Album Of The Week : Bloodbath - The Fathomless Mastery

One thing which I've learned about supergroups is not to expect them to be the sum of the parts, in terms of both quality and stylings of the music. If anyone was hoping that Shrinebuilder were going to top Neurosis and Saint Vitus then they were bound to be dissapointed with the end product So approaching a band like Bloodbath, consisting of a who's-who from the last twenty years of Swedish extreme metal, it's good just to expect some quality metal rather than a genre-defining band like Opeth.

The end product is pretty sweet indeed. The music praises early 90's pioneers Suffocation and Obituary, and the triggered drums and gut-wrenching pinch harmonics on "Mock The Cross" are a clear Morbid Angel tribute. The band take in modern influences too, exhibiting the trademark Dying Fetus groove, but without including the frequently unnecessary sweep picking self-indulge-fests. Unmistakeably 21st century-sounding productionwise (for the better or worse depending on your viewpoint), sticksman Martin Axenrot showcases beautifully precise and brutal drumming, straddling the line between sounding too triggered and too laboured perfectly, whilst the guitars crush and squeal in blasphemous cacophany as you'd so desire. New lead guitarist Per Eriksson puts in some tasty leads, particularly at the end of "Hades Rising", and the star of the show, Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt performs his trademark roar to perfection. I've been listening to this whilst slaughtering people on Hitman: Blood Money, and it has provided the most perfectly lurid soundtrack - a sincere compliment to the music indeed. Overall, it's nothing particularly groundbreaking or innovative, but very enjoyable nonetheless.

7.5/10

Highlights : "At The Behest of Their Death", "Hades Rising"

See also - Morbid Angel "Where The Slime Live", Opeth - "Wreath", Edge Of Sanity - "Twilight".

Album Of The Week : Winter - Into Darkness

After five months in Brazil it seemed appropriate that my return to the UK would best be accompanied with some music filthy and dirgy enough to suit the current bout of weather affecting the country. Not to mention the fact that the temperature is 30 degrees colder here than the midsummer in Rio - how are you supposed to fully appreciate dark grim music whilst basking on a beach beneath a cloudless sky? So I ordered a copy of New York doomsters Winter's first and only full length, "Into Darkness", now in it's 20th year of existence. Despite a short career, the band left their mark on extreme metal, and this has finally been recognised with the reuniting of the band for Roadburn 2011.

The album, along with Autopsy's classic "Mental Funeral", released a year after, is considered a pioneer of the death/doom genre. Whereas the Floridian legends work was characterised by the more technical guitar playing influence of drummer Chris Reifert's previous band, Death, Winter is pure, utter, unadulterated doom. The cover art sets the scene - of what looks like the remenants of a settlement after a nuclear holocaust with two blackened ghostly figures standing by. The music rarely picks up from a funeral pace, and you find yourself following the drum patterns more than the very basic but effective guitar work, which makes for an interesting listen. The vocals painfully accompany the apocalyptic miasma, sounding like a dying man coughing up the last energy left in him. All in all, definately recommended if you like your music slow, dark and raw.

7.5/10

Highlights : "Freedom Opression", "Eternal Frost"

See also - Black Sabbath - "Black Sabbath", Cathedral - "Night Of The Seagulls", Autopsy - "Torn From The Womb"

Taint - Live at Sin City, Swansea, 18th December 2010

Judas Priest recently announced that their upcoming tour would be their last. After 35 years of countless groundbreaking albums, and with the band members approaching 60, it seemed like a fitting time to finish it all. Yet news in the same month that saddened me more was that Welsh metal trio Taint would be breaking up, bringing their career to a premature end.

We could've seen this coming. Taint have been plugging away at the metal scene for 16 years without any real breakthrough, despite releasing some of the most awesome, hard-to-define metal imaginable. The album "The Ruin Of Nová Roma" is probably as good as any other British metal release in the last ten years, and the following two releases, the album "Secrets and Lies" and this year's E.P. "All Bees To The Sea" were both innovative pices of works. The official reason for the breakup was down to family commitments, but anyone who has witnessed a live gig by Taint recently will testify to a certain degree of frustration shown by the band members at their stagnation.

