Week 50: Hammers of Misfortune - The Trial and the Grave

The artist: Hammers of Misfortune kick ass! Yes, that's how this post should start off considering the awesomeness of this band that sadly finds itself criminally overlooked. Founded by John Cobbett, former guitarist of Slough Feg and Ludicra, his band provides an excellent mixture of vocals from both genders. The band have also explored in several subgenres of metal. The main focuses have been traditional and progressive metal but there were strong black metal and folk music elements on the debut album named The Bastard. You wouldn't think the same band would also release an album with strong 70s prog rock elements but the signature characters of the band, particularly with the co-operation with male and female vocals (which may I add makes this band quite a gem), define this band in several styles. Out of all the bands featured on Monday Metal Treasures, this is one of the most highly recommended artists.

The album: The August Engine is Hammers of Misfortune's second album and moves away from the black metal elements that were present in The Bastard. This record has a stronger traditional metal feel but the album is still highly progressive and some tracks are even thrashy. The instrumental track The August Engine, Pt. 1 is technical ecstasy by quickly switching back and forth with acoustic guitars and the full driving force of the band and the song makes a sudden end for the following track Rainfall that manages to make an odd transition that actually works. More complex work is shown later on with The August Engine, Pt. 2 where the second half finds itself gradually moving to acoustic movements and back. And to think all of these tracks together make a concept album. I could go on all day about The August Engine but the point is, this album is damn good and should be some of the best 45 minutes you'll hear from heavy metal!

The song: The Trial and the Grave is the final song on The August Engine. Out of all the songs featured on Monday Metal Treasures, the lyrics for this song are quite possibly the ones that stand out the most. Yes, you could say the lyrics actually go above the music here but that's not to say the musicianship is short of excellence. You have some very doomy guitars from Mike Scalzi and John Cobbett who make the best impressions at the start and the finale section. The band tones down to make way for the strong vocals from Janis Tanaka (sorry, no Scalzi here).

The song goes through a long depressive route showing no happiness anywhere in sight. If anything, this shows the visions of a ghost seeing the sad ending of a woman who is sentenced for death and followed by the barristers cutting the body into pieces. It's a horrible thought and if it were sung by a death metal band, they'd take this as a joke and laugh at it but not Hammers of Misfortune who put real emotion to their music. The last verse just shows how sad the ex-life of someone was by explaining how no-one acknowledged the woman and that everyone completely forgot about her. The finale shows some slow movements from the guitarists and while this part may seem to drag, it has a purpose to take its time since if the lyrics were unsettling, why should the music make it easier for you?

Overall, The Trial and the Grave is a very depressive song. You'd have to come up with something a whole lot sadder (and not done in some emo bullshit way) to make this song look like Helloween in comparison. This song is by far one of the saddest songs metal has ever experienced and is a prime example of excellent female vocals in heavy metal and if there's one band that should make their way to the top over the next decade, it's this unique bunch.

Week 29 - (The Lord Weird) Slough Feg - Death Machine

The artist: (The Lord Weird) Slough Feg are one of the most well known bands from the American traditional metal scene. Mike Scalzi originally formed this band in 1990 to counteract the hair metal scene at the time and bring back the traditional heavy metal sound that was heard in Iron Maiden and Judas Priest's music. Although they didn't release a full-length album until 1996 with the self-titled debut album, Slough Feg have put out nine albums and none of them are short of greatness. Like Manilla Road, these guys are also criminally overlooked but the better availability of the newest album The Animal Spirits as well as a lot of press for it have given Slough Feg some credibility they deserve. Asides from The Animal Spirits, their albums are often more expensive than an average album but it's definitely worth paying extra for fantasic albums, especially Traveller and Down Among the Deadmen.

The album: Down Among the Deadmen is one of the more notable Slough Feg albums considering Warriors Dawn which was featured on Brutal Legend. This might sound like a stretch but Warriors Dawn could be heavy metal's ultimate answer to Bohemian Rhapsody. This song provides a two minute intro, excellent drumming and bass performance, several great sections in a single song as well as a solo frenzy. Even if Warriors Dawn isn't considered at all for Down Among the Deadmen, it is still a fantastic album, especially when the moment you hear the album opener Sky Chariots it's mandatory to listen to the rest of the album. That's not all, though as there's an excellent trilogy with Heavy Metal Monk / Fergus Mac Roich / Cauldron of Blood. This is easily a highlight in Down Among the Deadmen as the three tracks go together so well. With tracks like these as well as Troll Pack, Marauder and Death Machine, there's tons of confidence to put this album in the same ranks as metal classics such as Paranoid, Powerslave and Painkiller.

The song: Death Machine is the closer track for Down Among with the Deadmen and what better way to end this magnificent album than to go out with a bang with a speed metal number? This works in a similar way to some of the thrash metal closers such as Overkill's The Years of Decay with E.Vil N.Ever D.Ies. The speed metal frenzy doesn't start right away but the song goes wild as soon as you hear motorcycle noises. The riffs are highly ideal for the imaginary of racing on motorcycles as well as the crazy solo provided during the frenzy. The song returns to its former pace but it works to wrap it up for the album. The song's lyrics are based on the sci-fi B-movie named Deathsport taking place in the year 3000. This movie won't be familiar to many but the lyrics sure as hell have some lines that define heavy metal lyrics and makes it seem the movie is worth watching. Overall, Death Machine shows one of the greatest ways to end off a heavy metal album with a roaring speed metal track that should be defined as a metal classic.