The Metal Files

Anthrax has dome some shuffling over the years in the singer department, that’s for sure.  Turbin’s out, Belladonna’s in, Belladonna’s out, Bush is in, Bush is out, Nelson is in, Nelson is out, Bush is back in, Bush pulls aside (or is put aside) to allow for some shows with Belladonna, Bush ih out, Belladonna is in.  Wow.  There’s no question that Anthrax’s most popular era is with Belladonna at the helm.  When we saw them last year, they sounded great overall and Joey’s voice sounded strong.

Anthrax released Worship Music last week and I’ve got 3+ listens into it which is enough to give it a proper review.  Let’s be clear in that while I love John Bush with Armored Saint, he just didn’t cut it for me with Anthrax, although seeing them live with John in 2006 on the We’ve Come For You All Tour and they were really good.

Worship Music opens with the selt-titled intro then blasts into Earth on Hell which starts out fast with blast beats.  That’s a twist.  The next 5 songs are pretty killer with Fight ‘em Til You Can’t, The Devil You Know and I’m Alive are my faves on the album.  In the End rounds the last of what I consider the best tracks on the album.  From here they really start changing things up a bit.  The riffs get a bit chunkier and it starts sounding a bit more “modern”.

The last 5 songs really put me off a bit where the previous tracks all work well together.  That being said, Joey sounds great and you don’t hear a lot of “fixes” in his stuff although there are some spots if heavy layering and “harmonizering”.  I am sick of that sound in metal these days.  It’s used as a cover up.  Just get it out there clean and in the raw and of you can’t then don’t try at all.  But this is good stuff.  The ending tracks aren’t bad by any means but they’re quite a departure from the first half of the album.

I will call them out for ripping themselves off though.  Remember Make Me Laugh from State of Euphoria?  They totally jacked some of the vocal melody in the song for Fight ‘em Till You Can’t.  It’s a goofy song lyrically (zombie apocalypse) but it’s well-sung and well written.

In general, don’t expect Spreading the Disease or Among The Living, although there are a few flashes from Among on here.  You get more of a State of Euphoria/Persistence of Time vibe in the whole thing with some modern metal vibes.  Benante is a badass on some of these tracks…in general he’s a beast on the drums anyway.  There are some really good guitar melodies here and there, something that you normally don’t get out of Anthrax.

It’s a good album and worthy of any Anthrax fan’s collection.  It’ll get more listens from me fore sure.  I give it a 7.5/10.  With more listens I see that number go up a bit.

Admittedly I’m a latecomer fan when it comes to Motorhead.  The first album of theirs I ever owned was 1916 and had really only heard a few songs by them throughout the 80s, Ace of Spades being the main one and a few friends of mine and I used to joke on it pretty hard.  It wasn’t until getting exposed to them in the early 2000s that I really decided to give them a chance, mainly because a band that I was in decided to play Cradle to the Grave.  I had seen them live prior to this, but mainly just to see Mikkey Dee.

In 2004 when I decided to put together a Motorhead tribute band, I was listening to a lot of their 80s material and I think it’s a pretty strong decade for them, much stronger than the 90s and 2000s for sure.  The early version of the tribute band did 2 songs from 1987′s Rock ‘n’ Roll, the title track and Eat The Rich.  We only played them in a few shows and they fell by the wayside.  I’d like to add Rock ‘n’ Roll back to the set.  I really dig the mid-80s era stuff as it seems to be more melodic on a lot of levels than the 70s era.  For me, there’s not really a bad song on here.  Blackheart and Stone Deaf In The USA are 2 big highlights for this album.

I also love the album cover, one of their best for sure.

To the hardcore “Aces of Spades-on-back” crew, I know this is blasphemy.  And I’m ok with that.  In general I prefer that stuff too, but this is a quality album.

It’s not very often that I hear an album that grabs me by the throat with one hand and slaps me around with the other.  The forthcoming release by Austin, TX’s Ancient VVisdom (yes, that is with 2 Vs) does just that.  I was fortunate enough to get a promo copy of the CD from the band and have been listening to it a lot in the last couple of days.

I first heard the record a week ago riding around with their bassist and I just sat in his van tripping out a bit.  Trying to describe this band’s sound is not so easy.  It’s metal, but not what most would typify as metal.  My first thought when hearing them was mid-era Bathory with much better vocals and a lot less drum work.  Bathory’s “One Rode To Asa Bay” was the first thing that popped to mind.  That’s not a bad thing as I liked some of the more melodic Bathory stuff.  This album is very mellow…but heavy.

But this is still a bit different.  Nice clean vocals, acoustic guitar backed by electric more in the background for enhancement.  Drums are minimal, more used for percussive effect and not necessarily for just “playing the beat”.   All of the songs are catchy and very memorable.  Nathan Opposition’s (f. of Integrity) vocals fit perfectly.  The album conjures a little early Pink Floyd as well and to a lesser extent and surely unintentionally I hear some of the atmospheric tones used on Tiamat’s Wildhoney album, which was hugely influenced by early Pink Floyd as well.

The one rub for a lot of people may be the overtly satanic content of the lyrics.  You won’t miss it when listening to it as it’s right there.  For me personally, I’m indifferent to lyrics by most bands.  If it sounds good it sounds good…and this sounds good.

