2013: The year that wasn't.

So nothing has happened this year right?
I mean it's been nearly 12 months free of vitriol and snarky comments about something I profess to love so what has happened?
Well in no particular order of importance:

Lamb of God's Randy Blythe kicked off the year with the threat of 10 years in a Czech prison hanging over his head.

Slayer maestro Jeff Hanneman succumbed to liver failure and died possibly exacerbated by the lay off whilst he recovered from the flesh eating disease contracted by a spider bite two years ago.



More generally shit rhythm section news and former Iron Maiden drummer Clive Burr passed away this year.
Burr who played on the first three albums by the band had long been suffering from MS and died peacefully in sleep.
A sad time indeed and his former band who had supported him since his illness over whelmed him with a trust and several benefit gigs were understandably quick to issue their sadness at his passing.
Burr whose hard hitting and energetic style is often referred to as Maiden's greatest drummer, despite Nicko McBrain being the superior stick man technically, for the feel and punky style that he brought to numbers such as Running Free, The Prisoner, Run To The Hills etc.
Having played those first three albums a lot at the time it is a reminder that the East End band would not have sounded the way they did without Clive's incredible contribution.
Tributes poured in from all over the Rock world as musicians and fans influenced by the man's drumming paid homage to a man who in spite of suffering a terrible illness still retained his love of music, humour and irreverence until the end.
R.I.P Clive - your contribution to Iron Maiden can never be forgotten.

Then Adam Duce was fired from Machine Head.
In a heartfelt statement from Robb Flynn on the band's website he explained why Adam had to go and it broke my heart to hear of how the two friends had drifted apart and how Duce had effectively been struggling in Machine Head for years.
To be honest it was no great shock to learn this - Flynn and Duce have made no secret of their relationship difficulties over the last decade and being a road band has clearly taken it's toll.
Much like Maiden's Steve Harris you do feel though with Flynn that you get on board or get off.
He is now the only original member left, although he has always been it's heart and soul.
A shame though for sure as Duce's baselines on I'm Your God Now remains one of my all time favourites. He was replaced by some dude called Jared MacEachern who was in a band called Sanctity (no idea either but they were signed to Roadrunner for five minutes) and got the nod for his ability to hit the vocal harmonies. The jury is out for me.

After a triumphant UK tour drummer Joey LaCaze of Eyehategod passed away from respiratory failure at 42.

Deftones bassist Chi Cheng finally slipped away after a painful (for the fans) few years where he had remained in a state of semi conscious coma.

Legendary Door keyboardist and band leader Ray Manzerick also passed away.

On a non musical front, Tony Soprano, the James Gandolfini died of a heart attack at just 51. In the words of the big man himself:
“It's good to be in something from the ground floor. I came too late for that and I know. But lately, I'm getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over.”
Not a good year for the dead pool.

The as if things weren't looking sucky enough, Slayer Skinbeater Dave Lombardo was fired, asked to sit out, decided to sit out, future endeavoured, whatever, by Kerry King and the cardboard cut out currently standing in for Tom Araya. As it turns out when Lombardo returned to Slayer he was not brought back in as a partner but as a player who received 5% of profits. Having returned from the World Painted Blood, Big Four extended jaunts Dave felt his pocket was a bit light and asked where the money his 5% was coming from was… You know if he was getting 5%, then how much was 100%?
Turns out not to be a question to ask and Dave has headed for the unemployment line whilst former Slayer stand in Paul Bosteph rejoined the band.
All in all, with Kings seeming lack of compassion towards the hole vacated by Hanneman, it has been a massive year of PR black marks for the thrash titans.

On no less a sad note Lou Reed also passed away, cue an outpouring of ignorant shit from vitriolic metal heads still angry over Lulu.
Make no mistake, I'm still angry over Lulu, but it is what it is - Lou Reed was a legend years before he became a ballsack faced rambling old git - there is no need to rag on a man now he is dead. Metallica on the other hand are quite capable of ruining themselves as this years self indulgent, time wasting excuse not to make decent music surfaced in the form of 3D concert movie Through The Never; a nonsensical blend of surrealist movie script and overly produced live footage that the band paid for from their own pocket and is currently tanking in Imax cinemas all over the globe.

