3 Inches of Blood – Here Waits Thy Doom

site | label | buy

On the back of a few successful support tours comes the fourth album from the American band who peddle “battle metal” lyrics over a traditional twin-guitar sound, with a little thrash for good measure. However, the novelty of 3 Inches of Blood’s sound has worn off somewhat, and what they’ve produced here has very of genuine interest. Barely any of the songs are as good as those on Advance & Vanquish or Fire Up The Blades and mostly just end up sounding like a rehash of the last two with less interesting riffs (apart from the bridge in Call of The Hammer) and far fewer hooks. All of Them Witches is probably the closest they’ve gotten musically to Iron Maiden and some of the best guitar solos, but again offers very little that sounds particularly original. Snake Fighter’s chorus sounds like it’s trying to match the popularity of Deadly Sinners, while other tracks suffer terminally from some horifically clichéd lyrics (Rock In Hell). And for a band who pride themselves on being ‘pure’ metal, the guitar are surprisingly less-than-heavy. The band have made no advancement at all here and the only interest at all comes with some of the lead playing, like that in seven-minute closer Execution Tank, which is probably the albums best moment along with acoustic instrumental 12/34. Fans will buy it anyway, but will probably be reaching for Advance & Vanquish after one listen.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 3 Inches of Blood

Age of Evil – Get Dead

site | buy

The new self-released EP from Arizona’s Age of Evil presents two brand new original songs, two classic metal covers and two exclusive live versions of tracks from their debut album Living A Sick Dream, released in 2007. Age of Evil’s sound on their original songs is very similar to David Ellefson’s F5 with a 50/50 mix of modern metal and classic ’80s thrash, and although it’s easy to tell from Jeremy Goldberg’s vocals that this is a young band, his voice avoids all of those tell-tale signs of whining angst most bands with over-groomed fringes have. He has a voice of a genuine metal singer, in short. The stand-out thing about the two new tracks, besides the excellent Anthrax groove and crushing heaviness, are Jordan Ziff’s blistering guitar solos at the beginning and end of both opener Cruel Intentions and the title track. These are followed by two excellent covers in the shape of Skid Row’s Slave To The Grind and Judas Priest’s The Hellion/Electric Eye, then the two live tracks, where the Pantera-esque Southern riffs of Eye For An Eye hint at the content of their full-length album, for anyone unfamiliar. A superb release, and only $5 plus shipping from their website too.

Written by Andy Lye
More: Age of Evil

Andre Matos – Mentalize

site | label | buy

While this may only be Andre Matos’ second solo release, he is of course a well known veteran of the metal scene, getting his start at the age of thirteen in Viper, then obtaining worldwide success in Angra and Shaman, as well as his countless guest appearances, side projects and collaborations with many artists across the globe. There is no doubt that Matos’ is a force to be reckoned with in music today as not only a phenomenal vocalist and front-man, but also a classically trained composer and pianist. For fans of Matos, Mentalize will not disappoint, and for those unfamiliar with his past work, it will serve as a great introduction to what Andre Matos is all about. There is a lot of variety here from both ends of the spectrum including blazing power metal tracks one would expect, such as Shift The Night Away, Leading On and Powerstream to heartfelt ballads, A Lapse In Time, and Back To You. Reminiscent of Matos’ later work with Angra are the tracks Violence and The Myriad, both of which easily could have been prominent songs on Angra’s Fireworks. Without a doubt the catchiest song on the album is the upbeat I Will Return, while the title track, Mentalize, is much heavier and a bit dark, with a distinct classic Savatage sound. Possibly the only downside here are the vocal effects on the verses of Someone Else as they seem out of place making an otherwise melodic and memorable song fall a bit flat. Oddly, the main riff in Mirror of Me is nearly identical to Black Sabbath’s The Mob Rules, yet somehow still maintains its individuality and the end result is classic Andre Matos. When The Sun Cried Out is quite epic and will no doubt be a stand out track for many. There is surely something here for everyone. Mentalize is a solid album containing all Matos’ signature elements spanning his career to date, yet still manages to sound fresh.

