Eyes of the Raven - Seasons End EP (2016)

Genre - Heavy Metal / Groove Metal / Hard Rock / Biker Rock

Label - Self Released

Track listing:

01 - Cast The First Stone

02 - Lessons In Blasphemy

03 - Redeemer

04 - Sometimes Bruised, Never Broken

05 - Bury Your Demons

Formed in 2009, Eyes of the Raven are a Groove metal/Stoner band from the Black Country England. Brought up on Black Sabbath, Pantera, Iron Maiden, Entombed and Anthrax to name a few, the collective souls of Eyes of the Raven became solid honest beer drinking musicians with the determination to write and play heavy as hell riffage.
Now to say that this Ep has been a long time coming is major understatement, we are talking Chinese Democracy anticipation here, with the band threatening to drop this EP since 2010! That creates a strange problem though, as most of the fans ever growing fan base will already be very familiar with all of the five tracks on offer here, which to be honest does take a little away from the excitement of the release, but on the other hand it is great to finally have definitive recorded versions of the songs that they have been loving so much at the live show!

So how does the EP sound? Well pretty darn good to be frank. With Seasons End, Eyes of the Raven deliver five great well written and performed tracks, all of them killer with no fillers to be seen anywhere!
One of the bands greatest assets is the plain and simple fact that it is very hard to pigeon hole their sound, yes they are a metal band with many stoner and groove metal elements on display, but there are also some great hard rock sensibilities within their music to, so instead of trying to pigeon hole their sound you just kick back relax and enjoy the bloody music!
Seasons End opens up with Cast The First Stone, a dirty swaggering slab of hard rocking groove metal, pretty much a call to arms, a battle cry as such and therefore a more than fitting opener!
Next up we have Lessons In Blasphemy, the bands thunderous middle fingered salute to organised religion, that sees vocalist Dave Horan showcasing his pipes to great effect. Redeemer follows, with stoner metal styled opening, that opens up in to quick tempo-ed rocker with some Black Sabbath overtones. Sometimes Bruised, Never Broken is the Ep's penultimate track, its also the bands anthem, a great song of defiance and resilience! Seasons End closes out with its heaviest track, the brilliant Bury Your Demons. This thunderous track just seethes with an anger that  sweeps the listener along, leaving them hungry for more as the EP comes to an all too soon end!

Well worth checking out and highly recommended!

Rating: 10/10

Seven Deadly - Obliviation (2014)

Genre - Melodic Heavy Metal
Label - Self Released

Track listing:

01 - Play The Game
02 - Life Begins To Fade
03 - From this Darkness
04 - Posthumous
05 - Blood On Your Hands
06 - Obliviation
07 - Remain At Peace
08 - Pure Steel
09 - Allegiance
10 - Remember
11 - The Wrath
12 - Time Ghost

UK metal heads Seven Deadly serve up their highly anticipated debut album after wetting out taste buds with their Allegiance EP previously, and you know what? They don't disappoint!
Seven Deadly deliver up a great dose of metal, combining elements of heavy metal, groove metal, metal core, thrash and classic rock, into a truly unique and brilliant sound. I really do believe that this band are destined to just get bigger and bigger, the world really is their oyster as there really aren't many bands out there today producing albums of this strength and quality, and I'm including many of the established "big" bands in that comment.
One of Seven Deadly's strongest attributes has to be the range and versatility of vocalist Archie Wilson, as he effortlessly straddles the various genres and styles that each song, (yet alone the album!) passes through. The guitar work is outstanding, brutal, exciting and restrained when required, always allowing the song to breath and showcase itself brilliantly. The rhythm section are the solid foundation that each of the songs are built upon, and to be honest Murillo Rassi and Rob Hicks could give any rhythm section in ANY band a bloody good run for their money!
There is not a bad track to be found anywhere on this album, but if I had to pick a couple that really do stand out as future metal classics then title track Obliviation, Remember, Remain At Peace, From This Darkness, Blood On Your Hands and opener Play The Game would have to be among them!
Combine the great songs, a band that really are at the very top of their game with a top notch production and Obliviation could damn well be the best metal album released in 2014!
Now lets get them onto some festivals.

Very highly recommended

Rating - 10/10

FuryOn - Gravitas

This album has been available for a little while now, the eagerly awaited debut release from one of the Uk's best unsigned bands, and yes after hearing this corker of an album you too will be asking yourself just why haven't these guys been snapped by a major label yet?

Matt Mitchell's vocals soar over the top a groove laden eclectic mix of Alice In Chains / Nickleback / Shinedown / Whitesnake / Iron Maiden tunes, powered along by the phenomenal lead Guitar work of Chris Green!
The ten songs on offer here are all excellent, from thumping Disappear Again, to the Pink Floyd esq Souvenirs!
Stand out Tracks include Disappear Again, Don't Follow, Fear Alone, Wasted On You and the sublime Desert Suicide.
These guys have the potential for world domination, and the songs in the arsenal to pull it off! If you would like to see Britain's answer to Shinedown and Nickleback, only with a damn site more originality, then check these guys out!

website - http://www.myspace.com/furyon

rating 10/10

Black Spiders - St. Peter EP

UK rockers Black Spiders deliver up a classic three track Ep here.

