Reviews for suckas

Mr. T takes on the 1989 KISS release "Hot in the shade".



"You knows it's bad when these fools become bigger clowns after they take the make-up off. Just listen to some of these songs. "Forever"? These idiots made this song feel like it lasted forever. "Betrayed"? That's how their fans felt after having to take this pitiful junk. "Love's a slap in the face"? What kind of crazy fool title is that? I sure don't love this song, but I'll give them the slap in the face they deserve for writing this fool jibba jabba. Hide your heart? Kiss better hide their whole selves after making me put up with this silly music. I don't hate their fans, but I pity the fools that spent good money for "Hot in the shade"."

Enablers-Blown realms and stalled explosions

Exile on Mainstream
2011

What we have is some rather solemn spoken word laid upon a backdrop of textured sounds that range from smoothly melodic to odd and heavy. The most difficult thing about spoken word is getting the music and prose to compliment each other. You don't want to distract from the other or else it defeats the point of choosing this format. Obviously this band knows that as they make sure that the two sides work together. The music bounces back and forth from subtle to spirals of controlled chaos. The words are kept at one level as far as emotions go, but the words convey the images and feelings. They never try to overwhelm you, but instead glide into intriguing, multi-leveled displays of genius. They do so much and the presentation style actually does allow time so hear all that they are accomplishing. Probably not an album for everyone, but certainly one with plenty to offer.

Isolation- Closing A Circle

Eisenwald
2011

After being let down by their 2008 split album ( the well named "Bleak") I wasn't expecting loads from this one. Formed in 2004 the band is just now releasing their debut album. In the meantime Isolation has released a few demos, one EP, a "Best Off" compilation and the Bleak split w/Austere. On Closing A Circle the band adopts this melancholic rock/metal style to go with their black metal/doom beginnings. Trouble is not only is it melancholy, but it is also dull. The album is bleak and depressing enough sure. Problem is it also lacks any sort of interesting bits to get you to want to pay attention. After reading the promo material I had hoped that this one might see the band adapting an interesting sound, but it isn't the case. Wanted to find something about Closing A Circle to like. Anything really. Never did though.

Mortulalia-s/t

Moribund
2011

This album was originally released in 2007 and received many accolades. Moribund records is putting it out with a bonus track. The move is probably to get even more people excited for the band's next album which is supposed to come out late in 2011. This is slow, plodding doom mixed with black metal. The mood is intentionally depressive and mission accomplished there as the songs (most averaging well over ten minutes in length) will drag you down with them. The sounds are deep and low often pulling upon a slow dream/nigthmare like state of mind. This isn't always my favorite style, but I turned on somewhat low, sat back and absorbed what I could. I admire the band's persistance and vision to keep these songs plodding along. It works for me although more as background music than anything else, but I found enough tones and dark moments to maintain my attention. The major drawback was that the amoung of repitition can bore the crap out of you before you make it to the end of some of the songs. I imagine some tightening up in the songwriting department will fix that. I hope to see more of that on the next release. Still if nerves and patience are ready then you may find enough on this release to interest you.

The Resurrection Sorrow-The Scorpion Savior Sessions

Self Release
2011

Meant as a tide-me-over release for fans, The Resurrection Sorrow is preparing to digitally release The Scorpion Savior Sessions EP shortly. While the band has been streaming the songs on their website now for a few months fans have not been able to buy a digital release until now. The follow-up to The Resurrection Sorrow's 2009 debut album, "Hour Of The Wolf," the new EP was recorded over the past winter. As with their debut album the band enlisted hometown NYC engineer Joe Hogan (Nebula, The Atomic Bitchwax) and had the tracks mastered by Fred Kevorkian (Iggy Pop, Willie Nelson). With a powerful doom-infused stoner rock crunch this EP continues the band's tradition of delivering metallic metal that oozes from the speakers. It might only by a three song EP, but it still packs a serious punch and has me eagerly awaiting their upcoming full-length follow-up scheduled for release later in 2011.

Clash of the album covers

It is...


Rush-Hemispheres

vs.


Whitesnake-Trouble

***Which cover do you prefer?

Megalomaniac-Speed Demon

Self-Release
2011
This 2011 demo was uploaded by Megalomaniac's vocalist JÖNS-OLLE at another blog I frequent quite often. Hailing from Sweden (Östhammar to be exact) and previously known as Cobra Rax the band was formed in 2007. After playing locally in 2009 and 2010 the band hit the studio to record their five song debut demo "Speed Demon". With influences listed such as Kreator, Razor, Agent Steel, Overkill, Sadistik Exekution and Sepultura you can get a good sense of what this four piece band is aiming for. With a sound firmly rooted in old-school speed/thrash and a take no prisoners attitude chances are Megalomaniac won't be breaking new ground even if they look to break a few bones in the process. Don't go into this one expecting anything other than good old fashioned headbanging thrash! If you'd like to find out more you can check out any of the links below. Fan's of early thrash will love this one as the production is just right and the band play well crafted fast and furious music that will have you moshing like the good old days.


http://www.facebook.com/pages/Megalomaniac/301934271123?ref=ts

http://www.myspace.com/megalometal

http://www.youtube.com/megalomaniacmetal

Take It Or Leave It - A Tribute To the Queens of Noise: The Runaways

Main Man Records
2011

As a rule of thumb tribute albums are usually a thinly veiled attempt to make a quick buck by assembling a few well known bands and then having them rush through cover songs with little or no attention given to the actual quality of the material. For every star outfit on a compilation there are two or three bands no one has ever heard of for good reason. Usually these affairs are meant to be fun, but are often times a bore. When I first heard that Main Man Records was gathering artists to pay tribute to The Runaways I was skeptical. The Runaways changed the way women were viewed in music and went on to influence everyone from The Go-Go's to Guns N' Roses. Dedicated to Sandy West's name this album set a lofty goal of not only covering the music of the Runaways, but also putting their own twist on the songs and making it all sound good. Does it work? Yes, and then some. Spread across these two discs are some great acts like The Donnas, Shonen Knife, The Adolescents, The Dandy Warhols and Kittie. Along with Derwood Andrews (of Generation X fame), Earl Slick (David Bowie/New York Dolls) and Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill/Le Tigre) you have new bands like Frankenstein 3000 covering music than spans the Runaways' whole career. What makes this collection really stand out is the fun way in which they have interview clips with the members of The Runaways and mock radio ads interspersed with the actual music. It breaks up the music in such a neat way and keeps things from feeling to stall. Also, you can tell how much these bands not only respected the songs, but how much fun they had doing this tribute. Most tribute albums suffer from either safe, paint-by-numbers covers or versions that are so weird and out there that it becomes a mess. On Take It Or Leave It these artists have fun with the music. I loved Shonen Knife's cool take on "Black Leather" and The Binges cover of "I Love Playin' With Fire" from the very beginning of disc one and things never let off from there. Over the span of two discs The Runaways get a loving tribute done of them that shows just how much they meant to rock music as a whole. With it's nice color cover and fold out album art Take It Or Leave It is worth the price of admission alone. But it gets better as in Sandy West's name, Main Man Records will be making a donation of 50% of the proceeds of Take It Or Leave It to the American Institute for Cancer Research. Not only do you get to rock out to the music of Sandy West and company, but you'll do supporting a worthwhile cause! Below you'll find a link to Main Man Records with a special offer available for pre-orders!

http://www.mainmanrecords.com/MMR040.html

Anthrax-"Fight ‘em ’til You Can’t" Single

Nuclear Blast Records
2011

With their new studio album Worship Music due to be released on September 13th Anthrax is offering the track “Fight ‘em ’til You Can’t" as a free download. With Joey Belladonna now back on board yet again this will be the first new Anthrax material in eight years and the first for Belladonna since 1990's Persistence of Time. The album is now being called a comeback release from those who have heard it, but will it be that good or is it just the hype machine in action? From the sounds offered on "Fight 'em 'til You Can't" it looks as if the band is trying to recapture the thrash found on albums like Among The Living. Maybe Anthrax is truly making an effort to regain the hordes of fans who have abandoned them over the years. Thrash is back in a big way and even though Anthrax hasn't been relevant in years could this be the music they need to make a last gasp grab at being a heavyweight again?

