I read up a bit, and it turns out they’re from Pennsylvania.   I used to think that music I liked was localized to a certain geographic area (New Orleans, the south in general) with few exceptions.  The more I explore music, the more I think that though that might have been true in decades past, the internet has opened up the floodgates to finding influence anywhere, as opposed to just in your local scene. For this band, they list Mystick Krewe of Clearlight as a major influence, which is a New Orleans based jam band that I’m a big fan of as well.

This relatively new way to immerse yourself in any local scene regardless of where you are is also why I think that metal has a lot of years of innovation left beyond what we have now. We’re just jumping the hurdle of pop metal, and we saw through the rap/metal fusion of the late 90s, and some of the newer experiments with fusing genres seem to be proof that good music is still being made, and possibly in greater quantities and with better exposure than in times past.

I digressed there, as Black Cowgirl isn’t much of a fusion of genres at all. To me, it’s pretty standard southern (in sound, if not in geographic roots) stoner rock to me. I bought the self-titled EP off iTunes after hearing a few samples because it seemed like the kind of band to make a pretty cohesive album and I wanted to hear it in its entirety. I was right, the album flows together perfectly and I tend to listen to it all as one big song whenever I turn it on. I’ve found that the more spins I give it, the more I enjoy it, which is, in my experience, a sign of a lot of subtle layers to the music that takes a bit of time to fully appreciate.

A consequence of the album blending together so well is that no one song sticks out to me as particularly innovative or interesting over the others. The melodic guitar & bass riffs weaving throughout the songs are beautiful and bluesy. For me, that’s what makes the album memorable. I hope that in future releases they find a way to showcase that more, and if the drums were more tribal or hypnotic, that’d make it a lot more awesome too. But maybe that’s because I’ve been on a huge Neurosis kick and subsequently want everything else to sound like Neurosis too. Probably.

The vocals are kind of take it or leave it for me, but if you know me, you know that I’m either undecided or vehemently against the vocals in most bands that I check out. Impossibly picky for someone who can barely sing a note. Also, I seem to need a period of ‘getting used’ to a band’s vocals in order to appreciate their place in the music. Black Cowgirl’s vocals are mostly clean sounding, which maybe is where the Down comparison comes in, but it lacks the roughness to be comparable to Phil Anselmo’s screaming/clean combination. Unlike a lot of bands, where the music is great and the vocals come in and just ruin it, these vocals work perfectly with the overall feel of the music, so that’s a happy discovery.

This album was pretty good, and has some great groovy riffs that will earn a place in my Witchcraft/Asteroid/Fireball Ministry playlist. Fans of the above mentioned should check it out.

During my research I read that a few of the band members were in a few other bands that are said to be heavier (Electric Horseman; Backwoods Payback); since I haven’t heard of either, I’m going to check into them. If this album is any indication of how those bands might sound, this adventure could be very rewarding!

Side effects suffered during this review: Uncontrollable and persistent foot tapping, mild head bobbing.

Black Cowgirl on Myspace

Compiled of five Swedish guys, Mr. Death describes themselves as an old school death metal band and that’s exactly what they are. Not unlike Warbeast, who are through-and-through old school thrash metal, they’ve found a way to completely strip away all the complexities bands in the genre have added to try and differentiate themselves from everyone else and just went back to basics. There’s something so awesome about that. Sometimes the results aren’t great, such as all the bands who try to do stripped down doom and just sound like a Black Sabbath cover band, down to the identical Ozzy vocals and all. But sometimes, a band has intelligent enough songwriters that can isolate the elements that define the sound and create something new with the old. This is one of those bands.

The more I check out bands, both signed and unsigned, the more I notice the difference between bands that want to sound a certain way but don’t know exactly how, and bands that know exactly what they’re doing. The difference is consistency, and Mr. Death is nothing if not consistently good. Every song on their Myspace delivers the same old school sound without being boring or repetitive. It seems to me they’ve either been playing death metal for a long time, or they’ve loved death metal for even longer.

Among the songs on the Myspace, Celestial Suffering is the highlight for me. It’s off “Death Suits You’, the album that I ultimately ended up purchasing. It has a a really huge sound, riffs with some groove in them and vocals that sit perfectly in the mix; loud enough to play a role while not overpowering the rest of the instruments. I love that there were moments during all of their songs where I was tapping my foot, or nodding my head, or drumming my fingers that were completely involuntary. That’s good music.  Death Suits You is probably going to become my go-to album when I want to listen to death metal, and I’m pretty grateful for the recommendation.

Listening to Mr. Death, I badly wanted to be in a dingy bar with them on stage, rather than on my peaceful, sunny balcony. The sound brought me back to death metal shows I’ve been to in the past. The smell of beer, pot, sweat and a lot of smiling metalheads. Maybe not everyone’s idea of paradise, but it’s up there for me.

