Jonathan Hill

A Soapbox for Uninformed Opinions

Feb
24

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Behold the Arctopus Horrorcension Review

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General Information:

Artist: Behold the Arctopus
Album: Horrorcension
Genre(s): Heavy Metal
Subgenres(s): Progressive Metal
Released: 2012
Length: 28 minutes
Language(s): N/A
Label(s): Black Market Activities

Track List:

01. Disintegore
02. Monolithic Destractions
03. Horrorsentience
04. Deluge of Sores
05. Putrefucktion
06. Annihilvore

Behold the Arctopus Horrorscension Cover

Behold the Arctopus Horrorscension Cover

Behold the Arctopus Horrorcension Review

Horrorcension is the second round of auditory carnage by progressive metal outfit Behold the Arctopus. The songs found on their debut, Skullgrid, are mere pop songs in comparison to the 28 minutes endurance test of Horrorcension. Normally an album should be reviewed on its own merits without more than a quiet nod to another album or band but to express how far-out Behold the Arctopus have swam, drawing some comparisons with Skullgrid is hard to avoid.

While Skullgrid is certainly a difficult album, it did have some strong moments thrown in the mix along with a semi-sense of structure – a motif or reference point that the band went back to before taking the music in another direction. With Horrorcension there isn’t any of this and the music if far more outlandish than whatever you might think the ridiculous song titles allure to.

The songs twist and turn in every way imaginable and make it nearly impossible to follow anything, leaving you with nothing more than a senseless cacophony of guitar screeches and percussive slaps that won’t mean anything to you. There are very few breaks from the status quo and the most noticeable are the short, merciful interludes found on Horrorsentience and Putrefucktion. The most memorable moment can be found on Annihilvore when Behold the Arctopus exchange their progressive metal frenzy for a relatively straightforward black metal sound mid song.

While Horrorcension lacks emotion due to its intense focus on the technical skills and performance of the band, it is still guaranteed to give the listener an emotional reaction, albeit it will most likely be one of disgust.

Performers:

Mike Lerner: Guitars
Colin Marston: Warr Guitars
Weasel Walter: Drums

External Links:

Behold the Arctopus Homepage
Behold the Arctopus on Wikipedia | Horrorcension on Wikipedia

Jan
26

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Judas Priest Nostradamus Review

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General Information:

Artist: Judas Priest
Album: Nostradamus
Genre(s): Heavy Metal
Subgenres(s): Heavy Metal
Released: 2008
Length: 56 minutes (CD 1 tracks 1-13), 47 minutes (CD 2 tracks 14-23)
Language(s): English
Label(s): Sony Music

Track List:

01. Dawn of Creation
02. Prophecy
03. Awakening
04. Revelations
05. The Four Horsemen
06. War
07. Sands of Time
08. Pestilence and Plague
09. Death
10. Peace
11. Conquest
12. Lost Love
13. Persecution
14. Solitude
15. Exiles
16. Alone
17. Shadows in the Flame
18. Visions
19. Hope
20. New Beginnings
21. Calm Before the Storm
22. Nostradamus
23. Future of Mankind

Judas Priest Nostradamus Cover

Judas Priest Nostradamus Cover

Judas Priest Nostradamus Review

Nostradamus is the 16th studio album by heavy metal icons Judas Priest. After testing the waters on their 2005 album Angel of Retribution with a 13 minute doom metal song, Loch Ness, it seems as though Judas Priest have gotten a real taste for pushing their artistic boundaries by ambitiously crafting a concept double album revolving around the life of the French seer Nostradamus.

The most immediate thing you’ll notice, aside from the colossal length, is the inclusions of keyboards as a lead instrument. Sometimes they outshine or even bury other instruments (most notably Ian Hill’s bass) and are the foundation of no less than 9 interludes which are often accompanied by acoustic or soft electric guitar playing. While they work well to emphasise some of Rob Halford’s singing talents, they make up a combined running time of 17 minutes and can feel overdone by the end the album. It is worth mentioning that the interlude music is eventually fleshed out into a full song, the ballad Lost Love, which is presumably about the loss of his first wife and 2 children to the plague but the lyrics are vague enough to be interpreted in different ways.

Death is another successful foray into doom metal and it’s a shame that the band only flirt with the subgenre since they prove to be rather skilled in this realm. War turns out to be one of the more experimental songs as it breaks away from heavy metal altogether and sees Judas Priest trying their hand at martial industrial music with surprisingly good results. In another twist, Pestilence and Plague is sung in both English and Italian but unless you understand Italian, it will be hard to say how accurate Rob Halford’s performance is.

Between the interludes and experimentation we are left with much of their traditional heavy metal sound that is often played at the same mid-paced tempo which doesn’t do much to help the flow of the album. The title track, found near the end of the second CD, starts out like any of the other interludes before breaking into a speed metal frenzy with Rob Halford’s trademark wail to make you think that it has been ripped right out of the Painkiller album. Nostradamus would have benefitted greatly from more songs like this one, if for nothing other than the tempo to shake things up a little.

Nostradamus would be more digestible if the material was condensed into a single album no more than an hour long but it is always good to hear a band expanding their horizons instead of running around the same hamster wheel endlessly even if the results aren’t perfect.

