Album Review – Page 25 – DISPATCHES FROM THE VOID

Overkill-The Wings of War

Like clockwork, the Overkill institution just keeps on cranking out new material. Overkill is a band that is always going to be in the underground. In the mainstream press, the Big 4 always get all the ink as far as the classic thrash bands go. And it’s hard to argue with Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax and the legacy that they have all collectively left behind. But the true story of thrash can’t be completely written without a substantial chapter devoted to these Jersey boys. They will always remain one of my personal favorites from the classic era of 80s thrash simply for their no-nonsense, take-no-bullshit attitude and for the sterling record of consistent fist-to-the-face style of metal. If you were trying to introduce someone with no frame of reference to what a quality heavy metal band sound and looks like, you’d do worse than Overkill as being a prime example.

The current record finds the band in classic Overkill sound. It’s mean. It’s crunchy. It’s East Coast Fuck You attitude for days. It’s simply a damn fine album and one of the best to come out so far in 2019. The first half of the record is really straight forward thrash. The second half sees them pulling out some different tricks. Nothing completely out of left field, but the Side B songs have stuck with me a little more than Side A. They even manage to roll out another full-on punk ride with Welcome To the Garden State. It’s a rollicking good time much in the same vein as Old School from a few albums back. It should be a great one for a yell and call back during their upcoming live set.

During one of the promo videos the band put out to hype the new release, they interviewed Blitz and D.D. about the origins of the band. They stated that in the early days there was a tension as to whether they were going to be a metal band or a punk band, as the members had interest in both genres. They said they remember hearing Motorhead play for the first time and that a light bulb moment occurred where they were like, “Holy shit! We don’t have to choose! We can do both!” And hence, the birth of thrash metal as we know it. I love these kinds of stories.

4 flip flops out of 5

Candlemass-The Door To Doom

Please let me die in solitude….

Or not.

So, Candlemass is one of the legendary doom metal bands. They were one of the early bands that took Sabbath’s lessons to heart and crafted an awesome legacy of sloooowwww fucking riffs and lyrics dripping in despair. They’ve had a rotating cast of characters helming the frontman position for the band over the years creating distinct eras within their career. You’ve got the hearty booming bass of Messiah Marcolin, who had two stints with the band in the late 80s and again in the early 2000s. You had the ethereal tones of former Solitude Aeturnus vocalist Robert Lowe manning the mic in the remainder of the 2000s. Once things with Lowe came to an end, it sounded like the remainder of the band was ready to hang up the Candlemass moniker for good.

So, The Door To Doom comes as a bit of a surprise. Especially in light of who they managed to convince to come back for another go on the microphone. Candlemass’ first album was a classic groundbreaking release entitled Epicus Doomicus Metallicus and the vocalist on that album was a guy named Johan Langqvist. Langqvist was essentially a session vocalist when the album was recorded and he decided to take a pass at a permanent position as frontman for Candlemass after the album was released. Now, 35 years later, the band somehow managed to convince him to come back and join the band for a do-over of sorts. Part of me really wants to know what dude has been doing for the past 35 years and what made him agree to come back so many years after the debut album. I really hope he has been an accountant or something.

In addition to bringing back the vocalist from the first album, they also managed to get Tony Fucking Iommi to lay down a guest lead on one of the songs (Astorolus). Think about that for a moment. The dude who was instrumental in creating heavy metal in the first place and who was the primary influence on your band agrees to contribute to one of your albums. Humbling shit, that right there.

Anyway, the album is basically what you would expect from Candlemass. It’s a doom metal record. Slow, chunky riffs. Melancholic vocals and lyrics. A bit of Satan thrown in for good measure. It’s not the best album they have produced in their lengthy career, but it’s good. It’s nice that they haven’t hung up their axes just yet when they are still capable of producing what is really a celebration of their past and a clarion for a possible new era of the band. Cheers!

