'BOYHITSCAR' - BOY HITS CAR


What the fuck is this! Why have I not heard of this band before? This is awesome!
The opening, a strummed guitar and bongos, immediately fills the listener with a sense of power and dark foreboding that is quite unsettling......whispered vocals and softly spoken words that can barely be made out make the heartbeat quicken in anticipation and what can only be described as mild terror............and then............BOOOOM! They explode into with a barrage of sound that is instantly infectious and unavoidably headbang-worthy. And this continues for the entire album!!! Each song grips the listener with its quietly seething, frenetic noise - you can literally feel the nervous anxiety in the quietly strained vocals, before all hell is let loose in a frenzy of rage and fury. This is one of those albums that you can't possibly appreciate fully unless it's played really loud!.

Louis Lenard (guitar), Scott Menville (bass) and Michae Ferrari (drums) play their instruments superbly well, but it's CRegg's vocals that make this album what it is - the air bristles with vicious, almost unhinged angst. The result is not unlike that electrifying moment before a lightning strike.
The sound itself is interesting. Boy Hits Car sound like a fucked up Bare Naked Ladies, with a sibtle but distinctive oriental undertone. It's not obscure as you'd first think, and it works surprisingly well. The use of several non-conventional instruments (bongo? ukelele? flute? glockenspiel? pan-pipes? who knows?) adds a fantastically novel twist, and definitely enhances their sound.

At just over 43 minutes this album ends far too quickly. I could listen to this on continuous repeat, for 2 or 3 hours. For anyone who is bored of the desperate, and frannkly quite sickening excuses for punk rock these days, ive this a whirl. But be warned: you won't want to put it down.

5/5

'WYTCHES AND VAMPYRES - THE BEST OF' - INKUBUS SUKKUBUS



Having never heard of this band before I wasn't completely sure what to expect. Supposedly one of the earliest true goth bands I was expecting something dark and morbid, a bit orchestral and perhaps with a tad of heaviness - maybe something like The Cure crossed with Metallica. So therefore the last thing I was expecting was this!. I can honestly think of no other musical analogy than Bonnie Tyler. Indeed, regardless of how many times I listen to 'Wytches...' I STILL expect to hear Holding Out For A Hero to come on next. It is uncanny.
But despite my initial disappointment, this is not to be taken as a dig. This band is most certainly gothic and it is most certainly dark, but you have to listen for it - it is not immediately obvious, and as such it would be futile and pointless to compare Inkubus Sukkubus to modern goth bands like Evanescence or Lacuna Coil.

Wytches and Vampyres is a difficult album to describe. It's almost has a sould, rather than a sound. Underneath the distinctive and 80's soft-rock/pop exterior lurks a blood-lusting wraith, luring the unsuspecting listener closer, closer, into the shadows............until you suddenly realise you've been completely enveloped - no, consumed - by darkness. And what's more, you're actually enjoying it! It's exhilirating, and oddly self-indulgent - you feel alive, but more than that - you feel alive like only the undead could ever feel it! There is also that strange craving for blood.....

None of the tracks on this album would be out of place on a teen-movie soundtrack or an advert for a sleek family car. But that doesn't matter in the slightest because once the pop hooks have sunk their way deep into your flesh, and you've been rendered all-but powerless by Candia Ridley's seductive voice, you'll find yourself in strangely appealing world of vampyres and daemons that you'll be unable (and unwilling) to escape from.

5/5

'GHOST REVERIES' OPETH


On listening to the opening tracks of Ghost Reveries, my first thoughts were of a female-less Tristania. And to be honest, my opinion didn't really change throughout. This album is not another blackwater Park. But it is clearly Opeth. The delicately plucked and strummed guitars, the technically perfect (almost mathematical) drumming, the spoken and often near-whispered vocals which suddenly plunge into a inhuman growls; the sheer epic adventurousness of the songs - all making this unmistakeably an Opeth record.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about Opeth is their fearless ability to turn everything into a mammoth odyssey. This album is almost 67 minutes in length, and with 8 tracks, the average length of each is over 8 minutes. Four of these are over 10 minutes,a nd one is edging towards 12. Listening to this album is like embarking on a journey into someone else's nightmare - a marathon trek through a haunted wasteland. Unfortunately, like most expeditions, things do get a bit monotonous and trying after a while. But you're in it for the distance, and you know that you just have to grit your teeth and get on with it. And by the time you've endured it to the end you realise that you've actually quite enjoyed it.

If you're a dedicated Opeth fanatic you'll undoubtedly love this album from the start, and you probably don't need to read this review. Newcomers and novices may need to be patient and give it a little more time. It is complicated, head-screwing stuff, and it needs concentration; at first anyway. They may not be a household name - they require far too much work for that - but Opeth are kick ass band, and ghost Reveries is another kick ass album which demonstrates clearly that you don't have to be world famous to be fucking huge.

