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Demon Head – Hellfire Ocean Void (Review)

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Demon Head – Hellfire Ocean Void (Released 22nd Feb 2019)

Remember when bands used to “get it together in the country”? Demon Head do. In the winter of 2017-18 they headed out to a remote recording studio in the Danish countryside to record their third album. But this is no bucolic, hippy, communing with nature type affair. More a “getting lost in the woods, people with strange animal masks, ‘it’s time for your appointment with The Wicker Danzig’” situation. The creepy rural seclusion approach has worked: Demon Head have definitely got it together on Hellfire Ocean Void.

The Night Is Yours and In The Hour Of The Wolf are the standout tracks: occult, old-fashioned metal that will appeal to fans of Tribulation and In Solitude. There are also lots of rustic interludes and mystical ambience which, combined with the band’s Pentagram-style proto-doom, gives the album a folk horror allure. The guitar work is much improved, some exciting NWOBHM-esque workouts and solos here, and Ferriera Larsen is finding his own voice: shaking off the Bobby Leibling/Fonzig comparisons of old.

As with previous albums, there’s a tendency to meander which means it takes a few listens to grab you. But it’s their most thoughtful, consistent and well-crafted effort yet with depth and atmosphere in abundance. It builds on the promise of their earlier work and suggests exciting ways forward. Fan of pagan, old-school metal? It’s time for your appointment with Demon Head.

HMO Rating: 4 Out Of 5

Albums

New Releases – 6th April 2018

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Time for another merciless whittling-down of the day’s new releases and reissues.

Winterfylleth – The Hallowing Of Heirdom

Now on a new label, Spinefarm, the UK black metal faves have decided to go completely acoustic for their latest album. After the slightly-disappointing The Dark Hereafter it’s a welcome change of tack. And if you know the band’s catalogue you’ll know that if any band can pull this off, they can. I’ve only listened to a brief snippet and it sounded great, reminding me of Ulver’s brilliant Kveldssanger. Get the 2CD version if you want maximum tuneage.

Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow – Memories In Rock II

The World’s Greatest Guitarist continues milking his recent return to rock with this third, yes third, live release. There is a (fairly average) new song here at least, and the Jap version also includes the two “new” songs that they released digitally last year. The DVD seems to be just interviews and docs rather than the live set. I kinda want it as a memento for seeing them last year but it seems pretty surplus to requirements at the moment.

And that’s the lot for me today. There is also the hotly-tipped Feast Of Water from Messa but that’s not really up my street. But I mention it for all the doom-botherers out there because I am a benevolent HMOverlord. Give us some chat in the comments about what you’re buying or not buying today.

Albums, Black Metal, Buying Round Ups, Classic Rock, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Record Collecting, Thrash Metal

Buying Round-Up: February/March 2018

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I’ve been back into doing the weekly New Release posts for a while now so I thought it was time to catch up with some of the stuff I’ve actually been buying. Here’s the music I’ve picked up over the last couple of months.

Primordial – Exile Amongst The Ruins

Napalm Death – Coded Smears And More Uncommon Slurs

I’ll start with this week’s new releases. As predicted a couple of day’s ago, I bought the new Primordial and Napalm Death albums. Both sets look cool, the Primordial CD is a big thick mediabook with bonus rehearsal, demo type stuff and the two songs they did for the One And All, Together, For Home compilation from a few years back. The Napalm Death one is a comp with minging artwork. Just bought them yesterday while I was through in Stirling, so haven’t had a chance to listen yet.

Drudkh – A Furrow Cut Short and They Often See Dreams About The Spring

The new Drudkh album proved to be difficult to find in my usual haunts but EvaOverload kept me amused by kindly buying me their previous album A Furrow Cut Short. Excellent, sweeping black metal. And happily, I finally managed to find a copy of the newest album when I was in Stirling.

Judas Priest – Firepower

This was an inevitable purchase and a surprisingly enjoyable one. I went for the digibook edition with the embossed cover. It’s a way better album than I was expecting from them, a definite end-of-year contender with lot of truly excellent tunes and a fantastic production. If it turns out to be their last hurrah then they’re going out all guns blazing.

Autopsy – Puncturing The Grotesque

This is the newest mini-album from death metal giants Autopsy. I thought their last mini-album Skull Grinder was brilliant so I’ve wanted to get this one since it was released. Like the previous release, this is ace, basement-dwelling filth. No one does mini-albums/EPs like these guys.

Sleep – Dopesmoker

I’ve been wanting to pick up the Southern Lord reissue of Sleep’s Dopesmoker for a while but it’s always been too bloody expensive. For while HMV were pricing the CD at £25! Haha fuck off! And the vinyl has been even more expensive than that. But a few weeks back I saw it in Fopp for £15 and took the bait. I’ve been listening to it ever since… and I’m still waiting for it to finish.

Sacrilege – Within The Prophecy

I’ve been after this since buying the Relapse reissue of their debut album and then reading Darkthrone’s Fenriz recommending this, their second album. Handily, it’s now been reissued by Hammerheart Records with some bonus tracks added. It’s good stuff: weighty, crusty thrash with a big helping of doom and Tam Simpson’s brilliant voice. Anyone that’s been enjoying the recent Memoriam albums should be looking into this.

