Review by Ian Savage

Nuclear Blast

‘Eagerly anticipated’ doesn’t even begin to cover this album. In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last six months, Black Star Riders formed out of the Ricky Warwick-fronted lineup of Thin Lizzy in late 2012 when original guitarist Scott Gorham opted against using the Lizzy name for new material. This was compounded by drummer Brian Downey’s decision to pull out of the band unwilling to commit to heavy touring; as a result, despite the Lizzy-related hype surrounding All Hell Breaks Loose, it only features Gorham from any studio incarnation of the band.

The connection wasn’t weakened in any way by the release of ‘Bound For Glory’ as the lead single from the album in March – the harmonised guitars, the strident bass, even Warwick’s vocal inflections mark it as a natural successor to classic era Lizzy. Anyone buying All Hell Breaks Loose for that won’t be disappointed, but there’s plenty more strings to Black Star Riders’ collective bow than re-hashing the past.

The opening title track is a punchy slab of rock and roll in its own right, with a chorus hook you could land a Great White with and a barnstorming solo; ‘Kingdom Of The Lost’ lends a nice Irish infusion (despite the majority of the band being American); ‘Sometime Salvation’ will be charted territory to anyone familiar with Warwick’s solo output. There’s occasional clunkiness both musically and lyrically (Ricky, did you really just rhyme ‘on this bed’ with ‘you in my head’?) which prevents this from being a ten-out-of-ten album for me; however, my editor agrees with my original five-word review and said I could include it:

F*ck me, this is good!

Get it.

9 out of 10

• Black Star Riders
• Black Star Riders on Facebook

Track listing:

1. All Hell Breaks Loose
2. Bound For Glory
3. Kingdom Of The Lost
4. Bloodshot
5. Kissin’ The Ground
6. Hey Judas
7. Hoodoo Voodoo
8. Valley Of The Stones
9. Someday Salvation
10. Before The War
11. Blues Ain’t So Bad

Cherry Red Records

There can be no doubt that the late, great Stuart Adamson believed in the cathartic effect of rock’n’roll. In music, his tormented soul found artistic expression, shaping and sharpening his undoubted emotional baggage into impassioned, weighty, cutting edge anthems. Ten million albums sold, with The Crossing, Steeltown (a personal favourite) and The Seer all carving a sizeable niche in the annals of rock history. Who could’ve stepped into those shoes? Indeed, who would’ve wanted to?

In his post BC years, Adamson gave The Alarm’s Mike Peters his personal endorsement. First came live performances of the reformed band, and now a full blown studio album. And the Celtic connection has worked a treat. With The Journey, the Peters fronted band clearly has Adamson’s swashbuckling, tortured spirit hard wired into its psyche, paying tribute to the man on sombre, uplifting songs like ‘Hurt’ and ‘Hail And Farewell‘, without being handicapped by reverential awe.

Throughout the album there are several crossover moments when other Celtic roots bands like U2 (Winter Fire), Simple Minds (Angels & Promises) and naturally, The Alarm (In A Broken Promise Land) will come to mind, but one listen to Bruce Watson’s reborn guitar skirl on ‘The Journey’ and Mark Brzezicki’s tribal rhythms on ‘Home Of The Brave’ will stir the blood and quicken the pulse once again.

Successfully replacing a band’s vocalist is always the most difficult of feats – arguably, the singer’s voice defines the band. Mike Peters is clearly an inspired choice and in turn, he has revitalised a band in mourning too long.

7 out of 10

• More from Big Country here

Track Listing:

1. In A Broken Promise Land
2. The Journey
3. After The Flood
4. Home Of The Brave
5. Angels & Promises
6. Strong (All Through This Land)
7. Last Ship Sails
8. Another Country
9. Return
10. Winter Fire
11. Hail & Farewell

Reviews by Jason Guest

Founded in 1999 by Frozen Shadows frontman Myrkhaal, Canada’s Sepulchral Productions have brought to the world terrors from the likes of Forteresse, Gris, Frozen Shadows, Sombres Forets, Monarque, Neige Et Noirceur, and Borgne among others. Recently unleashed unto the world are new albums from Quebec’s Monarque and Neige Éternelle as well as three re-releases from Serbian cult act The Stone.

