Nightwish -- 'Once' [review]

Nightwish
\"Once\"
Roadrunner Records


Though Nightwish's latest offering, "Once," has been available for months overseas, it is finally seeing release stateside via Roadrunner Records.

The follow-up to the band's successful 2002 release "Century Child," is already a hit in Europe -- "Once" has been certified platinum in Germany (sales in excess of 200,000 copies) and double-platinum in the group\'s native Finland (sales in excess of 60,000). The group\'s latest single off "Once," "Wish I Had an Angel," entered the Finnish charts at number one, and the group headlining hometown performance at the Helsinki Icehall sold out in one day (all 6,000 tickets).

Not bad for a little band out of Finland.

But, can the success translate into the American market?

The band was snatched up by Roadrunner Records, no doubt, due in part to the wildly successful Lacuna Coil (on Century Media). Though some may argue, the success of Lacuna Coil was probably due to the success of Evanescence last year (it should be pointed out, Lacuna Coil and Nightwish each have a solid catalogue and had been making music for years prior to Evanescence's inception). Times are good for rock/metal outfits headed by female singers.

But, while Evanesence is readily accessible to fans of rock and pop, and Lacuna Coil can be enjoyed by fans of metal and rock, Nightwish is a little harder to place. The band fuses a solid offering of European metal (read: heavily orchestrated, elaborate, epic in scope and usually catchy) fused with orchestral vocals courtesy of frontwoman Tarja Turunen (who is trained in classical singing).

The group is rounded out by Tuomas Holopainen (who wrote all the songs on the album) on keys and piano, drummer Jukka Nevalainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen and bassist Marco Hietala (who also trades vocals on some of the tracks with Turunen a la Lacuna Coil).

The vocals range from straightforward singing to operatic offering. When Turunen's voice is more muted there is a definite "accent" to the sound (usually it's rare to notice something like that when musicians sing in English). Hietala's offerings, while few, do nicely offset Turunen's sometimes overblown vocals.

The songs have a hint of metal to them, but the band overall sounds more like a soundtrack to a medieval novel.

Most of the tracks on "Once" are tight, metal offerings with a twist. There are a few exceptions: the lengthy "Creek Mary's Blood" (clocking in just under nine minutes), the epic "Ghost Love Score" (nearly 10 minutes in length) and the haunting "Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan" (translated roughly to "a death creates an artist") sung in the band's native language. Listening to "Ghost Love Score" feels like watching something like "Lord of the Rings," there's an air of medieval magic to the song. Heavily orchestrated, the song flies by and hardly sounds as long as it is.

"Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan" sounds like something taken out of a Broadway musical or movie soundtrack -- very different for a metal band to be offering up.

"White Night Fantasy" and "Live to Tell the Tale" are bonus tracks for the U.S. release of "Once." The disc also features the video for "Wish I Had an Angel." Turunen recently spent time in Finland recording two traditional Finnish Christmas songs for her first-ever solo CD single, due in Finland in December, so I\'m not sure how much longer the singer plans to stay with Nightwish.

So, who would have thought there was a way to mesh metal and opera? Normally such an undertaking would fall flat, but Nightwish pull it off nicely. It may not be album of the year, but "Once" is worth the purchase.

Mastodon -- 'Leviathan' [review]

Mastodon
"Leviathan"
Relapse Records


Every once in a while a band comes along that demands people stand up and take notice.

Mastodon is one of those bands.

Yet, it's clear that the means to get music fans to take notice of this band is escaping people. There's a slight buzz hovering around the band in metal circles at the moment (those that don't already sing the band's praises). The sticker on the groups latest offering suggests a mix of older Metallica and Rush, but that's not it at all.

At its heart, Mastodon is a metal band, but it's impossible to stick that one-word "label" on it and even come close to what the band is creating: a brutal mix of metal, southern, sludgey rock (a la Clutch or Corrosion of Conformity) and mind-bending, complex, technical music mastery.

