Dawnbringer – Nucleus

Metal. The essence of metal seems to reside somewhere deep down under our regular mental state. It comes from darkness. It comes from the unconscious mythological forms that flow underneath the rivers of the waking mind. It’s why metal brings a fanaticism and lifelong reverence in a way almost nothing else does for those who find themselves drawn to it. It exists outside the established realm of order, yet is strongly ordered in and of itself. It is one of the most diverse musical forms to exist yet every metal fan knows in an instinctive fashion when the music slips outside of “metal.” When you do hear something that is thoroughly, and completely, “true” metal, it’s like coming home. Not home in the structural, building sense, but home in the spiritual sense. You’re right where you’re supposed to be. Nucleus takes all that is metal, above and underground, and fashions something both forward thinking yet strictly controlled, completely new and undoubtedly ancient. Most importantly, the album is utterly fantastic.

The genius behind this masterpiece is Chris Black. If you don’t who he is it’s time you start ordering some albums. He’s been responsible for some of the best metal albums of the last decade. Not only is he the mastermind behind Dawnbringer, but also the absolutely righteous Superchrist, and High Spirits. In addition he plays drums for power metallers Pharaoh has helped behind the scenes to push Nachtmystium from a second tier black metal act into the innovators they are today. Oh yeah, he wrote for Metal Maniacs as well as runs the Planet Metal label and Distro. The guy is apparently pretty busy.

I first came into contact with his work with the last Dawnbringer album In Sickness and in Dreams. It was a potent mix of old school metal influence mixed with early 90’s death and black metal. The album was heavy and catchy, yet at the same time obtuse and esoterically introspective. This is in contrast to Superchrist, which is a very exoteric, I’ll get shitfaced, punch you and your mom, generally offensive, dirty metal band. High Spirits runs with a more of an early 80’sNew Wave of British Heavy Metal sound. What makes Nucleus so great is that it combines the fractured musical pieces of Black’s psyche and brings them all into one powerful vision.

Upon the first opening notes of So Much for Sleep you notice the death and black metal influences have been dialed back on this one. You also notice the big step up in production value from his previous work with the now popular Sanford Parker turning the knobs. Rather than the growls of the last album, Black lets his regular raw, yet clear vocals deliver his always intriguing, personal lyrics. When I say personal it doesn’t mean it’s anything like the New Wave of American Whining Metal that’s infected newer bands like a mental cancer either. What you also notice is the thick infusion of melody.

Third track The Devil takes the entirety of Black’s previous works, and stretches it out farther than ever. This song has to be the best thing he’ ever written. After a short intro riff, this thing barrels along like an out of control train. The downhill momentum is is palpable. You literally feel your blood pressure rise. It runs the gamut from Maiden melodicism, to throbbing, blast beating, black metal hypnotism, to a brilliantly fitting bluesy solo that crawls up from the crossroads.

The other absolute highlight is Old Wizard. The previous track All I See ends much like the last album did, with a guitar solo suddenly dropping completely away. Rather than leaving you in stunned silenced with a maddening case of musical blue balls though, here we go straight into a slow, gritty, impassioned dirge you will to play over and over.

Final track Pendulum starts with a melody of clanging out of tune strings. They weave in and out of the song, until they comes in tune and the songwriting in focus. It’s another example of Black’s ability to stretch and expand the fundamental form of metal, yet never break it or water it down by bringing in any foreign elements that clash. He adeptly plays with his chosen musical medium, knowing where he wants to go with it, but not limiting his options on which route he’s going to take to get there.

In all his previous work Black has been strictly underground, rarely touring, doing many interviews, or getting much if any marketing push. You had to be one of the cool kids to know what was going on. This album seems to be getting more of a push from new label Profound Lore records, and word of mouth is spreading like wildfire this time around. It’s simply too good to stay quiet. I’ve played this album about 15 times now and it’s still revealing new nuances, new angles, and I have a feeling this is one of those records that I’ll still be jamming regularly ten years from now. There exists that elusive element most great records have, which is timelessness. It does it by stretching to the depths of metals roots but also looking forward from its highest branches. It’s nearly perfect. Hopefully we won’t have to wait four years for another one.

