It’s just the best one.

Other heavy metal is available.

Torche
Harmonicraft
Volcom
23 April 2012

by David Keevil

When an album comes along that fits so inherently into the stride of your life, it’s often difficult to tell whether it’s because it’s so inconspicuous that it barely registers or that it’s a monumental moment in the history of your consumption of music. Harmonicraft, the third studio album by Torche, undeniably falls into the latter bracket.

Easily pushing the boundary between hooks and progression, this is an album that groans with the weight of its conviction. It’s not just that that everything feels so effortless with Torche, it’s also the fact that this is music that stands so strongly as an example of how to marry the interesting with the complicated, in such a way that it’s difficult to see how you could tire of the record on repeated listens.

The sound on Harmonicraft is remarkably distinct, especially so for an album that wears its influences quite so obviously; there are smouldering grooves that bear homage to the likes of Kyuss and its desert/stoner progeny, and there are also anthemic moments that smack of Dave Grohl’s finest work with the Foo Fighters. Some songs even perch of the edge of Mastodon’s universe, groaning with the crusted sawing of guitars, spindly riffs, soaring solos and shifting, obscure themes.

Torche have also mastered a sound that doesn’t rely on being feral to express their attachments to metal. This is an album that screams of interesting, engaging music first and foremost, with “metal” coming in as some distant second. Despite that, Harmonicraft actually houses some of the best aspects of the genre; ‘Reverse Inverted’ is thunderous, and the vocals smoulder with inflections of malice, without ever sounding too desperate or contrived.

Watch Torche playing live at the Volcom “Free Beer Party”. Yes, this exists:

Lyrically and vocally, Torche sound like they owe some grand debt to Nothing’s Shocking-era Jane’s Addiction, because of the scintillating and fluctuating interplay between the words and the music. There is a grand rock heritage to this record of such vast and disparate ancestry that fortunately doesn’t ever tie Torche down to one place.

What’s more, when the album looks to be settling into its pace, it then rollicks into some other insatiable groove or rides like some hellspawn from the mouth of Erebus (see ‘Walk It Off’ and ‘Skin Moth’). You’d be hard pushed to find a record in recent times that pushes you into such interesting and progressive territories, without ever obviously alerting you to the fact.

5.5/6

Sounds Like: Kyuss, Foo Fighters, Mastodon.
Standout Tracks: Roaming, Reverse Inverted, Solitary Traveler.

Celebrate the great man’s life by listening to lots and lots and lots of Black Sabbath today. RIP RJD.

If, somehow, you don’t know what he did, watch this.

Look at these.

Heaven & Hell @ Sonisphere Festival 2009 by Gary Wosltenholme

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So metal

We’re going to be listening to this today. You should too.

Those not-nearly-as-praised-as-they-ought-to-be Reading metallers, Sylosis, finished their final UK tour before releasing their as-yet-untitled third studio album. Okay, so Sylosis do get a lot of praise, but that’s because they a) awesome, and b) they keep getting more awesome, which means c) that they deserve even more praise than they get already.

Anyway, we made sure our Liverpool snapper, Matt Thomas, was in place to snap the whole shebang when it rolled into his hometown.

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Sylosis @ Liverpool 02 Academy 2 - 01 May 2012 c/o Matt Thomas

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Sylosis finished recording their new album just before going out on this tour, although when we spoke to them a few weeks ago, they were keeping fairly tight-lipped about the whole affair. All we know is that it’s a pretty bleak, doomy kind of concept record, loosely, loosely based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. We’re not going to explain it all – we’ve given you wikipedia links for that – but we’re sure it’ll all make sense when the band’s new album comes out later this year on Nuclear Blast.

Well, we had a lot to say on the matter when the Bill Ward/Black Sabbath spat kicked off earlier this year, and the news has just come in that it’s now over: Bill Ward will not be playing any shows with the reformed Black Sabbath or ‘Ozzy & Friends’ line-ups that will tour the world this summer.

For more info – including Bill Ward’s statement on the matter – click the link below.

Bill Ward confirmed he would not be participating in any Black Sabbath/Ozzy & Friends shows in a post over on his official Facebook page. It’s a bit of a monster, but for the sake of accuracy, we’ll reproduce it all here in full:

Dear Sabbath Fans and Fellow Musicians,

I sincerely regret to inform you that after a final effort to participate in the upcoming Sabbath shows a failure to agree has continued. At this time I have to inform you that I won’t be playing with Black Sabbath at the Birmingham gig dated May 19th, 2012, nor will I be playing at Download on June 10th, 2012. Further, I will not be playing at Lollapalooza on August 3, 2012.

It is with a very sad heart that I bring you this news. I am sincerely passionate in my desire to play with the band, and I’m very, very sorry that it’s fallen to this. This statement is even more painstaking to write, as I was particularly excited to play alongside Tony Iommi after the recent treatments he underwent. I wanted that to become a reality.

