Demon Head – Ride the Wilderness (2015) 74%

Ride the Sheep

Denmark's Demon Head full length is a bit late to the vintage doom metal or hard rock party but it's nonetheless quite enjoyable. This whole European scene is known for often blurring the line between metal and rock and these guys are a good example of this phenomenon (if I may call it one). Sweden's Witchcraft were one of the instigators of the movement and Rise Above Records and Demon Head is certainly a disciple of this doctrine.

The mastering was done by Kadavar's drummer Christoph "Tiger" Bartelt and you can definitely feel his beardy touch as the sound is quite similar to what the German rockers are playing (awesome live band) but with more doom metal influences as they're heavier and riffier but no less intense. The sound is natural with a very vintage and old school tonality as it was expected, this fits their compositions very well. They sound like a mix of old Danzig with Sabbath and Pentagram but also a big helping of psych rock. The dual guitars attack is only to create added intricacies since you usually only need to play this genre and Demon Head are not into complexities. There's still some legit fuzzy solos or simple leads intertwined with the hard hittin' traditional riffs.

Their singer, Ferreira Larsen, tries to channel Glenn Danzig and it's not a bad attempt, really but he's nowhere near as virile and Jimmorrisonesque as the ex singer of Misfits. The effects on the vocals give them an ancient mystic vibe and this works in the context of their music. The vocals are catchy, often using melodic choruses with simple hooks. The dude is also the drummer of Alucarda, another Danish band who released a pretty cool full length on Caligari Records (the label releasing Ride the Wilderness on tape) but they're pretty far from the horror inspired doom/punk and probably not as interesting either.

The songs are pretty tight and dense even the longer ones like “Worthless” (it's not exactly worthless). The album is devoid of filler, it's groovy and dynamic and the songs are well written but it's not quite memorable and I don't think I'll go back to it often. Nonetheless, their influences (from traditional doom to hard rock and so forth) are well balanced.

While it's good stuff and there's nothing intrinsically bad or truly mediocre about them, I really feel they missed their boat, this style of music has been done to death since the early 2000s by better bands. Still, if you dig Graveyard, Kadavar and the likes but want their sound to be a bit more metallic, check 'em out. They will not become the leader of their sheep flock with their music but they're an apt and talented trend follower.

Facebook
Metal Archives

Pendulous - A Palpable Sense of Love & Loss (2015) / 85%

An enjoyable sense of doom and death

I was recommended this band by a friend and I judged them perhaps too hastely because of the cover art but also the title of their album. I thought it was a bit corny and I expected the music to be some sort of pseudo depressive metal/rock à la Katatonia. But eh, I was wrong. While it's certainly sad, it's serious, well written and not sappy at all. The LA quintet's debut album is an excellent album and it's already showcasing some serious songwriting skills. They understood how to thoroughly mix genres very well, even though it's their debut full length, these dudes are certainly experienced musicians and this record is a proof of it.

It's clearly an extreme doom metal album with nods to both doom/death and funeral doom, there's even some post rock elements. It's all wonderfully mixed together in long intricate songs. A track like “Hibernal Sun” is including some really lovely post rock moments and it fits very well. Furthermore, the transitions between the genres are done effortlessly and the ten plus minutes tracks formula works for them. The Metal Archives classifies them as a doom/death metal band and, for the most part, it's accurate but they're much more than that. They're one of those bands that are hard to classify since they're largely original. I guess tags like “dark metal” or “atmospheric doom metal” are also accurate for Pendulous. One thing that's pretty obvious is that you will not find any happiness here!

Eric Rezső Mendoza (also stellar in his former band Dona Eis Requiem) has to be the highlight of this album, the duality of his vocals is quite interesting. Ranging from deep, harsh vocals borrowing from both death and black metal (but mostly funeral doom) to profound cleans reminding me of Aaron Stainthorpe or the emotional traditional doom voice of Patrick Walker. E.R.M. has a very versatile voice and it helps to create the same vocal combo present in Mourning Beloveth, a band that I could identify as their nearest peer.
The album starts and ends with spoken word over some gloomy music and I thought they were a bit too much and unnecessary, that's almost ten minutes out of a hour album but, at least, he has an intriguing voice so it's not completely useless. I have a tendency not to skip any tracks but I guess I will when I'll listen to this album again. These spoken vocals are also included in the bulk of the album and it adds to the varied atmosphere. It's still something I'd personally remove as they're already able to convey many emotions just with their musicality and it's frankly a bit grating. It's a personal thing, really, someone might like what they done with this. Nonetheless, that's the only negative thing I have to point out about as it's very strong otherwise.

