Review: Last Witness - Mourning After

 The rise of underground London hardcore mob Last Witness is one that's had it's difficulties, most notably the falling apart of the group before anything really began for them when their 2008 debut An Unfinished Lie was lost and abandoned. It's only following it's release 2 years later that the quintet decided it marked a time for them to get back on their feet. And it's a good thing they have as they've now come roaring back more realistically and brutal this time with their charming comeback release Mourning After.

 As opener The Void thunders into action, you get a basic and effective image of the overall musical impression of this album, that it is very much metalcore sounding it's most earthly, as in this style of music is played to sound it's roughest, in a way that upholds it's hardcore punk roots with a much greater respectability. The frenzied screeching of frontman "Theo" have the sound of vocal chords being dragged along sandpaper in the scorching ferocity, which really help characterize the unrefined fury and bile of Exorcism and Somnambulism.
 The hardcore performance is second to none in creating an atmosphere of absolute brutality, chaos and anomie. The immense spiraling riffs and pounding drumbeats found in Pan-Am Smile perfectly characterizes the songs sense of danger and exhilaration and the switches between the doom-laden slower passages and intense series of breakdowns found on Magnolia and the epic closer Marionette effortlessly reveals the groups chaotic nature in a form that is very real and heart-stopping with the simply juggernaut riffs from Bobby Daniels and Anthony Sykes.
 So to use a cliched phrase, Mourning After is very much an album of all killer, no filler. Last Witness make an astonishing effort in playing metalcore at it's most raw and most monstrous that will pound every listener into submission with it's balls to the wall brutality and relentless hardcore and bleak attitude. The return of Last Witness is very much a return that all hardcore enthusiasts can be grateful for. This is metalcore as it should be.

Last Witness' Mourning After is out now via Holy Roar.

Review: Primal Rock Rebellion - Awoken Broken

 Though the news of the collaboration has been around for some time now, the thought of a collaboration between Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith and former SikTh frontman Mikee Goodman is still pretty unreal. When I first heard SikTh and their juddering complex intense rush of metal, the only other group I could really think to compare them to were German technical death metal masters Necrophagist. The combination of that style with Maiden's more streamlined and powerful traditional heavy metal seemed unrealistic and just odd. But of course, to assume that supergroups are created only to bring together the respective styles of each other's bands is a stupid thing to do, and so Smith and Goodman's collaborative project Primal Rock Rebellion is something that really shows the pair stepping out of their comfort zones and trying something a little different, and genuinely awesome.

 Smith is without a doubt the musically most active of all six Maiden members and has formed various side projects in the past including groups that have specialized in more progressive territory, but never has anything that either of the groups members done anything that sounds so atmospheric and epic in it's structure and soundscaping. Primal Rock Rebellion's debut (and possibly only) release Awoken Broken succeeds in doing what every collaborative project should strive to do in that Smith's massive melodic riffs are instantly recognizable of the heaviest work of Iron Maiden, while Goodman's wild screeching vocals are reminiscent of SikTh at their most vicious but these musical featured are used in a way that is very different to their full-time groups. Tracks like No Friendly Neighbour and No Place Like Home have something of an industrial influence which the primary features of these musicians succeed in fitting into effortlessly, the same can be said for the layers of atmospheric sound and textures that give tracks like I See Lights and Tortured Tone that extra spacey progressive metal brilliance. It's certainly got the kind of sound you'd expect to hear floating around on the twisted collection of albums that was the Devin Townsend Project.
 And this buildup of atmosphere is what really kicks Awoken Broken into action as every moment manages to be very alive, exciting and well, downright weird at times. In a good way of course. But this skill makes Savage World and Search For Bliss songs that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Similarly, the albums title track and the dreamy "storytelling?" track Snake Ladders are packed with glorious weirdness derived mainly from Goodman's versatile vocal performance which are frequently thrilling. And when looking at the weirder aspects of the album even the forty-seven second interlude As Tears Come Falling From the Sky deserves praise for the fact that it is just... so completely mental. Listening to the entire album is worth it for that amongst many other things.
 So, Awoken Broken is an album that sees the minds of two different spectrums of metal come together and exchange various ideas and using them to do something a little more off-the-wall and not so predictable. There's a good chance it won't appeal to many Maiden fans since the powerful wailing of Bruce Dickinson has been replaced with an array of screeching and growling and fans of SikTh may find the lack of complex time signature switches and more work in creating atmospheric backdrops to be something of a disappointment, but the sense of excitement and racing adventure seen in the actual music itself as well as the experimental craze seen throughout is enough to make this album a dynamic fresh and awe-inspiring listen.