To express my thoughts about you, the Sabbath fans, I’m going to speak to you all through an experience my brother James had recently. My brother Jimmy lives in the U.K. When speaking with him a couple of days ago, he told me that an acquaintance had stopped him on the street and confronted him, “is your brother playing Birmingham? What’s going on? I waited in line with my son and paid x amount for the concert tickets.”

The man’s son is a young drummer. He’s going to see Sabbath, and he wants to see Bill Ward play drums. Upon hearing this news, I felt horrible. I couldn’t help feeling some resentment towards the failure to reach an agreement, the failure to remember where we came from, the failure to be as brothers, as we once were. To be clear, I’m not blaming the other guys or finding any faults with them. I would think it can’t be easy for them either, but this situation is just really sad. It’s sad that it’s come to this. “This” will surely leave a mark and be unwelcome to the memory. Hopefully “this” will heal and pass in time.

My heart sank when Jimmy told me about this young boy. I know this boy is going to be disappointed, and I don’t know how to amend it, other than to put my arms around the boy and tell him I love him. Sabbath fans have a voice and a face, to me you’re human, you have families and despair. You have ferocity and emotions and graciousness, and at this moment as far as I’m concerned you are also that young boy in England. I don’t know how to amend my part in these failings other than to put my arms around you and say I love you and let you know I’m very, very sorry.

Throughout this process, which began over a year ago, I have had to stand up for myself time and time again. I have had to stand up for myself and in doing so realize my actions indirectly, although unintentionally, are upsetting and hurting a lot of you. I know in my heart I couldn’t have done these concerts by agreeing the terms suggested. I made a solemn vow after the last European and Ozzfest concerts that I would never again enter into what was, in my opinion, a totally unsatisfactory contract. I have to stand for something, and as painful as it is, I’m doing it.

Earlier in April 2012, I’d been asked to participate “minimally” in the Download festival. I believe I’d been offered no more than three songs to play while another drummer presumably played the rest of the show with Black Sabbath. I was not willing to participate in that offer. I was not prepared to watch another drummer play a Sabbath set, while I was to play only three songs.

I found out about the Birmingham gig on Monday, April 30 through the Internet ad. I was taken aback somewhat by the date, and the fact it was Birmingham. Knowing the “signable” contract negotiations were at best in shreds, I was upset by the idea that the band was going to play Birmingham and play it assumedly without me. I had no prior knowledge of the date and location, and I felt totally excluded. We contacted the representative for Black Sabbath to see if something could be worked out. In the meantime my drum crew and I, along with our US endorsers, finished all the necessary planning for a swift departure to the UK. There wasn’t a whole lot to complete; we’d all been on standby more or less since mid-January 2012. The remaining work in the UK was confirmed done by our European and UK endorsers and we were good to go by Friday, May 4 2012. There were two stress points: firstly, getting an agreement in place, and secondly, getting to England in a timely manner. Jetlag time was taken into account as well as drum practice, a drum practice room in the heart of Birmingham, accommodation, and travel arrangements were all in place to meet with any band rehearsals that may have transpired before the Birmingham show. So far everything that had been arranged was on my dime, but we didn’t move ahead without a realistic confirmation.

Communications between the representative and my lawyer continued through the weekend of May 5 finalizing on Wednesday, May 9. The offer we received on May 9 was, “come to the UK, play for free and see how the first show goes.” I was tempted. Playing for free would not have been a problem for me, but “seeing how the first show goes” left an element of risk which could have affected Download. My ideal thought was to play in full the Birmingham show, in full Download, and in full Lollapalooza.

I had notified the representative that May 10 was my cutoff day in order to have good lead-in time for England. On the night of May 9 I asked for a brief letter to be sent to the representative asking to find out if we were at an end. On the morning of Thursday, May 10, I received a reply in the affirmative. After consulting with my advisors and crew a decision was made to let go and stop.

I can’t prioritize the Sabbath fans making one show more important than the other. I can’t do that. All of you are important. It’s all the gigs or none at all. I can’t come to Birmingham and “see what happens” knowing there is a risk of not being able to play Download or Lollapalooza. Again, for me, it’s all or nothing. I had to say “no” to Birmingham on the principle of wanting to play all the shows. Saying no to Birmingham is very difficult for me. My family grew up in Birmingham. Black Sabbath grew up in Birmingham. It’s still my hometown and I resent having to arrive at such a difficult choice.

Although the statement was made that, “the door is always open” for me, as explained above, walking through that door is not always as easy as it sounds. There are many complicated issues and unseen and unspoken agendas on hand. I can assure you, my criteria for a “signable” contract is based in mindful principles, respectability, and acknowledgement of my history within the band.

