Review : Pale Divine – Painted Windows Black

If you’ve ever read this blog before, there are probably two things you might have figured out: first, I love doom metal, the classic kind of doom, the one with big groovy riffs, melodies and competent singers. Second, I love Shadow Kingdom Records, which is almost a consequence of the first statement. But that love is not blind, it’s not just a sentimental thing or a “doctrine” of loving small underground labels. It’s simply based on the quality of the records the label puts out; and the unbelievable amount of bands they made me discover (remember this? This? Or this?).

And yet, when I recieved this new record by Pale Divine, I didn’t get too excited. The thing is, I never really was a big fan of the band, and I never really got into their previous album, “Cemetary Earth” that came out 5 years ago on I Hate Records. To me, that record was just too academic although very well composed and played.

And I’m going to be get straight to the point here; Painted Windows Black is much better than it’s predecessor. Pale Divine has evolved, definitely in the right direction, they sound more powerful and more diverse. In fact, Pale Divine is not just a classic doom band anymore, call it whatever you want, their music is somewhere in between Doom, Heavy Metal and Progressive Rock.

And that fact is immediately demonstrated when first track “Nocturne Dementia” strikes; this instrumental masterpiece is one hell of a way to start a record, and I don’t know many bands capable of hooking you up that way with an instrumental. Everything here is perfectly executed and balanced. You’ve got the riffs, the leads, the big heavy sound and some tremendous melodic parts. Man that melodic break at 3 minutes is just PURE EXSTASY!

Anyways, after such an opener, everything is much easier, Pale Divine display their fantastic skills, playing some awesome slow-paced and Melodic Metal. The songs are epic, each musician is technically perfect (the power-trio line-up probably has to do with the band’s intrinsic groove), and singer Greg Diener stands out with his powerful and melodic voice. This guy is probably one of the band’s most improved elements by the way.

My personal favorites here are “Angel Of Mercy”, “Shadow Soul”, and of course the killer opener “Nocturne Dementia”. In fact, this fantastic record only displays a few flaws that a friend of mine pointed out. The guy found the songs a little bit too long and he thought that the music lacked feeling… And I need to admit he’s somewhat right. Some songs are a bit too long and the record would have been even stronger with a few faster and shorter pure Heavy Metal songs (the record is also pretty lengthy itself: 70 minutes of pounding Doom Metal might discourage some people). And yes, the music lacks a bit of spontaneity; but that goes with the progressive edge, everything is so nicely composed here… Bottom line is Pale Divine just needs to let it go from time to time and throw in a headbanging Metal hymn that would be an instant hit.

"The Prophet", taken from Painted Windows Black

Theses little flaws considered, I’m not going to change my opinion about that fantastic record that I just love listening to, everyday, over and over again. It’s great to see Pale Divine evolve in such an exciting direction!

See now why I love Shadow Kingdom Records? And more from that label is coming up very soon…

Yath – 8/10

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pale-Divine/124093500958716

http://paledivineband.com/

http://shadowkingdomrecords.com/

COVEN, PAGAN ALTAR & ALTAR OF OBLIVION: Why SHADOW KINGDOM RECORDS will make your summer heavier

If you’ve read some of my blogs before you know that already: I firmly believe that “small” and specialized labels are the most interesting source of Metal records. 

Don’t get me wrong; I’ve got nothing against important labels such as Roadrunner, Century Media, Metal Blade or Nuclear Blast… I actually buy some of their chunky “limited edition” CDs every single month (you know, the ones that come in big shiny digipacks with useless “making of” bonus DVDs).

The thing is, these important companies do not (and probably CANNOT) have a specific and clear artistic orientation, as they must enlarge their audience as much as possible. Specialized labels however select their artists according to one very simple thing: their boss's taste! That’s why it’s most of the time a completely passion-driven and authentic decision. In fact, after following some labels for a while, I feel that I know their bosses almost personally, because I understand completely their musical tastes, just by listening to their releases. Awesome right? And so old-school: you don't need to listen to a CD before buying it, with these labels, you know just exactly what to expect!