Mr. Death on Myspace
Official site
Guger Art

A total departure from what this blog is, but I can’t help it. I have to talk about this book. My justification is that someone who writes a metal blog wrote it. And so therefore, this review belongs here, sort of, not really, oh who cares! It’s my blog, so there.

A few months ago, I was searching for stuff on Black Wizard, a really awesome local band (who just broke up) I was planning on reviewing. From there, I stumbled on Broken Beard, a website that had just published a very awesome review of Black Wizard. I liked the review so much, I bought the book he had advertised on his site. A guy who likes good music wrote a novel? I’m in. Before I go on, I should tell you that the book is called Mine is Clouds, and the author’s name is Jeff Warren.

A few weeks later, it arrived. When I opened it, I found he had written a very nice note in the front cover. Which, by the way, is my most favourite part of receiving books. My brother is usually the only one to gift me books, and he always writes something in the front cover for me. I find it a very beautiful, personal thing to do, and it meant a lot that the author had done that also.

Then, I went to work, and the book sat, and sat. I was kind of scared I wouldn’t like it, as I had bought it on a whim and didn’t really know what it was about. Finally, today, curiousity took over and I opened it. And I smiled, and I laughed, and I didn’t close it until it was done. This book is brilliant, and there is so much of me in it, likely so much of all of us in it.

This book is about being in love. Now, before I scare away all you tough dudes, it’s not really mushy, although I guess at times it can be, because love is. This book is why I think books are written; to capture an emotion, to cause you to imprint yourself into the story before you can even help yourself. Going through this book was like going through the most significant moments of every relationship I had ever been in. The good and the bad. Mostly the good. Reading it was so much more than being a spectator of the events, but instead being invited to experience these feelings again with the narrator. It’s funny and sad, profound and perfect.

That said, it’s a tiny bit vulgar but not anything anyone reading my website would be offended by. Just sex stuff. This guy has so much raw writing talent; I’ve been reading overhyped authors for years and years, and this book blew them all out of the water. So many of us wish we could somehow find a way to put our thoughts to paper, and this book did it for me, and I am grateful.

The book seems to be available only on the website, and even if it wasn’t, I’d recommend you buy it directly anyway. I would highly recommend it to anyone. Just anyone. I think anyone can identify with it. It’s worth much more than what it’s selling for.

Check it out.

Got an email today from this band with the usual promotional stuff, but since the grammar and spelling was above average and they weren’t pushy, I decided to check them out. Don’t get me wrong, I love getting promotional emails from bands, it makes me feel special, but after years of being on Myspace, I’ve become a bit weary of the “HEY *insert pasted username here* YOUR SPECIAL THX FOR BEING OUR FRIEND CHECK OUT OUR STUFF AND MAKE SURE 2 BUY THIS AND PROMOTE THIS THANKS BYE” messages that bombard you every time you open your inbox. One bonus to having started this site is that the emails I get through the site are usually much less obnoxious. Wow, I digress.

At any rate, these guys sounded intelligent and interesting so I checked out their bandcamp and googled them a bit to see what I could discover. As an aside, I was apprehensive of bandcamp at the beginning but now I’ve grown to really love it. I hated the lack of social networking and interactivity at first, as I love to network with musical people, but the layouts are always clean and concise, it’s easy to support artists you enjoy, and my browser doesn’t ever freeze like every time I try to load a damn Myspace page. Plus, the decision to let barely computer literate people design their own layouts was the worst idea Myspace ever had. I don’t have a bandcamp so I’m not sure what your creative limits are when it comes to customizing them, but I haven’t seen one flashing animated gif of a dancing skull yet so that’s a good sign they’ve learned from the mistakes of others. Again, I digress. I shouldn’t have drank three cups of coffee before this writing.

Brown Book is described in their promotional stuff as an extreme metal band from.. well, all over the place. Their members are from Boston, New York, Tennessee and California, so I’m not sure if this is an internet collaboration or what. And yes, I know Boston is not a state. Having never been in a band, except for a very brief stint in a Nirvana cover band called the Treecows (what??) when I was 12 or so, I’m not really sure how those mechanics would work. Maybe they are just from all over, but have come together in one place. Maybe someone who knows will comment on this and put me out of my wondering misery.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, because “extreme metal” is about as broad a description as it gets. The first song, Dark Times, has a pretty awesome sludgy groove amongst the sometimes frenzied drums. If I had to describe it (which I do because I’m reviewing it), I would call it “deceptively simple”, which is very, very good. Also, this band appears to be totally instrumental, which is always lovely and, in most cases, preferred. As anyone who knows me can attest, I am particularly picky about vocals, pretty funny considering I can’t sing a note to save my life. I have a lot of respect for a band who, instead of laying really terrible vocals on top of beautiful music, isn’t afraid to say “Fuck it, none of us can sing, screw the vocals!” Or, if they’re inclined to pretension (and alliteration), something about preserving the integrity of the carefully constructed compositions they’ve created.

