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I’m ever so slightly embarrassed to admit that this is my first real taste of this long running Swedish melodic Metal act, and I am completely unfamiliar with their previous works. But then again, we can’t keep up with every single act plying their trade in the Metal scene today can we. That would be a 27/7 proposition.
My very first impressions were that Katatonia are simply a lightweight version of Opeth, and a little less interesting to boot. Even singer Jonas Renkse’s voice quite closely resembles the clean tones of Mikael Akerfeldt, and the sense of dynamics inherent in their sound is somewhat reminiscent of their fellow mighty Swedes (although less pronounced). Subsequent listens have revealed nuances in their music that are all their own, but there is still an only slightly lessened sense of similarity between the two that I get when I listen to Night is the New Day. And it makes me slightly uncomfortable, especially when I read that Renkse and Akerfeldt are mates, and have played and written together at some length.
Putting that issue aside for a second and listening to this album in isolation, it’s an epic work, full of tones, moods, dark melodies the occasional heavy flourishes that only seem heavier for the mellowness that is going on around them. Your average Philistine Metalhead who only wants wall to wall brutality should probably avoid this release, but anyone looking for something a little more artful in their Metal could probably look no further. There is an economy of expression going on here that is almost unheard of in Metal these days. Oh, and the songs themselves are highly evocative, interesting and skilfully constructed as well.
With this in mind, it obviously in no way, shape or form reaches the monumental extremities that Opeth do, but this is not the intention. Far from it. Maybe it is this that distinguishes the two to best effect? Who knows, but if you leave your Opeth similarity cynicisms at the door you will find this a very satisfying release. It gets ***1/2.
(Stomp)

Rod Whitfield

Reviews Katatonia, Night is the New Day

Another Stoner album that sounds pretty similar to the last stoner album I listened to. Rhino have a slightly nastier, noisier edge to them, however, and several of their songs stretch out to epic lengths, with the most extreme example being the interminable ‘Funebre’ clocking in at a ridiculous 15 minutes. I can also detect quite a strong Alice in Chains influence in the grooves of this album (check out the vocal harmonies in ‘Promise of Storm’, for example), and these things serve to set them apart from the soundalike pack ever so slightly (or as much as is possible with stoner Rock anyway, which isn’t much). As does the almost shocking presence of a wild sax solo during the aforementioned Promise of Storm!

Spain certainly isn’t well known for it’s Rock music prowess, let alone for such a marginalised sub genre as stoner, so definite kudos to them for breaking out from the land of bullfighting, soccer and olive oil and showing their wares to the world. And singer Javier Galvez has an amazing set of pipes on him, and sings really well when he actually chooses to do so, in amongst all the deep throated bellowing. Check out acoustic ballad ‘Wendigo’ to experience this. Elsewhere he sounds truly pained.

Stoner Rock albums can be hard to get through at the best of times, but Rhino have a real sense of grind to them, and at over 70 minutes, Dead Throne Monarch is a truly harrowing experience. By the time you reach the final strains of album closer ‘Horned Crown’, noise fatigue has well and truly set in and you feel a little emotionally depressed. Easy listening music this is not.

Many people still obviously dig this kind of stuff, however, and if you like your Stoner with a touch brutality, this album is an absolute powerhouse. Just not be played at your next romantic interlude. It gets ***.

(Arctic Music Group-7th Gate Records)

Rod Whitfield

Reviews Dead Throne Monarch, Rhino

Watching the mighty Fear Factory last night in a small (capacity around 900) pub, I observed a couple of pretty profound and contrasting things, which I will relate to you now.

Firstly, they were incredibly raw and aggressive, which seems in direct contrast to their albums. I’m not suggesting they’re not aggressive on record. They are, in fact they’re monstrous at times (check out the title track of ‘Demanufacture’). But their albums are heavily produced, and quite processed sounding. An overly critical observer might say ‘overproduced’. Last night, in such an intimate setting, they simply belted it out loud, hard and heavy, and tight as a clenched fist. It was just guitar, bass and drums and Burton C Bell screaming his guts up out front. And it was simply amazing.

