YEAR END LIST - ALBUMS 5-1

And now for my favourite picks of the year. Some surprises here for you, I don't doubt...

5 - Intervals - A Voice Within

Intervals were a band I was familiar with in the same vein as Chimpspanner or Pomegranate Tiger. Solid, serviceable instrudjent. And then they went and added a vocalist, and released this. Holy shit. So many people decried them for it, and so many people were just plain, straight up WRONG. The songwriting on this album is immaculate, the drumming of Anus Pastry is phenomenal (as is his ability to pull odd faces in photos), and the vocals. It's a shame that Semesky has already upped and left, that's for sure. Ephemeral is up there for my riff of the year, no doubt.

4 - Machine Head - Bloodstone & Diamonds

I had been prepared for this album to now make my year-end list. I had made my peace with it, and that peace was based on Unto the Locust being decent, but not great, And then Machine Head come out with this, and kerbstomp any doubt I had. More astounding is that they're 45, going on 50... Exceedingly strong songwriting coupled with a more experimental edge combine to form an album that is better than The Blackening. And yeah, I fuckin' said it.

3 - Fallujah - The Flesh Prevails

Surprised, Bren? It grew that much on me in FOUR DAYS. I hadn't thought much to this based on the tracks I'd heard off of it. Then some bearded sod called me out on it, and I listened to it in full. In the three days after it came, I had listened to it end-to-end seven times. The mixture of atmospheric spacey-ness and crushing death metal is compelling. It's what The Contortionist would have been had they been a death metal band.

2 - The Devin Townsend Project - Sky Blue

I never foresaw myself enjoying a pop album, but ostensibly, that's what this is. Twelve tracks of pop metal that runs the gamut between hard rock and shoegaze. We have a song that was influenced very overtly by chart r'n'b (and Dev acknowledges this with no qualms whatsoever). What people should accept is that, musically, Townsend is past metal. Long past it. And his current direction is one I would lend my axe to gladly. This is EASILY his best album yet.

1 - Black Crown Initiate - The Wreckage of Stars

Surprise fuckin' surprise, eh? Anyone who knows me will know this and Sky Blue duelled it out for my AOTY for a few months. This finally pipped Devin to the post, and that's no small feat at all, especially for the band's first full length release. The heavy, the ominous, the ambient and the unexpected collide with the force of comets to form something truly special. Perhaps this album should have been called Herman? Because it is the planet smasher. No album this year has warranted so many listens... And it only came out in September. And I only got the disc in October (thanks Customs, you fuckers).

Other honourable mentions: Sabaton - 'Heroes', In This Moment - 'Black Widow', Devil You Know - 'The Beauty of Destruction', Verse Vica - 'Endeavor', Bloodshot Dawn - 'Demons', Cormorant - 'Earth Diver', Wovenwar - 'Wovenwar'.

YEAR END LIST - ALBUMS 10-6

Yes indeed! It's that time again where I count down my top ten discs of the year. It would have been five, but 2014 was a very good year for music and five simply isn't enough.

10 - The Algorithm - Octopus4

It's rare for an album that can be described as instrumental to make it onto my list (it's not fully instrumental - there is a prolonged section of French rapping on 'Un Dernier Combat' and scattered vocal clips here and there on other tracks), but The Algorithm has managed to make it onto this year's. More focused than his last release, 2012's 'Polymorphic Code', as well as more organic and with a higher focus on melody and catchy songwriting,

9 - Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun

Some bemoan Mastodon for their current direction, deride that they have eschewed heaviness for songs that are more accessible. I quite enjoy their current progressive leanings. Once More 'Round the Sun continues along the same tangent that began with The Hunter, with a few tracks that hearken back to their material on Crack The Skye. 

8 - Nexilva - Eschatologies

This is the debut full length (at least, to my knowledge) from these guys, who I saw in April this year. Extremely rapid, technical riffs and machine gun drumming meet a dual-layered vocal delivery of throaty growls and shrieks, with just a smattering of keyboards to blacken things up a little. They're also possessed of one of the most terrifying bassists ever. Sweep picking a bass? Yup. Fucking scary. The only downside to the album is that the snare seems mixed far too low for all those blasts.