4 & 3/4 out of 5 I.B.U’s

Well, the new Iron Maiden is finally out. Opinions on this one run the gamut from the most uninspired piece of shit they’ve ever put out to it being the one of their best albums ever. As usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle. I think it’s the best album they’ve put out since Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t without its flaws.

Now in terms of loving Iron Maiden I’m like a fatherless 16 year old girl from a New Jersey trailer park at a Motley Crue show in 1988. They have been a part of my musical landscape since early childhood. I still remember the feeling of pure occult awe the first time I saw a cassette of Live After Death as a kid. Brother Chump’s Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son posters were always around too. Really though, I never truly understood their music, or developed the full on, man-tastic, love I have for them until after Bruce rejoined the band and A Brave New World came out. I think that helps me take a broader view of what I like about Maiden then some old timers though.

Manager Rod Smallwood once made it a point to say that Maiden makes 45 minutes of awesome music per album. If Iron Maiden kept the mindset that they would limit themselves to that amount of music per album, I firmly believe that the last few albums would be seen just as fitting of being legendary as the early ones. With the rise of the compact came the urge to fill it though, and with it a slight watering down of the sheer brilliance the band is capable of at their best.

The band pulls one complete dick move right at the onset that has to be addressed. Don’t you fucking ever make a goddamn 4 and ½ minute intro on the same track with one of the best songs on the album!!! Track 1 is officially Satellite 15 and The Final Frontier together. Satellite 15 is just a long intro that will be cool for getting people to freak out at live shows. Why the fuck would you make me have to listen to that shit every time I want to hear the fucking song though??? None one give a shit about the intro, on almost any album, ever. Fuck off!!!

Okay then. Like said trailer bitch now that I’ve tossed my Smirnoff ice bottle at my man, and tried to emasculate him in front of his friends, I can get back to lovin’ him. After waiting forever, and the last four years of music geek lust building up is threatening to drive you crazy, the Final Frontier breaks in with a big, catchy rock riff. This thing was written to rock arenas and will rock your car just as hard. The song is one of the shortest at around 4 ½ minutes, but is heartfelt, epic, has giant hooks, and features Bruce’s voice well in the simple but impossible to get our of your head chorus of “The Final Frontier” repeated a whole big bunch of times.

After making you wait forever to get to that new song, then blowing the doors off, they make sure to let you know, “Hey baby, that was cool, but I’m not THAT into you.” The next few songs aren’t bad but aren’t spectacular either. The first single El Dorado is actually a pretty killer track, if a little self-conscious at moments. Mother of Mercy is kind of cool, but kind of plods at the same time. The voice Bruce chooses to use for the chorus is a little too close to the sounds probably made the dying soldier Bruce is singing about. That track seems to bother people the most. Coming Home is Bruce’s ballad to flying. It’s kind of sappy, and it’s not a bad song, but instead of having an epic feeling of how awesome coming home from a flight is, I think about what Iron Maiden’s kids think about that song. “Dad, while you were away playing rock star, everyone had to hear the story about how Mom was crawling through bathroom windows to blow Nikki Sixx. Fuck you Dad and your plane. I just wanted to you to come to a fucking soccer game, but you couldn’t fly in for that could you, fuckface?”

From there the album actually takes off. The Alchemist could have come from the 80’s. No doubt it’s an immediate Maiden classic. Isle of Avalon isn’t always great, and they do the long intro thing way too much on it, but it has a fantastic chorus. Starblind is fairly progressive for them. It has a really cool, kind of odd main riff, and a nice section played in 7/7 time as a bridge. It’s gets a little wonky at one point where it sounds like the song suddenly dies, but they manage to pick it up and keep playing the verse and chorus another time and pull it out. The Talisman is awesome, again with another long intro but the song may feature Bruce’s best work on the album. After some more intro storytelling, (noticing a theme) The Man Who Would Be King is one of the best Maiden songs ever. It’s everything the band has always done well, but they throw a very space rock, very transcendent sounding section that really shows the band still has a few tricks up its sleeves. I’ll pit that song against anything else in their catalogue. If they play that live the next time I see them my panties are flying towards the stage. When the Wild Wind Blows is almost a poppy track about the end of the world to close things out, but does it need to be 11 minutes? A lot of people are talking about how this track is amazing, but I’m not in that group. It’s probably the least distinctive track on the whole album. It’s not annoying but instantly forgettable.

