I've been really bad at writing posts here over the last couple of months. I'm not under the illusion that anyone is waiting with baited breath for my next post but I like to have a complete record of my thoughts here for the end-of-year listing.
I'll try and catch up a bit here with some of the most bodacious new releases for April and May.
Harlott - Extinction : Wow, proper thrash metal similar to veterans Testament and another recent discovery, Terrifier. In fact, really sounding like Testament in places. If 'And Darkness Brings the Light' popped up by random play, I'd easily mistake it for something from Brotherhood of the Snake. I don't mean that in anything but a positive way. The more excellent music like this, the better.
★★★★★
Deep Purple - infinite : It's deep purple, very purpley and very Gillanny. Excellent, though I think it's a grower; I was a little nonplussed at first but it's grabbing me more with every listen. Is it as good as Perfect Strangers? I don't think so, but then I've not listened to it as many times as PS. Yet.
★★★★☆
Trollfest - Helluva : Who doesn't have troll-based fantasies? Just me then? This is real feel-good music, jolly tunes with good hooks, the obligatory growly vocals and lyrics and titles in 'trollspeak' which seems to be a mix of English, German and their native Norwegian. And animal noises. A bit of theatre with music is great.
★★★★☆
Great Van Fleet - Black Smoke Rising : Firmly in the rock camp, bluesy, southern, and with soaring vocals that sound just like Robert Plant. This is a debut EP, they've had some commercial success, which is not surprising.
★★★★☆
Incubus - 8 : I put Incubus in the same pigeon-hole, that I can't find a name for, as bands like Stone Temple Pilots, Lost Prophets and Pearl Jam. For Rock this is heavy in places, a bit pop at times but a little leftfield and odd in places. All good.
★★★☆☆
Night Demon - Darkness Remains : It's always such a joy to hear a band that takes you back to teenage years. Night Demon really remind me of a no-nonsense 80's metal band I loved called Chariot. This second album contains some excellent material plus a couple of great covers. Excellent work.
★★★★★
MindMaze - Resolve : Power metal leaning a little towards progressive, excellent clean female vocals with great melodies and songwriting. A very strong album, the third from MM. Reminding me a little of Helion Prime. A possible five with a few more listens.
★★★★☆
Ayreon - The Source : full-on conceptual progressive power metal. The story is of a race condemned to destruction by a computer they'd created, and their escape to another world. This album only forms part of a bigger story. There's a large variation in the music, eg various vocalists, some folk and some operatic styles coming in at times, which keeps the whole thing fresh and interesting.
★★★★☆
Seven Kingdoms - Decennium : I'm not a GOT fan but I am a Seven Kingdoms fan. Powerful metal, great clean female vocals. I'm not sure that this is as good as the previous release but I'll reserve judgement until I've heard this more times.
★★★★☆
WolfPakk - Wolves Reign : They certainly do. Wait - is that Biff Byford? It is! Another supergroup (which really seems to be a thing now). Actually, more like two guys, Mark Sweeney and Michael Voss with a large number of guests also including Steve Grimmett and Chris Holmes.
★★★★☆
Ghost Bath - StarMourner : It's really difficult to categorise this music. As the spiky way they write their name indicates, their music can be noisy and the vocals screamy, but I've put the album in an 'ambient' playlist. The music is pretty melodic at times (reminding me of Kvelertak) and pretty chilled at other times. It's mostly instrumental and pretty easy on the ear but with some screams going on sometimes which I don't find too disturbing. Have I just described 'post-black metal'? Because that's what their 'genre' on Encyclopaedia Metallum says. It's going to get a lot of listens late at night.
★★★★☆
Tumourboy - Damaged System : Getting extra marks for the leader's excellent name; Jacob Demonskull, good old-fashioned thrash metal. Vocals and guitar solos need to mature a little.
★★★☆☆
Trial (swe) - Motherless : I can find little about the band, but love the style. It's heavy metal, a little quirky with occult themes in the lyrics. Hence some comparisons with King Diamond and Mercyful Fate who are neighbours of theirs.
★★★★☆
Rammstein - Live in Paris : (album and video) The film is very difficult to watch, it's an unusual style, moving very rapidly, with some weird effects added (Till with lizard eyes and forked tongue?) It feels like a hyperactive music video rather than live concert. Musically it is an excellent performance, excellent set.
★★★★★
Papa Roach - Crooked Teeth : Quite different from previous albums, a little less of the 'nu' and rap, possibly why I love it so much. Great rock, great hooks.
★★★★☆
Honourable mentions:
SnakeCharmer - Second Skin, Cryonic Temple - Into the Glorious Battle, SinHeresY - Domino,
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