I had a job by this point in '08, which meant there wasn't as much free time to explore strange curios from the past and it was easier to earn my bus fare churning formulaically about the CD-Rs in my big box. The alphabetical adventure is picking up pace.
Reviews of albums from bands beginning with D, written for dooyoo.co.uk from 2001–2008.
D
Danzig
****
Written on 20.06.08
The self-styled Evil Elvis, Glenn Danzig's rock career is one I've enjoyed in its various incarnations, from his time fronting my favourite punk band the Misfits in their classic period through his brief work with Samhain and finally his successful 'solo' project that crosses into heavy metal territory. The first, self-titled release from Danzig is regarded as a classic of the genre, rooted in a Southern American doom rock style but retaining enough punk energy to keep things exciting, and adding touches of country music to complete the unique sound.
Not all of these songs are instant classics of course, and indeed the album seems to slip in quality (or at least novelty) after the hit single 'Mother,' where it reaches its peak of fun. Songs like the compelling opener 'Twist of Cain,' 'Am I Demon' and 'Evil Thing' are all great examples of doom metal, while the torturously slow 'She Rides' and surprisingly upbeat 'Soul on Fire' balance things out with their country influence. Danzig's vocals are the driving force, varying between his Elvis croon and a more traditionally metal tone reminiscent of Metallica's James Hetfield, who himself reputedly performs backing vocals on select tracks. But for every inventive, immortal guitar riff, there are those such as dominate 'End of Time' that just sound like unimaginative AC/DC knock-offs.
1. Twist of Cain
2. Not of This World
3. She Rides
4. Soul on Fire
5. Am I Demon
6. Mother
7. Possession
8. End of Time
9. The Hunter (Albert King cover)
10. Evil Thing
Dark Angel
Leave Scars
****
Written on 20.06.08
'Leave Scars' is perhaps the deservedly overlooked album in Dark Angel's discography, sitting between the full-speed onslaught of their second album and the technical virtuosity of their fourth. However unremarkable, it's still a great effort of late eighties thrash, showcasing a heavier and more vicious side to Dark Angel that comes perilously close to early death metal on occasion before once again proving its thrash credentials.
Ron Rinehart is the band's new vocalist and puts in a fantastic performance here, sounding enraged and even manic at times as he spits through the full-pelt verses, before letting out some surprising screams in the high-speed cover of Led Zeppelin's 'Immigrant Song.' Guitarists Eric Meyer and Jim Durkin are afforded plenty of opportunities to show off with extended solo spots in each song, and lead the way in two instrumentals: 'Cauterization' is a competent thrash instrumental that's a little lacking in excitement, while 'Worms' is a less impressive slice of guitar masturbation.
1. The Death of Innocence
2. Never to Rise Again
3. No One Answers
4. Cauterization
5. Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin cover)
6. Older Than Time Itself
7. Worms
8. The Promise of Agony
9. Leave Scars
Dark Fortress
Stab Wounds
****
Written on 20.06.08
Dark Fortress are one of the more accessible black metal bands I've heard, and comfortingly one that still possesses artistic integrity despite the concessions to a (slightly) more mainstream audience (but, like, not really). The emphasis is on melodic guitars and a casual tempo rather than the deliberately discordant and ferocious riffing that characterises much black metal (as much as I love that too), and if the album has one primary failing, it's that it all sounds a little too polished and mechanical, though not to the extent of the more recent albums of Dimmu Borgir or Emperor.
The guitar melodies are a strong driving force throughout, as much as they will infuriate black metal purists, and are reminiscent of Dissection. Azathoth's screams are easily legible, and Paymon's keyboards are used for atmosphere rather than obliterating the mood of songs through tedious over-use, the notable example being the compulsory piano interlude 'Vanitas... No Horizons.' I'd still recommend the works of Dissection to anyone looking to approach black metal without being too terrified, but Dark Fortress is a much more accurate halfway point than Dimmu Borgir or Cradle of Filth, who now resemble the traditional black metal sound only tangentially.
1. Iconoclasm Omega
2. Self Mutilation
3. Stab Wounds
4. When 1000 Crypts Awake
5. Despise the "Living"
6. A Midnight Poem
7. Rest in Oblivion
8. Vanitas... No Horizons
9. Like a Somnambulist in Daylight's Fire
10. Sleep!
Advantages: Great melodic black metal for newcomers.
Disadvantages: Offers little to those already familiar with the genre.
Dark Suns
Swanlike
***
Written on 21.06.08
This would be an exceptional album if it wasn't such an obvious Opeth knock-off. While imitation isn't necessarily a bad thing, the comparisons between Dark Suns' debut release and the more well-known progressive death metal works of Opeth are undeniable, just as undeniable as the fact that Opeth came first.
As Opeth imitation goes, this is a remarkable effort, and at times it even stands up to the superior band's material, particularly the great song 'The Sun Beyond Your Eden' with its guitar riff that could easily be taken from Opeth's 'Still Life' or 'Deliverance.' But aside from this, comparison renders it all second-rate, the opening title track in particular being such an obvious copy-cat of Opeth's style note-for-note that it's almost shameful.
The album's more impressive moments come in the atmospheric gothic spoken word piece 'Inside Final Dreams' that should please My Dying Bride fans, and the final 'bonus track' (that nevertheless seems to appear as standard on all versions), a fourteen-minute cur from one of their earlier releases that displays a much different and more effective doom metal style.
1. Swanlike
2. Infiltration
3. The Sun Beyond Your Eden
4. Virtuous Dilemma
5. Inside Final Dreams
6. The Neverending
7. In Silent Harmony II (Instrumental)
8. Suffering
Dark Suns
Existence
****
Written on 21.06.08
Dark Suns have come a long way since their derivative debut, and now have a much different and more distinctive sound, even if comparisons to bands such as Green Carnation in particular are unavoidable. Abandoning pretensions to death metal, which they seemingly couldn't play without stealing all of their ideas from Opeth, the band is reinvented as a competitive progressive metal outfit, still retaining its heaviness but supplementing this with a greater keyboard focus and entirely clean vocals.
This is impressive prog metal in the vein of Pain of Salvation or Riverside rather than the overt showmanship of something like Dream Theater, and while there's always a lot going on in the well-produced soundscape, it's never enough to alienate the listener. Songs like 'The Euphoric Sense' are led by memorable choruses, while at the other end of the scale, the final two songs are long and comparatively complex, but still approachable for newcomers.
1. Zero
2. A Slumbering Portrait
3. The Euphoric Sense
4. Her and the Element
5. Daydream
6. Anemone
7. You, A Phantom Still
8. Gently Bleeding
9. Abiding Space
10. Patterns of Oblivion
11. One Endless Childish Day
Dark Tranquillity
The Gallery
*****
Written on 21.06.08
Although despised by death metal purists, Swedish melodic death metal boasts an impressive range of talent that saw the genre develop through the 1990s before deteriorating into the shambles it is today. By far the most impressive and groundbreaking of all of these bands is Dark Tranquillity, one of the very few acts still performing great music today, though it's their second album 'The Gallery' that really defines their sound, and the potential of melodic death metal as a whole.
This is as flawless as a melodeath album can get, combining Mikael Stanne's fierce vocals with the alternatively heavy and melodic guitars of Niklas Sundin and Frederik Johansson, churning out riff after memorable, distinctive, compelling riff. The opening song 'Punish My Heaven' still blows me away with its relentless motion and sheer quantity of ideas, without ever seeming overlong or alienating, and Stanne's vocal performance keeps things intense.
Other songs such as 'The Gallery' and 'Lethe' introduce lighter, minimalistic elements along with female vocals to diversify the sound, before the final epic 'Mine is the Grandeur ... Of Melancholy Burning' morphs from a folky acoustic intro into a plodding death metal epic.
1. Punish My Heaven
2. Silence, and the Firmament Withdrew
3. Edenspring
4. The Dividing Line
5. The Gallery
6. The One Brooding Warning
7. Midway Through Infinity
8. Lethe
9. The Emptiness From Which I Fed
10. Mine Is the Grandeur...
11. ...Of Melancholy Burning
Dark Tranquillity
The Mind's I
***
Written on 21.06.08
Although a reasonable album in its own right, the unfortunate successor to the excellent 'The Gallery' turned out to be a letdown, and ultimately a forgotten entry in the Dark Tranquillity canon after being overshadowed by its controversial successor. While it lacks the ambition and execution of 'The Gallery,' this is still a forward-looking album that increases the melodic elements even further, but at the same time lacks direction in its heavier aspects, which now sound less passionate and more mechanical, even down to the vocals.
Without any real classics to its name, there are still enough decent offerings here to make this a worthwhile listening for melodic death metal fans. 'Constant' and 'Still Moving Sinews' incorporate great lead guitars, while 'Tidal Tantrum' even borders on folk metal. Unfortunately, what stand out more are the failed attempts to recapture past successes, most evident in the comparatively bland opening track 'Dreamlore Degenerate' that paves the way for the next album, and the progressive 'Insanity's Crescendo' that only ends up sounding like an inferior version of the final track from the previous album.
1. Dreamlore Degenerate
2. Zodijackyl Light
3. Hedon
4. Scythe, Rage and Roses
5. Constant
6. Dissolution Factor Red
7. Insanity's Crescendo
8. Still Moving Sinews
9. Atom Heart 243.5
10. Tidal Tantrum
11. Tongues
12. The Mind's Eye
Dark Tranquillity
Projector
****
Written on 21.06.08
Dark Tranquillity's fourth album doubtless alienated many of the fans they had won with their fast and aggressive take on melodic death metal, by slowing down and eliminating some of the death metal elements altogether in favour of a gothic approach. I was so convinced I'd hate this album that I avoided it for years, but now I've finally listened to it, I'm actually really impressed.
The soft gothic croons and light keyboard backdrops aren't exactly my cup of tea (neither is tea, actually; I'm just that picky), but I can't deny that the band takes on this new, quite daring approach with extreme competence. The style drags on a little as the album continues, but in the earlier songs in particular, it's some of the best gothic metal I've ever heard. 'FreeCard' breaks the news slowly and gently, only introducing the singing after a sufficient growl quota, but its successor 'ThereIn' goes all-out with a catchy, memorable chorus and vocal-centric song that ends up being the best on the whole disc.
1. FreeCard
2. ThereIn
3. UnDo Control
4. Auctioned
5. To a Bitter Halt
6. The Sun Fired Blanks
7. Nether Novas
8. Day to End
9. Dobermann
10. On Your Time
Dark Tranquillity
Haven
**
Written on 21.06.08
Like 'The Mind's I' two albums previously, 'Haven' fails to make its mark in the Dark Tranquillity canon by effectively bridging two more substantial releases, and only ever achieving a half-hearted mix of the two styles. It's clear that the band wished to regain some death metal credibility after the gothic metal of 'Projector,' but the reintroduction of growls and heavy riffs clashes with the tempo and mood, which are still both rooted in the more laid-back style of the previous album. Add to that some infuriating keyboards, and you wind up with a cheesy Gothenburg stereotype that manages to make Soilwork look impressive by comparison.
The only songs where the balance feels right are ultimately very bland and nothing compared to the band's previous or later works, certainly no hint of the greatness that was to immediately follow. The worst offenders here are 'Not Built to Last,' which sounds like it belongs on the last album but has any sense of atmosphere ruined by inappropriate grunting, and 'Feast of Burden' which focus on unimpressive piano and electronic elements. If the band released a version of this album with the intrusive keyboards muted, it would almost be worth listening to.
1. The Wonders at Your Feet
2. Not Built to Last
3. Indifferent Suns
4. Feast of Burden
5. Haven
6. The Same
7. Fabric
8. Ego Drama
9. Rundown
10. Emptier Still
11. At Loss for Words
Dark Tranquillity
Damage Done
****
Written on 21.06.08
I can't help thinking of Dark Tranquillity's most recent three albums as a trilogy, seemingly striving to re-establish the band as the leading force in Gothenburg-style melodic death metal after the experimentation of previous releases that has now been abandoned in favour of a return to their roots. While this would soon prove to be a hindrance as the band essentially ran out of ideas and started to repeat themselves ad nauseam, the brief return to grace with 'Damage Done' makes it one of the finer albums of their career.
If Dark Tranquillity were indeed hoping to prove their credibility in the face of bands such as In Flames, whose sound had deviated far from their roots by this point, then this album is wholly successful. 'Final Resistance' and 'Format C: for Cortex' are both instantly enjoyable melodic death metal classics with great choruses, while the keyboard touches to songs such as 'Hours Passed in Exile' actually enhance the atmosphere, rather than spoiling it as was the case on the previous album.
While this is all fairly simplistic, by-the-numbers Gothenburg metal, there's still enough variety to keep things interesting, evidenced by the slower-paced 'Monochromatic Stains' and the excellent melodic finale 'Ex Nihilo,' which remains the band's finest non-metal song.
1. Final Resistance
2. Hours Passed in Exile
3. Monochromatic Stains
4. Single Part of Two
5. The Treason Wall
6. Format C: for Cortex
7. Damage Done
8. Cathode Ray Sunshine
9. The Enemy
10. I, Deception
11. White Noise / Black Silence
12. Ex Nihilo
Dark Tranquillity
****
Written on 21.06.08
Dark Tranquillity's first live album doubles up as a very nice collection of rare and previously unreleased material, making for the perfect gift to the fans. While the quality of the material on the first disc is expectedly inferior to a regular studio album, these being the tracks deemed unworthy of the final cut, they still hold up well to their respective sessions: thus, the 'Damage Done' tracks (1-2) are heavy and enjoyable, the 'Projector' session (6-7) revisits the band's brief and successful flirtation with gothic metal, and the 'Haven' material (3-5) is disappointing just like the album itself.
Of far more interest to old-time fans is the inclusion of the band's 'Trail of Life Decayed' demo and 'A Moonclad Reflection' 7" single (10-12 and 8-9 respectively), which predate the first album and present an embryonic incarnation of the band that I find a lot more appealing than their more recent, polished works.
As if this wasn't enough, the second CD takes the live audio from the previous year's 'Live Damage' DVD and makes for the definitive Dark Tranquillity live CD (inasmuch as it's the only one so far). Focusing on the 'Damage Done' era principally, there are still some choice suts from the glory days of 'The Gallery,' and it's interesting to note just how well the radically different style of the 'Projector' tracks fits in.
Disc 1
1. Static
2. The Poison Well
3. Misery in Me
4. In Sight
5. Cornered
6. Exposure
7. No One
8. Yesterworld
9. Unfurled by Dawn
10. Midwinter / Beyond Enlightenment
11. Vernal Awakening
12. Void of Tranquillity
Disc 2
1. The Wonders at Your Feet
2. The Treason Wall
3. Hedon
4. White Noise / Black Silence
5. Haven
6. Punish My Heaven
7. Monochromatic Stains
8. Indifferent Suns
9. Format C: for Cortex
10. Insanity's Crescendo
11. Hours Passed in Exile
12. The Sun Fired Blanks
13. Damage Done
14. Lethe
15. Not Built to Last
16. ThereIn
17. Zodijackyl Light
18. Final Resistance
19. Ex Nihilo
Dark Tranquillity
Fiction
***
Written on 21.06.08
The most recent release from Dark Tranquillity follows directly on from the previous two albums, in its repetition of the same melodic death metal style with very little to distinguish it from the crowd. One of its advantages is a comparatively high budget due to the band's high profile, more evident here than ever as the drums sound more distinct and powerful than before, while the keyboards are relegated satisfyingly to the background in most songs.
This album's main failing is its sheer repetitiveness, as every song descends into an ambient, atmospheric section at some point in its second half, a gimmick that starts to get tiresome quite early on. As much as I criticise the band's unimaginative style these days, the worst songs are those that do attempt something new, or at least something eight years old from the days of 'Projector.' 'Misery's Crown' sounds more like something a gothic band like HIM would do, with added growls, and it's only the female vocals and piano of the finale 'The Mundane and the Magic' that hint towards a return of experimental touches in the band's future.
1. Nothing to No One
2. The Lesser Faith
3. Terminus (Where Death Is Most Alive)
4. Blind at Heart
5. Icipher
6. Inside the Particle Storm
7. Empty Me
8. Misery's Crown
9. Focus Shift
10. The Mundane and the Magic
Darkestrah
Embrace of Memory
****
Written on 21.06.08
Darkestrah are an interesting band, combining German and Kyrgyzstan origins with old-school black metal of the catchiest kind and giving bands such as Burzum a run for their money. Despite the band's exotic foundations, this is a distinctly Norse-sounding release, based on gritty guitar riffs and relentlessly pounding drum blast beats while Kriegtalith screeches over the top, and as such it should easily satisfy traditional black metal fans.
After the ominous sound effects of the intro song (that perfectly compliment the creepy artwork), 'Black Cathedral' instantly kicks off with riff after memorable riff, making for a great mid-paced song reminiscent of Burzum, before the album heads in a faster direction for the most part, and becomes a little less compelling. There are some interesting touches, most notable the keyboard and cello additions to 'Akyr Zaman,' but with three songs hovering either side of the ten-minute mark, the album doesn't grab the listener for its entire duration, and does cross over into hypnotic, evil background music on occasion.
1. Embrace of Memory
2. Black Cathedral
3. Sign of War
4. Akyr Zaman
5. Human Hopes
6. Primitive Dance
7. Marching of the Hordes (Pagan cover)
Darkthrone
Under a Funeral Moon
*****
Written on 21.06.08
Finally abandoning the death metal elements present on the band's previous two releases, Darkthrone's third album is Norwegian black metal in its purest, coldest and most entrancing form, the perfect soundtrack for a harsh winter's night of misanthropy in the woods.
The sound will be familiar to anyone with black metal experience, but this is where it all began. Almost infuriatingly sloppy production reducing the guitars to a buzz of black noise, relentless drum blast beats hammering away in the distance and a hoarse croak delivering what must be fairly evil lyrics if you ever had a chance of deciphering them, this isn't for the faint-hearted, but all the same it's an album that has a hell of a lot to offer for those prepared to give it a chance. Unlike their contemporaries such as Mayhem, who emphasised aggression and speed, Darkthrone at their prime were incredibly atmospheric and even epic, despite the relative simplicity of Zephyrous' repetitive riffs.
Perhaps wary of slipping into tedium or an overly hypnotic lull, these songs all feature brief breaks and changes, such as the decrease in speed of 'Summer of the Diabolical Holocaust' and brief solo at the end of 'Unholy Black Metal.' Next time, there would be no concessions.
1. Natassja in Eternal Sleep
2. Summer of the Diabolical Holocaust
3. The Dance of Eternal Shadows
4. Unholy Black Metal
5. To Walk the Infernal Fields
6. Under a Funeral Moon
7. Inn I De Dype Skogers Favn
8. Crossing the Triangle of Flames
Darkthrone
Transilvanian Hunger
****
Written on 21.06.08
After perfecting the black metal sound with 'Under a Funeral Moon,' Darkthrone opted to plunge to even further extremes, resulting in a somewhat divisive affair. 'Transilvanian Hunger' still possesses all the crunchy, treble-heavy, frosty, downright suicidal atmosphere of its predecessor, but now each song relies even more on repetition to the point that each offering works like a black metal mantra. Those looking for an intense listening experience are bound to be disappointed, as however intense the guitars, drums and cackling vocals may be, it still fades into a hypnotic background fuzz before too long.
This is an incredibly repetitive album, but still one perfectly suited to the mood it succeeds in conveying, one that countless black metal acts have imitated since. Performed only by vocalist Nocturno Culto and Fenriz who did everything else, this is too simplistic and minimal to be called experimental, but it nevertheless spawned a horde of imitators.
1. Transilvanian Hunger
2. Over Fjell Og Gjennom Torner
3. Skald Av Satans Sol
4. Slottet I Det Fjerne
5. Graven Tåkeheimens Saler
6. I En Hall Med Flesk Og Mjød
7. As Flittermice as Satans Spys
8. En Ås I Dype Skogen
Daylight Dies
No Reply
***
Written on 21.06.08
Daylight Dies are an American band playing a distinctly European style of death metal, heavily influenced by the doom metal of Katatonia around their seminal 'Brave Murder Day' release. This band's first album 'No Reply' is far from a worthy successor, based around mostly dull and overly repetitive rhythms, but it still makes for pleasant background music for doom fans, even if it's not as gloomy as it perhaps should be, especially in the more upbeat moments such as 'I Wait' and the catchy, very Katatonia-esque 'Four Corners.'
'In the Silence' is similar to a post-rock instrumental, rising gradually to a crescendo across its considerable length, and it leaves me feeling that this album may have been more successful as a wholly instrumental affair, though that wouldn't have added any much-needed excitement. The opening song 'The Line That Divides' is fairly good doom metal, if a little bland, but after this point you don't really need to go on.
1. The Line That Divides
2. I Wait
3. Hollow Hands
4. Four Corners
5. Unending Waves
6. In the Silence
7. Minutes Pass
8. Back In the World
9. Everything That Belongs
Daylight Dies
Dismantling Devotion
***
Written on 21.06.08
Daylight Dies' second album finally goes some way towards establishing the band's own sound, even if they still essentially owe everything to Katatonia's 'Brave Murder Day.' Nathan Ellis' vocals are superior to those of his predecessor, deep and powerful in every song, and the guitars now stand out rather than fade exclusively into the background, the pleasant lead melodies at the end of 'A Life Less Lived' actually making me wish for more as they faded to silence. The style is still dominated by slow, plodding drums, and while this keeps things nice and accessible, it does hinder the effect of the more sorrowful songs like 'All We Had.'
The last two songs hint towards more experimental tendencies to come, with a clean singing melodic introduction to 'Lies That Bind' followed up with the great instrumental 'Dismantling Devotion,' which doesn't try to show off at all, but is content to exude a classic doomy atmosphere.
1. A Life Less Lived
2. Dead Air
3. A Dream Resigned
4. All We Had
5. Solitary Refinement
6. Strive to See
7. Lies That Bind
8. Dismantling Devotion
Advantages: More compelling and involving.
Disadvantages: Still steals from Katatonia.
Death
Scream Bloody Gore
****
Written on 21.06.08
After several years and countless demo releases, Florida death metal pioneers Death released their full-length debut album and kick-started a genre. There are inevitable debates about whether or not this was the first death metal album, but the argument can be succinctly put to rest by pointing out that this is the best.
Death remain one of my all-time favourite death metal bands, the original and best in a way, and it's fascinating to take a glimpse into their humble origins after the experimental excesses of their later, even more impressive career. While 'Scream Bloody Gore' is certainly primitive and repetitive, it still stands far above the majority of eighties death metal, and boasts enough variety across its tracks to retain replay value over twenty years later.
The core of Death is guitarist and vocalist Chuck Schuldiner, who would remain the only permanent member across the band's turbulent career until his own untimely death in 2001. Schuldiner's distinctive guitar style is audible even this far back, primarily in the delightfully evil-sounding lead melodies and solos, even if the rest of the music is expectedly reminiscent of eighties thrash, albeit in a heavier and fiercer variety than the likes of Slayer.
1. Infernal Death
2. Zombie Ritual
3. Denial of Life
4. Sacrificial
5. Mutilation
6. Regurgitated Guts
7. Baptized in Blood
8. Torn to Pieces
9. Evil Dead
10. Scream Bloody Gore
Death
Spiritual Healing
****
Written on 21.06.08
Death's third album is a natural bridge between the gory simplicity of their early days and the socially-conscious experimental death metal of their subsequent albums, striking an impressive balance between the two eras and remaining a classic in its own right. The production job is vastly improved, allowing the drums to be heard clearly, while the classic guitar duo of Chuck Schuldiner and James Murphy sees songs extended longer than before in order to fit in all their great performances.
While death metal purists (an irritating bunch) may despair at the move away from horror lyrics, the change is one that suited Death's development, and here the results are very pleasing. The technicality of the music isn't as pronounced as it would be on their next album, but each song has something to keep it distinctive, whether it's a sensational opening riff ('Spiritual Healing') or an ominous, doom metal tempo ('Altering the Future').
1. Living Monstrosity
2. Altering the Future
3. Defensive Personalities
4. Within the Mind
5. Spiritual Healing
6. Low Life
7. Genetic Reconstruction
8. Killing Spree
Advantages: Perfects the early death metal style, and is ready to move on.
Disadvantages: Still a little repetitive once each song hits its stride.
Death
Human
*****
Written on 21.06.08
The seminal 'Human' inaugurates the second half of Death's career, the junction at which the old-school thrash fans disembark and the prog fans take a keen interest. That's not to say that this is an entirely different band, and indeed anyone who enjoyed the heaviness of earlier albums such as 'Leprosy' should be satisfied with the even more devastating production job here, it's just that the guitar spots that tended to carve out their own, indulgent sections in each song on the previous 'Spiritual Healing' are now more extensive and more experimental, leading to the full-blown instrumental 'Cosmic Sea.'
On the other hand, this is a much more concisely edited affair than the somewhat messy 'Spiritual Healing,' as even though songs and instruments insist on playing at varied speeds and time signatures, they all call it quits before things have a chance to become tiresome. For the first time, every song remains distinctive throughout, unlike earlier albums which tended to boast variety in the intros before the sound descended into the same bashing death metal, and the dominant lead guitar stylings of 'Suicide Machine' set in place what will come to be seen as Chuck Schuldiner's trademark.
1. Flattening of Emotions
2. Suicide Machine
3. Together as One
4. Secret Face
5. Lack of Comprehension
6. See Through Dreams
7. Cosmic Sea (Instrumental)
8. Vacant Planets
Advantages: Excellent experimental touches combined with solid death metal.
Disadvantages: Bass is obscured by production.
Death Angel
Act III
***
Written on 22.06.08
Another early nineties thrash metal album that seems ashamed to be thrash in the wake of the debilitating grunge explosion, 'Act III' is an entirely mediocre offering from Death Angel. Mark Osegueda's vocals are still powerful in their medium range, but the rest of the music takes a severe downturn in its half-hearted attempts at mainstream acceptance while retaining a semblance of heaviness, the latter only being accomplished in a handful of songs such as 'Stagnant' and parts of 'Seemingly Endless Time' before it wimps out.
The worst offenders are the terrible acoustic ballads 'Veil of Deception' and 'A Room With a View,' the first of which sounds so optimistic that it clashes with its predecessors. 'Discontinued' is structurally unusual, at least showing a commendable desire to experiment even if the result is flawed, but the rest merely sounds like the same below-par, watered-down thrash that many of the band's contemporaries were producing in the bland nineties.
1. Seemingly Endless Time
2. Stop
3. Veil of Deception
4. The Organization
5. Discontinued
6. A Room With a View
7. Stagnant
8. EX-TC
9. Disturbing the Peace
10. Falling Asleep
Decapitated
Winds of Creation
***
Written on 22.06.08
Decapitated are yet another Polish death metal band aspiring to brutality and technicality in the wake of Vader, and yet another to barely scrape together a mediocre album. Their debut 'Winds of Creation' is probably their best, displaying their obvious talent and conceding to at least some semblance of structure before later albums would dismiss coherence as a liability, and instead concentrate on showing off just how many variations of an unmemorable guitar riff could be squeezed into a four-minute song.
The band is young and talented, which deserves admiration, but the album doesn't hold together as a worthwhile listening experience. Although the music is restless and all about moving relentlessly on with new ideas, the tracks are surprisingly samey, with only the ambient outro 'Dance Macabre' being a bland deviation, and the final Slayer cover inevitably (and thus pointlessly) inferior to the original. With nothing to latch onto in the way of repeated hooks or melodies, you don't so much 'enjoy' this album as witness it unfold.
1. Winds of Creation
2. Blessed
3. The First Damned
4. Way to Salvation
5. The Eye of Horus
6. Human's Dust
7. Nine Steps
8. Dance Macabre
9. Mandatory Suicide (Slayer cover)
Decapitated
Organic Hallucinosis
**
Written on 22.06.08
Decapitated's fourth album sees a change of vocalist from the deep and guttural Sauron to the screamier Covan, but for a technical death metal band essentially using a vocalist as a mere contrivance to avoid being labelled as an instrumental act, this really doesn't present an issue. Vocals will be the listener's least concern when faced with the onslaught of relentless guitar riffs and pummelling drums that characterise Decapitated's sound, and once again this is an album that will only appeal to a select group of aficionados.
The band at least shows some signs of progression across their discography, moving on from the brutality of 'Nihility' and more traditional death metal style of 'The Negation' towards something more reminiscent of groove metal here, but the songs are still unmemorable. Only 'Day 69' really impresses to any extent, simply for being so intent on frantic change that it's almost laughable. There are some enjoyable solos in 'Post(?) Organic,' but the majority of the album is only for the technically-minded, rather than uneducated bozos like me who prefer the simplistic luxury of a recognisable hook or two.
1. A Poem About an Old Prison Man
2. Day 69
3. Revelation of Existence (The Trip)
4. Post(?) Organic
5. Visual Delusion
6. Flash-B(l)ack
7. Invisible Control
Decrepit Birth
**
Written on 22.06.08
Decrepit Birth is an unusual case. Yet another technically-minded death metal band, this time from the USA, their approach to brutality bizarrely consists of an overdose of lead guitar melodies playing up and down the major scales like an unimaginative Yngwie Malmsteen wannabe who only knows how to play up and down the same string. The music is fine from a technical point of view, though bound to be disappointing if you expected something with greater virtuosity, it just really doesn't work in any way.
A predominantly light and cheery melody section over the mechanical clicking of bass drums and guttural roared vocals doesn't sound like any death metal I've ever heard, and for once I don't welcome the change. Each song is filled with this light noodling destroying any sense of power or energy, and this all makes for an unmemorable and tedious listening experience with zero replay value.
1. The Living Doorway
2. Reflection of Emotions
3. Diminishing Between Worlds
4. Dimensions Intertwine
5. The Enigmatic Form
6. A Gathering of Imaginations
7. Through Alchemy Bound Eternal
8. ...And Time Begins
9. Await the Unending
10. Essence of Creation
11. The Morpheus Oracle (Outro)
Advantages: Good guitar work.
Disadvantages: Doesn't make sense.
Deicide
Legion
****
Written on 22.06.08
A chorus of bahhing sheep and a demonic voice speaking the first song title backwards open Deicide's second album, which remains their finest offering, even if it pales in comparison to other (often lesser known) death metal acts. The improved production really fleshes out all of the instruments, including Glen Benton's previously obscured bass guitar and Steve Asheim's drums that no longer sound like they're made of paper, making for one of the most vicious releases of 1992.
Benton is still the star here, spitting forth the verses with commendable anger as in the opener 'Satan Spawn, the Caco-Daemon,' and the energy and high speed never let up. While this inevitably results in yet another death metal album more concerned with speed and force than musical creativity, it's what you'd expect from the genre in the first place, and this is a noteworthy example. It's still rooted in thrash metal, so should be more accessible to old-school fans.
1. Satan Spawn, the Caco-Daemon
2. Dead But Dreaming
3. Repent to Die
4. Trifixion
5. Behead the Prophet (No Lord Shall Live)
6. Holy Deception
7. In Hell I Burn
8. Revocate the Agitator
Deicide
Insineratehymn
**
Written on 22.06.08
Here we have it: the inevitable mid-career disappointment album that every respected band seems to fall victim to. Deicide's sixth serving 'Insineratehymn' is a step down from their previous work in terms of speed, production quality and songwriting ability, and despite attempts to regain ground in more recent years, their image has never truly recovered.
Opener 'Bible Basher' is a reasonable enough song in its own right, boasting one reasonably catchy riff and verse (if over-repeated), but the greater decrease in speed for the second song 'Forever Hate You' takes the band into hitherto unexplored areas of tedium that only gets worse as the half hour plods on. Scratching along at a crawl, the rest of the album is devoid of life, energy or character, with nothing compelling the listener to endure the experience. Even the hateful lyrics are only becoming more desperate as the years progress and the band hacks ever deeper into its niche.
1. Bible Basher
2. Forever Hate You
3. Standing in the Flames
4. Remnant of a Hopeless Path
5. The Gift That Keeps on Giving
6. Halls of Warship
7. Suffer Again
8. Worst Enemy
9. Apocalyptic Fear
10. Refusal of Penance
Delain
Lucidity
****
Written on 22.06.08
As far as symphonic gothic metal bands go, Delain are among the most enjoyable, though still a little inescapably dull. Formed by ex-Within Temptation keyboardist Martijn Westerholt who dominates the soundscape alongside by the pleasant vocals of Charlotte Wessels, this is a heavily symphonic band that thankfully avoids the operatic clichés of groups such as Nightwish, relying on something more atmospheric and frankly, less cheesy.
All of the songs are performed at a relatively slow tempo and exude eloquence in their synthesised orchestral bombast, with only a couple of deviations from the standard formula. Opener 'Sever' is more orchestral, 'See Me in Shadow' is a piano ballad, and 'Sleepwalker's Dream' stands out the most essentially for having the most memorable melody. The male vocals supplement the female nicely, opting for power metal wails rather than the typical growling that plagues these sort of albums, but rock fans averse to keyboard dominance would be best to stay away, as the guitar is relegated to a steady rhythm-keeper.
1. Sever
2. Frozen
3. Silhouette of a Dancer
4. No Compliance
5. See Me in Shadow
6. Shattered
7. The Gathering
8. Daylight Lucidity
9. Sleepwalker's Dream
10. Day for Ghosts
11. Pristine
Advantages: Strong gothic metal without the cheese.
Disadvantages: All rather samey.
Demilich
Nespithe
*****
Alien Death Metal
Written on 22.06.08
The only full-length release from Finnish death metal band Demilich deserves to be one of the legendary albums of the genre, and is certainly among the most unique. With its chaotic yet somehow logical time signatures, wild guitars and vocals that aren't so much growled as vomited, this is probably close to what alien death metal would sound like, if the extraterrestrials still concerned themselves primarily with establishing a strong groove.
This is a high quality album in all respects, extending to the crystal clear production that fleshes out every stomach-churning bass note with as much intensity as the melodic guitars and solos, and every song is memorable and instantly enjoyable, even if it's an album I couldn't really recommend to death metal newcomers. Antii Boman's vocals are the most extreme I've heard, but at the same time this album never seeks out to alienate or show off, opting for a medium pace rather than anything flashy.
Best of all, this classic of death metal can be downloaded completely free from the band's official website, for anyone feeling brave: http://www.anentity.com/demilich/download.php
1. When the Sun Drank the Weight of Water
2. The Sixteenth Six-Tooth Son of Fourteen Four-Regional Dimensions (Still Unnamed)
3. Inherited Bowel Levitation - Reduced Without Any Effort
4. The Echo (Replacement)
5. The Putrefying Road in the Nineteenth Extremity (...Somewhere Inside the Bowels of Endlessness...)
6. (Within) The Chamber of Whispering Eyes
7. And You'll Remain... (In Pieces in Nothingness)
8. Erecshyrinol
9. The Planet That Once Used to Absorb Flesh in Order to Achieve Divinity and Immortality (Suffocated to the Flesh That It Desired...)
10. The Cry
11. Raped Embalmed Beauty Sleep
Advantages: Complex and extreme, yet somehow still catchy.
Disadvantages: Not for the faint-hearted or pregnant women.
Demonoid
***
Written on 22.06.08
A surprisingly fierce release from members of symphonic metal leaders Therion, the only release thus far from Demonoid doesn't return to Therion's early death metal days, but rather pays homage to the classic Swedish death metal tradition as a whole, with a strong basis in thrash. A concept album concerning the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the devastation they wreak, this is an album that seriously impresses when performing at high velocity, but becomes deathly dull when slowing down in songs like '14th Century Plague' and the tedious ten-minute finale 'Death.'
The performance is impressive all-round, if derivative of earlier bands, and it's particularly the harsh vocals and melodic guitars that impress, played over hard thrashing riffs to avoid this being unfairly classed as melodic death metal. For all its conceptual intrigue and the talents of its band members, this spin-off band still ends up sounding like pretty much all the other death/thrash bands in Sweden (such as the Haunted), but this at least means there's an existing target audience.
1. Wargods
2. Firestorms
3. Witchburners
4. 14th Century Plague
5. Hunger My Consort
6. The Evocation
7. Arrival of the Horsemen
8. End of Our Times
9. Death
Demons & Wizards
Demons & Wizards
Enter the Iced Guardian
****
Written on 22.06.08
A collaboration between Iced Earth's guitarist Jon Schaffer and Blind Guardian's singer Hansi Kürsch sounds like a power metal fan's wet dream, but the resulting album is a little disappointing, mainly for sounding so damn obvious. For the most part, this is song after song of Schaffer' trademark triplets galloping along under Kürsch's high, melodic wails, and the only songs that break the pattern ('Fiddler on the Green' and 'Path of Glory') sound exactly like Blind Guardian acoustic ballads, only less memorable.
This is still an enjoyable album, but Iced Earth fans should only expect more of the same, but with a higher-pitched singer, while Blind Guardian fans should expect to hear familiar shrill notes over a scratchy, repetitive rhythm. 'Heaven Denies' and 'Winter of Souls' are both fast and energetic enough to be instantly enjoyable, but the rest soon slip into an over-familiar style. On the whole, this is probably inferior to either band's lesser works.
1. Rites of Passage
2. Heaven Denies
3. Poor Man's Crusade
4. Fiddler on the Green
5. Blood On My Hands
6. Path of Glory
7. Winter of Souls
8. The Whistler
9. Tear Down the Wall
10. Gallows Pole
11. My Last Sunrise
12. Chant
Advantages: Talented guitars and vocals.
Disadvantages: Lacking in creativity.
Demons & Wizards
****
Written on 23.06.08
The second release from power metal super-group Demons & Wizards, 'Touched by the Crimson King' is inspired by Stephen King's 'The Dark Tower' series of books; something of which I am content to have absolutely no knowledge. Musically, the album is a step beyond its predecessor as guitarist Jon Schaffer extends his riff vocabulary beyond repetitive triplets and Hansi Kürsch shows off his entire vocal range in a fairly excellent performance.
The album still suffers from a lack of good ideas, despite coming six years after its predecessor (a time during which neither of the mother bands Iced Earth or Blind Guardian were particularly active either), and is ultimately rather forgettable save for a couple of good choruses. 'Seize the Day' and 'Wicked Witch' are acoustic ballads that entirely lack Blind Guardian's flair, and even the closing cover of Led Zeppelin's well-known 'Immigrant Song' ends up as an anticlimax, as it's just so insubstantial.
1. Crimson King
2. Beneath These Waves
3. Terror Train
4. Seize the Day
5. The Gunslinger
6. Love's Tragedy Asunder
7. Wicked Witch
8. Dorian
9. Down Where I Am
10. Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin cover)
Despised Icon
Consumed by Your Poison
**
Written on 23.06.08
Canada's Despised Icon were, chronologically if not influentially, one of the pioneers of the bastardised fusion of death metal with the already malformed spin-off genre of metalcore, yet this is largely absent in their debut release. What we have instead is a dirty, angry noise of an album that's occasionally enjoyable, but mostly irritating, and never particularly engaging.
These songs lack any real structure or stand-out moments, as groove riffs clash with blast beats from the drum kit and the vocals slowly spew unintelligible lyrics with minimal energy. This is certainly more death metal than metalcore, but it takes its influences from the lower end of the spectrum, launching into a faster tempo for the sake of being fast and cycling through the same old tricks again and again. No song stands out above the general din, and despite its pretentions to brutality, it doesn't even hold up to a standard hardcore release (as in the music, not the porn).
1. Compelled to Copulate
2. Poissonnariat
3. Grade A-One
4. Le Chêne et Le Roseau
5. Dead King
6. Absolu
7. Fashionable
8. Interfere in Your Days
9. Clef de Voûte
10. Despise the Icons
Destroÿer 666
Unchain the Wolves
****
Written on 23.06.08
Appropriating a pointless heavy metal umlaut from Queensrÿche, Melbourne's Destroÿer 666 peaked with this first release, which harks back a decade to the early, thrash-influenced black metal of Bathory, exemplified by the album 'Blood Fire Death.' With its Satanic themes, dingy keyboards and catchy, plodding tempo, this is black metal in its original and best style, led by the talents of Bestial Lust's K.K. Warslut (perhaps not his real name).
This album encapsulates everything that was great about early Bathory, which bizarrely works equally well in Australia as it does in frosty Sweden, from the tomb-like atmosphere of the introduction to 'Genesis to Genocide' and the instrumental outro 'Onward to Arktoga' to the distinctly Quorthon-style verse vocals of the speedier 'Australian and Anti-Christ.' Warslut's guitar performance exceeds itself in every consecutive song before peaking in the apocalyptic 'Tyranny' and creative 'Six Curses from a Spiritual Wasteland,' and anyone with an interest in old-school black metal should consider this an essential purchase, even if it came ten years too late and from the wrong side of the planet.
