Amorphis - Under the Red Cloud

Let me cut right to the chase, I've been listening to Amorphis' thirteenth full length, Under the Red Cloud, non stop since I got my grubby little paws on it. I've listened to it at work a lot, I've listened to it with headphones on, etc. I know this album quite well and the reason that it's resonated so well with me from my first listen is that it is, simply put, the epitome of the perfect album. Yeah, I know that I'm quite liberal with giving scores that are perfect but for good reason...and this album is no exception. This is a band of amazing musicians and songwriters creating an album that just fits together in perfect harmony from the opening note to the closing.

This album is the culmination of everything that this band has done since the arrival of front man Tomi Joutsen. His growls are deep and harsh while his flawless baritone cleans have become the signature for this band. But a front man alone can not carry an entire band and it's the songs that this amazing front man gets to sing and how he uses his voice to create the atmosphere for the songs is what sets this band apart from the rest. These songs are just flawless and flow from one to another making this an album that must be listened to in full to properly feel the atmosphere. From the opening piano notes of the title track you know that this is a special album. As the song flows to some acoustic guitars with a clean solo mixed in over the piano the song picks up momentum leading to opening riffs where the melody is reminiscent of folk melodies. The majority of this song is sung in Joutsen's amazing cleans with a chorus that is just infectious. This will not be the only time I mention the choruses on this album because every song has these amazing choruses.

My favorite song on this album is "Bad Blood." It begins with some cool sounding keys playing a sort of folk melody leading to this simple but really cool main riff. Joutsen shows his growling skills here but the fucking chorus just gives me chills. His cleans are so full of emotion and feeling you can't help but feel this music while listening. There's a cool bridge in the song that has a single note lead melody over Joutsen's cleans that is absolutely beautiful. This is goosebump shit here. "Death of a King" is another one of these amazing songs that infuse folk elements into it by both modern means such as keys and traditional means such as a guest appearance by Chigrel Glanzmann of Eluveitie. The verse is growled over the folk elements leading to a nice bridge that flows to another one of those choruses full of emotion and atmosphere. The solo on this is very melodic and it helps the flow of the song instead of being just a solo. Just another example of creating a song where all the pieces fit perfectly.

The lyrical content on a good bit of this album is quite spiritual with a couple of references to "the skull of a bear" in a spiritual or something of an ancient religious nature. The opener and title track mentions this as well as "The Skull." "Sacrifice" is another that has a deeper spiritual feeling, and even being probably the most rock oriented song on this album it still reflects the sheer brilliance of this album with it's deep spiritual meaning and amazing musicianship. "Tree of Ages" also has a spiritual feel to it with more of the flutes and traditional folk melodies but still having some serious riffs in there. This is another song that has that infectious chorus and amazing solo. "White Night" is the perfect ending to an absolutely brilliant album. It begins melodic but with an epic feeling to it. Soft female vocals begin the verse with Joutsen's growls coming in. Once again, the chorus is the star of the show here. This song just feels like it should end this album and I'm not sure why I get that feeling and I'm sure that was the artists intention.

I have the digipak version which has two bonus songs, "Come The Spring" and the amazing "Winter's Sleep." The latter is a monster of a song that shows all of the elements of this amazing band. In it's 25 year existence this band really hasn't released anything that could be considered a bad album. However, they seem to have finally found a sound that truly compliments this truly talented band. Everything they've ever done has led up to this album. I'm even going to go out on a limb here and say that could easily be album of the year. This album is a musical journey where you feel the music instead of just listening...and that is why this is the perfect album.

10/10

Iron Void - Doomsday

The modern doom movement has been flourishing for a few years now and has given us some truly great bands that pay homage to classic doom. Enter Iron Void from the UK. They actually date back to 1998 but it has just been recently that the band has been given the chance to release their music to the masses. 2014's self titled full length debut was a great slab of classic doom and they seemed to waste no time in creating a follow up album set to be released on October 5 titled Doomsday. The band so graciously gave me a sneak peak into this album for a review and I am glad they did because this solidifies them as a band that will leave it's mark on doom metal.

