Trollheart

Not even close. "Hallowed be thy name", "Flight of Icarus", "Powerslave", "Rime of the ancient mariner", "Aces high", "Holy smoke", "Fear of the dark", "Killers", Phantom of the opera" ... not in there. Nada. I do not rate it, although I don't hate it.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Isbjørn

"Fear of the Dark" and "Flight of Icarus", especially "Flight of Icarus", can kiss the sweaty feet of "Revelations".

__________________

Trollheart

During the last Metal Month I looked into three albums from Virgin Steele which were linked by a common theme, these being “The marriage of Heaven and Hell” trilogy, as it were. This year I want to step away from Power Metal and go completely the other direction, choosing a band which many may blink at and wonder why I would do such a thing, knowing my personal tastes. There are a few reasons for this, most of which revolve around it being difficult, insofar as I tried, to get three albums that have something to do with each other, outside of the power/progressive metal area, and I didn't want to be too predictable. I originally was going to do the first three Manowar albums, but I had already reviewed “Hail to England” and used “Battle hymns”, so that didn't leave much that I knew.


I quite honestly don't know what links these albums, but as I said when I started this section, the link could be as simple as all the albums being by the same band. I think though the idea here is that the trilogy chosen here shows a clear and interesting progression through the different influences on the band and the subgenres they pass through during the course of a mere two years. It's said that their sound altered radically during that time, so I'm interested to see how it did change. I've never heard, nor heard of this band before, but no doubt Batty will be chuckling evilly to himself that I don't know what I've let myself in for. Be that as it may, let's step towards the gates to Hell, shall we, and see if anyone's home.

First spell --- Gehenna --- 1994 (Head Not Found)
Not an album but an EP, this still has five tracks and while none are monsters they all clock in around the six-minute mark, bar one, so it still runs an impressive half-hour plus. Formed in 1993 by guitarist Sanrabb and vocalist Dolgar, Gehenna have an odd take on their Satanist leanings. Unlike Watain, who professes to believe implicitly in a dark force known as Satan and pours bitter scorn on bands who claim the tag Black Metal while being nothing close to Satanists, Sanrabb explains that they see Satan more as a non-physical force, and scoff at the idea some people have that he would serve them, or indeed they he, as they say Satan hates every living being. And yet they sing about him. But to quote Sanrabb; “The thing is, it's (their lyrics) not purely based on Satanic beliefs or politics or whatever. Because we don't want to deal in propaganda for this or that. […] It's about music, it is - as I said - a medium for our thoughts and feelings. It is also ever-changing.”


Sanrabb does not believe in conducting Satanic rituals, real or otherwise, as he wisely says “absolutely nothing good will come of it.” It would appear that while they believe in Satan --- or at least, an ultimate evil in the universe --- they have no interest in calling it forth, and use Satan as merely a vehicle for their lyrics. To that end, they prefer not to be labelled as Black Metal --- or indeed, to have any label thrust upon them --- so we will have to see whether or not they have been unfairly or misguidedly branded.


There's certainly a sepulchral feel to the opening track, “The shivering voice of the ghost”, with a church organ taking the intro solo before some guitar wends its way into the proceedings, then the tempo ups and Sarcana on the keys runs off a very progressive metal riff --- hold on just one moment: did I say keyboards? On a Black Metal album? It would seem so, and therefore weight is already lent to the argument that Gehenna cannot fall under the same Black Metal banner as other bands with which they are grouped. The vocal from Dolgar is certainly what you would expect of a Black Metal singer: dark, growly, scary, almost indecipherable, but this jars sharply with the intricate keyboards of Sarcana and the frankly restrained guitars of Sanrabb, while Dirge Rep and Svartalv lay down the softest, relatively, rhythm I've ever heard on an album that purports to be from this subgenre. In fact, were it not for the vocals I would not even consider labelling this album --- at least, on the basis of this track --- as anything close to Black Metal.


It has a real hook in it too, and though there are no guitar solos and it's driven almost exclusively on Sarcana's keyboard melody, it's still heavy enough to qualify as proper metal. Just not Black. It's a great start for me, who was expecting something much harsher and rawer, and as we move into “Unearthly loose palace” that almost progressive/new wave keyboard continues to ply its trade, making this so much more a listenable album than I had thought it would be. The tempo, too, is far lower than you would expect from Black Metal, which usually, at least in the examples I've heard, is either crushingly slow or necksnappingly fast. Sanrabb's guitars start to make something more of an impression now, though again it's the keys that really hold court. Some great choral vocals coming in now (presumably on the synth) and a superbly evocative guitar solo from Sanrabb as the song begins to lose some momentum, but none of its quality, as it slows down.


