With Oden On Our Side
January 30, 2007 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
Amon Amarth, throughout their illustrious career thus far, has been a band that can simply do no wrong. All of their albums are magnificently enjoyable, and each has shown steady improvement over the previous one - and once again, this five-piece from Sweden have sculpted a record full of memorable melodies and eardrum-shattering brutality.
With Oden On Our Side has to be the band’s strongest release to date, and after repeated listens it appears that the drastic improvements noticeable on this album - the songs, and the entire album, in general is set at a faster tempo than all of their previous efforts - have only made it stand out more. A bold step taken by a band that is at the peak of their career.
The album kicks into full speed almost instantly, thanks to the opening track Valhall Awaits Me. In the vein of the songs in the Fate Of Norns album, the song brings a tinge of the signature sound that album possessed - a speedy guitar riff coupled with an equally fast rhythm section. Then, comes the guitar solo…and the solos in this album have to be heard to be believed. They are that good.
With Oden On Our Side has some emotional tracks, inspired by the tragedy and despair that is found in abundance in Viking folklore. The second song of the album Runes To My Memory is a slower and rather tragic affair, and vocalist Johan Hegg does an excellent job in conveying the heartbreaking fate of a warrior who can’t escape the grasps of death. The song also benefits from thoughtful lyrics - “When I am dead, lay me in a mound. Raise a stone for all to see, runes carved to my memory” is a line in the chorus of the song, and raises the hairs at the back of my neck every time I listen to it.
The album is a varied one, with heavier tracks like the title track and Asator bordering on Thrash Metal, but what makes this album a unique experience are the slower, melodic pieces. Hermod’s Ride To Hel - Lokes Treachery Part 1 and Cry Of The Black Birds are probably the best songs in the entire album, and are unequalled in their ability to express the raw emotions and majestic myths present in Viking folklore.
With Oden On Our Side effortlessly outdoes some of the more established releases of the year, and is a hell of an album!
The Stench Of Redemption by Deicide
January 30, 2007 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
The Stench Of Redemption is American Death Metal outfit Deicide’s offering for the year 2006, and what a release it proved to be!
The band went through some notable lineup changes prior to the recording of the album - with long time guitarists the Hoffman brothers seeing their way through the exit after wreaking havoc and inciting creative differences for far too long. Frontman Glen Benton, being his usual direct and straightforward self, axed the troublemakers and got himself the services of acclaimed Death Metal guitarists Ralph Santolla (previously of Death and Iced Earth) and Jack Owens (formerly of Tampa Bay Death Metal outfits Cannibal Corpse) as lead and rhythm guitarists, respectively.
The result is a genre defining, much needed kick in the guts album - The Stench Of Redemption.
All of the music for this album is written, surprisingly, by drummer Steve Ascheim - while frontman and bassist Glen Benton lends his talents for the lyrics. The Stench Of Redemption is an energy packed, 9 track album that displays some of the best songwriting Deicide has ever has the pleasure to be a part of - and with the recruiting of the renowned guitarists Santolla and Owens, the band has scaled new heights in sound, dynamics and focus.
Amazingly, both Santolla and Owens share guitar soloing duties - with Santolla handling the more complicated, classical music inspired solos while Owens whips out those heavier, speedier Heavy Metal solos with ease. For example, listen to the guitar solos in Homage For Satan - they really stand out for all the right reasons! Or, even better - watch the music video of the song in YouTube!
What happens here is the blissful marriage of Deicide’s brutal, meaty brand of Metal with some truly refreshing guitar soloing and instrumental parts - Deicide has never sounded more brutal and more beautiful, at the same time!
Some of the standout tracks in the album is The Stench Of Redemption, Death To Jesus, Desecration, Homage For Satan and The Lord’s Sedition - but overall, it would be unfair to listen to these tracks alone when the entire album is great as a whole and is meant to be heard in its entirety.
Deicide is a band at the height of its career, and it really shows in The Stench Of Redemption - and with the welcome addition of Santolla and Owens on board it has proven to be the Brutal Death Metal album of 2006.
