A swarm of full thrash metal jackets going straight for your face with little care for whether you survive the ordeal or not. I always loved these guys for their uncompromisingly aggressive metal, and yet they still manage to be ever so catchy and deliver most memorable riffs in order to avoid falling into that overplayed metalcore trap.
Their old singer, Peter Dolving, is back behind the mike and make no bones about it my puppies… there is some serious kickass metal screaming on this album… Heavier-than-thou numbers are nicely intermissioned (I made that word up – shut up) by two slower songs, too dark and gruesome to be even remotely related to “ballads”. The production is fat and clean without sounding gay or polished and every song stands out like a goddamn beacon in these dark metal nights.
Power Metal… The cheesiest of cheesy genres of metal. Most people don’t like it as it utilizes and overuses Hasselhoff-dragons, high pitch wails, fudge packing knights, silly little melodies and the word "metal" (most probably to throw gaybashers off the scent of the overall musical homosexuality). To top it off they all usually look like “Cavemen On Ice”, complete with teased mullets and dramatic posing. Nothing screams "metal" like wielding Conan's sword in the group photo!
Yes… OK, I’ll give you that… But Angra is different.
They have ventured deeper into the darker progressive realms with this album, exploring not only their own technical abilities but also a new sound for the band itself. They have gone from being just another sing-along Helloween-wannabe (allthough a good one) to being more of an almost Dream Theaterish band with beautiful melodies, complex arrangements and blistering guitar solos.
The songs are slightly longer than ususal but never get boring. Kiko and Raffael have really evolved as guitar players and they’re up there with the best in metal today. The production presents this conceptual album in a superb soundscape with few flaws.
The only minus is Edu’s accent which gets a little annoying sometimes when his true heritage shines through. (Maybe these goddamn foreign Power Metal singers should study real English instead of the bastardized version of the language their heroes in the German metal scene so blatantly favor.)
The comeback of the year. Maybe even the comeback of the 21st century so far. (I am still holding my fingers crossed for Judas Priest to blow everybody out of the water.)
They manage to sound just as razor sharp and mean as they did back in the day of “Pleasures of the flesh” and “Fabulous Disaster”. Maybe that’s because Steve Souza is in splendid form, belting out his barb wired snarls and pushing the ever present anti-social message over classic thrash metal riffage.
It is kind of refreshing hearing someone ragging on our society for a change in these times where people start waving the flag as soon as someone mentions the words “war”, “bush” and “president”. Remember when we all weren’t such goddamn pussies and didn’t just swallow everything our leaders told us? The fucking hippies had more balls than most people nowadays, and my 9-year old could kick any hippie’s ass. I hope she runs for President when she’s old enough. Music used to also be about sticking it to people...
Where was I? Exodus!
Old school thrash metal of the finest vintage. Just get it…
If you have never heard these guys before you’re in for a journey into the twilight zone. The twilight zone in this case being located underneath a moss covered boulder deep in a dark forest somewhere in Finland. Roll that boulder over and walk down the roughly carved steps you see before you, leading into the netherworlds. When you see faint light up ahead, slow down and just quietly sneak up until you have a clear view of the open cave in front of you.
There all the most vicious trolls of northern mythology have assembled for a pagan drunkfest of non-biblical proportions. Drinking mead out of human skulls, fornicating with kidnapped princesses and celebrating the upcoming demise of all mankind. At the end of this unholy banquet some of the trolls get in rage-mode and start bashing each other’s heads in with big gnarly clubs, while others laugh and puke human remains.
That’s what Fintroll sounds like. Black Polka Metal with strong traditional folk melodies and hyper blast metal beats.
What the hell is Ayreon you ask? It is the one man band project from the Dutch super talented musician Arjen Lucassen and a dozen of his specially invited guest performers.
"The Human Equation” is a conceptual story about a man who is in a coma and how his thoughts, feelings and dreams run rampant in his head while he’s shut off from the outside world. Each song represents a different day and every emotion is represented by different singers. James La Brie from Dream Theater (his best vocal performance since “Images…”) is his Ego, Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth is Pain, Devin Townsend is Rage and so on… I think you will recognize most guest performers on this album from your favorite bands.
An absolute stellar cast makes this rock/metal opera a hauntingly beautiful album where an interesting story is magically intertwined with excellent vocal-oriented songs with progressively musical interludes. A Dream Theater meets Pink Floyd at a fund raiser for Genius Potheads Anonymous kind of thing.
“The Universal Migrator” is also a conceptual album (as all Ayreon albums are) starting out with a mellow side with mostly acoustic stuff and a magically talented array of superb male and female singers (Part 1) and it finishes with a heavy side with more metal-like numbers, featuring singers like Bruce Dickinson and Russell Allen (Part 2).
"Operation Mindcrime" meets "Dark side of the moon".
Last year also saw the reissues of two earlier Ayreon releases. Both long time favorites of mine.
“Inside the electric castle” is more of a classic 70's rock musical with many different singers in each song, singing off a dialogue to each other. It's darker than other Ayreon releases but also more experimental. There are surprising twists in both music and lyrics behind every new corner.
Black Sabbath’s “Headless Cross” meets “Rocky Horror Picture Show".
Review Summary
All in all there were a whole bunch of quality metal albums released last year but they were not the ones you found in the top 40's or on the top shelf in your local record store.
I haven't even mentioned the "big" quality releases of 2004 since you probably already bough those (Motorhead's "Inferno" was the best of those), instead I want you to check out something you would never ever have touched with a radio controlled 10 foot barge pole unless I just shoved it in your face. Maybe you liked the tastes, maybe you didn't... You'll never know until you try.
These are the days of the internet so finding good music should be easier for most than it ever was. It's all out there. Go get it.
