Voivod - Target Earth review

 

Target Earth is at times a strange progressive metal journey. It reminds me of a weird dream I had years ago, where I was in a space capsule.

I never usually comment on album artwork, as I feel it’s irrelevant. Target Earth’s artwork has prompted me to make an exception, however. It’s astounding that an album brimming with musical excellence should have a cover so awful.

Guitarist and songwriter Piggy passed away in 2005, leaving a big void to fill. New guitarist Chewy has done a great job playing Piggy's parts, and he does a great job on Target Earth as well. The title track contains a great reverb-filled solo which is evocative of the song's outer space theme. On the thrash-oriented Kluskop O'Kom, the memorable solo is fuzzy. Mechanical Mind is filled with catchy grooves and beautiful guitar harmonies. The riffs drone in Defiance, the final track. Chewy is a diverse player who moves easily between thrash, progressive passages and avant-garde, effects-laden interludes. He creates many memorable riffs and solos. I repeated a few tracks before moving to the next track, which is something I rarely do when reviewing an album.

The bass parts are engaging and command attention. They are well-placed in the mix; not so low as to be nearly inaudible, and not so high as to overwhelm other instruments. Away provides some interesting drum fills, and plays in a range of time signatures. His parts add to the atmosphere of the music.

Target Earth is a very engaging album, and I struggled to find fault with it. I don't really have any complaints about the music or the production. The band has changed its sound from being primarily thrash to progressive metal over the years; I've always had respect for a band that follows its own creative path instead of pandering to a style they've become known for.


Personnel: Snake - vocals
                  Chewy - guitar
                  Away - drums
                 Blacky - bass
                 Piggy (RIP) - guitar
                 Jasonic - bass

Web presence: http://www.facebook.com/Voivod
                        http://www.voivod.com/
                        http://www.irongang.com
                        http://www.voivod.net
                        http://www.myspace.com/voivod
                        http://www.voivodfan.com
                        http://www.reverbnation.com/voivod 

Metal 4 Africa review: Junkyard Lipstick - Hellbent

Recently I wrote a review for Metal 4 Africa (an online magazine) on the album Hellbent by thrash-punk band Junkyard Lipstick. You can read my review here: http://metal4africa.com/reviews/junkyard-lipstick-hellbent-review/

This Friday (29 March) sees the launch of Hellbent at ROAR, a popular metal venue in Cape Town. The supporting acts are ING (thrash metal), Sindulgence (experimental death metal) and The Summer Underground (hard rock).

Infanteria - Isolated Existence review

When I reviewed this album, I was on a doom metal kick. I thought this might limit my enjoyment of a thrash metal album, but I was proven wrong eight times over. All eight of the tracks on Isolated Existence, debut full-length of Cape Town melodic thrash band Infanteria, were highly enjoyable, and none were filler.

Infanteria released the album at Metal 4 Africa's SummerFest 2013, rising from opening act at the 2007 event to co-headliners.
 
The album's lyrics speak of a world in the midst of disaster; war and opression are the main lyrical features. Isolated Existence begins the story with mournful, echoing riffs. Cataclysmic Opression is a catchy number with a chorus that contains a powerful mix of instruments. The riffs that come after the chorus are sure to make a whole room of metalheads headbang. Harmonised riffs make the mid-tempo solo even more aurally pleasing. The guitar harmonies are one of the musical highlghts on an album with plenty of great moments, like the keyboard-guitar combination on Deceived By the Blind and the keyboard solo on Making a Killing.

The guitar work is masterful throughout, with well-matched harmonies and stellar solos. The leads balance very well with the rhythm parts; technicality comes out to play without hindering the cohesion of the song.

Keyboardist Jared Phillips gives an impressive performance, with fills that fit perfectly in each song. I enjoyed how the keyboard was given a chance to shine, instead of being relegated to background effects. Bringing the keyboard to the fore added an interesting dimension to the thrash sound.

Vocalist and guitarist Chris Hall has a great set of pipes, and he is equally adept at soaring clean notes and gritty thrash growls.Hall goes from the agression of Let Death Decide to the balladlike Beyond All Strength (with an ominous vocal harmony) and to various shades in between.

The album's sound was a bit muffled in some places, but not so much as to hinder the overall production quality.

Infanteria have done very well on their debut album, and I see Isolated Existence as a sign of even greater achievement in the future.

Personnel:
 Chris Hall - guitar and vocals
 Adriano Rodrigues - guitars
 Jared 'Phil' Phillips - keyboard
 Mark Pote - bass
Rob Hall - drums

Web presence:
www.facebook.com/infanteriasa                       
www.myspace.com/infanteria
 twitter.com/InfanteriaSA
 www.last.fm/music/infanteria
 

Review: Sepultura - Arise

And now for a retro review. Arise was released by Brazilian thrash legends Sepultura in 1991, the year I was born. The band has an interesting link to the South African metal scene. The lead vocalist of the incredible band The Broken Result (now disbanded) was previously part of a musical project that toured with Sepultura.


The title track and opener Arise has a guitar tone similar to Metallica. I didn't pick up on any other Metallica-like elements on the other tracks. The sinister introduction of this song is an introduction to the theme of the whole album - a world that has gone disastrously wrong, and is now filled with despair, instability and looming danger. Vocalist Max Cavalera's ragged, strong delivery fits perfectly with the lyrical themes. The band adds variety to the track Desperate Cry For Help, with an acoustic guitar interlude and  tempo changes. There's a great solo from lead guitarist Andreas Kisser, with a great effect.  The stampeding drumming also adds flavour to the track. Subtraction has a galloping rhythm towards the end, and more great guitar effects, which I came to like very much over the course of the album.