1. Genesis to Genocide
2. Australian and Anti-Christ
3. Satan's Hammer
4. Tyranny
5. Six Curses from a Spiritual Wasteland
6. Unchain the Wolves
7. Damnations Pride
8. Onward to Arktoga
Diablo Swing Orchestra
The Butcher's Ballroom
****
Written on 23.06.08
Certainly among the more adventurous metal albums I've heard, 'The Butcher's Ballroom' is self-consciously experimental heavy metal, incorporating substantial elements of, as the band's name would suggest, swing music and opera. While opera has had its place in metal for a number of years, Ann-Louice Lögdlund's female vocals here are performed in full-blown operatic style, rather than the diluted imitations of bands such as Nightwish and Epica.
The style occasionally fails to impress, or ends up sounding like an inferior version of something Finntroll might do, or failing that a Devin Townsend polka experiment, but for the most part it's rewarding and satisfyingly different from the norm, even if the songs tend to blur together after a while despite the distinct differences. All songs are tightly edited to be as long as necessary without overdoing it, which occasionally means songs shorter than two minutes, and the intermittent use of cello, sitar and keyboards are the icing on the cake.
1. Balrog Boogie
2. Heroines
3. Poetic Pitbull Revolutions
4. Rag Doll Physics
5. D'Angelo
6. Velvet Embracer
7. Gunpowder Chant
8. Infralove
9. Wedding March For A Bullet
10. Qualms of Conscience
11. Zodiac Virtues
12. Porcelain Judas
13. Pink Noise Waltz
Diabolical Masquerade
Nightwork
****
Written on 23.06.08
Diabolical Masquerade is the now-defunct near-one-man-band of black metal musician Blakkheim, supported by Edge of Sanity's Dan Swanö on energetic drums. Blakkheim's performance is pretty incredible, from his vocals that scream as well as they wail to his moody keyboards and memorable melodic guitar lines, making this experimental black metal of the finest breed.
The keyboards set the tone for the entire album, which ranges from slow and melodic to blistering and hateful but is always engrossing. The cameo appearances of unusual instruments such as xylophone will doubtless throw off casual listeners, who shouldn't really be venturing this far towards the dark side in any case, but those well versed in the ways of black metal will likely find this beautiful, haunting and even soothing. Diabolical Masquerade is certainly one of the more intriguing and different black metal one-man-bands I've come across, not least because it comprises at least two men.
1. Rider on the Bonez
2. Dreadventurouz
3. The Zkeleton Keyz to the Dead
4. Thiz Ghoultimate Omen
5. All Onboard the Perdition Hearze!
6. The Eerie Obzidian Circuz
7. Haunted by Horror
Diabolical Masquerade
Death's Design
***
Written on 23.06.08
The final album from Swedish black metal musician Blakkheim's project Diabolical Masquerade takes his avant-garde metal direction to one extreme, while essentially compromising in others. The most glaringly obvious feature of the album is its division into movements rather than individual songs, and these twenty movements are further sub-divided into sixty-one tracks ranging from several seconds to two minutes in length, with relatively few reaching the one-minute mark.
In concept, this is similar to the feat achieved by fellow Swedes Edge of Sanity in their classic single-song album 'Crimson,' and the presence of that band's Dan Swanö on drums and production duties was doubtless a key influence in this direction. Each track represents a noticeable progression from the last, but each larger movement is essentially self-contained, spoiling the effect that this is a single song unless you're fooled by the lack of pauses.
The black metal on offer is standard and not particularly impressive, the more interesting tracks being those based around apocalyptic, symphonic keyboards, as heard in the first three tracks (comprising Movement 1). After that, the music becomes duller and less creative, an album more concerned with style than content.
1. Nerves In Rush
2. Death Ascends - The Hunt (Part I)
3. You Can't Hide Forever
4. Right On Time For Murder - The Hunt (Part II)
5. Conscious In No Materia
6. A Different Plane
7. Invisible to Us
8. The One Who Hides a Face Inside
9. ...And Don't Ever Listen to What It Says
10. Revelation of the Puzzle
11. Human Prophecy
12. Where the Suffering Leads
13. The Remains of Galactic Expulsions
14. With Panic in the Heart
15. Out From the Dark
16. Still Coming At You
17. Out From a Deeper Dark
18. Spinning Back the Clocks
19. Soaring Over Dead Rooms
20. The Enemy Is the Earth
21. Recall
22. All Exits Blocked
23. The Memory Is Weak
24. Struck At Random / Outermost Fear
25. Sparks of Childhood Coming Back
26. Old People's Voodoo Seance
27. Mary-Lee Goes Crazy
28. Something Has Arrived
29. Possession of the Voodoo Party
30. Not of Flesh, Not of Blood
31. Intact With a Human Psyche
32. Keeping Faith
33. Someone Knows What Scares You
34. A Bad Case of Nerves
35. The Inverted Dream / No Sleep In Peace
36. Information
37. Setting the Course
38. Ghost Inhabitants
39. Fleeing From Town
40. Overlooked Parts
41. A New Spark - Victory Theme (Part I)
42. Hope - Victory Theme (Part II)
43. Family Portraits - Victory Theme (Part III)
44. Smokes Start to Churn
45. Hesitant Behaviour
46. A Hurricane of Rotten Air
47. Mastering the Clock
48. They Come, You Go
49. Haared El Chamon
50. The Egyptian Resort
51. The Pyramid
52. Frenzy Moods and Other Oddities
53. Still Part of the Design - The Hunt (Part III)
54. Definite Departure
55. Returning to Haared El Chamon
56. Life Eater
57. The Pulze
58. The Defiled Feeds
59. The River In Space
60. A Soulflight Back to Life
61. Instant Rebirth - Alternate Ending
Diamond Head
Lightning to the Nations
The NWOBHM Classic
*****
Written on 23.06.08
Diamond Head's modest, initially self-produced debut album is one of the definitive releases of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, so-called because it was new back in 1980. Alongside the likes of the self-titled debuts from Iron Maiden and Angel Witch, 'Lightning to the Nations' is a classic of early heavy metal and one that still holds up well today, despite sounding enjoyably dated.
Sean Harris' vocals are still rooted in the seventies and comparable to Robert Plant, but his strong performance allows several songs to be vocal-centric, such as the prominent verse rhythms of 'It's Electric' and 'Helpless.' Other songs favour Brian Tatler's excellent guitar work, particularly the enthusiastic soloing that opens 'The Prince' before that song develops into yet another memorable riff, and the seriously heavy and demonic 'Am I Evil?' that builds up with a homage to Gustav Holst's apocalyptic heavy metal masterpiece 'Mars, the Bringer of War.'
The only song to let the side down is the disappointingly commercial, bland pop-rock of 'Sweet and Innocent,' but even that's enjoyable as a guilty pleasure.
1. Lightning to the Nations
2. The Prince
3. Sucking My Love
4. Am I Evil?
5. Sweet and Innocent
6. It's Electric
7. Helpless
Bruce Dickinson
Accident of Birth
*****
Written on 29.06.04
One of the last albums released by Bruce Dickinson, ‘Accident of Birth’ represents the peak of the singer’s ‘solo’ triumph: this excellence is due in no small part however to those potentially overlooked through the term ‘solo,’ as the completely new band put together in 1996 brought top quality British heavy metal right up-to-date, something that Bruce’s previous band members in Iron Maiden failed to do until the current decade. This was unofficially voted the best metal album of 1997 despite its very modest level of fame and recognition and while also showing that Bruce Dickinson was back to his rightful position as the greatest vocalist in metal, it’s also a bloody good listen with surprising diversity.
WHO IS BRUCE DICKINSON?
The full-blooded Englishman known as Bruce Dickinson is a qualified pilot, a world class fencer and a devoted father, but he achieved fame through his overpowering and often operatic vocals in the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Following ten years of consistent album releases and world tours as the Maiden frontman, Bruce decided he needed to get away from it all; the less impressive quality of his vocals on those later albums suggested some reluctance to carry on, especially following the departure of guitarist and close friend Adrian Smith from the band.
Bruce’s solo career was reasonably successful from the start, however his early offerings still showed his slightly struggling vocals, the music also being more in the vein of Bon Jovi rock than Maiden heavy metal. It was teaming up with guitarist Roy Z (Roy Ramirez) and old comrade Adrian Smith that led to the much more impressive ‘Accident of Birth,’ an album that shows Bruce back at his very best. The same band stayed together to release the follow-up ‘The Chemical Wedding’ in 1999 which ran along similar lines and while not being as impressive as this release still showed the talents of everyone involved. That was the final Bruce solo album (to date) as he and Adrian Smith rejoined Iron Maiden and made them great again, but ‘Accident of Birth’ shows exactly where Iron Maiden were going wrong in failing to evolve their music from the eighties.
Bruce Dickinson band:
Bruce Dickinson – vocals
Adrian Smith – guitar
Roy Z – guitar, mellatron and piano
Eddie Casillias – bass
David Ingraham – drums
TWO-FIFTHS OF THE BEAST
This is essentially a metal album, but combines raw and powerful anthems with darker, heavier offerings and several well-timed and very impressive soft tracks. To label this as ‘Iron Maiden for the 90s’ is unfair to everyone involved, although the fact that two fifths of the band are from Iron Maiden means that there are some common elements, and these make the album all the better: Steve Harris’ lyrics in Maiden were mostly good but did get tiresome, and the less common offerings from both Bruce and Adrian would often end up being some of the best songs the band produced (‘Revelations,’ ‘2 Minutes to Midnight,’ ‘Powerslave,’ ‘Wasted Years,’ ‘Stranger in a Strange Land,’ ‘Moonchild’ and many more), and it’s obvious that the time away from constant touring and album releases has brought them both back to their peak proficiency.
This sounded as original and inspiring in 1997 as Maiden did in 1987, and it’s a shame that the remaining band members were not able to update their sound without the input of these two musical heroes. Besides, Iron Maiden never released a piano ballad, and have only recently ventured into acoustic territory on their latest album. They are great again, but these solo bridging efforts have clearly left their mark.
THE ACCIDENT
1. FREAK
A fantastic opener, this immediately shows exactly what this Bruce album is about: power, melody and fantastic performances all round. The chorus “who leads you to the dark secret?” is repeated far too many times throughout and does become annoying, but the changing riffs and guitar solos, as well as some well timed quieter breaks, make this a great metal track – I especially love the guitar tune in the chorus.
“Your life is lost, your soul is damned
But it feels too good to make a stand.
Bad is bad, but this is worse,
Let judgement come, you love this curse”
2. TOLTEC 7 ARRIVAL
This is a harmonious and beautiful interlude that unfortunately only lasts for thirty-seven seconds, but combines guitars and keyboards into a haunting and atmospheric melody. Douglas Adams’ book ‘Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency’ described the harmonious sound of life that overpowered people with its magnificence, and I think it’s probably an extended version of this track. Nothing classic, but very nice.
3. STARCHILDREN
Another great hard rocking track with some deeper vocals by Bruce complimented by heavier guitar riffs, this again includes enough changes in direction to prevent it from getting boring. This is a good example of a style different to Iron Maiden but with the same ground rules indicating what that band could have sounded like during the nineties, rather than remaining firmly entrenched in the past. At four minutes seventeen seconds it’s just the right length as well.
“Starchildren, coming out of nowhere
And to nowhere return.
Starchildren, a hundred million souls
Snuffed out in one breath”
4. TAKING THE QUEEN
From the onset it’s clear that this is a slower and more reflective offering, with some great, deep acoustic guitars making this sound similar to an Opeth song. Fairly bleak and plodding but after a few listens this becomes one of the most interesting points of the album, and the chorus features electric guitars that somehow blend in seamlessly from the previous acoustic work in a way that Metallica’s don’t. This is along the lines of a power ballad, but it’s more like a slow, sombre rock track with a really fitting guitar solo that leads perfectly into the next track.
“The howling shriek of death in your eyes,
The hawklord and the beast enter your room
Your gold will turn to rust,
Your empire follows you into your tomb”
5. DARKSIDE OF AQUARIUS
One of the true classics of the album, this is also fairly progressive and borders on epic level with its six and a half minute length. The beginning continues in the vein of ‘Taking the Queen’ but with a more impressive melody before the catchy guitar riffs and vocals begin. If this was a Maiden song it would be one of my favourites, as Bruce’s vocals never get any better and more infectious than this, exploring his entire range – if there is one song in my life that I wish I could forget and hear again for the first time, it would be this as there’s something I really love about it. Although I don’t give much mention to the drums and bass guitar in the other tracks, this song features some excellent drumming punctuating the riffs and a strong bass presence halfway through in the bridge between the two quite different halves of the song that could be called ‘The Hellriders’ and ‘The Wheel of Dharma,’ but which aren’t so forget it.
“The first hellrider came, on wings of plenty in the dark.
Poured out his poison, blew away his mark.
The fascist from the east is coming,
Mothers hide your sons…”
6. ROAD TO HELL
After a brief pause gives some time to reflect on the excellent previous track, the band hit back with another of the very best on the album and the reason I bought this album in the first place: ‘Road to Hell.’ Not a particularly experimental or groundbreaking song, but this races along at a very enjoyable pace with memorable and upbeat riffs and vocals that are predictably fantastic. The chorus could rival even the best Iron Maiden track, and the final repeat after the solos is very eagerly anticipated. This is the most immediately enjoyable offering of the album that could have made a great single.
“Father forgive me my sins,
Give me the nails, I’ll hammer them in…
The road to hell is full of good intentions,
Say farewell and we may never meet again”
7. MAN OF SORROWS
A very different offering, this piano-led ballad dates from a film project of Bruce’s from 1992. This was released as a single and was fairly successful, and although it’s not technically my kind of music I do find Bruce’s powerful vocals and some of the synthesised orchestration in the background very relaxing and pleasant. This is probably the most accessible track on here and although it’s not one of my favourites it at least provides a break between the songs and adds some excellent variety. Not so much depressing as soothing.
“Man of sorrows, I won’t see your face,
Man of sorrows, you left without a trace.
A small boy wonders, what was it all about?
Is your journey over, has it just begun”
8. ACCIDENT OF BIRTH
“Journey back to the dark side” says Bruce in a slightly distorted voice over a muted but ominous sounding guitar riff, providing some warning to those who had dozed off that the heaviest offering of the album is about to begin in full swing. The guitars are very dark and powerful here, however the tempo is still kept reasonably slow in the verses as Bruce recounts a sad tale. The vocals are as good here as elsewhere and sound different due to some form of watery distortion in parts and the general lack of high notes on the whole. This track could serve to put off those who liked ‘Man of Sorrows,’ but I love it, and the brilliant high guitar section before the main solo is one of the best instrumentations of the album. The verse style again changes as the song carries on to keep things flowing.
“I might have had a brother,
As I was born they dragged him under
To the other side of twilight, he’s waiting for me now.”
9. THE MAGICIAN
The main riff that opens this song sounds fairly upbeat, although perhaps that’s only because it comes after the darkness of the last two tracks. Classic Maiden-style first person narrative here in a track that would be quite average if not for the excellent and very catchy chorus that even features some “woah-o-o-a-oh” for the benefit of live performances. There is the sense that less time was spent on creating and perfecting this track, as there always is with albums, but it doesn’t suffer for it and the album is still far from boring.
“I am the living flame,
And I teach the holy games
Teach the secret of the dance,
Throw the future in the runes
Kick the sand in Satan’s cave,
And I put Jesus in his place
Shaman or priest it’s all the same,
The Magician is my name”
10. WELCOME TO THE PIT
This is a very good track, but the sound of the guitars is very reminiscent of a number of earlier tracks and as such it isn’t as impressive, however the more melodic chorus still makes it very enjoyable to listen to, even if the slow pace has become a little tiresome by now, and the track does drag on a little towards the end. Some great use of quieter instruments in parts to avoid them dominating the song, Bruce’s vocals don’t impress in the verses but still sound great in the high chorus. Face it, the man’s a vocal legend.
“I don’t even know your name,
You won’t even see my face,
But you choose to play my games.
Welcome to the hard place”
11. OMEGA
A very interesting choice of track, and one that I am eternally grateful was made as this is the other track (along with ‘Darkside of Aquarius’ and ‘Road to Hell’) that should be recognised as true classics, but unfortunately will not be. Still slow and reflective, but this time there is a more traditional acoustic rhythm in the verses that actually sounds a little similar to acts such as Bob Dylan, except that I like this. The heavier electric guitars of the choruses again manage to skilfully adapt from the acoustics before becoming obviously apparent when the song speeds up in the middle before returning for a great conclusion. This speedy electric section aside (which does sound excellent but is mainly present to break up the song), this tale of final Armageddon and the destruction of the solar system is incredibly vivid in its description and manages to sound sombre, regretful, resolved and optimistic all at the same time. Classic and again maybe one of the more accessible tracks; I personally would have chosen to end the album with this track, and often do when listening to it, but there is an epilogue.
“Now it’s Omega zero day,
The red star shines its last ray
The sun that gave us life yesterday
Is now the sun that takes our lives away”
12. ARC OF SPACE
A fully acoustic song that forsakes all the other instruments for a bit of reflective guitar and vocal time, this is melodic and pleasant but a little unnecessary after the excellent acoustic work that formed the bulk of ‘Omega.’ Acoustic fans may love it, and Bruce’s vocals again make it worth listening to occasionally, but personally I don’t get much out of this song. It isn’t like nobody’s released an all-acoustic ballad before, but the Doctor Who-esque lyrics are at least worth a look. In some ways, this does give the album a more ‘epic’ and classic feel overall that is lacking in Bruce’s other releases.
“There, on a lonely desert hilltop
The pilgrims huddle closer
Waiting for a sign, the coming silver shrine,
The Arc of Space and Time”
VERDICT
Having only heard one Bruce Dickinson song from his early solo career I never pursued his albums despite revering him and bowing before his splendour (in the form of listening to Iron Maiden) on a daily basis, and I was naturally thrilled to read on the internet that the ‘Accident of Birth’ album was held in a very high regard by metal fans, most of them predictably but understandably claiming that this was the album Iron Maiden should have released in the nineties. I’m glad they didn’t though, as this is a great chance to hear Bruce working with some different guys (well, mostly) and bouncing off their skills and enthusiasm. I love this album.
With the grunge revolution of the early nineties, the ‘nu-metal’ of the late nineties and the changing style of prominent metal bands such as Metallica, it’s difficult to pin down what ‘nineties metal’ sounds like, but I do notice a similar style between this Bruce Dickinson album and Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Ozzmosis’ album from 1995, although this is far more original and enjoyable. Muted guitar riffs and trimmed song lengths are a feature of both, as are the general sound of the guitars and drums, but this album isn’t only about originality: it’s about varied emotions and an excellent musical experience with a fantastic vocalist and excellent guitars.
The front cover features a cut-down portion of some more comically gruesome artwork by Iron Maiden veteran Derek Riggs (the full picture of a jester doll bursting out of frightened man’s chest armed with a nail bat is included in the booklet and is quite funny in a sort of sick way), and this shows the return to a higher spirited style for Bruce than the moody photography of his previous albums. If you are a fan of Iron Maiden or other metal bands and you haven’t heard ‘Accident of Birth,’ you are really missing out, and this album (as well as ‘The Chemical Wedding’) can be bought surprisingly cheap on eBay, Play.com and other sites.
The road to hell is full of good intentions; down the left hand highway with no sinister regrets.
Advantages: Excellent and classic metal album, Wide range of tracks to appeal to different people, The best vocalist in metal is back
Disadvantages: A couple of tracks sound a little similar, but the arrangement helps this, Won't appeal to everyone
Bruce Dickinson
Tyranny of Souls
****
Written on 24.06.08
The first solo album released after Bruce Dickinson's high-profile return to Iron Maiden in 1999, 'Tyranny of Souls' inevitably suffers from a lack of time and attention, allegedly being written in bits and pieces through correspondence between Dickinson and guitarist Roy Z as the former toured with his day-job band. The result is a less confident effort than its excellent predecessor 'The Chemical Wedding' with more throwaway songs, but it still contains some great heavy metal tracks and features a great performance from Dickinson throughout.
'Abduction' and 'Power of the Sun' are both fast, energetic pieces that possess a lighter tone to Dickinson's now-established sound, but most of the songs follow the dark, brooding style of the previous album to great effect. Notable exceptions include the oddly upbeat 'Devil on a Hog' that I was certain must be a cover when I first heard it, the full-on ballad 'Navigate the Seas of the Sun' and the semi-ballad 'Kill Devil Hill,' my favourite song here for its effective meeting between heavy verses and a soaring chorus, just what Bruce Dickinson fans come to a solo album expecting. As Maiden is keeping him fairly busy these days, it's likely this will be the last Dickinson solo release for the time being.
1. Mars Within (Intro)
2. Abduction
3. Soul Intruders
4. Kill Devil Hill
5. Navigate the Seas of the Sun
6. River of No Return
7. Power of the Sun
8. Devil on a Hog
9. Believil
10. A Tyranny of Souls
Dimmu Borgir
For All Tid
****
Written on 24.06.08
This age-old release from Dimmu Borgir shows a much different, and in my opinion far more impressive side of the band than their more well-known later releases. Embracing the nostalgic Norwegian folk approach of early black metal, this is heavily atmospheric and melodic black metal that primarily suffers from a permeating amateurishness, a far cry from the heavily processed industrial metal the band would later produce to surprising success.
Stian Aarstad is the key player here... um, literally. His keyboard and piano works underpins everything, and exudes a historical atmosphere aided by the album artwork. The guitars are standard black metal fare, heavy on the warbling treble and memorable without being complex, and the dirty production sound is always a real bonus for albums such as this.
Like Ancient and Arcturus around the same time, Dimmu Borgir gave black metal a melodic slant that I always find favourable, and there are numerous melodic breaks that work to great effect, including the use of synthesised flutes in 'Stien.' It's only Silenoz's slightly grating nasal vocals that stand out as vastly needing improvement.
1. Det Nye Riket
2. Under Korpens Vinger
3. Over Bleknede Blåner Til Dommedag
4. Stien
5. Glittertind
6. For All Tid
7. Hunnerkongens Sorgsvarte Ferd Over Steppene
8. Raabjørn Speiler Draugheimens Skodde
9. Den Gjemte Sannhets Hersker
Dimmu Borgir
Stormblåst
*****
Written on 24.06.08
Dimmu Borgir's second album remains their finest achievement, the classic work of melodic black metal that bands like Ancient and Arcturus almost achieved. This album is a definite step forward from its primitive predecessor, now successfully integrating the piano and keyboard work into the dirty black metal riffs and growled vocals without sounding forced or contradictory. This whole experience is heavily atmospheric, but with Stian Aarstad's great keyboard melodies in songs such as 'Alt Lys Er Svunnet Hen' and particularly 'Broderskapets Ring,' it never runs the risk of being ambient background music.
Sadly, Aarstad is also the album's weak point thanks to his shameless theft of melodies from other sources, something that he presumably felt comfortable doing back when the band was only known within the black metal community. Once they hit the big time, it came to light that Aarstad had poached the pretty piano instrumental 'Sorgens Kammer' entirely from the soundtrack of the Amiga game 'Agony' without telling the band, while the keyboards of the first track are allegedly similar to a song by prog band Magnum.
Deceptions aside, this is still a masterpiece of melodic black metal, varying in speed and intensity but always coherent. The band re-recorded this in 2005 and released it for some reason, presumably realising how terrible their more recent output has been in comparison.
1. Alt Lys Er Svunnet Hen
2. Broderskapets Ring
3. Når Sjelen Hentes Til Helvete
4. Sorgens Kammer
5. Da Den Kristne Satte Livet Til
6. Stormblåst
7. Dødsferd
8. Antikrist
9. Vinder Fra En Ensom Grav
10. Guds Fortapelse - Åpenbaring Av Dommedag
Dimmu Borgir
***
Written on 25.06.08
The final album of what could be accurately classed as Dimmu Borgir's first era, 'Enthrone Darkness Triumphant' starts to move towards the commercial metal direction of their later works (not least with the introduction of English lyrics), but retains enough of the spellbinding majesty of the previous releases. With clearer production that really brings out the guitars and drums, this is more approachable and also less distinctive than the heavily keyboard-soaked 'Stormblåst,' though Stian Aarstad's keys are still the most impressive element, despite being relegated to a secondary player behind the generic riffs at many points.
Relying more on standard black metal gimmicks such as blast beats, this album has less character than 'Stormblåst,' but it still has its moments. Piano is used to great effect in spicing up the otherwise dull 'In Death's Embrace,' and the penultimate 'A Succubus in Rapture' is a fine example of symphonic black metal done properly, but the rest of the album fails to live up to this, occasionally approaching perilously close to Cradle of Filth's take on the genre.
1. Mourning Palace
2. Spellbound (By the Devil)
3. In Death's Embrace
4. Relinquishment of Spirit and Flesh
5. The Night Masquerade
6. Tormentor of Christian Souls
7. Entrance
8. Master of Disharmony
9. Prudence's Fall
10. A Succubus in Rapture
11. Raabjørn Speiler Draugheimens Skodde
Dimmu Borgir
***
Written on 25.06.08
Breaking into the big-time around the same time Cradle of Filth made symphonic black metal popular with mainstream metal fans, this album is naturally a target of hatred for the community of metal nerds. While it's certainly a disappointment compared to the high quality of their earlier melodic black metal releases, it's a vast improvement over the frankly unlistenable 'Spiritual Black Dimensions.'
The songs at least stand out here individually, even though the old problems still remain. Keyboard player Mustis is still granted too much dominance and fails to back it up with talent or creativity, and the addition of drummer Nicholas Barker (ex-Cradle of Filth) adds some much-needed talent, but unfortunately comes a cropper thanks to the ridiculous overproduction that places him too prominently in the mix. The high-budget use of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra also adds a nice soundtrack feel to parts of the album, particularly the symphonic opener 'Fear and Wonder,' but it's a shame that this ends up being one of the few truly worthwhile songs here.
Dimmu Borgir has evolved from an atmospheric, historical black metal band into one that sounds disappointingly robotic and artificial, and this spoils the effect of almost every song. The notable exception is 'Puritania,' which abandons all pretensions to black metal and is content to be an effectively vile industrial number.
1. Fear and Wonder
2. Blessings Upon the Throne of Tyranny
3. Kings of the Carnival Creation
4. Hybrid Stigmata - The Apostasy
5. Architecture of a Genocidal Nature
6. Puritania
7. IndoctriNation
8. The Maelstorm Mephisto
9. Absolute Sole Right
10. Sympozium
11. Perfection or Vanity
Advantages: Nice orchestra...
Disadvantages: ...shame about the band (well, except the drummer).
Dimmu Borgir
Death Cult Armageddon
**
Written on 25.06.08
Based on my appreciation for the orchestral elements of its predecessor 'Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia,' I could be expected to praise the even more symphonic 'Death Cult Armageddon,' but sadly this is an even weaker effort than the last one. It's interesting and commendable to see the band focus so squarely on this niche alongside the Gothenburg Orchestra, but the result is unfortunately bland and extremely repetitive, with very little in the way of stand-out moments. The metal elements are completely buried beneath an overblown symphony that sounds like the B-sides from Danny Elfman's 'Batman' soundtrack.
The production job is much more balanced this time round, lending a less mechanical sound than before, and Nicholas Barker's drums now pound away impressively at the back rather than screaming for attention at the front. The downside is that the other rock instruments are placed on an even keel with the orchestra that ultimately dominates all, as guitar riffs and vocal lines supplement the strings and horns. Shagrath's rasping vocals are still the weakest point, growling away like an angry robot, and it's disappointing to hear the more impressive clean singing of ICS Vortex restricted to only a couple of songs. Overall, this is quite a dull mess.
1. Allegiance
2. Progenies of the Great Apocalypse
3. Lepers Among Us
4. Vredesbyrd
5. For the World to Dictate Our Death
6. Blood Hunger Doctrine
7. Allehelgens Død I Helveds Rike
8. Cataclysm Children
9. Eradication Instincts Defined
10. Unorthodox Manifesto
11. Heavenly Perverse
Dio
Holy Diver
****
Written on 25.06.08
Like Ozzy Osbourne before him, Ronnie James Dio departed Black Sabbath and achieved great success with his solo career - also similar to Osbourne, Dio's debut album remains his most well-known, commonly regarded as one of the heavy metal classics. While this legendary status isn't entirely deserved, there really is not better album to encapsulate American heavy metal of the eighties, even if the British bands tended to be more impressive.
Dio's trademark wailing and soaring vocals combined with Vivian Campbell's creative and irresistible guitar riffs make songs like the title track instant favourites, and this album is also notable for containing one of Dio's relatively few fast songs in the form of opener 'Stand Up and Shout,' more reminiscent of the British metal tradition. The rest favour a slower, chorus-centric approach that becomes very repetitive, but fortunately Dio's vocal skills manage to pull it off.
The compulsory ballad 'Don't Talk to Strangers' is saved from tedium by screaming guitars later on, and Dio himself provides some delightfully cheesy keyboards at the end of 'Rainbow in the Dark.' This is certainly a dated album, but one that still has the power to entertain, without the drawbacks of some of Dio's other releases.
1. Stand Up and Shout
2. Holy Diver
3. Gypsy
4. Caught in the Middle
5. Don't Talk to Strangers
6. Straight Through the Heart
7. Invisible
8. Rainbow in the Dark
9. Shame on the Night
Dio
Last in Line
****
Written on 25.06.08
Dio's second solo album is equally as impressive as its better-known predecessor, and stands above the majority of material the various incarnations of this band would record later. The title track is perhaps the finest song Dio ever recorded, beginning deceptively calm before increasingly escalating to further extremes of heaviness and power, dominated by a guitar line and chorus that are catchy as Hell, a location featured in both the album art and the song's astoundingly cheesy music video that you really owe it to yourself to check out on YouTube.
Dio's performance is always exceptional, and his vocals are the driving force here, something that occasionally sees the other band members slip into mediocrity on the lesser tracks such as 'One Night in the City.' The majority of songs gravitate around a slow, booming chorus, the effectiveness of which is entirely responsible for the song being a hit or miss, but the hit rate is very high. 'I Speed at Night' and 'Evil Eyes' are a little more energetic and faster than the rest, while the finale 'Egypt' harks back to Dio's more epic material produced with Black Sabbath (such as 'Heaven and Hell'), as well as contributing yet another electric guitar interpretation of clichéd Egyptian themes, something that's always a lot of fun.
1. We Rock
2. The Last in Line
3. Breathless
4. I Speed at Night
5. One Night in the City
6. Evil Eyes
7. Mystery
8. Eat Your Heart Out
9. Egypt (The Chains Are On)
Dio
Dream Evil
***
Written on 25.06.08
Continuing the deterioration of Ronnie James Dio's solo career, 'Dream Evil' sees the replacement of guitarist Vivian Campbell with newcomer Craig Goldie, a changeover much maligned by fans who presumably forgot the mediocrity of Campbell's work on the previous 'Sacred Heart.' The guitars here are high quality heavy metal, but lack the instant recognition of something like 'Holy Diver' or 'The Last in Line,' while Claude Schnell's keyboards can only be described as cheesy. Or very 1980s. Either way, they tend to detract from the credibility of songs rather than enhance them.
There are still some good songs here amidst the average material, opener 'Night People' possessing the same fun rhymes and bizarre questioning approach of Dio's lyrics, while the title track goes on about rainbows yet again (sheesh, give it up), though it doesn't have the classic status as other Dio title songs. 'All the Fools Sailed Away' is an effective ballad that remains heavy and powerful throughout, and 'Overlove' injects some speed into the proceedings (not literally) to keep the album moving in its second half. The rest of the material is predictable and mediocre, but heavy metal fans should still find much to enjoy.
1. Night People
2. Dream Evil
3. Sunset Superman
4. All the Fools Sailed Away
5. Naked in the Rain
6. Overlove
7. I Could Have Been a Dreamer
8. Faces in the Window
9. When a Woman Cries
Dio
Lock Up the Wolves
***
Written on 26.06.08
At the end of the 1980s, Ronnie James Dio's solo project deteriorated and dismantled, leaving the dwarfish singer to pick up the pieces. 'Lock Up the Wolves' is the (perhaps inevitably) disappointing result, though there are still a few gems to be found amidst the rubble.
The main issue I have with this album is how dull it sounds, slower even than Dio's standard tempo and prone to breaks and silences that promise a finale before a resurgence plods tediously on, most evident in the overlong title song. Guitarist Rowan Robertson puts in a reasonable performance, heavy enough to satisfy long-time fans but lacking the creativity and flair of his predecessors, especially in the guitar solos that just seem to take up time without giving anything back.
Notable songs include the doomy 'Evil on Queen Street' that could pass for early Black Sabbath and the faster 'Wild One' and 'Walk on Water,' which are only exciting by comparison. This is a deservedly overlooked album in Dio's discography, not containing any particularly bad songs but with nothing of real interest either. And he still hasn't got over the rainbow thing. He sings about rainbows All. The. Time.
1. Wild One
2. Born on the Sun
3. Hey Angel
4. Between Two Hearts
5. Night Music
6. Lock Up the Wolves
7. Evil on Queen Street
8. Walk on Water
9. Twisted
10. Why Are They Watching Me
11. My Eyes
Dio
Magica
****
Written on 26.06.08
A great comeback album for the new millennium, 'Magica' is the strongest and most compelling Dio release since his golden age in the early eighties, abandoning the social themes of his nineties work but retaining its heaviness and gloom, creating a fusion of Dio old and older that isn't exactly original, but certainly goes above and beyond what was expected of the legendary heavy metal midget this late in his seemingly endless career. Going all-out with a science fiction/fantasy concept, this runs the risk of being almost too Dio, even for Dio, and although it doesn't hold the same ratio of classics as early albums like 'Holy Diver' and 'The Last in Line,' it's still the most worthwhile Dio release since those days.
Craig Goldy's guitar and keyboards interweave beautifully to create a magical fantasy atmosphere that isn't ashamed to be cheesy, and the riffs of songs like 'Fever Dreams' are just as catchy as anything from back in the day of Vivian Campbell. As a concept album, the songs tend to flow smoothly into each other while remaining distinctive in their own right, featuring the usual Dio staple of the power ballad in the form of the excellent 'As Long As It's Not About Love,' reminiscent of 'All the Fools Sailed Away,' along with new features such as the reprises and - most bizarre of all - the spoken word bonus track that sees Dio narrating the Magica tale. Sadly, it's not something I've ever felt compelled to sit through for twenty minutes.
1. Discovery
2. Magica Theme
3. Lord of the Last Day
4. Fever Dreams
5. Turn to Stone
6. Feed My Head
7. Eriel
8. Challis
9. As Long As It's Not About Love
10. Losing My Insanity
11. Otherworld
12. Magica (Reprise)
13. Lord of the Last Day (Reprise)
14. Magica Story (Bonus track)
Dionysus
Sign of Truth
***
Written on 26.06.08
Dionysus' individual style of power metal is only in an embryonic stage on their debut release 'Sign of Truth,' and considering the blandness of their later material, that's probably for the best. Produced by power metal legend Tobias Sammet (Edguy, Avantasia and assorted guest appearances), this is fairly typical twenty-first century power metal for fans who really, really need to hear some more.
Olaf Hayer's vocals are impressive, rooted in the high, squeaky range but taking on a grander flair in the unison choruses thanks to Sammet's experience at operatic metal production, and Johnny Öhlin's guitars are more entertaining here than they will be later on, shredding away with some neoclassical solos and Helloween/Gamma Ray inspired speed metal riffs in the faster songs 'Sign of Truth,' 'Holy War' and bonus track 'Loaded Gun.' 'Don't Forget' is a tiresome power ballad, and 'Pouring Rain' hints towards the poppy direction the band would move towards to.
1. Time Will Tell
2. Sign of Truth
3. Bringer of Salvation
4. Pouring Rain
5. Anthem (For the Children)
6. Holy War
7. Don't Forget
8. Walk on Fire
9. Never Wait
10. Loaded Gun
Dionysus
Anima Mundi
**
Written on 26.06.08
Dionysus' melodic style of power metal has fully developed by their second full-length release, but it's nothing the metal scene hasn't heard before, and done much more successfully by bands such as Angra and Kamelot. Olaf Hayer's vocals are the only element that really stand out, as despite the neoclassical flourishes of the guitars and keyboards, they tend to blur together into the soundscape as each song plods tediously on. The drums are similarly mundane, bashing away in typical power metal fashion without interest.
The comparatively long 'March for Freedom' hints towards a grander direction with its heavy riffs, structural progression and spoken word introduction, but it still doesn't follow through to a satisfying extent. 'Forever More' is a boring ballad that the band tries to make up for with the fast-paced-but-average 'Paradise Land,' and most of the songs are entirely mediocre, lacking any distinctive or memorable features to warrant repeat plays.
1. Divine
2. Bringer of War
3. Anima Mundi
4. My Heart Is Crying
5. March for Freedom
6. What
7. Eyes of the World
8. Forever More
9. Paradise Land
10. Closer to the Sun
11. Holy War
Dismember
Pieces
****
Written on 26.06.08
Dismember are one of the classic Swedish death metal bands, and my personal favourite. This early E.P. collecting 'Pieces' from uncertain origins is a fine example of the changeover from early, thrash-influenced death metal as practiced by Celtic Frost and Morbid Angel in the eighties to the harsher and more independent entity of the nineties. This is fifteen minutes of head-bulldozingly-good death metal performed by masters of the craft, without any pretensions to being anything more than a group of angry young men playing furiously on rock instruments. In Hell.
Matti Kärki's vocals aren't the standard death metal grunt, possessing much more of a kick that keeps the album sprightly and, in the case of the title track's verses, damn catchy. The production is raw and seriously heavy, really bringing out the full force of the classic Dismember riff in 'Carnal Tomb' and the slow, chugging central section of 'I Wish You Hell.' The last two songs are slightly less captivating, the first sounding a little more primitive (perhaps an older song) and the second more clearly influenced by thrash, but this is still a nice extra treat for fans who own all the full-length recordings.
1. Intro
2. Pieces
3. I Wish You Hell
4. Carnal Tomb
5. Soon to Be Dead
Dismember
Massive Killing Capacity
*****
Written on 26.06.08
One of my all-time favourite death metal albums, 'Massive Killing Capacity' goes some way towards kick-starting the melodic death metal genre without suffering any of its drawbacks. David Blomqvist and Robert Senneback's thrashy riffs are endlessly creative and catchy, and supplemented by melodic lead sections and solos in the spirit of classic heavy metal, but the album never forgets its allegiance to a crushingly heavy sound, exemplified by the beast of an album cover.
Vocalist Matti Kärki is atypical for the genre, yelling rather than growling, and the songs rarely accelerate above a steady groove. I couldn't recommend this album enough for extreme metal fans, especially as it could provide an easy gateway for newcomers, thanks to the instantly appealing riffs that just keep on coming in the title song and 'I Saw Them Die,' and the more intricate single 'Casket Garden.' These songs are tightly edited to avoid running over, and all are angry death metal classics with an unashamed lighter side.
1. I Saw Them Die
2. Massive Killing Capacity
3. On Frozen Fields
4. Crime Divine
5. To the Bone
6. Wardead
7. Hallucigenia
8. Collection By Blood
9. Casket Garden
10. Nenia
11. Life - Another Shape of Sorrow
Dissection
The Somberlain
*****
Written on 27.06.08
Dissection are classed among the elite of black metal, and are certainly the most widely-praised melodic black metal band, combining the genre's frosty atmosphere and harsh instrumental approach with a large dose of melody and crystal clear production values. 'The Somberlain' and its successor 'Storm of the Light's Bane' are accurately hailed as the perfect gateway albums for newcomers to black metal, and I agree with this entirely. With an album as good as 'The Somberlain,' you can almost forget that vocalist/guitarist Jon Nödtveidt would later become a homophobic murderer.
With slap-happy drums and melodic guitar lines careening all over the place, this is a highly energetic album, but one also concerned with atmosphere, thanks to the skilful use of backing keyboards in all songs except the acoustic interludes 'Black Horizons,' 'Into Infinite Obscurity' and 'Feathers Fell.' The title track accomplishes everything the album sets out to do at an early juncture, but the rest continues to enthral, one of the classics of melodic black metal alongside the likes of Ancient, Arcturus and early Dimmu Borgir.
