Album Review – Syndrome / Colourful Cows EP (2013)

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An interesting and totally experimental alternative outside the world of Heavy Metal.

Rating5

Colourful CowsWhenever you want to have a “break” from all the intensity of Heavy Metal (if that’s humanly possible), an interesting alternative is the EP Colourful Cows, launched in 2013 by Israeli/English Electro-Rock Alternative band Syndrome. Formed in 2010 and based in Israel and London, UK, this independent band adds a lot of different elements and experimental techniques to their regular instruments, generating a unique sonority that will certainly please fans of alternative music.

According to the band, the EP tells the first part of a story about the “Colourful Cows”, a metaphor to our life and society, and their music is totally designed based on virtual and real instruments mixed together, live sampling, programmed synthesizing and new live performance methods. All this “technical” explanation might not make a lot of sense for anyone who’s not connected to this world of electronic/experimental music. However, after listening to the entire EP, you’ll be able to better understand their proposal.

The first track of the EP, Exhibition Trial, works as a welcome card to what the band can offer us: it’s a very experimental song, with heavy keyboards and some moments that make me feel I’m inside a “psycho circus”. It’s a good start that will make you want to listen more of Syndrome’s music. The following song, Change, is a song full of special electronic effects and samples that also has an interesting intro with a female voice saying we have to shoot “them” in the head in order to kill them. Are they referring to zombies, or maybe to real living human beings as per the original idea of the album? Even being a huge fan of zombies, I choose the second option without a shadow of a doubt.

SyndromeThen come Open The Gate, a ballad with several elements that remind me of what artists like David Bowie usually present in their compositions, and L.Q.C, a more Rock N’ Roll and by far the heaviest song in Colourful Cows, which nice solos mixed with strong synths and drumming made it my favorite of all.

Colourful Cows has three more tracks that are completely different from one another: Exhibition Trial II is an instrumental ballad based on a calm and smooth piano; Get My Words is another crazy music voyage, full of synths and with a curious synthesized guitar solo; and the outro Colourful Cows is totally experimental and as odd as it can be.

The music in Colourful Cows is so “weird” that I didn’t know where to add this review, if in the 2013 New Releases or in the 2014 New Releases. Well, guess what? Neither category was selected, first because the EP was released back in August 2013 (a long, long time ago), and second because it’s not Heavy Metal at all, so it couldn’t be added to any of those categories anyway. That’s why it ended up here in the middle of the Other Reviews, which might sound weird, but remember that’s what Syndrome are and enjoy doing after all.

Last but not least, if you’re a musician interested in knowing more about how Syndrome creates their music, go to their technical webpage called Insight, which displays video clips demonstrating their technology and methods.

Best moments of the album: Exhibition Trial, Change and L.Q.C.

Worst moments of the album: Open the Gate.

Released in 2013 Independent

Track listing
1. Exhibition Trial 3:29
2. Change 3:09
3. Open The Gate 3:12
4. L.Q.C 4:18
5. Exhibition Trial II 3:00
6. Get My Words 3:59
7. Colourful Cows 1:23

Band members
Eric Shlomi – vocals
Amo – guitar & synth
Kiki Kalifa – guitar
Shaltiel Elul – synth & conductor
Gil Zissu – bass guitar
Dima Shchukin – soundman

Album Review – Iron Savior / Rise of the Hero (2014)

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If you’re addicted to traditional Power Metal, you’ll definitely love the new Iron Savior album.

Rating4

CoverNo one knows if Germany is going to win the 2104 World Cup in Brazil in a few months. However, if they play only half as amazing as the new releases from many Teutonic Heavy Metal bands, I’m pretty sure they’ll make it at least to the final four. After the sonic extravaganza we’ve already had the pleasure to enjoy this year from bands like Primal Fear, Axel Rudi Pell, Vanden Plas, Van Canto, and even Caliban (and there are many others, but I just can’t list all of them here), here come Piet Sielck and his mates from German Power Metal band Iron Savior with another damn good traditional Power Metal album, Rise of the Hero, the eighth full-length studio album in their solid career.

I must admit it’s hard to find any signs of innovation in the whole album, but remember we’re talking about POWER METAL here, a genre where basically no creativity is necessary in the making of a great album, and besides, it’s not an item requested by the diehard fans at all: we just want some heavy riffs, fast solos and sing-along chorus while we enjoy a beer and bang our heads with our friends at a concert or festival anywhere in the world.

In order to warm up their fans for some pure Power Metal, the band offers us the good intro Ascendence, full of “spaceship” effects and other interesting elements. Then it’s time for the real party to start with Last Hero, a song that couldn’t sound more traditional with its double bass and addictive chorus, which simply means it’s awesome, and Revenge of the Bride, a very Gamma Ray-like track (maybe as a tribute to his friend Kai Hansen, who was with the band from 1996 to 2001?) with direct riffs and drums.

