Copro Records Summer 2009 releases catch-up

Why a special about Copro Records’ Summer 2009 releases? Well, there’s several reasons.
Firstly, due our editor-in-chief also doin’ the promotion of two labels, and this leading him to chasing all the festivals (and making tour schedules for some of the labels’ travelling acts) on top of doin’ his day job, left him no time at all during the month of June and part of July to get busy on the website! Well, that not completely true, because in between  he díd put all his remaining time into downloading promo copies of upcoming albums for later reviews. In the latter part of July, my 3 ½ week vacation started, and The Chief only had time to burn me some of those download promos (because at least he’d already have the pdf-files for the album covers available through the download – whereas the people at Copro still send us hardcopy promo material, which needs scanning into a such file) before I went off (giving me at least something to do/ listen to during the holidays). And only àfter that was our Chief capable of handing me over the Copro releases (actually all issued through their sub-label Casket Music, distribution as always through PHD) of the month June!
Secondly, this is a really outstanding batch of releases, each of ‘em special in its own way…and so, to attract some attention to ‘em all, I decided to make this a “special”, working with somewhat shorter reviews than I’m used to as well!

Band : Callous
Album title : Descension
Release date : 22/06/2009
Release : (7-track) Mini-CD

First, there’s Callous, a rather young band from Kent (England), who draw influence from Old School Thrash Metal, mixing it with a European melodic edge (specific band influences coming from the likes of Alexisonfire, As I Lay Dying, Megadeth, Machine Head, Soilwork, Stamina, and Trivium). The bandname is actually brand-new, the foursome of Jon Gray (vocals & guitar), Ed Harrison (guitar), Luke Charles (bass & backing vocals), plus a former drummer previously terrorising venues around the South East of England as Vialate. They changed their name in late 2008 when drummer/ backing singer Mike Orvis joined ‘em and they cornered the people at Casket/ Copro into a deal!
They entered London’s Escape Route Studios in January 2009 with producer Dan Abla (known from his collaboration with the likes of Silent Descent and When All Else Falls) to record the 7 tracks (the short album opener “22:Thirteen” an instrumental intro to the first song “Suffer The Sea”) now available on this mini-album! With a three-vocal “assault” (which remains “melodic” and somewhat typical of the Emo genre as is so popular in the UK…but which also gets some rougher passages in the latter songs on the album), you can classify that “European melodic edge” as coming from the Gothenburg (Death) Metal scene, and this, combined with a slightly progressive approach (taken on as a means to increase the melodic factor rather than to make more complex music) in the Thrash Metal, makes for 6 very catchy and appealing songs, three of which you can listen to at myspace.com/callous. In conclusion: a highly infectuous debut (mini) album by these British youngsters, which has already gotten favourable reviews in the established (British) press .

94/100

Band : End Of Everything
Album title : A Man Made Sun
Release date : 22/06/2009
Release : (6-track) Mini-CD

This Scotish (Glasgow based) Metalcore act has made giant leaps since the release of their 2006 debut album Three (not so complimenting review by myself posted 19/09/2006). For starters, they (guitarist Joe “Coop” Copper, bassist Gareth “Garth” Ellis, and drummer Andy Brown) got rid of their former lead singer Sid (due to his finding a new girlfriend, he kinda neglected the band, not letting anything hear of himself for 6 months and generally simply disappearing, then usually not turning up at rehearsals or gigs, and when coerced into joining ‘em on stage, doing so with obvious reluctance…before disappearing off the face of the earth once more), and replaced him with enthousiastic shouter/ screamer Gareth Gordon, whom also adds to the music by handling keyboards! All of this happening after one of the guys had a broken arm during 2007, paralyzing the band’s progress at that time! 
Weird, but all of the sudden I also “get” what the guys’ music was about on that debut (because I díd go and listen to that again), and why the guitars sounded so discordant. You see, it’s a combination of the cymbals and bass drums which resonates with that of the guitars…and in fact it’s quite a unique sound the guys concocted there! The “blur” (see debut album review) now suddenly revealed its structure, and I must say what I discovered when listening to the old tracks again, pleased me beyond compare. Goes to prove that sometimes even “seasoned” music listeners can make mistakes!
Actually, the sound on these new tracks is somewhat better than before, with still that resonance in the faster played moments, but also with some attention brought to giving the snare drums a very clear sound…making it come through better! The sparce keyboard additions in the faster songs only enhance the overall feeling of (organized) chaos, but in the calmer tracks (the album closing “Internal Eclipse” but even more specifically in the 12+ minute “Benevolent Red Winter” with its long instrumental ending) its role becomes rather dominant at times (and a comparison to Neurosis somewhat in its place there!). Regretfully, the two tracks off this mini-album available at myspace.com/endofeverything do not include that rather epic album closer, and both album openers (“Glutton” and “Concrete Smile”) are of the faster paced kind…this leading to that resonance between the drums and the guitars (lucky for the great clean sound on the snare drums…huh, funny: this is the first time in history I talk so praisingly about snare drums, because usually they are what I don’t like about any band).
Since the album has been out for over a month now, you might be able to find a copy at your local record store to give that epic album closer a listen! I asure you it’s worth bying the album, just to add that song to your collection! Starting from the overwhelmingly positive feeling of that album closer, the album grew on me more and more as a whole, and I’m therefore now adding it to my year-lists! Meanwhile, the guys apparently have been in a very inspirational period, because they’ve already announced they would be recording their third album this same year!

