Rob Rock - Rage Of Creation, Massacre Records
Former Impellitteri
singer Rob Rock is finally displaying his vocal talents on a solo album. Rage Of Creation
was produced by Roy Z who also worked for the latest Rob Halford and Bruce Dickinson. Roy
played the guitars on this release too. Result is a high quality record featuring eleven
heavy metal tracks. It starts with a short instrumental track that goes over into the
powermetal song The Sun Will Rise Again. This song is full of energy, uptempo and with
Rob's excellent singing. Modern tones can be heard in Judgment Day with Roy's darker
guitar noises. Still it has that heavy metal sound many will love. There's an enjoyable
variety on Rage Of Creation. You'll hear top notch power metal and melodic metal. There's
also a cover of Abba's Eagle and an epic metal tune at the end called Forever. Solos are
skillfully played with an abundance of arpeggios and racing over the strings. Two solos
were conjured by Jake E Lee (Ozzy Osbourne, Badlands). My favorite song here is Streets Of
Madness, a song that can easily match any Iron Maiden hit-song. It has galloping riffs and
a chorus you can yell along to. Rage Of Creation is probably my favorite metal album of
2000!
Living
Sacrifice - The Hammering Process, Solid State Records
A highly anticipated
release from Solid State, that's what you can say about The Hammering Process. With the
release of Reborn, Living Sacrifice's previous album, the band gained lots of new
enthusiastic fans and inspired many hard bands worldwide. The Hammering Process features a
new line-up as the Truby brothers left the band. They are replaced by three guys. Two of
them were part of Eso-Charis. This renewed formation presents ten songs on the new
release. The music is filled with heavy metallic grooves, hoarse screams and laboriously
plodding guitars. Speed is scarce here. The production of Barry Poynter makes me remind of
his work for other bands. Engineering-wise he did an excellent job. The focus is on heavy
rhythms but there's space for melody now and then too, like in Altered Life with its clean
singing. Striking is the use of percussion (Bloodwork). One of the great songs is Burn The
End with huge guitars and even an acoustic intermezzo that has an acoustic guitar solo.
This is powerful music though a bit more speed here and there would please my taste more.
Nevertheless, this is a first class album. You'll hear an oiled machinery hard at work.
Let the process start!
Tinnitus
- 2000 years, Independent
This promotion
single has two tracks. The first one is the song 2000 Years which is a slow death metal
tune. The vocals vary from deep growls to almost black metal style. Musically it's mainly
a dark, heavy song. There's also a guitar solo that's played nicely. The guitartones could
be more huge though. 2000 Years will be one of the songs on the Metal Rose Collection of
Little Rose Productions. The second track is a drum solo recorded in a sauna. The solo
ends with a sound reminiscent of a cymbal clash, but this sound lingers. According to the
band it's the recorded sound of water being splashed on the owen in the sauna. Finnish
culture incorporated, eh?
Dogwood
- Building A Better Me, Tooth &
Nail Records
Put this CD in your
player. Rotate the song Comes Crashing and increase the volume. If you're not convinced by
what you're hearing, then this album is not your thing. Wow, I love that song! Dogwood is
a melodic punk band from San Diego and Building A Better Me is their fourth album, if I'm
correct. It's all high energy and melodic. Quite catchy sounds. The vocals have that
sandpaper-throat quality. Besides Comes Crashing there are other cool tunes, like the
passionate Mycro and Come Back Down. Dogwood is not a groundbreaking band artistically but
the music stands out. A special note on the booklet: It's designed to give it an 'old'
look. This means the paper looks aged and there are all kinds of classic looking
illustrations accompanying each lyric. The booklet also has a copyright of 1928 (!). Looks
real cool.
The O.C.
Supertones - Loud And Clear, BEC Recordings
Let me state it
clearly: Loud And Clear is loud and clear! The first time listening to it I immediately
knew this is a heavier release then last year's Chase The Sun. The Christian influenced
lyrics are as clear as ever. The album mixes up ska, punkrock, reggae and mainstream rock.
Vocalist Matt Morginsky sounds rapping in Pandora's Box and then sings in Forward To The
Future. Not every song is heavy but most of the songs have heavy elements making this a
harder edged album. Lift Me Up is a mellow track. Still it's easy digestible and sometimes
goofy. Lyrically they have Christian texts full of encouragement. This doesn't take away
that the band also likes having fun. This is displayed by the booklet. It contains
humorous band pictures like them pictured as members of the chess club with a hunch backed
Morginsky wearing broad rimmed glasses and a lousy waistcoat! Real zany. Loud And Clear
also has guest roles for Toby McKeehan (DC Talk) and the Gospel Ganstaz. The guitars were
played by Ethan Luck. Loud And Clear is a heavier album and I welcome it!
