Ufomammut at Myspace

One of the metal bands I was always embarrassed about liking is Deicide, and one of the reasons why was that any satanic rite undertaken to “Satan spawn the cacodemon” or the like would be one of the lamest blasphemous acts ever committed. It would be the ritual that the guys who went to the A/V club at school and the Young Conservatives at University went to. You want to know the music all the cool kids sacrifice virgins too? Its “Idolum” by Ufomammut, a record that drips with a supernatural malevolence rarely seen in doom metal. Sinister riffs evolve throughout the course of each song producing an air of foreboding that pays off magnificently when each new segments comes into play and chills you to the bone. Behind these gargantuan riffs are haunting keyboard lines played on vintage synths and moaning and howling yet somehow ethereal male and female vocals that bring to mind Jarboe of Swans fame. Add some unsettling laughing, crying and cursing in the background and what you have is possibly the most evil doom record since “Black Sabbath”.

It’s also one of the most original ones I’ve heard in a long while. While the influence of genre staples Hawkwind and Neurosis can be heard within this vile connotation, there are some more unorthodox comparisons that come to mind, like the thought that “Idolum” does for psychedelic doom what Blut aus Nord’s “The Work Which Transforms God” did for industrial black metal, in that it created the genuinely wicked and malicious atmosphere that was always capable of being spawned from the genre’s roots.

The pinnacle of “Idolum” is “Void”, a 21-minute epic that is the penultimate track on the record. It starts with a low-key yet evocative build up, which by the 9 minute mark turns into a sludgy murmuring segment that is somewhat reminiscent of Moss, then subsequently turns into a pulsating yet hypnotic drone that might be considered too much for even Sunn0))). This continues with various intoxicating changes in frequency and tone for 8 minutes before reaching a crescendo with some disturbing spacey synth and distressed female pleading, before kicking into the motherload of all riffs with “Elephantom” acting as a post rock-cum-sludge bookend to the record. This record is so complete for the occult metal experience that the only thing missing is your own virgin to sacrifice, but hopefully you can find one at your local Young Conservative / Republican branch office to enhance your “Idolum” experience. If you want evil metal, as in actual malevolence rather than teenage cartoon theatrics, then this is the album for you.

Manowar at Myspace

Manowar’s most recent studio album is a mixed bag. For one, there are far too many synths, with some tracks having virtually no metal content at all. This makes Manowar sound like a limp-wristed fairy power metal band like Rhapsody, instead of the oiled-up and insanely muscled metal band we’ve all come to love. There’s fairly little narrative for a concept album; most of the lyrics are fairly generic stuff about Norse mythology. Also, there are few hilariously cheesy lines like “may your sword stay wet like a young girl in her prime.” Another problem is that there’s way too much narration, which is as uninspired as the lyrics (an exception is at the end of the excellent track “Sons of Odin”).

The album’s low point is definitely “Glory, Majesty, Unity.” A filler track with virtually no music, this track also has narration by a completely different person than the rest of the album. After a few listens, it dawned on me that the narrator was the one from “The Warrior’s Prayer” from Kings of Metal, an album that was nearly 20 years old when this was recorded! I have no idea why they didn’t re-record it with the new narrator.

The album isn’t entirely bad, though; strong tracks include the aforementioned “Sons of Odin,” as well as “Hymn of the Immortal Warriors” and the bonus track “Die for Metal” (the only non-Viking related song on the album, with typical Manowar lyrics, although the main riff is a little to close to Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” for my tastes). In my opinion, this would’ve been better off if they’d done what they did with their earlier half-hour track “Achilles: Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts” and made one very long song with this album’s material, cut the filler out, and filled out the rest of the album with unrelated tracks.

Anata at Myspace

‘The Conductor’s Departure’ is a no-frills, 100% ass-kicking tech metal album.  Seriously, how many times have you cringed when you’re listening to a band for the first time, and those sweet riffs and guttural vocals give way to church organs, tambourines, and a heartfelt serenade from a tough guy?  Fuck that.  Real metal doesn’t need freshening up.

