Doozr's Bi-annual Review, part 1

Yes, it's that time again. July is almost upon us, the longest day has been and gone, and it's all downhill from here. So it must be time to take stock of the first half of the year. What has taken my fancy, and what has left me flat.

It's not been particularly tricky to pick the top 10 for this, the first half of 2011. I had some hard decisions to make around about numbers 8, 9 and 10. Some stuff that I would have liked to be in there was just pipped to the post and got left in the "honourable mentions".

Top 10

Overall, it's not been a terrible year for music. Some new stuff coming out of nowhere, some long standing greats continuing to be great, but some other lacklustre performances. So without further ado, and in no particular order, here are my top 10 of the first half of 2011.

Sylosis - Edge of the Earth
One of the earliest albums of the year, this monstrous melodic thrash/death metal epic had me hooked immediately. It was a shoo-in for the top spot on this first top 10 of the year. Nothing has budged it yet, except maybe the atmospheric stylings of ...

Moonsorrow - Varjoina kuljemme kuolleiden maassa
Another epic album, and another that I would consider a perfect production. Four massive, immersive tracks of tragedy, doom and despair that carries you along whether you like it or not.

Wolverine - Communication Lost
A bit of a grower, mostly due to it being the follow up to Still, a simply magnificent record. I was both tremendously excited, and very nervous about it. Fortunately Wolverine have more than lived up to their own potential and produced this emotive, progressive masterpiece.

Chaos Divine - The Human Connection
A slow grower, this one. Took a couple of weeks to really get into the frame of mind required. In fact, I was rather disappointed with it at first. But when it clicks, it sticks. Great prog noodling complements death growls and hard metal riffs.

Amorphis - The Beginning Of Times
Described variously as "epic", "magnificent", "awe-inspiring" and "tinkly tonkly", this is a definite for my top 10 of 2011, even if it hasn't quite reached the heights attained by its predecessor, Sky Forger. I have also gone and bought a copy of the Kalevala, from which the last 4 Amorphis albums draw their inspiration. It's a very strange tale, but has inspired some great metal.

Devin Townsend Project - Ghost
Possibly the most relaxing, chilled out experience so far this year. It's taken me several goes just to listen to all of it and not fall asleep in some kind of tranced out bliss.

Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction
The soundtrack to going insane. Densely packed, massive in scope and scale, and by the time you've got to the end of this album you won't know where you are or what you're doing. You will want a cheeseburger, though.

The Decemberists - The King Is Dead
Folky Americana courtesy of the band who brought you The Hazards Of Love. Completely different in sound, and with a similar outlook to Fleet Foxes. A rather pleasing, gentle interlude to all this shouting and hard riffs in the rest of the list.

Before The Dawn - Deathstar Rising
A good but of straight up melodeath. Good riffs, good vocals, both clean and growled, and good songs that it's easy to sing along with. Apparently it hasn't gone down well with all critics, but I find it a very enjoyable record to listen to.

Ador Dorath - Adon Nin Edelith Ador Dorath
Perhaps the strangest sounding operatic death metal band on the planet. If you can understand more than 1 in every 10 words you're doing well, but even in its barely comprehensible state it's a roaring, bombastic gothic metal album with loads of good riffs and heavy, chugging beats.

Honourable Mentions

The Top 10 is quite a decent list, I think. These records have had plenty of play time over the last few months. But as I previously said, not all of the good records can be in the top 10. That would be silly, because there are more than 10 of them. Here are a few that didn't quite make the cut, but deserve a mention anyway.

Silent Stream Of Godless Elegy - Návaz
The latest album from these Czech doom/folk metallers does away with some of the doom and adds more Moravian dance. A great record, but a little disappointing to lose some of the better sounds of Relic Dances.

Sanctorum - Semper Fidelis
Sanctorum return with a third album that, while great, suffers from a couple of tracks I just couldn't get along with. Having seen some of it played live I can attest to greatness of the rest of it, though.

Anvil - Juggernaut of Justice
14 albums, 1 riff. Tried and tested, and if it works, keep on doing it. 34 years in, and still going strong. Picked this album up from the Corporation during their UK launch tour. A bit of heavy metal fun. Not too taxing, but just enough rocking.

Kabát - Banditi di Praga
Another Czech band, which makes 3 in this post. This one I actually got from a holiday to Prague, after deciding to try something that might not be available in the UK. I was not disappointed. A sometimes confusing set of songs (all in Czech, of course) but each with an infectious rhythm and great riffs.

Disappointments

While it's been a good year so far, it's not all coming up roses. There have been a few disappointments on the way. These are albums that, for one reason or another, I expected to be much better than they actually turned out to be.