3.5 flip flops out of 5

Downfall of Gaia-Ethic of Radical Finitude

My mouth is defective. Which is why I choose to write. E-mail and texting taking the place of phone calls is probably the greatest thing to happen to me. When speaking aloud, I am notoriously bad about butchering the pronunciation of existing words and many times unintentionally creating new words for what I think are words, but aren’t exactly words. I’m a mess with the spoken word. It is in this vein that when I first saw the title for the album at hand, I thought I had found some kindred spirits in the dudes from Downfall of Gaia. “Finitude? That’s not a fucking word. But it kind of sounds like a word that should be a word. Damn, these guys are as bad as I am.” were the first thoughts that crossed my mind. Well, shit on me if finitude isn’t indeed a word. Dudes are from Germany and I’m assuming that English isn’t their native tongue and they still have a better vocabulary than me.

Enough about me. What’s the music like? Well, it’s black metal. And even though these guys hail from Europe, it reminds me more of the black metal from the Northwestern U.S. than the Scandinavian kind of black metal. Think Agalloch and Wolves in the Throne Room more than Mayhem and Darkthrone. There’s an organic quality to the proceedings that permeates their sound. And it is good. This is one of those introspective albums that is perfect for a drizzly and foggy day. Put on a fire. Turn out the lights. Embrace the void.

3.5 flip flops out of 5

Soen-Lotus

It looks like the year 2019 is the year that we finally get a new Tool album. At least, that’s the rumor anyway. Who knows? It seems like those dudes get their rocks off on jerking with their fans’ expectations. At any rate, if you don’t feel like engaging in the “will they/won’t they release the album” discourse, just go out and purchase the new Soen album. It will act as a salve for all of your Tool-related angst.

Soen is a melodic, prog-influenced band from Sweden whose initial claim to fame was it being the post-Opeth landing spot of drummer Martin Lopez. Lopez is such a stud. I would honestly listen to anything this dude plays. The biggest complaint surrounding Soen was hinted at earlier in this post. They dig some Tool. So much so that a lot of their earlier material damn near sounded like straight up Tool plagiarism. Not that it was bad. The playing and the vocals were always performed impeccably, but there was just this nagging lack of originality to the proceedings.

So, the new album. The Tool-tinged flavor is still there, but it really feels like Soen is finally starting to find a bit of their own sound. The guitars have a bit of a different sound and feel on this one. I think the Tool sound comes through the most during the slower tempo songs. The opener, Opponent, gives a good signal to the listener that this album is going to be a bit different than the Soen releases of the past. I dig it overall. Definitely the best album the group has released this far in their career. Keep grinding for your own sound boys.

3.5 flip flops out of 5

Swallow the Sun-When a Shadow Is Forced Into the Light

Well, this is a creepy as shit album cover. I feel like this creature could definitely end up being the main character is the next horror movie franchise. I mean, he has to be scarier than The Nun, right?

Swallow the Sun is back after a lengthy absence. And that can be understandable after their last release, Songs From the North, was essentially a unheard of triple-album. There was some really great material on that release, but it just seemed like such a daunting undertaking just to start to digest a release that contained three albums worth of songs in one sitting. The new album is a single release of eight songs and it really seems like an EP compared to Songs From the North.

The new album has everything you’d expect from a Swallow the Sun release. It’s dreary. It’s melancholy. It feels like it was created in a land where a good portion of their year is spent in darkness. Dirge-like and beautiful at the same time. This is the balance Swallow the Sun has mastered. And it’s nice to have this one come in an easier to digest format this time around.

3.5 flip flops out of 5

Mono-Nowhere, Now Here

I’m not sure why, but the title on this album reminds me of Mike Myers’ beat poet in So I Married An Axe Murderer. Woman! Woe-man! Whooooooa Man! Nowhere! Now Here! Noooooooow Here!

Thanks and goodnight! Remember to tip your waitstaff!

OK, sorry. That was dumb, but it’s honestly the first thing that popped into my head when seeing this album for the first time. Mono is a primarily instrumental band from Japan that seem to mainly delve into a post-metal sort of sound. They’re very arty and seem more focused on creating an atmosphere than constructing your run-of-the-mill rock/metal song. This whole album really feels like one long song, which I’m kind of assuming was the point. It actually comes across in many respects more like a soundtrack to a movie more so than a traditional metal album.

