On Gods To The Godless, the first song proper on their third album Spirit The Earth Aflame, Ireland’s Primordial nail the unique pagan metal style they will become renowned for: weighty black metal with rolling, folky rhythms and A.A. Nemtheanga’s impassioned vocals. Gods To The Godless is similar in topic to Bathory’s seminal One Rode To Asa Bay but where that song depicted a subjugated, converted Norse community with sympathy, Gods To The Godless takes the viewpoint of the oppressor. And Nemtheanga spits outs threatening declarations with spine-chilling intensity.
It’s rare for a band to arrive as fully formed as Queensrÿche did on their self-titled debut EP. They sound absolutely world-beating, and in a year as strong as 1983 that was no mean feat. But, of the four songs on Queensrÿche, the one that sounds most like the ‘rÿche of the future is the closing track The Lady Wore Black. Geoff Tate’s high-flying yet melodic vocals and the tastefully restrained, emotive guitar solo are the stuff of metal legends and the gothic clean guitar and attacking, angular, textured riffing bear the hallmarks of the band’s best material yet to come. It’s hard to imagine a more attention-grabbing, anticipation-building career launchpad than The Lady Wore Black.
Manowar – Into Glory Ride (Music For Nations -1983)
Titter at the cover and giggle at the video for Gloves Of Metal if you must. We’ve all done it. But the seething Hatred, the awe-inspiring Gates Of Valhalla and the equal parts murderous and heartrending March For Revenge (By The Soldiers Of Death) are some of the most monumental epic doom tracks you will ever hear. And if that drop-tuned intro riff to Gloves Of Metal doesn’t send you into a paroxysm of true metal joy then you are not my friend. Into Glory Ride will crush your bones and kill your face. So wipe that smile off it.
Blue Öyster Cult – Spectres (Columbia Records – 1977)
The main feature here is Godzilla, one of Blue Öyster Cult’s most classic and fun tunes with its lumbering monster riff and witty lyrics but the songs I love most on Spectres are the ones that evoke hot, summer nights. Hells Angels ride out in the desert to a backdrop of ethereal harmonies on the elegaic Golden Age Of Leather, Death Valley Nights is sozzled noir, Fireworks is full of innocence and wonder and the vampiric masterpiece I Love The Night is dreamy and seductive. On a sweltering night, like it is tonight here in Scotland, Spectres is the perfect soundtrack. Now if only the backs of my knees weren’t so sweaty.
The big news at HMO Mission Control recently is that, at the tender age of 48, I got my first car! At the moment I’m too busy trying to figure out what gear I’m in to want the added distraction of music but I can’t wait to get some Yngwie on.
Bon (and on and on) Jovi
Last weekend I binge-watched Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story. It was a bit like their career: really good fun in the early stages but then increasingly dull as it wore on. It doesn’t help that, with the possible exception of Richie Sambora, nobody in the band seems particularly compelling. Top marks for being so thorough and candid though.
HMO Charts
Darkthrone move up 666 places on the strength of their excellent new album It Beckons Us All…
Coffin Storm are a new entry with their debut album Arcana Rising. Quality doom-laden cult metal.
Mötley Crüe go down, down (and hopefully will just go away) following their wretched new song Dogs Of War.
The only way is up for Bulletboys, as they grant fans the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to invest in classic tracks such as Smooth Up In Ya. Buy, buy, buy!
HMO Salutes
HMO salutes Mike Pinder of The Moody Blues fame who has recently died aged 82 and ex-Scorpions drummer James Kottak who died, aged 61, back in January. I’ve always been a big fan of The Allman Brothers Band so the passing of guitarist/singer Dickey Betts, at the age of 80, was very sad news. But the worst news of all was the death of Magnum founder, the wonderful Tony Clarkin, whose death at the age of 77 basically signals the end of music as we know it.
Recent Purchases
Judas Priest’s Invincible Shield and Saxon’s Hell, Fire And Damnation haven’t particularly blew me away but are both enjoyable late-career outings. Bruce Dickinson’s more creative and revelatory The Mandrake Project fares better. I also picked up a lovely vinyl reissue of Reverend Bizarre’s II: Crush The Insects and a wonderfully compiled NWOBHM set All Systems Go: The Neat Singles Vol One.
