Jonathan Hill

A Soapbox for Uninformed Opinions

Apr
30

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Sabaton Heroes Review

Category: Music Tags: , , , , Leave a Comment

General Information:

Artist: Sabaton
Album: Heroes
Genre(s): Heavy Metal
Subgenres(s): Traditional Metal
Released: 2014
Length: 37 minutes
Language(s): English
Label(s): Nuclear Blast

Track List:

01. Night Witches
02. No Bullets Fly
03. Smoking Snakes
04. Inmate 4859
05. To Hell and Back
06. The Ballad of Bull
07. Resist and Bite
08. Soldier of 3 Armies
09. Far from the Fame
10. Hearts of Iron

Sabaton Heroes Cover

Sabaton Heroes Cover

Sabaton Heroes Review

Heroes is the 7th studio album by Swedish heavy metal band Sabaton. Following the announcement on 31st March 2012 that 4 members had simultaneously departed the band, lead vocalist, primary songwriter and now keyboardist Joakim Brodén and bassist Pär Sundström were saddled with the arduous task of reforming the line-up. With 3 new band members being brought into the fold it would be difficult to guess what would happen after such a heavy blow was dealt.

Heroes sees the sound of Sabaton moving away from the realm of power metal and drawing closer to traditional metal with their secret weapon, the voice of Joakim Brodén, being made the focal point of every song. His powerful and charismatic performance commands the listeners’ attention while bassist Pär Sundström and guitarists Chris Rörland and Thobbe Englund all double up as backing vocalists to add a real anthemic quality with their gang vocal delivery.

Long-time Sabaton fans will be familiar with the lyrical content largely revolving around military history and Heroes is no exception although a slightly different approach is taken because each song is used to sing the praises soldiers who exemplified humanity, bravery and valour while often facing dire circumstances in historical battles.

The lyrics take on a central role in songs that are heavily informed by pop song structure and length so they can appear to be direct and nondescript. This is a hindrance from a storytelling perspective because they don’t always delve deep enough to explain the situation that these people find themselves in so if you aren’t familiar with them or the battle in question then you won’t be able to appreciate what Sabaton are trying to convey. However if you spend a few minutes researching the subject matter you will be able to apply your own knowledge to the lyrics and fill in the gaps yourself to bring greater meaning to the songs.

Aside from some lyrical short comings there is also a notable deficit between the guitar riffs played during the verse/chorus sections and the lead guitar parts that burst into life during the bridge on songs like Night Witches, Smoking Snakes and Far from the Fame. These moments are often accompanied by more exciting drum parts courtesy of Hannes van Dahl and there seems to be a recurring theme of their skills being downplayed in favour of the aforementioned focus on anthemic choruses.

The first 3 songs establish exactly what Heroes is about and while many of the others follow suit, Inmate 4859 takes on a much slower and darker tone to tell the story of Witold Pilecki, a Polish soldier who infiltrated Auschwitz as a prisoner to gather intelligence on the camp and the holocaust before escaping to report his findings.

To Hell and Back features the tasteful use of a (synthesised) flute and some minor folk influences without crossing over into folk metal while the power ballad, The Ballad of Bull, features a piano, choral singing and a string section that frames Joakim Brodén’s voice in an entirely different setting and works to great effect. This is easily one of the biggest highlights of Heroes and the total change of pace breaks up the albums flow without losing any of the power or conviction found in the other songs.

The emphasis on hooks and simple arrangements shows that these songs were written with a live audience in mind because that same essence of power and engagement found at a concert is captured on Heroes although a healthier balance between this and more moments that would have shown off the skills of the new band members would have yielded some more exciting (and varied) results overall.

Performers:

Joakim Brodén: Lead vocals, keyboards
Pär Sundström: Bass, backing vocals
Chris Rörland: Guitar, backing vocals
Thobbe Englund: Guitar, backing vocals
Hannes van Dahl: Drums

External Links:

Sabaton Homepage
Sabaton on Wikipedia
Heroes on Wikipedia

Mar
31

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Ihsahn The Adversary Review

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General Information:

Artist: Ihsahn
Album: The Adversary
Genre(s): Heavy Metal
Subgenres(s): Black Metal, Progressive Metal
Released: 2006
Length: 50 minutes
Language(s): English
Label(s): Candlelight Records, Mnemosyne Productions

Track List:

01. Invocation
02. Called by the Fire
03. Citizen
04. Homecoming
05. Astera Ton Proinon
06. Panem et Circenses
07. And He Shall Walk in Empty Places
08. Will You Love Me Now?
09. The Pain is Still Mine

Ihsahn The Adversary Cover

Ihsahn The Adversary Cover

Ihsahn The Adversary Review

The Adversary is the debut solo album of Emperor front man and multi-instrumentalist Ihsahn. The sound of The Adversary is a continuation of the black metal and progressive metal hybrid that Emperor experimented with on their final album, Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise.

