VÖ: 2008

Genre: Heavy Rock

Label: Small Stone Records

Herkunftsland: USA


Tracklist:

01. The Faithless Will
02. Lost And Forgotten
03. Disconnect
04. A World Away
05. Thorn
06. Rid The Earth
07. A Penny For Our Prayers
08. Lifeless Coil
09. Vertigo
10. Death Of Me
11. Moth

Zitat:It's a good thing that Albany, New York's Greatdayforup opted to rechristen itself following the departure of vocalist Mike Langone. First off, the sole remaining original member was guitarist Mike Vitali (the way they jettisoned members following the release of their Small Stone swan song Flores de Sangre was grimly fascinating, like a sinking ship struggling to stay afloat). Secondly, “Greatdayforup” was – still is, I suppose - a terrible name.

“Ironweed” may not win any points for originality either, but at least it won't be greeted with quizzical expressions. And the change in singers completely shifts the sound of the band. This is a distinctly new band, one that's headed in its own direction. Jeff Andrews has a quintessential “metal” voice – loud, abrasive, yet clean enough to still be considered singing and not some type of unintelligible bellow – and that increases the heavy quotient on songs like “A World Away,” “Lifeless Coil,” and “Moth.” Even tracks that have Greatdayforup's mix of melody and driving riff rock - “This Faithless Will,” “Disconnect,” “Vertigo” - hit harder and just seem flat out meaner. The band (along with Vitali and Andrews, there's Brendan Slater on bass and Jim Feck on drums) seems to be primarily focused on brute force – they're always barreling straight at you.

Most of the 11 tracks on Indian Ladder register, but the one that deserves to be singled out is “Penny for Your Prayers.” It may not be the most aggressive of the lot, but its dirty, lurching riffs and the Mike Patton-like croon on the chorus make it the most memorable song on the album (and better yet, he doesn't inexplicably shout out “Smooth!” as on “Lost and Forgotten”).

Greatdayforup was one of those bands that could've/should've made a larger impression, and while there's a noticeable difference between that band and Ironweed, the same principle applies. Indian Ladder comes recommended.

VÖ: 2008

Genre: Thrash Metal

Label: Pulverised Records

Herkunftsland: Schweden


Tracklist:

01. Insane Oppression
02. Rebellion
03. Insanity
04. Liar
05. Die/Live
06. Skeleton City
07. Madness
08. Dying World
09. Welcome to Dying (Death, Destruction & Pain)
10. War
11. Our Darkest Day
12. Blood Money

Spielzeit: 41:09

Zitat:Guillotine were originally formed back in the mid-1990”™s by Nocturnal Rites members Fredrik Mannberg and Nils Eriksson who wanted an outlet to play material that reminded them of the thrash that they grew up with. The project originally began as a two piece going by the moniker of Holocaust. However the band soon became Guillotine, a demo was recorded and eventually the full length “Under the Guillotine” was released in 1997. However Mannberg and Eriksson soon went back to their main band and Guillotine were put on the back burner. A decade later the band was revived and guitarist Daniel Sundborn and drummer Efraim Juntunen were recruited to round out the line-up. So that brings up the present and the band”™s second release “Blood Money”. This release comes during a time when the thrash revival is and has been in full swing for some time. Guillotine are beyond most the up and coming bands attempting their hand at old style thrash. The reason is that this band is not trying to re-create the past, but instead they take the style and build it into a huge wall and then just go thundering ahead. The result is a very intense pounding assault on your senses as they churn out incredibly thick layered riffs with a battering ram like rhythm section behind them. There are easily traces of Slayer as well as a definite early 1990's Florida death metal sound as well. The key is that they build on their influences as they add and create an even heavier sound that rarely lets up. The vocals are strong and lean more towards a late 80's thrash sound rather than a death metal growl. Now admittedly it took Guillotine a few songs to get really warmed up on this disc. For a few songs they wander through an aggressive, but relatively simple style before really coming into their own. Then they settled in, began to manipulate and change up the pace and that is when they started to come into their own. This year has already seen more than it's share of old style thrash releases from bands all over the globe. Several plays of this disc had me convinced that Guillotine's Blood Money is one of the more impressive thrash releases of 2008.

