More Plugs and Feeble Excuses

I am so sorry. I'm going to plug my own band again.

Anyway, my band has just made downloads of our EP from Bndcamp free, so it'd be a huge help if you could head over and grab a free download. They're going to be free from now on, and any sharing around would, of course, be most welcome.

http://voragan.bandcamp.com/

That is all from my band for the foreseeable future. I'll post something more interesting soon, but with the exam period looming and, being in my last year of sixth form, this round of arduous essays and painstaking revision sessions are nonetheless very important, so the amount of time I have to do any reviews is being severely cut down as a result. Plus, I'm also focusing on a piece o fictional creative writing I've been working on for almost a year now. It's just tipped the 100,000 word mark and, although I don't expect to send it off for publishing or the like, I'm determined to get it done.

But I'll do my best with what time I have. I'm planning to continue with my Blasts From The Past and perhaps review Darkthrone's latest, which has been out a while...egads, I'm behind. Apologies.

Anyway, thanks for you understanding. That's enough lame-arse excuses for one night.

Bring Me The Horizon - 'Sempiternal' Album Review

Apparently the other day someone tossed a leak of Bring Me The Horizon’s new album into the savage pit that is the internet.  I say apparently because I have no idea as I don’t give a damn about Bring Me The Horizon. I saw them a few years ago supporting Bullet For My Valentine at Wembley Arena where they were shocking, Oli threw a tantrum and they had the power pulled on them.

Also, apparently their new album, Sempiternal, has been bought forward to an April the 1^st release and you can now listen to the full album legally on SoundCloud. I wouldn’t know the original scheduled release date because I had no intention of reviewing this album until I found myself, today, with nothing better to do.  I’d heard some rumour about this album, though, that painted it in a very positive light. In the recent release of Metal Hammer, they heralded it as “an absolute juggernaut of an album” and several other fairly reputable sources have spoken of its new found depth and maturity, so when I got onto SoundCloud, I had relatively high expectations for the album (I hated what I heard of their last two) and hoped to perhaps maybe even have my opinion changed.

Nope.

 

From the word go the album failed to meet the expectations I had of it. The first tracks pretty much summarised the entire album. ‘Can You Feel My Heart’ is a composition of an annoying, relentlessly repeated synth riff with cuts in after an unbelievably weak vocals and drums section with some feedback and fuzzy stuff in the background. This then repeated. And again. And again. And again. There is little to no variation in the song, which originally led me to believe it might have been an intro track, until every other song on the album sounded just like it.

When the second track, ‘The House Of Wolves’ begins, the “matured” BMTH employ every tactic that every teenage-boy-scenester-pop-metal- hardcore-crap band have used in every one of their songs ever. Wild and violent, yet fabulously unimpressive guitars, angsty, blocky drums and screamy vocals going on about all kinds of overused cliché rubbish (this song used “brick by brick by brick” and something about “selling sins” and “saving souls”). The chorus is simple and involves an awful lot of chanting, be it the odd cliché or the song title. And then, just like that, it’s finished. The song repeats the same three-or-so sections, most of which were composed of a toned-down, bass-reduced drum-and-fuzz-and-screams section followed by the aforementioned hardcore-crap rapid chords. The song goes absolutely nowhere, there is next to no musical depth or variation.

Perhaps the next song, ‘Empire (Let Them Sing)’ will be different? No and no. Repeating open-string riffs, the same muted, drums-and-vocals-and-fuzz section, and a chanted chorus. Maybe the lyrics are presenting themselves as “matured” yet? No again, “moths to a flame”, “wolves at my door” and “writing on the walls” all feature lyrically. So far it is not looking good.

Two more medicore, copy-pasted songs play before the pre-released ‘Shadow Moses’ starts playing. Though I never listened to the song, some of my friends on Facebook have insisted on belting it across my news feed proclaiming it as “incredible”, “amazing” and a “brilliant new direction”. And, oh look? More muted sections, open string riffs and cliché lyrics about looking into someone’s eyes and living your life, yet also going nowhere. I have to admit though, the song has its energy, the occasional riff carries some weight and force, providing a splutter of enthusiasm to the album; but it’s impossible to escape the fact that this is still essentially the same song as all of its predecessors.

And so Sempiternal bumbles on. I made it to ‘Crooked Young’ and realised I hadn’t written anything new in my notes for quite a while, and that’s all the excuse I needed to stop listening. So I stopped. It’s undeniable that the album has a little oomph and perhaps a smidgen of energy, but it can’t escape the fact that every section, every song, every riff and idea may as well just be recycled from somewhere in another song. Sempiternal is incredibly dull and boring. I’d even say Sempiternal be a massive disappointment for a “trve” BMTH fan because with their attempt at maturity, the band has lost any fire they once possessed almost completely. What a huge disappointment. Still, it’s not quite as crap as BFMV’s Temper Temper.

On an unrelated subject, 'horizon' has stopped looking like a word.

 

Overall – 3.8/10

Just a Little Plug...

I did say to myself when I first started writing this blog that I was going to try and avoid plugging my band.

I've failed.

