Hexvoid is a Japanese metalcore quartet that surprises with its creative Do It Yourself spirit including self-made records and tours organized in small underground bars around the world. I had the opportunity to attend one of the band's concerts at Ottawa's Café Dekcuf in front of perhaps about fifty fans and I picked up the band's only regular full length album released so far since the group mostly focuses on singles and extended plays. The band has released a highly entertaining documentary about these concerts in Canada that show four dedicated musicians exploring the world in an enthusiastic way. This enthusiasm could certainly be felt in concert as well. The drummer stood up on several occasions and ran frantically around his drum kit. The bass guitar player hopped off the stage to participate in moshpits. The guitarist was the most focused musician and impressed with tight riffs in every song. The singer was entertaining and managed to communicate perfectly with the crowd despite the language barrier. Music knows no cultural barriers and I'm certain that I'm not the only one who really loved Hexvoid's vivid concert.

The band's only full length effort Raven was released back in 2014 and offers ten songs as well as a short overture and an equally concise coda for a total running time of roughly fifty minutes. ''Discharge'' convinces with a few vibrant rhythm changes and expressive angry vocals. The song doesn't really fit with the instrumental overture but is certainly a grower that unfolds with every spin. The album's most remarkable tune is certainly ''Mosh&Beer'' that summarizes the band spirit appropriately. The chaotic rhythm section, distorted guitar sounds and expressive vocals make for a wild party anthem that works splendidly in concert. ''Clash'' shows a different side of the band with more melodic alternative rock guitar riffs and melodic clean vocals. Don't get fooled however since the song also includes industrial rock riffs and nasty vocals that contrast the more harmonious parts very well. 

Even though the album loses some steam in its second half, Raven gives you a very good idea how crazy, enthusiastic and open-minded Hexvoid is. If you like modern metal pushed to the extreme, you should certainly give Raven a few spins. The band makes me think of groups like Maximum the Hormone and certainly deserves more attention and praise for its Do It Yourself spirit without any compromises.

Final rating: 75%

Watch the band's highly entertaining documentary in three parts about the Canadian tour in November and December 2019

Electric Eel Shock is a Japanese trio that has been around for more than two and a half decades now. The band plays an energetic mixture of garage rock, hard rock, rock 'n' roll and heavy metal in this exact order. The band had gained some international acclaim since the group had toured the United States of America as early as 1999. The band's single ''Scream for Me'' was my first contact with the band back in 2005 since the song was released on the compilation of the German Hard Rock magazine. The band has always been known for its unusual Do It Yourself approach with crowdfunding projects going back to as early as 2004. The band had regularly released new material in the first decade and a half of its career. Things got more quite then before the band came back with its first release in eight years entitled Sweet Generation.

Two things become obvious while listening to this album including nine tracks for a running time of roughly twenty-seven minutes. First of all, the band still plays the aforementioned genres but has added a raw punk note to the album that becomes obvious in songs such as the energetic, fast and raw album closer ''Middle Age's Wild Wild''. Secondly, the band's Do It Yourself Approach shines through even more than before in the production. The record sounds as if it had been recorded in the late seventies as we can hear heavily distorted guitar sounds that are a little bit too dominant in the production, particularly vivid drum play, energetic bass guitar sounds that however take some time to shine through in the chaotic production and raw melodic lead vocals supported by enthusiastic backing vocals. Highlights include the danceable and humorous hard rock anthem ''My Favorite No.9'', the down-tuned ''Ninja Slayer'' that sounds as if it had been recorded during a jam session in a garage in the late seventies as well as the fast and hectic ''Soudesune'' that exclusively features Japanese lyrics for a change.

If you like self-made hard rock music in the spirit of the late seventies, Electric Eel Shock's Sweet Generation should entertain you from start to finish. Let's hope this charismatic band resumes frequent activities as in the first fifteen years of its career. If you want to give an older record a chance, let me recommend you the diversified, energetic and entertaining Beat Me.

Final rating: 70%

Axel Rudi Pell is a band situated somewhere between hard rock, progressive rock and heavy metal stylistics of the late seventies and early eighties. While this charismatic combination has worked well in the past, the band's last few releases have progressively become less and less inspired. Sign of the Times might be one of the band's worst outputs in terms of creativity.

As usual, the new record starts with a decent short instrumental overture entitled ''The Black Serenade'' that is followed by first single ''Gunfire''. Even though this song is among the better ones on this output, it is already filled with tired tropes. The song is around five minutes long, held in mid-tempo pace throughout, convinces with emotional vocals, melodic guitar play and atmospheric keyboard layers while the drum rhythms are tiresome and the bass guitar nearly inaudible. This description could be applied to every single track except for the instrumental overture and the slightly longer title track. Each time the band uses this same procedure again, the songs get less and less convincing and the record's second half becomes hard to sit through. Aside of the decent single, only the passionate ''Bad Reputation'' is noteworthy which is mostly due to the inspired vocals that save the day and distract from average musicianship.

Instead of releasing a new output every two years that rehashes the same ideas like a broken record, Axel Rudi Pell should try out something new in order to remain relevant. The band could listen to some music that was released in the last thirty years for a change, take some more time to work on its formulaic songwriting and make sure that the bass guitar becomes more audible and that the drummer doesn't fall asleep while recording the next bunch of new songs. As it is now, Axel Rudi Pell wastes a lot of potential in form of an underrated singer, great guitar player and skillful keyboarder with boring songwriting, fluffy production and lack of creativity. Being faithful to your style is a good thing but when it becomes stubborn, retrospective and predictable, then the sign of the times indicates some changes to keep things going well.

To keep it short, Axel Rudi Pell's Sign of the Times is one of the band's least inspired outputs and can only be recommended to extremely faithful fans.

Final rating: 55%