1. Black Horizons
2. The Somberlain
3. Crimson Towers
4. A Land Forlorn
5. Heaven's Damnation
6. Frozen
7. Into Infinite Obscurity
8. In the Cold Winds of Nowhere
9. The Grief Prophecy / Shadows Over a Lost Kingdom
10. Mistress of the Bleeding Sorrow
11. Feathers Fell
Dissection
Storm of the Light's Bane
****
Written on 27.06.08
Dissection's second album introduces death metal elements to arrive at an unprecedented fusion that could be classed as blackened melodic death metal (if you want to be really specific). As with its predecessor, this is a great album for newcomers to extreme metal, as it eases the entry process with a heavy focus on melody that prevents it descending into the frozen abyss of more traditional black metal acts such as Immortal and Mayhem, whose influence can still be heard here to a large extent.
The melody is less pronounced than on 'The Somberlain,' and the songs tend to stand out a little less on the whole. That's not to say that it's a less than excellent release, from the establishing riffs of 'Night's Blood' to the densely packed guitar work of 'Unhallowed' and the thrash influence of 'Thorns of Crimson Death.' The opening and closing tracks are once again given over to acoustic interludes, but without the central intrusion of the previous album.
1. At The Fathomless Depths
2. Night's Blood
3. Unhallowed
4. Where Dead Angels Lie
5. Retribution - Storm of the Light's Bane
6. Thorns of Crimson Death
7. Soulreaper
8. No Dreams Breed In Breathless Sleep
Disturbed
The Sickness
****
Written on 16.06.01
The freakish ability to articulate inhuman gibberish has been a favourite since KoRn began on the scene, but when Disturbed use it the songs take on a whole new level.
The band have to be the best newcomers to the mainstream world of metal since Slipknot. Vocalist David Draiman's powerful voice, capable of both shouting and singing, add to the excellent loud guitar riffs and murderous drum beats to produce a sound unlike any other.
If they had to be categorised, it would probably be nu-metal, although Draiman's vocals seem to sometimes take on a more rock-and-roll, old school style occasionally, and the songs vary widely. Which is good because I love indecisiveness.
The band have thus far released two singles for music video (the fantastic "Voices" and the not-widely-seen "Stupify"), and have toured the UK alone and with Marilyn Manson, as well as appearing at this year's Ozzfest. This, their first mainstream album, (I don't know of any pre-"Sickness" releases in the underground, so please inform me by comment if you have any knowledge) is good value for money with twelve tracks, some of which I have to admit are slightly dodgy, including an event that normally involvs controversy: covering an old song.
The album begins slowly, with a quiet (I think it's bass?) riff accompanying an increasingly louder drum beat, before Draiman lets rip with a huge shouty sound that doesn't seem to mean anything, and the guitar really gets going. The song is, in my opinion, probably the best on the album, and has a great music video. It's about not conforming to the system, and being lead by voices inside your head. ("What's up? I wonder why do you listen to me? I'm gonna make you do some freaky sh** now!") It's a cool song.
"The Game" (track two) begins with a weird electronic beat, before Draiman's singing begins at a slow pace, before exploding into action with a guitar riff, and his customary animalistic noises make a very cool song. This song breaks from the loud metal sound of most of the album, and has an amazing riff that I love, making it one of the album's best tracks. It's about someone playing a sick "game" which involves people dying, and the person feeling no guilt. ("Tell me exactly what am I supposed to do? Now that I have allowed you to beat me. Do you think that we could play another game? Maybe I can win this time.")
"Stupify" is another amazing song, and begins with a sort of slow, loud guitar tune accompanying Draiman's rap-style intro to the song, which seems to be about needing drugs, or maybe about insanity. It's not as heavy as some other songs, but it doex feature some great vocals, and a fair amount of weird noises. ("Why do you like playing around with my scope of reality? I can feel it all start slipping away.") The end of the track leads into track four.
The title-track (almost), "Down With the Sickness" used to be my favourite off the album, and starts with an amazing drum beat which leads to very ape-like sounds from Draiman. The song is quite slow but heavy and loud, and is about bringing down the sickness (obviously). ("I can see inside you, the sickness is rising. Don't try to deny it...")
Track five, "Violent Fetish", begins rather spookily, and is another of the album's best tracks. It's about getting off on violence, and Draiman's melodic singing sounds great all through the song, with the occasional angry shouting. ("How can you sleep when you look at your lies? Up from your mouth, out of your mind.")
"Fear" starts off a bit dodgily, with a horror movie-style keyboard bit, and when the tune starts it's still freakish, with Draiman's vocals distorted. The main song is quite good, but from here on the album is not as good as before. The song is about being a reject, and fearing oppression and taunting from those supposedly "higher" than you. ("can you feel it, when I'm stampin', on your forehead, so you can never forget ,that you're a reject?")
"Numb" (track seven) is quite good, and is a refreshing change of pace as it is slow, and starts off very sombre and melodic. The song is about not being able to feel anything, as someone has been left in some form of comatose or paralysed state due to the actions of someone else. The sad, slow tune seems to reflect upon an isolated mind left to itself, calm and alone. ("There have been several complications that have left me feeling nothing. I might say you were wrong to take it from me. Left me feeling nothing.")
"Want" begins very slowly, until "SHE WANTS ME" blurts out of the stereo, which still scares the sh** out of me today. It's so sudden and abrupt, and the song isn't much good. Once it begins it's quite good, but it continues quite poorly throughout the song without any good riffs or beats. I think the song is about somebody wandering about in pain, hunger and loneliness, without being helped by anyone. ("Wandering now, hungering now... wavering now, weakening now...")
"Conflict" begins promisingly with a very good, native/Soulfly style drumming, and the guitar is good too, but I hate the vocals. It's basically about being an enemy, and the vocals sound like some eighties electronic thing, although the choris is good. It's not one of the album's highlights. ("Your people. Enemy. My peoples' hated enemy. What are you? Enemy. The one created enemy.")
"Shout 2000" is a cover of an old song by... I've forgotten who, but I saw it on "Never Mind the Buzzcocks" a few months ago. Please notify me (by comment preferably) if you know who originally performed this song. It sounds a lot better with the Disturbed touch, but isn't as good as a lot of the album. However, I didn't realise it was a cover until I heard the original. It's about stating the things you don't like, and how your life would be better without them. ("These are the things I can do without. Come on. I'm a-talking to you. Come on.")
Track eleven begins after a build-up, although Draiman's quiet shout after isn't as scare-the-shit-out-of-me as track five, and seems to be the album's comedy song. It is about dropping plates (more specifically, dropping plates on peoples' asses). It sounds good, although I can't really take it seriously with lyrics such as "plates on your ass b*itch, plates on your ass" and "another goddamn slap in the face." Good song though.
The last song begins rather dodgily with electronic sound, but the guitar riff that begins is cool, and the song itself isn't bad, except for that damn annoying backing sound. It's not any relation to the other one million songs called "the Meaning of Life" by virtually every band on the planet, and it's not anywhere near as good as the Offspring's "Meaning of Life", although it does feature Draiman whispering, which sounds cool. ("Get pyscho. I wanna get psycho... It's not enough to have a piece i want the whole damn thing. Give in, give in, decide.")
Overall, a cool album, but it would have been better if all tracks were as good as the first four. From that point forwards they begin to deteriorate, although the band does have potential, and I look forward to seeing their next release. I hope there are less attempts there to be varied, and more attempts to sound damn cool. Although I love the album's cover artwork, and Draiman's cool image- skinhead with lip spikes. He's also a very polite, well-educated man, which may belie his scary appearance, and he has noted that he prefers performing on stage to making love, stating in Kerrang! magazine that "sex doesn't hold a candle to performing."
With a frontman who takes his work this seriously, we can expect to hear a lot more from Disturbed in the future.
Advantages: Some damn amazing songs, Quite a fair few tracks, Great cover art
Disadvantages: Most songs are a bit dodgy, Cover song isn't good (always a bad thing)
Divine Empire
Redemption
***
Written on 27.06.08
Formed by departed members of Malevolent Creation, Divine Empire is a death metal band intent on taking the genre to its extremes as well as back to the basics. In these comparatively short musical outbursts, emphasis is placed on speed, aggression and power, with a strong thrash undercurrent keeping it viable for old-school death metal fans.
The speed and intensity are comparable to brutal death metal, especially with Derek Roddy's pummelling drums, but the music occasionally slows down to avoid such direct categorisation, most evident in the more drawn-out style of 'Witness to Terror' and 'Induced Expulsion.' 'Pray for Deliverance' is the longest song at over five minutes, and feels comparatively epic next to the others, but none of the songs try to hammer home a point. It's all about simplistic enjoyment, from heavy sections to damn cool guitar solos, taking the best of the genre without adding anything of its own.
1. The Awakening (Intro)
2. Hidden Hatred
3. Out for Blood
4. Witness to Terror
5. Redemption
6. Silent Carnage
7. Induced Expulsion
8. Born of Sin
9. Criminal Instinct
10. Draped in Black
11. Pray for Deliverance
Draconian
Where Lovers Mourn
****
Written on 27.06.08
Draconian's debut is a strong doom metal release from a band that likely gained such a high profile due to the presence of a female singer. Fortunately, Lisa Johansson is more than a gimmick to pullin the crowds, her vocal performance being one of the best I've heard from a female metal vocalist, pitted nicely against the darker sung and growled vocals of Anders Jacobsson in a roughly even partnership.
This album still retains enough of a death metal foundation to appeal to fans of death-doom bands such as My Dying Bride and (early) Katatonia, while taking the best elements from the lighter gothic metal genre, without being sucked into its mundanity. The guitars are slow, booming and memorable, and although they lack the timeless riffs of My Dying Bride and Anathema, they still paint a perfect melancholy scene that the occasional violin or acoustic section enhances. Twelve-minute opener 'The Cry of Silence' is a bold opening move, the longest by far at twelve minutes, but with its increased energy in the second half it never becomes dull.
1. The Cry of Silence
2. Silent Winter
3. A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal
4. The Solitude
5. Reversio Ad Secessum
6. The Amaranth
7. Akherousia
8. It Grieves My Heart
Draconian
Arcane Rain Fell
****
Written on 27.06.08
Draconian's second album is a modern classic of doom metal, surprisingly heading into even darker territory than its predecessor, and becoming more or less a slowed-down death metal album. Taking obvious influence from My Dying Bride and Mourning Beloveth, this is death-doom metal of the finest variety, lacking a little in memorable melodies but creating an excellent mournful atmosphere. The only slightly jarring element is the persistent narrative that interrupts the flow, mostly towards the beginning or end of songs, narrating a Paradise Lost-style angel's lament.
Most of the songs follow a similar style, and this time the balance is disrupted to favour the growls and speech of Anders Jacobsson over Lisa Johansson, the latter often being used merely as a lighter supplement but occasionally being offered pride of place, as is the case in the more melodic 'Heaven Laid in Tears.' As an album of slow, drawn-out, emotive compositions, there isn't a great deal for variety, but the band still pulls it off with a faster section in the middle of 'The Apostasy Canticle' and the ultimate face-off, the fifteen-minute finale 'Death, Come Near Me.'
1. A Scenery of Loss
2. Daylight Misery
3. The Apostasy Canticle
4. Expostulation
5. Heaven Laid in Tears (Angel's Lament)
6. The Abhorrent Rays
7. The Everlasting Scar
8. Death, Come Near Me
Dragonforce
Valley of the Damned
****
Written on 27.06.08
The debut release of Dragonforce was one of the more impressive power metal releases of 2003, and one that still stands strong in the power metal world despite the band's later deterioration. These eight songs (the first track is a worthless intro) are full-pelt power metal performances from talented performers, playing as fast, as high-pitched and for as long as the band desires, with seeming disregard for the patience threshold of listeners. Bizarrely, the album's most self-indulgent moments tend to be my favourites, such as the unprecedented freestyle jazzy break in the middle of the otherwise straightforward speed metal track 'Disciples of Babylon.'
The band's style takes influences from international power metal, most notably the early German speed metal bands such as Helloween and Gamma Ray, and squeaky Japanese heavy metal. ZP Theart's vocals are almost entirely rooted in a eunuch wail, and although the pounding drums and shredding guitars can become repetitive, there are enough fun solos from Herman Li to keep things entertaining. 'Valley of the Damned' is based around a strong riff with extensive solos later on, and 'Starfire' is the token slow song - though better than their later attempts - but my favourite has always been 'Black Fire,' seemingly the only song edited to perfection without any extraneous solos. This isn't one of my all-time favourite power/speed metal releases, but it's a damn fine example.
1. Invocation of Apocalyptic Evil
2. Valley of the Damned
3. Black Fire
4. Black Winter Night
5. Starfire
6. Disciples of Babylon
7. Revelations
8. Evening Star
9. Heart of a Dragon
Dragonforce
Inhuman Rampage
***
Written on 28.06.08
The third album from Dragonforce somehow launched them into the mainstream, and I still don't understand why, especially in comparison to the many superior bands who've been playing similar music to better effect over the last twenty years. But I suppose these ones are from the UK rather than some obscure European country like Germany, and tap into that whole 16-bit arcade game soundtrack nostalgia vibe with the overdone keyboards. Like many metal fans, I resented Dragonforce for a while merely due to their unreasonable popularity compared to other hard-working bands I'd come to love, but a few years on, I'm in a position to review this album more accurately. It's alright.
Dragonforce's biggest selling point is their ridiculous speed, and this is turned up a notch further in this album, best displayed in the popular opening song 'Through the Fire and Flames.' Whether the drums, guitars and keyboards are indeed sped up digitally, as has been suggested, I find many points in this song and throughout this album to be distractingly fast, clearly racing along just for the sake of showing off, and the standard speed melodies overlaid are generally nothing special in themselves. As with the last album, there's an incredibly repetitive quality throughout, which is the band's biggest drawback. 'Revolution Deathsquad' and 'Storming the Burning Fields' sound exactly like songs the band has released previously, only slightly less memorable this time, and the compulsory ballad 'Trail of Broken Hearts' is probably the weakest song they've ever released.
Considering the mainstream popularity of this album, it's surprising that Dragonforce still haven't employed more precise editing of their material, and although the songs don't run to ridiculous lengths as badly as they did on 'Sonic Firestorm,' the intense speed and repetition means that most of them burn out around the half-way point. There are identifiable moments in every song where a natural end-point is reached and the band goes into overtime with unnecessary solos, making this album twice as long as it should be. But even if there were eight additional tracks, they'd still inevitably sound exactly the same, making little difference in the long run. I'm interested to see where the band heads next; hopefully to more creative climes.
1. Through the Fire and Flames
2. Revolution Deathsquad
3. Storming the Burning Fields
4. Operation Ground and Pound
5. Body Breakdown
6. Cry for Eternity
7. The Flame of Youth
8. Trail of Broken Hearts
Dragonland
****
Written on 28.06.08
Dragonland isn't just another power metal band obsessed with dragons and fantasy stories, fast guitars, high-pitched vocals and too many keyboards. In fact, they are by far the most definitive example of just that - even more so than Rhapsody, who crafted an entire world and mythology for their lyrics. Dragonland would go on to much better things, but even from the onset, they're a highly enjoyable and talented power metal band, though one that will doubtless scare away the lactose intolerant, as it's among the cheesiest things I own (and that's really saying something).
The songs mainly vary between rip-roaring speed metal anthems in the style of Dragonforce and slower, darker and more atmospheric offerings, with special attention given to Elias Holmlid's orchestral compositions. Holmlid is much more than the average metal keyboard player, bringing a genuinely filmic flair to the proceedings, but still finds plenty of time for the usual power metal faux-harpsichord theatrics, ala Stratovarius. There's also a power metal interpretation of Mozart in track eight, which is always fun.
1. Dragondawn
2. Storming Across Heaven
3. A Last Farewell
4. Ride for Glory
5. The Orcish March
6. The Battle of the Ivory Plains
7. Graveheart
8. Rondo a'la Turca
9. A Secret Unveiled
10. World's End
11. Dragondusk
Advantages: High quality power metal with great keyboards.
Disadvantages: Cheesy as hell, and largely derivative.
Dragonland
Starfall
****
Written on 28.06.08
Dragonland's distinctive sound begins to define itself on their third album, which ditches the intro and outro tracks and instead hands an entire portion of the album over to keyboard player Elias Holmlid's orchestral soundtrack compositions, a trend that would increase on the next album, the classic 'Astronomy.' The music is now more progressive, no longer instantly comparable to other power metal bands, but at the same time the band seems to possess relatively few original ideas at this point. Although each song is a high quality performance in its own right, they tend to sound the same, without the contrived fast/slow divisions of past works.
'As Madness Took Me' is a great opener, taking its time to produce memorable guitar riffs rather than merely speeding out repetitive melodies at high speed, and the chorus is surprisingly commercial and almost pop in its approach; then again, when you're wading knee-deep through cheese by even picking up this album, a little extra isn't going to hurt, and is actually very enjoyable. The same goes for the distinctly 1980s keyboards of the title song, which I would usually hate, but once again consider acceptable here. 'The Book of Shadows' is an intriguing composition, but a little too derivative of film soundtracks to provide a truly gripping finale.
1. As Madness Took Me
2. Starfall
3. Calling My Name
4. In Perfect Harmony
5. The Dreamseeker
6. The Shores of Our Land
7. The Returning
8. To the End of the World
9. The Book of Shadows Part I: A Story Yet Untold
10. The Book of Shadows Part II: The Curse of Qa'a
11. The Book of Shadows Part III: The Glendora Outbreak
Advantages: Successful experimentation.
Disadvantages: Lacks diversity.
Dragonland
Astronomy
*****
Written on 28.06.08
Dragonland's most recent release ranks among my favourite power metal albums, and represents the completion of Dragonland's shaky journey from uninspired power metal band with an over-enthusiastic keyboardist to a progressive metal force to be reckoned with. The space themes are a departure from earlier, fantasy-themed works, and serve to align this lyrically and musically with other prog-power bands such as Ayreon and Threshold, with elements of Symphony X slipping in to provide a much heavier sound.
The uplifting 'Supernova' and classically-influenced 'Beethoven's Nightmare' are two of my favourite power metal works, and every song here has characteristics to make it stand out from the rest. Whether it's the appropriation of Beethoven melodies for 'Beethoven's Nightmare,' the guest growled vocals of Nightrage's Jimmie Strummell on the faster 'Antimatter' or the female singing on assorted songs, this album is progressive without showing off, and only gets a little ahead of itself when keyboardist Elias Holmlid is granted four songs to display his skills as a film soundtrack writer.
'The Old House on the Hill' and 'The Book of Shadows' are competent and engaging for the most part, but stand out a little too much and detract from the overall atmosphere, as an essentially different band fills in for a third of the album.
1. Supernova
2. Cassiopeia
3. Contact
4. Astronomy
5. Antimatter
6. The Book of Shadows Part IV: The Scrolls of Geometria Divina
7. Beethoven's Nightmare
8. Too Late for Sorrow
9. Direction: Perfection
10. The Old House on the Hill Chapter I: A Death in the Family
11. The Old House on the Hill Chapter II: The Thing in the Cellar
12. The Old House on the Hill Chapter III: The Ring of Edward Waldon
Dragonlord
Rapture
**
Written on 28.06.08
Despite the associations of its name, Dragonlord is not another power metal band. In fact, this is the disappointing side project of Testament guitarist Eric Peterson, who forsakes his thrash/death metal roots and opts to play symphonic black metal in the style of Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth, the two most loathed bands in the black metal scene, whose style can barely be classed as black metal at all. From its inception, this project was a bad idea.
This would be a reasonable album if it had any ideas of its own, as I enjoy a lot of symphonic black metal, but all of the slow riffs, ambient keyboards and growling vocals sound like Dimmu Borgir Lite. Getting a bunch of thrash musicians to paint their faces black and white and pose in awkward embarrassment for photographs isn't enough to create a successful black metal band, and for the most part this is bland and devoid of energy or even atmosphere.
1. Vals De La Muerte
2. Unholyvoid
3. Tradition and Fire
4. Born to Darkness
5. Judgment Failed
6. Wolfhunt
7. Spirits in the Mist
8. Rapture
Advantages: Fair forgery of the symphonic black metal style.
Disadvantages: No original ideas, and dull execution.
Dragonlord
Black Wings of Destiny
***
Written on 28.06.08
'Black Wings of Destiny' (what's that, some kind of nonsensical Judas Priest reference?) is an improvement over 'Rapture,' but still fails to hide its status as a sub-par Dimmu Borgir copy-cat. Eric Peterson's vocals are now a little more varied, alternately sounding like a cackling crow and screeching swine, and his guitar work is more impressive to the point that decent riffs are carried forward, though always relegated to the background behind the dull atmospheric keyboards.
The pace is predominantly slow, and although the keyboard work is less than impressive, the album still manages to conjure a reasonable atmosphere of gloom, though lacking the frosty horror of Norwegian black metal. The high production values aid this effect, but it's still disappointing to hear the songs using the same gimmick of switching back and forth between fast, fierce sections and slow atmospheric interludes. The closing covers are acceptable, if unimaginative, the Mercyful Fate one at least containing some cool guitar solos.
1. The Becoming Of
2. The Curse of Woe
3. Revelations
4. Sins of Allegiance
5. Until the End
6. Mark of Damnation
7. Blood Voyeur
8. Fallen
9. Black Funeral (Mercyful Fate cover)
10. Emerald (Thin Lizzy cover)
Dream Evil
Evilized
**
Written on 28.06.08
Dream Evil's second album is a great disappointment, remaining as cheesy and throwback as their debut (perhaps even more so) but failing to live up to its energy and simple enjoyment. Every song here just seems to plod on lifelessly, Gus G's guitars rarely producing a memorable riff or melody, and Niklas Isfeldt's high vocals become genuinely irritating as they remain in the same pitch throughout, especially in songs like 'Fight Till the End.'
Only a couple of songs manage to break through the mediocrity into a more acceptable plane of humdrumness, 'Bad Dreams' likely being the best song for its darker and more memorable riff, but again spoiled by the repetitive vocal performance. The heavy metal celebration 'Made of Metal' sees the band turning into self-parody (a transformation that would be brought to fruition on the following album), having all the silliness of their earlier 'Heavy Metal Jesus' but without being anywhere near as kick-ass. The less said about the terrible power ballads 'Forevermore' and 'The End,' the better.
1. Break the Chains
2. By My Side
3. Fight You Till the End
4. Evilized
5. Invisible
6. Bad Dreams
7. Forevermore
8. Children of the Night
9. Live a Lie
10. Fear the Night
11. Made of Metal
12. The End
Dream Evil
The Book of Heavy Metal
***
Written on 28.06.08
Swedish throwback metal band Dream Evil gets its mojo back for their third full-length release, even if it ends up being one of the downright silliest metal releases of the decade, this side of Manowar. Dominated by the popular title track that opens with a scream of "metaaaaaaaal" and plunges into a tasteless but ever so enjoyable headbanging riff, this album is a celebration of metal that doesn't accomplish anything new, but puts similar efforts by their contemporaries such as Primal Fear to shame.
This is a damn fun album, but like its predecessor it tends towards similarity, with very few stand-out songs. 'Crusader's Anthem' is an effective slow song in the symphonic vein of Kamelot and 'Unbreakable Chain' is a near-ballad that avoids being anywhere near as terrible as the band's earlier love songs, but outside of its title track there's very little this album will be remembered for in the annals of metal, making its rather pompous title seem all the more egotistical.
1. Enemy
2. Into the Moonlight
3. Chapter 6
4. No Way
5. Crusader's Anthem
6. The Book of Heavy Metal (March of the Metallians)
7. The Sledge
8. Tired
9. Unbreakable Chain
10. M.O.M.
11. The Mirror
12. Only for the Night
Advantages: A couple of great metal anthems in the classic style.
Disadvantages: Lots of filler.
Dream Theater
Images and Words
*****
Written on 28.08.04
The sophisticated and enchanting music of New York’s Dream Theater hangs on the precipice of my patience when it comes to music meeting art: the band’s self-styled progressive metal sound has been in constant evolution since this 1992 debut, but for all the bombastic overblown intricacies and contrasting simplicity of some of their later albums, ‘Images and Words’ remains their most popular and enjoyable offering, with the perfect balance of song styles acting as an excellent introduction to a very interesting and worthwhile band.
STYLE
Dream Theater was:
James LaBrie – vocals
John Petrucci – guitars
John Myung – bass
Mike Portnoy – drums
Kevin Moore – keyboards
Dream Theater’s influences from progressive rock bands of the seventies and eighties are equalled by their obvious inspiration from more traditional metal bands and classical composers, although in many ways this album sounds like a more refined sequel to Queensryche’s 1988 classic ‘Operation: Mindcrime.’ James LaBrie’s operatically-trained vocals may take some to get used to, but his high notes suit the excellently crafted music perfectly and express all the emotions necessary in the softer songs. He is a talented and exceptional vocalist who really adds to the experience, and has sadly departed the band since.
The music is difficult to describe or relate, but this is essentially quite complex and layered music following traditional structures. Each song contains verses, rousing choruses and instrumental sections that won’t alienate any casual listeners, but some of the deeper, experimental tracks may do just that. There is still plenty of guitar noodling and riffing for those who like their heavy metal more straight. At first I found the use of horn sections and orchestration a little distracting, but now these only add to the musical experience of the album.
TRACKS
1. Pull Me Under
2. Another Day
3. Take the Time
4. Surrounded
5. Metropolis part 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper
6. Under a Glass Moon
7. Wait for Sleep
8. Learning to Live
The eight tracks listed on this album indicate its progressive nature quite well; they certainly like to indulge in lengthier offerings, but some tracks have been kept at ‘radio length’ for more easy listening. Some songs are more memorable than others, but this is an album that can only really become familiar after a large number of listens. None of the songs are particularly fast, and there is a general relaxed and melancholy feel to the whole thing.
PULL ME UNDER is a strong opener, although I find the chorus a little repetitive. There is nothing too grand about this track to alienate listeners, and it features some excellent guitar parts. TAKE THE TIME follows a similar style but is more lengthy and keyboard-based, but both of these tracks could easily be contenders for metal anthem collections.
The other accessible songs on the album are those based on acoustics, in the form of ANOTHER DAY and SURROUNDED. Occurring in the first half of the album before it becomes more involving and technical, these are both tracks that can be enjoyed by a wide variety of rock fans: Another Day’s high vocals are enchanting, while the funky drum and keyboard sections of Surrounded make it, surprisingly, one of the highlights for me. There is certainly no filler on this album, and LaBrie’s vocals are at their very best here.
The full, grandiose title of METROPOLIS PART 1 makes it an obvious contender for prog epic of the album, and once it has been listened to sufficiently it can be appreciated as something of a musical masterpiece. Not a song to listen to on any occasion though, although the record company refused the band permission to make it an instrumental for fear of alienating even more listeners. This is basically Dream Theater Plus, utilising every song style, instrument and innovation of the album and recreating it as an exhausting but satisfying nine minute song with a great chorus and some fantastic guitars and keyboards throughout. Maybe one of my favourites, but it’s quite hard to say.
UNDER A GLASS MOON and WAIT FOR SLEEP are less impressive after the fun and complex songs but are still valid tracks, even if they do sound less original. There is a great guitar solo on Glass Moon, but aside from that the vocals and riffs sound similar to what’s come before. Wait for Sleep is another good ballad song, with great piano work, but again isn’t up to the standard of the more emotional tracks two and four, not that this really matters. This is also essentially a short filler before the final epic track, LEARNING TO LIVE. Very long, very complex and very enjoyable, this nevertheless feels a little similar to Metropolis, and is overshadowed by the band’s later epic to end all epics, ‘A Change of Seasons.’
VERDICT
Not a band for everyone, but Images and Words provide a melodic and engrossing listen that can be enjoyed many times. The band’s later albums all follow slightly different styles and have been quite disappointing in recent years, but Images and Words has an excellent early nineties rock sound with some impressive ballads to boot. Some fans see the production quality of this album as a little disappointing, but I love the way the instruments and vocals sound on here; this is a modern rock classic. The lyrics are all meaningful and often a little strange, which is nice.
Dream Theater are pretty unique, but the progressive metal genre that they spearheaded has produced some equally interesting bands. New Jersey’s Symphony X have a heavier and more classically influenced sound, while pretty much every European power metal band shows traces of ‘Theatre and Queensryche. Fans of earlier progressive rock won’t necessarily like Dream Theater, but Yes fans might as well give it a try.
Advantages: Complex and melodic, Some more accessible tracks, Longer epics and shorter ballads and anthems
Disadvantages: Not too diverse, Not for every mood or taste
Dream Theater
Awake
****
Written on 10.01.06
With 'Awake,' Dream Theater faced accusations by fans of commercialising their sound. Selling out by crafting an often brutally heavy and musically complex collection of mostly long songs? Whoever said progressive metal was simple.
Awake isn't one of my favourite Dream Theater albums, but is certainly the peak of the period between 1992's 'Images and Words' and 1999's 'Scenes from a Memory,' the former a landmark release that paved the way for popular prog. metal bands such as Tool and the latter a perfect culmination of a decade's work. Perhaps Awake is looked down upon for its lack of an over-arching concept; the first track, '6:00,' with its introductory-sounding title and use of sampled voices suggests some kind of storyline, but what we get are eleven distinct and complimentary songs dealing with themes such as anger, estrangement and alcoholism (again).
In terms of length, Awake is immediate value for money, coming in as close to 80 minutes as possible with the bonus track, not to mention the fact that this CD has been in sales on Amazon.co.uk and Play.com on and off over the years for around £6.99.
Dream Theater count their influences among both progressive rock, especially Rush, and metal bands of the 80s such as Metallica and Iron Maiden, both of whom they have paid special tribute to in recent years by performing some of the bands' most acclaimed albums in full at their live shows. The music here is no 'less prog' than before, but the variety of songs and tendency to cut songs off once they are established, rather than extending them with instrumental sections, makes this potentially more accessible. But the anger here is clear: some of the tracks are surprisingly headache-inducing in their brutality, like a version of Slipknot or Korn who can actually play music. Sorry, couldn't help myself. 'Lie' and 'Scarred' give Metallica's most thrashy period a run for its money, while songs like 'Caught in a Web' combine this raw energy with more delicate keyboard and high guitar sections to reaffirm the band's progressive heart.
The only truly 'stripped-down' song on here is the light acoustic number 'The Silent Man,' quite REM-like but still fitting for the album. Other melancholy pieces are spiced up with high electric guitar, most notable in the excellent 'Innocence Faded,' or, in the case of 'Space-Dye Vest,' distorted so much through samples and keyboard effects that it's difficult to concentrate on anything other than floating out of the room. 'Erotomania' isn't an entirely successful instrumental, relying a little too much on Medieval sounding keyboards (oxymoron noted) that sound out of place on this collection, and James LaBrie's angry vocals sound a little strained and unpleasant in contrast to his usual softer vocal style.
Progressive metal isn't something for everyone, realistically finding its fan base only in fans of both seventies prog rock and more contemporary metal, but Dream Theater are clearly the pioneers and leaders of the increasingly expanding genre. Dream Theater's sound is unique and very distinctive, unlike some of their contemporaries; as interesting and bizarre as Ayreon (Arjen Lucassen)'s 'space operas' are, they can't shake off the very obvious 'Dark Side of the Moon' and 'War of the Worlds' influence. Dream Theater's only evident debt to bands such as Pink Floyd are their reliance on sampled dialogue, usually with a dubious political bent (their later song 'The Great Debate' is a ten minute song about stem cell research that divides speakers with left and right wing opinions to the relevant side of the speakers - now that's prog!)
Maybe Awake would be an easy place to start for fans of contemporary metal, although I was put off at first, despite already owning music from bands who count Dream Theater among their influences. 'Images and Words' remains my favourite album, based on a more melodic sound overall and remaining memorable throughout unlike Awake, which sounds a little rushed and unoriginal in places. Many songs on here became immediate and long-lasting crowd favourites, and it's important that Dream Theater cater for all occasions. When I want to lose myself in an intricate and arguably over-the-top prog landscape I'll play 'Scenes from a Memory,' but when I'm in the mood for screaming, weeping guitars, nothing betters 'Innocence Faded.'
Dream Theater have produced some exceptional albums and some quite poor efforts that hold very little of interest, but fortunately 1994's Awake is closer to the high end of the spectrum. The order of songs is sometimes a little dubious, and whether the varying styles is a good or bad thing is down to each listener's taste, but this was nevertheless an important release for 90s metal after the decline of grunge. Even if American bands can't spell their names properly.
Dream Theater
A Change of Seasons
***
Written on 29.06.08
Viewed as Dream Theater's gift to their fans, this unbalanced E.P. consists of one lengthy Dream Theater song in the form of the title track, bulked out by live covers of famous songs from other bands that presumably had some influence on this progressive metal act. The covers weren't the best decision to pad this release out, but as long as they're viewed (quite rightly) as bonus tracks rather than a second half to the E.P., they shouldn't be allowed to detract from its otherwise high quality.
'A Change of Seasons' is a truly excellent Dream Theater song, one of the band's best and a fine example of a long song done properly, moving through distinct movements without deviating too far from its core sound. A comparison would be Symphpony X's similarly lengthy epic 'The Divine Wings of Tragedy,' as opposed to their later 'The Odyssey' which sounds more like eight separate songs cobbled together. Dream Theater's epic catches them at their most thoughtful and eloquent, perhaps a little alienating in its length but lacking the self-indulgence of their later releases.
The cover songs are all adequate, but nothing more. They're performed live at least, which is something of an excuse, and the crowd seems to be into it despite having attended a Dream Theater show, but the songs are already so well-known that these covers can't help but sound like pale imitations, however much they're clearly performed in the spirit of fun. There's no distinction in quality, as they're all performed fairly straight through Dream Theater's style: your preferred tracks will merely coincide with your appreciation of the originals.
1. A Change of Seasons
... a) The Crimson Sunrise
... b) Innocence
... c) Carpe Diem
... d) The Darkest of Winters
... e) The Inevitable Summer
... f) The Crimson Sunset
2. Elton John medley
... a) Funeral for a Friend
... b) Love Lies Bleeding
3. Perfect Strangers (Deep Purple cover)
4. Led Zeppelin medley
... a) The Rover
... b) Achilles' Last Stand
... c) The Song Remains the Same
5. The Big Medley
... a) In the Flesh? (Pink Floyd cover)
... b) Carry On Wayward Son (Kansas cover)
... c) Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen cover)
... d) Lovin, Touchin, Squeezin (Journey cover)
... e) Cruise Control (Dixie Dregs cover)
... f) Turn It On Again (Genesis cover)
Dream Theater
Falling into Infinity
****
Written on 29.06.08
A disappointingly humdrum offering after the magnificent 'Awake' and prior to the over-zealous 'Scenes from a Memory,' Dream Theater's fourth album 'Falling Into Infinity' is easily overlooked and subjected to a mixture of accurate and exaggerated criticism. It's certainly the band's weakest album up to this point, largely due to pressures from the record label to produce something more accessible to a mainstream audience, but even the few tracks that are permitted to push the envelope end up disappointing compared to the band's usual standards.
Taken as a deliberate attempt at something more mainstream, akin to Metallica's self-titled album, this is an enjoyable enough release, and one I actually prefer to most of the albums the band released hereafter. Songs such as 'New Millennium' and the angry 'Burning My Soul' are enjoyable on a simplistic level that avoids the band's typical over-indulgence, and other such as 'Peruvian Skies' and the instrumental 'Hell's Kitchen' stand up to the band's more progressive material, though 'Lines in the Sand' and 'Trial of Tears' are unnecessarily long.
The mainstream angle sadly brings with it a few major drawbacks, most evident in the almost pop chorus of 'You Not Me' and the dull ballads 'Hollow Years' and 'Take Away My Pain,' but there are still enough high quality songs here to make this a decent, if forgettable offering from Dream Theater.
1. New Millennium
2. You Not Me
3. Peruvian Skies
4. Hollow Years
5. Burning My Soul
6. Hell's Kitchen
7. Lines in the Sand
8. Take Away My Pain
9. Just Let Me Breathe
10. Anna Lee
11. Trial of Tears
Dream Theater
Once in a LIVEtime
Under Parisian Skies
*****
Written on 21.01.06
Dream Theater's first official live album 'Live at the Marquee,' released in 1993, presented New York's pioneers of progressive metal at the start of their consistently successful career, but five years and a number of albums, EPs and record label changes later, 'Once in a Livetime' presented a more contemporary overview of the band, catching them right before they moved into seriously ambitious territory with 1999's epic concept album 'Metropolis part 2: Scenes from a Memory.'
Perhaps at a cost to the overall quality, Once in a Livetime catches Dream Theater on the start of an upward climb: primarily promoting a studio album that was only moderately well received, and following turbulent relations with Time Warner records and a relatively new keyboard player to introduce to the fans.
Derek Sherinian had already demonstrated his skills on Dream Theater's epic suite 'A Change of Seasons,' viewed by many as a gift to the band's fans, but was required to be more restrained on the follow-up studio album 'Falling into Infinity.' Despite including some impressive lengthy and intricate songs, the band were essentially told to release something with more mass appeal than their ambitious prog-rock-influenced albums of the past and the result was a good, but fairly mediocre collection of mostly forgettable radio friendly rock songs.
Once in a Livetime has no such enforced boundaries, and the band don't devote an enormous amount of time to publicising their most recent release. As such, this double live album benefits from a more comprehensive view of the band's 90s work, with focus shifting from slow, melodic ballads to heavy thrash influences and extended jams and solos, all performed for the pleasure of the audience at Le Bataclan, Paris.
Once in a Livetime - CD 1
1. A Change of Seasons I: The Crimson Sunrise
2. A Change of Seasons II: Innocence
3. Puppies on Acid
4. Just Let Me Breathe
5. Voices
6. Take the Time
7. Derek Sherinian Piano Solo
8. Lines in the Sand
9. Scarred
10. A Change of Seasons IV: The Darkest of Winters
11. Ytse Jam
12. Mike Portnoy Drum Solo
To generalise (a little inaccurately), the first hour of the concert makes for a 'heavier' disc to contrast with the largely softer second side, as the band try to get the fans moving and rocking along before having some nice relaxation. There's no sense of a warm-up here: the CD fades in with the ethereal opening of 'A Change of Seasons,' the band's brilliant 25-minute piece which is split into its respective movements and used to bookend and divide the show, something that works quite well.
After this prog overload come the heavy, recent songs 'Puppies on Acid' and 'Just Let Me Breathe,' both seeing the band performing at full-pelt and demonstrating their hard edge, before slowing down for 'Voices' and beginning a more reflective and experimental stage of the show that spans the rest of the album.
This 'descent' (as some may call it) is a little indulgent, and could certainly serve to put off newcomers, but the fantastic long progressive songs 'Lines in the Sand' and 'Take the Time,' as well as the crushingly heavy 'Scarred,' each from a different studio album, serve as a reminder of Dream Theater's originality and deserved success, even if the alternating vocals and rawer take on 'Take the Time' make it a little uncomfortable to listen to.
The CD player's eject button allows casual fans to spare themselves the dull 'Ytse Jam,' the only track here from the band's largely unimpressive debut album, and, more importantly, Mike Portnoy's tedious drum solo that follows and just doesn't stop. It's nice that the band include something for drummers, and no one else (well, maybe people who don't play drums but still enjoy drum solos. no, that's a bit far-fetched isn't it?), but at 8 minutes it really could have been replaced with one of the band's classic songs that didn't make it onto this collection. The earlier piano solo doesn't suffer for this, being more melodic and musical for a start and also acting as a nice intro to 'Lines in the Sand.' Fading to silence after a drum solo is a little anticlimactic and annoying.
Once in a Livetime - CD 2
1. Trial of Tears
2. Hollow Years
3. Take Away My Pain
4. Caught in a Web
5. Lie
6. Peruvian Skies
7. John Petrucci Guitar Solo
8. Pull Me Under
9. Metropolis part 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper
10. Learning to Live
11. A Change of Seasons VII: The Crimson Sunset
I listen to the second disc more often than the first, perhaps because the pleasant sound of many of the songs makes it more inviting. Dream Theater have produced many great heavy and thrashy songs, most notably on 1996's 'Awake' album (from which most of the tracks on this live release hail), but they've always been most in their element when creating something softer and more reflective. The first three songs could almost be classed as ballads, particularly the soft, saxophone-aided offering 'Take Away My Pain' lamenting the death of vocalist James LaBrie's father, and they represent the best three tracks from the Falling into Infinity album. 'Hollow Years' was that album's single, and its commercial nature is evident but doesn't affect the song, and 'Trial of Tears' is the band's most atmospheric offering yet, a precursor in style to their highly successful album the following year.
