Live Review: Riot, Primitai & Rising Five @ The Underworld, Camden

Tell the boys to step aside, tell the girls to form a line, because Riot V are back again celebrating the 30th anniversary of their 1988 classic 'Thundersteel'. 

Kicking off proceedings on this clammy Tuesday night is the fairly new Rising Five and not having heard much material, I'm intrigued to witness the vocal prowess of Mike Tirelli (ex-Holy Mother and Burning Starr etc.) in the flesh. The floor is somewhat empty to begin with but Rising Five's evident professionalism and tight sound entice a sparce crowd to float somewhat near the front of the stage. Mike Tirelli's traditional, melodic vocal projects across the venue as it is often teamed up with a surprisingly heavy, almost industrial vibe from the guitars and rhythm section. They work through a short but varied set including tracks from their upcoming EP No Death Reborn and finishing up with Holy Mother's 'The River' where Mike Tirelli's Dio-esque vocal style can very much be heard. Tirelli has been an integral cog in the heavy metal machine for decades including previously providing vocals for tonight's headliners and this powerful performance is very promising. You can keep up-to-date with Rising Five's whereabouts right here. 

Photo: Warren Newman

Re-entering the room after a short break and the ground is quite literally shaking and breaking beneath us. It must be time for Primitai. These lads are no stranger to Camden stages and waste no time increasing the energy in the room as they deliver a razor-sharp set. The band's unique sound grabs the crowd's attention in full force as guitarists Srdjan Bilic and Sergio Girón deliver 80s inspired melodies juxtaposed excellently with Guy Miller's powerful, rough and more modern vocal and commanding stage presence. The band gel flawlessly on stage and it's clear to see that their recent release The Calling and successes with Dissonance Productions have ensured that they've got a well-deserved growing fan base. Primitai certainly never fail to impress. You can check out and buy their newest album right here. 

Photo: Dani Ben Haim

It's finally time for Riot V to take to the stage and the buzz in the air is infectious as the room begins to fill. It's been many a year since Riot have headlined a UK tour and since then they have experienced a career full of successes, many esteemedd releases and of course grieving the loss of founding member and legend Mark Reale. They are back again and the minor name change not only respects and pays homage to Riot's history but also paves the way for the band's new chapter. On this tour, they've been celebrating the anniversary of Thundersteel - an album which many fans believe to be some of their greatest work. 

Long-standing members of the band Mike Flyntz and Don Van Stavern take pride of place as does guitarist Nick Lee whilst Frank Gilchriest does so behind the skins. The Camden Underworld is already full as fists raise in the air waiting to revel in this long anticipated set. Vocalist Todd Michael Hall enters the stage as a warrior enters battle... his Herculean presence already dominating the hall. Boy does he have big boots to fill as he takes on the works of vocal masters Guy Speranza, Rhett Forrester and Tony Moore etc. 

Wasting no time at all, Riot smash through the atmosphere with 'Victory' taken from their newest album Armor of Light, continuing on with 'Angel's Thunder, Devil's Reign'. A few numbers down and we are gifted with 'Tokyo Rose/Rock City' taken from the 1977 album Rock City- a surprising but pleasing addition. The crowd presumably in awe are somewhat sombre, as Todd Michael Hall remarks on the lack of movement. Almost as if foretold we hear the opening drum barrage to 'Flight of the Warrior' and the sing-a-long is in full swing. Todd Michael Hall takes on every single note with great ease and confidence and this continues into the incredible 'Bloodstreets' delivered with intense passion and power. The band's spirit is truly vibrant.

Surprisingly, the tracks from Thundersteel are embedded in-between a handful of other Riot numbers from their back catalogue including 'Heavy Metal Machine', 'Angel Eyes' (joined by Mike Tirelli on vocals) and a personal favourite 'Road Racin''. However, it is surprising to not hear the celebrated album in it's entirety as previously assumed. Complaining about this would be foolish however as we are privileged to hear 'Johnny's Back' and 'Sign of the Crimson Storm' amidst the rest of a brilliant set.

