Trollheart

When you’re a kid and have little or no disposable income, or when you’re a teenager with just as little, you don’t have the luxury of buying all the new albums. As I’ve mentioned before, when I was growing up there was no internet as such, and certainly no itunes, YouTube, Spotify or Grooveshark. There were no torrents. If you wanted to hear an album you either bought it, borrowed it or, if you were lucky, got to hear it at a listening post in a record shop. If that last sentence made no sense to you, you are too young. I officially hate you.

So you had to be careful how you spent your money, and one of the ways I found to get the best bang for my Irish Pound was to buy compilation albums. This was a way to hear bands I did not know of, and see if I liked them. It meant there could be a lot of dross of course, but the chances were that I would get at least two or three decent songs off the record, and maybe an introduction to a new band or two I could follow later when I started earning properly. There weren’t too many Metal compilations about at that time, but three I recall having, and as they turned me on to many new artistes (and off others), over the next three days I will feature them as the final trilogy to wrap up


Metal for muthas, Volume II --- Various Artists --- 1980 (EMI)

For years --- and I mean years --- I wondered idly what a mutha was? I thought it was pronounced “myoo-taw” and that it was some secret name of Heavy Metal heroes or something. Of course, I eventually got the joke. Strangely, I never bought or even heard volume I --- I think I bought this second hand with a pile of other records, in the days when you could go into the city with twenty quid and come back with a bag bursting with albums --- and it seems to be acknowledged as the better of the two, with contributions from Iron Maiden, Praying Mantis and Samson, whereas the bands here are all, or were all at the time, pretty much unknown to me. But in a way, that’s what made it such fun, discovering new music.

As well as briefly running through the tracks here, I’m going to be checking in on each artiste, to see how they did after this album. Did they go on to great things? Did they have a moderately successful career? Or did they vanish without a trace? Some I know the answer to, some I don’t. We open however on a band that not only bookended this album, providing both the opening and closing tracks, but who became a firm favourite with me. Which is unfortunate, as they never seem to have gone on to have released any albums and I never heard from them again.

Track one: “One of these days” by Trespass.
They were a short-lived band from Suffolk who all had day jobs. Of course, after the release of this single they all …. kept their jobs. Yeah, they were never even moderately successful, and recorded little material, making it all the weirder that they not only ended up having an anthology but also at least three compilations, most if not all of which were bootlegs. Still, I loved what I heard here, and “One of these days” gets the collection going with a jangly, Lizzyesque guitar before the guitars kick up and take the song into a rockin’ hard boogie rhythm. Oddly, this was their most famous (as such) and successful track, and while I like it I much prefer their other one. But I think this really shows a band who could have broken through but somehow just never got the breaks, despite being managed at one point by The Enid’s manager. Guess it was never meant to be.

it’s nothing revolutionary but it’s clearly good enough to stand beside the likes of Praying Mantis, Samson, Xero, White Spirit and the slew of others who rode the New Wave of British Heavy Metal in the early 80s, and with a few exceptions the contributions from Trespass stand head and shoulders above everything else on this album. But sometimes it just doesn’t happen, and barring the closing track, and despite much frenzied searching, I never found anything else by them until about a year ago when I pounced on their “anthology”, also called “One of these days”.

So where are they now?

Having failed to make the big time (or even the slightly smaller time) Trespass broke up and later three of the band members formed a new band, which itself broke up after about three years. The guys then released an album called “Head”, which is said to contain new Trespass material, but despite a lot of searching and many sacrifices offered to the metal gods, I have never been able to track it down. That came out, apparently, in 1993, since when the band have just fallen off the edge of the world, and have not been heard from since. If anyone has information on them I’d love to talk to you.

Track two: “Telephone man” by Eazy Money.
I’m always (was even back then) sceptical of bands who replace an “s” with a “z”. Can’t find much information on them, which probably means they’re no longer around. In fairness, from what I remember of their track here that was not too surprising because I recall it being distinctly under-par. Mind you, maybe I was just seriously disappointed after having heard Trespass to be shackled with a much inferior band. Perhaps time has changed how these ears will perceive this song. Let’s find out.

Interestingly, it opens on a soft keyboard and organ line, then the guitar cuts in and the song very much reminds me of Deep Purple. It’s not bad, very American sounding and the guy certainly has a good voice, though it’s not anything that terribly special. The constant beep-beep from the synth, mimicking the sound of a telephone, gets annoying after a while. Yeah guys, we got it: even ELO only used the sound of the phone once on “Telephone line”. No need to beat us over the head with it! Good chorus to be fair, but it’s much more verging towards AOR than NWOBHM. Picks up at the end with a fine guitar and keyboard solo which quickens up the tempo and helps the song end really well. You know, I need to revise my opinion even from a few lines ago: this is fucking awesome! Just shows how a song can develop and suddenly kick you right in the ----

So where are they now?

Well, as I said I can find nothing about Eazy Money, but their vocalist, Marc Storace, did go on to front one of the bigger rock/Metal bands of the 80s in Krokus. So in one way at least, the spirit of Eazy Money lives on.

Track three: “Cutting loose” by Xero

Now this band I have been finally able to dig up some information on, oddly enough through the Answers.com website, and thanks to a guy called Eduardo Rivadavia. Seems that Xero (pronounced “zero”) were set to break into the big time, being championed by rock’s biggest fan on the radio, DJ Tommy Vance, but they unfortunately ran afoul of Iron Maiden’s management when they tried to release a song they had played live but which was a cover version of a song which had had Brucey involved in (for the full story see here Xero: Information from Answers.com and their label dissolved under legal pressures. That was the end of Xero, and a salutory lesson in naivete.

