| CD REVIEW Ain’t No Grave Records special : The Great Commision - Sleeping Giant - As Hell Retreats |
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Label: Ain’t No Grave Records There used to be a country song, rather old / traditional, called Ain’t No Grave (Can Hold My Body Down), and especially the Johnny Cash-version might be well known. Moreover, in early 2010 there was a posthumous album by Johnny Cash, called American VI: Ain’t No Grave. And it’s after this song, and the philosophy behind it (about the search for truth, honesty, worship, trust), that a young label got created rather recently in Hawthorne, California, USA. This label does not want to profile themselves as pro-religious, yet rather as socio-engaged, but with a focus, from musical point of view, on heavier music. In mean time they signed four bands, among which three of them were presented to our headquarters. These three bands’ full length releases are reviewed below; the fourth one, Kiros, is a Heavy Rock formation with a new album called Outlaws And Prodigals, which was released on September 27th, but we didn’t get a promo or i-pool edition of it (yet). Oh yes, there’s an audio book coming on this label as well, done by Sleeping Giant’s Tommy Green - see the review on Sleeping Giant’s Kingdom Days … [actually, this stuff was sent to us very recently, yet it was originally released in July, three months ago – yet so what?] Band: The Great Commission The Great Commission are a Californian band with a pro-biblical philosophy, and the lyrics are clear about that. The music, on the contrary, is not. ‘the great commission’ is a philosophy, meaning to spread the word of Mister Jesus the Messiah Christ (you know, the guy who plays a leading role in the bestseller New Testament) all over Mater Terra, and this band’s members want to continue to spread all words of love and peace (I guess without the drugs and sex?) through performing heavy music, with the goal to reach an audience of brutal-looking yet devoted youngsters (and elderlies), and even though my mono-theistic beliefs do differ enormously from these opinions, I cannot but get sarcastic about those who do not agree the bottom line behind it. But, this is a review about an album, since I do work for a Metal-review webzine, you see, so here it is: Heavy Worship, the album. First some (boring to some, yet again: I don’t care, so f…) additional info. The Great Commission did release a full length studio album in 2009, called And Every Knee Shall Bow (which I did not hear, yet I wonder if it did cross the Atlantic? Yet again, what about that ‘walking on water’? Or is the distance between the USA and Europe too exaggerated? What about that almightiness?), and the band went on tour rather intensively, doing some festivals or playing with acts like Demon Hunter, Throwdown, Living Sacrifice or Sleeping Giant (also on Ain’t No Grave – see the review of Kingdom Days … in this very same label’s ‘special’). The Great Commission are a sextet (I wonder… can I use the word ‘sex’tet or will the(ir) god strike me with some flaming lightning-flash in my ass? No seriously, religion and belief, it’s anyone’s personal thing, so respect for those who dare to come out of their religious closet – I’m just kidding, you see) and they pretend to rather spread the message of the Christian God than seeking fortune, adoration, fame and respect (the latter I did steal from the label’s site, as a matter of fact – will I go to Hell – again – for being so cynical and blaspheme?). The sophomore album lasts for almost forty minutes and immediately it opens like a bulldozer: mammoth riffing, fierce and brutal rhythms and growling grunts. The opening song, and all others as well, sound very modern, combining elements from sludgy Hardcore, catchy Metalcore and groovy Death Metal, containing lots of breaks and tempo-changes, and introducing an impressing variety on vocal and instrumental elements. The main part differs between up-tempo and fast, including some semi-blasted outbursts as well as total decelerations, and balancing in between technical and melodic creativity. Yet beware, because ‘creativity’ does not mean that The Great Commission are the most renewing act – at all. Unfortunately, several parts are too predictable, flirting with easiness and laziness. And for being a band with three guitar players, I expected some more heaviness all around. But… this album exhales an energy above expectations, making bands like New Found Glory, As I Lay Dying or A Day To Remember sound like sissies. Personally, the poppy parts with inclusion of clean harmony vocal lines make me nauseous; some of the heavier and sludgy excerpts are acceptable – yet again it’s nothing but my personal opinion – yet some might agree, so I recommend listening before kneeling before some altar of Musical Devotion. 