Slechtvalk
- Falconry, Fear Dark
Slechtvalk is the
Dutch name of a certain falcon. To be precise, the Falco Peregrinus. A book I consulted
says "no other bird of prey strikes its victims so much into fear, has such a raging
speed and kills in such an advanced and fast manner". So, the Slechtvalk is a bird of
extremes. Shamgar, mastermind behind Slechtvalk, was apparently inspired by this bird to
name his latest project Slechtvalk. There are similarities as Falconry is an extreme album
filled with nine black metal songs. Don't expect nine speedy tracks though. Only three
songs have real speedy parts. Especially in the third track In Hell I Burn which is the
most extreme song on the disc. A harsh black metal tune with machine gun drumming without
apparent keyboard playing in the first half, only piano in the second half. Falconry has a
variety of sounds. Most of the songs feature ethereal keyboards, dark guitarriffs and
Shamgar's harsh shrieking. There are some real beautiful songs and ideas though more
changes in speed here and there couldn't harm. The production is taken care of very well
resulting in an enigmatic and yet hard hitting album. Probably the best song is Cries Of
The Haunted with everything that can make black metal exiting. Warning: You might
enjoy this album....
Opprobrium -
Discerning Forces, Nuclear Blast
Records
A short introduction
of this band seems to me only appropriate as Opprobrium is not really new to the metal
scene. The history of this band goes back to the early eighties when the brothers Moyses
and Francis Howard got involved in the metal underground. Their band Incubus eventually
brought out two CD releases in 1988 and 1990. Ten years later the brothers are back as
Opprobrium (as there's another band claiming the name Incubus). Musically they dish up
brutal death metal full of changes in speed and riffing. There's a lot of energy to be
felt in those songs. The first track Digitrap sounds almost like Slayer doing death metal.
The vocals can be described as screaming growls. Result is a fierce metal album. Listening
to Awakening To The Filth I cannot help but being impressed by the playing skills of the
brothers. Here you can hear super tight playing while they labor on riff after riff as if
it's a routine job.
Test Of
Faith - Demo, Independent
If you like the
metal sounds of eighties and early nineties, a style that revives in some parts of this
world, Test Of Faith may be a band worth to check out. The three songs on this demo CD
display a band with powerful melodic metal. Their songs have both heavy parts and acoustic
passages. The production is fairly good and the songwriting is done with care showing a
band capable of more. Especially the first cut, No More Rainbows, is great. The vocals
could be a little more rough though.
The Juliana
Theory - Emotion Is Dead, Tooth
& Nail Records
As a deejay I've got
some titles here to practice first before daring to utter them before the listening
audience. What do you think of To The Tune Of 5,000 Screaming Children or If I Told You
This Was Killing Me, Would You Stop? And this way reviews can become quite lengthy too! On
Emotion Is Dead The Juliana Theory took an even more poppy approach than on Understand
This Is A Dream, their Tooth & Nail debut. Still you can hear great guitarrock with
catchy vocal lines. There's heaviness in songs such as Understand The Dream Is Over and
the bombastic If I Told You This Was Killing Me, Would You Stop? But there are many mellow
moments as well. There's a lot of feeling for melody and beauty. What I like about this
band is their ability to play the right chord at the right time, to sing the right note at
the right time. The outcome is pretty impressive. Just listen to You Always Say Goodnight,
Goodnight to get an idea. The lyrics are not always easy to understand and are sometimes
almost philosophical: "I hate to think hesitation is a burden. A bittersweet design
for a lesson you're learning." (Don't Push Love Away). I'm not surprised by the
quality on this disc but even then I have to say this is a real gem.
Squad Five-O
- Bombs Over Broadway, Tooth &
Nail Records
Glam from the
streets, that's perhaps the best description I can give this record. What you hear is raw
rock 'n roll with a punky garage sound. And at the same time there's a glamrock twist to
it. A song like Renegade has an Alice Cooper feel. The same goes for Restless Youth with
its bluesy flavor. Some of the other songs are sleazier like the uptempo Lost Boys which
is more in the punkrock vein. Bombs Over Broadway was produced by Duane Baron who also
worked for Ozzy Osbourne, Mötley Crüe and Alice Cooper. But the production is not as
slicky, overproduced as you might expect. It's quite a raw release that might please both
the rock 'n roll fans as those who appreciate punk influenced rock. What more can I say?
There are eleven songs on the disc that fill more than forty minutes. Go to the store and
find out for yourself.
