This week’s Heavy Music HQ reviews include releases from Aeon Gods, Ante-Inferno, Crossbone Skully, Defeated Sanity, Die For My Sins, Impellitteri, Iniquitous Savagery, Kingcrown, Múr, Ocean Grove, Trapeze and Xandria.
The ratings are on a 5-star scale.
Aeon Gods – King Of Gods (Scarlet)
After the demise of the symphonic metal band Aeternitas a couple of years ago, guitarist Alex Hunzinger and keyboardist Anja Hunzinger formed a new project, Aeon Gods. Their debut album King Of Gods uses ancient Babylonian legends as the lyrical inspiration.
Alex Hunzinger handles vocal duties on the album, which embraces the bombast and grandiosity of symphonic power metal. The songs are melodic with ample crunch. The centerpiece of the record is the three-song opus “The Flood,” consisting of “Enlil’s Command,” “Nintu’s Lament” and “Enki’s Grace.” It shifts from uptempo and dramatic to mellow and reserved before cranking back up. As you’d expect with their resume, King Of Gods is a polished debut that will hit the spot for symphonic power aficionados.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
Ante-Inferno – Death’s Soliloquy (Vendetta)
A metal band talking about death is like a pop star pining over a lost love; it’s done so much that it’s almost a requirement for every group at some point in their career. Death’s Soliloquy is another album about the end, though Ante-Inferno generate real emotions out of it with their unshakeable black metal. Each song is a short story of various ways one’s life could be extinguished as a horrifying conclusion awaits.
They can get this point across in three-ish minutes (“Thalassophobia”) or over 14 minutes (“An Axe. A Broadsword. A Bullet”). There’s not much levity, though interlude “Into The Eternity Of Death” plays up an orchestral accompaniment to the afterlife. For an album as unrepentant as Death’s Soliloquy, Ante-Inferno finds it in themselves to hold their third album to a bleaker standard.
Rating: 3.5
(Dan Marsicano)
Crossbone Skully – Evil World Machine (Better Noise)
Crossbone Skully is the brainchild of Tommy Henriksen (Alice Cooper, Hollywood Vampires). He managed to convince super-producer Mutt Lange to come out of retirement to executive produce the project’s debut album Evil World Machine.
Among the many guests on the record are the late Pete Way (UFO), Phil Collen (Def Leppard) and Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue). Spoken word sections are provided by Johnny Depp, Alice Cooper, Joe Perry, Sixx and Kane Roberts, who help narrate the concept about an avenging superhero. Crossbone Skully sound a lot like AC/DC, with some added production polish in the vein of groups like Def Leppard. Henriksen has written a lot of catchy, memorable songs that don’t reinvent the wheel, but make Evil World Machine a fun homage to the glory days of arena rock.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
Defeated Sanity – Chronicles Of Lunacy (Season Of Mist)
For more than three decades, the German band Defeated Sanity have been crushing skulls and blowing minds with their brand of technical brutal death metal. They take their time between albums, with Chronicles Of Lunacy their seventh full-length.
The band’s creative songwriting and mind-boggling technicality are fully intact. The album starts with a few shorter but still complex songs like “Amputationsdrang” before unleashing the nearly six minute “Temporal Disintegration,” with numerous tempo changes and intensity shifts and a catchy bass solo. “Condemned To Vascular Famine” is another epic, taking a moment to ramp up before the cacophony is unleashed. There’s a lot to absorb on Chronicles Of Lunacy, but at only about 33 minutes it’s easy to put it on repeat and experience the nuances that become more evident on subsequent listens.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
Die For My Sins – Scream (ViciSolum)
Die For My Sins are a new band formed by Fabio and Nicolas Calluori (Heimdall, From Depths). They were able to recruit legendary vocalist Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear, Gamma Ray) to be their session singer for Scream.
The album encompasses traditional and power metal with some symphonic parts for added depth and atmosphere. Songs like the title track and “Still Alive” emphasize melodic metal, with numbers such as “Dark Symphony” and “Perfect Land” lean more toward power metal. No matter the musical direction, Scheepers’ vocals are always potent and help elevate the material. Ample variety and strong songwriting make Scream a promising debut.
Rating: 3.5
(Chad Bowar)
Impellitteri – War Machine (Frontiers)
If you’ve heard Impellitteri before, you already have a good idea of what this War Machine sounds like. You already know that this album is crammed with neo-classical guitar shred, is endowed with a sharp sound and possesses an arsenal of catchy tunes poised to hook you in. The album also marks the recording debut of drummer Paul Bostaph with the band – an interesting addition considering his thrash roots (Slayer, Kerry King, Forbidden, Testament…). But he seems to have instinctively grasped the feel of Impellitteri’s music as evidenced by the pounding rhythm sections of songs such as “Power Grab” or “Hell On Earth.” The rest of the band’s lineup are Impellitteri veterans in the form of James Pulli on bass, and Rob Rock, whose amazing voice is indeed synonymous with Impellitteri.
The main problem I have here is that Impellitteri’s albums….which I love….all sound the same and War Machine is no exception. Even the lyrics seem to recycle the same themes and metaphors: fire….wrecking balls….fire….metal….fire….etc. With regards the music there are a number of deja-vu moments within the same album. For example, compare the main guitar riff for “Light It Up” with that of “Superkingdom;” they are virtually identical. Nevertheless, I cannot bring myself to hate War Machine because despite what I have asserted, the album ticks all the right boxes for me as far as no-b.s. and cathartic heavy metal is concerned. The adage ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ comes to mind.