There's so many layers to the band's sound, hearing each song time after time is a continuous journey of discovery. Within the confines of each track, which range in length from two to four minutes with one whopping 13 plus minute song, the band throws multiple time changes out, morphing from one style to the next, without missing a beat.

Mastodon drummer Brann Dailor is a venerable beast behind the kit, leaving listeners' heads spinning with the various fills and breakdowns from moment to moment. Troy Sanders works off Dailor nicely. Rarely following the guitarists, he lays down tracks that accompany the drumming to the fullest. Guitarist/vocalists Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher play off each other tremendously, with solid, heavy riffing that can give way to melodic interludes while still maintaining a certain air of urgency that propels the music forward throughout the album. The vocals are the final piece to this complex puzzle. And, while it's safe to say of any band, the vocals are as important to the Mastodon sound as any instrumentation -- they drift from husky groans to deathly screams to straight-forward rocking prose in the least jarring of fashion.

The album itself seems loosely based on the tale of Moby Dick, right down to the cover art and song titles ("I Am Ahab," "Seabeast"). But, much like the book, the tales woven through the songs can be taken at many different levels -- like Ahab, we all have our own beast to track down.

The album explodes from the get-go with "Blood and Thunder." Dailor immediately goes to work with his intricate drumming and never seems to let up. Clutch's Neil Fallon shows up on this track to add his own flair to the vocals. And later on, Scott Kelly (he of Neurosis) helps out on vocals during "Aqua Dementia."

The complex nature of the music works two-fold here: a song like "I Am Ahab," that clocks in at a little under three minutes, feels like an epic, while "Hearts Alive," the nearly 14 minute masterpiece, seemingly goes by in the blink of an eye. Hinds and Kelliher's genre-bending riffing throughout this song (and the album as a whole) is one of the group's many spotlights.

It's clear, in the end, the only thing the band really needs for anyone and everyone to stand up and take notice, is for only a few seconds of time, a few bars of a song, a moment in your life ... just to hear the littlest output from the band ... and you'll be hooked. That is all it will take for you to see the brilliance hiding, packaged in this "metal band."

Kittie -- 'Until the End' [review]

Kittie
"Until the End"
Artemis Records


Somewhere along the way they got lost...

In the fall of '99, a rumbling came from the great white north -- an all-female (teen) metal band from Ontario under the moniker of Kittie. The band was getting constant mention with the likes of Slipknot on commercial radio and, by the time their debut album "Spit" hit shelves in January of 2000, there was a steady enough buzz surrounding the band to warrant stardom.

But the teen trio seemed unable to live up to the task.

After steady touring in support of "Spit" the band lost guitarist and secondary vocalist Fallon Bowman (leaving frontwoman Morgan Lander to handle all guitar and vocal work). The band soldiered on a three-piece for its second offering, "Oracle." But for everything "Spit" was -- metal meets heavy punk with a one-two punch of screeching vocals and melodic singing -- "Oracle" was not.

Gone was the musical hybrid the band had embraced and crafted nicely with its debut ... replaced almost entirely with death metal and chunky riffs.

Gone was the vocal range of the band's lyrical delivery ... not only was Bowman no longer on hand to deliver vocal "comebacks," but Lander had all but abandoned her melodic singing, preferring instead to gutturally growl throughout the disc except for spots here and there. (To be fair, this was not a new development as the band performed using the death-metal vocals prior to the release of "Oracle" and could almost be seen as a natural progression.)

In the end, this second offering did nothing to expand the band's fan base. In fact, if anything, it pushed the members further into a corner. Bassist Talena Atfield quietly bowed out of the group and the Lander sisters (the band featured Morgan's sister Mercedes on drums) were left alone in their musical playpen. The duo recruited bassist Jennifer Arroyo (formerly of LA underground metal-rap outfit Spine) and soldiered on.

A lengthy lawsuit with label Artemis Records took up most of the band's time in the later half of 2003. The suit was eventually settled and the band spent a month holed-up at Longview Farm Studios in Massachusetts hammering out the tracks that were to finally become "Until the End." The band also welcomed guitarist Lisa Marie into its fold and is once again a quartet.