Another reason for my preference of the second disc is the band's relaxed attitude to their material. Okay, disc one had a drum solo. but it was a drum solo! That doesn't count. There was a brief jam session towards the end of 'Take the Time,' but that didn't amount to much either. Here, John Petrucci's guitar solo forms a perfect, if overlong build-up to 'Pull Me Under' and the final part of the album, while band members pay instrumental tribute to recognisable favourites: 'Peruvian Skies,' a fairly good but repetitive long song, is turned into a great crowd piece when Petrucci and Sherinian seamlessly incorporate the riffs of Pink Floyd's 'Have a Cigar' and Metallica's 'Enter Sandman,' so perfectly timed that the listener would have to know the original sources to notice anything awry. Similarly, the album opens with a variation of the famous alien ditty from 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' and Petrucci incorporates what sounds rather like a theme from the arcade classic 'PacMan' into his solo.
The central part of the album returns to the heaviness of disc one with 'Caught in a Web,' 'Lie' and 'Peruvian Skies,' all good examples of this side of the band but oddly not as memorable on the live album as in the studio, but this is thankfully saved by the excellent climax, forming an extended medley of songs from the band's most successful (and in my opinion, greatest) album, 1992's 'Images and Words.' The band seems to be aware of this general consensus, closing with the classic songs 'Pull Me Under,' 'Metropolis part 1' and 'Learning to Live.' These songs work brilliantly together, all possessing the ingredients that make Dream Theater so revered, but suffer a little from the unpolished live sound that doesn't suit them as well as the harder tracks.
Once in a Livetime is far from being a perfect live album, but its release provides a great opportunity to hear the band in-between their mid-90s 'song collection' style albums and the more ambitious and lofty work they would undertake immediately after. The lack of classic songs from these follow-up albums doesn't present a problem, as Dream Theater's publicisers have fallen into the habit of releasing a live album every couple of years from this point on. The sound quality also sounds in need of improvement, as the atmospheric keyboards are sometimes rendered mute by the guitars and drums. LaBrie's vocals are also something of an issue, sounding strained at times which may be due to the band's boast on the sleeve notes that their 'Touring into Infinity' tour comprised 116 shows in 20 countries.
The solos are annoying and dull, but should please musicians, who I believe form a large proportion of Dream Theater's loyal fan base. The set list is fairly faultless, bearing in mind the studio releases the band would be aiming to promote, and the use of 'A Change of Seasons' is a bold and clever move. It's also nice to have the songs grouped roughly together in terms of style, as each respective atmosphere and mood created is allowed to run its course, something the band often have trouble with in their studio albums. Another annoying oddity is the use of fade-outs on the second side, presumably omitting pauses in the concert as the band recuperate. There's very little in the way of crowd banter, surfacing only in some instrumental sections and a final farewell from all concerned, which may be due to editing or LaBrie's own choices.
As with A Change of Seasons, Once in a Livetime is an album for the fans. The second disc could be enjoyed casually for around half an hour before its appeal constricted, and the solos and jams throughout try even the patience of established Dream Theater disciples.
A fortunate occurrence in the compulsive release of Dream Theater live albums is the almost entirely different set-lists recorded from each tour. Thus, 2001's 'Live Scenes from New York' album/DVD and 2004's 'Live at Budokan' can be bought without the repetition of 'greatest hits,' a reason to give this seamlessly flowing collection five stars, while those who own Once in a Livetime can also avoid buying the mediocre Falling into Infinity, already owning all of the good songs in this more upbeat and energetic live performance.
Dream Theater
*****
Written on 04.03.06
Dream Theater’s 1992 album Images and Words pioneered the progressive metal genre and remains for many the band’s best work, finding a perfect balance between the band’s influences in prog rock and metal. The album’s most technically impressive song ‘Metropolis part 1’ was finally followed up seven years later with the most ambitious Dream Theater release yet, 1999’s Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory.
Scenes From a Memory is the band’s only concept album, an inevitable release for experimental progressive musicians that became something of a cliché for seventies rock acts. Dream Theater’s influences are extensive, but are most popularly cited as prog and classic rock acts such as Rush and Queen on the one hand; 80s metal bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden on the other. Inspiration is a lot easier to pin down on this impressive and ambitious release, the introspective storyline owing to Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, structural elements and ballads sounding distinctively Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall particularly) and the whole character driven prog metal experience furthering the work of Queensrÿche eleven years earlier with Operation: Mindcrime, the single most important influence here.
Reduced to theatrical-trailer-type synopsis, the album deals with a murder mystery from a character’s past life that is explored and solved through regression hypnosis. Songs and passages alternate between Nicholas’ actions in 1999 and his latent memories and dreams of the city in 1928. Expanding on ‘Metropolis Part 1’ must have proved slightly problematic due to that song’s fairly arbitrary and indecipherable lyrics, which were in fact only added at the last minute due to the record company’s wish to avoid an instrumental track, but the band do an admirable job. There are elements of mystery as the story develops, especially by code-naming the two brothers ‘The Miracle’ and ‘The Sleeper’ respectively, but unlike Genesis’ The Lamb, there isn’t a great deal open to interpretation.
Dream Theater had earlier proved their integrity with their 25-minute epic song ‘A Change of Seasons,’ released specially in 1997, and Scenes From a Memory displays the same ability and effectiveness at crafting an extended musical piece that remains consistent, recognisable and strong. The twelve songs on here can all stand alone outside the context of the album, despite the repeated melodies and musical themes throughout.
Displaying admirable prog pomposity, the 70 minute album is divided dramatically into Acts and Scenes:
Act 1
1. Scene One: Regression (2:06)
2. Scene Two: I. Overture 1928 (3:37)
3. II. Strange Deja Vu (5:13)
4. Scene Three: I. Through My Words (1:02)
5. II. Fatal Tragedy (6:49)
6. Scene Four: Beyond This Life (11:22)
7. Scene Five: Through Her Eyes (5:29)
Act 2
8. Scene Six: Home (12:53)
9. Scene Seven: I. The Dance of Eternity (6:13)
10. II. One Last Time (3:47)
11. Scene Eight: The Spirit Carries On (6:38)
12. Scene Nine: Finally Free (12:00)
Scenes From a Memory may seem like overkill to some Dream Theater fans, but in truth the band’s restraint and sharp focus makes this album far better than it could have been. There are very, very few simple ‘filler’ tracks, as may be found in albums where the storyline takes precedence over the music: even the obligatory opening track, featuring a hypnotic clock ticking and spoken word vocals, soon becomes a pleasant ‘Pigs on the Wing’ style acoustic introduction. The later ‘Through My Words’ is the only song here that couldn’t really stand alone, but works as a great introduction to the next.
In contrast to criticism that this album is ‘too prog,’ it is also often criticised for being ‘too metal.’ The band has alternated between heavier and lighter eras throughout their career, but Scenes From a Memory is perhaps their thrashiest offering. ‘Beyond This Life,’ the most well-known song here, is driven by hard and fast riffs and there are many occasions when the band break into an extensive jam: ‘Fatal Tragedy,’ the strongest and most diverse song on the album, ends with a relentless instrumental section that is a worthy successor to Megadeth’s ‘Hangar 18.’ The bizarre instrumental ‘The Dance of Eternity’ epitomises the slating of this album and as such is a fascinating experience, whatever the listener thinks of it: incorporating all of the musical themes of ‘Metropolis part 1’ on instruments as diverse as a honky-tonk piano synth, you’d have to be a little crazy to consider this fun extravaganza a true work of genius.
As a cohesive work, the music on this album is all roughly similar. There are slow, soft songs and loud, speedy anthems but nothing that breaks the eerie melancholy gloom of the concept. ‘The Spirit Carries On’ stands out somewhat in its optimism, and the band make a final intelligent choice in following up with the shattering ‘Finally Free,’ something of a self-contained third Act (at least that would be the case if this were a film) that turns the limited story on its head. This song combines the best elements of the album that have preceded it and features some acting work to provide easy fodder for critics of the CD (not to mention the opportunity to appropriate the title ‘Finally Free’ as an expression of relief that the album is finally over).
Scenes From a Memory isn’t an easy album to appreciate, but once the listener gets past the oppressive idea of a concept, it should be enjoyed by fans of rock and metal. The album can’t be seen as wholly original, owing debts all over the place, seeming especially like a superior version of Operation: Mindcrime that avoids the cheesy and false ‘suburban cyperpunk’ thing and restrains over-elaborate excess. All of Dream Theater’s albums sound admirably distinct and different from each other, but this is doubtless the band at their most focused and creative, and as such deserves a listen by all fans. This isn’t my personal favourite album, primarily because the lengthy playing time means the similarity in sound and return of riffs become a little grating and outstayed, but there are very few weak songs. Images and Words remains their most original and enjoyable release, but fans of the band’s darker metal side may prefer Awake or Train of Thought. In any case, those put off by Scenes From a Memory should avoid the band’s subsequent release, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, with its pointlessly long running time and failed grandeur.
Dream Theater predictably toured Metropolis Pt. 2 in its entirety after its release, recorded on the Metropolis 2000: Live Scenes From New York DVD which adds a little to the experience through its use of live action, slightly amateurish footage. Thankfully, Scenes From a Memory is an album that can stand alone perfectly well AS an album: many Pink Floyd fans had to watch Alan Parker’s version of The Wall to fully understand and appreciate what Roger Waters had been getting at, but there is little hidden in Dream Theater’s interesting and ultimately optimistic tale of Depression-era fratricide. The thinking person's thrash metal.
Advantages: Excellent songs forming a strong and intelligent album
Disadvantages: Over-reaching concept and extended jam sections may put off casual listeners
Dream Theater
****
Written on 16.08.06
Whether Dream Theater realised it at the time or not, ‘Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence’ would become the start of a new era for the progressive metal band, a turbulent but highly creative period that so far consists of three entirely different sounding albums. This double-disc release remains, perhaps, the strongest of the band’s releases this millennium, but for every plaudit there’s a downside; for every successful experiment, a turkey. That’s prog rock for ya.
1999’s highly ambitious and intricate concept album ‘Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory’ ranks as one of the band’s most acclaimed releases, and was going to be a difficult album to follow. Many artists in similar dilemmas opt to change their style somewhat between releases to avoid repetition: Slayer’s ‘South of Heaven’ was a consciously slower and more technical affair in contrast to their intensely brutal ‘Reign in Blood,’ while Pink Floyd’s sound altered massively in the six years between their two big sellers. Dream Theater’s sound is always driven by progression, but ‘Six Degrees’ is a somewhat confused album, trying to be innovative in places, but attempting to connect with an earlier sound in others. This sound is sometimes the band’s own, but more often leads to imitations of other artists.
The double-disc format is important in understanding the album’s intention. The first disc features five long songs, none lasting for less than six minutes and several in excess of ten. These five songs experiment with a heavier sound that the band introduced almost a decade earlier with ‘Awake,’ but never really followed through until now. The second disc consists of an epic forty-three minute suite, helpfully divided up into eight distinct tracks. This disc aims to satisfy long-time Dream Theater fans, but doesn’t come close to reaching the heights of 1992’s ‘Images and Words,’ still their most popular release.
Having produced a modern masterpiece with ‘Scenes from a Memory,’ and toured and performed the album worldwide in its entirety for over a year, it’s clear that the band was itching to attempt something grand once again. The ‘Six Degrees’ suite is the result, but it’s really nothing to get excited about. The first disc is far more interesting, despite some real low points, and more progressive in the true sense.
Disc One
Degree 1. The Glass Prison
i). Reflection
ii). Restoration
iii). Revelation
Degree 2. Blind Faith
Degree 3. Misunderstood
Degree 4. The Great Debate
Degree 5. Disappear
The incredible ‘The Glass Prison’ is Dream Theater’s heaviest song up to this point, and holds together for its thirteen minute duration. Written by drummer Mike Portnoy, the song in fact represents the first part of a musical saga that’s still continuing, dealing with his struggle with alcoholism. The three movements of the song correspond, lyrically and musically, to the first three steps in Bill Wilson’s Alcoholics Anonymous program. This epic continues in the subsequent albums ‘Train of Thought’ and ‘Octavarium,’ and will reportedly be concluded in the band’s next album in 2007. The song’s crushing riffs, thundering bass drums and frantic guitars from John Petrucci mark it out as something special and distinctive in the Dream Theater discography and the greatest song on the album, owing more than a small debt to Metallica. ‘Blind Faith’ lets some of the heaviness go, but still remains quite hard and powerful, despite feeling overlong this time at ten minutes. Singer James LaBrie doesn’t really excel himself here, despite penning the lyrics to this second song about struggle, dealing with religion.
The album takes a chill pill for the slower ‘Misunderstood,’ the first song from Petrucci, who wrote most of the second disc. The ‘Scenes from a Memory’ album demonstrated that Petrucci was the softer yin to Portnoy’s metallic yang (despite the entire band contributing pretty much evenly on all songs), and the trend continues here. ‘Misunderstood’ works really well in the centre of the disc, and LaBrie’s vocals come to the fore in the high octave chorus. The drawback of the song is that, like most others, it’s far too stretched out and loses its impact in the second half, however much Petrucci and the others try to impress the listeners with solos. It’s still one of the best songs here.
‘The Great Debate’ is, right from the start, a Tool rip-off. LaBrie’s voice imitates Maynard James Keenan and the whole modern prog atmosphere seems almost lifted from the other band’s ‘Lateralus’ release, an album that could hardly have escaped the band’s attention as one of the biggest selling rock albums of the previous year. The eponymous debate itself concerns, of all things, stem cell research. Genuine news interview clips play during the song’s introductory sequence, and recur at several points. The intention was for the listener’s stereo to embody the left- and right-wing speakers by literally piping them through the appropriate speaker, which would give the added advantage of a dedicated stem cell activist switching off one of the speakers and blissing out for fourteen minutes. It’s an interesting song, but certainly sub-Tool, even if Dream Theater are superior musicians.
The final song on disc one is the least impressive of all. ‘Disappear’ sounds like an attempt, once again, to deviate from the band’s trademark, expected sound by becoming a sound-alike for popular artists. This time it’s somewhere between the Beatles and Radiohead, a poppy ballad that retains the gloomy atmosphere but doesn’t convince me that it was worth the wait.
Disc Two
Degree 6. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
i). Overture
ii). About to Crash
iii). War Inside My Head
iv). The Test That Stumped Them All
v). Goodnight Kiss
vi). Solitary Shell
vii). About to Crash (Reprise)
viii). Losing Time / Grand Finale
Grand, bombastic, cinematic, orchestral. ‘Six Degrees of’ etc. etc. is here, so open up your sound-holes. The ‘Overture’ is actually a little deceptive, as the full orchestra sound that’s achieved here doesn’t continue to the rest of the song, and overall this sounds more like a Michael Kamen score than anything from the first disc (I can’t escape the mental image of the helicopter escaping the island at the end of Jurassic Park). ‘About to Crash’ is where the song begins in earnest, although in fairness these segments are all individual songs… just don’t tell that to the band. A catchy piano melody from Jordan Rudess is picked up by Petrucci’s wailing guitars, and the ominous lyrics of impending doom make this a fun and interesting fast-paced song in the vein of the previous album.
‘War Inside My Head’ is a short, two-minute affair featuring weird synthesisers and a heavy rhythm that leads seamlessly into the hardest rocking song on this side of the album, the Pantera-influenced ‘The Test That Stumped Them All.’ This song sees LaBrie’s vocals veering all over the place, from squeaks deep yells, to the extent that it almost sounds like Korn. Portnoy and Petrucci deliver the most effective drum and guitar attack since ‘The Glass Prison,’ and although the neat guitar style is lifted from the late Dimebag Darrell, it makes for a great song in the vein of 1994’s ‘Awake’ album.
As can be deduced from the title, ‘Goodnight Kiss’ is a slow, soft song, led by piano and soft singing and reminiscent of 1992’s ‘Wait for Sleep’ (I’ll stop referring back to past songs as soon as the band stops making me!), but is more drawn out and expanded than a simple interlude. ‘Solitary Shell’ is the catchiest song on the CD, but I’m unsure whether this is a good or bad thing. The vocals and melody seem more upbeat, despite the ‘Dark Side of the Moon’-style lyrics, and remind me of Green Day more than anything, although obviously a Green Day who have learned to play instruments. The chorus is the most notable part, and LaBrie really reaches for the high notes, although it’s a shame his voice hasn’t really moved on in the ten years with the band.
The reprise of ‘About to Crash’ is well-timed and even better executed, the band proving that they are the masters in the field of concept albums and call-backs, as if there was ever any doubt. There’s a riff that sounds somewhat familiar, like a voice from the past you can’t quite place, and then… oh, it’s just that piano thing from track two again isn’t it? Still, it’s very nice, and the song does move on to differ from the earlier instalment. The finale returns to the grand scope of the ‘Overture,’ and our journey into the human psyche is complete. We haven’t really learned anything, but when do we ever?
With ‘Six Degrees,’ Dream Theater enters the new millennium, and has something of an anxiety of influence. Tool, Radiohead and Metallica are all given a nod of inspiration, but at least the stand-out tracks prove that the band still have what it takes as the driving force of progressive metal music. Beginning here, the band launch into several epic strokes of creativity: first is Portnoy’s alcoholic odyssey, second is the band’s deliberate experimentation with existing genres – which would continue with the unashamedly nu-metal ‘Train of Thought’ – and finally, an interesting technique of linking albums together in a sort of daisy chain, or, more accurately and less fluffily, a regular train. The vinyl fuzz that ended ‘Scenes from a Memory’ is brought in to begin ‘The Glass Prison’ here, although it’s not something you’d notice on first listen. Similarly, ‘Losing Time / Grand Finale’ ends with an extended string chord that would soon open ‘Train of Thought.’ This technique will reportedly end at the next album, as will Portnoy’s personal magnum opus, ushering in another era for the progressive New Yorkers.
Dream Theater’s music is always unpredictable, and consistently defies my expectations even as a long-time fan. ‘Six Degrees’ lies somewhere in the middle of the road for the band, roughly half a disc too long and lacking in inspiration but still full of energy and technical skill to appeal to a wide spectrum of listeners. The title song is for the stubborn fans of old; ‘The Glass Prison’ is for the metalheads; ‘Goodnight Kiss’ is for their mums.
Advantages: Satisfies the band's fans, old and new.
Disadvantages: Can be reliant on the band's previous material, and that of others.
Dream Theater
Train of Thought
***
Written on 29.06.08
Dream Theater are a supremely talented progressive metal band from New York, whose output and creative decisions since the turn of the millennium have been largely questionable and, in the case of their mediocre seventh album, borderline awful. 'Train of Thought' is easily my least favourite album the band has produced, forsaking much of their classic style in favour of a slow and heavy groove metal sound more suited to the metal mainstream of the time, a very limiting direction that fortunately turned out to be short-lived before they reinvented themselves again.
Despite these concessions to the mainstream, the album is equally marred by the band's self-indulgent tendencies, especially in terms of song length. Five of these seven songs last for over ten minutes each, without containing enough compelling ideas to justify the extreme length, and playing them back-to-back is a tiring experience. Opener 'As I Am' is energetic and fun while it lasts and 'This Dying Soul' contains many memorable sections, but after this the quality slips drastically, only being saved by the instrumental 'Stream of Consciousness' that's notable for showcasing the musicians at their most extreme, holding nothing back in giving the fans exactly what they want. It's just a shame the other songs are tempered by the generic groove metal sound and its associated gimmicks such as pinch harmonic obsessed guitars and distorted vocals.
1. As I Am
2. This Dying Soul
3. Endless Sacrifice
4. Honor Thy Father
5. Vacant
6. Stream of Consciousness
7. In the Name of God
Dream Theater
Live at Budokan
Big in Japan
***
Written on 08.07.07
As the leading force of progressive metal, Dream Theater’s live shows are always geared specifically towards giving something special to the loyal, long-time fans, thanks to drummer Mike Portnoy’s ‘rotating set-list.’ By keeping extensive records of which songs were played at which locations over the band’s numerous world tours, Portnoy strives to ensure that fans get something new from each Dream Theater show, and that extends to those listening to the concert in their own home or car in the form of officially recorded live albums.
Released in 2004 to chronicle the Japanese leg of the tour for ‘Train of Thought,’ ‘Live at Budokan’ is no predictable ‘greatest hits’ set-list, revised only ever-so-slightly from the last live album to accommodate new songs alongside the old favourites. There is an expected small degree of overlap with 2000’s ‘Live Scenes From New York,’ 1997’s ‘Once in a Livetime’ and 1992’s ‘Live at the Marquee,’ but even with such an extensive live discography, only five out of eighteen songs have been released in this manner before. That leaves thirteen songs that have never before been released live, a mixture of mostly newer material released after Live Scenes From New York, and consciously differentiated picks from 1990s albums.
Dream Theater is fond of celebrating every stage of its career with live releases (Portnoy even having set up Ytse Jam Records to release so-called ‘Official Bootlegs’ of notable shows that Elektra Records would have no real interest in promoting), and each release is obviously tailored largely to promote the most recent studio release, in this case 2003’s Train of Thought. Five of that album’s seven songs are included across the enormous three disc set (or one disc if watching the DVD version, but I don’t have that). As it’s one of my least favoured of their studio albums, this live release was jeapordised a little before it even started playing, but as an account of the live Dream Theater experience it has yet to be beaten.
Disc 1
1. As I Am
2. This Dying Soul
3. Beyond This Life
4. Hollow Years
5. War Inside My Head
6. The Test That Stumped Them All
Disc 2
1. Endless Sacrifice
2. Instrumedley
3. Trial of Tears
4. New Millennium
5. Keyboard Solo
6. Only a Matter of Time
Disc 3
1. Goodnight Kiss
2. Solitary Shell
3. Stream of Consciousness
4. Disappear
5. Pull Me Under
6. In the Name of God
Dream Theater is a progressive metal band, combining the song-writers’ love of classic progressive rock and more recent heavy metal, though the band’s constant evolution with each album (obviously enhanced by their pioneering prog spirit) sees the ‘metal’ in question move with current trends. This collection includes songs from 1989 (‘Only a Matter of Time’) and 1992 (‘Pull Me Under’), both of which are firmly rooted in the eighties metal mentality: high pitched vocals, slow grooving guitar riffs and poppy synthesisers. The same elements are in place that would characterise the band’s entire career, but the attitude of these particular songs, and not necessarily the albums they were taken from, is to be accessible pop metal with a tinge of prog in the vein of Rush and Queensrÿche, the two most obvious influences. Still acting as the more accessible tracks on this release by being performed in a mostly unaltered fashion and also having the benefit of being the ‘old favourites,’ the distinctly retro sound makes them stand out against the more modern, heavier material, and the contrast would have been more effective and less jarring if some of the more experimental and notable songs from those early albums had been chosen instead (but of course, there’s the issue of the rotating set-list!)
The next stage of evolution that is charted is rather oddly the black sheep of Dream Theater releases, 1997’s ‘Falling into Infinity.’ Rather than focusing on its excellent
predecessor ‘Awake,’ which arguably perfected the fusion between classic heavy metal and prog, this album was produced under the scrutiny of a record label that wanted something more radio-friendly, so it’s quite a surprise to see three songs (‘Hollow Years,’ ‘Trial of Tears’ and ‘New Millennium’) celebrated here. If the purpose is to contrast starkly with the crushing riffs of Train of Thought material and the insane keyboard shenanigans of the instrumentals, then it certainly works, but it raises the question of who this album is intended for. Only die-hard Dream Theater fans would fork out for a three-disc live album with an average song length of ten minutes each, but those same fans would be turned away by the inclusion of such weak material. It’s a common perception that there are two schools of Dream Theater fans, each preferring either their early or late career (I certainly belong to the former), and while the Falling into Infinity album is fortunately the weak point in the middle that neither tribe has to like, the newer fans that this album caters more towards aren’t going to appreciate such a diversion. ‘New Millennium’ is essentially a pop-rock songs in the wake of grunge, while ‘Hollow Years’ is mostly led by piano, like a couple of other songs already included here. Only ‘Trial of Tears’ could disguise itself as a more experimental song due to its length, but it’s not a very interesting or eventful journey, even if the chorus is quite nice.
That brings us to the majority of the album, which is taken from albums in Dream Theater’s more recent, continuing phase. The emphasis of this period is more on a conflict between crushing heaviness, probably inspired by the emergence of so-called ‘nu metal’ in the late 90s more than death metal, balanced out by a softer side of soaring guitar melodies and light keyboards. The live experience begins with a demonstration of Dream Theater at its most uncompromising, pounding through the first two songs from Train of Thought (‘As I Am’ and ‘This Dying Soul’) followed by a ridiculously extended version of the heaviest offering from 1999’s Scenes From a Memory (‘Beyond This Life.’) This is all about satisfying modern Dream Theater fans, which is no bad thing, and it was probably an intentional decision to alienate any new listeners not bold enough to face this challenge rather than try to suck them in with the poppier offerings from later on. The first two songs have a little improvisation added from the year-old studio tracks, but it’s pretty much the same deal as the whole Train of Thought album: songs based on fast and heavily down-tuned guitar riffs with aggressive vocals and even a very small dose of rap, something it took me a while to get over. It’s a little more pleasing to hear these songs in the live environment, as the original studio production was a little too muddy and imposing for me, and although these aren’t Dream Theater songs I would listen to very often at all, they’re memorable and accomplished, if a little too long.
‘Beyond This Life’ was the first Dream Theater song I heard many years ago, and it gets the balance between heavy and prog right on the nose, helped by a fantastic and instantly recognisable riff that the band can’t help but head-bang along to. Even the original version tries my patience at eleven minutes, breaking into a jam and improv for the second half, so I don’t exactly find this double length version the most riveting listen ever. Nevertheless, a lot of fans do, and this would be particularly suited to those who enjoy rock instrumental improvisations from the likes of the Dream Theater side-project ‘Liquid Tension Experiment.’ For those that don’t enjoy this type of thing... well, you’ll at least be safe for the rest of this disc.
As mentioned earlier, ‘Hollow Years’ is a fairly nice and inoffensive ballad of sorts, in the acoustic guitar, piano and soft singing way more than an Aerosmith power ballad, and its extension to nine minutes is more relaxing than imposing. The last two songs are extracts from the band’s eight-completely-different-songs-that-pretend-they’re-one-song epic ‘Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence’ from the 2001 album of the same name, which would later be released in a complete live form on the next live album in 2006. ‘War Inside My Head’ is a fairly inconsequential starter piece that brings things back around to heaviness, while ‘The Test That Stumped Them All’ is the band wishing they were Pantera, but a little better, with quite a cool groove metal song bringing back the aggression of the first three tracks in a more concise manner. This is what the first disc has mostly been about, with lapses into a softer side and keyboard and guitar masturbation, and the others take a little more time out to explore the full extent of the band’s capabilities.
The second disc is again dominated by three very long opening songs, this time all very different. ‘Endless Sacrifice’ is another new one from Train of Thought, and it’s a little slower and more thoughtful, sort of a love song to guitarist John Petrucci’s wife (but sung by vocalist James LaBrie. I’d watch out if I were him). This is probably my least favourite song on the entire album, largely because it bores me by dragging on towards the end without offering anything new, though the crowd seems to be into it. The later ‘Trial of Tears’ similarly tries my patience, but being an older song it sounds more fitting to the melancholy it’s trying to evoke by not shoving a down-tuned riff down my throat. The lyrics are memorable, and as with its previous live appearance on Once in a Livetime, the band mess around with the introduction for their own amusement.
In-between these slower pieces is the mania of the bold ‘Instrumedley,’ likely the high point of this whole album for avid Dream Theater fanatics who enjoy analysing all the clues and ‘easter eggs’ in the band’s composition, album art and lyrics. This piece is anchored in the instrumental recording ‘The Dance of Eternity’ from Scenes From a Memory, which was itself based around the earlier song ‘Metropolis Part 1,’ and that source song is also featured by the guitar, bass, drums and keyboards alongside selected and recognisable extracts from Dream Theater’s other official instrumentals ‘Ytse Jam’ (1989), ‘Erotomania’ (1994) and ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ (1997), also featuring clips from the band’s genuine and brilliant 1995 epic ‘A Change of Seasons’ and material from the afore-mentioned Liquid Tension Experiment side-project of the majority of band members. It may be too zany for newcomers, but it’s a lot of fun trying to spot all the instances being quoted, which also keeps it fresh and exciting throughout, certainly a unique highlight of this recording. The rest of this second disc is unfortunately as disappointing as the beginning, with ‘New Millennium’ pointlessly revived from the 1997 album, and ‘A Matter of Time’ sounding a little too out-of-date alongside the Instrumedley and subsequent ‘Keyboard Solo’ from Jordan Rudess, rather dull but permissable for being only a few minutes long and in the interests of fairness after his predecessor Derek Sherinian’s solo spot on Once in a Livetime.
The third and final disc is thankfully a little better, changing the formula to avoid over-long songs for the most part and focusing on a wider range of source material. ‘Goodnight Kiss’ and ‘Solitary Shell’ continue the Six Degrees epic from where ‘The Test That Stumped Them All’ left off on disc one, though the hour break is a little confusing and makes me wonder why this wasn’t the second disc in the set. These songs offer a more melodic perspective than the Pantera-esque heaviness of the earlier instalments, the first being, as expected from the title, a soft love song almost like a lullaby (but with better guitars), and the second being a little incessantly catchy and quite good in a very pop-rock way, even if the main melody is a complete rip-off of Faith No More’s ‘Everything’s Ruined.’ ‘Disappear’ is also from Six Degrees, but doesn’t form a part of the suite that the others have, standing alone and strong as another fairly derivative pop-rock song, this time more like Radiohead. In perhaps the only instance on this album, this live version is actually shorter than the original. The penultimate ‘Pull Me Under’ is the band’s first and perhaps only MTV hit, but has appeared on enough live albums to be rendered quite obsolete and dull by now.
The two new songs on this final disc are likely the most interesting picks from Train of Thought, the really unhinged instrumental ‘Stream of Consciousness’ and the bleak religious diatribe ‘In the Name of God.’ The first runs along similar lines to the earlier Instrumedley, very carefully planned and executed with a very complex structure I won’t even begin to attempt to explain. It’s incredibly demanding, but unlike the extended jams which merely seem to go off on one, this is a fantastic piece of music and the peak of Dream Theater’s instrumentals, perhaps the reason they haven’t released another one on the two albums since. ‘In the Name of God’ attacks religious leaders in the wake of September 11th and is a little depressing as the song to go out on, another reason it might have been prudent to switch the second and third discs around (if anyone was ever planning on listening to this in its entirety). The main riff is slow and heavy, but in a more careful and interesting style than the similarly downbeat ‘Endless Sacrifice,’ and although the choir chant carries on for a little too long at the end, it at least proves that Train of Thought wasn’t completely worthless.
‘Live at Budokan’ was the second three-disc live album from Dream Theater, and not the last. With the band’s patience-demanding song lengths and even more frustrating extensions into jams, a two disc release wouldn’t cover much ground at all, and certainly wouldn’t allow the newer material to be properly set against the band’s extensive back catalogue. The newer material does work a lot better in this context, although I still don’t appreciate the style as much as I do the earlier (and later) works, and as this is unavoidably the ‘Train of Thought Live Album’ in essence, it wouldn’t be my first choice to listen to with all the others out there, which pay more attention to more enjoyable material.
The ‘Instrumedley’ and the live version of ‘Stream of Consciousness’ make this a necessary purchase for fans more interested in the band’s extreme experimental side, and their inclusion here means that they probably won’t show up on a live release again, at least not for several years. This is where Portnoy’s rotating set-list is a double-edged sword, providing something new with each live release for fans who have all of them, but also, essentially, requiring fans to buy all of them in the first place. As a consequence of this release, 2006’s ‘Score’ features the worthwhile song ‘Vacant’ from Train of Thought (leaving only the worthless ‘Honor Thy Father’ unreleased in this form), while also collecting the entire ‘Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence’ epic together for the first time, similar to the collection of ‘A Change of Seasons’ on the 2001 live album after bits and pieces made their way into Once in a Livetime.
After the release of the next studio album, mostly likely in 2009 as one has only just been released this year, Portnoy has expressed his wish to perform and record his entire Alcoholics Anonymous suite in its entirety, which ought to be a fairly tedious hour of music but will also make the inclusion of ‘This Dying Soul’ here (written as parts four and five of the suite) and ‘The Root of All Evil’ on the following live album (parts six and seven) irrelevant in hindsight. At least there will finally be a live version of the criminally overlooked ‘The Glass Prison’ (parts one to three) from Six Degrees album, which really should have replaced one of the weaker fifteen minute songs on this live recording. Portnoy’s preoccupation with getting everything possible released in a live form will doubtless damage future live releases if allowed to remain unchecked, and already appears to have affected this release with the apparent performance of ‘Millennium’ merely because it hadn’t been done yet. ‘Live at Budokan’ is primarily a mixture of weak Train of Thought material and an edited version of an epic suite that would be released more definitively later, and aside from interesting instrumentals it can probably be written off as an inessential purchase, whatever the completist drummer would have us believe.
Advantages: Definitive and improved live versions of 'Train of Thought' material.
Disadvantages: A confusingly unsatisfying mix of old and new to satisfy no one.
Dream Theater
Score
****
Written on 29.06.08
Dream Theater's official live albums are always a worthy investment even for fans who already own the official release from the previous tour, as drummer Mike Portnoy's meticulous rotating set-list aims to ensure that every repeat performance from the band in the same area - whether it's the same city or a recorded concert - showcases different material to the last, with an obvious focus on material from the most recent album being promoted. Thus, 'Score' is very different to its predecessor 'Live at Budokan,' a twentieth anniversary release of sorts that celebrates the band's entire discography, even if the less popular albums tend to be given short shrift ('Afterlife' is the only song from the debut, and 'The Knife' is a B-side from the similarly unpopular 'Falling Into Infinity').
With the benefit of the so-called 'Octavarium Orchestra' for the longer suites that dominate discs two and three, this is an interesting and varied performance, but still one tailored towards more recent Dream Theater, which will naturally disappoint fans like me who preferred the first half of their career, though naturally there are older live releases that cater for those tastes. The performances are all excellent, though the level of improvisation is perhaps disappointing compared to the Budokan album, and with three discs this aims to be as comprehensive as possible.
Disc 1
1. The Root of All Evil
2. I Walk Beside You
3. Another Won
4. Afterlife
5. Under a Glass Moon
6. Innocence Faded
7. Raise the Knife
8. The Spirit Carries On
Disc 2
1. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: Overture
2. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: About to Crash
3. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: War Inside My Head
4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: The Test That Stumped Them All
5. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: Goodnight Kiss
6. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: Solitary Shell
7. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: About to Crash (Reprise)
8. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: Losing Time/Grand Finale
9. Vacant
10. The Answer Lies Within
11. Sacrificed Sons
Disc 3
1. Octavarium
2. Encore: Metropolis
Dream Theater
Systematic Chaos
****
Written on 29.06.08
With their most recent album, Dream Theater seem to be taking stock of their career thus far and presenting something of a self-tribute, but one that still continues to move forwards, even if still essentially means blatantly stealing ideas from other bands. Bookended by the slow, grand, keyboard-dominated 'In the Presence of Enemies,' the progressive rock vibe is clear from the onset, and the album benefits from prog's recent resurgence in popularity thanks to bands such as Porcupine Tree, whose style is flagrantly stolen for the tedious fourth instalment of Mike Portnoy's Alcoholics Anonymous epic, 'Repentance.'
'Forsaken' is a strong vocal-centric song that harks back to the dense sound of 'Awake' and retains commercial credibility, while the follow-ups 'Constant Motion' and 'The Dark Eternal Night' disappointingly revert back to the 'Train of Thought' era where Dream Theater wanted desperately to be the thinking-man's Pantera. You couldn't get a more contrived Kerrang!-friendly single than this. The second half of the album is more long-winded to a fault, especially with the dark but drawn-out 'The Ministry of Lost Souls,' but fortunately 'Prophets of War' keeps the energy up with its electronic beat and Muse worship.
This is the best Dream Theater album in a long time, but it still shows a band lacking in a characteristic direction, all too easily influenced by whatever happens to be in their CD player during the songwriting sessions.
1. In the Presence of Enemies, Pt. 1
2. Forsaken
3. Constant Motion
4. The Dark Eternal Night
5. Repentance
6. Prophets of War
7. The Ministry of Lost Souls
8. In the Presence of Enemies, Pt. 2
Advantages: Successful combination of styles and influences.
Disadvantages: Still unoriginal, still overlong.
Drottnar
Welterwerk
****
Written on 30.06.08
Drottnar is an intriguing oddity in the black metal world, but one that proves why there aren't more bands playing this style. Best described as a technical black metal band, something that seems to go against black metal's ethos for atmosphere and gritty simplicity over showmanship, there's an inevitable death metal influence that takes over at times, leaving the harsh vocals and guitar tone the only real traces of the traditional black metal sound amidst the meandering guitar lines.
In truth, this isn't an astoundingly technical release, and it still relies on the repetition of ideas. It's loud, heavy and a little varied, but it doesn't really serve to satisfy fans of either black- or technical metal styles, and is somewhat hindered by its reluctance to go all the way to technical death metal. The slower songs are perhaps the most enjoyable, though only really as background music, 'Niemand Geht Vorbei' being foreboding, 'Victor Comrade' just being dissonant and weird, and finale 'Vulco Vesper' creating a distinctly unsettling mood with its distorted German spoken word and repetitive, warbling riffs.
1. Ad Hoc Revolt
2. The Kakistocracy Catacombs
3. Autonomic Self-Schism
4. Niemand Geht Vorbei
5. Victor Comrade
6. Stardom in Darkness
7. Rullett
8. Destructions's Czar
9. Vulco Vesper
Dying Fetus
Infatuation with Malevolence
***
Written on 30.06.08
It's irritating, disgusting and often downright laughable, but this collection of early material from the deliberately confrontational Dying Fetus is still really enjoyable for death metal fans, whether they have prior experience of the more brutal/grindcore end of the spectrum or not. Less technical and refined than the band's subsequent output, this is a chance to hear unadulterated extreme death metal without pretensions to being anything more sonically impressive, an improvement over the majority of similar bands such as Suffocation.
The old gimmicks remain, which stunt the album to a degree. Spoken samples from films feel arbitrary and extend the introductions of songs to unnecessary lengths, and the drums are fairly dull throughout. For once, I prefer the sections of the album where the band plays flat-out and aggressive, as the slower parts are less easy to take seriously, what with the burping vocals singing incomprehensible tales of gore in a sing-song fashion, especially evident in 'Eviscerated Offspring.' The guitars are entertaining, but nothing really special at this point.
1. Eviscerated Offspring
2. Your Blood is My Wine
3. ...And the Weak Shall Be Crushed
4. Visualize Permanent Damnation
5. Purged of My Wordly Being
6. Bathe in Entrails
7. Nocturnal Crucifixion
8. Wretched Flesh Consumption
9. Grotesque Impalement
10. Vomiting the Fetal Embryo
Dying Fetus
Grotesque Impalement
****
Written on 30.06.08
This is a great E.P. of brutal technical death metal, or whatever it is that Dying Fetus plays. The sound is very varied, and catches the band when their technicality was at its peak, but before political lyrics robbed them of their joy. With its gruesome cover art and often hilariously obscene lyrics (as in the final song), it's a real treat for those who enjoy slightly disgusting death metal performed well, and without relying on gimmicks like lesser bands do, whose names I shan't mention. Cannibal Corpse, for example.
The production job is perfect, really bringing out all aspects of the performance, especially the snare-heavy drums that lend the band its distinctive sound and are incredibly effective, despite threatening to be seriously annoying. 'Grotesque Impalement' itself is a slow, groove-based song with a strong leading riff that the vocals happily burp along to, followed by two average covers of death metal and hardcore punk that don't stand out as much as the band's original material. 'Final Scream' is an exact reproduction of the funny intro from Grim Reaper's song of the same name, leading into the surprisingly upbeat final song with its jolly melodic guitar underpinned by incoherently angry lyrics.
This isn't a death metal classic or anything, but it's still a nice little treat for fans of the genre.