Listen Here: http://soundcloud.com/nuclearblastrecords/anthrax-fightem-til-you-cant

Download Here: http://media.nuclearblast.de/download/gratisdownload/index.php?link_kampagne=Anthrax-fightemtillyoucant

Moon-Canduceus Chalice

Moribund
2011

I tried hard to find something to like on this album from Australia's moon. Indeed I found a few moments where they focus on creating some eerie tones. Unfortunately those moments are few and far between. When the drum machine is the heaviest and best sounding instrument on and album then brother you know that you are in for a rough ride if you hope to listen to the whole album. The sound attempts to be deep and dark, but the sound is frequently muddy and dull. This is supposed to be atmospheric black metal, but it's more like a very indistinct form of drone with very little personality to set it apart. There were times where I got into what they were attempting, but they normally lost me with repetitious music and the buried, soulless grumbles that they believe pass as vocals. At times I felt like I was sitting in a tunnel with cotton in my ears listening some non-descript sounds being played on a twenty five year old walkman with almost dead batteries. They had a few sparks, but most of the album came across as filler that just (very slowly) made it's way to a highly unsatisfactory end. I was expecting and hoping to overwhelmed and amazed by tones and textures, but instead I just kept looking at the running time waiting for the pain to end.

What's coming up?

For the next week we hope to have out reviews of albums by Take It Or Leave It-A Tribute To The Queens Of Noise, Admiral Browning, Enablers, Moon, The Resurrection Sorrow, Audvandil, End of level boss, Isolation and Mortualia. Plus Clash of the album covers, Forgotten Gems and maybe even Reviews for suckas.

6th year blogiversary

I missed this by a few days, but better late than never. June 21st marked the 6th year blogiversary of this blog. Thanks for reading and stopping by over the years.

To honor this occasion I came up with six hard rock/metal songs that I could listen to at any time. Not necessarily my six favorites of all time, but just six that quickly came to mind that I like and could certainly listen to at any time.

Led Zeppelin-The rain song
Iron Maiden-Children of the damned
Post Mortem-Caveman
Van Halen-Unchained
Overkill-Raise the dead
Hanoi Rocks-Desperadoes


***What are six songs that you could listen to at any given time?

Pestilence-Doctrine

Mascot
2011

I loved Pestilence during their first three releases in the late 80's/early 90's. Heack I even liked "Spheres" to some extent although I don't think it was completely well thought out. When the band returned two years ago with "Resurrection Macabre" I was fairly excited beforehand and thought that it was a decent if unoriginal album. It touched on the band's earlier sound and was brutal although it didn't break much new ground. So what direction does "Doctrine" take? Well, they decided to change the vocal approach and the sound includes some off-beat jazz passages tossed in. While that second idea worked for me to some extent on "Spheres" it doesn't help much on this album. They try to be technical, brutal, raw and slightly experimental all at the same time. There are some moments on track like "Confusion" and "Deception", but largely this is a bit of a tedious turd of an album and that surprises me. The music frequently goes for a stripped down approach that just falls flat and left me feeling bored. I guess they thought they were moving forward with a different approach, but unfortunately the ideas are very limited here. And the vocals? They range from rough down to just out of tune like he is reaching for something and missing completely. I liked "Spheres" because it had a sound like they genuinely believed in what they were doing. Here it just sounds forced and lame. A shame because I have liked most of what this band has done in the part, but this album was a real misfire.

Heavy Metal Thunderdome

Remember you are just judging by the music on this one.

It is...


Dokken-Tooth and nail


vs.


WASP-s/t

***Which album do you prefer?

Chained and Desperate-Divine Authority Abolishment

Pitch Black Records
2011

Taking their name from NWOBHM act Chateaux's album title Greek melodic black metal outfit Chained and Desperate offer up their sophomore release, “Divine Authority Abolishment” to the metal gods for consumption. Formed in 1990 the band released numerous demos before finally dropping their debut album, "Eleven Angels in a Circle" in 2000. Now signed to Pitch Black Records the group's desire to craft a new version of black metal is as intense as ever. Pulling in influences ranging from Bathory and Death to Candlemass, Manilla Road and Manowar the band has sought to avoid comparisons to Rotting Christ as well as others such as Dissection, Enslaved and Primordial. No mistake though Chained and Desperate are a different sort of creature and should be viewed as such. Scheduled for release on July 29th, 2011 this album is not only finely crafted, but also well played and above all else interesting. The band-C.M.Ain: Vocals, Panos Chained: Guitars, Jim Havok: Bass, Kostas Makris: Vocals (ex-Swan Christy) and George Pavlantis: Drums, percussion (Reflection, ex-Swan Christy) offer enough surprises on Divine Authority Abolishment to make it an easy and effortless listen. Listen close as they pull doom and black metal together alongside metal not too far removed from Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer. Clean technical Euro metal balances nicely with the pagan metal giving this release something different to stand out. A good follow up to Eleven Angels in a Circle.

Yes-Fly from here

Frontiers
2011

Yes have returned with their first studio album in ten years. This band has had a long career complete with some peaks and valleys. Their earliest works were undoubtedly their best and since then the albums have retained some of their previous trademark sound, but they have certain gone for a lighter sound with varying degrees of success. The title track occupies the first six tracks and it's an overture plus parts number I-V. A multi-part song made me slightly hesitant, but once I got into it I was pleasantly surprised. This song comprises parts of the band's earlier sound (pre-1983) mixed with the sound they have gone by over the last almost thirty years. It's light and easy, but the melodies are smooth and the direction works to the band's strengths. I wasn't expecting great things from this album and the title isn't great, but it's quite likable. As the song came to close my thoughts were that all the rest of the album had to do was 80% as good as the multi-part song and this would be their best album in a while. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. The rest of the album left me feeling somewhat dry. The bouncing, textured sound that dominated the first half of the album was gone in favor of a much more pedestrian approach. I tried several times to give them multiple chances. Even skipping the title track and going straight to the second half to avoid a possible drop-off, but even then the later songs failed to make an impact on me. They are not bad, but just rather dull. Diehard Yes fans will find enough to enjoy, but in the end it's an album of halves with one being very decent and the other being rather forgettable.

Death Strike-Fuckin' Death 2011 Reissue

Dark Descent
2011

All one needs to know about Death Strike is the fact that they featured one of the most important names in all of death metal and that is the one and only Paul Speckmann. Formed out of the ashes of War Cry (who appeared on Metal Massacre IV) the band Death Strike was Paul Speckmann's stepping stone to the almighty band Master and also one of the earliest death metal bands. Formed in 1984 the band released a four song demo featuring music born of Motorhead, Hellhammer and Venom before calling it a day a year later. Fuckin' Death was eventually re-released in 1991 on CD and vinyl with additional tracks on Nuclear Blast Records. This newest CD reissue contains the original eight tracks offered by the 1991 Nuclear Blast edition along with four additional never-before-released rehearsal tracks. The CD comes with a eight-page booklet featuring the intended original gold pan tone color cover. Also, Olivier "Zoltar" Badin from Terrorizer Magazine provides a foreword and the booklet contains liner notes from Paul Speckmann as well as new scans/photos. While the added material is a mixed bag the original four tracks are just killer. Fast and furious these early recordings show the birthing pains of a new genre of metal. Born out of the blood of punk and hardcore the music is sloppy and sinister showing off what would become the ugly beast known as death metal. As for the other music there are doom moments and there are death tinged thrash songs. Those original four tracks are where it is and worth the price of admission alone though!