So here’s the problem with the second half of the album. It’s like this. Everyday I come home from work, I wish the moment I opened the door Thus Spoke Zarathrustra would boom from the speakers, the cat would obediently rub his head on my leg before going to sleep, and my fiancé would have an IPA and sandwich ready for me. It would be pretty epic. Eventually, though, you may say “Honey, could I get a stout today, or how about some Lucky Charms instead of sandwich today?” These ridiculously long intro parts just don’t need to be on most of these songs. Not every track needs to be Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and they shouldn’t be. Every once in awhile there’s nice foreplay, but eventually all this playing around is just a chore when you want to get down to the business in the back of a rusted Z28 real quick before the show.

So what does this all add up to? The problem of figuring out what to say about this album comes from the fact that the view from the heights of this album are breathtaking, but sometimes you need a team of sherpas to get you there. When Maiden is on top of it’s game no other band can touch them. When Bruce really opens his pipes and it sounds like the cosmos itself is reverberating with his vocal chords, I’ll wade through 5 minutes of intro to hear it. What does it say about a band that when they suck they are still better than almost all the other music you can get your hands on? For all its’ faults I still love this album and still think it’s full of brilliance. Iron Maiden seems to channel a power greater than the band itself when they hit things in stride. Something I like about this album too is that every song is memorable and distinct, a quality lacking on the last few albums.

Just remember to compare this album to the output of other mortal bands rather than to what you think of other Iron Maiden albums.

4 out of 5 IBU’s

Beer, metal, and bluegrass are a match made in Asgard.

First up for the lost underground classic reviews is Sacrilege’s first full length Behind the Realms of Madness from 1985. This thing is a MONSTER! What kind of monster? Imagine all the crust your mom ever cut off your sandwiches as a kid formed into a band and decided to hate you for taking them away from their doughy insides, and now all they have left is hollowness and anger. I say that because much of the band was made up of members from hardcore legends The Varuker’s , who some consider the fathers of Crust. If you’re not familiar with Crust, it’s that crunchy blend of punk and metal that’s the aural equivalent of snorting a mountain of blow and tying yourself to the hood of a racecar. The CD version sounds like it was ripped from an LP. Another thing that makes this album really stand out is the vocals Lynda “Tam” Simpson. She was hot and her voice rocks. It’s feminine, but still a little rough, and all nut stomping bee-yatch. I’m sure there was a pile of pimply face, hopeless metal losers back in the day dreaming about how great it would be she thought they were cool. I’m not even sure you can still find the CD anywhere but one of the guys from the band is still selling LP’s from the U.K. as I write this.

The album starts off with Life Line, which is probably still one of the heaviest highest energy Crust tunes I’ve ever heard. It starts off with a greasy sounding high speed thrash riff and the absolutely explodes like into a metallic punk frenzy. Seriously, this song is like watching a nihilistic kindergarten class throw hand grenades into nursing homes. The youth are here cleanse the fucking Earth!!! Raaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhh!!!

Next up is Shadow from Mordor. This is a mid-paced chugger that is content to steadily beat you down but isn’t quite too excited about it. As one commenter on Youtube put it, “one does not simply thrash into Mordor.”

At Death’s Door up’s the speed a little but grooves harder. They take an extended break from vocals in the middle and just absolutely drive home a couple of crushing riffs that will make you put your face through your computer screen. That section totally makes this song a classic.

