Mount Carmel - Swaggs I just found out about these guys. They are from Ohio and sound a bit like Free crossed with Humble Pie. I have listened to some other tracks as well that very cool. Sorry I don't know more about them.
Mount Carmel have a retro blues rock thing going on and some of the other tracks seem to have a bit of a Black Crowes and early ZZ Top influence. I also read somewhere that they have opened for the Black Keys before.
This may be an obvious choice (but who knows... hard music is so vast that sometimes people completely miss something or just don't catch it at the right time, aren't interested, etc.), but to me it's a landmark album and probably the most cohesive metal/punk album of the past 15 years. So I'll discuss it. Converge is a well known act in the punk/hardcore scene, having formed in 1990. Prior to Jane Doe, released in 2001, however, most of their music is less refined, dissonant, and frankly kind of hard to listen to. Jane Doe changed the game. For starters, what stands out most about Jane Doe is the production. It is the sludgiest, overdriven, distorted album I've heard; at points in the albums the guitar and bass notes blend into distorted, sustained feedback that drips and swirls from note to note. But probably what strikes listeners the most are the bizarre time signatures, impossibly fast drumming, and singer Jacob Bannon's banshee wails. The first two tracks - "Concubine" and "Fault and Fracture" - set the pace of the album, winding up in a frenzied build up of an intro that immediately drops into a blast-beat release with sludgy, harmonic-laden verses. "Concubine" launches into "Fault and Fracture" which has more of a rhythm and groove to it it, featuring more of Bannon's wail and growl, before that song begins to build up in speed and tension, led by and featuring Ben Koller's precise, intense drumming... before hitting warp speed and ultimately descending into chaotic blast beats, similar to the beginning of "Concubine." Only 4 minutes have gone by. The album slows down a bit with the next two songs, "Distance and Meaning" and "Hell to Pay," which have steadier, bass-driven grooves that a bit more repetitive and doomy. You can almost pick out the lyrics from under the distortion. They kind of lose me here a bit. However, tracks 5-8 bring back the chaos and intensity to the album, bleeding together in 16 minutes of shrieks, wails, sudden tempo changes, builds and releases, and every kind of sonic fireworks you can expect from guitars and bass distorted this much. The beauty is that it all works together so perfectly as to make a soundscape that almost seems like an instrumental suite until you realize again that a human is actual screaming his lungs out there. It might take a few listens, but eventually you find the distinct rhythms and you can pick out one song from another, that each has its own identity and structure. However, if you want, you can disregard it all and just let the songs bleed into each other. The production is that tight, to me. The standouts of the album, in my opinion, are the sonic dirges "Phoenix in Flight" and the 10+ minute closer "Jane Doe." The former is quintessential doom; here is where the sustained, distorted swirl comes to a head. It is not a fast song at all, nor particularly heavy... just overwhelmingly sludgy. You get lost in it and the groove it lays down for 4 minutes... not really building, not really going anywhere... just surging. There are two songs of pure chaos that are more filler than anything, but the payoff is the closer "Jane Doe," which is close to an epic as anything you'll hear in aggressive music. It begins with a pretty simple riff and vocals that accompany that riff, with higher-pitched back up vocals that highlight the "chorus," if you can call it that. The song builds on the riff repetitively for the first 4 minutes before you realize it is all breaking down for these guys.... they are at their emotional end. The song comes to a close about 8 minutes in, before it picks back up on a quiet, pretty interlude that features the only "singing" on the album before Bannon destroys it all with more shrieks... and from there the song terminates in a continuous, repeating build that simply fades off without closure. And then you wonder what the hell you just listened to, and immediately flip the album back to Side A, and press play again. You'll never hear anything like it again... and frankly, they've never been able to match it since (even though their subsequent albums are very good). For music this intense and dissonant, there needs to be cohesion on the album. Jane Doe has that in all of the songs. Converge has some very good material after Jane Doe, but each of their subsequent albums lack that cohesion and have tracks, or even stretches of tracks, that kill any flow and mood that unite the songs. Listen to Jane Doe here:
Glowsun Eternal Season 2012 Napalm Records 1. Death's Face2. Dragon Witch3. Lost Soul4. Reverse5. The Thing6. From The Sky7. Sleepwalker8. Monkey Time9. No! Is there anything better than getting a new record by a band with whom you are completely unfamiliar and just being knocked for a loop by it? No. No, there is not. Welcome to my experience with ‘Eternal Season’, the second full-length and fourth overall release by a diamond-in-the-rough band from Lille, France, called Glowsun. This band – Johan Jacob (vocals/guitar), Ronan Chiron (bass), and Fabrice Cornille (drums) They are the classic power trio in the heavy stoner vibe vein. And when I say heavy I mean heavy ear crunching bliss. Check out this clip and I know you will seek Glowsun out!