The opening and title track kicks things off epic style with seven and a half of slow pounding doom. Heavy riffs are what you find here along with vocals and a melody that is rather eerie feeling. The tempo picks up a little for a some nice 70s style soloing in the middle and a riff that has a really cool groove to it. "Path to Self Destruction" is an even stronger song that begins with some clean guitars that sound like something from an early Rush tune to this monster riff and eerie melody. This song could wind up being a top doom song for me. The solo is another one of those fuzzy 70s style solos that fits this music well. "The Devil's Daughter" comes right in after and just slays from beginning to end. Once again it starts off with some cool clean guitars before going into this infectious riff that brings to mind early Pentagram. This song has elements of proto-metal as well as traditional doom. This band is not afraid to show where it's roots lie.

To keep things interesting, this band does not confine itself to just slow epic doom. Songs like "The Gates of Hell" and "The Answer Unknown" actually have more in common with Venom or Motorhead than Cathedral but it still doom in it's atmosphere. Both are rather energetic numbers for doom songs but the riffs are heavy as fuck and the solos could have been done by Fast Eddie Clark 35 years ago. Normally something like that would not work but for some reason that radical shift in sound for a couple of songs gave this album some depth. I thought it worked well. "Colesseum" gets right back into the doom with it's heavy as fuck doom riffs and overall eerie atmosphere that dominates this album. The lead riffing is very melodic giving the song another element. This song could wind up being considered classic doom 20 years from now.

The album closes epic doom style with a seven and a half minute opus that just screams epic doom. As with a lot of this album, the different elements that make this band show, from the 70s proto-metal riffs and solos to the all out heavy as fuck epic doom riffing. This band's previous album made me take notice but this album has made me a fan. Putting two strong albums out with just over a year between releases shows that this band is on a mission. Anyone who loves classic doom or traditional metal should take notice of this band. I expect bigger things to come.

9.0/10

Symphony X - Underworld

I remember the first time I heard Symphony X. It was their New Mythology Suite and I was blown away. I must have played that album continually for six months. The fusion of progressive metal and power metal was incredible and the musicianship was top notch. However, the albums that followed did not seem to grab me like that album did. And of their previous works, Only Divine Wings of Tragedy seemed to grab me like the Mythology Suite. The musicianship was still there but the songs were not that catchy and did not make me feel the way I did when I first heard this band. With their newest full length, Underworld, they finally brought back that magic that drew me in the first time I heard them.

From the beginning of the first track, an instrumental simply titled "Overture," I was transported back to the first time I heard them. But it being only an intro, I was not getting myself worked up thinking this was the Symphony X I remembered. Then "Nevermore" fills my ears with speed and riffs that just rolled right over me. This song kicks ass and my hopes for this album went through the roof. Vocalist Russell Allen seemed to know how to balance his vocals with some of his signature gruff sounding vocals to some really melodic cleans. As a matter of fact, the chorus of this song is some of his best singing. Clean and melodic it seems he's lost nothing when it comes to his ability to be a world class vocalist. Then comes Michael Romeo's monstrous solo and at that point all was right in the world. If the rest of the album sounded like this then we have a true masterpiece on our hands.

One thing that has always struck me about this band was when they were on they had this uncanny ability to merge melody, progression and aggression without it sounding forced or pretentious. Songs like "Without You" or "Hell and Back" feel almost like ballads in places without being sappy. Instead they come off as epic tracks, especially the latter. What a beast of a song. The intro makes you think ballad but then the verse comes in and you realize this will be much more. The riffing is catchy, the keys are just enough to provide atmosphere, and the chorus is so melodic and catchy. Again, the solo is fucking godly but so much more than just a wank fest. Instead there's feeling and emotion. This song is almost nine and a half minutes but none of it is lost or dragging. Halfway through the aggression picks up a bit and it's at this point that I feel like this song is a musical journey showing all sides of this talented band.

