Gothminister-Utopia

 

AFM Records
2013

Gothminister are a Norwegian quartet that, for lack of a better description, play goth-flavored industrial rock/heavy metal. On "Utopia", the group's fifth studio album since forming in 1999, the band's lead singer, Bjørn Alexander Brem, taps into his personal nightmares for a concept album. With Icarus (guitars), Turbo Natas (guitars) and Chris Dead (drummer) joining him (Bass? We don't need no stupid bass!) the band set out to not only make a concept album, in and of itself not as easy as it seems folks, but (on the limited edition CD/DVD version) also a horror/concert film (DVD)! With all of that running through my brain I was fully prepared to loath this release. I must admit though to being wrong. Not unusually I know (just ask any/all my former lovers), but I was really, truly pleasantly surprised with this one. For times sake I'll throw out some names (Ministry, N.I.N. Rob Zombie, Type O Negative, Marilyn Manson, Rammstein, Alice Cooper, etc.) and have you magically mix everything in  your mind's eye. Got it? Or at least a vision of what I'm getting at? More or less Gothminister takes those bands & artists and, with a careful eye set on trying to carve out their own niche in this world, sets about writing music that acts as a soundtrack for the doom and gloom crowd. The album, which was produced by Bjørn Alexander Brem, mixed by Neil Kernon (Judas Priest, Nile) and mastered by Alan Douches (The Misfits, Dillinger Escape Plan) is not without it's charm and, as concept albums go, there's more then enough to pull you into Brem's nightmare."Utopia" is probably a misleading title (In both the sense of where this nightmare leads and the album's overall effectiveness), but it keeps you intrigued to the very end so that says something about it's cold embrace.

Markonee-Club Of Broken Hearts

New Venture Music
2013

Chances are if you've spent anytime at all around this blog then you'll know that I am a huge fan of the Italian heavy metal act Danger Zone. Therefore, when I read that Markonee featured ex-Danger Zone guitarist Stefano Peresson in it's ranks I jumped all over this LP. Stefano Peresson, who handles lead, rhythm & acoustic guitars and keyboards in Markonee, formed this band back in 1999 together with guitarist Carlo Bevilacqua. This is actually album number three for Markonee who adapted their band name from the Italian radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi. Reportedly it's also the band's heaviest recording to date. With new lead singer Alessio Trapella making his studio debut (in fine form I might add!) the band is filled out by the rhythm section of Luigi "JJ" Frati and Ivano Zanotti (bass and drums respectively). "Club Of Broken Hearts" was mixed and mastered by Roberto Priori (Danger Zone, Wheels Of Fire). So far these guys have shared the stage with everyone from Winger to Molly Hatchet and, while they might not be a household name here in the states yet, they have EVERYTHING needed to catch on here in the States. These 12 tracks have hooks and those oh-so-sweet moments when even the most rigid metalhead has to let their guard down some and just get into the groove of things! With their junior release the band sticks pretty close to their influences (Winger, Ratt, Warrent, Firehouse, Pink Cream 69) while they also smoke in the likes of Enuff Z'Nuff, Bang Tango, Black 'N Blue, Y&T, Gotthard and Tyketto. Incidentally those last two influences they've shared the stage with and, maybe it's just the working influence of Roberto Priori here, but Markonee also has a bit of a Danger Zone vibe to them as well! Straight-up this is rock driven melodic hard rock/heavy metal with great leads, sweet licks and a singer that seems like he's been custom built out of the spare parts of many hair metal/glam metal vocalists of yesteryear. If you didn't get enough of the 80's hard rock scene or you just happen to like guitar-driven rock that isn't afraid to show it's softer side while it's dancing in heavy metal's leftover embers then this 12-track platter is just what the doctor ordered!

