Trollheart

Thankfully, with “Undisputed attitude” behind us, we can now return to proper Slayer fare, and their eighth album, which took for its title a Latin phrase supposedly meaning a forbidden chord or something, literally the devil's music. Jeff Hanneman pretty much wrote all of this album --- all the music bar two tracks, one of which he collaborated with his axe partner on, and much of the lyrics, and there are some surprises along the way, as Slayer once again break the mould and enter the murky world of nu-Metal and even Groove Metal. Yeah.


Diabolus in musica --- Slayer --- 1998 (American)

Meaning “the Devil in music” (as if you couldn't work that one out) the title of this album at least assured Slayer of the surely by now coveted Parental Advisory sticker, and zero airplay once again, but once again they didn't give a fuck. They had their fans, and those fans didn't listen to the charts, probably not even the radio, so what did they care? On “Seasons in the abyss” Slayer had been tasked by their label with producing a hit single. When they snarled “You write it, we'll play it” that put paid to any further discussions, so nobody was going to try to suggest they write anything commercial for this or any other album.

But it did turn out to be quite experimental, as we shall see. Slayer experimented with themes and ideas they had not previously, and brought in influences from subgenres previously considered unlikely ever to feature on one of their albums. It's also --- barring the previous album of Punk covers --- one of the longest Slayer albums to date, running for forty minutes and having thirteen tracks, a feat only surpassed by the next album, which also has thirteen tracks but a running time of forty-two minutes. “Seasons in the abyss” is the same length --- 42 mins --- but has only ten tracks.

But enough nerdism. To the album. We begin with “Bitter peace”, one of several songs on the album carrying on Slayer's tradition of speaking out --- well, screaming or growling out I guess --- against the futility and insanity of war. With a big grinding doom-like opening it's heavy as Hell and almost two minutes before the vocal comes in, on the back of some pretty sweet bass from Tom as the tempo kicks into the sort of thing we've become used to. Not as fast as the Punk on the previous album, true, but for my money that's too fast. This is a tempo I've all but become accustomed to, and it's somehow comforting to hear it again. Big, powerful guitars plus a blistering solo from Kerry: what more could you ask for in an opener?

“Death's head” opens with a very groove metal bass and guitar, and romps along nicely with an almost diabolic (yeah) vocal from Tom and some great feedback guitar from Kerry before he launches into another solo. But Tom gets to display his prowess on the bass here too, with several extended passages peppering the song. “Stain of mind” is another heavy thunderer, though betraying a flirtation with nu-Metal in a semi-rap run off by Tom at the beginning. Not really sure that works: I never believed rap and Metal mixed, probably never will. Still, Araya doesn't make it too obvious that he's rapping --- after a fashion --- and the song is still very recognisable as a Slayer one.

The first time, I believe, that Slayer used sound effects other than the likes of thunder and rain, “Overt enemy” starts with a voice intoning things like “God's war/ Against Man/ Holocaust/ Man's war against himself” and pulls in Slayer's continuing protestations against the Church and against organised religion. It's slower, a cruncher rather than a screamer, with low, dirty guitar and some thick bass from Tom again.

And returning lyrically to the themes explored in “Sex, murder, art” on the “Divine intervention” album, “Perversions of pain” doesn't need too much explanations, another hard-hitting rocker though without the megaspeed again this time. Until Kerry cuts loose in about the second minute, then it all takes off into the stratosphere. “Love to hate” is thicker, sludgier and with an angry vocal from Tom, seeming to tread the old inside-the-mind-of-the-serial-killer ground again. One criticism I would have to level at Slayer --- and one which may not be unexpected --- is that they tend to rehash the same ideas over and over again. War. Death. Pain. Serial killers. Religion. We have heard all of these before, but in general I don't see any new ideas, no new themes, no new subjects, which is a pity but as I say not unexpected.