I had not heard of these guys, but they're right down my alley of stuff I like. I'm actually surprised I didn't own something by them when I checked my collection. Very much along the lines of bands like Wolf People, Witchcraft, and Kadavar. You know, bands mining that old heavy seventies vibe. I'll have to check into them more.
That was a really good review of this album. I must admit I owned this for a time and sold it. I just couldn't get into Jacob Bannon's screaming, er, singing. At the time I got this album I didn't even know who Converge was. My then girlfriend had received the album as part of a promo pack from a label and Jane Doe was the first album that caught my eye. At first place I thought the name of the band was Jane Doe and the album was called Converge. Checking my collection, I own No Heroes and Axe To Fall. From those two albums, the track I like best is "Grim Heart/Black Rose" which is an epic piece of sludge rock. Frankly, I wish they'd do more of this kind of thing and they'd have more of my attention. That said, I'm going to pick up JD again and spin it a couple of times to see if my opinion changes.
This is very cool. Kind of reminds me of Pharaoh Overlord meets Colour Haze meets RoToR. From France, eh? Not too many great rock bands come out of France (Blut aux Nord being a huge exception to that rule), but this pretty good.
Cool idea for a thread. I'm always looking for new guitar oriented hard rock or metal discoveries. Classic Rock Magazine is my #1 way to get turned onto stuff but I'm sure this thread will give me some things to investigate too. I can't write detailed insightful reviews like Godshifter but I'll mention some recent finds. I have a friend in Texas (Steve) with almost identical tastes & we're always trying to turn each other onto our "next big thing" guitar-wise. Throughout all the years that we've done this Steve has me beat by turning me onto one of my favorite bands in the world, who only even made 2 (studio) albums and probably no one here has even heard of. I will talk about that band later...but first.....more recent stuff...
Very cool band John. Jason said it best when you put them in with bands like Wolf People, Witchcraft, and Kadavar. Got that heavy 70s vibe going on very cool. I'm very into the retro bands.
Winger - Better Days Comin' (2014) 1) Midnight Driver of a Love Machine 2) Queen Babylon 3) Rat Race 4) Better Days Comin’ 5) Tin Soldier 6) Ever Wonder 7) So Long China 8) Storm In Me 9) Be Who You Are, Now 10) Another Beautiful Day (Deluxe Edition Bonus Track) 11) Out Of This World Never thought I'd ever be listening to Winger, let alone recommending them. I remember hearing some of their stuff back in the '80s and thought they were just very very bad hair metal. So I totally wrote them off and had zero interest in anything they did. As the years went by I realized that Reb Beach is a great guitar player (thanks to his work with bands I dig like Dokken or Whitesnake) and that Rod Morgenstein is a great drummer, working with musical heavyweights like Dixie Dregs and Steve Morse solo. Still not enough to interest me in Winger though. I had already made up my mind that Winger "sucked" and like some other hair bands of that day which I dislike (Motley Crue, Poison, Warrant, Great White, Skid Row, WASP, Twisted Sister, Britny Fox, Bon Jovi, Jackyl, Vixen, Cinderella etc etc) the keys to my stereo were forever locked away from Winger ever gracing my turntable/CD player. Not to say I hate(d) all bands stuck with the "hair band" label though - I am a fan of hair band era Whitesnake, Dokken, Mr. Big, and a couple others. The first cracks in my "Winger sucks" attitude did first appear however in 2005, when Doug Pinnick of King's X (one of my favorite bands) made a great hard rock/metal album with Reb Beach on guitar and Kip Winger on bass, along with some other guys of course, calling themselves "The Mob". That album deserves some discussion on its own and maybe I will talk about it later (or if anyone else is a fan feel free to review it). But back to Winger, thanks to a thread on this forum talking about this new Winger album it made me curious to check it out. Could it be anything like The Mob (but without Doug on vocals)?. And the answer is YES. This album is straight-ahead old school melodic metal chockful with great guitar and tuneful vocals. I didn't realize that Kip Winger is such a good singer, he doesn't do stupid overscreams or stuff like, just sings, and he has a great voice. Have had it stuck in my player for days now. It's even motivated me to go back through their catalog & check out some earlier albums, although from what I understand they've only been making music in this vein recently (?). In a recent