Another contrast I observed was this: I had seen them once before, probably six or seven years ago, at a massive concrete building called ‘Rod Laver Arena’, where the Australian Open Tennis is being played, literally as I type this. It has a capacity of around 15,000. They must have had a bad night that night. Burton seemed to be in a shitty mood, and their sound was terrible. All the other bands on that night kicked their arse. I walked away feeling mightily disappointed with their live show, being a massive fan of their albums.

Last night was a night and day difference though. They just seemed more relaxed, and the sound, whilst raw, was vastly superior. The crowd was highly responsive, and in excellent voice when displaying their approval of proceedings. Their hour and a half set was immensely satisfying, and of course the presence and playing of that monstrous powerhouse Gene Hoglan on the skins wasn’t hard to take either.

An immense set from these old masters. Fear Factory get ****.

Rod Whitfield

Reviews Fear Factory, Live

This Boston three piece are pretty big on ideas. Their songs are mostly lengthy pieces with lots of progressive twists and turns. Their execution doesn’t quite match their ambitions, however, especially in the vocal department. I’m sure that with more work they could resolve this and become a bit of a player on the Progressive scene. The potential is definitely there.

It’s pretty obvious these guys have grown up on a steady diet of Led Zepellin and Rush. They have obviously put a lot of thought and effort into their arrangements, and their musicianship is of quite a high calibre overall. The album suffers slightly from what sounds like a fairly low budget production job, and from singer Dan Costa’s slight pitching issues with his vocals. At times he can’t quite get where he needs to go. He also plays guitar, and maybe we have one of those situations where, like Rush in their early days, they wanted to keep the band a three piece, despite the limitations of the singer/instrumentalist. In this case, it may be best if they chose to recruit the services of a designated frontman to shoulder all of the lead vocal duties, and let Costa concentrate on his guitar playing skills, which are very impressive.

So much so that by far the best track on the album, to this reviewer’s ears, is the bizarrely titled instrumental ‘Anaximander’. It’s one of the better instrumentals I’ve heard in recent times, and while it has multiple parts and heaps going on, it flows beautifully, and could have been longer!

To me, it just goes to prove that they need to recruit a full time lead vocalist, and one with a massive set of pipes on him/her. This would set these guys on the right path to a serious profile on the scene, I reckon. Mercurial gets ***.

Rod Whitfield

Reviews Mercurial, The Under

Similar to Nightwish’s “Once” album and Therion’s “Gothic Kabbalah” album of earlier this year, this is the type of album that has the humble reviewer scratching his/her head wondering where to start, there is that much going on.
Procedures start with the choral/orchestral and powerfully building “Indigo” leading into the epic “The Obsessive Devotion”. In fact this band is very aptly named as a vibe of “epic-ness” pervades everything they do (as is the wont of most Euro female goth Metal bands).
It’s yet another one of these type of works that takes you on a journey across a sumptuous musical landscape and that often sounds more like a grandiose movie soundtrack than a rock album. Some may call it overblown, I simply call it fantastic listening. Just let it flow over you and fill you with musical euphoria.
As is often the case with these type of bands, the playing and production is of mind boggling quality and vocalist, Simone Simons, is obviously operatically trained and handles the loud stuff and the beautiful ballads (“Chasing the Dragon” is superb although it ends up in total chaos as well) with equal aplomb.
My only beef is that the death Metal growls often seem out of place amid the splendour on this particular recording but it is thankfully not overdone and the majority of the vocals are left to Simone Simons and the multi voice choirs.
This band is obviously chasing the Nightwish audience and they do this style damn nearly as the Finns. The “Divine Conspiracy” is an astounding success and it gets ****.

Rod Whitfield

Reviews Epica, The Divine Conspiracy

Michael Schenker, for those not familiar with the man, has proven himself a ripping guitarist, in his time in UFO, the Scorpions (where his brother Rudolph still plays, although I have recently read they are calling it a day after 40 odd years) and his subsequent solo outfit, The Michael Schenker Group (MSG). Gary Barden fronted MSG for some years in the early to mid 80s if I remember correctly. I’m pretty sure he worked with Gary Moore for a while too.

