Over the course of three full lengths, Finland’s Ghost Brigade have successfully managed to remain refreshingly independent and stylistically nebulous when it comes to niche categorization, which makes the title of this latest LP, Until Fear No Longer Defines Us, even more self-prophetic.
Indeed, Ghost Brigade have smartly distanced themselves from the bulk of their musical countrymen, foregoing extravagantly effeminate goth/sleaze rock and romantic love metal in favor of dour, yet bittersweet melodic metal of the darkest persuasion. Echoes of the great Amorphis permeate the heavy ‘n doomy guitar motifs of Tommi Kiviniemi and Wille Naukkarinen, yet the stylistic core of Ghost Brigade is something thoroughly of their own creation, particularly here on Fear.
It’s on this third effort where the band’s songwriting expands a bit beyond the post-Katatonia realm, and searches mellower, cleaner-toned territory, coming up roses all the while. Lead singer Manne Ikonen has come a long way in particular, making the Anathema-esque balladry of “Chamber” and “In the Woods” his own, while servicing just fine his bandmates’ heavier flirtations on “Clawmaster” with equal aplomb and skill.
There is a wealth of gold to be dug from the diamond-plated arrangements and gold-level songwriting present here on Until Fear No Longer Defines Us; a certain career highlight for Ghost Brigade which is bound to turn some heads. Really, really strong stuff.
While the number and abundance of Left Coast avant-experimental acts seems to have been growing exponentially over the years-between the antics of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Hammers of Misfortune, Grayceon and their assorted compatriots-it almost seems to be a given that this area of the U.S. seems to serve as a fertile breeding ground for the bizarre and bombastic.
The power trio known as Einvera are no exception, and actually add nicely to the running start given to them by their stylistic forebears, delivering an enjoyably kooky debut full length, titled In Your Image. Combining basic, semi-blackened metal extremity as primary root element, Einvera expands upon the arrangements by peppering nearly everything with complex rhythmic patterns and unique instrumentation.
Whether it’s screeching mandolin, atmospheric accordion or pensive glockenspiel, Einvera is full of varied and intriguing surprises, yet never forgets their guitar, bass and drum source code from which they base their flurried, furious musical center. Progressive rock certainly seems like a big source of inspiration for the band as well, leading further comparisons to the curious Canadians in Unexpect, although the end results of In Your Image are probably a bit more down to earth sounding than their space shot brethren across the border.
Still, fans on both sides should find plenty to holler about here with Einvera’s new noise, not to mention the handful of labels which should come calling any day now.
I know what you’re probably thinking after reading that title.
“Man…EUROPE!?! MetalGeorge has really lost his damn mind this time.”
No, seriously, though…old Europe is pretty good. Really good, in fact, if you’re listening to 1984′s Wings of Tomorrow or the band’s 1983 self-titled debut.
Although I’ll gladly argue the merits of Europe’s fan-favorite The Final Countdown any day of the week-still a great album, in my opinion-the honest truth is that it’s a little…well, ‘soft’ compared to the sounds of early Europe, which were clearly bred from the Euro-centric power and speed metal vein.
Sure, the Swedish band-variably led by guitarists John Norum, Kee Marcello (who, as a fun fact, also made a guest appearance on In Flames’ Whoracle, in case ya didn’t know) and lead singer/songwriter Joey Tempest-may have since become synonymous with the poofy-haired, excessive 80s, both Europe and Wings of Tomorrow possess more than their fair share of heavy, speedy moments.
The most obvious choice for a killer, early Europe cut is “Scream of Anger,” famously covered by Arch Enemy on their expanded Wages of Sin release, and a great example of how their brand of melodic, guitar driven heavy metal would go on to inspire legions of heavier European power metal acts, such as Helloween, Gamma Ray and Stratovarius.
While nowhere near as involved as either of these acts, “Scream of Anger” still possesses a ballsy opening riff and memorable Tempest chorus, aided by a surprising amount of quick, double-kick drums. Taken off Wings of Tomorrow, the track fits in just fine alongside the equally triumphant opening number, “Stormwind.” While Europe always relied heavily on the keyboard presence of Mic Michaeli to assist their commercially viable brand of pomp rock, it’s on songs such as these where the guitars take center stage.
Of course, we can’t forget about the smooth-as-silk vocals of Joey Tempest, can we? No sir. One surprising fact about the singer is how many writing credits he has: nearly every Europe song at this point was either written or co-written by Tempest, sort of similar to how much creative control our beloved Ronnie James had over his Dio band namesake.
