Classic album review. The Gathering, Mandylion

The Gathering, Mandylion (Century Media-1995)

After two albums with two different vocalists the Gathering decided to head in another direction. Enter Anneke van Giersbergen who not only provided vocals on the album but was the writer of all the songs.

The band were part of the gothic metal movement from the early 90s. And as slowly bands like Paradise Lost and Type O Negative gained popularity. This band seemed to struggle till this album.

Mandylion is more of a hybrid metal album. Gothic in feel but classic in sound. First track "Strange Machines" starts with a big guitar sound more like the big metal bands of the early 80s. Production wise it is crystal clear and makes the album sound very big. Drums feel loose but controlled and melt in well with the bass and guitar. Then it is  Anneke van Giersbergen time to show why she got the job.

A big difference is she sings with clean operatic styled vocals so after such a heavy start it is a real surprise to get such a nice vocal lead. A nice touch is the guitar riffings seems to follow the vocals. Really makes it sound more epic and also at times heavy. Add in some galloping riffs much like a slowed down thrash band the first track alone gets you.

The album flows with song after song just engulfing you in its gothic brilliance. Second track "Eléanor" is so simple with some basic drum fills and a nifty little keyboard melodic riffs. Keyboard player Frank Boeijen takes a big credit in the sound of this album. His keyboards trades with the guitars and drums and make the album just sound so amazing.

I did call this a hybrid for a reason as it does mix two styles and comes out better in the end. "Leaves" adds in some acoustic guitars and has a feel of a ballad but retains the albums flow.

Track six "Mandylion" is an instrumental and the first track to move away from the guitar sound. It has a more celtic/folk sound to it. With flute and keyboards taking main stage. It has a great relaxed feel to it almost like a tape you have to get asleep.

"Sand & Mercury" continues the previous track but adds in some cool guitar riffs. The track shows how well the band can play together whilst playing very little. Speed and loudness are replaced with trying to play as little as possible. Clocking in at just under ten minutes it may be a little too much for many serious gothic fans.

It is nice to hear an album that lets you sit back and just dream, you can fill in areas with your imagination. The gothic sound at times can be very limited but this album really broke away from it.

I wonder if all the female fronted metal bands could have existed at all if this was not out in 95? Lacuna Coil, Evanescence, Nightwish and many more all used this album as a template and have done very well out of it.

Some bands went on to much success like Paradise Lost and Type O Negative. But I don't see why this was not picked up. Signed to Century Media they had a chance to sell CDs. Paradise Lost went on to sign with EMI and Type had platinum albums in America. The gathering seem to go the other way, falling out with there record company and going elsewhere.

Again another great album passes by, this time I think the blame is on the music fan. It was not hard to find or even hear due to the record company they had. Fans of gothic metal could easily read this and suggest I am wrong as the band were successful to them. I feel this album covers so many bases in metal music, regarded as gothic by some. Some Goths say its metal. I say if you like to hear something new give it a go.

Kids this is that good you can trade in all your Lacuna Coil albums for this and still be happy.

 Mandylion is easily available from Amazon.

Classic Album review. Celtic Frost, Into the Pandemonium

Celtic Frost, Into the Pandemonium (Noise-1987)

Heavy metal music in the 80s had went through some big changes. With the thrash bands all of a sudden making a fortune and selling records many labels thought they were onto a winner if they signed a thrash band.

Celtic Frost were considered one of the most extreme metal band on the go in 1987 as previous albums were more of a death metal style. They were influenced by the classic metal bands of the 70s mostly Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, with this they added some of the elements of gothic music from the likes of Bauhaus and Siouxsie and the Banshees to make a new heaver style of metal.

Not a band to sit still too long album number three was to be made and for some reason they really changed the whole sound of the band and also metal. Most none metal fans will easily point out what makes metal music from the loud distorted guitars to the frantic drumming. The new bands on the go were taking that and upping it all a notch. Faster, heaver, louder and even more metal.