I hold no malice or resentment towards the other band members. I love them; I’m tolerant of them; I’m frustrated with them, as they may be with me. My fight has never been with them. I’ll love them forever. In my opinion, nobody wins this time; the band doesn’t win; the fans for an original lineup don’t win. Nobody wins, nobody. Even the ones who thought they did.

I didn’t want to make this decision, but I have to be honest and transparent. This is the statement I didn’t want to write; it’s the last thing I wanted to do. But, I have written it, and now it can go into the universe.

Since Spring of 2011, I’ve waited patiently and hopefully for a signable contract, you know the rest. I stand for the boy in the U.K., for the coming drum student, for all the drummers, who write their parts out and get stiffed on the publishing, I stand with the Sabbath fans chanting “Bill Ward” and asking “why?” and I stand with Tony and Geezer and Ozzy.

On a final note, even though I’m at an end with the upcoming announced concerts, I will remain with an open mind and a position of willingness to negotiate “signable” terms with Sabbath’s representatives in the future.

Stay strong.
Stay safe.

With all my heart and strength, I love you,
Bill Ward

Well, there’s no two ways about it – this news sucks. Regardless of your opinions or where your loyalties lay with this spat, everyone had their fingers crossed that it would be resolved in a fair and amicable way, and we’d all get to see the original Black Sabbth line-up play one last time, safe in the knowledge that no-one was being financially screwed over. It’s a shame that not only that this hasn’t turned out to be the case, but in all probability there’ll now never be a full reunion of the original Sabbath line-up on stage ever again. Yep, this news sucks.

You can see from the picture that the mega-selling Seattle grungers appeal to OAPs, but Nirvana are also loved by infants as well. Check out this kid’s parents waking him up with ‘Breed’. His reaction is… impressive.

Matt Skiba And The Sekrets
Babylon
Superball Music
07 May 2012

by Ruth Booth

Regular readers of Thrash Hits will remember we ran this photo a while ago, with a certain amount of disbelief. With his penchant for wry, dark romance, if Alkaline Trio’s frontman took a cue from any Lost Boys, our money would’ve been on these ones. But, aside from possible sponsorship by the local bird sanctuary, this photo told us two crucial things about Matt Skiba’s new project.

Firstly, it told us Skiba is intending something new this time. Certainly, it’s different enough for him to take a complete stylistic volte-face from the sharp black-with-red-accents of his dayjob. And secondly, that this is very much a one-man show. This may well be Skiba and the Sekrets, but that’s as likely to refer to his own skeletons as it is to his bandmates, Hunter Burgan (AFI’s bassist), and Jarrod Alexander (current touring drummer for My Chemical Romance).

Babylon kicks off with ‘Voices’, a synth-backed piece of driven rock with dark lyrics, which pretty much sets the pace for the entire record. This is anthemic new wave – but not like Heavens, Skiba’s Wire-influenced (and defunct) partnership with Joe Steinbrick. Melding Skiba’s dark and sweet melodies with an electro pop edge, Babylon leaves you in little doubt, if there was any, who’s responsible for the 80s influence in Alkaline Trio’s recent output. Indeed, much of Babylon wouldn’t sound out of place on any of their records since 2005’s Crimson. I’m left wondering how ‘You’ and ‘Haven’t You’ (the latter reworked from 2010 solo album Demos) would have sounded if Skiba had ceded Dan Andriano a vocal guest spot.

Listen to ‘You’ by Matt Skiba and The Sekrets:

Okay, so Skiba does have a distinctly recognisable and deliciously frenetic way with pop song structure. And his vocals are shot through with the bittersweetness that’s indelibly inked on his other band. While the synth-heavy ‘Falling Like Rain’ might seem the biggest stretch for his fanbase on the surface, afficionados should be well acquainted with Skiba’s love of Joy Division by now. What does set Babylon apart from his other work is more down to those little touches of atmosphere that haunt individual tracks. The ‘Angel of Deaf’ (yet another Demos track) is another classic piece of Skiba dark humour, backed by a post-apocayptic thrum from the slowed down sustain of his acoustic. It’s a disturbingly effective moment, one that makes you wish he’d push more of the odd thing like this on his dayjob.

If you’re looking for a side to Matt Skiba you haven’t heard before, Babylon is not it. Arguably, this is a direction Alk3’s music has been nudging towards for years, one merely sprung prematurely from more conventionally pop punk fetters. That, however, implies Babylon is little more than an exercise in impatient arrogance, which is kind of a tautology. After all, creating any art and expecting people to pay attention to and/or money for it is an act of delicious arrogance. No, this is the side to Skiba we’ve sort of always seen, this time rendered in perfect clarity. His songwriting prowess returning to the new wave pop of his youth. Which is sort of what that promo shot is all about anyway. If you’ve always enjoyed Matt Skiba’s take on dark, sharp-witted pop – and you’re not the stylist for The Rasmus – you’ll love this opportunity to hear him soar.

