Week 48: Solstice - Cromlech

The artist: Solstice from the UK are an epic doom metal band who despite only ever releasing two albums and an EP, have made a recent comeback. Not a whole lot happened with them in the 00s but with the recent tours and writing one new song for their live shows, you can tell they've returned to the metal realm and are ready to kick even more ass sometime in the near future. The third album named Englander is highly anticipated considering it's been 13 years since they released New Dark Age and they're well overdue.

The album: New Dark Age is the superior album out of the two Solstice albums. If you hear this record first, there isn't much to care about Lamentations. New Dark Age has some monstrous doom metal numbers including The Sleeping Tyrant (which had a low budget music video), Cimmerian Codex, Hammer of Damnation, Cromlech and New Dark Age, Pt. 2. These are the main five tracks of the album and could have just left it at that but Solstice added a whole new dimension by adding an individual section with an acoustic interlude, a very folky ballad and a spoken verse with sounds of wind blowing. Afterwards, the album immediately returns to its doom destruction. Another thing to note about New Dark Age is the unusual choice of words. When reading the lyrics, you'll come across many words that you may have not heard of all your life and extra credit should be handed out to them for acknowledging such words. Lastly, by getting the re-release of this album, you will be rewarded with an excellent cover of Iron Maiden's The Prophecy.

The song: Cromlech starts off rather moody with the bass and clean guitars. The bass is certainly one of the finest performances for it from Solstice and this intro is justified. The heavy guitars kick in after a minute but it's not long until the band pick up the pace. The rhythm may be fast for doom metal but the song endures itself long enough, especially when some lines are repeated several lines. This isn't bad, though since it's hard to get enough of "LEND ME YOUR STEEL!" Now that just screams heavy metal. Even if the song is faster than an average doom metal song, Richard M. Walker and Hamish Glencross do not halt with the crushing doom riffs. The song does slow down within 6 minutes and this is where we're given the beautiful solo by them. The main rhythm isn't done yet, though as it returns afterwards to finish off the full lyrics. Some parts may be repeated several times but it still offers a lot within 10 1/2 minutes. Overall, Cromlech just proves what this heavily overlooked band can do with their music and here's hoping Englander will take notes from songs like these.

Manilla Road to the World - Part 13: Blood Eagle (Voyager)

Voyager is where Manilla Road take yet another very interesting turn for their music. Voyager is an entire album dedicated to vikings. This may not be your typical "viking metal" band but Mark Shelton does a fine tribute to the Norse mythology even if hundreds of other metal bands had beaten to him already. Voyager is yet another record that's full of doomy riffs and Mark Shelton even shows his roughest and lowest pitched vocals out of everything he's done, even coming close to the sound of a death metal vocalist. For an album that lasts a little over an hour, you can be sure to be on quite a journey when hearing Manilla Road's Voyager.

Blood Eagle starts with a cathedral organ which drops off the sudden dark riffing. The first section of the track could have been cut from the rest to be on its own but it adds more flavour to this very song. When the main course arrives, there is some headbanging to be done and it only steps down a bit for the chorus. The chorus even has a power metal anthem feel to it which is rather bizarre when you're throwing in fast doomy riffs with a slight hint of death metal grunts. Six minutes seem to go incredibly fast here but then again, it does accompany with the organ intro. The song takes on the vikings heading to Vineland and confronting the bishop in the name of the norse gods. They sacrifice the bishop to avenge Thor and Odin. The song may be religiously controversial but those were very tough times back then and Mark Shelton has reflected that well with this beast.

Week 47: Melechesh - The Magickan and the Drones

The artist: Melechesh are a blackened death metal band coming from Israel. The extreme sound of their band has caused some issues in their homeland and had to move to the Netherlands where they wouldn't get any hassle over their lyrical themes or musical style. Melechesh prove to be out of the ordinary for both black and death metal where they incorporate middle eastern music with extreme metal. The band even go as far as forgetting their metal roots for the odd songs and make a strong focus on writing middle eastern music. If you want a band that do something a little out of the ordinary, this is one to check out, especially their latest album.

The album: The Epigenesis was released last year and with having 11 tracks totalling up to 71 minutes, you can be sure that the band put a lot of thought into this release. They cover some hypnotic rhythms with Ghouls of Nineveh, blazing fast songs such as Grand Gathas of Baal Sin and Defeating the Giants, two fully middle eastern instrumentals and of course, the grand finale to test the listener's capabilities. The Epigenesis is easily one of the finest metal releases from 2010.