The album highlight came in the form of Altered State, which opens with Latin percussion and tribal drumming. Chanting and flute-playing add to the ritualistic atmosphere, and then the guitars come rumbling and screeching in, starting the glorious thrashy journey that is Altered State. The lyrics in Meaningless Movements save it from being entirely boring,since the music isn't one of the strongest compositions on the album. Strongly closing the album is Orgasmatron, with a punchy, feedback-imbued intro. The tribal drumming makes a second appearance on one of the bonus tracks, C.I.U (Criminals In Uniform). There's a sound effect in the intro that sounds like a rattlesnake, which adds to the song's sinister tone. The solo has a distant, spacey sound, which I liked. C.I.U was another standout track for me.

The lyrics on this album meld very well with what's going on musically, just as the music melds very well with the lyrics. I liked how the lyrics continued the theme of a chaotic, despair-filled world throughout Arise. The songs on this album grew on me with each listen, and I expect they'll be residing in my mental heavy metal filing cabinets for a long time to come.

Review: Evile - Five Serpent's Teeth

The first time I heard Five Serpent's Teeth, from UK retro-thrashers Evile, it didn't particularly stand out in my mind. While it did grow on me with subsequent listens, the album falls slightly short of being mind-blowing.

Opener Five Serpent's Teeth has a sinister undertone and an energetic pace. The standout tracks begin with Xaraya - it has haunting guitar work with a lamenting feel, and good vocal harmonies. Centurion packs power, withs its war-like sound. The guitar break after each chorus has a great sound. Strangely enough, the highlight of the album for me was the track In Memoriam, the ballad. Songs about remembering one's mortality have a habit of sticking in my head. Towards the end of the song, there is some beautiful and emotional guitar. The coda is a slowly fading dirge, like wind finally blowing away the last trace of something from the past. Throughout the album, well-executed guitar harmonies are present, courtesy of brothers Ol and Matt Drake. The pair do especially well on the solos, which show off their musical prowess.

It's on In Memoriam  that vocalist-guitarist Matt  sounds most like James Hetfield. The other tracks also have a Hetfield vocal sound. Metallicaesque sounds also appear in the music. To my mind, their lyrics are fairly different from those of Metallica.

Before hearing Five Serpent's Teeth, I hadn't heard anything from Evile, and this album was a good first impression.

Review: AGRO - Rewriting History (CD and DVD)

South Africa isn't known for having  long-standing metal bands. Johannesburg-based AGRO have been going for almost twenty years now, which is an inspiring feat. Rewriting History is a collection of material taken from six albums, plus two cover songs. There is also a very interesting DVD on the history of AGRO.

 Power of the Brave, the second track, is one of my favourite tracks on the album - a great beginning! The song has a mood of rising above adversity, and the chorus - to borrow a term from Angry Metal Guy - is an earworm of note (as I write, Power of the Brave has been stuck in my head for three days now). My ears were further treated to a great guitar solo and drum break.

AGRO have a sound that stands out  - the track Eyes is one of many pieces of evidence of this. There's a jazzy break in the song, which keeps things interesting. The song flows back into thrasher mode well. Eyes, as well as What is Wrong, are politically-themed. Both tracks are from the album Eyes, released 1997, and contain lyrics that reflect a South Africa that was just starting to recover from a regime built on racial prejudice and censorship.

The tracks Taken by Misery, Away from Fear and Chalk Outline have a more melodic feel. Away from Fear has an intro with a strong keyboard presence, and is another of my album highlights. The keyboards and violins get a spotlight during At Liberty, and the guitar that joins in with them manages to meld effectively with the symphonic elements. Keyboards and violins can be potentially gimmicky in metal, but AGRO avoids this in their sound, resulting in an aurally pleasing blending of styles.

The last two tracks, See You and Empty Tankard, are covers of songs by Depeche Mode and Tankard respectively. After ten strong previous tracks, I found these covers a bit weak. Empty Tankard has a  fun atmosphere though.

The History of AGRO DVD was a fascinating documentary of AGRO's career so far. There was commentary by the band members, other bands, fans and other metal-related folk, gig footage and music video footage (M-Net used to play metal videos!). I laughed at the tales of drunken shenanigans - guitarist Shane Pennicott's drinking sound effect got me every time. The footage at the end of  the video is... interesting. I won't spoil the surprise... I think it's important for we young metalheads to know the history of the metal subculture in our own country, so kudos to AGRO for contributing to metal education.

Top Metal Albums of 2011

This list is sort of irrelevant, since it's already 11 January. I'll keep this list short and sweet.

In no particular order:
Obscura – Omnivium (death metal)
Riot – Immortal Soul (traditional metal)
Megadeth – Th1rt3en (thrash metal)
Ulcerate – The Destroyers of All (death metal)
Primordial – Redemption at the Puritan’s Hand (progressive black metal)
Blut Aus Nord – 777 Sects/The Desanctification (black metal)
Amon Amarth – Surtur Rising (death metal)
Battle Beast – Steel (traditional metal)
The Physicists - Observation (progressive/industrial/just-plain-strange metal)
EDIT: I forgot to add Burzum - Valen (black metal)
Honourable mentions go to Hemoptysis - Misanthropic Slaughter and Impureza - La Iglesia Del Odio (if I'd managed to get hold of the full albums last year, these two would've been on my top albums list).

Two South African releases that really impressed me were Architects of Sadism by A Walk With the Wicked (death/groove metal) and Recursive by The Broken Result (death metal; released in 2010, but I only heard it this year, thus the inclusion on my 2011 list). Two of my favourite local bands are planning album releases for 2012, so I've already got something to look forward to in the realm of 2012 albums.