Hello everybody, Welcome back to That's No Matter, the old weekly rock and
heavy Metal podcast. Welcome to a slightly delayed by a handful of days reviews
show, which does mean it was very courteous of bringing the Horizon to surprise
drop their album when we were already underway with this confirmed review selection. We
will come to it eventually, but as it happens, the last couple weeks
already, you've had some of the year's most significant and high profile releases,
so we're going to talk about those instead this week. My name is Parenheish
with me the usual gang for these here occasions. Elliott Paisley is with us.
Sam Dignon is also with us. Sam, I understand you've just got
back from visiting our Lord and Savior George Miller with Yes. I mean,
you know, it's funny because we do tea enders horror and it's, you
know, seemingly where most of the metal movies would end up. But Fury
Road, we all know is like like peak heavy metal cinema, peak heavy
metal cinema, and so it certainly is you know, for us lot it's
it's quite an event having you know, another one of those turn up.
Yeah, No, one of my most anti Spad movies of this year,
not just because like the perfect human being on your Taylor Joy, isn't it?
But yeah, no, I just go back from that. I am
very hyped top after watching that. It is wicked. I had a great
time. Just I don't want to like George, Can you do another one
of them and not make us wait ten years for it? Please? I
need more piss Boy. I genuinely like piss Boy, like short lived,
but like what a role. Yeah, I'm gonna be thinking about the little
boy who goes Bobby Knocker Forever, Grotus, Scrotus, the brothers like God
bless Mad Max Elliott. I presume you've not seen the movies so far and
you're just look at us like it might as well be not Arabic. That's
a loss. I'm gonna say that Scrotus and Pisboy, thankfully are not Arabic
terms. That is, yeah, where we've all been at lovely stuff.
Indeed we are going talking in today's review show the new records from Not Loose,
Kerry king Gate, Creeper, Paul Bearer, Uncle Acid and the Dead
Beats One Step Closer, Falter Camma and anti Christ Seed Machine. I very
briefly last week I went to see Ashenspire on their you know, UK headline
tour, which is, you know, nice for a band of you know
what, I believe that kind of stature, but you know, they were
playing in a very strange venue in Manchester called Satan's Hollow, which is basically
a club where the stage is in the middle of the room so you can
like walk around and watch from like behind the drum kit or something. It's
very very strange, but you know, obviously not a huge gathering in that
kind of place to see a really like fucking bizarre, challenging band like ash
Inspire. But they were fucking wicked. The vocalist was on crutches for whatever
he's not had like a crutch and they were still just like stomping about the
place and like waving the crutch like some kind of weapon. And you know,
with the kind of essentially playing with like a little band stand in the
middle of the room, they were able to sort of like walk up and
down it. And there were parts where like the sexophonist in his little shorts
would just like wander off to over at the bar somewhere. The bassis would
walk in a different direction to a different corner of the room, you know,
the vocalist still. You know, I'm pretty sure I got pushed at
one point stumping around the place, and you know, obviously something like a
headline show, you know, if it was a very small, you know,
attendance. It was nice hearing like that intro of the law of asbestos
with like the kind of Hammadolsmo or whatever it is, and hearing like a
reaction from people who like, you know know what that means something to you
know, although maybe Cable Street again was maybe the song that sort of stole
the night this time that you know, I hope you like poverty breathing insert
and the taste of leather off Britain's boot fucking line was so big, Yeah,
sensational bad. If you've not seen Ash and Spire the start, you
know they are a UK based band, so I'm sure the majority of you
have the opportunities at some point. We do have a rather rather good band
on our doorstep right now. Sam, you were at a show that sadly
did not come near me and I did not manage to figure out if I
could go to Rotherham or not to see if you weren't the evil wizard they
found. No, I was not, But honestly, it's watching you going
too Smolder, I felt like, you know, the dad in the Iron
Claw who is like pushing his like sons to go and be doing the best
wrestling that they can because he has not been able to like be you know,
for Philly's wrestling Deathinay. We know how that ends up though, Yeah,
yeah, hopefully this won't go that badly. But that's that's how I
felt watching you guys down there get to see this band. I really love
Smolder. Yeah. Of the kind of like heavy metal bands that you've brought
in and brought into my life, will say, Smaller have been one of
the ones I've just so just taken to. They were incredible. They were
like so much fun for them, as we're saying, like yeah and like
like playing tiland rooms. They played the Black Car in London, which actually
had a decent turnou I don't think it was sold out, but it was
busy and there were like people down the front to like get involved and sing
along. But just what I want from a heavy metal band, Smolder deliver.
It is epic. It is righteous, and triumphant, but it's fun
huge choruses. They closed with Sworderman and when she's doing that, I sell
my soul to the highest bidder. It sounded even in this tiny room sounded
huge. The two guitarists looked like wizards at different stages of their life.
One of them are you know, wizardry, like gorgeous, lush a straight,
long hair, the other big, big like hair going men's like Chris
Hemsworth at different stages of theurio So yeah, you know what. The vocalist
she is like heliusts because she's like really into it, and then her like
other points like dancing like a zombie on stage, like I know, like
just but she's so just evolving in like great to watch. They're like good
mix of songs off the two albums. They played for about just under an
hour, but it felt like the right amount where they could just power through
a bunch of the songs of the albums and some of the like slower doomier
stuff, the faster bits, like lots of head banging. It was like
just really invigorating, like oh yeah, this is why heavy actually rules,
and maybe metal corey shit like I'm so coming around to you like, I'm
just going back into heavy metal now because bands like Smolder are doing it really
brilliantly, and I'm like, I hope people catch onto this band because like
it means that sounds so big. It should be in bigger rooms than the
Black Car and it is. I don't think it's super like hard to get
into because it is catchy. There is big vocal hooks, and it's not
like super nerdy is heavy metal goes, it's pretty fucking nerdy. It is
pretty nerdy, but you know it's not like the full and nerdiest of power
metal. Yeah, Like there were things about them and being like this this
could be palatable to people who like, like some haven't gone fully in on
them more underground. Yeah, I agree, But the only thing is,
you know Sarah the vocalist, she is so eccentric vocally, and she falls
into that same category of you know, like bands like Keirathon Goal and stuff
like that, where it's like, yeah, these are brilliant cult bands,
but I understand why not everyone heard that and went, wow, that's my
favorite singer. A really good voice when she's bettering out those choruses, and
I really extentingly that's when I said, when she's doing the zombie dance next
the music video, but the entire genre of a metalcore catching straight as I
did not it's meant to come out, you know, I'm burning out on
it. Well, we will have some you know, various kinds of metal
to come up on the review show obviously today. A little bit in news
beforehand. What I guess right now is only a headline but maybe has potential
to turn into big news, is the US Department of Justice, along with
thirty states in the United States of America, are trying to break up the
Live Nation ticketmaster kind of conglomerate, essentially, you know, making a lawsuitcase
suggesting that the Live Nation you know, conglomerate has a unhealthy monopoly on the
entire live music industry and has been lowering its standards. Live Nation responded with
a letter which was basically just like, actually everyone loves us, and basically
it seems like everybody who doesn't work at Live Nation degrees and doesn't seem to
like very much. But as stands right now, obviously just a headline.
But in terms of where that story develops and if it goes into anything,
obviously a lot of people will have their eyes glued to the possible turnout of
such a thing based on so many stories and instances that we've all kind of
discussed over the years about you know, kind of the process of going two
gigs and you know, purchasing tickets and that kind of thing in the in
the modern era, so you know, keep your eyes peeled and and you
know, interested in that one. A couple of new songs. We start
off with Sam's least favorite band and also a band that you quite like.
I like them a lot. Yeah, have have released a song together.
I'm of course talking about, you know, the unification of Germany and Japan.
Electric Core Boy and Baby Metal have released a song together which is called
Rata Tatar. And seeing as I lead in like that, I suppose I'm
most interested in if if if one of these outweighs the other one for you
some So this is like when you've got like the nicest dessert you can have,
but you've always got it a bowl of shit alongside it. I genuinely
farmers have getting pulled in, like like I'm in the Baby Metal course on
this it's wicked, Like it's so big that chorus and they're like, you
know, really like bubbly baby meal bits that are fun. It's just whenever
the fucking electric cooal boy guy comes in, his voice actively annoys me.
Like both the singing and the screaming. There is about that now that I'm
just like my walls immediately goarp and I'm like, Nope, this is shit.
I don't want this, And it is just It's not the worst thing
Electric cool Boy have done. It's not the most grating, obnoxious like thing,
but I just his clean vocals are horrid. They are like so sickly
and just terrible. And the screams are that processed artificial metal core scream that
like is catching a straight from me in the smolder of you. So yeah,
like, it hasn't made me like Electric hall Boy anymore, hasn't made
me like baby Metal wing he left, I would. I think it's worth
saying I think this is when I hear this, I think it's more of
an Electric core Boy song than it is a baby Metal song. I'd agree.
I was, you know, discussing this recently, I was like,
baby Metal part of their entire brand seemed to be that they constantly do co
labs to people. It's almost like a thing where like a band from every
country has to do like an international collab with baby Metal, whether it's Sabatan
or you know whatever. And I wonder again the process of who exactly is
reaching out to who here? But this seems to me like it is a
call boy song that has had baby Metal kind of you know, drafted onto
it. Chorus. Yeah, and you know that kind of like Ratata.
It sounds a bit like that, that kind of Eurovision song from a couple
of years ago, kind of like party feel. I think the baby Metal
chorus is like, you know, fun, but like it's not their their
biggest catchiest one ever. It is mainly based around that sort of like chanting
thing. I think the song's all right. I think a lot of the
case with these sort of baby Metal co lab with X songs, you can
kind of pre imagine in advance what it's gonna sound like, And part of
me feels like there should have been more like extra you know, like I
it's a kind of standard party song, and I basically wanted like Scooter Jpop
Mark loves it in like an an also foregone conclusion of putting those two things
together Elliott, you probably don't have a dog in any of these fights,
no, I saw. I weirdly feel kind of the same about Electric Cool
Boy and Baby Met. I both have bangers, but the people who really
advocate for both kind of baffle me. No offense Mark sort of that kind
of extends to this. I'm kind of taken about by how understated it is
or how ambivalent I am towards it, because you know, there's some weird
stuff in there, like that oh in the moshpit, Yeah, quite like
that. But I was kind of surprised about how little there was that stuck
with me, because when both these bands are good, they you can't take
away the fact that they like catch you songs. Yeah, this is just
kind of I don't know, it feels like a bit of a b side.
Yeah, The Big Tatara is essentially that, and you could you could
imagine that from just looking at the title of the song. To be honest,
I think it's another of those things where it's just like, tell someone
in twenty fifteen that Electric Cool Boy and Baby Metal are going to do a
collab song together and it's going to be a big headline. They'd be like,
what, how We also have a new single from Head Automatica. It's
their first single since two thousand and six. Now, Sam, you were
a slam dunk yesterday, which we're not going to talk about here. We're
going to come back to it because we've got enough on our play. But
I'm going to guess that you saw Head Automatica. I did see Head Automatica,
yeah, so I probably I would guess that they would have played this.
We have a new Head of Maca song for the first time in nearly
two decades. Considering Head Automatica are like, you know, I think to
most of the world, there are one hit wonder right, like whether you
like albums or not, whatever. Most people in the world only know Beating
Heart Baby, and that's what they associate with them. And there is a
certain super fucking like flashy would ridiculous neon quality to that I was quite taken
about. But how this is basically a depeche Mode song, like big clanging
keys, that kind of seedy bass. It's a very cool kind of assembled
beat with the little horns, blasts and stuff like that. And you know,
I have a history of liking depeche Mode influenced songs. In the twenty
first century. I enjoy that aspect of it. Yeah, so I heard
this live. I heard this for the first time live. I didn't know.
I didn't I didn't know they put out anything. But it's a new
song and I was like, oh, it really stood out on the set
as being something different. But I was like, this feels really natural for
where where a reunited much older head Automatica would be with where like it felt
a lot more natural when Daryl was performing this. I won't go too much
into the life thing, but yeah, I agree. Really depeche Mode like
really dark, like sort of clanging simps and all that, but really cool
sounding. Really, I think it's really good. Yeah. I think it's
a really fun combination of star You get sort that funky SYNTHI pop, that
kind of industrial guitar that comes in out every now and then it's sort of
blaring horns and that big course and loads of vocal eccentricities. It's funny that
you got Depeche Mode, because the first one that came to mind to me
was Muse but really less just yeah, so I suppose that's a that's a
success, but I kind of found it a bit wandering, but I enjoy
it. While it's kind of maybe this is a weird comparison, but a
bit like when Faith nor More came back with Motherfucker and you're like, Okay,
well we'll see what the all right, Yeah, see what the album
is. I don't know, it doesn't Maybe I'm more used to stuff like
beating our baby. I was expecting a kind of instantaneous super power. Yeah,
kind of like, yeah, yeah, I've not even heard the second
record, so I might be missing something. I was more drawn to,
like the kind of beating intermentation here than I was, you know, Plumbo,
So maybe there is something to that. But yeah, new head automatica
significantly certainly for one of us here who who apparently left slam Dunk curly.
How very unsixer you you me at six have announced what will be your final
chance? You're watching dtours even their their final tour in early twenty twenty five.
It's in March. It goes through until of course, a closing night
at Wembley Arena, which is called the final Night of Six, which is
quite confusing because there's about, you know, fifteen dates or something. It's
play on the fact that the first time they played Wembley Arena was called the
Final Night of Sin because it was the end of the Sinner's Never Sleeped Tour.
Man Gospro Unit six Law Parents Law, I have to keep up with.
No, there's not, but like they're like they're like probably they're like
most memorable sho ever was that when they played Wembley and they sorted out super
quickly, like because there's them that they're like actual peak and heart their powers.
So it's kind of like, let's do that again. Yeah, well,
Sam, you you better get on that. If you you will,
I will be. Don't worry. I'm saddening didn't get to see the Unit
six hearse, Yeah, that was kicking around Slam. That wasn't it.
I also just thought it was a note that Palais Royale are also somehow playing
Wembley Arena. I couldn't believe it. I thought I didn't know that's an.
I saw a post for it at Slam Dug and I was just like,
Jesus Christ, what is going on? Every time I remember they still
exist, it is like a jumps. Yeah. Well they were headlining the
stage, but they were headlined one of the smaller stages, so I was
like, that's that's weird. I've never met someone that likes them. Even
people I know who like Paris and things that are sort of similar, I've
never one of them mentioned Palo Roal well, they are clearly enough fans they
get them into Wembley Arena at this stage in their career. Bad Omens issued
a statement this week that they are going to be essentially canceling all of their
kind of European festival run on grounds of kind of mental health and that kind
of thing which us for us is mainly of notes that we are not going
to get to see that really bizarre download stage running order that was like was
it mister Bungle into Highlights, the Bungle Highlands into bad Omens. And I'm
genuinely sad the bad Omens are pulled out because I wanted that to happen.
I wanted the experience of like people waiting for bad Omens watching high Loan.
So yeah, very sad. That's a piece of doll history that we were
sadly no longer going to be be privy too. Taylor Swift, he may
remember a couple of weeks ago that I mentioned that we'd like watched like a
live stream of the opening night of the European Taylor Swift era's tour, specifically
Paramore's opening set, and they didn't play Misery Business, and the comments in
the live stream were full of people being like, what that's their only song.
I can't believe it. And I did think it was like bold to
not play misery Business. A few nights ago, Paramore debuted misery Business on
this tour, saying that Taylor Swift specifically had asked them to play it.
I love that the word came from higher up and be like, Okay,
you're fucking my fans around. They only know you're hit. You please play
misery Business. And Hailey said from the stage, is like, okay,
so here's your goddamn break through. It very funny. So Sam, as
happens, you probably will see misery Business after all. That's fine. I'll
take whatever I get. I want to see the burning down the house cover
more than anything at the moment. Yeah, but yeah, the word legit
came from imagine pissing off the boss, Taylor Swift. If you don't play
misery Business, very good stuff, you are probably never going to see Steph
Carpenter live with Death Tones outside of the US ever again. By the sounds
of it, they have recruited. They've I've already been playing you know,
shows outside the US without him due to the various reasons he doesn't want to
leave the US. News now is that they've recruited Sean Lopez from far And
who is also China Marino's kind of partner in Crosses as well, in order
to fill that role. But I think what that looks like is, yeah,
genuinely, if you are, for example, us here in the UK
and you're not traveling to the US to see Deathtones, Steph Garment will not
be present ever again for the rest of their career. I think that's what
we can probably assume is going to be happening there. And Joey Bella Donna
has announced that he is going to be going on tour doing do O tribute
shows for some reason. Do you have any interest in that? No,
do Amthrex just want to be other people like Scottian's doing Mister Bungle, Charlie's
off being Vinnie Paul, and Joey's got to do Deo. It's I don't
know, it's I'm glad it's staying in Florida. I like Joey Bella Donna
as a singer. I've got a lot of a lot of soft spot for
him. But it is just very amusing thinking about like one of the greatest
singers of all time, Mona Jims Dio being impersonated by the guy who wears
the head dress. It's a it's a bold move to go out and do
that, but you know, fair play, good luck to him, all
right, Patreon. This week has been a very big week for you know,
people subscriber there who you know, help help contribute to keep this podcast
afloat because, as we said last week, we went underway starting our brand
new band special, which was the first part of our special on Seple Surer.
Ahead of you know that, I think the general of the way of
kind of career assessment and everything that you're going to get with Sepultury this year,
we wanted to be one of the first ones in the door, and
so we started out with a absolutely mammoth undertaking. Even considering we are only
going to be planning on doing the you know, the first six albums of
Sepulture prior to the split, it is still so much content, so much
of a mamoth undertaking in this part we did the thrash years of SEPULTURER,
going from such like nineteen eighty five to you know, the nineteen eighty five
sorry up to around the kind of Arise era. But what we managed to
squeeze into that like over four and a half hours, not only breakdowns of
albums. I again, I've been wanting to talk about on this show four
years, whether that be Morbid Visions or a Rise, right, all of
these different things swirling around, and I think particularly when by the time we
were getting to you know, some of the proper classic records like A Rise
and so on, I think really digging in the guts of them and kind
of you know, pulling out things that you maybe haven't considered about those records
and why they are actually so special. But we also preluded it with essentially
like two hours of Brazilian scene metal history, because you know, a lot
of people might only associate Brazilian metal with Sepultura, but we had to make
kind of great pains to say that they did not appear just sort of out
of nowhere in a vacuum. There was a scene of you know, Brazilian
metal bands around them, and so this kind of doubled up as we haven't
done a long time, which is a kind of a scene spotlight special going
in on a lot of the craziness that was Brazilian metal in the mid eighties,
from you know, police interactions with human bones to you know, violent
band feuds and maybe certain acts of slam dunk of taken to heart in Weekend.
It was fucking glorious, wasn't it. Yeah, I mean the whole
Brazilian history. It was like the real eye opener for me kind of going
into like how this all came about. Like obviously some just agreements on some
of the earlier material we covered, but worthwhile things to kind of like immerse
yourselves in and then where by the end it's just sort of like, ah,
this is just perfect music, isn't it? Like how could you not
love this? Yeah, it's just been one of the most like sumptuous and
satisfying specials we've done, I think, almost comparable to do in the Allison
Chains one. We're just going through going this is just one of the best
bands ever and it's so so rewarding sort of telling that story and getting to
go back to everything again. Yeah, And like I said, in terms
of like, you know, turning up with you know, a lot to
sink your teeth into. You know, we might not be delivering a big
special podcast every single week, but I think when we're turning up of the
girth as we had here, I think you understand the kind of the process
that goes into these. I mean, just the script for the Secultary Special
and all of that. Again, Brazilian history going back to you know,
the fucking sixties was you know, something I'm quite proud of putting together.
And so you know, sometime next month in June, will come around and
finish that Sepultaier Special with the following you know, nineties years of Sepulcherer.
But right now there is the period when they were making their name with some
of the you know, most fucking extreme, essential, intense, fucking brilliant
metal music ever made. Next week, this upcoming week, I suppose over
the Patreon it's album club time. We have got album clubs to do,
returning this month, and I'm going to tell you of them. Some of
them we've sort of alluded to before. Some of them I am going to
surprise the people sitting here with the first of which is an album that has
been mentioned and name dropped a couple of times maybe over the course of this
year so far on the podcast, so I thought it would be worth doing.
It is Motley Crue and an album that goes by the name of Generation
Swine. Like I mean, like to be honest, you could pick any
Moty Krahm and apart from maybe the debut, and you get the same reaction
with me, They're all shit. Let me tell you, this is going
to be one the handful of times when I'm not going to be coming at
you saying that's a stupid thing to say. We are going to be on
the same page for what they crew for once with this particular discussion, and
I can't wait. Then, Sam, you'll probably you know, you'll appreciate
this one more. We are going to do a little trip back to the
early twenty tens and a landscape of vibrant, keyboard laden metal core from overseas
with a band called Cross Faith and the Zion EP. Oh, yeah,
which I might as well check right now. Would you agree that that's like
the kind of the point where they were sort of the most spoken about.
I suppose it's the point where everyone was pointing out them, saying they could
be the next big thing in metalcore. Ye, yes, I think we'll
probably touch on maybe you know, the records around it in the actual albums,
but Zion as the sort of concentrated essence of Cross Faith, I suppose,
I know that is a band that is close to your heart. So
we're gonna give the opportunity to sort of wax the ricle about that. In
the punk corner, this is the one that you know, as promised ahead
of Outbreak, we are due talking about Have Heart and their album songs to
Scream at the Sun. And then in the underground corner, I thought with
the Separateury special, we've been thinking towards the end of that, we were
talking about you know, Morris Sound and those years, and so I thought,
you know, we're due are sort of like yearly tripped back into the
Morrisound early nineties years of death metal and an album that I have been wanting
to you know again, one those that's been slightly the slot for a long
time, Suffocation and their absolutely genre defining debut album, Effigy of the Forgotten.
