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