Although the arctic tundra that has hit a lot of Britain in the last few days was against the gig even happening, the small, innocuous looking venue of Sin City pleasantly full. For only £3 this was the most ridiculously good value for money gig imaginable (31 times cheaper than seeing a show on Justin Bieber's forthcoming UK tour incidently). The band had come full circle, having started their career in South Wales, it seemed fitting to pay tribute to their hometown by having their final show there.

Taint recently supported metal behemoths Shrinebuilder, and bassist Chris West put in a performance of such passion and intensity that his doppelgänger Scott Kelly would be proud of - between songs you could see him struggling to hold back the tears. Jimbob is a pure one man guitar army, playing every chord with the sad knowledge that it would be the last time it would be heard. The Iommi worshipping "Black Rain", the off-the-cuff ripping soloing in "The Sound-Out Competition" and the riff feast that is "I'm Going to Kill Henry Ford" were a pure delight to digest. Not forgetting Alex Harries underpinning it all with some awesome grooves and fills. For a three piece Taint are very intense and the sound is never less than full. Another notable characteristic about Taint's music is that the songs are rarely stuctured in a conventional sense, yet the riffs ebb and flow effortlessly and work a treat in the live setting.

It's an ironic tragedy that as Taint hang up their instruments their compatriots Bullet For My Valentine begin a UK Arena tour. Whereas their awful brand of generic Metallica-wannabe haircut metal rolls on, backed by the syncophatic mainstream metal media, three truly talented induviduals end their journey.

Jack

Vader - Live in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 13th November

After nearly four months, the wait is over. I set off from Rio de Janeiro at 8:30am on a seven hour bus to the large unremarkable interior city of Belo Horizonte in order to get an extreme metal fix, and see some old friends and a new city in the process.

It's remarkable how heavy metal remains so popular here in Brazil, as it's very expensive to be a metalhead, or a fan of foreign music in general, in this country. For example, a pack of strings is three times the price as back home, and an effects pedal I bought a year ago in England is over twice the price here. If you want to buy an instrument that isn't stocked here (quite possibly), you have to pay 60% import tax, plus shipping - a lot of money. This protectionalist economic bloc policy may (or may not, I really don't know much about it in all honesty) have a myriad of advantages in the trade of other goods, but it's undoubtably surpressing musicians here. Then there's the cost of gigs. Unless you're lucky enough to live in a big city in the south of the country, you'll probably have to travel for hours, if not days to see an international act. Even after the expenses incurred by the bus/flight, the gig prices are more than expensive back home - for example, Vader (the band I saw in Belo) played Leeds in March, charging £12 for tickets, yet I paid 50 reais to see them in Brazil, which is over £20. However, most metalheads here justify this by the fact that gigs with international acts are few and far between - you could watch a quality metal band almost every week somewhere in England, whereas Brazilians have to wait sometimes months between shows.

Belo Horizonte is probably the metal capital of Brazil, the equivalent of Birmingham in England. The similarities are apparent - both are large, fairly bland and landlocked industrial cities. It's the place where Brazil's favourite metal sons Sepultura originated, as well as underground legends Sarcófago (whose original singer/guitarist Wanger Lamounier, in a rather bizarre twist, is now an economics professor at the main university in Belo, where my friends are studying). For this reason Belo is not often ignored by international bands touring the country.

Although I've been to many better gigs this year, this one will be remembered fondly nonetheless. Opening were a fairly cringeworthy generic local Black Metal act, who I didn't actually see, given the advice of my Brazilian friend who I went to the show with. Needless to say, a band whose drummer labels himself 'Guardian of the Forest' (in a non-ironic way) puts me off before even hearing their music. Following them were Ragnarok, who played fairly straightforward old-school Norwegian Black Metal, which was enjoyable if only for the fact that it was the first time I'd heard a blastbeat live in 5 months. Taking the stage at 12:30am were headliners Vader, who 27 years into their existence are still going strong. They hammered out some of their finest Eastern-Bloc metal, with plenty from classic album De Profundis (ranked by Terrorizer as the 20th best Death Metal album ever), which mixed well with the more groove-orientated newer stuff. Having played for an hour that was that and my first Brazilian metal gig was over. Kudos to frontman/guitarist Piotr Wiwczarek, who is the only surviving original member of the band and still has a great amount of passion and gusto for his craft - whether you think playing a small club in Belo Horizonte is worth over a quarter of a century of work or not, you've got to admire the dedication, or insanity, depending on your point of view.


