Modern folk metal is plagued with too many synthesized flutes, too many chorus moments, the drunken bar room sing along has always gotten on my nerves, especially when ended with “Hey, Hey,” and clinking glasses. Bifröst did not do it on their debut, Schlachtklänge, so I had no expectations for any such tomfoolery from this Austrian black folk band. Alas a misstep here on Heidenmetal with “Der Mönch”, though luck be with us they got all those elements of overly happy campfire drinking bliss out of the way on that one song. As this album progresses I might have stopped there had I not known from the first album that they are not an overly happy bunch. Time to get up from the oaken table and do some sword rattling. All you pacifist vikings take heart, here is another one for you, everyone else take heart, it was just a passing fancy.

Nice production values, fits the style well, but I think the vocals should be louder, more dominant. That seems to suit this style of folk metal, very upfront vocals. The vocals are toned down a bit as compared to the debut though it seems more through clarity of recording than vocal delivery.

If you think “Fimbulwinter” was the best song on the debut you are in for a treat. I need to single out “Berserker.” Where is the pent up rage? And also of note is “Ragnarök” and “Schlachtklänge” both appeared on the debut album. “Ragnarök” is chopped down from 5:40 to 4:45. It is a nine minute track on the debut but they used the despised trickery of extended black space followed by a hidden track, in this case just some hot air. Both of these songs, as would be expected, are darker and faster, with harsher vocals and they held my attention then, I had hoped for more of the same, but now that we have more they are actually the weaker songs.

Favorite tracks include “Der Rächer” and “Weingeist,” a bit heavier and harsher, and in “Weingeist” I like the group chanted vocals, deeper tones, also both songs have more emphasis on bass. “Heimgang” gets my vote for top song, an epic instrumental. It lacks the punch of a bloody duel, instead, once the horns and drums kick in, it is a majestic setup to the festivities. They already proved they could write a nice instrumental with the intro to Schlachtklänge. “Heimgang” surpasses it in both beauty and artistry.

Einheit has a fine stable of bands and Bifröst is a worthy addition. Check  them out.

The Canadian outfit certainly draws influence from the early 1980s like the other retro bands I’ve heard recently, but they also dip back into the sludgy sound of 1970s metal and doom and sprinkle the upbeat energy of a garage band in places throughout the record. There are even a few hardcore and punk twists, at least in the vocal delivery of Kevin Keegan, who sounds oddly like a cross between Monster Magnet’s Dave Wyndorf and Suicidal Tendencies’ Mike Muir with an occasional touch of Henry Rollins. It’s an odd mix, but on this record, it works.

Much of Bangers sounds like the band members put all of their influences in a pot, stirred in a few mind-altering substances, and dished it out to the listener. And I, for one, am lapping it up. The influences are clear, but you never quite know what the next song is going to bring.

As the main guitar riff of album opener “Holy Smokes” kicks in, I’m expecting another round of NWOBHM worship, but later in the song, we get a bit of a doomy feel. “Fast Women” opens with my favorite riff on the record, a humongous, groove-laden Black Sabbath slab, and has a solid hook that makes it my favorite track here. But just as you think you’ve figured out where it’s going, “Long Arm of the Law” hits you with a squawky garage rock lick and some punk influences.

Barn Burner also deliver a couple of winners in the song title category, starting with the plodding stoner anthem “Beer Today, Bong Tomorrow.” Then there’s “Brohemoth,” an attempt at the “epic” song that many 1970s and early ‘80s bands felt they needed. I use the term lightly, as I’m sure the members of the band would. Keegan uses a higher-pitched voice on some of the vocals from the latter song that’s fairly interesting.

Interesting song titles might catch your attention, but they have to be backed up with music. For the most part, they are. “Runnin Reds” raises the punk ante with a Black Flag vibe, while “Medium Rare” blends some NWOBHM riffing with a punk vocal deliver. There’s a more commercial angle on “Half Past Haggard,” which opens with a pop-laced riff before jaunting off into garage territory. “Wizard Island” gives another epic riff with a cool bluesy sort of verse.

There’s an interesting mix of classic influences ranging from Black Sabbath to Iron Maiden to Black Flag, but you can also hear the influence of more current acts like Mastodon and The Sword. The record is loaded with great grooves and flows easily. It seems, finally, that retro bands have gained the knack of showing their influences without sounding copycat, and Barn Burner does that well. While Bangers isn’t my favorite of the throwback records I’ve gotten this year, it certainly earns its place in my collection.

Much of what’s found on Out of the Sun may seem a bit out of character for three of the five members – vocalist Andrew Ross, guitarist Angus Clark and bassist Chris Altenhoff – who are perhaps better known for their work with the symphonic rock project Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Though there are shades of that background in places on this record, it’s much more of a stripped-down, raw and rocking affair.

The title track sets the tone for the record right out of the gate with a heavy helping of NWOBHM influence and just a shade of Savatage coming on the verses. It’s aggressive, energetic and signals good things. The band locks into a groove on the 1980s hard rocker “Punishment Fits” and then delivers a performance reminiscent of Paul Di’Anno-era Iron Maiden with “Forgotten Son,” which also features an undeniable chorus attack. Fourth track, “Back Lounge,” completes the introduction to the band with an irresistible, purely 1980s sleaze boogie about life on the road that’s lyrically perhaps a little silly but all done in tongue-in-cheek fun. It also offers a nod to where the band was born – during a conversation in the back lounge of a bus sparked by a session of viewing vintage Maiden concerts.

From there, Daredevil Squadron begins to explore the hard rock soundscape a little more. “Hero Falls” reminds me of Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak” with the start and stop riffing from Clark and fellow guitarist Aurelien Budynek and the half-spoken, half-crooned vocal style that Ross takes on. The most ambitious number on the record may be the protractedly titled “Chronicles of Sorrow Part 1 – An Eternity of Forgetfulness.” Ross breaks out the mandolin on the tune that opens with a Led Zeppelin flavor and casually morphs into a 1970s prog-rock piece. There’s a more metallic rumble toward the middle of the song, but the art rock leanings remain. The song shows the versatility of the band (as if the members’ past work doesn’t), but ultimately, I have to admit I prefer the more straight-up rockers.

They get back to that with the catchy “Streets of Montmartre” which has an arena rock sound, but keeps just a touch of the prog they showed off in “Chronicles.”

Two of the best songs come near the end of the album. “Power Trip” brings the funk, opening with a cool wah-wah guitar lick. The song feels a little like Kiss in places, but with superb musicianship (though I will say that the brief rapped bits might not have been the best idea.) That’s followed with the groovy blues rocker, “Faith Hope Love,” which is the smoothest song on the record. There’s a classy bit of ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons in the guitar sound and coolness drips off Ross’ vocal delivery on the verse.