So after a nearly three year wait, is "Until the End" everything fans could hope for and more? In short, no.

After all the history, Kittie really does seem to just be a toy for the Lander sisters to play with. (All songs were written by Morgan Lander, melody, lyrics and guitar riffs, while Mercedes had a hand in "additional arrangement" on six songs and Arroyo on two. Marie was added towards the end of recording and it isn't clear how much part, if any, she had one this album.)

"Spit" seemed raw and the band seemed to show some sort of promise. But instead of developing into a formidable band with direction, the trio floundered around in the death metal pool for its follow-up and, on its third full-length (there was an EP to follow each album), the band continues to feel directionless and unformed pulling in elements from each of the previous albums.

The addition of "scene" veteran Arroyo helps in some respect. She is able to form the songs and add a nice back-beat to keep things somewhat on track. The band's "sound" does seem more fleshed out, production-wise, from the opening of the first song "Look So Pretty." But Morgan's vocals just seem to lack that certain something evident in fellow female growlers like Angela Gossow of Arch Enemy. Maybe it's the switching between the death metal growl and the melodic singing (which she does pull off with haunting success). Or maybe she just lacks something in the death metal delivery.

Speaking of the vocal switching, it's back in full-effect on "Until the End," and is actually quite welcome as "Oracle" just felt overbearing with the lack of melody. On the album's title track, Morgan remains rooted almost entirely in the melodic vocal delivery, and it pays off as this is probably the disc's best song.

On the guitar front, all the riffing sounds more full than anything the band offered up prior (again, probably due in part to the production). The riffing on tracks like "Red Flag" and "Career Suicide" sounds great.

As for the real star of the band, Mercedes has continued to develop as a drummer and it really shows. The back-beats throughout the album are meaty and energized. In interviews, staff working on the production side of things at Longview pointed out Mercedes could pound out track after track in perfect time without any aid. The drumming on each and every song is something to behold and definitely the star of "Until the End."

Northstar -- 'Pollyanna' [review]

Northstar
"Pollyanna"
Triple Crown Records

"And operator, I can't hold much longer ..."
-- From "To My Better Angel"


For Northstar, it\'s been a long journey from the local music scene in and around Alabama from its 1997 inception to its place on the national music scene and current release, "Pollyanna."

The band gained attention when Taking Back Sunday declared the group the "greatest band in the world" in the liner notes of the band's debut "Tell All Your Friends" in 2002. The praise was used in the marketing of Northstar's debut "Is This Thing Loaded" later that same year.

Whether or not you agree with the praise, Northstar are out to prove it just may be true with its latest release.

Kicking off with "For Members Only," a fast-tempo rocker similar to the opener of "Is This Thing...," Northstar immediately grab hold of the listener with its trademark sound. The production is noticeably better this time around. While the band, in general, focus on a generic sound (strong rock music, catchy lyrics and choruses for the most part), it does it extremely well. Lead singer Nick Torres has a particularly distinctive voice and delivery, almost dreamy and slightly slurred with an element of snotty punk vocals but also probably due to his southern dialect.

Whereas "Is This Thing..." started off strong and sort of petered out mid-way through the album (where it almost all started to sound the same or, at least, less inspired), "Pollyanna" starts off with a bang and just gets better and better.

The title track follows up the opener with a strong guitar opening from Tyler Odom. Odom lays a nice hypnotic riff under the verses of the song before the song explodes into the chorus. Musically, during the chorus, the band's tight trades are fully evident, showing it pays to tour relentlessly to polish your craft.

"American Living" is also great musically, while "Pornographers Daughter" shows off the band's haunting backing vocals, specifically the hollow "This is not for me..." The later also features some really interesting guitar play especially after the first chorus.