It may be that Gehenna are not considered true Black Metal, but if they are, or can fit into that description, then this is the best Black Metal album I've ever heard, and if there are others of this ilk it could change my mind about the whole subgenre. I get the feeling though that they're more a blend of styles, with gothic, elements of death and black, and progressive and symphonic metal all in there, going to make something that is very much more than the sum of its parts. “Angelwings and ravenclaws”, the shortest track on the album, sound more like a new-wave song, the knd of thing you might hear if you allied metal guitar to Depeche Mode or OMD or Visage. Quite stunning really. Harder and a little more aggressive is “The conquering of Histir”, with a driving drumbeat from Dirge Rep and an almost incongruous keyboard sound that is close to pan pipes running through the tale of, it would seem, the end of days, a popular subject of course with those who fly the Black Metal flag.


Very dramatic, with an almost reflective midsection that rides as usual on Sarcana's expert keyboard lines, and very very listenable. “Morningstar”, the final track, is the only one that makes me think that maybe we're going to hear some “basic” Black Metal, with a grindy, slow, doomy beginning, but even that kicks up very quickly into a good riffing style and bops along on yet another bubbly keyboard line. At least the lyric is Black Metal 101: ”Before the sun, a star sends its light /Set your ritual.........right/ Streams of torment/ Streams of blood/ Fear for your flesh /Fear for your soul, your spirit .” But the lyric is almost belied by the uptempo, rocky, almost happy metal that underpins it. Really, if you ignore Dolgar, you can imagine this as any sort of prog/power/symphonic or any other subgenre metal you want. It really is the most listenable Black Metal album --- or an album masquerading as Black Metal --- that I have ever heard.


TRACKLISTING

1.The shivering voice of the ghost
2. Unearthly loose palace
3. Angelwings and ravenclaws
4. The conquering of Hirsir
5. Morningstar


On the reissued album there are a lot more tracks --- an additional nine --- but as I usually shy from including bonus tracks, and as there are so many of them here, with still two full albums to review and the sands of time slowly draining away on me, I'm going to put them on hold here. If I have time I will come back to them, but if not I'll leave this in the way it was originally intended, as a five-track EP, a record that has, quite unexpectedly, blown me away and made me want to hear more.


And here is more.

Seen through the veils of darkness (The second spell) ---- Gehenna --- 1995 (Cacophonous Records)
I suppose now the question is, if Gehenna's sound changed so radically over the next two albums, am I in for a more Black Metal experience with this second one --- their first proper album, as opposed to an EP? Will the symphonic, even melodic elements be dropped in favour of a harder, more stripped-down approach? Well, let's see: Sarcana still does his keyboards and organs, so no worries there, and even Dirge Rep is bringing in ... tambourine? So is it possible we're going to be leaning further away from pure Black Metal, as opposed to towards it?


Well, opener “Lord of flies” opens with the sort of guitar that sounds like a train approaching, and the music is definitely harder now, more on the metal side of things, with fast, furious drumming and Dolgar's by-now familiar growling scream. I don't hear the keys much in the mix if at all, though now I do, with a sort of violin or cello sound, the frenetic rhythm slowing down into something of a pagan waltz, the drums cutting back too for a short while. But then it kicks back up again, so that it's swinging from one extreme to the other. Little hard to get your head around, I feel. Certainly a big step away from the pure melody of “First spell”. Whether it's progression or regression I'll reserve judgement on for now.


That sort of tuneful melody returns in part for “Shairak Kinnummh”, which has touches of Viking Metal about it, Sarcana's keys coming a little more to the fore now. The song has become much faster though, and is now more in line with what most people would probably recognise as Black Metal, of a sort anyway. There's still a sense of progressive metal in there though, mostly through the keyswork, especially the organ. There's a guest slot for Garm, vocalist for Sunn O))) as well as Ulver on “Vinterikket”, but to be honest they both sound the same to my untrained Black Metal ear. It's certainly a faster, thrashier song though, with energy and power. Kind of a chanted vocal in it too. Ends suddenly, then we're into “A witch is born”, which has a kind of Sabbath/Electric Wizard vibe to it and pulls back from the overall Black Metal direction in which the last few tracks have been going.