This isn’t an album that is going to jump out and grab you right out of the gate. It’s a slow burn and it’s one that will probably reward multiple listens because there are just so many textures going on here. I know the impression on my second pass with the album was much more positive than the first go round. This was actually my first introduction to this band and it looks like they have an fairly extensive back-catalog that is ripe to delve into. Give this one a go if your having an especially introspective sort of day. It feels like a good soundtrack to that sort of mind set.

3.5 flip flops out of 5

The Neal Morse Band-The Great Adventure

Sweet Jesus! We’ve actually got a Christian prog rock album on today’s platter.

The trope in the metal world has always been, why has Satan always garnered all of the talented folks and Jesus is left with Michael Sweet and Stryper? Why is that? Well, for the most part metal is about the dark side of the human condition. Despair, hopelessness, staring into the abyss, the certain inescapable trudge to the unknowns of death, the possibility of hell and burning for all eternity, giving the middle finger to established institutions. These are the things that are cornerstones of metal. Christianity, hope, love and goodwill towards mankind just don’t seem to mesh well with the origins of what metal is all about. Plus, lyrical themes of love, hope, forgiveness and an eternal bliss in service to the Jesus just don’t pair all that well with death screams, double bass blastbeats and fuzzed-out and crunchy down-tuned guitar riffs.

Even though I count myself among the great unwashed as far as religion goes, I did grow up inside the church. And I think this fact has always led me to not to completely foreclose the idea of a really good Christian metal band existing. I mean, have you read the Bible? There is some seriously fucked up imagery and shit in there. Smitings and plagues and crucifixions and people rising from the dead and rending of garments and gnashing of teeth. The Old Testament God gets fucking pissed off all the time and throws these massive fucking tantrums that results in tons of people just getting wiped out. It’s perfect fodder for a Slayer album.

What the fuck we’re we talking about again? Oh, yeah, the possibility of a decent and respectable Christian metal band. I mean, King’s X is probably as close as we’ve gotten and they aren’t really a “Christian” band per se. Nor are they really a traditional metal band, either. But they are a highly respected group (and one of my Top 5 favorite bands of all time) that weaves Christian themes throughout their albums. So, it’s possible.

This brings us to our current band and album. The Neal Morse Band is a prog rock juggernaut. If you are not familiar with them, they are the current incarnation of the former leader/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist of prog legends Spock’s Beard, Neal Morse. Back in the early 2000s, Neal became a born-again Christian and he decided to leave Spock’s Beard to create Christian-centric music. His buddy from Dream Theater, Mike Portnoy, joined him on drums and he released a number of Christian prog albums as a solo artist. To me, these albums were basically an extension of his creations in Spock’s Beard, but with a Christian slant. It was still really good music, albeit with a bit of a preachy type slant. A few years ago, Morse and Portnoy rounded out a stable lineup for their Christian prog machine and rechristened (heh) it as The Neal Morse Band. The Great Adventure is the latest release of this entity. This album is for fans of Yes, Styx, ELO, Rush, Dream Theater and Spock’s Beard. It really hits all of your main prog elements. Being a double album, there is plenty of room for the guys to run the gamut of harder edge rock to poppier Beatles-inspired tracks to some downright virtuoso-type metal shit. Lyrically, this is probably the least overtly Christian album that Morse has put out since he left Spock’s Beard. So, if you don’t feel like having your music get a little preachy in its presentation, this one is probably a good starting point for you with The Neal Morse Band. It’s catchy. It’s infectious. It’s one of those albums whose songs’ melodies will get stuck in your head. This is just a good rockin’ album. Sweet Jesus!

4 flip flops out of 5

Evergrey-The Atlantic

Well, dammit. Look at that album cover. I was really hoping this one was going to land in that masterpiece category of albums. After listening to it through a couple of times now, I honestly don’t really know what to say about it except that it’s a bit of a disappointment.