• Monarque – Lys Noir
• Neige Éternelle – Neige Éternelle
• The Stone – Slovenska Krv
• The Stone – Zakon Velesa
• The Stone – Crna Hronika

Monarque – Lys Noir

Quebec’s Monarque lace the vicious aesthetic of Lys Noir, their third album (and first in four years), with heavy organs, acoustic guitars, and unsettling atmospheric passages that lends their hostility, aggression, and melodies a distinctive sound. Intense throughout, Monarque have developed no end since 2009’s Ad Nauseum. The production is better, the song-writing is more developed and concentrated, and the album is much more cohesive. Opener ‘L’Appel de la Nuit’ is evil incarnate, the organ and acoustic passages fleshing the fetid mass out to imbue the track with deeper and denser dimensions. ‘Vigor Mortis’s ambient intro is burnt to a cinder by the track’s wintery blaze. While all around burns eternal fires, stripping away the harsh instrumentation in favour of pure atmospherics, the melancholic instrumental track ‘Solitude’ is the calm centre of the album, flanked by the ferocity of ‘La Quintessence du Mal’ and the bleak wasteland of ‘Mes Condoléances’. After an outstanding cover version of Frozen Shadows’ ‘Au Seuil des Ténèbres’ (sadly with an abbreviated organ intro), the down tempo gloom of ‘Comme des Vers’ draws the album to a close. Grand and haunting, passionate and forlorn, aggressive and searingly intense, Lys Noir is a striking album and marks a distinct development in Monarque’s evolution.

7.5 out of 10

• Monarque on Facebook

Track Listing:

1. L’Appel de la Nuit
2. Vigor Mortis
3. La Quintessence du Mal
4. Solitude
5. Mes condoléances
6. Au Seuil des Ténèbres
7. Comme des Vers

Neige Éternelle – Neige Éternelle

The début album from Neige Éternelle delves deep into the abyss. This band cares not a jot about stretching the bounds; they’re happy enough to sit right in the black heart of enmity and spew forth razor-laced, hateful bile by the bucket load. This harkens back to the days before black metal became “black metal” and reeks of pig-headed resistance, of insurmountable obstinacy, of ruthless intransigence, and the relentless wrath and deep-rooted despair that runs through the very veins of this album is unmistakably authentic. If you’ve a hankering for cold and fierce black metal that rejects absolutely everything that signifies progress in the black art, this is for you.

7 out of 10

• Neige Éternelle on Facebook

Track Listing:

1. Cri de Guerre
2. Fier Patriote
3. Vent de Puissance
4. L’appel de la Mort
5. Comme une charogne
6. Plus les jours s’avancent
7. Triste Pensée
8. Pluie de Couteaux

The Stone – Slovenska Krv

Long sold out, the three albums from Serbia’s The Stone will see a strictly limited release of 1000 copies each. The first, Slovenska Krv, was released under the band’s original moniker Stone to Flesh in 2002. Eleven years on and this is still intensely savage, a barrage of the usual trem-picked riffs, unremitting drums and harsh vocals, Slovenska Krv depicts a band still in their formative stages. The instrumentation works well, particularly the usually much-neglected bass bringing a few distinct touches to the album. In terms of composition, ‘Pevalo Hiljadu Mačeva’ is the best track here, its cold atmospheric depths embellished by its subtle shifts in dynamics, its icy textures and the jagged melancholic arpeggios. Even though they’d been together since 1996, The Stone were yet to define the sound that would both establish them within and distinguish them from the horde.