A good heavy fast rocker, “Cutting loose” is a decent track with a lot of blues Rory Gallagher about it, and maybe early Free, kind of more hard rock than Metal really. It has perhaps one of the silliest lines ever in a Metal song (and that’s no easy feat!) --- ”They used to call me boomerang/ Cos I kept coming back!” Gods preserve us! Goofy lyric aside though this song shows a band who were just really getting it together and could have been big. With a guitar riff very reminiscent of NWOBHM giants Iron Maiden, this song keeps the quality high on the album, and singer Moon Williames certainly knows how to scream in a Dickinson style, while Bill Liesgang is no slouch on the guitar either.

So where are they now?

Well, as I mentioned Xero the band did not last beyond about 1983, but again thanks to Eduardo I have information on what happened to them in later life, and it’s a somewhat varied result. Moon Williams hooked up with prog rock icon and ex-Asia man John Wetton, while Liesgang got plenty of session work. Strangest of all, bass player Boon Gould joined Level 42!

Track four: “High on high” by White Spirit

Another band who released one album only and then split, but whose members all did okay for themselves afterwards. White Spirit also share the distinction of being the only artiste here, other than Xero, to appear on two out of three of the albums I have chosen to end this section. If they have a claim to fame it must surely be that from their ashes sprung later Maiden guitarist Janick Gers.

With an intro more out of something you’d expect to hear on a prog rock album than a Metal one, it’s a pumping, boppy start but you really would think you were listening to Kansas or REO Speedwagon here. It’s a good song but very wimpy in terms of metal. Don’t get it. I hear elements of Asia and Yes in it, but not Maiden or Motorhead. That said, it’s a great song, just not what I would consider a great Metal one. Vocalist Bruce Ruff certainly has an interesting voice, but then just to reinforce the prog rock idea there’s a very proggy keyboard solo in the song, and no guitar one really.

So where are they now?

Like so many bands, White Spirit became just another casualty of the NWOBHM, unable to capitalise on their debut album sales --- not surprising really, as it sounds like they wanted to be more a prog/AOR or even soft rock band more than a Metal one, and they were never going to survive among the likes of Leppard, Girlschool, Angel Witch and even Praying Mantis. In musical genre terms, White Spirit were the dolphins among the sharks, and they got torn apart.

But as I said, their big star was Janick Gers, and he went on to work alongside Ian Gillan in the ex-Deep Purple vocalist’s eponymous solo band, also spending time with Fish on his debut solo album and Bruce Dickinson on his before joining Iron Maiden proper, where he has remained to this day. Of the rest, Bass man Phil Brady joined Therapy, an English band not to be confused with the Irish one Therapy? while drummer Graeme Crallan can be heard playing on Tank’s 1984 album “Blood and honour” but left after that. He sadly then passed away after an accident in 2008.

Track five: “Lady of Mars” by Dark Star

Here we have finally a band who recorded more than one album, though in fairness they did split after the first, reforming in 1987, two years later, to record a second album. Having no luck with that they then split for good. Again this is more in the melodic, almost AOR vein than out-and-out Metal, and I doubt too many metalheads would rate it. However it became and remains one of my two favourite songs on the album, even beating out Trespass’s “One of these days”. I really loved this. Though it starts off with a good, punchy guitar and indeed rides on a heavy riff, and the vocalist has a great rough gravelly voice, there’s something too poppy about it to make it a proper Metal song. It’s infectiously catchy as Ebola in Sierra Leone (What? Too soon?) and there are great backup vocals. It also ends with a really heavy guitar and crashing drums.

So where are they now?

After the second split following the lack of success of their 1987 second album, Dark Star stayed together, minus their singer, who went on to management, while his bandmates formed a new outfit called Poker Alice, a primarily blues-based band.

It’s my recollection from my youth that from this point on the album dipped seriously in quality, though as has already been proven, my memory can’t always be relied on, as I thought “Telephone man” was crap and it wasn’t. Nevertheless, I have a clear remembrance of a sense of disappointment till we got to the closer, the second Trespass song. But we’ll see how time has treated that memory.

Track six: “You give me candy” by Horsepower

The only thing I can find out about them is that, uncharacteristically for an NWOBHM era band, they were not in fact English or even British, but relocated to the UK from Philadelphia. Perhaps they saw or heard of the burgeoning Metal scene across the ocean and thought “We’ll have some of that!” Well, this is more like it! Much as I loved Dark Star, this is more like the kind of Metal you’d expect to have found on an album like this. With a big, fast, rocking beat very reminiscent of the likes of ZZ, Horsepower rock unashamedly on with good-time guitars and who-gives-a-shit drumming.

It’s like Horsepower brought a sense of American fun and freedom to a subgenre that was often at this time in danger of taking itself too seriously. As bands struggled to get noticed, many aping or in some cases copying the established or rising bands --- often note for note and riff for riff --- some of the enjoyment in the music got left behind. These guys from the city of brotherly love remind us that music is to be enjoyed, and they’re like the best of Blindside Blues Band, ZZ and Lynyrd Skynyrd all rolled into one. With a healthy dose of Southern Boogie this track not only rocks but is enormous fun.

Let me see if I can encapsulate it in one sentence. Oh yeah. Fuck, I love this! How could I have thought this was the begining of the slide? The equine ones remind us this is supposed to be a party, and they’re makin’ sure everyone has a real good time! Sure, it’s not what I’d call NWOBHM in any way shape or form, but then neither were White Spirit, and if they belong here then sure as there’s shit on their shoes, Horsepower do too!

So where are they now?

Sadly, after setting our shores alive with their own brand of Yankee fun rock, Horsepower headed back over to the States, where they released their first album and obviously stayed together throughout the 80s and 90s, as they recorded a song in memory of the victims of 9/11.

Track seven: “Open heart” by Red Alert

Really, really hard to get any proper information on this band, as not only was there a punk band of the same name operating at the same time (the Wiki link on the album goes erroneously to their entry, which confuses things further) there were two Metal bands called Red Alert. Add to that the fact that it’s also the title of a song and it makes it next to impossible to find an entry on them. All I did find is that they were yet another of the jetsam of the movement, releasing just the one single, the song here, and then changing their name, after which nothing more is known of them.

