Blunt Force Trauma
E.P: BEYOND
Skull smashingly brilliant from front to back is how I would describe Blunt Force Trauma’s Debut E.P Beyond. Fast, heavy, loud and technically aesthetic; I would define the rasping sound of Stuart Ainsworth’s voice, forceful rhythm section and resonance of dual guitars pure melody to my ears. Boasting as a five piece metal-core band the only way to describe their sound would be if you were to imagine the love child between Fear Factory and God Forbid.
Comprising of 4 songs Beyond is currently the crème de la crème of all metal-core E.P’s. Starting off with Whore of Eden the track welcomes tense, jerking, rising guitar riffs before introducing the opening line followed by the first verse. As it plays out with continuously changing structures and time signatures vague similarities of that belonging to the
metal-core band known as Donkerkarnuffel jump out at me.
The next track Meat Puzzle full fills its name suitably for its head spinning, blood dripping, juicy layers of sound. The song ups the pace and is in-keeping with the energy and rhythm flowing through it as it steadily moves on to track number three.
Defiance takes a sudden turn as it starts off with clean guitars providing a slow, atmospheric layer of re-verb nation eventually breaking into fast moving, hammering guitar riffs and typically good sounding double base pedal drumming. Eulogy is the last track on the E.P and too my disappointment ends too soon. But not to worry, this minute and a half long song makes up for its time by vigorously squeezing in as much energy, sound and speed as possible -which is enough to make the faint mind curdle and other's thoughts, hard to keep up with- and then suddenly it comes to a halt as the song ends. And that's Blunt Force Trauma's E.P.
All is quiet, we gather up our trailing thoughts. The eerie sound of white noise fills the void of the room and tinnitus creeps back at us…until we f*** it off and press replay to re-listen to this awesome E.P from the very beginning! And there You have it.
All is quiet, we gather up our trailing thoughts. The eerie sound of white noise fills the void of the room and tinnitus creeps back at us…until we f*** it off and press replay to re-listen to this awesome E.P from the very beginning! And there You have it.
9/10
Buy their Debut E.P now!
Link to itunes store:
Links to websites:
By Aine Brewer
The Metal Saloon
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Stuka Squadron
‘Tales of the Ost’
Album Review
Genre: Heavy Metal
Label: Metalbox Recordings
Release date: 13th February 2012
Stuka Squadron’s latest album ‘Tales of the Ost’ I should warn, is not
for the faint hearted. This ‘lucky
numbered’ 13 tracked album will give you something to chew on and hard to spit
out as is will lure you into its depths with its catchy rhythms, enticing
guitar solos and graphical concepts.
Take Iced Earth, Black Sabbath, Alestorm, and maybe one other I cannot put my
finger on and mix it all up in a cement mixer- this will be your final product.
The first track to open up is ‘Into the Breach’. This introduction sets the scene with its
spine chilling and grasping lyrics, its bone trembling guitar riffs, and
haunting sirens. The second track in the list takes a sudden U turn on the
whole mood and direction of the music as it speeds up with its power metal/battle
metal feel.
The genre is best described as a violent
plane crash into a battle field as this leading band in the "New Wave of
Traditional Metal" offers us something new and something old, whilst giving
us a strong visual concept of an ancient time. If they were to do a soundtrack
for a game/film, Lord of the Rings or
Diablo III would quite easily fit the
boot.
All in all, ‘Tales of Ost’ is a very well recorded album, great sound, great
vibe and after hearing them you will want to see them live!
Website: www.stukasquadron.com
By Aine Brewer
The Metal Saloon
