The Metal Moose Show – Episode 2016-01-24

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If you want to get more information about any of the bands featured at The Metal Moose Show, simply Google the band and/or the song name to find their official website and Facebook page and, more important than that, attend their live concerts and buy their music. Here at The Headbanging Moose you can find detailed reviews of Italian Goth-Stoner-Doom Metal band Witches Of Doom and British Alternative Rock/Metal band Bouquet of Dead Crows (just click on the links below to read the reviews). Support your local bands… AND FOLLOW THE MOOSE!

On The Metal Moose Show this week:

1. The Apex – Glass Walls
2. Broken Oath – Broken Oath
3. Core Zero – Eyes Burn Red
4. Gravestone – Empty Words
5. Iniquitious – Father Opiate
6. Keychain – Shock Rock City
7. Lady Reaper – Spit It Out From Hell
8. Once Was Never – Razoring Woods
9. The Oath – Crimson Flesh
10. Relics Of Humanity – Ominously Reining Upon The Intangible
11. Widower – Unholy Force
12. Witches Of Doom – The Betrayal
13. Zero Minus One – Brilliant Disguise
14. Ashes To Angels – Find Hell
15. Entropia – Paradox
16. King Chrome – Menace To Society
17. Corners Of Sanctuary – Carry The Cross
18. Dauden – My Soul Will Be Damned Forever
19. Bouquet Of Dead Crows – Don’t Panic
20. Hooded Eagle – There Is No Good Left In This World

Click HERE to listen to this week’s episode on Spreaker.

Metal Moose Radio YouTube | Spreaker | iTunes

Concert Review – Epica & Moonspell (The Opera House, Toronto, ON, 01/22/2016)

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An electrifying fusion of Melodic Death Metal, Dark Metal and Symphonic Metal from distinct parts of the world storms the Opera House in Toronto in a memorable celebration of music.

OPENING ACT: Starkill

The North American Enigma PosterAlthough the winter hasn’t been too harsh so far in the city of Toronto this year, there’s nothing better than warming it up even more with some high-quality metal music from different parts of the world, all at the same place and time, don’t you agree? That’s what happened this Friday at the nice and cozy The Opera House, where fans could witness the riveting fusion of Melodic Death Metal from the United States, Dark Metal from Portugal and Symphonic Metal from the Netherlands on a cold but (thankfully) snowless night.

And I was finally able to get a full concert in Toronto from the very first second, without missing anything, starting with the young and restless metallers from STARKILL. Still promoting their latest album, the good Virus of the Mind, from 2014, this talented American quartet distilled their Melodic Death Metal in a precise way, warming up the crowd for the main attractions yet to come. Lead singer/guitarist Parker Jameson and guitarist Tony Keathley seemed very comfortable on stage and also among the crowd right after their concert was over, having a few beers with their fans, therefore showing how humble these guys are too. Despite adding a couple of nice unreleased songs to their setlist (entitled Burn Your World and Cloudless), in my opinion they truly thrived with songs from their two studio albums, in special the excellent Be Dead or Die and Fires of Life. I just wish they had played a faster song such as “Breaking the Madness” or “Skyward” instead of Before Hope Fades to close the show, but that was just a minor detail in their solid overall performance.

Setlist
Be Dead or Die
Burn Your World
Cloudless
Fires of Life
Virus of the Mind
Before Hope Fades

Band members
Parker Jameson – lead guitar, vocals
Tony Keathley – guitar, backing vocals
Shaun Andruchuk – bass guitar
Spencer Weidner – drums

MOONSPELL

IMG_1037About 24 hours before the moon in the city transitioned from First Quarter to Full Moon, and after an interesting alternate version of La Bafomette working as an intro, the iconic Portuguese Dark Metal wolf pack MOONSPELL stormed the Opera House with their obscurity, heaviness, electricity and undisputed talent. I really don’t know what to say about their performance so perfect it was. Perhaps that it took me too long to watch those old school Gothic metallers live for the first time? Anyway, their live concert is so damn brilliant it feels like an enhanced version of their studio albums, especially the performance by frontman Fernando Ribeiro. There’s so much passion emanating from his voice, either through his deep clean vocals, through his powerful growls or through his “real-time poetry” (or even when he made a joke about the guys from Starkill being so young they could be his children),  that it’s impossible not to get completely mesmerized and stunned by him during the entire show.

IMG_1032Of course, the rest of the band contributes enormously to the perfection of their music, with highlights to the polished and soulful riffs and solos by guitarist Ricardo Amorim, and to the sinister notes by keyboardist Pedro Paixão. There’s an absolute attention to detail coming from each musician involved, turning the experience of seeing Moonspell live into something unique. In addition, when you have such a masterpiece like their 2015 album Extinct guiding the setlist, with incredible compositions like Breathe (Until We Are No More), Extinct and The Last of Us complementing their old classics Night Eternal, Opium, Vampiria and Full Moon Madness, it’s extremely easy to put a sincere smile on the faces of the fans that attended the concert.