It’s more straightahead metal this time. Whereas “She gives me candy” was a great rocking tune and a rollicking good ride, it could not really be called Metal, much less NWOBHM, but this can. With a killer riff driving the song and a singer who sounds like he chews cigarettes for breakfast, it’s rough and raw and just the right side of punk that would allow it to fit right in among the many hundreds of bands all pushing and shoving for a recording contract, or at least recognition, in those heady days. It has to be said that it’s nothing special, but it’s not bad. I remember it as a little forgettable, and this time it would seem my memory is pretty much right on the money.

So where are they now?

Absolutely no idea.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Track eight: “Chevy” by Chevy

For once, it’s nice to see that someone has compiled a decent amount of information on a band I hitherto knew nothing about, so I can tell you that Chevy began life as 4 Wheel Drive in the sixties and played pop songs until they caught the metal bug in the wake of the NWOBHM and decided to change their playing style. They released one album but were another band to fall prey to a clueless label who had no idea how to market them, and possibly no interest in doing so. They did play with some giants, Hawkwind and Gary Moore to name two, but split in 1983 after their first album “Taker”.

A big screeching guitar leads in a real three-chord boogie that just has your head moving right away, and with a lot of Springsteen in the feel. Odd that they would change their name to Chevy, a recognised symbol of American motor power, when they came from the metropolis of … Leamington Spa. But I suppose Transit or Vauxhall wouldn’t have had quite the same ring to it! I hear traces of Lizzy here, and again ZZ, even if the song is a little repetitive. I could see this having been very popular onstage though.

So where are they now?

Well again there’s a lot of information and I’m not going to bore you by telling you the separate path each band member followed, but suffice to say one still plays with Dr. Feelgood, one is a guitar teacher and the others all went on to play with well-established bands including Badfinger, Atomic Rooster and the Steve Marriott Band. Humorous aside: their record label, Avatar, who caused them so much trouble and possibly cost them a chance at fame and success, went bankrupt and apparently formed a company producing porn videos! Ah, revenge is sweet!

Track nine: “Hard lines” by The Raid

Actually called Jameson Raid (sounds like a heist at an off-licence!) the band had been around since 1973 and were annoyed that EMI remixed their song, without their permission, and according to them it was ruined. Apathy seems to have been the big killer of this band, and they began to fragment shortly afterwards, with two of the founders leaving. By 1983 the band was effectively dead.

The song opens on a thick bass line, and runs almost like a Metal version of bluegrass for a moment before it takes shape. I don’t really like the singer’s style, but if I had to compare him to anyone it might be Bowie? It’s a pretty intense number, almost claustrophobic with the heavy guitar riffs pounding down and the vocalist almost seeming like his voice is coming through a phaser or some effect. Seems to be based on an accident taking place in deep space, from what I can gather. A very dark, bleak song which belies its mostly uptempo style. Certain touches of the Clash or a slower, more restrained Tank about it.

So where are they now?

After the two founders quit the band in 1980, the remaining two members, Phil Kimberley and the man whose name should have been synonymous with Metal, Terry Dark, continued on the band. Although all four original members have now left, Jameson Raid continues with an entirely new lineup and is the only band on this compilation to be able to say they are still active.

Track nine: “Stormchild” by Trespass

They saved the best till last. This song will forever be in my top ten metal tracks, even though most people would look at it and say “Stormwhat? Who the hell are Trespass?” Despite that I’ll always love them and this remains one of the best Metal tracks I’ve ever heard. It opens with a lone guitar riffing, then another, harder single chord joins it, so two guitars are now riffing separately but in the same melody. Drums cuts in after a short moment and the song takes off, rising on a completely infectious guitar line. Vocals come in, though only after over a minute of guitar riffing, and just complete the song: strong, powerful, clear. Not a hint of rawness or roughness in the voice. A superb, fluid solo bisects the song and it ends in a storm of guitar riffs with a final fluttering cymbal and a vocal that sort of echoes out, leaving you wanting more, even though the song is easily the longest on the album, at just over five minutes. Shouuld have been an NWOBHM classic and a Metal standard. Life’s cruel, y’know?

So where are they now?

Already told you. Please check the writeup on the first track.

TRACKLISTING

1. One of these days --- Trespass
2. Telephone man --- Eazy Money
3. Cutting loose --- Xero
4. High upon high --- White Spirit
5. Lady of Mars --- Dark Star
6. You give me candy --- Horsepower
7. Open heart --- Red Alert
8. Chevy --- Chevy
9. Hard lines --- The Raid
10. Stormchild --- Trespass

When I bought this album as an impressionable teenager/passing over into twenties all I saw it as was a collection of Heavy Metal songs. I didn’t even know, probably, despite being in the middle of it, about the NWOBHM. But looking back on it now, thirty-some years later, I can see it for what it is: a partial encapsulation of that era, a showcase of some of the bands who never made it, and a repository of examples of how naive bands were back then, how greedy and often incompetent record labels were, and how unprincipled managers can be. If the labels and management teams behind some of these bands had been better, or cared more, or knew how to do their job, some of these artistes could have been huge, or at least survived.

Instead, we have a vinyl graveyard littered with the musical skeletons of those who were thrown in the deep end and found they either could not swim or were forcibly dragged down under the water by the incredible pressures put on them by those around them, fans, managers, labels and indeed the climate itself. To survive and make your mark in the NWOBHM you had to have something special, you had to be able to work hard (no problem there mostly) and you needed a good team around you, a team that could support, market and sell you.