Performers:

Rob Halford: Vocals
Glenn Tipton: Guitars and Synthesizes Guitars
K.K. Downing: Guitars and Synthesizes Guitars
Ian Hill: Bass Guitars
Scott Travis: Drums

External Links:

Judas Priest Homepage
Judas Priest on Wikipedia | Nostradamus on Wikipedia

Apr
23

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Reverend Bizarre Return to the Rectory Review

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Reverend Bizarre Return to the Rectory Review

Artist: Reverend Bizarre
Album: Return to the Rectory
Genre(s): Heavy Metal
Subgenres(s): Doom Metal
Released: 2004
Length: 66 minutes
Language(s): English
Label(s): Spikefarm Records

Track List:

01. The March of the War Elephants
02. The Festival
03. The Goddess of Doom
04. Aleister
05. For You Who Walk in the Land of the Shadows
06. Dark Sorceress (Autumn Siege) (Barathrum Cover)
07. The Wrath of the War Elephants

Reverend Bizarre Return to the Rectory Cover

Return to the Rectory is the second EP by Reverend Bizarre. The title is an obvious throw back to their first album, In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend. At 66 minutes long it is hard to consider In the Rectory an EP by any stretch of the imagination. In either case the music follows the same format as In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend; atypical song structure, sparse guitar plods, dramatic baritone singing and a guitar tone so thick that you can almost see it.

This time around the longest song is 12 minutes and Reverend Bizarre have managed to throw in a couple of new tricks to try and keep their sound fresh. This includes a lengthy acoustic guitar intro to The Festival and more mid-paced parts which sometimes become genuinely fast. This is definitely a welcome addition to their sound.

The subdued keyboard sounds heard on In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend have been given a second chance on Return to the Rectory. While used sparingly, they do get stand out moments on For You Who Walk in the Land of the Shadows and The Wrath of the War Elephants. They work well to build up their foreboding atmosphere to make the songs stand apart that bit more.

Opening song The March of the War Elephants features the usual lengthy guitar drones and some excellent drum work that makes the song promising enough in its own right. The song suddenly bursts into a full on gallop and then rapidly fades out to leave you miffed. Reverend Bizarre might have spent time throwing in more variety but it doesn’t mean much when you forget to finish your opening song.

On the other hand there is strong continuity to be found elsewhere. The spares lyrics on The March of the War Elephants seem to follow into The Wrath of the War Elephants which then reprises elements of the music found in The Goddess of Doom.

The dramatic baritone voice still presides over most of the song but with more enunciation while their cover of Dark Sorceress (Autumn Siege) by Barathrum makes a U-turn by extensively using the vomiting voices found in black metal. The Goddess of Doom name drops several influential and current doom metal bands with Reverend Bizarre appointing actress Christina Ricci the title of The Goddess of Doom. This at least shows that there is a sense of humour mixed in with Reverend Bizarre’s prolonged agony.

When a band has all the ingredients for making great music it is hard to hear them miss the target if for nothing other than forgetting when to stop playing a song. Return to the Rectory shows a small expansion on their sound but it will most likely appeal to existing Reverend Bizarre fans before anyone else.

Apr
20

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Reverend Bizarre In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend Review

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Reverend Bizarre In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend Review

Artist: Reverend Bizarre
Album: In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend
Genre(s): Heavy Metal
Subgenres(s): Doom Metal
Released: 2002
Length: 74 minutes
Language(s): English
Label(s): Sinister Figure, Low Frequency Records (2003 rerelease), Spikefarm Records (2004 rerelease)

Track List:

01. Burn in Hell!
02. In the Rectory
03. The Hour of Death
04. Sodoma Sunrise
05. Doomsower
06. Cirith Ungol

Reverend Bizarre In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend Cover

In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend is the first full length album by Finnish doomsters Reverend Bizarre. They draw heavily from doom metal pioneers Candlemass and most of the songs you’ll hear are upwards of 10 minutes with the exceptions being Burn in Hell and Doomsower, the latter of which is followed up by Cirith Ungol, the 21 minute monolithic conclusion to In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend.

Reverend Bizarre have all of the hallmarks of the traditional doom metal sound; long songs with an atypical structure, sparse guitar plods, dramatic baritone singing, religious iconography and a guitar tone so thick that you can almost see it. Opener Burn in Hell has enough material to carry itself while establishing the consistent sound of Reverend Bizarre’s debut. Singer and bassist Sami Albert Hynninen (performing as Magister Albert) delivers one of the best lines of the album on this song, the spiteful “you bastards” that finishes the dirge.

Unfortunately by the time you get to The Hour of Death, you’ll find the songs start to lack variety and substance as Reverend Bizarre force themselves to drag out the slow, distorted passages beyond what most people would consider reasonable and it feels like they are doing it for the sake of it. Cirith Ungol embodies all of these negative traits despite having some tasteful throwbacks to Black Sabbath’s self-titled song and Iron Man.

Guitarist Kimi Karki (as Peter Vicar) and drummer Jari Pohjonen (as Earl of Void) kick the songs into gear between the guitar plods (as heard best on In the Rectory and Sodoma Sunrise) with some fantastic up-tempo guitar grooves, rapid drum fills and even an extended psychedelic guitar solo that will catch you off guard. The entirety of Doomsower is a curve ball in its own right. It is a brilliant hybrid of doom metal and stoner rock that is condensed into relatively short 5 minute blast. It shows exactly what the trio of Reverend Bizarre are capable of doing when they get straight to business without any of the filler material pointlessly jammed in there.

When Reverend Bizarre can be bothered to play with feeling they have some serious content to offer and if they followed this routine for the other songs it would have improve the experience tenfold. The dragged out passages don’t have the desired effect of building a foreboding atmosphere and will instead leave you cold after listening for long enough. While Reverend Bizarre have a genuine passion for creating doom metal, they prove to be too ambitious for themselves on In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend so sparing a few glowing moments, this is an album that should be reserved for doom metal fanatics.

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