The Bay Area seems to just about have it all when it comes to quality modern heavy metal. Strangely enough though, with the exception of San Jose’s Sleep, classic stoner rock and doom metal seems to have evaded the local scenes. Luckily for us that can’t get enough of the Almighty Riff though, Orchid from San Francisco have been able to nicely fill that gap in recent years. With barely any promotion and very rare live performances, Orchid have been one of the Bay Area’s best kept secrets until now. That’s truly a shame, because I’ll be damned if Orchid aren’t one of the most likable and downright cool acts coming out of the weird little town of San Francisco right now. In the two years since their first full length, Capricorn, Orchid have been rapidly gaining a following, thanks to a pair of killer EPs released in the last year and a small number of near-legendary shows at home. The band’s new record, The Mouths of Madness, is better than any fan could have hoped for though. It’s a loving tribute to the classic heavy music of old and it’s one of the best rock and roll albums anyone will hear all summer.

Though Orchid began with a sound jacked straight from Black Sabbath, their music has evolved into something wholly unique and special. Where Iommi drove his songs with his ironclad riffs, Orchid focus much more on exploring the ‘vibe’ that Sabbath nailed so well on Paranoid and Master of Reality. Guitarist Mark Thomas Baker doesn’t beat the listener over the head with a thick and sludgy tone, instead letting his sound and playing ride alongside Keith Nickel’s bass. The opening title track is a perfect example of this, with a humble and unassuming riff leading the charge, and Theo Mindell’s psychotic melodies weaving about Baker’s wah-laced lines and Carter Kennedy’s thumping toms. Mindell doesn’t sound a lot like Ozzy at all, but more than any other doom metal vocalist, he channels the haunting and off-kilter feeling heard in those classic releases frighteningly well. It’s impossible not to feel a shiver down your spine during the bridge of ‘Mountains of Steel’, where Mindell’s already twisted vocals take on a whole new level of creepy. Timeless might seem like an interesting word to describe the production, but there isn’t a better one to use. Engineer Will Storkson managed to dial in a sound and mix that lacks the ugly dirt and grime of the tape era, but thankfully avoids the razor-sharp digital crispness that too often dates modern metal albums. Simply put, The Mouths of Madness sounds utterly perfect and more significantly, it sounds like it belongs to no era of music. It would have been considered a great sounding record forty years ago, it sounds fantastic now, and you can bet that kids will want to blast this album loud in 2053.

Left to right: Keith Nickel, Carter Kennedy, Theo Mindell, Mark Thomas Baker (photo courtesy of Raymond Ahner)

The Mouths of Madness peaks right away with the pumping powerhouse that is the title track- this song alone is one of the best heavy rock songs released this year, and is an outstanding achievement for the band. The rest of the album manages to stand tall though, with Mindell going for his catchiest vocal performance yet on ‘Nomad’, and even if the second half of the song jacks the main riff from Deep Purple’s ‘Flight of the Rat’, it’s easy to ignore when the track as a whole is so damn infectious.  No one in Orchid is a showoff, but when the band locks in on the longer numbers the results are stunning. You get to hear the guys stretch out on ‘Silent One’, while the expansive , heat-drenched atmosphere these musicians create on ‘Leaving It All Behind’ is nothing short of awesome, with Mindell, Baker and Nickel ending the track with a riveting fade-out jam. Oddly enough, the low point of The Mouths of Madness is the track that owes the most to Iommi, ’Wizard of War’. The tight, up-tempo chugging lifted from ‘Symptom of the Universe’ breaks the free-flowing, viscous vibe created by the rest of the songs, and its brevity leaves no room for Orchid to do what they do best- nail a groove and flex their instrumental muscle. Luckily, the closing track ‘See You on the Other Side’ sees Orchid at the height of their powers with Kennedy punctuating the verses with dramatic snare fills, Mindell wailing his ass off and Baker providing plenty of killer melodies and some beautiful acoustic playing for the mid-section. Black Sabbath often fell under the weight of their own ambition when it came to their long tracks- Orchid are at their best when they let the time fly.