John Wetton-Raised In Captivity

Frontiers Records
2011

One listen to John Wetton's sixth solo album and you'll know that this former King Crimson guitarist has aged ever so gracefully. Seeing as Raised In Captivity features guest appearances from the likes of Steve Morse (Deep Purple), Robert Fripp (King Crimson), Steve Hackett (Genesis), Tony Kaye (Yes), Geoff Downes (Asia), Eddie Jobson (UK) and Alex Machacek (BPM) the album has an overwelming sense of maturity and refined eligence. With a resume that includes time spent in bands such as Mogul Thrash, Family, King Crimson, Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry, Uriah Heep, UK, Jack-Knife, Wishbone Ash and Asia John Wetton has proved once again to be one of the best British singer/songwriters of our time. A professional musician first and foremost John has crafted a album that should appeal to both AOR fans and Adult contemporary music lovers. Includes a bonus track "We Stay Together". 11 tracks of radio friendly rock this one is sure to be a big seller. Favorite moment has to be the simply beautiful number "Mighty Rivers" (featuring Anneke Van Giersbergen).

Xibalba-Madre mia gracias por los dias

Southern Lord
2011

Not to be confused with the Mexican black metal band of the same name, these guys actually from California. I was kind of torn on this album so lets get at the positive first. Xibalba have a deep, heavy plodding hardcore sound not far off from early Hatebree. They begin almost every song with a lot of force and never veer off. The production is solid and provides their sound with a fair amount of depth. Okay, the downside and there most definitely is one. Their lack of varation in the tempo department makes many of their sonds very tedious and difficult to take. The vocals occasionally pick up steam, but not the music. Several times during this album my thoughts were "is this song still going on?". That's never a good sign.I gave this album several chances and I like parts of it. Ultimately they came across as a band with some determination and some basic skills, but they lack the ideas to make this album worth hearing in it's entirety. Maybe they were hoping that their heaviness would make up for their lack of creativity, but unfortunately they aren't heavy of forceful enough to cover up their shortcomings.

Harm's Way-Isolation

Closed Casket Activities
2011

Once upon a time hardcore and heavy metal were separated living on opposite sides of the tracks.Before bands like C.O.C., D.R.I. and S.O.D. made crossover an acceptable term most real hardcore bands wouldn't be caught dead adding metal riffs to their sound. It was actually acts like the Cro-Mags, Gang Green and Murphy's Law that pushed the envelope and here is where you find Chicago, IL act Harm's Way living. Having released their "No Gods No Masters" 7" EP last year on Closed Casket Activities Harm's Way has built up a loyal following thanks to their heavy touring. The group toured all over the U.S. this past year with the likes of Foundation, Backtrack, Xibalba, Expire and Venia. They have appeared in Europe with the groups Nails and Rise and Fall as well as having made appearances at hardcore festivals such as Sound and Fury, Rain Fest and United Blood. Recorded with Andy Nelson of Weekend Nachos at Bricktop Studios, Isolation offers eight tracks of pure bone breaking metallic hardcore. In Harm's Way offers music that pays homage to the bands that came before them. Not only have the above bands rubbed of on Harm's Way but I heard nods to The Exploited, Black Flag, Melvins, Big Black and Minor Threat. On the more metal side of things there is an unnerving Black Sabbath doom vibe that gives Isolation a dark feel. One could even draw a line to the back bone of Motorhead although Harm's Way prefer to take it more slow and easy then Lemmy and crew. Due to be released on July 5th (CD, LP and digital formats) Isolation is a slab of pure hardcore nastiness.

Clash of the album covers

It is...


Black Sabbath-Neon Knights

vs.


Motorhead-Deaf Forever

***Which cover do you prefer?

Forgottem Gems: Hammerhead-Will To Survive

Cult Metal Classics
2005

Best-known for their rare 1981 7" "Time Will Tell / Lonely Man" cult NWOBHM band Hammerhead were formed in the late 70's in Workington, Cunbria, U.K. Other than an appearance on the 1984 It's Unheard Of compilation (Sane Records) with the excellent track "Lochinvar" the band's official output was limited. Their story begins in 1977 when a young guitarist by the name of Buzz Elliott was spotted by guitarist Brian Hodgson at a show. While Brian Hodgson had a three-piece band already (under the Hammerhead name) it wouldn't be until a few months later when Buzz Elliot joined that things would finally take of. Along with bassist Steve Archer and drummer Baz Ellwood this U.K. band would become well know on the concert circuit for their high energy shows. With a sound that was more hard rock and melodic than their NWOBHM companions Hammerhead put of hard rockin' shows. As the band had been influenced by acts like Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Status Quo their sound was more rounded. While the band was only active until 1984 their legacy lives on thanks in no small part to their finely crafted songs. This 2005 remastered compilation collects Hammerhead's misc. singles, one compilation cut and live material along with other never before released material. Since most of the band's early material was written in the mid 70's Hammerhead were more leaders in the NWOBHM movement than followers. Hammerhead stood alongside acts like Praying Mantis in crafting music that was full of harmony and heaviness. My favorite tracks have remained the catchy "Ton Of Bricks", "BJ Special" (live cut) and "Lonely Man" though this is one collection where from start to finish everything sounds good. With all of it's bonus material Cult Metal Classics has put together a nice tribute to this underground band. With lyrics, rare photos and a bonus video of "Lochinvar" Hammerhead gets the royal treatment. While this a worthwhile addition for NWOBHM fans young and old alike its also chock full of tunes that your everyday hard rock fan will enjoy. Hammerhead has been enjoyed not only by yours truly but by my wife and kids. Even my father-in-law (who grew up on U.F.O. and the like) appreciates the finely crafted guitar rockers found within. With it's lead guitar work and Buzz Elliott's addicting voice Will To Survive has quickly become one of my favorite NWOBHM releases. Honestly it's one of my favorite albums period. Highly recommend.

French Metal Friday-Satan Jokers

Despite the fact that Satan Jokers are still unknown to most American heavy metal fans the fact is that their first two albums are landmark achievements. This semi-obscure 80's French band was formed In 1979 by Renaud Hantman (drums and vocals) and Laurent Bernat (bass). Formed out of the ashes of hard rock group Garters the pair would be joined by vocalist Pierre Guiraud and guitarist Stephane Bonneau (who had played in Stratos previously) and would take their name from two American Motorcycle gangs of the times – the Satan’s Slaves, and the Gypsie Jokers. The group would release a self-titled demo in 1982. The demo would lead to a three album deal with Phonogram Records and in 1983 Satan Jokers would release their debut album Les Fils Du Metal (translation-The Son Of The Metal). Drawing from the sounds of the day (NWOBHM, German Heavy Metal) the album would go on to be regarded as one of the best examples of early French heavy metal and along with 1984's Trop Fou Pour Toi (Too Crazy For You) remain must own albums for those interesting in building a proper heavy metal collection. For whatever reason though the band abandoned their harder edge in favor of something more commercial in nature. By the time the band released the Satan Jokers III EP in 1985 they had gone in search of a pop sound and there was no turning back. Shortly thereafter the group called it a day. Drummer Renaud Hantson started a solo career and did become quite successful pop singer. In 2005 a live album (Best Of Live) by Satan Jokers was released featuring the late Laurent Bernat who had passed away in 2004. Inspired by his friend's passing Renaud Hantson decided to put together a new version of the band as a tribute. Since then the group has released two additional studio albums and are still active. The group's early albums are easy enough to find online and remain popular among heavy metal collectors. While they never would get their proper due (again owing in part to the fact that they sing in French) Satan Jokers were an excellent example of heavy metal's humble beginnings. Especially evident on Les Fils De Metal are the early sounds of power metal. Having taken the hard rock sounds of acts like Trust and Warning as a foundation Satan Jokers would add the speed of Judas Priest and perfect their own style. Hard rock and heavy metal would end up turned on it's ear thanks to acts like Satan Jokers. If you've never heard the group for yourself I'd suggest starting with their debut as it is the most pure in regards to traditional heavy metal.

