Posts Tagged ‘Symphony X’
Wednesday, March 20th, 2013
Coverta (EMI Records)
Who the hell else would have thought to cover some of these songs? ADRENALINE MOB would. This is their third release, if you count the 2011 self titled EP and the 2012 debut album Omerta. The cleverly named Coverta is fun, high-energy collection of non typical cover songs. For me there seems to be more passion on here in their performances than what was on their debut album.
They start this off with the only track I wasn’t familiar with, “High Wire” by BADLANDS. As a new song to my ears, it was pleasantly timeless sounding. Kicking it off with deep grooves and bass lines with some extraordinary fret work, it is the prefect way to open this album up. Singer RUSSELL ALLEN (SYMPHONY X ) is such a strong and versatile singer, you almost forget he is not that songs original singer on some of these tracks. He is the high point of this album. Holy cow, does he do justice to DIO’s “Stand Up and Shout”. It is scary how close he is to RONNIE JAMES DIO’s voice. Maybe that’s why three out of the eight tracks on here are from three of his former bands. If he doesn’t end up filling in for DIO DISCIPLES at some point in the future, something is wrong with the world. There’s one track on here that just caught me off guard, they didn’t go radically different but a few twist definitely made “Break on Through” by THE DOORS is my second favorite track on here. The addition of a little double bass drums just makes this song move and come alive. Also, a few killer fills never hurt anything either. Bassist JOHN MOYER‘s (DISTURBED) bass sounds nice and fat here. Allen’s ability to capture DAVID LEE ROTH‘s cadence is uncanny on “Romeo Delight” by VAN HALEN. Drummer MIKE PORTNOY and Moyer really shine on this bad boy.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone cover HEART before and I’m glad their version of “Barracuda” popped my HEART cover cherry. MIKE ORLANDO (SONIC STOMP) is so good on here I really can’t find the words to say how much I love his playing. I have listened to this track more than any other here. Seriously, after hearing “Kill the King” by RAINBOW, I would love to see or hear Russell do a DIO cover show one day. I am extremely happy with their LED ZEPPELIN choice, if I had to hear another version of “The Immigrant Song” or “Whole Lotta Love”, I would punch someone in the face. Thankfully I am surprised here with ‘The Lemon Song’. It is slowest and the longest song on here and it feels it. ORLANDO simply kills on the solos here and MIKE PORTNOY is very faithful to the original. I don’t think anyone is really allowed to change JOHN BONHAM parts, its an unspoken rule. The last track is a no-brainer for them, it is their anthem. They just smoke BLACK SABBATH’s “The Mob Rules”. It really feels like its their song.
With great song choices and superb production this could quickly move up into one of the best cover albums out there. If you’re not smiling by the end of this disc, something is wrong with you.
 ADRENALINE MOB gets reinvigorated by some cover songs!
GRADE: A
Omar (Ojayy) Cordy
Tags: badlands, Black Sabbath, Dio, Disturbed, ex-DREAM THEATER, FLYING COLORS, heart, John Moyer, Led Zeppelin, MIKE ORLANDO, Mike Portnoy, Rainbow, RUSSELL ALLEN, SONIC STOMP, Symphony X, THE DOORS, van halen
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Monday, April 9th, 2012
Last month Metal Army had the good fortune to sit down with Stu Block, lead singer of ICED EARTH before their tour stop in Worcester, MA. As their co-headlining tour of America was winding down, Stu was in a reflective mood where he talked about a great many subjects with us. We have rarely met someone as talented as Stu who was also so humble and appreciative of whatever has come his way in his career.
 Stu Block of ICED EARTH on stage at the Worcester Palladium. MAA: How has the tour been going?
SB: It’s going great! I mean, it is actually coming to an end, especially for the shows with SYMPHONY X. It’s been a great, great, awesome tour with SYMPHONY X and WARBRINGER. WARBRINGER are finishing it up all the way up to Joliet, IL. But it’s really fun. We’ve had a lot of great, fun times. A lot of festive occasions let’s say and it’s been great. We’ve all gotten along really good and the co-headlining thing has really worked out awesome. Everyone’s so good at what they do that everyone from the crew to the band, it’s really professional. So I’m happy.
MAA: How are the new songs from of Dystopia going over live so far?
SB: Yeah, the songs that we are playing live people are really digging. “Dark City” is a big hit, “V” is a big hit, of course “Dystopia” is a big hit. Those songs everyone’s singing the lyrics and all that kind of stuff. Even songs like “Days of Rage”- people are really getting into it, starting mosh pits and stuff like that. It’s really cool. So we’re getting a really good reaction.
 Dystopia was released last October, 17th.
MAA: Has the band talked about playing Dystopia in its entirety live?
SB: I think that’d be really cool too. And who knows, I’m sure we are going to all the songs live one day, but as far as front to back I don’t know. We’ll have to see. We’ll see what happens, because we’ve always got to do other records, we want to play those ones front to back too. But there’s so much material that ICED EARTH has, it’s so difficult. If it’s a special one or two night thing, something like that. That would be kind of cool.
