Trollheart

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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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

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Frownland

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

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

Key

I'm a little confused by the Zeppelin addition as well. I never thought for a second to consider them a metal band.

inb4 Chula comes in and proves me wrong.

The Batlord

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

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

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

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

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

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

TRACKLISTING AND RATINGS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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


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

Simone Simons (Epica)

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


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

Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation)

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

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

Heidi Shepherd
and
Carla Harvey
(Butcher Babies)


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



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

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

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

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

TRACKLISTING AND RATINGS

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

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

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Trollheart

Hey, I have to take what I can get. There aren't actually that many metal bands doing movie music, as it happens. The odd hard rock track is gonna slip through, but it's better than nothing. Have your lawyer get in touch with mine. When I get a lawyer, that is.
Like I say. Sure they're part of metal history. Leave me alone.

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The Batlord

Was that just adult contemporary metal? What boring ****. I guess I've only heard a song or two from their first album, as I remember it being bog-standard melodic metalcore, but it's nice to know I haven't been missing out on much.





And check deese honeys out if you haven't already.

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Trollheart

Yeah it was pretty poor, there's no doubt about that. Definitely get by on yer wan's looks and tits alone. They'd just be another sub-average band without her --- actually, they're just another sub-average band with her, just one with a sexy frontwoman.

I'll check out that band soon as I can. Some decent ones coming up for the final part though.

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Oriphiel

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

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Trollheart

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

Wake/Lift --- Rosetta --- 2007

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

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

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

At number two in Ninetales' list we find

Unholy Cult --- Immolation --- 2002

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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