What's coming up?

Over the next week we hope to have out reviews of albums by Harm's Way,Yes,Death Strike, Admiral Browning, Pestilence, Xibalba and John Wetton. Plus Clash of the album covers, Forgotten Gems and Heavy Metal Thunderdome,

Seven sisters of sleep-s/t

Southern Lord
2011

This album has eight tracks, but runs around twenty minutes. So that would put it around the length of an EP. That format doesn't seem to happen too much in the doom realm. So in a way Seven sisters of sleep have created a doom album for fans who like the sound, but not necessarily the rambling length that so many acts of this genre swear by. This is a dark, brooding album for the most part. However don't expect lofty, lingering vocals because they go for more of the growling almost hardcore approach. The roaring beast like vocals give the album an extra boost, but at first they seem a bit foreign against the sludge driven musical landscape. There are some rough spots where a stronger direction might have helped the band out. Regardless of a few rocky places this was still a very exciting and engaging album. I think the shorter format suited their style just fine, but they were so good that I wish they had added on a few more tracks. The cover art is amazing as well.

NWOBHM Wednesday-Fist

Andy says-

Despite the fact that Fist never achieved the success predicted for them by critics and fans alike they are an important piece of the NWOBHM puzzle. Formed in 1978 as Axe the band would record the song "S.S. Giro" and then break up. Reforming in 1979 (under the new name Fist) the band would release "Name, Rank And Serial Number" on Neat Records. Soon after they would be signed by MCA records joining new label mates (and fellow NWOBHM acts) Quartz, Tygers Of Pan Tang and White Spirit. This would seem to be a match made in heaven as Fist's sound isn't too far removed from the above acts. Turn The Hell On was released in 1980. Despite the early success of Fist's singles and a loyal following the album bombed. By 1981 MCA dropped Fist. Returning to Neat Records in 1982 the group's second album Back With A Vengeance received better reviews. Commercial success alluded the band again though and in late 1982 Fist broke up. In 2001 the band would reform and the album Storm was released in 2005. Since then the group has been inactive though. Known for writing songs that stood apart from other NWOBHM acts of the times ( "You'll Never Get Me Up (In One Of Those)" was about a fear of flying, "Name, Rank And Serial Number" the military and "Throwing In The Towel" was about a boxer during his last years in the ring) and for their melodic style Fist has left a legacy thanks in no small part to the Back With A Vengeance - The Fist Anthology compilation released in 2002. Collecting the group's singles in one easy to find location it allowed casual fans a sneak peak at this creative heavy metal act. Set apart from the over crowded NWOBHM scene Fist were ahead of the times writing songs that were well crafted and lyrically deep. Like many other bands from the same time period the band would only get their due credit years after breaking up.

Metal Mark says-

Nothing says power and force like a fist. Fist had a fairly adeventurous take on the NWOBHM sound. It wasn't totally different, but at their best they played a very in you face style. There was nothing subtle about their approach and they weren't afraid to just cut loose at a moments notice. I am listening to "Turn the hell on" as I write thisand just love their grooves and non-nonsense approach. They could mix the melodies with heavy parts and go and forth between the styles as well. Here they were not too long after they formed and they were fairly polished already. The melodies might have caused fans of bands like Raven and Venom to tuen their noses up a bit. I think they were slightly ahead of the curve for 1980. Unfortunately their label didn't agree and they were one of many bands who never quite got their due the first time around. However I still enjoy them and listen to them fairly often.

Half-way point

This year is almost half over believe it or not.

So what is the best hard rock/metal album of 2011 so far?

What album or albums that are due to be released in the second half of this year are you most looking forward to?

Entrenched-Preemptive Strike

Self-Release
2011

When your bio claims that your "one of the best unsigned death metal bands on the planet" then you better back that up with a monster of a debut album. New Jersey's Entrenched were formed in 2009 by Sean Fitzpatrick (guitarist/bassist/vocalist) and Charles Snyder (drums/vocals). Other than some lead guitar work by Mike Mullins Entrenched is just a two headed beast. Preemptive Strike is war obsessed death in the tradition of bands like Bolt Thrower, Invasion Jungle Rot and Hail Of Bullets. For an independent release the production works. It has a slightly fuzzed out feel giving it an old school appeal. The only glitz is the way the songs abruptly end. Some fade out moments would have been nice. Now other than the tag-teamed vocals (which tend to be overpowered by the actual music) Entrenched have a well rounded and mature sound that seems older than their actual age would suggest. Preemptive Strike embodies the greats of war death while also sharing an obvious love for thrash like Kreater, Destruction and later era Carcass. There really isn't a bad song to be found in the bunch even if some songs tend to blur together. Are Entrenched one of the best unsigned death metal bands out there? I'll let you decide for yourself.

http://www.myspace.com/entrenchedusa

Reviews for suckas

Mr. T weighs in on Poison's 1986 debut "Look what the cat dragged in".

"Wait a minute, what’s this talk dirty to me jibba-jabba? This ain’t metal, this is just sissy lookin’ suckas making weak noise. Cry tough? Ain’t no cryin’ in metal, you want cryin’? I’ll make you cry. #1 bad boy? I'll show you #1 bad boy, I'll smack that lipstick off your fool mouth, sucka. I wouldn’t drink poison so why would I listen to it? I ain’t listenin’ to no Poison. Crazy idiots are gonna pay for making this garbage. Everyone knows that make-up goes on women.... fools!"

Coffins-Ancient Torture

Deepsend Records
2011

Since forming in 1996 Japan's Coffin has released a few demos, several studio albums, a single and what seems like thousands of split recordings. In fact if you were to try to collect the entire catalog of this death/doom band it would take you years of searching and truck loads of money. Ancient Torture looks to fill in the blanks for all of those out there would would like all of Coffin's misc. recordings. This definitive collection of Coffins split releases, compilation and vinyl only tracks is packed together on a deluxe double disc 8-panel digipak. Now for those of you out there who have never laid witness to the unholy carnage that is Coffins this release would be a good place to start. The band's choice of covers seem fitting as they wink at their influences. Carnage, Cathedral, Asphyx, Pungent Stench, Goatlord and Venom all get the royal treatment courtesy of Coffins. Hellhammer,Autopsy, Celtic Frost and Obituary are good reference points too although Coffins offer a more raw/sludge sound than most. All in all you get close to 2 hours of evil death/doom from this cult act.

