Friday, April 26: Soilwork, "The Flameout"

Natural Born Chaos was both a breakthrough turning point as well as an intermediate step for Soilwork: the combination of sharper and streamlined songwriting with Devin Townsend’s production positioned the band as a leading force in the next vanguard of Swedish melodic death metal, but in hindsight their fourth record was also an iterative move towards what they would ultimately become over the subsequent several records.  As such, something like “The Flameout” was a bridge between two worlds- it was wild and wooly in a way that felt like a natural follow-up to A Predator’s Portrait, but there was also more space and atmosphere, like the guys were trying to create more ambience and texture beyond Bjӧrn “Speed” Strid’s not yet refined use of clean singing in sections.  Looking back over 20 years later, the track plays like the band was aiming towards something more progressive to overlay on top of the usual In Flames-isms, but weren’t entirely clear on what that something was. So “The Flameout” was all over the place, and on its own was a differentiating track for Soilwork in 2002, though in the end it was more of a rough draft of things to come.

Thursday, April 25: The Ferrymen, "The Last Ship"

“The Last Ship” found Ronnie Romero, Magnus Karlsson and Mike Terrana doing exactly what we’d expect, because clearly these guys can’t stop.  Their one album under the Ferrymen banner had the level of quality one would expect from a crew of such seasoned professionals, with Romero in particular seeming to seize every opportunity to work, though Karlsson and Terrana were smooth and proficient in equal measure.  It wasn’t the least bit surprising that this project didn’t last beyond a single album, since Karlsson was ostensibly a full-time member of Primal Fear and Romero had already gone on to front at least 3 other projects before the Ferrymen even put anything out.  Nonetheless, “The Last Ship” had its pleasures, being the work of consummate performers and craftsmen who seemed to genuinely love their line of work.

Wednesday, April 24: Vescera, "Blackout in Paradise"

Michael Vescera had been working the circuit for a solid 30 years before cobbling together an ad hoc group of Italian musicians and forming a band with his name up front.  “Blackout in Paradise” opened Beyond the Fight with a “Painkiller”-esque drum intro before moving towards steadier and more traditional territory.  The tune was everything one would expect or look for from the singer, who was consistent as ever in his dramatics.  If anything, the tune was perhaps a bit too conservative- to be sure, Vescera had been at it a long time and by then knew how to modulate his performance, but by the same token he was so consistent as to border on rote.  “Blackout in Paradise” was perfectly fine, and probably the best one could’ve hoped for given that it came from a journeyman singer fronting a bunch of no-names, but that also made it too far from essential to really take hold.

Tuesday, April 23: Stormage, "Anguish of Mind"

Germany’s run as the primary hub for power metal lasted a long time, fittingly enough since it all started there, but it didn’t last forever, and so Stormage’s third album not only arrived 20 years too late but also when most were looking elsewhere for this kind of thing.  “Anguish of Mind” tried to add a little swagger in the vocals, but the galloping rhythm and melodic guitar leads were as boilerplate as power metal gets.  There was always something to be said for keeping the faith and ensuring that power metal in its most central form remains in some kind of circulation, so Stormage had that going for it if nothing else.

Monday, April 22: The Obsessed, "Be the Night"

Scott “Wino” Weinrich was apparently feeling a bit friskier than usual (and a “a bit” for Wino was apparently “a lot”) when it came time to record Sacred, because “Be the Night” was 2 minutes of pure swagger, from Wino’s various “yeah”s and greasy solo to the careening drums that quickly began and ended the tune.  For a brand name known for an especially anguished strain of doom metal, the iteration of The Obsessed that reconvened after over 20 years to record Sacred was clearly ready to roll, and even if most of Sacred delivered the tried and true, it was both shocking and refreshing to hear Wino and crew revel in the joy of just plain rocking out.

Friday, April 19: Testament, "Eerie Inhabitants"

“Eerie Inhabitants” opened The New Order and immediately signaled that Testament was ready to level up from the intense but somewhat rudimentary thrash of The Legacy.  Alex Skolnick and Eric Peterson had distinct approaches as writers and players, but they blended seamlessly to craft compositions that were both thoughtfully arranged as well relentless in their viciousness, while Chuck Billy had already grown considerably as a vocalist and moved beyond simple barking and belching.  Testament wasn’t quite all the way there yet- the tune still had wandered aimlessly in bits- but “Eerie Inhabitants” was a worthy banger that positioned the band as leaders among the next great wave of thrash.

