Reviews for October 12th, 2012

Frost Giant – When Myth and History Merged into Mystery

Frost Giant is from Boyertown, Pennsylvania and “When Myth and History Merged into Mystery” is their first EP. They play a mix of folk metal and death/hardcore. Seems kind of like an odd combination throwing that hardcore in there doesn’t it? Yeah, that is a little different, but in the end it sounds pretty good.

The production is kind of weak, but that is only in comparison to albums with a big label and studio behind them. For a small band on a small label the production is good enough. I can listen to these songs and hear them as though they were produced by Andy Sneap, and hear the potential waiting to be achieved. As things are, this is a good place to start.

I love the songs. They have the fun and boisterous sound of folk metal as well as the power and punch of heavier metal. The only real concession to death/hardcore are the vocals. There are harsh/barked vocals, but there are also plenty of clean vocals which bring to mind a bunch of drunken Vikings having a grand old time.

The EP has five songs, and interestingly, the last one is a cover of Adele’s “Someone Like You.” Not to fear, they metal it up a bit. While I do think Adele has a great voice, I am not all that familiar with her material to know how this version compares, but I think it is pretty safe this one is way, way heavier lol. Despite dressing it up in the trappings of metal the song still does not really fit in with the rest of the songs. I assume they are acknowledging this by putting it at the end.

I like what I heard. Give them a listen and a show of support. Here is the track “Heathen’s Lament.”

Bane – The Acausal Fire

Bane is a black metal band from Serbia and “The Acausal Fire” is their second album.

The first thing I notice about this album as it begins playing is that the production sounds very good, particularly given the style they are playing. I have not heard of Bane before, so I assumed they would have a low-budget sound reminiscent of 90s black metal. I stand corrected.

The second thing I noticed was the similarity in style to Dissection. “Storm of the Light’s Bane” is one of my all time favorite 90s black metal albums, and these guys play in that style, only with better sounding production. To drive that point home they close out “The Acausal Fire” with a Dissection cover of “Night’s Blood” from “Storm of the Light’s Bane.” Nice touch.

“The Acausal Fire” is definitely the surprise of the day. Based on the name and band photo I was expecting some kind of middling quality death metal, yet here I sit enjoying some quality black metal. All hails to Bane on a job well done. I hope this album will get the attention it deserves.

Check out the video for the song “In Endless Silence.”

Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell – Don’t Hear It…Fear It!

Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell is a UK hard rock band and I believe this is their first album.

I saw this band name and album cover and thought “WTF??” The band takes their name from a late 17th century and early 18th century English naval officer. Some poor bastard actually had to live with that name.

Musically, this album is a kind of grungy, trashy, retro psychedelic hard rock style. That is not exactly my style. The production is pretty raw (read as crappy) but some of the guitar riffing is kind of cool. That is about the best I can say about this album, that I appreciate the guitar skills. The vocals are annoyingly buried under either trippy flange effects or mild distortion.

Given the choice between hearing it and fearing it, I choose fearing it.