Movies And Metal

Much like the Robocop series that started around the same time, the Predator franchise never really hit the levels of quality that the first instalment promised.  1990’s Predator 2 was a fairly dull affair, with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s action movie profile and presence replaced by a gruff Danny Glover basically reprising his Lethal Weapon shtick and doing the best he can with a plodding and occasionally ridiculous plot.  Since then we’ve had the team-up with the Alien franchise for two movies – one mediocre and one downright dreadful – that has seen the once-intimidating hunter become nothing more than a slightly chubby and quite cartoonish bit-player (we all know the Alien is the real star!).

But luckily Robert Rodriguez (Planet Terror, Sin City) was taking note and has now given us – or had a big hand in giving us – Predators.  Ignoring the Alien vs. Predator movies and bypassing Predator 2 (although apparently that one still counts), this new movie tries to do to the 1997 original what James Cameron’s Aliens did for Ridley Scott’s original Xenomorph adventure by adding an ‘s’ to the title, upping the ante and giving us more of what made the first movie so great.  Does it achieve its goal, or is the Predator franchise destined to stay as one awesome movie and a series of cack follow-ups?

Plot-wise this pretty much follows the same course as the original, and that isn’t a bad thing as the franchise’s history has taught us that straying from the basics too far makes for a crap film.  The movie opens with Royce (Adrien Brody) waking up to discover that he is hurtling towards the ground at a serious rate.  After landing in a strange jungle he is joined by several other characters – including Cuchillo (Danny Trejo), Edwin (Topher Grace) and Isabelle (Alice Braga) – who have all had a similar journey, none of them knowing how they got there or why they are there.  It soon transpires that the group all have something in common; that in some form or another they are all killers, and that they are being hunted in a deadly game by an unseen and seemingly indestructible force on a strange planet. 

Of course, we all know who the invisible hunters are, as this movie is relying on the fact that we have all seen the original Predator and is really playing to all the fanboys out there who have craved a decent sequel to Arnie’s actionfest.  To add to the action, there is also something of a ‘blood war’ going on within the Predator ranks, as a stronger and more powerful breed is at loggerheads with what we may now call the ‘classic’ Predator. 

The newer Predator design is fantastic and – at last – the beast is once again intimidating like it was the first time around.  With minimal CGI and some decent camera shots – instead of the ultra-fast quick-edits we’re used to seeing in action movies these days – the battle scenes are pacey and adrenaline-filled but still with a sense of clarity, so the action is never muddled.  There is less of a focus on the technical gadgetry of the last couple of movies, so the hunter is back to using more of his basic tools and this gives it more of that primal edge that has been sorely lacking.  Combine this with some stunning visuals and a claustrophobic atmosphere and the fanboys should all be gushing about this movie.

But there are faults here, namely the casting.  Somebody somewhere decided that Adrien Brody – fine actor that he is – was a suitable candidate to step into Arnie’s no-doubt huge shoes (or boots!) and carry a macho, testosterone-filled sci-fi /action movie such as this – and they were wrong!  Putting on a silly and unnecessarily gravelly voice doesn’t make you any tougher or charismatic than you are; just ask Christian Bale.  And looking like a gangly version of Alistair McGowan (English impressionist, for our overseas readers) doesn’t do much for the action hero stakes, either.

Also, the characters aren’t as rounded as those in the original, and there is a distinct lack of the quirky humour and quotable lines that peppered that movie.  Not that the movie suffers too much for it but a bit of light relief would have been welcome, especially about two-thirds of the way through when the pacing dips and there’s still too many characters onscreen, ushering in a rather rushed final act.

Overall, though, Predators does its job and provides a decent action/sci-fi adventure in the spirit of its timeless source material.  Casting and pacing issues aside, there’s plenty here for audiences get their teeth into and although the original is still the definitive Predator movie, for those fancying something different but with enough familiarity to keep you interested then you could do a lot worse than this.

Rating: 7/10

Summary: Casting and pacing issues lose it a mark but overall this is the first decent sequel to an 80′s classic.  It may not have the staying power of the original but for those after a fix of up-to-date Predator action, this is as good as it gets.

If you like this then try: Aliens, Rambo, Apocalypse Now, The Thing, Universal Soldier.

For more information on Predators go to: www.predators-movie.com

Ever since the classic Danzig line-up disbanded in 1994, it could be argued that the bands output has been, at best, patchy.  1996’s Danzig 5: Blackacidevil was a pretty terrible cacophony of industrial bleeps and forgettable songs, whilst 1999’s Danzig 6:66 – Satan’s Child had a few glimmers of hope, but ultimately failed due to a lack of a proper guitar player (frontman Glenn Danzig himself handled most of the guitar duties) and a severe lack of the atmospherics of old.  Danzig 777: I Luciferi and Circle of Snakes followed and nodded towards a more traditional Danzig sound, but it all seemed to be too little too late.

