When two people form a side project that gets bigger than the sum of its parts there is inevitably always a delay and for Demons & Wizards, that delay has been 15 years. Formed by Hansi Kürsch of Blind Guardian and Jon Schaffer from Iced Earth back in 1997, the duo last released their sophomore album ‘Touched by the Crimson King’ in 2005, but finally, Demons & Wizards are back with their third album, the aptly titled ‘III’.
Thankfully, with ‘III’, the lack of imagination ends with album title; this is an album which shows that Schaffer and Kürsch are not lacking anything in that department. With ‘III’, Schaffer once again shows just how good of a guitarist he is by creating some excellent riffs that can be seen during ‘Diabolic’, ‘Midas Disease’ and ‘Wolves In Winter’. However, it is the fantastical lyrics of Kürsch which as always paint a beautiful picture. Whilst Schaffer found his mojo again with the last Iced Earth album, with ‘III’, Kürsch manages to find that certain something that has been lacking in the last few Blind Guardian albums and it provides this latest Demons & Wizards album with some serious fire in its underbelly as the duo bounce off each other endlessly to provide some excellent power metal that is both memorable and massively enjoyable.
For anyone missing Blind Guardian or Iced Earth, then ‘III’ will certainly tide you over. There are no surprises here, just true, honest, good power metal and should be enjoyed as such. 87/100 Adam McCann
Dark Passage
The Legacy of Blood Rockshots Records Heavy Metal FFO: Iced Earth, HammerFall, Blaze Bayley, Grave Digger, Blind Guardian
Dark Passage have had a relatively short life span; formed in Turin in 2012, the band dropped their first EP back in 2015. Although it has been nearly 5 years since the band delivered this, the Italians are back with their full-length studio album ‘The Legacy of Blood’.
It is good to have Dark Passage back and ‘The Legacy…’ picks up almost exactly where the debut EP left off as if no time had elapsed at all. Therefore, what the listener can expect is a traditional heavy metal sound, delivered in the contemporary trad metal movement style alongside some rather interesting folk/metal motifs that make this album exceptionally interesting and therefore would appeal to fans of Grave Digger, HammerFall and the recent trilogy from Blaze Bayley, particularly with vocalist Giovanni Lauria’s rich baritone delivery. With ‘The Legacy…’ the listener is treated to a concept album revolving around medieval royalty and the lust for power and revenge that goes with it. This is delivered alongside some intense narrative passages that not only draw the listener in, but also move the story dramatically along and is like listening to a film score or audiobook and really one of the highlights of this release. However, as can be expected from a debut release, the production of this album is not the best and can feel a little weak at times, but this can be overlooked by the sheer force of will that the songs deliver. ‘The Legacy…’ is an album that will massively appeal to fans of European metal; sure, it is flawed around the edges, but that only increases this albums charm and fans of trad, power and folk/metal will surely thoroughly enjoy this release
6/10 Adam McCann
Dwaal
‘Gospel of the Vile’ Dark Essence Records Sludge/Doom/Post-Metal
Dwaal began to make little edgeways into the heavy metal scene back in 2017 with their debut EP ‘Darben’ on the back of this, it has unfortunately taken the Norwegian band until now to release their first-full length studio album ‘Gospel of the Vile’.
What Dwaal have released is an album which is a bit of a breath of fresh air into the sludge scene with its addition of certain post-metal motifs such as a hugely minimalistic approach. This approach is delivered through a melancholic and gloomy atmosphere that would appeal to fans of doom metal, particularly the likes of Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and even Neurosis; but this is not an album which sounds like it was recorded back in 1995, what ‘Gospel…’ has is a real contemporary edge to it that is partly down to modern production which is very accessible easily being able to drag in fans of YOB, Cult of Luna, Thou and Amenra. Normally, albums of this nature with tracks that extend well above 10 minutes have to have that special something; something whilst allows the album to flow along without feeling dull or boring and Dwaal easily achieve this as tracks such as ‘The Whispering One’, ‘Descent’ and the title track which crash forward with the heavy stomp of a behemoth looking for a place to sleep with its bone-crushing riffs traded off against some beautiful minor passages that easily manage to hold the listeners attention.
‘Gospel…’ is a very good album and as a debut album, it provides the perfect foundation stone for the band to expand on in future releases and hopefully, it won’t be another three years before Dwaal are back again. 78/100 Adam McCann
Dune Rats
‘Hurry Up and Wait’ Ratbag Records/BMG Records Pop/Punk
Nine times out of ten, what is often asked is this: “can someone recommend me some music for feeling down and depressed” and whilst that is absolutely fine, what is often overlooked are bands that have that feel-good factor. Dune Rats are one of those bands, it almost impossible to listen to the Aussie desert band without cracking a smile and enjoying yourself. Dune Rats hit the international community with their 2017 sophomore album ‘The Kids Will Know It’s Bullshit’ and now, the band have released their third studio album ‘Hurry Up and Wait’.
As expected, ‘Hurry Up and Wait’ continues this good-time vibe, yet this is the album that nearly wasn’t; having been sucked into the big leagues, picked up by BMG Records, the Outback lads found themselves in Los Angeles under pressure to write an album that fit within in American culture. Obviously, this didn’t work out and the Aussie’s went back to doing what they do best and that can be seen on ‘Hurry Up…’. Although the band class themselves as ‘Desert Punk’, there is a sound here that is distinctly pop/punk; this is an album that is full to the brim of bouncing melodies and gang vocals that are exceptionally memorable and fun to listen to. Tracks such as ‘Crazy’, ‘Bobby D’ and ‘The Skids’ have all the hallmarks of Sum 41, The Offspring and Blink 182 in their prime; yet, there are touches here of Weezer, We Are The In Crowd and The Used with the album bringing back memories of Drive-Thru Records circa 2002.
This album isn’t a blatant nostalgia trip, of course there is plenty here that punks from this era will absolutely adore, but ‘Hurry Up…’ has a real modern feel to it, it is a 21st century pop/punk album that will undoubtedly do exceptionally well. 80/100 Adam McCann
Discharge
‘Protest and Survive: The Anthology’ BMG Records Hardcore Punk
Dig beneath British punk bands like Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned and you’ll find later additions to the scene; a plethora of bands which although never hit the same commercial heights but all added something darker, twisted and noisier to the punk tone. One of those bands are Discharge, a band who helped pioneer the mantra of ‘noise not music’, inspiring metal bands like Metallica and Celtic Frost, as well as the likes of Rancid. This year has the British band from Stoke-On-Trent releasing ‘Protest and Survive: The Anthology’, a compilation celebrating 40 years of Discharge.
Unlike a lot of compilations devoid of love, robotically manufactured by record companies in an attempt to boost records sales (usually in the event of a death within the band), ‘Protest…’ has been excellently compiled, spanning two discs with a beautiful gloss booklet, this compilation has everything that any fan of Discharge could want over 53 songs. Furthermore, this anthology digs into the deep cuts, providing demo tracks, rare songs and the unreleased ‘Descending Into Madness’.
For the hardcore Discharge fan, there is probably nothing here that they have already not heard or own. However, what they do get is an exceptionally good compilation. For the passing fan or those looking to get into Discharge, ‘Protest…’ provides a treasure trove of goodies that show Discharge at their best. There is plenty to digest here and if this compilation proves anything, it shows just how influential this band actually is and just how criminally underrated and overlooked they are. 85/100 Adam McCann
DeadRisen
‘DeadRisen’ AFM Records Progressive Metal
When it comes to musicians, Mike LePond is no stranger to plying his trade with other bands and with Symphony X seemingly on an indefinite hiatus, LePond has joined DeadRisen; a new project featuring Rod Rivera and Dan Prestup of Rivera/Bomma and completed with Tony Stahl on keyboards and Will Shaw taking the vocal stand as the band release their eponymous debut album.
