| CD REVIEW TSM/SLW Promotions Special: Arbogast - Babylon Mystery Orchestra - Toyz - Yotangor |
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TSM/SLW Promotions special April 2010:
Yep, the TSM/ SLW Promotions special is there again. In fact, there’s two more a-coming, or should be, but I’m afraid there’s also a lot of other albums still needing to be reviewed. On the table this time the new album by Sweden’s Arbogast, the 5th by Babylon Mystery Orchestra (solo project of Greenvill, Alabama’s Sidney Allen Johnson), and albums from France’s Toyz & Yotangor (both from the French Brennus Music label, and already in our possession for a while – could’ve gone into March’s second special, but would’ve made that one a bit long). -------------------------------------------- In ancient history, Arbogast was a Roman general (died in the year 394) of Gaul descent, and in that capacity the most powerful man in the West-Roman empire for a couple of years. But, as Svante Widerström (the artist behind Sweden’s Arbogast) would find out after naming his solo-project that way, it is also a very semi-common bandname in the US. Still, that’s not where Svante found the name! Nay, Arbogast also happens to be the name of the detective killed by Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s movie Psycho, and the name struck him to the point of later naming his musical project after the poor character. Svante has been active in bands since the early ‘90s, staring off in schoolboy band Dungeon as a drummer. He then switched to singing in local Heavy Metal acts, first Cathedral, then Slack Babbath, and eventually Fatal Tabasco, who garnered some small local success thanks to their frenetic live act, some demos, and the self-financed album Mouse Café. The band however failed to break through due to the rather negative standpoint of the music industry against the genre (and we all know it’s thém who make the flavour of the day, not the music fans!). Fatal Tabasco woùld however make a mention in the Encyclopedia Of Swedish Hard Rock And Heavy Metal, but not to the advantage of the singer. Even before FT called threw in the proverbial towel towards the turning of the decade/ century/ millenium (you take your pick, they’re all correct), Svante had picked up an acoustic guitar, fell in love, and was beginning to compose his own songs. After the split, he looked for ways to record his songs. Meanwhile however, he joined StingrayOne as their bassist, a band which lasted for about two years. After that, Svante finally ended up recording some stuff, resulting in the 4-track demo On A Happy Float, released in January 2001. A new demo came with the April 2003 released 5-tracker Idiot Boy Effort (re-issued in October of the same year with two bonus tracks). His accomplice for both demos (in fact also in the recordings to come) was drummer Patrick Fransson (founder of the Heavy Metal band Fraise). In January 2004 Arbogast released the 6-track EP Something Bit Me, which had backing vocals by one Mats Lilja on two songs, but just as the demos still suffered from a leess-than-perfact production and sound. Later that same year Svante joined Fraise as their bassist, recording with them the 2004 album Hellicornia to start with. Originally a studio project, Fraise became a full-fledged live band (after the usual beginning band line-up problems), but meanwhile Svante continued to compose his own songs, now with an even bigger fervour than before. Fraise would be in the studio throughout Winter 2006-7 to record their follow-up album A New Beginning, which was eventually released late 2007, so I can only guess that the recordings for Arbogast’s debut full-length Too Proud To Stick To Winners (again with Fransson and Lilja, and additional vocals done by one Petra Andersson) were done before, seen as the album (comprising the first Arbogast material with a somewhat decent sound quality) was released in April 2007. The new album sees Svante enlarge the body of people he collaborates with on his solo work. On the drums there’s one Gunnar Hansson this time, but at least Mats Lilja is still there to provide a couple of songs with backing vocals. Playing most rhythm guitars, a fair portion of lead guitar, the keyboards (most prominently in the tracks “Once The Tip Of A Spear”, the album closing instrumental “The Cholera Song”) and of course performing the lead vocals, he’s confided bass duties to one Bolivar, and asked guitarists Fredrik Lillen Falkerstedt and Jonas Hjortstam to provide a couple of songs (only “Once The Tip Of A Spear” in the case of the first, but on no less than 3 – being “Steal Me Some Luck”, “Stay Up And Talk To Me”, and “Bitacora Club” in the case of the latter, whom also gives “Beckomberga 1944” additional rhythm guitar) with additional lead play. Well, as mentioned in the bio, Arbogast’s material is definitely different from the Heavy Metal Svente plays with Fraise. In fact, the songs are so on purpose stylistically different from each other, the only tag one could put on Arbogast as a whole is that of “Diverse Rock”. Sure, some