A Violation of Something Sacred brings back the punk fury with a little something that reminds me of Motorhead. It’s good but if there was one song on this that doesn’t quite stand out it would be this one. It’s kind of like the opener but just not with as much raw power.

The sound of a church bell starts The Closing Irony, an absolutely punishing chunky thrash song. This was made for head banging. It’s a weighty, meaty, rare steak of a track.

The whole closes out with Out of Sight, Out of Mind. This is a solid old school thrasher that just crackles with power.

At six tracks in 26 minutes this thing is short, sweet, and sheer thunder. What makes this release so classic is that there is a monolithic solidness, a weight behind everything going on that is captured perfectly, making the recording timeless. Buy the LP, dig it up on CD, or just check out the tracks on Youtube. You won’t be disappointed.

4 ½ out of 5 IBU’s

– CHUD

Q:What is best in life?

A: To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women!

Q: Okay, but besides the obvious?

A: Not hard to say. Beer, metal, food, and culture.

Those last four pinnacles of human achievement are the impetus for starting this new blog project. While The Beer Report has always been Groucho’s creative baby that I just get to show up and drink at, I wanted to make something to tie all my interests together. So, I convinced Groucho to give me a blog space and invited him to contribute as well. Thanks for putting this together for me brother.

As for content, this is still the beer report after all, so you will see pictures and reviews of beers I’m drinking when we aren’t doing the show. If I’m going to be drinking and sitting in front of a computer I might as well share it everyone, right? I’ll try and keep the fancy beer language to a minimum. Rather than discuss the differences between Noble and Cascade Hops I’ll try and keep it metaphorical and entertaining.

I will be upping the metal ante though and writing album reviews. There won’t be any restrictions on the style but you can expect to see mostly underground metal highlighted. As well as seeing reviews on new albums I’m digging, expect to see some nostalgic reviews of classic albums, and reports of musical archaeology as I dig up rarities, or albums I just plain missed decades ago.

This space will also be getting hit with anything else of interest, be it food, museum trips, book reviews, mythological speculation, Lovecraftian evocations, philosophical self flagellation, and the discussion of T-Shirt culture ethics in underground music scenes.

UP THE IPA’S!!!

No use wasting time so let’s get right into it. The first album up for review is Cardiac Arrest – Haven For The Insane. The band has been around since 1997 but have only recently become prolific. This is their third full length since 2006. It’s their first record for Ibex Moon Records which is run by John McEntee of Incantation. If you’re fan of old school death metal at all it’s a label you should be checking out.

The first thing that leaps out at you is that the guys in Cardiac Arrest love early death metal and play it the way I think it’s supposed to be played. Lots of underground bands these days are all noodles, weak sauce, and no meatballs. There’s no need to worry about that with this album. Yes there’s speed, but not for the sake of speed, and they have no problem taking big, mid paced, bloody, chunking riffs and riding them when necessary.

I’ve listened through this a few times and have come to the conclusion that this is the Donovan McNabb of death metal albums. By that I mean that the record is mostly great but slightly aggravating at times. It’s not because the album isn’t good. It’s that it flirts with greatness but just doesn’t quite reach the pinnacle. This is no doubt a killer death metal record and I recommend any fan of death metal to check these guys out, especially if you grew up on or like material from the early 90’s. There are a few details that trip it up at times though. The production is tinny. Not completely thin but just enough that you know it could be a little more powerful. On the other hand, the production does a great job at capturing the energy and aggression of the band, and they have those qualities in spades. This thing rips. While the album is mostly packed with killer riffs, there are a few that fall flat, or a few transitions here or there that just seem a little wonky. There are plenty of other riffs that are fantastic on the record, and the fact that the rest is so good it makes the bad moments really stand out. Maybe shaving a couple of tracks off the record may have just honed it down to extra sharpness.

I know this review may sound a little conflicted, but overall I wholeheartedly recommend checking these guys out. The good far outweighs the bad and I am really nitpicking this one fairly hard. I’ll be checking their older material soon.

3 ½ out of 5 IBU’s.