Ali Blackdiamond

Review by Ali Blackdiamond

The scene was set, I was in position at the front of the crowd on the blisteringly hot Friday afternoon of Bloodstock 2012. I wanted to ensure the best possible view of the stage for my first live experience of the powerful American metallers and what a metal onslaught it turned out to be!

ICED EARTH certainly drew a big crowd for 3.15pm, demonstrating their popularity among the UK crowd. Drummer Brent Smedley was first onstage and began pounding his bass drum and getting the crowd clapping as the other members joined him.

Vocalist Stu Block announced how happy he was to be at Bloodstock, his first European festival and was ecstatic to be ‘popping his festival cherry’ with us! Stu gave several speeches throughout the set with an enthusiastic response from the crowd. He is certainly a great choice as the new ICED EARTH front man: he has a great stage presence, is an expert in working the crowd and above all, has one awesome metal voice!

Luke Appleton looked to have settled extremely well into his role as bass player, as though he has always been there, looking very happy to be so.

The band were all dressed in the traditional ‘metal’ style, with their customised jeans and cut off denims complete with back patches, very cool!

So, to the music! From the first song ‘Dystopia‘ from the latest album of the same name, the band played a storming set in the hour they had, including such classics as ‘My Own Saviour,’ and the very emotional ‘Watching Over Me ‘ ( Something Wicked This way Comes, 1998) and ‘Damien‘ (The Horror Show, 2001). ‘Watching Over Me‘ was particularly poignant with Stu explaining that Jon had written it for his friend who passed away, the emotion was palpable and there was a huge response afterwards from the crowd.

One of Stu’s rousing speeches took place before ‘Anthem‘ (Dystopia, 2011): ‘Now let’s talk about the human spirit, there’s a lot of it in this room. On this new album we were talking about a lot of the negative things happening in the world today, like politicians stealing the fuckin’ money right out of our back pockets, cancer killing our loved ones. But no matter what shit we have to go through, our human spirit will prevail, no matter what they throw at us, can I have a fuckin’ hell yeah?!‘ And he certainly got one!

Nobody could miss Jon Schaffer’s commanding presence with his trademark bandana in place, providing the solid guitar sound and backing vocals along with the riffs of Troy Steele. Pounding away with amazing precision and speed on the twin bass drums was Brent Smedley. Newcomer Luke Appleton did an amazing job on bass and Stu Block’s vocal style is diverse with screams to rival (dare I say ‘maybe better than’ these days?!) metal god Rob Halford. Those notes he hit were amazing!

I could see the harmony between every member of the band, there were lots of smiles between them as they gave us a fantastic metal performance. Their enjoyment was plain to see and transferred to the atmosphere in the crowd, everyone was having a great time during the one hour long set. The band were as slick as a well oiled metal machine and it was the best show of the day for me, I can’t wait until the next time!

Setlist

Dystopia

Burning Times

Angel’s Holocaust

Slave To The Dark

Watching Over Me

My Own Saviour

Anthem

Boiling Point

Damien

Iced Earth

Stu Block, Iced Earth
Bloodstock Open Air, 10/08/12

Jon Schaffer, Iced Earth
Bloodstock Open Air, 10/08/12

Iced Earth
Bloodstock Open Air 10/08/12

All photos and videos by Ali Blackdiamond.

Reviewed by – Ali Blackdiamond

Band – Metal Scent

Album – Homemade

Released – October 2011

Metal Scent are from Israel and were formed about 7 years ago. Their third album ‘Homemade’ was released in October 2011 and is their first album to include all original material.

They have progressed a lot with this album as their first one in 2005 consisted of Middle Eastern hit songs recomposed into metal versions. The second album consisted of American hit songs from the 1960’s rearranged into metal versions with Middle Eastern influences.

The band launch into the first track ‘Never Too Late’ with their melodic power metal style and Rami’s strong vocals are striking alongside the catchy riffs, which keep going at a fast pace throughout the song. It’s a great rock song and made me want to listen to more.

‘Hold On’ is one of the best tracks for me – the song delivers a very catchy hook and there is a great chugging riff throughout. The drumming provides a solid heavy beat and there is a great melodic guitar solo. Again the powerful vocals with a raw edge complete the song, making what I feel to be the most commercially viable song on the album.

‘Silks Of White’ is the fifth track of the album which starts with a nice heavy riff, then Rami’s rocking vocals kick in. The song has a Middle Eastern atmosphere in places which bring a nice different feel to it. Shahar’s solid thumping bass line is strong and there is some great double bass drumming from Ronen.

‘Riders Of The Night’ evokes a classic ’90’s power metal vibe for me, it’s a really catchy song to sing along to! Rami’s powerful metal vocals rage throughout this melodic song.

The last track of this fifteen song album is ‘Time Has Come’ which has a very familiar intro to it. It’s a very anthemic feel good ‘lighters in the air’ type song and one which a lot of people would do well to take note of the uplifting lyrics – ‘ Why can’t we all live together, live in peace and harmony’. There is some nice melodic acoustic guitar included and the song clearly demonstates the range of Rami’s vocal abilities. I really like this song with its happy and relaxed feel.

On the whole, ‘Homemade’ is a great melodic album with a lot of strengths and positive points and one I wouldn’t tire of listening to. I feel it is slightly long with 15 tracks and some songs are a little similar to each other, but having said that it is a very enjoyable album that rocks!

8/10

Tracklisting for “Homemade” :

1. Never Too Late

2. Hold On

3. Men Of War

4. Coast To Coast

5. Silks Of White

6. A Spy In The Sky

7. Inner Light

8. Desires

9. Riders Of The Night

10. All You Want