Pÿlon: The Harrowing of Hell (2012)

Skeptic, Convinced

Most metal fans are immediately skeptical of (or hostile to) Christian bands. Even I, as a Christian myself, harbor that skepticism. But if there’s one metal genre where the followers of Jesus have proven their worth, it’s doom.

The reason for this is simple. As atheist metal scribe Josh Haun once noted, “So many modern doom bands embrace the dark side, and it seems they missed the entire point of Black Sabbath (both the song and the band). Ozzy and Co. weren’t happy to see Satan standing before them, they were fucking terrified.” That’s the reason Trouble were accepted, and it’s the reason you should give Pÿlon, and their vinyl LP (or digital download) The Harrowing of Hell, a chance.

Zatokrev: The Bat, the Wheel, and a Long Road to Nowhere (2012)

Feel the Fire

It takes some serious balls to put the words a Long Road to Nowhere in the title of your album, when it’s a 76 minute slab of progressive doom metal. The jabs write themselves. But Zatokrev’s The Bat, the Wheel, and a Long Road to Nowhere is so damn good, they don’t need to worry about that. It may be exactly what you need to replace the hole that Opeth left in your life.

That paragraph could lead you in all sorts of wrong directions, so let’s clear some things up. The label “progressive doom” usually does not bode well, typically signifying some kind of psych-instrumental jam session, but that couldn’t be further from what Zatokrev has accomplished here. They’re not progressive metal in that sense, but in the sense that’s used to describe bands like Opeth or Enslaved. In other words, it’s not aimless noodling; it’s a series of interconnected but radically different parts creating a dynamic whole.

shEver: Rituals (2012)

Girly Music

Women have been making strides in the world of metal. Especially in doom, where it seems that every other new band has a female vocalist these days. But an all-female band is still quite the novelty, and most will treat them as if they need to do something extra to prove themselves.

The Swiss quartet shEver is an all-female band that's been around since 2004. Their only prior member was also a woman, so it seems that their gender makeup is by design rather than happenstance. But despite the fact that they are no doubt conscious of expectations, they don't seem like a band that feels they have something to prove. Instead, they seem quite comfortable doing what they do.

Eluveitie: Helvetios (2012)

M. Night Folkmetal

In 1999, M. Night Shyamalan wowed audiences with the mega-blockbuster The Sixth Sense. Everything came together perfectly--the right story, the right actors, the right tone--making for a film that was so popular it spawned a number of cliches and launched Shyamalan into superstardom. The writer/director's previous work never hinted at such brilliance, and his subsequent work has eventually proven that he was just a flash in the pan.

Eluveitie is folk metal's M. Night Shyamalan. In 2008, they blew just about everyone away with the brilliant Slania. In a pure, magical moment, they combined folk metal with melodic death metal so perfectly that it's never been matched before, or since. Particularly not by them. They experimented with a purer folk approach, then unsuccessfully tried to re-hash Slania. Now, they've once again attempted, and failed, to recapture any kind of magic.

Metal Briefs: Free Doom Metal Albums

As piracy has become an integral part of the music landscape, more and more bands are simply adapting. Instead of trying to fight piracy through annoying methods like DRM, or only releasing their music on vinyl/cassette, they have decided to offer it up completely free (or via a pay-what-you-want scheme). They are counting on this exposure to bring more people to their shows and to buy their merch. It makes sense to me.

It's becoming so common that whole blogs are dedicated to pointing people in the direction of free music, and you could easily satisfy your listening wants purely on gratis material (at least if you're into underground metal).

If you haven't run across many of these free albums, you might suspect that they're of low quality. Luckily, at the same time that the traditional music industry business model is going down in flames, recording technology has advanced to the point that you can make a great record on the cheap. So, let's take a look at a few of these. This time, we'll focus on doom metal, since that genre tends to embrace the free release model more than any other.

Rorcal: Heliogabalus (2010)

I discovered Switzerland's Rorcal via a post at Invisible Oranges. They offer up almost their entire catalog free on their web site, including their latest release: Heliogabalus. Following in the Sleep Dopesmoker tradition, the album consists of a single track, clocking in at a daunting 70:31. Yikes. But I've listened to it without interruption twice now, and the music is good enough that some of you, at least, will make it through and enjoy every minute of it. You may want to split it into separate tracks, though (I did at 11:50, 25:01, 32:40, 44:45, and 59:00 after my first two listens). The music seems to be a mix of French blackcore, sludge, and funeral doom. It's mostly very slow, has a lot of dissonance, some tremolo riffing, and bloodcurdling screech vocals, as well as long periods of minimalism. All of this is molded into a cohesive whole of undeniable power. It's very much worth your time, and I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Hesper Payne: Unclean Rituals (2010)

Hesper Payne is from the UK. As you can see, they clearly put a lot of effort into their cover art, despite the fact this is a free album. And they put equal effort into their highly original music, which draws influence from a variety of sources as disparate as Acid Bath and Evoken. The sound is very sludgy, and includes expertly-used keyboards which provide atmosphere without ever becoming obtrusive. At times it's faster riff-based doom (especially toward the beginning of the album--the first two tracks have killer riffs) and at other times it veers into funeral doom. The whole thing has a delicious sense of insanity, from the madman vocals, to some weird timing in the riffs, to a sense that the whole thing is played with a slight lack of focus and precision. It's as if it's the meticulously written but sometimes incoherent manifesto of a paranoid schizophrenic, and the effect is powerful. The only thing holding this album back is a weak, quiet production. If it had been given the Sanford Parker touch, it would have been an instant classic. As is, I give it 4 out of 5 stars, which is not bad at all for a freebie. You can find it (and other free albums) over at Works of Ein.