And now we get Deth Red Saaoth.  Along with the Evil Elvis, the band now feature former Prong guitarist Tommy Victor, Glenn’s former Samhaim bandmate Steve Zing on bass and ex-Type O Negative drummer Johnny Kelly, so the band’s pedigree is without question.  And it doesn’t take very long for opening track Hammer of the Gods to put you back in those early 90’s glory days, with Glenn’s clean, bluesy vocals underpinning one of the most stomping cuts that Danzig (the band) have done for some time (it could also be said that the heavier end of Rob Zombie’s output would be a good reference point, but let’s remember who was doing this first).  Second track The Revengeful does lean towards the band’s latter output with its pinched riffing and clunking pace, although it’s still better than anything from the previous few albums.  It’s also on this track where the album’s most obvious flaw starts to reveal itself, and that is the uneven production job, courtesy of Mr. Danzig himself.  There just seems to be very little oomph in some of the songs when you expect there to be some, and Danzig albums with little in the way of dynamics have become a bit too commonplace in recent years.

Anyway, regardless of sound issues, there are a few faith-restoring gems to be had here; lead single On a Wicked Night oozes an erotic swagger that has been sorely missing for a long time, and sounds a little like classic The Cult before Glenn’s powerful pipes crank the song up a gear, whilst Pyre of Souls: Incanticle sounds like it’s straight from a movie score, with the main man harmonising over a strummed acoustic passage before the song’s part two – Pyre of Souls: Seasons of Pain – kicks in with it’s epic, brooding verse and wicked guitar solos.

Overall, Deth Red Sabaoth can be called a huge step in the right direction rather than the complete return to form that many were expecting.  Much like Ozzy Osbourne’s recent Scream album, it starts off well and ends solidly but somewhere in the middle there’s a bit of a lull where some of the songs start to sound like filler material, or could even be labelled self-parody.  Considering the combined talents of all the band members there is a sense that they seem a bit underused here, but hopefully that will remedy itself if the line-up can stick together for a while and then maybe, just maybe, Danzig will become a cohesive unit that can make consistently great albums again.  On this showing, they’re on their way but not quite there yet.

Rating: 6/10

Standout Tracks: Hammer of the Gods, Rebel Spirits, Black Candy, On a Wicked Night, Pyre of Souls: Incanticle, Pyre of Souls: Seasons of Pain.

For Fans of: Rob Zombie, Ozzy Osbourne, The Misfits, The Resurrection Sorrow, Heaven & Hell, Type O Negative, Paradise Lost, Volbeat, Black Sabbath.

For more information on Danzig go to: www.danzig-verotik.com

Click on images to purchase Deth Red Sabaoth.

Although comic book reviews are not normally our thing here at www.moviesandmetal.com, sometimes it does us good to look beyond the music  and films that ‘our’ people are producing and have taste of something different.  And that is what Alex Dementia, frontman with MAM favourites The Resurrection Sorrow  and Midnight Dreams Productions head honcho, has gone and done.

Scripted by Dementia, illustrated by New York artist Isaac Carey Nejako and designed by Seldon Hunt, Vrykolakas: The Unholy is the first in a series of comic books following a story with its roots in the Greek mythology of the Vrykolakas – the dead who return to life to cause misery to the living.  As this is only the first in the series – and is only twenty-three pages long – there isn’t a great deal here to scrutinise, although it must be said that the combination of Nejako’s ‘less-is-more’ illustrative style and an opening scenario that begs the reader to ask questions aplenty is a good start and evocative of The Crow in feel. 

So as soon as issue number two is available then we shall strive to bring you more thoughts.  In the meantime, Vrykolakas: The Unholy is available from the Midnight Dreams Productions website at http://www.midnightdreamspro.com/vrykolakas.html where you can also buy The Resurrection Sorrow’s brilliant debut album Hour of the Wolf, or you can click on the above image.

Does anybody really care that there’s a new Ozzy Osbourne album out in 2010?  Admit it – when Ozzy became an unlikely reality television star in the early part of the last decade and suddenly started appearing at all manner of events, you thought it was all over didn’t you?  And when his former Black Sabbath bandmates went on to cement their reputations as metal lords with their excellent Heaven & Hell project, as well as Ozzy’s long-time guitarist Zakk Wylde getting replaced by the largely unknown Gus G. (Firewind) and the knowledge that the last few Ozzy albums have treaded water a bit, it added more fuel to the argument that the Prince of Darkness should hang up his crown and gracefully retire.  Well, shame on you ‘cos Scream is the best album the Double O has put his name to since 1995’s majestic Ozzmosis.