They close the album with a straight-up, no excuses tribute to a major influence with “Lillian.” It’s a pure piece of Thin Lizzy worship that the band members readily cop to.

The five members of the band have a diverse background, with stints in hard rock, metal, symphonic rock and even bluegrass outfits. I find it interesting to hear the versatility of Ross here since for the last few years I’ve only really heard him sing huge operatic numbers like “An Angel Came Down” with TSO. Those performances certainly show his talent level, but he’s equally adept at the traditional metal and old school hard rock sounds found here. Clark has certainly also made a fan out of me with his impressive TSO performances, and his role here is perhaps the biggest surprise since I’m used to hearing him play sweeping, majestic passages. Here, he gets a chance to just cut loose on some down and dirty rock, and the results are great. Budynek is no slouch himself, and the team of Altenhoff and drummer Jason Gianni drive the groove of the record.

In all honesty, I can’t really find a single bad thing to say about this record, and that’s pretty unusual. I like it from start to finish. At the risk of sounding like the crazy lady on that stupid pest control commercial, it just … makes me happy. It rocks, it’s catchy and it’s fantastic fun. What more can you ask for?

Understated and simple drone has been supplanted by understated and simple drone more fully realized, and more likely to catch your fancy. By ‘your’ I mean that narrowly focused group of diehard backward leaning black metal aficionados. Memorability comes into play, like the opening riff on “Dead End”, simple, memorable, and a lead in to further development. Expanding on the filth of Hellhammer riffing is always desirable. The vocals are much unchanged, still a combination of shrieks from tortured and torturer, but now there is time to breath a bit between vocal  lines. The drums now get to compete on a more equal footing volume wise and space wise, making for a more balanced delivery. The middle of “No Compassion, No Regrets” is as memorable as the Pink Panther theme, AE is really Henry Mancini’s illegitimate bastard step child. Tracks that fester the most in your gut are “Dead End”, and “The Sickness Within”. The track that will rot your brain is “No Compassion, No Regrets”, and the most jarring to your constitution is “The Beyond.”

Ultimately I’m convinced that what has happened is that the Avsky cancer is not in remission, it has instead spread so voraciously as to overwhelm the system. What we are witnessing is not a beating back of the Malignant values but those values unrestrained and unopposed.

They will need to find a new host body for album number four.

When I became a metal fan back in the early 1980s, metal was metal, pure and simple. No one was stringing together words to engineer their own little niche subgenre like blackened melodic power disco thrash. No fans of one little corner of the metal world were looking down their noses at fans of another little corner. Heck, I didn’t even know what a NWOBHM was for years after the fact. Metal was simply metal, and quite frankly, I recall those days fondly every time I see fans of different subgenres sniping at each other.

That’s one of the things that make this record great. It brings back those days in their full, vivid glory. The songs here are pure, simple metal in its most basic form. No posturing and no bullshit. There’s no bemoaning the evils of mankind or the oppression of religion, no black clouds of depression, no bleak landscapes or snarling hounds of hell, no summoning the demons of the fiery depths to do your bidding (well, OK, maybe a couple, but they’re fun demons). Instead, there are a lot of songs about fast cars, women and, of course, metal. And, in the end, isn’t that what rock ‘n’ roll was really about before the hippies got a hold on it and turned it into a cause?

White Wizzard comes barreling out of the gate with the title track, a fast-paced, upbeat number with an undeniably positive message that your dreams can come true if you have the will and desire. Like most of the album, it’s quite refreshing from a genre that (in many cases, rightly) has come to dwell more on shattered dreams. Then it’s time to hit the highway with one of my favorite numbers, the appropriately driving “40 Deuces.” It gallops along at high speed with a soaring, memorable chorus melody. It’s the kind of song that makes you want to head out in the country, roll down the windows and just crank it up as you fly along the roads. As silly as it may seem to some, when singer Wyatt ”Screaming Demon” Anderson belts out the line “I’m shifting gears to ride the sky/My metal heart will never die,” I’m yelling it right along with him, horns in the air — and I mean it. It’s a song about energy, power and freedom at its most raw.

One of my favorite melodies on the record comes on the swinging “High Roller,” with shades of Paul Di’Anno-era Iron Maiden blended with some of the more commercial bands of the ’80s. It’s an infectious number that’s damned near impossible to get out of your head. Soaring, powerful rockers like “Live Free or Die” and “Out of Control” deliver incredible energy. “Strike of the Viper” offers up an aggressive guitar riff with yet another memorable fist-pumping chorus, a hallmark of most of the tunes here.

Then, there’s perhaps my favorite song on the record, “Iron Goddess of Vengeance.” It’s a huge, epic song in the spirit of classic Iron Maiden with a main melody that reminds me a bit of the Scorpions’ “Sails of Charon.” It’s a hulking slab of a song with unforgettable hooks and melodies. It’s, quite simply, everything that a metal song should be.

The record ends with two covers, Cloven Hoof’s “Gates of Gehenna” and Judas Priest’s “Heading Out to the Highway.” Both are spot-on, by the book covers, and despite being good, end up being the weak points on the record, outshined by the band’s originals.

Guitarist Erik Kluiber and Chad Bryan, who were not part of the band during the recording of High Speed GTO serve up some tasty old school riffing and twin guitar harmonies. The backbone of the band, though, remains founder and bassist Jon Leon. In an age where the bass is often lost in the mix, he attacks the instrument with a vengeance, forming the foundation of the music in the way that classic bass players like Geezer Butler and Steve Harris did it.

I also have to admit that I owe Anderson an apology. After making fun of his “Screaming Demon” nickname and his vocals in my review of High Speed GTO, I discovered that he was not actually the singer on that record. (It was a digital download promo, and I was working from info on the band’s Web site rather than actual liner notes.) So I’ll make up for it here by praising his tone and control, as he turns in a top-notch performance, much better than the often pop flavor of the EP.

While White Wizzard draws obvious inspiration and influence from NWOBHM bands, there’s no sense on this record that they’re trying to mimic Maiden and Priest. Instead, the music sounds fresh and energetic, while maintaining a deep reverence for the style. I feel like I’ve used this word too often describing this record, but I can’t come up with a better one – it’s refreshing.

If I sound like I’m waxing a little too poetic about this record, well, maybe I am. But I can’t help it. I love this record. It’s like hitting a restart button on my musical journey. Over the Top has made me remember all the reasons that I loved metal in those early years, and that, my friends, is priceless. Long live the White Wizzard.

Nevermore rented a cabin on a lake in North Carolina close to Asheville last summer with Peter Wichers from SOILWORK producing. Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, ARCH ENEMY, EXODUS) handled the mixing of the album in the UK.

