Trollheart

13 --- Black Sabbath --- 2013 (Vertigo)

Apparently the worst-kept secret in metal, though of course I didn't know about it, was the reunion of metal pioneers Black Sabbath with their original vocalist and frontman Ozzy Osbourne, and the release of their first new album in eighteen years, their first proper with Ozzy in thirty-five. Sadly, it's not the full original lineup as "contractual problems", whatever they may be, prevented drummer Bill Ward from joining up, so he had to be replaced, both for the tour and the album. But what of the album? Many bands have reformed, ostensibly "for the money" --- Eagles, Deep Purple, Take that (?) --- and although Sabbath never officially split, this lineup has not been seen together since 1998, and really not since "Never say die", twenty years prior to that. So was this just one big publicity stunt? After years of prostituting himself to reality TV, did Ozzy still have it? Would this even sound like the Sabbath we knew and loved?

Right from the first chords we're back in 1970 and it's the emergence of a staggering new talent as Tony Iommi's dark, doomy powerchords introduce the perhaps appropriately-titled "End of the beginning". Even the echoey guitar riff is almost right out of the opener, and title track, to their debut. When Ozzy comes in with the vocal it's like he's never been away. So, then, is this a band trying to recapture former glories, copy-and-paste from their early albums, or is there anything new here? Well the riff soon gets uptempo and rocks along nicely, and I'm sorry Bill Ward but I couldn't tell you're not there: nothing against you but as I've mentioned before I can't tell a good drummer from an okay or even bad one. Good to hear Geezer Butler's controlling bass licks though. Also nice to see that the old guys (hey, they gotta be in their sixties now!) can still show the whippersnappers of today how it's done!

Those super solos Iommi rips off almost effortlessly are abundant of course, and the whole band chugs along like a well-oiled machine that's been working together for thirty years, not one that has been missing a component for longer than that. Sabbath always had a great way of fusing heavy riffs and power with proper melody and great lyrics, something many of today's metal bands could learn a thing or two from. "God is dead?", the lead single opens on a dark, ominous guitar riff, much slower than the opener, with attendant "spooky" sounds in the background. Iommi then hammers his way into the tune, suffusing it with a brooding, menacing presence while Ozzy's voice has seldom heard as eerie since that opening track on their first album. There's also an element of "War pigs" about the lyric as Ozzy sings "Swimming in sorrow/ They kill steal and borrow/ There is no tomorrow/ For the sinners will be damned."

Near the end it kicks up into a real boogie metal rocker on the back of Iommi and Butler's partnership, then "Loner" swaggers along as if it owns the street, and has quite a nod back to Led Zep in it. Slow laidback acoustic guitar then for "Zeitgeist", soft percussion which reminds me (and everyone else probably) of "Planet caravan" off "Paranoid", then we're back rocking with "Age of reason" and some great guitar histrionics from Tony Iommi. "Live forever" slows everything back down to that familiar Sabbath grind for a moment before taking off at a gallop, the beat driven by new guy Brad Wilk on the drumstool.

Sounding like something you'd expect to hear from Hendrix, "Damaged soul" has a great opening line: "Born in a graveyard" and swings with a real blues rhythm, accentuated by some great harmonica from Ozzy. Some fine interplay too between Butler and Iommi, but when I hear that guitar riff the first thing I think of is "Crosstown traffic"... We close then on "Dear father", with a powerful guitar riff and a recurrence of the motif from that first song all those years ago. The guys really go all out on this one, finishing on a high note and even throwing in the rain, wind and pealing bells from their very first track, turning the clock right back to 1970. Nice touch, lads.

TRACKLISTING

1. End of the beginning
2. God is dead?
3. Loner
4. Zeitgeist
5. Age of reason
6. Live forever
7. Damaged soul
8. Dear father

There was a lot of hype about this album, good and bad. Would it live up to its promise? Would Ozzy be able to cut it after so long? Would it end up being a parody and tarnish our memory of the godfathers of heavy metal? Would Bill Ward's absence spoil the album? After listening to this several times I can say that to me it's Sabbath back to their best. I'm a Dio guy, but even I can appreciate that Ozzy was the driving force behind this band, and the place he deserves in metal history. Here he does an excellent job as not only an ambassador for metal, but as an example that some things really can get better with age.

Back on the top of the pile, standing at the head of the metal army, returning to the throne --- whichever way you look at it, one thing is very clear from this album: Black Sabbath are back!

Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sabbath

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Perhaps odd, perhaps not, that the second in our "Triple Box Set" feature is again centring on a heavy metal band, but this is Metal Month and I wanted to do one of these for it. Had I not already reviewed the Virgin Steele triumvirate then that would have been perfect for this, but as I don't always know in advance what kinds of ideas I'm going to have from one week to the next I uploaded that when I thought the time was right, and it was well received. That band I knew something of, being a minor fan in my youth, but I can't say the same for Helloween. I know their reputation and like their music, but this will be the first time I've reviewed one, never mind three, albums by them. As is the format here, the three albums have to be linked. Often this can just be the fact that they're by the same band, but I like to try to establish a more concrete connection between the three than that. So here I've chosen what is essentially seen as a three-volume epic, with a gap of seventeen years between the second and third in the trilogy.

Generally accepted as some of the band's best work, the "Keeper of the Seven Keys" series begins with the first album in 1987, followed by the second the next year. This was partially because the label refused to allow Helloween to release a double album to showcase their new lineup, featuring eighteen-year-old Michael Kiske taking over vocals from guitarist and previously also singer Kai Hansen, and partly because of the perhaps unexpected success of the first album which must have taken the label by surprise and made them kick themselves for vetoing the idea of a double.