Don Van Stavern holds a large bottle of tequila in the air as an inflatable sword stands tall in front. The crowd cheer and the room shakes along to 'Swords and Tequila' and another Riot classic 'Warrior'. The now bare chested Todd Michael Hall opens his arms and tells us he knows what we all came for- and well, he isn't wrong. Before he could even finish, the infamous riff to Thundersteel's title track sends the crowd into a frenzy as everyone's balls drop and they attempt to hit those killer high notes in the first line "A streak of lightening, comes shooting through the air!". What a feeling- and clearly the band feel it too as they evidently enjoy the reception. 

Regardless of the fact that it would have been extra special to hear all of Thundersteel in it's intended order, this was a show of a lifetime. The energy was consistently strong throughout and it was inspiring to see heavy metal fans of all ages enjoy songs from Riot's history as well as some of the most excellent newer material. Tonight, Riot showed that they're keeping the legacy alive to the highest degree and we're sure Mark Reale would be nothing more than proud. 

We hope Riot will be back again. Very soon. 

Score: 5/5

Writer: Kayleigh Griffin

Album Review: Church of the Cosmic Skull 'Science Fiction'

Church of the Cosmic Skull – Science Fiction

Church of The Cosmic Skull were something of a darkhorse when they emerged in 2016 with their debut album Is Satan Real? Nottingham-based and boasting members of Hellset Orchestra, Dystopian Future Movies, You Slut! and Mammothwing, clothing themselves in a sense of mystique centred on their spiritual principles (The Seven Objects, central to their outlook) and a familiar-but-distinctive heavy 'vintage' rock sound that makes most sense to these ears as an amalgamation of Black Sabbath, Kansas and a gospel choir.  Is Satan Real was a strong release that caught the attention of some of the more mainstream music press. The Church are a solid live band and the question of “what comes next?” is a pertinent one leading into the ‘difficult second album’ which arrived last month in the form of Science Fiction.

The album begins with the title track- a triumphant, vintage-sounding introductory riff leading us through a brief maelstrom of multi-layered vocals and odd time signatures before settling on a piano-and-vocal interlude and then…More. More Black Sabbath-meets-Kansas riff stylings, more harmony, more weirdly utopian sounding lyrics, more everything. There are a lot of ideas packed into these 4 and a half minutes, an impression one returns to a lot with this band’s work.

'Go By The River' is a more straightforward affair, combining a heavy main guitar riff complementing some fancy organ playing, moving from an interesting main riff to guitar lead in the closing section. The Church display the power of repetition here, the lyrics essentially consisting of three (slightly menacing) phrases: “Go by the river, go by the road”; “You run” and “I’ve seen the coming of the storm, I’ve seen the ground beneath you” repeated and filtered throughout the chorus of the song, coming together with the guitar lead at the end.  This adds to the power-through-simplicity appeal of the song.

The Church’s euphoric, utopian vision really comes to the fore with the third track. The overall sentiment of 'Revolution Comes With an Act of Love' is one of determination and hope in the face of a society losing its way but a bit more, y’know, cosmic. Listen along to the final chorus refrain, guitar lead soaring along with beautiful harmonised vocals and not feel at least a bit compelled to bop your head along, I dare you.

'Cold Sweat' adds a bit of pace to the album. The song moves from quiet, muted chords to full, joyous chorus. 'The Others' provides some slow softness with psychedelic musing and an impressive turn from the Church's team of vocalists. 'Timehole' is the album’s most fast-and-furious number, propelled along by a breakneck-speed riff, leads weaving their way around vocal melodies, only really letting up for a smartly applied bit of discord. If this album has a weak point it’s arguably to be found in 'The Cards You’re Playing', a track which feels more like an interlude than anything else and, while allowing for some impressive instrumental and vocal workouts could have done with being half the length. The chord progression in particular feels like it could form a part of something much more substantial.

