HARD ROCK SOLDIER x HEAVY METAL KILLER: Rawk Thread

[Marc]

Garbage - Shirley Mansob

First album is legit brilliance. I've actually just picked it up on 12" - first time around I got it on a 7" box set, which is a pain in the ass.

[null1024]

Went through Scanner's first three albums again and ended up listening to Hypertrace like thrice in as many days.

In terms of quality, it's a steady decline, if never actually getting bad. Hypertrace is a stunner from start to finish, I don't think any of the songs are filler. The lyrics are a bit wonky, but the vocal perfomance, the melodies, the sheer energy, it's all great, and although the story of the album isn't told in order [which makes it hard to follow -- you definitely hear the callbacks in each song at least, but it never comes together in the released order]. Warp 7 is the song that introduced me to Scanner, but it genuinely is all good.

Terminal Earth's first couple songs are a bit meh, but I think it improves after that. Still, it just doesn't seem nearly as tightly written, lyrically, melodically, etc. The titular song is fantastic though. It's overall still very high energy, it just feels like the b-side to Hypertrace.

Mental Reservation is interesting as a concept and tells a cool story, but like, it kind of meanders melodically and lacks the energy of the first two albums. It's still pretty good, but just that.

[BIL]

Went through Scanner's first three albums again and ended up listening to Hypertrace like thrice in as many days.

Hypertrace is the kind of debut so good it scared me off trying the rest for fear of crushing disappoint Cheers for the reviews, I'll have to stand up against myself. God damn...

Concurred on the lyrics, they're distinctly angular in spots; succeeding on sheer conviction. At times, dude hurdles even the oddest phrases with such passion, it takes on the precarious agility I associate more with instrumental solos, or Paul Dianno's iconic vow "I've been looking so long for you now won't get away from my grasp~"

I don't think I'll ever quite adjust to "The Grapes of Fear," just innately swerving to Anglospheric ears (and probably those much further afield given Steinbeck's fame!), but god damn does he sell em over that icily unrelenting riff... what a scene of desperate betrayal, Yagawasplosions and Raizing shrap fill the redden sky Conversely, "Locked Out" is statement of plight is endearingly blunt, even moreso with the chorus of cyber-angels giving response Cyberdudes had it rough out there, it's not their fault they were Changed To Kill The Enemy 3;

NO STEEL BARRICADES COULD SAVE THEM FROM MY RAGE!
WHOLE DESIRE BORN OF HATE...

(I genuinely wonder if this album and Assault Suit Leynos's stories have a common SF ancestor; put these lyrics on a goddamn flyer already )

As with even the most killer LPs (see also Heartbreakers' LAMF and Motorhead's Ace of Spades), I'm 50/50 on whether to keep or chop the bonus tracks. I remember loving the choruses on WIZARD FORCE and especially GALACTOS; but I also recall liking ending this blazing trip with "Killing Fields" and its haunting coda. I almost don't care to know what that digitized voice is intoning over it... just the contrast alone is perfect, positively techno-funereal; a plaintively meteoric LP coming to uneasy but undeniably hard-fought rest.

There's a fight on the hill
Even time is standing still
But they never will know the score...

EDIT: Haha, I wonder if this might be one of those rare LPs where I shuffle the bonus tracks back in... they're quality, just a little outshone after the bullseye finish. On second thoughts, maybe they're best as exactly that, bonuses; outside the main tracklist+narrative. The OG's bang-buck ratio is so tight, it can afford the encore. Also god damn, I'd forgotten how good GALACTOS's riffing is, the rip-roaring boogie I always wanted more of from Maiden's Back In The Village.

[null1024]

I like the bonus tracks a fair bit [Galactos feels like it should have been in the main track list, Wizard Force does feel like an extra], but the album definitely hits the hardest with it ending on Killing Fields.
God, the end of that song absolutely nails it. Absolutely perfect finisher.

I remember when I heard the album for the first time, I was convinced he was singing "we'll win the race of fear" and not "don't pick the grapes of fear".
Apart from that turn of phrase being really, really, really odd, the rest of the song's lyrics are satisfying.

They don't know one victim has survived
Fate longs for revenge, oh earth beware
Don't pick the grapes of fear

But yeah, listen to Terminal Earth too.
Even if I don't think quite it's as good as Hypertrace... we're talking about a follow-up to what I'd say is a 9/10 album at its worst.
There's a lot of weirdness [L.A.D.Y. appears to be about a guy who goes to a gay bar and hooks up with a chick lmao], but the songs I like the most [Buy or Die, Terminal Earth, The Dust of Ages, The Challenge] are damn good.