The electricity continues with From Far Beyond Time, which starts with a nice riff before turning into another traditional fast Power Metal tune the likes of Blind Guardian, especially the singing and backing vocals, and Burning Heart, with its astounding rhythm, awesome raw bass lines, and a chorus that is perfect for those famous “Oh-oh-oh!” moments when played live. By the way, the video for this track is really funny: how did Piet find so much time to sing the whole song inside his car? Was the traffic so bad he couldn’t move for almost 5 minutes? Anyway, it’s for sure one of the best songs of the album, if not the best.

BandFor the ones that love that insanely fast Power Metal from the 80’s, Thunder from the Mountains is absolutely mandatory in your playlist: it has the same kind of punch found on Helloween’s classic Ride the Sky. But if you prefer those songs that are made for banging your head and playing some air guitar, you’ll love the great Iron Warrior and the following track, the not so amazing Dragon King, with its 100% Manowar-ish lyrics.

The next song was supposed to be just a bonus track, but the band liked the final result so much they decided to make it a regular album track, according to Piet himself: Dance with Somebody is a cover to Swedish Rock band Mando Diao’s hit, and I guess I don’t need to say which version is better, right? The following track, Firestorm, is a good song, but it lacks the same energy as the rest of the album and it falls flat after a while; the same happens with The Demon, a semi-ballad that doesn’t exactly match with Iron Savior’s style. The last track of the album, Fistraiser, puts things back where they belong, and if you don’t see yourself in the lyrics, I’m sorry, but you’re not a true Heavy Metal fan. Finally, if you purchase the special edition or the Japanese edition of the album, you’ll also get the 2014 version for Iron Savior’s old tracks I’ve Been To Hell or Mind Over Matter, respectively.

The beautiful album art by Colombian artist Felipe Machado Franco, who has worked with many other Heavy Metal icons such as Blind Guardian, Rage and Iced Earth, couldn’t represent better the music in Rise of the Hero. In other words (and I may sound repetitive here), it’s pure Power Metal, something the talented Piet and his band have managed to do extremely well since the formation of Iron Savior, and we can happily rest assured it’s something they will keep doing in the years to come.

Best moments of the album: Last Hero, Burning Heart, Iron Warrior and Dance with Somebody.

Worst moments of the album: Dragon King, Firestorm and The Demon.

Released in 2014 AFM Records

Track listing
1. Ascendence (Intro) 1:28
2. Last Hero 5:00
3. Revenge of the Bride 4:35
4. From Far Beyond Time 5:17
5. Burning Heart 4:39
6. Thunder from the Mountains 5:08
7. Iron Warrior 4:41
8. Dragon King 5:43
9. Dance with Somebody (Mando Diao cover) 3:55
10. Firestorm 4:58
11. The Demon 5:02
12. Fistraiser 4:40 

Bonus tracks
13. I’ve Been To Hell 2014 (Limited Edition) 4:04
14. Mind Over Matter 2014 (Japanese Edition) 5:34

Band members
Piet Sielck – vocals, guitars
Joachim “Piesel” Küstner – guitars, backing vocals, additional lead vocals on “I’ve Been To Hell 2014” and “Mind Over Matter 2014”
Jan-Sören Eckert – bass, backing vocals
Thomas Nack – drums, backing vocals

 

The Walking Dead Review – Episode 412: Still

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Daryl and Beth’s “special menu” had rattlesnakes and moonshine, but it wasn’t that tasty after all.

***WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS***

If you haven’t seen Still yet, I suggest you scroll down to the end of this post first and watch the entire episode before reading the rest of the text.

twd412_01Based on the extremely slow pace of all episodes after its mid-season finale last year, it looks like the second half of AMC’s The Walking Dead will continue to be focused on building the characters rather than putting them into serious and gory confrontations with hordes of zombies or armies of living people, and honestly, I don’t really like the way things are going on now.

Of course, I’ve always told my friends that we cannot expect the survivors to fight, kill and run away from zombies 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, otherwise they would all be dead by the end of the very first episode of the first season. However, spending an entire hour watching Daryl and Beth acting like two rebellious teenagers looking for booze felt more like a rip-off than anything else. I understand many fans where asking for more “details” about the hazy past of some characters such as Michonne and Daryl, but I wonder why now and why “wasting” entire episodes like that? Maybe producers are trying to reach another type of audience, people that enjoy knowing every single detail about the life of a character and that do not care too much about some real action, or even worse, that are afraid of zombies and blood. If they’re actually doing that, or if they’re just trying to extend the show as much as possible to make more money, they’ll end up losing a lot of their loyal fans pretty soon.

Anyway, let’s try to look at the good points of this episode and try to learn some lessons from it: as opposed to Rick, Carl and Michonne, who even found a good house to stay for a while, Daryl and Beth are living like real survivors, making fire out of almost nothing, hunting squirrels, eating rattlesnakes, collecting garbage, drinking dirty water, and sleeping or hiding basically anywhere. By the way, that initial sequence where they hide inside that car’s trunk for hours was excellent and should have been developed a little more, because the tension created was good but not marvelous. Getting back to the action, I believe their situation would be the most common one for lots of people in the case of a real zombie outbreak, because no survivor would be willing to rebuild anything: the human being main goal in that scenario would most probably be surviving no matter what, unfortunately looking a lot like real homeless people, which is a pretty sad but likely situation.

