Daniel & The Lion - This Is Me, Is That You? EP 
I know I’ve posted this before, but I feel the need to post this again. Daniel & The Lion is the musical project of my good friend Daniel Duke. As well playing solo (which is what this EP is all about) he plays with a big ole’ live band, I am part of this and play guitar and trumpet and contribute to vocals.
Towards end of Spring, Daniel & myself took to a university radio studio for a few evenings to record the This Is Me, Is That You? EP. Everything you hear on this was performed by Daniel (with the exception of some hand claps which were performed by me) and engineered, mixed, and mastered by myself.
Please, have a listen, and if you like what you hear consider sending Daniel a five pound note for a physical CD copy. A lot of hard work went into the making of the EP, and even more money went into its production (I don’t financially gain in any way whatsoever, I produced this for free) so if you can help Dan recoup his debts, or just send some feedback about the songs his way, I’m sure he’d appreciate it.
P.S. My favourite tracks are Steal Me Away, Need Love, and Jack Chuter’s wonderful ambient remix of Broken Heart…
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Review: Everything Everything - Man Alive
A review of Everything Everything’s debut album ‘Man Alive’ I wrote for ATTN:Magazine. Objectivity warning: I love this band!
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Divinity - The Singularity
Calgary metallers Divinity sure know how to write a good prog-metal album. Want some proof? Take a listen to The Singularity.
From the moment you hit play, opening track ‘Abiogenesis’ keeps you on your toes with its jarring rhythms and shred-filled lead guitars. In a little over two minutes the band have jumped between a couple of time signatures and thrown in a few chilling synth leads to boot.
Beg To Consume sees the band getting all militant against a consumerist society whilst lead guitarist Sacha Laskow keeps all the tech-y fans on their toes with some fancy fret work during the songs few solos.
If you’re looking for something more than a few flashy solos, don’t worry, it’s all here. Lay in the Bed You’ve Made, whilst having an essence of a pop sensibility, is full of the kind of time-signatures that separate the professionals from the amateurs in this genre.
There’s not really a weak point on this album, tracks like Emergent and Transformation all feature a massive variety in rhythms and structure, with a hearty dose of synthesized orchestration, and that seems to set the tone for the whole of The Singularity.
Monsters Are Real is in places, so haunting, it’s almost convincing of the title, whilst Embrace The Uncertain’s piano intro provides a welcome break from the intensive chugging rhythms that feature so heavily on the album, but it’s not long before we’re back into the heavy stuff with this song easily worthy of a single release.
Closing tracks Formless Dimension and Approaching The Singularity both exhibit a lot more melody than the rest of the album, with the band’s proggier side shining through. Frontman Sean Jenkins’ vocals on these tracks really add a poppier edge which could see Divinity appeal to a much wider audience than your average hardcore metal fan.
The Singularity is an impressive release from the Canadian quintet, and with this only being their second full-length release, there’s potential for this band to get better and better.
Review of Divinity’s album for Pushtofire.com
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Enuff Z’nuff - Dissonance
Reunions are a catchy illness these days. Go on, walk into HMV, take a look at the charts and I’ll put money on 50% of the bands gracing the shelves being ones that have reformed after a few years break. The result? Well, most of it is money-fuelled tripe right? Well, sort-of. Fortunately for us, Enuff Z’nuff’s comeback album isn’t tripe, it’s just nothing too new.
‘Dissonance’ was catalysed by the recordings the band did for a VH1 pilot show that never took off, and after fans decided to bootleg the songs, it only makes sense to turn them into an album right? The resulting 13 tracks are nothing less than 80s rock revival at its grandest.
Opening and title track ‘Dissonance’ explodes with enough classic rock riffage to take you back to the glory days of the genre, it’s more than worthy of single status, with singer Donnie Vie contemplating a broken relationship: “No longer friends we’re all dissonance.”
‘Fine Line’ is perfect justification for roping in ex-Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Jake E. Lee on axe duties, with his lead parts finely splattered all over the track. ‘Lazy Dazy’ slows down the pace of the album and provides some cringe-worthy lyrics: “We make it down and groovy / Makin’ dirty movie.” I mean, come on guys, you’re getting on a bit now, I don’t think anyone wants to see your dirty movies.
Roll Away provides a token ballad, which no hard rock album would be without right? Synth strings ahoy! Then it’s straight back into the high-octane rock with a lyrically-confusing ‘High’.
Glazing over the extremely sexually inappropriate lyrics of ‘Playground’ the band leave on a high with an ode to their windy city of ‘Chicago’.
They also manage to throw in a Prince and Beatles cover as bonus tracks and you can’t fault them for the sheer volume of material they give you, pretty much putting to shame any modern band who call seven tracks an album.
So Enuff Z’nuff have gone some way to prove that not all re-union albums are that bad. It’s classic rock Jim, but just as we know it, and I guess that’s the only problem. It’s not exactly ground-breaking stuff here, there’s no danger of it making chart history anytime soon, but if you’re a fan of the good stuff from the 80s (yes, some of it exists), this may just be your thing.
Review of Enuff Z’nuff for Pushtofire.com
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Imperial Vengeance - 6th Airbourne Division
Metal might well be a bloated genre, but every now and then there’s an artist or a band that stands out like a sore thumb….in the best of ways. Ladies and Gentleman, I give you Imperial Vengeance - the Steampunk-wearing, Absinthe-loving, Madness-covering, extreme metallers who are bringing back good metal, in the most patriotic of ways.
As a special release prior to their second album ‘The Black Heart Of The Empire’, the band released a DVD of their single ‘6th Airborne Division’ and their cover of Madness’ ‘Night Boat To Cairo’, and what a spectacle it is.
‘6th Airborne Division’ almost literally plays out like a metal soundtrack to an airborne war battle with archive clips of fighter planes interspersed with studio footage of the band in all their Steampunk glory. But don’t think for one second that these guys are just a gimmick, oh no, they mean business. Double-bass-filled frantic drumming, shredding guitars and rhythmic chugging are all present and hallmarks of great metal, frontman C. Edward Alexander’s vocals are also on top form throughout the four and half minutes of what they call ‘dark aristocratic metal’.
And if ‘6th Airborne Division’ wasn’t enough, Imperial Vengeance pull a Madness cover out of the bag to prove to any cynical ears that they’re not just a one-trick pony. ‘Night Boat To Cairo’ retains its original charm whilst being given a new lease of exteme metal life. The video’s pretty damn good to.
They’re touring in August with Sabbat and their album is expected to follow soon after, keep an eye out for these guys, they might just take you by surprise.
Review of Imperial Vengeance’s DVD for Pushtofire.com
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