Category Archives: Other Heavy Shit

The Diablo Red record that never was…

Posted by gruesomegreg on

Moving to my new apartment a couple weeks back forced me to reorganize my CD collection.  And be reorganize, I mean get rid of a lotta shit.  That said, I had some titles so obscure that even Sonic Boom wouldn’t touch ‘em.  And then there were the demos and CDRs I stumbled across, including this one, the never-released fourth album from my former favourite Toronto band, Diablo Red…

Just stuck this in my CD player for the first time in who-knows-how-long.  Alas, while it skipped like a suicide mother on several occasions, what I was able to ascertain is that it still sounds refreshingly awesome.  Here’s the blow-by-blow:

Always thought “Shotglass Full of Pills” was a great opening track.  A straight-ahead southern chugger with a big, anthemic chorus about their singer’s struggles with Crohn’s Disease…  Wait, was it Crohn’s?  I suppose it could be interpreted as a drug-addiction song too, for that matter.  Still a great, great song.  Personal favourite.

On the other hand, I can’t recall “Long After the Fall” at all.  A good stoner groove kicks this one off, to a slightly slow-paced stomp.  Okay, I definitely recognize this chorus.   Name-drops Jesus without sounding too preachy.  This song is every bit as good as Black Label Society, Black Stone Cherry, and all those other southern-sounding bands that received their share of recognition—whether they began with Black or not.  “Unbroken” actually sounds a little bit like BLS, come to think of it, with a bit more of a gruff, smoky growl than we’re used to hearing from Catch Murphy.

“King Con” is another one I recognize, as it slowly creeps up to the surface, riffs building on top of a lone, repeated guitar line.  From there, it’s all stop-and-start territory, a winding path that would make Nashville Pussy proud.  “Stone of Atonement” begins with an upbeat shuffle signalling a slightly more up-tempo number.  These guys always were good when they (rarely) played fast, although this one’s just a little more than mid-paced with a slow, gloomy instrumental break thrown in for good measure.  Now, “Crossroads” may be a clichéd title, but this song is anything but ordinary, culminating in another catchy chorus that should have raised many fists at biker rallies.  (I heard they played a couple in their day.)

“Death’s Our Name” was meant to be the title track, though they were going with some garbled Spanish translation as I recall.  In any case, Diablo was certainly fluent in the language of the riff, as another solid southern stomper gets my boots shakin’ in no time.  Frankly, I feel that “southern doom” is a fairly non-existent subgenre, but I suppose it should sound something like this.

“Six Bells Till Closing” is another personal favourite.  At one point, they were going to release a pirate-themed EP with this as its centrepiece.  And yet, I used to think this song was called “Dying Man’s Morning,” as it was mislabelled on an earlier demo I used to have.  (And maybe still have somewhere…)  Alas, the Pirate EP never happened, but I stagger stagger-ed, roll roll-ed quite often to this tune, if ya know what I mean.  “Cannons roar/My blade digs in/Shattered bones/Survive you win!”  Always loved that line.

Of course, since this album never actually came out, I reckon the band doesn’t owe Gene Simmons royalties for “1,000 Years,” which is just one zero short of a KISS song title.  That said, this song tunes KISS down several notches for a low ‘n slow southern ballad(?) that grooves along grunge-ily.  It’s somewhat more laid-back and low-key compared to the other killer cuts on here, until it explodes into a mind-melting solo that’s but a bit too brief.

The album ends with two songs that I can’t recall for the life of me.  “Lost Tomorrow” is another sorta-slow, down-tuned, low-key effort—one more hyphen and it wins the prize, albeit at six-minutes plus, it sure takes its sweet time to collect.  As for “Shower of Bastard,” well, I’d imagine it would be quite smelly.  But it turns out this tune has a slight spring to its step, with a repeated “fuck you” refrain.  Erm, perhaps that’s a pre-refrain—which sorta sounds like those beans I had at that Mexican place last night…

Maaaaaaaaaaan, I miss this band.  It would be nice if this freakin’ CDR didn’t skip so much, but considering I found it in a pile of stuff I didn’t even know I had a couple weeks back, I suppose I can’t complain.