Written by Heather Lee
More: Andre Matos

Angels of Babylon – Kingdom of Evil

site | label | buy

This new project achieved immediate notoriety due to the presence of David Ellefson on bass, but Angels of Babylon are genuinely strong in every area, and their debut album contains all of the elements of classic heavy metal. David Fefolt’s Jorn Lande-esque vocals are a real highlight and his performance is flawless throughout the disc, while former Manowar bassist “Rhino” and Ellefson form one of the most muscular rhythm sections that will probably be heard all year. The final piece is guitarist Ethan Brosh who spends most of the disc playing solid metal riffs, with occasional groove (stand-out track Tarot) with elements of the traditional and power genres, and when he delivers a solo they are either emotive and thoughtful (Apocalypse 2012 intro) or blistering (Oh How The Mighty Have Fallen). The main aim of the album is melodic metal without sacrificing heaviness, and that is achieved, but in addition there are more expansive moments like dark, brooding closer Second Coming, the Spanish guitar intro to the title track and piano/orchestral instrumental The Remnant. Although touring seems, at the moment, unlikely, Kingdom of Evil is a surefire traditional metal classic.

Written by Andy Lye
More: Angels of Babylon

Angelus Apatrida – Clockwork

site | label | buy

Young Spanish outfit Angelus Apatrida earned their label debut with two well-received sell-financed releases in 2006 and 2007 before signing to Century Media, which will see their music released outside of Spain for the first time. Intelligent, technical thrash, Clockwork mixes healthy amounts of prime Slayer, Anthrax and Destruction with a little Overkill groove into a sound that bridges the European/American thrash styles. Every track here is as fast, aggressive and sharp as anyone could want from a thrash album, while being far from one-dimensional. All of the playing is first class, packed with wailing solos, and Guilermo Izquierdo’s vocals are a mix of Steve Souza and Matt Drake, meaning they’re angry, nasty, but perfectly understandable and not at all the blatant Paul Baloff copycat attempt a lot of new thrash bands aim for. Each track goes through as many different riffs as the more single-minded thrash bands do in a whole album, and the band have the same vocal hook sensibilities as Overkill and Annihilator, meaning there’s something to sing along to as well. The special edition version of the album adds a suitable thrashy cover of Iron Maiden’s Be Quick Or Be Dead which rounds out an album that, against incredibly stiff competition in a year that has seen a lot of excellent thrash releases, could very well turn out to be the best come Christmas.

Written by Andy Lye
More: Angelus Apatrida

Annihilator – Live At Masters of Rock

site | label | buy

Finally arriving some time after the North American and mainland European release Live At Masters of Rock is Annihilator’s first ever full concert DVD, and a far better prospect than the Ten Years In Hell collection of clips, which represent their only other venture onto DVD and was rather disappointing in all areas. Filmed at the Masters of Rock festival in the Czech Republic in 2008 this is their complete 80-minute set on a brilliantly no-nonsense DVD which isn’t over-burdened with superfluous extras; just the show. As with most things band leader Jeff Waters produces the sound quality here is superb (and similarly razor-sharp to production legend Andy Sneap), and the camera work and video quality courtesy of local companies T.N.T. Media and Wide TV, and directed by The Campbell Brothers, are both excellent. The 2008 setlist was very similar to the 2007 one, if in a slightly different order, but with the welcome addition of Shallow Grave, of which the version here is one of the best. This is the perfect live product, combining first-class audio and video quality with excellent camera-work and editing, a great performance by the band (particularly Dave Padden, who was the best thing to happen to Annihilator for years when he joined in 2003) and a complete disregard for wasting everyone’s time with extras. It’s the first live document of the band since 2003’s Double Live Annihilation album, and the first with Padden on guitar and vocals (that album was recorded in 2002 when Joe Comeau fronted the band), and a must for any Annihilator fan, or indeed thrash fan.

Written by Andy Lye
More: Annihilator