Filed under: Brighton, death metal, Heavy metal | Tags: 747 (Strangers in the night), Balls to Picasso, Bruce Dickinson, Crown of Thorns, Eternal death, Saxon, The crown, Wheels of steel
In this second instalment of Records and friends I present some more examples of my fantastic photographic series of vinyl records in ordinary, everyday, domestic contexts.
I first listened to Saxon back in the mid-1990s, on a compilation CD by the Greek Metal Hammer magazine. I think it was called Wizards of metal and it had “747 (Strangers in the night)” on it. I also saw Saxon in 1996 on the Rock of Gods festival in Piraeus (they were a last minute replacement for Motorhead, who couldn’t make it for reasons unknown), but I didn’t listen to them at the time so I couldn’t care less. “747 (Strangers in the night)” appears on the album represented here, titled Wheels of steel (1980). I bought this album at a flea market in Brighton (in Kemptown, don’t remember the name) for £1, sometime around 2008. This one and the two albums that follow are the only three albums I’ve ever listened by Saxon. I like them, but never been a big fan. This photograph, on the contrary, I love it and it’s probably my favourite one in this series. I had to set my alarm clock to remind me to take it at the appropriate time. This was taken at winter time, so outside is still dark at 7:47 am. The time alludes to the first song to which I listened by them. I love the colours on this photograph.
This one is another favourite of mine. Bruce Dickinson‘s second solo album Balls to Picasso (1994) and I go way back. I first listened to it in late 1995/early 1996. My friends and I were obsessed with “Tears of the dragon“, “Change of heart” and “Sacred cowboys“, but didn’t like the rest of the songs really. Eventually, I fell in love with it, it has mostly amazing songs on it and it marks the beginning of the successful song-writing relationship between Bruce and Roy Z. Attached to this album is one of my most embarrassing memories too. I wanted this album but I didn’t have enough money to buy it. My dad’s birthday was coming up, and I managed to gather some money to get him a present. So, I made the misguided decision to buy him Balls to Picasso on CD, to “help him expand his musical horizons”… I remember he was quite perplexed when I gave him the CD. I tried to convince him that it deserved his attention, and played him “Tears of the dragon”, which I thought was irresistible to anyone. He gave it a go and, I guess, he humoured me, and maybe he liked it a bit ‘cos he’d mention it from time to time or he’d recognise it when I’d play it. Anyway, years later, I got the vinyl version from the same flea market I mentioned earlier, again for the yummy amount of 1£. Here it is leaning against the bathroom wall on the bathtub, surrounded by green objects found in the bathroom.
This is another nice composition. One of the most delicious things that happened in the last few years, is the re-issuing of The Crown‘s catalogue on vinyl records. I was never a big fan of this band, until their most recent album was released. Royal destroyer (2021) blew my mind and made me want to give the older albums a second chance. I got this one, their sophomore album titled Eternal death (1997), off Ebay for £9.79. I first listened to it back in the late 1990s but didn’t particularly like it. The sound is a bit weird. Sonically, I think the band went for a production consistent with the aesthetics of the burgeoning, at the time, black metal scene in Scandinavia. Nevertheless, Marko Tervonen has written for this one some of The Crown’s best songs, including the now classic “Angels die“, “In bitterness and sorrow“, and “The serpent’s garden”. The other main songwriter, Magnus Olsfelt, has also offered a couple of gems, like the furiously grinding “Kill (the priest)”. Here, the record is placed on the hob, with two fire-extinguishers pointed at the crucified Jesus who is in flames.
Filed under: Best of the year, death metal, metal, punk | Tags: A night in the morgue, At the Gates, Helloween, Hypocrisy, Iron Maiden, Justin Sullivan, Let the bad times roll, Memoriam, Nasty Surgeons, Rage, Ressurection day, Royal destroyer, Senjutsu, Surrounded, The crown, The nightmare of being, The Offspring, To the end, Worship
Some good stuff from 2021 on the carpet
I’d say that 2021 has been another great year for music, although, looking back at previous end-of-year posts, the years 2015, 2017 and 2020 seem superior in terms of volume of amazing new releases. I’ll cut to the chase and start with the 2021 albums that didn’t make a big impression on me. I checked out new death metal albums by bands like Morbific and Ghastly but I could hardly listen to them from beginning to end. Tribulation is not bad, but I cannot help but experience them as a watered down and uninspired version of old Anathema. Inhuman Condition is a band that I think came together after one of the recent incarnations of Massacre fell through. So, all the members apart from Kam Lee formed Inhuman Condition, and their debut album is attempting to sound like old Massacre. ‘Attempting’ is the operative word here, because in my ears I think the band does not hold a candle to the classic Massacre sound. The closer it comes is with the song “Tyrantula”. Reading the lyrics of the song I cannot help but think that it is supposed to be some kind of dig at Kam Lee (who is also known as “The Tyrant”…). In “Euphoriphobia” the lyric “better off to die” I presume references Death’s “Living monstrosity”. Cannibal Corpse‘s new album did not impress me, but I liked it better than the previous one, as it brings the deadliness back. “Overtorture” is a great tune. “Necrogenic resurrection” is another awesome song, which upon first listen I was certain it must be written by Rutan, but turns out it’s a Weber song. “Inhumane harvest” is a Cannibal classic. Just like the last few CC albums, I quickly lost interest in it. Paradox is a band I liked since my youth, and one of the very first vinyl records I bought as a kid back in the mid 1990s was Product of imagination (1988). They’ve always released noteworthy albums, in my opinion, and their comeback album in 2000 was really impressive, but I’ve failed to enjoy much any of their albums since, and this is the case with the new album. I will make an effort to listen to it more carefully though, ‘cos it does sound interesting. Evile is a band I never paid attention too. I happened to listen to their new album and I thought it was ok, but having grown up with classic thrash I don’t think it has anything to offer me. I find the vocals a bit too monotonous for my taste, but the music is good old violent thrash. One of the things I don’t like about many thrash bands is long songs, especially when there’s not much variation in the music. Insane is a cool thrash band. I don’t like the vocals very much, and I find the compositions a bit too lengthy for my taste. This is a consistent problem I have with thrash; it often ends up being quite formulaic, with not many changes, and it would work much better if songs were shorter. There are some horror cinema sensibilities (beginning of “At dawn they die”). There’s some appeal in their archaic thrash, but if I want to listen to some new thrash I think I’ll stick to Warfect.
