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Continuing Plankton's selction, on we go to number
6
where we find the first album on this list I have never heard before.

Metal Church --- Metal Church --- 1984

Starts off with a very Black Metal-style incantation, then breaks into a normal metal riff and really rocks out. This is the debut album from Metal Church. Released on the cusp of the NWOBHM and taking some of the elements of that and also the burgeoning American metal scene, which was just really getting properly started. Hints of Dio in here too. Pretty much old-school metal, the kind you don't hear too much these days, with all these subgenres and people getting up themselves.

Like the pullback from full-ahead metal in “God of wrath”, has a lot of early Rush in it, and shows Metal Church can tone it back when they need to. Sort of a progressive metal feel to it; actually reminds me of Marillion in places. When it kicks up into a power rocker it's something of a shock, but a pleasant one. “Hitman” pulls no punches, while “In the blood” has a slightly more rocking, boogie beat, treading a little close to the AOR line though never stepping over it. The vocal edges over almost into death metal territory at times, most notably in “(My favourite) nightmare”, at which point it almost becomes comical, but Metal Church have definitely the chops to make you forget that and carry on enjoying tracks like the power metal of “Batallions” and the close, a pretty cool version of Purple's classic “Highway star”.


All the way back to 1971 then for another classic, and another album I have already reviewed
At number
5

Master of reality --- Black Sabbath --- 1971

One of the classic albums from the Ozzy years, “Master of Reality” still stands as one of their best and most loved albums, with a timeless quality that has endured through over forty years now, and probably will for another forty or more. I have reviewed this extensively in my journal already, so will just leave it at that.

It was probably inevitable that Plankton would choose a Metallica album somwhere for his list, adn at number
4
he’s gone for

Ride the lightning --- Metallica --- 1984

For a moment, as Metallica's second album opens, I think I've accidentally put on Dio's “Last in line”, but then that familiar guitar assault explodes out of the speakers as “Fight fire with fire” begins, and we're off! The title track lives up to its name, belting along and has one of those descending chord progressions (is it?) that I love to hear when guitar solos are played. Grinds down a little with “For whom the bell tolls” --- I can kind of understand Hetfield's vocals better on this one. “Fade to black” may just be the best Metallica song I have ever heard, although I admit I have not heard all that much. But I love everthing about this one. Superb.

Interestingly, the closing riff on “Creeping death” bears a marked resemblance to Maiden's “Powerslave”, and this album was out a year before that one. Hmm. Well I'm always gonna stick up for my boys, so let's just chalk it up to coincidence. Anyway, those Egyptian-style riffs have been cropping up in songs for years. Love “Call of Ktulu”, the closer. So atmospheric, eerie and conjures up just the right feel for one of Lovecraft's terrifying stories. Great way to end the album.

Even though only two years in existence and with two albums under their belts, here we see Metallica already showing the young 'uns --- and some of the established acts --- how it's done. Terrific stuff.

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Time to get back to your recommendations and requests, metal pickers! This one comes from Cicatrice, our newest expert on metal, and is in fact the only full album from a band who are now broken up, but who apparently put Chicago on the Thrash Metal map.


Act of God --- Znowhite --- 1988 (Roadracer)
Recommended by Cicatrice
Three things intrigue me about this band. One, the name. I like the sort of bastardisation of the old fairytale, makes it darker, you know? Although Snow White is a pretty dark story in the first place, but then, what would you expect from the Brothers Grimm? Of course, this was before ol’ Walt got his syrupy hands on it and made it all family friendly! But I digress. The second point of interest is that there’s a female singer, and that’s fairly rare in metal as a genre, never mind Thrash Metal. Thirdly, it’s their only album so it’s either going to be really good or really bad. Well, only one way to find out!

Interesting, almost neoclassical/progressive intro on guitar to “To the last breath”, then it bursts into life on riffing guitars and pounding drums with a rapid-fire vocal delivery from Nicole Lee, which at first put me off but it’s settling down now and it’s not bad. Bit too punky for my tastes though: very fast and sharp. Good guitar work from Ian Tafoya, though nothing as yet marks him out as a great guitarist or differentiates his playing from a thousand other thrash metal axemen. Not a bad start though, and the backing vocals in the chanted chorus are good. I would prefer if the song would maintain one tempo though; it goes from sort of mid-paced rocking to breakneck and back again. Bit off-putting. Oh there’s a very nice bit of shredding from Tafoya. Like it.

