“Hope In Hell” is the 15th record of the legendary Canadian heavy metal institution Anvil that finally got some well-deserved and needed attention after the release of the documentary “Anvil: The Story Of Anvil” five years ago. What followed was some sort of rebirth for the band with a strong record entitled “Juggernaut Of Justice” and two years after, we get this follow-up.

This record is the perfect example of an album that kicks off very strong but falls a little bit flat towards the end. The album starts with a bunch of energizing and also diversified songs. The opening title song “Hope In Hell” has a slight doom metal influenced tone but also a few riffs reminding me of slowed down thrash metal influences even though it doesn't directly sound like groove metal. This track sounds maybe like a mixture of Black Sabbath and Metallica. The following and truly energizing “Eat Your Words” is a lot dirtier and sharper and should be a fan favourite during the next concerts. This track isn’t a far cry from Motörhead for example. ”Through With You” has an opening riff that reminds me a lot of “Smoke On The Water” from Deep Purple but it’s far more than just an uninspired copy of it. The track is in fact a very catchy mid-tempo rocker with diversified vocals. This was one of the songs that already remained on my mind for quite a while after a first try. The band continues to deliver some of the most energizing and catchiest tracks I have heard in the traditional heavy metal genre for quite a while. Short and long, slow and fast, melancholic and joyful, dirty and melodic songs appear in a quite balanced way and the record seems to never get all too boring even if Anvil doesn’t try out anything truly new. I would also like to point out the track “Flying” which is a sympathetic rendition to the band’s fans all around the world and one of the best potential live anthems on the record. Let’s mention that the bonus tracks are also quite energizing and if you consider buying this release, you have no choice but to get them in my humble opinion. Especially “Fire At Will” is a firework of energy and a true monster of a song.

But despite all these positive elements, this record falls somehow flat in the last third which is rather sad because this release would have made it straight into my top five records of the year. During the last few tracks, you can’t help but feel like you have already heard these tracks before on the record because they are less original and unique. The simplistic hard rock driven “Badass Rock ‘N Roll” is such a track. Another good example is “Time Shows No Mercy” which is not a bad song per se but another typical mid-tempo track that worships the heavy metal style of the early eighties. Don’t get me wrong, these songs are still performed with passion but with a running time of over an hour things start to get redundant after a while and the concept starts to feel a little bit worn-out. A little experimental track or change of style would have made the final result a little bit fresher, more modern and more relevant in my humble opinion. Another possibility would have been to replace these tracks by the bonus songs and cut the record down to nine or ten songs only.

In the end, I’m not that much an expert of Anvil but I really liked a couple of energizing, honest and straight hard rock and heavy metal tracks on here and this especially in the first half of the album. This band is clearly better than many of those boring heavy metal revival bands with members in their late twenties who sound musically more closed-minded than their own parents. This record is a must have for somebody who still adores the pioneer years of heavy metal and wants to get back to this style without looking for old and dusty vinyl records in the attic. I don't really understand the negative critics concerning this album as it really is a worthwhile fun ride in my opinion.

Originally written for The Metal Observer

You really know what to expect when you’re listening to a Crematory record. Germany’s most popular gothic metal band comes around with simple song writing structures put into catchy mid tempo songs between three and five minutes. The band mixes crunchy guitar riffs somewhere between death, gothic, industrial and occasionally thrash metal with simple but efficient melodic keyboard patterns. While the rhythm section is rather unspectacular, the band usually convinces with a good mixture of growls by singer Gerhard “Felix” Stass and clean parts sung by guitarist Matthias “Matze” Hechler. In many songs, the verses include charismatic growls while the choruses and bridges feature more melodic parts or a duet of both vocalists. One should also mention that the band operates both with English and German lyrics. Even though Antiserum only includes two German song titles, many other tracks feature German verses and English choruses. While Crematory has never written too sophisticated lyrics, the German lyrics always sounded rather limited and this is also the case for this record. Despite a few flaws, these charismatic and somewhat charming key elements have been working very well for the past 25 years.

This time, Crematory tried to create a more electronic music driven release in the key of the popular comeback record Revolution that came out ten years earlier. In order to reinforce this element, the band joined forces with Elmar Schmidt from the Electronic Body Music band Centhron. This band might only be known to EBM fans but it’s a quite respected brand in the German gothic scene.

While the electronic elements are more prominent than on the last record Infinity that had a few thrash metal driven anthems, I must admit that the announced impact on the music is only minimal and that we can’t talk about a fresh new direction. Everything pretty much sounds as usual. Some songs feature a few EBM sounds here and there but they are only there to open some tracks and already disappear thirty seconds into the songs. All in all, I’m rather disappointed by the use of EBM elements on this record that I was rather looking forward to.