There is no shortage of powerful tracks on this album. "Kiss of Fire" fucking slays with powerful riffing and aggressive speed even throwing blast beats into the song. The keys provide an eerie atmosphere and take the song to a new level. Mr. Allen makes you feel his aggression in his gruff vocals but they are still not overused as been the main complaints of their latest offerings. The solo is as awesome as ever. This is actually becoming one of my favorite songs on the album. In contrast you have "Swansong" which is a real melodic song with nice riffing. The piano is also quite prominent in the song. This is the closest to what would be considered a ballad on the album. There are a lot of emotions on display here and it seems that the title is quite fitting.

I honestly did not know what to expect with this album and I had doubts whether or not I would enjoy this album. Thankfully I was pleasantly surprised. They seemed to hit all the marks and create an album that not only showed their incredible talent but still contain great, memorable songs. Will this album be stuck in my CD player for the next six months? We'll have to see about that....

9.5/10

Ancient Rites - Laguz

Ancient Rites has had a long and illustrious career spanning more than two decades. Starting out as a black metal band with really early material bordering on Celtic Frost worship they seem to be overlooked when it comes to early black metal, and that's a shame because they were doing it right around the second wave was in full bloom. The future would hold something quite different for these Belgians as they went into a more epic viking metal direction starting with 1998's Fatherland and peaking with 2001's Dim Carcosa. It's been almost a decade since their last album, Rubicon, has graced our ears and finally we have their newest opus, Laguz, and man was it worth the wait.

Sometimes, you never know what you are going to get when there is such a long time between releases. It could either be really good or really bad. In the case of Ancient Rites, the result is an excellent epic metal album that picks up where the last album left off without it ever feeling like there was a nine year lull in hearing from this band. The band's consistency is due to the one constant in the band, bassist/vocalist Gunther Theys. It shows that his influence in the songwriting is all over this album. After an instrumental into we have "Carthago Legenda Est." This song is proof that, once again, we will get another history lesson from this band as this song is about the Punic wars that waged for over one hundred years in the third/second century B.C. As one would expect with this kind of lyrical content that this would be another killer epic from this band. The song is brilliant in it's epic feel as the orchestrations are real. The musician ship is just top notch here. The orchestrations are prominent but the riffs and the blast beats drive this song. Gunther's vocals are a cross between a black metal rasp and an almost narrative tone. He's telling a story set to music. The melodies in this song are quite infectious and culminate with a nice solo at the midway point in the song.

These guys also prove that you don't always have to write eight or nine minute songs to be epic as fuck. Most of the songs on this album straddle the five minute mark but seem to pack so many elements into these songs. Each one tells it's own story but the music stays within that epic theme. "Under the Sign of Laguz" brings us back to the viking age with killer blasts, serious tremolo riffs, and bombastic orchestrations. There's a lot of metal out there labeled as symphonic metal but, in my opinion, this is the epitome of symphonic metal. Less than five and a half minutes long, this song takes you on a musical journey through the ancient north lands and ancient Nordic mythology with Gunther's signature way of "narrating" the story that this song tells. It is at this point that it hits me that even the band's name matches their music. "Apostata" starts off with an almost eastern feel in the orchestrations then kicks in with the heavy guitars and some killer eastern feeling lead riffs driving the song along with the bombastic orchestrations. This is the longest song on the album and is just epic from beginning to end. There are so many elements to this song that a proper description would be pointless, let alone impossible.

"Umbru Sumus" is another song that needs mention here shut due to it's sheer brilliance. From the opening riffs you get the feeling that this song is something special. It opens with some serious tremolos and blasts but transitions to be so much more. As with every song on this album, the orchestrations are there and this song adds another layer with some prominent piano involved. This is one of those songs that just defines this band and their own special brand of epic metal that only these guys can do. This song is heavy, melodic, bombastic without being pompous or pretentious. It leads right into the last proper song on the album, "Frankenland." This song is less than four and a half minutes but seems to pack just as much bombastic epic metal as the longer songs. This song has that special something that makes it one of those songs that gives me chills while it is playing. Gunther's narrative giving us another history lesson is part of the magic that is Ancient Rites. A brief narrative over piano and acoustic guitars rounds out the album with a short song, "Fatum." It's the perfect way to end a perfect album.