1. Grotesque Impalement
2. Streaks of Blood (Baphomet cover)
3. Bringing Back the Glory (Next Step Up cover)
4. Tearing Inside the Womb
5. Final Scream (Prelude to Evil: Davey's Nightmare)
6. Hail Mighty North / Forest Trolls of Satan (Anno Clitoris 666 Opus II)
Lost reviews
Dark Angel - Time Does Not Heal ****
Dark Lunacy - Forget Me Not *****
Dark Lunacy - The Diarist ****
Dark Tranquillity - Character ***
Darkane - Expanding Senses ****
Darkthrone - Fuck Off and Die **
Darkwell - METAT[R]ON ***
Death - Symbolic *****
Death - The Sound of Perseverance *****
Decapitated - Nihility ***
Deicide - Deicide ***
Deicide - Serpents of the Light ***
Deicide - Scars of the Crucifix ***
Deicide - Till Death Do Us Part ***
Desdemona - Lady of the Lore ***
Bruce Dickinson - Tattooed Millionnaire **
Bruce Dickinson - Balls to Picasso ***
Bruce Dickinson - The Chemical Wedding ****
Dimmu Borgir - Spiritual Black Dimensions **
Dio - Angry Machines **
Dio - Killing the Dragon ***
Dio - Master of the Moon ***
Dionysus - Fairytales and Reality **
Disarmonia Mundi - Mind Tricks ***
Disillusion - Back to Times of Splendour *****
Dragonland - Holy War ****
Dream Evil - Dragonslayer ****
Dream Theater - When Dream and Day Unite ****
Dream Theater - Octavarium ***
DRI - Dealing With It ***
Not all of these songs are instant classics of course, and indeed the album seems to slip in quality (or at least novelty) after the hit single 'Mother,' where it reaches its peak of fun. Songs like the compelling opener 'Twist of Cain,' 'Am I Demon' and 'Evil Thing' are all great examples of doom metal, while the torturously slow 'She Rides' and surprisingly upbeat 'Soul on Fire' balance things out with their country influence. Danzig's vocals are the driving force, varying between his Elvis croon and a more traditionally metal tone reminiscent of Metallica's James Hetfield, who himself reputedly performs backing vocals on select tracks. But for every inventive, immortal guitar riff, there are those such as dominate 'End of Time' that just sound like unimaginative AC/DC knock-offs.
1. Twist of Cain
2. Not of This World
3. She Rides
4. Soul on Fire
5. Am I Demon
6. Mother
7. Possession
8. End of Time
9. The Hunter (Albert King cover)
10. Evil Thing
Leave Scars
****
Written on 20.06.08
'Leave Scars' is perhaps the deservedly overlooked album in Dark Angel's discography, sitting between the full-speed onslaught of their second album and the technical virtuosity of their fourth. However unremarkable, it's still a great effort of late eighties thrash, showcasing a heavier and more vicious side to Dark Angel that comes perilously close to early death metal on occasion before once again proving its thrash credentials.
Ron Rinehart is the band's new vocalist and puts in a fantastic performance here, sounding enraged and even manic at times as he spits through the full-pelt verses, before letting out some surprising screams in the high-speed cover of Led Zeppelin's 'Immigrant Song.' Guitarists Eric Meyer and Jim Durkin are afforded plenty of opportunities to show off with extended solo spots in each song, and lead the way in two instrumentals: 'Cauterization' is a competent thrash instrumental that's a little lacking in excitement, while 'Worms' is a less impressive slice of guitar masturbation.
1. The Death of Innocence
2. Never to Rise Again
3. No One Answers
4. Cauterization
5. Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin cover)
6. Older Than Time Itself
7. Worms
8. The Promise of Agony
9. Leave Scars
Stab Wounds
****
Written on 20.06.08
Dark Fortress are one of the more accessible black metal bands I've heard, and comfortingly one that still possesses artistic integrity despite the concessions to a (slightly) more mainstream audience (but, like, not really). The emphasis is on melodic guitars and a casual tempo rather than the deliberately discordant and ferocious riffing that characterises much black metal (as much as I love that too), and if the album has one primary failing, it's that it all sounds a little too polished and mechanical, though not to the extent of the more recent albums of Dimmu Borgir or Emperor.
The guitar melodies are a strong driving force throughout, as much as they will infuriate black metal purists, and are reminiscent of Dissection. Azathoth's screams are easily legible, and Paymon's keyboards are used for atmosphere rather than obliterating the mood of songs through tedious over-use, the notable example being the compulsory piano interlude 'Vanitas... No Horizons.' I'd still recommend the works of Dissection to anyone looking to approach black metal without being too terrified, but Dark Fortress is a much more accurate halfway point than Dimmu Borgir or Cradle of Filth, who now resemble the traditional black metal sound only tangentially.
1. Iconoclasm Omega
2. Self Mutilation
3. Stab Wounds
4. When 1000 Crypts Awake
5. Despise the "Living"
6. A Midnight Poem
7. Rest in Oblivion
8. Vanitas... No Horizons
9. Like a Somnambulist in Daylight's Fire
10. Sleep!
Advantages: Great melodic black metal for newcomers.
Disadvantages: Offers little to those already familiar with the genre.
Swanlike
***
Written on 21.06.08
This would be an exceptional album if it wasn't such an obvious Opeth knock-off. While imitation isn't necessarily a bad thing, the comparisons between Dark Suns' debut release and the more well-known progressive death metal works of Opeth are undeniable, just as undeniable as the fact that Opeth came first.
As Opeth imitation goes, this is a remarkable effort, and at times it even stands up to the superior band's material, particularly the great song 'The Sun Beyond Your Eden' with its guitar riff that could easily be taken from Opeth's 'Still Life' or 'Deliverance.' But aside from this, comparison renders it all second-rate, the opening title track in particular being such an obvious copy-cat of Opeth's style note-for-note that it's almost shameful.
The album's more impressive moments come in the atmospheric gothic spoken word piece 'Inside Final Dreams' that should please My Dying Bride fans, and the final 'bonus track' (that nevertheless seems to appear as standard on all versions), a fourteen-minute cur from one of their earlier releases that displays a much different and more effective doom metal style.
1. Swanlike
2. Infiltration
3. The Sun Beyond Your Eden
4. Virtuous Dilemma
5. Inside Final Dreams
6. The Neverending
7. In Silent Harmony II (Instrumental)
8. Suffering
Existence
****
Written on 21.06.08
Dark Suns have come a long way since their derivative debut, and now have a much different and more distinctive sound, even if comparisons to bands such as Green Carnation in particular are unavoidable. Abandoning pretensions to death metal, which they seemingly couldn't play without stealing all of their ideas from Opeth, the band is reinvented as a competitive progressive metal outfit, still retaining its heaviness but supplementing this with a greater keyboard focus and entirely clean vocals.
This is impressive prog metal in the vein of Pain of Salvation or Riverside rather than the overt showmanship of something like Dream Theater, and while there's always a lot going on in the well-produced soundscape, it's never enough to alienate the listener. Songs like 'The Euphoric Sense' are led by memorable choruses, while at the other end of the scale, the final two songs are long and comparatively complex, but still approachable for newcomers.
1. Zero
2. A Slumbering Portrait
3. The Euphoric Sense
4. Her and the Element
5. Daydream
6. Anemone
7. You, A Phantom Still
8. Gently Bleeding
9. Abiding Space
10. Patterns of Oblivion
11. One Endless Childish Day
The Gallery
*****
Written on 21.06.08
Although despised by death metal purists, Swedish melodic death metal boasts an impressive range of talent that saw the genre develop through the 1990s before deteriorating into the shambles it is today. By far the most impressive and groundbreaking of all of these bands is Dark Tranquillity, one of the very few acts still performing great music today, though it's their second album 'The Gallery' that really defines their sound, and the potential of melodic death metal as a whole.
This is as flawless as a melodeath album can get, combining Mikael Stanne's fierce vocals with the alternatively heavy and melodic guitars of Niklas Sundin and Frederik Johansson, churning out riff after memorable, distinctive, compelling riff. The opening song 'Punish My Heaven' still blows me away with its relentless motion and sheer quantity of ideas, without ever seeming overlong or alienating, and Stanne's vocal performance keeps things intense.
Other songs such as 'The Gallery' and 'Lethe' introduce lighter, minimalistic elements along with female vocals to diversify the sound, before the final epic 'Mine is the Grandeur ... Of Melancholy Burning' morphs from a folky acoustic intro into a plodding death metal epic.
1. Punish My Heaven
2. Silence, and the Firmament Withdrew
3. Edenspring
4. The Dividing Line
5. The Gallery
6. The One Brooding Warning
7. Midway Through Infinity
8. Lethe
9. The Emptiness From Which I Fed
10. Mine Is the Grandeur...
11. ...Of Melancholy Burning
The Mind's I
***
Written on 21.06.08
Although a reasonable album in its own right, the unfortunate successor to the excellent 'The Gallery' turned out to be a letdown, and ultimately a forgotten entry in the Dark Tranquillity canon after being overshadowed by its controversial successor. While it lacks the ambition and execution of 'The Gallery,' this is still a forward-looking album that increases the melodic elements even further, but at the same time lacks direction in its heavier aspects, which now sound less passionate and more mechanical, even down to the vocals.
Without any real classics to its name, there are still enough decent offerings here to make this a worthwhile listening for melodic death metal fans. 'Constant' and 'Still Moving Sinews' incorporate great lead guitars, while 'Tidal Tantrum' even borders on folk metal. Unfortunately, what stand out more are the failed attempts to recapture past successes, most evident in the comparatively bland opening track 'Dreamlore Degenerate' that paves the way for the next album, and the progressive 'Insanity's Crescendo' that only ends up sounding like an inferior version of the final track from the previous album.
1. Dreamlore Degenerate
2. Zodijackyl Light
3. Hedon
4. Scythe, Rage and Roses
5. Constant
6. Dissolution Factor Red
7. Insanity's Crescendo
8. Still Moving Sinews
9. Atom Heart 243.5
10. Tidal Tantrum
11. Tongues
12. The Mind's Eye
Projector
****
Written on 21.06.08
Dark Tranquillity's fourth album doubtless alienated many of the fans they had won with their fast and aggressive take on melodic death metal, by slowing down and eliminating some of the death metal elements altogether in favour of a gothic approach. I was so convinced I'd hate this album that I avoided it for years, but now I've finally listened to it, I'm actually really impressed.
The soft gothic croons and light keyboard backdrops aren't exactly my cup of tea (neither is tea, actually; I'm just that picky), but I can't deny that the band takes on this new, quite daring approach with extreme competence. The style drags on a little as the album continues, but in the earlier songs in particular, it's some of the best gothic metal I've ever heard. 'FreeCard' breaks the news slowly and gently, only introducing the singing after a sufficient growl quota, but its successor 'ThereIn' goes all-out with a catchy, memorable chorus and vocal-centric song that ends up being the best on the whole disc.
1. FreeCard
2. ThereIn
3. UnDo Control
4. Auctioned
5. To a Bitter Halt
6. The Sun Fired Blanks
7. Nether Novas
8. Day to End
9. Dobermann
10. On Your Time
Haven
**
Written on 21.06.08
Like 'The Mind's I' two albums previously, 'Haven' fails to make its mark in the Dark Tranquillity canon by effectively bridging two more substantial releases, and only ever achieving a half-hearted mix of the two styles. It's clear that the band wished to regain some death metal credibility after the gothic metal of 'Projector,' but the reintroduction of growls and heavy riffs clashes with the tempo and mood, which are still both rooted in the more laid-back style of the previous album. Add to that some infuriating keyboards, and you wind up with a cheesy Gothenburg stereotype that manages to make Soilwork look impressive by comparison.
The only songs where the balance feels right are ultimately very bland and nothing compared to the band's previous or later works, certainly no hint of the greatness that was to immediately follow. The worst offenders here are 'Not Built to Last,' which sounds like it belongs on the last album but has any sense of atmosphere ruined by inappropriate grunting, and 'Feast of Burden' which focus on unimpressive piano and electronic elements. If the band released a version of this album with the intrusive keyboards muted, it would almost be worth listening to.
1. The Wonders at Your Feet
2. Not Built to Last
3. Indifferent Suns
4. Feast of Burden
5. Haven
6. The Same
7. Fabric
8. Ego Drama
9. Rundown
10. Emptier Still
11. At Loss for Words
Damage Done
****
Written on 21.06.08
I can't help thinking of Dark Tranquillity's most recent three albums as a trilogy, seemingly striving to re-establish the band as the leading force in Gothenburg-style melodic death metal after the experimentation of previous releases that has now been abandoned in favour of a return to their roots. While this would soon prove to be a hindrance as the band essentially ran out of ideas and started to repeat themselves ad nauseam, the brief return to grace with 'Damage Done' makes it one of the finer albums of their career.
If Dark Tranquillity were indeed hoping to prove their credibility in the face of bands such as In Flames, whose sound had deviated far from their roots by this point, then this album is wholly successful. 'Final Resistance' and 'Format C: for Cortex' are both instantly enjoyable melodic death metal classics with great choruses, while the keyboard touches to songs such as 'Hours Passed in Exile' actually enhance the atmosphere, rather than spoiling it as was the case on the previous album.
While this is all fairly simplistic, by-the-numbers Gothenburg metal, there's still enough variety to keep things interesting, evidenced by the slower-paced 'Monochromatic Stains' and the excellent melodic finale 'Ex Nihilo,' which remains the band's finest non-metal song.
1. Final Resistance
2. Hours Passed in Exile
3. Monochromatic Stains
4. Single Part of Two
5. The Treason Wall
6. Format C: for Cortex
7. Damage Done
8. Cathode Ray Sunshine
9. The Enemy
10. I, Deception
11. White Noise / Black Silence
12. Ex Nihilo
Exposures: In Retrospect and Denial
****
Written on 21.06.08
Dark Tranquillity's first live album doubles up as a very nice collection of rare and previously unreleased material, making for the perfect gift to the fans. While the quality of the material on the first disc is expectedly inferior to a regular studio album, these being the tracks deemed unworthy of the final cut, they still hold up well to their respective sessions: thus, the 'Damage Done' tracks (1-2) are heavy and enjoyable, the 'Projector' session (6-7) revisits the band's brief and successful flirtation with gothic metal, and the 'Haven' material (3-5) is disappointing just like the album itself.
Of far more interest to old-time fans is the inclusion of the band's 'Trail of Life Decayed' demo and 'A Moonclad Reflection' 7" single (10-12 and 8-9 respectively), which predate the first album and present an embryonic incarnation of the band that I find a lot more appealing than their more recent, polished works.
As if this wasn't enough, the second CD takes the live audio from the previous year's 'Live Damage' DVD and makes for the definitive Dark Tranquillity live CD (inasmuch as it's the only one so far). Focusing on the 'Damage Done' era principally, there are still some choice suts from the glory days of 'The Gallery,' and it's interesting to note just how well the radically different style of the 'Projector' tracks fits in.
Disc 1
1. Static
2. The Poison Well
3. Misery in Me
4. In Sight
5. Cornered
6. Exposure
7. No One
8. Yesterworld
9. Unfurled by Dawn
10. Midwinter / Beyond Enlightenment
11. Vernal Awakening
12. Void of Tranquillity
Disc 2
1. The Wonders at Your Feet
2. The Treason Wall
3. Hedon
4. White Noise / Black Silence
5. Haven
6. Punish My Heaven
7. Monochromatic Stains
8. Indifferent Suns
9. Format C: for Cortex
10. Insanity's Crescendo
11. Hours Passed in Exile
12. The Sun Fired Blanks
13. Damage Done
14. Lethe
15. Not Built to Last
16. ThereIn
17. Zodijackyl Light
18. Final Resistance
19. Ex Nihilo
Fiction
***
Written on 21.06.08
The most recent release from Dark Tranquillity follows directly on from the previous two albums, in its repetition of the same melodic death metal style with very little to distinguish it from the crowd. One of its advantages is a comparatively high budget due to the band's high profile, more evident here than ever as the drums sound more distinct and powerful than before, while the keyboards are relegated satisfyingly to the background in most songs.
This album's main failing is its sheer repetitiveness, as every song descends into an ambient, atmospheric section at some point in its second half, a gimmick that starts to get tiresome quite early on. As much as I criticise the band's unimaginative style these days, the worst songs are those that do attempt something new, or at least something eight years old from the days of 'Projector.' 'Misery's Crown' sounds more like something a gothic band like HIM would do, with added growls, and it's only the female vocals and piano of the finale 'The Mundane and the Magic' that hint towards a return of experimental touches in the band's future.
1. Nothing to No One
2. The Lesser Faith
3. Terminus (Where Death Is Most Alive)
4. Blind at Heart
5. Icipher
6. Inside the Particle Storm
7. Empty Me
8. Misery's Crown
9. Focus Shift
10. The Mundane and the Magic
Embrace of Memory
****
Written on 21.06.08
Darkestrah are an interesting band, combining German and Kyrgyzstan origins with old-school black metal of the catchiest kind and giving bands such as Burzum a run for their money. Despite the band's exotic foundations, this is a distinctly Norse-sounding release, based on gritty guitar riffs and relentlessly pounding drum blast beats while Kriegtalith screeches over the top, and as such it should easily satisfy traditional black metal fans.
After the ominous sound effects of the intro song (that perfectly compliment the creepy artwork), 'Black Cathedral' instantly kicks off with riff after memorable riff, making for a great mid-paced song reminiscent of Burzum, before the album heads in a faster direction for the most part, and becomes a little less compelling. There are some interesting touches, most notable the keyboard and cello additions to 'Akyr Zaman,' but with three songs hovering either side of the ten-minute mark, the album doesn't grab the listener for its entire duration, and does cross over into hypnotic, evil background music on occasion.
1. Embrace of Memory
2. Black Cathedral
3. Sign of War
4. Akyr Zaman
5. Human Hopes
6. Primitive Dance
7. Marching of the Hordes (Pagan cover)
Under a Funeral Moon
*****
Written on 21.06.08
Finally abandoning the death metal elements present on the band's previous two releases, Darkthrone's third album is Norwegian black metal in its purest, coldest and most entrancing form, the perfect soundtrack for a harsh winter's night of misanthropy in the woods.
The sound will be familiar to anyone with black metal experience, but this is where it all began. Almost infuriatingly sloppy production reducing the guitars to a buzz of black noise, relentless drum blast beats hammering away in the distance and a hoarse croak delivering what must be fairly evil lyrics if you ever had a chance of deciphering them, this isn't for the faint-hearted, but all the same it's an album that has a hell of a lot to offer for those prepared to give it a chance. Unlike their contemporaries such as Mayhem, who emphasised aggression and speed, Darkthrone at their prime were incredibly atmospheric and even epic, despite the relative simplicity of Zephyrous' repetitive riffs.
Perhaps wary of slipping into tedium or an overly hypnotic lull, these songs all feature brief breaks and changes, such as the decrease in speed of 'Summer of the Diabolical Holocaust' and brief solo at the end of 'Unholy Black Metal.' Next time, there would be no concessions.
1. Natassja in Eternal Sleep
2. Summer of the Diabolical Holocaust
3. The Dance of Eternal Shadows
4. Unholy Black Metal
5. To Walk the Infernal Fields
6. Under a Funeral Moon
7. Inn I De Dype Skogers Favn
8. Crossing the Triangle of Flames
Transilvanian Hunger
****
Written on 21.06.08
After perfecting the black metal sound with 'Under a Funeral Moon,' Darkthrone opted to plunge to even further extremes, resulting in a somewhat divisive affair. 'Transilvanian Hunger' still possesses all the crunchy, treble-heavy, frosty, downright suicidal atmosphere of its predecessor, but now each song relies even more on repetition to the point that each offering works like a black metal mantra. Those looking for an intense listening experience are bound to be disappointed, as however intense the guitars, drums and cackling vocals may be, it still fades into a hypnotic background fuzz before too long.
This is an incredibly repetitive album, but still one perfectly suited to the mood it succeeds in conveying, one that countless black metal acts have imitated since. Performed only by vocalist Nocturno Culto and Fenriz who did everything else, this is too simplistic and minimal to be called experimental, but it nevertheless spawned a horde of imitators.
1. Transilvanian Hunger
2. Over Fjell Og Gjennom Torner
3. Skald Av Satans Sol
4. Slottet I Det Fjerne
5. Graven Tåkeheimens Saler
6. I En Hall Med Flesk Og Mjød
7. As Flittermice as Satans Spys
8. En Ås I Dype Skogen
No Reply
***
Written on 21.06.08
Daylight Dies are an American band playing a distinctly European style of death metal, heavily influenced by the doom metal of Katatonia around their seminal 'Brave Murder Day' release. This band's first album 'No Reply' is far from a worthy successor, based around mostly dull and overly repetitive rhythms, but it still makes for pleasant background music for doom fans, even if it's not as gloomy as it perhaps should be, especially in the more upbeat moments such as 'I Wait' and the catchy, very Katatonia-esque 'Four Corners.'
'In the Silence' is similar to a post-rock instrumental, rising gradually to a crescendo across its considerable length, and it leaves me feeling that this album may have been more successful as a wholly instrumental affair, though that wouldn't have added any much-needed excitement. The opening song 'The Line That Divides' is fairly good doom metal, if a little bland, but after this point you don't really need to go on.
1. The Line That Divides
2. I Wait
3. Hollow Hands
4. Four Corners
5. Unending Waves
6. In the Silence
7. Minutes Pass
8. Back In the World
9. Everything That Belongs
Dismantling Devotion
***
Written on 21.06.08
Daylight Dies' second album finally goes some way towards establishing the band's own sound, even if they still essentially owe everything to Katatonia's 'Brave Murder Day.' Nathan Ellis' vocals are superior to those of his predecessor, deep and powerful in every song, and the guitars now stand out rather than fade exclusively into the background, the pleasant lead melodies at the end of 'A Life Less Lived' actually making me wish for more as they faded to silence. The style is still dominated by slow, plodding drums, and while this keeps things nice and accessible, it does hinder the effect of the more sorrowful songs like 'All We Had.'
The last two songs hint towards more experimental tendencies to come, with a clean singing melodic introduction to 'Lies That Bind' followed up with the great instrumental 'Dismantling Devotion,' which doesn't try to show off at all, but is content to exude a classic doomy atmosphere.
1. A Life Less Lived
2. Dead Air
3. A Dream Resigned
4. All We Had
5. Solitary Refinement
6. Strive to See
7. Lies That Bind
8. Dismantling Devotion
Advantages: More compelling and involving.
Disadvantages: Still steals from Katatonia.
Scream Bloody Gore
****
Written on 21.06.08
After several years and countless demo releases, Florida death metal pioneers Death released their full-length debut album and kick-started a genre. There are inevitable debates about whether or not this was the first death metal album, but the argument can be succinctly put to rest by pointing out that this is the best.
Death remain one of my all-time favourite death metal bands, the original and best in a way, and it's fascinating to take a glimpse into their humble origins after the experimental excesses of their later, even more impressive career. While 'Scream Bloody Gore' is certainly primitive and repetitive, it still stands far above the majority of eighties death metal, and boasts enough variety across its tracks to retain replay value over twenty years later.
The core of Death is guitarist and vocalist Chuck Schuldiner, who would remain the only permanent member across the band's turbulent career until his own untimely death in 2001. Schuldiner's distinctive guitar style is audible even this far back, primarily in the delightfully evil-sounding lead melodies and solos, even if the rest of the music is expectedly reminiscent of eighties thrash, albeit in a heavier and fiercer variety than the likes of Slayer.
1. Infernal Death
2. Zombie Ritual
3. Denial of Life
4. Sacrificial
5. Mutilation
6. Regurgitated Guts
7. Baptized in Blood
8. Torn to Pieces
9. Evil Dead
10. Scream Bloody Gore
Spiritual Healing
****
Written on 21.06.08
Death's third album is a natural bridge between the gory simplicity of their early days and the socially-conscious experimental death metal of their subsequent albums, striking an impressive balance between the two eras and remaining a classic in its own right. The production job is vastly improved, allowing the drums to be heard clearly, while the classic guitar duo of Chuck Schuldiner and James Murphy sees songs extended longer than before in order to fit in all their great performances.
While death metal purists (an irritating bunch) may despair at the move away from horror lyrics, the change is one that suited Death's development, and here the results are very pleasing. The technicality of the music isn't as pronounced as it would be on their next album, but each song has something to keep it distinctive, whether it's a sensational opening riff ('Spiritual Healing') or an ominous, doom metal tempo ('Altering the Future').
1. Living Monstrosity
2. Altering the Future
3. Defensive Personalities
4. Within the Mind
5. Spiritual Healing
6. Low Life
7. Genetic Reconstruction
8. Killing Spree
Advantages: Perfects the early death metal style, and is ready to move on.
Disadvantages: Still a little repetitive once each song hits its stride.
Human
*****
Written on 21.06.08
The seminal 'Human' inaugurates the second half of Death's career, the junction at which the old-school thrash fans disembark and the prog fans take a keen interest. That's not to say that this is an entirely different band, and indeed anyone who enjoyed the heaviness of earlier albums such as 'Leprosy' should be satisfied with the even more devastating production job here, it's just that the guitar spots that tended to carve out their own, indulgent sections in each song on the previous 'Spiritual Healing' are now more extensive and more experimental, leading to the full-blown instrumental 'Cosmic Sea.'
On the other hand, this is a much more concisely edited affair than the somewhat messy 'Spiritual Healing,' as even though songs and instruments insist on playing at varied speeds and time signatures, they all call it quits before things have a chance to become tiresome. For the first time, every song remains distinctive throughout, unlike earlier albums which tended to boast variety in the intros before the sound descended into the same bashing death metal, and the dominant lead guitar stylings of 'Suicide Machine' set in place what will come to be seen as Chuck Schuldiner's trademark.
1. Flattening of Emotions
2. Suicide Machine
3. Together as One
4. Secret Face
5. Lack of Comprehension
6. See Through Dreams
7. Cosmic Sea (Instrumental)
8. Vacant Planets
Advantages: Excellent experimental touches combined with solid death metal.
Disadvantages: Bass is obscured by production.
Act III
***
Written on 22.06.08
Another early nineties thrash metal album that seems ashamed to be thrash in the wake of the debilitating grunge explosion, 'Act III' is an entirely mediocre offering from Death Angel. Mark Osegueda's vocals are still powerful in their medium range, but the rest of the music takes a severe downturn in its half-hearted attempts at mainstream acceptance while retaining a semblance of heaviness, the latter only being accomplished in a handful of songs such as 'Stagnant' and parts of 'Seemingly Endless Time' before it wimps out.
The worst offenders are the terrible acoustic ballads 'Veil of Deception' and 'A Room With a View,' the first of which sounds so optimistic that it clashes with its predecessors. 'Discontinued' is structurally unusual, at least showing a commendable desire to experiment even if the result is flawed, but the rest merely sounds like the same below-par, watered-down thrash that many of the band's contemporaries were producing in the bland nineties.
1. Seemingly Endless Time
2. Stop
3. Veil of Deception
4. The Organization
5. Discontinued
6. A Room With a View
7. Stagnant
8. EX-TC
9. Disturbing the Peace
10. Falling Asleep
Winds of Creation
***
Written on 22.06.08
Decapitated are yet another Polish death metal band aspiring to brutality and technicality in the wake of Vader, and yet another to barely scrape together a mediocre album. Their debut 'Winds of Creation' is probably their best, displaying their obvious talent and conceding to at least some semblance of structure before later albums would dismiss coherence as a liability, and instead concentrate on showing off just how many variations of an unmemorable guitar riff could be squeezed into a four-minute song.
The band is young and talented, which deserves admiration, but the album doesn't hold together as a worthwhile listening experience. Although the music is restless and all about moving relentlessly on with new ideas, the tracks are surprisingly samey, with only the ambient outro 'Dance Macabre' being a bland deviation, and the final Slayer cover inevitably (and thus pointlessly) inferior to the original. With nothing to latch onto in the way of repeated hooks or melodies, you don't so much 'enjoy' this album as witness it unfold.
1. Winds of Creation
2. Blessed
3. The First Damned
4. Way to Salvation
5. The Eye of Horus
6. Human's Dust
7. Nine Steps
8. Dance Macabre
9. Mandatory Suicide (Slayer cover)
Organic Hallucinosis
**
Written on 22.06.08
Decapitated's fourth album sees a change of vocalist from the deep and guttural Sauron to the screamier Covan, but for a technical death metal band essentially using a vocalist as a mere contrivance to avoid being labelled as an instrumental act, this really doesn't present an issue. Vocals will be the listener's least concern when faced with the onslaught of relentless guitar riffs and pummelling drums that characterise Decapitated's sound, and once again this is an album that will only appeal to a select group of aficionados.
The band at least shows some signs of progression across their discography, moving on from the brutality of 'Nihility' and more traditional death metal style of 'The Negation' towards something more reminiscent of groove metal here, but the songs are still unmemorable. Only 'Day 69' really impresses to any extent, simply for being so intent on frantic change that it's almost laughable. There are some enjoyable solos in 'Post(?) Organic,' but the majority of the album is only for the technically-minded, rather than uneducated bozos like me who prefer the simplistic luxury of a recognisable hook or two.
1. A Poem About an Old Prison Man
2. Day 69
3. Revelation of Existence (The Trip)
4. Post(?) Organic
5. Visual Delusion
6. Flash-B(l)ack
7. Invisible Control
Diminishing Between Worlds
**
Written on 22.06.08
Decrepit Birth is an unusual case. Yet another technically-minded death metal band, this time from the USA, their approach to brutality bizarrely consists of an overdose of lead guitar melodies playing up and down the major scales like an unimaginative Yngwie Malmsteen wannabe who only knows how to play up and down the same string. The music is fine from a technical point of view, though bound to be disappointing if you expected something with greater virtuosity, it just really doesn't work in any way.
A predominantly light and cheery melody section over the mechanical clicking of bass drums and guttural roared vocals doesn't sound like any death metal I've ever heard, and for once I don't welcome the change. Each song is filled with this light noodling destroying any sense of power or energy, and this all makes for an unmemorable and tedious listening experience with zero replay value.
1. The Living Doorway
2. Reflection of Emotions
3. Diminishing Between Worlds
4. Dimensions Intertwine
5. The Enigmatic Form
6. A Gathering of Imaginations
7. Through Alchemy Bound Eternal
8. ...And Time Begins
9. Await the Unending
10. Essence of Creation
11. The Morpheus Oracle (Outro)
Advantages: Good guitar work.
Disadvantages: Doesn't make sense.
Legion
****
Written on 22.06.08
A chorus of bahhing sheep and a demonic voice speaking the first song title backwards open Deicide's second album, which remains their finest offering, even if it pales in comparison to other (often lesser known) death metal acts. The improved production really fleshes out all of the instruments, including Glen Benton's previously obscured bass guitar and Steve Asheim's drums that no longer sound like they're made of paper, making for one of the most vicious releases of 1992.
Benton is still the star here, spitting forth the verses with commendable anger as in the opener 'Satan Spawn, the Caco-Daemon,' and the energy and high speed never let up. While this inevitably results in yet another death metal album more concerned with speed and force than musical creativity, it's what you'd expect from the genre in the first place, and this is a noteworthy example. It's still rooted in thrash metal, so should be more accessible to old-school fans.
1. Satan Spawn, the Caco-Daemon
2. Dead But Dreaming
3. Repent to Die
4. Trifixion
5. Behead the Prophet (No Lord Shall Live)
6. Holy Deception
7. In Hell I Burn
8. Revocate the Agitator
Insineratehymn
**
Written on 22.06.08
Here we have it: the inevitable mid-career disappointment album that every respected band seems to fall victim to. Deicide's sixth serving 'Insineratehymn' is a step down from their previous work in terms of speed, production quality and songwriting ability, and despite attempts to regain ground in more recent years, their image has never truly recovered.
Opener 'Bible Basher' is a reasonable enough song in its own right, boasting one reasonably catchy riff and verse (if over-repeated), but the greater decrease in speed for the second song 'Forever Hate You' takes the band into hitherto unexplored areas of tedium that only gets worse as the half hour plods on. Scratching along at a crawl, the rest of the album is devoid of life, energy or character, with nothing compelling the listener to endure the experience. Even the hateful lyrics are only becoming more desperate as the years progress and the band hacks ever deeper into its niche.
1. Bible Basher
2. Forever Hate You
3. Standing in the Flames
4. Remnant of a Hopeless Path
5. The Gift That Keeps on Giving
6. Halls of Warship
7. Suffer Again
8. Worst Enemy
9. Apocalyptic Fear
10. Refusal of Penance
Lucidity
****
Written on 22.06.08
As far as symphonic gothic metal bands go, Delain are among the most enjoyable, though still a little inescapably dull. Formed by ex-Within Temptation keyboardist Martijn Westerholt who dominates the soundscape alongside by the pleasant vocals of Charlotte Wessels, this is a heavily symphonic band that thankfully avoids the operatic clichés of groups such as Nightwish, relying on something more atmospheric and frankly, less cheesy.
All of the songs are performed at a relatively slow tempo and exude eloquence in their synthesised orchestral bombast, with only a couple of deviations from the standard formula. Opener 'Sever' is more orchestral, 'See Me in Shadow' is a piano ballad, and 'Sleepwalker's Dream' stands out the most essentially for having the most memorable melody. The male vocals supplement the female nicely, opting for power metal wails rather than the typical growling that plagues these sort of albums, but rock fans averse to keyboard dominance would be best to stay away, as the guitar is relegated to a steady rhythm-keeper.
1. Sever
2. Frozen
3. Silhouette of a Dancer
4. No Compliance
5. See Me in Shadow
6. Shattered
7. The Gathering
8. Daylight Lucidity
9. Sleepwalker's Dream
10. Day for Ghosts
11. Pristine
Advantages: Strong gothic metal without the cheese.
Disadvantages: All rather samey.
Nespithe
*****
Alien Death Metal
Written on 22.06.08
The only full-length release from Finnish death metal band Demilich deserves to be one of the legendary albums of the genre, and is certainly among the most unique. With its chaotic yet somehow logical time signatures, wild guitars and vocals that aren't so much growled as vomited, this is probably close to what alien death metal would sound like, if the extraterrestrials still concerned themselves primarily with establishing a strong groove.
This is a high quality album in all respects, extending to the crystal clear production that fleshes out every stomach-churning bass note with as much intensity as the melodic guitars and solos, and every song is memorable and instantly enjoyable, even if it's an album I couldn't really recommend to death metal newcomers. Antii Boman's vocals are the most extreme I've heard, but at the same time this album never seeks out to alienate or show off, opting for a medium pace rather than anything flashy.
Best of all, this classic of death metal can be downloaded completely free from the band's official website, for anyone feeling brave: http://www.anentity.com/demilich/download.php
1. When the Sun Drank the Weight of Water
2. The Sixteenth Six-Tooth Son of Fourteen Four-Regional Dimensions (Still Unnamed)
3. Inherited Bowel Levitation - Reduced Without Any Effort
4. The Echo (Replacement)
5. The Putrefying Road in the Nineteenth Extremity (...Somewhere Inside the Bowels of Endlessness...)
6. (Within) The Chamber of Whispering Eyes
7. And You'll Remain... (In Pieces in Nothingness)
8. Erecshyrinol
9. The Planet That Once Used to Absorb Flesh in Order to Achieve Divinity and Immortality (Suffocated to the Flesh That It Desired...)
10. The Cry
11. Raped Embalmed Beauty Sleep
Advantages: Complex and extreme, yet somehow still catchy.
Disadvantages: Not for the faint-hearted or pregnant women.
Riders of the Apocalypse
***
Written on 22.06.08
A surprisingly fierce release from members of symphonic metal leaders Therion, the only release thus far from Demonoid doesn't return to Therion's early death metal days, but rather pays homage to the classic Swedish death metal tradition as a whole, with a strong basis in thrash. A concept album concerning the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the devastation they wreak, this is an album that seriously impresses when performing at high velocity, but becomes deathly dull when slowing down in songs like '14th Century Plague' and the tedious ten-minute finale 'Death.'
The performance is impressive all-round, if derivative of earlier bands, and it's particularly the harsh vocals and melodic guitars that impress, played over hard thrashing riffs to avoid this being unfairly classed as melodic death metal. For all its conceptual intrigue and the talents of its band members, this spin-off band still ends up sounding like pretty much all the other death/thrash bands in Sweden (such as the Haunted), but this at least means there's an existing target audience.
1. Wargods
2. Firestorms
3. Witchburners
4. 14th Century Plague
5. Hunger My Consort
6. The Evocation
7. Arrival of the Horsemen
8. End of Our Times
9. Death
Demons & Wizards
Enter the Iced Guardian
****
Written on 22.06.08
A collaboration between Iced Earth's guitarist Jon Schaffer and Blind Guardian's singer Hansi Kürsch sounds like a power metal fan's wet dream, but the resulting album is a little disappointing, mainly for sounding so damn obvious. For the most part, this is song after song of Schaffer' trademark triplets galloping along under Kürsch's high, melodic wails, and the only songs that break the pattern ('Fiddler on the Green' and 'Path of Glory') sound exactly like Blind Guardian acoustic ballads, only less memorable.
This is still an enjoyable album, but Iced Earth fans should only expect more of the same, but with a higher-pitched singer, while Blind Guardian fans should expect to hear familiar shrill notes over a scratchy, repetitive rhythm. 'Heaven Denies' and 'Winter of Souls' are both fast and energetic enough to be instantly enjoyable, but the rest soon slip into an over-familiar style. On the whole, this is probably inferior to either band's lesser works.
1. Rites of Passage
2. Heaven Denies
3. Poor Man's Crusade
4. Fiddler on the Green
5. Blood On My Hands
6. Path of Glory
7. Winter of Souls
8. The Whistler
9. Tear Down the Wall
10. Gallows Pole
11. My Last Sunrise
12. Chant
Advantages: Talented guitars and vocals.
Disadvantages: Lacking in creativity.
Touched by the Crimson King
Return of the Iced Guardian
****
Written on 23.06.08
The second release from power metal super-group Demons & Wizards, 'Touched by the Crimson King' is inspired by Stephen King's 'The Dark Tower' series of books; something of which I am content to have absolutely no knowledge. Musically, the album is a step beyond its predecessor as guitarist Jon Schaffer extends his riff vocabulary beyond repetitive triplets and Hansi Kürsch shows off his entire vocal range in a fairly excellent performance.
The album still suffers from a lack of good ideas, despite coming six years after its predecessor (a time during which neither of the mother bands Iced Earth or Blind Guardian were particularly active either), and is ultimately rather forgettable save for a couple of good choruses. 'Seize the Day' and 'Wicked Witch' are acoustic ballads that entirely lack Blind Guardian's flair, and even the closing cover of Led Zeppelin's well-known 'Immigrant Song' ends up as an anticlimax, as it's just so insubstantial.
1. Crimson King
2. Beneath These Waves
3. Terror Train
4. Seize the Day
5. The Gunslinger
6. Love's Tragedy Asunder
7. Wicked Witch
8. Dorian
9. Down Where I Am
10. Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin cover)
Consumed by Your Poison
**
Written on 23.06.08
Canada's Despised Icon were, chronologically if not influentially, one of the pioneers of the bastardised fusion of death metal with the already malformed spin-off genre of metalcore, yet this is largely absent in their debut release. What we have instead is a dirty, angry noise of an album that's occasionally enjoyable, but mostly irritating, and never particularly engaging.
These songs lack any real structure or stand-out moments, as groove riffs clash with blast beats from the drum kit and the vocals slowly spew unintelligible lyrics with minimal energy. This is certainly more death metal than metalcore, but it takes its influences from the lower end of the spectrum, launching into a faster tempo for the sake of being fast and cycling through the same old tricks again and again. No song stands out above the general din, and despite its pretentions to brutality, it doesn't even hold up to a standard hardcore release (as in the music, not the porn).
1. Compelled to Copulate
2. Poissonnariat
3. Grade A-One
4. Le Chêne et Le Roseau
5. Dead King
6. Absolu
7. Fashionable
8. Interfere in Your Days
9. Clef de Voûte
10. Despise the Icons
Unchain the Wolves
****
Written on 23.06.08
Appropriating a pointless heavy metal umlaut from Queensrÿche, Melbourne's Destroÿer 666 peaked with this first release, which harks back a decade to the early, thrash-influenced black metal of Bathory, exemplified by the album 'Blood Fire Death.' With its Satanic themes, dingy keyboards and catchy, plodding tempo, this is black metal in its original and best style, led by the talents of Bestial Lust's K.K. Warslut (perhaps not his real name).
This album encapsulates everything that was great about early Bathory, which bizarrely works equally well in Australia as it does in frosty Sweden, from the tomb-like atmosphere of the introduction to 'Genesis to Genocide' and the instrumental outro 'Onward to Arktoga' to the distinctly Quorthon-style verse vocals of the speedier 'Australian and Anti-Christ.' Warslut's guitar performance exceeds itself in every consecutive song before peaking in the apocalyptic 'Tyranny' and creative 'Six Curses from a Spiritual Wasteland,' and anyone with an interest in old-school black metal should consider this an essential purchase, even if it came ten years too late and from the wrong side of the planet.