My only complaint is that their setlist was way too short and didn’t live up to their dark legacy. When the show was over after a little less than one hour, I was eager for more of their Gothic Metal, something you can expect from such an amazing band with a dazzling career like Moonspell. Well, they haven’t risen to stardom for no reason, right? If they had another 20 or 30 minutes to showcase more of their beautiful music, maybe by adding songs like “White Skies” and “Scorpion Flower” to their setlist, the night was going to be epic and, more important than that, more than eternal for us mere mortals. I cannot wait to see the “gajos” from Monspell live again, and next time, before the lights go out and before our time is gone, they better be the headliners or we riot!

Setlist
La Bafomette (Intro)
Breathe (Until We Are No More)
Extinct
Night Eternal
Opium
Awake
The Last of Us
Funeral Bloom
Vampiria
Alma Mater
Full Moon Madness

Band members
Fernando Ribeiro – vocals
Ricardo Amorim – guitars
Pedro Paixão – keyboards
Aires Pereira – bass
Miguel Gaspar – drums

EPICA

IMG_1069However, as most fans at the venue were there to see the main attraction of the night, the Dutch metallers from EPICA, I had to cope with the fact Moonspell’s concert was over and get ready for another good performance by the red-haired bombshell Simone Simons and her loyal crew. Due to personal reasons, they had to cancel their concerts in Toronto, Chicago and Minneapolis last September, which is why I believe their fans at the Opera House were so excited this Friday night.

Blending old classics with newer songs from their 2014 album The Quantum Enigma, Epica captivated the hearts of most people at the venue, with Simone connecting every single moment with the fans. As it happened with Moonspell, songs like The Second Stone and The Essence of Silence, despite not being classics yet, set fire to the crowd and boosted even more the impact of their classics, creating a very positive atmosphere among the crowd. And what can I say about the weird keyboards by Coen Janssen? What the hell was that? I mean, it looks cheesy, but it ends up working well with the music. If you like Epica, you know what I’m talking about.

IMG_1066There was just one minor issue with Epica’s performance, that being Moonspell. Well, not actually Moonspell, but the quality of the sound by the Portuguese metallers was way above what Epica provided the fans, which in the end felt odd. Sometimes their music sounded a bit muffled or tangled, not as clean as their studio versions, with Simone’s voice sounding lower (and almost inaudible in some moments) than all instruments. Nothing that could diminish the excitement among the fans at the venue, though, and obviously nothing that would make the night less memorable. If that mix of different subgenres of heavy music from distinct countries will ever happen again, only time will tell. In the meantime, all that’s left for us is keep those good moments deep in our hearts and wait until these bands come back to Toronto (especially Moonspell, in my case) for another shot of top-notch Heavy Metal.

Setlist
Originem (Intro)
The Second Stone
The Essence of Silence
Sensorium
Unleashed
Martyr of the Free Word
Cry for the Moon (with drum solo)
Storm the Sorrow
The Last Crusade
The Obsessive Devotion
Victims of Contingency
Design Your Universe

Encore:
Sancta Terra
Unchain Utopia
Consign to Oblivion

Band members
Simone Simons – lead vocals
Mark Jansen – rhythm guitar, harsh vocals
Isaac Delahaye – lead guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Rob van der Loo – bass guitar
Coen Janssen – keyboards, piano
Ariën van Weesenbeek – drums, harsh vocals

Album Review – Gomorrah / The Haruspex (2016)

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Enter the gates of Gomorrah and be prepared for an insane feast of first-class Canadian Death Metal that will crush your body and mind.

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CDDIGI-2.1BWhen most people see the name “Gomorrah”, they automatically associate it with to the city mentioned in the Book of Genesis, the Qur’an and Hadith, the Torah, and the New Testament. But such interpretation has been shifting considerably since 2006 in the world of heavy music, when Canadian Death Metal act Gomorrah was born in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia as a Black Metal outfit, storming the world with their refined and brutal music. Growing to a bolder form of Death Metal through the years, this talented band is releasing their second full-length album, entitled The Haruspex, an excellent option for fans of the devastating music by Cannibal Corpse, Decapitated and Bloodbath.

Their short but substantial existence, which includes the unique experience of sharing the stage with renowned acts like Suffocation, Cryptopsy and The Agonist, together with the thorough production of the album, allowed this Kelowna-based band to step up their game in The Haruspex, therefore cementing their path in extreme music. Featuring a sinister artwork by artist Kevin Ellis Moore, The Haruspex will promptly assault you and leave you lying on the floor covered in blood, eager for more of the band’s unyielding compositions.

The intro Imperial kicks off the album in a more than ferocious way, giving you a good idea of what’s coming next, the bestial Nine Kings of Sulphur, where its eerie ambience gets stronger with each instrument growing until the song reaches a pulverizing rhythm. Moreover, the technical riffs by guitarist Bowen Matheson magnificently support the deep growling by frontman Jeff Bryan during the entire song. And following that strong start, get ready to be smashed by Gomorrah in Carcosa, a song that will make fans of Deicide and Cannibal Corpse truly happy. The vociferations by Jeff are insanely powerful in this sick tune, not to mention its unstoppable beats (reproduced live by drummer Casey Long-Read).

