Abaddon magazine

Tag: Karthago Records

  • Review: Delirium – Errante

    Review: Delirium – Errante

    Label: Karthago Records / Pure Steel Records

    Date: June 25th, 2021

    The first time I’ve even heard of Honduras was in the official sticker album for 1982 football world cup. Okay, I’m not that old, but my father collected the stickers and that’s where I’ve found this country I’ve never heard about, with sort of a weird name, but a cool flag with unusual colors. By the way, they were the only ones our (Yugoslav) national team managed to defeat on that same competition. Needless to say, we were both eliminated in the group stage.

    Now that it’s been almost four decades since that particular world cup, and even more since the infamous “Football war”, I’m pretty sure this is my first encounter with the Honduran metal scene. Perhaps there were more bands, but I really cannot remember.

    Considering the origins of Delirium, the band is even more peculiar. I’m not quite used to hearing anything out of the extreme metal’s rough patterns coming from Central or South America. At least not that often. And most certainly not this good.

    Seriously, this is world-class heavy metal, produced to perfection, executed flawlessly and keeping true to the classics with a relatively fresh perspective.

    But first I need to point out several bits that bother me here.

    First of all, this record is ten years old this year. The reissuing is very much a good idea, since the band, for obvious reasons, didn’t stand a chance to go much further. In this regard, the two labels responsible for this deserve a serious applause. However, one song off the original release was omitted on this re-release. Whose decision was this and why the hell would you do something like that?

    Second of all, the three bonus tracks sound like demo recordings (which they very well might be) and they are much less powerful and convincing than the original nine. Especially the elongated semi-acoustic “Abismo” which falls right out of place. Some classical rock ‘n’ roll gets involved as well as a subtle Central American folklore theme here and there. While all of this might seem intriguing, it just doesn’t fit to the whole idea of the album. At least not to my ears. On occasion, and here’s the prime demo part, it sounds like the guitarists just forgot to step on the distortion pedals in time. Simply weird.

    But on the other hand, the nine songs comprising the regular section of “Errante” are very powerful and should satisfy all the metalheads out there. Okay, perhaps a couple of songs go on for too long, mostly over five minutes, which dilutes them a bit, but they are still very good. A simplified description of a heavy metal band doesn’t quite cover the whole thing. Delirium takes a lot from both ends of the traditional heavy metal spectrum. Hard rock and thrash metal respectively. Testament, Manowar, Angra (no idea why, but I can relate them to Brazilians), Iced Earth, Megadeth (“Navegar” introduction)… Influences are countless, but are at the same time fused together into a coherent whole, which is perhaps the biggest strength of Delirium.

    The quintet is predominantly oriented towards aggression of the genre. However, they do not forget the melodic side of it. The whole album is swinging back and forth between them. That way the Hondurans achieved to further vary the record and make it much more listenable. Particularly with such a long running time. It was a necessity and Delirium delivered.

    Furthermore, the songs are very catchy. I believe they fit very nicely to any type of bike meeting as well as a crowded hall filled with dedicated metal maniacs. Unfortunately, I’m not all too familiar with the language so singing along is causing me much trouble. Still, there were times when I couldn’t speak English either but found a way to sing along to Maiden or Metallica. Wrongly, of course. Such is the case here, too. I’m even more disappointed with my ignorance when I read that their lyrics are pointed at social issues of their homeland. There’s even a song titled “Honduras”. While I can suppose the problems can be globally transferred, I would still like to hear what ails these five guys to push them into such music and poetry.

    Anyway, I’m extremely glad it is Delirium who got me introduced to Honduras’ metal. Surely I could’ve gotten worse. Naturally, this is not a new band, they already have two more records after “Errante”, not to mention four of them prior to it. Yet they prove once again that, like football, heavy metal is a global game. And wherever you turn the compass you can find a band that will get your head banged.

    Once again, a great find for Karthago and Pure Steel Records. Their “Heavy Metal Classics” series is proving to be an absolute delight!

     

  • Review: White Heat – White Heat

    Review: White Heat – White Heat

    Label: Karthago Records / Pure Steel Records

    Date: May 28th, 2021

    It’s been the holy trinity all along. Great Britain, USA and Germany. With rare exceptions to the rule in the form of AC/DC, Krokus or maybe others I cannot remember right now. But where was the rest of the world in the grand scheme of hard rock’s uprising at the start of the 1980’s? The entire planet went nuts for Deep Purple, Whitesnake, Motorhead, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Saxon, W. A. S. P, Scorpions… There must have been other countries involved. How can there not be? But who cared with all the megaliths of the era…

    So it took the world to pass into a completely new century to start looking for the pearls in the musical abyss we are experiencing. Hail the good people at Karthago and Pure Steel Records who shoveled their way to Belgium’s premium hard rocking entity, neatly titled White Heat.

    Naturally, when you stumble upon an album published in 1982, you are well aware of what you are about to hear. It’s the sound of the era, just before thrash metal came into play. White Heat is not different. They fitted right in. If I would to name their influences, they are clearly coming from the British side. Deep Purple and early Whitesnake. However, the Belgian quintet didn’t miss out on the appearance of the new wave of British heavy metal. Combining the two, the self-titled debut album is a fairly successful take on the style of music ruling the time when it was created.

    When I say “fairly successful”, I mean just that. There is a clear reason why bands like White Heat never grew in proportion to their more famous colleagues. And it’s not just the country of origin.

    While “White Heat” is a good record, no doubt, it falls short of the contemporary masterpieces. The same year that saw this album also saw the release of “Number of the Beast”, “Blackout”, “Screaming for Vengeance”, “Iron Fist”, “Under the Blade”, “The Eagle has Landed”, “Saints and Sinners”, … I could go on forever with this list.

    “White Heat”, on the other hand, offers a collection of songs that follow the creative patterns of the band’s heroes. Obviously, the Belgians learned all they could and displayed it in full. Unfortunately for them, the tracks on this album, though stylish and catchy are no stellar hits. Especially in the above mentioned competition.

    Okay, perhaps this record is not quite a classic you must not miss out. Yet, it is not a complete waste of time and money (it is quite affordable with this re-release). Far from it! As I said, the songs present here are catchy and memorable. Standardized riffing, rhythms and a finely tuned voice are all there and put together as they should be. A great choice for your smoke-filled, sweaty pub for a couple of hours of honest hard rocking.

    Oh, and not to forget, there are a couple of greatly accentuated choruses to rush the blood straight to your head. Either one of them, since love (or its derivate) is the predominant theme of “White Heat”. “Rock ‘n Roll Kick”, “Keep Cool Girl” or “Babbling Wind” as best examples.

    And just so it’s not all cliché (at least from 21st century’s perspective), the album contains no power ballads and no self-titled song.

    When the original and re-mastered ten tracks are up, the album goes enhanced with four re-recorded songs. Just to show the band is active again and ready to go out on stage again. These four songs are further developed, too. Most noteworthy is the keyboard background in “In Need of Ya”, but the vocals are also (at least in my opinion) better. It would seem Mr. Flype Lemmens’s vocal chords are a fine replacement for the original singer. Plus he looks like Halford’s doppelganger.

    By the way, under the wings of the same two labels named above, you can also find the second White Heat record, “Krakatoa”. Whether “Runnin’ for Life” will be included in this series is the question to ask. Either way, White Heat is a worthy archaeological dig for the rockers and rollers out there. Another question is whether the Belgians will go on and push a new record with this new found attention at hand. Me, I do hope they will.