Vietcong Pornsürfers-We Spread Diseases

Dangerous Rock Records
2013

Swedish 4-piece Vietcong Pornsürfers, who possess another quirky and yet cool as shit name, offer up a really interesting mixture of punk and hard rock on this 12-track album. I'd imagine that this is what would happen if members of The Dead Boys, Ramones and The Misfits got into a brutal bus crash with members of Hanoi Rocks, L.A. Guns, New York Dolls and Guns N' Roses. If you can picture a raw and punkish 80's Sunset Strip act collaborating with some of New York's 70's punk artists and then salivate at the thought then this is one slab of metal meat you'll want to take a nice big bite out of. Sometimes sloppy, but always crunchy this band delivers track after track of snarly rock that what make Iggy Pop stand up and take notice! Definitely worth tracking down if you're into punkish metal with a sleazy undercoat!

https://www.facebook.com/VietcongPornsurfersOfficial

Current Playlist

For those who checked in last week you'd have noticed that I didn't get to a Current Playlist. For that matter I didn't get a lot of reviews posted either. Last Friday I ended up watching a 2 year old for the day and, as tomorrow holds the same fate, I'm posting this today. I'm hoping I'll get more reviews done next week. With Summer soon upon us things will get busy (especially when you're a single parent of teens!) so I am looking to push stuff out now and, man alive, do I ever have a lot of stuff sitting around for review! When I started writing for Heavy Metal Time Machine it was to help take some of the pressure off of Metal Mark. Here we are and I find myself in the same boat! Over the past 2 weeks I've gotten more promos then I've ever seen so I'll be trying to cram a bunch in. That means they might be shorter then normal, but it all adds up to the same thing either way! With that here's my list...

Listening to:
Sacred Reich-Surf Ignorance
Lyadrive-Another Time, Another Place
Axe Attack Compilation
Parkside Steelworks Compilation
White Witch-A Spiritual Gathering
Sign Of The Jackal-Beyond
Mercy House-Broken State Of Bliss
Ignorance-The Confident Rat
Wrath-Nothing To Fear
Satan-Life Sentence

Watching:
Dr Giggles
Forever Evil
Warehouse 13
Sisters Of Death
The Wild Man of the Navidad

Reading:
The Official Splatter Movie Guide

M-16-Locked and Re-Loaded

Heaven and Hell Records
2013 

Year's back I remember downloading M-16's sole release, 1988's "Locked and Loaded", based solely on the gnarly looking cover (see second pic below with the skeleton!). At the time it had popped up on a bootleg compilation I believe and it was marked as being traditional heavy metal. At the time I was severely disappointed as it was more hard rock then anything and the production, done at MCE Studios in Schenectady, N.Y., was flat and life-less. What a difference this re-release makes! The remastering was done by Jamie King at The Basement Recording in NC and wow, does this thing ever pop now! Heaven and Hell Records has taken this New York band's lone-release and, after taking on two bonus cuts, turned what was once M-16's "Locked and Loaded" into "Locked And Reloaded"! It's new cover makes a lot more sense as this was clearly melodic metal in vogue with what was going on back in the late eighties. Musically it comes across to me as Stryper meets Dokken although there are clearly elements of Winger, Black and Blue, Leatherwolf, Bon Jovi, Kiss, Helix and Icon. M-16 was also similar in many way's to Stutz as they aimed for unoffensive party metal or, perhaps a better description might be, club metal. While this kind of music was hit or miss with me back then (and even when I first heard "Locked and Loaded" I was left unimpressed) I opted to pick up a limited copy of this re-release anyway. The samples I heard made me re-think this album when it was put up as a pre-order. The punch that it lacked the first time came ringing through the speakers and it was obvious that the band's sound had been given the proper treatment this time around. Even so these songs are much better playing in my car stereo and the songs are fun and rather catchy! As it was limited to 500 copies your best bet now would be to try secondary markets like Ebay, but for melodic metal/hair metal fans this is a cool pick-up from a cult New York band. The CD comes with a nice booklet with pictures and a history of the band and, thanks to some loving hands behind this re-release, the overall sound is vastly improved 100 times over! 