Sutura
Moving on to albums I enjoyed a bit more, Sutura is a new band I heard from a friend, and their second album titled Dawn of cursed souls is cool. It is reminiscent of Dismember’s deadliest days, but also their more melodic and brazen Maiden rip-off days after Death metal (1997), as well as Brazilian death metal, by which Dismember were influenced to begin with. The vocals remind me a bit of Theo Loomans in the early days of Asphyx. There are some good moments in this album, with stand-out songs including “Suffering cage”, “Under the black mark” and “Where shadows of death may lie”. The thrash-death outfit Rapture released a very intense album which I listened to a few times, and there’s still loads to be discovered. This is brutal death-thrash of the Malevolent Creation – Ripping Corpse school of extreme metal. The lead vocals especially sound a lot like Scott Ruth’s (Ripping Corpse). The song structures are complex, the sound is really cool, the attitude is aggressive. Lock Up‘s new album is cool, but the absence of Nick Barker is noticeable. Barker’s style became synonymous with Lock Up, in my opinion, so the identity of the band has changed a bit. Also, I was never a fun of Jarvis’s drumming; constant fills tire me, and also that snare drum sounds like he’s hitting a tree log – there’s no reverberation. Anyway, as usual there are some amazing moments on the album, although I noticed the relative absence of hooks, like catchy choruses. I’m sure I will enjoy it more eventually. I am not a big fan of Rot. The only albums I had heard by them were their split with Intestinal Disease (a record which I eventually gave away to a friend more than a decade ago – you’re welcome Oko) and Nothing (2015). Their new album is cool, classic filthy grindcore but with modern sensibilities. Massacre released Resurgence. I think that by now – after attempts made by different iterations of the band – everyone should get used to the idea that From beyond (1991) was a one-off, a happy accident, that can never be repeated. Also, seriously, how much hate do the different members of the original band harbour for one another that they cannot reconcile their differences and give the fans a proper From beyond re-union. Having said that, I like Resurgence more than Back from beyond (duh!) and the newly released Inhuman Condition album. In some instances, it genuinely sounds like the continuation of From Beyond. There are quite a few references to the past, some lyrical (titles of last two songs, as well as references to from beyond, cryptic realms, chamber of ages, etc.) some musical (the riff on “Servants of discord” which is like the chorus of “Defeat remains”, and it actually references the latter too in the lyrics; the bit starting at 2:31 on “Ruins of R’Lyeh” is almost identical to the bit on “Cryptic realms” around the same time-stamp). To be fair, I think Rik Rozz should have been given songwriting credits. At other times, it does not sound like Massacre; the album opens with a melody that’s like it came from a Memoriam album. Funnily enough, it is not Scott Fairfax who composed that, but Rogga Johansson. Some of the more melodic, Swedish death moments, also depart from the classic Massacre sound. Kam’s vocals continue to be the epitome of brutality, and his lyrics are most of the time really well-written and catchy. Favourite songs include “The far-off void”, which is in my opinion the only song that can be compared to the brilliance of From beyond, “Fate of the elder gods”, “Ruins of R’Lyeh” and “The insmouth strain”. The new album by Nunslaughter titled Red is the colour of ripping death, is a sweet feast of raw death metal. Among the usual stuff there’s a couple of deadlier tracks (e.g. “Annihilate the kingdom of god“) that provide a nice break from the usual chaos. I enjoyed Nocturnal‘s new album, but compared to this, Destruction’s Infernal overkill (1985) sounds tight. The comparison here is not random, as the riffing sounds a lot like early Destruction, especially my favourite song on the album, the fantastic “Circle of thirteen”, the slowest cut in this overall fast-paced album. I’m not gonna lie, I don’t tend to listen to extreme metal demos from the 1980s, with only some striking exceptions, and the performance in this album sounds like a German thrash demo from the 1980s. KK’s Priest first album was a pleasant surprise, in that I liked it more than anything Judas Priest has done since Painkiller (1990). Some riffs are quite awesome, and overall all the songs are catchy and exciting. It kind of made me think whether there is indeed some truth in KK’s claims that Glen was limiting his input in Priest. Anyway, some commentators have mentioned the cheesy lyrics, and I guess there’s no point denying that. However, when Halford used to talk about motorbikes and the heavy metal lifestyle, it didn’t feel cheesy, because it sounded genuine. Hearing Tim Owens singing these lyrics sounds fake; I cannot suspend disbelief for a single moment to think that he means what he sings about. In any case, Owens’s voice sounds really good though, and I realised that it reminds me a lot of Ralph Scheepers, in some instances.
