Welcome to another installment of Quick Jabs. This is the section where we post a selection of shorter reviews for albums that we’ve checked out or may have missed over the past few months. Well folks, it seems most of us survived the 2022 shit show. Hopefully things went smoothly enough in your part of the world. It’s been a great year of releases! Soon we’ll have our top picks for the year here at Metal-Rules, so keep an eye out. Until then, below are a few that I’ve had on my plate over the past few weeks.
Ike’s Wasted World – Tres Lobos
May 12, 2022 – Records of nervous breakdowns
Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
Reviewer: John Haseltine
Formed in 2018 by ex-Lost Breed guitarist Eric “Ike” Baestlein, bassist Chris Adamson and drummer Sean Teeter, this power trio from Albany, New York has created a monster of a band. Drawing from influences such as garage hard rock, heavy metal, doom and 70’s metal, Ike’s Wasted World is really on the right track here. TRES LOBOS takes the listener on a wild as hell ride through their various influences. The music here comes with the utmost originality, which surprised me. You’d think that’s almost impossible these days, but Ike’s Wasted World pulls it off. The album only lasts about 32 minutes. Not enough! TRES LOBOS is loaded with infectious, headbanging riffs and memorable vocal passages that will have you hitting the repeat button all day long. The band even teamed up with the Godfather of Doom, Wino himself, for a track on the album. If that doesn’t tell you anything, I don’t know what will. Fans of Saint Vitus, Pentagram, Black Sabbath and the like will love these guys.
Pyramid – Anger
November 4, 2022 – Sleaszy Rider Records
Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Reviewer: John Haseltine
Pyramid, the American progressive metal supergroup project, recently released their latest album RAGE. This gem of an album hits the mark! In this endeavor, Pyramid’s brainchild, Lance Sawyer, drew on the skills of many of heavy metal’s finest musicians. These include Tim Ripper Owens (Ex-Judas Priest, Ex-Iced Earth), Andry Lagiou (The Harps), Harry Conklin “The Tyrant” (Jag Panzer) on vocals, Mike Abdow (Fates Warning) on guitars and Chris Quirarte, among others (Redemption) on drums, Adam Bentley (Arch Echo) guitars and mixing engineer, Joey Izzo (Arch Echo) the master on keyboards and Perrine Missemer on the amazing violin. RAGE is a well rounded album due to its complexity, heaviness and beautiful melodies. The writing for this book is of the utmost creativity and passion for the genre. If this is your genre of choice, this could be your album of the year. I really enjoyed it.
Reanimator – excitement
09/16/2022 – Bam & Co.
Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
Reviewer: John Haseltine
While the new album here sits in line with some of the best thrash releases of the year, many of you may already be familiar with the fury that is Reanimator. Since Patrick Martin and Maxime Cormier formed The Reanimator in 2005, the band has managed to secure an important place in the Quebec metal scene. These guys offer red hot Thrash Metal laced with old school and new school elements and are ready to kick some ass. What I find particularly intriguing here is their slight veer into trash-n-roll territory. Her style is one that I’d like to say is entirely her own, but there are a few others out there who address that as well. With these words, Reanimator or the album COMMOTION blew me away the first time I heard it. I assume it would be for both. I have a question: why aren’t these guys a household name in the thrash genre? You should be!
Diggeth – Zero Hour in Doomtown
October 21, 2022 – No dust records
Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
Reviewer: John Haseltine
Diggeth from the Netherlands has a new fan! This three-piece kick-ass band gives a whole new meaning to the term “metal-n-roll.” Take 50 years of hard rock, metal, southern rock and a little bit of progressive rock and Diggeth will digest it and spit out their mix of all these genres in songs with hooks, heaviness and groove! I’ve enjoyed getting more and more into the stoner metal/rock scene. Every track on ZERO HOUR TO DOOMTOWN is excellent. There are so many different aspects to the genre. Here Diggeth is more on the southern side of life. During my first run through of this album, bands like Brand New Sin, Spiritual Beggars and COC (not the punk side) were my first thoughts when trying to compare them to a well known well known band. But after listening to it a few times, it’s almost like I can’t get enough of this band. I’m not sure how their first three albums sounded, but if this is any indication, I’ll have to clear some shelf space for them. Yes. I found some of their vinyls on the No Dust Records webshop! The shopping begins! Enjoy.
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