Then there is the sad affair of Stone Temple Pilots.
The band fired Welland for being an unpredictable junkie liability.
Welland then alleged that they couldn't fire him and sued them. They sued him for loss of earnings and round and round it went with each side sniping at each other and doing everything but making music.
Until bizarrely STP surfaced with an EP featuring one Chester Bennington of former Nu Metal behemoths and chart bothering soundtrack machine Linkin Park. Clearly bored of waiting to see how windmill armed 'rapper' Mike Shinoda can piss off their remaining fan base he decided to go and actually sing on a record by a rock band. The results aren't spectacular but they are better than the last STP album and every Linkin Park release since Meteroa.

Recently Download popped out the blocks and finally sold it's soul down the river by announcing headlining acts of Avenged Sevenfold, er, Linkin Park and Aerosmith, backed by the talents of Rob Zombie, Fall Out Boy and Alterbridge. As the usual butthurt comments came crashing in one shining light emerged - A massively misjudged comment on social media of 'Why not Dying Foetus?' gathered so much momentum in a slightly ironic way that the undoubtably bemused American Death metal band find themselves on the Download bill.

Potentially vile human filth Ian Watkins has a date set for his baby raping trial - the extended fallout of this has inevitably done for the career of Lost Prophets, who split this year.

And finally in one of the strangest episodes Tim Lambesis of Christian tagged metalcore giants As I Lay Dying was arrested for attempting to hire a hit man to kill his wife.
Yeah… Lambesis apparently turned his back on his invisible friend and took to the gym and began abusing steroids, lifting weights, having affairs and generally pissing her indoors off.
After having had enough of his increasingly douchebagish behaviour she filed for divorce, a settlement which would undoubtedly take a sizeable chunk of his livelihood and the former God Bothering Austrian Death Machine singer was caught giving money to an undercover officer and asking him to kill his wife.
Seriously.
The trial is pending.

So that's why I haven't written much this year.
When the entire genre seems to crumble or turn into a surreal day in TMZ world I felt it was better to step off for my own sanity and yours dear reader. If I was sick of writing it, then you must be sick of reading it.

So why am I back?
Because sometimes you can get weighed down with the shitty things that happen and ignore the good.
Good things happened this year and in what has been dark days it is worth reminding people of them:

First off Randy Blythe is a free man. Acquitted of manslaughter the singer who had taken the brave step to return to the Czech Republic and face trial to clear his name was vindicated when the jury returned a not guilty verdict meaning that Lamb of God were free to resume business. With nearly a years earnings lost and the band and personnel near bankrupted by the process to clear their singers name they have immediately hit the road for the continuation of the Resolution tour; reminding people that at the beginning of last year they did actually release an awesome album.
In several incredibly powerful and mature statements Blythe sky rocketed in respect in the metal community as he asked people to remember the fact a young man tragically lost his life.
Randy's writings can be found on his instagram account and portray a very different person to the one who gets knocked out on their Killadelphia DVD - I urge you check out some of it as it is inspiring and moving stuff.

Kirk Windstein left Down.
I appreciate how that sounds, but for me Down have been growing stale for a while now, the Purple EP was churned out by a band who admittedly they were lazy and with Phil Anselmo much more caught up in his solo work, his record label, his horror house etc all I see Down doing at the moment is holding up great bands like Crowbar, Eyehategod and Corrosion of Conformity.
CoC have of course continued with the pre-Pepper line up and that is one thing, not my favourite era of the band, but you have to sympathise with Mullin and Dean for not just sitting around waiting for their famous guitarist to grow tired of hanging around with his celebrity mates.
Eyehategod having gone through tragedy actually have a new album in the can and from the 3 songs I have heard it will be up there with their best, however with Corrections House (awesome side project involving Mike IX Williams and Scott Kelly of Neurosis) just having release their debut and Jimmy Bower involved in writing the new Down EP you just know it is going to be a while before that surfaces.
Which leaves Crowbar. Now Crowbar is Windstiein. No Kirk, no Crowbar and for me their last album Sever The Wicked Hand was one of the best releases of their career and much better than the last three Down releases.
The opportunity for more Southern Sludge is a very exciting prospect.

British extreme metal legends Carcass returned (okay they returned to the scene a while back) with a new album in the fine shape of Surgical Steel; a stunning precision blow to the skull, back with all their gore soaked glory.

Elsewhere my boy Tristan Shone of Author & Punisher fame released the bold Women & Children album and toured the UK. On the back of this he picked up the opportunity to go out and support none other than Philip H Anselmo as he took his solo project on the road in the states.

And any year you get to see Iron Maiden and Alice In Chains twice can't be bad right?

If you want to know where I have really been hiding then as always I suggest you head on over to The Sleeping Shaman where I have produced over four pages of positive reviews this year which would suggest in a moment of maturity I have figured if you have nothing good to say then don't say it at all.

