JAG PANZER: Ample Destruction

Released: 1984

In the mid-1980s metal simply exploded worldwide and many bands and albums were thrown up that got lost in the crowd, only to be rediscovered and more appreciated later on. While Jag Panzer's debut album was rightly revered by a cult following when it was released, it really wasn't until much later that it gained its reputation as a true classic of the period.

While Ample Destruction boasts the thin production of virtually every other first-time release from the metal world of the 80s and is indelibly stamped with the band's influences, Jag Panzer made a simply killer album for its time. Yes, there's shades of Priest, NWOBHM and, on the vocal side at least, Manowar, but on Ample Destruction Jag Panzer don't really sound like anyone else. A big part of that uniqueness comes from the truly remarkable voice of Harry "The Tyrant" Conklin. To this day it's hard to find another singer who sounds even remotely like him. Conklin is backed up superbly by a band that at this time included the enormous shredding skills of one Joey Taffola, a man whose talents easily compare to the likes of Paul Gilbert and Tony Macalpine. Here though, Jag Panzer doesn't just shred endlessly like they sometimes do these days. On Ample Destruction, they write songs with killer riffs, giant choruses and wicked melodies, making this album one of the best of its time, a true forgotten gem.

True to its title, every single song on here (except perhaps "Harder Than Steel") is about death and destruction! Every one, a virtual celebration of power-crazed violence. On the awesome "Warfare" with its infectiously catchy riff that almost-but-not-quite sounds like "2 Minutes to Midnight", Conklin bellows "Warfare is our battlecry, shout it out aloud!" before Taffola cuts loose, and even the cheesiness of lyrics like "I love to fight, I love to screw/Feel my heat begin to rise" from "Licensed to Kill" sound suitably nasty when The Tyrant is singing them. When they speed up, like they do with "Generally Hostile" and "Harder Than Steel" - a definite highlight on an album full of them - Jag Panzer comes close to thrash and when they get slow and heavy like in "Symphony of Terror" they almost beat Judas Priest at their own game before rounding out the album with "The Crucifix" an epic of masterful menace that could put Mercyful Fate to shame. Shameful too is that fact that Ample Destruction is so hard to find now in its original form. Most of the songs from this were recently re-recorded for the Decade of the Nail-spiked Bat set (the title of which was inspired by a line from "Licensed to Kill"), but these songs really need to be heard in the order and the format in which they were originally conceived. Track it down if you can, and if you find a spare copy, let me know about it!

1. Licensed to Kill


2. Warfare


3. Symphony of Terror


4. Harder Than Steel


5. Generally Hostile


6. The Watching


7. Reign of the Tyrants


8. Cardiac Arrest


9. The Crucifix

Rating: 88%

ABRAMELIN: Abramelin

Produced by Abramelin

Released: 1995

As if you didn't need another example of how innovative and interesting Australian metal bands can be, here is yet another classic release from a band that, had they been from another other country, would have been hailed as one of the greatest of their kind. Abramelin's self-titled debut album is a demonically heavy, crushingly brutal and breathtakingly technical metal record that wades waist deep in gore of a level so visceral as to leave virtually any other band of their kind reeling in disbelief. The original version of this album was banned by censors in Western Australia and later withdrawn for sale completely until a second pressing minus the lyric sheet was released almost two years later. Simon Dower's lyrics are easily some of the most depraved and disturbing of any ever penned; Chris Barnes has nothing on this man. Abramelin's blood-splattered palette is adorned with sickening tales of paedophilic serial murderers, necrophiliacs and the infernally damned.

Musically, this is a masterful album. By 1995, goregrind was a genre that was already running out of ideas and it would have been easy for Abramelin, a band that formed as Acheron around the same time as Cannibal Corpse, to merely go with the flow. Fortunately this was a band comprised of some remarkable musicians with an obvious if sinister purpose. Guitarist Tim Aldridge is clearly the star here. The technical aspects of his riffing and the complexity of his arrangements are simply mind-blowing. His playing is sharp and brutally aggressive but still possessed of a very clever melodic sense, and his lead playing is stylish in a late-era Carcass fashion. If that's not all, he throws in a gloomy classical guitar piece slap bang in the middle of the gruelling corpse-fucking epic "Stargazer". Behind Aldridge is the faultless time-keeping of one of the country's best but mostly unsung metal drummers in Euan Heriot, a natural and fluid player who blasts without falling back on triggers and tricks. Topping it all off is Dower, who delivers his lines in a bowel-quakingly guttural roar but still manages to enunciate words rather than unintelligible syllabic grunts. Finally, after almost forty minutes of technical grinding mayhem, Abramelin plays its last card: a cover of Dead Can Dance's "Cantara". It's a choice that almost boggles the mind, but in the same moment seems a strangely fitting way to end things.

