I just really didn’t find myself drawn to that much in terms of music. Most of this was while operating. Some while working out (just can’t go wrong with Lamb of God while lifting weights), some while just listening to music. But overall, nothing really jumped out at me.
The Vision Bleak popped on the list due to the recent wolf moon we had. Of course that instantly brought to mind their track “Wolf Moon”, and so I ended up listening to that whole album while working out. Wolverine made a surprising comeback, mostly because they are relatively safe to have in the background when a patient is awake.
But really, I hope to spend a bit more time this week listening to music, finding things to enjoy again. I feel a bit like I am stuck in the desert.
It is a time honored saying, and one I fully endorse. In my personal life, I honestly don’t remember a time a regretted trusting my gut. Perhaps that is some sort of memory bias at play. However, I can think of plenty of times I didn’t trust my gut, and regretted it immensely.
And this is in many aspects of life. Personal, professional, and even something as mundane as taking a chance on new music.
That brings us to debut album, Bull Elephant, from anonymous four piece from the UK, Bull Elephant. My gut didn’t just say “buy this album”. No, it said “buy this album this very second, including the art book, you fool, you fool!”
How’s that for a gut instinct? And what an instinct that was.
Disclaimer: I haven’t listened to this enough you to really feel like I can offer a definitive assessment, so this is more of an initial impression. But that impression is impressively positive.
First off, why did my gut tell me so strongly to get this album? Well, there are two reasons. First, did you see that cover up there? I mean, did you really see it? A mix of WWII, mystic arts, and a huge war elephant/Lovecraftian horror hybrid. How metal is that? The answer is thus: all the metal. All of it.
And then there is this, the description from the band:
Bull Elephant is the story of a slain African elephant that occultist Ahnenerbe SS attempted to bring back from the dead as a new form of battle asset. However, before re-animation could be completed it was intercepted by a mysterious witch-shaman, pursuing her own agenda and redirecting the undead creature’s purpose.
Think of the background concept as Raiders of the Lost Ark set to a progressive doom soundtrack where Judeo-Christian mythology is replaced by the even more sinister universe hinted at in the writings of H. P. Lovecraft…. with Nazi assault wolves.
Once again, all the metal.
But fantastic artwork and a beautifully bonkers theme only get you so far. The music has to do the rest. Here, the music does so brilliantly. Bull Elephant are playing a bit of a genre salad here, with the base being a sludgy sort of doom. Layered on top of this are some elements of death metal and atmosphere that wouldn’t be out of place on a post-metal record. Vocals range from death growls to pleasant cleans. Songs are mostly in the mid to slow pace range, with some more propulsive moments.
So far, I love what I’ve been hearing. The guitar tone is heavy, with just enough fuzz to give it a little grime, that seems super appropriate given the theme. The drumming is crisp, with some nice little fills here and there, and never overwhelm, but provide a solid backdrop. Really, everything here has been clicking into place for me. Even though many of the songs are on the long side, and take their time moving from section to section, the album moves briskly, without ever feeling like there is a wasted moment. And just listen to the riff the kicks in “Dread Reactor”, final track. It is a delicious monster of a riff. These lads know what they are doing, and execute excellently.
A concept album with such a ridiculous premise has a very difficult job of not crumbling under the weight of its own ridiculousness. Bull Elephant pulls that off admirably, embracing the concept to the point that you can’t help but be pulled along. This album came out of nowhere and I can’t stop smiling while listening, or even thinking about listening. Cheers you crazy lads, cheers.
A few months ago I received and email regarding the upcoming album from Vintersea, a metal band hailing from Oregon. I honestly can’t recall exactly why I received the email, but it mentioned the cover art for Illuminated had been created by Xenoyr, harsh vocalist for Ne Obliviscaris.
This instantly intrigued me, as I am a huge and unapologetic NeO fan. If Xen was contributing something to this band, I assumed (whether this assumption was correct or not) that there must be some merit to the band and their work. The email also detailed a special collectors pack of the album, including CD, vinyl, t-shirt and photo book. I’m a sucker, and tell me this collectors pack is limited and includes the vinyl and, well, I had to force myself to not just press “Add to Cart”. You know, self-control and all that.
At the very least, I felt I should check out a song or two before I made the jump. Again, this is what we call “being responsible”, right?
Enter “Illuminated”, title track, and lead single from the album of the same name. I added it via Apple Music (most likely) and started listening. I’m sure I’m not the only one to have certain songs indelibly linked to memories, and this is one of those cases. It was late at night, my entire family had gone to bed and the house was dark. I was letting the dog out one last time for the night, and was jamming to this previously unknown to me band.