98/100

Band : FuZZ FuZZ MaCHiNe
Album title : The Most
Release date : 29/06/2009
Release : CD

Some albums grab you by the throat from the very first notes, turn you inside out, smack you on the floor leaving you breathless…and make you love it all the way! That’s what The Most did to me!
From the North of Italy (with members spread in the towns Novara – situated some 45 kms West from Milano – and Vibernia – 54 kms North from Novara), FuZZ FuZZ MaCHiNe is a modern Rock/ Metal band consisting of singer/ guitarist Alessandro Regis, guitarist/ backing singer Marco Cassone, bassist Gabriele Giovani, and drummer Giordano Marcrï, who take influences “…from everything from Faith No More to Pantera, to The Police…” (from the bio provided by the label)! They’ve been around for over 10 years now, releasing the Screaming People demo in 1998, which they supported by a batch of local gigs! In 2000 they supported a promo full-length with 40 concerts in the North and middle of Italy. Followed the Tropical Flying Fruit EP (produced by Danny Giordano, live technician for Biohazard, Madball and Obituary) in 2001, displaying the band’s growth, and getting ‘em a “Best Demo” citation in Psycho! Magazine (whom included the demo’s opening track on a covermount CD). Over the years, the boys won 2 national band competitions (La Miniera Della Musica and Headbanging Contest) , and had songs on 3 compilation albums, both of which gave ‘em the chance to broaden their visibility on the Italian scene.
In May 2006 FFM released a new demo-Mini-CD (entitled The About Box), which they promoted with more than 60 shows until June 2008. In January of that year they got an endorsement from Dean Guitars ànd one from Ddrum! Earlier thís year, they secured a deal with UK’s Casket Music/ Copro Records, whom now released the band’s official 13-track full-length debut (recorded by Cassone at the MC Power Studios in Pieve Vergonte, a small townlet some 26 kms NWW from Verbania).
Where the bandname has already found its way in the “rediculous” lists of some music journalists, the band’s music is far from silly! Catchy to the extreme, with a musical approach which lays in between that of the aggressive Pantera, and the “cleaner” Faith No More (just to use the namedropping, you know), and a vocal signature which is closer towards the latter, with nice backing vocals to boot! In other words, what you get is a crossing of Grunge Rock with Thrash Metal, hybridized in a way to make the most of the Rock appeal! What makes everything extra special is the occasional freaky musical bits in the form of weird guitar deviations, sudden bass overtones, a funny “sample” (so-called taken from a radio newscasting – check the weirdly titled “Izuwaru” which, as does “Tropicalife”, contains a couple of words in the boys’ native language)…and most of all: the fact that this foursome plays its music with enthousiams exhudes not only from the music itself, but also from some of the lyrics!
At myspace.com/fuzzfuzzmachine, you’ll find two full-length songs, an additional 3 samples, and a couple of live videos to boot…enough to convince you of the wacky qualities of this band, qualities which have earned The Most a nomination into my “Best Albums Of 2009”-list most deservedly! Even if the guys’ English ain’t quite flawless…if anything, the slight Italian accent gives the whole a warmer aspect!

98/100

Band : Sal
Album title : Conversations With My Therapist
Release date : 29/06/2009
Release : CD

Having reviewed its first releases (full-length debut Dysfunctional and the 5-track EP Infatuation –posted 25/08/2005 and 16/09/2007 respectively), I thought me and Cardiff-based Welsh band Sal were old pals of whom you don’t expect any surprises anymore! But even more so with bands than with persons, life’s dealings will change the way one perceives one’s own reality…or, in other words, Sal has evolved as a unit! Last year, the foursome led by the fearsome (but delectable) Cat even participated in a somewhat weird contest (or how would you classify a contest in search for the fitting song to accompany the release of a new book?), which they won!
When giving this new (second) full-length album its first listening session, I was at first actually disappointed a bit! That was my own fault, of course, as I had a preconceived idea to begin with. As it happens, the band now puts less Punk in their energetic Rock and has in exchange added an envigorating portion of Pop sensibility. With Cat’s voice in mind (remember, they’re female fronted!), there’s also a bigger portion of ballad-sensitivity (excelling in the song “Demons”), although you’ll still find a fair portion of the more energetic Rock (with added Punk flavorings) as well, you know!
In essence, if you’re already acquainted with the band, you mày be disappointed at the somewhat more commercial approach by this band, but you’ll grow into the material quite swiftly nevertheless! If Sal is new to you, and the terms Alternative Rock, occasional Punk/balladesque flavourings, female fronted Rock appeal to you, then so most definitely may Sal! Vocally, Cat is somewhat akin to the powerful stylings of Skunk Anansie’s Skin, and if that ain’t a smashing comparison? At any rate, check out what’s posted at myspace.com/saltheband (currently you’ll find only 4 tracks off the new album, and a video made for that track from the contest (the book in question is a new James Bond novel titled Devil May Care, which incidently also happens to be the title of the song)! If your interest  is aroused by listening to those tracks, you might pass onto saltheband.co.uk for more details, concert dates, etc…?

