Vultures :- Axewound

Vultures – Axewound

British supergroup soar on debut album

Rating: - 7/10

There are only two types of supergroup, those that succeed and either rival their original band or even in certain cases eclipse them ( A Perfect Circle, Down, Transplants). Or there are the ones that crash and burn never to be heard from again (Them Crooked Vultures,Adrenaline Mob,Chickenfoot).

Axewound, founded by Bullet for my Valentine mainman Matt Tuck and consisting of members of Glamour of the Kill, Rise to Remain, Pitchshifter and Cancer Bats, where described by Matt himself as sounding like a cross between Slipknot and Pantera whilst being “metal as fuck”. To be honest he isn’t far off.

Their debut album Vultures is significantly heavier than any of Bullet’s previous offerings, offering up a much harsher and thrashy production and vibe, as well as the riffs becoming more furious and brutal than Matt has written before, even producing some Meshuggah esque grooves during the title track Vultures. There are some moments when the band set into Bullet territory, the track Cold which features Matt sharing lead vocal duties with Liam Cormier from Cancer Bats, could have easily featured on Bullet’s last album Fever, but still packs the punch that has been missing from that album.

Man of the match award on this album clearly goes to Jason Bowld of Pitchshifter on the drums. He provides a powerful backbeat to the album as well as the occasional scatter gun fills that are peppered throughout the record. Liam also proves once again why he is one of the best vocalists and frontmen in the game, adding hardcore swagger to the vocals which adds another dimension to the mix, practically on the single Post Apocalyptic Party.

The album does fall into heavy Bullet influenced territory on tracks like Exochrist and the heinous ballad Collide, which is the albums main weak point. But these flaws are made up for with the rest of the album maintaining a high level of consistency as well as being rammed full of ragers like Post Apocalyptic Party, the title track (featuring Synester Gates from Avenged Sevenfold on guitar) and the thrashy Testament inspired Victim of the System.

Overall this is a solid debut album from the group, which easily warrants another release from the band further down the line. The album is easily the heaviest project any of the members of the band have worked on, as well as being packed full of visious riffs and killer vocal hooks. As supergroup’s go Axewound is pretty damn good, lets just hope some of it translates into the new Bullet album. Unlikely though

For Fans of: - Cancer Bats, Avenged Sevenfold, Slipknot, Bullet for my Valentine

Never Mind The Bollocks - Sex Pistols

Never Mind The Bollocks (35^th Anniversary reissue):- Sex Pistols

Punk’s genesis gets its 35th anniversary reissue.

Rating 8/10

                35 years after its release and Never Mind The Bollocks is still seen as one of the defining moments of the 70’s Punk scene, taking the Pepsi challenge with albums such as The Clash’s London Calling & The Ramones self titled. The bands influenced by this album are as broad and as diverse from Gallows to indie bands like The Libertines.

                Its amazing to think that four adolescents from London with limited musical knowledge (in Sid Vicious case absolutely none), assembled by Malcolm McLaren  created and shaped the UK’s thoughts about what punk sounded like, looked like and the attitude of Punk rock embodied.  They may not have been Burklee College of Music graduates, but with their fuck you/take no prisoners attitude they went on to define a generation.

                The album still sounds as raw as it did the, even after being reissued and remastered for what seems the one millionth time. Lydon’s vocals still have that snarl that made the songs sound so unique and distinctive.  Guitarist Steve Jones, who is still in my opinion one of the most, underrated song writers in British music and here he displays his greatest work, even if he was dismissed from the band for allegedly admitting to liking The Beatles. Songs like Anarchy In The UK, Holiday In The Sun and Pretty Vacant are still as anthemic  as ever and remind you that although the band where essentially a construction in order to jump on the Punk bandwagon, they did produce some of Punks most legendary songs. The reissue also comes with a good quality live show from Scandinavia featuring live tracks as well as DVD footage. The collection also comes with a selection of B sides, which are good but it is clear why they were left of the final cut of the album.

Overall this release is an essential release for Pistols fans; the album still holds up after all this time, Filled with special features and bonus material. I can’t see any fan being disappointed by the album, even if Mr Lydon himself isn’t too happy about its rerelease.

