aAnd? - aAlbum? (CD Review)

01.Some Shit!
02.Innit!
03.This Is Why We Have No Female Shotput Champions!
04.Last Place In The Sack Race!
05.I’m A Mighty Pirate Prepare To Die
06.Dogs!
07.This Little Piggy
08.If You See Me Run!
09.What Is Wrong With Your Face?!
10.I Pity The Fowl!
11.Girls!
12.Tours, Whores and Closed Bus Doors!
13.Proclivity For The Purple Velvet!
14.Last Of The Summer Swine!
15.Makin' Bacon!

Dan (Vocals/Guitar)
Pip (Drums/Vocals)
Lewis (Bass)

Si Genaro (Guest Vocals & Harmonica on This Little Piggy)

Bournemouth band formed in 2011 the purpose of which was to write the heaviest music they could think of to impress girls, tax reasons and get free beer.
Dan and Pip had previously played together in 'HFM' in 2002 and in 2004 Pip and Lewis had been part of the band 'Animosity'.
All three of them got together just as Pip was leaving the band Al.B.Damned.

They dress in B&W body suits and masks and have a fearsome reputation for anarchic live performances.
Last july their song 'Girls!' appeared on the "Devils Rejects" covermount cd with Metal Hammer magazine.

Screaming vocals and blast beats seems to be the order of the day and 'Some Shit!' delivers a powerful punch to the head, its unrelenting speed and agressive attitude crash through the speakers like a tank in a poppy field.

'Innit!' starts with a weird sound and some laughter before smashing once again the senses into oblivian, a dual vocal of screams and death grunts blend with the relentless onslaught of instruments.

More weirdness with the intro for a serious and moving song that deals with one of the great modern issues of our time, that being - 'This Is Why We Have No Female Shotput Champions!'
Well im only kidding its another headfucker of a song that also has a donkey and a yodel thrown in!
The song flows straight into 'Last Place In The Sack Race!' the pace remaining the same.

Then we come to 'I Am A Mighty Pirate Prepare To Die', this one has a different feel to start with reminicent of Primus, sure the song soon moves to a heavy drum driven piece, but there is a strange almost hypnotic rhythm running throughout, throw in some different vocal elements and a few samples and you have a very intresting and stand out song.

After 'Dogs!' with its Meshuggah like beat, things just get weird...

'This Little Piggy' where do you start? 'Dig the fucking evil groove' are the opening words followed by harmonica and whistling over a thrash metal guitar riff and drum pedal driven drum beats, i'll keep going because there is some melodic high pitched vocal harmony thrown in as well.
This could be the start of a death/blues hybrid as yet heard of in the world of heavy metal OR some sort of mental breakdown from the band members accidentley recorded and put on the album in an attempt at a type of shock therapy, either way it just has to be heard to be believed and then played again just to confirm your original suspicions!

What follows are two homages to classic Grindcore, the first is 16 seconds with 'If You See Me Run' and then 33 seconds of 'What Is Wrong With Your Face', two excellent short blast of power.

Melodic guitar riffery? Well fortunatly Mr.T saves the day with 'Pity The Fowl' another off the wall avant-garde tune (wait did i say tune?) this is more madness with screaming and full on metal assault interrupted by the A Team legend and them some farm noises!

Next is 'Girls!' a song some of you may already have heard if you got that Metal Hammer CD last year, but for those who have not then this one starts with some samples of an orgasmic lady (probably from Pip's own personal collection of filthy dvd's!), the samples in fact run throughout this monster of a song, distorted guitarwork and furious drumming all held together by solid basswork.

As to be expected with any typical modern metal album we come to the ballad, thank fuck this is not typical and the song 'Tours, Whores and Closed Bus Doors!' is not a ballad, but hey i got you worried for a second there didn't i?

Gotta love a song that starts with chainsaws and screams, but 'Proclivity For The Purple Velvet!' does not follow the rules and turns out to be a strange cover of 'We could have been anything' from the Bugsy Malone film!!! Oh plus an added death grunt at the end!

You know by this point my brain is totally fucked, this is just some stupid shit, im trying to write a review and keep laughing and banging my head, so now im listening to the intro for last of the summer wine on harmonica for the 'Last Of The Summer Swine' song that im just waiting for to explode into another wall of sound and it does, there are a few timing changes in the mix that make this one part thrash and part hardcore.

Finally we end with a short story called 'Makin Bacon!' no music just a story about picking up girls told by Country Joe who has a pet fish, so electric music for mind and body and a clue as to the state of mind of the band?

Like a strange mix of early 'Johnny Truant', 'The Locust' and early british Grindcore this is one of those debut albums that makes you sit up and listen, then run to a nice quiet place and calm down.
A brilliant and very well concieved album drawing on numerous influences designed to entertain on all levels.

