Trollheart

So we move on to the first selection of two from Violet. This one looks interesting. The band sound like they're fun --- trampolines on stage, a rapping wizard at the shows, boogey boards for crowd surfing --- to say nothing of their drummer dressing like a shark! --- but will their music match their madcap antics I wonder? I notice all the tracks are very short, nothing over two and a half minutes, with some straining to even reach one minute, so what can I expect musically? Not a clue, but let's check them out.

Hazardous Mutation --- Municipal Waste --- 2005 (Earache Records)

A fast, thrashy guitar opens “Intro: Deathripper” then it gets even faster, if that's possible, and the vocal is fired off with machinegun rapidity, the song over before I can really get to grips with it and into “Unleash the bastards”, which, reading the lyric sheet, appears to be about a “rise of the machines”-style robot revolt, with a sly stab at corporate greed. I suppose it's music best suited to mosh pits and indeed crowdsurfing, headbanging and crazy dancing, shouting and fist-pumping rather than sitting down trying to analyse the lyrics or deconstructing the melodies, of which there seem to be few. “The Thing” seems to be based on the John Carpenter horror film, though in fairness so far all the tracks have sounded pretty much the same.

“Blood drive” does at least sound a little different, and even includes a guitar solo! Mind you, in the time it's taken me to write that we've piled (and I mean piled) into “Accelerated vision” (with the emphasis on the first word!) then “Guilty of being tight” (see what they did there?) is another chaotic, superfast mess. I can't actually believe there are so many words in the lyric of a song that lasts less than two minutes, but this guy sings like there's a demon on his tail. There's even time for a clip from some horror movie before the song begins, and yes, there's a solo in this one too. Not a long one, but then the song lasts as I say less than two minutes, while the next one is one second over two minutes, but “Set to destruct” is the last of the long (!) tracks for a while, as the title track, up next, is a minute twenty, the next one a minute thirty, then one minute right up to the shortest track on the album, where “Black ice” lasts a total of twenty-four seconds!

I guess this is the next best (worst?) thing to listening to punk, but it's all just a blur to me and there's nothing I can really write about it. There's a rather nice little guitar piece there about halfway through “Hazardous mutation”, but it's soon lost in the overall chaos of the song, then “Nailed casket” just hammers along with a psychotic lyric about an obsessed killer (now that's new!) but at least “Abusement Park” (clever) has some thought put into its lyric. Again though, it's a minute long, so what can you do with that? More I guess than with “Black ice” which appears to be a tribute to Metallica's Cliff Burton and runs for as I said a total of twenty-four seconds, then they go for a bit of an epic in “Mind eraser”, a full two minutes and seventeen seconds long. That leaves us with “Terror shark”, with its completely misinformed lyric and totally wrong conclusions about sharks (I'm sure they care, and it's a chance for the drummer to don the shark suit no doubt) the hilariously-titled “The thrashin' of the Christ”, where for a moment they actually SLOW DOWN (it doesn't last of course) and closing on “Bangover”. I am exhausted just listening to that.

TRACKLISTING AND RATINGS

1. Intro/Deathripper
2. Unleash the bastards
3. The Thing
4. Blood drive
5. Accelerated vision
6. Set to destruct
7. Guilty of being tight
8. Hazardous mutation
9. Nailed casket
10. Abusement park
11. Black ice
12. Mind eraser
13. Terror shark
14. The thrashin' of the Christ
15. Bangover

Nothing I can say. Too fast, too unfocussed and too all over the place for me to even make an attempt at an opinion. A mess, plainly and simply. Awful.

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The Batlord

I feel contempt for Violet for having suggested that album, rather than for you for not liking it. Modern thrash bands by and large are ****, and even the good ones aren't on the same level as the best eighties bands. The thrash revival is one of the most pointless things to ever happen to metal.

**** you for liking this album, Violet.

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Trollheart

Back to Ninetales's Members' Top Ten and at number six we find

The Mantle --- Agalloch --- 2002

I always assumed Agalloch was the name of some demon from the darkest hells, but turns out it's actually the genus of a particular wood. Hardly heavy metal now is it? More like heavy wood! Oh well, enough jokes (whaddya mean, what jokes?) --- let's have a listen to this, their second album. Ooh! Acoustic guitar! Well this is a nice change after the muddy nothingness and despair of Incantation. Instrumental, which carries on into the first vocal track, itself fourteen minutes long. A great relief to hear that, after some hoarse death vocals, there are clean ones taking over. The song is just brilliant, never seems to flag and before I even know it we're eleven minutes in. Even the harsher vocals have a kind of sibilant whispering quality that, while dark and unsettling, is easily understandable. Next track is also great, seems to be an instrumental. No complaints about this album so far.

