What are you listening to now? : The Guardians Edition
Black Sabbath Featuring Tony Iommi - Seventh Star
I bought this when it came out, listened to it once or twice then turned my back on it in disgust and didn't return to it... not until now anyway. I dug it out of the back of the cupboard and put it on this morning and, you know what, it ain't anything like as bad as I originally thought. Iommi's guitar playing is still top-knotch and I don't know if I've softened over the years, but I even quite enjoyed Glenn Hughes' vocals. I vaguely remember being disgusted with this, considering it no better than an effin' Foreigner album, but in fact, it is much better than that, as I guess is inevitable because no matter what, a Sabbath album will always have Tone's incomparable guitar skills on show and he is one guy who could genuinely write riffs in his sleep.
I've always had time for "Seventh Star" & feel that it's been unfairly treated by people that were unable to think of it as the Tony Iommi solo album that it was always intended to be. In fact, I'd take it our records like "Never Say Die!", "Technical Ecstasy", "Forbidden" or "Tyr" these days.
3.5/5
I would probably agree on all but Technical Ecstacy, but I don't think we need to go over that conversation again! 😉
It's not one of my most detailed reviews, but I managed to get something done quickly last night for an album that isn't necessarily anything special but I find myself coming back to quite a bit. I'm normally not the biggest fan of Karlsson projects but this one has stood the test of time for me with a 3.5 / 5 rating.
Charon's Melody
On the surface, The Ferrymen's third album One More River To Cross isn't necessarily anything special. It's anthemic Power Metal tendencies have been done to death, but sometimes the formula simply works in a way that's so infectious that I can't help but keep going back to it. All-star Power Metal acts seem like a dime a dozen nowadays, since the more prolific musicians that have a knack for composing have a tendency to have a metric ton of offshoots from their original projects. This time, it's guitarist Magnus Karlsson of Allen Lande and Primal Fear hooking up with vocalist Ronnie Romero of Lords of Black and modern Rainbow and accomplished drummer Mike Terrana of Avalanch and Masterplan. After I realized the pedigree that this trio brought to the table, it's no wonder that I'm drawn to The Ferrymen in the way that I am, but they're one of the few supergroups that manage to bring better than average songwriting along with their stellar lineups.
The opener "One Word" tells you pretty much everything you need to about The Ferrymen, and you'll be getting some déjà vu if you've heard any other albums from Power Metal supergroups like Allen Lande. These groups mostly serve to highlight their vocalists, but don't cut any corners with adding orchestration, keyboards, or any other effects they can think of to fill out the mix. From the tension building piano and choir intro, to the dueling lead and chugging guitars, to the overblown but catchy chorus, the opener sets the perfect stage for the rest of the album. If you like what you hear with "One Word", congratulations, the rest of the album is waiting for you. If not, I've got some terrible news for you because The Ferrymen aren't exactly here to escort you to a greater plane of Power Metal existence. I really enjoy One More River To Cross' pacing as it keeps the middling tempos interesting and distinct from song to song, with "The Last Wave" being a bit more lackadaisical in its chorus but "City of Hate" bringing more energy to the table with its deeper chugging and slightly faster tempo. Overall, though, The Ferrymen have very little new tricks up their sleeve and it all comes down to how well this group of expert metal musicians can write some songs to stand out from the pack.
For me, The Ferrymen occupy this strange spot of a band doing exactly what a lot of other groups are doing, but performing it in a way that separates them from the pack. It helps that Ronnie Romero absolutely kills it in the vocal department, with chorus after chorus being performed in an extremely memorable and impressive way. The choruses "Shut It Out", "One More River to Cross" and "The Last Ship" have popped into my head much more than I'm willing to admit even after more than 2 years from this album's release, whereas with most other generic Power Metal albums I struggle to remember a single song or riff. The admittedly cheesy orchestration comes in full force on tracks like "One More River to Cross" and "The Other Side" and I don't mind it since Terrana's and Karlsson's performances compliment it better than your average Power Metal schlock, but it definitely feels like an afterthought in the end. As above average as the songwriting is in One More River to Cross, certain tracks like "Bringers of the Dark", "City of Hate", "The Passenger", and "The Other Side" fall by the wayside as tracks that have better counterparts within the same album. This is partially because The Ferrymen know what kind of band they want to be, but it's still a weight on the album experience that certain songs just feel like lesser versions of something that was already played. However, as an album experience from front to back, The Ferrymen do a fantastic job of structuring the tracks so that I'm engaged and not necessarily thinking about track quality halfway through. Despite the repetitiveness, every riff and chorus is interesting and memorable enough to keep me coming back for more.
