Satan's Hallow - debut self-titled album

I love it so much when I come across something of this standard among the unsigned bands on Bandcamp.

It's proper old-school heavy metal, NWOBHM or whatever you want to call it. And done so well, with a good variation in style, light and shade. The vocals are clean, female with screams and sustains. The guitar solos are meaningful with some great back-and-forth handovers. Some of the riffs are twin-lead a la Priest / Maiden. That's not a comparison made lightly, the quality of the songwriting is excellent.

The sound of the recording is warm and homely and reminds me of some of my smaller-label vinyl from the 80s, which I love.

Absolutely outstanding stuff, blowing away some of the recent big-label releases, and I love the fact that with an independent artist, more of your money goes to the people who deserve it.

Buy a copy for your granny, as TommyVance used to say.

★★★★★

https://satanshallow.bandcamp.com/album/satans-hallow

Notable New Rock and Metal Releases, January 2017

The New Year seemed to be a bit of a fallow period. Then at the end of the month came a couple of old-school thrash metal albums to save the day, along with an avalanche of other great releases. It was as if no-one wanted to release anything straight after Christmas, which may have been the case.

The first really exciting release (and purchase) was from an unsigned band, available for streaming and purchase on Bandcamp (which incidentally is a great place to discover new bands).

Terrifier - Weapons of Thrash Destruction :  Excellent production and songwriting, it's up there with the big 5 for me (I'm including Testament there). Any comparisons with Testament may not be coincidental. They admittedly admire Testament, and could the last track 'Sect of the Serpent' be a tribute to the veteran thrashers? If anything the vocals are a little screamy for me but that's just a matter of taste.
★★★★★


The next really inspiring release was from a familiar name -

Kreator - Gods of Violence : These guys go back to the early days of thrash, I recognise the name & logo but I can't say that I've followed them over the years. Once again, outstanding riffage and songwriting. It's so good to hear excellent guitar solos, really creative stuff rather than widdling. I can see this being near the top of my fave albums of the year.
★★★★★

Jack Russell's Great White - He Saw It Comin' : Another name from the 80's, a bit of hard rock in case you need a break from all the thrash. A really good album with vocals as brilliant as ever.
★★★★☆


Burning Point - The Blaze : This double-pedal-bass-drum power metal with powerful clean vocals is a style I really like and this is an album I've listened to again and again. I don't know what it is about the Scandinavians that makes their metal output so good.
★★★★☆

Nightmare - Dead Sun : Although this has something of an up-to-date sound about it, the band go back a long way. Experience always seems to tell in the quality of performance and writing. A good solid 4, this one, and I can feel it becoming a 5 after more listens. Excellent artwork always counts with me, and once again an exploding sphere on the cover seems to be a marker for great music within.
★★★★☆


Deathless Legacy - Dance with the Devils : I don't know why this band don't get more recognition, maybe the twisted / horror / theatrical style isn't to everyone's taste as it is to mine. I'm not sure yet whether this album is quite up to the previous album The Gathering, but they're one of my favourite bands, this is great and it was an immediate purchase, making it a 5.
★★★★★

Xandria - Theater of Dimensions : Full-on epic symphonic metal. German band with a few albums under their belts. Once again, great cover artwork.
★★★★☆

An honourable mention too for Stephen Pearcy - Smash, Pearcy trading under his own name rather than Ratt, but still with that old sound - maybe a little dirtier, which works for me. Good stuff if, like me, you're a child of the 80s.

And also for Borealis - World of Silence MMXVII : Interestingly, a re-recording of a debut 2008 album. It's a powerful metal sound, with "progressive elements". Maybe I'm getting old but I find that more complexity in music makes it more interesting. I'll certainly be listening to this some more.

Metal albums based on the work of H P Lovecraft

A couple of my favourite albums over the last couple of years have been concept albums based on the work of HP Lovecraft. I'm not sure why the subject appeals so much to metal / prog bands and I'm not sure why it works so well.

Here are the ones I'm aware of. If you know of any more, please leave a note in the comments. (I'll add a separate section for standalone tracks such as Metallica's Call of Ktulu if there are many more of those.)