Rating 10/10
For Fans Of: Lawnmower Deth, The Locust, Meshuggah, Anal Cunt, Johnny Truant, Napalm Death

FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/aandofficial

Tanzwut - Eselsmesse (CD Review)

01.Intro
02.Asinum Chorum
03.Der Eselskönig
04.Saturnalia
05.Lux Hodie
06.Rhoslese
07.Unsere Nacht
08.Siria
09.Gregis Pastor Tityrus
10.Par Deus
11.Orientis Partibus
12.Briesel Occultum
13.Zieh Mit Mir

Mike "Teufel" Paulenz (Bagpipe/Vocals)
Der Zwilling (Bass/Bagpipe)
Thrymr (Bagpipe/Shawm)
Pyro (Bagpipe/Shawm)
Shumon (Percussion/Keyboards)
Oually (Percussion/Key Drum/Electronic Drums/Riesentara/Keyboard)
Martin Ukrasvan (Guitar/Bagpipe/Tromba Marina)
Rene (Guitar)

German band formed by Teufel in the mid 1990's. starting life as a ska/punk industrial metal band, having felt he had done all he could in that field he put togtehr a new line up featuring members of Corvus Corax in 2011 to add medieval instruments to his original hybrid and created a new sound.

Oh dear, i was expecting huge things from this, the idea of Medieval rock music is one that few have attempted but up to now those who have have created intresting music, Meads Of Asphodel, Rondellus and Circulus spring to mind, but sorry this album is just endless bagpipes over the same beat, track after track, bordering on a dirge at times, there seems to be no thought behind it or even use of other instruments, the idea of a mix of industrial rock and dance music mixed with medieval tunes coild have been an oppertunity to create something outstanding.This almost seems pointless.

Okay so 'Unsere Nacht' is more acid folk, a great duet with an unnamed female vocalist, the song is well put together and makes use of other instruments and'Orientis Partibus' has a little more in the mix, but not much.

A huge dissapointment!

Rating 3/10
For fans of : Bagpipe music

Black Anvil - Hail Death (CD Review)

01.Still Reborn
02.Redemption Through Blood
03.Eventide
04.Seven Stars Unseen
05.G.N.O.N.
06.Until The End
07.My Hate Is Pure
08.N
09.Next Level Black
10.Under The Rose

Paul Delaney (Bass/Vocals)
Raeph Glicken (Drums)
Gary Bennett (Guitar)
Sos  (Guitar)

Guest vocals on 'My Hate Is Pure' By Big John.

Black Anvil are an American black metal band from New York City, formed in 2007 with Paul Delaney, Gary Bennett and Raeph Glicken.
Taking their name from Black Babbath and Judas Priests 'Between The Hammer & The Anvil' from Painkiller.

They soon became rising stars of the New York Black Metal scene and went on to release two well recieved albums.
Last year they were joined by Sos on Guitar and toured with Watain before returning to the studio.
In the words of Paul, "This is a darker, deeper record than our previous releases and a natural progression down the chosen path. Musically, and lyrically… we will take our form to the next level".

Opening with the 9 minute epic 'Still Reborn', the spanish acoustic guitar intro fades out allowing the metal to flow through and i do mean flow, it has a superb rhythm to it, as the song progresses the drums become ever more furious, the deathly growl of Delaneys vocals remind me of Satyricons style.
In places there is an almost rock n roll feel to the way the instruments work together.
Have to say the lyrics are well written as well, not your usual Black Metal hail satan stuff.

'Redemption Through Blood' keeps the pace, the vocals are balanced with a clean backing vocal, song gets quite doomy in places when it slows down.

After 'Eventide' we get another longer song called 'Seven Stars Unseen' kind of reminds me of a blackened version of Megadeths 'In My Darkest Hour', its slow tempo thrash chords blend with the Black Metal vibe to create another great song.

'G.N.O.N' also has an old school thrash metal feel, not sure what it stands for mind you but the lyric is again very well written and even thought provoking - "When the fence corrodes, Which fate will you decide, Graveyards now are temples, To those who wish to die".

Very melodic guitar opening for 'Until The End' then some awesome phased guitar kicks in, the pace is slow almost anthemic with some lovely backing harmonys, very gothic in feel and even a sitar type sound created on the guitar.A stand out track!

'My Hate Is Pure' features a guest vocal from Big John from "Fantom Warior", its an agressive full on attack on the senses, but with sensitive backing vocals.
The mix of the song is very good especially when the drums and guitar are brought forward on their own.

The simply titled 'N' is an atmospheric mid tempo piece, full of multi tracked vocal and doom driven powercords.

The last song, Next Level Black', is another huge epic at 11 minutes, very doomy and dare i say Psychedelic to star with some some spaced out vocals mixing into the death growls, the song seems to bounce along at quite a pace, around 8 minutes in comes this quiter bit with some nice chorus guitarwork, then moves into a thrash element and more great guitar playing.

There is one more song added as a bonus track which is a cover of the Kiss song 'Under The Rose' originally on their concept album 'Music From The Elder'.
Its a solid version and delivered with a clean vocal which was a nice surprise.

Rating 9/10
For Fans Of : Satyricon, Waitain, Darkthrone, Cathedral, Akercocke