Windir - Sóknardalr (1997)

Windir is most often celebrated for their later albums, but I have to say. after exploring back through their discography this winter, that they had a fairly developed, advanced sound going back to their Sóknardalr debut in 1997. There are still a few parts of the performance and production that seem amateurish, to be sure, but the sense of melody was already advanced, folk-like rhythms aplenty, and the use of cleaner vocals to offset the genre rasping were also a good choice, although I think they lack a little of the confidence they would develop. Atmospherically, though, if you just want to immerse yourself in some formative Viking black metal through your speakers of headphones, this debut is a trip if you manage your expectations. Not as blistering or savage as the early Enslaved stuff, but also not as goofy as something like Otyg.

You're essentially getting that full Windir package, just not as refined as 1184. They have the ability to use those predictable but pretty sorts of guitar melodies without sounding foolish, unlike a lot of the emergent 'folk metal' bands which sound more like they're ready to take stage at a Renaissance Faire and make jokes of what was crafted from some more serious cultural influences. A lot of this stuff here was also drafted up from the band's demos, which I remember making a stir in the underground during that mid-90s era. And let's not forget, the Norwegians were pretty young when they started off, I know at least Valfar was in his teens when this came out, and to that end, it's impressive, especially as he's performing everything but the drums and some clean vocals! The first song "Sognariket sine krigarer" is a little rough, but it does at least capture the spread of aesthetics that the band would be using throughout its existence. After that, though, some of the songs are a lot better, more matured and developed, like "Det som ver Haukareid" with its slower flow and great interplay of riffs and organs, backing vocals and rasps that feel a little more adherent to the music where they started off the album sticking out a little like a sore thumb.

And these are the same snarly, raspy vocals that appear on all the other albums, but there they get a better mix that embeds them into the instruments where a few points here they just go overboard. Not a deal breaker, of course, when you've got catchy tunes like "Mørket sin fyrste" with its anthemic charge, or "I ei krystallnatt", or "Røvhaugane" which are other favorites on this disc. The melodic sensibility here is just about as good as it was with Finland's Amorphis on their brilliant mid-90s run, even though it's arriving through a different sub-genre. Windir was far more focused on this aspect than others in their scene, who would flirt with the melodies and harmonies but engage in a lot more dissonant chords or post-Hellhammer grooves. For Valfar, this was the modus operandi, not just the end goal. There are catchier earworm guitar licks in some of the verses than some of his peers could muster at the climaxes of all their efforts. So all in all, this was a pretty good debut. The mix is a bit more raw than the later albums which are a lot more layered, but it still sounds crisp and clear to me. This was also the most interesting record to revisit since it hasn't stayed in my rotation through the decades.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

Deströyer 666 - Unchain the Wolves (1997)

Unchain the Wolves is an improvement on the EP in several ways, as the band converts more directly into a black metal sound with influences from others like Bathory or Hellhammer/Celtic Frost, and creates a much more immersive, structural and atmospheric sound. Still, it retains a little of the savagery from the earlier years, at any moment willing to bust out into some great speed/thrash rhythms and there are parts here that only separate themselves from the EP via the cleaner production aesthetics. I always thought this one had a super cheesy look to the cover, having still found their band name silly back in the 90s and then the wolf on the cover reminds me of something I'd get on a T-shirt at some smoke shop in the mall when I was a teenager.

With age, though, I can start to appreciate these things, I love the white wolf and the simplistic and menacing nature, and have even warmed up to the name. So too has the music grown on me over the years; again, this is not a favorite in their catalogue, but it's absolutely a solid listen for some more straightforward black metal. They almost overwhelm you with the opening track, "Genesis to Genocide", 10+ minutes long with this cool, frosty extended intro that features low pianos, brooding ambiance and sets up a surge of sea-storm riffs that wouldn't have sounded out of place on Blood Fire Death. This is not the only 'epic' on the album, the title track will take you by surprise with its great, majestic atmospheric sequences with a little bit of droning feedback, reverbed clean vocal lines, and a nice escalation into some thundering riffs and melodies, truly if Quorthon had written a record while touring the outback, this is what it may have ended up sounding like...although the production K.K. Warslut and crew get here is a lot more current with the 90s standards.

Otherwise, the album is full of straightforward ragers like "Australian and Anti-Christ" (great title) that convey a lot more of the hybrid of black, speed and thrash metal that the band will eventually revert to almost exclusively in later decades. K.K.s vocals are the same barking holocaust as the EP, though he will also turn in a few more decrepit rasps. I love some of the sped-up Celtic Frost style riffs and the punkish, hellish energy. This record has a few more standouts that I'd usually include on a D666 playlist like "Damnation's Pride" and "Six Curses from a Spiritual Wasteland", and again I'd compliment the production; the leads spike out from the rhythm sections, nothing's too complicated, just devastating, and the drumming and vocals really breathe throughout the record. I'm sure some of their original audience rued this transformation here, but there's still enough primacy that it doesn't feel like any sort of sell-out or anything. Good record, if not great, one I still break out from time to time.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://www.destroyer666.uk/

Dawnbringer - Unbleed (1997)

Full disclosure: Unbleed is my favorite Dawnbringer album, but that does come with a few caveats. The production here leaves a lot to be desired, and I realize that eventually their style drifts far away enough from this debut full-length to almost seem like an entirely different band, so some listeners that might never have heard it, and joined in on their more directly heavy-metal oriented efforts, might be surprised. But this is the first album I picked up in a bargain bin at the place my friends and I would grab import metal CDs, with its curious, idyllic nature scene and waterfall, and despite thinking the mix was thin even back in the 90s, I was instantly smitten by the passionate contrast of ear-bleeding riff melodicism, atmosphere, and rasping vocals. I remember sharing this with one of my bandmates from that era (also on guitars) and I think the playing here might even have rubbed off on both of us.

