Review: Concrete Age – Motherland

Review by Sandre the Giant

The ninth record from Caucasian (as in from the Caucasus, not just white dudes) folk/thrash metallers Concrete Age is called ‘Motherland’, and comes recommended to me by someone whose opinion on this kind of thing I trust fairly deeply. It is out now through Soundage Productions and while the band have moved to the UK from their native Russia, the folk and the themes of their land runs deep throughout their discography.

Opener ‘Raida Rada’ teases you with a little ethnic metal feel before powering off through a deaththrash gallop, some wild soloing and yet a definite grasp of the folk metal vibe. Concrete Age have been around for a long time, and if there’s one thing they’ve perfected over their 14 years and nine records is the mix of folk elements and a proper thrashy death metal sound. Like if Korpiklaani played like Amon Amarth, the bulldozing ‘Battle for the Caucasus’ is a great example of just that; you’ve got big chunky riffs powering underneath some traditional instruments and a rousing melody earworm too. If you’ve been craving some folk metal that has a bit of a bite to it, a big old slab of riffs, then tracks like ‘Adeghaga’ and ‘Nomads’ are for you, and Concrete Age’s use of traditional instrumentation is always deployed with a certain restraint, never overbearing but always present and important. In a similar way to the likes of Tengger Cavalry, Concrete Age are cognizant of the balance required.

‘Motherland’ is one of those records that can fill you with a rousing joy and power, ready to charge into battle with sword and drinking horn held high, as well as really wreck your neck with its thrashy chops as well. It is a surprisingly diverse record too, never leaning too far in either direction but balancing that pit-inducing carnage with anthemic folk metal moments with ease. ‘Motherland’ is likely to be one of those slow burn records for 2024, an album that’ll remain on the playlist for a long time and crawl up that end of year list.

https://www.facebook.com/concreteage

https://concreteage.bandcamp.com/

https://soundage.org/

2024 Anniversary Series 066: Porcupine Tree – Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape

Scribed by Sandre the Giant

We’re going to get to Porcupine Tree and their ‘roots’ one day properly on the Killchain’s Anniversary Series, but when you understand the band and the mind behind it, Steven Wilson, an album like ‘Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape’ is a fascinating look into the world behind the British prog rock legends, especially in their early days. I’ve spent much of my time with Porcupine Tree on their later records, when Wilson’s collaborations with Opeth led him to a more metal background on records like ‘Deadwing’ and ‘Fear of a Blank Planet’. But if you come backwards into the early days, it was a much different proposition. Released in 1994, you’ll see many of the facets of Porcupine Tree’s growth rooted right here.

I’ll do a deeper explanation on another record piece, but suffice to say that Porcupine Tree started as a mythical, lost 70s prog rock band conjured up by Steven Wilson and Malcolm Stocks, although Wilson created the majority of the music. In order to complete the illusion that they were real, music was written and much of that became two real records. ‘Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape’ is an offcuts record, made up of tracks that didn’t make it onto the band’s 1992 debut masterpiece ‘On the Sunday of Life…’ from Wilson’s first three EP releases, and when you listen to it you can kind of understand why, but I think it also gives us a really important snapshot of where Steven Wilson was taking inspiration. Porcupine Tree was a solo project at the time, and it was a real moment of reinvigoration for British prog. On here you have the murmuring ambience of ‘Prayer’, the psychedelic freakouts and tribal drumming of ‘Daughters in Exile’, the chillout stoner groove ‘Radioactive Toy’ and the spacey noodling atmospheres of ‘No Reason to Live, No Reason to Die’. If you’ve been used to ‘Halo’ and ‘Backest Eyes’, this record will be very strange to you but there is so much experimentation and sound manipulation that I find impossible to look away. A massive swath of electronic music pervades much of it, an element that has mostly disappeared from modern Porcupine Tree but you can still see parts of the krautrock/space rock/psychedelic rock that covers the more ‘song’ songs on this work in their newer stuff. There’s a lot of weirdness as well, playing into that 70s experimentation, like ‘Track Eleven AKA Colour Dance Angel Kiss’, where you struggle to see whether this was a serious piece or part of the cultural disguise.

