Acerus – The Tertiary Rite (2020) / 89%

Potent Metal Assimilation

Daniel Corchado is one of metal’s finest gems. The Mexican native can’t literally do no wrong (okay, I haven’t heard his ambient doom project Magnum Itiner Interius but I’m sure it’s decent) and Acerus’ newest album simply proves that he hasn’t lost any of his mightiness.

Before you continue reading that review, I need to ask you some questions. 1) do you like riffs? 2) If yes, do you like heavy riffs? 3) do you prefer those heavy riffs to be excellent? If you answered “yes” to all questions, you can now proceed. The gates are opened. The posers were kicked out from the temple of good metal taste.

Acerus’ first album since 2016 The Clock of Mortality is a barrage of condensed fiery metal with a compressed plethora of influences infused into one potent expansive but tight record. Combining intricate odds to progressive metal, epic metal and even thrash or death metal, the album has this mythological feel somewhat akin in spirit more than sound to what Symphony X did at the peak of their career (Divine Wings of Tragedy, The Odyssey or V: The New Mythology Suite). There’s this definite aura of Greek and Roman historical as far as themes go. I’m a big fan of that stuff (see Primordial’s To the Nameless Dead or Macabre Omen) and it’s nice to see those topics being explored in this hybrid style Acerus plays.

The riffs and leads of Corchado and his younger spire Ed Escamilla (from thrashers Reign) are what drives this album. From the slow mournful ones of “The Sinister Sea” and its odd epic doom overture to the blackened feel of “The Fight with Destiny” or the power/thrash might of “The Immersion”, it’s a varied album in terms of riff origin but not so much in terms of moods. It’s fairly samey without repetitive. The eight songs are getting a bit blurry with each-others but I think this helps create a sense of unity for the album and I always prefer that over individual songs. The clean but vigorous vocals of newcomer of Esteban Julian Pena are pretty legit, he has good pipes and adds to the heavy/power atmosphere of The Tertiary Rite. I do think he gets outshined by the true power of the riffs at times though but he adds a Greek epic metal flair to the album.

Their metal sound is quite unique, it never fully goes into progressive metal territories and explores a bunch of other disparate sonic islands. You can hear that Corchado is a metal connoisseur and a veteran as his influences are fully assimilated and integrated within his compositions. It’s distinctive without being overly over the top or weird. It’s for sure one of the finest albums released in 2020.

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Circle - Terminal (2017) / 97%

NWOFHM #15
That’s a good Tom Hanks movie too, I guess.


NWOFHM is a term coined by Jussi Lehtisalo, the leader of the psych/experimental rock bands Circle and Pharaoh Overlord. It’s to pay homage to the NWOBHM term while namedropping his country, Finland. 

Lehtisalo created a bunch of projects to create that self sufficient scene. Those include Motorspandex, Krypt Axeripper, Tractor Pulling which all released only one recording but also projects like Steel Mammoth or Arkhamin Kirjasto that have a more extensive discography. All those aforementioned bands were covered by yours truly and the NWOFHM review series is never quite dead.

Circle are one of the best rock bands in the world and Terminal, their latest album in an almost three decades career is just another monumental album dedicated to the gods of riffs. Perhaps not one of their heaviest albums (excluding Incarnation where they basically asked another band to record a doom/death Circle album), it’s definitely one of the most riff focused record of their extensive discography. Their first album released on the American and Sunn O))) owned label Southern Lord Records, Terminal is intense, catchy and totally insane psychedelic prog krautrock. Their three guitarists formation just obliterates and gives ‘em a fully realized and rich sound to go with Jussi Lehtisalo’s seminal bass playing and leadership.

What’s totally crazy about Terminal is the vocals, they’re three dudes handling ‘em and they’re all mad insane. There’s screaming (see the twelve minutes opener “Rakkauta El Dente”) that wouldn’t be out of place in a sort of Motorized heavy/black/thrash band, there’s those totally over the top cleans with what I can only assume is weird stuff in Finnish and, while there’s more, there’s some ominous whispering. That’s just for the first song too...There’s group chanting as the introduction of “Saxo” and it’s like cultists leading you to a strange barn or something. It’s just to watch hockey (damn, Sebastian Aho is great) drink beer and get into the sauna (fully naked, of course), nothing wicked. The cleans become those sort of operatic vocals full of punk folk energy fuel and it’s abrasive but charming.