1. Genesis to Genocide
2. Australian and Anti-Christ
3. Satan's Hammer
4. Tyranny
5. Six Curses from a Spiritual Wasteland
6. Unchain the Wolves
7. Damnations Pride
8. Onward to Arktoga
The Butcher's Ballroom
****
Written on 23.06.08
Certainly among the more adventurous metal albums I've heard, 'The Butcher's Ballroom' is self-consciously experimental heavy metal, incorporating substantial elements of, as the band's name would suggest, swing music and opera. While opera has had its place in metal for a number of years, Ann-Louice Lögdlund's female vocals here are performed in full-blown operatic style, rather than the diluted imitations of bands such as Nightwish and Epica.
The style occasionally fails to impress, or ends up sounding like an inferior version of something Finntroll might do, or failing that a Devin Townsend polka experiment, but for the most part it's rewarding and satisfyingly different from the norm, even if the songs tend to blur together after a while despite the distinct differences. All songs are tightly edited to be as long as necessary without overdoing it, which occasionally means songs shorter than two minutes, and the intermittent use of cello, sitar and keyboards are the icing on the cake.
1. Balrog Boogie
2. Heroines
3. Poetic Pitbull Revolutions
4. Rag Doll Physics
5. D'Angelo
6. Velvet Embracer
7. Gunpowder Chant
8. Infralove
9. Wedding March For A Bullet
10. Qualms of Conscience
11. Zodiac Virtues
12. Porcelain Judas
13. Pink Noise Waltz
Nightwork
****
Written on 23.06.08
Diabolical Masquerade is the now-defunct near-one-man-band of black metal musician Blakkheim, supported by Edge of Sanity's Dan Swanö on energetic drums. Blakkheim's performance is pretty incredible, from his vocals that scream as well as they wail to his moody keyboards and memorable melodic guitar lines, making this experimental black metal of the finest breed.
The keyboards set the tone for the entire album, which ranges from slow and melodic to blistering and hateful but is always engrossing. The cameo appearances of unusual instruments such as xylophone will doubtless throw off casual listeners, who shouldn't really be venturing this far towards the dark side in any case, but those well versed in the ways of black metal will likely find this beautiful, haunting and even soothing. Diabolical Masquerade is certainly one of the more intriguing and different black metal one-man-bands I've come across, not least because it comprises at least two men.
1. Rider on the Bonez
2. Dreadventurouz
3. The Zkeleton Keyz to the Dead
4. Thiz Ghoultimate Omen
5. All Onboard the Perdition Hearze!
6. The Eerie Obzidian Circuz
7. Haunted by Horror
Death's Design
***
Written on 23.06.08
The final album from Swedish black metal musician Blakkheim's project Diabolical Masquerade takes his avant-garde metal direction to one extreme, while essentially compromising in others. The most glaringly obvious feature of the album is its division into movements rather than individual songs, and these twenty movements are further sub-divided into sixty-one tracks ranging from several seconds to two minutes in length, with relatively few reaching the one-minute mark.
In concept, this is similar to the feat achieved by fellow Swedes Edge of Sanity in their classic single-song album 'Crimson,' and the presence of that band's Dan Swanö on drums and production duties was doubtless a key influence in this direction. Each track represents a noticeable progression from the last, but each larger movement is essentially self-contained, spoiling the effect that this is a single song unless you're fooled by the lack of pauses.
The black metal on offer is standard and not particularly impressive, the more interesting tracks being those based around apocalyptic, symphonic keyboards, as heard in the first three tracks (comprising Movement 1). After that, the music becomes duller and less creative, an album more concerned with style than content.
1. Nerves In Rush
2. Death Ascends - The Hunt (Part I)
3. You Can't Hide Forever
4. Right On Time For Murder - The Hunt (Part II)
5. Conscious In No Materia
6. A Different Plane
7. Invisible to Us
8. The One Who Hides a Face Inside
9. ...And Don't Ever Listen to What It Says
10. Revelation of the Puzzle
11. Human Prophecy
12. Where the Suffering Leads
13. The Remains of Galactic Expulsions
14. With Panic in the Heart
15. Out From the Dark
16. Still Coming At You
17. Out From a Deeper Dark
18. Spinning Back the Clocks
19. Soaring Over Dead Rooms
20. The Enemy Is the Earth
21. Recall
22. All Exits Blocked
23. The Memory Is Weak
24. Struck At Random / Outermost Fear
25. Sparks of Childhood Coming Back
26. Old People's Voodoo Seance
27. Mary-Lee Goes Crazy
28. Something Has Arrived
29. Possession of the Voodoo Party
30. Not of Flesh, Not of Blood
31. Intact With a Human Psyche
32. Keeping Faith
33. Someone Knows What Scares You
34. A Bad Case of Nerves
35. The Inverted Dream / No Sleep In Peace
36. Information
37. Setting the Course
38. Ghost Inhabitants
39. Fleeing From Town
40. Overlooked Parts
41. A New Spark - Victory Theme (Part I)
42. Hope - Victory Theme (Part II)
43. Family Portraits - Victory Theme (Part III)
44. Smokes Start to Churn
45. Hesitant Behaviour
46. A Hurricane of Rotten Air
47. Mastering the Clock
48. They Come, You Go
49. Haared El Chamon
50. The Egyptian Resort
51. The Pyramid
52. Frenzy Moods and Other Oddities
53. Still Part of the Design - The Hunt (Part III)
54. Definite Departure
55. Returning to Haared El Chamon
56. Life Eater
57. The Pulze
58. The Defiled Feeds
59. The River In Space
60. A Soulflight Back to Life
61. Instant Rebirth - Alternate Ending
Lightning to the Nations
The NWOBHM Classic
*****
Written on 23.06.08
Diamond Head's modest, initially self-produced debut album is one of the definitive releases of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, so-called because it was new back in 1980. Alongside the likes of the self-titled debuts from Iron Maiden and Angel Witch, 'Lightning to the Nations' is a classic of early heavy metal and one that still holds up well today, despite sounding enjoyably dated.
Sean Harris' vocals are still rooted in the seventies and comparable to Robert Plant, but his strong performance allows several songs to be vocal-centric, such as the prominent verse rhythms of 'It's Electric' and 'Helpless.' Other songs favour Brian Tatler's excellent guitar work, particularly the enthusiastic soloing that opens 'The Prince' before that song develops into yet another memorable riff, and the seriously heavy and demonic 'Am I Evil?' that builds up with a homage to Gustav Holst's apocalyptic heavy metal masterpiece 'Mars, the Bringer of War.'
The only song to let the side down is the disappointingly commercial, bland pop-rock of 'Sweet and Innocent,' but even that's enjoyable as a guilty pleasure.
1. Lightning to the Nations
2. The Prince
3. Sucking My Love
4. Am I Evil?
5. Sweet and Innocent
6. It's Electric
7. Helpless
Accident of Birth
Who Wants to Live Forever?
*****
Written on 29.06.04
One of the last albums released by Bruce Dickinson, ‘Accident of Birth’ represents the peak of the singer’s ‘solo’ triumph: this excellence is due in no small part however to those potentially overlooked through the term ‘solo,’ as the completely new band put together in 1996 brought top quality British heavy metal right up-to-date, something that Bruce’s previous band members in Iron Maiden failed to do until the current decade. This was unofficially voted the best metal album of 1997 despite its very modest level of fame and recognition and while also showing that Bruce Dickinson was back to his rightful position as the greatest vocalist in metal, it’s also a bloody good listen with surprising diversity.
WHO IS BRUCE DICKINSON?
The full-blooded Englishman known as Bruce Dickinson is a qualified pilot, a world class fencer and a devoted father, but he achieved fame through his overpowering and often operatic vocals in the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Following ten years of consistent album releases and world tours as the Maiden frontman, Bruce decided he needed to get away from it all; the less impressive quality of his vocals on those later albums suggested some reluctance to carry on, especially following the departure of guitarist and close friend Adrian Smith from the band.
Bruce’s solo career was reasonably successful from the start, however his early offerings still showed his slightly struggling vocals, the music also being more in the vein of Bon Jovi rock than Maiden heavy metal. It was teaming up with guitarist Roy Z (Roy Ramirez) and old comrade Adrian Smith that led to the much more impressive ‘Accident of Birth,’ an album that shows Bruce back at his very best. The same band stayed together to release the follow-up ‘The Chemical Wedding’ in 1999 which ran along similar lines and while not being as impressive as this release still showed the talents of everyone involved. That was the final Bruce solo album (to date) as he and Adrian Smith rejoined Iron Maiden and made them great again, but ‘Accident of Birth’ shows exactly where Iron Maiden were going wrong in failing to evolve their music from the eighties.
Bruce Dickinson band:
Bruce Dickinson – vocals
Adrian Smith – guitar
Roy Z – guitar, mellatron and piano
Eddie Casillias – bass
David Ingraham – drums
TWO-FIFTHS OF THE BEAST
This is essentially a metal album, but combines raw and powerful anthems with darker, heavier offerings and several well-timed and very impressive soft tracks. To label this as ‘Iron Maiden for the 90s’ is unfair to everyone involved, although the fact that two fifths of the band are from Iron Maiden means that there are some common elements, and these make the album all the better: Steve Harris’ lyrics in Maiden were mostly good but did get tiresome, and the less common offerings from both Bruce and Adrian would often end up being some of the best songs the band produced (‘Revelations,’ ‘2 Minutes to Midnight,’ ‘Powerslave,’ ‘Wasted Years,’ ‘Stranger in a Strange Land,’ ‘Moonchild’ and many more), and it’s obvious that the time away from constant touring and album releases has brought them both back to their peak proficiency.
This sounded as original and inspiring in 1997 as Maiden did in 1987, and it’s a shame that the remaining band members were not able to update their sound without the input of these two musical heroes. Besides, Iron Maiden never released a piano ballad, and have only recently ventured into acoustic territory on their latest album. They are great again, but these solo bridging efforts have clearly left their mark.
THE ACCIDENT
1. FREAK
A fantastic opener, this immediately shows exactly what this Bruce album is about: power, melody and fantastic performances all round. The chorus “who leads you to the dark secret?” is repeated far too many times throughout and does become annoying, but the changing riffs and guitar solos, as well as some well timed quieter breaks, make this a great metal track – I especially love the guitar tune in the chorus.
“Your life is lost, your soul is damned
But it feels too good to make a stand.
Bad is bad, but this is worse,
Let judgement come, you love this curse”
2. TOLTEC 7 ARRIVAL
This is a harmonious and beautiful interlude that unfortunately only lasts for thirty-seven seconds, but combines guitars and keyboards into a haunting and atmospheric melody. Douglas Adams’ book ‘Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency’ described the harmonious sound of life that overpowered people with its magnificence, and I think it’s probably an extended version of this track. Nothing classic, but very nice.
3. STARCHILDREN
Another great hard rocking track with some deeper vocals by Bruce complimented by heavier guitar riffs, this again includes enough changes in direction to prevent it from getting boring. This is a good example of a style different to Iron Maiden but with the same ground rules indicating what that band could have sounded like during the nineties, rather than remaining firmly entrenched in the past. At four minutes seventeen seconds it’s just the right length as well.
“Starchildren, coming out of nowhere
And to nowhere return.
Starchildren, a hundred million souls
Snuffed out in one breath”
4. TAKING THE QUEEN
From the onset it’s clear that this is a slower and more reflective offering, with some great, deep acoustic guitars making this sound similar to an Opeth song. Fairly bleak and plodding but after a few listens this becomes one of the most interesting points of the album, and the chorus features electric guitars that somehow blend in seamlessly from the previous acoustic work in a way that Metallica’s don’t. This is along the lines of a power ballad, but it’s more like a slow, sombre rock track with a really fitting guitar solo that leads perfectly into the next track.
“The howling shriek of death in your eyes,
The hawklord and the beast enter your room
Your gold will turn to rust,
Your empire follows you into your tomb”
5. DARKSIDE OF AQUARIUS
One of the true classics of the album, this is also fairly progressive and borders on epic level with its six and a half minute length. The beginning continues in the vein of ‘Taking the Queen’ but with a more impressive melody before the catchy guitar riffs and vocals begin. If this was a Maiden song it would be one of my favourites, as Bruce’s vocals never get any better and more infectious than this, exploring his entire range – if there is one song in my life that I wish I could forget and hear again for the first time, it would be this as there’s something I really love about it. Although I don’t give much mention to the drums and bass guitar in the other tracks, this song features some excellent drumming punctuating the riffs and a strong bass presence halfway through in the bridge between the two quite different halves of the song that could be called ‘The Hellriders’ and ‘The Wheel of Dharma,’ but which aren’t so forget it.
“The first hellrider came, on wings of plenty in the dark.
Poured out his poison, blew away his mark.
The fascist from the east is coming,
Mothers hide your sons…”
6. ROAD TO HELL
After a brief pause gives some time to reflect on the excellent previous track, the band hit back with another of the very best on the album and the reason I bought this album in the first place: ‘Road to Hell.’ Not a particularly experimental or groundbreaking song, but this races along at a very enjoyable pace with memorable and upbeat riffs and vocals that are predictably fantastic. The chorus could rival even the best Iron Maiden track, and the final repeat after the solos is very eagerly anticipated. This is the most immediately enjoyable offering of the album that could have made a great single.
“Father forgive me my sins,
Give me the nails, I’ll hammer them in…
The road to hell is full of good intentions,
Say farewell and we may never meet again”
7. MAN OF SORROWS
A very different offering, this piano-led ballad dates from a film project of Bruce’s from 1992. This was released as a single and was fairly successful, and although it’s not technically my kind of music I do find Bruce’s powerful vocals and some of the synthesised orchestration in the background very relaxing and pleasant. This is probably the most accessible track on here and although it’s not one of my favourites it at least provides a break between the songs and adds some excellent variety. Not so much depressing as soothing.
“Man of sorrows, I won’t see your face,
Man of sorrows, you left without a trace.
A small boy wonders, what was it all about?
Is your journey over, has it just begun”
8. ACCIDENT OF BIRTH
“Journey back to the dark side” says Bruce in a slightly distorted voice over a muted but ominous sounding guitar riff, providing some warning to those who had dozed off that the heaviest offering of the album is about to begin in full swing. The guitars are very dark and powerful here, however the tempo is still kept reasonably slow in the verses as Bruce recounts a sad tale. The vocals are as good here as elsewhere and sound different due to some form of watery distortion in parts and the general lack of high notes on the whole. This track could serve to put off those who liked ‘Man of Sorrows,’ but I love it, and the brilliant high guitar section before the main solo is one of the best instrumentations of the album. The verse style again changes as the song carries on to keep things flowing.
“I might have had a brother,
As I was born they dragged him under
To the other side of twilight, he’s waiting for me now.”
9. THE MAGICIAN
The main riff that opens this song sounds fairly upbeat, although perhaps that’s only because it comes after the darkness of the last two tracks. Classic Maiden-style first person narrative here in a track that would be quite average if not for the excellent and very catchy chorus that even features some “woah-o-o-a-oh” for the benefit of live performances. There is the sense that less time was spent on creating and perfecting this track, as there always is with albums, but it doesn’t suffer for it and the album is still far from boring.
“I am the living flame,
And I teach the holy games
Teach the secret of the dance,
Throw the future in the runes
Kick the sand in Satan’s cave,
And I put Jesus in his place
Shaman or priest it’s all the same,
The Magician is my name”
10. WELCOME TO THE PIT
This is a very good track, but the sound of the guitars is very reminiscent of a number of earlier tracks and as such it isn’t as impressive, however the more melodic chorus still makes it very enjoyable to listen to, even if the slow pace has become a little tiresome by now, and the track does drag on a little towards the end. Some great use of quieter instruments in parts to avoid them dominating the song, Bruce’s vocals don’t impress in the verses but still sound great in the high chorus. Face it, the man’s a vocal legend.
“I don’t even know your name,
You won’t even see my face,
But you choose to play my games.
Welcome to the hard place”
11. OMEGA
A very interesting choice of track, and one that I am eternally grateful was made as this is the other track (along with ‘Darkside of Aquarius’ and ‘Road to Hell’) that should be recognised as true classics, but unfortunately will not be. Still slow and reflective, but this time there is a more traditional acoustic rhythm in the verses that actually sounds a little similar to acts such as Bob Dylan, except that I like this. The heavier electric guitars of the choruses again manage to skilfully adapt from the acoustics before becoming obviously apparent when the song speeds up in the middle before returning for a great conclusion. This speedy electric section aside (which does sound excellent but is mainly present to break up the song), this tale of final Armageddon and the destruction of the solar system is incredibly vivid in its description and manages to sound sombre, regretful, resolved and optimistic all at the same time. Classic and again maybe one of the more accessible tracks; I personally would have chosen to end the album with this track, and often do when listening to it, but there is an epilogue.
“Now it’s Omega zero day,
The red star shines its last ray
The sun that gave us life yesterday
Is now the sun that takes our lives away”
12. ARC OF SPACE
A fully acoustic song that forsakes all the other instruments for a bit of reflective guitar and vocal time, this is melodic and pleasant but a little unnecessary after the excellent acoustic work that formed the bulk of ‘Omega.’ Acoustic fans may love it, and Bruce’s vocals again make it worth listening to occasionally, but personally I don’t get much out of this song. It isn’t like nobody’s released an all-acoustic ballad before, but the Doctor Who-esque lyrics are at least worth a look. In some ways, this does give the album a more ‘epic’ and classic feel overall that is lacking in Bruce’s other releases.
“There, on a lonely desert hilltop
The pilgrims huddle closer
Waiting for a sign, the coming silver shrine,
The Arc of Space and Time”
VERDICT
Having only heard one Bruce Dickinson song from his early solo career I never pursued his albums despite revering him and bowing before his splendour (in the form of listening to Iron Maiden) on a daily basis, and I was naturally thrilled to read on the internet that the ‘Accident of Birth’ album was held in a very high regard by metal fans, most of them predictably but understandably claiming that this was the album Iron Maiden should have released in the nineties. I’m glad they didn’t though, as this is a great chance to hear Bruce working with some different guys (well, mostly) and bouncing off their skills and enthusiasm. I love this album.
With the grunge revolution of the early nineties, the ‘nu-metal’ of the late nineties and the changing style of prominent metal bands such as Metallica, it’s difficult to pin down what ‘nineties metal’ sounds like, but I do notice a similar style between this Bruce Dickinson album and Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Ozzmosis’ album from 1995, although this is far more original and enjoyable. Muted guitar riffs and trimmed song lengths are a feature of both, as are the general sound of the guitars and drums, but this album isn’t only about originality: it’s about varied emotions and an excellent musical experience with a fantastic vocalist and excellent guitars.
The front cover features a cut-down portion of some more comically gruesome artwork by Iron Maiden veteran Derek Riggs (the full picture of a jester doll bursting out of frightened man’s chest armed with a nail bat is included in the booklet and is quite funny in a sort of sick way), and this shows the return to a higher spirited style for Bruce than the moody photography of his previous albums. If you are a fan of Iron Maiden or other metal bands and you haven’t heard ‘Accident of Birth,’ you are really missing out, and this album (as well as ‘The Chemical Wedding’) can be bought surprisingly cheap on eBay, Play.com and other sites.
The road to hell is full of good intentions; down the left hand highway with no sinister regrets.
Advantages: Excellent and classic metal album, Wide range of tracks to appeal to different people, The best vocalist in metal is back
Disadvantages: A couple of tracks sound a little similar, but the arrangement helps this, Won't appeal to everyone
Tyranny of Souls
****
Written on 24.06.08
The first solo album released after Bruce Dickinson's high-profile return to Iron Maiden in 1999, 'Tyranny of Souls' inevitably suffers from a lack of time and attention, allegedly being written in bits and pieces through correspondence between Dickinson and guitarist Roy Z as the former toured with his day-job band. The result is a less confident effort than its excellent predecessor 'The Chemical Wedding' with more throwaway songs, but it still contains some great heavy metal tracks and features a great performance from Dickinson throughout.
'Abduction' and 'Power of the Sun' are both fast, energetic pieces that possess a lighter tone to Dickinson's now-established sound, but most of the songs follow the dark, brooding style of the previous album to great effect. Notable exceptions include the oddly upbeat 'Devil on a Hog' that I was certain must be a cover when I first heard it, the full-on ballad 'Navigate the Seas of the Sun' and the semi-ballad 'Kill Devil Hill,' my favourite song here for its effective meeting between heavy verses and a soaring chorus, just what Bruce Dickinson fans come to a solo album expecting. As Maiden is keeping him fairly busy these days, it's likely this will be the last Dickinson solo release for the time being.
1. Mars Within (Intro)
2. Abduction
3. Soul Intruders
4. Kill Devil Hill
5. Navigate the Seas of the Sun
6. River of No Return
7. Power of the Sun
8. Devil on a Hog
9. Believil
10. A Tyranny of Souls
For All Tid
****
Written on 24.06.08
This age-old release from Dimmu Borgir shows a much different, and in my opinion far more impressive side of the band than their more well-known later releases. Embracing the nostalgic Norwegian folk approach of early black metal, this is heavily atmospheric and melodic black metal that primarily suffers from a permeating amateurishness, a far cry from the heavily processed industrial metal the band would later produce to surprising success.
Stian Aarstad is the key player here... um, literally. His keyboard and piano works underpins everything, and exudes a historical atmosphere aided by the album artwork. The guitars are standard black metal fare, heavy on the warbling treble and memorable without being complex, and the dirty production sound is always a real bonus for albums such as this.
Like Ancient and Arcturus around the same time, Dimmu Borgir gave black metal a melodic slant that I always find favourable, and there are numerous melodic breaks that work to great effect, including the use of synthesised flutes in 'Stien.' It's only Silenoz's slightly grating nasal vocals that stand out as vastly needing improvement.
1. Det Nye Riket
2. Under Korpens Vinger
3. Over Bleknede Blåner Til Dommedag
4. Stien
5. Glittertind
6. For All Tid
7. Hunnerkongens Sorgsvarte Ferd Over Steppene
8. Raabjørn Speiler Draugheimens Skodde
9. Den Gjemte Sannhets Hersker
Stormblåst
The Melodic Black Metal Classic
*****
Written on 24.06.08
Dimmu Borgir's second album remains their finest achievement, the classic work of melodic black metal that bands like Ancient and Arcturus almost achieved. This album is a definite step forward from its primitive predecessor, now successfully integrating the piano and keyboard work into the dirty black metal riffs and growled vocals without sounding forced or contradictory. This whole experience is heavily atmospheric, but with Stian Aarstad's great keyboard melodies in songs such as 'Alt Lys Er Svunnet Hen' and particularly 'Broderskapets Ring,' it never runs the risk of being ambient background music.
Sadly, Aarstad is also the album's weak point thanks to his shameless theft of melodies from other sources, something that he presumably felt comfortable doing back when the band was only known within the black metal community. Once they hit the big time, it came to light that Aarstad had poached the pretty piano instrumental 'Sorgens Kammer' entirely from the soundtrack of the Amiga game 'Agony' without telling the band, while the keyboards of the first track are allegedly similar to a song by prog band Magnum.
Deceptions aside, this is still a masterpiece of melodic black metal, varying in speed and intensity but always coherent. The band re-recorded this in 2005 and released it for some reason, presumably realising how terrible their more recent output has been in comparison.
1. Alt Lys Er Svunnet Hen
2. Broderskapets Ring
3. Når Sjelen Hentes Til Helvete
4. Sorgens Kammer
5. Da Den Kristne Satte Livet Til
6. Stormblåst
7. Dødsferd
8. Antikrist
9. Vinder Fra En Ensom Grav
10. Guds Fortapelse - Åpenbaring Av Dommedag
Enthrone Darkness Triumphant
***
Written on 25.06.08
The final album of what could be accurately classed as Dimmu Borgir's first era, 'Enthrone Darkness Triumphant' starts to move towards the commercial metal direction of their later works (not least with the introduction of English lyrics), but retains enough of the spellbinding majesty of the previous releases. With clearer production that really brings out the guitars and drums, this is more approachable and also less distinctive than the heavily keyboard-soaked 'Stormblåst,' though Stian Aarstad's keys are still the most impressive element, despite being relegated to a secondary player behind the generic riffs at many points.
Relying more on standard black metal gimmicks such as blast beats, this album has less character than 'Stormblåst,' but it still has its moments. Piano is used to great effect in spicing up the otherwise dull 'In Death's Embrace,' and the penultimate 'A Succubus in Rapture' is a fine example of symphonic black metal done properly, but the rest of the album fails to live up to this, occasionally approaching perilously close to Cradle of Filth's take on the genre.
1. Mourning Palace
2. Spellbound (By the Devil)
3. In Death's Embrace
4. Relinquishment of Spirit and Flesh
5. The Night Masquerade
6. Tormentor of Christian Souls
7. Entrance
8. Master of Disharmony
9. Prudence's Fall
10. A Succubus in Rapture
11. Raabjørn Speiler Draugheimens Skodde
Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia
***
Written on 25.06.08
Breaking into the big-time around the same time Cradle of Filth made symphonic black metal popular with mainstream metal fans, this album is naturally a target of hatred for the community of metal nerds. While it's certainly a disappointment compared to the high quality of their earlier melodic black metal releases, it's a vast improvement over the frankly unlistenable 'Spiritual Black Dimensions.'
The songs at least stand out here individually, even though the old problems still remain. Keyboard player Mustis is still granted too much dominance and fails to back it up with talent or creativity, and the addition of drummer Nicholas Barker (ex-Cradle of Filth) adds some much-needed talent, but unfortunately comes a cropper thanks to the ridiculous overproduction that places him too prominently in the mix. The high-budget use of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra also adds a nice soundtrack feel to parts of the album, particularly the symphonic opener 'Fear and Wonder,' but it's a shame that this ends up being one of the few truly worthwhile songs here.
Dimmu Borgir has evolved from an atmospheric, historical black metal band into one that sounds disappointingly robotic and artificial, and this spoils the effect of almost every song. The notable exception is 'Puritania,' which abandons all pretensions to black metal and is content to be an effectively vile industrial number.
1. Fear and Wonder
2. Blessings Upon the Throne of Tyranny
3. Kings of the Carnival Creation
4. Hybrid Stigmata - The Apostasy
5. Architecture of a Genocidal Nature
6. Puritania
7. IndoctriNation
8. The Maelstorm Mephisto
9. Absolute Sole Right
10. Sympozium
11. Perfection or Vanity
Advantages: Nice orchestra...
Disadvantages: ...shame about the band (well, except the drummer).
Death Cult Armageddon
**
Written on 25.06.08
Based on my appreciation for the orchestral elements of its predecessor 'Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia,' I could be expected to praise the even more symphonic 'Death Cult Armageddon,' but sadly this is an even weaker effort than the last one. It's interesting and commendable to see the band focus so squarely on this niche alongside the Gothenburg Orchestra, but the result is unfortunately bland and extremely repetitive, with very little in the way of stand-out moments. The metal elements are completely buried beneath an overblown symphony that sounds like the B-sides from Danny Elfman's 'Batman' soundtrack.
The production job is much more balanced this time round, lending a less mechanical sound than before, and Nicholas Barker's drums now pound away impressively at the back rather than screaming for attention at the front. The downside is that the other rock instruments are placed on an even keel with the orchestra that ultimately dominates all, as guitar riffs and vocal lines supplement the strings and horns. Shagrath's rasping vocals are still the weakest point, growling away like an angry robot, and it's disappointing to hear the more impressive clean singing of ICS Vortex restricted to only a couple of songs. Overall, this is quite a dull mess.
1. Allegiance
2. Progenies of the Great Apocalypse
3. Lepers Among Us
4. Vredesbyrd
5. For the World to Dictate Our Death
6. Blood Hunger Doctrine
7. Allehelgens Død I Helveds Rike
8. Cataclysm Children
9. Eradication Instincts Defined
10. Unorthodox Manifesto
11. Heavenly Perverse
Holy Diver
****
Written on 25.06.08
Like Ozzy Osbourne before him, Ronnie James Dio departed Black Sabbath and achieved great success with his solo career - also similar to Osbourne, Dio's debut album remains his most well-known, commonly regarded as one of the heavy metal classics. While this legendary status isn't entirely deserved, there really is not better album to encapsulate American heavy metal of the eighties, even if the British bands tended to be more impressive.
Dio's trademark wailing and soaring vocals combined with Vivian Campbell's creative and irresistible guitar riffs make songs like the title track instant favourites, and this album is also notable for containing one of Dio's relatively few fast songs in the form of opener 'Stand Up and Shout,' more reminiscent of the British metal tradition. The rest favour a slower, chorus-centric approach that becomes very repetitive, but fortunately Dio's vocal skills manage to pull it off.
The compulsory ballad 'Don't Talk to Strangers' is saved from tedium by screaming guitars later on, and Dio himself provides some delightfully cheesy keyboards at the end of 'Rainbow in the Dark.' This is certainly a dated album, but one that still has the power to entertain, without the drawbacks of some of Dio's other releases.
1. Stand Up and Shout
2. Holy Diver
3. Gypsy
4. Caught in the Middle
5. Don't Talk to Strangers
6. Straight Through the Heart
7. Invisible
8. Rainbow in the Dark
9. Shame on the Night
Last in Line
****
Written on 25.06.08
Dio's second solo album is equally as impressive as its better-known predecessor, and stands above the majority of material the various incarnations of this band would record later. The title track is perhaps the finest song Dio ever recorded, beginning deceptively calm before increasingly escalating to further extremes of heaviness and power, dominated by a guitar line and chorus that are catchy as Hell, a location featured in both the album art and the song's astoundingly cheesy music video that you really owe it to yourself to check out on YouTube.
Dio's performance is always exceptional, and his vocals are the driving force here, something that occasionally sees the other band members slip into mediocrity on the lesser tracks such as 'One Night in the City.' The majority of songs gravitate around a slow, booming chorus, the effectiveness of which is entirely responsible for the song being a hit or miss, but the hit rate is very high. 'I Speed at Night' and 'Evil Eyes' are a little more energetic and faster than the rest, while the finale 'Egypt' harks back to Dio's more epic material produced with Black Sabbath (such as 'Heaven and Hell'), as well as contributing yet another electric guitar interpretation of clichéd Egyptian themes, something that's always a lot of fun.
1. We Rock
2. The Last in Line
3. Breathless
4. I Speed at Night
5. One Night in the City
6. Evil Eyes
7. Mystery
8. Eat Your Heart Out
9. Egypt (The Chains Are On)
Dream Evil
***
Written on 25.06.08
Continuing the deterioration of Ronnie James Dio's solo career, 'Dream Evil' sees the replacement of guitarist Vivian Campbell with newcomer Craig Goldie, a changeover much maligned by fans who presumably forgot the mediocrity of Campbell's work on the previous 'Sacred Heart.' The guitars here are high quality heavy metal, but lack the instant recognition of something like 'Holy Diver' or 'The Last in Line,' while Claude Schnell's keyboards can only be described as cheesy. Or very 1980s. Either way, they tend to detract from the credibility of songs rather than enhance them.
There are still some good songs here amidst the average material, opener 'Night People' possessing the same fun rhymes and bizarre questioning approach of Dio's lyrics, while the title track goes on about rainbows yet again (sheesh, give it up), though it doesn't have the classic status as other Dio title songs. 'All the Fools Sailed Away' is an effective ballad that remains heavy and powerful throughout, and 'Overlove' injects some speed into the proceedings (not literally) to keep the album moving in its second half. The rest of the material is predictable and mediocre, but heavy metal fans should still find much to enjoy.
1. Night People
2. Dream Evil
3. Sunset Superman
4. All the Fools Sailed Away
5. Naked in the Rain
6. Overlove
7. I Could Have Been a Dreamer
8. Faces in the Window
9. When a Woman Cries
Lock Up the Wolves
***
Written on 26.06.08
At the end of the 1980s, Ronnie James Dio's solo project deteriorated and dismantled, leaving the dwarfish singer to pick up the pieces. 'Lock Up the Wolves' is the (perhaps inevitably) disappointing result, though there are still a few gems to be found amidst the rubble.
The main issue I have with this album is how dull it sounds, slower even than Dio's standard tempo and prone to breaks and silences that promise a finale before a resurgence plods tediously on, most evident in the overlong title song. Guitarist Rowan Robertson puts in a reasonable performance, heavy enough to satisfy long-time fans but lacking the creativity and flair of his predecessors, especially in the guitar solos that just seem to take up time without giving anything back.
Notable songs include the doomy 'Evil on Queen Street' that could pass for early Black Sabbath and the faster 'Wild One' and 'Walk on Water,' which are only exciting by comparison. This is a deservedly overlooked album in Dio's discography, not containing any particularly bad songs but with nothing of real interest either. And he still hasn't got over the rainbow thing. He sings about rainbows All. The. Time.
1. Wild One
2. Born on the Sun
3. Hey Angel
4. Between Two Hearts
5. Night Music
6. Lock Up the Wolves
7. Evil on Queen Street
8. Walk on Water
9. Twisted
10. Why Are They Watching Me
11. My Eyes
Magica
****
Written on 26.06.08
A great comeback album for the new millennium, 'Magica' is the strongest and most compelling Dio release since his golden age in the early eighties, abandoning the social themes of his nineties work but retaining its heaviness and gloom, creating a fusion of Dio old and older that isn't exactly original, but certainly goes above and beyond what was expected of the legendary heavy metal midget this late in his seemingly endless career. Going all-out with a science fiction/fantasy concept, this runs the risk of being almost too Dio, even for Dio, and although it doesn't hold the same ratio of classics as early albums like 'Holy Diver' and 'The Last in Line,' it's still the most worthwhile Dio release since those days.
Craig Goldy's guitar and keyboards interweave beautifully to create a magical fantasy atmosphere that isn't ashamed to be cheesy, and the riffs of songs like 'Fever Dreams' are just as catchy as anything from back in the day of Vivian Campbell. As a concept album, the songs tend to flow smoothly into each other while remaining distinctive in their own right, featuring the usual Dio staple of the power ballad in the form of the excellent 'As Long As It's Not About Love,' reminiscent of 'All the Fools Sailed Away,' along with new features such as the reprises and - most bizarre of all - the spoken word bonus track that sees Dio narrating the Magica tale. Sadly, it's not something I've ever felt compelled to sit through for twenty minutes.
1. Discovery
2. Magica Theme
3. Lord of the Last Day
4. Fever Dreams
5. Turn to Stone
6. Feed My Head
7. Eriel
8. Challis
9. As Long As It's Not About Love
10. Losing My Insanity
11. Otherworld
12. Magica (Reprise)
13. Lord of the Last Day (Reprise)
14. Magica Story (Bonus track)
Sign of Truth
***
Written on 26.06.08
Dionysus' individual style of power metal is only in an embryonic stage on their debut release 'Sign of Truth,' and considering the blandness of their later material, that's probably for the best. Produced by power metal legend Tobias Sammet (Edguy, Avantasia and assorted guest appearances), this is fairly typical twenty-first century power metal for fans who really, really need to hear some more.
Olaf Hayer's vocals are impressive, rooted in the high, squeaky range but taking on a grander flair in the unison choruses thanks to Sammet's experience at operatic metal production, and Johnny Öhlin's guitars are more entertaining here than they will be later on, shredding away with some neoclassical solos and Helloween/Gamma Ray inspired speed metal riffs in the faster songs 'Sign of Truth,' 'Holy War' and bonus track 'Loaded Gun.' 'Don't Forget' is a tiresome power ballad, and 'Pouring Rain' hints towards the poppy direction the band would move towards to.
1. Time Will Tell
2. Sign of Truth
3. Bringer of Salvation
4. Pouring Rain
5. Anthem (For the Children)
6. Holy War
7. Don't Forget
8. Walk on Fire
9. Never Wait
10. Loaded Gun
Anima Mundi
**
Written on 26.06.08
Dionysus' melodic style of power metal has fully developed by their second full-length release, but it's nothing the metal scene hasn't heard before, and done much more successfully by bands such as Angra and Kamelot. Olaf Hayer's vocals are the only element that really stand out, as despite the neoclassical flourishes of the guitars and keyboards, they tend to blur together into the soundscape as each song plods tediously on. The drums are similarly mundane, bashing away in typical power metal fashion without interest.
The comparatively long 'March for Freedom' hints towards a grander direction with its heavy riffs, structural progression and spoken word introduction, but it still doesn't follow through to a satisfying extent. 'Forever More' is a boring ballad that the band tries to make up for with the fast-paced-but-average 'Paradise Land,' and most of the songs are entirely mediocre, lacking any distinctive or memorable features to warrant repeat plays.
1. Divine
2. Bringer of War
3. Anima Mundi
4. My Heart Is Crying
5. March for Freedom
6. What
7. Eyes of the World
8. Forever More
9. Paradise Land
10. Closer to the Sun
11. Holy War
Pieces
****
Written on 26.06.08
Dismember are one of the classic Swedish death metal bands, and my personal favourite. This early E.P. collecting 'Pieces' from uncertain origins is a fine example of the changeover from early, thrash-influenced death metal as practiced by Celtic Frost and Morbid Angel in the eighties to the harsher and more independent entity of the nineties. This is fifteen minutes of head-bulldozingly-good death metal performed by masters of the craft, without any pretensions to being anything more than a group of angry young men playing furiously on rock instruments. In Hell.
Matti Kärki's vocals aren't the standard death metal grunt, possessing much more of a kick that keeps the album sprightly and, in the case of the title track's verses, damn catchy. The production is raw and seriously heavy, really bringing out the full force of the classic Dismember riff in 'Carnal Tomb' and the slow, chugging central section of 'I Wish You Hell.' The last two songs are slightly less captivating, the first sounding a little more primitive (perhaps an older song) and the second more clearly influenced by thrash, but this is still a nice extra treat for fans who own all the full-length recordings.
1. Intro
2. Pieces
3. I Wish You Hell
4. Carnal Tomb
5. Soon to Be Dead
Massive Killing Capacity
*****
Written on 26.06.08
One of my all-time favourite death metal albums, 'Massive Killing Capacity' goes some way towards kick-starting the melodic death metal genre without suffering any of its drawbacks. David Blomqvist and Robert Senneback's thrashy riffs are endlessly creative and catchy, and supplemented by melodic lead sections and solos in the spirit of classic heavy metal, but the album never forgets its allegiance to a crushingly heavy sound, exemplified by the beast of an album cover.
Vocalist Matti Kärki is atypical for the genre, yelling rather than growling, and the songs rarely accelerate above a steady groove. I couldn't recommend this album enough for extreme metal fans, especially as it could provide an easy gateway for newcomers, thanks to the instantly appealing riffs that just keep on coming in the title song and 'I Saw Them Die,' and the more intricate single 'Casket Garden.' These songs are tightly edited to avoid running over, and all are angry death metal classics with an unashamed lighter side.
1. I Saw Them Die
2. Massive Killing Capacity
3. On Frozen Fields
4. Crime Divine
5. To the Bone
6. Wardead
7. Hallucigenia
8. Collection By Blood
9. Casket Garden
10. Nenia
11. Life - Another Shape of Sorrow
The Somberlain
*****
Written on 27.06.08
Dissection are classed among the elite of black metal, and are certainly the most widely-praised melodic black metal band, combining the genre's frosty atmosphere and harsh instrumental approach with a large dose of melody and crystal clear production values. 'The Somberlain' and its successor 'Storm of the Light's Bane' are accurately hailed as the perfect gateway albums for newcomers to black metal, and I agree with this entirely. With an album as good as 'The Somberlain,' you can almost forget that vocalist/guitarist Jon Nödtveidt would later become a homophobic murderer.
With slap-happy drums and melodic guitar lines careening all over the place, this is a highly energetic album, but one also concerned with atmosphere, thanks to the skilful use of backing keyboards in all songs except the acoustic interludes 'Black Horizons,' 'Into Infinite Obscurity' and 'Feathers Fell.' The title track accomplishes everything the album sets out to do at an early juncture, but the rest continues to enthral, one of the classics of melodic black metal alongside the likes of Ancient, Arcturus and early Dimmu Borgir.
1. Black Horizons
2. The Somberlain
3. Crimson Towers
4. A Land Forlorn
5. Heaven's Damnation
6. Frozen
7. Into Infinite Obscurity
8. In the Cold Winds of Nowhere
9. The Grief Prophecy / Shadows Over a Lost Kingdom
10. Mistress of the Bleeding Sorrow
11. Feathers Fell
Storm of the Light's Bane
****
Written on 27.06.08
Dissection's second album introduces death metal elements to arrive at an unprecedented fusion that could be classed as blackened melodic death metal (if you want to be really specific). As with its predecessor, this is a great album for newcomers to extreme metal, as it eases the entry process with a heavy focus on melody that prevents it descending into the frozen abyss of more traditional black metal acts such as Immortal and Mayhem, whose influence can still be heard here to a large extent.
