Review: Yet another addition to Rhino Records’ Start Your Ear Off Right series hears a reissue of prog metal band Dream Theater’s fifth studio album and first ever concept album. A sequel to the thrillingly titled Metropolis-Part I: The Miracle and the Sleeper, this record builds an intensive recollective sonic theatre out of the mosaic themes of memory and depersonalisation. Themed around the subject of a young man undergoing past life regression therapy, the record is a compelling, initially psychotic howl into the night, and yet it proves an ultimately integrative, recursive experience, adding themes of murderousness and prophetic fate.
Review: Executing an apocalyptic vision with just a hint of a nudge and a wink, Iron Maiden's progress from East London hopefuls to stadium filling institution has been a twisting and turning story. In 2000, when Dutch radio caught them in live action, Bruce Dickinson had just made a return to the ranks after two albums with Blaze Bayley taking on vocal duties. There's a renewed vigour in evidence on the forceful - often to the point of downright pugilistic - dispatching of ancient classics like 'Iron Maiden' (from the band's pre-Dickinson eponymous debut album) and 90s era corkers like 'Fear of The Dark' and a wonderfully fevered rendition of 'When Two Worlds Collide' that speeds up with all the momentum of a runaway train heading down a steep slope. This six track selection from the band's notoriously epic setlist is a choice nugget of a legendary band in fighting fit form.
Review: Goat returns with their latest self-titled album, the third in as many years, to ecstatic fans of the band. This ever-enigmatic collective continues to push boundaries, delivering a record that blends rhythmically intense rituals with an unmistakable energy that both invigorates dancefloors and stimulates the mind. The album kicks off with 'One More Death' and 'Goatbrain,' two tracks that capture Goat's hedonistic spirit through sharp funk grooves and guitars drenched in fuzz and wah. These tracks set the tone for an album that never shies away from exploration. The closing track, 'Ouroborus,' inspired by the ancient symbol of cyclical rebirth, showcases the band's love for hip hop, combining infectious chants with relentless breakbeats reminiscent of Lalo Schifrin's work. This finale brings the journey full circle, echoing the idea of endless renewal. Goat's new album continues to affirm their dedication to transcendence and transformation, offering listeners a potent escape into a world where the only constant is change.
Review: Returning just one year on from 2023's Zig (with what many initially presumed to be titled Zag), Moriah Pereira, better known as Poppy, delivers her sixth full-length LP Negative Spaces. Fresh off of appearances on both the new Bad Omens and Knocked Loose albums, with the latter marking her most unhinged vocal performance to date, this latest work seeks to strike a balance between her established digi-metal-pop formula and more outsider experimentations in both regards to heavier delivery and more complex electronica. Produced by former Bring Me The Horizon producer/keyboardist/programming wizard Jordan Fish, the not-so-strange bedfellows compliment each other majorly with Fish's ear for the sonic coalescence of metallic and industrial soundscapes within glistening pop structures providing an ample playground for Poppy to stretch her vocal cadences and multi-faceted character dynamics to enthralling new heights. This limited indie exclusive pressing arrives on a trifold pink & white split-coloured vinyl.
Review: In the 1980s the Monsters of Rock festival on the Castle Donnington in the East Midlands was THE annual headbangers' ball - these were, after all, the days when you could count the amount of major festivals each year on one hand. Every metal and hard rock band worth its salt played it, from first headliners Rainbow in 1980 to Iron Maiden in 1988, although it was the tragic death of two fans during Guns 'N' Roses' set that year that grabbed most of the headlines, and beyond. This recording captures Motorhead's set in 1986, when they shared the bill with headliner Ozzy Osbourne, Scorpions, Def Leppard and, somewhat unbelievably, Bad News, the Rik Mayall/Adrian Edmonson spoof metallers. The 'Head are on top form here and this is a nice sharp recording of a momentous set performed in front of a massive and vociferously enthusiastic crowd, and as well as a clutch of longtime classics culled from their trio of evergreen peak era-albums Bomber, Overkill and Ace of Spades, the post Eddie Clarke line up featuring Wurzel on guitar rarely sounded as on form, registering their own live favourites like 'Killed By Death' and 'Steal Your Face'.