The other good point of this episode is that the human being is a lazy ass son of a bitch that prefers risking his life for stupid things like drugs and alcohol rather than trying to find a real way out of his problems. Looting what once was a fancy country club to find some booze because Beth wanted to have her first drink in life was totally absurd. I agree everyone would be dying for a beer after all they had to go through, but was that really necessary for their survival? Beth said we should all have an objective in life in order to actually live, and she’s right, but that craving for alcohol was way too stupid.

twd412_02Well, they ended up finding some disgusting peach schnapps, and later went to a place Daryl knew (well, it looks like they were not that lost in the end) to have some moonshine and some ridiculous drinking games together. As I mentioned before, they were acting like irresponsible teens, and they were lucky no horde of walkers was around to crash their private party. Beth might be growing as a character and even helping Daryl fight his ghosts from the past, but most of her ideas and decisions this episode were really awful.

And finally, later in the episode, Daryl cries and Beth hugs him from behind, for the total delight (or should I say despair?) of all women that watch the show just because of Daryl. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good scene full of emotion, but again I don’t think it’s time for that. I’m pretty sure every emotional girl is asking if that was the beginning of a great friendship or if it will evolve to something else, right? Personally, I don’t want to believe that the producers are going to create another romantic young couple in the show like Glenn and Maggie to pleasure the female audience, and besides, why didn’t they do it with Dayl when he was getting closer to Carol? Although I consider Emily Kinney a gorgeous woman and enjoy her character, Daryl and Carol seemed a lot more sincere and interesting together. Anyway, now that Daryl and Beth had some fun burning down a house, drinking alcohol and killing walkers, they got a lot closer and are living some kind of “fairytale”. But how long will they be able to survive like that before one of them freaks out or dies? For the sake of the whole show, I hope something (bad) happens to any of them soon.

Still (FULL EPISODE) 

Metal Chick of the Month – Dani Nolden

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You know what I am… An angel with horns!

Brazil has a lot more to offer than just samba, caipirinha and half-naked mulatas dancing during Carnival. Especially in regards to women there, that stereotype really makes me sick: I guess not even 1% of the Brazilian girls are like that, and a very good example is the stunning Daniela Nolden, or simply Dani Nolden, lead singer of Brazilian Heavy Metal band Shadowside.

Dani Nolden was born on December 26, 1982 in the coastal city of Santos, Brazil, located about 70 km from the city of São Paulo and 500 km from the city of Rio de Janeiro. She started her life in music at the age of 8, taking piano lessons, but after she was introduced to bands such as Guns N’ Roses, Judas Priest and Skid Row, she took a completely different path of what their parents were expecting from her. She then became a Metal/Rock singer and songwriter, being with many independent bands until founding Shadowside back in 2001. The band then reached some success and status in the world of heavy music in its first year of existence, being one of the opening bands for the South American/Brazilian tours of Nightwish and Primal Fear.

In the following years, Dani Nolden and her band Shadowside literally “went places”: in 2006, Shadowside supported German Heavy Metal icons Helloween during their tour in Brazil; in 2007, the band won the AirPlay Direct‘s  “All Things Digital Hard Rock/Heavy Metal” among over 1,000 bands worldwide; and due to that exposure they signed a major worldwide deal and began touring the United States, Europe and South America, performing with bands such as Iron Maiden, W.A.S.P., Kittie, Sepultura and Temple of Brutality (feat. David Ellefson of Megadeth). One of Dani’s career highlights happened during Shadowside’s first US tour in 2008, at the Flight of the Valkyries festival in St. Paul, Minnesota, when she shared the stage with American heavy metal band Benedictum for a few Dio cover songs as part of an exclusive performance.

To date, Dani has recorded one EP and three full-length albums with Shadowside, being responsible for the vocals and keyboards in all recordings: Shadowside – Demo EP (2001), Theatre of Shadows (2005), Dare to Dream (2009), and Inner Monster Out (2011). By the way, the album Theatre of Shadows brings an awesome cover version for Dio’s unique classic Rainbow in the Dark, where Dani beautifully shows all her vocal range and potency. Besides Shadowside, Dani has also played with the symphonic band Sphaera Rock Orchestra, a project created by musician Alexey Kurkdjian that mixes Classical and Rock music, and appeared as a guest vocalist with the Brazilian Power Metal band Soulspell during their 2011 tour. She also works as a music consultant for the company The Ultimate Music when she’s not recording or on tour with her band.

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Her biggest influences in music include Heavy Metal legends Iron Maiden, Helloween, Nightwish and Sepultura, Hard Rock giants W.A.S.P., Skid Row and Guns N’ Roses, and more modern or contemporary bands like Disturbed, Soilwork and Rammstein. Moreover, she mentioned in an interview that if she had to choose only one band or artist for the “tour of her dreams”, that band would certainly be Iron Maiden. Up the Irons, Dani!

