Archive for irish heavy metal

IRISH NOISE! – Two Tales of Woe (MySpace Review)

Posted in IRISH NOISE!, Music, MySpace Review with tags , , , , , , , , on February 3, 2010 by Tickets There


This series isn’t in danger of becoming metal obsessed….because there is no danger with Metal. After a frustrating hour of listening to Judas Priest’s British Steel and not being able to review it…again, Tickets There decided that more metal was needed. As we’re slowly but surely learning, Ireland has a good share of decent metal so why not check it out?

Two Tales of Woe are one of those bands you hear mentioned alot, especially around Fibber Magee’s and we decided it was time to follow the stench of hype and see why ople are saying they’re so special. We’re on the second run through at the moment and it’s beginning to break our hardened outer shell. If you’ve ever heard and liked Crowbar, then these guys will appeal. Plunging doom metal mixed with occasional outbursts of shredding guitars, booming riffs and slow but powerful drums. First song, Religion? easily pulls of the job of convincing the listener that these guys are genuine.  Some bands who play this style too often fall into the trap of letting the songs drag on for far too long but these guys handle it well.

Serenade of Silence is a much faster, full on wee belter (love that expression). The guitars are faster during the intervals, the riff has more of a classic seventies swagger to it rather than the standard doom metal drool and the singer’s voice stands out way more than it did on the first song. A definite improvement and welcome change. Also, the power of the main riffs becomes even more apparent one the lead guitar bursts into a shredding solo half way though.

City of Doom’s wah-wah / crunchy bass opening is appealing. Nothing nicer in metal than the sound good heavy bass dominating the sound-scape©®™. The song is a mix of very calm, almost grunge like rock and classic doom a hoi hoi metal. After the pace picks up, the guitars begin to stand out properly and the lead ventures of into a spiraling tangent of riffage. Not as full on as Serenade of Silence but just as convincing as Religion?.  

Things finish with smack in the teeth styling’s of A Place In Time. There’s swagger, there’s classic rock rffage, there’s some speed, aggression. There’s militant precession in the drumming and a general mix of all the last songs strong points. Half way in the song descends into a chaotic pit of despair. After screams, slow riffs and an almost collapse of the structure, the song bellows back into action with some Lizzy like gusto and the guitars once again take the reins. Only bad thing I’ll say about this song is it ends too abruptly but perhaps (and hopefully), it’s different on the album/e.p.

Tickets There likes them. Believe the hype and if you’re a fan of Eye’s Closed and the like, check these guys out.

Check out their MySpace by Clicking Here

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IRISH NOISE! – Raging Conflict (MySpace)

Posted in IRISH NOISE!, Music, MySpace Review with tags , , , , , , on January 21, 2010 by Tickets There

I’ve been listening to these guys on and off for a good two years now but I’ve never gotten a chance to give them a review or even see them live so here goes, at last.

 Although the Irish Thrash metal scene is quite small, there are some fine acts. Groups like Mass Extinction (Our personal favorites. So good we even got off our arses, went into town and bought their EP), Gama Bomb (Who we’ve just reviewed) and these lads here, Raging Conflict. Unfortunately, due to places like The Voodoo Lounge closing, many of our local acts have no outlet in this country to display themselves. They end up having to head over to Europe or the US to get any sort of recognition, but they keep going.

Whatever the indie bands moan about in terms of sales and gigs, the Thrash lads have it eighty times worse but it fuels their determination, aggression and power making their songs sharper, heavier and more authentic. At the end of the day, Thrash Metal represent s part of California twenty years ago and making that relevant now in this country (Departed – Jack Nicholson voice) is no easy task, especially considering how rigid the guidelines of ‘what constitutes Thrash’ can be.

Opening song Attrition is so densely heavy and aggressive you’d swear it was Slayer covering Black Flag. There’s little catchiness, no melody and not a harmony in sight except the occasional input from the devil. The solo’s are unforgiving in their attack and the guitars form a steel cordon around the rampaging drums and vocals. Bring on the onslaught!

From the word go, second track Lost Generation seems pretty intent on letting you know Raging Conflict are more than capable of playing faster, heavier and angrier. Ah, just had to sit back and soak that one in. The drums at the end sound like they’re about to explode and if they go, you’re going to! Imagine being in sky, in the middle of a thunder storm with a giant demon smashing its fist on you. Suppose you could call that heavy Metal!

Finally we come to our last song, People of the Lie and despite its rather silly title, it’s one of the strongest Thrash metal songs you’ll hear coming out of this country any time soon. The chorus is perfect uppercut, duck and cover styled metal with a sudden bellowing change in the unstoppable riff war machine.

Another band you need to check out. Ireland has alot of heavy metal fans (well, at least we have alot of those little bitchy Emo kids) and they need to realize we also have alot of great heavy metal bands. Don’t just wait for Metallica to play for two hours once a year, go and find some fresh, young original talent near you and encourage them to play. Better than waiting for a bunch of fifty year olds who don’t even have the hair to bang anymore!

Check out their MySpace by Clicking Here!

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