To say that Redemption’s I Am The Storm (AFM Records) is chock full of technically proficient playing and complex yet inviting compositions would be an understatement. There is no question that Nick van Dyk is a master of his craft. I Am The Storm just cements that fact.
Thunderous. Anticipatory. Windswept. A Bugatti Veyron driving at top speed through the Uyuni Salt Flats. Batman. Witch Ripper’s The Flight After the Fall (Magnetic Eye Records) is all of this and more.
The opening strains to Avatar’s Dance Devil Dance (Thirty Tigers/Black Waltz Records) harken to southern rock. It hugs you like an old pair of Levi’s. However, once the main riff starts, it’s a heady mixture of Rob Zombie, hard-driving German metal, and nu-metal. If that is not enough to pique your interest, before the first track is over, the vocalist Johannes Eckerström, reaches down deep and lets loose a Paul Stanley vocalization. This is the beauty of Avatar’s Dance Devil Dance. Within the same song, they combine a multitude of genres together.
Turn up for what? Turn up for a Turbo Polka Party! That’s right, it’s time to get this party started with the newest dance-worthy, head-bopping, ska-laden, metal riffage of Russkaja and Turbo Polka Party (Napalm Records). Russkaja is famous for blending ska, punk, and reggae to create a unique and fun sound. This new offering is a straight-up craic!
Twilight Force’s newest album At the Heart of Wintervale (Nuclear Blast) is an epic romp through magical mystical lands. Everything about the album screams innocence and adventure. It is clear that these gentlemen, and by extension their fans, love what they do. At the Heart of Wintervale is an immersive listening experience. It’s full of sweeping vistas and swirling colours. You feel the album and see it in your mind, just as easily as listening to the music and lyrics. The album adds two tracks at the end that are orchestral versions of ‘Skyknights of Aldaria’ and ‘The Last Crystal Bearer’, totes worth it! They are amazing and worthy of being on an adventure movie soundtrack. Continue reading
When I was young and brash and had two working knees, I used to visit the high street in Camden, London. Me and my mates would dance ourselves into oblivion at the Electric Ballroom, take the night bus home, hit a Tescos for sausage rolls, and eat them right out the package – cold, before returning to Surrey Quays just before the sun rose.
Those were the times!
Part experimental jazz, part progressive, part sultry but all Getsemane – the newest work of art they’ve created for Svart Records is entitled Viimaa. There is a darkness to the sound, like mushrooms and the mycelial network dark. It’s taking the Hobbits to Isengard black. It’s underground clubs in New York City and Frankfurt, the ones with the brick on the inside; smokey, dense, hot.
Trippy, dippy, and totally mind-bendy are the first things I think of when I hear the new release from Poly-math entitled Zenith (Nice Weather For Airstrikes). The opening track and the title track have this bombastic, slightly discordant saxophone that blends beat poetry, jazz, and psychedelia. Poly-math reminds me of the jazz fusion jam bands of the seventies and eighties; think Dixie Dregs, but with saxophones. Chris Olsen kills it on saxophone, by the way. Every song is elevated by his playing. If you play saxophone in a band, Olsen’s playing on this album is where you want to end up in your playing.
The opening strains of Ballad of a Misspent Youth (MRG Records) by Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts reminds me of old KISS. It’s the sound of the guitars. There is a bit of The Black Crowes thrown in for good measure. It’s hard driving and pop-ish with a punk tinge. The guitars are simple yet sonically pleasing. The album continues this stylistic choice with savage awesomeness. Be prepared, Ballad of a Misspent Youth is solid from start to finish with plenty of songs that will get stuck on constant rotation.
Black Space Riders’ new album is entitled We’ve Been Here Before (Cargo Records). It’s got what you’ve come to expect from Black Space Riders: multi-layered sounds, a deep and grounded ambiance that gets you into feelings, amazing guitar and bass work, and best of all, it’s a cosmic assault to your senses. The alchemy that went into creating We’ve Been Here Before coalesced and oozed into something that is gob-smacking.