PSYCH/SPACE-ROCK/STONER (contd):
HAWKWIND: It Is The Business Of The Future To Be Dangerous CD
Right from the opening title track with its rolling, rattling rhythms, oceans of string synths, swooping, soaring space synths, phasing effects, deep rumbling bass and textural electronic layers, for over six minutes, you know you're set for a real space (rock) trip round the universe - and it doesn't disappoint.
'Space Is Their Palestine' opens with subdued Moroccan sounding drums as bass rolls along, sampled voices are heard and electronics buzz and swoosh on the bottom of the mix. Then, a heady sequencer rhythm begins, space synths swoop and buzz, the drums roll on and the track starts to lift off in a plume of string and lead synths, guitar chimes adding to the textural build, as another instrumental flows strongly through nearly twelve minutes of cosmos-gazing that is space-rock without the rock, if you get my drift. The 2-part, three minutes a-piece track that is 'Tibet Is Not China' are, in order, a space music piece followed by a more aggressive space-rock piece, again all instrumental and really working their magic. 'Let Barking Dogs Lie', also instrumental at nine minutes long, and in many ways predating the all instrumental 'White Zone' album, again rolls strongly forward on waves of deep sequencers and bass, crunchy but back-of-the-mix drums, and restrained but still powerful lead guitar work that spirals upwards above the multitude of layers underneath. The three minutes of synths-dominated space music that is 'Wave Upon Wave' prefaces the first song on the album, a driving slice of typically Hawkwind space-rock called 'Letting In The Past', only just under three minutes long but still showcasing some incendiary guitar work. This segues directly into the dubby Ozrics-styled rhythms, space synth swooshes and churning sea of guitars that is the song 'The Camera That Could Lie', as fine a slice of space-dub as you'll encounter. Another solid two minute instrumental is followed by a song that becomes more of a mantra with Davey on chanting vocals and an altogether hypnotic rhythm and arrangement for four and a half cyclical space-rocking minutes. After this, the feel and flow of the album is somewhat interrupted by a cover of the Stones classic 'Gimme Shelter' with Chadwick on vocals, an instrumental arrangement that's nearly in keeping with what's gone before, but it's sheer commerciality compared to the rest of the album, sticking out like a sore thumb. Oddly enough, as though the last track had never happened, things go back to where they were with the final track 'Avante' a six minute instrumental that mixes space synths with deep bass, slowly rolling drums and more synth layers to maximum space-folding effect. Overall, then, a 90% instrumental album that's more space than rock, more electronic than electric and one that would have an undoubted appeal to fans of synth music as much as fans of the band and space-rock in general.
SKYRON ORCHESTRA: Situations CD
Second album featuring 14 tracks over fifty minutes. With its heady brew of rock-laced psychedelia, seventies sounding fuzz guitars and steaming guitar leads, and at times, strongly reminiscent of classic early seventies Amon Duul II, this is a solid, huge-sounding, superbly produced, played and sung album of essentially seventies-rock laced space-rock psych. The female vocal is like a less manic Renate Knaup of Duul II as she soars and drives across massive backings of keys, synths and guitars, all the time the solid rhythm section keeping it all propelled and rolling. The compositions themselves don't half fit a lot in to the frame, and even though an average time of around three to four minutes, leaves room for red hot leads from both keys and guitar. With all the power and passion of a modern day group like The Gathering, allied to the decidedly seventies influenced sounds and arrangements, this is a stunning album, whichever way you look at it.
SKYRON ORCHESTRA: Skyron Orchestra CD
The first album and you'd probably describe it as the "UK psych" influences most prevalent, the steaming power and Teutonic adventure not coming into play until the second album. Here, a lot of the lead work is done on organ, giving he album very much more the feel of late sixties psychedelia than anything, as the sultry, powerful and almost Nico-esque vocal of singer Veronica Lostjarna takes over the 10 songs. But, that said, the arrangements are solid and full-sounding with some searing guitar leads popping up all over the place and, while there is some strong and streaming electric bass work leaping out at you on occasion, and the drums are suitably crunchy, the songs themselves are much less intense, preferring to keep to a more commercial sounding psychedelic bent, recreating to perfection, the sound of the late sixties UK psych scene.