Without these crucial elements, most of these bands were doomed to failure, and to be remembered only as a track or two on a compilation album that most people have forgotten about, or like me, remember with fondness. But ultimately, fame was never to be theirs and in the case of just about every band here, that really is the world of Heavy Metal’s loss.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

For my final look at Spanish metal I want to take a Doom Metal band, so let's go looking for recommendations huh? OK, well Google was about as much use as a barber shop on the steps of the Guillotine, so back to my metal encyclopaediac friends I go. Just gonna have to choose one. Let's see... ippy dippy, my space shippy, on a course so true. Round Neptune's moons and Pluto too, the one I choose is .... you!

No it isn't. Man, this is not going well. Three bands chosen, all split up and only one with any sort of an album. I need a current, active band. Let's see. How about these guys? No, close though. Active but with only an EP to their name. Still, maybe ... can I find it? Ah no forget it: it has only four tracks, two of which are Pentagram covers. That's no use to me. Jesus! It's like The Meat Grinder all over again! Another band, active but no sign of their one album. Sigh. Even better! My search for the next band crashed Spotify! Wonder if they're available on the shark wot grooves? YES! A few albums too. Great. They'll do then.

Baal --- Orthodox --- 2011 (Alone Records)
These guys have an interesting way of focussing their audience apparently. They play their gigs dressed in nondescript black cloaks, and say they don't move onstage. In fact, here's what they say, in their own words: “`We play dressed as penitents of the Sevillian brotherhoods. For us is a way to annul the individual at the moment of playing live music. The only esthetic reference are three motionless figures in black. We force the audience to be centered in that side of our shows...`` (From an interview given to Riff fanzine, and taken from the Encyclopaedia Metallum website)

Sounds like an interesting idea. Can't see the crowd getting too out of control and throwing beer bottles at three guys who don't even move! Mind you, this album is pretty short, with only five tracks, although one is fourteen minutes long. That seems to be about normal for doom metal, I'm discovering. To my surprise, given that the song titles are all in Spanish, it looks as if Orthodox may sing in English. Of course, this being doom metal that could be more muttered or grunted in English, but at any rate I have translations so I should be able to tell you a little about their songs. The first one though looks to be an instrumental, as there are no lyrics provided. It's called “Alto padre”, which starts off with a big buzzy guitar and then a second one joins with more in the way of melody. One heavy drumbeat is followed about a minute later by another, before there's a roll and the song gets underway.

It's definitely a lot more tuneful than a lot of the doom metal I've heard up to now --- Conan, I'm looking at you! --- and augurs well for the rest of the album, unless this is a curveball I'm being thrown. Sounds like a violin there? None mentioned but you never know; sometimes these things are uncredited. Drums are really rolling now as Borja Diaz Vera gets into his stride, and the guitars are very tasteful from Ricardo Jimenez Gómez. Tune is a little disorganised, almost like a tuneup at the moment, but not unlistenable by any means. Fairly quickly though it's over and it's not a short song, about five minutes and change.

“Taurus” introduces us to the vocals of Marco Serrato Gallado, and I must say on this song at least they come across more like some sort of Native American chant, though still better than many I've heard. The guitars get going as he drops out and they actually ramp up quite well. I honestly can't say too much about the drummer; he seems to be just marking time rather than following any sort of melody, but again maybe that's how it's done in doom metal. Most of it is so slow, it doesn't exactly lend itself to dazzling displays of percussive genius. There's certainly plenty of talent on display at the frets though, as Gómez does his best to liven up proceedings, and mostly succeeds.

Yeah, the vocal remains as a kind of chant, getting a little more intense near the end, but it really detracts from the pretty good music overall being played. Okay, the guitars. “Intromantes” might read as “introduction” but it's just shy of nine minutes long, so no. I would quote some lyrics but I have no idea what these guys are singing about, and think it may be some druidic verse or maybe something from Lovecraft? Lot of names I don't know. Pace has slowed down a little --- yeah, slowed! --- as Gallado continues to chant, can't really call it singing, lending perhaps weight to my belief that this is some sort of pagan prayer. It's ironic that even though he's singing in English I still can't really make out the words!

Wow! Sounded like my PC had got jammed there for about a minute, or like someone was playing a jew's harp incessantly, but no, it was all part of the song. The end of it in fact. Now we're on to “Hanin Ba'al”, which I guess is as close to a title track as we're going to get. I must say, Gallado's vocal here is much better. Much. He stops the droning chanting and gets into a serious groove that actually makes me want to listen to rather than ignore or strain to hear him. Plus I can now make out the lyric. Still no idea what it's about, but wasn't Ba'al some ancient Sumerian god or something ? It's got quite a bouncy feel to it, almost a doom boogie? Sort of an Iommi-like solo breaking out here from Gómez.

Final track then is that monster, with “Ábrase la Tierra” clocking in at a mammoth fourteen minutes, and right away they throw away the almost carefree, fun spirit of the previous track and settle down to some serious dooming. Bringing the pace right back, it's slow, sludgy and plodding but, as Moe once remarked, not without its charm. Gallado's voice is back chanting but somehow it's even further down in the mix now, or maybe it's just that Gómez's guitar is too far to the front. Either way it's a blistering wall of sound, but for a track this long I hope it changes a little over its run.

Well, rather amazingly after a real crazy solo from Gómez that seems to use a lot of feedback or effect pedals of some sort we're already nine minutes in! I feel it's very much overextended though, running well into the twelfth minute, but then looking at the lyric (which appears to be in Latin) there are less words used here than in a Conan song, so I guess they need to fill up the time with music. But then, why fourteen minutes long? The song then ends on some moans and kind of weird guitar effects and then fades out. Slightly disappointing ending, I feel.

TRACKLISTING

1. Alto padre
2. Taurus
3. Intromantes
4. Hanin Ba'al
5. Ábrase la Tierra

Good for what it is, and not half as crushingly slow or (dare I say it) boring as some of the doom metal I've experienced. I wasn't quite sure what to expect but this was not at all half bad. When Marco Gallado raises his game he's an okay singer, but in fairness nothing much more than that, with the undoubted star here being Ricardo Jimenez Gómez. Orthodox have four albums to their name, with a live one released last year, so are obviously still doing okay. Not bad for three guys who stand on the stage and move as little as possible.

