Smm Review Thread

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Cheers to Andy G for the reviews unless stated otherwise, www.deadearnest.btinternet.co.uk



THURS 23rd March:

A Dead Earnest promotion so I wasn't exactly giving reviewing my full attention - although with bands of this quality, they made that job easy. First off were Self Made Man - great to see them at a decent sized venue over a good PA system. I'd been looking forward to this and they did not disappoint. The band are just so hot with a scorching brand of thrash-hardcore that is so far above the rest by the way they use dynamics in the riffs and the fact that the rhythm section, while the force that drives it all forward, is actually going down some equally twisted paths to provide more than just a jackhammer beat. Their lead guitar work is just on fire as a sound which encompasses riffing, wall-to-wall chords and searing leads, positively erupts from the speakers. Then, on top of all this are the two vital factors that put this band in the top flight - first, their lead vocalist who has to have one of THE best vocals in this area of music - his range is incredible and you actually get to hear what he's singing about Not only that, but as the consumate frontman, he's just magentic, taking no prisoners, and totally in command of what was a hugely appreciative audience. Then there's the songs - a set of nuclear tracks that are the most overtly memorable and addictive things to come out of a hardcore metal arena in ages. From their anthem "Self Made Man", through "The Copulator" and "If You Want War", they charged through a set that had me spellbound, let alone the rest of the audience. Brilliant!

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THURS 23rd Feb

It was only a couple of weeks or so since I saw and reviewed both the Dundee bands (Self Made Man and 3rd Born Sun) at the same place as tonight, so I wasn't actually thinking of reviewing it - after all, how much improvement can there be in 2 weeks!
But, bloody hell - I mean BLOODY HELL!!!! - this was something else, for both bands. First off were Self Made Man. I really must get this band's line-up from them but their vocalist, normally pretty intense anyway, was tonight, just on fire and nuclear - he was on an altogether higher plane. Singing the songs with a tornado of passion that had you jaw-dropped in amazement, he tore through the songs with a blazing inferno of performance that took no prisoners. He'd go right in front of the audience's faces still powering out the lyrics and the effect was incredible to see this front-man just take over the place, holding he entire crowd spellbound, able to hear every word he was delivering. Meanwhile the powerhouse of a band had the heat turned up to eleven and this arsenal of mighty stoner-hardcore-metal maelstrom mix, simply roared out of the PA to ear-bleeding effect, the guitar intensity matched to perfection by the raging strength of the rhythm section, a rampaging unstoppable juggernaut of sonic hardcore that was simply amazing to hear. Through "If You Want Peace, Prepare For War", new song "The Copulator", and their always godlike-genius performance of "self Made Man", not to mention the new mid-song ballad that is now beginning to take on a life of its own and really work a treat (if the audience sticks with it), this band upped the stakes and threw down an even bigger gauntlet to those that stand with them in this musical arena - succcess simply HAS to follow soon. They are too good to be ignored!!

[ArchFlameTera]

SUNDAY 29th JAN

Self Made Man - what a band!! A quartet that are head and shoulders above the opposition - and I'm not just talking Dundee here. They play thrash and hardcore metal, but this is class with a capital "C". In their lead vocalist, they have a guy who sings - not hollers or roars - sings!! - but with a voice so feckin powerful you almost feel you'd be mesmerised by it even if the band wasn't there. He just storms through the songs with a power and passion that many other more nationally well-known bands would be hard pressed to emulate. The songs! These are intelligent and well-written songs, with lyrics that really make you sit up and take notice, lyrics that are totally riveting listening and delivered by a clearly heard vocal yet which takes nothing away from the musical maelstrom that is unleashed by the band. The band! Guitarist, drummer and bassist pumping out a dynamic, raging and positively nuclear sea of riffs, rhythms, and explosive wall-to-wall leads from the guitar. From the full-throttled rage of "Fear and Consumption" to the wickedly headbanging power of "Self Made Man", this was a thrash metal set that had quality written all over it. Mid-way they even had the audience riveted to a brand new track that turned out to be a what can only be described as a hardcore ballad. That it's a great song is in no doubt, that it worked in such alive setting was a wonder to behold. The band said that it wasn't a good performance - shit!! if this is them on a bad night, you get the feeling that they'll set Dundee on fire on a good one. More than amazing, this band are destined for greatness - they have to be, or there's just no feckin justice in this world. Thrash metal never sounded so good.