Gets rocking again with “I am the wooden doors”, then “The Lodge” features some sound effects including what sounds like boots walking in the snow, followed by a really nice slow acoustic guitar, yet another great instrumental and into one of the longer tracks, with “You were but a ghost in my arms” clocking in at over nine minutes, though the next one is two minutes longer. This is another fantastic instrumental, which just continues to demonstrate the versatility and talent of this band. A lovely acoustic with a chanting vocal lament for “... And the great cold death of the Earth”. There has not been one single bad track on this album yet, nor will there I feel be. No, there weren't. Ten out of ten for this album.

His number five then is from a band I have heard once, who actually appeared in I think Mondo Bungle's top ten last year, though this of course is a different album.

Through Silver in Blood --- Neurosis --- 1996

Some long tracks on here again, though in total we're only looking at nine tracks. Interesting guitar motif on the first track, with the vocals kind of shouted but very intelligible. For a twelve-minute track that was not bad at all. In contrast, “Rehumanize” is less than two minutes and, well, terrible, mostly just speech. “Purify” is another twelve-minuter. Bit of a roared vocal but it goes in quicker than expected, so it can't be that bad. Certainly some very good guitar work in it. Also sounds like bagpipes, oddly enough, which contrast with the guitar just enough to be interesting without being dissonant. “Strength of fates” is nearly ten minutes but very restrained, very slow and almost funereal in its pace, though it does get a lot more intense and loud in the last two minutes.

A short minute-and-a-half kind of interlude and then the album closes on two epics, the first, “Aeon”, almost thirteen minutes long, starts quietly but then ramps up with an angry vocal and tough guitar. Really gets going with a great powerful guitar and keyboard motif that lasts up to about the ninth minute, then fades away to mostly just percussion, then a beautiful cello melody takes it into the final section. “Enclosure in flame” rides on a soft, hypnotic, repeating piano and guitar line, before the ambience is shattered by a wracked, wounded howl which continues mostly through the rest of the song, and then it fades out as it begun.

All in all, not a bad album though it's not really something I'd be tending to go back to, unlike the Agalloch one.

Number four gives us another band I've heard before:

Autumn Aurora --- Drudkh --- 2004

To date, I've heard two albums from this Ukrainean black metal band and I've loved both. This is their second album, and opens on a short acoustic song with a very pastoral feel, including the sound of birdsong before “Summoning the rain” ups the ante with hard electric guitar and trundles along in that somehow folk metal vein that Drudkh seem to explore so well and meld with their own black metal influences. “Glare of autumn” returns us to those golden fields, with acoustic guitar and the reappearance of birdsong, together this time with the sound of babbling streams, then electric guitar punches through but does not ruin the ambience.

The last three tracks all exceed nine minutes, but I'm not worried. I've yet to hear a Drudkh song I did not love. “Sunwheel” is visceral but really great, and again seems to have bagpipes in the melody. “Wind of the night forests” is a driving pagan anthem that sets the blood pumping, and the album closes on “The first snow”, with a very atmospheric feel to it, some really nice keyboard work adding to the overall flavour of the song. Seems to be an instrumental, which is a perfect way to close the album, bookending it with the opener.

Another perfect album from this Ukrainean band who never fail to impress and so far, have never even come close to disappointing me.

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Trollheart

Depressive Suicidal Black Metal, or DBSM (not to be confused with BDSM! ) is a subgenre I've never had much interest in. I generally prefer my music to be, if not upbeat, at least cheerful enough that I don't feel like stringing myself up. However it seems appropriate perhaps to bring our short journey across this troubled country to a close with an artiste who specialises in just such music, as without wishing to judge a place I have never been or taking everythign the news says as gospel (I'm sure there are aspects of Iran that are unutterably beautiful) it does seem that the prevailing attitude there is a sort of sullen resentment, a low-key wish to rebel and the idea of a people held barely in check by a brutal, repressionist regime.

So is it any wonder then that thoughts would turn to darker, more unwholesome avenues? If you play your music in a country where, I did hear at one point, music itself is frowned upon unless it's for the glory of Allah, and where metal, being seen as “the devil's music” everywhere and most surely particularly here, is virtually banned, then it would seem you're going to be less disposed towards rocking out and ****ing the system and will withdraw into the protective coccoon of dark ambient solitude and reflection, as it would seem is the modus operandus of this guy.

