2019 may only be two weeks old, but as shown by our Underground Albums Roundup, the great and the not-so-good of our world are determined to start the year with a bang. Or at the very least, to bury us in a deluge of albums. Seeing as the mean and the nasty had been given a platform, we thought it only fair to shine the light on some of January’s releases beholden of a more melodic or traditional Metal bent to their finery…
ANCIENT BARDS – Origine (The Black Crystal Sword Saga Part 2) (Limb)
Within seconds of the preposterous spoken-word that forms the prologue to this most dramatic of albums, you know what you’re getting into with Ancient Bards. Don’t expect anything other than Fantasy-based Symphonic Power Metal flecked with quests and dragons and medieval motifs and beauty.
And once the (annoying) narration is dispensed with, what follows is a riot of glorious, grin-inducing epic musical joy, of multi-layered vocals, twinkling keys, cascading guitar licks, choruses the size of the castles that you can’t enter in ‘Fantasy’s Wings’, and symphonic splendour. In the wrong hands, this sort of thing can be a disjointed mess of everything bigger and more bombastic than everything else, but when done well, as it most definitely is here, you’re left with a musical journey that, while at times a touch Disney, mirrors the majestic glory of the tales being told – imagine a Symphonic Metal soundtrack to a film that combined Frozen and Dragonheart and we’re pretty much there…
There are elements of Within Temptation at their most Gothic and theatrical, of Rhapsody (without, though mainly with, the fire), Nightwish, and early Avantasia. Sara Squadrani leads from the front, a magnetic focal point with a voice able to switch from angelic and vulnerable (‘Light’) to dramatic and marshalling the troops (‘Aureum Legacy’), to orator and story-teller supreme, holding the fourteen-minute ‘The Great Divide’ together.
While Twilight Force may have caught everyone’s attention recently, Ancient Bards are further along their journey and able to offer a very well-told musical story complete with the requisite drama, excitement, dynamism, composure, theatre and, above all, quality. An impressive spectacle. 8 / 10
MAGNUM – Live At The Symphony Hall (Steamhammer/SPV)
2018 was a stellar year for Soft/Classic Rock veterans Magnum, and they’re celebrating the success story of the Lost On The Road To Eternity album with a double-CD/triple-vinyl commemorative release of their hometown show from the prestigious Symphony Hall, Birmingham (UK) that marked the conclusion of the album’s tour; a show featuring local loyal fans, and a guest appearance from Tobias Sammet, who reprises his role from the title track of last year’s album, as well as joining in the “scarves in the air” closing anthem-of-unity ‘When The World Comes Down’.
And Live At The Symphony Hall is a lovely monument to a genuinely gracious band. A set split evenly between newer numbers and a selection of classics, including a very welcome gem in the eleven-minute ‘Don’t Wake The Lion (Too Old To Die Young)’, delivered with consummate skill and polish. While Bob Catley’s voice may take a couple of songs to warm up, and the recording lacks a touch of refinement, by the time ‘Show Me Your Hands’ shimmies in, both he, and the crowd are in fine fettle. While this doesn’t live up to Magnum’s definitive live album, The Spirit (Polydor), it is still a fine memento of a fruitful year. 7 / 10
EVERGREY – The Atlantic (AFM)
It should come as no surprise that, twenty-one years into their career, classy Gothically-inclined Melodic Metal act Evergrey effortlessly exude their trademark stately quality and elegance in abundance, with Tom Englund’s heartfelt voice carrying epic tales over a range of expansive refrains of the mature and graceful eleventh album, The Atlantic. At times the guitars burst, crunchy and punishing, at others keys and cleaner tones entwine, enigmatic and wistful, and everything is always deliberately and professionally crafted.
Evergrey sits on the more straightforward side of Katatonia, yet with half an eye on the stomping melodies of a Kamelot all while incorporating a metallic bite, creating songs that build to well-delivered choruses with careful melodies. Englund and his troops have a preference on more extended work outs (the average song length here is about six-minutes) and at times the hooks can be a little too understated or lost in a brooding epic, yet at no point are Evergrey anything other than worthy of your time. 7 / 10
THE CROWN REMNANT – The Wicked King: Part II (self-released)
So, today’s burning question is; what do you get if you chuck Avenged Sevenfold leadwork and song-structures, Dimmu Borgir-styled theatricals and The Agony Scene –esque modern Metalcore aggro into a melting pot? Well, in the hands of LA quintet The Crown Remnant, a half-baked concoction that both impresses and repulses in equal measure: the aural equivalent of the four-quarter pizza, but where at least two of the slices are covered in ingredients that just don’t go together, no matter how much it seems like they should.