But while the album rocks out track after track, the band also throws in a couple of slower songs. "Accident Underwater" starts off slow and hypnotizingly melodic with some nice drumming from Gabe Renfroe before flourishing into a full-bore rock track at its conclusion. On the flip side, "Two Zero Zero" starts off slow and stays that way, a haunting acoustic number showing the band can strip down at times without loosing the spark most of the other songs have.

Following the slower two-song intermission, the band offers up a hard-hitting one-two punch, and the strongest tracks on the album, "To My Better Angel" and "Between Horns and Halos."

"To My Better Angel" is completely jarring following the lullaby-like "Two Zero Zero." Renfroe sounds frenzied behind the drums while bassist Jake Fisher lays a nice, subtle underbeat. The lyrics are some of the album's more interesting, talking about trying to get out of a small town, and follow through throughout the song: Torres starts off with a refrain of "So if anybody talks of me, tell them I am never coming home again. Tell them I am gone..." while begging the operator to hurry since he can't wait much longer, but by the end of the track the music becomes more frenzied and the lead singer snarls, "So if anybody talks of me, tell them I'll be gone forever without these scars that are completely invisible."

The smart lyrics continue on "Between Horns and Halos," the perfect song to really see how smart the band's writing can be. The opening lines "Looking out of a second floor window, planning out my exit wound" directly juxtapose the same theme later in the verse, "Trying on a makeshift halo, kissing on my exit wound." The idea of alienation with a lover isn't just presented, but almost drawn like an artist:

"She felt so cold, so cold,
She froze under the sheets while I slept all day...
She will sleep here
In between the cracks
Just a flower with a broken back
'Waiting for dirty water'
Did you sleep alright?
She's giving beat stares from being beat all day
Indian eyes in the American way
'Hail Mary's' and ale ... A Hailed Mary that ails..."


(The juxtapose of Hail Mary's and eventual hailed Mary is especially thought-provoking.)

Not content to let the album slide to a halt, the band offers up two more rocking tracks, "Digital Me," the disc most hard-hitting track, and "Rocket City."

Closing out with "Rocket City," the band continues the album's overall theme of alienation, and feeling trapped living in small-town America: opening with the track "For Members Only"; lines in "American Living" like "things don't get much better than this ... life doesn't get much bigger than this," and "Just teach me something so I can go"; the theme throughout "To My Better Angel"; and closing with the echoing lines of "Rocket City," "If I stay here I'll be dying forever.\"

Ultimately, "Pollyanna" offers up what, at first, is just a solid rock album with great vocals and lyrics. With each listen the songs become more poignant and thoughtful, and eventually the album's full theme comes into focus. There isn't a weak song on here and the album is well-worth checking out.

Walls of Jericho -- 'All Hail the Dead' [review]

Walls of Jericho
"All Hail The Dead"
Trustkill Records


Of the slew of female-fronted metal bands -- bands like Kittie, Otep and Arch Enemy to name a few -- Walls of Jericho, really stand out from the pack. Unlike other frontwomen who can either switch the metal on or off -- fluctuating between the hardcore and death metal growl or the more feminine singing -- Walls lead singer Candace Kucsulain can tear through track after track in full hardcore mode while still maintaining the slight femininity in her voice which is a great touch.

The band -- Kucsulain, bassist Aaron Ruby, drummer Alexei Rodriguez (formerly of Catharsis) and guitarists Chris Rawson and Mike Hasty -- has been a staple on the hardcore scene for a couple of years now. The band toured relentlessly following the release of its Trustkill debut, "The Bound Feed the Gagged," and really established itself on the scene. "All Hail the Dead" is set to further the band's legacy and does a great job at doing just that.

From the opening title-track, it's clear WoJ is tighter and stronger than ever. Ruby's machine-gun like bass work teamed with Rodriguez' double-bass drumming is relentless, allowing the listener little time to come up for air as Kucsulain tears through her vocals. The same goes for the follow-up, "There's No I in Fuck You," which unfolds as a perfect hardcore anthem with thudding beats and scratchy vocals.