That said I feel I'll be back before the year is out with a round up of what I thought rocked and what didn't so prepared to be offended.
Peace out.
Or something.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly 2011

When all is said and done this is a time of year when people get demotivated.

You have a million and one things to do, apparently a need to catch up with a million and one people for no other reason than Coke-a-Cola adverts on TV, the need to boost the economy by spending all your money on other people and gorge yourself on fattening foods and liver threatening beverages and all of these in turn for the sake of the mythical birthday of a guy who would be nailed to a tree at 33 years old for saying what a good idea it would be to be nice to everyone (thank you Douglas Adams - gone but not forgotten).

That's right Christmas is upon us, the house is full of tinfoil, fake German trees, the little lady is telling me to stop being a grumpy cunt (well that's just normal to be fair) and across the land magazine staff do that thing where they fill their product with lists to distract from the fact they can't be arsed to do any work.

Here at History Towers we are no different really... I look back on the year and think 'Man, only one thing pissed me off in November?' well of course it didn't, loads did, but that's another story... anyway, back to the plot. Now that the door has slammed shut on metal releases worth talking about I'm going to tell you about the albums that have made an impact here this year. I have tried to narrow my list down to the top, er under ten, best, worst and not necessarily either of 2011.

Anyway before we get down to final lists there are a few worth mentioning that edge outside of the final er, inconsistent number.

British Metal had a reasonable year, Architects disappeared off to America and continued adding melodies to their Baby Johnny Truant sound with January's The Here & Now. Son of The Air Raid Siren, baby Dickinson's band Rise To Remain released the metalcore City Of Vultures which won them fans aplenty (although in my house he is not a patch on his father); Technical Djent merchants Tesseract released the dizzying One and ragga-metal favourites Skindred released the entertaining but not ground breaking Union Black... still it is a lot of fun.

Elsewhere Morbid Angel alienated their fan base with a bizarrely industrial flavoured effort, Chimaira returned with Age Of Hell - their best effort in years, Opeth released Heritage but the thought of listening to it bores me, Alice Cooper got round to releasing Welcome 2 My Nightmare which is actually a great classic rock album and nowhere near as bad as it sounds. Former Skid Row squealer Seb Bach released Kicking & Screaming which serves as a reminder that, before he was using his mouth as Axl Rose's bidet, the guy could, on his day, kick the fat Ginger fuck up and down the stage vocally, Jane's Addiction returned with the above average 'Great Escape Artist', Al Jourgensen decided he couldn't live without Ministry and started to record 'Relapse' whilst finally releasing the crazy Buck Satan project (which has arrived after the cut off date) and lastly my chance to rip into MegaDave some more was denied when the 'Deth boys turned in Th1rt3en and it was actually alright...

So to the nitty gritty of my year.

The Ugly

6. In at six is the mighty Mastodon. A confusing band who one moment have this brutal punk vibe going for them, the next they are all clever and prog with too many notes and time signatures going on.


Having released the challenging and in part incredible Crack The Skye album in 2009 they stripped their sound back down and went balls out for The Hunter. Somewhat of an enigma that to me their more accessible release was harder to listen to. Less refined and a return to the uncompromising sounds of their earlier releases this is an album I will file under 'needs more time'.

5. As I have previously indicated I placed a great deal of expectation on the shoulders of Unearth this time out as I felt that since the Oncoming Storm they have been dependable, but not kicked on. III: In The Eyes Of Fire and The March were good, but more of the same, perhaps not as good.


Armed with Killswitch jackass Adam D behind the studio desk once more and Killswitch drummer Foley I felt this time could be something special for the Massachusetts metalcore crew. Sadly I am left feeling a little short changed and this is in part due to the introduction of clean vocals which smacks of an attempt to widen their audience. There is no shame in this, and it's not bad, just not the world beater I hoped for.

4. Another metalcore forerunner As I Lay Dying followed up their acclaimed 2009 album The Powerless Rise with a 'ten year celebratory special EP' Decas, which smacked of fulfilling contractual obligations.


Consisting of 3 new songs, a handful of covers - including heavy weights Judas Priest and Slayer as well as several remixes of their own earlier material, it is as hit and miss as it sounds. The new songs are strong and follow on where they previously left off, the covers are entertaining if not fairly pointless and redundant and the dance remixes are well, just fairly pointless and redundant.

Don't get me wrong I love AILD, I have listened to this a fair bit considering the sum of it's parts... But I just can't see the point in it.

