Grand Magus - Sword Songs album review

If you know of Grand Magus already then they'll need no introduction, but I got into Grand Magus completely by accident. Before getting into the review, let me quickly tell you how I came across this distinctive band.

Stumbling Across Grand Magus

I was waiting for my friends to meet me at midday on the Sunday at Download Festival 2016, when one texted me saying they were running very late due to thronging traffic and that I should head off and see a band instead of waiting for them at the entrance. I headed over to the stage nearest me - the Zippo stage - and waited for the scheduled band to appear, whilst also trying not to slip over in the multiple inches of traditional Download mud. 

 

 

Janne 'JB' Christofferson

I didn't even know the name of the band yet. I didn't have a program and couldn't even decipher the text sprawled in ancient font on a banner at the rear of the stage. Lead singer and sole electric guitarist, Janne 'JB' Christofferson, emerged with his Flying-V Gibson, introduced himself and his two comrades as Swedish band, Grand Magus, and started playing. The only way I could describe what resonated from the stack of Marshall amplifiers was a mash-up of Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Dio and Judas Priest; fantastically dense, riff driven Heavy Metal, but well constructed and not overbearingly fast or even thrash - the latter of which I cannot stand by the way. Much like the first time someone elucidated the genre of Nightwish to me - symphonic Metal - the light bulb when off when 'JB' announced Grand Magus as 'Viking Rock' midway through their set - an apt description and a genre I'd certainly never heard of before.

After doing some research on the band and listening to their whole back catalogue in the six weeks since, I felt confident enough to review their latest album, Sword Songs, released a month before Download, that they performed a few tracks from when I was there.

Sword Songs

Stories of Norse Gods and mythology, battles and the forging of swords - what's not to like?! Grand Magus have made a 15 year career of narrating the prodigious tales of their homeland through the medium of Heavy Metal. You may have thought that after eight albums this gimmick would have become a little laborious, perhaps even repetitive, but - much like Iron Maiden and Motorhead - why change a winning formula?

Although never changing their core style, Grand Magus have altered the delivery by a few degrees on each album. Iron Will from 2008 arguably displayed the grandest of Grand Magus; a supreme demonstration of power Metal, while Hammer Of The North, 2010, exhibited Grand Magus piling on the doom; akin to Black Sabbath in many aspects. Sword Songs takes yet another tangent - offering a more measured approach and diverse structure to the point of considering it a concept album - but without losing sight of what they've made before.

As far as the concept goes, there's the battle cry - Varangian - the preparation for war - Forged in Iron, Crowned in Steel - the declaration of war - Master of the Land - and the Norse honour of dying on the battle field - Last One to Fall. That said, not all nine tracks (11 on the deluxe edition) follow the same trend; Everyday There's a Battle to Fight is quite simply an empowering song about overcoming everyday struggles.

It's exciting storytelling combined with well composed Heavy Metal; it's well worth checking out!

Rating - 8.5/10

Rival Sons - Hollow Bones album review

Rival Sons have been channelling legend ever since their first label release, Pressure and Time, in 2011. The comparisons came thick and fast, but you could never deny their own incredible craftsmanship. Whilst drawing on the influence of luminaries among the likes of Led Zeppelin, Rival Sons have fanned the ashes, reignited the spirit of the Mothership and branded their evolution of Zeppelin onto modern consciousness.

Rival Sons have accelerated their astonishing ascent with their latest album; Hollow Bones. Much like their own echoes to Zeppelin, Rival Sons have echoed their own work on this release - the most obvious being the split title track which wafts recollections of Manifest Destiny from Head Down.

There are many themes to be dissected during the 37 minutes of run time - death, sex, religion - and Rival Sons don't just flirt with them, they dance, casting fuzzy, gruff magic with every step. Never have I ever encountered such a rough sound portrayed quite so smoothly. Dave Cobb is the producer on this record; no wonder it's nigh on faultless.

