Live 4 Metal - Reviews April 2010


	Airlines of Terror - Bloodline Express Record Label: Rising Records Band Website: www.airlinesofterror.com Band MySpace: www.myspace.com/airlinesofterror Record Label Website: www.myspace.com/risingrecordsuk Reviewer: Sam Thomas
Remember Novembre? Italian, hirsute, two brothers, supported Opeth on one of their earlier trips over to the UK? Completely screwed by sound problems at the Underworld? Well, one of the brothers, Giuseppe Orlando, and a former bass player, Demian Cristiani, got together with Fleshgod Apocalypse’s Paolo Rossi to form Airlines of Terror. The result? A really bouncy half hour (ok slightly more) of very brutal, but ultimately catchy and bouncy grindy death. This is one of those releases which is so completely not what you would expect, that the first time I heard it, I had to press play again as soon as it finished. I mean, bouncy brutality? The images that come to mind are extremely strange, buxom ladies with chainsaws and gimp masks being a favourite. (Well, when I say favourite, I’m not sure that that’s quite the word...) This is very similar to the relationship between Impaled Nazarene and The Black League, in that an offshoot band has gone in a really weird direction to prove that musicianship can triumph over any genre. Because at the end of the day, that’s what has happened here. Airlines of Terror have produced something that is very, very brutal (you can see why the French for drums is “batterie”) but still a great listen. The guitars race along at warp speed, forming a counterpoint to the towering megaliths of sound produced by said drums, and the rich growls of Signor Cristiani. But the absolute best thing about this album is the track titles and the lyrics. How could you not love a post-apocalyptic vision called “Blood Stained Bananas?” The band, apparently, wanted to create the musical equivalent of a Tarantino movie. “Pulp Fiction” rather than “Reservoir Dogs”. For my money, they’ve succeeded. This is a hugely enjoyable romp, that doesn’t want to be taken too seriously, and is all the better for it.


	Ancestral Legacy - Nightmare Diaries Record Label: Femme Records Band Website: www.ancestrallegacy.com Record Label Website: www.femmemetalrecords.com Reviewer: Steve Earles
A rather fine album from this female-fronted Norwegian five piece. Now departed vocalist Elin Omholt has an outstanding voice, so it will be interesting to hear what Ancestral Legacy sound like with new singer Isadora Cortina (who must be seriously committed to her new band, moving as she did from Mexico to Norway to join, which is impressive). Guitarist Eddie Risdal adds some harsh vocals to the mix, giving the music a harder edge than many goth-metal bands. Opening track Out of the Dark and Into the Night, shows some strong Paradise Lost Influences. Separate Worlds exploits the dual vocals to good effect, giving some real power to the song. Chosen Destiny is quite moving, and could take the band to a wider audience. As a constructive criticism, at times the album, while always well played (and boasting an excellent production from Arcturus man, Knut Magne Valle), sometimes descends into ‘heard it all before territory’ on songs like Perhaps In Death, which are a little too formulaic for my liking. Still, on tracks like Done, Tomorrow’s Chance, and closing track The Shadow of the Cross, Ancestral Legacy show a strong identity, something I’d like to see continue across an entire album the next time.


	Barren Earth - Curse Of The Red River Record Label: Peaceville Band Website: www.barrenearth.com MySpace: www.myspace.com/officialbarrenearth Record Label Website: www.peaceville.com Reviewer: Steve Green
If you didn't see my review for Barren Earth's Our Twilight EP last year, then all you need to know as way of a band history, is that the band is Finnish and consists of some of the country's best musicians, with current members of Swallow the Sun, Moonsorrow, and Kreator, and past members of Amorphis all making sweet music together. Let me get my Amorphis shit out of the way first as it'll bug me otherwise. This album lies somewhere between Tales From The Thousand Lakes and Elegy. It's as good as, if not better than both of those albums. And while I know that's a bold statement, I've owned both of those Amorphis albums for close to 15 years and I've only had this album for about a month, but Curse Of The Red River makes me as happy as both of those seminal albums, so that's the basis of my argument. Getting away from by fanboy delirium, Curse Of The Red River is genuinely an exceptional album. Kicking off with the title track, we are led along a path of mellow Eastern flavours before Mikko Kotamäki's 1st roar of the day breaks the hypnotic spell and the fun begins. Barren Earth hit hard with their metallic fervour, but they also soothe the pain away rather beautifully with chilled out vocals and an underlying feel of 60s psychedelia and some good old Hammond organ, courtesy of Kasper Mårtenson and the end of the song is pure hippy shit, with touches of Jethro Tull, (yes, a flute) and acoustic guitars to bliss you out... man. And that, "four seasons in one day" approach, just about sums up Barren Earth. Be it Finnish Death Metal, or more Traditional Folk influences or old 60s and 70s Progressive Rock, they aren't afraid to mix it up. They rock out one minute and chill out the next, and the end result is utterly glorious. Ok, if you're a fan of old Amorphis, then you'll be instantly at home with the style employed on this album, but thankfully it's an album that just gets better with each listen. When I interviewed the band a few weeks ago, the title track was my favourite, but now I'm really getting into Forlorn Waves. But it matters not which song is my favourite as Curse Of The Red River is made up of 9 classic tunes, from the ebb and flow of the spellbinding Flicker to the majestic splendour (and 70s proggy feel) of The Ritual Of Dawn and the doom and despair of the albums finale, Deserted Morrows, which reminds me of My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost. As Barren Earth consists of experienced musicians, you tend to forget that this is only their debut album and essentially, for some of the band members, at least, this is a side project. Yet they've created one of the best Progressive Metal albums ever, at their 1st attempt (together). This is, quite simply, a classic.