This is a decent first effort by a dyed in the wool band, it is therefore a professional release, oozing with the experience and charisma exuded by a band of this nature. What this means is that ‘DeadRisen’ is a full torrent of progressive metal delivered in the classic heavy metal style dominated by LePond’s parent band Symphony X. This driving metal can be best seen during ‘Prophecy’, ‘Destiny’ and ‘Chains of Time’, these tracks have all the appeal of Dream Theater, Silent Assassins and Symphony X; yet instead, ‘DeadRisen’ doesn’t have the grandiose nature of the early Symphony X, so don’t expect ‘Divine Winds of Tragedy’ but there is the pizzazz of the newer releases by the progressive metal titans. Furthermore, Shaw may not have the timbre of Russell Allen, but he does exceptionally well with what he does have and it is this which makes ‘DeadRisen’ very, very good. Of course, this means that ‘DeadRisen’ is a little rough around the edges and is part of its charm; there is an infectious quality about this album that requires it to be replayed over and over again and top it off, this occurs without it sounding boring, predictable or stagnant. With Michael Romeo releasing part one of a solo album last year and Allen pissing about doing anything but Symphony X; LePond has taken up the reins and thank fuck, ‘DeadRisen’ is a great album and worth a listen for any classic progressive metal fan. Those who do will not be disappointed. 86/100 Adam McCann
DragonForce
Extreme Power Metal earMusic Records Power Metal
DragonForce, the band which conjures up images of blisteringly fast guitars, singalong chorus’ and Guitar Hero video games; but who would have thought that that was thirteen years ago? Since then DragonForce have become a parody of themselves, bloated and excessive before disappearing, changing vocalist from ZP Theart to Marc Hudson and returning as a much stronger band delivering a string of well-received albums, the latest of which ‘Extreme Power Metal’ was released this year.
To name an album ‘Extreme Power Metal’ is a bold statement and with DragonForce, it actively means that you’re never really too far from the truth; ‘Extreme…’ thunders forward at the breakneck speed that has come to be expected from this band. Conversely, Herman Li and Sam Totman have pushed the band to the limit with this album, their virtuoso guitar playing is jaw-droppingly incredible. Tracks such as ‘In a Skyforged Dream’, ‘Remembrance Day’ and ‘Razorblade Meltdown’ stand tall as some of the best work done by the band. Yet, it is ‘Strangers’, ‘Highway to Oblivion’ and ‘Cosmic Power of the Infinite Shred Machine’ which go beyond the general remit of DragonForce; the latter begins as a pretty standard DragonForce song before fading out and returning with the full fury of an early 90’s 16-bit video game that has all the ability to make a certain generation thoroughly enjoy.
However, this album is not entirely flawless, the introduction vocal melody to ‘Highway to Oblivion’ is highly reminiscent of ‘I Wish it Could be Christmas Everyday’ by seasonal botherer’s Wizzard, whilst the closing cover of ‘My Heart Will Go On’ by Céline Dion is just not needed and would lead the album to be a lot better without it . Yet, at 52 minutes, this is an album which flies by, it’s fun and enjoyable and is just the way that something calling itself ‘Extreme Power Metal’ should be. 81/100 Adam McCann
Drawn By Evil
‘Another Sin, Another Life’ Black Sunset/MDD Modern Melodic Metal
Sometimes, a change in name results in lots of “who?” and “what?” and that is what occurred to Ignition. Forming themselves in 2012 and delivering one album ‘Psycho’ in 2016, it was a time for change and Drawn By Evil (DBE) was given a breath of life. Now, DBE are gearing up to release their ‘second’ debut album ‘Another Sin, Another Life’.
There is no denying that the quality of the songs has improved, ‘Another Sin…’ is head and shoulders above its predecessor, yet it still contains many of the modern melodic groove metal and metalcore influences of Ignition. However, there is a commercial edge to this album too and the vocals of Riccardo Prato would appeal to fans of Five Finger Death Punch, Disturbed and even Avenged Sevenfold, whilst the instruments lock themselves into a groove so concise on tracks such as ‘Disgrace’ and ‘Where Dignity Drowns’ that it could be Bullet For My Valentine, Hellyeah or even The Raven Age.
DBE are writing significantly better songs now; yet, there isn’t anything here that hasn’t been heard already before. However, this album is well produced, crammed full of well-crafted riffs and modern heavy metal may just have another rising star, meaning that for fans of the genre ‘Another Sin…’ is definitely worth a listen. 50/100 Adam McCann
Destruction
‘Born To Perish’ Nuclear Blast Records Thrash Metal
Destruction are enjoying something of a renaissance; the band had hit their stride again with the excellent ‘Under Attack’ album in 2016 and the German titans have worked almost endlessly since building up to their latest album ‘Born To Perish’.
As expected, ‘Born To Perish’ follows in exactly the same format as their previous album, it is a hard hitting album of pounding Teutonic thrash metal. The sound that Destruction have captured with this release demonstrates that even 35 years on, the band are not only riding with a full tank but are also relevant and to the point; in fact, Schmier hasn’t sounded this good in years. Tracks such as ‘Betrayal’, ‘Rotten’. ‘Ratcatcher’ and the title track have everything that any fan of Destruction could ever want, terrorising thrashing riffs and driving drumbeats which almost manage to form pits of their own accord. Yet, it is the thrashing anthem ‘Butchered For Life’ alongside ‘Fatal Flight 17’ where Schmier and company show that they are more than capable of still honouring their fans with the former and write contemporary thrash songs about saddening current affairs, giving it the dignity and respect it deserves with the latter.
However, with ‘Born To Perish’ there isn’t anything here that Destruction have never done before, but that is part of the magic of this album, the band have delivered an album which shows the band sticking to its guns and bearing down full throttle. So, what does the listener get ‘Born To Perish?’, it’s another Destruction that is difficult to not love and therefore should be enjoyed as such.
81/100 Adam McCann
Domination Inc.
‘Memoir 414’ Steamhammer Records Thrash Metal
Domination Inc. blasted their way onto the scene in 2014 with their impressive debut album ‘Infants of Thrash’. This album showed that the Greek thrashers were a force to be reckoned with, but would their second album ‘Memoir 414’ provide the band with the thrusting momentum from their first album? As expected, ‘Memoir 414’ continues to aggressively plough into the thrashing vein with some fantastic shredding and some chest-thumping vocals. It is these vocals from Theo Papadopoulos that make this album very appealing with a voice roaring with so much overt machoism it makes Manowar seems puny. Papadopoulos’ voice sounds as if the man exists on a diet of gravel, splinters and whiskey that can only be counterbalanced by a band that is just as impressive. What Domination Inc. achieve with ‘Memoir 414’ is a collection of raw songs such as ‘Cutting Edge’, ‘Dark City’ and the impressive epic ‘Day VIII Deus’ Ignorance’ which have all the cunning groove of Pantera or Machine Head in their prime. But what also can be heard is all the dominating aggression of the Teutonic thrash movement, appealing to fans of Kreator, Sodom and Destruction. Yet, there is also an undercurrent of classic metal throughout, for example, ‘Dehumanized’ features a memorable guitar melody that is entirely reminiscent of Iron Maiden and one can just imagine the audience singing along to this catchy passage. However, the one thing that does let ‘Memoir 414’ down is a rather dull cover of ‘Love Me Forever’ from Motörhead, Domination Inc. give this track nothing new and instead it remains a lacklustre song from a forgettable era in Motörhead’s career. With this album, Domination Inc. consolidate what they knew what was possible on their debut album. Sure, ‘Memoir 414’ is nowhere near the best album within its genre, even within recent years, but that makes it no less enjoyable; there is only one thing to do and that is to play it loud! 68/100 Adam McCann
The Drew Thompson Foundation
‘The Drew Thompson Foundation’ Dine Alone Records Alternative Rock
It takes a lot of balls for a singer and songwriter to pick up a guitar and step away from sickly sweet soppy love songs about endless summers and unrequited love and that is exactly what Drew Thompson does on his debut album ‘The Drew Thompson Foundation’.