songs dó have a heavy touch (check the exciting opening track “Robbed, Stripped And Glad About It”), others have a Pop influence (how about second track “Psychomath” for measure?) or show evident signs of being written on acoustic guitar (through the use of but little distortion on the guitar), while other songs are organ-keyboard driven (see above). On top of it all comes Svante’s somewhat awkward voice, which I’m sure ain’t gonna agree to the taste of a lot of people at first listen. It’s a pity that in these days bands need to succeed to getting attention from the get-go, because that’s how fickle the youngsters are these days! I mùean, even I had some trouble with Svante’s weird high pitch, and it’s only the simple (melodic) underlaying complexity (keep the attention going) of the music which eventually drew me over to the side of Arbogast’s defenders! Oh, and although Svente claims this album is all original material, he won’t be able to deny having used the chorus line melody of Gloria Gaynor’s Disco hit “I Will Survive” in his track “Applause To You” (admittingly, he’s used other words, but the melody’s definitely there, isn’t it!)? To find out whether you like or not, you can check a total of 7 songs (5 of which from the new album) at myspace.com/arbogastrockbov. As mentioned, I like, but only to a point! Like you won’t find his work in any of my year-lists soon! Still, musically things are quite okay. One bit of good advice: listen to the music through headphones…that takes away some of Svante’s sharpness of voice. 82/100 -------------------------------------------- The solo musical vehicle of Greenville, Alabama’s Sidney Allen Johnson, BMO tackles a specific socio-political topic with each of his albums [2002’s Divine Right Of Kings started off proceedings (title speaks for itself), and was followed by 2004’s On Earth As It Is In Heaven (in which he defends the thesis that music comes from the devil himself), 2006’s The Great Apostacy: A Conspiracy Of Satanic Christianity (a detailed study of Satanic involvement withing the Christian church), and 2008’s Axis Of Evil (took on the Illuminati, Socialism, The Mark Of The Beast, and Islam), which was reviewed by former collegue Guido Claes, review posted 26/04/2008 and still available for your needs). Now, instalment N°5 is here, and this time Johnson drops the overal conceptual approach, allowing him to tackle different issues in one and the same album: N.A.S.A., abortion, hate crimes, Che Guevara, the hypocrite stance of musicians towards their success as opposed to bringing over their views on a variety of subjects, the general (sorry) state of the USA at this moment, and of course agaiin religion! As mentioned in my former collegue’s review, Johnson is not really a singer. In stead he brings his lyrics in a somewhat unilateral semi sung, semi spoken word-ish grave voice…which makes his songs overall hard to follow, and may cause some listeners to get “bored” after a while! Musically, Johnson refers to a combination of Gothic and Doom, which is occasionally brought with a minimalist approach, then filled up with organ/ keyboards to a somewhat more bombastic effect! Personally, I can get into this and actually listened to it a couple of times in a row before grabbing the 32-page booklet (each song is accompanied by several citations, further elucidating Johnson’s at times controversial views on things) to enjoy the album all over again! If Doom Metal is your thing, you may find a nice new addition to your collection with the BMO material in general, and the new album specifically. You’ll only find 2 songs off this new BMO album at myspace.com/babylonmysteryorchestra, but you also get a song off each of the first 2 albums, and 2 off each of the more recent ones, making for a total of 8 tracks to discover, analyze, and possibly enjoy. In the blogs section you’ll find Johnson goin’ on in more depth about some of the subjects that have disturbed him lately, possibly for this album! To gét that album, either contact Johnson via his MySpace page, his official (own) website (www.) babylonmysteryorchestra.com, or allenjohnson @ centurytel.net. 90/100 -------------------------------------------- At the time French Melodic Hard Rock act Toyz formed in Paris, 1997, the members to be comprised in the line-up had been active for quite a while already. Guitarist/ backing singer Olivier Maug and drummer Jean-Christophe Perrin have the longest track history, playing together in Parisian Rock act 2ème Sous-sol from the early ‘80s. In 1996 Perrin joined singer Luke “Lucky Strike” Marcheciel (already an alumni, having sang in the bands Vyncers and Ryxx, among others) to form Hard Rock act Coventry, which split only a year after. Marcheciel and Perrin then joined forces with Maug (whose band Baba Yaga had just broken up) to form Toyz. The guys started writing songs and organizing tours in France, while working towards the release of an album. However, several line-up changes between 1997 and 2001 prevented the decent upstart of the band, and it wasn’t until bassist Jerôme (of