Amon Amarth - With Oden On Our Side

Metal Blade Records: 2006

This is Amon Amarth's best album, if Sputnikmusic is anything to go by, the Swedish death metal band's only 4/5 as rated by the userbase. Mind, it's not by much, inching out over Twilight Of The Thunder God and Versus The World by a mere 0.1 each. Plus, how accurate can an online community rating system be? I'll grant I have more faith in the general consensus of long time metal fans over, say, fresh-faced trance fans, but these things can get a little screwy with review bombing and whatnot. Still, reading the discourse in those review threads leads me to believe I can trust these opinions, especially with over 1,500 folks contribute the rating.

I mentioned in the previous Amon Amarth review that this period in the band's output is considered Peak Amon, and I can hear why. Stylistically, there isn't much difference between this and Twilight ..., released two years apart. Listening to these back to back, I can tell this is the sound of a group that have figured out exactly what their style is, what themes they want to explore, and are in perfect sync as musicians to do so. In fact, if you were to do a blind test and mix songs from either album up, you'd probably think they were all from the same record. I admit I wouldn't have known the difference, but hey, that's why I'm taking a little extra time in digesting these things. There are differences though.

The first thing I noticed is the dreaded Cookie Monster growl isn't so prominent. Sure, it's there – death metal just can't help itself – but Johan Hegg doesn't go to the absolute bowel-decibel levels as frequently as he does in Twilight.... This lets me take Amon Amarth's brand of Viking metal a little more ...seriously? What a weird thing to say.

Also, and this may come as a shock, the topics covered in this album are different compared to the latter. You'd think Viking metal would have an incredibly narrow niche of themes, with almost no room for variation, and you'd be mostly right. That doesn't mean a band can't explore those specific things to the nth degree, however. Twilight..., for instance, most dealt with mythological stuff, whereas With Oden... focuses mostly on the sorts of shenanigans the Earth-realm mortals were getting up into, far and wide from the lands of the Rus to the isle of the Irish. Y'know, the pillaging and the warfare and the glory of victory and all that gory rot. Okay, not always 'glory of victory', as Rune To My Memory details the final thoughts of a warrior dying on the battlefield, but mostly. There's no reinterpretation of Gods Of War Arise though, wherein Johan bluntly goes on about setting fires to churches, 'honourably' slaughtering those who stand and fight while enslaving the survivors and making off with their gold. It was tough times, y'see. Don't worry though, they'll get what's coming when the Mongols arrive.

Wintersun - Wintersun

Nuclear Blast: 2004

You wouldn't think the Viking metal scene was large enough to allow for splintering. Maybe occassion personnel rotations, but if a band struck it hot with success, you'd be best served sticking things out together. That's not what happened with Ensiferum though, the lead vocalist and guitarist, Jari Mäenpää, striking out on his own after just two albums with the band. Okay, that's not quite accurate.

Seems Jari had been writing his own material before joining the Finnish folk metal band, and though having success with Ensiferum, continued stockpiling songs for future side-project consideration. Why not produce them with his current band? These just weren't compatible with the type of themes Ensiferum was exploring, Jari having visions of grand, majestic, and even melancholic in mind. Less pure folkish influence, more “spacy”, as he put it. So committed to the project he was, that Mr. Mäenpää decided he'd do all the music himself. Then he realized he couldn't do the blast-beat drums he'd wanted, so got Rotten Sound drummer Kai Hahto to join in. Everything else though, from vocals, guitars, synths, and miscellaneous, he'd produce.

So sounds good, and after a while, Jari managed to compile enough songs to see his 'Wintersun' project to fruition. Only, he'd booked studio time that would conflict with an Ensiferum tour. He requested a break to meet his studio schedule, but the band apparently fired him instead. Cold, man, like a Nordic winter.

If I thought the Ensiferum stuff was at a blistering pace, it's got nothing on Wintersun. In fact, it sometimes sounds too fast, like the guitars are pitched up and the drums can't quite keep up, though Kai is doing it absolute best to try. Or are the drums too fast? Is there any need to be ultra blast-beating during the operatic bridges? Plus, the overall mixdown seems rather tinny to my ears. As I've said, I don't know enough about Nordic death-folk-speed metal to know what the scene's bassline of production standards are, but surely it's beefier than this? Mind, as it is Jari doing almost everything here, having to record each part separately across many studios, so it's remarkable this debut album came together as well as it did. And while even Jari admits Wintersun can sound a bit 'demo-ish' compared to his later efforts, it certainly wasn't lacking in songwriting ambition.