Onwards. XVI Chapel, a song that’s heavy on melodic guitar parts is good, but I wish it was a bit more interesting at times. Maybe that’s because it has the longest runtime of the 4 tracks at 4:13. I found the bass to be sorely missed in the beginning, but it picked up towards the end of the track. Of the four songs on the bandcamp, Dark Times and Azma Attack are definitely the highlights with XVI Chapel and Comb Over not quite doing it for me. I think that might just be a preference on my part as I prefer music with clear, easy grooves to them as opposed to more of a disjointed, off-tempo style. Though all the tracks have an experimental feel to them, the tracks I liked were easier for me to follow and therefore, sounded better to me. Call me simple-minded. Actually, don’t, my feelings bruise easily.

This review marks the first time I’ve ever actually reviewed a band that mailed me a submission for the site. The fact that this took so long is based solely on a inferiority complex that I have, that a band who might like me to speak about them must not be very good at all. Thankfully, Brown Book is indeed, pretty damn good, destroying every negative thought I’ll ever have about myself from this day forward. I wish! No, but seriously, I’m definitely going to check out more bands that appear in my inbox thanks to these guys. Below is their bandcamp. Please, please check them out, tell me what you think. Your agreement validates me, and your disagreement educates me.

http://brownbook.bandcamp.com/

Note: No Clean Singing did a really well written review of Brown Book, found here. The text appears in a PDF attached to the email, with the following quote:

“..Brown Book have been impelled into what some lazy commentators might call ‘experimental’ or ‘noise’ metal…”

As such, I spent the entire review quite neurotically avoiding the words “experimental” and “noise”, despite them coming to mind often, but upon re-read, one “experimental” snuck itself into the second last paragraph. Damnit. Lazy it is..

The only background I could find on the band is that they are from Indianapolis, feature two guitarists and virtually disappeared off the face of the internet sometime last year.  A quick (read: stalkerish) Facebook search revealed that the lead vocalist has a personal Facebook page, but I felt creepy sending him a message asking about the demise of his band, so I didn’t.  A six-month hiatus isn’t really very uncommon, but usually it comes via a dramatic announcement.  Perhaps they really are the definitive starving artists, and no longer have internet access?  If that’s the case, any publicity is good publicity!

Upon loading the first song off of “Prisoner of Experience”, I instantly liked it (embedded player is below).  I’m easy; give me a downtuned riff and I’m happy.  The distorted vocals are okay, pretty much what you would expect from stoner rock.  Vocals are always what are hardest for me to get comfortable with.  I’d be embarrassed to tell you how long it took for me to grow to love Neil Fallon of Clutch’s vocals as much as I do now.  But these are fine and work with the style of music.  I don’t know enough about drumming to tell you whether it’s good or bad, but it seems to flow with the guitar and bass pretty well and isn’t distracting.  Perhaps someone in the comments could lend their expertise on that?

Because I instantly enjoyed it, it’s safe to say that this band doesn’t break any conventions when it comes to the genre.  In other words, they may sound great, but the music isn’t necessarily original.  Someone with a better memory than me would probably be able to make specific comparisons to other bands that sound like this.  The lyrics didn’t jump out at me, so they are neither really profound nor really terrible.

Not all the songs are as strong as others. I don’t like the song “Regression” very much.  I think it’s because of the vocal styling; seems out of place for me.  The highlight of the album for me is the first song, “Transducer”, which starts out low and slow and has a really nice bridge/solo in the middle, showing some guitar skills outside of just slow, sludgy riffs.  A wise decision for them to put that song at the very beginning, as it caught my attention right away.

I’m not sure whether these songs are just demos or the finished product, so I hesitate to comment on the production, but as a whole, i think it could be tighter.  The riffs have a lazy feel to them, which might be the intention, after all, it is stoner rock.

Some of my comments seem a bit negative, but as a whole, I really enjoyed this album. Complete originality in music extremely hard to come by, and even harder to enjoy. It certainly isn’t a precursor to my enjoyment of an album.  I could listen to bands that sound like Kyuss all day long, and indeed, these guys have a bit of Kyuss in them.

All in all, this is a pretty good addition to my stoner rock collection.   I would really love to see them continue the band and see how they grow into their sound.

Listen to this if you like: Kyuss, Honky, Dozer

Don’t listen to this if you only like: Black Metal, Power Metal

Links:

Facebook

Necropharmacon on Bandcamp

Let’s just talk about Arkhum without acknowledging that life got in the way of me writing anything on here for a month or two…  *whistles* Moving right along…

Arkhum is a death metal band from Oregon.  And I think they are awesome, just to give away the direction of this post right off the bat.   I started following the guitarist on Twitter awhile back, and dug the tunes then, but seeing as how they are releasing an album August 20th, titled Anno Universum, now seems a great time to profile them on here and give you guys a chance to listen to them if you haven’t already before they become all huge, for metal elitist hipster cred. That’s what I’m here for.

