With an album cover that looks for all the world like a forgotten soundtrack to an obscure French art film from the 1970’s, Hidden Fires Burn Hottest is not a record I was to find per se. An established Californian post-black metal/post-hardcore band, Bosse-de-Nage aren’t a band I would normally be looking to find either. As is sometimes the case though, unexpected finds can be the best. Although similarities persist with the likes of Deafhaven, Yellow Eyes and Agriculture, all acts I find to be usually well outside of my wheelhouse, there is something in the sound of Bosse-de-Nage that had me interested from the off.

Now, if you’re reading this thinking how I am now going to tell you what that “something” is, well sorry to have to report that I am still figuring that bit out. I mean, it could be that I am starting to more open to a wider palate of music that incorporates more post and gaze elements. Indeed, I have been listening to more hardcore recently as well as a host of other non-metal music also. So maybe the non-metal elements of Hidden Fires Burn Hottest appeal to me more than any semblance of any metal that is present does. If I am being honest, I am not actually trying all that hard to figure out what that “something” is. Instead, I find myself just going with the enjoyment of what I am hearing, paying little attention to how it got in front of me and hy I have returned to the album on a near-daily basis for the past couple of weeks.

The vocals are where the closest element of the black metal in the sound resides in the record. With the combination of spoken word and lurching, hardcore vocals alongside these, there is a distinctly jarring element to the record. Those jangling guitars and a fair but firm percussion section that build ‘Mementos’ before a fearless bass presence makes its first noticeable appearance are an early indication of the non-linear format to song writing that Bosse-de-Nage employ. This is an album with a real sense of a percussive drive being at the forefront of its direction, layered with a grim punk style attitude overall. Even the two interludes work, crafting a valid space for themselves in the track listing without becoming intrusive or disruptive as I often fear with such tracks.

Hidden Fires Burn Hottest lives up to its title billing as beneath the surface, the intensely burning light at the heart of the band that represents their passion for their art certainly can be felt by the listener. Considering at the point that I discovered this I was (probably) searching for black metal it is rare for me to embrace such an unexpected warmth in a record. That having been said, I would not say that this is a particularly happy or positive album. I can connect with the Neurosis tropes of ‘Underwater’ just as well as I do with the more direct bm approach to ‘Frenzy’ that immediately follows it. This variety in styles is very easy for the band to claim under a banner of their own individual sound I would say. Nothing sounds forced here, and we are not talking about Imperial Triumphant levels of chaos or KEN Mode style attempts at experimentation by comparison, yet the record is not standard anything in any sense of the term either.

It pains me to do this. I’ve been a Dream Theater fan since 2003, when they very quickly became one of my all-time favourite bands, a position they still hold to this day (well, top three, anyway!). Their career is literally one masterpiece after another. Until drummer Mike Portnoy left the band, that is. The first album without him, 2010’s ‘A Dramatic Turn of Events’ is still an incredible release, but 2013’s self-titled ‘Dream Theater’ started to see a decline in quality, and that then brings us to this, 2016’s two-disc concept album nerd convention, ‘The Astonishing’.

It’s naff.

I mean, I’ve tried and I’ve tried, but it just feels like the band is well and truly on autopilot at this point. There is nothing overly memorable about this album, just a couple of tracks here and there. But at a combined duration of over two hours, ‘The Astonishing’ is such a drudgery to listen to in one sitting, especially for such bare rewards. Of course, the musical performances are exceptional, as you’d expect, but the rest, kind of sucks. The lyrics are naff, the songs are mostly naff, and the story is naff, though to be honest, I zone out so often that I don’t really pay much attention to it anyway.

If I had to pick out any highlights, I’d say ‘The Gift of Music’, ‘A Life Left Behind’ and ‘Our New World’ are all okay. Not brilliant, but not terrible either. If they could have condensed this album onto one disc, it MIGHT have been listenable, but as it is, an enjoyable 14 minutes out of 130 just isn’t worth the effort.

As I’m getting older (at the time of writing this, I’m 39 years old!), I find myself having less and less patience for albums that don’t grow on me quickly enough. And considering how long this slog of a record is, I think it’s time to pass on this one.