With this debut album, Thompson provides a melting pot of influences, cooks it up and delivers a passionate collection of songs that lays the soul bare for all to witness. Therefore, what can be found here are odes from 80’s lo-fi indie, to its zenith in the 90’s and beyond. With this, Thompson does not compromise, he sings about his life, his experiences and his new-found sobriety. Tracks such as ‘Pace Yourself’ and ‘Centrefold’ have all the major melodious harmonies of The Lemonheads and Third Eye Blind which make this album exceptionally accessible; yet dig beneath this and there is a huge love for Bob Mould and Hüsker Dü and even The Replacements and Paul Westerberg in their prime that bubbles throughout this album. Furthermore, this album is full of that punk DIY ethos that stretches from songs like ‘Break’ with its Elliott Smith style harmonies to the blatant cowpunk Americana of ‘Stay’ which has all the appeal that fans of Frank Turner will adore; yet it is the alternative sound that reigns supreme here, ‘Phone Ring’ has all the love of The Offspring, whilst at its most grungy, ‘Karma’ and ‘Low’ drive with the power of Weezer. There is a lot of love for this album, it has the potential to reach in and touch, providing highly personal moments that everybody can relate to. For fans of alternative and indie, that like their music to be aching and open, this is one of the albums of the year and Thompson deserves it. 80/100 Adam McCannn
Death SS
‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Armageddon’ High Roller Records Heavy Metal/Industrial
Following a brief break between 2009-2012, Italy’s Death SS returned to heavy metal scene releasing their ‘Resurrection’ album in 2013. Yet, in amongst the endless stream of albums released last year, Death SS managed to sneak out their ninth studio album ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Armageddon’.
Fans of ‘Resurrection’ will be pleased to know that ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll…’ does continue to explore a heavy metal sound infused with industrial rhythms. This does mean that fans of classic era of Death SS will be slightly bemused at the direction of these albums; gone is that Mercyful Fate/King Diamond, Venom and Bulldozer sound; instead, tracks such as ‘Creatures of the Night’, ‘The Fourth Reich’ and the re-recorded ‘Witches’ Dance’ have gained a dominant modern European metal sound, which actually makes them very catchy and appealing, even if the title track does have a touch of Lordi. However, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll…’ is a lot like a disjointed jigsaw with some of the pieces not quite fitting, ‘Promised Land’ strays into Marylin Manson territory, whilst the harmonica intro to ‘Your Life Is Now’ sounds like a Bruce Springsteen outtake and the album would certainly not miss these had they not been there.
That aside, overall ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll…’ is actually enjoyable, there is enough hear to please both old and new fans of Death SS as well as being able to hum the songs for days afterwards. 60/100 Adam McCann
Diamond Head
‘The Coffin Train’ Silver Lining Music Heavy Metal
In 2016, Diamond Head returned to the forefront of heavy metal, not only had they delivered one of the best albums of that year with their self-titled album; but it can be heavily debated that they also delivered the album of their career. Therefore, the pressure was now on for the NWOBHM stalwarts to keep up with the pace that they had set with their latest album ‘The Coffin Train.
Who would have thought that ‘The Coffin Train’ could even come close to holding a candle to their last album? As previous, their latest offering wastes no time in battering down the speakers. This album delivers a huge slab of that classic Diamond Head sound whilst expanding on the more progressive elements that were laid down previously. Brian Tatler never needs to showboat to show his pedigree, naturally delivering riff after riff like the consummate professional that he is with the band even generating Sabbath style romps at times. However, once again, the plaudits go to vocalist Rasmus Bom Andersen, if ‘Diamond Head’ demonstrated that he has vocal prowess, then ‘The Coffin Train’ shows not only can he sing, but also be a modern vocal master. There are tracks here such as ‘Belly Of The Beast’, ‘The Phoenix’ and the ‘The Messenger’ which begin life with that classic Diamond Head beat, but soon take on a life of their own, morphing into something else almost entirely with Andersen even sounding like Chris Cornell during the epically slow burning title track.
Diamond Head have hit a late career purple patch and of course, new albums from Tool and Slipknot will have passing metal fans drooling with excitement. But for those truly in the know, ‘The Coffin Train’ is the real deal; this album will not only be riding high at the end of the year, but may even claim the number one spot. Watch this space. 93/100 Adam McCann
Darkthrone
‘Old Star’ Peaceville Records Black Metal
Every so often, a band delivers an album which completely blindsides the listener. This occurred in 2016 when Darkthrone unleashed their ‘Arctic Thunder’ album; a huge leap away from the crust punk of the previous albums, ‘Arctic Thunder’ returned to the classic Darkthrone sound. Yet, an album that is this good can only leave a significant void to fill; a void which became very realistic when the Norwegians announced that their latest album ‘Old Star’.
Thankfully, ‘Old Star’ manages to blast its way forward and it becomes immediately apparent that once again Nocturno Culto and Fenriz mean business. ‘Old Star’ wastes no time, clocking in at just under 40 minutes, Darkthrone know how to cut back the fat and make sure that everything is exactly how it is needed. In fact, as an album, it begins to go some way into not only keeping up with its predecessor, but also equalling it, tracks such as tearing opener ‘I Muffle Your Inner Choir’, ‘Alp Man’ and the title track would quite happily fit in amongst the classic era of Darkthrone. Yet, it is the track ‘The Hardship of the Scots’ that is most intriguing, coupled with a riff that is possibly as classic heavy metal as they come, this track shows that Darkthrone are more than capable of experimenting with their sound without leaving their remit or altering the overall sound of the album. Furthermore, ‘Old Star’ has the ability to appeal to those old school fans of Darkthrone by having a relatively raw overall sound compared to the bands previous few albums.
As an album ‘Old Star’ is exceptionally enjoyable, each song is very memorable and provides a completely different feel to ‘Arctic Thunder’ rather than a complete carbon copy. Once again, Darkthrone have delivered an excellent album that will undoubtedly still be talked about when the end of year lists are compiled. 90/100 Adam McCann
Drop Tuned
‘Lost’ Independent Release Hard Rock/Heavy Metal
Drop Tuned started as a project between two friends and it hasn’t taken the duo long to emerge from the musical hotbed of Gothenburg to present their debut EP ‘Lost’ to the world.
‘Lost’ sounds immensely fresh and modern, with the EP managing to walk the line perfectly between heavy metal, hard rock and melodic rock. Due to this, ‘Lost’ has the ability to deliver three songs that are hugely accessible, oozing with emotion and all wrapped in a production that would appeal to fans of T.N.T., Harem Scarem and Treat. Yet, this EP is not initially gripping, on the surface, all three songs manage to sound very similar, but easily within a few listens, it becomes immensely easy to fall in love with ‘Lost’; ‘Reflecting the Days’ and the title track have a simmering build up, that once engaged is difficult to put down and almost impossible to not sing along to.
However, those looking for something ‘new sounding’ will not find it here, but ultimately, who cares? With ‘Lost’, Drop Tuned are only just beginning to dip into the water and this EP is a decent foundation stone. ‘Lost’ has three lovingly crafted songs that show the talent that Drop Tuned have, it will be interesting to see where the band go from here. 80/100 Adam McCann
Death Angel
Death Angel ‘Humanicide’ Nuclear Blast Records Thrash Metal
Death Angel have always stayed true to their roots, there are no frills and gimmicks needed when there is the raw power available. What sets this band apart from their peers is their ability to combine this blistering raw energy with melodies that ooze hooks and memorability. This year has Death Angel set to release the follow up to their last album, the superb ‘The Evil Divide’ with the murderously named ‘Humanicide’.