For a band that started as a hoax and a joke to create something as dedicated and interesting as this to keep up the charade, and for the off cuts from said album to be so inspiring, so different and so invigorating is truly special. ‘On the Sunday of Life’ is a great record, but when you pair it with ‘Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape’ and see them together, you get a complete picture of the band’s roots and creation. The fact that the music was compelling enough to make people believe it was real, and then become real, is proof enough. A fascinating peek into a different world.

https://www.facebook.com/PorcupineTreeOfficial

Review: My Dying Bride – A Mortal Binding

Review by Sandre the Giant

Originally published here: https://www.thesleepingshaman.com/reviews/my-dying-bride-mortal-binding/

Unless you’ve lived under a rock or been a metal fan that is somehow well adjusted and happy, you know who My Dying Bride are and what they do. They’ve been perfecting their gloom and doom for over 30 years now, and while their lineup has changed a lot over the years their most recognisable assets, Aaron Stainthorpe’s gloriously morose voice and Andrew Craighan’s groaning, weeping riffs, are as present as ever. Their newest record, ‘A Mortal Binding’, is out now through Nuclear Blast.

If you remember back to the halcyon days of 2019, before the world completely fell apart, you’ll remember MDB’s incredible ‘The Ghost of Orion’ record and how it, somehow almost more than any other of their releases, really captured a poignancy and a gravitas of sadness that few could ever hope to reach. So as ‘Her Dominion’ opens with a rumbling doomy riff and growling snarls, it comes as a little bit of a shock. Stainthorpe’s rich clean tones are normally a tapestry of lyrical poetry over such riffs, but this growl gives the track some raw, seething energy that most of their work normally lacks. It was striking on first listen, and yet somehow perfectly in sync within the second listen. ‘Thornwyck Hymn’ follows in grand, classic My Dying Bride style, with swooning riffs, dripping gothic atmospheres and Stainthorpe’s classic croon. ‘The 2nd of Three Bells’ brings back the death/doom ferocity of their earliest days, a theme of primal gloom and melancholia that is now empowered by primal growls. But it is the tragic heights of ‘The Apocalyptist’ that truly give us one of the peaks of the band’s entire career, a real callback to the earliest days of ‘Turn Loose the Swans’ and ‘As the Flower Withers’. The drums are so heavy here, accompanying each riff with such a force that it emphasises the sheer weight of everything. The vocals range from deep growls to clean, the violin is glorious, the melancholic romanticisms are in full sway, it is a thing of dark beauty. Closing with ‘Crushed Embers’, one of the most My Dying Bride songs you’ll hear, this is the work of a group of people that are just in incredible control of their talents.

‘A Mortal Binding’ is a tough proposition to analyse when you’ve been a fan of this band as long as I have. I’m one of those people who believe the band have rarely if ever put a foot wrong, and thus it contains everything you could need as a fan. You have the crushing riffs, that sermonising sadness of Stainthorpe’s voice, the violin from Shane MacGowan, the sodden atmosphere; everything comes together in a rich tapestry of gothic death/doom perfection. ‘A Mortal Binding’ is an album that you can spend days absorbed in and it will reveal itself to you in a splendour that very few bands have ever been able to create. Another stunner from an all time great.

https://www.facebook.com/MyDyingBrideOfficial

https://mydyingbrideofficial.bandcamp.com/album/a-mortal-binding

http://www.nuclearblast.de/en/shop/index.html

Review: My Silent Wake – Lost in Memories, Lost in Grief

Review by Sandre the Giant

British doom stalwarts My Silent Wake have been steadily filling out their resume for almost 20 years now, a catalogue of crushing doom and acoustic pieces as well. Their twelfth record, ‘Lost in Memories, Lost in Grief’ is the latest expression of pain, sorrow, depression and loss but perhaps always tinged with hope. It is out now through Ardua Music and looks to continue this well respected band’s journey to success.

