The Great Gamble "Book 1"

Progressive Metal is becoming a huge part of my day to day listening and The Great Gamble is on my list. From Scranton, PA, The Great Gamble has recorded their new concept album “Book 1”. Instantly upon flicking through the tracks, you can tell that they love what they do. Once I found myself with a spare hour, I quickly removed myself from the outside world and involved myself in their music.

“Release The Kraken”, the opening track to “Book 1” is a lengthy 10:06 long. Instantly, I could tell that I had stumbled upon something brilliant. Starting off slow but strong, the song is the definition of progressive rock/metal. It is unpredictable, but as each layer unfolds, you get a pleasant surprise (An exciting version of pass the parcel). There is so much going on but each layer is as intense as the next. A remarkable opening to what feels like an awesome album.

The second track is purely instrumental. It starts off mellow and maintains it (To a certain degree. “The Marketplace” is short and is mostly there to set up the following track.   

“Legends Of The Symmetria” continues on from track 2, but you can hear the build up rather quickly. At 8:56, we have another long track. This pleased me very much as I knew we would be blessed by progression once again. The Great Gamble did it so well in the first song, why not do it again? I would also like to make note that by now, you should have got a feel for the vocals. I thought it was a similar style to Gojira, but we all think differently. It is nice to hear such good lyrics with awesome music. They truly compliment each other to make something better.

“The Ghost Of Three Reflections”. I would just like you to notice how fucking awesome that song title is. This song starts off with the feel of a power ballad. Everyone enjoys a good power ballad, so I was pleasantly surprised by The Great Gamble. With beautiful vocals to begin this song, but after a short while, the progression begins. It keeps the power ballad feel but steadily gets heavier. This is my favourite track on “Book 1” if you were interested. I just love the ending as it picks up the pace and gets brutal. Progressive metal/rock at it’s finest!

“Breach At Fort Mycenae” reminds me a lot of Avenged Sevenfold, especially with the backup vocals. It’s a good track. I can imagine a theatrical music video and lots of screaming metal chicks (Metal band’s dream right?). The vocals are mesmerizing is all I can really say. I got lost in the music. Taken from my world and placed in theirs.

To finalize “Book 1”, they have a 16:35 song. I was half expecting an advert for car insurance to pop up halfway. Luckily, that wasn't the case. It’s quite a long song, people could argue too much. I enjoyed it for sure, but it was long. This is once again, a rather theatrical song.

The band consist of Al Joseph on lead guitar and vocals, Christopher Joseph doing back up with vocals and bass, Steve Michael also doing back up vocals as well as drums and finally Matt Weaver on keyboard and Violin (Nice touch by the way).

I recommend them and now when asked: “Progressive metal band you recommend?” I say “Oh, listen to The Great Gamble”. Once you've listened to them, I think you’ll be saying the same. Once I had listened to all 6 tracks, I may have decided I was going to sit there and do it all over again. It was 2 hours well spent.

Balor's Eye "Lorcan"

Lorcan, crafted by "Balor's Eye" is really something. From Baltimore, Maryland, this progressive metal band is redefining the term "Progressive metal band". Still a new, upcoming band having only formed March 2010, they are quickly making a name for themselves with the help of their label "Dark Harvest Records". One band I want to see go far.

I fell in love with the first track "Pissing Rainbows". Not only is that a side effect of eating too many Skittles, but what a cool track name! The song itself is really good. I wasn't expecting it to be instrumental though. I thought "It's the first track, some bands don't add vocals to the first track" but to my surprise, not a single word was spoken during this album. This is the point I am trying to make though. THIS ALBUM DOESN'T NEED VOCALS! (subtle, I know).

"Door Fuhrer" was an alright track. It was shorter than the rest and as good as it was, It didn't sound like the first one as much as I has hoped. It is still a good listen, but I think the following track is a hell lot better. This song does however, keep a good pace but progressively changes sound 3 to 4 times throughout.

The third track, "Lobotomy Please" is my favourite on this album. For starters, it's a nice long track and if you enjoy the whole thing and not get bored or distracted by butterflies whilst it's playing, then you know you're onto something brilliant. I also found myself thinking back to my point. it's instrumental, yet vocals couldn't keep up and would therefore ruin this fine piece of craftsmanship.

I think this is the point where you go out and buy "Balor's Eye".