GOMORRAH press photo as Nov 17Are you tired already? Because those guys still have a lot more of their demonic music to disturb our minds, beginning with Dismantling The Throne, an extremely poisonous version of Progressive Death Metal where its bass lines (reproduced live by bassist Clayton Harder) add tons of groove to the musicality; followed by Sitra Achra, the epitome of modern Death Metal, being ruthless and harmonious at the same time. Blast beats multiply in the air, while the bass guitar keeps rumbling thunderously, making this one of the best tunes of the entire album. And in Crowns of Flesh, an eerie intro deceives the listener as it takes a few seconds for the band’s nuclear assault to reignite, with its potent riffs and beats alongside the song’s resonant bass lines aiming at dislocating your brain due to the intense headbanging they might cause.

Cerulean is not only an amazing display of Death and Groove Metal where Jeff continues his ode to dementia through his pungent growls, but I personally love when extreme music can be so violent without being played at the speed of light, proving how talented the musicians involved in this band are. Then we have the brutal and melodic Venom and Rapture, where you’ll be instigated to bang your head up and down violently, and Architects, a short instrumental break before one last shot of insanity begins in the form of The Mark of Veritas, a derranged chant where the band’s growls and blast beats come crushing from the very first second. In addition, the fusion of Jeff’s howls and the song’s flammable drumming is outstanding, closing the album on a high note.

If you got psyched up with the music by Gomorrah, go check their Facebook page for more details on the band, including their future tour dates, as well as their YouTube channel and SoundCloud page. And lastly, you can purchase The Haruspex at their BandCamp page or at the Test Your Metal Records’ Big Cartel page. If you dare to enter the gates of Gomorrah, I can guarantee you won’t get disappointed at all with the insane level of destruction this awesome Canadian band can offer you.

Best moments of the album: Carcosa, Sitra Achra and The Mark of Veritas.

Worst moments of the album: Venom and Rapture.

Released in 2016 Test Your Metal Records

Track listing
1. Imperial 1:55
2. Nine Kings of Sulphur 3:17
3. Carcosa 2:31
4. Dismantling The Throne 2:59
5. Sitra Achra 3:51
6. Crowns of Flesh 3:50
7. Cerulean 3:05
8. Venom and Rapture 4:14
9. Architects 1:33
10. The Mark of Veritas 3:40

Band members
Jeff Bryan – vocals
Bowen Matheson – guitars

Band live lineup
Jeff Bryan – vocals
Bowen Matheson – guitars
Clayton Harder – bass
Casey Long-Read – drums

Album Review – Abbath / Abbath (2016)

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The one and only Abbath takes a new step in his career with a brand new band and an album that will definitely be among the best releases of the year.

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abbathsoloface_638Olve Eikemo, Abbath Doom Occulta, or simply Abbath, you name it, is one of the most iconic musicians in the Norwegian Black Metal scene since the 1990’s as frontman of Immortal. However, in 2015, fans got caught by surprise when Demonaz announced Abbath’s departure from the band and they would legally battle for the naming rights of Immortal. According to Abbath’s side of the story, he wanted to rehearse and record a new album, but Demonaz and Horgh, now with families and children, didn’t want to enter the studio that soon. On the other side, Immortal members said that Abbath’s personal problems ruined the band’s plans. What could have meant the end of something really amazing such as Immortal’s legacy turned out to be the beginning of a new era when Abbath announced he was forming his self-named solo band.

To join him on this new project, Abbath recruited the well known bassist King ov Hell (Gorgoroth, Ov Hell, God Seed) and a mysterious drummer called “The Creature” – which we found out in December, when he left the band, to be Kevin Foley, the French drummer who has been playing with bands like Benighted, Disavowed, Sepultura, Sabaton and others. The band debuted live in June 2015, at Tuska Open Air, in Finland, even before the recording of the album and during the second half of 2015 they released a few songs to the fans. A few days after Creature’s departure, Per Valla, the Norwegian guitarist that played on their live concerts also left the band. Some might think this is not a good start for a new band, and it really isn’t, but they promised that their very first album was to be released on January 22, 2016, and here we have Abbath, a great Black Metal piece that every fan of this genre should take a listen at.

To War opens the album showing right from the start that Abbath is not here to delivery low quality music. It has an amazing work on bass and drums, great riffs adding melody to the song and the main man’s growls sounding better than ever. There is even time for a great melodic guitar solo. Winter Bane comes next and keeps all the heaviness going on, again with all the band members working in harmony – Creature brought to songs such as this one a lot of rhythm by coming from outside Black Metal, and the result is great. Next, the first seconds of Ashes of the Damned might trick you that this is a slow song, but in reality it is fierce and raw with the addition of fast guitar riffs, double bass and even some keyboards.

abbathband2015promo1_638After a start of pure destruction, Abbath slow the pace just a little bit with Ocean of Wounds, but you still know you’re listening to some really good Black Metal. All the anger comes back on the next track, Count the Dead – this song was released as a single in December in a very special 7” vinyl edition, limited to 500 copies worldwide. Fenrir Hunts is the heaviest song of the album and it was the first one played live to the fans, back in Finland. It is impossible to stay insensitive to this masterpiece and probably you’ll bang your head until your neck hurts.

