CD Review: Sword Toward Self - Dissolution Mantras

Sword Toward Self hail from the innards of one of Australia's best cities, Sydney. The band features Dan Nahum (Ironwood, Bleakwood) on drums, Phil Brown (Ironwood) on guitars & vocal duties and Henry Lauer (Ironwood, Intorment Black) on bass. The band takes influences from such artists as Meshuggah, Emperor, Pestilence, Axis of Advance and Suffocation to produce an epic EP titled Dissolution Mantras.

The EP comes in at just under 17 minutes, and is pure metal glory! Full of solid riffs, epic solos and precise drumming, this is a great start for Sword Toward Self. The first track, which is named Sword Toward Self, is a great example of the awesomeness this band is capable of. The first half is a covenant of awesome riffs and melodies, and it then take an unexpected, although not necessarily bad, turn and continues into a nice acoustic section with clean singing vocals and a bass solo, which all fit together quite nicely.
The bass is great to hear, since it's doing more than just play root notes. The inclusions of the mini solo in the self titles track was a great showcase of the talent that Henry posesses. Even on the faster, tromo picked parts you can hear the bass play every note along with the guitar.

The other two songs, Regress/Regret and Iridescent Wings of the Ungods, continue with the heaviness at more epic levels with more kickarse riffs and awe inspiring fills. This is definitely an great CD to headbang to, and an excellent start for Sword Toward Self. the musicianship on this EP really grabs you to the point where you can tell that these guys have been playing for a long time, and take their music seriously.

Do yourself a favour and give these guys a listen, buy the CD from them, it's definitely worth it. Check them out at these following sites:
http://www.myspace.com/swordtowardself
http://www.swordtowardself.com.au

Review: Opeth Live In Sydney 6-9-08

Well, they did it again. Opeth sold out an entire tour across Australia, and, yet again, held their largest headlining show in Sydney, again, with a rumored number of around 3400 tickets sold for this event. A pretty awesome feat for a metal band in a country rarely recognized for it's huge dedication to music.
The day was cold and wet, but that didn't stop people from lining up outside the venue starting at around midday (with doors to open at 7pm). I arrived with my party at around 2:30 and met a few people and had a good ol' chat while waiting for the doors to open at 7pm.

The support act was self acclaimed goth/metal act Virgin Black from Adelaide, who didn't really seem to go down too well with most of the crowd. Like Opeth, they were diverse in style with a heavy/not-so-heavy moments, but they lacked something in between. Their intro needs a bit of working on. The crowd pretty much laughed at the track they had playing as the band entered the stage. They were interesting but couldn't keep my interest for long. Perhaps if I knew their stuff better. For Opeth's one and only support, I think they could have found a better local band.

Opeth were next, of coarse, and it couldn't have come (and gone) any quicker. They were tight as ever, I didn't even notice the lack of Peter! Fredrik did a great job, as did Axe. The whole evening was just an abundance of awesome. They opened with a Watershed track, Heir Apparent, and later they played The Lotus Eater which was flawless, as expected, and it sounded great live.
I'm still unsure if this year's set list was better than the one played in 2006. Both have their strong points. Combined, they'd make the best Opeth show ever, almost. This night's set also included Serenity Painted Death, The Night And The Silent Water, Master's Apprentices, Deliverance, and the one song that got me into Opeth in the first place, The Drapery Falls, amongst many other of coarse. The addition of Demon of The Fall was a highlight for me since we missed out on that song last tour.
During Bleak Mikael's amp decided it had enough, so while the tech crew were sorting that out, the audience got treated to a drum solo (which Axe decided to do to cover Mike's ass), a bass solo, guitar solo and keyboard solo! A nice little treat despite the abrupt end to the song, which was continued anyway. See below for a video!

The venue, Big Top in Luna Park, was okay, same one as their sold out '06 tour. The sound from where I was (front row to the left of stage) wasnt so good, but I expected that since there was no balance and I was right in front of the bass speakers, but everything was still understandable and it came with a great view all through the show. It's an interesting setting for a metal gig though, right in the heart of an amusement park, but it is a popular choice for a lot of bands that come out these days.

All in all, it was a great night, Opeth were every bit as amazing as I would have expected, and I'm sure most of the crowd would agree with me there.

Here is the set list from my memory. Possibly not entirely correct in order, but close.

Heir Apparent
Master's Apprentices
The Baying Of The Hounds
Serenity Painted Death
To Rid The Disease
The Lotus Eater
Bleak (5 min intermission with solos all around)
The Night And The Silent Water
Deliverance
Demon Of The Fall
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The Drapery Falls

Ironwood - Debut EP Review

Ironwood are a self acclaimed progressive folk metal band from Sydney, Australia. I picked up a copy of their debut self-titled EP featuring the three songs Yggr, The Tree and Song Of The Danes. This 24 minute EP is a great starting point for Ironwood, with Yggr starting out on a softer note, with rain and thunder sounds under some clean guitar (is it more metal of me to actually have listened to this during a real storm here too? I sh!t you not) and progressing into some nice aggressive metal. It's sometimes a hard thing to go from soft to heavy so smoothly, but these guys have the transition working perfectly, and with the sound they have it makes it a very enjoyable listen.
Track two, The Tree is a wonderful 'ballad' so to speak, since it is all clean instruments. Although the next song, Song Of The Danes, returns to the aggressive heavy sound of the previous song in full force. But this song is not without it's softer moments aswell, with a nice break about 2 mins in. This song includes the most awesome solo you'll hear on this cd, although I can't help but think it was too short.