On any other album by any other band (well, most) you might think “Desire” could be a ballad, but haven't you been listening? Slayer don't do ballads! As it happens, this appears to be a song about necrophilia, revealed in the lines ”Forbidden fantasies/ Uncontrollable heat/ Find yourself all alone and dead” and while “In the name of God” is certainly not a title you would expect to find on a Slayer album, throw the word lies in before it and you have the true picture. No, they haven't gone all Christian Thrash --- is there such a thing? --- they still hate Jesus, and he probably hates them. Bet he doesn't have one single Slayer album in his collection.

Plenty of anger of course in this song, a hard heavy beat and steamhammer guitars, though the refrain at the end reminds me of something. Can't think what. Come to think of it, what I was saying just a short time ago about Slayer having no new ideas? Scratch that, as “Scrum” has to --- has to --- be a song about ... rugby! Yeah I know, but listen to the lyric: ”Full contact/ Why I live and breathe/ Sidestepping all the human debris” and ”base line goal line/ Overtime killing time”. Sure it could be about American Football (No I will not...) but ”Living on adrendaline/ Your try is crushed” I think settles the question. No touchdown guys. No touchdown. Of course, why a bunch of Americans would write about rugby is another thing, but there it is.

“Screaming from the sky” seems to put us in the head of a German Stuka divebomber pilot (more allegations of Nazi glorification no doubt) and marches along on a great military beat and a hammered out vocal, while “Point”, for some reason, is the last track Spotify have on this album, but there are two more, so a-YouTubing I must go. For the record, “Point” reminds me a little of Sabbath's “Into the void”, though much more aggressive of course. So then, the first of the two tracks Spotify doesn't give me is “Wicked”, and it's a whole six minutes long, making it easily the longest track on the album and one of the three longest Slayer tracks up to this point. It starts with a nice downtuned guitar then bursts into life on the twin axe attack of Hanneman and King. The song may be about Armageddon, always a little hard to be sure. It's a real cruncher, stomping along and massacring everything in its path.

Finally, “Unguarded instinct” (seems these two may be bonus tracks, though it's not mentioned on Wiki, but would explain why Spotify doesn't have them; that means I've been tricked into covering bonus tracks, something you know I don't usually do) is another heavy cruncher, and sad to say, seems to go down the tired old well-trodden serial killer road. Oh well: guess you can't expect too much in the way of originality. Decent song though; think it should have been part of the original album, but sure, what do I know?

TRACKLISTING

1. Bitter peace
2. Death's head
3. Stain of mind
4. Overt enemy
5. Perversions of pain
6. Love to hate
7. Desire
8. In the name of God
9. Scrum
10. Screaming from the sky
11. Point
12. Wicked
13. Unguarded instinct

It's a heavy album, of that there's no doubt, but as I said earlier the lack of variety, the refusal to change much and, though this is seen as something of an experimental album, the sameness of Slayer's music is, I have to admit, boring me. Nobody would ever accuse them of being progressive, but hey, you may hate Genesis or Marillion or even ELO, but at least they tried to do something new on successive albums, even if it was only new lyrical themes or song structures. To a great extent, I sort of feel that (the covers album aside) the last three albums have all sounded pretty similar to me, and while I don't expect to see Slayer bring in keyboards or orchestras or even a double bass, I would like them to do something a little different.

But I guess this is how their fans like them, so they're unlikely to change. Still, for an album touted as being so “different” to anything else they had done, I don't see it. More of the same. Kind of yawn, y'know? Hey! Put down that burning cross! If I don't turn up for the next review people will come looking for me, you know...

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Unknown Soldier

A bunch of druggies might well get things like across and around mixed up. But on the other hand they’re probably talking generally here concerning the Maginot Line.

But as you like to dot the i’s and cross the t’s, you’d be bound to notice this error.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

Members' Top Ten Lists
Time to return to Mondo Bungle's Top 10, and Number
6
is, for the third time,

Angel dust --- Faith No More --- 1992

Give it up guys! I am not reviewing it again! Moving on...

5

Pleasure to kill --- Kreator --- 1986 (Noise)

I've only experience of Kreator on one album, checked out during Metal Month last year, and that one was well into their discography. I was told it was at a point where they were losing the thrash influences. This, on the other hand, is their second album and said to be a classic of thrash metal, so I expect it to be a bit, what, more brutal? It's also quite long, with twelve tracks, so let's get this party started!

