MANDRAGORA SCREAM: The Whisper of Dew

Released: 2003

The Whisper of Dew is the second offering from Italian Goth band Mandragora Scream. Unlike their debut Fairytales From Hell’s Caves, a musical fantasy based around Dante’s Inferno that struck a sometimes uneasy balance of atmospherics and melodic doom, on this album the band concentrated its energies on the Goth elements of its music, an aspect which it handles quite well.

In fact, the band strives for perhaps a little too much atmosphere and as a result the songs flow together without too much setting them apart from one another, but Morgan Lacroix’s singing is much stronger and more confident than previously. It’s really her evocative and occasionally haunting vocal presence that really drives the songs and the high points are the moments when, as in ‘Rainbow Seeker’, she shifts into a higher, grittier gear and the band strides out with a heavier edge. While for most of The Whisper of Dew Mandragora Scream seems fairly content to just meander through various shades of quiet melancholy, when the album reaches its climax with the title track, the listener is given an insight into their true potential with a heavy atmosphere pervading through a rather more aggressive approach.

More discerning Goth rock fans won’t find much of note in The Whisper of Dew but those just tasting the waters may find it appealing.

1. Issergia's Hope
2. Silent Lullabies
3. A Vision They Shared
4. Velvet Eyes
5. Iiaonman Iifbiich Vampires
6. Labyrinth of Earth
7. Lactate Veins
8. Bloody Ballade
9. Rainbow Seeker
10. Close Every Door
11. Crow's Love
12. A Whisper of Dew

Rating: 45%

DOMAIN: Last Days of Utopia

Produced by Axel Ritt

Released: 2005

Epic symphonic neo-classical power metal. That’s Domain’s Last Days of Utopia in a nutshell. My thoughts on this genre have been expressed many times already, but this album is at least not totally worthless although I didn't find it particularly memorable.

Here is a band that definitely likes a bit of cheese with their pizza, and you need to go no further than second track “A New Beginning” to find it when Domain starts playing part of “Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairies” for no seemingly apparent reason. Next is the overwhelming 9-minute “On Stormy Seas” where the guitar shredding goes on and on for minutes at a time. As overwrought as it is, the playing on this track is nevertheless mindblowing and certainly grabs your attention. Most of the other songs here boast similar displays of wankery, and in truth it’s difficult to argue with the standard of musicianship needed to pull off such audacity. In the end though, there’s nothing really here that hasn’t been done innumerable times before.

Domain has been around for twenty years, so they are definitely very comfortable in their niche and doing it well, but it’s pretty clear that they aren’t very interested in breaking any new ground whatsoever.

1. Harbor of Hope
2. A New Beginning
3. On Stormy Seas
4. The Shores of Utopia
5. Ocean Paradise
6. The Beauty of Love
7. The Great Rebellion
8. Endless Rain
9. Last Days of Utopia
10. Underneath the Blue
11. Left Alone

Rating: 50%

DORO: Fight

Produced by Doro Pesch, Dan Malsch and Chris Lietz

Released: 2002

Most of Doro’s albums have been almost overloaded with session players and special guests, so it’s rather refreshing to find that Fight was recorded using her long-standing live band. That isn’t to say there aren’t a few notables who make an appearance here, including Pete Steele and Chris Caffery on ‘Descent’ and songwriting legend Russ Ballard, who contributes guitar to ‘Wild Heart’, a track he also co-wrote, but it’s interesting to see what the German metal queen can put together without a phone book’s worth of outsiders cramming the studio.

The truth of it is, Fight is okay, and that's all. There’s nothing jaw-droppingly outstanding on here and while it won’t win awards for musical depth or originality, it does contain a few choice tracks of Doro’s trademark German-style melodic heavy rock. ‘Always Live to Win’, ‘Salvaje’ and the very catchy ‘Chained’ – which should be the first track, not tucked away near the end – stand out as good solid fist-pumping arena rockers, the sort that would turn the fields of Wacken into a sea of bobbing heads from the first chord. ‘Sister Darkness’ is also a belter with a fuzzy, thrashy guitar sound. In typical Doro fashion, there’s also a bunch of big-voiced power ballads, like the Gene Simmons-penned ‘Legends Never Die’ and the aforementioned ‘Wild Heart’, both of which aren’t too bad.

