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Spiritual Beggars
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I became a fan of the Beggars a couple of years back when their last album Mantra III was released. It was a fantastically retro album with huge variation and monster songwriting. Guitarist Mike Amott can doubtless take a lot of credit, as he is a very talented man, spending his earlier career in the Carcass stable before moving on to the Beggars, and a death metal band (which also stars his brother) called Arch Enemy. If you listen to any one of these bands you will hear some of the best music in that genre. To top all that off, he's also a really nice guy. It's not fair to give him all the credit though, as a lot of the power and charm of the songs comes from the immense vocal talents of Spice, who you can feel puts his whole heart and soul into his bellowing performances. He manages to make all the songs sound like they are immensely personal to him. Oh shit, am I not meant to be writing about Ad Astra?!? OK then, here goes. The first thing I thought when I heard it was 'this is fucking heavy!'. In fact, there have been a few times a song from it has been playing and I've thought it was Arch Enemy (particularly Angel Of Betrayal)! This could be partly because Mike had just finished recording the new Arch Enemy album when he entered the studio to record Ad Astra. There is definitely a more intense, full, and rich sound than on Mantra III. Unfortunately this means it takes a bit longer to really get into. Once you're past that you realise that all the Beggars' hallmarks are there: passion, groove, memorable songs, and so much more. Songs like Angel Of Betrayal and Blessed will stay in your head for a long time. While Mantra III seemed a very negative album lyrically, Ad Astra often has a very upbeat feel both musically and lyrically. In fact Wonderful World is an all out peace-and-love-fest straight from 1969, albeit with one of the most Maiden sounding guitar solos I've ever heard. Well, judging by the chorus anyway - who knows what the hell he's singing during the rest of it. If you have any feel for old style rock with a heady doom feel to it, you need to get off your arse and check these guys out. Oh, and their live performance would blow most other bands off the stage, out of the building, down the street, and half way to the city limits. Verdict: Your choice. Buy Ad Astra, Mantra III, or die unfulfilled. |
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Various |
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To many the idea of a stoner rock compilation would be a horrendous idea. The fact that many of the bands “sound the same” and tend to go on and on leads many people to distraction. This attitude is of course the result of the eighties, when the industry decided to swallow up music and spit it out in safe, short, catchy bursts with the emphasis on genre and classification. Now, there’s nought wrong with this point of view, but just like any other “genre”, stoner or retro rock has lots of little cliques which comprise the whole sound, ranging from Cathedral to Kyuss to Sleep. And thankfully the stoner lot don’t let their image or their ego get in the way of the music. Underdogma have pushed the boat out and released a double CD of what sounds very much like demo cuts. Some names are familiar such as Solarized and Bongwater 666 and others are new to me. As with every sampler CD ever released there is a range of quality, particularly in this case with the sound, but try as I might I still can’t find a really dreadful track on this thing. All the bands on show are reasonably competent and there is a frightening number of good tracks. Noteworthy contributors are Zerocharisma, Syrup, Puny Human, Astoqueen and Five Horse Johnson, all of whom I’d never heard before. Sure there are some obvious rip off’s on here with Kyuss being the favoured “influence” but considering Kyuss don’t exist anymore then I guess it still has some validity. The Mushroom River Band sounded incredibly similar to Spiritual Beggars until I remembered that the Mushroom is Spice’s (Lead singer with the Beggars) side project. As for my favourite track, well that goes to the once again awesome Pale Divine, I only have two tracks by this band but they’re both amazing. As sampler CD’s go, this is probably one of the best I’ve heard, particularly because it seems to be showcasing up and coming artists as opposed to the already established. The range of sounds is surprising considering it is based on one genre, and the talent on show is remarkably strong. If stoner’s you’re thing then check it out, it’s definitely worth it. Rating: ********** |
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Deicide
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Deicide are back in the year 2000, 2 years after their live album and 3 years since their last studio album. This is their fifth studio album, to go with said live album and the EPs by Amon. The album is about the usual Deicide topics - God and Jesus being dead or never having existed, and Glen Benton's links with Satanism. Pretty much what every album of theirs is about, although Benton said their is a love song to his ex-wife called Forever Hate You. On my first listen there was two good songs and eight average songs. The best was Bible Basher which I now think is great. Standing In The Flames and Remnant Of A Hopeless Path are great, and all the other songs are good to very good. Out of the five big death metal bands to come out of the early nineties (Deicide, Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Death, Obituary) Deicide are probably the most predictable and are the band which has changed least both musically and in lineup. All their albums are decorated with Satanic symbols and all the songs are about God and Satan. They are also however the least compromising, and through the years have stuck to their beliefs no matter what. Glen Benton is the most outspoken frontman from almost any band, and also the most sincere - he brands his own forehead flesh and permanently has an upside down crucifix there. They and Cannibal Corpse receive the most criticism, Cannibal due to lyrical content and song names, but Deicide for their beliefs and Benton's belligerence. For me they are the legends of Death Metal. Verdict: Go out and buy this album now! |
