Album Of The Week : The Howling Wind - Into The Cryosphere

The Howling Wind are the brainchild of Unearthly Trance's frontman Ryan Lipynsky, and Into The Cryosphere,released last year, is the act's second album, following on from the promising but patchy debut Pestilence and Peril. ITC is a vast improvement.

The awesome opening track, "The Seething Wrath Of A Frigid Soul" , sets the tone for the rest of the record, full of hyperborean atmospherics and sything black metal riffage. There's enough variety to keep the listener interested through the whole record - the instrumental "Impossible Eternity" is melodic and graceful, while the middle riff from "Will Is The Only Fire Under An Avalanche" is probably the most chillingly epic one on the whole album. Props to Lipynsky - the man not only displays marvelous fretboard pyrotechnics (with some tasteful yet dexterous soloing), he handles the bass and vocals, which for me are one of the highlights of this band. You may have noticed the epic nature of the songtitles - this is complimented by the majestic, if a little clichéd album artwork.

Highly recommended if you like your metal to be like a soundtrack to being lost in the icy tundra with little hope of salvation.

7.5/10

Highlights : "The Seething Wrath Of A Frigid Soul", "Will Is The Only Fire Under An Avalanche"

See also - Emperor, Mayhem, Bathory, Darkthrone, Unearthly Trance

Album Of The Week : Oxbow - The Narcotic Story

Oxbow have been going a while, and 2007's "The Narcotic Story" is their 6th and latest album.

Vocalist Eugene Robinson manages to channel the avant-garde insanity of Mike Patton, the howling depravity of Eyehategod's Mike Williams and the claustraphobic demonic nature of The Jesus Lizard's David Yow, to awesome effect. "It never rains...it fuckin' pours" he lugubriously yowls in "A Winner Every Time", but "She's A Find" has him almost crooning along, accompanied by soothing but subtly unnerving violins. It's pretty unsettling and at times draining listening, but the kind of album that unravells itself after multiple listens.

Despite the singer mumbling and stumbling his way through the album, the instrumental side of Oxbow is formidable - there are some big riffs to be found here, as well as some tripped out clean guitar lines almost reminiscent of 70's/ post rock.

7.5/10

Highlights : "Down A Stair Backward", "She´s A Find"

See also - Mr Bungle, The Jesus Lizard, Eyehategod

Album Of The Week : Scott Kelly - Spirit Bound Flesh

Having delved extensively into experimental metal legends Neurosis's discography it was inevitable that I'd explore the solo projects of the members of the said band. I'd already been blown away by Steve Von Till's own work, such as the sombre, chilling "Breathe" and the excellent cover of Neil Young's "Running Dry", where he somehow manages to make the song even more mournful and mirthless than the original. I was expecting more of the same from fellow singer/guitarist Scott Kelly's work.

After such gargantuan, at times extremely dense and sludgy records as "Through Silver In Blood" and "Times of Grace", by his main band Neurosis, Scott understandably wanted a record with a little more breathing space.

This is exactly that, at times incredibly minimalist. The album's opener "I Don't Feel You Anymore" sets the tone for the following seven songs - essentially just Scott with an acoustic guitar. As you might've guessed, this isn't beer drinking party music, just as grim and heart-on-sleeve as Neurosis - never less than totally honest. "Sacred Heart" is an interesting tune - four minutes of a cappella , which to be honest drags a little, but the experimentation and audacity has to be admired. "Flower" is another great brooding number - there's certainly a lot of quality on the record, perfect for reflective moments late at night.

8/10

Highlights : "I Don't Feel You Anymore", "Flower"

See also - Neurosis "I Can See You", Steve Von Till "Breathe", Johnny Cash "I Walk The Line", Wino - "Iron Horse/Born To Lose"

Album Of The Week : Julian Cope - Peggy Suicide

When one is searching for new musical inspiration, one only has to take a trip to Dax Riggs's Myspace page and peruse through his large and eclectic list of influences. This resulted in me finding Julian Cope, probably the best musical discovery I have unearthed for myself so far this year.

