On the musical front Ghosts And Good Stories surpasses everything the band has done thus far. It has a seamless flow similar to that of Tairrie’s pre-My Ruin effort Tura Satana; a nice change from some of the previous albums’ jagged and stumbling execution. Murphy is easily one of the most underrated guitarists around, playing off Angus Young, Tony Iommi and Zakk Wylde as the mood requires, sometimes all in the same song. The man isn’t afraid of laying down riffs and solos, and his aggressive playing style is refreshingly melodic rather than tedious-trendy, putting to death any further discussion of whether My Ruin belongs in a box marked “emo” or placed in metaldom’s good graces.

The only hiccup of the proceedings is a plodding cover of the Henry Rollins classic ‘Turned Out’. There’s nothing wrong with the My Ruin rendition; it just feels out of place on a bare bones slash-and-burn record that otherwise shows no sign of letting up. Given the band’s recent online offerings of AC/DC’s ‘Have A Drink On Me’, KISS’ ‘War Machine’ and the Dr. Dre / Ice Cube rap classic ‘Natural Born Killaz’ done under the Death Work Professionals moniker, ‘Turned Out’ may have been better suited to that forum as well. When all is said and done, however, Ghosts And Good Stories makes a lasting impact on anyone willing to look a little deeper underground for a kick in the teeth.

Fave tracks: ‘Suicide Tuesday’, ‘Long Dark Night’, ‘Excommunicated’, ‘Abusing The Muse’, ‘Malediction’

Check out behind-the-scenes video footage from the recordings of Ghosts And Good Stories here.

Call that a knee-jerk reaction to lead-off track ‘The Gun Show’, which features the lovely Maria Brink back to the banshee razorblade wail she made her trademark on In This Moment’s debut; something she all but abandoned on follow-up The Dream in favour of a gorgeous clean voice. Kind of off-putting actually, coming off as a painfully desperate one-dimensional stab at making it up to the fans who bitched about her missing edge last time out. Aggression for aggression’s sake. As the album progresses, however, things open up and it comes clear that In This Moment are far from stupid and their well of creativity is a long way from running dry. A Star-Crossed Wasteland is the next logical step in the band’s career – diehard followers should have seen this coming – taking elements from the first two records and bringing them together for a sonic orgy of epic proportions. Brink’s clean voice is unique, captivating and rich regardless of whether she’s belting out ‘A Star-Crossed Wasteland’, the choruses of ‘Standing Alone’ and ‘Just Drive’, or doing up closing ballad ‘World In Flames’. She’s also finds some remarkable middle-ground between clean and over-the-top screaming – and there’s loads of the latter all over the record – on ‘Blazin”, a track that sounds like it was yanked from Ozzy’s recording sessions for Scream. Added to all this are occasional male vocals (‘Iron Army’, ‘The Promise’) that work well alongside Brink, never coming off as Rogers / Parton cheesy or a cheap feminized twist on Soilwork. Neat trick, hinting at what Lacuna Coil with an identity crisis might sound like.

Musically, A Star-Crossed Wasteland takes lessons learned making The Dream, gives them a shake and turns out a decidedly ballsier and darker record. The alterna-nu-metal label once stamped to In This Moment’s collective forehead no longer applies. The record is loaded with riffs, grooves, and solos channeling Gus G. and Zakk Wylde, and even more unexpected are the drums courtesy of Jeff Fabb. They’re as multi-facetted as the guitar work – on par with Slipknot basher Joey Jordison’s double bass antics – and pushed heavy by Canuck producer extraordinaire Kevin Churko (who also works with Mr. Osbourne). If ever there was an album that benefitted from a producer’s insight, this is it.

As an aside, ‘Iron Army’ is positively psychotic and ‘The Last Cowboy’ double-take original. Hats off for the twist.

In all honesty I was gearing up to carve the album, figuring it would all be downhill following ‘The Gun Show’ (which I still don’t care for and, in my opinion, is the weakest track on the album). Instead I’m wondering how In This Moment are going to top themselves now that they’ve shot the bar into orbit.

Fave tracks: ‘Just Drive’, ‘Standing Alone’, ‘Iron Army’, ‘A Star-Crossed Wasteland’, ‘Blazin’’, ‘The Last Cowboy’

Fans will be very aware of Suzuki’s presence, as Higuchi had his own unique sound and style, but it can be said that he puts in a performance worthy of the Loudness legacy. Niihara, meanwhile, binds King Of Pain together, the glue that’s loaded with hooks and melody to make what comes off occasionally as un-Loudness-like behaviour comfortable and worth further attention. The only real downside to the album is the length, as 13 songs make it somewhat long in the tooth. Keeping it to 10 or 11 would have served the band much better, but I suppose that’s what programmable CD players are for.