The focus on focusing on repeating riffs is something common in Krautrock or Neu styled prog and it’s something Circle does extremely well. It’s hypnotic, trance-like and it moves you to the allegedly real country of Finland where collecting different sorts of mustard is seen as a serious hobby and why wouldn’t it be? What I love about the Pori based band is their inability to take themselves too seriously, with that in mind they’re able to be as unhinged as their ideas ask for and while their music could be considered complex or smart, there’s no snootiness or over intellectualism in their compositions and attitude. They’re the type of bands that alternates between more experimental, long formed compositions bordering on drone and rockier ones. Albums like Tulikoira explored a punkier side of the band while Sunrise went all out on proto heavy metal, Terminal borderlines on metal at times but it has a pretty distinctive and varied sound throughout its fairly compact duration.

The extended instrumental moments are also moving and tremendous and not numerous enough to bore you. They take their time to introduce their songs with panache and let the keys and riffs flow. Circle is like what I like about music. It’s loud, it’s bigger than life and it has a lot of striking and memorable riffs. It’s never easy and it’s always intriguing. With some hindsight, Terminal was my favorite album of 2017 as I like how it’s dumb but smart, weird but with a sense of familiarity and heavy and groovy but never without purpose.

Rookscare – Ecotone (2016) / 86%

Psych-hick

Rookscare from West Virginia are one of those bands with an interest in melding many different genres to make a new identity for themselves. I can say they managed to do exactly that with this excellent extended play. Ecotone, the zone between two ecosystems fits the wide array of genres they use but also links their southern, rural roots to their theme.

Their Metal Archives doesn’t do justice to what they play but I guess it fits the band since we can’t put an essay in there. They’re sludge in the same sense than Acid Bath or Melvins are sludge as the genre is only a part of their whole conceptual scheme. Rookscare incorporates swampy acoustic passages, progressive black metal, heavy and even trad doom at times. All of this is surrounded by a constant attention to subtle details and a thick layer of psychedelia. The vocal approach also reflects this uncompromising kitchen sink formula, from clean to harsh, they’re always interesting and hostile.

The EP opens with the extensive title track and it’s followed by another long piece before delivering the sludgey, bass heavy to the point closer of “Brother James”. It’s an album full of contrasts but the mood remains constantly depressive and uneasy. It’s like if three hicks were hunting a bunch of jocks from the east coast with axes, sawed-off shotguns while smoking really potent weed out of heavy iron pipes.

Bandcamp

Local Sounds: Volume 7.0

Happy new year everyone. I’m back with the seventh volume of Local Sounds, a series showcasing the best non-metal music being made in Montréal and Québec. I have three excellent releases to talk about today.

Les Indiens – Shaman UFO (2016)

The Quebec City quartet impressed the hell out of me when I’ve seen them in Montréal (with Grand Morne and Gerbia) back in 2014 but I pretty much forgot to check their latest album until the first month of 2017 appeared. On this lush full length, the dudes created a super cool form of rock with extensive metal influences. With nods towards Kyuss, Sleep and (obviously) Black Sabbath, Les Indiens unleashed a wide array of heavy riffs with enjoyable but buried vocals (their lyrics are all in French.) Furthermore, they have this spacey vibe as demonstrated by the Shaman UFO interludes and the use of psych elements right from Flower Travellin' Band's handbook. The production is also top notch and their sound is a natural mix of modern feedback and vintage roots. Massive, fun and interesting, this is an album worth checking out for fans of loud and smart rock music.

Bandcamp







Security – Arid Land (2016)

The debut extended play from this duo (two members from Dernier Sex) is faithful to its geographical origin. Like Montréal's winters, it's cold but mysterious, lifeless but highly active like an undead corpse. Composed of four numbers, the EP combines lush industrial with loud but subtle drum machines, coldwave, ambient, noise rock and drone and it's highly addictive and evocative. The warm clean vocals of Anna Arrobas are providing a peculiar contrast with the icy instruments, they’re in the background giving us hope that winter is almost over. It’s stripped down music to its core and the relationship between the guitar and the bass of Élie B. Faubert is one of balance and complementarity. I was expecting something great after heir fantastic performance with Rakta right before the summer and this didn't disappoint at all.