From what I said, it's safe to imply that the material present here is quite slow but they keep things interesting with a lot of dynamism and many atmosphere variations like some super heavy riffing and slow moments full of shadows. While it's obviously a “technical” band and there's no shred or the likes, the musicians all subtly shine. The drums are a mix of some blastbeats and more traditional percussions while the bass (sometimes noisy and thundering) is apt at filling the void when the two guitars are at their softest. The guitars are really great when they play with textures and try their hand at atmospheric post rock and the likes. There's also some supplementary instruments like cello and piano (listen to “Memoirs” and they add a welcome classical background to the music.

A Palpable Sense of Love & Loss (that's a mouthful) is excellent at mixing moods, the despair is present in both the doom/death metal attacks and their reflective and rich side. Their lyrics are poetic and melancholic with an added sense of dread and sorrow to them as we could expect from a band evolving in those genres but it's totally evocative and romantically somber.

The band sounds more like something found in Northern Europe than a bunch of dudes from the Los Angeles area. They channel their aggression in a classy, solemn manner unlike the Bay Area thrash metal, that's for sure. Highly recommended. 

Pendulous on Bandcamp
Metal Archives

Moros Nyx - Rite of Rebellion (2015) / 77%

I discovered this band due to their presence on the awesome American true metal festival Ragnarokkr (that I'd like to attend one day) and due to their awesome artwork, I decided to give them a chance. The cover art of this demo (released digitally, on vinyl, on tape and on CD) is pure trad metal pushed to its cheesy apex. It looks like a scene out of a corny (but so enjoyable) fantasy/science fiction roleplaying game (don't forget to notice the pistol at the side of the knight) and I'd like to print the cover and color it! It reminds me of the amateurish charm of fellow Americans Realmbuilder, in any case it's much better than CGI/computerized art.

Musically, the Chicago natives are uncompromising in their revival nature. It's a mix of virile speed metal with heavy metal, power metal and even hard rock goodness. They preach at the altars of Dio (see both his solo career and his involvement with Rainbow), Helloween but also the old school attacks of US based Savage Grace or Brocas Helm. It's raw, melodic stuff but it's not sugary like modern power metal, it's fast, aggressive with high pitched vocals with some added venom to them. Some vocal melodies are straight from the Ronnie James book of wonders and Matt Papai (also guitars) is an apt vocalist and there's even an extra epic feel with some chanted background vocals (see the excellent track Child of the Dream)

After a short instrumental introduction with sorrowful leads and a horn preceding the battle, we get three blistering rippers full of catchy guitar leads and riffs. It's pretty well produced for a demo, it's groovy, the bass is present and enjoyable but the drums could be a bit more metallic and heavy. It's not adventurous, it's carefully written trad metal for the true fans of the genre. They shouldn't be expected to release some avant garde fuckery anyway. Even though it's called “Rite of Rebellion”, they're not rebelling against the old ways, they're embracing them. It's perfectly fine since their influences are solid.

The band has a lot of potential based on this demo, it was released more than a year ago so I bet they're working hard on a their debut full length.  Anyhow, this is an impressive first release from Moros Nyx and y'all should listen to it.

Bandcamp - Free download
Facebook
Metal Archives

Ranger – Where Evil Dwells (2015) / 83%

Gotta go fast for Satan

After two pretty good extended plays (2013 and 2014), Ranger from Helsinki are back with their debut full length and they're ready to tear you a new asshole with it. The Fnns, like Carl Hagelin who plays with the New York Rangers, are hellishly fast. They're even trying to make you summon Satan, check out “Black Circle” with its occult “Say you love Satan” line repeated numerous time at the end mimicking the infernal opener of Hell Awaits (happy thirtieth birthday, by the way!) This song is about the famous Acid King affair, a pretty metal subject, to be fair!