They have a sci-fi theme to the music, much like Vektor, which I wrote about earlier on in the project.   Personally, I love when bands choose this theme, because to be honest I’ve about had my fill of dragons for a while, and because sci-fi generally appeals to math nerds like me.

Since for now, my expertise really lies in the doom/sludge genres, I don’t know who I can compare them to for reference.  While I listen to some death metal, I’m not as well versed in different styles, etc within the genre.    The first song on their Myspace, Obviated Geocentrism, has a bit of everything that death metal brings to the table.  The drumming sounds complicated, and well-done;  I thought the drumming was a bit low in the mix in some parts, but it’s titled as a ‘rough mix’ so it may sound different on album.  Either way it wasn’t a big issue for me, and in most parts it sounds great.     It took me a few minutes to get into the vocals as they are rough and gutteral, because at heart I’m really a delicate flower (insert laughing smiley here) but once I did, it fits.  Really well.  The vocals remind me of Cannibal Corpse, but listen and correct me if you think that’s not a valid comparison.  That’s where, for me, the similarity ends however.   The second song I listened to Obsolescent Husk, has some amazing guitar work in it.  This song is probably my favourite of the Myspace songs.  I’ll be buying the album when it comes out. I’d love to hear how they’ve mastered it.

So, to summarize, even though they seem like really nice dudes, which would make it difficult for me to be critical if I had to be,  I’d love this band anyway.  They’ve got really great energy and the songs  have a lot of re-playability for me.   I’m really excited to see how their album takes off, because they really do have a lot of energy judging from their myspace offerings.  I hope I’ll have a chance to see them live in the next year or so.   If you don’t like rough vocals, you probably won’t be into it, but then again, if you don’t like rough vocals, stop being a wuss, damnit.  ADDED BONUS: I can almost read their logo without squinting.

I apologize if the flow of this seems awkward, I literally haven’t written a thing that wasn’t fiscal and boring in 2 months, so I suppose it’s an upside I didn’t do this article solely consisting of calculations instead of words.

Arkhum = [(Guitar + Drums + Bass + Voice)* (talent + sci-fi nerdery)] * awesome

Damn, if I’d gone that route I’d have been done in ten seconds. Anyway, check ‘em out!

ARKHUM on Myspace

Arkhum on the Twitters

Arkhum Store

Sabbath Assembly is a new project that seeks to bring to life the hymns of a 60/70′s religious cult called the Process Church of the Final Judgment. The members of this cult had a special affinity for German Shepherds, wore black cloaks and worshipped God, Satan, Jehovah and Jesus equally.  Sounds like it was very controversial in that time and a really great concept to write heavy music about.  The church had many hymns, but none were ever recorded, so this effort is to bring those hymns to life years after the dissolution of the cult.   I’ve not much experience with concept bands, and I wonder if this will be a one-off piece of music history as there is only so far you can go with this particular concept.  I hope not.  The singer has said that there are 60 hymns to work with, and this first album, Restored to One, only has 10, so there could be further albums to come.

The result is a very dark piece of psychedelic rock mixed with doom.  Without a doubt, it’s the most interesting album I’ve heard this year.  Most songs, though the lyrics are mostly celebratory of their gods, take a dark, creepy eerie tone throughout.  The instrumentals have a heavy sixties influence, which remind me of Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane and The Doors, to name a few.  Interestingly, one of the articles I read about the Process of the Final Judgment mentions that because of the creative focus that the cult had, Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithful and George Clinton all contributed to publications the church published.

The vocals are gorgeous.  Jex Thoth (from a doom band of the same name I’d not heard of until now) has a perfect voice for this kind of music. I’ll admit that I have a history of detesting female vocals in heavy music, for the most part, but her voice is too beautiful to find fault with.  She manages just enough drama to keep the intensity of the material going but never gets cheesy.   The only downside to this album, which is a very personal point, is that there are times when the album gets too gospel for my comfort.  I have never been too comfortable with religious ideas, which is unlike the majority of people, so I don’t imagine it bothering anyone but me.

In a market that’s pretty saturated with bands working off of everyone else’s mostly modern ideas and offering only minor improvements, it’s really refreshing to listen to something completely different that breaths new life into old ideas.

My favourite song off of the album is called “Hymn of the Consecration”, which is available for free from Stereogum. I cannot recommend checking this out highly enough.  And in case you’re worried about being sucked into a defunct cult through the hymns, I have been listening to it in pretty heavy rotation for the past week and remain religion-free, so you should be alright.

Sabbath Assembly on Myspace
Free download of Hymn of the Consecration

I checked out the “Conqueror” album, which was released in 2008 and, according to Wikipedia, was their first full-length release in the US. Metal Archives shows two full-lengths prior to Conqueror, os perhaps that was through European distribution? Or maybe Wikipedia is wrong (shocking).

