by Martin Popoff
Holy Mother - Criminal Afterlife
(abs/Crazy Life)
The double ironies are multiplying like fractals here, New York's Holy Mother (consisting of
ex-Jack Starr's Burning Starr members) having to go overseas to get a deal, finding metal legend
Axel Thubeauville and Crazy Life to sharpen the band's hard, immediate power metal into focus.
This is the third record, and the sound hasn't changed much, Holy Mother carving up some of the
most energetic and electric traditional '80s ideas since Primal Fear (heck, it even looks like
Jaws Of Death), o'er which Mike Tirelli does a striking Dio. To drive home the point, there's an
unbelievable cover of Holy Diver (record II did a less impressive You've Got Another Thing
Comin'), which is spot on vocally with this snapped-down, buff '90s recording approach that is all
about sweet midrange that reaches out and shakes you by the lapels. All told, it's this relentless
quick-step thunder that crosses classic Dio with the pummel of Iron Savior or Gamma Ray's fast
tracks, ultimately power metal packed with the personality perhaps only old pros who were there
can provide, which also can unfortunately cause a bit of datedness. www.clm.de or clm@clm.de
Rating 7.5
Six Feet Under - Maximum Violence
(Metal Blade)
Those quizzical anti-death deathsters are back with more infectious punk rock in a Floridian state
of mind. People used to put down Unleashed for locking on and netting it out until we believed,
and Six Feet Under are about that same vibe. So as with their Warpath record (I loved it, others
loathed it), Barnes and Co. have written post-grind pop hits that are just simple and tone-deaf
enough to crack a smile. And if you still thought it was all to artsy, the band kicks in with
three vanilla-with-razors covers (Kiss, Maiden and Lizzy: update: I had an advance; only the Kiss
track made the final cut, the other two to be used as bonus tracks etc.), all clogged up with the
band's mid-munch garage crunch, uneventful but effective, sort of death irony at its best. And
there's the rub: Brian Slagel has made this sound like he's only giving us the frequencies we
need, a chassis built for the stage or AM radio or something, wind blowing through the space
between the ears, caveman rock and its most frictionful. Pointless but productive, pushing Six
Feet Under into a sort of hallowed netherzone of persona over Deicidal prowess just for the hell
of it. And it passes the hardest test of all: I actually play it, which supersedes all critical
conjecture.
Rating 8
War - We Are War
(Necropolis)
Here's one of those mental vortexes usually sane (although deaf) artists kind of fall into and
then thrash about, War being (at least this time), All from Vondur and Opthalamia, Blackmoon from
Dark Funeral and Necrophobic, Impious from In Aeturnum and big ol' Lars from Hypocrisy. What this
larfed collective do is create a 29-minute lark of a din, recorded like old time thrash (Warfare,
Venom, The Damned's debut), winding up the punk rock repetition (check out Infernal: yech!) and
just surveying the flames as they clank over the bunker in blurry black metal fiendishness.
Drunken, drowned-out trash thrash, and straight to the point, in fact way past it. I mean, the
Sodom cover sounds like pop. You know you are in capable hands so you kind of trust them, but
really, I think there's a few winks of the eye and tips of the bottle going on here, and we're
expected to get the joke.
Rating 6
The Atomic Bitchwax - The Atomic Bitchwax
(Tee Pee/MIA)
Here's one of them stoner rock records for ya, only New Jersey's Atomic Bitchwax (Ed from Monster
Magnet, Chris from Godspeed and Keith from Slaprocket) really dig into the worms for that
authentic old-time smell of earth. Rumbling, screeching, squelching axes battle with the largest
of backbeats here (Shitkicker: yeah!), on anthems that recall the magic of Kyuss and thankfully
not the whole psychedelic British thing. And there's the rub. Despite a pile of slightly soupy
instrumental passages, the record keeps propelling forward on forceful drums and the
smack-happiest of monster guitar sounds. It's almost like these interludes serve as builds for
vocal tracks that are worthy of the anticipation. And Gettin' Old is the band's very own War Pigs.
Contact: www.miarecords.com.
Rating 7.5
Anathema - Judgement
(Music For Nations)
Key songwriter changes (bassist Duncan Patterson having left the band) haven't slowed Anathema's
determined march toward rock god status outside the realm of metal. The new record is a sort of
prog journey with metal overtones, almost the inverted phenom of a prog band going metal, say an
early Marillion or a Final Cut-era Floyd discovering the frosty features of a terrain populated by
Hypocrisys. The end result is a moody shiver not unlike new Amorphis but highly sanitized, both
vocally and mix-wise, Judgement having been recorded in Italy on a 'Q Base VSD hard disk recording
system, meaning it sounds a bit clean, stiff, and surprisingly void of fancy layering. The whole
thing is pretty much dreamy gothic balladry of various ilk, occasionally churned through with
canny metal guitars, but usually just this consistent story that feels like a long walk through
the misty moors, introspection rained over with acoustic guitars, twists in the lane frequently
arising and impressing. An effortlessly enjoyable spin that is all about unwinding and
uncluttering.
Rating 8.5