Perth trio Trilogy began life as Saracen way back in 1980, making them arguably the first Western Australian metal band. They were built around talented vocal, bass & synthesizer whiz Jon Ryder who was known as Australia's answer to Rush's Geddy Lee & Saracen's impressive technical skills quickly made them a major player in the Perth live scene. Things looked set to come crashing down when guitarist John Meyer decided to leave Saracen in order to join legendary Oz rock group Rose Tattoo in 1983 but the remaining duo would find the answer shortly afterwards in Black Alice axeman Jamie Page (Black Steel/Angus McDeth/Project X) whose Eddie Van Halen-influenced style would become a significant asset for the band. The change in personnel would trigger an adjusted moniker too with Saracen moving on to new horizons as Trilogy in 1984. After proving themselves in the live arena, the newly solidified unit would record their debut full-length "Life on Earth" at Bonsai Studios in Perth with producer Brett Lyons. It would go on to gain Trilogy the exposure that they were after, particularly oversees where the European audience appreciated the complexity & professionalism of Trilogy's mildly symphonic sound. The honeymoon period wouldn't last too long though as Paige would quit the band shortly afterwards in order to relocate to the UK, at which time Trilogy would experience a homecoming with former guitarist John Meyer & revert back to their original Saracen moniker for their second & final album.

When I first became involved with the Australian metal scene in the very late 1980's, I would often see Trilogy's name floating around. Older metalheads would also mention them in conversation but, for one reason or another, I didn't find myself checking them out until earlier this decade. I was reasonably impressed with what I heard too & I can certainly understand why the trio would have been a fairly big deal in their hometown of Perth. Despite being released independently, "Life on Earth" is a classy record in many respects & you can easily hear that Trilogy had already paid their dues by cutting their chops in the live scene. These guys all really knew what they were doing with their chosen instruments but also understood song-writing concepts too. In saying that though, "Life on Earth" does hint at a band that were still finding themselves stylistically as there are three very clear points of influence to be found across the ten tracks on offer. The first is the obvious Rush comparison with Ryder very clearly being inspired by Geddy Lee. Ryder's impeccable bass chops & higher-register vocal tone sound dominate the listener's focus & it's kinda hard to understand how someone can reach this level without reaching greater heights in terms of commercial success. The second influence is that of NWOBHM giants Iron Maiden with the galloping basslines, melodic guitar/keyboard harmonies & up-tempo energy of the more metallic material drawing clear comparisons. And the third source of inspiration was clearly drawn from US hard rock mega-group Van Halen with Paige's guitar solos displaying an unquestionable devotion to Eddie Van Halen who was also my greatest guitar idol during my formative years.

The tracklisting has its ups & downs but generally settles at a pretty decent average. One of the highlights comes from flashy instrumental "The Hammer" which is built around concepts drawn from Van Halen's turbo-charged "Hot for Teacher". My personal favourite is the Maiden-esque heavy metal banger "Pariah" though as it presents Trilogy as very fine & undeniably classy metal act. Things didn't go so well on the fairly flat heavy rocker "Playing With Your Life" or the overly cheesy AOR power ballad "Holding You Close" though so you've kinda gotta take the good with the bad. I don't think Ryder's vocal delivery was ever going to allow Trilogy to feel like a red-blooded metal band so they tend to dance between heavy metal & hard rock a lot of the time. The symphonics aren't overdone which I appreciate but they do seem to have fooled a lot of the world into believing that Trilogy were a fully-fledged progressive metal band which isn't the case, despite the inclusion of a couple of more progressive rock numbers in "Holding You Close" & "Wasting Time".

Overall, it's hard to complain too much about "Life on Earth" as it would appear to have fulfilled Trilogy's intentions nicely. 80% of the album is well worth listening to & I'm actually a little surprised that they didn't go on to bigger & better things to be honest. It's been a while since I've checked out their subsequent release in 1986's "Next in Line" but it's on my radar for the next few months so I'll be interested to see how it compares. As it stands though, "Life on Earth" is unlikely to disappoint too many of our The Guardians members but I don't think it'll become compulsory listening for many either.

For fans of Rush, Saracen (AUS) & Surrender.

This is not my first venture with Rheia. Whilst I do not recall managing to get through the whole album upon previous attempts, the completion of it this time around has not managed to alter my general sense of being underwhelmed, even by the experience in its entirety this time. Whilst there is more than one reason for this, ultimately, blackgaze is just not my thing. Post-metal, which is the other dominant style on this record, is normally accompanied by sludge whenever it is rotating through my listening patterns, and here where that more extreme blend is absent from the mixture, this album ends up just too clean for my tastes.