I stewed over the album over the past week, because it’s very good, but I wasn’t sure what to write about it. Some people think that you should be able to form your opinion on something on one listen, and it doesn’t require multiple listens to write a review. This one took a bit more than one run-through to decide I really liked it. Conqueror has a very sad, doomy feel, with both quiet, bass-filled interludes and loud, extremely heavy, down-tuned riffs. Most of it is pretty slow-going, which isn’t the best for this beer-fueled ‘headache’ I’m nursing from last night’s Hank III show, but this is usually my favourite style of music so today is just an out-of-character day for me. It’s really a miracle I can even form sentences.

The vocals are fairly clean and what I’d expect from a doom metal band. Nothing too revolutionary but also nothing that distracts from the rest of the music, which works for me. The highlight of the entire album are the really well-done riffs and solos that are scattered throughout. I think that sets it apart from a lot of other doom metal bands that stick mostly to heavy rhythm riffs and don’t focus too much on any interesting lead work. That pretty much makes the album for me.  The last song on Conqueror is a 16 minute, 4-part song called “Dark Valley Suite” that’s pretty epic and a highlight for me.  I read that it was a tribute to Robert E. Howard, a pulp fiction writer who I’ve been meaning to check out for some time.  He apparently is the inspiration for most of TGoS’s lyrics.

I bought the album before listening to it first, which is rare for me, but I was excited at the prospect of a new doom metal band to add to my collection. Like most doom metal, it’s most suitable for listening to alone while you’ve got some time to relax and lose yourself in the heaviness of it. I can’t see this being any good at parties or while drinking, it’s pretty depressing as a whole. I’d be curious to see how the material goes over live. They’re worth checking out if you like doom or even if you’re just a fan of guitar, the lead work is extraordinarily awesome and the production is great. It’s definitely got a place among my collection for gloomy days, and true to what Hank III said last night, music is the best damn psychiatrist you’ll ever have.

The Gates of Slumber @ Metal Archives

The Gates of Slumber on Myspace

As it’s a beautiful sunny day and Im stretched out lazily on my patio with nowhere to go and nothing to do, the slowly progressing heavy and methodic style of Cloudkicker really appeals to me right now. To me, this is music to reflect to, to stare up into the sky and enjoy being. It’s still heavy as hell, but theres something very peaceful and relaxing about how the music chugs along to irregular beats and in no particular hurry. Some songs start out slow and calm, lead up into a heavy, loud climax, before releasing into some repetitive, interesting riffs, and finally down to a peaceful end. The way the songs are constructed indicate a lot of thought went into the entire songwriting process.

There are no vocals, so as with most instrumental bands in my experience, upon the first run-through of an album the songs blend together between the lulls and and the heavier stuff. One of the reasons I love metal is the ability it has to be beautiful while being loud! And sometimes violent, though I wouldn’t say Cloudkicker is violent by any means, but there are definitely a range of moods attaching themselves to the riffs throughout this album. With instrumentals, I find it easier to attach emotionally to the music without struggling to relate to the lyrical content, which is great in my opinion.

This band is another that has the entire discography for free via their website. If you’re a fan of this kind of stuff, as it seems to be an acquired taste in my experience, it’s worth it to check it out. I think it’s all really awesome, and very thankful it was recommended to me. Another example of the unfortunate nature of elitism and how it may help you to reach a status of know-it-all, but it is ultimately detrimental to your personal enjoyment of music you’ll never know you’d love. Let me know what you think!

Cloudkicker on Myspace
Cloudkicker on last.fm
Entire discography for free download

***this band is not on the metal-archives, as I’m fast discovering they have questionable ideas of what constitutes metal or not!***

The first band I thought of when I started listening was Motorhead, but as I listened the similarities seemed less Motorhead specifically but more just generally in the NWOBHM style. The EP, which I admit didn’t totally blow me away with its revolutionary sound or anything, is solid high energy heavy metal. I immediately wanted a beer though, so that’s a sign of something special, isn’t it? Perfect for headbanging and getting beer spilled over you. Man, the eighties must have been magical. After watching Heavy Metal Parking Lot, I’ve had envy for when concerts were more of a big event. There’s a lot of apathy towards live events these days it seems. Or maybe just in this big city. Where I grew up, a 8 hour drive from anything, a concert was a once a year BIG deal. I miss that.

Speaking of the eighties, I don’t hear a lot of music from the eighties that had bad production, besides some live stuff. This album is no exception, it’s really well mixed. I figure that’s probably because it wasn’t anyone with a computer that could release an album, it required actual studio time. Or maybe it’s because the stuff with bad production got lost over the years due to lack of interest and playability. I doubt it’s the latter, I know some people who seem to adore and embrace bad production value. I think those are the same people who will listen to obscure stuff only.

The album has some cheesy moments, but they are the kind of cheesy I like. Really silly, lighthearted lyrics in the midst of some pretty intense riffage is ok by me. For example, the last song is called “Take Good Care (of your Balls)” which is actually totally badass while being hilarious. The album is only 21 minutes long, so I’ve listened to it three times tonight and it keeps getting catchier and more interesting with every listen.  You’ll notice I didn’t spend too much time tripping over my words to describe the sound of the album, and that’s because  the album is available for download on their website! Which means you can listen to it and make up your own words to describe it, instead.  You’ll do a better job, anyway!