Rating: 3.5
(Chris Galea)
Iniquitous Savagery – Edifice Of Vicissitudes (Willowtip)
When the 30 minutes of Edifice Of Vicissitudes are finished, a listener will remember a few things about Iniquitous Savagery. One is how seriously they take their brutal death metal, as this is an album meant to elicit visceral reactions. Secondly is how important their rhythm section is, as most of the musical charm comes from hearing the bass guitar rip out solos or the drums leaving potholes behind with each hit.
They get more out of these points than the passable vocals, which hit all the correct grunts and squeals without any identity, and the competent guitars that generates some catastrophic breakdowns. Edifice Of Vicissitudes is best enjoyed at the loudest volume available as a way to distract from the album’s negligible impact.
Rating: 3
(Dan Marsicano)
Kingcrown – Nova Atlantis (Rockshots)
Formed from the remnants of Öblivïon in 2018, the French power metal band Kingcrown are continuing their evolution with their third high octane album Nova Atlantis. Picking up from their 2022 sophomore album Wake Up Call, their latest creation manages to kick up the energy even more than before.
With the combined talent of lead singer Joe Amor’s Dio-like vocals combined with crisp guitar riffs provided by Ced Legger and Bob Saliba make opener “The Magic Stone” and the title track instant attention grabbers that keep you hooked and head banging till the end. Even with a change in the band dynamics it is clear that Kingcrown never missed a beat and continued to put more and more energy into each album.
Rating: 4
(Dalton Husher)
Múr – Múr (Century Media)
With a population of fewer than 400,000 people (about the same as Wichita, Kansas), it’s amazing how many quality metal bands Iceland has produced. You can add Múr to that long list.
The quintet’s self-titled debut spans a variety of genres and styles, and with several songs in the 9 to 11 minute range, they have plenty of opportunity to explore that variety. The title track is heavy prog metal, while songs such as “Eldhaf” are less intense and explore post rock/metal territory and “Vitrun” is cinematic and atmospheric. Even with a wide variety of approaches, the emotional heft of Múr keeps it cohesive. It’s an impressive and immersive album that will appeal to fans of a variety of genres.
Rating: 4
(Chad Bowar)
Ocean Grove – Oddworld (SharpTone)
The winds of fortune blowing nu-metal’s way again is proof that all trends are cyclical; wait long enough, and even a once reviled sound will be in favor again. Australia’s Ocean Grove are among a crop of acts who have reveled in this approach. Oddworld is their fourth full-length. Having embraced other styles on recent releases, this LP is often rooted so firmly in nu-metal’s heyday – some of its tropes haven’t aged well – it ought to arrive with an accompanying wallet chain.
After the brief intro track, Linkin Park and early Deftones are touchstones amidst the triple-punch groove of “Cell Division,” “Fly Away” and “Stunner.” The band is capable of crafting a catchy hook; “Last Dance” and “Raindrop” are melodic alternative fare with rock-radio potential. Hip-hop flavored closer “OTP” also injects further variety. Given Linkin Park are back on the scene, and Limp Bizkit remain a nostalgia drawing card, perhaps it’s an appropriate time for a new record with more than a passing reference to the style’s commercial kingpins. However, despite the energetic attack, Oddworld can feel overly derivative, generic even; sacrificing some of the unique identity the band had previously established. Clocking in at less than half an hour, this album cleverly doesn’t outstay its welcome. Revivalists, and there are plenty of those around, will want to reside in Oddworld.
Rating: 2.5
(Brendan Crabb)
Trapeze – The Lost Tapes Vol. 2 (Metalville)
Underrated is a word that’s often thrown about recklessly in music but it seems entirely appropriate in the case of Trapeze. The band split up and reformed a number of times between the late 1960s and mid 1990s and served as a hotbed of talent. Vocalist/bassist Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath), drummer Dave Holland (Judas Priest), vocalist Peter Goalby (Uriah Heep) and keyboardist Geoff Downes (Asia, Yes) were just a few of the musicians who cut their teeth with Trapeze. The band was permanently laid to rest when guitarist and founding member Mel Galley died in 2008. By that point, he had amassed numerous recordings that never saw the light of day and this album gathers 14 of those songs on one disc.
Despite their demo or rehearsal status and the inevitably imbalanced sounds, the musicianship and songwriting quality of these songs really shines through. If you’ve never heard the band, 1970s bands such as Kiss, Thin Lizzy and even early AC/DC would point you in the right direction, but stylistically this retrospective covers a lot of ground. There’s funk, blues, rock, AOR and more besides and this eclecticism adds to the album’s appeal. Highlights include “Turn It On” featuring some great vocals and hand percussion and the hard rockin’ “Live Fast Die Laughing” which is apparently the last track ever recorded by Mel Galley. The Lost Tapes – Vol. 2 keeps the band’s legacy alive via a string of gems.
Rating: 4
(Chris Galea)
Xandria – Universal Tales (Napalm)
After an extended hiatus and numerous lineup changes, the German symphonic metal band Xandria released The Wonders Still Awaiting last year. They follow that up with the EP Universal Tales.
There are four new songs, which fit right in with The Wonders Still Awaiting. “No Time To Live Forever” is heavy and symphonic, while “Universal” showcases Ambre Vourvahis’ vocals that range from melodic singing to operatic belting. Violinist Ally Storch guests on the folky “200 Years,” and “Live The Tale” is the EP’s most accessible track. There are also orchestral versions of the four songs and a film score version of “The Wonders Still Awaiting.” Universal Tales is a nice stopgap release to tide over Xandria fans until the next full-length.
Rating: 3
(Chad Bowar)
