HELLOWEEN / Unarmed – Best of 25th Anniversary (2009)

Helloween celebrated their 25th year by re-recording some of their classics in an acoustic/symphonic style. The addition of piano works nicely, but my initial reaction was that the majority of the arrangements weren't particularly well-suited to the change. That is until I got to the seventeen minute Keeper's Trilogy (a medley of  Halloween, Keeper of the Seven Keys, and The King for a 1000 Years), which is aided by a seventy-piece Prague Symphony Orchestra and choir. When the strings and percussion kick in for real, when the choir soar and the cymbals crash, I began to think that YES, it was a damn good idea after all. But it doesn't last. Things begin to slump again afterwards. Curses. Still, it was fun while it lasted.

Songs of Note: The Keeper's Trilogy; A Tale That Wasn't Right

2½ withered pumpkins out of 5

ZACK HEMSEY / Ronin [2013]

After steering off into more instrumental compositions on 2011's The Way, composer Zack Hemsey returns to his hip-hop vocal roots on 2013's menacingly pensive Ronin.
In his earlier work, Hemsey seemed to rely far too heavily on "cool" sounds and textures to carry his work but now it seems he's got a handle on mature songwriting and melodies.  The excellent atmospherics are still there only now they seem to serve more of a purpose rather than float around in ear-candy heaven.  Hemsey's vocal delivery might not be as fast-paced or quick-witted as his hip-hop peers but they speak of tales that prove more interesting, reminding me of earlier Tricky or 3D projects.  This is easily his most accomplished work to date.

4 colorful descriptions out of 5

Songs Of Note: Nice To Meet Me; Fade Away

TIM HECKER / Virgins (2013)

I've had Virgins on repeat for days and each time the experience has been different. The most magical was while lying in bed after a night of no sleep. The sounds of the waking world through the open window seemed to be coming from far enough away that they took on a kind of rhythmic, musical ambience. That reservoir of early morning audio formed a symbiotic relationship with the ebb and flow of the spatial environment created by the album. I'm positive the woodwind and piano were Heckler's but the barking dogs in the distance… real or disc?
Listening during waking hours casts a different kind of spell. Some songs sound taller, more open; some more ambitious; and some make me think it's what being inside a storm cloud formation would sound like. Take from that what you will.

Songs of Note: You need all of it to get the full experience.

5 fugue states out of 5

HAGALAZ' RUNEDANCE / Urd - That Which Was (1999)

Andrea followed up a wonderfully evocative début album with a half-assed E.P. that sticks to the pagan/neo-folk template for just two songs before descending into lazy dance beat remix territory. The remixes are appalling. Why she allowed that kind of crap to sully her beautifully stark and honest work is a mystery. Urd should've been a single, not an E.P. with 60% filler.
Of the two tracks that are worth your time, Wake Skadi was later re-recorded for the Volven (2000) album, where it sounds much better. So, really, all you'll need Urd for is the title track, and it's not even very good. It's more trance than tribal.

Songs of Note: Wake Skadi; Urd - That Which Was

1½ veils out of 5

HELLOWEEN / Metal Jukebox (1999)

A collection of cover songs in the Helloween style. Some of the choices I'd have thought unsuitable to their cheesy power metal (ABBA? Really?) but they occasionally do interesting things with the works. Whereas others are less out of the ordinary; e.g. Bowie's Space Oddity was a complete waste of time. But, as usual, points for trying. The cover of Hocus Pocus (originally by Focus) is fun but not nearly daring enough, which is something that can be said for the majority of the tracks. Before you ask, yes, there's yodelling.

Songs of Note: Locomotive Breath (Jethro Tull); Faith Healer (Alex Harvey)

2 coins in the slot out of 5

THE HIGHEST ORDER / If It's Real [2013]

I was crushed when One Hundred Dollars called it quits in 2012 because, quite frankly, I loved Simone Schmidt's vulnerable, yet toughened voice.  I was more than excited to hear she (and OHD guitarist Paul Mortimer) bounced back pretty quickly with The Highest Order and their 2013 debut If It's Real.

Taken the country vibe of her previous band, Schmidt and co. add in a curious touch of psychedelia making for what I can only describe as "cosmic country".  Heavy on eerie melodies doused with reverb, this is a broody, lonely album that somehow manages to be quite fun at the same time.  If the idea of a female Johnny Cash high on LSD sounds like good times to you then look no further than this gem of an album.

