Muthas, Swedish metallers Enforcer are back with their fourth album, From Beyond, and it's a blazing 42 minutes of 100% pure,
unadulterated, chromium steel. 2013's Death
By Fire was great, and this new album is definitely its equal, if not even
better! It’s rock-solid and all of the songs are top notch, which makes it a
great companion to Death By Fire.
There are loads of balls-out speed metal tracks mixed with heavy doses of
traditional metal, and that's a winning combination in my book.
From Beyond
features mostly speedier cuts, as it to be expected from Enforcer, but it does
have a couple of longer, epic tracks that are very good. Frankly, there aren't any bad songs on the
album at all. It's clear that Enforcer knows how to write excellent
songs, and one of their strengths is their choruses - they are total
earworms! Some bands struggle with this,
but Enforcer's choruses will be
stuck in your head long after you're done listening to the album. Also, the
album is very well sequenced and is the perfect length for vinyl - all of which
is conducive to a great listening experience.
"Destroyer" is the absolutely ripping opening cut
and it's also the lead single and video.
Check it out below:
"Undying Evil" is the second track and it's another
freewheel burner with an anthemic chorus and lyrics about vampires. Check out the video for this
bloodthirsty killer of a tune:
"One With Fire" and “Hell Will Follow” are
examples of the killer, balls out, speedsters that have become a staple of Enforcer albums. Once again, the band
has included an excellent instrumental - "Hungry They Will Come" -
and it's positioned perfectly at the midpoint of the proceedings. I love that Enforcer has a real appreciation for meaty instrumentals, as
they've become something of a lost art since their 80s heyday. Well done lads. "Below The Slumber"
and "Mask Of Red Death" are the two longer, epic tracks and they are
both very good. They ably showcase
another aspect of the band's excellent songwriting skills. Would you like to hear some sweet,
dual-guitar Maidenisms without
ploughing through a 92 minute, two CD monstrosity? If the answer is yes, you
should definitely check out the guitar noodling on “The Banshee.”
In other news, Enforcer
is releasing their first live album – Live By Fire – on November 20th and they
are embarking on a co-headling tour of the States with Warbringer, Cauldron,
and Exmortus. Here are the dates:
The Bottom Line: From
Beyond is a great follow-up to Death
By Fire and is well worth picking up if you are a fan of Traditional Metal,
Speed Metal or plain old good music. Enforcer proves once again why they are the cream of crop of the NWOTHM. Highly recommended!
Muthas, 2012 was a great year in Metal, and we here at The Metal
Blog Of Metal have picked the twelve best albums of the year. We have also picked the best reissues of the
year, the best concert of the year, the best live albums of the year, and the
worst releases of the year. Read on!
The Twelve Best
Albums of 2012
2012 proved to be a very good year for Metal and we got
great releases from across the various genres.
We won’t number these this year, but encourage you to check out all the skullcrushers
below. These twelve dominated the
turntables, CD players and MP3 players at The Metal Blog Of Metal.
The Sword - Apocryphon(Razor & Tie)
Back with more 70s influenced awesomeness, The Sword cranked out the excellent Apocryphon.
It’s another superb entry into their growing discography and
features the band really exploring the power of the mid-paced song. Every track is superb and we have
listened to this album countless times.
Get it.
Gypsyhawk – Revelry & Resilience(Metal
Blade)
Another band that channels all that was great about 70s
Metal, Gypsyhawk kills it Thin Lizzy style with this awesome
disc. Check out the snaking and twisting
guitar melodies, as well as the sweet fantasy based lyrics. These guys are doing it right.
Orchid – Heretic(Nuclear Blast)
This band can do no wrong.
Period. Sure, it’s only a 4 song
EP, but damn, do they know how to craft witchy, hooky and crushing Doom
Metal. We love this band and eagerly
await their next LP.
