Album Review: O.S.I. – Fire Make Thunder

Working from home is every man’s dream. Wake up, crack a beer, watch some daytime TV, do some work for a bit, wash the car, a bit more work, fire up your non-specific games console, a bit more work (if you haven’t been sucked in by Skyrim‘s charms yet again), then down the pub until bed. That’s (allegedly) how the Office Of Strategic Influence (O.S.I.) operate.

Of course, O.S.I. is a band and not a government office, so there’s no need for us to get our knickers in a twist. O.S.I.‘s main men are prog-rock Wunderkinds Jim Matheos (Fates Warning, Arch/Matheos) and Kevin Moore (Chroma Key, ex-Dream Theater). There’s is a long-distance partnership. Both the writing and recording for fourth album, Fire Make Thunder, (in fact, all except the final overdubs and mastering process) is done at each musician’s respective home studio. Even the drums get a home-recording – this time at sticksman, and final piece in the puzzle, Gavin Harrison’s house far away in London. With their various other projects all ticking over nicely this is clearly an arrangement that works to their advantage.

Following their frankly stunning debut album (so good it warranted a recent re-release) they have been steadily churning long-players out on a regular basis. Their last couple have seen the band produce subtler, more mellow albums that stand accused of sacrificing hooks for emotion, but Fire Makes Thunder aims to correct that imbalance. Tracks like “Cold Call”, “Guards” and “Big Chief II” all wallow hard in the groove and serve up plenty of riffs and catchy lyrics that had me helplessly mumbling along whilst en-route to my various destinations, headphones askew from gently nodding in time. Others like “Indian Curse” or “Invisible Men” drop the pace and spark moments of deep contemplation with their crafty use of psychedelic, synthetic layering.

It may yet become tiresome, but the currently innocuous recycling of riffs and lyrics is a wonderful feature of the band. It ties tracks and albums together and draws comparison with the exquisite way Porcupine Tree do the same. Good examples here are the way “Guards” continues on from “Cold Call” by linking it back using lyrical content; or when “Invisible Man” picks up its big, heavily-fuzzed riff halfway through, it immediately recalls a riff that was used to great effect in “Bigger Wave” (from 2006′s Free). All these neat touches means the album flows beautifully from piece to piece, diligently threading emotional responses together. There’s true method in their madness, y’know.

The deft instrumental, “Enemy Prayer”, with its rinsed-out lead and bucking bass, rocks its listener from pillar to post with sections of delicate piano, wild tremelo and driven guitar, and stands up as one of their finest moments. Other album highlights can be find in the dreamy, waterfalling riff, background wash and dynamically-clipped vocal of “Wind Won’t Howl” and in the searing guitars which streak across Moore’s rich, menacing delivery (curiously reminiscent of Oasis’ Liam Gallagher) during “Guards”.

“Cold Call”, despite initially biting down hard with a fierce lick, after numerous plays, quickly gets repetitive and “Big Chief II” fails to initiate lift-off with a simplistically hard heart and with little else to stir the soul. However, despite these small failings, the album is an assured winner, proving that it’s not all beer, shits & giggles in the Matheos/Moore households, and heralds a welcome return to form for the band.

Also online @ The NewReview = http://thenewreview.net/reviews/o-s-i-fire-make-thunder

Album Review: Barn Burner - Bangers II

Montreal’s Barn Burner released their absolute killer debut album, Bangers, two years ago. It marked them out as a band who somehow managed to effortlessly thread the electric wire of rock n’ roll through the hefty needle of stoner metal far more effectively than most – whilst swilling, smoking and smiling, they just kept on chucking riff after riff of this groovy muck and thunder at our ears. Now, they’ve finished touring the backside off it, they’ve found the time to write a follow-up and here we stand expecting more of the glorious same. The steadfastly unimaginative titling of this sophomore effort (and this from a band who gives their songs genius titles like “Beer Today, Bong Tomorrow”, “Brohemoth” and “Skid Marks The Spot”) certainly suggests this to be the case. Well, hold onto your hats, because they’ve gone and got nasty-assed on us.