When you’re a British band doing doom or death/doom, you know exactly what you’re facing in terms of comparison. It is unfair, completely, but when you hail from the same isle as Anathema, Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride, that is the standard. The thing about My Silent Wake is though, they’ve been quietly building a discography that at times are right up there with those icons of the style. ‘The Liar and the Fool’ is an opener that channels all three at different points, but remains steadfastly theirs. Gloomy riffs, haunting growls mixed with clean melancholic notes and a grim atmospheric dirge is as close to perfection in this genre that you can get. The key has always been that they’ve used their influences as a framework, and filled out the spaces with their own thing. The grinding guitars and Tom G. Warrior-esque cleans of ‘The Last Lullaby’, that miserable spectre of ‘Another Light’, the morbid crawl of ‘No Time’; all of these are My Silent Wake songs, not just copycat tunes. They take their core sound of death/doom and gothic doom and do some different things with it too. ‘Wolf’ could be Cradle of Filth if they’d been a doom band, while ‘Lavender Garden’ has a real My Dying Bride meets Mercyful Fate vibe about it.

‘Lost in Memories, Lost in Grief’ is a record that should finally dispel any idea that the Peaceville Three have no peers, because My Silent Wake are reaching their hallowed grounds now. Bleak and enthralling, sadness and misery was never made to sound so energised. It isn’t upbeat, that would be a step too far, but it is an active melancholy, an album that is shifting and moving in numerous interesting ways. Death/doom never sounded so alive as it does on ‘Lost in Memories, Lost in Grief’.

https://www.facebook.com/MySilentWake/

https://mysilentwake1.bandcamp.com/

https://www.arduamusic.com/

2024 Anniversary Series 055: Saxon – Crusader

Scribed by Sandre the Giant

We featured Saxon only just last year on the AS on their classic ‘Power and the Glory’ record, and they are back already on another! Well, that was Saxon for you, the band who released two records in 1980 and just couldn’t slow down apparently. A different time with a different breed of metallers. Well, ‘Crusader’ was the follow up, a record that continued to forge the Saxon legend but yet move it slightly further away from the NWOBHM movement they spearheaded in the early 80s into a more epic heavy metal sound. More commercial? It could probably be argued but then again, who didn’t at this time?

The title track is an all time heavy metal classic, sowing seeds of power metal’s birth for decades to come. If you’ve heard any striding, proud power metal or trad metal slow burner in the last 30 years, ‘Crusader’ is almost certainly an influence on it. You can see it in any number of European power metal bands particularly the likes of Hammerfall, Edguy and Grave Digger, but I’m sure there’s so many more. Could this be the beginning of historical epics creeping into metal’s lyrical themes as well? Saxon and Iron Maiden were ahead of the curve on that one too. Maiden took into a more high concept direction, whereas Saxon were still a little undecided about where to go next. Their galloping biker anthems had mellowed a little, but they’d never really taken that next step the way Maiden had into grandiose epics. You’ve still got classic street metal anthems like ‘A Little Bit of What You Fancy’ but some of the more commercially focused songs didn’t really work out as well (‘Do It All For You’ is a power ballad but not really the kind that worked). When you look at Saxon today, you see a well oiled group of heavy metal veterans who know what their wheelhouse is and have the confidence and reputation to give us great record after great record, but in the mid 80s it seemed that they were struggling to find that identity in a changing musical landscape. What they had been doing was starting to become big, but Saxon didn’t seem to know quite what to do, stick with it or commercialise their sound.

With forty years of retrospection, and the knowledge that Saxon are still here and are now respected genre legends and pioneers, with a range of influence that starts at the very grassroots of the whole metal scene, we can look back at ‘Crusader’ as a very good, if not classic record in the pantheon of heavy metal. It has plenty of classic Saxon cuts, and I have a huge soft spot for it, but it’ll probably be down the list of ‘best Saxon albums’. And that’s absolutely OK.

https://www.facebook.com/SaxonOfficial

 

2024 Anniversary Series 056: Dragonforce – Sonic Firestorm

Scribed by Sandre the Giant

After their debut full length came out just the year before, Dragonforce hit back immediately in 2004 to capitalise on their newfound popularity with ‘Sonic Firestorm’, their first turn in the direction of ‘extreme power metal’. This is where the speed began, the insane speed & epically catchy combination that turned Dragonforce into stars on their next album. to be fair, Guitar Hero probably helped there to, but Dragonforce were already proving before that that they were no flash in the pan novelty act.