73/100 _________________________________ Band: Sleeping Giant Sleeping Giant are one of those bands that do surprise for being Christian-inspired within the lyrical approach, and ultra-brutality from musical point of view. They were formed about five years ago and since then they could please both devoted youngsters and Metal heads all over the world, eh, or at least all over the US of A… With ‘salvation’ as main message… They sort of translated their evangelical message through a couple of full length studio albums before, and through touring both the northern and southern American continent to spread the word of Bethlehem’s best known inhabitant (indeed, the one who popularised cross-hanging ;o) ). And I do need to add: the lyrics indeed are not of the patronising form à la ‘go-to-church-or-you-won’t-enjoy-the-golden-spooned-afterlife’, yet rather militant, pro-active, inspirational and really open-minded (in case monotheism can be defined truly and purely as un-narrow-minded, of course, but that’s another struggle / discussion). The members’ musical origins are Hardcore-based, and most of them did, in one way or another, act with xDeathstarx too - and both Hardcore and xDeathstarx do influence the musical approach, of course. Yet not one single moment this album is just a symbiosis of both those elements. …at all! Actually, Kingdom Days In An Evil Age combines elements from (traditional) Hardcore with groovy Metal tunes and some Sludge-elements – those Metal-details being born out of, especially, Death and Thrash Metal. The album, by the way, lasts for fifty four minutes, yet it does not bore that much (except for some infantile parts and in spite of a certain lack of variety in general approach). I read about a comparison with acts like Gojira, Isis and Blood Has Been Shed, and partly I do agree. Sleeping Giant indeed are not the most renewing band on the rotten and stinking, pathetic (oops, my misanthropic thoughts did influence my writings) surface in between Heaven and Hell, and sometimes it is almost painful. Yet again, the injection of elements from different / differing acts like Neurosis, Meshuggah, Crematorium or Fleshmould in subtle yet undeniable (and of undeniable importance) proportions is pleasant. [Singer Tommy Green takes care of certain pastoral duties in Salt Lake City as well (he started the sect, sorry, the Christian community Revolution Reality Ministries), apparently, and recently he created Religio-cide, an audio book, released through this very same label, which acts as some kind of guide, a manual, to accompany youngsters into their search for belief and worship, rather seen from a spiritual point of view than from denigrative index-finger-pointing by narrow-minded pro-church hypocrites… A stiff middle-finger towards cowardish and intolerant, stupidly militant stereotyping. Out as from September 27th.] 81/100 Band: As Hell Retreats As Hell Retreats (let’s hope not ;o) ) are a young Hendersonville, Tennessee-based quartet (Jackson Greene-v, Trent Davenport-d, Taylor Jones-b, and Tyler Riley-g), and after a handful of demos they did record a first studio album, Revival, which got released in 2010 through Strike First Records. That debut often got compared to Meshuggah and indeed, Meshuggah certainly is an enormous influence on As Hell Retreats’ song writing. Volition isn’t that different, still combining the technical experiences of Meshuggah with details from the most progressive side of Death Metal-injected Groove Metal and thrashing Prog Metal. But more than their heroes, As Hell Retreats focuses on the equilibrium experiment – variation. The tempo, the melodies, the instrumental approach, it is an imaginary journey through spheres of darkness (or do I need to call it ‘lightness’), trying to perfect the interaction between progressive experiment and traditional standards, between brutalised heaviness and catchiness, and between inner aggression and philosophical relief / belief. Not the whole album, clocking nearly forty minutes, is as strong, yet I didn’t expect to hear an own interpretation of meshuggian experiments translated into both modernised and timeless Hardcore / Death - Thrash Metal / Groove Rockin’ Rok Rock Rockkk… Their lyrics deal with personal struggles and questions of life, as well as the emotional / emotive equilibrium between love and loss, yet written this time within a conceptual approach and with biblical ideas as driving force to continue. Uncertainty and tragedy leading to redemption, or something like that… 78/100 Ivan Tibos. |