Freshman 15
HERE’S TO FEELING GOOD

Winter sucks. I know, there’s no real secret to that, but it is a fact. For any of us that don’t live in Florida, Arizona or southern California, winter is a miserable time where the terrible weather just makes you cranky and angry. In short, you really end up feeling terrible. By this time of the winter, you really need a dose of warm air and something to really cleanse the pallet of the evils of winter. You need a band that’s making some fun, punchy music to get you through this bad time. For 2012, the aptly titled HERE’S TO FEELING GOOD fits the bill.

I’ll be honest here. Freshman 15 is never going to be one of those bands that breaks a lot of new ground musically. Even they will admit that isn’t their goal. Instead, this pop punk quartet just records songs that are full of witty, ironic lyrics, punchy rhythms, and hooks that would catch killer whales. HERE’S TO FEELING GOOD is silly at times, yet song after song ends up stuck in your head like bubble gum in a school girl’s hair. Coming off as a fun, less neurotic Green Day meets Bowling For Soup band, Freshman 15 have really recorded a great release with HERE’S TO FEELING GOOD.

Without question, the strength of this band lies in the vocals of Davey Fortner. Fortner has a sound that’s all his own; smooth that seemingly comes walks up to a line where it’s tough to tell if it’s being auto-tuned or not, but not in a terribly untalented Chris Brown sort of way. While his voice is strong, and his ability to showcase a great deal of range, the most compelling feature Fortner brings to the sound is his ability to bring real humor to the songs. Listening to songs like “Mistake Ex-Girlfriend”, you just get a good chuckle as Fortner brings you along for the ride.

While Fortner is the strongest element of this release, that’s not to say that the rest of the band isn’t solid as well. Guitarist Mike Baker provides strong riffs that power songs like “Getting Weird”. It’s clear from listening to Baker on this album that he’s got some metal background in his past, because his riffs are far crisper than the standard sloppy schlock that dominates so much of the music of this ilk. Baker and Fortner are balanced out nicely by drummer Leo Teran and bassist Davey Hoogerwerf, who provide a very rock-influenced bottom end to songs like first single “Anywhere But Here”.

Without question though, the element that separates HERE’S TO FEELING GOOD from most music of this genre is the songwriting. More than just about any band of this style, Freshman 15 write strong songs that, while humorous, don’t let the humor turn each tune into a parody of punk or a silly, useless pop dirge. Almost any song on this album could do well at active rock radio. Songs like “Anywhere But Here” and “Getting Weird” are earmarked as the singles, but there are songs with much more depth for radio play on the disc. Songs like “Come Back For More” could easily become staples at radio and launch this band to the next level.

PITRIFF RATING – 92/100 - It could be just for right now, but HERE’S TO FEELING GOOD is by far the most listened to disc in my IPod over the last month. Even when the headphones are off, the songs are still rattling around in my head. This winter hasn’t been that terrible, but even the cold days have been made a little more tolerable by Freshman 15. While it’s definitely not for everyone that reads what I write generally, this is one of the cooler albums so far this year.

Chris Akin

MP3 – AMAZON

Donnie Vie
WRAPPED AROUND MY MIDDLE FINGER

I’m one of those guys that just worshipped the work Donnie Vie did with Enuff Z’nuff. Even now, where I’ve actually hosted shows where Vie was a drug addled embarrassment to the point where I regretted having the name of my radio show tied to his performance, I never stopped appreciating the enormous musical talent that Vie has. I have all those Enuff Z’nuff albums on my IPod and they get regular play in my ears.

As a solo artist, Vie has been spotty though. His songwriting and his choices to prostitute the old Enuff Z’nuff songs as a solo artist really lead me to believe that he wasn’t capable of writing quality music without his musical partner Chip Z’nuff. It’s safe to say that all changes with WRAPPED AROUND MY MIDDLE FINGER. While a lot darker than the happier, party vibe that dominates the back catalog, WRAPPED AROUND MY MIDDLE FINGER proves that Vie can still write tunes with incredible melody and strong hooks. He can still sing to; fusing his own sound with that John Lennon influence that has been the signature of his sound since his moment in the sun in 1989.

