Sometimes life just isn’t fair. One of those times, many years back, I was working in a record store and met a woman who was as close to a perfect “10” as I’ve ever seen, she was into metal, was single and thought my jokes were funny. She was also, as it turned out, a lesbian. Another time, I found out about a band from West Virginia called BYZANTINE. On the advice of another very astute writer (from The Ripple Effect), I picked up their 2008 release “Oblivion Beckons” and discovered that they combined the savage aggression of prime-time Pantera, the lead guitar prowess of a Danish guy named Hank and the creativity and melodic sense of the very highest order. I also found out they’d ceased operations as a band only a few days after the release of “Oblivion…” which was their 3rd album. And yet, so impressed was I with this shiny circular disc that I contacted guitarist/vocalist OJ Ojeda to discuss his band’s relatively short tenure. I discovered that he’s quite a thoughtful, cool guy who was willing to share a wealth about BYZANTINE, as well as the knowledge that the future may contain hope. (BYZANTINE was/is rounded out by: Tony Rohbrough – guitars, Michael Cromer – bass, Matt Wolfe – drums. )
RAY - I’ve always liked to think of myself as a pretty in-the-know kinda guy when it comes to heavy music, but once again I’ve been proven to be a complete ignoramus. You see, until I got a great tip on BYZANTINE from The Ripple Effect guys, I didn’t know anything about your band at all. So…with that in mind, I’m figuring there may be some readers in the same boat as well. Could you give us a little bit of history as far as how you came along becoming interested in music, your influences, how it led to the formation of BYZANTINE & what happened to have the band reach it’s current non-working status, just days after the release of your 3rd album?
OJ - A brief history of Byzantine is this… I decided to start another band in the summer of 2000 after my college band, New Family, disbanded. I brought along the drummer and bassist of New Family (Jeremy and Cid) and contacted a mutual friend of mine, Tony Rohrbough, after his band had broken up. He was playing for the Century Media band Chum for a while. We wrote some songs and gigged out once. Our drummer then quit after the first gig and we decided to go at it as a 3 piece with a drum machine. We did this for around 2 years. During that time we recorded two demos which got in the hands of Chris Adler from Lamb of God. He contacted us about opening for them on some shows supporting their upcoming album “As The Palaces Burn”. By this time we had found our 2nd drummer, Matt Wolfe. We gigged with LoG for about a week and they got us in contact with EJ Johangten at Prosthetic Records who then signed us for a 3 album deal. So basically fast forward 4 year later and we finished our contract with Prosthetic with the release of “Oblivion Beckons” and decided not to resign with a label. Now we are on a “hiatus” raising babies and whatnot.
RAY - As I’ve proven already, I never make things easy on myself. This includes such things as bowling tenpins off my wrong foot, purchasing a daycare center with my wife at age 47 and beginning my BYZANTINE listening with your 3rd album and working back. I have gone back and listened repeatedly to all 3 of your records and find the progression interesting. “The Fundamental Component” (2004) is striking in it’s combination of brutal riffing and aggression while mixing in quite unique lead guitar soloing and advanced song structures. 2005’s “…And They Shall Take Up Serpents” is an interesting development in that, while the fundamental components (I know, I should be shot) of the first disc are there, there’s a distinct nod toward a kind of southern, NOLA-sort of feel in something like “Red Neck War.” Then, to me, the development with “Oblivion Beckons” is just staggering. I mean, I just listened to it again and damn it, I’m staggering all It is one of the most unusual, different aggressive metalJover the place. records I’ve ever heard. Care to comment or have I dismayed you by getting everything completely wrong?
OJ - No, you are right. Each album is a little different from the others for a reason. The first album “ The Fundamental Component” was mostly written before we were signed. A lot of the songs were penned by myself and I was listening to a lot of Meshuggah at that time. On “…Serpents”, the writing was split up more between Tony, Wolfe and myself. The melding of our 3 styles brought about a more diverse and more southern feel to it. I thought it made for a good evolution. When we recorded “Oblivion Beckons”, we landed a new bassist (Skip Cromer) who became a part of the writing team as well so the 3rd album had four writers which expanded our palette even further. I believe each album stands alone and most of our fans have different albums they like the best which keeps it interesting for them and ourselves as well.
RAY - I have to say that the cover art of “Oblivion Beckons” is completely striking. What is it supposed to represent…or is it the kind of thing that can represent different things to different people, in your opinion?
OJ - It was the concept of our friend, Donnie Searls who took the photograph. Donnie directed our music video for “Jeremiad” and also directed our DVD, “Salvation”. He never really explained what the cover meant but we all agreed the simplicity of it was striking and juxtaposed well with the music. The cover is actually his girlfriend. She is double jointed and was able to pull her arms back, looking as if she was an amputee. He made a wrap dipped in week old coffee and wrapped her head with it and then placed a jawbone of a deer in the skull portion. It turned out pretty cool! She is also the dead girl in our video as well.
RAY - I noticed that, with “Oblivion…” all 4 guys in the band are listed as playing lead guitar. This is quite unusual. Did you watch YouTube videos of Blue Oyster Cult doing “ME 262” one too many times or did you decide you just wanted to upstage Colossus in the lead axe # department. Seriously, the soloing on the record, including the acoustic interludes, is breathtaking. How did you work out who was going to do which leads?
OJ - Actually, we planned this out right after Skip joined the band. You see, Byzantine was a band comprised of 4 guitar players. Our drummer and our bassist are both excellent guitarists who decided to play other instruments for the band. We thought it would be a cool idea to have all of us take a solo in one song for extra wankery! Over the course of the album, most of the soloing is done by Tony, who is head and shoulders above the rest of the band on gutiar. I pull a couple of solos out of my ass every album just for fun but I am mainly a rhythm guy. Our drummer mostly writes the acoustic stuff. He wrote and played the acoustic intro to “Redneck War” and the instrumental “Renovatio”.
RAY - RED LIGHT CHALLENGE! What is the weirdest thing that a woman attending a BYZANTINE show ever said to you…allowing for the fact that any women ever attended a BYZANTINE show and weren’t afraid to talk to you anyway?
OJ - No women ever attended a Byzantine show!!! It was always full of sweaty fat guys who were into comic books and could play better guitar than us! HAHA. I do have one memory. We played a festival in Boston 2 years ago and after we played we had to be rushed to the signing tent. We were scheduled in the tent right after Disturbed. They walked out, we walked in. We saw a big line for us and we were like “FUCK YES!!!” But over half of the people in the line thought we were Disturbed and that I was David Dramian. I had some dude yell in my face “I’m down with the Sickness!” And then did that monkey thing Dramain does!” We started signing every thing “We suck cock” and “Disturbed blow horses”. That was a fun signing.
RAY - You guys are/were from West Virginia, a place never really known as a hotbed for metal (sheesh, like Baltimore ever was!). What kind of effect, positive or negative do you think that had on the development of the band, gigging, etc.?
OJ - I think it had a plus minus effect. The minus is that it took forever for us to get a fan base since there are not a lot of venues to play in WV and people are so spread out. The plus is that we were not inundated with other forms of metal. We were free to choose what style we wanted since WV was not a hotbed for a certain style. I think that helped us form a uniqueness that a lot of bands from urban areas might not have. We were able to pull from all genres and not sound so “cookie cutter”.
RAY - I’m interested in the lyrical concepts in your music. Being of advanced age, it’s kind hard for this ol’ scribe to read the words in the CD inserts and let’s face it…while I love the kind of aggressive vocals on a lot of your stuff, it doesn’t always make following things easy while listening. Could you take a few, say maybe 3, songs off “Oblivion Beckons” and give us a sort of synopsis, a snapshot of what they’re all about? I always considered 3 to be “a few.” Moreover, I also have always thought of a shitload as “about 20.” You think?
OJ - 20 is a shitload! If someone says to me, “Can you get those 20 bricks and bring them over here?” I would be like, “Man, that’s a shitload of bricks!” Anyways…
Centurion - This song is drawing comparisons between the guys I grew up with who had to go underground and mine coal to make a living and the guys I grew up with who had to go to war in Iraq to make a living. It is all about sacrifice. I know too well about this since my 1st cousin was killed in Iraq two years ago by a roadside bomb. Soldiers and coal miners are very similar… they never know if today’s shift will be their last.
The Receiving End of Murder - This song is basically a big FU to our record label. We had a bad relationship over most of our contract with them. It was very hard to get one guy from Los Angeles, CA to see eye to eye with four guys from Tree Stump, WV. We got chewed up and spit out and the only real help we got was from bigger bands who dug our music and us as people. So this song was about the stifling we felt and how good it was going to be to breathe again.
A Residual Haunting - This song basically was spelling out in no uncertain terms the end of the band as we knew it. A residual haunting is a term for a ghost or apparition that gets caught in the fabric of time and plays itself out over and over again. We want our music to be like that. A snapshot in time that people can go to and get the same feeling again and again via our music. The last paragraph in the song basically lets everyone know that we were done… for now. Kinda like the end of a good trilogy.
RAY - “Oblivion…” has, like I said, a real “breath of fresh air” feel to it, like you’re taking a form of music that’s somewhat familiar and then stretching it, expounding upon it and basically raising it to some previously unreached plateau…sort of like chewing up a whole bunch of Altoids and then washing ‘em down with an ice cold drink all at once. In that sense, it reminds me of a disc from a few years ago by Orphaned Land called “Mabool.” I relish the fact that, even on repeated listens, I’m never completely prepared for it? Am I just babbling at this point?
OJ - Yes, sir… this sounds like babble. But if babble is in our favor than babble on! We appreciate all forms of positive reinforcement babble!
RAY - I notice from your myspace site that you just had a new baby, OJ. First off, congratulations to you and your wife. Secondly, does having children affect or influence the way you write, or how you consider your music in any sense? We (my wife and I) have 5 ourselves and I’ve had a completely different view on a lot of things since they came along.
OJ - It affects it immensely. First off, I don’t have nearly as much time to play guitar or write music but that is quite alright. Everything has its place and for 8 years Byzantine was top priority and now my family is top priority. I just hope when the time comes to write some evil shit, I still have it in me.
RAY - I see that you’re working on a solo release, doing some covers of classic metal/thrash stuff. What was the motivation for that and how’s it been coming along?
OJ - Right now I am working on a cover album of my favorite thrash tunes from the 80’s and 90’s. It will be recorded under the name Black Cap Miner. I have always liked rerecording other bands stuff on my home pc studio so I thought now I have the time to do it for real. I have also wanted to collaborate with friends that I have met through the music byz and this is the chance to do that. I am getting some badass shredders from other signed bands to play on this so watch for it. It should be ready to unveil sometime late Fall 2008!. www.myspace.com/blackcapminer
RAY - Would that possibly see a release on Prosthetic, like the BYZANTINE stuff?
OJ - Hell no! I might actually make enough to break even if I do it myself. Prosthetic was like a bank, a lending institution with a high APR. They give you a little cash to do a project and then no matter how hard you work, you seem to owe more than you took! I will keep this one indy, thank you…
RAY - Back to the ol’ West Virginia thing, isn’t there a place up near Harper’s Ferry where West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia all come together? I’m thinking there is, because when I was younger, I once fell off a horse near there. Have you ever fallen off of anything?
OJ - Yes, Harper’s Ferry is the meeting place of those 3 great states. I have fallen off a trampoline once. I hyper extended my knee and had to lie there while a dog humped me! I fell off the wagon a couple times too, but I am back on… sorta.
RAY - You knew this was coming, I’m sure, but I feel like I’ve got to ask it. Do you ever see a day when BYZANTINE could reconvene, whether it be to play live and/or to record in the studio? If so, are there any new directions you would like to explore, any new sounds you can think of that would be interesting to incorporate in this music? If not, how would you sum up the band’s legacy, as displayed by those 3 albums?
OJ - I hope to God Byzantine can reform. We were all very different people personality wise but we got along famously when we were together. The industry kind of pulled us apart. When you are in your 30’s and can’t pay your utilities because you are trying to be a “touring band”, it sucks eggs. There was no way we could have continued on and not ended up bankrupt or hating each other. Maybe after we wash off all the muck from our contract, we can get back together clean and have fun again. We still need to play “Oblivion Beckons” live for our fans. It might take a year or three, but we all still dig each other. Right now we are spread out over a couple states doing our separate thing but, I see us kicking it again in some form or fashion. Let’s hope…
RAY - One of my favourite ?’s is always….in the history of BYZANTINE, please entertain, shock or horrify us with a story connected to the band that is amusing, terror-stricken, mind-boggling or just plain silly.
OJ - One time on tour, we played really late and stayed up ALL night! This other time, after a badass set, we decided to eat dinner really late and then immediately go swimming! WITHOUT WAITING!! We were fucking crazy!!! Sorry, we were kinda lame. If anybody wants to see our antics, try to find our DVD “Salvation”. My mind is mush.
RAY - I read somewhere online that your albums were all recorded in a studio that is actually part of a working daycare center! This is extremely interesting to me, as my wife and I own & operate a credentialed daycare center here in Baltimore with 52 kids currently enrolled. What is the story behind this?
OJ - Our producer on all 3 albums, Aaron Fisher, operates his studio inside his mother’s day care center. It is an old grade school building and one end of the building is separated off into a fully functional music studio. The other end has a bunch of screaming babies in it. But everything is soundproofed well so as not to bother either parties. We would take lunch breaks and go steal fruit cups and single serving milks. Good times at Little Kidz Daycare!
RAY - Any final thoughts for the people out there in “reader” land?
OJ - I hope you enjoyed the small amount of music we have given you. Our main goal was to just write some decent songs, be cool to all our friends and fans and never sell out. Drop us a line at www.myspace.com/byzantine and say hey! Montani Semper Liberi!
The best thing I can say to add to all this (besides hoping it does come true that these guys eventually rise to slay again!) is that anyone reading this page who likes any form of aggressive and thought-provoking metal should waste no time in checking out not only BYZANTINE’s “Oblivion Beckons” but their other 2 discs as well.
www.myspace.com/byzantine
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Saturday, August 16, 2008
It's Christmas In August!