SUNDIAL: Other Way Out/Other Way In Remastered DBL CD
On the opening seven minute track to the remastered main album on this limited edition 2-disc set, you'll spot glimpses of so many early Pink Floyd references (and we're talking the '67-'70 era here), that you'll be hard pressed to say what's what before the next one comes along. The result is a simply stunning track that takes you right back to the heady days of early Floyd and injects bits of its own entity in there too, but by and large, you know where it's at, and that's just fine by me, as the guitars and organ shine and glide, pure Barrett-Waters-Wright-Mason influenced genius, and worth the price of admission on its own. 'Exploding In Your Mind' is altogether more psychedelic, still with its Floyd-isms to the fore, but now taking things up a decade and a half to introduce an almost Stone Roses-esque quality to the vocals and some swirling guitar work on the arrangements as shuffling drums and solid bass make a Floyd-Roses hybrid that is nothing short of utter genius once again. The near seven minute 'Magic Flight' starts in a smoke-filled haze of swirling electro-acoustic psychedelia with phased vocals, swirling guitar and driving rhythms before the thing follows a purely electric path and the sound of late sixties/early seventies guitar-filled psychedelic heaven follows in all its glory, with some shining guitar leads, seventies sounding rhythms and an assortment of rhythm guitars as the vocal harmonies are piled on, phased and the whole thing builds to jaw-dropping degree, by now the listener absolutely astounded as to just what a red hot album this is turning into - and we're only on track 3 of 14. You'll be delighted and astounded to learn that the whole of this seventy two minute album is in a similar quality vein and if what I've described so far, whets your appetite for the band, then wait until you hear the whole album - you won't come down for a week!
But there's more……
In the limited edition double you get a bonus forty seven minute, 7-track disc of previously unreleased tracks that are every bit as good as what's on the main album and in a the same musical vein.
So, over two hours of complete class psychedelic early seventies styled songs and some truly stunning guitar work throughout.
ZONE SIX: Any Noise Is Intended CD
If you played the opening twenty minute instrumental track to any Krautrock fan and said that it was some lost classic from the seventies Krautrock archives by a band who'd been influenced by the likes of Schickert, Ash Ra Tempel, Eloy, Guru Guru & Cosmic Jokers, you'd accept it totally and revel in the way the track builds its own slowly smoking brew of psychedelic Krautrock, with touches of space-rock in there too. The guitar work and the synth swoops, the soaring synths, the fuzzed guitars, the perfectly produced and solid rhythm section - all combine to create one of THE greatest instrumental contemporary '70's-influenced/sounding Krautrock-esque tracks around today. But it doesn't stop at twenty minutes - unbroken, it segues into the fourteen minute title track - and simply carries on building, intensifying and producing this massive sounding expanse of guitars, bass, drums, synth swoops and space electronics, the whole thing sounding strong, purposeful and solidly psychedelic, a nearer reference point at this time, being early seventies instrumental Amon Duul II only so much stronger but undoubtedly the sound of the early '70's - and just one phenomenal track. The near ten minute 'Psss' removes the rhythms and moves into more space music territories but still with that early seventies Amon Duul II/Hawkwind/Krautrock influences, shining through. Then comes just under five minutes of 'Bouchfellhavarie' which is where the drugs kick in as this soundworld of repeated samples, echoed samples, eerie voices and space-tronics unfolds to quite unnerving degree and all that then segues directly into nearly seven minutes of 'The Gotthum' as the "Krautrock" kicks in once more, this time even stronger, with driving rhythms, choppy guitars and oceans of space electronics as the whole thing builds tension and veers between burning heat and smouldering passion as the guitars and synths provide depth, warmth, strength and atmosphere. Overall, one of the finest instrumental CD's in this area of music without a shadow of a doubt.
