Quest for Metal
May. 11th, 2006 08:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfsI'm very hard on heavy metal bands. There is certainly a sense that I know what I like and any band that dares to climb to metal's vaulted ceiling had better have the right stuff. In the past couple of weeks, I've been listening to a number of bands, and I have four disappointments and one great success.
Disappointment #1: Dragonlord, Through The Time. Nevermind that the album title is both ungrammatical and ungainly, it's just a taste of what's to come. Dragonlord is fantasy death metal, meaning that their lyrical themes are primarily fantasy and their style features pounding drums and thrashing guitars. But the opening track, "Through the Time," is just a bad voiceover on top a of DX-7 Korg Synthesizer mockup and studio mixes of swords clashing and men screaming, all the while talking about "evil through the ages" in a studio mix so bad it was barely comprehensible. The third song, "Sword of the Rising Sun," in a fit of both stupidity and offensiveness actually incorporates the nine-note Chinese trope tune heard in far too many WW2-era Bugs Bunny cartoons in a song about samurai. Awful, terrible stuff.
Oh, you have to check out their website. The publicity photo is one those things SomethingAwful is just waiting to mock.
Disappointment #2: Visions of Atlantis, Cast Away. It opens promisingly, with a solid, rising keyboard intro and a strong female voice. And then the guitars slide in, and then the male vocal, and it all falls apart. In another life, "Mario" (you have to read his bio) could have been Rick Astley, and that's not a compliment: this man should be crooning ballads, not rocking. I really want to like this band; they're working so hard to put together a promising lyrical metal band, but Mario can't cut it and, quite frankly, Melissa cannot sing if she's not belting-- when asked to sing softly, she sometimes loses the tune. Also, whoever actually writes their music needs to learn about the black keys on the keyboard: I don't think I heard a minor on the whole album. Good work with a limited palette, but they have to find a man worthy of the microphone before they go into the studio again.
Disappointment #3: Skylark, Wings. Once upon a time, the term "heavy plastic" was used to describe bands that wanted to be Journey or Styx, but couldn't play their instruments well enough so they just thrashed along, hoping to substitute volume for talent. Skylark is in this category: kinda loud, kinda technically proficient, but nothing really gripping. And you know a band is trouble when they cover a Def Leppard tune.
Disapointment #4: Scar Symmetry, Pitch Black Progress. When this opened, I was very hopeful: guitars thrashed, keyboards wailed, drums pounded with head-filling music designed to destroy all thought. And then sadly, the singing started. Death grunt, a.k.a. The Cookie Monster voice. There's just no point to listening to that stuff. They have a great vocalist who can sing and he fills in opposite the death grunter, as well as a fabulous guitarist, and lyrics that don't completely insult your intelligence, but all that's not enough to put up with that kind voice.
, Razorbliss. A few months ago I suggested that one album I'd like to hear was one that didn't exist: Real Tough Cookie: Death Metal's Tribute To Pat Benatar. Well, that album still doesn't exist, but Razorbliss might be just about as close as you can get. Helen Vogt is one of those women who grew up wanting to be Pat, metal's real frontswoman in the '80s while the cameras instead concentrated on the execrable Lita Ford (who looked the part even though she couldn't play worth spit).
The title track is just amazing, opening with a compellingly wailing synth layered over with thrashing guitars, and then Vogt's deep and powerfully sexy voice, an instrument she has under her complete control, cuts in and takes you away. Flowing Tears holds your attention through the whole album, even the ocassional weak spots like "Radium Angel" and "Snakes of Grey," that latter of which has a little too much keyboard and is sometimes to sparse, but the gothic lyrics are cool and smart. Compared to too many things I've heard recently, Razorbliss is a worthy addition to any metal library.
Disappointment #1: Dragonlord, Through The Time. Nevermind that the album title is both ungrammatical and ungainly, it's just a taste of what's to come. Dragonlord is fantasy death metal, meaning that their lyrical themes are primarily fantasy and their style features pounding drums and thrashing guitars. But the opening track, "Through the Time," is just a bad voiceover on top a of DX-7 Korg Synthesizer mockup and studio mixes of swords clashing and men screaming, all the while talking about "evil through the ages" in a studio mix so bad it was barely comprehensible. The third song, "Sword of the Rising Sun," in a fit of both stupidity and offensiveness actually incorporates the nine-note Chinese trope tune heard in far too many WW2-era Bugs Bunny cartoons in a song about samurai. Awful, terrible stuff.
