Most loyal waveriders will already know how I feel about this monstrous platter of devastating old school metal. The anticipation had all been snatched away the moment I included this disc on our year end Best of Heavy Rock List. What may surprise you, however, is how this juicy disc made it onto that list in the first place.Having been contacted by Heavy Metal Addiction to join in the mammoth collaboration of hard rock bloggers year end's lists, I dug through all the beefy metal that had plopped onto my desk over the course of the last year, and (after much hard elimination, soul searching and crying) selected those ten discs that just rocked my world like a megaton bomb. With that task all done and in the hopper, I popped on over to the gym to keep my body in racing-fit, Ripple condition. Needing a good metal fix while I threw some (in my mind) heavy weights around, I pulled Bible of the Devil up on my ipod and was quickly floored. I mean mouth-open, weights-dropping-on-my-toes, face-etched-in-agony, floored. Rushing home, driving everyone in front of me off the road, police lights glaring in my rear-view mirror, I sprinted to my computer to change my list before publication date; just knowing I had to squeeze Freedom Metal on there somewhere. It was that fucking good.
Now, after having the chance to spin Freedom Metal 5 or 6 more times, living with this disc, sleeping with it underneath my pillow at night, giving it a big, wet sloppy kiss each morning, I'm more convinced than ever that it not only deserved to be on that list, but probably a few places higher. This is one freaking tsunami of all that is good about metal.
Back in his review of new thrashers Guillotine, my brethren the Pope alluded to the fact that he loved Blood Money because they brought back everything that made him love metal in the first place. That's the way I feel about these guys. Being a touch more old school than the Pope, I leave the extreme metal to his cravings. My tastes veer more in the NWOBHM direction; big riffs, crying vocals, drop dead melodies, and the urgency of D.I.Y. with a punk underbelly. All it took was one listen to Freedom Metal's first track, "Hijack the Night," to realize that someone opened up a big 'ol jar of old-school NWOBHM and poured it all over this sucker.
Tearing out of the metal locomotive station on the back of some big chords with a nasty ending flourish, the intro races down the tracks. Just listen as midway through the intro the huge dual harmony guitars of Mark Hoffman and Nate Perry kick in, kicking the song into overdrive as Greg Spalding pounds out a war beat on his drums. But this bible isn't about battle metal, this is big-as-the-fucking-hills Maiden inspired old school riffery that fills the pages, and it doesn't take more than one minute into the song to hear the rage of NWOBHM kicking in. Huge sweeping guitar arpeggios hook onto the end of the crushing riffs while Hoffman's screeching, throaty vocals launch you down the iron horse trail with a full on metal frenzy. Flying dual guitar harmony leads kick in midway like an afterburner, keeping this baby chugging along like a locomotive barely under control.While it would be easy to stick to the safe references of early Maiden and the dual harmony guitars of Lizzy, in reality there's so much more going on here. The whole song brims of an early thrash abandon reminding me of the first time I ever heard Angel Witch, and throughout the whole assault, the boys never lose sight of melody, dropping in big hints of Praying Mantis in song structure and vocal harmonies. Toss in a small smattering of a grungy, southern vibe, a la Deliverance-era COC and were fully formed.
As powerful as "Hijack the Night," is, the following track "Night Oath," is the the coal that drives this barreling locomotive. Following a massive sounding bass intro, the boys throw out a riff as ballsy, nasty and thrashy as they get. Hoffman's vocals shine here; hanging out deep in his throat, these are the sort of vocals that get my guff going. Forget Dickinson's histrionics, I love my vocals meaty, laced with passion, capable of dropping down to the depths and shrieking to the high heavens. Then, just as you're riding the fucking thrash horse to abandon, the boys drop into a drop dead perfect, huge Mantis chorus and vocal harmony. Just listen for it. That's what gets me about Bible of the Devil. In the midst of pounding out the metal like a frickin' ore processing plant, they never lose sight of what makes a song really tick. You need the riffs, but you also need that hook, that huge melody that captures your ears; that moment in each song when one headbanger looks over to his friend and says, "Fuck Yeah!"
Yeah, we got those moments here, in spades.
"The Turning Stone," takes the boys penchant for massive riffery and harmony guitar parts one step further, pumping out something that'd make Phil Lynott jealous. And suddenly, we find another facet of Freedom Metal. . . "The Turning Stone," grooves. Darren Amaya on bass and Spalding on drums, lock into a propulsive metal backbeat that can only be described as groovy. And then when the guitars come slicing in again . . . mother! This is rousing metal, fist pumping in all its denim clad glory. Electrifying arpeggios tear through the riffs, leading once again to the soaring chorus. Another can't miss slab of old school metal raging with new urgency and muscle. Just excellent songcraft. "Womanize," follows suit, adding an even thrashier, Angel Witch component to the chaos, but still never missing out on the chance to rip those flying V's through some serious harmony duets."Heat Feeler," adds the flavor of a southern wind blowing into the proceedings, dropping way down for an acoustic-laced, folky-blues tinged romp. Think of this like Lynott digging deep into his Celtic roots and popping an old Irish folksong on a Lizzy disc, but here add the fiery eruption of Flying V's tearing the roof off the sucker midway through. A nice touch, and a nice diversion from the prior, more straight-ahead rockers.
The album goes on from there with only one misstep in my mind ("Ol Girl," takes the Lizzy reference just one step too far, sounding like it could have leaped right off the Johnny the Fox album). Just one brutal, intense surging assault of beautifully done, majestic old school metal. Listening to Freedom Metal is the most pleasurable metal ride I've had in a long time. This is everything I love about metal, pumping and energizing.
I'll be the first to admit it; Bible of the Devil are like a big freaking metal vibrator, just rubbing on my sonic clitoris. Don't miss it.
--Racer
Buy here: Freedom Metal
www.myspace.com/bibleofthedevil
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