Interview by Metal Shock Finland’s Sagiv Shaniv at PPM festival on April 14th in Mons, Belguim
Chatting about new releases and touring, Lasse Finbråten said: “We had some problems with booking, we don’t like doing it ourselves… We just want to write music and that’s what we do. There will probably be a new album in 2014… We can’t have such a gap between albums like last time (five years).”
Talking about the band’s name, Lasse stated: “It comes from Nintendo… From a game Truls and Mats (Founding members) played in their childhood, “The Reaper”… Talking about today’s Rock and Metal scene: “In the past there has been lack of melodies, but it changed during the years… Now there are many bands with great melodies.”
It is the third time in four years that SABATON are parking their war machine in Tel Aviv; Only this time it was a very special visit of theirs’, with record-breaking affection the crowd showed them whether if it’s in the traditional pre-concert signing session in the local metalshop, news about their visit here before the show spreading live throughout the internet, or during the concert itself in which you solemnly think for yourself that perhaps the crowd is actually louder than the band…
SABATON released their latest album “Carolus Rex” in May 23rd 2012; It gained great success, and was supported by the world wide Swedish Empire Tour 2012, from which the show was a part of.
The opening act were no other than DESERT, a local dark power metal act who are very close (personally and musically) to SABATON and opened for them on their previous visit in Israel as well. During the show a special surprise Desert had promised was fulfilled, when Joakim Broden (Sabaton’s vocalist) came onstage to sing a duet with Desert’s frontman Alexei Raymer on the song “Lament for soldier’s glory”, just like in the original recording. That was a great warm up for the main show of the evening, and Desert made their best to make the crowd bang their heads in the power metal constant rhythm.
Between Desert and Sabaton there was an interval of about 20 minutes that was ended by the song “The Final Countdown” by the Swedish hard rock band Europe. The crowd sang along with the recording with occasional feelings of “What the hell”… all until there was complete silence. A minute later, Sabaton stormed the stage and just like in their 2010 show in Israel, started playing the powerful song Ghost Division, getting the crowd into total ecstasy that lasted for an hour and a half. The show went on and on with the well-known to the crowd hits the band writes so well. The show was a one long high point, spiced up with some talking of Joakim and odd reactions of the crowd to the band (Who throws a teddy bear onstage? Dudes…).
It’s hard for me to pick the song I enjoyed the most in the evening, but I’ll go for 40:1. I think it’s the second song of theirs I heard, and a superb one in my opinion since. I’ve got nothing bad to say about the concert; the sound was sharp and bright, the playlist was diverse covering their most popular material and the crowd was simply AWESOME. I hope they’ll come back a few years from now for the fourth time, perhaps with some more bands for some sort of a mini-fest… Who knows what tomorrow will bring!
Setlist:(by Setlist.fm) (The Final Countdown – Europe song)
The March To War
Ghost Division
Uprising
Gott Mit Uns
40:1
Cliffs of Gallipoli
Dominium Maris Baltici
The Lion From the North
The Price of a Mile
Into the Fire
Carolus Rex
Poltava
Attero Dominatus
Encore:
The Art of War
Panzer Battalion
Primo Victoria
Metal Crüe
Encore 2:
Counterstrike
Dead Soldier’s Waltz
Masters of the World
Artist: iNSANE
Album: Concord the World
Label: Under the Music
Release Date: 2012
Tracklist:
1. The light at the end of the tunnel
2. Concord the world
3. Lighthouse
4. City of havoc
5. Waiting for the summer rain
6. These are the ones
7. The last party
8. Coda
“Concord the World” is the album released earlier this year by Hungarian metalcore band iNSANE.
The album seems very short that I would’ve defined as an EP with some short quiet instrumentals between some of the songs.
The album is purely metalcore, including the lyrical concept, combining all the traditional characteristics of the genre.
The first track is an instrumental that reminds of Dio’s Holy Diver for a fraction of a second, which ends just to fit perfectly into the next track that quickly escalates into a wild emotional song concerning music and its power over an individual. The third and fourth tracks are rather regular metalcore songs, reminding me a bit of Periphery’s first album which was heavily influenced by metalcore, mostly on the vocal parts, causing the resemblance between it and the album I’m reviewing right now.
