Wonderbox Metal

The Body – No One Deserves Happiness (Review)

This is the fifth album from US Sludge band The Body.

This is a complex album with a multifaceted, layered sound. The Body are not your average band and consequently No One Deserves Happiness is not your average album.

Industrial Sludge Metal is an apt description of the band’s output, although this barely describes the monstrous creation that the band have unleashed on the world with this work.

Electronics and Metal meet in a way that is fused at the very core of the music, revealing a collaboration that you might never think possible. Certainly it’s out of reach of the talent of most bands who attempt to combine electronics and guitars.

This is an album full of bleakness, isolation and despair. The sense of melancholy and hateful abandonment is strong, with the music absolutely reeking of complex negative emotions and the utter failure of all human contact.

Harsh, needle-thin vocals are sometimes joined by ethereal female cleans, which ratchet up the emotional content to almost unbearable levels.

This is a hard album to describe in many ways; although there is a massive amount of things going on here, it’s more the emotional resonance of the music that’s difficult. No One Deserves Happiness seems to easily and swiftly evoke all of the feelings of negativity, discomfort and nostalgic loss that you’ve experienced your entire life. It’s an extremely powerful listen because of this and at the end of its 48 minute journey you feel hollow and spent.

After listening to this, it’s hard to disagree with the album name.

Ande – Licht (Review)

Ande is a Black Metal solo project from Belgium. This is his début release.

With each song separated by a short atmospheric interlude, we get three actual songs that evoke the original Black Metal template with a atmospheric and emotive sheen.

The music has good riffs, good atmosphere and tasty screams. It’s a short but enjoyable release that lets the listener wallow in the blackened depths of an atavistic style.

Old-school and obscure, this will likely be overlooked by most fans of the style, which is a real shame as Licht is an extremely satisfying listen. This strikes all of the right notes and moods without feeling stale or done-to-death.

The songs have a relatively good degree of variety between them and the interludes all work well to provide an unusual atmosphere between the blackened abysses that the songs create. I prefer the slower, more atmospheric sections over the faster ones, but the faster ones are still very well done.

The recording is well pitched, with just the right mixture of clarity and rawness that a release like this deserves.

I really enjoyed this.

Product of Hate – Buried in Violence (Review)

This is the début album from US Metal band Product of Hate.

Product of Hate play modern Metal that incorporates elements of Thrash Metal and Metalcore into its makeup. This equates to some noticeable influences from the classic style, notably Kreator and Testament, as well as the more modern Metalcore style that was made so popular by the NWOAHM bands of the 00s. More European aspects appear sometimes too, reminding me of some of Darkane’s work on occasion.

Reading the above though it’s important to realise a few things; this is no retro-loving crap-fest; this is darker and harder than a lot of the more commercial bands playing a similar style; there are no radio-friendly unit shifters with sparkling clean vocals here – Product of Hate go in for the kill with all the aggression that they can muster.

Buried in Violence is a bit rough around the edges, but I think that’s the intent. You could easily imagine the busy riffs and even busier solos encased in a solid gold, ultra-polished production, but this is not the case; they have a large sound that suits the style, but it’s grittier and more earthy than most. This allows the band to get their hands dirty and focus on tearing things up with their assault.

The songs are quite catchy and memorable without being overly so; the band sound like they have tried to pen real songs that they are passionate about rather than one-dimensional sing-along, throwaway hits. This is all down to perspective, of course, and I can easily imagine Product of Hate getting written off by some as being just another Metalcore band with nothing to offer. This is a disservice I feel, but a somewhat inevitable one; it’s a shame as there are more than enough bands peddling the more commercial side of this kind of music, whereas Product of Hate are offering something a bit harder and more aggressive than most. Sure, it’s not Death Metal and it definitely exists on the more commercial side of the Metal spectrum, (relatively speaking, when compared to the more extreme end of Metal), but this is not the kind of thing you’ll hear on the radio any time soon.

Ultimately, Buried in Violence shows a band who clearly love their Metal and gathers together a collection of Metal anthems that just want to Thrash out and give the listener a good tune and a good bashing at the same time.

Oh, there’s also an Ozzy Osbourne cover.

Can’t complain about that.

Fleshgod Apocalypse – King (Review)

This is the fourth album from this Italian Death Metal juggernaut.

If you haven’t encountered Fleshgod Apocalypse before, apart from having an extremely striking band name, they play an exciting and intriguing blend of symphonic and brutal Death Metal that has few peers and really does get the juices flowing.

There’s a lot of content on this release, lasting almost an hour in total. Now fully embracing their Classical influences, the songs on King merge both symphonic and Extreme Metal worlds in ways that very few bands could pull off. Septic Flesh, Therion and a handful of others are in the same league, but for outright speed and brutality combined with Classical influences, none really come close to Fleshgod Apocalypse, none that I’ve heard at any rate.

This is high operatic art, as applied to the realm of Extreme Metal. With a bombastic production the band’s compositions are nuanced and subtle, all hiding behind a ostentatious veneer of brutal Metal. Strength and power are exemplified on these tracks.

