So those of you who read Headbang may recall a monthly piece I used to do way back titled ‘Rediscovered’ the point of it being a chance for me to wax lyrical about an album that I love/ had a big effect on me/ is just worth checking out. Having finished the latest batch of album reviews and finding that my desire to write something was still present I figured I’d have a crack at rediscovering… Rediscovered. But that name belongs to another time, I’m not quite settled on what to call this one but ‘Choice Pickings’ seemed like a good filler. So ladies and gentlemen… here it is;
Fear Factory – Digimortal
It goes without saying that one of the biggest comebacks of 2009/10 was that of Fear Factory with Dino Cazares and Burton C. Bell settling their differences and coming together again to play some of the heaviest music heard. FF aren’t heavy in the Cannibal Corpse sense, but there’s an intensity to music, and particularly the rhythm section that isn’t so brutal as much as it’s just purely intense. Now one arguably one of the band’s finest albums, Archetype, was recorded by a Dino-less line-up and I’m not trying to undermine that by any stretch of the mark but for me Digimortal remains the essential Fear Factory album.
A large chunk of my reasoning for this is the fact that it was the first of their albums that I heard and from the moment that ‘What Will Become?’ kicked in I was sold, by the time the album reached the superb (but often disliked) ‘Back The Fuck Up’ there was no turning back on my part. It’s difficult to fully relate the feeling this album gave me without sounding retarded and pretentious. Quite simply, it blew me away, and along with my hearing went an pre-conceptions of the meaning of the words ‘heavy metal’. The band are often described as ‘industrial’ or ‘industrial metal’ and for once, the genre could come something close to actually describing the sound of the band. The clinical precision with which they play is unbelievable. At times they sound literally mechanical, but not mechanical in the dull, wooden sense. The music is played with such intensity that it sounds inhuman, an interesting note considering the lyrical themes of this record.
Fear Factory were in many ways the band that moved me from thinking Killswitch and opened my eyes to so much more. The album features what is quite possibly the definitive (or most overplayed) song by this band, I mean ‘Linchpin’ of course. The fact that it became of the band’s most popular tracks to this day says a lot about this album, in many ways it was the point when Fear Factory climbed to the top of the mountain after 12 years of making music, not realising that it was just months before they would split.
The album has been criticised as a move away from the band’s more extreme metal roots and they were even accused of ‘cashing in’ on the popularity of nu-metal. This reaction characterises one of our most frequent thorns here at RC, that is, the refusal by so many music fans in general (not just metal fans although they are particularly bad) as demanding something new and original from their favourite acts, only to hate it upon release and generally argue that ‘the older stuff is better’.
Well there you go, without me being too overly technical or self-indulgent I’ve hopefully encouraged you to perhaps revisit (or check out for the first time) an album which whilst it often sparks argument and may not be the band’s finest hour is certainly significant.
I’m always open to suggestions so let me know here on the site (or email me mrbogle@reversecurrent.com) with any recommendations for albums you think are worth revisiting. Not that I’ll listen.
Ok so before you think; ‘what the fuck is he doing referencing Lady GaGa’ you’ll (hopefully) see there is a point. Firstly I’m addicted to her music, be it bad or good I am. Hence why I felt the lyrical reference was appropriate for a site that seems to be gaining a rep as a niche metal hovel for a few guys with nothing better to than bitch about stuff they don’t like and risk becoming the very thing we set out not to be.
Well consider this as me attempting to redress the balance somewhat, now to quote Eyelicker’s response to my piece More Drum n’ Bass than Double Bass Drum; ‘brah, pretty much any sub cultural cross section is more fun to chill with than metal’. Which is certainly true. What I’m maybe trying to do then, is set more of a trend (at least for myself) of making wider-ranging pieces more common place and not something ‘special’.
But I digress, as I said at the beginning I’m caught in my own bad romance with what I guess you’d call ‘commercial’ music. I’m not trying to be ironic here, I’m just telling it how it is yo? (Oh shit… I’m beginning to talk like them). I guess where I’m going with is trying to first off widen your musical profile of me and secondly to encourage you to admit any bad romances of your own.