Both of these early Europe albums-released on indie label Hot Records-also feature instrumentals designed to showcase the impressive stringed skills of John Norum, both of which sound really pleasing alongside heavier Europe fare like the self-titled’s “In the Future to Come” and “Seven Doors Hotel” which, believe it or not, was lyrically inspired by the super-gory Lucio Fulci horror film The Beyond, a.k.a. Seven Doors of Death!
Whether you consider yourself a casual Europe fan, a diehard follower-many of which I can’t imagine exist, although I may be mistaken-or think the band absolutely sucks balls, give both Europe and Wings of Tomorrow a fair shot before you count these long haired pretty boys out for the count…you may just find yourself pleasantly surprised!
On a warm night in June the rock and metal was brought to New York City in the form of “The Doomsday Tour” featuring OTEP and other bands on Victory Records. Having just released the exceptional Atavist album a few months back, the band has hit the road filling up clubs and venues with their special brand of madness. The tour is on the Spartan side when it comes to the size of these venues. Nonetheless, the The Studio at Webster Hall was packed to the gills with fanatics ready to let loose with all of the emotional liberation Otep Shamaya usually brings to the proceedings. The basement club underneath the legendary dance hall had the right atmosphere for the mayhem that has about unfold. I must point out that the men’s room is one of the creepier places I’ve been to in many years. I was totally convinced I was gonna end up dead in a bathtub, missing a kidney after I relived myself. Any case, as always New York City represented as they always do and on a week night too no less. This is important to note for this especially diverse collection of acts. A group of bands unified more by rebel spirit and collective mindset with a mission to kill eardrums and put on an awesome show.
Opening the show early was art-rock curiosity ONE EYED DOLL. The two-person group comprised of Kimberly Freeman and “Junior” Sewell trip the light fantastic musically from punk cabaret to high theater to metal. Their manic performance was exciting for an opening act with Freeman especially calling to mind a young JOAN JETT, a delicate AMANDA PALMER or a harder edged KIM GORDON. I suspect they will mint many new fans along the way if they keep this up. Next came the Sunset Strip by way of Sweden rock n roll extravaganza that is SISTER SIN. They may be from the land of black and death metal but these three guys and a gal have a heart full of whiskey, leopard print and sleaze. With a dynamic performance and music that calls to mind all of the greats of `80’s glam rock, front woman Liv Jagrell is a powerhouse singer and performer. Whipping the crowd into a frenzy with rock anthems like “Outrage” and “The Sound of The Underground”, they definitely made their presence felt. They even had an uber fan in the house in the person of former WWE superstar Mick Foley who is obsessed with them. If you haven’t yet picked up their albums or seen them in person I’d say you’re missing out.
SISTER SIN updates the glam rock experience for modern fans.
Also appearing in opening slots were DESTROPHY and BLACKGUARD. DESTROPHY played a tight set of active rock anthems mostly culled from their recent release Cry Havoc. Led by lead singer/guitarist Ari Mahloupolus the band plays tight, high energy songs with crushing grooves and soaring chorus parts. Lead Guitarist Erik Tisinger was a standout player on most of the songs. The top songs aside from the opener were “Reconnect” and “March of the Dreamless”. Meanwhile BLACKGUARD seemed like the real wildcard on the bill. They have never failed to impress me live, but I wondered how they would go over on this bill when they certainly have their own thing going. Well neither the band nor the faithful crowd let me down because as soon as the music started to play, everything went crazy. I didn’t think such a tiny club could get such a big mosh pit going, but they did. Playing what they call “epic metal”, they were just killer, especially energetic front man Paul Zinay who kept things rolling along. They kicked so much ass you would have thought they were the headliner. Even though they had many of their own fans in the house they won over an entire new batch on this night with songs mostly from their new album Firefight (Victory). Songs like the title track, “Farewell” and “The Fear of All Flesh” were excellent with lead guitarist Kim Gosselin and drummer Justine Ethier deserving a special mention for their sweet skills.
"Don't be silent......."