Persönlicher Nachtrag:
Retrothrash vom Feinsten. Auch hier muss ich nach dem Exodus Thread darauf hinweisen, dass ich mir das Album mit einer Produktion von 1989 nie im Leben gekauft hätte. 80s Thrash im modernen Soundgewand, so muss das sein. Im Übrigen bereits mein 6. Album dieser Richtung in den letzten 2 Monaten.

VÖ: 2008

Genre: Death Metal

Label: Ascent Records

Herkunftsland: Schweden

Für Fans von: Oldschool Death


Tracklist:

01. Rainbow Snowflakes
02. The Great Delusion
03. New Babylon
04. Not The Only One
05. Carnage (Is The New World Order)
06. Sweet Home
07. Forced Out
08. Impeachment
09. Nineth

Spielzeit: 37:55

Zitat:At one time my favorite style of metal was Stockholm death metal and it's demise left a void in my heart. Luckily there has been somewhat of a resurgence of this style led by some of the old scene founders and some new upstarts that cling to this distinct tradition. Murderplan is one such upstart that has breathed fresh air into those lifeless lungs. Let's Roll attacks with a brutal yet melodic assault that calls to mind for the most part, early Dismember. This relationship is most proudly displayed on the opening notes of album closer Nineth with its down-tuned guitars and ominous riffing. The backwards masked vocals are a touch of inspired evil. Though a strong sense of melody is used throughout Let's Roll, it never comes near the blatant commercialism of the Gothenburg style. Wearing their influences on their sleeve with a song titled Carnage, the listener can discern the sinister echoes of Dark Recollections beneath the melodic leads and feverish guitar solos. The highlight on the album for me though is Forced Out with its rumbling yet melodic riffing and stomping grooves. Impeachment hacks its way through some Dismember inspired guitar chops throughout the song's violent existence. Though classy guitar solos are once again juxtaposed against that blood-soaked backdrop. Each stab or slice is punctuated by Fredrick Soderlund's (Puissance) hate filled vocals which are closer to black metal than the typical guttural uttering of his contemporaries. Though the telltale down-tuned guitars are utilized by Murderplan the production is generally sharper and cleaner than on the stalwarts of the Stockholm scene. However this just makes the riffs and drums more cutting when on their murderous rampage. Murderplan has taken the early blueprint of the early Swedish death metal style and sharpened those rusty axes for a renewed and rejuvenated killing spree. If you love those down-tuned guitars and dark and ominous death metal then you will worship Murderplan's Let's Roll.

BBS schrieb:Das dritte "King Crimson"-Album, "Lizard" gehört zu ihren seltsamsten, verstörendsten - musikalisch wie textlich -, aber auch großartigsten Werken überhaupt. Vom Anfang bis zum Ende wird eine merkwürdig verzerrte, surreale Stimmung heraufbeschworen.

Von der letzten Crimson-Platte übrig sind noch Fripp, Sinfield, Saxophonist Mel Collins und Keyboarder Keith Tippett. Diesmal neu dabei: Gordon Haskell an Baß und Gesang (der auf "In The Wake Of Poseidon" schon "Cadence And Cascade" singen durfte) und Andy McCulloch als Schlagzeuger, ergänzt durch weitere Gastmusiker an Oboe, Kornett, Posaune. Die Instrumentierung ist vorwiegend akustisch, dennoch werden elektronische Keyboards und Synthesizer-Klänge immer wieder mit großem Effekt eingesetzt. Auch das Mellotron kommt zu Ehren, aber nicht als bombastischer Akkordfüller, sondern als ein Teil des Arrangements neben anderen.

Schon das erste Stück, "Cirkus", mit seinem ruhigen Anfang - plingendes E-Piano, sanfter Gesang -, der plötzlich vom hämmernden Mellotronstreichern verdrängt wird, mit seinen schräg-schönen, bitter-süßen Akkorden, schwebenden Synthie-Klängen im Hintergrund und fließendem Sax-Solo von Mel Collins, hypnotischen, schrägen Schluß und obskuren Lyrics, macht klar, das hier keine besonders leicht zugängliche Kost geboten wird. "Indoor Games" und "Happy Family" wirken beide spöttisch, sarkastisch und wieder irgendwie unwirklich. Sich scheinbar lustig machende Bläsersätze werden kontrastiert mit seltsam plastikmäßigen Synthie-Sounds und Fripps fließender, aber dennoch kantiger Gitarren-Begleitung. Andy McCulloch spielt ein geschäftiges Schlagzeug, das kaum einmal einen Takt lang in einem Rhythmus bleibt, sondern über ständige Fills und Variationen zum seltsam unruhigen, verstörenden Grundsound beiträgt. Ständige Tempoverschleppungen über eingeschobene langsame, schwebende Stellen tun ein übriges. Dazu die VCS3-verzerrte, gurgelnde Stimme in "Happy Family" und viel zu laute, free-jazzig ekstatische E-Piano-Eskapaden von Tippett, die scheinbar nichts mit dem restlichen Stück zu tun haben, mittendrin plötzlich ein jazziges Flötensolo: bizarr, aber klasse. "Lady Of The Dancing Water" wirkt da als melancholischer ruhiger, akustischer (Gitarre, Flöte, Posaune, Gesang) Gegenpol endlich etwas entspannend.