'DARK LIGHT' - HIM


Dark Light. Dark. Light. Dark-Light. Say it to yourself. Dark Light. That name sums up this album so perfectly. Ville Valo's distinctive and powerful crooning of heartbreak and loss, set against a background of gloomy yet surprisingly up-beat and invigorating metal, makes this title particularly apt. This is clearly a HIM album - the sound is unique and unmistakeable. More subdued than 2003's 'Love Metal' but more energetic and stimulating than 'Razorblade Romance', this album plays ballards and nothing but - however these ballads ROCK!!!
The powerfully desolate 'Rip Out The Wings Of A Butterfly' etches itself into your brain immediately, and you'll be singing the chorus for days afterwards; whilst Killing Loneliness just makes you want to get up and dance.

Each track soothes and excites at the simultaneously and in equal parts, leaving the listening feeling both depressed and cheerful, morbid and uplifted - and oddly schizophrenic - at once. There is also remarkable constancy throughout. Each song flows into the next without any wince-inducing mood or tempo-jumps, and it is surprisingly calming and addictive. By the time the final echoes of In The Nightside Of Eden have faded away, all you'll want to do is listen to the whole thing all over again.

It is difficult to find fault with Dark Light. But why anyone would want to is beyond me anyway. It is only my opinion, but this may be HIM's best album yet.

4/5

NIGHTWISH
+ Paradise Lost.
Hammersmith Apollo.
Sunday September 25th, 2005.


The Apollo is a big venue. Tonight it was close to being packed out. Playing in a venue this size when, barely 18 months ago, Nightwish were all but unknown in the UK is a very brave, and surely a sign of something special.

But first things first - the support band. I have only one Paradise Lost album, and it has to be said that it's not one of the favourites in my cd collection. I wasn't expecting very much tonight. However, this album was released in 1991 and it seems that things have changed considerably since then. Imagine In Flames crossed with HIM, but hailing from England, and you have something resembling Paradise Lost. Impressively powerful vocals and a blanket of audible melodic darkness make for a welcome support slot. I was impressed.

Nightwish, as predicted, are amazing. With a full lighting rig and a generous helping of flame and explosion, an already great performance is made even more exciting and enjoyable. Opening with regular crowd-thriller Dark Chest Of Wonders and everyone is instantly hooked, only to be sucked deeper as the light-speed pounding of Planet Hell is unleashed. After this, all resistance is futile, and the Apollo is lost in captivated wonder as a simply breathtaking Ever Dream follows.

As the hits are fired off one after another (Wishmaster, Nemo, Century Child, and an impressive cover of Pink Floyd's High Hopes as well as classic Phantom Of The Opera), it is clear that Nightwish are loving every second of this. Their enthusiasm shines, but so does their musical ability and rock star quality: Tarja's voice is astonishingly powerful - the voice of an angel. Tuomos, wearing a stetson and attacking his keyboards as if he's trying to kill them, must have made every single person in that place suddenly want to take up the piano. Emppu, constantly at the front of the stage, incites the crowd even further with his effortless rock 'n' roll charisma. Jukka, on the other hand, takes after Tuomos and tries to batter his drumkit to pieces as if it's some kind of dangerous wild animal. Marco both looks and shrieks like a lunatic.

Despite the first small signs of tedium creeping into their performace towards the end (they've been touring 2004's 'Once' for well over a year now) it is clear that Nightwish wanted to be here tonight, they wanted to play and they wanted to make several thousand people go beserk to their operatic metal pomposity. This is not their best performance but it was a damn fine one, and as the air is suddenly filled with clouds of red and white ribbon to the closing Ghost Love Score and Wish I Had An Angel, you know that they have done just that - and in true style. Anyone here tonight who wasn't a Nightwish already, is almost certainly one now.

4/5

'DOOMSDAY MACHINE' - ARCH ENEMY


Right from the outset, you can tell this album is going to be huge. And it is. Without the shadow of a doubt. From the very first blood-chilling and quietly menacing opening notes of the intro track 'Enter The Machine', there is a looming feeling that this is going to rip your face off. And you would not be wrong. Unlike the often dull sludginess of most extreme metal bands, Arch Enemy offer constant thrills and racing excitement. They play fast, howling metal that is capable of stripping walls. Their originality and immense musical talents are evident throughout - each track is a cacophany of shredding riffs, uber-Maiden style guitar solos, and immaculate drumming, whilst Angela Gossow's vocals sound like a car door being scraped along the wall of a very wide tunnel at 70mph. But beneath all the aggression are are continual time changes and beautifully intricate melody. This contrast makes DoomsdayMachine perhaps more accessible and commercial than their last full album (Anthems of Rebellion), but don't be fooled by that because although it is generally catchier and more addictive, it is also at times far more savage - this is most certainly NOT a pop record!

The only down point for me is the slightly irritating "Hybrids of Steel". After monsters "Nemesis" and "Carry the Cross" this 80's tinged instrumental seems not only a bit out of place, but also somewhat mastubatory - far too much wah-wah and widdle for apparently just the sake of it. Thankfully this is more than rectified with the monumental closer "Slaves of Yesterday".

This album does indeed rip your face off. But it does not stop there - it then feeds it back to you smothered in Tobasco sauce. I would not be at all surprised or upset if Doomsday Machine won a Best Album Of The Year award. It certainly has the potential.

5/5