It’s 2008, but Anata still deliver exactly what I want to hear.  The guitar tone is warm and beautiful and constant; the riffs are exciting and memorable; the solos are technical yet subtle.  The drums are excellent; the vocals aren’t anything to write home about, but the dark growl works well with the music.  They really take a back-seat to the guitars, though.  Check out the soaring riffs on ‘The Great Juggler’, or the constant assault of ‘Disobedience Pays’, or the sneaky, show-off title track.  Anata ain’t exactly the usual Swedish death metal band, but they sure as hell remind me of why I fell for Soilwork, In Flames, etc. in their prime.

The Freezing Fog at Myspace

One would not expect that a traditional heavy metal album would come from the same plectrums of the same people who gave you Converge-approved metalcore heroes Beecher, despite the fact that Beecher themselves were originally conceived as a doom metal band, but rest assured if you absolutely hate metalcore (if you don’t then check out Beecher’s “This Elegy, His Autopsy”) you’ll probably be interested to check this out. Apart from the mark of mid-period Cathedral, there’s not a single influence that’s later than 1976. The riffs of Sabbath, the twin guitar attacks of Thin Lizzy, the stomp of Budgie, the genius of Deep Purple, the muddy power of Blue Cheer, the progressive bent of Hawkwind yadda yadda yadda. Basically this is the sound of heavy metal before Judas Priest and Motorhead got their hands on it, revisited through a stoner prism.

The lead guitar work by one “Charles Edward Godby” (like Beecher they insist on using their middle names in the time honoured serial killer fashion) shows an immense sense of power and rhythm, as vast riffage collides with soulful and psychedelic leads. The songs are expertly structured with many different variations on 70’s heavy metal ebbing and flowing in a natural and delightful fashion with the spacey Jimmy Page meets Kyuss solos being an obvious highlight. David William Hopkinson’s soaring masculine yet distinctly Lancastrian vocals bring a passionate and forceful resonance to the music, somewhere between a lower pitched version of Budgie’s Burke Shelley and a hell of a lot more tuneful Lee Dorrian!

This is the perfect album for chilling out, drinking a few beers and smoking the odd joint (a subject visited by the band themselves in their stoner hobbit epic “No Light, No Smoke”) to on a summer’s day. If this band had been around in 1974 they would have been legends, as it is in 2008 it’s a godamn awesome piece of trad metal heavier than fiat punto full of hambeasts, with not a growl, scream, or a trace of punk rock in sight. Although released in the United Kingdom by Roadkill records late last year, this record is being re-released worldwide in August this year by Dental records with 2 bonus tracks, so I would take some marks off for some Roadrunner-esque tactics there, but it’s hard to stay mad at these stoners for long with such quality guitar work on display.

Centuions Ghost at Myspace

I first saw Centurions Ghost live in 2005, in the basement of a dodgy pub in one of Birmingham’s dodgiest suburbs. The pub has since gone, torn down probably to create more yuppie apartments as is the way in most major UK cities, but the memory of that performance remains as visceral today as it was back then. Centurions Ghost’s second album, ‘The Great Work’, proves they still had whatever it was back then, being a stunningly visceral doom album that takes elements from sludge, thrash and death metal.

The most explicit influence on ‘The Great Work’ is Crowbar, though this is nowhere near straight-up hero worship. They are heavier and more technical than the boys from New Orleans and they disregard Crowbar’s hardcore elements entirely, and make their depressive side more subtle and less melodic. Evidence of their innovation is seen on album opener ‘The Supreme Moment’, which starts with an ever-so-slightly mathematical verse before sweeping in with some soulful guitar harmonies in the chorus. Winter, Celtic Frost, and Cathedral would be other good reference points, with ‘Bedbound (In the House of Doom)’ and ‘In Defiance’ having a distinct Entombed feel. The latter of those tracks abounds in the fattest groove this side of an armchair in a furry’s house, with the most sublime psychedelic guitar part five minutes in, and is the clear stand-out track.

Apart from the bizzare pairing of Biohazard’s more metal moments with some Flordian slo-mo death metal components in ‘Walking Through Walls’, this album is consistently enjoyable. A definite listen if not purchase for all fans of slow-paced extreme metal.