“Baptised by fire” starts off fast again, with a sort of shouted vocal from Nicole. She kind of reminds me of Siouxsie Sioux or Hazel O’Connor, not that I know many punk female vocalists. But this definitely sounds more on the punk end of the scale than metal. Still, at least I can clearly hear what she’s singing, which is more than I can often say for Tom Araya, for example. Meh, this is pretty basic. Bit too fast and frantic for me to take anything from it, though again cool solo.

Ok, well “Pure blood” slows down the tempo for once, with a heavy, grinding marching style … that then speeds up shortly after the track opens. Oh well. We’re only three tracks in but I can confidently predict I will not like the rest of this album, unless there’s a drastic change coming down the line, which I doubt. It’s too raw and too much on the border between metal and punk for me. Don’t enjoy that sort of thing. Mind you, we’re finally getting some sort of melody in “War machine”, and I sort of think I like this one. Puts me in mind of Tank or bits of Motorhead at times. “Thunderdome” has an into sample from, well, “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome” and with its opening lines ”Two men enter/ One man leaves” I guess it’s based on the Mel Gibson movie, the third in the Mad Max trilogy and in my opinion very much the weakest. The track isn’t much better.

Shouted vocals and a fast guitar beat: it takes more than that to make a song for me. Next! That’s “Rest in peace”, which starts off with a sprinkly keyboard intro, sort of like a musical box maybe, and no doubt will shortly kick into … and there it goes. This is getting boring. What’s on telly? Ah be serious Troll! Okay, okay. Hey, that’s a half-decent melody there. Maybe we can begin to hope. Mind you, it’s still too fast for me (yeah yeah, I know! Go drink some cocoa, old man! Ain’t they gonna miss ya at the retirement home?) but a really nice smooth solo there near the end.

Big impressive drum intro to “Diseased bigotry” and it’s not half bad (never got that phrase: if something is not half bad then surely the other half IS bad? Not half!) but I don’t see myself revisiting this album again, sorry. “A soldier’s creed” has a more discernible rhythm and melody (yes yes, the M word again!) and rocks along nicely without screaming off the rails. Good guitar riff too. I suppose it should be noted that Scott Schafer IS the rhythm section here, playing both bass and drums. Impressive. I’m somewhat concerned that the closer is almost nine and a half minutes long though.

“Something wicked this way comes” (cool title) starts off with a very ominous, dark bass and acoustic guitar line, very sparse and minimal then a slow, chugging, Dioesque riff makes a really nice change and also conveys the sense of paranoia and claustrophobia engendered by Bradbury’s masterpiece of dark horror/fantasy. There are no vocals for nearly three minutes and thankfully when they do come in they’re discernible and relatively restrained. Also thankfully the slow, crunching tempo remains, as it really suits the song. Yeah, this is the best track on it by a country mile. Almost saves the album, but there’s just too much other what I would consider sub-par, derivative material going before it for me to give it a pass.

Oh, and of course they couldn’t resist flooring it for the last minute or so.

TRACKLISTING

1. To the last breath
2. Baptised by fire
3. Pure blood
4. War machine
5. Thunderdome
6. Rest in peace
7. Diseased bigotry
8. A soldier’s creed
9. Something wicked this way comes

Yeah I didn’t like this at all. I can understand how people would, in you’re into that sort of thing but for me it’s just too fast and punkish. Pity, cos I was expecting big things from this album (not sure why) but it’s let me down badly. On we go to the next then.

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Mondo Bungle

When you lumped this with Cryptopsy and grindcore, I was assuming you thought it was more musical torture. Too bad you didn't like it, I consider it top tier thrash metal.

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Wpnfire

Surprised you liked "The Call of Ktulu" didn't think you would like that one. Also I can't stand that intro part of "Fight Fire With Fire." I just pretend the song starts at 0:41, which sounds much better. That acoustic (?) intro part just reminds me of everything I don't like about that album.