Even more exciting than the album being free, and a great addition to my collection, they reformed in 2008 and are reportedly getting ready to make another album, 26 years after the Evil EP was released! I am really excited to see if it retains any of the cheesy but endearing eighties elements. This could potentially be a really awesome album. Or it could suck. Time will tell! Now, because I can, let’s end this with a pointed list of what I learned in true “Check it Out with Dr. Steve Brule” fashion:

Special thanks to @steelwarrior666 on Twitter for recommending this band!

Evil fanpage on Myspace
Evil on Metal Archives
Get the album free here!

I always call this type of band “Megaman music” because they remind me of hopping through the levels of Megaman 1,2 & 3 as a kid.  And an adult, let’s face it.  (skip this part if you aren’t an NES nerd) My sister and I always argued about the sequence in which to beat Megaman 2.  I say: Woodman, Airman, Metalman, BubbleMan, Heatman, Crashman, Flashman, then Quickman.  She says to do Airman first, then Bubble, then Wood.  She’s crazy. Also, Dr Wiley’s castle in MM2 had the best videogame music of all time.   Anyone remember how hard Gutsman was in the first Megaman?!

Oh yeah, I was reviewing 3HM, not regaling my glory days.  Sorry.  Besides reminding me of Megaman, the album has samples from various movies scattered throughout.  From viewing the Myspace, I assume they are from the old B monster movies. I have too bad a memory to place quotes, personally.  Despite all the pop culture references, this is some pretty good prog/power metal. It’s pretty clear from the start that these guys are more about creating good technical metal than paying homage to anything.   The production is very nice, and each instrument is prominent in the mix and well-executed.

As expected with speed metal, there is some pretty amazing guitar work throughout the entire album.  I’m always amazed at the sheer talent of these speed metal guitarists, despite being generally more of a fan of guitarists who convey emotion more prominently than just technical skill.  I’d prefer SRV over Yngwie any day, but that isn’t to say Yngwie doesn’t blow me away.

My only complaint is that it all just gelled together into one big song for me, but that could be due to my really limited attention span and a pretty consistent tempo throughout all 8 songs.  I hesitate to call it boring, because there’s a lot of stuff going on at any given moment, but I would say they didn’t experiment much with different styles throughout the record, unlike the last few bands I’ve reviewed.

Best of all, this album is really perfect for getting work done.  I love instrumental bands because they are perfect to have on in the background while playing games, working, studying, etc.  I’m pretty sure the only reason I was able to concentrate long enough to write this entry is because the music made it easier for me to focus.

I tried to find an interview, or some interesting sites about 3HM to make this entry more interesting,  but  didn’t find much.  I’d be interested to see these guys reform and bring new life to the band, perhaps by going a bit outside the boundaries of this album.  I suppose time will tell!  As of right now, the CD is still available for purchase via their record label website if you’re interested.

3 Headed Monster on Myspace
3 Headed Monster on Metal Archives

They have three albums, but I listened to Amoeba, the second album and Lazarus, the latest album that came out in 2009. I was hooked by the second song off of Amoeba, “Fate” that has this pretty awesome pinch harmonic riff that I love. Later on the song has a pretty badass solo and a nice ambient interlude towards the end. Unlike that song, some songs on Amoeba aren’t as good as others. I could barely get through Zambra, which has a weird almost rap vocal style I couldn’t get into. That’s kind of expected in a fairly new progressive band trying to find what works though.

Unlike Amoeba, Lazarus has few downsides and is pretty fantastic the whole way through, though I found it interesting that on Amoeba, I favoured the screamy death metal sections more than the quiet interludes, whereas on Lazarus, I favoured the ambient spacey parts much more instead. Some of the drums seemed to me to have a bit of a Danny Carey (Tool) influence, such as on “A World of Lies”. One of the songs had a really great classical guitar piece where you could faintly hear the guitarist’s intakes of breath between bars. I’m not sure if that was intentional but it added a great emotional element to the mix. I didn’t catch the name of the song on this run through, but there will be many more listens, I’ll update when I hear it again. The vocalist has a great controlled scream and a really nice clean vocal as well, which seems a rare thing to me. The Lazarus album keeps the groove style while exploring more progressive song styles and showing off some pretty intricate songwriting throughout the album. Times like this I wish my writing did it justice.

Hacride is definitely in the “Favourites So Far” category for combining so much about what I love about metal, and also for having what seems like a band philosophy to constantly experiment. It’s those bands, I feel, that aren’t afraid to combine traditional different influences and move outside of what’s expected of them that will create the music the next generation will draw influence from. I hope the next album will be just as interesting as the last. Nice work, France!

