Heaven and Hell at Myspace

It’s really a shame that this didn’t come out under the Black Sabbath name. Oh, I know how Ozzy, Bill and Geezer forced Iommi to sign a contract saying that the name couldn’t be used without the participation of all four original members, and how this was justified due to Iommi’s dragging the name through the mud during the late 80′s and early 90′s, but this is a quality release, arguably better than any of the “real” Sabbath albums with Dio (it’s certainly better than the the mediocre-as-hell Dehumanizer).

That said, The Devil You Know doesn’t really have a sound that’s much different from the other Dio Sabbath albums, but it’s really, really good despite its lack of innovation. Dio sounds amazing for a senior citizen (would that all vocalists could sound this good this late into their careers), Iommi’s riffs are as good as ever, and the rhythm section is solid throughout. There’s even a little bit of synthesizer that’s used sparingly but effectively.

The album’s tone is also remarkably consistent- it’s completely dark, with no silly excursions into other moods like the Ozzy-era songs “Planet Caravan” or “Changes.” It’s also fairly slow-paced throughout (but not in a boring way). This leads to a few songs sounding awfully similar, but it’s not quite as much of a fault as it might sound. The lyrics are sometimes pretty cheesy, but they don’t really stick out a lot when the music is this grim. All in all, this is an excellent album and a more than worthy addition to the Sabbath catalog, even if it is technically apocrypha. I wouldn’t begrudge anyone who changed their MP3 tags to “Black Sabbath” for this album at all.

Motörhead at Myspace

Motörhead isn’t a band that’s known for changing its sound much over the years. Despite the fact that Lemmy is the sole constant member, its sound has remained very consistent over the years. That said, there are differences from album to album; you just have to be playing close attention to hear them.

Orgasmatron (originally released in 1986) was Motörhead’s first album as a four-piece, and the first without drummer Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor (except for “On Parole,” which was recorded in 1975 but not released until 1979). The dual guitars are a nice addition; they’re played by Wurzel and Phil Campbell (who is still in the band today). The production by Bill Laswell has its ups and downs; I liked the obviously sampled backing vocals on the songs “Deaf Forever” and “The Claw”, but Lemmy’s bass playing is just buried in the mix so far that it’s almost completely inaudible.

My favorite song was the title track, which denounces the negative effects of organized religion. This topic was so controversial that no other metal band has dared take it on before or since. All in all, despite a few minor changes from formula, it’s a pretty typical Motörhead album. The songs are simplistic but fun, and Lemmy’s voice is just as scraggly as ever.If you like Motörhead’s other work, check this out; if you hate the band, skip it.

Manilla Road at Myspace

Manilla Road’s latest release, Voyager, is a decent effort, if not quite up to the level of some of the band’s previous work. Mark Shelton’s voice isn’t what it used to be; while his nasal delivery was somewhat hard to get into before, I enjoyed it because it sounded like the Monarch from Venture Bros. was fronting a metal band. Now, he just sounds middle-aged and tired, and makes some truly pathetic attempts at death growls. Fortunately, though, his songwriting skill and guitar playing have not deteriorated one iota.

I didn’t like Voyager’s lyrics as much as those of earlier Manilla Road albums; it’s a concept album, and the story’s some silly stuff about Vikings conquering South America or something along those lines. I greatly preferred the more diverse approach used on earlier Manilla Road albums. There’s a surprising amount of acoustic material here; a few tracks have no electric guitar at all, which is a nice change of pace. I also liked the organ intro to the song “Blood Eagle”. The rhythm section doesn’t  really distinguish itself well on this record; the drums sound a bit clanky and the bass is nearly inaudible.

If you’re new to Manilla Road, this album isn’t the place to start; however, that doesn’t mean that it’s bad; it’s just a bit different from the rest of the band’s catalog. You’d probably be better off starting with the band’s 80s material.

Manilla Road at Myspace

Manilla Road is one of those bands that’s been around forever, but never managed to break into the mainstream in any way despite releasing some great material. Their first album, Invasion, dates all the way back to 1980. The production is about as rough as one would expect from an album self-released by a band from Kansas, hundreds of miles away from any of the major metal scenes at the time. Mark Shelton’s nasal, high-pitched voice is a bit of an acquired taste. There are also some incredibly cheesy parts, including the silly spoken intro to “Far Side of the Sun,” the terrible, cliche-ridden lyrics to “Cat and Mouse,” and the horrible trainwreck of studio effects that ends what was Side A on the original LP.

Yet for all these sins, there’s quite a bit of talent on display here. Shelton’s soloing is quite good, and the rhythm section is fine, if a bit workmanlike at times. It doesn’t really sound that much like the band’s later work, either musically or lyrically (there are no nods to the work of Lovecraft or Howard, for example). I especially enjoyed the 13-minute album closer, “The Empire,” which is closest to the epic feel that the band strove for on their later material. Invasion isn’t Manilla Road’s best album, but it’s a decent place to start.