There are so many great songs on WRAPPED AROUND MY MIDDLE FINGER. “Rattle On” is a great song that showcases the new Donnie Vie. Gone are the days of “Joni Woni Rides The Pony” silliness; replaced with more real world messages of life like this song. This song reaches for a place we’ve all been – that spot where you want to just settle for the fact that life sucks before someone tells you to snap out of it. While Vie seems to be singing this to a girl, one has to wonder if this isn’t a metaphor to a lesson that’s been thrown at him over the last decade. Whatever the case, this song is a simple singer songwriter dirge that just works on a lot of levels.

As I stated previously, WRAPPED AROUND MY MIDDLE FINGER is a bit darker and emotional than previous Vie efforts. Songs like “No Escape” are as emotionally scarred as Vie has ever decided to go, while other songs like “I Won’t Let You Down” feel almost like desperate cries to a woman; begging her to stay in the wake of previously emotional misfortune in a relationship. Still, while this album has it’s share of dark moments, there’s still some of that patented Enuff Z’nuff songwriting sound that so many fell in love with back in the day. Songs like “Wrapped Around My Middle Finger” are straight forward, fun rockers, while “Lollipop” is punchy and fun.

PITRIFF RATING – 88/100 - Being honest, this is a really pleasant surprise. While Donnie Vie is one of those “sing the phonebook” guys to me, he hasn’t been very good without the framework of Enuff Z’nuff. WRAPPED AROUND MY MIDDLE FINGER is the strongest thing Vie has been involved with in awhile – even more so than the last two Enuff Z’nuff albums he did. I’m glad to see there’s still some gas in his tank!

Chris Akin

CD – AMAZON

Halloween
TERRORTORY

We all have bands that never made it big but we really liked. If you are really honest about it, those bands generally have a very distinct reason they didn’t make it big. In short, some bands just don’t have that “it” factor. For me, Halloween are one of those bands. I always loved their tunes and thought they were great. Yet, I think I always fully understood why they didn’t make it. When you listen to the bands of their ilk that did break big and compare them to the bands that had pretty much the same impact, it’s very clear. Halloween was much more “Helstar” than they were “King Diamond”. For me, the lesser known certainly had more impact to me.

All this said, Halloween is one of those bands that didn’t make it, and really might want to start thinking about winding down making new music and simply play their annual Halloween gigs for fun. As much as I have liked everything they’ve done to this point, I can’t get past how dull TERRORTORY is. In short, this album is a snore. It’s not bad really, but it’s about as dynamic as a rice cake birthday dinner for a co-worker that you’ve never spoken to. It’s dull, plain and simple.

There are two big issues with TERRORTORY – the production and the vocals. First, the production. While it’s clean sounding, it has a real air of cheapness to it. This is most notable on the drums. I don’t know if it’s on purpose or just a bad mix, but whatever the reason, the drums just don’t sound like a professional kit at all. They are clangy to the point of annoying on “Images Quite Horrible”. This is not to say that the performance from Don Gurrier is bad or anything, but the drum sound itself is distractinglly bad.

Vocalist Brian Thomas, however, doesn’t escape so easily. His vocals are very dull; so much so that it reminds me more off a King Diamond soundcheck than an actual performance. Listening to songs like “Her Ghost Comes Out To Play”, Thomas’ delivery is very flat and subdued. He’s also very, very raw throughout the record, which is strange. It’s not that the band doesn’t have the ability to use a bit of reverb or echo to enhance his sound any, as this same song has an almost tubular echo on the guitars (again, not a very good thing).

PITRIFF RATING – 41/100 - Disappointing release. As a fan of this band, I hoped and expected something a lot stronger than TERRORTORY. Kind of plain and with local band production, TERRORTORY fails to impact much.

Chris Akin

MP3 – AMAZON

Cannibal Corpse
TORTURE

Ahhh…another lullaby for my sickened soul! The masters of horrific death metal are back once again. Here’s a surprise – this is heavy and fast! Stunning, right? Honestly, this is one I could probably have written without ever hearing a note of the album. It’s heavy. It’s fast. It kicks all kinds of ass if you are into this type of thing.

Still, there’s plenty to appreciate here with TORTURE. First and foremost, TORTURE takes up where KILL failed in my eyes; showcasing a lot of musical ability in the form of interesting transitions and (dare I say it) a hint of rhythm in some of the parts! To be clear, we’re not talking about bubble gum, stick in your head Motley Crue rhythmic action here, but for Cannibal Corpse, songs like “Scourge Of Iron” have just a touch of flair that’s far more churning and rhythmic than almost all of their back catalog.