Oh yes, despite all this, Wintersun does kick a lot of ass, in an epic, over-the-top sort of way. I can't take much of it seriously, but when that chorus in Battle Against Time erupts, holy Hell, do I ever want to fist pump along with. Plus, each successive song is longer than that last, showing some thought and care in the album presentation as a proper journey. Which is a fancy way of saying it does drag by the end, but I'll allow it. Given all the struggles Jari had in seeing this album to completion, Wintersun deserves a little indulgence.

La Luz - Weirdo Shrine

Hardly Art: 2015

Just how '60s retro did La Luz intend to initially go anyway? For sure you had the dreamy, psychedelic pop overtures and the surf rock nods, but the band's debut album didn't completely sell you on being there, in the era of mini-skirts and beehive hairdos. Which is understandable, La Luz undoubtedly concerned they'd seem more of a gimmick if they went all The B-52's with their presentation. They were already battling assumptions being an all-girl band to begin with. The indie rock scene is already a difficult one to crack with that feature over-hanging, so no need to complicating matters with pageantry. Get in, establish your stylee, then expand if the results turn successful.

I guess that's why I feel like La Luz' sophomore effort, Weirdo Shrine, hits so many similar beats as their debut, It's Alive, but does it all better. These gals are more assured of what their music can be, tighter as a unit, fully embracing the dream-surf rock jams such that they sound more attuned to the decade they're drawing influence from. It's to such a point that they even included chintzy 3-D glasses into the package, with art that pops at you from the second dimension! Well, kinda'. I don't think these glasses fit my face too good, seemingly made for petite ladies. Like, the little doggo figurine in the assemblage of knickknacks forming the inlay's weirdo shrine looks well removed from the pile, but not much else. To say nothing of the lack of depth from the hands playing cat's cradle on the cover. Maybe it works better with the larger vinyl canvas.

Anyhow, Weirdo Shrine opens with the dream pop of Sleep Till They Die as felt being sunkissed by California shores, then kicks out the surf jam right after with You Disappear. Okay, not a 'pure' surf jam, since this is still an actual song with actual lyrics and stuff, but its hard not to feel the waves beneath your plank of fibreglass as the splashy guitar reverb hits when it kicks off. And speaking of reverb, is it just me, or do the vocals sound more airy as well? Like, everything just has a richer texture about it, my ears breathing in the resonance as guitars and drums and organs sound both up front and distant as a canyon's walls.

It feels weird(o) to say this next: I'm not sure if there's anything else I can say about Weirdo Shrine. Detail all eleven tracks by track? So, Don't Wanna Be Anywhere does that Khruangbin loungey thing. I Can't Speak and I'll Be True slow things down, while I Wanna Be Alone and the titular song pep things up. Hey Papi and Oranges are the token instrumentals, while True Love Knows is the sort of ballad you can imagine swaying back and forth with your sweetie in your arms, as the malt shop nears closing. Mush, but eh, I'm sure I'll be able to relate again, one of these days.

VAST - Visual Audio Sensory Theater

Elektra: 1998

(a Patreon Request from Philoi)

I feel like I should know this album. Maybe not so much who the band is or what music is in it, but just the cover art alone. It's rather striking, the sort of eye-catching image that leaps out at you from store shelves, locking you in pupil-to-pupil, soul-to-soul. Okay, not that deep, but plenty 'nuff to grab wandering gazes in for a closer look. I never saw it though, and believe me, I was in prime territory to have spotted it somewhere in Vancouver shops when it first dropped. Did it languish in obscurity at first, only gaining notoriety once songs started getting featured in shows like Angel and Smallville?