The Mouths of Madness is a huge step up from Capricorn, a fine album in its own right. Where the prior album saw a band that already knew the sound they wanted to achieve, this record sees them actually attaining it. Orchid’s strengths and weaknesses are a bit different than the riff lord’s; Orchid excel when they let the jam take over and naturally ebb and flow, whereas Iommi ruled his domain when he bludgeoned his subjects with riffs that were heavier than time itself. Different strengths. Different approaches. Different bands. Yes, there are small nods to Sabbath here and there on The Mouths of Madness (trying to find them all is actually kind of fun) but these songs carry an identity all their own, and anyone who bails on Orchid because of some similarity to the architects of heavy metal music are missing out big time. Fans of evocative, immersive heavy rock music are bound to find something to love in The Mouths of Madness- the curious and the loyal will be rewarded with some of the best rock music they’ll hear all summer.

Rating: 9/10

Record Label: Nuclear Blast

Release Dates:
April 26th 2013 (Europe)
April 29th 2013 (UK)
May 14th 2013 (US)

Track Listing: 
1. Mouths of Madness
2. Marching Dogs of War
3. Silent One
4. Nomad
5. Mountains of Steel
6. Leaving It All Behind
7. Loving Hand of God
8. Wizard of War
9. See You on the Other Side

Links:
facebook.com/orchidsf
twitter.com/Orchid_SF
orchid.bandcamp.com
youtube.com/OrchidSF 

It’s been thirty years since Iron Maiden walloped the world with their fourth studio record, Piece of Mind. With the album that came before, The Number of the Beast, the band had to prove to the world that they could still record great material with their new singer, one Mr. Bruce Dickinson. Well as we all know, they went and shattered the expectations of every Maiden fan back then. In 1983 though, the band had to show the world that The Number of the Beast was no fluke. With new drummer Nicko McBrain in tow, Iron Maiden did just that with Piece of Mind, a forty five minute monolith of smoldering heavy metal.

Iron Maiden sure loved to keep fans worried back in those days it seems. With every album came another change in the lineup, and Piece of Mind was no different. The late Clive Burr, an excellent and driving drummer in his own right, had left the band the year before and was replaced by the equally astounding Nicko McBrain. McBrain immediately let the world now what a killer percussionist he is with his iconic intro to ‘Where Eagles Dare’. The six bludgeoning minutes from this track alone should have been enough to dispel any fears that fans had about the new lineup, but the album would only get better and better. ‘Revelations’ was a grand epic that hinted at the quiet-loud dynamics that Maiden would employ again and again in later years, while the marching ‘Flight of Icarus’ saw Dickinson going Greek mythological on his new fans. ‘Flight of Icarus’ was later given a blistering reading on Live After Death- that version is definitive in this reviewer’s opinion.

After the fun headbanging romp of ‘Die With Your Boots On’, Maiden went and redefined heavy metal music forever with ‘The Trooper’. Sure, they had already given the world the galloping rhythm, and harmonies, dueling guitar solos and soaring vocals were nothing new by 1983, but ‘The Trooper’ took all those elements and assembled them into the perfect heavy metal song. Tony Iommi’s riffs, Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing’s harmonies and trade-off leads, Ian Gillan’s hair-raising screams and of course, Steve Harris’ one of a kind clanking bass were finally brought to their inevitable meeting place. The result was one of the greatest heavy metal songs ever written, and an eternal reference point for the genre. This track brought an end to Iron Maiden’s best album side ever. Seriously, after the quintuple threat of ‘Eagles’, ‘Icarus’, ‘Revelations’, ‘Boots’, and ‘Trooper’, the kids must have had their jaws on the floor in 1983. If I were them, I probably wouldn’t have even bothered to flip the record and just played side one over and over again.

