'EAT ME, DRINK ME' - MARILYN MANSON

A lot of people don't like Marilyn Manson. They dont' like him because he they consider him obscene, outrageous and extreme. They don't like him because he unapologetically stands for everything they fear and despise. Because he is a disciple of Satan. But anyone with an ounce of patience and an even slightly open mind will soon discover he is serious, intelligent, honest and remarkably good humoured. They will also realise that he is not only a sensationally talented artist, but an undeniable genius. This latest album is a fine example of some of his greatest, and most emotionally charged work.

Perhaps surprisingly 'Eat Me Drink Me' is a lot more chilled out than previous releases. You wouldn't necessarily think so judging by the track names - 'Mutilation is the Most Sincere Form of Flattery', 'They Said That Hell's Not Hot' and 'Just a Car Crash Away' being some examples - but the sound is a lot less violent, the mood a lot less aggressive. Look closer though, especially at the lyrical content of the album, and you will see it streaked with blood-soaked venom and animosity. Marilyn Manson is still not a happy bunny, and these are more than just songs - they are works of art, reflecting his innermost torments and desires. The combination of such dark, disturbing imagery and a very clearly pop-orientated attitude makes for a fascinating listening. Like the man himself, you can take this album at face value if you want to. But it is far more interesting if you're willing to close your eyes and delve inside.

6/7

‘UNITED ABOMINATIONS’ - MEGADETH

Megadeth supposedly played their final show at Download festival at Castle Donnington in 2005, before quitting music for good. Yeah right! Not even 2 years on and they’ve released an album that can probably be considered as one of their best. Capturing all the speed, excitement and unpredictability that made them so unique in the past, they have skilfully honed and condensed these elements, formulating a powerful yet easily accessible record. And for once Dave Mustaine even sounds interested in what he’s singing about.


The thing with Megadeth is that they're incredibly technical and insanely proficient musicians, so sometimes they can lose themselves in themusic and sound up their own arse. Fortunately United Abominations is just not like that. This is a very focused album. ‘Sleepwalker’ opens up like a high-speed train without any brakes, and will surely prove to be nothing less than a classic. Dark and menacing 'Washington Is Next' creeps through the speakers like some snarling predator until you can almost believe it's sat right in front of you, leering and sneering into your face. Set over a news broadcast-style tirade of rhetoric, the title track adds a disturbingly blunt and venomous rant against the UN. But perhaps the nicest touch to this album is the re-recording of 'A Tout Le Monde'. Sang in duet with Lacuna Coil's Cristina Scabbia and with far more sentiment than the original version, this adds a nostalgic edge to what is an otherwise uncompromising and unnervingly scathing political album.


The break has clearly done the trick because United Abominations is like one serious punch in the face, and it feels soooo gooood! Welcome back boys.


6/7

‘IN SORTE DIABOLI’ - DIMMU BORGIR

Dimmu Borgir have never strictly adhered to the standard black metal formula, preferring to offset the raw, often painfully abrasive brain-grating cacophony with powerful keyboard and orchestra driven theatrics. The result is far more accessible than the ear-splitting din produced by many of their contemporaries. But more importantly rather than detracting from the spite and malevolence inherent to this style of music, this extra depth quite overwhelmingly emphasises the emotional nature of black metal.

With 'In Sorte Diaboli' Dimmu Borgir have surpassed themselves. It is so mind-blowingly, beautifully savage it makes you want to scream, murder someone and cry, all at the same time. Anyone who's knees don't tremble while listening to the nefariously delightful majesty of opener 'The Serpentine Offering' is surely dead from the waist down. Shagrat's repeated lament 'My descent is the story of every man. I am hatred, darkness and despair' quite literally brings tears to the eyes as all synapses overload, disintegrate and implode. Yet that is just the beginning. The rest of the album continues in a similarly veiled-vicious vein, 'The Chosen Legacy' kicking off with a spectacular drum intro before the hellmouth itself opens up with an almost trance-like blast of riff and double-kick. 'The Fallen Arises' offers an interesting instrumental interlude - reaffirming the setting of the album's theme in medieval Europe, as the it follows the story of a priest who turns to Satan - before 'The Heretic Hammer erupts in a devastating maelstrom of Stormblast-esque battery. As a finale 'The Foreshadowing Furnace' offers a perfect analogy to his discordant and chaotic demise as he burns to death on the stake.