Necrogod
The following albums are those that I listened to loads, and although they didn’t make my top-10 list I still enjoyed them a lot. Necrogod is yet another Rogga Johansson project. The new album is very good. That dude who’s singing is a monster (in a good sense). Amazing vocals and what a range! He also comes up with very catchy vocal patters, something missing in my opinion from contemporary death metal. The music is quite prosaic however. The Celtic Frost-esque “Remain the same again” is one of the songs that stand out for me; awesome riffs and a haunting chorus. “The obsessive and the deranged” has hues of Cannibal Corpse. “When madness takes control” is reminiscent of Massive killing capacity era Dismember, in terms of the tempo, the main riff, and the melody starting at 2:52. “Transcending to persist“, one of the most awesome moments in the album, has similarities to Hypocrisy. Solstice finally released their new album titled Casting the die. It is no different to anything they’ve done in the past. It is very straightforward, I would say under-produced. However, the songs are really good, and overall it is a very enjoyable album, with Alex Marquez being the obvious advantage, but also some really cool riffing. Highlights include “Outlast”, “Ignite”, “Cast the die” and “Transparent” (what an awesome ending!). The new EP by Sandstorm, titled Desert warrior, is quite cool. It is old school heavy metal, with strong Mercyful Fate vibes, especially in the songs “Eat me alive” and “Power of the pyramids”. The song “Evil wins“, especially the beginning, is pure Manowar worship. Creepy cover too. I enjoyed it loads. Defleshed returned after 16 years with two brand new tracks in an EP titled Fleshless and wild. These are cool tunes, not different from the sound of their last three albums, and the cover of the EP is awesome. It is unclear whether they plan on releasing a full-length album, but it would be cool. I knew that The Lurking Fear were preparing a new album, and when it was announced I couldn’t wait for it to be released. Their debut did not impress me at first, it took a while for me to appreciate it, and now I simply love it; one of the top moments of Swedish death metal in the last 10 years. Death, madness, horror, decay is a decent successor in my opinion. I found it a bit less ferocious, a bit more controlled than the debut, but still with a personal style, and huge doses of unearthly, dark death metal. The three composers have contributed some great songs, with stand-outs for me personally “One in flesh“, “Restless death” (what an ending!), “Cosmic macabre”, “Abyssal slime”, and the eponymous one. This one was a late arrival, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy it more with time. Something I don’t particularly like about it, which is also the case in the new At The Gates album, is Tompa’s lyrics. I don’t know if he’s spread himself too thin, but they feel lazy to me.
Sweet Teeth
Sweet Teeth is the new band of Andreas Axelsson, and it’s neat. Andreas has yet to create something that is not good. Their debut EP, titled Acid rain, is really infectious, and it’s basically absolute late 1980s/ early 90s Dinosaur Jr and Husker Du worship. I couldn’t stop listening to it when I first got it, and initially my favourite songs were “Her”, “Tornado”, and “My heart is big and broken”, but now I love all of them. Bring on the full-length! Carcass finally released Torn arteries. The two singles impressed me loads; the mid-tempo “Dance of Ixtab“, has a great main riff, vocal patterns, and when it picks up speed a bit towards the end and the way the riff is transformed, gives it a great sense of urgency and it is spine-chilling. “Kelly’s meat emporium” is simply a fantastic song, and it exemplifies the Carcass that I love (the ending reminded me – although it doesn’t particularly sound like it – the song “That’s when I became a satanist” by Entombed). “Under the scalpel blade” appeared earlier in last year’s EP and it is also an awesome song with the trademark dark and disturbed riffing of Bill Steer, and a catchy bridge and chorus. The rest of the songs, I do like them but I’m not crazy about them. The album kicks off with a drum pattern that sounds like something Ed Warby would come up with, together with the intro of “The Grotesque” by Benediction. The first riff is very similar to the main riff of Six Feet Under’s “13”. That shredding riff at 2:30 is where the song becomes interesting for me. Overall, the album is much less flashier, in my opinion it lacks the hooks of the last three Carcass albums. At the same time, Bill Steer’s riffing is kinda hard to dislike and Jeff Walker’s singing is instantly captivating. The drumming, I’m not crazy about. When Surgical steel came out, one of my closest friends, and a life-long Carcass fanatic, told me how much he hated the drumming. I didn’t get it back then, but I increasingly get what he was talking about. The thing I don’t like are those crustier moments, where it is clear that the drummer doesn’t have a crust/punk background, with the end-result being a bit sterile. So, I have enjoyed it but I haven’t been listening to it as much as I thought I would. It didn’t help that it was released on the same day as the new Rage and two weeks after the new Maiden, both of which oligopolised my attention for a long time. The music for Descendents‘ new album was recorded 20 years ago, but the vocals are newly recorded, and it is mainly composed by the two original members Frank Navetta and Tony Lombardo. This album could have come out after Milo goes to college (1982). It is full of killer tunes, and Milo’s delivery is super vicious in some of the songs. Instant classic in my opinion, and very close to have been in my top-10 list for this year.