 Primal Rock Rebellion's Awoken Broken is out now via Spinefarm.

Review: Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II

 Exhilarating! uplifting! adrenaline fueled! Filled with hooks! These are some of the many keywords that could never be used to describe Earth, the pioneers of the doom drone sub-genre. I first experienced them after none other than fellow out-of-the-ordinary music enthusiast Patrick posted a video link for Teeth of the Lions Rule the Divine from the Seattle quintet's debut Earth 2. The deceptive bastard put this link on my page writing above the video "Dig these phat beats yo." and of course, I played the song to check it out, only to be greeted by over twenty seven minutes of continuous repetitive riffs drenched in feedback and distortion. There were no phat beats. There were no drums. In many ways, the song sounded a little like the soundtrack of death and though it didn't feel quite as deathly and utterly bleak as when Sleep's Dopesmoker was casually posted on that same social networking site, the continuos guitar work just had the impression of slowly dragging it's listener into the depths of Hell. It was pretty good.

 Of course that was back in the mid-90's and since then, Earth have become a very different group, their 2005 comeback saw them reborn with a wider range of instruments including drums and musical influences. Of course to say that introducing more instruments and influences has made Earth's music more accessible is to say that my absolute inability to come up with a good "To say that..." joke and using this fact to stir laughs itself has given me a good sense of self-deprecatory humour. However, this addition of a wider variety of musical ideas has made the work of Earth a much more engaging and gripping prospect and this years sees the release of the second installment for last years Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light collection of songs, which continues to show the group being more mellow and less full-on. The songs are still guitar dominated and largely instrumental and played with an extreme lethargy, but it's with this that the group's immense atmospheric soundscapes manage to emerge. With it's simple arrangement of drawn out riffs, plodding basslines and cello backdrops, His Teeth Did Brightly Shine is filled with a mournful and desolate attitude. There is less drone found but rest-assured, Earth's sense of doom lives on strongly.
 And so, it goes without saying that this album is rooted in absolute bleakness and chaos. Listening to it does require a lot of focus and devotion and the thirteen minute epic Waltz (A Multiplicity of Doors) proves this with great ease. Seriously, cellos have got to be the most depressing instruments in the world. There is no way that it can possibly played in any way that would emit any sort of happiness or joy and it's really little wonder that the group have a full time cellist in the form of Lori Goldston because, something so depressing is essential for music so rooted in gloom as Earth is. Even the more swaggering closer The Rakehell doesn't really do anything to lift spirits even when Dylan Carson's riffs do manage to be effortlessly cool and rock n' roll at the time.
 So, if you're looking for something that's a little... grimmer than anything else I can only recommend checking out this album and in fact the entire Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light Collection. Earth are incredibly effective at creating music with a brooding atmosphere, where an emotional impact is made without the requirement for any lyrics. Absolute focus and attention is needed for these sluggish jams to reach their full impact and listening to it isn't designed to be any kind of easy task, but if you want to see epic soundscapes reach some kind of charming formation, then look here and see that Earth have managed to use  atmospheres of doom in a way as innovative and epic as possible.

 Earth's Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II is out now via Southern Lord Records. The band will tour the UK in March with Mount Eerie and O Paon.