Now I realise you may think I’m just being a pretentious twat who’s trying to seem edgy and ‘alt’ by being so damn open minded that I end up imploding and being sucked into an infinite reality of my own self-obsession. That may be the case but whilst I’m still me I’m going to make the most of it.
After a long conversation with IronEagle last night I’ve decided to revamp (and slim down) my reviews of the majority of albums. As to be quite honest they get dull to write (and I’m sure) dull to read. From now on any rants will be directed away from Reverse Current and onto Exit Ghost which has undergone something of a facelift itself recently. So from now on instead of spending the best part of 500 words explaining my thoughts on an album you’ll get about 4 or 5 sentences and a score. On average about 3 albums per post but hopefully this will leave me with time to be more ‘creative’.
Demonica – Demonstrous
Label: Massacre
When a band boasts former members of Forbidden and Mercyful Fate (you know, those two bands that influenced Metallica but were no where near as big). You can pretty much place bets on what you going to get, that is straight forward thrash metal. A few years back there was talk of the ‘thrash revival’ it never actually went away, it’s just that the mainstream metal media stopped paying any attention to thrash to focus on Limp Bizkit and Disturbed. I have something of an old time affection for thrash, its hugely enjoyable and is perhaps the least pretentious of all metal styles. As such songs like ‘Ghost Hunt’ just make me want to get down and mosh like its… um…2006 (cause that’s when I was real into thrash like).
7/10
Voices Of Destiny – From The Ashes
Label: Massacre
What continually amazes me is that genres that are largely ignored by the mainstream media and considered ‘dead’ still produce an endless stream of new bands. I realise there are exceptions to this rule but you see my point. I never really got the whole Goth/ Symphonic thing myself, but it seems to have a habit of surviving regardless of what the rest of the world is doing. I do however have a great deal of respect for Voices Of Destiny for producing what is actually a very accomplished debut record even if it lacks any originality or longevity. At the end of the day, there will remain a dedicated fan base of make-up wearing teenagers who will love this. Nothing special, but not terrible.
5/10
Mortemia – Misere Mortem
Label: Napalm
Despite everything that I said above about my disdain for ‘Gothic Metal’ I rather enjoyed listening to both that album and to this one. I wouldn’t out of choice but it’s not as though I’m having to tie my hands down to prevent myself from ripping my ears off the side of my head. Yes it generic, yes it’s unoriginal but to be quite honest, it’s actually comforting to know that some people still feel that they can compose the music they love without a care in the world. I admit I haven’t said much about the music itself, but there’s not much point if I’m honest as it’s unlikely to have any real bearing on whether or not you’ll like this. This album will appeal to fans of all things symphonic and generally ‘epic’. Middle of the road, gothic metal.
5/10
Anima – Enter The Killzone
Label: Metal Blade
Deathcore has become the latest genre that it’s cool to hate. With the success of band’s such as Whitechapel and All Shall Perish the haters got going. Anima are certainly very tightly knit as musicians and play with a high degree of precision and technical prowess that is undeniable. But what their peers have over them is the extra edge, be it the stronger death metal influence or the minute (but nonetheless noticeable) greater technical ability. In that way Anima are certainly good, but along with 95% of other metal artists they lack the ability to really stand out in the crowd. As brutal as the next and just as heavy Anima are certainly worth a listen but I’d still take Whitechapel any day.
6/10
So there you go, four albums, one post. Work for you or not? Let me know what you think. I realise that I may have seemed to be having a dig at certainly 3 out of the 4 and that I risk coming across as simply moaning for the sake of it. What I’ve tried to do is give you different angle to what you’d get on the majority of other reviews, all criticism is subjective so why not be open about it?