In Sorte Diaboli. The very name instils fear - it conjures hordes of hooded black-clad riders emerging from a gnarled and shadowy woodland to take your life, your soul. If mankind ever has to experience apocalypse then this album will play a superb and fittingly terrifying soundtrack.

7/7

boyhitscar - 'The Passage'

Apparently this kind of music is called love-core. If there has to be a name for this rock, punk and eastern-style hippy fusion then that is as good as any. Unfortunately on 'The Passage' the blend of whimpering angst and spitting aggression is not quite right and much of the passion that made their debut album so powerful is completely lost. It's like they have taken all the bits that made 'boyhitscar' so energetic and exciting, and completely damped them down. There are hints of it here and there, for example the barely restrained tension on 'The Sound of a Breaking Heart', and the unexpectedly explosive 'All The Love We Hold Inside' but for the most part the fire is gone. That wild, wide-eyed and slightly deranged edge has been replaced with an uncomfortable amount of droney whining and whingeing. Although 'The Passage' is not necessarily utter shite - it does have it's redeeming features, especially for those who have never heard Boyhitscar before - there really is very little reason to listen to this album twice.....or even all the way through a first time.

3/7

Celtic Frost + Kreator.


Wolfrum, Wolverhampton, Wednesday, 15th March 2007.

Where is the Wolfrum Hall? No idea mate. Seriously, if you're planning on going to see a concert in Wolverhampton make sure you get there very early, because you'll spend most of the evening trying to find the venue. And once you're there you won't be particularly impressed. The Wolfrum is essentially a community centre / church hall. There's even a weird little motto above the main hall doorway. The sound quality, as you might expect, is a bit pants. Kreator, who unfortunately have almost finished by the time I arrive, don't seem to realise this however and are trying their very best to obliterate the building - and half the surrounding town - with their death thrash cannonade. They're not doing a bad job either. It really is a shame to have missed the vast majority of this set.

Celtic Frost on the other hand, are slightly more eyebrow-raising. This is a band who have inspired countless others, and who are looked up to by just about every musician interested in the darker side of life. There may be an incredibly good reason for this......but from this perfornamce it is really quite difficult to tell what it is. There is no doubting that the music is good, there is certainly no lack of talent or technical ability. But at the same time it is almost inpenetrable and after a while becomes a bit of a drag. Not quite sludge, but rarely rising above a crawl either, it quickly becomes monotonous and quite boring. This is not music you can headbang to and there really is little to do other than lean against the wall.

Maybe it's a cult thing. Maybe Celtic Frost are like a fine wine, an acquired taste. But maybe there is just some music that does not work well live. For all that CF have to offer, they are perhaps just too inclusive for most people to 'get' first time round.

3/7

'A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH’ – IRON MAIDEN

Some people say that Iron Maiden just make the same album over and over again. But then again some people are stupid and a bit short-sighted. Yes Maiden have a very distinctive sound, but if you listen to a selection of their albums in sequence there is a clear natural progression, as both the music and the sound evolves and develops. Certainly the three most recent releases (‘Brave New World’, ‘Dance of Death’ and this one) are very different from the early days of ‘Iron Maiden’, ‘Killers’ or ‘Number of the Beast’
‘A Matter of Life and Death’ is a big album. No, not big: HUGE! It is wild, adventurous and tremendously exciting. From the opening crash OF ‘Different World’ there is no let up. This is the kind of heavy that doesn’t rely on an incomprehensible din of screaming, screeching and seismic thunder, but on the ability of the music to penetrate every cell and synapse, to make you shudder in awe and horror. Heavy doesn’t have to pick you up and throw you against the wall, sometimes it just crawls right underneath the skin and freezes your blood. And this is precisely what this album does. Every last song instils terror and revulsion – so much so that you’re almost glad when it finally ends….but not quite.

