Category Archives: Genre

Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, Song Posts

Tyrant – Hold Back The Lightning

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“Ride out in midnight”

Tyrant were like lightning: they only struck once. Like so many other New Wave Of British Heavy Metal hopefuls, the Gloucestershire band only released a solitary 7″ single in 1983 before riding off into obscurity. It’s a shame the band never did more because the A-Side track Hold Back The Lightning is totally righteous: galloping power metal with anthemic, folky vocals that are a larynx-shredding mix of High ‘N’ Dry Joe Elliott and Trouble’s Eric Wagner. This was the first song I listened to in 2023 because I wanted to start my year off in suitably heroic and chest-beating fashion. Mission accomplished.

Black Metal, Death Metal, Genre, Song Posts

Artificial Brain – Celestial Cyst

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“A map to a constellation out in space”

As Xmas and New Year approach I’ve managed to drag myself away from my usual festive fare (KISS, Magnum, Steeleye Span) and revisit some of my favourite albums of the 2022. Artificial Brain’s self-titled album has been the most-played of the bunch in December and is definitely a front-runner for the year’s top spot. Here’s one of its best tracks, Celestial Cyst. It’s turbulent and rumbling death metal with relentless blastbeats and subterranean vocals but topped with spacey layers of guitars and keyboards that give it a tranquil, melancholic mood more associated with black metal. It’s a brutal and enthralling combo. Artificial Brain is the third album in the band’s stellar career (and the last in a dystopian sci-fi trilogy) and they are at their absolute peak. Metal fans in search of strange new worlds should get onboard.

Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Progressive Rock, Song Posts

Albert Bouchard – Girl That Love Made Blind

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“At the party of astrologers, the Christmas tide was due.”

Albert Bouchard’s Re-Imaginos is not a Christmas album but I listened to it obsessively in the run up to Christmas of 2020 (when it was released) so it’s become a festive fave. It does have a Christmas song on it though… kind of. I say “kind of” because I have no idea what Girl That Love Made Blind is really about. It’s a reworked track from Bouchard’s days in Blue Öyster Cult and it’s the kind of mysterious, cryptic stuff that fans have been picking over for decades. What does “the Christmas of my life” mean? Is it a beginning, an ending, or is it a reference to Cliff House (the San Francisco building featured on the cover and once burned down on Christmas Day of 1894)? Who knows. But it is a lovely and memorable track that has all the quirks, charm and cosy warmth that has made Re-Imaginos my favourite album of the decade so far.

Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Song Posts

Brian May – Resurrection

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“Got a whole new direction”

Brian may have been through a tough time with the breakup of his marriage and the deaths of both his father and Freddie Mercury but in 1993 he was back. And sounding rejuvenated on the soaring Resurrection, raising an erection with awesome guitar and the pounding drums of Cozy F. Powell – who was also back after being crushed by a horse in the early 90s! They both sound like they’re having the best time, May playing heavy and flashy but with a loose exuberance, driven on by an absolute arse-kicking from Powell that sends Resurrection into Sabbath Tyr territory. Fuck yes. Two rock legends, back with a bang.

Death Metal, Genre, Thrash Metal

Bolt Thrower – Forgotten Existence (1988 Peel Session)

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“Past the point of no return”

Bolt Thrower scored a good deal of buzz and a record deal from their 1988 Peel Session. When you listen to the radio session’s opening track Forgotten Existence, you can hear why. This is thrashier than the lumbering tank-tread riffing the Brummies would become known for but it’s crusty and hefty stuff and, like a lot of the BBC recordings, sounds incredible. The riffs are very Slayer-inspired, which is a very good thing, and original vocalist Alan West has a punkier voice that reminds me of the early Kreator stuff that Ventor sang. This is also a very good thing. Throw in the band’s perennial “tragedy of war” theme and you’ve got one hugely promising banger. Forgotten Existence is a great start to one of extreme metal’s most memorable careers.

Black Metal, Genre, Heavy Metal, Song Posts

Abbath – Make My Day

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“Can’t scare you if you can’t be scared”

Abbath’s Dread Reaver failed to make my day with its frustrating lack of oomph. But on the album’s bonus track, a cover of Motörhead’s Make My Day, the band give it some extra welly and conjure up the kind of excitement that’s missing on the main album. The chorus is anthemic enough to poke through the band’s wallop of noise and Abbath does a good karaoke Lemmy. Normally, he sounds like the kinda guy that does battle with mountain lions but here he sounds more like he makes love to them. If he can start capturing some of this swagger in his own material then he might be on to something.

Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Progressive Rock, Song Posts

Deep Purple – Vavoom: Ted The Mechanic

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“The banjo player took a hike”

Purple frontman Ian Gillan was always fond of calling guitarists “banjo players”. So anyone hearing the above lyric in Vavoom: Ted The Mechanic would have understood it was a sly poke at the band’s ex-guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. Ted The Mechanic opened 1996’s Purpendicular, Deep Purple’s first album since Blackmore’s departure, and it introduced fans to their new guitarist Steve Morse. It’s instantly clear from the opening riff that this lineup of Purple means business. There’s a palpable musical chemistry with Morse and Gillan is in classic dirty form on a playful rocker that will have you wiggling in your chair. And best of all, the tricky opening riff where Morse makes electric use of a picking technique called… the banjo roll. See what he did there? Top man.