As an album ‘Humanicide’ is much more aggressive than its predecessor, Death Angel seem vexed and they are not afraid to show it with this latest release. For a vocalist, Mark Osegueda has always been hugely underrated and once again, his performance on this album is solid and unique, creating an album which is undeniably classic Death Angel; tracks such as ‘The Pack’, ‘I Came For Blood’ and the title track are both blisteringly visceral and powerful, pounding with heaviness and social observations that are coupled with a large rebellious streak which make this album nothing short of superb.
‘Humanicide’ continues Death Angel’s purple patch, it was always going to be a tall order to compete with the band’s previous effort, but with this album, Death Angel easily equal it. Recent years have seen thrash bands re-emerge, with many releasing albums of their career and ‘Humanicide’ shows that not only can Death Angel take their competition down to the wire, they can surpass them and come out unbloodied.
90/100 Adam McCann
Dream Theater
‘Distance Over Time’ InsideOut Music 2019 Progressive Metal
Dream Theater needed a boost, following their ambiguously received Dystopian concept album ‘The Astonishing’. This album divided not only fans of progressive metal, but also fans of Dream Theater; the band themselves are no strangers to large overblown concepts, but with their previous album, Dream Theater had reached a plateau, this concept was too big and cumbersome and therefore the beady eye of expectation cast its gaze over the latest Dream Theater release, the mathematically named ‘Distance Over Time’.
Fortunately for ‘Distance Over Time’, there is no need to approach this album with any sense of trepidation, ‘Distance Over Time’ is an album which focuses entirely one songs at hand, there are no musical interludes or extended passages that are littered with detritus. Instead, the focus of ‘Distance Over Time’ is concise and to the point, Petrucci is back on top of his writing game and whilst ‘Distance Over Time’ may not be as good 2013’s eponymous album, it is certainly better than ‘A Dramatic Turn Of Events’ or ‘Systematic Chaos’. This is almost entirely down to Dream Theater finding their mojo again, Petrucci, Myung, Ruddess and Mangini are firing on all cylinders to produce an album which sleek and streamlined, yet subliminally complex and hugely accessible and whilst on the previous album, where James LaBrie’s vocals felt restricted and constrained, ‘Distance Over Time’ allows LaBrie to demonstrate just how much vocal versatility this man possesses, especially during ‘Untethered Angel’, ‘Room 137’ ‘Paralyzed’ and the searching ‘Barstool Warrior’. Yet, it is the track ‘S2N’ where this album reaches its pinnacle with a stop/start ‘By-Tor & The Snow Dog’ and ‘Cygnus X-1’ textbook riff before effortlessly sliding into a sublime Pantera style groove that seals this as some of Dream Theater’s best work since Mike Portnoy left the band.
‘Distance Over Time’ is a welcome return to form for the masters of progressive metal. This album is thoroughly enjoyable, it is time to finally forget ‘The Astonishing’ and embrace this fantastic progressive metal album. 91/100 Adam McCann
Dee Snider
‘For The Love Of Metal’ Napalm Records 2018 Heavy Metal
Ever since the dissolution of Twisted Sister, frontman Dee Snider has managed to keep himself busy, not with just high-profile appearances such as a guest spot with Avantasia on their last album ‘Ghostlights’, but also with his solo work. Snider has never been one to let the fire within his belly go out and the SMF is back with his latest album ‘For The Love Of Metal’.
With ‘For The Love…’, Snider has unleashed a monster; for those expecting an album of rehashing ideas from Twisted Sister or sticking within the rose tinted glasses of the 1980’s will be in for a shock. Not only does Snider blast out of the mould of the past, but also embraces a modern sound with an excellently produced album which when coupled with Snider’s gritty lyrics delivers an album of enjoyable anthems. Tracks such as the rousing ‘I Am The Hurricane’, the macho-chest beating of ‘American Made’ and the fist pumping, horn throwing anthemic overtones of ‘Tomorrow’s No Concern’ and the title track, all make ‘For The Love…’ extremely likeable and immediately catchy; Snider even shows that he is no slouch with the modern heavy metal scene and the album sees guest appearances from the ex-Killswitch Engage frontman Howard Jones for ‘The Hardest Way’ as well as the former Arch Enemy vocalist, the beautiful Alissa White-Gluz who shows off her credentials with the melodic ‘Dead Hearts (Love Thy Enemy)’.
Anyone who wrote Dee Snider off as a relic of the 80’s should be eating their words. Snider has released an album that adds the stadium sound of Twisted Sister into an album which has the perfect synergy with a modern heavy metal album. ‘For The Love…’ is an exceptionally good album and Snider may have found himself being the centre of one of the best heavy metal albums of the year.
93/100 Adam McCann
Drift Into Black
Dead Suns Under The Forever Moon Independent Release 2018 Atmospheric Doom Metal/Hard Rock/Gothic Rock
Drift Into Black (DIB) is the brainchild of former Grey Skies Fallen keyboardist Craig Rossi. After leaving the New York melodic death metallers, Rossi put together DIB releasing their debut EP ‘Shadow People’ in 2017 and continues with the mental health theme and the dark sides within it laid down during his time with Grey Skies Fallen. The latest release from DIB, this years ‘Dead Suns Under the Forever Moon’ has Rossi producing a full-length release which follows on from ‘Shadow People’ and with this, ‘Dead Suns…’ continues the concept of anger, revenge, the consequences of going too far that this can bring and the ability to function with the aftermath.
To refer to DIB as a band would be too formal, it is the work of one man and although the album does feature several guest spots, it is a far cry away from the keyboardists work in his previous band and as such should be regarded as so. With DIB, Rossi has taken a completely different path and it works, this ambitious project has no thrashing guitars, endless blast beats or death metal growls. Instead, ‘Dead Suns…’ has a beautiful atmospheric sound which easily blends elements of doom and hard rock with pop sensibilities making this album instantly likable and pleasing. Furthermore, the vocal delivery of Rossi is akin to that of Tobias Forge of Ghost with multi-layered vocals drenched in reverb which would become appealing to any fan of Ghost especially tracks such as ‘Death From Above’, ‘Sifting Through the Dead’ and ‘Home’. Unfortunately for DIB, the production that Rossi uses, although produced very well, particularly with the dual vocals and cello during ‘Gone But Not Forgotten’, does leave ‘Dead Suns…’ feeling a lot like Ghost demos. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing and the pop sensibilities that Rossi is able to weave into DIB makes ‘Dead Suns…’ exceptionally enjoyable. Furthermore, this album is not all wannabe Ghost and there are some fantastic slow descending riffs which are reminiscent of classic doom bands such as Trouble, St. Vitus and Candlemass as well as newer bands like Vessel of Light. ‘Dead Suns…’ highlights and showcases the raw talent that this musician has without hiding it behind a mask of studio polish and although there is nothing new here and the overall sound has been done plenty of times, but this album gives a sense of integrity, passion and drive that lacks with a lot of releases in this genre.
74/100 Adam McCann
D.R.I.
Thrash Zone Metal Blade Records 1989 Crossover
Picking up where bands like Bad Brains, Cro-Mags and Dead Kennedy’s had left off, by the end of the 80’s, D.R.I. had built up a large fan base with their infusion of hardcore punk, thrash metal and attitude. Alongside their peers Suicidal Tendencies, M.O.D. and Stormtroopers of Death, D.R.I. helped to bring the crossover genre to the masses. This was not an instant process and the band worked endlessly and tirelessly in the sweat box dive bars of Texas releasing the strong and highly influential albums ‘Dealing With It!’, ‘Crossover’ and ‘4 Of A Kind’ before reaching their pinnacle of success with the their 1989 classic ‘Thrash Zone’.