Jack

Kylesa - Spiral Shadow

Since my forced migration to the sunny yet metallically challenged climbs of Rio de Janeiro there hasn't been a lot to write about. It's not that bad, but sadly most international acts play São Paolo/Belo Horizonte/Curitiba ahead of Rio. That means travelling the distance from London to Aberdeen just for some good music. So there are no gigs in this city at the moment, and it's very hard to get the latest releases without downloading them or paying £15 postage and waiting 2 weeks. But the release of the new Kylesa album demanded some attention...

After discovering this bunch and much eulogising over seeing the band back in July this year (far too late admittedly) I was pretty excited to hear their new album, their forth full length, and their second album in only two years.

Kylesa are, along with such other psychadelic sludgy metal counterparts as Mastodon, Baroness, Black Tusk and Zoroaster are part of the Georgian scene, which at this rate will probably go down as legendary as the early 80's Bay Area thrash or the late 80's Floridian death metal scene.

The record is brilliant - no filler, packed with an equal weight of heavy trademark grooves and celestial instrumental passages. The production is excellent, and the two drummers are given enough space in the mix to distinguish their amazing interplay. The album owes as much to metal as it does to rock in general - the song Don't Look Back is a potential radio hit, whereas Drop Out showcases both hardcore and stoner influences.

Singer/guitarist Phillip Cope mentioned in a recent interview with Terrorizer that he isn't much of a fan of prog, and that he prefers songs that are more to the point and catchy. This is certainly reflected in the record, and it is usually executed wonderfully, although I'd take issue and say that it would be interesting if a few of the songs, particually the gorgeous album closer, Dust, were carried a bit longer and given a more, erm, epic vibe. This is nit picking essentially, it's a great record.

Hopefully I'll have more to come in time. I'm going to see Polish death metal behemoths Vader the weekend after next, and hopefully I'll find time to give the new Intronaut a spin. Other than that, there are new albums by Morbid Angel, Crowbar, Hate Eternal, Eyehategod, A Perfect Circle, Devin Townsend, Autopsy, Neurosis and Gojira to look forward to in the next 6 months. 2011 looks to be promising already!

Jack

Dax Riggs - Say Goodnight To The World

A predictable degree of ambivalence surrounds Dax's solo work. There are those in the reunite-Acid-Bath camp, and those who, not wallowing in nostalgia, realise Sammy is doing more than fine with blackened death metallers Goatwhore, Jimmy and Kyle don't care and one of the vital cogs in the machine, Audie, died 13 years ago, the original reason the band capitulated anyway. It's worked out pretty ok actually - the bastard children of Acid Bath arn´t too bad at all. Those craving apocalypic miasmic skullcrushing tones can go for Sammy´s band, whereas more (or less) fortified ears will prefer Dax´s output. So we stand in August 2010 with Dax carrying on from where he left off with his idiosyncratic brand of psychadelic/country/doom rock.

Stylistically, the album is a continuation of his post-AB works. Like Moonlight features Dax at his brooding, crooning best, recalling the divine beauty of former band Deadboy's 2002 album If This Is Hell Then I'm Lucky, before he ups the ante with the type of up-tempo rocker which peppered his last album, with the album's single No One Will Be A Stranger. He touches upon so much of what rock is great for - like the rest of his solo work, the influence of the 60´s and 70´s is poignant and tasteful.

Although the man might've mellowed to a certain degree, his lyrics are still as introspective,haunting and cutting as ever. His evergreen, lugubrious howl is just as refreshing to hear even if you own all of his other records, and 16 years into his recording career he shows no signs of losing his unique spark. Its a shame that the chances of his talents darkening Europe's shores are slim, but to travel to Louisiana and watch the man in his element in a dingy basement club would surely be worth every expense.

8/10

Highlights : Say Goodnight To The World, See You All In Hell Or New Orleans

See also - Agents of Oblivion - Endsmouth, Acid Bath - Scream Of The Butterfly, Deadboy And The Elephantman - Barefoot In The Dark.

Sepultura, Gama Bomb and Taint, live at the Millennium Music Hall, Cardiff, 16th July

Two gigs in the space of 24 hours, this time heading for the Welsh capital...

Local lads Taint play to a sparsely popultated crowd, and it seems once again that their awesome unique music will once again slip under the radar of the masses. Jimbob is a master of the riff and although some may be dissapointed that the bands magnus opus, The Ruin of Nová Roma, is largely ignored.