For fans of: - The Clash, Green Day, The Stooges

The Union of Crowns - Bury Tomorrow

The Union of Crowns

Bury Tomorrow

Nuclear Blast

Rating: - 7/10

British Metalcore crew attempt to reinvigorate genre

                For the past few years Metalcore has been stuck in a rut. The old guard (Killsiwtch Engage, Shadows Fall, All That Remains) have all delivered below par album, especially All That Remains who’s last offering For We Are Many was so bland that it sank like a cruise linear in the Mediterranean. Bands such as Parkway Drive and The Devil Wears Prada have stepped out from the pack, this has to with Parkway being the best at the heavier end of Metalcore creating monstorous beatdowns, The Devil Wears Prada on the other hand have branched out from the generic Metalcore formula adding influences from the world of extreme metal especially on their latest release Dead Throne and the absolutely fan fucking tastic Zombie EP.  The new breed haven’t faired much better to be honest with bands like Rise to Remain, Of Mice & Men & Miss May I have produced good but generic records that reek of the sum of their influences, there albums aren’t bad they just sonically remind the audience how absolutely groundbreaking Alive or Just Breathing really is.

                The arrival of Hampshire’s own Bury Tomorrow, who on their second album The Union of Crowns have delivered the huge jump start that the genre desperately need. Whilst this album may not be as constant as The End of Heartache by Killswitch or The Fall of Ideals by All That Remains and may not stray from the template created by those bands. But it does make up for it by creating Metalcore anthems; the track Lionheart could rival established classics such as The Rose of Sharyn and This Calling. The band have clearly taken influence from the bands that inspired the first wave of Metalcore, riffs can clearly be heard that would have fit onto At The Gates albums or any band from the Gothenburg scene. This makes the album stand out from the rest of the bands in the scene adding a crushing brutality that has been missing from the scene for a long time, possibly since the very early Unearth and Vision of Disorder albums.

                Like fell British Metalcore pioneers While She Sleeps, Bury Tomorrow have resisted sticking to the formula and falling into mediocrity. Instead the band have strayed from the path and delivered a album that not only takes influence from what was great about Metalcore and moderises it will a killer production making everything sound as huge as possible. Hopefully more bands take notes on what Bury Tomorrow have done and follow their example. Metalcore could be in for resurgence.

For Fans of: - Killswitch Engage, At The Gates, While She Sleeps.

Crooked Teeth - House vs Hurricane

Crooked Teeth

House vs Hurricane

Rating 5/10

                Changing singers can be a dangerous step for a band to take. Take Iron Maiden, replacing Paul Di’anno with the almighty Bruce Dickinson propelled the band to new heights and established them as one of the biggest heavy metal bands of all time. However, when Van Halen replaced Sammy Hagar with Extreme’s Gary Cherone the band entered a period of both critical and commercial failure resulting in the band going into hiatus following the release of Van Halen III. With Aussie Hardcore mob House vs Hurricane on the other hand recruiting new singer Christopher “Chris 2” Shaw has proven to be a mixed bag.

            Lets start with the positives, the harsh shouted vocals make an amicable accompaniment to the meat and potatoes hardcore backing, the music doesn’t really do anything to stand out but the chugging riffs and breakdowns would please any hardcore fan. The beat & breakdowns pack the type of punch you would expect from a band with a song entitled “Get Wrecked”, which is performed and sounds exactly the way you would expect it to. As far as simplistic hardcore goes the music is more than acceptable and would serve as an ideal support band to a scene group such as Emmure or Parkway Drive.

            Sadly the album tries its hand at clean melodic passages and chorus’s. This is where the album falls on its arse. The clean vocals miss the mark by quite a distance, coming across not catchy and anthemic like Bury Tomorrow but whiny and annoying, like as if a 5 year old wont leave you alone on a long haul flight. The vocal lines fail to the standard and quality if their peers especially Architects who for my money are everything that House vs Hurricane strive to become.

                The album could have been vastly improved by cutting out the unnecessary clean vocals, the band suit being a shout along hardcore band with anthemic hooks such as While She Sleeps. Without developing their sound I fear they may fall by the way side and become lost amongst their peers. However if they adapt to being a straight up hardcore outfit hey could have a strong presence within the hardcore scene.