3. I wrote about Emmure's Speaker Of The Dead earlier this year so I won't labour the point... it is lumpen and as musically dumb as the proverbial bag of hammers.


And hammers are a good analogy really; harking back to Douglas Adams - he described the drink The Pangalatic Gargle Blaster as being hit in the head by a gold brick wrapped in a slice of lemon... Well, substitute the lemon for a blunt paper, exchange the gold brick for a sack of Go-Bots, broken Transformers, Brass knuckles, a couple of Nintendo cartridge games and some bling and you'll probably still be nowhere near the effect.

The very essence of ugly, yet I have found myself compelled to listen to it.

2. This year also saw the return of Five Finger Death Punch. Promising harder, heavier, more melodic, more cowbell and more kitchen sink than ever before, the 'Death Punk' crew rolled over the airwaves with American Capitalist and you know what? They were right. Like a huge big, dumb, awful, brain melting cartoon with a massive side helping of cheese, they are fast food, low brow, quick fix and most of all fun.


I fucking love them, yes they are AWFUL, seriously bad at times but Evan Moody has a great voice and Zoltan Bathory is a great guitar player - they are the perfect 3.30pm festival band and this is their latest instalment, it's probably the weakest of the three so far, but it's not not even important at this point.

1. What is the ugliest record I heard all year?

Actually to phrase that better what is the ugliest record I have heard this year that doesn't fall into the worst album category?


Earlier in the year I wrote a lengthy rant about the ridiculousness of Limp Bizkit's 'Golden Cobra' even going as far as to dub it 'Golden Shower' but on reflection as the year draws to a close there are a couple of reasons I can't place it in the 'worst album' category.

i) As retarded as they are, they are great live entertainment. Durst is a shit lyricist, but a great frontman.

ii) They are self aware - they know how shit they are, but every now and then Borland and Otto let rip with these musical interludes that say, we only write this cos you people buy it.

iii) They are crap, they always have been crap. If you listen to it expecting genius, then you are a bigger idiot than Bizkit's frontman.

I hate them, yet I can't honestly sit here and tell you it deserves to be in the worst album category, because it never stood a chance of being in the best one.

Make of this what you want, but Golden Cobra is definitely the ugliest thing I have heard all year...

The Bad

5. I'll put my hands up on this one. It's a 2010 release, not 2011.

Sure there are some awful records that have assaulted my ears this year, but I thought it was incredibly mean spirited to sling Golden Cobra into the top 5 worst albums I have heard this year as in truth it would be like pointing out the defects in Li-Lo's Photoshopped Playboy shoot.


However I heard earlier this year Bring Me The Horizon's 2010 'There Is A Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It, If There Is A Heaven, Let's Keep It A Secret'. Not only does this win the most retarded title award, but is in actual fact, 100% ear cancer. Devoid of anything remotely endearing the band, who also are strong candidates for shittest name to come out of the Random Emo Name Generator, have had a busy year fighting with their own audiences and being universally booed across Europe supporting Machine Head.

The worst thing was I only found out they were British the other week. They achieve the less than glowing compliment of making Parkway fucking Drive sound good.

Fuck this band and their douchebag front man, I boycotted Machine Head thanks to you and fucking Devildriver; if your music was a living entity I would shoot it in the genitals to stop it spreading. Just about the worst thing I have heard this year.

4. Annnnnd back to to the present....

It is sad to say that I have to finally give in and admit defeat with In Flames. Once proud pioneers of The Gothenburg Sound (Melodic Death Metal to you and I) who seemed to be clawing back a little bit of credibility, this years awfully titled 'Sounds Of A Playground Fading' managed the dubious achievement of making everything they have released since 2000's fan dividing 'Re-route To Remain' sound interesting and cutting edge.


Essentially there is little wrong with what is on the disc - trademark In Flames riffs, moany lyrics, fast solos... all check but the fact is it is so incredibly stock and fucking boring that I would rather they just hadn't bothered.

Honestly no matter how many spins I have given it I don't think I could pick a song out if it set itself on fire and ran around my living room.

No one expects this band to rewrite Jester Race, but when this isn't even as good as Come Clarity you have to wonder if this once great band have over stayed their welcome.

3. Once upon a time there was a band called Anthrax... stop me if you've heard this one before... oh you have? 3 Singers and the fact they settled on the one most likely to earn them the quick cash on the back of The Big Four tours rather than the one that would have them make the best music?

That's right.


