New Music Round-Up: 14th September 2014

It's been a couple of months since my last Weekly Round-Up post and although I can never make up for lost time, due in part to the massive backlog of new music I'm already facing, I can resurrect with this clutch of brilliant Metal songs from the last few weeks that you may have missed and that I think, deserve your time.

Eastern Front

Do you miss the mighty Thus Defiled, mourn for the days when Hecate Enthroned were still relevant and when Cradle Of Filth were Britain's up-and-coming hopefuls or are you just looking for an arse-kicking Black Metal band, British or otherwise? Well, look no further as Eastern Front could well be the band for you. Whereas the band's 2010 debut, "Blood On Snow" was 'merely' a respectable Black Metal album, it lacked an identity and real character. This time, the Ipswich boys do their record label (Candlelight) and the long and varied legacy of Black Metal, justice. Like peers, Fen, Winterfylleth, Old Corpse Road and their ilk, this is ferocious, brutal, in your face Black Metal, but with a distinctly British flavour.

 Aspherium

When I read about this band a while back, the dreaded words "Melodic Black Metal" made my heart sink and I expected these Norwegians to be just another by numbers band rehashing third-rate At The Gates riffs and bashing out predictable, boring and formulaic songs. Well, how wrong I was! No, this isn't really doing anything groundbreaking, but this is one band who are taking their, often glaringly obvious, influences and are actually doing them justice. This is lovingly crafted and catchier than Ebola (too soon?) and very soon, this band could be giving the old guard a real run for their money.

Black Moth

Where to begin with the brilliant and fantastically unique, Black Moth? Well, try to imagine a wonderfully potent blend of Grunge, Alt-Rock, Stoner Rock and Sabbath-esque Doom Metal. Whereas their debut was an enjoyable and promising slab of British Metal from a hungry young band, it did all too often stray into Sabbath-aping territory. This time, however, Black Moth have found their own sound and have really upped the ante. If you still haven't discovered this little gem of a band, what are you waiting for?

Falconer

So, Falconer, eh? They have always been and still are one of those love them or hate them bands. They do what they do and they don't really stray from their distinctive and well-worn musical path. Is this a band thing? Sometimes, yes...but not in this case. This is the Falconer you have come to expect, but even though the medieval minstrel element is still present and correct, this is an altogether heavier, thrashing stomper of an album. I can't recommend this enough, to both longtime fans and sceptics alike. Listen and judge for yourself.

The Haunted

After an odd and unexpected (but brilliant) foray into Tool-esque Grunge on "Unseen", The Haunted are back in more familiar Thrash / Groove / Melodic Death Metal territory on album number 8. They are never going to be world beaters and are unlikely to even regain their late-90's position as Sweden's premier Thrash Metal act, but with Marco Aro back behind the mic, this is certainly a respectable enough return to the style the band helped to put on the map.

Bloodstock 2014 Review: Part 3

So, here it is...the third (and final) part of my review of Bloodstock 2014. I need to start by winding the clock back to Saturday night to explain the odd (and anti-climatic) day that Sunday would become. At around 9:30pm, just as the mighty Emperor hit the stage, the rain started. This rain, it would turn out, wouldn't actually stop until around 1pm the following afternoon. If you've ever been to a festival in the rain (or have even seen reviews), then I'm sure your mind has already started to fill up with images of sodden grass, flooded campsites and miserable festival-goers. If it has, then you are pretty spot-on.

I decided to brave the rain at around 8am as it seemed like a perfect chance to go to the showers as there wasn't likely to be a queue (this turned out to be accurate) and after that we went to buy some waterproof clothes (a pink poncho in my case), before heading back to the tent. The weather forecast has promised heavy rain all day on Sunday and as one our party had a tent malfunction which led to him (amusingly) waking up in a water-logged tent and  the forecast had been pretty accurate the rest of the weekend, this advice / warning was heeded and we decided that staying another night wasn't a good idea. As it turned out, this was a mistake. The weather ended up clearing to a tolerable level and our premature decision to pack away and go home early meant that the festival ended on a low point. One I am still feeling sad / disappointed about as I type this (3 weeks later). Anyway, enough of the epically boring back story and on to the bands.

Luckily, Sunday was the weakest day, for me, so the first band I wanted to see didn't play until 1:30pm (and in a tent, which was a bonus). Wales' own Akb'al (9), despite sounding like a Death Metal band (Be'lakor, anyone?), are actually a tripped out Psychadelic Stoner Grunge band who managed to captivate the unusually large crowd they had attracted (well, the weather has to take some of the credit) and played a blinder of a set which never dragged for a moment. A much needed positive on a day which started (and would end) on a low.  

Pretty much straight after this, with just a few minutes to grab a beer, it was on to the main stage for the ever-reliable New Yorker's, Biohazard (9) who didn't disappoint with their rabble-rousing brand of Metallic Hardcore. Opening with the classic Shades Of Grey, this was a near-perfect set and performance from these veterans, which finished with a chaotic Punishment which saw a massive stage invasion that seemed to take the security, who were powerless to stop the flow of humanity, completely by surprise. Didn't the Bloodstock organisers warn them of the band's reputation?

The next band on the main stage was due to be Sweden's Graveyard, but due to a delayed flight, they swapped times (and stage) with countrymen, Avatar (8). This was a stroke of luck for Avatar (and for me, as I would have missed them later on), as they had the (well-deserved) chance to play for a bigger audience and on the main stage. Despite a lukewarm reception for the first couple of songs, charismatic frontman, Johannes soon won over the crowd and this went down as a triumphant show for this often under-rated band. If you're not familiar with Avatar, well you are missing out. They started life as a decent if ordinary Melodic Death Metal act, but have developed and grown into a far more experimental and confident beast.

It was the next band, however, that I had been waiting all weekend for. One of my all-time favourite bands and one I had only seen once before, Florida's Obituary (8) unfortunately suffered from a wind-ravaged sound which took the edge of their distinctive groove-laden Death Metal. On saying that, despite the aforementioned sound issues, the band delivered the goods and even the new songs sounded crushing in the live environment...which bodes well for the new album.

Unfortunately, that is where Bloodstock 2014 ended for me as we called it a day at this point....unless you count watching Megadeth (9) on the live feed when we got home?! For the record, the band silenced a lot of the naysayers with a confident, passionate and energetic performance which covered just about every stage of the band's long and storied career. A great end to a bittersweet festival. Just a shame I wasn't there to see it in person.