ROCK/METAL/AOR:
APPARITION: Drowned In Questions CD
You know the sort of thing that's done by the likes of the female fronted Goth-metal bands that are so hot right now? Well…..this isn't one of those…..although it kind of is, too. In its own unique way, it's a lot more - let' say "tasty" (I refuse to use "progressive") - than its competitors with whom it stands shoulder to shoulder. With a lead female vocal who's strong, the effect is more "heavenly" than "operatic" and she's got a gorgeously flowing vocal that sails into the sunset and climbs to the stars.. The instrumentation is where it largely differs from many in that the keyboards are dominant and while the majority of the tracks are heavy, there's a certain elegance in there too thanks largely to the extensive use of piano as lead or co-lead. Thus, you get some fantastic musical contrasts, a typical example being, first, the track 'Do You Care?', where the initial part consists of the smoothly strong vocal above solid and rippling piano, backed by solid drums and deep bass, the whole thing carrying a yearning romanticism as a slowly floating lead guitar briefly appears then fades to leave the track to develop further. Then, just as you might be expecting to erupt, the piano leads the following track into life - THEN it erupts as buzz-saw guitar riffs, hammering drums and deep bass carve out a path you think is going to lead to Goth-metal heaven - but instead the guitar and piano are replaced by string synths as the glorious sounding heavenly vocal soars into view, the piano returns, the riffs strengthen, the vocalist goes into upper register mode and NOW we're near the likes of Within Temptation and Nightwish. Dynamics to die for, but never going down an ultra-heavy metal - more heavy symphonic - road, this is quality singing, playing, writing and producing from start to finish and anyone that likes this sort of female fronted rock, should rush out and get this, because it's seriously hot stuff.
CHOKEHOLD: The Killing Has Begun CD
For an album of hard-hitting death metal this is remarkably dynamic - in many ways, even melodic - and before you think that's impossible, just take a listen to it. With furiously surging lead work and mighty riffing from the two guitarists, thunderous drums and disemboweling bass from the rhythm section, and a vocalist whose every word can be clearly discerned, this is a new take on the genre and, it has to be said, one of the best and most accessible you'll hear. What's even more remarkable is that it loses none of what makes it so heavy in the process - the punishment continues apace - as rifle-fire rhythms, powerful beats and roaring guitars all catch fire, the vocals equally fierce but mostly genuinely sung rather than sounding like a strangled cat. The other thing is that they allow enough room for the guitarists to show what they're made of, with some stunning instrumental passages and, particularly the incendiary one on "Mocking Liberty", guitar solos that are on fire. Overall, it's huge, intense and immense but ultimately the sort of thing you can listen to at home without ruining your relationship with the neighbours (well, maybe not…. the neighbours, that is!)
DECIMATE: 11 Rounds CD
There are simply tons of bands around right now in the hardcore metal arena and it takes something special to make any of them rise above the rest. Now I don't know what that "special" is here, but they've got it by the truckload. Across 11 nuclear bomb intensity tracks, it's simply that every factor that makes a great hardcore album, is here in spades. The production, for a start, is fantastic, allowing all the facets that make up this brutally intense cauldron of hardcore heat to come to the surface and erupt. Then there are the songs themselves - every one holding your attention, the detail every bit as important as the sheer overwhelming power that the band unleashes. Then the band - two guitars, bass and drums that thunder along but with so much more to them than just thrashing and riffing, with some wicked undercurrents that really command your attention as you listen to something that's so much more than a mere hardcore album. On top of all that you have the vocals - shouted, screamed, roared and even sung, but all pieced together to provide a truly dynamite sounding example of hardcore heaven. This is seriously powerful and Grade A stuff - you'll be hooked, of that there's no mistake.
EVERYTHING FOR SOME: Identity CD
Ten tracks and 34 minutes of furiously raging melodic hardcore metal from a UK band whose second album represents a steaming cauldron of metallic intensity as song after song unfolds amid an ocean of solid rhythms, chiming, ringing and on-fire guitars, with a lead vocalist who concentrates on the upper end of singing with an almost Geddy Lee-on-acid style of vocals at points along the way, before reverting back to a more urgent Foo Fighters style of rampage. It's modern and massive in much the same vein as many other bands around, but there's a certain spark to the songwriting and arranging that really takes hold and makes you want to listen to track after nuclear intensity track. Intense throughout, adrenaline-rousing at the other, this is the Foo Fighters on speed, Fony on acid and is right up there with the best, a band performance that takes no prisoners and gets it spot on.