But that's neither here nor there, as I usually like going into these albums as cold as possible, my initial impressions as pure as freshly fallen snow. And initial impressions sure had me transported back to the late '90s, opening song Here having heavy emphasis on industrial-grade rhythms, crunchy guitars, orchestral swells, and angst-ridden singing. This is the sort of stuff that, while I wouldn't say was popular, had more than enough grandiose production behind that it could get popular, if it got featured in the right movies or TV shows. Which is apparently what happened, after a while.

So I continue listening through VAST's self-titled debut (that is what 'VAST' stands for, right?), and I'm hearing an interesting mix of alternative rock, industrial production, and world music – so many looping Gregorian chant samples, I almost think I'm back in a rasion d'être album. And as is my tendency when listening to a new artist, my inclination towards comparison of other acts I'm familiar with begins. The one that first pops in my mind is Canadian band The Tea Party, who blended industrial and alt-rock as well, though that may be entirely due to the track Three Doors, which uses Arabic scales much like The Tea Party often did.

That's not quite right though. The Tea Party is a three-piece, where each member was part and parcel to the ensemble. Despite the expert production on Visual Audio Sensory Theater, I couldn't help but feel the songwriting was rather singular. Like, a Trent Reznor sort of deal, the music the vision of one man, with band members in support. Turns out that was absolutely the case, Jon Crosby the main mind behind VAST, and I'm far from the only person to make the Trent Reznor comparison. I just find it funny that I came to that shared conclusion before reading anything about it.

Does this put this album on the same plane as, say, The Fragile? Eh, not really. Though the NIN comparison is inevitable, Crosby isn't quite at the level at Reznor, especially in vocal delivery. It sometimes felt like he was struggling to reach the same level of angst ol' Trent effortlessly achieves. That leaves me with an album that sounds 'good enough', but not something I'm anxious for another playthrough anytime soon.

Eximia - Visitors

Cryo Chamber: 2018

Dark ambient covers quite a few topics within its bleak oeuvre, but alien invasion isn't very common. While I'm sure there are examples floating about, I've seldom stumbled upon them. This genre would rather crush your sense of being with dronescapes of a universe utterly devoid of life, an empty realm where conscious beings are more a fluke of incidental chemical reactions than part of a grand design. Where man may scream into the void all he wants, but there's no one to hear him, no one to respond back. Having aliens in your dark ambient, even hostile ones, defeats that concept.

Still, Cryo Chamber has never let a concept go untapped, and they found a worthy contender to explore an alien invasion album in Eximia. Lord Discogs doesn't list much of anything from the project, this here Visitors essentially a debut for Dominik Ragancík. The Slovakian has been busy elsewhere though, something of a sound designer and engineer for many other forms of media. Last-dot-FM lists previous credits such as car commercials and video games, including the Mass Effect series. Hmm, isn't that the one where an ancient Eldritch horror of a robotic space-faring race called The Reapers goes around exterminating all biological life, a purging of all organics from the cosmos? Sounds right up dark ambient's alley, that one.

So what kind of music is a sound designer inclined to make? None what so ever! There's barely a hint of any melody or even atonal drone throughout this album. Not until near the end of final track World Without End do we hear any sort of instrumentation, and it's discordant strings at that, not exactly the most cheerful of sounds.

Nay, Eximia has taken Cryo Chamber's 'cinematic drone' manifesto to its most extreme end, the bulk of Visitors consisting of sound effects and field recordings. There's little room for interpretation here, though plenty to tickle the imagination should you sit back with your eyes closed. Like, the opening track, Day One. Wide open spaces, shuffling feet in empty buildings, an eerie wind on the distant horizon, when a low, feral growl echoes upon the air, thunder crackling across the sky... Then, an ominous thrum pierces the atmosphere, a sound so strange, so foreign, so alien, it sets off all your primitive warning signals. Descending from on high, unknown and foreboding. What images play out in your mind as this unfolds will likely depend on what sci-fi you've consumed over the years.

So First Contact cranks the creep-out factor before seemingly going tits-up - guess Amy Adams didn't have much luck in this scenario. Abyss goes even further into the murk, sounding like you're stuck in some specimen vat while hearing horrors carry on from beyond. And if mankind's fate wasn't already clear, Extinction features the ghostly wails of a species in its last throes, muted sirens marking the end of everything. Well, it was a good run, while it lasted. So, which of you tripods has the tea?