And yes: as you might have guessed already, Shadow Kingdom Records if one of those passion-driven labels. Their specialty is Heavy Metal, with a particular attraction for obscure and doomy stuff. This Pittsburgh-USA based label have made me discover some amazing new bands, like Argus, Sinister Realm, or Crowned In Earth, it has brought back from the dead the mighty Iron Man and it has reissued some hidden gems from the past like Deep Switch, Wolfbane, Revelation and so many more!

This summer, there are 3 Shadow Kingdom Released you need to check out if you’re into Heavy Metal or Heavy/Doom stuff. And the first one I want to tell you about is also the strangest one. Coven have reformed under the name Coven 13 recently. Probably because of the other 256 bands called Coven around the globe.

This US Heavy Metal band has existed quite briefly in the late 80’s, with only one official release, an LP called “Worship New Gods”. Back in the day, the band self-released it on vinyl only and split-up shortly after. And guess what, it’s now re-released on CD by Shadow Kingdom in a remastered version with a booklet including a bunch of old photos! Seriously, where the hell does Shadow Kingdom Records find these bands??!! Release after release, SKR's  boss shows to be one of the finest Heavy Metal connoisseurs in the world.

Coven sounds pretty much like a typical US-Heavy Metal band, with the sharp riffs and the taste for doomy atmospheres. Some might even classify it as “Heavy/Doom” which pretty much illustrates the global feeling of this record. I also must insist on the old-school taste of this one, just look at the artwork, the band photos and some details. The first song starts with a clear statement as singer David Landrum says “The Gods Made Men, Men Made Steel!”. Now that is HEAVY! I also love the old-fashionned effects in the beginning of “The Wicked Day” and “Loki”. 
This release may seem a little strange at first, as it took me some time to get into it, maybe because of the high-pitched vocals that sometimes get out of control. But when it did click, I really started to enjoy it, especially some songs like the aforementioned “The Wicked Day”, “Ruler” or even “Burial Ground” and “Jailhouse”. Another thing I like about this record is that I never really heard anything like it before... Some songs have a strange and very marked Gothic vibe like “Kiss Me With Blood” or “Threshold Of The New” (this one is like The Cure meet Heavy Metal!!). Last track “Loki” is also very original with a very unusual -not to say weird- structure and chorus.

Trust me, this release is not just a rarity destined to a few Metal archeologists, as it sounds like nothing you’ve heard before, although a bit “dated” maybe, but hey, that’s totally part of it’s charm!

Second summer release on Shadow Kingdom is another rarity reedition, only this time around it’s by a much more famous band: Pagan Altar. "The Time Lord" had only been released on vinyl a few years ago and Shadow Kingdom brings it to you for the first time on CD. These tracks are the very first recordings by the band, done in 1978 and 1979, so yes; this is another historical release.

I personally love this kind of very early Heavy Metal, still filled with hard-rock vibes and tons of BLUES. The feeling these guys have is just amazing, and it’s unbelievable that this band has been ignored for so long (although formed in the late 70s, their first official recording was released in 1998!). There are 5 songs on that release for a total running time of 32 minutes. The songs tend to be a little long, with multiple developments, essentially led by Alan Jones (accompanied by Les Moody on the songs “The Time Lord” and “Highway Cavalier”) who does a fantastic job on the guitars (both acoustic and electric). 

The song “The Time Lord” is truly one of my favorites on this EP, with it’s 8 minutes of pure transcendental pleasure. “Judgment Of The Dead” is heavier, and really sounds like many of the “doom” bands you might know from our actual era (Glen Robinson’s bass also gives me the chills on that one). “The Black Mass” has a darker feeling, still filled with blues and some HEAVY riffing! Really impressive stuff for a song composed in the late 70s. And that's when I realized that Pagan Altar could have been a real alternative for Black Sabbath, who are considered like the Godfathers of Heavy Music in general. History is sometimes so cruel… Last track “Reincarnation” is also a tremendous one, with a beautiful acoustic beginning that develops into one heavy and epic song. Terry Jone’s vocals are nothing short of impressive: full of blues and emotion. This EP is clearly an instant classic. What more can I say? As usual with SKR, the CD comes with a new and fantastic artwork.