“Illuminated” starts off well enough, some keys and then some relatively standard sounding modern metal guitars. The sound was crisp, clean, and the guitar had a good tone. Lead singer Avienne entered the mix with a very pleasant voice, some layered effects to add to it, and a mild build in intensity with some double bass as the song progressed. Then it pulled back again, easing off the gas pedal. It was good, solid, if not entirely impressive music. An oddly placed spoken word passage appeared (turns out the album is a bit of a concept album, but I didn’t know this at the time), and then a bridge with, again, some very pleasant vocals. So far, my favorite part of the song was Avienne’s vocals.
Still, nothing about this was grabbing me. It wasn’t standing out in any way from a handful of other relatively generic, female fronted metal bands. Even the guitar solo was just fine. It was pleasant and enjoyable, but not attention grabbing.
And then it hits. About 4:45 in, the song gets quite a bit heavier, and Avienne suddenly breaks out some throat ripping growls, the double bass really kicks in, and now we have something different.
So sudden was the change in my interest, I remember saying out loud in the darkness “Okay, you guys just sold me.”
Illuminated is a chimera of modern progressive metal, death metal, and some blackened elements that really helped give this band their own identity. The rest of the album is just as, if not stronger than that single. “Spawn Awakening” starts of with a real kick, and I love playing it for others and letting them know just who provides the vocals. While not a dizzying display of turbulent time signatures, there are still plenty of progressive moments to be found. Songs change style and identity, have longer passages, and don’t feel like they are being crammed into a box.
Overall, I quite enjoy the album and there is a lot to really like. My only complaint is the use of saxophone on “Crack of Light”. It falls victim to the “Jones saxophone law” which states that the excellence of a song is inversely proportional to the amount of saxophone used. That is to say, the less sax, the better. Always. Heck, Kenny G’s music would be infinitely more tolerable if the saxophone was removed.
However, that doesn’t detract from what is an otherwise excellent album. This is a tight affair, coming in at only 39 minutes. It doesn’t overstay its welcome and manages to remain impactful by avoiding bloat. The performances are all excellent, and I can’t say enough good about Avienne. She has a wonderful clean voice that is a joy to listen to, and growls that are powerful and punishing. Illuminated is also a very nice maturation and improvement over their previous album The Gravity of Fall. This is a band with a lot of talent, a vision of what they want to become, and are well worth keeping your eye on.
And, yes, I did end up ordering that collectors pack. And I have no regrets.
Three years ago, thanks to a review at good old Angrymetalguy.com, I stumbled across a release from a three piece band from Colorado. The band was Source, and the album was Return to Nothing. It was a little too brazen in its Tool worship, and there were shades of the band Soen as well. But it was a lovely album of noodly, heavy music, with some serious progressive overtones. Songs were long, had needlessly long instrumental passages, and probably could have benefited greatly from some self-editing.
But it was also refreshing, a little eclectic, and wholly endearing.
I loved it and desperately hoped it wouldn’t be a one off. To my excitement, 2019 brought us the second album from Source, Totality. And I won’t lie, I don’t love it as much as I wanted to.
Don’t get me wrong, it I still a really solid album, one which I like quite a lot.
It is also a more mature album. The Tool worship is far less pronounced. Songs aren’t nearly as long or self-indulgent. They are more straightforward. They are more concise. They still have the progressive overtones, but avoid devolving into musical onanism. If I’m being honest, I actually think it is a better album. It took everything that was actually good from Return to Nothing, and focused it and honed it to a more impactful edge.
But I miss the indulgent nature of the previous album.
Looking at Totality on its own merits then, it is a really, really good metal album from a 3 piece band that is finding their voice. This is a more confident band, who manages to be impactful without being too long in the tooth. There is a lot to like here. The playing is excellent. These are skilled musicians who don’t feel the need to beat you over the head with their ability. I like the guitar tone a lot. It has just enough crunch to be metal, but isn’t going to turn anyone off by being too much.
I’d love the bass to be a little more noticeable, because it is good playing, but it can get a bit lost in the mix. Lyrically, this is actually a pretty dark album, addressing issues such as suicide, acceptance, and dealing with life challenges. You get the sense these lyrics are fairly personal.
I really like Source. This is a young band with, I hope, a bright future. They write great songs, are developing a real identity for themselves. I look forward to what they do next, and hope that perhaps they will bring back in a bit of those more progressive aspects from their first album. Totality is more than worth a listen, and while I don’t find myself drawn back to it as much as I was their debut, I have come back time and again and every time end up thinking “I should probably listen to this album more than I do!”
It’s almost difficult for me to talk about Fates Warning. On the one hand, it is because they are, in my opinion, the single most underrated band in the history of metal. On the other, it is because they are very possibly my favorite band of all time. Depends on the day, but it’s a toss up between Fates and Neurosis.
