Anathema - Falling Deeper

Some bands reinvent themselves. Some stay the same. Some produce the odd concept album or try something totally other once in a while. But surely the masters of reinvention have to be Anathema. With their latest foray into the wildly unexpected they have produced Falling Deeper; an orchestral, almost neo-classical, reworking of some of their older doom songs.

Ostensibly a follow-up to Hindsight, which saw rearrangements of various Anathema songs, Falling Deeper takes the whole concept to a far reaching conclusion. It may be a step too far for some. Most of the songs are unrecognisable from their heavy, guitar driven origins.

The whole project got started by Danny Cavanagh who was playing with piano arrangements, and who then was inspired to include a 26 piece orchestra. For lovers of modern classical pieces, film scores and related orchestral noodling, this album is sure to tick every box.

As a relatively recent convert to Anathema fandom (A Natural Disaster being the first album I heard) I was unaware of, or at least not entirely familiar with, many of the original tracks. I've since gone through a sort of Anathemic nostalgia, listening to the new and the old together. I can safely say that Falling Deeper is a work on its own, and not a remix or reissue of older material.

The music itself, then, is a very relaxing, emotionally charged experience. Crescendo follows lull follows crescendo as the music builds and falls for the relatively short 38 minute run time. While it's easy to zone out and experience it washing over you, the melodies that made the original tracks so great still draws you in, intertwined with the soaring strings and the soft, yet powerful vocals.

Of all the tracks reworked for this album, it's hard to pick particular highlights. Crestfallen and Sleep In Sanity start proceedings as they mean to go on. Everwake's dreamlike soundscape and beautiful vocal is a real pleasure, and Sunset Of Age completes the album with exhilarating, yet somewhat disquieting, aplomb.

It's been rumoured that Anathema is in the studio recording all new material for release early next year. If and when they tour the new material, I can't help but hope they bring the orchestra along so I can experience Falling Deeper in the best way to experience any Anathema track; live, up close and heart wrenchingly personal.

Pain Of Salvation - Road Salt Two

I wrote about Pain Of Salvations last album, Road Salt One, quite some time ago now. I talked about the raw emotion, the excellent songwriting, and the fantastic production. It's still one of my favourite albums. And now I there is a sequel, the unsurprisingly titled Road Salt Two.

This is the second half of the Road Salt concept, a pair of albums exploring life, emotion, and human interaction. In many ways, it's more of the same. I could wax lyrical about it in much the same way as Road Salt One because, in truth, it is very, very similar. It's almost a second disk to accompany the first. And this is no bad thing.

The same basic structure is used again, with the recurring theme of "the road" cropping up time and again. But the lyrical themes take a turn here. They are more mature, they are the end of the journey, whereas Road Salt One told of the beginning. The walker isn't walking the road any more. He's sitting, exhausted, and remembering everything that has gone before.

There is a peculiar quality to the production that makes the album feel a lot older than it is. Subtle use of distortion imbues in the listener a sense of nostalgia. The beautifully short, yet poignant, 1979 really pins that nostalgia down. Where Road Salt One was about struggling through life, Road Salt Two is about breaking point. About looking back at what is gone, and facing what has to come.

Some familiar aspects of Road Salt One come back for a second outing. The grizzled blues rock of the walker is back in Of Salt, and the cacophonous, deeply disturbing carnival sound of Wait, Darling, Wait returns in Break, Darling, Break. A suitably painful reworking of the familiar sound.

While the album should be taken as a whole, and all the tracks are superb, there are a number that stand out. The aforementioned 1979 is one, the somewhat disquieting Eleven, and To The Shoreline, which is Road Salt Two's answer to Sisters. The Deeper Cut, Through The Distance and Healing Now are also brilliant songs in their own right.

I'm sure some would be disappointed in the apparent lack of progress since Road Salt One. I'm not. Road Salt Two is exactly what I wanted it to be; a completion of Road Salt One. Not diverging too far to be a different concept, but not similar enough to be the same album all over again. This is the end of the road, and it has been both a pleasure and a heartache to walk it.

Mastodon - The Hunter

There has been a lot of buzz around The Hunter, the latest album from American sludge metal band Mastodon, from a variety of intriguingly different sources. The usual metal media has, of course, been posting the latest news and views, but it's also been heavily talked about in prog rock circles. It's been billed as the "other" prog album of the year, alongside Opeth's Heritage.

If The Hunter is prog, it's a very different kind of prog to Heritage indeed. The songs clock in between 2:36 for the wonderfully titled Blasteroid and 5:31 for The Sparrow. None of your usual 15 minute, multi-part prog noodling here.

In truth, while previous Mastodon albums have been conceptual masterpieces, painting a huge canvas across the whole album, The Hunter feels more like a collection of singles. And yet, at the same time, it doesn't. While the songs are distinct and stand alone, they also work together. There is a definite common theme of "wood" running through the album, from the obvious forestry in Curl of the Burl to the wooden figurehead on the cover.