Take all that and throw it out the window. This band at the time were considered pioneers of the death metal and black metal styles. Both very much new and totally underground styles of music that not till the end of the 90s would get any mainstream acknowledgement.

Industrial music had been going for a while and that is a big part of this sound but add in some love songs, classical piece with female vocals and even a cover. This was nothing that had been done in metal.

Album opener is a great start to any album a cover of "Mexican Radio" (by Wall of Voodoo) it is more a classic rock/metal track and sits nicely to help a new lister or someone with unexperienced ears.

"Inner Sanctum" is a nice slice of what was happening in metal with a thrash style riffing that adds in some nice rhythmic elements. "Tristesses de la Lune" is where it all goes wrong (or right) here we have a track made up of operatic vocals sung in French and accompanied by classical instruments. It really should not work but does, I could see people thinking the LP was a miss press of a compilation as the first side has so many different styles on it.

Flip it over and a hip hop/dance track greets you as the second song "One in Their Pride " just under three minutes and has what seems to be radio CB voices as lyrics. It really is as far away from metal as you can get and I bet Ice T would have loved it.

Gothic, industrial and operatic influences all continues in the last three songs. Last song is just under six minutes and is a real eye opener, not so much as new music but it does not follow the traditional metal style of a longer song. It feels more like the soundtrack to an art house film. The normal themes of heavy music are here from daemons to death and destruction but given a real twist as the band have "borrowed" lyrics from other sources.

Progressive or avant-garde metal is where this has been listed in. You only make new genres when you don't know what it is and even this one has to be subbed out to other styles. It has to be heard by all fans of alt music as it just contains some amazing examples of 80s music at its best. Feel free to listen to it and say it is crap and not what you like but a music fan would be curious at the least for a few more listens then the magic happens.

I have not mentioned the vocals, production or musicianship as I just feel that means nothing. Don't be fooled by the cover and list this as a headbanners only album. Many bands now set this album as a pivotal album in changing metal, taking it away from the traditional big band sound and just letting the music flow. Play how you feel and you can tell with this album metal heads fall in love too.

Into the Pandemonium is easily available on Amazon.

Classic Album Reviews, The Ramones, ¡Adios Amigos!

The Ramones, ¡Adios Amigos! (Radioactive 1995)

Again I am not going to insult your intelligence and explain how influential and important this bad were as you know this and if you don't basically that the Killers or Kaiser Chiefs albums you have would never have sounded like they do.

I know I could pretty much have chosen any of there early albums and done a blog about that. But that would be too easy and also been done before. Again my blog looks at it a little differently.

Something many people don't know is the Ramones wanted chart success and million selling albums but it never happened. Early albums were just too punk and later ones were not at the same quality. But by 95 the music industry was a revolving door of bands. And time had come to split up.

This album was never set to be that good but it was. A big reason is the speed of the music, they tend to have just went for it on many of there albums but this one was slowed down. And it was a decision made by the band because they went in and re recorded the album slower. Mostly due to Joey Ramones voice becoming more problematic due to years on the road singing.

The buzzsaw guitars noise they are known for was cut down on this one. Even to the point the only real part you would hear is a solo like on single "I Don't Want to Grow Up" Even the songs are simpler to the point "Life's a Gas" has a total of six words in the whole song. But it works.

Dee Dee Ramone is back on this album but only writing for this one as CJ is still the bands Bass player. Many people don't know that Dee Dee was the main songwriter, many of the songs written did have co writers but most of the ideas were his in the past so his inclusion is a real big help.

Most people tend to not like cover songs on an album. I do agree but this one has four of them. Well two songs were written and released by Dee Dee in 1993 and the other two are "I Don't Want to Grow Up" by Tom Waits and Johnny Thunders "I love you". It more signals the band were at the end and to keep the quality high they felt its best to have these songs instead of fillers. Right choice as the album flows nicely with the Ramones sound making each track unique.