Enough of the history lesson, what are they up to in 2010? Well they’re both middle aged, and it shows here. There’s no real escaping the fact that this is a fairly lame effort, and sounds like a couple of old has-beens trying to age gracefully, but really just tarnishing what is quite an illustrious history and reputation. Having said that, Schenker’s acoustic work on this album is very tasteful. The band behind them does their job nicely enough. It’s Barden who lets the team down. His voice these days just doesn’t convince at all, and even seems flat at times. Plus his lyrics are just naff. Schenker has apparently released a few all instrumental acoustic pieces in recent times. He probably should have left it this way.

The album attempts variety. It tries country (‘Travelled so Far’), medieval/chamber music (‘Fight for Freedom’), an acoustic shuffle (‘Starting Over’), ballads (‘Can’t Live on Love Alone’, which is just nauseating, and ‘Another Melody’) and ‘uplifting’ Pop (‘Hungry’). Kudos to them for doing something a little different, but very little of it rises above the mediocre.

The only reason someone might buy this album is if they were desperate for some inoffensive background music. And how often does this happen? To Mr Schenker: ditch Mr Barden and either go back to the instrumentals, or plug in and Rock out again. This gets **

Rod Whitfield

Reviews Gypsy Lady, Schenker Barden Acoustic Project

Questions. Honest to God, why do these type of bands even bother? How do they live with themselves? Are there tiny pockets of fans out there who actually pay to hear this stuff? Why unashamedly rip off a band that still exists? What does Angus Young et al think when he hears bands like these guys and Airbourne? Do they feel ripped off? Or do they see imitation as the sincerest form of flattery? Is Bon Scott rolling in his grave? Do they all feel like they should be getting royalties for each and every riff and vocal line on ‘The Hardest Town’ (including the people administering Bon’s estate?)? Or do they just feel they’re plenty rich enough already? To add insult to injury Rhino Bucket now even have former Acca Dacca drummer Simon Wright in the band!
These are perplexing questions. Influence is one thing, copying is another, and music could possibly be the only artform where this can happen, and the exponents get away with it scot-free. I’m sure if someone painted a picture that was so close to looking like the Mona Lisa that it was essentially a copy, the ‘artist’ would be ridiculed and run out of town, and told never to return, or worse. Why then can musicians get away with this?
Rhino Bucket aren’t even that great at what they do. Here, they have written the same plodding AC/DC rip off 11 times. There’s no energy to speak of whatsoever. At least Airbourne, in all their unoriginal glory, inject some serious balls and attitude into their copycat sound. This album is just dull as dogshit.
I’m sure that if AC/DC weren’t quite as massive as they are, they would probably sue. And they’d be absolutely correct in doing so. These bands are travesties, and there needs to be new and more stringent copyright laws brought in that protect more than just a riff or a lyric, laws that don’t allow bands to directly imitate another band’s entire sound and vibe. Music would be in a better state. It gets *.
Rant over.

Rod Whitfield

Reviews Rhino Bucket, The Hardest Town

This six piece Metal act from York, Pennsylvania have quite a unique and powerful thing going on. They just need to wait until their budget, and thus their production values, catches up to their ideas so it can do them justice.

Almost every riff, groove and vocal line on this record works. Indeed, singer J. William Heitman has been blessed with some pretty scary lungs and an ultra pissed-off attitude, and his vocals are absolutely dead on the money. Ninetail attempt to take their slightly industrial Death Metal sounds to some different places, avoiding most of the cliched trappings of the genre, and on the most part do it rather well. Their musicianship is fairly basic, purely by today’s intense and intricate Metal standards, but what they do play is played with confidence and strength. They infuse their sound with some tasteful yet eerie and atmospheric keyboard/programming effects (especially on ‘God Willing’ and ‘Trials of a Madman’) that give the ear something slightly different to focus on amid the barrage of heavily overdriven guitars and pounding drums. I admire a band that is willing to do this in the face of the negative and conservative attitudes of a lot of Metalheads towards this type of thing.