I missed this somehow. It's no prob.

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To those of you who mutter that Deep Purple are not heavy metal I have two things to say: one, shut up and two, listen to this album. Purple may be seen more as a hard rock than heavy metal band --- and they probably are, my witty comments above notwithstanding --- but if this isn’t a Heavy Metal album then I don’t know what is. Plus it influenced a whole generation and brought the attention of the world to one Ian Gillan. Its chart position of number 4 was pretty much unheard of at the time for an album of this ilk, and even though it was recorded almost forty-five years ago, it still sounds as good today.


Deep Purple in rock --- Deep Purple --- 1970 (Harvest)

This album was also an early introduction to me into the world of hard rock and later Heavy Metal, and though at the time it didn’t quite impress me the way the guy who loaned it to me had hoped or expected it would, over time I’ve gained a better appreciation for it, and can see how, like Sabbath’s debut, it helped kickstart the whole Heavy Metal genre. It was also the first album on which Deep Purple stepped away somewhat from their more experimental, psychedelic and often orchestral work and towards a bluesier, grittier and harder approach. Plus as I mentioned it featured the first appearance of Ian Gillan on vocals, who would go on to pretty much define the band’s classic sound, and also Roger Glover on bass, a lineup which, with Blackmore, Paice and Lord, would endure for three years and through four albums, including the seminal “Fireball” and “Machine head”.

Kicking off with an absolute guitar assault from Ritchie Blackmore, ably assisted by Ian Paice and with frenetic flurries from Jon Lord at the keys, “Speed king” quickly settles down into a quiet slow organ line from Lord, running into a sort of carnival theme with classical overtones before Blackmore kicks the crap out of it and Gillan comes in with what would become his trademark howl. Now I have never liked Ian Gillan, but even I have to admit the man can sing! Almost like male Janis Joplin, he gives it all he has as the song takes off, and everyone is on the same page. Soon enough though the guitar fades down and new boy Roger Glover accompanies Lord as he winds out an impressive solo on the keys.

Not to be outdone, ever, Blackmore soon comes in with a squealing guitar solo as Paice keeps the beat steadily with Glover. It’s not till the fourth minute of the almost six the song runs for that Gillan comes back in, but his presence and impact is immediate, and you can certainly see and hear a star in the making. “Bloodsucker” is a real boogie rocker, which this time gives Gillan more scope to vent his powerful voice. Whereas on the opener he was mostly screaming, here he pulls it back and you get to hear the incredible range this man has. A lot of Deep Purple’s best music though, despite the sometimes overbearing presence and mighty talent of Ritchie Blackmore comes from the rather shy figure of Jon Lord, and here he paints the backdrop to Blackmore’s guitar histrionics with soft organ, getting louder as the song goes on.

The standout though, as anyone will tell you who has heard the album, is the ten-minute epic “Child in time”, which opens with an almost neoclassical organ piece and soft percussion. Gillan sings gently as the song opens, the organ backing him, no real sign of Blackmore just yet. The vocal gets a little stronger and more laden with passion, Paice’s drumming also increasing in strength though still slow, and Gillan croons the next few lines, his voice rising in octaves each time, putting me somewhat in mind of Clare Torry on Floyd’s “The Great Gig in the Sky”, which would not be released until three years later. As his vocal gets more frantic and wild --- basically screaming, but screaming in tune and time with the music --- Blackmore blasts in with a machinegun guitar before loosing off a smooth solo, Lord’s swirling organ losing none of its grandeur or majesty.

The tempo then increases in the fourth minute, as we head into the midsection, affording both Blackmore and Glover a chance to cut loose, with Paice’s drumming getting faster and harder, Gillan not involved at this point. Even Lord’s organ has quickened, following the lead he initially laid down for the rest of his bandmates, which has now changed drastically. In the sixth minute everything stops, and Lord begins a reprise of the opening, bringing Gillan back in for the grand finale, and a feat of vocal gymnastics that really has to be heard to be believed. This type of pressure on his voice would later lead to Gillan being hospitalised, and nearly losing his voice in the process.