'Paper Aeroplane & Silver Moon' is a song of real epic scope and competes with 'Revolution' for the high point of the record. Pretty vocal trade-offs backed by the organ in the first two minutes lead into a subsequent four minute trade-off between fast, heavy riff sections and muted lead vocal verses over quiet chords culminating in a chaotic organ solo and heavier instrumental approach to the end. The kind of song that leaves the listener feeling they’ve shared in a journey by the end.

The album closes with 'The Devil Again', which effectively comes off as the 'Cards' formula deployed more effectively. A repetitive main structure with flourishes including a filthy keyboard solo and strong chorus. It at once summarises and closes album in a satisfactory way. This album is a worthy follow-up and provides plenty of individual songs to stand up to the likes of 'Mountain Heart' and 'Movements In The Sky' in terms of quality. This band have already delivered a great deal and appear to be scratching the surface in terms of potential.

I believe.

Score: 4/5

Writer: Craig Stewart

Review: Sunshine of Your Love - A Concert for Jack Bruce

Jack Bruce was one of the greatest creative forces in twentieth century popular music, yet even now the true impact of his work is hard to assess. He was far ahead then, and it seems he still is today. Putting aside Cream for a moment, the man's remarkable solo output represents a wide embrace of not just rock but also blues, jazz, folk and classical. To these ears, it is some of the finest music ever committed to vinyl.

This evening a few of us are fortunate enough to witness a special screening of Sunshine Of Your Love, a document of the Jack Bruce tribute concert that took place on 24th October 2015, a year after his passing. Directed by Kyla Simone Bruce, Jack's younger daughter, it's immediately clear that this film was made with much love and care.

When the concert was announced, there were those of us who queried the line-up. Several of the artists selected to perform that night at the Roundhouse didn't appear to have any obvious connection to the music of Jack Bruce. Attending the premiere of the film, it becomes apparent that in many senses this assumption was wrong. 

The film is bookended by two archive clips of Jack performing live. Interestingly, the first is a raw harmonica performance of 'Train Time', a tune he'd first recorded in the mid sixties with Graham Bond, while the latter finds him at the piano for a spellbinding rendition of the timeless 'Theme For An Imaginary Western'. For a fan, this footage is fascinating viewing. But for those who know less of the man, it's a way of giving a glimpse into the kind of versatility he demonstrated throughout his career. 

Nitin Sawhney had the unenviable task of musically directing the entire evening, and it seems he did as well as could be hoped. An event of this nature is almost inevitably going to be scrappy. With the constant changes in personnel, the stage presentation often lacked a clear focus. Still, there was an abundance of esteemed artists from different areas of music, and an impressive array of skilled singers in particular. 

The likes of Mark King, Bernie Marsden, Clem Clempson, Liam Bailey, Uli Jon Roth, Phil Manzanera and Ian Anderson all delivered heartfelt performances. Have I missed any names? Of course I have. Let's not forget Joss Stone's authoritative rendition of 'Never Tell Your Mother She's Out Of Tune'. But for many of us there were two unforgettable contributions that stood out. The first was Ayanna-Witter Johnson's unique reading of 'Rope The Ladder To The Moon'. The second was by Jack's other daughter Natascha, who performs under the name Aruba Red. Her interpretation of the beautiful 'Folk Song' was, well... beautiful.

Let's not dwell on Ginger Baker's awkward appearance, or the fact that neither Jack's lyricist Pete Brown nor his son Malcolm chose to participate. As both Kyla and Natscha made clear in the Q & A session afterwards, their primary aim with both the concert and the film was to highlight some aspects of Jack Bruce's music that have been somewhat overlooked. In this, it's fair to say they succeeded.

Writer: George Colwan

Live & Dangerous: Terry Reid @ Nell's Jazz & Blues

Photographer: M. Godding

Interview: Hällas

Hällas live in London.

On a beautiful, unusually hot and sunny day in April, Born Again's Louise Dornan sits down in the leafy Waterlow Park with the guys from Hällas ahead of their London show.  Settling down 100 yards from Highgate Cemetery - the home to poets, authors, artists, astronomers, free thinkers and philosophers - it seems like a fitting place to delve into the world of the Future Past.