Desolate Eden --- Zakhm --- 2010 (Thorn Laceration Records)

Before you ask, “zakhm” apparently means “wounded” in Persian, and it's actually a word so commonly used there that there's apparently a TV soap by the same name, so I had some difficulty finding this album even on YouTube (no chance of getting it anywhere else of course) and yes, irt is a one-man operation, a guy who goes by the ironically appropriate name of Sad. That could be his real name, or it could be a corruption of something like Said, but you don't really care about that do you? This is more an EP than an album, but it runs for as long as the Helzgloriam one did, so it's much of a muchness really. Total time just under twenty-nine minutes.

A low, moaning synth perhaps (or it could be a guitar) with the sounds of wailing and crying, kind of reminds me of the imam calling to prayers, and speaking of prayers, there are tolling bells and also the sound of women screaming. Nice. This opener is called “Adhan in blackness” oh! And he's using Grieg's “Aase's death” as part of the melody. That's clever and insightful. Points for that certainly. Perhpas not as many points though, as it seems the entire melody is based around that piece. Skilfully used though, but I'd prefer to hear his own music. As we do now, in the title track, and there's a powerful, romping guitar and thundering drums before his vocals come in, such as they are. I have never listened to DBSM before, so I suppose this is typical of the vocal style, but again it's Black/Viking/Pagan metal, that screech, a tortured wail that precludes any attempt at making out any sort of words, so I couldn't tell you if he's singing in English or not, though the titles of the songs are all written in it.

I guess it's more about creating a feeling, an atmosphere, an emotional connection (or lack of one) than actually being able to understand what's being sung, and in that our man Sad succeeds well. The music itself is slow but powerful, not as slow as Funeral Doom but certainly with a dark grandeur all of its own. “60 seconds after die” is more ambient, more restrained with a rising guitar and perhaps keyboard line (I can't tell what he plays as, as is usual with these one-man efforts, all that's credited to him is “all instruments”) with another screaming vocal, almost spoken this time, and another, lower, darker one behind it. Whether that's someone else, a tape effect or him multitracking his own voice is again something I'll leave up to you to decide if you listen to this. More sounds of wailing and general human misery (I feel the darker voice may be meant to be Satan, or even God, who knows, and reflecting the belief that there is in fact nothing to look forward to when you die) and the music keeps more or less the same basic chords right through.

Nice sort of reflective guitar opens “Unholy earth” with a vocal so stretched it sounds like it's actually mechanised, almost like Grindcore slowed down to a snail's pace. It's actually quite relaxed and there's not too much singing at all in it. More uptempo, so to speak, is “Fancy”, shortest track here at just barely over two minutes, and with an actual hook in the melody, hell with an actual melody! Sounds like there may be some synth here too. It's followed by “God called devil”, which has a ringing guitar motif and a sort of evil-sounding vocal. It's a slow, ponderous piece that seems to owe much to Doom Metal, not mad about it to be honest. Thick black bass opens “A pain with the name of mortal” and there are more assorted screams, but there's not a lot in it to be honest.

And that leaves us with the closer, with much agitated screaming and a pounding guitar and drumbeat, as “Dark room” allows us to bid farewell to this troubled soul, with a rather nice and expressive guitar outro to end the song.

TRACKLISTING

1. Adhan in blackness
2. Desolate Eden
3. 60 seconds after die
4. Unholy earth
5. Fancy
6. A God called devil
7. A pain with the name of mortal
8. Dark room

It's probably the best way to leave this country, too, with one man shouting out his pain and anguish to an uncaring world, his cries falling on deaf ears and failing to touch stone hearts. It's the most traditional (and probably wrong) view of this enigmatic country, but short of going there or finding someone who has, and who can correct me, I'm left with only the impressions news corporations feed me about Iran. And its music, by and large, tends to support this in many ways. Certainly, I can say that there is some diversity and the hope that some of these bands may become known outside the walled city of Teheran, but in a country not really given to ideas of freedom and personal expression this seems a remote hope at best.

But I have certainly been impressed by the talent here, the music and the songwriting: a whole lot more than I had expected to be. While it's true that the largest percentage of bands here are of the Black/Blackened/Depressive Black Metal stripe, there are those who step outside those somewhat rigidly drawn boundaries and dare to sing of other things than how miserable they are and how they hate their country. The potential here seems to be pretty damn big, and you do tend to wonder what will happen if this particular genie ever bursts out of its bottle, and how the Ayatollahs and the hardline Islamists are going to be able to return it there. Here's hoping for a jailbreak real soon!

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Trollheart

“Scream until you like it” by W.A.S.P.
Appears in the movie Ghoulies II, 1987.