Musically, Cannibal Corpse has always been solid, but they never fully gelled after Jack Owen left in 2004 until now. By far, TORTURE is the most cohesive album these guys have done in nearly a decade. In large part, that’s due to the absolutely incredible guitar work here. Pat O’Brien and Rob Barrett simply overpower this legendary group’s sound on TORTURE with what might be the most fierce guitar attack in the band’s history. Listening to material like the happy “Encased In Concrete”, you just hear some of the thickest, ripping guitar riffs ever recorded. Throughout the entire release, the riffs are 10 tons thick, while the soloing pierces the songs. Barrett and O’Brien are stellar throughout. The same can be said, as always, of the band’s twisted underbelly. Bassist Alex Webster and the nearly mechanized drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz roar throughout. The drumming is just sick on songs like “The Strangulation Chair” and “Instestinal Crank”.

Vocally, it is what it is. George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher fits the role just fine. He’s always been better than the overrated Chris Barnes as a growler. Let’s face it though, picking either to lead your band is like choosing which sort of cancer you want to kill you. As always, Fisher is solid and steady as he barks out his murderous nonsense. He’s doing his job, although he’s never excelled much further than that in my eyes.

PITRIFF RATING – 87/100 - As Cannibal Corpse goes, this is definitely their best album in recent memory. Well worth a trip into misery, Corpse has unleashed a good one this time around.

Chris Akin

CD – AMAZON

Modern Day Escape
UNDER THE GUN

With so much focus on the current demise of hard rock and heavy metal today (and yes, this focus is justified for the most part), it seems that people are missing a lot of bands that are creating quality music these days. How could you not? It’s easy to become very disenfranchised with an entire genre of music when it’s flagship band is an uncreative band like Nickelback. Still, there are bands that are creating highly interesting, powerful hard rock that should be getting a lot more attention. One such band is Modern Day Escape.

While the band seemed to find their audience with well conceived videos and decent songs with their last effort, HOUSE OF RATS, they have clearly defined their sound while stepping up their song and lyric writing with their latest, UNDER THE GUN. In all avenues, UNDER THE GUN features a tighter, more cohesive Modern Day Escape than we saw previously.

By far, the biggest improvement in the band comes from vocalist James Vegas. Whereas Vegas seemed more interested in the party aspect of his writing on HOUSE OF RATS (see songs like “Maybe Holding Hands Wasn’t Such A Good Idea” and “Fit For A Queen”), he now seems a lot more focused and, well, powerful. Listening to a song like “Tiger’s Blood”, you sense a lot more output of Vegas’ tougher days coming out in the music, and it’s a welcome experience.

In fairness, Vegas is not the only one that’s brought a much more serious, stronger approach to UNDER THE GUN. The entire band did. Marti Rubels and Mark Burn have seemingly locked into a more defined, tight sound than was previously shown for the band. The result is a much tastier tone and sound that dominates powerful tunes like “Angels Up Above” and “The Syndicate”. The same can be said about the band’s reformed backend, which lays down extremely thick foundations on each and every song. Former Black Veil Brides drummer Sandra Alva has not only joined the band recently, but she seemingly took overall pacing and power of the band into a new, stronger direction. Her playing powers songs like “Playing Victim”; easily the strongest song on the disc and one that should play well to the BVB fans that Alva’s presence in the band will immediately draw.

PITRIFF RATING – 94/100 - Great disc from a modern rock/metal band that seems to have written a collection of songs far stronger than the dreck that dominates radio today. It would not be at all surprising to see Modern Day Escape become a major force at radio and on the road with the release of UNDER THE GUN. This is about as strong as this genre gets.

Chris Akin

MP3 – AMAZON

Wykked Wytch
THE ULTIMATE DECEPTION

Not being the biggest fan of death metal hybrid bands of any kind, let alone bands that try to fuse black metal and goth together, I didn’t have a whole lot of great expectations for THE ULTIMATE DECEPTION by long time Florida metallers Wykked Wytch. To be honest, I wasn’t really looking forward to listening to it. To be even more honest, the only reason I decided to listen to this was because of the lineage of the past members of the band. This band has seen some great musicians come through it – especially on drums where both Kevin Talley and Richard Christy have chaired the kit at some point. Imagine my surprise when this release turned out to be pretty much an unstoppable brutality train.