Fortunately though, side two yielded plenty of great rewards, though it didn’t match the relentless onslaught of side one. After a silly backwards message from McBrain, ‘Still Life’ opens things up with another high flying chorus from Dickinson. Unfortunately, Iron Maiden offers the lamest track out of their fabled golden era afterwards. The music for ‘Quest for Fire’ is cool enough, but any song whose first words are ‘In a time when dinosaurs ruled the Earth!’ is bound to be a bit too silly. Lucky for us though, the band save themselves with the frenetic borderline-thrash of ‘Sun and Steel’ and the towering sci-fi epic, ‘To Tame a Land’.

Piece of Mind should ultimately be remembered as one of Iron Maiden’s most consistently brilliant works. They reached higher individual moments both before and after 1983, but no other Maiden album offers a non-stop pounding of top grade heavy metal like this one does. Maiden were aiming for the throat with this album, and frankly they hit the bullseye. Yes, the band became more progressive in later years and their early works had a bit of a punk attitude, but Iron Maiden were never more brazenly metal than on Piece of Mind. Essential listening for every fan of the genre.

As most of you all know, as of May 2013 the music world has two bands calling themselves Queensrÿche. The version led by vocalist Geoff Tate has been touring the nation performing the original lineup’s classic Operation: Mindcrime album, but not before spending about six weeks in the studio putting together a new effort, Frequency Unknown. Many amazingly talented musicians got the chance to throw an ingredient into this musical gumbo, including a handful of the best the Bay Area has to offer. Sadly, the resulting record is a fundamentally mediocre hard rock album. While Frequency Unknown is extremely far removed from the sound that Queensrÿche established its legacy on, this album isn’t the trainwreck that many were expecting it to be.

The songs on Frequency Unknown all sound as if they’re written for mainstream rock radio, not for Queensrÿche fans or hell, even for Geoff Tate himself. The opening track ‘Cold’ rides a big, lumbering and in-your-face riff that is cool in and of itself, but is wholly uncharacteristic of the weaving, intricate melodies that the DeGarmo/Wilton team featured in spades. This isn’t a knock on guitarist and Bay Area badass Craig Locicero, whose grooving rhythm playing is often a highlight of these songs. Rather, it’s simply disappointing that what was once a signature of Queensryche’s songs has disappeared entirely from the writing on Frequency Unknown. Locicero’s driving rhythm playing is given a place to shine on ‘Everything’, probably the single catchiest song on this album. Out of all the songs on Frequency Unknown, ‘Everything’ comes closest to recapturing the magic of Queensrÿche’s classic output. This song, ‘Life Without You’ and ‘Fallen’ feature great vocals and melodies from Tate, who sticks to his still solid mid-range throughout Frequency Unknown. It’s somewhat interesting to note that Frequency Unknown features a smattering of Bay Area veterans: guitarist Locicero and Chris Cannella, drummers Paul Bostaph and Evan Bautista, guitarists Brad Gillis and Dave Meniketti and bassist Jason Slater are all some of the baddest players the Bay Area has on tap, and Frequency Unknown nearly always benefits from their professional performances.

Left to right: Simon Wright, Randy Gane, Kelly Gray, Geoff Tate, Robert Sarzo, Rudy Sarzo

Unfortunately, the three tracks mentioned above are the highest points reached on Frequency Unknown. After following the highlight ‘Cold’, second track ‘Dare’ stumbles along with a genuinely awful riff, lame macho lyrics from Tate and a hilariously stupid xylophone exhibition. The same happens to ‘Slave’, a song that tries too damn hard to be heavier than it really is. Tate’s echoed declarations of “You’re their bitch!” is the kind of thing fans would expect from a testosterone obsessed nu-metal band, not the dude who wrote the lyrics to ‘Roads to Madness’. No reasonable fan would expect Geoff Tate to sound like the screaming banshee from the self-titled EP these days, but the guy’s vocals falter rather shockingly here and there. ‘Running Backwards’ is the biggest culprit in that regard, with Tate sounding painfully strained and tired. This track in particular is a weird one; the CD booklet we were provided with claims that ex-Judas Priest axeman K.K. Downing played the guitar solo on ‘Running Backwards’, but the solo heard here offers literally no signs of the man’s one of a kind style. It’s worth noting that Metal Assault was provided with the new remixed version of Frequency Unknown- on the original mix, a different guitar solo that was unmistakably played by Downing is featured on ‘Running Backwards’. When it comes to the other all-star guitar solos on Frequency Unknown, they’re all fun to listen to on their own merits (Meniketti’s solo on ‘Fallen’ and Cannella’s on ‘Slave’ are particularly killer ones), but few of them actually improve their songs in an overall musical sense.