Sultans Of Swing (The Very Best of Dire Straits)
January 30, 2007 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
Classic rock heroes Dire Straits, and frontman/guitarist Mark Knopfler in particular, has been responsible for some of the most memorable rock tunes of our times. Almost no one is a stranger to songs like Money For Nothing, Sultans of Swing or the very 80s sounding, almost-cheesy tune Walk of Life - and Sultans Of Swing (The Very Best of Dire Straits) is the album for those who like the band just enough to buy one compilation album full of the band’s best songs.
The album boasts an impressive 16 songs, including 3 live tracks in the form of Love Over Gold, Your Latest Trick and Local Hero (Wild Theme). A welcome addition to this nostalgic release, I might add, since the band really shines live and Mark has been known to be involved with some notable movie soundtracks in recent times.
Having grown up listening to music from Dire Straits, I can safely say that this compilation would appeal easily for people like me - targeting the people who have grown accustomed to the band’s tunes, but aren’t massive fans of the band’s work (in my case, I moved to heavy metal and chose to sit comfortably within it’s warm embraces).
For those who want a track listing of this album, here it is:
1. Sultans Of Swing
2. Lady Writer
3. Romeo And Juliet
4. Tunnel Of Love
5. Private Investigations
6. Twisting By The Pool
7. Love Over Gold (Live)
8. So Far Away
9. Money For Nothing
10. Brothers In Arms
11. Walk Of Life
12. Calling Elvis
13. Heavy Fuel
14. On Every Street
15. Your Latest Trick (Live)
16. Local Hero (Wild Theme) (Live)
Sultans Of Swing (The Very Best of Dire Straits) remains as one of the better Best Of compilations, and is easily available at any record store - and because it is pressed locally, the CD is reasonably priced as well. A fun, affordable and very well-planned release, Sultans Of Swing is a great album for those moments where you want to walk down memory lane all over again.
Dire Straits was also very well known as a “pub rock” band, and is regularly covered by musicians in pubs and cafes around the world - so can you think of a better album to play on the stereo when you get some friends for a few round of drinks on a cool, breezy evening?
Sacrament by Lamb Of God
January 30, 2007 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
Post-thrash band Lamb of God is probably one of the worthy successors to the Thrash Metal throne after Progressive Thrash outfit Nevermore takes the crown from an aging Slayer, and with Sacrament they prove that the claim isn’t unfounded by any means.
The album kicks into full gear immediately with opening track Walk With Me In Hell, with drummer Chris Adler paving the road to total annihilation with his clear-cut drum beats. The guitar riffs and vocals in this song are outstanding as well, making this the best song of the album, and the song ends just as spectacularly as it begins.
Again We Rise is the track after the opener, and is an energetic offering. Once again, drummer Adler executes his trademark drum work and lays the foundation of the song. Vocalist Randy Blythe’s percussive barks spell out the words with aplomb while the interesting main riff of the song plays repeatedly in the background, creating a powerful presence much in the vein of early Pantera. Again We Rise is topped off with a short albeit catchy guitar solo.
Redneck is the third song in the album and is chosen as the first single from Sacrament. A strangely entertaining music video accompanied this song as well, and depicts the band performing at a kid’s birthday party. It’s great to see the band’s roadies treat those party clowns the way they should be dealt with - with force and violence! Video aside, Redneck is a gripping song, and vocalist Randy Blythe’s performance in this once is faintly reflective of ex-Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo’s singing in the song 5 Minutes Alone. The change of tempo in Redneck after the 2:00 mark is a tasteful departure from the otherwise straightforward tempo of the song.
All the other 8 tracks in this 11-track behemoth sound like they have been constructed from a formula used for all the songs in the album - especially in terms of tempo and song arrangement - but there are a few pleasant surprises hidden in this album. For example, check out the blink-or-you’ll-miss blast beat at the 0:20 mark of Foot To The Throat.
Sacrament is great effort from Lamb of God, and is probably the band’s best CD thus far. Good, but not good enough to outperform the other American Thrash Metal bands still plying their trade today such as Slayer, Nevermore and Exodus - but is a reminder of what Lamb of God might be in the near future.
