The Playlist of Life --- Trollheart's resurrected Journal

The Batlord · 10-11-2015, 12:01 PM

I think I might have discovered the problem. You probably listen to this on bitchass computer speakers, don't you? This is headphones music, man. If you having to be able to hear your sister means that you can't properly immerse yourself, then it's like trying to drown while wearing a scuba tank.

Trollheart · 10-11-2015, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

I think I might have discovered the problem. You probably listen to this on bitchass computer speakers, don't you? This is headphones music, man. If you having to be able to hear your sister means that you can't properly immerse yourself, then it's like trying to drown while wearing a scuba tank.

Nah, I listened to it well enough. I can't use headphones, true, but I have a decent amp and powerful speakers, so sorry, no, you don't get to rain on my parade that way. There's no problem: I just don't find this guy that disturbing, for the most part. And once you read the interviews with him and realise he's a living, breathing human being, it's much easier to relate to his music and not be appalled by it, though the second album did shrivel my soul a little, so take heart!

Trollheart · 10-11-2015, 03:11 PM

I find it perhaps odd that Batty has chosen a grindcore album for his next attempt, as he knows what I think of the grind; still, I suppose there are only so many subgenres he can choose from, and again maybe he's holding back the best (worst) till last. Whether that is the case or not, it seems we have approximately forty minutes of this album to get through, and nobody will, I think, be surprised at a) my reaction and quite likely b) the dearth of things I can say about it. Oh well, let's get it over with huh? An Iron Maiden album review awaits...

Burn the Priest --- Burn the Priest --- 1999

Scary album cover eh? Talk about doing exactly what it says on the tin! Not sure why the nuns are frying up Father Wotsit though: maybe he touched them up? Or more likely, didn't. Maybe they're possessed by the Devil, or worse, PMS. Maybe he opined that their arses looked too big in those cassocks. Whatever, they're pissed obviously and it looks like they're certainly giving him their warmest regards.

So, enough nervous humour to delay the actual listening of the album, let's hit play and see just how bad this is. It's bad. Right away there's those hammering guitars, apocalyptic drums and someone screeching as if his balls have been caught in a revolving door and nobody has noticed as he goes around and around, screaming in pain. Sure let's see if they have any interesting lyrics. Hah! Thought they were referring to our guys there when they write “Bitterness fuels the mods”, but it's mode, not mods. Meh. Not much in the lyric really. Hold on a moment! Is that ... is that ... melody I hear? Jesus! It's slowing down and the guy is actually making an attempt to sing! Well, a proto-attempt, doomed to failure, but still. It's sped up now but just for a minute or so I could actually hear the guitars playing and not just firing cannons of riffs at me. Very interesting. Hmm. “With just a flick of the opal banded finger I will throw you into a concentric mental decline”? Come over here and say that. Er, I mean...

Yeah, there's some decent riffing here. I have no idea where we are, think it's the third track, but it's not as brutal as the legendary Cryptopsy that nearly blew me to shards last year.

Oh come on! Now they're slowing down with a doomy bass and it's crunching along. This is not half bad, for grindcore that is. Better than what I heard of Swarmmm anyway (sorry Jansz) and a nice sort of hybrid of grindcore, death and doom metal. Quite a long song too, at over five minutes. These things normally blast by at about a minute, two being seen as an epic. Oh I have to check out the lyric to “Goatfish”! Aw, how disappointing. It's not about a half-goat, half-fish creature at all, and they only mention the name as the last word. Boo. I want goatfish! Vote goatfish! You know, I can actually make out this guy's voice at times. Vote goatfish! “Salvation” has the most stripped-down percussion I've ever heard, now we're back to growling. He needs a void in his life, it would seem, but she's taken all his nothing. Greedy cow. Vote goatfish!

Well, two albums in and I'm quite enjoying myself. Guess I'm becoming a little inured to music I would never have suffered through before. Not that I like this, but it doesn't disturb or scare me the way it would have last year. Another long one in “Autumn lies” (no I will not take it for “Trollheart's Theme Park”!) with again a slow, doomy guitar line leading in the intro. Got to give them credit for the line “As the leaves fall yellowing like faded paper”. Quite poetic. No doubt the falling leaves will be compared to his heart, soul or penis. No, something to do with crucifixion apparently. Vote goatfish! Percussion really gets going here and it trundles along nicely. Nearly halfway through now; not fun but not torture either.

I guess Batty had hoped the title of the next track would refer to me, but “Suffering bastard” doesn't bother me; it just comes and goes, and it's only just over two minutes long. It also has, rather amazingly, a very Iron Maiden riff in it. Even more astoundingly, it's the first time I hear the singer speak, and you can make out what he says. It's only for a moment, but still. “Buckeye” is something of a mess though: the vocalist alternates between screaming and growling, unless there are two of them? No, just the very unassumingly-named Randy Blythe, so I guess I have to give him some credit for range if nothing else. Music has slowed a little now too. Vote goatfish! The opening lines of “Lame” could really apply to most of these lyrics: ”Whine, whine, whine!” Guess there isn't a grindcore band that you could characterise as happy with their lot. Like a bunch of angsty teenagers, though there are some good lines in “Preaching to the converted”: ”A Trojan Horse full of Zyklon”, ”Judas's coffers overflow” and they even nod to The Jam with the opening line ”The public wants what the public gets” however they fail to continue on with what would surely be an appropriate second line: ”But I want nothing this society's got”. Vote goatfish!