Next in line are Irish thrash metallers Gama Bomb. One cannot fail to be enamoured by frontman Philly Byrne's enthusiasm and the songs are the enjoyable party thrash you would expect from a band like them. No boundaries broken, but smiles all around the venue.

Finally Brazil's finest export Sepultura take to the stage and give a heavy as fuck lesson in metal. The band have been controversially selling this tour as a celebration to celebrate 25 years of the bands existence - only the bass player has been with the band throughout its existence. Much has been written about Max Cavalera's acrimonious departure from the band, but one must bear in mind that he has done more albums with Soulfly then he did with Sepultura, and that Derrick Green has appeared on more Sepultura records than Max. Time to move on then? Well, not really. This evening is all about endulging in the past, consisting of an undeniably awesome set featuring all the classics from Arise, Chaos A.D and Roots. Derrick has a prodigious stage presence and has the banter to go with it.I was particularly impressed with the new sticksman Jean Dobalella, whos job of replacing Igor Cavalera, one of the most innovative and intense drummers of the 90's, is no walk in the park. The crowd, although featuring its fair share of idiots, lapped up the performence and for moments it was as if the Cavaleras never existed.

Soulfly are playing the same venue on 3rd August, its a shame I'm not around to go to the gig as it would have made an interesting comparison.

Jack

Converge and Kylesa, live at Manchester Academy 2, 15th July 2010

Despite missing the first two acts, this was well worth a 6 hour return trip to Manchester for. The two main bands, Kylesa and Converge, were hardly natural partners in crime, but it certainly seems like its going to work throughout the long tour they are doing together.

Kylesa are a special act. They have managed to forge their own unique brand of heavy, with a hypnotic groove that both bewilders and pleases the listener, with the otherworldly heavyness of Electric Wizard and the more technical/psychadelic elements of Mastodon mixed to beautiful perfection. If this doesn't make you want take drugs, no heavy music will. Watching the two drummers at work is pretty mesmerising stuff, and frontwoman Laura Pleasants has a nice dirty roar on her which compliments the music, and its refreshing to have a female in a band who isnt the selling point of the music *cougharchenemycough*. Although like many members of the crowd I wasn't that acquainted with the bands discography, the nature of the music induces involuntary headbanging, and it was a great shame they only had a half hour set.

Converge confirm the diversity of this evening. The songs are short, relentless, incredibly tight and, erm, pretty hardcore. The bundle of energy that is singer Jacob Bannon is to hyperactivity what Mike Williams is to narcotic induced numbness - one wonders how it is humanely possible to maintain such levels of enthusiasm throughout an entire tour. The set features quite a few songs off Jane Doe, the seminal album ranked as the 4th best album of the 00's by Terrorizer, and as the best by Decibal, which were always going to have the crowd in raptures.

Jack

Songs for the summer

I thought I'd make the ultimate soundtrack for this surprisingly good summer we're enjoying (in the UK at least). Get yourself a beer or two, a good book, light up the bbq and stick these tunes on. Or if your'e too lazy to make a playlist just listen to the whole of Welcome to Sky Valley (although I'm sure most people don't need telling!). Preferably in the Nevada desert. Aural bliss.

Kyuss - Asteroid
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Graveyard Train
Down - Eyes Of The South
Goatsnake - Portraits Of Pain
Jethro Tull - Moths
Neil Young - Albequerque
Dax Riggs - Otherworldly Dreamer
Devin Townsend - Away
Southern Isolation - Come Back And Let Me In
Jane's Addiction - Summertime Rolls
Led Zeppelin - Over The Hills
Santeria - Hwy To The Morning Star

Graspop, Belgium, 25th June

After 10 musically sterile weeks in Spain, during which I missed Dying Fetus, Cathedral, Deathfest, Dinosaur Jr and Live At Leeds, I have had my metallic desires satisfied once more. It goes to show how desperate I was that I was willing to fly to Belgium on my own and spend 75 euros on a day ticket to the friday of Graspop. Fortunately, I had some of metal's most diverse and exciting acts awaiting me.