So that is what is coming on album Club this coming week. From
ten out of ten to not turn out, So patron dot com slash That's
the Metal is the place to go to get a hold of all of that,
The hours of SEPULTURER, the album Club Special, everything grieves that we've
done. We've finished our you know, Alexas on Fire Special, which was
also huge and bulky and very in depth. So if that is your thing,
you can find all of that over there. Let us get underway with
the reviews for March. And even if we you know, we had tried
to like last minute fit in the Bring Me the Horizon album, it feels
like it would just be a sort of no brainer for lead review anyway that
the new out from Not Loose, which is called you Won't Go Before You're
supposed to, would you know, be front of the list. Not Loose
have in the last ten years or whatever it is, have gone from it's
like an anime arc. You know, it's like first day we're like a
novice metallic hardcore band among many. Then they became legitimate contenders to now a
state where you know, the release this album the other week and the conversation
around it, it feels, I guess you know, it's pretty clear that
like Turnstile a couple of years ago, or you know, Sleep tooken last
year. This may well end up being like the legitimate event release in heavy
music of the whole year. Like, is there anything that comes to mind
that has kind of had this much expectation or hype around it in twenty twenty
four other than Bring Me the Horizon album? Maybe, but even that feels
like it's kind of like the latest Bring Me the Horizon record that's been delayed
and long overdue. This has felt like an actual release that everyone has had
their eyes on the Like it's crazy that Not Loose are that band, but
it is has been exciting to see. But yeah, this feels like the
at least the first major event release of the year. Yeah. I think
with those two other records using Turnstile and Sleep, token has comparisons. The
thing that's been interesting about those is the kind of pop slash alternative crops that
we've seen with those things. The amazing thing about Not Loose is as they've
gotten heavier and leaned in more on like the beatdowns and the screeches and pig
squeals. As we get on this record, they've become more popular. I
know. A big point has been made about that, but this getting to
number twenty three on Billboard and all the songs having over a million streams,
it's it's almost beyond those other two and well, maybe not sleep Token,
but certainly Turnstile, who seemed like the natural crossover band of the moment.
So you know, we don't need much context. You know their trajectory so
far, and you know the wave of kind of a kine appreciation that they've
received, you know, just in the last couple of weeks with this album.
I think the only context I necessarily feel is the important to reaffirm is
the different in approach between their prior to releases to this one, because I
do think they are fairly different, a different shade of blue five years ago
did their kind of you know, the style of metanic hardcore they started at
with noticeably bigger and better. It was heavier, certainly than you know,
laugh tracks and before, and that was what really sort of set out the
store for what, as you say, Earliert, has been the general word
about not loose, which is they are the rare band who seem to take
a spike in popularity every time they get more brutal. But I also think
that album has easily the biggest set of kind of like anthems and like actual
hits they'd ever had, you know, like mistakes like Fractures and Still I
Won the South, those kind of songs. I think it's easily the best
collection of like actual bangers. They're like one of the any of these really
sort of metallic hardcore bands has like knocked out of like you know, the
Tear in the Fabric of Life EP was not exactly that. Instead, it
kind of changed taps to create a fluid, cohesively running horror themed EP that
was you know, more concerned about a really tightly put together experience and you
know, again it was heavier and it was terrifying, but by the nature
of how it was put together, that was the focus more than like singles
necessarily, and it is very fascinating to me. My first sort of reaction
to you know, even seeing the trappers on this record as well I was
hearing it. The new album You Won't Go For You're Supposed To is far
more follow up to that EP in its ethos than it is the last studio
album A different shade of Blue. Yeah, no, completely, it is
is following that same kind of like horror, theming, the esseeic like it's
very dark and sinister. It is again and now that for the most part,
is sequenced to flow as one kind of like continuous body of work,
which has been hilarious when people react to them and be like, oh my
god, songs can seek together with seamlessly. Oh wow, I'm like,
like, didn't we have this conversation on the last ep, Like it's what
they're doing now, and I think it's great, but is it definitely feels
that that is the lane not close want to move into that. They don't
want to be soxietly. For the bands who are getting massive, they're not
trying to write hits anymore. They are PRESI just trying to get in the
league with like the big boys of like darker, more challenging, atmospheric,
like interesting music. Yeah, I don't necessarily what I was expecting, because
it does make sense that you know, they would make advancements that were then
they wouldn't dispose of, they'd carry that over. But I suppose again,
when you want to think about in terms of the full length albums, this
is about six minutes longer than the EP compared to being like over ten minutes
shorter than the last album, and you know, as you say, while
there were certain folks online joking about that or whatever, and it's like,
you know, yeah, Jane Doe exists or whatever. But this album does
function far more like the overall contained Sweet than it would do a conventional album.
And it is fascinating to me that, as well as the often mentioned
point of like this band this heavy is getting so popular, following that approach
is what is continually getting them to be bigger and bigger, and that's what
conventional wisdom would surely tell her to do. The opposite. Well, yeah,
because the things that's gotten compared to I've seen a reason, I saw
aew Cup compared to Far Beyond Driven, other compared it to Iowa, and
again those the first thing you think of is they got heavier than the last
record and people were excited by that. They got bigger on the back of
it. Has a band ever gotten bigger by writing less coherent and that's not
necessarily putting a critical lens, but less conventional let's say songs. Has that?
Has that ever happened before? I don't know, yeah, because only
there are points when those stand in comparison albums, you know, do come
to mind, but you're right and that they don't function in the same way.
This feels like a very not loose thing to be doing. And there
I think they are taking point as more than from some other, even more
underground bands, And I certainly think that that kind of you know, detail
and their craft is what's helping them gain critical plaudits outside of just the metalcore
bubble. For example, you know, when you're seeing places like Pitchfork and
The Needle Drop giving them tremendous scores, I think it's that kind of thing
that is kind of helping, you know, set them apart and bring that
level of appreciation. You know, how well how far we'll go to agreeing
in terms of, like, you know, the nine out of ten scores
across the board or whatever, we will find out. But it is really
novel to me having the most raved about populist heavy record of the year be
a tightly packed horror sweet with barely any obvious singles that feels really fucking weird.
And you know, I guess the structure of the record that generally makes
sense to talk about it sort of fairly limley. Early first to start with
genuinely like about as extreme and head exploding as you could feasibly expect anything this
widely popular to go. I g I was like, there's gonna be a
whole lot of people who are listening to this album. The first thing they
hear on this record is probably the heaviest thing they've ever heard. I don't
mean that to be patronizing, but like, I mean, that's that agains.
That's what people always say about sucking people equal shit, right like when
that blast comes in. Yeah, but like but like that that's one thing.
This is like just this last of like harsh noise and like Brian just
like screeching with like no actual kind of like riff. It's just like buh,
just like corrupting in your ears. It's horrible. And I was kind
of just like I would first listen. It was quite early the morning.
I was just kind of like, yeah, cool, what the fuck is
going on? The first time I listened to this, I was so I
live directly opposite like across the road from the bus stop I always have to
go to to go anywhere, and it means that if there's heavy traffic between
me and the bus, it could be a fucking nightmare if the bus pulls
up opposite and I have to like get across the other side of the road.
That is exactly what happened the first time I put this on in my
headphones. As I was leaving the house, right and so the bus pull
up opposite, I had to catch it. I had to run across the
road to avoid traffic to get to the bus, And as I started running,
the beginning of this album kicked in and I had to like adjust for
a few seconds to make sure I wasn't dead. I hadn't like been here
from the road, because that's what it kind of felt like, the most
stressful possible circumstances to hear that in Yeah It's I was really taken about by
that bit because there's kind of impressience set by the last ep. But when
I came in, I just thought it sounds like portrayal of Guilt, who
are a sort of noisy hardcore back and that even a lot of hardcore people
seem to have trouble with. And they've kind of taken that sound and kept
all the things that make it uncomfortable and ferocious, but they make it so
loud and kind of blockbuster sounding that the first time it hits you, you
kind of do have to just sort of stop and absorb the shock. Yeah,
the level of you know, aggression on show on this record really is
something to behold. And thinking about this record in terms of, like,
you know, pushing at the limits of how hard this kind of music can
go. I think that's what a lot of people are actually looking to not
lose too as much as they are sort of you know again writing big songs
or whatever. And it is crazy and you know, we're reviewing a record
right at the end of this show, right that is absurdly fucking brutal,
right, and like that is an underground record not to lose and now so
brutal that I'm here thinking people who love this record to check out the last
album we're going to review today from Anty Croseed Machine and like at the very
legs, they should dip their toes in and see if it's their fancy.
And that is what you all thought to be having about like one of the
current biggest bands in the world. And I think again, the only other
times you could think of that in terms of that like Train of Four is
Hey, you like Iowa, You should check out Immolation and Diocide, and
hey, you like the great seven trend kill, you should check out Soilent,
Green and Acid Buth. I guess as much of the appeal of Not
Loose right now is like almost on a sort of like technical nerd level,
or in terms of like the pushing of the level of crushing in the production.
You know, it feels like that's almost like the appeal is how fucking
cartoonsly and saying can we make that sound? Interestingly, I think I'm right
in saying that the producer on this record, they've gone away from Will Putney,
who's the sort of standard guy for this, and they've worked with a
guy who's worked with like Bear Tooth and stuff like that, and that feels
like it would not be the result of this, and you know, like
credit to him, because this isn't like some of those record we review recently
where like a legit band have gone to the wrong producer who has tried to
turn him with that sort of like octane radio fold or whatever. At this
point, the guitars have gotten so low and gurgling and distorted, and you
know, part of me is sort of sympathetic to the argument that that's maybe
not always the most conducive for rifts, because they can just become this kind
of you know, soup, and a part of me kind of misses like
standard tunings and stuff. But when like the groove in piece by piece is
just sort of fucking wallop in its trunk around and you know, the the
intro of Suffocate, I do like there's a little trace of the most like
kind of like Swedish buzz Saw or something like that. But then that main
riff it really moves into They're a band who you know, they've spoken a
lot about kind of Gajira influence and stuff like that, and I was picking
that up on sort of like a different shade of blue and stuff like forget
your Name and stuff like that. When they get that full trample, you
like a buffalo feel that they get going on something like that main riff on
Suffocate. It's undeniably physical, like it speaks to almost like you know,
your your fucking internal organs more than it does like your brain. It almost
like bypasses all of your ears and just goes down into some more primal part
of you. Yeah, because I mean, maybe get to this, but
I kind of have sympathy for that view that things being down tune to oblivion
can kind of skimp on the I want to say personality, but the ability
to have sort of detail and things that maybe make parts distinctive from one another.
But you know, there's no denying it. It does inspire a certain
rush. Like the album sounds explosive, and like I said, when those
riffs come in, they're not the sort of thing that you could play on
an acoustic guitar to show someone a song you've written, but as part of
the greater whole with the production where it sounds like a sort of state of
the art rock record but just incredibly heavy, and you know, with the
syncopated drums and the sound manipulation and all that stuff, they they do have
an ability to sound punchy. To put it mildly, there's not many people,
even in extreme music, where it sounds that kind of explosive on impact,
yeah, and suffocate. It's I don't know if you guys feel similar
about this in terms of like the law. It's weird to me that Poppy,
who I first knew as this kind of like weird internet aarg game YouTube
girl, is now just sort of like a like regular or was taken for
granted piece of heavy music culture, and when she'd pop up on her not
the song like yeah that makes sense, you know, fucking really really strange.
Yeah, she fits, And actually I do agree because like, obviously
she always had that kind of weird, like slightly unsettling thing, even when
she was doing the more sort of popping from its music, it was always
a bit odd and creepy, and that that essentially fits quite in the work
We're not loosely going, but here she's just you know, just screeching away
and fits really naturally alongside Brian on that song, creating just this like frantic,
manic like sound. And it's kind of perfect guest spot because to me,
one of things with guest spots is when it's it just feels like,
hey we got Poppy. Look poppy, guys, Poppy's here. But you
could listen to this the first time and you'd recognize it was a different voice,
but it doesn't feel like it encroaches on it or it doesn't feel cynical
in any way. It it's just another mental voice sort of as part of
this greater hole. And then the fucking reggaeton breakdown. Discourse around that that
we could drop was like, oh God, can we just not just enjoy
something that is like actually just a bit different in like beatdowns, which are
so overdone. I haven't say any of its exhausting, but I was just
like, ah, that's just a really cool beatdown that actually like goes stupidly
hard and stands out like yeah, good or not loose. I mean,
they're not the first heavy band ever to use that rhythm, but it's a
you know, it's an inventive piece of like let's take something from somewhere else
and kind of make it insane and you know, the mush call of like
the title you know, the song right before it is you know, one
of the record's biggest hooks. It will be insane live for me. That
kind of invention of you know, an ear for detail and stuff like that
in the songwriting and in the production is it keeps refreshing it and it kind
of keeps it, you know, acting for the years. But because of
what you were you know what we were just saying, Elliott, a record
like this could blur into sort of sludge more than it does. You know,
if if there wasn't that kind of slight mad scientist element in the mix.
You know, before the reggite on breakdown underneath Poppies guest part, there's
this cool little skip part in the drums with this like production around it that
feels like it's like it's hissing pistons or something, and it's really cool sounding
and don't reach me as another good example where like the opening riff of that
is just the most like stupid, bone headed, smack you around the chops
thing imaginable, and you know, for the first minute was though, to
be honest, it's just kind of obnoxiously heavy and maybe not much else,
but there's a real like there's an evil kind of majesty in the rift that
comes in around the minute mark, I guess under what you call the chorus.
It's almost like bolt throwery or something. And particularly following that though,
there's that other cool like switch up in the mid section with this almost like
David Silvera type drum groove that comes in and those like strange chirping kind of
dude guitars and a moment like that is what kind of gives the song real
character, those like guitar bicks. Was like, again, it sounds like
the guitars are in pain at that point with the way they're being played,
and like that just kind of mangling of guitar sounds is again one of the
things it does just give this album you have more character than just just a
beatdown album. And it's like it means they can just constantly keep it varied
and change things up in a way that is dark, oppressive, heavy,
but not one note. Yeah, And I mean the snare tone on Don't
Reach for Me when that crunch is in, it's just out of this world.
I kind of miss when snare drums sounded like snare drums, where some
of them sound like pluggins now and maybe maybe this is one, but it
sounds like a slam snare if it was the size of Australia. It's just
it's so cacophonous and overwhelming. And I mean, my fear of biting the
record comes when you have Moss covers All, which I've just realized in my
nose is Moss covers All. That's more appropriate. It does given the song
that when that goes into take Me Home as a one too, that's the
where I said, that's like portrayal of guilt and like you said, that
would be exact when I thought about that as well, that kind of weird
guitar part. Yeah, yeah, like those kind of evil, creeping spidery
chords they're doing. And like we say on what might be the populous metal
record of the year, it's just mad. But again in this, in
the context of this, it makes perfect sense. It sounds genuinely ferocious but
still kind of blockbuster and elegant in a weird way. Yeah, and most
covers all and the following track that kind of transitions with that again portrayer guiltish
guitar line. Neither of those songs really make any sense outside of the context
of the album. There at the heart. You know, you play either
one of those songs on their own and it's not it's not really like a
song, to be honest, but they are there at the heart of the
record working together. Yeah, Like once's like forty six second or so vortex
of like rifts and Moss part, and then the other is this again eerie
unsettling, like where they really tap into that like horror kind of like a
cult cult vibe going on, and it's like a really cool thing to have,
like right in the middle of your album, Yeah, and you know
that they do, like when they do go to sort of I don't want
to say stock, but sort of more well worn, predictable things. They've
generally they've earned them because of sort of those ways they brought you there.
Like there's the triple triple at breakdown at the end of Don't Reach Me dig
It, and it's like it's a trick that's been done, you know,
so many times before, but when they pull out the hat at the right
moment like that, it does still work. The Cart That Keeps You Awake
is another song that's really emblematic of what I'm talking about here, where there's
that crazy like echoing percussion up and down the riff at the start, and
that's like that's one of those sounds about like I want to see the fucking
you know, like in studio footage of what that sound is and how it's
produced. You know, like it's kind of quirky, but it's also like
unsettling or it's like it's like someone doing the cup song in Hell or something.
It's just like intense and it really makes the song and it makes it,
you know, jump out. And I think that paired with Blinding Faith
sort of towards the end of the record is really the point where that sort
of like horror sound play gets taken to the next level. Again, we
spoke about the kind of the like Mark Corbyn's score for The Witch sort of
sticks clacking in the beginning of the riff on that song. That's you don't
hear that shit from your kind of average metal core band. You know.
The only other band that sort of spring to mind is we've kind of praised
Vain on their latest record for doing you know, similar things, and maybe
you think they still that hold that particular horror atmosphere battern, but it's really
encouraging seeing it done here by like essentially the biggest band in the whole scene.
Yeah, it's like like that's the song where again there's just like nice
details that actually do enhance the atmosphere age. I think, like the Vain
record, it's still maybe the scarier of the two, but for the band
who are so big and are but getting so like praise people who wouldn't dare
listen to anything else this kind of like scaring horror influence. It's cool that
like to be able to I think it's just really fun called that Not Louse
are just sneaking this sort of stuff in to that crowd. I'm not going
to complain about like that too much. I think Not Louse are bringing something
that is like ohs to the masses, and that that's a that's a really
good thing. I admire the shit out of it absolutely. Yeah, And
I think I mean, one thing that I really like about this record,
I'm glad it's still there is the human element, which maybe Not Not LuSE
have always had that, but I think now they're able to match that with
real prowess because this is clearly a record that's made in the studio. You
can imagine it being built from the ground up. Something like the can't that
keeps you awake? That chant is just eye bulging and when the swinging riff
comes in, it goes straight into your brint and it's something that again it
just hands like kind of push and pull that the best bands have and being
able to inject some of that it adds to kind of danger, which I
think makes the horror more convincing. Yeah, that is that the track that
has that fucking stomp, the fuck around fire or whether that is wicked and
again blinding faith. To me, I think that the most insane head explode
height a ship hyper ship moment on the record is still that lead into the
breakdown where over the course of about three seconds they trade back and forth from
the vocalist if you tell on each line culminate orders that Yeah, it's so
cartoony, but I love it. It's just it's like the moment where like
we have no more words to express what is going on at this moment,
You've just got to let out the squeaze. Well, I get that.
Weirdly, when I was thinking, when is a heavier ban than this gotten
so popular? Like you know, you think things like pansa thing, things
that slipknot. Maybe a more relevant one would be ten to fifteen years ago
when death core was getting big and something like White someone like White che could
have a top ten record and you kind of think, well, those people,
the kind of people that would appeal to they still exist and they could
take a pig squeal, and yet they kind of just fell out of popular
metal music for the best part of a decade and then just all of a
sudden, it's weird. It kire as a single and I kind of forgot
there was a big squirel and I'm listening to this record. I'm already kind
of absorbed in all the moving parts, and that comes in and it's just
it's comical, but like you say, it just it's like the only thing
they could do to elevate it even more. Yeah, And it's interesting to
me because when I was, you know, going to write my notes about
this and try and dissect it the process of doing it, because it is
such a fluid barrage of violence where you pick out the details that really make
tracks distinct. The approach of it is how I approach reviewing records from someone
like Full of Hell, for example, and it's like yeah, like yeah,
the general effect is crazy and agro, but oh my god, there's
a saxophone here, you know, there's a cool noise part over here,
et cetera. We're right now applying that to a like thousands of tickets a
night type band with like, like we said, that's sort of the moth
covers all take me homes Apart in the middle and stuff like that, which
is very novel. There is slaughter House two on the record featuring Chris Motionless,
which I had to remind myself what slaughter House one was because I'm not
emotionless. Some white fan I was like, was that a knock those track?
I don't remember. On release day again, when we had this barrage
of like praise for this record, I did see a few people on Twitter
kind of moaning that this like doesn't fit the album or is somehow like noticeably
worse than the rest of it. I was kind of struggling to see the
extremity of that thought. See this still takes me out the album for a
few minutes. It's it's the one moment where again, like I mean,
the song isn't terrible, but I mean I've been you know, the most
and white defender among us Chris on this coming in. He is so aural
less as a vocalist on this song, like compared to anyone else who's doing
vocals on this album, who's like that's Brian, that's Eyes, that's probably
like you can just that's them. Chris is part on this. It could
be anyone. There is nothing, there's no character, no aura, and
like that like to me, isn't the whole one the song. It just
feels out of place on the record to me, It doesn't feel like it's
part of the atmosphere of the mood. It feels like the something they've had
to put in because they did slaughter House one. You know, that was
Brian making a making most is White drag out the best song they've written in
a long time. This just feels like kind of like an obligation where they
have to, you know, or you've got to put something that is going
to pull in those octane core whatever they're whatever we're labeling them now, that
sort of crowd by having the Moses and White song on there, and it
like, I don't think it's a terrible song, because you know, the
k not loose bits are still really good, but it does just feel kind
of tacked into the middle of the album and does it's the one time where
it like the songs don't sink into it. It kind of else see it
take Me Home? Is it the one before Yeah to Me Home finishes and
then it's just into Slot House two. About any kind of sequencing, it's
an odd moment of the record for me. What's your take on that?
Yes, I don't know. I think it probably is my least favorite song
on the record, even though it's not a record where I think go it
like because sort of ranking songs doesn't seem like the right approach to it.
I don't think it's like a particularly noticeable dip. I think it's you know,
on one end, it's kind of a cool thing. Chris Motionless.