Back in 2011 on their debut album, Oathbreaker presented as a metalcore outfit. Listening to that record recently, the trilly tremolos and stabbing Wiegedood-esque melodies were present back then and it is good to hear that is retained through onto their third album. However, all the galloping fury of their earlier sound has been well and truly neutered on Rheia. Those previously scathing vocals from Caro Tangle are now replaced by a clean and ethereal offering, which if I am honest, soon gets old. Great though her voice is, the vocals lack variety and so when the same effects, structures and tempos are constantly in use my focus is soon suffering.

Rheia maybe one of the safest records I have ever heard. Considering the calibre of the artists involved (Wiegedood, for example), I was expecting a much darker offering, yet it is an album that lacks passion despite a level of artistry that is professional and tight. There is no clear expression going on across the album with a pervading sense of one dimension only being explored and overall, this a drab affair to my ears. I listened also recently to the band’s sophomore effort, Eros Anteros and there are hints of a move away from that metalcore sound prevalent there, yet the change on Rheia is just too much for me. Of course, it is perfectly within their rights as artists to change direction and sound, but Oathbreaker aren’t for me moving forwards.

It has gotten to the point now where it is laughable for me to have thought at one point that metalcore was not for me. It took me such a ridiculous amount of time to understand its quite simple roots, with those origins far from being alien to me. In some of its later formats, modern metalcore does get lost on me, with Rorschach’s debut however, this bemusement is not present. Whilst they appear to have only been a short-lived outfit, the New Jersey quintet made their presence felt on Remain Sedate. Their anti-authority messaging is delivered in a frenzied manner across the twelve tracks here and whilst I do find the sound to be a little thin, which possibly gives them extra points on the underground sound in some opinions, there is no denying their intentions here.

I do not find that Remain Sedate plays too well as background music; it is over far too quickly to be fully appreciated in such circumstances. On the version I have on Spotify, the album is combined with their final full-length release, Protestant and the variation is interesting to hear as the band move into a more screamed vocal style that embraces more sub-genres than the debut does. Remain Sedate though is the darker child of the two that the band birthed. Protestant certainly upped the ante with the grindcore elements and overall heaviness, but in terms of if one album is better than the other, I would argue that they are two different albums from two different points in time.

Whilst it may not start off the best (the opening to Pavlov’s Dogs does annoy me) the album soon settles into a consistent rhythm of a series of short, sharp shocks that jolt the listener along the way. Cleverly though, Rorschach do leave some spaces for breath and atmosphere such as the more “sedate” No one Dies Alone. Whilst this is an obvious change of pace the track lacks none of the grit that is so prevalent across the record. It is clear to see that Rorschach had hit their stride early on in their career and had some great ideas and control around them also. I would hazard a guess based on the second album that they probably went when they were supposed to.

Now, here's one that has been lost in the annuls of Australian extreme metal history for a very long time now & that I wouldn't even expect Ben to have heard of. Orgy of Pigs were an Adelaide-based death metal artist from the early 1990's who produced just the one release in this heavily underrated 1992 full-length album. They'd disappear shortly afterwards without much of a murmur, however not before they'd reached the attention of this particular metalhead whose interest was raised upon hearing an associate's CD copy of their "Where Feelings Die" record at a party some time around 1993. I'd pick up a dubbed cassette copy of the album shortly afterwards & would give it a few spins before moving on but not before firming up my opinion that Orgy of Pigs were a seriously underrated act. Listening back now, I still maintain that position too.

Not a lot is known about Orgy of Pigs & I don't recall ever getting the opportunity to see them play live. In fact, I'm not sure they even came to Sydney. The most noteworthy thing about them though is the presence of Raven Black Night bassist Frank Usmiani & drummer Luke Sordillo, both who featured on the early releases from Adelaide black/death/thrash metallers Martire who I've always enjoyed. Don't let that fact be a guide on what to expect from Orgy of Pigs though as this is an entirely different prospect & likely one that you haven't experienced before. You see, "Where Feelings Die" offers a highly original sound that's a little hard to pin-point or describe. Producer Tony Nesci (who had already produced Bezerker's excellent "Lost: album by this point & would later go on to work with acts like Chalice, Deströyer 666, Elegeion, Fury, Long Voyage Back & Zen Venom) gives the record a decidedly filthy & unanimously underground atmosphere that would become one of its calling cards, drawing upon hardcore punk & sludge metal as points of reference. In fact, those two genres are represented in more than just the aesthetic here because Orgy of Pigs are not your average death metal band. If we're looking for complete accuracy then I'd suggest that the only real death metal included is in the gruff vocals of charismatic front man Tony Waters with the instrumentation being a unique blend of the previously mentioned sludge metal & hardcore punk which has been chucked into the mix with some of the more underground grunge acts & even a bit of up-tempo speed metal. You won't hear much in the way of blast beats or palm-muted tremolo-picked riffs but somehow Orgy of Pigs always seem to be able to maintain a central feel that is most in line with the death metal model, reminding me of some of the groovier Pungent Stench records in that way. Hell, I challenge anyone not to think of L7's "Pretend That We're Dead" during the early stages of opener "Stink" but I can't say that I ever think I'm listening to a grunge record.