Keeper of the Seven Keys, Part I --- Helloween --- 1987 (Noise)


The opener is a short instrumental, very prog metal, called "The initiation", and quite cinematic with choral vocals, marching drums and Kai Hansen's guitar growling all over it. It leads directly into "I'm alive", the first track proper, and the first on which we hear what the new guy behind the mike can do. Michael Kiske certainly gives it his all, and perhaps the title might provide some of the impetus as he attempts to stamp his own identity on the song, cementing forever his place in heavy metal history, and in the annals of Helloween lore. Freed of the constraints of trying to double as vocalist, Kai Hansen is able to give full vent to his guitar work, and the track thunders along with power and passion, energy and a definite sense of intention. Great guitar solos pepper the song, and in fact it's fair to say that Kiske plays really a minor part in it, with most of its three-and-a-half-minutes taken up by Hansen's guitar histrionics. "A little time" then provides more of the same, bouncing along on a very Maidenesque rhythm, with Kiske even emulating the "Oh-Oh-Ohhh!" that Dickinson tended to utilise back in the eighties.

The young lad doesn't seem strained on any of the vocal work so far, with a very controlled and yet powerful voice: he never screams or roars, nor seems to feel the need to growl. In some ways I would rate him as more a powerful AOR vocalist than a metal one, which is not meant as an insult or a slight, but I could hear him singing over keyboards as easily as he does here over Hansen's guitars. Co-guitarist Michael Weikath is also credited on the album but it appears he had injured his hand and was unable to play for much of the recording, leaving the axework pretty much in Kiske's hands. And what capable hands they are! "Twilight of the gods" ramps everything up to ten, with a galloping drumbeat from Ingo Schwichtenberg and thumping bass from Markus Grosskopf, Hansen's fretwork so good that at times it sounds like keyboards. Kiske is all over this, vying with the likes of Manowar and Hammerfall as he puts all the passion he can into his voice. Even so though, and considering the title and your expectations of the subject matter, this is where Helloween step beyond the likes of Manowar and Virgin Steele, with the lyric actually concerning not the old Nordic gods of Asgard but a war between superpowerful artificial intelligences on a distant planet. Kiske sings mournfully "Silicon brain powered voices /Are crying "attack" tonight/ Our gods are now fighting/ In anger, burning our world." Certainly not what I expected from this song.

You can see why Helloween became one of the emerging talents and driving forces behind the power metal movement, and there's so much of them in today's power metal bands. An almost acoustic guitar intro gets us into "A tale that wasn't right" with a style which is sort of a cross between Gary Moore and Ross the Boss of Manowar. A slower song, it gives Kiske a chance to relax his vocal and yet stretch it, as he enunciates each word perfectly, hitting the higher notes with ease as the song breaks into something more of a punchier feel. Mind you, as with many power metal ballads, the lyrics aren't anything to write home about: "In my heart, in my soul/ I really hate to pay this toll/ Should be strong, young and bold/ But the only thing I feel is pain." Um, I know how ya feel, Mike! The album is really quite a Kai Hansen vehicle, the guitarist writing six of the eight tracks, and five of those solo. This is one of the only ones on which he has no input, although he does collaborate with his fretmate Weikath on the closer, but here the other axeman writes this solo. The next one up was chosen as the album's single, and "Future world" is a powerful slab of grinding metal, a good example of some of the best Helloween can churn out, with a guitar riff that's a little too close to Maiden's "22 Acacia Avenue" for my liking, at least at the start.

As I mentioned, there are only eight tracks on this album, and one of those a short instrumental that opens the album. However, that is offset by the penultimate track, "Halloween", which I suppose could almost be seen as the band's signature tune despite the replacement of an "e" with an "a" in the word. It's a truly epic piece, running for over thirteen minutes, a big spooky guitar intro kicking it off with something similar to the opener, keyboard samples and choral vocals before it jumps into life alonsgside the twin rails of Hansen's snarling guitar and Schw -- Swic --- Schc -- Look, let's just call him Ingo, all right? It's easier to write --- Ingo's punch-your-face-in drumming. Four minutes in and the pace hasn't slackened once, and when Kiske screams you just hear Bruce Dickinson. Again, it's intended as a compliment. A great solo from Hansen takes us into the fifth minute, then it slows down on a sort of a horror violin sound as Kiske warns of the horrors that stalk the streets on this most supernatural of nights: "A knock at your door/ Is it real or is it a dream?/ On trembling legs you open the door/ And you scream. . . .on Halloween!" Yeah, I'm shakin'...

Another fine solo and we're heading into the seventh minute, then jangly guitar introduces something of a break in the music as Kiske delivers another powerful yet restrained vocal performance and Hansen winds up for yet another screaming trip up and down the fretboard.Slowing everything down then on the back of a military slowbeat before it all takes off again with some mad backing vocals, but I would have to say I find this track unnecessarily long. It's not that it feels overstretched or repetitive, and there's some great guitar work in it, but I think thirteen minutes was probably pushing it a bit. Maybe they wanted it to reflect the superstitous connotations of that number? I don't know, but I think eight or less would have been fine. Nonetheless, it's a great track and good value for money given that there are only seven other tracks on the album, two of which are short ones.

Speaking of which, the album winds down then on "Follow the sign", the song on which Hansen teams up with his guitarist compatriot, essentially an instrumental that bookends the album. It's decent but I have to say nothing special, and a bit of a disappointment as a closer.