I'm not a fan of him coming on to this not loose record. Kind
of a turn in the favor for him coming on calling it slaughter House too,
I think weirdly, and that's quite a shallow thing. But that seems
to be the more cynical aspect of thing that kind of takes me out of
it being a packed I think it had a different name, I wouldn't really
have a complaint. It would just be my least favorite song in the record,
and every record has to have one. But yeah, again, that's
quite a shallow thing and it shouldn't really massive. But whenever I see that
slaughter House two come up, it does feel a bit like it's a bit
of a Matt Tuck move. I really didn't mind it, you know,
I think it is it's one of sort of three or four standout tracks which
you could release as singles. Right, But in terms of again the other
ones being you know, Don't Reach Me, Blinding Faith, et cetera.
I don't think it's noticeably weaker than those kind of songs. I think the
riffs are about in powers everything else I like for me, there's still those
parts that have that again, the kind of the detail that we've been describing
in if this was just like a full on if this was a track from
like that ghost in Side record we reviewed that just plopped in into this terrifying
and not lose records, then yet it'll be fucking bizarre. But there's still
those kind of strange details that we're talking about. There's kind of like weird
sort of gadjira Art of Dying intro, sort of like metronome part in there
for about three seconds. Obviously, it has a chorus, which is one
of the catchier moments on the record. I think it's a you know,
he's not the first guest vocalist on the record, which probably goes in his
favor as well in terms of like it's not that you've only had Bryan to
the point and then suddenly there's this other guy. I think it's about as
good as Chris Motions has ever sounded, because he's on top of the band
who Have Power. I really like that the final twenty five seconds he does
that kind of like that like one mutilation under God, whatever the lyric is,
and he sounds really cutting there, and he kind of reminded me of
Mitch Lucker, which made me wish that Blucker was actually still around and doing
that part honestly, but I think he does, you know, an admirable
job. I think it's one of the more kind of like typical hardcore throwing
the mic around moments, which was sort of nice to have on this at
one point in the record. It's another thing that for me, stops it
blurring together too much as a record, which, like I said, it's
a record that is I think, much less instantly memorable than a different shade
of Blue Walls in terms of the focus being the whole rather than sort of
breakout tracks. This again I sort of agree in terms of, like,
you know, sort of having it as be like a sequel song to another
band's track is almost the more sort of jarring element as opposed to when it
comes in in the record. If I wasn't looking at the track list as
I'm listening to it, it wouldn't really bother me in the slightest very much.
It just it broke my immersion a little bit the first time I was
listening, and that did come down to me again, like I agreefully because
most of the probably does sound better than he had done it on a lot
of the more recent most some white stuff, but because I was just like,
she's like actually really threatening, imposing voice that sound like they want to
kill me, he didn't sound like that, and it was just a kind
of like, ah, the moods slightly gone. But I get it.
They probably do need to have some songs that they can have as singles that
can get put on the radio. It probably is the compromise for getting a
band this uncompromisingly heavy, doing this weird artistic shit maintain the level they are.
But it just feels I guess, I guess probably is the whole Class
two thing is the more cynical part of it than the song itself. But
it's the one moment on the record that does kind of feel a little bit
manufactured. Yeah, I mean there's no fucking big you know again, octane
clean chorus or anything slammed into it, which I would absolutely object to.
Obviously, I think this will be a very sort of individual thing, whether
that sort of breaks through immersion as you put it or not. As the
person who doesn't like motion of white White, you know, I didn't mind
it sitting on the closer, you know, uh moody bit of guitar melody
for one of the first times on the record, kind of a bit of
a sort of higher on the threat board blast rif at one point, which
was kind of nice, sort of uncommon to hear from not Loose, who
are normally so again down tuned and gurgling, works off a finale and the
moment when it's done when it needs to do, but then surprise punches you
again for another further go is like a you know, yeah, like another
like a last like jump on the record. I think you just have to
admire this record, you know, like personally, it's not going to be
my favorite album of the year, you know, but it is a extremely
rare thing in an era when again, you know, we we've comple heavily
complained about some of the newer faces in metal feeling so detached from sort of
what we personally resonate with about the genre. One of the great populist bands
of the moment, as we've said, is somehow crafting records in in this
way and in terms of being the band who again go and play Coachella and
all these kind of things. The way that they are basically insisting like no,
the mainstream is going to pay attention to us in this sort of Again,
the kind of confidence of what they're doing rather than too heavily tailoring themselves
for anywhere else, I think it's very cool. Yeah, I mean,
I really like this record. Even with my problems with the slot House two.
This is gonna be like I would be shocked if this is my top
ten holm of the year because everything else about this record I fucking love.
And again I just really I get. I admire exactly what this record has
achieved in I say, taking stuff that we have mentioned Good Year and Converge
and Code Orange and Vain and pick any darker artistic, challenging band like I
said, and you can serbviously not always wanted to start to be seen alongside
those and not just alongside the ghost Inside or Terror like whatever hardcore medical band.
And and that is what you really got admire that they're taking that to
as big crowds as they are, and so that is a really exciting thing
that has to be celebrated. Yeah, I think I don't think it feels
like a stretch, and only a couple weeks after it's been released, I
think this does feel like a kind of generational metal record. And that's not
to say it's all of my favorites the last few years or something like.
I suspect it probably won't be in my top twenty records of the year,
just as a personal taste thing, and to be honest, the work couple
of times I listened to it and thought, I think I'm getting to the
breaking point of like beat down fetishism. It's starting to each dangerous levels.
But then I kind of also thought, well, I'm being a bit of
a little like Little Lord Fontleroy Goldilocks here where it's like there's a band that
we're comparing to full of Hell and portrayal of guilt and good year, like
you say, playing to thousands of people, getting millions of streams, top
thirty on Billboard, and I'm going, do we need this many beatdowns?
It's like Jesus, like, you know, well, I'm never gonna be
happy if I keep living like that. And I do think this record is
really good, and beyond that, I also I'm just excited to see what
Not Loose do next. Yeah, there you go, Not Loose. You've
already heard that record, I'm sure, but that is our take on it.
Next up the other in very different ways. But another very high profile
metal release from the last couple weeks comes from Kerry King. It's called From
Hell I Rise, the long awaited solo debut of the x and now amusingly
again current Slayer guitarist, the timing of which, of course, as we
have discussed, is very funny. But Slayer reunion aside, I still think
this record has basically as much relevant as it did before that confounding announcement,
because it is the first creative work in nine years from any of the key
creative forces of Slayer and continues to represent the only creative work we are getting
out of the Slayer camp. I think that's particularly of note, not only
a Slayer not you know, gonna come back and release records, as we've
discussed, but you know, Slayer isn't one of those cases where they all
splintered off and started their own ventures. You know, Tom doesn't seem to
have any interest in making any music, because presumably it would mean he would
then be officially unretired. Jeff is, of course dead. Gary just has
gone back to Exodus, which doesn't really count. Paul is in this band,
you know, if you had any interest at all in like what project
is going to carry on the creative mantle of where Slayer are in their later
years, Kerry King is the only member doing it. And thus again this
is the first Slayer adjacent record in nearly ten years. Now, I know
that that doesn't mean the world to everybody, and that has some level of
notability, right yeah, I think I mean again, Militaneous as Repentless feels
crazy. That album doesn't feel like it was that long ago, but you
kind of go, like, no, shit, it was it was that
long ago. Fuck. But again, I like Slayer a lot. I'm
not going to say I was like desperate to hear from Kerry King, but
I'd be interested to hear what, you know, one of like the main
guys from Slayer is doing with a new sort of output. Yeah, and
you know, I'm not going to go comparing this to Slayer all too much,
like it is sort of a different thing, but by the end of
Slayer, he was kind of the central creative force anyway, So part of
my curiosity was going, this could have been the thirteenth Slayer record, Like,
if they'd kept it to this could have been more or less the same
collection of songs. And it's funny when Slayer split off, I wasn't thinking,
oh no, no more Slayer albums because so as I'm not keen on
really any of them past God hates us all. But you know, a
few years later I did find myself kind of having an appetite for that sort
of thing again. And Kerry King does have a certain songwriting style that I
don't think you can mistake for anyone else. Yeah, and I've seen,
you know, quite a lot of sneeriness from people about this Kerry King record
in a way I just don't think is necessary. It almost creams to me
of sort of like you know, trying to assert how cool you are and
how metal you are by not caring about new Kerry King. You know,
Oh, I listened to more underground bands than Slayer. All right, good
for you. I like Slayer fuck off, you know, and I know
what this record is. I'm not blinded Slayer are around who were not massively
significant to the world creatively in their last years. This is now a fraction
of the people again who are involved in those records. I'm not gonna like
mainstream metal press this discussion by going all Kerry King is back and he's showing
the kids how it's done with his best record in twenty years. You know,
I know this record is not going to be as relevant as the record
we've just done, or the next record we're going to review after this,
etc. But I also just don't see the need to dismiss this album because
of that. You know, like Slayer were really important to me up to
the end. You know, Kerry King, even if he's the guy who
people want to say didn't write any of the best player songs, which is
another thing that people love to say. Whatever, Like, his works are
important to me, and with a reasonable realistic level of expectation, I'm interested
to hear what he makes. You know, I don't think that's so wrong.
And you know, with all of that in mind, I like this
record. I think it is for the most part, fine too, pretty
good. In its best moments, it's excellent, so and in the kind
of field of you know veteran artists at his level with those realistic expectations,
and it's about as good about the average as most of them tend to have.
Yeah. I mean, like I said, I went into this with
the expectation of, oh, you know, some new Kerry King songs.
I love his work in Slayer. I'm curious. Maybe it's the lowered expectation
that you don't there's not much weight around it in the same way that there
is when you're getting a new Slayer album. But I really enjoyed this.
I think this is much better than I expected it to be. Not that
I thought it was gonna be terrible, but I've gone back to this a
lot more than I thought I was going to. And maybe this is mainstream
metal pressing it, but I probably liked this as much as anything you've done
since God It's us All. Not as much as that record. But I've
put this on and I think the batting average is certainly higher than Christ's Delusion,
probably higher than Repentless as well. I think this is totally up to
the standard that I would hope a Kerry King Solar record would be. Yeah,
I will flip that in the kind of sense that like I've said a
couple times before, the obvious barometer for this record in terms of a sister
record that I think you creatively you can realistically compare it to, is Repentless,
because Repentless is the final Slayer record that Kerry King wrote ninety percent of
Jeff Annerman having passed away poor bost Office on drums for that one, Dave
Lombardo, you just left the band, and the production is quite similar between
the two records as well, So I think comparing it to any other record,
even the likes of Weld Painting Blood or whatever, I think he's just
less accurate for those reasons, Like Repentless is the bar it's the comparison.
I happen to really love Repentless. I mean, I love Worldpay of Blood
even more. I think that's the most underrated of that era of Slayer records.
But I really liked Repentless, and you know, the world was fairly
dismissive of it at the time. But considering the circumstances around that record,
I think Kerry King did an excellent job of inheriting the writing duties. I
think it sounds great as a record. The performances from Gary and Paul and
particularly Tom are really strong on it, and it produced a bunch of really
catchy songs, the very best of which I believe being the title track,
which as the set opener all along the final Slayers of touring for me fully
entered like Slayer classic territory. With all of that in mind, I don't
think this is as good as Repentless, which if you don't give a shit
about Repentless anyway, removes you from engaging with this record, I imagine.
But if you did like Repentless, if you have any soft spot for the
latter years of Slayer, I would say this is a quite nice successor to
it, I think for a solo album, like to take it away from
just comparing it to Slagh for a second, for a solo album, with
you know, all due respect. Like an aging metal artist, I was
surprised by how tight it was. There was only a couple songs which I
thought you could describe as fillourish, and they weren't noticeably bad we embarrassing.
I don't think krey King was ever going to take any big swings where you
go, what are you thinking? That was a massive error, Like the
worst this record is is a couple of songs that just haven't stuck with me.
But you know, again, he's never going to do a big indulgent
odyssey. But there's very little fat here, I think. I think for
a guy who's been away for nine years, as we say, a lot
of metal bands end up being a bit more lucy goosey with the scissors as
they get older, and here, I think he's done a very good job
of keeping it sharp to the point, delivering on what he promised. Yeah,
I do agree with that. Like, compared to some sort of solo
albums from kind of leisure of metal artists that we've discussed recently, I don't
think this is embarrassing and terrible, and I didn't. It's like I can
see that this follows on quite nicely from Repentless. I quite like Repuptless,
but I still found myself kind of shrugging my way through this album, which
I don't want to give this album a kicking because I don't think like there's
anything to gain from it. I don't think it's a bad record anyway,
and I think like for the most part, Kerry King can still like dude,
can still crank out rifts like it's nothing and like He's I think really
good on this album. I just think as a whole, I found myself
kind of just not really caring or connecting with it massively. The vocals weren't
doing much for me. I was kind of like, it's not much personality.
It didn't feel just super genuine to me a lot of the time,
which was I was I was contassomone because I was like, I wanted to
like this album more than I do because I'm like, again, I don't
want to be the one being like, oh look at me, you know,
saying I don't like the new Kerry King solo record. Look how cool
I am? And I'm so out of intert of that mainstream shit. But
it just yeah, I just was like, I don't think this is terrible,
but I would kind of farth this in along the lines of like inoffensive
radio metal stuff that I don't really care for. I think that's reasonable.
I would certainly say that. You know, you say you don't want to
give this record a kicking, I don't think the record deserves a kicking,
you know, I think there will be a lot of people who like you
to sort of go. I'll probably never listen this again. And that's that's
perfectly fine, you know, But does that translate into like actively needing to
shit all over the terrible Kerry King record? Like No, I think that's
an is like being overly harsh to it seems performative to me, is what
it is, you know, and this is Kerry King doing what he's done
for you know, at least like twenty odd years. The intro track sounds
like, you know, the one on Repentless in terms of how it functions.
And then Where Irain does what the tatle tracker Repentless does, which is
kind of picks up that bat and charges forward with it. That obviously makes
it very familiar. Aren't new tricks by a long shot. I happen to
have an affinity for those kind of tricks. And I think Where Orain is
a ripper tune, one of the better ones on the record. And you
know, Elliott you mentioned, I do think that there's a very distinct phrasing
to how Kerry King writes his rifts, you know, for like all of
how there is so much Slayer influence in the world today carried on by bands,
I think there is a while there's obviously a comfort zone that Kerry King
operates him. You do know it's him. And I enjoyed hearing that again
and hearing those kind of riffs and where I rain going forward that and then
that you know, from Hell, I arise, right, rain fire from
the sky. It's like you know, metal bingo cards, but it fucking
it works and I like it. You know, you've got Mark from Death
Angel is the vocalist on this here. We'll talk about in a moment.
I suppose Phil Dammill is, you know, the guitarist and the lead guitarist,
and then he's got you know, just solos are perfectly performed, really
good opener. Residue again are inherits a sort of very specific mantle of Repentless
songs because they are Kerry King songs, which are the more deliberately paced,
seething groove songs. I'm thinking, like again, if you know that record
very well, but songs like Cast the First Stone or Pride in Prejudice,
most people have probably forgotten those songs I have just mentioned, and I don't
think this is as good as those examples, so I do get it,
but you know, I think it's it's pretty cool. The breakdown part is
pretty rad. It's heavy. Mean, I mean that was thinking when you're
saying like there's a recognizabit to Kara King drift, like a Kerry King breakdown
is one of you kind of go, yeah, you can really tell that,
And like again when kay King hits one, you kind of go like,
ah, yeah, no, that is a Kerry King breakdown. They
kind of groove in a different way slightly, and that to feel school like,
yeah, Residue, is that that slower, more evil kind of groover.
I like, I think the first couple of songs I wasn't minding this,
you know. I think Idle Hands, which was the latest thing well
that actually in the album, I think really quite good. Actually, the
Idle Hands to the Devil's Work is like there's a you know, proper hook
to sing along too. I think it's a decent sort of opening run that
kind of shows you what the album is going to all be about, like
really fast kind of raging stuff, slower stompya groovy stuff, big fresh hits.
But I think much of that is that they ran out of steam fairly
quickly. For me, I can't not even I think there's a slight dip
sort of in the maybe the third quarter. I think it ends strong again.
I think this weird discourse that started that Kerry King didn't write any good
songs. It was all Jeff like, you know once he's it's just daft,
yeah, And it's like, maybe he didn't write the most iconic riffs
all of them. Maybe his songs were less sort of atmospheric, which I
know is a big part of the appeal with Slayer. But I think Kerry
doesn't get enough credit for the way he writes vocal phrases. And I'm not
trying to take credit away from Mark, who I think, you know,
I think does a good job on this record. But for me, one
of the main appeals to it, beyond the rifts and stuff, was knowing
Kerry King, who knows how to write a catchy vocal pattern are kind of
percussive on the money phrasing of a lyric that I think is one of the
shining things across this record. And Idle Hands you've mentioned it is one of
the best examples that Idle Hands do. The Devil's work that coming in on
the four four iff like it really does feel like a great Slayer moment,
and I cherished that. One of my favorite moments on the record comes right
at the end on the on the title track, when it's from Hell I
watch Religion die and that riff comes in again. It's just it's a sort
of thing that it's not big, it's not clever, but Kerry King doing
that just there's just a place in my in my soul for that. And
him doing that again, even if it's not as good as he's done it
before. I kind of didn't realize how much I missed it. Yeah,
I I I'm totally on the same page in that exact same regard Mark from
Death Angel, you know, the vocalist on this. I think again the
people sort of who are interested in the project, but they don't want to
throw Kerry King any bones that go. Oh, I'm excited because Mark from
Death Angel, the vocalist on this, I think he does a very admirable
job. I do. I have to say, my favorite bits on this
record are the bits where I can basically close my eyes and detach myself enough
that I can imagine in my head Tom A Ray are singing the parts,
because right, and that's not you know, to do disrespect to Mark,
He's just he's stepping into very specific shoes that have been molded over like thirty
to forty because of exactly what you're saying about how they write, the vocal
phrasing and stuff like that. The songwriting and the guitar riffs are so recognizable
as like you know, Slayer coded because it's Kerry King. It's only natural
that you very heavily associated with Tom's voice as well. And again, Idle
Hands, I think is a full on banger, you know, like easily
a standout tune. It's basically if you offered me a Kerry King record that
picked up where Repentless left off, that is exactly what I want to hear
essentially. And that chorus where the kind of like where do I get in
line into questionable divine is peak like I can essentially fill in for myself tom
Ara, that chorus, you know, and it does make my heart sing,
you know. And the part where you mentioned again about do the Devil's
work and the kind of punch comes in exactly on that moment. It makes
my nod head, makes my nod head, makes my head nod sort of
very you know, instinctively. And again it is it's like so many years
of built up listening to Slayer. It's like, I know, it's like,
yeah, you can know how they're gonna go, but it's satisfying you
want them to do the thing. That's why we love Slayer and that's why
I love Kerry King's writing. I think Residue is maybe one of the songs
where Mark does put a bit of his more sort of distinct delivery into it.
You know, there's the kind of like just like Residue, he sounds
good on that. There's a bridge part in Idle Hands as well. That
is kind of a key part of what I was saying about Kerry King's like
distinct rift writing, because there's a part where he does this kind of you
know, it's this very straight ahead brutal thrash, but then he just like
puts this rift in there that's like super eighties you know, it's super like
heavy metal flair in there, but while keeping the aggression and you go,
yeah, like obviously, Kerry King, I think, you know, post
Seasons in the Abyss and then certainly Postcard States at All, there is that
sort of more like again sort of like big American outdoor festival feel to Slayer
rifts as opposed to like, you know, the speed metal maniacs rifts,
but you can always hear that, you know, this is a guy who
loves Judas Priests sort of route in there that I do love and you don't
always get from, you know, some of the later generations of thrash acts.
I think for me, if I was gonna sort of talk about a
point where the record sort of falls off of me, it is post idle
hands for a few songs. There's a few tracks there that kind of don't
stand out to me. Trophies are the Tyrant Crucifixation, which is the title
already used by both Day Aside and Power Trip, and then Tension, which
is kind of a strange first draft of a song. It feels like it
takes a whole song to build up with, kind of an odd choice for
someone like Kerry King. I think those songs fine, not massively inspired,
but it does then get space spiced up for me again when Everything I Hate
about You comes in, which has some of that like undisputed attitude, hardcore
punk type flavor coming back in, and I like on this when you get
like you know, if it's all Kerry King. It's all very slighter esque,
but when there's a very slight deviation like oh shit, there's a bit
of that flavor rejuvenates it for me. Yeah, No, I feel it's
that free someone you just mentioned that. That's where I felt myself kind of
going like I've got nothing from this, like trophies to the Times, Like
this is like there's a group that I was like, oh, this could
just be a like a Lamb of God B side. It's a decent rip,
but it doesn't really do much. But do you agree with what I'm
saying in terms of like when Everything I Hate about You comes in and it's
like a one minute forty two punk song or whatever. One of my favorite
songs on the record is the one I was kind of like, does it
again because it's just a short punk and I was like, you can actually
feel the conviction and the writing and the attitude where like it reminded me the
obviously, But when we were talking about the Corey Taylor record and there was
that hardcore song tacked in like kind of like three quarters away from that,
and it sounded so fake and force and all just like I don't buy it
for one second, like no, actually, but because that's one who kind
of knows has some kind of no on like punk and hardcore, and it
punches, it doesn't dilute the aggression or anything. There is actual conviction to
it, and it was kind of oh that that's got the blood pumpkin a
little bit again. A couple of songs afterwards dip off again for me a
bit like I mean, that's it. It's kind of like good start,
and then the odd song after that kind of like catches my attention, like
the title track to close, like everything I hate about you, but there's
nothing. There's nothing I would looking down and go like, oh you know
that that's terrible. Yeah, I kind of going back to the trophies at
the time. And this is a bit conspiratorial, but I know there was
that rumor going around that philan Selma was going to join, and that's one
of the songs that sounds like you can imagine philan Selma doing that more than
my I don't. Again, I'm not saying that's what was planned, but
it's the only time where I think Mark does a good tom A Riyah.