Here we have one of the crowning glories of the French "Les Légions Noires" black metal scene of the 1990's & a release that doesn't really stand up to modern scrutiny in my opinion.

Vlad Tepes was a Brest-based duo made up of Vorlok Drakksteim (Black Murder/Dzlvarv/Seviss/Susvourtre/Torture/Vèrmyapre Kommando) & Wlad Drakksteim (Black Murder/Dzlvarv/Seviss/Vèrmyapre Kommando). As you can see, these guys were involved in a whole slew of important French demo projects & I didn't mind a couple of their earlier demo tapes under the Vlad Tepes moniker at the time either (see 1994's "War Funeral March" & "Celtic Poetry") but the eight tracks included here do very little for me, despite containing much of the same material as "Celtic Poetry". What you can expect is an extremely raw & lo-fi brand of early 90's black metal that's performed in a very sloppy fashion with many of the riffs having more of a melodic feel than I'd like (kinda like Ulver's 1997 "Nattens madrigal: Aatte hymne til ulven i manden" third album in a way) & occasionally even veering into folk metal territory which triggers my yucky gag reflex. The vocals are nice & grim (think Abbath meets Nocturno Culto) but the instrumentation is pretty lacklustre in my opinion, leaving me struggling for connection across most of the eight pieces included here. 2.5/5

Bergerac's Belkètre are far more interesting in my opinion with their distorted, treble-heavy sound being highlighted by the overthetop vocal delivery of band leader Vordb Dréagvor Uèzréèvb (Black Murder/Brenoritvrezorkre/Chapel of Ghouls/Dvnaèbkre/Moëvöt/Seviss/Torgeist/Vagézaryavtre/Zelda) who is ably supported by Aäkon Këëtrëh (Torgeist/Zelda) to give us a much more engaging eight pieces of ultra lo-fi & primitive French black metal. I have some time for Belkètre's 1996 "Ambre Zuetki Vuordrevartre" demo tape & I get a similar level of enjoyment out of their contribution to this split album which arrived the previous year. The interludes don't do anything for me at all but the proper songs are all pretty decent, although they're definitely held up by the demo-quality production & fairly sloppy performances. I guess that's kinda the point here though as neither band are looking for accessibility, quite the opposite in fact. When taken holistically though, Belkètre's side of the release is the reason for exploring "March to the Black Holocaust" as far as I can see. Unfortunately, it's charms are overcome by the inadequacies of Vlad Tepes' contribution so I can't in good conscience recommend this supposedly classic record. 3.5/5

For fans of Mütiilation, Torgeist & Black Murder.

Released in 1971, ‘Fireball’ is the fifth studio album by British hard rock legends Deep Purple. After dabbling in psychedelic, orchestras, and heavy metal, the band are back to their hard rock, blues-inspired jamming. This is by no means a bad album, but fans seem a bit divided on this one, which is probably no surprise, as its position in Purple’s discography sits between two of their most iconic albums, ‘In Rock’ and ‘Machine Head’.

This is the third album to feature the classic Purple line-up, commonly referred to as “Mark 2”, and at this point there is an incredible chemistry between everyone. Each member displays remarkable prowess on their respective instrument, and it’s this dazzling musicianship and song-writing that really puts them at the top of the hard rock and heavy metal world.

Particular praise goes to guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and vocalist Ian Gillan. Both members put on incredible and highly versatile performances. Both men are leaps and bounds above other guitarists and vocalists of the day.

Still, while this may not be anyone’s favourite Purple record, it does have a fair share of fantastic tunes! In particular, we have rockers like ‘Fireball’, ‘No One Came’ and ‘Demon’s Eye’, catchy andhumorous tracks like ‘Anyone’s Daugher’, and the big rock epic ‘Fools’. Later reissues of the album would feature great outtakes such as ‘Freedom’, and one of my favourite Deep Purple songs, ‘Strange Kind of Woman’.

‘Fireball’ may not have the same legacy and reputation as albums like ‘Machine Head’ and ‘In Rock’, but some great songs and musicianship warrants its place in anyone’s hard rock or heavy metal collection.

a great set of songs with great lyrics, the modern epitome of MM, over all, really recommend this to anyone who likes his earlier albums.