TRACKLISTING

1. Initiation
2. I'm alive
3. A little time
4. Twilight of the Gods
5. A tale that wasn't right
6. Future world
7. Halloween
8. Follow the sign


Keeper of the Seven Keys, Part II --- Helloween --- 1988 (Noise)


Much less a Kai Hansen production this time around, the followup to the wildly successful part 1 contains only three songs written by the guitarist, with four penned by the other axeman, who had by now recovered and was able to play both guitars and, for the first time, keyboards. Having written one track on the previous album Michael Kiske adds another two here. But it's Weikath who gets things rolling with two compositions, the opener another instrumental, loosely it would seem based around Pachelbel's Canon in D Major before one of the songs which would become a fan favourite and a mainstay of their set, "Eagle fly free" gets things underway. It will in fact not be until near the latter part of the album that we hear the contributions from Hansen in terms of songwriting. Ingo's maniacal drumming drives the beat and keeps this song rocking at full speed, while both Hansen and Weikath let fly with some great solos, though perhaps the standout solo of the song is the one on fretless bass, courtesy of Markus Grosskopf. It's interesting to see Helloween tackling some quasi-political themes here, though the lyric is laughable really: "Hey, we think so supersonic/ And we make our bombs atomic /Or the better quite neutronic/ But the poor don't see a dime." Yeah, I know they're German but I don't think that excuses such poor writing. However it is to be fair a pretty prevalent problem throughtout the genre, where "if it rhymes, use it" seems to be the mantra, with very little if any consideration given to whether the lines scan or make sense. Still, there's no doubting the classic status of the song, and it does have a very impressive and powerful vocal ending from Kiske.

The first song written by the singer is "You always walk alone", which despite its balladic sound is anything but, a real headbanger with thumping guitars and a brain-melting rhythm. He sings really well, does Kiske, but I can't stop comparing him to Bruce Dickinson, as I really think the two sound quite similar, both in tone and style. Still, there are worse vocalists to be compared with! Decent lyric too, with lines like "Look at the drunk man, look into his eyes /See his strong hands/ But tomorrow they will tremble cold as ice" and "But if you can't see the life around/ You'll always walk alone." A grinding solo from Hansen with plenty of echo and then a kind of semi-boogie rhythm before the song takes off again on the back of Weikath's guitar, while "Rise and fall" has an almost punkish guitar melding with a Queen vibe, but it has some of the worst lyrics I've ever heard and it ends really weirdly. I mean, really weirdly. The approach of dark footsteps then drive in "Dr. Stein", one of the singles taken from the album and another song that would go to be a favourite. Not as breakneck as the previous song, or indeed any of the preceding ones, and betrays some of the dark humour that would leak into some of their later albums.

There's a nice bassy intro to "We got the right", the other song written by Kiske, which hammers along nicely once it gets going, again not as heads-down speed metal as much of the rest of the album with a nice little introspective guitar solo in the middle. There's also a sense of Thin Lizzy and, again, Queen, in the later guitar work in the song, with some nice choral vocals, presumably made by Weikath on the synth. Quite a commercial song in its way, it's probably one of the better ones on the album so far, and is followed by "March of time", the first Hansen contribution, which kicks down on the pedal and racks the speed all the way back up. Kiske in is fine voice on this, almost dramatic at times. Another rip-roaring solo from Hansen as Ingo bashes away on the drumkit and keeps everything ultra-heavy, then "I want out" is another single and another popular track, boogeying along nicely with a great guitar attack, a lower register vocal from Kiske, until he hits the chorus that is. Good vocal harmonies on this too, and I can see why it was chosen as a single. Very anthemic, very much playing into the disaffected youth angle, mucho dinero to be made. Some of the best lyrics on the album too, quite prog metal in feel: "Hours of lust, hours of tears passing by before my eyes/ Today, tomorrow, yesterday...one life /Days of joy, day of sadness come and go /To pass me by/ A month, a year, one hundred years, they fly."

I'm rather surprised to find that the title track, another thirteen-minuter, is written by Weikath on his own. That's quite an achievement. It's introduced on a soft little acoustic guitar, a gentle vocal from Kiske with some attendant keyboard lines, but this lasts for less than a minute before the heavy electric guitar powers in and Kiske's vocal changes to meet it. Uptempo percussion cuts in as the song develops and runs into its second minute, then a really surprising vocal hook appears in the chorus, almost incongruous to the previous parts of the song. This track slides into the progressive metal area, with a lovely Gilmouresque solo from Hansen in the eighth minute as the whole thing slows down into a nice blues vibe. Of course this doesn't last and the song builds up in power and intensity again as it heads into the final section, Hansen bringing in some classic influences as he flirts with Bach's "Tocatta and fugue" during one of the solos. Nice!

A powerful, dramatic and thrilling end to the track wraps this up, and indeed did originally signal the end of the album too, as this was the last track on the vinyl version, but when re-recorded for digital media there was an extra track added, and "Save us" is the closer now, with a rather confused, NASA-style monologue opening a hard rocker that cannons along, and it's good but I think the vinyl album ended better with the title track. This almost seems tacked on, which I guess in some ways it is.