Greg(o)rian: Dormancy of Our Omniscient Master (2010)

Also from the UK, we have Greg(o)rian, a stoner doom band with a style inspired by Sleep and early Electric Wizard, but with the psychedelia taken a few notches higher (pun intended). They don't seem to be on Metal Archives yet, possibly because that site is living in caveman-land where a band has to have a physical release in order to be listed. But Greg(o)rian's MySpace page links to a site where you can download their album, which consists of three tracks totaling about 43 minutes. The slow, reverb-overdrive, heavy riffs are repeated ad nauseam, with high-pitched notes adding the psychedelia. There are some vocals, too, in the form of indistinct yells. I guess this is the kind of thing people like to listen to when they're stoned, but even sober it's pretty good stuff. At least, the first two tracks are good, but the 21 minute "Sea Goat" is a bit too much for me. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Celtic Frost: Cold Lake (1988)

Motion for Reconsideration

Cold Lake is widely considered to be the only bad album released by the highly-influential Celtic Frost, called a sellout by many and denounced even by frontman Tom Warrior. But does it deserve such a bad reputation?

Prior to this point, the band had huge influence as a proto-black metal outfit, with a couple of amazing EPs and To Mega Therion as the perfect examples. They followed these up with 1987's experimental Into the Pandemonium, which also included industrial elements. These were well-received by serious metal fans, not the fans of Van Halen or Def Leppard.

Then everyone left the band, except for Warrior. New members were lined up, and guitarist Amberg took over much of the writing. Warrior had this to say about the situation:

I was too eager to simply have a good time, I was too happy to have new musicians who actually wanted to write and who didn't leave me with the immense burden of writing and producing the entire album (as it had been for the first three Celtic Frost albums). I therefore loosened control (of material and quality) too much. And I was too glad to let the darkness go – right down to the band’s image.

The original concept for Cold Lake as outlined was now taking on its own dynamics and our focus became totally out of control. What was going to be a far more melodic (commercial) album by the original line-up became an overblown steam release valve for past frustrations, recorded by new musicians who didn’t yet understand the legacy of Celtic Frost.

Tony Platt’s faulty production and the hefty disagreements he had with us contributed to this. The mistakes are countless. Just two here: we didn’t let go of Tony because we wanted a major name attached to the album – after all, that was what Celtic Frost always requested from Noise Records and had never gotten. Now it was possible. And Celtic Frost’s traditional complete ignorance of what was appropriate now backfired when we did Cold Lake in this totally inappropriate way.

But what about the results?



(I should clarify that I was not able to get a copy of the album, but I did manage to find every song online and listen to them in order.)

The album definitely does NOT sound like previous Celtic Frost albums. It is, sadly, very much in the vein of Mötley Crüe. Even if they were good at it, that would have been an utter failure, but they weren't good at it. Warrior's voice is ill-suited to the irreverent, fun-loving style.

The intro gives it an inauspicious, proto-rap-rock beginning, but the album isn't a total waste. "(Once) They Were Eagles" and "Downtown Hanoi" are decent, and closer "Roses with Thorns" sounds almost like true Celtic Frost except for the lead guitars. "Cherry Orchards", the highlight of the album, even includes female vocals, although they are now sexy instead of eerie.

But the rest of the album does deserve the bad reputation the album gets. "Seduce Me Tonight" and "Blood on Kisses" are probably the worst of the bunch.

The Verdict: This album might not be quite as bad as its reputation, but it's damn close, and I give it 1 out of 5 stars. Of course, for completists and collectors it would be an excellent find, with CD copies running around $80, cassettes about $20, and vinyl anywhere in that range.

Celtic Frost: Monotheist (2006) Review

As I mentioned earlier, I had never heard Celtic Frost when I reviewed Triptykon's debut. That album was so incredible, I picked up two Celtic Frost albums soon after: To Mega Therion and Monotheist.

Many people said that Eparistera Daimones was very much like Monotheist, and I agree. All of the elements are essentially the same: ultra-heavy death/doom with dissonant chords, lots of string-bending, ethereal female vocals, and Tom G. Warrior's powerful snarl. The sound is absolutely frightening and awe-inspiring, a darkness made only bleaker by moments of fragile beauty.

The simplest way I can put it is that Eparistera Daimones is the perfected version of Monotheist. This album doesn't flow quite as well, and even though it's actually 4 minutes shorter it seems to drag on a little longer than it should. Triptykon's album has neither of those problems, being perfect in every way.



