The Miserable Metal Mind Podcast

I am going into the relative unknown with the Belgian group, Cobra the Impaler. I am familiar with Tace De (Thijs de Cloedt) from his work on guitar with Aborted from 2000-2006, but I have only heard The Messenger from this band, which is the lead single from the forthcoming album, Karma Collision .  Tace is joined on guitar by James Falck (Bear), Michele De Feudis on bass, vocalist Manuel Remmerie, and picking up the sticks from Megadeth man Dirk Vereuren (who played on the 2022 debut, Colossal Gods) is Ace Zec (mixer and producer, and former drummer with Death before Disco). The album opener, Magnetic Hex, sets the tone of this progressive metal release. The initial discordant intro develops melodically, and clean vocals have some good layering on them. The tempo increases in the middle of the track, but does so well, and as the song returns to its original form, there is a lovely solo. This is the theme throughout the album. Godless Beyonder, the second track, builds on the fir...

Hardcore metallers Boneripper, from Harlingen in the Netherlands, release their follow up to EP Vengeance & Forgiveness, their debut album World Ablaze . Short, sharp, fast, and very aggressive, this is my type of album. Average track length is two and a half minutes of brutal hardcore laden brutality. The band is made up of members of well-established bands from the Dutch hardcore scene, including former and current members of Manu Armata, 13Steps and Bladecrusher. Notably, three of the five bandmates are blood brothers — the Glashouwer trio, consisting of WD, Jeljer, and Kees-Jan. Their sound is polished and well honed.  The opener, Final Warning , is a short instrumental track with recorded spoken word over the top, which slides in to the second track. The Abyss speeds along with brutal guitars, pounding drums and angry vocals. There are obvious influences of Hatebreed, Biohazard etc, but this is a good thing as they have taken the best bits and made them their own. The a...

It’s always a good sign when you finish work on a Friday, travel to another city to meet some friends, walk into the venue, get yourself a pint, and the first band walks onto stage. Perfect timing you may say.  Black Falcon 100524 The Underground, Bradford  Photo: Neil Bolton Night of Ruin is the Friday night pre-show before the full day Ruination Festival that takes place at The Underground in Bradford. Black Falcon is the first band and they make a good impression. This four-piece have a good crunchy sound with tunes bursting with Les Paul guitar solos. I am not sure, but I think this band today has a smaller member count than usual. You would not know it from the heavy sound they create and the response from the healthy crowd. Their music and stagecraft are a perfect start to the evening.  Damn Craters slower more melancholic take on the stoner genre are next on stage. The vocalist is prominent in this music and has a capable and angry voice. He is however, dressed li...

A triple whammy from Haverfordwest’s premier thrashers In Which It Burns has dropped recently, the teasers from third album Terra Nullius. When main man Stretch got in touch to let me know, then it was a no-brainer to get onto the streaming services and check them out. For those who don’t know IWIB, these boys are some of the hardest working dudes around. Hamstrung by geography, they’ve been playing for the best part of a decade, releasing two albums, competing in various competitions including Metal to the Masses where they regularly feature as finalists, as well as travelling across the UK to deliver their groove metal. Three singles in a curled-up fist, and the first of these is the more melodic. Stand retains all the savagery that we’ve come to expect from IWIB, razor sharp guitar work, bruising drumming, and Stretch’s snarling vocals. Lyrically, it’s about as brutal as they come, with plenty of expletives ensuring that the band won’t be played on mainstream radio … ever! But the...

We all remember the fantastic album covers of Evil Dead. Perhaps some of us remember the album covers more than the music itself. Nevertheless, this is a thrash band that has been around for a long time (with a 20 plus year hiatus in the middle; this is not their first rodeo). However, the songs on Toxic Grace are not going to stop the fans from calling out the classic 80s and 90s material at Evil Dead shows. As a hardened thrash fan, as I listened, I accepted some truths about this album. I accepted that Evil Dead are a safe pair of hands when it comes to modern day thrash. Admittedly, this may not be interpreted as the nicest thing to say about a band. It's far from a compliment but at the same time, on almost every occasion, you’ll prefer a safe pair of hands to a complete numpty at the steering wheel. I accepted readily enough that most of the guitar riffs on here were very Slayer-esque. A hard chug, followed by some noodling on the higher notes before going back for a bit m...

South Wales trio Painted as Monsters have been steadily building and audience through the last few years. Building on the success of previous bands, PAM have gigged hard, made the latter stages of the South Wales M2TM competitions, and generally mesmerised with the expansive and fluid style. Dripping in influences that surely include Muse, Tool, Godsticks, Rush, and shoegaze, their progressive signwriting makes it a cerebral joy to experience. Rhys Evans has a voice ideal for this melancholic, dreamy style, whilst his guitar work is super relaxed. On this EP Evans is backed by bassist Chris Machin who has now departed, and drummer Matt Jones. First up is the sprawling expanse of The Signal of …, and it’s a real technical piece that requires multiple plays to appreciate. Once you get stuck into it, it’s an addictive earworm that demonstrates the fluidity of the musicianship on display. One can’t help but admire the mid-section guitar work, and the power that this trio generate. Full o...

