Big Guns - Six Shooter (2016)

Sent directly from the man himself, this six track EP features Vaarwel (Frozen Ocean, Goatpsalm) on vocals and Postie handling the guitars, bass, drum programming, background vocals and mixing. It's a two man project, which of course I'm quite familiar with, also being in one. The difference here is that Big Guns is a much different record from that of Frozen Ocean or Goatpsalm, being that this is far removed from any kind of black metal, atmospheric pieces or electronics. The band consider themselves a rock n' roll band mixed with death metal and hot pepper, which is definitely what I'm getting here. The grooves are as heavy as the blues-influence, which really rolls in around “Pearl-Jammed” until the whole thing becomes that of a Cannibal Corpse-esque performance which I would have never expected. Vaarwhel has one hell of a growl, which is about as deep and mountainous as any I've heard in this business. I'm not a huge fan of some of the more spoken word portions, but these guys stormed past me like a runaway train during the first couple of cuts. From “Hard As Tin” to “Grammar Guerillas” you're be literally hammered with grooves, as well as a extremely thick drumming performance. If you hadn't told me that these drums were programmed, I'd have never guessed. This record in general sounds incredibly, warm, thick and meaty, like you'd expect from looking at the album cover. I would have never expected a death n' roll band to come from this group, but I can't say that I'm displeased with it. There are a couple sections that might need to be ironed out, but there's plenty of enjoyment here in it's eleven-minute playing time. The disc is heavily fast-paced, but it certainly has moments in which to slowly burn and remind me a little of bands like EyeHateGod, Down and Pantera. Except for the fact that it's a bit heavier. There's even a Six Feet Under similarity to the album's final track (a real groove-monster) called “Dragon Hedge” but it sounds far better than anything Six Feet Under have released in several years, certainly recently (but don't get me started on that again.) Short, but brandishly burly and incessantly pummeling, you're definitely going to want to give this one a listen. It's only three bucks, so pick it up!

(6 Tracks, 11:00)

8/10

Bewitcher - Bewitcher (2016)

Seriously, what is with these electronic introductions to classic albums? Is metal changing over to wave music or something? I love both, but I find it quite odd that such a produced electronic wave would accompany such a rough and rowdy approach as is offered by this official debut from these US black/speed metallers. They're from Oregon – Portland, to be exact – but that's no reason for me to start throwing hipster jokes because of the wave introduction to the album. Right? Basically, we've got a Motorhead and Venom inspired act that you might also compare to bands like Midnight, Sodom, Toxic Holocaust, Power From Hell, Joel Grind and several others in this vein. There's no doubting the Motorhead here, which was just influential to Bewitcher as it was to Venom when they first started this stuff and called it “black metal” back in the eighties. The approach here isn't very different, but it's certainly a solid record that delivers a no-frills approach to black/speed metal. Guitarist/Frontman Unholy Weaver has been studying his early Motorhead records quite furiously, as I'm hearing quite a bit of that here, and I have no problem with it. It's more or less just classic heavy metal with a harsher bark than what Lemmy gave us and there's nothing wrong with that. Occasionally Diabolic Crusher will punch the kit into higher gear, showing off that more extreme “black metal” side, but I'm a bit more interested in the overall guitar-theatrics of the performance. It's all about the chugging atmosphere here, casting the lyrics aside as unimportant. I like this disc for the attention to detail, regardless of how some might say that these guys are kind of ripping off the classics. But can you blame kids these days? Some won't even listen to the greats because they've been somehow convinced that they're too old and dated, so we need bands like Bewitcher to come out with new records and take this new generation by storm. If you won't listen to the old shit, then here's some old shit repackaged as new shit. There ya go, embrace metal in 2016. Forty years and still going strong, metal is only further accentuated in it's awesomeness by bands like Bewitcher who we hope to hear for many years to come.

(9 Tracks, 33:00)

7/10