FONY: Mercy After Fiction CD
Third album from the Surrey rockers and, on the evidence of the opening two tracks, to say they've "matured" somewhat is like saying that the universe is a bit big. Anyone expecting to be swamped with metal fury and have their ears pinned to the wall is in for a big surprise as dynamics substitutes for power, on songs where the vocals are right upfront and the band providing a stream of dual-guitar attack and rhythmic strength that relies more on pinpoint accuracy for the kill, rather than a scatter-gun approach. Complete with new singer Fraser, the vocals are way up in the mix and the overriding focus of attention is decidedly on the songs, rather than the wall-of-sound approach taken previously and by the likes of many of their compatriots. The songs themselves are generally quite strong, flowing along with strength and dynamics rather than erupting with all-guns blazing. Overall, it's a much more intricate album than you'd have expected, the focus very much on the vocalist and the songs, sometimes I felt to the detriment of the band, but once you get over the fact that this is an album that hasn't got all-guns blazing, you can start to listen to it for what it really is, and that's a very powerful, well arranged set of songs in a distinctly nu-metal guise.
K.O. KAINE: Accelerator Mini-CD
Just under half an hour and 7 tracks from a new band who waste no time in nailing their colours to the mast, with an opening track, 'Afterglow', that just thunders into life with a disemboweling bass, drums that are so solid they're gonna fall through the floor any minute, and an electric guitar that spews out the riffs and smoking leads, while the vocal wanders between a pleading whisper and an angst-ridden scream - the whole track shuddering along in stunning fashion. Already, you're hooked. The amazing 6 minutes of 'Bright Lights' ups the anti - the pace hots up, the bass booms out even more, the whole beast takes on juggernaut proportions and roars its way into your head with guitars blazing and vocals set on stun, but all sung and arranged to be an almost unique hybrid of hardcore and emo that is simply barnstorming. There's a real sense of the anthemic about it all with songs that ooze quality through their weight and passionate intensity. The title track starts with these enormous shuddering riffs from guitar and rhythm section before the vocalist flies in and positively spits out the lyrics with venom and power, as the song goes into a brief instrumental section with guitar going nuclear over the thunderous rhythm section hammering out alongside. The vocals return to awesome effect and the thing take you even higher on THE most thunderous wave of band and vocal delivery that leaves you jaw-dropped in amazement as it just under 5 minutes of it leaves your head in smoking ruins. Of the four songs that follow - all the same level of quality and power as what you've just heard - "A & E" is THE stunner as it lays into you with the effect of a small army and such a stunning slice of heavy metal hardcore, you'd be hard pushed not to have it on repeat play for a long time after, while 'New Flesh' is similar, and the final 'The Cut' takes on an altogether stranger, more "industrial" role as it ends the album in nuclear mode. All told, just awesome!!
ROADSTAR: Grand Hotel CD
It's about bloody time we had a successor to the Aerosmith crown - and at last, it's here. A full-on slice of rock with a dirty blues swagger, metal with attitude and songs overflowing with commercial potential as the band positively light up and go for the burn with all guns blazing. Mixing anthemic metal with the power of boogie, solid rock infused with booze-soaked arrogance and as classic a set of songs and arrangements as you could hope to find, this is a sensational album. "Get This" owes as much to AC/DC as it does to Aerosmith, but comes across as just one steaming slice of rockin' genius as you find yourself irresistibly dancing and doing air guitar to another metal anthem, on a song that sticks in your head long after it's gone, single and radio play written all over it. "Out Of The Blue" starts more like a Queen song but luckily goes more towards a solid, full-sounding AOR territory with the multi-part harmony vocals that add the icing to the cake as electric and acoustic guitars ring out and cut through above a rhythm section that sways and flows with ease, another gem of a song still with that sleazy blues-rock influence there by the truckload. "Let's Get It Started' is another slice of big stadium rock that you could imagine might have come out of any of the best late eighties Aerosmith albums, complete with solid vocals and a searing guitar solo above electrifying riffing and tight rhythmic thunder, as an even more on-fire lead electric slide guitar puts the icing on the cake on another 100% bona fide anthemic rocker. Song after glorious song unfolds for the rest of the album, the band not putting a foot wrong, and this has to be one of THE most successfully commercial slices of real rock to come out in ages - every song has "hit" written all over it and you get any of these played on daytime radio anywhere in the world and you have "success" written all over it. This is one of THE most enjoyable, solid, good-time metal albums I've heard in ages. R.I.P. Aerosmith - the new kid on the block has arrived and he's about to take over!