thread about Michael Schenker we've been discussing how Michael has not had a decent singer & songwriter to partner with over the large part of his career. I thought maybe Don Dokken could be that guy (and he is working on adding vocals to some old Schenker acoustic songs) but after hearing some recent Winger I now think he could really do well if paired with Kip Winger. Probably not happening but I think that is what Schenker needs, somebody who can write melodies like this. Not that this whole album is perfect, but overall I like this album a lot. Here's some favorites.... Tin Soldier Midnight Driver of a Love Machine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tOzsssTtDU So Long China (the melody in the chorus is to die for!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdzZEcjN5b0 Ever Wonder http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR68V7dtmEw Better Days Comin' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0whjKbmcY0
Great observation there, I totally agree. It's always a great RUSH to get a huge buzz off a new or unfamiliar band. It's something I've been chasing my whole life, like some kind of drug addiction. I hope some of us achieve that musical nirvana with this thread. It's actually a cool idea for a new thread ("unfamiliar band knocking you for a loop")!
This is going to be a great thread! I was thinking about writing reviews for metal-archives.com again. If I do, I'll make sure to post a copy of each here. Will read the reviews you guys posted later.
On the subject of new/unheard bands/records blowing you away - I submit my favorite album of 2013 for your approval (or scorn). All thanks to Classic Rock Magazine for turning me onto them. How the hell else I am going to hear of a band from faraway Norway fer chrissakes? Audrey Horne – Youngblood (2013) 1. Redemption Blues 2. Straight Into Your Grave 3. Youngblood 4. There Goes A Lady 5. Show And Tell 6. Cards With The Devil 7. Pretty Little Sunshine 8. The Open Sea 9. This Ends Here 10. The King Is Dead Bonus track - all demos 11. I wanna Know You 12. This Ends Here 13. The Open Sea So who is "Audrey Horne" (other than a character in Twin Peaks who looks great in a sweater)?? From wikipedia: ...... Audrey Horne are a hard rock band from Bergen, Norway. The band took its name from Sherilyn Fenn's character in the cult TV series Twin Peaks. Although some of the band's members play or have previously played in black metal bands like Enslaved and Gorgoroth, Audrey Horne's music is far removed from the black metal genre, and can be described as heavy and melodic classic rock, similar to bands like Van Halen, Kiss, Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Faith No More, Alice In Chains. ....... So these guys have roots in black (speed) metal??? Not my thing. But this - it's like Thin Lizzy but with Danny Vaughn (Tyketto, Waysted) on vocals (he's a great singer and so is this guy, they sound similar to me). Killer guitar with harmony leads & memorable riffs. Very catchy & melodic songs. The title song has an ending with a riff that is right out of one of the songs from Johnny the Fox - check this out (4:25 to 4:29 has the Lizzy ending)...Youngblood This Ends Here - has a galloping Iron Maiden vibe to it, that sounds like Dave Murray & Adrian Smith are playing the opening (& recurring) riff, right out of Wasted Years. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZwhHBQYdJ0 Pretty Little Sunshine - monster riffage, even with some bass & guitar warring going on...doubled guitar insanity to melt your brain at the end..wow! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7MO3F44lZ4 Opening song, Redemption Blues - this is an actual video so you can see the band in this one, with some kind of NorwegianDJ intro...more monster riffage...love hearing the doubled guitar riffs with vocals on top... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FRHn5tRzl8 The Open Sea...slow kbd + vocal opening which builds & builds http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPdq0M2SSn4 This record continues to blow me away on every listen; each time I hear more. The resemblance of many of their riffs to Thin Lizzy (one of my favorite bands) obviously has something to do with that. Not a bad song on the entire album but I'll stop with those tracks above. After hearing this album I researched them and learned that this is their 4th album. So I tracked down the other three but those just don't do much for me. Somehow everything gels on this 4th record though, at least for me. If you dig classic sounding old school melodic metal/hard rock....if you dig bands with a Thin Lizzy/Iron Maiden twin harmony guitar influence (intentional or not)....you should check this album out.