U.S. CHRISTMAS – “Eat The Low Dogs” CD ’08 (Neurot, US) – North Carolina’s U.S. CHRISTMAS is truly one of the only bands on this earth that frighten me. There are bands that kick my ass, ones that give me pause, some that float my boat and even those that cause me to lose sleep. There are precious few, however, that sincerely make me the hair stand up on my arms, my hackles raise and find me groping for a light switch at high noon, even if only to locate the dictionary and look up the word “hackles.” U.S CHRISTMAS does all of these. I’ve followed these guys since their humble beginnings and, while they are still a fiercely underground unit, it makes me proud to see them being finally recognized and promoted by a label that both can understand them and give them some exposure, Neurot. Of course, the question of the day, the one you’re just waiting to ask is “What does this band sound like?” C’mon, guys, that’s kinda like asking what the Mona Lisa looks like, ya know? But…How about if Neil Young, in his heaviest days with Crazy Horse, lost his mind and got locked in a deserted warehouse with 5 Marshall stacks, assorted Gibsons, a theremin and then decided he’d try to yell something called “Goddamn vocals.” Mingle all that with hoarse whispers, driving rhythms that are metalized and heavy but not nearly so one-dimensional as to be called “heavy metal.” That simply wouldn’t be fair to music as deep, visceral and suffocating as this. This is the eternal Nytemare across epochs that you can’t wake up from and yet, in some way, are thankful for. It’s music that makes you uncomfortable and yet satisfied in a way that is nearly sexual and yet hideously disturbing. Through songs like “The Scalphunters,” “The Light And Trails” and “Black Lung,” not to mention a wondrous re-working of “Gallows Humor” from the band’s “Bad Heart Bull” disc, U.S. CHRISTMAS make you want your mama. They also have made one of the very best albums of the year. 10.0
www.myspace.com/uschristmas
PHARAOH – “Be Gone” CD ‘08 (Cruz Del Sur, US) – I’ve gotta admit, I come into this one with the ride already in progress, never having heard either of the band’s previous records. Always a sucker for the Cruz Del Sur label, however, I eagerly popped in “Be Gone.” What we have here is a very good release from this Philadelphia-area metal unit. I’m going to say straight out that you’re not going to play this one and say to yourself, “My God, self, what a bunch of true metal originators we have here!” PHARAOH has a lot of the same characteristics that have taken bands like Bruce-era Maiden to their heights, namely stratospheric vocals, twin guitar riffing/leads and a penchant for titles like “Buried At Sea,” “Red Honor” & “Telepath.” The thing is, these guys do what they do well, and even though I could personally use with a little more balls in the production department, this is a disc most people into good, kick-ass power metal (NOT national anthem metal) will find worth spinning more than once. 7.0
www.myspace.com/pharaohmetal
http://www.cruzdelsurmusic.com/
DANTESCO – “Pagano” CD ’08 (Cruz Del Sur, PR) – I suppose that, over the years, I’ve come to know a pretty fair amount about metal world-wide but I have to say I’m not familiar with a whole lot of bands from Puerto Rico. After hearing this disc from DANTESCO, however, I’m wondering if I should be paying a little more attention to that U.S. territory. On “Pagano,” the band’s 2nd release, they whip up a fantastic blend of epic power metal that really took me by surprise with it’s originality and verve. DANTESCO go for the jugular on this disc, pulling out all the stops and lacing every cut with a torrent of riffs that dazzle but never overwhelm. I was reading a review of this on The Ripple Effect (http://www.ripplemusic.blogspot.com/) that really hit the nail on the head when they spoke of some mid-later period Savatage references. That’s definitely a good jumping-off-point, and true to the band’s bio, there’s even a bit of Mercyful Fate thrown in courtesy of the blinding lead guitar work, not to mention some sweet acoustic action. What I like most though, are the plentiful moments where you just can’t pinpoint the influence and you get some of that rush that speaks true originality. The band’s use of their native language only emphasizes that point and the manner in which they’re delivered by singer Erico “La Bestia” drives it home even further. Rather than emit the “typical” air-raid-siren worship we often hear, this guy sings with a deep, fervent tone that speaks very emotionally. It’s nearly a jarring juxtaposition with the rest of the band but thankfully never becomes twee, only serving to give a real extra jolt of personality to the proceedings. All in all, while I’ve come to expect nothing but good things from Cruz Del Sur, I was not necessarily ready for this one to come close in quality to the label’s standard-bearers like Bible Of The Devil & Slough Feg. Surprises like this are good to buy, so please do so! 8.5
www.myspace.com/dantescoepico
http://www.cruzdelsurmusic.com/
JOURNEY – “Revelation” 2CD/DVD ’08 (Frontiers, US) – I’m a closet JOURNEY fan. Ok, there, I’ve said it. Like any self-respecting heavy prog-head, I dug the shit out of their first 3 ‘70’s albums, laced as they were with violent 6-7 minute excursions into post-Santana Schon/Rolie firestorms. Then…along came Steve Perry…at that point, in my mind, an interloper who changed these wild-assed muthas into a slick AOR monster. I wanted to hate the guy so bad. But over time, it occurred to me: the dude had a voice & a half, often matching Sam Cooke greatness and songs like “Don’t Stop Believing” & the nearly Uli-chugga-rhythmed “Separate Ways” were hard to stop blasting out of the Impala’s open windows. Of course, time moves on, the inevitable “personal differences” creep in and the next thing we’re left with are rather OK albums with accused lip-syncher Steve Augeri. Yeah, “Arrival” & “Generations” were ok, ‘cept the songs were samey & Steve A. just didn’t have the pipes. JOURNEY also brought in Jeff Scott Soto to finish a tour and I’m thinking, Christ, what’s next, Yngwie joining on 2nd guitar?! Fortunately, Soto exited and Neal Schon got out his laptop & started watching YouTube. There he found a Filipino dude called Arnel Pineda and we now have “Revelations.”
A sprawling 2 disc/DVD set sold exclusively at Walmart/Sam’s Club (I had to make peace with my creator about purchasing music there), what direction does this JOURNEY take into the future? Thankfully, a good one. The new material here, all written by Schon & keys-man Jonathan Cain is quite good. The opener, “Never Walk Away” will take you back to the “Frontiers” days with it’s driving rhythm. Yes, Pineda does sound strikingly like the tuxedo-ed one, but not in a karaoke sense. His own voice emerges, fueled by both his slight accent and tone. Of similar ilk is “Where Did I Lose Your Love,” featuring a deep chorus hook that’ll have you going into your ‘80’s wardrobe cupboard instantly. Elsewhere, “Like A Sunshower” is a breathy look to the “Infinity”/ “Evolution” days and the instrumental “The Journey (Revelation” harkens even further back. Sure, a couple ballads may outstay their welcome by a minute or 2 and I do hope that Arnel lends some writing credits to the next effort. But while you may not be ready to throw that well-worn “Frontiers” vinyl in the fire, this one sure had the flame burning nicely again. Damn, it’s actually bright enough that I can see in this closet. 8.0
NOTE: Shit, I forgot to mention it in the regular review, but the 2nd CD here is a collection of re-works of songs like "Separate Ways," etc. with the current band including Arnel Pineda. Let me just say that the dude does an excellent job in making these cuts sound re-invigorated. Moreover, the DVD features live footage of the same current line-up and they come off as a pretty charged up bunch. Nice to see.
http://www.journeymusic.com/
GRAND MAGUS – “Iron Will” CD ’08 (Candlelight, Swe) – This Swedish power trio has been around for awhile now, this being their 4th effort. It’s really hard to quarrel with this record as, front to back, it’s quality metal with a sound akin to Dio-era Sabs and a lyrical bent not unlike Manowar if they actually were Vikings. Still, I’m left a trifle cold by “Iron Will” and I’m not sure exactly why. Maybe it’s that after this many releases, JB and crew have sailed the same fjords a lot of times. Perhaps there just aren’t as many standout riffs as on the band’s previous works. Either way, while still a decent listen, this is not GRAND MAGUS’ best & I’m hoping they can blow me away next time around. 6.5
http://www.grandmagus.com/
BRAVE – “Monuments” CD ’08 (Private, US) – Having associations going back in the DC-Va-Md doom scene, one might expect Virginia’s BRAVE to trod a musical path blazed by those like Pentagram, Asylum or The Obsessed. Such is deceptive, however, and on their new full-length “Monuments,” these guys (& woman) show exactly why. Imagine a sound driven by “Permanent Waves”-era Rush, amped up with some ‘80’s guitar aggression and then brought into sharp relief by a nearly Celtic violin touch & awesome female vocals. Yeah, BRAVE is all that and then some on this refreshing long player. The musicianship is spot-on, led by the crystalline lead guitar of Scott Loose (who also supplies deft acoustic work) and the aforementioned violin of Suvo Sur, who’s work recalls the emotion of another semi-local player, Celtic wiz, Cathy Palmer. And, speaking of emotion, the word was probably designed for vocalist Michelle Loose. To begin with, I can honestly say that her engaging upper range does not immediately remind me of anybody else, quite a credit. Secondly, her persona is a fiercely strong one, bringing a feeling of hope to darker songs like “Hurt” and one of uplifting transcendence to something like “Stronger.” In all, this is a sterling record, nailed home by BRAVE’s own self-production job. I’d very much like to see them lay this stuff down live. 9.0
http://www.bravemusic.com/
BILL BONDSMEN – “Swallowed By The World” CD ’08 (Dead Beat, US) – Punk rock can be a wonderful thing. It’s a wonderful thing when it has something to rail against. Something to rail against is not being bummed by your parents refusing to drive you to the mall stylist because your roots are showing under the purple in your Mohawk. Something to rail against, however, means wondering which fucking drug corner you’re going to be living on when your slumlord won’t buy your reason for not having last month’s rent on Friday because you had to use it to pay child support to your hooker ex-wife. Something to rail against means wondering how long it’s going to take before someone knocks in your front door after your power’s turned off and the sun goes down. BILL BONDMEN sound like something to rail against all that and maybe a million other real things in the world that, for a lot of people, is an extreme series of black & white snapshots from a life growing colder by the day. Punk rock can be a wonderful thing. 8.0
http://www.dead-beat-records.com/
MOTORAMA – “Psychotronic Is The Beat” CD ’08 (Dead Beat, US) – MOTORAMA is composed of 2 people, Daniela & Laura and this is their 2nd full-length effort. To be brutally honest, if it’s better than their 1st, I probably don’t ever want to hear that debut. This is noisy, trashy punkish rock with mega-annoying vocals that has been done so much better by people like The Oblivians, Reatards, etc. In fact, the paltry version of the Gang Of Four track “Damaged Goods” here reminds me only that I wish I was spinning the new Jay Reatard singles collection instead. 3.0
http://www.dead-beat-records.com/
JUANITA Y LOS FEOS – “Juanita Y Los Feos” CD ’08 (Dead Beat, Spa) – Now, this is more like it, as far as noisy garage punk goes. Interestingly, JUANITA Y LOS FEOS are from Spain and they sing this record in their native language, which in my opinion only adds to their appeal. The production here surely of the “garage” variety, meaning that you’re not going to confuse it with anything lain down with Roy Thomas Baker at the desk. That’s way ok, though, as it’s also clear & listenable enough to rattle your brain in a most delightful way. Without any exaggeration, opening cut “El Agujero” is completely awesome in every sense of the word, combining an insistent melody that wouldn’t be out of place in a ‘50’s rock & roll classic, suspended on vocals that are perky but never cutesy. “No Tengo Ritmo” matches this one for coolness and, likewise does “Baila Como Un Robtot.” The rest of the album doesn’t stretch into the league of these high-level cuts, but the fact remains that it is good and a damn good example that there are people out there doing this kinda stuff that need to be discovered. Dead Beat Records seems to be, overall, doing a damn nice job of it and many of their releases have me thirsting for more. 8.0
http://www.dead-beat-records.com/
www.myspace.com/uschristmas
PHARAOH – “Be Gone” CD ‘08 (Cruz Del Sur, US) – I’ve gotta admit, I come into this one with the ride already in progress, never having heard either of the band’s previous records. Always a sucker for the Cruz Del Sur label, however, I eagerly popped in “Be Gone.” What we have here is a very good release from this Philadelphia-area metal unit. I’m going to say straight out that you’re not going to play this one and say to yourself, “My God, self, what a bunch of true metal originators we have here!” PHARAOH has a lot of the same characteristics that have taken bands like Bruce-era Maiden to their heights, namely stratospheric vocals, twin guitar riffing/leads and a penchant for titles like “Buried At Sea,” “Red Honor” & “Telepath.” The thing is, these guys do what they do well, and even though I could personally use with a little more balls in the production department, this is a disc most people into good, kick-ass power metal (NOT national anthem metal) will find worth spinning more than once. 7.0
www.myspace.com/pharaohmetal
http://www.cruzdelsurmusic.com/
DANTESCO – “Pagano” CD ’08 (Cruz Del Sur, PR) – I suppose that, over the years, I’ve come to know a pretty fair amount about metal world-wide but I have to say I’m not familiar with a whole lot of bands from Puerto Rico. After hearing this disc from DANTESCO, however, I’m wondering if I should be paying a little more attention to that U.S. territory. On “Pagano,” the band’s 2nd release, they whip up a fantastic blend of epic power metal that really took me by surprise with it’s originality and verve. DANTESCO go for the jugular on this disc, pulling out all the stops and lacing every cut with a torrent of riffs that dazzle but never overwhelm. I was reading a review of this on The Ripple Effect (http://www.ripplemusic.blogspot.com/) that really hit the nail on the head when they spoke of some mid-later period Savatage references. That’s definitely a good jumping-off-point, and true to the band’s bio, there’s even a bit of Mercyful Fate thrown in courtesy of the blinding lead guitar work, not to mention some sweet acoustic action. What I like most though, are the plentiful moments where you just can’t pinpoint the influence and you get some of that rush that speaks true originality. The band’s use of their native language only emphasizes that point and the manner in which they’re delivered by singer Erico “La Bestia” drives it home even further. Rather than emit the “typical” air-raid-siren worship we often hear, this guy sings with a deep, fervent tone that speaks very emotionally. It’s nearly a jarring juxtaposition with the rest of the band but thankfully never becomes twee, only serving to give a real extra jolt of personality to the proceedings. All in all, while I’ve come to expect nothing but good things from Cruz Del Sur, I was not necessarily ready for this one to come close in quality to the label’s standard-bearers like Bible Of The Devil & Slough Feg. Surprises like this are good to buy, so please do so! 8.5
www.myspace.com/dantescoepico
http://www.cruzdelsurmusic.com/
JOURNEY – “Revelation” 2CD/DVD ’08 (Frontiers, US) – I’m a closet JOURNEY fan. Ok, there, I’ve said it. Like any self-respecting heavy prog-head, I dug the shit out of their first 3 ‘70’s albums, laced as they were with violent 6-7 minute excursions into post-Santana Schon/Rolie firestorms. Then…along came Steve Perry…at that point, in my mind, an interloper who changed these wild-assed muthas into a slick AOR monster. I wanted to hate the guy so bad. But over time, it occurred to me: the dude had a voice & a half, often matching Sam Cooke greatness and songs like “Don’t Stop Believing” & the nearly Uli-chugga-rhythmed “Separate Ways” were hard to stop blasting out of the Impala’s open windows. Of course, time moves on, the inevitable “personal differences” creep in and the next thing we’re left with are rather OK albums with accused lip-syncher Steve Augeri. Yeah, “Arrival” & “Generations” were ok, ‘cept the songs were samey & Steve A. just didn’t have the pipes. JOURNEY also brought in Jeff Scott Soto to finish a tour and I’m thinking, Christ, what’s next, Yngwie joining on 2nd guitar?! Fortunately, Soto exited and Neal Schon got out his laptop & started watching YouTube. There he found a Filipino dude called Arnel Pineda and we now have “Revelations.”