Testament – Dark Roots of Earth(Nuclear Blast)
Thrash legends Testament
really know how to write wicked good songs that are both melodic and heavy as
hell. There’s a reason why they were
able to soldier on when so many other lesser Thrash bands shit the bed in the 90s. Dark
Roots of Earth is an excellent platter that surpasses their previous album and
is a fine addition to their legacy (Get it? See what I did there? Ah, forget it.)
Accept – Stalingrad (Nuclear Blast)
Damn fine follow-up to Blood
of the Nations, which erases any doubts about the new Accept lineup (not that there should have been any doubts.) Stalingrad kicks ass as only Wolf and
the boys know how, with anthemic, rifftacular, melodic Metal. Poor Udo, his latest album, Rev-Raptor, really sounds like complete
shit next to this.
3 Inches of Blood –
Long Live Heavy Metal (Century Media)
Canadian crushers 3IOB
came roaring into 2012 with a killer album that celebrated all that is great
about Heavy Metal. Long Live Heavy Metal featured tracks reminiscent of Priest, Dio, Rainbow and other
legends of the genre, as well as 3IOB’s
own brand of shredding Metal. Check out
the infectious “4000 Torches,” “Metal Woman,” “Leather Lord” and “Look Out” for
a taste of their steely mastery. Posers
leave the hall!
Van Halen – A Different Kind of Truth (Interscope)
This was easily the biggest surprise of the year. We expected this album to be a crapfest of old
man rock. You know, a mid-paced
collection of boring garbage that some out-of-touch 50 year-old would pen in
hopes of staying relevant. The first
single, “Tattoo,” did little to change our opinion because that song is complete
shit. Why in the hell was that chosen as
the lead single? Thankfully, the rest of
the songs are absolutely primo DLR-era Van
Halen. The swaggering, balls-out
hard rock that everybody wanted them to make was finally delivered! Sure, Dave’s voice is a bit limited by age
and Michael Anthony’s harmonies are sorely missed, but the songs are damn
good. Ed had the good sense to go back
to all of his old demos and pull out some 70s and 80s cuts and flesh them
out. Well done gents, now get back out
on tour.
Cauldron – Tomorrow’s Lost (Earache Records)
Canuckistani Metal maniacs, Cauldron, forged another LP that celebrates the glory of mid-80s
Heavy Metal. It’s great that there is a
band out there that eagerly embraces the more commercial side of classic
Metal. Jay Decay and Ian Chains know how
to write a memorable and heavy mid-paced tune that would fit beautifully on Metal Massacre’s I-IX. Buy the LP, get their patch and sew it on
your vest. We did!
Grand Magus – The Hunt (Nuclear Blast)
Do you like Vikings and Metal? You do?
Well go buy this album immediately because Grand Magus loves both more than you do and are masters of their craft to boot. The
Hunt features nothing but songs about Vikings, wolves, Odin, Thor, ravens,
longships, etc… You’ll want to grab a
longsword and run out to the nearest monastery for some plundering! Think of them as the traditional Metal
brother of Amon Amarth and you’ll
get the right idea. The band has
completely moved away from Doom Metal and focuses entirely on Scandinavian
Glory Metal a la Heavy Load, Overdrive or Torch. Join them in the mead
hall, won’t you? To Valhalla!
Ugly Kid Joe – Stairway To Hell (UKJ Records)
Yes, that’s right, Ugly
Kid Joe actually made it into the best albums of 2012 with this awesome EP
of new material. UKJ have managed to record six cuts of snarling, venomous hard rock
that has Whitfield Crane sounding like Bon Scott. Damn it’s good. Check out “Devil’s Paradise” or “You Make Me
Sick” for a taste of hate, or get the funk out with “I’m Alright.” It’s good to have these guys back and we hope
they crank out a full length LP soon.
Overkill – The Electric Age (Nuclear Blast)
New Jersey’s favorite bangers unleash another superb album
that harkens back to their more groove oriented late 90s albums. It’s a bit more From The Underground and Below and a bit less Ironbound. Overkill never fail to deliver the
goods and they do it once again. Fuck the
Big Four, Overkill has been
defending the faith while those assholes meandered aimlessly from one mediocre album
to the next. Hello from the gutter!
