Month: April 2012

April 29, 2012 2012, Accept, Running Wild, Trad Metal Post a Comment

Es lebe Deutschen heavy metal! Neue alben von Accept und Running Wild!

April’s been delivering metal in loads with new Rage, Unisonic, and Dragonforce (more on that soon!), and continues its deluge with two new trad metal albums from German legends Accept and Running Wild. I’ve been listening to them periodically for a few weeks here and am ready to dish out some verdicts! Alle von euch metalheads, Achtung!

 

 

Accept – Stalingrad:

I was a late believer to Accept Mach II. No Udo? Ok whatever. What a fool I was, and my dismissive brushing off was abruptly and forcefully corrected upon my first listen to 2010’s relentless Blood of the Nations – an album that not only took Accept to new crushing sonic territory thanks to the production work of Andy Sneap, but was actually able to out heavy most extreme metal records released that year. I love that album from start to finish, and when I saw them live in the summer of 2011 in the dark, sweaty confines of Houston’s Scout Bar, I loved it even more. Accept with Mark Tornillo doing old and new Accept music live simply busted me to the floor and I wondered how they’d possibly manage to do something to top all of this. Well, in terms of their next studio recording, the answer is I guess, that they can’t. Its even understandable in someway, inevitable perhaps, and we can look back on the Blood of the Nations album/tour cycle as a truly special moment for the band – a once in a career watershed.

 

Its not all bad, Stalingrad is actually a pretty decent record, some filler notwithstanding, but that in itself is what makes it a slight disappointment. Its predecessor was front to back excellent, no filler, even the well placed middle of the album ballad was artfully done. It was a reinvigorated, re-energized Accept serving up the best of Wolf Hoffmann’s stockpiled riffs and going … erm, balls to the walls if you know what I mean. Here, I find myself struggling to maintain interest through a couple songs, and I keep playing them in hopes that they’ll grow on me, but at this point I think that they could have left off “The Galley”, and “Flash to Bang Time” and made the overall album stronger as a result. Whats positive on offer here is quite excellent, particularly the stately paced, soulful “Twist of Fate”, the hammering opener (and charmingly titled) “Hung Drawn and Quartered”, and my personal favorite, the epic march of “Shadow Soldiers”, which seems to look to the Scorpions and their 2010 North American tourmates Sabaton as musical and lyrical touchstones respectively. The Sabaton comparison is particularly apt when you consider the head scratching title of the new album —- it seems like something that those war obsessed Swedes would tackle.

 

This is neither a conceptual nor thematic album, and apart from two songs including the title track, the centrality of Stalingrad as an album title is left as a bit of a mystery. Some special kudos need to be given to Mark Tornillo, he completely owns the vocal role in this band now, and frankly, sounds a hell of a lot better than even Udo at his prime. His ability to shift from raw, throat scraping metal screams to bluesy, soulful, impassioned Coverdale-esque vocals while not losing an ounce of richness and texture is flat out astounding for someone who’s been on stage for as long as he has. Precious few others share that same ability. In conclusion, a solid, above average effort from a band on its second lease in career life, but nothing as earthshaking as its mighty predecessor. Check that one out if you haven’t already, then grab this to supplement.

 

 

 

Running Wild – Shadowmaker:

Here’s a surprise. It was pretty much taken as a given that Rock’n’Rolf’s decision to weigh anchor on Running Wild’s career in 2009 was long overdue. The decade prior was characterized by a continuous streak of mediocre albums, capped by the truly uninspired, awful, and unfortunately titled “Rogues in Vogue” in 2005. The band’s finale concert at Wacken Open Air was recorded and released as a DVD, and it seemed a fairly respectable way to go out – on home soil at the greatest metal festival in the world and giving the fans the favorites they wanted. So regardless of the reason why he decided to resurrect the band (with merely two members this time), the time off seems to have done him a world of good, allowing him to perhaps gain from his separation from life as a touring/recording musician.

 

With Shadowmaker, Running Wild sounds revitalized and refreshed both sonically and musically. Gone are the muddy, compressed, and dated sounds of the past few albums, and in its place is an approach that is startlingly stripped down – more geared for old school Thin Lizzy-esque hard rock than anything remotely German metal related. I’m not only referring to sonics and production, but in the fundamental songwriting as well. The songs are simple, relaxed, and built on sturdy yet catchy rock riffs, solid melodies, mid-tempo rhythms, and far more clearer vocals than ever heard before on any Running Wild album. This is actually really fun stuff, no brainer, memorable hard rock with only a sprinkling of the band’s traditional pirate themed lyrics, and it invokes the best aspects of classic AC/DC, Accept and the aforementioned Thin Lizzy. Album starter “Piece of the Action” boasts a rockin’ series of riffs that lead into an almost Saxon-esque chorus, while “Into the Black” features an excellent laid back riffing juxtaposed with ominous melodic overtones. “Dracula” is the only track that approaches metal like speed and intensity, with double kick and intense riffage enjoyable enough to make you forget about the ham-fisted lyrics.