Another song written specifically for a movie (I use the term loosely), WASP were the perfect complement to a movie so bad it doesn't even raise a laugh. Clambering shamelessly on the “Gremlins” bandwagon and making, frankly, an arse of it, this franchise actually survived two sequels until finally human brains decided the concept of Ghoulies going to college (for 'twas the title of the third, and mercifully last, of the movies) was a step too far, and called time. WASP, meanwhile, have outlasted their nasty puppet co-stars and continue to go strong, releasing their fifteenth album this month. This isn't on any of the previous fourteen.


“That's the way” by Led Zeppelin, from the album Led Zeppelin III, 1970.
Appears in the movie Almost Famous, 2000.

Apparently a spoof on the autobiography of a writer for “Rolling Stone” magazine and his efforts to cover the live performance of a fictional band. Sounds fun. Still, Chula would never forgive me if I ignored the contribution of his favourite band to this turn-of-the-millennium movie, even though the song was composed three decades prior. I guess some things do just get better with age.


“You could be mine” by Guns'n'Roses, from the album Use Your Illusion II, 1991.
Appears in the movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day, 1991.

Famous as being something of the signature tune to the blockbuster Schwarzenegger movie, “You could be mine” was in fact never used in the actual film, but forms the basis of the music video which GNR used to release their single, and so is forever inextricably tied in to the movie. Great song though, one of their few if I'm completely honest.


“Bordello of Blood” by Anthrax.
Appears in the movie Tales from the Crypt: Bordello of Blood, 1996.

And one more song written specifically for a movie, in this case the ill-fated filmisation (is that a word? It is now!) of the popular horror anthology TV series Tales from the Crypt. Anthrax seem like the type of band to relish undertaking something as gory and violent as this, and indeed they did.

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Frownland

...isn't this metal month? Zeppelin does indeed have metal moments from time to time, but none of those times happen to occur during that song.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Trollheart

Maria Brink (In This Moment)
A band whom I only became aware of recently through, I think, ContrivedNihilism, are In This Moment, and there seems to be a general consensus of derision and dislike towards them. I'm not entirely certain why, but since I'm coming to this with, as it were, a blank mind (no change there then, Trollheart!) I hope to be able to form my own opinion free from the biases of others, in much the same way as I took my own path to the discovery that Dragonforce are crap. Whether I'll end up agreeing with the overall sentiment here on In This Moment or not, I don't know, but whatever conclusion I come to in the end, it will be mine, not made for me by others who have their own opinions already. I am impressed already to find that founder and singer Maria Brink writes her own material and also plays piano, so to quote the old adage, she's not just a pretty face, though she certainly is that too. The band has been only going since 2005, so is relatively new compared to a lot of the other metal bands around, but they have still released four albums to date. The one I'm going to look at is their second.

The Dream --- In This Moment --- 2008 (Century Media)

Just checking down the tracklisting, good to see that Maria Brink writes all the lyrics --- good or bad, I always have more respect for an artiste that writes or at least co-writes their own material. “The rabbit hole” is a short introductory song, only a minute long, featuring a kind of crooning chant, almost like a prayer, with another voice (I assume both to be Brink's) talking in the background; doesn't seem to be in English. “Forever” then gets things going with an upbeat rocker, and my first real experience of Brink's voice is that it's clear and apparently a change from her previous high shrieks that characterised ITM's first album. It definitely exudes its own sexuality, and it would probably be fair to say that from what I've read of them, In This Moment's main appeal is based on her as a frontwoman. Apart from her sexy persona though she certainly can sing. She also plays, as I mentioned, the piano, though this is very much a guitar-driven song and I don't hear any piano.

My immediate impression is of bands like Evanescence and Within Temptation, though we'll see as it goes on. I can hear a lot of strength in her voice, a lot of passion and power, and her performance on “All for you” has more of a bite to it. It's another fast rocker with rather a nice little piano line running through it, which allows me to hear how she is on the ivories, though in fairness it's not a melody to stretch the talents of anyone reasonably practiced on the piano: I'll be interested to hear how she handles a proper piano piece, hopefully later. The two guitarists certainly know what they're about, and the music is catchy and memorable. Is it metal? It's probably hovering on the edge, though I've only heard three tracks of the eleven on offer here so far. Nice introspective guitar line to introduce “Lost at sea”, and Maria's vocal is dominant here; there are backing vocals or vocal harmonies, but I feel they may be her own, multitracked. This is a slower track, though not what I'd quite call a ballad.