There's the no doubt deceptive melodic guitar opening “Choir of the damned”, but as it's only less than two minutes long I think it may be an instrumental. Now we have keys and choral voices, gentle gutiars .... yeah yeah. I'm not fooled guys. I'm not fooled. With track titles like “Riot of violence”, “Carrion” and “Flag of hate”, I know it's going to break into a fast, aggressive ... and there it goes. Sort of Slayer speed, growly voice but I can understand it so that's good. “Ripping corpse” kind of blends into “Death is your saviour” with no real demarcation line between them that I can see, but maybe I was just distracted. Cool solo.

Title track has got a great chugging rhythm, with a really silly death vocal like a record that has been put on two speeds too slow (OFA) but generally this is all passing in something of a blur of sound and growls. I'm losing interest now; everything seems very similar and I can't separate the tracks one from the other. The playing is great, the solos sweet but I just can't pick anything out that really impresses me, other than the opening instrumental. Sorry, nothing more to say about it. Didn't hate it, didn't love it. In some cases, didn't really notice it. What can ya do?

And so on to
4

Blood in our wells – Drudkh --- 2006

Well this sounds interesting. Ukrainian metal? I've sampled progressive rock from there and it was pretty impressive, so we'll see. Hmm. Two ten-minute tracks, a twelve-minuter and a nine. Out of six altogether. I see. Well the first one is short, with an odd kind of folky intro, but I wonder how long that will last? I know this is black metal: it's getting harder to surprise old Trollheart, you guys! Guess that's basically an instrumental, though there are some voices wailing in the background, but I don't think I'd categorise it as singing. The nine-minute track is next, and they all have what I assume are Ukrainian titles (lots of square characters, you know) but I have translations so I know this is called “Furrows of gods”. As expected, it has the angry, growly vocals that seem to characterise so much of this subgenre, but thanks to Jansz I'm getting used to tuning them out. The music is damn good, very slow without being doom metal and very dramatic. I like this a lot. Says the lyrics are based on Ukrainian poetry and literature but --- surprise, surprise! --- I don't speak Ukrainian so can't comment on them. The album is said to be dedicated to the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, basically equivalent it would appear to the IRA. Again I know nothing about this. But the music is very cinematic and powerful. It doesn't batter you with high-speed guitar solos and trundling drums as much black metal I've listened to tends to do. Nice change.

Nine minutes has gone in pretty quickly, and the music here seems more like a sort of heavier progressive metal to me; definitely not the bog-standard black metal of some bands. Lots of melody. Yeah yeah I know. “When the flame turns to ashes” has an amazingly agile guitar solo pulling it in, and just gets better as it goes along. Man, even without being able to understand the lyrics you can feel the passion in this music! Superb. The mono playing at the end is inspired, even if it made me think my computer was screwed up!

To me, the real test of good music is can I enjoy it even if I hate the vocals? Usually I'd say no: I like to hear what's being sung and if I can't enjoy the singing then I can't get past that to enjoy the music. But with this --- and a few others now --- I've been able to make the breakthrough and can honestly say this is effing brilliant! It's interesting and refreshing too how Drudkh have one guitarist and two keyboard players, one of whom also plays the drums, the other of whom does the vocals. Certainly makes for a cinematic sound to their music. The uileann pipes or whatever they are at the start of “Eternity” are just perfect and then it piles into one of the most catchy melodies I've ever heard in black metal. Damn, this is good!

I'll be honest, I can't find a track on this album I like, but I can find six that I love. Not a single bad track, not even one that's sub-par, and they're all so good that I find it impossible to pick a standout. They're all heroes, every one. What an incredible album!