In a nutshell, they’re a band that shows great promise, it’s just that ‘Half Truths and Hand Grenades’ sounds like it was recorded on an extremely tight time and money budget, and this unfortunately shows out, holding the album back from being quite a devastating Metal listening experience. The drums especially, and the sound overall, lacks the punch and depth that modern Metal albums have in spades. Give them a greater budget, get them in the studio with someone like Andy Sneap, and the results could be seismic.

I’m very much interested in hearing their next recording. This gets ***1/2.

Rod Whitfield

Reviews Half Truths and Hand Grenades, Ninetail

It’s releases like this that have me scratching my head and wishing certain musicians/bands would stay in their homes and rehearsal rooms a bit longer and actually learn how to play and sing properly. Learn your craft to an at least reasonably proficient level before you put it on public display.

This kind of monotonous dirge gives heavy music a bad name. They call themselves ‘Heavy Metal’, and yet Crawling Quiet sound like they’ve barely stepped out of the garage. Heavy Metal is all about intensity, drama, complexity, the expression of strong emotion and of course highly skilled musicianship. This Canuck outfit display none of these features whatsoever. Zip. Instead they choose to crank out tired, hackneyed old riffs and grooves that Black Sabbath were doing 40 years ago (and, it almost doesn’t even need to be said, doing it infinitely better), and generally assaulting our poor unsuspecting eardrums with classless trash. And can somebody PLEASE teach the vocalist how to sing IN KEY?

I’m struggling severely to find positives. They crank things up a little with ‘Sleepless Light’, whose main riff is somewhat engaging before the song descends into a half arsed attempt at Thrash. ‘Neily’s Jig’ is an absolute anomaly in a veritable ocean of mediocrity, a highly unexpected Celtic Folk jam. Unfortunately it only provides a very brief respite before ‘Muddy Water’ arrives, sounding like something the Muppets would do. I’d expect Kermit, Dr Teeth, Animal and Zoot to display higher levels of instrumental dexterity and compositional nous however.

My advice to Crawling Quiet: either go away and lock yourselves in a room for four or five years and practice, both individually and as a band, before you resurface to release anything else, or if you can’t wait that long, just make the world a more pleasant place and give it away. It gets *.

Rod Whitfield

Reviews Between Shadows and Light, Crawling Quiet

These guys are one of those highly derivative acts who draw influence from many different sources (as opposed to just two or three in the manner of a few bands going around right now. I’m sure you know the ones I’m talking about), and wind up sounding more distinctive for it. You can certainly hear who they’ve been listening to over the years, but nothing really dominates. I wouldn’t want to overstate their originality, that just wouldn’t be right. But the end result is still quite convincing.

I can hear traces of such diverse sounds as The Black Crowes, Janes Addiction, Neil Young, Psychedelic era Floyd, 60s West Coast hippie music like The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane, Dylan, hell I wouldn’t even be surprised if they’d taken in a bit of our own Wolfmother! And I’m sure they’re heavily influenced by the psychosis-inducing amounts of pot they no doubt smoked while writing and recording this album. Hopewell have thrown all of these influences into the boiling pot, cooked it with their own secret herbs and spices, and served up ‘Good Good Desperation’. And it tastes great!

The sound takes you back to a bygone era of flares, flower children and the summer of love, even if you weren’t alive in 1967. And the good thing about it all is that they’ve honed their sound to reduce the excessive meanderings often associated with Psychedelic music, and brought it into 2010. Made it a little less cheesey too (pardon the culinary ode once again). These can only be good things.

At the end of the day, Psychedelia ain’t my cup of tea. Hopewell are a little light on for riffs, face melting guitar and nuclear strength drumming for my true tastes. But I can certainly appreciate when a ‘foreign’ genre is done with great skill, and pays homage to the past without living in it, and this is the case here. It’s tasteful, soulful and a lot of fun. Fans of the style will absolutely lap it up with relish. It gets ***1/2.

Rod Whitfield

Reviews Good Good Desperation, Hopewell