Almost falling fowl of my OCD scythe (get your ID3 tags set properly guys, please!) I found myself in a charitable mood and gave this album a chance, and boy am I glad I did. ‘Blackened Thrash’ they call it, the ‘blackened’ prefix is a bit of needless bandwagoning if you ask me, as this is old-school, brutal thrash with a bit of Death in the mix, which in essence aligns it with proto-BM of the early 80′s.

As the album title suggest, this is an album about Mars with lyrical themes that resemble Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom sequence set in the Warhammer universe. This violent thread sees Earth pitched against Mars in a bloody holy war of epic proportions in the year 2222AD. Native Martian rulers sit high upon Olympus Mons while their minions sacrifice themselves in the name of the Martian Gods, to be slaughtered by Earth’s heretic hordes. Perhaps allegorical, this fantasy yarn exists in a parallel universe without hope of mercy, and is the perfect landscape for Scorched-Earth’s vicious racket.

Mars is a bile-filled, unrelenting attack on the senses, registering somewhere between Sodom, and recent era Darkthrone, almost matching the demonic duo for punkish intensity and old school credibility. The production is as raw as a gangrenous, frost-bitten toe – utterly unprocessed and equally as unapologetic. Every instrument registers, demonstrating a prodigious level of technique and artistry whilst staying loose and lean – this album could have been recorded live, and is no worse because of it. The quantity of gold-standard riffs packed in here is nothing short of staggering, each one demanding to be acknowledged – the track Devils in Iron alone has enough riffage to fill a Gama Bomb album. At times Scorched-Earth venture into doomish territory, as with the bludgeoning instrumental No Blade of Grass, which includes some jazzy bass work and gargantuan riffs, but for the most part Mars remains (and as much as I hate using clichés, but I can think of no more appropriate way of describing it) fast and furious.

Some of the tracks here hang around longer than they should, and at 53 minutes Mars is overlong as a thrash album – 10 minutes could be hacked away and the album would benefit. However, there’s more conviction, energy and credibility than here a hundred Municipal Wastes. Thematically this Mars is considered and immersive, I’d love to read the novelisation. This is a master-class in the essence of thrash, if not metal in general, and reminder of what it’s supposed to be about. Up there with this year’s must have albums.

Scorched-Earth Website

Scorched-Earth Myspace

What I spent my hard earned cash on recently.

The Ocean – Heliocentric

On releasing Precambrian, The Ocean had a whiff of the future about them. Delivering punishing post-metal reminiscent of Cult of Luna but stretching into more old school prog territories, referencing the likes of Pink Floyd. With Heliocentric they take a fairly radical turn, apparently into more post-hardcore territory. The fact that, with new vocalist Loic Rossetti, Heliocentric demonstrates a preference for clean vocals, although significant, isn’t really a concern here. It’s the fact that they’ve had to employ some fairly hackneyed melodic techniques to accommodate them. Now sounding like a less mature Oceansize, the band may view this as a personal progression, but it the grand scheme of things, this ends up sounding like the faux-boundary pushing of the likes of Between the Buried and Me. There are some rousing moments here, and hints at former glories, but nothing that really grabs the listener screaming “we have just rewired you brain!”, which is what I was hoping for. This is the sound of a band finding its feet with a new sound, and I commend them for it, but The Ocean have been around for quite a while now, and they should be sounding like a band well and truly in their stride. Heliocentric is part of a pendant of complementary albums, the second to be released late 2010 – we can only hope that they saved all their real creativity for the second half.

Cathedral – The Guessing Game

Unlike The Ocean, Cathedral are a band branching out into new, progish areas and sounding like they’ve been doing it all their lives. Cathedral’s sound may not be new any more, but they’ve always managed to make music that sounds totally out there, and The Guessing Game is the most ‘out there’ record they’ve released in a very long time. This is not an album for those new to Cathedral unless you happen to be a veteran with lengthy, noodling old school prog. But this isn’t simply prog revisionism, nor is it merely Cathedral ‘doing prog’, this is a pretty bold artistic statement and one that will see them revered as metal revolutionaries for another decade to come. Dorian and team feel as fresh as ever, and in terms of maturity and damned right assuredness, they’re so far ahead of the pack they almost everyone else may as well just give up.