Ride The Lightning by Metallica
January 30, 2007 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
If there ever was, within the endless plethora of recordings of the music world, an album that was truly brilliant; the sound of limitless ingenuity and youthful bravado, the essence of raw rock ‘n roll and thunderous heavy metal rolled into one; then Ride The Lightning by Metallica would fit the description just perfectly.
Ride The Lightning was the band’s second effort after their groundbreaking debut Kill ‘Em All, and displayed the maturity and complexity of singer/songwriter/guitarist James Hetfield. There are 8 tracks present in this album, and there are no weak moments whatsoever.
From the blistering run of Fight Fire With Fire, to the band’s first ever ballad Fade To Black, across the hair-raising moments of the title track all the way to the epic Creeping Death, and ending with the majestic instrumental masterpiece The Call Of Ktulu - Ride The Lightning is a breathtaking and wondrous journey into a time where music was made for the sake of music, and music alone: away from the greedy intentions of the media and the record companies.
Ride The Lightning is far more complex than just a Hard Rock album, its way more progressive than a Thrash Metal album, and is sonically and lyrically more complete than a million other albums pigeonholed into the same genre. When it came out in 1984, it possessed, within the confines of a single album: several skull-crushing thrash numbers, a brilliant ballad and an unforgettable instrumental.
The album is Metallica at its best; having already dealt with the hiring and firing of Kirk Hammett and Dave Mustaine, respectively, and with primary songwriters James Hetfield and bass monster Cliff Burton at their creative peaks, Ride The Lightning was an album bound to happen within the band’s span as a touring and recording success. Ride The Lightning was also a far more experimental and varied album than the other 2 masterpieces to come - Master of Puppets and …And Justice For All - which were far more focused and, dare I say, far more formulaic as well. In that respect, Ride The Lightning is a better album than those I just mentioned - if it wasn’t for the no-rules, no-holds-barred approach in Ride The Lightning, the other great albums might not have come to fruition at all. This album laid the groundwork down for Metallica to build their success upon.
It would be tragic for someone to not have listened to this masterpiece, over and over again.
Rage Against The Machine
January 30, 2007 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
Rage Against The Machine was more than a band during their years of hard-hitting, politically-charged mayhem - they represented the voice of the people, and the soundtrack of a generation.
Comprised of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk, Rage Against The Machine probably started the trend of infusing rapping vocals into hard rock songs. Since the early 90s, they were already doing their thing before the countless hordes of followers we can still hear and see today (Korn, Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park, just to name a few).
Their self-titled debut album was a showcase of strong songwriting and remarkable guitar riffs, thanks to de la Rocha’s brilliant lyrics and Morello’s virtuoso guitar playing. Ten tracks make their way into the album, with each being a solid display of the band’s capabilities and musical talent. Many fans would tell you that this album is their best - even outshining the commercially-successful The Battle Of Los Angeles.
There are simply no weak tracks present in Rage Against The Machine, and if I had to name just one outstanding song then I would have to pick Wake Up - which was later included in The Matrix soundtrack - for those who can still remember the movie, Wake Up is the song that starts playing towards the end of The Matrix, when Neo is in the phone booth - and keeps on playing until he flies off and the ending credits come on.
The band was blessed with de la Rocha’s razor-sharp vocal prowess, Morello’s revolutionary approach to guitar playing (Morello is best known for manipulating his guitar and effects pedals to create a multitude of sounds) and Commerford’s amazing finger-picked basslines. It’s a shame that the band met its demise through internal disputes that have been going on between de la Rocha and the rest of the band members for years.
As any modern rock fan would know, the rest of the band members soon formed Audioslave with ex-Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell - thus killing all hopes of a possible reunion with de la Rocha. Even more tragic is how Morello, Commerford and Wilk have totally distanced themselves from the music of Rage Against The Machine, and how they have found comfort sitting within the safe boundaries of slow rock numbers.
Fans of Audioslave should really pick this album up, just so they can hear how the band really was before they bowed down to the temptations of commercial success. Rage Against The Machine (both the band and the album) was a symbol of unbridled energy and limitless creativity in rock music, and will always be remembered as one.
Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness by Smashing Pumpkins
January 30, 2007 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness is a gargantuan effort from the Smashing Pumpkins, in many ways.