Starting with Invocation, the listener gets a compact overview of what direction Ihsahn is taking as he introduces The Adversary with an intense black metal verse with matching lyrics and a screeched vocal delivery to invoke apocalyptic imagery before crying “let it all come down” which is appropriately accompanied by relentless blast beat drumming, courtesy of Asgeir Mickelson, to tie the lyrics and music together in a dramatic style.

Keyboards are employed as a background instrument in both the hard and soft segments of the song, the latter of which lasts for about 2 minutes after the explosive blast beats, and introduces Ihsahn’s clean singing style that goes from even tempered to a strained falsetto wail.

While Ihsahn shows some skill as a singer among his other musical talents Kristoffer Rygg (of Ulver fame) offers a stronger sung performance on Homecoming that can’t help but make the listener think that Ihsahn should have performed the harsh vocals while getting Kristoffer Rygg to cover the sung portion of The Adversary. The music on Homecoming also introduces more textural qualities when Kristoffer Rygg sings and this gives off the impression that at least parts of the song was written with his specific voice in mind but however you look at it, it proves to be a well-executed endeavour.

The Pain is Still Mine is a little over 10 minutes long, making it twice the length of the other songs, but it gives the progressive metal strain much more room the breathe as you might expect if you are familiar with the subgenre. It should also be said that most of the progressive metal elements come in the form of each song having several different consecutive verses or instrumental passages and this isn’t the kind of album that lies on the virtuosity end of the progressive spectrum.

Like any musician or band that blends polarising genres or sounds together, they must take care to fuse them together properly less they end up with a patchwork quilt of an album at worst or some head scratching transitions at best. In the case of The Adversary this sort of pitfall is avoided in most instances and there are only a couple of questionable transitional sections to be heard. One of these moments is the sudden stop half way into Citizen where you think that the song has ended but before you can finish that thought a piano melody comes out of nowhere and makes you think that it’s an entirely different song. However when this is spliced together with bursts of wrathful vocals and clean guitar playing later in the song the blending of styles is much more convincing.

Perhaps the biggest drawback of this album is Ihsahn’s harsh vocal style which can often sound strained like Marge Simpson if she had a sore throat but for die hard Emperor fans wanting more material from one of black metals early stalwart musicians then this will hardly be something to fault. If you are a fan of indulgent-free progressive metal with a harder edge coming from the black metal realm then The Adversary is an ideal and relatively accessible point of reference to start with.

Performers:

Ihsahn: Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards
Asgeir Mickelson: Drums
Kristoffer Rygg: Guest vocals on “Homecoming”

External Links:

Ihsahn Homepage
Ihsahn on Wikipedia
The Adversary on Wikipedia

Feb
29

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Disturbed Indestructible Review

Category: Music Tags: , , , , , , Leave a Comment

General Information:

Artist: Disturbed
Album: Indestructible
Genre(s): Heavy Metal, Rock
Subgenres(s): Hard Rock, Traditional Heavy Metal
Released: 2008
Length: 50 minutes
Language(s): English
Label(s): Reprise

Track List:

01. Indestructible
02. Inside the Fire
03. Deceiver
04. The Night
05. Perfect Insanity
06. Haunted
07. Enough
08. The Curse
09. Torn
10. Criminal
11. Divide
12. Façade

Disturbed Indestructible Cover

Disturbed Indestructible Cover

Disturbed Indestructible Review

Indestructible is the fourth album by Disturbed and their second in the hard rock/traditional heavy metal style that was adopted on their last album, Ten Thousand Fists. Aside from a small step forward in musicianship not much has changed stylistically and Indestructible is a direction continuation of that sound.

This time around there are less songs and a slightly shorter running time which both work in Disturbed’s favour because despite refining their knack for high calibre anthems even further, Indestructible is very much a by the numbers effort and the first few songs will let you know exactly what you’re in for so not much is going to catch you off guard.

The title track gets the ball rolling and sets the tone perfectly with a mid-paced guitar riff that is preceded by air raid sirens. The lyrics have an inspirational angle that is used to address and motivate soldiers which contrasts with the contemplational lyrics of Overburdened, a song from Ten Thousand Fists, which deals with the morality of war and its consequences.

Many of the other lyrics found on Indestructible deal with harsher subject matter such as suicide (Inside the Fire), mental illness (Perfect Insanity) and domestic abuse (Façade) but if your band operates under the moniker Disturbed you probably feel somewhat obligated to live up to your name.

Unlike the infamous shock monologue heard on Down with the Sickness from their debut album, Façade is far more mature in dealing with the subject matter of domestic abuse, which describes the situation of a female victim with David Draiman questioning “for how long will you try?/how long until you walk away?/your facade can’t disguise/the fact that you’re in misery” before the situation is escalated to her retaliation with lines like “homicide flashes through her mind again/no more pain, take control/if he raises his hand again/she’ll find her freedom in killing him/the world will see that she’s had enough” which points to her taking her partners life and the situation subsequently unfolding through the media.