Abramelin is still held up by Australian death metal fans as one of our greatest bands, and after allowing this album to mince your soul you will surely understand why.

1. Misfortune
2. Grave Ideals (Nekromaniak)
3. Spiritual Justice
4. Humble Abode
5. Stargazer (The Summoning)
6. Stargazing (Stargazer II)
7. Deprived of Afterlife
8. Invocation
9. Cantara

Rating: 95%

METALLICA: ...And Justice For All

Produced by Metallica with Fleming Rasmussen

Released: 1988

This was always going to be a problematic album for Metallica. Their previous effort Master of Puppets was a triumph of such magnitude that twenty years later it is still considered one of the best metal albums ever made. Then almost immediately afterwards came the unbridled tragedy of the death of Cliff Burton, a disaster from which the band has never fully recovered. In that light, ...And Justice for All was going to be a difficult album. Difficult and, ultimately, flawed. Despite this, Metallica's fourth album remains a classic and a firm fan favourite because in the end the band saves it with perhaps its best songwriting. It is hardly surprising that lyrically, Justice is Metallica's darkest album and James Hetfield wields words with an eloquent mastery here that he had never achieved before and hasn't quite shown since.

For its time, ...And Justice for All was a truly epic release. With a mere nine tracks, it nevertheless ran for more than 65 minutes, longer than Slayer's Reign in Blood and South of Heaven put together, and came audaciously presented as a double album in a gatefold sleeve. As impressive as this looked however, the initial prospects for this gigantic record didn't look good. At almost ten minutes apiece, both the title track and the Burton tribute 'To Live is To Die' were overly long and the latter was simply just boring. It was clear that Metallica was trying to recapture the magic of Master's 'Orion' as a dedication to their fallen bandmate, but without him it just becomes a turgid and overwrought snoozefest.

Worse by far however was Justice's bizarre and annoying production. Pushing the snare to the fore of the sound and virtually abolishing the bass altogether could well have sunk the whole album for good. Various reasons have surfaced for this, from a claim that Hetfield and Ulrich dropped the bass as some kind of ridiculous "prank" on newcomer Jason Newsted to another story that James wanted the bass low on purpose to give it a piano-like effect. Whatever the explanation, ...And Justice for All has the worst production of any Metallica album except St. Anger (which was also apparently done on purpose).

Justice's redemption lies in its songs. The opening broadside of 'Blackened', the anger of 'Eye of the Beholder' and the darkness of 'Harvester of Sorrow' lift ...And Justice for All above its imperfections. It is the meticulous and brilliant 'One', however, that looms over them all as the indisputable centerpiece, perhaps the zenith of Metallica's creative height, a song so powerful that almost two decades later it remains one of the greatest metal songs ever written. Even with such a disastrous sound, ...And Justice for All is as close to the perfection of Master of Puppets that Metallica would ever come again and yet one feels that without the shadow of Burton's death still haunting them, they could well have surpassed it.

1. Blackened


2. ...and Justice For All


3. Eye of the Beholder


4. One


5. The Shortest Straw


6. Harvester of Sorrow


7. The Frayed Ends of Sanity


8. To Live is to Die


9. Dyer's Eve

Rating: 83%

TAK MATSUMOTO GROUP: TMG 1

Released: 2004

Tak Matsumoto is a Japanese musician who is part of a pop band that is a multi-million selling concern in his home country. I don't really know much more about the guy than that (other than the fact that he can play the guitar like a demon), but it could well be that his first love, is American-style melodic hard rock, because that describes TMG 1 in a nutshell, and if that's your preferred mug of beer then this album will quench your thirst quite nicely.

Gathering together Mr. Big vocalist Eric Martin, journeyman drummer Brian Tichy and melodic rock mastermind Jack Blades as his band, Matsumoto knows exactly what he’s doing and who to get to help him do it: this is a killer line-up indeed. Martin is an outstanding vocalist with exactly the right tones for this type of rock and Matsumoto himself has an obvious appreciation for a good tune in that he can still write a few good ones while shredding his tits off at every opportunity.