Opener ‘My Spirit Will Go On’ is the perfect confluence point of their previous classic power metal sound, and the gradually ramping up of speed and technicality that was to come. It’s one of their all time classics, a song that got me into the band in the first place, and one to this day still grips me tightly in its ultra catchy fists. It’s what Dragonforce do better than almost anyone else, massive choruses, huge hooks and blinding speed and technicality. A genuine joy to experience, and while later on that technicality began to get a little ridiculous, on ‘Sonic Firestorm’ there is the perfect balance between crazed fretwork and anthemic metal bangers. I mean, the solos are all still utterly crazy, but when you have killer tracks like ‘Fury of the Storm’, power ballad extraordinaire ‘Dawn of a New World’ and my own favourite, ‘Soldiers of the Wasteland’, you’ll struggle to pull your fists down from the sky. You can see the influences of Stratovarius and Helloween coming through, and Dragonforce in turn would continue that tradition and influence the next generations of power metallers.

Dragonforce became a bit of a meme, a bit of a joke for a while there with the whole Guitar Hero thing and whether they have really suffered because of it, or reached a whole new level of fans is up to each person’s interpretation. For me, ‘Inhuman Rampage’ was the limit of their ‘extreme power metal’ philosophy and I had to take a little break from them. But I’ve never taken a break from ‘Sonic Firestorm’, an album for which there is no more apt title. Fiery, beautiful and unstoppably fast, this is the true prime of Dragonforce. The real pinnacle of their creativity and everything since has been trying to be as good as this, Sometimes they’ve matched it, sometimes not. But most bands would kill for one stunner in their discography like this. Most metal fans will probably try and be ‘too cool’ for Dragonforce. But no one can claim that this isn’t power metal perfection, even twenty years on.

https://www.facebook.com/dragonforce

Review: Slimelord – Chytridiomycosis Relinquished

Review by Sandre the Giant

There are some bands that, when news of a new release comes on the horizon, you have to drop everything for. Slimelord are one of those bands fo rme, but dropping everything this year for ‘Chytridiomycosis Relinquished’ was booted into touch because of flu. Finally though, I have got round to it, the debut full length of these death/doom titans, and it is out now through the venerable 20 Buck Spin.

Following two of the most devastating EPs known to mankind, ‘The Delta Death Sirens’ and ‘Moss Contamination’, was a high task but ‘Chytridiomycosis Relinquished’ (man, that’s a catchy title, watch me spell it wrong repeatedly throughout this review) will strive hard for that achievement. ‘The Beckoning Bell’ maintains that ugly, drowning-in-swamp atmosphere that all of their previous work has, but the pace of the music has definitely increased a little. We’ve now got this discordant, grinding fury thrashing around in a miasmic rage. A truly hallucinogenic atmosphere and structure renders this psyche shredding track into the cosmic horror beyond our world. That cover art portrays this world that Slimelord live in, a place of terrifying eldritch and alien horror. ‘Gut-Brain Axis’ is a swooning, retching dirge of death/doom possessed by utterly alien melody lines and guttural vocals, while ‘Splayed Mud’ puts the newly found death metal power forward front and centre. My own personal highlight is the squalling frenzy of the gurgling monstrosity ‘Tidal Slaughtermarsh’, a track that lurches, thrashes and groans with a level of ancient, mossy evil you just don’t find anywhere else. As the oddly epic feeling swoon of closer ‘Heroic Demise’ brings everything to an end, you just know that this has been an experience you’ll never forget.

