a pretty good groove thanks to Nicko's solid playing. Bruce proves he can still hit the notes in his chest register without sound too strained. They know how to pull off the ten minute song, because it wasn't until the seven minute mark that I checked to see how far into it I was. They do not achieve the rapid fire attack that a song like "Aces High" has but inject a fair amount of energy into " Death or Glory". Lyrically though it does give the battle field perspective that "Aces high" and " the Trooper " explore.

There is no way you can honestly deny the likeness the opening riff to "Shadows of the Valley" has with "Wasted Years". They make you forget this by jerking you back into the classic gallop."Tears of a Clown" is not a Smokey Robinson cover, but a mid paced  galloping ode to a clown that stays the same. Don't let the Juggaloos get wind of this. Around the four minute mark this is the most straight forward song in fact the more syncopated riff reminds me a little of White Snake. This is one of the rare albums where the guitar solos actually add to it. The theme of sadness continues with "The Man of Sorrows". This one has more of an arena rock power ballad quality until it speeds up at the two minute mark. Its also the first place I notice effects on Bruce's voice smoothing out a few notes. But the song is well written and holds up to their post-Fear of the Dark work which is all I expect from them and so far they have already given moments that have made me happily surprised.

The album closes with the longest song the band has written "Empire of the Clouds" which is ambitious for many reasons. Bruce handles the piano parts. He is no Rick Wakeman or even Tori Amos, but it works for what they are ding which is layering a string section over it. This is their "Bohemian Rhapsody" as starts as dramatic ballad with folk inflections. The guitar chord don't power in until the four minute mark. While it's very different for Iron Maiden it still bears many of  trademark Maiden intervals both vocally and from the guitar voicings. It has a narrative that is about another odyssey not unlike "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner". The guitar line comes in at the eight minute mark is a little too happy for me. The pay off when they start rocking back into it at the 13 minute mark isn't a big as that on "Rhyme" . It's proggier and not bad by any means.

Have they done better ? Yes, is this on the level of the albums that came before "Fear of the Dark"? No the bar is incredibly high for these guys. But they never outright miss the mark, some moments are just more inspired than others and truth be told the least impressive song on the album is the single below. I'll give this one a 9.5 and see how it grows on me. I'm not going to tell you to round it up because unless you too have an Iron Maiden tattoo, then I question if you are as devoted to the band as I am.


 

Guilty Pleasures : Disturbed's "Immortalized"

OK, Disturbed is way more mainstream than every thing else I cover with the exception of say "Madonna" so I created guilty pleasures to review bands who at one point in time might have been a guilty pleasure. Here is a band I haven't listened to in almost ten years. As far as nu-metal goes they were a step ahead of all the Taproots and Hoobastanks. Don't let some of their guitarists dumbed down arena rock riffs fool you open the intro song is just him ripping a solo, while this might just be a fill on a Symphony X record , for these guys it confirms my suspicion that they have had a secert hankering to be Judas Priest, but jumping on the Korn bandwagon hindered that. Though they did cover "Living After Midnight" for Metal Hammer magazine. The chug on the title track is more metal than most of the new Ghost album and not too far removed from the last Symphony X album. With that said it's not anything I haven't heard done better by Iced Earth or Kamelot. It's like power metal for the masses. Drainman said they smoke a lot of pot while making this album and they must have been playing World of Warcraft in the studio as well. "Vengeful One " sounds like "Shout at the Devil" era Motley Crue until his vocals come in. He goes into his more melodic croon on this song as well. The hook on the chorus doesn't hold as much kick as their previous work. The ultra slick for radio production is one of the big factors that keeps this album from being as heavy as it could be.

There is more arena rocking kicking off on "Open Your Eyes" , which to their credit is the first song that has the stench of nu-metal to it. The woooahhohhhohh on the chorus sounds like if Def Leppard took at stab nu-metal. They dabble with electronics on the more Smashing Pumpkins paced "the Light". Though "Ten Thousand Fists" was the last album I gave the time of day, it sounds like it is a much different turn for the band. It almost has a power ballad like quality to it.I have to give it them for what it is it's pretty clever. I have never heard them use vocal harmonies like this.There is a riff very similar to many I have already heard from them on "What are You Waiting". When they bust into a faster Poppa Roach like riff I find myself thinking, "I haven't heard one song yet that would work in a strip club". Which is what I used to think of these guys as , the best band I was going to hear in da club. Though I don't think I have seen the inside of a strip club in four years. With a title like "You're Mine" I think I might be eating those words. But it's instead some weird thing like when Finger Eleven tried to make dance rock. The big rock chorus is eventual followed by one of the rare guitar solos. I could now hear this in a trailer for Fast and Furious 20.

