Track List:

1. Drag Ropes
2. Storm Corrosion
3. Hag
4. Happy
5. Lock Howl
6. Ljudet Innan

Two of the greatest names in the progressive metal scene to date join forces to form this promising new act Storm Corrosion; Opeth’s frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt and Porcupine Tree’s frontman Steve Wilson, joining forces to – one can only assume- produce the best progrock album in existence. The album is only 6 tracks long but all of the songs are pretty lengthy in duration with the longest being 10 minutes long, shortest being just less than 5 minutes.

When the name drop has 2 of the most prestigious names in the business in its biography expectations are at an all time high for this project, but instead of one of the most mind blowing experiences of my life I’ve felt the dissatisfaction that I felt when hearing Opeth’s latest release “Heritage”. The first song “Drag Ropes” shows that this is not a heavy metal album like the rest of both musicians other projects but is instead more of a downbeat calming style opposing the aggression that is usually found in these 2 men. This is exactly why I didn’t like Opeth’s latest release either because they were taking away everything from their sound that most people actually listened to them for, it isn’t just me that would have got to the assumption that this album was going to be one of the biggest metal albums of the decade, instead what we’re going to have here is a lot of very disappointed metal head’s who’ve splashed their cash and effectively had their boners castrated.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying this is a bad album at all, quite contraire to that, it’s good at what it is but it’s more like one of those late night TV advertised rainforest sound CD’s that try to help with natural sleep as opposed to a rock album.  It’s really not the kind of thing I would sit down and think “Oh you know what? Today I fancy listening to a bit of Storm Corrosion” no it’s more like the song’s that come on shuffle and I immediately skip over, sorry lads but for me not even a wiggle in my trousers was had here and I’ve listened to the entire thing a fair few times now and it’s just not what I was expecting and not what I wanted from this sort of collaboration.

[5/10]

Track List:

1. Back Through Time
2. Shipwrecked
3. The Sunk’n Norwegian
4. Midgit Saw
5. Buckfast Powersmash
6. Scraping the Barrel
7. Rum
8. Swashbuckled
9. Rumpelkombo
10. Barrett’s Privateers
11. Death Throes of the Terrorsquid
12. I am a Cider Drinker (Bonus Track)
13. You are a Pirate (Bonus Track)

Pirate metal was a novelty genre that I didn’t see surviving very long at all, or so I thought; Scottish lads Alestorm are the band that I feel really brought the style into the limelight in recent times as well as push it to the extreme. Even though in my opinion they are the best pirate metal band on the scene, after the release of debut album “Captain Morgan’s Revenge” I was struggling to see where they could take their sound next and when follow up release “Black Sails at Midnight” hit the stores I found myself a little disappointed, whilst the album wasn’t bad it trailed far behind “Captain Morgan’s Revenge”.

The thing with the debut album was that the novelty alone was enough to ensure its success but not only that, “Over the Sea’s” to this day I think is the most pirate-esque song in existence which gave it the authenticity as well, the follow up though I feel that they just strung together whatever resembled the pirate cliché and some of the lyrics were pure and simply cringe worthy. This new release though really brings the high octane metal like never before as opener “Back Through Time” shows opening up with some dialogue and then fast paced technical skill leading off into some chunky riffs, “Shipwrecked” follows on with the same thick metal style but with a very catchy chorus line. That seems to be the general consensus for this album; its heavier, catchier and more upbeat than “Black Sails at Midnight”.

“Sunk’n Norweigion” as well always brings a smile to my face with the chorus line “One more drink at the Sunk’n Norwegian, One more drink before we have to die” and “Midget Saw” which is absolutely hilarious. This album I think is the perfect utilisation of the comical novelty and actual technical skill, “Scraping the Barrel” as well address people like me who assumed they would be a one hit wonder, “Many have told us that we can’t go on, that one day we’ll run out of lyrics for songs, but when the time comes to write album four, we’ll scrape out the barrel once more” which in all fairness is fair play to them. I have complete faith after hearing this album though that they will indeed keep finding themes and lyrics for songs for years to come and if they keep the quality at this level then there isn’t really anything stopping them from having a very long successful career.

[8/10]

Track List:

1. The Unknown
2. Divide And Conquer
3. Weight of the World
4. Nothing Remains
5. Fire From The Sky
6. Save Your Soul
7. Blind Faith
8. Lost Within
9. Walk The Edge
10. The Wasteland

Massachusetts metalcore heroes Shadows Fall have returned with their 7^th studio album “Fire From The Sky”, and by God is it a corker. Their previous few albums “Retribution” and “Threads of Life” were hit and miss with me to say the least; a few amazing songs with the rest being not bad but a bit bland in comparison, for that matter that’s been the same general consensus with me in regards to all of their albums apart from “The War Within” which was quite simply brilliant. What makes this release so different I hear you ask? Well it would be my pleasure to let you in on it.