Fifth track “Waiting for the summer rain” is a smooth, short instrumental composed of clean electric guitars, which have a fat and full sound. Very nice indeed!
Tracks six and seven form an ending to the album, being heavy right-to-the-point with screams that wouldn’t shame even Tom Araya (In a case he was a heavy smoker with a lowered voice).
“Coda” the closing instrumental, is very similar to its predecessors in the album, continuing the same musical line that gives us a recess from the breaks, harsh songs that the band lands on us one after another.
Metalcore has been here for more than a decade, with big bands that lead it such as Killswitch Engage and Bullet for My Valentine. I was never a fan of this genre, nor I am now, but I must say that I think few will dispute me if I say iNSANE bring pretty much nothing new to the market.
The album is rather mediocre in my humble opinion, but I bet a Hungarian Forint that metalcore fans will enjoy this album.
6/10
Band Members: Gábor Érsek – Drums
László Kádár – Guitar
Bertalan Tóth – Lead Vocals
Csaba Zahorán – Bass, Vocals
Artist: Silencer
Album: The Great Bear
Label: Vanity Music Group
Release Date: September 25th 2012
Tracklist:
1. Sacred War
2. I Am Thunder!
3. 1969
4. Great Bear
5. Insignia
6. Star City pt. 1
7. Star City pt. 2
8. Orders / Noble Sacrifice
9. The Roar
10. Light
11. The First, The Last
Versatile, I think that’s the word to describe this album. It is easy to notice this is not Silencer’s first record: With tight recordings and a high level of playing and (most of the time) production, the group takes their special sound to a higher level.
The album is a concept one, which focuses on the American-Soviet space race in the 50’- 60’ and takes a step forward, raising some “What if” questions concerning the soviet side, asking what might have happened if the Russians were to one-up the American’s moon landing by going somewhere further.
The album is rather short, lasting no more than half an hour, which is quite short a time to spread the conceptual story the band wants to introduce us to.
The album is very thrash-influenced, but it carries some other style characteristics, such as power metal choruses and bigger-than-life harmonies, progressive gentle, smooth playing, and even semi-doom parts. This entire blend fits very well into the story and most importantly coexists with Keith Spargo’s harsh voice that reminds me of Rob Flynn’s besides its lack of hoarseness.
We open with a bombastic-to-quiet short instrumental of Russian scent, quickly getting us into the story. “I Am Thunder” is an excellent thrash song that if it would’ve been released 20 years ago would’ve been much more recognized and known, for it belongs to the kind of songs that were released during that period.
“1969” is some talking in Russian that I still need to call my Russian friends to translate for me… “Great Bear” is a rather regular power-thrash song, with nice bridges and verses, but nothing beyond. I consider this song a low-point in the album, mostly for the production, that is yet still overall good.
“Insignia” and “Star City pt. 1” are nice tracks but nothing outstanding to talk about, though I must say the guitar solo on the former is no less than impressive.
“Star City pt. 2” is undoubtedly the “break” in the album, being silent and calm, a perfect preparation for the album’s highlight – “Orders / Noble Sacrifice”, a top-notch powerful thrash song, with a mighty chorus and a prog outro that fits into this one like a slap to a guy’s face by his girlfriend after she found out he was cheating on her two days before prom (!).
The last three songs are a nice closure to the album, keeping its line perfectly.
The last track is an impressive Russian chant, to which you cannot listen without imagining crowds marching in front of comrade Stalin.
In the end, it is a nice album, that one will probably enjoy listening to, but it won’t be one that will be remembered for a very long time (unless you are a Russian metalhead or something, I guess) by the common listener.
I recommend this album as a nice piece of modern metal, but call you not to expect anything new or outstanding.
7/10
Band Members:
Keith Spargo – vocals, guitars Dan Lynn – guitars Patrick Russell – bass Alex Simpson – drums
Artist: Second Rate Angels
Album: Second Rate Angels – EP
Label: Self Released
Date of Release: July 14th 2012
Tracklist:
1. Loose Connection
2. One Life
3. Spaced Apart
It is disputed by few that Metallica’s golden age has been gone for about two decades now. Or is it?
Second Rate Angels’ self-titled EP gets us all back to true and authentic Melodic-Thrash metal, very similar to the style’s highlights that had been played throughout the 80’-90’. SRA is a new band, formed in 2011. The EP includes three songs: Loose Connection, One Life and Spaced Apart.