Icarus Witch – Rise (Cleopatra Records)
Want a more modern sounding album stuffed full of anthem
after anthem? Well, then Rise is exactly what you are looking
for. The album was a real shocker
following the tired-sounding Draw Down
The Moon and the departure of former vocalist Matthew Bizilia. All signs pointed to Icarus Witch disappearing into obscurity, but instead they roared
back to life with this LP of peppy and hooky melodic Metal. New singer Christopher Shaner fits the new
style perfectly and adds much needed energy to the songs. Hopefully Icarus Witch will continue rocking for
years to come!
The Best Reissues
Dio – Holy Diver & The Last In Line (Audio Fidelity Reissues)
If you want to hear
how remasters should be done, check out these two releases from the sonic
wizards at Audio Fidelity. We have all
heard these albums a million times before, but these remasters uncover all
sorts of sounds that were previously buried in lesser versions of this
album. Superb!
Dio –Holy Diver, The Last In Line & Sacred
Heart (Deluxe Editions from Universal
Music)
More Dio?
Yep. These UK Imports have nice
mastering and tons of bonus tracks.
Essentially, you get every single and B-side released by Dio during this period, as well as the
entire Intermission EP. They may be expensive imports but the value
is incredible for what you get. Buy!
Dammaj – Mutiny (Skol Records)
It’s awesome! We
reviewed it here and we still urge you to buy this album of rock-solid,
blistering, U.S. Power Metal. This is
Heavy Metal at its very best. Hailz!
Desolation Angels
– Desolation Angels (Buried By Time
and Dust)
Another very late NWOBHM album that got lost in the Thrash
deluge. Thankfully, the Metal archivists
at Buried By Time and Dust records have resurrected this gem in both vinyl and
CD formats. They have also included the Valhalla/Boedicea single as a bonus in
both formats! We will review this in
depth coming up, but get out there and buy it because supplies are
limited.
Witch Cross– Fit For Fight (Hells Headbangers)
It’s about damn time that this legendary 1984 album from the
not-so-melancholy Danes of Witch Cross
got reissued! Hells Headbangers serve up
Fit For Fight on CD, vinyl and, believe
it or not, on cassette, with good remastering and lyrics for the whole
shebang. We’ll review this album in the
near future, but get out there and buy it.
The Best Live
Albums
Pickings were a bit slim this year so we only picked these two:
Saxon – Heavy Metal Thunder – Live Eagles Over
Wacken (UDR)
Bangers, gorge on this metal feast from the venerable Saxon!
This is an essential release because it includes a DVD that features 31 tracks
from three different years at the massive Wacken Open Air festival. The band sounds great as they crush and
destroy the huge crowds of Metalheads. Also included are two bonus CDs recorded at a
Glasgow show in 2011, which feature many new songs from their latest studio
effort, Call To Arms. It’s well worth the coin.
Vicious Rumors – Live You to Death (SPV)
Keeping up their momentum from last year’s Razorback Killers, Vicious Rumors offers up this single disc live show that was
recorded on their 2011 European tour.
The album features nine live cuts, including two songs from Razorback Killers alongside other
classics such as “Digital Dictator,” “Down To The Temple,” “Abandoned” and “Don’t
Wait For Me.” The band is tight and
Brian Allen does a commendable job on both the new and old material. The album also includes two new studio
tracks: a cover of Black Sabbath’s “The
Sign of the Southern Cross” and Judas
Priest’s ”Running Wild.” Pick this
up if you are a VR fan or if you like
music that’s not terrible shit.
Best Live Show
Accept – The
Newport Music Hall Columbus, Ohio 9/14/2012
The Teutonic Terrors absolutely killed it on a beautiful
Friday night in Ohio and blew the roof off the place with pure Metallic
fury! Wolf Hoffman appeared to be having
the time of his life as he blasted out riff after riff of molten steel. Mark Tornillo was in fine form and sounded
great. Udo who? Poor old Kreator
was a mere afterthought when Accept
left the stage. The only complaint was
they still didn’t play ”Midnight Mover.”