TRACKLISTING

1. Invitation
2. Eagle fly free
3. You always walk alone
4. Rise and fall
5. Dr. Stein
6. We got the right
7. March of time
8. I want out
9. Keeper of the seven keys
10. Save us

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Keeper of the Seven Keys: The Legacy --- Helloween --- 2005 (Steamhammer)


A double album to link the two previous ones, it was seventeen years later that this album was released and a lot had changed within Helloween. Michael Kiske had been fired, and Kai Hansen had also left, so the basic core of the band that had recorded KotSK parts one and two was no more. In Kiske's place we find Andi Deris, with Michael Weikath now the main guitarist, backed by Sascha Gertsner and even Ingo is gone, replaced on drums by Dani Loble. The album kicks off with a very progressive metal sound, a spoken intro over dark melodies on the keys and then we launch into already the longest track on disc one, "The king for a thousand years", clocking in at almost fourteen minutes. It utilises more of the keyboards than had been the case on the other two albums, so much so that there are "additional keyboards" credited to Dersis and Gerstner, while the actual main keysman appears as a guest musician. The guitars of Weikath and Gerstner don't hold back either though, and you can hear the difference right away in vocals when Dersis gets going. His voice is a little more ragged, raw and less polished I think than Kirske's, more prone to growl and snarl than his predecessor was, but still a good singer.

The sound on at least the first track is very much more rooted in the progressive metal sound than were either of the other two albums, with sound effects and choral vocals, and generally a slower sound than much on either part 1 or 2. The song seems to have a lot more in it than either of the two epics from the previous albums though, as I'm rather surprised to look and see we're already into the tenth minute, and this track hasn't dragged or plodded at all. It picks up in speed near the end, hitting more the power metal vibe I had been used to with the last two recordings, but still a sense of bands like Kamelot in the mix. I suppose it's an indication of Helloween's confidence in their ability and the loyalty of their fanbase that they could start an album off with such an epic, but it seems to work.

Michael Weikath appears to have, by this time, stepped back from the songwriting, and only three of the thirteen tracks across the two discs here are penned by him solo, with the opener a group effort. Even at that, the lyrics here have improved considerably --- "We are king for a 1000 years/ We are king of a million tears/ We're the ones who bring desire/ Blinding their greed and fears/ We are king of fallen men." Andi Deris, in fact, seems to have taken on the lion's share of the composition, most of it by himself: he pens five tracks on his own and collaborates on two others, not counting the opening epic. "The invisible man" is a little more uptempo but still nothing like the breakneck speed we've heard on the previous two albums, with a lot of really catchy hooks in it, though this one is mostly driven by the guitar sound of Weikath and Gerstner, with some fine soloing. I must say, I've nothing against Deris but I miss the clearer, purer voice of Michael Kiske, and think that Helloween suffered from his loss.

One thing I do notice about Helloween is that for a metal band they're not afraid to embrace their, shall we say, Christian side, with songs about angels and gods, Heaven and Jesus, titles like "Mrs God" and "Born on Judgement Day" and with Satan, when he appears, seen not as an ally but a foe, not as a role model or "dark lord" but as something to be fought. Of course, much of their lyrical content is at the very least humourous or tongue-in-cheek, and I'd never think to accuse Deris and Co. of being a Christian metal band --- perish the thought! --- but it's refreshing to see them shy from prayers to the devil or glorifying evil, even if many of the bands that do this have again their collective tongues wedged firmly in their cheek.

One of the only three songs written by Weikath, "Born on judgement day" (what is it with the American spelling, dropping the "e" after the "judg"? That's not how it's spelled!) kicks the tempo up another notch, with a big powerful chorus and a certain return to power metal on this, and surprisingly mature and heartfelt lyric, then "Pleasure drone" is fun but really nothing special, while "Mrs God", despite the controversial title, comes across almost as a new-wave pop song than a metal one. Very weird. Also the shortest track on the album, and features a rather odd vocal performance from Deris. Really don't like this one. Low point of the album for me. "Silent rain" happens to be the title of one of my favourite songs from Ten, but then you wouldn't know anything about that. It's a ballad on their album "Babylon", but not here. It's a fast rocker than closes disc one with a very Maiden feel to it (I know, I know!) and some fine unfettered drumming from Loble. If ever a Helloween song touched on a taboo subject, this one has the dirty handprints of child abuse and paedophilia all over it. Jarring stuff.

Disc two kicks off with another epic, the eleven-minute "Occasion Avenue", which features at its opening a radio tuning to different stations, all of which are, coincidentally, playing Helloween songs from the last two albums. Eventually an acoustic guitar introduces a distant, almost mono vocal before thick heavy bass and slow-pounding drumming ushers in the track fully, with choir-like vocal harmonies and heavy keyboards. The guitars and rhythm section then get going as the song trundles along, and it's hard and heavy but again nothing in the speed stakes to the last two albums in this series. The song has almost two separate identities, one being a fast hard rocker driven by the twin guitar attack of Weikath and Gerstner, the other is a sort of semi-cinematic, Dioesque grinder with the choral harmonies and keyboards laying down the soundscape, and "Occasion Avenue" kind of alternates between these two over the first six minutes of its run. A great little guitar solo takes it into the sixth minute after which the song gets a little stripped back, with a menacing, almost snarling vocal from Deris and echoing guitar and pulsing bass.

A military drumbeat then picks up as soft laidback keyboard and piano come in, the song slowing down now in the eighth minute in a very progressive vein before it comes back up on hard guitar and insistent bass, the choral vocals joining in now as the two halves of the song begin to meld, and it's quite a satisfying thing to hear. The first (only?) ballad on the album then features a duet between Deris and Candice Night, Mrs. Richie Blackmore, on the back of soft piano as "Light the universe" slows things down and gives us a chance to see how Deris handles the softer material. I must say he does quite well, though it's Night who makes the song. In fairness, I wouldn't put it up against some of the other great metal ballads I've heard, but it's a decent song, and Friedel Amon does a fine job on the piano. We're back rockin' and headbangin' then with "Do you know what you are fighting for", which has some really catchy guitar riffs and a good chorus, while "Come alive" has again certain elements of AOR (or at least, melodic metal) in it, with a song that I could hear on the radio with a lot of commercial potential.