In Root of the Mountain, we can recover our breath after all the aggressiveness delivered with another amazing melodic Black Metal track with a darker atmosphere. But the album couldn’t end in a better way than with more loudness to our ears in Eternal, closing this cycle with the same heaviness it all started. But wait, there is more! For those who got the “Count the Dead” single vinyl, as a B-side there’s a cover of Riding on with the Wind, byJudas Priest, also available on digital version. This is not the best of covers but, well, it is a good tribute to the Metal Gods. There is also a second cover as a bonus track: Nebular Ravens Winter, by Immortal, and if you think you know what to expect, you’re wrong. This version, recorded live in studio, sounds even louder than the original song.

Abbath is already available in its entirely for streaming on Soundcloud, and you can order your copy at the Season of Mist webstore and on iTunes. The band will embark in January and February on a tour around Europe, and then, in March and April, in North America, as headliners of the Decibel Magazine Tour, alongside with the bands High on Fire, Skeletonwitch and Tribulation – for both tours, Abbath named Gabe Seeber (The Kennedy Veil) to fill the place left by The Creature. So, keep an eye on Abbath’s Facebook page for more news and updates and if you have the chance to see this concert, please go! This is a must see in 2016. Will Abbath ever work with Immortal again? Who the f*ck knows? It is something we really can’t predict. But with this new band and the album, the man didn’t disappoint and showed he still has a lot of creativity flowing through his veins and a lot to deliver to his fans.

Best moments of the album: To War, Winter Bane, Count the Dead and Fenrir Hunts.

Worst moments of the album: None.

Released in 2016 Season of Mist

Track listing
1. To War 5:35
2. Winter Bane 6:49
3. Ashes of the Damned 3:51
4. Ocean of Wounds 4:44
5. Count the Dead 4:57
6. Fenrir Hunts 4:38
7. Root of the Mountain 5:40
8. Eternal 4:36

Special Edition bonus tracks
9. Riding on the Wind (Judas Priest cover) 3:04
10. Nebular Ravens Winter (Immortal cover) 4:16

Band members
Abbath Doom Occulta – vocals, guitars
King ov Hell – bass
The Creature – drums

The Metal Moose Show – Episode 2016-01-17

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If you want to get more information about any of the bands featured at The Metal Moose Show, simply Google the band and/or the song name to find their official website and Facebook page and, more important than that, attend their live concerts and buy their music. Here at The Headbanging Moose you can find detailed reviews of Swedish Melodic Progressive Metal band Cloudscape, Swedish Death Metal band Just Before Dawn and Norwegian Blackened Thrash Metal band Vingulmork (just click on the links below to read the reviews). Support your local bands… AND FOLLOW THE MOOSE!

On The Metal Moose Show this week:

1. Cloudscape – All For Metal
2. Casket Robbery – Annabelle’s Hell
3. Dawn Heist – Voyager
4. Dead Soul Communion – My Beautiful Mistake
5. Dead Colony – Stay Alive
6. For The Wolf – The Invisible Dead
7. Fireland – Servants Of The Dark
8. Just Before Dawn – Into The Iron Mist
9. Lift The Medium – Spinning Wheel
10. Second Rate Angels – Godspeed
11. Burn The Ocean – Days In November
12. The Lumberjack – Salvation
13. Thundermother – Roadkill
14. The Dead Prevail – Eradicate To Devastate
15. Rebel Wizard – A Place To Rest The Dead Inside Is Never To Be Found
16. Wasteland Rocks – I Say Burn
17. The Veer Union – Defying Gravity
18. Vingulmork – (I Am) The Darkness You Can Touch
19. Rhine – The Dark Of Winter

Click HERE to listen to this week’s episode on Spreaker.

Metal Moose Radio YouTube | Spreaker | iTunes

Album Review – My Dear Addiction / Kill The Silence (2016)

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This electric Swedish act is back and absolutely psyched up to kill the silence with more of their dynamic and melodic Metalcore.

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MDA-Kill_The_Silence-albumcoverHailing from the city of Älmhult, Sweden, around 500km southwest of the capital Stockholm (by the way, it was in Älmhult that the first IKEA store was built), the competent Melodic Metalcore five-piece band My Dear Addiction is back in action with their second full-length album, entitled Kill The Silence. And I might add that silence is the only thing you’ll definitely not find in this storm of ten high-speed and intense tunes thoroughly put together by this electric Swedish act.

With over a decade of experience, having released their debut album New Blood back in 2010 and having already played alongside bands such as Scar Symmetry and Dead By April over the years, My Dear Addiction returned to The Panic Room, the same studio where their first album was born in Sweden, to record Kill The Silence. Featuring a subtly dark artwork by Carl Blekkmark, from Blekkmark Design Studio (who has already worked with renowned artists such as Yngwie Malmsteen, Richie Sambora, Paul McCartney and Stephen King), Kill The Silence has everything Metalcore fans can expect from an album, delivering a strong message through each and every song.