So that's Spain done and dusted. I'm sure there are plenty --- and I mean plenty --- of bands we missed out, but when you're skimming though the music of a country with such a rich musical heritage, you're going to end up, well, skimming through it I guess. If I missed out a band you think I should have included, well all I can say is you try doing the next Metal Month! It ain't easy, ya know!

Next week I'm gonna be right at home as I check out the surprisingly vibrant metal scene in my own homeland. Yeah, Paddymetal closes out Metal Month II, starting next Monday! Ya wide or wot?

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Mournin’ --- Night sun --- 1972 (Zebra)
Recommended by Unknown Soldier

So Marillion weren’t the first ones to use that morning/mourning idea? Interesting. Ten years before “Script for a jester’s tear” took the world of progressive rock by storm, this band from Germany was already making that pun. Seems this was their one and only album, recorded a year before they split forever, and for a supposedly prog record it doesn’t have much in the way of long epic tracks, the longest just over seven minutes. That’s barely getting started in prog terms!

We open with stop/start guitar in that particularly proggy way I hate as “Plastic shotgun” is the first salvo Night Sun decide to send across our bows, but it’s definitely of its time, with Robert Plant “wildman” vocals and a very Purple/Zep vibe to the music, plus a rather stupid “dark scary voice” to end the short opener, as lush keyboards from Knut Rossler add a touch of class to “Crazy woman”, but then Bruno Schabb comes in with the vocal and it goes pretty much the same way as the first track. There is some very good guitar from Walter Kirchgassner which really livens up the track, and I take back what I said a sentence ago; this is a whole lot better. Even so, it plays like a bad copy of early Zep, with a mixture of hard rock and blues; can’t really see this as being Metal of any sort, even Proto-metal.

Schaab really does nothing for me, in fact he’s the thing I like least about this album. With a different singer this could be quite good, but he’s determined to “Plant” (!) his own identity all over it, and it doesn’t work. Spacey, weird intro to “Got a bone of my own” with some rising organ (yes ooer I know!) similar to that on the first Supertramp album, very swirly and eerie. The song is the longest on the album, just over seven minutes, so I guess a long intro is in order. Still, we’re three minutes in now as a dirty guitar riff begins and still no vocals. The heavy organ presence has now faded away, stripping the song back and revealing real teeth behind the originally prog-heavy instrumental. Into the fourth minute now and still no sign of Schaab; could this be an instrumental?

No, here he comes. Five minutes in and he makes his appearance, immediately in my opinion dragging down the track. Some nice echoey organ presages a tempo shift to a mid-paced blues boogie, which really is the making of the song as Kirchgassner and Rossler trade licks, then we’re back to the original harder rock riffs as vocals come back into the mix. We are however nearly at the end of the song, and it exits on a powerful guitar riff, taking us into “Slush pan man”, which certainly opens on a much more Metal-oriented guitar. Kirchgassner lets himself go here, channeling Tony Iommi in a dark, grinding riff that almost, but not quite, adds a touch of Doom to proceedings.

Interesting and accomplished drum solo (and that’s saying something) from Ulrich Staudt gives “Living with the dying” more weight than it probably deserves, while Rossler runs off an organ solo to rival Ray Manzarek from The Doors. Well maybe not, but it’s pretty damn fine. That organ is again employed to open “Come down”, where everything seems to slow down in a nice bluesy ballad, which for once softens even Schaab’s annoying voice, making him sound like a cheaper Jon Anderson, and the song itself certainly betrays its progressive rock roots before Kirchgassner kicks it up the arse and takes it in a harder direction. Of course our Bruno can’t keep his voice as it has been for the last two minutes and is back aping the Led Zep frontman, but I’m getting used to that.

Very evocative guitar solo to finish the song off, then “Blind” trips along on a nice boogie rhythm, Rossler’s organ painting the flourishes under his bandmate’s swaggering guitar, while “Nightmare” is probably the closest this band get to true metal, with a rapid-fire vocal delivery and guitars that are fast, but somehow come across as more like a faster Deep Purple, but without the raw talent. It’s actually quite funny. In an annoying way. Closer "Don’t start flying" starts out with a sax break that really sounds like the opening to “Baker Street” by Gerry Rafferty, although this would not be penned for another six years. It is however too jazzy for me and in my opinion closes the album terribly.

TRACKLISTING

1. Plastic shotgun
2. Crazy woman
3. Got a bone of my own
4. Slush pan man
5. Living with the dying
6. Come down
7. Blind
8. Nightmares
9. Don’t start flying

I have to be brutally honest: I pretty much really hated this album. When a rec comes from such a valued source as Unknown Soldier I'm always eager to give it a chance, but I can’t see how this can be rated as any sort of metal, and even allowing for its age it has really dated. The vocals set my teeth on edge, and though there were one or two good tracks to take away from this experience, it is not one I would wish to repeat. I think I’d rather listen to Grindcore. Well maybe not, but you get the idea.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Unknown Soldier

Business as usual eh not liking one of my pics Anyway I’ve got crocodile skin (you need that when you’re a Styx fan) so no problem.

Personally I can’t believe that you can’t see the metal link (even if you class it as a hard rock album) here from 1972. The band play like Deep Purple and Uriah Heep, and sound like the Flower Travellin’ Band meaning that they sound off their rockers. It’s fairly normal for any German band at this time to have Krautrock tendencies and the jazz is a nice touch.

To say that Night Sun should have no link to say 1980s metal, is to to say that both Deep Purple and Uriah Heep shouldn’t either, as all are bands that share the same principal characteristics of using the same type of guitar and organ sound. Night Sun display real speed on several songs and combine them with mid-paced pounders, I’ve reviewed numerous albums with that same combination recorded quite a few years after this album and the combination of speed and medium pace is a staple for many metal bands, you even mentioned the Tony Iommi inspired doom on one track as well.