MAA: What was the writing process like for you coming from you old band to working with Schaffer and company?
SB: Well, when I was brought on to be the singer he had made it quite clear from the initial phone call that he wanted a writing partner. He didn’t want just some one that can just sing what he comes up with. He needed, not that he needed the help, but I think it was just a relief off of him. Less things for him to deal with because he arranges the songs and writes the songs, and so I was able to contribute. I co-wrote ten songs on this album with him. I’m really proud of that and I think he is too. We grew as writing partners during the process of this album and the chemistry was really, really good. I mean we really had a great time doing it and I think we’re both excited to get to started writing the next record.
 Jon Schaffer leads the charge.
MAA: Who were the singers that inspired you to start singing in the first place?
SB: PHIL COLLINS, I mean was raised on that kind of stuff. I listened to a lot of FRANK SINATRA and stuff like that. Then I started getting into harder stuff. JIM GILLETTE was awesome for me and then of course BRUCE DICKINSON, ROB HALFORD. I loved all that high singer stuff, but I also liked DIO. Of course DIO for just the annunciation and just for the way he, the deliverance and the way he looked. He was so scary, but yet, majestic! (laughs) He did it all! But I don’t know, there were a lot of singers that really influenced me over time. But hey man I’m on tour with one of the singers I really look up to RUSSELL ALLEN. He’s a phenomenal, phenomenal vocalist, not just metal, but rock and roll. The ADRENALINE MOB, we’ve been listening to it non-stop, it’s really killer. It’s a killer record. There’s a lot of great singers that I’ve looked up to.
MAA: Have you ever considered doing an educational singing DVD or metal singing DVD?
SB: I don’t know. I don’t consider…. I just listed a bunch of great singers that should be doing instructional DVDs. I mean, I just do what I do. What I do want to do is- I’m sure there’s other people that can do it, but, I’ve toured it: hybrid-singing. How to transition death vocals to a clean vocal or transition from a death vocal to a high falsetto vocal and that kind of stuff, how to take care of your voice. I mean I’ve never really thought about doing a full-on instructional DVD. We’ll see. You never know. Maybe with a bunch of other cool singers that would be like a collaboration kind of thing, I can contribute what I can and we can all learn from each other.
MAA: Did you feel any pressure when you joined the band about following in the footsteps of two iconic talents?
SB: Yeah. I mean I’d be lying if I didn’t say there was some pressure, of course! But when Jon brought me on to be the singer, I just knew that he had the vision and he knew what he was talking about. He knows his fans better than anybody, better than anybody and when he chose me as a singer, he knew what he was doing. He saw something in me that he knew the fans would like. With him coaching me and of course Jim Morris of Morris Sound Studios. He was a really integral part and the whole process of the recording and the deliverance of vocals, more pitch, and being behind, or before the beat and there’s all sorts of little factors to be accounted for when you’re recording. I think he (Jon) saw something in that and I really worked with it. I came in there like I was a sponge, just ready to soak up any sort of knowledge that they could give me, because these guys have been doing this a long time. So I really, really was appreciative of that. So think that’s why it rang true, that the fans were accepting me in the way that they were. So I’m really really proud of that. I’m proud of this record and I’m going to be proud of all the stuff that we’re going to do together. It’s going to be great.
MAA: Have you kept track of INTO ETERNITY and what they are doing now?
SB: Sure, Tim Roth is my best at my wedding coming up this September, I mean, they’re all coming to my wedding and they’re all friends, and when I come home we’re all buddies. They’ve got to do as a band what they need to do, and Tim Roth is a driving force in that band and he will succeed. And if it has to be with another singer for right now then that’s what it has to be with. I’m doing ICED EARTH, I’m very dedicated to ICED EARTH right now, and, not even just right now, I’m very dedicated to this band. I fit in really well, not that I don’t in INTO ETERNITY, but it’s a different thing for me right now. But I love INTO ETERNITY, but it’s a whole different beast. It’s like comparing, apples to a date. I mean it’s totally different. I have very equal love for both bands. The INTO ETERNITY guys, we’ve done a lot together. I love each and every single one of them as my brothers and I would do anything for them. And I am very,very fastly becoming a great brotherhood with the ICED EARTH guys and we’re writing great music together, it’s awesome. But I have to do what I need to do, and this is a great step in my career. Now ICED EARTH can tour a lot, and we can go forward and conquer the world. I think it’s going to be amazing, and Jon is such a great visionary, he’s been doing this for a while and he knows what he’s talking about. The decisions he makes, he makes them for the better good. And he’s a very, very, very smart individual about a lot of things. I really look up to him. He’s a great human being. I’ve seen him take his ICED EARTH hoodie off of his back in Calgary and give it to a bum; I saw that. You know what I mean? And that’s the type of guy that he is. As for me I’m getting married, I want to make a good career doing this, and there’s a lot of sacrifices you need to make as a musician to do those things, but if you do them tactfully and you do them with love I think it all works out in the end.