Louise: Ok, welcome to London! I wanted to ask how the rest of this mini-tour has been. What’s the reception been like so far?

Kasper: It’s good, it’s all good.

Alexander: It started in Liège in Belgium and that was the first day of summer there so we started it off. It was a really nice show actually.

Louise: How have the crowds been?

Alexander: They stood a bit far away from the stage, they were shy maybe.

Nicklas: That’s a cultural thing we got to know. That you have to ask them to come to the front or else they stay about five metres away.

Louise: Did they come when you asked?

Nicklas: (laughing) We didn’t ask…

Tommy: We never force anyone to do anything.

Louise: And what about Newcastle last night?

Kasper: It was a bit special, intimate but still not. It felt like we were playing in a classroom. Very clean and very calm.

Louise: Calm people?

All: Yes, really calm.

Nicklas: Something that made me nervous was that here we come and play music when some of our main inspirations are British. We’ve come to play in Britain for the first time and the response was kind of delayed after the songs so I thought maybe they were thinking “who are they to come and play our music.”

Kasper: Some of the audience were wearing Genesis shirts and I thought, “We can’t live up to this.”

Nicklas: But afterwards we got a really good response from people and they were really warm and friendly.

Louise: You’ve had a bit of a sudden rise to fame, especially here. Is there anything in particular you would put that down to?

Marcus: Probably star rider.

Alexander: Fenriz of Darkthrone put us out so a lot of people noticed us then so maybe that helps as well.

Nicklas: But it’s also I think that we are ourselves, could you say that? We don’t play any game, we just are what we are and who we are and maybe people like that.

Tommy: We’re not party animals, we’re calm guys.

It seems like it’s a sudden rise of Hällas but we have put a lot of work into this for many years. We have worked really hard, so many hours and shows in Germany and Sweden, travelling a long way and we’ve worked a lot with the music to make it as good as possible for us to be satisfied with it.

Kasper: And it’s our first album, our first full length, so that’s probably why people got to hear of us.

Nicklas: But we released this EP a couple of years ago and that’s an important step too. Everything you do comes together. So it’s hard to say what exactly.

Alexander: The first EP we didn’t get as much attention, it came more with this album.

Nicklas: But we did get some attention.

Tommy: It took us to Germany.

Louise: To which gigs or festivals in Germany?

Tommy: We played in Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig and also Denmark. And we got to the venues in Sweden where the bigger bands play so we could open for them. So the EP was a good opener for us to get access to play shows and to work more with music and the band.

The bands debut album, Excerpts From A Future Past.

Louise: Just to elaborate on what you said about ‘Star Rider’ – It’s quite different to your other material. Is that something that you did on purpose for any reason?

Nicklas: We just tried to experiment and there was this idea that the others had some kind of riff and then we thought about what would happen if we tried to make some sort of disco-hard rock song. Then when we got the result, we thought, “why not”.

Kasper: We did not think that people would like it. Maybe, but probably not. We were a bit scared.

Tommy: We thought about the old prog bands. They all always did one short song and the rest are longer so we were thinking a little bit about that. It was also a big challenge for us to write a short song.

Kasper: We’re not used to writing verse-chorus-verse-chorus. It’s like our first proper “pop” song.

Nicklas: We wanted to have something more simple because we felt the album material was quite hard to get into. So we thought maybe something lighter to begin with.

Louise: About your lyrics - The concepts are quite mystical and otherworldly on both of the records. Is there any particular literature or other source that inspires them?

Marcus: It all started with the idea I had for the first song on the album ‘The Astral Seer’. I just had that line for a lot of years, “he had walked the earth for a thousand years”. So I had this idea in my head but I don’t know where it came from.

It’s also about a guy being sentenced to death who manages to escape from hell but then lives on forever being chased by all these different demons. I guess somewhere I’ve read about it in Greek mythology; I don’t remember the name right now, maybe Orpheus? He’s going down to hell to get his girlfriend and he’s not allowed to look back so he gets the same fate. Somewhere, I probably had that in my head from school or something.