Bands like Night Sun are cult bands amongst metal enthusiasts and without these bands I doubt metal in the 80s would have been as interesting.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

Blind rage --- Accept --- 2014 (Nuclear Blast)


Say it loud, say it proud: I have always been a fan of Accept. I mean never. Never been a fan of Accept. To be fair, I've heard little from them, other than their supposedly seminal album “Balls to the wall”, which I heard at the height of a particularly nasty houseparty next door as I was trying to sleep, so as you can imagine that album did not exactly leave a great impression upon me. But Accept are accepted (sorry) as one of the premier German heavy metal bands and although I initially had intended to include this as part of the German section of “The International Language of Metal”, I made a decision not to feature any current albums there. However I had already reviewed this before I made that decision, so no sense in all that work going to waste, is there?

It opens on “Stampede”, with an almost operatic, dramatic intro before the twin guitars of Herman Frank and Wolf Hoffman blast in. This is the third outing for new vocalist Mark Tornillo, and though I didn't particularly like Udo Dirkschneider (what I heard of him), his voice was a little easier to accept (sorry, again) than this new guy. Tornillo seems to come from the school of Death Metal, and he growls and spits out the lyrics without, to me, as much emotion or passion as old Udo. It's a decent opening, powerful and striking though perhaps a little slower than I might have expected with a title like that, and the axework of Hoffman and Frank can't be understated. Still, so far at least they've failed to win me over, but this is after all only track one, and there are ten more to go.

“Dying breed” is up next, and it's more a chugalong rocker, with elements of Sabbath and Maiden at their best; even Tornillo's voice is a little easier to (no, I'm not going to say it again) take this time out, and with some very goth metal style backing vocals it's a decent song, far better than “Stampede”. Again the boys shine on guitar, while Stefan Schwarzmann hammers out the beat and his partner-in-rhythm, Peter Baltes, keeps pace. Yeah, this is much better, but will it be maintained throughout the album I wonder? In terms of value for money “Blind rage” is not bad, with eleven tracks in all, none of which dip below the four minute mark and one or two that edge over six minutes. I don't think there are any instrumentals: I get the feeling Accept don't do instrumentals.

“Dark side of my heart” is in fact one of the shorter ones, just about making it past the four and a half minute mark, and has a certain element of AOR about it, with a great beat and again fine backing vocals. It's kind of mid-paced, rocking but not thrashing and though some people will no doubt headbang to it, I expect there are faster, more headbangworthy songs on this album. A grinder, a cruncher, call it what you will, the next one up is much slower and pounding, kind of reminds me in ways of Sabbath's “Heaven and Hell” or Dio's “Egypt (The chains are on)”. This one comes in on the longer side of things, throwing in some sort of Viking/Goth influences over its almost six-minute run, and “Fall of the empire” has a really great little hook in its chorus. I must say, after what I considered to be a lacklustre opening this album is really shaping up. No bad tracks yet, that one excepted. I said “excepted”!

Nice political/topical lyric in ”Will the mountains crumble to the ground?/Will the Earth stand still?/Will we rise into a mushroom cloud?/Will the mountains crumble?” (Okay, perhaps not the most imaginative of lines, but it surely beats singing about beer, women and fighting?) which does at least show that Accept are thinking about world issues, and I would venture to predict that “Trail of tears” looks at the plight of the North American Indian? Well, it kicks the tempo right back up, that's for sure, as Schwarzmann unleashes his powerful drumbeats, and yes, it's Accept's “Run to the hills”, though perhaps that's not fair: I'm sure many metal bands have written about the disenfranchisement of the Native Americans. But that's the song that comes to mind when I think of the near-eradication of the red man from America. It's a good song, with some fine soloing from Herr Frank and Herr Hoffman, taking us into “Wanna be free”, with a nice little acoustic guitar intro raising the possibility that this may be a ballad.

It picks up in power fairly quickly but generally stays slow, and seems to reference the global cancer of white slavery --- well it does obviously, as the chorus has Tornillo roar ”No more human trafficking!” So that's that sorted then. Fair play to them: a great cause to champion, and it's a really good song too, with again another killer hook. I can just see the audience pumping studded fists in the air as they all yell ”We all wanna be free!” Well, don't we? Seems Accept have tapped into something of a zeitgeist here. Although in fairness it's only the first verse that talks of white slavery, as they they go on to focus on other wrongs such as poverty and homelessness and addiction. And yes, I'm getting more used to Tornillo's voice now, kind of a harsher Axl Rose. Sort of. At least he doesn't scream like Udo did. Well, not yet anyway. Though he does just then go back to that growl he had at the beginning for “200 years”; it's not so bad now. Rocks along nicely, this track with a cool line ”Welcome to the Stone Age/ 200 years after Mankind!” clearly referring back to the lyrical content of “Fall of the empire”. Well, it seems the empire has fallen, and with the passing of Man (”Population zero!”) and all his technology the Earth has reverted to an earlier, more natural state.

I hear echoes of Bowie in here, and Queen, and Balance of Power too. “Bloodbath mastermind” has a really sweet, echoey guitar to open it then a rolling beat from Schwarzmann kicks it all up to ten as the riffs start churning out and Tornillo lets out a few screams, but I don't mind. This is good stuff, though to be honest after the other tracks this is a little below par for me. Not saying it's a bad track, just not as good as any of the six that have preceded it. Tornillo goes into a very Axl/Brett growl for “From the ashes we rise”, another mid-paced rocker with some almost Kansas-style vocal harmonies. One thing this band seems to excel at is writing songs with catchy hooks, which is where the previous one fell down: there wasn't one. Here there is, and it adds an extra layer to an already pretty tasty song. The backing vocals are, again, very effective.