Still very guitar-driven though, so it's Sanrabb who takes control, unlike the EP, where his keyboard buddy called the shots. Oddly, I can actually make out most of what Dolgar is singing here, and yet he doesn't seem to have changed his style al that much: am I getting used to this kind of vocal, I wonder? Better able to interpret it? Or is it because I looked at the lyric sheet and can now transpose that to what I'm hearing? Either way, it makes the experience a little less frustrating. The title track is another hammering guitar tune, but with Sarcana adding his own touches on the keys, the tune itself slowing in the midsection then picking up again. Sounds like some nice rippling piano there, while “The mystical play of shadows” and “The eyes of the sun” are the two shortest tracks on the album, paving the way for the longest. The former is a fast, guitar-driven song with a lot of keyboard flourishes, and in fact contains the first guitar solo I've heard from these guys.


“The eyes of the sun” on the other hand is something of a return to the more melodic sound of the EP, slower and more dramatic with a lot of Sarcana's keyboard work, though there's some disturbing screaming --- sounds female --- near the end, like someone's being murdered. That takes us to the penultimate, and longest track, which kicks off with a real indie rock vibe on the guitar. I'm not kidding! This sounds sort of REM and trips along nicely but doesn't batter you down. “A myth...” runs for just shy of nine minutes, so I'm expecting it to change over the course of its run. And it does, but not that much. Gets a bit kind of I guess you could say rompy in the fourth minute and then falls right back to ambient territory with lush synth and effects, a whispered vocal from Dolgar and a real sense of waiting for something to happen.


Rather nice little bassline from Svartalv (whose name I have just now worked out means “Dark Elf”: cool!) and then it happens. Big scream, the drums explode into life and Sanrabb lets loose on the guitar as the song heads into its seventh minute, even throwing in a shot of reggae along the way. Piano from Sarcana joins the tune as we move into the final minute and it really starts to rock. The closer then keeps the tempo sort of mid-paced but pushes poor old Sarcana out of the picture really as Sanrabb takes the song. Apparently he sings on this one too, but again I don't hear any difference.


TRACKLISTING

1. Lord of flies
2. Shairak Kinnummh
3. Vinterriket
4. A witch is born
5. Through the veils of darkness
6. The mystical play of shadows
7. The eye of the sun
8. A myth...
9. Dark poems author


While there's not what I'd call a cosmic shift here, this second offering is very much different from Gehenna's EP. The melody and structure is still there but there's more of an emphasis, generally, on harder, tighter riffs and as I say Sarcana is only called upon when needed, where on “First spell” he more or less ran the show. No change in the vocals department: despite there being three different singers used on this album I heard no discernible difference. I can see why people say the band evolved though, and I'm interested to see how, or if, this evolution continued on into their second album.


So let's find out.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Malice (Our third spell) --- Gehenna --- 1996 (Cacophonus Records)


Titled, I guess, that way because although it was their second album, technically it was their third recording, and the first one was called “First spell” with the second titled .... oh, you get it don't you? I don't need to explain this. The only lineup change I see here is that bassist Svartalv has been replaced by Noctifer, and while I don't wish to denigrate bassists, I don't see that as having a huge effect on the music. It's a dark and surly guitar that kicks off “She who loves the flames” but I also hear orchestral hits which I assume are made by Sarcana. The tempo pretty immediately kicks up though, Dirge Rep givin' it plenty behind the kit, and it's a much faster song that anything I've heard from the band to date. I still wouldn't call this straight Black Metal though; it's more a mix of thrash and black to me. For what little I know of the second subgenre.


Things march along nicely with “Made to suffer”, and I think I hear Sarcana getting in on the action there with some sprightly piano, though it's hard to hear behind the wall of guitars being put up. Powerful and energetic, certainly, and not half bad at all. He does however get a chance to wind up his organ again as “Touched and left for dead” opens, the song a slower, meandering kind of tune with a repetitive melody going through it, quite hypnotic at times. If there's such a thing as a Black Metal ballad, this probably comes the closest of what I've heard so far. Damn fine guitar riff holding it all together, and the rhythm section do well. Again, I manage to catch some of what Dolgar is singing: ”This is the way to Hell!” Thanks mate! Been driving around in circles for hours looking for it. Why don't they have it on these bloody Satnavs then, eh?