The oddly-named “Mechanical love” kicks the speed back up a little, but it doesn't impress me much. “Her kiss” is much better, with real bite and a powerful, growling guitar leading the way with a great vocal from Maria, while we get to hear her piano talents in “Into the light”, which seems to feature some violin or cello too, but is driven by her soft piano line and has a very aching and yearning vocal. Obviously a ballad, it kind of treads a little too close to pop territory for my liking, but it's a decent song and she sings it well. “You always believed” allows her to give vent to her stronger, brasher side, and it's nice to see she has a decent range. There's a good acapella opening to “The great divide”, then Maria lets out one hell of a scream and just goes mad then: I guess this is what they mean by high-pitched screams. More like listening to a death metal singer at times, though she does tone it back down during the song. It's very chaotic though and sort of feels out of place on this album.

The tempo stays high for “Violet skies”, strong guitar riffs driving it and Maria's voice matching them as she belts out the notes, and the album closes on the title track, with a nice soft guitar and keys opening, Maria's vocal smoothing in like honey under the melody. It's a fairly low-key closer, compared at least to some of the previous tracks, and she plays a stormer on the vocals, ending the album well.

TRACKLISTING AND RATINGS

1. The rabbit hole
2. Forever
3. All for you
4. Lost at sea
5. Mechanical love
6. Her kiss
7. Into the light
8. You always believed
9. The great divide
10. Violet skies
11. The dream

Having heard the album I can say I'm relatively impressed, though I'm not exactly sending off for my fan club membership. As a metal band, I would have to say that In This Moment are at times just as raucous, loud and fast as some of the best, but much of the time they remind me more of your goth/symphonic/progressive metal, and sometimes not even that. Maria Brink has a very good voice, but I do wonder if the band would have got to where they are without her charismatic leadership?

All in all, a decent album, and a good singer, but take away all the gimmicks and the pyrotechnics, and to me, what you're left with is a very ordinary band indeed. A good band, yes, but nothing that terribly special.

The oldest all-female metal band in history, going for over thirty years now, Girlschool came up at a time when really, few if any females were even in rock or metal bands, never mind comprising one completely. They of course became great friends with Motorhead, with whom they recorded The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre EP, and though their career faltered somewhat over the years they were and are still a huge influence on metal bands even now. In 2007 guitarist Kelly Johnson passed away, but the band have continued, and their latest album, Legacy, pays tribute to her.

Girlschool, the original lineup that lasted from 1979 to 1982. Please don't ask me who's who.

They are/were: Kim McAuliffe (Rhythm Guitar, Lead and backing vocals)
Denise Dufort (Drums)
Enid Williams (Bass, Lead and backing vocals)
Kelly Johnson (Guitar, Lead vocals) R.I.P
Jackie Chambers (Guitar, Lead vocals) Joined the band in 2000 following the illness and retirement of Johnson.

One of their best known hits. If you want more, check my article on them in “Witches, Bitches, Maidens and Monsters: the Bands of the NWOBHM”.


Doris Yeh (Cthonic)
Time to check out another bassist, and where would we turn to but, of course, Taiwan? Well, it seems Chthonic are one of the big melodic death metal bands over there, and their bass player is one Doris Yeh, who has the distinction of being the only person, never mind woman, I know of who plays a bass with five strings. Or at least, so I'm told. Whereas earlier we met Ida Haukland and discovered how she got into playing the bass, for Doris it was much simpler: her father is a bass player and so she could use one from his collection, so it didn't cost her anything. Smart girl! Here she is using what I assume is now one of her own bass guitars. Maybe.


One area where women, particularly women vocalists and frontwomen have thrived is in the symphonic/gothic metal arena, and one of those bands is closely linked with one of my favourites, but one which everyone else seems to laugh at, Kamelot.

Simone Simons (Epica)

Epica actually took their name from the title of one of Kamelot's albums (not that you care) and in fact Simone was in a relationship with Epica's vocalist Mark Jansen but is now married to Kamelot's keyboard player, Oliver Palotai. Epica have been going for twelve years now and have seven albums under their belt. They're a Dutch band, and you may or may not be interested to know that Simone has a child now, and is not into drugs or alcohol. Hey, gimme a break! It's hard to make these little snippets interesting. Anyway, here she is in full flow.


And if we're going to talk about Epica we can hardly leave Within Temptation out, can we? What do you mean, we can try? Look, just shut up, okay?

Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation)

If you're into this kind of metal, then Within Temptation are a name you can't avoid. They're one of the biggest in the scene, on a level with the likes of Nightwish and... well, with Nightwish. Although she has clearly a fantastic voice she does not seem to have received any formal training and taught herself to sing. She co-founded Within Temptation with her later partner Robert Westerholt, with whom she has three children. Although being Dutch she can of course sing in that language, she says she prefers to sing in English because her native langauge does not suit Within Temptation's style of music, being flowing and choral and often quite dramatic. She is also a qualified fashion designer, and creates all the stage costumes the band wear, as well as their official merchandise.