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Trollheart

Children of Bodom covering Journey? Welllllll.... last Metal Month we did feature them covering Britney's “Oops ... I did it again” (that was hi-larious!) but this time they needn't quite hang their collective heads in shame, as this task was undertaken by their keyboard player Janne Warmin under his own solo project Warmen. On the fifth Warmen album they undertook to cover “Separate ways”, from the Journey album “Frontiers.” To be entirely fair, though Journey are known as wimp-rock and either praised or reviled for ballads such as “Open arms”, “Who's crying now” and “Don't stop believing”, this is one of their rockier tracks, and I could certainly see a metal band taking it on. As Warmen did, in 2009, on the album “Japanese hospitality”. Am I missing a joke here? Anyway they did a pretty damn good job on it, and you can check the two versions side by side here.

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Trollheart

Back when I was getting into bands I tended to buy the greatest hits packages, reasoning that this was the best way to hear a band's repertoire. And so it was with Rainbow. Having heard the debut and “Rising” I went out and bought this first ever Rainbow compilation. And is it a revelation!

The best of Rainbow --- Rainbow --- 1981

Not only do you get half of “Rising” on this double album, you also have all the hits --- “Since you been gone”, “All night long”, “I surrender” etc --- as well as one of Rainbow's most heartbreaking ballads, “Catch the rainbow”. Factor in “Long live rock'n'roll”, “Kill the king” and the amazing “Gates of Babylon”, to say nothing of “Eyes of the world”, and you have a compilation that really is hard to beat. Some of the tracks on it I could do without --- “Man on the silver mountain”, “Jealous lover” etc, but overall it's one of the best collections I've ever bought.

Showcasing the best from the Dio era, as well as Joe Lynn Turner and Graham Bonnet, it's a true representation of what Rainbow were all about at the height of their popularity and their creative apex. A true time capsule. Excellent stuff.

TRACKLISTING

1. All night long
2. Man on the silver mountain
3. Jealous lover
4. Lost in Hollywood
5. Long live rock'n'roll
6. Stargazer
7. Kill the king
8. A light in the black
9. Since you been gone
10. Sixteenth century Greensleeves
11. Catch the rainbow
12. Eyes of the world
13. I surrender
14. Gates of Babylon
15. Can't happen here
16. Starstruck

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Trollheart

Wrathchild (Killers)
I'm not quite sure what it is about “Wrathchild” that I like. It's not, to be fair, the greatest of tracks and there are surely songs I could have chosen in its place that didn't make the list. But there's something about it that draws me. Maybe it's the fact that it would later spawn a glam metal band by the same name, or that it was included on some metal compilation I heard as a kid but never really paid much attention to. Maybe it's the “I'm coming to get you!” which would be repeated later in the title track. Maybe it's that big meaty bassline that gets it going, or the soaraway guitar. I really don't know. But somehow it's found its way into a higher spot on my top ten than I would have expected it would have occupied, if at all.


Drifter (Killers)
This, on the other hand, has always been one of my favourite Maiden tracks. I particularly love the big rocking ending, the “Gonna sing my song, and it won't take long” and the powerful, screaming ending. But the opening is great too: that double guitar attack building up to Di'Anno yelling “Rock and ro-oh-oh-ohlllllll!” It's a track that always makes me want to move. The middle section is inspired too, the slowing down as the guitar solos so beautifully and restrained, the sort of stuttering re-build up to the main melody, the big drum semi-solo from Clive Burr as the whole thing takes off for the big finish. Superb.


Strange world (Iron Maiden)
As I mentioned, the first ballad from the boys, which would be thin on the ground throughout their (so far) forty-four year career (going in terms of album releases; I know they've been together since 1975), it was at the time a startling departure from the hard-edged metal/punk that I had been experiencing on the debut, and segueing as it does directly from the first instrumental, it was something of a double whammy. And it's a beautiful song. Di'Anno proves he can really sing, and Murray shows that he isn't just a fretburner, that he knows how to dial it back several notches when required.