[BIL]

They don't know one victim has survived
Fate longs for revenge, oh earth beware
Don't pick the grapes of fear

Fuck yeah The sense of absolute crisis in that song is amazing, musically and lyrically alike. While Cyberdudes may be some bad slags, betrayal is betrayal... but there's also a sense they're so incredibly dangerous, there wasn't much alternative... or was it just a craven coverup? Either way, one escaped the hellish trap and is now mortally hell-bent on revenge. What a cockup!

HUMANS THINK ABOUT WTF YOU HAVE DONE (■｀w´■)

Finally, finally gave Terminal Earth a go (my procrastination long ago reached the dreaded stage of putting off things I want to do ). Holy fuck, when this one's good, it's damn near as good as Hypertrace itself. Door-shattering THE LAW, NOT ALONE, the absolutely blistering TERMINAL EARTH, and THE CHALLENGE are easy contenders, all sporting the same juggernauting velocity and chromium-sterling choruses. FROM THE DUST OF AGES was a personal bullseye; genuinely surprised when I clocked the +9min runtime. Full of venomous twists and disarming interludes; a pummelling trip with a filmic air of lament, epitomised by that heartbreaking chorus. I like it almost as much as LOCKED OUT.

L.A.D.Y. genuinely made me burst out laughing, the way he comes in showboating like Halford's Green Manalishi, before unceremoniously blasting that first line over the fence - had to rewind to make sure I'd heard him right.

WENT TO A GAY CLUB (■｀w´■) I don't wanna change my style (˘w˘)

But JFC, that's some authentically smouldering blues-metal Reminds me of Mob Rules' insouciantly swaggering "Voodoo" and "Country Girl." Not just one but two preposterously massive howl-along hooks! "SEE U L8R!1!" "That's what she said 2 me ~ I could not believe that she gave me her key!" Bro Out of control, about to explode! A bonus track AFAIK, but absolutely not a novelty track. Balls-out strutting blues-metal with unironically amazing lyrics

A bit unexpectedly, if there's a weak point, it's the lyrics clustered around the middle (BUY OR DIE and TELEMANIA); a switch from tales of reckless valour to fairly boilerplate consumerism-as-church critique. It feels churlish, criticising such an admirably no-bullshit Heavy Fucking Metal band for a rest from the final wars, and spaceflights so rad they'd rip mere mortals apart. It's more that the tunes are hardly any less hi-octane, a somewhat awkward fit - like a pottering Sunday drive in a snarling F1 concept, ready to explode clean across the beer garden and onto the autobahn. BoD is goddamn near Grapes of Fear-intense, with the roaring gang choruses, but homie's putting his boot to Woolworth's. I give "Wonder" a pass though; every band deserves at least one self-referential starving artist tune! It's Electric / Whoaaa Yeaaaa!

It's easily forgiven with the synergy that hammers throughout the opening and closing thirds; TOUCH THE LIGHT even managing a similar critique via more germanely intense imagery. "Not Alone," "Dust of Ages," "Terminal Earth" and "The Challenge" form a nice mini-tetralogy ala Hypertrace, the deadly instant thrill of interstellar journey, and the damnably inescapable spectre of conflict.

Blood is the color
That all people bleed
If some of their leaders decide

A weird little detail: "Not Alone's" opening verse matches up both melodically and lyrically with Maiden's "Empire of the Clouds."

"There'll be times / When we'll conquer the sky..." "To ride the storm / To an Empire of the Clouds..."

Surely a coincidence, but I did a minor double-take wondering why the former was so familiar!

Most definitely worth a listen for Hypertrace fans. While not as ferociously unified in purpose, the intensity is unmistakable; odds are excellent you'll find several new favourites here.

[null1024]

You know, I'm pretty sure I never realized that Dust of Ages was that long. It's great. It doesn't feel like 9 minutes.
I like Buy or Die a lot. Telemania is the weaker one by far, both lyrically and musically, but I still like it too.
L.A.D.Y. is musically great, but those lyrics are too goofy.

I'm not quite going to try and convince you to go through Mental Reservation -- it's definitely a far cry from Terminal Earth or Hypertrace. I haven't listened to the albums after it because like, it really is just okay to me [it also NEEDS the liner notes so you actually get the whole story].

[Herr Schatten]

When talking about Scanner, you’re more or less talking about 4-5 different bands with main guitarist Axel Julius being the only constant. Basically, he does whatever he’s in the mood for, then releases it under the Scanner banner.

