Black Metal, Classic Rock, Death Metal, Genre, Heavy Metal, HMO Blog

RSD: Rythm Spelling Disaster

7 Comments

I had a great time on Record Store Day this year. My lovely wife and I got into Edinburgh just before 11am and the shops were already pretty quiet by then. I didn’t have to queue at all and managed to buy my three most-wanted LPs from the list in time for lunch.

First up, we went to Avalanche in the Waverley Market. This shop recently moved to a bigger unit and it’s much improved. It has a great metal section now. I bought Judas Priest’s Live In Los Angeles 1990. It’s not a full show but the sound quality is great and it has a few tracks that you don’t hear live very often.

Following that it was a short distance to Underground Solution on Cockburn Street where I managed to snag my most-wanted record from the RSD list: Stalk-Forrest Group’s St. Cecilia: The Elektra Recordings. This is a compilation of early recordings from the band that later evolved into Blue Öyster Cult. It’s more mellow and psychedelic than BÖC but it’s wonderful stuff. I have this on CD too but this is a nicer package than my CD edition.

I was also able to snag Underground Solution’s last copy of Darkthrone’s As Wolves Among Sheep… Live In Oslo. This is an impressively powerful live recording from the band’s early death metal days. Darkthrone only played a small number of live gigs before deciding to stick to the studio so it’s fascinating to hear them live. Check out Fenriz’ unique spelling of rhythm… that’s drummers for you!

And, because no-one says you have to just stick to RSD titles (or vinyl for that matter), I also bought the new Motörhead On Parole Sessions box set.

I had great time and I’m really chuffed with the records I picked up. Might be my favourite RSD haul so far. Let me know how your Record Store Day went in the comments.

Doom Metal, Genre, Heavy Metal, Song Reviews

Candlemass – At The Gallows End (Song Review)

1 Comment

“Only the vultures will come to see me hang”

The hills of Tyburn ring with the awesome sound of the epicus, the doomicus, and the metallicus on Candlemass’ At The Gallows End. Taken from their second album, 1987’s Nightfall, this is basically about as metal as it gets. Life and death, faith and damnation soundtracked with the legendary Swedish band’s bludgeoning and mournful neo-classical riffage.

As with Iron Maiden’s Hallowed Be Thy Name, the song is narrated by a condemned prisoner facing his final moments on Earth. His doomed musings as he ponders his own personal Golgotha are the perfect fodder for the band’s bleak, weighty style and an ideal vehicle for the band’s new vocalist, operatic frontmonk Messiah Marcolin. He excels here. His singing over the song’s pastoral acoustic passages is wistfully sensitive but he thunders with bombastic defiance over the track’s heavier sections. It’s the kind of performance you can imagine parting the clouds.

At The Gallows End is one of the quintessential Candlemass tracks. It’s an unforgettable masterpiece that, in much the same way as the barbaric and emotive early work of Manowar, induces a very pure metal fervour. Dark, powerful and perfectly executed.

Genre, Heavy Metal, Song Reviews, Thrash Metal

Anthrax – Caught In A Mosh (Song Review)

6 Comments

“Stomp stomp stomp, the idiot convention”

The iconic title of this classic Anthrax track was inspired by an incident where one of the band’s guitar techs almost came a cropper in the midst of a slamming audience and lamented getting “caught in a mosh”. The obvious lyrical approach would be to pen an ode to thrash fans and their boisterous antics but Anthrax’s guitarist/lyricist Scott Ian took a different tack. Caught In A Mosh refers to being stuck in a shit situation at home, work or wherever. It’s an idea that results in some memorable, off-the-wall lyrics (“Your mother made a monster, now get the hell out of my house”).

Musically, the New Yorkers are at their frenetic, violent best with exuberant bass guitar, hurtling drums, crushingly tight rhythm guitars and a positively humongous middle-eight riff. But even in the midst of one of their most mayhem-inducing tracks, Anthrax still make room for a song. The chorus, where Joey Belladonna’s golden melodic vocals alternate with the band’s gang-shouts of the song’s title, is an absolute joy. Caught In A Mosh is a brilliant, exciting, all-time thrash classic. Which one of those words don’t you understand?

Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, HMO Blog, NWOBHM, Thrash Metal

Vinyl Haul At Veneno

16 Comments
I knew it was going to be a great shop cause it had Scorpions’ In Trance in the window

The big story round these parts is that I’ve got the vinyl bug back – big time. In February I noticed on Facebook that a new record shop, Veneno Music Store (Spanish for “poison” or “venom”) had opened in Dunfermline. I hadn’t been buying a lot of used vinyl lately so I wasn’t too excited about it. But Dunfermline is a quick drive from where I live and it’s a place I like going to anyway so I decided to visit for a wee nosey. I’ve now been back three times in the last month. Check out what I’ve been buying in the pictures below, it’s like he’s been using my Discogs wish-list to stock his shelves or something.

I’m really chuffed to finally have such a great record shop in my neck of the woods. The chap that runs it is very friendly and he’s getting in great stuff every week. It’s not all rock and metal, there’s quite a range of genres. All the things I’ve bought were conservatively graded, reasonably priced and have played like a dream. If you’re in the area please make sure to pop in. And tell them that HMO sent you.

The best Yngwie album
Worth it just for the cover surely?
OK, not vinyl but new/sealed for just £30. A must buy.
Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Song Reviews

Motörhead – Deaf Forever (Song Review)

10 Comments

“Worm crawling on your cold, white face”

Deaf Forever is an iconic Motörhead song title, acting as a motto or a badge of honour for anyone who’s ever shared a hall with the notoriously loud rockers. But, rather than an ode to his volume-addled fans, Lemmy’s ingenious lyrics refer instead to a corpse on a battlefield: deaf forever to the din of the battle. And Motörhead’s short-lived Wizzö/ Würzel/Gill lineup create a considerable din of their own to soundtrack the sombre topic. Deaf Forever gets 1986’s superb Orgasmatron off to a thumping start with a robotic, marching main riff that opens into thunderous chords for a triumphant, anthemic chorus. It’s Motörhead at the top of their game musically and lyrically, with one of their best production jobs to boot. An inspired headbanger that’s guaranteed to put a big grin on your face. Rictus or otherwise.

Classic Rock, Genre, Song Reviews

Free – Come Together In The Morning (Song Review)

3 Comments

“There is no one else can take your place”

By 1973 Free had reached the end of the road. The departure of bassist/songwriter Andy Fraser and a diminished contribution from troubled guitarist Paul Kossoff was too much for a band that made a virtue of its magical musical chemistry. But their last album Heartbreaker proved the UK rockers could still get it together with the help of bassist Tetsu Yamauchi and keyboardist John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick. The album’s second track Come Together In The Morning is a great example of Free at their best, with their soulful feel and mastery of heavy emotion still intact. The lyrics are a touch trite but the verses have a wintery melancholy that contrasts wonderfully with the more uplifting, Beatlesque chorus. My favourite part of the song comes at the tail of the chorus where Paul Rodgers sings “see the world the same as me”. Rodgers’ sublime delivery and the aching harmonies makes for a blissful hook that pops into my head regularly and necessitates giving the album another visit. Come Together In The Morning is the sound of a band channelling the sadness of its final days into a beautiful, bittersweet classic.

HMO salutes Tetsu Yamauchi who recently passed away, aged 79.

Genre, Progressive Rock, Classic Rock, Song Reviews

Vanilla Fudge – You Keep Me Hanging On (Song Review)

3 Comments

“Set me free, why don’t you babe?”

The Supremes’ You Keep Me Hangin’ On was only a year old when Vanilla Fudge got their psychedelic hands on it for this fantastic take on the Motown hit. One of the first songs the band recorded, The Fudge’s 1967 cover You Keep Me Hanging On is the most famous example of the band’s groovy, symphonic rock interpretations of popular songs. It was originally a bouncy, proto-disco classic but the New Yorkers slow it down and stretch it out with loud/quiet dynamics, swirling Hammond organ and a hard-hitting rhythm section combining to create the feeling of a loud, powerful orchestra.

Practically recorded in one take (organist/singer Mark Stein called it the “seven and a half minutes that changed my life”), there’s a real feeling of the band inhabiting and exploring all the possibilities of the song: most notably the reworking of the original’s funky rhythm pattern into an emphatic Morse Code-like hook. And it’s extremely soulful too: the slower tempo allowing Stein to express the song’s lyrical heartbreak with a flamboyantly emotional performance. The Fudge’s use of extended structure, theatrical bombast, harmonies and Hammond would be influential on bands like Yes, Uriah Heep and Deep Purple (who in their initial phase very much styled themselves as a British Vanilla Fudge) and you can hear it all on this track. The goal of any cover is to make a song your own and Vanilla Fudge deliver a masterclass in doing just that with You Keep Me Hanging On.