Fight’s twelve tracks pass by easily enough, but apart from ‘Chained’ and ‘Salvaje’ it doesn’t really grab you by the throat and will probably wear itself out after a few listens.

1. Fight
2. Always Live to Win
3. Descent
4. Salvaje (Untouchable)
5. Undying
6. Legends Never Die
7. Rock Before You Bleed
8. Sister Darkness
9. Wild Heart
10. Fight by Your Side
11. Chained
12. Hoffnung

Rating: 58%

SUNS OWL: Recharged

Released: 2001

Suns Owl is a Japanese band that plays a roaring, raging form of modern thrash. Recharged is violent and caustic like early Skinlab but without any of the nu-metal pretensions, only pure, aggressive metal. Dispensing with trivialities like down-tunings and breakdowns, Suns Owl just roar in a high, angry gear over everything in their path.

This is some really quality, intense stuff, at times recalling Sepultura (‘Horse of Iron’) and in other places Vision of Disorder in their more metallic moments. The vocals are potently acidic, backed by a relentless, powerfully rhythmic guitar, honed to precision with a sharp clarity that further enhances the attack. Indeed, Recharged is a fine example of a band attempting a modern metal sound without compromising the heaviness and hostility that makes metal what it is. I’m not sure what purpose the techno-remixed ‘Psychedelic Terrorist’ is supposed to serve, however, as there’s no original version to compare it to here and it stands out like the ska riff in ‘Mulling Up’ but far more out of place—and seems completely unnecessary.

That one criticism aside, Suns Owl put a mighty slab together here that put other more famous bands to shame.

1. Introduction
2. Succession of the Truth
3. Unbound
4. Recharged
5. Horse of Iron
6. 4735 Days Like Hell
7. Hi-Tech HG
8. Mulling Up
9. Psychedelic Terrorust (NADA remix)
10. Pussywhipped

Rating: 85%

JIMMY BARNES: For the Working Class Man

Produced by Mark Opitz, Jimmy Barnes, Jonathon Cain, Chas Sandford and Gary Gersh.

Released: 1985

When Jimmy Barnes released Bodyswerve the beast that was Cold Chisel was barely dead in the ground and their former singer could have recorded almost anything and seen it go to #1 in Australia, which is precisely what did happen. But American conquest was always on Barnes' mind and the ragged bunch of garage rockers with their raw production from his first solo outing simply weren't going to cut it on the world's largest music market. For the Working Class Man was apparently the answer, half new material penned by professional songwriters and half of the previous album's songs given a fresh coat of paint.

Originally released in Australia as a double vinyl in a gatefold sleeve to compensate his domestic audience for the fact that this was, in effect, only half an album, For the Working Class Man replaced Bodyswerve's rough and ready blues with slick American-style radio rock. It made next to no impact on that market, but smashed into the top of the chart in Australia, where Barnesy's legions of fans simply didn't care that most of its songs were written for him by (and for) a bunch of Yanks. "Working Class Man", the histrionic blue-collar anthem that sealed Jimmy's reputation as a screamer of seemingly unlimited power was quickly adopted as some kind of unofficial nation anthem, the irony of it having been written by an American AOR guitarist completely lost on the Aussie masses blasting it out at every opportunity. While it subsequently captivated a generation, "Working Class Man" wasn't even the album's best song, an honour that lies with "Ride the Night Away", a scorching rocker written by Springsteen's right hand man Stevie van Zandt complete with Charlie Sexton on guitar and Mick Fleetwood nailing down the beats. Unlike "Working Class Man" where Jimmy's objective seems to be to blow his larynx out, the other songs feature a more controlled performance. The album also introduces the power ballad to Barnes' oeuvre in the shape of "Without Your Love". The only one of the new tracks to feature the singer's writing credit, it was a hint of what was to come from the man over his next couple of blockbusters.