5  Gram Parsons out of 5

Songs Of Note: Sacred Team; Two Hundred Pounds

JOE HISAISHI / Kikujiro (1999)

Hisaishi's main tool is his piano, and his greatest strength is his ability to convey emotion via simplicity. Kikujiro is possibly the finest example of his working method to date. He can make you happy and sad at the same time; but the sad is a happy kind of sad. Trust me.
It might not sound like a lot, but there's only really three themes throughout, played with a slightly different arrangement each time, or accompanied by the violin. Each one is as beautiful as the one preceding it and the one following it.
If you haven't already, go watch the film, too. It's equally magnificent.

Songs of Note: Summer; Mother

5 roads travelled out of 5

HYBRYDS / Music for Rituals (1992)

Belgian ritualistic ambient music that's very hard to describe in words, because it's not something that can be easily picked apart. It's like a wave lapping a shore, if that wave carried within it the seeds of a story not yet written and the shore was your subconscious. It's designed to work on a specific part of your brain, making it a perfect accompaniment to the acts for which it's named, or, if you prefer, could be equally useful in aiding sleep.

Songs of Note: The Garden at the Sea; Ritual for Quetzalcoatl

4 drifting shadows out of 5

HEROIN IN TAHITI / Death Surf [2012]

Self-proclaimed "Spaghetti Wasteland" duo Heroin In Tahiti create a hauntingly effective brand of lo-fi psychedelic surf pop on 2012's self-released Death Surf.

Heroin sound as if they are drowning in a reverb pool of LSD mixed by Ennio Morricone and David Lynch, while Brian Wilson watches with a decomposing smirk on his face.  They are indeed a very cinematic sounding act that is composed of happy textures but sombre notes, which makes for a stark and electrifying listen as it pulsates back and forth between feverish life & welcome death.
An excellent gem that begs to be discovered by anyone who enjoys moody, instrumentals out of the norm.

5 Battles of Campomorto out of 5

Songs Of Note: Death Surf; Sartana

HORSEBACK / Half Blood [2012]

With all the bizarre experimental hybrid metal bands, it's easy to see why Horseback would get lost in the mix.  However this band melds psychedelic black metal with folksy Americana Cave/Ellis-esque soundscapes and somehow make it work yet again on their third album, 2012's Half Blood.
This time around, Jenks Miller scales back the metal sound a bit and focus more on the Americana sound a bit more, making it comfortably closer to a post-rock band than whatever most would call this.  Other metal acts, like Neurosis and Earth, tried similar experiments but ended up falling flat on their faces, while Miller and co. excel at it with their surreal violent country metal with seamless perfection.

4 extinct organism trilogies out of 5

Songs Of Note: Mithras; Inheritance (The Changeling)

HOLYHELL / Darkness Visible - The Warning EP (2012)

I got Darkness Visible free with a Manowar album; I'd never have picked it up otherwise. Not because I dislike HolyHell, but because I'd not heard them before and can't afford to splurge on every unknown. It's really quite impressive Power Metal with strong female vocals. The band is undeniably talented, so if Power Metal is the kind of thing that makes sexy time in your ears, then you'll maybe like it even more than I did. The Dio-esque track, Haunted, lured me back for repeated listens, and the remainder began to grow on me. I'd consider future purchases.

Songs of Note: Haunted; Lucifer's Warning

3½ freebies are great out of 5

HIGH ON FIRE - De Vermis Mysteriis [2012]

Stoner metalheads High On Fire get back on track on 2012's De Vermis Mysteriis, after the misfire of their previous album 2010's Snakes For The Divine.

Thundering away like nobody's business, HoF prove they've still got it with a bizarre Jesus' twin brother in Quantum Leap like concept told over the thick, sludgy theatrical metal.  Sounding something like Cliff Burton molesting Motorhead in a cage match to the death, as heavy as the album gets it never takes itself too seriously which makes for a great listen.   Things get a little bit repetitive in a few rare scattered spots but all in all, the record holds up pretty strongly and will provide many an urge to humorously thrash around like a feckin' archaic beast.

4 mysteries of the worm out of 5

Songs Of Note: Fertile Green; Spritual Rites

HOW TO DESTROY ANGELS / An Omen EP (2012)

An Omen is a listless composition from a band that, in trying to distance themselves from the modified NIN sound of the previous E.P., have settled for loop-based emptiness, with little other than the promise of a pay-off to sustain interest. I waited and waited, but the pay-off didn't come.
Reznor is a master of deconstruction, but when putting the separate parts back together again he appears to have lost some of them, and arguably forgotten to use any kind of glue. There's nothing cohesive beneath the surface.