Skyclad – Reissues

The classic Skyclad albums, newly reissued by Noise Records. No tracks here I don’t have already but fandom, remastering and liner notes were enough for me to want these. But the exciting story is that these albums have been very hard to find for too long and now people have a chance to discover this superb, important and underrated band.

Kreator – Coma Of Souls

Another Noise Records reissue. I bought this a couple of weeks ago. One of Kreator’s classic albums reissued with bonus tracks, remaster and liner notes. There are three later albums that have just received the same treatment too but I decided to just stick with this one and update my old CD copy.

W.A.S.P. – Live Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)

Well, this is the dog’s bollocks. 12″ single with a rare live version of the classic tune taken from the same Long Beach Arena recordings that spawned Live… In The Raw (but not used in the final album). Totally fucking awesome. Wanted this forever so having it in my collection now makes me feel complete.

Bert Jansch – A Man I’d Rather Be (Part 1)

Shirley Collins – The Ballad Of Shirley Collins

Folk overload! Two new(ish) releases from Earth Recordings. The Jansch box set compiles his first three studio albums and the Bert And John album he made with John Renbourn. Got about half of the music here already but it’s phenomenal, seminal stuff and a pleasing sonic upgrade on my old CDs. Would have liked the original album covers in the booklet somewhere though, that seems like a big omission. The Ballad Of Shirley Collins is a joint soundtrack/documentary CD/DVD set with a beautiful booklet. The film is very interesting and moving but I wanted a bit more of Shirley’s story outside of the current album and her adventures in the US with Alan Lomax. But it’s a great doc and highly recommended. Not listened to the soundtrack yet but I’ve read great things and I’m looking forward to sinking my teeth into it.

And, throw in the Tribulation album and that’s about my lot for Feb/Mar. Very pleased with this lot and liking how 2018 is shaping up so far. Let me know what you think and tell me what you’ve been buying.

Black Metal, Buying Round Ups, Classic Rock, Doom Metal, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, Record Collecting, Thrash Metal

Buying Round-Up: New Albums, Reissues, Box Sets and Vinyl!

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Not done a collection post for a while so I thought I’d share some highlights from the last couple of months’ buying activity.

I might as well start with the most recent purchases. The big new one is Iron Maiden’s latest live album The Book Of Souls – Live Chapter. I love how the packaging matches the deluxe book format of the studio album, the two together make a lovely set. Musically, this is the most excited I’ve been about a Maiden live release for a while too: the cream of their last album, some really well chosen oldies that fit in well with the new stuff and a great job on the production and mixing.

I’m also very pleased to finally have a copy of The Obsessed’s S/T debut album. This is the only one of their albums that I’m missing in my collection so I’m well-chuffed to finally have a copy… and with a ton of ace bonus tracks too. And while I was picking that up I treated myself to Saxon’s 10 Years Of Denim & Leather too. This is a CD/DVD repackaging of the Greatest Hits Live! album and video so nothing new for me here. But it’s a nice package and… it’s Saxon innit.

A big package

Got two massively enjoyable box sets recently too. Whitesnake’s 1987 30th Anniversary Edition is superb value, stuffed with goodies, handsome booklets and loads of bonus tracks. The best of which is the 87 Evolutions disc which is worth the price of admission on its own: a fascinating insight into the early versions of each song and the progression from the initial writing sessions to the finished article. The only (minor) let down is the perfunctory DVD doc on the making of the album.

And I also got folk overload from the new Pentangle set The Albums: 1968-1972 which is one of the best things I’ve bought this year. Superb albums from a genuine supergroup, great sound, gazillions of wonderful bonus tracks and a lovely booklet too. I previously had The Time Has Come box set, which is good, but I much prefer hearing the albums as they were and this new set is a revelation. Can’t stop listening to it.

On the extreme metal front, I picked up the very limited CD edition of the new The King Is Blind album We Are The Parasite, We Are The Cancer and got a nice note from the singer Steve Tovey too! He’s a good lad. The new Satyricon album Deep Calleth Upon Deep was a must-buy and is another fine release from the black metal veterans. And, after picking up the recent Holy Terror box set that I posted about recently, I decided to round it off by finally picking up Guardians Of The Netherworld: A Tribute to Keith Deen. This collection of demo and live tracks makes for an excellent archive release and a wonderful memorial to the band’s late vocalist.

I’ve not been buying much vinyl lately but I’m very pleased to have grabbed the new vinyl edition of Paradise Lost’s Live At The Roundhouse. Recorded at the band’s 25th Anniversary show in London, this 2013 live album was originally released through the Abbey Road Live website but was a bit too pricey for my liking. This new live set is much better value and a lovely addition to my PL collection. I’m chuffed to finally have a copy and the set list is awesome!

Hope you enjoyed this look through these new additions to the HMO Vault! All of these releases come with the HMO goodness guarantee. Get involved.