 

The criticisms that I’ve seen of this album from some Running Wild purists who are screaming foul about the change in musical direction are most often geared towards a track called “Me and the Boys”, a cheeky self-serving rally cry that is at least in my minority opinion the best track on the album. I’ve read descriptions of this track being cock-rock-esque, and sure, that may be an apt description, but its only one track, and a welcome change of pace during the middle of the album. Corny lyrics yes I agree, but I can’t help but grin when listening to it, even singing along to its rollicking refrain, the last line of which goes “Cause rock n’ roll is our choice”. Ouch. Well lets not start comparing Rolf Kasparek to Bob Dylan, lyrics on Running Wild albums are best taken lightly or literally, sometimes both. Running Wild has not sounded this vital in a long time, and this may be the biggest surprise of the year – perhaps not the equivalent of Accept’s post-reunion impact but definitely noteworthy of its own accord. And as Rolf sings “Just another night / We are Running Wild”, its great to have them back.

April 14, 2012 2012, Kai Hansen, Michael Kiske, Pharaoh, Power Metal, Rage, Trad Metal, Unisonic Post a Comment

April Power Metal Showers: New albums by Rage, Pharaoh, and Kiske-Hansen reunion Unisonic

After a rather slow opening to 2012 metal wise, things are starting to pick up here at the dawn of spring with a flurry of relatively new releases that I’ve been listening to in random fashion for the past few weeks. I have quite a few on my list that I want to devote individual reviews to and will be in the coming weeks, and surprisingly the most noticeable genre being represented amongst these new releases is power and trad metal. So to get a jump on the ever-growing stack of albums that will need reviewing, I’m presenting my opinions on three selections from the aforementioned genres in one go – starting with the seemingly eternal German trad/power metal vets in Rage:

 

 

 

Rage – 21: Look, if you know about Rage, then you should already understand what to expect from a new album by them, Accept-like German teutonic heavy metal meets Megadeth-ish thrash and speed, stuff your experimental sounds and modern influences nonsense. There’s been a few things here and there with symphonies, some detailed progression within albums that would only be noticeable to die-hards, but one the whole, Rage delivers meat and potatoes German heavy metal on a rather consistent basis. Unfortunately, one of the side effects of such reliability in the metal world is that unless your band features a true gem of a songwriter/songwriting team, you’re going to end up delivering way more average to good albums, rather than great ones. I’ve always wanted to love Rage, and I check out each new album in hopes that they deliver a knock out like they almost did with 2002’s Unity – and this might be the closest they’ve come since then. Their newest, 21, is a good, not great record, but it does have a pair of truly great metal anthems that are worth talking about: namely the slow burning “Feel My Pain” and the truly stellar masterpiece “Forever Dead”, which by itself is going to be responsible for my including a top ten songs list alongside the albums list at the end of this year. What a track, check it out here:

 

 

 

 

 

Unisonic – Unisonic:

The long hoped for reunion of two power metal icons, Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen – I think we all figured that either it’d end up as a Helloween reunion tour cash grab or never at all. However fate or Tobias Sammet, you pick, intervened and brought these two together on stages across the world during Avantasia’s short run of tourdates during December of 2010. Their rekindled musical union took a further turn upon Kiske inviting Hansen to join him in his newly forming band Unisonic. Just a brief warning, the end result isn’t Keeper-era Helloween, or even remotely close to anything resembling the classic power metal archetype these guys helped to create. What you get is a record full of brightly produced, melody heavy, catchy guitar rock with Kiske’s smooth vocal delivery at the forefront that overall most vividly invokes the better parts of Van Hagar with some Scorpions, Styx, and general AOR stylings. Here’s the thing with this album, some people might be disappointed because they had differing expectations, but for anyone who goes in with an open mind and a general appreciation for good hard rock with a bit of a positive slant to it will be greatly rewarded. I really am enjoying this record, its nothing earth shattering, but its a great listen when you’re in the mood for something easy, ultra-melodic, catchy and dare I say it, happy sounding.  The real highlights here are “I’ve Tried” and “Never Change Me”, the former a moody, shifting song with a panoramic chorus that only Kiske could deliver; while the latter features one of the most compulsively catchy melodic hooks you’ll hear all year. Another one to YouTube up is “Never Too Late”, which features a Green Day-ish pop-punky vibe to it which is alarming at first listen but not distasteful in the slightest. Honestly, I’m surprised at my reaction to this album, I didn’t think much of it upon my initial listening experience but it has rapidly grown on me.