Finally it was time for OTEP to hit the stage. The anticipation in the room was so thick it could be cut with a knife. Members of DESTROPHY were setting up the gear and tuning up for quite a while before I realized they would be the de facto backing band tonight. I had hoped some of the stellar personnel from the Atavist sessions would have made it out on the road for the tour, but alas not. Still I was excited to see what these guys could do and I was already admiring their temerity for playing two gigs and teching for themselves too. As the intro music of “Carmina Burana” by CARL ORFF (often used as “Devil music”) filled the P.A. the crowd of lions let out a roar as their heroine hit the stage, bounding up to her platform and microphone stand. As she cooed the line “Hush little baby…don’t make a sound” that opens up the raucous “Eet the Children” you could feel a pulse of energy go through the crowd. It was the first of many surprises on the night. An OTEP show is as much an exercise in the artistry of theatrics as it is a rock show. Singer, witchdoctor, poetess Otep herself is the spiritual ringleader and exorcist for the evening. Following in close succession was the angry rocker “Confrontation” and the witchy “Crooked Spoons”. Both cuts feature Otep at her most wicked, alternately screaming with lusty abandon and extreme prowess. Much like on the new album, she seems to have stepped up her vocal game even more than before, mastering her bellowing death growls and singing in her melodic voice stronger than ever. As for the band they did a capable job of backing her up, especially Ari from DESTROPHY on guitars and backing vocals.
Otep's shirt says "Jesus Saves. I Spend."
After a brief interlude it was time for the usual mid-show out of body experience that is “My Confession”. As one of the center piece of their first album Sevas Tra, the alternating haunting quiet mantra of survival versus violent eruption of perseverance is really moving. Once again in between each song is a pastiche where the band explores space and Otep “has spiritual intercourse” with the crowd. These short steps in between the tracks bloom into fully realized ideas and are often as powerful as the songs themselves in some cases. Next up was “Battle Ready” which never fails to be a perfect mosh pit anthem, especially with the drawn out ending groove. Otep does so little rapping these days you sometimes forget how good she on the older material, somewhat like Chino Moreno of THE DEFTONES. Following that up with their spirited cover of NIRVANA’s “Breed”, the song is now permanent fixture in the set list due to its popularity with the fans. “Breed” had been the closer for some time so it was nice to hear it somewhere else in the set tonight. The single from their new record was the next cut heard in “Fists Fall”. It is easily one of the most brutal and unrelenting tracks the band has ever produced. I was a little surprised more of the new record wasn’t represented tonight since the songs are so strong. “Smash the Control Machine”, with its title borrowed from beat poetry godfather (and hero of mine) WILLIAM BURROUGHS is as fine a rebel anthem as any band has produced since the heyday of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE. Otep’s lyrical vitriol matches her activist passions so seamlessly that it just makes sense that she is opening the eyes and minds of her fans to greater social possibilities. Wrapping up the night was the original nightmare become real in “Tortured” and the bruising stomper “Blood Pigs”. The hunger of the fans was sated and the goddess of words left the scene pausing only to give thanks and respect. That was all she had left to give anyway since she left everything else on that stage.
Featuring four songs, and clocking in at almost an hour, Nero Order have clearly set their creative sights fairly high here on their debut release, The Tower.
So, does the band succeed? Depends, really. This Frisco-based outfit seem to have their musical hearts in the right place when it comes to capturing an epic, riff-centered waste land of post-doom meandering and apocalyptic atmosphere. Yet, there still lacks a certain coherence to the arrangements; a memorable bit to chew on which could push Nero Order above the legions of other neo-doom acts with the same stylistic ideas, all scurrying to get a piece of that occult pie before it goes the way of other popular trends of the day.
Of course, this isn’t exactly to say that Nero Order are disingenuous in their musical inclination of Thee Riff, but rather a sad statement of the times we currently live in: that a band with such obvious talent and high-minded ideas as Nero Order still get stuck and delegated to the back-burner of a scene which is simply too damn crowded.
In particular, the warbling shout of vocalist Alex Lindo holds back from a lot of what Nero Order is attempting to accomplish here with their progressive-minded paeans to guitar-strangling and tone-splitting. While guitarist Matt Harper comes up with some cool, out there ideas on songs like “Celebration of a Wounding,” the effect of The Tower as a whole is underwhelming, simply due to the band’s ‘new’ status, and the musical kinks which inevitably get invited to that sort of party.
Some albums age like a fine wine, while others…well, you know.
Luckily for Milwaukee’s Morta Skuld, this Relapse reissue of the band’s first two demos actually surpasses most, if not all of their recorded output, possessing a much more diehard, old school death metal feeling than the ponderous, Mid-Western death exemplified on the band’s later efforts.
Although still omitting any stylistic bells ‘n whistles in favor of a frills-less, straight ahead Obituary pounding, Through the Eyes of Death still packs one hell of a sonic punch, displaying a young ‘n hungry Morta Skuld, anxious to prove themselves amid a wash of also ran bands during the 90s death metal explosion.
