CD

Say hello to the band that at some moments sounds more AC/DC-ish than AC/DC themselves do…

Intensive touring within Holland and Belgium and one album release explain why Kadavar are so well known in the Benelux stoner scene. Abra Kadavar, the band’s second album, is a rush of adrenaline throughout its entire duration. This disc finally realizes the potential of Lupus Lindemann – vocals & guitar, Mammut – bass and Tiger – drums on the hauntingly retro sound of the previous album, the band decides to flesh out the sound with a bit more Hawkwind-like space punch.

Here's an interesting one. Iron Hearse is a UK band whose sound is much akin to older Fu Manchu, Sheavy, The Obsessed and a doomier Orange Goblin. Get in the Hearse kicks off with a nice up-tempo “Wolf clergy” with cow-bell, which is followed by one of the prize tracks of this album, “A slow and heavy ride”  God, what a memorable-like riff here and also the rest of the guitar work, showing Grant at his fiery best..

Not really my cup of tea, this legendary U trash/Crust/metal band, I can’t really say I have missed them since they first started around 1984-1985. They have released a steady stream of new albums between 1986 and 1992, when they split up. Having been reformed in somewhere in 2007-2008 they released ‘The Need To Kill’ in 2009.  This is actually the first time I ever heard something of this band.  My first impression was that I did hear some early Slayer in their music. I don’t hear the so-called punk influences though.

On February 5, 2013, the band announced their name change to Ghost B.C.in the United States due to legal reasons. Discussing the name change, a Nameless Ghoul said ‘B.C.’ is obviously a pun on ‘Before Christ’, but it’s just an amendment. In our world, we’re just gonna be called Ghost, and when we refer to our records, it’s gonna be the Scandinavian version, saying Ghost only, and we are never ever ever ever ever ever gonna call ourselves Ghost B.C. in any way.

"F.K.Ü." stands for "Freddy Krueger's Ünderwear." And is also the name of the band that wants/needs to rid the world of everything but horror and metal. The band came into existence back in 1987. In those days they were more or less pure S.O.D. die-hard disciples, but not much later they went into an hiatus for several years. So upon reading their very limited bio I immediately thought this was in the same way as Rob Zombie.

These Finnish metallers sure know their game: powerful, terrific hooks; heavily overloaded sweeping rhythms; and fantastic, scorching guitar work relying on fast-mid paced, yet imaginative enough drumming. This is one well-functioning unit. And thanks to all of the above, the album flows very nicely and manages to maintain focus and interest, with a couple of softer moments, for the sake of variation. The songs are all well-written and display the band's undeniable talent.

When my editor-in-chief handed over some 15 albums to be reviewed about a month ago, I didn't really check what was into the package until about a week later (I had too much backlog work to be done first before I could concentrate on something else), and found myself somewhat dumbfounded at finding the new Aborym album in there. Surely, he knew that this band had Black Metal ties?

I guess the easiest way to describe this band is to tag them with the sludge metal label. Their thick rhythms, distorted riffs, fat grooves, and heavy as shit drumming is a trademark of the genre, so I guess that's what they are. It's very hard not to be drawn onto bands like Lento, Amebix, Melvins, Godflesh, Switchblade and more when listening to this. From the opener of “Trakthor” through “Melicow” and “Moongitruce” the band seems to create an honest and raw take on.

Norway has always been one of my elected countries when it comes to so-called Nordic-styled Black Metal, of course, yet also when talking about whipping, possessing Traditional Folk Music. I’m not only referring to, for example, some of the project done by Black Metal artists (like Darkthrone, Satyricon, Windir with a couple of folkish side-projects), even though, when introducing this band, I have to refer to the Norwegian Black Metal scene as well.