Crucible Divine-Commitment

Tate Publishing
2011

Sometimes in this line of work you have to approach bands and labels about promo requests and other times bands end up approaching you. Crucible Divine was a band I was familiar with thanks to their cover of “Ramming Speed” for the Deliverance tribute CD Temporary Insanity. So when word got out that they were looking for websites to review their full-length debut album I offered our services at Heavy Metal Time Machine. Well, actually it was a mutual friend who suggested our site but the result is the same and here I now sit having listened to the album a few times through to get a good feel for it. Their bio let me know that Crucible Divine was formed by Raymond Christie and that he recruited past band mates and fellow musicians/ songwriters to record this album. On lead vocals is Clint Glazner while lead guitar work comes from Kevin Wale. Wale and Christie have been friends for years and the pair share rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, and bass guitar duties on Commitment. On drums is Brandon Lopez from Christian death metal band Broken Flesh and the progressive rock band Vangough. With influences ranging from classic Christian acts like Deliverance, Stryper, Whitecross and Vengeance Rising to newer acts like Theocracy, Circus Maximus and Disciple I had high hopes for the album. Their cover song had showcased a band with feet firmly planted in traditional heavy metal with the slight nod towards Euro-metal as an added bonus. Commitment has those same influences with other mixed works finding their way into the party. First and foremost as this is a Christian heavy metal band the focus is of course on Jesus Christ. There are two worship numbers (“Praise To You” and “Let Your Reign”) as well as an acoustic version of “The Road Not Taken" (spoiler alert as it is a hidden track). Also the song "Tell Me" is an attempt at Whitecross/Stryper melodic hard rock. For whatever reason all of these songs are towards the end. If this was a LP release you would have one side that was hard rock/heavy metal while the other side would be more AOR in nature. Odd way to track the release for sure. With that though the first five songs are quite good. "Woe To You" has some thundering bass work and opens Commitment with a metal foot stomp. You can hear some Bloodgood, X-Sinner and Saint influences although it never quite reaches that level of traditional heavy metal heaviness. "Won't Let Go" has some nice lead guitar work early on and reminded me of bands like Guardian and Stryper. “The Road Not Taken” is an odd number in it's natural form. The acoustic nature of it is backed with some heavier rhythm guitar that for me at least...well, it reminded me of Metallica's work on albums like Load and Reload which really was quite surprising. Even after listening to it a few times I couldn't shake the feeling that somehow/someway there was a band out there that was influenced by those albums. With the different twists this album takes you need a great singer to step up to the plate. Vocalist Clint Glazner is talented no lie about that. His range on the album is a highlight and he makes cuts like "Commitment" work so well with his obvious passion. The number is a softer rocker that flirts with a heavy metal backbone. Only drawback is that you wait for the song to kick into double time and it doesn't. It offers this build up and then just ends. Rather a shame too as it has a catchy appeal to it. "No One Like You Left" is epic power metal in the making. With Glazner stretching his vocals the song takes a turn towards Savatage territory. These opening numbers are full of the power and intensity that the bottom end cuts of the album lack. As this is an independent release the production does suffer some. Nothing you couldn't learn to live with but it can be distracting. The lead guitar work is great when it's up in front. Problem is that too often though the bass and rhythm guitar parts seemed as if they were not mixed properly. Same can be said about the vocals which tend to pushed way up front. Vocalist Clint Glazner is great but the fact that this was not properly mastered kind of takes away from his impact. If Commitment had been mixed better it would be a solid album. As is it's a good Christian metal album but nothing else. It's good in that it sounds a lot like early 80's Christian heavy metal. Problem is one of the knocks about early Christian heavy metal bands was the bad production values and if you want to appeal to secular rockers you've got to nail that down. As such Christian heavy metal fans will appreciate this while secular fans might scoff. A good first release for Crucible Divine. With some work and a top notch producer the band could be onto something down the road.

Under Fire--s/t

BG
2011

Under Fire was a project started by guitarist Cary Sharaf. Sharaf is perhaps best known for having played with Billy Squier's band on the "Don't say no" album and tour. Sharaf began to organize his own group so he could have an for songs he had written. This lead to Under Fire which also included keyboardist Jimmy Waldo (New England, Alcatrazz). This album was recorded back in the 80's, but due to a variety of issues it never saw the light of day back then. However it has been re-issued several times in more recent years so that fans can finally get to hear it. It's very 80's style AOR/hard rock that is slightly uneven and under produced in spots, but fans of 80's AOR will find enough to warrant giving it a shot. There is a definite emphasis on melodies and the band has it going their way when they go for a straight AOR sound. Think late 70's Journey and that's a fair starting point. Some of their more hard rock sounding tracks are a bit more pedestrian, but still decent.
The album definitely would have had more impact twenty plus years ago then it does today, but a decent and outing overall.

Clash of the album covers

Here you go.


Manowar-Fighting the world

vs.


Overkill-Taking Over

***Which cover do you prefer?

Icon In Me-Head Break Solution

Goomba Music
2011

Russia's Icon In Me are led by Vocalist Tony JJ (Tony Jelencovich). Tony JJ has already made a name for himself thanks to his involvement in bands like C-187, B-Thong, Transport League, Iron Shit Snakes, Mnemic, Commander, Angel Blake and M.A.N. Now when you have a band rounded out by D. Frans - Guitars (Hostile Breed), Artyom Sherbakov - Guitars (Reign the Absolute, Bezumnie Usiliya) , Konstantin - Bass (Hostile Breed) and Morten Løwe Sørensen - Drums (Indrama, Submission, Slugs, Strangler, Koldborn, Panzerchrist, Scavenger, The Cleansing, Disavowed, Amaranthe, Mercenary , The Arcane Order , Indrama) you'd expect something good out of Head Break Solution. On paper this sounds like something quite good and downright sinister right? I remember thinking along the same lines when 2009's Human Museum was released. And yet their debut album left a bad taste in my mouth. That term modern metal is thrown around a lot these days to describe bands. Problem is what exactly is modern metal? It's a rather vague term. It can mean just about anything really and when faced with this follow up the term modern metal didn't thrill me. Human Museum sounded flat. That said though Head Break Solution offers hope that maybe Icon In Me can learn to carve out something meaningful. There are still all the hallmarks of Human Museum. Icon In Me features metalcore, thrash, nu metal, groove metal, post-hardcore and melodic death on their new release just like on their full-length debut. Note though that on Head Break Solution it sounds fuller and more upfront for the most part. There are still paint by numbers cuts throughout Head Break Solution that weigh it down. Yet the band is making an effort to strike out on their own. With guest appearances from Glen Drover (Megadeth, King Diamond), Anders Bjorler (The Haunted, At The Gates), Rob Guz (M.A.N., Olof Morck, Nightrage, Amaranthe), Magnus Soderman (In Rage, Slapdash), Andy Solvestrom (Within, Amaranthe, Evildoer and Cypher System) and Oleg Izotov (Trinity, ANJ) the band are looking to add another layer to their sound. Head Break Solution was produced by Jacob Hansen (Mnemic, Destruction,Mercenary, Maroon Raunchy), recorded at CBS Studio (Denmark), A-Lab (Moscow) and Grand Recordings (Sweden) and was mixed by Ben Schigel (Chimaira, Drowning Pool, Walls Of Jericho) at Spider Studios in Los Angeles, CA so Icon In Me has put a lot of weight behind this album. Mastering was done by Major Appelbaum (Halford, Fight, Yngwie Malmsteen, Cynic, Therion) so the album does have a very modern feel to it (no pun intended with the band tagged as modern metal). So, in all yes Head Break Solution is a step above Human Museum. Icon In Me has made all the right moves to distance themselves from the pack. Are they there yet? Not quite. Head Break Solution is a good sign though of things to come.

Planks-The darkest of gray/Solicit to fall

Southern Lord
2011

Some times if you had to too many ingredients to the mix it's gets out of control. However some one who is in control and knows what they are doing can make different ingredients work to their advantage. I think this applies to music too. Germany's Plank take advantage of their knowledge and skills here, but it's we the audience who benefit from their risk taking. This band brings out grind, death, doom, hardcore and at times hit on the post-metal sound as well. The mood is mostly dark on this album no matter what musical direction they take. The grooves are strong even though the band doesn't rely on riffs. In fact thrive very well at having a balanced attack from every instrument. With that approach don't expect to be trampled as much as you will just in for a rough, but steady ride. The album does seem a bit front heavy with most of my favorite tracks coming in the first half. After the first few tracks I was expecting it to finish great and it didn't quite live up to that. Still the Planks have some stunning ideas and they know how to keep their music interesting.