Another slower, almost boogey rhythm to this, much slower than the bulk of their material, though of course it does soon kick up, while “Departure hymn” is really more thrash than grindcore, actually not bad at all. The album ends then on “Duane”, which I had feared was fifteen minutes long, but Batty tells me (surprisingly kindly for him; think he would have left me to stew) that the length of the track is due to a “hidden” one at the end: in reality, it's the standard two minute fare. With a surprisingly reflective guitar to start, though that of course gets kicked aside fairly quickly and we're off, hurtling towards the end. The hidden track should probably have remained hidden!

Oh, I see now that this band is the same Lamb of God whose As the Palaces Burn I reviewed previously; they changed their name. Kind of makes more sense now. Meh, I sort of hated it but it wasn't quite what I'd call torture. Halfway there and again I ask

Oh, and vote goatfish!

The Batlord · 10-11-2015, 04:59 PM

Don't know where got the idea that this was a grindcore album. It's a conglomeration of groove metal (like Pantera), thrash, 90s hardcore, along with elements of death metal, and yes, a bit of grindcore. But this is most certainly not a grindcore album.

And it's kind of hard to followup Merzbow. There's not much if any metal that can compete. Maybe if I could trick you into thinking that Metal Machine Music was metal...

**Frownland** · 10-11-2015, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Don't know where got the idea that this was a grindcore album. It's a conglomeration of groove metal (like Pantera), thrash, 90s hardcore, along with elements of death metal, and yes, a bit of grindcore. But this is most certainly not a grindcore album.

And it's kind of hard to followup Merzbow. There's not much if any metal that can compete. Maybe if I could trick you into thinking that Metal Machine Music was metal...

Well, maybe not Metal Machine Music, but how about Metal Music Machine?

Trollheart · 10-12-2015, 05:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Don't know where got the idea that this was a grindcore album. It's a conglomeration of groove metal (like Pantera), thrash, 90s hardcore, along with elements of death metal, and yes, a bit of grindcore. But this is most certainly not a grindcore album.

And it's kind of hard to followup Merzbow. There's not much if any metal that can compete. Maybe if I could trick you into thinking that Metal Machine Music was metal...

From here
Burn the Priest - Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives

No more changes though. You've made my bed of nails and I'll lie in it. Still, exciting news to come. Watch this space. Actually don't; watch the main forum....

The Batlord · 10-12-2015, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

From here
Burn the Priest - Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives

No more changes though. You've made my bed of nails and I'll lie in it. Still, exciting news to come. Watch this space. Actually don't; watch the main forum....

Notice that grindcore is at the very end of "post-thrash/death metal/grindcore". And yet you hone on it. Use your head, man.

Trollheart · 10-12-2015, 05:26 AM

April is the cruellest month, they say, but not for metal albums. One of the foremost bands in the NWOBHM, and one of the handful still around at this point, Raven released their twelfth album in this month. So has the fire gone out or are they just as hard and “athletic” (as they like to describe themselves) as ever?

ExtermiNation --- Raven --- 2015 (Steamhammer)

Introduction: Although drummers have changed over the forty years Raven have been in existence, the core lineup of the band, in brothers Mark and John Gallagher (yes, two very different Gallagher brothers!) remains to this day, and they continue to be the driving force behind the band. Even when a wall collapsed on Mark and crushed his legs in 2001, he fought on and even did some gigs in a wheelchair --- now that's metal! --- before making a full recovery, and the band only took four years off to allow him to recuperate. The album was crowdfunded (seems to be the way things are going these days) and has been hailed as a modern classic.