The balance of For the Working Class Man was made up of seven of the twelve songs from Bodyswerve, giving a makeover by Bob Clearmountain in New York. Most noticable was that of "No Second Prize", where, for some reason, extra tracks of Barnes bellowing the chorus to the fade were dropped over Mal Eastick's guitar solo. The other songs were similarly dicked with, although not to same extent, but it really doesn't seem at all necessary and from a local perspective they were just stuck on to make it releasable as an album.

For the Working Class Man helped to establish Jimmy Barnes as Australia's top male rock singer, but it probably succeeded more because of his reputation than due to its songs. As good as the new songs were (well, except the US radio dross that is "American Heartbeat"), this was essentially just Bodyswerve with a handful of different tracks and is really just a stopgap between that album and the triumph of Freight Train Heart to come.

1. I'd Die to be With You Tonight
2. Ride the Night Away
3. American Heartbeat
4. Working Class Man
5. Without Your Love
6. No Second Prize
7. Vision
8. Promise Me You'll Call
9. Boys Cry Out for War
10. Daylight
11. Thickskinned
12. Paradise

Rating: 65%

THE DEVIL RIDES OUT: Volume III

Produced by Al Smith and The Devil Rides Out

Released: 2008

The Devil Rides Out is a Perth combo with an eclectic background: vocalist Joey K and drummer Royce Uyen were in early 90s death metal bands, guitarist Andrew Ewing from the indie band Thumb and original bassist Ben Franz is from The Waifs! The resultant sound is gritty blues and stoner metal, nothing like any of their other bands. "Volume III" is the third of their trilogy of EPs (all featuring six tracks each), and the first to feature Franz' replacement Brendan Ewing. It is also their dirtiest and heaviest material so far, given more impetus by some punchy production.

"Volume III" is also angry, pummelling and aggressive music that could well be the soundtrack to a fight. The riffs are sharp and abrasive, the vocals a caustic rasp that rises to a venomous bark. And The Devil Rides Out sure knows how to rock. On both "The Shape of a Heart" and "Six (I Got Your)" they dole out enormously catchy doses of rollicking groove-laden sludge that wouldn't be out of place on an album by Corrosion of Conformity. "Slow Gun" and "The World Has Fangs" are driven by bouncing riffs and the growling anger of the vocalist. "Fiftyonepercent" has a raw punk edge perfectly suited to Joey K's hardcore snarl that can at times recall Henry Rollins when he gets his blood up. The musical style may be different these days, but this man is no less pissed off at the world. "Meet Joe Blues" is mean and sleazy biker blues like the kind you'd find on the jukebox of the roughest pub in the universe.

This the perfect way for them to round out this triumvirate of releases, rough n' ready, violent rock n' roll, hard and unrelenting like a bare-knuckle brawl.

1. Slow Gun
2. Fiftyonepercent
3. The Shape of a Heart
4. Meet Joe Blues
5. The World Has Fangs
6. Six (I Got Your)

Rating: 78%

THIN LIZZY: Jailbreak

Produced by John Alcock

Released: 1976

I said a few days ago that Thin Lizzy invented twin guitar heavy metal, and while that may be a big call to make in light of the fact that Sad Wings of Destiny by Judas Priest came out on almost exactly the same day as this album, I stand by it. One listen to the closing track on this 1976 masterpiece should just about remove any doubt: "Emerald" is the prototype for all Iron Maiden songs, twin guitar melodies and criss-crossing lead breaks building to a crescendo of epic proportions. You can almost picture Steve Harris listening to this and saying, "That's what I want my band to sound like!"