Bandcamp









Atsuko Chiba – The Memory Empire (2016)


The Montreal quintet is definitely one of the most interesting bands we have. Released during a gig with the excellent Milanku back in December, this three songs extended play explores the many facets of Atsuko Chiba’s identity. From the Rage Against the Machine inspired hip-hop vocal attacks to the psychedelic synths and funky metallic moments. Their palette of sounds is as extensive as the one of The Mars Volta and it’s truly difficult to pinpoint everything they do and create. They’re able to move the listeners with their drawn-out instrumental movements such as the opening of closer “Damonsta Titillates” and they don't even rely on repetitiveness or the generic crescendo formula used by most post-rock bands.. Borrowing elements from many scenes, the band is an outsider who’s doing what it truly wants. They’re shaking genre conventions with heavy guitars, thunderous bass licks and progressive explosions and I love it.

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Opeth – Sorceress (2016) / 92%

Make Opeth Metal Again?

Now one of the biggest metal/rock bands on the planet, Opeth’s career has taken an important detour with Heritage in 2011. Legions of fans and detractors alike are asking themselves what will be the sound explored on this new album. Let’s not burn the sorceress before hearing her plea, shall we?

The Swedish giant is a band in constant evolution and unlike their peer, In Flames, they managed to make the transition into softer territories in a good way. They were already showing signs of their evolution with their gorgeous 2003 opus Damnation but with Heritage, they went all in, and it displeased and divided their audience. While they will not win back the fans who wants them to be truly metal again with this new album, it might be viewed more favorably. Anyway, I don’t really care about what other people say about Opeth, I care only about what Mikael Åkerfeldt is doing since he’s been the leader of my favorite band since I discovered them in high school.

I will not let the suspense go on much longer, yes Sorceress is a good album but I do think Opeth never (and probably never will) released a bad album. I do have some reservations towards the album though. It’s clearly not as good as I wanted it to be. The band has always been somewhat disjointed as it’s usually the case with bands with long song structures. Nevertheless, it’s never been as apparent and obvious as it is here except for Heritage which is possibly their weakest album. Maybe it’s because of the eleven-tracks format (the most of any Opeth album) or the fact that the songs are a bit shorter and more self contained.


Opeth had the tendency to be meandering and includes a wide array of styles within the same songs. Sure, there’s exceptions found in their past career with songs like “Harvest” or “To Bid You Farewell”, but Sorceress feels much more like an amalgam of different styles than any other of their other albums (extreme metal excluded, no they’re not coming back to their death metal blend...). You have the folky Jethro Tull-influenced ballad “Will o the Wisp” or the heavy metal/hard rock of “Chrysalis” and the different elements are a bit less melded together than before. Furthermore, “The Seventh Sojourn” is even a track similar to the Fertile Crescent sound, and it works as a sort of smooth interlude similar to the non-metal tracks found on Melechesh’s excellent albums The Epigenesis and Enki. Oh man speaking of that, an Opeth/Melechesh tour would be killer. Make this happen, Nuclear Blast.

The final important negative point would be the abrupt end of the album. It ends with a short, one minute outro after the hard rocking “Era” and it was a bit like if the waiter removed your plate from the table while you’re eating it. It was a sudden and unexpected finale to an otherwise great album. The introduction right before the title track works though. It’s classical guitars with some ethereal female spoken word, and it sets the tone in a good way. It’s not unlike “Coil” from Watershed but it’s not a “complete” song.

Still, I reckon my criticisms are pretty small. I’ve learned to disregard those aspects after four or five spins and it remains a collection of great songs. Regardless, the album isn’t as condensed as their previous one. The cohesion is lacking and the flow isn’t perfect. Still, it’s not as incoherent as Heritage and doesn’t have as many disposable moments. I’d say that “Sorceress 2” is the only truly weak point found on this record. It’s a boring four-minute acoustic ballad with unremarkable vocal lines. It’s the total opposite of the aforementioned and super great folky “Wisp” and it has to be one of the weakest tracks Opeth ever composed.