The album was backed by a world tour and billed as the last ever. And it was. The last show was recorded and released as a live album thus putting the final nail on the coffin.

It should have sold as it was the last album, they should have played arenas and bowed out with a few top ten singles and money in the pocket. But it was not to be.

Much like Vincent van Gogh upon the death of Johnny, Joey and Dee Dee the band seemed to finally get some respect with induction into the rock hall of fame. But more important was they finally started to sell albums. Most reviews were so positive for the first four or five albums but mark later ones as less important. Not so, here you have a fine rock n roll album that was make as a goodbye to the fans.

Just a year after this was out the Sex Pistols Reform to make some money and guess what? The make it selling tickets, CDs and T shirts. Just like in 1977 the pistols steal the light.

You see Ramones T Shirts being worn all the time and there is nothing wrong with that but ask the next person you see wearing one if they like this album (Or even ever heard of it) I bet they say no.


 ¡Adios Amigos! is available on Download and should be purchased even if you don't ever listen to it.

Classic Album Review. Slayer, Reign in Blood

Slayer, Reign in Blood (Def Jam, 1986)

Yes the album is Slayers Reign in Blood, and again I have a reason. This is a blog on albums that I feel were not only missed by most people. But also to albums I feel that never sold enough.

Slayer were one of the many thrash metal acts coming out from America in the mid 90s. But they were different to the others. Not just on the style of music they played but how they went about there business. Signed to Metal Blade Records they were doing well and selling more albums as each album came out. But to have a real chance of selling albums you really need help and that is where a major label comes into the mix.

Slayer were managed very well and so well that future producer Rick Rubin was asked to attend  one of the bands gigs, he did so and was blown away by the band asked if he could sign them to his label. this is where things go in a different direction, Def jam was at the time a Hip Hop label and a very successful one at that. Even Rubin himself at the time was considered a hip hop producer. So for an underground metal band to sign to a hip hop label is pretty much the end of a band.

Not so, Rubin is an amazing producer and here we have one of the finest metal albums ever made.
The thing about this album is the production, the guitars sound so real and in your face. you pretty much have no bass from the guitar at all with a wall of treble to rock your teeth out. it is a sound that was never done before and again a big gamble.

Fast are the guitar riffs but the drums and bass really are not that frantic and still follow that same metal neck chugging speed. Rarely does the rhythm section get you feeling as if the album is at all that fast or even heavy. Even the vocals are as clean as you would have heard all year in 86. Vocalist Tom Araya is also the bass player in the band so this would help to explain some of the set up of the bands sound (It's hard to play fast and sing fast at the same time).

Songs are again unusual as at the time other bands were singing about political subjects and drugs. Slayer choose Satanic influences and Nazi experiments. All so grim and linking to the hip hop world very real. Same goes for the cover of the album, designed by Larry Carroll it was so controversial the album release was delayed. With the album cover including the Reichsadler (Considered a Nazi symbol) and the 'S' in Slayer written in the style of the Nazi SS style. I am not going to give you a history lesson but we all know that these symbols existed 1000s of years before Hitler was even born. You simply can't say any subject matter is not allowed to be used for a song or book. If so then the cinema would be very empty as would be the book shops. Also to sweep these subjects away under the carpet is nothing but censorship and the less of that the more people learn what the world is like and know what is right and what is wrong.

This album would go onto influence so may bands and artists and not just in metal music. The lyrics, artwork and recording technique were all new. The PMRC Filthy Fifteen list made a year previous tried to ban 15 songs that were deemed too extreme due to drug or sexual references now looks like a children's cartoon.

We have all heard of this album but have you heard the album? It was not a hit album at the time so much so it took 6 years to go gold in America. I feel it should have sold more than Metallica as they sold six million units of Master of Puppets in the U.S. alone. Slayer would easily win the award as the most progressive and ground breaking metal bands ever.

Reign in Blood is easily available just about everywhere apart from countries that have banned it.