As I mentioned in an earlier post, traditional heavy metal has been on the upswing of late. Lots of bands have been emerging lately that have been playing forms of metal that have not been in style since the 1980's. That, however, does not mean that there is some kind of a movement underfoot. Metal Hammer included this free sampler disc along with one of their magazines that I bought for the earlier magazine review. They are trying to be ahead of the game here, but there is no game. Some of these bands have little or nothing to do with each other. There are some good bands here, and some not so good ones.
WOLF: Kicking things off is Wolf. Not exactly "new", Wolf has been at it for several years now. Still, this is the first time I have really heard the band, and I am impressed. They definitely strive for a NWOBHM sound. The vocals are a little irritating, but not bad. This band sounds like it would have been home in the late 1970's. I wouldn’t mind finding an album by Wolf, but would need to do further listening first.
CAULDRON: Nothing much to say here. I enjoyed this song so much that I bought the album, and it is one of my favorite albums this year. I reviewed it a few weeks back, so I will spare much commentary here. Suffice to say, the song is good enough to cause me to buy the album.
CROWNING GLORY: I really enjoy this song too. It is fast, fun, and catchy. I can’t place my finger on who this band reminds me of, but it’s pretty good. Everything here works well together and this is one of my favorite songs off this sampler. I will be keeping an eye open for their album.
BULLET: This band sounds like AC/DC with harsher vocals. I don’t like AC/DC. Next.
ENFORCER: For some reason I always thought of this band as more of a thrash metal band. This song shows I may have been mistaken. It sounds like an attempt at sounding like Judas Priest with higher vocals. I don’t care much for this. There just isn’t really anything all that interesting going on.
DESTROY DESTROY DESTROY: Congratulations, this is one of the worst names I have ever heard. Still, the band combines black metal type vocals with traditional metal, and keyboards. It’s an extremely odd mix on paper, but apparently this band figured out how to do it well. I am intrigued. I would consider the album. In fact, I have picked it up a couple times at the music store and then decided against it. One of these times though, I will inevitably buy it.
JEX THOTH: Bring on the dooooooooooooooom. How this name isn’t the name of a Star Wars character, I will never know. I had heard a lot about this band over the years, so I had high expectations. They were not met. They sound like Electric Wizard but a little lighter on the psychedelia. Not bad, just very slow moving and doesn’t really go anywhere, heavy as fuck though. The singer is a woman which adds a lighter feel to the song.
BLOOD CEREMONY: Another doom metal band with a female vocalist. This band is heavy on the flute. It kind of gives the song a mysterious, exotic feel. This song sounds like it could have easily been written by the Jefferson Airplane. Kind of weird. Not bad though. Not sure I would be interested in hearing more.
WHITE WIZZARD: This is better. This song is a lot like the Crowning Glory song earlier, fast with gang vocals on the extremely infectious chorus. Ah, metal songs about cars, we haven’t heard one of those in awhile. I would be interested in hearing more from these guys before deciding on an album though.
THE GATES OF SLUMBER: I already own this album. I bought it last year and it was one of my Top 10 albums from 2008. It’s a great album, traditional doom at its finest. As such, not much else to say here.
ICARUS WITCH: I already own an album by this band. They are a definite NWOBHM throwback. This song starts out a bit faster than anything they played on the album that I own, but it then calms down and remains slow for most of the rest of the song. I really like it, which is surprising because I have read a lot of negative reviews on the album this song has been taken from. The singer has a very unique voice and it fits well with the rest of the band’s sound. I would consider this album.
WIDOW: This one is kind of odd. The music is tradition 80's style metal. The vocals are layered a little weird though. There are two vocal lines going at the same time at different pitches, and the combination is a little strange. Still, it’s not a bad song, but it doesn’t offer anything some of the above bands do.
POWERDRIVE: What the fuck is this doing here? Okay, in putting together a sampler CD, you generally want songs that are representative of the featured band. I have no idea if this is what this band typically sounds like or not, but this is a ballad. This shouldn’t be here. I would definitely have to hear more from this band before making up my mind, but this was definitely not the best way to introduce a lesser-known band.
TWISTED TOWER DIRE: I have an album by this band so I knew what to expect here. Or so I thought. This honestly is not one of TTD’s better songs. Extra points for it being called "Snow Leopard" though. It’s certainly not a bad song, but it doesn’t have the same anthemic feel as some of the rest of their songs. They sound like they’re going for a Thin Lizzy sound on this one. Still a quality band.
I don't have pictures of this band,so here's a snow leopard.
STUKA SQUADRON: This is just a joke, right? This is just terrible, I don’t even feel like describing it, it’s just bad and it really has no place here.
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