6 out of 10

Track Listing:

1. Za Kosti Otaca
2. Ustaj Mati Zemljo
3. Dabog
4. Bogovi Od Srebra
5. U Kamenu
6. Lešinari Raširili Krila
7. Pevalo Hiljadu Mačeva
8. Knez Visokih Šuma

The Stone – Zakon Velesa

By album number two, Zakon VelesaI (released in 2004), The Stone had clearly made progress, their own identity coming more to the fore as they delved deeper into Slavic Paganism for their inspiration. While the band remained as black and intense as they were on Slovenska Krv, the tracks here are much longer, ranging from five to twelve minutes. The difference is that the atmospherics are more developed and The Stone’s stamp is felt much more intently. The album has a stronger sense of purpose, of determination, of fiercely unremitting devastation. Closing track ‘1168. (Sivi oblak stao nad Arkonom)’ is, at twelve minutes, where the band make full use of time and sonic space to allow the band’s own identity to more clearly take shape, particularly in the second half where guitars, drums and vocals are replaced by an ambient ethereal outro. This is the album where The Stone started to come into their own, and though they weren’t reinventing anything, the feel of this album is much more distinctive.

7 out of 10

Track Listing:

1. Priviđenja
2. Noćas nikog nema pred dverima Nava
3. Svaroži krug
4. Zakon Velesa
5. Mater Slava
6. 1168. (Sivi oblak stao nad Arkonom)

The Stone – Crna Hronika

Crna Hronika is the third release from The Stone and Sepulchral Productions. A collection of rare tracks from the band’s EPs released between 2004 and 2010 that were vinyl-only releases and have long since sold out. With the foundation of their style pretty much developed by 2004, all that was left for The Stone was to continue along that path of destruction and fortify their place among the black mass. Providing an insight into how the band progressed during those six years (as well as including very good covers of Slayer and Master’s Hammer tracks), this is more for completists, and that it comes with a 16-page booklet that details the history of each release makes it a much more worthy purchase.

6 out of 10

Track Listing:

1. Smrt čoveku
2. Na Vešala!
3. Za korak paklu bliže
4. Vihor paganske osvete
5. Aggressive Perfector (Slayer cover)
6. Jama pekel (Master’s Hammer cover)
7. Bogovi od srebra
8. Unveiled Evil
9. Ja sam tvoja smrt iznenadna
10. Čujete li, smeju nam se mrtvi…
11. To Hell

•  The Stone’s website
• The Stone on Facebook

Review by Dan Perks

Nuclear Blast

With an album title like Hate you know this isn’t going to be a melodic ballad filled collection of romantic ditties. Hailing from New South Wales in Australia, Thy Art is Murder achieved cult fame with their early EPs. The focus of these EPs was generally the brutal and misogynistic lyrics of former frontman Brendan Van Ryn. After a number of line-up changes and role swaps within the band, TAIM released their first full length album, The Adversary. This album sadly flew just under the radar here in the UK with only diehard fans picking up copies. Hate however has been a little bit more widely received. And rightly so. The opening track on the album, ‘Reign of Darkness’, is a solid statement of intent. The guitars trickle in building a level of suspense; vocalist CJ McMahon bursts violently into a deep gravelly verse that incites chaos; the drums sound like a barrage of machine gun fire; the down tuned guitars are crushing yet slightly groovy in parts; and the vocal hooks of “I am Hell” sound huge, the hatred and anger that flows out of every element is incredible.

Hate is the perfect album title for this record. It’s not too prolific, not pretentious; it simply states all you need to know. The whole album is packed full of venomous lyrics, targeting various social problems and grievances against the church. Vocalist CJ McMahon is probably one of the most technically sound deathcore vocalists out there, switching from gravelly guttural lows to raw throat bleeding highs, the intensity in his voice is profound. Packed with vocal hooks and almost anthemic yet brutal choruses it clear that the band have matured passed the almost black satire content of their first EPs.