The simplest thing I would say is that everything is enhanced, that’s the first thing I noticed but it’s much deeper than that; the tones are crisper, the vocals have more depth and range, there’s ominous melodies laced with eerie clean vocal work and as per usual some tremendous guitar work. Album opener “Unknown” start us off in the way that the album consistently follows until it’s end, everything I’ve just described that enhances the band’s sound is present here, starting off with some quick guitar work before it gradually drops more and more into a mesh of heavy metal chaos, this chorus too is just perfect as it’s a balanced blend of heavy and soft with ominous toned backing and infectious lyrics.

Some of my personal favourites lie with “Nothing Remains” which has the most memorable chorus line as it’s far too catchy as well as being extremely freaking bouncy, “Lost Within” is still chaotic but the soothing melodies give it a calmer feel even though it isn’t and the albums longest track “Blind Faith” as this song really covers all ground and displays the full extent of this new approach. A couple months ago I had a bash at reviewing God Forbid’s new album “Equilibrium” and near enough everything I wrote about that can be applied here as they’ve opted for the same sort of style progression, minus the tribal styled sound. It’s this progression that has impressed me as there are no song’s here that are particularly soft as they’ve really rooted to their heavier style unlike some of the previous albums where there were moments of sheer brutality wrapped in bubble wrap that was their lighter side.

So having made that comparison with God Forbid who’s album was fantastic, I think I can finally safely say that my wish has come true and metalcore is back on the rise once again as not only these 2 bands have released corkers; Bleeding Through, Rise to Remain, Five Finger Death Punch and many others have also released some of the best material of the careers, as far as this album goes it’s easily at the top of the ladder in regards to quality and I would love another chance to see them over here in the UK.

[10/10]

Rival sons [7] have the honour of opening up for the mighty Black Stone Cherry on a completely sold out run of the UK, tonight alone is in front of 3 and a half thousand people. Big chance then to really push the boat out and win some fans over, unlike tonight’s headliners these guys are much more old school rock ‘n’ roll as opposed to thick chunky riffs and beats. Their performance reflects this in every possible way, obviously they aren’t quite as youthful as BSC so they aren’t as energetic or aggressive but they make up for that with pure confident, not ever a flicker of hesitation throughout the entire thing whilst laying down some groovy tracks. The material is very balanced too spreading their different styles at just the right times trying to get the audience involved wherever possible, the inevitable tambourine comes out occasionally as well really kicking things old school; the nostalgia, the lighting, the light head banging and their general attitude are what makes this set successful, does it rival that of Black Stone Cherry? Not a chance, but it definitely left a lasting impression in my mind.

Black Stone Cherry [10] absolutely own every single show I’ve ever seen them play; festival slots, support slots and even more so with their headline shows. I did have an initial concern as I’m an illustration student and their backdrop may have been the most bland design that I’ve ever seen back a band; it was merely a pale colour with the letters BSC in a standard black font, they had an edited version of their latest album cover on either side separately but I think they should have used it for the main backdrop. It’s soon forgotton the minute the lights go down and the first few notes of “Change” ring out. Every damn person left their feet screaming with excitement before lending their vocals to every line of every song, it was surreal I’ve never seen anything like it. They blast through their best material like “Maybe Someday”, “Blind Man”, “Rain Wizard”, “Soulcreek”, “Such a Shame” I could go on, all the time lead vocalist Chris Robertson keeping his connection with the crowd getting them involved with Ben Wells and Jon Lawhon either side of him going bat crap crazy jumping and diving around everywhere, even drummer John Fred Young is losing his mind smashing the crap out of that kit. Then they whacked out the acoustic guitars for the most beautiful rendition of new track “Stay”, but they don’t stop there they keep the guitars put and perform half covers of Nirvana’s “Rape Me” and Oasis’s “Champagne Supernova”. This is the best part though, every time they try to play “Thing’s My Father Said” in Birmingham the audience has always drowned it out by singing every word so loud the band stops providing the vocals, after making reference to this they play the song acoustically and leave the crowd to sing every single word it is the most magical thing I’ve ever been a part of. They follow it up with “Devils Queen” and “Blame it on the Boom Boom” before briefly departing only to return with an encore of “Peace is Free” and “Lonely Train”. What a set list, what a performance, what a band, Jay out.