3rd Root
- A Sign Of The Things To Come, Solid
State Records/Tooth & Nail
Records
The follow-up of
their Spirit Of Life EP contains the six songs from the EP re-recorded plus eight new
songs. It's not easy to describe their sound as they mix up hardcore and metal. There's a
clear Deftones influence which you can hear in Some People and Zion. Let's call it new
metal for lack of a better term. Especially the vocals remind me of Chino Moreno. One
moment the vocals can be hypnotizing, dreamy vocals, and the other you hear violent shrill
screams. But 3rd Root sounds almost bombastic at times, like in Prophet's Eye. The new
song My Soul has heavy plodding riffs and heavy chord structures. A Sign Of The Things To
Come was a production of Darren Grahn who assisted notable bands like Metallica and Third
Eye Blind too. A striking difference to the mentioned bands is 3rd Root's Christian stance
which you can read in the lyrics. Take for example the Spanish song Sangre. While
listening to this album I have to say the band's sound somehow fascinates me though I'm
not real sure if I like them. Somehow their songs have elements that stick fast in my
mind. It's like the song Zion which was on the EP. For an obscure reason it got stuck in
my musical memory. This may happen with some stuff on this album too. The signs are there.
Fanmail
- 2000, Tooth & Nail Records
Are there any
Backstreet Boys fans on this site right now? Do you remember their huge chartbuster I Want
It That Way? Of course you do! Well, Fanmail covered that song on their latest album. But,
if you think that BSB are too sissy, you have a reason too to check this version out as
it's rockin' one! Fanmail's music is a fine mix of energy and pop, of punkrock and
powerpop, accompanied by scratches and samples in a couple of songs. There's a variety of
midtempo and uptempo songs. But sometimes it's like it's all cut from the same wood as the
songs all have a lot in common. 2000 is dedicated to the loving memory of Gene Eugene who
did engineering on this album but who passed away earlier this year. The last song
entitled The Other Side describes how singer and guitarist Scott Silletta felt about
Eugene. This song also has a sample of Hammond organ playing. Gene Eugene was often heard
on records playing this instrument. Production of this album is good and the booklet was
designed with care. However, musically I'm not entirely satisfied with the outcome. It's
good playing but I prefer a bit more diversity and creativity.
Driving West
- Power, Kaluboné Records
The history of this
band goes back to the early 90's when the core members of Driving West were in the band
Sahara Rain that released one album and then disbanded. Driving West was formed in 1999.
While listening to Power I hear a clear King's X influence in the harmonic vocals. It's no
surprise to see King's X guitarist Ty Tabor listed as executive producer of the recording.
A song like Color Blind/Anger sounds a bit too much as an attempt to sound like King's X.
But apart from that song Driving West is a different band with its heavy and groovy rock
structures and funky elements (as in Must Be Love). The playing is fair, the writing is
good and the production is good. However, I don't really get excited about this album but
that may be a matter of taste.
Armageddon
Holocaust - In Total Destruction, THT Underground
Destruction Metal is
what they call it themselves. Armageddon Holocaust appears to be a project of the combined
forces of the Dark Doktor (from Bealiah) and the Dark Thriller, both from Indonesia. What
they've made is an extreme black metal piece consisting of twelve tracks describing the
darker moments of human history yet to come. The production by Jefray Arwadi (from Kekal)
is treble-emphasized creating a primitive sound. Along with depressing dark melodies and a
cracking vocal style they remind me a bit of the Horde album though this record sounds
more aggressive and nasty. On Countdown To Destruction you can hear violent and dark music
with distant noises like the noises from a pigsty. One of the better cuts on Into Total
Destruction is Seven Bowls Of Destruction. The drums bore me constantly though as they
sound like a drummachine at full speed all the time. For those who want it here's some
morbid music to scare your friends off.
Eden In
Ruins - The Dead Skin Demos, Independent
How would you like
the Mona Lisa if a thick veil covered this painting that graces a wall in Les Louvres,
Paris? Well, my idea of this recording is that it contains music that's covered by a veil.
What a dull sound! The guitars, the drums, they all sound so distant that you can't hear
them in all glory. Just like a painting covered by a veil. This is regrettable as the
music is interesting and well played. The guitar sounds and solos sometimes make me think
of Seventh Angel. The music was written and performed by one person, a guy named Todd
Pope. It can be described as old style death metal with deep growling vocals. But it's not
fast stuff. Only the song Devastator is fast. Not quite modern stuff but I don't mind as
the music should stand on its own, not on trends. Todd does his thing and he does it very
well, I only wish it wasn't covered by a veil.