The Verdict: If you liked Eparistera Daimones, well, I'm not kidding anyone here, you probably already have Monotheist. But if you don't (I didn't) then you should definitely check out Celtic Frost's swan song. It's an imperfect version, but not so much that it will disappoint by any means. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Metal Briefs: 1985

1985 was a formative year in metal. Thrash was just getting into full gear, and the seeds of death, black, and progressive metal were being sown. So, I thought I'd review three important albums released that year. Of course, it's tough to review in the context of that time (I was potty trained at the time, but not particularly knowledgeable about the metal scene), but I'll see what I can do.

Slayer: Hell Awaits

A year later, they would release the legendary Reign In Blood, but with 1985's Hell Awaits Slayer had already established themselves near the top of the thrash metal game. Hovering around 4-6 minutes, the songs are much longer, and the Venom influence is much more apparent. It's a little slower than the classic, but the songs are still well-written. Maybe not indispensable to a thrash metal collection, but very nearly so. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.



Fates Warning: The Spectre Within

At first, it sounds like it could be an Iron Maiden tribute band. They have the same kind of rhythm, and the vocals sound like a good karaoke (if there is such a thing as good karaoke) version of Bruce Dickinson's. But if you listen more closely, you'll hear a little more virtuosity in the instrumentation. This album is often credited as one of the very first progressive metal albums. It doesn't stand the test of time quite as well as others, but it's still a fine listen. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.



Celtic Frost: To Mega Therion

It's a little tough to classify this album. Mostly it's thrash, but these Swiss have a very different approach to the genre. It's a little slower, and has many more atmospheric elements (like female vocals and horn-like effects). As such, Celtic Frost is credited as an enormous influence on black metal. You can actually hear the bass in the production (why didn't early black metal artists get influenced by that part?), the vocals are among the best in thrash, and the songs still hold up perfectly well today. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Triptykon: Eparistera Daimones (2010) Review

Apparently, Triptykon's debut album Eparistera Daimones was the most anticipated new metal album of the year. I hadn't heard of it until Metallattorney did a post on it. In short: it deserves all the anticipation.

However strange it may be, I have never listened to a Celtic Frost album. That will change in the very near future, because Tom G. Warrior's new album has completely blown me away. I think my unfamiliarity with his previous work gives me an unclouded look at the virtues of this masterpiece.

Let's start with the cover art. H.R. Giger is always a great way to go for a metal band, and rarely has he connected his work with anything other than worthwhile projects. See Danzig's How the Gods Kill, for instance. But Triptykon is a much better match for the darkness of Giger's artwork. Interestingly, "Do You Wear the Mark" from that Danzig album references a "devil on the left," and eparistera daimones means "devils on the left."

Past the superficial, the music is stunning. Wikipedia currently lists it as avant-garde metal, black metal, gothic metal, and doom metal. In my opinion, it's doom metal, with some death metal passages (including the entire track "A Thousand Lies"). It is the heaviest album I have heard in a long time, and rarely have I heard so many dissonant chords from anyone besides Meshuggah. It's got to be difficult to write everything with dissonant chords, but it works incredibly well here. If this helps at all, it sounds a lot like Eryn Non Dae, except with more breathing room due to more minimalist arrangements.

They even take the dissonance one step further, with liberal use of string bends, giving it an eerie and extremely scary sound--the scariest I've ever heard. This has to be particularly hard on bass player Vanja Slajh. He must have a grip that could crush bones.

The vocals are great too. Warrior's style isn't particularly unique, but he is very skillful at blending a powerful growl with some rather fragile moments. An ethereal female voice also chimes in from time to time.

Another thing in its favor is that this sounds like a real album, not just a collection of songs. It has a beginning (tracks 1-3), a middle (tracks 4-7), and an end (tracks 8 and 9), each one equipped with an introduction, followed by some real meat, and ending with a satisfying conclusion. And "The Prolonging" is one of the best 20 minute tracks I've ever heard (along with "I" and "Black Rose Immortal"), but it could have been combined with "My Pain" to make a perfectly listenable 25 minute song.



The Verdict: This has quite handily defeated all other contenders for album of the year thus far. It's absolutely brilliant, and shockingly frightening music, and it fits together as an album perfectly. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Eluveitie: Everything Remains As It Never Was (2010)

I picked up Eluveitie's latest, Everything Remains As It Never Was, and even though it's no Slania, it's still a great album.

These Swiss have what I consider the best approach to the folk metal genre of anyone out there: They combine the pipes and strings with melodic death metal. It's a perfect fit, never sounding gimmicky or awkward, but instead blending perfectly into a cohesive style.

The album both starts and ends on mellow acoustic tracks, and has a good distribution of good and great songs in between. As I said, the album is great, but it seems to be lacking that spark the band had two years ago. At its root, it seems the only problem is they haven't stepped out of their comfort zone, even having recorded the all-acoustic Evocation I: The Arcane Dominion a year earlier. Maybe the members need to explore other musical pursuits for a while and then come back--that strategy often works. They have recorded a new album in each of the last three years, and appear to be planning to release another one next year, so they may be burned out.

The Verdict: Despite their failure to innovate (beyond what they've done on previous albums), I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars. The best tracks are the title track and "Quoth the Raven."