The eight-song tracklisting is generally pretty consistent with most of the material being worth listening to. The exception is probably "Oubliette" which comes across as being a little too loose & a touch flat. The other seven tracks are all fairly interesting though with "Impounder" being the clear standout & the song that I immediately think of when Orgy of Pigs come to mind. Waters' vocals are the obvious focal point & I think he does a really good job of engaging with the listener. For this reason, I think Orgy of Pigs would have been an excellent live act so I'm disappointed that I never got the opportunity to prove or disprove that theory. The instrumentation takes a lot of twists & turns but is never afraid of taking a risk with the tempos being quite varied & the style changing up pretty regularly. I particularly enjoy the slower material that sees the band having a little more room to move with the riffs taking on more of a groove & occasionally dipping their toes into doomier territory. I have to commend these five guys for pulling this all off with such confidence given that this was just their debut release & I struggle to understand how other underground metal fans have failed to connect with their music because they simply come across as being so damn likeable to me, perhaps due to the fact that they sound like they're having so much fun & also possess an infectious energy throughout the record.

Ultimately, I'm not gonna suggest that you should all run out & purchase an extremely expensive CD copy of the "Where Feelings Die" CD from Discogs as I don't think it's an essential release for Aussie metal enthusiasts. However, I will say that there is some reward here for those that are willing to take a chance. The crudely drawn cover artwork is not a bad point of reference for what you can expect actually as Orgy of Pigs aren't in any way polished but do possess a dark, filthy underground death metal atmosphere that comes with reasonably portioned side-dish of fun which is quite an attractive juxtaposition in a modern-day extreme metal scene which often takes itself far too seriously. 

For fans of Disastrous Murmur, Vomiturition & Pungent Stench.

Formed in 2003 by multi-instrumentalist Chad Davis, Hour of 13 also featured veteran doom metal vocalist Phil Swanson on the first three albums, although he seemed to be in and out of the lineup fairly regularly. This debut full-length sees Davis taking on nearly all the instrumental duties, although the album's recording engineer Corey Leonard contributes leads on a couple of tracks, whilst Swanson handles vocal duties. Musically, Hour of 13 is pretty conservative, its traditional doom metal very much stressing the traditional with fuzzed-up, Sabbathian riffs and Swanson having a fairly high pitch and rough edge to his vocals in the vein of Ozzy with a similar intonation and delivery that suggests Phil very much modelled his vocal style on Birmingham's Prince of Darkness.

The production very much emphasises the riffs with the bass and, in particular, the drums sitting low in the mix and taking a back seat to the guitars and vocals. Obviously guitar and vocals are most often the focus but, especially in doom metal, the rhythm section usually has a deeper and more foundational feel than is present here and it would have been nice to hear a bit more depth and richness of tone in the backing track. There isn't a lot of focus on solos here either with Davis only really letting rip on "Grim Reality" and Leonard handling the solos on "Submissive to Evil" and "Allowance of Sin". I don't know whether Davis' reluctance to take on the leads is down to a lack of confidence on his part or it just being something he was less interested in than riffing his balls off. All that aside, those riffs are generally pretty damn good and although there isn't anything new or challenging, they deliver exactly what you would expect from a fundamentalist trad doom act and should satisfy any adherent of the style looking for a new fix. Phil Swanson's vocals suit the instrumentation exceedingly well and his doom metal credentials would have given the band a leg up in the doom scene that Davis would not have reasonably expected with a less well-known vocalist. Lyrically, once more the duo stick to the well-trodden occult path that is a feature / plague of trad doom lyricists since Ozzy intoned his words of doom on their eponymous opener, oh so many years ago.

Overall, I would have to admit that "Hour of 13" is unlikely to garner much attention outside of hardcore trad doom fanatics, but, despite a couple of reservations, I actually think this is a quite endearing example of the genre that is worthy of your time if trad doom is your bag and you just can't get enough Pentagram, Saint Vitus or Trouble. If you constantly need to be challenged or seek musical innovation, however, you should probably move along as there is nothing for you here.