On an instrumental level the album is also a leap forward in maturity. The drums for example are ridiculously heavy; the kick drums flitter through gallops and staggered patterns that feel like a bombardment of punches. The guitars have been kept simple, staccato rhythms and beat downs provide the riffs and power that is oozing through the album. Traces of lead cut through and completely change up the dynamic of songs like ‘Shadows Of Eternal Sin’ and ‘Immolation’.

My only real concern with Hate is that after having it on a playlist for some time, I’m starting to doubt the longevity of the album, the first ten listens or so it will consistently blow you away but it does wear thin soon after. It may be a case of put it down and come back in a few months to be blown away again, but only time will tell.

All in all it’s a fucking heavy album, it may not be a stone cold classic death metal album, but it will get you amped for a night out or blow off some steam after a crap day at the office.

7 out of 10

• Thy Art Is Murder on Facebook

Track listing:

1. Reign of Darkness
2. The purest Strain of Hate
3. Vile Creations
4. Shadows of Eternal Sin
5. Immolation
6. Infinite Forms
7. Dead Sun
8. Gates of Misery
9. Defective Breed
10. Doomed from Birth

Review by Paul H Birch

Frontier Records

When stories about your voice being shot are what now fill music gossip column inches rather than the prowess of your love gun, it takes a brave man (or one who’s also gone tone deaf?) to put out yet another live recording.

Then again, I’m not sure we ever really heard David Coverdale’s natural voice. Was there the northern richness of a deeper Eric Burdon there until Deep Purple tried to mould him into Paul Rogers? Since then he’s tried to hit the strangulated notes Glenn Hughes’ voice was made for and that’s taken its toll. When the old Middlesbrough trouser-fitter keeps within a certain range his voice is fine; there’s still personality and warmth, a few fluffed notes we can forgive, others less so.

There’s a genuine unexpected honesty about the two CDs that make up Made in Japan, I’ll give Whitesnake that. They’ve not tarted it up with overdubs; I’ve got ancient C90 cassette bootlegs in better nick than some of the stuff featured!

So what’s to like? Well, quite a bit actually, but you have to get the volume just right: too low and it makes any mistakes all the more obvious, too loud and it comes across as pedestrian, get it just right and it’s bold as brass blues metal boogie.

Recorded during the 2011 Forevermore tour, CD1 was initially aired on Japanese television (yes, there’s a DVD and Blue Ray edition available too) while CD2 features studio outtakes and acoustic versions thus we get two different versions of a couple of songs. Caught in the moment, the Made in Japan version of ‘Steal Your Heart Away’ ploughs through with a Zeppelin trademarked mega-country stomp while the second has a cleaner Foghat slide guitar approach. The ‘Love Will Set You Free’ renditions aren’t radically that different but in musically recalling the West Coast snake-eyed soul-soaked blues of Coverdale’s early solo albums show that a band with a lighter groove-based touch is needed to take the song to the heights it deserves.

It’s telling that ‘Fool For Your Loving’ and ‘Here I Go Again’ are played the most faithfully with Coverdale’s bluesy crooning aching well on them. However, that classic Whitesnake guitar sound of eagerly-amped B.B. King styled note bends has a tendency towards opting for a blitzkrieg of passing grace notes with more modern line-ups as in this case where they bludgeon their way through a strong meaty ‘Love Ain’t No Stranger’.

‘Forevermore’ opens beautifully but in changing from acoustic to electric goes a little awry (guitars also veer out of tune in places) and solos in general capture the moment rather than elicit any unexpected excitement in the listener (I’m sure there are actually two drum solos on the collection, but my legs traditionally take me to the toilets upon hearing them). Most fans will opt for the DVD version of Made In Japan but a choice selection of the songs are worth repeated listening.