Stormwarrior at Myspace

I love Stormwarrior. They do a great job of producing 80′s style speed metal in a way that’s delightfully cheesy without falling into the outright faggotry embraced by Hot Topic favorites such as Dragonforce. Heading Northe is another fine effort from the band. It’s hard to believe that this is just the third full-length studio effort from these guys; they’ve firmly established their sound. Things do get a little samey at points, but not as much as you’d think.

My favorite song on the album was “The Holy Cross,” a seven-minute epic telling about how the narrator will never give in to the foreign religion that is invading his land. (I would also like to state that my enjoyment of this song has nothing to do with the recent spate of church burnings in my area that started just after I first heard this album.) I also liked the fact that the band has gone out of their way not to include historically inaccurate horned helmets on any of its album covers.

I do have to address one thing. You probably noticed that extra E in the album title. Well, they randomly include them throughout the song titles and even in the lyrics booklet. It’s silly, but at least they didn’t have all the liner notes written in runes like Manowar did on their last album, and it doesn’t take away from the actual music one bit.

Dantesco at myspace

Dantesco, Puerto Rico’s premier metal band play a form of epic doom metal not a million miles from Doomsword, Solstice and Solitude Aeturnus. The first thing you will notice is they are all in Spanish and that vocalist Erico La Bestia sings for a good portion of the time in a cod-operatic style that somewhat distracts from the music. It’s hard to get into any sort of metal with someone sounding like Pavarotti singing over the top of it. The performance and composing of the music is top notch, but it’s impossible to get past a vocalist who by rights should be singing in an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical and it’s not coincidence that the bonus track on this album is actually taken from one!

The guitarwork is immensely soulful and provocative and with another vocalist I could probably get into this a lot more, but La Bestia’s vocals which when they aren’t operatic, sound like a parrot attempting falsetto, simply don’t work in Metal. Operatic vocals are for opera and nothing else really by the evidence of this record.

Dio at Myspace

The trend of bands performing entire albums in concert seems to be pretty popular these days (I have Jethro Tull’s “Aqualung Live” and 2 out of 3 of Dream Theater’s “Official Bootleg” series), and Dio continues it with this 2-disc set where every song from “Holy Diver” is performed.

Dio’s voice has its ups and downs. He’s awfully hoarse on some songs on the first disc (the title track especially), but he’s awesome on others (especially when you remember he’s over 60. The band is in fine form throughout, with “Gypsy” and “Shame on the Night” containing drum and guitar solos, respectively, which are lengthy but remain interesting throughout. Disc 2 was my favorite part; it contains two songs from Dio’s sophomore effort “The Last in Line”, as well as covers from his stints with Rainbow and Black Sabbath. Another part I enjoyed was the end of the song “Gypsy” after the drum solo; a pre-recorded version of Holst’s “Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity” bursts out and the drummer plays along with it. It has to be one of the silliest moments in metal that I’ve ever experienced, but I love silliness in metal so it’s all fine with me. This wouldn’t be the best place to start with Dio (stick to the original Holy Diver for that), but fans of his work will enjoy this album.

Ozzy Osbourne at Myspace

This album’s a guilty pleasure for me. It’s billed as live but clearly heavily overdone in the studio, as the contrast between Ozzy’s drunken rambling and his vocals in the songs themselves is obvious. But still, I enjoy it. Ozzy doesn’t perform any of his solo material, but sticks to songs he performed in Black Sabbath exclusively. Apparently, this album was released in order to compete with the Dio-era Sabbath album “Live Evil”. Randy Rhoads had just died, so he isn’t on this, and he was replaced by Brad Gillis, who would become famous with the AOR band Night Ranger, and he’s really no replacement for either Rhoads or Tony Iommi.

So why do I like this album? For one thing, the bass is awesome. Rudy Sarzo of Quiet Riot and Whitesnake plays on this album, and it makes me wonder why he was wasting his time with those lame pop metal bands, as he’s awesome here with his fuzzy bass tone. But my favorite part of the album is Ozzy’s between-song banter. He is just gloriously drunk, and I kept cracking up over his cries of “LOWDAH! LOWDAH!”, him falsely taking credit for writing the song “Black Sabbath” and yelling “KEEP ON SMOKIN’ IT!” at the end of “Sweet Leaf”. Although I enjoy this album, I can’t really recommend it, but die-hard Sabbath and Ozzy fans might want to check it out.

NOTE: This album is no longer being produced, so check used CD stores or download it on iTunes if you want it. Also, it should be noted that early CD pressings are missing “Sweet Leaf”.

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.

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.