Song titles set to appear on the album include: ‘Emptiness Unobstructed’, ‘And The Maiden Spoke’, ‘Without Morals’, ‘Termination Proclamation’, ‘The Obsidian Conspiracy’, ‘The Blue Marble and the New Soul’, ‘She Comes In Colors’, ‘The Day You Built The Wall, ‘Poison Throne’ AND ‘Beautiful Mistake’.

The band also recorded two cover songs for the session: ‘The Crystal Ship’ by THE DOORS and ‘Transmission’ by THE TEA PARTY.

Complete album details to follow.

First, I have to mention Mr. Bobby Blitz – he hasn’t sounded this good and venomous since, well, probably ever, and is the perfect match to Dave Linsk and Derek Tailor’s rampaging riffs and leads. Speaking of riffs, you won’t find a dull one in sight – every riff is just a monster. Every lead and solo is full of win. The kit battery of Ron Lipnicki is crushing, and of course the bass work of DD Verni is thunderous, full of energy, and thankfully not buried in the mix. To put it simply, the band is on fire; tight as hell and at the height of their game, even after all these years.

Ironbound opens with it’s longest song, “The Green and Black”, a raucous thrash romp that sets the tone perfectly. This is followed up by the relentless title track and the super hooky “Bring Me the Night”. The latter songs main riff is eerily similar to that of Diamond Head’s classic “Helpless”, but I’d have to imagine this was coincidence rather than by design. No matter either way though, as that riff just flat out kills. They bring it back a few notchs with the mid-paced groovers “The Goal is Your Soul”, “Give a Little” and it’s highly memorable chorus, and the stripped back “The Head and Heart”. “Endless War”, “In Vain” and album closer “The SRC” are high-octane tunes, while “Killing For a Living” is another barn stormer with a twist – Blitz begins each verse with a semi-spoken, semi-sung part before breaking into the song proper, which really makes it standout in a good way.

There’s nothing left to say – it’s Overkill fer fucks sake, and they’re kicking more ass than they have in years here with Ironbound. Dig it.

The overall vibe of the album is kinda rock-ish, from the song structures down to some of the smaller musical nuances throughout the album, and a great reduction in technicality. Album opener “Forced to Rock” is perhaps the best example this – it’s a good song and gets the head banging, but the shift is immediately apparent. Malone’s playing is still impressive and at times dazzling, but within the context of simpler and more straight forward structures, which makes it feel somewhat restrained.

One of my biggest gripes of the album though is just how much better and more memorable the first half is compared to the second – it’s extremely top heavy. Most of the tracks from the second half, with the exception of the humorously titled “Half Past Corpse O’Clock”, feel like half baked filler. The yawn inducing “Closer to Cold”, “Escape Artist” and exceptionally dull closer “Sable Rising” pale in comparison to the shredtastic “The Ten of Swords”, the smooth hooks of “Beyond Forlorn” or the impossible-not-to-headbang-to “A March For the Sick”.

Starve For the Devil isn’t a bad album by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s far from Arsis‘ shining moment. Those who felt We Are the Nightmare was too technical and pined for the band’s sound circa A Celebration of Guilt will most likely be more than pleased with this.

 “A Sleep” starts things off with some FX and foreboding industrial programming before segueing into “A Wake” a rumbling, noisy crusty affair before the surprisingly melodic “Die Alone, Unloved” with some very impressive layered hues about a minute of so in before the track careens into a feedback drenched assault of noise. “Rotting on the Shoreline” opens with some somber acoustics before delving into a seething, lurching, anthemic climax and settling into soothing instrumental “Philistines”.   

Closing track “Lonesome God” is the EP’s standout, not only because it’s the EPs longest track and comes across as melodic hardcore like Killing the Dream, if they took abreather and were filled with a brooding, dark, depressive rage and there’s a killer shimmering ambient segment right in the middle. The only downfall of this EP, is just that it is an EP and I simply want of hear more of the band’s all encompassing take on hardcore. 

Keep an eye out for these guys. Very promising stuff.

Tracks like “Left Hook From Right Field”, “Loose Cannon”, & “Little Monkey” carry all the attitude and grit you’d expect from this band… driving tempos, intensity and heart. John Bush has never sounded better. One of the coolest things about his voice is his trademark “on the verge of giving out” screams. He sings with all the piss and vinegar a listener can handle. “Head On” has a great blend of groove and gravel. The aptly named “Chilled” is a nice change up in the middle with it’s dark, smoky verses and hard-hitting chorus.  “Bandit Country” brings a bit of funk into the mix while sacrificing none of the albums ferocity, as does “Get Off The Fence”. The title track is a nearly 7-minute jaunt through off-kilter grooves, percussion and attitude… the melody on the chorus carries an air of angry sadness and fits perfectly.There’s an underlying air of menace throughout the album that ties it all together quite nicely.

La Raza has a very organic, earthy tone about it. The riffs are fat. The vocals are impassioned. The hooks and tempos are infectious. The lead work is soulful and impressive. You’re swaying under the weight of a massive groove one minute, then giving yourself future neck problems the next. When it’s cranked in the headphones, it almost sounds as if you’re in the room with the band… loud and heavy. All in all, I’d say ten years was worth the wait for La Raza. It’s raw, real and ultimately a very satisfying listen. In a time when other bands their age either seem to lose their way or try to be something they’re not, Armored Saint do neither. They prove that veteran acts can deliver the goods time after time.

Though still based on Viking/Pagan structures that bounce and gallop with familiar tones and chord progressions, Varg don’t rely on synths or cheesy Viking choirs and injections to carry their sounds as its strictly riff based (a la Amon Amarth) in conveying its manly Vikingness. Throw in some innate Teutonic, militant sternness (partly due to the lyrics being in German) that shies away from the more frolicking aspects of their peers and you have a pretty solid, if run of the mill example of the genre.

Of the 11 tracks only the intro “Wolfsmond”, short acoustic number “Nebelleben” and the start of “Seele” brings things down a notch from the generally up-tempo material as the likes of “Invictus”, “Zeichen der Zeit”, “Wilde Jagd” (with a decent little mid song acoustic flourish) and “Alter Feind”, blaze, rasp and march with enjoyable, melodic pagan furor, but to be honest, have little staying power. Vocalist Philipp “Freki” Seiler has a feral scream laced with an intermittent growl here and there, so don’t go looking for beer hall chants or arousing “oohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” segments, though the overall feel and tenacity of the album compared to their peers will still get Viking blood pumping.

Overall, a solid album, but not one that’s going to replace Turisas or Ensiferum when I’m in the need for some bouncy, epic viking metalic goodness.

