Album Review: Immortal Bird - Empress/Abscess

Immortal Bird

Empress/Abscess

(Broken Limbs/Manatee Rampage)

This shit makes me feel like I am about to get run over by a 1000 elephants. Just as catastrophe is about to strike, I am dragged down into some Lovecraftian depiction of Nyarlathotep's chaos, and each note sounds like I am going to stabbed by a spear.

This is Immortal Bird.

This album is a culmination of so many good trends that have happened in metal through many decades. Empress/Abscess sounds like Megadeth’s Rust In Peace and Eyehategod’s Take As Needed For Pain were mixed together with eight or nine brilliant death metal albums in a bizarre dark matter ritual that could only happen somewhere you don’t want to be very long. Perhaps that’s why this album only lasts a half hour long. I mean the conclusion is fucking creepy. These musical geniuses leave you off with a really eerie dissonance that belongs somewhere in the I Don’t Think I’m Alone In This Room… category of shock factor. After a relentless melodic groove technical death orgy traumatized my third eye, I only want to think that maybe something is watching me. Thanks Immortal Bird.

Let’s talk about the vocalist, Rae. Now on one hand some readers are going to say it doesn’t matter that she’s a woman, because the music takes precedence, but on the other hand someone is going to say, well you should have mentioned that the singer is a woman and musical genius. Well alright – yes, it’s true, the lead singer is a ferocious she wolf, and an incredibly talented one at that. Rae is also a fucking tempest on the kit, but she’s diverted her focus away from drums to center on her viscous growls and screams on Empress. Immortal Bird are gifted with some captivating lyrics as well, and it only goes to show that death metal is a thinking man’s genre, or a thinking woman’s.

Let’s not overlook the hard work that went into this album either. Layers and layers of cool shit emerge from the murky labyrinth of Empress/Abscess.

I am glad there is no eternity 
I sleep in the hope that shadows will find me
All I want is quiet
A place to wait it out
Until the demise of the earth in volcanic ash
Or blankets of ice

Burn it all down. –  Track 5, “And Send Fire”

Jesus Christ, yes. Yes. 

Album Review: Diamond Head - Diamond Head

Diamond Head

Diamond Head

(Dissonance Productions)

It has often been said that Dave Mustaine wrote all of Metallica's riffs on Kill 'Em All, but that's simply not true.

Brian Tatler did.

At the very least, Tatler and his band must be respected for really formulating the groundbreaking speed metal hooks that would set off an iconic undertaking that changed music forever.

It’s been nearly a decade since the band released material, but a decade is merely a fraction of what this band has been writing solid music for. Diamond Head may be recognizable to you for the very simple fact that they inspired nearly every first wave thrash metal band out there. Metallica's cover of their song “Am I Evil?” has been played on radio stations all over the world, much to the delight of Diamond Head's publicity. With the albums Borrowed Time and Lightning to The Nations, Diamond Head established themselves to a point where they would never need to write an album again.

Despite releasing two of the most important metal albums ever written, a problem with line-up changes during the recording of their third album Canterbury stalled the album’s release, and by then momentum was shifting away from most NWOBHM bands to the new scenes emerging in California. Diamond Head struggled to find relevance and faded into obscurity all together until calling it quits soon after Caterbury, only to reunite again for a short lived second run in the mid-‘90s. It’s a shame that a band so good with so many great hooks would have to suffer such a fate, but in the metal world there’s no shortage of chances, and especially not for a band as recognizable and important as Diamond Head.

The self-titled album shows signs of that special something that ignited a movement thirty five years ago, which the first two albums had. The new album sounds really fresh and young, and the recent addition of Rasmus Von Anderson as the vocalist surely delivers a whopping punch. Of course Tatler’s powerful solos, and riffs are a part of the repertoire. As far as I am concerned Diamond Head delivers a fine rock album with this release. Okay, you may not get screaming legions of fans to pump their fists to “Our Time Is Now,” or “Wizard Sleeve,” as easily as you would “The Prince” or “Love Suck,” but those aren’t reasons to turn your head away from this legendary band.

Give Diamond Head’s new album a try, and you may also be blown away. Brian Tatler is still the mastermind behind bluesy solos and speed metal riffs to hook you in. Give Diamond Head a chance to wear on in you, because this gem is worth it. The album comes out on April 22nd. 

PS: I know Brian Tatler did not write a single note on Kill 'Em All. It's a joke. Please do not swing me upside down from a tree.