The melody is less pronounced than on 'The Somberlain,' and the songs tend to stand out a little less on the whole. That's not to say that it's a less than excellent release, from the establishing riffs of 'Night's Blood' to the densely packed guitar work of 'Unhallowed' and the thrash influence of 'Thorns of Crimson Death.' The opening and closing tracks are once again given over to acoustic interludes, but without the central intrusion of the previous album.
1. At The Fathomless Depths
2. Night's Blood
3. Unhallowed
4. Where Dead Angels Lie
5. Retribution - Storm of the Light's Bane
6. Thorns of Crimson Death
7. Soulreaper
8. No Dreams Breed In Breathless Sleep
The Sickness
You're Gonna Hear Some Freaky Sh** Now...
****
Written on 16.06.01
The freakish ability to articulate inhuman gibberish has been a favourite since KoRn began on the scene, but when Disturbed use it the songs take on a whole new level.
The band have to be the best newcomers to the mainstream world of metal since Slipknot. Vocalist David Draiman's powerful voice, capable of both shouting and singing, add to the excellent loud guitar riffs and murderous drum beats to produce a sound unlike any other.
If they had to be categorised, it would probably be nu-metal, although Draiman's vocals seem to sometimes take on a more rock-and-roll, old school style occasionally, and the songs vary widely. Which is good because I love indecisiveness.
The band have thus far released two singles for music video (the fantastic "Voices" and the not-widely-seen "Stupify"), and have toured the UK alone and with Marilyn Manson, as well as appearing at this year's Ozzfest. This, their first mainstream album, (I don't know of any pre-"Sickness" releases in the underground, so please inform me by comment if you have any knowledge) is good value for money with twelve tracks, some of which I have to admit are slightly dodgy, including an event that normally involvs controversy: covering an old song.
The album begins slowly, with a quiet (I think it's bass?) riff accompanying an increasingly louder drum beat, before Draiman lets rip with a huge shouty sound that doesn't seem to mean anything, and the guitar really gets going. The song is, in my opinion, probably the best on the album, and has a great music video. It's about not conforming to the system, and being lead by voices inside your head. ("What's up? I wonder why do you listen to me? I'm gonna make you do some freaky sh** now!") It's a cool song.
"The Game" (track two) begins with a weird electronic beat, before Draiman's singing begins at a slow pace, before exploding into action with a guitar riff, and his customary animalistic noises make a very cool song. This song breaks from the loud metal sound of most of the album, and has an amazing riff that I love, making it one of the album's best tracks. It's about someone playing a sick "game" which involves people dying, and the person feeling no guilt. ("Tell me exactly what am I supposed to do? Now that I have allowed you to beat me. Do you think that we could play another game? Maybe I can win this time.")
"Stupify" is another amazing song, and begins with a sort of slow, loud guitar tune accompanying Draiman's rap-style intro to the song, which seems to be about needing drugs, or maybe about insanity. It's not as heavy as some other songs, but it doex feature some great vocals, and a fair amount of weird noises. ("Why do you like playing around with my scope of reality? I can feel it all start slipping away.") The end of the track leads into track four.
The title-track (almost), "Down With the Sickness" used to be my favourite off the album, and starts with an amazing drum beat which leads to very ape-like sounds from Draiman. The song is quite slow but heavy and loud, and is about bringing down the sickness (obviously). ("I can see inside you, the sickness is rising. Don't try to deny it...")
Track five, "Violent Fetish", begins rather spookily, and is another of the album's best tracks. It's about getting off on violence, and Draiman's melodic singing sounds great all through the song, with the occasional angry shouting. ("How can you sleep when you look at your lies? Up from your mouth, out of your mind.")
"Fear" starts off a bit dodgily, with a horror movie-style keyboard bit, and when the tune starts it's still freakish, with Draiman's vocals distorted. The main song is quite good, but from here on the album is not as good as before. The song is about being a reject, and fearing oppression and taunting from those supposedly "higher" than you. ("can you feel it, when I'm stampin', on your forehead, so you can never forget ,that you're a reject?")
"Numb" (track seven) is quite good, and is a refreshing change of pace as it is slow, and starts off very sombre and melodic. The song is about not being able to feel anything, as someone has been left in some form of comatose or paralysed state due to the actions of someone else. The sad, slow tune seems to reflect upon an isolated mind left to itself, calm and alone. ("There have been several complications that have left me feeling nothing. I might say you were wrong to take it from me. Left me feeling nothing.")
"Want" begins very slowly, until "SHE WANTS ME" blurts out of the stereo, which still scares the sh** out of me today. It's so sudden and abrupt, and the song isn't much good. Once it begins it's quite good, but it continues quite poorly throughout the song without any good riffs or beats. I think the song is about somebody wandering about in pain, hunger and loneliness, without being helped by anyone. ("Wandering now, hungering now... wavering now, weakening now...")
"Conflict" begins promisingly with a very good, native/Soulfly style drumming, and the guitar is good too, but I hate the vocals. It's basically about being an enemy, and the vocals sound like some eighties electronic thing, although the choris is good. It's not one of the album's highlights. ("Your people. Enemy. My peoples' hated enemy. What are you? Enemy. The one created enemy.")
"Shout 2000" is a cover of an old song by... I've forgotten who, but I saw it on "Never Mind the Buzzcocks" a few months ago. Please notify me (by comment preferably) if you know who originally performed this song. It sounds a lot better with the Disturbed touch, but isn't as good as a lot of the album. However, I didn't realise it was a cover until I heard the original. It's about stating the things you don't like, and how your life would be better without them. ("These are the things I can do without. Come on. I'm a-talking to you. Come on.")
Track eleven begins after a build-up, although Draiman's quiet shout after isn't as scare-the-shit-out-of-me as track five, and seems to be the album's comedy song. It is about dropping plates (more specifically, dropping plates on peoples' asses). It sounds good, although I can't really take it seriously with lyrics such as "plates on your ass b*itch, plates on your ass" and "another goddamn slap in the face." Good song though.
The last song begins rather dodgily with electronic sound, but the guitar riff that begins is cool, and the song itself isn't bad, except for that damn annoying backing sound. It's not any relation to the other one million songs called "the Meaning of Life" by virtually every band on the planet, and it's not anywhere near as good as the Offspring's "Meaning of Life", although it does feature Draiman whispering, which sounds cool. ("Get pyscho. I wanna get psycho... It's not enough to have a piece i want the whole damn thing. Give in, give in, decide.")
Overall, a cool album, but it would have been better if all tracks were as good as the first four. From that point forwards they begin to deteriorate, although the band does have potential, and I look forward to seeing their next release. I hope there are less attempts there to be varied, and more attempts to sound damn cool. Although I love the album's cover artwork, and Draiman's cool image- skinhead with lip spikes. He's also a very polite, well-educated man, which may belie his scary appearance, and he has noted that he prefers performing on stage to making love, stating in Kerrang! magazine that "sex doesn't hold a candle to performing."
With a frontman who takes his work this seriously, we can expect to hear a lot more from Disturbed in the future.
Advantages: Some damn amazing songs, Quite a fair few tracks, Great cover art
Disadvantages: Most songs are a bit dodgy, Cover song isn't good (always a bad thing)
Redemption
***
Written on 27.06.08
Formed by departed members of Malevolent Creation, Divine Empire is a death metal band intent on taking the genre to its extremes as well as back to the basics. In these comparatively short musical outbursts, emphasis is placed on speed, aggression and power, with a strong thrash undercurrent keeping it viable for old-school death metal fans.
The speed and intensity are comparable to brutal death metal, especially with Derek Roddy's pummelling drums, but the music occasionally slows down to avoid such direct categorisation, most evident in the more drawn-out style of 'Witness to Terror' and 'Induced Expulsion.' 'Pray for Deliverance' is the longest song at over five minutes, and feels comparatively epic next to the others, but none of the songs try to hammer home a point. It's all about simplistic enjoyment, from heavy sections to damn cool guitar solos, taking the best of the genre without adding anything of its own.
1. The Awakening (Intro)
2. Hidden Hatred
3. Out for Blood
4. Witness to Terror
5. Redemption
6. Silent Carnage
7. Induced Expulsion
8. Born of Sin
9. Criminal Instinct
10. Draped in Black
11. Pray for Deliverance
Where Lovers Mourn
****
Written on 27.06.08
Draconian's debut is a strong doom metal release from a band that likely gained such a high profile due to the presence of a female singer. Fortunately, Lisa Johansson is more than a gimmick to pullin the crowds, her vocal performance being one of the best I've heard from a female metal vocalist, pitted nicely against the darker sung and growled vocals of Anders Jacobsson in a roughly even partnership.
This album still retains enough of a death metal foundation to appeal to fans of death-doom bands such as My Dying Bride and (early) Katatonia, while taking the best elements from the lighter gothic metal genre, without being sucked into its mundanity. The guitars are slow, booming and memorable, and although they lack the timeless riffs of My Dying Bride and Anathema, they still paint a perfect melancholy scene that the occasional violin or acoustic section enhances. Twelve-minute opener 'The Cry of Silence' is a bold opening move, the longest by far at twelve minutes, but with its increased energy in the second half it never becomes dull.
1. The Cry of Silence
2. Silent Winter
3. A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal
4. The Solitude
5. Reversio Ad Secessum
6. The Amaranth
7. Akherousia
8. It Grieves My Heart
Arcane Rain Fell
****
Written on 27.06.08
Draconian's second album is a modern classic of doom metal, surprisingly heading into even darker territory than its predecessor, and becoming more or less a slowed-down death metal album. Taking obvious influence from My Dying Bride and Mourning Beloveth, this is death-doom metal of the finest variety, lacking a little in memorable melodies but creating an excellent mournful atmosphere. The only slightly jarring element is the persistent narrative that interrupts the flow, mostly towards the beginning or end of songs, narrating a Paradise Lost-style angel's lament.
Most of the songs follow a similar style, and this time the balance is disrupted to favour the growls and speech of Anders Jacobsson over Lisa Johansson, the latter often being used merely as a lighter supplement but occasionally being offered pride of place, as is the case in the more melodic 'Heaven Laid in Tears.' As an album of slow, drawn-out, emotive compositions, there isn't a great deal for variety, but the band still pulls it off with a faster section in the middle of 'The Apostasy Canticle' and the ultimate face-off, the fifteen-minute finale 'Death, Come Near Me.'
1. A Scenery of Loss
2. Daylight Misery
3. The Apostasy Canticle
4. Expostulation
5. Heaven Laid in Tears (Angel's Lament)
6. The Abhorrent Rays
7. The Everlasting Scar
8. Death, Come Near Me
Valley of the Damned
****
Written on 27.06.08
The debut release of Dragonforce was one of the more impressive power metal releases of 2003, and one that still stands strong in the power metal world despite the band's later deterioration. These eight songs (the first track is a worthless intro) are full-pelt power metal performances from talented performers, playing as fast, as high-pitched and for as long as the band desires, with seeming disregard for the patience threshold of listeners. Bizarrely, the album's most self-indulgent moments tend to be my favourites, such as the unprecedented freestyle jazzy break in the middle of the otherwise straightforward speed metal track 'Disciples of Babylon.'
The band's style takes influences from international power metal, most notably the early German speed metal bands such as Helloween and Gamma Ray, and squeaky Japanese heavy metal. ZP Theart's vocals are almost entirely rooted in a eunuch wail, and although the pounding drums and shredding guitars can become repetitive, there are enough fun solos from Herman Li to keep things entertaining. 'Valley of the Damned' is based around a strong riff with extensive solos later on, and 'Starfire' is the token slow song - though better than their later attempts - but my favourite has always been 'Black Fire,' seemingly the only song edited to perfection without any extraneous solos. This isn't one of my all-time favourite power/speed metal releases, but it's a damn fine example.
1. Invocation of Apocalyptic Evil
2. Valley of the Damned
3. Black Fire
4. Black Winter Night
5. Starfire
6. Disciples of Babylon
7. Revelations
8. Evening Star
9. Heart of a Dragon
Inhuman Rampage
***
Written on 28.06.08
The third album from Dragonforce somehow launched them into the mainstream, and I still don't understand why, especially in comparison to the many superior bands who've been playing similar music to better effect over the last twenty years. But I suppose these ones are from the UK rather than some obscure European country like Germany, and tap into that whole 16-bit arcade game soundtrack nostalgia vibe with the overdone keyboards. Like many metal fans, I resented Dragonforce for a while merely due to their unreasonable popularity compared to other hard-working bands I'd come to love, but a few years on, I'm in a position to review this album more accurately. It's alright.
Dragonforce's biggest selling point is their ridiculous speed, and this is turned up a notch further in this album, best displayed in the popular opening song 'Through the Fire and Flames.' Whether the drums, guitars and keyboards are indeed sped up digitally, as has been suggested, I find many points in this song and throughout this album to be distractingly fast, clearly racing along just for the sake of showing off, and the standard speed melodies overlaid are generally nothing special in themselves. As with the last album, there's an incredibly repetitive quality throughout, which is the band's biggest drawback. 'Revolution Deathsquad' and 'Storming the Burning Fields' sound exactly like songs the band has released previously, only slightly less memorable this time, and the compulsory ballad 'Trail of Broken Hearts' is probably the weakest song they've ever released.
Considering the mainstream popularity of this album, it's surprising that Dragonforce still haven't employed more precise editing of their material, and although the songs don't run to ridiculous lengths as badly as they did on 'Sonic Firestorm,' the intense speed and repetition means that most of them burn out around the half-way point. There are identifiable moments in every song where a natural end-point is reached and the band goes into overtime with unnecessary solos, making this album twice as long as it should be. But even if there were eight additional tracks, they'd still inevitably sound exactly the same, making little difference in the long run. I'm interested to see where the band heads next; hopefully to more creative climes.
1. Through the Fire and Flames
2. Revolution Deathsquad
3. Storming the Burning Fields
4. Operation Ground and Pound
5. Body Breakdown
6. Cry for Eternity
7. The Flame of Youth
8. Trail of Broken Hearts
The Battle of the Ivory Plains
****
Written on 28.06.08
Dragonland isn't just another power metal band obsessed with dragons and fantasy stories, fast guitars, high-pitched vocals and too many keyboards. In fact, they are by far the most definitive example of just that - even more so than Rhapsody, who crafted an entire world and mythology for their lyrics. Dragonland would go on to much better things, but even from the onset, they're a highly enjoyable and talented power metal band, though one that will doubtless scare away the lactose intolerant, as it's among the cheesiest things I own (and that's really saying something).
The songs mainly vary between rip-roaring speed metal anthems in the style of Dragonforce and slower, darker and more atmospheric offerings, with special attention given to Elias Holmlid's orchestral compositions. Holmlid is much more than the average metal keyboard player, bringing a genuinely filmic flair to the proceedings, but still finds plenty of time for the usual power metal faux-harpsichord theatrics, ala Stratovarius. There's also a power metal interpretation of Mozart in track eight, which is always fun.
1. Dragondawn
2. Storming Across Heaven
3. A Last Farewell
4. Ride for Glory
5. The Orcish March
6. The Battle of the Ivory Plains
7. Graveheart
8. Rondo a'la Turca
9. A Secret Unveiled
10. World's End
11. Dragondusk
Advantages: High quality power metal with great keyboards.
Disadvantages: Cheesy as hell, and largely derivative.
Starfall
****
Written on 28.06.08
Dragonland's distinctive sound begins to define itself on their third album, which ditches the intro and outro tracks and instead hands an entire portion of the album over to keyboard player Elias Holmlid's orchestral soundtrack compositions, a trend that would increase on the next album, the classic 'Astronomy.' The music is now more progressive, no longer instantly comparable to other power metal bands, but at the same time the band seems to possess relatively few original ideas at this point. Although each song is a high quality performance in its own right, they tend to sound the same, without the contrived fast/slow divisions of past works.
'As Madness Took Me' is a great opener, taking its time to produce memorable guitar riffs rather than merely speeding out repetitive melodies at high speed, and the chorus is surprisingly commercial and almost pop in its approach; then again, when you're wading knee-deep through cheese by even picking up this album, a little extra isn't going to hurt, and is actually very enjoyable. The same goes for the distinctly 1980s keyboards of the title song, which I would usually hate, but once again consider acceptable here. 'The Book of Shadows' is an intriguing composition, but a little too derivative of film soundtracks to provide a truly gripping finale.
1. As Madness Took Me
2. Starfall
3. Calling My Name
4. In Perfect Harmony
5. The Dreamseeker
6. The Shores of Our Land
7. The Returning
8. To the End of the World
9. The Book of Shadows Part I: A Story Yet Untold
10. The Book of Shadows Part II: The Curse of Qa'a
11. The Book of Shadows Part III: The Glendora Outbreak
Advantages: Successful experimentation.
Disadvantages: Lacks diversity.
Astronomy
*****
Written on 28.06.08
Dragonland's most recent release ranks among my favourite power metal albums, and represents the completion of Dragonland's shaky journey from uninspired power metal band with an over-enthusiastic keyboardist to a progressive metal force to be reckoned with. The space themes are a departure from earlier, fantasy-themed works, and serve to align this lyrically and musically with other prog-power bands such as Ayreon and Threshold, with elements of Symphony X slipping in to provide a much heavier sound.
The uplifting 'Supernova' and classically-influenced 'Beethoven's Nightmare' are two of my favourite power metal works, and every song here has characteristics to make it stand out from the rest. Whether it's the appropriation of Beethoven melodies for 'Beethoven's Nightmare,' the guest growled vocals of Nightrage's Jimmie Strummell on the faster 'Antimatter' or the female singing on assorted songs, this album is progressive without showing off, and only gets a little ahead of itself when keyboardist Elias Holmlid is granted four songs to display his skills as a film soundtrack writer.
'The Old House on the Hill' and 'The Book of Shadows' are competent and engaging for the most part, but stand out a little too much and detract from the overall atmosphere, as an essentially different band fills in for a third of the album.
1. Supernova
2. Cassiopeia
3. Contact
4. Astronomy
5. Antimatter
6. The Book of Shadows Part IV: The Scrolls of Geometria Divina
7. Beethoven's Nightmare
8. Too Late for Sorrow
9. Direction: Perfection
10. The Old House on the Hill Chapter I: A Death in the Family
11. The Old House on the Hill Chapter II: The Thing in the Cellar
12. The Old House on the Hill Chapter III: The Ring of Edward Waldon
Rapture
**
Written on 28.06.08
Despite the associations of its name, Dragonlord is not another power metal band. In fact, this is the disappointing side project of Testament guitarist Eric Peterson, who forsakes his thrash/death metal roots and opts to play symphonic black metal in the style of Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth, the two most loathed bands in the black metal scene, whose style can barely be classed as black metal at all. From its inception, this project was a bad idea.
This would be a reasonable album if it had any ideas of its own, as I enjoy a lot of symphonic black metal, but all of the slow riffs, ambient keyboards and growling vocals sound like Dimmu Borgir Lite. Getting a bunch of thrash musicians to paint their faces black and white and pose in awkward embarrassment for photographs isn't enough to create a successful black metal band, and for the most part this is bland and devoid of energy or even atmosphere.
1. Vals De La Muerte
2. Unholyvoid
3. Tradition and Fire
4. Born to Darkness
5. Judgment Failed
6. Wolfhunt
7. Spirits in the Mist
8. Rapture
Advantages: Fair forgery of the symphonic black metal style.
Disadvantages: No original ideas, and dull execution.
Black Wings of Destiny
***
Written on 28.06.08
'Black Wings of Destiny' (what's that, some kind of nonsensical Judas Priest reference?) is an improvement over 'Rapture,' but still fails to hide its status as a sub-par Dimmu Borgir copy-cat. Eric Peterson's vocals are now a little more varied, alternately sounding like a cackling crow and screeching swine, and his guitar work is more impressive to the point that decent riffs are carried forward, though always relegated to the background behind the dull atmospheric keyboards.
The pace is predominantly slow, and although the keyboard work is less than impressive, the album still manages to conjure a reasonable atmosphere of gloom, though lacking the frosty horror of Norwegian black metal. The high production values aid this effect, but it's still disappointing to hear the songs using the same gimmick of switching back and forth between fast, fierce sections and slow atmospheric interludes. The closing covers are acceptable, if unimaginative, the Mercyful Fate one at least containing some cool guitar solos.
1. The Becoming Of
2. The Curse of Woe
3. Revelations
4. Sins of Allegiance
5. Until the End
6. Mark of Damnation
7. Blood Voyeur
8. Fallen
9. Black Funeral (Mercyful Fate cover)
10. Emerald (Thin Lizzy cover)
Evilized
**
Written on 28.06.08
Dream Evil's second album is a great disappointment, remaining as cheesy and throwback as their debut (perhaps even more so) but failing to live up to its energy and simple enjoyment. Every song here just seems to plod on lifelessly, Gus G's guitars rarely producing a memorable riff or melody, and Niklas Isfeldt's high vocals become genuinely irritating as they remain in the same pitch throughout, especially in songs like 'Fight Till the End.'
Only a couple of songs manage to break through the mediocrity into a more acceptable plane of humdrumness, 'Bad Dreams' likely being the best song for its darker and more memorable riff, but again spoiled by the repetitive vocal performance. The heavy metal celebration 'Made of Metal' sees the band turning into self-parody (a transformation that would be brought to fruition on the following album), having all the silliness of their earlier 'Heavy Metal Jesus' but without being anywhere near as kick-ass. The less said about the terrible power ballads 'Forevermore' and 'The End,' the better.
1. Break the Chains
2. By My Side
3. Fight You Till the End
4. Evilized
5. Invisible
6. Bad Dreams
7. Forevermore
8. Children of the Night
9. Live a Lie
10. Fear the Night
11. Made of Metal
12. The End
The Book of Heavy Metal
***
Written on 28.06.08
Swedish throwback metal band Dream Evil gets its mojo back for their third full-length release, even if it ends up being one of the downright silliest metal releases of the decade, this side of Manowar. Dominated by the popular title track that opens with a scream of "metaaaaaaaal" and plunges into a tasteless but ever so enjoyable headbanging riff, this album is a celebration of metal that doesn't accomplish anything new, but puts similar efforts by their contemporaries such as Primal Fear to shame.
This is a damn fun album, but like its predecessor it tends towards similarity, with very few stand-out songs. 'Crusader's Anthem' is an effective slow song in the symphonic vein of Kamelot and 'Unbreakable Chain' is a near-ballad that avoids being anywhere near as terrible as the band's earlier love songs, but outside of its title track there's very little this album will be remembered for in the annals of metal, making its rather pompous title seem all the more egotistical.
1. Enemy
2. Into the Moonlight
3. Chapter 6
4. No Way
5. Crusader's Anthem
6. The Book of Heavy Metal (March of the Metallians)
7. The Sledge
8. Tired
9. Unbreakable Chain
10. M.O.M.
11. The Mirror
12. Only for the Night
Advantages: A couple of great metal anthems in the classic style.
Disadvantages: Lots of filler.
Images and Words
Love is the Dance of Eternity
*****
Written on 28.08.04
The sophisticated and enchanting music of New York’s Dream Theater hangs on the precipice of my patience when it comes to music meeting art: the band’s self-styled progressive metal sound has been in constant evolution since this 1992 debut, but for all the bombastic overblown intricacies and contrasting simplicity of some of their later albums, ‘Images and Words’ remains their most popular and enjoyable offering, with the perfect balance of song styles acting as an excellent introduction to a very interesting and worthwhile band.
STYLE
Dream Theater was:
James LaBrie – vocals
John Petrucci – guitars
John Myung – bass
Mike Portnoy – drums
Kevin Moore – keyboards
Dream Theater’s influences from progressive rock bands of the seventies and eighties are equalled by their obvious inspiration from more traditional metal bands and classical composers, although in many ways this album sounds like a more refined sequel to Queensryche’s 1988 classic ‘Operation: Mindcrime.’ James LaBrie’s operatically-trained vocals may take some to get used to, but his high notes suit the excellently crafted music perfectly and express all the emotions necessary in the softer songs. He is a talented and exceptional vocalist who really adds to the experience, and has sadly departed the band since.
The music is difficult to describe or relate, but this is essentially quite complex and layered music following traditional structures. Each song contains verses, rousing choruses and instrumental sections that won’t alienate any casual listeners, but some of the deeper, experimental tracks may do just that. There is still plenty of guitar noodling and riffing for those who like their heavy metal more straight. At first I found the use of horn sections and orchestration a little distracting, but now these only add to the musical experience of the album.
TRACKS
1. Pull Me Under
2. Another Day
3. Take the Time
4. Surrounded
5. Metropolis part 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper
6. Under a Glass Moon
7. Wait for Sleep
8. Learning to Live
The eight tracks listed on this album indicate its progressive nature quite well; they certainly like to indulge in lengthier offerings, but some tracks have been kept at ‘radio length’ for more easy listening. Some songs are more memorable than others, but this is an album that can only really become familiar after a large number of listens. None of the songs are particularly fast, and there is a general relaxed and melancholy feel to the whole thing.
PULL ME UNDER is a strong opener, although I find the chorus a little repetitive. There is nothing too grand about this track to alienate listeners, and it features some excellent guitar parts. TAKE THE TIME follows a similar style but is more lengthy and keyboard-based, but both of these tracks could easily be contenders for metal anthem collections.
The other accessible songs on the album are those based on acoustics, in the form of ANOTHER DAY and SURROUNDED. Occurring in the first half of the album before it becomes more involving and technical, these are both tracks that can be enjoyed by a wide variety of rock fans: Another Day’s high vocals are enchanting, while the funky drum and keyboard sections of Surrounded make it, surprisingly, one of the highlights for me. There is certainly no filler on this album, and LaBrie’s vocals are at their very best here.
The full, grandiose title of METROPOLIS PART 1 makes it an obvious contender for prog epic of the album, and once it has been listened to sufficiently it can be appreciated as something of a musical masterpiece. Not a song to listen to on any occasion though, although the record company refused the band permission to make it an instrumental for fear of alienating even more listeners. This is basically Dream Theater Plus, utilising every song style, instrument and innovation of the album and recreating it as an exhausting but satisfying nine minute song with a great chorus and some fantastic guitars and keyboards throughout. Maybe one of my favourites, but it’s quite hard to say.
UNDER A GLASS MOON and WAIT FOR SLEEP are less impressive after the fun and complex songs but are still valid tracks, even if they do sound less original. There is a great guitar solo on Glass Moon, but aside from that the vocals and riffs sound similar to what’s come before. Wait for Sleep is another good ballad song, with great piano work, but again isn’t up to the standard of the more emotional tracks two and four, not that this really matters. This is also essentially a short filler before the final epic track, LEARNING TO LIVE. Very long, very complex and very enjoyable, this nevertheless feels a little similar to Metropolis, and is overshadowed by the band’s later epic to end all epics, ‘A Change of Seasons.’
VERDICT
Not a band for everyone, but Images and Words provide a melodic and engrossing listen that can be enjoyed many times. The band’s later albums all follow slightly different styles and have been quite disappointing in recent years, but Images and Words has an excellent early nineties rock sound with some impressive ballads to boot. Some fans see the production quality of this album as a little disappointing, but I love the way the instruments and vocals sound on here; this is a modern rock classic. The lyrics are all meaningful and often a little strange, which is nice.
Dream Theater are pretty unique, but the progressive metal genre that they spearheaded has produced some equally interesting bands. New Jersey’s Symphony X have a heavier and more classically influenced sound, while pretty much every European power metal band shows traces of ‘Theatre and Queensryche. Fans of earlier progressive rock won’t necessarily like Dream Theater, but Yes fans might as well give it a try.
Advantages: Complex and melodic, Some more accessible tracks, Longer epics and shorter ballads and anthems
Disadvantages: Not too diverse, Not for every mood or taste
Awake
Six O'clock on a Christmas Mornin'...
****
Written on 10.01.06
With 'Awake,' Dream Theater faced accusations by fans of commercialising their sound. Selling out by crafting an often brutally heavy and musically complex collection of mostly long songs? Whoever said progressive metal was simple.
Awake isn't one of my favourite Dream Theater albums, but is certainly the peak of the period between 1992's 'Images and Words' and 1999's 'Scenes from a Memory,' the former a landmark release that paved the way for popular prog. metal bands such as Tool and the latter a perfect culmination of a decade's work. Perhaps Awake is looked down upon for its lack of an over-arching concept; the first track, '6:00,' with its introductory-sounding title and use of sampled voices suggests some kind of storyline, but what we get are eleven distinct and complimentary songs dealing with themes such as anger, estrangement and alcoholism (again).
In terms of length, Awake is immediate value for money, coming in as close to 80 minutes as possible with the bonus track, not to mention the fact that this CD has been in sales on Amazon.co.uk and Play.com on and off over the years for around £6.99.
Dream Theater count their influences among both progressive rock, especially Rush, and metal bands of the 80s such as Metallica and Iron Maiden, both of whom they have paid special tribute to in recent years by performing some of the bands' most acclaimed albums in full at their live shows. The music here is no 'less prog' than before, but the variety of songs and tendency to cut songs off once they are established, rather than extending them with instrumental sections, makes this potentially more accessible. But the anger here is clear: some of the tracks are surprisingly headache-inducing in their brutality, like a version of Slipknot or Korn who can actually play music. Sorry, couldn't help myself. 'Lie' and 'Scarred' give Metallica's most thrashy period a run for its money, while songs like 'Caught in a Web' combine this raw energy with more delicate keyboard and high guitar sections to reaffirm the band's progressive heart.
The only truly 'stripped-down' song on here is the light acoustic number 'The Silent Man,' quite REM-like but still fitting for the album. Other melancholy pieces are spiced up with high electric guitar, most notable in the excellent 'Innocence Faded,' or, in the case of 'Space-Dye Vest,' distorted so much through samples and keyboard effects that it's difficult to concentrate on anything other than floating out of the room. 'Erotomania' isn't an entirely successful instrumental, relying a little too much on Medieval sounding keyboards (oxymoron noted) that sound out of place on this collection, and James LaBrie's angry vocals sound a little strained and unpleasant in contrast to his usual softer vocal style.
Progressive metal isn't something for everyone, realistically finding its fan base only in fans of both seventies prog rock and more contemporary metal, but Dream Theater are clearly the pioneers and leaders of the increasingly expanding genre. Dream Theater's sound is unique and very distinctive, unlike some of their contemporaries; as interesting and bizarre as Ayreon (Arjen Lucassen)'s 'space operas' are, they can't shake off the very obvious 'Dark Side of the Moon' and 'War of the Worlds' influence. Dream Theater's only evident debt to bands such as Pink Floyd are their reliance on sampled dialogue, usually with a dubious political bent (their later song 'The Great Debate' is a ten minute song about stem cell research that divides speakers with left and right wing opinions to the relevant side of the speakers - now that's prog!)
Maybe Awake would be an easy place to start for fans of contemporary metal, although I was put off at first, despite already owning music from bands who count Dream Theater among their influences. 'Images and Words' remains my favourite album, based on a more melodic sound overall and remaining memorable throughout unlike Awake, which sounds a little rushed and unoriginal in places. Many songs on here became immediate and long-lasting crowd favourites, and it's important that Dream Theater cater for all occasions. When I want to lose myself in an intricate and arguably over-the-top prog landscape I'll play 'Scenes from a Memory,' but when I'm in the mood for screaming, weeping guitars, nothing betters 'Innocence Faded.'
Dream Theater have produced some exceptional albums and some quite poor efforts that hold very little of interest, but fortunately 1994's Awake is closer to the high end of the spectrum. The order of songs is sometimes a little dubious, and whether the varying styles is a good or bad thing is down to each listener's taste, but this was nevertheless an important release for 90s metal after the decline of grunge. Even if American bands can't spell their names properly.
A Change of Seasons
***
Written on 29.06.08
Viewed as Dream Theater's gift to their fans, this unbalanced E.P. consists of one lengthy Dream Theater song in the form of the title track, bulked out by live covers of famous songs from other bands that presumably had some influence on this progressive metal act. The covers weren't the best decision to pad this release out, but as long as they're viewed (quite rightly) as bonus tracks rather than a second half to the E.P., they shouldn't be allowed to detract from its otherwise high quality.
'A Change of Seasons' is a truly excellent Dream Theater song, one of the band's best and a fine example of a long song done properly, moving through distinct movements without deviating too far from its core sound. A comparison would be Symphpony X's similarly lengthy epic 'The Divine Wings of Tragedy,' as opposed to their later 'The Odyssey' which sounds more like eight separate songs cobbled together. Dream Theater's epic catches them at their most thoughtful and eloquent, perhaps a little alienating in its length but lacking the self-indulgence of their later releases.
The cover songs are all adequate, but nothing more. They're performed live at least, which is something of an excuse, and the crowd seems to be into it despite having attended a Dream Theater show, but the songs are already so well-known that these covers can't help but sound like pale imitations, however much they're clearly performed in the spirit of fun. There's no distinction in quality, as they're all performed fairly straight through Dream Theater's style: your preferred tracks will merely coincide with your appreciation of the originals.
1. A Change of Seasons
... a) The Crimson Sunrise
... b) Innocence
... c) Carpe Diem
... d) The Darkest of Winters
... e) The Inevitable Summer
... f) The Crimson Sunset
2. Elton John medley
... a) Funeral for a Friend
... b) Love Lies Bleeding
3. Perfect Strangers (Deep Purple cover)
4. Led Zeppelin medley
... a) The Rover
... b) Achilles' Last Stand
... c) The Song Remains the Same
5. The Big Medley
... a) In the Flesh? (Pink Floyd cover)
... b) Carry On Wayward Son (Kansas cover)
... c) Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen cover)
... d) Lovin, Touchin, Squeezin (Journey cover)
... e) Cruise Control (Dixie Dregs cover)
... f) Turn It On Again (Genesis cover)
Falling into Infinity
****
Written on 29.06.08
A disappointingly humdrum offering after the magnificent 'Awake' and prior to the over-zealous 'Scenes from a Memory,' Dream Theater's fourth album 'Falling Into Infinity' is easily overlooked and subjected to a mixture of accurate and exaggerated criticism. It's certainly the band's weakest album up to this point, largely due to pressures from the record label to produce something more accessible to a mainstream audience, but even the few tracks that are permitted to push the envelope end up disappointing compared to the band's usual standards.
Taken as a deliberate attempt at something more mainstream, akin to Metallica's self-titled album, this is an enjoyable enough release, and one I actually prefer to most of the albums the band released hereafter. Songs such as 'New Millennium' and the angry 'Burning My Soul' are enjoyable on a simplistic level that avoids the band's typical over-indulgence, and other such as 'Peruvian Skies' and the instrumental 'Hell's Kitchen' stand up to the band's more progressive material, though 'Lines in the Sand' and 'Trial of Tears' are unnecessarily long.
The mainstream angle sadly brings with it a few major drawbacks, most evident in the almost pop chorus of 'You Not Me' and the dull ballads 'Hollow Years' and 'Take Away My Pain,' but there are still enough high quality songs here to make this a decent, if forgettable offering from Dream Theater.
1. New Millennium
2. You Not Me
3. Peruvian Skies
4. Hollow Years
5. Burning My Soul
6. Hell's Kitchen
7. Lines in the Sand
8. Take Away My Pain
9. Just Let Me Breathe
10. Anna Lee
11. Trial of Tears
Once in a LIVEtime
Under Parisian Skies
*****
Written on 21.01.06
Dream Theater's first official live album 'Live at the Marquee,' released in 1993, presented New York's pioneers of progressive metal at the start of their consistently successful career, but five years and a number of albums, EPs and record label changes later, 'Once in a Livetime' presented a more contemporary overview of the band, catching them right before they moved into seriously ambitious territory with 1999's epic concept album 'Metropolis part 2: Scenes from a Memory.'
Perhaps at a cost to the overall quality, Once in a Livetime catches Dream Theater on the start of an upward climb: primarily promoting a studio album that was only moderately well received, and following turbulent relations with Time Warner records and a relatively new keyboard player to introduce to the fans.
Derek Sherinian had already demonstrated his skills on Dream Theater's epic suite 'A Change of Seasons,' viewed by many as a gift to the band's fans, but was required to be more restrained on the follow-up studio album 'Falling into Infinity.' Despite including some impressive lengthy and intricate songs, the band were essentially told to release something with more mass appeal than their ambitious prog-rock-influenced albums of the past and the result was a good, but fairly mediocre collection of mostly forgettable radio friendly rock songs.
Once in a Livetime has no such enforced boundaries, and the band don't devote an enormous amount of time to publicising their most recent release. As such, this double live album benefits from a more comprehensive view of the band's 90s work, with focus shifting from slow, melodic ballads to heavy thrash influences and extended jams and solos, all performed for the pleasure of the audience at Le Bataclan, Paris.
Once in a Livetime - CD 1
1. A Change of Seasons I: The Crimson Sunrise
2. A Change of Seasons II: Innocence
3. Puppies on Acid
4. Just Let Me Breathe
5. Voices
6. Take the Time
7. Derek Sherinian Piano Solo
8. Lines in the Sand
9. Scarred
10. A Change of Seasons IV: The Darkest of Winters
11. Ytse Jam
12. Mike Portnoy Drum Solo
To generalise (a little inaccurately), the first hour of the concert makes for a 'heavier' disc to contrast with the largely softer second side, as the band try to get the fans moving and rocking along before having some nice relaxation. There's no sense of a warm-up here: the CD fades in with the ethereal opening of 'A Change of Seasons,' the band's brilliant 25-minute piece which is split into its respective movements and used to bookend and divide the show, something that works quite well.
After this prog overload come the heavy, recent songs 'Puppies on Acid' and 'Just Let Me Breathe,' both seeing the band performing at full-pelt and demonstrating their hard edge, before slowing down for 'Voices' and beginning a more reflective and experimental stage of the show that spans the rest of the album.
This 'descent' (as some may call it) is a little indulgent, and could certainly serve to put off newcomers, but the fantastic long progressive songs 'Lines in the Sand' and 'Take the Time,' as well as the crushingly heavy 'Scarred,' each from a different studio album, serve as a reminder of Dream Theater's originality and deserved success, even if the alternating vocals and rawer take on 'Take the Time' make it a little uncomfortable to listen to.
The CD player's eject button allows casual fans to spare themselves the dull 'Ytse Jam,' the only track here from the band's largely unimpressive debut album, and, more importantly, Mike Portnoy's tedious drum solo that follows and just doesn't stop. It's nice that the band include something for drummers, and no one else (well, maybe people who don't play drums but still enjoy drum solos. no, that's a bit far-fetched isn't it?), but at 8 minutes it really could have been replaced with one of the band's classic songs that didn't make it onto this collection. The earlier piano solo doesn't suffer for this, being more melodic and musical for a start and also acting as a nice intro to 'Lines in the Sand.' Fading to silence after a drum solo is a little anticlimactic and annoying.
Once in a Livetime - CD 2
1. Trial of Tears
2. Hollow Years
3. Take Away My Pain
4. Caught in a Web
5. Lie
6. Peruvian Skies
7. John Petrucci Guitar Solo
8. Pull Me Under
9. Metropolis part 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper
10. Learning to Live
11. A Change of Seasons VII: The Crimson Sunset
I listen to the second disc more often than the first, perhaps because the pleasant sound of many of the songs makes it more inviting. Dream Theater have produced many great heavy and thrashy songs, most notably on 1996's 'Awake' album (from which most of the tracks on this live release hail), but they've always been most in their element when creating something softer and more reflective. The first three songs could almost be classed as ballads, particularly the soft, saxophone-aided offering 'Take Away My Pain' lamenting the death of vocalist James LaBrie's father, and they represent the best three tracks from the Falling into Infinity album. 'Hollow Years' was that album's single, and its commercial nature is evident but doesn't affect the song, and 'Trial of Tears' is the band's most atmospheric offering yet, a precursor in style to their highly successful album the following year.
Another reason for my preference of the second disc is the band's relaxed attitude to their material. Okay, disc one had a drum solo. but it was a drum solo! That doesn't count. There was a brief jam session towards the end of 'Take the Time,' but that didn't amount to much either. Here, John Petrucci's guitar solo forms a perfect, if overlong build-up to 'Pull Me Under' and the final part of the album, while band members pay instrumental tribute to recognisable favourites: 'Peruvian Skies,' a fairly good but repetitive long song, is turned into a great crowd piece when Petrucci and Sherinian seamlessly incorporate the riffs of Pink Floyd's 'Have a Cigar' and Metallica's 'Enter Sandman,' so perfectly timed that the listener would have to know the original sources to notice anything awry. Similarly, the album opens with a variation of the famous alien ditty from 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' and Petrucci incorporates what sounds rather like a theme from the arcade classic 'PacMan' into his solo.