The song: The Magickan and the Drones begins with a middle eastern feel to the song. This isn't like the instrumental tracks, though as the full metal force rises up with a mid-pace riff. However, out goes the intro and in comes intense drumming, crazy riffing and some relentless black metal vocals from Ashmedi. It's chaos all the way through but the band steps back a bit for the last two minutes of the song for some change of pace to keep the listener alert. The lyrics are based on the Sumerian king Ur-Nammu and the fall of his monarchy against the drones of Gutians. Covering this tale with the roller coaster of a ride from Melechesh make this one hell of a black metal song!

Manilla Road to the World - Part 12: The Fall of Illiam (Gates of Fire)

Gates of Fire is another concept album from Manilla Road. Instead of one big concept to focus on, Gates of Fire tells three different stories with them being based on The Frost Giant's Daughter, Virgil's Aeneid and the Spartan King Leonidas and the battle of Thermopylae. The album shows a strong variety including the album opener Riddle of Steel that has a vibe from Open the Gates era, Behind the Veil and Epitaph to the King as acoustic ballads and some challenges in terms of length with Betrayal and the whole of tracks 4-6 covering Virgil's Aeneid. There's a whole lot this album offers and you will need to give it time for both the music itself and the conceptual themes.

The Fall of Illiam stands as the longest track Manilla Road have recorded yet. With this song, Mark Shelton makes the way with an acoustic guitar with Cory Christner on the drums. Christner is quite a drummer and you will acknowledge this when the distorted doom metal guitars kicks in. The drums stand out very well and show some technical aspects to them. The first three verses use the same musical structure to them and although the flow of music usually works if it's repeated just once, the triple occurrance makes a better use of endurance as well as giving a really good feel of the sound. The song makes it way to a three minute solo and you'd think by the last minute it would start to get tedious but the solo segment doesn't feel boring nor tedious at all. Mark Shelton creates a sweet melody that would sure require a lot of memorization if this was ever played live.

The second half of the song shows yet more amazing musicianship from the band where Mark Shelton takes on another intense riff. Cory Christner shows a lot more aggression to the drums and a most of his drum kit in full use. Harvey Patrick even has his bass louder and clear in the second half. Like the earlier part of the song, this part of the song structure is repeated a few times and again gives you a lot of time to absorb the fantastic moments from the song. For a 15 minute song, time sure goes quick with this masterpiece. It's an endurance for a Manilla Road song but the band as whole made the lengthy song very effective. This is easily a top 5 contender for the best songs ever recorded by Shelton & co.

Week 46: Falkenbach - In Flames

The artist: Falkenbach is a one-man band from Germany whose real name is
Vratyas Vakyas. As a band formed by one single individual whose musical style consists of black/folk metal with a lot of Norse mythology sung in the songs, you can sure as hell bet Bathory is a major influence on Vakyas' own band. For a folk metal "band", Falkenbach plays some heavily folk songs unlike others who often combine one subgenre of metal with folk music. This side of Falkenbach heavily defines folk metal but on the other hand, there's a fair amount of his songs that have a strong sense of black metal and it's done professionally.

The album: Tiurida is Falkenbach's latest album released this year. It marks as his first album in six years since Heralding - The Fireblade. Surprisingly enough, Tiurida hasn't been a favourable album for some. Some claim the new album doesn't offer anything new to his music but it's hard to see it that way. Many popular metal bands such as Motörhead, Cannibal Corpse and Amon Amarth stick to the same formula and are respected for it but when it came to Falkenbach, some weren't impressed. Despite what they say, this is still a great album with being rich in character. If ...Where His Ravens Fly... and Runes Shall You Know don't click on for you, nothing will.

The song: In Flames (no, not the Swedish melodic death metal band) ironically starts off with sounds of waves. Vakyas makes an impressive kickoff with his clean guitars which is shortly interrupted by the main riff for the song which you will get to hear for the most part. Although the lyrics for this song were missing on the booklet for the album, it's still easy to determine he's a good harsh vocalist. It's not just his extreme vocals that make him good, though. The mid-section of the song has him implementing some choir vocals and these sound really good and add quite an atmosphere to this part. The song does throw you back to the main riff and will strike once more when the song settles down for the second time. Overall, In Flames is one of seven great songs from Tiurida. For songs like these and Runes Shall You Know, this is an easy contender for best of heavy metal in 2011.

