THE AGONIST – LULLABIES FOR THE DORMANT MIND
Century Media
23rd February 2009

Wow, instantly you are presented with a full force of drums, an amazing contrast of heavenly and sick vocals and brutal melodic riffs. Alissa’s ability to be able to switch between clean and scream so flippantly is astonishing.
The album kicks off with The Tempest (The Siren’s Song; The Banshee’s Cry), no doubt a tribute to their formal pseudonym. There is a great section towards the end of the track with a lovely sounding melody on the bass. Following this is the first single form the album, …And Their Eulogies Sang Me To Sleep. The false start unprepares you for a brutal dosage of blast beating awesomeness. Some how The Agonist manage to get harmonious vocals to work well over the top of this, though I guess that would not be too dissimilar to some symphonic black metal, my ears are just not used to it with metalcore! And is there a horse in outro?! This is then followed by current single, Thank You, Pain, both videos can be viewed on their MySpace.
Waiting Out The Winter sets a pace on a different step, though if you skip forward to Swan Lake, yes it really is that, but in the form of layered vocals in ‘a cappella’. Absolutely stunning to say the least. The entire album displays tight brutal beats like a bashing machine and strong melodic chuggy fast paced riffing. Concluding the album, Chlorpromazine puts the cherry on top with the drumming from Simon being excelled further with an array of beats. The sound of The Agonist excites me, well written and structured and tight as hell, of course, without a doubt the must stunning feature being the vocal talents of Allisa. ★★★★★

Album Of The Week 18/01/10
Xander

THE DEVILS BLOOD – THE TIME OF NO TIME EVERMORE
Van Records
11th September 2009

The Time Of Now Time Evermore, for me, is one of those rare records, that not only do you look forward to hearing and hope you love it and then do actually fall in love with the entire album beginning to end!

A long intro, The Time Of No Time, slowly builds up almost in preparation for the first track, Evermore. Instantly you are introduced to the entire band with striking vocals from The Voice Of Satan and the melodic tones from the rhythm section, and a drummer busier than a beaver! There are many things happening that should annoy you, the drummer can not play a straight beat; there’s a fill at the end of every odd bar, many layers of guitars you could almost say it’s over produced and the vocals have a low wobbly vibrato that instead of annoying like Whitney Houston, actually enticed and seduced me into the music even more. The Devils Blood are almost over the top, but so much so that each element complements itself in one great party of rock. Occult Rock to be precise. I’ll Be Your Ghost I love so much it was my single of the year for 2009, it is a real good feel good song. A change of pace with The Yonder Beckons, which usually causes me to skip this track into one of my favorites off the album, House Of 10,000 Voices. Again the vocals and vocal layers are displayed magnificently, perfectly accompanied with the layers of guitar tones and patterns.

The album continues back to the pace and tone of this rock, that the band say is “A theatrical presentation with roots in both 1950′s horreur gothique and 1970′s psychedelic rock n roll. Without saying too much, or saying nothing at all, you can expect a frenzy of rock n roll flavoured hard rock that speak of times decades past, no modernisms, no trends, no high end sounds. Just Vintage rock music in the vein of Roky Erickson, Black Widow, Coven, Black Sabbath and a rich plethora of sixties and seventies underground psychedelic rock bands too numerous to mention.

Christ Or Cocaine has a lovely solo towards the end, smooth and gliding in a way that causes me to drift along. Queen Of My burning Heart is another fantastic track to display the guitars, a great riffs and solos. The next few tracks are quite a mid-beat tracks but a head nodders none the less, leading us to the finale, the epic 11m11s track, The Anti-Kosmik Magick. Again quite mid-beat track but taking me on what feels like a journey through a story, told of course in rock form.

The Time Of No Time Evermore covers all aspects of listening, it’s great in the background, it’s fantastic to drive along to and it’s even great just to sit and rock out to. I can’t give this album anything but full marks. ★★★★★

The Devils Blood are still quite mystical in that there are not many images on their profiles, no names of band members and they promise blood on stage! Something I look forward to when the band headline their first UK performance at the Camden Underworld, February 19th.

Album of The Week, 11/01/10
Xander

SOCIETY CRISIS – had the task to open up the fest today. SC are a solid hard rocking band. Though a tad loose on the drummers, the rhythms and beats were melodic with some spicy fills.
KITTY HUDSON – thundered on stage like a hard punch to the face. Bouncy riffs and anthemic lyrics. Though ambitious stick twirling caused a few drops, the set was still high energy and fun, steaming through to play as many songs as possible in the 30 minutes slot.
OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE – are probably the misfits on the bill being more metal then glam, regardless they play true to themselves belting out passion and groove with powerful vocals.
SHUSH – pump out their pop rock melodies with no disappointments.

(Unfortunately I had to miss all the other bands due to a gig of my own and being told the wrong times.)

GINGER - was quite laid back tonight. There was a great party atmosphere on stage and in the crowd. Although there were constant sound problems the show merrily continued with arms waving in the air and plenty of banter from ginger to the crowd, toasting pints and talking about life.

All in all the fest had a great atmosphere and there was great support for all the bands. The weather was great, thankfully for the BBQ, which I have to say, was a great hit and tasted fab!

Xander

Artist – Belladonna
Release – Till Death Do Us Part
From – The Noir Album, 5th October 2009

www.myspace.com/wwwbelladonnatv

“Pyromantic, mysterotique, visionoir” are the words that Luana, the sultry, sensual, sonic-seducin’ Belladonna singer coins to describe Rock Noir, the Italian Quintet’s unique brand of emotionally-charged rock ‘n’ roll melodrama.

Belladonna’s soulfull and uncompramising approach to music has gained them results hitherto unheard-of for an unsigned band: a Grammy Awards 2008 ballot nomination, over 1,500,000 plays on Myspace, Rolling Stone hailing them as the “next big thing”, gigs with major acts like NIN, The Mars Volta, Korn, Staind and Siouxie & The Banshees, performances at the Dubai International Film Festival and at Austins SXSW.

Their phenomenally spine-tingling new record is a collection of 11 rock noir songs called The Noir Album. Recorded in the USA with alt-rock producer supreme, Sylvia Massy (Yool, System Of A Down), its sheer sensual energy promises to challenge Belladonna’s attempts to stay cult-size.

Xander Says…
A great kicking intro to Till Death Do Us Part sets the pace for this song. The track gains momentum over the 3 minutes with strong vocals full of intent and a repeating riff to a crescendo ending. I feel this track takes you on part of a journey so I’d certainly like to hear this track in context to the rest of the album! To me I hear hints of PJ Harveys music and Rilo Kiley.
★★★✩✩

Tina says…
Belladonna describe themselves as ‘rock noir’, a phrase that almost certainly perfectly encapsulates their music. They strike me as a less metal, more 80′s rock Within Temptation/Lacuna Coil hybrid with a dash of Blondie thrown in for good measure.
‘Til Death Do Us Part’ took me a few listens to get into, but soon had my head bopping along. It’s a track that simply oozes attitude, which is amplified by Luana’s deliciously vampish, sultry vocals.
★★★★✩

Cazzy says…
It’s hard to know whether the front singer of Belladonna has an unusual voice for rock, which in Till Death Do Us Part seems a little out of place, or if it’s the track.
The song seems to lack anything that could grab your immediate interest and the piano in almost tries too hard to create an unexpected twist. Overall the song lacks anything considered groundbreaking and the recurring nature of the song can get slightly irritating and drags during the chorus.
★★✩✩✩