The longest track on the album at just a second short of six and a half minutes, “The curse” starts slowly, with some nice chimy guitar and a sort of tribal drumbeat, almost shades of Peter Gabriel's “Biko” in the guitar riff, then it's another philosophical track with lines like ”Who's the thief, who's the traitor?/ Who's the one who saved the day?/Who will stand in the spotlight/ While the good ones fade away?” Mid-paced again, a grinder and again with elements of AOR or certainly melodic metal in it, this is another winner on an album that has very few bad tracks at all. A really fine solo from one or the other of the guys --- don't ask me which --- and again that killer hook is in evidence, something that's not always the case with metal bands, especially German ones, where often how fast or hard you play seems to be more important than how you craft a song. We storm out in fine style then with “Final journey”, and on the strength of this album I think that's definitely not a prediction, or a threat. Accept prove they have culture too as the guitar solo rewrites Grieg's classical masterpiece “Morning” from “Peer Gynt.” Way to confuse the young 'uns, guys!

TRACKLISTING

1. Stampede
2. Dying breed
3. Dark side of my heart
4. Fall of the empire
5. Trail of tears
6. Wanna be free
7. 200 years
8. Bloodbath mastermind
9. From the ashes we rise
10. The curse
11. Final journey

So has this album made an Accept fan out of me? Well, I think it's difficult to make such a determination on the basis of one album, but one thing I can say about this is that I originally listened to it only for the purposes of review, but I've enjoyed it so much that I think I will be revisiting it purely for pleasure in the future. And that's not a bad start, is it?

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

The Batlord

Not really helping with your whole fuddy-duddy image there, Trollheart.

And albums are put in italics. Songs are put in quotation marks. How is it that when it comes to music your grammar just goes right out the window?

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Isbjørn

This. Oh, and Trollheart, I'm throwing Restless and Wild by Accept at you.

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Trollheart

Time to slow things down again and relax with some nice metal ballads, before we charge on into the final stretch...
Kick off with a band called Iron Savior --- could be they're Christian Metal, could be they're not --- they're not --- and a track taken from their second album, “Unification”. This is “Forevermore”.


Iced Earth aren't the kind of band you usually associate with ballads, but as we've learned with this section everyone likes the odd break from the headbanging and the shredding. From the album “The dark saga” here's “I died for you”.


And anything Metallica can do, Megadeth can too! Here's “Blood of heroes”, from “Youthanasia”.


Band I've never heard before, called Twilight Guardians, from one of the countries that is fast becoming my favourite both for metal and prog, Finland. This is from their debut album, released in 2000 and titled “Tales of the brave”. Nice little song called “Snowfall”.


And we end with Ratt (remember them?) with “Giving yourself away” from the album “Detonator”.

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Trollheart

Now, the real question is, can I find the last album (so far) in order to review it? Well it proved tricky, but I did eventually track it down (without having to buy it) and I'm rather glad I did, as I note with some sadness what all Slayer fans will have known for some time, that it was the last album to feature Jeff Hanneman before his untimely death in 2013. There is a new album due out next year, but this has got to mark the end of an era for Slayer, losing one of their founder members, principal songwriters and Kerry's guitar partner. Must have been tough.


World painted blood --- Slayer --- 2009

Before he fell ill though, there was a chance to hear Hanneman play with his bandmates and dazzle us all one more time, as Slayer released their tenth album. He wrote the music for half the songs, and wrote or contributed to the lyrics on half as well, the rest written by Kerry King with some small input from Tom Araya. I'm sorry to say though that the usual done to death subjects are again in evidence: serial killers, war, religion and madness, but then, what at this point did you expect from a new Slayer release?

No doubt The Batlord, and others, will be saying at this point “Shit man! What are you thinking of? Deeper meaning in Slayer albums? Lyrics? Concepts? That's not what Slayer are about! It's about the power, the aggression, the speed!” And yes guys, I know that, I get it: you don't speak the words Slayer and subtlety in the same sentence, nor the word original. I understand that's how they roll. But it doesn't help me reviewing the albums if that's the only criteria I have to use.
“This album's fast and brutal.”
“This album's brutal.”
“This album's brutal, but not as brutal as the last. Oh, and it's aggressive.”
Wouldn't make for very good reviews, would it?

So I have to search a little deeper, even if there is no depth to be found. And to be fair, some of these lyrics are damn good. And well written. These guys aren't braindead. I just wish they could get away from the three or four main subjects they always seem to write about, and try something new.

The title track comes in slowly and sort of in an understated manner, with sound effects in a Sabbath groove before it explodes into the usual Slayer fare, rocketing along a Mach II, but with a darker, deeper tone than in most of the other albums to date. The song itself seems to be a carryover from the final, and bonus, track of the previous album, “Final six”, detailing the Apocalypse in lurid, gory detail in which Slayer seem to revel, almost as if they're looking forward to the end of days. King is in fine form and Hanneman, in his last contribution to the band makes a real impression, almost as if he knows he will not be around for much longer. The two guitarists seem to spar and war with each other as the returned Dave Lombardo stomps along the drumbeat like a drill sergeant watching his charges with a flinty gleam in his eye.

“Unit 731” revisits the themes of “Angel of death” from “Reign in blood”, this time focussing on the atrocities practiced not by a Nazi doctor but by a Japanese one. Pounding along at full tilt, there is to be honest nothing in this that's not in the earlier song, and why they bothered is beyond me. Surely all that can be said has been said about this subject? What's next? What the Russians did in World War II? Gulags? Guantanamo? Sigh. Originality, thy name is not Slayer. Decent song but seems a little pointless. At least “Snuff” treads somewhat newer ground, detailing how the internet has become a breeding ground and marketplace for every kind of filth and deviance you could want, not that that's news to anyone. Good use of irony in the lyric: ”Action! Torture, misery, endless suffering.” and ”The internet's an open door/ Everyone can see/ Dyng brutally/ The audience begs for more.” Sick but true. Great screaming solo to start the song off and it sets the pace for a track that in true Slayer fashion seems not to even understand the concept of slowing down. Pretty, as they say, brootal stuff.