I felt like adding a disclaimer, just in case people read the following in the spirit of the pursuit for objectivity in popular music criticism. I do not agree with the later, and the word “objectivity” should, in my opinion, be reserved for being used as an example of things that do not exist. What I present here are albums I enjoyed and listened to loads during the past year.
1. Iron Maiden – Senjutsu
My favourite album from 2021 is Senjutsu. I have talked about the new Maiden album in detail in a previous post. I want to reiterate here that I love Senjutsu, and after a long time I feel utterly astounded after listening to a Maiden album. I loved the two singles, so I was really pumped and counted the days ’till release. When I got my copy I listened to it reading the lyrics, and I was not impressed. Also, I found the beginning of the album a bit lackluster, and I still consider the eponymous song to be the worst in the album. Nevertheless, the vocal patterns are really cool, and the overall vibe of the song is nice, and it’s very catchy. But, as it happens, I could not stop listening, as there’s so much stuff happening in the album so I found myself thirsting for more. After a couple of listens, I settled on the opinion that this is a fantastic album. Starting with the second track the band enters a fantastic streak of songs each of which represents an amazing journey. The more I listen to it the more I like it, and “Lost in a lost world” has a strange hold over me; there are no words to describe this masterpiece. As I said before, this sounds like a classic Maiden album, much more than any since Dickinson’s return, and the re-emergence of Harris as a leading songwriter has something to do with that.
2. Rage – Resurrection day
Another one of my all-time most loved bands released another album. This one comes after an impressive return to form over three albums with Marcos Rodriguez and Lucky Maniatopoulos. As always, I was really looking forward to it. The two singles didn’t impress me, and I think the reason is that the silly visuality of the band in the videos is actually distracting. To be fair, this is not a new thing; ever since Unity (2002), the band has made some truly abysmal visual decisions. Anyway, going back to the songwriting, this is a fantastic album. Once again, Peavy, with his knack for creating beautiful songs, pulls off another miracle. My favourite songs are “Arrogance and ignorance”, “Man in chains“, “Extinction overkill”, “Age of reason”, and “Mind control“, but “Monetary gods”, and “Black room” are close behind. On “Arrogance and ignorance” – a masterpiece of a song with a chorus that compares to the brilliance of “The crawling chaos” – the bridge includes the Rage trademark of arpegiated chords, and the chorus of “Extinction overkill” has vibes of “The icecold hand of destiny”. Rage have been trying for decades to repeat the miracle the pulled off with “All this time” – one of the top metal ballads of all time – to no avail. “Black room” is by no means “All this time”, but after all these years I think they come close to writing an awesome ballad. The orchestrations in this album are a bit busier than in the last three albums; there are some extra layers which, I assume, now Peavy is more comfortable including as the two guitarists that replaced Marcos can pull them off live. At times Wings of Rage (2020) sounded a bit tired to me, but here Peavy both musically and lyrically is spot on. Peavy’s voice sounds fresher than it has for many years, and I was really happy to hear him singing clearly and hitting some of the higher registers. The only moment in the album I don’t like is the attempt to folk-metal which is “Traveling though time”. I haven’t stopped listening to this album since its release.
3. Helloween – s/t
I have talked about the new Helloween album in more detail in this post. It is a great album which did for me what I would like more albums to do, that is, made me want to listen to it all day, every day for a long time. It kept me interested in it as I would constantly discover new interesting things. It is an album which is consciously looking back to the old days of Helloween. The more nu-metally moments introduced by Gerstner and partially embraced by Andi as well, are completely absent. This is old school German power metal, and I like it. Weikath’s songs are fantastic, and some of the other songs are very good, but to be honest, what makes this album different is Kiske’s voice, and the absence of Gerstner’s typical songwriting. The latter’s contributions in this album are distinctly different from everything he has done in the past. Including the bonus song “Golden times“, Gerstner has written three awesome songs. Kiske’s voice is superb – although time has taken away clearness in articulation from him – and his collaboration with Deris is mindblowing. I’ve listened to this album about 1000 times now, and some of the more mediocre moments (i.e. “Indestructible”, “Mass pollution”) cannot take away the awesomeness of the rest of the songs. This is the most I’ve enjoyed Helloween since The time of the oath (1996), hands down.