Der große Kulminationspunkt des Albums ist jedoch das seitenlange, vielteilige Titel-'Epic': "Lizard". Eingeleitet von einer sanften, melancholischen Melodie mit schrägen sirrenden Klängen darunter ertönt Jon Andersons Stimme (yes, genau der!), nur um plötzlich in einen fast fröhlichen, deplazierten und deshalb verwirrenden Mitklatsch-Teil inklusive rückwärts ablaufender Gitarre zu gleiten: "Prince Rupert Awakes". Nach einer bombastischen Variation der Hauptmelodie beginnt ein sich langsam gradweise aufbauender klassisch-spanisch angehauchter Bolero über eben jener melancholischen, ergreifenden Melodie in Trompete, Mellotron, Oboe, Klavier mit monotoner Schlagzeugbegleitung, der nach und nach immer mehr zu einer new Orleans Jazz-Nummer mit typischen parallelen bluesigen Impros über dem Bolero-Rhythmus gleitet und danach zum streng durchkomponierten Bolero zurückkehrt: großartig. Das nachfolgende "Battle Of The Glass Tears" beginnt mit einem aus weiter Ferne rufenden Cor Anglais ("Dawn Song"), danach übernimmt Gorden Haskell den Gesang in einem ruhigen Teil mit tupfendem Klavier, in dem ab und an leichtes Timpani-Grollen schon den nachfolgenden Ausbruch schwerer Mellotron-Streicher andeutet. Dazu dann wieder zerissenes Schlagzeug, Salon-Bariton-Sax-Stellen, atonales Flötensolo, quietschende Posaune, schräge Gitarre, immer heftigerer Freak-Out: "Last Skirmish" ist "The Devil's Triangle" im Quadrat. Plötzlich Ruhe: "Prince Rupert's Lament" sind Fripps kantige, seltsame E-Gitarren-Linien über einem sonoren Baß-Ostinato, die immer näher kommen, um dann wieder in der Ferne zu verschwinden. "Big Top" ist seltsames Geplinge, Geklirre über einer Mellotron-Melodie, die immer schneller, immer höher wird und schließlich verklingt: bizarr.

"Lizard" ist anstrengend, grausam, bizarr, neurotisch, surreal, irrsinnig, verdreht, abgehoben, prätentiös, kurz: vollkommen bekloppt. Aber auch kurzweilig, komisch, erhebend, amüsant, erstaunlich, ergreifend, kurz: genial. Für mich ist "Lizard" in all ihrer Unzugänglichkeit und ihrem Geheimnis eine der lohnenswertesten und brilliantesten Platten, die ich kenne. Aber sicher ist dies kein Stoff für jedermann: "an acquired taste", wie der Engländer sagt.

P.S.Hier Robert Fripps trockener Kommentar zu "Lizard" während der Remastering-Sessions der klassischen "King Crimson"-Alben im Spätsommer 99:

"Overall, the album is unlistenable. Our remastering shows just how unlistenable. I am unable to recommend that anyone part with their hard-earned pay for this one, unless they want to take it to parties and play it at unwelcome guests. There are some "Lizard" lovers, I know. They must be very strange."

"Lizard" ist anstrengend, grausam, bizarr, neurotisch, surreal, irrsinnig, verdreht, abgehoben, prätentiös, kurz: vollkommen bekloppt. Aber auch kurzweilig, komisch, erhebend, amüsant, erstaunlich, ergreifend, kurz: genial. " <-- das sagt eigentlich alles. 9,99/10