In essence a lot of people are/will be very happy with Worship Music, that's the truth of the matter. It sounds like a very eighties 'Thrax album, albeit in an extremely contrived way. Skeletor sounds the same as ever (by which I mean he sounds like he did on Among The Living, but I would rather he sounded like John Bush), the music is, well it's like a nostalgia trip back to the golden age of youth... although imagine when you got up close to the Delorian you lovingly remembered without the rose tinted specs on you saw it was a bit plasticy, a bit naff looking and cheap... and it handles like a cow.

That is the Anthrax album I heard.

Horrendous lyrics like Judas Priest (not about the band), Fight Em Til You Die etc, music that sounds overdone and a bit forced, but the worst thing for me is that Anthrax progressed during the Bush era, pushed themselves - like they did back in the real eighties probably to their career detriment - and here they sound like they have gone backwards and produced someones idea of a classic era Anthrax album...

Of course they have, they made my mate The Boy Tuesday's idea of a classic Anthrax album - he loves it, but then he thinks music died with The Black album.

Mind you this is the same guy who is now excited by Metallica playing Download... and he hates that album, go figure.

However if I wanted to listen to yesteryear Anthrax I'd have gotten in my time machine and revved it up to 88mph.

2. From the dated to the contemporary there is one thing consistent, some people make dreadful music in the name of progress. Now I am probably going to be labelled small minded or a hater for this but crashing into the top five for the second year running is the latest Korn coaster, this time entitled 'The Path Of Totality'.


Here the Bakersfield crew have updated their dated nineties sound to a more modern Dubstep influenced sound. Yes that's right folks, coming straight outta South London in 1998 the latest dance trend has taken until recently to break through into the mainstream. Despite a favourable reception to III: Remember Who You Are apparently Fat Mexican Pimp-a-like Jon Davies has been DJing a lot recently and has gotten into Dubstep and so off they go again in another attempt to stay relevant, collaborating with all manner of bad dance music producing nerks to make this shambles of an album.

Now I know I should in reality commend them for actually taking a risk and trying to evolve, but fuck me, Dubstep is bad enough on it's own and Korn are bad enough on their own, together it's like a bunch of children let lose on Garage Band or something... I like dance, I like industrial, Prodigy's cover of L7's Fuel My Fire s awesome, this sounds like an annoying console game soundtrack with a millionaire still bleating and whinging over the top.

Call me close minded, but I tell you I still listen to Fear Factory's Remanufacture and even now it's great, this however is just bollocks.

1. So have you guessed it yet?

Honestly if you have needed a hand guessing what has to be the most execrable thing heard all year you must have being living in the same universe where they convinced Korn to write Dubstep. Without a shadow of a doubt by far the biggest piece of shit to be released this year under the banner of music is Lou & Metallica's dismal, dismal collaboration Lulu.


Sure someone is going to tell me it's art, someone is going to tell me it's brave, someone is going to tell me they have always gone against the grain, it's not a proper Metallica album, I don't get it... well you know what?

They can fuck off off as well.

It's rubbish, it's just utter garbage in fact and I fear it is the straw that broke the camel's back for me. When The Boy moans about Metallica selling out with the Black album and he can't listen to them, it makes me laugh - St fucking Anger, Death fucking Cliptastic and now this!

Fuck you Metallica - 20,000 copies sold in a month tells you how bad it is!

I notice now in an attempt to divert attention from this monstrous suckfest you have release the Beyond Magnetic Ep this week - four tracks from the Death Cliptastic sessions, OOOOO thanks guys, four songs you and Rick decided weren't good enough to go on the album, four songs you deemed worse than Redemption & Suicide? My Apocalypse? End Of The Line? The Judas Kiss?

Well fuckin' cheers guys, not only is it bad enough you couldn't be bothered to record and master the last two albums properly, this time it seems you couldn't be bother to write it either, or sing in tune, or play music properly on this one.

And as for Lou Reed... oh fuck it, even Lou Reed fans seem to hate him these days so let's leave him out of it as he clear doesn't know any better, the money making machine that is Metallica's management should have shot everyone involved with this project the moment the demos came in.

Aaaannnnnnyyyyywwwwaaaaayyy!

There has been some good to come out of the year apart from being pushed over the edge by one of my favourite bands and the fact that the longest list on this article is good means that the disappointment has been outweighed by the good (get me all positive!). So without further ado...

The Good

7. In at seven is Jamie Jasta's solo album, the imaginatively titled 'Jasta'.

Again I loved this album so much I was moved to write about it earlier this year, rather than labour the point here in I'll skim briefly so if you want a lengthier dissection have shufty at the article 'Caught Jasta'.