Von Isley-Von Isley EP

Self-Release

2010

2011 has seen a few changes in the Von Isley camp. This Ohio born band remains committed to bringing their own sound to the masses as usual but with a new drummer and second guitarist added the new music promises to be more heavy. Let's back up some though and explore what makes Von Isley tick. The concept for Von Isley started in the late 90's when guitarist Joshua Isley went looking for musicians who shared his desire to create not just another band but rather a new style and sound. He wanted to put on a show for the audience. Unfortunately he had to abandon the idea as he could never find the right combination of musicians to see his concept take form. Fast forward to 2008 and Joshua and vocalist Jennifer Isley formed the band you now see before you. Despite numerous line-up changes Von Isley carried on and now the husband and wife team have finally found the perfect combination of musicians to see their vision come to life. This EP is actually from 2010 and while top notch in nature it supposedly is a shade or two less heavy than the band today. Whatever the case the five songs on display here are quite good. Von Isley's music is hard to nail down honestly. They pull in prog rock, goth, Euro-metal, doom, epic, 70's hard rock and traditional heavy metal and create a one of a kind sound. Lead by the stunning Jennifer Isley the music has an almost mythical vibe to it. The guitar arrangements are driven by technical heavy metal riffs while the rhythm section offers a solid foundation for the compelling storyline. With first listen the vocals though are the most striking feature of Von Isley. In a world where female heavy metal vocalists are few and far between anyway Jennifer stands head and shoulders above the competition. Her amazing voice actually has more in common with the lush sounds of 70's singers like Stevie Nicks than with your current run of the mill heavy metal front women. She gives the music this beautiful and commanding presence and draws the listener in with her intimate voice. Songs like "Dragonslayer" have many interesting layers to catch your attention and yet vocalist Jennifer Isley sings like she is spinning a wed upon which each thread is another piece of the story. With only these five songs though sadly the whole affair seems far too short. You want to spend more time in Von Isley's world where the magic is on display in bright and vibrant colors. For Von Isley the journey has been long and full of many twists. Yet with each passing moment they improve and invite us, the listeners to join them for the next new adventure. I for one will gladly tag along and see what tomorrow brings for this dynamic band.

http://www.vonisley.com/

www.facebook.com/vonisley

www.myspace.com/vonisley

Shining Steel Interview

Recently I was able to conduct an interview with new French traditional heavy metal act Shining Steel. A big thank you goes out to Raskal at Metal Integral who translated the interview for me.

Andy-How did Shining Steel come about? How did you guys form the band?


Shining Steel-First of all thanx Andy for your interest in our band and and we have to say it’s rare to see people that are in Underground medias that buy the band’s stuffs ! SHINING STEEL in fact was born by accident with the help from Raskal / METAL INTEGRAL ! Seb and I were playing mostly Rock songs for some years, and sometimes Raskal (a long times friend) come to visit me and we were playing together music for fun. In 2009 he asked us to do a Hard Rock song because he thought we were able to do one. September 2009 we did “Voler” and immediately Raskal said “ Do 5 other songs in the same style and with METAL INTEGRAL we produce a MCD” ! I must admit I never believe a word of that first…but with Seb we trust Raskal and we composed 5 other songs rapidly, it was natural for us so we didn't have to think a lot to find the ideas… When we finished the 6 songs Raskal said “OK that’s great” and then we were talking about the fact we have now to become a band to realise the MCD ! One night I was on the way to quit Raskal’s house and just near the door he said “SHINING STEEL !” I said “What SHINING STEEL ??” …He told me “This is the name of your band, what do you think of that ?”…..I said yes that it sounded positive and fresh but also 80’s ! And then the story was on the way ! 4 months later we had 500 MCD in front of us and we were really stupefied that all this became reality !



Andy-Heavy Rockers is a killer record. For such a young band how is it you have such a classic sound?


Shining Steel- Thanx for your words about “Heavy Rockers” ! For us it’s not again perfect but we are proud of the songs, this is what we like ! About the sound I always played with that sound, so it wasn't difficult to do it ! But we know for the future that I have to find a unique kind of sound to make something more pleasant. We were already fan of Hard Rock and Rock in the 80’s, so this sound is for us natural ! I know we couldn't’t do a “modern sound” tomorrow, because we want to stay “roots” and what we are.



Andy-What sort of bands helped shape your sound? Who did you guys grow up listening to?


Shining Steel- As I told you we are quiet different in the “Heavy Metal world” as we only start to listen to 80’s stuffs (Underground) only since 2010 with the help of Raskal. But we can say we have “our sound” and we copy no one. When you are musician, things come naturally and once again we don’t want to sound like this or this other band. We don’t have any career plans or stuff like that ! We are just here for our pleasure first, then for the pleasure of those who can find positive sensations listening our songs ! But some people told us they found in parts of our songs some 38 TONNES, ATTENTAT ROCK, SQUARE, WARNING touches ! Also some found that our spirit is the same as the bands that played in the 80’s, and that’s a great honour for us to read that…but we are far to be so professional as most of these brilliant bands from the 80’s could be !



Andy-Do you find your language to be a barrier? It must be hard getting your foot in the door when people find out you sing in French. Is there still a backlash against heavy metal bands who don't sing English?


Shining Steel- Well let me ask you a question….Imagine tomorrow the universal language in Rock Metal music is “French”,… but you don’t speak French…Will you stop play and sing your songs, only because of this ? And do you prefer a good singer in its own language or a bad singer singing in English ? But in the other side you”re right, some Metal fans only listen bands with English singers…So a French band, with two musicians only, singing in French and playing old Hard / Heavy style can be taken as a “joke” by some people ! Then I know most of the fans prefer SORTILEGE sung in French rather than sung in English, so I think if the songs are good, French, Italian or greek singing, that’s not important !


Andy- Your demo made quit a splash on metal blogs. Were you surprised by all the interest? Especially here in the States interest was high for a classic sounding metal act. Is traditional heavy metal on the way in?


Shining Steel- For sure that it was a surprise ! Imagine we are living in a small village in the mountains, near Chambéry, till SHINING STEEL only few friends listened our Rock songs; then after the MCD Heavy Metal Shock, Raskal shown us the reviews and the words from peoples around the world…Waoooo it was amazing and unbelievable ! W sold the demo in around 17 countries and in 5 months the MCD was sold out at METAL INTEGRAL ! We’d like to thanx the Japanese, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and American Mail orders that supported us ! It seems that 80’s Metal is still on the way around the world ! Of course some people didn't liked our MCD and we can understand as we can’t be classified easily. That’s a bad point but also a positive one !


Andy-France has a rich history of heavy metal bands. Is the scene there starting to pick up steam? Are there a lot of local metal bands in your area?


Shining Steel-Well as we are “young” and we don’t know a lot of bands, we just noticed that “traditional Metal” sing in French isn’t practise a lot ! That’s perhaps why people are interesting by our songs, but in the other way we sold more CDs in foreign countries than in France…so…France is not a “Heavy Metal country” even if there are fans of these style and Underground medias. But I hope France Heavy Metal will rise again ! Right now we have really good bands such LONEWOLF (they are in our area) and we had the chance to meet Jens BORNER the leader who is a great guy and their last album The Dark Crusade is fantastic ! But in Chambéry we also have ELVENSTORM that will soon release an album in the RUNNING WILD style ! The drummer is the ex LONEWOLF one, Felix ! We also have NIGHTMARE in our area !



Andy-Shining Steel is not your normal band. Are you a studio only band?

Shining Steel-Here you go:
Yes we want to stay a studio band, I know some will be shocked or disappointed with that, but here are the reasons. First of all with Seb we found a balance in our way to compose, and if we find two or three musicians to complete the band, it will change all, and my past experience in bands shown I am maybe not ready to work with 3 or 4 persons. The problem is also money, if you want to be serious you have to pay for a local, then you have to find serious and motivated musicians that are ready to “live for SHINING STEEL”…But each time I tried to find musicians, 2 weeks after the first rehearsal, the guy phone me and say “hey sorry I can’t come tonight there is my girlfriend”… So with Seb we have girlfriends and children, but we have chosen to live for music after our families, and we prefer to continue together as it works. Of course we know some people would like to see us onstage and sing with us “Heavy Metal Shock, Fou A Lier or Black Shuck” but we are sorry to say it’s for the moment not possible.





Andy-Who are the members who played on the album?


Shining Steel-Seb that sing and me that realise all guitars, bass and drums. Generally Seb writes the lyrics and find some melodies, and I compose the songs all by myself….It’s a huge work and I passed nights and nights alone in my room to play, play and play, to record and record again the musical parts… But that’s the tribute to all musicians in the world, I am no exception!
I know I am not an excellent bass player or drummer, but I try to do my best each time.



