The third edition of the annual Warhorns Festival has been announced. Unlike the previous two years, Warhorns 2014 will take place in Selby, near York, at The Riverside on Saturday 20th September. Announced so far for the festival are York’s mercenary metallers Sellsword as well as Nottingham pirate metallers Red Rum and Hullian black metal outfit Aloeswood. Other bands are to be announced including the headliner and ticket information will be available in the near future.
Beyond Grace
Monstrous
Released February 2014
Extreme melodic death metal
Self-released
It’s with no mean frequency that the phrase ‘If it ain’t got riff, it ain’t worth a fuck!’ tumbles from these lips. Nothing turns me off from an extreme band more than constant noise or technicality for the sake of it. It just doesn’t spell out H-E-A-V-Y to me. Some of my favourite metal albums are those that punch a middle finger into the face of convention, blast beats swirling effortlessly into percussive grooves. Think Carcass’ Heartwork or Bloodbath‘s opus The Fathomless Mastery (especially At The Behest Of The Dead! Damn! That chorus!).
It’s such a shame that the UK bands taking this particular musical bull by the horns are vastly outnumbered by those who pump out the same old trend-oriented metal pudding as everyone else, but those who do tend to hit me in a special place.
Step up, Nottingham’s Beyond Grace – a band who seem to have set out to make writing an actual tune part of their purpose for existence. From the first moments of opening track The Chronophage – which I believe roughly means ‘the time-eater’ – it’s obvious that this lot don’t care much for fitting in to the preconceived notions of either the current UK death scene or mainstream extreme metal (Yup, I said it. It’s a thing now!), while brushing shoulders with both. The song is an easy choice for an opener, kicking off with a bombastic announcement of power-chords, shamelessly declaring “We are here! Listen!”, but it’s the intelligent introduction of complementary lead-work that really makes it stand out.
And they’re no one-trick-pony, either. Progressing to the accompanying tracks, Inhumanity and Invasive Exotics, they churn out riff after riff of addictive, individual brutality. While more consistently fast-paced, these two numbers guide the listener through a bit of an experiment in combining elements of rhythmic divergence and harmonious exaltation. The entire EP is dripping with all the best bits of At The Gates, Lamb Of God and The Haunted, without really sounding like any of them. I think I even sense the echoes of 80s thrash in there, but that could just be decades-old tinnitus.
It’s also worthy of note that frontman Andy Walmsley is one of the few who can really nail down clarity of lyrical content while dealing in full-on death metal vocals. It’s not something that everybody will care about, and to be fair, I do love a whole load of bands who haven’t achieved this, but I find it adds a little something being able tap into the story aspect of a heavy song on first listen.
I’d really like to hear full-length continuation of this style, but maybe with a more aggressive, rawer production, as it feels something is missing in terms of bite, and the whole thing is over far too soon for my liking. That said, this is a gripping, memorable release, proving, to these ears at least, that you don’t have to ditch any sense of melody and/or hooks to keep up with the pace of modern heaviness. More of this kind of thing!
4/5
Paul Macmillan
Nottingham’s melancholic metal maestros Twilight’s Embrace are set to release their long awaited debut album By Darkness Undone next month. Mastered at Priory Recording Studios by Greg Chandler (Esoteric, The Prophecy, Mourning Beloveth) and building upon the musical themes introduced in previous EPs Reflections and Traces, this release offers 58 minutes of compelling and melodic metal.
Since their live debut in 2010, Twilight’s Embrace have played venues all across the UK including notable appearances at Bloodstock and Valkyrian Festival. Compared favourably to the likes of Yorkshire Gothic-doom lords Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride, as well other names such as Swallow The Sun, Katatonia, and Insomnium, Twilight’s Embrace mix these different elements into a distinctive and cohesive whole. Showcasing a mixture of death growls and clean singing, song structures that border on the progressive, dark and introspective lyrical themes, and a wide array of melodious hooks, the result is a unique style with few parallels in the UK metal scene.