It's still the same style as the Sacrament EP, which I only encountered 25 years after this, with passages of driving melodic black metal interspersed with flourishes of classical acoustic guitars, and this time out they dropped the stupid, boxed off vocal effects, for a more effective and traditional black metal rasp, and added in some tasteful touches of organ in tunes like "Waterbreath" that really elevate them. I'll say this now, if it had a slightly bulkier mix and some actual visibility, Unbleed might have been a record that fans of vintage In Flames or Dark Tranquillity would have attached to immediately, possibly Dissection, and I'd even wonder if later groups like the excellent Obsequiae had ever heard this, because there is that same sense for centralized melodicism in both, even though the execution isn't quite the same. Now, the mix isn't even really that bad, the guitars, beats and organs all mingle seamlessly, the acoustics tasteful and elegant. The bass isn't super standout here (neither on the EP) but you can hear it cruising below like a faster take on Steve Harris, simply subordinate to the bristling melodies in tunes like "Witness", which ironically also have a strong Iron Maiden influence.

But it's all a little narrow in tone, so some of the depth to the songwriting and guitar tone has to come in through the listener's imagination, which it does, but had this been beefed up then it might have wound up in a lot more stereos and headphones. Also, though the vocals are improved, when you listen up closely they still don't seem to be recorded perfectly, and they can come off a little overbearing next to the instruments, but nowhere soiling my admiration for this disc. It's not entirely a one-man show this time, I believe Chris had picked up another guitarist, and they work well in tandem, and it's really this excellent little US melodic black metal gem that I'm not sure many have even listened to. It seems like that whole scene was ushered over to the States by all the hardcore/metalcore bands that heard Slaughter of the Soul and then changed their styles to match, but in fact we already had Dawnbringer and a few others at the vanguard (and frankly, a lot better). You'll note that I love a lot of this band's output, but Unbleed has that personal connection which maintains the top spot for me.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10]

Arcturus - La Masquerade Infernale (1997)

If the masks, costumes and title don't tip you off, La Masquerade Infernale is the point when Arcturus decided to widen the net of their already expansive influences, and transform into a sort of oddity that dwells in that tent on the edge of the Norwegian carnival. Within moments, there's already a massive amount of experimentation and stylistic deviation from the previous album which is simultaneously jarring and compelling. There is still a sense of the same structure, the band largely lopes along at a slow to mid pace through the tracks, but that wintry atmosphere prevalent on Aspera has been replaced with a strange amalgamation of a dance hall, an Edgar Allen Poe story and a demonic ballroom serving the nobility on some random plane of Hell.

The first track alone, "Master of Disguise" has programmed breakbeats, numerous vocal layers including Rygg's wavering Gothic tones and ICS Vortex's yodeling guest spots, and lots of details and nuances above the rhythmic skeleton of an Aspera tune. Add to that a shredding lead, much proggier bass lines from Hugh Mingay, and a whole squad of guests performing traditional instruments, even the alumni Carl Tidemann pops in for a track (although he has stepped down for Knut Valle.) It's goofy as balls, but also pretty impressive in how the band has committed to this stranger, chamber-music style. That's not to say they don't drift backwards at times towards the gracefulness of the earlier material, as in "Ad Astra" with its great strings and atmosphere, or "Alone" which is probably the hardest hitting 'metal' track which sounds a little like Rygg-fronted Borknagar, but also the one tune here which seems like it fills in the 'missing link' between the members' black metal roots and the style adopted for Arcturus.

It also gets a little more frightening and exotic than its predecessor in tunes like "Painting My Horror", controlled bursts of chaos mixed in with graceful harmonies between the guitars and synths, but therein also lies one of the flaws I have with this one. The music is often brilliant, but the vocals, especially those in the mid-range, just come across as goofy as some of Vintersorg's lines when he was in Otyg. It's like some goofy drunken Goth rocker stepped into the sessions, and the tragedy is that Garm blends this with more effective, acidic delivery in "Of Nails and Sinner" and that style clearly wins out against that deeper tone. I love the bass, the drumming, the symphonics and guitars throughout almost the whole thing, the ICS vortex vocals in "The Chaos Path" are awesome, and there's no question that this is perhaps the most visionary leap they took in their career, but it's tarnished by just enough absurdity that it took me some time to really appreciate.

These days I do find myself enjoying it more often than not, but I can't help but consider it a blueprint for what would instantly become my favorite Arcturus. The image thing got a little weird, where their contemporaries The Kovenant (also featuring Hellhammer) would transform from start symphonic black metal hopefuls into the weird scraps left on the floor of a Marilyn Manson backstage dressing room, this was more of an avant-garde/historical/cabaret thing that they'd maintain, a little classier but just as necessary. The music speaks for itself, and indeed, most of La Masquerade Infernale does. I just think it could have used some select editing, especially in some of the vocal lines.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

http://www.facebook.com/arcturusnorway

Megadeth - Cryptic Writings (1997)

Cryptic Writings was hardly the abrupt faceplant many of our favorite bands had experienced across the decades, but it was nonetheless a massive disappointment for me, and almost immediately cut off my interest in whatever was going on in the Mustaine camp. Even today, as I put this thing back on to cover it, I could barely remember any of the individual tracks, despite numerous attempts through the years. By 1997, there was a lot more going on with metal music, it was starting to 'pick up' again with the progress of death and black metal, power metal was also starting to gather some momentum internationally, and though thrash wouldn't see it's proper resurgence for another decade, a few of the acts were still hanging on where they could.

So an album that largely consists of lukewarm offerings in the Youthanasia style wasn't going to cut it, especially since they were just nowhere near as catchy as on that underrated work. I will say that this album is really well produced, they'd largely cemented themselves into this mid-paced rock style and everything is presented clean and potent. The bass grooves, the acoustics, the rhythm tone, the drums all sound as slick and bacteria-free as whatever pop plastic you were pumping into your CD player at the time. Mustaine's vocals are restrained here, and he's starting to bark out lines that feel like repetitions off previous albums, especially the last two, but he still sounds good, and there's only a little bit of cringe here, his more manic lines like the counter-vocals in "Mastermind" are actually well implemented, and in the goofy backyard barbeque rocker "Have Cool, Will Travel" he actually soars. I'll also say that whenever this record picks up the intensity, like the later-Coroner grooves of that very track, or the flightier fits of speed metal in "The Disintegrators", "Vortex" or "She-Wolf", it gets a lot more fun to experience, but even then they rarely have a chorus payoff that can contend with their greats.

