Lamb of God VII: Sturm Und Drang Album Review

                Lamb of God’s new album VII: Sturm Und Drang (which means storm and stress in German), in my opinion picks up right where their last album Resolution left off. Resolution was such a great album, to follow it up was going to be a challenge. The new album is brutal, honest, hammer to the face, metal. With guest vocals from Chino Moreno from the Deftones on “Embers” and Creg Puciato from The Dillineger Escape Plan on “Torhes”, you can’t really go wrong. Puciato also helped with the lyrics on that song. The whole album is classic Lamb of God from the first track to the very end. Song “512” is about Randy Blythe’s time in prison in Prague, 512 being his cell number. I will be curious to see how the song relates to his new book; Dark Days: A Memoir. I really enjoyed the song “Engage the Fear Machine”. It is probably one of my favorites on the album, but again pretty much the whole album is amazing. To me that song is about how the media portrays all the negative news, trying to incite fear and chaos into the viewers. The guns are blazing right from the start of the album with “Still Echoes”, the albums opener. I also like how they put a slower song, but still kept it within their style, with the song “Overlord”. It sort of gives you a little taste of southern metal with how the guitar sound is done and Randy’s not so growly vocals. If you purchase the extended version (why you wouldn’t I wouldn’t know), you get two bonus tracks which I might add are worth it. Both “Wine & Piss” and “Nightmare Seeker (The Little Red House)” stand alone as great songs and definitely worth the extra few dollars to get them. If this album doesn’t get high reviews from everyone, I will be very surprised. It is classic Lamb of God and as with all their albums, gets better and better with each new one that they release.

My Occult Metal Pick

On the Decibel Magazine website last week, they had a contest to win a book called “Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll” by Peter Bebergal. You had to write in under 150 words who you thought was a pivotal occult band. I wrote my piece on none other than Mercyful Fate. Yes there are many bands that come to mind, such as Black Sabbath and Candlemass to name a couple, but as far as I’m concerned, Mercyful Fate is it! Here’s what I wrote:

                When I think of pivotal occult bands, a few come to mind, but the standout band for me would have to be Mercyful Fate. They are indeed a band that paved the way for later occult bands, but were also at the forefront of the black metal movement.  With the heaviness of the music and the range of King Diamond’s vocals, it is no wonder they released so many classic metal albums. The themes of these albums ranged from horror to strictly satanic and the cover art is so memorable. King Diamond was also one of the early pioneers to utilize corpse paint; proving looking evil can win the hearts of any diehard metal fan. Is Mercyful Fate pivotal for occult rock? Of course they are, just listen to “Mellissa”, “Don’t Break The oath”, or even “Dead Again” if you don’t believe me.

 

2014 In Review

As 2014 came to a close, it’s important to highlight some of the amazing albums that have come out, as well as a few of the awesome shows I have had the privilege to attend. I ended the year seeing Slipknot and Korn. Back in the late 90’s,  Korn was the first concert I ever attended, which unfortunately for my wife, got me hooked on the live show experience. The raw energy that comes out at a live show is like nothing else when it comes to music, especially metal music. Korn played a killer set of classics and ended their set with none other than the song that blasted them into metal stardom; “Blind”. I loved that song when it came out and years later, I still love it. Slipknot’s stage show will legitimately leave you breathless. Two sets of drums that rise into the air and spin around, a DJ that couldn’t stay still swinging from the high rising drum sets, as well as his own DJ stand. The set was awesome and to end my year’s concert going with that show was so worth it. This was my first time seeing Slipknot and I would definitely see them again. If you ever have a chance to see them, their live show alone will be worth it.

King Diamond, not only toured this year, but also released a greatest hits album called Dreams of Horror.  It has a career spanning collection of songs which the band states most of them will be played live. The album was re-mastered and within the booklet they explain why the song was included or some information on if and how they changed it. It is a must have for any King Diamond fan. He influenced so many bands throughout his career; it’s hard not to see him as a metal giant. I not only purchased the album, but I saw the band live as well. What a show!! I was excited as soon as I purchased my tickets and after the show it took me weeks to come down from the high that was King Diamond live. The stage set up was amazing and the fact that they act out some of the songs was really cool. They even cremated his grandmother live onstage. The music was so loud and perfectly executed that bits of the ceiling at the venue were literally chipping off and falling on us.

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2014 saw some other pretty amazing albums come out as well. There was the return of the melodic death metal pioneers, At the Gates. Their new album At War With Reality brought any fan of the band back to their Slaughter of the Soul days. That album was so ahead of its time that seeing them, not repeat, but equal, was great return to form. Arch Enemy’s new album War Eternal with their new singer was a highlight for me this year. The album itself was awesome, but also had one of my favorite songs of the year “Time is Black”. The song is haunting, heavy, and melodic all at the same time. Michael Amott has done it again and I have a feeling he will keep doing it. The band Architects UK, a British metalcore band, released Lost Forever/Lost Together which I found heavy, as well as extremely catchy. The song “Naysayer” was also up there for one of my favorite songs of 2014. Other bands to release great albums this year were: Behemoth (The Satanist), Black Anvil (Hail Death), Godhunter (City of Dust), Darkest Hour (Darkest Hour), an EP by a grindcore band called The Drip (A Presentation in Gruesome Poetics), and the super group Bloodbath (Grand Morbid Funeral).

In the end, my favorite album of the year hands down has to be Black Crown Initiate’s The Wreckage of Star. There is so much going on in that album that it requires more than one listen. It is so good that I do not see listening to it more than once as a problem. They are a combination of Black metal and elements of progressive and death metal.  They flawlessly transition between your good old fashioned black metal vocals with clean sections thrown in for melody and a breather. The album itself will rip your face off, but leave you wanting oh so much more of it. They will be touring with the Godfather’s of Grindcore, Napalm Death, this year and I for one cannot wait to see them ripping it up onstage. “The Fractured One” and “The Malignant” are just a couple of my favorite songs on the album, but the whole album is just amazing and well worth a listen.