Andy-What are your future plans?


Shining Steel- Well first to continue to sell our album and take a little break because if you noticed that, we composed non stop between August 2009 till last January and we did 15 songs (nearly one by month). So the idea with METAL INTEGRAL is to finish to sell “Heavy Rockers” till mid 2012 and to work to release a single in vinyl with two new songs just before the next KEEP IT TRUE Festival. It will be a limited edition (something like 250) copies just for our die hard fans ! We don’t want to work again with the idea of an album because it’s a lots of work. But realise some limited edition single in vinyls or MCD sounds good to us ! Then we still want one day to re release “Heavy Metal Shock in vinyl too !

Then we will searching for a session drummer that would like to work for us the drums on the future songs !


Andy-Any bands you would like to tour the U.S. with?


Shining Steel-Hehehe ! SKULLFIST ! The first band we had feelings with when we started ! Raskal gave us the MCD sent by Jacky and we immediately love that spirit and “Youth Gone Wild” Heavy Metal ! Since there we can say this band is like a cousin of something like that !


Andy-Last words for all the metal fans out there?


Shining Steel-Well, we never had the chance to visit your country that is the “Rock’n’Roll country” ! We saw guys like you Andy, support with heart small band like ours and it touched us a lot you can’t imagine ! We know we are “nothing” compare to LONEWOLF, MANIGANCE, HURLEMENT or MALEDICTION, and we respect a lot the works from these bands ! We invite you to discover French Heavy Metal and you will surely discover very good songs and bands !
Then those who wants to buy the vinyl or the “Warrior Pack” (CD + LP + Tee Shirt + 3 badges for 30 euros) have to hurry because only 105 vinyls are available (200 are already gone !).
Buy our stuffs on www.metal-integral.com ! Andy we know you have a project to share your passion about French scene and that’s great ! To finish we stop our Myspace and as we don’t have computer home (yes we are pre historic !) please contact us by Email if you need something ! raskal73@metal-integral.com (for the business part) and sebganzer@hotmail.com for the musical part, Seb the singer will answer you ! Thanx to all those who took the time to read this interview !

Spellcaster-Under The Spell

HEAVY ARTILLERY
2011


When you have to compete with the likes of Malice, Metal Church and Wild Dogs you'd better come out all guns blazing. Trying to get your name mentioned in the same breath as these legends of Pacific Northwest heavy metal takes some serious balls of steel. Formed in 2009 the band Spellcaster had set some pretty lofty goals. Given that traditional heavy metal has come back with a vengeance and that bands have been trying to recreate that sound that made famous by the above acts and more could Spellcaster make an impact? Their 2010 EP Spells Of Speed was a solid enough affair. Rooted in that sound done a million time before Spellcaster at least played with a chip on their shoulder. Under The Spell to these ears at least sounds more beefed up. The metal on display here is tight and catchy as hell. "Chainsaw Champion" is straight up speed metal rock. The guitars offer dueling leads and the drums are packed in just right. Spellcaster has crafted an album that recalls the greats while offering their own take on it. Like bands such as Jag Panzer, Sanctuary, Grim Reaper, Armoured Saint or any of the above mentioned Pacific Northwest bands? Spellcaster are custom built for you then. There are drawbacks though. Where is bass player Gabe Franco? He seems lost in the mix. Also vocalist Thomas Adams has some serious pitch problems to overcome. It isn't enough to take away from the enjoyment of tracks like "Power Rising", "Nite of the Hellbeast" and "Sands of Fear" but it is noticeable. It almost sounds as if he is trying too hard to be Steve Grimmett and he just can't make it. With time though maybe he'll ease into the role better. As it stands though Under The Spell is a fine additional to the genre and a welcomed relief for those suffering from the onslaught of modern metal.

What's coming up?

For the week to come we will have reviews of Spellcaster, Von Isley, Crucible Divine, Coffins,Icon In Me, Xibalba, Seven Sisters of sleep, Plank, Entrenched and more. Plus a Shining Steel interview,Forgotten Gems, NWOBHM Wednesday, French Metal Friday, Heavy Metal Thunderdome and maybe more.

French Metal Friday:Voie De Fait

Welcome to the debut of French Metal Friday. In this new weekly feature I hope to offer a sampling of what made French heavy metal some of the best in the world. Together we'll explore history as we tackle the bands and the moments that helped shape metal in this unique part of the world. With that what better place to start than with arguably the first heavy metal band to emerge in France. Even though their Ange Ou Demon album would not be released until 1982 Voie De Fait (which translates to Assault in French) trace their roots back to 1979. While the band Trust would beat them to the market theirs was a sound more rooted in hard rock. While Voie De Fait were inspired by bands like Pat Travers and Ted Nugent (per the site France Metal Museum) the sound was nothing short of pure heavy metal thunder owing as much to the NWOBHM movement as it did 70's hard rock. After numerous line-up changes and a name change (originally the band was called Kass before switching to Voie De Fait) the band hit the ground running. Packing concert halls the band's native name was fitting as "Assault" turned up the amps and played true heavy metal. Similar in nature to the sound coming from America at the time the band played a potent brand of traditional heavy metal that would appeal to fan's of 80's metal. While they have drawn comparisons to English bands like Saxon to these ears Voie De Fait were more blue collar and metallic in nature. After releasing a four track demo the band signed with Arabella and released their one and only album Ange Ou Demon (Angel or Demon). With the cover art featuring a blade, babe and blood it most certainly caused a stir in their homeland. Voie De Fait would become one of the few bands to sing in French and still become known outside their borders. Sadly the band dissolved after this one album which is a shame. They had the talent to become a driving force in France but instead became a starting point influencing a generation of kids that would follow. Despite being reissued on Devil's Records in 1985 the album is still tough to track down. It does not appear as if it has ever seen an official CD release which is a real crime. For a piece of French heavy metal like this to not get it's proper due seems odd. This is the type of album that deserves a re-mastered edition with bonus cuts, booklet,etc. It isn't just that it is one of the first true metal albums to emerge in France. It's also a landmark album that still sounds great even in this day and age of over produced metal. For those looking to see where it all began this is the place to start.

Hair Metal Hell: Jailhouse

Restless Records
1993

Andy says-

Where to begin. Well, thankfully this is only an EP so the torture is limited so to speak. Jailhouse's debut was a live affair. Because we all know live albums are the way to go right? Right? Anyone? Yeah, not so much. Making this worse is the fact that the band was more or less made up of castaways from Rough Cutt. And Rough Cutt was how popular in the 90s? So, having three members from a band who were on their way out the door should have been a big red flashing light. Sadly Jailhouse ran that red light straight into Hair Metal Hell. This live recording sounds in a word: STERILE. And that is being generous. Obviously the crowd had been given free booze (as this was some MTV event where it was recorded at) to loosen them up for what amounted to second rate hair metal. Covering a Thin Lizzy song only goes to show how far removed you are from the greats especially when it sounds like the worst jailbreak in the history of mankind!

Checklist
Out of tune vocals- 3, He was alright just very uninspiring.
Wanna be rockstar guitars- 4, I'll admit the guitarist can play. He might be the only one who can though making any attempts to rock out sound all the more phony.
More hairspray than bass- 5, What bass? I assumed the guy took a bathroom break during the recording.
One dimensional drum beats-4, He can bang those bad boys alright. "Alright" being the key word.
Make me wanna puke ballad- 5, Martin Luther King was a great man. He deserves better than "Land Of Today" guys. "Please Come Back" sound go back to where it belongs. It sounds like something Poison would write as a joke just to see if they could get away with it.