4.5/6

Sounds Like: Skiba has love for you, if you were born in the 80s.
Standout Tracks: Haven’t You, Angel of Deaf, Falling Like Rain.

We once joked that one of our photographers, Ben Gibson, took an exorbitant number of shots of band members’ crotches and/or band members engaging in mid-air splits. We only meant it as a bit of light-hearted ribbing, but our boy Ben seems to have taken it to heart, and now sees it as a mark of honour to get as many in-air shots as possible into the photo sets he sends us.

Though possibly a band like This Is Hell almost makes it too easy for him.

In support was the increasingly-bearded tour du force that is Feed The Rhino. We don’t need to tell you that we’re big fans of band indulging in OTT facial hair, particularly when they make music as badass as Feed The Rhino do. The band’s frontman, Lee Tobin, is a shoe-in for Beard Of The Week (should we ever get round to resurrecting that particular column).

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[Show as slideshow]

There are still a pair of UK dates on This Is Hell current UK tour, so if you live within spitting distance of either of them and share our photographer’s enthusiasm for mid-air splits, get yourselves along to one of them. After that, the band are heading back to the USA, where they’ll be touring pretty heavily until August, when they’ll be back here in the UK for Hevy, Reading, and Leeds Festivals.

This Is Hell 2012 UK tour dates
May
15 Manchester Star and Garter
16 Andover The George
August
04 Hevy Fest
24 Leeds Festival
26 Reading Festival

Nachtvorst
Silence
code666
14 May 2012

by Tom Dare

If the world has seemed like a beautiful, wonderful place recently – if you’ve had joy in your heart and a spring in your step, if you’ve been listening to the new Anathema album way too much and you just saved a bundle on your car insurance renewal – then the new Nachtvorst album, Silence, will fix that for you in short order. This is an album to prove why the world is an awful, hopeless realm of torment and misery.

Silence opens in a slow, funereal dirge heavy enough to flatten a car like an orange juice carton, all gloom and despondency. This is quite easily the most cheerful bit of the album. From here on in, the world gets progressively more woe-filled, and if you can reach the end without needing to call the Samaritans, you’ve probably not been paying attention closely enough. But rather than being an out-and-out  monotonous crush that risks becoming boring, Nachtvorst change direction in the most smooth but unlikely ways.

The out-and-out doom opening to ‘The Serpent’s Tongue‘ gives way to piano-led melancholy (think ‘Sorgens Kammer‘ from the original recording of Stormblåst by Dimmu Borgir, only with the evil menace of that song replaced with depression, and the shoddy production values being upped astronomically in quality), with the guitars floating like fog in a Victorian London-set horror film. Then the crush returns once again in full, eerie tremolo leads wafting over the top. And then the piano returns, and suddenly you realise you’re on track three already.

Silence is as varied as it is dejected, shifting from doom and dirge to more aggressive, deranged moments and in and out of quiet, reflective introspection. Everything sewing this all together is top notch – the melody makes you want to curl up into a ball and cry, the heavier bits make you want to rage at the sky at the bleakness of existence like a very angry Sartre. But what makes it more than the sum of its parts, what sustains the mood to the point it’s hypnotic and overwhelming, is the seamless way it’s crafted. There are no visible joins. This isn’t a collection of songs, it’s one coherent work, woven together with individual themes like a symphony, one idea flowing into the next which flows into the next, and all part of the same cohesive whole.

Listen to ‘The Serpent’s Tongue’ by Nachtvorst:

The effect of all this is fairly horrendous on your psyche, but right at the end, after a beautiful post-rock-esque ramble through the ether, the shackles come off, the pace ramps up to frantic and full on black metal ferocity is unleashed, making the muscles of your gut clench as the final three minutes of closer ‘A Way Of Silence‘ provides catharsis. The pent-up awfulness that’s been building throughout the course of the entire album gushes out like a torrent from a burst dam, the vicious wrath working everything you’ve been made to feel out of your system in a flood.

This glorious, violent resolution is what cements Silence as the brilliant record it is, drawing you into the most profound emotional distress before providing the perfect way to let it all out, dumping you at the end exhilarated, in need of blowing your nose and drying your eyes, but feeling very much alive and better able to cope with whatever dreadfulness is thrown at you. For such a genuinely upsetting record, Silence leaves you feeling oddly positive at the last. Maybe that’s why it’s such a compulsive listen.

5/6

Sounds like: Shining (the Swedish one) + Altar Of Plagues + doom + a piano.
Top tracks: Listen to the whole thing or miss the point.

Well played, Mr. Hetfield, well played….

(c/o Metal Injection, Metal Sucks, and a whole load of other places)