When I sat down to watch last weeks Brit Awards I did so without any sense of irony or reluctance. I may not dig all the artists that appear on there, I may even rip them in casual conversation but the fact remains anyone that receives a Brit fully deserves it (and after all Iron Maiden won best live act last year didn’t they). The giant of a man that is Peter Kay compare’d proceedings and added a suitable degree to humour to what is just an exercise in name calling and speeches mixed with some live music.
I was indifferent to the large majority of the acts (although Lady GaGa’s dedication to Alexander McQueen was certainly touching) and the evenings highlight though came from the genius that is (as Mr Kay referred to him) Jason Zed and Alicia Keys. I’ve been a long time fan of Jay-Z and The Blueprint 3 was one of my top albums of last year. The song, ‘Empire State Of Mind’ is a prime example of the man’s writing talent with lyrics that ring true with a sense of elation and to more esoteric amongst us leaves something of a bitter taste in the mouth. But that’s for another day.
What I’m trying to get at here is just how good the live performance of the song was. Alicia Keys is quite possibly one of the finest singers currently around and the video still gives me goosebumps. It’s difficult to pinpoint what it is about the show that gives it that extra edge but it’s undeniably there. Well that’s enough from me, I’ve included said video below as it seemed rather contrite to tell you how good it is and then make you go all the way to YouTube to find it.
I thought that it couldn’t get much weirder than Arsis who certainly bite off more than they can chew when it comes to odd musical combinations. However it seems I was wrong, Van Canto just swallow down the whole damn dish plate and all. A mean, Apocalyptica were certainly novel when they first appeared and although they thoroughly kicked arse at last year’s Bloodstock they still seem somewhat contrite. But at least they play instruments that vaguely resemble those of other bands, Van Canto do away with guitars and bass in exchange for their erm… voices.
Yes you did read that right, this is A Cappella Metal. As daft as it may sound it’s true. The bitter irony of this farce being, that it’s actually quite good… in a way. It’s probably more of an admiration for the technical ability than a true appreciation of the music itself. It’s difficult to know what to say about Tribe… because at least with other artists there is something more to use as a basis for comparison. Whereas with Van Canto, there’s none.
I can’t help but have respect for the balls these guys must have to take on such a noteworthy(?) challenge and do something which is so obscure that the idea of it just sounds laughable. Well there we go such is the way of Europe. The worst thing about this album is actually the pathetic guitar sound (a guitar plays solos on a few songs), whilst it could be really strong and effective it falls flat on its face. It doesn’t take long for the novelty if this album to wear off either, by the time you reach the mind-bending cover of ‘Master Of Puppets’ you either want to smash your speakers or go jump off a bridge.
The surreality of this album almost makes Eraserhead seem like a mainstream film. Quite simply this is existentialist metal, free from any fears of peer disapproval and seemingly carefree you have to admire it’s boldness. Despite this being their third album (anyone else heard the other two?) unfortunately for Van Canto, it remains just a novelty. Something to show your friends on YouTube or to laugh at when you’re so wrecked that you find that you just couldn’t care less.
6/10 (Confused by that score? So am I… but it feels unjust to give them anything lower, after all they’ve got bigger lungs than Howard Jones and know how to use them)
As regular RC readers will know, my music taste swings like a constant pendulum from the commercial to the obscure and occasionally picks up something vaguely ‘normal’ in between. When Calvacade began I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, with the lack of press release and a somewhat obscure (or should that be dull?) album cover I nonchalantly hit play…
Well there wasn’t much of a surprise in-store, it’s very bog-standard modern heavy metal. That is, far too much like Children of Bodom for me to take them seriously. There are clearly heavier influences and the band are clearly proficient at their instruments. I have to admit that I did actually quite enjoy this album, for about 25 minutes before I got bored with what felt like a bad mash-up of cutting room floor pieces that had been glued back together.
Whether it’s just that I don’t particularly enjoy this style any more or if it really is that bad I can’t tell. This album certainly has merit, and plenty of it. But the flaws are so blindingly obvious that they often overshadow the decent aspects. The music is mind-numbingly repetitive and at one point I had to make sure that I had hit ‘Repeat Track’ by accident ( I hadn’t).