Celebrating 20 Years: Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power

 As the 1990s came into emegence, metal music seemed to be on it's hind legs. Only the thrash sound of Slayer, Anthrax and Metallica (who were about to drop the thrash sound for 1991's Black Album) and many more were the kinds of metal that were genuinely thrilling and epic as well as being to reach larger crowds. However, the kind of metal that was seen to gain a greater rising were the mass waves of glam metal and hair metal bands, all of whom reached large amounts of attention and stardom for essentially playing pop music disguised by some guitar riffs and pompous attitudes, while the rising of the more viscious and exciting black metal and death metal was recieving little attention or care. things looked grim. Metal was desperately in need of a group that could reach out to the masses of rock fans and simultanously deliver a performance that was raw, exciting and fresh. Otherwise the genre had no hope.
 And it was 1990 that saw this change come recklessly and wildly into place when Arlington quartet Pantera re-emerged with their fifth album Cowboys From Hell. This album would become a rebirth for the group and a rebirth for metal in general. It saw the group abandon their cringeworthy glam metal of old and return with a much rougher, dirtier and more extreme brand of metal. As guitarist Darrell Abbott transformed from "Diamond Darrell" into "Dimebag Darrell", Pantera charged forward with a full-scale assault upon a mass of unsespecting and delighted metal enthusiasts with the introduction of groove metal which saw the perfect marriage of pulsing thrash metal riffs and danceable hip hop rhythms. The previous glam metal releases meant nothing. This was their real debut. This was the real way to say hello to Pantera and a new dawn of heavy music that would give heavy music at it's most extreme a place in the mainstream world of music where it belonged.
 And then a year later, Nevermind by Nirvana topped the US Billboard 200 album chart and heavy rock music was given a newer rebirth once again in the form of grunge music, as the Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains all reached extreme heights of mainstream success. However, this meant that the world of metal was still left begging for more and the rise of groups like Machine Head and mainstream emegence of Sepultura meant more progress was made in the rise of groove metal. but ultimately, it was Pantera that a new generation of optimistic metalheads looked upon for a desire to continue to intense assault of revolutionary heavy metal as they had on Cowboys From Hell. Surely it was an impossible task. There was no way an album with the same kind of game-changing and reputable impact could be made, surely...

And of course, today fans of metal across the globe can celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the release of an album that ultimately did have the same kind of game-changing and reputable impact on metal as we know it. 1992's Vulgar Display of Power became one of the most influncial metal albums of the 1990s with it's influence remaining a prominent force today. As grunge rose at an astonishing rate and glam rock wasn't able to last the pace, frontman Phil Anselmo knew that it was a case of adapt or die and more changes were made for Vulgar Display of Power that metal music thrives on today. And most notably, the change in vocal style for this album is remarkable, the high pitched Judas Priest and the ridiculous cock rock style of spandex and poodle-perm hair was all banished, Anselmo shaved his hair and switched a much deeper guttural growl to give the songs a more monstrous delivery. And sure enough as he is first heard screaming "Revenge/ I'm screaming revenge again" during opener Mouth for War, it's obvious that mainstream heavy metal has once more become as evil-sounding and forceful as Black Sabbath intended for it to be in 1970. The influence of this album has stretched far and wide across the world of metal as we know it today. The group's sludgier performance, bleaker performances on tracks like A New Level and By Demons Be Driven manage to conjure up awe-inspiring atmospheres of pure morbid brutality while the more rapid hardcore punk delivery of Fucking Hostile and Rise are a rush of epic ecstasy and energy. Both elements of playing can clearly be identified when listening to Lamb of God or Mastodon, arguably metal's most widely regarded and celebrated groups of this generation. As well as this, there's the stomping, swaggering Walk, a song with such a simple groove from Dimebag and pounding bassline from Vinnie Paul that has become a heavy metal anthem. It's power that emerges through the no-tricks-just-riffs nature of the song is still felt today. It's still performed onstage during shows for completely different groups. Avenged Sevenfold and Bullet for My Valentine have performed it onstage together. Simply if you know modern metal, you know that song inside out.
 When speaking of the mentality the group had for the making of the album, Anselmo states that the idea of playing making the album was simply "playing metal with hardcore attitude" and it shows through the constant addition of the extra badass qualities that hardcore punk brings mixing itself with heavy metal traditions to create the kind of musical attitude that was unheard. It resulted in bleak and sludgy verse structures mixing with more in-your-face and frantic grooves during Live In a Hole and Regular People (Conceit) and most importantly, giving badass riffs to more emotional ballads. The closest anyone had got to doing such a thing was Guns N' Roses and they never had any immense breakdowns or deathly growling, like heard in This Love and Hollow. And these moments don't even divert from the pure emotion that emits from these songs, surely a sign of how strong they are.
 The emotional impact of Vulgar Display of Power is also a considerable force, both when listening and in hindsight. Though the performance is violent and aggressive, there's a lot of positivity to be found on the album. Rise is a song that calls for mass unity and brotherhood amongst mankind as Anselmo yells "Mass prediction, unification/ Breathing life into our lungs/ Every creed and every kind/ To give us depth for strength." In hindsight, this idea of brotherhood is something that makes this album so wonderful. It's the sense of brotherhood within Pantera that makes this album even more powerful a listen. Anselmo had fully settled into a group, having not joined until fourth album and unofficial Pantera album Power Metal and when listening to the album, it's quite clearly the sound of four guys kicking it together and having an awesome time without a care about what anyone else thinks. It's a far cry from the events in later years which saw Anselmo and Dimebag have a very public fallout in 2003, leading to the demise of the group and the horrific onstage murder of Dimebag a year later meant Phil was never given any chance to make any kind of reparations with his former partner in metal. So, when listening to Vulgar Display of Power, it's a warming callback of more glorious days, a true album which resembles friendship and brotherhood across musicians.
 So, Vulgar Display of Power is an album that's all about being as brutal and hardcore as possible in playing heavy metal and twenty years on it's still as heart-racing, punishing and tearing a listen as ever with raw energetic performances with genuine roughness, bile and vigor mixed with the performance. It's the album that has inspired a generation of groups, putting both nu metal and metalcore into action by mixing wiry, adrenaline filled hardcore breakdowns with in-depth more emotional heavy metal passages. It's a masterpiece of metal and though it is extremely likely that Pantera are never going to make any kind of return, albums like this mean their legacy will last forever.

 Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power 20th Anniversary Edition CD/DVD set will be released on 15th May via Rhino.

Review: InMe - The Pride

 What is there to say about Essex alt-metallers InMe? They've released a series of albums that successfully reveal their abilities in playing post-hardcore with a more streamlined and poppier edge, but the similar style and techniques executed by Funeral for a Friend, Fightstar and Biffy Clyro have left them being underrated and overlooked. Needless to say, a "thorough" listen-through of the group's back catalogue reveals them to have just as big a sound as their poppy post-hardcore peers, just not as big a fanbase. There's no knowing if the release of fifth album The Pride will allow the group's hook-filled hardcore to win it's way in the hearts of any new listeners but it does have the certain grandness of passion that reveals it's potential to do so.

 The Pride reveals itself as an album that seriously accentuates the brilliance of streamlined post-hardcore music, being a collection of epic-ly crafted songs that succeeds in encouraging people to headbang and keep them in a state of hypnosis, while keeping an energetic hook filled melodic power.
 This allows this sense of mainstream gloss is present and gives tracks like A Great Man and Silver Womb  an extra sparkle to go along with juddering melodies and pounding riffs from frontman Dave McPherson. These songs are breathtakingly uplifting, and Halcyon Genesis, boasting lyrics such as "And I know now, my best days are ahead of me", features one of the most beautiful and uplifting choruses of the year so far. Although, there is a lot to choose from when considering this. The Pride is filled with massive sing-along choruses guaranteed to raise the spirits of anyone listening.
 This sense of uplifting joy and love of hooks is even seen in the likes of Reverie Shores  and Escape to Mysteriopa which showcase the groups more prog-based elements - something that InMe have always brought uniquely to the table in this world of modern poppy post hardcore bands. As sweeping synthesizer backdrops form together with the pounding hardcore riffs, the result is irresistibly dreamy and hypnotic in it's brimming charm.
 So, a decade into a somewhat unnoticed career in music and InMe have still got it. They are still wonderfully powerful in their playing of streamlined post-hardcore music and still understand hooks as well as creating lush soundscapes. This is an album that could allow this group to witness the grander scale of being a UK rock band and gain the kind of fan numbers that are truly deserving.

 InMe's The Pride is out now via Graphite Records. The band are on tour now with LostAlone.

Review: The Menzingers - On the Impossible Past

 Since 2006, The Menzingers have proven themselves a worthy source for wonderous, blissful punk rock of a classic sort that bursts with brightness and positivity. When they were signed to Epitaph Records last year, the labels founder and Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz stated "These guys play the kind of pure punk rock that I grew up with." And with this genuine image of warm kind-natured punk, the Scranton quartet use their loving force to fuel their third album On the Impossible Past. It is basically a punk masterpiece, musically and lyrically. Let's lose ourselves in overwhelming charm.