Twilight’s Embrace online:
http://twilightsembrace.com
http://facebook.com/twilightsembrace
After what was a huge 2013 for them, Lonely The Brave have announced Scottish newcomers Fatherson as the support act for their first ever headlining UK tour, which will include a hometown show at Cambridge. Having sold out their previous London gig at The Lexington, the band is booked to play Cargo on 30th January and last month announced 9 additional nights to that original show making up the bands first headline tour.
Lonely The Brave have also been confirmed as the only support act to Long Island rockers Taking Back Sunday at their already sold out show in London at Camden’s Koko on 26th February.
Tour dates and links to tickets are as follow:
January
26th Glasgow, King Tuts
27th Manchester, Deaf Institute
28th Leicester, Academy 2
30th London, Cargo
31st Aldershot, West End Centre
February
1st Nottingham, Rock City Basement
4th Southampton, Joiners
5th Leeds, Cockpit
7th Norwich, Open
8th Cambridge, Junction 2 / SOLD OUT
http://lonelythebrave.com
http://facebook.com/lonelythebrave
http://twitter.com/lonelythebrave
It was recently reported via the Find Missing Alastair Brown Facebook group, that Alastair Brown, aged 24, who runs the Hole In The Wall in Nottingham, has been found safe and well. Due to the sensitive nature of the situation no further details are available at this point. Friends and family of Alastair send their gratitude to everyone who helped in finding him.
Earlier this week, in the early hours of Monday morning (2nd December 2013), the landlord of a rock and metal pub in Nottingham was reported missing. Alastair Brown, aged 24, who runs the Hole in the Wall pub, in North Sherwood Street, was last seen at around 5am on Monday morning. Alastair, also known as Al, is described as tall, with a stocky build, long brown hair, a beard and facial piercings.
His friends have described his disappearance as completely out of character and a missing person’s poster has been shared on social media sites Facebook and Twitter. The police said a man had been reported missing and they were investigating. Over the years Al has supported many of the Rock scenes pubs and events within the Nottingham area, he’s also worked hard behind the scenes at the Bloodstock Festival.
If anyone does have information relating to Alastair’s disappearance, please contact Nottingham Police immediately (Tel: 101 with REF #860 02/12/13) or message the Facebook group at this location.
Red Rum
With Gods By Our Side
Released 31st August 2013
Pirate/Folk Metal
Released via ARC Records
Nottingham – or at least that general area – was once the fabled home of Robin Hood and his band of merry men but today Nottingham finds itself to be the location of a new band of outlaws – the six piece pirate metal band Red Rum, though somewhere with a harbour or some sort of dock might be a more appropriate base of operation for the band.
The EP opens up with Red Rum, a track laden with waves of keyboards and man crashing portside and lashing guitar passages crashing starboard side. The vocals conjure up fond memories of the days of Running Wild, only much scurvier and fierce. The keyboard passages cut their way through the song like a sharp cutlass, leading the symphonic-orientated assault through the waters of raging guitars. Dragged Out With The Tide begins sounding like smooth sailing with a subtle use of mandolin before the brewing storm of guitars blast in like cannons with the heavy bombardment of bass and drums that come crashing down like a belaying pin to the back of the head.
Rise From The Deep brings a spring upon her cable, offering no quarter with furious lashings of keyboards and mandolin sharper than a crack of the cat o’ nine tails with six pounder blasts of drums that navigate the rest of the instruments through the storm-laden waves. The vocals are at their most sinister during this track, swaying more to the death metal side of the vocal sea. The guitars act as the coxswain for Legends before the commanding use of vocals make themselves known. The instrumentation during in this track navigates itself well with passage being as memorable as the last. Ragnarok is the last port of call for Red Rum, the track itself being haul winded into the Nordic waters of the song. The essence of the previous pirate themes still remain however, keeping the band sailing true with their scurvy sound.
From leaving the first port and arriving in the last, Red Rum takes you on a handsome journey of plunder and piracy. Whilst straying from an Alestormesque sound, the band have being able to weave their own sound – the kind that isn’t complete without a clap of thunder or a shot of Nelson’s folly.
5/5
Nico Davidson
Red Rum online:
http://www.facebook.com/redrummetal/
