Well I tried. I tried to be fair, but I couldn’t completely excise that challenge from the back of my mind. I couldn’t keep myself from expecting to be reopened to the genre in addition to convincing me of the album’s merits. And while I can’t say this album blew my mind and has me aching to correct my lack of education in the genre, I can say it’s an album I’ll be listening to more in the future. It’s a rock solid example of what I want from the genre – it’s fast and punchy, full of blistering guitar leads and precision drumming, and overflowing with riffs. Right from the opening of the record with the title track, you get a very quick summary of what to expect if you’re new to this. Blast beats, swampy, palm-muted riffs and one of those choral keyboard patches. The tones blend to create a totally full sound, occupying every inch of the low-, mid- and high ranges, it’s not left feeling thin like a lot of melodic death metal does. One of the keys to this, I think, is that the keyboards are allowed to be keyboards, rather than being treated like a guitar that goes beep-boop like in every other Children of Bodom song. They provide accents, work to build atmosphere, and add a sense of drama to certain moments.

The vocals are mostly a low, gurgling scream, right on that crux of easy comprehension and slight inscrutability that works perfectly for this breed of metal. At times they veer into the slightly higher, harsher screams that were more common on their earlier records, but for the most part they match the corresponding deeper, heavier sound of the music. The guitars are, I suppose, fairly standard for the genre. A lot of chugging riffs, heavy on the palm-muting, coupled with flashy leads and explosive solos. The riffing is perfectly fine and brilliantly suited for a mosh pit, but just lacks the diversity and the memorability of the riffing in other genres, or even of the leads on this very record. The drumming is precise and pummeling, but rarely steps outside genre conventions. Thankfully, at 42 minutes, the album is short enough that the tempo transitions within and between songs are spaced and timed evenly and frequently enough that the drumming doesn’t just become a mass of sixteenth-note bass drums, eighth-note hi-hats and quarter-note snares on endless repeat. I feel like the bass was a bit too inconspicuous, evidently boosting the low end through most of the record but I can only recall ever specifically noticing the bass a few times, when there would be a very satisfying crack of bass breaking through the guitars. At times, that previously mentioned fullness of sound does feel a bit overpowering, a bit too saturated, causing some sounds to get lost in the rushing torrent, and the bass is generally the biggest victim of this.

Again I have to say that I recognize that it is a bit unfair that this record came to me with the unfortunate added weight of the genre’s continued relevance on it, and that it did an admirable job of carrying it. There are certain shortcomings that I think are inherent to the genre, and while this album doesn’t negate them, Kalmah takes fantastic strides in turning them into strengths when they can and minimizing them when they can’t. It’s a wild, potent album, bristling with an energy that gets more palpable the louder it’s played. It’s a very good melodic death metal record from a band that continues to breathe vitality into a genre that has been stale for years. I may not want to run out and build a library of melodic death metal albums, but I do want to listen to more Kalmah.

7/10

Of the many masterpieces on that record, the track “Mapplethorpe Grey” has always stood out in my mind.  Listen to it here, and read the lyrics below:

“Androgynous we are.
Ancient statues deformed in desert winds.
Dead children play in Mapplethorpe grey.
Midnight orgies at the school for the blind.
Learn to feel all over again.
My name is anonymous.
I taste like everyone.
Medication blurs the last five percent.”

Since I heard the song, I’ve been obsessed with the words Mapplethorpe grey.  They just dance on the tongue when you say them, bringing up images of red bricks and dead leaves near old buildings in the fall.  I never really knew what Mapplethorpe was, but I just assumed it had to do with a forest or something.  After a little research I now know that my original interpretation was wrong, but the imagery I gleamed from the song was spot on.

As far as I can tell, the Mapplethorpe in the song is in reference to a photographer named Robert Mapplethorpe.  If you’ve ever seen that famous image of a naked Patty Smith squatting down sideways, then you’ve seen a Mapplethorpe photo.  Wikipedia tells me that “he is known for his large-scale, highly stylized black and white portraits, and photos of flowers and nude men.”  His stuff is all pretty low contrast, and it oozes with sexuality while still being just a little bit scary, like finding an old gay porno in your grandfather’s closet.  You can look at his work here, but if you’re squeamish be warned, there’s art cocks.   So it is Mapplethorpe grey, like the black and white of the artist’s photos.

Coming back to the song with an idea of Mapplethorpe’s body of work after all this time is like plinking down a magic puzzle piece that makes the imagery even more powerful.  With all art, the meaning comes as much from yourself as it does its creator, so I will leave you do draw your own conclusions.   As it is such an influential piece of music to me, I’m glad to be able to feel I understand it more completely.