http://www.m16rocks.com/

Original album cover

Rusted Brain-High Voltage Thrash

Slaney Records*
2013

Warsaw-based Rusted Brain, who possess a killer name for a metal band, are a relatively new outfit having formed back in 2009. The group issued a 9-track demo, "Juggler", in 2011 with "High Voltage Thrash" being their full-length debut album. While the title gives away what Poland's Rusted Brain are all about (ie. fast and furious, high voltage thrash) theirs is a sound firmly rooted in the 80's scene. Metallica's "Kill Em' All" is the most obvious influence of this 4-piece act, but the band does toss in elements of Exodus, Razor, Overkill and Slayer to keep things churning in the right direction. Here and there you'll find some nwobhm moments (Iron Maiden and Satan come to mind), but all in all this is raw thrash and damn, is it every fine! Rumcayz (Damian Lodowski) handles vocals and bass on the album and his style can be traced back to underground death/thrash acts of the 80s. Rogal (Przemek Rogalski) takes care of lead and rhythm guitars and backing vocals while Kretu (Michal Czerniakowski) joins him as they shred through lead solos like Freddy Kruger slashing up his latest victim. Meanwhile drummer Beny (Benedykt Zwoliński)bashes the hell out of his set and as these four whip everything into a frenzied assault all you can do is stand back and enjoy the show! Again, my copy came from Tridoid Records and hearing "High Voltage Thrash" on headphones transported me back to high school and a time when these sort of bands were coming up the pipe-line faster then the speed of light! For old-school thrash fanatics this is a no-brainer!


*Cassette version released on Tridoid Records

Subset-Loverdose

Underly Records, Reality Records and Venombase Records
2013

When it comes to an album like "Loverdoes" yes, it takes the cooperation of 3 record labels coming together to release it! On their new release, number 8 in their short career, London's Subset offer up 14 tracks of high energy rock and roll/heavy metal that channel's everyone from Bad Religion to STP! That's 14 tracks with not a dud to be found among the bunch! But, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself (as per usual!) so, let's do a roll back and start from the beginning. Subset actually started out playing live in 2009. At the time they had no money to their name and no real resources. Their first tour, back in 2010, was even done without the aide of having their own van to transport them from one gig to the next! And it wasn't like these four gentlemen where just playing a hand-full of gigs here and there or anything. In fact, since playing out back in 2009, these rockers have become one of the hardest working bands to come out of London! Now that says something! Well, here it is 2013 and Subset, as stated above, are on release number 8! Now, while math was not always my strong suit, I believe that averages out to 2 releases a year!As this band is constantly on the road just when did they find the time to knock out 8 different releases? I wish I knew their secret to time management or had even a 1/3 of their apparent energy! Who am I kidding, I settle for 1/5 of it! Anyway, while I had planned to do a track by track breakdown in the end I decided it just wasn't all that necessary as all the tracks converge to create a classic rock release! I've already listened to this one several times through and, as I'm about to embark on a short 2 hour trek to a girlfriend's house, I plan to burn a cop for the road trip ahead. Why? Well, with their classic take on rock (by way of everything from punk rock and roll to post-grunge/radio rock) this one is custom built for the road...or your next party. It's just that kind of rock release. It's cool and hip like some new college rock band or hipster band without all the pomp and dress up! Why I'm just now hearing about these London rockers in another mystery in a life that holds far too many. But, I'm hearing about them now and spreading the love. This one is fun and laid back while never taking it's foot off of the peddle. "Loverdoes" could be called alt. rock or post-grunge/modern hard rock. It could be called garage rock or be looked at as more hipster rock. Whatever. The names not that important. What matters is that "Loverdose" is one for the records folks! Or, at the very least, the record collection! Good job Subset. Good job indeed.

