Huntress - Starbound Beast

It’s only been about a year since the release of “Spell Eater”, but Huntress is back with their second record “Starbound Beast”. If the imagery and album title don’t give it away, this record is really meant to be quite similar to the debut; however, in many ways, I found it to be an evolution of the first album, rather than simply a copy of it.

The biggest draw (or deterrent, depending on your point of view) to this band is still Jill Janus’ vocals. There’s no doubt that she is a skilled vocalist, but on the debut record, she was a bit ambitious with her vocal work. On “Starbound Beast” she tends to have a better understanding of her range, and she avoids making big changes in pitch in her vocal lines. The end result is a more focused, better sounding performance than before. She still makes use of her black metalish screams on occasion, but primarily sings cleanly throughout the record. Speaking of black metal, that influence has been dropped from the riffing. While it was mainly prevalent on the title track of “Spell Eater”, it is rarely found on “Starbound Beast”. Instead, the band opts for the more straightforward traditional heavy metal sound. There is plenty of galloping, rhythmic chugging, and even some faster alternate-picked sections. Strangely, the faster songs are placed on the second half of the record. Both “Zenith” and “Oracle” bring the speed like no other tracks on the album. The former is a definite highlight, both for its thrashy riffing and memorable chorus.

The most contentious song on “Starbound Beast” is likely to be “I Want To Fuck You To Death”, which was co-written by Lemmy. This is my favourite song on the album, mainly because of the chorus. The guitars perfectly synchronize a harmony that allows Jill Janus’ melodic, calming vocals to take over. The rest of the song is a standard Huntress tune, but the chorus is too catchy to be denied. Another popular choice is likely to be the title track, “Starbound Beast”. The vocal line in the verse of this song sounds very familiar (almost Iron Maidenish), but I can’t quite put my finger on what it sounds like. It’s possible that it’s just so well written that I imagine Maiden writing it themselves.

With “Starbound Beast”, Huntress has greatly improved on their debut record. There are more standout songs, and the band seems to have a better handle on how to blend their unique sound. What I think really made the difference between “Starbound Beast” and “Spell Eater” is that this new record sounds a bit more restrained and refined. It seems like the band put a bit more time into writing quality songs, even if it meant that they weren’t all blistering fast. The more I listen to this album, the more I enjoy it! If you wrote off the band after their first record, you are missing out on some quality metal!

Be sure to check out and like Huntress on Facebook!

Highlights

"I Want To Fuck You To Death"

"Zenith"

"Spectra Spectral"

Final Rating

4.25/5 or 85%. 

Written by Scott 

Amon Amarth - Deceiver of the Gods

Swedish melodic death metallers Amon Amarth have returned in 2013 with their 9^th studio album, “Deceiver of the Gods”. That’s pretty much all you need to know to get an understanding of exactly what this record sounds like. Based on the two singles for the album, the title track and “Shape Shifter”, this record sounded like it was shaping up to be slightly darker (certainly more evil than “War of the Gods” from the previous album). Even though they were really no different from Amon Amarth’s typical sound, they were more riff-based and overall slightly less melodic. It quickly became clear, however, that “Deceiver of the Gods” would be the logical continuation of the sound the band has crafted over their career, and, in particular, over the last three albums.

“Deceiver of the Gods” starts out with its best material. The title track features a pummeling riff before launching into the standard Amon Amarth fanfare. Johan Hegg’s inhumanly deep growls sound better than ever. His vocals have always been on the easier side to understand, but the lyrics are even more obvious now. Underneath the screams of Viking tales are the two main musical sounds of Amon Amarth: melodic leads with glorious double bass and tremolo picking rhythm guitars, or heavy chugging with every second or third note accented. The second song, “As Loke Falls”, offers a slight deviation in terms of the style of melodic lead; it sounds more like a tapping lick than the typical down-picked affair. Nevertheless, the rhythm section follows the standard bludgeoning assault. “Hel” is the only song that has any experimentation; it features some clean vocals from former Candlemass singer Messiah Marcolin. While he’s a great singer in his own right, this combination doesn’t seem to work entirely as planned. This song is really more proof that Amon Amarth should stick to what they do well. The final track, “Warriors of the North” is long by Amon Amarth’s standards, but it feels like a normal length track. It has an outstanding (albeit predictable) riff that drives the vast majority of the song, and is a solid closer to a great album.

When 6 out of the 10 songs stand out easily after the first couple of listens (and there have been plenty more listens since then!), a band as predictable as Amon Amarth has done something right. I wouldn’t say this is their best work, but it’s by far the easiest to get into of the albums I’m familiar with. It’s difficult to imagine any fan of the band being disappointed with “Deceiver of the Gods”.  

Be sure to check out and like Amon Amarth on Facebook!

Highlights

"Deceiver of the Gods"

"As Loke Falls"

"Father of the Wolf"

Final Rating

4.25/5 or 85%. 

Written by Scott 

Fire Strike - Lion and Tiger

Despite being around for over a decade in some form or another, Fire Strike is only just releasing their first EP, “Lion and Tiger”. The Brazilian band plays fairly safe traditional heavy metal, but with a female vocalist. One strange fact I’ve picked up from Brazilian heavy metal bands is that they all love Canada’s Skull Fist. Fire Strike is really no different, as they have a somewhat similar sound. There are numerous virtuosic guitar solos throughout the EP, along with simple, old-school riffs. The vocalist is certainly quite talented; however, I think she tends to wail a bit too much. Sometimes it sounds like she goes out of her range, uses too much vibrato, or tries to really vary the notes she is singing, when a more simple approach would be more effective. In the end, it becomes difficult to understand what she is saying without really focusing on the lyrics. This is not inherently a flaw of the EP, but a more laid-back approach might benefit the band.