Track list:

1. Don’t Tell Me What To Dream
2. My Rebirth
3. A Few Good Men
4. Scraping the Walls
5. Conquer
6. Equilibrium
7. Overcome
8. Cornered
9. This is Who I Am
10. Move on 
11. Awakening
12. Pages 
13. Where We Come From

Here’s a band that’s been sliding under the radar for a few years now, since I saw them supporting Ill Nino on their UK tour in March 2009 promoting their 5th studio album “Earthsblood” I haven’t heard or seen anything of them, not even in the press. All of a sudden I get an email with this new album attached to it and I’m bewildered because I’ve seen absolutely no advertising for it.

Speaking of “Earthsblood”, that album was a major hit and miss with me; songs like “Rain”, “War of Attrition”, “Bat the Angels”, “Walk Alone” and “Empire of the Gun” are still to this day some of my all time favourite songs where as the rest didn’t even give me a wiggle down there if you catch my drift. “Equilibrium” though I’ve felt from the very start a real instant connection with, even on the first listen I had a persistent boner that wouldn’t let up, they’ve brought back musical elements from the band they used to be but kept the distinctive almost tribal feel that they explored on “Earthsblood”, that’s what’s exciting me.

They used to be really dark heavy as hell metalcore band but on the last release really lost some of their roots as they favoured this more sinister tribal feel, it was definitely a much more distinctive style but judging by their decline in popularity obviously people were disappointed with it. If you were one of those people I suggest you give them another chance; “Don’t Tell Me What to Dream” kicks us off the way it should always have been, thick bass and guitar tone which keeps the sinister edge but also makes the song that much heavier, the chorus as well is catchy with memorable lyrics but most of all the placement of random fills and slick techniques makes everything that much more interesting to listen to its unreal.

I think what they were trying to drag themselves away from being that generic metal band so they opted to explore use of more melodic techniques and tones but went a bit overboard at times previously, with the title track “Equilibrium” and “Overcome” they’ve nailed the balance perfectly with those infectious melodies and lyrics entwined perfectly around that dark metal base, “Scraping the Walls” and “Pages” as well are the perfect blend, there aren’t really any down beat songs other than the instrumental track “Awakening” which they keep entertaining by showing off their musical talents. This album proves that God Forbid will not lay down and die, they’ve learnt from their mistakes and have rose from the ashes of their former selves on top form hoping to once again take the world by storm, with this new material added to their string on classic metal tracks you can’t help but believe they’ll accomplish it too. 

[9/10]

Track list:

1. Love Bites (So Do I)
2. Mz Hyde
3. I Miss The Misery
4. Freak Like Me
5. Beautiful With You
6. In Your Room
7. Break In
8. Rock Show
9. Daughters of Darkness
10. You Call Me a Bitch Like it’s a Bad Thing
11. American Boys
12. Here’s to Us

Lzzy Hale and co have really let their heavier side rear its head on their highly anticipated second album. The impression their self titled debut left on the rock community has drawn them a huge following, pushed even further by their energetic live shows. The main draw here is Lzzy Hale’s outstanding vocals, as a female singer in a hard rock band she opposes the stereotypical booze and sex related clichés providing the same issues from a women’s point of view.

Their great debut focussed on issues involving sex, relationships and other assorted topics common with this genre but from a woman’s perspective; this follow up branches out to various other topics, there is still the sex/relationship themed material present but the progression to include other topics shows tremendous growth. Looking at “Freak Like Me” in particular as a more universally relatable song globally, they even let slip an extremely dark side that up till now they seem to have managed to do a great job of hiding; “Daughters of Darkness” shows a slight gothic feel amongst the heavy chord sequences but “Mz Hyde” really takes it to another level with the sinister backing, eerie vocals and dark theme, still god damn heavy as hell though.

You can’t ignore how heavy the whole record is, me and our Alternative Vision editor Trigger have discussed it at length, we both expressed a feeling that it was a surprising yet amazing progression (check out “Love Bites (So Do I)” and “You Call Me a Hitch Like it’s a Bad Thing” if you need convincing); that’s not to say they’ve lost that gentle side of them though because there are still some beautiful little tunes on here. “Break In”, “Beautiful With You” and “In Your Room” take the lighter toned acoustic approach giving the album range, proving they can still write the songs to make you weep at night when you feel alone, where as “American Boys” is a bouncy little bugger that proves they can wrote a God damn amazing southern rock riff, erm more of that in future please?

What a freaking album! You couldn’t ask for anymore from them, they’ve given a thick chunk of the extensive range in their material proving to the world that they can go places nobody would imagine they would ever go to, not only that but do it freaking well. I cannot wait to see this new stuff live I really can’t, I’ll go absolutely ape shit and if you’re a fan of rock music you will acquire this album and be alongside me also going ape shit.