A sprawling 2 disc/DVD set sold exclusively at Walmart/Sam’s Club (I had to make peace with my creator about purchasing music there), what direction does this JOURNEY take into the future? Thankfully, a good one. The new material here, all written by Schon & keys-man Jonathan Cain is quite good. The opener, “Never Walk Away” will take you back to the “Frontiers” days with it’s driving rhythm. Yes, Pineda does sound strikingly like the tuxedo-ed one, but not in a karaoke sense. His own voice emerges, fueled by both his slight accent and tone. Of similar ilk is “Where Did I Lose Your Love,” featuring a deep chorus hook that’ll have you going into your ‘80’s wardrobe cupboard instantly. Elsewhere, “Like A Sunshower” is a breathy look to the “Infinity”/ “Evolution” days and the instrumental “The Journey (Revelation” harkens even further back. Sure, a couple ballads may outstay their welcome by a minute or 2 and I do hope that Arnel lends some writing credits to the next effort. But while you may not be ready to throw that well-worn “Frontiers” vinyl in the fire, this one sure had the flame burning nicely again. Damn, it’s actually bright enough that I can see in this closet. 8.0
NOTE: Shit, I forgot to mention it in the regular review, but the 2nd CD here is a collection of re-works of songs like "Separate Ways," etc. with the current band including Arnel Pineda. Let me just say that the dude does an excellent job in making these cuts sound re-invigorated. Moreover, the DVD features live footage of the same current line-up and they come off as a pretty charged up bunch. Nice to see.
http://www.journeymusic.com/
GRAND MAGUS – “Iron Will” CD ’08 (Candlelight, Swe) – This Swedish power trio has been around for awhile now, this being their 4th effort. It’s really hard to quarrel with this record as, front to back, it’s quality metal with a sound akin to Dio-era Sabs and a lyrical bent not unlike Manowar if they actually were Vikings. Still, I’m left a trifle cold by “Iron Will” and I’m not sure exactly why. Maybe it’s that after this many releases, JB and crew have sailed the same fjords a lot of times. Perhaps there just aren’t as many standout riffs as on the band’s previous works. Either way, while still a decent listen, this is not GRAND MAGUS’ best & I’m hoping they can blow me away next time around. 6.5
http://www.grandmagus.com/
BRAVE – “Monuments” CD ’08 (Private, US) – Having associations going back in the DC-Va-Md doom scene, one might expect Virginia’s BRAVE to trod a musical path blazed by those like Pentagram, Asylum or The Obsessed. Such is deceptive, however, and on their new full-length “Monuments,” these guys (& woman) show exactly why. Imagine a sound driven by “Permanent Waves”-era Rush, amped up with some ‘80’s guitar aggression and then brought into sharp relief by a nearly Celtic violin touch & awesome female vocals. Yeah, BRAVE is all that and then some on this refreshing long player. The musicianship is spot-on, led by the crystalline lead guitar of Scott Loose (who also supplies deft acoustic work) and the aforementioned violin of Suvo Sur, who’s work recalls the emotion of another semi-local player, Celtic wiz, Cathy Palmer. And, speaking of emotion, the word was probably designed for vocalist Michelle Loose. To begin with, I can honestly say that her engaging upper range does not immediately remind me of anybody else, quite a credit. Secondly, her persona is a fiercely strong one, bringing a feeling of hope to darker songs like “Hurt” and one of uplifting transcendence to something like “Stronger.” In all, this is a sterling record, nailed home by BRAVE’s own self-production job. I’d very much like to see them lay this stuff down live. 9.0
http://www.bravemusic.com/
BILL BONDSMEN – “Swallowed By The World” CD ’08 (Dead Beat, US) – Punk rock can be a wonderful thing. It’s a wonderful thing when it has something to rail against. Something to rail against is not being bummed by your parents refusing to drive you to the mall stylist because your roots are showing under the purple in your Mohawk. Something to rail against, however, means wondering which fucking drug corner you’re going to be living on when your slumlord won’t buy your reason for not having last month’s rent on Friday because you had to use it to pay child support to your hooker ex-wife. Something to rail against means wondering how long it’s going to take before someone knocks in your front door after your power’s turned off and the sun goes down. BILL BONDMEN sound like something to rail against all that and maybe a million other real things in the world that, for a lot of people, is an extreme series of black & white snapshots from a life growing colder by the day. Punk rock can be a wonderful thing. 8.0
http://www.dead-beat-records.com/
MOTORAMA – “Psychotronic Is The Beat” CD ’08 (Dead Beat, US) – MOTORAMA is composed of 2 people, Daniela & Laura and this is their 2nd full-length effort. To be brutally honest, if it’s better than their 1st, I probably don’t ever want to hear that debut. This is noisy, trashy punkish rock with mega-annoying vocals that has been done so much better by people like The Oblivians, Reatards, etc. In fact, the paltry version of the Gang Of Four track “Damaged Goods” here reminds me only that I wish I was spinning the new Jay Reatard singles collection instead. 3.0
http://www.dead-beat-records.com/
JUANITA Y LOS FEOS – “Juanita Y Los Feos” CD ’08 (Dead Beat, Spa) – Now, this is more like it, as far as noisy garage punk goes. Interestingly, JUANITA Y LOS FEOS are from Spain and they sing this record in their native language, which in my opinion only adds to their appeal. The production here surely of the “garage” variety, meaning that you’re not going to confuse it with anything lain down with Roy Thomas Baker at the desk. That’s way ok, though, as it’s also clear & listenable enough to rattle your brain in a most delightful way. Without any exaggeration, opening cut “El Agujero” is completely awesome in every sense of the word, combining an insistent melody that wouldn’t be out of place in a ‘50’s rock & roll classic, suspended on vocals that are perky but never cutesy. “No Tengo Ritmo” matches this one for coolness and, likewise does “Baila Como Un Robtot.” The rest of the album doesn’t stretch into the league of these high-level cuts, but the fact remains that it is good and a damn good example that there are people out there doing this kinda stuff that need to be discovered. Dead Beat Records seems to be, overall, doing a damn nice job of it and many of their releases have me thirsting for more. 8.0
http://www.dead-beat-records.com/
Thursday, July 31, 2008
COLOSSUS Among Us! The Interview!
Here’s the deal, people. A lot of things are complicated. Some are not. This one is simple. COLOSSUS, from North Carolina has burst out of the Tarheel State in 2008 and delivered one of the most ass-kicking, guitar mangling metal albums in recent memory. Seriously, if you dig stuff like the very best Maiden ever did, Bible Of The Devil, Priest, Slauter Xstroyes or Mercyful Fate, you might want to drop that damn latte or whatever the hell you’re drinking while you’re doing this right now instead of your job and order their CD. Then, sit back, make sure your boss is on the other side of the office and read about the men behind the COLOSSUS. Their names are: Sean Buchanan – vocals; Bill Fisher – guitar; Nicky Nixon – guitar; Andy Lewis – guitar (that’s right, 3 guitarists and all of ‘em do lead!); Ry Wilshire – bass; Benjamin Smith – drums.
RAY - What on earth is going on in North Carolina, did someone have a sale on Gibsons & Marshalls? I mean, you guys, Thunder Lip, Valient Thorr, U.S. Christmas…etc. Seems like an awful lot of heavy stuff going on down there. Is there a correlation between heavy guitar rock & college basketball?
BILL - Yeah, i guess there is some cool stuff going on here, but you do need to know where to look. very much bad stuff in nc also. as for the basketball connection, hmmmm, i had not considered it, but, UNC is going to kick everyone's ass this year and colossus hopes to kick ass this year as well, so maybe there is some connection there. yes.
RAY - So how did the whole thing start for COLOSSUS? “…And The Rift…” is the band’s first album, so how did you all get to this point?
BILL - I think COLOSSUS really began as this instrumental 2 piece with Nick Perros(guitar) and Ben Smith(drums), they called it Perrosmith (gotta love that. Ed).not sure about the exact order of things, but a few guys came and went, nick went to high school with Sean, so thats how they knew him, Ry started playing bass(i don't know when the name changed to colossus)i knew Ry from our old bands playing lots of shows together, nick was actually playing bass in my old instrumental band Amish Jihad, but that was winding down, i was looking for a band and they were looking for a guitar player, so i was in. i guess it took about a year and a half to write and tighten up the songs for the record.
NICKY - We all met at a Evanescence concert. It turned out that Sean can sing like a girl and Bill was a really good rapper, so we decided to start a band.
RAY - Influences is always an easy question for a lazy writer. Hell, you throw the word out and can usually sit back & catch a few “z’s” while the band expounds. But I’m really interested. I’d like to hear from everybody in the band, but hell, especially the guitar players! Bill, I know who you are (after seeing you live..so don’t try to leave the country!), I’m guessing you might be the guy who’s into Adrian Smith and also some hardcore? I know the other 2 guys are named Nicholas & Andy, but I’m not sure who’s who, so I’ll do it this way: The guy who had the blue fast-pitch softball t-shirt at the Baltimore show & was playing the Les Paul…I heard some real Chris Poland feel there, as well as those kinda hand positions. The Flying V guy, any KK Downing kinda background there? Of course, you’re going to say I’m completely wrong about every one and that I’m a complete dick but that’s what makes this all fun.
BILL - With me you're pretty close. i grew up on nwobhm stuff (though i actually play guitar because of Van Halen), but at a certain point it was pretty difficult to find anybody to do that sort of thing, so i ended up in punk bands for years. my favorite of those influences was always Stephen Egerton of Descendents and All. so yeah, metal and punk for most of my life, but i find my tastes are broadening a lot.
ANDY - My influences as a young guitarist included kirk hammett, marty friedman, randy rhoads, and eddie van halen. classic rock influences brian may, neal schon, tom schotz. jazz influences al di meola, john mclaughlin, pat matheny, allan holdsworth. love some 80's players like paul gilbert, joe satriani, george lynch.
NICKY - Well, I'm the blue softball t-shirt guy. I guess I should explain that unlike Bill, the rest of us were born in the 80's. In fact, Bill was there that fateful night when one of our more innovative ancestors stretched sabertooth gut across a tortious shell making the insturment known to the neaterthals as a "gut-tor." Being a kid during the high era of 80's metal, my tastes were never that sophisticated. When I was a kid Randy Rhodes was my favorite guitar player. It was pretty much Ozzy, GNR and Metallica.
RAY - I’m not trying to shove you off to the side, Bill, but I wanted to address this ? to the other 2 guitar players. That was a tiny stage at the Talking Head, you dudes didn’t seem like you had room to move next to each other, but the dynamics between you were awesome. You reminded me of Scott Gorham & Brian Robertson, trading solos, laughing, almost egging the other one on to top the killer lead lick you’d done. Is it kind like the fun of healthy competition or did somebody just tell a joke I didn’t hear? There once was a man from Nantucket…
ANDY - i have never been in another band where the guitar solo was a dominant force in songwriting, so its a lot of fun switching/playing off what bill and nick do. Plus i change up my solos every night. improvising keeps it interesting, and not to mention i cant play nick's solos
NICKY - The only inside joke that I know of is what a terrible guitar player I am compared to Andy and Bill. I have to laugh when I'm playing with those guys because I constantly feel like I can't keep up. All that aside, we have a lot of fun when we play. It's fun to joke around and try and get someone else in the band to mess up, even though 9 times out of 10 I just end up screwing myself up.
BILL - Nick is being modest.
RAY - What made you guys end up with 3 axe players? A case of Maiden worship? A case of Molly Hatchet worship? A case of Budweiser? Have you ever considered adding a 4th lead player to just flesh out the sound a little, for Christ’s sake? Seriously, I see big bands with 2 players and one is always louder than the other. You guys were all at equal volume and it sounded totally rad. How do you accomplish that? Do I sound like some over the hill 50 year old trying to sound cool by saying “rad?”
BILL - maybe more like maiden worship, love for skynrd, and many cases of high life. really we just thought we'd try and pull it off and we did, so now we're hooked. about a year ago, nick went off to law school and we got andy to take his place. when nick was free from school his first break, we tried the 3 guitar thing and it worked. we can play either as a 5 or 6 piece depending on that, and that's pretty fun. we did have to work a lot on the volume thing, everybody just has to be a little quieter and solos have to be much louder. and saying rad is rad.
NICKY - I moved away last year and they replaced me with Andy. When I'm back in NC they let me mess around with them, which is great. It's kind of like having really good seats at a guitar clinic!
BILL - This modesty thing is new to Nick.