While time will probably never count Morta Skuld as a death metal genre leader, the material included here on both of these demos displays clear and present thought to the band’s songwriting, capturing a dark and evil vibe lurking somewhere in between the gnarly creep/crawl of American death and the more obscure European acts, such as God Macabre. There’s even a slight touch of thrash to the proceedings here; most likely a remnant from the band’s earliest influences and incarnations.
At its (beating, bloody) heart, Through the Eyes of the Dead does what any and all good reissues SHOULD do: instill a legitimate desire to re-investigate the band in question. The Gory Departure and Prolong the Agony demos contained within-plus bonus Metal Church cover!-prove this fact beyond a shadow of doubt, burning new life into the primitive death cult which was the middle-dwelling yet marginally mighty Midwestern metal force known as Morta Skuld.
When it comes to the sub-genre of ‘body horror,’ Canadian director David Cronenberg is the undisputed master. If you’re searching for (further) irrefutable proof, check out the genre legend’s 1979 flick, The Brood. Released in between the director’s gangbuster early efforts Shivers and Rabid and Cronenberg’s breakout work with Scanners, Videodrome, The Dead Zone and The Fly, The Brood remains a cult classic and fan favorite, while also serving as a great starting point for those interested in beginning their exposure to the kooky Canadian filmmaker.
Starring Samantha Eggar, Art Hindle and the legendary Hammer Horror star Oliver Reed, The Brood is a twisted, psychological tale of dependency, abuse and mental issues of the highest order. Reed portrays controversial therapist Hal Raglan, whose latest experiments on what he calls ‘psychoplasmics’-where patients’ traumatic memories provoke physiological changes to their bodies according to the nature of their emotions-has found a willing and troubled subject in the form of Eggar’s character of Nora, who is embroiled in a bitter custody battle with her husband Frank.
Without giving away too much of the plot, Raglan’s idea of ‘therapy’ has many disastrous, and fatal, consequences to all of those involved—even peripherally—with the lives of Frank and Nora, aiding the creation of an abominable group of murderous creatures who follow the emotionally unstable whims of Nora and her magazine stack of issues. Naturally, most of these murder follow Cronenberg’s noted penchant for the visually disturbing and bloody disgusting, evoking a series of ‘Ewww…what the FUCK?!?’ moments on more than one occasion.
Obsessed with disease, dependency and biological destruction, The Brood is just one example of how David Cronenberg’s twisted visions of how we live our lives serves up some mighty fine celluloid. Aided by Howard Shore’s suitably dark score—this was Shore’s film composing debut—The Brood is one creepy, disturbing ride which definitely deserves your attention.
UNEARTH is back and about to drop their new record Darkness in the Light (Metal Blade). It has been a long road for the metallers from Massachusetts. In many respects they were one of the forerunners of metalcore and pre-dated the current wave of modern American metal bands. They have remained largely consistent release after release, but have tried to move forward on this new album by returning to their sonic roots somewhat. We chatted with their decidedly candid guitarist Ken Susi about the new album, songwriting, THE BEATLES, competition and other topics.
MAA: Everybody always says their latest record is “the best thing they’ve ever done”. How does Darkness in the Light compare to your other albums?
KS: You know what? Honestly I have been saying this for a few days now. It is very cliche for bands to say this is our best record. I wanna say that it’s not whether this is our best record or not. It’s the record I personally can listen to. I really, really enjoyed this record as much as I did The Oncoming Storm. I’m not saying it’s better or worse than The Oncoming Storm. I love The The Oncoming Storm as much as anyone does. What I can say about the record is that during the process I really focused on songwriting mostly. Songwriting coming first. Meaning everything tying in together very well. Everything being more meticulous. I really focused on dynamics. I wanted to write stuff that was fast, aggressive, heavy and melodic. If there was a part that was overly melodic, I would add clean vocals on it like how we did on The Oncoming Storm here and there. Trevor’s performance on this record is very assertive and very dark. I don’t wanna to say it’s our best record to date, but what I can tell you is this: in the history books when I’m old and gray and I’m 65 or 70 years old I can look back and have very fond memories about how this one was written and how it came out.
Ken tears it up last year at The Palladium in Worcester, MA.
MAA: The new album does sound like a throwback to the early days of the band. Was that a conscious effort to look to the past on this album or did it come about organically?