The one thing Sodom has always been known for is riffs. No matter what era of the band you like, they always bring the crushers to the table in spades, and Epitome Of Torture is no different. These riffs come at you like shrapnel in a war torn Middle Eastern city and lacerate your skin with ease – their downright dangerous. There are times where you can see the older Sodom song writing rear its delightful head. This is best shown in the all out ripper of a song, Stigmatized. This song is for the speed maniacs. Speaking of tempo, this is nice and varied throughout the course of the album. This variance of tempo keeps the blending of songs at bay and defends against monotony.

So, get it? The guitar work on this album is sublime. If modernized groovy thrash is your cup, then this is definitely something you’ll enjoy, with that said let’s move onto the vocal side of things. Truth be told, Tom Angelripper is among my favourite vocalists in thrash metal, and regardless of the era I’ve always thought he’s sounded great. With that said, it’s definitely not in the vein of old school Sodom, but his vocals are strong and powerful. He definitely shows no signs of aging. It is a tad more melodic than usual, but this is something that was done intentionally. Also, Angelripper sounds like a proper angel ripper on the various choruses. It really doesn’t get any better than this.

Overall, I will never listen to this album for leisure as this sound isn’t something I desire, but it is an album of worth. People who don’t lean to the retro side of things will absolutely love this album. Everything about it is just so well done – hell my head was even banging at times. Sodom, you’ve delivered the explosive goods once again.

8.5/10

As far as brutal death metal go, Wormed is the classy option, slams for the intelligent metal head.  They sing about space! Multivectorial Reionization!  Things that could appear in Wally’s Metal Word of the Week Column (As seen: http://axisofmetal.com/author/wally/)!  Your vocabulary could grow after listening to this album.

Exodromos doesn’t totally reinvent the wheel, but there’s plenty of interesting things going on to be worth a few spins.  For something that’s straight brutal and a little slammy, there are a lot of melodic and pretty parts.  Interesting little guitar breaks in tracks Tatruochrone and Multivectoral Reionization are worth mentioning.  One of the basslines on Techkinox Wormhole will shake your insides.  Slams and sick guttural vocals abound!

Exodromos is anything but boring.  Wormed blends a mix of melody and creativity with sheer technical brutality.  It’s so fucking heavy and nasty, there’s just no other way to describe it.  It’s not an album that can be background noise- it demands your attention.  (I know this because I attempted to play it as background noise and failed.)  The only downside is that sometimes the killer guitars are a little lost in the mix, which is a minimal complaint.  If slams are up your alley, Exodromos absolutely worth checking out.

9/10

So, this was a confusing event for me to say the least. At first I was under the assumption that this was some sort of drum clinic, why? Because the show poster was so bloody misleading; but I should’ve read the press release that I received and then I would’ve known that this was an actual show. What I mean by an actual show is that Carmine and Vinny would be playing tunes from bands they were in before. So, this means it would be a smorgasbord of great music. I don’t personally feel like outlining the bands these two were in, but they have a pedigree that is higher than most musicians will ever achieve. So with that said, and finally figuring out what exactly I was in for I knew this would turn out to be a swell Thursday night, and I was right.

Right off the bat I knew this show was going to be a ton of fun. They introduced the Appice brothers like they were these mythical warriors about to take on an armada of insurmountable strength. Think the Spartans versus the Persians.

The show then got off to a ripping start when the Appice brothers broke into a wicked cover of “The Mob Rules.” The crowd was instantly enthralled. Also, the collective solos they were doing throughout the song were tremendous. It was truly cool to see drummers feeding off each other like that. Also, what took me aback was the sheer level of entertainment that was achieved by hearing excessive drum soloing. Truth be told, I get so bored of them when they occur during a bands set – but this was different. I think this is attributed to the synergy these two have as players. Also, carmine performed a drum solo … using only … drum sticks, which was fun as hell. This was only one example of the hi-jinx these two got up to during their set. My favourite being, the totally unexpected cover of “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” by Rod Stewart. That really dealt the smiles throughout the crowd in spades. Plus on top of all this they’re on stage rhetoric during and after songs was quite entertaining also.

A personal highlight was Vinny’s first solo performance which turned out to be a wicked rendition of Dio’s “Holy Diver”. Being as young as I am, this was pretty sweet to see this song performed live by someone who actually played on it originally. Plus, the crowd was eating this one up big time. Pretty rad if I do say so myself.

As the show rolled on, the classics were dealt in spades and it was such a treat for an under forty year old metal head to see these songs performed by such legends. The sheer quality of these two is astounding. Another personal highlight was the cover of “Paranoid”. This was way cool because both Appice brothers did in fact perform this live during their careers. Vinny performed it when he was a member of Black Sabbath and Carmine performed it when he was the drummer in Ozzy Osbourne. Again, this was really cool because of my age and as I explained, seeing legends play a song of such notoriety was a real experience.

Overall, this concept was great (albeit a bit confusing), and the show turned out to be a tremendous success. The both of them had great charisma on stage and were able to handle the crowd with ease and ensure monotony would not be on the cards. This was a fantastic experience, and if it came anywhere near you and you missed it – you suck.