Some bands would have used piano or keyboards, maybe violin to supplement the guitar sound here, but Maiden had no truck with keys up until Bruce left. I remember on the back of “Piece of mind” the promise: “No synthesisers or ulterior motives!” Maiden at that time, the height of their burgeoning popularity and the apex of their commerciality, wanted to buck the trend and stay far away from keytars, synths and keyboards, trusting to the inestimable talents of their two guitarists to make all the music that was required. And they did. The otherworldly sound Murray puts on his guitar (probably phased, what do I know?) allied to Steve Harris's gently thrumming bass and Burr's perfectly placed percussion jsut creates exactly the kind of atmosphere you imagine they were going for.

And Di'Anno? My god he can sing here! Devoid of the snarl, the rawness, his voice is almost gentle and while you wouldn't expect him to release any pop records, he shows he can do other than just growl metal anthems. With no title to suggest it would be a ballad, and as I say the slow fade-in from “Transylvania”, this track virtually transformed side two of the album for me, before kicking it back up with “Charlotte the harlot” and going for the throat, but it was one hell of a surprise, and a very pleasant one.

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The Batlord

Have you actually listened to a Children of Bodom album? With your newfound ability to tolerate at least some extreme metal vocals, I think they might just be up your alley. Their sound is more power metal/Maiden than it is thrash, they're catchy and melodic as all hell, and Alexi Laiho is far-and-away more tolerable a vocalist than most growlers/screamers.

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Trollheart

Yep. I listened to one last year for Metal Month. Don't recall enjoying it but I might give them another go at some point.

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Unknown Soldier

Didn't know that Children of Bodom had covered that Journey track, not a bad cover but few vocalists could ever hope to match the power of Steve Perry.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

For my final look at German metal I’m going to actively seek out a Black Metal album, just so I can’t be accused of only listening to the sort of Metal I enjoy. I’m sure with Germany’s dark past, both mythological and historical, there will be one or two lurking just out of sight around the corner.

Pray for me…

Okay, okay! I realise I’m cheating slightly here. So it’s atmospheric Black Metal with a strong interest in Norse mythology: it’s still categorised as Black Metal, huh? Hey, I could hate it, you know? Though considering that the band took their name from the Rainbow Bridge that spans the space between Midgard and Asgard (man I love Norse mythos!) that seems unlikely. Perhaps something along the lines of the Bathory albums I reviewed for the Viking Metal segment? Huh? Huh?

Meh, have it your own way. This is the one I’m going for anyway, and it comes highly recommended by some guy I met online, so this is where I end my very brief and not at all inclusive look at what Germany has to offer in the way of Heavy Metal. I guess I could have spent the whole month trawling through the many and varied bands, and subgenres, to come out of this country, but I wanted to ensure that I looked at a different country each week, and so here, for now at any rate, is where we end up.


Rain upon the impure --- The Ruins of Beverast --- 2006 (Van Records)

What’s really interesting, and disturbing, about this band is that the album after this is titled “Foulest semen of a sheltered elite”, which sounds more like something Cryptopsy (yes, them again! My sleep will forever be tortured by remembrances of their horrible music) would release, but that’s not the one I’m going for. As an aside, looking at the track listing for that album I don’t see any nasty or questionable song titles, so maybe it’s just the album title that’s a little risque? Anyway as I say, this is the one I’ve chosen and it’s their second album, in a career that has been relatively fresh, the band only forming in 2003. Yes I know that’s eleven years together, more than many other bands manage, but some of the acts I’ve looked at here have been around since the 80s, so it doesn’t seem as long a period.

I’ve also had my fill of the German tongue (ooer!) --- sorry you natives but it’s an awfully harsh language, as I’ve said before, and I don’t like not being able to talk about the lyrics, unless the music is really good. So another factor in my choosing this album has been that all the songs are sung in English! Hooray! Whether or not I’ll be able to make out the vocals (Black Metal is one of those that does tend to favour the harsh, scratchy or roared growly vocals, as I've been made more than uncomfortably aware of) is another matter, but we’ll see, We open with “50 forts on the Rhine”, presumably the recounting of some ancient battle, and I note it’s thirteen minutes long! The next one is fifteen! Oh dear. The sound of galloping horses and the cries of battle are drowned out by a big roar and hammering guitars, and it looks like the laugh is on me. Ambient? This doesn’t sound fucking ambient!