The Dillinger Escape Plan – Option Paralysis

Perhaps the title of The Dillinger Escape Plan’s 4th full length album is indicative of their state of mind when they recorded this album. Throughout their career Dillinger have broadened their palate to include whatever damn well suited them and be damned with the rest of you. Managing to shock and confound on every single release, the seemingly endless diversity of the musical form was once again before them like giant smorgasbord for them to indulge their sonic crapulence. Option Paralysis describes the state where you have so many options available to you that you are mentally unable to act on any of them. In The Plan’s case, they appear to have been paralysed, for the first time in their career, into standing still, which is sad, because although Option Paralysis is a good album by any band’s standards, it lacks the elements of surprise and obstinacy that has really defined Dillinger’s career to date. I’ll forgive them for this hiatus from creativity, but the next release better damn well be a marshmallow vindaloo of an album.

Barren Earth – The Curse of the Red River

With Opeth sounding like Opeth while managing to sound utterly different with every release, Barren Earth sound like Opeth trying to not sound like Opeth. A mix of doomy death and through-the-ages prog, Barren Earth’s sound is Technicolor and cavernous. Referencing 70’s prog in a more literal sense than Opeth, complete with synth solos and folkish bits, there’s a distinct air of Dream Theatre. Unfortunately, for almost every instance of proggy goodness, the unsubtly arranged and delivered death vocals spoil the party – Curse… sometimes has a whiff of Nu-Metal about it. It’s like the DM vocals are there purely to qualify this album a progressive death record, but this is akin to remixing a King Crimson’s In the Court of the Crimson King with hip-hop interludes. There are moments of pure Death here, but they mostly sound like Opeth, with a bit of Morbid Angel thrown in. It grates to the extent that I simply don’t enjoy listening to this, an album that otherwise I’d really love. I don’t rate albums but if I did, it Curse of the Red River would get 2/10 as a (prog)-death album, and 8/10 as pure prog.

Ludicra – The Tenant

Whether the kvlt like it or not, Black Metal is evolving. That doesn’t mean hardcore crossovers and progressive dabbling, but developing its monolithic core around creative minds and thus spewing a more paisley misanthropic ooze. So here we have San Francisco’s Ludicra and an oestrogen inflected black masterpiece called The Tenant. Ludicra mix tempos and melodies not usually associated with BM, but somehow obviously belonging to BM as if they merely discovered them in some corpse infested basement. The Tenant is at times mournful, others unsettlingly aggressive, managing to inject melody and riff hungry groove, evoking anything from Burzum to Megadeth to labelmates Worm Ourourboros. The female element is apparent, straying from the lowbrow bludgeoning of much of the genre, softening edges where they need softening, but tearing ragged maws to redress the balance – this is not ‘softer’ just more balanced. Regardless of genre, The Tenant is an accomplished record as you’ll find this year, and one that simply radiates class and creativity. Black Metal it is, through and through, but of a new sort, not progressive, just a progression.

It’s perhaps typical of the gung-ho Gallic approach to Black Metal that some of the most exotic forms of this embattled genre derive from France. On one hand, you have the musically ultra-progressive and philosophically zealous Deathspell Omega (either the saviour or soiler of the BM artform) and on the other you have Alcest, who are something altogether different.