You Won’t Get Out Of Here Alive: Waysted Volume One (1983-1986) compiles three albums and two EPS from Waysted’s initial run and UFO’s Lights Out is now more essential than ever, with the addition of a brilliant live show. I haven’t quite got to grips with the (two!) new Ihsahn CDs and Midnight’s Hellish Expectations yet but initial impressions are positive. And the previously mentioned Darkthrone and Coffin Storm albums are two of the year’s best so far.
Upcoming Releases
Anno Domini 1989-1995, the new Tony ‘The Cat’ Martin era Black Sabbath box set is the one I’m looking forward to the most but it looks like it’s been pushed back a bit so that should free up some cash to buy the new John Entwistle The Ox box set and the reissue of Heavy Load’s Metal Conquest instead.
That’s all for this digest. Until next time… mind the roads!
Anathema – Alternative 4 (Peaceville Records – 1998)
Anathema’s Alternative 4 hits a sweet spot between the doom-laden metal of their early days and the uplifting self-help rock of their final ones. Frontman Vincent Cavanagh finds his voice amidst beautiful layers of instruments but the album also has an edgy, urban darkness. It’s like vicariously experiencing the emotions of someone’s most profoundly drunken bender: from rip-roaringly jubilant to extremely fighty to having a big cry. Alternative 4 is a very British masterpiece of maudlin, metropolitan metal: one of the most unique and intoxicating albums I’ve ever heard.
In a tale as old as time, mismanagement and a shite label almost ensured that The Burning Of Rome (Cry For Pompeii) and its parent album, 1988’s Age Of Consent, were lost to history. But, by the Gods and Godesses, Virgin Steele were able to re-release the album in 1997, by which point they were hitting their stride as purveyors of peerless barbaric-romantic metal and their fans could finally rejoice in this mighty masterpiece. Bombastic and grandiose, it’s a totemic moment in the band’s career and frontman David DeFeis delivers the tale of a fallen warrior with heroic levels of nobility and passion. The Burning Of Rome (Cry For Pompeii) is easily one of the best metal songs of all time. I don’t just get goosebumps listening to it, I get them even just thinking about it.
Emperor – Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk (Candlelight Records – 1997)
Emperor’s Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk is both a great gateway into the diabolical world of black metal and one of the genre’s daunting high watermarks. The furious, symphonic maelstrom the band unleash on this 1996 album is still something to behold. The combination of the Norwegians tremendous aggression and their formidable musical chops results in a record that gives an impression of imperious arrogance and almost ceremonial self-importance. Grandiose classics like The Loss And Curse Of Reverence and Ye Entrancemperium all more than live up to the album cover’s promise of “sophisticated black metal art” and Thus Spake The Nightspirit is right up there as one of my very favourite black metal tracks of all time.
Big Trouble‘s magical “I bet if you asked them, our heroes would say…” hook alone is enough to make it one of my favourite songs ever. But the track, from David Lee Roth’s 1986 album Eat ‘Em And Smile, also has a hypnotically groovy and sexy riff running all the way through it, a dazzling career-peak performance from guitarist Steve Vai, and Dave Lee Roth rapping away at his witty, quirky and evocative best. As always, he ain’t talking ’bout love, but Big Trouble is romantic and profound. Like a glimpse into Diamond Dave’s philosophy of life. Because Roth knows what our heroes would say. Somehow, he knows.
Iron Maiden – Piece Of Mind (1983 – EMI, 2014 Reissue)
When you’re in a “back to basics” metal mood, like I am today, classic Maiden is just a no-brainer. For the first six songs, 1983’s Piece Of Mind is basically metal perfection with rousing boy’s-own stuff like Where Eagles Dare and The Trooper, the soaring Flight Of Icarus and more progressive fare like Still Life and Revelations which lend the album a dark, gothic aspect. Maiden were hitting the tour/record cycle hard in the 80s so, inevitably, the quality starts to get inconsistent towards the end but it would take more than a slightly silly song about cavemen to take down a beast like this.
HEAVY METAL OVERLOAD 