A slow organ intro to "The shade in the shadow", but it quickly ramps up on frenetic guitar, with a pretty good vocal from Deris and things keep speeding along with the tongue-in-cheek titled "Get it up": some great guitar histrionics here. The album closes on "My life for one more day", not an epic but almost seven minutes long, and a good fast rocking closer. In fact, since "Light the universe" the pace hasn't really slackened once as the album pounds towards its conclusion. I still prefer Michael Kiske behind the mike, but Andi Deris is a decent replacement and this album a good followup, even if it's almost two decades later, to the first and second parts of this trilogy. Interestingly, the lyric to "My life for one more day" hint at a continuation of the story of the Seven Keys: in Part II they were thrown into the seven seas by the hero --- whom some say is Jesus; personally I don't see it --- but it would appear one has been recovered by the Lord of Lies as Deris sings "Satan has taken and hidden painstakin'/ One of the Seven of Fate /Out of the sea; he has buried it/ Under the mountain of greed" and it would seem to be up to the hero --- new or old, I don't know: perhaps Helloween are talking to the fans here? --- to undertake the quest to retrieve it: "The last key you have to find/ And so will save mankind ."

To be continued?

TRACKLISTING

DISC ONE

1. The king for a thousand years
2. The invisible man
3. Born on Judgement Day
4. Pleasure drone
5. Mrs. God
6. Silent rain

DISC TWO

1. Occasion Avenue
2. Light the universe
3. Do you know what you are fighting for
4. Come alive
5. The shade in the shadow
6. Get it up
7. My life for one more day


Great as these three albums are, and I can understand their place in the pantheon of metal divinity and their acceptance as being some of the first and seminal power metal albums, which laid down the basics for much of what was to follow, I don't get the link between them. Other than the name, and a vague reference to the Seven Keys in the closer to the 2005 album, there doesn't seem to be any common thread going through the three albums. There is no basic concept --- even within each album, that I can see --- and no recurring themes other than those we now associate with this genre. There's no story told, no tapestry revealed by the three albums, no overarching motif or story arc, so I have to wonder what links the three? Was it simply, in the case of the final album here, a marketing ploy to suck in those who had enjoyed the first two albums? Or is there something I'm missing? Rather like already-reviewed Virgin Steele's "The marriage of Heaven and Hell", there is to my eyes and ears nothing to tie the albums together.

Not that I suppose that matters too much, but unlike say Kamelot with "Epica" and "The black halo" or even Shadow Gallery with "Tyranny" and "Room V", neither album follows on smoothly from one to the other, and were they titled differently I doubt anyone would consider them related. That said, they are certainly three great power metal albums, although I wonder if seventeen years between the second and third parts was not asking a bit much from the fans.
Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helloween

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There have certainly been some Metal standards, and songs, that have been covered by odd artistes, whom you would not associate with Heavy Metal at all, but occasionally a Metal band will cover a song that is just, well, so far removed from Metal that it beggars belief. In a recent review of the album "Are you dead yet?" by Children of Bodom, to be published later in the month, I was just totally amazed that they seemed to have recorded a cover version of Britney Spears' "Oops ... I did it again!" I couldn't for the life of me imagine what it would sound like. Surely they would send it up to high Heaven --- or in this case, down to low Hell? --- but could it be possible that they were closet Britney fans, and wanted to do the song justice? Is it even feasible that they might attempt a proper version of it?

Well, to my amazement they did a pitch-perfect copy of it, right down to ... nah, just yankin' your chain! They did however draft in the services of Jonna Kosenen, though who she is I don't know. Interesting use of the keyboard and it's just hilarious to hear Alexi Laiho's gutteral vocal with the hammering guitars battering the song to pieces. Just brilliant. You know the original probably --- how many of us will not admit to watching at least one Britney video for, ah, relief? --- but here are the two side by side. Finally, you can throw the horns while listening to Britney! Yeah yeah: we'd all like to throw something else...

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The Crusade --- Trivium --- 2006 (Roadrunner)

One of The Batlord's favourite bands (!), Trivium are high --- not number one but in there --- on his list of Poseur Metal Bands, and he really seems to hate them. This, it would appear, is their "most poseur" album, veering away from the death growls (thank the Metal Gods!) and metalcore influences of the previous albums, and containing a more mythological/fantasy line in lyrics and song subjects. I must say, "Ignition", the opener, sounds a lot less like I expected it to. Very raw, very sort of haphazard in its arrangement, a little amateurish if I'm honest. It settles down though and eventually has a nice hook in it that reminds me a little of Ten.

Trouble is then it takes off again, back more or less in the style it opened, and it's almost as if this is two songs: the verses sparse and raw, while the chorus is much more melodic, structured much better. As if they can't make up their mind what they want to be. Will this be typical of Trivium's music as the album goes on? Well, following "Ignition" we get "Detonation", which seems quite similar to the previous track, although it strides along with a certain swagger, driven on Travis Smith's drums and the twin guitar attack of Matt Heafy and Cory Beaulieu. Yeah, it's decent enough and seems to hold together quite well. Good guitar solo. "Entrance of the conflagration" (huh? Does that title even make sense?) rocks along with great enthusiasm and energy, thundering, rattling drums and screaming guitars, and you know, at least Heafy doesn't growl!