4. The Offspring – Let the bad times roll
The Offspring released an album which ticks all the boxes for me. Every single song is fantastic, making it easily my favourite Offspring album. In the past I’ve liked some of this band’s output, but never an album in its entirety. Take Americana (1998) for example. The first four songs are amazing, but the rest of the album falls short. Smash (1994) is a bit more consistent, but again there is some filler in there that does not compare to the hits. In the new album, every single song is an instant classic for me. At times it feels like the band wears its classic influences on its sleeve. The album starts with a tune reminiscent a lot of Bad Religion; the first 30 seconds of “Breaking these bones” is like it came straight out of Dance with me (1981) by TSOL; the first riff on “Army of one” has a surf-punk vibe reminiscent of Agent Orange. The songs that hit me from the first listen and I couldn’t stop listening to are “Hassan chop” and “The opioid diaries”, two tunes that are energetic, catchy, and Dexter’s voice sounds like it did 30 years ago. The only song I didn’t like at first was “We never have sex anymore”, but I eventually came to love it; what a chorus! And I love the piano version of “Gone away”. Overall, I haven’t stopped listening to this for months. I still cannot believe how a band so far into its career can release such an absolute masterpiece of an album. I cannot imagine any fan of melodic Californian punk being disappointed by this. Well done to Dexter and the rest of the band, and to Bob Rock for the fantastic production.
5. The Crown – Royal destroyer
It’s been a while since I really liked an album by The Crown. I’ve never been a big fan, but I have a soft spot for Marko Tervonen, one of the guitarists, whom I consider a fantastic songwriter and riffmaster. In Royal destroyer he’s on top form, and the rest of the band is also on fire. Olfsted, the other main composer of the band, balances out Tervonen’s melodic side with more direct brutality; he is a fantastic crust-riff generator. So, one can find here the usual deadliness of Swedish death, combined with the more punkier moments and rock n’ roll sensibilities The Crown are known for. The way the album kicks off is like a deadlier Severed Head of State. which is not surprising, as both bands have definitely been influenced by Swedish crust. On the more melodic side, Sorqvist’s “Full metal justice” is one of my favourite songs, with a truly fantastic chorus. Tervonen’s songs are just phenomenal, with “Beyond the frail” being a highlight; what a start and overall development – one of the catchier choruses, and a fantastic coda. “Motordeath” is my favourite song on the album, and one of the best songs this band has ever recorded. “We drift on” is a melancholic slow song the way only Swedish death is capable of doing. “Glorious Hades” is a massive song with a fantastic main riff that takes me back to the 1990s. The vocal delivery on this one, as well as the beginning of “Devoid of light”, is reminiscent of Vincent on albums like Domination (songs like “Caesar’s palace”). Olfsted’s “Let the hammering begin” is maybe the busiest song on the album, and contains a killer Slayer section too. Overall, a great album I can’t have enough of.
6. At The Gates – The nightmare of being
The nightmare of being is an album I enjoyed and a new chapter in the band’s musical development. This has the potential of being the first among the re-union albums that will earn a place among ATG’s classic albums. Jonas Bjorler has come to his own in this album. In the previous one he was under Anders’s shadow, and it felt quite prosaic and safe, but this new one feels like the genuine next step for the band. Interestingly, I thought that the ghost of Anders haunts the band, as the new elements that crept in ATG’s sound (lounge-y, jazz, brass instrumentation) are a bit reminiscent of Anders’s album Antikythera (2013). This is not a bad thing, as the orchestrations have become very interesting, very beautifully nuanced, and have added a new layer to ATG’s sound. One of the band’s past strengths, the very memorable riffs, has been relatively absent since Anders’s departure, but one cannot deny the power of the main riff and the awesome break on “Touched by the white hands of death” at 2:56, as well as the background riff starting during the solo break at 3:25 on “Spectre of extinction”. The beginning of “The fall into time” reminded me of Savatage‘s “Morphine child”. The riff starting at 0:52 of “Garden of Cyrus” reminded me of Rage‘s “No sign of life”. Favourite songs include, “Cosmic pessimism”, “Spectre of extinction”, “Touched by the white hands of death”, “Paradox” and “Cult of salvation”.
7. Nasty Surgeons – A night in the morgue
Nasty Surgeons is a band I learned about this year, introduced to me by some algorithm, and, based on the name and cover art of this album, I was expecting it to be another Carcass clone, but it’s not. Carcass is definitely there in the mix, but only in small measures, alongside a much broader range of death metal. The beginning of “Cotard delusion“, for example, is more similar to Impaled‘s interpretation of Carcass; “Trepanation” is more Terrorizer, that fantastic riff at the break of “Coronary artery bypass surgery” could have been in Benediction‘s The grand leveler. “Massacre in the operating table” on the other hand, especially the beginning, is straight out of Symphonies of sickness. There are some very interesting moments on A night in the morgue, it is surprisingly infectious, chock-full of fantastic riffs and inspired song structures. They know when they come up with a catchy, good riff, and they know how to take advantage of it (repetition is the key word here). Overall, I really enjoyed this album and the more I listen to it the more I like it.
8. Justin Sullivan – Surrounded
Surrounded is another album I listened to loads. Sullivan is a fantastic songwriter, so no surprises there. The main difference between this and New Model Army is the lack of electric instrumentation. Favourite songs include “Amundsen”, “Clean horizon”, the haunting “Coming with me”, “Akistan” and “Daughter of the sun“. It is a very comforting album, it takes the listener to journeys only Sullivan is capable of orchestrating, and I think for anyone who is a NMA fan it will resonate with traditional NMA moments. From the first listen, I realised that this is the British equivalent of one of my all-time favourite albums by a Greek singer-songwriter called Sokratis Malamas. The album in question is called One (2003), so any of you out there who like Surrounded and are not bothered by the absence of English lyrics check it out.