The next three tracks which completes the 6 track album, are good. I enjoyed them a lot. I listened to them a few times and defiantly decided they are good. I recommend listening buying the album purely for "Pissing Rainbows" and "Lobotomy Please".

Sonisphere Knebworth 8th – 10th July 2011

“This review may seem different from others I have posted. This is because I am talking about my own experience. It was special to me and this is completely my opinion on the weekend”.

So, I returned from what I can only describe as the best weekend I’ve had in a few years. I came back without broken bones or a criminal record which is even better (I mention criminal record because of an incident that happened between a man who was determined to impregnate a tent). I did also drink a lot of beer, but as you can probably guess, that’s what you do at festivals. So, when in Rome right?  

Thursday

Anyway, I arrived Thursday as I purchased an ‘early bird’ ticket and I spent that afternoon queuing for 2 hours, drinking beer and pitching a tent. There isn’t much to tell you about that as it was a heavy night of drinking.

Friday

I woke up Friday morning, absolutely ecstatic about the ‘Big Four’, which consists of (In the order they appeared on stage) ‘Anthrax’, ‘Megadeth’, ‘Slayer’ and ‘Metallica’. It is something which I will always remember. Diamond Head opened for them which was good. They were good, nothing special in my opinion but enjoyable none the less. Anthrax got the crowd going which was good as I’ve only really listened to two of the four bands which make up the ‘Big Four’. Anthrax had a 45 minute set which was ok, I was really getting into them just as they finished. Megadeth had an hour set. I was actually not impressed at all, rather disappointed to be honest. I was hoping for something more from them, but another metalhead did mention to me that they are usually a lot better (I took his word for it as he was wearing a Megadeth T-shirt). Next was Slayer. It took me a whole 15 minutes to get to the front ready for Kerry King’s arrival. I have 4 favourite songs by Slayer. ‘Raining Blood’, ‘Dead Skin Mask’, ‘Seasons In The Abyss’ and ‘South Of Heaven’. Slayer played them all. It was remarkable. I was in the pits for most of Slayer’s hour performance. I got kicked, punched and pretty much destroyed (Not literally destroyed, just in my head, it was brutal). Metallica hit the stage at 8:30pm and were there until 11pm. It was legendary. It’s truly outstanding how good they are live. ‘All Nightmare Long’ had to be my favourite song of that night. It was savage as I thought they were taking a break when really they were just switching guitars. It caught me off guard. I got emotional. In the last 15 minutes of Metallica’s show, they had the whole ‘Big Four’ on stage and they played ‘The Big Four Song’. That looked like they were having so much fun. You couldn’t help but admire what can only be described as a gathering of metal gods. I then continued drinking. 

Saturday

Saturday morning and it was raining. I was not impressed. I got up and went to the noodle bar and grabbed some breakfast. I started my day with a smaller and fairly new band called ‘While She Sleeps’. They are pretty heavy and the lead singer screamed his lungs out, but I loved it. It was amazing. He started a huge mosh pit in a rather small tent. I recommend this band a lot if you enjoy bands like ‘All That Remains’ or ‘Bring Me The Horizon’. Jackass star Steve-O was performing stand up comedy in one of the smaller, indoor tent my friends and I decided to indulge ourselves in fits of laughter. It was hilarious but most likely because I had seen Jackass on TV and at the cinema so I knew what it was about. I knew character names so when he told us stories, truly disturbing stories, I saw the whole picture and found it more amusing than a man who didn’t know Jackass. ‘Weezer’, who I adored as a young teenager were at the main stage at 4:30pm so I went and watched. It was fun. They were the first band I’d seen so far who actually interacted with the audience. They were comical. “People to our left, I see you. People to our right, I see you. People taking a shit, I see you too”. I also wanted to see ‘Gojira’, but there was no way to even get into the indoor tent. I could hear them but I wasn’t enjoying myself out in the wind so I kicked that idea in. I walked up to see ‘Biffy Clyro’ and get a good position, and I did. If you’re ‘Biffy’ fan, please look away now. I thought they were terrible! I actually liked their latest album with songs like ‘Bubbles’ and ‘God and Satan’ but I was expecting the world and they did not deliver. They jumped around the stage with their guitars round there neck strumming like its going out of fashion. NO! I left after 5 songs. I did not think they were headline material. I apologise if I’ve offended you, but I saw them, I was there and I was not impressed. I instead drank lots of beer and enjoyed the fair ground rides.

