PEARL: Little Immaculate White Fox

Produced by Joe Barresi

Her dad is rock god Meatloaf and she's married to Scott Ian from Anthrax. Her backing band is Mother Superior, one of the tightest and most versatile rock trios on the planet. So when Pearl Aday declares she is a rock child on the opening track of her first album and unleashes a scream that sounds like her lungs are going to attack you, you better believe it. It's hard not to compare her to that other Pearl when she rips into "Nutbush City Limits", albeit without the quart of Southern Comfort for fuel, and when she moves into a country mode on the back half of the album you could be forgiven for thinking you were hearing Tammy Wynette.

Little Immaculate White Fox is Pearl's debut as a solo performer, but with fifteen years experience already behind her and the songwriting clout of Mother Superior on her side she has delivered one smoking hot rock album. The first four songs are just pure hard rock awesomeness: catchy and heavy with a powerhouse vocal raunch. On "Mama" the band slows down into a smokey blues with a heavy feel and Pearl nails it to the wall. After this point the album takes a distinct right turn, into the country ballad "My Heart Isn't In It". I find modern country music to be bland and awful, but Pearl keeps it real with a tough n' tender croak and Jim Wilson sprinkles it with blues licks. The country-blues feel pervades the next couple of songs when "Worth Defending" steps up as a stand-out as the band (which also features her husband playing as you've never heard him before) lays down a heavy rocking blues for Pearl's Joplin-by-way-of-Wynette vocal dynamite. "Anything" is another slow-burning number with Jerry Cantrell putting down some trademark moodiness before "Whore" closes the album with a nice dose of big dumb cock(less) rock.

Pearl Aday is a superstar and her band is every bit as killer. Check out Matt Tecu's drumming in the big Who-like intro to "Rock Child" for example, and Scott Ian and Jim Wilson just crank out hooky riffs all over the place. Even Ted Nugent drops by to tear out a solo in "Checkpoint Charlie". Little Immaculate White Fox is heavy-hitting classic hard rock, but with this kind of pedigree you really couldn't expect anything less.

1. Rock Child
2. Nutbush City Limits
3. Broken White
4. Check Out Charlie
5. Mama
6. My Heart Isn't in It
7. Nobody
8. Worth Defending
9. Lovepyre
10. Anything
11. Whore

Rating: 95%

Note: My version has the last two titles transposed on the track-listing. Oh, and check out that photo on page 7 of the booklet. Scott Ian is one lucky fucker.

FIVE STAR PRISON CELL: Matriarch

Produced by Forester Savell

Released: June 4 2010

Three albums in and Five Star Prison Cell prove once and for all that they are undisputed masters of time-signature defying technical metal. Matriarch is a true tour de force for the Melbourne quartet that sees them expanding their artistic vision and developing a sound that is firmly their own.

"I Curse This Vessel" kicks off the album in an almost subdued fashion for a band of this nature, but make no mistake. Before the first minute is out Adam Glynn has already lurched from a croon to a roar to an explosion of hard rhyming to a roar again and Marek Holain had worked his way through at least a half dozen riffs before the end. Then after about ten seconds of what is almost classic hardcore, "Book of the New Sun" absolutely erupts into something close to grind and the pace drops only slightly in the riff-storm that is "Empire Made Flesh". With "Swarm", Five Star shows their true versatility as they deliver a track that begins, at least by their usual standards, in an almost conventional and catchy fashion, highlighting Glynn's sophisticated lyrics and the band's genuine songwriting clout even as the last two minutes descends into a madness that eventually surrenders to the insanity of "Modus Operandi" with Marc Whitworth's whirling drum assault and a swirl of death threats and sinister laughter.

On "Airsharks" the band breaks out into a constantly shifting miasma of tempo-changes and stop-start riffs that ends with a long outro of white noise and what sounds like foreign radio chatter. It's a nice (but perhaps slightly over-long) segue into the delicate ambience of "Paramountain" with its Greek and Farsi lyrics delivered in a haunting whisper by Captains vocalist Arezo Khanjani. "Loss of Gravitas" pulls the listener back from the verge of trance with sledgehammer-like sludge and an array of multi-tracked vocal onslaughts from Glynn. "Forlorn" is a loose jam with a jazz feel that highlights Cam McDonald's bass playing and some classy percussion from Whitworth. It acts as a neat bridge between the Bungle-like "Buttercup" and the controlled chaos of "Dance of Shiva". Album closer "Lamia" with its questionably ironic lyrics is a veritable blur of moods and colours, compressing their entire eouvre into four minutes of mayhem; I've seen this song performed live where it proves both confounding and devastating and it certainly ends Matriarch on precisely the right note.

