Tag Archives: English

Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Doom Metal, Genre, Heavy Metal

Cathedral – The Carnival Bizarre (Album Review)

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Cathedral – The Carnival Bizarre (Earache Records – 1995)

Cathedral sound like they’re having a blast on 1995’s The Carnival Bizarre which is remarkable because a) you don’t normally associate bowel-loosening doom with good times and b) the band were just coming out of a frustrating stint as a major label act that resulted in the departure of talented guitarist Adam Lehan. But the band’s remaining guitarist Gaz Jennings takes up the slack on Cathedral’s third album, delivering a masterclass in doom riffing Sab-otage. The opening three tracks Vampire Sun, Hopkins (The Witchfinder General) and Utopian Blaster are Cathedral at their most entertaining and crushing but the rest of the album is thoroughly enjoyable with a playful array of superb deep cuts like the eerie Night Of The Seagulls and the tuneful Inertia’s Cave. And fans of Lee Dorrian’s exuberant and irreverent vocal interjections will not be disappointed either. Huggy Bear? Ohhh yeah.

Limited Edition CD/DVD Version

Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal

Judas Priest – Killing Machine (Album Review)

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Judas Priest – Killing Machine (CBS – 1978)

I’m cranking the hi-fi high today for my favourite Judas Priest album: 1978’s Killing Machine. Alternatively titled Hell Bent For Leather in some countries, Killing Machine continued the band’s impossibly superb run of metal-defining 70s albums and was their most red-blooded and raunchy release to date. Alongside megaton leviathans like the resolute Delivering The Goods, the turbo-charged Hell Bent For Leather and tough, direct rockers like Running Wild are songs like the glam stomper Take On The World and the wonderfully wistful Evening Star that managed to simultaneously evolve and simplify Priest’s style without diluting their lethal state-of-the-art metal godliness.

Album Reviews, Doom Metal, Genre, Heavy Metal

Anathema – Alternative 4 (Album Review)

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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.

Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Genre, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM

Iron Maiden – Piece Of Mind (Album Review)

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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.

Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal

Blue Murder – Nothin’ But Trouble (Album Review)

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Blue Murder – Nothin But Trouble (Geffen Records 1993)

Blue Murder were starting to sounding hopelessly outdated on their second album, 1993’s Nothin’ But Trouble. But in 1993 my taste in music was hopelessly outdated so I gobbled it right up. Compared to their bold debut album, Nothin’ But Trouble is a more calculated, commercial effort and there’s some rote wimphem here like Love Child and Save My Love. But I didn’t mind… back then I would have listened to Mr. Blobby if John Sykes was his guitarist. And there are some blazing rockers here like We All Fall Down and Cry For Love that took me right back to the glory days of Whitesnake’s 1987 and Thin Lizzy’s Thunder And Lightning.

Classic Rock, Genre, Progressive Rock, Song Reviews

Jethro Tull – The Witch’s Promise (Song Review)

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“Lend me your ear while I call you a fool”

I’ve always been a sucker for a bit of folk and fantasy in my rock so I instantly fell in love with The Witch’s Promise the moment I saw Jethro Tull’s 1970 performance of it on Top Of The Pops (as part of the 1993 BBC series Sounds Of The Seventies). It took me years to find it on an album but luckily I videotaped the show so I could continue to partake of the song’s wonderful vocal melodies and lush layers of acoustic guitars, flute and keyboards. It had the swinging, hippy pop style of the band’s early material but The Witch’s Promise also pointed the way forward to the folkier, singer/songwriter focus and lush orchestrations of Jethro Tull’s future work. It was a watershed track that introduced me to one of my favourite bands and, by extension, the wider world of folk and prog rock. And it still bewitches me to this day.

Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Progressive Rock

Hawkwind – Hall Of The Mountain Grill (Album Review)

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Hawkwind – Hall Of The Mountain Grill (United Artists Records 1974)

Despite being a mellower and more conventionally “prog” album, with a soundscape reminiscent of Pink Floyd and mellotron-laden King Crimson, 1974’s Hall Of The Mountain Grill is one of my favourite Hawkwind albums and a great place to start if you’re new to these dystopian space rockers. Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear In Smoke) is worth the price of admission alone: the band at their anarchic, street-level best. And Lemmy fans will enjoy hearing an early, pub-rocking take on future Motörhead tune Lost Johnny.

Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Doom Metal, Genre, Heavy Metal

Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath (Album Review)

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Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath (Vertigo 1970)

Each one of the first six Black Sabbath albums has enjoyed a spell as my favourite Sabs record. At the moment though, it’s the groundbreaking 1970 debut that takes the top spot. The evil riffing is timeless, Ozzy’s voice sounds uniquely mournful and I love every note of Tony Iommi jamming away on The Warning while everyone else has nipped to the pub. And, in case the cover’s upside-down cross, haunted watermill and iconic magical, mystical woman aren’t Hammer Horror enough for you, Black Sabbath captures the Brummies at their most atmospheric and spooky musically too. Making it my Sabs of choice this Winter.

Back cover of my copy – the Sanctuary 2009 deluxe vinyl edition

The gatefold with upside-down cross!
Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Hard Rock

Magnum – Vigilante (Album Review)

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Magnum – Vigilante (1986 – Polydor)

The “My Little Unicorn” artwork isn’t the only thing about Magnum’s Vigilante that will have you exclaiming “ermagherd!” There’s a whole bunch of the band’s best tunes here: the hard-rocking title track; the passionate Midnight (You Won’t Be Sleeping); the sublime anti-war ballad Need A Lot Of Love; and When The World Comes Down, the winter warmer single that should have been a Xmas number one! Shame it was released in February. Queen’s Roger Taylor produced this 1986 album and his 80s pop sheen might not be for everyone, but the songs are pomp rock heaven.

Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal

The Wildhearts – The Wildhearts (Album Review)

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The Wildhearts – The Wildhearts (Round Records – 2018 Deluxe 2CD Reissue)

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.