3 Inches of Blood – Here Waits Thy Doom

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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
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Age of Evil – Get Dead

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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
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Angels of Babylon – Kingdom of Evil

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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
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Annihilator – Live At Masters of Rock

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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
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Arch Enemy – The Root of All Evil

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More an intermediary release than a new album, The Root of All Evil is a collection of re-recordings of songs from the first three Arch Enemy albums when Swedish singer Johan Liiva fronted the band. The original albums are recent enough that there isn’t much in terms of the sound or production which could be upgraded, although their tone and sound has changed slightly. And therein lies the focus on this album. The sound of Arch Enemy has changed somewhat since the John Liiva fronted period, adopting a much more ‘Stockholm melodic death’ sound with the addition of Angela Gossow. Doing the basically instrumental Demoniality from Black Earth seems unnecessary, but otherwise the usual suspects that are regularly part of the current live set are included, with four (including Demoniality) taken from Black Earth, three from Stigmata, including bonus track Diva Satanica, and the first five from Burning Bridges, plus a new (and entirely pointless) intro. To some The Root of All Evil will offer absolutely nothing. To others it will offer everything. Arch Enemy fans tend to be divided on whether or not the addition of Gossow has improved the band or not, and there are a certain number who feel who vocals do not do Liiva’s songs justice at all, even if the same fans do like her voice on the songs written with her in the band. This group will hate this album and should not buy it except to support the band, but the ones who like Gossow singing the old songs (and in some cases only like her singing them) should buy it immediately as everything is up to the usual Arch Enemy standard here.

Written by Andy Lye
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Arjen Lucassen’s Guilt Machine – On This Perfect Day

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Anticipation of a new Arjen Lucassen project is always high, and the hope for this one was mostly somewhere along the lines of a progressive take on Stream of Passion with a male singer (Jasper Steverlinck from Arid). Instead the result sounds like a number of other bands, with occasional Lucassen trademarks. For example opener Twisted Coil sounds very much like Opeth’s mellow side for the most part, with stock Lucassen riffs for the heavy sections. Other parts sound like they could have come from the pen of Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree), but the predominant reminiscence is of Dream Theater, and particularly Steverlinck’s vocal similarities to James LaBrie. Over and Perfection? in particular give this impression (the lead guitar melodies on Perfection? are superb, however). On the last Ayreon album, 01011001, there were notably fewer heavy sections, and on this album there are fewer still. Most of the disc is mellow with fleeting moments of bombast, and although good, this coupled with the similarities to so many other bands mean this is by no means Arjen’s best work. However, being a band project (also featuring former Porcupine Tree drummer Chris Maitland and former Stream of Passion guitarist Lori Lindstruth), some rare touring may be in the offing, and that’s always welcomed by Lucassen fans.

Written by Andy Lye
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