Back catalogue: Metal

Review: No, not that Sade is the first thing to note or you will very much be in for a shock. This Sade is a gloomy metal band made up of Andrew Pozzy on vocals, guitars, piano, synth, Silvia on bass, backing vocals and Matt Sade on drums and pads with Maurizio Baggio also going for some additional guitar and synth work. This album has been informed by the pandemic and brings all new darkness to the band's sound. Dark-wave and goth moods pervade the tracks which all lay out a pessimistic and nihilistic view of the human condition.

Review: Norwegian black metal mainstays, Satyricon, are no strangers to pursuing outlier projects and collaborations with differing artists and ensembles such as Anja Garbarek, Trondheimsolistene, and The Norwegian National Opera Chorus, to name but a few. Their latest endeavour sees an original scoring of arguably Norway's most famous artist, Edvard Munch, and a unique exhibition of his works at the Munch museum in Oslo. One look at Munch's most iconic piece, 'The Scream', should be enough to draw the connections between both artist's meditations on isolation and despair. A singular, 56-minute composition, aural companion-piece that traverses the depths of ambient, folkloric post-black metal in a manner that's been seldom heard from the duo of Satyr and Frost; this is the sound of two equally profound artists and their works coalescing in hideously ethereal abandon.

Review: Sightless Pit is Lee Buford (aka The Body) and Dylan Walker (aka Full of Hell). The creative pair's debut album Grave of A Dog put them right up there with the best bands in the heavy metal scene. They now follow it up with another album that redefined heavy guitar sounds. Lockstep Bloodwar is an eclectic one sound wise and it features some big names making guts appearances such as Gangsta Boo from Three 6 Mafia, YoshimiO from Boredoms, plus Midwife, Lane Shii Otayonii and more. This version comes on limited translucent red marbled vinyl for a look as freaky as the music sounds.

Review: One look at Skullflower's 2013 album, Kino II: Form Destroyer, is enough to show that, despite the sounds themselves, there's a tongue-in-cheek tendency at play - track titles like 'Big Muff' and 'Solar Anus' sit alongside others that feel more appropriate to the deep and often highly atmospheric work actually being presented ('Procession of Eternity', 'Serve No Purpose'). A decade on, there's still a sense of humour. The British noise rock outfit have also retained every bit of the ferocity they've been praised for since first emerging out of London in 1987. This is heavy, sinking into quicksand, Black Sabbath-meets-avant garde metal, with captivating, almost ceremonial rhythms, screaming guitars, and a layer of fuzz thicker than the smoke at gigs we remember from the bad old good old days.

Review: Slayer's album Mind Control was recorded for public radio broadcast in 1990. It was captured in 1994 in Brazil and finds the legendary trash metal kings right at the very top of their game and showing why they were unanimously regarded as one of the most mighty metal outfits ever. This limited edition blue vinyl version of the live album is packed with intense metal weaponry and includes serval of their most well known and loved hits such as 'Hell Awaits,' 'Mind Control,' 'Dead Skin Mask' and several others. An essential and raw collection from these guitar heroes.

Review: Recorded at Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden, this Slayer album has only been available on CD before and has been hard to find for fans ever since it arrived. It now arrives on gatefold vinyl via Fallen Angel as a full recording of Slayer's performance At The Big 4 Festival. The 11-track set is full of the iconic bands usual thrash metal, slashing guitar riffs and guttural vocal deliveries. Full of menace and raw energy, it's a reminder of one of metal's best bands in top form.

Review: At the turn of the 21st century, Slipknot opted to take the newfound fame and success rewarded by their self-titled debut, and run it into the ground in, what has to be, one of the most intriguing examples of chaos and inner band turmoil lending to an integral work.

Named after their home state, 'Iowa', still remains an utterly frightening project, driven by addiction, depression, and encompassing negativity. Refusing to pursue a more accessible route regardless of the ensuing momentum around them, the collective would lash out with an extremely severe batch of material that remains challenging even by today's standards.

While the now iconic leads singles, 'My Plague' and 'Left Behind' remain embedded in the metal spectrum, deeper cuts such as the caustic 'People = Shit', nihilism rally of 'The Heretic Anthem' or the decrepit defeatism of 'Skin Ticket' offer the bleakest look into the band's psyche at their most temperamental of conditions.

The fact that frontman Corey Taylor has confessed that the 14-minute closing title-track was recorded while highly inebriated and cutting himself with a broken liquor bottle, should be all the background one could need when approaching this complex, unforgiving beast of an album.

Reissued after far too long an absence, this beautiful new rendering finally allows for a timeless endeavour to be rediscovered in all of its violent glory; rarely bridging the vast dichotomy between mainstream and extreme metal.

Review: 
The nu-metal scene of the late nineties/early noughties arguably birthed no act as seminal or incomparable as the masked, nine-member Iowa collective known as Slipknot.

Their highly influential self-titled full-length debut marked the first studio appearance of now iconic vocalist and frontman, Corey Taylor, whose unkempt aggression and visceral performance would help chart a course for a group destined for exposure and acclaim far beyond their murky compositions.

With buzzsaw riffs, a claustrophobic percussive assault and Taylor's vitriolic pennings, cuts such as '(Sic)', and 'Eye Less' have maintained their integral ferocity decades on while the rap-metal frenetics of 'Spit It Out' and melodious lead single 'Wait & Bleed' have remained the high water mark for all chasms of mainstream metal to this day.

Out of print and resold at extortionate prices for years, this reissue is a vital piece of the puzzle for any fan of the nine or collector of genre staples. Don't sleep on this rare chance to lock down a twisted classic.

Review: The much anticipated follow up to 2003's, 'Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses', almost painted Slipknot into an uncertain corner, but once the now iconic 'Psychosocial' dropped, essentially all reservations were laid to rest.