Blending a raw, garage vibe with 70s-via-90s grooves and hints of psychedelia, Year Long Disaster hit all the right buttons without coming off as fake or contrived. “Love Like Blood” rocks like a mid-tempo Hellacopters tune with a cool, angsty flavor. “She Told Us All” and “Seven Of Swords” calls forth the different sides of Zeppelin’s influence with a nice stomp groove (the former) and a subdued, acoustic piece with a spacey ambience (the latter). The singer is definitely channeling his inner Plant on “Seven Of Swords”, but not as much in tone as in delivery. The aggressive “Cyclone” sounds as if it could have been included on the second half of a latter day Soundgarden album with another raw groove and guitar layers. Vocally, I’m hearing a blend of Jack White and Nicke Andersson… it’s loose but commanding at the same time. Despite all these established band references I keep making, there’s something fresh and vibrant about what Year Long Disaster are putting across here…and that’s what makes it cool.

So, purveyors of solid Rock N Roll music, take note. Year Long Disaster is here and I think you should check it out. If you’re into any of the bands I listed, as well as Queens Of The Stone Age or White Stripes, give it a listen.

Most are merely comical parodies of the black, squirming darkness, created by buffoons who do not fully fear or respect what they’ve unveiled. Fewer others are the brain-addled output of those who have been corrupted by forces beyond their ken, who scream and lash against their microphones even as the meaning of their words elude their feeble understanding. And yet a fewer still… may actually be wholly Other, somehow reaching our shores and ears through means which I do not still yet fully grasp. It is these that I must remain vigilant for, shining the light of my pen and experience upon them, so that all who read my work are aware of the grave danger these abominable symphonies pose to our souls…

At first, Aurelia, by a British outfit who’ve adopted the vaguely ritualistic moniker Sanctus Nex, seemed standard enough. Occultist symbology on the cover and only four tracks, three of which topped ten minutes in duration. I dimmed the lights in my study, took my pen and notebook in hand and prepared to document the sounds that would soon pour forth from my speakers like unholy ichor. “Exordium of the Apostate” unfolded with a succession of sinister arpeggios, repeated like a mantra as tribalistic drumming pounded and skulked and swelled in intensity. Cold, spine-chilling melodies began to seethe and slither forward, deeper and downward towards the next track, “In Pursuit of Albion.” And then, as those first wet, gargled vocals hit my ears, and the drumming increased to a manic, frantic blastbeat, it appears I lost consciousness. Or, I should say, my consciousness traveled elsewhere while my pen kept scribbling.

Moments later, I snapped from my reverie, bathed in sweat and shivering from the chill in the room, to find my pen still weakly struggling against the paper, though I could no longer read what I had written. I traced backwards to find a few cogent notes, the normal output of my craft: “filthy atmosphere”… “cadences and pacing of doom, rendered with black mysticism, then explosions of syncopated fury”… “comparisons to Funeral Mist, Anael, a less progressive or adventurous Akercocke.”

After that, the notes grew more abstruse, the writing oddly slanted and cramped and wholly unlike my own neat penmanship: “Unnatural larynxal emanations possibly aided via mycological inspiration”… “these levels of glossolalia impossible with natural physiology”… “achieve a geometric warping of the tongue along the seventeenth and thirty-second xaphals of thought”… “slit the galaphughia thrice-wise in parallel to meridians already established by classical deophagic ritual…”

Something had happened while I was entranced in those dark coils. Something had gained entrance. And even then, as I attempted to reread those horrible scribblings, I sensed a movement out of the corner of my eye – a soft fluttering in the dim corners of the chamber, as if the faded light were being beaten further back by something pushing against it. No, scrabbling against it, as if the space before me were to suddenly be ripped and torn asunder like a petulant child shredding a family of paper dolls.

And it was then that I heard the first wet thumps from downstairs. A shuffling, an unnatural footfall on the staircase. I shuddered, picturing the unknowable Other that had somehow found its way into my home and even now, crept closer upwards towards my closed study door. It let out a sigh, deep with frustration and impatience, as if just now sloughing off the dream-crust from a thousand seasons without light or sustenance. The doorknob twitched, peculiar tentacles on its other side trying to find purchase on an object not designed for their use or understanding. And then the door creaked open.

A blond woman in her early thirties poked her head inside.

“Ew, what the fuck are you listening to?”

I hastily shut my notebook and twisted the knob on the speakers, quelling the filth that even now raged in its final minutes of the album’s play.

“Just finishing up a review, sorry.”

“Well, come on. I thought we were going to watch American Idol.”

It left the room, closing the door behind it.

I shut off the music, grateful for the silence. Then, before replacing my book on the shelf, I took one last glance at the notes, as if seeking solace in its revelations for the hellish ordeal I now faced downstairs.

And so band members Emmanuel Jessua and Thibault Lamy have formed A Backward Glance on a Travel Road, which approaches Hypno5e’s fragmented songcraft from a more acoustic and ambient perspective. And when I say acoustic, I don’t just mean unplugged progressive folk. Right from the get-go, the album wows with “Regular Barbary,” with its syncopated tango of Mediterranean guitars, tribal drumming and lurching, tinkling and stomping piano. It’s like a flamenco dancer paired up with a hunchback as they glide across the dance floor – her lithe movements fusing with his clumsy, dragging footfalls to create a swooping, extravagant display of unlikely grace.

A couple more similar, striking moments bloom on other tracks. Soft woodwinds and deep, sonorous strums work up to a thunderous frenzy on “Johnny Got His Gun.” Furious acoustics, staccato percussion and more flamenco rhythms create sparks in the first half of “Hier Régnant Désert.” As examples of busy, technical and acoustic metal, these passages are surprising and impressive, and I’d love to hear an entire album that pushes this sound.

Unfortunately, this is not really that album. The rest of ABGOATR is a melancholy goulash of ambient drone and mournful, chiming acoustic guitars – all quite sad and pretty, but not terribly exciting and sometimes even drab. Haunting female vocals ebb and flow throughout, and occasionally, a lilting clean male vocal recalls the work of both Riverside and Porcupine Tree. (Just to underscore the influence, tracks 4 and 5 are called “In Absentia, parts I and II.”) There’s also quite a bit of French spoken word, and what I guess are film samples, both of which may add thematic texture and detail if you understand the language. I don’t though, and so they only serve to distract and break up the flow.

It was absolutely miserable out yesterday – the ground a wet, dirty smear of brown and white, and the trees little more than hasty scrawls of brush stroke against the deadened sky. Driving around while listening to this album just made it all look worse. It’s just a real downer and overall nowhere near as electrifying as that initial moment of syncopated splendor. The quality and talent here is terrific, no doubt about that, but I doubt I’ll be returning to this album again. That said, if the band focused more on those really special explosions of multi-instrumental bravado, they’d be worth a lot more than a Backward Glance.

For those of you curious to take this Road yourself though, the album is available as a free download here.

Where as Scott’s last two albums, the debut Blood of the Black Owl and 2008s A Feral Spirit were transcendental and at time tribal takes on plodding blacked drone, doom, A Banishing Ritual is almost all melancholy atmospherics, FX, programming and a seemingly cathartic album that runs as one 41 minute journey into one man’s soul. And while (at least on my ipod) only one of the 4 ‘movements’ contains any actual riffs or metal or any sort, the albums mainly organic, ritualistic throes are commanding and hypnotic enough to keep your attention.