7 - Scar Symmetry - The Singularity, Part I: Neohumanity

With Death Jovi, you know what you're getting, by and large. Technical, widdly riffs, coupled with thundering bass, drums and a double vocal delivery. It's cheesy as fuck and they know it. And normally, pop-metal doesn't work. But when it;'s left to Per Nilsson, it works, and it works bloody well. Scar Symmetry will likely never return to the melodeath sound of their Alvestam years, but that's fine - the current direction fits them like a glove. Or a custom fleshlight.

6 - The Contortionist - Language

2014 was certainly the year in which I came to appreciate dreamy, spaced-out tunes, where sonic density and heaviness takes a back seat. The Contortionist certainly sound nothing like they did on Exoplanet, and to a lesser extent Intrinsic. Lessard's vocals are warmer than Carpenter's, which leads to a warmer sounding album than the previous two were, but one no less compelling for it. Walk through a row of trees in autumn and tell me this doesn't make sense.

DOUBLE ALBUM REVIEW - THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT - Z²

Woah! Two albums in one go? I am being spoiled rotten here this time. And it's Devin Townsend to boot! Indeed! I suppose I should write this review with... a coffee to hand.

In case you don't know, Z2 is a double album, consisting half of a Devin Townsend Project album called 'Sky Blue' and the album for which the release is titled, 'Ziltoid 2' (subtitled as Dark Matters).

We shall commence with Sky Blue, then.



If you've listened to Addicted! and Epicloud, you'll know what's at hand here. What Devin himself would affectionately dub as 'big, dumb rock'. There's not a great deal of thinking required here, though that isn't to say that the songs aren't incredibly dense. The compositions are designed to have you nodding along, singing along, lending your voice to Dev's grandiose feel-good choir. For where once he may have been considered the Nasultan of Negativity during his Strapping Young Lad days, now he is the Primarch of Positivity.

For these compositions are incredibly life-affirming. 'Rejoice', the opener, is one of his strongest songs to date, and you wonder if he's hit the apex with the starter. But no, you know better, and sure enough, we follow with 'Fallout' which is another corker. 'Universal Flame' features some soaring choirs (oh, the choirs on this release have about two thousand odd people in them, by the way), but then we hit 'Warrior', which picks up where Supercrush left off with an utterly soaring chorus that will wedge itself into your brain like a Xenomorph's mini-mouth. The instrumental work is pretty straightforward, with some memorable riffs, but most of the hooks come from Big D's voice, and that of Anneke van Giersbergen (whose name you think is a mouthful until you try to pronounce RVP's surname). And it's sublime. How else can I describe it? This is sublime.

If I viewed Epicloud as the final nail in the coffin of SYL, Sky Blue is where we see it lowered into the ground. But don't be sad. Happy Devin is here to stay, and he'll cheer you up, and in the process we'll have a massive singalong. This is EASILY his best work to date.

10/10

Now... I feel like a bit of fun.



If you've heard Ziltoid The Omniscient, then you'll know what to expect here. Silliness by the boatload, tongue-in-cheek humour and a storyline strange enough to leave you hankering for coffee.

It's important not to bemoan Dark Matters for a general lack of songs that can be traditionally described as 'catchy' (save for perhaps Deathray). It has hooks, certainly, and these will burrow into your brain just as surely as a cerebral bore would, but it is first and foremost a radio play in the style of The War of The Worlds, and indeed bears some similarities to what TWoTW would have been like had Jeff Wayne decided to take copious amounts of acid and entirely rewrite the storyline.

We have guest appearances, too - The Walls of Jericho play Captain Spectacular, and Dominique Lenore Persi as the War Princess. There's also narration courtesy of Bill Courage, and the narration makes Dark Matters work. Where before Dev did 99% of the voices, now we have extra depth and flavour, and Courage's brilliant narrative work makes the whole thing come together. Musically it's again very solid, and much more sensible than the first one - after all, the instruments don't need to be wacky when you have dialogue like THIS.