Once again, this band has not let me down. There is no song on this album that is out of place or drags this album down. Each song flows to the next with precision and sheer brilliance. Hey, how can you go wrong with an album that has a photo of the original Sutton Hoo helmet as it's cover art? If you are a fan of this band and have been wondering where they've been for the last nine years, this is your answer. Does it take nine years to create perfection? Maybe it does because this album is just that, perfect.

10/10

Nightwish - Endless Forms Most Beautiful

Well here we have the return of Nightwish with their newest vocalist, Floor Jansen, best known for her vocals in the symphonic power metal band After Forever. Now I know that this band is basically under the dictatorship of eye liner wearing Tuomas Holopainen; who I will henceforward call Uncle Scrooge since he made a symphonic rock album called The Life and Times of Scrooge that had a picture of Scrooge McDuck on it; so I did not have high hopes for this album. I mean, Uncle Scrooge? Seriously? But I did have higher hopes for the performance of Floor Jansen. Her work with After Forever was nothing short of brilliant so maybe we would have the return of operatic vocals in Nightwish....

....or not! Now, this album is actually not as bad as I thought it would be. I truly thought that Uncle Scrooge would continue on the road of lifeless, riffless goth metal. It's no Oceanborn but it really is not as bad as the two last turds produced under the Nightwish banner. Is it worth the circle-jerk it's receiving? Absolutely not and I'll tell you why. Because Scrooge McFuck and his dictatorship decided on Floor Jansen's sound instead of allowing her to use her full potential. Do we see a pattern forming here? He did the same thing to Tarja staring with Century Child. She's a thousand times better than Anette Olson, who I just recently found out could sing better than Scrooge "allowed" her to. This reminds me of Gene Simmons humming lead guitar solos to Vinnie Vincent because they did not want anyone to take the spotlight off of Gene and Paul. Floor is better than this, much better than this. "Shudder Before the Beautiful" is the opener and a rather good epic metal song. It's got good hooks, a nice chorus, and a bad ass solo. But Floor sounds like she's holding back. Again, where's the operatic vocals that she is capable of? That would have sent this song over the top to make this a true return to form. I'm sorta pissed by this point.

Like I said, a few of the the songs appear to have much more meat to them than anything on the two previous albums. "Weak Fantasy" is another good song with some crunchy guitars and a nice acoustic section during the verse but Floor is sounding like a fucking rock singer you'd hear on the radio rather than being part of a band that once had the voice of Tarja Turunen. Hel, she sounds more like Lita Ford in places than herself on this song. It does not make sense to me. She hits some cool notes here and there but other than that, it's nothing special. Then you have the single, "Elan" which is a snoozefest from beginning to end.  It's not one of their better songs and Floor sounds like she is phoning it in. Again, I heard this voice do much better. If you have a voice like this in your band, why the fuck would you hold her back? Ahhhh, that's right, the keyboard player is the leader. Who pays attention to the keyboard player, unless he wears eyeliner? I could be drawing conclusions here but anyone that dictatorial in a band down to the point where he actually dictates the vocalist's sound must be seriously questioning their own importance in this band.