ACE TRACKS: December 2020

Not sure what to say here.

Like, absolutely I could try some 'year in recap' type thing, but who isn't doing that? So many folks will be doing that, trying to make sense of it all, and here I am simply thinking, “yep, that was some shit alright. Anyhow...” Because as wild as 2020 was, I can't say I was surprised by how things went, especially once we knew what we were dealing with. I'll say one (1) thing did surprise me, though it's a personal matter, and a positive one at that, but I'm not inclined to share it on this blog.

Speaking of this blog, it sure has seen better years in terms of productivity, but eh, what're ya' gonna' do, at times like this? I can't say it was my least productive year though, oh no. That would be my time doing TranceCritic reviews! Yes, it seems weird to me, but back in those days, I'd average maybe four to six reviews a month, if even that. So this year's output wasn't that bad, just in need of finding a proper rhythm again once *all this* settles. One month at a time. Meanwhile, here's the ACE TRACKS for the final month of the unmentionable year:


Full track list here.


MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Touched By Silence (The Compilation)
Valanx - Tidelands
Norken & Nyquist - Synchronized Minds
Vector Lovers - Solstice EP
Vector Lovers - Separation

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 0%
Percentage Of Rock: 25%
Most “WTF?” Track: Whenever you hear the Cookie Monster going on about Viking stuff

A bit of a shorter playlist, but it's not like I had a ton of albums to pick and choose from, not to mention the stuff that simply isn't on Spotify. Shame, as having that ambient techno thrown in would help diversify things up some. As it stands, I'm sure the metal offerings will seem extra-heavy than my usual indulgences.

As for what my Top Albums Of 2020 are, well, here's a Topster of what got the most plays this past year, according to LastdotFM:

Boy, that sure looks like a collection of albums that I reviewed in 2020, don't it. Also, WTF trance at the top? What is this, the year 2000? Oh, if only...

Jupiter 8000 - Twisted Bliss

Avatar Records: 2004

The whole reason I ended up at Avatar Records' Bandcamp page was for a particular album from Electric Universe, Blue Planet. I got it, then figured I may as well splurge on some more psy-trance items while there. It didn't quite turn out that way, Ocelot's One a different beast than I expected, but this one, I felt pretty confident it was psy-trance. I didn't know what kind I was getting, but there's just something about the name 'Jupiter 8000' that screams vintage goa. Vibrant cover art too.

So I'm feelin' good that I'd stumbled upon some unheralded psy-trance project, when soon after I learned that Jupiter 8000 is another alias of Boris Blenn. You might know him mostly for his work as Electric Universe. The same Electric Universe I had already nabbed something from, after which I'd grabbed this because I wanted something else other than more Electric Universe. So it goes.

Actually, I shouldn't be quick to judge. Mr. Blenn started the Jupiter 8000 project as a means of exploring other sounds away from the goa that defined his earlier career. The self-titled debut certainly was a break from that, for more interested in what the realms of techno could offer the domains of psy. Some of it was interesting, but to my ears, it was travelling the same roads that Tristan's Audiotour had already ventured, and would lead to the monotonous psytekk sounds that plagued that Alien Dust compilation. I wonder if Boris realized it was a dead-end, because aside from one track, that stuff is jettisoned for his second (and thus far last) Jupiter 8000 album, Twisted Bliss. Well, I guess it was 2004, the original 'minimal techno-psy' movement already in the rear view in favour of the new hotness, 'minimal prog-psy that techno people can enjoy'. That Israeli full-on thing too.

So is that what Twisted Bliss is, a bandwagon jump on either or that wouldn't fit on an Electric Universe LP? Nah, in a surprising twist that is rather blissed, Mr. Blenn went old-school psy! Okay, about as 'old-school' as you could conceivably get away with in the mid-'00s, but close enough that there were points I thought I was listening to something from 1994 rather than 2004.

Oh yes, there be goa here, captain. For sure that full-on bassline is present in many of the tracks, but it isn't so dominate as most of psy-trance heard it then, and even shows some diversity throughout. Twisted Bliss is mostly dominated by its leads though, running from squiggly acid sounds (101 And Still Alive, Atem (Remix), Break The Law) to spaced out prog-psy trancers (Dust To Dawn, Break The Law, The Memory, New Moon). Throw in nods to other styles ('buttrock' psytekk in Bit Fire, psy-dub in Rubber Dub), and you've a well-rounded album of goa-psy. Not groundbreaking by any means, but enjoyable on its own merits. Throw in the context it was released in, and it suddenly sounds even better!