Indeed this may even be Maiden’s finest album. Certainly it is their strongest release since Bruce Dickenson returned on vocals. The musical content is cleaner and more focused than ‘Dance of Death’, and it does not fade to monotony mid-album like ‘Brave New World.’ It is also far more intense – ‘Brighter Than A Thousand Suns’ and ‘The Longest Day’ are both spine-tingling and perhaps two of the most alarming tracks Maiden have ever wrttren. Meanwhile ‘These Colours Don’t Run’ is clearly a song destined to remain in their live set-list for eternity.

So yes, this is another Iron Maiden album, and yes it does sound like Iron Maiden. If this surprises or horrifies you, follow my simple advice: don’t fucking listen to it!

7/7

‘KILL’ – CANNIBAL CORPSE

You’ve got to love Cannibal Corpse. Anyone with even the vaguest sense of humour can’t possibly fail to find their gore-thirsty and astonishingly violent lyrics at least a little bit humorous. There’s no subtlety here. None of the normal tongue-in-cheek suggestion, this is simple, blatant, psychotic carnage. And it’s great! Few bands, even death metal bands, have the balls to approach murder and mutilation in this way. It is really quite refreshing. With song titles such as ‘Five Nails Through the Neck’, ‘Barbaric Bludgeoning’, ‘Brain Removal Device’ and ‘Submerged in Boiling Flesh’, it is difficult to miss the theme of the album. More refreshingly perhaps, is that the music completely lives up to the preconception formed by such vicious names. There is simply no let up. Each song delivers its lethal blast of frenetic jackhammer/ripsaw malice with such dazzling precision and vehemence that by the time you realize it’s over, the next song has already started. But the effect, rather than being a confusing and painful din, is in fact enthralling. If you like heavy music at all, you will love this! You just can't fault it.

7/7

CRADLE OF FILTH + Sabbat + Deathstars.
CARLING ACADEMY, BIRMINGHAM, MONDAY 18th DECEMBER 2006

Sweden’s Deathstars have done well for themselves over here in the last year. Having already completed a UK tour with Lacuna Coil back in March they are proving an impressive live band, giving a solid and invigorating performance. Sounding like some twisted circus hybrid between Rammstein and Marilyn Manson, they rock the Academy and could easily be headliners rather than ‘local’ support band they are billed as.
Sabbat are one of those bands that seem to have been around forever, without having done anything or gone where. For some reason they are also often referred to as ‘the mighty…..’, but on what basis is not clear, because tonight they are little more than boring. The guitars undeniably shred a few faces here and there, but the drummer desperately needs to learn a new beat and aside from the awesome set closer ‘For Those Who Died’, it is difficult to describe them as anything other than a mildly camp dad’s band Slayer rip-off.

After their slightly disappointing Thornography album, there is a lot of anticipation about tonight’s show. Cradle of Filth are legendary as much for their theatrical sets as they are for their savage and dramatic music – will they set Birmingham on fire, or will they crash and burn? Well it was a bit of a stupid question really, wasn’t it! Any doubts should have been left at the door. They fucking rule! Concentrating less on extravagant set design (and ludicrous trapeze artists too, thankfully) and more on the quality and quantity of the music, pays dividends and adds immensely to the atmosphere and ferocity of the show. It has to be said that the new material is also far better when played live than on CD. Extra speed, no doubt at least partly attributable to new drummer Martin Skaroupa – who by the way is simply phenomenal – injects a huge amount of energy into the music. Besides this, a full compliment of guitars and keys once again enables them to unleash their full aural arsenal, giving the audience the full abysmally multi-layered Filth experience. Unfortunately this also works against them at times, making one or two tracks unidentifiable until halfway through. But this deters neither them nor the crowd, and that adds much to tonight’s show. A gig is about the atmosphere, as well as the music. And Cradle of Filth always know how to make people have a good time. This evening was no exception.

6/7