Saturday, November 16, 2013

Chastain "Surrender To No One"





  David T Chastain's long-running power metal vehicle are back.  To be honest, although I've been aware of Chastain's existence for decades, I've never investigated their music.  I'd always assumed that David T. was a Malmsteen widdly-widdly guitar hero type but listening to the first song "Stand Up and Fight", the guitar is much more restrained than any pre-conceived ideas.

The music on offer on this album is slightly Maiden-ish. The band's original vocalist, Leather Leone his returned to the fold and her vocals are ballsier than more than a few men that perform this style of metal.  No annoying high shrieks gets the thumbs up here.   The guitar heroics do come through in "Call of The Wild" but not until near the end of the song.  There's a punchy sound to most of the songs. "Fear My Wrath"falls flat with its slightly slower pace and Leone's vocals don't really work as her voice is much more suited to the punchy metal than potential slow burners, although the thing to fear is the lack of any kind of burning from the tune.  The follow-up tune is appropriately entitled "Save Me Tonight" and is a redeemer with some tasty guitar licks even if it does slow in tempo a little much towards the end of the song.  The title track of this album knocks you straight in the face with its fast tempo and speedy riffing (for power -metal), the drummer really comes into his own on this number.  I'll take Leather Leone over a lot of male power metal vocalists as the absence of ridiculous screams and shrieks caused by wearing too tight leather pants is a huge plus.  Chastain's guitar work is more underplayed than I'd been lead to believe.  The overall result is Chastain sound like a band than one man's musical vehicle.

Standout tracks are "Call of The Wild" and "Surrender to No One".

3/5

http://www.leviathanrecords.com/chastain13.htm


Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Promiscuity - Basic Instinct

 

  You might ask yourself how good can an Israeli black metal band be?  Promiscuity answer this question by ignoring it, sticking up their middle finger and simply playing a dirty blackened rock and roll.  There's the straight no-nonsense loud and heavy Motorhead approach blended with a more throwback-style of black metal in "The Beauty and the Bitch". As far as I can tell the band don't sound dated but then  And yes, the EP title, "The Beauty and the Bitch"  and album cover are all referencing the movie that cast Sharon Stone into fame.  The vocals are the gruff and gravelly which suits this style of music.  The drums are pummeled at rapid speed and the guitar and bass do more than just manage to keep up.  "Pedophile" opens with an intro which sounds like it was taken from a talk show.  The song contains some furious metallic leads that threaten to pull your ears off and sew them back on your backside.  The song absolutely rips.  Promiscuity's cover of Celtic Frost's "Into The Crypts of Ray" not only let the listener know where the band is coming from but the band manage to inject a little of their own rotten style into the tune.  "Maniac's Blues" is a change of pace with its slower tempo and doesn't aim straight for the throat but goes the serial killer route with a planned out attack.  The song even provides a short interlude of  AC-DC bluesy style swagger.

This is a great EP and one of the best examples of blackened rock and roll out there.  Beware the ice pick killer!



4.5/5




Click the bandcamp link below to hear the whole EP.



Promiscuity's bandcamp



Promiscuity on facebook



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