With musical maturity must also come boundless confidence in the sound you are producing. Fade Out is a perfect example of this. Quiet and soulful, this wonder soon transforms into the most bombastic of classic rock - a solid marker of Rival Sons musical journey.

I would be amiss doing this review and not mentioning Black Coffee, a cover of Humble Pie from 1973. Like the Rolling Stones, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton etc from the early 60s, Rival Sons are besotted with black music and it's influence on their own style. Black Coffee is bold and in your face, yet controlled in its attack. A mid track shift leaves behind lyrics and leaves the floor to the rhythm section and Scott Holiday to blow the studio doors of its hinges, before Jay Buchanan comes back in with a primal wail. Rival Sons have never been a band to include covers on their records - maybe it's intentional - but on this evidence they certainly would stain themselves doing so.

Once again echoing Zeppelin, Hollow Bones pt.2 evokes In My Time Of Dying with massive riffs and a deluge of slide guitar. I said earlier there are themes including religion and no more is that apparent than here, with Buchanan hollering such proclamations as, "Hallelujah", "Hare Krishna", and "In my Creators name"; a full frontal embrace of all aspects of theology.

The album cover itself is as much a wonder to behold as the music itself. A wolf seemingly trudging around an apocalyptic wasteland of psychedelic coral, perhaps conjuring the theme of death, and whether it is or not, it's a welcome throw back to a time when deciphering album covers was as much of the record buying experience as the listening.

Rating - 9/10

Volbeat - Seal The Deal & Let's Boogie album review

Let's start this review on a positive footing shall we? There are some awesome tracks on Seal The Deal & Let's Boogie, some properly infectious, groovy Metal. Unfortunately, for as many fist pumping songs as there are on this disc there are the same amount of wilted, below par offerings.

The problem is clear with Volbeat's sixth studio album; it suffers from a soggy middle. The top is adorned with lusciously sweet, creamy icing, the bottom is moist, but the middle is gooey and inedible.

Buying a new release off what you hear from radio plays of a band's singles is risky, but that's the joy of listening to an entire album; the not-knowing what you're going to set your ears on next. This does, however, leave the listener open to be desperately unsatisfied when what they're listening to doesn't live up to the expectations the singles offered.

This is exactly how I felt listening to STD&LB. Track one, The Devil's Bleeding Crown (one of said singles) opens the album with a bang - a fast, heavy bang - and really whets the appetite for what's to come. Through tracks two to four I have no complains; solid Hard Rock with the beautifully written - and performed partly in Volbeat's native Danish - For Evigt the standout of the first half.

Now, rather depressingly, the quality takes a bit of a nose dive. It's not even particularly clear to me what goes so wrong, but somehow Volbeat end up sounding something akin to Nickelback and it's not pleasant. For my own sanity - and also because I have no desire to describe the flaccidity of the middle four tracks - I'm going to move onto the last, and in my humble opinion, best third of the album.

Goodbye Forever, despite sounding rather apocalyptic, is up tempo and has a little power ballad flavour to it. Volbeat employ a backing choir for the last third of the track and it really adds weight to the deep meaning of the song - a very pleasant, divergent track to anything else on here.

The title track is up next. It's punchy, bolshie, fast and add to that any other synonym you can think of to describe Heavy Metal. It's got a feel similar to that of Metallica and even the guitar sound is "Wah-ed" to rival Kirk Hammett's majestic axe work. It's just a beast, pure and simple.

In Volbeat's Wiki entry, it describes their repertoire as: "Heavy Metal, Hard Rock and Psychobilly", the third of which I was highly confused by. My confusion was thusly ended however when I heard Battleship Chains, a cover of Terry Anderson's song made famous by The Georgia Satellites in 1986. It's got almost every sub-genre of rock infused into it; rhythm and blues, country and punk to name just three! It may not be a diamond on STD&LB, but it's shiny nonetheless.

Overall, STD&LB delivers fun Hard Rock. It's a huge shame the middle of the album doesn't deliver the same intensity, but in no way does it detract from the iconic Volbeat sound.

Rating - 7/10