Evergrey. When they are on, they craft some of most arrestingly beautiful music metal has to offer. Goosebumps, man. Their best material provides goosebumps in spades. Sometimes their lyrical content and musical performance combine is such a way to produce something completely devastating emotionally. However, when they are off or seem like they are cruising on autopilot, you end up with some capably produced music for sure, but it just never rises to that level of emotional gut-punch that you expect from these guys. And that’s really where The Atlantic dwells. Tom Englund pores his guts out vocally and the rest of the band sounds great, but the material just doesn’t rise to to the level of say, The Inner Circle or In the Search of Truth. I honestly feel like this is probably the weakest release since the return of guitarist Henrik Danhage and drummer Jonas Ekdahl came back to the fold in 2014.

At the end of the day, The Atlantic is just lacking in goosebumps, man. And its a damn shame.

3 flip flops out of 5

Soilwork-Verkligheten

Damn, 2019 is starting out slow. We’re damn near the end of January and I’m just now getting to my first album review of the year. I feel like I’ve been let you down, dear reader. I’m really hoping this trend isn’t indicative that the remainder of the year in metal is going to be on the sparse side of things. At least on one positive/surprising note, it looks like Tool is shooting for an April release for their long-awaited album. So, I’m just going to expect the world to finally implode sometime in late March.

Tum-da-dum!! Soilwork gets to honor of getting review numero uno this time around. These feisty Swedes have become an institution in the Gothenburg melodic death metal sound over the 20+ years they have been active. Like most bands who have managed to eek out a career as long as they have, there have been many changes in personnel and changes in sound over the years. This album is the first without long-time drummer Dirk Verbueren, who moved on to become another in the long line of drummers for Megadeth, and the introduction of youngster Bastian Thursgaard on the kit. It’s always kind of sad when an important piece to a band’s sound leaves, as with Verbueren, but it is also interesting to see how the new piece fits in with the established band. When the first song kicked in on Verkligheten, I was reminded of when I first heard Piece of Mind and Nicko McBrain was introduced in the most “Look at what a bad ass the new guy is!”-way possible on Where Eagles Dare. The aptly named “Arrival” showcases Thursgaard at his blast-beatiness. Dude really has some serious chops and the band doesn’t seem to be missing a beat in the drumming area with his arrival.

The sound on this new one is a different animal than past Soilwork releases. Sure, it still has that distinctive Soilwork sound that is primarily marked by vocalist Bjorn “Speed” Strid’s combination of hardcore tinged death metal vocals and his almost emo-esque clean vocal croon. The biggest difference on this album is the sound of the guitars. For my second Iron Maiden comparison of the review, this album reminds me of the later era albums Maiden has put out. Maiden no longer employs the crunchy metal guitar sound from the Powerslave and Number of the Beast era. They are still heavy, but their guitar tones have gotten cleaner as the band has matured. I feel like this may be the start of a more mature/cleaner Soilwork sound. Now, I don’t mean that they are getting any less heavy. This album still has plenty of punch (and blast beats out the ass). It just feels like the intensity and aggression on this album has a different flavor than the albums from the band’s early days had.

3.5 flip flops out of 5

Corrosion of Conformity, Clutch, Weedeater and Mothership at Alamo City Music Hall, San Antonio, TX, 1/19/2019

What’s up, dedicated readers? It’s been quite some time since we last talked. The winter break is officially over and we’re starting to see the first few official albums releases of 2019 come down the pike and I managed to make it out to my first live show of the year as well this past weekend. This one was a celebration of all things swampy and muddy and groovy and southern fried rock-n-roll.

Corrosion came rolling into San Antonio on their first headlining run in support of their Pepper Keenan reunion album, No Cross No Crown. These guys have come a long way from their punk roots and have settled in nicely into this role of southern-tinged blue collar rock-n-roll. No frills. No over-the-top spectacles. Just the band laying down some choice chops and having a damn good time doing so.

Supporting COC on this run were crusty New Orleans sludgy doomsters, Crowbar. So, in a way, this tour could be seen as a gathering of former Down alumni getting back together with their original bands. Also on the bill were North Carolina’s Weedeater and Dallas’ Mothership.

Corrosion of Conformity-Long Whip/Big America