I chose to buy the highly acclaimed double album, Peggy Suicide. Like the Rolling Stones classic Exile on Main Street, Cope's album has eighteen tracks, and also like the Stones album the record reads as a DNA for much that is great about rock music - from the swirling guitars in Safesurfer, the funky bass of East Easy Rider and the poetic crooning in Las Vegas Basement, there is so much to enjoy here. The depth and texture to the music is impressive too, as is the fact that Julian himself plays a great deal of the instruments.

The lyrics and vocals have flashes of the twisted eccentric nature of Nick Cave and Devin Townsend, and even though much of what the album is about alludes towards English politics and Margaret Thatcher's reign as Prime minster it hardly feels like a political record.

Trying to find a definitive Julian Cope track is like trying to give an alien an example of which country most represents typical life on earth, such is the versatility of the man. Even after listening to the entire record I clearly haven't got to the bottom of his music - after giving a listen to China Doll, an exquisite ballad off an earlier album, I found it hard to believe it was the same artist. I can't recommend the guy enough - to put it bluntly, if you like rock music, buy this album.

8.5/10

Highlights : Safesurfer, Promised Land, Las Vegas Basement

See also - Nick Cave, Syd Barrett, Iggy Pop, Devin Townsend.

Nile - Live at Redemption, Derby, 10th February 2011

Even though it was little more than a year since Nile last toured the U.K, the South Carolinan death metal stalwarts came back for an extended jaunt of Europe, with four other bands in tow, including Israeli black metallers Melechesh. Although openers Darkrise had some decent riffs and German thrashers Dew Scented gave the crowd a chance to warm up their neck muscles, Melechesh were disappointing - for all the hype (including a recent appearance on the front cover of Zero Tolerance) there wasn't much substance at all, and the reaction was pretty apathetic. None of this mattered though, when Nile took to the stage at 10:15pm.

For any gig to be good the crowd and the band need to feed off each other, and in Derby the synergy was awesome. After a brooding, threatening instrumental intro track consisting of cacophonous horns and militant percussion taken from In Their Darkened Shrines, the gathered masses exploded into a frenetic frenzy upon the start of Kafir. From the opening chant of "There is no god" to the classic set closer Black Seeds of Vengeance the band were positively dripping with vitriolic energy, the three prong vocal attack as potent as ever. Particularly impressive was Serpent Headed Mask, taken off the debut album, a ridiculously concise and brutal song. It says a lot about Nile's consistency that half of the set consisted of their latest works, 2009's Those Whom The Gods Detest, yet the new songs fitted seamlessly into the miasmic maelstrom along with the old classics. The fretboard pyrotechnics unleashed by Dallas, Karl and Chris were staggering to watch live, not to mention George holding it all together with some of the most precise double bass and blastbeats you'll hear.

In the current musical climate there is probably no band as vital in death metal as Nile. The godfathers of the genre Morbid Angel are putting the finishing touches to their first album in eight years - in that time Nile have gone from strength to strength and released some of the most groundbreaking extreme metal imaginable. Morbid Angel originally set the standards of death metal, but now Trey Azagthoth and co. will need to pull something special out of the bag if they are to catch up with Nile...

Album Of The Week : U.S Christmas - Eat Of The Low Dogs

Since I have spent the last three weeks drifting indolently across the Iberian peninsula (see jacktstravels.blogspot.com) I had to put Album of the Week on a brief hiatus. For me, travelling always brings out the best in any music, and the soundtrack to me fruitful meanderings in Spain and Portugal was the album by U.S. Christmas, psychedelic rockers from deepest Appalachia.