Soapbox
- A Divided Man, Sally Forth
Records/Structure Records
A Divided Man is the
follow-up album of the six-song EP Soapbox released last year. On the new album there are
15 songs plus a bonustrack. Five of the songs were on the EP too, like Guilty. In that
song they sang quite appropriately: "I want something more, I want something more to
happen". Well, here they are with eleven new songs to happen. Just like on the EP
they bring a nice mix of hardcore and punk. It sounds like rock 'n roll turned to hardcore
with a punk twist to it. The music is energetic with speedy chops of drummer Andreas and
the ferocious screams of Simon while bassist Krister adds melodic singing. The songs are
skillfully played with some beautiful guitarwork of Pär. For those who never heard of
this band: Soapbox is Sweden's best kept secret. But it wouldn't surprise me when they
sign a US deal soon. I guess it's just a matter of time. Thumps up!
Robert Sweet - Love Trash,
World Gone Mad
Many of you will
know that Robert Sweet used to be drummer for the eighties metalband Stryper, the band
that sold its millions. Robert was the driving force of much that happened around the band
while his brother Michael wrote the majority of the songs on the six Stryper albums. This
solo effort of Robert is the first time to really get to know his songwriting skills. To
be honest I had to get used to the music on Love Trash. I had expected something much
closer to Stryper's smooth melodic metal sound. Instead I hear a rough hardrock sound.
Some of this stuff is powerful. Most of the songs are midtempo. Some tracks have catchy
elements like Any Enemy, I'm Screwed and Best Regrets while Sweet Betrayal is a nice
acoustic song with rather puzzling lyrics. Beautiful musical textures contains Me Myself
And You, a tune that sounds closest to Stryper perhaps. All instruments were played by
Robert himself but he plays well. The vocals are taken care of by Larry Worley (formerly
of Fear Not).I have to say that Robert's songwriting surprises me and though I'm not crazy
about it immediately, I find some good stuff here.
Detonation
- Cry It Out, Independent
Detonation is a
metalband from the German speaking part of Switzerland. That's why you can see the English
lyrics translated into German. Cry It Out contains four songs of which one (Unity) is cut
into four parts. The music on the EP can be described as old school heavy metal with
thrash and powermetal influences. The vocals are screaming thought they are clean and
plain to understand. A song like Louder Than Hell makes me think of the fast stuff of
Anaemia. The intro of Unity Part III could have been the intro to an Iron Maiden song.
Musically Detonation is somewhere in between those bands with quite some extra energy (but
not as brutal as Anaemia). The songs are okay but the quality of the recording could have
been better to make the songs more enjoyable as this is not at all a Bill Metoyer
production. But I'll keep an eye on this band as there's a potential for more.
Diesel
- Misérya, independent
Diesel is a
Brazilian band that changed its name to South Diesel recently. Misérya is their two year
old demo-EP. There are five songs on it with one sung partly in Portuguese. The music is a
combination of metal and hardcore. It can be described as metalcore perhaps, with vocals
that vary from singing and clear screaming to rap. A great song is Suburbia with Living
Sacrifice influences and a tremolo overdosed guitar solo. Overall, this band knows how to
write good songs and though it's not exceptional I can enjoy them. Production is not bad
though the sound of the recording could have been better. Sometimes a little more
militant. Nevertheless a fine demo release.
Born Blind -
One For All, Solid State
Records
Born Blind from San
Diego is back with a new album, the follow-up of last year's Pressing On. One For All
contains old school hardcore, with a little new school, in the vein of No Innocent Victim.
No wonder as three of the guys in the band were part of NIV for some time. Like Kurt who
was the original drummer of that band. The music on this twelve song record is harder and
better in sound then their previous recording. Singer Judd Morgan has an aggressive hoarse
screaming sound which also reminds me of his former band. The current NIV sounds a
bit more metallic and aggressive I think. That doesn't take away that Born Blind might be
conceived as just another NIV. Whether that's fair to say is for you to decide. One For
All undoubtedly contains first class old school material that people will certainly enjoy.
Just listen to songs as Dead Hands and Look Into The Soul to hear great tracks.
Extol -
Undeceived, Endtime Productions/Solid State Records
Wow, the new Extol
is really a step into the right direction with songs easier accessible than before and
with mindcatching riffing. With sonic noises that fill a lot of space, down tuned raging
guitarwork and adorned with violins a la Believer in three songs. Also in the riffing I
sense a Believer influence. All played skillfully, tight and yet melodic. Production is
better and more varied with three instrumentals thrown in for you to take a few breaths
before the metal onslaught continues. It makes the CD a little easier to
survive....Undeceived contains nine heavy and technical death metal songs with vocals
varying from harsh growls to almost shrieking, black metal style. But most of the times
it's somewhere in between. The black metal influence is not so evident on Undeceived as on
Burial, their debut. They cling to their death metal basics. Some of the most beautiful
sounds and ideas captured on this disc can be found in Ember with the clean vocal style of
Ole Børud coupled with Peter Espevoll's harsh growls and violin playing. Those who want
to hear more of Ole's singing style should listen to Renewal where he gets a fair share of
the singing. Overall this is a pretty exciting CD that will not disappoint the fans while
winning some more.