So, as an album, this one needs to be listened to end to end, without interruption. Best fetch a coffee, then.

9/10

ALBUM REVIEW: Black Crown Initiate - "The Wreckage of Stars"

It's rare that a band's debut album stops you dead in your tracks, and rarer still for that debut to be an EP. Black Crown Initiate managed that with last year's 'Song of the Crippled Bull', which has been spun on my MP3 player at LEAST 40 times since I bought it in March of this year. I also went as far as to get the physical copy. Enter their first full length album, 'The Wreckage of Stars'.



In this disc we have a comprehensive summation of this band, what they play, and hints of what may yet come. In many ways they are the Steven Erikson of metal, creating multihued landscapes that are both igneous and nival at the same time, a dichotomy of crushing brutality and haunting melody that paints an essay on the human condition. The ten tracks are jammed with monstrous riffs that veer from impressive technicality to lurching grooves, jammy bass lines and rapid-fire blast beats. The songs are also catchy as fuck. Did I mention that death metal can be catchy as fuck? Well, there it is.

The first song also jams out something I've never encountered in metal; the sitar. 'A Great Mistake' is thoroughly ominous, abounding with brooding threats. Vocalist James Dorton's roar (his main register, alongside higher growls and some higher still screams) is low, but enunciated, and you get the sense that this song is a kaiju risen from the Pacific to lay waste to all of Tokyo. Guitarist Andy Thomas provides the sung vocals, and it's clear that his beard has consumed a thousand infants to sustain what he describes as his 'cherubic tenor'. It has to have done. The thing is massive.

'The Fractured One' and 'The Malignant' both take us through some meaty riffs and melodic passages, but then we hit 'The Human Lie Manifest', one of the heaviest cuts on the album, which is where your face will be fucked clean off. If but sinews remained, now there shall be nothing but white, polished bone. And then there's 'Withering Waves'. Holy shitballs, that chorus. The riff behind it is so simple, the vocal line so powerful and catchy. It's the sound of Caladan Brood unlimbering his hammer and striking the ground.

We do also get a near-instrumental in the title track, and then the last two tracks are comparatively calm affairs that wind you down, lowering you to the floor even as the blade is pulled from your chest. And just like that, it's over.

I've not stopped listening to this since my copy came. Five times in two days, end to end. I can't give an honest score to this either, because I feel that to do so would be disingenuous. So you'll have to make up your own mind here. Suffice to say this will receive a lot of attention from my ears over the coming months.

ALBUM REVIEW - Scar Symmetry - "The Singularity, Phase I: Neohumanity"

Time for another album review. It's been a while.

Up today: Death Jovi, with their newest album (and first of a THREE PART album cycle [holy shitballs]), 'Neohumanity'. I'll not use the full title as it's nearly as cumbersome as the title to SikTh's first disc is.



So, what's on play here? Well, more of the same, really. If you know Scar Symmetry's previous material, you'll know what to expect here. They have the same sort of consistency that Lamb of God have with their style, in that there is a defined sound, with dual lead harmonies, technical widdles, alternating gruff and clean vocals and rapid rhythms. There's also science fiction. Lots of science fiction.

The album's first tracks open up with the concept of the album laid out, and nearly immediately we can tell Per Nilsson has been listening to Chimpspanner (the opening riff to 'Neohuman' wouldn't sound amiss in Ortiz's 'Mobius' suite). Growler Roberth Karlsson is sounding like a bear who's gone and caught his ballsack in a trap (as per usual - it's a very angry growl indeed) whilst clean singer Lars Palmqvist has added what I can only describe as a haunting quality to his delivery again, which seemed absent on The Unseen Empire (2011), and the return of this is welcome indeed. Henrik Ohlsson's drumming is tight, fast and chaotic, and Kenneth Seil's criminally underrated bass abuse again provides a simultaneous lockstep and counterpoint to Per's melodies. For anyone to keep up with that man is impressive, but on a bass? Doubly so. Buy him a beer.