Probably the most noticeable thing featured in the release is Dave Gobran’s melodic voice, being not typical for our days’ new wave of Thrash, which is greatly influenced by death screams and growls.
Nonetheless, Dave bombards us with a load of powerful vocals that would make Max Cavalera satisfied, even if it lacks a little bit from his aggression. Anyway, Dave’s voice is very inviting most of the time and serves as a fine welcome to the band and its music.
A thing I don’t quite understand is the band’s self-association to metalcore. Metalcore influences on the band are hardly felt, with the only true influence I strongly felt is occasional harsh screams by Dave.
As for the music, it is good and well written, but with very, very little to renew.
Frankly, there is little to write about it. The band plays nearly identically to early and even late Anthrax or Megadeth, with minor notable metalcore licks and techniques, making it a fully traditional band that probably does not aim to renew anything, but only make more of the good ol’ formula.
But perhaps it is due to the nature of thrash: Little progression with anything concerning musical creativity and innovation, and sticking to the roots as much as possible (only partially true about Metallica, with no further explains needed).
As a result of the new wave of thrash metal that engulfs the world wide scene over the recent years, bands that play traditional thrash and stick to its course are facing difficulties standing out for big crowds; the bands that get bigger attention are those that combine other genres with thrash, mostly death and metalcore, with less melodies and smooth playing. I think that their lack of musical innovation in addition to the fact they are a new band that was formed only last year makes them less “visible” to the big crowds that look for new interesting music. Yet still, the band’s characteristics listed above might come up eventually as a two edged blade – listeners will get attracted over the time to a band that does the same as done over and over throughout the last three decades, looking for new music that only sounds old (A thing that the production can be credited for, although I think that if the band had a larger budget, which I assume to be limited with the band being unsigned, the production would’ve been much more clean and sharp).
The EP is very good for a first release of a band, with the musicians’ passion for music transferred via it, but I don’t think I’ll follow the band as it makes its progress throughout the musical world; for I’m not much of a thrasher and never was, and I dislike listening to music that was done 20 years ago under the cover of a “revival” of a genre.
Artist: Monsterworks
Album: Man :: Instincts (EP)
Label: Mortal Music
Release Date: July 10th, 2012
1. The Creation Dream
2. All Suns Die
3. Free Will
Following on from “The God Album”, and taking the listener into a philosophical landscape, “Album of Man” was recorded by London-based band Monsterworks in April 2010, at Earth Terminal Studios with Lewis Childs as engineer. The first EP the band released from the album is Man :: Instincts, and contains three songs: The Creation Dream, All Suns Die, and Free Will. The less the band exposes itself to us the more we are able to appreciate their talent and will to create unusual music. With powerful lyrics that doubt one’s belief, the band’s music is far more than harmony and technique, for it might make a person think and confront himself with things he may consider undoubtedly true.
As for the music, imagine the (stoned) members of Mastodon sitting for a drink with King Diamond and Immortal’s ‘Abbath’ stopping by to say hello.
Yet still, it doesn’t seem the band greatly diversifies its unique style (as weird as it might sound…) but concentrates on the regular song structure formula, only playing with its components such as vocals, solos, and harmonies vs. percussions.
As the band itself writes, it is very difficult to pin it down, with a change of style in nearly every second part of the songs. It might be thrash on one point, then death in another, with low growls wrapping it all up. Not the thing you mostly hear, unless you’re some sort of heavy metal hipster.
Despite the mind-bombarding approach it seems the band is showing, the songs are rather light to digest for some reason, with a conformist song build-up, unlike other versatile extreme metal bands such as Gojira. The Lo-Fi production makes the EP sound as if Bill Clinton was recently elected and the Soviet Union dissolved only a few months ago; it adds a lot to the atmosphere that the band is trying to deliver through its music and throws you back into another world in which heavily distorted guitars and technical drumming is the only law.
Overall, I have no doubt Monsterworks are a special band that despite its seniority (15 years are not something to disregard) gets very little attention, too little in my opinion for such a special band that is has been here for a long time.
I think the band can easily manage itself through the underground metal scene, and I hope we’ll all see it happen and hear more about them and their creations.