When all is said and done, Frequency Unknown is simply an okay collection of hard rock songs. With a bar set as low as Dedicated to Chaos, these guys would have had to try really hard to make a record worse than that one. Though there are a few outright duds on Frequency Unknown, some of the songs are enjoyable, with a couple warranting a handful of repeat listens. That being said, ‘a handful of repeat listens’ is a long way off from the countless spins I have and will continue to give The Warning, the self-titled EP and Operation: Mindcrime. This isn’t even a question of this album bearing little resemblance to the Queensrÿche of old- Frequency Unknown simply fails to live up to the Queensrÿche legacy in a way that longtime fans would expect from a band in its thirty-first year of existence. Frequency Unknown isn’t terrible, but frankly it really isn’t very good either.

Rating: 5.5/10

Note: As mentioned before, Metal Assault was provided with the remixed version of Frequency Unknown. Fans who bought the version featuring the original mix can contact Cleopatra Records for a free copy of the new version. Some may also be wondering why the re-recorded tracks weren’t mentioned here. The four songs are tacked on with the intent of them being ‘bonus tracks’- stacking them all at the end did nothing to disrupt or impede the flow of Frequency Unknown’s original material. The re-recorded tracks are pretty horrible though; fans are infinitely better off just picking up the original albums.

Record Label: Cleopatra Records

Release Dates:
April 23, 2013 (US)
June 3, 2013 (UK)

Track Listing:
1. Cold
2. Dare
3. Give It to You
4. Slave
5. In the Hands of God
6. Running Backwards
7. Life Without You
8. Everything
9. Fallen
10. The Weight of the World
11. I Don’t Believe in Love (Re-Recorded)
12. Empire (Re-Recorded)
13. Jet City Woman (Re-Recorded)
14. Silent Lucidity (Re-Recorded)

Links:
facebook.com/queensryche
queensryche.com

Calling Sodom the German Motorhead is a mistake too many journalists make these days. Motorhead have undergone basically no musical evolution in their thirty odd years as a band, while Sodom have flirted with the likes of black metal, death metal, hardcore punk and of course, classic thrash. Calling Tom Angelripper the German Lemmy would be a bit more accurate though. Why does that analogy work a bit better? Both Lemmy and Angelripper give no fucks. The two men have always done what they want, when they want, and the results have been uniformly stunning for decades. With their new album, Epitome Of Torture, Sodom have refused to buck their admirable trend of writing some of the most brutal thrash metal around. There isn’t anything too different here, and frankly Sodom fans probably wouldn’t want it any other way.

After a minute-long march, ‘My Final Bullet’ barrels the listener with Bernemann’s familiar blitzkrieg chords and Angelripper’s shredded vocals. A catchier than expected chorus comes out of nowhere, but don’t think Sodom have gone metalcore or anything like that- ‘My Final Bullet’ is classic Sodom war-themed firepower. The band’s new self-named track is about as heavy a song as one could ask of these guys and even if the grunted spelling during the refrain is kind of goofy, it’ll surely make for a fun shout-a-long live. And of course, Angelripper’s kind of hilarious mispronunciation of the word ‘epitome’ has already made the rounds online. Seriously, just try and growl “Epitoom! Epitoom of torture!” with a straight face. Angelripper can and does, and do you want to know why? That’s right friends, Tom Angelripper gives no fucks. Luckily though, the points mentioned above are just about the only ‘concerns’ so to speak about Epitome Of Torture, the rest of the record is the familiar neck snapping ride we’ve come to expect out of Sodom.