Master bakers these are not, and when they’re chucking multiple ideas around, like on the confusing, and frankly muddled opening pair of ‘Into The Depths’ and ‘The End’, things descend into a chaotic mess. And not the good kind.
However, when TCR focuses on really working a singular style or idea, a consistency and a quality shines through, such as with the muscular Metalcore of ‘Inferno’. Unfortunately, these moments are also the most generic, so I can see the dilemma for the band – play in the sandpit with the other kids and come out looking and smelling just like the others, or twist, and work on making the non-standard elements of their sound the thing that they’re best at. There is potential, but there’s also a long way to go. 5 / 10
FUROR GALLICO – Dusk Of The Ages (Scarlet)
With their third opus, Italian Folk Death Metal (for there is indeed such a thing) outfit Furor Gallico continue to improve on both of the component parts of their sound; lilting Celtic passages with traditional melodies that dovetail with Doomy, crunching riffs and darker, Deathlier elements and all the while male and female counterpart vocals play off each other in a manner that is both slick and heartfelt at the same time.
It takes skill and an understanding of two diverse crafts to weave these potentially disparate elements together, and, in a similar to Zeal & Ardor’s debut (as opposed to the more developed sequel), the integration hasn’t really been progressed to the same level as the performance of the component elements. The Celtic Folk sections intersperse, rather than assimilate into the Metal, and you are, really, left with styles that co-exist rather than merge into a substantive whole. The Metal elements are stoic and Gothic by nature, neither exceptional nor innovative, while the folkier sections are very well fashioned, and are probably the highlight of the release.
There is plenty to enjoy here, don’t get me wrong, but there is an overriding feeling that further amalgamation of the styles would breed more interesting results. 6 / 10
CARNAL FORGE – Gun To Mouth Salvation (ViciSolum)
Nothing ever changes (but the shoes), as a bloody brilliant song by The Wildhearts once confirmed, and Gun To Mouth Salvation is a glorious vindication of this. ‘Parasites’ instantly transforms you back twenty years to a European Metal landscape that had urbanized and bulked itself up, where riffing now scythed and Thrash Metal had left behind thoughts of howling furies or being gung-ho. Carnal Forge flourished as one of the new breed of aggressive perfectors with Who’s Gonna Burn (WAR Music) hewn from similar granite as The Haunted and The Crown, while out-performing contemporaries like A Canorous Quintet.
And it’s refreshing to hear they still march to the pulsing beat of the same drum following a near-decade of relative inactivity and a reboot that sees them return with a vicious volley of Groove Metal stomp (‘Reforged’ could sit on any Lamb Of God album of your choosing), Thrashing spew (‘Endless War’ is a roiling tornado of intent), Death Metal menace and classic Metal leadwork. In addition, new vocalist Tommie Wahlberg has the knack of adding hooks to his throat-ripping, which is a rare and worthy talent in violent music.
To return to my own vomit and to bastardize yet another well-worn cliché phrase, form is temporary and class is permanent, and riff-monger Jari Kuusisto has laid a feral marker down that Carnal Forge are still to be reckoned with, two decades down the line. 7 / 10
TORQUE – Torque (Mascot)
While the nineties was a garden most fertile for guitar-based creativity, one species that did not flourish was the old school Thrash musician. While not an entirely barren wasteland – OverKill delivered, as always, with W.F.O and From The Underground And Below, as did Testament with Low and Demonic – nonetheless, US-based Thrash Metal bands attempted to survive by taking on a stodgier, more-groove orientated approach en masse. Vocals became throatier, and the perms and hi-tops miraculously disappeared. However, the aforementioned exceptions aside, it all tended to bore itself into submission in a series of disconcerting self-sterilizing efforts.
While this was going on, the fortunes of two members of seminal band Vio-lence could not have been more disparate. One Robert “Robb” Flynn was to break free and create the behemoth that is Machine Head. His erstwhile companion Phil Demmel likewise assumed rhythm guitar and frontman duties for a new act, however with far less dramatic consequences.