Review: Often perceived as the UK's consulate of psychedelic, sludgy stoner-doom akin to US counterparts Sleep, Eyehategod and Bongzilla, the elusive and crushing Electric Wizard found themselves staring down the abyss of creative purpose once the 2020 pandemic hit. According to lead vocalist/guitarist/primary songwriter Jus Oborn - "We'd been gigging for two years at that point, around America three times, going to Japan and Australia, and we were sounding pretty good by the end of it. When the pandemic happened, we thought, 'Fuck it, maybe we'll never play again.' So we went into the jam room and played the songs to get them on tape to capture how we were playing at the time." Descending to their crypt/practice space located on the outskirts of the English Westcountry, the band would perform a bombastic live set for no audience whatsoever, recorded directly to a 16-track tape machine, with the fuzzed out, chaotic results dubbed Black Magic Rituals & Perversions Vol. 1. While you can thank the Ganja Gods the band still have the ability to tour, if you've yet to experience the Wizard in all of their raw, heaving, hefty glory, this voyeuristic fly-on-the-wall earful should provide ample warmth in the interim.
Review: It's difficult to describe to those too young to have been there and to those too old to give a toss, just how rife the anticipation was for the sophomore full-length from nu-metal giants Linkin Park following on from the global success of their multi-platinum selling debut album Hybrid Theory in 2000. Following what felt like an eternal three years, both shortened and lengthened by the bloated remix album Reanimation, 2003's Meteora was nothing short of lightning striking in the same place twice. Debuting at number 1 on the Billboard 200, certified 8xPlatinium and currently ranked as the 8th highest selling album of the 21st century, to call the band's second album a success seems like a very muted understatement when anthems such as 'Somewhere I Belong', 'Faint', and, 'Numb' are still some of the highest charting and most world-renowned metal singles to ever blare out across the airwaves. While musically drifting further away from their nu-metal beginnings with each subsequent project, both Meteora and its predecessor belong to a subset of genre-defining classics that appear to become more embraced and less maligned with age, as the nu-metal subgenre becomes less of a dirty word. It also goes without saying that the incomparable vocal presence of late frontman Chester Bennington as well as his vulnerable and cathartic lyricism take on a far more bleak and oppressive shade with the folly of hindsight.
Review: Following only one year after 2023's critically acclaimed Zig, avant-pop-metal genre-denier Poppy (real name Moriah Pereira) returns with a direct successor which many fans initially and understandably presumed to be titled Zag. Having featured on albums by both the accessible pop-leaning Virgina based metalcore outfit Bad Omens and the far more vicious Kentucky metallic hardcore greats in the making Knocked Loose (which featured her most caustic vocals to date) in the past year, Negative Spaces attempts to eschew the more stripped-down restraint of 2021's Justin Meldal-Johnsen-produced Flux with a total sensory overload of digi-pop chaos. Working with producer Jordan Fish who recently departed from his intrinsic role within Bring Me The Horizon, the duo have seemingly intertwined approaches, dynamics and abilities to complement each other's tastes and carve out soundscapes that equally and simultaneously prioritise pop song structures, industrial harshness and hyperpop maximalism, yet all united under the mercurial presence of Poppy's multi-faceted characteristic cadences.
Suffocating Under Words Of Sorrow (What Can I Do) (5:38)
Hit The Floor (3:30)
All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me) (3:40)
Hand Of Blood (3:23)
Room 409 (3:53)
The Poison (2:19)
10 Years Today (4:45)
Cries In Vain (3:54)
The End (6:17)
Review: Seven years after Bullet For My Valentine first formed under the name Jeff Killed John, they finally dropped a debut album. Gone were the Nirvana and Metallica covers that had defined the band's first incarnation, and in was a more melodic and poppier take on thrash and heavy metal. Going on to sell in excess of 1.6million copies between its initial release in 2005 and 2018, it remains BFMV's most commercially successful outing, earning them gold certification by the US RIAA and UK BPI, and platinum in the eyes of Germany's BVMI. If all this is news to you, perhaps we should start with some references. One for fans of Funeral For A Friend, Alexisonfire and more glossy emo-hued metal groups, it doesn't take long to realise why praise was heaped on The Poison, and the musicians, for their powerhouse riffs and unapologetically loud aesthetic.
Review: Following the tragic passing of frontman Chester Bennington in 2017, many presumed the natural end of nu-metal turned alt rock giants Linkin Park. Rattling their fanbase with news of a resurgence with Dead Sara vocalist Emily Armstrong, as well as new drummer Colin Brittain (replacing Rob Bourdain who opted not to join the reunion), From Zero nods to the band's original moniker of Xero while also ushering in this new era for the group, whereas sonically, the band do their best to simultaneously pay credence to their heavier origins whilst naturally progressing towards their newfound vision. Their first full-length since 2017's pop-oriented One More Light may come as a shock to many devout to the Bennington era, but the earnestness in composition sees a retrospective embracing of nu-metal motifs yet modified and extrapolated to embolden this entirely new compositional framework. Attempting to compare to prior releases is naturally par for the course yet won't do much to alter this new musical trajectory, as From Zero swells with the breath of an entirely fresh project that owes humble countenance to the Linkin Park of yesteryear. At 11 tracks clocking on at just over a half-hour, the mission statement is one of succinct brevity and urgency, but whether it truly fills the Bennington shaped void is down to each unique set of ears.