Although the day started with Billy Talent and ended with Aerosmith (both very enjoyable by the way), the more interesting bands lay inbetween. Anathema played for an hour just after lunchtime - a beautiful, haunting sonic assault, perfect for lying on your back and reflecting to. Then came one of the acts which was largely responsible for me being there - Devin Townsend. He may have lost his trademark skullet and ditched his most famous musical incarnation, Strapping Young Lad, four years ago, but he appears to have lost none of his zest for music and life. The greatest hits setlist, featuring "Deadhead", "Life", "Truth" and a couple of cuts off his latest work, "Addicted", is delivered with a youthful exhuberence that a few artists should take note of. I'm talking about Slayer. As they clashed with Devin rather imperfectly, I had to miss most of their set, but I chose to skip the last Dev song for a bit of tidy thrash metal. What I got was the predictable "Raining Blood", enjoyable but it seemed like such a chore for Araya and co. to play! Sad really. But somewhat inevitable.

Fast forwarding a couple of hours, past a decent enough performence by the recently reformed Stone Temple Pilots (why Scott Weiland wore a scalf in 30 degree heat only he'll know), and we get to South Carolina's favourite death metal sons, the unrelenting mesmerising technical barrage that is Nile. Karl Sanders's podgy fingers wizzed up and down the fretboard with nonchalant ease, showcasing the classics as well as a few from their truly awesome lastest album, "Those Whom The Gods Detest". The band go on to prove that the recent news that Morbid Angel are finally heading into the studio to record their first album in 7 years is a lot more irrelevant with bands as awesome as Nile around on the death metal scene.

That left Aerosmith to bring the day to a close, leaving a load of sweaty western Europeans satisfied with the days events. Good to be back!

Jack

Eyehategod - Live at The Well, Leeds, 7th April

"Heroin and pussy...HEROIN AND PUSSY!" Mike Williams drawled into his mic, backed by dirty discordant guitar noises. If I haven`t sold this to you already I think you`re in the wrong place, because for an hour an a half on that Wednesday evening this is what the New Orleans sludge legends typically coughed up in a surreally beautiful manner.



Thanks to a well documented natural disaster, the resurrection of one of guitarist Jimmy Bower`s other bands, Down, and Mike`s affinity with needle related activities, this is the first time since 2002 that Eyehategod have hit these shores.

Playing an awesome greatest hits set with a few new numbers thrown in, the crowd at The Well went sufficiently mental, and for me it was one of the best gigs that I`ve seen in quite a while. Bower and fellow guitarist Brian Patton of Soilent Green fame were on fire, while Mike delivered his drug fuelled misanthropic rants to awesome effect. Its hard to believe that dude`s clean, his eyes looked a million miles away and a shard of glass from a bottle he smashed nearly took my eye out - he played a brilliant frontman mind.

Last gig review for some time - might be popping over to Portugal for Barroselas Metalfest, featuring Dying Fetus and Immolation, at the end of the month.

Jack

Opeth - Live at the Royal Albert Hall, London, 5th April 2010

Stumbling into the Royal Albert Hall to the opening strains of "The Leper Affinity" reminded me of when I saw Strapping Young Lad, at my first ever metal festival, Download 2005. It all felt totally surreal and out of place, but at the same time, just perfect. What a venue - it was a beautiful sight to turn around and face the four tiers of fans, hundreds and hundreds of eyes transfixed upon the five Swedes on stage, and the acoustics were perfect throughout.

The event was nearly let down by some shamblic organisation - it appeared that a large proportion of the gig-goers were completely unaware that Opeth were to start at 7:30pm - and rightfuly so, seeing as the ticket specified that a support act was to play before the headliners. Thus, hundreds of fans missed out on the opening few songs, and like us, were left feeling flustered and unprepared for what was to come.

The gig itself was predictably special. Listening to the whole of Blackwater Park played live in its entirity was as awesome as one would expect, and there can be no complaints from even the most die hard fan, as the band played a song off every album in a storytelling, chronological order. Props to the band - I admired the fact that they played some tunes that hadn't been heard for years, such as "April Ethereal" and "Harlequin Forest". It wouldve been easy for them to hash out "Demon of the Fall" for the 500th time, but the setlist consisted of almost entirely different tunes as to their last appearence in the UK - and not to the detriment of the enjoyment of the show at all.

The band added a visual element to their show for the occasion, but for the most part it seemed to me like the band had sent someone into some bleak coniferous forest with a handicam and told them to do their worst - hardly Tool or Mastodon. But who really cares when the music is so damn good?

