JUSTIN’S METAL REVIEWS W/C 23/8/10
BLACK LABEL SOCIETY / ORDER OF THE BLACK
Its been 11 years since the first BLS album came out and Zack and the band have continued to deliver the goods and this album is just as good as any of the others, if not better.
As soon as Zack Wylde’s southern drawl comes out the speakers you know its going to be good, fright from the start they take no prisoners, “Crazy Horse” is full of energy and Zack’s distinctive guitar style and sound add that extra dimension that just leaves others lacking, the guy is a real character and he has talent as well. The track “Overlord” starts off slow and builds into a lumbering muster with all the usual BLS trade makes, “Parade Of The Dead” is even better and its not until the 4th track in that they slow the pace down with a slow piano driven song called “Darkest Days” that is so commercial it could be a big hit and has some fine slide guitar playing on it, the other big ballad is “Time Waits For No Man” and is similarly endowed with a haunting melody.
Overall this is a damned fine album, Southern Rock at its best and belongs in your collection, also listen out for: “Southern Dissolution”, the awesome”Godspeed Hellbound” the frantic “Black Sunday” and the superb “War Of Heaven”, an essential buy.
WEBSITE http://www.blacklabelsocity.com
TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 49 mins + 13 INSPIRED TRACKS
THE SWORD / WARP RIDEERS
If you like Stoner/Doom Metal then you is just going to love this new CD
from
The CD starts off with an instrumental that sets the mood and than
launches into “Tres Brujas” or Three Witches, the song is inspired by the
characters in the Shakespeare play Midsummer Nights Dream and is a pure joy to
behold, as is “Arrows In The Dark” Stoner / Doom doesn’t gut much better than
this, “Lawless Land”, “Night City” and the final track “(The Night The Sky
Cried) Tears Of Fire” are all totally essential listening.
If you don’t normally listen to this sort of music this is a very good
place to start, open up your mind and prepare to be taken to another dimension,
you won’t be disappointed, that I can be sure off. If you join the bands
mailing list you will get the “Tres Brujas” track for free, how can you resist.
WEBSITE http://www.swordofdoom.com
TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 48 mins + 10 SPACED OUT TRACKS
SONIC SYNDICATE / WE RULE THE NIGHT
This is the 4th album from Swedish Melodic Metalcore band
Sonic Syndicate and they just keep getting better and better every track on
this CD is a total killer and most could easily be hits is given enough push.
All the songs are as tight as a ducks behind, full of energy, overflowing
with emotion and dynamics and killer riffs that just leave you breathless, how
can all the songs be so perfect, even the titles of the songs have a nice twist
like “Beauty And The Freak”. If you looking for that killer up tempo
track then the aptly named “Tune It Up” or “Black And Blue” are what you’re
looking for and if its killer power ballads then “Miles Apart” and “My Own
Life” are totally awesome and would sound great coming over a radio.
This is a really good CD and well deserved of your hard earned cash,
even if you don’t normally like Metalcore you will love this, Sweden is exactly
known for this type of Metal but this 6 piece prove that the Americans don’t
rule this genre completely. This comes as a limited edition hard book digipak
with an extra track, the obligatory DVD, with the ever popular documentary, 3
videos for tracks on this album and a photo gallery, how can you resist it,
join the syndicate today!
WEBSITE http://www.sonicsyndicate.com & http://www.nuclearblast.de
TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 44 mins + 12 SUPERB TRACKS