While Pale Communion was pretty much Opeth without the extreme metal elements, Sorceress is less limited and feels it could be another transitional album. Nevertheless, I do think Opeth never did a real transitional album except Watershed. They’re just creating landscapes based on a large amalgam of approaches and themes, and it turned out their 2008 record was the last one with death metal components. Still, the tracks without Mikael’s harsh vocals like “Porcelain Heart” or “Burden” were signs of their future incarnation. I can’t help but think that Sorceress could be interpreted as a new watershed for the Swedes. It’s hard what to predict what they’ll do next, but based on the lyrics of “Era”, it could be the conclusion of their current manifestation. It’s the “end of an era, we’ll start a new...” so maybe they’ll go back to their prog death sound and tour with Amorphis like it’s 2002 all over again?!

As far as their evolution is concerned, Sorceress is still Opeth exploring progressive rock in their own way but it probably has their heavier moments since the album that gave us “Lotus Eater” and “Heir Apparent.” To answer my own Trump reference in the title, yes this is (probably??) a metal album ,and the heavy parts possess a new sense of perspective. They added some stoner flavors to their newfound metallic formula and it’s heavier than Pale Communion when it actually decides to be. The title track released as the first single is a good example of Sorceress’ metallic identity. While this is still Opeth, it’s a widely different album even if there’s their usual tropes.

Compared to the previous album, the jazz influence are gone and the combination of heavy metal, progressive rock and folk took their rightful place. We already had heavy rock parts on Heritage (“Slither”, a song dedicated to Dio) but those parts are boosted on this album. This side of the band’s identity took time to appear and knowing how much Mikael is a lover of 70s and 80s heavy metal and hard rock, it was simply a matter of time. He’s a massive Michael Schenker fan and it’s obvious that UFO, Uriah Heep and the NWOBHM scene were huge influences on the compositions. Those classic rock influences were included into the idiosyncratic sound of Opeth, they never were and never will be a cheap throwback or a “vintage rock” band. They’re innovative while looking at the rightful musical identities of the past.

Concerning the individual performances of this opus, Martín Méndez’ bass is a shining beacon. He’s been playing a role within the band’s sound recently and it’s a good thing; the dude is on fire and deserves more credit and praise. Another key element: The keys of Joakim Svalberg (his second album with the band) are thunderous and give Opeth their well-deserved rich sound. The chemistry between the keys and the guitars is certainly something to behold.

“There is a voice surrounding me...” -Mikael Åkerfeldt on “Strange Brew”

About the leader himself, he’s always been one of my favorite singers but he has been improving his clean vocals for a while now and probably offers his best performance ever as a clean singer on this 12^th album. He shines on the rougher moments, and he’s been expanding his pallet for the softer parts. While I’ll admit I do miss the growls at times, even if they wouldn’t fit here, he’s masterful on Sorceress. He’s soulful, charismatic and sensual on the heavy bits, and sensible and mystic during the calm instants. My favorite Mikael moment of the album has to be the memorable chorus of “The Wilde Flowers”.

Production-wise, I dig the guitar tones, they have this old school feel but with strong doom sensibilities. The riffs on tracks like “Chrysalis” or the truly sole epic they did “Strange Brew” (the most varied track of the album) are killer and absolutely well written. The acoustic guitars are back in full force too and their inclusion on tracks like “A Fleeting Glance” are pertinent. Fredrik Åkesson and Åkerfeldt are expert guitarists, this is known. Their guitar parts range from being subtle to over the top in a matter of instant (listen to the soloing of “The Wilde Flowers” or the Blackwater Park/Ghost Reveries-esque calm parts in some songs). Nonetheless, they’re a bit too mechanical during the “stoner” moments (such as the debut of “Era”) but overall, the two guitarists keep things interesting, uncomplicated and tidy. It’s yet another strong slab of strong and creative musicianship.

To conclude, the new influences ranging from stoner rock to heavy metal made this a fresh record without being overly modern or distasteful. That’s a feat in itself in this saturated musical age full of bands trying to mix everything together in the hopes of creating something unusual or redesigned. Twenty-one years after their debut album, the Swedish monolithic entity still has the upper hand.

It may be the most chaotic album they ever did and the direction they took isn’t quite clear to me. Are they coming back to a more metallic sound to please the fans? Anyhow, the mixture of elements is working. It almost sounds like the perfect marriage of Ghost Reveries, Watershed and Pale Communion into one potent magical spell but it has the main downfall of Heritage, the incoherence of its tracklist.