Review: Rumour has it that only 15 cassette tapes were initially distributed of this rare demo collection, which earlier in 2024 was revealed to be the most expensive cassette tape ever sold on Discogs (going for a hefty $5,000), though the common consensus is that surely more exist out in the ether. Available digitally for years but now arriving on a remarkably limited run of wax, these demos also appeared on the (Like) Linus compilation CD and feature John Taylor on drums as Abe Cunningham would be in the midst of touring with his original alternative metal outfit Phallucy at the time of recording. Featuring the entire demo which pre-dates their 1995 debut Adrenaline LP, including cuts such as the aforementioned '(Like) Linus' as well as 'Hump', and 'Plastic', this expanded version also boasts early takes of album tracks like 'Engine No. 9', and 'Nosebleed', painting one of the clearest pictures of the band's nu-metal teething phase while creatively and sonically striving to push those confines in a similar manner to early material from their peers in Incubus. Funky, jagged and raw, yet already exuding that signature sultry chaotic nuance, this collection is so OG that initial copies even labelled the band as The Deftones.
Review: Originally released in 1996, Ear Candy would serve as the sixth full-length from often unfairly slept on progressive metal-oriented hard rock titans King's X. Following on from the commercial success of their 1994 predecessor Dogman, the album would be the band's last for Atlantic Records as it failed to hit the same numbers, yet that blessing in disguise would eventually give them a new lease on life with Metal Blade. Long out of print, the wonderful people over at Music On Vinyl have given the record its overdue flowers with their reliable numbered 180-gram audiophile treatment on lush purple wax, restoring the highly technical yet accessible fluidity of bangers such as 'Sometime' and 'Picture', with the latter being an updated version complete with new lyrics of an older cut titled 'The Door' originally written under their previous moniker Sneak Preview, while 'A Box' features guest vocals by Glen Phillips of California jangly alt rockers Toad The Wet Sprocket.
Review: Certified 12xPlatinum, winning Best Hard Rock Performance for 'Crawling' at the 44th Grammy Awards, and classified as the bestselling debut album since Guns N' Roses' Appetite For Destruction; the first full-length from nu-metal legends Linkin Park was a world event around the time of its release at the turn of the new millennium. Living up to its title Hybrid Theory with an effortless fusion of alternative metal, hip-hop and turntablism, all unified under late frontman Chester Bennington's immense vocal range and vulnerable lyricism, the project became an instant classic upon release with singles such as the aforementioned 'Crawling', 'Papercut', 'One Step Closer', and, 'In The End', all going on to achieve either Platinum or Diamond status in numerous territories in the decades since. While the band would eventually stray into the realms of U2-indebted arena rock, both this debut and their 2003 sophomore follow up Meteora are still considered, to this day, to be some of the finest, most accessible and pristine displays of the once maligned nu-metal subgenre.
Review: Fusing elements of crusted country, gothic Americana and ferocious hardcore punk, Spiritworld conjure a Western, frontier aesthetic to their metallic cacophony in a very similar guise to Colorado blackened saddleriders, Wayfarer. The one-man-band vision of Stu Folsom has expanded to a full line-up over the course of numerous EPs, exuding an earnest desire to craft something both all too familiar yet strikingly alien. Following on from 2020's scorching debut full-length, 'Pagan Rhythms', the fully-fledged outfit have once again tapped punk/emo veteran producer, Sam Pura (The Story So Far, Basement, SPICE), to help elevate and increase the malodorous nature of their work to staggering, near caustic degrees of frontier fury.
Review: Parkway Drive are huge metal stars from Aus and this is the band's 20th anniversary. Winston McCall (vocals), Luke Kilpatrick (guitar), Jeff Ling(guitar), Jia O'Connor (bass), and Ben Gordon (drums) are marking the occasion by making their Don't Close Your Eyes album available for the first time ever on vinyl. The eight original tunes re included as well as some bonus cuts from their split record with I Killed The Prom Queen and compilation albums What We've Built and True Til Death, Volume 1. Several versions of this one are out there and this is a limited edition gatefold with translucent gold vinyl so is not to be sniffed at for fans old or new.
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