Carl Begai

It seems that not even death is capable of slowing Loudness down. King Of Pain marks the band’s second album since the passing of original drummer Munetaka Higuchi in November 2008 – a victim of liver cancer – their first with new man Masayuki “Ampan” Suzuki behind the kit. It’s a fitting tribute to Higuchi’s characteristic push (according to frontman Minoru Niihara) to make things louder and heavier with every new record. Having regained their footing since previous outing The Everlasting – a cold album overall featuring songs pieced together using archive Higuchi recordings – Loudness unleash a surprising ‘80s flavoured rip and tear on King Of Pain. It’s not the step back into the realms of nostalgia so many fans are clamouring for but it definitely pays tribute to the past here and there, making it the band’s strongest album since the 2001 reunion record, Spiritual Canoe. Lead-off track ‘The King Of Pain, ‘Power Of Death’ and ‘Rule The World’ feature classic ‘80s Akira Takasaki riffs and tones alongside Niihara’s much improved and grittier vocals, the first song swiping a page from the band’s Shadows Of War / Lightning Strikes era, the others a tip of the hat to Loudness staples ‘Crazy Doctor’ and ‘Esper’. (continue reading…)

An undeniably unique killing machine in the world of metal, Nevermore were on a collision course with themselves since the birth of The Politics Of Ecstasy back in 1996. Always a little bit heavier and touch more progressive with each album that followed, the band went over-the-top in 2006 with This Godless Endeavour, an album so overpowering in spots it was a chore trying to keep up with the wash of sound. That said, just how well The Obsidian Conspiracy fares depends on whether the diehards that claim heavier is always better can get past the fact the band has gone back to writing songs circa Dead Heart In A Dead World and the Politics record. Yes indeed, Nevermore have actually eased up on the group bludgeoning to allow their individual and collective performances shine rather than overwhelm people with the cold hard fact they do mayhem better than most chaos-buzzed black metal bands. (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

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… (continue reading…)

Second-tier hair rockers Keel pretty much fizzled out after their self-titled fourth album from 1987, not even the sign-of-the-times high rotation ‘Somebody’s Waiting’ video and a Bon Jovi support tour able to muster a “Hell Yeah!” from folks outside the band’s loyal fanbase. Frontman Ron Keel and guitarist Marc Ferrari have been kicking around ever since, there have been understated returns to Keel territory (Larger Than Live in ’89 and and Keel VI in ‘98), but Streets Of Rock N’ Roll is the band’s first real noteworthy sign of life in over two decades. Playing on the fact the band struck their loudest chord with second album The Right To Rock, the new outing is dubbed a 25th Anniversary comeback but only hints at the old days beyond the classic line-up minus one. Diehard fans can forget hearing Ronnie’s trademark ‘Speed Demon’ howl, and all traces of reverb-pumped ‘You Think You’re Tough’-era Ratt metal have been traded in for a straightforward simmer-to-boil-and-back rawk direction. Not a bad thing if you’re willing to go in with an open mind.
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For the record, I was one of those people that bitched and screamed and wondered what the hell Blaze Bayley had done to my Iron Maiden when he stepped in to replace Bruce Dickinson in 1995. Never mind that Steve Harris had slammed head first into a writer’s block and couldn’t pen his way out of a paper bag at the time; as the new pipes in the Church Of Ed the unfortunate Bayley took the lion’s share of abuse for The X-Factor and Virtual XI. The fact he’d torn up some decent stretches of road in fine fashion with Wolfsbane prior to his tenure didn’t help matters. His firing from Maiden in ’98 was a blessing in more ways than one, however, because from my first time through his Blaze debut Silicon Messiah in 2000 Bayley came off as a talented, driven and even charismatic vocalist. The very last thing his detractors had expected. He’s held the course for the past decade, through five “solo” albums and a swamp of professional and personal issues, leading him to put out the finest work of his career thus far on Promise And Terror.
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As if in response to all the New Wave Of Wannabe Soilwork Death Metal bands that spent most of the last decade running amok, educated old school no-nonsense rock ‘n’ roll has resurfaced in recent years to an unexpected degree. Never mind the (warranted) Chickenfoot hype and the fact that Airbourne are allowed to exist in spite of being an illegitimate beer swilling bastard cousin of the AC/DC franchise right down to the Australian postal code. Quality acts The New Black, David Chastain’s Southern Gentlemen and new-era Sinner have earned themselves some well deserved mileage by keeping things simple, concerned far more with having fun with the music rather than bludgeoning folks into submission with their oh-so-righteous aggression. Add the bare-bones DareDevil Squadron to this growing list, an act that has learned their Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden lessons well to the point that they see nothing whacked about combining the two. (continue reading…)