It’s pretty much the same guitar riff for two minutes, with crashing drums and no sign yet of a vocal, though that roar was far from encouraging! Kind of a choral vocal though breaking out in the background, but we’re now four minutes in and all I can hear is a horrible deathly growl. Whether that’s supposed to be the vocals or not I don’t know, but if so then there’s egg on my face: I am NOT going to enjoy this! The guitars drop back then to a more restrained, almost acoustic level, with kind of pealing bells in the melody, dark thunder rolling and then a stronger guitar coming back in. Now I look, I see this is all the work of a single individual, one Alexander von Mellenweld. Sounds like a demon to me! But fair play to him if he does all this himself. Maybe those lyric sheets won’t be needed after all!

I’m sure Batty is laughing his ass off at me. I thought this was going to be something like When Bitter Spring Sleeps. Um, yeah. Not quite. I can’t make out a single vocal; I don’t mean to be cruel but it sound more like a rabid dog or some madman trying to break free. So let’s ignore the vocals --- such as they are ---and, Panopticonlike, concentrate on the music, which has returned to harsh guitar but at least it’s got a certain melody to it. Oh wait! I understood a few words there! Ol’ Alex dropped his voice an octave and I caught a sentence about being at war, or something. Didn’t last though.

So we have a fifteen minute track after this, another fifteen minute one, a sixteen and a fourteen minute, so even with only seven tracks this still runs close to an hour and a half. As I said, pray for me. So much for my easy exit! Guitar work is damn good, and to be honest were there no vocals I would probably appreciate this more. Still, it’s going to be something of a slog to the end if it’s all like this. “Soliloquy of the stigmatised shepherd” (what’s with these weird song titles? What happened to “Satan is our pal?”) has another heavy guitar opening, the sound at times like someone is trying to throttle the instrument using its own strings. It’s heavy as all hell, that’s for sure, and dark as fuck, but so far it’s kind of all a little too much of the same. I hardly realised the first track had ended and the second begun. I guess if you had to have a soundtrack to Armageddon as Satan’s minions swarmed over the Earth harvesting souls, this could be it.

Wait just one tension-popping moment! There’s a real ambient guitar there, and something that could be a synth in the background. A harder guitar takes over, but the quieter one remains in the background, not giving up, sort of like an acolyte standing aside as its master reveals himself. Again, ooeer! Seems this guy is a member of Nagelfar, which I know to be the ship of the dead that Surt will sail at the end of days, as Ragnarok falls upon the world (see, I know this stuff!) and so his interest in Norse legend is understandable. Meanwhile, this song has taken something of a turn for the weird, or weirder. It’s much slower, doom metal slow, and now there’s an odd chimy guitar sort of clanging away too. Nice kind of choral vocal going there, supposedly on the keyboards if he does everything himself.

I never quite understand why vocalists like this sing as they do. The lyrics to the songs are quite impressive, but I have no chance in hell of ever hearing a word or understanding it --- I did better with Rammstein! --- and so can only read them. This appears to be the lament of a shepherd forced to walk the world, possibly immortal --- Kane? But this album seems based on Norse folklore, although the battle referred to in the opener seemed to be from Germanic history. Maybe. Hard to tell. Very dramatic sound now as the synths push to try to dislodge the skullcrushing guitar, but it’s having none of it.

The annoying thing --- for me --- is that this could be a decent album if I could understand what was being sung --- caught some words there at the end --- but there’s just no way to do that. Guess you have to be into Black Metal to really appreciate what’s going on here. Nice fadeout on the guitar. There’s a short, atmospheric synth piece then --- just over a minute --- before we launch into another fifteen-minuter, this time titled “Blood vaults (I: Thy virginal malodour)” --- snappy title. Don’t think I’ll want to hang around for II, which doesn’t appear to be on this album. It’s another constant riff on the guitar with attendant growls, pretty much more of the same really. Sneak a look at the lyric, why don’t we?