Another big guitar line opens “Bleeding the blue flame”, then it takes off at lightspeed, rivalling the likes of Slayer and Anthrax in the speed stakes. Goes into some fairly freakish guitar histrionics in the last minute or so before sprinting for the finish, and taking us into “Manifestation”, which just goes for it, heads-down from the outset. A big rolling growl from Dolgar sets us on our way and Sanrabb shreds as fast and as hard as he possibly can, nearly crossing into neoclassical territory at times. “Ad arma! Ad arma!” is the longest Gehenna track I've experienced yet, a whopping fourteen minutes long, and like the previous one it charges right out of the gate, galloping on the hammering guitar of Sanrabb and the thunderous drumming of Dirge Rep. No room for keys here, at least not yet! It's pounding along into the sixth minute with no sign of a change, which in a song this long would I think be a missed opportunity, but we'll see.


The guitar work is certainly excellent and would rival any thrash guitarist you care to name. You can't help but move to it, and that's not usually my reaction to this subgenre. It's intense with a capital “I” and it just seems to keep going. Even though it's basically the same chord played over and over with Dolgar roaring over them, there's something about it that keeps it from being boring, perhaps the sheer energy it exudes. As we hit the eighth minute though it all stops and Sarcana takes over, with deep, doomy synth effects and lines, possible backwards masking (how very Black Metal of you, guys!) This however carries on well into the twelfth minute and though it's effective it does give the impression of just being there to stretch out the song. Some guitar does burst through near the end, and thankfully much of this song has been devoid of vocals, giving it a kind of progressive/thrash feel, but it is definitely way too long for what's in it.


Everything comes down to earth with a doomy crash as “Pentagram” hits, with cowbells (or some sort of bells anyway) and a nice slow searing guitar line, then Sarcana comes in and it takes off in almost an AOR or melodic metal direction for a moment before Dirge Rep and Dolgar grab it by the throat and floor the pedal, hurtling down the road with not a care who might be in their way. Not to be outdone though, Sarcana adds in some synth wails and moans as the song careens along, Sanrabb racking off some pretty sweet smokin' solos. The title track just batters you down with a heavy guitar, crushing drums and a nasty vocal that comes from the very bowels of Hell itself. Or Bergen. Wherever these guys are from. Stavanger. Yeah. The very bowels of Stavanger. And that's one cold place! It gets into something of a normal rock groove with a faint Arabic twist to it before it all goes to Hell --- or Stavanger --- again, and then some pretty proggy keyboards from Sarcana calm the tune down somewhat. It ends rather quietly, oddly enough, on a single guitar.


“The word made flesh” has a whispered growl to get it underway, dark rumbling synth and bass before it too flies off the handle as each of the band strives to outdo the other in speed. You know, it's weird: this kind of music is usually not my thing but I find myself grooving to this. Don't know why. I'm not a Black Metal aficionado at all. Maybe this is not Black Metal. But it sure sounds like it. Closer “Before the seventh moon” is just as fast as the last few tracks, perhaps faster, and yet there is melody in there. Keyboard flurries populate the music here and there, and the guitar is pretty bitchin', so I guess my final decision is still pending, but I know I don't hate this.


TRACKLISTING

1. She who loves the flames
2. Made to suffer
3. Touched and left for dead
4. Bleeding the blue flame
5. Manifestation
6. Ad arma ad arma
7. The pentagram
8. Malice
9. The word become flesh
10. Before the seventh moon


So, in the end, is this a band who have gone through a complete metamorphosis over the course of their first three releases? Well, yes and no. There's no questioning the fact that the debut EP was a far more melodic, restrained effort, and far removed from any Black Metal album I've ever listened to. The second came more towards perhaps what you might consider standard Black Metal and the third more or less reinforced that direction. Or to put it in the words of Tron_79 on the Metal Archives forum: “the styles changed quite a bit on these three albums from a primarily midtempo, almost soothing sound from "the first spell" to a raw gritty sound of "the second spell" to more of a polished sound which sounds like a combination of the first two releases on "the Third Spell.”


I'd agree with this, from what I've heard. I doubt anyone would challenge that statement. However I still think that the second and third albums (or to be more precise, since the first was an EP, the first and second albums) retained a lot of the melody and even mellowness at times displayed on the debut. Word has it that on their sixth album, “WW”, released in 2005, they went for a more melodic approach, though opinion seems to be divided as to how successfully that translated on the album. Indeed, after “Malice” Gehenna seem to have gone for a more death metal idea, so perhaps here are their three most melodic albums.