MAA: No doubt! Thank you again for your time, good luck with the tour!
SB: Thank you man!
(Special thanks to Stu Block, Jon Schaffer, ICED EARTH, Century Media and Photos by Echoes In The Well)
by Keith (Keefy) Chachkes
Tags: bruce dickinson, Century Media Records, Concert Photos by Echoes In The Well, death growls, dystopia, falsetto singing, FRANK SINATRA, high pitch singing, Iced Earth, Into Eternity, JIM GILLETTE, Jim Morris, Jon Schaffer, metal interviews with Keefy, Morris Sound Studios, PHIL COLLINS, power metal, rob halford, rock and roll, ronnie james dio, Stu Block, Symphony X, thrash, Tim Roth, warbringer
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Thursday, October 20th, 2011
Dystopia (Century Media)
ICED EARTH has returned with their first new album since 2008′s The Crucible of Man: Something Wicked Part 2. Led by Jon Schaffer who has led the band through ever incarnation with his singular golden vision, the band sounds as fierce and thrashing as ever on Dystopia. In spite of the revolving door of vocalists the last few years, new addition Stu Block (INTO ETERNITY) steps right in and does a fantastic job. The band has always been at the pinnacle of American power metal and nothing about this album with have them lose their grip on the crown and scepter any time soon.
Although not as strict a concept album as past efforts, “Dystopia” unites the titular song and themes. The album artwork also sets the tone with the return of mascot Set Abominae lording over an apocalyptic scene. Always one with a flare for the dramatic, Schaffer opens with a patriotic/rebellious motif that falls in line with past concepts. The context of it all is very timely considering the recent events in the world. When the main riff kicks in it is the classic ICED EARTH sound with Schaffer’s dynamite signature right-hand chugging thrash riffs. Block makes his presence felt immediately with a startling vocal turn on the opener. Shifting from a rocking tenor to a splendid high pitched metal scream and back again, he quickly asserts himself proves to be the perfect choice to follow Matthew Barlow and Tim “Ripper” Owens. Second track “Anthem” is a rousing call to arms against hypocrisy and sycophants who seem to be overrunning the world these days. It’s slow grinding pace is a nice change of pace from some of the faster tracks to come. Block again impresses by adding a grid to his mid-range vocals that matches the seething anger of the lyrics. Troy Seele shreds his face off here and throughout the album. “Boiling Point” is sure to be the track that old-school IE heads latch on to. It is a speed metal tour-Du-force with pissed off backing vocals and another paint peeling vocal by Block. Lyrically the song rises above the rest and is the top track here. Drummer Brent Smedley just slays with his terrific time keeping and sick fills. “Anguish of Youth” is a mid-tempo rocker with a lot of heart and emotion. Written for Blocks’ ill mother it is full of weight and makes fine use of dynamics. Schaffer has had a reputation as the absolute director of the band, which he is, but he has shared a lot of the writing on this album with block and the other band mates. “V” (perhaps a reference to the story V For Vendetta by Alan Moore) is another crushing jam with more sick rhythms and slick harmonies. The ending few measures have as much in common with SYMPHONY X as they do TESTAMENT and EXODUS. “Dark City” continues the theme of disaffection and had Schaffer exploring his considerable IRON MAIDEN on crack chops that he sometimes favors. “Equilibrium” reminds me of a better quality old-METALLICA song. It has a lot of swagger and Block again turns up the energy and bravado with his upper echelon performance. If it ended right there this would still be a great release and then I heard “Days of Rage”. The song is just a pummeling thrash assault with both power and grandeur. More gang vocals and some cool bass riffing from Freddie Vidales are the highlights. The entire album sounds crisp and tight and no wonder since it was co-produced by Schaffer and the legendary Jim Morris at Morrisound Recording. “End of Innocence” is the power ballad of the album and it is solid with some tasteful soloing from Seele. “Tragedy and Triumph” is a barn burning, everything and the kitchen sink in the mix type of track. The band is firing on all cylinders here and as the track fades away and the record ends I am left wanting more. This will certainly go down as one of the best offerings the group has had to date in spite of its brevity of only forty-five minutes long.
GRADE: A
by Keith (Keefy) Chachkes
Tags: 2008's The Crucible of Man: Something Wicked Part 2, bassist Freddie Vidales, Century Media, drummer Brent Smedley, dystopia, EXODUS, guitarist/vocalist Jon Schaffer, Iced Earth, Into Eternity, Iron Maiden, Jim Morris, Keefy, lead guitarist Troy Seele, Matthew Barlow, Metallica, Morrisound Recording, patriotic and political themes, power metal, Set Abominae, singer Stu Block, Symphony X, testament, thrash, Tim “Ripper” Owens, V For Vendetta
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Thursday, September 15th, 2011
SEVEN WITCHES released their excellent new album Call Upon The Wicked in late June. We caught up with axe-slinger supreme Jack Frost to discuss the new album, music video concepts, his musical influences and what the band has planned for road in 2011. What follows in an excerpt of our chat:
MAA: Let’s talk us about the concept behind Call Upon The Wicked.