I must mention the song "Alpenglow" since it could be one of the best songs Nightwish has made in over a decade. It's riffy and catchy with some serious hooks. Uncle McFuck is almost making her whisper on this one but that only takes a little from this song. I can only imagine how powerful this song would have been if Floor were allowed to...well allowed to actually be Floor! To listen to this you would almost not recognize her as the same person who sang "Monoliths of Doubt." I just don't understand it. Musically this is the best album Nightwish has written in years but with the lackluster vocal performance, by an artist I know can do better, just makes it obvious that she was reigned in by design and that just lets out all the air I had in my tires for this album. What a shame because this could actually have been the comeback of the year. Nice going Uncle Scrooge. Which leaves us with the elephant in the room, the twenty four minute closer, "The Greatest Show on Earth." There's maybe nine to ten minutes of this song that is actually worth anything and Floor actually gets to belt some shit out. Nine minutes out of twenty four minutes that actually do anything. It actually does almost nothing for the first six and the last seven fucking minutes of the song!

Wow, just wow. If only the person dictating what goes on in this band had an actual clue. This album could have been so good if Toumas would have just stuck with the songwriting that made them great. He almost did it in some places here but you do not put the brakes on the best vocalist you've had in this band in over a decade. If you have Floor Jansen singing in your band don't fucking hold her back! What the fuck was he thinking? And you do not put a twenty four minute song on your album that has less than ten minutes of anything remotely musical. I don't want to hear five minutes of narration. I'll get an audio book for that. This is the best they've done since they booted Tarja, but unfortunately that's not saying much. Don't be fooled by the hype, it's nowhere near as good as it could have been.

4.5/10

Enslaved - In Times

The release of an Enslaved album is pretty much an event for me, as these guys are quite possibly in my top 5 favorite bands of all time. In my eyes they have done no wrong in their impressive 24 year career. From the very start you could tell that these Norwegian's were something truly special. And to think that these guys were merely teenagers when they recorded their demo and not much older when they released their legendary debut, Vikingligr veldi. Over the years their sound has matured and the band has managed to outdo themselves with each release while expanding their fanbase.


So here in 2015 we have another event, the release of their thirteenth full length album, In Times. As always, this band has reinvented themselves to release an album that is more magical than the last but still subtly hanging on to some of the older elements that have been in this band since the beginning. Their uncanny ability to meld blasting aggression and haunting melodies has been something this band has always been able to do, and this album is no different. From the immediate blasting of "Thurisaz Dreaming" you hear the familiar sounds if blasts, tremolos, and Grutle's signature rasp...that seems to sound much better here than on the previous couple of releases. But then the haunting melodies come in and create such an atmosphere. I've heard some say that they are not all that keen on Herbrand Larsen's clean vocals but I find them to be the perfect contrast to Grutle's rasp. He reminds me of Mikael Akerfeldt a lot and on here it not much different. He seems to actually expand his range a bit here showing us what he truly is made of. But if you think you have this album figured out based on this song, think again.

"Building With Fire" is unlike any Enslaved song I've ever heard. If the tempo and melody could be compared to anything, maybe Isa would come close. It's a mid tempo song and has an almost straight ahead rock riff going on to start it off. Clean vocals introduce the melodies. Then it goes into some interesting riffing with the keys providing another layer to this song along with Grutle's rasp. This song seems to actually build from it's rather simple opening to become a favorite song by this band. Atmospheric lead guitars provide another layer to enjoy. This is the band doing what they do best, not allowing themselves being put in any genre box but, instead, choosing to just be Enslaved. Each song is an epic composition that has it's own personality but at the same time is also absolutely necessary for the flow of this album. "One Thousand Years of Rain" shows this band's progressive side with the multiple time changes and some strange tempos. Mostly a mid to fast paced number with the vocals alternating with Grutle's rasp leading the way and Herbrand's cleans adding melodies there are some strange riffs and time signatures thrown in. Once you think you know what direction they are taking a song, they take into another.

The title track needs some special mention because, I think, this is quite possibly the most ambitious song the band has created since "793 (Slaget om Lindisfarne)" from their 1997 masterpiece, Eld. As a matter of fact, you can hear Grutle's chants in there as the song builds almost reminding me of said song. Then some interesting riffing takes over giving this epic life. It's all the elements combined that make this song truly special. A strange melodic part with vocal harmonies comes in in the middle of the song taking you further on the journey as it then slows with piano, acoustic guitars and atmospheric leads that give it an almost psychedelic feel. Then you have this blast that builds to take the song to it's bombastic completion. "Daylight" rounds out the album and is song with so many layers that it's hard to give an accurate description. The contrast of aggression and melody is profound on this song as spaced between blasting and harsh vocals are some soft acoustic moments that lead into beautiful melodies and atmospheric leads. This is the quite the fitting way to round out this musical journey.

