The fateful dark --- Savage Messiah --- 2014 (Earache)
British thrash act Savage Messiah released their third album this year, and it's a doozy. If you like doomy lyrics with a thrash rhythm and feel then you'll love this. Savage Messiah have been about since 2007, formed out of the ashes of founder David Silver's previous band, Headless Cross. It opens with “Iconocaust” (no it's not a misspelling) with a big guitar intro and the sound of sirens before guitarist Joff Bailey (no it is NOT!) joins Silver on the axework and the two rock out in fine style, Silver supplying the rather falsetto vocal as the song cannons along. From what I can see from a quick glance down the lyric sheet their songs seem to focus on the same basic anti-Christianity/religion themes as the likes of Venom and Slayer, though they are a little more subtle in putting their ideas across. By the time the opener is over I'm already a fan.
“Minority of one” continues the basic religion-is-fooling-you idea, with another big guitar barrage, Silver proving himself a very capable vocalist as well as a great fretjockey. There are some scorching solos in this song, to say nothing of the next one, which has a much faster vocal delivery and thunders along like an avenging angel looking for victims. “Cross of Babylon” is, um, another anti-religion track, and though it has a great hook in the chorus, I find myself worrying that Savage Messiah may end up suffering from all or most of their songs being written on the same themes and subjects. I certainly hope not, cos I'm getting into this bigtime, and I don't want to have to criticise them. Although the ending of “Cross of Babylon” is ripped right out of Bruce Dickinson's vocal playbook.
Well, “Hellblazer” doesn't move too far from the basic premise they're working with here, but then I guess with songs this good maybe the lyrical content doesn't matter so much. Yes, I'm a hypocrite. No seriously: I want there to be other ideas here, but hope is fading when I check the titles of the songs yet to come. “Live as one dead”. “Scavengers of mercy”. “The cursed Earth”. Hey, might that be about our favourite futuristic lawman? Fingers crossed, though not in that much expectation really. Anyway, while I've been babbling on about song themes this music has been really winning me over. Yes it's very Maiden in places, but that's no bad thing. It's heavy as hell and not too fast for my tastes, though still pretty headbangin'.
There's a really nice atmospheric guitar to open “Live as one already dead”, and then it's a slow beat and I wonder could it be a metal ballad? The vocal is gentle and low-key, belying the apocalyptic lyric:
”I see a world that's losing hope/ Empty prayers of life evoke/ The setting down”, and indeed the title, but yeah, though there's been some hard guitar it's generally stayed slow and I'd call this a metal ballad certainly. Evocative solo now, getting more insistent as it goes on, really taking the track. Favourite track so far. Big surprise, Trollheart: on a thrash metal album you choose the ballad. Oh, you unpredictable writer, you!
I suppose the title could be interpreted to mean, as I think it does from the lyric, live as if you've nothing to lose. Great song.
The title track is up next, and I'm not really sure what it's about. Could be an anti-war anthem, could be about Stonehenge. But it's a heavy marching cruncher, there's no doubt about that. One thing it seems Savage Messiah do very well is build infectious hooks into their songs; I feel I'll be singing these long after the album has ended. They really stick in the mind. This kind of reminds me of Kamelot's “March of Mephisto”, though it's its own song certainly. I had hoped “Zero Hour” might be something else, but it appears to envisage Armageddon. Oh well; it's still a great song, full of energy and power, anger and a sense of inevitability. Some fine guitar work here by the two guys and it really builds up to a strong ending.
“Hammered down” goes right off the rails, hurtling along with aggression and passion, but at least it seems to be more politically than religiously based, with a sort of double vocal going on in some of the lines. An anthem for youth, perhaps? Stirring stuff: you can't stop your head from shaking, even someone with as little hair as me! There's also something really effective about the way Silver sings
”Hammered” and the backup vocalists yell
”DOWN!” “Scavengers of mercy” returns to the standard “religion is wrong” theme of most of the songs on this album, and again it rockets along with superb performances from both Bailey and Silver himself, and a thunderous attack on the drums as Andrea Gorio gives it all he has with Stefano Selvatico laying down a tight, tense bassline.
Disappointingly for me, though hardly unexpected, the closer is not about Judge Dredd's desolate wasteland, rather “The cursed Earth” is just a basic accusation levelled at the wickedness of Man and his stripping of the planet's resources. Rhythm and basic melody reminds me of Maiden's “The Duellist” in places, trips along nicely on a sort of march-for-revenge beat. Some more great backup vocals on this, some fine vocal harmonies too and then in the midpoint a very unexpected little guitar solo that pulls everything back for a moment before it fires up fully and takes the song on into its shattering conclusion, heralding the end of the album and perhaps the beginning of a new musical relationship for me.
TRACKLISTING
Iconocaust
Minority of one
Cross of Babylon
Hellblazer
Live as one dead
The fateful dark
Zero Hour
Hammered down
Scavengers of mercy
The cursed Earth
I should mention that on my copy there are four extra tracks, each one a cover of a standard, beginning with Iron Maiden's “Be quick or be dead”, then “Lightning to the nations” by Diamond Head, followed by Motorhead's “Killers” and finishing with a version of “Of wolf and man” by Metallica. Each one is carried off with precision and talent, but I would rather have had two or three (or four) more original songs. Still, they're a decent addition, if somewhat superfluous.
I find it a little hard to believe that I have never heard of Savage Messiah before. I don't know how successful they are, but they certainly have the potential to be pretty huge. If you wanted a version of Maiden or Helloween that focussed more on kind of “black metal” lyrics, you would have to go far to beat these guys. They take the best elements of speed, thrash, black and even some standard NWOBHM-style metal and just meld it together in a way I have seldom if ever seen any other band manage. One to watch, certainly.