Continuing the almost Native American/tribal atmosphere of A Feral Spirit, the ambience is heavy on naturalistic sounds and woodwind or organic instruments, though backed by a deep industrial hum. The journey is one that seems befitting a smoke filled Wigwam with various shamanistic elements, rattling, hissing, and chanting. 13 minutes or so into the cleansing ritual, the albums only real metal arises with three minutes of a thunderous, doomy riff before a haunting string drone and robotic chant kicks in for a lengthy segue.

The last movement starts as a despondent acoustic mantra that morphs into a discordant shimmer with some pained shrieks that seem to have Scott and co exercise any remaining personal demons and lay Blood of the Black Owl to rest as he moves onto his other project Ruhr Hunter.

Rest in piece.

The band began life as a Metallica cover band, and it won’t take you long to figure that out. Whether it be vocalist Frank Leary doing his best to imitate the worst of James Hetfield’s yodeling attempts to sing toward the end of album opener “Suffer Patiently” or guitarist Patrick Hayden’s lead ripped right from the “How to Play in the Style of Kirk Hammett” instructional video on the same song. Then there’s the ballad “My Regret,” which offers a carbon copy of some of the worst that the Metallica catalog has to offer, and the painful vocals on “Unstrung Hero,” which sound like someone trying to do Hetfield karaoke. Despite that, though, there are moments in most of the songs that I actually like.

The title track opens with a nice squealing riff that shows promise. After that, though, things go off the rails. It’s like there’s no connection, chemistry or spark in the song – almost like the parts were recorded in four different studios in four different towns and then patched together. “Crimson Sand,” after a Godsmack-flavored opening riff, suffers the same fate. The dry, squeaky clean production doesn’t help matters either, as individual instruments, particularly the guitar, sound very good alone, but when taken together it seems a bit sterile – kind of like Metallica’s Load, now that I think about it.

Much of this record seems to be dedicated to recreating the Load era, though why anyone would want to do that, I have no idea. There are interesting moments scattered throughout – the Alice in Chains-flavored vocal bit and faux-exotic guitar licks at the beginning of “One More Shot” and the twangy guitar at the beginning of “Last Redemption” – but instead of following those threads, the band always reverts back to Load mode.

Toward the end of the record, we finally get some relief. “The Fear” opens with a cool thrashing riff, but Leary’s Sully Erna impression falls short of the original and still has too many heavy Hetfield inflections. “Glass Legacy” sees the infusion of some power metal influence. It scales back the Metallica worship (though it’s still there) and reminds me a bit, at times, of Iced Earth. It’s the first real sign of life for a full song on the record. Album closing ballad “Fever Slide” loses the momentum, though, despite some nice Alice in Chains-infused moments and a really cool piano and Spanish-flavored guitar run at the end that save it from being another Metallica copycat ballad.

I think there’s a great deal of promise on Fury Rising, but, in truth, not much fury. I can find some good point of just about every song here (with the possible exception of “My Regret”), but the band absolutely has to find its own identity. Right now, they’re a copycat that’s not even copying the best era of Metallica. If you’ve ever wondered whether or not you would have liked Load if it had been another band instead of Metallica, one listen to this record will give you the answer: No.

“Do You Feel Cleansed?” is an example of all 3 of these influences coming together in a flurry of speedy riffs, guitar-scale tornados and clean/shout/growl vocal hysteria. “Layers Of Days” kicks off with a Nevermore-ish, down-tuned headbanging riff before diving headlong into another 4+ minutes of hairpin turns, groove-to-speed transitions and impressive vocals. Nevermore, in some of the tones and riffs, is a good reference for this album…as is Pain Of Salvation (technical virtuosity) and even some of Sevendust’s heavier moments (the grooves). “Virtual Twin” kicks off with a very agressive riff before falling into a quick, subdued verse. The lead break here is super-tasty.

The one criticism I could bring would be that a lot of the songs kind of have the same vibe. While showcasing the bands ability to stop on a dime and their masterful knowledge of their instruments, they could stand to shake it up a bit on future albums. But, aside from that, Antigen is a fine debut. Those into any of the bands I mentioned should definitely check it out.

You see, Death Came Through a Phantom Ship is pretty much the Pirates of the Caribbean of symphonic black metal that’s heavy on the theatrics, and listening to the album is quite entertaining. Entertaining, as in it getting a chuckle out of me. Supposedly the band’s motif is to scare and scar with their ghost-themed existence, but Death Came Through a Phanton Ship is pretty much the complete opposite; it’s a theme park ride about the Flying Dutchman. Sound spooky? You bet it does!

Yet, it’s not an overly thrilling ride. The problem simply is that whilst there are a lot of attention-grabbing moments, symphonic elements fiddling away while more extreme and melodic things happen up front, the key moments that bind them together into a coherent form are few and far between. Similar to Norway’s Winds who never did quite reach their full potential. You want to dig the material but it just doesn’t carry its own weight.

With the concept also being what it is, it’s also a shame the theme isn’t utilized to the fullest. There aren’t any surprises or dramatic deviations from the pattern. While the album isn’t about pirates plundering and pillaging, some Caribbean rhythms done heavy metal–style might have kept the boat sailing a bit further. Or at least more believably.

Sure, especially within the classical elements (and with vocal melodies), there are some details that hint of playfulness but most of the time the minor details seem to get drowned in the blast waves. Perhaps the band should have listened to Alestorm while clicking through the Monkey Island-games. In a way, I can respect that Carach Angren might have tried to tone down the camp and not make it as obvious and in your face, but something is missing.

When vocalist Seregor doesn’t growl his way through the lyrics, the vocals are pure radio play entertainment, even if they don’t go all out Dani Filth on your cutlass. And truth to be told, I had no idea about the concept ‘till I started paying attention to the lyrics and overly dramatic vocalizations (most notably on “Al Betekent Het Mijn Dood” which is a story piece that plays like a children’s audio book.)

Going back to the music, I mentioned Cradle of Filth in the beginning and while they might be treading similar ground, Carach Angren isn’t as ‘out there’ and the gothic elements are non-existent. If I had to navigate another comparison, some of the arrangements—mainly the orchestrations—share similarities with Hollenthon, but Martin Schirenc is nowhere to be found. Unfortunately.

The tempo on the album is quite fierce throughout, as the ghosts rage like drug trafficking speedboats near Miami. The production, however, could and should pack a bit more of an epic punch. While the symphonic compositions are doing their best to paint a blockbuster, the drums undermine that as they sound bland and powerless. The guitars should also shiver my timbers more. Actually, the whole thing deserves more kick!