KS: Because we didn’t have a drummer on this album cycle, on my side of things it gave us more freedom to do things I wanted to do. Freedom to things we haven’t done in a while and new things we haven’t done yet. But you’re right! A large part of The Oncoming Storm was myself and Buz writing all of the music, just putting it together. And on this record I definitely spent four months straight in the studio morning until night just trying to capture what we do the best. And it does. I think it really paid off. If you love “The Storm” you will probably love this record. I think it really is on that caliber. I hate to ever talk about THE BEATLES and put us in the same category or ballpark as them, but in comparison THE BEATLES were singing “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” and “Love Me Do”. And then later they went on to make Sgt. Pepper and all that stuff. They just changed their mind with what they wanted to do. Now going back to The Stings of Conscience and The Oncoming Storm, we came up with a style and we coined it. At the time everybody and their mother started copying us exactly, our exact formula and style and getting big based on our hard work and our sound. It was kind of disheartening. So on “Fire” and The March we took different approaches to remain unique and to be the band that we are. Sometimes you have to strip it all down. I’m not gonna name names, but when I hear a new band come out with the endless breakdown, doing a stupid, shitty crab-core dance, jump up and down thing and getting popular off of it I just wanna be on the forefront and say we did this fucking first. We were the first band to put those ingredients together. Fuck you and the proof is in the pudding! So we’re coming back and we’re coming back hard!
And then there were four....
MAA: How did Justin Foley get tapped to play on the album?
KS: I’ve been a fan of Justin before he was in KILLSWITCH ENGAGE. Even before BLOOD HAS BEEN SHED I used to see him play in Connecticut at a place called the Hanover House with a band called RED TIDE. I was always a big fan of “J-Fo” and I’ve known him for many years. What basically happened was when we parted way with Derek (Kerswell), he wasn’t fitting in stylistically with our band because we wanted a more aggressive drummer. J-Fo was the first guy I had in mind and I called him up and said ‘Yo, we don’t have a drummer, but you are the perfect guy for what we want to do.’ and he was like ‘that would be a blast” because he didn’t have anything going on right now. Sure enough time-wise everything worked out. I’m telling you we would send him the tracks with some drum parts I put down with Drumkit From Hell and he would send them back with stuff that was much better. (laughs) That’s how the record got written. It was really easy and easy to work with him. And I think the rhythm section on this record is far superior to any other records he have done because of experience and talent across the board.
MAA: How do you and Buz (McGrath) split up the guitar work when song writing and recording?
KS: It’s kind of like a “King of the Hill” situation. Whoever is on top of the hill pushes the other guy off and vice versa until the song gets written. Then when we are both trying to share the top of the hill, then it gets finished. In the past I have always been there to bail Buz out on songs when he has had the main motivation. But on this record Buz has bailed me out part for part and it was time for that too. Whoever is feeling inspiration and who ever is moving forward leads and the other guy takes a backseat to them and help out with the process. Sometimes songs just happen with the two guys sitting side by side. In the past we might have been writing more things side by side. But for this record we really had to keep a schedule so like I said I spent a lot of time in the studio morning, noon and night. Buz would come up with his stuff and I would have my stuff and then Adam would poke his head in and fight off the dogs and tame all the monkeys at the zoo, you know? (laughs)
Buz McGrath.
MAA: You went back to Adam Dutkiewicz in the producers chair. What is Adam like to work with compared to Terry Date one record to the next?
KS: Adam D is far superior based on this experience. I am not at all putting down Terry because he’s great and what he has done in the past is great. He has worked on some big records. For the most part Adam has a really musical ear. I really do believe that since Adam is so multi-dynamic, all of the different instruments he plays and what he hears; you can always lean on him that no matter what guy you are in the band. He can always help you. So for instance if you say ‘hey my beat or this guitar part, I don’t like it.’ Adam is there. Anything he can do to heighten the part, he does. And he can suggest things other guys don’t and bouncing back and forth ideas off of him until we find the right method works. Everybody should use a producer too, I don’t care who you are. Even THE BEATLES always had a producer to rely on.
MAA: Actually the one time they didn’t use George Martin to produce (Let It Be), the band fell apart.
KS: Right! See even Paul and John needed someone to regulate. And Adam having no passion for the songs, its always good to have him come in when you are fighting over a situation or a part. Or I’ll say something like ‘this is the greatest guitar riff ever!’ and then he walks in the room and he’s like ‘Nah. No it’s not!’. And you’re like ‘Really?’ I trust his judgment because he’s usually right. Or nine times out of ten we’ll comb over other demos that I’ve had he’ll be like ‘what about that part you played three weeks ago? We should put that part here.’ And we’re like oh yeah! Okay! And things happen that way. And it will be perfect, of course. So its good to have a guy with no emotion towards the writing process to come in and orchestrate the things you might have been passionate about.