Track by track

1. Destroy all monsters: Powerful guitar intro with of course the sound of Godzilla and friends in the background, then we're off and running, and it might as well be 1979 again. Sweet. Chorus is bitchin'. Love the shouts of “Exterminate!” too. Powerful, in-your-face ending.
2. Tomorrow: More grinding, fast but not as frenetic as “Destroy all monsters”. John's voice is certainly still in fine shape.
3. It's not what you got: And they just keep rockin'! Bit of a tired idea if I'm honest, and for guys who are now in their fifties it doesn't quite ring true. Still, it's good fun and they obviously have the energy and passion required for such a song.
4. Fight: Kind of doing a Tank/Motorhead hybrid here. Decent song. I like the line “Gonna hear this lion roar!” which perhaps glorifies their British rock credentials in the face of so much American metal, and reminds the young 'uns who started it all. Slows down with considerable menace later in the song, then kicks back up again for the ending. Great shredding from Mark: he's still got it.
5. Battle march/Tank treads (The blood runs red): Speaking of menace, this is loaded with it. Kind of reminds me of Metallica around the Master of Puppets era.
6. Feeding the monster: You can certainly feel breathless listening to this album. It just doesn't let up even for a second. Another fast, uptempo rocker with a great vocal line from John.
7. Fire burns within: Just a thumping, stomping rock anthem.
8. Scream: Flies along at speed with some great percussion
9. One more day: Yeah, another good rocker but it's kind of sounding all the same to a degree now.
10. Thunder down under: I think this is a tribute to AC/DC. Its okay but nothing too special to be fair. Losing interest a little now.
11. No surrender: Another fast rocker, good shredding, but nothing special.
12. Golden dawn: Okay, finally! Something different. Seems like it might be a ballad, with a nice soft chimy guitar --- no. Just an instrumental, and a very short one at that. Nice though: it breaks up all the hard rockin' headbanging.
13. Silver bullet: And back we go to it. Will this be anything better? No, it's decent but again just straightforward metal. Nothing wrong with that, but nothing to really keep my attention.
14. River of no return: This sounds so much better. Is this an actual ballad? Nice slow kind of moany guitar with an ominous feeling to it. No, this is really good. Finally. As we reach the end of the album.

15. Malice in Geordieland: This is an extra track. I normally don't do these, but I like the title so will give it a chance. On the basis of most of what I've heard though I don't expect much. Funny Geordie-speak at the beginning, then it becomes another mad rocker. They're singing in that Newcastle accent so there's that. Not half bad. Way-aye man!

Conclusion: I don't know why people say this is the best Raven ever did. I much prefer their earlier material, and I get the impression the Gallaghers are trying to regain their youth and live and play as if they were twenty again. They certainly have the energy and the commitment, but to be perfectly honest, one or two tracks aside, they don't seem to have the songwriting chops to be putting out albums still. Quite disappointed really, and I liked Raven.

Trollheart · 10-12-2015, 05:36 AM

British steel (1980)

I guess you could say this might be where the tide begins to turn, certainly in my case anyway. This is only one of two Priest albums I had heard before beginning this discography, and I reviewed it in my journal “Classic Albums I have never heard”, where I was very impressed with it. That was a short review though, so here we'll be going into it in some more detail. The first of their albums to give them a high placing in the UK (number four) and a decent enough showing in the US (38), it also features three of their biggest hit singles.

“Rapid fire” is a song I first heard on the compilation album “Killer Watts”, which I featured in last year's Metal Month presentation. I wasn't impressed at it then, but on listening to the album I like it a lot better. It really grinds along on the twin guitars, driven on the galloping percussion of new drummer Dave Holland, and Halford is by now established in his characteristic growl. The songs have got progressively (!) shorter and snappier, with nothing on this album over five minutes, bar one which just overshoots by four seconds. It's no real wonder that there were singles from this; much of Priest's former output was too long and rambling to lend itself well to radio airplay. There's great aggression in this opener, and it continues into “Metal gods” (what a great title!) as the song is taken by a great thumping, marching beat and reminds me of Saxon at their height. Great guitar work too. The chorus could have a bit more life in it though, I have to say.

OK, who doesn't know “Breaking the law”? Even I, with my minimal experience of Priest, knew that song when I were a lad. It's just one of those songs, and even got parodied recently on The Simpsons when the band played it as “Respectin' the law --- copyright law!” even if they mistakenly called Priest a Death Metal band!

It just gets the blood flowing, trundling along like an unstoppable thing that can't be stopped, and the chorus, though simple, is perfectly suited to the song. Of course, I guess there would be controversy around the sort of “teaching our kids bad lessons”, but then, that's metal, and people's perception of it outside the genre. Good use of the guitars as police sirens. It's a great example of how a song can be such a classic and yet so short: it only runs to just over two and a half minutes.

“Grinder” does what it says on the tin, snarling and snapping though it's not as slow as the title would suggest. The next single I've never liked; I find “United” a real dirge, always have and always will. The sentiment is fine, but it just lacks any energy, anger or sincerity, not to mention the lyric is bargain-basement beginner songwriter. Well, that's just me. It did well as a single so what do I know? I must admit, I find the title of the next one a bit odd: “You don't have to be old to be wise”? I'm not sure “the kids” want to be seen to be wise, and aren't Judas Priest all about havin' a good time? Still, it rocks well, kind of harks back a little to the Plant-influenced first two albums to a degree, but doesn't seem too much out of context musicwise.

Again, most of us would know “Living after midnight” as it was another successful single, quite a bit of the old seventies rock/southern boogie in it I feel, but you probably are familiar with it so I don't need to describe it. Great rocker. Things slow down then as we near the end of the album and head into “The rage”, with a big growling guitar intro and a slouching, staggering rhythm with a powerful vocal from Halford. Killer guitar solo. We end then on “Steeler” (I believe that was also the name of one of the bands we featured earlier?) which kicks out the stays and brings everything to a frenetic close. Fantastic choppy guitar ending, just love that, then the single chord finishes it off perfectly.

