Heavy Metal Shapnel--Heavy Metal Hairspray (CD/LP) (2026 Nameless Grave Records)

This is '80s heavy metal in the vein of early Dokken, which is fine by me. I like the straight beats and easily listenable riffs! However, I'm gonna bitch about the lyrical content. Heavy Metal Hairspray, the album and the song, has some dumb as fuck lyrics. I don't even want to give you an example. I get what they're trying to do, but even as a song that lampoons '80s metal, it's too on-the-nose. And this song starts the album. It's not too agonizing from there until we get to the goddamn love ballad "When Love Isn't Enough." Fucking gross. That shit isn't metal. It's weak. It's followed up by "Love Is A Racket (Baby Grab My Handle)." DO YOU SEE? Do. You. See? Fortunately the rest of the album is mostly devoid of this stuff. So tuned out the dumbass lyrics and focused on the overall pretty excellent heavy metal music. The melodies are killer, worming their way into your brain very easily, and the songs don't overstay their welcome (at least, the ones with decent lyrics don't). The guitarist can fuckin' shred, too, the leads and harmonies are incredible, Yngwie-like even. Very talented. When they stay away from dumb ballads and goofy lyrics their tunes are great, and I can skip the stupid songs. I'll definitely listen to this more than once, even with the lyrics I hate. The music is just that good.

www.namelessgraverecords.com

Revelator--Light the Devil's Fire (CD) {Nameless Grave Records}

From Alberta, Canada comes this black metal band with their first full length. This is North American style black metal through and through with a death metal edge and a slightly proclivity toward thrashy riffs. I found it interesting that on Metal Archives they listed Begrime Exemious, Mortuary Drape, and Ares Kingdom as similar bands. If you put those three in a blender, it would probably be not too far off from what's on this record. The riffing tends toward the melodic, often lending their tracks a rather epic feel. The dark melodies in their sound are attributable to the black metal skeleton to which everything else is welded. The production is clean and natural, and there is plenty of space for each instrument to shine. They also have some badass song titles, like "By the Whip," "Inside My Cryptic Chambers," and "We, Who Reign with the Devil." This is definitely recommended to those who want their black metal with a dose of something extra.

namelessgraverecords.com