For fans of:- Emmure, Last Witness, Architects

No absolutes in Human Suffering - GAZA

No Absolutes in Human Suffering

Gaza

Black Market Activities

Rating: - 8/10

The Sound of Hatred

Pure hatred (not the poor Chimera song) is a powerful ideology used throughout all forms of metal and hardcore, creating the aggression and power that makes this genre of music as good as it is.  It appears whether in the form of despair (Converge), eternal damnation (Electric Wizard) or the pure act of despising the world and everyone in it (Touche Amore). Hate can inspire brilliance in any of its forms, just think without this powerful emotion would we have ever got albums such as Iowa by Slipknot. The eternal suffering that is Salt Lake Cities Gaza however is something that goes beyond hate and despair, creating a album that is not only bleak but also mercilessly crushing in its approach (take the cheerfully titled Not for all the hope in the world). The album takes clear influence from the almighty Converge with its use of pace and sheer white noise approach and production, whilst also mixing in crushing riffs that could have been on any Crowbar album. The album also brings in walls of sonic intensity which song eerily reminiscent of Neurosis. Creating what can only be described as sonic chaos.

One minute your having your face ripped off by rapid razor edged riffs and brutal pace to next track being pummelled into the floor by the heaviest and most sonically crushing riff ive heard all year. The production is dark and brooding, allowing the low end of the riffs to become distorted grabbing the listener by the throat making the punishment of the riffs all the more severe. From cripplingly fast drums to skull crushing doom riffs the album delivers the album into its six minute finale Routine and then Death which grinds the album to a thundering Holt with another of skull crushing riff.

If sonic hatred is your bag then this release is essential. Im not going to lie its grim, its very grim but my god it’s incredible once you get your teeth into it, Should provide a treat for fans of sonic intensity, ferocity and doom laden sludge.

For fans of: - Converge, Neurosis, Black Breath

Hot Cakes - The Darkness

Hot Cakes – The Darkness

British rockers make their long awaited return

                Jump in your DeLorean and travel back to the magical time of 2003, Peter Jackson finished making cinematic gold with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The world was introduced to Captain Jack Sparrow and a certain rock n roll band from Suffolk where destroying anything in their path, winning multiple Kerrang and Brit awards and coming second to the most depressing Christmas number one of all time. This band was The Darkness, their album Permission to land  was a massive part of my childhood and I (like many people of my age) consider it to be a modern classic, with tunes like I Believe in a thing called love, Black Shuck and Growing on me which are as good as any songs created by the original hair metal bands. Sadly after 2005’s One way ticket to Hell and back, which was really an album of two halves, first half being easily as good as the debut containing anthems such as the unforgettable Is it just me? But the second half of the album of the album was overblown and flabby. The less said about it the better. The band parted ways in 2007. The rest of the group (minus Justin) formed the good but not spectacular Stone Gods, whilst Justin decided against blowing coke up his nose and decided to just blow in his new and diabolical band Hot Leg. The band reunited in 2011 and received critical acclaim for their tour featuring a lucrative main support slot at the Download Festival. Apparently reinvigorated, the band began work on the tricky third album Hot Cakes.

The album see’s a return of the spontaneous fun of the first album, it sounds like the band are really enjoying themselves again allowing their personalities to become ever present especially on the second single Everybody have a good time and the added charisma of Concrete makes the track stand out from the rest and shows The Darkness were not just a flash in the pan. The Queen influence is as ever plastered all over this album in its production and song structure, the track Nothings gonna stop us could easily have appeared on A Night at the Opera with its layered harmonies and over the top bombastic production. From start to finish Hot Cakes is exactly what you would expect from The Darkness that is until track 10 hits which is a cover of Radiohead’s Street Spirit (fade out). The Darkness covering Radiohead? That’s as bizarre as Lou Reed doing an album with Metallica (oh shit I forgot that happened). Unlike that abomination the group pull off this unlikely cover adding Justin’s typical high pitched falsetto vocals and a heavier guitar tone. The album however does contain a few songs which kill the records pace and momentum especially the pointless and generally flabby ballad Forbidden love and even though the album does contain some really good songs none of them hit the heights of I Believe in a Thing Called Love or in the same league as tracks from Permission to Land.

Overall, Hot Cakes is a decent return to form for the group. They’ve stuck to what they know best and delivered exactly what their fans would want from them, With the Radiohead cover a side the album is exactly what you thought you would get from this album and for most of it the band live up to their reputation for delivering kick ass Rock N Roll anthems. It seems the band are here to stay and I for one am happy to have them back.