SANZEN: This Is Gun City CD-EP
Without even so much as a hint of an introduction, in roars this band in such a way as to make you think you've just been plugged in!! Bolt upright, you immediately take notice of the guitar riffs and leads that seem to be flying all over the place as the thunderous rhythms drive it all forward on what seems like a road trip to hell on waves of thickly dripping bass and hissing cymbals, the drums buried right at the bottom of the mix. Above all this , a vocalist who sounds like he's being ritually strangled, hollers and shouts as though this was his last performance. All pretty heavy stuff, you think, and then the next track, "Modus Operandi", erupts into view, at an even faster pace than the previous one, and with all guns blazing, the band spread a rifle-fire round of guitars, bass and drums to mow down everything in their path as the vocals finish the job with blood-spattered menace. For 'Escaping The South', the rage doesn't stop - if anything, it intensifies, as now there are nuclear guitar riffs slipping, sliding and racing all over the show, only instead of one vast wall, they veer off at tangents to awesome effect, while the rhythm section keeps it all focused and seriously heavy, our favourite vocalist now positively glowing with energy as you wait for him to blow to smithereens. The band finish you off with 'I Knew This Day Would Come For Years' as the pace and intensity don't let up for a minute and the EP roars to a rollercoaster end of hardcore proportions that leave you utterly gasping and breathless, ready to gather your wits before you start the giant rollercoaster once more. Utterly stunning.
MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP: Heavy Hitters CD
The whole point about a tribute album or cover versions album is that it has to be something that you are going to want to listen to and prefer above the originals or it's simply not going to work as a prolonged and enjoyable listening experience. NEXT…………………………
SIKA REDEM: Entheogen CD
The opening of the opening track on here screams hardcore metal at you as the vocalist screams through clouds of rifle-fire riffs, and no sooner than it's stated its case, the riffs turn into hardcore jazz as leads and rhythms splinter and fall before it reverts back to its intense hardcore ride, only them to fall back to something that sounds distinctly like a System Of A Down backing track as the vocalist soars wordlessly over the top of tumbling rhythms and ever intensifying waves of guitars, as it all builds and builds into this dense mass of electrifying sonic metal before an undercurrent riff fires up, the rhythm section hits the turbo button and the whole hardcore machine grinds back on track as the vocalist screams through a gauze of molten metal as an endless expanse of guitars fills every space with sound, the drums and bass crashing along underneath, as it all fades into a seething mass of early Eno "Here Come The Warm Jets" proportions - and at ten minutes long, one of the best and most original starts to one of the most innovative rock albums to be unleashed to an unsuspecting public in ages. As if you think it couldn't get any more bizarre, the next track is an instrumental, starts sedately enough with gorgeously chiming guitar, before then building into an intensifying stream of guitar-led heat before erupting into a raging inferno of infinite guitar chords, searing leads, nuclear riffs, punishing bass and crunching drums, climbing higher and higher and higher, taking you with every facet of the mushroom-cloud sonic experience a you are enveloped in the wall of sound that blasts out at you, the blackness of the end coming just over six minutes in. Track 3 states its case with chiming guitars, cascading bass runs, rattling drums, cyclical guitar chords, almost angelic male vocals and a mood that is both delicate and frenzied at the same time.