We recorded this at the end of last year to help a friend with his A2 Media coursework for his A Levels. Only being half of the full-length song, (which is also available on YouTube) which was the titular track from our 2012 EP 'Chaos Dreams'. Mister Castle from theNoise (http://yesthisisnoise.blogspot.co.uk/) gave the EP 4/5 stars, which we were all chuffed to bits with (http://yesthisisnoise.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/ep-review-voragan-chaos-dreams.html).

That's all. I've leave you be now.

Actually, that's a lie. If you want to do us a favour and buy the EP in either hard or digital format, here are some links.

Download: http://voragan.bandcamp.com/
CD: http://voragan.bigcartel.com/

Okay, I really am done now.

Wintersun - 'Time I' Album Review

Again, I’m ashamed to admit, especially in the wake of the release of Time I, Wintersun are a band that passed me by a bit. I’ve always been a bit sceptical of power metal; a lot of power metal bands spend too much time trying to focus on huge solos, fast riffs and ludicrously high-pitched vocals and as a result sound nothing more than cliché. Thankfully, Wintersun have avoided taken the ‘power metal clichés’ cheese-block from the fridge and grating it over their latest album.

 

 

It’s been eight long years since Wintersun released their almighty self-titled debut album. With the obvious and brilliant used links with power metal and melodic death metal, the album was excellent and shot the band to fame amongst the metal community. Wintersun’s Wintersun can easily be heard in their latest album, released on October the 19^th last year.  The album is a conceptual piece focused around the “astonishing, overwhelming” and “staggering” thing that time is. It’s a good job that these three words are synonymous with this album.

The band really hasn’t held back. As soon as ‘When Time Fades Away’ begins, the albums creates this impressive, undoubtedly folky, but boundlessly epic far-eastern feel, as traditional eastern folk instruments are used to create this massive, epic atmosphere. Slowly but surely it builds and eventually ‘Sons Of Winter And Stars’ kicks in, introducing the matured, controlled and overwhelmingly melodic creature that Wintersun has become. Their melodic death metal and power metal influences sit perfectly with the symphonic and folk accompaniments. “Sit” is the wrong word, nothing about this album “sits”. The limitless larger-than-life power metal energy that bounds alongside the flowing, intertwining melodies, riffs and harmonies carry the work through progression after progression as vocals switch from enormous, power-metal influenced cleans, thick with brilliant vibrato, to melodic  death metal growls that excellently bring the vigour of the album up higher and higher each time.

Despite the constant riffs, melodies and solos presented by the tracks, nothing is lost. Every riff can be heard, every solo is clear, every symphonic line is audible. It is presented and mixed masterfully, and absolutely nothing is lost. Everything is so energetic, upbeat and dramatic that you would think there couldn’t possibly be a climactic moment in any of the songs, but Wintersun easily deliver massive choruses with folk-inspired, chanting vocal choruses performed by the band whilst  big solos scream out over the thick texture set down by the orchestral parts.

Time I is amazing. Perhaps sometimes it feels a little slow or maybe the odd transition could be a little better, but these are menial, insignificant farts compared to what the album does achieve. It really is “astonishing, overwhelming” and “staggering” on every level, and never at any one point does it fail to deliver something amazing.

 

      Overall – 9/10

      Best Song: Sons Of Winter And Stars – 9.5/10

Enslaved - 'RIITIIR' Album Review

I’ll be honest. I’ve never really listened to Enslaved before today. I’ve always been aware of the hype that surrounds them from the more mature black metal fans (by mature I mean those who aren’t completely ignorant, racist, socially worthless, backwards, right-wing, elitist pigs who listen to nothing but Burzum and claim all other metal is shit) whenever a tour or a new album is announced, but it’s always sort of passed me by. It wasn’t until earlier this week, when browsing the Play.com sales, I saw their latest album, RIITIIR, and suddenly began think I might be missing out on something.  RIITIIR was waiting for me when I got home today along with Winterson’s Time I (which I’ll try and do a review of if I get the time at the weekend.) The hour-and-a-bit confirmed to me my worst fears: I indeed had been missing out.

 

 

                RIITIIR really is something quite different. Naïvely, I expected something along the lines of Gorgoroth, Satyricon maybe, something more traditional, with simpler black metal progressive elements, but with a more developed and refined sprinkling. Instead Enslaved provide this incredible journey that takes the vicious, brutal black metal from twenty years ago and essentially beats it to pulp with up with massive Mastodon-like riffage and radicalness but keeps it all under close control with progressive power perhaps equitable to giants such as Opeth. Enslaved really have made something quite brilliant.

The best way I can think of describing RIITIIR is as grown-up black metal. Although it still calls back to its violent and aggressive early 90s roots in songs such as ‘Roots Of The Mountain’ and ‘Materal’, the album encompasses a much wider, more touching and engrossing feel. Enslaved’s RIITIIR is wonderfully diverse: one moment the listener is surrounded by epic blast-beats and huge, brutal riffs, and the next moment everything has seamlessly and perfectly mellowed, allowing room and blissful adaption for a sullen clean section where acoustic guitars play out incredible melodies and beautiful, slow ideas before taking off gracefully into a hard-and-fast section with even more intertwining, persisting riffs and big drum lines, but accompanied by an incredible clean vocal line.