Make Opeth Great Again? They’ve always been great and they’ll always be the best band. Metal or not. Is this album even metal? Who cares? It’s Opeth, and they’re awesome.

Originally written for The Metal Observer.

Mountain Dust - Nine Years (2016) / 90%

Montréal’s Mountain Dust were pretty good when I saw them live with Dopethrone and Zaum some years ago but I had no idea they were this good. They obviously really took their time to craft this debut album since it’s inspired and spectacular rock with all the right influences.

  

Undeniably rooted in the past, Nine Years is nevertheless able to sound fresh and modern due to the band’s ability to mix styles in a tasteful way. You get the proto-metal influence from Led Zeppelin (not in a copycat way like Wolfmother though), the heavy organ sound of The Doors but also a big dose of stoner, blues and psychedelic rock. It’s also sorrowful and mesmerizing mostly due to the mournful and raw but awesome vocals and the evocative heavy riffs. The use of the slide guitar brings the blues in a great way and I was surprised how well the instrument was integrated to their rock core. They also use some folk and country elements such as the clean overture of southern “Tale of the Red Rain” and its desert mighty sound.

They remind me Royal Thunder (one of my favorite current rock bands) in the way they rock hard and almost borders the metal realms in those aggressive moments but also the fact that they’re really damn varied. I mean “Lonely War” almost sounds a dark version of a Beatles ballad and there’s other longer tracks where they unleash the heavy organ stoner/hard rock sound such as the title track. The seven numbers are all tremendous but the band kept the longer ones for the second half and this was a judicious decision as I feel the flow of the LP is excellent.

For a debut album, Mountain Dust wrote something very accomplished and mature. I now feel bad for missing the album release gig since this is surely one of the best rock records of 2016. It’s genuine but still inventive, it’s old school but contemporary and it’s hard to ignore. Popular retro rock bands should open for Mountain Dust.

Originally published on The Metal Observer

Remmirath - Shambhala Vril Saucers (2015) / 86%

Too weird for Agent Scully

Imagine something weird, something magical and truly out there or something hidden in the highest mountains of Nepal and you have yet to reach the pinnacle of what Remmirath is about. The Slovakian's troop second full length is one of the weirdest albums you can find in metal nowadays. Sigh wishes they would be this exploratory and avant-garde but Mirai is probably too busy hanging out with Mikannibal backstage. This quintet definitely went to the Master's Hammer's school of wonders (think of their controversial album Šlágry), it's just one country away and everything is nearby in Europe while I need to pack provisions for a week if I'm going out to get the newspaper here.

I knew that I was in for an experimental ride when I noticed that the album had a member dedicated to and I quote “Effects, Tingsha and Throat chanting”. Some other instruments included on the record are the Melodica, the Glockenspiel, the Thunderbox, the jaw harp, the claves or even some maracas. We're pretty far from the traditional bass, guitar and drums setup, friends. They still manage to incorporate these elements gracefully, it's all over the place, yes but not in a highly chaotic, dissonant or disorderly manner. Compared to their excellent debut “Polis Rouge” released back in 2008, this album is less metal but perhaps as good and interesting.

The six songs release could be divided in at least two parts but let's keep it minimal and say that the first four four tracks are an amalgamation of extreme metal and well, everything that they managed to fit inside their minds. This includes ethnic world music (think Indian, Nepalese and obviously Eastern European as the band is Slovakian), progressive metal à la Alchemist, surf rock and Sergio Leone spaghetti western music reminding me of one of my favorite bands, Leeches of Lore (listen to “The Gunfighter's Quest for Enlightment”).

Secondly, the last two songs are non-metal psychedelic explorations with strange sampled vocals and Melechesh-esque Mesopotamian rhythms. The album's ending is unusual but it's not a bad thing, it's incredible to hear an album that's so diverse but so cohesive at the same time. It almost has nothing to do with Satan's favorite music though, it's more about the Dalai-Lama playing poker in space while getting a blowjob from an Indian hooker living in Bratislava.

