Song Of The Week: Harley Quinn *

Last year saw the release of the debut solo album by Swiss musician Anna Murphy. On it is this catchy little number called "Harley Quinn", a song sung from the perspective of everyone's favourite evil/adorable sidekick.

Anna is already well established in the music world, playing the Hurdy Gurdy and contributing vocals for one of the wold's leading Folk Metal groups, Swiss band Eluveitie.


*this in no way implies I will be updating this blog weekly ;)

Song Of The Week: Into The Timewastes

Comic related metal songs are relatively few and far between. The lyric for "Into The Timewastes" by Dutch Death/Doom metal band Asphyx worked it's way into my subconcious after listening to their most recent album ("Deathhammer", 2012) a few times and it eventually hit me - this is totally the A.B.C Warriors, atleast in the start of the song.

"dive into the timewastes
at the speed of light
robot mercenaries
elite for hire
galactic warriors
ancient as space
serving and protecting
a weak organic race
universal empires
face the ultimate threat
disturbance in order
time meets death
sensors activating
defensive shields
encountering chaos
desorientating fields"

That appears to have ties to the Black Hole saga from the late 80's. The ABC Warriors, a band of old war robots, are dispatched into an area known as the Time Wastes to repair a problem that threatens to destroy Earth. Curious, I tracked down an interview with the vocalist to see if it was intentional:

Metal Blast: You guys have always had very interesting song titles; ‘Into The Timewastes,’ ‘Of Days When Blades Turned Blunt,’ ‘We Doom You To Death.’
Martin van Drunen: [Laughs] Yeah, it was just the fun of it. The thing is that we were trying to be original in the song titles, but also so you know what it deals with. ‘Into The Timewastes’ is non-existing, it’s like science fiction more-or-less. That’s what the song says, too. It’s about a bunch of robot mercenaries that travel throughout the galaxy and are constantly at war with all kinds of creatures, and they dive into this thing called the ‘Timewaste’ where time meets death and that is the end of the universe if they don’t fix that problem. That’s the idea behind it; I read too many comics sometimes, I guess.

No confirmation there of the inspiration, but there's a nod to comics at the end so it seems possible.

On to the song itself. It starts off relatively pedestrian - this is your basic straight-ahead Death Metal, and there's nothing subtle about it. Where the song becomes brilliant is at the 1:08 mark, when the breakdown is introduced. Sure it's a couple of simple riffs, but the groove to it is colossal. I defy any metal fan to not nod their head to it.

One of my favourite songs to come out of 2012.

These are a few of my favourite things

A public service announcement courtesy of this blog and the ABC Warriors, should you be in need of some new listening material.

Entombed

Severe Torture
Massacre
Hate Eternal
Coldwar
Meads Of Asphodel
Brutal Truth

Sunn 0)))

Cattle Decapitation

Yes, there really is a band called Cattle Decapitation. They're vegetarians. Go figure. The comic missed an obvious joke though, by failing to mention Bolt Thrower.

Song Of The Week: Never Enough

I recently discovered a Dutch symphonic metal band called Epica. This particular song is the most accessable and radio-friendly on their new album, having a lot in common with the likes of Evanescence. The main body of their work is actually much more interesting and varied than that comparison would imply, but this is as good a jumping on point as any.

I love the vocalist's voice. I discovered Epica totally by accident, due to said vocalist appearing on the new Ayreon album. I liked what I heard, so checked out her band and now I'm hooked.

2007 - The Music

The Good
Candlemass - King Of The Grey Islands. Unquestionably the album of the year for me. The previous album was very average, so I had no expectations for this one. Boy was I pleasantly surprised. Lots of energy, Lars putting in his best ever lead guitar work, and a vocalist that slays everyone that came before him. I've bought this album 3 times, in mp3 form when it first came out (yes, I pay for mp3s), then on CD when it arrived here 6 weeks later, and just recently on vinyl (with an exclusive bonus track). It's been totally worth it.

Nightwish - Dark Passion Play. So the band kicked out their vocalist and got a new one, and all the fans of the old one said it was the end of the band being any good. Sorry, but Nightwish just went and did maybe their best album. End.

Paradise Lost - In Requiem. Pretty much carries on from where their last s/t album left off. Their return to the metal fold has continued to the point where this album would've been a great follow up to Draconian Times, and we could all just forget about those gothy albums that happened over the last 10 years (which would actually be a shame, since some of them were pretty good).

The Bad
Dimmu Borgir - In Sorte Diaboli. A mess. There's too much going on, and no real hooks to the riffs to keep things grounded. The entire album basically merges into one big, uninspired noise.

Ulver - Shadows Of The Sun. My fault for buying it, given that Ulver have been playing shitty electronic music for years now, but I thought it was worth a try, since Garm was going to sing on it for once, and I used to love his voice. None of his old glory or tone are present sadly, it's all very subdued. As I said, my fault for expecting something that Ulver were unlikely to deliver anyway.

The Frustrating
Darkthrone - F.O.A.D. I like modern Darkthrone, possibly even more than I like their 'classic' early 90's material, but something about this album doesn't quite feel right. There's some good songs as always, but the songs that fail, fail badly. The likes of "Canadian Metal" and "Raised On Rock" are just a little too tounge in cheek for their own good.