Then, two and a half minutes in - KERBOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!! - it erupts in a fury of rifle-fire guitar and bass blitz, as this guitar tsunami hits you for six, the vocalist now on fire at the heart of the molten sun, as guitars, brutal bass and skull-crunching drums light up the sky as thought he world was on fire, with an ending that never comes as the whole massive phenomenon fades slowly into the distance - and we're only on track 3!!! Let me assure you that, if after reading this so far, you're thinking you've got to hear this album - then just wait till I tell you that the rest of the album doesn't do anything than continue the trend - and 6 tracks later you're spent, having experienced - for this is an experience - one of the most intense and mood-swinging trips in a modern metal arena around today. The best bit is that it works - and then some - making this an album to play and enjoy time after time after time.
TAKOTA: The Ivory Tower CD
Ever heard a hybrid of EMO and AOR? Let alone one that works? Thought not………well, you have now!
In case you don't believe me, just cop a listen to the opening, title, track of this album. A nineteen second introductory salvo of guitars, bass and drums that make you instantly think you're about to head out into Funeral For A Friend territory, but then this singer comes in - loud, clear and out on top of the mix - sounding for all the world like he used to be the vocalist for a parallel universe Foreigner or Journey - honest, no word of a lie. Then, as if you hadn't believed your ears, the song construction proceeds to follow a decidedly AOR path a it spirals upwards complete with choruses and layers of harmony vocals. Yet, all the time underneath and around the song, the band are hammering out this glorious barrage of riffs and rhythms in pure tungsten-strength emo fashion - and, bizarrely, it all fits together perfectly - adding up to a song that is simply fantastic. With a total of 10 tracks over thirty six minutes, you'll find plenty examples of this smoking brew of styles running throughout this album as song after glorious song unfolds in similar manner. In fact, give it just one complete listen and, by listen number 2, you'll be singing along with them at the top of your voice while doing the whole thrashing air guitar bit at the same time. But, pure credit to the band for the writing, arranging and delivering of every one of these song, and for having the bravery and passion of approach to make it all work so well. On a commercial level, this ought to be one of the hottest properties to come onto the market for a long time, with 10 totally radio friendly tracks - the rest is up to the media - time will tell. But, if you like the anthemic qualities of great AOR writing set to the steaming power that is impassioned, guitars-driven emo power, then you have to get this album.
WINTERVILLE: Everything In Moderation CD
The first thing that strikes you about this CD when you play the opening track is the strength and depth of the vocalist - we're not talking any ordinary singer here - we're talking vintage David Coverdale or Glenn Hughes - yeh, THAT good a voice!! So, right from the start, you've got the vocal on your side - always a good thing! Then the band, well, on "Breathe", the opener, they reveal a penchant for steaming great metal riffs, thunderous rhythm section and a production that is immense, all performed at a flowing, mid-paced intensity that's even got a bluesy feel to it. The song itself is superb, that slight touch of dark, the feel of evil blues, the anthemic quality of the vocal harmonies and the sheer might of the band playing as a whole, not to mention a commercial edge that takes it into the next league - phew! - we're only talking the opening track, too. "My Angels" has a touch of Pearl Jam about it at the beginning but then flies back into classic Whitesnake-goes-AOR territory but with this massive guitar riffing soaring above the surging rhythm section as stinging leads and red hot rhythms light up the skies, our favourite vocalist just surging through another stirring slice of anthemic rock, building to a strength where this searing guitar solo comes in and ends the track as it fades to oblivion. Slightly slower, no less strong and still with that immense sounding bluesy swagger that made huge stars of bands like Black Crowes, it's nevertheless something that has an impassioned, yearning quality, with a superb sounding psychedelic guitar solo mid-track and the feel of psych-blues gone AOR as another wicked performance is undertaken on a song that soars to giddy heights on waves of lurching rhythms, chiming guitars and those strong vocals. Then comes a four and a half minute acoustic track which sounds just so right and performed to perfection before it ends and the rifle-fire guitar and rhythm section eruption that begins "Nobody" has you bolt upright as you wallow in the thunder rock that is coming out before you, yet that stunning vocal and the band's sense of dynamics, making this so much more than another rock track. After this, a further 9 songs are all of equally huge-sounding quality, all with dynamics, pace and structure just spot on and anyone into any of the aforementioned bands, can't fail to be impressed by the sheer class and muscular bluesy, rock magic in a modern indie-metallic arena, that this band possesses by the truckload. One awesome album, for sure.