In short this album offered far more depth, melody and song writing nouse than I expected. Sure I was confident it could do aggressive yet uplifting songs and at no point does it disappoint, but the sheer scope of the album was far beyond Hatebreed and had more in common with Kingdom Of Sorrow. The guest slots from Phil Labonte, Randy Blythe, Mark Morton, Tim whatisface from As I Lay Dying, Zakk Myilde may be to boost confidence, and are great but in truth they are not needed as tracks like Set You Adrift and Anthems Of A Freedom Fighter prove. This is an extremely listenable and accomplished album.

6. Named after an Latin oath to tell the truth Sacramento screamers Will Haven dragged themselves Lazarus like back from the brink of whatever happens to cult bands when they falter and fade with this years Voir Dire. Having endured the last, disappointing album with new vocalist/long time friend Jeff Jaworski 'The Heirophant' and it's subsequent tour where frankly I out sung him on classic 'I've Seen My Fate' and no one knew any of the band members they seemingly sunk without a trace.


Following a One Love For Chi benefit gig (being long standing mates of the deftones) it was announced that original vocalist and maths teacher look-a-like Grady Avenell had returned.

In a triumphant celebration of everything great about Will Haven 'Voir Dire' positively smashes it's way out of the speakers, grinding and clawing with revived fury. Not only are the original band members mostly back (although Slipknot's Chris Fehn handles bass duties) but they have rediscovered their fire and drive with Avenell sounding like a bug eyed madman on tracks like 'When The Walls Close In' whilst Jeff Irwin's guitar pummels the senses.

Sonically this sounds like a follow up to their classic 'El Diablo' album but they have enhanced it with a depth and a light and shade that makes it almost melancholy at times, but with Avenell back there is something special about it.

I love this band, and it's great to have them back.

5. Wine making, enigmatic baldy Maynard James Keenan wondered into view, blew effortlessly on his finger nails, look up and said 'What?' as Tool fans everywhere cried out for a new album, but found themselves curious about 'Conditions Of My Parole' the sophomore album from dark, ambient, electro-pop, as easy to describe as it to nail jelly to the wall, bit on the side Puscifer.


Picking up where the previous EPs and album left off this is an exercise in effortless cool from start to finish.

I mean who the hell else can get pouty, rake thin, Resident Evil star Milla Jovovich to sing backing vocals and look at him all googly eyed, professing to be a huge fan whilst he stands there and blows it off like it's nothing? Honestly if the man wasn't a living stone cold genius you'd punch him in the dick for being such a wanker.

Fortunately 'Conditions...' is another hedonistic blend of dark, throbbing sexual undertones, subtle guitars, tripped out electronica and clever lyrical turns; less direct and and amped as the first album, this feels more like the work of a band than a one off side project.

Relaxing and unsettling at the same time, but only criticism here Mr Keenan is that Tool's '10,000 Days' was released in May 2006 which means it will now be at least six years between that and any new releases. This year has seen Justin Chandler playing the National Anthem at a WWE Pay Per View Event, Daney Carey appearing in music magazines hawking his own line of drums, a failed A Perfect Circle reunion, Puscifer live dates and now this. In short thank you for an extremely enjoyable album, but get your fucking ass back where you belong please.

4. Nepotism rules, ask the Redknapps and the Lampards.

As such, here is my full review of the eponymous Grifter album for The Sleeping Shaman.

Grifter

Let me be clear, they aren't here because they are my mates, this isn't to boost their egos because gawd knows they are bad enough already (sorry Ollie couldn't resist), they are here because genuinely I feel they have released one of the best albums I have heard all year and the plethora of great reviews (including 8/10 in Metal Hammer UK) echoes this.


I am so proud knowing how hard the guys work at something they absolutely love that they are finally getting the exposure and credit they deserve.

Catch em on tour with the mighty Orange Goblin next year.

3. Again I seem to be repeating myself a lot this time out, but despite the fact that (as great as they are) Down seem to inhibit great music as much as they make it. By this I mean that Corrosion of Conformity, Crowbar and Eyehategod all suffer from stuttering output due to the demands of the NOLA supergroup, but finally this year Kirk Windstein came home to Crowbar, got off the drugs and cut waaaaaayyyyy back on the booze and made one of his best albums in years in 'Sever The Wicked Hand'.


But as I kicked the ass out of that back in February I invite you to refresh your memory on that entry.

And cos I'm lazy.