Louise: Going back in time a little. How did you all come to find each other and find you had musical interests which would combine to create this?

Kasper: It started out in Jönköping where me and Tommy are from. I guess we didn’t know each other but we both wanted to play rock music. We had friends in common and in that way we heard about each other. We played in our friend’s garage for a while and then I moved to Linköping where I met these guys (pointing to Alex and Marcus).

Tommy: Alex first joined the band and we were a four piece from the beginning with another guitarist but he left and then Marcus joined in because Alex and Marcus had played together before in other compilations.

Then we went into the studio after a while to record our first EP. Nicklas was the producer of that record and we felt like that things he laid on the tracks, the organs, the synthesisers, it added a new dimension to the music that we couldn’t be without. So we were forced to force Nicklas into the band.

Marcus: But you said we never force anyone to do anything. (all laughing)

Louise: (to Nicklas) Did it take a lot to talk you around?

Nicklas: No, no. I just felt like there was something with these guys. That this combination was very good and I always wanted to play this kind of music. So it wasn’t a hard decision at all.

Louise: Can you tell me about the best or your favourite live show that you’ve done so far?

All: Roadburn!

Kasper: Two days ago. It was a big crowd and everything was very professional.

Nicklas: I liked the Berlin one last time, it was really good. In Urban Sprefe. There was really good sound and everything.

Tommy: That was the first show in Berlin again since we released the record. But also one of my favourite shows was Stockholm. It was one of the first shows when we had released the new record and it was so crowded. They closed the doors because there were too many people. The response we got from the audience was so unexpected.

Alexander: I was thinking that one too. The reception we got there was so good.

Nicklas: For us to come to Stockholm, we’re from the countryside for them, so it’s like the farmers are coming to town. We didn’t think they’d like us.

Kasper: Stockholm was something completely new for us, it was great.

Alexander: Also Gothenburg. That was the first time we felt the audience really liked us.

Tommy: We’ve done many shows in Gothenburg and the audience there is really true to us. They come back and they show support for us.

Marcus: But we liked the others too, I just wanted to say that.

Louise: On to your classification or genre. What does adventure rock mean to you and your music?

Nicklas: We want to make music that makes you feel like you want to sit on a horse and go out to the world.

Marcus: I think you (to Nicklas) coined the term when we were recording “this sounds like an adventure, this is like adventure rock.”

Tommy: I think it’s also become a lead word in the band. The music should be an adventure for the listener. That also includes the progressive parts. The songs are not the same exactly as an adventure or an adventurous movie. There are ups and downs, it should be very dynamic and that’s the feeling we’re trying to put into our music.

Nicklas: We wanted to make the album almost like a play with side A like act one and side B act two. So we wanted the listener to sit down and listen through just like a movie.

Kasper: I guess you can say that we play a mix of prog rock and heavy metal but were not playing 100% prog rock or 100% heavy metal. It’s more fun to call it something else.

Louise: Have you made any decisions about the music you’ll be recording next or do you just go with the flow?

Marcus: There’s been some planning. We’ve been having meetings. But with music you can never plan anything fully. I guess we’ll have to adapt on where we are as people right now because you cannot just force it.

Alexander: With plans like that, we can say “We should do something like this, it would be cool.” But if it actually comes out that way, that’s another story.

Nicklas: Yeah, it always changes on the way. Nothing turns out the way you plan but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Kasper: As it looks now, we all enjoy the proggier part of the music way more. Until we are supposed to play it live. In song writing it looks like we are going more in that direction now. But we’ll see, maybe we’ll change that.

Tommy: We want to develop ourselves even more and add stuff that we haven’t been doing. Music, it has to be hard for us to do it, a challenge. We have started planning the next record. Not the music, but the story.

Nicklas: We have all of these ideas and some of them we will use when we see fit.

Tommy: We have a lot of music also but we haven’t started to put it together.

Louise: That’s pretty much it, but I’d like for each of you to recommend an album for your fans to check out. Preferably one that’s had a big impact on the music you make.