The opener “Tiger of the City” starts with a bang and these deep harsh vocals and includes a wide array of psychedelia. It has a vintage video-game section before going back to the melodic progressive black metal riffs that you heard early on. The metal riffs, when present, are legit, not always black metal either, it has this progressive death metal vibe from time to time. Outside of the unorthodox instruments mentioned earlier, the traditional rock music elements are through the roof. The bass is thick, highly audible, almost fret-less in its presence and the drums are varied and technically proficient. Nonetheless, these doesn't quite matter in the grand scheme of things, I was wooed by the tremendous originality of their music. It's not for everyone, probably for a small minority of people, this is uncompromising and weirder than Yoko Ono on acid.

Also, random fact, the album was released on my birthday and I heard it on the same day. It was a weird anniversary to say the least!

Remmirath on Bandcamp

Starlight Ritual – Starlight Ritual (2015) / 85%

Ritualistic offering to the starstruck god

Starlight Ritual is a new quintet from Montréal and they just gave birth to their first child. Labeled as an extended play, it should be a full length in my opinion. It's forty minutes long and it's totally professional. This length is totally justifiable for a LP and has been since the dawn of metal time! Shenanigans aside, the four songs album is one of the best debut I heard this year.

The first thing you'll really notice is the tremendous vocals. Damian definitely has the pipes to fight his way through heaven and hell against the strongest contenders for Dio's throne. He's freaking awesome and it's impressive that this band is (to my knowledge) his first foray as a recording artist. Maybe he was waiting to achieve a high level of quality as a vocalist? Anyhow, his strong delivery and great range are what a traditional metal band needs to compete with the best of 'em. He's able to unleash some powerful melodies and screams like Russell Allen used to do before turning into a boring groove metal machine. The awesome vocals are combined with mystical, well written yet simple lyrics that are more allegorical tales than your pure Fantasy sword & sorcery sort of stuff.

Most of the songs are quite long, they even open with the fourteen minutes “The Triangle” and only “Civilization Lost” could be considered to be a typically built track with its almost six minutes duration. The tracks are busy with a ton of excellent solos emanating from the two guitarists and there's no boring moments to be found. One of the guitarists is actually Athros (he's using his real name here, J-F Bertrand) from well known black metallers Forteresse, Brume d'Automne and some other projects and it's fun to hear him play something else, he's surely good at it too! The leads all have this old school flavor to them with some NWOBHM tendencies and even some middle-eastern influences (see the ones midway through “Astral Flames”). These solos are one of the strengths of the band, they keep the songs grounded and interesting. I think the bass has a good place in the overall mix but I think it could be more thundering and heavier at times even though it's noticeable enough.

While I usually love long songs and this band is good at them, I think a full length album could benefit from having a bunch of shorter, punchier tracks. An album like Iron Maiden's comeback classic Brave New World managed to pull off. It had fantastic epic tracks like “Dream of Mirror” while also making sure to include rippers like “The Mercenary”. I'm sure Starlight Ritual could make this work too. Nevertheless, that's only my suggestion, it's quite fine like it is, guys!

Well, since these guys sure dig Rainbow's Rising and its proto progressive metal approach so much, the long song formula isn't an obstacle for them as it wasn't for Blackmore and company either. They manage to write compelling songs with enough dynamite and variations to keep us entertaining while never actually changing their formula too much by including useless “atmospheric” moments to justify the extended length of a song. The first track starts with a short but needed introduction but it's not syrupy or disposable.

Before I actually heard the band, I thought they were gonna be some sort of stoner rock/metal due to their imagery. Speaking of this, I don't think the cover art, while lovely, fits their music, it doesn't have the epic traditional feel their songwriting has. I was surprised to hear the actual style of the band, a full bodied heavy metal machine ready to explore many different continents. Starlight Ritual is certainly a varied band, there's some doom, stoner and hard rock flourishes alongside the heavy metal core and this gives a fresh sound to the band since it's not a very common blend of ingredients. I mean, the closer “Seal the Light” is basically epic doom. Damian is taking a more somber tone on this track and it works like a charm. Like the whole band, he's a versatile singer and has a lot personality.

I think the fact that they mostly explore heavy/doom territories is giving them a lot of latitude. I like this style since it's mostly mid-paced and isn't afraid of incorporating flashy musicianship into the fold, think of a band like The Gates of Slumber as an example. The doom component somewhat ensures that the album doesn't fall in a overly cheesy disaster.