While there’s been a lot of great talent in this band, it has and always will be the property of female vocalist Ipek. Her guttural vocals are the driving force behind this band. On THE ULTIMATE DECEPTION, she is at one point like Dani Filth while at others a vintage Karyn Crisis. Her best quality though is not which style she uses from point to point in any song, but her clarity throughout. More than even bands like Cradle Of Filth or Borknagar, Ipek keeps the words understandable which, ultimately, makes things that much more sinister. Listening to songs like “Birthing The Beast”, she mixes up styles while spewing her own brand of hatred at the listener. It works here.

For me anyway, the “make or break” moment of any album of this type is the drumming. It’s a total “make” here. Kevin Talley (Daath, Chimaira) is simply one of the best in the business today, and he shows why here. THE ULTIMATE DECEPTION is full of some of the tightest and fastest drumming you will ever hear, and it just powers each and every song. His double bass perfection and ability to stop and start on a dime are highlighted on “The Ultimate Deception”, as well as almost everywhere else on the disc.. In short, Talley makes THE ULTIMATE DECEPTION.

PITRIFF RATING – 86/100 - Wykked Wytch may be an older band at this point, but they are no less potent than they were the day they started. In fact, they are probably moreso since they’ve proven the ability to survive in a nearly dead industry while making music no one will ever hear anywhere but in their own private collection. Solid effort from The Wytch!

Chris Akin

CD – AMAZON
MP3 – AMAZON

Wolfsbane
WOLFSBANE SAVE THE WORLD

I’ve been disappointed with many releases over the years…and this is one of them. Clearly one of my favorites, I expect better from Blaze Bayley. To be clear, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed almost all of his solo material. SILICON MESSIAH is one of those albums that I ensure never leaves my IPod, my phone and whatever other listening device I might use when I leave the house. While I didn’t care for his Iron Maiden stuff (like, well, everyone else), I have always thought it was just a bad fit for his style.

It’s no secret that Bayley came from Wolfsbane before joining Iron Maiden. If this was the material they had heard, he wouldn’t have been considered for the gig. WOLFSBANE SAVE THE WORLD is a cheap, poorly executed and tremendously amateurish album from a guy (and his band) that should have known better.

To be clear, I don’t really like anything about this release. Specifically, the songs are wretchedly bad. Songs like “Teacher” are just terrible. Full of dumb cliches that even .38 Special wouldn’t use in their teacher song, it’s amazing a guy with such musical lineage as Bayley would put his voice to such garbage. Equally bad is the “we want to be punk metal icons” music provided on the very next song, “Buy My Pain”. Not only is the song lame, but Bayley himself sound particularly bad straining for high notes at the end of the song. I get that it’s supposed to be his angst that causes his voice to crack, but the reality is that he just doesn’t sound very good doing it. That’s not to say that it ruins the song though, as it was pretty lame to begin with.

Even the better songs on the disc just wreak of terrible. “Starlight” could have been decent with better production, but isn’t. Drummer Steve “Danger” Ellett must not have realized that his drums were contained in the boxes they came in, as it sounds like he’s hitting cardboard throughout. Guitarist Jason Edwards is pretty sloppy throughout as well as he seemingly strums without discipline toward anything in particular throughout. While their sound is that whole “punkish heavy metal” vibe, that doesn’t always mean you have to play poorly. “Smoke And Red Light” is the epitome of awful; cliched sing-song chorus, Bayley sounding bad, and Edwards sounding like a new guitar player trying to “sound cool”. Oh, and using the word “puke” as your rhyming word in a song is never good.  While that song is bad, the low point has to be “Illusion Of Love”, which sounds like a Meat Loaf tune more than that of a metal singer.  Horrible.

PITRIFF RATING – 22/100 - I guess you’ve REALLY REALLY got to be a Blaze Bayley fan to dig this one. I am definitely a fan, and I think this blows. It’s already set up for deleting from all my devices, as I don’t even want to accidently hit this trash when set on shuffle. Disappointing to say the least.

Chris Akin

CD – AMAZON

Van Halen
A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH

Stay Frosty, people!!

It’s definitely a cool day in the rock world when, after almost three decades away, we have a brand new album featuring David Lee Roth and the Van Halen boys! For guys like me (and I’m assuming almost all of you that are in your late 30s to early 50s), most of our lives can be traced back to Van Halen music. From high school parties to joining the Army to going to Korea to going to war, Van Halen was always there in the background to rock when I needed a boost, need a rockin’ groove to bob my head to, or just wanted to pretend I could play guitar on a broomstick or just in the open air. To say the least, I couldn’t wait for this day to come.