I don't think he does a great Philanselmo. So when that's happening, it
kind of feels a bit I don't know, sort of ill fitting crucifixation.
I you know, it's a bit wandering. It doesn't make ample use of
its slightly longer run time. I do again going back to the percussive vocal
patterns. That's the Dad the Dead again. Kerry King has done that before,
but I'm just I'm a sucker for that. I think there's a few
other songs on the track list that stood out. Toxic. You know,
it's not the most genius song, but I feel like Mark seems to almost
absorb the personality of Kerry King and gives it the conviction the song like that
needs Toxic. I like the kind of sort of odd ball raining blood type
intro, even though the kind of the lyrics I just like boomer thrash folder
purely two fists. I was gonna mention is it sounds a bit like anthracked
bizarrely at the start, but then it really goes into its pummeling like almost
like New York hardcore type groove, and I thought that was really fucking cool.
Yeah, Like it's it's not that, but it's a lot of fun.
That's another on that again, just call my attention as like being something
pretty fun by just again having a kind of maybe case that I'm like all
the songs that sound a bit of hardcore, the ones that I like,
I really like that one actually, but it is it is hard hitting and
got a lot of attitude and yeah, like there's there's a cool groove every
now and then on that song that you're goin to go, oh yeah,
that that gets your body moving quite naturally. Yeah, I think, you
know, generally this kind of thing, I'm always gonna happily go with it.
It's just the songs that stand out versus the ones that are a bit
stock. Again, I think the most stock ones are those sort of like
ones and sort of like that three run in the middle, but I think,
you know, the final run I do think is fairly strong. You
know. Rage has that kind of cool traptor belt type thrash ripping, you
know, almost like you know, Lamb of God contractor type thing. And
there's one crazy riff in there around the two minute thirty mark that's about four
seconds long. Legit sounds a bit like Pig Destroyer. It goes really hard
and then shrapnel at the end as well gets like a kind of cool like
double bassed tank groove going Yeah, I think you know a good you know,
eight to ten now of like the what thirteen tracks or whatever it is,
I think are pretty damn strong. And again I know what this is
like, you know. I I've got friends who know what a Slayer obsessive
and latter day output apologist I am as well, who would probably be expected
me to have this in like my top twenty or something if this was a
Slayer album. Personally, I would say it's easily worse than every one of
them, bar Diabolis and Musica, which even then has a couple of standoutrages
like this one does. And there is again, there's the odd review of
this out there that's like if the best thing he's done since God hates us
all or fucking seasons in the Abyss or whatever. And I, personally,
I don't understand that at all, because that to me seems more like hearing
something with refreshed ears after some distance and maybe pining for something a little bit
more because you sleep walk through the last years of Slayer and took their records
for granted. Because there are elements that made Slayer special, whether it be
the input of Jeff Hanneman, particularly the star presence of tom Araya that it
doesn't have, and instead it is a slightly further sanded down extension of what
their final album was. So that's where I think I would put it in
the Slayer canon. But if you look at all of his peer group,
you know, the Last Testament album, the Last Exodus, the Last Overkilled,
the Last Death Angel, you know, the Megadeth, most of the
Metallica, this is as good as any of them. And you know,
I know that that's not necessarily been a golden era for that sort of brand
of thrash classics, but I think those are all, in my opinion,
respectable, if not in sendiary albums. And I think you know, shy
of the pure goal that creators seem to put out and the very best bangers
on the Metallica album, you know, your lux of turners. I think,
you know, like idle Hands and everything I hate about you take the
Pepsi challenge with just about any of you know, actually looking at it that
way, I mean, you are right, I would take this over any
of like the latter Megadeth albums. Yeah, I think because there is at
least, you know, a respectabiliity and like a fairly Again, there's nothing
on the same we're looking going to go like, ah, you shouldn't have
done that, carry that that that's made you look a bit daft and completely
out of touch. There's nothing. There's nothing cringe on this album, like
outside of you know, stock like lyrics that are just like all angry about
something. There's a little bit of that on there, but that's about as
cringe as it gets. And again, isn't that every older fresh band at
this point, You can't really knock this out for that. But yeah,
I think this is again the standards song of this are as good as like
latter day fresh bands from the eighties for the most part. Get so yeah,
you don't know why job there? Yeah? I think you know,
talking about is it the best Kerry King associated record since two thousand and one
or whatever, like I'm want to come down hard and say it definitely is
or is. I think with each of those Slayer records there's each one has
a kind of overriding problem. But I sort of struggle with and maybe that's
sort of fogging my judgment slightly because I listened to this, and outside of
a couple more Fillery tracks, I don't really have an overriding issue, and
I think that's quite rare for like, again, these aging metal artists where
you always think, are the production's bad or it's too flowery too, there's
way too many songs or the performances to start there. And you know,
Kerry King, he only had to answer to himself this time, and he
sounds fired up and motivated and energized, and I just like the sound of
that. Next up we go to maybe one of the more sort of the
current examples of what could be a you know, really big metal release.
It comes from Gate Creeper. The record is Dark Superstition, and there has
been quite a lot of eyes on this Gate Creeper album. I think,
like in general, Gate Creeper have been almost slow and steadying it when it
comes to like the death metal race, you know, because they've been doing
it for like a decade. Like I really like their Deabuy Adamson or in
Deprivation when that came out. But while they've always been made one of the
first few names you mentioned when it comes to like active crop of death metal
bands, they've never necessarily been the most absolute, like acclaimed one. I
remember when they did that Unexpected Reality EP in twenty ny one with the two
sides that one was grind and one was like full doom. I remember there
was sort of like a renewed level of buzz around them because it was actually
like, you know, hey, this band are actually like capable of like
quite a lot. But ever since I saw them alive at Bloodstock last year
and they played certain tracks off of this album, I remember thinking, Huh,
I'm actually like quite excited for the Gatecreeper record in a way that I
wasn't necessarily expecting. I don't know if you guys have the same feelings about
this record as me, but this album makes me feel like the warmest things
in a way, I am so happy to have materialized. So I'm not,
you know, the mellow deaf love out of the bunch, but I've
kind of been really here for this twenty twenty four melow Death revival thing that's
going on with these so younger bands doing it. This album makes me feel
like like I could take on the whole world. This is this is my
my favorite thing Gatekeeper have done by such a long way that shift of Melow
Death has been like it's unlocked of magic in them that like they are ristal
this and made me pull the way like Parkway Drive and shit like that does
and just gave me pumped up and make you more like fight everyone. I
mean, Gate Creeper. You're exactly right about them being slow and steady,
because they don't really have a standout thing where you go, oh that they're
the something banned do I mean the way that Blood Incantation do or Pissed Grave
or even two Mold or whatever. They've just sort of slowly gotten better.
And you could either look at this in a sort of the marketing way or
just how it makes me feel. But they've really plugged the gap because that
kind of red blooded metal, which I mean, there's loads of great stuff
happening in the underground, the stuff that sounds big league. It's been a
while since an album of that kind that's kind of captured my imagination, and
you know, Melo Death is exactly right. But I would even extend it
to things like it's been a long time since I've loved the Machine Head record
or Lamb of God haven't put out a brilliant album in fifteen years, been
over decades since the last brilliant kill Switch record for my money, and you
know, we need Not in Flames kind of came back in a way,
but not really. I'm just not all that king. Lot of the bands
that ape them gate creeper on this record, and I honestly wasn't expecting it.
They've by injecting some big melodies, writing some instantly identifiable riffs, and
some more kind of coherent song structures. They're scratching an itch that I kind
of forgot I wanted scratched hasn't been for a while. I'm so grateful that
someone's doing it. This album is quite a rare thing to me in that
I feel like it's the first thing we've had in a while which I would
describe as like a blockbuster death metal album, because like death metal as a
genre, inherently it's pretty underground, and most of the records that have come
out in recent years that really get acclaimed are sort of like modern classics,
are slightly more challenging, which again does tend to be the stuff I sort
of prefer, you know, blood, plantation, spectral voice, et cetera.
Yeah, but there was a time in the nineties when record like Covenant,
you know, and then threw to Slaughter with the Soul and Clayman were
like actual legit big metal records that had a certain populism to them even though
they were undeniably death metal. And you know, I'm thinking about, you
know, the era of kind of headbangers ball music videos, which Gate Creeper
have sort of lovingly tried to recreate with some of their own image here and
you know, Morbid Angel and Death and so on would have like music videos
on TV and the song sounded good there. If this Gate Creeper album with
these songs had come out in the mid nineties, it would have sold by
the truckload. And like, I can't even tell you how much this is
the best Gate Creeper record. Like it reminds me of a weird way of
the last year's Green Lung album, just in the way that, like Green
Lung had two albums under the belt that they were already fairly good in the
kind of thing they were doing, but the third one just brought this like
zest and this magic that made the songs just feel way fucking bigger and the
warmth that we kind of spoke about them with Skyrocketed as a result. I
liked Gate Creeper before this. I remember reviewing their twenty nineteen album pretty positively
on this podcast, and I don't want to down those records because I still
think they are good. But this album's existence is one of those cases where
you now think about those records smaller in hindsight, and you are right are
going to you both said twenty twenty four is turning out to be the year
that Melodeth came back with a vengeance. You know, we've already heard it
with the apon Stone album, which we all liked very much, but that
to me sounds like a bunch of hardcore kids kind of lovingly evoking something in
a sort of scrappy way. This Gay Creeper album just sounds like they are
the fucking business with it, you know, like the way Dead Star boots
off this record in the very first seconds with again a riff that is straight
up of the tier of how in Flames would start their records in the mid
nineties with just like the most brilliant, stirring melody that immediately sucks you in,
and that is a legit fucking song, you know, like the way
the rifts progress. You've got the meaner, more Stockholm inspired riffs in the
verses, but it gives way to a proper death metal chorus it. You
know, it's like death metal to be played on big stages. It feels
so fucking looking good and so confident in its size and scope. That's it
is, like I again, like just because asking the games member was that
was that ep where it was like grind and doom. So I wasn't expecting
Gabble to go so blockbuster, but they fit it so naturally. It feels
like they've been like destined to just make big festival stage metal music and they
think and again that opening on Dead Star it is huge. You've got this
big, stomping, lumbering rift, but you've got these melodies that like color
it and just make it so uplifting and just invigorating. The opening rift on
the Black Curtain is the one for me. That why I just kind of
went, oh my god, how bands again just not doing these rifts all
the time. There's magic to it. There's so many moments like that on
the record. Going back to Dead Stark with you, it almost sounds like
only for the week, but with a bit of a hardcore energy to it.
It just it crunches in the most satisfying way and oblivion almost like a
mono math makes me sick of it all, Like it's just got these insane
two step parts, but the main riff could be off once sent from the
Golden Hall, and it's such an exciting and world combination of things. And
to be honest, as much as I liked Caught in the Treads, which
we'll get to, when The Black Curtain came out as a single and I
wasn't gonna listen to it, and so I think I think it was you
parents saying like, oh, it sounds like Paradise Lost, what how?
And not even fucking like Gothic or lost Paradise, Paradise Lost full draconian times
and it just sounds incredible. It's so catchy that that peeled back the Black
Curtain say my Name, Tear through the Veil is almost wrestle metal. But
I think it's because so much like aggressive metal, it's kind of maybe reluctant
to be that chest puffy and gay creep. I just listened to that song
and think, how are they going to slot this into a set? It
just sounds so much more magnificent than anything they've done before this. Yeah,
Dead Star, I mean it's a shame it's not a cover of the Mew
song, which weirdly is one of the best new songs. And I can
actually hear that riff working really well in like a definite context. But it's
amazing the first riff in Oblivion, like again, how it kind of slips
into those punky d beats. That's really like Stockholm death Metal ninety ninety one.
There's a bit of a death metal like tor element to this record where
they draw together the different bits of heritage is like Stockholm, Gothenburg, Florida
on that again, the melody side, superstitious vision. The main riff is
just like genuinely anthemic and it rocks. Yeah, it's like you want to
punch the air to that. And as well as that, like nineties blockbuster
death metal era, there was also you know, the early two thousands when
bands like Art Jenemy were really significant. And you know, while we have
so much death metal right now that is buzzy and popular, it's very rare
that a band cut through to evoke that kind of like you know, again,
slightly higher ambition in terms of like what they're aiming to to really get
a ross and I really love that in this And they apparently worked in the
kind of pre production stage of this record with fred Etesby from Dismember on this
record, which is maybe what you could sort of attribute part of the step
up too and some of it again that Swedish melody or whatever. I'd exactly
you know, I'd be curious to know kind of what exactly he contributed in
terms of the you know, the very classic Swedish death metal lot of this
record is. And you know, you could maybe say that this record is
just kind of an air to dis member in that sense. You know,
it's massive killing capacity for the modern era. But the way they've applied that
flavor to these other principles I think is what brings out Again. It's like
they are trying to write the biggest, most universally classic death metal songs that
they can feasibly write. And the Black Curtain I cannot fucking get over.
That is the gate creeper song they have written for me, because as well
as Stockholm death metal and as well as Gothenburg melodic death metal, they take
a trip to Yorkshire there, and you know, we were saying a while
ago how fucking cool it is to add Paradise Loss to the list of bands
that death metal loving hardcore kids could maybe get into after boltfur and in two,
I am in awe at how well they pulled that off. Like,
I won't say it is as good as anything that Paradise Lost have made in
recent years, because Paradise Lost are actually one of the bands who are like
still at the top of their game, and their last record is like as
good as basically anything they've ever done. But considering how often a Paradise Lost
track will still end up being one of my favorites of the year, the
Black Curtain is like totally worthy and of that quality. The main guitar riff,
and you know, I can practically hear fucking nic Home singing over it.
But that steady, steady, like four to four groove that comes into
it, with that emotive, doomy core progression, that stuff is just so
my shit. Like I love those elements so much. When you can make
what feels like a hit song out of those like gloomy elements, it's one
of my favorite things in the world. And the chorus when that doomy peace
still lead line the dim comes and like moves under chases vocal delivery. It's
fucking exquisite. I think this might be the thing that unlocks Paradise Lost for
me at this point, because I mean, like, like so good that
and super Dis's visions. I was like, like this is made to like
get Bloodstock festival bouncing up and down and just headbanging like mad. It's it's
like the level of like anthemic songwriting. I'm just like they're so they seem
to fit so natural it whilst again having this kind of doomed quality to it
that that still feels you can kind of link that back to some of their
past. They've not like completely a band of whether before. They've just gone,
how can we make this sound blockbuster? And it's just gonna like draw
on Paradise Lost or or any like Arch Enemy anything like that, And it
just it's happened to so naturally create sound that just just sounds good to listen
to. It. It just it just let everyone put this album on and
they never expected to get something from a gay keep record but just just lifts
my spirits. Like it's like crazy that they've done this. Yeah, and
you know it, there is certainly a case of sort of spot of the
influence. It's not shy about that, but I think it's one of those
where like if you are death metal literate, shall we say, it's really
fun hearing and recognizing the different place they brought together and there's there's classic amorphis
in there, a chilling aura, has this really like terminal spirit disease era
at the gates of brittle quality that feels like it's going to like freeze the
tips of your fingers off with yeah, and the pacing of the record takes
you to kind of a different place within the broad church that is death metally
like Masterpiece of Chaos is even just like the way that song rolls off the
tongue, you know it's going to be like a twisted one. And again
the intro is a bit of peace Villa in there, but it's more like
they've taken that back to those bands earlier, more nightmarest records as opposed to
more commercial ones that you have on the Black Curtain. And it's as a
track list it was never allowed to get boring for me. M yeah,
because I mean I kind of I would have been happy with the stuff they
were doing on Dead Start and Blue and if they did an album of that.
It's been so long since I've had stuff of that type and of that
quality that they could have wrote up on that. But, like you say,
just this kind of tour de force of then going into Paradise Lost and
into the sort of overlooked out the Gates stuff, and then closing on Tears
Fall from the Sky, that out and out kind of mournful doom metal,
which again it's like you've already taken a swing on this record and several and
then your greatest swing comes at the end, and it's that much of a
hit. I think that might not even be the weirdest part of the record
for me, because the way they started doing this like desert goth death metal,
it's like so cools the direction a fucking Swedish style death metal band from
Arizona who are also doffing the cap to him and the Sisters of Mercy.
The way they do on the Flesh Habit, fucking wild lush bass sounds on
that line, Yeah, and that's not me reaching You can hear that in
that song, and I wouldn't be surpribed that as like, you know,
Edge of Sanity influence in there as well, but like I mean, fucking
superstitious. Vision has got this cowbell break under that, like sludgy death and
roll riff, and it's like, yeah, fucking go on, like let's
go for this death metal that loves to rock, you know, and Chasers
connunciation is very raw and powerful, but totally like the track Tears Fromthan's Guy,
I never saw that coming from Gate Crooper, who, like again I
once associated with essentially HM two pedals and kind of hardcore, you know,
inspired death metal. One of my absolute favorite bands of all time are I
Die Bride and the sorrowful melodies all over that song. It almost feels like
there's a it's almost like a direct rearrangement of the song Seeer Me and the
kind of timeless melodies that you have in that track, And the most famous
form of that track is maybe the piano version that opens turn loose the Swans
and hearing those kind of flavors, you know, reinterpreted from death tone into
piano as my dyn Bride did, and then back into a more modern type
of death metal as Gate Group are done. Here. It just makes me
very happy. I mean, I love that songs closer, and I think
like one of the read is most of them songs are so compact and so
kind of like tightly packages being me leitely punchy. So when they do really
kind of like expand out in the song and have this like longer form like
certingly something that's over form and it's long on the record like this really like
sorrowful doomy song again just stands up more as a completely different flavor they hadn't
tapped into it. And again coming off the back of Mistakes Mistaken for Dead,
which is just the shortest, like most violent song on the record,
that that push and Paul and just the way each song has its own really
distinct character, and again you can sort of say that as a tour of
all of death metal, I just think it just sort of shows that like
they're they're wanting the songs to sort of stand up by themselves, so you
can't really see any song as interchangeable, and it just keeps the album really
constantly engaging, where I never feel like I'm just kind of like, ah,
that's an album track, I can just skip. I don't need that
every song to me here stands out in some way or another. Yes,
it's funny you're saying that. Parently you were going to Green Long earlier,
because that was one of the things we all said about that record is that
each song had a distinct identity that couldn't be swapped out for another, that
therefore none of them felt like filler and putting this record on that whole playlist
thing that people often criticize records for. I look at this and just think,
if I don't listen to the whole thing, what am I in the
mood for. Do I want sort of euro festival metal I can get it
here? Do I want mournful stuff from Yorkshire that's here too. Do I
want like the kind of stuff that Gate Creeper were doing before. There's that
as well, and some of the best they've ever done it. And you
know, say, with a lot of trends where you know, everything comes
with a response, and you know it always seems to come across along at
the right time. You know, in the mid twenty tens, early twenty
tens, a lot of popular death metal was very clean, very precise,
very technical. Then we've had this kind of wave of filth that we've been
enjoying. I kind of would like to see a bit more melody in there,
because you know these bands, when you hear the Rift of Swim coming
in on clay Man, it feels incredible for a reason. And if we
could kind of partner that with the hardcore, filthy down in the in the
filth stuff that's just like perfecffect metal. And then Caught in the Treads is
about as good as any cluss at this member zone, you know what I
mean, it's fucking I'll court in the Treads is huge months the main riff
and that you know, slamming anvil drum beat has that pure fist pounding festival
power. If you are wanting death Metals songs that you can shout along to,
you know, like again you got to think about by one shout on
that is like you've got to think about like a central hook that will catch
the ear of like any random metal family listens to it, whether they have
the reference points through all these various touchtones or not. And every time that
tankers On one by one comes in, I get really fucking excited because it's
just so huge and like thirteen year old me would have fucking loved that,
And you know, it's this record has spoken to many things that I love
and are close to my heart in a way that feels like it's kind of
reinterpreting them for like a modern death metal audience. You know, like there
is so much old school inspired sort of death metal around today. It is
an ear of real kind of overcrowding for it, and I think you really
need to be special to kind of stand up the crowd, and a lot
of death metal is kind of divided as a result. You know, there
are people who just sort of fold their arms any more, sort of like
hard correridjation and stuff or whatever. But again, I'm confident that in another
era this record would have just fucking slam dunked it because the songs are fantastic.
I mean, maybe I'm alone here, but this has ended up being
like probably my favorite record that's come out this month, and compared to historically
how much I've liked Gatecreeper Versus like a lot of the other bands we are
reviewing, that's a real fucking feet and a real like coup for Gay River
this time. No, it's absolutely up there with me as well as just
like one of the real standouts. And I quite liked Gay Creep before that.
Again, of the modern death metal bands because they there has been more
hard coread Jason, I guess as well that I kind of found them a
bit easier to get into. This is just them. This is just such
a level up moment of like I would recommend this album to people who don't
like death metal almost because I'm like, no, if you like metal,
do you like big metal, do you like Kilters and Gay's, Lamb of
God, any of those bands, get on this because this is like Parkway
Drive fans, if you like the Laddee Parkway Drive albums, songs like uh
like the Black Curtain and the stipilin Vision, they are so in line with
that kind of like stuff on reverence and that kind of like big bouncing metodiff
influence metalcore. It's just that, but just a bit harder edged and it
feels I'm like, this needs, this needs to be heard by more people
and take Gay Groeper up. That's our next level. I think this is
almost I mean, I think it is my favorite thing we're talking about this
month, because, like I said earlier, it's a thing that not only
did. I kind of almost get to the point of expecting for that it's
to never be scratched again. But I certainly think things gonna be Gate Creeper
that came along and did it well. I get so excited about a huge,
melodic, kind of festival metal record, and yet still in touch with
the things that made gate Creeper exciting and interesting in the first place. It
the amount they've stepped up is kind of hard to get my head around.