But it's certainly a journey, beginning with an album --- okay, okay! An EP! --- that surprised me pleasantly and ending with an album that kind of pulled the rug from under my feet, having got so comfortable with the sound I was getting from this band. Either way, and however they ended up, Gehenna have served to show me that there is more to Black Metal than just gutteral shouts and screams, blindingly fast guitars and hammer drums. You just have to open your mind, and your ears, and go looking for it.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Monnos --- Conan -- 2012 (Burning World Records)
Recommended by Mojo and bob
According to their entry in EM these guys include the likes of Viking and Norse mythology in their lyrics. If that’s the case I should be off to a good start here. After a few EPs and a split with Slomatics the previous year, this is the first proper album from stoner/doom metal band Conan, although they have a new one out this year. An English outfit, they're based out of Liverpool, but I would guess they have more in common with beetles than Beatles! Interestingly, perhaps sounding a note of alarm, the lyric sheet to this album seems to show each song consists of barely a few lines each, with some of them simply made up of one-word sentences. But we’ll get to that soon enough.

There are only six tracks, with none particularly epic --- the longest, the closer, clocks in at nine minutes --- so this should in effect not take too long. Which is good as I’m ready to go to bed now, but want to squeeze one more in before I retire. Oh, you cheeky devil!

A seriously downtuned guitar gets us started, plodding along at a pace that ensures one would never break, nor even endanger, one’s neck. Slow, crashing drums join the guitar, so low that it almost sounds like the low rumble of a very slow motorbike. Guess this is what they call Sludge? The vocal, when it comes in, is distant and almost moaning, to some degree a little lke someone who’s being forced to say or sing something they don’t want to: I don’t hear any passion here. Maybe that’s what this subgenre is like? The lyric consists of nine sentences, three of which are ”These skies are dead.” So’s my initial interest in this, mate!

Can’t say I’m enjoying this. Very dreary, very slow, very very boring. Things get a little faster (though not too much) for the “Battle in the swamp”, which this time has eight sentences, plus Under the water” repeated four times at the end. Not real big believers in sweating it on the lyrics department, Conan, are they? Swirling wind noises and a shuddering guitar introduce “Grim tormentor”, with a sort of mid-paced feel to it, while “Golden axe” is a six-minute instrumental that not surprisingly, given what I’ve heard here, crawls along at an agonisingly slow rate. It’s nice, in its way, but so slow it’s almost like hearing someone learn to play a guitar. Slowly.

Good percussion joining in, and if I had to pick a favourite this might be it, what I’ve said notwithstanding. It has a certain atmosphere that’s hard to pin down. I could see it being beefed up with synth or piano or dark violin but … none of that happened of course. Another crushing hard grinder in “Headless hunter”, which has exactly six lines in the lyric, none of which are any more than three words long, most are two. A long, plodding instrumental intro runs for almost three of the near-to eight minutes the song runs for, then when the vocal does come in it really doesn’t change the song that much. And now we’re into the closer, “Invincible throne”, without me even realising the track has changed.

This is nine minutes long, very very slow and its lyric almost consists entirely of one-word sentences, of which there are a total of twenty in the song. Talk about a minimalist approach! Kind of more life, or a little more life, in the vocal here, though not much. Touches of defiance, triumph and pride in the singing, but it’s hard for me to get excited about anything on this album. Just too damn slow.

TRACKLISTING

1. Hawk as weapon
2. Battle in the swamp
3. Grim tormentor
4. Golden axe
5. Headless hunter
6. Invincible throne

Like grindcore, it would seem that Sludge Metal is somethng I won’t be getting into, if it’s all like this. I tell you, I’m ready for some speed metal after that. It’s not that it was bad, just really not my sort of thing at all. Bring on the Slayerfest!

Speaking of which...

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

We've three albums left to go, and I've been having a hard time finding the last, so it may end up only being two. We'll see. Meanwhile, with such irony that proves or maybe disproves the existence of God, Slayer's ninth album hit the shops in 2001. In September. Eleven days into September. That's right: with stunningly bad timing, did they but know it, “God hates us all” was released on September 11 2001. That could surely not be a good omen. The album cover, showing a partially burned bible with the band's logo branded into it, could not have gone down well after the attacks and may mistakenly have been seen as some sort of tacit support for Islam. I don't know this of course, I'm just guessing here. But anyone who releases an album that decries and denounces God on the day so many people lost their lives in the worst terrorist incident of the twenty-first century (so far) is asking for trouble.