Classic Rock, Genre, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, Progressive Rock

Iron Maiden – Brighter Than A Thousand Suns (Song Review)

6 Comments

“Cold fusion of fury”

Iron Maiden’s 2006 album A Matter Of Life And Death proved that the British metal veterans were still an act to be reckoned with, delivering some of their most vital and creative material for years. No track illustrated this better than album highlight Brighter Than A Thousand Suns. Making great use of a churningly tense and ominous time signature, it’s one of Maiden’s proggiest and heaviest songs. Frontman Bruce Dickinson goes all Van Der Graaf Generator with dark, coded lyrics that depict the dawn of the nuclear age (and the influence is made crystal clear with a lyrical nod to the VDGG track Whatever Would Robert Have Said?) Musically there’s a Rush-like feel with the band twisting and turning through a range of moody, tricky sections. And Dickinson responds to the song’s dynamic shifts with a vocal performance that builds in intensity in a breathtaking and explosive way. Brighter Than A Thousand Suns is a track that is stylistically uncharacteristic for the band but, in terms of theatrics and excitement, has all the spirit of Maiden at their most classic.

Black Metal, Genre, Song Reviews

Mayhem – The Freezing Moon: Live In Leipzig (Song Review)

Leave a comment

“I remember it was here I died”

Mayhem’s The Freezing Moon (or just Freezing Moon depending on which version you’re listening to) is one of the monumental classics of black metal. The opening E minor chord alone is the definitive example of the epic, frosty, and evil feeling the genre should evoke. There are a number of superb versions of this track but the most seminal version has to be this one from Live In Leipzig. Recorded crudely on a ghetto-blaster from a 1990 club gig in East Germany, by the time Live In Leipzig was officially released in 1993 the band’s Swedish frontman Per Yngve “Dead” Ohlin had committed suicide. At the time, this recording was one of the few available that featured his vocals. And the subsequent events surrounding the Norwegian band only added to its stature as a landmark recording. No song on the album lives up that stature more than The Freezing Moon: Dead’s introduction “when it’s cold and when it’s dark, the freezing moon can obsess you” is iconic; the raw and primitive sound puts you right in the audience; the band’s thunderous performance and Dead’s gravelly vocals are powerful and committed; and Euronymous delivers an incredible take of the track’s grippingly uneasy and unforgettable guitar solo. It’s an essential and thrilling metal document. Like Dead said… it’s cold, and it’s dark. And it will obsess you.

Album Reviews, Doom Metal, Genre, Heavy Metal

Type O Negative – October Rust (Album Review)

Leave a comment
Type O Negative – October Rust (Roadrunner – 1996)

I was incredibly excited when I first heard Type O Negative via the track Christian Woman. I loved the medieval vibe, Pete Steele’s fathomlessly deep voice and the rustic acoustic parts. I thought this was going to be the best band ever but their 1993 album Bloody Kisses proved to be a bit of a mixed bag with a range of doomier, poppier and angrier tracks that were more or less to my taste but never came close to fulfilling the promise of that beloved introductory song. The follow-up, 1996’s October Rust, didn’t have anything quite that good either but, by revelling in the beauty of nature, got closer to what I really wanted from Brooklyn’s Drab Four. Lovelorn, gothic ballads like Love You To Death and Die With Me feature memorable melodies and rich layers of instruments and although the mixed bag elements creep in on groovier tracks like Be My Druidess and My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend these songs don’t disrupt the album’s mood and add some welcome energy. The musical highlight, though, is the climatic pairing of Wolf Moon (Including Zoanthropic Paranoia) and Haunted. Vampiric vocalist Steele is at his sonorous best on these creepy, doomy and foreboding epics and they awaken some of that Christian Woman excitement. But the thing that really makes me come… back for more is the stunning autumnal soundscape and atmosphere the band created on this album. It all sounds so idyllic and magical that it feels more like you’re entering a woodland realm than listening to a record. And it’s the main reason October Rust is my favourite Type O Negative record. A mandatory listen every time the leaves start falling from the trees.

… and classic rock too!