	Big Ball - Hotter Than Hell Record Label: AFM Band MySpace: www.myspace.com/bigballrocks Record Label Website: www.afm-records.de/en/home/new_releases.html Reviewer: Steve Green
AC/DC are, obviously, still big business as they continue to reap the rewards on the back of their 2008 return to form Black Ice. So in turn, it must mean there's still a career to forged imitating this great band, with Airbourne instantly springing to mind as a band who love a bit of AC/DC worship. And there have been many bands who've been brainwashed by Angus Young and co over the years, such as Krokus and to a lesser extent, Rose Tattoo, but none have them have ever gone note for note sounding like AC/DC. Nor have any of them mimicked the vocals, borrowed the same style of backing vocals, identical drum patterns etc.. and created an identical clone to AC/DC... and then Big Ball arrived on the scene. The man behind the blag (as obviously this is a watertight robbery job) is Debauchery's Thomas Gurrath and he sounds exactly like the offspring of Brian Johnson and Bon Scott, and with Bon Scott's dirtier side being the main influence for the lyrics, especially on the outright depravity of Porna Lisa. And for the first four songs, I have to say this really works, particularly on the opening number Double Demon, which sounds like it was lifted straight off of Flick Of The Switch. Unfortunately, the idea begins to run out of stream and the concept of a band sounding exactly like AC/DC falters, simply because there's not the same level of song writing to be found here. Which really should come as no surprise as there's only one AC/DC for a very good reason. With saying that though, rather than fall flat on its face, the album does manage to stay afloat with the general level of song writing being good, rather than great, as the start of the album promised. And at the end of the day, this a good, fun, party album that I'm sure fans of AC/DC will enjoy, as will most Metalheads in general.


	Black Sun Aeon - Routa Record Label: Cyclone Empire Band MySpace: www.myspace.com/aeonoftheblacksun Record Label Website: www.myspace.com/cycloneempire Reviewer: Sam Thomas
Last year, Tuomas Saukkonen was one of the people who led me to call 2009 the year of the solo project. And here he is, back again with Black Sun Aeon, demonstrating that as long as you’ve got a couple of mates you can call in for vocal duties in places, really there is no reason why you can’t do everything yourself. Brilliantly. Well, pre-supposing that you’re Finnish and talented of course. I have a confession to make on this one: I hadn’t realised that it was a double album at first (my promo is all on one CD, and as I never read the info that comes with CDs until later on, as I don’t want to be influenced by what someone else likes to describe music as) and I was bitching about it being unwieldy and over long. Imagine my surprise, then, when I played it as intended in two separate chunks, to discover that actually it wasn’t so clunky after all, and that, yes there were two distinct facets to it. Disc 1 – Talviaamu or Winter Morning, is the more melodic of the two. It’s quite dark, but more in a melancholy way, with the odd bit of fast-paced drumming chucked in. To me, it summons up a picture of a frozen landscape with icicles dripping into frozen pools, with no hope of an end in sight. Then again, that may be because it’s nearly Easter and the weather forecast here is for more snow (possibly) after the “worst winter for 30 years”. Or, in Finnish terms, a warm day in October, by comparison. These are the tracks where the guest vocals from Mikko Heikkilä (Sinamore) and Janica Lönn (Lunar Path) are mostly to be found. The whole feel of the piece is very symphonic, very majestic with the odd bit of frantic activity thrown in. Overall, this side of winter is cruel, but not inherently evil or malevolent. The second CD, Talviyö or Winter Night is a different kettle of fish altogether. It begins with a developing menace, building to a clawing monstrosity of evil darkness and gloom. This winter isn’t going to freeze you into submission, it’s going to crush the life out of you with an avalanche of evil. And yet there’s still beauty hidden beneath it all, but it’s a cruel kind of purity. The beginning of “Frozen Kingdom” completely epitomises the horror of this part of the album, with its skittering machine-like sounds getting ever closes and more distinct. It’s every child’s nightmare of something unseen coming to get you, and then the music begins... A dark, death metal concept album about the Finnish winter? How can anyone pass this up? It’s very slick, very well-produced, both in terms of actual production and in terms of craftsmanship. Altogether a stunning second album.