If a band doesn’t come around with new ideas, it should at least write a few catchy or passionate tracks but this isn’t the case on the new record either. Crematory has shown us in the past how to write great genre anthems. Any gothic metal fan should know songs such as “Tears Of Time”, “Ist Es Wahr”, “Fly”, “The Fallen” and “Greed”. The band also showed us recently that it was still able to write memorable tracks such as “Left The Ground”, “Infinity” or “Sense Of Time”. If the band didn’t convince with its own tracks, they came around with some convincing cover songs like Depeche Mode’s “Black Celebration” on the last output or the classic rendition of The Sisters Of Mercy’s “Temple Of Love”. That’s why I’m surprised that no track on Antiserum has the qualities of the aforementioned tracks. Many songs on the new album need multiple spins before they even grab the slightest of your attention. It’s quite hard to mention any outstanding passages or highlights on the new record because the band repeats itself without featuring the catchy hooks it stood for in the past. It’s easier to point out the more disappointing songs. “Until The End” is a rather faceless opener, “Kommt näher” and “Virus” feature stereotypical and almost amusingly weak lyrics and songs like the predictable “Inside Your Eyes” or “Back From The Dead” are obviously filler material.

After several spins, I have found a few personal favourites on the record but they are nothing more than good average songs. The classic “If You Believe” is a song Crematory fans will adore. It features atmospheric but also energizing keyboard passages, sharp riffs and a great mixture of growled verses and a more melodic chorus. The laid back and atmospheric bridge with the creepy spoken word passage is probably the highlight of the song. The single “Shadowmaker” finally features a more prominent use of EBM and other electronic elements. Some of these sounds are interesting but others rather odd. The crunchy background noises in the verses that sound as if somebody was stretching an elastic band are quite ridiculous for example. While the song includes all Crematory trademarks such as thrash metal orientated verses, energizing growls and a few more atmospheric sounds in the bridge, the song somehow feels too calculated. The track sounds like Crematory song writing by numbers as if the band desperately wanted this track to be its new anthem. In fact, “Shadowmaker” was the band’s first single release in nine years since “Greed”. In comparison to the latter, the new song sounds really pale. It’s a good average track and definitely nothing more but this is already enough to place this song among the better tracks on this release. “Welcome” features a good use of the announced EBM elements in the beginning moments only but the song is saved by crunchier and faster riffs in the verses and an almost symphonic chorus that gets stuck on your mind after a while. The mixture of these three elements is nothing new for the band and could have been more organic. It speaks volumes if a solid average track like this can already be considered as a highlight on the record. The closing title track “Antiserum” convinces with a dark atmosphere carried by some melancholic piano melodies, symphonic keyboard sounds and longing clean vocals. Crematory often closes its records this way and even though the track doesn’t come along as a surprise or as one of the band’s better album closers, it’s still one of this record’s most organic tracks.

In the end, my verdict is very simple. I’m a long-time Crematory fan and I will of course try to purchase the limited edition of this release. I will try to catch the band up during a summer festival and I will cheer along to old and new songs. My subjective fan heart is happy that the band is back with a new record after an unusually long waiting time of almost four years. From an objective point of view though, the new album offers nothing new and also lacks the charisma and passion of similar releases in the past such as Revolution. Honestly said, the new album is one of the band’s weakest efforts in 23 years. I thought the previous Infinity was a little bit shallow but it’s still definitely better than Antiserum. This release is for old fans and collectors only and probably won’t attract any new fans to the German gothic metal legends. If you’re new to the band and want to hear what they sound like today but where they also sound best, start your discovery with Believe, Revolution and Pray or maybe the decent greatest hits compilation Black Pearls.

Originally written for The Metal Observer

After the big bang at the end of the year 2010 when three out of five members left the Teutonic power metal band Rebellion, I was eager to hear what the band’s sixth album “Arminius: Furor Teutonicus” would sound like. In fact, nothing has changed at all. The new album is another historical concept album and features grounded mid- to up-tempo tracks with crunchy riffs and powerful, rough and unique vocals. The rhythm section with drums and especially bass guitar could sound better and add some more dynamics to the sound in my opinion.

Some tracks like the album highlight and diversified opener “Rest In Peace” or the atmospheric “Dusk Awaiting Dawn” have a rather epic touch while others are rather simple bangers such as the predictable single “Ala Germanica” or the more aggressive “Prince Of The Cheruscer” that varies between traditional or true heavy metal trademarks and a few almost groove metal orientated riffs. The album closes with the more or less necessary ballad “Requiem” but I guess you would have figured that out on your own.