When all is said though, TMG 1 doesn’t actually sound all that different from something that Martin or Blades would do with bands of their own. It’s solid, generic AOR that’s good in its own way but nothing truly outstanding and fourteen songs is probably a few too many when complete duds like “Wish You Were Here” and “The Greatest Show on Earth” somehow made the cut. There are lots of good songs too though, particularly the mean bluesy rocker “Red, White and Bullet Blues”, the Aerosmith-like “Wonderland” and the opening trio of tracks but while TMG 1 is certainly agreeable, it really doesn’t stand out very much. Melodic rock fans should find it worthwhile, but it’s not going to set their world on fire.

1. Oh Japan (Our Time is Now)
2. Everything Passes Away
3. Kings for a Day
4. I Know You By Heart
5. I Wish You Were Here
6. Greatest Show on Earth
7. Signs of Life
8. Red, White and Bullet Blues
9. Trapped
10. My Alibi
11. Wonderland
12. Train, Train
13. Two of a Kind
14. Never Goodbye

Rating: 65%

STRAPPING YOUNG LAD: Alien

Produced by Devin Townsend

Released: 2005

When Devin Townsend resurrected Strapping Young Lad in 2003 the reaction that album received was pretty lukewarm to put it mildly and there was plenty of people who were prepared to believe that the perfection achieved with 1997's City really was some kind of fluke. Fast-forward 18 months or so and without too many of his other recording endeavours muddying his creative waters Townsend may well have delivered something that may well be City's equal if it doesn't actually surpass it.

Alien kicks off the way all such things do, with ‘Imperial’ rising up as a relentless and crushing wall of sound played at breakneck speed. Following that is the sensory overload of the almost impenetrable ‘Skesis’, a titan of a track with a fortress of guitars and synths. Then the appropriately-named ‘Shitstorm’ is piled on top of it like a weapon of mass sonic destruction. Gene Hoglan’s incredible drumming keeps the madness from veering off course and Townsend’s frantic vocals scream lyrics that don’t seem to make much sense but follow the same basic concept of being pissed-off about something.

If that doesn’t sound too far removed from what SYL has thrown up in the past then you’d be right, except that from this moment the album becomes significantly more interesting than just barely-controlled noise terror. Quite suddenly, the album slows down and drops into a heavy groove in the shape of ‘Love?’, which goes into strong contention as one of the best songs SYL ever put together. A couple of tracks further along and ‘We Ride’ erupts like the most violent outburst of rage ever recorded but then Alien reaches its most transcendent moment with ‘Two Weeks’, a somewhat abstract, meandering acoustic song that recalls Townsend’s Terria opus.

The proposed Tom Jones cover was dropped because the band thought it would interfere with the flow of the album and I have no doubt they were right; subsequently, this was replaced by the 13-minute soundscape ‘Infodump’, a meandering swirl of white noise, tape loops and demonic vocals vaguely reminiscent of something that Namanax would do (only much less threatening) and similar to the style of Townsend’s own Devlab project from the year before.

Production-wise, Alien is a monster, with the murk of earlier works replaced by a gleaming sound and featuring a huge choir of backing voices that includes members of Zimmer's Hole and Tourettes. Some versions also came with a bonus live track and a DVD featuring a “making of” doco and some video clips, all adding up to over two hours of SYL madness.

This is the best-produced and most diverse Strapping Young Lad album ever, a masterpiece of intensity that rivals City as SYL's best.

1. Imperial
2. Skeksis
3. Shitstorm
4. Love?
5. Shine
6. We Ride
7. Possessions
8. Two Weeks
9. Thalamus
10. Zen
11. Info Dump

Rating: 93%

FOZZY: All That Remains

Produced by Andy Sneap

Released: 2005

Fozzy started out as a fun-time cover band project for Rich Ward and Chris Jericho but over the years the band has striven to develop a legitimacy as a serious act. Prior to this album, Fozzy was still covering old 80s metal standards, using silly pseudonyms and pretending they were a forgotten early American rock band trapped in Japan for 15 years after a record deal gone wrong. Having now dropped all of these pretences, after almost three years of silence Fozzy returned with its first complete album of original material.

All That Remains features a raft of guests that include Marty Friedman, Zakk Wylde, rapper Bonecrusher, Derek Bonner from Lilitu and two of the guys from Alter Bridge (the band formerly known as Creed) but, sadly, little of the mischievous sparkle of the previous albums. While the originals on Happenstance weren’t too bad, it was the spot-on versions of Scorps, Maiden, Priest, Sabbath and Accept classics that really made the album what it was. This time around, it’s all originals and something just seems to be missing.