Yes, there's more velocity in places than Youthanasia, so the band doesn't seem entirely committed to phoning in the performances of their limbs, but there are single tracks on Hidden Treasures that are better than anything throughout this whole playtime. They threaten a few power ballads, but always throw in a few heavier hooks to balance them out. Unfortunately this still ends up with some dull tunes like "Use the Man", which has a semi-Western vibe to it but never really hits you with a cross hook of surprise catchiness. "I'll Get Even" fares a little better, but it might as well be a Phil Collins song if you didn't hear Dave's distinct voice. They may have taken the watered down approach a little far here, but also seem to have a little identity crisis as they head back in earlier directions, just lacking the same level of songwriting quality or finesse. It's not a total dud, and pleasant enough to throw on in the background since Mustaine's melodic sneer still demands a modicum of attention...

Hell, compared to the shit show that would follow it two years after, this could be deemed a masterpiece. But Cryptic Writings is clearly, at least to me, the point at which the levee had broken and the flood of mediocrity had started to enter the band's trajectory. It would also be Nick Menza's last with the band, not a high note to end that best known lineup with.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

https://www.megadeth.com/

Annihilator - Remains (1997)

Somewhere along the line, Jeff Waters started listening to a lot of White Zombie and Ministry, probably some of Prong's transformative works during this same period, and thus Remains was born, an album that is inarguably the most 'experimental' in Annihilator's catalogue. There are still a number of straight-up thrash tracks, which makes the album even more confusing, but the whole thing is a fucking mess that shouldn't have ever seen the light of day, even if Jeff had stuck with just one of the particular sounds he was exploring. I can't tell what's worse, the totally bland cover image or the music itself, which seems to utterly fail to grab onto a proper hook or chorus no matter which avenue of heavy music it is trying to explore, all of which feel pretty derivative, just not from the source they should have been...Annihilator's impressive debut years.

"Dead Wrong" sounds like "Walk" from Pantera, only mixed slightly more for rivet-heads with the vocal filter. "Sexecution" sounds like a bad Rob Zombie from the Great White North, only Rob would have tossed this track off his first few forthcoming solo albums for how unforgivably bland it is. He can't even stick to the same industrial metal sound, "No Love" goes a bit more like a Goth-y Ministry, and the album gets even WEIRDER than this..."Wind" sounds like a slightly more dissonant version of Rush, "Bastiage" sounds like some 80s synth music from a big budget 80s cop flick only with some chugging layered in. Keep in mind that throughout this, Waters occasionally swings back into thrash mode for tunes like "Tricks and Traps", and Remains winds up totally disoriented and disorienting and making you question why any record label executive in his/her right mind would approve this for release other than a test copy that would be immediately discarded to the nearest wastebasket.

If Jeff had stuck to one experiment and created something more compelling and cohesive, I would have happily forgiven the total sea change and perhaps even enjoyed it, but this is an album that lives up to its title as the corpsified 'Remains' of a once-promising metal band that lost its way completely in an age of rapidly evolving trends. And I don't say these things because I hate any of these other genres...I was and 'remain' a huge fan of industrial metal today, including most of what Jeff was probably inspired by, but this album simply doesn't do any of that any justice, and certainly not Annihilator. Production is all over the place, you can count the catchy riffs in the thrash songs on two fingers, and even the track list isn't laid out in any way where these broad strokes can complement one another. It would turn out to be a short-lived deviation, to be fair, but coming off what was already a pretty miserable stretch of albums with no hope in sight, I'm beyond shocked that the Canadian survived this one.

Verdict: Epic Fail [2/10]

https://www.annihilatormetal.com/

Embracing - Dreams Left Behind (1997)

Ironically, the sophomore Embracing album Dreams Left Behind had slightly superior production to the debut, and in addition I thought that the artwork was also a little better...the band (or label) really likes its purple tones but, hey, that can look flashy with its razor-hone digital logo. That's the thing with a lot of these old Invasion Records releases, there was just this fantastical, dreamy quality to them, even some of the bad ones, which sparks my nostalgia. That said, the mix of this disc is still really weak when compared against many of the other Swedish bands performing in this style, in full froth as it was breaking out all over the world during this period, and while the music here is nothing to really scoff at, it just made me crave a better sounding version of the debut instead...

The volume's a little better with the instruments, from the cleaner strings to the clean vocals which aren't all that good performance-wise, but sound pretty smooth. Piano, synthesizer and other accoutrements are used liberally to contrast against the melodeath moments, which by this point all feel fairly standard and don't have a ton of payoff. In fact, some of the guitar tones in cuts like "Stolen Memories" still feel as if they haven't been mixed so well, a little thicker than on the debut, and not so disturbingly tinny, but neither are they exception. And in other places, like "Killers Nature", they mete out this great winding melody which probably deserved a better song overall. The harsh vocals here still seem a little on the loud side, and it makes it that much more awkward when they alternate into some of the cleans, but this wasn't really a band you listen to for that as much as the guitar-work.