9. Hypocrisy – Worship
Hypocrisy’s new album is not something I was really looking forward, to be honest. The last Hypocrisy album I loved was Into the abyss (2001), so that’s a long time ago. Overall, I feel that I no longer have the same love for this band as I did in the late 1990s. Worship is an album that lacks adventurous spirit; it is an album that could have easily been released after The final chapter (1997). However, the heart wants what the heart wants, and in this case, it wants well-crafted songs in the unique Hypocrisy style, with Tagtgren’s fantastic voice. Indeed, just the fact that Tagtgren predominantly uses his guttural vocals, as opposed to the screaming ones, sold me instantly to this album. I have been listening to it loads since it came out. The slower songs pretty much follow the classic rock recipe of verse-bridge-chorus X2, followed by a cool middle section, etc. “We’re the walking dead“, “Chemical whore” and “Children of the gray” are three such songs, and they are, in my mind, already classic Hypocrisy masterpieces; absolutely fantastic melodies, and the chorus of the latter must be one of the best Hypocrisy ever did. The chorus of “Brotherhood of the serpent” brought to my mind “Monarch of the sleeping marches” by Disincarnate. The post-chorus bit starting at 1:19 is fantastic. The lyrics overall, are kinda silly, conspiracy theory themed. One of the things I found confusing is the song “Chemical whore”. A “whore” is someone who has sex in exchange for money, so I don’t see how being addicted to drugs or “begging for more” is the same thing. He seems to imply that people would do anything to get their fix, but in the case of sex work, people merely have sex for money and they don’t beg for more any more than others workers do, so I don’t get the metaphor. All songs are noteworthy, but my favourite ones at this point are, “Children of the gray”, “Worship”, “We’re the walking dead”, “Chemical whore” and “They will arrive”.
10. Memoriam – To the end
There’s this one South Park episode where the kids discover a man frozen inside an ice cave, and they think he’s a prehistoric iceman. Turns out he had only been frozen for a couple of years, so he remembered life as it was in 1996. I think that Scott Fairfax is the prehistoric iceman. The music that he writes is like death metal stopped in 1996. The new Memoriam album is really cool. It’s very impressive how a new band manages to develop a style of their own, and in my opinion Memoriam sound like nothing else. The closing track is absolutely fantastic, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Scott was inspired by the closing track (i.e. “The glorious end”) of Paradise Lost‘s Tragic idol for this one. Just thinking about that ending is sending chills down my spine. Side A also closes with “Each step”, which also could have been written by Paradise Lost, although I consider it one of the weakest moments on the album. The same goes for the Killing Joke-ish “Mass psychosis”, which feels a bit out of place in my opinion. But, the rest of the album is great, with some fantastic songs, namely “This war is won”, “Failure to comply”, and “Vacant stare“. It’s worth mentioning that the new drummer, Spikey T. Smith, made a big difference; the drums are awesome, and although initially the appeal of this band was to hear Andy Whale’s drumming, I don’t really mind anymore.
2021 Celebration
Filed under: death metal, Heavy metal, people, popular music | Tags: Alex Marquez, Anders Schultz, benediction, Brian Harvey, Dark Funeral, Dave Lombardo, Deeds of flesh, Dismember, dying fetus, Ed Warby, Fred Estby, Gorefest, Holy Terror, Janne Saarenpää, Joe Mitchell, Kevin Talley, King Diamond, Lock up, Malevolent creation, Mike Hamilton, Mikkey Dee, Nick Barker, Nils Fjellström, Paul Bostaph, Paul Brookes, Pig destroyer, Slayer, The crown, Unleashed
In my early contact with metal as a teenager drums were of tertiary importance compared to guitar and voice. My first love was Iron Maiden, and although over the years I came to appreciate Clive Burr’s and Nicko McBrain’s skills and contribution to Maiden’s sound, my untrained teenage ear could not appreciate the nuances. My second love was Dio, and just like with Maiden what I fell in love with was the voice and the guitar-playing. I obviously enjoyed listening to Appice’s hard hits, McBrain’s speed on songs like “Deja vu“, I remember falling in love with Ulrich’s fills on “For whom the bell tolls“, or Columbus’s double-bass attack on “Black wind, fire and steel“, but I did not start really noticing the drums until I started listening to thrash, and specifically when I listened to Reign in blood by Slayer. After that, and the more my taste would gravitate towards extreme metal the more attention to the drumming I would pay. Who doesn’t like a great drum break in the middle of a song (*a future post is in order*), or an awesome drum intro?! Through memory work (so, simply by trying to remember) I came up with many awesome drum intros that have stayed with me throughout my life as a metal fan, and after subsequent filtering (as a result of which amazing songs by Hypocrisy, Judas Priest, Death, Xentrix, Ozzy and Kreator, among others, were left out) I present 15 of them here in chronological order.