TRACKLISTING

1. Rapid fire
2. Metal gods
3. Breaking the law
4. Grinder
5. United
6. You don't have to be old to be wise
7. Living after midnight
8. The rage
9. Steeler

The feeling I got when I short-reviewed this for CAIHNH remains: so far my favourite JP album by a long shot, and I hope that's not just because there are three singles on it that I know. It's punchier overall than the albums that have gone before, there's little of the darker imagery that hung around them like a pall in some cases, and the band sound like they're really having fun. Whether or not this would last we'll see when we review their next album.

Trollheart · 10-12-2015, 10:09 AM

Long before they were famous, before they made those epic albums and became a major part of the American power metal scene, I can honestly say I saw potential in Virgin Steele. I loved their second album and knew they would go on to great things. Well, I would say that, wouldn't I? But the truth is that I did hear of them through Kerrang! and took the advice of that bible of metal, shelling out for this. I never regretted it.

Guardians of the Flame --- Virgin Steele --- 1983 (Music For Nations)

This was of course the last album to feature founder member and guitarist Jack Starr, as David DeFeis tightened his grip on the band and pushed them in a musical direction that Starr did not agree with, but that would, in time, prove to be the right one as Virgin Steele wrote their name in fire across the heavy metal firmament. Poetic, eh? Whaddya mean, you don't care? I don't know, some people ... I go to all this trouble, don't know why I bother... Anyway, this then is one of the two albums that show how Virgin Steele could have gone.

The keyboards of David DeFeis are already clearly in evidence as we open with “Don't say goodbye (tonight)” and his voice, though a little rough here, is still one that you can tell is going to be ringing out across the metal firm --- oh, I said that already didn't I? Well, let's just say you could be sure you were going to be hearing this guy again! That powerful romping beat that would become a staple of power metal is there, and for the moment Starr is held back a little in check, then he rips off a fine solo and you can tell just how good a guitarist he is. I guess you could say it's a little repetitive, now that I listen to it, but “Burn the sun” is a pure metal rocker, with plenty of histrionics both from Starr and DeFeis, the latter utilising that operatic style of vocal that was being pioneered by the likes of Halford and Dickinson, and would be taken up by Eric Adams, then “Life of crime” is kind of more in the Kiss mould, with a big swaggering strut as DeFeis snarls out the vocal with proud defiance.

It's got quite a hook in it, the keys not as prominent as they were on the first track, DeFeis stamping nevertheless his personality all over the song, though Starr takes charge of course for the guitar solo. Always seems like these two are trying to one-up each other, though we know who won that eventual war in the end. The keys are back for the dark, dramatic intro into the seven-minute epic “The Redeemer”, which shows a glimpse into what would be the future of this band as their path sort of dovetailed with that of Manowar into sweeping sagas of battle and retelling of the stories of heroes of legend. Oddly enough, the lyric on this one seems to suggest a corruption of the tales of Moses coming down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, and whether they're poking fun at religion or are in earnest I don't know, but the song features a totally smoking solo from Starr and then, of course, just because he can, a superb keyboard run from DeFeis. There's room in this seven-minuter for them both to set out their stalls, and they certainly do.

“Birth through fire” is a short instrumental that leads into the title track, which opens with a big dirty guitar and rocks along with purpose and again shows the idea of where Virgin Steele were heading, a direction Starr, not happy with, would fight against and end up being fired from his own band. Like Manowar's “Into glory ride” or “Battle hymn”, the song is full of grandiose self-importance and boasting --- “We are the guardians of the flame/ Masters of the ancient rites” --- but this is something that would go on throughout power metal and is I suppose never to be taken that seriously. A great keyboard solo by DeFeis kicks off a sort of warrior chorus while Starr burns up the frets as the song reaches its triumphant climax.

The introduction to “Metal City” shows the range of DeFeis as he hits notes I've only really heard Gillan and Adams hit before, then the song trundles along and in comparison to the title track it's pretty basic and perhaps reflects the band's own struggles as they catalogue the obstacles they have overcome: ”We used to be nice but times got tough.../ Paid our dues, got burned a few/ Now we want action!” The pace speeds up for “Hell or high water” with the lyric making for perhaps disturbing reading: ”I won't let you leave me/ Cos I've got too much pride/ You better believe me/ I'll never let you go.” Obsessive much? This idea of “I get what I want” continues into “Go all the way” and perhaps the two songs tell us more than we would want to know about Jack Starr's attitude towards women. Neither songs are that great, to be honest, but then we get the closer and things change completely.

