ALBUM REVIEW: Echoes – Altar Of Betelgeuze

Three-piece Finnish doom dealers ALTAR OF BETELGEUZE have made a thunderous albeit gloomy return with third album Echoes. Their second album Among The Ruins saw the band tinkering with a stoner-doom style. However, album number three has the trio distilling a far darker doom atmosphere, combining more cavernous vocals and memorable riffs into a seven-track beast quite different from its predecessor. With a blend of death-doom and more traditional doom at its core, Echoes is a powerful, ominous statement.



On The Verge blows the speakers wide open with a huge sound. Crashing chords and powerful drums combine while a steady rumbling bassline underpins the intro. It’s the sort of doom sound that conjures imagery of a lumbering behemoth making its way inexorably towards an unknown destination. All we know is that nothing can stop it. Then the vocals come in, colossal gutturals matching the instrumentation and rounding out the all-encapsulating doom atmosphere. From track one, it’s clear that the three-piece are not here to mess about – this is a commanding statement of intent.

With an imperious sound now firmly established, Echoes settles into a groove that illustrates how ALTAR OF BETELGEUZE have refined their sound. Shedding any aspect of stoner rock and clean vocals, they’ve embraced a darker path and while melody is still key to the movements of their songwriting, the heavyweight riffs and rhythms are now more prevalent and drive the sound like a swinging sledgehammer drives through a soft wall. Embrace The Flames is a pummelling track with a tone worthy of allowing the trio to be placed alongside some of the greatest doom peddlers of all time, yet the vocals offer up some enticing death-doom edge which allows the whole track to lift from a potential ponderous fate. The driving hooks are energetic and dynamic and all the elements combine creating a sonic splendour.


A Reflection is a bludgeoning, bruiser of a track with a downtempo groove that is propelled by the huge chord progression. Once again, the tone is thick and enthralling – courtesy of the immaculate production. Despite its apparent blundering tonality, with lumbering like riff structure, there is a remarkable hook contained at the heart of the music that entices further listens.

With careful consideration given to both lyrical constructions as well as the wider songwriting of the instrumentation dynamics, ALTAR OF BETELGEUZE have successfully navigated the path of sludgy, death-doom inspired music without any element becoming ponderous or bogged down. This is a pitfall that may artists can come undone; while hunting for the texture and feel of a darker doomy sound, they can become ensnared in the details, losing sight of song direction and getting mired in the swamp. Echoes elevates itself above this, using elements already described as well as focusing its creativity on what makes doom great. Salvation offers a nice departure from what has gone before with the vocals allowed to soar higher in the mix. While still a part of the wider album stylistically, the dynamic shift elevates the sound from an already good level to a great one.

Echoes is an album for fans of death-doom, traditional doom and anyone looking to add greater weight and depth to their record collection. It’s a departure from the band’s previously established sound, but rather than being a reinvention, is a sonic evolution into a darker depth of doom. ALTAR OF BETELGEUZE have developed a catchy and melodic album that has the titanic rhythmic heart of a colossus. It is enticing, crushing and memorable, successfully bridging the gap between traditional doom and death-doom styles.

Rating: 9/10



Echoes is out now via Wiseblood Records.

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Firewind: Always United, Never Divided

He’s inspired people the world over to pick up a guitar for over twenty years. He’s guested on no less than twenty-nine albums alongside his own, original material and, in 2009, he was handpicked by OZZY OSBOURNE to replace Zakk Wylde in the Double-O’s touring band, a position he held for the next eight years. You’d forgive Gus G for deciding to hang up his six-string and rest on his laurels after a career bursting with accolades, but whilst the driving force behind Greek power metal giants FIREWIND is still very much active, he’s not about to churn out new songs for the sake of it.



“I always ask myself ‘what do FIREWIND have left to say after nine albums?’,” he explains. “I must have something to say artistically, otherwise why bother? I’m not saying the world really needs a FIREWIND album or whatever, but if I don’t 110% believe it, there’s no point in doing it.”

It’s an admirable mentality to have. Whether or not you like the latest releases by some of metal’s so-called ‘legacy’ bands likes IRON MAIDEN, PRIEST, SAXON et al, you cannot brush aside their resolute nature to not become a cabaret act and tour the hits for the rest of their days. Gus also knows that, for fans of the band, a new album will always bring excitement to them.

“We definitely don’t take it for granted; we don’t even take for granted the fact we still have some fans!” He jokes. “But of course, the most important thing is that you still feel creative. If you can sense the evolution in how to move forward with your style, sound and everything around it, then it’s worth doing.”

Which brings us to Stand United, FIREWIND’s tenth album and one that, as alluded to, has come with its own form of evolution – in this case, it’s that it has more lyrical contributions from Gus than any other record before. “I had starting writing lyrics more on the last album to help out Herbie [Langhans, vocals] because he was new in the band and we were on a tight deadline. But this time around, we worked on it from scratch and discussed so much back and forth that I ended up writing a lot more, especially on tour when I would write a verse in an airport on the way back from a festival. Before I knew it, I’d written a fair amount of the album!”


Although not a full-blown concept record, Stand United is, as its name suggests, centred around coming together in the face of adversity, from the call to arms of the title track to the empowering chug of Chains. If there’s one thing power metal does better than any other genre, it’s produce uplifting tracks for people to raise a fist and smile at – which begs the question, can it ever be gloomy? Given Gus’s longevity in the scene, it’s a good question to pose to a wise head.