The atmospheric and modern title-track Kill the Silence ignites the album by blending American Metalcore with the Gothenburg sound, with lead singer Kim Lindstén providing a good balance between clean vocals and harsh screams. A Promise is a lot heavier than the opening track thanks to the ferocious riffs by guitarists Christoffer Holm and Ludvig Blaesild, which add a lot of fuel to this excellent Melodic Death Metal tune; whereas in the upbeat chant Winners, drummer Peter Parkeborn pounds his drums mercilessly while Kim delivers a solid performance enhanced by the positive message from the song’s lyrics.

Beautiful is another great display of contemporary Metalcore, with its cheerful lyrics (“You are beautiful for what you are / Eyes will see / This will reach their heart / This is the song for a new start”) getting even more expressive due to the song’s background effects and powerful guitar lines. But it’s when those Swedes get faster and heavier that their music gains some considerable punch, which is the case in the thrilling Unbreakable, a song to bang your head and slam into the pit with your friends. As expected from any European band, they have a strong and noticeable melodic vein feeding their music, with the guitars by Christoffer and Ludvig burning bright and leading that harmonious torrent.

MDA-01Very melodic and with lots of breaks and variations, Always Around You sounds like a more progressive version of Metalcore, with bassist Johannes Nordigårds smashing his chords and consequently increasing the song’s impact, followed by All White, which despite losing some of its grip after a while is pretty decent in the end anyway. Furthermore, I’m not sure who’s responsible for the keyboards in the entire album, but he or she does an amazing job crafting a metallic and eerie ambience in almost all songs.

Veins, the shortest of all tracks, offers the listener the sheer violence found in Melodic Death Metal with smoother passages from Metalcore, especially in regards to the vocal lines by Kim, which should work pretty well if played live. And Face It and Rewind, although weaker than most tracks of the album, still presents solid guitar lines and sharp beats that prevent it from letting the energy level go down in Kill the Silence. Last but not least, Our Fire Inside has a Linkin Park-ish vibe in the beginning that suddenly morphs into heavy and aggressive Metalcore with some futuristic elements added to it, with highlights to its rhythm and groove, perfect for some crazy headbanging.

If you’re a diehard Metalcore fan, I truly recommend you go after the work by My Dear Addiction, either by getting in touch with them through their Facebook page or by enjoying their music through their YouTube channel. And you can obviously purchase Kill the Silence, available for streaming in its entirety HERE, at their official BandCamp page, on iTunes, on Amazon, and several other locations. Luckily for all of us, My Dear Addiction is not just back with a brand new album, but absolutely psyched up to kill the silence with more of their dynamic and melodic Metalcore.

Best moments of the album: A Promise, Winners and Unbreakable.

Worst moments of the album: All White and Face It and Rewind.

Released in 2016 Dead End Exit Records

Track listing
1. Kill the Silence 3:51
2. A Promise 3:38
3. Winners 3:17
4. Beautiful 3:31
5. Unbreakable 3:00
6. Always Around You 4:00
7. All White 3:57
8. Veins 2:42
9. Face It and Rewind 3:53
10. Our Fire Inside 4:24

Band members
Kim Lindstén – vocals
Christoffer Holm – guitar
Ludvig Blaesild – guitar
Johannes Nordigårds – bass
Peter Parkeborn – drums

Album Review – Axel Rudi Pell / Game of Sins (2016)

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You might be a sinner, but don’t be a fool and go relish another magnificent album by the one and only Mr. Axel Rudi Pell and his loyal henchmen.

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frontWe’re not even a full month into 2016, and here come the unstoppable guitarist Axel Rudi Pell and his crew of accomplished musicians to provide us an album that will most probably feature among our top releases of 2016 when the year is over, and I’m not fooling around when I say that. Game of Sins, the seventeenth studio album by this iconic Heavy Metal/Hard Rock guitar virtuoso from Germany, is not only a full-bodied album full of catchy and thrilling chants, but the outstanding performances by Axel Rudi Pell, by keyboardist Ferdy Doernberg and especially by frontman Johnny Gioeli (owner of one of the sharpest voices in heavy music) make this a must-have album for admirers of classy heavy and rock music.

To be fair, Game of Sins is not very different from what Mr. Axel Rudi Pell and his loyal henchmen did in the excellent Into the Storm, in 2014, but that doesn’t mean you’ll experience that awkward feeling of “been there, done that” while listening to it. Quite the contrary, it’s truly amazing how this incredible band is capable of always renovating themselves without losing their essence, just like what the biggest rock and metal icons such as AC/DC, Motörhead and Judas Priest do. That’s what keeps the band alive and on fire, and their music flowing smoothly and magnificently through the years.