The song then ends on a big rapid organ solo from Lord, a crazy vocal from Gillan and thunderous drumming and guitarwork that brings it to the sort of conclusion usually reserved for train crashes. Yeah, it’s that powerful! After that it’s hard to see Purple getting any better, and indeed the rest of the album can’t measure up to that powerhouse performance, Deep Purple at their best. But “Flight of the rat” is a good rocker with a nice guitar riff underpinning the romping organ and Gillan in more restrained form. It’s another long song, nearly eight minutes and features a fine solo from Lord followed by one from Blackmore as the two try to one-up each other, making for some great music. There’s even time for an drum solo of sorts!

Much shorter and to the point is “Into the fire”, on which Blackmore is certainly in command. With a riff that shows to a degree the seeds that would germinate into their classic “Smoke on the water”, it’s a stomping, punching rocker that kicks everything out of its way as it goes, almost a Black Sabbath sound to it. Gillan’s voice is rawer and more ragged on this, and it suits the song well. Big, rolling, booming drums usher in “Living wreck”, a hard-hitting blues-style rocker that crunches along with a grinding, howling organ from Lord and a powerful vocal from Gillan. The closer is another long track, just over seven minutes as “Hard lovin’ man” brings down the curtain on this classic album.

With a big 60s style intro on drums and guitar, it rises on Glover’s bass and Blackmore’s guitar while Lord embellishes the tune with keyboard touches before unleashing the full power of his organ (ooer!) and the song runs along at a nice pace. It betrays a lot of what you would find in seventies progressive rock, with extended keyboard solos and a sort of stabbing guitar line. Gillan launches into vocal orbit again, giving it his all. A big gong crashes out from Paice’s kit, signalling the beginning of a solo war between Lord and Blackmore, the likes of which would become a trademark of this version of Deep Purple. The song ends suddenly and leaves Blackmore to have the final word as his guitar swirls and hisses its way to the end.

TRACKLISTING

1. Speed king
2. Bloodsucker
3. Child in time
4. Flight of the rat
5. Into the fire
6. Living wreck
7. Hard lovin’ man

I wouldn’t call myself a fan of Deep Purple, though I followed the bands that arose from its ashes --- Rainbow, Whitesnake --- but this album is special. Along with “Machine head” I believe it’s probably one of the most important rock albums of the seventies, and one that had a pronounced and lasting effect on Heavy Metal bands for decades to come. There’s unlikely to be a metalhead anywhere who doesn’t have at least one Purple album in his or her collection; as Fish says in Marillion’s “Torch song”, it’s part of the heritage.

It’s interesting and informative to hear Ian Gillan at the height of his vocal prowess, considering how he changed his style in later years, with little recourse as his vocal cords were shot to hell, and to hear the quiet command Jon Lord maintained over the band, despite the bombastic showmanship of Ritchie. A gentleman in every sense of the word, Lord was the steady hand on the tiller that steered this band through two of their finest and most influential albums.

The cover shows the faces of the five carved into stone, a la Mount Rushmore. Perhaps this could be seen, certainly at the time, as the physical projection of the ego of the guys but I don't think so. At this point they weren’t really that successful and superstardom would only come after this album. But in many ways now, forty-four years later, it seems somehow right and appropriate to see their faces in rock, the founding fathers of so much of what we call Heavy Metal today.

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mythsofmetal

While Sigh's later music is generally more avant-garde and slightly more accessible, I think you shouldn't discount their earlier albums though I may recommend listening to a couple of their more accessible/later albums before going into their early discography.

The two other albums of theirs besides Imaginary Sonicscape that are their most accessible and avant-garde are probably In Somniphobia from the year 2012 which has some big Jazz and Prog influence, and Gallows Gallery which if I'm not mistaken is entirely sung in clean vocals (besides some bonus tracks which are versions of songs on the standard album except with harsh vocals instead.) Though the vocals on Gallows Gallery are a little bit odd compared to most clean vocals, and the albums main influences could be described as Power Metal and Jazz. Also, if looking to listen to Gallows Gallery, make sure you listen to the remastered version, because the production is quite bad on the original version that was released in 2005, and even the remastered version's production isn't great. The reason for that is likely due to the band's disputes at the time with the label which was upset with Sigh not going in a more Black Metal direction, and I'm pretty sure cut the funding of the album due to that, resulting in the poor production.