Tommy: I think the Trespass album by Genesis was really an opener for me to go into the more progressive part of music. I really loved that album when I first heard it and I listened a lot to it. I think the story telling parts of that album and the soundscaping and how they build music is something I’ve taken into me and tried to add to Hällas.

Alexander: I can say, Zarathustra by Museo Rosenbach because it’s a prog band but it’s also really rocking and straightforward as well, kind of like our record. It’s not that progressive like maybe Genesis or something. So if you like our record then you should check that out because it’s even better (laughing).

Kasper: Maybe Crises by Mike Oldfield if you’re tired of rock. It’s a good poppy album but also with a proggier side.

Nicklas: I cannot say one album but probably something with Depeche Mode, something from the late 80s and early 90s perhaps. Music for the Masses maybe.

Marcus: I’d say for this music it’s probably Rush, 2112. Yeah, I’ll say that one.

Take a look here for some photos of the Hällas gig later that night in The Lounge and be sure to check them out at any and all of their upcoming dates via www.hallasband.com.  We’ll see you down the front at the Muskelrock show!

Photography: Charis Bagioki
Writer: Louise Dornan

Live Review: High Spirits, Züül & Heavy Sentence @ The Black Heart, Camden

Do You Remember seeing high-energy rockers High Spirits hit the Black Heart stage back in 2013? The venue was near to empty but High Spirits didn't fail to deliver a high-powered set as always. Since then, the Chicago based lads have gained a loyal following and return tonight joined by Züül and Heavy Sentence as they attempt to make this Wednesday night, feel like a Saturday. 

First-up tonight are Manc-metallers Heavy Sentence- a band who I've been eager to catch for some time after hearing nothing but positive reviews. From the first riff, they're already executing lashings of energy as they get the entire room buzzing within minutes - heads nod with approval and to the heavy groove infused riffs. With initial vibes of total Motorhead worship, the band go on to show that they're also more than this as they deliver a tight set packed full of grit with each band member's unique style shining through. Vocals are reminiscent of a cross between Tom G Warrior and Lemmy at his roughest. They work seamlessly with a raw, punk edge and a large handful of killer, classic heavy metal melodies and solos. Heavy Sentence definitely made a fan out of many Londoners tonight; it's thrilling to witness a new band with such energy. Be sure to get your hands on the band's EP Protector/Darkest Hour- you won't be disappointed.

After a short break, the room packs out for Züül. Consisting of 2 members of High Spirits, there's  high hopes. If ever there was a front man to demand attention, it's Brett Battaeu with his smooth, confident vocal and sassy stage presence. He feels every note played tonight and the musicianship and intense connection between each band member is evident. Züül's heavy metal back bone is met with a rough edge through both image and sound. Much like High Spirits their intensity lifts the crowd as classic heavy rock riffs are matched up with a hard, pounding rhythm section. A band you could very much imagine on a grand stage.

The Black Heart has never had such a positive, uplifting vibe as it does for tonight's show and as we wait for Chris Black and his band to take the stage, it's true to say that never has a band been so aptly named as High Spirits.

The moment they step on stage the crowd are quite literally lifted as the atmosphere bounces. It's so great to see a busy room full of pumping fists, banging heads, sing-a-longs and quite strangely- a mini 'mosh pit'. Making their way through a set made up of tracks from across their discography including favourites 'You Make Love Impossible', 'Full Power', 'When the Lights Go Down', 'Another Night In the City' and of course 'High Spirits' ... to name but a few. Chris modestly encourages the crowd to join in with his effortlessly great and instantly recognisable vocals as the band's musicianship and on-stage banter adds to the happy- but not sappy- mood in the room.

High Spirits pull off another night full of authentic, high-powered heavy metal and this time filling up the Black Heart on a Wednesday night - this doesn't go unnoticed by Chris and the rest of the band. High Spirits could play London every week, and I'd still attend, each and every time.

Score: 5/5

Photography: Antonio Filis

Writer: Kayleigh MG

Live & Dangerous: Hällas @ The Lounge, Archway

 

For more info please visit www.hallasband.com or Facebook

Photography: Charis Bagioki