90/100

Band : Vampyrouss
Album title : A Dark Desire
Release date : 29/06/2009
Release : CD

The press klippings I’ve read about thise album were almost unanimously condescending…and quite franky I don’t understand how that came to be! Probably the editors of the magazines in question (I won’t name ‘em) handed over the album to a reviewer with the wrong taste, or with at least less than an open mind for things outside his/her “normal” field of interest!
From Bideford in the North of Devon, UK, the sextet (they’ve recently – àfter the album’s recordings done during 2008 – added one Christoph Daemonicus to the line-up to handle the sparce drum and percussion duties) doés have some very weird names (singer Kazraine Ruthven Maars, composer & first keyboardist Azrael Kintobor Gexen, rhythm guitarist Padraiich Anthony The Lange, 6-string bassist Robert Rothschild Rochelle, and second keyboardist Baron Rejon Munchausen), which makes one wonder where these guys’ ancestry lays! Anyway, the band started off as the duo of Maars  & Gexen as far back as 2002, adding additional members as they went along, playing their very own Ambient Orchestral Rock version of the Gothic Romance, and releasing demo CDs and mini-albums on a regular basis (obviously, they haven’t played live much, the restricted earlier incarnations of the band’s line-up preventing the band to perform on a stage prior to December 2006 – Live appearances have since been a rare thing anyway, you know)!
The music is perhaps best described by the words in the bio we got from the label: “Composer Azrael Gexen defines the grandiose soundscapes with haunting piano melodies and soaring lead violins, setting the tone for vocalist Kazraine Maars’ theatrical story telling. He chooses to utilize an almost morbid spoken narration which is driven into the realm of Heavy Rock by the six stringed rhythms of bassist Robert Rochelle, the atmospheric grandeur of Rejon Munchausen’s backing keyboards, and completed by the latest addition to the “cirque de vampyr”, Padraich Anthony “The Lange” and his powerful guitar work”…bio which opens with: “…the quintet of bearded gentlemen that make up Vampyrouss have hearts that proudly beat with a throbbing passion for the ‘880s. We aare still not quite sure whether that would be the 1990’s or the 1880s, or indeed a mixture of the both…”. Personally, I go for the latter, as we well know that the 1880s is when the whole vampire thing was brought into the light on an international level for the first time! Now don’t expect too much of that “powerful” guitar work, for it is mainly rhythmic (and comes with a non-disturbing, non-dominant, but rather weird distortion), and thrown into an otherwize keyboard (generating the orchestral atmospherics, piano, violins, cellos and doomy keyboard sounds to boot) ruled whole. Drum or percussion is rather sparce (an occasional big orchestral drum, some cymbals here and there, some rare actual drum work elsewhere) and overall calm in usage. Maars’s “narrative” is best described as a ghoulish Blackened whisper (his first “vocal” on the album, by the way, is a Blackened whisper-scream).
People into the (heavier) Gothic Vampyr Rock/ Metal of the likes of Cradle Of Filth, etc…will certainly take a liking to this far calmer outfit, if only for the lyrical content! To listen to a couple of songs off the album (and more), you can either surf to the band’s own webspace vampyrouss.co.uk, or head on over to myspace.com/vampyrouss (in both cases you can hear the same tracks off the album, but also the band’s covers of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and Edwin Collin’s “A Girl Like You” – both classics in the Goth genre, and I daresay they make the covers work darn well). Since the release of the album, a single edit version of the album’s title track has been released (August 8th, also the one-year birthday of the digital single release of “Your Web” – one of the tracks on the album – and umptieth birthday of the singer).
Admitting to the fact that I am a rather weird fellow with some very broad (open-minded) tastes in music, I have to say I was immediatelly taken in with this keyboard (well…the orchestral manifestation of it) driven band, and in contrast to earlier (not) mentioned music journalists, I’ll claim Vampyrouss has a flair of genius to it. Those into Gothic Rock, or people willing to not stare themselves blind on pre-conceived ideas, will find a great album here! One which has earned itself a specially chilled space in my (ghoulish) heart, and is therefore more than worthy to be nominated in my personal year-lists!

98/100

Which ends this catch-up special. Something for a broad range of music lovers, I would say…or quite a bit for for those among us with a broader taste, hahah!!!

Tony.