Sunday  

Sunday. The day that I was truly there for. The day that I missed a Sunday roast and new episodes of ‘Family Guy’ for. Was it worth it? Hell yeah! I woke up quite late and enjoyed ‘Howard Marks’ describe his life story. He is a mentalist. Truly outstanding how he convinced a court of law that he was a British Spy trying to uncover a drug lord when actually, he was the drug lord (He has a movie out by the way). Never got into ‘Arch Enemy’ but they were really good, amazing voice and some great riffs I thought. Worth a watch in my opinion. Straight after that I went to see ‘House Of Pain’ who were great. Not metal, but good none the less. It was then nearly time for “Paul Grey’s Two Minute Silence”. I didn’t witness it as I only thought it was just everyone shutting up for 2 minutes. Apparently they brought his old jumpsuit and mask onto the stage and played ‘Vermillion’ once the two minutes were up. Would have been good to watch. Motorhead were on the main stage and that’s always worth a watch. They played songs from their latest album “The World Is Yours” and obviously ‘Ace Of Spades’ and ‘Overkill’. Limp Bizkit was next up and they were awesome. ‘Break Stuff’, ‘Faith’, ‘My Way’, ‘Take A Look Around’, ‘Rollin’ (Air Raid Vehicle)’ were all in their hour slot. They let the audience pick the songs they wanted and Fred Durst would make a guess of what 50,000 people screaming. The also played songs from “Gold Cobra” which was good as I haven’t given it a good listen to. Now it’s in my most current playlist on my iPhone. They were hilarious, aggressive and brutal. I was right at the front for their entire show and that is why I missed ‘Bill Bailey’. No way in hell was I giving up my position when ‘Slipknot’ were on in an hour. I stood there, happy as Larry in the pouring rain waiting for my idols to swagger onto the stage (They never actually swaggered on. More of a walk). At 9pm ‘Slipknot’ were upon us. Opening with ‘(Sic)’, ‘Eyeless’ and ‘Wait and Bleed’. ‘Left Behind’, ‘Psychosocial’, ‘Duality’ and ‘Before I Forget’ followed shortly. The encore was ‘People = Shit’ and that was outstanding. If you weren’t there, build a time machine, purchase a ticket and go. I went and I’m still trying to find a method of time travel.  

Sonisphere was one of the best weekends of my life. I hope you get to share the experience one day at a festival. Tickets for Sonisphere 2012 has already gone on sale, but I’d wait until they announce a line up.

P.S. Sorry it’s taken me 2 months to post. I was slacking and I apologise.      

Beast (Special Edition) by DevilDriver

I recently brought this album not knowing what to expect as I've never really given DevilDriver my full attention, only really enjoying the song "I Dream I Died" which is on their self titled "DevilDriver".

The first song on their latest album "Dead to Rights" is a good introduction into "Beast (Special Edition). Starting off with some great drumming then the guitar which I was catchy. The Vocals is exactly what I expect from singer Dez Fafara. All together, you can feel the passion of their music. This song is going to be a favourite.

"Bring the Fight (To the Floor)" starts a lot more melodic than the first song, but the vocals on this track is harsher with more sustained shouts. Right up my street. The chorus is quite fun and is music I would use to get myself in the mood for some brutal moshing before a heavy metal gig.

"Hardened" is a lot more like StoneSour in the beginning but then manages to get itself into some savage riff which I'm sure all budding guitarist will want to know. The vocals have two different tones which make this song enjoyable.

The rest of this album is really worth a listen, especially "Shitlist". This song is easily my favourite one for it's great, gentle introduction, followed by some great lyrics and a catchy and what I believe, is an epic chorus.

I recommend buying the "special edition" rather than the standard version as you get three extra songs, two bonus tracks and one live song. The live song is "Grinfucked" and it is brilliant! Never hearing this song before now, I really enjoyed it and have put it into my "Brutal Metal Playlist" on my iPhone.

You can easily see why DevilDriver are as popular as they are. Being signed with "RoadRunner" means that you have to be as popular as they are or they wouldn't be with that legendary label for much longer.

Overall, it's a great album, but I've only mentioned a few tracks. Buy the album for yourself and enjoy it's epicness for yourself.