Entertaining while it lasts, Dead Came Through a Phantom Ship is unlike rum and won’t leave a lasting effect after consumption. I doubt it’ll get any better as it ages, either. There are good moments in midst of all the sunken hardships, but overall there could be more. Carach Angren is as threatening  as a single Sloop trying to outweigh a full armada of modern Destroyers;  and the music remains less scary than the Black Beard’s cave at Casa Bonita (then again, that place is in a league of its own). The music needs more captain hooks, more captivating dynamics and a full canon barrage of bone thrashing riffs.

If you dig ghost stories about dead pirates, fading ghost ships that hide in the mist and well, any of the bands I depth charged (i.e., name dropped), then by all means have a listen. Death Came Through a Phantom Ship might sink into you like the Titanic. Or perhaps it’ll just sting you like a stingray. Just don’t expect that much of the color ‘black’ when you snorkel in as Carach Angren is more The Addam’s Family theme song than Satan’s Final Sea Battle.

Perhaps Carach Angren should move away from predictable ghost reveries and tackle something more horrific on the next album… like Moulin Rouge!

Yo-ho-ho-oh the horror…

This is indeed the classic question… yet it’s the necessary one. [Laughs] Well, right now I can say we are very satisfied with the new album. Of course, as months have passed since completing it, there are now some things we wish we could change. Yet, I guess it is a normal reaction, as no album can be perfect.

What we are really happy about, is that the reactions from the media and the fans have been good so far… without being too consensual. It’s very funny to see that some people still can’t understand our music and almost see it as a threat, handing out very negative feedback. However, the positive reactions seem to dominate. Plus, the songs work very well on stage, and despite having a lot of melodies, they are heavy enough to make the audience headbang and mosh.

At first sight, The Pulse of Awakening seems to be a completely different album from Slave Design and Antares…

Yeah. We had line-up changes after the second album so when Kevin joined [the band] as a drummer after Antares, he did indeed bring his own musical sensitivity with him. What’s more, as musicians, we’ve kind of grown up and become a bit more confident musically. So, it is normal that we’ve evolved since Slave Design – which was, after all – our first album. We’re certain that exploring the full scale of our musical range is part of Sybreed’s concept, and we couldn’t just keep on repeating the same thing over and over without feeling like going nowhere. But I wouldn’t say we’re totally different. It is still Sybreed playing the same kind of music as before.

However, after a few listens it becomes apparent it’s somewhat of a logical continuation to those albums. In a way, the coldness that was part of the sound on Slave Design has taken small steps to the sidelines and you’ve got a bit more humane touch going on…

Indeed we’ve become somewhat more organic on the new album. I guess it is also because in the beginning, we had to rely a lot on technology to achieve the sound we wanted to obtain. There used to be a lot of effects and computer work during the recording process previously. But now, we don’t need to rely on this anymore to achieve what we’re looking for. The latest album is definitely played and not typed.

Was it something you planned or something that just came to be?

It wasn’t completely planned and it’s mostly a result of our evolution as musicians. However, we kind of worked on The Pulse of Awakening with the idea of having a more natural feeling in the sound, despite having a lot of synths and loops. It might be the result of being influenced by all the synth-pop bands, such as Depeche Mode. Even if we have a lot of electronic elements, the guitars and especially the vocals still have a real rock ’n’ roll aspect.

How was the writing, recording  process?

Concerning the writing process, it was big piece of fun. We wrote the whole album in three months, working all together, which was the first time we did such a thing. Making it a collective effort was definitely new for us and I have to say, we’ll keep on doing so in the future. The recording process was on the other hand a bit more difficult as The Pulse of Awakening is the most technical music we’ve ever written, even if it doesn’t sound like it at first. It was a complicated and a very demanding process. We came out of the studio totally exhausted.

Did Rhys Fulber affect the end product’s sound and what was it like working with the guy?

He did affect the sound of the album and that’s precisely what we were expecting. Actually, we really wanted to have that electronic, yet, raw sound you can find in Front Line Assembly. Rhys came up with a heavy mix, which was a complete surprise to us, since it was kind of different from what we had intended to have in the beginning. We needed some time to get used to it, but we finally wound up saying how goddamn cool it sounded! So you can say that Rhys Fulber had a big impact on The Pulse of Awakening. More so, he is a very easy going guy and working with him was a lot of fun,so we’re definitely thinking about working with him on the next Sybreed LP.

The Pulse of Awakening seems to be quite a fitting name to the album considering the evolution of your music and it becoming somewhat more lively and less mechanic in a sense.

It must be, because I often come up with the name of the album – as well as the title of several songs – before we really begin to compose the music. Ergo, when I come up with a title for our new album, I show it to my band mates and it might turn into a guideline and source of inspiration for the material we write afterward, as well as for the atmosphere that we want to obtain at the end of the recording process.

Going back to the musical side of things, there seems to be quite a contrast between the two extremes on the album; you’ve got some of your hardest moments (”I am Ultraviolence”) on the album but also the softest and dare I say, happiest (”Doomsday Party” seems like a fun, party song).

Well, we like to play with contrasts, and being limited to just one sort of atmosphere is pretty boring in our opinion. We like to use both aggressive and soft elements, for metal isn’t only restrained to the faster and louder dogma.

However, there’s always a dark aspect at work in our songs, and even a song like “Doomsday Party” is actually pretty bleak, no matter if there’s sort of a fun side. Somehow it’s more about a cynical witticism than something really positive, because it’s a notion of how, in the end, we all die one day. I know people sometime feel like being thrown on a roller coaster when listening to a Sybreed-album. But at the end of the ride, I’m sure they like it. [Laughs]

With each album you’ve introduced new elements from various genres that weren’t present or as apparent as on the previous album. For example, “Lucifer Effect” seems to dwell into a more Northern European ground with all the symphonic elements…

Definitely! You know we have grown up with ’90s metal, [ranging] from the more mainstream stuff to the most extreme side of metal. And the entire Black Metal scene had a big impact on us. So it was a natural move for us to inject those kinds of influences again after our first album. The difference is that, when using a Scandinavian kind of sound, now, we do it full scale which is why a song like “Lucifer Effect” seems to come out directly from Norway, with of course, our own musical sensitivity. It’s also the first time we felt being able to write proper symphonic elements, as it’s a long and difficult work. So that’s the reason why they’re introduced on The Pulse of Awakening. Yet, it will surely become part of our music from now on.

And related to that, there seems to be a huge ’80s pop music influence as well, especially since you’ve put a Killing Joke cover on the album.