Speed metal can be a hard genre to define, sometimes it's wrongly used or simply added to another style to be more precise. For me, speed metal is the clever mix of heavy, thrash and power metal into a super fast (that's a given) lunchable. It's also often more melodic than your usual thrash metal. Ranger are one of those bands, they play bombastic speed metal with dual lead guitar solos and an overall badass attitude.

The album is the perfect length for its style, a bit less than forty minutes and it works so well for the ripping approach they favor. Nourished by the Canadian two headed school of speed, Razor and Exciter but also by Americans Agent Steel or even Megadeth. There's legitimate Mustaine influences in the super high and screeching vocals and some of the more politically inclined lyrics (see the opener “Defcon 1” without any of the nutcase propaganda of ol' Dave. Dimi's vicious vocals fits their well written and over the top lyrics. 

It sure is fast but the dudes know how to write interesting long numbers, the title track is even an ambitious ten minutes track (not totally unlike some of Blood Tsunami's stuff). It succeeds at keeping things relatively fast and interesting with its military beat and its excellent leads all over the place but it's hard for anyone to pull off a truly compelling track like that, it does sound like a bunch of songs mashed together. Still, that's a minor concern and the overall pacing of the album is quite okay. A bit weird that the single “Storm of Power” is finishing the album though but it ends on a high note as it's ripper. 

Even if they're fast as fuck, they take their time to blast your head with a wide array of riffs and they remember to unleash some mid-paced goodies from time to time. Their musicianship is strong and despite the two guitarists being recent acquisitions to the team, a certain chemistry is present. The drums are thundering and doesn't rely on blastbeats to be in your face, there's some cool bass licks and the instrument is more present than in your usual speed/thrash/power metal band. The guitars are quite incisive and the overall production suits their needs like a ten ton bulldozer. 

They took their time with their debut full length and it shows, I think they achieved the sound they wanted and while it's not original, that's irrelevant due to its awesomeness. It's retro metal, it's well done and they preach and worship the right entities. It's never boring and it's fun, evil metal that doesn't take itself too seriously and that's always a plus for a genre like theirs. Sure, Where Evil Dwells doesn't reach the level of quality of their classic influences but

It's pure energy with blistering solos. Alongside Speedtrap, they're the best speed metal representatives of Finland. Gotta go fast!

Facebook

Trust Your Heart– Trust Your Heart (2015) / 0%

Turd Fannyback Christian Metal

Oh god (appropriate use of that word considering what I review), this is truly something else... After releasing a bunch of awful black metal albums under the name Animae Capronii, Cesare Sannino decided to change the name of his project to Trust Your Heart. After album titles like Jesus Is My Hope When I Am Hopeless , Heavenly Unblack Metal or Please Forgive Me Oh Lord, he probably wanted to completely remove the black metal aesthetics from his music. Sort of weird when he already had a heavy/power metal band under his own name and released four full lengths till 2010 but I guess they weren't about JESUS!

Cesare might seem like a troll but I'm 100% certain he's as legit as these old grand-mothers I see leaving the church when I go get some beer at the convenience store near my place. I mean, he's from Italy, a country widely known for its catholic roots. I like to believe that people are serious about their art, if we can call this album “art”, that is. Anyhow, the album isn't bad because it's about Christianity, I like a lot of doom metal about Jesus and Warlord freaking rocks, it's bad because the music is simply awful manure.

“Jesus christ is the light, the word of god incarnated”

Trust Your Heart is like a very bad B series movie, you know like these Chinese movies by Godfrey Ho that you watch with your friends to have fun and laugh at how bad they are? It's so bad it's good, it made me laugh a lot and it was fun to share the experience with others. The music is heavy metal, I guess? It's hard to say because it sounds like it's totally unfinished. The programmed drums are bad, they sound like a little wooden stick punching some cardboard and the guitars are often replaced with a twenty bucks keyboard/keytar found in a pawn shop. It's sterile, under-produced (self produced, of course) “metal” with really unusual (in a bad, autistic way) melodies. He even tries to include some black metal like this cover of this (probably awful) British unblack metal at the end. It doesn't even fit with the rest of the album, it's just there at the end, finishing the turd.