After the positive start to my listening of this record I had hoped for that to continue, alas not. I will no doubt receive some comment or email detailing how I’m; ‘a complete cock who can’t review for shit’ and how ‘this album is like sooooo amazing’ yes I know… your 15, you think everyone hates you, I didn’t, but I do now. Suck it.
So there we go, a short nostalgia trip on my part but overall a largely forgettable album. Buy it if like it, don’t if you hate it.
5/10
Mr Bogle
A quick search on YouTube and I came across this live video, can’t say it did the band any favours…
The ‘two singer’ set-up with one singer and one screamer just feels… well… pointless.
With a suitably cheesy album title and some less than intriguing track names, I approached this with something between trepidation and dread. How refreshing it was then, to find that whilst it certainly isn’t a ‘great’ album it’s still very good. The band’s influences are clear, Behemoth, Nile, Septic Flesh etc etc. Aeternam haven’t yet reached the heights of their heroes but that’s no surprise, after all the aforementioned bands are all certainly masters of their art.
Disciples of the Unseen is a perfectly passable death metal album. ‘Goddesss of Masr’ for example is predictable, formulaic and traditional (but NOT sub-standard). The ‘death metal fused with other styles’ is nothing new but could’ve been done really badly. What a relief then, that Aeternam have done it in a perfectly serviceable way without being too ambitious but also with just sucking… I don’t know what you think of when ‘Canadian Metal’ is mentioned but I for one draw a full blank, Aeternam could well change this, a solid record and a sign of much potential.
This album won’t cross any lines or challenge any conceptions, and, whilst that could be deemed a shortcoming it doesn’t demean from the quality of the writing or the band’s musical ability. This album is ideal for the more casual death metal listener (such as myself). It may even satisfy the requirements of some ‘fans’ (I prefer the word dicks) who class themselves as ‘true’ (or conceited). I have but one thing to say to them. Go cut yourself you self-centred prick.
I’m not quite sure what happened to Arsis in between this album and their last, “We are the Nightmare” (described to me by one friend as “the gay Necrophagist”). While Arsis always were definitely firmly in the realm of Melodic death metal before (with “We are the Nightmare” taking their sound to new impressive heights of technicality, and a “Celebration of Guilt” being something of a lost gem of melodeath), now it seems they have spent too much time listening to Steel Panther and decided that some kind of 80’s cheese rock/technical death metal hybrid is the way to go. A big risk, which could have been awesome, but also could have been absolutely terrible, so I guess it’s a slight surprise that this CD is just “ok”.
I feel kina crappy for ragging on Arsis for essentially just trying something new, but this album just isn’t that grabbing, and they did the whole straight Melodeath shiztic much better. It has it’s moments, “The Ten of Swords” and “Closer To The Cold” are both pretty damn decent, but both of these are closer to the original Arsis. The more rocky stuff often just ends up sounding like a very confused Megadeth, and hence not that original.
Compared to previous efforts, the (genuinely impressive) guitar work has been reigned back a tad, and the vocals are still extremely generic and pretty much un-noticeable most of the time. Speed has also been reigned back to often sit at a mid tempo beat (probably as a result of trying to sound more “rocky”). When Melodeath gets even lighter, but still tries to cling to being “death metal”, the result, as Arsis have shown, is something that ultimately sounds rather substanceless and campy.
Not sure how this will be received. Maybe many people will enjoy the fusion, but ultimately, seeing as how most metal fans hate change, this foray into lighter territory will more likely face a backlash from stubborn death metal fans who see any kind of trying something new as “selling out”. It’s a shame that Arsis will probably end up punished for trying something new, and it’s also a shame that this album wasn’t all that good.
Eyelicker
6/10
Also, this cringe worthy video accompanying the opener didn’t do much to help my opinion:
This video makes me uncomfortable in the same way that I imagine seeing my parents fuck would.