The album is a double-disc affair, and the CDs are titled Dawn To Dusk and Twilight To Starlight. This is a nice touch by mastermind Billy Corgan, who did not resort to the standard option of naming the discs by numbers 1 and 2 or the letters A and B. This is the very first hints of what’s to come in Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness.
When it was released, this album was highly-acclaimed by both critics and fans - and was quickly branded as one of the best, if not the best, Smashing Pumpkins album of all time - thanks to songs like the unforgettable 1979, the crushing Bullet With Butterfly Wings and the melancholic Tonight Tonight (probably one of the greatest love songs of all time!). That’s a great feat indeed, considering the superb quality of other such Pumpkins albums like Gish and Siamese Dream.
The first disc, Dawn To Dusk, has in it’s capacity 14 amazing tracks, while the other disc Twilight To Starlight boasts another 14 tracks as well. If I’m not mistaken, the pleasantly haunting title track - present in the first disc as an instrumental album opener - actually won a Grammy award!
The ultimate charm of Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness, however, is how the band - and Billy Corgan in particular - managed to intricately weave all 28 tracks in the album into a marvelous musical journey. It might be a little time consuming, but I strongly recommend the listener to sit down and enjoy the album from start to end, at one go - with only toilet breaks in between - to fully appreciate the album in its element.
Strangely, the tracks present do not work in tandem with each other like most concept albums - but somehow, in some strange, unexplainable way - they just fit in extremely well with each other. I wonder how Billy Corgan managed to accomplish this - it would be mind numbing for anyone else to even try to fit in 28 totally unrelated tracks into one single album - but then again, Billy Corgan is a songwriting God who walks among songwriters.
Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness is the Smashing Pumpkins at their very best, and is a must have for fans of alternative rock or modern rock. Dare I say that it is the best double-disc modern rock album of all time?
Mary Star Of The Sea by Zwan
January 30, 2007 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
Zwan was the brainchild of Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan during the times after the bands imminent demise after the Machina and Machina II albums (the second Machina was released free as a download online, most likely due to the band’s fallout with their record label, Virgin). After having said that, I’m not really sure if the second Machina album counts as an official release by the band - just one of many mysteries surrounding the Smashing Pumpkins - and even I haven’t had the pleasure (or displeasure, depending on the quality of the album) of listening to it.
Anyway, back to Zwan and Mary Star Of The Sea.
This effort, a clever, eclectic mix of folk and acoustic rock blended with some Pumpkins-era songwriting, is undoubtedly a Billy Corgan brainchild. At the time, he was probably still recovering from the demise of his beloved Pumpkins - his greatest contribution to the alternative rock world - and needed the comfort of writing songs and jamming with other musicians.
Thus the forming of Zwan: including the likes of Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, and yet another female bassist in the form of Paz Lenchantin.
Zwan can be considered as a one-time project, since the band was dismantled after the release of this album - with Billy blaming the other members for not being committed to the band. Understandably so, since the other members devoted a lot of their time with their own projects as well when Billy would have wanted them to focus on nothing else but Zwan.
The album, however, is a pleasant listen - and can be summed up by listening to the enchanting single Honestly - a refreshing tune blessed with Billy’s penchant for a brilliant tune and pleasant lyrics. For those who have seen the video accompanying this single, you can actually experience the feeling of unbridled bliss weaved into the song.
It’s a sad thing that Billy disbanded Zwan, as it could have been a more pleasant, radio friendly sibling of the great Smashing Pumpkins - capable of exposing the brilliant songwriting of Billy Corgan to the world; and injecting the dull mainstream with some noteworthy singles.
With the resting of Zwan, Billy went on to release a techno-tinged solo album - which was nothing like Zwan but was more of a continuation of the modern sounding Machina albums. He soon told the world how much he wanted his band - the Pumpkins - back, and got what he wanted. They have now reunited, and we can only hope that they can once again scale the great heights they enjoyed during much of the 90s.