It is no secret that by the time D.R.I. released ‘Thrash Zone’, they were working to template and why wouldn’t they? That skeleton frame had served the band perfectly over the previous seven years, not only did their fans lap it up, but it did attract huge amounts of new fans into the D.R.I. fold. Yes, the production of ‘Thrash Zone’ is not great, but an overproduced crossover album just wouldn’t work, by 1989, let the glam, thrash and hard rock movements waste their time in the studio with big name producers when guitarist Spike Cassidy can do it himself. This gives the album the raw integrity that is needed within this genre and it is no wonder that after building on the success of their previous four albums that ‘Thrash Zone’ broke the band into the mainstream with one of the highlights of the album ‘Beneath the Wheel’. Furthermore, ‘Thrash Zone’ is not a one song album, ‘Gun Control’, ‘Kill The Words’, ‘Enemy Within’ and the crossover anthem ‘Thrashard’ all stand tall and show why this is the bands most commercially successful album to date.
The sheer number of miles touring that the band had put under the belt since their formation had by this point begun to affect the song writing and although there are songs here that are some of best that D.R.I have written, some of these songs fall short of the mark of the bands previous work. However, as a commercial pinnacle, ‘Thrash Zone’ is a great album and a fantastic place to start for those looking to not only explore the genre but the band itself.
78/100 Adam McCann
Deep Purple
‘Now What?!’ earAche Records 2013 Hard Rock
When Deep Purple announced that they were to record a new album for 2013, it had been eight years since 2005’s ‘Rapture of the Deep’ and was their longest gap between albums as an active band. That album would be ‘Now What?!’ and as Deep Purple were now all an age to be drawing their pensions, two questions were posed: “are Deep Purple even relevant anymore?” and “if so, can they still do it?”. The answer to those questions are both most definitely yes.
The retirement of Jon Lord following the ‘Abandon’ tour had left a huge hole in the sound, affecting the band more than expected and although his replacement Don Airey is just as capable at both song craftsmanship, Deep Purple struggled to fire on all cylinders with Airey’s first two albums with the band. For ‘Now What?!’ the band hired the legendary producer Bob Ezrin who helped push Deep Purple back within the remit of a more classic Deep Purple sound that can be seen during ‘Hell to Pay’, ‘Out of Hand’ and ‘All the Time in the World’. Although guitarist Steve Morse and Airey have been the Blackmore and Lord for the best part of thirteen years, comfortably bouncing off each other live, it was difficult to capture that magic in the studio and the professional input of Ezrin seems to have helped Morse and Airey finally gel within the studio. This collaboration can be seen perfectly with the beautiful tribute to the late Jon Lord with ‘Uncommon Man’, a track which incorporates elements of ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’, a classical piece by Aaron Copland known to most rock fans through Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Because of this, ‘Uncommon Man’ stands out as debatably one of the best tracks on the album.
There are still elements of the experimentation that that stalked ‘Bananas’ and ‘Rapture...’ during the single ‘Vincent Price’, a song in which Airey adds all the effects from a classic horror movie, church organs, theremin and diminished chords and this works wonders. However, the band manage to misfire during the rather poor ‘Blood From a Stone’ in which the band seemingly borrow the bassline and rhythm from the 1975 single ‘You Keep On Moving’ and although Ian Gillan’s screaming soaring voice disappeared many years ago, his presence can still be felt and echoes throughout this album.
‘Now What?!’ is quite a surprise, Deep Purple have managed to pull one out of the hat and just like many bands which put down roots in the 60’s and 70’s, Deep Purple are releasing some of the best work of their later career. 74/100 Adam McCann
Death Angel
‘The Dream Calls For Blood’ Nuclear Blast Records 2013 Thrash Metal
Death Angel are one of thrash metal’s most well thought of bands and since their reformation in 2001, the band have released a steady stream of albums that have all received critical acclaim. Due to this, Death Angel are one of the San Francisco Bay Area’s most consistent bands and in 2013 the band released their seventh studio album ‘The Dream Calls for Blood’.
The band themselves have a reputation of not releasing sub-par material, but no one could have predicted the success that ‘The Dream…’ bought the band. With this album, Death Angel scored their first entry into the charts since 1988 and was also their first album to crack the Top 100 Billboard in the USA. This is hardly surprising, ‘The Dream…’ follows on perfectly from the bands previous album ‘Relentless Retribution’ and is once again produced by Jason Suecof, a man whose work also includes bands such as Job For A Cowboy, Trivium and DevilDriver. Because of this, ‘The Dream…’ has a sound that is similar to its predecessor, albeit with this album, Death Angel have chosen to adopt a meatier sound within the bands already tight rhythm section that can be seen in tracks such as ‘Son of the Morning’, ‘Caster of Shame’ and the blistering title track, all of which would appeal to fans of Testament and to those who know what to expect from Death Angel.
The band themselves show no signs of slowing down or mellowing as Mark Osegueda spits out his lyrics with the visceral hatred which only serves to remind those why they originally fell in love with Death Angel. ‘The Dream…’ is an album that is not only aggressive, it is also extremely melodic and full of the excellent thrashing rhythms which have made Death Angel one of thrash metal’s most beloved bands. 86/100 Adam McCann
Dream Theater
‘Black Clouds and Silver Linings’ Roadrunner Records 2009 Progressive Metal
Following the lacklustre run ‘Systematic Chaos’ and ‘Octavarium’, Dream Theater hit back and once more found their stride with 2009’s ‘Black Clouds and Silver Linings’, debatably their best album since ‘Train of Thought’ was released in 2003. With ‘Black Clouds…’ Dream Theater managed to discover their lost mojo, a fact instantly recognisable from the start with the progressive metal masters ploughing through various different musical tour de forces, incorporating a number of elements from downtuned guitars, ever changing time signatures, squealing pinch harmonics and mind bending musicianship, all courtesy of string virtuosos John Petrucci and John Myung; Keyboard wizard and the man who can match Petrucci note for note Jordan Rudess and the grand master of the drums Mike Portnoy. With ‘Black Clouds…’ Dream Theater manage to effortlessly slide between a modern and a retro sound, this is a huge boost the album and manages to make it accessible to both fans of a modern progressive sound and those that prefer the classic sound which originally hooked them into progressive music. For example, the opening track ‘A Nightmare to Remember’ begins with all the hallmarks of a Foreigner hit through the accessibility of an arpeggiating keyboard pattern, before incorporating lyrical elements from Rush’s 1981 masterpiece ‘Moving Pictures’. The Rush worship does not stop here, ‘The Best of Times’ feels like the successor to ‘Red Barchetta’, whilst the closing track on the album ‘The Count of Tuscany’ heavily alludes to classic era Rush with an outro which containing overtones of ‘La Villa Strangiato’ and ‘Xanadu’, enough tomake any Rush fan quiver with excitement. Due to this, ‘The Count of Tuscany’ is not only one of the best songs on ‘Black Clouds...’ but is also up there with some of Dream Theater’s best work.
The major downside to ‘Black Clouds…’ is the unfortunate inclusion of groove metal style vocals that drop in and out throughout the album. This just doesn’t work with ‘Black Clouds…’ on one hand it is Dream Theater attempting to entice a modern audience, whilst on the other hand, it just does not work and would remain better without. However, James LaBrie does show that he still has an amazing voice and this stands out on none other than on the beautiful ballad ‘Wither’ and the single ‘A Rite of Passage’. With ‘Black Clouds…’ the cup truly runneth over for Dream Theater and although the bass riff for ‘A Rite of Passage’ borrows heavily from ‘No More Tears’ by Ozzy Osbourne, it suddenly takes on a life of its own with the ‘Master of Puppets’ era style guitar playing making the song hugely accessible to both fans of Dream Theater and those still discovering the band.
Not only is ‘Black Clouds…’ a fantastic album and easily one of the best that Dream Theater albums which have released, it is also one of the best progressive metal albums of the 2000’s and because of this it deserves to be mentioned within the same breath as ‘Images and Words’, ‘Awake’ and ‘Train of Thought’
90/100 Adam McCann
Dio
Dream Evil
Warner Bros. Records 1987
Dream On
The departure of Vinnie Campbell from Dio was always going to be big shoes to fill, but once again Ronnie James Dio surrounded himself with a young hot-shot guitarist in the shape of Craig Goldy.