Though those three albums may be their most accessible their top 3 imo excludes Gallows Gallery, and replaces it with Hail Horror Hail from 1997 along with the one you listened to, and In Somniphobia. Hail Horror Hail is very atmospheric, with Heavy Metal guitar melodies for a fair few of the songs similar to Imaginary Sonicscape, as well as incorporates various influences in some songs like Imaginary Sonicscape, which may or may not be present in other songs.

Scenes From Hell is another one of their best, released in 2010 and the debut of their second singer/saxophonist who's name is Dr. Mikannibal. Her voice is typically the deeper more Death Metaly voice, whereas on this album Mirai still retains his higher pitched more raspy Black Metal voice. The guitars, bass, and drums are typically very heavy on this album, and make some of the best riffs I've heard in Sigh's discography. There's also a lot of orchestrations throughout the album, I can't put a name on the style of orchestrations, but they're definitely different than the more typical classical influenced orchestrations on some of their other songs.

Another great one is Infidel Art. It's their second album but still a fair bit different from their first. It has some big Romantic Era Classical influence, as well as Doom Metal influence.

I think even their first album, Scorn Defeat, would be good for you to look into. It was actually one of the albums that really got me started into Black Metal. Though, it's probably their weakest in that while it has a few great tracks (A Victory of Dakini, Gundali, Ready for the Final War.) most of the other ones are only good or decent. It definitely is among the more accessible almost pure Black Metal out there, so I don't think you should ignore it and at least give the three best tracks I mentioned a try.

Also, if you want to see the point where they turned from semi-Avant-garde to really avant-garde, then check out their 1997 EP called Ghastly Funeral Theatre. While I don't think it's among their best, it definitely has a few great songs (it technically only really has four, and the first real track I'd consider the weakest on the album, but the rest is a fair bit better than the first, and even the first is very good, imo.) Also, since you liked Impromptu (Allegro Maestoso) then at least check out Imiuta, which is a great piano and synth piece, which imo is much better than Impromptu.

Also, rounding out some information for you on the last two albums of theirs I haven't mentioned yet. I'll start with Scenario IV: Dread Dreams circa 1999 which is probably their most underrated album, but also imo not among their best ones. It is kinda similar to Hail Horror Hail if you took out the more atmospheric elements, it definitely has that Heavy Metal/Iron Maiden riff influence like on Imaginary Sonicscape and Hail Horror Hail. Also, while it has a few great songs which rival their best ones, it probably loses being among their best because it is one of their more inconsistent albums like Scorn Defeat, and the last album I'll get to tell you about which is their 2007 album Hangman's Hymn. Hangman's Hymn is probably their second closest album to a pure Black Metal sound besides their debut album. It basically is like Black Metal plus classical synths with slightly more Heavy Metal/Thrash Metal influenced riffs. One complaint I've heard from some people is that they can't distinguish a fair amount of the riffs on the album from other ones that preceded it, and that a lot of the time they feel the riffs don't really go anywhere. I personally feel I can distinguish the riffs well and if I'm in the right mood they can sound quite great, but it's exactly that I have to be in a more specific type of mood to really enjoy the album.


Also, Sigh is scheduled to release another album this year entitled Graveward. They've recently let a song leak from the new album and I thought I could post it here for you to maybe listen to, but don't feel like you have to listen to or review it just because I posted it here.


Sigh - Out of the Grave (Demo) - YouTube

Trollheart

Although as I said this year I wanted to have more structure on Metal Month, there are some albums I've reviewed that just don't fit into any of the sections I've presented so far, nor any future ones. But I'd like to post them anyway, so from time to time over the next remaining weeks I'll be featuring an album that is simply nothing more than a pure album review.

But always Metal, of course!

Here's the first one.

Alliance of the kings --- Ancient Bards --- 2010 (Limb Music)


About the same time as Anubis from Brazil were putting the finishing touches to their first album, a symphonic metal outfit thousands of miles away across the Atlantic were doing the same. The difference being that whereas the South American thrash band had been together since 1994, Ancient Bards only formed in 2006, and since then have had three albums, three parts of a trilogy they call the Black Crystal Sword Saga, of which this is the first part. The third, released this year, completes only part one, so this Italian synphonic metal band has obviously big plans in hand.