“I raise my glass… to my comrades that fel-ee-ee-el!”

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AMATEUR CONCERT PHOTOGRAPHY HOUR: OXBOW, Thighs, Godstopper @ The Garrison, May 18, 2013

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It’s been a while since I’ve been to The Garrison.  Turns out, they moved the bar to the back of the room, where it now serves Grasshopper and…  Old Style Pilsner!?  Didn’t know you could even buy that shit out here!  In any case, it remains a decent place to catch a concert, with a solid sound system and heavy soundtrack between bands.  Speaking of which, all the local openers on the evening were very à propos.  Looks like Toronto’s noise-rock scene is alive and well.

Now, I’ve been listening to Godstopper for quite some time, but had not caught them in person until this evening.  They play live as a three-piece, although they were previously a one-man studio project.  Mind you, said one-man still performs drums and vocals simultaneously, which is pretty impressive, seeing as I can’t even chew gum and drink coffee.

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The next band, Thighs, politely asked me to move while they set up their equipment… on the floor.  Hey, if it means less setup time for the headliners, I’m all for it.  With such an in-your-face setup, I was expecting a blistering set of hardcore punk shorter than most bowel movements, but in the end, they turned out to be more post-hardcore, which was still cool, and better suited for this bill, anyways.

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Lest you get the impression this was an instrumental outfit, they did have a singer.  It’s just that he was behind me most of the time…

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And then, of course, the main event.  Twas quite a coincidence that a horse named Oxbow won the Preakness the same day as the band Oxbow played a rare weekend gig.  Eugene Robinson made a comment to this effect, saying “you should’ve bet on Oxbow.”  He delivered more such low-key, humourous stage banter when not unleashing his high-pitched vocals, which sounded a little low in the mix.  Otherwise, twas an overall enthralling set, a rare, one-off appearance well worth the price of admission.

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And yes, Robinson stripped down to his underwear.

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NOT-SO-CLASSIC ALBUM REVISTED: As I Lay Dying – Shadows are Security (Metal Blade, 2005)

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You actually listen to As I Lay Dying?  You own an As I Lay Dying CD?  More than one?

Nope, just this one, actually.  I got it as a free promo when I was with CKLN, listened to it once or twice, then filed it away in a binder somewhere, never to be played again—until their singer was arrested for allegedly paying a guy to kill his wife.  For a band that lists God first amongst the Thank Yous in the liner notes of this very album, that’s certainly not very Christian of him.  Of course, these allegations have yet to be proven in a court of law—but I kinda wanna play this thing backwards to see if Tim Lambesis says “Do It” back-masked on here somewhere…

When spun in the proper direction, the album begins with “Meaning in Tragedy,” which sounds an awful lot like In Flames circa Clayman.  In fact, they could’ve called this “Only for the Weak Pt. 2—Now with More Breakdowns!”  One does detect a Christian theme in the lyrics, at least those that aren’t delivered with a gurgling vocal that sounds like my sink backing up when that storm hit.  “Confined” was one of four(!) singles released by Metal Blade off of this one, and wastes no time in getting down to the chugga-lugga.  It also has some clean vocals in this chorus that kinda sound like Hoobastank or something.  “Losing Sight” also bursts out of the gate with some At the Gates worship before driving in the nail with annoying metalcore drumming.  There are actually one or two decent riffs in here that wouldn’t sound outta place on a mid-level thrash album—were it not for the chugging drums.

“The Darkest Nights” (single #4, if you’re keeping track at home) has a decent Gothenburg-sounding demarche, reminding me that I haven’t listened to ANY of this kind of music in quite some time.  But the nostalgia is ruined by another crappy clean chorus, and I’m almost tempted to put on Whoracle instead (which actually happens to be stashed in the same CD binder).  “Empty Hearts” brings back the metal-to-the-core in a big way with a big karate-chopping bit right off the bat.  Consider me unfulfilled.  “Reflection” falls back into the familiar, one-core, one-melo-death alternating pattern as another helping of the latter.  Are there really six more songs of this!?