Summer Rhapsody, Superposition Destructive, Hardblues Combo) and keyboardist/ backing singer Chris Mornac (of Opium and Anonym) join the band in 2001, that a somewhat steady line-up is achieved. The regular Parisien gigs met with increasing success, and eventually the band was signed to Escape Music, being the first French band to sign with the now reputed label. With a post-production and mastering by Corey McFadden (see Brighton Rock, Panik, Miles Above, The Ladder, and more), House Of Cards was released in 2004, meeting with some success worldwide. The positive reception of the album made it possible for the band to do a nice series of shows. In 2006 the quintet started working on new material which was well on its way, when Jerôme decides to go his own musical path in early 2007. A replacement was found in Eric C. (whom aided the band with their recordings and has since been replaced by one Rickey), and the band continued to work on their material, which they originally hoped to release in the beginning of 2009. Recordings starting in May 2008, additional recordings of vocals continued into January 2009, and it wasn’t until later in the year that the album was released. The band itself describes it music as “based on a powerful but always Melodic Rock”, citing influences “as vaired” as Foreigner, Toto, Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Deep Purple, Dokken, Danger Danger, Hardline, Threshold, TNT, Harem Scarem…in their original biography at myspace.com/toyzmusic. Afterwards, they did however add more modern influences coming from Porcupine Tree and Opeth, while also comprising Pink Floyd and Rainbow into the list. Well, one cannot deny the fact that Toyz indeed stay on the “powerful” side of Melodic Rock, but there’s a little flaw in their vocal department. You see, the guys (and mainly the lead singer) just cannot hide the fact that they are French-born, singing with the accent that brings to their English lyrics. A nice exception to the rule is album closer “Rock Singers” (well, actually it’s followed by a hidden bonus track, after a short silence), where Marcheciel sees himself in an equal vocal position as the other singers in the band, all of ‘em singing along without actual lead singer. Now while to a lot of Hard Rock fans that may bring a nice added “Latin” flavouring, I’m sure there’s also quite a few “purists” whom will discard the band for that very same reason! So, if you’re in the latter category of music fans and don’t want to open up your mind, don’t bother checking out the songs (6 of the 12 on the album, including the bonus track) on the band’s MySpace page. And let other people enjoy the really delectable music there! 85/100 -------------------------------------------- This Sympho Metal septet (including lead singer Yngrid, backing singers/ keyboardists Corinne Fourment & Vanessa J . Wood, lead guitarist Vincent Agar, rhythm guitarist/ backing singer Jean-Guy Pichoustre, bassist/ backing singer Patrice Hernandez, and drummer/ backing singer Tony Marcos) from Toulouse (South of France) spent two years working on their debut album, a 2-disc Symphonic Metal Opera relating the story of the modern-time dictator and self-proclaimed “King Of The Universe” Yotangor, whom fails (or doesn’t want) to see the consequences of his actions. Although double-disc releases are no longer of this time, and certainly not for a debut album, French label Brennus Music must’ve found the material to be strong enough…and with good reason! There’s a strong “visual” aspect to Yotangor’s music which the more open-minded listener with the slightest bit of imagination will immediately experience. Spoken word passages help along, and the story is told very clearly in nicely discerable steps. In between, the music enthralls the listener with its great lead guitar parts and changing stylistic moods, swerving from more guitar oriented passages to Symphonic ones. While the bulk of the vocals is concentrated on the strong female singing of Yngrid (daughter of British subjects) with nice female backings, there are evidently passages for a male too (mostly spoken word, though), and occasionally the girls band together for a truly Operatic style of vocals into the soprona area of singing! It’s almost a pity I haven’t more time to spend on this album (counting a total of 26 tracks, its total duration is of 100 minutes, but I’d like to listen to it a couple of times with the booklet – lyrics, you know - at hand) with the workload I have on my back at this moment (over 45 albums still waiting to be reviewed, half of which the release date already passed). The band made a videoclip for the track “About Love” and its this, along with the audio version, which constitute the only material available from the band at myspace.com/yotangor. Regrettably on the meager side, so perhaps you’d like to check whether the album’s sold through Amazon.com (usually, they post samples of most tracks)? Personally, I feel strongly enough about King Of The Universe to add the album to my year-lists (of 2009, understanably)! 98/100 Tony. |