The last SKR release on the menu today isn’t another hidden treasure. Grand Gesture Of Defiance is Altar Of Oblivion’s second LP. And as the bio on the SKR website says, this is probably the best Heavy Metal band to come out from Denmark since Mercyful Fate. Altar Of Oblivion are however quite different from their famous predecessors, as their sound is much heavier and “doomier”. The guitar-sound is very thick and the guys have got a Scandinavian approach to their Heavy/Doom (this label perfectly fits the band): everything is so bombastic and operatic here. Just look at the artwork, the song titles and even the style of the booklet. Of course, the very demonstrative vocals also totally reflect that. It’s even clearly specified on the last page of the booklet (awesome artwork by the way); Mik Mentor doesn’t just handle vocals, he’s in charge of the “Stentorian Narration & Ars Melancholia”. There you go!

Music-wise, this is some pretty classic stuff, extremely well performed and composed, with crazy riffing all over it, some killer melodies, and a few Mellotron parts here and there. The production is just perfect; very heavy yet organic and all the instruments sound natural. The Danish usually master the art of Metal production, so this is no surprise at all. The first track “Where Darkness Is Light” is really a strong opener, that will dive you into the record and that displays the band’s talent instantly. However, I absolutely love the second track, “the Graveyard Of Broken Dreams” because of its fantastic chorus and the melodic break in the middle of it. The other highlight of the record is the very heavy “Sentenced In Absentia”, preceded by the acoustic “The Smoke-Filled Room”. Again, nothing fundamentally new here, but these guys sure know what Heavy & Doom means…

All in all I really enjoyed listening to this record, because albeit being pretty classical in its approach, the band manages to show a unique personality, with a specific concept, a deep melancholia and an operatic attitude that does make a difference.

These 3 releases are equally awesome, each one of them being different and special in it’s own way. If you’re into the SKR stuff, then just do what you usually do, trust the label and get these releases. If you are a metal archeologist interested by bizarre and original stuff check out Coven, if you like your Heavy filled with blues then you must get that Pagan Altar EP. Finally, if you're into Heavy/Doom Metal, then Altar Of Oblivion is a band you absolutely have to check out!

As for me, I just can’t pick-up a favorite; I’ve been playing these records one after the other for the past few days…

Yath

http://shadowkingdomrecords.com/

Interview with Sinister Realm's John Shamus Gaffney

I know I keep repeating this, but I can't help it, The Crystal Eye, Sinister Realm's second album is one of my favorite albums of 2011. A classic Heavy Metal record, with 8 classic songs, each one of them being special and memorable in its own way. The Crystal Eye is an outstanding record produced by a pretty underground band and released on a specialized label (Shadow Kingdom Record), and it deserves all your attention. I recently conducted a short interview with band leader John Gaffney, a renown bassist and composer of the American Heavy Metal scene. These few words are about Music, Passion, Hard-Wrok and of course, HEAVY METAL. (You can read the french version of this interviwe on NOISEWEB)

John, my first question is about the band's lineup. 2 musicians have changed can you tell me more about the changes?

Our original drummer Darin McCloskey was with me from the beginning of the band but Darin landed up moving and it put him rather far away from where we practice and play most of our gigs, as the band got busier and busier it was more and more difficult for Darin to make rehearsals so he decided to leave and concentrate on his other band Pale Divine who are very successful and respected in their own right.  Darin and I are still very close friends and I speak with him all the time.  Our original guitar player was asked to leave because we were just unable to work together peacefully.  Our new guitar player's name is John Risko who is well known in our area as one of the best guitar players, so as soon as we needed a new guitarist I thought of him first.  Chris Metzger our drummer also has a reputation in our town as one of the best and he really brought his own unique style to the band and were very happy to have these guys on board.

The Crystal Eye is your second album and I found it much stronger than the first one. Were you guys conscious of that while you were composing and recording it?  

Thanks, I don't think I really knew how good this album was until we started recording it, as the songs started to come together I began thinking "Wow..this is really good" and I felt pretty confident that it was a step forward from the first CD, which I was also very happy with.  When we recorded the first CD we had never played those songs live but with the new album we had the chance to play all these songs out a bunch of times and that really helped the songs grow and become tighter, so all of us were feeling really good about these songs when we entered the studio, when we heard the final results we were very pleased.