[ArchFlameTera]

20th MAY 05!

Next up weere Self Made Man - a quinetet with a lead vocalist who just shone like a metal messiah - you were entirely focused on this guy when the band started up as he delivered the lyrics with a passion that was intense even for this sort of music. The first thing you noticed about this lot were that they are clearly a much more "song-oriented" act in the sense that the lead vocalist clearly had a lot to say and he was gonna say it - lyrically a lot fuller than the previous band, the first track was very much a wickedly heavy brew of anthemic hardcore proportions, while subsequent tracks revealed their fondness for jerky, twisted time signiatures as the song seemed to change direction often several times within the same song! The songs here were altogether more "intricate" than F.M.W but, that said, they made up in sheer overpowering intensity what the previous band exuded in hardcore thrash fun. Their set built up to a raging inferno, with, I think, the fourth track a major slice of ultra-heavy, dense-riffing heaven, as the singer, for the next track,left the stage and proceeded to walk among us -stil hollering the lyrics like a thing possessed. All in all one storming performance that culminated in the track named after the band that ended the set on a sea of brutal intensity as the guitars, drums, bass and vocals hammered out the message.

[ArchFlameTera]

SELF MADE MAN- RISE...REVOLT...CONQUER
The awakening of new millennium metal thunder starts right here.
Welcome to the world of Self Made Man, Dundee's very own nuclear holocaust. To call this band a thrash metal band would be not far off the mark in the same way that you'd hav called early Metallica that, and, in many ways, the similarity is appropriate - not so much musically but because that band went beyond the genre - and so do this band. They play a mighty, huge-sounding roaring brew of ultimate metal mealstrom proportions, but with a difference - the quality of their songs is absolutely top of the tree in every respect.
This is a band who play it ultra loud and ultra heavy, super fast and tungsten-strength. But the lyrics are not only perfectly audible but genuinely intelligent with something to say and the right way of saying it. Add to that the fact that their singer is just incredible - I mean, this guy SINGS as well as hollers with a voice perfectly suited to the metal mayhem that rages all around and a range that is ferocious.
Opening with a short introduction that lets you know where they're coming from with voice samples and strange guitar effects, the first real track comes along and the band just erupt as we are immediately launched into the potency that is the pure adrenaline-rush howl of "Self Made Man", the bass a floor-shaking earthquake, the guitar riffs and leads on fire and the drums a thunderous roar as the vocalist really lets go and delivers the song with an intensity that leaves you open-mouthed with amazement as the whole thing just flies at jet-speed and the song soars and dives to magnificent effect, one of THE finest examples of raging metal that you'll hear anywhere. The band play it hard and fast, with a supernova guitar solo in there for good measure as it all crushes your skull with an almost indecent delight - and you love every second of its near six minute running time.
If you thought that was a metal melting pot, the next track opens with a flying riff and searing guitar leads, high-flying hollered vocals that could bore holes in battleships and a rhyhtm section that's a positive blur as it, too, erupts like a volcano at its height, steam, heat and fire pouring out of every second as the napalm-fire tears down everything in its path, the song once again, so immaculately listenable and enjoyable for such a monstrously metallic slice of ultra-fast attack. The whole band are supercharged and on fire, the result is a song that is truly incendiary and one stone cold stunner of a track.
As though the band know you can't keep that level of intensity going from start to finish, they provide a brief respite on the fourth track - a chiming guitar chord opening the song as the delicate bass and wondrous lead vocal begin an unashamed rock ballad with goth undertones - then - kerboooommmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!! - the drums hammer in, background chorus wells up, the bass thunders and the guitar roars as the vocals are now delivered with a passion and power that is just hypnotic. Then the song takes a twist to become an anthemic slice of muscular rock as the guitar and bass rise up above the driving drums, the vocals start to rise and the whole thing just lifts off like a rocket as one amazing song just gets better and better as it goes, twisting and turning along the way, but maintaining a consistency and cohesion on a song that many a more successful metal band would kill to have written, and this is a song that is way beyond the sum of its parts - six and a half minutes of pure genius and no mistake, one that I'll be playing to death for sure.
Track five starts with rifle-fire riffs and rhythms as the intensity begins to glow, this time a lower register vocal starting things off, but gradually piling on the passion as yet another awesome vocal performance follows above the swirling whirlpool of red hot riffing and attacking rhythms, this track taken at a slightly slower pace for the first three minutes before erupting as a fireball of a lead guitar comes to life and makes its presence felt. Once again, the song is heard clearly with lyrics that really deserve to be heard and considered.
Finally, a track that has been a live favourite for a while as a mighty opener and here, with a slight touch of roaring raging stoner rock to its muscular riffing, provides the same effect as THE most awesome slice of anthemic hardcore metal exudes the firepower of a small army with enough energy to light up the east coast of Scotland. The chorus, as such, is just incedible, the twist and turn between anthemic and pure adrenlaine-rush rage, something to leave you jaw-dropped every time you hear it. The band produce a thunderous blast of pure window-rattling metal that, if turned up loud enough, should ensure you'll need to call in the glaziers the following morning. A song that is just awesome to finish off a near thirty minute EP that is all that and more.
To say that this band are hot is like saying that Metallica are a bit well known - this band is fucking amazing and then some - if you want raging contemporary metal that will blow you apart every time you hear it, you simply have to get this CD - because one day this band is gonna be huge and you'll regret that you missed your chance.