Indeed, there are.  “Repeating Yesterday” starts off slow and mellow, sounding almost like a Neurosis number—for about a minute.  But even the heavier moments have a slightly more progressive bent, a welcome respite from all the pummeling up to this point.  Of course, the breakdowns return with “Through Struggle,” which I believe was the third single.  More Gothenburg-core worship.  “The Truth of My Perception” also bursts out of the gates before bursting into a buncha breakdowns.  Not that they’re becoming predictable or anything…

“Control is Dead” starts off with a sea of swirling feedback, but instead of going the Sons of OTIS route (yeah, like that was gonna happen!), it’s back to the breakdowns, some decent fast-paced riffing punctuated far too often with those thundering drums.  “Morning Waits” is (surprise, surprise) another melodic-death number, those clean, up-tempo passages sounding all too familiar by now.  “Illusions” brings this to a sweet, merciful end with several seconds of crackling radio static that increases in volume and intensity before fading out into a winding riff, and you know it won’t be long before the chugging begins anew.  The tempo is slightly different—and includes several whispered-word passages—but overall, the song remains the same.

Y’know, hearing this again, I think I remember thinking back in the day that these guys were a lot like In Flames, just not as good.  They’ve certainly reaffirmed that perception with this subsequent listen.  Simply put, this is not a killer record, but it might hand someone a grand at Gold’s Gym to knock you off. ;)

Sounds like they should change their name to As She Lay Dying…

Posted by gruesomegreg on

The Associated Press is reporting that “The lead singer of the Grammy-nominated metal band As I Lay Dying was in jail Wednesday in Southern California on suspicion he tried to hire an undercover detective to kill his estranged wife.”  Shows how low the Grammy’s have stooped these days.  In any case, it proves the theory that metal(core) doesn’t make you violent—it allegedly makes you hire other people to do your dirty work.

According to the Associated Press, “Tim Lambesis, 32, was stopped by police while shopping in Oceanside, four days after detectives received information that the singer had solicited someone to kill his wife,” which musta been awkward for the other patrons at Hot Topic.  “The department would give no further details on the investigation,” as per the AP, but it’s alleged that he tried to karate chop an officer in time with some “wicked breakdowns.”

The AP report says his band “plays in an aggressive style that features metal guitar riffs at the furious pace of hardcore punk,” which shows that they’ve never actually listened to As I Lay Dying.  Also noting that AILD “was scheduled to tour the country with several other metal acts starting later this month,” it seems the AP isn’t familiar with the musical stylings of Killswitch Engage, Miss May I and Affiance, either.  (Truth be told, I’ve only heard of the first band.)

In a further paragraph that could influence future proceedings, the AP report states Lambesis was willing to have his ass branded by the highest donor to a fundraising campaign for his side project.  “The top prize, for those who spent $5,000, was to have the winner’s initials tattooed on Lambesis’ buttocks, the newspaper said.”  Should he be found guilty, he’ll surely be getting his buttocks tattooed, if you know what I mean…

CLASSIC ALBUMS REVISITED: Slayer – Reign in Blood (Def Jam, 1986)

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Guitarist Jeff Hanneman died the other day of liver failure, which may or may not have been related to a spider bite he suffered a couple years back.  And if you don’t know who Jeff Hanneman is, you don’t know Slayer.  The duo of Hanneman and Kerry King not only shredded all over several thrashterpieces; they wrote most of them, too.  In fact, Hanneman is solely responsible for either the words or the music to such classics as “Angel of Death,” “Altar of Sacrifice,” “Reborn,” “Postmortem” and “Raining Blood”—all from the band’s 1986 genre-defining classic Reign in Blood.

Slayer’s major-label debut—on Def Jam Records, no less!—was so short that you could fit the entire thing on one side of a cassette.  But you’d be hard-pressed to find a more impactful 29 minutes of metal anywhere up to that point, or even since.  Storming out of the gates with “Angel of Death,” the band immediately makes its presence felt with a barrage of buzzsaw riffage begetting a tortured Tom Araya scream that sears itself into your skull.  The verses chug and grind like a well-oiled machine, pumping and pulsating beneath a simple, scream-along chorus—to say nothing of the redonkulous divebomb guitar solo!  This, right here, is how thrash is supposed to sound, kids.