Oh, you have to check out their website. The publicity photo is one those things SomethingAwful is just waiting to mock.
Disappointment #2: Visions of Atlantis, Cast Away. It opens promisingly, with a solid, rising keyboard intro and a strong female voice. And then the guitars slide in, and then the male vocal, and it all falls apart. In another life, "Mario" (you have to read his bio) could have been Rick Astley, and that's not a compliment: this man should be crooning ballads, not rocking. I really want to like this band; they're working so hard to put together a promising lyrical metal band, but Mario can't cut it and, quite frankly, Melissa cannot sing if she's not belting-- when asked to sing softly, she sometimes loses the tune. Also, whoever actually writes their music needs to learn about the black keys on the keyboard: I don't think I heard a minor on the whole album. Good work with a limited palette, but they have to find a man worthy of the microphone before they go into the studio again.
Disappointment #3: Skylark, Wings. Once upon a time, the term "heavy plastic" was used to describe bands that wanted to be Journey or Styx, but couldn't play their instruments well enough so they just thrashed along, hoping to substitute volume for talent. Skylark is in this category: kinda loud, kinda technically proficient, but nothing really gripping. And you know a band is trouble when they cover a Def Leppard tune.
Disapointment #4: Scar Symmetry, Pitch Black Progress. When this opened, I was very hopeful: guitars thrashed, keyboards wailed, drums pounded with head-filling music designed to destroy all thought. And then sadly, the singing started. Death grunt, a.k.a. The Cookie Monster voice. There's just no point to listening to that stuff. They have a great vocalist who can sing and he fills in opposite the death grunter, as well as a fabulous guitarist, and lyrics that don't completely insult your intelligence, but all that's not enough to put up with that kind voice.
, Razorbliss. A few months ago I suggested that one album I'd like to hear was one that didn't exist: Real Tough Cookie: Death Metal's Tribute To Pat Benatar. Well, that album still doesn't exist, but Razorbliss might be just about as close as you can get. Helen Vogt is one of those women who grew up wanting to be Pat, metal's real frontswoman in the '80s while the cameras instead concentrated on the execrable Lita Ford (who looked the part even though she couldn't play worth spit).The title track is just amazing, opening with a compellingly wailing synth layered over with thrashing guitars, and then Vogt's deep and powerfully sexy voice, an instrument she has under her complete control, cuts in and takes you away. Flowing Tears holds your attention through the whole album, even the ocassional weak spots like "Radium Angel" and "Snakes of Grey," that latter of which has a little too much keyboard and is sometimes to sparse, but the gothic lyrics are cool and smart. Compared to too many things I've heard recently, Razorbliss is a worthy addition to any metal library.
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Date: 2006-05-11 04:54 pm (UTC)Incidentally, if you are still looking for more metal bands to try, Satan Stole My Teddy Bear is a good site with a lot of metal reviews. Ground and Sky is a similarly good site for prog rock.
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Date: 2006-05-12 12:57 am (UTC)Um, Dragonlords? Kiss they ain't. At least I *think* that's what they were trying for. Sorry, they're too bad to mock even.
Couldn't hear anything from Visions of Atlantis. Their sample link goes to a website that's now featuring another album.
Heh, you're right on about Scar Symmetry. The second singer might have a good career if he goes it on his own.
I'll have to track down some of Flowing Tears' CD's whenever I get some money again.
I haven't been keeping up on new bands, so it's nice to get a recommendation.
Have you listened to any of Gaia Consort's stuff? I know your eldest has, I've seen her at some of the concerts. They're a bit eclectic, but their sound reminds me a little of Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, and a little Santana, depending on the CD. My favorite songs are Ravens, Secret of the Crossroads Devil, Blood, Falling, Evolve, and Drawing Down the Moon. Good dance beats and thought provoking lyrics.
SooJ is also pretty good. Beautiful voice (low soprano?), with sounds kinda like Alanis or Heather Alexander.
Correction
Date: 2006-07-16 12:10 am (UTC)Do your homework buddy.