He tried to mix some music genres to create an “epic” atmosphere like many legendary and competent Italian bands did before him (think of Dark Quarterer or Adramelch) but he simply isn't talented enough to pull it off. It's cheap casio music that will be played at his local church by an embarrassed priest. I'd be embarrassed to actually release something with the kind of vocals present on this album, they're so whiny, weak and so annoyingly obnoxious. He sounds like the worst singers who did auditions for TV shows like The Voice that you can find on the Internet. He's like an Italian William Hung but it's even funnier since he's taking himself seriously.

With song titles like “Dark Thoughts in my Head” and “Too Many Visions of the Apocalypse”, you know you're in for a trip into putrid cheese territories. The dude can't write semi coherent lyrics to save the life of Jesus, I know it's not his first language and Italians aren't exactly well known for the quality of their English but come on now. It's middle school level stuff written by a dude wearing a fannyback.

The dude behind Trust Your Dream is so amateurish that he can't find anyone to join his projects and since that's the case, he has to do everything on his own but he barely has any skills whatsoever so his music isn't worth anything.

Indeed, it's a free download (well, at least it's free 'cause no one should have to pay for this crap) is in 128 kbs, I feel that a better bit rate would probably ruin the experience altogether. The shitty quality fits the awfulness of the music, like mustard and ketchup on a hot dog, it's the best experience you can get for choosing to listen to something like that. Like hot dogs, it's surely bad for you but you'll at least enjoy it. Nevertheless, unlike processed meat, this will never leave my body, it will forever be in my head like Christ is in heart, I guess?

Check out his blog and download his album for free, you'll laugh!

Cave of Swimmers - Reflection (2015) / 98%

Superb artwork, quite evocative

The water is great, the doom is greater

Cave of Swimmers were on my check out list for a while when I received the promo for Reflection, what a better way to discover a band than with their newest album? I was more than surprised with the quality of this band, they're perhaps my discovery of the year (or maybe the decade???) so far, it's so good, it's almost hard to comprehend.

The band is actually a duo composed of Venezuelan childhood friends who both moved to Miami, Florida in the mid 2000s and oh boy, they're so talented that I became emotionally unstable when I first heard the album. I only get these sort of reactions once or twice a year nowadays. It's hard to discover something that will trouble your tripes that much when you're deeply involved in metal, especially doom, a genre I've been exploring thoroughly for a while now. These guys touched me with their music like Opeth did when I was a mere teenager who was still buying the latest System of a Down albums.

What are they playing though? That's why I'm here, right? Well, it's hard to explain but I'll try... At their core, they're a very epic doom band with soaring clean vocals and it's not everyday you hear a better singer than Messiah Marcolin but Guillermo Perez is unbelievable and chilling. His deep, rich vocals are so powerful than they probably woke up Hugo Chavez from the dead. He's operatic as hell, he's very lyrical and delivers the lyrics in a hypnotic way. Musically though, they're nowhere near what most epic doom metal bands are doing these days (see generic bands like Below or even the latest Sorcerer who are on aping at the altar of their Swedish masters). These guys are truly doing something else here, they include a fair load of progressive metal/rock, especially in the glorious, melodic and intricate guitar solos but also with the river-like song structures. It's hard to describe their progressive side, it has the classiness of Queen's heaviest material and the epic might of Rainbow's Rising and even some Rush (the first song starts with some keyboards similar to Rush's 2112) To emulate these bands and to honor their heritage, you need quite the singer and Cave of Swimmers is lucky to have such a talent.