Last but not least, when this gorgeous metalhead is not doing anything related to her career with Shadowside, she enjoys playing videogames, reading books, watching movies, surfing, and practicing Kung Fu. She also loves soccer, which might be her biggest Brazilian characteristic, even being a teenage soccer player before having to abandon that potential career due to her increasing amount of work and tours with Shadowside. I know the world of heavy music is a lot better with Dani Nolden as a Heavy Metal singer rather than as a soccer player, but I guess no one would mind watching a simply stunning epic duel between our “Metal Chick of the Month” for Brazil and Hope Solo for the United States, don’t you agree? At least visually speaking, that would be a lot more pleasant to watch than any of the matches between Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Dani Nolden’s Official Facebook page
Dani Nolden’s Official Twitter

“Dare to dream, it just might come true!” – Dani Nolden

Album Review – Bjarm / Imminence (2014)

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This new Symphonic Black Metal band from Russia has what it takes to conquer the world of heavy music.

Rating4

bjarm_imminenceAlthough the Winter Olympics 2014 are over, let’s stay in Russia and enjoy the obscure Imminence, the debut album from Symphonic Black Metal band Bjarm. Formed in 2009 and based in the city of Severodvinsk, in the north of Arkhangelsk Oblast, the name of the band was not chosen in vain: Bjarmaland (also spelled Bjarmland or Bjarmia) was a territory mentioned in Norse sagas up to the Viking Age, and it usually referred to the southern shores of the White Sea and the basin of the Northern Dvina River, which today comprise a part of the Arkhangelsk Oblast of Russia. In other words, the band has a very creative and strong name, but what about their music?

Honestly, it’s very difficult to find anything from Russian Heavy Metal bands on the web and even harder at any music store (at least here in Canada), so I didn’t know what to expect from Bjarm. I personally don’t remember listening to or reading about any bands from Russia except for Symphonic Power Metal band Арктида (Arktida) and Epic Pagan Metal band Аркона (Arkona), and even in those two cases the information is usually very scarce. However, I went to a Helloween concert during my vacation last year in Saint Petersburg and was able to see how passionate Russian fans are for heavy music, so in my mind I started to imagine their music as something at least full of passion and feeling.

And for my total happiness, I was not wrong: the final result in Imminence outdid all my expectations in terms of creativity, intensity and professionalism. Bjarm might be essentially a Black Metal band, but by adding many elements from Symphonic Metal and Death Metal in their music they were able to create a more complex musicality than just some raw generic Black Metal. Not only that, the fact that Imminence was mixed at a good studio such as Stone Oil Studio and mastered by Tony Lindgren (who has already worked with great bands like Paradise Lost and Kreator) at Fascination Street Studios, provided the album a very good and professional sound quality too.

The imposing intro Approaching Of The Close opens the album in a way that would make the guys from Cradle of Filth very proud, as it reminds me of their famous intros from the albums Dusk and Her Embrace and Cruelty and the Beast, followed by the dark and heavy Knowledge Of Doom, a pure Black Metal song with amazing female vocals and atmospheric keyboards, and without any doubt one of the best tracks in Imminence. The obscurity goes on with Ominous Dreams, with highlights to the deep growling by Andrey and the extremely heavy riffs mixed with some more strong keyboard notes.

The next track, The Nine Worlds, is one of the fastest of all (if not the fastest) especially due to the Death Metal elements found in it; it’s not less symphonic, though, as the keyboards are always there to give it that Black Metal touch. Fire Lord’s Torment sounds like if it was extracted from a horror movie soundtrack, with a beautiful piano in the beginning that works as an intro to a very heavy and dense sequence, while the title-track, Imminence, is an instrumental song very well-executed by all band members, especially the keyboards by the gorgeous Anastasiya. By the way, what’s the secret with the girls in Russia? I’ve never seen a single Russian girl that is not pretty!

bjarmGetting back to the music in Imminence, the next track, Oracle, is very melancholic and evil, and has lots of elements from Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir in it, especially the diabolic vocals by Andrey that seem to be really inspired by Shagrath, while Secret Of The Immortals gets back to a more symphonic sonority with total focus on the sound of the keyboards together with the rhythmic drums.

The last part of Imminence is composed by the song The Highest Hall, another evil track that sounds a lot like some old Dimmu Borgir songs with a pretty decent job done by drummer Vitaliy, and Tree On The Bones, a truly grim track that, although not as creative as the rest of the album, ends it in a way that will let all listeners with a very good impression of the work done by the band, eager for more of Bjarm’s Symphonic Black Metal and to see them recreating all that dark atmosphere in a live concert.

The album art, designed by artist Al.Ex, from the Mayhem Project, is also very professional, and of course, dense and obscure as expected, increasing the overall quality of Imminence even more. I’m pretty sure all band members are extremely proud of their “child”, and let’s hope new good bands like Bjarm keep coming from Russia or any other countries to provide us metalheads more unique and interesting music like what’s found in Imminence.

Best moments of the album: Knowledge Of Doom, Ominous Dreams and Oracle.

Worst moments of the album: Fire Lord’s Torment and Tree On The Bones.

Released in 2014 Fono Ltd.