Black Metal, Classic Rock, Doom Metal, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, HMO Digests, NWOBHM, Progressive Rock, Thrash Metal

HMO Digest – 25th September 2022

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It’s been two whole months since the last digest so let’s not waste time with idle banter! Here’s what’s been happening on the blog.

Recent Posts

Thin Lizzy – Thin Lizzy (Album Review)

Lynott and chums scatter their beans over different scenes on their eclectic, but sleepy, debut.

Stratovarius – Hunting High And Low (Song Review)
Helloween – Why? (Song Review)

Two power metal classics in a row. Why? Why the hell not.

KISS – Bang Bang You (Song Review)

Cause 80s KISS is the best! And you wanted the best.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Knife-Edge (Song Review)

This song rhymes seagull with eagle which is just one of the many reasons for its awesomeness.

Cream – Badge (Song Review)

A great example of lyrics not mattering as long as they sound the part.

Tankard – Mercenary (Song Review)

A great example of lyrics not mattering at all.

HMO Salutes

R.I.P Michael James Jackson, producer of my favourite two KISS albums (Creatures Of The Night and Lick It Up… 80s KISS again!)

Steve Grimmett, best known as lead throat of NWOBHMers Grim Reaper, who has died aged 62.

The exalted Piledriver (aka Gord Kirchin) who has died from cancer aged 60. I wrote about a great Piledriver tune here if you want to familiarise yourself. And their albums Metal Inquisition and Stay Ugly both got stellar reissues lately so get involved.

New Stuff

A good year for new releases continues with Megadeth’s The Sick, The Dead… And The Dying! and Behemoth’s Opvs Contra Natvram which are both enjoyable efforts. Not up with either band’s best work but better than I was expecting. Other notable purchases include Marillion’s Holidays In Eden box set (love!), KISS’s Des Moines set (wow!), a Steeleye Span box set (fol-de-rol!), Whiplash’s The Roadrunner Years (ermagerd! Thresh meddle)

Darkthrone

I also had a big blow out and bought all the Darkthrone albums I’m missing. Basically all the studio albums between Panzerfaust and F.O.A.D. I should really have bought all these long ago because Darkthrone, but the news of their upcoming Astral Fortress inspired me to finally bite the bullet. I can listen to the whole discography now before the new one comes out on the 28th October.

What I Was Listening To While I Wrote This Post

Cathedral’s The Carnival Bizarre from 1995. Monstrously heavy stuff with classic tracks like Vampire Sun and Hopkins (The Witchfinder General) as well as wonderful deep cuts like Inertia’s Cave and guest guitar from one Frank “Tony” Iommi on Utopian Blaster. Let’s get it on!

Coming Up

We’re getting in to the heavy release schedule months now. There are new releases and reissues galore on the horizon. Coming up in Oct there’s new albums from The Antichrist Imperium, Avatarium and Queensryche and on the reissue front there’s Diamond Head (expanded Lightning To The Nations), Danzig (the long out-of-print 666: Satan’s Child) and album boxes from Deicide and Blitzkrieg.

On the review front I have some Deep Purple, Brian May and Whitesnake posts in the works. And probably some Darkthrone cause that’s all I’m going to be listening to for the next month or so, let’s face it. Until next time… eternal hails!

Genre, Heavy Metal, Song Posts, Thrash Metal

Tankard – Mercenary

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“Fleeing. Fleeing fastly”

I don’t think I’ve ever heard the word “careful” used this forcefully in a song before. Repeatedly. Here’s Tankard: generally renowned for songs about drinking beer and being a thrash metal ne’er-do-well. But on Mercenary (taken from 1986’s Zombie Attack) the Germans take on the subject of soldiers for hire in their endearing “English as a second language” way. It’s just great fun: a punky, speed metal mosh. And the chorus gang shout of “Mercenary! Be careful! Mercenary! Careful! Carefully, carefully! The mercenary, the mercenary” is unforgettably demented. You might enjoy it a little too much so… careful!

Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Song Posts

Cream – Badge

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“Before they bring the curtain down”

I’ve listened to Badge a gazillion times now and it’s never lost an ounce of its power. It’s the track that got me into Cream, or to be more precise, its the bridge that got me into Cream. The main song is wonderfully summery but when it reaches the bridge and Eric Clapton’s Leslie-speaker guitar arpeggios chime in, it’s one of the most emotionally moreish sounds in rock history. It was co-written by Clapton and his Beatle pal George Harrison for Cream’s farewell album Goodbye and although the relationships in Cream had turned sour by that point, the band put in a great performance. Especially Jack Bruce, who excels with his bouncy, melodic bass line. Shame they couldn’t have held the band together as this is brilliant stuff and I find their catalogue, short though it is, increasingly revealing and rewarding over the years. But Badge still ranks as the cream of the crop.