Ghoti Hook
- Two Years To Never, Tooth &
Nail Records
Ghoti Hook hasn't
been sitting idle since Banana Man, their second album. As you may know they released a
record filled with covers called Songs We Didn't Write. Along the way their sound
developed. I remember a review of Banana Man in a Dutch magazine in which the
reviewer tore the album to pieces and literally threw it out of the window (at least he
wrote so). Two Years To Never is a different album. Banana Man was mainly a rough played
fun punk album while Two Years To Never might be described as heavy rock with punkpop
abilities. Just listen to the beautiful song Lullaby with an intro of piano and gentle
guitar playing while after 35 seconds a song begins that still has heaviness but with a
poppy approach, more than ever. They sound quite serious too. And this goes for the rest
of Two Years To Never too. The quality is so much better with production of Sean O'Dwyer
who also engineered Enema Of The State by Blink-182. A song that's definitely harder is
Chevy Nova with hardcore leanings. The musicianship improved too. I don't know what that
Dutch reviewer will write about Two Years To Never but he can't complain about the quality
anymore. I think I'm gonna play Lullaby real loud!
Society's
Finest - The Journey...So Far, Solid State Records
Presented to you on
this disc is metalcore from Texas. Sometimes the music on The Journey reminds me of
Embodyments first album (Embrace The Eternal) though there are hardly fast parts here.
Mainly slow and midtempo passages. The music consists of one riff followed by another
without much points of recognition throughout the songs. At first it sounds like one big
mess. Maybe this band is best described as a cross between old Embodyment and Zao. The
vocalist sounds much like the singer on the first Embodyment album, Kris McCaddon. He's in
Society's Finest nowadays too but he's not handling the vocals. Singer is Josh Ashworth
while Kris is one of the guitarists. The quality of the disc is just splendid but the
problem I have with many bands in this genre is that they don't write songs that really
stick into my mind. The same I feel about this band. Great band, fantastic ideas, but it
appears as just a bunch of freaked out sounds to me. The only song that comes close is
Knife Fight.
MxPx
- The Ever Passing Moment, A & M Records/Tooth & Nail Records
In my CDplayer: The
new MxPx! This album was released by A & M Records in cooperation with Tooth &
Nail. On it are fifteen songs that fill exactly forty minutes. Like on previous recordings
the band presents quality poppunk material. Over the years the quality became better as
these three guys developed and matured further, as musicians. The Ever Passing Moment
still has some of the youthful energy as featured on the first two albums, only the
melodies got bigger. Take for instance Buildings Tumble that starts like a song that could
have been on their previous stuff, but it develops more poppy. Overall this records has a
lot of pop elements like you can hear in Responsibility. Their Christian roots are perhaps
displayed best in Foolish and It's Undeniable. This is a pretty cool album again.
Various
Artists - New Music Buzz From Tooth & Nail, Tooth & Nail Records
This is a great CD
to get to know some current and upcoming material on Tooth & Nail, Solid State Records
and BEC Recordings. The compilation starts with Squad Five-0 with the titletrack of their
upcoming Bombs Over Broadway album. The other bands buzzing around are Ace Troubleshooter,
Ghoti Hook, The Juliana Theory, Slick Shoes, Fanmail, Fine China, 3rd Root, Calibretto 13,
Shorthanded, The Deluxtone Rockets, Off The Record, Element 101, The Deadlines, AP2 and
Embodyment. There's a lot of good stuff on this disc and therefore it's a must-grab-thing
for sure!
Dust Eater
Dogs - King Kong Fist, Little
Rose Productions/Bullroser Records
Why call a single
King Kong Fist when they didn't put the song on the disc? I guess this is the Dust Eater
Dogs' style of humor. This Finnish band delivers their follow-up to the Motor album. The
single contains one song: Motor! Dust Eater Dogs is a talented band that knows to write
great songs with their own distinct sound. There are two versions of Motor. Both are raw
rock 'n roll songs with hardcore influences. The Storebror Edit is a little bit lighter,
with mouth harp added, and it's sung in Swedish (I think). The original version has the
rough screaming vocals of Benny Majabacka. This track is also featured in a video which
you can find on the CD as well. It's good to hear DeD again. |