God hates us all --- Slayer --- 2001 (American)
Not that Slayer would have cared about that I suppose. Perhaps the controversy just fuelled album sales. I don't remember hearing about Slayer albums being burned in the streets, so perhaps they weren't quite commercially famous or important enough for the general public to take notice, and metalheads wouldn't care: they'd know the score. So maybe Slayer dodged a bullet. Either way, the title was in fact not a slur against God as such: Hanneman explained that it was based on the fact that when things fall apart we all seem to blame God (whether we believe in Him or not) and it always seems like He's letting really bad stuff happen --- 9/11 being a good and relevant example. But with Slayer's reputation for being something less than choirboys, people would make the obvious assumption and jump to the wrong conclusion.

Again using backwards masking and sound effects for only the second time, “Darkness of Christ” starts off with a somewhat muddy, confused melody as King and Hanneman's guitars chop riffs and in the background voices talk and scream. The song lasts just one minute and thirty seconds and is really more an intro to the album, as Slayer blast into “Disciple”, with a powerful vocal from Tom Araya and the title of the album shouted in the chorus. Sort of mid-paced, it's slower than a lot of the usual Slayer material for about half its length, until on the back of a King solo it pumps up to full speed and crashes to the end, taking us into “God send death”, which alternates between sludgy, stomp-along rhythms and manic speed.

This album is very much the creation of Kerry King, having seven of the thirteen tracks written by him --- both music and lyrics --- and “New faith” shows his talent in a really rockin' powerblast of a song with, um, a hook? Yeah, it's there, believe it or not. Best track on the album so far. Really just pounds along and the vocal follows the rhythm rather than just seeming as if Tom is screaming or roaring in time. “Cast down” is another great one, supposedly watching society through the eyes of a fallen angel who has turned to drugs --- I don't see the fallen angel part myself really, but again what do I know? A great sense of anger and frustration in the lyric as Tom bellows ”America! Home of the brave! Land of fucking disenchantment!” Bit tame for Slayer, really. Powerful drumwork from Paul Bostaph on his last outing with the band.

There's a real sense of pain and the feeling of drowning in “Threshold”, as an overbearing love affair pushes a man to violence which spills out beyond the borders of his own doomed relationship, and the speed kicks right back up for “Exile”, as paranoia boils over into unimaginable violence, Tom bawling ”You self-righteous fuck!/ Give me a reason/ Not to rip your fucking face off!” and Kerry's guitar wails in counterpoint, like an avenging beast waiting to be set free, waiting to ravage rape and kill. In contrast to the ultra-violence and passion of the last two tracks, a laidback guitar opens “Seven faces” with a dark, heavy crunching beat and a scream from Tom before the vocal proper begins. Another powerful fusilade from Bostaph, his drums rolling and echoing, and a spoken vocal from Tom in the midsection as the song slows down to almost doom metal speed.

There's slow, dark guitar too to open “Bloodline”, which strides along with brash arrogance, crushing everything in its way, I think it's about vampires, though I could be wrong. “Deviance” seems to be another serial killer tale. Yeah, another one. Good song though, if not original: some really atmospheric guitar and more sound effects, great sense of brooding and very ominous aura about it. Jamming their feet down hard on the pedal Slayer open the throttle to full and blast off at incredible speed as “War zone” once again has Tom singing about the horrors of war. An angry, almost maniacal vocal and near-psychotic guitar work makes this something of an event on the album, one of the heaviest songs on “God hates us all”.

The longest track at four minutes thirty-two seconds, “Here comes the pain” delivers what it promises, with a crushing guitar assault from Kerry and Jeff, skullcracking drumming from Paul and a marching beat as Tom roars like the Antichrist revealed. Kerry does a very passable Tony Iommi here, while the raw brutal energy Slayer have made their trademark and become known for closes the album in “Payback”, which just puts its head down, charges blindly and goes for it. The vocal delivery is so fast it's hard to make out the words, but the intent is clear: someone's gonna die tonight!

There are two bonus tracks on the international version of the album, and the first is “Scarstruck”, with a sort of boogie beat to it and something of a mid-paced song, while “Addict” takes a somewhat different approach, with an echoey slow guitar building the atmosphere as the song crunches along, picking up speed as the beat increases and Tom roars the vocal. With a searing solo from Kerry we pound towards the end, with the shock revelation at the end being that the addiction being sung about is murder!