Thursday, April 18: Mountain God, "Junglenaut"

As a sound, post-metal offered a sometimes incongruent blend of sludge and ambient textures, sometimes layered with goth and prog dynamics.  And Mountain God’s “Junglenaut” had a mix of all of the above, throbbing persistently and presenting wide open vistas without seemingly actually going anywhere.  It was both spacious and oppressive, open and crushing in equal measure, though there wasn’t anything really “jungle” about it.  The track covered a large expanse over a relatively short runtime, but it felt like Mountain God was only getting started.

Wednesday, April 17: Emerald, "Ridden by Fear"

“Ridden by Fear” accomplished a couple things: one was removing any lingering doubt that power metal as a sound and genre was completely out of ideas, while the other was that an anthemic melody, even when it sounded like literally everything else, could still go a long way.  Switzerland’s Emerald didn’t remotely attempt anything new on Reckoning Day, so everything needed to be taken as it was.  Therefore “Ridden by Fear” was a power metal anthem with all the usual bits, nothing more or less, and depending on one's level of fandom for this type of sound, had its share of qualities.

Tuesday, April 16: Locust Leaves, "Light (Fos)"

Locust Leaves tried a bit of everything on “Light (Fos)”, as the Greek prog/death act started off on a slightly more traditional metal note before the melodic singing gave way to death croaking.  The music followed suit, blending stoner and doom with prog, thrash and death.  It was a lot to take in, especially over the course of 8 minutes, and Locust Leaves didn’t always seem to have a firm grasp on what they were aiming to accomplish, but there was enough quality in the overall execution to make many of the individual bits a compelling listen.

Monday, April 15: Hellhammer, "Messiah"

R.I.P. Martin Erich Stricker (Martin Eric Ain) (1967-2017)

Although “Messiah” first appeared (or perhaps more accurately, existed) on the 1983 Satanic Rites demo tape,  Hellhammer recorded what was arguably its definitive version on the now-legendary Noise Records Death Metal compilation a year later.  And forty years after that, the track remains both of its time as well as slightly outside it: the primitive recording values, cheap occultism, general claustrophobia and air of haplessness fed into the notion that Hellhammer was really “the worst metal band in the world”, but a huge portion of the metal that subsequently emerged would simply not exist without Hellhammer or “Messiah”, and the combination of Tom Warrior and Martin Eric Ain (or rather, “Satanic Slaughter” and “Slayed Necros”) balanced the aggression and malice of the nascent extreme underground with an underrated sense of rock and roll groove.  So even though the song sounded like it was recorded in a closet, its propulsion was Accept-worthy and even the grunts had a certain swagger to them.  Hindsight has proven Hellhammer right in a lot of ways, proving just how ahead of their time they were, even if their two core members would go on to make something even more significant in their next band.

Friday, April 12: Dio, "Breathless"

R.I.P. Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010), Jimmy Bain (1947-2016)

Ronnie James Dio sang with two major acts before striking out on his own, but the success of Holy Diver gave him license to fully unleash his id on The Last in Line.  And while the second Dio album was mostly a logical continuation of its predecessor, there was enough randomness generated by the man going all-in on his preoccupations and tics that something like “Breathless”, which began with a simultaneously bluesy and gnarled Vivian Campbell riff before Ronnie barged in with “No No No No No!!!”, stood out in all sorts of ways, not all of them good.  The track was a rocker driven by Vinny Appice’s blocky percussion and Jimmy Bain’s bass, with Campbell’s guitar more like window dressing (certainly a point of contention for the increasingly malcontent future Whitesnake and Def Leppard axeman), though of course there was no suppressing the power and passion of Ronnie’s growl, even if one was rarely sure about what he was really going on about.  “Breathless” was awesome and ridiculous in equal measure, and nobody would expect anything less from prime Dio.

Thursday, April 11: Dread Sovereign, "This World is Doomed"

If Dread Sovereign calling their second album For Doom the Bell Tolls and titling one of its tracks “This World is Doomed” didn’t give the game away, starting said number with a gurgled “Let’s go!!!” made clear these guys were just as much out to have a good time as smother with morose dread.  And the tune indeed rolled and tumbled with vigor and swagger, with the Irish group slobbering like a more inebriated Cathedral or Electric Wizard and barreling forward with greater emphasis on energy over structure.  Dread Sovereign had loftier ambitions (or at least hewed closer to doom metal conventions) on their other tracks, but “This World is Doomed” showed they knew how to rip it up and pay homage to the woolier aspects of the classic Iommi/Butler/Ward dynamics.