I’m the first one to admit that while I like all eras of Van Halen (yes, including the Cherone second), I lean heavily into the Hagar years more than the Dave era. That doesn’t mean that I hated the Dave era though – I just enjoyed the more radio ready, poppy era better. Listening to A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH, the band did accomplish one mission – they recorded an album that once again felt like the early Roth era and not the poppier era. They got that right. Culled from old songs and demos that never made it to release commercially, A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH does feature that old school Van Halen swagger that had dorks like me scribbling the VH logo on our Trapper Keepers in junior high school. The vibe is definitely there.

Sadly though, the talent is not completely intact anymore. A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH has two major flaws to it – one is a giant problem, and the other is not as big, but is persistent and noticeable on every song. The lesser of two evils here is the lack of Michael Anthony in the mix. I’m the first one to admit that Anthony is not a great bassist at all, but his backing vocals are as important to the Van Halen sound as Eddie Van Halen’s guitar tone or Alex Van Halen’s distinct drum sound. Missing from the mix, songs like “China Town” just lack the signature punch without them. As a hardcore fan, I can’t help but think “wow, that would have been better with Michael Anthony singing it.” It is what it is. Like everyone else, I have no idea what went down between the band and Anthony, but they really should have gotten over it to do this reunion right. Hearing Anthony on the Chickenfoot release, his backing vocal sound would have made many of these songs infinitely better.

The second, much larger problem is the diminished capacity of David Lee Roth as a vocalist. All the studio magic in the world was not able to hide the fact that Roth simply has “old lead singer’s disease”. Much like other legendary singers like Brian Johnson of AC/DC and Ozzy Osbourne, Roth still tries to do the same things he used to do but just sounds terrible doing it. Every time he tries to go up for the higher register notes on A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH, he fails and sounds bad…EVERY time. His mid song screams on “Blood and Fire” through the upper register warbling on “Tattoo”, through virtually every song on the disc, Roth just sounds as limited as he did on albums like DLRBAND and YOUR FILTHY LITTLE MOUTH. What’s surprising is that with all the money Van Halen had at their disposal for recording this, a producer couldn’t find a way to get a better recording out of Roth. The truth is probably that this effort, regardless of how weak it is, is probably the best Roth is capable of anymore.

Being honest though, with all the negativity above, I actually like A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH quite a bit. While it’s the worst album of the Roth era, that doesn’t mean that sucks. Even with all the insanity that has followed him for over a decade, there’s no denying that when Eddie Van Halen wants to play guitar, he’s still pretty much untouchable amongst people that play the instrument. He rocks in classic Van Halen style on heavier numbers like “Bullethead” and “As Is”. Everything about Van Halen’s playing here is top notch. It’s razor sharp as you might expect, yet fluid in a way that he and he alone has ever played. His solo from “As Is” is simply a classic exhibition of his now famous finger tapping prowess that long separated his sound from the rest. In short, you listen to just about anything on A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH, and you realize you are listening to Van Halen.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH is also surprisingly heavy for Van Halen. The aforementioned “Bullethead” and “As Is” are really strong rockers, as is the seriously metal “Outta Space”. Really, it’s too bad Roth had to sing at all on “Outta Space”, because he sounds particularly bad on that one. Interestingly, the band reached back again in their history and got a little quirky with the absolutely stupid lyrical mess (yet, ultimately most fun song on the disc) “Stay Frosty”. This song is the most interesting on the disc to me; stealing a bit of “Ice Cream Man”, a bit of “Little Guitars” and some of Roth’s always weirdo scatting into it to create a bizarre song that sticks in your head like your hand to your dick if you were masturbating with glue as lube. The song is just a weird song and by far the worst lyrical song in Van Halen history, but I love it nonetheless. When the thick groove kicks in, drummer Alex Van Halen takes over with a simple, yet completely patented Van Halen underbelly that drives the song. As for brother Eddie – his solo here is as stunning as anything he did back in 1978.

