Looking Ahead to 2013

2013

AMULET

London NWOBHM band have already made a huge impact on the metal scene in uk, europe and even usa, 

The band will no doubt be playing numerous festivals here and in europe and notch up even more major support slots.

Lets hope for some new recordings!!!!

                                    

CATHEDRAL
Currently putting the finishing touches to what will be the last ever album from these British Doom legends. Produced by Lee Dorrian and Garry Jennings, with assistance from Jaime Gomez Arellano, The Last Spire is scheduled for an April 20013 release via Rise Above Records. Tracklisting is as follows;

01. Entrance to Hell
02. Pallbearer
03. Cathedral of the Damned
04. Tower of Silence
05. Infestation of Grey Death
06. An Observation
07. This Body, Thy Tomb.

Non-album track Vengeance of the Blind Dead will appear as a flexi disc on the front cover of Decibel magazine in their March issue (on sale February 7th).

The band also recently shot a fantastic promo for new track Tower of Silence,which will be available to view some time in January.

The track will appear on an exclusive Rise Above Records CD sampler to be given away with Classic Rock Magazine towards the end of the same month.

In related news, Septic Tank, a band featuring Cathedral members Scott Carlson, Garry Jennings and Lee Dorrian will make their debut live appearance at The Garage, Highbury & Islington on Friday 3rd May.

Septic Tank will release a very limited vinyl only EP titled The Slaughter via MCR Records, Japan, to coincide with the show. They will have a limited number of colour copies on sale exclusively at the event.

Tracklisting as follows;
Side A
01. Fatal Eclipse
02. Forest of Bones
Side B
01. Gotesque Cavalry of Mankind
02. The Slaughter

CHAOSANCT
Hopefully 2013 will finally see the release of their debut album, its been a long time coming, with James having to concentrate with Cradle Of Filth, drummer Matt playing with Monument and Paul and Dave forming a new band Bad Son.
In december they announced that Dan Abela was working on the recordings, so definatley some progress being made.

DIMMU BORGIR
Return with a 20th anniversary album, expect awesomeness!!!!!!

GENERATION GRAVEYARD
Well the band are currentley recording some new songs to add to the EP which didnt see the light of day this year due to various reasons.
Its is definatley coming out (so i have been told) and when it does go buy it, coz GG are a fucking brilliant band!

Bad Son - Bad Son EP (CD Review)

01.Wasters Of The World
02.Crawl Across To Me
03.Mother Mary

Dave Kutcha (Vocals)
Paul Scanlan (Guitar)
Frank Allain (Guitar)
Steve Worrall (Bass)
Tom Huskinson (Drums)

Formed in Summer 2012 as Critical Mass the London based band brings classic rock bang up-to-date with authentic riffs, strong vocals and a heavy bass lines.
Featuring past and present members of Akercocke, Chaosanct, Fen and Skaldic Curse the band now inhabits an infinitely more accessible rock territory while still managing to preserve a raw metal energy.
Drawing on a potent blend of influences including such masters of the genre as Led Zeppelin and Thin Lizzy to produce a classic rock sound that is uniquely their own.

Changing their name to Bad Son in November they have released a promo cd and continue to gig, with more planned for next year.

'Wasters Of The World' is a mid paced rocker full of great guitarwork and a superb vocal delivery from dave, really nice to hear him sing as opposed to scream.

The second track 'Crawl Across To Me' sounds like a track from Saxon's "Strong Arm Of The Law" album but with a much darker vocal.
A seriously kick ass guitar solo thrown in as well complete with high pitched harmony vocals.

Finally 'Mother Mary' starts with a Hendrix style guitar riff then moves into a near sleeze rock meets blues sound.

Overall a very impressive debut, classic rock in the modern style absolutley loaded with superb guitar and vcals backed by solid bass and drums.
Anyone who knows Dave from Chaosanct or Spitting Blood will simply be blown away by his "Singing" voice and while Paul has always been a class act guitarist the black and death metal genres he's better known for have never allowed him to play like this!

STUNNING!!!!!

Rating 10/10

For Fans Of: Saxon, UFO, Voodoo Six, Amulet, Cauldron

Stereo Juggernaut - Disco Smack (CD Review)

 01.Defeated By The Sea
02.Sign In & Out
03.Like A Star
04.December Came
05.Fallen
06.Rosie, I
07.In The Night
08.Fade Away

Ben Main (Vocals/Guitar/Keyboards)
Asha Carslaw-Maher (Bass)
Reuben O'Donoghue (Drums)

North London's self styled "Gabbagrunge" band have been playing the clubs and building up a solid reputation since 2009.