That’s part of our influence too, definitely. We have a strong taste for all the cold wave and synth-pop from the ’80s, as well as several rock bands from this era. Somehow we find the melodies of those bands more flamboyant than what is proposed today in the pop-genre, except for bands like Muse which kind of revived these sort of melodies. In my opinion, no pop music from today can produce a song as good as what Depeche Mode or The Cure have done in the past – music which you can put on the radio but that doesn’t sound cheap and hollow. It was natural for us to make a homage to this sort of music and “Love Like Blood” from Killing Joke was the perfect choice for that. It surely has the heaviest rhythm of all the ’80s new wave hits.

You seem to have become less restricted with the vocals and the amount of ‘clean’ vocals has increased quite a bit. At least online, there’s been some debate about the move, but what’s your side to the story?

I have heard and read about those debates and have found them funny, because in my mind, it’s completely irrelevant with the vocal job I’ve done on The Pulse of Awakening. In fact, I have never thought about giving a soft edge to my vocals, for the extreme part is still very present. My only wish was to try to break the modern metal routine of the screamed verse – sang chorus – scheme and somehow adapt my vocals to the music. No matter if I had to make a song with only screams or just with clean vocals. In my opinion, it’s more interesting [that way] than always serving the same dish, over and over.

Speaking of individual members, you also had some line-up changes going on as well?

Yeah. The most recent one being the arrival of Stephane [Grand], our new bass player. Concerning Kevin [Choiral], he’s now a full-fledged member after joining us at the end of 2007. Thus indeed, there’s only Drop and me who remain as original members. However, since we were in charge with the music and lyrics [in the first place], these changes haven’t had an impact on our music. On a positive side, I would even say that Kevin brought a lot of new ideas when he became our drummer and we hope Stephane will do as well with the next Sybreed albums. Anyway, the current line-up is surely the best we ever had.

When you place your albums side to side, how would you describe each album and their relation and essence as individual releases, but compared to the grand scheme of things as well?

That’s a hard question! OK, Slave Design has the energy of a first release, yet it kind of lack of a strong personality in my opinion. It is brutal and it has some nice melodies too, but we stuck a bit too much to our influences to produce something fresh. Antares, was a big step forward as we begun to sound a bit less digital and we began to explore a wider range of atmosphere and melodies. However, we weren’t completely satisfied [with the results]. The Pulse of Awakening is, in my mind, the first real step in creating the real Sybreed-sound. Like some people say, it’s definitely more organic compared to, for example, Fear Factory and the soundscapes we design now are ours and only ours. Then again, if you watch the whole canvas, you can see that from a mechanical digital kind of death metal we have moved towards a more organic, atmospheric kind of music. And this, is, where we see the future of the band.

Looking back at your discography, and I know it might be far too early to think of such things yet, but at what direction will Sybreed evolve to their music on the next outing?

It is indeed a bit difficult to foresee how the next Sybreed’s release will sound like. Nevertheless we already have an idea of what we want to do in the sense that we want it to be even more epic and futuristic than The Pulse of Awakening. We’ve already written a couple of things, yet we won’t be able to say more before we will complete the composition process.

Were there some elements and ideas you perhaps didn’t get to experiment with that you would have loved to include on The Pulse of Awakening?

Oh, well, we tried so many things on the new album that I couldn’t say. Actually, I think the next step won’t be to find new elements, but more about how to integrate the actual ones in a more streamlined sound, which is definitely the most difficult thing to do. It isn’t only a question of inspiration, but also of pure musicianship.

I read somewhere that you’re fans of remixes. With that in mind, can we expect a remix album in the vein of Fear Factory’s Remanufacture?

I don’t think we will make a full album of remixes. I mean, Fear Factory has done it and it doesn’t seem fresh to me. However, we will surely propose remixes once in a while, because indeed, we like them a lot. But it’s difficult to find the guys to do so. I think we will surely follow the example of Celldweller and propose some kind of remix competition to the fans in the future.

And, finally, what does Sybreed have in store for 2010?

Well, this year is going to be devoted to live performances. For now, we are looking for tours in Europe or USA as a support [band], but we’re also planning headliner shows here and there. Meanwhile, we’ll begin to write the material for the next Sybreed album as we want to take our time [with it]. We prefer having one year to do so, in between tours and shows.

It’s not really Eluveitie’s fault either. As a fan of the bands previous work, and folk metal in general, it is obvious that the cracks are starting to show in this particular sub-genre. Eluveitie really aren’t helping matters either considering this album is completely saturated with a formulated approach that is anything but exciting, and most of this record sounds like Evocation I with a little electric guitar sprinkled in to satisfy fans. The metal edge just isn’t there, leaving the folk instruments and catchy chorus lines front and center.

There are some good songs on this record though, starting with the title track. When I first starting listening to this record I was kind of excited because this song is really where the band left off two tears ago. However, they blow their Swiss load quickly with that song and the album fades into oblivion after that where most songs get to the chorus within 30 seconds and sound like a Pagan version of Linkin Park.

So, a band I once really enjoyed has become stale and lackluster when compared to the forerunners of the genre like Ensiferum, Suidakra, and Equilibrium. Eluveitie write catchy hard rock music with a lot of hurdy-gurdy and female chorus lines. If that’s your thing then by all means get this, but even in that sub-genre there are better records. I’d like to hear this band just go full on organic acoustic with a darker vibe. I think I could enjoy that more than this half-assed attempt at folk metal.

After 2008s promising little The Nameless, The Faceless EP, this California trio have made all the necessary improvements and developments to start flirting with the likes of Severed Savior, Odious Mortem, Abysmal Dawn and such: busy and complex but not utterly brutal either, choosing a balance that’s convoluted and intellectual but still retains some decent and not overly polished savagery.

Of the 11 tracks, 2 are reworked from the EP (“U-235” and “Clipping the Wings of Hope”) with an improved production that isn’t as murky as the EP, but retains the undulating muddier tones that isn’t as clicky as many of their peers. The new 7  tracks (instruemntal “Beyond the Endless” doesn’t treally count) deliver some twangy and often jazzy basslines amid dirty but intricate riffage that’s still memorable and at times I was reminded of Oppressor mixed with Atheist at their peaks; Swirling and jangly but a hint of nastiness and lots of top notch musicianship. Drummer/ vocalist Chris Barnum is a better drummer than a vocalist, but the vocals are dressing to the music in this case.

Excellent tracks like opener “Addicted to Tomorrow” (with its jazzy break), “Impurities”, “The Light That Cast No Shadow”, “Tetra Hydra Cannibol”, “Divide and Devour” (with a surprisingly melodic solo/section) and “Before Our Eyes” (another jazz break) aren’t going to knock the likes of Augury or Ulcerate from the tech death metal throne but if you enjoyed Obscura’s debut Retribution over last years ultra polished Cosmogenesis, Eon Fragmentation might be for you.

Speaking of Burzum, I recently gave the long-awaited Belus a few spins, and although I appreciate the thickened production and renewed intensity, it’s never as atmospheric or as haunting as some of my favorite tracks like “Dunkelheit,” “Tomhet” or “Det Som Engang Var.” So I have to say that Midnight Odyssey’s Firmament is the more transportive and affecting of the two.