“A cry in the night” is one of only two on the album (not counting the instrumental) penned by David DeFeis solo, and there surely is something in that they're the opening and closing tracks, and also by far the two best on the album. Lyrically, both songs are the polar opposite of Starr's, with DeFeis much more vulnerable and prepared to listen to his lover, with none of the arrogant bravado and braggadacio of Starr's writing. Unsurprisingly, “A cry in the night” is based around a solid piano melody, a power ballad on which DeFeis exercises the tender side of his vocals, and also manages to write quite an anthem, with a great hook in the song. Whereas “Go all the way” and “Hell or high water” are, on the whole, forgettable and formulaic, “A cry in the night” utilises a classical piece, Canon in D Major by Pachelbel, and therefore makes a much better impression and closes the album as well as it was opened.

TRACKLISTING AND RATINGS

1. Don't say goodbye (tonight)
2. Burn the sun
3. Life of crime
4. The Redeemer
5. Birth through fire
6. Guardians of the flame
7. Metal City
8. Hell or high water
9. Go all the way
10. A cry in the night

It's not hard to see where the two men's visions for Virgin Steele diverged sharply. While both are excellent musicans, you can note in Starr's lyrics a very basic, metal-and-roll idea, with the usual subjects such as living the life, women and beer taking centre stage, whereas DeFeis concentrates more here on more esoteric, fantasy elements, which is the path the band finally took and which allowed them to reap such wide rewards in the metal community, leading to such albums as The House of Atreus, Invictus and of course The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. The only time Starr and DeFeis seem to agree and share a vision is when they write together, as in the title track, but the rest of the time they're diametrically opposed lyrically, and this tug-of-war would eventually be won by DeFeis, who would fire the founder of the band, and who would be proven right to do so, as Virgin Steele went on to become one of the pillars of American power metal in the following decades.

10-11-2015, 03:11 PM	#3 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	I find it perhaps odd that Batty has chosen a grindcore album for his next attempt, as he knows what I think of the grind; still, I suppose there are only so many subgenres he can choose from, and again maybe he's holding back the best (worst) till last. Whether that is the case or not, it seems we have approximately forty minutes of this album to get through, and nobody will, I think, be surprised at a) my reaction and quite likely b) the dearth of things I can say about it. Oh well, let's get it over with huh? An Iron Maiden album review awaits... Burn the Priest --- Burn the Priest --- 1999 Scary album cover eh? Talk about doing exactly what it says on the tin! Not sure why the nuns are frying up Father Wotsit though: maybe he touched them up? Or more likely, didn't. Maybe they're possessed by the Devil, or worse, PMS. Maybe he opined that their arses looked too big in those cassocks. Whatever, they're pissed obviously and it looks like they're certainly giving him their warmest regards. So, enough nervous humour to delay the actual listening of the album, let's hit play and see just how bad this is. It's bad. Right away there's those hammering guitars, apocalyptic drums and someone screeching as if his balls have been caught in a revolving door and nobody has noticed as he goes around and around, screaming in pain. Sure let's see if they have any interesting lyrics. Hah! Thought they were referring to our guys there when they write “Bitterness fuels the mods”, but it's mode, not mods. Meh. Not much in the lyric really. Hold on a moment! Is that ... is that ... melody I hear? Jesus! It's slowing down and the guy is actually making an attempt to sing! Well, a proto-attempt, doomed to failure, but still. It's sped up now but just for a minute or so I could actually hear the guitars playing and not just firing cannons of riffs at me. Very interesting. Hmm. “With just a flick of the opal banded finger I will throw you into a concentric mental decline”? Come over here and say that. Er, I mean... Yeah, there's some decent riffing here. I have no idea where we are, think it's the third track, but it's not as brutal as the legendary Cryptopsy that nearly blew me to shards last year. Oh come on! Now they're slowing down with a doomy bass and it's crunching along. This is not half bad, for grindcore that is. Better than what I heard of Swarmmm anyway (sorry Jansz) and a nice sort of hybrid of grindcore, death and doom metal. Quite a long song too, at over five minutes. These things normally blast by at about a minute, two being seen as an epic. Oh I have to check out the lyric to “Goatfish”! Aw, how disappointing. It's not about a half-goat, half-fish creature at all, and they only mention the name as the last word. Boo. I want goatfish! Vote goatfish! You know, I can actually make out this guy's voice at times. Vote goatfish! “Salvation” has the most stripped-down percussion I've ever heard, now we're back to growling. He needs a void in his life, it would seem, but she's taken all his nothing. Greedy cow. Vote goatfish! Well, two albums in and I'm quite enjoying myself. Guess I'm becoming a little inured to music I would never have suffered through before. Not that I like this, but it doesn't disturb or scare me the way it would have last year. Another long one in “Autumn lies” (no I will not take it for “Trollheart's Theme Park”!) with again a slow, doomy guitar line leading in the intro. Got to give them credit for the line “As the leaves fall yellowing like faded paper”. Quite poetic. No doubt the falling leaves will be compared to his heart, soul or penis. No, something to do with crucifixion apparently. Vote goatfish! Percussion really gets going here and it trundles along nicely. Nearly halfway through now; not fun but not torture either. I guess Batty had hoped the title of the next track would refer to me, but “Suffering bastard” doesn't bother me; it just comes and goes, and it's only just over two minutes long. It also has, rather amazingly, a very Iron Maiden riff in it. Even more astoundingly, it's the first time I hear the singer speak, and you can make out what he says. It's only for a moment, but still. “Buckeye” is something of a mess though: the vocalist alternates between screaming and growling, unless there are two of them? No, just the very unassumingly-named Randy Blythe, so I guess I have to give him some credit for range if nothing else. Music has slowed a little now too. Vote goatfish! The opening lines of “Lame” could really apply to most of these lyrics: ”Whine, whine, whine!” Guess there isn't a grindcore band that you could characterise as happy with their lot. Like a bunch of angsty teenagers, though there are some good lines in “Preaching to the converted”: ”A Trojan Horse full of Zyklon”, ”Judas's coffers overflow” and they even nod to The Jam with the opening line ”The public wants what the public gets” however they fail to continue on with what would surely be an appropriate second line: ”But I want nothing this society's got”. Vote goatfish! Another slower, almost boogey rhythm to this, much slower than the bulk of their material, though of course it does soon kick up, while “Departure hymn” is really more thrash than grindcore, actually not bad at all. The album ends then on “Duane”, which I had feared was fifteen minutes long, but Batty tells me (surprisingly kindly for him; think he would have left me to stew) that the length of the track is due to a “hidden” one at the end: in reality, it's the standard two minute fare. With a surprisingly reflective guitar to start, though that of course gets kicked aside fairly quickly and we're off, hurtling towards the end. The hidden track should probably have remained hidden! Oh, I see now that this band is the same Lamb of God whose As the Palaces Burn I reviewed previously; they changed their name. Kind of makes more sense now. Meh, I sort of hated it but it wasn't quite what I'd call torture. Halfway there and again I ask Oh, and vote goatfish! __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