Albums

Infinite Spectrum - Haunter of the Dark - big metal, definitely progressive and pulls off the amazing feat of telling the story Haunter of the Dark in the lyrics and music. Superb album, one of my favourites of 2016

Anthropia : Non-euclidian Spaces - Not a concept album in the same way as Haunter, ie it isn't based on a single Lovecraft story, but draws on various works and the general mythos for the themes to the songs. This is further into the symphonic and progressive area in its more experimental time signatures and rhythms, but all of that seems to work really well with the subject and echo the non-euclidian geometry idea.

The Great Old Ones - EOD : A Tale of Dark Legacy - a little heavy and growly for my tastes, but an enjoyable listen. Again drawing on various stories - titles such as Shadow over Innsmouth and When the Stars Align  indicate what's going on here.

Rage  - Soundchaser is a concept album featuring an original story based on Lovecraft's ideas. The third track is called Great Old Ones.

Alkaloid - Liquid Anatomy This very technical album "thematically picks up on the Lovecraft theme that was already featured on the last album" says drummer Hannes Grossmann.

Song titles include Azagthoth, Liquid Anatomy and Rise of the Cephalopods

Arkham Witch - I am Providence - traditional heavy metal 2015 release, 20 shortish tracks with names such as Necronomicon, Rats in the Walls, Re-animator, The Haunted Tomb.

References 

Metallica's Call of Ktulu (with an interesting spelling of Ktulu) is an instrumental at the end of Ride the Lightning, so only the title (which presumably inspired the music) is a reference. From the next album (Master of Puppets) The Thing That Should Not Be contains quotes and references to the mythos generally and maybe Shadow over Innsmouth.

Celtic Frost's Album Morbid Tales contains a couple of references - the title track (appearing on subsequent releases but not the original EP) has a reference to Yog Sothoth. The track Nocturnal fear has a number of references; 'the sleeping lord awakes', 'the old gods', Azag-Thoth and mention of the Yezidi, which may refer to 'The Horror at Red Hook'

Orange Goblin have a short instrumental  called 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth' from the album Back from the Abyss. Blood of Them (the previous track on the album) has words which are clearly Lovecraftian but I'm not sure that the rest of the album follows the theme.

Favourite Rock & Metal albums of 2016

So here it is. It's really hard to put these into an exact order, but there's a vague order to it. (best at the bottom).

There are around 50 here, these are all the ones that have had many listens, the top 16 are the purchases and any one of the top, say, 7 could be my favourite of the year on any particular day.

Top 50(ish)

Sixx:A.M. - Prayers for the Blessed Vol 2

The Erkonauts - I Did Something Bad

Inner Blast - Prophesy

HELLYEAH - Unden!able

Q5 - New World Order

Iron Savior - Titancraft

Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons - (self-titled)

(Steve Grimmett's) Grim Reaper - Walking in the Shadows

Sum 41 - 13 Voices

Letzte Instanz - Liebe im Kreig

Hollywood Monsters - Capture the Sun

Toby Knapp  - The Atchitect of Paradox

Helstar - Vampiro

Hevidence - Nobody's Fault

Chronicles of Israfel - A Trillion Lights Tome II

Charred Walls of the Damned - Creatures Watching

Evil Masquerade - Outcast from the Hall of Fame

Jinjur - King of Everything

Edensong - Years in the Garden of Years

Primal Fear - Rulebreaker

Sister - Stand Up, Forward March

Dario Mollo's Crossbones - Rock the Cradle

Skalmold - Vogguvisur Yggdrasils

Necromancing the Stone - Jewel of the Vile

Defecto - Excluded

Tarja - Excluded

Orbs - Past Life Regression

Iron Mask - Diabolica

Brick - Faceless Strangers

Dust Bolt - Mass Confusion

Hammers of Misfortune - Dead Revoltution

Vicious Rumors - Concussion Protocol

Running Wild - Rapid Foray

Destruction - Under Attack

Dead Dasies album - Make Some Noise

Devin Townsend Project - Transcendence

Elm Street - Knock 'Em Out With a Metal Fist

Holy Dragons - Civilizator :

Charred Walls of the Damned - Creatures Watching Over the Dead

Allegaeon - Proponent for Sentience

My Regime - Dogmas

TRIPS - Long Distance Calling

Denner/Sherman - Masters of Evil

Tremonti - Dust

Jaded Heart - Guilty by Design

Paradox - Pangea :