TRACKLISTING

1. Darkness of Christ
2. Disciple
3. God send death
4. New faith
5. Cast down
6. Threshold
7. Exile
8. Seven faces
9. Bloodline
10. Deviance
11. War zone
12. Here comes the pain
13. Payback
14. Scarstruck
15. Addict

The themes may generally remain the same, but this has turned out to be one of the Slayer albums I have most enjoyed so far. I'm not quite sure what it is --- the songs are basically nothing new and the playing is top-notch if sometimes a little too fast to appreciate --- but there's just something about the cohesiveness of this album that speaks to me. Who knows what it is that makes one album better than another, but this is for me their best effort since “Seasons in the abyss.” Great stuff.

That leaves us with two, maybe, before we wrap things up.

Ah, but wait. Before the tenth album was put out there was an EP, which we must also look at. Five years after “God hates us all” and two months before the new album came this little taster. After waiting patiently for half a decade for fresh material from their heroes this must have been like manna from Heaven (or Hell) to the legions of Slayer fans.


Eternal pyre --- Slayer --- 2006

Okay, scratch that. Now that I research it further, the EP contained one --- one! --- track which would be available on the album later and the rest of it was made up of videos of live performances of tracks we've already reviewed. To quote Kerry King, fuck that shit. We'll press on.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Unknown Soldier

How many friggin hours a day to you spend writing these journals, everytime I look you´ve written another detailed review, that would take mere mortals god knows how long to write?

__________________
Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

Well a lot of it has been pre-written, though as I speak I'm still writing new stuff. Overall, I think I began this around late August, when I knew that I was coming back. Some days I'd spend two or three hours a day doing stuff, somedays just one. Some days I wouldn't write anything at all.

Matter of fact, in the closing article I'm thinking of putting up stats: how many albums reviewed, how many words written etc.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

So, after spending a week in Germany, here we are in sunny Spain. I know a few Spanish bands, but I'm going to try to develop my knowledge further as to what this country has to offer, and I want to start my look at Spanish metal with a rather obvious choice, though to be honest they're a band who, though I know of them, as everyone does, I have never heard any of their music. But they've been around for a long time, and I think may be one of the oldest metal bands in Spain. They've certainly been around longer than most.

Volumen brutal --- Barón Rojo --- 1982

The story of Baron Rojo seems to be one of infighting and those ever-present “musical differences”. Unhappy with their original band's direction in a more pop vein, brothers Armando and Costas de Castro formed Baron Rojo, but to piss off the others in the band they had left they initially called their new outfit by the same name, Coz, until legal injunctions prevailed and they had to change the name. Playing with such luminaries as Iron Maiden, Golden Earring and Twisted Sister, they fragmented in 1989, with bassist José Luis Campuzano “Sherpa” and drummer Hermes Calabria leaving the band and setting up their own version of Barón Rojo, leading to the confusing situation of there being two Barón Rojos touring and recording, as the two de Castro brothers continued on with their version of the band.

However, all that was in the future and “Volumen brutal”, the second album from the classic lineup was to be their breakthrough album, due in no small part to their appearance at the Reading Festival, at the time one of the biggest rock festivals in the UK, and also to the assistance of Bruce Dickinson, who helped them translate their lyrics in order to be able to issue an English version of the album. This of course meant that “Volumen brutal” (need a translation?) sold in much greater numbers than it would have had if it had been only sung in their native Spanish. Their label, however, would later dig its heels in and refuse to allow them out of their contract, scotching a deal with EMI that would have brought the Spanish metallers to the next level. As a result, Barón Rojo remain largely unknown outside of Spain.

I've managed to come across both the English and Spanish versions on Spotify, but to try to get the full Barón Rojo experience I've decided to go with the Spanish version. “Incomunicación” starts us off (English: “isolation ward”) and it's a hard fast rocker from the off, with the obvious comparisons to Maiden and Saxon, and perhaps a drop of glam metal icons The Sweet thrown in. Great guitar work from both the brothers de Castro (no way to know who is playing solo) and thumping, raucous drumming from Hermes Calabria. A big heavy finish takes us into “Los rockeros van al Infienro” (Rockers go to Hell --- strange thing to write about but anyway) with a somewhat slower beat but still heavy and the vocal from bassman Sherpa. Seems Barón Rojo switch, or switched their vocalists around; Carlos sang the opener, and Armando will sing the penultimate track. This has a nice hard rock feel about it with screeching guitars but sort of more rock than metal, then a boogie beat suffuses “Dame la opportunidad” (Give me the chance) again a slower song that swaggers along with a sense of Lizzy in the double guitar attack. Carlos is back behind the mike for this one.