They don't stop there though, they'd be mad not to continue their superb blend of styles! The duo also includes some Latin influences, like the percussion break in the first song “The Prince of the Power of the Air” that made me change my pants when I first heard it. It made me think of the experimental Latino side of The Mars Volta mixed with the operatic power of Dantesco's Puerto Rican epic doom. This link to their homeland doesn't feel forced or gimmicky, it's an integral part of their sound and it's influencing the other sides of their identity. There's also some stoner rock/metal and some alternative rock bits (more prevalent in their self titled debut album though). A stew of all good things can only be great if the sauce is thick and able to form a connected whole, they manage to be cohesive throughout the four songs.

The album is sort of composed of two sides. The first one includes two long numbers (both around ten minutes) and the second has two shorter compositions containing the self titled instrumental track that's ending “Reflection”. The release also includes a shorter edit of the first track, it's the featured song on their Bandcamp page. The album, excluding that edited song, is less than thirty five minutes and you've left wanting more since it's so damn great. I think the band has the potential to become even more epic and grandiose and that's only a tease (but a magnificent one) of things to come. At least they're not offering a bloated eighty minutes album like some bands are doing.

Lyrically, the band is very focused and doesn't use a lot of words, they prefer to repeat the tremendous lines and create a mesmerizing feel and it's so freaking catchy. Sometimes less is more but that's only the case for their lyrics since they go all in everywhere else.

Proving they're not scared of experimenting with anything, Cave of Swimmers managed to craft a compelling and very smart diverse album with a bombastic atmosphere and some of the best and most interesting musicianship the metal world has to offer.

There's almost nothing here I don't like but the short length has left me hungry for more just like you want to eat a BLT and there's no more bacon in the house, it's that tragic. But sometimes, a tease can be better and more rewarding that the actual act. Cave of Swimmers made me want to jump into their clear and interior pond, that's for sure. So remove your coats, put a smile on your face, a swimsuit on your body and dive into their excellent music.

Cave of Swimmers' Bandcamp
Facebook

Papa Bear Tony's Podcast -Kitchen sink selection- April 15th 2015

Here's a very diverse (but hopefully cohesive) podcast about plenty of stuff I really dig. Some of these albums were reviewed on this blog (Ningen Isu, Aktor, Mausoleum Gate and Legionnaire). There's a whole section dedicated to Québec rock and this was fun to do. From pure heavy metal to post punk and progressive doom, there's some of my favorite music here. Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD THE PODCAST HERE: DROPBOX

Here's the tracklist: 

Band – song – album – year

First section 0:00 to 8:30
Circle – Satulinnut – Sunrise - 2002

Circle – Tulilintu – Tulikoira - 2005

Aktor – Buried by the Sea – I Am the Psychic Waves – 2013

Second section 8:30 to 24:35

Ningen-Isu – Motto Hikari Wo – Rashoumon - 1993

Ningen-Isu – Dokusaisha Saigo No Yume – Ougon no Yoake – 1992
Sigh – A Messenger from Tomorrow – Graveward – 2015

Third section 24:40 to 45:34

Galaxie – Dragon – Zulu - 2015

Corridor –Panique au village - Un magicien en toi - 2013

Chocolat - Fantôme – Tss Tss - 2014

Fred Fortin – Grandes jambes – Plastrer la lune - 2009

Madking Ludwig – Division Sun – Seven Stairways – 2008

Fourth section 45:34 to 1hr08

Seremonia – Alfa ja Omega – Kristalliarkki – 2015

Screaming Females – Ripe – Rose Mountain – 2015

Paul Banks – Games for Days – Julian Plenti is.. Skyscraper – 2009

Kesä - Tuuli kääntyy – Kesä - 2015

Kesä – Harmaakuvia – Kesä – 2015

The Exploding Eyes Orchestra – My Father the Wolf – I – 2015

Fifth section 1hr10 to 1hr32

Remmirath – Iram of the Pillars - Shambhala Vril Saucers – 2015

Solar Halos – The Vast White Plains – Solar Halos – 2014

Cave of Swimmers – The Prince of the Power of the Air – Reflection -2015

Sixth section 1hr33 to 1hr44
Mausoleum Gate – Magic of the Gypsy Queen – Mausoleum Gate – 2014

Legionnaire – The Guardian – The Enigma of Time – 2015

Lord Fist – Master of the Witches – Green Eyleen - 2015