A metal band with two female vocalist is rare, but relative newcomers Butcher Babies appear to be making a splash, their format of one clean and one unclean female vocal winning them fans and plaudits.

Heidi Shepherd
and
Carla Harvey
(Butcher Babies)


You've got to love two women who refer to their music as “slut metal”! Can't tell you a whole lot a about them as they're pretty new, but you can check the two girls and their male counterparts out below.



Another band who have garnered significant press (apparently) are Eyes Set To Kill (whom, for obvious reasons, we will furthermore refer to as ESTK), fronted by two sisters and with so far five albums to their credit, not to mention a nomination at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards for “Hottest chicks in Metal” in 2010. They were originally a three-woman band but vocalist Lindsey Vogt left in 2007 and Alexia Rodriguez took over vocals, as well as playing guitar and keyboards, while her sister Anissa plays bass. They hail from Phoenix, Arizona and have as I say five albums to date. We're going to listen to their second.

The World Outside --- Eyes Set To Kill --- 2009 (Breaksilence)

This album is said to be darker than their debut, and opens with “Heights”. The idea of using death vocals, or unclean as they like to refer to them, alongside clean female ones has been in existence since Lacuna Coil and probably before, so it's nothing new but it is quite effective. The song itself is decent enough, but using the male vocals tends to detract from Alexia's vocal performance from my point of view, making it that bit harder to judge her. I guess there's a lot of metalcore and screamo in here, but I'd prefer just to be listening to her voice, which seems pretty competent. There's some really good guitar work in “Deadly weapons”, which features Craig Mabbit on vocals but seems to allow Alexia more freedom and mike time, which is good. I hear a lot of commercial potential in this song; not surprising then that it was released as a single.

Lovely piano instrumental then, just one second short of a minute before we head into the title track which opens with a really clear and strong vocal from Alexia then really takes off, but with a sort of slower, kind of romping tempo compared to what has gone before. Again the vocals are dominated by Alexia so you can get a better sense of how good a singer she is. Some really nice piano here too, and everything continues on nicely until “Wake me up”, when the male unclean vocals kind of mess things up again. Another beautiful, but again short, piano instrumental introduces “Hollow”, and while Alexia gets to exercise her vocal chords on this she is again counterpointed by the unclean vocals of Brandon Anderson. She does better on “Risen”, a shorter but punchier track and then the oddly-titled “Her eyes hold the apocalypse” allows her to fight a vocal sparring match with Anderson, most of which she wins. It rocks along really nicely with some ripping guitar and thundering drums, though if her eyes really do hold the apocalypse, she's pushed out of the frame for the powerful, male-vocal-driven ending, but she's back to shine on the closer “Come home”, where she also plays some sweet piano on the album's only ballad. Untroubled by Anderson's growl, she takes this one home solo and closes the album in fine style, allowing us to properly evaluate her vocal style, which has perhaps a little too much of the pop diva in it but definitely has power and passion in abundance.

TRACKLISTING AND RATINGS

1. Heights
2. Hour glass
3. Deadly weapons
4. Interlude
5. The world outside
6. March of the dead
7. Wake me up
8. The hollow part 1
9. The hollow
10. Risen
11. Her eyes hold the apocalypse
12. Come home

I can see why ESTK are getting the plaudits they are, and while I'm sorry I can't speak about sister Annisa's contribution, I'm not one for being able to tell when a bass is being played well or badly, and there really are no bass solos or even passages I can pick out here, so unfortunately like many bass players the other Rodriguez sister will have to yield the spotlight to her sibling. Alexia, on the other hand, seems to have a really good voice, just a pity it has to compete all the time with Brandon Anderson's guttural scream which, let's face it, is hard for anyone to sing against. But she does her best and as I say in the final track we hear what she can really do, and it certainly has been worth waiting for.

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Oriphiel

I'm happy to see Girlschool up there. Even at their cheesiest, they're a god damn amazing band.

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Trollheart

Time then to finish up our second Members' Top Ten list, and it's from Ninetales.
And into the top three we go!

