Enslaved – Vertebrae (Album Review)
Category Archives: Heavy Metal
The Wildhearts – The Wildhearts (Album Review)
The thing I enjoy the most about The Wildhearts is the thing they do where they’ll be playing a song but then take off in all sorts of directions, riffing all over the place until you wonder if they’ll ever find the song again. Other bands do this but The Wildhearts are just so good at it that I associate it with them. To be honest, I occasionally enjoy these mid-song rifferamas more than the songs that spawned them. But that’s not a problem on 2007’s gleefully aggressive The Wildhearts. My favourite albums of theirs since its release, every song is a gem and practically every song veers off into a roller coaster ride of riffs. Heartily recommended.
Budgie – Never Turn Your Back On A Friend (Album Review)
Budgie’s third album is a classic of early metal, mostly on the strength of its bookending tracks. The speedy, rifftastic opener (and future Metallicover) Breadfan and the monumental closer Parents make Never Turn Your Back On A Friend a must-hear and a great gateway into the Welsh band. My main gripe is the shite album title. I reckon that with that artwork they should have called it “Smuggler”. A wasted opportunity.
Carcass – 1985 (Song Review)
I can’t talk about instrumentals without including an album intro. A lot of them, especially on modern metal albums, are unremarkable atmospheric cobblers but you’ll still find plenty of instrumental openers that kick albums off in thrilling, memorable and iconic ways. Here’s a brilliant modern example: Carcass and 1985, the introduction to their 2013 comeback album Surgical Steel. Despite a relatively short run before their break up in 1996, Carcass exerted a huge influence on grindcore music and also melodic death metal. Their comeback was eagerly awaited and 1985 was a brilliant way to herald their return. A lot like a modern version of Priest’s The Hellion, 1985 layers guitar parts and builds tension and anticipation for the album to follow in such an imposing and grand way that it’s immediately clear that this album is going to be an event. The main musical idea was actually reworked from one the band’s first demo/rehearsal tapes that was recorded back in, you guessed it… 1985! It’s a fun Easter Egg for fans and a neat touch that hints at the level of craft and consideration that went into making Surgical Steel one of the best albums of the last ten years.
HMO Digest – 10th September 2023
It’s been aeons since the last HMO Digest! It’s time for another catch up on all things HMO.
Blog Recap
I don’t normally post in any sort of theme/series but I’m really enjoying doing my ongoing series of posts about instrumental songs. I’ll definitely be doing more stuff like this in the future. But, as far as instrumentals go, I’ve got plenty more to get through and you can expect some folk, prog and death metal over the next couple of weeks.
HMO Salutes
“Curse… the Gods! Too many people… have died.” Most recently, Bernie Marsden (died aged 72), most famous for his time in Whitesnake and co-writing all-time classic rock tunes like Here I Go Again and Fool For Your Loving.
The period since the last HMO Digest has also seen the passing of: Pete Brown (died aged 82) the poet, musician and co-writer of many extremely classic Cream cuts; Frehley’s Comet bassist John Regan (died aged 71); Mark Adams (died aged 64) – bassist and co-founder of doom pioneers Saint Vitus; Tank’s Algy Ward (died aged 63); and Metal Church drummer Kirk Arrington (died aged 61).
Up And Autumn
A weird September heatwave has just kicked in which is annoying as I was starting to get into a lovely Autumn vibe, listening to one of my go-to albums for this time of the year: Anathema’s Alternative 4. One of the best albums of the whole 90s British gloomy northerner scene, Alternative 4 is right at the sweet spot between the band’s metal beginnings and the emotional rock they’d become known for. And it’s being reissued on vinyl soon so if you don’t already own this classic… now’s the time.
New Stuff
Since it’s been a while since the previous digest, I’m just going to focus on some recent new albums I’ve bought (as opposed to reissues, box sets etc…). The biggest one is the new Virgin Steele album The Passion Of Dionysus. It still has all the idiosyncratic flaws of their other latter-day releases but I just find this band totally fascinating and this is their strongest release since The Black Light Bacchanalia (which, despite my muted review, has become one of my most listened to albums of the past few years). Yow!
There’s also the new Marduk album Memento Mori which is only just out. On first listen it sounds utterly caustic and hellish. These are compliments. There’s also been a “new” Akercocke live album Decades Of Devil Worship (actually an unreleased live recording from 2007) which is a complete blast, the band sound at the top of their game. And I’ve also posted my favourite songs from the new Albert Bouchard and DHG albums.
