Yes, I have already reviewed this album, but I have been
unpleased with my review of this album since probably the day after I wrote in
back in January. It was only my second review and I had not found a comfort in
doing reviews yet, so I feel I owe it to just redo it and only keep one or two
parts the same, including the introduction...I really like the introduction.
If there’s one genre of heavy music I’ve grown a bit tired
of, it’s this genre of “post-hardcore” blended with pop-punk elements, a genre
that doesn’t truly have a name but they seem to be taking over the world. Bands
such as Pierce the Veil and Blessthefall all fall under this
sub-genre with their distorted music behind a singer who sounds like he (or
sometimes she) could be singing modern day pop hits, but occasionally they don’t
shy away from screaming, as well the bands don’t shy away from using the odd
electronic element. These are the kind of bands that appeal to kids who don’t
generally like heavy music but not-so surprisingly find appeal in these bands.
California heavy metal band Holy Grail have the right idea. They have the apocalyptic dynamics
of a classic heavy metal band, the vocals of a thrash metal band, the pace of a
speed metal band and the lyrics of a power metal band. Ingredients of this
nature put in to one band makes for one hell of a ride. Most bands lately that
follow similar traits such as White
Wizzard (a band that at one point featured a couple of members from Holy
Grail) only succeed to make novelty songs that sound like an American New Wave
of British Heavy Metal Band (which worked for Metallica but that’s an exception). Holy Grail manages to keep
their sound more contemporary to something that more modern metal fans would
like while maintaining an appeal to classic metal fans as well, as opposed to
just appealing to the latter.
There has been an uprising in young talent trying to give a
rebirth to the old fashioned hard rock sound. Back in the days when The Doors played a song like Roadhouse Blues and you believed every
word Jim Morrison sang, or when all ZZ Top wanted was some Tush; this was a time when a rock
standard was a good badass guitar riff and a good groove in the back ground
and a singer with some balls who you’re not sure whether to be scared of or be
best friends with. Every now and then there is a slight murmur from modern rock
bands by releasing the odd song that has that old style vibe to it, but lately
there have been a few bands, particularly relative unknowns, whom have found a
way to harness this sound. Some even do it quite well.
Jason
Newsted was always just a tad out of place in Metallica. He came in to the band just months after the death of
bass legend, and arguably the best metal bassist to ever record an album, Cliff Burton. Immediately after joining
the band he faced sort of an initiation by his band mates. My personal favourite
story is that when he would sign autographs for fans, he would write “bassface”
and when other members of the band signed the same item, they would cross out
the “b” in “bassface”...yah you get it. Even after the initiation ended he was
still just the new guy in the band, and that always held a spot in the memory
of the band and older fans of the band that he couldn’t seem to live up to
despite being an excellent bass player. Jason himself at many times during his
career still to this day has mentioned Cliff as being the best bass player to
ever live, to demonstrate that he knew he wasn’t ever in Metallica to be better
than Cliff.
Ontario’s Niagara region may be more known as a tourist
attraction to most rather than a place to live. It best known for its Casino, haunted
houses, Marine Land, wax museums and the gorgeous Niagara-On-The-Lake, among
many many other things. It hasn’t, however, been known for its music scene.
While it did in fact give birth to Canadian rock legends Honeymoon Suite, it still remains disregarded and highly underrated
for the many local bands it has.
Whenever I think of Danish metallers Volbeat, I think of the first time I ever discovered them. Like so
many of their fans, it was their fortune of touring with Metallica in 2009 that first introduced me to their unique sound. Having
not one clue about this band beforehand, not even knowing that Metallica had
more than one band (Lamb of God)
opening for them, I was completely taken. They didn’t put on a spectacular
show, for the most part they just stood there and played their instruments, and
let their music do the talking.
There are generally two kinds of modern metal bands as of
late: Alternative metal, which derives from the sound of alternative
rock/grunge bands just with much heavier distorted instruments with bands such
as Godsmack or Stone Sour, and then there is Metalcore, which involves for the
most part intense guttural vocals with classic metal influence incorporated in
its music with bands such as All That
Remains or As I Lay Dying. There
really aren’t many modern metal bands that step out of these styles, with few
exceptions (Volbeat and Avenged Sevenfold for instance).