Um, yeah. I think it’s about a witch or witches waiting in a cell to be burned. Or it could be more cerebral than that. Hard to tell. Or care, if I’m honest. Seems to have entered a kind of pealing, ringing deal, presumably either meant to represent the tolling of a death bell or just a general image of Christianity which, given this is Black Metal, Alex is surely against. Dark kind of whispering and chanting adds to the unsettling atmosphere, and you can actually imagine some poor victim of the Inquisition languishing in a cell, condemned out of hand and waiting to be burned at the stake. The Church has a lot to answer for.

There’s a sixteen minute track to follow; “Soil of the incestuous” opens with a female voice (perhaps a recording, as nobody else is, um, credited here) saying ”I am the wandering moon and sun/ The rabbit and the snake/ The virgin and the rapist my shadow” --- nice to hear at least some words I can make out. Has a nice melodious guitar to it too, though of course that doesn’t last. Generally, throughout its run it’s more of the same, though the female voice does come in once more. The only really short actual track is up next, with some sort of allusion to Norse mythology with the mention of the world serpent Jormungand, but I don’t recognise “Balnaa-Keill the Bleak” from Norse legend. At least it’s short, which is about all I can say good about this.

Unfair of course. I’m sure this is considered essential music in Black Metal circles, and some has labelled this album a masterpiece, but it’s so removed from what I enjoy or can tolerate that it’s mostly just noise to me. Again that’s unfair: there is music, very discernible, but it’s kind of like a wall of sound, hard to pull any meaning or melody from it. Hum Factor definitely zero! This track is quiet, other than the gutteral vocal, with kind of synth noises and a screeching guitar but quite low in the mix, then we’re into --- finally, and with significant relief on my part --- the closer, but temper that relief with horror, because as we know it’s another epic.

It’s the title track as it happens, and it’s fourteen minutes and change, opening with in fairness a nice reflective guitar, though that hammering one is always there, a constant in the music, like the beat of a metronome or a black heart. High-pitched choral vocals and slow drumming as Alex rails against, it seems, the hypocrisy of the Church and Christ in general. Ah bless! He throws in part of a mass, just to underline the point. Then it all goes into overdrive on bombing drums and, well, fast guitar. You know, I went out of the room, downstairs, let my cat in, comforted him as he has been stalked by a dog, gave him some food and came back up and the SAME melody and rhythm is still playing! So I guess I didn’t miss much…

Well, only about four minutes left to suffer, I mean go. I’ll be glad when this is over. And now it is. With a final tortured scream from one of no doubt his many guitars, Alex brings this one hour twenty minute torment to a shuddering close, and I can tell you, I shudder!

TRACKLISTING

1. 50 forts along the Rhine
2. Soliloquy of the stigmatised shepherd
3. Rapture
4. Blood vaults (I: Thy virginal malodour)
5. Soil of the incestuous
6. Balnaa-Kheil the Bleak
7. Rain upon the impure

So I guess fate has the last laugh on me, didn’t she? Thinking I would defeat the letter of the law with the spirit of the law, as it were, I ended up entangled in a horrible web of screaming, growling vocals, brain-pounding guitars and thundering drums, an ordeal that went on for what seemed a lot longer than the eighty minutes shown. That’ll teach me, huh? Not quite as bad as Cryptopsy, sure, but still well up there with the worst I’ve heard in a long time, which is not to denigrate the music or the artiste, I just am so not into this kind of music it’s untrue. I’m sure many of you out there are scratching your heads and saying “How can he be saying that about one of my favourite German Black Metal albums?” Well, you’re welcome to it!

And so ends my brief foray through the Metal landcape of Germany. Been fun, sort of. Got to hear some good bands, some okay bands and some downright painful bands. There’s no question that Germany is both one of the founders and continues to be one of the leaders in the field of Heavy Metal, and there’s a rich and varied mix of subgenres out there, the surface of which I have of course only barely scratched this past week. But it’s time to move on, not too far this time, and next week as Metal Month moves into its third quarter I’ll be heading south, over the border to Spain, to see what they have to offer.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018