From the southern flavoured Sabbath inspired stomper of title track 'St. Peter' to the hectic punk fuelled rocker ' I'll Be The Judge'. Even closer 'Undertaker Blues' offers up something a lil different. The band have been getting quite a lot of airplay in the UK recently on the likes of Kerrang etc, and things seem to be starting to take off for them at the moment, and deservedly so. They have a new Ep out this month titled No Goats In The Omen scheduled for release at the end of the month which I personally cant wait to check out. Just roll on the full length debut album!

Website - http://theblackspiders.com/

rating 10/10

Moth Circus - Sideshow Sweetheart

Norwegian rockers Moth Circus unleash their debut album, Sideshow Sweetheart, upon the world on June 28th via Rocksector Records. Moth Circus bring us 14 tracks of Groove laden heavy rock, with hooks Ginger (Wildhearts) would be proud of. Crushingly heavy in places, harmonically melodic in others, and for some strange reason vocalist Johnny Olsen's voice and vocal style bring one Rob Zombie to mind at times.

The band describe themselves and their music as " "Pamela Anderson masturbating at a freak show..." and who am I to argue?
What I can say is that Sideshow Sweetheart is one hell of an album!
Tracks like opener 'Dreamland', 'MIA', 'A Dog and His Junkie', and 'Death Living' are all awesome, and destined to be classics.
Moth Circus are here to stay, and Sideshow Sweetheart is destined to be a classic album.
Catch these guys live on their short uk tour in July if you can, You WONT be disappointed!

website - http://www.myspace.com/mothcircus

rating 10/10

The Lidocaine - The Voices and Noises of Kiling Koling

The Lidocaine are a Finnish 3 piece rock / metal / prog band hailing from Helsinki.

The Voices and Noises of Kiling Koling was originally released in Finland last summer to rave reviews but now finally see's its international release.
All the songs here are very solid, and well performed, and given the right exposure I believe The Lidocaine could do quite well internationally, if not quite setting the world on fire.
Stand out tracks for me include, ' All That You Ever Were', with its Dio era Rainbow Esq mid section, 'Dig Your Own Cave' and 'Enjoy The Ride'
The Lidocaine, a good band, The Voices and Noises of Kiling Koling, and good and interesting album.

website - http://www.thelidocaine.com/
rating 8/10

Eyes Of The Raven - From The Ashes (Live Demo)

Eyes of the Raven are a 5 piece groove metal band from the west Midlands.

From The Ashes is their debut recording, a demo recorded live at Base Studios in Stourbridge (West Midlands) earlier this month.

The band have a very heavy sound, quite bassy, but very clear and also quite melodic. One of the first things that I noticed is that Dave Horan manages to keep his vocals very melodic, and never resorts to ineligible growling as do many other bands that play similar music to Eyes Of The Raven.
For a band that has only really been together for a few months (the lineup was completed Autumn 2009 when James McHugh (lead guitar) joined up with fellow band members Dave Horan (vocals), Damon Cartwright (drums), Matt Walters (bass) and Ross Pickett (Rhythm guitar / Vocals), the songs are very well structured, and well just seem to flow.

From the Ashes brings us six tracks,

‘I’m Gone’ - a mid to up tempo grinding metal track, live these riff’s must be brutal!

‘Cause and Effect’ – a heavy up tempo rocker, again some great riffs and some interesting tempo changes.

‘From The Ashes’ - title track of the demo, and a great little song, musically quite melodic, yet still very heavy!

‘Reflections’ – a great number any band would be proud of, gentle guitar intro with a nice solo over the top, before breaking into a real ass kicker of a track with some riff Metallica would be proud of!

‘Echoes’ – The opening of this track feels very familiar, it has a real traditional metal maybe even NWOBHM feel to it, again another example of the bands softer side showing that they are not just all about bone crunching riffs.

‘My Life’ – closing track, is an up tempo rocker, bone crunchingly heavy.

Every song has its own appeal but I would have to say that the standouts for me are the last four, but although the songs are great, and the band as tight as you can get, the demo has its faults!

Production wise mainly, most of the time the lead guitar is way too low in the mix, barely audible at times, and the same can be said too for Ross’s backing vocals as for most of the songs they seem to get buried beneath the bass and rhythm guitar, on a personal note I’d love the rhythm guitar to have a cleaner sound, less bassy and sludgy. A good producer could really give the songs the platform that these songs clearly deserve, but even with the production they have the quality of the songs shines through.
If you like your music heavy, then I see no reason why you won’t love Eyes Of The Raven.

From The Ashes is available to download for free from the bands website, go on check it out you’ve nothing too loose!

Website - http://eyesoftheraven.freeiz.com/
Rating – For the band and songs 9/10
             For the production 4/10