10-12-2015, 05:26 AM	#8 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	April is the cruellest month, they say, but not for metal albums. One of the foremost bands in the NWOBHM, and one of the handful still around at this point, Raven released their twelfth album in this month. So has the fire gone out or are they just as hard and “athletic” (as they like to describe themselves) as ever? ExtermiNation --- Raven --- 2015 (Steamhammer) Introduction: Although drummers have changed over the forty years Raven have been in existence, the core lineup of the band, in brothers Mark and John Gallagher (yes, two very different Gallagher brothers!) remains to this day, and they continue to be the driving force behind the band. Even when a wall collapsed on Mark and crushed his legs in 2001, he fought on and even did some gigs in a wheelchair --- now that's metal! --- before making a full recovery, and the band only took four years off to allow him to recuperate. The album was crowdfunded (seems to be the way things are going these days) and has been hailed as a modern classic. Track by track 1. Destroy all monsters: Powerful guitar intro with of course the sound of Godzilla and friends in the background, then we're off and running, and it might as well be 1979 again. Sweet. Chorus is bitchin'. Love the shouts of “Exterminate!” too. Powerful, in-your-face ending. 2. Tomorrow: More grinding, fast but not as frenetic as “Destroy all monsters”. John's voice is certainly still in fine shape. 3. It's not what you got: And they just keep rockin'! Bit of a tired idea if I'm honest, and for guys who are now in their fifties it doesn't quite ring true. Still, it's good fun and they obviously have the energy and passion required for such a song. 4. Fight: Kind of doing a Tank/Motorhead hybrid here. Decent song. I like the line “Gonna hear this lion roar!” which perhaps glorifies their British rock credentials in the face of so much American metal, and reminds the young 'uns who started it all. Slows down with considerable menace later in the song, then kicks back up again for the ending. Great shredding from Mark: he's still got it. 5. Battle march/Tank treads (The blood runs red): Speaking of menace, this is loaded with it. Kind of reminds me of Metallica around the Master of Puppets era. 6. Feeding the monster: You can certainly feel breathless listening to this album. It just doesn't let up even for a second. Another fast, uptempo rocker with a great vocal line from John. 7. Fire burns within: Just a thumping, stomping rock anthem. 8. Scream: Flies along at speed with some great percussion 9. One more day: Yeah, another good rocker but it's kind of sounding all the same to a degree now. 10. Thunder down under: I think this is a tribute to AC/DC. Its okay but nothing too special to be fair. Losing interest a little now. 11. No surrender: Another fast rocker, good shredding, but nothing special. 12. Golden dawn: Okay, finally! Something different. Seems like it might be a ballad, with a nice soft chimy guitar --- no. Just an instrumental, and a very short one at that. Nice though: it breaks up all the hard rockin' headbanging. 13. Silver bullet: And back we go to it. Will this be anything better? No, it's decent but again just straightforward metal. Nothing wrong with that, but nothing to really keep my attention. 14. River of no return: This sounds so much better. Is this an actual ballad? Nice slow kind of moany guitar with an ominous feeling to it. No, this is really good. Finally. As we reach the end of the album. 15. Malice in Geordieland: This is an extra track. I normally don't do these, but I like the title so will give it a chance. On the basis of most of what I've heard though I don't expect much. Funny Geordie-speak at the beginning, then it becomes another mad rocker. They're singing in that Newcastle accent so there's that. Not half bad. Way-aye man! Conclusion: I don't know why people say this is the best Raven ever did. I much prefer their earlier material, and I get the impression the Gallaghers are trying to regain their youth and live and play as if they were twenty again. They certainly have the energy and the commitment, but to be perfectly honest, one or two tracks aside, they don't seem to have the songwriting chops to be putting out albums still. Quite disappointed really, and I liked Raven. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