http://subset.bandcamp.com/ 

Noisem-Agony Defined

A389 Recordings
2013

 
Here's the deal folks. This LP was actually released in 2012 under the band's previous moniker, Necropsy. Baltimore-based A389 Recordings scoped this album up for a re-release and, more then likely in an effort to differentiate themselves from the 4,000 other bands known as Necropsy, the band opted for the name change. I'd argue that was a good call for this Baltimore-based 5-piece as it will definitely help them stand out more on the world stage. This relatively young act was formed in 2008 with "Agony Defined" being their sole-recording. While the group might be young, both as a band and age-wise (all of these gents are YOUNG with bassist Yago Ventura (born in 1993) being the old man of the bunch!) there is a real sense of maturity from this group.Vocalist Tyler Carnes (Bloodlust, Cremator) is a real threat on the mic and the band, which is filled out by guitarists Sebastian Phillips & Travis Stone and drummer Harley Phillips (who is the same age as my teenage daughter!), play with such conviction and integrity (not to mention skill level!) that you'd swear they had been kicking things up for much longer then their brief existence! Sound-wise this is death/thrash along the lines of early Sepultura, Kreater, early Slayer, At War, Morbid Angel and early Artillery. Toss in some Demolition Hammer, Forbidden, early Sodom and Nuclear Assault and what you end up with a simply wicked 9-track album! While I'm not surprised that younger musicians can sound this wicked, as I know of other young musicians in thrash bands, I am surprised that this is the first time I'm hearing about this Baltimore-based act. If this is what they have to offer at this young junction of their lives then the sky's the limits for Noisem! Recommend for fans of any of the aforementioned acts or those that just like hell-spawned twisted death/thrash!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Noisem/100512316809410?ref=ts&fref=ts
http://www.a389records.com
https://www.facebook.com/a389recordings
https://twitter.com/a389recordings

Septekh-Apollonian Eyes EP

Abyss Records
2013

What should one reasonably expect while looking over this EP? I wouldn't blame you if you didn't know as I didn't know and, as such & everything being equal (and blah, blah) I sat on this 4-track release until it started to get ripe and smell! It might have been laziness or the worry that it would be dreadful. Man, I don't know. You'd think the tag, "dirty trashy death metal" might have appealed to me or even the talking points of "influenced by Motörhead & Black Sabbath", but nope, I skipped this one and just now got my crap in order to listen to and review this EP. And? Well, offhand you could call it a punk rawk Motörhead with more of a deathly vocalist. Said vocalist, Nils Grznls Mesekeother, leads this 4-piece band (Guitarist David Wikström, Bassist Patrik Ström and Drummer Staffan Persson round things out) through 15 minutes of the death n' roll, trash metal that's neither great nor ghastly.  If anything this third EP from Sweden's Septekh just goes to show that garage metal can be found anywhere around the world.

Praesepe-Hybrid Creation

Self-Released/Independent*
2012

Poland's Praespe may trace their roots back to 1996, but "Hybrid Creation" is only their 3rd full-length release. For you see, from 1996 to 2002 they were known as Ars Moriendi and they were playing this  black/death form of metal. Well, they are actually still incorporating some black and death metal into their sound, but we're getting ahead of ourselves. Their Facebook page mentions that early on (when they were still known as Ars Moriendi) they were influenced by all sorts of things from the usual (death/black/doom/thrash) to the not-so-usual (progressive rock/industrial/jazz-classical/movie soundtracks). In 2002 came the name change with a demo, "Pretentious Circle", following shortly thereafter. Why the name change? We can only guess. Anyway, following another set of demos, 2003's  "Dance Of Eternal Madness" and 2005's "B Dead - Bizzare", the band finally issued a debut album in 2006. The oddly named "NGC 2632 v M44" set the stage for this Polish act and now, finally I know, we wrap our way back around to "Hybrid Creation". When the band formed back in 1996 they were a black/death metal outfit and now, with a little stream-lining (and the added addition of progressive and dark metal elements), they've achieved a nice balance between gnarly death metal and melodic/technical thrash. "Hybrid Creation", which was recorded in London and mixed & mastered in Poland by Widek (http://widekrecords.com/), is highlighted by the unholy vocals of Przemysław Kajnat (Eternal Deformity) who, in addition to unearthing these raw and sinister demonic growls, handles bass**. The rest of the line-up is filled out by guitarist Andrzej Komarek, guitarist Dominik Gryzbon (Themgoroth), drummer Balcer and guitarist Konrad. Studio guest musicians were as follows:
Destroyer - solo guitar in "Weakness"
Marcin - midi drums arrangements & programming
Paweł Kucyper - special sound effects
Vraath - bass

