Some CD tips. I was going for the first six letters of the alphabet, but did not (yet?) buy The Defiants and Extreme. So here are A,B,C and F.
Ray Alder - II
When my favorite vocalist releases an album I can buy same in the blind. Last year both A-Z and Figure of Speechless made it to my top five (1 and 4 respectively). So when joining forces with the same team as his first solo album I bought II. Playing the album I got what I expected and liked it. I tend to set the bar very high with Ray Alder and compare. So my first thougts? A good album as always. The start to me sounds better than the end and the crazy high level of A-Z is not reached songwise. Still it might turn out that by the end of the year Ray did it again for me. Just check out the clips on Youtube if you don't know the album. Interesting enough a recent poll at Metalfan had Ray Alder coming out as best album of the month June, so there is still hope for good taste in metal land.
Bell Witch - Future's Shadow Part1: The Clandestine Gate
Patience the key necessity for appreciating Bell Witch. I discovered them with their 2017 album Mirror Reaper. One song of almost 84 minutes divided over two Cd's. Later I saw them live in Patronaat and the full album being played at Into the Void that year as well. Even if also testing my patience levels I loved the show. I picked up their Stygian Bough collaboration in 2020, but now Bell Witch are back with another one song 83 minute album. To make matters better or worse this is only Part 1 of a trilogy. So the question rises if we ever are going to get a full show of all three albums being played. And if so do I need to be there? I guess just like the album it all depends on mood and circumstaces. After a day at the beach I don't need to be put down by 83 minutes of Bell Witch. Still on a dark and moody day this might be the best soundtrack. Impressive again, but my favourite duo nowadays are Crown Lands who also do long but then in 70's Rush style so still easy to sit through.
Crown Compass - The Drought
This one is over a year old already, but I only bought it now. Reasons or excuses a plenty. First I missed the Little Devil release show. Than when looking at shows I only could see them live at Complexity, That was a great show, but I missed them at the merch stand. Earlier this month the same story at Werfpop, so I ordered through bandcamp. The draught is great and in one album catapults Crown Compass to the top of Dutch Progmetal. Somehow that is no surprise when you see the background of the four band members. Three passing through Textures, but also Cynic, Exivious, OneGodLess and Pestilence appear on their collective CV. Thiis is progmetal mixing the clean with the extreme and the short and sweet wth the long epics. Strange how they are not huge in Holland yet, highly recommended.
Fifth Angel: When Angels Kill
Fifth Angel with their first three albums followed a very similar path to Heir Apperent (1986, 1989 and 2018). Now there is a fourth album so there is a job for Terry to finish. Both bands playing US metal, with Fifth Angel being a bit more direct and power related. When Angels Killl is a long one with 69 minutes and a concept album too. At first I had some issues with the many spoken word/soundbyte intros. Later on when reading along with the story it stopped bothering me. Actually this album gets stronger each time I play it. Fifth Angel are now a six-piece as Ken Mary brought Steve Conley from Flotsam and Jetsam along. He cowrote some of the heavier bangers on this album. Within anything powermetal related you won't get a better album this year I am sure. I still need to see Fifth Angel live. They cancelled HOA and I am not able to go to Alcatraz this year either. So also here patience is needed, but of a different kind. Still Angels do kill in beautiful fashion.
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