ANDY - I’m the newest guy in the band. i got lucky because i was supposed to move to nyc to pursue music up there. i got the call from ry about auditoning for colossus. it didnt take much thought about joining the band. colossus is a serious band, but probably the most fun i have ever had playing in a band. as far as live volume sound we got it down to science with adjusting/boosting during solos.
RAY - This is directed to the singer, Sean. Dude, I think that Halford had a dream about the upcoming COLOSSUS album (not really a stretch, it was only 30 years away) when he recorded “Stained Class.” What’s your vocal background? Do you have any formal training or do you just find that you open up your mouth while in the grocery store line and things like the chorus to “Ghost Fucker” roll out?
SEAN - Haha... no, I've never had any training really. Basically my Dad gave me a copy of "Sad Wings of Destiny" when I was a kid and since then I've listened to it about 700 times. Before Colossus I would just drive around and sing along to CD's like Maiden, Bowie and BOC so I guess that was where I figured out I could sing. A few random bands later and I was in Colossus.
RAY - Directed to Benjamin & Rylan…You guys are a pretty slam-tastic rhythm section, organic & yet tight as a witch’s twat. How is it holding down the bottom end with all that lead guitar and vocal stuff going on over top you? Do you ever think “Guys…guys! Enough, already, we know you know how to do solos!” Or do you kinda solo yourselves underneath, like a Geezer Butler/Bill Ward lead/rhythm beast?
RY - I think that a very fortunate circumstance for our band was when Ben and i got shipwrecked on a desert island , during which time my right hand was lashed to Ben's right foot. This helped us "fuse our rhythm" and become equivocally taught as a witches twat. Also, fortunately for me, i have no reservations about turning my amp up way louder then three Marshall half stacks
BILL - by the way, computers scare Ben, so Ry answers for him as well.
RAY - RED LIGHT CHALLENGE!!! Does anyone in COLOSSUS believe in the Freudian concept of the guitar as a phallic symbol? Have you ever met any women, either on tour or back home in Chapel Hill who would concur?
BILL - i pretty much point my guitar around like it's my dick, so there's something there, and they don't call it cock rock for nothing.
SEAN - Yeah I don't remember what show I was at when I realized, "Wait a second, these guys are parading around on stage with huge fake dongers!" It kinda reminds me of those tribes you see on Discovery channel that strap huge colored gourds to their junk. Which only makes it more awesome.
ANDY - phallic symbol...more like flame thrower to melt your face.
RAY - I have to ask about the songwriting in the band. With 3 guitar players, does it ever get unwieldy? You know, “My riff is better than your riff!” How do you go about it, does everybody bring in a bunch of ideas and somehow it gets molded together? We want to see how the mind of the COLOSSUS functions.
BILL - seems like the songs have come together in lots of different ways. sometimes somebody brings a complete song in and everybody just makes up their parts to it, sometimes somebody brings in a song that just needs a little extra stuff and we all pitch in. i like to start with lyrics and a vocal melody and work off that. once we have a basic song coming together we just fuck with it a bunch, put little touches in. just whatever works. there's really no competition or anything like that, i think we're all pretty much on the same page about what sounds good.
ANDY - being new to the band writing songs for me is still in its infancy. i feel we all bring something fun and fresh to the process. we are all pretty open to new ideas
RY - We just write each idea we have for a song on a little piece of paper and use this paper to bait a hook. After casting the hooks into the sea we use the parts in the order that they catch mollusks and mollusks only. We have always let the fate of our songs be decided by Poseidon.
RAY - Lyrically, there seems to be a lot of fantasy stuff going on. I understand that some
serious artistes (heavy pronunciation on the “ar-TEESTS”) prefer not to reveal the mysteries behind their lyrics, but a couple I was wondering if you’d care to ‘splain yourselves on are “Willow,” “Hoc’tel” and “Salamandastron.” Wouldn’t mind a little discourse on “Ghost Fucker” too, as in my humble opinion, it’s one of the best metal songs I’ve ever heard. Is “G.F. Nocturne” stand for “Ghost Fucker Nocturne?” Or is it dedicated to the late Gerald Ford?
SEAN - Well Willow is of course about the film of the same name. Salamandastron is based on the Brain Jacques Redwall book. Ghostfucker actually came from a weird dream I had while I was trying to come up with lyrics for the song and I just woke up and wrote it down before I was really awake. And yeah, the G.F. Nocturne is indeed the Ghostfucker Nocturne. Our buddy Danny was putting some keyboards on Limit-Break and Willow and he just kinda came up with that and we thought it was a great ending for the album.
RAY - RED LIGHT CHALLENGE!!! Who is going to win the American League Cy Young Award this year?! Maybe the “fast pitch softball” guitarist can field this one!
BILL - to be honest, i got nothin. i like to get drunk at minor league baseball games, that’s about the extent of my baseball knowledge. hot dogs are also awesome.
NICKY - I live in Boston now, so I'm going to have to go with Josh Beckett.
RAY - Do you guys get to play much in North Carolina? How much have you toured otherwise? I mean, I guess I’ve been behind the door, but you guys seem to have come out of thin air. I found out about the CD, contacted you, had my ever-loving ass kicked sideways to Sunday by it, then a week or 2 later, have you roll into Baltimore and nail my sorry ass to the wall live.
BILL - we play pretty regularly in north carolina, but really there are only so many places that seem to work for us, and you can't overplay a town or everybody gets sick of you, so to be as busy as we want to be we have to get out. we've probably averaged around 2 months of touring a year for almost 3 years. just for practical reasons we have been confined to the eastern part of the country. this last tour we were pretty amazed that we almost broke even(depending on how you look at it) burning tons of $4/gallon gas. it was pretty wierd leaving for this one wondering if we'd get through and if we'd have to pull back to an even smaller territory. but it worked out more or less. the way things are, we will have to be really smart about tour routing to be able to make it work. it's getting harder to make it work but we really love to do it, so we're hangin in there. as for how you never heard of us, i think we do lack some of the savvy that a lot of bands have for promoting themselves. all we really know to do is write songs and get out and play them. we do all our own promo and booking and quite frankly, we're not that good at that side of things. but we try really hard.
RAY - What’s next in store for COLOSSUS? How much of the U.S. are you going to pillage? Any plans to get overseas? How about some kind of tour with BIBLE OF THE DEVIL in the fall when they’re new record comes out. Shit, you ought to contact Mark Hoffmann, your 2 bands together would be sick. THUNDERLIP added to the mix would be ridiculous!
BILL - we're writing a new record for nice life records. after that, it’s more of the same, tour as much and as far as we can manage, have as much fun as we can. we’ve played with bible of the devil before, they rule, and i would love to do more with those guys. put in a good word for us, ray. and we’ll definitely play more with thunderlip, they’re our boys, our vans have totally rocked position 69. you can’t break that bond.
RAY - I’m not familiar with Nice Life Records, is this basically a self-release? Any offers on the table or ideas about doing anything with a bigger label, maybe something like Cruz Del Sur?
BILL - Nice Life is our friends in columbus, ohio, ron and cara. we always play at their bar and it rules so much. they’re doing a bunch of different stuff, most noteably Rebreather out of western PA. I think they may have done a Teeth of the Hydra record too. they are great friends and treat us well. we actually sent a demo to cruz del sur, got no response. that’s a badass label. we are gigantic slough-feg fans and have played with them a couple times. those guys know what’s up, man what a band.
RAY - RED LIGHT CHALLENGE!!! Is the “hot-ness” of women at shows inversely proportional to the heaviness of the music? I call this theorem The Dorsey/Wilson Law Of Inverse Fuckability.
BILL - i think that used to be true. but things seem to change for the better in that respect. used to be, there was nothing but dudes at metal shows, but i definitely see plenty of girls at shows now. some girls seem to just have been dragged there by their boyfriends, and that sucks, but you know, when you see a girl really rockin out at a kickass show that brings the hot-ness factor up several notches.
NICKY - Hmmm. Depends of whether you are into tattoos or not...
RY - I believe that equation has recently been modified. It is as follows: Hot-ness of women at shows = (1/Heaviness)*K*(Number of Effects Pedals on Stage)/(% Overall band baldness)^(1/2) Where K is the 'rock constant' developed by D.L. Roth in the early 1980's and is equal to 0.
RAY - Ok, here’s one that always brings a smile (either of amusement, regret, consternation, disgust…etc.). Do you have any stories from life in COLOSSUS (either at home, on the road, etc) that you can share with the readers that are either uproariously funny, patently disgusting, weird, disturbing or just plain goofy?
NICKY - Yeesh... When we are on tour we have a box of baby wipes that we call "showers."
SEAN - Oh man, we got so many. The first one that pops into mind is when we were playing in Nashville one time. After the show some friends of ours took us to a party in their neighborhood where we knew nobody. Some random girl came up to Ry and introduced herself and he went around the room making up obviously fake names for all of us and when he got to himself he said his name was Ritchie. The girl looked at him and said, "Oh Ritchie... I'm gonna punch you in the fucking face before the night is over." which made me laugh so hard I collapsed into a fetal position on the kitchen floor. Then a dude comes up from downstairs and says that if you don't know who he is then you have to leave the party. I went up and was like, "Hey, I'm Sean, what's your name?" but no dice, we wound up on the front lawn. So we're waiting out there trying to call our friends that are inside and looking into this huge plate glass window where you can see the whole living room hanging out. Somebody gets the idea to send a shirtless Ben Smith in there and get him to root around like he can't find his shirt. So next thing we all see through the window is Ben walking out from the kitchen shirtless and start searching around in the room full of people for his shirt. He's asking people to move, looking under seat cushions... it was great and we were all really proud of him. He walks outside and some of the dudes that kicked us out before are following him. We're all laughing and Ben walks up to us and the dudes are like, "Oh man, you guys are friends with shirtless guy? You can come back into the party!" So we go in and grab our friends and leave because the party was actually pretty whack to begin with.
BILL - i think that same night was when this girl at the party just takes off her underwear out from under her skirt, really for no reason at all, and says “i’m not even a stripper” (nobody asked), i think i was tying my shoe a few minutes later and i feel something on my head and sean has put that girl’s underwear on my head, which was really fucked up. but clever. i’m definitely going to get him back for that. yeah, there’s a bunch more. could go on if i could remember stuff more clearly.
RAY - Any final comments for the readership?
BILL - ray is awesome. can’t wait to get back up to baltimore. rrroooccckkk!
So, there you have it…words of wisdom from the mouths of one of the absolute corkers of a metal band these pages have ever known. But don’t just read…go to the COLOSSUS site, order up and learn what it feels like to have THE COLOSSUS CRUSH YOU!
www.myspace.com/thecolossuswillcrushyou
RAY - What on earth is going on in North Carolina, did someone have a sale on Gibsons & Marshalls? I mean, you guys, Thunder Lip, Valient Thorr, U.S. Christmas…etc. Seems like an awful lot of heavy stuff going on down there. Is there a correlation between heavy guitar rock & college basketball?
BILL - Yeah, i guess there is some cool stuff going on here, but you do need to know where to look. very much bad stuff in nc also. as for the basketball connection, hmmmm, i had not considered it, but, UNC is going to kick everyone's ass this year and colossus hopes to kick ass this year as well, so maybe there is some connection there. yes.
RAY - So how did the whole thing start for COLOSSUS? “…And The Rift…” is the band’s first album, so how did you all get to this point?
BILL - I think COLOSSUS really began as this instrumental 2 piece with Nick Perros(guitar) and Ben Smith(drums), they called it Perrosmith (gotta love that. Ed).not sure about the exact order of things, but a few guys came and went, nick went to high school with Sean, so thats how they knew him, Ry started playing bass(i don't know when the name changed to colossus)i knew Ry from our old bands playing lots of shows together, nick was actually playing bass in my old instrumental band Amish Jihad, but that was winding down, i was looking for a band and they were looking for a guitar player, so i was in. i guess it took about a year and a half to write and tighten up the songs for the record.
NICKY - We all met at a Evanescence concert. It turned out that Sean can sing like a girl and Bill was a really good rapper, so we decided to start a band.
RAY - Influences is always an easy question for a lazy writer. Hell, you throw the word out and can usually sit back & catch a few “z’s” while the band expounds. But I’m really interested. I’d like to hear from everybody in the band, but hell, especially the guitar players! Bill, I know who you are (after seeing you live..so don’t try to leave the country!), I’m guessing you might be the guy who’s into Adrian Smith and also some hardcore? I know the other 2 guys are named Nicholas & Andy, but I’m not sure who’s who, so I’ll do it this way: The guy who had the blue fast-pitch softball t-shirt at the Baltimore show & was playing the Les Paul…I heard some real Chris Poland feel there, as well as those kinda hand positions. The Flying V guy, any KK Downing kinda background there? Of course, you’re going to say I’m completely wrong about every one and that I’m a complete dick but that’s what makes this all fun.
BILL - With me you're pretty close. i grew up on nwobhm stuff (though i actually play guitar because of Van Halen), but at a certain point it was pretty difficult to find anybody to do that sort of thing, so i ended up in punk bands for years. my favorite of those influences was always Stephen Egerton of Descendents and All. so yeah, metal and punk for most of my life, but i find my tastes are broadening a lot.
ANDY - My influences as a young guitarist included kirk hammett, marty friedman, randy rhoads, and eddie van halen. classic rock influences brian may, neal schon, tom schotz. jazz influences al di meola, john mclaughlin, pat matheny, allan holdsworth. love some 80's players like paul gilbert, joe satriani, george lynch.
NICKY - Well, I'm the blue softball t-shirt guy. I guess I should explain that unlike Bill, the rest of us were born in the 80's. In fact, Bill was there that fateful night when one of our more innovative ancestors stretched sabertooth gut across a tortious shell making the insturment known to the neaterthals as a "gut-tor." Being a kid during the high era of 80's metal, my tastes were never that sophisticated. When I was a kid Randy Rhodes was my favorite guitar player. It was pretty much Ozzy, GNR and Metallica.