Hacride on Myspace
Hacride on the Metal Archives

The first album, Phormula, seems to be considered Progressive Post-Black metal. An aside, if anyone wants to leave an informative comment describing what this post-rock and post-black metal and post-everything is all about, that would be appreciated. I’m sure I could do a google search, but I hadn’t heard that term until starting this project. So far I’ve been just quietly agreeing when someone classifies something as post-whatever. So it’s.. after.. black metal? Showing my ignorance here, for sure.

Phormula is pretty cool, it’s got a bunch of weird time signatures, which I’ve always been a fan of. Also a lot of melodic elements, which is cool in small doses. As I’ve mentioned a few times, blues influence works better for me than a classical influence, but I can appreciate both. The vocals are pretty standard black metal vocals, nothing special about them to me. The stand out song for me on that album is Pursuing the Instinct. It has a few really neat riffs and catchy melodies in it that are going to be stuck in my head for a long time. The whole album has super fast keyboards scattered throughout. I’m slowly finding a way to accept keyboards as something that belongs in metal, the more I listen to new stuff.

The songwriting seems to be really complex than a lot of stuff I regularly listen to. Usually I can pick out everything that’s going on pretty easily, but with Phormula I was kind of scrambling to keep up with how busy it was while I listened. I don’t know if thats particularly a good thing for me, but it’s a style of music so like everything else it’s really up to preference. It definitely demands your full attention. Maybe the reason I love stoner rock/metal so much is because my brain works slower than average. ;P

While Phormula is something I would keep on my iPod, his latest, Through my Dog’s Eyes, a concept album about being a dog, I guess, isn’t. This album is described as Avant-Garde Jazz Metal. I didn’t know that was a thing. Although I appreciate the work that went into making it and the bravery of having a concept album like this, this one wasn’t for me. The lyrics are pretty ridiculous, which I guess is to be expected following the thought pattern of a dog. As for the music itself, there are some nice instrumentals throughout that are worth listening to, and still has the weird time signatures from the first album, but the lyrics and vocals really wreck this one for me. It is a concept album though, so maybe their next release will be something I can enjoy more.

Ultimately this band seems pretty interesting and unique to me. I admire a band that isn’t afraid to keep experimenting and changing what they do. If you haven’t heard them yet, I’d check ‘em out if you’re feeling particularly open-minded. Also, maybe if you like Dillinger Escape Plan, as I saw quite a few comparisons in the reviews I read (I haven’t heard Dillinger Escape Plan yet [yeah, seriously] ).

Ephel Duath on Myspace
Ephel Duath on Metal Archives

I love when supergroups come together because often it seems the musicians have a ton of ideas that might not work with the band they’re in, and the new project serves as an outlet for new and creative ideas to flourish. I don’t think Barren Earth is an exception to that pattern. The debut full-length, “Curse of the Red River”, is an extremely interesting album that’s bursting with many different influences from the death, doom and prog genres. Before I weigh in on my thoughts, I was reading an interview with keyboardist/ex-Amorphis member Kasper Mårtenson, and wanted to share a bit of it here. I found this part particularly interesting and telling on the subject of reviewing music. Perhaps the majority of us don’t know what we’re talking about after all, and it’s not just me! A side note; some sites are referring to Barren Earth as melo-doom, not melo-death, and I’m not cocky enough to pretend to know which is accurate. I decided to go with melodic death as the keyboardist seemed to accept this description in the interview below, and that works for me.

HB:You all have other projects, current and/or previous. How much did this work with other (metal) bands shape what Barren Earth is or has become?

Kasper: It is difficult to assess this objectively. We do music we feel like doing. Judging by the reviews, quite a few see a connection with Amorphis. But a lot these views are inconsistent. Some people think we sound a bit like old Amorphis, some people say it’s a bit like the new Amorphis, and some people say it sounds like the type of music Amorphis should’ve started playing in the late 90s! Go figure. I’m too close to it to be able to analyze. Olli-Pekka has a very distinctive way of writing melodies. Since he has written more songs than the rest of us on the album (four out of nine), and since he was one of the main writers on Tales From The Thousand Lakes and Elegy[both Amorphis albums, 1994 and 1996], it is obvious that some similarities are apparent. Many people have said also that “Forlorn Waves,” which is a song written by me, sounds like Amorphis. Then again, many people have said that they immediately knew that it was a song written by me…

Full Interview here: http://www.hellbound.ca/2010/04/barren-earth-interview/

Hearing that reviewers often see things much differently than other was a great relief and took a lot of pressure off me to talk about this pretty high-profile band (Thanks, Kasper!). Speaking of keyboards, I found the keyboards on this album really complimentary to everything else, and even more than that, they’re a piece of the puzzle that would leave the album lacking if removed. Usually I feel like a keyboard could be replaced with a guitar part without me missing it, but in this instance it really works for me.