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Abaddon |
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Dodgy title, but the album within is definitely a lot better. Veering towards the industrial side of heavy music, Abaddon make good use of cool samples and drum loops to give a powerful backing for their songs. I also like the way the guitar isn't overpowering - that's definitely refreshing, and the overall sound benefits from it. The singer's voice reminds me a lot of the front man in Ministry, due to the effects put on his voice in order to get a distant, fucked-up sound. And it works well for them. Well, what about the songs themselves? They're very good overall, though overdone repetition in some of the songs can sometimes become tiresome - sometimes it works for them, other times it just ends up sounding dull. You just wish they would get on with it sometimes! Their experimentation with different sounds and samples is what makes this album most interesting - I feel they would benefit from taking this a step further, however, but it's still a good collection of songs nonetheless. The only other downside to this album is the length - eight tracks, but only coming in at about half an hour! Not really the length I expected from an album of this kind. The songs were short and to the point, which I admit worked well for them here, but some of the songs could have been improved by being developed and extended more - I got the impression they were short-changing themselves in places. Verdict: An interesting and impressive industrial album - this could be Abaddon's stepping stone to great things in the future. |
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Sex Museum
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'Sex Museum'. What kind of band springs to mind with that name? A 70s influenced heavy rock band? Not what I expected - but a cool surprise. A lot of Deep Purple and AC/DC shine through on this album. They're taking a lot of the retro influences responsible for the 'stoner rock' scene, but giving them a different twist, which is refreshing. Only a handful of these songs show Sex Museum at their full potential - the rest are good songs, but nothing stunning - they don't grab my attention the way I would like them to. The use of a Hammond organ throughout complements the tracks well, giving the sound a different dimension - why keyboard or the like isn't used more in heavy rock is a mystery to me. It certainly kicks ass here. This release shows a band still to make their best album, but this one is definitely worth checking out. It's not consistently as good as it could be, which makes me unlikely to just put this album on and let it run - it's the kind of album from which you would only listen to a few tracks at any one time. Everyone's got albums like that in their collection. But on the whole, I like the vibe of what they're trying to do here, and they do it fairly well. Verdict: A few great songs lurk within this '70s influenced album; it's just that they're surrounded by other more mediocre tunes. Definitely worthy of your ears' attention, though. |
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Thou Shalt Suffer |
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Thou Shalt Suffer is the dream of Ihsahn from Emperor, and started the band before Emperor even existed. Since then he has kept on developing the music and rearranging it into the CD we hear today. What we have could loosely be described as classical, though not in the Beethoven sense - it is more like the film score for a feature length uncut Halloween special of Tom And Jerry (particularly the end of track 1 and 2). Does that sound insulting or patronising? If so I'm sorry, it's not meant to. I suppose the closest band I can think of is Elend, though they don't have the modern touch. I don't think you could argue that Somnium is not well written, because it takes a hell of a lot of talent to put together a whole classical piece. Essentially that's what the album is, a whole classical piece rather than ten different tracks, and as such the tracks do not have individual names. Yes, there are breaks between many of the tracks, but I still view the album as music rather than songs. Hopefully that makes sense. Track 7 is a good example of the modern edge Thou Shalt Suffer bring to the music, with heavily distorted guitars and effects. It fits in well, and makes an interesting listen. Verdict: Broaden your horizons, if you're in a weird mood. |
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Asphyx |
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This album is OK, but nothing special. It's a mid-paced death metal album by an average band, not bad but not very original either. There are nine songs on the album which are OK. and during one song there is a sample from one of the Texas Chainsaw films: "... the saw is family". The singer sounds like the old Boltthrower singer, which is another plus point for the album, but overall you can sleep easy if you don't go out and buy it. |
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Einherjer |
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No surprises here. Basically this is trad metal with a few atmospheric black metal and Scandinavian folk elements: Viking metal. Before you start groaning at the thought, it's actually more than competently done, and incredibly melodic. The melodious guitar parts actually tone down the growly vocals and pounding drums to give a "medium heavy" effect. There are, of course, atmospheric sections within the songs with ornate keyboards, and rather fun group choruses which have a quality akin to sea shanties. If you don't mind the rather cheesy subject matter - norse mythology, fighting etc., this album's actually rather pleasant to listen to, if a little repetitive. I'd certainly rather listen to this than Slipknot. Oh, and one last thing.... I sincerely hope the song title "Draconian Umpire" was a typo cos it gave me very odd mental images of Satanic tennis refs. |
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