Écailles de Lune isn’t a black metal album as such. Sonic alchemist and sole band member Neige has crafted a total immersion musical landscape that variously caresses and claws at your emotions playing out the magical narrative that’s utterly mesmerising. Écailles… could have easily have descended into sonic slush with its mix of mixing atmospheric Black Metal reminiscent of early Burzum, plaintive shoegaze, and post-rock, but somehow it all seems so natural together. Three genres deeply rooted in the pursuit of atmospherics, the soothing shoegaze is broken by dramatic and emotive BM passages while the post-rock elements offer a cinemascopic breadth. Not only does it work, it’s hard to imagine why no-one did this before.

Alcest will, in perpetuity, be bound to their pure BM beginnings, but with Écailles de Lune have produced a ‘black metal’ album that is neither particularly ‘black’ or even ‘metal’. In that respect it’s better compared to the other standout BM crossover release this year – Ludicra’s The Tenant which similarly plays acrobatics with the BM genre but to somewhat different effect.

Écailles de Lune is haunting but beautiful, exhilarating and soothing. The otherworldly atmosphere is only enhanced by the entirely French vocals that make, for a non-French speaking listener (well, I can order a cup of coffee and ask for directions in French, themes that don’t feature particularly highly in this narrative!) this a purely musical experience, which doesn’t at all detract from the ethereal majesty of it all, but in some ways enhances it. In that respect, this release bears comparisons to wacky Icelandic sound sculptors Sigur Ros – indeed, much of this album would play out quite nicely as the soundtrack to the BBC science/nature documentary.

The sign of a truly great album is that, when the last notes fade to silence, you’re left yearning for more. Much much more. The BM or shoegaze or any other label is entirely beside the point, here – Écailles de Lune sounds like an album that needed to be made – as if merely uncovered from the musical mêlée like a beautiful fresco on a grimy church wall.

The likelihood is that this will be shunned by the BM crowd for its ‘indie’ leanings and the French vocals won’t help commercially outside of France, so Alcest will struggle to get a popular foothold, which is a shame as this album needs to be heard by many, many people. Here we have then, the first absolutely essential album of 2010.

The good

Spring 2010

What a marvelous season Spring 2010 promises to be for live music. I’ll personally be attending gigs from 3 bona fide legends: Opeth’s 20th anniversary show where they will be playing Blackwater Park in its entirety in the regal surrounds on the Royal Albert Hall. The mighty Cathedral are playing in a broom cupboard at the University of London in late April supported by Japanese doom icons Church of Misery. Finally one of the greatest alternative bands of all time, Pavement, are playing to most of the population of London on their marathon 4 night stint at Brixton Academy in May. I may be deaf, but at least I’ll be happy.

Warrior Soul

I’ve recently rediscovered Warrior Soul. Quite why this band slipped largely off my radar for the best part of 15 years I’ve no idea. Some sort of acid-psych-metal-punk hybrid, Warrior Soul made a big splash in the early 90′s but never managed to capitalise on the early success and widespread critical acclaim. It’s a shame, because listening back on their classic albums Last Decade Dead Century, Drugs, God and the New Republic and Space Age Playboys, they the still sound fresh and their snarling polemic is more relevant today than ever. They released new material last year that’s well worth checking out. You can get their albums on Ebay for real cheap, go treat yourself!

Profound Lore

I didn’t realise that I was a big fan of Canadian label Profound Lore until I realised that many of my favourite releases of the past year were from bands on that label: Cobalt, Krallice, Ludicra, Worm Ouroboros, Portal (well, favourite is a strong word here, they are certainly one of the most interesting acts I’ve heard recently). Unlike many labels that claim to foster creativity, but merely churn through generic sub-genre acts, Profound Lore are really tinkering on the blurry edges of the metal genre. Try listening to Worm Ouroboros and Portal in the same sitting and you’re likely to need a period of recovery in you local asylum.