I've listened to this track like a dozen times. I still don't quite understand
how much better it is there were they were than where they were even recently.
You know, like you're saying, like Parkway Drive, kill Switch,
Lamb of God, all of those bands. I think we can kind of
say that for most of their best work is likely behind them. You know,
I don't want to be would be downer, but it's likely true.
Gate Creeper. I've gone from being kind of not by any means ambivalent but
thinking they were good to just going, how are they fucking halfway down on
the Damnation lineup? This should be four offane? Ah? Yeah. Again,
it went from a battles Oh, they'd be quite cool to see and
now it's like, I almost don't care who they're clashing with. I would
just want to hear these songs. Yeah, speaking of a doom and sad
shit though coming off of you know, some of the differens on the Gate
Creeper record, we are now going to se actually talking about a couple of
albums from some of the more notable names in doom that came out of late,
starting with some of the saddest guys of them all, Pall Bearer their
album Mind Burns Alive. I think Paul Bearer are in a fairly interesting chapter
of their career in terms of being a band who have genuinely been one of
the most significant metal bands in the last fifteen years. Like that statement might
take some of you by surprise if you haven't thought about them in that way,
but Paul Bearer are one of the definitive metal bands of the twenty tens
in terms of shaping the direction of it much in a way that Aboud like
Death Heaven Are. I mean, I'd like to do an album club about
this at some point, or one of their first couple of albums. But
like the Underground massively changed after Paul Beher came out with Sorrow and Extinction in
terms of the kind of doom metal that was being played, and then by
the time A Heartless they had taken that to this sort of like new and
broader place that managed to get a ton of people who don't really know the
kind of bee that they started playing out, you know, doing in on
what they were. Elliott, what's your assessment on Paul Bearer's place within recent
metal history. I mean, you've basically just read my notes, like probably
the standout doom metal band of the last decade fifteen years or so. I
mean, the run of three saw an Extinction, Foundations and Burdens to Heartless.
It's about as good as any run of metal records in that time period,
and I could pick a different favorite every day. It's just I think
it's almost hard to say precisely what their direct contribution is, but just it
almost did feel like a borderline overnight phenomena where, at least in the places
I was looking do metal went from being all about how kind of cavernous and
frightening you could be, and then within a couple of years it was like,
oh, we love David Gilmore and Alice in Shane's and he's kind of
there was a beauty and a classiness and an elegance that not to say it
had never been in the genre, but it kind of came to the fore,
you know why. I think it was really healthy for its sort of
artistic and commercial growth. Yeah, it's on a maybe a smaller scale than
you might, you know, be thinking, but I think Paul Bear are
a band who changed the sound of metal, Like if you're trying to really
be sort of academic about it, they deserve that credit, I think,
and Paul Bearer's first three albums for that reason, I think are all clear
classics of like Underground twenty tens metal and New Paul bar albums were genuinely significant
events for that scene in a similar way to again the way like Death Heaven
album releases are in the twenty twenties. I think it's got to be said,
I think Paul Bearer have stopped writing records that are particularly accessible to people.
And I don't mean they've started writing bad records, because I don't believe
that, but they've gotten more kind of obtuse, and I think they've found
themselves circling certain rabbit holes more in the way that like Foundations of Burden and
Heartless War records that like Blue People Away, Paul Bear Aer Right Now and
making records are so obviously first and foremost for them, and they don't seem
massively interesting, whether people like them or not. And I think that that
it's resulted for a bound who were really important in the twenty tens, in
a certain split in their fan base between people who like really go with them
on these things, and then there are number people who like openly decry them
as having lost the sauce. I mean, I wouldn't go as far as
to say they've lost the source by any means. I'll admit I wasn't so
taken with Forgotten Days, which felt like a bit of a quite a common
sort of sentiment. I really like the heavier mournful tone of it. I
think, you know, like you say, it kind of went to be
a bit more abtuse I don't think the songs were as quite a spellbinding on
that record as I had been previously, and I don't think it was helped
by a pretty bad mix. In my estimation, it feels like a rite
of passage where if you're a stone of slash doom metal band. You have
to release an album that doesn't sound that good for whatever reason, and it
was frustrating because I do think there's there's great stuff in there. I just
don't think as a record it's certainly not as good as the first three.
And a few years later, I still haven't gone back to it. My
position on that has sort of softened, but I was stop short of saying
they've lost the magic. But it was the first time Paul Bearer put out
of a record that I didn't think was exceptional. Well, I think these
two. I think Forgotten Days was like the moment of adjusting because it was
the first time it happened. I like that album. I think it was
much heavier and it was much more emotionally bleak than Heartless, which I think
alienated a certain amount of people who are just like newly discovered them last time
out. Mind Burns Alive has gone in a very different direction to Forgotten Days.
It's almost run in the opposite direction, and maybe that does mean that
there will be an amount of people who didn't jive with Forgotten Days who will
like this one more. I think again, this coming after Forgotten Days,
I think I can kind of put the two together and say like, yeah,
this is now a different era of Pallbearer, neatly divided by the turn
of the decade, where they are just being far less crowd pleasing than they
used to be, and they were already a fairly patients requiring band. And
they're not hate breed we're talking about here, Sam, if you ever like
Paul Bear that much, Heartless I four was pretty good when everyone was raving
about it. I never felt compelled to go much beyond that because I listen
to one was like, oh, this is you know what, it is
really impressive really for me though, So I was gonna like that's where they've
kind of sat for me as a band. I've gone. I'm sure they
are greater what they do. I can totally see why people rave about this.
It just didn't It's just not something I would reach for, Okay,
And as I said, I think these the last two Poor Bear records are
very much in the category of like, you know, as said for them,
and they are not particularly interested in sort of making it that easy for
the listener. I guess it would be the most obvious way of saying it.
Forgotten Days was like a pretty emotionally taxing record to get through. Mine
Birds Alive is also that to a degree, but where Forgotten Days showed that
in much more sort of overtly heavy ways, you know, proper doom songs,
Mine Bird's Alive is exploring the more delicate textures of the idea for the
most part, and Forgotten Days was not immediate per se, but it did
have some immediate, big riffs. This album you can only really engage with
it on the level of like, got to take the time to just like
immerse yourself in it. It's the quietest Paul Bear record by a mile,
which again is like, how much does your average metal head want to engage
with this? I suppose, you know, we'll see. I admire what
Paul Bear are doing right now an awful lot. This is, you know,
not the most I have fallen for one of their records by any means.
I do think it is artistically interesting to engage with for one of our
more important underground bands. I think when they get it really right, I
think you can absolutely see why Paul there are at their best are just magic.
I think Where the Light Fades is a really wonderful song. I think
it's a great opener in terms of just like like enticing you into the record.
It's really delicate. There's like that kind of very soft source over the
vocals and like that like warped guitars, and it kind of says like a
vinyl that's kind of on its last legs at times when it's playing. But
it is like really molodgiculy simple, but it is very warm sounding as an
opening track. I had think with this record, but I felt a lot
of someone was like, Okay, it's do the quiet thing for so long
and then it is going to build up and you're gonna hit that either big
doom real or big emotional crescendo, and all of that sounds great and they're
really good at it, and I kind of got that from the first track,
and it felt like eight track after was doing just maybe a slight variation
on that, but wasn't doing much else to like grab my attention and stand
out in a way. I think like weather like Face might be the best
on it, just because it's like the first time you hear that and it's
like that sounds amazing, But then I didn't get much else from the record
beyond that it sounds like, I'm gonna be the most positive about this,
which I was surprised by because I agree that it's not, you know,
a record that I've fallen for in the same way that I had the first
three. I do think it's an improvement on Forgotten Days. For one.
I think the sound of it is excellent. I think you get that straight
away on where the Light Face we had as a single. But one of
the things I took comfort in on was straight away was just going, oh
that's that's a nice sound. It puts me to ease almost. It's like
listen to a Brian Eno record. Yeah. The way it comes on is
fucking beautiful, like little descending riff at the start. It's like floating on
a cloud. You know, it's really lovely. Yeah, it's funny you're
saying, you know, it's not going to be They're not going sort of
popular things and giving people what they want. I think i'd suspect this isn't
conscious, but it kind of sounds like Paul Bear and moving more towards that
case scope thing, which again was kind of buzzy, sort of eight to
ten years ago. Seventies. Prog has always been in influences but they were
a long stretch of this record that almost sound like Porcupine Tree and Pink Floyd
and you know, like I just said, Brian Eno, and I think
it really suits them. I can understand why over the course of a record,
if you're not looking for that sort of thing, it might get a
bit sort of tiring or feel slightly what's the word, you know, maybe
that doesn't excite you all that much. But just as the sound of it
for me, I was sort of immediately pleasing and as a patient, sort
of mellow way to start the record, I think it's an excellent opening salvo.
Yeah, it's a phenomenal rog doom ballad essentially, and it is you
know, it's unusual move to start a recording. Obviously, when we got
it as a single, we were like, oh man, this is quite
a you know, a soft leading to the record. Turns out it's basically
the most immediately accessible track on the record. But man, is it beautiful.
And it's really the song craft I think speaks for itself. You know,
when it reaches that feel my head going under part of the back end
and the instrumentation really starts coming together with a purpose. It is pure goosebumps,
I think, and it is evidence of why Paul there are really special
band, but that kind of prog BALLADERI. And again the reference points you're
talking about there maybe, like you know, are the thing, and maybe
I'm not totally plugged into all of that, but that is like the record
essentially, the title track immediately hits you with the Paul bear a low end,
which I think is nice to receive at that point. You know.
I think Sam I sympathized to what you said to a degree, but I
don't think it's it's strictly accurate. I think I don't. Yeah, as
in there are little variations like like the charchup beginning with the riff before you
get to the quiet bit, Like yeah, that song. I think it
was important to do that at that point, you know, and instead of
just resetting to exactly where you were, and when it does then goes subdued
about two minutes in. That's real. That one sounds to me like kind
of like you know, like like Earth or something like really stripped back kind
of desert drone post rock stuff where there's kind of like almost whispered day dreamy
vocals, which is kind of a new texture for Paul Behra. The record
is very again, it's very emotionally rue. I think Brett has one of
the most maybe not perfectly polished, not for everybody, but very emotionally honest
voices in Doom and that like my mind is ignited hook in that song,
really fucking dejected. I really like that song as well. There's a guitar
melody that comes in after the five minute mark, which maybe normally where a
solo would be, but it almost is like a fucking U two melody or
something. It's just like this big, huge, hummable lead and that does
jump out of the record and it makes it that bit more kind of affirming.
Yeah, definitely, I think it's funny when you you too. The
one that came to mind for me was Stephen Wilson. He's not really doing
this sort of thing anymore, so I'm more than happy for Paul Bear to
slot into that, you know, pick up that baton. And I think
the melodic side of things is definitely one of the things that's kind of gone
up again after the last round. I think that was one of the things
the last album lacked, and maybe that was I think that's probably fair I
think the last album has better riffs than this, but this one has better
melodies. Yea nature of what the records are aimed to do. Yeah,
And I think maybe if someone isn't so keen on Paul bet in the last
couple of because it's a bit frustrating that you have to fill to choose between
the two albums now for one one rather than getting both, which we're so
used to. But I think on some of my Signals kind of sounds like
Warning but more of the kind of forty whats Son a lot of refrain,
which is a sort of small but meaningful difference, and that's been going around
my head quite a lot, which I couldn't say about really any of the
songs on the last record, And I don't think there's many of the sort
of doom metal bands working today who I think without having really catchy song structures,
just like melodies that sort of happens to your brain. The thing with
the signals is, uh, you know, you mentioned the refert boors that
I was going to come to. But the other thing, as well as
prog stuff, is signals the beginning sounds like Midwest emo and like, you
know, that kind of voice, cracking somber. The intro is like a
super stripped down, intimate recording of just a vocal acoustic guitar that could totally
be off a nineties EMO record, couldn't it. And it's like, in
a way the process record I think it is in Ethos. It's as sunny
Day real Estate as it is Candle Mass. You know, does that feel
accurate every on that song? Yeah, I can see it on that song.
I don't know if that carries through to every track, but I see
what you mean. We're like that that night Easy Mo Midwest kind of like
I mean, it's that quiet interesting, you know, when we were speaking
about tenderness to it, like yeah, you know we did the album probably
not American Football, and we're talking about how kind of quiet and like almost
uneventful in the bedroom it is. This is like a again doom balladeering sort
of equivalent. And you know it's funny because again, Paul Bearer, they
seem to be going through something right now that I've mainly read about underground metal
bands doing in the histor, which is like the way a lot of those
bands from the nineties that started off heavy ended up floating down different territories away
from metal, and there were certain schisms and fan bases. You know,
you listen to this record, and maybe this will end up being the softer
thing that Paul Bearer ever make, but I hear it, and I wouldn't
be totally surprised if they ended up in a couple decades leaving behind metal entirely.
And you know, I was thinking about like Anathema's trajectory in terms of
going from like peacefill Doom to like you know what we're talking about with Gate
Creeper to a full on you could take them home to your mum, like
Pink Floyd prog rock band. And then I remembered another even more comparaison of
his comparison point, which is what you've mentioned, which is when Paul Bearer
broke out, they were sort of seen as being like the spiritual successes to
Warning, and now they're almost against that forty What Sun kind of trajectory,
And like, I'm not in theory against it, because I mean, for
a start, I love forty What Sun, but also I like this record.
I do. It's just interesting to sort of gauge it happening in real
time, you know, and maybe sort of having to move around in my
brain where Paul Bear are sit. Yeah, it's funny because Daybreak, which
which is probably the only song on the record that I'm not all that keen
on in Isolation, I kind of thought, there's that so soft, it's
barely their quality that King Crimson had in the seventies, where you go,
at some point you go is what's even are they still recording? Is the
song still going? But American Football, weirdly enough, is the more accurate
comparison, Like the sort of thing we just go, what's the structure here?
What does this actually look like down on paper? Because it's almost it's
almost all about the band interplay, And I think that song's maybe slightly too
long, and the rest of the album doesn't really it's not wild or heavy
enough to warrant that kind of respite. But I totally agree with what you're
saying about how if this proves to be another step of Paul Bear moving away
from Mesel, I kind of like the middle ground they're sitting in now.
Yeah, Like I said, it's not my favorite of their records by any
means, but I'm glad they're doing something different. They're rather trying to go
back and capture what those albums were doing for sure, and there are hints
of the oil again. The central hook in Signals that still has that kind
of the old, you know, warning Paul Bever emotional heft to me,
but it does go into again some all out prog rock territory at times.
Endless Place is the ten and a half minute centerpiece on the record. Not
the most immediately gripping song on the record. To me, it's super unhurried,
and I think for the first stretches of it, among the more indulgent
material they've written, I think I really do like the back end when the
saxophone surl comes in, and that is like such an exquisite addition to the
record that it really makes that song. Yeah. I think the last record
was maybe worn one of their darker ones, but I think it's you don't
get much of Paul berar A being menacing, and I think having that flavor
here, like the saxophone, it's not sort of soothing and you know,
evangelical or the sort of things that you'd imagine Paul Bert could do it sez
phone. Yeah, it's kind of like alien and I think you're right about
the openings of this song being a bit unhurried. It's not really getting going
at any point, but because it ends in such a strange place, almost
forgive that slow start. Yes, Seah, I was like tapping out of
endless place until the saxophone came in and I was like, ah, cool,
Okay, so this is what you've been building to. But the the
two ten minute songs on this were a little bit a touch two page that's
testing for me. There's some really amazing melodies. I think the sound of
this record is incredible in sort of like the texture and the sort of the
dynamics between the dark, like the soften the loud parts. But it just
again I like a chorus, it's so just not tune to where I'm going
to go for this or stuff, is it? Yeah? I think I
think the first half is more immediate than the second half. I think Daybreaking
with Disease Do Again sort of continually drift out in the aftermath of a place.
I like, really like the final riff in with Disease when it becomes
really heavy and it's like it brings the oubu and back around it, And
I think again, there are certain people who in a certain emotional headspace will
really connect with this record and think it is like maybe the best thing they've
done. And I think that's the nature again when these when bands like this
make that sort of pivot and start drifting to the less crowd pleasing territory,
shall we say, the people who go with it will go with it hard.
I like this. I think it's best tracks when it comes to again
fitting in with the overview of all the material they ever done really lovely.
I don't think as an album personally it's on the same level as Foundations of
Burden or Heartless, but I respect the honesty of where they're taking it and
I think it's certainly it will be interesting to see where Paul Bearer go from
here and where they kind of continue to drift away from what is obvious and
end up being like you know, one of those bands like Anathema or like
Ulva or Opeth or whatever, or whether they kind of snap around in something
else. Again. Yeah, I think, like you say, it's not
a classic Paul Bearer record, at least at this stage. Maybe it'll go
on even more. It's not perfect, and you know, there's part of
me that goes I kind of long for that feeling I got over the last
three off the first three records, where every time one came out just go
home like like it's just been stepped up again. And but I think for
this I'll take it as a step up from Forgotten Days, which is a
record that I think is okay now and for me certainly put out of record
better than the last one, and moving in a new direction I think is
enough to keep it interesting. I to obvious still want to keep tabs on
Paul Beat because I think this record is good, but I do think it's
somewhat carried by the fact that it's a new sound, and I think that
at least should be applauded. Next album, as said, is also from
the doom world. But this album isn't really like anything we've ever reviewed.
It comes from Unclasses and the Deadbeats, who are a band we've spoken about
before. The record is called nell or a Blue. It's a very unusual
record. Unclass and the Deadbeats are one of the very best and most unique
bands anyway to come out of twenty tens. Doom, old school cult rock,
that whole circle. I'm personally a huge fan. I know that when
we did our album Club on Bloodlust, which is one of the best records
of the twenty tens in my estimation, you are as well, Elliott Ah,
just one of the best occult rock albums ever made, maybe like properly
when we were when I was thinking around the end of that decade of what
are the best stams of the twenty tens, Bloodlust is a first draft pick
for me, and I think Mine Control is similarly great, and the records
that came after was are really good as well. But that kind of three
years of Uncle Acid being one of the real buzzy bands. It's one of
my favorite sort of one two's of the last few fifteen years. Yeah,
I think it's another band who I would describe as one of the standout bands
of the twenty tens in terms of bands who sort of defined that decade in
a certain way. I have been chomping at the bit for a new album
from them for a while. It's been a minute since the last one and
maybe like the last sort of interim years I made when I've actually listened to
them the most and really fucking you know, been like, oh my god,
these records. When we got word of a new album finally wasn't like
the other ones, so an insight into the thought process here, as much
as this album on paper seemed like it was invented specifically for me. I
got sent this album at some point prior to its release. I listened to
it and I thought, Oh, we probably won't review that because it's not
really a rock album in the conventional sense that we talk about, and it's
so niche in what it's trying to do. I was like, we'll probably
end up giving that slot to something that has a broader appeal for people.
But the more I thought on it, I thought, actually, this is
an opportunity here to have a conversation about an album that isn't presented by anything
else we've ever done, and the fact that it's come from one of my
favorite bands, it's sort of irrelevant. If this has come from any band,
it'd be like, well, this is interesting, you know, and
we'll make for just maybe some more unique listening as a podcast, you know,
would it be more interesting to hear us talk about some other metal record
or something odd like this? You know what I mean? This is this
is a like really fascinating albums to me. Because I don't mind a classes
the vision I never really going into somewhere there about I knew the name,
but they after doing that album Club I've Got, I've got a little bit
more into But this is on those records, that is on them. How
should be something I should hate. It's like a seventy odd minute prog album
essentially in a lot like a seventies prog album. But what they've tapped into
is as you say, and it says people to you and so specific to
me as well, and like things it taste. So I'm like they they've
again just found a cheat code to get me to listen to a seventy minute
like seventies prog album. So kudos to Uncle Acid on that one. Yeah,
I think you know. I've just watched spok about how much I like
them. I do think from Blood Loss to Wasteland, each record got worse,
slightly less good, like to the point where it goes from one of
my favorite abums of the decade too and album I think is very good,
often great. But even if this was the worst Uncle Assen in the dead
beat record or now I didn't like, I would want to come on and
talk about it. Because you're not going to get this from any other band,
because it's such a strange idea and such an idea that could only be
fulfilled or even thought of by them. And you know, I truly have
no idea what I have a good feeling what parent would think of it,
but I really annoyed what Sam would think of it. And I thought that
at the very least is exciting. Yeah, And I did also think that,
you know, because of my interest. Outside of that, I also
thought, you know, maybe I am better equipped to review this album and
what it's going for then maybe some other people out there who have maybe been
assigning this record but it's a bit alien to them. And you know,
you know yourself as well, Sam, But like not to toot my own
horn too much. I know this world of Giallo scores and soundtracks probably better
than some other journalists, so I think maybe it's better to take you to
talk about it. What this record is is a homage to a very specific
era of music through the form of a soundtrack album to an imagined invented Giallo
film. Which it's not a typical like uncollaid doom pop song record. There
are more when their sort of usual sound temporarily pops up. You can't really
listen to this record in the same way. Did it entice? It was
an idea, I suppose, sort of knowing that you were, you know,
likely weren't going to get your usual, more approachable songs from them.
For me, yeah, I was really enticed by the jealous soundtrack idea and
this when I heard it, I didn't know it was going to be as
long as it was, and so that was that I was like, oh,
okay, am I gonna be into as much as I was initially enticed
by the idea. But for me, again, I don't listen to low
yellow soundtracks, but those soundtracks are such a specific vibe and sound that is
so tied to watching those movies and there's nothing quite like them. So I
was like, that's just interesting that that is just an enticing, exciting idea.