With 8 tracks total, and a run-time of 48:02 (per the Metal Archives), "Hybrid Creation" proved to a great way to start up my morning. On cassette you get a slightly gritty vibe which makes this release sound like an underground recording from the long-gone (and sadly missed) days of tape-trading. Whether one chooses to call this band progressive death metal, dark metal or a hybrid of death/black and progressive metal the tag doesn't really matter. What matters most is that this "little of this and little of that" Polish band is carrying on the fine tradition already established by so many of their fellow countrymen. Poland is well-known for having some of the best black and death metal acts out there and now, thanks to this cool little LP, everyone is able to see that the talent level there won't be drying up anytime soon!

 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Praesepe/124582040946181
 

 https://www.facebook.com/TridroidRecords?fref=ts




*Cassette version released on  Tridroid Records
** The Facebook page lists Przemysław Kajnat as Praesepe's vocalist/bassist while the tape I have just has him listed as vocals & arrangements. My best guess is that he handles both live while on this album Vraath actually did the bass work.

Chains-Dancing With My Demons 7"

Svart Records
2013


Chains was formed in 2010 by Etienne "Hellscream" Chelleri (Bleeding Fist, Naberius ). With Chains he is known as E. Chains and, prior to the recording of this limited 7", he handled all of the instruments and vocals. joined by Hour of 13's Lord Samhain. On "Dancing With My Demons" Lord Samhain, who actually joined up with E. Chains after the release of Chains' sole full-length recording, "Of Death", plays drums and end the result is rather chilling and eerie.  Reportedly earlier recordings (which also included the 9+ minute demo/single "All the Colors of the Dark") where similar in nature to Sunn O))), Moss and Urfaust, only with the added elements of 70's horror movies. Those 2 releases certainly sound like they would be worthwhile tracking down as the earlier recording were also said to be influenced by bands like Death SS and Paul Chain! Here though the music, which has this musty vibe to it, come creeping out slowing like a ghoulish skeleton from an old 70's Euro-thriller! On this 2-track release Chains experiments with not only drone and doom elements, but vintage death rock and horror rock. Toss in some dark metal and give the whole thing a ghoulish vibe and you've got "Dancing With My Demons".  With another full-length album due out in either 2013 or 2014 this 2-track 7" only serves as an appetizer for all the ghouls and boys out there!



https://www.facebook.com/ChainsOfficial?fref=ts

Soulhealer-Chasing The Dream

Pure Legends Records
2013

Finland's Soulhealer have come a long way since forming in 2009. While their last release, "The Kings of Bullet Alley", was a self-release, which I covered, the group now is signed to Pure Legends Records. A word of congratulations is in order for this 5-piece group. With album number two now here (there was also an EP released in 2010 called "Dreamcatcher") the band has added another notch on their belt. Being lead by a talented vocalist like Jori Kärki obviously helps, but the rest of the band are no slouchers either as evident by the 10 tracks on album number two. When done right melodic heavy metal can be fun and adventurous without being too light or fluffy. With guitarists Sami Mikkonen and Teemu Kuosmanen laying down fantastic leads, and a talented new rhythm section (bassist Pasi Laakkonen and drummer Jani Nyman) keeping the pace, this new Soulhealer album is justly-titled. With "Chasing The Dream" it certainly seems as if Soulhealer are living their dream of becoming a top-notch heavy metal outfit!

http://metalmark.blogspot.com/search?q=soulhealer