The jester-ish intro Lenta Fortuna invites the listener to play the so-called “game of sins” with Axel Rudi Pell, and what a fun game that’s going to be starting with the high-octane Fire, a perfect opening for their live performances with its incandescent rhythm and Mr. Pell delivering his trademark riffs and solos. It takes less than five seconds for Lucifer to rise when the music starts, and I dare you not to sing the chorus along with Mr. Gioeli so catchy it is. And the masters of Hard Rock and Rock N’ Roll strike again with yet another “road hymn” entitled Sons in the Night, highly recommmended for riding your badass Harley-Davidson with your girl. Furthermore, although Bobby Rondinelli might not be an unstoppable stone crusher behind his drums, he’s surely a high-skilled drummer that adds a lot of groove to the music with his spot-on beats.

ARPOne constant element found throughout the entire album is the ominous ambience crafted by Ferdy with his awesome keyboard notes, and the title-track Game of Sins is an excellent example of that. This is a heavy semi-ballad that lives up to Mr. Pell’s legacy, with highlights to its fun lyrics about how our lives are an endless gambling game; before “Two Minutes to Midnight”-ish riffs kick off the best track of the album, the exhilarating Falling Star, another classic tune to sing along with the band (in special its beautiful chorus). Moreover, it doesn’t matter if you’re driving down the Sunset Strip on a hot summer day or facing a hideous snow storm at the peak of the winter, this electrifying song will definitely cheer you up.

I always say Axel Rudi Pell is a Hard Rock ballad deity, obviously taking into account the fact that he got even better after Johnny joined the band years ago. With every single album released we get at least one heartwarming tune to soothe our souls and make the toughest days a little easier to face, which in Game of Sins comes in the form of the powerful Lost in Love. How can someone not feel relaxed listening to such a good song? Anyway, the following track, The King of Fools, is a bit generic for what the band is capable of doing, albeit far from being a bad song. It contains those cliché lyrics we tend to disdain at first, but that end up working relatively well due to the way Johnny declaims them (“He was the toughest guy on our street / Always ready to fight / His girl’s a hooker on her knees / Making money all night”).

In Till the World Says Goodbye, Ferdy and Johnny steal the spotlight with their piercing keyboards and passionate vocals, respectively. Heavy and rhythmic, it’s another excellent choice for singing along with Johnny or simply enjoying his brilliant voice, followed by Breaking the Rules, a pure Axel Rudi Pell song that will put you to jump up and down during the band’s live performances thanks to the amazing job done by Volker Krawczak, rumbling his bass guitar in total sync with Bobby’s beats while Axel keeps firing his upscale guitar lines.

ARP_Game of Sins_Special Edition

Game Of Sins Limited Edition Boxset

Finally, he last two songs of the album are an ode to first-class rock music. Forever Free offers us all one of the most emotional vocal performances I can think of, which combined with Axel’s guitar solos, the song’s melodious atmosphere and its stunning lyrics turn it into one of the best songs of the band’s latest albums without a shadow of a doubt. Not only I love the feeling this song brings forth, but can I personally dedicate it to the chameleon David Bowie (R.I.P.)? And what to say about All Along the Watchtower, a magnificent tribute to Mr. Bob Dylan (check out the original version HERE)? Its intro gives me goosebumps, as well as the dynamism that Axel added to his version of this classic, proving why he’s also considered by many an undisputed lord of cover songs.

In summary, Game of Sins, another solid stone added to Axel Rudi Pell’s fortress of Rock N’ Roll, is one of those albums you’ll feel happy anywhere and anytime you listen to it, no matter what you are doing. You might be a sinner, but don’t be a fool and go grab your copy of this soulful album (take a listen at snippets of it HERE) as soon as possible, especially if it’s the jaw-dropping Game Of Sins Limited Edition Boxset (limited to 1000 copies worldwide), featuring the album in a special digipak format and as a two-LP gatefold sleeve, a beautiful miniature replica Fender Stratocaster guitar (scale 1:4) including a guitar giftbox case, a poster, a sticker and a card. It can’t get any better than this, thanks once again to the one and only Mr. Axel Rudi Pell.

Best moments of the album: Fire, Falling Star, Forever Free and All Along the Watchtower.

Worst moments of the album: The King of Fools.

Released in 2016 SPV/Steamhammer

Track listing
1. Lenta Fortuna (Intro) 1:24
2. Fire 5:34
3. Sons in the Night 5:07
4. Game of Sins 8:43
5. Falling Star 5:14
6. Lost in Love 6:07
7. The King of Fools 4:58
8. Till the World Says Goodbye 7:40
9. Breaking the Rules 5:07
10. Forever Free 8:29

Limited Edition bonus track
11. All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan cover) 6:03

Band members
Johnny Gioeli – vocals
Axel Rudi Pell – guitar
Volker Krawczak – bass
Ferdy Doernberg – keyboards
Bobby Rondinelli – drums

Album Review – Wolfhorde / Towards The Gates Of North (2016)

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To the sound of the high-quality Folk Metal cast by this talented horde of roaring wolves, we shall travel towards the gates of North.