Metal Mark says-

I stumbled upon this disc because I got them confused with Southgang. I heard a song by Southgand like twenty years ago and remembered likng it. So a few weeks ago I downloaded this thing thinking I had the right band. I still have not gotten around to hearing Southgang and can't comment on them, but I can say that Outhouse...I mean Jailhouse aren't anything to write home about. However they are worth writing nasty things about in this column. It's funny that in the mid-80's Rough Cutt tried to kind of sound like more poular acts like Dokken and failed. A few years later several members had this band going and now they tried to sound like Bon Jovi, but again they fell flat as a pancake. I think the crowd noise was edited and parts were added later to enhance this recording because...
A- I can't imagine any person let alone several chanting "Jailhouse, Jailhouse" like we get here after they absolutely runied Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak".
B- Not once do we hear "you suck" or "get off the stage" and I am sure those were the top two chants that this band heard that night and probably most nights.

Checklist
Out of tune vocals- 3, He could sort of sing, but very little energy. He was just so second rate.

Wanna be rockstar guitars- 4, The guitars were alright, but really dry and lacked much of anything that made me want to hear this album again.

More hairspray than bass- 5, I tried several times to hear the bass and it never happened. I guess they just told the guy to move his head around, look cool but don't you dare plug your amp in.

One dimensional drum beats-4, This could have been a 3 until they got to the cover of Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak". He was all over the place and not in a good way. He wasn't the only problem, but it was like a blindfolded monkey hitting at trash cans with a hammer. Either he never heard the song before in his life or he was drunk or both.

Make me wanna puke ballad- 5, It's a shame I set these ratings at 5 because they certainly poor were poor enough to go up to 11. The one studio track here "Stand up" could turn even the strongest stomachs. Yes, the time says this song goes five minutes and two seconds, but it felt twice that long. I think they were trying ramble on about some kind of issues, but it was like the rant of crazy man as they tie drugs, nuclear war, starvation, racism and politicians all into one sugary, incredibly drawn out piece of ear torture.

Despite being an EP Jailhouse still managed to cram a whole lot of badness into just five songs.


Scorecard
5 or less - There might actually be something bigger than their hair on this one.
6-10 - The music may have held up as well as their hairspray.
11-15- Aquanet probably made up at least half of their gear.
16-20 -So bad, it'll tease your hair (and turn your brain to mush).
21-25- This will do more damage to your ears than the band's hairspray
did to the ozone layer.

Andy's score-21
Metal Mark's score-21

Trillion Red-Two Tongues

Self-Release
2011


Patrick Brown (Vocals, keys, guitar, bass) and Max ( Drums) are the creative force behind new band Trillion Red. The bio that came with this promo let me know that "Two Tongues EP were written from 2007-2009 in San Francisco. Patrick and Max met for the first time in 2009 and began adding beats and refining song structures. Songs were completed in 2010 and then recorded shortly thereafter" and that the band members share backgrounds in garage rock and "dark metal". So with that I put my earplugs in and let this 4 track EP lead me where it would. And low and beyond Trillion Red sure do seem the product of their past works. Well, that would be far too easy to just let this go as dark garage rock/metal. For one thing there are more interesting layers than that title would imply. Yes the music draws from post-rock and ambient metal. That much is obvious on first listen. The primitive rhythms though hide some finely crafted goth and alternative rock that recalls the early years of college radio when music was taking huge steps. Trillion Red could easily have been born of 1980s indie rock and have worked their way backwards taking in the sounds of early industrial bands if one didn't know any better. With a full length album due out in 2012 Trillion Red has already left a good first impression.

NWOBHM Wednesday-Dark Heart

Andy says-

In the past few years of collecting anything and everything out of the NWOBHM era I must have passed this album by a dozen plus times. I don't know if that is the original album art or not on Metal Mind's re-release (I suspect it is) but seeing as the lady on the cover always reminded me of Meg Foster (above) and the band's name was on the AOR side of things I put it aside. It wasn't until later on (reading Mark's excellent review of it back in late 2009) that I took it seriously. First time I heard Dark Heart though I expected a Diamond Head sound and was a bit let down. Mark is right that the band does draw from Diamond Head on more than one occasion ( "Turn Of The Tide" being on track that seems to "borrow" from Diamond Head's "Helpless") but they are nowhere near as original. Diamond Head were wizards on the guitar with amazing cord progressions. Dark Heart on the other hand suffered from a simplistic metal style that was all too common in bands from 1982-1983. Problem was this came out in late 1984 when the times..well, they were changing. My guess is any overly slick band like this wasn't tough enough for the emerging heavier shade of metal. I suppose all of this makes it sound as if I don't care for Dark Heart. Actually it is the opposite. I had a download of this and went out and bought the re-release from Metal Mind just to have it on actual CD. While the songs might not have been as flashy as those of Diamond Head the band had hooks. Huge hooks in fact. Even while the guitar tone lacks punch on this, their sole release the album flat out rocks. I'd argue Dark Heart did have a bit of AOR on their mind as they wrote some of these tracks (which by the way are leftover Tokyo Rose riffs at least on some). For a heavy metal act there was some rock and roll running through their veins. Lead singer Phil Brown does try to pull off the role of showman on numbers like "Shadows Of The Night" and "Don't Break The Circle" but there was problem number two for the band. His vocals (while not rough) are not up to par with what the flashier music was trying to achieve. It didn't surprise me to find out he went the thrash route with Holosade. He seems more fitted to heavier music. With all of that though Dark Heart still found time to craft this one album that while nothing original is still an essential part of the NWOBHM picture. These were the types of bands and the types of albums that made this moment in history so meaningful. Listening to the album you know these guys dreamed about having that one shot and they took it. Maybe convention wisdom would have said this style or this sound was out of date by then but the band rocked it and loved it. That much comes through when you listen and that makes it a must have for those who like their metal with heart.


Metal Mark says-

I'd never heard of this band until Metal Mind was kind enough to re-issue it a couple of years ago, but I was interested enough to check it out then. The cover drew me in at first and then when I found out they were a NWOBHM band I knew that I needed to check it out. I was glad it did get a re-issue because it's a solid effort. Like Andy said it's a little behind the times for 1984. It's much more rooted in an earlier and more basic NWOBHM sound. That's probably a large part of the reason why it didn't sell a little better because by 1984 the early days of thrash were upon us and this older style just wasn't cutting it for younger fans as much as it had a few years earlier. The sound is rather subtle for metal of the time. Even though there are some similarities to early Diamond Head, Dark Heart are still more laid back in their approach. Don't expect to be steamrolled by this band. Instead they are just very smooth and steady on stand out tracks like "Don't break the circle", "Coming Home" and the title track.
The vocals fit the music and for me the guitar solos are all rather impressive. I listen to this album fairly often. It's a shame the band didn't do a follow up because it may have been interesting to see which direction they decided to take on a sophomore effort. As it is there are still plenty of people who have probably not heard this one who should check it out.

Seven Witches-Call upon the wicked

Frostbyte/eOne entertainment
2011

Seven Witches are one of those bands that I always wanted to really like. They have generally been alright, but I have mostly found them to be rather ordinary. However this album has changed my opinion. The band has sure had a revolving door policy over the years as guitarist Jack Frost is the sole original member left. Rounding out the line-up this time around are vocalist James Rivera (Helstar), bassist Mike LePond (Symphony X) and drummer Taz Marazz. This is traditional metal and they have played this style before. This time around the music is much more dynamic to my ears. This album sounds like it could have been done around 1986 or 1987 and calls upon bands like Judas Priest, Omen and of course Helstar. Tracks like "Lilith", "Harlot of Troy" and "Eyes of flame" are just a few of the straight forward pounding metal tracks that Seven Witches knock on this album Some of their previous albums have left me cold, but this one had me hooked from the start. In addition to solid playing the production is also top notch. Also included on the limited edition of this release also includes live tracks "Metal Tyrant", "Metal Asylum" and "Jacob" as bonus. Unfortunately the live tracks are not of the best quality. Still a good album of classis metal.