While the anthemic opener and bookend “Raining Blood” both surpass the four-minute mark, not another one of these 10 tracks exceeds three minutes.  “Piece by Piece” chugs along for a shade over two minutes, its stop-start riffage pounding your speakers all the way.  “Necrophobic” kicks it up another notch, an impossibly-fast number that’s all over in one-minute-40.  “Altar of Sacrifice” slows things down—relatively speaking, of course—for three minutes of metal-thrashing-madness with Satanic themes, before “Jesus Saves” drives in the nail with its whiplash-inducing march of the damned.

The slow drum beat that begins “Criminally Insane” will stay in your brain, as a subtle chug rises up from the midst.  Next to “Angel of Death,” this is probably the best song to shout along with—if your tongue can keep up with Tom Araya’s, that is.  “Reborn” is another quick little thrasher that pulls no punches, pummeling the listener into submission in just over two minutes.  “Epidemic” keeps pushing the tempo with a blast of thrash, until “Postmortem” brings it to a near-close with more of a mid-paced gut-punch building to a crashing crescendo as it comes to a close.

And then, of course, comes the pseudo title-track, “Raining Blood” with its familiar rain-drops and pounding drums intro leading into a song that’ll make your Christmas lights go crazy.  This number pushes the pace even more than its famous predecessor, and while it doesn’t have the catchy lyrics about a nasty Nazi, it more that makes up for it in sheer headbangability.  And of course, there’s that famous ringing riff that sounds like some sort of demented Christmas carol, bringing on the breakdowns that show all those karate-chopping bands how it’s done.  Another dropping divebomb solo shows why Jeff Hanneman matters—if you hadn’t been paying attention to this point.  Here’s hoping he got enough in the can before his passing to make their next record worthwhile.

COMMENT OF THE DAY: Wait, did Gene Simmons die or something?

Posted by gruesomegreg on

RIP Jeff Hanneman.  The Slayer shredder, who had contracted necrotizing fasciitis from a spider bite, passed away yesterday before he could write a ripping rager about necrotizing fasciitis.  Cuz that had to be a topic tailor-made for Slayer—if not Cannibal Corpse or Carcass.  (Flesh-Eaten Back to Life?)

Anyways, tributes have been pouring in from across the web, including the National Post, where somebody thinks Slayer is the most recognizable brand in popular music.  No, really.

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Don’t get me wrong, I like Slayer as much as the next guy who doesn’t have their logo carved into his skin, but that assertion is pretty far-fetched.  Now, if buddy wrote “one of, if not the, most recognizable brands in heavy metal,” he’d have a valid point—even though I’d give the edge to Iron Maiden.  (I just so happen to be wearing a Maiden t-shirt as I type this.)  But man, when I first read that comment, I coulda sworn he was talking about KISS…

AMATEUR CONCERT PHOTOGRAPHY HOUR: CLUTCH/Orange Goblin @ Sound Academy, April 18, 2013

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Be forewarned, these are by far the most amateur photos of the weekend.  As you may know, the Sound Academy is a massive venue, and although I was able to get pretty close to the front, I wasn’t nearly as near to the stage as I am at most gigs.  Therefore, you’re bound to see lotsa heads, fists and other body parts in these long-angle shots.

That being said, it was great to see Orange Goblin for the first time.  These guys played as much of a career-spanning set as you can cram into 45 minutes, all while encouraging the crowd to get as crazy as possible.  Not only is he one of the tallest frontmen I’ve ever seen, but Ben Ward certainly has the energy to match, as seen below:

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While there were certainly some fans who were into Orange Goblin, there was no question who the main event was.  During Clutch’s set, I was jostled around enough that I ultimately ended up a few feet from the rail, albeit all the way over at stage right.  But one did not need a camera to take in the tuneage; although the set seemed somewhat heavy on the latest album, twas still a solid, 100+-minute performance.

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Look…  a ghost!