The deep growling vocals keep the aggressive elements at the forefront of their sound, while the soaring cleans make for uplifting and powerful additions. These clean vocals masterfully avoid the commercially-tinged climes of bands that usually incorporate them into an Extreme Metal framework and instead allow them to enhance and merge with the busy, complex music. Operative female cleans also appear in places, further impressing.

The symphonic elements are ubiquitous and relentless, providing an epic backdrop onto which the Metal is writ large. This is more than just one style being added to the other though, as the merging appears to take place at the cellular level, with both styles embracing each other. In places this even verges on the kind of symphonic territory that certain strains of Heavy/Power Metal have occupied so well over the years.

All of this on its own would be impressive enough, but the real test of longevity is the quality of the songs. After all, if it was all flashy style and no substance, then sure it would sound impressive on first listen, but it would soon get old. All of this is, I suppose, a rather long-winded way of saying that the songs are well-written in addition to everything else, and it is this more than anything else that will allow King to pass the test of time and multiple listens. These songs work, and work very well.

King demonstrates a band at the peak of their creative powers in many ways, and it will be interesting to see what paths they tread in the future. I personally hope they take the Classical/operatic angle even further and become even more epic in scope. We’ll see. For now though, King is a suitably majestic release for something that bears such an appellation, one that I insist you listen to as soon as you can.

Essential.

Interview with Beehoover

The latest Beehoover album Primitive Powers is a highly enjoyable listening experience from this uncommon band. Combining quirky and characterful Stoner/Doom/Sludge influences into their personable music, I had to ask their drummer Claus a bit more about what they’re made of…

For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!

It’s Ingmar on bass and vocals and me, Claus, on drums. We play loud rock music beyond typical standards. We don’t care about common structures, song lengths or whatever. We don’t have a specific political, social or visual outfit. However, we do care about our music a lot!

Give us a bit of background to Beehoover

Ingmar and I met around 2002 and we realized at once we share the same ideas about music. We tried to put together a proper rock band with a guitar player and a singer that didn’t work out so we had to carry on as a duo, which has worked out well ever since. “Primitive Powers” is our fifth album, other than that we have released four albums on Exile on Mainstream Records, an EP and a demo.

What are your influences?

We both have listened to bands like Primus, No Means No, Tool, Ninewood or Isis. Lyric-wise there are influences to be found in our everyday life or historical facts.

What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?

I listen to some older stuff or BBC6 radio. We both don’t really listen to any specific new bands.

How do you feel that you fit into the wider musical scene?

We ourselves think we do. There are people with different musical backgrounds at our concerts, all together dancing and banging their heads, which may mean we’re right. However, some promoters, labels, bookers or magazines seem to see us in a freakier corner and not appealing to a larger audience.

Give us a bit of background to Primitive Powers – any particular concepts or ideas you want to discuss?

This album covers topics like domination, aggression and suppression on one and those like hope, despair and disappointment on the other side.

“Primitive powers” is a line of the song “Tickling the Dragon’s Tail”, which is the name of an experiment carried out by nuclear scientists in the 1940s. It was a very dangerous experiment, however safety precautions were neglected and in the end something went wrong and some scientists died from radiation. We think this shows how arrogant human beings can be.

The cover artwork may give some space for interpretation as well.

Tell us about the album artwork

They are handmade collages and a collaboration between an Dutch and American artist. The cover is a symbol of human arrogance.

How do you think this is different to or has progressed from The Devil and His Footmen?

Always difficult to tell because you don’t do anything on purpose, it comes out a certain way and that’s it. We’ve already gotten some very nice critiques about the album being the most elaborated Beehoover work so far.

Also, it’s the first album we didn’t record and mix ourselves, which made things a lot easier. It’s also the first for our new label Unundeux.

How do you go about writing your songs?

Normally Ingmar comes up with riffs. We work on them, record them, share them online, listen to them again and again, combine them with other parts, rewrite them, throw them away and so on. So our songs grow step by step and we always work on several songs at the same time.

We live several hundreds of kilometres apart. So we met every other weekend over a couple of months for rehearsing sessions until the songs were done.

How did the recording process go?

We locked ourselves in at Tonmeisterei Oldenburg for six days. It’s good to be caught in that microcosm and be able to concentrate on nothing but the music. When recording we don’t experiment a lot and try to be prepared as well as possible.

What’s your favourite song on the album and why?

That’s difficult because they’re all our babies and we don’t play something if one of us doesn’t like it. Of the new songs I really enjoy listening to Embers and Bombs & Bagpipes. Those songs have lots of dynamics and unusual structures, which I like.

What does the future hold for Beehoover?

We have some touring plans for later this year and hopefully we’ll get the chance to play more gigs and a greater recognition.

A Thousand Sufferings – Burden (Review)

This is the début album from Belgian Doom Metal band A Thousand Sufferings.

This is semi-blackened Doom with dark screaming shouts. The band succeed in creating sombre, down-beat moods that snare the listener in their barbed grasp.

The band have a similar feel and mood to that of Triptykon; like an updated Celtic Frost with added Doom and Black Metal atmospheres.