As with many bands in the style, Fire Strike is primarily driven by the quality of their shredders and singer. The rhythm section doesn’t play a prominent role. There are some parts where the bass shines on its own (there is a bass break in “Night Fever Nova”), and it is certainly not buried in the mix. Likewise, the drums are not overly dominant on this release. The five songs themselves are pretty consistent. Both the title track and “Night Fever Nova” have instantly memorable moments. The other three songs are perhaps a bit weaker, but nonetheless still worth hearing. "Master of the Seas", for example, has stunning dueling Iron Maiden-esque guitar leads. What I enjoy most about this release is its sheer enthusiasm. All of the songs have plenty of energy, and Fire Strike sounds like a band that wants to play traditional heavy metal. Sure, it’s derivative, but quality is always more important than originality. Ultimately, “Lion and Tiger” is a very endearing release. It has all of the trademarks of classic heavy metal, and is sure to be a fun listen.

Be sure to check out and like Fire Strike on Facebook!

Highlights

"Night Fever Nova"

"Lion and Tiger"

Final Rating

3.75/5 or 75%. 

Written by Scott 

Mortyr - Rise of the Tyrant

Mortyr’s “Rise of the Tyrant” is the third album that will be released by Stormspell Records this summer featuring Rocka Rollas mainman Ced. This project has fewer details surrounding it, so I’m not sure if it is written entirely by Ced or not, but nevertheless, he proved to be quite productive this year. Mortyr is considerably different from those other projects, however. They are a thrash band, and an extremely heavy one too. “Rise of the Tyrant” is clearly a nod to the mad thrashing brutality of bands like Dark Angel, early Kreator, and Sadus. If you’ve come for vicious sounding thrash, this is the record for you.

The opening title track is one of the few tracks on this record that strays in a bit of a different direction. There is a very clear melody that runs rampant throughout the track, and that is a feature that is not prominent on many other songs. For the most part, Mortyr provide riff after riff of high-speed thrash. While there are many standard, simple thrash riffs, there are also much more complex passages, not unlike something you might find on “Darkness Descends”. In fact, the track “Dark Angel” appears to be pure worship of the aforementioned band as it relies only on its intensity and riff quality. As you might have already guessed, the vocals on “Rise of the Tyrant” are the kind that will tear various limbs off of your body from their sheer tenacity. They perfectly compliment the style, though they unfortunately tend to make the songs one-dimensional. To differentiate themselves from other death/thrash bands, Mortyr tends to utilize plenty of more technical guitar solos. This is not a surprise, as Ced has proven in his other bands that he is a more than capable guitarist, and that influence definitely gives Mortyr a different feel to their music. “Merciless Game”, for example, features a dueling lead guitar harmony that would be more at place in a power metal song than a thrash one. My sole criticism of this record is that not all of the songs are particularly memorable. There are certainly moments of brilliance in many of these tracks, but unlike on “Pleasure to Kill”, I cannot instantly recall every single one of them. Nonetheless, if you want something that thrashes intently, Mortyr is a solid choice.

Highlights

"Rise of the Tyrant"

"Dark Angel"

"Screams of Death"

Final Rating

3.9/5 or 78%. 

Written by Scott 

Anvil - Hope In Hell

Say what you want about the documentary “Anvil! The Story of Anvil” and the recent success that has come with it, but Anvil is a great band. Despite being plagued with problems throughout their career, they have released a few all-time classic records, with other great ones mixed in. In fact, they’ve really only released 2 or 3 weak records throughout their career, and even those albums had their moments. Anvil’s 14^th album, “Juggernaut of Justice”, was an inspired, hard-rocking album with numerous songs that were quality headbanging material. It is only appropriate that their newest album, “Hope In Hell”, follows suit, as it delivers pretty much entirely what you’d expect from the band.

The opening title track is one of their slower doomier songs, not unlike “Forged In Fire” or “This Is Thirteen”. New bass player Sal Italiano brings a killer bass line that ends up being the foundation for the riffs in the rest of the song. As with the prior album, track 2 is reserved for one of the fastest tracks, which provides plenty of energy. Like many Anvil albums, this one is driven by the combination of Lips’ musicianship and Robb Reiner’s interesting drumming. Guitar solos are plentiful and in high shredding order. Lips doesn’t really make any noticeable changes to his old-school style. It’s somewhat similar to the guitar work in a band like UFO or Scorpions, but in a more metal context. His vocals retain their unique sound, and luckily, his voice isn’t sounding any worse with age. He tends to stay in that somewhat upper-range without being cringe-inducing. As for Reiner, this album is another good performance for him, although I don’t think it’s his best. In past records, he would use so many busy fills that it almost felt like they never stopped, but that seems less prevalent on “Hope In Hell”. This is probably a good thing for most listeners, but I personally love to hear him go all out (and he still does at times, just not as often). At this point, I would say Anvil’s only weak point is the lack of interesting lyrics. To be fair, Anvil have had this issue in the past (“Waiting”, “Pro Wrestling”), but they’ve also been quite capable of producing lyrical masterpiece’s (“Free As The Wind”). At this point, the band tends to rely on cliché’s that they combine with their general life experiences to tell their stories. Ultimately, however, the lyrics are overshadowed by the quality of the riffs.

“Hope In Hell” is exactly what I want from Anvil at this point. The band has become like Motorhead: they pump out consistent, enjoyable records. If you expecting another “Metal On Metal” you will be disappointed, but “Hope In Hell” is a solid addition to their legacy. Buy this album and support great metal bands like Anvil!

Be sure to check out and like Anvil on Facebook!

Highlights

"Hope In Hell"

"Eat Your Words"

"Badass Rock 'n Roll"

Final Rating

4.0/5 or 80%. 

Written by Scott