Wake/Lift --- Rosetta --- 2007

Now these guys I don't know at all, but Ninetales thinks highly enough of them to put them third on his top ten list, so let's give this album a listen. Only seven tracks but again some of them are very long, like the opener, “Red in tooth and claw”, which sounds like there are snarled vocals but so low in the mix that I can't even be sure they're there. When the music breaks for a moment though I can hear them, so I'm pretty sure there is someone singing. Not sure why it's buried so deep though. Music is good, kind of a post-rock/post-metal feel to it, energetic but not that fast. Now it stops and falls to a single guitar, and I can certainly hear the vocals better, even though they're still barely audible. I have to assume that's intentional. But really, this could be instrumental for all the vocals I'm able to make out.

The title track (well, part of it anyway) “Lift” is broken into three parts, the first two fairly ambient and seemingly instrumental (I say seemingly because with the vocals being so low in the mix, they could be there, unheard) and it's only in part three it breaks into something of a monster, with a big roar and heavy guitar. “Wake” then is the last of the comparatively short tracks, a mere nine and a half minutes, with another powerful punch and those ragged vocals, while “Temet nosce” (know yourself) is much more restrained, with a nice chiming guitar melody and runs for almost fifteen minutes. And yes, it seems to also be an instrumental.

The album winds up then with “Monument”, another epic at thirteen and a half minutes, and though there's a great guitar riff all through it, for such a long song it's a little short on ideas, a shade repetitive. The melody does change somewhat around the seventh minute, but the vocal, basically a rather incoherent roar, just keeps going. As a sort of stream-of-consciousness I guess it works well, it just seems to me to be a little unimaginative. Not a bad album overall, though I'm certainly not too down with the post-rock/post-metal scene.

At number two in Ninetales' list we find

Unholy Cult --- Immolation --- 2002

A death metal album. Interesting; the first of same in his list. A band I know nothing about, so let's see why it's so high on his list, if indeed we can. Interestingly, it doesn't start with a big crash and howl as I had sort of expected, but fades in almost progressively on an echoey guitar before it kicks up and gets going properly. The vocal is terrible, for me, can't make out anything he's saying and it's one of those Morbid Angel style, dark and growly but fast. Worst of both worlds for me. Yeah, in fairness when the first track, “Of martyrs and men” slows down a little I can make out the lyric, but it's still hard to hear it. The title track has a kind of rolling, trundling beat to it, but it's hard for me to really say anything about this album at all, as it's all kind of confused and chaotic to me.

Nice bit of a guitar passage there about the second minute --- this runs for eight --- but of course it doesn't last. Solo in the fourth, pretty good, the first I've heard on this album. Decent ending, certainly puts me in mind of a cult. Well done. After that though it fails to make any further impression on me, as we're onto the penultimate track and I haven't even realised we went through another three prior to “Rival the eminent”. In fairness again, there's a good guitar solo in this, but these moments are so few and far between that they almost stand out as exception to the general sameness of the album, little periods where you can see a chink of light shining through the overall darkness, sort of like listening to someone talking in a language you know only a few words of and being occasionally able to pick out those words, but generally not understanding a thing they say.

Let's try looking at the lyrics. Well, I do like the idea in “Reluctant Messiah”, where he's asking why God won't prove His existence, a real sticking point in the Christian faith and has always seemed to me to be an easy way out --- “faith does not require proof” --- and the final line is clever: ”Save us from our fate/Save us from our faith”. Yeah, the lyrics are well written and with a very obvious anti-Christian slant, it's just a pity you need the lyric sheet in front of you in order to be able to make any of them out as the songs play.

So that takes us to the closer, which really to me just sounds like much of the rest of the album. It does have a rather nice sort of almost melancholic guitar ending that fades out, but again as I say, exception to the rule of basic thundering noise and indecipherable vocals. Pity, as I could maybe have got into this but it's too chaotic for me.

And so we finally come to the top of Ninetales' tree. And what has he chosen for his number one? Well I have just very recently listened to these guys as part of the “What's that all about?” feature, to be posted later in the month, but this is a different album from them, so I'm hoping to get as much enjoyment out of it as I did with the one I listened to.

Ultima Thulée --- Blut Aus Nord --- 1995

This in fact the debut album from the guys who brought us The Work Which Transforms God, and which so impressed me, both to my surprise and Batty's. It seems to be based somewhat around Norse legends too, which always helps, with titles like “My prayer beyond Ginnungagap” and “Till I perceive Bifrost”. It's a pretty intense opening, battering guitar and that screeching voice introducing “The son of hoarfrost” (which I guess is Ymir, the Frost Giant, from whose body Norse myth has it that the world was created after the gods slew him) but then there's some really nice slow reflective guitar halfway, accompanied by a “clean vocal” that sounds something like a prayer before it all kicks up again. “The plain of Ida” then comes in on, of all things, church organ, slow and stately, and indeed solo for the first two minutes before guitar snarls in and then the vocals. It's a long song, just short of nine minutes, and a really groovy little guitar riff gets going in the sixth, taking it into the seventh, when the vocals return.