Amon Amarth - Twilight Of The Thunder God

Metal Blade Records: 2008

Getting into Viking metal by way of bands of Ensiferum and Týr was all well and good, but I was told if I truly wanted more than just a poseur-bluffer's collection, I needed to get some Amon Amarth. Okay, wasn't so much 'told', but generally gleaned from discussions on the subject matter. Makes sense though, the Swedish death metal band having been among the earliest to incorporate Norsemen themes into their lyrics. Not the earliest, mind, which would probably be Bathory, but early enough that they're frequently name-dropped as giving it enough credibility that others could follow. They've also toured with death metal elite (Slayer, Cannibal Corpse ...Goatwhore?), so I feel I'm in good hands checking these guys out.

And according to Sputnikmusic, my always reliable source for metal music discourse, this here Twilight Of The Thunder God is as good a starting point as any. Or the previous album to this, With Oden On Our Side. Heck, may as well get both, but alphabetical stipulation states this one gets reviewed first. Regardless, this period seems to have been peak Amon Amarth, so let's hear what this icon of Viking metal has on tap.

So the titular opener immediately hits with the epic guitar riffs and vicious rhythms, and I'm digging it. Then vocalist Johan Hegg starts up with those guttural death metal growls, to which I can't help but think, “Oh no! Not the Cookie Monster growls.”

I can put up with the falsetto wailing, the raspy shouting, and even some mid-range growling, but the lower the tone goes, the sillier it sounds to me, to such a point it takes me right out of whatever musical vibe I may get out of a given song. I just can't take it seriously! Granted, there are some instances where going full baritone with the death metal growls works – heck, there's examples right here on this album! In the song Tattered Banners And Bloody Flags, when Johan intones “The earth moves under our feet; The great world tree, Yggdriasil; Trembles to its roots”, you really feel that earth-shuddering rumble.

And honestly, it's not like that's the only vocal style heard on this album. Plus, once it's been worked in for a while, my brain acclimatizing to the vocal delivery, so it's no longer a turn-off. I just wish I didn't always have that initial reflexive reaction to hearing it, that I need a few songs before I'm willing to go with the guttural growls.

Vocal deliveries aside, Twilight Of The Thunder God is pretty kick-ass. I've seen Amon Amarth's style described not so much as Viking metal (which is often lumped with Folk metal), but as melodic death metal, or melodeath, just with Norse tales and mythology thrown in. Sure, I'll go with that, with equal measures of melodramatic riffage joining in with aggro-assaults. And sweet, there's even an Apocalyptica guest spot on Live For The Kill. Nothing sells 'epic' like a cello metal band!

Tommy '86 - Transhumanism

Blood Music: 2016

So you're a Finnish death metal label that lucked into a deal with one of the hottest rising stars in one of the hottest rising genres to emerge in the past decade. Never mind it's totally outside your usual fare, this 'synthwave' thing seems to have more than enough buzz such that fans of the stuff will flock to your label regardless, especially if you offer up such retro formats as collector's vinyl and tape editions. It's not enough having that one super-hot name on your roster though. Gotta' start rounding up whoever else this 'Perturbator' chap might be associated with.

So in comes fellow French synthwaver Dan Terminus. Also comes in American GosT, plus adding Dane Dynatron. Hmm, need more French in this retro love-in, is there anyone else? Ah, this here Tommy '86 chap, he'll do. And that Carpenter Brut guy too. Maybe put out feelers for a 'Hollywood Burns' while we're at it.

Actually, Tommy '86 was a shoe-in for the Blood Music bump, running in the same circles as Perturbator for as long as there was a French synthwave scene. Heck, he may have been the one to coin 'outrun' as a stylistic variation on the genre, one of his earliest Bandcamp singles titled as such. I distinctly recall 'Tommy '86' as part of that conversation, for no other reason than seeing a retro dude with “'86” in their handle made complete and cliched sense. Mr. Féret may have realized it too, dropping the “'86” part shortly after this album's release. Now he simply goes by Tommy, or as Lord Discogs calls him, Tommy (76). Huh, doesn't sound as '80s, that.