Matriarch is a portrait of a fiercely original band that is far ahead of the field and this is clearly at the front of the race for best Australian metal release of this year.

1. I Curse This Vessel
2. Book of the New Sun
3. Empire Made Flesh
4. Swarm
5. Modus Operandi
6. Airsharks
7. Paramountain
8. Loss of Gravitas
9. Buttercup
10. Forlorn
11. Dance of Shiva
12. Lamia

Rating: 98%

ARKHETH: IX & I: The Quintessence of Algaresh

Released: 2010

Being familiar with the part of Australia from whence this band hails, it's easy to imagine the motive behind the cold, desolate atmosphere of this massive double album. In the past, they have claimed inspiration from nature so it wouldn't come as much of a surprise to me if I found out that the members of Arkheth had spent the seven winters since their last release camped out in the NSW Central West to gain inspiration. For icy bitterness enshrouds the ten enormous tracks that sprawl across IX & I: The Quintessence of Algaresh, a bleak, frigid ambience that is without a doubt the album's hallmark.

Arkheth's 2003 EP was a fairly standard, non-descript excursion into textbook symphonic metal. While Algaresh still doesn't break any new ground, the band has expanded their vision into a vast, epic near-two hour journey through freezing nightmare lands. Skolthorn's guitar tone evokes a cold malevolence throughout the band's mostly mid-paced, saga-length songs. Keyboard ambience and occasional interludes of female vocals and ringing acoustic guitars only serve to enhance the haunting desolation. This is Arkheth really finding their way, an affirmation of their goals and a far more realised vision of what they wish to achieve and that is cold, uncomfortable, harsh and barren of relief. Tyraenos adds little more than greyness with varying degrees of barks, shrieks and howls and the dour artwork lends further gravitas.

Where the album tends to fall down is the enormous playing time. Algaresh runs to 113 minutes, and in spite of the splashes of variation throughout, Arkheth's main style is mid- to glacial-paced tremolo-picked black metal. To the more casual listener of the style such as myself, it retains a sense of sameness that becomes tedious and at times I found myself asking if these songs needed to be as long as they are: "Chronicles of the Ancient Narwynd" is more than 13 minutes in length and the climactic "Upon the Golden Winds of Dreaming" almost hits the 18 minute mark. Austere does long, repetitive songs too, but their entire album is shorter than disc one of this slab. To be fair to Arkheth, The Quintessence of Algaresh isn't meant to be for everybody. Established fans of such epic bleakness will certainly appreciate and understand it. To newcomers or those less read in the style, IX & I will be heavy going.

Disc One:

1. The Conception and Creation
2. Chronicles of the Ancient Narwynd
3. Kings in Black
4. The Breeze That Stirs the Snow
5. Faint Whisps in the Heart of Orion

Disc Two:

1. Where the Wind Blows Ether
2. Dewy Eve Upon the Eminent Foreland of Arg'thorn
3. The Well ov Urd
4. Black Riders of Avernus
5. Upon the Golden Walls of Dreaming

Rating: 6.8

RITCHIE BLACKMORE'S RAINBOW: Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow

Produced by Martin Birch, Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio

Released: 1975

I was in the middle of some other reviews when the news broke that Ronnie James Dio had finally succumbed to his stomach cancer. Dio was such a huge figure in the world of rock and metal that almost nothing anyone could do would pay him tribute enough, so far be it from me to make any attempt here. Dio's voice was one of the first things that attracted me to hard rock and heavy metal. One of the other things was Ritchie Blackmore. This was the first of their colloborations, one of the major factors that turned me onto the Left Hand Path that is metal. While both Blackmore and Dio would go on to make better albums (like Rising, the very next thing they would do together), this was the genesis of an entire genre of heavy metal music that still exists today and inspired everyone from Lars Ulrich to the bloke fronting that crappy band down the pub last week.