Damn it! Even so, it was a great
night of Metal in the Buckeye State!
Catch them live if you can.
Worst Shit Foisted
on Metaldom in 2012
Metallica – Beyond Magnetic (Warner Brothers Records)
We reviewed it here and it still sucks ass. Sometimes talent just dries up like an old turd left in the sun.
Chris Holmes– They All Lie And Cheat
Holy shit! This makes
Beyond Magnetic sound like a choir of
angels. What the fuck is going on
here? Holmes looks and acts like the alcoholic,
toothless bum that he was always destined to be (see here.) Who is the random crackwhore swearing in the
video? Is this the worst lip-synching since
Milli Vanilli? Why was this made?
Baffling.
Here it is Bangers, the eleven golden champions of face-ripping, ear-splitting, skull-crushing HEAVY METAL for the year of our unholy lord, 2011.
11. Megadeth – Th1rt3en
This follow up to the excellent Endgame was a bit lackluster. The album was recorded in just seven weeks and it shows. The best track on it is the thrice previously released “New World Order” but this new version is crushing. Not a bad effort but not exactly great and the album title sucks ass.
10. White Wizzard – Flying Tigers
Another great disc of bass-driven, traditional metal from this L.A. band. Half of the album is an exceptional concept about alien conquest which is explained in the well appointed CD booklet. White Wizzard are one of the best of the NWOTHM and this album cements their greatness.
9. Portrait - Crimen Laesae Majestatis Divinae
Fantastic Swedish traditional metal that’s heavily influenced by Mercyful Fate. Amazing guitar tone, leads and riffs dominate the album and require vigorous and sustained headbanging. This is a big step up from their first full length release in terms of quality of the songwriting and vocals.
8. Twisted Tower Dire – Make It Dark
The fifth full-length release from these North Carolina Metallers is an excellent collection of hooky, traditional Metal. This also gets the vote for best liner notes/booklet of the year.
7. Wolf – Legions Of Bastards
These Swedes unleashed another great album and a worthy successor to Ravenous. Check out “Skullcrusher,” “Full Moon Possession,” and “Tales From The Crypt” if you want to hear how traditional Metal should be done.
6. Widow – Life’s Blood
There must be something in the water in North Carolina because Life’s Blood is the best release of Widow’s career. Ripping guitars, great vocals and catchy songs demand your attention. Buy or die!
5. Cauldron – Burning Fortune
Canadian headbangers deliver another fantastic album that could have been released in 1984. These guys know how to craft mid-paced songs that are hooky as all hell. Hailz!
4. Saxon – Call To Arms
Biff and the boys unleash an amazing album that easily competes with the masterpieces from their early catalog. The album flows beautifully with nothing but excellent cuts and should be in every Metalhead’s collection.
3. Anthrax – Worship Music
Quite possibly the strongest Metal comeback album of all time. Anthrax released their best album since 1993 much to the shock of the Metal community as they had been written off as irrelevant for years. Joey slips into the songs seamlessly, the writing is focused and the band is tight. Welcome back guys, you’ve been missed.
2. Orchid – Capricorn
One of The Metal Blog Of Metal' favorite bands, the first full length album from San Francisco’s Orchid continues the excellence displayed on the band’s earlier EP, Through The Devils Doorway. Everything is perfect on this release, from the creamy guitar tone, the superb vocals, booming bass, eclectic drumming and the beautifully appointed double-gatefold CD packaging. Orchid have crafted not just one of the best Doom Metal releases of all time, but one of the best Metal releases of the past decade. Just buy the damn thing already.