JF: Yea, I’m probably gonna get shot for this! I’ll never get laid again once I say this, but the bottom line is this whole record is kind of like, how men think with their little head sometimes and not their big head. Bottom line is it’s about how women have pretty much from beginning of time to now have destroyed so many things with men. I mean Helen of Troy: a whole empire is gone because a guy stole the kings wife. Adam & Eve: here, Adam eat the apple. The record is pretty dark. It’s all about Medusa, Lilith, it’s all about woman and like, oh god, you ready for this, how they are like a succubus! (Laughing) I show it to people and their like “dude you are never gonna get laid again”. I’m like well it’s freedom of… I’m just saying how powerful the female is. It’s crazy, but that’s pretty much the loose concept of the record man. (Laughing)
 SEVEN WITCHES IN 2011, led by Jack Frost (center).
MAA: Musically I hear a lot of old school influences on this one. What were some of the songwriting goals this time out and do you think you’ve met them?
JF: Well what’s funny is the title track, the guys at first where like “oh I dunno man, that’s a little too RAINBOW-ish, DEEP PURPLE-ish”. I’m like “Nah man it’s gonna be cool, I think it’s gonna to work”. I think what happened was the last few records we got a lot of slack like ‘Ah, Jack, Jack should be in DISTURBED now or he should be in KORN’. I’m like ‘KORN?’ I don’t play like that’ but, I just… the sound on the last few records are a little bit more… modern. I never did that on purpose. It was just how you write you know. You write. I don’t sit down and go, ‘OK, today I’m going to write a song to sound like NICKELBACK’ and I just think with this record, not to say we’re back, but I say ‘where did that come from?’ When I was 13 years old what kicked my ass? Number Of The Beast, Stained Class- those kind of records were timeless. Rainbow Rising! I just thought I’d listen to like, just all 70′s metal and that’s how my head was. I just want to make a record that takes you back in time, when we were kids with our denim vests’ on just driving down the street in our beat up cars, just yelling “METAL”! And that’s pretty much what this record is all about. I really think, not too toot my own horn, but I really think I captured the instance of old metal. The new wave of British Heavy Metal, DIAMOND HEAD, that was my idea. and I can go to bed at night now going, I made a record that I can go back, that could have come out in 1981.
MAA: James Rivera really kills it the entire album on vocals. Talk about what he brings to the table compared to previous singers you have worked with?
JF: what, he brings, he brings back girls that I banged when I was in high school that we broke up and you just go, that was my real first. He just brings…. it’s like riding a bicycle me and him together. We fight, we love each other, we fight, we don’t get along sometimes, we piss each other off sometimes and I think that’s what he brings. He brings that David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen, that Joe Perry, that Steven Tyler. We love each other sometimes and he just brings out the best of us. James is such a great singer, and I know just how to work with James, I piss him off and I know sometimes I get under his skin, because I just know he’s so good at what he does. He brings being a true metal guy and he’s lived it his whole life and that’s what he brings to the table. He brings reality to the record. He’s never been the guy to go do a dance record or cut his hair or change the sound. He’s always been true to what he believes in and that’s what James Rivera brings to the table. True honor of what he believes in, that’s what I feel.
 Jack tears it up live!
MAA: I thought the “Feel the Fire” video was excellent. There is a lot of cool military context in the images intercut with the band playing. Who’s idea was that?
JF: When we started to do a video, I was pushing for “Call Upon The Wicked” and James says “I don’t know man, Feel the Fire!” James actually said to me, he goes ‘ what with all the wars that are going on, all this stuff over the years, wouldn’t it be cool to have a video that just shows you that’. I know some Jewish people got a little pissed at us like, oh Hitler! We’re not trying to say Hitler was right, we’re trying show how war started in the beginning to the end of time. It’s all the different sides. Cowboys and Indians, that’s war. There’s Civil War and , and freakingVikings! That was James’ concept for the video. James has this great idea he started to pull all these things. I guess he had to get permission from CNN and all this stuff, to use some of this war footage. I have to say that was a cool idea by James because I was just gonna do a live video. He say ‘Nah, lets do some imagery’, and it really worked out. We work good together. Both of us had ideas that were doable, like let’s have it done live and let people see what we’re like, but let’s also go with what the song is talking about.
MAA: You are well known as a big time riffer. Who are some of your heroes on guitar?