Wow, that is pretty intense. Builds and builds. Most guitar-pick-scratching-on-string noises in one song I've ever heard (in the slow bits)! Of their other songs which ones have vocals? I'd like to hear what JJ sings like.
Yeah, they are one of the better retro styled blues rock bands that I have heard and the singing isn't bad. Many of them I can't tolerate the singing so it ruins it for me.
You're speaking my language with Maiden and Lizzy. Hopefully I have some downtime tonight to listen. You got me pumped.
Agusa "Högtid" Country: Sweden Sub Genre: Instrumental Psychedelic, Krautrock, Retro Prog Label: Kommun2 (vinyl), Transubstans Records (CD) Release date: February, 2014(vinyl), April 2, 2014 (CD) Tracklist: Uti Vår Hage Melodi Från St Knut Östan Om Sol Västan Om Måne Stigen Genom Skogen Kärlek Från Agusa Line-up: Tobias Pettersson - Bass Mikael Ödesjö - Guitar Dag Strömkvist - Drums Jonas Berge - Hammond Organ This is one of my favorite releases from Sweden in the Retro Psych, Krautrock Retro Prog genre they remind me of a cross between Kebnekajse (Sweden), Amon Düül II (Germany) Authentic unique 70s retro prog at it's best. I hope this music fits in with the theme Jason wanted if not I'm sorry!
I remember that you talked about this band in the Trouble thread a while ago. Sounds interesting, and as I enjoy both Trouble's and Anathema's output from around the same period, I might give this a shot. You're right about Wagner. Psalm 9 is one of the greatest metal albums ever recorded, but he can be a bit too much at times, especially there. Although, I do have a fondness for warbling, nearly-out-of-control metal vocalists.
It is of, decidedly, lighter fare, as I said, but there are some good songs on it. I look forward to your participation (in whatever form you wish to contribute) as you are one of the best writers I've come across; here or elsewhere. Great reviews, Jon. Keep them up! I think you might have the closest taste to me on the board though there are others that like and inhabit the same threads (old school (William), Bear (Frank), thiswas (Aleksandar), Clanceman, J. Fell, etc). You and I certainly seem to have similar interests in bands. By the way, your reviews are every bit as good as mine. You've already introduced me to a record I wasn't aware of (Winger) and one I've heard once (Audrey Horne) so things are going good so far!