The lyrics are predictably corny, but that's fine, because Scar Symmetry embrace cheese in a way that only Swedes can (Sabaton, anyone?). The spoken word ending to the incredibly ominous 'The Cryonic Harvest' is cheddar in purest form, even down to the atypical not-quite-perfect English that Swedish bands so often give us, but that I see as a very endearing quality. The first single 'Limits to Infinity' is amazingly catchy with a sledgehammer breakdown.

You'd think eight tracks would be a bit of a gip, but no. We have Dream Theater song lengths on occasion here, and so the disc lasts for near on 45 minutes. It's not the first time Scar Symmetry have touched on Dream Theater stylings - I'm sure this is a coincidence, but check out the introduction to 'Ghost Prototype II' and 'The Count of Tuscany'. Both discs are also from the same year. Spooky. To return to topic, the increased song length on 'Neohuman' and 'Technocalyptic Cybergeddon' works very well, and provides a nice balance to the radio length tracks on offer.

The album presently scores at a solid 9/10, and only misses the ten by virtue of brevity. But it's one in three. I'm good to wait for the rest to come.

ALBUM REVIEW - The Algorithm - 'OCTOPUS4'

How best to summarise the new Algorithm disc? Begin by soaking a SID chip in LSD for seven months. Drain the result through the brain of a paranoid schizophrenic and immediately after add a teaspoon of palm muted dustbeps. Finally flambé the end result before planting a white flag in the middle.

It really is that utterly barmy. We have here a mixture of electronica, Commodore 64 music, djent and the dustbeps which is wrapped within a story so insane that only this man could have coined it, an alternate universe where the Commodore 64 has taken over the world and everyone is Will Smith. This definitely rates about a 9.0 on my weird  shit-o-meter.

It starts relatively calmly on 'autoRun' before we get the chirpy, theme music that is 'discovery'. You realise here that there are actual hooks in the tracks, as opposed to the wanton chaos that made up 'Polymorphic Code', Algorithm's last effort. There is still chaos; it's just applied chaos now, directed and guided. The SID chip samples are hugely effective at drawing you in, and the technology still sounds incredibly good even today. The djent influence is still there, albeit reduced in importance.

'will_smith' brought with it a surprise. Blink and you'll miss it: at one point in the track, for a split second, you can hear the introductory sample from the last disc's single, 'Tr0jans', as well. Clever, Mr Algorithm, clever indeed. The album's primary strength is introducing myriad ideas from everywhere at once, but then capitalising on these ideas instead of allowing them to vanish as quickly as they came. Mid-album track 'Void' is near three and a half minutes of ambience, which is a welcome respite amidst the chaos.

That's not to say that I dug everything on the disc, mind you. I don't dig rap at the best of times, so the long passage of it (in French, to boot) on 'un dernier combat' didn't really work for me. I'm sure others will disagree, which is fine, but it was the one moment on the album that I didn't get. The closing track, the title track, now that is a beast indeed. I can almost see the look of disbelief on Malyan's face as he asks Algorithm 'you expect me to play WHAT?', and Algorithm's trollish laugh in response. Very tasty indeed.

This is definitely not music for the fainthearted. But if you're up for a challenge and prepared to take a bit of a risk for a change, check this out. It's worth the effort.

8/10

ALBUM REVIEW: Sabaton - 'Heroes'

Oh my, yes. Cheesy power metal time again!

A difficult album is almost invariably what you wind up with when you have a mass exodus of members, and four of the original six members of Swedish powercheese outfit Sabaton have upped and left since 'Carolus Rex'. There's been a lot of pressure on the band to deliver following that disc, and rightly so.