Yeah, And I mean, to me, I think one of the
strange Funkle Acid is they are among the best songwriters in their field, and
then moving away into the more soundtrack idea. At first I thought, is
that gonna be them to their strengths, But I also went, oh no,
yeah, and they're one of the best world builders and the most adepts
at evoking certain times and places. And as soon as I saw it the
album cover and the name of the album and the track lists and stuff,
you just go, yeah, they're gonna nail it. Of course they are,
like, these are people who they understand this language, this kind of
artistic language. And the second you put it on, I was just completely
put at ease. I just went, yeah, they've got it under control.
They can handle this. This probably does need a bit of explaining for
some of the audience. Gello films are a type of Italian exploitation movie made
primarily during the sixties and seventies. They're essentially like crime horror movies. They
are often seen as a sort of four bear to the American slasher movie,
but they have this very European sensibility of like style and glamour to them.
They have like graphic, over the top murder sequences, but they also have
crazily convoluted plots and twists. They're like Agatha Christie is told by a crazy
pers and relevant to our purposes. Here there is a very specific kind of
atmosphere and musical approach as well, courtesy of composers like Ennia Morriconi, who
is more commonly thought of in relation to the Westerns. I know, and
you know what you'll all know from Metallica concerts, but he did a load
of Giallo scores as well. His kind of associate, Bruno Nicolai, did
a lot of them. And then when you get further into the nineteen seventies,
you have the emergence of the full on prog rock versions of them from
bands like Goblin and all those Darry Argento scores. And you know, we've
mentioned plenty of times the influence of Goblin on bands like Ghost or Tribulation or
whatever. It is a common touchstone and a certain kind of metal. One
of the things I like about Giallo scores is when you think about like horror
scores, your mind probably goes to a much more overtly scary place. Spooky
simps. Yeah, I mean, even you know fucking what we're talking about,
the not loose record, you know that fucking clanging twigs and whatever.
Horror score and Giallo score are actually sort of different things because very different.
Giallo score is based in that very bizarre idea of like Italian stylishness and luxury,
like Jalo films. They're like European holiday brochures that happen to have murders
in them half the time. Like the scores are like way more playful and
funky swanky as a word. I often come back to her in regards to
Jallow music, which you would never say about like a John's Carpenter score or
something, you know, like there's amos from my notes, was like I
can just see some beautiful Italian lady like walking along a canal or exactly grass
like there is like that I can just picture those sort of moments in them,
because those twos just happen in Jealouschool. There are just bits of like
attractive young people like going about their business to this like sort of swanky,
slightly psychedelic sixties and seventies soundtrap. Yeah, they're like because you know,
it's seventies cop shows and shit like that as well, and you imagine it's
sucking, you know, Miami Vice on a speedboat or whatever, except it's
you know, Italy in the nineteen seventies, and I'm glassid you know they've
created a seventy seven soundtrack in that style with some of their own sounds mixed
in to a movie that does not exist to create an impression of the movie,
and they have brought in actors and things like that, and it's obvious
it's a very particular kind of listening experience. So the first HAWN in six
years, which is the longest that they've ever done, and my understanding is
that basically the juices for the kind of unclass material they normally write just weren't
flowing in the same way. And I think it's a very creatively honest record
in the sense that he had to write a fucking fect Giallo score because that's
what he was inspired to do, you know, and the inspiration to do
more or what we know, wasn't there. And you know, maybe having
got this out of his system, that's what we can expect again. But
right now we've got something fucking weird and different, and uh, you know,
it was certainly a pleasure for me to kind of sink my teeth into
something like this, because this kind of music does take up a lot of
space in my head. Anyway. The intro track again does necessarily screen jallow
to me that one, but it kind of almost feel like an overture or
something. You're really beautiful, melodic bass playing on all the symps and stuff.
I've always admired how cool and authentic in a strange, scratchy, nightmarish
way Uncoal Acid make their records sound, and uh, this record is full
of that, but geared toward that very specific uh angle what they're doing.
I mean, yeah, everything it's sort of like fuzzed up to the max
and trying to make it sound as like vintage as possible. I did kind
of get like like opening credits in a Yallow movie, like stills of mannequins
and shit like that, like yeah, like but that's these are the things.
I was just kind of like, I can see it. I like,
these are all just things up on into mind and I was like,
I mean it's it's working. It's magical. Just so I'm like, again,
if you haven't got these touchstones, I can't see how this would do
anything for you. I think this is so you have to like be in
on Shallow to just kind of like create your your mind palace of like what's
happening in the made up Yallow movie at that exact moment. Same like the
bits for those narration it's I can see people like there's just men around a
desk, were all smoking and all kind of like trying to work out what's
going on, Like it's all there to me. So that's why I was
able to go with this, which I was just like, I was having
so much fun with this album, just creating the movie in my head.
Yeah, I almost before I listened to it, I kind of set it
aside and thought, you know, if I don't like this record, it's
a completely different thing, you know, like you say, creatively honest album,
fun experiment. I won't hold it against them. This is my favorite
unclaccid record since mine control. I love this thing. The aesthetic. I
don't can't imagine it being more nailed like that, since the drums, the
basslines, the production, the cover, just even the way I don't even
know what it's not even production, but like you say, it's sounding like
an old record. There isn't one thing out of place, and it's such
a delicate balance to strike. I always, you know this kind of fun
guy, I am. I always get wound up when you watch TV shows
and there's like a flashback to the eighties and they get the years slightly wrong
and they go with nineteen eighty three and someone goes, oh, let's go
watch Beetlejuice and just go how No, not possible. Yet. I'm not
as much of an expert as you guys are in Italian horror and all that,
but I listened to this and there wasn't one moment where I thought,
you know, that couldn't have happened. Yet that doesn't make any sense.
And maybe it's because these Italian films are so odd that they kind of played
to their own logic that it's hard to get a grip on. But I
was completely transported by this, like that thing was about the mind pass.
I could see the movie like being projected on the inside of my skull.
It's just so addictive. I think it's they go really ye all in on
the yallow concept and they you know, they've made this a labor of love,
for sure, and part of that is, you know, they've got
people like Franco Niro and Edwig Feneck on the record, who are two of
the most iconic actors from that Giallo era who are actually still alive and available,
you know, so it's like wonderful to make reuse that reasont. I
mean the fact that, like I've just said, the words Edgweg Feneck on
a fucking little podcast that's really weird to me that normally happens. Yeah,
And like the weird thing is though with that is generally want you watch a
Yallo, you'll probably actually watch it in English with like the crazy dubbing.
But people like Franko Neiro and Edwige Feneck, it's an audio only experience,
and you know, they speak Italian when they're not dubbed over, so they
kind of they deliver it in Italian. And it does mean that as an
English listener, you're piecing together where you're at more in terms of like the
tone of delivery, and you know, you know, you're trying to infer
in the kind of the sort of impressionistic way of like intonation and painting in
that kind of way more than it is like a narrative concept album where you
are super closely following the beats. It's much more sort of like again vague
and impressionistic in a way, which is a you know, for a score
to a fake movie is a bizarre kind of idea they've obviously they've had,
Like it's one of tho things where like the people behind this, they know
exactly what happens, you know. It's like they've absolutely they've worked out exactly
a narrative and a concept or district it together. But what you get is
a kind of like, you know, just go with it. The one
concession you get there is the almost where they do sing every now and then
that those people, like the ements can like sense you a little bit on
the show, so you can catch on to to one particular thing and kind
of take a thread from there. Those the only ements of that. It
it's like almost a slight concession to be like, okay, if you are
lost, here's a bit of a exactly because like the second track on the
record, it's like some Italian guy is saying something deadly serious and it's probably
like a police discussion of the murder scene or some not the other sort.
But it's the little organ lion and the drum part underneath that kind of puts
you in the scene. And then Kevin's vocal comes in, singing in English,
and it's a somewhat rare occurrence when he does sing on this record,
to be honest, but those little snippets of words are almost like a lifeline,
okay, where are we, And you know, it doesn't necessarily make
for a seamless narrative experience, because you know, they are trying to paint
the whole image in solely the audio medium rather than the soundtrack to the visual
medium, and partially in a foreign language. So I was like, well,
we got a piece together some stuff here, and you know, one
of the things I did was like I took the titles of the songs and
I chucked them in Google Translate just to at least kind of, you know,
give a kind of mental image and some really good ones in there.
But to be honest, Jallo is essentially about vibes and feeling lost sixty percent
of the time anyway, So if they were going to try that with any
sort of sub genre, it might as well be this one. You know,
some shit's going down and them there you just kind of vibe with it.
When Love Vipera comes in is when my brain really started to go like,
oh yeah, yeah, this is that was it, because that's like
slick and cool. It's got that kind of weird spaghetti Western kind of like
Marricconi sounded, but with that just kind of slightly odd yellow field to it.
And I was like, oh, yeah, that's what that was the
exact way right. I locked him. I was, I was like,
I'm going to just be here for the vibes. Now I'm totally in.
I love that song, like it's just it's just so cool, it's got
it's sort of spooky and shadowy but kind of sexy at the same time,
which is never not a word I've used on Uncollassed and The Dead Beats before.
But I think you were saying about the songs maybe they somehow intrude on
the narrative end of things, maybe or they feel like they're a concession of
some kind it's fun. I didn't get that impression at all, because you
know, this isn't a yellow film. I think it's like The Wickerman,
where there's just songs appearing out of nowhere and bits of electric guitar that randomly,
like sort of into your ears and completely changed the mood of it,
and moments like that. I just thought, if I was if I had
this in the late sixties and I've seen this film, I would want to
listen to this record constantly and just by putting some of the some of the
best songs they've written in years on there. I think it just creates such
an interesting package. Yeah, I think that is a song that is a
catchy uncle acid tune that's rocking this kind of Eneomorcone texture more than is Black
Sabbath. And that's kind of interesting because like as well as you know,
obviously they're using all these analog style synse and stuff like that to kind of
really evoke that ear, and it's really beautiful as a melotron that keep popping
up. That's really wonderful. But as well as making uncle Acid sound kind
of new indifferent, it obviously goes the other way as well, where you
have these giallow style tracks, but they have like heavy doomy guitars underpinning them
in a way that that music normally doesn't, you know, And I think
that's a really unique mood they do. A lot of the record is surprisingly
kind of spacious as a really stripped back melancholy to it and stuff like ill
Tasorrodis Sardinia, which has a really like lovely synth and saxel of it,
but it's really chilled out. I think again, thinking about like horror yellow
Scores or whatever, there's not many of like you know, the attack scenes
in this Necessarily there's one obvious track at the end that's blatantly called the Homicide,
but otherwise it is quite low key and chilled out, and one of
the you know, the reference points I had in terms of like how I
was listening to this is actually like the time Wave zero record from Blooding Cantation
when they made like a full synth project and it would just ask you do
you kind of okay, lie back, float yourself into kind of analogue synth
land. This has a similar approach at times, particularly in the kind of
the mid section. The title track, particularly kind of gorgeous song, has
like kind of heavy bass element again but really sort of a chiming, sort
of lullabiish quality in the keys, And like, the first time I listened
to this record, I was it was on in my flat, I was
doing other things. It was nice background music, but it didn't necessarily draw
me all the way into it. The next time I listened to it,
I was walking home on my own in the dead of night, and that
is where the material really just kind of shone, and I was like,
yeah, cool, I'm in this. I'm in the world, and it's
not overwhelmingly scary, but it is like dreamy and moody. I mean that
actually it is the obviously a lot of Germans. They have that quite like
dreamlike quality of like aimlessly wondering at times. And again if you're in on
that, there are songs that WEEK can kind of totally buy into, like
like you know, you got the sort of the Joons that maybe have the
slight slightly supernaturals, which is having a vision of something and it's this weird
dream where stuff's warping together. There are songs I can always picture as that
or just the whole like cocktail pie bit, like, yeah, all the
things that the just it feels so like evocative and it is quite sparse,
but I was so locked into just the whole mood of it that I never
found myself kind of my mind wandering off to not where the album wants my
mind to go. Yeah, I think they weave in more than enough of
the uncle acid, you know, the sauce to make it feel like it
slots in with the rest of their records that I'm gonn pronounce this terribly,
but she is distrada almost as like a lost Door song kind of echoing up
fro the bottom of a well. And again it's not even really on a
song, but track twelve there's a riff on that which is one of the
best they've done in a long time. And you know, maybe they weren't
going to write a record in the traditional sense, but I listened to that
just thought fucking out, you could have held that back and written a full
song around it, but it's just such a cool flavor just to just throw
in part way through your fake giallo score. Yeah, I think again,
there's a sort of chilled out part in the middle of the record where like
generally the sort of like conventional uncoala acid by obviously' not writing conventional songs,
but even just like the guitars and vocal sort of setup, it goes away
for like half an hour or so, like fully in the middle of it
just like fully vibed for a while. And maybe again, if this was
a Joi film, maybe that's part where you go it's a big slump when
nothing really happens, But then you get a torturer al telephono, which is
another song where you can quite easily pee together. What that probably translates as
also comes right after someone on the phone angrily shouting Bastanda, which is quite
good. But then I think for me, quite a lot of the standout
tracks then turn up sort of in the second half of the record once you're
over the hill with it, because pomurigid in November, nil Pacho hyphen Chichio,
uh, really nice, start with the jazz pianos, but then like
halfway through again for the first time in like a good half an hour or
so full uncollasid crash in and the way you think that watching guys are over
reaware. That's to hook that again. You stood with me in this album,
you do suddenly vot you're under attacked from like all of these piercing eyes
around you, you know, and when they the two sort of combine in
a really cool way at times on this. Yeah, I can't really fault
the composition of this thing. I did wonder if they'd go too far one
way or not commit enough. I think they've got the balance pretty much perfect,
because there's enough of the giallo thing to feel like it qualifies for that,
but there's also enough on coll Acid to feel like it's not an offshoot
that it's insually. You mentioned the blood in Cantation record as a comparison,
I see that, but it felt like when that came out there was almost
discussion of, oh, is it really a blood in Cantation record? Is
it more of a sort of EP or commercial least thing? Is this kind
of part of it? Is this almost like a side quest? I would
put this in the in the can of unclacid records as readily as it as
readily as I'd put any of them. Yeah, I mean I for me,
the blanket, I think I included that very much to the blank condition
thing, So I equating them for me it seems quite natural. But I
generally I agree the song you mentioned with that really great fucking Tonaomi lead,
you know style untol acid riff that usually it's that bread that's their bread and
butter, but it does sort of slide in here and it's really cool.
The next track after that it's like all brilliant riffs and it's a really that's
one that's like the big metallic riffing on that one in the stage and you
go, oh, yeah, this is a DOOMI a cult band. Yeah,
And you know it's kind of a cozy happy spot for me with the
vocal melodies and the weird trippiness of it. Il Gatto Morto is brilliant.
I think that's like real sinister intent lurking around a corner. And that's exactly
you know, when you were saying Elliott, like, oh well, they'll
be using all of their skill set. It's a natural fit because Uncle Acid's
music normally is so kind of serial killer ish in personality. You know,
this band wrote the Night Creeper, you know, and that's there, and
that the track after that really reminds me of the Goblin stuff for the Deep
Red perform the Rosso soundtrack, that kind of like circling funk ish kind of
baseline. I just again, I admire the craziness of this being again primarily
the work of sort of one guy finding himself going down one particular niche rabbit
hole so hard that he just goes absolutely mental with it. You know,
as a guy who frequently finds himself watching a lot of shit and going how
how did I get here? I can relate to that. And and the
result is, you know, I don't as everything the record is perfect,
but he's got this kind of strange one off record that no one else has
made. And I think that is creative reward in itself, you know,
and they know full well that they are a already a fairly niche band,
but now again, only a small fraction of their audience will want to devote
their attention wholly to this. But it is one of the more, you
know, creative endeavors we would probably see from a band this year. To
be honest, it's outside the box, definitely, and I think one of
the cool things. But Unclass has always been that they are outside the box
and they don't sort of bend to the conventions of other bands in their fit.
It feel like I've seen a lot of bands who came up around the
same time as them and ghost and they saw what Ghosts were doing and thought,
okay, well we'll try that. Uncoasteralm just went the other way.
They went stranger, they went more obtuse and creepier and still playing readers with
Ghosts fairly recently. And then they followed up with it. Yeah, like,
but you put this on and it's a record that in a funny way
because they're trying to emulate something so clearly it's not a record anyone else could
make. Yeah, I agree, certainly, it's it's such a specific nerdy
project that you could you can't just accidentally sort of stumble into doing this or
half asset. You know, you have to be in. Yeah, you
have to hunt and commit to the bit of Like that's why I think this
works is if this wasn't so committed to it's like deep understanding of all of
the trademarks of Jallo, I just don't think this would work at all.
They're not going to contact Zwenek and Franco niro in of course. Yeah,
yeah, I think it's a It was so unique, I thought we should
take the opportunity to talk about it. So if any of that sounds of
interest to you, you know, you could go into it with the correct
expectations. Maybe you will find something new that you kind of enjoy. So
yeah, it's called nell Or a Blue from Uncoal, Acid and the Deadbeats.
If the subject of seventy seven minute fake Giallo scores by retro doom outfits
is not at all of interest to you and you just want some normal fucking
melodies plays for the Love of God one Step Closer, perhaps have the album
for you. The album is called All You Embrace One Step Closer are a
melodic hardcore band from the States, although I suppose we could debate if they
are still on a hardcore band. We first spoke about them to my memory
on the show Outbreak festival last year, where I quite enjoyed them. I
think they weren't necessarily one of the bands that like stole the weekend the way
we raved about certain other bands there at that far, but I like them,
and yeah, you know, I was checking out their records in the
run up to that festival, and I thought they had some pretty good tracks,
you know, a handful of them, definitely your bands or work keeping
an eye on. And then this record has come along, and maybe this
is my sort of prior ignorance to them prior to about a year ago,
But would it be fair to say this is sort of a bit more of
like upwards trajectory in terms of like their profile and word of mouth going on
around this. I think so, particularly on this album. I mean again,
I quite like one step Closer before this, I thought that the previous
stuff was good. Enjoyed them Outbreak, but of the kind of like the
new wave of like hardcore bands that have come out in the sort of the
post turnstile whatever world they weren't the ones. They weren't the one I was
kind of going like, ah, once so closer, you've got to be
all about them they were. I was like, they're cool. I'd like
to see them do something decent. And suddenly it was like a lot of
people have kind of been like, hey, one step closer, this is
this feels like a kind of like step up moment for them. So I
definitely had eyes on this record to sort of see were they gonna deliver on
that. Yeah, and you know, maybe you can take this as a
view of again someone who is not wholly plugging that world. But from a
layman's point of view, so called melodic hardcore hasn't really been the zeitgeist in
hardcore for a bit. You know. We are more used to right now
hearing obviously they're not losers and so on, and then maybe sort of the
post turnstyle thing. But like I remember hearing one stuck Closer and being like,
oh, these guy kind of sort of leading the charger for like a
comeback in that particular style of the subgenre. You know, Yeah, I
mean I like mid noughties melodic hardcore or mid twenty tenlodic hardcorese like at the
time some of my favorite music. I was sewing on a lot of that
sort of stuff, and even going back to like come Back Kid or Still
I'd say, one of my favorite bands. So I was kind of like
quite happy to welcome a melodic hardcore return, even if I was kind of
like, I don't think they quite nailed it yet, but I was gonna
like, come on, if somebody's going to do it, please give me
like an actual, really good, like melodic hardcore album that we haven't had
for a while. Yeah, but this album has actually, uh, it's
not necessary, I think done that entirely. It's kind of introduced some other
things into the mix as well. And when I was putt in the you
know, checking out singles, putting the reviews l like together, you know,
I dipped my toe in their previous records and enjoyed them dedecent amount.
I was slightly taking a back by, like, oh Sits, there's almost
more like a pop punk direction here, you know, and the kind of
the the run for cover, you know, hardcore meeting alternative sort of you
know ven diagram. So again, if you if your sound is melodic bright,
upbeat punk music. This is definitely the race we got through this time.
When you know, I said, so these guys what we were doing
in the reviews the other week, and Elliot said something like, oh,
it's not much for the net deep fans in there this time, and I
was like, well, this is probably, you know, yeah, a
fair bit kind of is. I mean, if I was kind of like
as simply some of the sound this imagine like early Title Fight or early sort
of Citizen cross of Comeback Kid, in kind of like the approach of like
the hardcore of Comeback Kid with the bright kind of emo like tinged pop punk
melodies of a Title Fire or a Citizen yearly work. And if that combination
sounds enticing to you, I can see people absolutely falling in love with this
record. Yeah. I mean for me, they are a band who's name.
I feel like I've only really heard the name bandied about in the last
month or so, and maybe it's around this record, and I've kind of
come a bit numb so that, to be honest, becau, it feels
like every couple of weeks a new hardcore adjacent band comes out and everyone goes
it's the most exciting band in the world, and you just go, well,
you know, we'll see. And I think, to be honest,
if we weren't review it for the show, and there's a good chance I
wouldn't come to this because I'm not so in on that melodic hardcore thing,
and said if it's moving more in the pop punk direction, that doesn't really
give him any points in its favor for me. But I'm really glad it
was thrown in the batch because I enjoyed this a lot more than I initially
expected to. I think I completely agree with you Sam that this scratches an
itch much in a similar way to that Gate Creeper record. It scratches it
that I certainly haven't had scratched in a long time. And I think there
are people out there who, with pop punk being as stale as it has
been for a while, will just be desperate for a record like this to
come along. Yeah. Again, I was struck to read that in the
kind of sessions for this they worked with both Isaac Hale from Not Blues and
Matt Kerrikey from Citizen, which is two really different points, doesn't it.
But I guess this is what happens when you do that. Yeah, but
I can see where like though their input has kind of like coming together and
like that. I can definitely hear like not lose wouldn't be like the sort
the hardcore kind of like w but like Matt Ry's Citizen, you can hear
him all over some of the melodies on this record, some of like what's
the song Giants are Spare at the end of the record. That is this
early Citizen song, like right and you know when you've got the trumpets never
been coming at the end. It's so I like the trumpets bit. That's
good. That is so like twenty thirteen emo kind of revival sort of thing
going on now? Is that? God? They they they're a band.