I suppose "Who" is the equivalent to today's Whitesnake. It's better than any of the other harder rock you might hear on the radio, like Avenged Sevenfold. I am not their target audience that is for sure. Title alone I am prepared for another power ballad on "Save Our Last Goodbye" , but its one of the album's heavier songs. The chorus cheeses it up a little. They pull a Tool and record a bong toke on "Fire it Up".  Drainman goes into his lower register for this one. Unlike Tool there is more cock rock than prog rock going on. The vocals on this album are giving more love in the production department than their earlier work. The obligatory cover this time is Simon & Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence". He croons even lower than the previous song, but they are not a band I want to hear doing piano ballads.

They find their way back into the kind of groove you would expect from them...in other words the closest they come to getting down with the sickness. They close out the album asking the question most nu-metal bands should..."Who taught you how to hate?". It's pretty par for the coarse here. No real surprises . They hit more familiar grooves here , but otherwise color by the numbers. This album pretty much is what it is, not my thing , but well produced and performed I'll give it a 5.

 6.1

Up From the Underground : CalatrilloZ's "Psalms of Zahyin"

Don't let the false advertising of Calatriloz's corpse paint fool you they are keeping the halls of power metal open. Often the redheaded stepchild of metal these days, Power Metal has a proven staying power. It has been around longer than thrash, death and black metal. Having it's roots in the first wave of British Metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, whose edgier hard rock drive balance out some of the gaudier Dungeons & Dragons trappings fully embraced by another one of the pioneers Ronnie James Dio . The fact that the genre really came to it's own in the 80s the same decade that saw hair-metal as the poster-child for arena metal, often makes power metal guilty by associates. It does share the falsetto yodels that immediately bring the 80s to mind. Calatrilloz  might not go as over the top with hitting notes only a dog can hear, but does have a similar operatic quality. The layered vocals are pretty soaring. It only takes the first song to conclude that if you are into symphonic progressive metal, then these guys are well worth your time. 

So the challenge for Calatrilloz is not to get mired down by the over indulgent pretense of the 80s, but pay homage to the roots of the genre. It's a very delicate balancing act.  The chug to "I'm Alive". The guitar has some ample blues licks holding the solos down rather than it just being shredding for the point of shredding. Vocals are always way up from for this genre. While they have a some of the majestic sway of Kamelot  and "Ghost Opera" could very well be one of the albums that inspired this, the singer is not just doing a Geoff Tate impersonation. If you were going to say he sounded like any one I would say Dennis De Young of Styx. To be from England the accent is coming from somewhere else. I can also hear strains of Crimson Glory, which is much more welcomed than the typical Helloween  or Iron Maiden lite. "The Long Winding Road" is pretty ambitious to the point of sacrificing some of the heavier elements, with the only edge being the bridge that is a little darker. When they roll out the Victorian pageantry on " A Glimpse at a Fool's Destiny" the hints of darkness return to an even greater extent after the refrain four minutes in. the arrangements are meticulous. Every thing transitions smoothly and the only problems I have with these guys are the similar problems I have with even the likes of Kamelot Some of the gaudy romanticism takes the metal edge off of things. "Z The Psychopath" is rightfully the heaviest song on the album. This is slightly compromised on the brighter melody where he sings" I can't stand it / I won't let it."

These guys are going to be converting any one who doesn't at least own a Queensryche. fans are still split when it comes to the use of actual singing rather than death metal growls, however fans of the genres more melodic leanings and penchant for keen musicianship will find plenty to sink there teeth into. Though not as hard as Iced Earth or even Symphony X they understand the classical element of neo-classical and have created an impressive piece of work. 

 

Nightwish: "Endless Forms of Beautiful"

I have liked Nightwish more in the past than you thought I might have. 2007/ 2008 was the peak of my interest in the band. Now after replacing their replacement singer the band have thrown their new singer t the wolves on the new album. It sounds like they want to carry more than her fair share and she need their help on this one. It doesn't sound like she finds her voice until "Elan". I have noticed this about the bands previous work , but on this album it's more apparent that they should be making soundtracks for melodramatic anime.

These songs begin to make you think that her voice doesn't have the balls to it their previous singers have had even when preoccupied with operatics, this is later corrected. The folk elements are still intact, but the band could stand to darken things up, this is way too happy, like the lyrics say they are dancing a jig at the funereal. They do gather a more powerful chug on "Your is an Empty Hope" which finds Floor Jansen bringing more metal to the mic.This would have been a better choice of an opening song."Our Decades in the Sun" finds Floor relishing the songs ballad like qualities. The  guitar here is pretty tasteful, and though this kind of fluff isn't my thing , they are doing a good job of it. It is not unlike some of the post-Roy Khan Kamelot.

The album doesn't find the groove Nightwish needs to be in until "My Walden" then they hit the perfect blend of power-metal and folk that makes them who they are. Floor finally figures out what she is supposed to do with this band. The chorus is pretty happy, but it works for Nightwish and is consistent in the type of post- "Once" metal they kept churning out after Tarja left. The title track ebb and flows with another good cross section of metal with pop folk. To me the big choruses are on the cheese laden 80s side, but I also prefer black metal over power-metal. The intro of "Edema Ruh" sounds like it's going to go into something from a Disney princess film, but breaks down into a more subdued pop. There is some impressive guitar work sprinkled over it all.