The obvious question: Is it better than Carolus? Ooooh, short answer 'yes, with an if', and long answer 'no, with a but'. I'll give you a breakdown on this: It's not as thematically complex or cohesive as its predecessor, but then it doesn't have the benefit of being a concept album telling a story arc. This is more in the vein of the 2010 album 'Coat of Arms'. Some risks are taken. Some cheese is matured. At times we venture into full Dorset Blue Vinney level cheese.

The opening number 'Night Witches' is similar to 'Midway' in the construction of the rhythms, but has a simultaneously unique feel, and it's impossible not to sing along once you know the lyrics. It's also one of their more ominous songs, with a chorus reminiscent of the title track off of Carolus. Sabaton's strength has always been constructing albums with a familiar, often predictable feel, but there are enough differences between the songs that it never feels tired. Both 'No Bullets Fly' and 'Smoking Snakes' ramp up the cheese level a notch, with the latter of the two sounding not dissimilar to a hymn, right down to the cheddar ending. We move through (another) song about Auschwitz, and then reach the first real curveball this band has thrown at us for a while: a folksy woodwind lead on 'To Hell and Back'. It shouldn't work. It really shouldn't. But it does. And that melody is infectious.

The highlight of the disc for me has easily been 'Resist and Bite', which hearkens back to the days of 'The Art of War', whilst maintaining a forward-looking approach. I found the closer 'Hearts of Iron' particularly interesting, as it's essentially 'Attero Dominatus' but from the other point of view. The bonus tracks '7734' and 'Man of War' are decent, if not spectacular. The only song I remain unconvinced on is 'The Ballad of Bull', which is basically what you get. A ballad, about Bull. A powercheese band doing a power ballad really does bring the brie, and it can be a little much to stomach, especially for those more used to their faster stylings. Still, you have to respect them for having a crack at it.

Overall, this is a very enjoyable album, providing you don't expect Carolus II. If you do, you'll wind up disappointed. If you don't, you'll find a solid, enjoyable, if very predictable album.

8/10

ALBUM REVIEW: Nexilva - 'Eschatologies'

Music blogs are a finnicky thing. A lot of content holds no appeal to me. But it's worth paying attention to them because doing so can sometimes bring you something pretty swell.

A big up to Heavy Blog Is Heavy, here. They also turned me on to a local tour that these chaps were playing on (twenty minutes from my house, in fact), and the live show was what persuaded me to preorder the album. It's not come yet, but I preordered late, so I was happy to just get the download code on the day. The physical copy should be here in a few days.

So. What do we have here? Eschatologies. The study of the eschaton, the end times, the apocalypse. Musically, there are a few clear influences. There's the melodic shred of The Black Dahlia Murder, the black metal trem-picking of Fleshgod Apocalypse, the synthy, downtuned chug of 'The Discovery' era Born of Osiris, and the tech-death stylings of Abiotic. It's easier to just call it technical death metal, but you get the idea.

What we have are fourteen tracks, ten of which are actual songs, four of which are instrumental segues. The segues are necessary. Remember how Gojira used them on 'The Way of All Flesh' to give you a reprieve from the pummeling? Well, it's kind of the same here. The songs are relentlessly brutal walls of sound, and without the segues, it may get a little much. They add a dose of variation that allows you to regain a breath before the sledgehammer tipped with a chainsaw with scalpels for blades is thrown at your face again.

Everyone here is proficient, although the rhythm section rank as 'terrifying' due to some of those parts. The vocals rip and tear, the guitars are acrobatic, and even the sections that chug in F# or G (I can't remember what I overheard the tuning being. I'm probably way out) don't feel contrived in the slightest. We even get some clean singing on 'Evil Will Prevail', which works really well. The obvious standout tracks for me were 'The Misdirection of God' and 'Cybernetic Lucidity'.

There are a few flaws to be mentioned. The snare is mixed very low, and so is at times nearly inaudible. This could be because we have million mile a minute gravity blasts going on, but considering the rest of the kit is fully audible at all times, it seems like a bit of an oversight. And the synth parts do sound pretty similar for the most part, although this could be a thematic choice.