It takes approximately 20 seconds of opener Let it Die to play before you realise that you’re hearing probably some of the heaviest solo Ozzy material ever.  Although Gus G.’s style doesn’t veer too much from Wylde’s (close your eyes and it could be the bearded one at the fret board) there are less of the squeals and pinched harmonics that Wylde was keen on peppering everything with, and as such the guitars sound a bit more focussed.  Still, Zakk Wylde is a hard act to follow so we’ll just have to hear how Gus G. progresses in the future.

First single Let Me Hear You Scream has been around for a while now and still sounds great as a rocking piece of modern mainstream metal, but it’s when Ozzy veers off into less straightforward territory that things start sounding a bit more interesting; Ozzy’s Beatles – and Paul McCartney in particular – influence comes to the fore in the acoustic passages of Life Won’t Wait before giving in to a hook-laden chorus that showcases Osbourne’s gift of creating glorious melodies, whilst the modern metal sheen of Latimer’s Mercy shows that even at 61, the great man can do intense and contemporary without sounding desperate.  Elsewhere, Soul Sucker harks back to the apocalyptic thud of Black Sabbath’s Iron Man before breaking into a thrashy mid-section that’s sure to send the dandruff flying if given a live airing.

It may not be up there with the aforementioned Ozzmosis, 1991’s career-highpoint No More Tears or 1980’s classic Blizzard of Ozz, but Scream is definitely an improvement over his previous two original studio albums, namely 2001’s Down to Earth and 2007’s Black Rain.  There are moments on here when the over-produced vocal effects and processed riffs do start to sound a little soulless, and one or two of the tracks around the halfway mark could be described as filler material, but considering how lame this album’s predecessors were it doesn’t drag the overall effect down.

Overall, this is a better album than expected from a singer that many had written off as past it.  Having always surrounded himself with the best musicians (his band completed by bassist Blasko and former Rob Zombie/Alice Cooper drummer Tommy Clufetos) and songwriters available at the time, Ozzy has delivered a set of rollicking tunes that are all played with renewed energy and a sense of adventure that has been sorely lacking from a lot of the Brummie legend’s output for the best part of nearly two decades.

Rating: 7/10

Standout Tracks: Let it Die, Let Me Hear You Scream, Soul Sucker, Life Won’t Wait, I Want it More, Latimer’s Mercy.

For Fans of: Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell, Black Label Society, Danzig, Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, Judas Priest, Alice Cooper.

For more information on Ozzy Osbourne go to: www.ozzy.com

Click on images to purchase Scream

Ever since Soulfly mainman Max Cavalera decided to do away with the blatant nu metal-isms of the band’s first handful of releases and return to his thrash metal roots with 2004’s Prophecy, the band has enjoyed a consistent run of top-notch albums proving why Max is held in such high regard by metal fans the world over.

Omen –Soulfly’s seventh studio album – kicks straight in with Bloodbath & Beyond, a raging slab of hardcore-infused thrash that literally comes screaming from the speakers. The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato guests on the hook-laden Rise of the Fallen, adding a little diversity to proceedings, while Prong’s Tommy Victor contributes to Lethal Injection, with its stop/start riffing and manic time changes. Apart from these and the obligatory self-titled instrumental chill-out that closes each Soulfly album, the rest of the album is pretty straight-up metal in the vein of – yes, it needs to be said – classic Sepultura, which is a good thing as the Seps themselves don’t make albums this good anymore. Mention must also go to guitarist Marc Rizzo, whose distinctive style of shredding permeates every track without ever sounding gratuitous or unnecessary.

Even though all the boxes are ticked, however, the album isn’t without a few niggles. There are one or two tracks that border on filler, most notably the underwhelming and by-the-numbers Great Depression, and the slightly ridiculous Jeffrey Dahmer which does raise a question or two about Max’s lyrics; probably best to leave the serial killer stuff to Slayer.

Maybe not quite as satisfying as their last few releases, Omen is still a great piece of brutal, stripped-down metal that will please long-term Cavalera fans. It won’t break any boundaries or push the envelope in the way that their early works tried to do, but that isn’t the point any more. Max knows what this band does best and is happy to give it to you. Considering that this is his full-time band, it makes you wonder how brutal the next Cavalera Conspiracy album will be…

Rating: 7/10

Standout Tracks: Rise of the Fallen, Lethal Injection, Kingdom, Mega-Doom, Counter Sabotage, Soulfly VII.

For Fans of: Sepultura, Cavalera Conspiracy, Machine Head, Slayer, Megadeth, Carcass, Morbid Angel.

For more information on Soulfly go to: www.soulfly.com

Click on images to purchase Omen.