Perfect Insanity and Divide were both originally written before the release of their debut, The Sickness, in 2000 but they didn’t make it onto the album and it’s not hard to see why since they didn’t adhere to the strict nu metal sound that Disturbed moved onto at that stage in their career. The groove metal foundation of these songs translates into their current hard rock/traditional heavy metal sound exceptionally well because they both offer a lot of aggression that is rounded off with their emphasis on melody to bring the best of both worlds together.

Other moments on the album such as the bridge to Enough ramp up the aggression not only in terms of instruments but also in terms of David Draiman’s vocal delivery, which is done with a deeper snarling voice that is outright ferocious. His manic laughter on Inside the Fire is another highlight in its own right while the keyboards/programmed parts heard on some songs are tastefully integrated to enhance the atmosphere.

To some listeners Indestructible could start to wear thin after a few listens because Disturbed haven’t really pushed their sound out of the box on this album but their ability to fuse hard driving guitar anthems with an unrivalled sense of melody will undoubtedly allow them to embed themselves in your ears after any amount of time spent listening to them.

Performers:

David Draiman: Vocals
Dan Donegan: Guitar, electronics
Mike Wengren: Drums, backing vocals
John Moyer: Bass guitar

External Links:

Disturbed Homepage
Disturbed on Wikipedia
Indestructible on Wikipedia

Jan
29

By

Agalloch Pale Folklore Review

Category: Music Tags: , , , , , Leave a Comment

General Information:

Artist: Agalloch
Album: Pale Folklore
Genre(s): Heavy Metal
Subgenres(s): Black Metal, Progressive Metal
Released: 1999
Length: 62 minutes
Language(s): English
Label(s): The End Records

Track List:

01. She Painted Fire Across the Skyline I
02. She Painted Fire Across the Skyline II
03. She Painted Fire Across the Skyline III
04. The Misshapen Steed
05. Hallways of Enchanted Ebony
06. Dead Winter Days
07. As Embers Dress the Sky
08. The Melancholy Spirit

Agalloch Pale Folklore Cover

Agalloch Pale Folklore Cover

Agalloch Pale Folklore Review

Pale Folklore is the debut album of American heavy metal band Agalloch. The band has lofty ambitions that are shown through their blending of different metal genres, namely black metal and progressive metal, with neofolk and some other non-genre specific sounds. On top of that, these genres are woven into lengthy songs with much of it being composed of instrumental passages.

The album is introduced with wind sound effects and a slow guitar melody which goes on for 2 minutes before the distortion is played up and the drums kick in on the first part of the She Painted Fire Across the Skyline trilogy. This quickly demonstrates some of the unevenness that permeates Pale Folklore because Agalloch intentionally use lo-fi production techniques on the black metal elements but not in other places (in the same song no less). The end result is clunky and muffled percussion that lifelessly patters around in the background while vocalist John Haughm rasp-speaks many of the lyrics, which gives way to the soft, cleanly produced moments with an opera singer wailing before jumping back to the lo-fi black metal sound.

She Painted Fire Across the Skyline I and II are bridged together with more wind sound effects before turning into a straight-forward black metal song that lies on the softer end of the spectrum and contains another jarring transition near the end that upsets the flow needlessly. The final part of the trilogy has some quirks about it although it manages to remain the most focused part and it is a better example of their progressive metal song-writing. The dramatic clean singing moment is out of place but the performance by John Haughm deserves praising for his compelling delivery. Tubular bells make a brief appearance later on and they offer an interesting and memorable dynamic that is unfortunately short lived.

Agalloch over-indulge on the wind sound effects as they make further appearances on The Melancholy Spirit and Hallways of Enchanted Ebony, which eventually descends into the ill-advised inclusion of animal noises and barking. These needless indulgences take on the form of sound effects more often than not but one exception is the out of place hammering of a piano right at the end of Dead Winter Days, which is an otherwise stand out song.

The soft side of Agalloch is fully embraced on The Misshapen Steed, a melancholic ballad-turned-dramatic incidental music piece that has a cinematic quality to it. This song strays outside of heavy metal territory entirely and instead focuses on tasteful piano and keyboard playing.

As Embers Dress the Sky is another well-rounded black metal excursion and is the second song to feature the unnamed opera singer. This time the raspy vocals and her own trade off each other in a well-executed beauty and the beast style before transitioning flawlessly into an acoustic passage. The heavy metal guitar work then jumps back in awkwardly and if it hasn’t become clear that Agalloch haven’t quite got the transitional elements of their song-writing down yet then this will convince you.

Agalloch are a forward-thinking band that has demonstrated a great deal of potential on their debut album and while their song-writing can be unfocused and unpolished at times, it is clear that they have plenty ambition that if refined will yield some exciting results for the heavy metal community.

Performers:

Don Anderson: Guitar
John Haughm: Vocals, guitar, drums
Jason William Walton: Bass
Shane Breyer: Keyboards
Unnamed: Operatic vocals (tracks 1 and 7)

External Links:

Agalloch Homepage
Agalloch on Wikipedia
Pale Folklore on Wikipedia

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