JUSTIN’S METAL REVIEWS W/C
27/10/08
CRADLE OF FILTH / GODSPEED ON THE DEVIL’S
THUNDER
A new Cradle album is always cause for celebration but when
its as good as this one is, it’s more so and deserves to be taken notice of,
this is COF at their absolute best, the last few albums have been good but this
one is great.
Musically its more a kin to “Damnation and A Day” with lots
of Symphonic and choral work that really is superb, in fact this sounds like the
soundtrack to a dark, gothic fairytale for adults adult, full of wicked, evil
intent and twisted mentality, or accompanying music to one of the Hell Raiser
films, listen to the spoken intro of “Honey & Sulphur” and you will see what
I mean and there are several pieces like this scattered between song or at the
beginning of them. There is another
duet with Dani on the excellent song “Death Of Love”, you could hardly call this a ballad but it’s as
close as they get. If you were
lucky enough to have signed up to the Roadrunner news updates you will know the
track “
Overall this is the best Cradle album for a long time and I
am certain it will win the band new fans and please a lot of the older ones,
this is a very powerful album with fantastic songs and Dani’s lyrical imagery is so good it would stand up on its
own without the music, Paul’s guitar playing is better than ever and the whole
band sound like they had a ball recording it. Listen out for: “Midnight Shadows Crawl
To Darken Council With Life”, “Darkness Incarnate”, “The 13th Caesar”
and “Godspeed On The Devil’s Thunder”, there is not one bad track on this CD,
even the link songs are worth listening to, there is a limited edition with a
bonus disc that is totally essential and not just an optional
extra.
WEBSITE
http://www.cradleoffilth.com/
& http://www.roadrunnerrecords.co.uk/
TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 71 mins + 13
EPTIC TRACKS
DARKTHRONE / DARK THRONES & BLACK
FLAGS
It was 1988 when Darkthrone
released their “Land Of Frost” Demo and 20 years later the band are still going
strong and if you bought the “Frostland Tapes”
collection earlier this year you will know that the band still sound as fresh,
vibrant and as dangerous now as they did then and this is why their fans and
Black Metal worldwide love them.
If you liked the last few albums from Darkthrone you will love this one just as much, this is
extreme Metal at its very best and despite being as far from commercial as is
possible they consistently sell albums in good quantities and this one will be
no exception. Just listen to the
quality and passion that comes through in “Grizzly Tales”, “Hiking Metal Punks”,
“Launched Into Nothingness”,
WEBSITE http://www.darkthrone.no/ & http://www.peaceville.com/
TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 39 mins + 10
TRACKS
BISON B.C. / QUIET EARTH
This band is a new signing to Metal Blade and musically it’s
a very curious mixture of Stoner Rock and Hardcore, the music is classic Stoner
but vocally it has a Hardcore feel and I have to admit that it works
well.
The album starts with the superb “Primal Emptiness Of Outer Space” when the twin guitar sound kicks in its pure
joy to behold and lets you know what to expect. You only have to listen to “Dark Tower”
or the 8 minute epic “Wendigo Pt. 1 (Quest For Fire”
and you will hear that the odd mix works well, the latter starts off with a nice
Symphonic intro before launching into a superb Stoner riff, worthy of Kyuss or Clutch, the curiously named track “These Are My
Dress Clothes” is just as good but shorter and “Slow Hand Of Death” will blow
you away as well.
I have a feeling that Bison are going to be as big as the
animal that they are named after, well deserved album of the week, anyone else
for Stonercore?
WEBSITE http://www.metalblade.co.uk/
DOWNLOAD
“Slow Hand Of
Death”
TOTAL PLAYING TIME – 44 mins + 8
STUNNING TRACKS