The songs veer wildly from style to style, from the psychedelic twiddling of Stargasm, the heavy metal of Spectrelight, the straight up pop/rock of Curl of the Burl and the melodic, emotional strains of the title track. The sound is dense and consuming, with great drum work underpinning the guitar riffs and multitude of vocal styles.

The vocals have caused some controversy in the press for the use of autotune, amongst other effects. To be honest, if I hadn't been told, I wouldn't have known, so it's not like the obnoxious roboto-vocals so popular in the pop world right now. The band all seem to have a crack at it, with vocal harmonies coming in to play.

Having bought the special edition version, there are some extra goodies. A full set of music videos that can be watched in track order to provide a great immersive experience, and a somewhat gimmicky "augmented reality" bit. With the use of a webcam, you can replace your head with the … um … creature from the album cover art. I haven't tried it yet.

There is a great variety on this album, and it's both easy to listen to as background, catchy enough to get your attention, as well as providing a wonderful experience if you want to get caught up in the music. I think the fact that in little over a week I have racked up 125 scrobbles says it all.

Nostalgia of an Opeth nature

After the last rather lacklustre post about Heritage, it got me hankering for when Opeth did really awesome songs with only clean vocals. Here is my favourite. Harvest, from Blackwater Park. Worlds apart, really.

Opeth - Heritage

There has been a not inconsiderable stir in the metal community over the latest Opeth record. After months of discussions, interviews and previews, Mikael Åkerfeldt's newest vision is with us and causing all manner of confusion. We all know by now that it's not metal, but what is it?

It's not an easy question to answer. Many records will draw the listener in, play them a story or an emotion, stir something inside them. Not so Heritage. It won't pull you in, it won't tell you how to feel about it. It's a very difficult record to listen to properly, because it requires significant effort on the part of the listener.

The first vocal track, The Devil's Orchard, has been around a while now. I didn't know what to make of it when it first appeared, and I still don't know now. It's a sort of prog/jazz fusion that doesn't really sound like anything in particular.

The rest of the album contains a varied mix of material. The heavier prog rock style of Slither is countered by the peaceful and mostly instrumental Nepenthe. Häxprogress has some interesting riffs if you listen hard enough for them, but is otherwise unremarkable.

I'm not sure if the difficulties I have found with this record are due to a fundamental flaw in the record itself, or my own mental disconnect between what's going into my ears and what I know is Opeth. I can't help but think that if this was Anathema, undisputed (in my mind, anyway) kings of atmospheric rock, they would have made a far more immersive production out of the same basic musical style.

As it stands, Heritage has turned out not to be a particularly engaging experience. I almost hesitate to use the phrase "easy listening", not because some of the softer riffs and repeated rythmn aren't deserving of it, but because it's not an easy listen. I've read a couple of reviews before writing my own, and one phrase that seems to crop up is that the album "makes people think." I don't feel that it really does. The lyrics are not particularly groundbreaking. They're just presented in a jerky, inconsistent way as the songs lurch from riff to disjointed riff. It is not the level of songwriting I have come to expect from the band, and other albums I have bought recently (more on those in future posts) outshine Heritage in every respect.

Sometimes when I first hear a record, especially one that is designed to subvert expectations, I find that it doesn't "click." A few months down the line, I may give it another chance and be pleasantly surprised at how well it's aged. I don't know if that will be the case with Heritage, or if I will just get my prog kicks from elsewhere and leave the crushing-yet-beautiful prog death metal to the likes of Fornost Arnor, whose latest album, Death Of A Rose, is a worthy successor to Opeth's metal history.

Metal of Middle Earth

J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings has leapt into the public consciousness since the release of Peter Jackson's epic films in the early years of the 21st century. It has provided society with a fantasy framework for generations, and has more recently become an accepted part of the zeitgeist, with Frodo Baggins and the One Ring being well known even to those who would normally never read fantasy.

But long before the world got Hobbit fever, the metal scene was drawing inspiration from the entire Middle Earth universe for lyrical themes and band names. Recently I've been listening to Summoning, a black metal band from Austria who feature the Middle Earth mythology as a primary source of their subject matter. With album names like Minas Morgul and Dol Guldur it's pretty blatant.

Of course, using such well established fantasy lore as inspiration can be seen as something of a cop out. All the hard work is done, and you just have to sing songs about it. However, the sheer range of metal styles out there, all drawing from one common source, is incredible. Many of the bands are black metal, as befits the fantasy theme. But others may surprise.

Summoning

As previously mentioned, Summoning have long drawn from Tolkien's well for inspiration. Their later works feature a more epic sound, with choirs and (simulated) orchestras taking the folk/black metal songs to levels more fitting to Middle Earth's grandeur. They have even, on occasion, written lyrics in the black language of Mordor, although there are few now who understand it.

Ephel Duath

And now for something completely different. Ephel Duath are an avante-garde progressive hardcore punk/jazz fusion band. It's hard to even begin to imagine what that sounds like. Named for the western mountains of the land of Mordor, Ephel Dúath, the band's involvement with the LotR mythology starts and ends with the name. Have a listen, and see if your brain can handle it.