Track listing
1. Approaching Of The Close 3:32
2. Knowledge Of Doom 6:33
3. Ominous Dreams 6:23
4. The Nine Worlds 5:55
5. Fire Lord’s Torment 6:04
6. Imminence 3:46
7. Oracle 3:47
8. Secret Of The Immortals 4:33
9. The Highest Hall 4:13
10. Tree On The Bones 5:30

Band members
Andrey – Vocal
Egor – Guitar
Anastasiya – Keyboards
Aleksey – Guitar
Mikhail – Bass
Vitaliy – Drums

Album Review – Vanden Plas / Chronicles of the Immortals – Netherworld (2014)

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Get ready for an amazing journey through the worlds of literature and music in the new Rock Opera Album by these German Progressive Metal icons.

Rating3

vandenplas_chroniclesIf you’re a fan of Heavy Metal and love reading a good book, you have to listen to the new concept album by German Progressive Metal band Vanden Plas, the seventh full-length album in their career, called Chronicles of the Immortals – Netherworld. The album is based on the novel Die Chronik Der Unsterblichen, by author Wolfgang Hohlbein, who, with 43 million books sold worldwide, is not only Germany’s biggest-selling author but also a fan of Vanden Plas. The novel, and consequently the album, narrate the adventures of vampire Andrej Delãny and his comrade Abu Dun, who search for the secret of their origin through Europe in recent centuries, always meeting new threats and thereby witnessing several significant events in European history. It portrays a variety of ideas about vampires and other mythical creatures, including also the modern myth of the Highlander.

Do not expect to find lots of insane guitar solos, drums as fast as possible, or any guitar shredding: the music found in Chronicles of the Immortals – Netherworld is 100% progressive, focused on the atmosphere created especially by the voice of singer Andy Kuntz and keyboards by Günter Werno. There’s a lot of melody in this album, which can already be noticed in the opening track, the intro Vision 1ne, with its beautiful narration (perfect for any movie) and piano, and Vision 2wo – The Black Knight, a very progressive track just like Vanden Plas and Dream Theater love to do with an eerie intro and calm passages.

The following tracks (or “visions”) are Vision 3hree – Godmaker, a lot heavier than the previous song with great keyboards and riffs, and Andy Kuntz doing a superb job on vocals, making it one of the best of the whole album;  Vision 4our – Misery Affection Prelude, which is just an intro/bridge to the next song, the ballad Vision 5ive – A Ghosts Requiem, with a very delicate piano and amazing choir; and Vision 6ix – New Vampyre, with great riffs, keyboards, and nice guitar solos.

vandenplasHowever, it’s the next two tracks that really stand out to our ears and souls. The first is Vision 7even – The King and the Children of Lost World, a song that has the full package: its strong riffs, beautiful lyrics and excellent solos at the end make it the perfect representation of what Progressive Metal really is. And then the second one, Vision 8ight – Misery Affection, is the perfect ballad with a smooth intro, pleasant piano, and gorgeous female vocals (who’s the owner of that mesmerizing voice?) in an astonishing duo with Kuntz. In my humble opinion, it’s the best track of the album and one of the best Vanden Plas have ever produced.

The last part of the album begins with the strong bass lines by Torsten Reichert in the song Vision 9ine – Soul Alliance, followed by Vision 10n – Inside, the last track of the album, which continues with the same level of energy from its predecessor and leaves us wanting more of this awesome progressive heavy music, even after almost one hour of complexity and intensity not easy for regular people to digest.

In summary, the whole album would the perfect soundtrack for a Chronicles of the Immortals movie. It’s a very cohesive work done by this band of terrific musicians, with extraordinary melody and, of course, an amazing storyline. Not only that, the whole production is extremely professional, from the audio mixing to the album art, which by the way looks like the front cover of one of Mr. Hohlbein’s books. Maybe that was one of the main ideas behind the whole album: creating a unique album which wanders between the worlds of literature and music, and so offering the fans of the band and of Mr. Hohlbein’s work a totally new experience in the world of heavy music.

Best moments of the album: Vision 3hree – Godmaker, Vision 7even – The King and the Children of Lost World and Vision 8ight – Misery Affection.

Worst moments of the album: Vision 5ive – A Ghosts Requiem and Vision 6ix – New Vampyre.

Released in 2014 Frontiers Records

Track listing
1. Vision 1ne 3:52
2. Vision 2wo – The Black Knight 8:29
3. Vision 3hree – Godmaker 5:24
4. Vision 4our – Misery Affection Prelude 1:39
5. Vision 5ive – A Ghosts Requiem 3:56
6. Vision 6ix – New Vampyre 6:16
7. Vision 7even – The King and the Children of Lost World 7:53
8. Vision 8ight – Misery Affection 5:08
9. Vision 9ine – Soul Alliance 6:39
10. Vision 10n – Inside 6:42

Band members
Andy Kuntz – vocals
Stephan Lill – guitars
Günter Werno – keyboards
Torsten Reichert – bass
Andreas Lill – drums

The Walking Dead Review – Episode 411: Claimed

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Will Rick ever have a true moment of peace again in his painful life?

***WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS***

If you haven’t seen Claimed yet, I suggest you scroll down to the end of this post first and watch the entire episode before reading the rest of the text.

twd411_01This was one of those episodes of AMC’s The Walking Dead that it’s hard to reach a consensus if it was good or bad. There was a lot of tension in some moments, some jokes that were not funny at all and could have been left out of the episode, and a detail that might change the whole course of the show but no one really cared about. Anyway, the biggest question in my mind after the first three episodes of the second half of season 4 is: when will our anti-hero/sheriff Rick Grimes have a single moment of peace again?

Before we get to Rick, let’s talk about the evolving friendship between Michonne and Carl. Although there were some really stupid moments, like Michonne trying to make Carl laugh by filling her mouth with Crazy Cheese, it’s nice to see Michonne is finally opening herself to someone, even if it’s a kid. Revealing the name of her long gone baby (Andre Anthony) to Carl was kind of a bold move for our katana girl, as well as protecting Carl from seeing the disturbing scene of the deceased family in that pink room. I’m not sure if getting too close to other people is the right thing to do in a zombie apocalypse (we’ve already seen plenty of examples that it’s not), but to me it seems Michonne is desperate for that, she can’t carry that burden inside her anymore, and Carl might be the best choice in her mind because she will never look less strong or less tough to him as she would to guys like Daryl and Rick. Let’s just hope she doesn’t let her guard down because of that, otherwise we’ll lose one of the best characters in the show.

Then come Rick and, consequently one more time in the show, tons and tons of tension and danger. Is he cursed somehow? It’s unbelievable the amount of pressure the sheriff has to face every single day now. When he finally finds a quiet and relatively safe place to heal his wounds, relax and even read a book, some dreadful assassins, psychopaths and rapists end up finding the exact same place! That was for me the highlight of the episode, even without a single walker involved, which again showed us who are the real threats in this new world. Rick might not have had his moment of peace yet, but his survival instincts are stronger than ever: even when surrounded by merciless killers, he managed to escape without even being noticed. Hiding under the bed, holding his breath and crawling to the other room without making any noise were awesome moves that saved not only Rick himself, but also Michonne and Carl in the end, especially when he decided to run away with them instead of starting a mini-war with those guys. Well, there was that guy in the toilet with his pants up, which makes no sense, but who cares? Killing him almost silently and setting up a “zombie trap” for when he got back as a walker seemed a smart move to distract those assassins, at least for a while.

twd411_02A few hours from where they were in the last moments of the previous episode, Glenn and Tara get to learn a little more about Sgt. Abraham Ford, Rosita Espinosa and Dr. Eugene Porter. No one can blame Tara for trusting Sgt. Ford (like she trusted the Governor) and hopping on the back of his truck, because anything would have been better than being alone in the middle of nowhere with a knocked-off Glenn, even without knowing if those people were good or bad. Talking about difficult decisions, Glenn’s semi-stupid idea of getting back for Maggie cost them the truck! I understand he’s desperate to find his wife, but fighting with the sergeant while the weird Dr. Eugene was all by himself with a machine gun trying to shoot the “zombies of the corn” was not a good idea at all. Glenn didn’t care that much about the truck and started his way back to “somewhere”: the truth is he doesn’t even know where to start, which means it’s just going to be another “trial and error” mission in the show. At least Glenn and Tara will have some backup, as the sergeant and his team decided to follow him, especially after Dr. Eugene said “Trust me.” to the sergeant when he decided to join Glenn in his quest. And the most important thing here, which was completely ignored by Glenn and Tara after all, is the fact that Dr. Eugene claims to know the reason for the zombie outbreak and also to have the solution for it. All they have to do is get to Washington with the doctor alive and well. But is it really worth a try? I mean, is the doctor telling the truth? Is there a cure, or is he just a complete lunatic? We’ll have to wait until they find Maggie (if they do so), and then see if they’ll get back on track to Washington.

Last but not least, Carl seemed really sad for “losing” Judith back in the prison, judging by his reaction after mentioning the name of his little sister while having breakfast with Michonne in the beginning of the episode, right? But it seems Rick, Carl and Michonne will soon find Tyreese, Carol, Lizzie, Mika and especially Judith at Terminus! Will that be one of the best moments of Rick and Carl’s post-apocalyptical lives, as we all expect? Maybe not if we think about what happened during Rick’s dramatic escape: was that guy in the bedroom really dead or had he just passed out? Because if they meet again somewhere, maybe (just maybe?) it will be at Terminus, and they won’t feel happy at all to see the sheriff after what he has done in that house. In my opinion, our sheriff’s well-deserved “vacations” are not going to happen so soon.

Claimed (FULL EPISODE)

Album Review – One Machine / The Distortion Of Lies And The Overdriven Truth (2014)

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Five excellent musicians join forces to create a true Heavy Metal machine.

Rating5

CoverLet’s keep talking about supergroups with the debut album The Distortion Of Lies And The Overdriven Truth from Thrash/Heavy Metal band One Machine, featuring Steve Smyth (Testament, Nevermore, Forbidden, Dragonlord, Vicious Rumors) and Jamie Hunt (Biomechanical) on the guitars, Mikkel Sandager (Mercenary) on vocals, Tomas “O’Beast” Koefoed (Mnemic) on bass, and Raphael Saini (Chaoswave) on drums (later replaced by Michele Sanna, but he was the one that recorded the drums on the album). All band members were carefully selected by Smyth, who wanted to create a unique sound with classic and modern influences, and I must admit he was able to do it.