They're mixing “Heaven and Hell” era Black Sabbath with a bunch of other influences and it's super legit. I can't wait to see these guys live, they're about to start doing gigs and that's pretty good for our metal scene since they fucking rip and do something different from what we're accustomed to. They're a vivid proof that the Canadian and Quebécois metal scenes are truly diversifying themselves. Starlight Ritual is a band that everyone with an interest in heavy metal or doom should follow.

Thanks to the band for the review opportunity. The CD is available for a meager 5 bucks plus the shipping, just contact them on their Facebook page.  I think they're still considering a way to sell it more easily online as well.

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Listen to the full EP on Youtube:

Brenner and Baltimore Trilogy

John Brenner is an influential musician (or he should be!) from Baltimore, Maryland, a place known for its doom metal scene. He's known for being the guitarist and vocalist of Revelation but also Against Nature. He deserves to get the recognition he deserves and I hope this trilogy will get him one or two new fans!



The first part is Chowder, an instrumental prog doom band Brenner joined before their split. He's actually not on their sole album but he helped with the production.

The second part is Against Nature's The Anxiety of Influence. A giant two songs album of epic proportions.

The third and final part is Revelation's classic album Never Comes Silence. A subtle and masterful doom album.

Against Nature - The Anxiety of Influence (2007) / 92%

Baltimore & Brenner trilogy, part II: No problem

John Brenner reformed or took back the leadership of Revelation in 2007 after more than a decade under the mantle of Dennis Cornelius (Memory Driven, Place of Skulls) but this project was formed three years before that. At first, they were an offshoot of Revelation, a sort of kitchen sink for their weirder vibes since while their older brother can safely be categorized as progressive doom, they never got truly truly demented. They're one of those bands with such an extensive and varied discography that they're a bit scary to discover and embrace. Sadly, the band seems to be dead nowadays as Brenner has started a new charming project called Mole Hill that's continuing in the blues rock/classic rock steps Against Nature were taking since like five or six albums (2010 to 2012!). It's possibly for the best that the musicians are taking their time for a change.

They're not really going against their nature here (excuse the easy pun), it's really more an extension of their sound than a total turnaround into something else. This album is quite unique in their catalog since it's only composed of two very long tracks. Action at a Distance only contained three tracks but it's sort of instrumental ambient/space rock album so that's sort of an exception (a great one, if I may add). The songs are not vocal centric at all, there's barely any lyrics, I mean the first half of “Aporia”, the fist track is entirely instrumental. You're not expecting the vocals to come either, you're not like “ehhh, it's already been eight minutes and it's getting boring...”, no, no, no. They're so tight instrumentally that the vocals are almost unnecessary and they know how to fill a long song with a lot of creative songwriting. Also, let's be frank, John Brenner is first and foremost a guitarist, his vocals aren't quite good but he knows how to make them work when he uses them.

The trio composed of all three current Revelation members has obvious chemistry and so much talent. Bert Hall jr. is a terrific bass player, one of the best and most underrated I've ever heard, he's unreal. The bass is high in the mix since it's apparent that they preach at the altar of Rush and Geddy Lee every day. Brenner's vocals are clean, simple yet effective but yeah, his guitar riffs and solos are the real deal here. The dude knows how to write varied music with a lot of atmosphere while keeping things grounded and cohesive.

The Anxiety of Influence still has definite doom metal roots and it's perhaps one of their best albums I heard (I have yet to hear them all unfortunately, that's quite an endeavor). It's sort of a reconstructed traditional doom metal as it's using a lot of retro influences, there's even a big blues section in the second song (a prediction of things to come from the band) and there's lot of heavy prog too. The desert stoner rock sound is there even though they're from Maryland! I can hear some Kyuss as it's heavy bluesy metal/rock with a desolate vibe. Still, their sound isn't sad at all, it's groovy, almost joyful and with a lot of soul and passion. They finish the album on a very calm and serene note and it has some sort of dark beauty.

Sure, it's perhaps not the best album to start with Againt Nature because of its non traditional track-list. They have a bunch of shorter and streamlined progressive doom releases like Appease or Safe Dissonance which can serve as an introduction to the band but I believe this one of their finest releases. Against Nature is still quite unknown and it's a damn shame. They have a lot of extremely good material to check out. It's all on Bandcamp and it's cheap!