From a shameless fanboy perspective, King Of Pain ranks up top with Spritual Canoe and the severely underrated self-titled album from 1992 (with ex-EZO frontman Masaki Yamada on vocals) as killer “latter day” Loudness records. Whether you’re able to get into is hinges on leaving the ‘80s on the shelf and being able to appreciate the fact that 25+ years into their career Loudness are still able to mop the floor with the vast majority of young bands that think they’re something special because MTV and VH1 said so.

Fave tracks: ‘The King Of Pain’, ‘Power Of Dearh’, ‘Death Machine’, ‘Rule The World’, ‘Hell Fire’.

The less-is-more approach on The Obsidian Conspiracy makes for sparse arrangements that allow the songs to breathe. Guitarist Jeff Loomis and drummer Van Williams serve up their trademark shred, but for the first time in a long time the listener is able to catch everything going on. Vocalist Warrel Dane, meanwhile, goes for intensity rather that all-out-vicious, singing up a storm even when things slow down to a doom-laden trickle. First three tracks in – ‘The Termination Proclamation’, ‘Your Poison Throne’, ‘Moonrise (Through Mirrors Of Death)’ – bring back 1996 in a big way with their up-tempo and uncomplicated mountains of crunch backing Dane’s ever brilliant vocal melodies (some of the strongest he’s written in years). ‘Without Morals’ is an echo of Dead Heart’s ‘Narcosynthesis’, and ‘The Blue Marble And The New Soul’ has me thinking Nevermore would do well covering Alice Cooper’s ‘Steven’ thanks to Dane’s melody lines and the songs brooding atmosphere. Given the album’s direction, however, it comes as no surprise to hear a couple tracks reminiscent of Dane’s solo album from 2008, Praises To The War Machine. Both ‘The Day You Built Your Wall’ and ‘Emptiness Unobstructed’ sound like they were lifted from those recording sessions and given a Loomis tweak to make them feel more at home. How well they fly depends on how much one loved or loathed the solo record, but there’s no question the songs work well in spite of not exactly being in Nevermore character.

The album closes with ‘The Obsidian Conspiracy’ featuring Loomis at full shred both riff and solo-wise; the fastest and heaviest song on the album that, remarkably, runs a close second to the helter skelter prog weirdness of ‘And The Maiden Spoke’. For all the talk of keeping things simple on The Obsidian Conspiracy, Nevermore – Williams in particular – pulls out all the stops on ‘And The Maiden Spoke’ for five minutes of sonic lunacy. Absolutely brilliant, and something that wouldn’t have worked nearly as well stacked up against nine other tracks cut from the same cloth.

The long awaited return to elegant skull-crushing form.

Fave tracks: ‘The Termination Proclamation’, ‘Your Poison Throne’, ‘And The Maiden Spoke’, ‘The Blue Marble And The New Soul’, ‘Without Morals’, ‘The Obsidian Conspiracy’

Meguro Live Station, Tokyo – March 26th, 2010

As first impressions go bassist Taiji Sawada and his new band, Taiji With Heaven’s, made it clear with their live debut that they mean business. Dubbed The Birthday Eve – with a tip of the hat to Loudness – what could have come off as a desperate attempt to cash in on Sawada’s past turned out to be an intimate introduction to a band with the ability to dominate on the merit of its own work.

On the strength of their self-titled debut EP and the expectation of a surprise or two based on Sawada’s 25 year career – his past with X, Loudness, D.T.R. and Cloud Nine offering a wealth of extras to choose from – Taiji With Heaven’s played host to a full house of only 250 diehard fans. I would have hedged bets on a larger venue given Sawada rose to fame with X back in the ‘80s – a band that racked up album sales of over 20 million – and remains a revered musician in Japan, but this new outing has been very low key from the outset. The show, on the other hand, was anything but quiet…

Leading off with ‘Keep The Faith’ and sliding into ‘Warning’, the band put in a performance worthy of a larger stage (as did their lighting tech ) Frontman Dai set the high-energy tone, more than a little reminiscent of X vocalist Toshi Deyama n his younger years (minus the ultra-glam hair). Sawada and guitarist Ryutaro had their respective moments to shine throughout the night with solos and interludes… and Ryutaro taking a birthday cake face first towards the end of the set. And through it all the band stuck to their own path rather playing it safe by covering Sawada’s past. ‘Merry-Go-Round’, ‘Freeze’ and ‘Blood In Blood’ kept things up-tempo while ‘Wish’ was a blatant take on typically pompous X ballad, making it an instant crowd-pleaser. Unreleased track ‘The Virgin’ proved to be the most dynamic song in the Taiji With Heaven’s repertoire to date, and the only song of the night to receive a lukewarm response (which was a pity). In stark contrast the second non-album track ‘Killer’ went over a storm, sounding as if it had been yanked from the sessions for X’s 1989 breakthrough album Blue Blood.