JF: (Laughing) Dude, I’m far from the best guitar player. I’m just a fan of guitar players, I do the best that I can do. I mean there’s so many great players out there like Gus G and Michael Romeo. I wouldn’t touch those guys. Those guys are a different style of players, I’m just a riff guy and I think I’m pretty good at that, but thank you very much. (Laughing) Well I would definitely say back in the day Kerry Livgren from KANSAS kind of blew my mind with his playing. He’s a different type of player. God! Of course Tony Iommi, I mean how could you not say him? The guy was king of the riff. Ritchie Blackmore, I have to say John Sykes, I love John Sykes! I always will love John Sykes. But to me I have to say this and I’m probably gonna get shot, but to this day my favorite guitar player of all time will always be Neil Schon. He makes that guitar sing. I always tell people, oh, you wanna make fun of Neil Schon, turn on the “We’re Stars” video and watch Yngwie and watch Dave Murray and watch Brad Gillis and just watch when Neil Schon plays. How the guy just, he just tears it up! He’s not from this earth as a guitar player, that’s how I feel.
MAA: What is it like to work with Mike LePond and Joey Vera as producers?
JF: Well, I’ll always say this, Joey Vera is the fifth member of SEVEN WITCHES and always will be. He’s been with this band since Xiled to Infinity and One, he’s one of my best friends. I don’t do a record without Joey. I learned so much from him over the years and we are just the best of friends.
JF: Mike LePond, we’ve played in a cover band together. We’ve been friends for fifteen years. Bottom line is, what Mike brings to the table is something no one knows, he’s an amazing lyricist, he’s a great song writer and he’s a really good rhythm guitar player too. So, Mike’s brought so much to this table, his words were so kick ass on this record. The guy should write a fucking book. He’s so intelligent when it comes to things, and how to make words that I’ve never even heard of in my life, sound metal. I love working with the guy and he’s great. Me, him and Taz; we’ve been playing together for so long now it’s just like a natural thing. I’m so glad he’s a part of the WITCHES camp finally.
MAA: Do you have any touring plans lined up for the rest of the year?
JF: Well, right now, SYMPHONY X and HELSTAR both are in their kinda touring cycle which is really good for us because the record just came out and we kind of want to let the record sit for a few months and let people really absorb it a little bit and say, “Wow, WITCHES is back, in a big way”. That was kind of what we wanted to do. Let SYMPHONY X do their tour, let HELSTAR do their tour, and then we just want to come out with a tour, like September, October and really get out there and play. We’re looking into stuff right now, we’re looking into festivals in Europe, we’re looking to tour the states, but we want people to really listen to the record a little bit and absorb it, that’s what we’re doing. And poor James, we don’t want to have James play your area two weeks before, were it gets overbearing where people are like, “I just saw this guy”. We wanna come out with, with a really killer set. When we do tour, we’re only going to do the records we did with James, which I think is really respectful. I mean, I feel bad because a lot of the fans like some of the older stuff. But for this first run, we’re just going to do everything Rivera was involved in, for sure.
(Special thanks Jack Frost, EarsplitPR and Return To the Pit.)
By Keith (Keefy) Chachkes
Tags: 1981, Adam & Eve, Brad Gillis, concept albums, Dave Murray, DAVID LEE ROTH, Deep Purple, Diamond Head, eddie van halen, evil women throughout history, gus g, Helen of Troy, HELSTAR, Jack Frost, Joey Vera, john sykes, Kansas, Keefy, Kerry Livgren, Lilith, love-hate relationships, Medusa, men are stupid -women are from vernus, Michael Romeo, Mike LePond, Neil Schon, Number Of The Beast, NWOBHM, old school metal influences, Rainbow, Ritchie Blackmore, rock and metal guitar greats, SEVEN WITCHES, singer James Rivera, Steven Tyler, Symphony X, that Joe Perry, the history of war, tony iommi, Yngwie, “Feel the Fire”, “We're Stars”
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Thursday, September 1st, 2011
Demo EP (Self -Released)
Unless you have been living under a rock or been in a coma like Captain America was for the last 70 years, one of the stories of 2011 has been the fallout from Mike Portnoy’s messy departure from DREAM THEATER. Still being played out in the media after splitting nearly a year ago, there has been no shortage of drama. We watched the very public dismay of Portnoy unfold as DREAM THEATER has opted to continue on without him, eventually settling on Mike Mangini as his replacement. As his former band prepares to release their next record soon, Mike has licked his wounds and released the first material from his new band ADRENALINE MOB in the form of a self released EP (Dear Tunecore, you totally suck ass!). The band is a super-group of name players who will have to live up to their legendary reputations even more in light of these circumstances. The potential for greatness is definitely there, but the band has a ways to go to get there.