The album on Bandcamp

Circle - Sunrise (2002) / 95%

NWOFHM #8: Skulls, swords and masterful sauna fuckery

The band has a highly varied and large discography but the release of a surprising death metal album in 2013 (Incarnation) played entirely by session members. Nonetheless the metal factor was already present throughout many of their previous releases such as Tulikoira (2005), Katapult (2007), Hollywood (2008), Rautatie (2010) but was never totally and fully explored until recently.

Circle are truly an interesting entity, formed in the early 1990s by Jussi Lehtisalo and it's been his main creative focus since then. If you've been following this series of reviews (that's probably not the case!), you're aware that this eccentric Finn has been producing a wide catalog of music, often under the NWOFHM (New Wave of Finnish Heavy Metal) banner. Bands with weird monikers like Krypt Axeripper, Steel Mamoth, Pharaoh Overlord, Aktor or Arkhamin Kirjasto became staples of my musical diet and I felt ready to tackle the main course, the legendary Circle.

Sunrise was definitely one of these “almost” metal albums, it's an amalgamation of many genres into one potent but very rewarding experience. I liked all the Circle albums I checked, there's so many that I haven't heard them all yet but there's always a will to experiment and go forward while maintaining an unparalleled atmospheric approach. Their usual sound is a mix of droney experimental rock either instrumental or with unorthodox vocals. An album like Mountain (2005) is a great example of tenebrous drone/experimental/post rock with its two sinuous and long tracks. Sunrise has some of this cuisine on its menu but it's also incorporating a lot of rock and some metal influences. Almost a decade before Pharaoh Overlord's Out of Darkness, there's certainly some similarity between these two. Repetitiveness is one of Circle's main tool and they use it well for metallic and rock songs like the opener “Nopeuskuningas”. It's almost kraut metal as the main heavy and catchy riff is repeated endlessly while these insane vocals are unleashed and then, a psychedelic solo appears and tries to make its way through the might of THE riff for almost three minutes and finally succeeds. The song structures are out there and interesting enough and despite the repetitiveness, it's never boring or too much as the songs are not that long (except that final drone track). They know when to change the tempos and when to incorporate well thought moments of colorful joy (just like the glorious artwork)

The musicianship, like on every Circle album, is impressive and complex in its apparent simplicity. Lehtisalo's leadership is always felt throughout his bass playing (he probably plays the guitar on this album too, the credits are unclear about what each member is playing). It's at its core a prog rock/krautrock record so the guitar, both electric and acoustic, are the focus here but there's also some other instruments like the violin (track 6) and some electronic overtones that are included. Concerning the electronic side of their music, it's nothing compared to some of their other albums like 2011's Infektio.

Get ready to travel everywhere with this album, the second song is some sort of proggy folk pop in Finnish (well, in fact, the whole album is and that's wonderful) and as far as I know (I know nothing about that), it's influenced by native Finnish music. It sounds a bit like the Nordic Canadian music the Innu people make (check out track 4 for another example). This seems to be a mess on paper, right? Well, no it's not, even though the album is fairly diverse and goes from metallic hard rockish drone kraut experimental rock to atmospheric folky and sometimes joyful territories. It's highly condensed and has an extraordinary vision of how it should be, of how it should be constructed and how it should sound.

Sunrise is pretty much a timeless record as it's taking a metallic sort of 70s hard rock, some stoner rock and they threw it in a huge blender with krautrock and a bunch of psychedelic rock. It's timeless because it's still undeniably an oeuvre of its time and that's probably due to the idiosyncratic nature of Finland's musical scene, it doesn't try to be original, it simply is, effortlessly. With the use of clean but highly emphasized vocals, a given for Jussi Lehtisalo's projects, the band goes deeper and deeper into mad realms of genius artistry. I mean, the band was never quite accessible but this album is probably one of their most “gettable” as it's tight and catchy. It's a good way to get into them, I'd say.

Mix Led Zeppelin, Can and Finland and you'll get Circle, one of Earth's best and most original bands. Sunrise is a memorable album and the one I picked as my first review but you can't hardly go wrong with any of 'em.

While I'm the sauna, start your Circle exploration without me, you'll get lost but that's part of the process.

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