Hypertrace and Terminal Earth share the same line-up (albeit with different singers), hence the similarities.

Mental Reservation was recorded by practically a whole new band. The successor, Ball of the Damned, has the same persons behind it and is similar in sound and quality.

After that, every new album was played by a new line-up that didn’t persist beyond it. The records differ vastly in style, but they’re all pretty good. Just don’t expect anything that sounds remotely like their early works.

[Lord British]

Next to the Queensryche EP, the best metal EP.

https://youtu.be/mQf2MR7NMRI?si=PWx3xERBA2HNog8C

[Herr Schatten]

Listen up, BIL. A new solo album from Bruce Dickinson is in the works, apparently with Roy Z on board again.

The first teaser song dropped tonight, and I’m honestly not sure what to make of it. The sting does have its moments, but overall I’m a little underwhelmed. Bruce sports the Karl Lagerfeld look quite convincingly, though.

[BIL]

Oho, good news! Will give it a listen now, thanks!

tbh, even Accident of Birth and The Chemical Wedding, while I love them, have a couple skippables apiece (namely "The Magician" and "The Tower"); and though I put Tyranny of Souls' hits on par, it has fewer of them. I'm sure Adrian's absence was significant there. I remember them playing "The Tower" live on MTV's TRL back in the late 90s, thinking "Fuck! Where's King In Crimson and Book of Thel?!" (that youthful idealism )

EDIT: Yeah, it's just alright imo. Perked up at the guttural TCW guitars, early on, before it settled into broadly tuneful, not particularly outstanding "If Eternity Should Fail" mode (that one being a repurposed Bruce solo tune, ofc). I'll hold out for a few hardcore killers and burning paeans, even Tyranny manages a decent clutch. "Abduction" and "Kill Devil Hill" both pop into my head now and then... pummelling, scintillating heavy metal given an almighty shoe up the ass.

MANKIND RETURNS TO THE STARS!
But sometimes... the Stars...
RETURN TO MANKIND

Flatulent "Devil On A Hog," less the fuck so.

I noticed the new Priest record too, thought the Turbo aesthetic was an interesting choice. Faux synth has been ubiquitous for well over a decade now, ofc, but it's still neat to see one of metal's more famous (infamous? ) landmarks revisited by the men themselves.

[Herr Schatten]

I noticed the new Priest record too, thought the Turbo aesthetic was an interesting choice. Faux synth has been ubiquitous for well over a decade now, ofc, but it's still neat to see one of metal's more famous (infamous? ) landmarks revisited by the men themselves.

So far I’ve only heard Panic Attack which I like quite a bit, even though it continues the tradition of great verses matched with poor choruses that’s been a Priest staple since (dare I say it) Breaking the Law. I especially enjoy the song's intro, whose faux synths somehow give me a strong Machinae Supremacy vibe. I’m positively surprised by Halford's performance too, although I’m not too sure he’ll be able to reproduce it on stage.

[Lord British]

When talking about Scanner, you’re more or less talking about 4-5 different bands with main guitarist Axel Julius being the only constant. Basically, he does whatever he’s in the mood for, then releases it under the Scanner banner.

They were going to play here in Chicago last year or the year before but cancelled, I was pissed.

[Lord British]

The thing about Harry "Tyrant" Conklin is that he sounds like an intimidating tough guy yet he's so melodic. I finally met him though and he's about half my size and really nice.

https://youtu.be/gjfiHbf_POs?si=p9_Gn9RCcGsq4bmY

[Lord British]

Cauldron is super underrated imo

They're pretty good/ok. The last time I played on stage was opening up for them and Satan a while back.

[Lord British]

Jamming to some Manilla Road in the car. Well, Crystal Logic.

The first half is decent, but I can say it's worse than the second.
Necropolis and Flaming Metal System are both catchy enough, if not quite spectacular the entire way. They have moments of being very good, but for the most part, they're just decent. The title track, Crystal Logic, is similar, although it has some really odd turns melodically.
Feeling Free Again feels like it's only on the album to try and get some airplay from stations that aren't metalll as fuccccckkkk. It is genuinely like a knife cutting through the album.
Things pick up with The Riddle Master, and it feels very heavy metal -- not exactly the best song on the album, but the entire album shifts into gear here. The Ram is a pretty good continuation. I like The Veils of Negative Existence quite a bit -- "I WILL NEVER PUT MY SWORD DOWN, I WILL NEVER RUN AWAYYYYYY", even if it has similarly odd melodic turns like the title track does.

Crystal Logic and Mystification are my two favorites. So sad that Mark died, RIP.