The pace doesn't slacken for "Anthem (We are the fire)" though there is a certain sense of derivativity about it. Rocks well though. "Unrepentant" is good too, though I'm not seeing too much here that really stands out. It's all pretty decent but nothing that really differentiates one track from another, and they're kind of blurring together a little. That's not really fair, but I am finding it hard to find interesting things to write as the album winds on. Well, "And sadness will sear" is slower, a bit grindy and seems to have some sort of sitar-like sound, so that's different. Sort of little progressive metal touches in the guitar riff, and a nice expressive solo too. I'd definitely list this as my favourite track on an album that, so far, has been mostly unremarkable.

There's a real power metal feel to "Becoming the dragon", and so far I've heard neither growl nor scream --- oh wait, there they are! Well, just sort of incidentally really. Great steamhammer drumming and powerful fretwork from the boys, but you kind of begin to wonder are their hearts really in it or are they just going through the motions? More fretburning on "To the rats" and the hammer is well and truly brought down as the band break the speed limit, thrashing along at breakneck speed, but they still manage to throw in a pretty catchy hook in the chorus. It's the same problem as with the opener: the main part of the song is chaotic and disorganised while the chorus seems to bear no resemblance to it.

It's more of the same for "This world can't tear us apart" --- good, or at least not bad, but nothing that blows my skirt up --- and "Tread the floods" more or less treads (sorry) the same path, though it can't be denied there's some great guitar histrionics going on. Trouble is, superhot fret madness on its own does not make great songs and while there are some good ideas here they're kind of muddled and not very well thought out. In my opinion. Yeah. The next two kind of just slide by for me, and the album ends on the title track, an eight-minute instrumental which is of course largely guitar wankery but pretty damn good.

TRACKLISTING

1. Ignition
2. Demolition
3. Entrance of the conflagration
4. Anthem (We are the fire)
5. Unrepentant
6. And sadness will sear
7. Becoming the dragon
8. To the rats
9. This world can't tear us apart
10. Tread the floods
11. Contempt breeds contamination
12. The rising
13. The Crusade

All in all, I'd have to say I don't have a huge amount of praise for Trivium, but neither do I think they're the worst out there. A lot of their material is very derivative, as I've said earlier, and for me they could be even more accused of being a poseur band than Dragonforce, so I see where His Batship is coming from. That said, they can play certainly and their singer is okay, but again the confused nature of their songwriting and the execution of their songs is a little hard to get my head around. Seems like they could have one or two really good songs if they tried, but they seem happier to kind of just dance around, wave guitars and not take their music too seriously.

I suppose that, in the end, could prove to be the undoing of them. If you don't take yourself seriously, then how can you expect anyone else to?

Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trivium_%28band%29

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Twilight of the Gods --- Bathory --- 1991 (Black Mark)

Starting out as one of Scandinavia's first black metal bands, Bathory changed their style after 1990 towards a more viking/gothic metal approach, and this is where this album falls, their followup to "Hammerheart", on which the style is said to have changed first. At this point the band had shrunk to basically a one-man unit, comprising only Quorthon, founder of Bathory, who plays every instrument and sings on this album. Good man, Quorthon!

With only seven tracks, the album nevertheless falls just short of the hour mark, this being due to the opener running for fourteen minutes, while there is also a ten minute song on it. We open on the title track, mirroring the struggle at the end of the world in Norse mythology, called "Ragnarok", when the gods would war against each other, good versus bad, in a battle that would end up destroying both sides and leaving humans free of gods.

A howling wind blows across an icy plain, in the distance a guitar chimes out like a lonely sentinel, a witness left to observe the fall of the Gods of Asgard in their final climactic battle. Suddenly, heavy militaristic drumming booms out and deep choral voices add their lament; this is a battle chant, but a battle the participants know they are fated to lose. There's a sense of desperation, of finality and fatalism, but also heroism and stoicism, pride and determination to face the end with honour, and to fall bravely in battle. All has been foretold, there is no cheating prophecy and the Gods know that. Thor steps forth, his eyes flashing fire, his mighty hammer in his hand, and faces his half-brother Loki, smaller than him but in terms of evil twice his size. Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge, shakes to the sound of battle, echoes with the screams of dying men, rings to the sound of steel clashing on steel. (Yes, I love Norse mythology, in case you were unaware!)

Quorthon's vocal breaks in now, joining the cry of the wounded, the lost, the dying, the music swelling behind him like a battle cry, a last fist raised in defiance as the Gods ride to war one more time and face their age-old enemy. I have to say, for a fourteen minute song, we're halfway through it and it hasn't really changed much, but it's certainly evoking the spirit of Ragnarok. Against an expressive guitar piece a spoken vocal opens "Through blood by thunder", which turns into another anthemic cruncher with a real feeling of pathos and tragedy with some great fretburning action, and on into the second long track.

Of seven tracks here, three have the word "blood" in their titles, but then when you're dealing with the final battle for Asgard I guess that's expected. "Blood and iron" opens with more introspective guitar, some acoustic, quite relaxed and moody, which takes it into the second minute of the song, after which the power chords churn out and percussion hits. Again, it's a slow, grinding marcher with another spoken vocal this time telling of Man's discovery, through the gods, of steel which could be forged into swords. And ploughshares. But mostly swords. "Under the runes" has a very Led Zep/Dio sound to it, very dramatic and powerful, bringing in the choir again and racking off a superb solo near the end.

Sounds sort of like a sitar at the beginning of "To enter your mountain", and you can see the deep effect of doom metal on this music. It's all slow and grindy though with a certain gothic and at times even progressive metal influence. "Bond of blood" is another plodder with heavy guitar and choral vocals, then "Hammerheart" is really clever, with lyrics given to Gustav Holst's "Jupiter, the bringer of Jollity" from "The Planets Suite". Great job, and an excellent closer. Perhaps odd that this is the title of the previous album, but there you go.