Shameless plug time. I hope this album isn't judged off the mark of the thread's goal by Godshifter. It is not metal by any stretch of the imagination. It straddles "hard rock", "classic rock", and "blues rock" borders. But the artist is a friend of mine, an incredible guitar player, and deserves some wider exposure - maybe some other guitar addicts here will dig this. If I wasn't already into his music, I'd still be here in this thread due to my love of metal and hard rock, and would appreciate hearing about this. I promise to restrict any future reviews to more harder or metallic albums. http://www.*******.com/uploads/posts/2014-03/1396167634_500.jpg Ben Granfelt - Handmade (2014) 1. Going Home 2. Turning Point 3. Almighty Blues 4. Get Up And Go 5. Breath (sic) 6. Faith Hope And Love 7. Baker Street 8. Musicland 9. Instrumental Madness 10. B.L.U.E.S. 11. Home Again... Ben Granfelt - Guitars (left), & Vocals Marko Karhu - Guitars (right), & Vocals John "Groovemeister" Viherva - Bass & backing vocals Kai Jokiaho - Drums & Percussion Quick track by track description then some background: (1) Going Home Man I LOVE this song. It's become a major earworm for me lately. This is not a new song by Ben - although it is his best version of it. Ben wrote this years ago and it has appeared in various forms on several of his albums, originally titled "Home" on his E.G.O. (Electric Guitar Oriented) album in 1999. Which then morphed into the title "Going Home" when redone for the Notes From the Road album in 2007 (and that album even has two versions of it - one studio and one live). Ben was a member of Wishbone Ash for a couple of years & made his debut with them on tour in the UK in 2001. I flew over to catch the first couple gigs on that tour and this was one of the songs that he brought with him to Ash, and they did it on that tour. So it was first given the dual guitar treatment then, which is also added here (previous BGB versions were just Ben on guitar). (2) Turning Point Almost Allman Brotherish type of blues rock thing. Not bad but not Going Home! (3) Almighty Blues Sorry but I don't like this song. Never did. The original version of this song appears on the album that Ben made when he was in Wishbone Ash (Bona Fide in 2002). It's a blues shuffle type thing and I just don't dig it (sorry Ben). Great guitarwork though. (4) Get Up and Go! Very catchy song. Great live band feel to it too (see below). (5) Breath (sic) This is actually a cover of Pink Floyd's "Breathe" (misspelled on the album - doh!). An odd choice of a Floyd cover for Ben IMO, but a good job. He kind of gives it a Robin Trowerish feel with some great guitar workouts. I wish he had covered Run Like Hell, I could see him making that a major guitar feast. (6) Faith, Hope, & Love Another of the songs that Ben brought with him to Wishbone Ash. Unlike Home, but like Almighty Blues, this made it onto Ash's Bona Fide album. Ironically, although it was originally recorded for Ben's EGO album in 1999 like Home was, he didn't put it on that album. However that '99 version did surface on another BGB album, called "The Past Experience". Confused? Sorry. Anyways this is a great song and has some stellar soloing on it. I just compared this version to Ben's 1999 version, as well as Wishbone Ash's version and this is a tough call as which one I like best. The original version of this is a bit different, heavier even. When Ben brought it to Ash, Andy Powell helped him reshape it, sharpen it up around the edges as it were, changed the lyrics and the arrangement. The version here on Handmade is the Granfelt/Powell arrangement that also appears on Ash's Bona Fide. Of course the Ash version features the formidable guitar talents of Andy Powell alongside Ben, and it also has Andy singing it, and Andy is a better singer than Ben IMO...so probably I shouldn't even try to compare those. If I just compare the Handmade version to Ben's 1999 EGO version, well then Handmade beats EGO again. (7) Baker Street Another cover - Gerry Rafferty's smash hit song from 1978. I was actually around back in 1978 and remember that song being played all the time on the radio. I always liked the song for the melody, but I am a big saxophone HATER, with a capital H (and A T E R too). So I always liked the melody in this song but couldn't stand the bleating saxophone. But with this version I can have my cake and eat it too - NO SAXOPHONE!!! YIPPEE! A great song that I hated listening to because of the horns has become a great song that I love listening to because of the guitar. This has become another earworm for me, I keep playing it, along with Going Home. Sorry but I can't find a version of it on-line to post here though....but if you dig the original song and want to hear a guitar version you should seek this out. The guitar work is insane, especially the dual stuff at the end. (8) Musicland At 7:56 this is the longest song on the album. And me being a guitar nut, a fan of long songs with long guitar solos, this one fits that bill. Some nice individual soloing as well as harmony stuff. (9) Instrumental Madness Well it is an instrumental - and one I like - but I don't hear much madness