“I mean, it depends on the band, but power metal is supposed to be all about the cheese right? You have to embrace the cheese. Some bands do it more than they should – I feel the younger generation of power metal have turned it into more of a cosplay thing and into ‘Disney metal’ territory, which is personally not my vibe, but power metal has always had some kind of uplifting message and my take is that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Talking of embracing the cheese, the album also features Talking In Your Sleep, a cover of the 1983 hit by Detroit power pop outfit THE ROMANTICS. Not as big a hit worldwide as Michael Sembello’s Maniac (which FIREWIND had previously released 2008’s The Premonition), it’s apparently, according to Gus, a huge song in his home nation. “It’s on the radio a lot here, and one day I figured it could work as a cover and, after I saw there weren’t any metal covers of it in existence, I knew it had to be done. Funnily enough, though, when I mentioned it to the band, Johan [Nunez, drums] said ‘dude, I grew up with this song!’ and he’s from Belgium, so I guess it was a hit there too!”

Having had such a varied career, and one that’s brought a lot of plaudits, there’s one final question for Gus – what one piece of advice would he give to musicians wanting to stick it out for as long as him? “Stick to your guns. If you do what you really believe in, you won’t be bothered by trends or what’s cool in the moment. Do what fills your heart first, and then you’ll be able to fill the souls of those who like what you do.”

Stand United is out now via AFM Records.

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LIVE REVIEW: Polaris @ SWX, Bristol

POLARIS have been coming to our shores since 2017 and each time they’ve been coming back bigger and better.
This time round its their second show at SWX in Bristol and they bring with them a stacked bill with support from SILENT PLANET, THORNHILL and PALEDUSK. It’s no surprise to anyone that the show was an instant sell out.

Paledusk live @ SWX, Bristol. Photo Credit: Serena Hill Photography

With the venue slowly filling up, a good chunk of people have made it down to catch openers PALEDUSK, hailing from Japan, its only their second time in the UK and coming on a monumental tour like this shows how well liked they are on our shores. Coming on in a hail of spin kicks they set the bar high for the start of the night. Hyping up the crowd with songs like Black Ice, PaleHell and Slay!!. With fists and legs constantly flying in the pit, it has us pondering if the crowd will handle three more bands. Their set was short, sweet and full of energy. The early birds for the night got a wonderful treat for the start of a spectacular evening. Everyone will be going away remembering PALEDUSK.

Rating: 9/10Thornhill live @ SWX, Bristol. Photo Credit: Serena Hill Photography

With a quick change over, THORNHILL are up next. With the bar set high the Aussie quartet take on the challenge. Opening with Views From The Sun, it is has a definitive groove in comparison to PALEDUSK, highlighted by singer Jacob Charlton constantly thrusting his hips in a dance along to the music. The riffs continue through the set in a more melodic nature and we can see the crowd enjoying the change of pace and having a good song along, rather than moshing through the whole set. Jacob still flexes his vocal chords with some impressive low growls that really bring the rumble to their set. Although THORNHILL have to work a bit harder to get the crowd moving with more slower beats in the set, it’s still an impressive performance and provided a little respite before the night moves on.

Rating: 8/10Silent Planet live @ SWX, Bristol. Photo Credit: Serena Hill Photography

Quick changes are the call for tonight because with just enough time to catch a couple breaths, the final support is up. SILENT PLANET blast on to stage with a wonderful metalcore mix. Starting off strong with tracks Offworlder and Collider, it’s an instant energy injection for the whole room. It’s a contrast to the grooves of THORNHILL with even more naughty riffs in songs like Antimatter, the crowd are also in contrast making non-stop pits and any time a circle pit is called, the crowd obeys. There is however, some time given in the set to shout out International Women’s Day, which this gig lands on. It’s great to see the day acknowledged on an all male line up, they shout out some of the women that are in the touring party, with a cheer from the crowd in support. Bringing it it back up for the latter half of the set, the energy is rising still. Ending on Trilogy, a personal song written by Garret Russell during his stay in a psychiatric hospital after he made an attempt on his own life, before the finale he talks about his experience and about living life. A more humbling and heart felt message to end the set on.

Rating: 9/10Polaris live @ SWX, Bristol. Photo Credit: Serena Hill Photography

The crowd cheers as POLARIS finally take the stage. Starting things off slow with Harbinger. It’s a change of pace with singer Jamie Hails walking out solo to start off the track while the rest of the band follow suit a short while in to the track. However, the set quickly gets jumping, with the crowd eager to sing along and be part of the show. Continuing with second single from Fatalism, Nightmare is the time for everyone to flex their vocals cords screaming “we’re living in a nightmare” back at the band.

Not even two songs in and the crowd surfers start cascading over the barrier with Glasgow having almost five hundred over the barrier, will Bristol beat it? Well, they give it a good shot and defiantly keep security on their toes for the whole set. Crowd surfing aside, POLARIS keep the show on top form. Playing a good mix of songs from each of their albums from Lucid to Martyr (Waves). The journey through each album highlights just how good POLARIS are and it’s no surprise at their rise through the ranks of the metalcore elite.Polaris live @ SWX, Bristol. Photo Credit: Serena Hill Photography

They make sure no one is sitting still, opening up bigger and bigger circle pits which take over SWX and leave nowhere for people hide. Taking some time out to speak about being positive, it’s always good when a band uses their platform to bring a good message to their audience. Ending the night on Pray For Rain and break out single The Remedy really brings the show to a close with a bang.

Everyone truly has had the night of their lives, witnessing four superb bands put on one hell of a show. Metalcore is alive and kicking and going from strength to strength. With the show ending before 10pm, the audience will be able to squeeze in a post-gig pint so they can reflect and recover from the show and raise a glass to POLARIS.

Rating: 10/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Bristol from Serena Hill Photography here:

























































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