“From Hildskjaff” is mostly a fairly ambient piece, though vocals do break in and it ramps up on electric guitar and percussion halfway through, then as you might expect “My prayer beyond Ginnungagap” opens with a chant, a prayer indeed, very atmospheric, quite viking chorus as other voices join the first, and though the song is five minutes long that's pretty much how it stays. The surprise is, it never sounds boring, stretched or superfluous. It's like every second of this track (indeed, as far as I can see, this album) needs to be there, and there is nothing wasteful, wasted or tacked-on, much less left out. Almost pure perfection in a black metal album: who woulda thought it?

The angry guitars and screeching vocals are returned in “Till I perceive Bifrost”, and yet there's an underlying sense of majesty, reverence and awe in this song that goes beyond pure music, then the harshness is re-established in “On the way to Vigrid”, but the last two tracks return to the ambient, atmospheric, almost gentle instrumental style (with the odd roar) and close the album really well.

Not really so surprising then that this is Nine's number one album. Once again Blut Aus Nord show themselves to have been ahead of the game, in a class all of their own, and let's not forget they were only fifteen or sixteen when this was recorded! Truly stunning, and a fine choice.

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When I see an album by one of the original members of Sabbath (Ozzy excepted) I really have got to check it out, don't I? So our second album from April features legendary drummer

Accountable Beasts --- Bill Ward --- 2015 (Independent)

Introduction: Surely nobody needs to be told who Bill Ward is? I was unaware though that the Black Sabbath drummer had any solo material, but this is apparently his third album, all under his own name. Anyone famous playing with him? Any guests? Um, no. And no vocalist either. But two drummers. So, an instrumental album then, and his first in eighteen years.

Ah. But not available unless I want to buy it. Which I don't. Not on Spotify, not on Google Play Music, not even on YouTube. Guess we won't be checking out Bill's new album anytime soon. Who's next then? Let's see...

Okay, okay, yeah. I checked these guys out on I think the original Metal Month in 2013 and I believe I was impressed. I think someone like Mondo, bob or Frownland is into them, also Ninetales, as they were in his top ten just a few days ago. This is their tenth album and the titles are going to give me a real challenge, but let's see first of all if it's available before I go into any spiel about it. Okay, good. It is.

A Furrow Cut Short --- Drudkh --- 2015 (Season of Mist)

Introduction: I believe the album I listened to at the time was Blood In Our Wells and as I say I have a recollection of enjoying it, notwithstanding the twin facts that the band are Black Metal and that they sing in their native Ukrainain. Was that a fluke? Will I hate this? Only one way to find out...

1. Прокляті сини I (Cursed Souls I) : Powerful guitars, guttural vocals of course but there seems to be a lot of passion here. I'm very slowly learning to appreciate Black Metal for what it is, and not just dismiss it. This is quite melodic for that genre.
2. Прокляті сини II (Cursed Souls II): The power and energy in this music just overrides the fact that you can't even make out the lyrics, even if you wanted to, due to both them being sung in a death vocal voice and in Ukranian.
3. Епосі нескорених поетів (To the epoch of unbowed poets): Very dramatic feel to this, faster than the first two tracks and elements of speed metal leaking in. I'll say one thing: these guys can really play guitar but with three (yes three) of them playing keys, I honestly don't hear it. Not yet anyway. Fucking incredible stuff even so. Love this.
4. Тліючий попіл (Embers): Got a slightly more laidback thing going on on the guitar here, at least at the beginning. Then it kicks up of course (whoever heard of a ballad on a Black Metal album??) but it's just continuing the goodness I'm getting from this album. Still not hearing any keyboards though. Okay, that could be them at the end. Hard to know really. Hey, this fades!
5. Безчестя I (Dishonour I): A really powerful track with some surprisingly introspective moments.
6. Безчестя II (Dishonour II): Slower, more dramatic, really effective. Some excellent guitar work here, but again I hear little or no keys. How can there be three guys who play keys and I can't hear even one?
7. Поки не засиплють чужою землею очі (Till foreign ground shall cover eyes): Faster, more frenetic. Great overall melody on this track. Tremendous guitar outro.

Conclusion: Whether I'm getting more used to Black Metal, relaxing more in my older age, or it's just that I like Drudkh, I love this album. Even the ragged singing couldn't put me off, nor the fact that I could understand nothing of the lyrics. Just a brilliant album.

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