Highest point of an evening of highs, however, was the confusion that reigned during the opening moments of the encore. The collective sense of “I’ve heard this before…” that permeated the room immediately transformed into a sea of fists in the air and shoulder-moshing as the band blasted into X classic ‘Miscast’, putting to death the Western stereotype of Japanese metal audiences being reserved and well-behaved. An excellent anti-grunge version of Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ followed, something the band should consider recording in the studio.

The 70 minute intro to Sawada’s new baby closed down with a second shot at ‘Keep The Faith’. Perhaps a little tired, certainly more confident than when they came on, Taiji With Heaven’s went out on a high note, leaving everyone in attendance hoping for Round 2 sooner rather than later.

Click here for video footage from the night. For information on Taiji With Heaven’s and audio samples go to this location.

My interview with Sawada, conducted back in February, can be found here.

– All photos by Takashi Kanazawa. All rights reserved.

Unfortunately, in a move that amounts to a boss-inflicted bullet wound, the label chose to issue Streets Of Rock N’ Roll and re-release The Right To Rock simultaneously as a celebration of Keel’s return. It would have made a hell of a lot more sense to let the new record breathe a little, as anyone listening to RTR first / again that’s expecting the band to blow the doors off in similar fashion on Streets will invariably be left disappointed. The new album is a grower and deserves better. Here’s hoping the fans have matured to the same extent as the band.

Fave tracks: ‘Gimme That’, ‘Come Hell Or High Water’, ‘Hit The Ground Running’, ‘The Devil May Care’.

I have to admit, however, that my inner ’80s rocker finds worth in lighter fare like ‘No More Lonely Nights’, solid closing track ‘Brothers In Blood’ (which, in retrospect, isn’t that tame after all) and ‘Live’.

Go to this location for information and links to purchase Streets Of Rock N’ Roll and The Right To Rock.

It’s worth noting that in spite of the too-numerous-to-count line-up changes since the Blaze debut Bayley has managed to develop and refine a signature sound. A mark of his new band’s (as of The Man Who Would Not Die from 2008) talents and understanding of what’s required, and proof that we severely underestimated Blaze Bayley the singer / songwriter way back when.

Go to this location to purchase Promise And Terror. Click here for my BW&BK interview with Bayley.

Out Of The Sun is now available via iTunes here and through CDBaby.com at this location. Audio samples are available on the page and on the band’s official MySpace page.

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The Green Album is a grower, no pun intended, and like it’s humble slide into gear it does so slowly. It’s foolish to assume, however, that because you don’t care for doom metal you won’t find anything of worth inside. On the contrary, stick around long enough and you’ll wonder why Woods Of Ypres continue to be an unsigned act in an industry choked by bands / artists that don’t even come close to this level of creativity.

Fave tracks: ‘Shards Of Love’, ‘Dirty Window Of Opportunity (Can You Get Here In 10 Days)’, Wet Leather, I Was Buried In Mount Pleasant Cemetery.

Check out the official Woods Of Ypres YouTube channel here. Go to this location to order The Green Album.

To the best of my knowledge I’ve never heard an As I Lay Dying song. I dismissed them as just another New Wave Of Cookie Monster Metal band guaranteed to get 16-year-olds hot and aggressive, but given Lambesis’ creative streak within the realms of Austrian Death Machine I’m considering giving the band a shot to see what he does for a day job. As for ADM, I can’t realistically see him getting more than one more album out of the Schwarzenegger Chronicles. More power to him though, and here’s hoping he can somehow convince the real deal to make a guest appearance between Guvernator duties next time out.

Fave tracks: ‘I Need Your Boots, Your Clothes, And Your Motorcycle’, ‘Who Told You You Could Eat My Cookies?’, ‘Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good’, ‘It’s Simple, If It Jiggles It’s Fat’, ‘Trapped Under Ice’, ‘Conan, What Is Best In Life?’, ‘Gotta Go’