Left to right: Markus "Makka" Freiwald, Tom "Angelripper" Such, Bernd "Bernemann" Kost

For ‘Stigmatized’ Angelripper opts for a low, borderline death metal roar- the technique adds a breath of fresh air to an otherwise average Sodom track. Hardcore Sodom fans shouldn’t be crying foul though; the band already explored death-thrash territory on 1994’s Tapping the Vein. Kudos to the band for trying to spice things up though, and kudos to Waldemar Sorychta for once again giving Sodom a truly outstanding production. Bernemann’s riffs are full of muscle and heft, Angelripper’s bass is a perpetual growling presence and new drummer Makka’s toms pound hard and his snare cracks with fury. Makka acquits himself well, and especially shines on ’S.O.D.O.M.’  and the other high velocity tracks. Ironically enough, the really compelling and interesting songs on Epitome Of Torture are the more mid-tempo bruisers. On the last album, In War And Pieces, Sodom hit a total home run with the epic ‘God Bless You’ and on this new platter the band nearly repeats the success with ‘Into The Skies Of War’ and ‘Invokating The Demons’. These two tracks, especially the former cut, see Sodom strike a fine balance between melody and brutality and are easily the two highlights of Epitome Of Torture. Sure, the quick tracks like ‘Shoot Today Kill Tomorrow’ are a good bit of fun, but ‘Into The Skies Of War’ really delivers in a way that only the best modern Teutonic thrash can.

All in all, Sodom’s newest album is yet another solid and utterly respectable slab of heavy thrash. It’s a small step down from In War And Pieces, and it certainly doesn’t match the grand scope and ambition of their latter day masterpiece M-16, but Epitome Of Torture is an album that will fill Sodom fans with plenty of delight. It’s pounding, serrated thrash that pulls no punches and panders to no one. It’s an album that once again reinforces the fact that Tom Angelripper gives no fucks and does what he wants. And as long as Angelripper doesn’t try to take us higher like a super collider, I think Sodom fans will be okay for the long haul.

Rating: 8/10

Record Label: Steamhammer/SPV GmbH

Release Dates:
April 26th 2013 (Germany)
April 29th 2013 (Europe)
May 7th 2013 (US)

Track Listing:
1. My Final Bullet
2. S.O.D.O.M.
3. Epitome Of Torture
4. Stigmatized
5. Cannibal
6. Shoot Today Kill Tomorrow
7. Invokating The Demons
8. Katjuschka
9. Into The Skies Of War
10. Tracing The Victim
11. Waterboarding (bonus track)
12. Splitting The Atom (bonus track)
13. Ace Of Spades (Motorhead cover, vinyl-exclusive bonus track)

Links:
twitter.com/sodomized
facebook.com/sodomized
sodomized.info
myspace.com/sodom

A little over thirty years ago, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal changed the landscape of heavy metal entirely. The movement was the direct precursor to thrash, and from that of course evolved into what we now call ‘extreme metal’. Everyone knows the common names from this era: Iron Maiden, Saxon, Angel Witch etc, but the NWOBHM’s supply of killer bands is practically endless. One of the quicker acts on the market was Newcastle’s Satan. With a name that was bound to cause trouble and a late entry into the declining scene, Satan just missed out on heavy metal immortality. The band’s debut record, Court in the Act, remains a gem from the era but a pile of name changes and inconsistent material led to Satan fizzling out near the end of the ‘80s. Thirty years later, Satan’s original lineup have reunited and released Life Sentence, an album that proudly lives up to the legacy of their debut. There’s nothing on here that hasn’t been done before, but on Life Sentence the band does classic, traditional heavy metal better than most of their peers and just about all of the retro-minded bands around today. This album is a wonderful throwback to one of the coolest periods in metal history, and a fine slab of classic heavy metal in its own right. 