RAY - I’m not trying to shove you off to the side, Bill, but I wanted to address this ? to the other 2 guitar players. That was a tiny stage at the Talking Head, you dudes didn’t seem like you had room to move next to each other, but the dynamics between you were awesome. You reminded me of Scott Gorham & Brian Robertson, trading solos, laughing, almost egging the other one on to top the killer lead lick you’d done. Is it kind like the fun of healthy competition or did somebody just tell a joke I didn’t hear? There once was a man from Nantucket…
ANDY - i have never been in another band where the guitar solo was a dominant force in songwriting, so its a lot of fun switching/playing off what bill and nick do. Plus i change up my solos every night. improvising keeps it interesting, and not to mention i cant play nick's solos
NICKY - The only inside joke that I know of is what a terrible guitar player I am compared to Andy and Bill. I have to laugh when I'm playing with those guys because I constantly feel like I can't keep up. All that aside, we have a lot of fun when we play. It's fun to joke around and try and get someone else in the band to mess up, even though 9 times out of 10 I just end up screwing myself up.
BILL - Nick is being modest.
RAY - What made you guys end up with 3 axe players? A case of Maiden worship? A case of Molly Hatchet worship? A case of Budweiser? Have you ever considered adding a 4th lead player to just flesh out the sound a little, for Christ’s sake? Seriously, I see big bands with 2 players and one is always louder than the other. You guys were all at equal volume and it sounded totally rad. How do you accomplish that? Do I sound like some over the hill 50 year old trying to sound cool by saying “rad?”
BILL - maybe more like maiden worship, love for skynrd, and many cases of high life. really we just thought we'd try and pull it off and we did, so now we're hooked. about a year ago, nick went off to law school and we got andy to take his place. when nick was free from school his first break, we tried the 3 guitar thing and it worked. we can play either as a 5 or 6 piece depending on that, and that's pretty fun. we did have to work a lot on the volume thing, everybody just has to be a little quieter and solos have to be much louder. and saying rad is rad.
NICKY - I moved away last year and they replaced me with Andy. When I'm back in NC they let me mess around with them, which is great. It's kind of like having really good seats at a guitar clinic!
BILL - This modesty thing is new to Nick.
ANDY - I’m the newest guy in the band. i got lucky because i was supposed to move to nyc to pursue music up there. i got the call from ry about auditoning for colossus. it didnt take much thought about joining the band. colossus is a serious band, but probably the most fun i have ever had playing in a band. as far as live volume sound we got it down to science with adjusting/boosting during solos.
RAY - This is directed to the singer, Sean. Dude, I think that Halford had a dream about the upcoming COLOSSUS album (not really a stretch, it was only 30 years away) when he recorded “Stained Class.” What’s your vocal background? Do you have any formal training or do you just find that you open up your mouth while in the grocery store line and things like the chorus to “Ghost Fucker” roll out?
SEAN - Haha... no, I've never had any training really. Basically my Dad gave me a copy of "Sad Wings of Destiny" when I was a kid and since then I've listened to it about 700 times. Before Colossus I would just drive around and sing along to CD's like Maiden, Bowie and BOC so I guess that was where I figured out I could sing. A few random bands later and I was in Colossus.
RAY - Directed to Benjamin & Rylan…You guys are a pretty slam-tastic rhythm section, organic & yet tight as a witch’s twat. How is it holding down the bottom end with all that lead guitar and vocal stuff going on over top you? Do you ever think “Guys…guys! Enough, already, we know you know how to do solos!” Or do you kinda solo yourselves underneath, like a Geezer Butler/Bill Ward lead/rhythm beast?
RY - I think that a very fortunate circumstance for our band was when Ben and i got shipwrecked on a desert island , during which time my right hand was lashed to Ben's right foot. This helped us "fuse our rhythm" and become equivocally taught as a witches twat. Also, fortunately for me, i have no reservations about turning my amp up way louder then three Marshall half stacks
BILL - by the way, computers scare Ben, so Ry answers for him as well.
RAY - RED LIGHT CHALLENGE!!! Does anyone in COLOSSUS believe in the Freudian concept of the guitar as a phallic symbol? Have you ever met any women, either on tour or back home in Chapel Hill who would concur?
BILL - i pretty much point my guitar around like it's my dick, so there's something there, and they don't call it cock rock for nothing.
SEAN - Yeah I don't remember what show I was at when I realized, "Wait a second, these guys are parading around on stage with huge fake dongers!" It kinda reminds me of those tribes you see on Discovery channel that strap huge colored gourds to their junk. Which only makes it more awesome.
ANDY - phallic symbol...more like flame thrower to melt your face.
RAY - I have to ask about the songwriting in the band. With 3 guitar players, does it ever get unwieldy? You know, “My riff is better than your riff!” How do you go about it, does everybody bring in a bunch of ideas and somehow it gets molded together? We want to see how the mind of the COLOSSUS functions.
BILL - seems like the songs have come together in lots of different ways. sometimes somebody brings a complete song in and everybody just makes up their parts to it, sometimes somebody brings in a song that just needs a little extra stuff and we all pitch in. i like to start with lyrics and a vocal melody and work off that. once we have a basic song coming together we just fuck with it a bunch, put little touches in. just whatever works. there's really no competition or anything like that, i think we're all pretty much on the same page about what sounds good.
ANDY - being new to the band writing songs for me is still in its infancy. i feel we all bring something fun and fresh to the process. we are all pretty open to new ideas
RY - We just write each idea we have for a song on a little piece of paper and use this paper to bait a hook. After casting the hooks into the sea we use the parts in the order that they catch mollusks and mollusks only. We have always let the fate of our songs be decided by Poseidon.
RAY - Lyrically, there seems to be a lot of fantasy stuff going on. I understand that some
serious artistes (heavy pronunciation on the “ar-TEESTS”) prefer not to reveal the mysteries behind their lyrics, but a couple I was wondering if you’d care to ‘splain yourselves on are “Willow,” “Hoc’tel” and “Salamandastron.” Wouldn’t mind a little discourse on “Ghost Fucker” too, as in my humble opinion, it’s one of the best metal songs I’ve ever heard. Is “G.F. Nocturne” stand for “Ghost Fucker Nocturne?” Or is it dedicated to the late Gerald Ford?
SEAN - Well Willow is of course about the film of the same name. Salamandastron is based on the Brain Jacques Redwall book. Ghostfucker actually came from a weird dream I had while I was trying to come up with lyrics for the song and I just woke up and wrote it down before I was really awake. And yeah, the G.F. Nocturne is indeed the Ghostfucker Nocturne. Our buddy Danny was putting some keyboards on Limit-Break and Willow and he just kinda came up with that and we thought it was a great ending for the album.
RAY - RED LIGHT CHALLENGE!!! Who is going to win the American League Cy Young Award this year?! Maybe the “fast pitch softball” guitarist can field this one!
BILL - to be honest, i got nothin. i like to get drunk at minor league baseball games, that’s about the extent of my baseball knowledge. hot dogs are also awesome.
NICKY - I live in Boston now, so I'm going to have to go with Josh Beckett.
RAY - Do you guys get to play much in North Carolina? How much have you toured otherwise? I mean, I guess I’ve been behind the door, but you guys seem to have come out of thin air. I found out about the CD, contacted you, had my ever-loving ass kicked sideways to Sunday by it, then a week or 2 later, have you roll into Baltimore and nail my sorry ass to the wall live.
BILL - we play pretty regularly in north carolina, but really there are only so many places that seem to work for us, and you can't overplay a town or everybody gets sick of you, so to be as busy as we want to be we have to get out. we've probably averaged around 2 months of touring a year for almost 3 years. just for practical reasons we have been confined to the eastern part of the country. this last tour we were pretty amazed that we almost broke even(depending on how you look at it) burning tons of $4/gallon gas. it was pretty wierd leaving for this one wondering if we'd get through and if we'd have to pull back to an even smaller territory. but it worked out more or less. the way things are, we will have to be really smart about tour routing to be able to make it work. it's getting harder to make it work but we really love to do it, so we're hangin in there. as for how you never heard of us, i think we do lack some of the savvy that a lot of bands have for promoting themselves. all we really know to do is write songs and get out and play them. we do all our own promo and booking and quite frankly, we're not that good at that side of things. but we try really hard.
RAY - What’s next in store for COLOSSUS? How much of the U.S. are you going to pillage? Any plans to get overseas? How about some kind of tour with BIBLE OF THE DEVIL in the fall when they’re new record comes out. Shit, you ought to contact Mark Hoffmann, your 2 bands together would be sick. THUNDERLIP added to the mix would be ridiculous!
BILL - we're writing a new record for nice life records. after that, it’s more of the same, tour as much and as far as we can manage, have as much fun as we can. we’ve played with bible of the devil before, they rule, and i would love to do more with those guys. put in a good word for us, ray. and we’ll definitely play more with thunderlip, they’re our boys, our vans have totally rocked position 69. you can’t break that bond.
RAY - I’m not familiar with Nice Life Records, is this basically a self-release? Any offers on the table or ideas about doing anything with a bigger label, maybe something like Cruz Del Sur?
BILL - Nice Life is our friends in columbus, ohio, ron and cara. we always play at their bar and it rules so much. they’re doing a bunch of different stuff, most noteably Rebreather out of western PA. I think they may have done a Teeth of the Hydra record too. they are great friends and treat us well. we actually sent a demo to cruz del sur, got no response. that’s a badass label. we are gigantic slough-feg fans and have played with them a couple times. those guys know what’s up, man what a band.
RAY - RED LIGHT CHALLENGE!!! Is the “hot-ness” of women at shows inversely proportional to the heaviness of the music? I call this theorem The Dorsey/Wilson Law Of Inverse Fuckability.
BILL - i think that used to be true. but things seem to change for the better in that respect. used to be, there was nothing but dudes at metal shows, but i definitely see plenty of girls at shows now. some girls seem to just have been dragged there by their boyfriends, and that sucks, but you know, when you see a girl really rockin out at a kickass show that brings the hot-ness factor up several notches.
NICKY - Hmmm. Depends of whether you are into tattoos or not...
RY - I believe that equation has recently been modified. It is as follows: Hot-ness of women at shows = (1/Heaviness)*K*(Number of Effects Pedals on Stage)/(% Overall band baldness)^(1/2) Where K is the 'rock constant' developed by D.L. Roth in the early 1980's and is equal to 0.
RAY - Ok, here’s one that always brings a smile (either of amusement, regret, consternation, disgust…etc.). Do you have any stories from life in COLOSSUS (either at home, on the road, etc) that you can share with the readers that are either uproariously funny, patently disgusting, weird, disturbing or just plain goofy?
NICKY - Yeesh... When we are on tour we have a box of baby wipes that we call "showers."
SEAN - Oh man, we got so many. The first one that pops into mind is when we were playing in Nashville one time. After the show some friends of ours took us to a party in their neighborhood where we knew nobody. Some random girl came up to Ry and introduced herself and he went around the room making up obviously fake names for all of us and when he got to himself he said his name was Ritchie. The girl looked at him and said, "Oh Ritchie... I'm gonna punch you in the fucking face before the night is over." which made me laugh so hard I collapsed into a fetal position on the kitchen floor. Then a dude comes up from downstairs and says that if you don't know who he is then you have to leave the party. I went up and was like, "Hey, I'm Sean, what's your name?" but no dice, we wound up on the front lawn. So we're waiting out there trying to call our friends that are inside and looking into this huge plate glass window where you can see the whole living room hanging out. Somebody gets the idea to send a shirtless Ben Smith in there and get him to root around like he can't find his shirt. So next thing we all see through the window is Ben walking out from the kitchen shirtless and start searching around in the room full of people for his shirt. He's asking people to move, looking under seat cushions... it was great and we were all really proud of him. He walks outside and some of the dudes that kicked us out before are following him. We're all laughing and Ben walks up to us and the dudes are like, "Oh man, you guys are friends with shirtless guy? You can come back into the party!" So we go in and grab our friends and leave because the party was actually pretty whack to begin with.
BILL - i think that same night was when this girl at the party just takes off her underwear out from under her skirt, really for no reason at all, and says “i’m not even a stripper” (nobody asked), i think i was tying my shoe a few minutes later and i feel something on my head and sean has put that girl’s underwear on my head, which was really fucked up. but clever. i’m definitely going to get him back for that. yeah, there’s a bunch more. could go on if i could remember stuff more clearly.
RAY - Any final comments for the readership?
BILL - ray is awesome. can’t wait to get back up to baltimore. rrroooccckkk!
So, there you have it…words of wisdom from the mouths of one of the absolute corkers of a metal band these pages have ever known. But don’t just read…go to the COLOSSUS site, order up and learn what it feels like to have THE COLOSSUS CRUSH YOU!
www.myspace.com/thecolossuswillcrushyou
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
GRAND HALLS 4
MEDUSA TOUCH – “…Someone To Take You There” CD ’05 (Private, England) – The word “heavy” has always been an interesting one to me. Over the years, man, it’s been used a lot! I saw a band and they were “heavy as hell.” “Man, his guitar tone was freaking heavy as shit!” “That album is so damn heavy.” What does it mean? What is heavier, Slayer’s “Reign In Blood” or Judas Priest’s “Sad Wings Of Destiny?” Really? The first Saint Vitus album or Pagan Altar’s “Mythical & Magical?” Are you sure? And therein lies the beauty of the discussion. To me, for instance, it’s always been more about the vibe than the actual guitar tone, the mood than the level of distortion. And how appropriate, then (if I do say so myself J) having mentioned a band like Pagan Altar when leading into this look at MEDUSA TOUCH. Both are bands from England and both take their cue of “heaviness” from that more moody, ethereal sense of the word.