As a rule, I'm very discriminate about buying music. I have a list of CD's that I want to buy as big as Dave Mustaine's ego so I don't often just buy any album on a whim - it needs to merit the money I spend on it. With Eat Of The Low Dogs it was different. I heard the song Silent Tongue on Last.fm radio and was so enamoured by it that I had to buy the record based on just that one listen. And I wasn't disappointed. In fact, that very track pales into comparison when measured against some of the other behemoth songs on the album.

U.S. Christmas are on Neurot Recordings (record label of extreme metal masterminds Neurosis), and if Scott Kelly and co. give your band their blessings then they must be worth shouting about. Both bands share the same lonesome, bleak landscapes but project them in different fashions. Like Neurosis, U.S. Christmas have the ability to take a few chords, milk them to near saturation point and create a simple yet awesome song - take Say Sister for example, only four chords are used up until the epic, gorgeous, undulating outro section. There's not a chugged power chord in sight, and it would be unsuitable to call this metal at all, even if the vocals are raspier and harsher than your average rock band. The band owe a lot more to 70's space rock legends Pink Floyd and Hawkwind than any 80's and 90's metal.

I can see some listeners objecting to the use of the perhaps ostentatious modular synth and the heavily echoed vocals, but for me it adds depth to the sound. Nate Hall's vocals are strained and beautifully impassioned. As he screams "And I don't ever change" in Uktena you really feel a haunting conviction in his voice. The guitars and used delicately and abstemiously, never over-indulging, and focusing on creating an eldrich atmosphere and giving awesome texture to the record. The overall sound created is one of a band jamming out live, yet the songs are never desultory.

The follow up to this album, Run Thick In The Night, as been very well received by critics, and a support slot for Neurosis's show last month in San Francisco shows that the band are heading on a upward trajectory. Great things are to come from these guys.

9/10

Highlights : Say Sister, The Light of All Time, Uktena

See also - Pink Floyd - Us And Them, Hawkwind - Hall Of The Mountain Grill, Neurosis - Stones From The Sky.

Album Of The Week : Big Star - Number 1 Record

After being mightily impressed with Big Star's other classic album, Radio City, back in March last year, I thought the band's debut album, Number 1 Record, would have a lot to live up to for me. However, upon listening to it it gave a reminder of when I first gave When The Kite String Pops by Acid Bath a first spin. No, there was no sludgy misanthropic riffs or demonic vocals, but it was more in the sense that I never thought the first album I heard by the band (Paegan Terrorism Tactics) could be beaten, yet the predecessor (in terms of my order of listening) totally blew the other album away. Even though I still rank Radio City as an awesome, awesome record, Big Star's first album manages to top it.

The song that got me into the band was September Gurls - an absolute rock classic, with gorgeous vocal melodies, catchy guitar lines and with a simple, to-the-point structure. Number 1 Record is full of these oh-so-succulent moments. If it wasn't for the bands commercial failure (blamed on their record labels poor promotion and distribution of the bands works), the songwriting duo of Alex Chilton and Chris Bell could've been the McCartney/Lennon partnership of American Power Pop. The songwriting oozes class and creativity - the twelve tracks on the album are both instantaneously appealing but won't get boring after repeated listenings, surely a sign of great music.

Within the album there's a lot of diversity, a fine sum of the greatness of 60's and 70's rock. Thirteen could be seen as a prototype for Skyway by The Replacements, one of many bands heavily influenced by Big Star, whilst the angsty Don't Lie To Me and the melodic delight of The Ballad of El Goodo are just more examples of the ecletic nature of the songs. I wonder even if Alice In Chains were influenced by the albums closer ST 100/6 - the vocal harmonies are surprisingly similar to what Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell became famous for in the early 90's with grunge titans Alice in Chains.

Each of the twelve tracks have their own merits. This is 70's pop-rock at its absolute best, an unmissable yet criminally underrated album. Buy without hesitation.

Highlights : The Ballad of El Goodo, Thirteen, My Life Is Right

See also - The Replacements - Skyway, The Ledge, Big Star - September Gurls