It’s probably considered bad form to use the term “wow” to describe a what is essentially a doom metal album but… well… wow. Not since Theatre Tragedy’s first two albums – which aren’t nearly as gothic as folks like to think – has a gloom laden record dug its hooks in this deep and dragged me in so completely. A lush and epic soundtrack to personal demise, Woods 4 features frontman / founder David Gold twisting things in unexpected fashion, having exchanged the black metal-inspired vibe of Woods III: Deepest Roots And Darkest Blues for a oft-times slower, brazenly progressive and ultimately heavier album. Very Devin Townsend of him in fact, as Gold continues his own tradition of not playing to expectation. Lines can be drawn to Candlemass and Solitude Aeturnus in particular, and the Theatre Of Tragedy comparison holds merit in that one doesn’t have to be a fan of the deep and dark to get into Woods IV. The band has concocted a record that blurs the “doom” line without disrespecting the required genre dynamics as outlined by the purists. Some will bitch of course, but I’m currently looking into patenting can-openers for the mind.
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As I Lay Dying girlie man Tim Lambesis’ shred-happy Ode To Arnold continues, picking up where Austrian Death Machine’s 2007 debut Total Brutal left off. More of the same out-of-control Suicidal Tendencies mile-a-minute Slipknot skate punk glorifying Mr. Schwarzenegger’s cinematic career, all tied together by grin-worthy between-song banter provided by Josh Robert Thompson. Call it the thrash version of a Conan O’Brien skit gone mad guaranteed to muscle the funnybone of anyone with a background in Arnie, bottom line being you can’t in all fairness carve on something done in the interest of having a bit of fun with the noise. And Lambesis is having a riot. Lead track ‘I Need Your Boots, Your Clothes, And Your Motorcycle’ is one of the ADM’s strongest songs to date, showing off his head for dynamics within the mayhem (he writes, sings and plays almost everything except for the solos), something that has been improved upon since the debut. ‘Who Told You You Could Eat My Cookies?’ sits at the other end of the spectrum, all piss and vinegar and Machine Head-ness. Fave tracks of the moment, however, are the Pumping Iron tribute ‘It’s Simple, If It Jiggles It’s Fat’, the Mr. Freeze-inspired ‘Allow Me To Break The Ice’, and ‘Conan, What Is Best In Life?’, which closes the first disc with the finesse of a truck kissing a brick wall.
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Launched two years before his return Loudness in 2001, vocalist Minoru Niihara’s XYZ-A is his hammer-and-nails outlet for material not exactly suited for Akira Takasaki and the boys. Known for a sound that flirts generously with classic Deep Purple and UFO while keeping things on the metal side, XYZ-A has rebounded from two consecutive uninspired records (I.V. and Wings) with an album very similar to their stellar second outing, Metalization (2001). Lead-off song ‘Z To A’ and the title track, ‘Learn From Yesterday! Live For Today! Hope For Tomorrow!’, are signature up-tempo scorchers in the spirit of the band’s previous album opening crowd pleasers ‘Labyrinth’ and ‘Miracle’, drummer Funky Sueyoshi leading the charge with his Alex Van Halen skinbashing and guitarist Fumihiko Kitsutaka laying down his much needed pissed off Michael Schenker shred. (continue reading…)

Twenty years in the making, Karma is the follow-up to Winger’s cock rock out-of-nowhere classic self-titled debut. It took a major wrong turn (synthetic second album In The Heart Of The Young), the resulting heaps of MTV abuse (Beavis & Butthead), the grunge era, and a directionless comeback album in 2007 (IV) to get the band back to what they did best. Simple yet ballsy, Karma is one of those records where fans don’t have to dig for adjectives to convince themselves it doesn’t suck. It helps that expectations were nil going in beyond hearing a sappy ballad or two, but no one predicted a stripped down rock-the-metal record. Guitar riffs dominate thanks to Reb Beach not having to fight his way through a cluttered mix, starting things off at a run with ‘Deal With The Devil’ and ‘Stone Cold Killer’ falling somewhere between Winger’s Pull record, and Danko Jones’ highest octane moments. (continue reading…)