                What’s more, there are some really great guitar leads on this album. Never at any point though do Enslaved seem to use a solo for the sake of using a solo like so many bands do; the notes simply drift in and out, up and down with the rest of the song with such skill and finesse that you hardly even notice. It just feels so right.

                The album moves like water, faultlessly adapting and easily moving from one section to another. Tempos, sections and rhythms rise and fall in sophisticated and intelligent waves as the album takes the listener on its journey through everything black metal is, was, and could be. RIITIIR perfectly blends elements of traditional black metal and Enslaved’s own advanced, progressive genius as if the two were always meant to be together, synthesizing black metal’s fury with their musical majesty to create a truly epic album.

            Overall – 9/10

Best Song: Veilburner – 9.5/10

 

 

Omnium Gatherum - 'The Unknowing' Music Video

Yes, more Omnium Gatherum. As of today, the Finnish melodic masters have released an official video for a track off their upcoming album, Beyond, via Lifeforce Records. The video itself is little more than a display of the generic themes associated within melodic death metal videos: broody nature shots cut up with close-ups of the band performing in a relatively dark place.

 

Yet what may be lacked somewhat in video originality is more than made up for by the accompanying song. Complementing the dramatic shots of a picturesque coastline (presumably a play on Beyond’s artwork) the song begins with a gloomy, melancholy acoustic passage which quickly kicks into a swinging, almost waltz-like pre-verse and verse where the meaty riffs and elegant melodies perfectly slide in and out of each other whilst Jukka Pelkonen’s vocals complement everything perfectly.

The song becomes a progressive masterpiece, garnished with an inevitable, but more-than-welcome Markus Vanhala solo, where he more than lives up to expectations, navigating the guitar with brilliant slides and tapping.

The progressive masterwork that is so prominent in Omnium Gatherum’s recent work is just as evident here and is applied so brilliantly. Everything lasts as long as it should, no riff is overused and painfully recycled, and no whiney melody is constantly thrown at the listener.  Perhaps the only criticism of the song could be the subdued feeling that is established at the beginning of the song doesn’t ever quite go away. The song, although brilliantly powerful at points, sometimes feels a little thin between sections; perhaps this isn’t a bad thing, though, as it could provide a gentler part for the climatic points to springboard from.

 

But that’s nothing in the grand scheme of things. The song is another wonderfully crafted Omnium Gatherum masterpiece and leaves anyone it touches hungry for more. It’s a good job the album is released on February the 25^th.

I think that's quite enough OmG for one day...

 

                        Overall - 8.8/10

Omnium Gatherum - 'New Dynamic' Teaser Track

I almost wet myself with excitement when Finnish melodic death metal band Omnium Gatherum announced that they’d be releasing a teaser track from their new album. Published on Lifeforce Records’ official YouTube page on the 8^th January, ‘New Dynamic’ has more than whetted Omnium Gatherum’s fanbase’s appetite.

 

 

                It’s felt like a long time since Omnium Gatherum released New World Shadows in 2011. The album was a perfect step up from their previous, The Redshift, released via Candlelight Records in 2008. The album was almost faultless and took the listener on a journey of perfectly-lengthened, brilliantly progressive and epically powerful songs, laced with complex yet easily listenable melodies, virtuoso solos, massive cleans and powerful, evocative growls, to a melodic and musical highpoint that very few bands will ever reach. But perhaps at one or two points in the album the material felt a little stretched, perhaps the Finns seemed to be running short on an idea or two for a few seconds of their otherwise faultless songs.

                ‘New Dynamic’ falls foul to none of these. As soon as the YouTube video finishes loading the song’s boundless energy begins to become apparent. Markus Vanhala’s guitar-wizard skills begin to shine through immediately in the first upbeat, pacey, tapped riff. The song then builds, introducing crunchy, pounding guitars and drums before kicking into the first verse, where Jukka Pelkonen’s deep growls add more to the energy and bound of the song. They then replay this idea, almost tauntingly, and allowing it to build further and further, getting more and more energetic. Finally, the band kicks into an epic chorus where they display their melodic ingenuity with a perfectly fitting guitar melodic line.

                The song continues to progress, building more and more, focus on the guitars (as it is with most melodic death metal) and tantalizing tapping brilliant sliding, as the stringed-members expertly navigate their instruments.

                And then the clean vocals. Used to perfect effect on their last album’s titular track, the wonderfully harmonised male chorus appears again, perfectly carrying the song’s epic musical stride further forward, before gently setting it down to slowly calm and sadly end.

                The song seems to have taken on board everything the band did right in the last album and develop it, becoming more confident in their structure and sound. Perhaps the only criticism offered is the song can’t help but perhaps feel a little safe. Maybe it’s a little too close to generic melodic death metal themes to be a truly radical and brilliantly depictive song that showcases everything that Omnium Gatherum are capable of. But nonetheless, it comes damn close.

                Overall: 8.5/10