Despite being another notch in the generic Power Metal supergroup totem pole, One More River to Cross has stood the test of time as an album that legitimately showcases the talents of exceptional Power Metal musicians. I'll be the first person to admit that it immediately falls victim to most of the Power Metal pitfalls of being bombastic just for the sake of it and not having enough variety or massive moments, but damn this album has some amazing choruses. It stumbles here and there along its lengthy track list and as much as I think "The Last Ship" should have been the final track instead of "The Passenger", it's one of the most successful Power Metal supergroup projects I've heard thus far.
Hammerfall - Renegade (2000)
OK, so I am really living outside my comfort zone this week, today seeing me taking a rare excursion into european power metal territory, which almost invariably ends badly! I don't recall ever having listened to Hammerfall before and I didn't go into this exploration of the Swedes' third album with much optimism, but I actually found myself enjoying this a fair bit. Firstly, the instrumentation is pretty damn good, with some decent Priest / Maiden-esque riffing and nice soloing that doesn't feel overwhelmingly self-indulgent. The drumming and basswork are also very solid, including an Overkill-like intro to the penultimate track, the instrumental "Raise the Hammer", which may or may not be a tribute to "Philthy" Phil Taylor who Lemmy used to refer to as "The Hammer".
Of course my real bugbear with the european variant of power metal is still in evidence, that being the vocals. Both the histrionic lead vocals and the multi-layered harmonised choruses never fail to get my back up. Even though both are present here on Renegade, they are not so egregious that they have me gagging with an involuntary reflux reaction like they would normally. In fact, I would have to say that for euro power metal the vocals are decidedly understated (relatively-speaking, obviously), which works heavily in the album's favour as far as I am concerned. The upshot of all this is that Hammerfall have piqued my curiosity somewhat and have earned a degree of respect which may or may not see me delving further into their back catalogue. Renegade represents the acceptable face of european power metal in Sonny-World!
A somewhat surprising 3.5/5
Edguy - Mandrake (2001)
Not yet feeling I have taken suffcient punishment, I took my second plunge into the world of EUPM this week. Much like with the Hammerfall album, I found myself pleasantly surprised. Edguy, at least on the evidence of this album, are one of the more palatable bands from the genre for me. They don't appear to go all-in on the cheesier aspects of power metal, not smothering everything in layers of keyboards and even their choral harmonising doesn't irritate as badly as most of their contemporaries. The singer, Tobias Sammet (also of Avantasia) is a more than passable Bruce Dickinson impersonator so, again, doesn't irritate me anything like as much as the majority of power metal vocalists. The riffing and soloing are decent, but I wouldn't put them on the same level as the Hammerfall album from earlier in the week, but they score much better on the vocal front. What I would give for an album with Hammerfall's instrumentation and Edguy's vocals!
The real pearls within the oyster's body are the two consecutive tracks, "Nailed to the Wheel" and The "Pharaoh". The former is a thrashy, Iced Earth-like workout that bears more relation to power metal of the US variety than the European and the latter is a "Stargazer" / "Gates of Babylon"-influenced epic, which does feature some synths, but they are only used to imbue the track with a tasteful eastern flavour which isn't in any way overpowering. If the rest of the album exhibited the quality of these two tracks, then I would have no trouble awarding a four-star rating. But, of course, this is power metal and at over an hour this is way too long and a number of the tracks are fairly forgettable and the ballad, Wash Away the Poison, is horrible, so a lower score is inevitable. Still, Mandrake left me open to exploring Edguy further and I may well return to this at some point in the future, with "Nailed to the Wheel" most likely ending up on one of my playlists.
3.5/5
Writhen Hilt - Ancient Sword Cult (2024)
I randomly came across this unsuspecting EP the other day and feel like I hit a bit of a gold mine, as this classic style of Heavy Metal fused with Doom-ish undertones seems to be fairly hard to pull off nowadays. Most of the time, the attempts at harkening back to a simpler time of Metal produces something dull and devoid of character, but I've found Ancient Sword Cult to be incredibly compelling with its fuzzy and bottom heavy production with soaring leads and classic chugging. I think the vocalist has an incredible delivery and range for their style, and they absolutely carry tracks like "Mountain" and "To Rival The Sun". Their riffs and overall ideas also have a air of maturity and noticeable knack for what makes classic Heavy Metal memorable and exciting, whether it's the energetic flourishes on the chugging of "Sorcerer's Gate" or the dueling leads of the opening "Death Undone". I think these guys are doing a lot of things right; even the closing instrumental "Aeolia" keeps me gripped like an Eternal Champion interlude track. Despite only being 22 minutes I think there isn't a weak track here, and it makes me very excited for a potential full length album in the future. I'd say Sonny should be fairly interested in this due to it's Epic Doom leanings.
They apparently have another demo out called The Iron Sparrow, which I think is a bit weaker quality than anything on Ancient Sword Cult but still worth a listen if the EP is up your alley. They definitely experiment a bit too much on "The Rider's Moon", but it still ain't bad.
4/5
I've been hammering these three early maiden classics all day and raising the horns to mark the passing of Paul di'Anno. RIP.