Category: Reviews – Audio
Glorious metal in all its earthly forms, compressed onto shiny plastic discs or into digital files. Which ones will become the soundtrack to your life?
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Tangerine Dream – The Blue Years Studio Albums 1985-1987
I’ve only recently gotten into Tangerine Dream via their excellent soundtrack for the ‘Wages of Fear’ remake ‘Sorcerer’. So I really enjoyed reviewing this boxset. ‘The Blue Years’ is a value-for-money four-CD set comprising four albums released by Tangerine Dream between 1985 and 1987, a prolific period. The first, ‘Le Parc’, is excellent and includes…
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WOORMS – Slake
This heavy trio hails from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, so suffice to say, they play low ‘n slow. But if you were expecting another Eyehategod or Crowbar clone, you might be mistaken. WOORMS offers up some shades of good ‘ol NOLA sludge, but it’s mixed in with noise rock and post-metal, with the end result having…
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Supermansion – Solar Order
First heard about this Southern Ontario supergroup (of sorts) back in ’07, when they released their first, self-titled Supermansion album. They put out a second record five years later, unbeknownst to me, and now they’ve got five albums under their belt, with Solar Order being the latest, independent release. Not sure if this one is…
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Gypsy Chief Goliath – Masters of Space and Time
Album number four from this long-running Southern Ontario heavy rock outfit sees Gypsy Chief Goliath take a slightly spacier approach. This sextet’s latest lineup includes three guitars as well as keyboards… just don’t call ‘em Hawkwind or anything. Masters… begins with “City of Ghosts,” and its melodic, bluesy, keyboard-accented riff that brings the likes of…
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Chainbreaker – Lethal Desire
It is a rarity for me to find a modern speed metal group that manages to peak my interest for more than a listen or two. While stuck on a train, I decided to kick back, pay too much for a beer and give Chainbreaker a listen. A few seconds into the album’s opening track…
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Shining – Animal
The dilemma most bands face is whether to progress or not. AC/DC have made a very successful career out of sticking to the same formula; so too have Slayer. Conversely, bands like Rush, Voivod and Mastodon have followed the path of constant change and innovation, and done well as a result. Shining have chosen, on…
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Venom – Storm The Gates
After Black Sabbath and Motorhead, I consider that Venom are the third most influential metal band; few bands have inspired and influenced three genres of metal, black metal, death metal and thrash metal. The first two Venom albums, ‘Welcome To Hell’ and ‘Black Metal’ are essential for any metal fans collection. Now, many years later,…
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Sigh – Heir To Despair
Hailing from Japan, Sigh bring a unique perspective to metal. On one hand it’s very traditional; Sigh are great musicians and composers, and you can hear the influences of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal very strong, particularly Iron Maiden. On the other hand, Sigh are so out there as to be in a…
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G.B.H. – The Rough Justice Years
Once again Cherry Red have excelled in presenting an important and influential band’s work in the best possible light. A huge influence on Cliff Burton-era Metallica, G.B.H are a special band indeed. This box set, which has 76 tracks over 5 discs, covers GBH’s output for the Rough Justice label between 1984 and 1985. Disc…
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Witchers Creed – Awakened from the Tomb
Why yes, it’s another “occult stoner/doom” band with Witch in its name – and this one even includes Creed in its moniker! But hey, if you can get past the band name, let’s just say they can take you higher. ? The song “Witchers Creed” kicks off the album. “Black Sabbath” this is not, but…