And the guitars are pretty friendly here, perhaps too much in some places, as they almost flirt with a bit of softer rock on their attempts to create acoustic sequences worthy of "Moonshield" on In Flame's masterwork The Jester Race. There are certainly some decent moments spread throughout this one, with a lot of mood or melancholy, but they're almost always botched up by a clean vocal that just doesn't quite reach where it wants to be, or an issue with the mix. Embracing was just throttled by this problem throughout its brief sting, and while it's not as big of an issue with Dreams Left Behind, and this is pleasant enough, I simply liked the songs from the debut much more.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

Non Serviam - Between Light and Darkness (1997)

Non Serviam was another Invasion Records act which was attempting to service a number of the dominant Scandinavian metal trends of the time, without falling too much into a single category. Certainly there is a giant amount of Dark Tranquillity or At the Gates going into this debut, from the melodic riffing heavily reminiscent of the former, to the main rasped vocal that resembles Lindberg. At the same time, they were obviously immersed in the melodic black metal of peers like Dissection, Dawn and Dissection, so you have these two represented in about equal measure through Between Light and Darkness, without either one ever winning out, and both performed competently enough that anyone who was seeking out some of the same on either end might have have a go at this for a couple weeks when it was new.

As for myself, I don't particularly enjoy the production throughout this debut, it's snarly and does the job enough to make out all the riffs and instruments, but feels a little dry and depthless. The keys and bass guitars sound decent, the drums a little too splashy, and the vocals feel a bit plain when they are supposed to be spitting such vitriol. Non Serviam was not a band that lacked competence in the riffs, and the selections here were passable for either of the main styles wound through this, but often they come off as bland and predictable. There are quite a few that feel like pure heavy metal progressions (as in the title track), but these have just been done before elsewhere and better. The synthesizers were wisely just used for some emphasis on atmosphere, but even then they seem a little dull, they border on transforming the album into pure symphonic black metal in places but never quite arrive.

There are also some obnoxious clean vocals that pop up ("Satan's Spree") which aren't necessarily a bad idea on paper, but come off a little rough. However, once can't really deny some of the positives to this one, like the excellent bass playing or the kind of dark, dingy mood to which they twine these styles together. Between Light and Darkness has lots of potential, and they'll have another chance to manifest that, but I usually only listen to this one in small bursts, it's just not an album I wanna visit from one end to the other. Still, if you're basically a living encyclopedia for all these Swedish sounds of yore, this is one you might want to at least sample since it forms like a nexus of so much of what was happening in that scene in the mid 90s.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

Indungeon - Machinegunnery of Doom (1997)

Indungeon seems like it had the potential to be the sickest thing ever. A cool portmanteau band moniker. A clear nod to Warhammer 40K or some other sci-fi wargaming with a cover that belonged on a Bolt Thrower demo. The album title Machinegunnery of Doom, just how awesome is that? Then you look through the band's lineup and it's essentially a who's who of the Swedish underground, members of Indungeon had been involved with or would LATER be involved with Falconer, Thy Primordial, Vanhelgd, King of Asgard, Mithotyn, and Lucifer. This album also came around when bands were first starting to fish around in that retro territory with regards to blending vintage speed, thrash, death and black metal together much like their influences did during the Dawn of Time (otherwise known as the 80s). Sweden was ahead of the game in that regard, Bewitched being a prime example.

So with all that going for it, I am sad to say that Machinegunnery of Doom doesn't quite live up to all the expectations it created. It's competent enough, don't get me wrong, and has a well balanced production that lets all of its instruments and aesthetics shine, but it's absolutely the sort of metal import you'll bang your head along to a few times, appreciate the sincerity and execution, and then forget within a few moments, aside from perhaps the superficial details above. They basically play thrash metal from both the Slayer-ific and Teutonic schools, but it's very often meted out at a moderate pace and lacks many truly explosive or exciting moments. It might be that they were trying to give the material a more melodic, epic feel, almost as if Sodom around 1987 was dabbling around more with some NWOBHM influences like Iron Maiden, and it does actually pull that off, but the issue is that the riffs just don't really stick, and the nasty, gnarly rasped vocals, which are well-suited to a black/thrash or death/thrash outing, can't overcome the lukewarm songwriting.

I don't mean to bash on the thing, because again, it's got some solid production values, and if you were merely looking for some authentic blend of these seminal sounds, it's decent enough to spin in the background, but compared to something like Bewitched or the first two Witchery albums, both of which fall within the same mortar-shell scarred ballpark as this, the tunes come up short, like a bunch of average riffs strung together just to have another side project. There's a little bit of variation, with some slower grooving heavy metal tunes on there ("Desolate Creation"), but in either case it's just never all that heavy or aggressive or exciting, just competent to showcase the obvious proficiency of its constituents. Kind of a lost relic on the Full Moon Productions imprint, but they'll get another chance.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

Sirrah - Did Tomorrow Come... (1997)

I would be remiss to think of anything possibly quirkier than the track "Panacea" from Sirrah's debut, but I think in general, it's follow-up full-length Did Tomorrow Come... is much more progressive and quirky, while still keeping a lot of its fundamentals intact. You can still hear a lot of elements of anything from My Dying Bride to Paradise Lost to Pyogenesis to Moonspell, but the Polish band was not settling its butt down on any laurels, but writing that style into the future. Upbeat, peppy, perky ideas are strewn throughout the ten tracks, and the band seem unwilling to be pigeonholed into any one niche. I'd almost risk that Did Tomorrow Come... is like Sirrah, only Arcturus got ahold of it and infected it with their zany carnival attitude.

The production is cleaner here, really giving us better access to its scattershot components, from the ethereal female vocal lines to the busier guitars which at times almost border on a blend of thrash and doom metal. Synthesizers are used sparingly, as well as pianos, and the majority of the vocals bounce between the guttural expectations and then a wavier, sad or drugged sounding cleaner male vocal that is perhaps one of the weakest parts of the album. Perhaps due to the accent or confidence level, but there are moments that it sounds quite good, and others where it feels like its lost the plot. Regardless, it's only a minor intrusion that can't quite mar the surface of the obvious excitement below this. It's like the band was listening to their first album and decided not to sound so sad anymore, and gave each other a kick in the rump while they were in the studio, or maybe just a lot of drugs. To its credit, though, the writing doesn't lose a whole lot of impact from where they were at two years prior.