I'm happy to take the translations offered from the Wiki page, to a point, and I'll tell you why later. But I would have thought (wrongly) this meant “Lady fortune”, which just shows how much Spanish I know. Still... Anyway, great solo here and Sherpa takes the vocal for “Son comos hormigas”. Great rock and roll track with sprightly upbeat guitar, but here is where I begin to take issue with the translations offered. It's supposed to be “termites”, but first of all there are three words, and I know “como” is “how” or “as” or something, so I don't see how it can be one word in English. Unexpected blast of sax comes in from the famous Mel Collins, and then a great guitar solo takes the song towards its conclusion.

“Las flores del mal” (Flowers of evil, even I knew that) is the most metal track so far, but it's really (and I mean really) close to a slowed-down version of Maiden's “Prowler”. It rocks along on a sort of three-chord boogie with great energy and purpose, easily my favourite on the album so far, Maiden comparisons notwithstanding. Another Carlos-driven effort, it's followed by “Resistiré” (Stand up), a great rocker with a pretty weird start that sounds like horns. Hmm. Then it powers up and just flies along, very catchy to be fair. Could have been a single. Sweet guitar solo, the kind you just expect to hear in the best metal, but often don't, then the next one up has a lot of old blues in it, but the translation problem rears its head again. Spanish title “Satánico plan (Volumen brutal)”, so essentially the title track, but the English translation would have you believe it's called “Someone's loving you”. What? I can only assume that some of the titles were changed when they were translated into English, for whatever reason. I read this as “Satan's plan (which may of course not be right, but “Volumen brutal” could hardly be anything else than brutal volume, could it?) Great vocal harmonies in this by the way, reminds me of, of all bands, Kansas!

There's a guest slot for ex-Gillan keyboards man and later film soundtrack composer Colin Towns on “Concierto por ellos” (Concert for them) and it really adds something to the song. Pity in a way they didn't have keys all through the album. Nevertheless, the brothers de Costa are unlikely to take a backseat, and there's plenty of fret action through the song too. “Hermano del rock and roll” is without question “Brothers of, or in, rock and roll”, but again someone would have you believe it translates to “You're telling me”. WTF? Anyway, it's a big hard, marching, punching rocker with slamming bass and ironclad drumming, the guitars working their magic on a song that betrays a certain flavour of AOR at times. It's also the only song on the album in which Armando gets to shine behind the mike, but to be perfectly fair to the band, it really doesn't matter who's singing, as all three are very good and you don't really notice any appreciable difference.

We close with “El Barón vuela sobre Inglaterra”, which at least correctly translates as “The Baron flies over England”, and I guess in a way that might be seen as their signature song? It's a blindingly fast, Maiden/Metallica influenced speed rocker (yes I know Metallica were only coming up at this time, but you know...) with one of the best guitar attacks on the album, and again the old Maiden thing pops up again. It's a great rocking instrumental to polish off the album, and surely went down a storm onstage.

TRACKLISTING

1. Incomunicación
2. Los Rockeros van al Infierno
3. Dame la oportunidad
4. Son como hormigas
5. Las flores del mal
6. Resistiré
7. Satánico plan (Volumen brutal)
8. Concierto para ellos
9. Hermano del Rock & Roll
10. El Barón vuela sobre Inglaterra

You can see why Barón Rojo have such respect in the metal community. At a time when really there was little or no metal coming out of the Iberian Peninsula, these four guys flew the flag --- possibly literally --- for heavy music in their native country, and with the help of one of the architects of the NWOBHM they became a force to be reckoned with, and people began to see that Spain was more than just a place to go for your holidays. In the end, as I mentioned, infighting tore the band apart and they split into two separate incarnations, each claiming to be the original. However in 2012 the four original members of the band did reunite for a rock festival im Barcelona. No news of their reforming the classic lineup is to hand though.

But in a time when to be a metal band --- or at least, a successful one --- really meant singing in English if you could, Barón Rojo bucked the trend and, though they did issue this album bilingually, their others were all in Spanish, and fans still bought them. If their label had let them out of their contract instead of selfishly and short-sightedly holding them back when the Big Name came knocking, who knows what they might have achieved?

Even at that, they put Spain on the metal map and laid the groundwork for all the bands who were to follow in their footsteps, some of whom we will be featuring in the next few days. For that at the very least they deserve our thanks. Well done senors, or as Basil Fawlty once remarked, “Oh, Arriba!”

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Unknown Soldier

Great write-up on Baron Rojo and that album just missed my list for 1982. You’re right there wasn’t that much coming out of the Iberian Peninsula around this time.

__________________
Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History