Thin Lizzy made some great records but Jailbreak is possibly their greatest. Every song on here is a deadset gem, a testament to the abilities of the band and the sheer power of Phil Lynott's songwriting genius. His lyrics are evocative and detailed, like the story-telling poety of Dylan or Springsteen and he sings them in a richly resonant, velvety smooth voice that occasionally sounds like a lucid Hendrix. This album may be remembered mostly by many for the brilliant "The Boys Are Back in Town" with its vivid depiction of delinquent nightlife, but trying to find a track here that doesn't match it is virtually impossible. Lynott's almost seductive singing is offset by thunderously heavy riffing and the interplay of Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham, a team that, as mentioned, set the benchmark for dual-guitar rock that Maiden, Priest, Saxon and even Def Leppard would later mimic. It's a sublime and compelling combination, put together in a way that has never quite been matched.

For some reason, Jailbreak doesn't seem to enjoy the same level of regard these days as some of more illustrious releases from that year (and let's face it, there was some great ones: Sad Wings, Dirty Deeds, Dreamboat Annie, Destroyer, Hotel California, 2112) but metal may have never sounded quite the way it does without it.

1. Jailbreak
2. Angel from the Coast
3. Running Back
4. Romeo and the Lonely Girl
5. Warriors
6. The Boys are Back in Town
7. Fight or Fall
8. Cowboy Song
9. Emerald

Rating: 96%

HEINOUS KILLINGS: Hung With Barbwire

Released: 2006

From the sublime to the ridiculous. Yesterday I reviewed one of the greatest albums ever; today it's one of the worst. I knew this would be stupid before I even listened to it. Heinous Killings just about scrapes the barrell-bottom for ridiculous band names. "Barbwire" isn't even a word (it's "barbed wire") and the past tense of hang as in, to hang someone, is actually "hanged", not "hung". So the album title should be Hanged With Barbed Wire. But even if it had been called that, it wouldn't have stopped this being atrociously dumb and dumbly atrocious. Joe Wolfe used to be in a band called Clean Flesh, one of the worst bands ever. Heinous Killings is his solo project that rates as something even worse.

Wolfe has the most idiotic vocal approach of anyone in any band ever, including the parrot from Hatebeak and the dogs from Caninus, the song titles make Cannibal Corpse look like Shakespearean poetry and the music is muffled, talentless, one-dimensional garbage. This is why people think death metal is stupid.

I could shit on a guitar and then fart through a trumpet and still make a better album than this. When I reviewed this elsewhere a couple of years ago, I was accused of being a Slipknot fan who didn't understand death metal because I didn't like this, which just goes to show that even the most talentless idiot in the world can find a fan somewhere.

1. Possessed to Kill
2. Strangled by Intestines
3. Skinned Alive in Acid
4. Hung With Barbwire
5. Chopped Up in a Bodybag
6. Asphyxiating Soil
7. Dissected Spinal Cord
8. Infection Consumed
9. Severe Throat Stabs
10. Nailed Cranium

Rating: 0%

AC/DC: Back in Black

Produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange

Released: 1980

Where do you even start to review an album that is by mass of sales alone the greatest rock album ever made? Perhaps an anecdote might be a way to begin to explain the enduring qualities of Back in Black that has kept it at the forefront of rock since it first appeared.

During my late teens I went on a camping trip with some friends. Where we went and when isn't important. What is important is that the only music was had for the trip was Back in Black and the Blue Brothers soundtrack. That both got played endlessly and that we never got tired of either is a testament to the greatness of them. Back in Black was only about seven years old then, but even now it sounds as timeless.