Their sound is an unusual blend of Alt-Post Rock, Dance Rhythms and Heavy Metal guitarwork, throw into that mix Piano Hooks and Rave Club synth patterns, oh and some nasty punk rock bass work and then you have an idea of just what a beast Stereo Juggernaut are!

They have notched up so many major support slots from Dave Evans (Ac/Dc), The Yo-Yo's, Ska legends The Selector and Generation Graveyard and played with indie bands to death metal bands!

So here is the latest release from the band called 'Disco Smack' and its free!

Kicking off with 'Defeated By The Sea' we are met by some epic synth work before the guitar kicks in, a distorted vocal effect is underpinned by what sounds like a xylophone whilst powerfull double kick drumming madness is pushing the pace.

From the heavy/dance mix of track one, 'Sign In & Out' has a much more mellow sound, bordering on a "Boy Band" vocal style complete with harmony vocal effects its something you would expect to hear on radio one and if released as a single would no doubt have thousands of girls rushing out to buy!

Euro dance beat comes blasting out of the speakers with 'Like A Star', another great vocal delivery backed by soild drumming and a pounding bass line to create a dark and moody song.

'December Came' starts with this great "ambience" then absolutley blasts into a heavy keyboard driven riff monster, reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails/Marilyn Manson in its approach.
At just under 3 minutes this song is way too short and definatley needs an extended remix.

Bordering on a heavy blues number, 'Fallen' is another great song with some awesome ear shattering vocal screams and a guitar solo to match.

Fuck me the opening to this one is creepy with some kid doing a nursery rhyme, but 'Rosie I' moves into a techno/rock vein, love the vocals on this one as well though Ben does manage to sound like Johnny Depp doing his english accent, this one is kinda like My Chemical Romance - only MUCH BETTER!

So 'Into The Night' has another spooky intro, this one then moves into pop/punk territory with some Rob Zombie like sampling throughout.
Towards the end the screaming vocals and drums borders on pure hardcore metal.

Finally 'Fade Away', basically a power ballad that builds as it goes with the bass and drums becoming more powerfull with each chord progression.This last song also sounds like it was recorded live in the studio in one take.

All in all an excellent release, with their blend of styles i cant help but wonder why Kerrang or the NME are not all over this band.

RATING 9/10

For Fans Of: Placebo, Prodigy, Chase & Status, Killaflaw, Enter Shikari, Pendulum

GET THE ALBUM HERE :
http://stereojuggernaut.bandcamp.com/

BEST OF 2012

Another mixed bag for the year, but here's my personal pick of the best albums:

NUMBER ONE

Witchsorrow's epic doom laden monster!

02.The Mercy House

03.Rob Zombie

 04.Gasoline Thrill

 05.Opera Diabolicus

 06.Devin Townsend Project

 07.King Lizard

 08.Aeternum

 09.Fear Factory

 10.Casino 13

MUSIC VIDEOS
Generation Graveyard, awesome video shot at Murder Mile

 Devin Townsend, just messing around in his back garden

 Amulet, taking the art of the video back to 1980, pure genious!!

MY TOP MOVIES
Not much to chose from this year but here are 3 worth seeing

SEPTIC FATALITY - INTO THE TOMB (CD Review)

01.Into The Tomb
02.Sadistic Maniac
03.Chuck Her In The Cooker

Phill Newton (Vocals)
Niall Roberts (Guitar)
Luke Rodgers (Guitar)
Neil Charlesworth (Bass)
Nick Robinson (Drums)

Septic Fatality are a 5 piece speed thrash band from Sheffield started as a project back in 2008 by guitarist Niall Roberts.
Drawing on thrash legends such as Testament, Overkill and Slayer as their reference point to create an intresting and unique mix of old-school thrash with a modern twist by  adding their own taste to the sound.

This first EP came out in October, the same month they supported the mighty 'Evile' in Sheffield.

Clearly not a band to iss the oppertunity to capitalise on the recent success they are already in Pre-Production for the new Septic Fatality EP has begun.

The band said "things are moving rather fast! We are aiming to release around 5-6 tracks on the next EP and intend to record it early to mid 2013. The songs will carry on from where we left off with “Into The Tomb” but pushing our sound even more, Opening doors and shutting some too".

Kicking off with 'Into The Tomb' you get hit with a punchy riff and solid drums with a shouty vocal, this could easily be classic old school thrashers 'Virus'.