The central part of the album returns to the heaviness of disc one with 'Caught in a Web,' 'Lie' and 'Peruvian Skies,' all good examples of this side of the band but oddly not as memorable on the live album as in the studio, but this is thankfully saved by the excellent climax, forming an extended medley of songs from the band's most successful (and in my opinion, greatest) album, 1992's 'Images and Words.' The band seems to be aware of this general consensus, closing with the classic songs 'Pull Me Under,' 'Metropolis part 1' and 'Learning to Live.' These songs work brilliantly together, all possessing the ingredients that make Dream Theater so revered, but suffer a little from the unpolished live sound that doesn't suit them as well as the harder tracks.
Once in a Livetime is far from being a perfect live album, but its release provides a great opportunity to hear the band in-between their mid-90s 'song collection' style albums and the more ambitious and lofty work they would undertake immediately after. The lack of classic songs from these follow-up albums doesn't present a problem, as Dream Theater's publicisers have fallen into the habit of releasing a live album every couple of years from this point on. The sound quality also sounds in need of improvement, as the atmospheric keyboards are sometimes rendered mute by the guitars and drums. LaBrie's vocals are also something of an issue, sounding strained at times which may be due to the band's boast on the sleeve notes that their 'Touring into Infinity' tour comprised 116 shows in 20 countries.
The solos are annoying and dull, but should please musicians, who I believe form a large proportion of Dream Theater's loyal fan base. The set list is fairly faultless, bearing in mind the studio releases the band would be aiming to promote, and the use of 'A Change of Seasons' is a bold and clever move. It's also nice to have the songs grouped roughly together in terms of style, as each respective atmosphere and mood created is allowed to run its course, something the band often have trouble with in their studio albums. Another annoying oddity is the use of fade-outs on the second side, presumably omitting pauses in the concert as the band recuperate. There's very little in the way of crowd banter, surfacing only in some instrumental sections and a final farewell from all concerned, which may be due to editing or LaBrie's own choices.
As with A Change of Seasons, Once in a Livetime is an album for the fans. The second disc could be enjoyed casually for around half an hour before its appeal constricted, and the solos and jams throughout try even the patience of established Dream Theater disciples.
A fortunate occurrence in the compulsive release of Dream Theater live albums is the almost entirely different set-lists recorded from each tour. Thus, 2001's 'Live Scenes from New York' album/DVD and 2004's 'Live at Budokan' can be bought without the repetition of 'greatest hits,' a reason to give this seamlessly flowing collection five stars, while those who own Once in a Livetime can also avoid buying the mediocre Falling into Infinity, already owning all of the good songs in this more upbeat and energetic live performance.
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory
The Miracle and the Sleeper
*****
Written on 04.03.06
Dream Theater’s 1992 album Images and Words pioneered the progressive metal genre and remains for many the band’s best work, finding a perfect balance between the band’s influences in prog rock and metal. The album’s most technically impressive song ‘Metropolis part 1’ was finally followed up seven years later with the most ambitious Dream Theater release yet, 1999’s Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory.
Scenes From a Memory is the band’s only concept album, an inevitable release for experimental progressive musicians that became something of a cliché for seventies rock acts. Dream Theater’s influences are extensive, but are most popularly cited as prog and classic rock acts such as Rush and Queen on the one hand; 80s metal bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden on the other. Inspiration is a lot easier to pin down on this impressive and ambitious release, the introspective storyline owing to Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, structural elements and ballads sounding distinctively Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall particularly) and the whole character driven prog metal experience furthering the work of Queensrÿche eleven years earlier with Operation: Mindcrime, the single most important influence here.
Reduced to theatrical-trailer-type synopsis, the album deals with a murder mystery from a character’s past life that is explored and solved through regression hypnosis. Songs and passages alternate between Nicholas’ actions in 1999 and his latent memories and dreams of the city in 1928. Expanding on ‘Metropolis Part 1’ must have proved slightly problematic due to that song’s fairly arbitrary and indecipherable lyrics, which were in fact only added at the last minute due to the record company’s wish to avoid an instrumental track, but the band do an admirable job. There are elements of mystery as the story develops, especially by code-naming the two brothers ‘The Miracle’ and ‘The Sleeper’ respectively, but unlike Genesis’ The Lamb, there isn’t a great deal open to interpretation.
Dream Theater had earlier proved their integrity with their 25-minute epic song ‘A Change of Seasons,’ released specially in 1997, and Scenes From a Memory displays the same ability and effectiveness at crafting an extended musical piece that remains consistent, recognisable and strong. The twelve songs on here can all stand alone outside the context of the album, despite the repeated melodies and musical themes throughout.
Displaying admirable prog pomposity, the 70 minute album is divided dramatically into Acts and Scenes:
Act 1
1. Scene One: Regression (2:06)
2. Scene Two: I. Overture 1928 (3:37)
3. II. Strange Deja Vu (5:13)
4. Scene Three: I. Through My Words (1:02)
5. II. Fatal Tragedy (6:49)
6. Scene Four: Beyond This Life (11:22)
7. Scene Five: Through Her Eyes (5:29)
Act 2
8. Scene Six: Home (12:53)
9. Scene Seven: I. The Dance of Eternity (6:13)
10. II. One Last Time (3:47)
11. Scene Eight: The Spirit Carries On (6:38)
12. Scene Nine: Finally Free (12:00)
Scenes From a Memory may seem like overkill to some Dream Theater fans, but in truth the band’s restraint and sharp focus makes this album far better than it could have been. There are very, very few simple ‘filler’ tracks, as may be found in albums where the storyline takes precedence over the music: even the obligatory opening track, featuring a hypnotic clock ticking and spoken word vocals, soon becomes a pleasant ‘Pigs on the Wing’ style acoustic introduction. The later ‘Through My Words’ is the only song here that couldn’t really stand alone, but works as a great introduction to the next.
In contrast to criticism that this album is ‘too prog,’ it is also often criticised for being ‘too metal.’ The band has alternated between heavier and lighter eras throughout their career, but Scenes From a Memory is perhaps their thrashiest offering. ‘Beyond This Life,’ the most well-known song here, is driven by hard and fast riffs and there are many occasions when the band break into an extensive jam: ‘Fatal Tragedy,’ the strongest and most diverse song on the album, ends with a relentless instrumental section that is a worthy successor to Megadeth’s ‘Hangar 18.’ The bizarre instrumental ‘The Dance of Eternity’ epitomises the slating of this album and as such is a fascinating experience, whatever the listener thinks of it: incorporating all of the musical themes of ‘Metropolis part 1’ on instruments as diverse as a honky-tonk piano synth, you’d have to be a little crazy to consider this fun extravaganza a true work of genius.
As a cohesive work, the music on this album is all roughly similar. There are slow, soft songs and loud, speedy anthems but nothing that breaks the eerie melancholy gloom of the concept. ‘The Spirit Carries On’ stands out somewhat in its optimism, and the band make a final intelligent choice in following up with the shattering ‘Finally Free,’ something of a self-contained third Act (at least that would be the case if this were a film) that turns the limited story on its head. This song combines the best elements of the album that have preceded it and features some acting work to provide easy fodder for critics of the CD (not to mention the opportunity to appropriate the title ‘Finally Free’ as an expression of relief that the album is finally over).
Scenes From a Memory isn’t an easy album to appreciate, but once the listener gets past the oppressive idea of a concept, it should be enjoyed by fans of rock and metal. The album can’t be seen as wholly original, owing debts all over the place, seeming especially like a superior version of Operation: Mindcrime that avoids the cheesy and false ‘suburban cyperpunk’ thing and restrains over-elaborate excess. All of Dream Theater’s albums sound admirably distinct and different from each other, but this is doubtless the band at their most focused and creative, and as such deserves a listen by all fans. This isn’t my personal favourite album, primarily because the lengthy playing time means the similarity in sound and return of riffs become a little grating and outstayed, but there are very few weak songs. Images and Words remains their most original and enjoyable release, but fans of the band’s darker metal side may prefer Awake or Train of Thought. In any case, those put off by Scenes From a Memory should avoid the band’s subsequent release, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, with its pointlessly long running time and failed grandeur.
Dream Theater predictably toured Metropolis Pt. 2 in its entirety after its release, recorded on the Metropolis 2000: Live Scenes From New York DVD which adds a little to the experience through its use of live action, slightly amateurish footage. Thankfully, Scenes From a Memory is an album that can stand alone perfectly well AS an album: many Pink Floyd fans had to watch Alan Parker’s version of The Wall to fully understand and appreciate what Roger Waters had been getting at, but there is little hidden in Dream Theater’s interesting and ultimately optimistic tale of Depression-era fratricide. The thinking person's thrash metal.
Advantages: Excellent songs forming a strong and intelligent album
Disadvantages: Over-reaching concept and extended jam sections may put off casual listeners
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
How Can I Feel Abandoned Even When the World Surrounds Me?
****
Written on 16.08.06
Whether Dream Theater realised it at the time or not, ‘Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence’ would become the start of a new era for the progressive metal band, a turbulent but highly creative period that so far consists of three entirely different sounding albums. This double-disc release remains, perhaps, the strongest of the band’s releases this millennium, but for every plaudit there’s a downside; for every successful experiment, a turkey. That’s prog rock for ya.
1999’s highly ambitious and intricate concept album ‘Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory’ ranks as one of the band’s most acclaimed releases, and was going to be a difficult album to follow. Many artists in similar dilemmas opt to change their style somewhat between releases to avoid repetition: Slayer’s ‘South of Heaven’ was a consciously slower and more technical affair in contrast to their intensely brutal ‘Reign in Blood,’ while Pink Floyd’s sound altered massively in the six years between their two big sellers. Dream Theater’s sound is always driven by progression, but ‘Six Degrees’ is a somewhat confused album, trying to be innovative in places, but attempting to connect with an earlier sound in others. This sound is sometimes the band’s own, but more often leads to imitations of other artists.
The double-disc format is important in understanding the album’s intention. The first disc features five long songs, none lasting for less than six minutes and several in excess of ten. These five songs experiment with a heavier sound that the band introduced almost a decade earlier with ‘Awake,’ but never really followed through until now. The second disc consists of an epic forty-three minute suite, helpfully divided up into eight distinct tracks. This disc aims to satisfy long-time Dream Theater fans, but doesn’t come close to reaching the heights of 1992’s ‘Images and Words,’ still their most popular release.
Having produced a modern masterpiece with ‘Scenes from a Memory,’ and toured and performed the album worldwide in its entirety for over a year, it’s clear that the band was itching to attempt something grand once again. The ‘Six Degrees’ suite is the result, but it’s really nothing to get excited about. The first disc is far more interesting, despite some real low points, and more progressive in the true sense.
Disc One
Degree 1. The Glass Prison
i). Reflection
ii). Restoration
iii). Revelation
Degree 2. Blind Faith
Degree 3. Misunderstood
Degree 4. The Great Debate
Degree 5. Disappear
The incredible ‘The Glass Prison’ is Dream Theater’s heaviest song up to this point, and holds together for its thirteen minute duration. Written by drummer Mike Portnoy, the song in fact represents the first part of a musical saga that’s still continuing, dealing with his struggle with alcoholism. The three movements of the song correspond, lyrically and musically, to the first three steps in Bill Wilson’s Alcoholics Anonymous program. This epic continues in the subsequent albums ‘Train of Thought’ and ‘Octavarium,’ and will reportedly be concluded in the band’s next album in 2007. The song’s crushing riffs, thundering bass drums and frantic guitars from John Petrucci mark it out as something special and distinctive in the Dream Theater discography and the greatest song on the album, owing more than a small debt to Metallica. ‘Blind Faith’ lets some of the heaviness go, but still remains quite hard and powerful, despite feeling overlong this time at ten minutes. Singer James LaBrie doesn’t really excel himself here, despite penning the lyrics to this second song about struggle, dealing with religion.
The album takes a chill pill for the slower ‘Misunderstood,’ the first song from Petrucci, who wrote most of the second disc. The ‘Scenes from a Memory’ album demonstrated that Petrucci was the softer yin to Portnoy’s metallic yang (despite the entire band contributing pretty much evenly on all songs), and the trend continues here. ‘Misunderstood’ works really well in the centre of the disc, and LaBrie’s vocals come to the fore in the high octave chorus. The drawback of the song is that, like most others, it’s far too stretched out and loses its impact in the second half, however much Petrucci and the others try to impress the listeners with solos. It’s still one of the best songs here.
‘The Great Debate’ is, right from the start, a Tool rip-off. LaBrie’s voice imitates Maynard James Keenan and the whole modern prog atmosphere seems almost lifted from the other band’s ‘Lateralus’ release, an album that could hardly have escaped the band’s attention as one of the biggest selling rock albums of the previous year. The eponymous debate itself concerns, of all things, stem cell research. Genuine news interview clips play during the song’s introductory sequence, and recur at several points. The intention was for the listener’s stereo to embody the left- and right-wing speakers by literally piping them through the appropriate speaker, which would give the added advantage of a dedicated stem cell activist switching off one of the speakers and blissing out for fourteen minutes. It’s an interesting song, but certainly sub-Tool, even if Dream Theater are superior musicians.
The final song on disc one is the least impressive of all. ‘Disappear’ sounds like an attempt, once again, to deviate from the band’s trademark, expected sound by becoming a sound-alike for popular artists. This time it’s somewhere between the Beatles and Radiohead, a poppy ballad that retains the gloomy atmosphere but doesn’t convince me that it was worth the wait.
Disc Two
Degree 6. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
i). Overture
ii). About to Crash
iii). War Inside My Head
iv). The Test That Stumped Them All
v). Goodnight Kiss
vi). Solitary Shell
vii). About to Crash (Reprise)
viii). Losing Time / Grand Finale
Grand, bombastic, cinematic, orchestral. ‘Six Degrees of’ etc. etc. is here, so open up your sound-holes. The ‘Overture’ is actually a little deceptive, as the full orchestra sound that’s achieved here doesn’t continue to the rest of the song, and overall this sounds more like a Michael Kamen score than anything from the first disc (I can’t escape the mental image of the helicopter escaping the island at the end of Jurassic Park). ‘About to Crash’ is where the song begins in earnest, although in fairness these segments are all individual songs… just don’t tell that to the band. A catchy piano melody from Jordan Rudess is picked up by Petrucci’s wailing guitars, and the ominous lyrics of impending doom make this a fun and interesting fast-paced song in the vein of the previous album.
‘War Inside My Head’ is a short, two-minute affair featuring weird synthesisers and a heavy rhythm that leads seamlessly into the hardest rocking song on this side of the album, the Pantera-influenced ‘The Test That Stumped Them All.’ This song sees LaBrie’s vocals veering all over the place, from squeaks deep yells, to the extent that it almost sounds like Korn. Portnoy and Petrucci deliver the most effective drum and guitar attack since ‘The Glass Prison,’ and although the neat guitar style is lifted from the late Dimebag Darrell, it makes for a great song in the vein of 1994’s ‘Awake’ album.
As can be deduced from the title, ‘Goodnight Kiss’ is a slow, soft song, led by piano and soft singing and reminiscent of 1992’s ‘Wait for Sleep’ (I’ll stop referring back to past songs as soon as the band stops making me!), but is more drawn out and expanded than a simple interlude. ‘Solitary Shell’ is the catchiest song on the CD, but I’m unsure whether this is a good or bad thing. The vocals and melody seem more upbeat, despite the ‘Dark Side of the Moon’-style lyrics, and remind me of Green Day more than anything, although obviously a Green Day who have learned to play instruments. The chorus is the most notable part, and LaBrie really reaches for the high notes, although it’s a shame his voice hasn’t really moved on in the ten years with the band.
The reprise of ‘About to Crash’ is well-timed and even better executed, the band proving that they are the masters in the field of concept albums and call-backs, as if there was ever any doubt. There’s a riff that sounds somewhat familiar, like a voice from the past you can’t quite place, and then… oh, it’s just that piano thing from track two again isn’t it? Still, it’s very nice, and the song does move on to differ from the earlier instalment. The finale returns to the grand scope of the ‘Overture,’ and our journey into the human psyche is complete. We haven’t really learned anything, but when do we ever?
With ‘Six Degrees,’ Dream Theater enters the new millennium, and has something of an anxiety of influence. Tool, Radiohead and Metallica are all given a nod of inspiration, but at least the stand-out tracks prove that the band still have what it takes as the driving force of progressive metal music. Beginning here, the band launch into several epic strokes of creativity: first is Portnoy’s alcoholic odyssey, second is the band’s deliberate experimentation with existing genres – which would continue with the unashamedly nu-metal ‘Train of Thought’ – and finally, an interesting technique of linking albums together in a sort of daisy chain, or, more accurately and less fluffily, a regular train. The vinyl fuzz that ended ‘Scenes from a Memory’ is brought in to begin ‘The Glass Prison’ here, although it’s not something you’d notice on first listen. Similarly, ‘Losing Time / Grand Finale’ ends with an extended string chord that would soon open ‘Train of Thought.’ This technique will reportedly end at the next album, as will Portnoy’s personal magnum opus, ushering in another era for the progressive New Yorkers.
Dream Theater’s music is always unpredictable, and consistently defies my expectations even as a long-time fan. ‘Six Degrees’ lies somewhere in the middle of the road for the band, roughly half a disc too long and lacking in inspiration but still full of energy and technical skill to appeal to a wide spectrum of listeners. The title song is for the stubborn fans of old; ‘The Glass Prison’ is for the metalheads; ‘Goodnight Kiss’ is for their mums.
Advantages: Satisfies the band's fans, old and new.
Disadvantages: Can be reliant on the band's previous material, and that of others.
Train of Thought
***
Written on 29.06.08
Dream Theater are a supremely talented progressive metal band from New York, whose output and creative decisions since the turn of the millennium have been largely questionable and, in the case of their mediocre seventh album, borderline awful. 'Train of Thought' is easily my least favourite album the band has produced, forsaking much of their classic style in favour of a slow and heavy groove metal sound more suited to the metal mainstream of the time, a very limiting direction that fortunately turned out to be short-lived before they reinvented themselves again.
Despite these concessions to the mainstream, the album is equally marred by the band's self-indulgent tendencies, especially in terms of song length. Five of these seven songs last for over ten minutes each, without containing enough compelling ideas to justify the extreme length, and playing them back-to-back is a tiring experience. Opener 'As I Am' is energetic and fun while it lasts and 'This Dying Soul' contains many memorable sections, but after this the quality slips drastically, only being saved by the instrumental 'Stream of Consciousness' that's notable for showcasing the musicians at their most extreme, holding nothing back in giving the fans exactly what they want. It's just a shame the other songs are tempered by the generic groove metal sound and its associated gimmicks such as pinch harmonic obsessed guitars and distorted vocals.
1. As I Am
2. This Dying Soul
3. Endless Sacrifice
4. Honor Thy Father
5. Vacant
6. Stream of Consciousness
7. In the Name of God
Live at Budokan
Big in Japan
***
Written on 08.07.07
As the leading force of progressive metal, Dream Theater’s live shows are always geared specifically towards giving something special to the loyal, long-time fans, thanks to drummer Mike Portnoy’s ‘rotating set-list.’ By keeping extensive records of which songs were played at which locations over the band’s numerous world tours, Portnoy strives to ensure that fans get something new from each Dream Theater show, and that extends to those listening to the concert in their own home or car in the form of officially recorded live albums.
Released in 2004 to chronicle the Japanese leg of the tour for ‘Train of Thought,’ ‘Live at Budokan’ is no predictable ‘greatest hits’ set-list, revised only ever-so-slightly from the last live album to accommodate new songs alongside the old favourites. There is an expected small degree of overlap with 2000’s ‘Live Scenes From New York,’ 1997’s ‘Once in a Livetime’ and 1992’s ‘Live at the Marquee,’ but even with such an extensive live discography, only five out of eighteen songs have been released in this manner before. That leaves thirteen songs that have never before been released live, a mixture of mostly newer material released after Live Scenes From New York, and consciously differentiated picks from 1990s albums.
Dream Theater is fond of celebrating every stage of its career with live releases (Portnoy even having set up Ytse Jam Records to release so-called ‘Official Bootlegs’ of notable shows that Elektra Records would have no real interest in promoting), and each release is obviously tailored largely to promote the most recent studio release, in this case 2003’s Train of Thought. Five of that album’s seven songs are included across the enormous three disc set (or one disc if watching the DVD version, but I don’t have that). As it’s one of my least favoured of their studio albums, this live release was jeapordised a little before it even started playing, but as an account of the live Dream Theater experience it has yet to be beaten.
Disc 1
1. As I Am
2. This Dying Soul
3. Beyond This Life
4. Hollow Years
5. War Inside My Head
6. The Test That Stumped Them All
Disc 2
1. Endless Sacrifice
2. Instrumedley
3. Trial of Tears
4. New Millennium
5. Keyboard Solo
6. Only a Matter of Time
Disc 3
1. Goodnight Kiss
2. Solitary Shell
3. Stream of Consciousness
4. Disappear
5. Pull Me Under
6. In the Name of God
Dream Theater is a progressive metal band, combining the song-writers’ love of classic progressive rock and more recent heavy metal, though the band’s constant evolution with each album (obviously enhanced by their pioneering prog spirit) sees the ‘metal’ in question move with current trends. This collection includes songs from 1989 (‘Only a Matter of Time’) and 1992 (‘Pull Me Under’), both of which are firmly rooted in the eighties metal mentality: high pitched vocals, slow grooving guitar riffs and poppy synthesisers. The same elements are in place that would characterise the band’s entire career, but the attitude of these particular songs, and not necessarily the albums they were taken from, is to be accessible pop metal with a tinge of prog in the vein of Rush and Queensrÿche, the two most obvious influences. Still acting as the more accessible tracks on this release by being performed in a mostly unaltered fashion and also having the benefit of being the ‘old favourites,’ the distinctly retro sound makes them stand out against the more modern, heavier material, and the contrast would have been more effective and less jarring if some of the more experimental and notable songs from those early albums had been chosen instead (but of course, there’s the issue of the rotating set-list!)
The next stage of evolution that is charted is rather oddly the black sheep of Dream Theater releases, 1997’s ‘Falling into Infinity.’ Rather than focusing on its excellent
predecessor ‘Awake,’ which arguably perfected the fusion between classic heavy metal and prog, this album was produced under the scrutiny of a record label that wanted something more radio-friendly, so it’s quite a surprise to see three songs (‘Hollow Years,’ ‘Trial of Tears’ and ‘New Millennium’) celebrated here. If the purpose is to contrast starkly with the crushing riffs of Train of Thought material and the insane keyboard shenanigans of the instrumentals, then it certainly works, but it raises the question of who this album is intended for. Only die-hard Dream Theater fans would fork out for a three-disc live album with an average song length of ten minutes each, but those same fans would be turned away by the inclusion of such weak material. It’s a common perception that there are two schools of Dream Theater fans, each preferring either their early or late career (I certainly belong to the former), and while the Falling into Infinity album is fortunately the weak point in the middle that neither tribe has to like, the newer fans that this album caters more towards aren’t going to appreciate such a diversion. ‘New Millennium’ is essentially a pop-rock songs in the wake of grunge, while ‘Hollow Years’ is mostly led by piano, like a couple of other songs already included here. Only ‘Trial of Tears’ could disguise itself as a more experimental song due to its length, but it’s not a very interesting or eventful journey, even if the chorus is quite nice.
That brings us to the majority of the album, which is taken from albums in Dream Theater’s more recent, continuing phase. The emphasis of this period is more on a conflict between crushing heaviness, probably inspired by the emergence of so-called ‘nu metal’ in the late 90s more than death metal, balanced out by a softer side of soaring guitar melodies and light keyboards. The live experience begins with a demonstration of Dream Theater at its most uncompromising, pounding through the first two songs from Train of Thought (‘As I Am’ and ‘This Dying Soul’) followed by a ridiculously extended version of the heaviest offering from 1999’s Scenes From a Memory (‘Beyond This Life.’) This is all about satisfying modern Dream Theater fans, which is no bad thing, and it was probably an intentional decision to alienate any new listeners not bold enough to face this challenge rather than try to suck them in with the poppier offerings from later on. The first two songs have a little improvisation added from the year-old studio tracks, but it’s pretty much the same deal as the whole Train of Thought album: songs based on fast and heavily down-tuned guitar riffs with aggressive vocals and even a very small dose of rap, something it took me a while to get over. It’s a little more pleasing to hear these songs in the live environment, as the original studio production was a little too muddy and imposing for me, and although these aren’t Dream Theater songs I would listen to very often at all, they’re memorable and accomplished, if a little too long.
‘Beyond This Life’ was the first Dream Theater song I heard many years ago, and it gets the balance between heavy and prog right on the nose, helped by a fantastic and instantly recognisable riff that the band can’t help but head-bang along to. Even the original version tries my patience at eleven minutes, breaking into a jam and improv for the second half, so I don’t exactly find this double length version the most riveting listen ever. Nevertheless, a lot of fans do, and this would be particularly suited to those who enjoy rock instrumental improvisations from the likes of the Dream Theater side-project ‘Liquid Tension Experiment.’ For those that don’t enjoy this type of thing... well, you’ll at least be safe for the rest of this disc.
As mentioned earlier, ‘Hollow Years’ is a fairly nice and inoffensive ballad of sorts, in the acoustic guitar, piano and soft singing way more than an Aerosmith power ballad, and its extension to nine minutes is more relaxing than imposing. The last two songs are extracts from the band’s eight-completely-different-songs-that-pretend-they’re-one-song epic ‘Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence’ from the 2001 album of the same name, which would later be released in a complete live form on the next live album in 2006. ‘War Inside My Head’ is a fairly inconsequential starter piece that brings things back around to heaviness, while ‘The Test That Stumped Them All’ is the band wishing they were Pantera, but a little better, with quite a cool groove metal song bringing back the aggression of the first three tracks in a more concise manner. This is what the first disc has mostly been about, with lapses into a softer side and keyboard and guitar masturbation, and the others take a little more time out to explore the full extent of the band’s capabilities.
The second disc is again dominated by three very long opening songs, this time all very different. ‘Endless Sacrifice’ is another new one from Train of Thought, and it’s a little slower and more thoughtful, sort of a love song to guitarist John Petrucci’s wife (but sung by vocalist James LaBrie. I’d watch out if I were him). This is probably my least favourite song on the entire album, largely because it bores me by dragging on towards the end without offering anything new, though the crowd seems to be into it. The later ‘Trial of Tears’ similarly tries my patience, but being an older song it sounds more fitting to the melancholy it’s trying to evoke by not shoving a down-tuned riff down my throat. The lyrics are memorable, and as with its previous live appearance on Once in a Livetime, the band mess around with the introduction for their own amusement.
In-between these slower pieces is the mania of the bold ‘Instrumedley,’ likely the high point of this whole album for avid Dream Theater fanatics who enjoy analysing all the clues and ‘easter eggs’ in the band’s composition, album art and lyrics. This piece is anchored in the instrumental recording ‘The Dance of Eternity’ from Scenes From a Memory, which was itself based around the earlier song ‘Metropolis Part 1,’ and that source song is also featured by the guitar, bass, drums and keyboards alongside selected and recognisable extracts from Dream Theater’s other official instrumentals ‘Ytse Jam’ (1989), ‘Erotomania’ (1994) and ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ (1997), also featuring clips from the band’s genuine and brilliant 1995 epic ‘A Change of Seasons’ and material from the afore-mentioned Liquid Tension Experiment side-project of the majority of band members. It may be too zany for newcomers, but it’s a lot of fun trying to spot all the instances being quoted, which also keeps it fresh and exciting throughout, certainly a unique highlight of this recording. The rest of this second disc is unfortunately as disappointing as the beginning, with ‘New Millennium’ pointlessly revived from the 1997 album, and ‘A Matter of Time’ sounding a little too out-of-date alongside the Instrumedley and subsequent ‘Keyboard Solo’ from Jordan Rudess, rather dull but permissable for being only a few minutes long and in the interests of fairness after his predecessor Derek Sherinian’s solo spot on Once in a Livetime.
The third and final disc is thankfully a little better, changing the formula to avoid over-long songs for the most part and focusing on a wider range of source material. ‘Goodnight Kiss’ and ‘Solitary Shell’ continue the Six Degrees epic from where ‘The Test That Stumped Them All’ left off on disc one, though the hour break is a little confusing and makes me wonder why this wasn’t the second disc in the set. These songs offer a more melodic perspective than the Pantera-esque heaviness of the earlier instalments, the first being, as expected from the title, a soft love song almost like a lullaby (but with better guitars), and the second being a little incessantly catchy and quite good in a very pop-rock way, even if the main melody is a complete rip-off of Faith No More’s ‘Everything’s Ruined.’ ‘Disappear’ is also from Six Degrees, but doesn’t form a part of the suite that the others have, standing alone and strong as another fairly derivative pop-rock song, this time more like Radiohead. In perhaps the only instance on this album, this live version is actually shorter than the original. The penultimate ‘Pull Me Under’ is the band’s first and perhaps only MTV hit, but has appeared on enough live albums to be rendered quite obsolete and dull by now.
The two new songs on this final disc are likely the most interesting picks from Train of Thought, the really unhinged instrumental ‘Stream of Consciousness’ and the bleak religious diatribe ‘In the Name of God.’ The first runs along similar lines to the earlier Instrumedley, very carefully planned and executed with a very complex structure I won’t even begin to attempt to explain. It’s incredibly demanding, but unlike the extended jams which merely seem to go off on one, this is a fantastic piece of music and the peak of Dream Theater’s instrumentals, perhaps the reason they haven’t released another one on the two albums since. ‘In the Name of God’ attacks religious leaders in the wake of September 11th and is a little depressing as the song to go out on, another reason it might have been prudent to switch the second and third discs around (if anyone was ever planning on listening to this in its entirety). The main riff is slow and heavy, but in a more careful and interesting style than the similarly downbeat ‘Endless Sacrifice,’ and although the choir chant carries on for a little too long at the end, it at least proves that Train of Thought wasn’t completely worthless.
‘Live at Budokan’ was the second three-disc live album from Dream Theater, and not the last. With the band’s patience-demanding song lengths and even more frustrating extensions into jams, a two disc release wouldn’t cover much ground at all, and certainly wouldn’t allow the newer material to be properly set against the band’s extensive back catalogue. The newer material does work a lot better in this context, although I still don’t appreciate the style as much as I do the earlier (and later) works, and as this is unavoidably the ‘Train of Thought Live Album’ in essence, it wouldn’t be my first choice to listen to with all the others out there, which pay more attention to more enjoyable material.
The ‘Instrumedley’ and the live version of ‘Stream of Consciousness’ make this a necessary purchase for fans more interested in the band’s extreme experimental side, and their inclusion here means that they probably won’t show up on a live release again, at least not for several years. This is where Portnoy’s rotating set-list is a double-edged sword, providing something new with each live release for fans who have all of them, but also, essentially, requiring fans to buy all of them in the first place. As a consequence of this release, 2006’s ‘Score’ features the worthwhile song ‘Vacant’ from Train of Thought (leaving only the worthless ‘Honor Thy Father’ unreleased in this form), while also collecting the entire ‘Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence’ epic together for the first time, similar to the collection of ‘A Change of Seasons’ on the 2001 live album after bits and pieces made their way into Once in a Livetime.
After the release of the next studio album, mostly likely in 2009 as one has only just been released this year, Portnoy has expressed his wish to perform and record his entire Alcoholics Anonymous suite in its entirety, which ought to be a fairly tedious hour of music but will also make the inclusion of ‘This Dying Soul’ here (written as parts four and five of the suite) and ‘The Root of All Evil’ on the following live album (parts six and seven) irrelevant in hindsight. At least there will finally be a live version of the criminally overlooked ‘The Glass Prison’ (parts one to three) from Six Degrees album, which really should have replaced one of the weaker fifteen minute songs on this live recording. Portnoy’s preoccupation with getting everything possible released in a live form will doubtless damage future live releases if allowed to remain unchecked, and already appears to have affected this release with the apparent performance of ‘Millennium’ merely because it hadn’t been done yet. ‘Live at Budokan’ is primarily a mixture of weak Train of Thought material and an edited version of an epic suite that would be released more definitively later, and aside from interesting instrumentals it can probably be written off as an inessential purchase, whatever the completist drummer would have us believe.
Advantages: Definitive and improved live versions of 'Train of Thought' material.
Disadvantages: A confusingly unsatisfying mix of old and new to satisfy no one.
Score
****
Written on 29.06.08
Dream Theater's official live albums are always a worthy investment even for fans who already own the official release from the previous tour, as drummer Mike Portnoy's meticulous rotating set-list aims to ensure that every repeat performance from the band in the same area - whether it's the same city or a recorded concert - showcases different material to the last, with an obvious focus on material from the most recent album being promoted. Thus, 'Score' is very different to its predecessor 'Live at Budokan,' a twentieth anniversary release of sorts that celebrates the band's entire discography, even if the less popular albums tend to be given short shrift ('Afterlife' is the only song from the debut, and 'The Knife' is a B-side from the similarly unpopular 'Falling Into Infinity').
With the benefit of the so-called 'Octavarium Orchestra' for the longer suites that dominate discs two and three, this is an interesting and varied performance, but still one tailored towards more recent Dream Theater, which will naturally disappoint fans like me who preferred the first half of their career, though naturally there are older live releases that cater for those tastes. The performances are all excellent, though the level of improvisation is perhaps disappointing compared to the Budokan album, and with three discs this aims to be as comprehensive as possible.
Disc 1
1. The Root of All Evil
2. I Walk Beside You
3. Another Won
4. Afterlife
5. Under a Glass Moon
6. Innocence Faded
7. Raise the Knife
8. The Spirit Carries On
Disc 2
1. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: Overture
2. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: About to Crash
3. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: War Inside My Head
4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: The Test That Stumped Them All
5. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: Goodnight Kiss
6. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: Solitary Shell
7. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: About to Crash (Reprise)
8. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: Losing Time/Grand Finale
9. Vacant
10. The Answer Lies Within
11. Sacrificed Sons
Disc 3
1. Octavarium
2. Encore: Metropolis
Systematic Chaos
****
Written on 29.06.08
With their most recent album, Dream Theater seem to be taking stock of their career thus far and presenting something of a self-tribute, but one that still continues to move forwards, even if still essentially means blatantly stealing ideas from other bands. Bookended by the slow, grand, keyboard-dominated 'In the Presence of Enemies,' the progressive rock vibe is clear from the onset, and the album benefits from prog's recent resurgence in popularity thanks to bands such as Porcupine Tree, whose style is flagrantly stolen for the tedious fourth instalment of Mike Portnoy's Alcoholics Anonymous epic, 'Repentance.'
'Forsaken' is a strong vocal-centric song that harks back to the dense sound of 'Awake' and retains commercial credibility, while the follow-ups 'Constant Motion' and 'The Dark Eternal Night' disappointingly revert back to the 'Train of Thought' era where Dream Theater wanted desperately to be the thinking-man's Pantera. You couldn't get a more contrived Kerrang!-friendly single than this. The second half of the album is more long-winded to a fault, especially with the dark but drawn-out 'The Ministry of Lost Souls,' but fortunately 'Prophets of War' keeps the energy up with its electronic beat and Muse worship.
This is the best Dream Theater album in a long time, but it still shows a band lacking in a characteristic direction, all too easily influenced by whatever happens to be in their CD player during the songwriting sessions.
1. In the Presence of Enemies, Pt. 1
2. Forsaken
3. Constant Motion
4. The Dark Eternal Night
5. Repentance
6. Prophets of War
7. The Ministry of Lost Souls
8. In the Presence of Enemies, Pt. 2
Advantages: Successful combination of styles and influences.
Disadvantages: Still unoriginal, still overlong.
Welterwerk
****
Written on 30.06.08
Drottnar is an intriguing oddity in the black metal world, but one that proves why there aren't more bands playing this style. Best described as a technical black metal band, something that seems to go against black metal's ethos for atmosphere and gritty simplicity over showmanship, there's an inevitable death metal influence that takes over at times, leaving the harsh vocals and guitar tone the only real traces of the traditional black metal sound amidst the meandering guitar lines.
In truth, this isn't an astoundingly technical release, and it still relies on the repetition of ideas. It's loud, heavy and a little varied, but it doesn't really serve to satisfy fans of either black- or technical metal styles, and is somewhat hindered by its reluctance to go all the way to technical death metal. The slower songs are perhaps the most enjoyable, though only really as background music, 'Niemand Geht Vorbei' being foreboding, 'Victor Comrade' just being dissonant and weird, and finale 'Vulco Vesper' creating a distinctly unsettling mood with its distorted German spoken word and repetitive, warbling riffs.
1. Ad Hoc Revolt
2. The Kakistocracy Catacombs
3. Autonomic Self-Schism
4. Niemand Geht Vorbei
5. Victor Comrade
6. Stardom in Darkness
7. Rullett
8. Destructions's Czar
9. Vulco Vesper
Infatuation with Malevolence
***
Written on 30.06.08
It's irritating, disgusting and often downright laughable, but this collection of early material from the deliberately confrontational Dying Fetus is still really enjoyable for death metal fans, whether they have prior experience of the more brutal/grindcore end of the spectrum or not. Less technical and refined than the band's subsequent output, this is a chance to hear unadulterated extreme death metal without pretensions to being anything more sonically impressive, an improvement over the majority of similar bands such as Suffocation.
The old gimmicks remain, which stunt the album to a degree. Spoken samples from films feel arbitrary and extend the introductions of songs to unnecessary lengths, and the drums are fairly dull throughout. For once, I prefer the sections of the album where the band plays flat-out and aggressive, as the slower parts are less easy to take seriously, what with the burping vocals singing incomprehensible tales of gore in a sing-song fashion, especially evident in 'Eviscerated Offspring.' The guitars are entertaining, but nothing really special at this point.
1. Eviscerated Offspring
2. Your Blood is My Wine
3. ...And the Weak Shall Be Crushed
4. Visualize Permanent Damnation
5. Purged of My Wordly Being
6. Bathe in Entrails
7. Nocturnal Crucifixion
8. Wretched Flesh Consumption
9. Grotesque Impalement
10. Vomiting the Fetal Embryo
Grotesque Impalement
****
Written on 30.06.08
This is a great E.P. of brutal technical death metal, or whatever it is that Dying Fetus plays. The sound is very varied, and catches the band when their technicality was at its peak, but before political lyrics robbed them of their joy. With its gruesome cover art and often hilariously obscene lyrics (as in the final song), it's a real treat for those who enjoy slightly disgusting death metal performed well, and without relying on gimmicks like lesser bands do, whose names I shan't mention. Cannibal Corpse, for example.
The production job is perfect, really bringing out all aspects of the performance, especially the snare-heavy drums that lend the band its distinctive sound and are incredibly effective, despite threatening to be seriously annoying. 'Grotesque Impalement' itself is a slow, groove-based song with a strong leading riff that the vocals happily burp along to, followed by two average covers of death metal and hardcore punk that don't stand out as much as the band's original material. 'Final Scream' is an exact reproduction of the funny intro from Grim Reaper's song of the same name, leading into the surprisingly upbeat final song with its jolly melodic guitar underpinned by incoherently angry lyrics.
This isn't a death metal classic or anything, but it's still a nice little treat for fans of the genre.
1. Grotesque Impalement
2. Streaks of Blood (Baphomet cover)
3. Bringing Back the Glory (Next Step Up cover)
4. Tearing Inside the Womb
5. Final Scream (Prelude to Evil: Davey's Nightmare)
6. Hail Mighty North / Forest Trolls of Satan (Anno Clitoris 666 Opus II)
Dark Angel - Time Does Not Heal ****
Dark Lunacy - Forget Me Not *****
Dark Lunacy - The Diarist ****
Dark Tranquillity - Character ***
Darkane - Expanding Senses ****
Darkthrone - Fuck Off and Die **
Darkwell - METAT[R]ON ***
Death - Symbolic *****
Death - The Sound of Perseverance *****
Decapitated - Nihility ***
Deicide - Deicide ***
Deicide - Serpents of the Light ***
Deicide - Scars of the Crucifix ***
Deicide - Till Death Do Us Part ***
Desdemona - Lady of the Lore ***
Bruce Dickinson - Tattooed Millionnaire **
Bruce Dickinson - Balls to Picasso ***
Bruce Dickinson - The Chemical Wedding ****
Dimmu Borgir - Spiritual Black Dimensions **
Dio - Angry Machines **
Dio - Killing the Dragon ***
Dio - Master of the Moon ***
Dionysus - Fairytales and Reality **
Disarmonia Mundi - Mind Tricks ***
Disillusion - Back to Times of Splendour *****
Dragonland - Holy War ****
Dream Evil - Dragonslayer ****
Dream Theater - When Dream and Day Unite ****
Dream Theater - Octavarium ***
DRI - Dealing With It ***