Life Sentence effectively ignores the last thirty years of changes and evolution in metal history, and frankly the album is all the better for it. Opening cut ‘Time to Die’ shows off the album’s delightfully old-school production and some shockingly youthful performances.  The track’s harmonized main riff is immediately reminiscent of the intro to ‘Trial By Fire’ from Court in the Act, and Brian Ross gets to show off his finely aged voice. Ross’ singing is a touch huskier after all these years, but his power and command hasn’t diminished in the slightest. He even offers a few of his vintage screams here and there on Life Sentence- surely Raven’s John Gallagher was smiling when Brian tracked those wails. ‘Time to Die’ and a surprisingly large amount of other tracks from Life Sentence rip right by with speed and flair. Given that many of the elder statesmen of the NWOBHM have slowed things down in favor of a groovy stomp (I’m looking at you Motorhead), it’s refreshing to have an older act tear it up with wild abandon. The jolly romp of ‘Siege Mentality’ is one of the highlights of an amazingly consistent record, and thankfully falls just short of power metal cheesiness.

Left to right: Graeme English, Sean Taylor, Brian Ross, Russ Tippins, Steve Ramsey

More than any other heavy metal album in recent memory, Life Sentence has palpable space in its mix. Every instrument has its place in the sonic spectrum, and there’s even some air left over. Life Sentence has a wonderfully live feel as result, and the warm tones only help to lend a vintage vibe. Whoever said that ‘old school’ had to mean low-fi? Thanks to clear, yet powerful production, we’re able to perfectly hear the stellar shows that guitarists Steve Ramsey and Russ Tippins turn in. The pair even go for an early thrash frenzy on ‘Cenotaph’; there’s arguably more fire and aggression on Life Sentence than on the early records, and none of it feels contrived. Had Satan continued on their natural creative route from Court in the Act, you can bet that their second record would have sounded a lot like Life Sentence. This record is one that begs to be played loud, go ahead and try not get a speeding ticket when you’re behind the wheel and ‘Testimony’ begins to play. Satan doesn’t always have their foot slammed on the gas pedal though, the guys offer a swinging rocker in ‘Personal Demons’ and a borderline progressive journey in the winding tempos of ‘Another Universe’. These songs flow wonderfully, and Life Sentence is a joy to listen to in one sitting.

The biggest issue that plagued nearly every NWOBHM band was their desire for commercial success. That lust for fame nearly brought an end to the mighty Saxon, while Def Leppard became international superstars to cite just a pair of examples (as for my beloved Raven, their supposed sell-out period is actually kind of awesome). An older, wiser, but no less heavier Satan have truly succeeded in synthesizing an album that would have been hailed as a period classic back in the early ‘80s, but without the lame attempts at breaking through to the mainstream. Satan knows what their fans love about their music, and they have crafted a piece that takes everything great and plain cool about the NWOBHM and condenses it into a taut, filler-free record that gets better and better with every listen. Sure, some new fans may complain about the tracks starting to blend together after a while, but if you’re like me and you can’t get enough of melodic speedfreak heavy metal, then Life Sentence will hit the spot in so many ways. Comeback, throwback, whatever you want to call it, Satan have released one hell of an album and have made yet another marvelous contribution to the NWOBHM canon. Let’s hope that these guys stick around for another record or two.

Rating: 8.5/10

Record Label: Listenable Records

Release Dates:
April 29th 2013 (Europe)
May 21st 2013 (US)

Track Listing:
1. Time To Die
2. Twenty Twenty Five
3. Cenotaph
4. Siege Mentality
5. Incantations
6. Testimony
7. Tears Of Blood
8. Life Sentence
9. Personal Demons
10. Another Universe

Links:
www.facebook.com/officialsatanpage
www.satanmusic.com