»31st January 2008

Music Review: Saviours 'Into Abaddon'

A new year brings a new lease of life to my attempts to unfuck the Leeds Student music section by trying to inject some METAL into the indie heartlands. In fact, this is the sort of occasion, when it's appropriate to shout 'Metal up your ass', or arse if we're going to be all english about it. Yeah, I should totally go into their office and just shout 'Metal up your arse' and watch as they cower and tremble before the might of real music/call security. That would rule.

Saviours – Into Abaddon (Kemado)

‘Into Abaddon’ is the second full-length album by Oakland metalheads Saviours. The album picks up where the band left off with their first album ‘Crucifire’, though this time round the sound is more mature and the complexity has been taken up a notch.

The album kicks off with ‘Raging Embers’ which sets the precedent for the rest of the album, a melodic guitar introduction gives way to Austin Barber’s vocals riding atop guitars which wouldn’t sound out of place on a Motorhead song. Other highlights include the fourth track, ‘Cavern of Mind’, with it’s distinctive stoner-influenced riff and delightful solo work. Track five, ‘Mystichasm’, kicks off with a furious riff and the rest of the song does not disappoint, each vocal refrain seems to prompt a new rhythm and a new direction for the song.

‘Into Abaddon’ has some distinct New Wave of British Heavy Metal features, namely a penchant for dual lead guitars and plenty of long, galloping solo sections. There however is also the prog tendencies of Mastodon present in the complex and often convoluted arrangements. With the most of the songs hanging around the six minute mark, Saviours cram a lot of music into each song. The similarities with Mastodon do not end with the complex arrangements however, with Austin Barber’s vocal delivery not a million miles away from Brent Hinds’ style.


That's some epic artwork

You can guess a certain amount of what you’ll find on ‘Into Abaddon’ just from the lyrics booklet artwork. The band’s name appears above a pyramid with an eye at the top spewing forth lightning, horsemen gallop through a cave with skulls carved into the rock, in the background there is more lightning illuminating a dank cave. Leafing through the lyrics themselves, fantasy themed topics are suggested in songs with titles as daft as ‘Cavern of Mind’ and ‘Firewake Angel’. Whilst such a lyrics booklet could easily be found in the ‘ridiculous power metal’ section of any record shop, Saviours instead evoke the mysticism and foreboding of early Black Sabbath.

Saviours could easily have ended up as sad parodies of themselves, with their focus on fantasy and mystical lyrics, yet they avoid such a fate thanks to their tendency toward mountainous riffs and some truly inspired mid-tempo interludes. Saviour’s mixing of classic heavy metal influences to create a new, vital sound. Highly recommended.

7/10
____ ____________

Yes, I gave another score of seven out of ten. I have my reasons though; scores out of ten are pretty meaningless and unhelpful; but if I must play by their rules then I'll just give a score that says 'good, could be improved'.
They've really got no excuse not to print this review, not only is it suitably ahead of the curve (read: obscure) but it only came out about a week ago so it's also FRESH. Those cretins don't deserve me!


Extar, over, out.

79. If someone is especialy brutal say "HAIL MOTHERFUCKER"