For starters, the production is much meatier – they’ve ironed out the cymbal-hiss, butched up the bass, and cranked up the guitars to achieve a far stronger, more solid hit. The wickedly named “The Dark Side Of The Barn” is instant proof of their development as it takes the pace down, issuing a volley of thudding bottom-end, to steer us blithely into a corner where it then flips and beats us into submission. Vocalist Kevin Keegan is a force here, finding a moment to distort his delivery in an attempt to recreate the gargled death throes of metal’s infamous roarers. “Gate Creeper” continues the dark theme as it suddenly disassembles itself, presenting us with a final movement that rips out the rhythm, chants “hellfire” and plops a gently, warbling organ underneath it all – “call on your hordes”, indeed.

It doesn’t take a genius to see they’ve been experimenting with twisting their music into evil shapes, taking them ever further away from their debut’s more happy-go-lucky, rock n’ roll roots and burying themselves deeper into chucking out heavy-lidded power chords that make your head pulsate. There’s still rockers, like “Keg Stand And Deliver” and “Skid Marks The Spot”, but even these bristle with a viperous attitude. In my head, I see four big, sour faces and a wall of tattoed muscles so big you fear they might burst. Comparisons to Wolfmother and Thin Lizzy suddenly seem vaguely inappropriate. By the time they hit “The Earth’s Crust” you’ll be dragging forth names like Bison B.C., Fu Manchu, Saviours and The Sword. There are even moments when the lunacy of High On Fire, Kvelertak and Made Out Of Babies are needed to describe their hectic force.

Unfortunately, I spy a problem. They’ve done the musical equivalent of venturing into a crowded, rowdy bar – furniture and fists are flying as brethren clash. These days, you’d need an abacus to count the number of bands peddling this kind of Sabbath-saluting, cotton-wool quality, Orange-amped, wall of sound, riff-loaded music. At least when they had the emphasis on headbanging, they had something different to stun us with. That is, of course, not to say they aren’t mastering the genre. No, not at all. In fact, Bangers II is one of the finer examples.

Sure, there’s “Scum Of The Earth”, with its crooked, curling riff and frenzied pace – the sound of them breathlessly grabbing on to Iron Maiden’s shoelaces and mischievously tying them to the flying coat-tails of Anthrax – but there’s also “Quest For The Cube” and “Brother Fear” which are sheer fire and brimstone tracks. The drums pop and sizzle, the guitars speed chug until you can picture the smoke rising from the strings, Keegan sucking up the fumes and breathing out a sneering, seething Scott Hill (Fu Manchu) vocal. There’s huge, towering riffs that place you on the same battlefield as The Sword’s Gods Of The Earth album. Their time spent touring together has clearly had a profound influence on Barn Burner. Hell, this is a seriously solid piece of stoner art. But there’s a small part of me that still craves more of those lighter, crunchily addictive licks, those beer-swilling blues and that party-hard frivolity that so marked out their debut.

To appease, even the doubters, we get a sly little ray of sunshine to end the show. Hail the acoustic opening and twangy, raw punk blues of “Ghost Jam” which finishes proceedings off nicely with Keegan’s vocal breaking through to lay down an unencumbered clarity, once thought lost. Here’s a band who like to leave their audience with a fat, shit-eating grin, no matter what. If you missed them first time round, Barn Burner have provided just enough to make sure you won’t be making the same mistake twice.

Also online @ The New Review (with samples) = http://thenewreview.net/reviews/barn-burner-bangers-ii-scum-of-the-earth

Also read: my review of their debut album, Bangers, @ TLOBF = http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/2010/03/barn-burner-bangers/

Album Review: Alestorm - Back Through Time

Being in a pirate-themed band means there is a finite number of songs about sailing and drinking that you can hope to conjure. Listen to 'Scraping The Barrel' from this, Alestorm's third album, and you'll see what I mean as the band ridicule their own situation with a hearty chorus of "There are no more tales to be told / no more stories from battles of old / Now it seems our journey has come to an end / We are scraping the barrel, my friend". However, Alestorm have always been on the goofy side of even the goofiest metal, so don't expect this to be them sounding their ship's "eight bells" obituary just yet.