Vintersorg - Solens Rotter. The album was billed as a return to his "folk metal roots", which was an exciting prospect, even though I've enjoyed the prog vein of the last 2 albums. Something went horribly wrong though, and this wound up sounding almost exactly like his prog albums. Only weak. In trying to have clever instrument arrangements, Vintersorg has overlooked the key to strong songwriting - being catchy. Too many of the songs wander around aimlessly in the vocal department, which blows me away, since he's been my favourite singer for the last 5 or so years. Atleast he's back to singing in Swedish exclusively, so we don't have to deal with shitty lyrics about philosophy and stars.

Winds - Prominence And Demise. First up I must say, their debut album "Reflections Of The I" was brilliant. A laid-back, final maturing of the neoclassical metal style spawned by the likes of Yngwie Malmsteen in the early 80s. It was perfect. Which is what makes this, their 3rd full length, so frustrating. They've upped the aggression and heavyness of the guitars, which is cool, but it's rendered half the band useless. This thing's like Metlzer's Justice League- you've got Superman on drums, and Batman on guitars, both kicking major ass. Then there's Geoforce on piano, who just sounds totally out of place and does nothing for the music except get in the way. The vocalist can be Red Tornado, someone who can deliver the goods, but wanders around aimlessly for the most part. Seriously, it's like the band split in half and wrote their own parts without checking back to see what the others were doing. And whoever wrote the lyrics needs to just stop it.

Biggest Surprise
Ava Inferi - The Sillhouette. This is without doubt the best The 3rd & The Mortal album since 'Nightswan' in 1995, heh. I never thought I'd hear someone reproducing T3&TM's sound so effectively, but there it is. Sure it's not perfect, but it's just so nice to see the 'return' of a sound that was so great, even if it's done by a bunch of completely different people. All this from the guitarist from Mayhem, which is the last person I'd expect to come out with a serene Doom album.

2nd Biggest Surprise
Mayhem - Ordo Ad Chao. Seriously, did anyone see this coming? It's just so dark and cold and daaaaamn, it's like black metal used to be 15 years ago. Atmosphere to burn.

Good Once More
Within Temptation - The Heart Of Everything. 2005's album was pretty bad. This one is pretty awesome. Catchy, decent vocals, good orchestral backing. Nice return to form.

Clawfinger - Life Will Kill You. Another band recovering from a weak 2005, they went back to what works- strong riffs with a dark edge. A fun band when they get it right, they keep up their track record of alternating between strong and weak albums.

Head Scratcher Of The Year
Agua De Annique - Air. So the vocalist from The Gathering decides to leave the band, citing a desire to try new things. Then she releases an album that sounds exactly like The Gathering (only not as good- guess the rest of the band actually did contribute to the songs). I don't get it.

Also a shout out to Funeral, Therion, and Rotting Christ, who all released good albums this year.

Song Of The Week - The Forever People

Inspired by an ad found in Action Comics #596, I thought I'd highlight one of My Dying Bride's early classics. From their 1992 debut album "As The Flower Withers" (complete with Dave McKean cover art), it's:

The Forever People.



I went with a rather groovy live performance, since it's free, but it's pretty spot-on to the LP version.

My Dying Bride have always been at the forefront of the Doom Metal genre, with a very theatrical approach and mad poetry for lyrics.

The Forever People Lyrics
They would take a more gothic approach in following albums, but their debut is heavily rooted in the Death/Doom genre. What makes the album, and this song, stand out is the way the brutality is contrasted by atmospheric sections, notably in the middle of the song. The whole thing combines to be pretty unsettling.

Japanese Anime Black Metal

I have just discovered the greatest thing ever. Black metal with Anime vocals. Yes, really.

The band is Gallhammer. A female trio from Japan who I, like many people I'm sure, discovered thanks to Nocturno Culto's recent dvd. I've really liked what I've heard of them since, and despite a handful of disbelieving critics who thought it could only be a joke (Black Metal from Japan? And women?), I took them seriously. Now I'm not so sure.

I decided to download the new album, which has the song "Blind My Eyes". A pretty cool song. Up until 1:31 into the song, at which point the backing vocals kick in. Psycho anime. I've tried unsuccessfully to find a free download of the full song for your viewing pleasure, but this will do in a pinch:

Blind My Eyes

Click on the preview of track 2, and you'll get a good 30 second dose of what I'm talking about. I encourage you to buy the track, it's cheap and well worth it.

I'm not sure if this is terrible or brilliant, but I can't stop listening to it.

Song Of The Week: Gypsies and Thieves

Ok, so this is in no way comics related, but sometimes I'm just more in the mood to talk music. I'll kick this thing off with the excellent:

Leatherwolf - Gypsies and Thieves

Leatherwolf being a little-known 80's metal band. Their main claim to fame was having 3 guitarists, all of whom were shit-hot. They disbanded after the excellent "Street Ready" album (1989), though oddly enough got back together for a new album last year.

'Gypsies and Thieves' starts off with a really nice atmospheric intro, showing off their approach to harmony that made them so cool. The backing vocals borrow from the Def Leppard formula, though a bit more manly than Leppard's approach. I've always loved the lead vocalist. He can hit the high notes for sure, but for the most part keeps things in a less-dating mid register. His delivery is a bit gravely in places, giving things a really interesting tone.

The song rocks along in a mid-paced groove up until 3:38, which then sees things kick into high gear with a blistering solo section, building up the tension nicely for an almost desperate final rendition of the chorus. A nice little guitar touch rounds out the ending, for an almost 5 minute song that doesn't feel anywhere near that long.

Listen. Buy their albums. Tell your friends.
Comic nonsense resumes shortly.