MEDUSA TOUCH, you see, are a 4-piece unit that etched this glorious recording (their 3rd) into plastic in 2004 and let it see the light of day sometime in the next year. From the fantasy-themed cover art, it would be understandable for a potential listener to think they were going to be swept into a land of Euro power/prog metal upon hitting the play button and yet MT seem to glean their inspiration from things a bit further back in history. The opening cut, “All Hallows Eve” greets the listener with a bit of an ominous chording and a demonic laugh, then it’s on to a simply awesome beginning. Here, as the Hellride writer who turned me onto this gem astutely pointed out, comparisons can surely be drawn to the legendary Pagan Altar, both in the grand nature of the song writing itself and the panoramic subtle “heavy” feel. Listen to the dueling guitars of Trey Owen and Rog Long, hitting harmonies generally reserved for the likes of Robbo & Gorham as they give shape and clarity to this killer. The trump card for the band is the vocal work of bassist Allison Piearce. Her voice is at once powerfully gutsy and smooth as silk, never falling into any kind of barroom harshness that would make the proceedings seem hokey. A great example of this is in the very next number, “Decoy Doll,” a trip down the seamier side of life. Here the band, motoring atop Bryan Beasley’s stalwart drumming, dishes out a grooving hard rocker while Piearce’s voice tells a seedy tale in a golden voice. And, on it continues, through cuts such as the lengthy “20:20 Hindsight,” the melodic “Fallen Angel” and the ‘70’s hard rock feel of “Too Many Times.” It all comes to a fantastic conclusion in the nearly 7-minute epic closer, “Legend” where MT tie everything together in a wonderful amalgamation that reminds this listener of a deft combination of the aforementioned P Altar and another band of British gods, Saracen.
It’s easy to get caught up in the myriad good reviews that float around the internet, where it becomes part and parcel of many websites to laud even the most mediocre records with lavish praise. Here at the ‘Realm, however, I love to find the real cream, whether it be from the present or past and let it rise to the top, singing it’s praises as it does. With that in mind, MEDUSA TOUCH sure as hell represents the best of both worlds. Here’s a stone-classic they issued nearly 4 years ago that’s just reached my desk and…thankfully, the band is still going strong and working on new material. How great is that? So, while we look forward to their next move, grab a copy of this one and let MEDUSA TOUCH “take you” to their world of “heavy!” 10.0
NOTE: MEDUSA TOUCH has 2 albums previous to this one that are currently sold out. Here’s hoping they’re re-issued soon, so get writing to ‘em and give ‘em a reason to.
http://www.medusatouch.com/
www.myspace.com/medusatouchrockband
MEDUSA TOUCH, you see, are a 4-piece unit that etched this glorious recording (their 3rd) into plastic in 2004 and let it see the light of day sometime in the next year. From the fantasy-themed cover art, it would be understandable for a potential listener to think they were going to be swept into a land of Euro power/prog metal upon hitting the play button and yet MT seem to glean their inspiration from things a bit further back in history. The opening cut, “All Hallows Eve” greets the listener with a bit of an ominous chording and a demonic laugh, then it’s on to a simply awesome beginning. Here, as the Hellride writer who turned me onto this gem astutely pointed out, comparisons can surely be drawn to the legendary Pagan Altar, both in the grand nature of the song writing itself and the panoramic subtle “heavy” feel. Listen to the dueling guitars of Trey Owen and Rog Long, hitting harmonies generally reserved for the likes of Robbo & Gorham as they give shape and clarity to this killer. The trump card for the band is the vocal work of bassist Allison Piearce. Her voice is at once powerfully gutsy and smooth as silk, never falling into any kind of barroom harshness that would make the proceedings seem hokey. A great example of this is in the very next number, “Decoy Doll,” a trip down the seamier side of life. Here the band, motoring atop Bryan Beasley’s stalwart drumming, dishes out a grooving hard rocker while Piearce’s voice tells a seedy tale in a golden voice. And, on it continues, through cuts such as the lengthy “20:20 Hindsight,” the melodic “Fallen Angel” and the ‘70’s hard rock feel of “Too Many Times.” It all comes to a fantastic conclusion in the nearly 7-minute epic closer, “Legend” where MT tie everything together in a wonderful amalgamation that reminds this listener of a deft combination of the aforementioned P Altar and another band of British gods, Saracen.
It’s easy to get caught up in the myriad good reviews that float around the internet, where it becomes part and parcel of many websites to laud even the most mediocre records with lavish praise. Here at the ‘Realm, however, I love to find the real cream, whether it be from the present or past and let it rise to the top, singing it’s praises as it does. With that in mind, MEDUSA TOUCH sure as hell represents the best of both worlds. Here’s a stone-classic they issued nearly 4 years ago that’s just reached my desk and…thankfully, the band is still going strong and working on new material. How great is that? So, while we look forward to their next move, grab a copy of this one and let MEDUSA TOUCH “take you” to their world of “heavy!” 10.0
NOTE: MEDUSA TOUCH has 2 albums previous to this one that are currently sold out. Here’s hoping they’re re-issued soon, so get writing to ‘em and give ‘em a reason to.
http://www.medusatouch.com/
www.myspace.com/medusatouchrockband
Thursday, July 17, 2008
A Magnificent Release
REVELATION – “Release” CD ’08 (Leaf Hound, US) – As I’ve probably repeated nearly to infinity during my reviews of the last couple Against Nature records, it’s really been a very nice ride watching John Brenner & crew ascend from the ranks of middle-of-the-road doom to a trio so organic, dynamic and down-right good that they’ve not only broken the mold but smashed it into a million pieces of dust. True enough, the band’s (John – guitar, vocals, Bert Hall, Jr. – bass, Steve Branagan –drums) Against Nature format (the same line-up comprises both units) is geared toward a more heavy prog/rock sound while REVELATION is their vehicle into the world of doom metal. And yet…once again, John, Bert and Steve have raised the bar with “Release.” You see, there is no question that this record can stand quite comfortably in the so-called “doom” genre. The leaden crushing of the guitars, the deliberate pacing all point toward a world that began ages ago, perhaps, with Iommi & crew and which has revolved through a universe populated by names like Vitus, Trouble, The Obsessed and Pentagram to name only a few. Still, the absolute gorgeous album that is now playing as I write this suggests that REVELATION have taken the doom format and elevated it into something so much more panoramic and of such a wide scope as to have transcended it’s very meaning. Listen only to something like the beginning of a track deep into the running order, like “Epiphany.” Let the opening guitar figures wash over you and you can only imagine that you’ve traveled back in time to a record store in 1971 where the first Eloy album is playing as a subtle cloud of rich aroma wafts from a back room. And, truly this is only one small example as all through wonderful songs like “Anatomy Of Melancholy” and the audibly delicious “The Provenance Of Clouds” the band do far more than play. Rather, like the very best before them (Rush on “Fly By Night,” Gentle Giant on “Three Friends” or, for God’s sake, yes, Sabbath on “Vol. 4”), REVELATION paint with the firm yet caring hand of an artist who not only enjoys his or her work but is so passionate about it that it surely drips with emotion. All through the 8 songs here, Hall & Branagan explore a rhythm sound that is organic and living to the maximum, reflecting not only so-called heavy musos like Butler or Ward but also those further afield such as Jaco P or Maurice Pert. Tying it all together is John Brenner, who’s guitarwork has reached the realm of masterful. Not only are Brenner’s rhythms strikingly innovative but they also retain a visceral heaviness. His lead work, however, is simply breathtaking. A virtual chameleon of tones, he never overplays yet allows his axe to embellish upon the story being told, the reflection being made in the vocal melody. And these vocal melodies are where John has more than found his feet as a singer. I’m reminded more than once of the great VDGG vocalist Peter Hamill in John’s rich, melodic tone throughout this album. In summation, there is very little I can say about “Release” that I haven’t already effused about above. Simply speaking, this is clearly a spectacular release (pun intended) and another step on the dramatically upward curve being blazed by REVELATION / AGAINST NATURE. Buy and enjoy. 10.0
http://www.leafhound.com/
http://www.againstnature.us/
THE DAILY VOID – “Identification Code 5271-4984953784-06564” CD ’07 (Dead Beat, US) – learned about Devo from of all people, the guy who named Metallica. In case you’re confused already, underground San Francisco metal DJ Ron Quintana supposedly showed a list of names to his friend Lars Ulrich, who was looking for a moniker for his new thrashing combo. Seems Lars was taking a bit of a shine to the name “Metal Mania” but as Ron had his eye on that one for his burgeoning zine, he urged Mr. Ulrich to go with “Metallica.” Anyhoo, I became acquaintances with Quincy over the years and as it went, we’d trade copies of our zines back & forth as well as cassette tapes of prized discoveries. And it was one day that the Q man sent me a tape with the first Devo record on it (something I’d blithely ignored until then) and I was taken by their unique, mechanized, hypnotic sound. It’s such a sound that takes me back to those days when I put in this disc by THE DAILY VOID and am greeted by the short, quick and pulsing mechanicals of “You’ve Been Erased,” “Devil’s Gold Window” and “The Man W/O A Face.” Still, what makes TDV (featuring ex-members of The Functional Blackouts) stand out as something a good deal more than a DEVO clone (not that THAT would be a terrible thing, in this day & age!) is the raw punk aggression and the garage-style distorted vocals & feel that also permeates “Identificaton Code…,’ with echoes of things like The Dwarves, like weird little animals raising their heads momentarily from the aural broth. A very interesting and refreshing record. 8.0
http://www.dead-beat-records.com/
ANNIHILATION TIME – “III: Tales Of The Ancient Age” CD ’08 (Tee Pee, US) – Kinda cool band here from the Oakland area. The basic premise is that they’re ripping through 10 songs of high-energy, obnoxious punk rawk but with the added twist of Thin Lizzy-like harmony lead guitars mixed in as well. It might seem to the unfamiliar listener that this would be a hodge-podge, but surprisingly it’s not. Yeah, by the end of the record, the “fuck” as every other word gets a little tiring, but the guitarwork and melodies that creep through the thrashing save the day. It’s cool when something seemingly incongruous works and for the most part, it does here enough to make me want to hear their next offering. 7.0
www.teepeerecords.com
FORBIDDEN TIGERS – “Magnetic Problems” CD ’07 (Dead Beat, US) – So it’s some point back in the mid ‘80’s and I’m dodging the raindrops on a bleak night in February, bracing my face against the cold as I push through the door and into the old 9:30 Club. The dim hallway is strewn with a veritable host of malcontents, dark ghosts with heroin eyes and black hair and a slightly chemical smell that I don’t want to pause long enough to try to identify. And there, beyond it in the background, coming somewhere from the direction of yonder scuzzy nightclub is a sound. It’s the sound of rock, but of nothing known as rock to the MTV generation of the time. This includes the noise of Fender amps, rather than Marshalls, cranked to their splitting point and what must be a battered, paint-chipped Tele being slashed to an ungainly death with jagged fuzz-chords that imply a certain feral desperation. Below this unsettling palate is the insistent thump of bass & drums, each hit with the force of an unseen hooker who’s finally overcome the fear to beat her abusive pimp to death with a tire iron. The vocals overtop call their siren song of losing, then getting, then losing again and to tell you the truth, it would all be too much if there wasn’t such a deceptively wicked hook of a melody swimming underneath like coy waking up in the spring and trying to get past the thawing ice. Yup, that’s what FORBIDDEN TIGERS sounds like. Good stuff. 8.5
http://www.dead-beat-records.com/
HAUNTED GEORGE – “Bone Hauler” CD ’06 (Dead Beat, US) – HAUNTED GEORGE should be a name familiar to RAYSREALM readers, especially over the last year when his overwhelming “Pile O’ Meat” disc scored a strong finish in this scribe’s Top 10 of 2007. While this previous disc is not quite on the level of the sonic depravation leveled by that sick pile o’ plastic, “Bone Hauler” still…um…hauls some serious ass. This mutha shows some of where the pile o’ premise for last year’s disc lay, with that simple acoustic guitar plugged into some sort of sick distortion stuff and amplified to sound like a jackalope being thrown into a power mower. GEORGE’s howling vocals, the pain-wracked voice of a man who can make John Tardy sound twee, rise like a nasty squall in the proceedings and raise tracks like “Ghoul From The Mine” to something very evil indeed. Scary stuff. 9.0
http://www.dead-beat-records.com/
IOTA – “Tales” CD ’08 (Small Stone, US) – The stoner rock movement. Hmmm…. Man, remember how fresh and vital that was several years back? We were all singing the praises of Fu Manchu & Kyuss as new saviours and looking to exciting new acts like Datura as leaders for a new generation. Funny, over time, how bloated it became, with every other record you’d receive in the mail sporting either a ’70 Camaro on the cover or a bunch of dudes sharing a bong on the insert. The endless parade seems to just continue on, and part of the latest batch I’ve received is this one by IOTA. I have to give these guys credit in that they do pepper their low-end crush with some interesting lysergic jamming, although that does tend to get a bit yawn-inducing in the nearly 23-minute “Dimensional Orbiter.” A decent and pretty well inoffensive listen here, but if you want to hear what a truly great band has done, merely using the stoner style as a stepping-off point to greater things, check out the new Colourhaze instead. 5.5
http://www.smallstone.com/
http://www.leafhound.com/
http://www.againstnature.us/
THE DAILY VOID – “Identification Code 5271-4984953784-06564” CD ’07 (Dead Beat, US) – learned about Devo from of all people, the guy who named Metallica. In case you’re confused already, underground San Francisco metal DJ Ron Quintana supposedly showed a list of names to his friend Lars Ulrich, who was looking for a moniker for his new thrashing combo. Seems Lars was taking a bit of a shine to the name “Metal Mania” but as Ron had his eye on that one for his burgeoning zine, he urged Mr. Ulrich to go with “Metallica.” Anyhoo, I became acquaintances with Quincy over the years and as it went, we’d trade copies of our zines back & forth as well as cassette tapes of prized discoveries. And it was one day that the Q man sent me a tape with the first Devo record on it (something I’d blithely ignored until then) and I was taken by their unique, mechanized, hypnotic sound. It’s such a sound that takes me back to those days when I put in this disc by THE DAILY VOID and am greeted by the short, quick and pulsing mechanicals of “You’ve Been Erased,” “Devil’s Gold Window” and “The Man W/O A Face.” Still, what makes TDV (featuring ex-members of The Functional Blackouts) stand out as something a good deal more than a DEVO clone (not that THAT would be a terrible thing, in this day & age!) is the raw punk aggression and the garage-style distorted vocals & feel that also permeates “Identificaton Code…,’ with echoes of things like The Dwarves, like weird little animals raising their heads momentarily from the aural broth. A very interesting and refreshing record. 8.0
http://www.dead-beat-records.com/
ANNIHILATION TIME – “III: Tales Of The Ancient Age” CD ’08 (Tee Pee, US) – Kinda cool band here from the Oakland area. The basic premise is that they’re ripping through 10 songs of high-energy, obnoxious punk rawk but with the added twist of Thin Lizzy-like harmony lead guitars mixed in as well. It might seem to the unfamiliar listener that this would be a hodge-podge, but surprisingly it’s not. Yeah, by the end of the record, the “fuck” as every other word gets a little tiring, but the guitarwork and melodies that creep through the thrashing save the day. It’s cool when something seemingly incongruous works and for the most part, it does here enough to make me want to hear their next offering. 7.0
www.teepeerecords.com
FORBIDDEN TIGERS – “Magnetic Problems” CD ’07 (Dead Beat, US) – So it’s some point back in the mid ‘80’s and I’m dodging the raindrops on a bleak night in February, bracing my face against the cold as I push through the door and into the old 9:30 Club. The dim hallway is strewn with a veritable host of malcontents, dark ghosts with heroin eyes and black hair and a slightly chemical smell that I don’t want to pause long enough to try to identify. And there, beyond it in the background, coming somewhere from the direction of yonder scuzzy nightclub is a sound. It’s the sound of rock, but of nothing known as rock to the MTV generation of the time. This includes the noise of Fender amps, rather than Marshalls, cranked to their splitting point and what must be a battered, paint-chipped Tele being slashed to an ungainly death with jagged fuzz-chords that imply a certain feral desperation. Below this unsettling palate is the insistent thump of bass & drums, each hit with the force of an unseen hooker who’s finally overcome the fear to beat her abusive pimp to death with a tire iron. The vocals overtop call their siren song of losing, then getting, then losing again and to tell you the truth, it would all be too much if there wasn’t such a deceptively wicked hook of a melody swimming underneath like coy waking up in the spring and trying to get past the thawing ice. Yup, that’s what FORBIDDEN TIGERS sounds like. Good stuff. 8.5
http://www.dead-beat-records.com/
HAUNTED GEORGE – “Bone Hauler” CD ’06 (Dead Beat, US) – HAUNTED GEORGE should be a name familiar to RAYSREALM readers, especially over the last year when his overwhelming “Pile O’ Meat” disc scored a strong finish in this scribe’s Top 10 of 2007. While this previous disc is not quite on the level of the sonic depravation leveled by that sick pile o’ plastic, “Bone Hauler” still…um…hauls some serious ass. This mutha shows some of where the pile o’ premise for last year’s disc lay, with that simple acoustic guitar plugged into some sort of sick distortion stuff and amplified to sound like a jackalope being thrown into a power mower. GEORGE’s howling vocals, the pain-wracked voice of a man who can make John Tardy sound twee, rise like a nasty squall in the proceedings and raise tracks like “Ghoul From The Mine” to something very evil indeed. Scary stuff. 9.0
http://www.dead-beat-records.com/
IOTA – “Tales” CD ’08 (Small Stone, US) – The stoner rock movement. Hmmm…. Man, remember how fresh and vital that was several years back? We were all singing the praises of Fu Manchu & Kyuss as new saviours and looking to exciting new acts like Datura as leaders for a new generation. Funny, over time, how bloated it became, with every other record you’d receive in the mail sporting either a ’70 Camaro on the cover or a bunch of dudes sharing a bong on the insert. The endless parade seems to just continue on, and part of the latest batch I’ve received is this one by IOTA. I have to give these guys credit in that they do pepper their low-end crush with some interesting lysergic jamming, although that does tend to get a bit yawn-inducing in the nearly 23-minute “Dimensional Orbiter.” A decent and pretty well inoffensive listen here, but if you want to hear what a truly great band has done, merely using the stoner style as a stepping-off point to greater things, check out the new Colourhaze instead. 5.5
http://www.smallstone.com/
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
GRAND HALLS 3
Back in 2004, I published the following review of a complete underground metal archive classic, LAZARUS SIN - "Intracranial Mass" on my previous site, Chaos Realm. Having just found the brand-new official re-issue of this lost gem in my mailbox, I thought it appropriate to bring that review to RAYSREALM as part of the Grand Halls Series. Look for the band's myspace site at the end of the review and contact them to find out how to order this monster. You won't be sorry!