PITRIFF RATING – 75/100 - A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH is a fun listen, and Eddie Van Halen is great. The songs are mostly culled from old works, so they really feel like the classic era of Van Halen. There are songs here that remind you heavily of the glory days of this band. There are also big problems with this release that can’t be overlooked. Did I mention that Eddie Van Halen is great on this? Definitely not the best Van Halen album you’ll ever hear, but you won’t be repulsed by it either. Stay frosty, people…it’s just cool to have Van Halen back.

Chris Akin

NOTE: I purposely didn’t list the bass playing in this review. Van Halen’s bass player is Michael Anthony in my eyes…no need to review the charity work Daddy gave his boy.

CD – AMAZON
MP3 – AMAZON

Chimaira
THE AGE OF REMIX HELL

I like Mark Hunter. I consider him a friend, and I’m pretty sure he considers me as a friend as well. That said, “what the fuck, bro?”

Maybe I’m just getting old and am no longer in tune with what the kids want to hear today. I get that. I understand that this whole Dubstep craze is in right now. I get that today’s kids are just as content to listen to the work of a DJ that never touches an instrument as they might be to an actual band that plays their instruments and creates their music organically. I get all that. I just don’t get why.

So look, there’s the long and the short of this review. I know I’m supposed to kill my friend Mark Hunter’s work to show some kind of integrity and willingness to say what I think, no matter if he is a friend or not. Fine. I, personally, don’t like this and won’t ever listen to it again. That said though, there’s a couple of things that need to be clarified here. First it was free; given away to fans with no risk or cost. If you hate it, it’s not like you got ripped off. It was experimental, and as such it was priced appropriately as it’s not, in any way, a representation of what Chimaira is. Secondly, for what it is, it’s not terrible. The meshing of Chimaira music into a darker, more evil version of Skrillex-heavy does not totally suck. If you are into this type of thing, then you won’t be offended. If you are offended, well…I’m sure Hunter as the perfect spot on his asshole sorted out for you to kiss.

PITRIFF RATING – 80/100 - It’s free. It’s cool for what it is. It’s not a representation of what Chimaira is or is going to be. I’m done with it and going back to THE AGE OF HELL in my IPod, but for those of you that are riding this new trend, you will probably dig this as it fits perfectly next to other bands of this style doing the same thing.

Chris Akin

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Orange Goblin
A EULOGY FOR THE DAMNED

It took five long years, but seemingly those years were well spent away by Orange Goblin. Since HEALING THROUGH FIRE came out in 2007, the band has seemingly rediscovered themselves, which is a very good thing. That last album was almost the death of the band, as they nearly completely abandoned their stoner metal heritage and dumbed down their sound to become a typical metal band. Thankfully, those five years since then have seemingly reminded these guys of their roots. They are back with what might be the strongest album of their career.

From the second “Red Tide Rising” opens the disc, you realize that you are engulfed in an album that’s brilliantly produced, has all the earmarks of the best stoner metal available, and yet has that harder core metal edge that a band like Down has made so successful over the last decade. In short, A EULOGY FOR THE DAMNED is one of the best albums of this ilk in awhile.

Without question, the force behind this effort is guitarist Joe Hoare. His overall tone is thick and heavy, and yet his leads rip through each and every song. Listening to songs like “Acid Trial”, you can’t help but have your head bobbing and your tongue wagging along to the guitar line. It seems to have effected vocalist Ben Ward too, as he snarls right along with the riffs throughout. They reach back to their roots together on “Save Me From Myself”; an almost western metal sounding song that sounds a bit like an outtake from a Raging Slab song (albeit a heavy one). Ward’s dirty end vocal here before launching into a snarl on the chorus is fantastic, and portrays the shifting of emotion in the song that he was going for. Add to that Hoare’s great guitar lines here, and you quickly figure out why this song stands as one of the best in the band’s entire career.

Equally up to the task on this effort is the rhythm section. Bassist Martyn Millard and drummer Chris Turner make their mark throughout without ever overstepping Ward and Hoare. In short, the bottom end is think, steady and powerful. Turner is especially solid; nothing fancy but strong beats and a great drum sound that perfectly fits the rest of the music.

PITRIFF RATING – 95/100 - For me, probably the best Orange Goblin album they’ve done to date. At a minimum, the best one they’ve done since THE BIG BLACK, and that was 12 years and 4 albums ago. Heavy, thick and an amalgamation of stoner metal and more traditional metal, A EULOGY FOR THE DAMNED is one of the best releases from any band of this ilk in recent memory.

Chris Akin

CD – AMAZON
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