Metal Thrashing Mad Reviews – Free Key Bit Chess vs. Shift vs. Sunwheel Psychedelic vs Nitrogods

Metal Thrashing Mad Reviews – Free Key Bit Chess vs. Shift vs. Sunwheel Psychedelic vs Nitrogods

FREE KEY BIT CHESS
Havoc
Sonic Revolution

It took the oddly named Free Key Bit Chess twelve years to release their debut album, “Kiss My Ass”, in 2007, so I suppose a seven year wait for a follow up is nothing to write home about.  And here they are in metal thrashing mad fashion with “Havoc”.

It’s not a great surprise that a band formed in 1995 would take their influences from the heavy and thrash metal of the righties, and that’s exactly what is on offer here.  Oh, and someone has just pointed out to me what their name sounds like.  Ha, and ha.  Anyway, there is plenty of good guitar work on offer here, as they riff their way through a set that takes a lot from the Bay Area sound.  Which is fine by me.

They’ve got plenty of attitude and when a cracking song like ‘Piece Of The Action’ comes along, they you definitely warm to them.  If like me, though, you remember this the first time around, it does lose a little something.  But hey, the kids might think it’s something new.  Enjoyable.

SHIFT
Lead, Judge & Jury
independent

Well that was a turn up for the books.  It’s not often a band you’ve never heard comes along and nearly blows you out of the water, but this release from Shift certainly did.  Apparently, this is the second album from the Baltimore, Maryland band, and they certainly know how to mix and match their metal to great effect.

One minute they’re all modern metal, then there is a blast of thrash, then they throw in a classic rock melody, and you’re all Who? What? Where?  The opening track, ‘Bullet’, doesn’t really prepare you for the cracking music that is to come, something that really kicks off with ‘Damned’, which they’ve wisely selected as the lead track (single in old money).

There is some great guitar work, some really good songs and a couple of real classics, of which ‘Journey To The Grave’ is the best.  For sure, in a couple of places they toy with math metal, but that’s what the skip button is for, and all the best stuff is loaded in the front half of the album.  However, for an independent release, this really is a mighty fine offering.

SUNWHEEL PSYCHEDELIC
Wise As Serpents
independent

An interesting one, this.  All the way from Chicago, the splendidly named Sunwheel Psychedelic –  Greg Milner on vocals and guitar, Jason Milner on bass, Geoff Beckham on drums and Richard Michael on keyboards – are messing up with a Sabbath meets Monster Magnet meets goth sound, which is really ratehr good.

They’re not as different or mysterious as they seem to think they are, but the riffs are good and they can handle changes in tempo well, which is actually more difficult than it sounds, if a lot of recent metal releases are anything to go by.  I like it best when they try to mess with your head, which makes ‘Violence In Springtime’ a real treat for me.

They get that Monster Magnet groove working really well across the album, and they finish on an up with the splendid ‘Faust (Man’s Eternal Folly)’.  Definitely one to check out.

NITROGODS
Rats And Rumours
Steamhammer

Ey up, here’s some of that there proper metal, they way it were when I were a lad.  Because the Notrogods are guitarist Henry Wolter (Thunderhead, Primal Fear, Sinner), singer Oimel Larcher (Fast Eddie Clarke’s Bastards) and drummer Klaus Sperling (Primal Fear).  And along with bassist/vocalist Oimel Larcher, they’ve decided that Motorhead is the way to go.

Now I’m not going to argue with an album of heavy metal rock and roll.  And that’s exactly what you get with numbers like the title track, ‘Irish Honey’ and ‘BMW’.  There are some fantastic riffs to keep your air guitar busy, and if you have the urge to rawk like a bastard, then this is somewhere you’re going to feel right at home.

For sure, they stick to the dame game plan, but as it’s a proper 40 minute album, nothing overstays its welcome.  There are a couple of tunes where they manage to reach as far back as the mid seventies (see ‘Ramblin’ Broke’), but they know what they like, and what they like rocks.  Good work, fellas.

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