The flaws are minor quibbles, though, and otherwise this is a very assured debut from a band who bear closer watching over the next few years.

9/10

ALBUM REVIEW: Intervals - 'A Voice Within'

Intervals are a band I've only recently begun to listen to, and yet their metamorphosis across that timespan is pretty drastic - they've gone from instru-djent to full on melodic progressive metal (with vocalist) since I first heard their music. And their new disc is called 'A Voice Within'. I see what you did there, Intervals!

So, what do we get on this disc? Nine tracks, eight of which bear the vocals of Mike Semesky, all of them energetic, progressive songs with a bit of a pop edge. Not that this detracts from the appeal of the songs - they're still crunchy, technical tunes which get your head bobbing. Surprisingly, most of them seem to be in a straight 4/4, but that's by the by.

We launch straight into 'Ephemeral', which has one of the catchiest guitar hooks I've heard in years. Semesky's voice seems comfortable in the mid range and doesn't stray far from it, but then it never really needs to. The drums are pretty eye watering as well. I've seen Anup Sastry play these tracks live, but I'm still trying to ponder how many extra limbs I'd need to be able to play the tunes, as well as how to actually play them in the first place.

We get some jazz-fusion on 'Moment Marauder', which also highlights that the band aren't afraid to dabble in other genres if the song needs it. We even get a nice little instrumental in 'Breathe' that serves as a nice change of pace.

Do we consider this a debut? Perhaps. The two releases before were E.Ps with four tracks only. So as first albums go, this is a very strong entry and one likely to receive frequent time on my MP3 player.

9/10

GIG REVIEW: Protest The Hero With Tesseract, The Safety Fire and Intervals

Been a while since I did a gig review, right? Why not now? Such lineup! Much polyrhythm. Wow!

So. To Corp I went, upon that cold and windy night, for an evening of curled moustaches, high vocals, and Axe FX preamps. We're in the big room today, and I'm right up the front with a great view of the stage.

First up we have Intervals, a formerly-instrumental band from Canada. I'm peripherally familiar with their work, mostly through a musician mate from America, and expected some serious noodling and complicated rhythms. Recently, their vocalist also took up vocal duties, and so there's no on-stage bass. Presumably this came through their backing tracks, which was a bit of a shame but overall understandable. Their music isn't simple at all. I feel they'll be one to watch.

Next up, The Safety Fire, who I know nothing of other than they were on a gameshow. We have our first villainous facial hair here, and some London banter. One, two. You can normally tell how hard a band will play by the state of the cymbals, and here was a Holy China that was flapping about like a hooker walking the streets. The drummer smanged it so hard, in fact, that a good three inch length of the flange broke off. DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO DO THAT? Their performance was convincing, although being so close to the front meant most of what I heard was bass, drums and vocals, so again, a band I should put some time into and maybe buy some CDs off of.

TesseracT, then. A previous review will show that I have a great love of Altered State, and though I've seen them live before, this will be my first time seeing them and knowing the songs. And we get some relatively predictable choices, much like when I saw them last may, in Of Matter (the full 3-movement suite), Of Mind I: Nocturne and Of Energy I: Singularity, as well as a few tracks from Concealing Fate. Tight as always, there's no cock ups here, other than a dropped monitor, prompting a very audible 'ASHE!' from the stage. I realise now as well that Mr Williams reminds me somewhat of Gaston what with his shirt all open like that. Ahem.

Protest The Hero are unfortunately beset with some technical issues this evening. Arif's bass head dies, leading to some amusing banter between band and crowd. There are frequent pauses between songs, allowing for some further crowd interaction, much to the amusement of everyone involved. It looks like Canada doesn't get the very British 'youi' sound, although they do get 'blech'. The band rip through the set, which is predictably fast, fun and a lark to watch. I don't know if he's been practicing but Arif has definitely got the Sheffield Two Step down to a tee. The only disappointment for me was no Without Prejudice, but the rest of the set was good enough that it's a minor quibble.

I had some serious fun last night. And with live music, that's easily the most important thing for me.