The sensation of Eluveitie is rather similar to watching Gladiator with Russell Crowe while listening to Amon Amarth. Sometimes it actually works really well, like in the lumbering opener and title track, which is actually a really good example of one of the few times that this whole folk metal thing works. The rest of the time it’s boring and laughable. There is more or less just one setting that this CD has, which is uber melodic mid tempo riffage accompanied with panpipes. It’s all eq’d in a way to make it sound reasonably heavy, which kind of counterbalances the melody well, but at the same time, there’s only so far you can go with one trick before your sound stagnates. And stagnate it does. Fast. After the first song ends you will find yourself boring quickly.
With the general obviousness of the melodic riffage song writing approach, there are a good few moments in the album where it does hit that spot very well, but in general, after the first song there is little else that comes close to the same height. Which is a shame, because “Everything Remains (As It Never Was)”, the title track, is actually an extremely well written song, with some great build ups, a really quite serene female vocal line, combined with a genuinely epic successful chorus, which for some reason calls to mind images of wooden huts with Scandinavian hunting tribes living in them, just trying to lead their simple lives without getting overrun by Orcs or whatever it is Eluveitie sing about.
Basically, it’s the problem plaguing 99% of bands ever, that they find something which works once, try to recreate it, and end up producing more of the same but not quite the original.
Academy was buzzing last night, the atmosphere was intense even whilst stood in line outside. The venue was Academy 1, the largest of the 4 Academy rooms and I’ve never seen the place so full, nor have I seen such excitement from fans before. A room of over 2000 people chanting Lamb of God (even during the support act’s sets), or starting a circle pit at any given opportunity… It was clear from the start that the night was going to be wild, and ultimately painful.
Between the Buried and Me
Between the Buried and Me are a brilliantly diverse and talented band who play flawlessly and fluidly through their complex technical songs, songs which usually last about 15 minutes each. This time they managed to knock out 2 songs before making way for August Burns Red but in the short time they were on stage they managed to impress me with their new material. I think the drummer Blake Richardson somewhat stole the show with his powerful yet imaginative playing which propelled the mad flurry of music around him, tightening and accenting the subtle grooves as well as the more obvious conventional beats. If anything it was a shame they didn’t get longer to play and hopefully open the minds of some of the more stubborn “Pure American Metal” fans.
August Burns Red
August Burns Red livened the place up with their typical brand of breakdowns and bass bombs. As the singer preached his pathetic monologue over a riff that was slowing down and petering out in an all too familiar way, my buddy turned to me and said: “I can feel a breakdown coming.” And he was right. He was right the next 7 times as well. My opinion on this band is more indifferent than negative. I don’t waste my time with this sort of thing.
Job for a Cowboy
By the time ABR were done I was half soaked in beer but eager as hell for what was coming next. The latest release from Job for a Cowboy “Ruination” is a huge stepping stone for the band, highlighting their musical maturity, this album shows how they have really found themselves and a sound which works well for them. I was a little disappointed with the sound quality for their set, whether it was due to the size of the room or the fact I was stood at the front, I don’t know. Despite this they put on a hell of a show, with exciting and energetic stage presence all round. Bobby nailed the solo to “Unfurling a Darkened Gospel” which was the moment I was most looking forward to and both guitarists played with aggression and precision throughout the show. Charn blew everyone away with his inhuman drumming and I’m sure he impressed the ladies too with his rather lovely chest piece tattoo. I got annoyed at the dickheads around me chanting Lamb of God during JFAC’s set but seeing how Jonny handled it and how they ploughed through the abuse with yet more aggression and unrelenting ferocity it seemed like they could power through anything. The band work incredibly well as a whole, especially lead by Charn and also by the excellently demented growls and screams from Jonny. This is a band that can’t be ignored.