5.5 out of 10

• Whitesnake Website

Track listing:

CD1:

1.  Best Years
2. Give Me All Your Love Tonight
3. Love Ain’t No Stranger
4.  Is This Love
5. Steal Your Heart Away
6. Forevermore
7. Six Strong Showdown
8. Love Will Set You Free
9. Drum Solo
10. Fool For Your Loving
11. Here I Go Again
12. Still Of The Night

CD2:

1. Love Will Set You Free
2. Steal Your Heart Away
3. Fare Thee Well (Acoustic Version)
4. One Of These Days (Acoustic Version)
5. Lay Down Your Love
6. Evil Ways
7. Good To Be Bad (Acoustic Version)
8. Tell Me How (Acoustic Version)

Review by Peter Keevil

Mascot Records

I for one am pleased that this second full album from Adelaide’s Tracer hasn’t strayed far from their acclaimed debut, Spaces In Between. The opening bars of title track ‘El Pistolero’ deliver that trade-mark Tracer guitar sound. What it is though is a far more cohesive slab of aluminium infused polycarbonate (doesn’t that just reek of ‘soul’? Not!) than its older sibling.

Perhaps it’s the incessant touring of these antipodean stoner rockers or it’s the Mexican Desperado lyrical theme running through the collection of thirteen songs or the vibrancy and energy brought to bear by the indomitable Kevin Shirley (Bonamassa, Black Country Communion, Aerosmith) or perhaps it’s that it is now truly the single-minded vehicle of Michael Brown following the departure of his brother, Leigh.

Whatever it is, it has worked and captured here for us to enjoy.

The El Pistolero theme runs interspersed throughout the track listing in 4 parts and it will be intriguing to see how the guys handle this in a live scenario, whether to treat them as individual tracks or as a collective whole. Or indeed, to return to that theme throughout a set, as they have here.

This is not a concept album though and it still gives plenty of breathing room for the Tracers to expand their horizons while still placing that Tracer stamp. Take ‘Dirty Little Secret’ and ‘Hangman’ by way of example. The former an incessant, jagged riff compared to latter with its sweeping orchestral opening underpinned by an Asian theme before a driving guitar kicks in. Its expansive play without losing sight of the end goal.

What this means it that Tracer have found their feet, their identity, without constraining themselves, and that path leads to all things golden.

8.5 out of 10

• Tracer on Facebook
• Tracer’s Website

Track listing:

1.  El Pistolero
2.  Lady Killer
3.  Dirty Little Secret
4.  Dead Garden
5.  Ballad Of El Pistolero
6.  Santa Cecilia
7.  Wolf In Cheap Clothes
8.  Scream In Silence
9.  Hangman
10.  Manic For Ya
11. Theres A Man
12. Until The War Is Won
13. Now I Ride

Check out the video teaser below:

The band also released a lyric video for their track ‘Your Judgment Is What Condemns You’ from their forth-coming album.

Watch the lyric video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if6DpcPR9Ug

‘Vices’ track-list
1. Vices
2. The Destroyer
3. David Scheinost
4. Sacrificing The Worm
5. Mirrors
6. Regret
7. Disconnected
8. 21:4
9. Sufferer
10. Your Judgment is What Condemns You
11. Faitheater
12. Eye For An Eye
13. By Way of the Snake

INTO THE FLOOD online:
www.facebook.com/intothefloodband
www.centurymedia.com

Century Media Records online:
http://www.centurymedia.com
http://www.youtube.com/centurymedia
http://www.twitter.com/centurymediaeu
http://www.facebook.com/centurymedia

Century Media webshop:
www.cmdistro.com

Century Media Records

Comments the band:

Warrel Dane: “Having been with Century Media since 1995 with Nevermore it was a very comfortable decision for Sanctuary to sign with them. Century Media has a great team that always delivers for all of their bands. I’ve known most of them on a first name basis for many years and I look forward to this new chapter in history.”

Lenny Rutledge: “I can speak for every member of Sanctuary when I say we are all excited to join the Century Media family. We now have the opportunity to work with the best metal record label on the planet. We are looking forward to creating great music with an awesome team behind us.”

Sanctuary released the classic albums ‘Refuge Denied’ and ‘Into The Mirror Black’ during their short existence between 1985 and 1992. Following the band’s dissolve, singer Warrel Dane and bassist Jim Sheppard formed NEVERMORE.