"A Little Piece of Me" has a little thrash metal element mixed into the overall sound, and Rodriguez' drumming really shines as he never misses a beat tearing through fill after fill. The band shows hints of old-school Slayer at times and Kucsulain's vocals really blossom into an anger-filled amalgam.

There's a changeup vocally on tracks four and five, "Another Anthem For The Hopeless" and "Revival Never Goes Out Of Style," with Kucsulain adding in some more melodic backing vocals. That adds a nice element to the band's sound that might prove interesting if incorporated more into the band's sound. "Revival" also has a great sing-a-long chorus that features the whole band joining in on backing vocals towards the end of the track.

"All Hail..." unfolds, the tracks start to feel a little repetitive. The band seems unwilling to change it up too much, but the quality of the musicianship and vocals keep everything from becoming boring.

Rodriguez' drumming is, hands down, the star of this release. Everything else seems built up around his skills. Kucsulain's voice is great for hardcore singing -- the backing melody is haunting and the subtle female nuance is definitely a plus. The band's vocalist is also aware of the group's place in the hardcore scene and how important the scene is to fans -- as she points out at the Trustkill Web-site: "What is important to me about our band's music is what is a common thread throughout the hardcore scene. Hardcore's aggression has been appealing to me ... because when I was younger I was an angry kid, and I was having to deal with the emotions that life forces on you. This band becomes a way for me to vent, even now."

At times, "All Hail..." feels a little repetitive, but overall it's a solid release chock full of tight, intense music.

Melissa Auf Der Maur -- 'Auf Der Maur' [review]

Melissa Auf Der Maur
"Auf Der Maur"
Capitol Records


It's hard for a musician to shed the restraints of their band and blossom into a full-fledged solo artist after handling mainly instrumental duties in a band.

Dave Grohl went on to front Foo Fighters after drumming for Nirvana.

Phil Collins started off as the drummer for Genesis before fronting said band and eventually going solo.

Jerry Cantrell was the guitarist for Alice in Chains before trying his hand at a solo career,

And now, after a nearly two year wait, Melissa Auf Der Maur's debut album is finally seeing the light of day.

Moving to the United States in 1994, Auf Der Maur played bass in Hole for 5 years and followed that up with a final album and farewell tour with Smashing Pumpkins. There were hints -- most notably her backing vocals during the time in Hole -- that there was more to Auf Der Maur than just a bass player and a pretty face. So in 2001, the musician began the process of putting together her first solo-album.

According to Auf Der Maur (via her Web site), "The songwriting took place over the last decade. For creative reasons, it was important for me to do this on my own, before even entertaining the thought of a record company. So I got a plan together and spent every penny I've made. I just needed to make my album with no thought of how it would get out there."

Auf Der Maur collaborated with many other musicians throughout the recording, most notably Eric Erlandson (formerly of Hole), James Iha (formerly of Smashing Pumpkins), Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age and Brandt Bjork (formerly of QotSA and Kyuss).

As for the recording of each track, Auf Der Maur laid a foundation down with a drummer (recording bass, guitar and vocals herself) and then invited other musicians to build upon each song in specific areas.

So, is Auf Der Maur's "Auf Der Maur" a success? Well, kind of.

The album is an eclectic collection of songs, sounding familiar to everything from Sonic Youth to Veruca Salt to the musician's former bands. Vocally, Auf Der Maur seems very gifted, which has been apparent since her backup vocals during Hole's "MTV Unplugged" performance and cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Black Gold Woman" (off the "Crow: City of Angels" soundtrack) outshined the band's frontwoman.

Most of the tracks on "Auf Der Maur" suck you in in a hypnotizing fashion. The album's lead-off single, "Followed the Waves," chugs along repetitively, lulling the listener with it's stoner-rock murkiness. Homme and Bjork work great together, but it's Auf Der Maur's almost-melancholic voice and amazing vocal range that is the true star here.