1. Vicious Rumors – Razorback Killers
Killer! VR finally found the lead singer they have been searching for since the untimely demise of Carl Albert in 1995. New vocalist Brian Allen is a perfect fit and Geoff Thorpe takes full advantage of Allen’s vocal abilities. The songs are white-hot, molten slabs of Metal perfection which demand the listener throw up the horns like a maniac. It’s great to see a long suffering band achieve greatness after soldiering on in obscurity for years. Buy this immediately!
Canadian power trio Cauldron is back with another molten slab of pure metal straight outta 1986.Burning Fortune is the follow up to their 2009 album Chained To The Nite.That album was great but Cauldron have managed to top it as the songwriting is even better with the tracks being very hooky and melodic.
Cauldron emulates mid 80’s metal perfectly without ever sounding completely derivative of any particular artist.Clearly the band love that era of music and have set out to recreate the sound.They are considered one of the bands in the forefront of the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal (NWOTHM) but in interviews the band repeatedly stress that they just play heavy metal and aren’t part of any trend.Front man Jason Decay was the lead man in Goat Horn and they played a similar style for years before the NWOTHM existed.
The band clearly agrees with The Metal Blog of Metal's position that the 80 minute time limit on compact discs has led to album bloat with 13-16 tracks many of which are filler. It's far better to have an album of less than 50 minutes with 10 or so great tracks that leave the listener wanting more.Burning Fortune is a vinyl-friendly 38 minutes long with 9 tracks in the standard version and 42 minutes long with the bonus track "Serpent Sorceress" on the limited edition.
The album kicks off in a roaring fashion with "All Or Nothing" which is a fast paced, hook laden song about giving your all.It includes backing vocals by Olof Wikstrand of Enforcer. "All Or Nothing" is also the lead single for the album and the band has released a video for it.
"Miss You To Death" is a mid paced song about lost love and would make a great sing along in a live setting. "Frozen In Fire" is an up tempo track about an evil woman that gets hers.This is followed up by "Tears Have Come" which is another song about lost love that sports a great guitar solo by Ian Chains.
"I Confess" is actually a cover of an original by the Detroit band Halloween.This can be found on Halloween'sVicious Demos from 1990 and is a superb fit for Cauldron.Jason Decay and Halloween vocalist Brian Thomas share a very similar vocal style. "I Confess" is also very hooky and another highlight on the album.Next up is another fantastic track "Rapid City/Unchained Assault." This is another fast track with a great chorus and excellent guitar work. Lyrically it seems to be a tale of the unforgiving nature of life on the road. "Unchained Assault" is a short guitar solo that features Ian Chains shredding it up.
"Queen of Fire" is another mid-paced song about lost love and mysterious women. "Breaking Through" picks up the pace and has lyrics about breaking chains and shaking brains. My guess is Cauldron is name checking Silver Mountain and their legendary 1984 album Shakin' Brains. Regardless, it's another outstanding track. Wrapping up the standard edition cd is "Taken By Desire" which is another fast track centered around failed dreams.
The Limited Edition of the album contains the bonus track "Serpent Sorceress" which tells the story of the Medusa. If you don't want to spring for the Limited Edition disc this track is available as an iTunes download. In fact, the whole album is a mere $ 6.99 on iTunes which is a fantastic value.
The Limited Edition also includes a special edition ofChromium Dioxide magazine which is centered around Cauldron. If you are not familiar with Chromium Dioxide it's a heavy metal magazine from Canada put together by two long time metalheads. It covers all sorts of long lost and forgotten metal as well as horror movies, wrestling, etc... It's a really cool magazine and something most metalheads would enjoy. Check 'em out here and order an issue or four.
Formats:
Standard CD
Limited Edition CD with one bonus track and a copy of Chromium Dioxidemagazine
Vinyl in various colors (red, black, yellow and orange) with a copy of Chromium Dioxide magazine.
iTunes download
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The Bottom Line: Burning Fortune is a fantastic album of traditional metal with clean, mid-range vocals and great riffs. This is pure METAL with zero modern touches or sensibilities. Buy or die.