Songs of Note: On the Wing; The Loop Closes

2 layers of apathy out of 5

HOW TO DESTROY ANGELS / How to Destroy Angels EP (2010)

HtDA is Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, with Mariqueen Maandig on vocals. Reznor plays it safe most of the time, sticking to what he knows best, which translates to a mix of NIN's own Ghosts (2008) album, albeit with the addition of female vocals, the drone of The Fragile (1999) and the production of With Teeth (2005); the Fur Lined track could fit easily on the latter. The quieter moments, particularly the E.P's closing track, with its haunting piano, are to me the most interesting additions. It's not the departure from NIN that was promised, but it's free from the official site, so, if you're a NIN fan, it's certainly worth a punt.

Songs of Note: The Space in Between; A Drowning

3½ closed narratives out of 5

HEADLESS HEROES / The Silence of Love (2008)

An album of covers that, I'm ashamed to say, I picked up because I fell in love with the art. I know… but it turned out to be half-interesting. It features songs by The Jesus & Mary Chain, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, I Am Kloot, and several others.
It has a delicate, dreamy, non-threatening, mid-sixties folksy sound that reminds me of Nancy Sinatra at times. Vocalist Alela Diane has the potential to shine if she finds the right collection of songs and backing musicians.

Songs of Note: True Love Will Find You in the End; Blues Run the Game

3 wild gambles out of 5

THE HORRIBLE CROWES / Elsie [2011]

Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem and his guitar tech Ian Perkins (aks The Horrible Crowes) scale back their Springsteen influence on Elsie and bring their Tom Waits, Neil Young & Nick Cave love into the forefront.  Fallon's rugged vocals teeter between passionate screaming and hushed smoky whispers which compliments the intimate musicianship.  Fallon's knack for writing sad, yet hopeful songs is astounding as it's just so damned hard to do without sounding like a complete pussy.  It might be a bit too soft for Gaslight fans but give it a chance and you have yourself a great soundtrack to the broken heart that never gives up.

3½ holes in armor out of 5

Songs Of Note: Behold The Hurricane; I Believe Jesus Brought Us Together

HELLOWEEN / Keeper of the Seven Keys: The Legacy (2005)

What do you do when your band (and livelihood) is slipping into the pit that swallows once-great pioneers? You plunder past glories like a bottom feeder.
Keeper of the Seven Keys: The Legacy (at least they had the good sense not to call it Part III) is a double album that invites comparison to the previous works by name alone. That's perhaps its biggest crime but not its only one: the music is prog metal.
It was an impossible task to replace Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen; I give them credit for trying, sincerely, but I can't recommend the album. It's repetitive and uninspired. Sorry, guys, it was maybe a good idea on paper, but it doesn't live up to the majestic Keeper name in the ways that matter most.

Song of least fail: The King For 1000 Years

1 exciting title, boring music out of 5

HELLOWEEN / Pink Bubbles Go Ape (1991)

After the first two Keeper of the Seven Keys albums it seemed like Helloween could do no wrong, and then they did wrong. The absence of founding member and wizard guitar player Kai Hansen is painfully apparent. He left to pastures new and the pumpkin rolled downhill. For most of Pink Bubbles the melodies are boring, the drumming limp and the vocals lazy. When a comedy song is one of the best tracks your album has to offer, maybe it's time to change tactics, again.

Songs of Note: Kids of the Century; Heavy Metal Hamsters

2 once bought, quickly regretted out of 5

HELLOWEEN / Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II (1988)

A sequel that's better than the original. 0_0 The same speedy rhythms, dramatic vocals and extravagant guitar solos that made the first part so good are once again firmly placed herein, and there's some wonderfully enthusiastic drumming beneath the furore, if you care to listen. Though it may be too long for some people, for me the thirteen minute titular track is a masterclass in lengthy orchestration that I never tire of. It's Helloween's best work. The two parts of Keeper of the Seven Keys are the only power metal albums I class as essential.

Songs of Note: I Want Out; Dr Stein

5 clones upon a shelf out of 5

HELLOWEEN / Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I (1987)

Helloween basically invented European Power Metal on Keeper and its sequel, but I can forgive them because they did it properly. The much-maligned bollocks revival that happened a few years back isn't worthy to wipe Helloween's collective asses. Their music is frantic and melodic, with choruses that you can't help but enjoy. It's packed with varied twists and turns, which leave little room to get bored. It's peppered with widdly solos that work - a rare thing, in my book. Vocalist  Michael Kiske has a unique voice that's part operatic and part Bruce Dickinson. The album is just under thirty-seven minutes long, but it has a vitality that means it lingers in the mind for much longer.

Songs of Note: Twilight of the Gods; Future World

4½ pumpkins and ticking clocks out of 5