10-12-2015, 05:36 AM	#9 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	British steel (1980) I guess you could say this might be where the tide begins to turn, certainly in my case anyway. This is only one of two Priest albums I had heard before beginning this discography, and I reviewed it in my journal “Classic Albums I have never heard”, where I was very impressed with it. That was a short review though, so here we'll be going into it in some more detail. The first of their albums to give them a high placing in the UK (number four) and a decent enough showing in the US (38), it also features three of their biggest hit singles. “Rapid fire” is a song I first heard on the compilation album “Killer Watts”, which I featured in last year's Metal Month presentation. I wasn't impressed at it then, but on listening to the album I like it a lot better. It really grinds along on the twin guitars, driven on the galloping percussion of new drummer Dave Holland, and Halford is by now established in his characteristic growl. The songs have got progressively (!) shorter and snappier, with nothing on this album over five minutes, bar one which just overshoots by four seconds. It's no real wonder that there were singles from this; much of Priest's former output was too long and rambling to lend itself well to radio airplay. There's great aggression in this opener, and it continues into “Metal gods” (what a great title!) as the song is taken by a great thumping, marching beat and reminds me of Saxon at their height. Great guitar work too. The chorus could have a bit more life in it though, I have to say. OK, who doesn't know “Breaking the law”? Even I, with my minimal experience of Priest, knew that song when I were a lad. It's just one of those songs, and even got parodied recently on The Simpsons when the band played it as “Respectin' the law --- copyright law!” even if they mistakenly called Priest a Death Metal band! It just gets the blood flowing, trundling along like an unstoppable thing that can't be stopped, and the chorus, though simple, is perfectly suited to the song. Of course, I guess there would be controversy around the sort of “teaching our kids bad lessons”, but then, that's metal, and people's perception of it outside the genre. Good use of the guitars as police sirens. It's a great example of how a song can be such a classic and yet so short: it only runs to just over two and a half minutes. “Grinder” does what it says on the tin, snarling and snapping though it's not as slow as the title would suggest. The next single I've never liked; I find “United” a real dirge, always have and always will. The sentiment is fine, but it just lacks any energy, anger or sincerity, not to mention the lyric is bargain-basement beginner songwriter. Well, that's just me. It did well as a single so what do I know? I must admit, I find the title of the next one a bit odd: “You don't have to be old to be wise”? I'm not sure “the kids” want to be seen to be wise, and aren't Judas Priest all about havin' a good time? Still, it rocks well, kind of harks back a little to the Plant-influenced first two albums to a degree, but doesn't seem too much out of context musicwise. Again, most of us would know “Living after midnight” as it was another successful single, quite a bit of the old seventies rock/southern boogie in it I feel, but you probably are familiar with it so I don't need to describe it. Great rocker. Things slow down then as we near the end of the album and head into “The rage”, with a big growling guitar intro and a slouching, staggering rhythm with a powerful vocal from Halford. Killer guitar solo. We end then on “Steeler” (I believe that was also the name of one of the bands we featured earlier?) which kicks out the stays and brings everything to a frenetic close. Fantastic choppy guitar ending, just love that, then the single chord finishes it off perfectly. TRACKLISTING 1. Rapid fire 2. Metal gods 3. Breaking the law 4. Grinder 5. United 6. You don't have to be old to be wise 7. Living after midnight 8. The rage 9. Steeler The feeling I got when I short-reviewed this for CAIHNH remains: so far my favourite JP album by a long shot, and I hope that's not just because there are three singles on it that I know. It's punchier overall than the albums that have gone before, there's little of the darker imagery that hung around them like a pall in some cases, and the band sound like they're really having fun. Whether or not this would last we'll see when we review their next album. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