Sixtynine - You are Me

Sirenia - Dim Days of Dolor

Beasto Blanco - Beasto Blanco

Light & Shade - The Essence of Everything

Asenblut - Beserker

Whispered - Metsutan

Dyscordia - Words in Ruin

Innerwish - Innerwish

Monument - Hair of the Dog

Secret Rule - Machination

Top 16

MetalChurch - X1

Arakhne - Enemy of Reality

Anthrax - For All Kings

Infinite Spectrum - Hunter of the Dark

Trick or Treat - Rabbits Hill pt 2

Kvelertak - Nattesferd

Avatar - Feathers and Flesh

Deathless Legacy - the Gathering

Billion Dollar Babies - Chemical God

Megadeth - Dystopia

Best of the year (Not necessarily in order)

Helion Prime - Helion Prime

Lords of Black - II

Avenged Sevenfold - The Stage 

Metallica - Hardwired....

Testament - Brotherhood of the Snake

Graham Bonnet - The Book 

New Rock / Metal releases - start of Dec 2016

Is there life after a new Metallica release? Yes - there has been some excellent stuff out in the last month.

Light & Shade - The Essence of Everything : If you like epic / symphonic metal, you'll love this. If not, you won't. They do it very well, the orchestral arrangements are brilliant; the songwriting is too, with many hooks. Vocally there's plenty of variation, a mix of growled and powerful female head-voice.
★★★★☆

Beasto Blanco - Beasto Blanco : OTT theatrical stuff - female vocal contribution from Calico Cooper (daughter of) so it's unsurprising there's a noticeable Alice influence. Catchy feelgood stuff with balls.
★★★★☆

Sister - Stand Up, Forward March : Their bio says 'sleaze / punk influenced' the punk is definitely low in the mix. I can hear GnR in there, with a bit more growl. Energetic.
★★★★☆

Chronicles of Israfel - A Trillion Lights Tome II : As you'd guess from the title, this is progressive, conceptual stuff. Very good for when one's in the mood for something more complex but still very heavy.
★★★★☆

Dario Mollo's Crossbones - Rock the Cradle : Hard rock, and very good with it. Definitely a Rainbow / Purple feel to it
★★★☆☆

Hevidence - Nobody's Fault : more hard rock / melodic metal, again from an Italian guitarist.
★★★☆☆

Skalmold - Vogguvisur Yggdrasils : This is Viking stuff very much along the lines of Amon Amarth. The bonus track on this album is a pretty authentic cover of Alestorm's Drink which works so well. This might be upgraded to a 5 with a few more listens.
★★★☆☆

Agenged Sevenfold - Best of, 2005 - 2013 : I wouldn't normally mention a 'best of' but this is too good. If you don't know them, this is one for your Christmas list.


As usual, all music I've listened to goes into my New Rock and Metal releases playlist. Note that I now archive this off to leave only the more recent ones in there. For the older ones, see my 2016 rock  / metal releases playlist. There's loads in that one now, just sort it by date to see the most recent at the top.

Notable new releases, mid Nov 2016

The big release this time (the big release of 2016) is Metallica - Hardwired....  : I bought it right away,  but then I would have done whatever the content because it's Metallica and I've been with them since the mid 80s. The album consists of 2 'discs', or 3 if you buy the deluxe version. The first two consist of new songs, 6 per 'disc' (meaningless if you buy electronically). The third has the already-known Lords of Summer, along with three covers and a load of live stuff.

It's more of Metallica doing what they do, and I mean that in the best way. The three singles that we've heard already are clearly very strong songs and were full of promise. After a few listens, the album sounds like a very well-engineered continuation of Death Magnetic with a few nods to earlier albums. For me it goes off a little during the second disc. I'm not a fan of the 'slow and heavy'. But the thrash returns with a vengeance as the disc finishes off with Spit Out the Bone, which is like an ace they'd kept up their sleeve.