Rating5

Wolfhorde_-_Towards_The_Gates_of_North640Get ready for a breathtaking journey through the realms of Viking mythology, an expedition from the beginning of the end to the beginning of a new world, also called as the North beyond the gates. Unspoiled by the reach of men, it served as the inspiration for Finnish Folk Metal band Wolfhorde in their first full-length album, beautifully entitled Towards The Gates Of North, a chaotic combination of opposites that will guide you across the northern landscapes together with this talented heathen horde.

Hailing from the city of Keuruu, Finland, around 300km north of the capital Helsinki, this power-trio incorporates heaviness, melancholy, joy, dynamism and history all at once in their music, offering fans of the genre a legit multitude of Norse hymns perfect for sharing a beer with your loved ones and get into the circle pit with your closest friends. The album art in Towards The Gates of North, designed by pnkfdARTS, shows the path we need to follow. It’s just a matter of hitting play now and joining these talented Vikings in their quest for the new world.

Vegvísir, the Icelandic word for a magical stave intended to help its bearer find his way through rough weather, appears in the album as an acoustic folk song warning that the journey is about to begin, before Fimbulvetr comes storming with its electrifying Folk atmosphere and bitterly cold lyrics (“This snowfall, lasted for days / I smell it in the air / Already the blood has been spilt / with frost arrived the fear”). In Norse mythology, this is the immediate prelude to the events of Ragnarök, meaning “Mighty Winter”, a perfect way to get fully immersed in the storyline put forward by the band.

Wolfhorde_-_PromopicIn Taivaankappaleiden Kato (which should translate from Finnish as “celestial roofs” or “celestial ceilings”), multi-instrumentalist Werihukka does an amazing job putting his Viking soul into each instrument played, while lead singer Hukkapätkä sends a message of pain and sadness through his harsh screams. Following that high-end Folk Metal tune, we have the fiery chant Death Long-Due, perfect for singing and prancing around the fire pit thanks to a great performance by Hukkapätkä on both vocals and drums. Besides, there are so many different instruments and elements accurately added to this metallic composition it’s hard to pick just one as its main driver. And accelerating things a bit, The Retribution is another solid tune that blends the best of Folk and Pagan Metal, and I’m sure it will generate some nice circle pits during their live performances.

Lovers of traditional Folk Metal will have tons of fun with Unyielding, an uncompromised song where, just when you think it’s going to slow down or lose some of its grip, all band members smash their instruments creating an amazing fighting atmosphere. But it’s in Boundless Agony that Wolfhorde step up their game by incorporating elements of Death Metal to their music, which end up elevating the song’s fierceness, and by presenting an inspired Werihukka guiding the music especially through his excellent guitar solos, while bassist Nuoskajalka effectively supports all his intricate work. In the brutal and melodic kick-ass tune Lycomania, a form of insanity in which a person imagines himself to be a wolf, the whole band speeds up the rhythm and goes absolutely mental, turning this into the best moment of the album in my opinion. And The Gates of North, their most epic tune and also the longest in duration, works as an exciting conclusion to their excruciating quest. A lot more symphonic and rhythmic than all previous songs, this chant sounds like a heavy torment, exhaling sorrow and agony until it reaches its climatic ending.

It’s easy to join Wolfhorde in their pursuit of a new world. Simply grab your Vegvísir, visit their Facebook page and YouTube channel, and grab your copy of Towards The Gates Of North at their BandCamp page or at the Inverse Records webstore. To the sound of the high-quality Folk Metal cast in the land of ice and snow by this talented horde of roaring wolves, we shall travel towards the gates of North.

Best moments of the album: Death Long-Due, Boundless Agony and Lycomania.

Worst moments of the album: The Retribution.

Released in 2016 Inverse Records

Track listing
1. Vegvísir 3:20
2. Fimbulvetr 6:32
3. Taivaankappaleiden Kato 4:00
4. Death Long-Due 4:52
5. The Retribution 3:32
6. Unyielding 4:18
7. Boundless Agony 4:56
8. Lycomania 3:52
9. The Gates of North 9:06

Band members
Hukkapätkä – vocals, drums
Werihukka – guitars, other instruments
Nuoskajalka – bass

The Metal Moose Show – Episode 2016-01-10

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If you want to get more information about any of the bands featured at The Metal Moose Show, simply Google the band and/or the song name to find their official website and Facebook page and, more important than that, attend their live concerts and buy their music. Here at The Headbanging Moose you can also find detailed reviews of many other excellent underground bands. Support your local bands… AND FOLLOW THE MOOSE!

On The Metal Moose Show this week:

1. The Forms They Take – Legion
2. Saul – Dividing Hills
3. Powerless Rise – I Don’t Want To Be Here
4. Pig Champion – Long Arm
5. Black Tide – Angel In The Dark
6. Act Of Sin – Broken Wing Syndrome
7. Sharky Sharky – Frankenshark
8. Aim For Alaska – I Walk Through Graveyards To Keep My Friends Close By
9. Absolutus – Abyssus Abyssum Invocat
10. Witcher – Csendes Domb
11. Martyr For Madison – Lonely Homes And Dial Tones
12. Zombieslut – Undead Commando
13. Avenue Lie – Endless Beauty
14. Atrocious Abnormality – Storm Of Ash
15. Dark Entropy – Fear
16. Dead Soul Communion – My Beautiful Mistake
17. Locust Grove – Life Of Mine
18. Batushka – Yektenyia VIII
19. Bleak Flesh – Radical Velocity

Click HERE to listen to this week’s episode on Spreaker.