	Burzum - Belus Record Label: Byelobog Productions Band Website: www.burzum.org Reviewer: Crin
How long have we waited for this? How eager are our ears? Burzum is the very explosion that sent the Norwegian Black Metal phenomenon ripping across the Metal world. Burzum are not as technically awe-inspiring as Emperor, maybe not as commercially viable as Dimmu Borgir and Immortal, and certainly not as productive as Enslaved and Darkthrone, but no other band can produce such an atmosphere of pure icy dread. Here we have the very root ignition of the genre and a band that is the very embodiment of a movement made incarnate by its founder, Varg Vikernes [Count Grishnack] The album was initially planned to be titled "Den Hvite Guden", which in English translates to, The White God, a phrase very in-line with the philosophical view point of Varg [originally called Kristian, but changed to Varg Qisling Larssøn Vikernes] of course the political baiting and racist undertones goes hand in hand with the music here, both stoking the fires of Burzum’s notoriety and legacy. So how has the sixteen year imprisonment affected Varg's muse? Its like a time capsule has been unearthed and we are beholding the direct follow up to the quite brilliant 1996 album, Filosofem. [forget the 1999 keyboard bore of Hliðskjálf, or the less than impressive, Daudi Baldrs, from 1997]. I shuddered as I pressed the play button and the cd began to spin, the first grave issuing chinking effects of what sound like bottles is the bare minimum of intro we get here and then the sublime long missed guitar sound of Burzum kicks in for the slow burning, Belus' Død, you will be cast back into the rancid belly of, Det Som Engang Var with all of its rich grimness. 1993 has returned as if the years between had never passed. My breath was still evading me as the twelve minute, Glemselens Elv, crawled into the atmosphere searing the air with its pure malevolent guitar strumming. The melody and rhythmic balance just gnaws at your senses like some burns victim pleading for death. The mesmerizing, Kaimadalthas' Nedstigning, follows and is the jewel in this beautifully dark album. The chorus is an incessant incantation that worms its way into your head and remains there. A totally addictive song like a bad class A drug. The following, Sverddans, has a thrashy feel and an almost Destruction ‘Bestial Invasion’ riff to its cold arrangements. The final two tracks are a lumbering blackened drone, lazy macabre brooding guitars slithering into your ears like decaying worms secreting their despondent bile. Its pure Burzum, pure Norwegian Black Metal at its most sincere, most undiluted and whole. If you recall the early rise of Norwegian Black Metal then here is a product that transcends time, a pure strain of that era untainted by the post black metal dilutions infecting the music’s unavoidable evolutionary process. Burzum stand alone [with maybe Darkthrone] as the solid cornerstone of a phenomenon born from its own ashes. If ever a phoenix rising was apt then here it is.


	Darkthrone - Circle the Wagons Record Label: Peaceville Band MySpace: www.myspace.com/officialdarkthrone Record Label Website: www.peaceville.com Reviewer: Crin
For all intent and purposes this is a very similar visual to the previous F.O.A.D. and Dark Thrones and Black Flags, releases and that’s due to the two-tone primitivism or the artwork by Dennis Dread. The music on those outings was equally stripped to the bone and that pretty much sums up the bands unique musical vision. The album title here is completely bizarre, invoking a western scenario of hooting Indians and gun smoking cowboys encircled engulfed in dust clouds. Once the music starts it becomes quite apparent that this is yet a further continuation of the Punk crossover Blackened style hinted at on the aforementioned releases. There is a hint of, simple Punk aesthetics melting into that raw Darkthrone sound that creates that something special. Darkthrone are one of the few bands on earth that have such a distinctive and unique style of their own musical direction. This is album number fifteen and this band just keep on coming at you like angry bees. Their deconstructed metallic primitivism is brought back to life by a punk fluidity. Think of The Accused melting into a Celtic Frost drawl. If you are familiar with the previous, Dark Thrones and Black Flags, then most of what can be found here will be familiar and yet the music is even more catchy, more in the Twilight Zone. Nocturno Culto and Fenriz, strive onwards with their absolute unique brand of Norwegian Post Black Metal degeneration. Whereas the progressive strains of Ulver and Manes [to name a few] reach out into the unknown, Darkthrone have gone the completely opposite direction and regressed towards extreme Metals natural catalyst and that is the eighties cooking pot of bands like Motorhead and Discharge laying the foundations for what was to follow. There are more clean vocals bouncing of the Black Metal snarl, more NWOBHM splintering into that Punk Crust minimalism. This is so direct and in your face you’ll be wearing it after just a few tracks.