Arch Enemy - Khaos Legions
With a massive publicity campaign, this was supposed to be a magnificent album. It's actually just an Arch Enemy album. And I already have some of those. They even nicked a riff from Nightwish in the process, which I found bizarre.

Scar Symmetry - Unseen Empire
I heard this album before I bought it. On first listen, it sounded pretty good. On each subsequent listen, it got more and more boring, and I cared less and less about hearing it again. I've listened to it 3 times, then gave up. Dull.

Within Temptation - The Unforgiving
A comic book, videos, a massive concept album with a coherent story arc and loads of accompanying extras. It should have been every metal geek's idea of perfection. It actually turned out to be a confusing mass of boring pop-metal and euro-dance. As I said once before; About as metal as plaid, and makes as much sense as fish trousers.

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
I so wanted to love this album. After discovering Fleet Foxes, the debut, I wanted that experience again. All the reviews said it was like rediscovering the band. I wanted it. And, well, it's ok I guess. I just don't get the horrendous cacophony of instruments being tortured to death about half way through. People often say it of metal, and I'm saying it of this; it's just noise!

In the scheme of things, a few disappointments are inevitable. For the most part, I've very much enjoyed this year's voyage of discovery. I've got some great new music and, thanks to an increased list of reading material in my RSS reader and a new subscription to Terrorizer, I'm finding more stuff I actually like and less stuff that annoys or bores me. This is all good.

Northern Oak & Sanctorum @ The Frog And Nightgown, 30/04/2011

Northern Oak & Sanctorum - 30/04/2011, a set on Flickr.

Another Saturday, another chance to go and listen to Northern Oak. And what better way to spend a Saturday is there? Well, how about listening to Sanctorum too? Yep, that'd do it. And to top it all off, parody metal band Evil Scarecrow were headlining the night. And so it was we headed down the M1 a bit to the sunny village of Worksop, to the Frog and Nightgown, a strange little pub next to Halfords.

It was, in all, quite an experience. The Frog is certainly the hub of all types of alternative culture. Everone from mohawk-wearing punks to fairy wing wearing goths were in attendance. I would say that more sub-cultures and cliques were represented in that one small bar than I've ever seen in one place before. The staff deserve a shout out. They were amazing; professional, efficient, courteous and willing to have a laugh.

After a 3 hour soundcheck, a bit of waiting around, and rather more Coca Cola than I'd usually consume, it was time for Northern Oak to perform. They played Arbor Low, Gawain and Sylvan Lullaby amongst others. The sound quality was really excellent, proving that the sound checks were worthwhile.

Shortly after the set started, a strange mist descended. The smoke machine was working overtime, refracting and exposing the little ceiling mounted lasers, making the stage (and most of my pictures) look like this:

Fear the 80s laser disco!

Next it was time for my cunning switcheroo. I have a Northern Oak t-shirt, but I also have a Sanctorum t-shirt. Which to wear? Only one way to find out ...

Actually, best not start a fight. I'll just wear both at the same time. For the first 4 hours, I wore my Northern Oak t-shirt proudly visible. But after the set finished and Sanctorum were ready to play, I switched them around and wore my Sanctorum t-shirt on the top. It must have worked because members of both bands noted I was supporting them!

Sanctorums set was also excellent. The new material started to make a lot more sense to me. I was, after all, a bit underwhelmed with it before. It's definitely grown on me, and seeing an album played live can often cement it in my mind and give a fresh appreciation. It was another relatively short set, but definitely a worthwhile one. Great stuff.

Unfortunately, after all the waiting around, we didn't have time to watch Evil Scarecrow. It was closing in on midnight, and we sadly had things to do. Not all of us were entirely sober, either, which didn't help! So we headed out into the Worksop night.

The Royal Shredding TME Style

Sorry about the awful title for this post.  Every where I look at the moment the phrase 'Royal Shredding' seems to be used for metal events happening this coming weekend ... so I used it too.  To be honest, I am very excited about the coming weekend as far as gigs are concerned.  We are having yet another gig weekend it seems.

We booked tickets to see Delain in Manchester earlier in the year.  Having missed out on seeing them in 2010 due to having so many gigs booked already in the month they were touring, I was keen to ensure we got tickets this time.  The gig happens to fall on the day of the Royal Wedding (29th April)!  This means that the rush after work we were expecting has been traded in for an extra bank holiday and a hike in the Peak District.  Lovely.

I discovered Delain through last.fm about 18 months ago and have become a massive fan.  Charlotte Wessels voice is so beautiful and striking.  That mixed with the catchy guitar riffs and the distinctive influence from Martjin Westerholt make Delain a completely awesome band.  I am looking forward to hearing some new material and finally getting to see them live.