Although it’s far from being the most creative Heavy Metal album in the world, The Distortion Of Lies And The Overdriven Truth offers us a very good mix of traditional Heavy Metal and more modern American Thrash and Nu Metal, which becomes totally clear with the opening track, the excellent The Distortion Of Lies And The Overdriven Truth, with its imposing intro and riffs, fast rhythm and an amazing job done by vocalist Mikkel Sandager. Fans of Testament and Forbidden will surely enjoy the next track, Crossed Over, especially the riffs and chorus, while Kill The Hope Inside has a modern Thrash Metal approach commonly found in many North American bands nowadays.

BandThe following tracks of the album are Armchair Warriors, which reminds me a little of the latest Arch Enemy albums mainly due to its riffs and drumming; Defiance, a regular song not as good as its predecessors; and One Machine, with highlights to the amazing bass lines by Tomas “O’Beast” Koefoed and beautiful guitar solos by Smyth.

The last part of the album starts with Into Nothing, a heavy semi-ballad that despite having almost 7 minutes is not boring at all, and Evict The Enemy, which has lots of elements of Nu Metal, especially the vocals and riffs. Then come the beautiful and dark ballad Last Star Alights, again with a superb done by Sandager on vocals and an amazing solo by Smyth at the end of the song, and Freedom And Pain, a pure Thrash Metal sonic massacre that if played live will surely generate huge mosh pits for the total delight of everyone attending the event. The last part of this song is absolutely amazing, where the guitar solos, fast drums and intense bass sound exactly how Thrash Metal music should.

Moreover, the professionalism with which each musician treats the music in the album helps improve its overall quality, as well as the beautiful album art symbolizing the “one machine” as each human being struggling to survive in a decaying industrialized world. Another interesting fact about it is that the album was mixed by world-renowned musician Roy Z, who has also been involved in the mixing and production of some classic albums from Judas Priest, Bruce Dickinson and Halford.

To sum up, this album is definitely worth a try, mainly because the “supergroup” label is ignored by the band, which is much more interested in producing some high-quality heavy music for all types of metalheads instead of relying only on their names to sell the album.

Best moments of the album: The Distortion Of Lies And The Overdriven Truth, Armchair Warriors and Freedom And Pain.

Worst moments of the album: Defiance and Evict The Enemy.

Released in 2014 Scarlet Records

Track listing
1. The Distortion Of Lies And The Overdriven Truth 3:56
2. Crossed Over 3:46
3. Kill The Hope Inside 4:55
4. Armchair Warriors 5:23
5. Defiance 5:04
6. One Machine 6:26
7. Into Nothing 6:47
8. Evict The Enemy 4:55
9. Last Star Alights 5:30
10. Freedom And Pain 5:07

Band members
Steve Smyth – guitar
Mikkel Sandager – vocals
Jamie Hunt – rhythm guitar
Tomas “O’Beast” Koefoed (Mnemic) – bass
Raphael Saini – drums

Album Review – Adrenaline Mob / Men of Honor (2014)

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How to waste time and talent from exceptional musicians in a supergroup.

Rating7

amob_men of honorThe world of the so-called supergroups is a mixed bag of awesome bands such as Velvet Revolver, Chickenfoot and Charred Walls of the Damned, but at the same time lots of terrible ideas like Zwan, Loaded and Symfonia, which makes many fans kind of skeptical when their biggest idols decide to join some other famous musicians in a new music journey. We can say that Adrenaline Mob, the supergroup formed by Russell Allen (Symphony X), Mike Orlando, John Moyer (Disturbed) and A.J. Pero (Twisted Sister), is part of the “bad ideas” group: it is just a regular Hard Rock project were all musicians seem to be underutilized. That generic musicality was the main issue with their debut album Omertà, and now the same happens with their second full-length album, Men of Honor.

After the departure of Mike Portnoy (ex-Dream Theater), fans and the media were asking what would be of the band and if they would create something really different and unique in their future releases. Although I’ve never been a fan of Portnoy (I truly prefer drummers with more feeling like Nicko McBrain, Clive Burr, Dave Lombardo and Jörg Michael), I must admit A. J. Pero didn’t make much of a difference in Adrenaline Mob’s music. The album starts in a promising way with Mob Is Back, a pure Hard Rock song with very interesting solos and rhythm, but then it gets too generic with Come on Get Up, which despite its heavy riff offers nothing new, and Dearly Departed, one of the worst of the whole album.

amobThings do not get better with Behind These Eyes, a very boring semi-acoustic ballad made for radio, nor with Let It Go, which bass lines remind me of some Disturbed songs. The next track, Feel the Adrenaline, is the heavier one of the album, and its nice bass lines and chorus make it the best song of the album by far. The title-track, Men of Honor, is another forgettable generic Hard Rock song, while the ballad Crystal Clear is so boring it seems the band really wanted to torture us with it. Fortunately, the band wakes up in House of Lies, but again nothing that would blow our minds creatively speaking.