This album should please to any Rebellion fan and is a quite solid continuation of the band’s typical trademarks. Some may see in this a sign of constancy and quality, others might find the new output too predictable and repetitive. I feel a little bit torn between both points of view. While the record is energizing and has a couple of immediately appealing tracks, I miss a truly outstanding song or a new experimental element that would add a fresh note to the band concept eleven years after its formation. Only faithful fans should get this record that I see on one level with “Born A Rebel” and “Miklagard – The History Of The Vikings – Volume II” but below the excellence of “Shakespeare’s MacBeth – A Tragedy In Steel”, “Sagas Of Iceland – The History Of The Vikings – Volume I” and “Arise: From Ginnungagap To Ragnarök – The History Of The Vikings – Volume III”. Occasional fans should rather go for a different record of the band or pick the excellent last Grave Digger release “Clash Of The Gods”. 

Originally written for The Metal Observer

After the departure of four members of the famous Swedish power metal outfit Sabaton, the four guys decided to hire Stefan “Pizza” Eriksson as bassist from the death and thrash metal band Hell Patrol as well as from death metal band Volturyon and singer Nils Patrik Johansson who is involved in the heavy metal band Astral Doors, the power metal group Lion's Share, the melodic death metal outfit Ruined Soul and the progressive folk metal formation Wuthering Hights.

The new members sound promising and seem to add some diversity to the Sabaton-based sound but this isn’t the case at all on this first sign of life in form of a self-titled EP. The band delivers extremely unspectacular but at least well crafted epic mid tempo power metal with many catchy hooks and lyrics about the usual war topics. The vocals sound a little bit less like Joakim Brodén from Sabaton and rather remind me of Jorn. They are gripping and powerful enough to save this release from being only mediocre.

The band though fails to forge its own identity and sounds pretty much like Sabaton all the time. They offer heavy and gripping stuff like the energizing opener “Rome is Falling” which is probably the best song on here or the slower “Forevermore” which is a hard rock ballad with piano passages and a strong retro touch reminding of commercial heavy metal or hard rock of the late eighties. As a little surprise, the band added a Nelly Furtado cover on this EP with “Say It Right”. The boring pop song by the Canadian artist with Portuguese origins becomes a boring and rather soft metal song that fails to impress and sounds even older fashioned than the original. The track sounds a little bit like a Madonna b-side of the late eighties to my ears, even in the harder cover version.

In the end, Sabaton fans should keep an eye on this band and are probably not going to get disappointed by this release. Anybody else should stay with the original and this new band should definitely work on its own identity and bring in some fresh ideas to get further attention. The EP is not plain bad and rather entertaining but it’s not a good call either.

Originally written for The Metal Observer

After the release of the polarizing but in my opinion incredibly strong “The King Of Metal” last year, Blaze Bayley went on to perform several acoustic shows with his new and talented Belgian guitar player Thomas Zwijsen. They decided to do also a few acoustic tracks in studio for a new EP entitled “Russian Holiday”. 

This new release with a very beautiful cover artwork by Alberto Quirantes Calvo features new versions of four songs with the participation of Blaze Bayley that have been released during the past twenty years: “Stealing Time” from the Blaze record “Tenth Dimension” in 2002, “Soundtrack Of My Life” from the Blaze album “Blood & Belief” in 2004, “One More Step” from Blaze Bayley's 2012 output “The King Of Metal” and finally the legendary and well interpreted “The Sign Of The Cross” from the 1995 Iron Maiden release “The X-Factor”. The brand new title song can also be found on this release.

The record is very simplistic and sympathetic. It focuses a lot on the well played acoustic guitars and a few violin parts done by Anne Bakker. These violin parts sound well and are not used in each single track but they sound a little bit too loud and don’t always harmonize with the guitars. The production is only of an average quality but the record is still enjoyable to listen to. Blaze Bayley's vocals are as they always are: emotional, strong but sometimes also a little bit out of tone. They sound a little bit better than on the last release though that had several technical mistakes despite its greatness.

The highlight of the EP is the new track “Russian Holiday”. The guitar melodies are simply beautiful, the lyrics intriguing and personal and at the same straight to the heart instead of being too philosophical and last but not least Blaze Bayley delivers a passionate vocal performance. My favorite part is the surprising Flamenco bridge in the middle of the track that happens to be the most vivid moment on the entire record. This song is a really strong one and would have also had its reasons to be included on the last regular release.

In the end, Blaze Bayley fans should absolutely get their hands on this entertaining gem. The new title track alone is worth your attention and money. Occasional fans can though skip this EP and should rather purchase the greatest hits compilation "Soundtracks Of My Life".

Originally written for The Metal Observer