One bone of contention on my part, however - the fans. For many forms of entertainment, a crucial factor of enjoyment is the relationship between the fans and the act on stage. Although the masses lapped up all three hours of the gig, at not one point was there any real fervour or moments of teeth gnashing intensity from the spectators - pretty fucking disappointing considering that Opeth have some of the heaviest, most circle pit inducing riffs out there. Its such a shame that there's a far bigger beard stroking nerdy prog contingent than death metal followers at Opeth gigs. Consider yourselves ashamed!

Right now my ears are bleeding and my head is throbbing after Eyehategod last night, which for the record was probably the best gig this year. More on that later...

Jack

Open your ears to these three...

After a month and a half the manehead has returned! I'm sure all two readers of this blog have missed it. But the blog hath risen and will once again feed you with the best and most vital musical information. I thought I'd show you some artists you might not have heard of that I think need to be listened to.

Mithras
Late last year I attended the Damnation Festival in Leeds. Apart from the subterranean insaneness of Electric Wizard, who's stature and prowess speak for themselves, there wasn't much to get excited about. Apart from a band called Mithras. I'm not one for hyperbole, but listening to that devestatingly twisted sonic attack for the first time reminded me of the first time I heard Morbid Angel. It seriously was that good. The band is fronted by the erudite Leon Macy, who plays not only all the guitars on the studio albums, but the ultra-technical drums as well - a pretty admirable achievement (in addition to being the managing director of extreme metal mag Zero Tolerence!). Far from being one of the myriad of Azagthoth-worshipping death metal clones that are all too apparent at the moment, Mithras build upon the work of their forefathers and add their own twist to proceedings. The two latest albums, "Worlds Beyond the Veil" (2003) and "Behind the Shadows Lie Madness" (2007) showcase copious amounts of technical but tasteful riffing, ethereal instrumental passages, and vocals delivered with a Glen Benton level of conviction. Imagine a Nile who don't have a fixation on Egyptian and Lovecraftian matters, and with a little more breathing space, and you're not that far off the mark.
Check out a divine example of their music - live in Edinburgh 2009 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhT6Yki9PeM&feature=related
I'm hoping to catch them and another criminally underrated British band, Taint, at Barroselas Metalfest in Portugal in late April. Needless to say I'm warming up my neck muscles already...

Terry Reid
During a conversation about Neil Young and Jethro Tull a mate recommended that I listen to a bloke called Terry Reid. Upon checking out his album "Seed Of Memory" (1973), I was instantly taken with his soulful voice and gorgeous vocal and guitar harmonies. The title track is probably the best song that I've had the pleasure of hearing this year - and it goes to show that a simple acoustic three chord song can still have a resounding powerful effect, no matter how many times you've already heard those chords. Jimmy Page was so enamoured by Reid's earlier work that he asked him to front his embryonic musical project in the mid-60's. Reid declined, but recommended some guy called Robert Plant to Page. Whatever happened there eh?

Saniteria
Since April last year I've had a deep and obsessive fixation with whatever musical endevours Dax Riggs (Acid Bath, Agents of Oblivion, Deadboy and the Elephantmen) has ever been involved in. This led me to scouring through his website (http://www.skeletalcircus.com/) and coming across a fellow Louisiana act, Saniteria. Apparently consisting of two ex-mental patients, and a few other social pariahs, the band have a beautiful southern rock feel to their tunes without being cheesy or boring. I totally recommend them and anything found on the above website, for that matter. Here's their myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/santeria777

There you go for now, hopefully the next installment will be sooner in coming...
Jack

Meshuggah - Alive (live DVD/CD)

While I've been inundated with updates on Blabbermouth about Maynard Keenan releasing a DVD about his wine producing exploits, one of the other major players of cutting edge prog metal , Meshuggah, were putting together something that actually got me excited - a live DVD and CD, with footage taken from the bands first ever world tour supporting the sublime "Obzen" album.

Some fans may be puzzled at the omission of any "Destroy Erase Improve" tracks, but its refreshing to see a band not rest on its laurels and try and move on from past glories (anyone else think Metallica have rinsed playing Seek and Destroy live?). Meshuggah on-stage apperance is fitting for the music that they play - Fred and Mårten with their unreal 8-string guitars, Jens with his skull positively pulsating as he torturously unleashes his vocals, and the entire band dressed in an uncompromising monochromic black.