 With On the Impossible Past, the lyrics are created using a more intense biographical style that is supposedly drawn from personal experience of growing up with friends and familiy and all the different situations wether they be upbeat or filled with pessemism. And as opener Good Things sees frontman Greg Barnett open with the lines "I've had a horrible time/ Pulling myself together/ I've been closing my eyes to find/ The old, familiar failures." you just know that this will be an album of tales from someone that has lived a life worth writing songs about and has seen the highs and lows of living life to the full. The Obituaries repetiton of "I will fuck this up/ I fucking know it" shows a sense of charm in it's absolute tragedy and self-pitying bitterness.
 When lead vicals are handled by guitarist Tom May, song matters take a more uplifting turn, which really sees the biographical reflective tone to their music come out as Gates sees loving memories take up the songs content as May croons: "It's not hard to fall for a waitress/ When you both smoke/ Smoke the same cigarettes/ You'll get seated as diners lovers/ You'll get to check that Scranton's for the better." They make the song as romantic as they do realistic, with a simple tale of love and life fills listeners with warm emotion that one may simply get encapsulated in.
 Musically, the effort of The Menzingers is stunning as well. The band is gifted with the ability to simply write uplifting catchy hard rock songs. There's hints of pop punk, but it's a battered sort of pop punk. The type that has a greater blues influence, a greater soul influence perhaps. More than anything, it's the type of music that has "Bruce Springsteen influence" written all over it. Tracks like Burn After Writing and I Can't Seem to Tell are filled with infectious hooks and distortion drenched riffs all over them. The folky style of heartland punk also aids in giving this album a much rawer, earthly sound overall. And this natrual element only boosts the poetic beauty that the lyrics have to offer.
 So, this is an album that is created using wonder, warmth, punk rock passion and beautifully wriiten lyrics as it's main ingredients. The Mzingers manage to keep things energetic and grand while producing a more intimate and wondrous atmosphere with their lyrics. To end this, I can only think to use the inevitable saying of "Punk's not dead!" and the performance of The Mezingers is evidence of this.

The Mezinger's On the Impossible Past is out now via Epitaph. The band will tour the UK in May with The Bouncing Souls, Red City Radio and Leagues Apart.

Review: Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror

 Just how do you describe the kind of music Sleigh Bells make? You could call it "industrial pop", you could call it "digital hardcore", at times maybe "acid pop" would be a good term, but I think it would be most credible and respectable for me to say "if the phrase 'super-hyper-fun-awesome' had a sound" because, if it did then it would be the colourful assault of dynamic synth infused power pop mixed with industrial and hardcore rock and metal influence that the Brooklyn duo deliver. The ideals of former Poison the Well guitarist Derek Miller and former teen pop star Alexis Krauss for making music have not changed much since 2010's Treats but with their second release Reign of Terror this songwriting power is still strong and the spirit of awesome still resides in their deranged musical craftsmanship.

 What rides high on this album is just an overwhelming and overpowering sense of ecstasy found in almost every aspect of the music. Whether it's Miller's sonic and frenzied post hardcore riffs which can even get a little thrashy, seen on the likes of Born to Lose and Demons, or the trippy and shimmering array of synthesized backdrops which in their immense dynamism and effective layering techniques makes these electronic moments the standout sections themselves, seen best in Comeback Kid and Leader of the Pack or the warm and inviting vocals of Krauss which at times have the extra sense of cuteness that makes one's head want to explode, seen in her unleashing of more punk based yelling in Crush or more seductive crooning seen in Road to Hell and You Lost Me. There can certainly be no denial that this is an album bursting with positivity.
 The arrangement of the songs in their production and songwriting is breathtaking. Miller and Krauss manage to take the normally sinister and brooding structures of the pounding industrial metal and post-hardcore reminiscent to Nine Inch Nails or Big Black and give it a schizophrenic and deluded gloss-over with shiny poppy synthesizers filled with their own awesome intricacies and listening back to them always allows for something new to be discovered. The layering of all these synthesized magnificence and sonic riffs allows for genuinely noisy and heavy playback with genuine aggression in the mot positive way possible.
 So, Reign of Terror is probably the most awesome I've heard pop music being altered sound. The sparky cutesy melodic pop music mixed with an influence of more industrial elements gives the music a sound that is genuinely fresh, dynamic, powerful and is simply bursting with upbeat energy and ecstasy.

 Sleigh Bells' Reign of Terror is out now via Mom+Pop. The band will tour the UK in March with Charli XCX