Trollheart

When I see an album by one of the original members of Sabbath (Ozzy excepted) I really have got to check it out, don't I? So our second album from April features legendary drummer

Accountable Beasts --- Bill Ward --- 2015 (Independent)

Introduction: Surely nobody needs to be told who Bill Ward is? I was unaware though that the Black Sabbath drummer had any solo material, but this is apparently his third album, all under his own name. Anyone famous playing with him? Any guests? Um, no. And no vocalist either. But two drummers. So, an instrumental album then, and his first in eighteen years.

Ah. But not available unless I want to buy it. Which I don't. Not on Spotify, not on Google Play Music, not even on YouTube. Guess we won't be checking out Bill's new album anytime soon. Who's next then? Let's see...

Okay, okay, yeah. I checked these guys out on I think the original Metal Month in 2013 and I believe I was impressed. I think someone like Mondo, bob or Frownland is into them, also Ninetales, as they were in his top ten just a few days ago. This is their tenth album and the titles are going to give me a real challenge, but let's see first of all if it's available before I go into any spiel about it. Okay, good. It is.

A Furrow Cut Short --- Drudkh --- 2015 (Season of Mist)

Introduction: I believe the album I listened to at the time was Blood In Our Wells and as I say I have a recollection of enjoying it, notwithstanding the twin facts that the band are Black Metal and that they sing in their native Ukrainain. Was that a fluke? Will I hate this? Only one way to find out...

1. Прокляті сини I (Cursed Souls I) : Powerful guitars, guttural vocals of course but there seems to be a lot of passion here. I'm very slowly learning to appreciate Black Metal for what it is, and not just dismiss it. This is quite melodic for that genre.
2. Прокляті сини II (Cursed Souls II): The power and energy in this music just overrides the fact that you can't even make out the lyrics, even if you wanted to, due to both them being sung in a death vocal voice and in Ukranian.
3. Епосі нескорених поетів (To the epoch of unbowed poets): Very dramatic feel to this, faster than the first two tracks and elements of speed metal leaking in. I'll say one thing: these guys can really play guitar but with three (yes three) of them playing keys, I honestly don't hear it. Not yet anyway. Fucking incredible stuff even so. Love this.
4. Тліючий попіл (Embers): Got a slightly more laidback thing going on on the guitar here, at least at the beginning. Then it kicks up of course (whoever heard of a ballad on a Black Metal album??) but it's just continuing the goodness I'm getting from this album. Still not hearing any keyboards though. Okay, that could be them at the end. Hard to know really. Hey, this fades!
5. Безчестя I (Dishonour I): A really powerful track with some surprisingly introspective moments.
6. Безчестя II (Dishonour II): Slower, more dramatic, really effective. Some excellent guitar work here, but again I hear little or no keys. How can there be three guys who play keys and I can't hear even one?
7. Поки не засиплють чужою землею очі (Till foreign ground shall cover eyes): Faster, more frenetic. Great overall melody on this track. Tremendous guitar outro.

Conclusion: Whether I'm getting more used to Black Metal, relaxing more in my older age, or it's just that I like Drudkh, I love this album. Even the ragged singing couldn't put me off, nor the fact that I could understand nothing of the lyrics. Just a brilliant album.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

The Batlord

What a godawful ****ing album cover. Jesus Christ. I could literally do better than that, and I don't even know how to use Photoshop.

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Trollheart

Agreed. Considering the title, and surely his resources, you would think he would have put a bit more thought into its design, or whoever did it would have. Maybe it's just as well I couldn't find it, if the music inside reflects what's on the cover...

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Of course, if there's one animated show that holds court over all others in terms of guest stars, it is The Simpsons. They've had more music guests over their almost thirty years now than any other. Mind you, they have been running the longest too. One of the bands they featured has gone down in Simpsons history, and it is all thanks to these guys.