Although there had only been two years between ‘Sacred Heart’ and ‘Dream Evil’, the latter album would already establish Dio as a force to be reckoned with in the late 1980’s and saw the bands popularity rise to arguably its pinnacle.
What Goldy brought to the band was his excellent song crafting skills. These automatically gelled with Dio’s unique style and pushed the band into a much more melodic route, this was evident with heavy rotation on MTV with ‘I Could Have Been A Dreamer’ and ‘All The Fools Sailed Away’.
Never one to ultimately put their faith in technology, Dio managed to avoid the pitfalls of many of their heavy metal peers. ‘Dream Evil’ doesn’t exactly sound in the same league was the likes of ‘Turbo’ or ‘Seventh Son of a Seventh Son’ and although this may have irked critics at the time for not moving with the times, ‘Dream Evil’ in hindsight sounds much more like a true heavy metal album than many of their contemporaries.
82/100
Adam McCann
I Could Have Been a Dreamer; Dio 'Dream Evil', 1987; Warner Bros. Records
Decapitated
Anticult
Nuclear Blast Records 2017
Decapitated lose their head a little early
Decapitated are one of the leading names in the Polish death metal scene and although tragedy has stalked the band throughout their career, the band have continued to do what they do best since their reincarnation in 2009. It has been 3 years since the last Decapitated album ‘Blood Mantra’ and based on its success, the latest album ‘Anticult’ was released on the 7th July through Nuclear Blast Records was highly anticipated.
What Decapitated have produced through ‘Anticult’ is a mature sounding death metal album, yes, you can bookend the career of Decapitated from the early sounding more technical death metal, to the more recent groove additions, but if you’re looking for the Decapitated of the past, then with ‘Anticult’ you won’t find it here. What ‘Anticult’ offers is straight up death metal propped up by groove metal style riffs more reminiscent of Lamb of God and this is evident from the off with ‘Impulse’.
‘Impulse’ offers the sort of initial sound that you would expect from the likes of Vader and guitarist Vogg has a tone that is brutal and meaty throughout before pulling out the drawn pinch harmonics more associated with Gojira. However, during the entirety of ‘Anticult’, it is the drummer Michał Łysejko who steals the show throughout with his powerhouse drumming, his blast beats and syncopated rhythms are the glue which holds ‘Anticult’ together.
Unfortunately, ‘Anticult’ peaks rather early with the best song on the album ‘Kill the Cult’. ‘Kill the Cult’ is easily the most memorable song on the album with its chorus imploring you to well, kill the cult and it is this simple chorus when coupled with a decent riff from Vogg and batted out of the park by Łysejko’s pounding drums which only serve to emphasise the impending nature of the lyrics. One thing to note of Decapitated of late is the continuing misanthropic view of the world and this can be attributed to vocalist Rafał Piotrowski. Since replacing Coven in 2009, Piotrowski has encircled Decapitated into his nihilistic and misanthropic view of the world with tracks like ‘Deathvaluation’, ‘One-Eyed Nation’ and ‘Earth Scar’, the latter of which beginning with Rammstein style electronic drumbeat before evolving into groove metal monster. ‘Earth Scar’ even has all the hallmarks of Lamb of God album track with its half time breakdown and rather anti-climactic guitar solo in which you expect Vogg to tear your face off, but instead delivers a lacklustre solo. However, the actual stand out part of ‘Earth Scar’ is the last 20 or so seconds in which Decapitated launch into a death metal tirade where you can smell the sweat and beer already from the pit.
Following on from ‘Blood Mantra’, ‘Anticult’ actually promised so much and spends far too much floundering and meandering about. There are parts of ‘Anticult’ in which not only the originality, but the identity of Decapitated has been lost, an example of this would be closing track of ‘Amen’. Unfortunately, ‘Amen’ sounds far too much like an Obituary guide track, it is slow, it is grinding and the only way to describe it is a guide track from Obituary’s latest album with ‘Amen’ sounds unfinished at best.
‘Anticult’ is a lot like losing your virginity, it fires hard, fast and peaks far too early with the rest of the album lying there wondering: ‘is that it?’, ‘Anticult’ is not great, but it is not poor either, there are some decent songs here but there are far better albums released this year.
70/100
Adam McCann
Earth Scar; Decapitated, 'Anticult', 2017; Nuclear Blast Records
The Doomsday Kingdom
The Doomsday Kingdom
Nuclear Blast Records 2017
Into the catacombs of the Silent Kingdom
In doom and heavy metal circles, Leif Edling is regarded as somewhat of a legend. A founding member of doom metal icons, Candlemass, Edling followed on from the likes of Black Sabbath and Pentagram by forging a legacy of his own, not only with Candlemass, but also Avatarium and now The Doomsday Kingdom.
When Edling decided to take a year out due to ill health in 2014, it was spoke of hushed tones that he was working on a different project, but new releases from Candlemass and Avatarium displaced this in memory and when The Doomsday Kingdom released their self-titled debut album this year, not only was it a surprise, but also managed to slip out relatively under the radar.
Edling knows his audience and ‘The Doomsday Kingdom’ picks up exactly where the excellent latest Candlemass EP ‘Death Thy Lover’ left off with Edling borrowing Avatarium guitarist; Marcus Jidell as well as Wolf vocalist Niklas Stålvind into The Doomsday Kingdom project. ‘The Doomsday Kingdom’ rumbles into life with ‘Silent Kingdom’, easily one of the best tracks on the album and proves that 30 years on, The Doomfather can still write a killer riff with a bass sound alone that can carry an album. ‘Silent Kingdom’ wouldn’t be out of place on Candlemass’ 1986 stellar debut ‘Epicus Doomicus Metallicus’ with its rolling Black Sabbath ‘’Vol. 4’/’Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’ Iommi style groove. As you would expect, the Sabbath grooves continue throughout with ‘The Never Machine’, ‘A Spoonful of Darkness’, with its fantastic choral work and even into the instrumental ‘See You Tomorrow’ in which a very spacious sound draws immediate connotations with ‘Fluff’. ‘See You Tomorrow’ is much longer than its inspirational counterpart and although it does contain a beautiful chord progression, it doesn’t save it from bordering on mind numbingly boring. However, alongside ‘Silent Kingdom’, the standout track from the album is the utterly fantastic ‘The Sceptre’ with its huge crushing riff, stop/starts, tempo changes and imaginative medieval lyrics easily place ‘The Sceptre’ as a secondary peak of ‘The Doomsday Kingdom’ and although ‘The Sceptre’ is great, it is unfortunately coupled with a rather weedy and repetitive guitar solo.
Doom metal has never really been the most original genre and The Doomsday Kingdom do spend a lot of the album ‘borrowing’ from various different places, ‘Hand of Hell’ launches with a riff that is reminiscent of ‘Turn Up the Night’ from Black Sabbath’s 1981 brilliant album ‘Mob Rules’. If you are going to emulate a Black Sabbath album, then there is no finer than ‘Mob Rules’ and ‘The Silence’ contains a bridge that easily alludes to the bridge section of ‘Country Girl’ from the same album. There are some vocal melodies that also show a parallel towards other tracks gone before them, for example, the intro vocal melody to ‘The Never Machine’ allows you to hum ‘Stormbringer’ by Deep Purple along with it and also contains a part which borrows the melody from ‘Sleeping Giant’ from the last Candlemass EP, ‘Death Thy Lover’. But, the crowning similarity of ‘The Doomsday Kingdom’ is the chorus to ‘Hand of Hell’, with its “bloodstained inside, bloodstained light” delivered on par with ‘Blood Stained’ from the Judas Priest fronted Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens classic ‘Jugulator’.