The music is faultlessly tight - not a single beat is missed and those insane stacatto polyrhythms retain all their wierdness perfectly. Although to be honest, you cant help thinking whilst listening to it that you'd rather be hearing the better-sounding studio versions of the songs, since Meshuggah are not the band to jam and alter stuff majorly live (with the exception of Fred, who does some amazing improvs for solos).

Highlights include the massive slab of lushness that is "Rational Gaze", Haakes extra-bewildering drumming on "The Mouth Licking What You've Bled", and Fred's solo on the outro to "Straws Pulled at Random", which still ranks as one of the most beautiful pieces of music that i've had the pleasure of hearing.If you're lacking in the funds you'd be better off buying the re-release of Nothing, since it has a bonus DVD with amazing footage from Download 2005 on it, and you get an unbelievable album included too obviously.

'Alive' will sit pretty in my Meshuggah collection (only the seventh album I have by them, clearly not enough!), and has served as a nice reminder of how awesome they really are.

Jack

Fear Factory, Manchester Academy 2, 16th Feb 2010

One of the more interesting developments in the metal world last year was the surprise reformation of Fear Factory, this time with founding member Dino Cazares on guitar. The cynical side of me thought that this was just Dino realising that Divine Heresy was never going to give him enough metallic/financial satisfaction, but the nostalgic side said fuck it, this is a chance to hear some of the most moshworthy metal around. Regarding the lineup changes, no-one can question the new members. If Gene Hoglan was good enough for Chuck Schuldiner back in the early 90's and Devin Townsend for the best part of ten years, then based on tonight alone he most certainly is capable of filling the void left by the departure of Raymond Herrera.

Luckly enough for us, the gig was in Academy 2, a wonderfully intimate venue for such as prestigious act. Greeted with a swarm of sweaty Mancunians chanting "you fat bastards" the band launch into the first song off the new record, a typically monolithic affair which has us warming up our neck muscles in anticipation. The set consists of songs spanning the bands entire career (don't mention Archetype and Transgression!), including gratuitious plugging of new album Mechanize, which grated after a while to be honest, even though its all pretty good stuff.

The vast majority of the crowd who probably came just to hear the old stuff were treated to a awesome rendition of "Resurrection", one of the band's most popular softer numbers (lighters in the air and all), but what really got the circle pits moving was the five song suite off Demanufacture - sounding as vital as it did back in '95. I defy any metalhead not to get goosebumps upon hearing that opening riff to albums title track.

Based on tonight's performance, Fear Factory's legacy won't be rendered 'Obsolete' any time soon. Fingers crossed Burton and Dino don't throw their toys out the pram again eh!

Jack

Our Blog Could Be Your Life

Hello,
We are two students at Leeds Uni in the north of England, who like metal, a lot, so much that we feel the need to express our delight for new albums/gigs/Phil Anselmo haircut evolutions in a format a bit more than a Facebook status that invariably says something like : 'Joe Bloggs thought Slayer were fucking heavy ANGEL OF DETH WOOOOO!!'

We like our Maze of Torments as much as our Alex Chiltons, so expect quite a spectrum of musical stuff and that. We are gig whores and album munchers so expect vaguely regular updates, unless we have essay deadlines, but that doesn't usually get in the way, 'cause we're tr00er than badger burning a church, innit.

Peace out and that, stay safe, and listen to Jethro Tull,

Jack Taylor and 'Meshuggahpuffs'

Baroness, Islington Mill, Salford

Truth be told, Salford is a bit of a dump, but it will be fondly remember for what Baroness did at the Islington Mill on the 20th January.

Beginning with the divine instrumental "Bullhead's Psalm", they effortlessly oscillate between the ethereal and the formidable. It's fucking exquisite, and it's easy to forget they're in their infancy. They play for a seamless hour before frontman John Baizley bashfully thanks the crowd for its enthusiasm and the band round the night off with "Tower Falls".

These bearded folk seem to have the knack of knowing when to have a bit of a wank about with tricky time signatures and when to nonchalantly slam out a big fuck off riff that has us maneheads headbanging like its 1984.

With two sophisticated albums out, rather humbly named "Red Album" and "Blue Record" (Pokémon, anyone?), along with a tight and honed live sound, theyre set to "Do-A-Mastodon" and launch themselves into the upper echelons of the metal world. Coming soon to a stadium near you....maybe.

Yours tr00ly,
Jack and 'Meshuggahpuffs'