How dis you guys compose? Together in a same room or do you exchange the ideas progressively?

I write all the music and lyrics for the band.  What I do is I demo everything out on my computer with a drum machine and me laying down rough tracks for the other guys to hear and then we get together and bash it out in the practice room and that's where the other guys will put their stamp on the songs. Every guy in Sinister Realm has their own unique style and elements that they bring to the table that help to create our sound.

I also want to congratulate your singer, Alex. His performance is amazing! He seemed to have worked pretty hard...

Alex did an amazing job on this record.  What a lot of people don't realize is that the first CD was written mostly with just me and our original drummer Darin with no proper vocalist, when we decided to get more serious about things and record a proper demo that’s when we got Alex into the band.  For this album, the band had already been playing for a while so when I was writing the new songs I had Alex's style of singing in my mind, I knew his strengths and really wrote to them.  I also think that Alex has become more comfortable interpreting my ideas and lyrics, he really knows what I'm after and does a brilliant job of brining the songs to life.

I also noticed that the record conceived like a “classic”: the length is ideal (45 mins). You have included fast songs, one very epic closer, an instrumental, a power-ballad, a slower song, a heavy one, the solos, the bass solos...It’s all on The Crystal Eye!

Thanks again… Well, that's how I like to put things together, I think of the "big picture" so to speak when I write an album, I'm very aware of trying to create a flow and feel to the record.  It's very important to me to take the listener on a journey.  I've always loved albums that you could put headphones on and listen to from beginning to end.  I'm old fashioned and even think in vinyl record terms.  I imagine what would be the first and last songs on each side of a record.  For instance, the song "The Crystal Eye" would be the end of side one and "The Tower is Burning" is a perfect album closer.

What are your favorite classic records by the way? 

British Steel-Judas Priest, Piece of Mind-Iron Maiden, Blizzard of Oz- Ozzy, Heaven and Hell- Black Sabbath, Holy Diver- Dio., Epicus Doomicus Metallicus-Candlemass.  Those are what I consider to be some of the greatest metal albums ever and they were and still are very influential to me.

There is some sort of "heavy metal revival" thing going on. It started with specialized labels like Shadow Kingdom Records and some forums, and now some big labels are signing traditional heavy metal bands...You feel you belong to this scene?  

Yeah, I think so.  I consider us to be a traditional metal band and I am very proud of that, our influences are very much from the classic metal years from 1980 to about 1984.  There are of course lots of other great years for metal but those years especially mean a lot to me and the guys in the band.  We like to believe that we are defending the flag for classic metal here in the United States.

You personally have been doing this for years, (the Pale Divine period), how does it feel to see this little "hype" going on? 

It feels good, very good, that's why we do what we do in the hopes that people will like it and say that our music means something to them, so when we get positive feedback from people, whether it's in a review, an email or on a forum we feel very proud.  We really believe in what we do and work hard at it. Heavy Metal means a lot to Sinister Realm and we take it very seriously.

Do you think it's a good opportunity for Sinister Realm? 

I think so, there is a lot going on for us right now and we are trying to make the best of every opportunity that comes our way.  With the recent "Heavy metal revival" as you put it we feel we are in a position to really make a name for ourselves, we want to just keep working hard and putting out the best music we can and hopefully the rest will fall into place for us.

How far do you think you can take the band? I think you guys have a huge potential. You have the songs, people seem to be demanding that style of Metal, you have a fantastic reputation on stage.

I hope that the band can just keep growing and getting bigger and bigger, so we are ready to take it as far as we can.  We want to keep moving up and hopefully we can land a recording contract with one of the big labels in the near future and we can get the opportunity to take our show to the big stages around the world.

What are your plans on the short and mid-term? 

Playing more gigs, especially more gigs out of our town, maybe do some touring and especially try to get over to Europe.  I've already started putting ideas together for our next record, which I want to be even more epic and another step forward in the songwriting department.  Basically are plans are to just keep pushing forward and getting better and reaching more and more people.

Any chance to see you guys on stage in Europe? 

I hope so! That is one of our big goals to get over to Europe and play in front of as many metal heads as we can, right now we are just trying to find the right person who can make that happen for us, so any promoters out there reading this drop us a line please, we're ready to go!