Wednesday, April 10: The Raven Age, "Angel in Disgrace"

The Raven Age wore their influences on their sleeve and made no gestures towards originality, but their sense of craft was rather remarkable for such a young group, and while it would be facile to credit George Harris’ genes for such compositional steadiness (especially since the entire band sounded fully locked in, and since “Angel in Disgrace” wasn’t really all that indebted to Iron Maiden), there was a level of craftsmanship and professionalism that wasn’t too common to younger acts, even those on their third record.  But that was where the Raven Age was at- the vocals were metallic but appropriately dynamic and meshed seamlessly with the music, while the riffing was somewhat boilerplate but also effective and focused more on song than shredding.  To be fair, “Angel in Disgrace” was arguably more admirable for its professionalism than lovable, but its ebbs and flows were pleasurable in their own right.

Tuesday, April 9: Pallbearer, "Heartless"

Some considered Heartless a bridge too far for Pallbearer, the record that gazed too far into the abyss and placed too much emphasis on the band’s prog undertones over their doomier origins. But just as many saw it as a leveling up and expansion of their core sound, the group making the most of a presumably slightly higher budget afforded to them by virtue of signing to Nuclear Blast.  As such, the title track mostly played like a logical extension of Foundations of Burden, riding a steady and enveloping vibe and not at all forsaking heaviness in its building of atmosphere.  Brett Campbell’s vocals weren’t particularly indebted to doom metal conventions, and they certainly had nothing to do with extreme metal, but they also felt completely natural and seamlessly meshed in with the music.  This was seemingly designed for long train rides and drives over wide open spaces, feeling completely open but also lumbering and massive, and a totally intuitive next step for Pallbearer.

Monday, April 8: Warbringer, "Power Unsurpassed"

Weapons of Tomorrow came out long after Warbringer’s moment had seemingly passed, but the thing about their brand of retro thrash was that while it might ebb and flow in popularity or esteem, there is always some place for it.  So even though “Power Unsurpassed” offered absolutely nothing new, the simple fact that it kicked so much ass with such efficiency was more than enough to make it a winner. Everything was perfectly placed, especially the chugging mosh breakdown, and John Kevill’s immaculately enunciated barking was the chef’s kiss that made this a basically flawless headbanger.  Beyond being a stellar thrash metal number, “Power Unsurpassed” completely lived up to its title and was more or less everything anyone could want from a killer heavy metal tune.

Friday, April 5: Helloween, "Warrior"

R.I.P. Ingo Schwichtenberg (1965-1995)

Helloween’s debut EP was an inadvertent rallying cry for a new movement that, while running in parallel with the rapid development of thrash in America and including many of the same influences, soon became its own thing and has arguably persisted longer than any other subgenre in metal history.  But “Warrior” didn’t necessarily signal the birth of power metal: Kai Hansen’s frenzied yelping had little of the precision and soaring glory of Michael Kiske, and the music was just too fast and frantic for anyone to really process what was going on.  But Helloween (after a couple years of woodshedding in earlier groups like Iron Fist and Powerfool) was clearly on to something, because “Warrior” was super-fast, ultra-heavy and incredibly catchy in equal measure, and even Metallica wasn’t operating at quite this level (though to be fair they were really on their own level).  Most of all, the band’s joy at playing this kind of music was always palpable, as was their hunger, and that made even their most unhinged early material such fun.

Thursday, April 4: 1476, "Winter of Winds"

“Winter of Winds” was a surprisingly spry and fun number from the presumably more serious-minded 1476, rocking out with Cult-like swagger while still churning out a somewhat doomy drone.  There was plenty of ‘90s alt-rock over the atmospheric and ambient metal foundation, making what could’ve been an overly dour affair much livelier.  The tune felt a good amount shorter than its 5-plus minute runtime, mostly because it stayed centered on hooks throughout, using atmosphere and dynamics as a foregrounding rather than the entire point.  1476 did a lot of things with a lot of different sounds, and “Winter of Winds” showed how effectively they could deploy disparate textures when focused on song and craft.