LAZARUS SIN – “Intracranial Mass” CD ’08/’88 (Private, US) – This review marks the completion of a long quest of mine, and it’s one that has yielded results even beyond my hopes. Anybody remember the British mag Metal Forces? It was a bible during the mid/late ‘80’s & I used to grab it just to read reviews by people like Bernard Doe & Dave Reynolds. Anyway, I remember seeing an ad for this CD-only album by Eugene, Oregon’s LAZARUS SIN in one of those issues. The band name, title and odd cover photo of a small boy praying the Rosary stuck in my mind. I tried to contact the band several time to no avail, then finally stowed the name away on my want list. It stayed there…for years & years. I never saw a copy and then, as the ‘90’s melted into the ‘oughties, it initially slipped from my cranium (ouch!). Then, a few years ago, I noticed it cropping up on lists and fetching sickly prices. Ultimately, a month or so ago, during internet browsing, my eyes lit up, for there was a copy at a decent price. I went ahead and pushed “enter.” It was an interesting moment when the package arrived. I’d never even heard this album, never even had a tape of it, so when I slid LAZARUS SIN’s “Intracranial Mass” into the ol’ RAYSREALM laser blazer some 16 years down the line, I expected to most likely be let down. Instead, to my delight, I was blown to the wall by an album that made me want to deck my 46 year old body in as much leather & spikes as I could find. I’m warning you now, I am going to issue a very high comparison here but do not doubt me, oh legions of metallic mayhem! When you factor in the ripping ‘80’s metal style, the quirky ‘70’s overtones, the scorching production, the super-charged-Jackson-rifferama & the howling vocals, the best assessment I can come up with is Slauter Xstroyes – “Winter Kill.” Yes folk, this is that good.As opener “Blood For Mercy” reaches the apex of it’s intro and vocalist Joseph Tierney greets us with a commanding “Yeah!” I can just picture him striding onstage, decked in fullmetal regalia beneath a shroud of dry ice. At this point, Edward Cross peels off a barrage of Charvel-toned riff-storming that scarcely lets up for the next ¾ of an hour. After this 6 ½ minute statement of metal intent, the band downshifts slightly for “Apothecaries’ Measure.” Featuring a melodic mid-section reminiscent of “Victim Of Changes,” it also sees Cross unsheathe a scalding solo that, as many do on this album, puts him in the league of Paul Kratky. Next arises the instrumental “7734,” Maiden-ish in it’s intricacies and actually acting as a bit of an extended prelusion (anybody remember Exxplorer?!) to “The Son Of The Jackal.” This 6 ½ minute beauty marks the end of Side A. That’s right, I said Side A. Even though “Intracranial Mass” was exclusively released on CD, these guys were apparently so into the metal vinyl culture that they labeled the track-listing split over 2 sides. To me, that alone makes this thing as cool as shit! Anyway, “…Jackal” is another barnstorming metallic classic, combining aspects of Priest, Sabbath & Maiden plus a thoroughly unique individuality, highlighted by the extended acoustic guitar coda.
Believe it or not, the 2nd half of this record is where LAZARUS SIN really gets motoring! Next to decapitate your sorry ass is the 8+ minute “Author Of Sorrow” (such a cool title!). While these songs are surely all epics, there is none of the pussy-fied Bland Guardian shit here that metal would descend to into the decade following this masterpiece. This is pure metal, like when Priest did “Saints In Hell,” Maiden did “Hallowed Be Thy Name” and Slauter Xstroyes did “Black Rose & Thorns.” This just murders ass, with Tierney wailing, Cross mauling his screeching axe and David Thorne (bass) & Bolund Mace (drums) laying down rhythms like a Harris & Binks all-star team. “What’s this,” I say, “Piano?” as “Monument” opens reminding me for all the world of the “Sad Wings Of Destiny” classic “Epitaph.” Eventually, however, it builds into a melodic 6 min showcase for Tierney’s singing prowess and Cross’ haunting solos. “Intracranial Mass” is then brought to a dazzling conclusion by one of the heaviest ‘80’s metal songs I’ve ever heard (or any decade’s, for that matter!), the devastating 9 ½ minute “Out Of The Box.” Opening with a crushing, doom-inflected riff, the song then follows totally cool, seamless changes into a solo by Edward Cross that just slays me. There’s a lead guitar tone that I worship that’s not been achieved a whole lot. Think of Tipton in “Dreamer Deceiver,” the Marcus guys in “Rise Unto Falcon” or how about Survivor’s “Deceive Me,” from “All Your Pretty Moves?” Yeah, it’s that clean, naked and plaintive Gibson wail and it brings tears to my eyes in the freaking awesome solo it’s employed for here. Finally, with Tierney shrieking “Out Of The Box!” repeatedly, this freight train not so much as pulls into the station, but plows into it at full speed, concrete, steel & diesel fuel exploding into a mammoth fireball the likes of which defines pure annihilation.All too often, albums that are considered rare or obscure end up being much less than they’re cracked up to be, due to the over-hyped quality of their legend. In the case of LAZARUS SIN – “Intracranial Mass,” however, listen to my words carefully, you fans of pure metal. This motherfucker is a Metal Force worth anything you have to do to obtain it. Anything! 10.0
www.myspace.com/lazarussin
LAZARUS SIN – “Intracranial Mass” CD ’08/’88 (Private, US) – This review marks the completion of a long quest of mine, and it’s one that has yielded results even beyond my hopes. Anybody remember the British mag Metal Forces? It was a bible during the mid/late ‘80’s & I used to grab it just to read reviews by people like Bernard Doe & Dave Reynolds. Anyway, I remember seeing an ad for this CD-only album by Eugene, Oregon’s LAZARUS SIN in one of those issues. The band name, title and odd cover photo of a small boy praying the Rosary stuck in my mind. I tried to contact the band several time to no avail, then finally stowed the name away on my want list. It stayed there…for years & years. I never saw a copy and then, as the ‘90’s melted into the ‘oughties, it initially slipped from my cranium (ouch!). Then, a few years ago, I noticed it cropping up on lists and fetching sickly prices. Ultimately, a month or so ago, during internet browsing, my eyes lit up, for there was a copy at a decent price. I went ahead and pushed “enter.” It was an interesting moment when the package arrived. I’d never even heard this album, never even had a tape of it, so when I slid LAZARUS SIN’s “Intracranial Mass” into the ol’ RAYSREALM laser blazer some 16 years down the line, I expected to most likely be let down. Instead, to my delight, I was blown to the wall by an album that made me want to deck my 46 year old body in as much leather & spikes as I could find. I’m warning you now, I am going to issue a very high comparison here but do not doubt me, oh legions of metallic mayhem! When you factor in the ripping ‘80’s metal style, the quirky ‘70’s overtones, the scorching production, the super-charged-Jackson-rifferama & the howling vocals, the best assessment I can come up with is Slauter Xstroyes – “Winter Kill.” Yes folk, this is that good.As opener “Blood For Mercy” reaches the apex of it’s intro and vocalist Joseph Tierney greets us with a commanding “Yeah!” I can just picture him striding onstage, decked in fullmetal regalia beneath a shroud of dry ice. At this point, Edward Cross peels off a barrage of Charvel-toned riff-storming that scarcely lets up for the next ¾ of an hour. After this 6 ½ minute statement of metal intent, the band downshifts slightly for “Apothecaries’ Measure.” Featuring a melodic mid-section reminiscent of “Victim Of Changes,” it also sees Cross unsheathe a scalding solo that, as many do on this album, puts him in the league of Paul Kratky. Next arises the instrumental “7734,” Maiden-ish in it’s intricacies and actually acting as a bit of an extended prelusion (anybody remember Exxplorer?!) to “The Son Of The Jackal.” This 6 ½ minute beauty marks the end of Side A. That’s right, I said Side A. Even though “Intracranial Mass” was exclusively released on CD, these guys were apparently so into the metal vinyl culture that they labeled the track-listing split over 2 sides. To me, that alone makes this thing as cool as shit! Anyway, “…Jackal” is another barnstorming metallic classic, combining aspects of Priest, Sabbath & Maiden plus a thoroughly unique individuality, highlighted by the extended acoustic guitar coda.