10-12-2015, 10:09 AM	#10 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Long before they were famous, before they made those epic albums and became a major part of the American power metal scene, I can honestly say I saw potential in Virgin Steele. I loved their second album and knew they would go on to great things. Well, I would say that, wouldn't I? But the truth is that I did hear of them through Kerrang! and took the advice of that bible of metal, shelling out for this. I never regretted it. Guardians of the Flame --- Virgin Steele --- 1983 (Music For Nations) This was of course the last album to feature founder member and guitarist Jack Starr, as David DeFeis tightened his grip on the band and pushed them in a musical direction that Starr did not agree with, but that would, in time, prove to be the right one as Virgin Steele wrote their name in fire across the heavy metal firmament. Poetic, eh? Whaddya mean, you don't care? I don't know, some people ... I go to all this trouble, don't know why I bother... Anyway, this then is one of the two albums that show how Virgin Steele could have gone. The keyboards of David DeFeis are already clearly in evidence as we open with “Don't say goodbye (tonight)” and his voice, though a little rough here, is still one that you can tell is going to be ringing out across the metal firm --- oh, I said that already didn't I? Well, let's just say you could be sure you were going to be hearing this guy again! That powerful romping beat that would become a staple of power metal is there, and for the moment Starr is held back a little in check, then he rips off a fine solo and you can tell just how good a guitarist he is. I guess you could say it's a little repetitive, now that I listen to it, but “Burn the sun” is a pure metal rocker, with plenty of histrionics both from Starr and DeFeis, the latter utilising that operatic style of vocal that was being pioneered by the likes of Halford and Dickinson, and would be taken up by Eric Adams, then “Life of crime” is kind of more in the Kiss mould, with a big swaggering strut as DeFeis snarls out the vocal with proud defiance. It's got quite a hook in it, the keys not as prominent as they were on the first track, DeFeis stamping nevertheless his personality all over the song, though Starr takes charge of course for the guitar solo. Always seems like these two are trying to one-up each other, though we know who won that eventual war in the end. The keys are back for the dark, dramatic intro into the seven-minute epic “The Redeemer”, which shows a glimpse into what would be the future of this band as their path sort of dovetailed with that of Manowar into sweeping sagas of battle and retelling of the stories of heroes of legend. Oddly enough, the lyric on this one seems to suggest a corruption of the tales of Moses coming down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, and whether they're poking fun at religion or are in earnest I don't know, but the song features a totally smoking solo from Starr and then, of course, just because he can, a superb keyboard run from DeFeis. There's room in this seven-minuter for them both to set out their stalls, and they certainly do. “Birth through fire” is a short instrumental that leads into the title track, which opens with a big dirty guitar and rocks along with purpose and again shows the idea of where Virgin Steele were heading, a direction Starr, not happy with, would fight against and end up being fired from his own band. Like Manowar's “Into glory ride” or “Battle hymn”, the song is full of grandiose self-importance and boasting --- “We are the guardians of the flame/ Masters of the ancient rites” --- but this is something that would go on throughout power metal and is I suppose never to be taken that seriously. A great keyboard solo by DeFeis kicks off a sort of warrior chorus while Starr burns up the frets as the song reaches its triumphant climax. The introduction to “Metal City” shows the range of DeFeis as he hits notes I've only really heard Gillan and Adams hit before, then the song trundles along and in comparison to the title track it's pretty basic and perhaps reflects the band's own struggles as they catalogue the obstacles they have overcome: ”We used to be nice but times got tough.../ Paid our dues, got burned a few/ Now we want action!” The pace speeds up for “Hell or high water” with the lyric making for perhaps disturbing reading: ”I won't let you leave me/ Cos I've got too much pride/ You better believe me/ I'll never let you go.” Obsessive much? This idea of “I get what I want” continues into “Go all the way” and perhaps the two songs tell us more than we would want to know about Jack Starr's attitude towards women. Neither songs are that great, to be honest, but then we get the closer and things change completely. “A cry in the night” is one of only two on the album (not counting the instrumental) penned by David DeFeis solo, and there surely is something in that they're the opening and closing tracks, and also by far the two best on the album. Lyrically, both songs are the polar opposite of Starr's, with DeFeis much more vulnerable and prepared to listen to his lover, with none of the arrogant bravado and braggadacio of Starr's writing. Unsurprisingly, “A cry in the night” is based around a solid piano melody, a power ballad on which DeFeis exercises the tender side of his vocals, and also manages to write quite an anthem, with a great hook in the song. Whereas “Go all the way” and “Hell or high water” are, on the whole, forgettable and formulaic, “A cry in the night” utilises a classical piece, Canon in D Major by Pachelbel, and therefore makes a much better impression and closes the album as well as it was opened. TRACKLISTING AND RATINGS 1. Don't say goodbye (tonight) 2. Burn the sun 3. Life of crime 4. The Redeemer 5. Birth through fire 6. Guardians of the flame 7. Metal City 8. Hell or high water 9. Go all the way 10. A cry in the night It's not hard to see where the two men's visions for Virgin Steele diverged sharply. While both are excellent musicans, you can note in Starr's lyrics a very basic, metal-and-roll idea, with the usual subjects such as living the life, women and beer taking centre stage, whereas DeFeis concentrates more here on more esoteric, fantasy elements, which is the path the band finally took and which allowed them to reap such wide rewards in the metal community, leading to such albums as The House of Atreus, Invictus and of course The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. The only time Starr and DeFeis seem to agree and share a vision is when they write together, as in the title track, but the rest of the time they're diametrically opposed lyrically, and this tug-of-war would eventually be won by DeFeis, who would fire the founder of the band, and who would be proven right to do so, as Virgin Steele went on to become one of the pillars of American power metal in the following decades. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018