Yeah, the irony of a parody band being parodied does not escape me, but in (again) season three of the show Spinal Tap appeared, relatively briefly but very memorably. “The Otto Show” features Bart and Milhouse at a Spinal Tap concert, and Bart is so impressed --- particularly when he sees how crazy bands like this can make people, as a riot breaks out when the band, unhappy with the facilities, retire after only fifteen minutes --- that he decides he wants to be a rock star. He of course imagines that he will then gain an English accent, as to him, Spinal Tap being the first band he has gone to see live are English, so therefore in the mind of a small boy, all bands must be English!

This is the concert he went to see. Apologies for it being in Spanish mostly, but you know Fox! Anyway, to some degree I feel it makes it even funnier ... no? Fine then: YOU find me an English clip I can use!

What's even funnier is that when Otto, rushing to get the kids to school after he has delayed them by showing Bart how to play his new electric guitar, and turning this into kind of an impromptu concert, floors the bus he ends up smashing aside the Spinal Tap tour bus, which means we get to see them both crash AND burn! As Bart would say, cool!

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Well, by and large it's been a poor crop at best so far. Let's hope Batty can change the trend with his first recommendation, a classic from a Doom Metal staple.

Epicus Doomicus Metallus --- Candlemass --- 1986 (Black Drgaon Records)
Suggested by The Batlord

Anyone who was here for the original Metal Month back in 2013 will know that I kicked the whole thing off with one of Candlemass's albums, but was advised derisively that I should have chosen this instead, the album which is seen as their finest hour and also one of the very first doom metal albums, being their debut. Drawing on the obvious influence of the likes of Black Sabbath, Candlemass were one of the first ever metal bands to eschew fast, powerful riffs and shrieked vocals for a more sedate pace and operatic vocals. I remembered not being exactly impressed with Ancient Dreams but this is a whole lot better. I love the fact that I can clearly hear and make out the vocals, the music is pretty great and the whole atmosphere evoked is dark but not black. I like the Greek mythology imagery used in “Demon's gate”, and things get a little heavier and punchier with “Crystal ball”, though the original impression I got from Ancient Dreams remains, which is to say, there is not too much in the way of variety here. Still, having explored the subgenre a little more in the intervening years, I can now accept that this is a general tenet of doom metal, and it's not that Candlemass are being unadventurous, but that they are moving within the stricture of the music form they have chosen to play in. Then again, they did virtually invent doom metal, so maybe I shouldn't really be giving them a pass.

There's more of an excitement coming into this song now, as the guitar and drums quicken and things get a little more intense, with some fine solos from Mats Björkman and Klas Bergwall. Sweet guitar intro to “Black stone wielder” and the song has a great boogie rhythm, really livening things up. It slows down soon enough, and there's a sort of cinematic feel to the music, then it picks up speed again as it heads towards the end of the song, and into “Under the oak”, whose main guitar riff reminds me of a slowed-down version of Diamond Head's “Am I evil?”. It slows even more then, grinding evrything before it with a crushing, crawling riff and a dark, slow vocal from Johan Längquist. A soft acoustic guitar then introduces the closer, “A Sorcerer's pledge”, broken into three parts, the first of whch trudges along for about two minutes before breaking on a fast guitar riff as part two begins, galloping on with something of the sense of Rainbow's “Stargazer” in it, at least lyrically.

The sixth minute then is driven on a marching beat on a synthesiser line that carries into part three, as the piece begins to slide towards its conclusion, ending on what sounds like a high female vocal.

TRACKLISTING AND RATINGS

1. Solitude
2. Demon's gate
3. Crystal ball
4. Black stone wielder
5. Under the oak
6. A sorcerer's pledge



Having been singularly unimpressed by Ancient Dreams, I can see now why the guys said I should have started off with this album. It's so much better, and it went on to define a genre on its own. I like the way there's room for faster, uptempo riffs amid the slower, sludgier ones, and that the vocals are at all times clear and easy to understand. No surprise that this album holds such a revered place in the hearts of metalheads, and that it spawned so many imitators over the years.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

The Batlord

I see that as being kind of like Sabbath's self-titled debut. They both have a phantasmagorical atmosphere that would never be replicated with subsequent albums, due in part to a heavier, but less evocative guitar tone.

Perfect name for a band with that sound, too.

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