Believe it or not, the 2nd half of this record is where LAZARUS SIN really gets motoring! Next to decapitate your sorry ass is the 8+ minute “Author Of Sorrow” (such a cool title!). While these songs are surely all epics, there is none of the pussy-fied Bland Guardian shit here that metal would descend to into the decade following this masterpiece. This is pure metal, like when Priest did “Saints In Hell,” Maiden did “Hallowed Be Thy Name” and Slauter Xstroyes did “Black Rose & Thorns.” This just murders ass, with Tierney wailing, Cross mauling his screeching axe and David Thorne (bass) & Bolund Mace (drums) laying down rhythms like a Harris & Binks all-star team. “What’s this,” I say, “Piano?” as “Monument” opens reminding me for all the world of the “Sad Wings Of Destiny” classic “Epitaph.” Eventually, however, it builds into a melodic 6 min showcase for Tierney’s singing prowess and Cross’ haunting solos. “Intracranial Mass” is then brought to a dazzling conclusion by one of the heaviest ‘80’s metal songs I’ve ever heard (or any decade’s, for that matter!), the devastating 9 ½ minute “Out Of The Box.” Opening with a crushing, doom-inflected riff, the song then follows totally cool, seamless changes into a solo by Edward Cross that just slays me. There’s a lead guitar tone that I worship that’s not been achieved a whole lot. Think of Tipton in “Dreamer Deceiver,” the Marcus guys in “Rise Unto Falcon” or how about Survivor’s “Deceive Me,” from “All Your Pretty Moves?” Yeah, it’s that clean, naked and plaintive Gibson wail and it brings tears to my eyes in the freaking awesome solo it’s employed for here. Finally, with Tierney shrieking “Out Of The Box!” repeatedly, this freight train not so much as pulls into the station, but plows into it at full speed, concrete, steel & diesel fuel exploding into a mammoth fireball the likes of which defines pure annihilation.All too often, albums that are considered rare or obscure end up being much less than they’re cracked up to be, due to the over-hyped quality of their legend. In the case of LAZARUS SIN – “Intracranial Mass,” however, listen to my words carefully, you fans of pure metal. This motherfucker is a Metal Force worth anything you have to do to obtain it. Anything! 10.0
www.myspace.com/lazarussin
GRAND HALLS 2
JUDAS PRIEST – “Hell Bent For Leather” ’78 (CBS, Eng) – Interesting it is, the thoughts we have on going back and reviewing our own writing. At least I know for me it is. Sometimes in doing so, the ideas and tangents that come to mind are surprising. So it was with re-reading my review of JUDAS PRIEST’s “Nostradamus” opus, one of the truly great albums of 2008…and of the band’s career, in my opinion, that I noticed I’d made an allusion to not understanding those who place albums like “British Steel” & “Hell Bent For Leather” above such records as “Stained Class” and “Sad Wings….” In my reading, it struck me that while I continually hear numbers like “Breaking The Law” & “Living After Midnight” (“British Steel”) on the radio, it had been a damn long time since the grooves of “Hell Bent…/Killing Machine” had turned beneath these ears. Was it time to give this old warhorse a fresh listening? I thought so, and with that I felt it would be interesting to do a “Grand Halls” piece on a record that was not one I’d normally place in that category…and yet…. There are a few singularly interesting things about “Hell Bent For Leather” right from the get-go, the first being it’s dual title. The deal is that the record came out as “Killing Machine” in 1978 in England yet the US offices of CBS apparently thought the title too “violent” for America. I’ll let you work that twisted logic out for yourselves. In any case, it’s the “Hell Bent…” version we’ll take a look at here, as it includes one additional song and after all, you know any chance for me to be more wordy is one I’ll jump on any day. J Another cool tidbit concerning “Hell Bent…” is the fact that it is the 2nd of the only 2 studio JP albums to which Les “Feathertouch” Binks would lend his massive drumming skills. (Well, unless you consider “Unleashed In The…ahem…Studio”…but that’s fodder for another article!). At any rate, to paraphrase the age-old ad I remember seeing in Creem Magazine at the time, it’s time to tear off the cloth and put on the leather….
Upon looking at the cover art of “Hell Bent…,” there’s a difference apparent from the previous “Stained Class.” Where the latter featured an image of an elite, arty sort, this one is more direct and visceral. The image of the face with the bullet-shattered glasses and studded headband implies a far more aggressive tone, the logo & title placement indicate a direct connection with it’s predecessor from earlier that year. The band photos on the back of the sleeve show the 4 musicians looking about as expected. Lead singer Halford, however, looks completely different than ever before. Bedecked in a leather jacket, his hair, beard (!) and facial expression look more like a biker/pirate and the silk & satin days seem like a distant memory. On to the record itself and the beating commences immediately with “Delivering The Goods.” If the PRIEST were going to be losing their ability to do just that, it sure isn’t apparent in this tune. The immediate difference noticeable from “Stained Class”/”Sin After Sin” is the thundering bottom-end that’s present here as opposed to the surgical, space-age sound of the formers. Les Binks drums, while still a study in proto-jazz-metal craftsmanship (how could they ever have let this guy go?!) pack a wallop more familiar to the grand ol’ geezer Bonzo on this track & Glenn Tipton’s guitar solo utterly shreds. Next up is “Rock Forever.” Now here’s something different. Talk about a stripped-down approach compared to anything on the previous couple records, the “rock & roll” lyrics harken back to the title track of…wait for it…”Rocka Rolla” and the “Gimme a ride, boys!” before the Lizzy-like double lead solo mirrors a Steven Tyler-type cat-call. “Evening Star” opens with an acoustic guitar figure, almost like it could be another “Last Rose Of Summer” or (dare we hope) a “Beyond The Realms Of Death.” Soon, by the major chord melody and the insistent yet simple rhythm, it’s clear this is something a lot more accessible than either. Originally a song I would skip over (well, cue over in the old tone arm days!) on recent listens, I’ve been taken by the guitar solos, brief though they are by Glenn & KK here. In addition, Binks adds some deft percussion touches that remind me of the Sabs’ “Planet Caravan.” The title track starts like an explosion, with an absolutely crushing opening volley of power chords suspended on Leslie’s rolling bass drums. Then, Tipton announces the song-proper with a riff straight out of Ted Nugent’s top-shelf lost greats and it’s onto 2 ½ minutes of sheer greatness. The solo here by Glenn borders on the ridiculously great. Oh hell, borders my ass, it just is! Finishing Side One is something that has and still is my sticking point with this album, the anthem “Take On The World.” It was a wonderful thing that Queen did something like “We Will Rock You” but I honestly never understood why PRIEST had to do their own version of it. ‘Nuff said.
It’s without a whole lot of who-struck-John that JP get back on track to start Side Two, however. “Burnin’ Up” has always been one of my 2 favourite songs on “Hell Bent…”and on recent re-listenings, it still is. Apart from Halford’s new-found reality-based lyrical bent (i.e. sex, partying, etc.) this is as classic a Downing/Halford composition as there’s ever been. From the strutting funk/metal rhythm (KK’s Hendrix influence) to the searing melodic section, to the solo (you can almost see Downing, head thrown back, Flying V held to the sky), this is as good a song as PRIEST has ever done. Up next is the Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green) cover, “The Green Manalishi….” Part of the band’s penchant for including covers (“Diamonds & Rust,” Better By You, Better Than Me”) this number is given the full-metal-chugging treatment, complete with a slashing Glenn/KK lead trade-off. Following, we find the title cut of the British version of the record, “Killing Machine.” Like “Hell Bent…” itself, it’s short and therein lies one of the things that requires a large adjustment on the part of the listener moving from “Stained Class” to this one. On the latter, there were 5 songs that equaled or topped the 5 minute mark. On “Hell Bent…,” the “epic” is “Delivering The Goods,” at 4:19. Still, it’s pretty hard to deny “Killing Machine” with it’s pillage-heavy chorus and the solo from Glenn, so loud that it pushes the meters into the red. Another riff that could find itself enamouring Terrible Ted opens “Running Wild” and again, while not opus-like in length, this one is a bundle of energy, mirroring the “nightlife” I’m certain Halford has “moved among” many times. Up next is my other fave song on the disc and oddly, a ballad through and through. To say that “Before The Dawn” is a lovely, beautiful song may not be doing it the justice it requires. Having listened to it several times in the last couple days, the first time I’ve heard it in probably a couple years, I’m struck by how well it’s held up and is possibly much better than I even remembered it. This is one of (if not the) greatest vocals of Halford’s career and while he may have done a solo or two equal to this over the years, KK has never bettered it. Scintillating. “Hell Bent For Leather” closes with another complete oddity, for the band at this point, the slow & sleazy “Evil Fantasies.” Complete with a slide (!!!) solo by Tipton (I actually saw him do this live in 1979), this track reminds me of Sabbath doing a Bon-era AC/DC song, or maybe more accurately, something by the under-appreciated Aussie bunch, Buffalo. Is Glenn a closet John Baxter fan?
And so, there it is, JUDAS PRIEST’s “Hell Bent For Leather.” I will fully admit that on my first listen, my first appraisal back in 1979 as a 22 year old, I was aghast and hated it. “This was the follow-up to my beloved ‘Stained Class,’ the sci-fi-laced, embryonic speed metal, death-obsessed dark tour de force?" For years, I suppose, I began to slowly enjoy the album, acknowledging a grudging respect for it, especially in the face of abortions like “Turbo” & “Ram It Down” (and let’s not even get into the Ripper stuff!). But only recently, in reading back my interpretation of the band’s amazing “Nostradamus” masterpiece, it for some reason jarred me to see my own lumping of the record with “British Steel.” In a fit of fairness I also went back and listened several times to that commercial break-through and found the spirit of that & “Hell Bent…” to be completely different. While “British…” still sounds to me like an oddly mechanical, cleaned-up stab at the mainstream (albeit a very successful and, admittedly, listenable one), “Hell Bent For Leather” is an album that, while not the flat-out “10.0” of “Stained Class” or “Sad Wings Of Destiny,” is still one real “Killing Machine.” 9.5
Upon looking at the cover art of “Hell Bent…,” there’s a difference apparent from the previous “Stained Class.” Where the latter featured an image of an elite, arty sort, this one is more direct and visceral. The image of the face with the bullet-shattered glasses and studded headband implies a far more aggressive tone, the logo & title placement indicate a direct connection with it’s predecessor from earlier that year. The band photos on the back of the sleeve show the 4 musicians looking about as expected. Lead singer Halford, however, looks completely different than ever before. Bedecked in a leather jacket, his hair, beard (!) and facial expression look more like a biker/pirate and the silk & satin days seem like a distant memory. On to the record itself and the beating commences immediately with “Delivering The Goods.” If the PRIEST were going to be losing their ability to do just that, it sure isn’t apparent in this tune. The immediate difference noticeable from “Stained Class”/”Sin After Sin” is the thundering bottom-end that’s present here as opposed to the surgical, space-age sound of the formers. Les Binks drums, while still a study in proto-jazz-metal craftsmanship (how could they ever have let this guy go?!) pack a wallop more familiar to the grand ol’ geezer Bonzo on this track & Glenn Tipton’s guitar solo utterly shreds. Next up is “Rock Forever.” Now here’s something different. Talk about a stripped-down approach compared to anything on the previous couple records, the “rock & roll” lyrics harken back to the title track of…wait for it…”Rocka Rolla” and the “Gimme a ride, boys!” before the Lizzy-like double lead solo mirrors a Steven Tyler-type cat-call. “Evening Star” opens with an acoustic guitar figure, almost like it could be another “Last Rose Of Summer” or (dare we hope) a “Beyond The Realms Of Death.” Soon, by the major chord melody and the insistent yet simple rhythm, it’s clear this is something a lot more accessible than either. Originally a song I would skip over (well, cue over in the old tone arm days!) on recent listens, I’ve been taken by the guitar solos, brief though they are by Glenn & KK here. In addition, Binks adds some deft percussion touches that remind me of the Sabs’ “Planet Caravan.” The title track starts like an explosion, with an absolutely crushing opening volley of power chords suspended on Leslie’s rolling bass drums. Then, Tipton announces the song-proper with a riff straight out of Ted Nugent’s top-shelf lost greats and it’s onto 2 ½ minutes of sheer greatness. The solo here by Glenn borders on the ridiculously great. Oh hell, borders my ass, it just is! Finishing Side One is something that has and still is my sticking point with this album, the anthem “Take On The World.” It was a wonderful thing that Queen did something like “We Will Rock You” but I honestly never understood why PRIEST had to do their own version of it. ‘Nuff said.
It’s without a whole lot of who-struck-John that JP get back on track to start Side Two, however. “Burnin’ Up” has always been one of my 2 favourite songs on “Hell Bent…”and on recent re-listenings, it still is. Apart from Halford’s new-found reality-based lyrical bent (i.e. sex, partying, etc.) this is as classic a Downing/Halford composition as there’s ever been. From the strutting funk/metal rhythm (KK’s Hendrix influence) to the searing melodic section, to the solo (you can almost see Downing, head thrown back, Flying V held to the sky), this is as good a song as PRIEST has ever done. Up next is the Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green) cover, “The Green Manalishi….” Part of the band’s penchant for including covers (“Diamonds & Rust,” Better By You, Better Than Me”) this number is given the full-metal-chugging treatment, complete with a slashing Glenn/KK lead trade-off. Following, we find the title cut of the British version of the record, “Killing Machine.” Like “Hell Bent…” itself, it’s short and therein lies one of the things that requires a large adjustment on the part of the listener moving from “Stained Class” to this one. On the latter, there were 5 songs that equaled or topped the 5 minute mark. On “Hell Bent…,” the “epic” is “Delivering The Goods,” at 4:19. Still, it’s pretty hard to deny “Killing Machine” with it’s pillage-heavy chorus and the solo from Glenn, so loud that it pushes the meters into the red. Another riff that could find itself enamouring Terrible Ted opens “Running Wild” and again, while not opus-like in length, this one is a bundle of energy, mirroring the “nightlife” I’m certain Halford has “moved among” many times. Up next is my other fave song on the disc and oddly, a ballad through and through. To say that “Before The Dawn” is a lovely, beautiful song may not be doing it the justice it requires. Having listened to it several times in the last couple days, the first time I’ve heard it in probably a couple years, I’m struck by how well it’s held up and is possibly much better than I even remembered it. This is one of (if not the) greatest vocals of Halford’s career and while he may have done a solo or two equal to this over the years, KK has never bettered it. Scintillating. “Hell Bent For Leather” closes with another complete oddity, for the band at this point, the slow & sleazy “Evil Fantasies.” Complete with a slide (!!!) solo by Tipton (I actually saw him do this live in 1979), this track reminds me of Sabbath doing a Bon-era AC/DC song, or maybe more accurately, something by the under-appreciated Aussie bunch, Buffalo. Is Glenn a closet John Baxter fan?
And so, there it is, JUDAS PRIEST’s “Hell Bent For Leather.” I will fully admit that on my first listen, my first appraisal back in 1979 as a 22 year old, I was aghast and hated it. “This was the follow-up to my beloved ‘Stained Class,’ the sci-fi-laced, embryonic speed metal, death-obsessed dark tour de force?" For years, I suppose, I began to slowly enjoy the album, acknowledging a grudging respect for it, especially in the face of abortions like “Turbo” & “Ram It Down” (and let’s not even get into the Ripper stuff!). But only recently, in reading back my interpretation of the band’s amazing “Nostradamus” masterpiece, it for some reason jarred me to see my own lumping of the record with “British Steel.” In a fit of fairness I also went back and listened several times to that commercial break-through and found the spirit of that & “Hell Bent…” to be completely different. While “British…” still sounds to me like an oddly mechanical, cleaned-up stab at the mainstream (albeit a very successful and, admittedly, listenable one), “Hell Bent For Leather” is an album that, while not the flat-out “10.0” of “Stained Class” or “Sad Wings Of Destiny,” is still one real “Killing Machine.” 9.5
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