2. Getting to the business end now and one of the most welcome and surprsing records of the year has to be The Hymn Of A Broken Man by Times Of Grace.

Yes, who? Quite.


Times Of Grace was the first collaboration between Killswitch Engage's Adam D and former Killswitch singer Jessie Leech since 'Alive Or Just Breathing' - the last time Killswitch were a great band.

The whole album, whether full on raging Metalcore or tender acoustic numbers shows the fantastic chemistry and interplay between the two that is so missed in the sleepwalking by numbers emo dross churned out by Killswitch these days. Written when Adam was laid up in agony awaiting back surgery these tunes plumb dark depths of the human psyche in an elegant and article way that I thought Dutkiewicz had long since forgotten. The emotion weight of this darkness and uplifting parts of The Hymn Of A Broken Man make this a breathless journey from the title track, through Strength In Numbers and The Forgotten One.

This rejuvenation is thanks in large part to Leech, a far superior vocalist compared to his replacement he quite simply shines on this record, clearly relishing the reunion with his old sparring partner. Lavishly accompanied by a DVD of arty videos that compliment the music this is as much a work of art as it is a side project.

Bottom line is that this was released at the start of the year and it has never been far from my ears all year, my biggest regret being that I could not make it to Download to see the band make their UK debut as, unless I am extremely lucky, it is highly unlikely we'll see an album this good from the Killswitch axeman for some time, if ever.

1. So when it comes down to it, what was the best thing I heard all year?

Simply put and without any fucking around, it was Unto The Locust.

I started with doubt and I was blown away.

I didn't think they could innovate, I was wrong.

I have to say I can't stop listening to it, it's fantastic.

I've reviewed it already in October (as I seem to have done with anything worth waxing on about this year) but I stand as much by that opinion now as I did then.

Machine Head are home, go buy this album, make them headliners, give them the chance to continue metal's legacy, a band who are proud to be what they are, who care about their fans, who can make an album sound awesome and above all who want to push the genre to dizzying heights.

In short this album made me excited by music this year and it is a joyous celebration from start to finish.


So barring Buck Satan, that's it for this year unless something happens between now and New Year so I will bid you a Happy New Year and hope 2012 is kinder on all.

Peace and Goodwill to most men....

Hey Joel/Caught Jasta?

I have been thinking of writing a positive article for a while now (shock horror) and as I am sitting on 'Unto The Locust' until I have lived with it for just a little more, it seemed the apt time to sing the praises of something else, but then I read the last issue of Metal Hammer and BANG! it gave me the perfect excuse to write my positive article with an angry slant.
As I was recently told that a blog is for ranting on the internet then I figured why fight the bile?

What got my goat was Joel McIver's interview in last months Metal Hammer (UK) with Hatebreed/Kingdom Of Sorrow frontman Jamie Jasta, but I'll get to that in due course.

At the tail end of the nineties I spent a fair bit of time with a guy who was into his hardcore music.
An awful lot.
Now don't get me wrong the hardcore scene has thrown up some great bands, but somehow it's never quite been for me; maybe it's because I am not that relentlessly angry - I don't go to the gym and work out until my neck is thicker than my head, I don't have enough tattoos or wifebeater vests and would fair prefer smoking a relaxing rock and roll cigarette and watching a band with a beer than axe kicking someone in the face in the pit or maybe it's simply that I just prefer metal music.
Still at some point in our friendship my shouty music loving friend handed me a copy of Hatebreed's Victory Records debut 'Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire' (great title by the way). Now this solid album and kick started a career that is still going strong some 6 albums later and has survived a swap to the home of North American Metal trends, Roadrunner.
I quite liked it then and still spin it now.
It's about forty-five minutes of 3 minute anthems about being angry, yet with a message of positive empowerment running through. Again maybe this is another reason I can only have a passing interest as I like to, ahem 'cherish the darkness within' (thank you Machine Head) and sometimes I don't want to put on music and have self help therapy.
Still it sums up Hatebreed to me even now.
They have the same fairly one note path which they admittedly tread very well, but when they split up then I'll buy The Best Of... so I can get the stand out tracks like 'I Will Be Heard', 'Live Through This' and 'Before Dishonour' without having to sit through that albums batch of sound-a-likes.


