Storm the Gates of Hell

“Storm the Gates of Hell” is the title for the latest album from the Metal band, Demon Hunter. I had quite high expectations for their newest album since I loved the previous one (The Triptych). I got the ‘Special Edition’ of the album as I like to watch interviews with the band members and hear their commentary about the album. What follows are some thoughts from a fan so it might not exactly be a dispassionate critique of the pros and cons of the musical complexities expressed in this album. So here we go…

One thing that impresses me of this band is the whole presentation of the album. The covers and the booklets are well designed. The cover design is a departure from the conventional CD cover design (a positively artistic departure at that):

I like how the cover opens like a door; Hell’s door with the logo of the hunted demon on it. The demon is ‘hunted’ because of a hole in its head–presumably made by the Hunter’s weapon. I liked the symbolisms. As you open the doors you see a statement on the inside of the doors…

“Hell Hath No Fury At All”

I liked the very bold statement. This statement of rebellion to dark forces is very appealing in the midst of bands that sing about embracing darkness. The irony is that those bands that sing about embracing darkness started out as a rebellion themselves! Now there are so much of them that they are the “mainstream” and bands like Demon Hunter are the rebels!

All this prepared me for the sonic pleasure that awaited. As usual, I played the CD in my home theatre and the first song was “Storm the Gates of Hell”. The start sounded like the stampede of the hunters and the hunted but what followed it could only be best described in the words of the bassist, “…pure aggression from beginning to end, no ceasing, no letting up, no choruses, not giving you chance to breathe…y’know just pummeling from beginning to end…”. Nearing the end of the song, the phrase “Hell hath no fury at all” was screamed/growled by the lead singer Ryan Clark with ’squealies’ flying off the guitars like arrows in the background. It…was…pure headbanging awesomeness. A phrase like that found its ultimate expression from the mouth of Ryan Clark. It really does makes one think, “Hell hath no fury at all”, indeed. Oh yeah, I was screaming it in my mind too since I did not want to ruin Ryan’s vocal performance by doing it audibly myself.

The song “Sixteen” captured my interest. It had guest vocals from Bruce Fitzhugh of Living Sacrifice. The vocals by him reminded me of the album Burning Bridges by Haste the Day. It was different and dare I say a bit refreshing as well. This type of growling is one of the deepest and darkest form of vocals I have heard. When a whole album is comprised of vocals with only one type of vocal style it would get rather monotonous and grow stale before you know it. The original vocal style would then quickly become unoriginal. However, employed like in the song “Sixteen” it adds to the texture of the song very well while maintaining variety.

“Mouths Open and Hearts Wrenched Out”

“We were on tour in India. We visited Prem Kiran–a humanitarian project in one of the red light districts in Mumbai, and it left us in shock. To see women enslaved in such circumstances is an outrage, but to see their own children growing up in such a completely hopeless environment was a tragedy. But there was hope. The team working at the project were taking the kids off the street and housing them, feeding them and giving basic education. They were working alongside the mothers, helping them find order in the chaos–a little peace in the storm. It’s hard for a band to know how to respond to things like this. Mostly we just stood there with our mouths open and hearts wrenched out–unable to be put back the same. We knew we had to do something, no matter how small. And so we have committed to give part of our royalties to Prem Kiran. This money will primarily be able to put food in the children’s stomachs but also help to provide school lessons and eventually re-house them and their mothers. Thanks for buying this CD and becoming part of the solution.  – D boys”

As I read this in the booklet accompanying Delirious?’s new album Kingdom of Comfort, I felt an immense sense of gratitude to the band. I was also humbled by the Love that motivates them to alleviate such pain.

These people in the “sovereign and secular” India live a life of hopeless despair and pain. The pain is so much that it numbs their hearts. All Indians know about this. The Indians who just get by hear it, see it and yet are unable to do anything about it. It desensitizes our hearts hearing it all the time. Such is life in the not-so-great parts of the Third World.

Then I got lost in thoughts of the people being helped….Thoughts the afflicted might be thinking as I got in to their mind…

As I was listening to the album I really liked the song “Love Will Find a Way”. The lyrics capture some emotions one goes through when thinking about these things…

I thought I believed but I just turn away from these souls living in this hell today

Tears are falling on my face from face

Love, love will find a way to break through

This Love, finds a way to shine through….

I try to make sense of the things I’ve seen between the poverty and the five star dream..

Love will lead me to your feet

Love won’t pass me on the street

Love will look me in the eye

Love won’t leave me here to die…

To your arms I’m gonna run and escape what I’ve become…

August Burns Red: Composure

This video made me buy August Burns Red’s album “Messengers”. I guess Solid State Records have successfully marketed this band. Just look at the number of views this video alone has got: ~ 900,000 hits. That opening riff is one of those lovely “build-up” intro I heard in a long time. That stuck in my head for one whole day- my brain had recorded the riff and put it in repeat. The drummer of this band is one of those guys that remind you throughout the song that it is because of him alone that the song sounds awesome. All the riffs and screaming would amount to nothing if there wasn’t this drummer doing his thing. As a guitarist it gives you a humbling thought. Matt Greiner, I salute you.

The album is a very good specimen of Modern Metal. One criticism is that 10 out of 11 songs kinda sounded similar in structure with that ever-present short pause between the Intro and the Verse adding to the monotony. Other than that, the guitarists are literal riff machines! Each song has at least 10 riffs–it leaves your head spinning as you come to terms with them.

I’m pleased that the band is coming to UK on a headlining tour. W00t! London, November ‘08 here I come!

Josh Myers Band Rocks!

This has got to be one of the little Jem that I discovered in music this year. My personal music collection was a little low on Instrumental Music, so I was searching around and found the Josh Myers Band. After looking at some videos of the band at YouTube, I ordered their album Soul Serenade Sessions.

Put it in my home theatre and was treated to an hour of inspiring and beautiful music. I loved the very soulful style of the lead guitarist Josh Myers. I’m one of those people who likes shredding in moderation while relying on melodies. That is exactly what one finds in Josh. This guy has inspired me quite a lot and I like to listen to this album to observe and learn how the various riffs have been put together in creating a seamless song.

The guitar tones in some of the songs made me have “Eureka” moments. In fact some of the tones represent the ideals I aspire of achieving. Let me try to describe the some things I loved in this album:

Bands I want to see before I die…

These are the Band of musicians/solo artists whom I relate to like no other. Its not just about the music they make, its the character they exude during interviews and such that I admire greatly. Many of them are American bands: some rarely come to the UK. They are (not in order):

Live and Unsigned 2008 Finals: A review

I attended the Live and Unsigned 2008 (UK) contest for the Under 18’s on the 28th of June. It was the Grand Final of the competition. I was excitedly looking forward to seeing the cream of the crop of all unsigned English bands. It was due to an unlikely turn of events resulted in me being there. I was not supposed to have gone….

There were some very good vocal performances in some bands while others left a lot to be desired. But one wouldn’t deny the talents of the musicians who were at this level of competition.

As the curtains went up,