Hard Rock – Page 10 – Wonderbox Metal

Astrakhan – A Tapestry of Scabs and Skin (Review)

Astrakhan are from Canada and play Progressive Metal. This is their latest EP.

This is powerful music with plenty of dynamics and personality.

Think Progressive Metal with a modern edge; kind of in the vein of what Mastodon do but without really sounding like them too much. Couple this with elements of bands as diverse as Alice in Chains, High on Fire and Metallica…

Hard Rock mixes with a Sludge feel and strong clean vocals dominate everything. Stoner simplicity and technical complexity merge together. They are at once cohesive and divisive; multiple influences congeal into a coherent whole and result in four very impressive songs.

The sheer force of charisma generated by the singer is draw-dropping. To further muddy the waters of genre-definition, he sometimes sounds like he could easily front an Avant-Garde band like Arcturus or Manes with ease.

The distortion feels alive and the riffs have a vitality to them. Each of the songs flexes its musical muscles and exudes feelings that are both epic and emotive.

Their music is textured and rich with riffs that propel the songs onward with real passion and vigour.

Top quality. If they can translate their obvious talent into a full length album they’ll be on to a real winner.

Threshold – For The Journey (Review)

Threshold are from the UK and play Progressive Metal. This is their 10th album.

The latest Threshold album, eh? Always a pleasure to listen to this band. They have put out some great music over the years so this was an album I was looking forward to listening to.

Although undeniably still Progressive Metal, they’ve added a little more Hard Rock in their sound, which shows up in some of the harder riffs they use from time to time. This is a subtle alteration however, as they’ve always had this aspect to their sound in varying amounts and For The Journey is still Threshold through-and-through.

Straight away the classic Threshold sound blares out of the speakers as soon as you press play. Threshold are remarkable in this style of music in that you can instantly recognise them; they don’t particularly sound like anyone else and yet even though it’s instantly familiar they still manage to avoid overtly repeating themselves. This speaks of a band with a lot of talent, which has always been apparent.

The songs on For The Journey are a well-crafted collection of strong tracks that showcase the considerable songwriting ability of the band. They walk the fine line between technical ability and emotive songwriting and manage to strike the perfect balance between the two.

Threshold have always, to me, sounded very easy listening in the sense that their music appears to effortlessly sink into the brain and it’s like listening to liquefied Metal that tastes as good as the finest of wines.

The musicianship is, of course, exemplary. Whether this is the powerfully understated drumming, the driving riffs, the exquisite solos and leads, the subtle bass or the mood enhancing keyboards; Threshold know what they’re doing and they do it extremely well.

Vocally as well, the band are onto a winner. A compelling and powerful voice provides clean vocals that are wide in range and incredibly self-assured and powerful. Some of the vocal melodies are enough to send shivers down the spine, especially when they merge perfectly with the accompanying music. The astoundingly good chorus to Unforgiven is one example of many.

Well, what an album. For their tenth full-length Threshold have once again created a masterpiece of Progressive Metal that raises the bar for any other band who are even vaguely playing this style.

This is essential listening from an exemplary band. Get this.

Spontane – Mojra (Review)

Spontane are from Poland and this is their second release.

It starts with a riff, and a good one at that. In fact this release is peppered with them. Riffs fall like mana from the sky and our job as good listeners is to be thankful and eat them all up quickly.

This is high-energy Melodic Metal with a healthy Hard Rock attitude and liberal use of Stoner Metal touches. The riffs come thick and fast and the melodics back this up well.

Vocals are in Polish and are shouted out with vigour and passion. The main vocals sync very well with the backing vocals and the music to create a cohesive delivery that is very well done indeed.

The band seem to have an easy talent for creating catchy, memorable songs with plenty of hooks. This is a great set of tunes and a very strong album.

The relative obscurity of the band and their Polish delivery will probably limit their international appeal somewhat, which is a real shame as this is a very good band. I see no reason why Spontane shouldn’t be primed for big things in the Metal world on the back of this release. It has attitude, style and songs; a dangerous combination.

Listen to Spontane loud and get ready to Rock out hard.