It doesn't have a truly standout track for me like "Acme", but at the same time, there's not really anything goofy like "Panacea" to spoil it. The closest might be "Madcap" which sounds like someone took the orchestration from the old Celtic Frost Into the Pandemonium... album and combined that with a strange Gothic chamber quartet, but in fact that song's tremendous fun. The closer, "Floor's Embrace", starts off pulsing off like it's going to be some mix of dance and folk music, but that one is rescued quite quickly when the great guitar riff rips forth. Did Tomorrow Come... is fascinating stuff, despite me not liking a few of the vocals, it's quite sticky and a superior experience to Acme only if you're willing to chuck your expectations to the curb and revel in its unique boldness. Had Sirrah continued on much longer, who knows what they might have become? I could certainly hear them hobnobbing with the likes of Arcturus, Solefald, Sigh or Diablo Swing Orchestra. This is a fun album that too few give a damn about.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

Sleeping Gods - Regenerated (1997)

Regenerated might not look like much, in fact Sleeping Gods has never had a decent album cover whatsoever, but if you want to know how much better this album is than their debut, well...it features a didgeridoo on TWO tracks. I don't know WHY it features such an instrument, or how it thematically connects with the trudging doom of this German obscurity, but it's a fun intro to what is a slightly heavier, meatier, and superior album. This is still your guardian variety chugging, with a little whiff of the Gothic style that took over countrymen Pyogenesis for a spell, but it sounds more crushing and mournful, and overall just more professional and passionate. Gazing upon it, though, you can see why approximately 99.9% of the people in the record shops skipped on past it, the other .1% being the band members' moms and grandparents.

They bring back the female vocalist who was on the debut Above and Beyond, but she has some mixed results here, sounding a little silly with her frilly timbre in "Dead Calls", but effective on "The Wingless". The real star here is the production, which is huge when they are busted out the somber, understated melodies in amidst the dense chords. The drums sound a lot better, as do the main vocals as they get gruffer. I would often hear or see comparisons from this band to Sweden's Lake of Tears, who put out one of my favorite doom records in A Crimson Cosmos this same year, but I admit that I don't really hear much in common other than the superficial details of the gruff vocal, slow churning doom guitars, maybe the production. Sadly this one is just nowhere near as addictive as that, and it sticks quite close to the same style on all the songs, where that one had a couple folksy or old rock & roll experiments.

I definitely hear the potential here where I didn't before, and if you were into a lot of their countrymen like Pyogenesis or End of Green, this is where you might want to pick up their trail, because it removes any need for the debut's existence. The riffs do need to be a lot catchier, and lead to more payoff than just the mix of Gothic whispers and operatic guest vocals, but clearly more effort was put into this in both the studio aspects and the compositions, and while I won't say it's necessarily 'good', it's taking Sleeping Gods in a positive direction...or will it?

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

Blackstar Rising - Barbed Wire Soul (1997)

It's always interested me that so many of the Carcass alumni spent their time during their mainstay's hiatus forming or joining bands that were oriented towards more traditional hard rock, heavy metal or even stoner rock in the case of Michael Amott's Spiritual Beggars. I think for the rest of the blokes, Swansong was the clear indicator of this direction, and album I wasn't terribly thrilled about, being so fanatic over the three albums before it. In hindsight, it had some fairly catchy material on there, but it felt like a real watering down of the deatht/thrashing they had perfected with Heartwork, and perhaps just too distant from their goregrind roots to even consider it the same band. For those on board with that album's sound, however, there was BlackStar Rising, the band they formed in the other's wake, which could now further that hard rocking style without the burden of a brand name associated with medical textbooks and meat repulsion.

Barbed Wire Soul is a little more seasoned than Swansong, a mix of hard rock tropes from the 70s and 80s but with slightly more aggressive riff-work and musicianship than you'd encounter from any band of hair-sprayed sellouts working the Sunset Strip. It's almost like someone metalized Aerosmith, and changed the vocals to sound a bit more road-worn and limited in range than Tyler. There's a bit of obnoxious and generic boogie behind some of the tracks, but never to the point it gets annoying, and on tracks like "Sound of Silence" or "Give Up the Ghost", it's apparent they were trying to be creative in a space that would be considered more traditional. In fact, the latter and several others do feel like they could have been Swansong outtakes, but now they weren't afraid to ramp up some of the bluesy qualities and the 'party' rock & roll mentality that they were probably denying themselves complete access to while still in Carcass. Obviously, these guys are overly competent for this style of rock, so it's too their credit that they take a step back and really fall in to relish their roles.

Having said all this, while Barbed Wire Soul is a decent record, it's sometimes cheesy and not all that memorable compared to anything they had written other than perhaps Swansong or the truly crude Reek of Putrefaction (unless you are a goregrind fanatic). It's certainly more accomplished and varied at exploring this hard rock style than Swansong, but do I like it more in the end? I can't say that for sure, only that it's nowhere near as good as a lot of the Spiritual Beggars material; but I was happy they got the chance to get this out of their systems, and later return to proper business with the successful Carcass reunion material, which is not the be-all, end-all some make it out to be, but light years more engaging for me than BlackStar Rising.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

In Thy Dreams - Stream of Dispraised Souls EP (1997)

Stream of Dispraised Soul is a melodic death metal EP, from Sweden, in 1997. Can you guess already what this is going to sound like? Well, pat yourself on the back, because you are absolutely right, it's a take on the At the Gates formula, but I'd say in this case there's a very healthy dose of Dark Tranquillity due to the more dominantly incorporated melodies into, under and above so many of the harsher licks. It sounds almost like Slaughter of the Soul with a softer or Romantic touch, and I don't mean that as any sort of insult, but it's just a bit dreamy and more imaginative, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if some of that imagination was inspired by the earlier, less direct At the Gates albums. At any rate, this is another band that would make a few waves due to its similarities to the favorited trends of its day, nearly poised on a higher level of success.