There is a reminder with ‘The Doomsday Kingdom’ that the project began life as Edling on his own with the album’s closing track, ‘The God Particle’, in which The Doomfather plays the bass and guitar himself as well as the vocals. If anything, ‘The God Particle’ serves to show how long a doom song can be if left unchecked and unrestrained, as the song itself really is a dirge and manages to drag on for nearly 10 minutes without much change. This isn’t helped by Leif Edling’s voice, as the only track on the album which features Edling singing, it reminds you why Edling stepped to the side and found a vocalist, not just in The Doomsday Kingdom, but also Candlemass. That aside, Niklas Stålvind is actually superb with the vocals throughout, it goes to show how much of a versatile voice Stålvind really has. Stålvind’s work with Wolf has always been fantastic, however with The Doomsday Kingdom, it now gives a huge different angle and perception of that voice.
‘The Doomsday Kingdom’ is a decent enough album for a start and could have easily been much worse. As an album, it manages to stay well within Edling’s boundaries of accessible doom with lashings of 70’s heavy metal to add another element to the music and yes, it does shamelessly borrow from other bands, yet this just makes the album much more endearing and even fun to play. The question is now, Candlemass, Avatarium and The Doomsday Kingdom, which one will Edling turn his attention to next?
77/100
Adam McCann
The Sceptre; The Doomsday Kingdom, 'The Doomsday Kingdom', 2017; Nuclear Blast Records
DragonForce
Reaching Into Infinity
earMusic Records
2017
To Infinity and Beyond!
DragonForce widdled their way onto the scene in 2002 with their ‘Valley of the Damned’ album creating a ground zero for the bands rather unique take on power metal. However, it was their 3rd album, ‘Inhuman Rampage’ released in 2006 which really broke DragonForce to the masses with the massive single, ‘Through the Fire and Flames’ achieving huge popularity through the video game, ‘Guitar Hero’. Following the departure of vocalist ZP Theart in 2010, DragonForce replaced Theart with the unknown Marc Hudson and since Hudson’s arrival, DragonForce have found themselves releasing two more than decent albums; ‘The Power Within’ in 2012 and ‘Maximum Overload’ following 2 years later.
Breaking their 2 year cycle, DragonForce released their 7th studio album and 3rd with Marc Hudson, ‘Reaching Into Infinity’ in May of 2017. Taking the template laid down on earlier DragonForce albums, ‘Reaching Into Infinity’ expands on this formula and could prove to be the most diverse and mould breaking album that DragonForce have ever released. Yes, DragonForce can play fast, they have proved that many times and once more prove it on their latest album, but with ‘Reaching Into Infinity’, DragonForce have broken their cliché, they have proved that they are not just superior musicians, but also excellent songwriters.
Part of the success of ‘Reaching Into Infinity’ is not only down to the band, but also the producer, the acclaimed Jens Bogren. Bogren has left his mark on the DragonForce sound, he has pulled the band together and injected his expertise built around bands like Paradise Lost, Amon Amarth, Kreator and Rotting Christ, incorporating his knowledge of different styles and thus, different ways of approaching the songs, this has massively helped to improve the DragonForce sound.
Following the brief self-titled intro, ‘Reaching Into Infinity’ bursts into ‘Ashes of the Dawn’, a typical DragonForce fast paced romp with the soaring vocals associated with DragonForce’s take on power metal, with Marc Hudson hitting notes that only dogs can hear towards the end, whilst the following track, ‘Judgement Day’ recalls ‘Through the Fire and Flames’ with its extremely fast intricate playing in which guitarists; Herman Li and Sam Totman outdo themselves. However, ‘Judgement Day’ throws in a curveball by descending into a half time rhythmic section in tune with modern hard rock with keyboardist Vadim Pruzhanov showing that he can easily keep up and even outdo the speed of light guitars.
The main issue with DragonForce has always been their albums can occasionally melt into an hour long hemidemisemiquaver fest, but with ‘Reaching Into Infinity’, the tempo and time changes placed into their songs easily bypass this and no songs do this better than; ‘Astral Empire’, ‘War!’ and the epic ‘The Edge of the World’. ‘Astral Empire’ is fantastic and will probably be the first song on the album which grabs you with its insanely catchy chorus and fantastic bass work from Frédéric Leclercq, with Leclercq even formulating a bass solo before unleashing Li and Totman. DragonForce even manage to take their speed to another realm with ‘War!’. ‘War!’ borders on thrash metal with its aggressive rhythms, easily showing that DragonForce are not a one trick power metal pony. ‘Reaching Into Infinity’ even takes the listener into a more sombre moment during ‘Silence’ with its overtones of suicide, proving that DragonForce are not all dragons, crystal balls and sci-fi journeys and are capable of writing introspective, heartfelt songs. But ultimately, the album’s showstopper goes to ‘The Edge of the World’, an eleven minute brute of a song which even manages to take you by surprise with the mid-section descending into melodic death metal, complete with downtuned guitars and growls to boot. With songs like ‘War!’ and ‘The Edge of the World’ in their cannon, it shows that DragonForce are capable of so much and with this positive expansion in their sound, DragonForce may be able to break from the corner the world painted them into back in 2006.
In essence, the only songs that pale and fade into unmemorable are at the latter end of the album, ‘Land of Shattered Dreams’ and ‘Our Final Stand’ pale in comparison to the other tracks on ‘Reaching Into Infinity’. But, long term fans of DragonForce will be pleased to note that there are plenty of the sounds around that made DragonForce famous, blistering solos, fantastic soaring vocals and plenty of singalong whoa whoa whoas to satisfy your inner Iron Maiden clawing its way out and with DragonForce having continued their streak of enjoyable albums since Marc Hudson inherited the vocal duties, ‘Reaching Into Infinity’ shows a band hungry, diversifying their sound and maturing gracefully.
78/100
Adam McCann
Ashes of the Dawn; DragonForce, 'Reaching Into Infinity', 2017; earMusic Records
Dream Evil
Six
Century Media
2017
Six is the Antidote
Some things in life just go really well together, black and white, fish and chips, chicken and mayonnaise and heavy metal and cheese. Over the years, heavy metal has shamelessly adopted many clichés and we love them, sometimes, the cheesier the better and Sweden’s Dream Evil are up there with the cheesiest.
It has been seven years since the last Dream Evil album with the band insisting that they have not been on hiatus, but in their own words: ‘very busy’. This is hardly surprising really considering behind the pseudonym of Ritchie Rainbow is esteemed Gothenburg sound producer, Fredrick Nordström. It would take an entire article alone dedicated to the résumé of Nordström to list his achievements, but finally, this year we have a new Dream Evil album aptly titled ‘Six’.
No introduction is needed here, ‘Six’ storms into action with a crushing riff for ‘Dream Evil’ complete with hoo ha’s designed for raising your fist in the air and this feeling continues throughout the song with its almost hypnotically chanting cult like chorus. ‘Dream Evil’ fantastically kicks off the album, it is a perfect slab of balls to the wall heavy metal infused with power metal with the guitars of Nordström and Mark Black prevailing throughout. Listening to ‘Six’ is like being an acolyte at a devilish meeting, the large emphasis on an impactful chorus only serves to hammer each song home, ‘Dream Evil’, the superb ‘Antidote’, the party hard Manowar attitude of ‘Too Loud’ and the defiantly sombre closing track ‘We Are Forever’ give connotations of unity and strength in numbers against a common enemy, especially towards the end with the music fading out leaving nothing but the vocals.
As an album, ‘Six’ takes a much darker turn than other Dream Evil releases, many of the recurring themes throughout the album revolve around evil, darkness and the occult; ‘Dream Evil’, ‘Antidote’, ‘Sin City’, ‘Creature of the Night’ and ‘Six Hundred and 66’ all directly reference these themes. However, ‘Six’ never becomes boring, from fist throwing, soaring vocals and extremely catchy chorus’, Dream Evil will have you, yes, there are some songs on ‘Six’ that aren’t as good as the others; ’The Murdered Mind’ with its Megadeth style chug, ’44 Riders’ and ‘Broken Wings’ do not stand up as strong as some of the songs that come before them, but you can hardly call them filler, ‘Six’ runs exceptionally smoothly and clocking in at just over 50 minutes, it is the perfect length to fully enjoy.