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AMATEUR CONCERT PHOTGRAPHY HOUR: U.D.O. @ Mod Club, April 14, 2013

Posted by gruesomegreg on

Yeah I know, this show was last Sunday.  Hey, I’ve had a pretty busy week, what with Fu Manchu on Monday, Clutch and Orange Goblin last night…  But on the other hand, I’ve got nothing going on the next couple days, aside from packing for The Big Move (more on that later), so it’s gonna be Amateur Concert Photography Weekend in this space.  Starting with one of my boyhood idols, der Mann, der Mythos, die Legende…  Herr Udo Dirkschneider!

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I hafta say, knowing that there wouldn’t be too many Accept songs in the set, I didn’t have high expectations coming in.  But y’know, Udo’s solo stuff’s catchy enough that after hearing the chorus once, you can sing along the next time.  Not to mention that when he did dig up some Accept chestnuts like “Head Over Heels” and “Screaming for a Lovebite,” his voice really did them justice.  Hey, I’ve got nothing against Mark Tornillo, but I do believe his current outfit once released a greatest hits album called Accept – No Substitutes.  Ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby!

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Udo’s international backing band hails from four different countries (Russia, Finland, Germany, Italy), and while half of them only joined before his latest album, they still knew all the hits–or at least the ones he chose to play, anyways.  They were also pretty good at mimicking some of the familiar stage moves in their matching leather pants…

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(Looks like the drummer’s wearing shorts, though.)

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GUITAR SOLO!!!!!

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Get ready for some classic Accept poses…

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Now, having seen them both in person, I couldn’t help noticing:

fordschneider(Ooookay, so maybe not.)

GOBLIN REVISITED: A Eulogy for the Fans (Candlelight, 2013)

Posted by gruesomegreg on

One would assume that when sending out promos for this live CD/DVD, the label and/or its PR team might think to include the video as well as the audio—but that’s sadly not the case. I suppose it’s somewhat more difficult to send digital DVD promos, but I digress…

What we have here, on the audio portion, is the band’s hour-long set from last year’s Bloodstock Open Air, one which draws heavily from the similarly titled studio album—albeit not too heavily, with just four of the twelve tracks culled from their latest record. We’re also treated to such chestnuts as “Blue Snow” and the title track from sophomore effort Time Travelling Blues and the one-two punch of “Scorpionica” and “Quincy the Pigboy” off of 2000’s The Big Black.

“We’re Orange Fuckin’ Goblin, we’ve come to play you some heavy metal!” Ben Ward gives us his best Lemmy off the top, leading into “Red Tide Rising,” the fans’ eulogy commencing in much the same fashion as that of the damned. The record sorta comes off like a Motorhead set in its not-overly-polished, warts-and-all approach—which suits this blend of dirty, heavy rock just fine, mind you. “Time Travelling Blues” is dedicated to “every single one of you,” the band engaging in typical festival banter (“It’s a fuckin’ honour to be here,” etc) between songs. There’s even a Cockneyed “Goblin, Goblin” chant from the crowd on a couple occasions…

Man, I dunno if they’ll get a full hour when they open for Clutch on these shores, but this seems like a pretty decent precursor of things to come.

(Originally written for hellbound.ca.)

GOBLIN REVISITED: A Eulogy for the Damned (Candlelight, 2012)

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Hot on the heels of their early Rise Above reissues, Orange Goblin return with their first new album in almost five years. But this one isn’t so much of a blast from the past, An Eulogy… picking up where they left off with Healing Through Fire with those southern-style stoner grooves, though this one has a bit more of an epic sludge attack with some Mastodonic leanings on tunes like the opener, “Red Tide Rising.”

There is also a bit of a rough-around-the-edges, Motorhead heavy blues vibe on a couple of these tracks, Ben Ward channeling Lemmy with his sandpaper rasp. See “Stand for Something,” for instance, or “The Filthy and the Few.”

You’ll also find some mellower moments on here, like “Save Me from Myself,” which sounds like a raspier Kenny Wayne Sheppard number, but they’re balanced out with the heavy storm of tunes like “The Fog” or “Bishop’s Wolf.” Hey, variety is the spice of life, right?

(Originally written for Hellbound.ca, December 19, 2011)