[10/10]

Neosis [4] take all the theatrical and dramatic elements of putting on a show and completely abandon them in favour of continuous playing. Not even any distinctive sign that they’re even about to play like a drop of lights or an introduction, they just start playing straight after soundcheck rendering crowd members both startled and confused. Initially musically I was intrigued as I’d heard great things about then and their thick progressive style is right up my ally, after 3 or 4 songs though I found myself quite bored of it and I thing that’s because as I said, they abandoned all the entertaining element of putting on an interesting gig. Barely audible and minimal crowd interaction, everyone on stage is pretty stationary, as people start leaving the room to pursue drinking and other means of self entertainment the band only has themselves to blame as they put no effort into capturing the attention of their peers.

Revoker [8] are the band that start it all up, previous acts failed to entertain or light the fire needed as preparation for what’s to come next. Not Revoker though, they’ve dragged their asses here from Wales with their entourage of chunky riffs and aggressive tempos with the sole purpose of provoking the complete annihilation of this little venue. This is a show the way it is mean to be performed; capturing the attention of your audience through interaction and participation; it also helps when you play music that has catchy lyrics followed by extremely thick deep breakdowns allowing sing alongs and broken bones. Proper introduction and showmanship alongside some of their best tracks like “Thief”, “Psychoville” and “Stay Down”, Revoker manage to leave a trail of sweat, blood and bruises in their wake but most importantly everyone is good and ready for tonight’s headliners Chimaira.

Chimaira [9] strode out like predators ready to take us all by the throat. Being veterans in the metal community for the past 14 years even though every member apart from vocalist Mark Hunter has changed more than once the band are still going strong. Considering the amount of times the band has had to unfortunately let us UK fans down people are still turning up in force to witness the show, after everything it shows just how well they play to have everyone stick around this long waiting. Every nights set list varies from night to night but tonight we got some real gems from their 6 album discography latest of which being “The Age of Hell” from which we got the likes of “Born in Blood” and “Year of the Snake”. Whilst sometimes I don’t understand his reference points I respect Mark Hunter’s valiant effort at relating to his audience as it pays off, with not even an aggressive tone he manages to raise hell with bodies flying all over the place especially during “Pure Hatred” and “Power Trip”. After closing with “Resurrection” the band leaves the stage with no encore, even so it’s not only me that leaves pleased with that I think everyone in attendance will remember that for a while, don’t forget about us this time though lads eh?

Track list:

1. Adrenaline
2. Bully
3. Amaryliss
4. Unity
5. Enemies
6. I’m Not Alright
7. Nowhere Kids
8. Miracle
9. I’ll Follow You
10. For My Sake
11. My Name (Wearing Me Out)
12. Through The Ghost

They’re back! One of the most successful American rock acts have finally returned with an attempt to follow up their previous masterpiece “The Sound of Madness”. What a challenge that is from the word go because that album just had it all; heavy tracks, light tracks, catchy lyrics, infectious melodies and quite frankly the best Shinedown material in existence. To follow that they need to tap into something really special, perhaps they may even need a miracle.

What I am feeling right from the get go is power; whilst past material draws on emotional themes giving them powerful lyrics, some of the stuff present on “Amaryllis” puts them all to complete shame. “Bully” is the ultimate song when it comes to powerful lyrics, nearly brings tears to my eyes with each listen; kicking off really heavy and mellowing out during the verses only to bring the ultimate chorus line, “all you’ll ever be is a vague memory of a bully, make another joke while they’re hanging on a rope so lonely, push them to the dirt till the words don’t hurt can you hear me, and no ones gunna cry on the very day you die you’re a bully” now that right there is one of the most powerful lyrics I’ve ever heard in my life. 

Amongst all these emotional themed lyrics there is more than just power, there is beauty. The album’s title track “Amaryllis” is one of them, gentle guitar tones alongside the vocals of Brent Smith have already produced some of the best songs and this is another to add to the list, same goes for “I’ll Follow You” which sees Brent work his magic with an accompanying piano.

Don’t worry if your a fan of their heavier material because the heavier fans haven’t been neglected on this album either with real bruisers like “Adrenaline” and “Enemies” asserting their place on the track list with their upbeat tempos and gritty distortion. All in all they haven’t pulled out a miracle because this and “The Sound of Madness” utilize different ranges of the bands distinctive musical style, what it is though is proof the band are smart enough to explore this range to follow up a masterpiece with another.

[10/10]