Although Portland’s Toxic Holocaust are no newcomers amongst the heavy and thrash minded-having earned from the ground up critical acclaim and a rabid fanbase-the band’s latest, Conjure and Command, just might be their strongest effort to date.
Pre-dating the retro trend by a good couple years-vocalist/guitarist Joel Grind kicking out circle pit riffs and black/thrash attacks fresh back in ’99, suckas-Toxic Holocaust, like Virginia’s Municipal Waste have been the victims of their own success, unintentionally spawning numerous stylistic heist-mongers in their wake.
Conjure and Command leaves them all in the dust, however, possessing some of the band’s strongest arrangements and tightest performances; a far cry from the stripped down, Bathory-worshiping mania of the Critical Mass and Radiation Sickness demos, that’s for sure. Still, the core of Toxic Holocaust remains true: a quick, vicious and energetic listen of punk/crust-infused riffs-a la Discharge, The Exploited and English Dogs-melded with East Coast thrash-isms (Overkill, Anthrax Nuclear Assault) and old school metal feeling.
Sure, each song sounds relatively interchangeable from the next-generally consisting of riff/riff/breakdown/riff/end-yet the formula is so exhilarating, you’ll find yourself really caring less that Toxic Holocaust are a one trick pony, because that trick is just so goddamn good.
It what is a truly shameless, unabashed rip of Enforcer’s retro-metal aesthetic, the Swedish contemporaries known-seriously-as Katana are every bit as cheesy as you’d imagine, given their ridiculous promo photos…and so much more.
Seriously, I never thought Heads Will Roll would be as bad as it is, but I was wrong. Not even the band’s legitimate (?) love of 80s heavy metal can save the hapless and helpless mismanaging of their music.
The problem with Katana mainly lie within their delivery. Frontman Johan Bernspang doesn’t cut the mustard in any way, shape or form, possessing an unappealing set of pipes which causes cringes instead of fists, particularly on the laughable “Blade of Katana,” “Neverending World” and opener “Livin’ Without Fear.”
Additional problems arrive when plagues with the fact that guitarists Patrik Essen and Tobias Karlsson-despite letting loose with some enjoyable melodic bits during “Phoenix on Fire”-never really set their fretboards ablaze with enough Maiden/Priest worshiping licks to justify having to sit through yet ANOTHER miserable history course, given by bands who really should have stayed home in the first place. Then again, given the fact that Katana just might be one of the FIRST Swedish bands I’ve ever reviewed without at least ONE of their members serving time in other projects, it all starts to make sense…
Not even holding a torch to such second rate German speed metal fare as Scanner, Katana’s fate has been sealed with a shark-jumping debut which displays each and every kink within retro-metal’s rusty, collapsing armor. Simply painful.
“It was just a self centered venture to make a band like I would want to be in and to write songs,” says bassist Jon Leon about his forming of WHITE WIZZARD in 2007. That certain kind of band turned out to be one heavily influenced by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, yet the music of WHITE WIZZARD is not some modern twist on the storied NWOBHM style. While the musical blueprint followed is not exactly obscure, WHITE WIZZARD pays tribute to the beloved era with distinction and verve, rather than second rate mimicry. One needs only spin new full-length Over the Top to hear loud and clear a collection of traditional heavy metal songs written for maximum memory retention and delivered with power; in other words, with cheese-free catchiness and balls.
Leon’s vision led to the inclusion of a song on Earache’s Heavy Metal Killers compilation and the release of WHITE WIZZARD’s High Speed G.T.O. EP. “It was meant to be a high-end demo and a starting point,” explains Leon about the EP. “Earache came in after the first lineup dissolved and when I was forming the second lineup. They liked the songs and the vision and they wanted to put a song on Heavy Metal Killers too.”
And therein lay the rub, that is, the “second lineup” rub. Momentum had been gained and the band’s profile rose with the quick ascension from independent act to one with an EP released on heavyweight Earache and a song on a well known trad-metal compilation, yet by that time the original lineup had already imploded. A lesser person would have packed it in and shipped off to the land of 9-to-5 routine. Not Leon. He stuck to his artistic vision, revamped the lineup, and ended up recording an even better album in Over the Top, one that retains the infectiousness of its predecessor, yet showcases a more dynamic, mature, and muscular approach to composition. As Leon readily admits, sticking to your guns has its benefits, even if it requires drastic structural alterations.
“Old members wanted to do different stuff and were not behind my vision, which was pretty headstrong. We also had some personality conflicts. They went another direction and I kept going with a new lineup on the Over the Top record. The lyrics for the song “Over the Top” are actually about climbing the mountain and shooting for the highest goal; stick with it and take it over the top. The meaning is self-inspiring. So I just kept writing and progressing and that is where it is at now.” (more…)
etro trend by a good couple years-vocalist/guitarist Joel Grind kicking out circle pit riffs and black/thrash attacks fresh back in ’99, suckas-Toxic Holocaust, like Virginia’s Municipal Waste have been the victims of their own success, unintentionally spawning numerous stylistic heist-mongers in their wake.