[FuriousGeorge]

self made man - evolution of design

The brand new CD-EP sees 5 brand new and utterly awesome songs unleashed on an unsuspecting world, proof positive that this band are not only the kings of the Dundee black metal/hardcore scene, but have the potential to wipe out the opposition nationwide. Opening with 'The Copulator', the first thing that hits you is that the fact that you have a song on your hands - no indistinct or growled vocals - but a vocalist that's burning with anger and passion, on fire and roaring to destruction, as the lyrics are easily heard and even something resembling a hook, abounds as the song rages all around you, the band equally on fire as nuclear powered drums, disembowelling bass and a wall of guitars provides the towering soundtrack to this immense molten mass of metallic mayhem. But the arrangement possesses dynamics as well a power, here, quite uniquely, managing to do both at the same time, so that when the track "drops down", the finger is never taken off the power button. The song twists and turns but with the precision of an air strike, it hit its target with menacing ease, vocalist Norrie showcasing his range with ease as the lyrics are unleashed with controlled fury, on a song that simply roars into life.
Then, without a hint of a break, we're into the even more forceful 'Fear And Consumption', again the amazing range of the vocal providing the jaw-dropping focus of the song as the band rages and swirls in a mass of black metal riffing and a storm-force rhythmic powerhouse. The lyrics are simply stunning, the song so well arranged and constructed that even though this is raging metal at its hardcore finest, at no point do you feel overwhelmed by it, a mark that sets this band apart from all others.
To take you by complete surprise, 'Deception & Repentance' is an ethereal ballad with just chiming guitar, deep rumbling bass and the soaring vocals positively heart-warming, but revealing a lyrical imagery that retains the menace and pinpoint observations of what's gone before, but this time injected with yearning and wistfulness, on what is a song that not only shows the sheer quality that this band possesses, but one that sounds perfectly natural in the context of the metallic thunderstorm that rages either side of it, the musical eye of the hurricane, for sure, and every bit as welcoming.
'Sedative Destruction' regains the metal mastery with a track that, for the first time, reminds you of someone else, in this case, initially, early Sabbath/Ozzy, but less than a minute in, the band ups the anti and the song rises up before dropping down and back into classic Ozzy-esque territory, only a lot darker, as this mix of metal attack surges ahead to perfection. The song roars forward with massive energy as the guitars swirl, the rhythm section roars and the vocalist provides another impassioned performance. Finally, 'Testing Faith' rages into life with a fast-paced musical warfare that really unleashes a set of lyrics to make you think as the song explodes with the brightness of 1000 suns, Norrie practically in your face with his vocals as the twisting, turning, intricate yet powerhouse instrumental arrangements create a huge, spiralling sandstorm of positively engulfing proportions, as vocal and band leave you spellbound amid a raging sea of black metal thunder with a song that really gets inside your head and makes you worship this band for the force and sheer uniqueness that it is.
Undoubtedly one of the finest bands on the planet right now in this genre, this is but a bang in the explosion that is this band live in concert.

thanks to Andy G 4 the review:
www.deadearnest.btinternet.co.uk

Holy Magners in the eye Batman!

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Originally Posted by FuriousGeorge

Holy Magners in the eye Batman!

oops

[Princesspossum]

i think andy g fancies norrie.
lmao but the reviews are dead good, cudnt agree more with them.
xx