This EP is a solid start, for sure, if nothing exceptional. They write their hearts out, loading up these tunes with walls of melody, snarling vocals and a half-decent studio sound, but the problem is this material is simply not that catchy. It's the sort of songwriting that sounds like it SHOULD be catchy, but a lot of the riffing patterns are right in one ear, and out the other...maybe a few exceptions, like the track "Dreams Within" which does kind of rock with a few memorable guitars and an atmospheric, acoustic intro, but by the time I do get to that fourth cut out of five, I'd nearly already given up. The closing title track is also one of its better pieces, and I wish that and "Dreams Within" had been in reverse order to kick off the release, I'd have perked up much faster. Otherwise, this is passable, proficient and certainly passionate in its delivery, it just lacks the thorough magic it would need to stand out in this niche. Fortunately, I think it's the worst of In Thy Dreams' recordings, they'd improve a bit, and this isn't even really that bad, I can simply think of 50 or more other releases of this type that I'd never pass on for it.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

The Moaning - Blood from Stone (1997)

Not only is Blood from Stone one of the better melodic black/death metal albums you've never heard of in that crowded Swedish scene, but it's also got one of the finer covers out there, a creepy forest scene with a color palette that rivals your Somberlains and Storms of the Light's Bane. And I make such comparisons on purpose, because while they don't sound exactly like the late Jon Nödtveidt's creative offspring, that is the first band I think of when I recall the detail they often put into their riffs, the blend of savage floods of dark chords sliced through by these waves of well composed melodies that add balance and completion to what otherwise might get a little monotonous or boring. Hell, there's enough breadth here that The Moaning will also appeal to fans of melodeath like Dark Tranquillity, At the Gates and earlier In Flames.

The emphasis is on faster material, from the blasting depths of "Dreams in Black" to the majestic clip of "A Dark Decade's Rising", but they round off the album enough with some slower to mid-paced rhythms that they won't come across as a one-trick pony. But it's clear that this is the zone in which they are most comfortable, so they spruce it all up with that great sense of unerring melody, adept at picking note patterns that will keep your glues eared even if you grow exhausted with the blasted drums. The bass is pretty solid, the percussion of the late Andreas Nilzon well on par with most of his peers in the scene. The vocals of Pierre Törnkvist have a nice, bloody rasp to them not unlike a Tomas Lindberg, but pitched a bit deeper and not as snarly. But as good as this is, it's the guitar tone and playing which really steals the show here, you are just hammered with great riff after great riff. I'm not saying they are quite as interesting as you'd heard on the first two Dissection albums, but if that band had put this one out instead of the lamentable Reinkaos, it would have hit cult classic status with ease.

Very unfortunate that this is a one-shot, because the album sounds fantastic, and once you've heard it good and loud you'll have no question of the Swedes' potential. Most of the members have been involved in a number of other bands like Helltrain, Devil's Force, Gates of Ishtar, Satariel, Battlelust and The Everdawn to name a few, so it's possible this was never meant as more than a fun collaboration, but I can say with confidence that this is superior to all of them, and I'd have loved a follow-up or two. The album was good enough to be re-issued through Century Media about a decade ago, so you can probably find it out in the wild, but if not, and you HAVEN'T already heard it, go and stream it and see what you've been missing. Legendary? Perfect? Maybe not, but it hits so many of the right buttons that I can't imagine you'll be disappointed.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

Gates of Ishtar - The Dawn of Flames (1997)

The one with the boobs flopping out. The Dawn of Flames arrived to me first as a promo when I was doing the paper zine thing back in the 90s, I don't believe it was the version where they had hooked up with German Invasion Records, but another licensed version. It was already a little surprising that Gates of Ishtar hadn't taken over the world in the year since their debut, and like that, I wasn't immediately smitten with what was on the album, but like A Bloodred Path, this is one that has aged well enough that it's become a backup when I'm seeking out bands in this mid-range melodeath genre, and I'm just not in the mood for my favorite bands of the form like Darkane, Soilwork or the 90s material from At the Gates and In Flames. 

The band hadn't really had a large amount of time to mature through their releases, but having said that, The Dawn of Flames is a little more laid back and seasoned, and even I dare say a little less intense. The band were settled into writing melodic songs with a clear heavy metal background, and wanted to go a little less pedal to the metal and instead branch out dynamically. So some of the rhythms in tracks like "Trail of Tears" might seem almost pedestrian by comparison, but they are still well-seeded with riffing ideas, patterns that attach right to any melodeath fan's ear-space, and even some guest synthesizers and pianos from one Dan Swanö, who also produced the disc. His mix here is a little more washed out, atmospheric, less straight to the grill than A Bloodred Path, but then I think that tends to suit the song selection here a little more, even if it might have felt disappointing to a few fans. When the material here does speed up ("Forever Scarred", "Dream Field", etc), it does feel like a direct extension of what they put out the years before, but there's enough of a minor difference to the sophomore that some 'growth' had been achieved.

As for myself, I slightly prefer the debut because I'm not entirely in love with the production to this, but for individual song quality they're on somewhat even ground. I like the cover for its color palette and mammary appreciation, but I don't think it fits the band's lyrics or concepts whatsoever. You'd see that and probably expect some barbaric heavy metal circa Manowar, Cirith Ungol or Holland's Goddess of Desire, but it's a little out of place with the introspective lyrics and melody here. Nitpicking though, because this is a solid if not wholly remarkable follow-up that I still value when I'm in the mood to wax nostalgic about all those underground 90s melodeath acts my friends and I used to follow.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/gatesofishtarofficial

The Everdawn - Poems - Burn the Past (1997)

Poems - Burn the Past moves even closer to its Swedish peers than the Opera of the Damned EP, and this definitely feels like an album you'd turn to if you couldn't get enough Slaughter of the Soul. I always liked the sort of swashbuckler or Western vibe the cover to this one gave me, but I suppose it's more to represent some Romantic poet or reader who is ready to execute himself over some lost or unreturned love? Don't know what that has to do with the thrashing, propulsive tunes on this disc, but I do think it has a classy aesthetic to it that I remember to this day, and not as digitally cheesy in graphic design as a lot of other stuff that was out on Invasion Records. But yes, The Everdawn's only full-length did feel like a bit of a clone of their better-known countrymen, only that's not enough to write it off due to its solid execution.