These are people who grew up on those records and there like we need to
bring that back. I mean skipping ahead a bit here, but that's one
of my favorite songs of this style I've heard this year. And I heard
people giving that song some praise beforehand, but listening to that, I just
how has it been so long since I've heard a song like this of this
quality? It seems so simple, it's soaring, it's hooky, It's the
kind of song you feel like you've had in your life for years and you
have the pleasure of hearing it for the first time. And I can't remember
the last band came along writing songs like this. I was this taken with
And you know, maybe it's small things like the production and the band sounding
where they've got a bit of biting them that is a kind of the pop
punk ballad in a way that isn't so saccering. But I listened to that
and just think, again, something that I almost forgot I liked, and
hearing it done to this standard, I was just thrilled. Yeah, because
it's interesting he said that, because I was. I wasn't quite sure with
you, because I know that you, Elliott, you like more kind of
full on emo and like indie alternative rock stuff than I do. Yeah,
but the sort of the point where that interac would sort of clean the poppunk
or someone, I wasn't sure if you would view that as some kind of
bathidization. But you know, it's nice that you kind of resonated with it.
Yeah, And I mean you maybe maybe this speaks what you just said,
But that trumpet bit when it came in, I thought, it's almost
an arcade fire or neutral milk hotel, like the way that when those bands
use brass, and like you say, it's the sort of thing where if
that was done wrong, I might have kind of been repulsed by that,
but especially by that point in the record where I'd really warmed to it already,
When that comes in, I just thought, God damn, it makes
the whole thing feel so authentic and real. And it's funny how that trick,
which other bands could do, but don't it genuinely to use that word
again, it elevates it. I think we said, like, well,
our bands to it. I think it's because it's it's been like a surface
level kind of understanding, kind of love for it, or I feel like
the guys they clearly have a deeper kind of appreciation for the more nuanced touches
of those bands, and so that's why I think they can actually put it
off in a way that sounds genuine. I think we were spoken about this
before, how there's a difference between going, you know, we like Helmet
and Faith no More and in Living Color and whatever else, and so we
sound like corn and just going we like corn, and so were going to
sound like corn. I listened to this and think these guys don't just listen
to like you say, ties will Fight or the Hotelia and go all right,
cool, let's do that. I'm sure they understand things like the bands
I mentioned, or the Microphones, Modest Mouse, the sort of bands that
clearly shaped that style of emo songwriting around that time, and hearing the kind
of the source version of it coming in it just makes it that little bit
better, I think as well, talking about sort of not molding it to
a certain direction, like the scream, the delivery. He manages to twist
it into kind of olt rock melodies at times, but when he pushes it,
he is still a hardcore singer and it's not like it has just swapped
it out for like, you know, the post neck deep voice that X
amount of bands might have you know done. And it's nice they've kept that
kind of moment of authenticity. I was struck by again when you put the
record on, you know, the pace has noticeably dropped from what their previous
records were. I associated with that kind of that very zippy, melodic hardcore
direction, and this I went, yeah, okay, we are clearly going
in a more you know, citizen modeled sort of you know sad boy,
you know, kind of alternative rock, pop punk whatever thing. I I
don't especially love this record, and I think it's because they have lent into
a thing which I don't really like especially much. You know. Like my
problem is bands like Citizens and bands THEY'RELK I don't really like. So I
had trouble connecting with this to any significant degree. Really, I don't think
it's badly performed. I don't think it's badly written at all. And there
are you know, choruses and so on which I can go, yeah,
you know decent. There's an acoustic bit at the end of the gate where
it's like, oh, he's in Paul Beerer, you know, the same
inf is there. Yeah. I this wasn't really my kind of hardcore,
shall we say, But Sam, you really like it. This has been
that again, like probably the one thing that's maybe pivving Gate Creep out of
the ones that we've done this like this week that I have just been so
so the opening of Color you just took me back to you, like again,
just being in twenty fifteen and like maybe something like bands like Landscapes and
that sort of stuff. The opening chords and the way they sort of sweep
me in. I was like, ah, this is this is like full
on like tugging your shirt collar like emotional hardcore. There's that opening something that
that that that whole that fun into the course that that stuck for me when
they're kind of doing that at the end where they build it the big version
they're training off the vocals like that was a really good opener. And then
you get Leap Years coming in and that is just pure skate punk hardcore.
I was like that, So they haven't completely yeah, moved away from that
stuff, stuff like Leap Years and blow my memory when my memories lower than
Atlantis, Like maybe, yeah. I was like those tracks when they bring
when they do have you know, the melodic hardcore thing of like melodic coorprogressions
over like a punk beat, those are the parts that scratch my brain a
little bit more so, you know, And I do enjoy this band when
I think the guitars are carrying the melodies most of all. I guess yeah,
I mean like I I again, those songs are just like crack to
me, rich Like ah that that that that drum beat is pummeling forward,
the sort of bassline that's just like driving it. It's it's so easy for
me to sort of lap those songs up, but I think like those songs
are really great fun, but they're're they're the kind of like quite more straightforward
part of the album. I like them when like you then get what's it
the gate sort of slows things down, goes really like shimmering and pretty Orangely
has a kind of like nice pish of poor where it is it'd bit harsh
that and that's what sort of songs I was like, I could see you
paying falling up with some of the song, but it's not like that way.
It is a bit harsher, and like when he's doing these vocals,
it's not a whiny kind of like it's a kind of like more a kind
of vocal that I could see being a big turn off for you. Yeah,
it's orange Leaf is the kind of like melodic core progression, but you
could probably still mosh to it if needs be, you know, stuff like
that, and people can mosh to that, like sure, yeah, And
like the kind of bouncing melodic lead at the start of hazel Tree that was
really like you know, oh yeah, fucking you know, title Fight,
Super Heaven, whatever sort of it's loud, alternative rock, but it's also
very downcast and autumnil maybe in a bit sad about things. I quite like
in z Rook if I say, say that song, there's like almost post
hardcore quality in terms of like noodling, Like there's really cool league guitars that
sort of flitting around that, and that you know, brought me back to
maybe a few of the places we've been on the Patreon specials of late.
As mentioned of the slick trumpet part in Giants Despair. Yeah, I don't
think this record is gonna stick with me in any significant degree, but it's
not my thing. I think it probably is still fit for outbreak, you
know, like you could imagine people running across the stage to this, for
sure, but the sound is broader, more measured, probably with a you
know, kind of a more of a developed identity and you know, kind
of more obvious quality of songwriting to draw people in. Yeah, I mean,
one of the nice things I was listening to seg for me is that
I kind of haven't liked one of these to any real extent for quite a
while, and I started to wonder if I've been a bit of a Goldilocks
about it. But it's been nice listening to this and going no, I
hang on. If a few things are in place, a few vital ingredients
are there, I can get on board and like you say, stuff like
Ezruk, which it's only just about two minutes long, and it's one of
the more varied, interesting songs on the record. I was like, really
enveloping chorus that comes and goes pretty quickly your hazel Tree. As you mentioned,
it's not wildly original, but it just sounds good and it's about that
little ideas that improve it. The backing vocals, just making the hooks pop
when needed, blur my memory, having a really big chorus. It's spinning
in my head since I heard it. It's funny like I kind of thought,
oh, maybe I'm sort of out of this thing now and I'll come
back to it later. But putting this record on, I to go no,
No, I'm actually not that difficult to please. Like, if you
just write good songs in this style and have some fresh ideas, I'll go
with you. And I think this delivers on that. Yeah. I think
if you love the points where you know moody, angsty, melodic alternative rock
and we're hardcore meat stuff like this is probably your bread and butter, you
know. And Sam, has this been like, would you say this is
one of sort of the better albums in sort of this sort of world,
you know, to come out this year? Well? Yeah, I think
so. I mean, I don't think there's anyone who's quite like hit the
balance between that kind of like moody alternative rock with a harder edge quite a
one Step Closer there was the Anxious album from a couple of years ago was
probably the last one that was like of this quality. But yeah, I've
seen people really like who were kind of like, you know, what's a
closer disc? Oh? I need to pay attention to them now because it's
just I think it has just done when a lot of people who have kind
of written off ever really finding invigorating again. So I think like if they've
they've done that, then they're on to sort of something that does feel to
a certain person really exciting. Yeah. So there you go. The album's
called All We Embraced from One Step Closer. And those are the albums that
came out in May that we are talking about the last two albums were reviewing.
I profess They are here because they are black metal albums from the big
glut at the end of April that we didn't manage to fit into that time,
but that I love too damn much to not include here and get round
to them, So that spoils what I think of these next two, but
they are also some of the albums I am most keen this year to get
these other guys' opinions on. The first one is from Falter Camera. It's
called weiber Macht, and if you have been I guess paying attention to the
hyperblast shout outs, then you'll have heard both of these names before. But
to re establish, Falter Camma are a black metal band from New York City.
They feature Zachary Zrin from Imperial Triumph on guitar, So if you like
that kind of experimentalism, you should hopefully like this. But also if you
don't like Apia Triumphant, it does sound very different, so you should probably
still get a go anyway. These guys released a debut album at the very
end of twenty twenty, which was the same year that Alphavill came out.
If you remember, I loved it. I thought the blend developments was very
cool. What elements I hear? You say, well, Sam Elliott's had
you heard Fala kamma before? And you know if not? Did you?
Uh? What was your first impressions of hearing this? I had not heard
falds kama before. And the laugh I let out when the vocals carry I
was at paren you made me act I can quite believe, like because you
know this riff hits. I was like, okay, cool, that's you
know, kind of black death metal, like start doing with like that and
then we go we're at the opera, like straight up no kind of like
half asking it, full blown operatic vocal comes in up. I was just
like, oh Jesus Christ, what What's what's going on? Am I?
But I was like, he's done it. The Madman has done it.
He's maybe likes when that mate from Imperial trum Great if Sam could like a
record that involves that from Perial Trumpling, that a speaks to generally how distinct
it is. This isn't really that related to it. It's just a experimental
spirit essentially. But yeah, Elliott, same questions. Yeah, this is
my first time hearing Falter camera and like something I went in blind to what
the elevator pitch was I feel like we're in the upside down. It's like
there's there's more to the pitch that like we're going to get into that makes
it even more wonderful. Mental maybe so I I really didn't like this all
gone wrong? I listen. I'm always looking for new sound. Like few
things excite me more than hearing a record and going I've not heard that before.
And when it kicked in, I thought my media reaction was wow,
like I haven't heard that before. You know, there's symphonic black met and
there's extreme metal with operatic vocals that come in, it's not quite like this
and discovering a band where you go, if I want to have this exact
thing, I have to come here. They're the only ones selling. That's
always exciting. I think I hate this record. You wandered every time I
bring in an extreme metal record that is like a really cool, distinct blend
of elements, you are determining this year to go. Actually, no,
like Autopsy, I fucking love this record. Like I've had this on the
brain for like the last month. I think this album is so good,
Like what completely locked in as one of my very Favorites of the year.
Essentially, the experiment is it's black metal with a European classically trained opera singer.
Crucially, it's not symphonic black metal in the sense that it you know,
over the top or kestral parts or whatever. They describe it as more
akin to some kind of chamber music where it's brought down to that four piece
instrumental set up plus a singer, which, considering that this is what their
name translates to, they've quite handily dubbed that as torture chamber of music.
The first album I think was kind of the experiment of the pitch to see
how it worked, how it turned out the answer was well, and the
second album. Now they've gone from you know, Gilliad Media, which is
kind of small arts a US metal label, to up to Century Media with
this one, and the vision for what this band is, I think it's
been taken a lot further, a lot bigger. The concept has been extrapolated
on much further and Sam Giggling. The other main thing you've got to know
with Falter Cammet in that regard is this is kinky as fuck. The bit
in the first song when the whip start cracking at the end made me full
on before the first time I heard it, well, I had it.
I saw there was a new feature on Spotify that, oh you can have
the music with it play. Yeah. Wow, I'm so glad you've seen
them. And then I saw the vision of like the band in like full
on like Spanish Inquisition or whatever, rose that all with various gags, and
I was like, cool, okay, because the thing is I kind of
guess when the song is called Anno domina. I was like, is this
gonna be one thing? Because obviously lyrically it's all in German, so I'm
that. But I had I had an inkling and that the video and I
was like, okay, cool. There is like a BDSM dominating scene going
on, and then she pulls the whip out and I'm like, I'm so
gunering it here of like there's been at least two songs can recently and there's
been the whip as a sample, and I just I was, I was
so swept up in the insanity and the like here you go, like BDSM
operatic death metal. Who's doing that? No, one of course comes from
New York, like it could only come like like it's just such a concept
could only come on in New York. I feel like and just roping in
a like a classically taint opera singer. It's so mental. I love this,
yeah, absolutely. In terms of the New York thing is obviously it's
it's a cultural melting pot, you know, yeah, And it's a lot
of different kind of cultures and art form. And when I say cultures,
I mean both you know, ethnically nationality or whatever. Also kind of artistic
traditions. You know, that's the artistics that the underground arts or the thing
they're so in tune with that they kind of come together and you know,
imagined. I'm glad you picked up on as well. Anodomina Anno Dominee,
you know, ad a title that's used in black metal a lot over the
years. That final letter switch basically turns into like Year of the Dominatrix or
something along those lines. And this is it's BDSM opera black metal. Essentially.
The concept of Weiba market roughly translates as bitch power, and it's essentially
about femdom sexuality. The cover art, I don't know if you noticed,
to pis a witch sitting on a man's face using him has her broomstick,
and uh, that was the other giveaway. Yeah, definitely, And I
think like opera is maybe generally seen as a quite stuffy, self serious art
form, but here there is that this marriage of like, you know,
there's very kind of high art form, kind of societally and then these you
know, low, underground, grottier sedia art forms in the form of both
black metal but then also the BDSM kink clog aspects of it. And you
know, it's something beautiful done in a very horrific, ugly way. And
the personality of this record to me is really like sadomasochistic, and the impression
I get from this record is like complete and total glee in like navigating that
line between pleasure and pain. You know, it's a fucking hell raise I
record. It's that decadence, isn't it, That like luxury and like all
that sort of stuff, but corrupting it the left me, it said.
The video for that one as well, is like women in like baroque gowns
and they're powdered wigs. They're think punching each other in like an underground fight
club, and all of this sort of stuff. I mean that song again
translates to lick Me, which again, yeah, take taking guesses at what
that's about. Like it's it's for me. It's one of those bands that
is it's very geared to my sensibilities in terms of like this phenomenally done black
metal with this particular eccentricity and a maniacal charisma that is exploring in the subversive
ways how to kind of further eke out the most transgressive parts the genre,
and that in itself makes us very you know, to my interests. And
I've written this down and I'm glad we've got an an example here. Remember
last time when we review the CEA Space Cowboy record, and I said,
I was having a really fun time imagining what a fucking headache that album would
be for people who don't like it. This is totally the same. It
is impossible to feel indifferent about this. It's so in your face and confrontational
and Elliott, you are now the living your body. But an example of
the truth of that statement, I don't even know, like just the pitch
of it. For me, the combination just doesn't work. I'm sorry.
I admire the gusto that it takes commits to that idea and how far they've
committed to it. And I look at this package as a whole and thing.
If this is the sort of thing that if you're in on it,
I can see why people go so mad for it. It just there's no
other word for it. It just makes me sort of cringe. Like the
idea of with lyrics about b DSM. I understand why that's subversive, but
it's it's to me, it's some when old people rap, like when the
Britain's got talent favorite thing when they get like an old man to come out
and go I'm mc jezzer and I'm at the old folks home and that sort
of thing. It's it just it doesn't strike me as particularly fresh or exciting
or or as subversive as it ought to be. And combining that with this
kind of extreme metal, it just seems it's funny that you're saying it strikes
something that comes from New York, Sam because it almost reminding you like Saltatio
Mortis. Like there's kind of euro metal bands that don't break out where it's
like the whole thing just struck me as a bit naff. No. I
mean, I mean, how are you the guy who's out of the events
bold and you're like, this doesn't work. The combination doesn't go. This
thing like when you were saying about you know that the old people brig type
of thing. You get some of die until my but like that's when we're
like the opera vocals don't actually like sync up with the metal and so it
actually sounds wrong and evil and sinister. So they can still capture that still
with the operatic vocal, which is why I think like this doesn't come across
as like wacky and silly and cheese. No. Yeah, the thing also
there is it's I'm not pitching this as some like weird gimmick of like,
oh listen to our novel. This is I'm pitching this as people who clearly
deeply understand their art form. And the way they've layered all this together I
think is so compelling and so taken. Uh you know it has a sense
of humor because of course it does with the subject matter, but like they
they've they're treating it seriously as a piece of art. There's no fucking vack
and gimmick about this. You have camp, but it's not silly. Yeah,
you have a singer who is clearly immensely uh trained in what she's doing,
and there is that clear understanding and drawing together of the traditions of essentially
black metal and opera. And then also you know, the kind of BDSM
side of it. And again, like the first track on it has got
this really thumping black metal riff and then the singer just starts the vocal lines
just absolutely pop the hell off of it in this like unhinged manner, and
like her arrange is astonishing, and particularly she's been really let loose on it.
And the main sort of character of this as a performance is, you
know, I'm not surprised it will make some people cringe or whatever, because
it's it's not a really tasteful O performance. She's everything she's doing is one
hundred percent deliberate, and she's clearly immensely talented, but it's a feral,
like terrifying, unflinching performance. It's a kind of character that has no interest
in being constrained to a certain role or box and it's just free wheeling all
over this music. And again it's like Satoshi Mortis whatever is not the comparate
what I ever thought of for me, it's bethle Hen right, like bands
who have this tradition in particularly sort of you know, ninety strained underground parts
of European black metal or whatever, where they have brought together these really experimental,
uncompromising kind of things of pushing the again more unhinged elements of the genre.
Particularly I really love the way the German language sounds in the context of
black metal. And again Bethlehem with the absolutely sort of one of a kind
band, But the approach here in that kind of like corstic screech and how
it rolls off the tongue is you know, it's distinct in the kind of
operatic nature of this. But this is one of the few things that's kind
of recapturing the spirit of that band for me. This kind of really demented,
vindictive delivery and the way she inhabits the two as well. You know,
it's not fucking you know, like chalk and cheese, Like she does
this thing where lines of singing suddenly curdle into like toxic black metal wretches at
the end of it, and it has this impression to me of again a
like extremely like powerful, malevolent, full flight fucking you know, the least
shrinking violet, but incredibly aggressive and violent approach that I love in this kind
of black metal. Yeah, those songs like She'll start back and then kind
of like get a bit more fairal and unhinged as it progresses onwards. That's
sort of thing where I'm like, there's no again yet, none of that
shrinking violence sort of thing. You have to be fully committed as a vocalist
again, go to those places, and that is what kept this from ever
just feeling like a giving band, because it wasn't. It still can get
ugly and nasty in that way. I think the thing is I hear the
way you who are describing it, and that idea does really intrigue me,
and I wish that's what I was getting out of it, because again,
the idea of like an operatic vocal that curdles and makes things less attracts makes
it more sour. But that sounds really interesting, but I don't know.
There's there's this ongoing thing and I largely agree with it where people say your
classical music has the same appeal as metal, or the fan bases are similar
and what have you. And I can see that you know, it's powerful,
it can be heavy, complex, dynamic. All the qualities that make
classical music great also make a lot of metal grade. But this kind of
opera, it's also very trained and kind of even when it's doing wild stuff,
it does still sound like it kind of it's following the sheet music,
and that doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. But I didn't find the combination all
that exciting, because I did the black metal was fine. I didn't think
it was extraordinary Blamo. If you didn't have the operatic vocals on it with
the kind of boardy opera on top of it, I don't know that kind
of fucking I don't know, like kind of that naf metal stuff that sometimes
permeates outside of Europe. That was the only thing that I had in my
brain. Yeah, and I guess you know, again the un flinching.
Like I said before, I even you didn't like this record, I wrote
down, if you don't like this record, it will be a fucking nightmare
because it's just so obvious and it's it's probably designed in some way to be
that way. But again, I don't think those are the preference points at
all. I think it is much more again, a kind of the New
York fucking you know Avante the cover choice, Yeah, but the cover on
the end of the album, Like, none of those back and bands are
going to cover the Velvet Underground, are they? No? And I think
the way conceptually, it's a really layered, fascinating record in terms of what
they're trying to sort of bring together with it, and it's one of those
records I think that it's really well rounded in terms of every element of it
feeds back in and the kind of the pleasure versus pain sort of dichotomy that
you can detect in the music itself. One of the things that it generally
excites me is when artists are able to kind of elaborate on the key spiritual
ethos of black metal in stimulating ways, because black Melo is at his heart,
meant to be this kind of extremely radical art form, and like,
I know that there is a certain reputation for conservatism about it, but there's
also a reason that black metal has proven itself to be like the most ripe
for diversity and reinvention genre of heavy music. And a key part of that
radicalism is obviously a very anti repression, anti religious, dominantigious gratitude and falter
camera have sort of spotted the potential in marrying that with this aggressive, unleashed
particularly female sexuality, which in itself is somewhat novel because obviously most black metal
musicians tend to be dudes, and then the ones who are women, how
many of them are writing about sex. But this idea of kind of you
know, Veba marked bitch power that they've spotted basically how like deeply satanic and
historically you know, vilified by conservative repression. This idea of a kind of
dominant woman is and turning this character of the dominatrix that is present throughout the
record into a kind of black metal figurehead like Bahamet or something. And again
that's where the performance aspect comes out to me. She is embodying this fucking
like over the top, you know, like absolutely trampling over everything in her
view kind of character. And I totally buy it, and I see the
provocation in the same way. And I love how button pushing that is even
for black metal, where you know, the idea of like some conventional corp
painted black metal fan getting this and maybe translate the titles. And there's Lick
Me, and there's a song called kiss My Feet with an exclamation point at
the end, right, and that song to me, in the performance,
it feels like you are kind of at the mr of this person and it's
back because it is a time that's delivered in this kind of sensual way,
but it gets more and more intense and it's just a really fucking affronting thing
to get your head around. Yeah, and again, I don't want to
come across some kind of prude's I want my Black Bell to be PG.