No, it seems they have identified a new foe. "Cap'n, there be Vikings off the starboard bow" is the incredible opening cry of the title-track as the Scots, through a rather handy "mystic portal", commence battle with the kind of blazing thrash that is so redolent of Swashbuckle's debut effort. Is this the sound of them actually declaring war on Viking metal itself? Now that is a tasty prospect. Although a brief glance at the stature of the opposition initially suggests it might be a bit of a rout, I suspect these wiry old sea-dogs have more underhand methods in mind. It's all very interesting when you consider that the choral gang-chant of "One more drink" from 'The Sunk'n Norwegian' is the absolute spit of Turisas' 'One More'. Methinks, they've been eyeing up the opposition a little too closely.

Talking of drink there are plenty of drinking-themed tracks on offer. Could it be that the fist-punching 'Rum' is their answer to Korpiklaani's monstrous "Vodka"? They've certainly upped the ante when it comes to loading the backline with different instruments. There's their standard penny-whistle and accordion in there, but they've also layered the whole shebang with symphonic strings and horns. Consequently, 'Shipwrecked' swings from side to side with a catchy chorus and an impressive display of gusto whilst the long passionate lament of the aforementioned 'Scraping The Barrel' shows humour and courage (and that tacked-on noodly solo is enough to illicit a small tear).

After the acrimonious departure of Ian Wilson, who left citing he'd "had enough of the bullshit", replacement drummer, Peter Alcorn, comes through with flying colours. His lightspeeding drum-rolls, double-kick rallies and cannoning crashes forcefully lift the tracks up a notch from previous efforts. Perhaps it's his swaggering presence that has led them to try and give pop-punk an eye-patch and a peg-leg for 'Barret's Privateers' and load their closing highlight 'Death Throes Of The Terrorsquid' with death-edged black metal.

At the end of the day, 'Back Through Time' is still a bit one-dimensional, which is not a new experience when it comes to experiencing Alestorm, both recorded and live, (there's only so much "yarr", "yo-ho" and "matey" a person can take) but the determined tone of the album and the fact that they've begun to expand their sound to take on other genres makes this easily the finest work that Alestorm have yet produced. Exciting times for a band that have discovered new methods for interpreting time-worn songs. Or, in their own words, "So when the time comes to write album four / We'll scrape out the barrel once more!"

Also online @ MTUK = http://www.metalteamuk.net/june11reviews/cdreviews-alestorm.htm

Album Review: Amon Amarth - Surtur Rising

So, I’m intrigued. If I purchase the limited deluxe CD/DVD digibook version of Amon Amarth’s latest offering, I get this 14cm tall ‘Surtur’ action figure. It certainly looks pretty cool but does it have eagle eyes, detachable weaponry and an opposable thumb? If not, I can see thousands of Viking wannabes being pretty bummed out. It’s certainly not the first time we’ve seen an album sold with an accompanying (ahem) dolly, and I imagine it won’t be the last, but this a frikkin’ Norse god we’re talking about here. At the end of the day, I’m not quite convinced that it’s a viable selling point anyway – I certainly can’t see it being a deal-breaker. 14 measly centimetres? I suppose the band/label are working on the basis that if the album is a bit sucky then it’ll be nice for their fans to have something to beat up their plastic Ken with – oh yes, Barbie’s in for a bit of a shock when she gets home from her modelling job tonight!

With Surtur Rising though, they really needn’t have bothered. It’s an absolute brute of an album. Starting at the top, the artwork is absolutely stunning. It depicts Surtur who, according to Norse mythology, is the leader of the fire giants of Muspelheim. The legend goes that when he lights his sword in the Eternal Flame, he will be given the power to raze the nine worlds before him. He’s clearly one mean dude and artist Tom Thiel has captured him in such glorious colour that it paints the perfect picture (excuse the pun) to go with Amon Amarth’s menacingly dark, powerfully emotive, pungently thematic heavy metal.