here. Some nice dual guitarwork. (10) B.L.U.E.S. Thankfully this does not live up to its t.i.t.l.e. Afraid I am not much of a blues fan anymore, I'm more of a rock & metal than a blues fan. And this is a R.O.C.K. song. Just happens to mention blues in the lyrics. Has a kind of annoying repetitive pounding beat to it that throbs along to the letters (B L U E S) but I guess that is the point. Not my favorite song on the record but not awful either. (11) Home Again... Too much of a good thing? No such thing. Going Home deserves revisting. So this gives it an instrumental reprise So is this a perfect 10 album? No, but its pretty good and should appeal to anyone that digs great guitar and songs in a blues/classic rock mode. Ben is a guitar player first and a singer second but acquits himself well here. I love this album so I wanted to try to spread the word about it. Some background for anyone interested - Ben is a Finnish musician with a long pedigree in rock'n'roll. He grew up worshipping the same rock guitar gods as most of us (Blackmore, Trower, Hendrix, Gary Moore, Iommi, Clapton etc). In Finland, in addition to his solo career, he has been a member of several (well known in Finland I guess?) bands, like Gringos Locos, Guitar Slingers, Los Bastardos Finlandeses, and what is to me a "joke band" Leningrad Cowboys. He was also a member of harmony guitar band Wishbone Ash for a few years, but I said that already above! Of these bands Los Bastardos is probably the closest one to metal/hard rock - almost hair metalish actually. I have both their albums and maybe will comment on those at some point. They are OK, but nothing tremendous IMO. I like his solo work better. Gringos Locos was my first exposure to Ben's playing - their albums (three) are kind of southern hard rock. Their 1989 Punch Drunk album had an international release on Atlantic and was produced by southern rock producer/legend Tom Dowd. I already had two of their records by the time I met Ben in the UK in the late 1990's while I was over for some Wishbone Ash shows (the Ben Granfelt Band was brought over to support Ash on tour after opening for them in Germany and going down a storm with the fans). At that time he had three solo Ben Granfelt albums out, which were all rock instrumentals in the vein of Joe Satriani (or more like Andy Timmons playing style wise), with originals and some covers like Cream's White Room. He's since gone on to release about a dozen albums as BGB of which this record Handmade is the most recent. When Andy Powell needed a new guitar foil in Wishbone Ash in 2001 Ben got the call, and became a revitalizing force with his own playing & songwriting to add to Andy's axe wizardry; I felt they made an fantastic guitar duo. When Ben left after about three years, one Ash studio album (2002's Bona Fide) and one live (2003's Almighty Blues Live In London) it was Ben's friend and guitar foil in Gringos Locos, Muddy Manninen, who took Ben's place (& there Muddy remains some 7-8 years later....and Ash's latest album with Muddy is one of the best in their long history)....but I digress.... Sorry to ramble but was playing this album again today (after playing it yesterday and the day before that turning some friends onto it) so felt like talking about it. Something to mention about this album the way it is is recorded - the core of this is "handmade", that is the band is all together playing live in the studio, then doing some tweaking later if necessary. This seems so rare in these days of protools and the internet sometimes with band members spread across the globe and adding their parts to digital recordings separated by many miles. I felt The Who's Endless Wire suffered from that, to me it sounded like it lacked any type of musical spark of people playing together, it was just too sterile for my tastes, really seemed like it was all done by separate guys instead of a band. However this album has a cool vibe of musicians getting together and actually playing together. I think that can add something intangible to a record.
Album Type: Full Length Label: Napalm Records Release Date: April 8, 2014 Tracklist: Leif’s Last Breath – Dance of the Valkyrie Narrow Minded Bastards Bed of Bitches Tigress of Sibriria Lost Lord Corpauthority Drowned in Leaves Eagles Rising Druid’s Ritual The Band: Niklas Sjöberg: Vocals Martin Fairbanks: Guitar Johan Holm: Bass Henrik Bergman: Drums Another band from Sweden The Graviators new album Motherload is classic heavy metal with a Stoner/ Doom mix. And for good measure a NWOBHM thrown in to make a nice Metal cocktail. It was engineered, mixed and mastered, analouge all the way. Sure there is a Black Sabbath comparison. But don't let that hinder what a mind blowing 74 minute Metal masterpiece this album is. I do not know what is in the water in Sweden but they keep churning out some of the best Metal and there is no shortage of bands.The Graviators have conducted one of the most compelling albums of the year in my book. If you're a fan of classic heavy metal mixed into a stoner/doom base such as bands like The Sword and Graveyard then look no further. Soloing is unbelievably wicked. Fantastic album!