That isn’t to say this is a bad album, because it isn’t, and is, in fact, rather a diverse little outing with a mixture of straight up heavy metal and hints of old-school American power metal and even a thrash element cropping up towards the end, where Friedman chimes in for a guest spot in “Born of Anger”. Jericho once again proves himself to be quite a noteworthy vocalist and Ward, as always, wrangles out some truly quality riffage, but All That Remains just somehow lacks the entertainment factor that a band called Fozzy with a wrestler as a singer should possess. “Enemy”, “The Way I Am” and “Lazarus” are actually pretty good songs, but the rest doesn’t hold that well together, especially the rap-metal tune, which is rather surprising when most of this band were in Stuck Mojo.

1. Nameless Faceless


2. Enemy


3. Wanderlust


4. All That Remains


5. The Test


6. It's a Lie


7. Daze of the Weak


8. The Way I Am


9. Lazarus


10. Born of Anger

Rating: 62%

AZRAEL: Into Shadows Act II: Through Horned Shadows Glimpse

Released: 2004

“Avant-garde” is a term that’s thrown about a lot, particularly in regards to black metal bands and while there are some aspects of this in Azrael’s music it’s actually quite difficult to say if they’re really treading new ground. The indistinct, fuzzy cover art and the concept of not naming any of the tracks on the basis that such behaviour is “too human” should certainly enhance their credibility with black metal’s purists although one wonders what their thoughts may be on a band with such beliefs coming up with such a contrived name for their album.

The first two tracks stretch out for a painfully long time. At over 12 minutes apiece, these are sure to test the patience of even the most devout BM devotee. Coarse, raw, and primitive, the sound is typically thin, enhanced now and again by non-metal touches but hardly enough to push this into the genuine “avant-garde”. On track three Azrael try the patience even further with six and a half minutes of twisted, distorted noises like some kind of demonic brass band. More long, long songs follow: ‘5’ runs for 11 minutes and track six clocks in at almost 13, but for the most part Azrael could say what they’ve got to say in less than half the time.

Atmosphere and a sense of evil is most certainly present on this album, but the overall feeling is that of spectacular self-indulgence.

1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4
5. 5
6. 6
7. 7

Rating: 25%

PANTERA: Far Beyond Driven

Produced by Terry Date

Released: 1994

Pantera's previous album Vulgar Display of Power had lifted them to major league status around the world but it was Far Beyond Driven that was to make them into one of the biggest metal bands of all time. This album was so huge that it even hit #1 on the Australian chart, thus becoming only the second heavy metal album ever to do so. The irony of course is that it is probably the patchiest release in Pantera's catalogue.

Controversy over the artwork aside (the original cover art was banned almost immediately), it's clear that the band members' hedonistic lifestyles and a self-proclaimed desire to get heavier with every release was over-shadowing one of the main things that had made them such a great band in the first place: great songwriting.

Far Beyond Driven starts off on pretty much the right foot with four monster tracks in a row, all of which are plainly heavier extensions of the material found on the previous album. "Strength Beyond Strength" is a violent flurry that shows Pantera at their most hostile and it's clear that their days as a party band are long behind them. "Becoming" and "5 Minutes Alone" are no less antagonistic, the latter inspired by a threat from a fan's father against Phil Anselmo. Then comes the sludge-like "I'm Broken" with the album's catchiest riff and something more of anguish than pure anger about it. While there's a noticeable reduction in Dimebag Darrell's spectacular guitar solos, until now one of Pantera's defining aspects, so far the album is all going along pretty nicely.

Suddenly, however, it becomes evident that the speculation about substance abuse during the recording sessions may well be true. "Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills" is easily one of the worst pieces of garbage ever recorded and only a group of people under the influence of something brain-frying would think it worthy of inclusion on any kind of release. Almost anything would be an improvement after that. "Hard Lines, Sunken Cheeks" seems to just groan on forever though and the next couple of tracks don't really stand out either. At last, "Shedding Skin" comes on and reminds us when the need is most apparent that Pantera can do something that's more than one-dimensional. This track not only restores the balance but easily eclipses everything else on the last two-thirds of the album, although "Use My Third Arm" is certainly far from a complete waste.

In the end, Pantera's focus on aggression for aggression's sake and a brazen need to be controversial resulted in Far Beyond Driven being far less consistent than the two albums that had made their name. While it definitely has its moments, any album with a stinker like "Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills" on it is hardly going to rate as one of the best of all time, Grammy nomination or not.