“War Of The Gods” picks up right where Twilight Of The Thunder God left off with bludgeoning double-kick and chunky, jagged riffs. The band’s very own Thor, Johan Hegg, blasts forth with a mighty, deathly vocal that echoes thickly over the climbing guitars to create an incendiary wall-of-noise. If anything it’s an even heavier sound than before with the vocal knocked back a peg to allow for the atmosphere to build and the drums to truly hit their mark. Same producer, same studio, but a definite change of tack. Hegg has said “We thought we needed it to be a bit more aggressive and rougher than the previous two. We wanted a harder, tougher sound and I definitely think we got that.”

“Töck’s Taunt – Loke’s Treachery Part II” is a step back into a more epic, black-edged sound, and hails the return of the god of treachery (he was first encountered on 2006′s With Oden On Our Side). Have a dig around and you’ll find out that the band “basically deal with Loke’s actual deceit … when he totally told the gods to go fuck off.” You gotta love the Swede’s commitment to their subject matter. I won’t bore you further with backgrounds to the song-titles, but suffice to say it’s all pretty far out there.

All you really need to know is you’ve got an album here that, at times, malevolently rages and, at others, provides thought-provoking progressions. “A Beast Am I” and “Destroyer Of The Universe” are much in the former category, heavy on the thrash, light on their feet, whilst “The Last Stand Of Frej” and “Doom Over Dead Man” are yawning, doom-afflicted prowlers that screw themselves slowly into place, smothering their prey to the point of suffocation – that’s not to say they don’t kick up the odd chiming solo or orchestral flourish. There also lurks within the call-to-arms battle metal melodics of “Live Without Regrets” and “For Victory Or Death” – the latter’s title and fighting spirit instantly bringing 1998′s “A Victorious March” to mind.

There’s much to admire here then but, for some reason, there’s still not anything you’d describe as compulsively addictive, unlike so many tracks on their last two albums. Every time I take a breather away from absorbing this, I find myself whistling Iron Maiden’s “Wasted Years”. Now that can’t be right. There is a vague similarity there but this sounds more like Maiden would if they grew big, unkempt beards and started living out of garbage bins. If you’ve never heard of Amon Amarth you might want to try a bit of their back catalogue first, but if you are already fans then there is no doubting you will be right on board. Oh, and if you do decide to break your piggy-bank for the action figure, please let us know if it comes with a pull-cord and a variety of built-in phrases (“Feel my fiery wrath, Æsir!” or “Onward to Ragnarök!”, perhaps) or a sword that bursts into flame at the touch of a button. Now that would be cool.

Also online @ The New Review (with 10-track samples) = http://thenewreview.net/reviews/amon-amarth-surtur-rising

Competition: Win Tickets To Bloodstock Festival

Bloodstock 2010 competition - win 2 Weekend tickets with camping!

Metal Blade have teamed up with Bloodstock and The Noise Cartel to offer one lucky winner a free pair of weekend tickets with camping to see MB bands Cannibal Corpse and Powerwolf plus many more at the tenth anniversary Bloodstock 2010.

For your chance to win go to:
http://www.metalblade.com/uk/contests.php

The BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR METAL FESTIVAL 2010 will take place at Catton Hall, Derbyshire from 13th – 15th August.

Weekend tickets are on sale now at www.bloodstock.uk.com

Album Review: Bison B.C. - Dark Ages

My review - originally appeared on TLOBF:

There’s no mistaking the fact that Vancouver’s Bison B.C. have their own ideas about how to make music. From their previous releases we learned that they worship the awesome power of the riff, that louder is inevitably always better, and that throwing in plenty of weird conceptual lyrics is a no-brainer – think Mastodon joining forces with Baroness to take on Lair Of The Minotaur and High On Fire. The monster combination has certainly stung enough ears to warrant this reviewer getting a little excited about this latest effort...

Full review = http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/2010/04/bison-b-c-dark-ages/