The covers are the Ronnie Rising medley, previously released on the RJD tribute album, Purple's When a Blind Man Cries (standing in for Nothing Else Matters pt. whatever) and Maiden's Remember Tomorrow. All excellent stuff. I'm not a fan of live but I'm enjoying listening through the selection on the third disc. Mostly early stuff (all from the first two albums if I'm not mistaken, except for Hardwired). It gets 5 rather than 4.5 simply because it's Metallica. I don't care if that doesn't make sense to anyone else.
★★★★★

Also moving me in the last couple of weeks:

Sirenia - Dim Days of Dolor : I do love a bit of symphonic metal, and this has it all, proper operatic vocals (new singer Emmanuelle Zoldan), proper orchestra and choir, growled vocals. There's plenty of variation which makes for an enjoyable and interesting listen.
★★★★☆

(Symphonic metal fans also note: Dark Sarah - The Puzzle, a continuation of concept album Behind the Black Veil. And Diabulus in Musica - Dirge for the Archons)

(Steve Grimmett's) Grim Reaper : I was almost as excited about this as the Metallica release and for similar reasons. A new Grim Reaper album. Unmistakeable and brilliant.
★★★★★

Toby Knapp  - The Atchitect of Paradox :  I've never really been mad about Guitar Heroes (the games or the actual heroes). This is an album of guitar-based instrumentals, and I've found myself playing it again and again.
★★★★☆

Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons - (self-titled) : Phil Campbell was loyal to Motorhead and Lemmy for a lot of years. Without Lemmy's Rickenbacker, vocal chords and input, this isn't going to be anything like Motorhead, and it's probably right that Campbell and his sons (no word on whether they're actually bastards) find its own direction. Powerful rock, clean vocals.
★★★☆☆

Sixx:A.M. - Prayers for the Blessed Vol 2 : I'm feeling less warm about these two volumes than about Modern Vintage. I'm not sure whether it just needs time, I'll reserve judgement on this one because I've heard some good sounds as I've listened through and I want to like it.

I must give another mention to the Avenged Sevenfold album The Stage, I gave it a solid 4 in the last post, but this is another one that I've found myself playing again and again and liking it more and more. I have to upgrade that one to a 5
★★★★★

As usual, all music I've listened to goes into my New Rock and Metal releases playlist. Note that I now archive this off to leave only the more recent ones in there. For the older ones, see my 2016 rock  / metal releases playlist. Just sort that one by date to see the most recent at the top.

Notable Recent Rock / Metal Releases, start of Nov 2016

After a little bit of a fallow period, maybe, the last week or two has seen some excellent releases (and some purchases on my part).

Top of the list is Testament - Brotherhood of the Snake : They've been thrashing since the early days of Metallica, Megadeth et al. But I've never paid them much attention, which is my loss. I'm off to see them tonight (Nov 5) along with Amon Amarth and excited about that. If they play this entire album I won't be disappointed, every track has merit. If I can't buy a tee-shirt I will be disappointed, because the artwork is as epic as the music. An easy 5 out of 5 and purchased. [later update: I did get the tee shirt, the sound sucked a bit, which is a shame and often the way with second on the bill. But an excellent show otherwise, a great night.]
★★★★★

I've been looking forward to Graham Bonnet - The Book too. Rainbow's Down to Earth is one of my all-time favourite albums. For me, his voice is up there with Dio's as one of the great voices of Rock. The new songs are quality songs and at (unbelievably) age 68 his voice sounds almost as great as ever. There's a bonus disc containing covers of songs from his history (including three from the Rainbow album). It's become a bit of a trend for artists to re-record classic songs, I'm not sure that it always works, but the ones in question here sound pretty faithful generally. New guitarist Conrad Pesinato doesn't try to do Ritchie Blackmore but does entirely his own thing. The result is some worthwhile new versions of these songs.
★★★★★

Avenged Sevenfold - The Stage : The marketing campaign for this album involved some conspicuous secrecy, I'm not sure that worked because the album hasn't been as well-received as the last one. But I like it, lots of hooks and very listenable. Notable is the final and 15-minute track, Exists, which features a Carl Sagan-type speech from Neil deGrasse Tyson.
★★★★☆


As usual, all music I've listened to goes into my New Rock and Metal releases playlist. Note that I now archive this off to leave only the last couple of weeks-worth in there. For the older ones, see my 2016 rock  / metal releases playlist. Just sort that one by date to see the most recent at the top.