This was ostensibly a Blackmore solo album at the time of conception, a way for him to explore the dark, classically-inspired music he adored that Deep Purple was no longer making. There could have been no better fit for the guitarist's ponderous Baroque riffing than the golden throat of Ronnie James Dio; just like Blackmore, Dio had a love of allegory and mysticism that led to the birth of fantasy-themed metal in tracks like "The Temple of the King" and the better-realised "Sixteenth Century Greensleeves" full of sword-play, damsels in distress and a towering guitar solo. The album opens with the majestic marching riff of "Man on the Silver Mountain" that immediately establishes Dio's reputation for mystical optimism and became a classic that he played for the rest of his life. "Self Portrait" strays close to the realm of plodding doom before the groove returns on a cover of a Quatermass song called "Black Sheep of the Family" that Blackmore never got to do with Purple. "Snake Charmer" hits pretty hard, but "If You Don't Like Rock N Roll" seems like an odd track to throw on here, even with Ronnie's tongue-in-cheek lyrics that he often put to Rainbow's more upbeat rockers. Then in the middle of the album is the magnificent "Catch the Rainbow", Blackmore's best ballad featuring understated (for him) guitar and Dio's huge, magic vocal.

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow is a glorious album of classic 70s heavy rock, an album that began a legacy but one that also resulted in vastly different fortunes for those who recorded it. Dio went on to height after height from this moment, while Blackmore never quite attained the level of greatness he had enjoyed with Deep Purple. As for the rest of the band, keyboards-player Mickey Lee Soule, bassist Craig Gruber and drummer Garry Driscoll (who was murdered in 1987), their capable but workmanlike performances were rewarded with being fired before the band even left the studio.

1. Man on the Silver Mountain
2. Self Portrait
3. Black Sheep of the Family
4. Catch the Rainbow
5. Snake Charmer
6. The Temple of the King
7. If You Don't Like Rock n Roll
8. Sixteenth Century Greensleeves
9. Still I'm Sad

Rating: 80%

FIVE STAR PRISON CELL Live in Katoomba

Hotel Gearin, Katoomba
May 6, 2010

"Frankenbok never did this shit!" Adam Glynn joked as Five Star Prison Cell's set was interrupted for the second time by technical issues. After just two songs, Mark Holain's guitar busted a string and at the end of the third bassist Cam McDonald's wireless gave out. Some wag had yelled at support band Red Bee that they were a hard act to follow and in front of a small but hardy (and vocal) Katoomba crowd, it looked for a moment like Melbourne's technical metal monster was going to rue making this trip.

But you don't get to the top of Australia's metal pile easily, and like a consummate professional Glynn kept the crowd entertained with wisecracks and jokes at his bandmates' expense while they got their shit together. Then they just blasted the place into submission with a combination of showmanship, brutality and technical wizardry that has likely never been matched inside this building. In the end, the mishaps and the need to win over a new crowd so late on a weeknight helped Five Star Prison Cell turn on an even better show than usual. Glynn in particular was in fine form with a constant stream of jibes and light-hearted banter coupled with his astounding range of vocalisations: grunt, screams, bellows, roars and the occasional croon. The rest of the band was a blur of energy, especially McDonald who almost wore a circular groove into the stage.


Much of Slaves of Virgo was highlighted tonight, but it was also a showcase for some incredible new songs. "Modus Operandi" left my jaw hanging open in amazement and "Lamia" was almost terrifying in its technical precision and sheer heaviness. It wasn't only me who was impressed as not just one encore but two were demanded; Five Star finally ended the show with "Do the World a Favour" and no doubt made a new roomful of fans.

A roomful of fans is something that Red Bee already had when they played earlier. These local lads pretty much own this room whenever they appear here, and with good reason. Fronted by the towering and affable Dan Silk and armed with a bunch of catchy, groove-heavy songs, Red Bee are an engaging and energetic live band. Like FSPC, they were showing off some new tunes tonight but their parochial fans ate them up as if they were old favourites. The Bee clearly enjoy playing live and generated almost a party atmosphere at the Gearin, with Silk's brother Jim dragging a pot plant into the centre of the stage at one point to join in the fun.

Being a prominent local act, they were urged on to two encores and probably would have done more if there hadn't been another band on after them and if the show wasn't already running an hour late. Gigs always seem to run overtime at Gearin's, but apparently no one cares.

New local doom band Myraeth opened the night on a rather more sombre note than what would come later. Less than a year old, they've only been playing live a couple of months but they have considerable experience in other bands (two members are ex-Lycanthia) and it showed. While their doom-death style wasn't to everyone's taste tonight and their current take on the genre is pretty formulaic, they play it well and their set seemed to be over rather quickly even though they got a full forty minutes. Myraeth is a nice new addition to an under-populated niche.

An all-round good quality night of metal mayhem on the mountain. Hopefully there will be more!

TAKING DAWN: Time to Burn

Produced by Michael Baskette

Released: 2010

The Darkness only flared so very briefly but when they did they ignited a new interest in good time hard rock that the cynical 90s crushed. Wrapped in leather and attitude, Taking Dawn is a bunch of young blokes who have picked up the mantle left by Justin Hawkins and his glam-rock revivalists, and Time to Burn is a well-rounded album of 80s-inspired party rock.