I’m attaching a song that they posted on YouTube but it will not be on the June 7, 2011 release on Shine Box Recordings.  It will at least give you an idea of what’s in store.  Highlights for me are the songs Alter Reality, Necessary Evil, Lost Civilization and World of Flesh, especially the 2nd half of that song.  The riff is just wonderful!

All I can say from here is buy it when it comes out.  It gets a 10/10 from me.

The new Pentagram came out today!  I had pre-ordered it a few days ago and right when I got up this morning, I fired up my PC and let the download start.  All total today I’ve got 4 listens into it including letting it play while I am writing this and feel that it’s enough to give it a proper review.

I’ve got to say that I didn’t really care for any of the Pentagram stuff after Victor Griffin’s departure from the band in 1994 (no offense to Joe Hasselvander), it just was missing something special…and obviously it was VG’s guitar playing.  He’s got a great style that is just right for Bobby’s vocal stylings.

I had heard 2 songs from the album already and had already acquainted myself with them pretty well in the last week or 2; those songs being Call The Man and 8.  Both tracks have a great feel to them and sort of show a “mature” sound to the band.  This album seems to be a little more melodic than albums past.  Bobby’s voice sounds great…nice and strong.  Clean living has certainly given his voice some power again.  The song Into The Ground has some good vocal harmonies that I assume are Bobby’s.  Having downloaded the album, I have no liner notes to check.  That’s one drawback of going all digital these days.  Victor’s signature sound is all over this album.  His solos are great as expected.

The songs 8 and Windmills and Chimes really show a new side to their music that I hadn’t heard before.  They are a little more progressive and not so typical stoner/doom like they get classified as.  Windmills and Chimes (remake) is really quite a beautiful song and one of my favorites on the album for sure.  The song American Dream sounds similar to 8 when it starts but quickly goes in a different direction.  Walk In Blue Light (remake from First Daze Here) and Nothing Left really sound like they could have been used on Relentless or Day of Reckoning.  Great classic sounding Pentagram!  I have to admit that the only song that hasn’t grabbed me yet is Death In 1st Person.  It’s not a bad song at all, but just doesn’t hook me in like the rest of the album.

The only negative thing I can say about the album is in the production.  It’s a wee tad muddy and Bobby seems a little too low in the mix…but that’s just my opinion.  Otherwise I think it’s an awesome return to form by the band.

In general, it sounds like Bobby and Victor had fun making this record.  It’s got really good energy and positive vibes to it and I can undoubtedly say that if you have ever even remotely liked this band, you’ll like this album.

8.5/10 if I was forced to put a number on it.

*UPDATE* – I didn’t realize until yesterday (4/13/11) that most of the tracks on here are remakes.  While I am a little disappointed, the album still deserves the rating I gave it.  BUY IT!  Don’t download illegally.

Track Listing:

1. Treat Me Right
2. Call The Man
3. Into The Ground
4. 8
5. Everything’s Turning To Night
6. Windmills And Chimes
7. American Dream
8. Walk In Blue Light
9. Horseman
10. Death In 1st Person
11. Nothing Left
12. All Your Sins – Reprise

Yours truly and Bobby before their first of 2 shows at SxSW 2011.

White Summer*Black Winter

I like a lot of instrumental bands but I’ve always found it difficult to find quality instrumental rock bands that didn’t write their stuff to sound like they were writing around having a singer.  Philadelphia’s Serpent Throne satisfies my instrumental craving perfectly.

I met the two guitarists, Demian Fenton and Don Argott, at the premier for the movie Last Days Here during the SxSW 2011 Film and Music Festival.  You can read my review of their movie here.  They are the guys behind the production/direction of the movie and in talking with Demian after the flick, he mentioned that he was in a band and I had forgotten about it until a few days after seeing the movie as I was wrapped up in a lot of SxSW activities.

Since then I have been spinning their stuff practically non-stop.  Metal has a lot of sub-genres and these guys would typically be classified in the stoner rock and doom categories.  To call them Black Sabbath worship is too easy.  Pretty much all metal bands worship Sabbath whether they know it or not.  Serpent Throne take it to a bit of a different level in my opinion.  They use lots great dual guitar harmonies that are reminiscent of Thin Lizzy in places.  I hear hints of Trouble (S/T LP era) in there as well, intended or not.  There are some cool hints of 70s Scorpions as well as Uriah Heep and Wishbone Ash.  Maybe some Cactus too.  It’s a nice blend of great rock and metal without sounding like they are just ripping off all of the classic bands.

I think it’s pretty tough for an instrumental band of this genre to continue to write stuff and keep it interesting and Serpent Throne has done that

The Battle of Old Crow

with all 3 of their albums: Ride Satan Ride (2007), The Battle of Old Crow (2009) and White Summer*Black Winter (2010).  I highly recommend picking up all of their stuff.  Battle of Old Crow and White Summer*Black Winter are available for download from Amazon and iTunes.  I had to buy the CD for Ride Satan Ride and convert it to MP3 myself as it’s not available for legal download.

Hopefully I’ll catch these guys live sometime, even if it means heading to Philly for it.  Would be cool to have them hit Austin for a show sometime.  I think they’d do well here, especially if they were in on a SxSW gig.  So, nice work, guys!  Hope all good things come out of Last Days Here as well.