Enemy Of God by Kreator
January 30, 2007 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
German thrash metal legends Kreator released Enemy Of God, an album chock full of finely-crafted, truly memorable thrash tracks, in 2005. I got my hands on a copy when the imported CDs and tour posters were given away at the door during the band’s monumental performance in The Backroom, Kuala Lumpur in September of the same year, as part of their world tour supporting the album.
Enemy Of God is the release after the highly acclaimed Violent Revolution, which was a superb album - laden with creative riffs and impressionable songs.
A total of twelve tracks make up this monster of an album, and once you hit the play button there is no end to the barrage of good heavy metal - the constant battering of Ventor’s drums and the formidable guitar works are truly majestic.
The best tracks are located - I don’t know if this was intentional or otherwise - at the very beginning from the album. The brilliance starts from the intense title track, and is carried on - without any signs of slowing down - through to the second track, Impossible Brutality (perhaps the best track in the entire album) and right down to the terrorizing third track Suicide Terrorist.
Then, the songs slow some signs of being lackluster fillers - until the brutality picks up again in the ninth track One Evil Comes - A Million Follow. A few more tracks after this and the album reaches its end.
So, is Enemy Of God an album worthy of the Kreator name? Hell yeah!
Ventor’s drumming has just gotten better, and frontman Mille Petrozza’s screams and deep singing voice hasn’t faltered at all. Enemy Of God seems to be a decent follow up to Violent Revolution, although I would definitely proclaim the latter as being the better one. By all means, Enemy Of God can stand, comfortably, among the band’s earlier material - but by no measure is this a second Pleasure To Kill!
If there are any weaknesses in this album, then I would have to say that there should’ve been lesser tracks - usually, ten tracks per album works fine - but who am I to tell the mighty guys of Kreator what to do! I would have been happier if there were ten or lesser tracks - with each of the tracks given more focus - I can only imagine the result of having the pleasure of listening to ten fantastic songs that have the same quality as the first three songs present in Enemy Of God!
A great listen, and should appeal to all fans of extreme metal.
Demons & Wizards
January 30, 2007 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
This self titled debut album - by the highly acclaimed project of Iced Earth guitarist/songwriter Jon Schaffer and Blind Guardian vocalist Hansi Kursch named Demons & Wizards - is a brilliant piece of songwriting and lyrical ingenuity.
There are a dozen tracks in this masterpiece of a debut, and for those who have seen the album cover can agree that it is just as mystifying as the music present inside the covers. The twelve tracks include two chants - entitled Rites of Passage and Chant - that serve as the album’s intro and outro, respectively. Nothing much here, but Rites of Passage is a cool way to kick off this powerful piece of Power Metal.
Things really get going into full gear when the second track - or first real track - Heaven Denies starts blasting out of the speakers. For those who got the album when it first came out and were curious as to how the music of Demons & Wizards would sound like, then Heaven Denies must have answered their eager question. Demons & Wizards sounds more like Iced Earth than it sounds like Blind Guardian - which would seem better to Iced Earth fans like me.
The principal reason for this is that Jon Schaffer writes all of the music in Demons & Wizards, while the lyrical direction is given to Hansi Kursch.
What happens here is a clever mix of fast, pummeling Iced Earth guitars and drums with a dash of Blind Guardian’s classical and folk music inspired vocals. This formula seems to work wonders, and tracks like Heaven Denies, Poor Man’s Crusade, Winter of Souls and The Whistler are brilliant, energetic Power Metal numbers.
Speaking of the songs in the album, there are no weak tracks present here - but there are good tracks, and there are absolutely brilliant tracks. When I first put my ears to this record I couldn’t believe what I was hearing; Demons & Wizards are simple incredible. Never have I heard songs this good anywhere else - hell, some of the songs here are even better than many Iced Earth tracks!
Hence, it would be pointless (and ridiculous) to name all of the standout tracks present in this superb recording, but I will, however, indulge you by revealing the one track that makes all the difference: Fiddler on the Green.
Fiddler on the Green is a hauntingly beautiful acoustic track at first - capturing the raw emotions present in Schaffer’s guitar melodies and Kursch’s amazing vocals. The melancholic tune progresses into stunning instrumental parts before converging all the elements present in the song into a magnificent outro. Simply amazing!
Twelve out of ten stars for this wonderful piece.