The first song is a driving, blues based active rock/power-groove type of song named “Psychosane”. When I heard the main riff for the first time I immediately thought of PUYA, but the band is going for a BLACK LABEL SOCIETY/PANTERA/EXHORDER type of vibe. Lead singer Russell Allen of SYMPHONY X (who also produced) even channels Phil Anselmo and Kyle Thomas to an extent throughout most of the album and the results are mixed. Allen is a naturally great singer, but his attempts to butch it up here left me a little flat. The track itself is solid with a great guitar solo from the gifted Mike Orlando (SONIC STOMP). As you’d expect from any Portnoy recording the drums are powerful and have his patented slick fills and rolls. The second song “Believe Me” is a little tighter. Another boogie rock stomper, Allen uses his more trademark dynamic vocalizing and power to great effect this time. Orlando just shreds his face off on another couple of harmonized solos in the vein of DIMEBAG DARRELL. Orlando is one of the premier axe-men in the game today and this band could be a launching pad to even bigger things for him. He has preposterous dexterity, sick lead skills and a lyrical style in the tradition of all the gods of guitar. In addition to some terrific Portnoy double-kick work, bassist Paul DiLeo drops in some fine walking bass lines and fills. There is no questioning the talent of this group which also includes guitarist Rich Ward (STUCK MOJO/FOZZY). Lyrically and melodically it is the strongest track here also. “Hit The Wall” is the most realized song and has rock and thrash overtones. The fast driving beat is prime territory for the legendary drummer to get his metal ya-yas out. Allen kills the vocals here with an excellent performance displaying the full extent of his talents. After raging on overdrive for ¾ of the track, the song breaks down into a DOWN style sludge jam and it sounds pretty impressive. “Down To The Floor” continues the kitchen sink riff approach. There are some interesting spacey sound effects going on during the verse that will hook your ear. The major-key change in the chorus is a classic rock staple that screams early 1980′s to be sure. Another short Orlando lead calls to mind EDDIE VAN HALEN at his youngest and best. As the band has done live, the album closes with a cover of “The Mob Rules” as a tribute to RONNIE JAMES DIO. Allen certainly does a heartwarming DIO impression and the cover is note for note perfect. I suspect most of the originals are even more killer sounding in a live setting. I hope more time spent with the whole band writing together will make the full length album in 2012 worth the wait.
 ADRENALINE MOB. Photo by Joe LaRusso. GRADE: B
Keith (Keefy) Chachkes
Tags: ADRENALINE MOB, bassist Paul DiLeo, black label society, BLACK SABABTH, breaking up is hard to do, cover songs, Dimebag Darrell, double-kick drums, Down, Dream Theater, eddie van halen, EXHORDER, FOZZY, guitar solos, guitarist Rich Ward, heaven and hell, Keefy, Kyle Thomas, lead guitarist Mike Orlando, lead singer/producer Russell Allen, Mike Mangini, Mike Portnoy, Pantera, Phil Anselmo, PUYA, ronnie james dio, shred, SONIC STOMP, stuck mojo, super-groups, Symphony X, “The Mob Rules”
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Wednesday, August 24th, 2011
Metal Army caught up with Steffan Kummerer backstage in New York City during OBSCURA’s recent tour stop there opening for CHILDREN OF BODOM and the DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT. Here is an excerpt of our candid chat.
 Another contender for top album of the 2011. MAA: Why do you think the response to Omnivium has been so postive?
SK: Omnivium is the first record where all the song writers really worked together. The songs in Cosmogenesis where mostly written before the other members joined. Hannes Grossmann wrote a couple of songs, Christian wrote, I guess one song and I did the rest. But on this album everything merged way better together. For example this song “Septuagint”, the opener, it’s like equal work of everyone and you cannot tell who wrote which riff. So that just shows that everybody knows exactly how the sound of OBSCURA should be. From my perspective it sounds more metal. That is at least my intention, my feelings. The feedback so far is very good, better than expected because I feel the new album is a little bit more complex and not as easy to get as a couple of songs on Cosmogenesis have been. All in all we are quite happy about it.
 Steffan Kummerer leads Obscura in concert in 2010. MAA: Why did Jeroen leave the band?
SK: He had to leave. We fired him.
MAA: How did you rebound by finding Linus and have you had to adapt the set at all from what was planned?
SK: Absolutely not. Linus is one of the subs we’re working with since Jeroen played his last show in October 2010. Since then we’ve worked with several subs like, Jacob Schmidt of DEFEATED SANITY. Linus Klausenitzer of NONEUCLID and on the Japanese tour we had Steve DiGiorgio stepping in. Great person! He’s a story teller and it was really cool tour together. To come back to your question we haven’t had to change any of our sets, songs or whatever because Linus can play everything. I mean, he played in NONEUCLID. If you can play in NONEUCLID, OBSCURA is like a walk in the park!
MAA: I would never say OBSCURA’s music is like a walk in the park!
SK: I’m (being) honest.
 Steffan solos on his custom made RAN guitars. MAA: Who are you main infleunces as a guitarist and a songwriter?
SK: My personal influences, I would say Jon Nodtveidt of DISSECTION, Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert, CYNIC, is I guess an obvious influence of our band, EMPEROR, like Ihsahn, and since Christian Muenzner joined the band, a lot of prog rock influences came to the table. Of course I also like bands like SYMPHONY X. I just got into a couple of years ago, it’s an old band, but it’s quite impressive. I guess you can hear it, here and there a couple of influences from that band as well.