MAA: You guys are part of a very stacked lineup of talent at the Mayhem Festival side stages. Do you feel the pressure to go out there every day against so many killer bands?
KS: No, not really. I really think we do what we do and other bands should be a little bit nervous of us to be honest. We’re bringing our “A game” and when we come, we come hard. Other people will have a hard time keeping up with us. Out of all of the other bands on this festival, we have the most to prove as far as showing people that we are who we are and we plan to stay that way. We really want to move people!
Death Strike was one of those blink-and-you-missed-it projects back in the earliest 90s from one Paul Speckman, frontman/guitarist for Master, as well as a host of other, subsequent side projects unearthed by Thee Bearded One after the initial demise of Death Strike.
Fuckin’ Death was the only recorded document of this primitive death/thrash act, but it’s aged surprisingly well, even if the noisy, distant-sounding production quality still doesn’t do the album too many favors. Speckman’s Slayer-inspired riffs and frenzied lead playing is oft-lost within the album’s demo mix-after all, Fuckin’ Death actually served as both demo (tracks 1-4) and debut for the band-leaving much of the album a chaotic, if lovable mess.
The atmosphere and energy overall is comparable to that of early Sodom meshed with the burgeoning American death metal scene of Possessed and Death. The old school metal spirit is carried loud ‘n proud within this Speckman creation, often eclipsing that of the man’s main work in Master. It’s actually quite cool that Dark Descent has decided to reissue this rare and vintage slice of metal to the masses once again-complete with bonus rehearsal tracks-for quite often such fly by nights projects as Death Strike go unnoticed within today’s mass appeal, cross-pollinating metal scene.
If you want the poisonous, metallic taste of old school on your tongue, then give Death Strike a(nother) try. Fuckin’ Death.
What is it about New Jersey that makes it historically one of the capitals of American metal?Many bands and personalities have spawned from The Garden State like OVERKILL, WHIPLASH, MUCKY PUP, GOD FORBID, ZAKK WYLDE, MUTINY WITHIN and SYMPHONY X just to name a few. The metal flows in Jersey like toxic waste into the water and air, permeating the scene and everyone in it. Led by renowned lead guitar god Jack Frost (SAVATAGE/ FROST BITE/BRONX CASKET COMPANY/BELLADONA) is back with a healthy slab of good old fashioned power metal. As usual Frost is armed to the teeth with an army of guitars, fine songs and top notch production value ready to split your skull in two.
The album is a concept album from Frost and from the mean opening riffs of “Fields of Fire” and the paint peeling scream of James Rivera (HELSTAR) I was stoked! The track is pure badassery and is a combination of thrash, power metal and even some prog influences that mark every Frost production. Rivera’s high vocal range is other worldly and calls to mind both ROB HALFORD and BRUCE DICKINSON in timbre and strength. The musicianship of the band is outstanding as you’d expect with Mike LePond on bass (SYMPHONY X) and Tazz Marazz behind the kit. Second track “Lilith” is a blistering jam in the style of old JUDAS PRIEST and RAINBOW and has some of Frost’s patented razor wire riffs and ridiculous guitar solos. Just two tracks in and this is my favorite vocal performance ever in this band. That is a high compliment considering how good former vocalists Wade Black and Alan Tecchio are. LePond is not content to just hold down the low end with typical lines and plays a constant stream of basslines chock full of noodley goodness. The title track is next and is an uptempo rocking jam not out of character for say an early-era VAN HALEN, except that David Lee Roth could never sing this high. The track is basically a showcase for Frost’s fretboard acrobatics, but has a lot of soulfulness to it too. “Ragnarok” has a title that calls to mind viking metal, but is pure blues influenced proto-metal other than the lyrics. LePond has a great bass solo during the breakdown and one of the years best. The epic sounding and titled “End of Days” is as grandiose as you might imagine and runs the gamut from mellow to MAIDEN. “Mind Games” ratchets up the brutal as a homage to early SLAYER and EXODUS, at least musically. Frost likes to let the listener know there is nothing he can’t do. He turns in another great lead, but unlike some other shredders he doesn’t over do tricks and techniques that take away from the song. Overall the production the the tracks is crisp handled capably by LePond and the bassist he replaced in the band, Joey Vera (ARMORED SAINT/ANTHRAX FATES WARNING/OSI). The remainder of the album has a few more choice cuts, a curious thrash rendering of “White Room” by CREAM and some odds and sods of live songs and covers.