Fornost Arnor

I have written about Fornost Arnor before after discovering their latest album, Death Of A Rose. Moving from symphonic black metal stylings to something more progressive, Fornost Arnor have been compared favourably to the styling of Opeth. Named for the capital city of Arthedain in the land of Arnor, Fornost Erain.

Cirith Ungol

Cirith Ungol were a doom metal band from California between 1972 and 1992. Possibly the oldest LotR themed metal band that I am aware of. Unlike some LotR named bands, Cirith Ungol were both named for and drew inspiration from Lord of the Rings. Cirith Ungol is the pass into Mordor in which Shelob the spider lives, and in which Frodo was nearly devoured. It is close to another place popular with the metal crowd, Minas Morgul.

Minas Morgul

Minas Morgul is the city of the Nazgǔl in the land of Mordor, and is a contraction of the city's full name, Minas Ithil in the Morgul Vale. It is the home of the witch-king of Angmar and the black riders, the Nazgǔl, who pursue the fellowship of the ring. It is also a black/pagan metal band from Germany who product some pretty powerful black metal. Sung entirely in German, the black metal vocal has a certain extra quality and ferocity.

Gorgoroth

Gorgoroth is a stereotypical Norwegian black metal, complete with face paint, spiky arm bands and fake blood applied liberally. They've been around for a long while and so are well known in the scene. They have had plenty of controversy for their gruesome live shows and less than amicable relationship with their fans. Gorgoroth is also a plateau in north-west Mordor, in the midst of which stands Mount Doom.

Amon Amarth

Considering that Amon Amarth are most well known for Viking inspired melodic death metal, it may seem strange that they are named for a place in the Lord of the Rings. Many people are not familiar with the place, because it is hardly ever referred to by the name Amon Amarth. It is a Sindarin translation of the name of Mount Doom, the mountain in Gorgoroth into which Frodo eventually throws the one ring.

Blind Guardian

Power metal mainstays Blind Guardian produced Nightfall in Middle-Earth, based on the Silmarillion, in 1998. The album contains a mixture of songs and spoken word telling the story of the War of the Jewels. In addition, the band were also in negotiations to appear on the soundtrack for Peter Jackson's LotR trilogy. This fell through, though, because the band wanted to concentrate on their next album.

Mostly Autumn

Despite not being metal in the slightest, I'm including Mostly Autumn here because they are one of my favourite prog folk/rock bands. The title of Music Inspired By The Lord Of The Rings is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Prog rock with folk influences, about the Lord of the Rings. I consider it the prog alternative for Howard Shore's modern classical masterpiece.

Post-Bloodstock Purchasing Roundup

After Bloodstock was over for another year, I came away with a long list of bands that I'd discovered by virtue of their awesome sets. Some of these were so good they warranted immediate purchase, so here's a quick roundup of what I bought and why.

Primordial - Redemption At The Puritan's Hand

Primordial are a long standing Irish folk/black metal band and have released many, many albums. Their set on the Ronnie James Dio stage was memorable as much for the amazing first few tracks as it was for vocalist A.A. Nemtheanga's voice going a couple of tracks in. The crowd response was phenomenal and the rest of the set was surely one of the most memorable of the weekend.

Primordial mix Irish folk, black metal, and a peculiar stilted vocal style. The lyrics are, as implied by the title, are angry, subversive and steeped in metaphor. Album opener No Grave Deep Enough, with an almost military drum beat, gives a great overview of what this album is all about.

October File - Our Souls To You

October File are labelled as many things. Industrial post-punk is probably the most encompassing. The songs are heavy, grinding and dirty, covering themes of malaise, fury, disaffection and rebellion. This is an album for when you're pissed off with the world and want something loud, enraged and passionate to throw on and scream along to.

From their set on the Sophie Lancaster stage, the two tracks I wanted to hear were Crawl and Dredge, two anthems of punk attitude with a venomous bite and riffs that hook you in.

One part of the set that has entered our personal meme-set is to "assume to position". At the beginning of Crawl (if I recall correctly), vocalist Ben Hollyer shouted "EVERYONE, ASSUME THE POSITION" and knelt into an invisible orange stance similar to the one I'm demonstrating in this picture, as I summon the wrath of the impending storm.

Byfrost - Of Death

Rounding off the trio is Byfrost, a Norwegian black/thrash metal ensemble whose style could be described as "black 'n' roll". High speed black metal with double-kick bass and chugging, ear-drum bursting riffage. I'd heard about the band a couple of times before Bloodstock, and their completely awesome set on the Sophie Lancaster stage convinced me to give them a go.

Being Norwegian black metal, the themes are of course fantastic and morbid. Although the album title gives this away.  The highlight of the set was Eye For An Eye, and it's just as good on the album.

Three very different bands, and three very different albums. And each of them as good as I'd hoped after the greatest musical weekend of the year, or possibly so far in my life. Roll on BOA2012 for some more!