'Sadistic Maniac' is faster with that typical proto thrash sound, quite anthemic and well put together.Some nice guitar work throughout was kind of expecting a screaming solo half way through but it didnt emerge, they opted for the punch and it worked!

Now 'Chuck Her In The Cooker' might sound like a Cannibal Corpse song title, in fact even the artwork evokes the grindcore scene, but this one is a punk/thrash hybrid like Toxic Holocaust.
Some craking guitarwork in this one, solid bass and drums punctuating throughout and suitably aggresive vocals!

A great little EP, nice to hear a band getting to grips with classic thrash but not getting caught up in the complex riffery and 8 minute epics that took the soul out of the scene.
They have created a typically British sounding style, which whilst clearly a nod to the past is definatley showing a way forward, bring on the next EP!

RATING 9/10

For Fans Of : Virus, Elimination, Municipal Waste, SSS, Toxic Holocaust

FACEBOOK PAGE :

http://www.facebook.com/septicfatality

ORDEN OGAN & MOB RULES (Promo CD Reviews)

ORDEN OGAN

German melodic metal band formed in 1996 came to the attention of the masses in 2004 when they released their first EP 'Testominium AD'.

Sice then they have forged forward creating their own style and trying wherever possible to advoid many of the genre's given musical cliches.

That said the promo disc i have to review tends to fall into very obvious cliches of european power metal, yes the vocal performance is quite outstanding, but the music is high spped technical power metal as personified by awful bands like Dragonforce and like that band its is all "Very clever" and well produced but actually is cold and empty without any soul.

So track one 'The Things We Believe In' starts with folkish acoustic guitar then moves into typical drum and guitar riffs, again what stands out is the vocal delivery which is faultless while the backing vocals and chorus is pure 'Turisas'.

The video is your typical "Post Apocalyptic" theme the only difference being snow instead of fire, nothing to get excited about.

The second track 'To The End' has a touch of the Megadeths about it, which is probably why Dave Mustaine likes the band and is tweeting about them.

So all in all a bit dissapointing, basically boring and unoriginal music BUT superb vocals!

RATING 3/10

For Fans Of : Blind Guardian, Dragonforce, Rhapsody.

MOB RULES

Another German band, Mob Rules formed in 1994, drawing on diverse influences from traditional metal to progressive rock and named after a Black Sabbath album.

'Ice & Fire' apparently was inspired by the story of abducted Columbian politcian Ingrid Betancourt' and the music was clearly borrowed from Metallica's 'One'.
Another shining example of BORING and pointless music.

Whats worse is that the album version is 7 minutes long (Another nod to Metallica then???)

RATING 0/10

For Fans Of : COLDPLAY

SISTER SIN - NOW AND FOREVER (CD Review)

Since 2002, SISTER SIN has worked hard to ear their position at the top of the metal scene and with a third album release on the way, they are clearly here to stay. The blueprints for Sweden's dirty metal cartel SISTER SIN were traced nearly ten years ago. Former bassist, Chris Martensson and current drummer Dave Sunderberg became fast friends, recognizing their mutual interest in 80's metal and their yearning to play the music unconventional to their home country. The pair quickly formed a band of their own in hopes to assault all ears around the world.

The search for the perfect front man began and they soon discovered vocalist Liv Jagrell. Although a female part wasn't their original idea, they decided to give her a shot and Dave explains, "It turned out she could sing better and had more balls than any of the other guys who tried out for the gig." With Liv on board, there was only one link missing: a guitarist.

Without hesitation, Dave phoned an old high school friend, Jimmy Hitula, who was known as the "best extreme metal guitar player around." With Jimmy's acceptance, everything was finally in place. The group finally began to craft their sound by fusing raw punk-rock energy with the power of classic metal. With their unique sound and line-up solidified, SISTER SIN gained widespread success in Europe and soon reached out to US based label Victory Records. The foursome signed to the label in 2008 and has since been able to successfully deliver their powerful sound to the US.

Back in 2010 i gave their album 'True Sound Of The Underground' an 8/10 it was good stuff, so now im gonna hit play and see what's changed...

Have to say the sound seems more melodic and mature, still in that classic 'Doro' vein but no way as raw as the previous albums and it has a crappy ballad called 'Morning After' which should be avoided at all costs.

Highlights include 'End Of The Line' which is full of power, screaming vocals and riffery!

RATING 7/10

For fans Of : Warlock/Doro, Girlschool, Scorpions