"Alpenglow" sticks to a formula that at this point in the album is beginning to feel worn out. Sometimes Floor's melodies carry a little more bite than others. While she is going out saying it's the leak of the first single that is ruining the albums sales it's more likely going to be word of mouth that her studio debut with the band is pretty lukewarm. "The Eyes of Sharbut Gula" really needs to bring it at this point, but it's just an interlude leading up to the twenty three minute epic" the Greatest Show on Earth". This is a dramatic symphonic build for the first six minutes until any sign of rocking out occurs after a brief narrative. It finally gets heavy. Floor voice is coated in effect making me wonder why this hasn't been happening for the rest of the album. The first hints that she might actually be the soprano her bios all say she is. If she is she must be a second soprano, she doesn't wander to much above an alto register.They are none the less ambitious here so I'll give this an 8, but I don't think it's an album that I need to own.

Primordial: "Where Greater Men Have Fallen"

Primordial has come along way since their inception as a Bathory tribute band.Now on their 8th full length they have continued the journey away from being black metal into a dark folk tinged power metal band. The classic metal sound is evident from the title track that opens the album. The guitar sound is massive and Nemtheanga's voice is piercing and commanding. He has really come a long way as a singer and truth be told a lot weighs on his voice which is frequently the driving force of many of these songs, not unlike how Ronnie James Dio's voice took full control of the songs he sang.

It doesn't take the band long to drift into a moodier more melodic direction. The chords of "Babel's Tower" ring out with delicious melancholy. This lower tempo makes the band sound doomier, along the lines of say Trouble.Their familiar triumphant sway returns on "Come the Flood".The vocal melodies where the chorus/ post- chorus bridge would fall are particularly strong, the song flows along at almost a drone pounding out the riff until they break it down into a more restrained strummed section. the title "the Seed of the Tyrants" sounds like it belongs on a Celtic Frost album, and it's not far from it vocally as they lean back into a faster more black metal approach here. The blur of trembling guitar sounds almost like a step backward for the band and I find myself waiting for it to break into something more interesting.But it doesn't however "Ghosts of the Charnel House" proves to be worth sitting through that song for. They launch into a more rock n roll riff , which is the catchiest on the album thus far.This works much better. The song ebbs and flows with more melodic and almost blues based break downs.

 There is also a very interesting and almost progressive riff on "the Alchemist's Head". Nemtheanga brings back his harsher vocal approach, which is effective here since they are not blasting away at black metal speeds. It took "Born to Night" a couple of listens for it to grab me, the first time I heard it the sonic throb of the song numbed me out to the point that it faded into the background.It opens with very delicate , almost post- rock guitar which lingers n for three and a half minutes before the metal kicks in. The vocal melody wanders over the riff more here almost acting as more of a dramatic narrative. They churn out more a folk tinged frolic with the riff on this one. They do build it up pretty impressively and will make you rethink calling other bands epic.

They close the album with the more folkish 'Wield Lightening to Split the Sun". Going into this you have to know the whole folk thing is part of their deal and they pull it off well. They deliver a much darker brand, which works better for me than some of the other larping clowns that skip around dressed out like vikings. If you are going to give folk metal a chance this is the band to do it with. I'll give this one a 9 as the step backwards into their older sound was almost a cop out considering the greatness they achieve at other places in the album that puts them way ahead of their peers, if they have any.

The Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums: 50 to 41

Diving into the top 50 of our Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time



50- Nachtmystium- Assassins:Black Meddle pt 1

Blake Judd and Friends redeem American Black Metal.



49- Opeth -Deliverance

The Swedish death metal band takes another step forward into the perfect blend of prog and heaviness, which they later get carried away with.



48- Life of Agony - the River Runs Red

This album defined the Road Runner era of metal in the 90's. It hit the perfect blend of darkness and groove where they others drifted into mall metal.



47-Helloween- Keeper of the Seven Keys

While they borrowed heavily from Maiden, this album influenced power metal for years to come.



46-Kamelot - Ghost Opera

Their fans might suggest albums preceding this one, but the songs on this album are flawless with the band at their peak.



45- Iced Earth- the Dark Saga

This 1996 album by America's beefiest power metal band, was based on the Spawn comic.



44- Diamond Head - Lighting to the Nations

The album Metallica stole most of their earlier riffs from.



43-Agalloch -Ashes Against the Grain

They hit the sweet spot on this album finding the perfect cross roads for their folk, black metal and post-rock influences to all meet at.



42-Mayhem- De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

Written in 1987 murder and suicide delayed this albums release until 1994.



41-Katatonia- Viva Emptiness

Bleak and depressing as it is full of melodic beauty, this Swedish band carved their niche with this album.