With a typical symphonic metal opening, dramatic, keyboard driven with big booming drums, the perhaps mundanely-named “Prelude” features singer Sara Squadrani relating the story behind the album. I'm not going to go into that here (see? I said I'd keep these reviews shorter!) but she does tell us that ”This is the story of the Black Crystal Sword” then things start to hot up as “The birth of evil” hits, with typically progressive/power keyboard runs and galloping drums. Sara is obviously a good singer too, and you can hear echoes of bands like Rhapsody, Stratovarius and others in here. There are great backing vocals, provided by Daniele Mazza, founder of the band, under the banner of “Barbarian choir”.

It certainly rocks along and Daniele handles keyboard duties while Claudio Pietronik and Fabio Balducci look after the guitars, all three meshing with the rhythm section of Allesando Carichini on drums and Martino Garattoni on bass to provide the perfect backdrop for Sara's powerful voice. It's derivative certainly, more power than symphonic metal to me, at least so far, then we're into “Four magic elements”, on which Garattoni gets to exercise his fingers in some fine bass runs and the guitars take on almost a celtic feel. Deep, heavy keys from Mazza add to the dramatic, elegant sense of the song, while “Only the brave” is much faster (much!), a real shredder of a thing with Mazza again bossing the keyboard lines while the lads go crazy on the frets. The clear vocal of Sara cuts through then and the song takes off. I really don't know what she's singing about but let's be honest: in these sort of albums the stories all take their inspiration from this or that fantasy novel, film or legend, and there's a general template. Someone evil is trying to stop someone good and the latter needs the Black Crystal Sword to defeat him. See? I could have written this.

But there's no doubting the power of the music, and it's gripping and entertaining, as long as you don't take it all too seriously. Nice instrumental break there just after the midpoint, where Daniele Mazza gets to show off his keyboard skills, as well as his “Barbarian choir”. It certainly trundles along like a runaway train, not too much time to catch your breath. A ballad would be nice, and I expect we'll get one before too long. For now though things keep fast and heavy with “Frozen mind”, and while the idea of having a female vocalist in this subgenre is interesting if not unique, and the “Barbarian choir” is a nice idea, I'm finding this pretty generic so far. Nothing is really standing out and most of the songs are played too fast for there to be any discernible hooks on which to hang a good idea. Rather nice piano solo there from Mazza, backed up with some dark symphonic keys, but I'd still class Ancient Bards as more a power than a symphonic metal band personally.

Very cinematic and operatic short interlude next as “Nightfall in an icy forest” showcases the Barbarian Choir at its best, but at just under two minutes it's way too short and takes us into “Lode al padre”, the only song on the album with an Italian title, though it's actually sung, like the rest of the songs, in English. It would also seem to be the ballad I've been waiting for, although it kicks up a little for the chorus. Nice soft keyswork from Mazza, acoustic style guitar from Balducci with a powerful vocal performance from Sara; one of the better tracks so far. More celtic stylings about this, then it breaks into a searing guitar solo as the tempo ramps up, Pietronik trying to outdo his axe partner in shred power, then the embarrassingly tritely-titled “Daltor the Dragonhunter” is one of the two longest tracks on the album, both falling just shy of the nine-minute mark.

It's pretty epic as you would expect, with a rather stunning vocal delivery from Sara, who proves she can sing almost unaccompanied as the band all but drops away in sections of the song. It starts well, but quickly descends into yet another get-there-as-quickly-as-possible effort, which for me cheapens a little what this band are about, or what they should be about. Sounds like Spanish guitar there in about the fourth minute, then it slows down into a dramatic almost march, stately and regal as Mazzo's keyboards take centre stage for a while. “Farewell my hero” is another dramatic, sweeping piece where this time Mazzo uses his keys as the sombre backdrop to a tale of courage and loss, while Pietronik and Balducci add the punch required, the rhythm section driving the whole thing. Above all this rises the voice of Sara like a demented thing; she puts in one of her best performances on this song.