Starting with “From Forest to Firmament,” and ending with “From Firmament to Forest,” the album suspends the listener in a dreamlike twilight for nearly an hour. Glittering stars, blazing coils of Aurora Borealis and endless forest, like a phalanx of shadows and sentinels stretched to the horizon: all are conjured by Dis Pater’s mesmerizing compositions.

His palette is simple, but effective. Chiming tones, the soft ebb and flow of synths and ambiance, and crashing, rhythmic waves of guitar. Sometimes they slow to a funereal drone (“Salvation Denied”) and occasionally they scramble forward on icy fingers (“As Dark and Ominous as Stormclouds”), but their melodies are always fluid and hypnotic. A warmer, early 90s shoegaze tone blooms out on “Nocturnal Prey,” whereas follow-up “Departing Flesh and Bone” returns to a more subterreanean and martial sound, which recalls Dol Guldur-era Summoning. And a couple of tracks – “A Host for Ghosts,” “Storms of Fire and Ice” – are almost completely ambient, like Tangerine Dream or Vangelis in their darkest moods.

In fact, Firmament would be a very soothing experience if it weren’t for the vocals, which are definitely the darkest and most aggressive element here. They’re a ragged, hollow yowl, drenched in feedback and echo, and certainly on the weirder side of black metal vocals. They go beyond early Varg towards the shrieks of In the Woods or the insane Elmo-scream of Japan’s Gnome, and as the voice of a lost spirit (or a crying orc, if you will), they fit the music perfectly.

Needless to say, Firmament is not the kind of album you’re going to randomly throw on during a sunny drive or if you need to jam out some energy. This is strictly late-night, quiet time or solitary listening, when your mind is most able to wander and explore. I, Voidhanger Records, a spin-off of Italian label ATMF, has signed Midnight Odyssey for distribution, and it should be more widely available come March. If Belus left you a bit cold but you’re still looking for your next black metal reverie, look skywards towards this Firmament.

There’s some fairly solid early-to-mid 1980s hard rock here, falling a little more toward the commercial end of the spectrum. The bands that come to mind when listening to the record are acts like Krokus and Fastway. The music is pretty solid for the style, but there’s more than a fair share of cheese here, mostly in the vocals and lyrics. Singer Vince Venom has that particular screechy rasp that was popular at the time, but can get very annoying in its upper registers.

The record starts off with the cheese-filled anthem “Rock ‘n’ Roll Tonite.” The song is waaaay over the top, and gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect from the rest of the record. Second track, “The Time is Right,” is surprisingly restrained with a nice main riff from guitarist Mike “H.C.” Slutz (I wish I were kidding). They’re quickly back into overkill mode though with the shouted chorus of “Roll Out (Or Get Rocked.)”

 Armour offers up a heavier side as well, influenced by the likes of Accept and WASP. “Satan’s Knight” is the first of these, a high-speed rocker, that’s a little less flamboyant. The other Accept-flavored burner, “Hellfire,” ends up being one of the better songs, despite the fact that it’s a tune we’ve heard over and over from a variety of bands.

When Armour dials it back a little, though, they can be pretty good. “Ready to Attack” features a nice opening riff and never gets too out of control, making it probably my favorite song on the record. Likewise, the WASP-influenced “Can’t Resist Your Spell” is a pleaser for the spiked wristband-wearing metalhead in me, despite some occasionally painful lyrics.

And speaking of painful lyrics, there’s some quality comic relief to be found here at times. “Sex Demon” offers us some of the worst sexual metaphors since Spinal Tap’s “Sex Farm.” “I’ve got a gun loaded with a shot/ girl you’re gonna scream tonight when my bullet hits the spot,” for example.

 It’s not that Armour is any worse than many of the bands I listened to in the early and mid-1980s. In fact, they’d fit in quite well, and if I’d heard them back then, I probably would have loved them. The problem is more the fact that I’m not 12 any more, and many of the songs here are either sophomoric or a bit silly in the lyrical department. Unlike, say, White Wizzard, which seems to embrace the cheese factor and have fun with it, Armour, at least to my ears, seems to be very serious about it, which often makes it unintentionally funny.

 If you’re looking for a little trip back to your adolescent years, and don’t mind a healthy helping of cheese, you could do much worse than picking up Armour’s full-length debut. Though it won’t likely stick with me long, I have to admit that it’s at least good fun for a short time.

Now most of you have left, I’ll continue…

There’s nothing to earth shattering on this band’s debut, and it delivers all the current scene trends, but the band do have a tangible reference to older He Is Legend in some of their balanced metal assaults. The clean vocals are acceptable, and there is less of a poppy commercial feel like fellow North Carolina act A Hero A Fake.

With a Jamie King (Between the Buried and Me, For Today) production the album is clean and heavy allowing the mix of lurching deathcore and cleaner metalcore to meld seamlessly as the band transitions between hefty breakdowns and death metal growls to uplifting, soaring clean choruses and to their credit the band does not go for the forced choopy, noodly, techy arpeggio filled stuff, rather they let the songs breathe and have some memorable hooks and moments here and there. I actually ended up rather enjoying the likes of opener “Unstoppable”, the bluesy Southern groove of “Don’t Cry to Me”, dramatic climax of “Awake in a Dream” catchy “Presence at the Funeral”, and sing along chorus and excellent (though too short) somber female vocals in the closing title track.

Not an utterly required listen but certain on par with the likes of Hereafter an Odyssey and A Thousand Times Repent as far as well-done Christian metal that’s covers all bases between heavy and melodic.

Norway’s MANTRIC, formed from the ashes of metal visionaries, EXTOL, have set the release date for their debut album, “The Descent,” which will be issued on Prosthetic Records worldwide. The album will hit the streets on April 27th in North America and April 26th in the rest of the world. The album cover has also been unveiled. 

‘The Descent’ fuses a unique, distinctly Scandinavian take on rich, challenging metal and modern punk with a powerful progressive edge; MANTRIC recorded “The Descent” in Norway, with studio guru Tue Madsen (The Haunted / Dark Tranquillity / Himsa) handling mixing and mastering duties. 

MANTRIC’s vocalist and guitarist Ole Sveen commented, “Our first album using the Mantric-name does to our ears deserve to get out to lovers of hard music all over the world. Our music embraces creativity and originality outside the limits of narrow genres…This is a release that is both accessible and original, catchy and complex at the same time, and we can’t wait to get it out!”.

MANTRIC will showcase “The Descent” with a selection of gigs across Norway around the release date before embarking on UK, European and North American tours to support the album throughout 2010.

“The Descent” is truly urgent music – just as great, challenging heavy music should be. Enjoy.