Lamb of God
Once JFAC left the stage things took off to an even higher level of excitement. The whole room rushed to the front and the chanting began again for the entire time it took for Lamb of God to appear. I have to honor the Manchester fans for their devotion and their sheer madness. The performance Lamb of God gave reflected directly on the actions of the crowd – it was crazy. Randy told us that we were the craziest mother fuckers he’s played to in England. I don’t’ usually believe these kind of remarks from bands, but this time I actually believed him. The band are experienced and this showed, a pretty much flawless set consisting of around 12 songs, each heavier and more crowd pleasing than the last. The strongest songs I felt were the ones from Sacrement, as I believe that those are the best written and most accessable songs for a live environment. One significant moment worth mentioning was the extended/altered intro to Grace which broke up the set nicely and added a great vibe of suspense among the fans waiting for the song to really kick off, and when it did, the place literally shook and people everywhere were getting pumbled and kicked in the face and were loving it. I dont have anything bad to say about their set at all. It was simply an amazing show and I’m pretty sure the crowd thought so too.
Or peep it here on our YouTube channel. (n.b the sound is mega quiet, so turn your speakers mega up, and remember to turn them back down again after before you blast yourself with Millionaires like I just did)
Reverse Current 
Choice Pickings (or the resurrection of Rediscovered)
February 27, 2010So those of you who read Headbang may recall a monthly piece I used to do way back titled ‘Rediscovered’ the point of it being a chance for me to wax lyrical about an album that I love/ had a big effect on me/ is just worth checking out. Having finished the latest batch of album reviews and finding that my desire to write something was still present I figured I’d have a crack at rediscovering… Rediscovered. But that name belongs to another time, I’m not quite settled on what to call this one but ‘Choice Pickings’ seemed like a good filler. So ladies and gentlemen… here it is;
Fear Factory – Digimortal
It goes without saying that one of the biggest comebacks of 2009/10 was that of Fear Factory with Dino Cazares and Burton C. Bell settling their differences and coming together again to play some of the heaviest music heard. FF aren’t heavy in the Cannibal Corpse sense, but there’s an intensity to music, and particularly the rhythm section that isn’t so brutal as much as it’s just purely intense. Now one arguably one of the band’s finest albums, Archetype, was recorded by a Dino-less line-up and I’m not trying to undermine that by any stretch of the mark but for me Digimortal remains the essential Fear Factory album.
A large chunk of my reasoning for this is the fact that it was the first of their albums that I heard and from the moment that ‘What Will Become?’ kicked in I was sold, by the time the album reached the superb (but often disliked) ‘Back The Fuck Up’ there was no turning back on my part. It’s difficult to fully relate the feeling this album gave me without sounding retarded and pretentious. Quite simply, it blew me away, and along with my hearing went an pre-conceptions of the meaning of the words ‘heavy metal’. The band are often described as ‘industrial’ or ‘industrial metal’ and for once, the genre could come something close to actually describing the sound of the band. The clinical precision with which they play is unbelievable. At times they sound literally mechanical, but not mechanical in the dull, wooden sense. The music is played with such intensity that it sounds inhuman, an interesting note considering the lyrical themes of this record.
Fear Factory were in many ways the band that moved me from thinking Killswitch and opened my eyes to so much more. The album features what is quite possibly the definitive (or most overplayed) song by this band, I mean ‘Linchpin’ of course. The fact that it became of the band’s most popular tracks to this day says a lot about this album, in many ways it was the point when Fear Factory climbed to the top of the mountain after 12 years of making music, not realising that it was just months before they would split.
The album has been criticised as a move away from the band’s more extreme metal roots and they were even accused of ‘cashing in’ on the popularity of nu-metal. This reaction characterises one of our most frequent thorns here at RC, that is, the refusal by so many music fans in general (not just metal fans although they are particularly bad) as demanding something new and original from their favourite acts, only to hate it upon release and generally argue that ‘the older stuff is better’.
Well there you go, without me being too overly technical or self-indulgent I’ve hopefully encouraged you to perhaps revisit (or check out for the first time) an album which whilst it often sparks argument and may not be the band’s finest hour is certainly significant.
I’m always open to suggestions so let me know here on the site (or email me mrbogle@reversecurrent.com) with any recommendations for albums you think are worth revisiting. Not that I’ll listen.
Mr Bogle
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