Warrel Dane – Vocals
Lenny Rutledge – Guitars
Jim Sheppard – Bass
Dave Budbill – Drums
Brad Hull – Guitars

SANCTUARY online:
www.facebook.com/sanctuaryfans
www.twitter.com/sanctuary

Century Media Records online:
http://www.centurymedia.com
http://www.youtube.com/centurymedia
http://twitter.com/centurymediaeu
http://www.facebook.com/centurymedia

Century Media webshop:
http://www.cmdistro.com

The charity provides recuperative holidays in the UK for about 300 children from Belarus. For children who cannot come to the UK, they organise a holiday camp in Belarus, delivers convoys of humanitarian aid, purchase urgently needed medicines for the Children’s Cancer Hospital in Minsk, and support the Children’s Hospice Movement. Volunteers from the UK also can go over toBelarus to help out in orphanages’, hospitals, holiday camps, and so on.

Seeing at first hand through Luke and Katie the benefits of this charity, we felt obliged to try and help out, especially as after March 2013 the UK government will start charging £85 for the visas for children coming from Belarus to England for recuperative holidays, even those for five year olds in remission from cancer.

We have a government petition in place regarding the visas. We are desperately trying to raise awareness of this; as if we can get 100,000 people to sign it we will be able to force a government debate on the issue. As well as this we are looking to volunteer ourselves to go over to Belarus to help out, as well as be involved with the children when they come over here. Even just donating an evening to playing football with some of the kids is a big help.

We are also looking to raise funds, specifically for visa’s for 2 children to come over again to stay with Luke and Katie, and also for the trip to Belarus for Katie and Ewelina (Martin’s girlfriend), and potentially Paul and Martin from the Procession who have Visa applications awaiting approval. Any additional funds will help with the charities existing projects.

In order to raise both funds and awareness, Martin has organised an all day charity gig at Scruffy Murphy’s in Birmingham. As well as the great line up including The Procession as well as established tribute and original acts, lots of local companies have donated prizes, so there will be many fund raising activities throughout the day. The Procession will also be releasing a single which will contain information about the petition with any funds raised from sales going to the charity. The Procession will also be getting involved in summer activities in the UK with the kids on recuperative holidays.

Additionally through the presenter Tom Mallow, we are looking to setup a wider awareness project using a charity called “Sky Badger”. They help other charities with similar causes, and have some high profile backers. Tom has helped promote the cause with interviews on his radio show with Martin and Luke, as well as with several people involved with Sky Badger, and is looking himself to organise a charity event in August. In addition to this we hope to promote many more events to help the cause.

Key Dates

26^th April – Season’s Charity single release to mark 27^th anniversary

27^th April – All day charity gig at Scruffy Murphy’s to raise funds / awareness

May - Katie visit to Belarus

May - Martin, Paul, Ewelina visit to Belarus

3^rd/4^th August – Sky Badger Festival, Lutterworth

All August – Belarus Children visit U.K. – Several fun activities to be planned with the kids

7.     31^st August – E-Petition Closing Date

Links:

1.    Charity: http://www.chernobyl-children.org.uk

2.    27^th April, Birmingham Gig Event Page:https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/events/394568270632638/?fref=ts

3.    Radio Interview: http://soundcloud.com/tommallowinterviews/tom-mallow-interviews-luke

4.    Government Petition: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/37945

5.    Sky Badger: http://www.skybadger.co.uk/

DEAD BY APRIL

‘Freeze Frame’ will be available, digitally, on all the usual platforms (iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc.) from May 26^th.

This new album (title yet to be revealed) is the follow-up to ‘Incomparable’, and is the first to feature brand new vocalist Christoffer Andersson following  Jimmie Strimell’s departure earlier this year.

 www.deadbyapril.com

www.facebook.com/deadbyapril

www.spinefarmrecords.com