The riffs pile on top of each other, almost reaching wall-of-guitars proportions but offering more nuance than that style usually does. There’s some quite inventive and emotive ones on here too, adding to the overall dark feelings that they espouse.

A Thousand Sufferings understand the nature of this kind of music all too well, with negativity seeping out of the speakers in an occult way, seeming to feast on the souls of those drawn into this grim web of mystical invocations.

A very enjoyable slab of Doom Metal for fans of the darker side of life.

Kataklysm/Septic Flesh/Aborted – Sound Control, Manchester – 19/02/16 (Live Review)

When I first saw this tour advertised I couldn’t quite believe it, such a ridiculously strong lineup featuring three high-profile acts, any of which could probably headline here in their own right, at least to my mind. This is the very definition of an unmissable tour to me.

So here I am. It couldn’t be any other way. Continue reading “Kataklysm/Septic Flesh/Aborted – Sound Control, Manchester – 19/02/16 (Live Review)”

Sea – Demo (Review)

This is the début demo from US Doom band Sea.

Sea play their Doom with a good amount of Sludge and roiling Neurosis-styled claustrophobic heaviness.

These three tracks drag themselves along, lazily pounding out heavy riffs alternated with more restrained sections, with even the odd guitar solo drifting out from the sludgy miasma that they create. They shift up a gear on rare occasion, introducing some blast beats into their style. These are infrequent and short lived, but it all adds to the music in the right way.

The vocals mainly consist of rough semi-cleans and higher, softer, clean vocals that emphasise the more emotive parts of the songs. These lighter parts showcase a Post-Metal side of the band, allowing them to demonstrate the breadth of ability that they clearly have.

There are some really strong guitar parts across these tracks and the band stand out quite quickly as being above-average in the songwriting department. It’s all very memorable, surprisingly diverse and even catchy for the style.

Sea have made a good impression with this demo and the songs are very enjoyable. I like this kind of gritty, heavy and emotive style of Doom and it would surely be a hit for fans of bands like Neurosis, Sorxe and Sea of Bones, in my opinion.

A highly promising first release.

Vredehammer – Violator (Review)

This is Vredehammer’s second album. They play Black Metal and are from Norway.

Vredehammer play aggressive Black Metal that keeps the core of the genre alive and well, while merging it with a state-of-the-art blackness that bands like Satyricon, Keep of Kalessin and Temple of Baal do so well. Add a bit of Death Metal in the form of something like Behemoth and even a touch of Aura Noir-esque Thrash and you have a good overview of Vredehammer’s style. Tracks like Ursus even have a bit of the Amon Amarth about them, to my ears.

The vocals consist of dark outbursts that strike a fine balance between legibility and outright harshness. Sitting somewhere between the styles of Black and Death Metal, they work well to provide a focal point for the music without dominating it.

Powerful rhythm guitars form the bedrock of the tracks and these punish and damage for all they’re worth. Interestingly though, the band build on these strong foundations to provide a more well-rounded listening experience than you might expect; Violator is not a one-dimensional album.

Twisted melodics and bright, ethereal leads occasionally add colour and texture to the band’s blackened rhythms, allowing them to explore wider pastures that their brutal tendencies might otherwise preclude them from. This adds a lot to the album and raises it to another level, quality-wise. This is all wrapped around their inherent malevolent nastiness though, which is never too far from proceedings.

Boasting a strong production to round things off, Violator is a very enjoyable album, and at 35 minutes in length it’s easy to get your fill of their blackened aggression.

Recommended.

Communal Grave – Solace in Violencia (Review)

Communal Grave are a Death/Thrash Metal band from Pakistan. This is their début album.

The singer has a pretty impressively scary deep growl that’s as dark as night and reeks of a huge black pit that you could easily fall into. It’s the kind of cavernous growl that makes an immediate impression and for a few moments it’s easy to forget the music that’s backing it up.

Phew.

As for the music – this is Melodic Death Metal that’s merged with Thrash Metal to produce an exact and precise rendition of both styles, mixed in together and spiced with some nice melodic tendencies throughout the songs.

The band sound like they have a tight rein on the music, playing everything with precision and care, focusing on the end result of the song and considering every part down to the last riff. This is in stark contrast to the feral vocals that sound completely unbound and unfettered, savagely growling their way over the melodic riffs and mellifluous leads. The contrast between the rough growls and precision-cut music is jarring, but somehow works nonetheless.

The longer-than-average nature of some of the tracks allows the band explore various melodic climes and these 45 minutes pass by easily, with the listener concurrently being buoyed up by the melodic assault and tore down by the deep, malevolent growls.

Ha! No matter how many times I listen to this, the best word I can think of to describe the singer’s vocals is “terrifying”. Oh, you’ll probably listen to them and think they’re deep growls and nothing more, but for me, for some unnameable reason, they hit a raw nerve that chills me to my very core. What’s that all about then? Best not to dig too deep I suspect.

At any rate, it all adds to the experience and Solace in Violencia is an engaging and enjoyable listen.

Now, excuse me while I go and select some new underwear…