Manilla Road to the World - Part 11: Teacher (Mark of the Beast)

Mark of the Beast was originally going to be Manilla Road's second album. It was recorded in 1981 but wasn't met with satisfactory so it was left in the dark to make way for Manilla Road's Metal. It was reflected back 20 years later and picked up by Monster Records to clean up the sound production of the demos and provide an official release for the fans. For what was a bootlegged release back then, the outcome of the sound production has managed well. Mark of the Beast takes a more rock approach as opposed to metal, although there do exist some heavier songs, including a speed metal rocker. For the most part it's not in your face and feels laid back but despite the band scrapping this album in the early 80s, it has become a common favourite.

Teacher ups the tempo of the overall mood of Mark of the Beast and keeps on running throughout. The raw atmosphere of the song fits to make it feel very retro and despite it not seeing the light of day until 2002, this should be an early example of speed metal. Half way through the song takes a different turn but the pace remains. The song talks about a Christian teacher wanting to take advice from the lord about how to explain the prophecies of Eschaton. It feels like there's an attempt to escape from it all but in the end, there is sadly defeat. Overall, Teacher is one that stands out from Mark of the Beast. This doesn't reflect the overall energy of the album but it's songs like this that make you wonder how all 66 minutes of this album even got rejected.

Week 45: Argus - Durendal

The artist: Argus are a new metal band from America who fall between the traditional metal sound and epic doom metal (think Candlemass, DoomSword, etc). This month will dedicate to my best discoveries from this year and after picking up Argus' new album from the Slough Feg/Solstice show in London, I'm most grateful for seeing this album sold at the merchandise. For a doom metal band, they're very easy to get into so it's nothing too inaccessible for the most part. From what's been played for their first two albums, this band has a lot of potential and hopefully they serve more killer albums in the near-future.

The album: Boldly Stride the Doomed is Argus' second album only released this year. The album starts and ends with the same acoustic melody but in between has many doom-ish classic-esque metal numbers. With the album taking off with A Curse on the World right after the acoustic intro, the title track making some nods to traditional metal and some section changes with Fading Silver Light and the doom monster Pieces of Your Smile, you can expect Boldly Stride the Doomed to offer a lot to the listen while making it accessible (except for the challenging doom closer). This is one highlight for 2011 and we still have two months left.

The song: Once the war horns are played, the band kicks off with traditional metal-like twin guitars but with a spice of doom. The main riffs sound like something Mike Scalzi would cook up for Slough Feg. The solos are full of musical bliss with Erik Johnson and Jason Mucio passing the baton to each other. Each pass intensifies the duo on their guitar solo performances. Butch Balich on this song sounds like Hansi Kursch from Blind Guardian if he was the lead vocalist for Candlemass. He has strong emotional voices like how Johan Langquist and Messiah Marcolin executed on their representing Candlemass albums and the extreme power of his voice is something you'd expect from Hansi Kursch. The lyrics cover Roland, the paladin of Charlemagne and the legendary sword named Durendal. There is a war between the pagans and Roland swears to never back down, especially with the mighty line of "I will never go back, never retreat, rather that I meet death" Now THAT is how emotion in music should be done. Overall, Durendal is a highlight not just on the album but also for heavy metal in 2011. To have such grand guitars and a hugely powerful voice is a song that shouldn't leave your iPod anytime soon.

Manilla Road to the World - Part 10: Sands of Time (Spiral Castle)

Spiral Castle was released just a year after Atlantis Rising and this is where Hellroadie became more established with his vocals. Bryan tends to handle the higher pitch vocals whereas Mark Shelton deals with the lower and rougher vocals. This is where Manilla Road truly took a doomier direction with their music and Spiral Castle is where the doom metal elements are as big and loud as they could possibly be. They offer crunching riffs from the title track, enduring doom metal epic with Merchants of Death and... an acoustic instrumental with a middle eastern feel? Let's find out!

Sands of Time is the instrumental finale for Spiral Castle. Starting off with an acoustic guitars that gives off quite an atmosphere for the instrumental piece. There are various unusual instruments used such as the percussions that certainly don't sound like they're from the drum kit and they're very oriental. In addition to that, Manilla Road throw in some violins and these violins are very strong and passionate for this particular track and makes it as part of a character for the track. Mixing this with the other instruments makes it all for one unique piece but at the same time it makes you think of the settings from Aladdin. There's a strange progression but those 7 1/2 minutes will go quick simply because it feels very relaxing and you'd want to sink in this track after 40 minutes of epic doom chaos.