by Martin Popoff
Solstice - New Dark Age
(Misanthropy/PHD)
UK's imposing Solstice have returned through fire with what has
got to be one of the more interesting works to combine doom and progressive
since Anathema's and Amorphis' metamorphosing catalogues.
The high points are many, most culminating in a four-part symphony
of metal crucials revolving around drum sound, drum performance, guitar
sound and overall production. This is most evident on the rock hard
confidence of the opening title track and Alchemiculte, which is eight
minutes of vibrating, down-tuned mayhem laced with Maiden. In betwixt
the hellfire perfection of those mountain-sized guitars, there's
a bunch of minstrel mucking about, but it all kinda fits, because
even the heavy stuff is far from harsh, more like an earthquake you
know in resignation and peace, will mark your end. High and various
relief throughout, both musically and vocally, New Dark Age is a classic
that insistently captures doom for the serious creators, snatching
it away from those who would become stoner rock.
Rating 9
Black Star - Barbed Wire Soul
(Metal Blade)
This is of course 3/4 of Carcass progressing down the love-it (me)
hate-it (everybody else) path of Swasong. Out in England like six
months ago or more, the band has finally figured out how to get it
happening o'er here, Metal Blade doing well to pick this sucker
up. And of course I dig this, Ken, Carlo, Griff and Jeff, with the
help of a restrained Colin Richardson, finding raw, vital metal grooves,
closer to the death rock of Entombed than the death metal of older
Entombed and Carcass themselves. But this goes even further mainstream,
Black Star injecting melody, and horns (that don't work: see
Riot), when the whim overtakes them. And it's really quite like
that. There's this metal munching glory pounding throughout this
thing, and then the radar shifts ever so slightly, stumbling on passages
where we really think rock rather than metal. But it is occasional
and not without merit, bands like Black Star (or possibly Black Star
Rising: no-one knows what to call these guys now) really doing this
well when they come from so far the other side. Jeff Walker's
vocals are mainstram but disposed unto death, just belligerent, a
perfect fit to the amazing, beer-spilling riffs all over this fine,
fine middle metal exercise. Guitar sound, riffs, spontanaeity, gorgeous
groove-filled drumming from Ken Owen, it's all there in a blowin-free
retro package that is tall, proud, dirt-choked and hard-working, sorta
like a beer commercial shot in a coal mine.
Rating 9
Pentagram - Human Hurricane
(Downtime '98)
Alright mopheads, the story is now told at prices we can afford. Pentagram
are one of the original doom acts in the world ever, feedbacking their
way around the lowest ladder rungs from 1971 to 1976, remaining relatively
unknown because all they had was a grab-bag of singles. First of four
proper studio albums came in '85, but this great package compiles
all the early singles plus demos and other rarities (all 1973 - 1976)
so we can finally witness the majesty of Pentagram. Well, not quite
majesty. There's a reason Sabbath got famous and nobody else
did. But this is as heavy, and actually heavier than most of the 'elses',
those being Sir Lord Baltimore, Blue Cheer, Bang, and a bunch of others
people claim to exist (and when you hear them from a metal point of
view, the argument falls apart). Almost tapped for a right go 'round
by the Krugman/Pearlman team (see the fantastic Cultsters), Pentagram
cut through the fat and actually tried quite hard to be loud, sludge-filled
metal, citing as their heroes Blue Cheer, but exceeding on that band's
promise at least in percentages. Plus these guys had a great vocalist
in Bobby Liebling, who had one of those inhuman '60s belts that
worked with this America-difused, Detroit-dated, Amboy-doofussed but
otherwise Sabbath-wobbled material. Really proof that the metal bands
you know were not alone in toiling away real scary like. Seventeen
tracks, and among them, quite a few forms of pre-metal mania ventured
musingly, then discarded come 1976 for nine years of what? Contact
dtrecordings@hotmail.com for ordering info.
Rating 8
Eidolon - Seven Spirits
(Pulse '98)
Can't believe more people aren't talking about this pantheon
of traditional, classical metal might, given bad joke bands like Sacred
Steel, OK joke bands like Hammerfall, and good joke bands like Manowar
seem to be filling up press space for '80s metal's very
real revivial. Eidolon (led by King Diamond guitarist Eric Drover),
on the other hand, are dead serious about their take on how to do
steadfast Euro metal with conviction. For that's what we have
here, a sound that is not unlike uncluttered and unfettered Mercyful
Fate with James LaBrie singing (it's actually a towering talent
called Brian Soulard), superior, slick metal songs (yes, songs), that
slam with a deceptive simplicity, sorta like the grey goth of Memento
Mori struck with the headbanged spirit of Accept, tight as a drum,
overbrimming with metal pride, spit-firing one minute, doing calm
Rush respites the next, and eventually getting around to a cover of
Ozzy's Diary Of A Madman, a perfect quasi-progressive touch for
this important sounding gathering of metal scholars. Note: this is
the band's second album (originally from '97, Pulse reissue
containing bonus tracks) after a '96 debut called Zero Hour.
Rating 8
In The Woods - Strange In Stereo
(Misanthropy/PHD)
This is just too artsy and wishy-washy to be taken seriously. Also,
the production is thin, which does nothing for all those clanky goth
dramatics, wailing violins and Kate Bush-cloning. I guess this is
the true stoner rock, because Strange In Stereo just sounds like a
meandering thoughtless jamfest of discardable doom, black and goth
ideas, all captured in AM radio-quality glory. Get some good amplifiers,
give your drummer a click track and invest in some serviceable microphones.
This slow drip should have been left in the woods with instructions
to study the Opeth catalogue (and for that matter, the works of labelmates
Solstice), a larger block of studio time, and admonishments to lay
off the wine.
Rating 4