TRACKLISTING

1. Twilight of the Gods
2. Through blood by thunder
3. Blood and iron
4. Under the runes
5. To enter your mountain
6. Bond of blood
7. Hammerheart

Although this never got going with any even slightly uptempo tracks, my approval was always assured by the fact that it deals with Norse legend, and particularly Ragnarok. When you consider this is all the work of one guy it's pretty staggering. Quorthon certainly knows his Norse mythology and brings to life the world of Asgard and the Aesir here in a way I've seen few other bands manage. Although this was a change in direction for Bathory I certainly enjoyed it and I may look back into their catalogue --- or forward, from here --- they have twelve albums in all, and though some of the earlier ones may not be to my taste I feel sure I may find at least a few that will be.

For Asgard, Valhalla and Odin!



Note: I have just read that Quorton died from heart failure at the age of thirty-eight in 2004. A sad loss, considering the talent displayed here, and such a pity we will hear no more from him. Based on that, I definitely need to listen to more Bathory. RIP man.
Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathory_%28band%29

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The Batlord

Just a heads up, if you ever need to know what the best albums of a metal band's back catalogue are just go to the Metal Archives and look at which albums have the most reviews. Not the highest scores since the number of reviews tends to bring down the rating where as an album with only one or two reviews might have a 100% for no apparent reason.


Says the guy who predictably hated the death metal albums he reviewed.



You have pleased me. If I had to pick a fav metal band, along with Hammerfall and Manowar, I'd probably have to go with Bathory. When they play black metal, there isn't any extreme metal I like better, and when they play viking metal they are one of the most unique metal bands I've ever heard and there are none more epic in any musical genre I've ever heard. Fantastic stuff. You'd probably want to stay clear of their first four albums though. If you hate black metal then there is nothing for you there. If you dig Twilight of the Gods though, Hammerheart, Blood On the Ice, and the two Nordland albums are well worth your time. They're all truly quality.

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Trollheart

Thanks Batty. When I say predictable I of course don't mean my reactions, which are all expected --- though some albums did surprise me, such as In Flames and Doomsword, to name but two --- but the expected choice of album. I mean, if I reviewed Motorhead everyone would expect "Ace of spades", "Overkill" or "Bomber", in fact I plan to review "Bastards". I know nothing of the album but like the title, and the fact that I know nothing of the album. Some of the choices were invariably down to title, as in the Bathory one, others were taken in order to move along the timeline: I'd reviewed an album from the 90s, so the next one would be one from the 80s and then one from the 2000's and so on, so that it didn't get too stale. Then of course there are the too-obvious, like Metallica's Black album or Master of Puppets, or Sababth's Paranoid. Sometimes I prefer to veer a little left when choosing albums.

Doesn't always work of course. Go off the beaten path and you could find an album everyone hates, that is totally misrepresentative of the artiste's work, or just plain sucks. But using Wiki or RYM was just an easy out to me, although I did research the bands on Wiki, and in general if I saw an album by say a death metal or thrash metal band and the entry said it was less aggressive or with less death growls than previous ones, I would usually choose it. But, and it's a big but, I stayed with "Seven churches" for Possessed and "Heretic" for Morbid Angel, so I tried not to always take the cheaper, easier-on-my-ear way out if I could.

At any rate, hope you're all enjoying it and there's plenty more yet to come...

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The shadowthrone --- Satyricon --- 1994 (Moonfrog)

We've had the primary Swedish black metal band in Bathory, now let's cross over the fjord and head to the darker lands. Satyricon are acknowledged as one of the driving forces behind the early black metal movement in Norway, and this is accepted generally as one of their finest albums. It's their second, and again my first introduction to the band. I think I got lucky with Bathory; I don't expect to be let off so lightly with a second black metal band. But as they sort of said in Futurama, you gotta do what you gotta do...

Well there's a gutteral growl which doesn't do anything to assuage my fears, then "Hvite Krists død" (which apparently translates as "White Christ's death") gets going, with hammering guitar, pounding drums and that black metal sound I love so much! Yeah, this is going to be a blast, I can tell! Well now let's not be too hasty. Things settle down for a nice keyboard passage and soft bass, over which Satyr speaks in I assume Norwegian for a few moments, but that doesn't last --- hoenstly, did we expect it to? --- and we're back chasing the devil with a guitar. Yeah well it's not the worst black metal I've ever heard this month. Hey, there's even some rather nice piano! Then a big gong sounds and sharp guitar takes us out.

Much faster then is "In the mist by the hills", with more gravelly, scratchy singing from Satyr and pound-you-into-submission guitar from Samoth and Satyr himself, who also plays the odd bit of keyboards for good measure. Frost, on the drums, goes total overkill here near the end, and keeps going into "Woods to eternity", with the guitar almost restrained in comparison. Almost. But then they surprise me again, smacking me upside the head with a really nice soft acoustic guitar passage which leads into a harder electric one but is still quite --- can I say this? --- pastoral? Certainly sounds like it. The fact that Satyr keeps his gob shut while it's playing is a plus too.

"Vikingland" has an interesting chorus and warrior-style backing vocals with I must admit a very sharp guitar that I really like. On the minus side, Satyr's back. "Dominions of Satyricon" then is the epic, a nine-minute track that goes through many changes over its length, opening as a sort of marching anthem and then changing to heads-down headbanger with shredding a-plenty before returning to a slightly sped-up anthem, and all this in the first two minutes! A triphammer drumbeat takes us into the fourth minute with, I'm glad to say, a minimum of singing from old Satyr. Sure he'll be back though: ah yes, here he is! "The king of the shadowthrone" keeps the energy pumping high with rattling guitar and thundering drums and then, just as it's trundling along nicely they pull out the old acoustic, send the drummer to make the tea and just chill, for a few seconds. Mind you, it's not any time before Satyr is pounding on the electric and then he does another one of those dark voiceovers that crack me up so much.