As their tribute to their fallen comrade, AC/DC could have done no better. In making one of rock's defining moments they succeeded almost without peer. Back in Black has it all. Killer songs, ferocious guitar, some of the greatest riffs ever and the sheer power and caustic urgency of Brian Johnston, surely one of the world's most unique vocalists. The opening is simply ominous, as if announcing that this is the truly great piece of work it turned out to be. The slow tolling bell gives way to a simply evil-sounding intro; "Hell's Bells" is genius with Johnson's voice splitting eardrums the same way he tells us his flashing white light is splitting the night. The title track features one of the ultimate riffs of all time and a dirty blues vibe permeates through "Rock N Roll Ain't Noise Pollution". Everything is executed perfectly, even if Johnston's attempts at Bon Scott-like craftiness come occasionally unstuck. There is, for example, something quite disturbing about lines like "Don't you struggle, don't you fight/Don't you worry coz it's your turn tonight" from "Let Me Put My Love Into You", but in the impossibly catchy "You Shook Me All Night Long" he gets the metaphors so right that he and the band were fighting off allegations that Bon actually wrote it for well over a decade.

There really isn't any need to go on. Everyone is so familiar with Back in Black it defies being written about any more. Only a few other albums have come even remotely close to its greatness.

1. Hell's Bells
2. Shoot to Thrill
3. What Do You Do For Money Honey
4. Given the Dog a Bone
5. Let Me Put My Love Into You
6. Back in Black
7. You Shook Me All Night Long
8. Have a Drink On Me
9. Shake a Leg
10. Rock n Roll Ain't Noise Pollution

Rating: 100%

ROLLINS BAND: Weight

Produced by Theo Van Rock

Released: 1994

Weight made Rollins Band nudge the mainstream, while actually being far from it. With a delightfully satirical single becoming a minor hit and laden with lots of other great songs, Weight was the album Rollins had been working towards for almost a decade. The End of Silence had helped to gather a wider audience with its metallic leanings and more focused songwriting, but this follow-up went further still.

While ostensibly a punk band, Rollins Band also blended the aesthetics of both metal and jazz that was reinforced here by the addition of bassist Melvin Gibbs who gave the already searing rhythm section a swing-like vibe. Nothing that Henry Rollins does vocally could ever be described as actual singing, but his hard bellowing style does come close to carrying a tune here and there. Rollins' real skill lies with the urgency of his delivery, the sheer power of his voice and the enviable control he has over it. Whether a bark or a roar, you get the feeling that Henry Rollins could make himself heard and understood above the volume of his band even without any amplification. This would be no mean feat, because Rollins Band is a loud and very powerful unit, and on Weight they made the album of their career.

Weight capitalised on the success of the previous album and improved on its formula with even tighter songs and, as mentioned, a more jazz-inflected sound. Gibbs and drummer Sim Cain lay down a ridiculously swinging foundation for Chris Haskett's metal guitar lines as Rollins himself unleashes his vocal tirades. The man's lyrical scope widened here from the seemingly endless self-analysic of previous efforts to encompass broader issues, and throws in some self-effacing humour that, typically, went right over many heads. On the oft-misunderstood "Liar" he writes from another's perspective, and in "Icon" with lines like "lyrical visionary, caught in the spotlight" and "there'll be another Messiah right here, next week" he seems to be taking aim as much at himself as at other artists. "Disconnect" opens the album with a slow-burning menace, "Volume 4" and "Step Back" are brutal rockers that slam like a huge truck destroying everything in its path, then on "Fool" the band gets funky even behind Henry's angry bark. There really isn't a bad song on here although "Divine" really sticks out as somewhat weaker than the other. Certainly the clear highlight however is "Shine", an inspiring and uplifting song about self-empowerment and perfectly placed at the end of the album to balance out the stark anger and humbling despair of many of the other tracks.

Weight is the pinnacle of Henry Rollins' musical career, where he got everything just right. Other versions of Rollins Band made some good albums after this, but they have yet to match it.

1. Disconnect
2. Fool
3. Icon
4. Civilized
5. Divine
6. Liar
7. Step Back
8. Wrong Man
9. Volume 4
10. Tired
11. Alien Blueprint
12. Shine

Rating: 98%