Rating: - 7/10

Stand out track:- Concrete

For fans of :- Queen, ACDC, Thin Lizzy

The Hunter - Mastodon

The Hunter by Mastodon

Atlanta’s metal behemoths do it again!

                “I killed a man because he killed my goat” bellows drummer and vocalist Bran Dailor. From this line alone you can probably tell Mastodon are a band who aren’t afraid of pushing the the boat out with there lyrics and musical ability or showing there influences through there music. There new release “The Hunter” shows that the band have continued to experiment but haven’t forgotten their heavy metal roots.

Since their inception in 1999, Sludge metal kings Mastodon have produced four critically acclaimed albums which any classic metal band would be proud to have in their discography.  2003 brought their sludge metal classic debut “Remission”, their next album “Leviathan proved there was more to Mastodon then just riffs heavier than a heard of elephants, they could write excellent songs as well, the album spawned the bands first single “Blood and Thunder” and earned the band the prestigious award of Terrorizer magazines album of the year award. Leviathans follow up “Blood Mountain” allowed Mastodon to branch out from their sludge metal roots and incorporate more stoner rock influences; widely considered to be their breakout album earning the band their first Grammy nomination for the track “Colony of Birchman” the track contains a surprising guest appearance from ex Kyuss guitarist and current Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme.  Finally Mastodon released their critically acclaimed fourth album “Crack the Skye”; on this release the band branched out further by incorporating progressive rock sound scapes, ambient keyboards with cleaner vocal and clean guitar tones. However the band didn’t forget their roots, balancing their new progressive rock direction with their huge riffs and brutal cookie monster vocals. Drummer Brann Dailor dedicated the release to his sister “Skye” who passed away when he was young.

                After playing a storming set at this summers Sonisphere festival, where for my money they wiped the floor with everyone who played on the Sunday.  Every member of the metal community from black metal fans to hardcore fans was waiting for their first fix of the new album. Many expected Mastodon to pursue a more progressive direction on this album, following on from their previous album which was influenced heavily by Pink Floyd/ Rush. However, they couldn’t have been more wrong. On their new album Mastodon have allowed all there influences to flourish, on this album you can clearly hear that Mastodon have been influenced by bands from a Sludge metal background like Neurosis, Progressive  rock bands such as Rush and Stoner rock bands such as Kyuss . The result is an album which sounds as if it was a Mastodon greatest hits compilation. Whatever part of Mastodons discography you like there is a part of this album you will love, whether it’s the brutality of “Remission” and “Leviathan” then there are tracks like Blasteroid and Black tongue which could fit in seamlessly on either of those albums. Or if you prefer the strong song writing which was included on “Blood Mountain”, there are tracks such as Curl of the Burl and All the heavy lifting which could easily be placed in heavy rotation on rock/metal radio stations across the world or even play listed on radio one’s a list (yes the chorus’s are that huge and catchy). Even if you preferred the progressive elements of their progressive masterpiece “Crack the Skye” there are tracks such as the title track which contains a guitar tone and guitar parts the legendary Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour would have been proud to have written. Or the opening to Octopus has no friends where Dailor pays homage to the legendary Rush drummer Neil Peart.

Most fans will have already seen the bizarre (yeah really bizarre) video for the albums debut single Curl of the Burl. Most fans however will be surprised to learn that although the single is a terrific song, containing an amazing riff (which some critics have already claimed to be “this generations Enter Sandman”) it is not one of the albums stand out tracks. That honour goes to Octopus has no friends, from its breathing taking drum opening, to the tracks surrealist lyrics and its haunting vocal harmonies which flow effortlessly through the song.

                Ultimately, this is a album which not only can stand up to the bands already impressive back catalogue but also take the Pepsi challenge with any band in contemporary metal, whether that be Machine Head, Lamb of God or even Metallica.  These tracks can easily be placed in the live set and sound as huge and power as tracks from the previous four albums. If they continue to produce classic metal albums to the standard of Crack the Skye and The Hunter, Mastodon could easily be the next band to headline a major festival such as Download and Sonisphere. 

Rating:- 9/10

Influenced by :- Neurosis, Rush, Metallica

Also Try:- Blackwater Park :- Opeth

The Blue Album :- Baroness

Blues for the Red Sun: :- Kyuss