MAA: I imagine it takes a lot of dexterityt to play these songs live. What kinds of warmup exercises or scales to you play before you go on stage?
SK: I just play a couple of songs, from ourselves, and play them a little bit slower so the left hand can warm up a little bit better. Especially if you have some short progressions and take them slowly. I feel it works better than just shredding around.
MAA: Do you have any favorite modern bands?
SK: My favorite band is not metal actually. It’s PORTISHEAD. It’s just fantastic, this band. All three albums. I bought the last album doubled, just try to support. Just bought two copies of them. Anyway, metal wise actually, they’re still the same favorite bands I had ten years ago: EMPEROR, DISSECTION, CYNIC, DEATH, ATHEIST all those bands. CYNIC is fantastic, I’m looking forward to their new album. I hear they will enter the studio by this year. Looking forward to the new line-up, but I don’t have a clue who will join them though.
 Guitarist Christian Muezner and Drummer Hannes Grossman were integral parts of the writing process on Omnivium.
(Special thanks to Steffan Kummerer, Relapse Records and Return To The Pit for the live photos.)
By Keith (Keefy) Chachkes
Tags: atheist, bassist Linus Klausenitzer, Cosmogenesis, Cynic, death, DEFEATED SANITY, DISSECTION, drummer Hannes Grossman, emperor, guitarist Christian Muenzner, Ihsahn, Jacob Schmidt, Jazz, Jeroen Paul Thessiling, Jon Nodtveidt, Keefy, mellow, NONEUCLID, Obscura, Omnivium, Paul Masvidal, PORTISHEAD, Prog-Rock, progressive, Relapse, Sean Reinert, Steffan Kummerer, Steve DiGiorgio, Symphony X, technical deathmetal, thrash, trip-hop
Posted in Feature Interviews, Interviews | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 28th, 2011
Call Upon The Wicked (FrostByte)
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.
GRADE: B
by Keith (Keefy) Chachkes
Tags: Alan Tecchio, bassist Mike LePond, BELLADONA, BRONX CASKET COMPANY, bruce dickinson, Call Upon The Wicked, CREAM, drummer Tazz Marazz, early-era VAN HALEN, EXODUS, fretboard acrobatics, FROST BITE, FrostByte Records, God Forbid, guitar god Jack Frost, HELSTAR, Iron Maiden, James Rivera, Joey Vera, Judas Priest, Keefy, MUCKY PUP, mutiny within, New Jersey Metal, Overkill, Rainbow, rob halford, Savatage, SEVEN WITCHES, slayer, Symphony X, Wade Black, whiplash, Zakk Wylde, “White Room”
Posted in The Bunker | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
Symphony X-Iconoclast (Nuclear Blast)
New Jersey’s Symphony X have been widely worshiped and respected for some time now, going all the way back to their humble, self-titled debut from 1994.
Actually, ‘humble’ may not be the correct word to use when describing the band, given the inherently pompous and overblown nature of their chosen musical style. Yes, fans tend to be quite protective/obsessive when it comes to the love it-or-hate it genre of symphonic, progressive power metal, and X fans are no exception, surely salivating at the thought of this album follow up to 2007′s Paradise Lost.
Although never the personal cup of tea for yours truly-preferring instead the more Euro-centered melodies of a Masterplan or Elvenking-it would be remiss NOT to admit how well put together Iconoclast is; a factor which has always been central to the music and concept of Symphony X.
The real problem here, however, isn’t the technical ability and prowess of guitarist Michael Romeo or singer Russell Allen, but the level of emotion-or lack thereof-present within their songwriting and execution. While musically on point, the passionless presence of Iconoclast is similar to the plight faced by the X’s fellow proggers in Dream Theatre within the bulk of their post-Awake output: it’s all very clinical and superficially enjoyable…yet substantially vacant and lacking in vibrancy.
Of course, it doesn’t really matter what any review says of a new Symphony X album for fans, because Iconoclast isn’t made for critics, it’s made for the band and their followers. In this respect, it certainly succeeds, yet-as always-fails to deliver the goods enough to press Symphony X into the non-power/prog sphere of influence, into the hallowed halls of universally respected metal royalty.
In essence: a niche album for a niche genre which does the job, workmanlike, for an uncritical and welcoming crowd. Take it for what it is.