Thirteen please because like one of my favorite bands ever I mentioned the FUSEM is
Naked City, and in a completely different way, those are themes that they
play with Quinde of similarly that they have an album called Heretic, which is
just a soundtrack to a sort of S and M film from the nineteen twenties.
But because that feels completely unrestrained and truly not at the mercy of musical
convention, you listen to that and you really feel like you're you're inhabiting a
different headspace. I think for me, maybe the bravado of it and sort
of how large, how larger than life it was kind of detracted from that
sort of danger factor in a way, if that makes sense. Right.
I think for me again, it's such a kind of the weird thing about
this. Again, Musically, it's not the most avant garde thing in the
world, and I think that's to its benefit. But this is not yet
absolutely is for me, yeah, I'm sure. But you know, maybe
if if this was like an Imperial Triumph record and you had this opera.
I mean they, to my understanding, they met because the vocalist here contributes
a little guest vocal to the twenty eighteen imperiod Tranphic album, and then they
were like, hey, what if we explored a kind of band, you
know, combining sort of these elements. But the riffing is much more in
the classical tradition rather than the avant garde jazz tradition. I think instrumentally it's
a much easier bands to follow the Again, the experimental element comes from how
far it takes the concept and the vocal presence. I think the riffing on
this record it easy to focus on the vocal performance. The riffing on this
record I think is unbelievably good. If you like black metal and it is
in a more standard way, this isn't fucking you know, a fanti faxaff
record or something in terms of like, you know, fucking blending shit in
a crazy way. But I think it has a It fits into the kind
of the dark majesty of again operatic performance everything for me, even if the
riffing is more standard per se, it tears out this fucking proper like just
evil satanic grandeur to it where lick me the glorious lead riff at the start
is just like wondrous and majestic, and I think you can see on the
track is about how vocally she's exploring these different areas. There's this one fucking
little vocal part in the pre chorus of that where it's amost like Mirka.
There's kind of like ghostly, sprightly sort of you know, backing part,
and only does that in that one song. The song on here that I
can't get enough of is Algalania, which as a term that essentially just means
sadomasochism. So the song is like, you know, the desire to inflict
or receive pain, and the riffing in that song feels like the cruelest,
most cutthroat thing and it sounds like an entire band getting off on how like
merciless and evil. They are making their instruments sound. The main like lead
part with that kind of mid pace bathory stomp is just like wonderful to me.
It's the kind of like buttonal I just go heart eyes saw. But
then the transitions it makes into these like fast picking, dissonant, queasy,
but still on that same sort of marching rhythm that just back and forth is
so fucking good. And vocally she's pushing that to like the most night marriage
areas. The terodactyl screech when it hits into that is this is what excites
me in terms of like this is what I want an extreme vocals to be
able to do. You know, fucking don't do something composed and boring fucking
strike fear into me like that song does. That's when we're like there's like
attitude in the vocals and it is it's that getting more angry, more pissed
off reaching the screech. I like again music, they're super tight, where
like the rifts are really punching when they need to be. The blasts like
are really precise. There's like cool sludgy riffs, so like again, yeah,
I do find myself ever kind of like getting destroyed to buy the music.
The music is really to the point it is everything they do. On
top of that, with the vocals, there's bits they're like layer different vocals
in, and I think they just get really creative with that. And it
feels again, if you took this music and just had the entire thing with
a standard black metal screech, I wouldn't like this. I would think I
wouldn't dislike it, but I wouldn't nearly be as like in love of it
as I am. The fact is this like mental opractic vocal is so much
more interesting to my ears. There's a point halfway through that song when the
band just like drop your stomach out from under you, and she somehow takes
the note she's sitting like higher, and the combination of those things like jet
it does something to my body like I can't hear it and not react somehow.
And it also has a quite prominent based tone as well, which is
quite you know, cool for black metal. It gives me a sort of
de mystery stompsatana sort of flavor to me, and herond de Schferter, which
means mistress of swords. But I won't lie. I don't begin for swords
sound like that. I do read it as heron the squirter, which is
not necessarily at odds with the record. But the riff opens with this alarmingly
aggressive based tone, like really hacking away with this sort of tremlo style.
The end of that song when they bring the rift back but heavier, fucking
mind blowing. The thing is what you said at the beginning, proud about
how me coming in and shitting on all your inventive extreme I think, in
a weird way, despite me being a bit more ambivalent to that Chapel of
Disease record, I can see a future where I'm saying all the same things
about this record that you guys are, Because the things I'm saying about this
record now, I've said about plenty of bands, and you know, I
heard this record for the first time maybe a week ago, So I'm adjusting
to a sound that, to my ears at the moment, just doesn't And
I can't get that fucking kind of Eurovision novelty metal thing. It sounds like
you've compared Naked City to tourists ass gone the wrong way with it. Yeah,
it's for whatever, Maybe it's too deep rooted and it's going to take
some time to adjust to it. When when I hear the sound of the
opera over the black metal and knowing what the songs were about, and that's
just where it sits my head. It's where I can compartmentalize it. And
maybe in a year or hopefully less than that, I'll be able to hear
all the things that you guys are saying about it. Because I hear you
guys talking, I just go that record sounds fucking sick. Oh no,
I have heard that it's the it's the album I don't like. So I'm
actually more optimistic about coming round to this than I am the other time I
came in and rained on your parade on the twenty sixth of May twenty twenty
four. I'm not hearing it. I'm afraid. I mean, yeah,
most people will fucking hear this and go no, because it's weird, you
know, and it's unconventional and it's not what most people go to metal for.
But I go to metal at least in some degree to have the piss
get out and also and also you know again, to get off in some
strange way on that terror and that violence and that fucking you know, dark
Grandeur, which I think all of these this record ticks every box up for
me, you mentioned as well, Sam it you know they for me.
They totally pull off a Velvet Underground cover at the end, which is a
really strange thing, but they cover venus and furs, and I think it's
it's so perfectly suited to the whole Dominatrix story exact submission and pain and pleasure.
It like, yeah, no, of course they're doing a Louis Veather
Underground cover, like doing a slightly avant garde black metal version of it.
I really like the cover. I think it just it's a total natural fit.
And again to it's not only the it's one of the stars a line
of how perfect it is for it because not only is the again concepts and
everything exactly aligned with it, but you know, Velvet Underground a New York
band who also had in Nico, a German speaking singer, and you know
when you're hearing her kind of do the taste of the whip in that kind
of song, but she puts this really harsh kind of voice, cracking inflection
into it. It's like a it brings the whole sort of record together in
this kind of you know, again ode to the city of their origin.
It's kind of artistic mindset, et cetera. I obviously this is a record
that, you know, even if you are kind of are you know,
as deep into maybe some of the reference points as I'm sure Elliott you know,
probably know a bunch of the stuff that's kind of drawing on. This
is a record that, as I said at the very start before I knew
Elliott even didn't like it, that you cannot feel indifferent about. You will
either completely recoil from it or you will go as hard on it as I
have. But I think when I look at it all together and again digging
into it the layers of it, the I can see the traditions they're drawing
on, both musically and you know, spiritually and kind of intellectually and kind
of it's a genuine you know, I think it's as fully formed a statement
in what it's trying to kind of convey and explore as basically anything we've heard
in metal this year, and I think most albums, to be honest,
don't have this much thought and specificity put into them. And to me,
the whole combination of things, it's it's the kind of thing that I love
coming along in extreme metal, and that I really fucking you know, I
need to remain excited. And it's one of the coolest metal records of the
year to me. Yeah, and I love that we we've come on here
and disagreed so much about it because you know, I'm always saying, you
know, I want bands to be stranger. I want I want to hear
those voices which turn people off, and sometimes that's going to happen to me
to accept that this time. It happens to me all the time, doesn't
it, Like exactly, It's like jury service sometimes it's just it's got to
happen for a band to be strange, it's got to come along and alienate
me. And I'm I'm I'm actually quite grateful for that. So yeah,
friends again. Yeah, and I'm glad say I'd liked it. That's cool.
It just like the whole package just clicked with me. I think ivan
that like if you remove one element maybe at the King that the anti religous
stuff the opera, like, I don't know if it would work for me,
but the whole sum of its parts is just like it just made me
smile. Yeah, I completely agree. Right, that's Falter Camera and VBA
Mat and the last album another record. I fucking love Anti Christ Siege Machine
Vengeance of Eternal Fire. This one is maybe a little bit more basic to
kind of explain what it is and get across, and maybe we'll have a
little bit more of a unified response in that regard, Elliott, I want
to ask you if you'd listen to Antichristies Machine before this album? No,
which cool? Yeah, whish baffles me, now right, So this is
a funny conversation to be having. I think I'm right in saying this is
the first war metal record that we've ever reviewed on this show, mainly because
most those albums are underground as fuck, and also about fifty percent of them
are quite sketch. Are you a war metalmaniac? Elliott? Of course I'm
insulted by the question. So yeah, this is interesting to navigate because,
like I said, we've never ever that's not that's not branded on being fucking
ross Bay cult nuclear war now right. Anti Christ's Machine come from a strand
of underground extreme metal that is a bit of a world and to itself.
There are some bands from the early nineties, like Blasphemy and Beherit Who there
are entire labels and festivals essentially built around bands copying worshiping completely openly. This
very particular style of like death metal infused black metal, I guess, is
what you would fundamentally describe it as is just so primarily brutal and chaotic.
It is to black metal what like power violence or something is to punk,
just like full on, not any inch for nuance or subtlety or quiet passages
or anything at all. Antichosas Machine come in here because I think they are
one of the first bands in a long time who represent that very niche self
contained, doesn't interact with the rest of the metal ecosystem very much at all,
kind of taking it up a notch and sounding sort of new in a
way that a lot of those bands don't. You know, one of the
only other bands in the last fucking twenty five years where I could describe similar
and maybe a band like Revenge where you goes that's clearly a new sort of
thing in extremity, but you know, and I was trying to think of
the last band in the sub genre that really did that and made it sound
fresh and it's been a long time. As far as I can tell,
most warm metal bands are content to just keep doing blasphemy and and that's fine
as an audience for that. But what again, it's different to someone like
Revenge or whatever, anti Christies Machines. Seriously, novel idea is what if
war metal had good production, and particularly what if we use that production to
enhance the destructive power of the music rather than you know, take it away.
They have a very particular brand and asthetic that feels very theirs again in
a way that Blasphemy or Revenge or arch Goat or whoever do. It's very
you know, kind of a thing in that world to have a sort of
uniformity to what they do. And antichristiast Machines is like military machinery and posing
in graveyards with massive assault rifles and like I have an Antichrists machine shirt with
the terminator on it, you know. And you know, their last album,
Purifying Blade twenty twenty one very quickly made them, you know, the
most io seen a war metal band sort of blow up and become entrenches underground
favorites in a long long time, probably in my time of following that kind
of music. This record is even better if if you like violence in your
metal, if that's what you go to it for. Straight up, this
may be the hardest album of the year, just just so sonically devastated.
I mean I noticed, but I recognized the artwork from that previous album.
That's so like it had kind of crossed over to stuff I was aware of,
So I knew the name, I knew that artwork. I'd not listened
to them, but like, I mean, like this album does it kind
of does one thing for twenty five minutes, but one thing so really fucking
good. And that's thing is like when you say that their trick is doing
warm me all with good production, that actually answer. I was like,
yeah, you know what this is because it is Actually it's so heavy,
but it is listenable, and I was like, yeah, just like give
me these riffs, give me that drum sound that is like absolutely blasting at
all times, just like walls of guitar noises like just suffer you. But
it's it's cool. It is hard. They've kind of got a reputation right
now of being like what a lot of people would just defacto is describe as
like yeah, that's the current fucking most brutal band in the world. It's
just the sound is quite an amazing thing. Like war metal, as like
you say, you can either see a sort of black and death metal or
death infused black metal. I kind of one of my favorite things about it
is we talked about in the Separate Tour special when extreme metal starts and it's
just bands trying to be as extreme as each other, and you kind of
get this oozing mixture of the two that both genres kind of spring from war
metal is like those two parts have diverged and then they've realized, wait,
if we want to be the most extreme, we've got to bring them together
again. Like to chase that dragon, we put them back. And this
album is kind of that. It's a sort of form of extreme metal that
is as fast and violent and just fucking hard as you could pitch. And
and you know, it's kind of hard to review because if you like the
sound of that, you will like this, and if you don't, you
want And I kind of like how just Lying in the Sand is just everything
about it. Antichrist sees Machine Vengeance of Eternal Fire are demon biting out the
throat of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ himself just a perfect thing,
wholly definitive of itself. It's twenty five minutes long. The first time I
listened this album, I played it twice over. This record makes me feel
like Godzilla when he eats the Nuclear power station. You know, like as
people who maybe hadn't listened to this band before in their last album, were
you blown away by the sheer level of like sonic destruction that is present just
in the fundamental act of this band playing their instruments, the drums during just
they're trying to crack your skull open, like they are hitting so hard.
The guitars like the thing is like the heavy but they are they sound big.
It sounds like I said that all of guitars like consuming you. It's
not just like like just like like fudding guitars on it is like really like
oppressive in that but he again, not listenable, is how I would describe
it. And despite how extreme and sonically crushing it is, well, I
kind of stopped following Warmel because, like you said, par and it's kind
of it felt like a lot of bands were sort of doing variations on the
theme and I really got into in twenty fifteen, when Archgoat and Revenge both
released really good records of that year, and so when I saw people saying
this is the hardest sound ever, I just thought, really like, how
much like it's kind of maxed out surely, and then Son of Man like,
I feel like it's just a list of violent analogies for each song,
but the way it hits you twice at the beginning, it's like being punched
in the head done. It might be the most violent opening to a record
since Suicide ephor you by Pissed Grape. Hearing that for the first time,
I'm just going, I'm legitimately scared about how heavy this is going to be.
This is one of the sparing times I've thought of thought like that since
then. And after that it's just it's apocalyptically loud and violent. Yeah,
I mean, I love in terms of that sort of overwhelming extreme power.
You know, you've mentioned one reference point for me. One of the things
that from the show's history that I could sort of related to is the Way
of Feather and Bone. That's the one band in my head that I was
kind of like, because I quite like, yeah, they're all those really
itching bands that found quite quite cool. So that that was the reisdes like,
are they quite similar? I can remember exactly if that. No,
they don't necessarily sound the same. But what I mean is that that band
take like old school death metal, but they played it in this like fucking
manic, feral, intense way that makes it feel like newly refreshed, almost
to the point of something like grind, but it's so guttural and low because
it's death metal. This scratches a similar itch, but in that again more
sort of warm metal language. There's a death metal riff in the middle of
Sun and a Manda Dude that's so ignorant and evil but really simple and catchy
at the same time. And I love that there are and you know,
catchy riffs in this, but they're just like hammering the shit out of you.
The second track on this is called only Evil. These guys have got
my number. That's a manifesto that I can I can get behind. They
are a two piece band, and the drummer in the band, who is
also the vocalist straight up one of the most terrifying drum performances in the world
today because there are two pieces bad when they play live. His drum kit
is just like in the middle of the stay, it's sort of like side
on, and the way he hits his snare is just like a pump action
shotgun going off every time, and that's including when he's blasting, you know
when he I love the sort of like slightly more midpace smack on every beat
that just bum bum bum, And it's just such an insane ridiculous sound.
The snare slamming on prey upon them is fucking absurd, And like this is
the most speak to your monkey brain music you ever heard. Like the grooves
are so primal and instinctive. It just comes at you with this all of
like nuclear destruction cacophony. I feel like pil Swine like again because of the
sickest riff like that, I was like, oh, that's been wiged,
and then the drums on that one, I just i was like, it's
like it's never like going super fuss one, but it's just hammering so heavily
that I'm just like, that is, like I said, a gunshot going
off in your brain with every single hit, and it's like they haven't got
Like there was such a singular focus on this album that there's no time to
spend thinking about anything else other than like destroy everything in your past. Yeah,
that that really mentioned that. The start of Pearl Twine is that there's
certain like war metal tropes. I suppose that if you are in on like
Blasphemy and conquer It and stuff, they'll be familiar to you. But hearing
it played and performed the Antichrist Machine way, the intro Parl Twine does that
like mad tom part on the riff with the kind of warm metal. Bazali
is a genre that relies a lot on drum hooks, like the basically the
biggest song in the genre as Rich Are All My Blasphemy, which is only
catchy because of the trump part, But like that, the intro of that
is that got that kind of like you know, drums falling over themselves on
a riff and then a pick scrape and then the vocal just go, oh,
it's gonna bring it in like a big monster and uh. Again,
it's stuff that you know if you've listening to his music for a while,
you know, but it's amazing hearing it sound like this, and it's just
it's a reminder that sometimes the simplest tricks are the most effective, like carrying
Lamb. There's a bit where I think this is what he's doing. I
think he's hitting every single drum at once. There's no like daka da da
dagger. It is just every single bit being it as hard as it can
be possibly hit without destroying it. And you think that seems obvious, but
it's just beyond physical limitations, and yet this dude is doing it while singing.
It's mental. Yeah. The way the riff in Vanquishing Spirit comes out
of the last song is just so fucking dumb, and I love it a
bit. In Scolding Enmity, when the vocal just full on goes ha ha
ha, there's like chopped up people laugh and it's so awesome. The songs
are short, but they packed so many riffs in. There are a lot
of them. At the end of them, there's the kind of death metal
equivalent of beatdowns, basically, and they just hit so good. In Only
Evil there's a lone crash in the middle of it that just smacks it all
back in and it's hysterically hard. And there are there are bits in this
that are relatable to fans of hardcore. I think because of the way they
approach the drop, there's the songs to Serah, which was the advanced single
from the record, and hilariously, I think I'll be the only person who
reviews this record who will have this reference point and will connect it. But
it reminds the main rift reminds me of a war metal version of House of
Wolves, like if you want to hear, But it's one minute fifty three
seconds long and at the back end of it genuinely mosh part of the year
when they hit the China symbol and it just cuts in. It is unbelievably
heavy, and I reckon, like you know, like I reckon Jesus Piece
love the shit of Aali Cristy's Bestine because it was considering they were wearing like
archcoat shirts when they played an Outbreak last year. Oh yeah, I think
in a similar way, they almost are on the hard core side of the
coin, what like Antichristy Machine are on the kind of death black Nettle side,
just kind of full on fucking rifts and violence. Yeah, I can
totally, I can totally see where you like all the hard cobands just sort
of linked them to g because it is again it's just singular focus, just
killing, violent destruction, and that's that's what this does, and that's what
I was just like, Yeah, cool, I'm just I'm here for it,
just here for the like like leaving a trail of like just rubble in
your wake. I think sometimes with music like this, you think the appeal
is just how heavy can it be? But we talked about this at length
of the Nail Special. That kind of violent brand of extreme music, there's
something so satisfying about it when it's done right, and I think it's as
true for this record as it is for any Nails record like that. They
know exactly when to pull their punches, which is basically never, and they
know exactly when to slam, which is pretty much all the time. It's
the swinging march on prey upon them. It sounds like blazing the northern sky
a dark throne if they just ate forty eight eggs a day for a year
and lifted and Yeah, just the vocals coming on Lysurgic War Psychosis, genuinely
frightening in how fair all they sound. Yeah, I love that Abystile hate
last song on the record. It's like, okay, last song, how
do we make this? You know, we've got a refreshed extreme makee We've
got to give them one last punch, and it just has that moment of
feedback at the start, and then the riff comes in like a pneumatic drill.
It was like okay, yeah, okay, you got me, you
did it. And the song itself is like only one and a half minutes
of its overall run time, and then it just has forty five seconds of
complete and total like desolation and rubble, you know, at the end of
it, it's I do think again it's so heavy. But the reason I
think this record in particular is so good is every like tempo and rift change
is absolutely amazing, and every time they switch something, it just like unlocks
this new level of like animalistic violence, Like this is the record to kill
somebody this year. And yeah, like I said earlier, if you like
the Not Loose record, you're already down for heavy short blasts. I mean
you've listened to these records back to back in about fifty minutes, you know,
just like Unrelenting Punishment. I very much recommend you check out that band,
even if you've never ventured into that sort of area of like again very
specific kind of black and death metal because a I think this band bizarrely are
a bit more accessible to more people, but they are doing it in a
way that has only advanced, how like catastrophically and or inspiringly violent and extreme
they are. So that's Antichrist, Siege Machine and Vengeance of Eternal Fire.
And that is the end of this very slightly delayed reviews show for may Thank
you very much for listening some really good records in that batch. Let us
know which are your favorites. Obviously, I'm sure that a lot of you
will like the Not Loose record. I really really think a lot of you
are like the Gatecreeper record. If you haven't listened to that one yet,
I want to know what side of the fault Kama fence you fall on.
Is it a fucking headache or is it genius? I think the latter,
And yeah, all of that good stuff. Thank you very much for being
here. We will have those album clubs I mentioned earlier. We're going to
talk about Generation Swine among the other things coming up very soon. We also
have the Mammoth hugely in depth first part of the Secultary a special waiting for
you right now over on the Patreon as well, so cheers very much to
everybody who goes over there and checks that out. Your support means the world.
We will be back here, I mean very shortly. I guess it's
Friday, you know, fairly soon, and me and Sam are both sort
of you know, venturing various ways, sort of festival wise, so you
know, we'll see what kind of comes up here. But for the meantime,
thank you very much. Goodbye,