The track's follow-up, "Real a Lie," keeps the sludgy (yet upbeat) undertone, but is a better song if only for the simple yet catchy chorus reminiscent of a band like Lush or Magnapop.

The rest of the disc is a mix of flavors: the sexually-charged "Taste You" was obviously born out of the Auf Der Maur's time in Hole; "Beast of Honor" has an opening closely resembling a water-logged Nirvana; "My Foggy Notion" is a great QotSA-inspired rocker; "I Need I Want I Will" and "My Foggy Notion" have an subtle, interesting middle-eastern flavor flowing through them.

The problem here is that, as good as songs like "Followed the Waves" and "Real a Lie" are, there's just too much slow filler here that, at times, just sounds boring. Despite Auf Der Maur's strong vocals the songs are lyrically weak, bordering on triteness most of the time. And the eclectic element surrounding the album as a whole actually weakens the overall product -- Auf Der Maur swings from stoner-rock to alternative pop to hollow, pseudo-jazz cum rocker tracks (like "I'll Be Anything You Want") so if you like a couple of songs, there's the possiblity you might not like others.

Despite the album's short-comings, Auf Der Maur's vocals and musical sensibility is compelling enough to warrant a listen. The album does a great job of showcasing Auf Der Maur's fantastic voice but is hit or miss on the song-crafting end of things. This album was a sort of labor of love for Auf Der Maur, so hopefully it will do a good job of getting her foot back in the door of the music scene.

Seemless -- Self-Titled [review]

Seemless
Self-titled
(Losing Face Records)


Seemless is a band many of you have probably never heard of.

Collectively the band is a faceless entity, but taken in it's parts, much of the band has been part of the elite hardcore/metal scene over the past few years: Vocalist Jesse David Leach, former frontman of Killswitch Engage; Drummer Derek Kerswill, formerly keeping beats with Shadows Fall; Former Medium bassist Kevin Schuler; Guitarist Pete Cortese, founding member of Overcast.

With a line-up solidly anchored in the metal community it would have been easy for Seemless to offer up a brutal release in the vein of any of the member's former bands. But instead, "Seemless" plays out more like an alternative-rock masterpiece right out of the height of the grunge era.

Throughout the band's self-titled debut, hints of early Corrosion of Conformity swim around vocals similar to something from Stone Temple Pilots or Soundgarden -- sounding like the bastard son of grunge and metal.

After a moody two-plus minute instrumental opener, the album tears open with "Something's Got to Give," with thick guitar and bass riffs tumbling over each other to a solid drum and cymbal-filled back beats. As Leach starts singing, it could really catch first-time listeners off-guard -- a mix of Ed Roland (Collective Soul), Weiland ("Core"-era STP) and Cornell (Soundgarden) -- moody, melodic and emotional all at once.

"Something's Got to Give" sets the tempo for the album as the band tears through track after track, each one in a similar vein: an alternating slow-paced or up-tempo, grunge-tinged rock song. The bluesy instrumentation juxtaposed against Leach's restrained vocals creates an interesting dynamic that can easily appeal to a plethora of listeners.

Occasionally the members' history catches up with them, especially Leach as he lets loose with a nice scream here and there. Production-wise, "Seemless" has a nice raw feel to it at times and the band has embraced an old school mentality letting loose with guitar solos from time to time.

The album is solid as a whole, with some great "moments" along the way: "The Wanderer" sounds like a cut off of Corrosion of Conformity's 1994 release "Deliverance"; "Soft Spoken Sanity" has a killer guitar solo to close it out; "Endless" is a great, slow-paced moody ballad in the vein of Alice in Chains with a nice, loud middle portion; Many of the songs have great drum-laden openings.

Seemless has offered up something completely out of left field in this day and age. If this had come out in the mid '90s, it could have been easily overlooked. Yet, with little competition in this specific genre, the band feels like a breath of fresh air. Outside its native New England, I'm not sure how much buzz Seemless has generated so far, but with a national tour looming on the horizon and the band still with a wide-open future ahead of it, the band is sure to come into its own.