Upcoming Releases
September is looking pretty exciting in terms of new releases: to kick off there’s the eagerly-awaited return of Primordial with their new album How It Ends; Blood Incantation follow up their 2022 ambient release Timewave Zero with a new half brutal/half ambient EP Luminescent Bridge; Mayhem release a new live album Daemonic Rites; and space rockers Hawkwind celebrate the anniversary of their classic live album Space Ritual in super deluxe style with an 11-disc box set. Do not panic.
Thanks for reading! If you like seeing photos from my collection remember to check out the HMO Facebook page as there’s more of that stuff there. And if there’s any kind of topics you’d like to see me cover on these digest posts then let me know.
Riot – Narita (Song Review)
Riot’s Narita is a great example of an instrumental that just flat out rocks. None of your mellow interludes, atmospheric intros or virtuoso shredding here, just a brilliant band knocking out a banging tune. Named after a controversial Japanese airport, the construction of which provoked heated protests and riots from farmers and activists, 1979’s Narita is the title track of the band’s second album and also one of its most exciting songs: an energising mix of 70s US rock (Montrose, The Nuge) and the kind of charging attack and duelling guitars that would become synonymous with Maidenesque 80s metal. Presumably, vocalist Guy Speranza sat this one out because he couldn’t be arsed writing a song about an airport but his superb voice isn’t missed here as the music is so dynamic and catchy. The New Yorkers would become one of rock’s mythic coulda/shoulda bands, which is a shame. As you can hear from Narita, Riot deserved to take off.
Ozzy Osbourne – Dee (Song Review)
Following on from my post about Metallica’s Orion, here’s another instrumental that’s a showcase for a much-missed legend. Dee is a brief classical guitar piece that was written and performed by guitarist Randy Rhoads for Ozzy Osbourne’s 1980 album Blizzard Of Ozz. I can’t say that, in isolation, I find Dee particularly involving or moving. But the piece (written for the guitarist’s Mum, aww) is sensitive and pretty. Not words commonly associated with Ozzy Osbourne. And in the context of the full album it strengthens the overall musicality, variety and guitar hero-ness of a hugely enjoyable record. Countless aspiring guitarists (myself included) have tried to learn Dee and I’m sure they’ll continue to do so. That’s quite an impact for a 50 second interlude. His Mum must have been delighted beyond words.
Metallica – Orion (Song Review)
I have a notion to write about some instrumentals so let’s start with one that’s often rolled out as the best metal example of the form: Metallica’s Orion. I’m not inclined to rank such things but I wouldn’t argue with this song taking top spot on such a list. Orion is classy and classical metal and a great showcase for Metallica’s much-missed bassist Cliff Burton, who’s writing and musicianship dominates here. It’s extremely well-paced with not a minute wasted as the tune shifts from claustrophobic mega crunch to more open lead breaks and melodies. Burton excels throughout with a range of bass leads and harmonies that all cement his legendary reputation. I especially enjoy the organ-like churn that gets the song off to an ominous start and the tranquil melody mid-song is one of the band’s most moving moments and still takes me back to the feelings of wonder and discovery I felt as a teen getting into all this stuff in the first place.
Warning – Footprints (Song Review)
“Here I am wide open”
Warning: listening to Footprints may induce melancholia. Emotive performances always go well with the ponderous spaces and tempos of doom metal but UK’s Warning take it to an unusually sad and vulnerable level on this sublime track from 2006’s Watching From A Distance. In fact, Footprints is more in the Anathema/Marillion zone of hearfelt, emotional catharsis. I’m too much of a satanic viking to get on board with the wallowing, introspective lyrics but the staggering combination of lurching low end, beautiful ringing chords and Patrick Walker’s distinctive, wistful vocals doesn’t half hit me right in the feels.
Guns N’ Roses – Estranged (Song Review)
“I’ll never find anyone to replace you”
I’ve never been the biggest Guns N’ Roses fan but I really enjoyed watching their recent Glastonbury set on TV and I was especially pleased to be reacquainted with Estranged. Listening to the studio version now, I find I love it more than ever. Taken from the second of their two 1991 Use Your Illusion albums, it’s a wonderful ballad of epic introspection with a heartfelt, searching performance from Axl Rose and sensational melodic guitar lines from Slash, as well as two classy guitar solos. It has the kind of emotional crescendo that I think Axl Rose is particularly good at writing, and that feature in most of my favourite songs of his. If I was whittling the two sprawling Use Your Illusion albums down to a perfect single record, Estranged is one song that would always make the cut.
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