The Bad

Varg Vikernes

No friends

Varg Vikernes had a unique opportunity on leaving prison. He had gained near legendary status among the Black Metal kvlt and kudos disproportionate to any artistic merit or talent displayed in his early work. Having released some shoddy synth music under the Burzum moniker while in the locker, his first album proper after Filosofem was his chance to dispel the haters and reclaim his throne as the dark Pope of misanthropy. Gloss over those overt racist views, keep a low public profile (as is de rigeur in BM cirlces) and record the forward thinking, but backwards glancing record of his career – that’s what was needed; the ever conservative BM community would have hoisted the bugger on their shoulders for a victory lap of Hades.

Prison was never really a place to broaden your horizons and hone your media skills. Vikernes came out of prison all guns a blazin’ like the new sheriff in town. On release of his anticipated new album Belus, amidst a mini media storm related to some overtly racist comments, Varg whored himself out to any metal publication that would interview him and proceeded to contradict and undermine himself with every sentence. He claims to hate the media for vilifying him, despite the fact that he’s a convicted murdered. He claims to not care what people think of what he says, so why say anything at all? Apparently whoring yourself out to the media is furthering an agenda of apathy towards them and their readers. He says we’re all stuck in a ‘politically correct sewer’, and thus have a narrow or directed worldview, then aligns himself with NSBM (National Socialist Black Metal – basically a bunch pubescent, redneck, corpse paint wearing Neanderthals looking to irritate their parents) – find me a more narrow worldview than that!

The simple fact is Varg did some very ill-considered and bad stuff as a stupid, naive teenager and paid the price. He’s now a bitter old racist hick who lost half of his life to an adolescent mistake, and has a chip the size of a burning church on his shoulder about it. Now he’s trying to dress his self loathing up in a veil of mystique and black metal misanthropic posturing.

Top work Varg. With your shallow polemic and sensationalist, Daily Mail baiting, cover story grabbing antics you’ve managed to utterly fail to capitalise on your ‘legendary’ status and lost all credibility in the process. You’ve recorded a dated and mediocre album and the black metal fraternity has already disowned you. Bravo Varg! (Perhaps this should have gone in the ‘good’ section!)

Is Doom becoming popular?

Liz Buckingham - poster girl for the Doom scene?

It couldn’t happen could it? We’ve been discussing this at length over at Thee Big Black. Suspicion started when Electric Wizard played to an unprecedented Scala crowd last year, then Sunn O)))’s huge Koko gig attended by those of good hair. Since, there have been increasing numbers of sightings of unshaven, poorly coiffured, trucker capped stoner types lurking around the streets of Britain seemingly starting to outnumber the moping packs of pierced Emos. Well, the last thing any self respecting Doom head wants is for a bunch of Jonny come lately’s trampling their arid, barren lawn. Then there was this…on please god nooooo!

…and the Ugly

I’m not generally a big fan of Black Metal, in the same way that I’m not a fan of rattling a Quality Street tin full of pebbles next to my ear. However, lately a few bands have been creeping into my into my unwilling conciousness. These seem to be of a slightly less traditional Black Metal form and of a more progressive ilk (for example Enslaved’s Monumension and bits and peices of Anaal Nathrakh).

This track by ‘Avant Garde’ black metallers <code> really stands out. Haunting vocal harmonies wash over eerie guitars punctuated by agressive black metal noise. This is not just your average black metal creepy posturing – there’s real songwriting ability here. These guys seem to treat black metal as a playground in the same way that Opeth do with death. I’m not really familar with their back catalogue (although the track The Cotton Optic is also excellent), but if this is anything to go by, they are going to be very popular indeed.

Black metal, grindcore, industrial black metal, death metal? Make up your mind boys for gods sake!

Too cool for corpse paint

Anaal Nathrakh generally sound mostly black metal, although don’t suffer that terrible corpse paint affliction that most black metal children do. This song is actually a little frightening, but extremely enjoyable never the less. With a foot firmly in the grind camp, there’s also an air of Rammstein here, and not a whole lot of black metal at all.

Warning, this will make your ears bleed!

http://www.last.fm/music/Anaal+Nathrakh/_/The+Final+Absolution