I should say that there is actually a streak of In Flames with a lot of the riffing, it sounds like its ad a median between Slaughter of the Soul and Colony. Thick rhythm guitars thrashing and thundering along, with some triplet chugging that alternates well with the more atmospheric, open chords that they will often use to back up a chorus. The vocals here are much more Lindberg-like than the prior EP, but they also remind me a little of Mille from Kreator when he's straining himself. Oskar Karlsson's drumming on this was fantastic, he is a missed talent from this scene, and he applies such an even and fiery force to it all that you can't help but get swept up into the riffing, which is itself quite good in tracks like "Needlework" or "Autumn, Sombre, Autumn", the latter of which has the vocalist screaming at an even higher pitch which is ironically a foreshadowing of how Lindberg sounds on some of the most recent At the Gates post-reunion releases. They also have a few places, like "Burn" in which they go for a slightly simpler, rocking pace and it works well in contrast to the more involved mamterial.

Poems - Burn the Past is certainly 'heavily inspired', and perhaps even a knockoff for those who don't want to give it the time of day, but it is a worthwhile album that builds upon their EP and hones in on the songwriting first and foremost. It doesn't rival a band like Darkane or Soilwork who took this formula into all new places, but every detail here is well implemented, from the leads to the drums and I can say little more negative about it than it's just a trendy example of the style. Fortunately, the music and mix are strong enough that it's a good, evergreen glimpse into a band walking in the considerable footsteps of an album that essentially changed the world of heavy metal, uniting the European and American sides of the genre and turning a universe of wallet-chained mallcore maniacs onto 'the good stuff'. Looks cool, sounds cool, I listen to it sporadically and it's another reason I miss Invasion.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

Mortuary Drape - Secret Sudaria (1997)

Although a number of the Italian black metal acts conformed quite heavily to the obvious Scandinavian influencers, there were a few exceptions to the rule which hinted at a unique approach to the genre that mirrors their Ionian fellows in Greece. Mortuary Drape is one of the primary among those, a group that has always thrived on both its formative horror influences as well as the 'first wave' of black and death metal rooted in the 80s, much like the Italians themselves. In the DNA of their sound, you can find a lot of the vile thrashing of Possessed, Slayer, Sepultura and Sarcofago, dealt with a bit of the gruff Hellhammer or Celtic Frost groove and vocal roughness. This is not a group thriving off blast beats and endless streams of tremolo picked notes or dissonant chords, but something primitive and malignant.

I remember when a friend first gifted me this CD, and though I was enraptured by the great, Satanic cover imagery, I didn't know what to make of it up front. I had heard of the band's earlier album and their name was whispered across the lips of the right people, but had not gotten around to experiencing them myself. At first, I wasn't entirely impressed beyond the cool packaging, for so much of this just sounding like a lot of dirty old black/thrash, but this one proved a 'grower' rather than a 'shower'; Secret Sudaria is for sure one of the band's most consistent, elaborate and evil works which transforms a lot of its own inspirations into something formidable. This sits right in the nexus between thrash, black and death metal as it once was, and offers a lot of barbaric riffing staples dowsed in great, organic guitar leads, with some fresh sounding drums, decent bass grooves, and a daunting vocal growl with is spiked with just the perfect amount of reverb so every line barks upon you like an occult preacher about to sacrifice your village's collective bones to the Prince of Darkness.

There are some really great, doomy sequences here too, like the climactic riff near the end of "Abbot", or the phased intro to "Evil Death" which almost sounds like it sets up an epic dark heavy metal track before it shifts into the Hellhammer-like Neanderthal black metal. Secret Sudaria is this brute of an album which sates both the first wave fanatic's desire for utter primacy and lack of compromise, and then those slight atmospheric touches which hint at so much more. Terrifying vocals, great lyrics that paint tales of black sorcery and supernatural entities, and one of those immortal production jobs which might not have blown me away back in the day, but really holds up when I listen to it now. This is almost always my go-to in Mortuary Drape's catalog; it's not entirely perfect, but its the summit of so many of the ideals I find from their unswerving approach to authentic black metal that remains loyal to its own forebears while tempering it with an Italo/cult horror aesthetic that made it stand out. You want the Mario fucking Bava of black metal? You've found it.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10] (Read his book of doom)

http://www.mortuary13drape.com/

Rage - Live from the Vault EP (1997)

The third in my series of Victor Records import EPs from Rage, Live from the Vault is a fairly early example of a commercial performance gone to retail (in Japan), and it's honestly not so shabby despite the fact that it's a mere 30 minutes in length. This one's not going to give you the comprehensive experience that From the Cradle to the Stage would give years later, but as an example of them being able to put their fans' money where their mouths are, it will suffice. For a lot of Rage fans, these mid-90s were the peak of the band's powers, as they had strong support from records like Black in Mind and End of All Days, so it's not too surprising that this is the era of material which they are largely catering to, a bit of a bummer for me since I'm more into their 80s run, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

The energy is definitely there, the band chugging along through tracks like "Sent by the Devil" and "The Price of War", favorites of the era, but all of the melody and rock & roll pizazz is also clear through the guitars. It's not some perfect soundboard recording, so you might hear a lead being a bit subdued, or Peavy a little too loud here or there, but it does its job as a genuine performance, and the crowd really seems into it, jumping in on the chorus parts for "Higher Than the Sky". The bass and drums are fine, and Wagner's vocals are decent although we're already entering that phase in which he's only rarely screaming or pitching high, but he still sounds like that rough around the edges blue collar metal god that we all love.