Oh. And that's the end. Of that song. And almost the album. There's a kind of horn intro and some rather nice piano --- played I believe by the devilish one --- to close out on "I en svart kiste", which Wiki tells me is Norwegian for "in a black coffin". Tore, if you're reading you can tell me if they're right. It's a nice symphonic/gothic piece, with deep bassoon or summat, probably synthesised I guess but it sounds well. Just hoping it may be instrumental, as we're about halfway in and no vocals yet. Well, choral vocals on the keys yes, but no singing. Not yet. Yeah, it's an instrumental, and a nice one to finish on too.

TRACKLISTING

1. Hvite Krists død
2. In the mist by the hills
3. Woods to eternity
4. Vikinglands
5. Dominions of Satyricon
6. The king of the shadowthrone
7. I en kvist svarte

Musically I can really dig these guys. I get where they're coming from. It's my old bugbear again, death vocals, that's turning me a little from listening to more of their music. Satyr has the kind of voice that makes you think of nails scraping down a blackboard, but he can certainly play the guitar and he does a fine job on the keyboards on the last track. This was not nearly as bad as I had led myself to believe, and given that it's an early album and very clearly black metal I think I did ok with it. Nevertheless, this subgenre is never going to be my thing, but I wanted to make sure that there was something for everyone across the wide wonderful spread of heavy metal, so there's some black metal for yaz. Next up, it's System of a Down.

Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyricon_%28band%29

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Toxicity --- System of a Down --- 2001 (American)

Something concerns me about this band. Wiki lists them as a "rock" band, not a "metal" band, but I believe they're accepted as part of the nu-metal scene? I don't know; like so many bands here this is my first encounter with SOAD, so forgive me if I'm introducing a band who should not be included, but I'm going on popular opinion, so let's see how this pans out.

Choppy guitar chords that start and stop, a whispered vocal, pauses, silence, more guitars then the melody kicks in properly as "Prison song" starts, with a vocal that sounds more like something out of a reggae song to be honest. Okay it's heavy but is it metal? Well, apparently SOAD are supposed to utilise an awful lot of different influences so let's not discount them right away. It slows down in the middle and we get some gratuitous growls while vocalist Serj Tankian carries on. It's energetic, it's almost funny in places. Not too sure if I'm meant to take this seriously? Anyhoo, next track is "Needles", with a big heavy drumbeat and churning guitars, vocal is sort of spoken/shouted almost in a punk fashion, then "Deer dance" has the reggae-ish vocal back, tripping along nicely then Tankian starts shouting again.

Is this metal? I still don't know. I wouldn't categorise it as such, personally. Not so far anyway. "Jet pilot" just flies along at Mach II, then slows down into an almost traditional format, like a folk song in arabic or something, then flies off again. SOAD seem to relish mixing different styles and genres in even one song, which to my mind makes it hard to decide whether or not you like them. Things don't change really until "Chop suey!" has a nice introspective guitar line, but then that becomes a harder one and the vocal is another rapid-fire delivery for part of the song, dropping back on soft piano to an almost balladic style before returning to the original delivery. Quite annoying really.

There's a sense of the innate silliness of some of the vocal performances of The Divine Comedy in "Bounce" and then a rising, sort of intense vocal in "Forest", while "ATWA" is kind of a mess with Tankian snarling "You don't care/ How I feel!" Sort of sums up my mindset on this album, I have to say. I think I'd rather listen to some doom metal. Or even black metal. Yeah. Even Venom would be preferable to this. Well, might be a close run thing. I really don't like this. SOAD are trying to be too clever, too wacky and it's as I said already very annoying. The title track runs on a nice chimy slow guitar run and a decent vocal but of course, as we'd expect by now, that soon gets kicked in the nuts as the rowdy shout breaks out and the guitars and drums go crazy. Sigh. At this point, heard it all before guys and it's not innovative or funny any more.

For me, SOAD doesn't stand for System Of A Down, it means Settle On A Direction! They seem to be constantly flying off at tangents, mixing rhythms, melodies and genres so much that their music just comes across as a confused, haphazard mish-mash, as if they're just trying ideas out to see how they work. Personally, I feel they don't more often than they do. It's exhausting just trying to keep up with the constant changes. There's some nice guitar work in "Psycho", and the closer "Aerials" has finally settled down into a decent tune; it's a pity they didn't just concentrate on playing to their strengths on this album, instead of just jumping around all over the place like a bunch of Tasmanian Devils on crack. By now though I really couldn't care less. Time to write the outro and forget all about this band.

TRACKLISTING

1. Prison songs
2. Needles
3. Deer dance
4. Jet pilot
5. X
6. Chop Suey!
7. Bounce
8. Forest
9. ATWA
10. Science
11. Shimmy
12. Toxicity
13. Psycho
14. Aerials

It's been said that it's hard to pigeonhole SOAD and I can see why. They really don't seem to be able to settle on one genre, musical style or idea and stick to it. Diversity is all well and good, but not in the same song! It's just too much of an effort to try to sort it all out, and really it is sad because right at the end of the album when they calm down and start playing and singing like a "normal" band, they do very well. But by then I'm already on the bus home and have missed the last few tracks of the encore.

Not a gig I'll be looking at ever returning to. As for the original question I posed at the outset: are System Of A Down metal? I still sure as hell don't know, however now I also don't care.


Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_of_a_Down

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