By: Jude Falcon - MSTv Korea EIC

Get ready for a gut punch in the throat and a thrill ride of "in-your-face BAD ASS" hard southern rock music! If you like thunderous drums, thumping bass, ripping guitar solos and sick-ass vocal harmonies, Scattered Hamlet are the band for you. If those attributes are not your cup of tea, you probably won’t make through the first song.

Start up with the song “Battle Hymn;” which bursts open with a drum beat, then just escalates from the opening into pure metal magic. Second song “Whip Poor Will” rockets into the stratosphere with a pulsing fury and touts the best guitar solo on the album; right before a tasty-as-hell breakdown.

The other song that got my attention was the title track “Swamp Rebel Machine,” which opens up with a Legend of Wooley Swamp feel to it, while offering a welcomed but not necessary tempo change to really set the groove and tone of what these guys seem to be about.

Group vocals remind me of Kevin DuBrow (Quiet Riot) and White Zombie mixed with the drumming of Bonham (Led Zeppelin), coupled with the guitar licks of Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple) and the bass thuds of Joe Bouchard (Blue Oyster Cult).

Producer, Jason Donaghy has crafted a great overall album with a great sound mix and deep grunting edge. Donaghy, known for producing Rob Zombie and John 5, holds production credits to include Pantera, Slayer and White Zombie.

Scattered Hamlet definitely are no slouches in the metal and rock department.  The sounds they put out on this LP evoke feelings of buzz cutting your hair with a flame thrower while snorting a line. The style is new, edgy and reminds me of the first time I heard Mountain through my dad’s stereo.

And while their tunes have way less pop than Black Stone Cherry, Scattered Hamlet are harder than anything Lynrd Skynyrd or The Kentucky Headhunters ever put out.

So pull up the truck, drop the tailgate, get a fire going with a jar of Uncle Jim’s shine and crank it to 11. Scattered Hamlet will sound right at home, I promise.

By: Jude Falcon - MSTv Korea EIC
 
If you are among the Metallica haters and are looking for another review taking a shit upon the thrash metal masters, this is not it.  If so, get lost and read someone else’s review of resentment.

Becoming a Metallica fan in 1993, after a few high school-ers were rockin’ out to them in our school band room, I have never been a hater of anything they put out. Disappointed yes, but never a hater.

It has been eight very long years since we have heard any new music from The Four Horsemen and I’m here to tell you it was well worth the wait. If you have been following them, then you know that the guys have been busy with their “Through The Never” movie as well as starting up their “Orion” music festival. So it would seem that Metallica have been doing everything but recording an album. That is, until now..

With that being said, their new offering, "Hardwired.. To Self Destruct" is now available to the public.

Although this is their tenth album, I find that Metallica has gotten in touch with an original sound, which is something that many purists feel has been lacking since the release of "The Black Album" in 1991. "Hardwired…To Self-Destruct" is quite possibly the most versatile album they've ever put out mixing thrash, melo-death and classic metal to make an ambiguous brew that is guaranteed to please the most discerning of fans.

James Hetfield’s vocal performance may be at the most superlative level I have ever heard it. Kirk Hammet is an absolute monster with the tastiest riffs, while Robert Trujillo sets some truly awe-inspiring and thunderous grooves. Lars is on fire with bad ass fills while even throwing some double kick in there for good measure.

On the whole, we are left with almost eighty minutes of FIST PUMPING, BAD ASS METAL, comprised of speed, power and precision from the elder statesmen of metal. While the mix of the album is marvelous and crystal clear; it sounds crisp and punchy with razor sharp guitar tones, thick-aggressive low end bass, and a killer drum sound with snappy snare notes, a fat bass drum and bright cymbals.