Rating: B (if you dig this stuff) C- (if you don’t)
Written by MetalGeorge
Tags: dream theatre, elvenking, Helloween, Masterplan, metalgeorge, power metal, prog, Reviews, Symphony X
Posted in The Bunker | No Comments »
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
SABATON
Coat Of Arms
SABATON hails from Falun, Sweden, for those of you that don’t know, they’ve been around for over a decade, since 1999 to be exact. They are known for their war themed lyrics, taking their inspiration for various battles, and wars. That being said, they tend to focus on World War II the most.
| As a result, you can definitely hear the obvious influences of Iron Maiden and Saxon, along with hints of keyboards that have become popular in female fronted bands like Within Temptation, and Nightwish (to name a few), or groups like Symphony X, and Kamelot. That said, SABATON are nowhere near as technical as the latter two bands, which I wouldn’t necessarily consider this a bad thing. Their lead singer Joakim Broden does not sound remotely like any of the bands mentioned, and adds a nice twist to the band’s music. |
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The album’s opening three tracks are in my opinion the best songs on the album. The album starts out with the title track “Coat Of Arms” before going into “Midway” which to me is the strongest track of this record. This track is then followed up by “Uprising” before moving forward through a series of less memorable songs. They’re not bad, just ok at best, the only issue here is that the end of the album (the last three tracks to be exact), are just to generic in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong the album is entertaining, but towards the end it falls into the pitfalls of sounding like a lot of the other music that is currently coming out of Scandinavia. Again, nothing wrong with that, but it just doesn’t hold my attention at that point.
The standout of the album is defiantly lead singer Joakim Broden, adding a different approach to what you would be accustomed to by what some would consider a “power metal” band . Coat Of Arms does start out strong but ends up sounding less engaging as the album progresses. Would recommend the album to anyone that enjoys any of the aforementioned bands listed above.
Grade: B-
Victor M. Ruiz
Tags: Coat Of Arms, Iron Maiden, Joakim Broden, Kamelot, nightwish, Saxon, Symphony X, Within Temptation
Posted in Album Reviews, The Bunker | 2 Comments »
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
AVANTASIA
The Wicked Symphony and Angel Of Babylon (Nuclear Blast)
For those of you that don’t know these albums are the continuation of the Scarecrow Saga that was started back in 2008 with the release of The Scarecrow. Much like TOBIAS SAMMET’s other albums outside of EDGUY, these two are chalked full of special guests. Including KLAUSE MEINE from SCORPIONS, RIPPER OWENS of JUDAS PRIEST/ICED EARTH/YNGWIE MALMSTEEN/BEYOND FEAR/CHARRED WALLS OF THE DAMNED, BRUCE KULICK from KISS, JON OLIVA from SAVATAGE, MICHAEL KISKE from HELLOWEEN, RUSSELL ALLEN from SYMPHONY X, ERIC SINGER from KISS, and JORN LANDE from MASTERPLAN among others.
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I’m honestly not the biggest power metal fan in the world, as I lost my desire to listen to this sub-genre during the early to mid 90s. Honestly HELLOWEEN was the only power metal band I can profess to really like, and I honestly haven’t followed them since the Time Of The Oath came out. Unfortunately I feel that EDGUY, HAMMERSFALL, and the rest of the lot really haven’t evolved much if any since the aforementioned HELLOWEEN released the first two Keeper Of The Seven Keysalbums. HELLOWEEN themselves have had a tremendous time trying to follow them up. Sometimes they’ve succeeded in coming close, but on other occasions they’ve fallen way short (seriously an unplugged album?).
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In any event, I went into this album seeing if TOBIAS was brining something new to the table. I really enjoyed the track he did with ERIC SINGER on BRUCE KULICK’s BK3 album, so I figured, why not, let’s give the albums a shot. The Wicked Symphony is technically the first disc of the boxed set that is being sold. You can also buy the discs separately. The title track starts the album out, and I’m immediately digging it. The second song “Wastelands” come in, and to my surprise MICHAEL KISKE is singing, and this is easily the best power metal song I’ve heard not only him sing, but a band play since the KEEPERS albums mentioned above. “Scales of Justice” kicks in and it has TIM “RIPPER” OWENS signature sound all over it, and TOBIAS sounding like GRAHAM BONNET in a few spots. The first single is up next, it is called “Dying For An Angel”, it features KLAUSE MEINE, and sounds much better than the video mix which sounds way too polished, and pop sounding for my likings. At this point I’m wondering why I didn’t enjoy The Scarecrow when it came out, and I started to remember why. The first four tracks are all good to great, but after that “Crestfallen” is the only really good song on the album, everything else is ok, but pretty generic.
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Tags: Angel OF Babylon, Bat Out Of Hell, Beyond Fear, BK3, Bruce Kulick, Charred Walls Of The Damned, Crestfallen, Death Is Just A Felling, Def Leppard, Dying For An Angel, Edguy, Eric Singer, Graham Bonnet, Hammersfall, Helloween, Here I Go Again, Iced Earth, Jon Oliva, Jorn Lande, Journey To Arcadia, Judas Priest, Keeper Of The Seventh Keys, Kiss, Klause Meine, Masterplan, Meatloaf, metal, Michael Kiske, Power, Ripper Owens, Russel Allen, Savatage, Scales Of Justice, Scorpions, Symphony X, Syphony Of Life, The Scarecrow, The Wicked Symphony, Time OF The Oath, Tobias Sammet, Wastelands, Whitesnake, X, Yngwie Malmsteen
Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews | No Comments »
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