The album goes through a lot of different mood changes from song to song. I appreciate that as it kept me interested the entire run through. It’s obvious and expected that everyone in this band has a ton of talent both in songwriting and in performing. The standout song for me was “The Ritual of Dawn”, which is quite epic and combines some really heavy riffs with a pretty nice, calm classical part in the middle. I’ve actually listened to it about 5 times tonight, it’s pretty catchy. “Curse of the Red River”, the title track, is awesome too. While other reviews I’ve read are loaded with comparisons, I’m honestly not the biggest expert in melodic death metal to be able to feel comfortable making assertations about that yet.

It’s pretty much a no-brainer that if you like the bands these guys come out of, you’re gonna like Barren Earth, but it seems like this might be an easy album for people who aren’t yet die-hard metal fans to get into as well. Lots of fun to listen to melodic bits, and the frequent rest periods from heavy to calm are a bonus for the uninitiated too. I remember being quite young and just getting my metal legs, I could barely enjoy screamy stuff. These day I prefer screamy to clean vocals every time. I can see people new to metal starting on this album and then branching out to each band members’ respected other works to explore further and understand the influences.

Barren Earth @ Metal Archives
Barren Earth @ Myspace

Wuthering Heights

One time my friend Roddy brought over this game called Vampire:The Masquerade and insisted we all play, and of course, he would be dungeon master. I’d never been keen on vampires, despite reading some Anne Rice and having sporadic Buffy marathons (read:excuses to eat lots of junk food) with my best friend and her mom. Needless to say, by the time I had created my vampire, aptly named something pretentious like “Gabriel” or “Draven”, and we had found ourselves in a locked room with no obvious way of getting out (my continued request to turn into a bat and fly out the barred windows was met with exasperation from our novice DM), I was pretty much over pen and paper roleplaying games. A similar attempt to play D&D had me creating an Arcane Archer, only to become annoyed at the slow pace and overdramatic requirements my dungeon master demanded, like creating a storyline for the characters (I just wanna level up my guy, dammit). Surely, fantasy isn’t for everyone.

And in that vein, it is clear that folk metal isn’t for all of us. Although while listening to the “Salt” album on my walk home from work, I found myself smiling more often than not at the sheer cheesiness and even more so, the bravery in creating an album like this. Having little to no experience with the genre, I knew there was music like this from my Diablo II playing days and my brief stint living with 3 World of Warcraft addicts. I know that as nerdy as I get, I will never feel at home at a renaissance fair and I’ll never enjoy any live action role playing adventures. This seems like music for a group I will never belong to. I must admit that if Vikings were still around conquering stuff, I’m pretty sure they’d want their victory songs to be performed by this band, not some of the bands labelled as “Viking Metal”. Especially as this album has a nautical concept.

While I walked and listened, different thoughts kept dancing around in my head. Firstly, as mentioned earlier, I smiled at the cheesiness. Then I wondered if American Psycho would have been better if this band was playing in the background of the murders instead of Huey Lewis and the News. Then I imagined if I were to meet this band, would they take what they do very seriously? Would they be arrogant about it? CAN you be arrogant while singing lyrics like “Abra-macabra, baby, here we go!” I wondered, can people who like this music be really, truly serious? It turns out this is so, as the two reviews on Metal Archives for this album are so drop dead serious I feel like there’s a punchline or some sarcasm I’m missing in them. From one:

The music this band set out to play combined together with Johansson’s melancholy tinged voice maintains a relationship of perfect symbiosis. An equilibrium of forces equally important in the creation of a music with reconciling beauty of unusual kind. If good music gives wings to my soul then great singing flaps them.

When it comes to Wuthering Heights, this band is so highly original that you can’t imagine any other band even sounding like them let alone copying. Well maybe except for the tired cliché that Nils Patrik Johansson sounds a bit like R. J. Dio. Yes, indeed he does, but that’s all there is and nothing else. His voice has delicate human touch that will keep you warm and safe through the cold winter.

* Best if read in your best James Lipton voice.

** Also, please note that if I ever write a review of anything that sounds even 25% as pretentious as this one, please DDOS this site. Thank you.

Ok, so they’re serious. This is serious business. So if I am to take this seriously, and speak of this band as good music, giving wings to my soul and the vocals flapping them and all that, I’m not sure where to go with this. Some of the guitar is pretty good, and there was minimal flute which I greatly appreciate. The vocals are strong. Umm. I think it is good music when you strip away the theatrics, but on a personal level I prefer my music to be honest and true, not dramatic and fantastical.

All that aside, I am sorry that this poor band got to experience the brunt of my folk metal rant. Listen to this if you are a huge fantasy fan, play a lot of MMORPGs or have a writing style similar to the review I quoted. I’m a huge Dio fan, I honestly don’t find his theatrics over the top at all, not to the degree of this band. Let me be clear, I’m not against silliness. I do think there is room for silliness and fun within metal, I think we need it as deep down we’re all just a little bit nerdy, at least, right? This level of drama and theatrics is a bit too much for me to personally take. Each to their own. Now, to our mighty steeds!!

Wuthering Heights on Myspace
Wuthering Heights on Metal Archives