Enslaved is a band that has never disappointed me and this album is another masterpiece that they should be proud of. Their progression never seems to stop and with each release they seem to raise the bar even higher than the last.

9.5/10

The Storyteller - Sacred Fire

It's hard to believe that it's been almost 15 years since I discovered The Storyteller, a great metal band from Sweden that played heavy metal the right way! I instantly fell in love with their first album and followed their career for a bit before they kind of fell off the radar after 2005s Underworld, which seemed like the apex of their career. They returned in 2013 but, for whatever reason, that album completely blew by me. Imagine my surprise when I see that they released their sixth full length, Sacred Fire, last month. And what a release it is. When most of the European heavy/power metal bands are experimenting with their sound...and sucking at it, these guys delivered!


When they first arrived on the scene, some of their detractors were saying that they were nothing but HammerFall clones. My thoughts were, "What's so wrong with that?" Up until that time, HammerFall were one of the leading bands putting out speedy riff laden heavy metal. The difference is that the hammer fell hard and The Storyteller still has a few more stories to tell. This album comes out of the shoot strong with the riff heavy "As I Die." The lyrics are cheesy as fuck stories about dying in battles, Northmen, etc. and man do I love that shit! But it's the riffs and the hooks that pull you in here. And those gang "whooooaaaaa" backing vocals in the chorus are metal as fuck. The solos are just incredible and L.G. Persson's vocal delivery sounds better than ever. Then you have the galloping tempo, dual leads and catchy riffs of the title track. The verse has a nice melodic clean part in it adding to the old metal feel. Once again, the solo here is just awesome and the guitar tone is just perfect. The chorus is catchy and the gang backing vocals are just beauty to this old metalhead's ears.

"Serpent Eyes" just fucking slays with it's speed and overall guitar work. The chorus has wonderful melodies and just pulls you in. These songs are so well written and that it's just so refreshing. Once again, these guys are living up to their name because each song seems to tell a story. But nothing can compare to the epic "Sons of the North." This song just reeks epic metal. Going from slower to mid paced in places this song is the perfect metal song. All the elements that make this the perfect song are here. The chorus is slow, epic with choir backing vocals and a feeling that you are going into battle. This song gives me the chills. The speed picks up with the dual leads in the middle all culminating into a solo that is just amazing. This is the best song on the album let alone one of the best metal songs I've heard in a while. Then you have another galloping metal anthem, "Curse of the Seven Seas." this is another stand out track just because of the riffs and melodies and, once again, those gang vocal "whoooooaaaas" coming in at the beginning of the chorus and after the solo. I don't know about you but I fucking love that shit.

There are a couple of moments on this album that are weaker than others. "In Search for Treasures, Stones and Gold" comes after "Sons of the North" and, maybe because it does follow such an epic, it just doesn't stand out to me. Not that it's a bad song but after such an epic you need something to stand out. Maybe they could have something that stands out more after that epic like "Let Your Spirit Fly," which is a speedy number with all the aforementioned metal as fuck elements. Then you have "Coming Home," which is your obligatory metal ballad and even though it's not horrible as some of the more recent metal ballads have been, it just didn't seem necessary on an album like this. "God of War" rounds it out and does so in the best way you could possibly end and album like this. Speedy and melodic this is another song that is a stand out that just screams "metal" when you hear it.

This album slays, there is no other way to put it. This is the definition of heavy metal. Maybe this can put this band at the forefront of metal, where they have always belonged. No experimenting with more progressive or modern sounds, this is how metal is done...period!

9.5/10