Then on Saturday 30th we are venturing to Worksop to see the wonderful Northern Oak supporting Sanctorum and parody metal band Evil Scarecrow at The Frog and Nightgown.  When I first looked Evil Scarecrow up online I was slightly confused, then amused and finally wowed.  Take a listen to my personal favourite track: Blacken the Everything.

So there you have it.  Two very exciting gigs this weekend.  Sadly however, these are the last ones we have planned until Bloodstock.  This isn't on purpose, we are just struggling to find too much going on in our local area we fancy.  I am confident lots will come up and if not it might be a case of undertaking a 'random gig at Corp' night one weekend! :)

Sanctorum - Semper Fidelis

As I have previously mentioned, I've been a big fan of Sanctorum for ages. I got their first album on a whim and thought it amazing. I have pre-ordered the last two. I'll be seeing them live at the end of next month. This last few weeks has all been very exciting, waiting for the imminent arrival of their 3rd album, Semper Fidelis.

Release day finally arrived and I began my daily vigil, watching the doormat for any sign of a roughly CD sized packet. Then one day, there it was! I opened it up, looked at the artwork, read the little book, generally appreciated the form of the thing.

I put it in the player and got ready to be blown away. My mind was buzzing with superlatives ready to splurge them into Blogger. I pressed play, and it was ... well, it was alright I guess.

Anticlimactic, ain't it? All that build up. Don't get me wrong, it's a fine album, but it's definitely a grower. At first I just didn't get it. The vocals aren't as deep or powerful as before, and they seem to be buried in the mix. There are more clean vocals this time, more slower paced sections. In some places it sounds a bit whiny and gothic. In others it starts to sound a little, um, crappy metalcore.

When the album is good, it's really good. A bit thrash, a bit melodic, a lot death. The riffs are strong and the drums are thundering. Having listened a few times, I've come to realise that it's only two tracks that make me double-take and wonder what the hell I've got on the iPod. Those tracks are Severed and Empty Glass, or the "crappy metalcore" one and the "whiny gothic" one respectively. Every other track on the record is superb.

Sanctorum have always been proud of being genre-defying. They play their own music how they want to play it. The don't limit themselves to the labels applied to them by others, and I respect that. It does have a tendency, though, to include bits that not everyone will like.

The more I listen to it, the more I'm hearing the bits I like and accepting the parts I don't. It would, unfortunately, frustrate my obsession compulsion to keep albums together to remove the two tracks I'm not that keen on. I must keep them together and appreciate it as a whole, or not at all. For Our Sins, Son Of Perdition and All We Are stand out as being particularly listen-worthy. Dying Breed has echoes of THSB in the opening riff, and that riff seems to run on into the following two tracks, Burn Away and Crown Of Scars. The album feels cohesive, with riffs and breaks shared between tracks so there is a thematic feel to the album.

And so it is. This is a mostly good album, but it's not finished growing on me yet. I'm not sure it ever will. The Heavens Shall Burn shall continue to be my usual Sanctorum hit. One day it might come on shuffle and I will gain a new appreciation of it. Or when I see it played live in April it will all make sense. You never know with these things.

2011 - A Year Of Metal

I suck. I've been far too busy holidaying in Prague to write anything for ages so here is my first attempt to put things right. 2011 is shaping up to be an great year for metal, and these four tasters and teasers should surely prove it.

Before The Dawn - Deathstar Rising

Out now, and available for a free listen on Spotify, this is Before The Dawn's 6th studio album, but their first on the mighty Nuclear Blast label. It's melodic death/gothic metal of the highest calibre, and it shall soon adorn my CD shelf.

Sanctorum - Semper Fidelis

I first discovered these guys when Zavvi, formerly Virgin Megastores, decided to offload a bunch of the band's first album, The Heavens Shall Burn, for three of your English quids. I bought it in jest, expecting something crappy, and instead discovered something awesome. Semper Fidelis is Sanctorum's third studio album, and I've already pre-ordered it. They're currently touring with My Ruin, but I'll be seeing them in Worksop on April 30th at the Frog & Nightgown for a freebie gig with Northern Oak.

Arch Enemy - Khaos Legions

I've not really known much about Arch Enemy before, and that has been very much my loss. 23inertia got into them when she was researching Angela Gossow for our sister blog, Femetalism, and liked it very much. It's melodic, it's death, it's growly and it's loud. Should be amazing, and out by early summer.

Insomnium - Untitled

What is there to say about this one? It's Insomnium. They're recording a new album. I can almost guarantee that it will blow your ears off with shear awesomilitude. Such is the band's dedication to high quality metal, they are having songwriting camps and training sessions to hone their skills. This will be spectacular.