Party Doom- two words you would rarely put together, but this is how London Based GURT describe themselves, and if this is their idea of a party, get me an invite. Formed in 2010, and after a slew of EP's, and coming five years after their last album Bongs of Praise they deliver album number four Satan Etc . It’s a more aggressive and abrasive album than they have produced before. Some of this is due to issues in various members lives (tragic losses, welcoming new arrivals to the family), as well as the events of 2020. So, the songs became shorter and punchier, but the topics on offer remain interesting, ranging from botched vasectomy, the love of brown cars, self-pleasure on Arrakis and the singer’s love for his children. GURT - Photo by Mithun Shah So, to the music. The guitars, courtesy of Rich Williams, are crushingly Doom in sections, but always have a great underlying riff, often quite bluesy but squarely grounded in the seventies sounds of Sabbath et al. The vocals of Gar...

Symphonic metal. It’s a genre that many sniff at. Over the top and overblown, with the dramatic elements that synch with Eurovision and musicals. But dig below the surface, and you’ll find a multitude of, admittedly mainly European bands, who provide a huge range of uplifting songs, delivered with a quality of which many of their more extreme relatives can only dream about.  Germans Elvellon are well into their career, having formed in 2010 and released their first album Until Dawn back in 2018. Now signed to Napalm Records, this is an outfit who are apparently making a few waves in the scene. Now, it’s a scene that rarely even ripples in the UK, but they have some clout, with over a million views for their song Born from Hope and double that number of streams on Spotify for the same song. Ascending in Synergy sounds like the kind of management buzz words that I despise but which have been prevalent in far too many meetings I’ve had the displeasure of attending over the past dec...

Room 11 are a two-piece band from south London. Badged as an ‘eclectic power duo’, their debut EP We All Fall Down is a five-track blues rock explosion with an undercurrent of electronic sound. By all accounts this is a band who are very much in the ascendency, with producer Dave Draper (Nickelback, Terrorvision and The Wildhearts) on board, and the band having featured on BBC1 Introducing, Planet Rock, KROQ Radio and more.  The duo had this to say. "We decided to step out of London, as Luca Volpe (who played drums on two of the EP’s tracks) suggested we work with producer Dave Draper. Dave turned out to be perfect for our sound, understanding exactly what we were aiming for and capturing our energy on the recording, brilliantly - He is a magician, and we love him!”  The opener Man on a Mission opens with a pounding riff from guitarist Robbie Pinnetto reminiscent of Wolfmother and The Black Keys. Chrisy Finn’s vocals come in with a slightly distorted tinge, and they sound gr...

Futuristic power metal from Canada. Yep, they’ve been around for nearly two decades, and in that time Unleash the Archers have moved from unknowns to a band that this year will comfortably slot into a mid-afternoon slot at Bloodstock Open Air. I’ll admit, I’m not overly familiar with their music, but minutes into opening song Human Era and I’m liking what I hear. I’m partial to a bit of power metal if done well, and if the vocals are as strong as they are here, with Brittney Slayes powerful delivery, then I’m in.   Photo credit: Shimon Karmel Conceptually crafted in 2021, Phantoma tackles the advance of AI through a story that runs through the album. It follows the protagonist Phantoma, a Phase 4 / Network Tier 0 unit - model A, and the trials of AI gaining sentience on a dystopian near-future planet Earth. Whilst the concept album isn’t always the favoured choice, in this case, the phenomenal playing that rip through the album in the various shapes and styles – we have progres...

There is no better way of spending the Friday night of a bank holiday weekend than going over to the Ferret in Preston to see a few bands. Tonight, its’ a double header with Foetal Juice and Red Method bringing their wares.  First up Foetal Juice, the Oldham based band known for their outrageous song titles and extreme death metal style. The opener Dutch Oven sets out their stall straight away. Fast, furious speed/crossover punk-based metal. Lots of influences from 80s / 90s cross over bands like Crumbsuckers, D.R.I., Broken Bones etc. with brutal death metal vocals. This is right up my street as this is what got me into metal in the 80s, Typical Viz or gore-soaked lyrics, Foetal Juice’s songs include the glorious Take Your Face for A Shit, Noneckahedron and Mountain of Gore, demonstrating that British metal still has a sense of humour.  Lead singer Dez prowls the stage, growling out his humour or horror-soaked lyrics whilst bass player Lewis bounces around throwing out slab...

Riot are a band that passed me by. I do know of them and vaguely remember flashes of them on the Friday and Saturday Rock Shows on Radio 1 in the UK, when Tommy Vance and Alan 'Fluff' Freeman were introducing me to the world of metal. I think it was their 6th album, Thundersteel , and the title track that I remember, but by then I was going down to hell in the form of thrash and death metal and was done with the more traditional form.  Founded in New York City in 1975 (the year I was born) by guitarist Mark Reale and drummer Peter Bitelli. Riot have disbanded and reformed twice. The second disbandment was due to the death of Reale. On the band’s second incarnation, they changed their name to Riot V. The 'V' was due to the addition of a fifth member. A heavy metal band that started towards the power metal side with the release of Thundersteel , the latest line-up consists of long standers Donnie Van Stavern (bass, since 1986), Mike Flyntz (guitar, since 1989), Frank Gi...