#108 Venom - Fallen Angels

I've always liked Venom. They may not be a consistent, and they've perhaps never made a true "comeback" album to reach the heights of "Welcome to Hell" and "Black Metal", but what I love is the multitude of interesting stuff that the band makes along the way; Seldom in the same style for long, but then again, their music never was. "Fallen Angels" is the band's latest batch of interesting stuff.

"Fallen Angels" seems to take many of the aspects from the bands more recent works; "Metal Black", "Ressurrection" and "Hell", but also have a raucous air which is much more reminiscent of the early albums. The production is much, much more wholesome and enjoyable than that of the two albums Venom released prior to this - and while it's a bit scuffed and unpolished, something which is absolutely essential, it is also pleasingly crisp in it's own way - Everything is mixed and levelled nicely, and there is a strongly organic, earthy feel to the whole album as a consequence. The bass sound is enormous, and emphasised a little in the mix, with all of the bulldozer crunch that Venom made their own back in the day. This is done quite well too, there's definitely enough restraint not to spoil the other instruments, but the bass is definitely back to where it should be - as a three-piece band, it commands it's due third of the instrumental attention. The other instruments seem to be solid too, and the drums are well played and well mixed, which makes a change to them being either one or the other, in recent works.

Overall, intensity seems perhaps a little more restrained in the album than in some of the recent works, but it's still very replete with energy; this suits the albums overall style - it's a bit less agile, but it's got a lot of strength and might; songs like "Punk's Not Dead" have the same fist-pumping energy that tracks like "Countess Bathory" did on Black Metal. It's a strong album, by any standards, in respect to it's sound, and the songwriting on it, which is definitely a step up from "Hell" and maybe "Metal Black" too. There's even a calm acoustic instrumental, "Lest We Forget" which instantly made me think of "Mayhem with Mercy" from the bands debut, which went down the same road, a road which Venom seldom tread. It's an album with a bit of everything, and it's standing up well against the band's legacy - I feel that the band may have made a bit of an effort to return to their older sound a little more on this album, and it sounds like it's worked quite well.

Overall, well, it's not a comeback album. Perhaps it's a little bit late now for that, but that doesn't mean it's not good, and quite impressively good too - a cut above a lot of their newer material, and a thoroughly enjoyable album from end to end, something which listening to it more will add to, and not detract from, I feel. Once again, Venom have produced some interesting stuff.

It's a good 'un: 8/10.

Links:
Venom Official site
Venom on Myspace
Venom on Metal Archives

#107 Vektor - Outer Isolation

Vektor are a young, and impressively skilled thrash outfit from the United-States. Their second album, "Black Future" hammered their name quite neatly into the map of 21st century thrash, and the wait for a follow up has been bedecked with it's fair share of anticipation and interest, especially when the album in question, "Outer Isolation" has the potential to be, for want of better words, something of a big-deal.

Carrying on in the bands science fiction, space and dystopia themed brand of very technical thrash, Outer Isolation is very much the logical step along from Black Future, and all of the main elements of the band's sound have remained intact; The distinct, shrieked vocals, and the absurd, breathtaking technicality, which exists at all tempos, which make you wonder how the band manage to play live at all, which, incidentally, they can do. Also remaining is the eerie and evil atmosphere which the band manage to always invoke. Often, thrash seems to be a style which is neutral, and it's feel is given directly in the lyrical themes - not so with Vektor; the music itself has an atmosphere attached to it, which too many thrash bands lack. The album seems a bit more accessible, too, the songs are a bit shorter, for starters, which is very useful considering that the typical Vektor song is such a maelstrom of complexity which takes quite some time to properly digest.

In what might be seen to be something of a brave move, the band have three tracks from their ambiguous, hard to find demo/debut album, and it's gotten a bit of mention from people anticipating the album. Personally, listening to the album once without looking at the track titles, I can happily say that there was no noticeable change in quality between the original material and the older stuff. After all, Black Future did the same, with the track "Destroying the Cosmos". This says something for Vektor's consistency - when material from an old demo can fit in nicely with material from their up-and-coming releases, it becomes quite apparent that the band hit the ground running, and haven't slowed down since. I'd tentatively say that I'd like to see a little bit of development, nothing drastic, when my time comes to review the album after this one, but until then, Vektor are thankfully lightyears away from developing any kind of "releasing more of the same" problem. That is to say, this album is not without differences - There's lot more work which doesn't rely on riffs; extended intros, and cleaner sections which feel like the seedlings of something which I could potentially foresee Vektor getting an excellent reputation for.



All things considered, Outer Isolation definitely feels enjoyable to listen to, and it's got all of the things I liked about Black Future. In a year of milestone releases by many of the younger thrash-bands out there, Vektor may well be leaving a mark much deeper than some. Despite the age of the thrash genre, the band are definitely bringing something new to the table.

I think "Outer Isolation" is a 9/10.

Links:
Vektor on Myspace
Vektor on Facebook
Vektor on Metal Archives

#106 Root - Heritage of Satan

Nine albums into a long career, Root can definitely be said to possess a certain admirable longevity, and stamina for producing metal, over what is almost twenty-five years now. Their latest, "Heritage of Satan" seems to be a return to the bands satanic roots, no pun intended, and possesses an aesthetic in common with their earlier material, in terms of theme and artwork.

Root's brand of black-metal has always been quite quirky, and the level of actual black-metal in it varies a lot from album to album. This album is quite heavily dosed with black-metal, with songs like "Darksome Prophet" having all of the hallmarks of the genre, while other songs on the album go down a softer path, which is quite unique, but combines elements of just about everything. One of the things I noticed on a decent number of the songs was more of a sense of groove than on the albums previous to it. Not to the point of being in any way groove-metal, but certainly a noticeable amount - which gives a sound to the album which I can only describe as being like "Bolt Thrower having a go at playing black-metal". The album is varied in the style of the songs - although many are in Root's traditional style, there are certainly new things throughout the album; The black metal elements seem a little more conventional, which is juxtaposed oddly with the catchy, almost Rock like, melodic nature of some of the song arrangements, which is something the band have usually done to some extent, really spicing-up their unique style. There also seems to be an increase intensity throughout the album, compared to the generally mid-tempo works like "The Temple in The Underworld".

Vocally, Jirí "Big Boss" Walter is holding up very well, with his usual bellowing, almost classical sounding vocal attack unaffected by the fact that he's getting near to sixty years of age, and his vocal diversity is apparent as ever, with demonic sounding spoken word parts, harsh vocals, and accomplished clean vocals well blended throughout the album, and it's pleasing, at heart, to feel how unique the band have managed to remain, and I must admit I felt a thrill that this album is not only a return to their classic style, but is also easily as good as a lot of it. Initially, I wasn't sure what to make of the album, but after a few listens, it sank in. Damn... it's good, quite impressively good, in fact.

Root are among the most unsung of metal's unsung heroes, which seems very unfair - a band with a career as long as theirs, with as many albums, and such a unique sound, really, deeply deserve a lot more recognition, and this, dare I say, first-class release is yet another reason.

I'm going to give this a 9/10.

Links:
Root Official site
Root on Myspace
Root on Metal Archives