1. Slayer – Epidemic (1986)
Reign in blood blew my mind and continues to blow my mind no matter how many times I’ve listened to it. It’s funny how, as years go by and new trends in metal emerge, many younger people are no longer impressed by this masterpiece (which is something that I once thought impossible). “When was the last time you truly listened to Reign in blood?”, asks Gavin O’Connor. Seriously, Gavin O’Connor? Still, I would imagine for most people, it is a guilty displeasure not liking this absolute masterpiece and they wouldn’t dare admitting it (as opposed to Gavin who owns his opinion, is proud of it, and so I can make fun of him for being a poser who only listens to “Angel of death” and “Raining blood”). “Epidemic” has always been one of my favourite songs off Reign in blood, as it has a different groove to the dominant skank beat throughout the album. The drum intro has a lot to do with how much I like this song. Whenever I think of a drum intro this is honestly the first song that comes to mind. Nowadays, and after three decades of extreme metal drumming, this intro sounds quite “primitive”, but when I first heard it I would just play it over and over again, for several times before I continue with the rest of the song. Nothing compares to Dave Lombardo‘s intense and quite instinctive old school drumming massacre. The simply devastating drum sound captured on tape by Rick Rubin is not bad either.
2. King Diamond – Welcome home (1988)
Mikkey Dee, now famous for being the drummer for Motörhead for almost 25 years, used to be in King Diamond. With him the King released some of his best albums (and my two personal favourite, namely Fatal portrait and Conspiracy), and I actually remember seeing or reading an interview with King Diamond where he said that Mikkey has been sorely missed (I personally think that Snowy Shaw did an awesome job as well). Indeed, the impressive drum performances in King Diamond’s early albums compared to the almost mechanical drumming in this last few albums is like comparing night and day. “Welcome home” is a masterful track off Them, and the intro is one of the most memorable and classy drum parts I can think of. Overall, this song represents the pinnacle of King Diamond’s progressive dimension. Agressor did an accurate cover of this song on their Medieval rites (1999) album, although the drum intro is neither entirely accurate nor has the feel of the original.
3. Holy Terror – No resurrection (1988)
Holy Terror released two albums in the late 1980s, at a time when thrash was still alive and well but slowly losing ground as the first death metal albums, as well as the more extreme thrash bands of Germany, began to surface. The second album by Holy Terror is a minor thrash masterpiece and this song is a testament to that. Their peculiar style of metal that combined traditional heavy metal melodies and singing, with rougher and at times growling vocals, super fast riffs and drums, deserved more recognition in my opinion. Joe Mitchell‘s expertly executed super fast beats perfectly complement the super-fast vocal delivery. The intro to this song is an all-time favourite, and is the perfectly manic start for a perfectly manic song. I have been listening to it since my teenage years and it still does not fail to excite me. They don’t make them like this anymore.
4. Malevolent Creation – Coronation of our domain (1992)
Alex Marquez gave his best performance on Malevolent Creation’s Retribution. His contribution on this album cannot be overestimated, and never before or after did Malevolent have such a beautiful drum sound and playing, and orchestrations. This drum intro is probably the best out of all the intros in this list. This is the definition of finesse in drumming. I struggled on whether I should include this song here. Malevolent Creation has been the home to some racist scum throughout its history, so they are not welcome in this blog. At the same time, I thought it would be unfair to erase Marquez’s contribution because he happened to be in a band which later on in its career (when Marquez was not part of it anymore) became openly racist.
5. Dismember – Fleshless (1993)
This is an extremely simple fast single stroke drum roll (I think so) spread across two toms, opening one of the best songs in one of the best albums in the history of music (yes, not only death metal). One of the reasons I love it so much is because to me this intro is like saying “get ready for some non-stop relentless beating”, and indeed this is exactly what follows throughout the album. Remember, this is not a playlist with the “best” drum intros, but rather my favourite drum intros, and this is definitely one. I simply adore the drum sound on this album, and Fred Estby‘s playing is really exciting. Indecent and obscene is probably my all-time favourite death metal album, and Fred’s playing is one of the reasons.
6. Gorefest – Peace of paper (1993)
It’s no big surprise that all of the songs on this list come from albums characterised by great drum performances. In both False (1992) and Erase (1993) Ed Warby gives lessons in extreme metal drumming. His sound is clear, he hits hard, and his blastbeats are a force of nature. “Peace of paper” is an astonishing song off an amazing album, and it is also the song where Warby goes crazy with his snare-kick gymnastics. The drum intro is not anything special, but I love it. I think that his performance in these two albums opened up doors for him, as I recall seeing his name in many projects over the years. Gorefest did a very impressive comeback in the mid 2000s and then unfortunately folded again, and in those two comeback albums Warby also did an amazing job.
7. Slayer – Killing fields (1994)
Divine intervention is a galore of outstanding drum work by Paul Bostaph. Quite honestly, when I bought this album I could not believe how someone can play like this, and to this day I consider Divine intervention a masterpiece with state-of-the-art drumming. This album is chock-full of drum highlights, and apart from this song, “Sex, murder, art” and “Serenity in murder” are personal favourites. There is no doubt that Paul knew that filling Lombardo’s shoes would be hard, mostly in terms of acceptance by the hardcore fans rather than actual performance, and did his absolute best to prove himself with this album. In my opinion, the intro of “Killing fields” is one of the heaviest and attention-grabbing moments in metal history.