Fredrick Nordström is a man who takes everything within his stride and obviously he does not only produce and mix, he takes little bits from each band he gets the pleasure of working and with Dream Evil, no band is more prevalent than HammerFall. At times there is such a scary parallel between Dream Evil vocalist, Niklas Isfeldt and HammerFall’s Joacim Cans that occasionally you feel yourself having to check that it isn’t a guest spot from the HammerFall frontman. From the heavy pounding of the double bass drums of ‘Antidote’ provide the perfect backdrop for Isfeldt to issue his best Cans impression whilst the Aleister Crowley inspired ‘Sin City’, ‘Six Hundred and 66’ and ‘Too Loud’ wouldn’t be out of place on any of the later HammerFall albums.
The best thing about ‘Six’ is that it is highly addictive and above all fun to listen to, it serves as a nice reminder that Dream Evil have been away for far too long. There are some people out there who do not like cheese and that is fine, however, cheese is the perfect accompaniment for heavy metal and for that, look no further than Dream Evil and ‘Six’.
80/100
Adam McCann
Dream Evil; Dream Evil, 'Six', 2017; Century Media Records
Deep Purple
InFinite
earMusic Records 2017
Running on Finite
Let’s face it, Deep Purple are a bit like going back to an ex-partner. After a while of not thinking about it, something reminds you of a different time, you get that warm glow of nostalgia and familiarity before remembering why you stopped in the first place. In the last 25 years, Deep Purple have adapted their sound due to various circumstances. Firstly, guitar legend; Ritchie Blackmore left in 1993 creating huge shoes for his successor in the shape of Steve Morse. Secondly was the retirement of the late Jon Lord from the band in 2002, Lord’s position filled by the one and only Don Airey and lastly was the march of time and strain on Ian Gillan’s voice.
Interestingly enough, most of the older bands that were written off by the media in the 90’s as dinosaur acts, that were bloated and had expired have been writing the albums of their careers, most of which are back and stronger than ever. Deep Purple are actually no different, they have been experiencing, well, how else do you put it? a purple patch. This began with 2013’s 'Now What?!' album which was met with hugely positive reviews and this rolls over into Deep Purple’s most recent release; 'InFinite'.
Just like the previous Deep Purple album, 'InFinite' has once more been produced by esteemed legendary producer Bob Ezrin. It would seem that Ezrin has brought the best out of Deep Purple as 'InFinite' has attained a sound that is classic Purple with a slight modern twist, this sound manages to hark back to the days when Deep Purple ruled the world, yet humbly shows everything which Purple have been forced to endure over the years.
'InFinite' begins with the first single from the album; 'Time for Bedlam', which starts with a spoken word introduction as Gillan’s soliloquy is phased through a mechanical/computer effect – a bit odd, but it works, before launching into the classic Deep Purple sound, a distinct Hammond Organ hammering along with a distorted guitar that instantly likeable as Deep Purple grind along to a song that brings back memories of 'Pictures of Home'. In fact, 'Time for Bedlam' wouldn’t actually be out of place on 'Machine Head' and that alone shows the strength of 'InFinite'. 'Time for Bedlam' isn’t the only track that has this vibe, 'Get Me Outta Here' and 'All I Got Is You' have all the classic Purple swagger, the latter having a rising arpeggio into a crescendo before Airey delivers a cracking synth solo that would appeal to any fans of 'Burn'. 'One Night In Vegas' could easily be the spiritual successful to 'Strange Kind of Woman', however, the track would also fit in perfectly on 'Purpendicular', the only downside is that it is saddled with a pre-chorus that sounds a little too much like 'Junkyard Blues' from 2005’s 'Rapture of the Deep'.
The main reason why 'InFinite' works is that it sounds like it was recorded in 1972 – a testament to not only the band, but to Ezrin too as both Morse and Airey sound as if they are using both Lord and Blackmore’s gear giving a sound that every Purple fan has been requesting for a very long time. However, there are a few downsides to 'InFinite', Gillan’s voice is nowhere near as powerful as his heyday and his lyrical worth has always been sub-par, but this is secondary to the music as it has always been with Deep Purple. As well as this, 'InFinite' does tail off towards the end, 'Birds of Prey' is not memorable in the slightest and having 'Roadhouse Blues' finish the album is a ludicrous way to finish an otherwise decent album. Sadly, time is against Deep Purple with all the members in their late 60’s or early 70’s barring Steve Morse, it begs the question, never mind infinite, Deep Purple are now on finite time and if 'InFinite' is to be their final album, then it is a good way to bow out.
76/100 Adam McCann
Time for Bedlam; Deep Purple, 'InFinite', 2017; earMusic Records
Denner/Shermann
Masters of Evil
Metal Blade Records
2016
In League with Satan
In 2015, Denner/Shermann released an EP entitled 'Satan’s Tomb' to an extremely positive critical reception and since this, the heavy metal world has waited with bated breath for Denner/Sherman’s full length debut album. Michael Denner and Hank Shermann are arguably the best duo to ever come out of Denmark, rising to fame in the early 1980’s with Mercyful Fate, releasing the highly influential 'Melissa' in 1983 and 'Don’t Break the Oath' in 1984. Due to Mercyful Fate’s talisman, the extremely charismatic and unique vocalist, King Diamond, both Denner and Shermann have often being eclipsed by the majesty of King Diamond. However, 2016 is the year that Denner and Shermann step out from behind the veil and show that they do not need King Diamond and can be judged on their own merit, as opposed to just ‘them blokes from Mercyful Fate’.
'Masters of Evil' wastes no time in embracing the skills and sounds familiar to fans of Mercyful Fate, with an album cover which has eerie connotations to 'Don’t Break the Oath' alongside a guitar tone which is instantly recognisable as both Denner and Shermann. Denner/Shermann play with a beautiful twin guitar harmony that would put Iron Maiden’s recent output to shame with that hint of Mercyful Fate that was influentially evident on Metallica’s 'Ride the Lightning'.
The first thing that is noticeable about 'Masters of Evil' is the vocals of Sean Peck. On a first superficial level, Peck has vocal similarities to that of King Diamond. However, Peck is much more raw and coupled with a piercing scream that reaches and pushes more towards Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens. In fact, 'Masters of Evil' gives a little insight as to what Judas Priest might have sounded like had Rob Halford never returned to Judas Priest. This is seen particularly during 'Son of Satan', the hugely Priest sounding 'Escape from Hell' and the explosive title track. There is however, much more to Peck’s voice than just a ‘sound-alike’, 'The Wolf Feeds at Night' descends into a groove that wouldn’t be out of place on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath with Peck doing a better impression of Ozzy Osbourne than the Double O himself these days. But once more, do not think that 'Masters of Evil' is some weird mash up of Judas Priest and Mercyful Fate because it is not. Once Denner/Shermann get going, each song is infectious, catchy and full of the hooks that is only gained from years of experience that will leave you wondering why you never picked up this album instantly. The devilishly rousing 'Angel’s Blood', the eternal conflict of the 'Pentagram and the Cross', complete with excellent twin guitar harmonies, to the Biblical swagger of 'Servants of Dagon' and the utterly fantastic closing epic 'The Baroness' are all examples of Denner/Shermann’s growing sound.
Going back to the start, the 'Satan’s Tomb' EP released in 2015 became just a teaser as to what Denner/Shermann are truly capable of with 'Masters of Evil' being not just a fantastic album, but also surpassing all expectations.
80/100
Adam McCann
Son of Satan; Denner/Shermann, 'Masters of Evil', 2016; Metal Blade Records