Metal Moose Radio YouTube | Spreaker | iTunes

Album Review – Cloudscape / Voice of Reason (2016)

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These awesome Swedish metallers provide us once again a well-balanced fusion of progressiveness, feeling, professionalism and an endless amount of our most beloved element, Heavy Metal.

Rating4

Cloudscape-voiceofreason-cover2400Just like their Scandinavian friends from Norway and Finland, it looks like it’s absolutely impossible to find a bad metal group from Sweden either. It doesn’t matter if it’s the most nefarious form of Black Metal or the most endearing and joyful Hard Rock you can think of, the quality of the music always goes beyond the boundaries of awesomeness. Thus, this is also the case in the high-octane Voice of Reason, the fifth studio album by Melodic Progressive Metal quintet Cloudscape, a band tailored for fans of icons like Dream Theater, Evergrey, Iron Maiden and Yngwie Malmsteen, among others.

Formed in 2001 in Helsingborg, Sweden, Cloudscape have already paved a solid path through the years, showcasing all their superior skills with each and every release and embellishing venues and festivals all over the world with their passion for metal. Now with Voice of Reason, which songwriting started back in 2013 and features another excellent artwork created by Mattias Norén from ProgArt Media (who has already worked with bands such as Kamelot, Evergrey and Sabaton), the band aims at entering new unexplored territories without losing their core essence, flirting with the sonority of their earlier albums. Well, let’s say that they reached their goal in a faultless manner.

The opening track A New Design already blends their classic sounding with modern metal music, with the vocals by Mike Andersson offering the listener melodic lines and hard-hitting aggression at the same time. In addition, its exciting chorus adds a more-than-welcome kick to this solid tune, turning it into one of the top moments of the album. Then, with an Iron Maiden-ish aura and hints of Hard Rock and Alternative Metal, we have the fresh and vibrant chant Futuristic Phsyco, where guitarists Patrik Svärd and Stefan Rosqvist, together with bassist Håkan Nyander, give a lesson in Progressive Metal with their unstoppable stringed weapons; followed by Don’t Close Your Eyes, another powerful song where its gentle but captivating keyboards shine amidst its heavy guitar riffs, not to mention its backing vocals doing a superb job supporting Mike’s performance.

CS-1As its name already says, All For Metal is pure classic Heavy Metal, with its riffs and drums transpiring electricity. Not only this is by far my favorite song of the album, but I simply love when a band pays that type of “tribute” to their roots and heroes without sounding cheesy. Moreover, it’s easy to visualize how incredible this tune might sound live with the crowd singing it together with the band. However, it’s time to slow things down a bit and get as progressive as possible in the 11-minute title-track Voice Of Reason, with the ambience getting stronger due to its keyboards and the heartwarming vocals by Mike, while drummer Fredrik Joakimsson makes sure the rhythm changes all the time avoiding any sort of staleness.

Thunders Of Extreme will please most fans of Scandinavian metal due to its classic guitar lines and uplifting lyrics, which combined will surely make you feel good while listening to it. Furthermore, this superb tune proves this band definitely knows how to craft catchy choruses, enhancing the impact of their already well-engendered compositions even more. Needle In The Eye is perhaps the most modern of all songs, as you can sense nuances of Alternative Metal thoroughly added to their powerful progressiveness, before the second-longest track of the album, In Silence We Scream, concludes the album majestically. Although it begins in a nice acoustic way with highlights to its emotional lyrics beautifully declaimed by Mike, it’s when the other instruments hit the music (consequently making it much heavier and denser) that things get a lot more ravishing and epic.

Tom sum up, those Swedish metallers were spot on with their comments about how Voice of Reason was going to sound like, providing the listener a well-balanced fusion of progressiveness, feeling, professionalism and an endless amount of our most beloved element, Heavy Metal. You can reach Cloudscape at their official Facebook page and YouTube channel, and get your copy of the album on iTunes, Amazon and several other locations. As you might have noticed already, Voice of Reason is what we can call the perfect album to start the year with a true metallic bang.

Best moments of the album: A New Design, All For Metal and Thunders Of Extreme.

Worst moments of the album: Needle In The Eye.

Released in 2016 Dead End Exit Records

Track listing
1. A New Design 5:43
2. Futuristic Phsyco 3:33
3. Don’t Close Your Eyes 4:45
4. All For Metal 5:25
5. Voice Of Reason 11:55
6. Thunders Of Extreme 4:23
7. Needle In The Eye 5:08
8. In Silence We Scream 9:30

Band members
Mike Andersson – vocals, keyboards
Patrik Svärd – guitar
Stefan Rosqvist – guitar
Håkan Nyander – bass
Fredrik Joakimsson – drums, backing vocals, keyboards