Whatever Slimelord turn their ugly, mangled hands to turns to gold, whether it be sludgy, swampy death/doom or a more virulent, disease ridden death metal sound, and there’s a number of sinister quiet moments on ‘Chytridiomycosis Relinquished’ to help fill in that extra little edge of terror. This is one of the year’s most torturous, hellscape-inducing releases, and is the soundtrack to the worst hallucination trip you’ll ever experience. A lot of music and bands claim to infuse their music with real fear or terror, to be something otherworldly. Slimelord are the benchmark for that attitude, and nothing comes close to this record in that regard at all. ‘Chytridiomycosis Relinquished’ is the year’s most revelatory and malignant record, and has vaulted to the top of my slowly building AOTY list.

https://www.facebook.com/horriblebog/

https://slimelordswamp.bandcamp.com/music

https://www.20buckspin.com/

Review: Dwarrowdelf – The Fallen Leaves

Review by Sandre the Giant

The Dwarrowdelf was one of the names for the dwarven kingdom of Moria in Lord of the Rings, and British atmospheric black metaller Tom O’Dell has taken inspiration from said fantastical kingdom to create a band that mixes atmospheric black metal, folk metal and even a hint of melodeath. You get the epic AND the darkness here on their fourth full length record, ‘The Fallen Leaves’, out now through Northern Silence Productions.

The swelling synths of opener ‘Within the Ashes, the Ember Still Burns’ is a mere window dressing for the atmospheric black metal to come, setting the atmosphere with a fantastical edge to it, before ‘The Journey to Dawn’ brings a furious yet ethereal attack to the senses. Ghostly keyboard lines tinkle in the air as moderately paced guitar and charismatic growls take over the thrust of the album, melody is never far behind though. The sense of scale is great, and yet seems obvious with the thematic backdrop. The beautiful pastoral keyboards and ambient passages help an epic feel build over the course of the record, lending tracks like ‘Deliverance’ and ‘To Dust, We All Return’ a wistful melancholy that enhances the more overtly black metal passages. This light/dark interplay leaves ‘The Fallen Leaves’ as a wonderfully epic and rousing experience, particularly tracks like the soaring ‘This Shattered World’.

An album that truly grows in stature and scope at it progresses towards its end, ‘The Fallen Leaves’ is a work that you can appreciate more and more as it grows, from its simple beginnings to its symphonic, atmospheric grandiosity at the end. Embracing all of its elements in equal fashion, this folk/atmospheric/ambient/black metal record will have you enthralled from start to finish, and Dwarrowdelf have shot high up my list of UK black metal bands who are worth keeping an eye on.

https://www.facebook.com/DwarrowdelfUK

https://dwarrowdelfuk.bandcamp.com/album/the-fallen-leaves

https://northernsilenceproductions.bandcamp.com/

Live Review: Emperor/Winterfylleth (22/03/24)

This was a night I had waited for for a long time. I’d say almost twenty years to be honest, since the first time I heard ‘In the Nightisde Eclipse’ and finally GOT black metal. You know those genres where you just can’t quite click with it, then all of a sudden a song hits you and everything opens up like a spring bloom? ‘Into the Infinity of Thoughts’ did that to me when I was 19, and Emperor have been my favourite black metal band since. They haven’t played in Scotland since 1993, and I had never seen them live in any of their other appearances over the years becuase it was always London and that just wasn’t feasible. It was a wet, cold night outside the famous Barrowland ballroom in the queue, but inside there was about to be the flames of true Norwegian black metal.

First up were support act Winterfylleth however, who I have seen before but not on such a big stage. Their epic atmospheric black metal works well in a large space, cascading from the speakers as tales of ancient hills and the pagan history of our isles flowed from their instruments. I’ll never get used to a black metal band that look like they could also be office workers and also crack the occasional, but Winterfylleth’s music was glorious tonight, setting the scene for what was to come. We even got a couple of new songs, played live for the first time, a taste of their new record due in the autumn.