Continuing to stray further from the bile and limescale grit of their earlier work, 'All Hope Is Gone', took the melodic lessons of its predecessor, and expanded upon them with dynamic and controversial results. From the crushing breakdowns and visceral fury of 'Gematria (The Killing Name)', to the Stone Sour leaning, big melody hooks of 'Sulfur' and 'Dead Memories', all the way to arguably one of the strongest points of contention, the utterly vulnerable and melancholic 'Snuff', would reveal dimensions of the Iowa 9-piece some never thought possible.

Possibly the most misunderstood entry in the collective canon, the project has garnered its own cult status in recent years, and also poignantly marks bassist Paul Grey's final effort with the group before his untimely passing in 2010.

Review: Upon the strange reception received by the creatively uncertain, '.5: The Gray Chapter', many wondered where the Iowa collective would set their sights to next. Processing the lingering grief of losing their bassist, Paul Gray, proved a major undertaking that many naturally assumed would be the final output from the 9, but 2019's, 'We Are Not Your Kind', proved to be a malodorous mission statement, reminding all just how and why Slipknot are one of the biggest metal acts in history. With utterly intense cuts such as 'Nero Forte' and 'Unsainted', this sixth full-length proved to be the revitalised rebirth many anticipated from its predecessor, while foreshadowing a creative future seemingly impossible a few years prior.

Review: With reissues of their entire back catalogue of full-lengths dropping throughout 2022, it was all but hinted that Iowa's masked metal entity were hard at work behind the scenes. 'The End, So Far' will serve as the seventh Slipknot album, set to capitalise on the momentous rebirth of 2019's, 'We Are Not Your Kind', which marked a ferocious return to form after the mainstream success of 'All Hope Is Gone', and the sonic uncertainty that meandered through '.5: The Gray Chapter.' Now fully comfortable and adapted to their current line-up, cuts like the simultaneously pummelling yet anthemic, 'The Dying Song (Time to Sing)', or the deranged, 'The Chapeltown Rag', seem to be indicative of an utterly new era for the 9.

Review: Continuing the onslaught of Slipknot back catalogue reissues, '0.5: The Gray Chapter', saw the collective channel the shared grief and inner turmoil of losing their bassist Paul Gray, into a dynamic, vicious fifth full-length that served as a twisted follow up to 2008's global success, 'All Hope Is Gone.' Harboring some of their darkest singles in over a decade, such as the blistering, 'The Devil In I', or the claustrophobic assault of, 'Custer', many may consider the project to be the outlier within the 9's canon, but with drummer Joey Jordison's last recorded performance, and before the rebirth of 'We Are Not Your Kind', this work served as a complicated reflection of artists lost in a deep state of bewilderment and trauma; utilising their connection and artform to process and heal in ugly, chaotic abandon.

Review: BBE Music continues to delve into the exceptional back catalogue of Detroit's Strata label. Overall, there's not a huge amount there, with just ten albums released during the imprint's tenure. Nevertheless, what's there has plenty worth diving into, not least the stunning cover designs by iconic jazz poet John Sinclair - aesthetics to set the mood, make no mistake.
Sphere's Inside Ourselves was the third record put out on the platform. Recorded live at the Detroit Institute of Arts on 28th June 1970, and like much of the Strata stuff, this is about boundary-free jazz that captivates and compels the listener as much as it seems to entrance and possess those playing it. Indicative of the overall standard that came out of the camp itself, collective memories of Sphere themselves seem hazy, but John Dana, Jimmy Peluso, Keith Vreeland, Eddie Nuccilli and Larry Nozero made up the outfit, so props to them.

Review: Arizona doom-metal outfit, Spirit Adrift, are set to follow up last year's exceptional, 'Forge Your Future' EP, with '20 Centuries Gone'; a collection of covers from a diverse array of artists all intrinsic to the band's core dynamic. Running the gamut of deep, underrated tracks from the likes of Type O Negative, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Thin Lizzy and Pantera, this mini-LP of sorts offers a unique insight into the essential components which primary songsmith Nate Garrett constantly finds himself reverting back to, in search of inspiration and rejuvenation. Featuring two brand new songs; the pummeling 'Sorcerer's Fate', and the aptly titled, 'Mass Formation Psychosis', as well as some major surprises (the rendition of Metallica's 'Ride The Lightning' deep cut, 'Escape', is exceptionally potent), this collection keeps the momentum churning on from 2020's last full-length, 'Enlightened in Eternity', and serves as testament to the band's inability to sit still for more than a few months.

Review: The fourteenth full-length from Orange County Christian metal mainstays, Stryper, continues to fly the flag of their devout beliefs and undying penchant for big hair, biff riff, power metal. Following on from 2020's, 'Even The Devil Believes', it should be evident this late in the game, that primary songwriter Michael Sweet and his longstanding cohorts are still dedicated to their original ethos set out almost four decades ago, as well as continuing to deliver time and again to their legions of fans. Abandon all hope ye who don't like your metal polished, glamorous and packed with spiritual affirmation.

Review: Following on from 2019's Years Of Aggression, Greek thrash metal behemoths Suicidal Angels return with their highly anticipated eighth full-length Profane Prayer. Led by the incomparable vision of sole founding member Nick Melissourgos, the band's recent signing to metal label titan Nuclear Blast, serves as a gleaming sign of approval for their half-decade gestating opus. Teaming with frenetic riffage echoing the likes of early day Megadeth and Testament, this is thrash fury of a deft, artisanal touch, yet delivered with all of the kaleidoscopic abandon of musicians skilled enough to transcend their genre confines without losing sight of what made said genre so potent all those decades prior.