But why are they my favorite? For two main reasons. Number one, because they write amazing music. And second, because they were such an essential band on my journey of really getting into and appreciating metal on the whole.
I’d heard the name, but it was many years before I actually started listening to them, so I was super late to the game. It was actually right around the release of Disconnected in 2000 that I finally got around to listening to the band. And that was probably the perfect album for me to start listening to them. It may not be their best album, but it probably is my favorite. We’ll leave John Arch’s amazing vocal melodies, and the idea that their 1986 album The Spectre Within really can be considered the birth of progressive metal for another day. But today, let’s just enjoy the mastery that is Disconnected.
There had been some band changes in recent years, but Disconnected was the second band with the same line up as on A Pleasant Shade of Gray. And what we have is a group that really seems to have come together, with a clear understanding of what they want to do and where they were going. Kevin Moore’s work, both on keys, but most importantly in creating an atmosphere are on full display here. And I will continue to argue that Jim Matheos has penned more brilliant songs than just about anyone in the business.
Disconnected really runs the gamut of what Fates Warning can bring to the table. There are atmospheric tracks, like “Disconnected Part 1” and “Part 2”. There are relatively straightforward rockers like “One” and “Pieces of Me”. And then you have the progressive epics. “Something from Nothing” slowly builds over the course of its 11 minutes. But the real star of the show here is “Still Remains”, a 16 minute progressive and emotional epic.
I love the complete lack of fear or need to hurry here. The song slowly builds for minutes before it finally hits its stride into what one would consider a proper song. And then it keeps building and morphing. Throughout all, the performances are stellar, and the emotion is palpable. Disconnected is an album about relationships, about loss, about human connections and how those impact our lives. And “Still Remains” is the ultimate track to convey all of this.
I really can’t find a flaw in this album. The performances are excellent. Jim Matheos, in addition to being an excellent guitarist, also has amazing guitar tone on this album. Immediately recognizable. Ray Alder’s vocals are as fantastic as always, powerful, clear, expressive. Mark Zonder always was one of the more interesting drummers in the business. Even the final track, “Disconnected Part 2”, is a necessary part of this album. It completes the album, really hitting home the sense of loss and sadness that permeates the album.
I love all Fates Warning albums. And they have some truly groundbreaking and essential ones. Disconnected may not be their very best, but I think it will always be my favorite, and is clearly one of my top 10 albums of all time.
Arjen Lucassen is many things. But boring will never be one of them.
I first became familiar with Mr. Lucassen when the release of the Ayreon albumThe Human Equationwas soon to be released. At the time, progressive music, both rock and metal, were my staples. I was a fan of Dream Theater (amongst others) and with the announcement that James Labrie would be singing the main character in the album, I started to pay attention.
It opened a fascinating universe for me. The music of Ayreon, really just one of the musical outlets for Arjen Lucassen, was expansive, progressive, imaginative, and really hit the prog spot I was looking for. I fell deep down the rabbit hole, became an instant fan, and started to assiduously follow the man’s work.
2009 saw the release of a side project of Arjen’s, titled simply Guilt Machine. Stripping many of the excesses of his Ayreon project,On This Perfect Daypresents a more direct approach to his unique style of progressive music. For vocals, Arjen enlisted Jasper Steverlinck, a pop singer from Belgium, rather than the expansive cast of vocal characters seen on Ayreon releases.
What we have, then, is really lovely, clean pop vocals paired with facets of the Ayreon heaviness. Yet one of the aspects that makes Guilt Machine just so darn good is the way the heaviness is deftly balanced with the atmosphere. Nearly all the songs have a slow build, until the guitars finally kick in. And the dynamics continue throughout each song. None of the songs is in your face the entire time. That balance opens the music up, making it quite accessible, while still being deeply layered. And, let’s be honest, you have to find the version with the bonus tracks, simply to hear “The Stranger Song”. Jasper’s vocals are so powerful on that track, I get chills every time.
Lyrically, this is a dark album. Surprisingly so, honestly. The songs all seem to deal with loss, with things breaking down, with regret. This isn’t light, poppy fare. Nor is it the dense sci-fi stuff of the Ayreon albums. The atmosphere is further built by the addition of recorded voicemail messages. Arjen posted a number for fans to call and leave any message they wanted in their own language, and those messages are peppered throughout the album. It sounds like a gimmick, yet the way it is handled creates a powerful sense of reality. The addition of those messages helps the album feel grounded in a way few albums are.
There hasn’t been anything new out of the Guilt Machine camp in 10 years. And I’ll be honest, this album is so near perfect, that it might just be best to let it stand alone. While I’d love to hear more from this particular collaboration,On This Perfect Dayis just that: perfect.
Middle Aged Metalhead 