 

 

 

 

 

Pharaoh – Bury the Light:

I’ve been vaguely aware of the name Pharaoh over the years, but it was one of those things that I just saw in passing and never bothered to investigate. Finally I heard a track of this newly released album on a favorite metal radio show and my jaw dropped. These guys do a blend of old school styled NWOBHM meets darkened trad metal, and yet avoid taking the cliche filled routes by the numerous crop of current retro-styled bands popping up everywhere. You get the feeling when listening to Bury the Light that this is the only metal these guys could, and would want to play. Strong hints of Metal Church, classic Metallica, and particularly classic Savatage abound, the latter most noticeable because the vocalist during high notes is a dead ringer for Jon Oliva. That’s fine by me, its nice to have a modern band around that draws serious influence from one of trad metal’s great yet often forgotten giants – long overdue really. Its hard to single out highlights because I find myself content to simply let this play from start to finish, but upon closer inspection I’ll spotlight for YouTube look-up purposes the dramatic building up found in “The Spider’s Thread”, where the finale section of the song delivers a payoff that touches the very nature of what I love about metal. The longest track on the record, “The Year of the Blizzard” manages to justify being the epic of the album by featuring some very old school flourishes: mellow acoustic sections, twisting guitar harmony-led passages over tortured Oliva-esque vocals all while still managing to deliver precision thrash. “Cry” even has some moments that echo the best of classic Blind Guardian without sounding anything remotely like the German legends – and if you’re thinking that all these references to other bands makes Pharaoh seem a bit unoriginal, I feel it necessary to justify the comparisons by emphasizing just how truly fresh this album feels, and to simply let the comparisons give you an idea of what traditions this band seems to be drawing from. Sure its not reinventing the wheel, but well written and inspired metal doesn’t need to. Its hard to not see this album being in my top ten list at the end of the year.

 

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Otj5dZOz0s&w=560&h=315]

April 2, 2012 2012, Black Metal, Borknagar 2 Comments

Borknagar – Urd: Gritty, Earthy, Epic

 

 

The first thing that popped in my mind upon listening to Borknagar’s newly released Urd was “where the hell has this Borknagar been for the past few albums?”. The last album by them that I truly enjoyed in its entirety was 2001’s fierce astral black metal masterpiece Empiricism, it was a precision blending of sharp, blackened riffs, thoughtful clean vocal melodies, and the strong keyboard driven atmospherics that have become their trademark. But the follow up albums seemed to forget the recipe to this formula; 2004’s Epic was a spotty affair, and 2010’s Universal was… I hate to say it, somewhat boring – barring a few songs that had some semblance of memorability. The stopgap all acoustic album, 2006’s Origins, was an interesting idea, and I so wanted to enjoy its execution, but sadly I found it lacking in strong songwriting and melodies. It seemed throughout this period that the band was inclined towards inheriting the proggy soundscapes of vocalist Vintersorg’s solo albums (of which I am a fan), but were unable to reconcile them with their traditionally earthy black metal foundations, often resulting in songs with overblown keyboard weirdness, lack of memorable melodies, and songwriting that wandered all over the place and could not keep its focus.

 

 

What Borknagar has done with Urd then, is a thorough addressing of all those deficiencies. This is a stunningly great record, devoid of filler tracks, and containing the most emotive and powerful songwriting of the band’s career to date. The keys here are in their efforts to refine and simplify their songwriting, as well as using a light touch when it comes to keyboard and studio engineered atmospherics. There seems to be a conscious effort to create strong, memorable melodies and revisit them in creative ways throughout the song without having to fall back on a standard verse-chorus-verse format — in a way they work more as motifs than hooks. In keeping with the title of the album, the sound here is grounded in a grittier, earthier style that seems more conducive in invoking imagery of the natural world.  I always respected the band’s interest in cosmology, physics, and all other things science — but after four albums in a row of it, and its corresponding influence on their sound at the time, a change was direly needed. The stronger emphasis on clean vocals here is unexpected, but its the distribution of vocal talent throughout the record that is a greater surprise, as its not just the Mr. V show anymore but what appears to be a full on divvying up of the lead vocal duties between Vintersorg, ICS Vortex, and Lars Nedland, all of whom have a particular distinction to their vocal character.

 

There is nary a dip in momentum from start to finish, and the band should be commended for good decisions in track sequencing. There are a few highlights that stand above the rest however, beginning with “Roots”, one of the heaviest tracks on offer and perhaps the catchiest. The brief shift away from its fantastic chorus to launch into the epic of rush of speed metal drumming and classic tremolo sweeping riffs laid under chanting vocals at the 2:45 mark is so damn compelling you’ll find yourself rewinding to it over and over again. The epic on the album (not only in length) is the complex “The Winter Eclipse”, which juxtaposes crushingly heavy riffs and searing harsh-grim vocals by Vintersorg against all three vocalists joining in with clean vocal harmonization on the chorus. The absolute standout however has to be “The Earthling”, where the initial slow tempos and ethereal chanting give way to a furious blast of black metal fury that alternates with almost swinging guitar melodies — this all works its way up to a grand, sweeping finish at the 5:59 mark that is such a satisfyingly climactic payoff, its no wonder they decided to only include this part once and as a finale at that (I feel a lesser band would have employed it as a chorus).

 

This is the biggest surprise of the year so far, and a strong contender for album of the year. I’m happy I’m enjoying this so much and not ho-huming about it like the past few albums. Welcome back Borknagar.

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