Grounded deeply in the heavier end of the hard rock spectrum, Taking Dawn grind out deliciously hooky tunes right from the outset, bristing with good time energy and laden with lyrical shout-outs to their 80s inspirations. "Take Me Away" and "Save Me" have enormous, instantly-catchy Darkness-style choruses, and in fact the first of these could have easily featured on Permission to Land. "Like a Revolution" and the title track owe a debt to Skid Row and late Sunset-era masters like Guns N Roses, but these guys aren't simple imitators and don't let their influences overshadow them. The four-part vocal harmonies are brilliant and the lead guitar work of Mikey Cross and singer Chris Babbitt is flashy and effective without ever upstaging the rest of the music.

The back half of Time to Burn isn't quite so special as the first, with "Fight 'em With Your Rock" just trying a little too hard to be thrashy and the others around it not quite as distinguished as the first six tracks (including the balladic "Close Your Eyes" which is rather good as these things go), but the album lifts again right at the end with a decent and faithful version of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain".

As retro rockers go, Taking Dawn do the business and anyone looking for old school fist-pumping action with huge melodies and modern production could do far, far worse than Time to Burn.

1. Time to Burn
2. Like a Revolution
3. Take Me Away
4. So Loud
5. Save Me
6. Close Your Eyes
7. Godless
8. Fight 'em With Your Rock
9. Never Enough
10. Endlessly
11. The Chain

Rating: 75%

PERIPHERY: Periphery

Produced by Periphery

Released: April 20

This album hits the shelves preceded by Roadrunner's usual enormous and admirable level of hype and just in time for their jaunt around the country with The Dillinger Escape Plan next week. Periphery has already gained something of a strong following courtesy of guitarist Misha Mansoor's heavy presence on key muso sites and forums and there can be little doubt that this album's clever combination of currently popular metal genres, faint technical bent and sprinkling of experimental touches will draw in many more.

Periphery has managed to lure the more casual fans of bands like Meshuggah, but more seasoned followers will probably see through Periphery's veneer rather quickly. Indeed, it's difficult to see how Periphery has attracted the mathcore tag because while some of the songs are far from linear, they aren't a particularly technical band. By the same logic, having a trio of guitarists simply doesn't seem necessary. There's no real reason for even Iron Maiden to have three guitarists, and while Periphery can probably justify this far better than Whitechapel, all the guitar parts on Dillinger's new album were recorded by just one guy, and that seems far more difficult to play than anything on display here. The band seems to be doing a careful balancing act between experimentation and commercial metalcore, ultimately coming across like Dillinger-lite crossed with All That Remains. Spencer Sotelo's blandly generic vocals don't take anything away from this evaluation of their style: while both his clean and growling modes are more than adequate he just doesn't have an identifiable character. One could replace him with Phil Labonte, Howard Jones or our own Mark McKernan and there would barely be any difference. Having joined the band at the last minute -- former singer Chris Barretto's parts were erased and replaced by Sotelo's -- probably didn't help and it can only be hoped that he can develop a sound of his own in the future.

For all of its generic failings however, Periphery isn't a bad album and while the band wear their influences on their sleeves there is clear potential evident in the way they make the transition from the clean chords in "All New Materials", the swirling guitars of "The Walk" and Mansoor's occasional electronic manipulations like the bass n' drum coda of "Light". "Buttersnips", the Meshuggah-esque grooves of "Icarus Lives" with its amusing outro and the Dillinger-like "Zyglrox" are all stand-outs, with Periphery just sounding more convincing when they're being heavy and a little quirky and not trying so hard to be everything to everyone. On the expansive closer "Racecar" the band really starts to explore their more experimental side, with added guest vocalists (including an even earlier former singer) that don't sound that different to each other and a guitar solo from Jeff Loomis at about the 10:25 mark, and it's obvious that this is where Periphery really wants to be.

Periphery is a competent debut and introduction to a rather decent band, but it's not anything that really breaks any new ground although it's more than apparent that Periphery could if they weren't holding themselves back and standing in the shadow of their idols.

1. Insomnia
2. The Walk
3. Letter Experiment
4. Jetpacks Was Yes!
5. Light
6. All New Materials
7. Buttersnips
8. Icarus Lives!
9. Totla Mad
10. Ow My Feelings
11. Zyglrox
12. Racecar

Rating: 72%