Tommy wasn't quite as active a producer as his brethren, though certainly ambitious. Prior to this album, he'd self-released a twenty-eight tracker called Outer Space Adventurer, nothing less than a sci-fi soundtrack for a film that would never get made. Surely he could take that narrative prowess into a release with a little more promotional power behind it, especially Perturbator had proven it could be done with Dangerous Days.

There's definitely a theme going on with Transhumanism, of rising machines and their ever-growing dominance over the remnants of humanity, such that we'll all be one, singular cybernetic entity. Or something. And the music on offer doesn't hold back in selling that oppressive vibe, all the while synths grandiose and gross blast forth as only the best darksynth is wont to do. Some are more menacing (L.V.T.H.N. Central Unit, Command And Control, The Shutdown Of Humanity), others are more propulsive and invigorating (Doppelgänger, A.I. Takeover, the titular finale). There's even a couple downtempo cuts, though opener The Rise and semi-closer No Man's Earth makes sense for such moments. Oh, and Perturbator and Dan Terminus lend a musical hand in a couple early tracks, though don't do much to stand out from Tommy's sound.

Honestly, the best thing to say about Transhumanism is that it's more of that top-grade French synthwave, but doesn't exceed much beyond that.

Kriistal Ann - Touched On The Raw

Wave Records: 2018

When I first discovered Kriistal Ann during my Werkstatt Recordings splurge, I sensed a musician on the rise, a talent that would grow into a force to be reckoned with in a larger darkwave scene. Indeed, she'd just come out with this particular album, with a suitable amount of Bandcamp hype behind it. Wave Records was even springing for a limited vinyl roll-out, no small thing unless you happened upon Blood Music. Which she kind of did, via a guest spot on a GosT album. Anyhow, that all seems like a moot point, as she hasn't released any solo work since Touched On The Raw, instead reconvening with Toxik Razor for another Paradox Obscur album. And while I know it hasn't been that long since this album came out, two years does feel like an eternity these days, unlike the rest of the zippy '10s where two years breezed on by.

Kriistal wasn't entirely inactive during the period between Cultural Bleeding and Touched On The Raw, also releasing the collaborative album Muse with fellow Werkstatt alum Aidan Casserly. That one was much different that the cold, ethereal synthwave music she'd been making to that point, a surprising outing of beatnik jazz and occasional operatic dalliances. Extremely arty stuff, is what I'm getting at, but helps provide something of a bridge linking Ms. Ann's last two solo albums. For the production on Touched On The Raw isn't nearly so rough as past records. Heck, there was already quite the leap from Refraction to Delirious Skies, as much as there was from Delirious Skies to Cultural Bleeding. Yet even as the production and songcraft improved, through it all was an unmistakable rawness, harsh synths and brittle rhythms always serving Kriistal's vocals.

I don't get that same feeling with Touched On The Raw, ironic given the album's title. Absolutely there's still the ethereal synth-pop and darkwave overtures, but everything sounds much cleaner and smooth. Machines running in perfect synchronicity instead of struggling to keep pace. Ghostly, rather than ghastly. Not to mention all the overt jazz influences about, ample amounts of saxophone and skittery rhythms meshing with wailing synths and moody pads. And gosh, the titular track could almost be neo-trance? It almost feels like a throwback hearing the brittle textures of Secret Shore, though the saxophone and ...chipmunk Japanese (?) vocals do remind you this is still post-Muse Kriistal we're dealing with here.

A couple bonus tracks round out the CD, a pair of remixes from Marcello Gallo. The second doesn't do much different with Talking To The Beast, basically beefing up the original's spare rhythms and ethereal elements while leaving the structure of the song the same. His go with Black Art was quite a surprise though. Whereas the original is the usual Kriistal Ann minimalist ethereal-wave outing, Mr. Gallo takes that and adds a bumpin' New Beat beat with a ridiculously addictive bassline. More of this in future albums from Ms. Ann, please! The jazzier stuff is okay too, I guess.