The vocals themselves are something I haven't heard much before, and in relation to the music, it's f!cking awesome. The bass guitar does more than play root notes here aswell, I can actually hear some technicality within the rhythm section. Something that more bassists should do way more often. It has a sort-of Steve Harris galloping sound to it, and although this band doesn't sound much like Iron Maiden, it does kind of remind me of them (which is a good thing). But, if you're after full-on comparisons here, you're not going to get any. I honestly can't think of any other band I've heard that sounds like them. A feat very little accomplished in the metal scene these days.

Basically, this EP works as an introduction to the band, a great intorduction that is. after listening to it all through, I can't wait for more. The production isn't that of 'professional' quality, and by that I mean it's not over-produced, which is no bother for me. Everything was still understandable and sounded great to my ears. The nordic themes give it some extra credit points for me aswell, as it's a subject I enjoy thoroughly (enter epic lightning bolt here). Basically, this is a band that everyone should give a listen at some point, I hear very good things about their live show aswell. Other reviews that I have read only act as support to my statements that this band is destined for something good in the near future.

Check them out now! And keep an eye out for an album sometime soon.
http://www.myspace.com/ironwoodband

http://www.ironwoodsound.com.au

Immortal Blashyrkh tour, Australia 2008 - March 15th, The Metro, Sydney

What can be said about this band that hasn't been said before? They've been around for some 18 years and only just now decided to grace Australian fans with their presence, which seems to be the going trend for bands to finally realise that we're here and waiting (Iron Maiden finally realised this too). But, alas they came, we saw, then they left, but not before getting pestered by a crowd of fans at their instore signing at Utopia Records in Sydney, which was quite the experience in itself. But, to the gig.

Upon arriving there was already a sizable crowd waiting outside, and once everyone was let it they all went either to the bar, to the front of the stage or to the merch stand, which seems to be the three most interesting spots one can be before the show even starts. Local metallers Ruins were the support for the evening, and despite their lack of stage presence, they kicked arse musically. I had heard some good things about this band, and it was delivered, which is always a bonus. The band boasts members of Psycroptic and The Amenta, which are both becoming local heroes in the metal scene down under. Ruins are yet another tight act in the Australian metal scene, and I'd recommend you check them out if ever given a chance.

Of course, Immortal were up next, and the crowd was giddy with anticipation as their backdrop was revealed, out came the camera phones to get a pic, and as the crew was preparing the stage for their inevitable arrival people were either sucking up to them, or yelling for them to "hurry f**k up" (jokes, of coarse). After a good half hour or so wait, Immortal finally came out, Horgh arising triumphantly behind the kit, followed by Abbath and Apollyon running out on stage.

They played songs from all over their discography, including Solarfall, At The Heart of Winter, Damned in Black, Sons of Northern Darkness and so on, and played them all perfectly. I didn't think the night could get any better until Abbath came out mid song with a flaming torch and did a bit of fire breathing for all the Sydney fans! From second row I could feel the heat from these massive fireballs licking the ceiling. Abbath was in a comical mood this evening, having fun with the crowd in between songs, when we got too quiet he'd yell at us to make some noise, and at some point did a scat version of a Didgeridoo, which was a pretty good attempt.
After a few more songs the show was over and people spilled out onto the streets of Sydney very satisfied and jumping around with glee over the fact that they had just seen Immortal, and after an 18 year wait, you'd bloody well hope so.

The Monday after the show was time for the Immortal signing, so I made my way back into the city just for this, and I can say that it was an experience, as I already mentioned. The lineup of people didn't really start to grow until around 5 mins before the band was due to begin, but as expected it was pushed back half an hour, which wasn't too much of a big deal.

Eventually everyone was lead inside the store to line up and out came the band, Abbath, Horgh, Apollyon and Demonaz were all accompanied by cheers from the crowd. They all seemed quite happy to sit there and sign a few things for everyone, I started to think of things I should have taken with me to get signed, but alas I scored a tour poster from the shop owner and got the band to scribble on that, which was awesome. When I asked Apollyon how their stay in Sydney was, he said "It was great, today we went to the zoo". Sounds like fun!
A great way to end an even better weekend. If you ever get a chance to see Immortal, don't pass it up, they certainly give you your moneys worth. I'll definately be there when they return. I just wish I had a camera with mne on the night. Always next time though!

Mat