The album comes to a close on “Faithful to destiny”, the longest track at just fifteen seconds short of nine minutes and it kind of reprises the general theme of the album for the first few minutes before Sara comes in with a vocal whose rhythm and cadences recall the lays of medieval minstrels, with the Barbarian Choir adding its weight to her voice. The somewhat celtic influence returns in the fourth minute, with the guitar putting me in mind too of Mike Oldfield on “Tubular Bells II”, then Mazzo lets loose with a barrage on the organ, powerful and dramatic and stirring, helped by single forceful drumbeats from Carichini before the whole thing kicks off into high gear for the finale.

TRACKLISTING

1. Prelude
2. The birth of evil
3. Four magic elements
4. Only the brave
5. Frozen mind
6. Nightfall in icy forest
7. Lode al padre
8. Daltor the dragonhunter
9. Farewell my hero
10. Faithful to destiny

For what it is, this is certainly a good album, but it's hard to get too excited about it. Sure, it's nice to see a band put enough thought into a storyline that they create a trilogy of albums that follow a set plot, and if you enjoyed this then it will probably set you up for the other two parts, plus no doubt more to come. I enjoyed it, but I'm not rushing out to buy the other albums. It's good, it's well-written and very well-played, but the problem is that you could say that about any power, progressive or symphonic metal band these days, and to stand out from the herd you have to I believe have something different. You need to be able to separate yourself from the hundreds or even thousands of bands who are all vying for a slice of the same pie, and for me there just isn't enough here to distinguish Ancient Bards from any of their fellow bands.

A good effort, certainly, but sadly these days it's no longer enough just to be good. And that's all this is: good, nothing more.

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Members' Top Ten Lists

And so we come to Plankton's top three, and of course, where would any list be without Slayer? At number
3

South of Heaven --- Slayer --- 1988
Reviewed in full only yesterday as part of our Featured Artiste slot

Which takes us to his last two choices, and at number
2

Holy Diver --- Dio --- 1983

Another genre-defining album, the debut and at the same time pinnacle of Dio’s career, this album has also been reviewed in the section “The Metal that made Me” last year. Eternal classic, never tire of hearing it.

And at the top of his list, who else would he have but a world-renowned guitarist? At number
1

Built to destroy --- Michael Schenker Group --- 1983

Let's be honest: this starts off wimprock; there's a bouncy keyboard line and a rising synth that puts this right in AOR territory for me, even verging into pop, which belies the title “Rock my nights away”. The production also seems pretty bad, unless it's just me. For some reason Spotify doesn't have it and I had to go Groovesharkin'. But I haven't had any trouble with other albums from them in terms of production or sound, so I have to assume it's the album itself. There's the signature Schenker guitar solos, but I can't believe how soft-rock this is, at least the opener. Hope it gets heavier as it goes on. Oddly enough, I can't even blame the weak vocals on by-then departed songer Graham Bonnet, as this is Gary Barden back behind the mike, the man who so impressed me on their debut, which was featured at the beginning of the week.

Man, I still hear a lot of funk as the second track gets going, and this is not the MSG I --- sort of --- knew. This was, in fairness, their last album before splitting, but if it doesn't improve then it sounds like it was the right decision. Couldn't call this anything approaching metal. It's so weak and limpwristed. Nah, it just gets worse. This is, frankly, awful, and about as far removed from metal as it can be without being an all-out pop record. At least “Captain Nemo” gets things rocking, finally, but it looks to be an instrumental. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but when Schenker is let loose with his Flying V he can metal up any song.

But then we're back to funk/disco and I'm done with this. Sorry man it's just an insult to metal. How you picked this is beyond me. Embarrassing. Okay they managed to rescue it with the last track but it's way too little way too late, like offering a rope to a guy AFTER he's been submerged for half an hour.

Michael, you're sleeping with the fishes, mein freund. Sleeping being the operative word.

Sadly, the only thing this album is built to destroy are my expectations. And it did.

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Plankton

Ouch. Truth be told, I learned Cpt Nemo a long time ago and I haven't really listened to it since. Still holds a place in my guitar pumping heart though.

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Janszoon

That's how I've always felt about South of Heaven as well. I know it's very highly regarded by some but it's one of my least favorite albums by them.

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A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

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