I like the idea behind “Beauty in order”, as they finally step a little outside their frankly constricting box to try something a little new, tellign the story of Countess Bathory, said to have bathed in virgins' blood. Good dark vibe to this with some cartoonish screams made by Kerry on the frets, but they work well within the framework of the song. Tom sings it very well too; maybe a pity they didn't engage a guest female singer to give it that extra feeling of realism and connect the singer to the character, but are there any women who would work with Slayer I wonder? “Worldwide hate” has nothing new to offer in terms of lyrical content, though it's a powerful, driving song and a lot of fun on one level, while it's perhaps odd to see, after “Jihad”, the guys tackling the practice of law in arab countries, such as cutting off the hands as a punishment for theft. Hard to work out whether or not they agree with it or are protesting about it --- though, given their views on the liberalism of US justice, I'd be inclined to go for the former --- but “Public display of dismemberment” (surely to become known as PDD) rocks along with the sort of fire and anger and almost blind hatred set to music we've come to know (and love?) Slayer for.

And speaking of things we've come to know these four guys for, gimme an “A”! Gimme a “P”! Gimme an “O”! Gimme a “C”! Yeah, it's another song about the end of the world, this time mankind is wiped out by a genetic disease, and I must say musically “The human strain” is probably one of the best constucted of their songs I've heard in a long time, with Hanneman and King making the guitars somehow sound ominous as well as threatening, and when Araya dips into his more “normal” low voice he can be quite effective, kind of narrating rather than singing. They surprise me with a great rant against Big Oil in “Americon” as Tom screams ”It's all about the/ Motherfucking oil/ Regardless of the flag/ Upon its soil!” Spot on, guys. Spot on. The song has a great boogie beat too, and runs at a decent pace with some super solos from the guys. Another great track. They should do more stuff like this.

And we're back to another favourite subject, serial killers, with “Psychopathy red”, as the tempo hits up again, burning up the road with some excellent guitar interplay between Jeff and Kerry and, it must be noted, some really smooth bass licks from Tom. I'd like to say the return of Dave Lombardo is a revelation, but I can't: you all know my basic apathy towards drummers. One seems very much the same as the other and especially in Slayer's music I couldn't even tell personally that they had changed drummers if I hadn't read it. Sorry, Dave! “Playing with dolls” takes us back into the mind of the murderer, but with something of a twist, as this time it's seen through the eyes of a child who is witnessing --- but we assume not surviving --- the slaughter of their family. It even starts off differently to a standard Slayer song, with smooth guitar and a very ominous, threatening rhythm, slow and grinding, Tom bellowing his heart out but putting so much passion into his voice. Yeah, I have to say I really like this too.

And rather quickly it would seem, we're heading into the closing track, as “Not of this god” takes us out on a galloping guitarfest, with even a sort of drums solo from Lombardo in the middle, very hypnotic as the beat turns into a sort of blues/boogie like ZZ gone psycho. Mad guitar riffs scream all about Tom as he thunders on, like psychotic acolytes that suddenly jump to life as the two boys belt towards the song, and album's conclusion.

There is one bonus track to go though, so let's go searching for that ... There we go! “Atrocity vendor” appears also on the B-side of the single released of the title track, and it's fast and powerful as you would probably expect at this point, but to be completely fair to it, nothing special and probably only deserves to be a bonus track. If the album had ended on this I think it would have been a mistake. As it is it ends perfectly, a fusilade of hate and anger and power to keep fans going till next year when the new album hits the shelves.

TRACKLISTING

1. World painted blood
2. Unit 731
3. Snuff
4. Beauty through order
5. Hate worldwide
6. Public display of dismemberment
7. Human strain
8. Americon
9. Psychopathy red
10. Playing with dolls
11. Not of this god
12. Atrocity vendor

Well I must say that Slayer are beginning to show promise here. After nine albums they have finally really impressed me and some of the songs on this aren't just good, they're great. A few deviations from their usual lyrical fare are definitely welcome, and even their music has improved to a degree. Tom's singing seems to get better as he ages, but it's sad to say that it's the last we'll hear of founder member Jeff Hanneman. I would say rest in peace, but they don't believe in god do they? So I'll just say wherever you are now Jeff, I hope it's what you expected and that it's one bitchin' party.

And so we come at last to the end of my sojourn through Slayer's discography, my first Featured Artiste on Metal Month. Have I learned anything from it? Hell yeah! I've learned not to take a band like this for granted; if you look into their lyrics there's a lot more there than just angry shouting and cursing and wishes that various people were dead. There's quite some thought put into some of the songs --- many of the songs --- and though Batty, Jansz and others may think I'm misinterpreting certain songs or being overly analytical of what is in the end just a "Fuck-you" sentiment, I prefer to think that when any band writes a song they have some idea in mind, and hope to get across some message.

Slayer are still not a band I would listen to for pleasure, but I found to my surprise over the last month that reviewing their albums was not always the chore I had envisaged it to be. I would admit though that I don't see any huge development in the band from about the fourth album on; they seem to be sort of marking time, going through the motions --- always angrily of course --- and as I've remarked before, they really do need new subjects to write about. They've done war, Christ and serial killers to death (pun intended) at this point, so hopefully when they release their new one next year we'll see something different. Well, we can hope.

But it's certainly been an interesting time; loud, angry, vicious, fast, brutal, powerful: all of these adjectives can apply and do apply to Slayer, but one certainly does not: boring.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings over the last month and next year I'll be checking out the albums of Cannibal Corpse --- hey! Watch it Satan! You nearly skated right into me! Cold, innit?

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