8. Benediction – The grotesque (1994)
Benediction is not a band known for its virtuoso musicianship. It is known, however, for its absolutely awesome and unique-sounding death metal. “The grotesque” is one of Benediction’s best songs and it comes from the Grotesque/Ashen epitaph EP. This EP marked the departure of Ian Treacy, Benediction’s original drummer, whose improvement from Subconscious terror (1990) to Transcend the Rubicon (1993) was nothing short of stellar, and the short-lived collaboration with Paul Brookes (who has been very ridiculously photoshoped into the photo of the band on this release). I personally prefer Treacy, who has also provided some really cool drum parts, but nevertheless, Brookes offers a very memorable drum intro to this beast of a song.
9. Unleashed – In the name of god (1995)
“In the name of god” starts with a very simple double stroke roll, yet constitutes an extremely effective drum intro which has always stayed with me. The fact that it opens one of the catchiest songs in death metal history, composed by Fredrik, obviously adds to the importance of this drum intro, but there is no doubt that Anders Schultz‘s contribution to Unleashed’s sound is significant (also check out the awesomely placed double bass à la Slayer at the end of the song). Victory is, in my opinion, the last great album by Unleashed, and it is not a coincidence that it is also the last album with Fredrik Lindgren. He is one of the composers that is missed in the death metal genre.
10. Dying Fetus – Justifiable homicide (2000)
1999 was the year my friends and I found out about the then new wave of North American brutal death metal. A fiend of mine got hold of three awesome cassette-tapes; one with Deeds of flesh‘s Trading pieces (1996) and Inbreeding the anthropophagi (1998), one with Nile‘s Among the catacombs… (1998), and one with Dehumanized‘s Prophecies foretold (1998) and Dying Fetus‘s Purification through violence (1996). When Destroy the opposition came out we didn’t listen to anything else for a month. This is probably the least interesting song on the album, but what a great and memorable intro! Kevin Talley is a great drummer hailing from the American brutal death metal underground who has rightfully been recognised as one. His drumming on albums like Killing on adrenaline and Destroy the opposition are unbelievable. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the separation of Jason and Kevin from Gallagher resulted in inferior subsequent output from both Dying Fetus and Misery Index. Anyway, this whole album is a drummer’s pleasure.
11. The Crown – I won’t follow (2000)
The Crown has always been a hit and miss band in my opinion. I never liked any of their albums in their entirety, just individual songs, and if I had to pick a favourite album I would choose Hell is here (1999). This song comes from Deathrace king, an album from which I worship two songs and the rest of them I listen to once every ten years or so. “I won’t follow” is one of the songs I worship, and the other is the inimitable “Back from the grave”. Janne Saarenpää‘s style is very intense and out-of-control and often reminds me of Chris Witchhunter from Sodom (I’m thinking of “Baptism of fire”). This is the definition of in-your-face extreme metal drumming of the type that inspires kids to pick up drumsticks and learn to play.
12. Deeds of Flesh – Master of murder (2001)
Mike Hamilton‘s stint with Deeds of Flesh started with an album (i.e. Mark of the legion) which, for me, marked the creative downfall of the band. However, just like the drummers that preceded him, Hamilton’s drumming is amazing, and this song is a case in point. A beautiful, yet cold and lifeless, phrase composed of super fast double strokes and double bass, introduces an awesome riff. The way Hamilton switches from the hi-hat to the ride cymbal during the blastbeats, and the effect this has on the riff is also great. Later on in their career Deeds of Flesh tried to reinvent themselves and switched to super-technical death metal and, in my opinion, lost their distinctiveness that is still present in this song.
13. Pig Destroyer – Snuff film at eleven (2001)
Just like Dying Fetus’s Destroy the opposition, Pig Destroyer’s Prowler in the yard was a game changer in the world of extreme metal. Brian Harvey provides super fast blastbeats, grooves, and insane drum fills. This song is one of the most death-oriented songs on the album, and has such an awesome drum intro, representative of the musical and lyrical insanity that reigns throughout the album. What contributes to the awesomeness of this intro is that it does not lead to a fast beat but a tensely controlled slow beat. Harvey’s performance on the next album (i.e. Terrifyer) is also stellar. Having a drummer like this at one’s disposal is an amazing privilege, because it gives one absolute freedom to write anything they want, no matter how fast and complex.
14. Lock Up – Feeding on the opiate (2002)
Nick Barker is one of those drummers who make extremely fast drumming seem easy. I fell in love with his drumming when Cradle of Filth‘s Dusk and her embrace came out, and I loved him even more in Lock Up, although his repertoire in the latter is much more limited. His performance with Cradle of Filth rightfully opened doors for him as over the years he has played with many prominent bands. This is actually one of the best album intros ever, and I cannot believe that I forgot to mention it in the respective post I wrote a few years ago. Overall, Hate breeds suffering is my favourite Lock Up album too. Bill Hicks’s inspiring statement, “Play from your fucking hearts!”, sampled at the beginning of the song is also genius.
15. Dark Funeral – The eternal eclipse (2016)
The final entry in this list comes from a recent album, namely Dark Funeral’s very impressive Where shadows forever reign. Dark Funeral has a history of great drummers, including the brilliant Matte Modin (who offered devastating drumming for Defleshed back in the day). In this album the drums are provided by Nils Fjellström, another master of inhuman speed in drumming (check out videos of him performing live with the band on YouTube, you won’t be disappointed). “The eternal eclipse” is my favourite song off this album, and the drum intro is perfect.
overground scene 