The last two tracks of the album are Judgment Day, which has a cool intro, heavy riffs, and even sounds like some good tunes from Chrome Division, and Fallin’ to Pieces,  one more torturing ballad to complete our disappointment with the album. And that’s it, there’s not much else to say about Men of Honor, except that the album art looks exactly the same as their previous release and that the lyrics mean absolutely nothing.

In my opinion, Men of Honor is slightly better than its predecessor (maybe due to the departure of the overrated Portnoy?), but again it doesn’t offer anything new to the audience. It’s unfortunately a waste of talent of all musicians involved: it might not be bad music, but we know those guys can generate something a lot more complex and interesting than some generic Hard Rock any amateur band can do.

Best moments of the album: Mob Is Back and Feel the Adrenaline.

Worst moments of the album: Deadly Departed, Behind These Eyes and Crystal Clear.

Released in 2014 Century Media

Track listing
1. Mob Is Back 4:34
2. Come on Get Up 4:12
3. Dearly Departed 4:57
4. Behind These Eyes 5:35
5. Let It Go 3:54
6. Feel the Adrenaline 5:56
7. Men of Honor 4:26
8. Crystal Clear 5:03
9. House of Lies 3:56
10. Judgment Day 4:06
11. Fallin’ to Pieces 4:57

Bonus track
12. Crystal Clear (Acoustic Version) 5:03

Band members
Russell Allen – lead vocals
Mike Orlando – guitar
John Moyer – bass
A. J. Pero – drums

The Walking Dead Review – Episode 410: Inmates

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Hitchhikers may be escaping inmates, but The Walking Dead is definitely awesome.

***WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS***

If you haven’t seen Inmates yet, I suggest you scroll down to the end of this post first and watch the entire episode before reading the rest of the text.

twd410_01What an intense an fun episode to watch! After seeing what happened to Rick, Carl and Michonne, we had the pleasure to catch up with the rest of the crew, including some we thought were gone for good, and some new faces that I’m pretty sure the fans of the comics got really excited about. Not only that, what made this episode so cool was that all characters were almost at the same place but in a different time span, showing things are not going to be easy at all for the whole group to rejoin.

First of all, we see the duo of Beth and Daryl alone in the dark, in the middle of the woods, thinking about what happened to the others, what they were going to do by themselves. The beautiful part of this scene was the narration of Beth’s diary by Beth herself, when they first moved to the prison, as if the prison was their new sanctuary, as if there was some hope there. Well, we saw what happened in the mid-season finale and their situation now. However, it seems Beth is still hopeful, that she still believes the others are alive (and she’s right!), and because of her hope Daryl kind of wakes up from his total dismay. “If you don’t have hope, what’s the point of living?”, Beth said.

The next survivors are Tyreese, Lizzie and Mika. Oh, and for our total frenzy, baby Judith is with them! The blood Rick and Carl saw on her baby basket was from Tyreese’s arm, which was still bleeding by the way after all that time. In my opinion, Tyreese had the heaviest burden of all survivors by having to take care of two little girls and a baby, despite the fact that Lizzie killing little bunnies doesn’t make her so weak and fearful as her sister, right? And then, just to make things even more interesting, guess who’s back? The even more fearless Carol! Her one and only fear was the possibility of Tyreese wanting his revenge for Carol killing and setting fire to his girlfriend before being banished from the prison, but as he doesn’t know about that small detail, why bother? Let’s get all together, pretend nothing happened and go to the sanctuary called “Terminus”, which I’m pretty sure it’s not a good idea at all. For them, of course, but excellent for the Walking Dead fans!

twd410_02The third batch of survivors is composed by the always beautiful Maggie, the brave Sasha and the wildcard Bob, trying to find Glenn, but ending up facing the prison bus full of walkers. Maggie is about to snap, desperate for not finding Glenn anywhere, but then she sees what’s really going on: Glenn is not there. He probably escaped from the bus and is alive and well somewhere else, which makes her kind of happy. If only she could see where Glenn actually was, she wouldn’t feel that happy…

Because Glenn is still at the prison! He’s not fully recovered from the deadly flu, but he’s a lot better and strong enough to go back into the prison to find something that could help him escape from all the starving walkers outside. He gets his “comics” armor and helmet, a machine gun, and is ready to rumble in the middle of a big herd of zombies trying to bite him at all costs. On his way out, he sees poor Tara alone and hopeless inside a “cage” outside, without caring about anyone, not even about her own life. Fortunately, Glenn wakes her up and they both escape from the prison, and that was probably their farewell to it. From the bottom of my heart, the prison deserves a special tribute for being so strong and important to Rick’s team for a long time.

And finally, they might have escaped unharmed from the prison, but things are not going to get any better to them after meeting the fan-favorite Sergeant Abraham Ford and his crew, formed by the gorgeous Rosita Espinosa and the weird Dr. Eugene Porter. What are they going to do with Glenn and Tara? Are they going to take them to “Terminus”? Will “Terminus” be the new prison? What about Rick, Carl and Michonne, when are they going to meet any of the other survivors? Is it going to be at “Terminus” only? This is going to be awesome without a shadow of a doubt.

Inmates (FULL EPISODE)