I think it helps that they're in their native Germany in front of an audience that is most knowing of their material, but clearly their Japanese fans must be wild about them too considering all these collectible sorts of releases that hit the market, par for the course for 90s power metal. I do like all these songs, and the cover of "Motorbreath" is fun enough to close this set, although I can imagine this might have only been a partial set or something and you'd think they would close on one of their classic originals like "Don't Fear the Winter", "Waiting for the Moon" or "Time Waits for No One." Sometimes the band doesn't always put its best feet forward but again this is all a matter of opinion, and if you were desperate for a live recording after their first decade, this one is acceptable, if not necessarily worth the price of admission.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

http://www.rage-official.com/

Machine Head - Take My Scars EP (1997)

Why does Japan get all the nice things? Alright, the adjective 'nice' is debatable when discussing any of Machine Head's garbage, but the point stands that in decades of musical obsession I've run across loads of albums and singles that are fattened up for sale over there. Granted, they pay a higher price than we do on a lot of these goods, but even for something as lowly as this EP you're getting a lot more content. Really, Take My Scars is more of a single, featuring the titular track off The More Things Change and then a B-side cover, a couple of demo tracks (oh boy!); but the Japanese edition also includes nearly a half hour of live material. Now, I couldn't tell you for the life of me who this would be for...I know the band was and likely remains within the 'Nu Metal Top 10', but was there really a huge market for copious maxi-singles from bands like Korn, Sepultura or Machine Head?

I've made my opinion on "Take My Scars" clear, it's a crappy nu-metal jam that sounds like it was strung together from the first few notes that popped up during a jam session, boring chords that do nothing other than emulate a primal hip hop groove with a little hardcore anger. That track is here in both a studio and live incarnation, and doesn't sound less awkward in either. I think the big draw on this would be the cover of Nirvana's "Negative Creep", which plays it pretty close to the original only adds a little fatter guitar tone. Robb's vocals are lower pitched than Cobain's, but he throws in a lot of wild screaming that almost make me wish he would just do that more often in his own band. In fact when listening to this it sounded a lot like another of the Seattle grunge bands, Tad, who I enjoy, covering Nirvana, and that alone makes it superior to all of Machine Head's original material here. The two demo tracks sound awful, nothing more than rougher cuts of what you hear on the radio and they don't improve anything except having that bridge to a more live atmosphere.

The five live cuts are from the band's limited two-album run at the time, and in terms of recording they do sound alright, provided you're already a fan of sub-mediocre music. It does sound a little messier, more pissed off and the hardcore parts on cuts like "Blood for Blood" sound even more hardcore and heavy in this context, so there is that to say for it. Of course if you aren't tracking down this very version of the EP then you won't hear those at all. Ultimate, Take My Scars isn't a product I'd recommend to anyone, but then again in general I wouldn't recommend any of their stuff, at least not for a big chunk of their career...let's explore further and hear if there are any diamonds in the rough.

Verdict: Fail [2.25/10]

https://www.machinehead1.com/

Machine Head - The More Things Change... (1997)

Where Burn My Eyes sounded like it might have at least been extracted from some fossilized metal DNA of integrity somewhere along the path of its inception, The More Things Change... is little more than a giant, blubbery surrender to the most vapid and idiotic nu metal trends of the 90s, and revisiting this sophomore was admittedly both hilarious and embarrassing as I tried to scrape the dregs of the barrel and find anything, just ONE thing positive I could actually say about it. This is basically a mix of the first two Korn albums, Sepultura's Roots, and a little of the Biohazard and Sick of It All influence returning from the debut, manifest though the least shitty riffs found here, in tunes like "Stuck a Nerve", if only because bland hardcore riffs are far less obnoxious than the alternative Robb Flynn is providing us.

I suppose the production is fine for what it is, Adam Duce's bass tone standing out here against the churning, boring chords and the occasional higher pitched, primitive droning guitars which are used to add at least some other sort of dimension to the material beyond just the grooves. And these are absolute rubbish nu metal riffs, which took next to no time whatsoever to conceive as they merely bounce back and forth between maybe 2-3 chords max. The band does reach out to create a few added dynamics as in "Down to None" with its dissonant guitars over a slower groove, but even there the results are little more than ennui as they can't ever seem to capitalize on a less throwaway riff with anything explosive or interesting. "Take My Scars" is a prime example of how bad this is with its mindless, lazy chords, and how Flynn tries to inject some mid-ranged doped up Alice in Chains style vocal to create a contrast or chorus to the roiling nothing below. The Rage Against the Machine guitar 'scratches' and angry hip hop vocals are also hilariously lame. The lead guitar, as basic as it is, almost seems out of place for trying to be too ambitious to what this album is all about, the cheapest cashing in on the LCD of metal music.

Now I'm not opposed to really basic riffing structures, grooves or breakdowns if they're written well enough, hell I'm a pretty big fan of Helmet records like Meantime and Betty, which are likely also influences that rubbed off on some this mid-90s Machine Head era. But these guys just lack any trace of personality, it's as if you stripped down the already-basic ideas of nu metal, took away any of the goofy costumes or vocal gimmicks of the more visible bands in that scene, and came up with a generic blueprint on which to teach grade schoolers how to jump da fuc up with their wallet chains flailing around. The cover font, lazy, the cover artwork, pretty typical stuff that looks like half the proto metalcore records I used to have in the early 90s, and the lyrics are about of trite garbage like "So c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, we gotta wake up!" Are you also down with the sickness? As a general rule, the more atmospheric the album gets, where it doesn't rely 100% on the dumb nu metal bounce parts, the material becomes ever more tolerable, as in "Blood of the Zodiac", which is tucked away at the end of the track list with its eerie intro, primal pensiveness and bluesy, sad solos. It's hard to believe this ISN'T the worst album in the band's catalog. Can it get much worse? Hold Robb's beer.

Verdict: Fail [3.75/10]

https://www.machinehead1.com/