As for Jasta himself well the narrow confines of his musical day job means that he is to me just the potato headed guy who shouts a lot. He has also been a VJ on MTV's Headbangers Ball, runs his own label (Stillborn records) and has his own clothing range (couldn't be bothered to look up the name).
To be fair he was one of thse people I universally thought nothing of until he teamed up with Kirk Windstein of Crowbar for the excellent Kingdom Of Sorrow debut.
That album really made me sit up and take notice - this was an excellent collaboration full of light and shade, Jasta's hardcore roar trading off against Kirk's more melodic whiskey soaked rasp.
On reading the liner notes I realised that this is actually more Jasta's baby than it is Windstein's and he actually contributes more to the writing and the melodies than my slanted view of him would recognise and this was something that increased on the second album, which is in my opinion the stronger of the two.
So this year I read that Jasta was releasing a solo album, now given my interest in the last Hatebreed album lasted approximately one and a half spins I thought I'd download it and see what the fuss was about.


In truth it is both surprising and great.
It sounds like neither KOS or Hatebreed - Jasta displays a deft song writing skill, a decent melodic voice and it isn't hindered by having two of my favourite contemporary metal vocalists - Rhandy Blythe of Lamb Of God and Phil LaBonte of All That Remains, - guesting as well as Wack Myldde (You know former Ozzy guitarist, Shuaron worshipping, Egg throwing, fake biker mong), Mark Morton (vocalist punching drummer for Lamb Of God) and Phil Vallely – Skateboarder, solo artist, and one time singer of Black Flag.
I liked it so much I ordered it after a week of listening to it non-stop, sent back the first one that arrived because the postman had mangled it and got another, I was that determined to have it as a nice looking piece of shelf furniture and I have to say it's one of the releases this year I have been most satisfied by thus far.
It got good reviews, fuck knows how much it will sell being on Century Media and the fact that people's opinion of it will very much be coloured by their views on Jasta's day job.

And here's the rub.
McIver's interview with him, to me, seemed obsessed by the concept that this was a solo album, why was it a solo?
Well as the man behind it clearly explains; the music on the disc doesn't sit well with either his day job or his side project. It would seem that for someone who I didn't have pegged as a song writer particularly Jasta produces tons of music - at home, on tour - he lives and breathes the life he has chossen and 'Jasta' the album is made up of songs that were on his hard drive begging for release but would never find the light of day in his two most famous incarnations.
He joked that by releasing it as a solo album he would lose less money in the long run.
This seemed to offend Mr McIver's principles somewhat and he branded Jasta a business man, whose very actions were lessening the spirit and purity of the music he was producing.
I have to say the tone of the interview got my goat frankly..
Jasta, in my opinion, has got this right.
Hatebreed aren't exactly the most forward pushing bands and their fans appear to want more of the same - they have their path and they tread it regularly. It's exactly the reason that puts me off them that keeps their fans loyal, because they give them want they want. Besides Hatebreed are a BAND, it is a collective decision and if the songs don't fit, they don't fit - their are five guys with families who make a living from this, why mess with it?
Artistically just because you or I or Joel McIver don't find it challenging enough does it matter?


Having heard the songs I would hands down say that they don't belong on Kingdom Of Sorrow either - that band does push themselves, but rather than melodic hardcore sludge are they suddenly expected to jam in 'Something You Should Know' a hard rock stadium type anthem?
Are they fuck. Kirk Windstien would have probably walked out at that point laughing.
And anyway, Jasta wrote these songs on his own to please himself, recorded them and helped mix them so why should he turn them over and potentially damage two bands with a decent legacy?
I'm sure in Joel's world the idea that a musician trying to earn a living seems a little soulless, but honestly for someone who writes for a magazine who are owned by the Future Publishing group it's a little churlish to berate or question the integrity of someone who the dedication and passion for music that Jasta shows - whether you like him or not.
Having witnessed the backlash against Morbid Angel messing with their sound, I think Jasta was well within his rights to release this collection without the scrutiny of the music press destroying Hatebreed's reputation.
The universal comment on the reviews?
Not as good as Hatebreed or Kingdom of Sorrow.
Case closed - There is a difference between selling out (like Hatebreed suddenly releasing a pop album) and trying to make a living...
It's hard to make any money from album sales in this business this day and age; for the man to fund it out of his own pocket and front up to the industry machine without the armour, prebuilt fanbase and backing of his previous incarnations is actually profoundly brave and remarkably unbusiness-like and maybe Joel should stick to writing about Avenged fucking Sevefold, or The Black Veil Brides or whatever current, trendy, major label, guy liner wearing, Hot Topic sporting, flash in the pan fuckwits are all over Scuzz or Kerrang! TV in between the endless repeats of Green day and Blink 182 that the editorial slant of Metal Hammer feels required to push this week.