1. Strength Beyond Strenth


2. Becoming


3. 5 Minutes Alone


4. I'm Broken


5. Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills


6. Hard Lines, Sunken Cheeks


7. Slaughtered


8. 25 Years


9. Shedding Skin


10. Use My Third Arm


11. Throes of Rejection


12. Planet Caravan

Rating: 68%

STU MARSHALL: Altered States

Produced by Stu Marshall

Released: 2007

Yesterday I reviewed a Dungeon album, and today I'm taking a listen to the solo album from that band's former guitarist Stu Marshall. Instrumental shred albums aren't high on my list of preferred listening. Guitarists can digest these things and then rave on for hours about sweeping and dive-bombing while everyone around them wonders why they're talking about domestic duties and Stukas, and I prefer fretboard wizardry within the constraints of well written and stuctured songs, rather than existing for its own sake. Therefore, Marshall's Altered States should ordinarily be sitting in the dark corner of my CD collection reserved for vapid wankfests like Onward and Malmsteen. The fact that it isn't says a lot.

Altered States kicks off with a track called "Kill or Be Killed", a fast, thrashy cut with a face-ripping riff. "City Nights" stays in metal territory and features the added bonus of Enter Twilight's Richie Hauberger adding his own jaw-dropping moves to Marshall's already considerably awe-inspiring string pulling. These two songs represent the more metallic side of Marshall's personality as the rest of the album explores other angles. Several of the pieces like "Can You Hear Me?" and "Juli's Song" have that laid-back Satriani-style feel about them and "Blind Faith" is a very nice slow, bluesy extended jam. Then there's "Goliath", the only track to feature Marshall's smooth rock vocals. This is a real stand-out that had me thinking of some of Gary Moore's heavier rock moments, with the soloing to go along with it.

While there is some insane playing in evidence, Marshall doesn't go all out to bludgeon his listeners with pure technique, repetition or speed. Instead, he can be languid and relaxed or drop into a steady groove and just rock. Guitarists will still be the ones to greet this album with most enthusiasm, but people who aren't musicians should get something worthwhile from it also.

1. Kill or be Killed
2. City Nights
3. Can You Hear Me?
4. Francois
5. Juli's Song
6. Northam Grove
7. Blind Faith
8. Goliath
9. Balloon Race
10. Sunday Afternoon (The Jam)
11. The Drunken Highland Fling

Rating: 69%

DUNGEON: Resurrection

Produced by Lord Tim

Released: 2005

When Dungeon released their first official album in mid-1999 it was eagerly snapped up by fans who had caught the vibe of killer live performances from the band. Resurrection went through three pressing before being deleted, which isn’t a bad run for a debut album from a band that was barely known even in Sydney at the time. In retrospect, however, it’s really a wonder Dungeon moved any copies of the album at all. Listening back to that original recording, it's became pretty clear that bottom-drawer tape demos and even some early black metal had better production standards. Fortunately, the playing and songwriting saved it from oblivion. That, and the fact that Dungeon was offering something very different from every other band in Sydney at the time.

As part of their international deal with LMP, Dungeon completely re-recorded ­Resurrection during the sessions for their One Step Beyond album, and the result was a marked improvement in every aspect. Immediately noticeable were some cosmetic changes: new and totally different cover art, the juxtaposition of the tracks “No Way Out” and “Judgment Day” (still spelled wrong) in the running order and the replacement of the Justin Sayers-penned “Let it Go” with a new track called “Severed Ties”. This is a weak point for the album however, as it is perhaps the most generic and boring song Dungeon has recorded since their demo days, a somewhat tired and predictable ballad that could well have been left off altogether.

In all other respects, however, this version of Resurrection is a killer. As mentioned, the first one had the songs and the chops, but this time around the production is there to back it all up. Significantly, the tempo change in “The Legend of Huma” that previously sounded like a bad splice is now much more seamless and the guitar sound is much more balanced. Most of the solos are completely different and the pace seems a little brisker, and overall the whole album sounds so much more alive than the flat, drenched-in-tape-hiss original. “Severed Ties” does let it down, but the consolation is the bonus cover songs.

Dungeon’s choice of covers may raise some eyebrows, but they rule. The first is the John Farnham-era LRB track “Playing to Win” and the second Thin Lizzy’s “Waiting for an Alibi”. Both are handled with Dungeon’s usual aplomb, with “Playing…” receiving a slight thrashing up while the latter is played more or less straight with guitarist Stu Marshall handling the lead vocal duties.

Anyone who missed this the first time should definitely try and grab a copy of this and see why, at their height, Dungeon was one of Australia's best metal bands.

1. Death From Above


2. Resurrection


3. Paradise


4. No Way Out


5. Wake Up


6. Fight


7. Severed Ties


8. Time to Die


9. I Am Death


10. Judgment Day


11. The Legend of Huma


12. Playing to Win


13. Waiting For an Alibi

Rating: 88%