Castle - Under Siege (CD Review)

01.Distant Attack
02.Be My Ghost
03.A Killing Pace
04.Pyramid Lake
05.Powersigns
06.Labyrinth Of Death
07.Temple Of The Lost
08.Evil Ways

Liz Blackwell (Vocals/Bass)
Al McCartney (Drums)
Mat Davis (Guitars)

San Francisco heavy metal band formed in 2009, their debut album “In Witch Order” was released in 2011 this earned them “Album of the Year” honors from Metal Hammer Norway, as well as Roadburn Festival’s “Newcomer of the Year.”

Shortly after, the band signed with Prosthetic in North America and released their critically acclaimed sophomore album “Blacklands,” they supported the release playing over 200 shows worldwide alongside acts including The Sword, Intronaut and Witch Mountain in addition to appearing at some of the scene’s largest festivals including Roadburn and the London Desertfest.

Of their latest album Liz Blackwell said, “We wrote this album in Los Angeles, San Francisco and in the mountains of Northern California. It’s a California record. We drew from the heavy sounds of those places to write electric witch hymns of death and doom.”

They are currently on a major european tour, with more dates and festival apearences expected soon.

Right from the off i was surprised, i was expecting doom laden riffs, but 'Distant Attack' reminded me more of old bands like UFO and Heart, pounding yet flowing riffs, nice melodic guitar and smooth vocal delivery.

'Be my Ghost' has a goth feel, but that punchy guitar sound keeps it metal, not unlike the Devils Blood, could be an early 70's band but without sounding dated, same can be said of the next couple of tracks as well.

Some frantic drumming on 'Powersigns' blends with a slow riff, and another solid vocal performance, create an atmospheric rocker.

Doomy feel to 'Labyrinth Of Death' like Dio era Sabbath, superb vocals and some guitarwork to kill for, Hendrix meets Iommi !
Would have liked this one to be a lot longer than the four and a half minutes we are given, this one has 'Epic' written all over it.

This darker vibe continues with 'Temple Of The Lost', but this one is very heavy some dark and evil male vocals are thrown into the mix as are some intresting timing changes.

'The final song 'Evil Ways' continues this dark and heavy mixture as well, this one is almost an instrumental were it not for the low down growl of "evil ways" popping up every now and then.

Rating 8/10

For Fans Of : Devils Blood, Purson, Blood Ceremony, The Sword, The Oath

FACEBOOK : https://www.facebook.com/CastleSF

Hamerex - IX (CD Review)

01.IX Circles
02.The Life Of Death
03.Inferno
04.Edge Of Madness
05.The Extremist
06.Mortuary
07.The Stranger
08.Descent Of Angels
09.The Night Of Samhain
10.Still The Wall Remains

Chris Moules (Vocals)
Steve Blower (Guitar/Vocals/Keyboards)
Andy Firth (Bass/Keyboards)
Darren Kelsall (Drums)

The Wakefield band formed in august 2004 have so far notched up 4 demos, 2 ep's and one album 'Rites Of Passage' which got a 9 out of 10 from me in september 2011 (though not actually released till feb 2012).

The new album is the bands most experimental release to date as well as their most diverse. "We are extremely proud of what we have acheived with the new album." comments guitarist Steve Blower. "There was a great feeling going in to the studio. We'd learnt a lot from 'Rites Of Passage' and we believe we've improved on every aspect of recording and had room to experiment a lot more."
Much thought and work has gone into the cd's packaging as well and will be released as a special 6 panel digipak featuring a large amount of artwork painted by James Mullet throughout the packaging.

The album opens with the instrumental 'IX Circles' with some nice keyboard and synth mixed in, this then leads straight into 'The Life Of Death' taking its inspiration from Clive Barkers short story from vol 6 of books of blood, telling the story of strange things in a church crypt.
This one has a great NWOBHM feel, sounding like one of those classic albums from 1980, a strong vocal performance as well as some maidenesque guitar work outs.

'Inferno' has a real "proto-doom' feel with a 'heaven & hell' styled bass line, sweeping doom laden chords and another superb vocal and a shout it out loud backing vocal.

Picking up the pace with some mid paced thrash, 'Edge Of Madness', about half way through the speed picks up for that "Mosh Pit" frenzy moment and ending with a riff heavy solo.

Echoes of early thrashers Virus throughout 'The Extremist' an almost crust-punk vocal gives this an interesting edge.

Now the next track 'Mortuary' has a really familiar riff in it's intro, kind of like Armoured Saints 'Can U Deliver', whatever lonely brain cell of memory it has nudged, the song is really catchy with a great chorus, the same with 'The Stranger' great, catchy, excellent guitar work and another half remembered riff from the past!

Full on Thrash assault with 'Descent Of Angels', punchy as hell with an agressive snarl from the vocalist.

And now an 11 minute epic...... 'The Night Of Samhain', starts with acoustic guitar, wind f/x and bells, when the band kicks in the sound returns to that early doom but with some great keyboards giving a darkened ambience.
The vocalist seemingly pushed to his limits pulls off a near perfect performance, though one thing its pronounced "souwain" not "Sam Hain".
Thrown in solid drumming, bass and guitar riffs in perfect harmony and this one lives up to the term "Epic".

Finally some nice orchestration on 'Still The Wall Remains', a semi-acoustic ballad, the backing vocals just seem slightly out of sync in places but all in all a great way to end a very diverse and well put together album.

This is a huge leap forward from their previous album, musically more advanced, definately more experimental, improved vocals and better production, this one is a must have for your collection.

Rating 10/10

For Fans Of : Amulet, Witchfinder General, Elimination, Viking Skull

FACEBOOK : https://www.facebook.com/hamerex

SPITTING BLOOD - Control The Weak (CD Review)

1.Control The Weak

2.Betrayed

3.This Is My Time

4.Pedal To The Metal

5.Out For The Count

6.Behind The Machine

7.Blood On My Hands

8.Psychopathic Amnesiac

9.Surrendering To Faith

10.Spitting Blood

Chris 'Haggis' Holmes - Vocals

Judge Shredd - Lead Guitar

Tilman 'T' Wolfe-Moore - Bass

Reuben O'Donoghue - Drums

Kicking off with a warning from the police to disperse and vacuate the area,the album explodes into extreme drumming,powerchord heavy guitarwork,expert basswork and sampled keyboards.Each track seems to increase in its brutality in terms of drumming,it just drives each home like a nail in pinheads skull.

'Behind The Machine' is one of my fave tracks here along with the anthemic 'Betrayed' and as for the self titled track.. nasty nasty stuff and one for those who like it "when the red water comes out!".

I highly reccomend this to anyone who likes their metal "Heavy", its a great album for those who love drums.Many of the tracks have a Devildriver/Slipknot feel, just remove the melodic bits they throw in and the commercial elements and yep here's a band that their fans could grow to love.

Why have'nt the british press picked up on Spitting Blood ? Fuck knows too busy butt-licking emo crap and false metal like Trivium.

Now being stand up human beings they have made the whole album available to listen to, find it here : www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/211628

After you have listened to it go buy the bugger ! get it from the band with a T-Shirt from here : http://spittingblood.co.uk

Rating : 10/10

Get This If You Like : Devildriver,Slipknot,Bolt Thrower,Meshuggah.

Contact : www.myspace.com/spittingblood1234

STU