And yet here we find Mr. Demmel in the news somewhat with his recent departure from the aforementioned Machine Head, having served fifteen years on six-string duty. And thus, and indeed, lo, his dalliance in Torque sees the light of day once more with a self-titled album that is as guilty as charged of utilizing all the missteps of most Thrash acts in the mid-nineties. Trying to urbanize and survive a record label Thrash cleansing, Demmel’s gruff bark sit atop a mainly mid-tempo Metal crunch that at times reminds of Prong, Sacred Reich and Xentrix. It is, to be said, wholly of its time, wholly decent and wholly unspectacular. 5 / 10
RAVEN – Screaming Murder Death From Above: Live in Aalborg (Steamhammer/SPV)
Well, you certainly can’t accuse NWOBHM maniacs Raven of toning their live performance down as they run kicking and screaming through veteran status. Apparently recorded without the band’s knowledge, which led to a wildfire, carefree live performance in 2017, Screaming Murder Death From Above… sees the UK Speed Metal fiends cutting loose. Classic cut ‘Hell Patrol’ is full of fire with John Gallagher hitting highs and with enjoyment clearly evident in his voice, whilst the thirty-five year old pair ‘All For One’ and ‘Hung Drawn and Quartered’ stand up to raucous newbie ‘Destroy All Monsters’, while new sticksman Mike Heller (ex-Fear Factory) is a powerhouse of relentless double-bass work, really pushing the Heavy Metal harder and faster.
OK, look, Raven have never had the greatest set of songs, but what they lack in style and sophistication they more than makeup for in energy and Heavy Metal spirit. Live In Aalborg captures their joie de vivre perfectly, with the band prepared to Rock until they drop! 6 / 10
JON SCHAFFER’S PURGATORY – Purgatory EP (Century Media)
Before the earth was iced, infamous guitarist and band leader Jon Schaffer was responsible for the Heavy Metal troupe Purgatory (now dubbed Jon Schaffer’s Purgatory to distinguish them from the 666 other Purgatory’s that have sprung up in the interim), a form of traditional Heavy Metal with all the chugging habit of a Mercyful Fate, and who counted as peers such bands as Omen. Taking the opportunity to team up with original vocalist Gene Adam, who sang on Iced Earth’s debut and turns in a stellar old school performance here, and record five songs that never actually made it to release first time around, with lyrics of the cheesy Horror film nature, the Purgatory EP is a low-key but worthwhile product, truth be told.
While there is nothing mind-blowing, nonetheless, the songs show a clear delineation between the origins of Traditional Metal in the US and the dramatic Heavy Metal stock that was to become Iced Earth, with ‘Dracula’ in particular, and it’s melodic twinkle reminding of Killers era Iron Maiden, impressing. In addition, modern techniques allow a nicely retrospective feel to production that suits the riffing style while still maintaining brightness, professionalism and drum clarity required to get the strength of the songs over. 7 / 10
THE THREE TREMORS – The Three Tremors (Steel Cartel)
In which Tim “Ripper” Owens (Judas Priest, Iced Earth, Dio Disciples), Harry “The Tyrant” Conklin (JAG Panzer, Satan’s Host, Titan Force), and Sean “The Hell Destroyer” Peck (Cage, Denner/Shermann, Death Dealer) join forces to unleash hell via the medium of their not inconsiderable Heavy Metal vocal talents, shredding in a way that is normally only reserved for the lead guitarists of our world, in a tour-de-force of full force Metal voice vaporapizing!
To an apocalyptic soundtrack of pounding traditional, uptempo Heavy Metal of the US Power Metal bent, not too dissimilar to Iced Earth or more modern-day Accept, this dream trio really do give everything in a cacophony of wails and waahs. In theory, particularly considering Metal’s penchant for the overly dramatic, the concept is glorious, yet the reality is far less palatable than you’d hope as it all results in a ridiculous mess of willy-waving. While The Three Tremors may have attempted to create the most over-the-top vocal Metal album, it has ended up sounding like a three-way catfight between a triumvirate of very similar sounding voices, all trying to outdo each other at the expense of any quality of song or nailing of any particular hook.
An attempt at a high-profile virtuoso album this may be from three well-known muscle voices, but there is much virtue in realising the Power of Metal is, and always will be, in the song, not he whose penis sword is mightiest. 5 / 10
STEVE TOVEY