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

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

Born Villain - Marilyn Manson

Born Villain – Marilyn Manson

The AntiChrist Superstar attempts to find himself on 8th album

      From the God of Fuck to the God of Fuck all? Over the past 10 years Marilyn Manson has been on a Downward Spiral, destroying his legacy and his infamous notoriety that made him the Anti Christ Superstar we all know and loved. Whether it was his disastrous performance at Download 2009 (in which he made as much sense as Boris Johnson fronting Converge), to Eat me Drink me which bombed and alienated his fan base by ditching the industrial metal template and focusing on a more new romantic, gothic sound. His last album “The High End of Low” was defiantly a step in the right direction, but lacked the quality or edge of his previous work. In this time period he’s lost members and seemed to loose his ability to not only be dangerous, but also be entertaining. The question is does the world still need Marilyn Manson?

       By the account of his new album “Born Villain” the answer is possibly. Whilst still not having the edge of his back catalogue this release at least ups the heaviness with tracks like “Hey, cruel world” which see’s a return to the anti Christ era sound. The albums first single “No Reflection” contains an almost Rammstein industrial riff and see’s a return to the industrial 4/4 of the Manson of old. Where this album falls down is on quality control, the album tails off near the climax and becomes repetitive and ploddy with the albums title track fading into insignificance. Manson, who is no stranger to covers caps this release off with a cover of the Carly Simon song “Your so Vain” featuring Johnny Depp, Seriously? Who wants to hear this in 2012?  This interpretation adds very little to the original and adds the Tim Burton effect (make something creepier for the sake of it), ironic really when you consider who’s playing guitar.

Overall this is not the return to form that most fans expected and wanted from Manson, but it does have encouraging signs of things to come. He may never be dangerous again, but by the sound of this album he can still have a role in contemporary music. Let’s just hope he can stop drugging himself into the abyss and put on a good live show again.

                                                                    

                                                                     Rating;- 6.5/10

For fans of:- Nine inch Nails, Ministry, Rammstein

A Different Kind of Truth - Van Halen

A Different kind of truth

Van Halen

Interscope

Rating: - 8/10

Veteran Rock n roll legends return… with spectacular results

“I told you I was coming back” croons David Lee Roth on the track Blood and Fire, from this alone you should have grasped that Diamond Dave has returned and is performing a star jump for the first time in over 28 years.  As proven with recent classic rock bands returning and making albums, the results are mixed. They can be really good like Sonic Boom by Kiss or they can be the biggest pile of horse crap the world has ever seen like Chinese Democracy by Guns n Roses. I am incredibly pleased to say that the Van Halen album is as good and maybe on par with Sonic Boom.

After the commercial gluttony of the Van Hager era (5150’s a good album but there is little more than a few miscellaneous tracks) and the tragic and completely terrible Gary Cherone era which is best left unspoken of. After a hugely successful tour in which they managed to make as much money as Chelsea have wasted on players by just touring America (im not complaining but they’ve not been to the UK since 1995, so I believe were owed a show… lets say Sonisphere).

The album had to be great in order to live up to the hype and expectations following the hugely successful tour, which thankfully it is. The 80’s commercial sheen has been replaced with a gritty but well produced sound and the tacky keyboards have been replaced by a more stripped down sound similar to the sound of the bands 1978 debut. DLR proves he has not lost it; his bizarre lyrics which are delivered with a huge amount of character and charisma. Songs like Stay frosty (an ode to Ice cream man from the debut album) is both eccentric and   bizarre whilst being a incredibly well written song, However it does sound like the Hula Hula song from South Park. The trio of Van Halens Eddie, Alex and Eddie’s son Wolfgang who replaces Michael Antony on Bass all shine on this album. Alex’s thundering rhythms combine effortlessly with Wolfgang’s groove bass lines, for such a young man he proves he can play and easily fills the shoes of Michael Antony. However the highlight of the album is Eddie’s solo’s and riffs, many people doubted after his recent alcohol problems might have hampered his guitar playing ability. They couldn’t have been more wrong, Eddie sounds more inspired and energetic than he has since the mid 1980’s, showing every guitarist in the world why he is and will always be one of the greatest guitarists in the world. On tracks such as China Town and The Trouble with Never Eddie’s souring solo’s show off  how good he still is, without sounding forced or ever showing off.

Overall this album is a solid return from the band, by returning to their roots they have managed to remind the world why the band are one of the biggest bands in the world. Now please can we have some UK shows please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Influenced by Kiss, Led Zeppelin, The Jimmy Hendrix experience

Also try: - Sonic Boom – Kiss

Runnin wild – Airbourne

Dr Feelgood – Motley Crue