What was to come was probably one of the best gigs of my life, and definitely the best black metal gig I had ever seen. I mentioned to a friend earlier in the day that if I got to hear ‘Into the Infinity of Thoughts’ live then my life would be complete, and it was the opener. Icy cold perfection, and it just kicked Emperor’s performance into the highest gear. The band were astoundingly tight, every track was classic after classic, and before I even forget, it was an entire performance of ‘Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk’ to top it all off. The album wasn’t played in order, appearing in between other such essentials like ‘Curse You All Men’ and ‘In the Wordless Chamber’.

Outside the opener, my own personal highlights were a staggering version of ‘Thus Spake the Night Spirit’ and a roaring ‘Inno a Satana’, but nothing was anything less that perfect. ‘Ensorcelled by Khaos’ had us all entranced with black metal magic, and while Ihsahn and Samoth were the focus, Secthdamon’s bass and Trym’s drumming were on point. We even had Jørgen Munkeby from Shining providing keyboard work as well, making sure every part of the show was authentic and true. Samoth’s guitar burned icy blasts of iconic riffing, while Ihsahn’s charismatic and unique vocal talents lent everything a mix of savagery and ethereal power. Like I said at the top, Emperor’s show on this night is forcing its way into my top 3 shows of all time, and I hope it isn’t another 30 years before they make it back to Scottish shores. Unbelievably good.

2024 Anniversary Series 021: Cradle of Filth – The Principle of Evil Made Flesh

Scribed by Sandre the Giant

1994 was black metal’s most important year since the early 80s, when the unholy quartet of Venom, Hellhammer, Mercyful Fate and Bathory conspired to create the genre itself. 1994 saw the consolidation of the second wave, the release of countless genre defining classics, and a number of records that sparked the evolution of the sound itself. One of the more underrated amongst that latter category was the debut record from the UK’s Cradle of Filth, who have taken the black metal blueprint and twisted it into a nightmarish gothic fairytale world of their own. ‘The Principle of Evil Made Flesh’ was a more straightforward second wave style release 30 years ago, but it possessed more than enough pieces of their now iconic sound to tell you it wasn’t just another monochrome blizzard fest.

If you had just heard ‘In the Nightside Eclipse’ mere days before this, and thought that was symphonic, you were not ready for ‘The Principle of Evil Made Flesh’. This was a revolution in black metal atmospherics, taking the core elements of shrieking vocals, tremolo riffing and punishing blastbeats and turning it into a gothic horror novel. It is a ferocious record, with the likes of ‘The Forest Whispers My Name’ and the title track as blazing fast as anything you’d find in Norway at the time, while the ghostly keyboards and symphonic layers of ‘To Eve the Art of Witchcraft’ and ‘The Black Goddess Rises’ give everything a haunting, gothic atmosphere. There is so much of this in latter Cradle records that sometimes their actual savagery can get lost but here, at the primal creation of what they are, it is perfectly balanced. Don’t get me wrong, modern Cradle’s ‘Hammer horror meets philharmonic orchestra via goth orgies and Emperor’ is great and all, but sometimes the purer old stuff just hits right. It is also full of interludes and storytelling moments, spacing out the songs with these elements really helps to set everything apart and keep it well paced.

Cradle of Filth were an instant standout from the rest of black metal in 1994 for a number of reasons. We’ve been through the musical ones above, but the whole aesthetic they brought was also very stylised. The album art is a wonderfully decadent vampiric fantasy; the stark blues stuck out next to ‘Transilvanian Hunger’ or ‘Hvis Lyset Tar Oss’, while the models added the dose of real evil and blasphemy that ‘In the Nightside Eclipse’ or ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas’ was more subtly hiding. Dani Filth’s lyrics were much more interested in mythological and occult references than Satanism, with various references to female figures and goddesses throughout. There was an element of commercialisation to the sound in some people’s eyes, but this was about as anti-mainstream as you could get despite the keyboards and ultra memorable passages. ‘The Principle of Evil Made Flesh’ is a record that helped establish a second life in British black metal, and while Cradle of Filth’s work has only expanded in scale and vision since this, their DNA will always be a catalyst for a new kind of evil rising from these old isles. An ice cold, bloodstained classic.

https://www.facebook.com/cradleoffilth