Gabriel (album)
Encyclopedia
Gabriel is the fourth full-length album by the American technical thrash metal
band Believer, released on March 17, 2009 on Cesspool Recordings, an imprint of Metal Blade Records
. A comeback album, it is the band's first new release since their demise in 1994. The album was met with mostly positive reviews.
of CKY
played some guitar parts and went to comment that "Believer have been one of my favorite bands for 20 years so this is really exciting for me. Check out the three records they did in the '90s... All three are works of genius." Other guest performances were done by Joe Rico of the band Sacrifice, with whom Believer toured in the early 1990s, and Rocky Gray of Living Sacrifice
. Believer signed with Metal Blade Records
' imprint Cesspool Recordings, owned by Killswitch Engage
vocalist Howard Jones who commented: "Somehow I got lucky enough to stumble across a reactivated Believer who has always been a band that got and still gets repeated listens from me. Great band and even better people, and they truly bring a unique quality of musicianship back into the metal music genre. I'm truly excited to see them on stage again." Jones contributed some guest vocals for the song "The Brave".
An unmastered version of the song "Medwton" from the album premiered on Bam Margera
's Radio Bam show on November 17. Deron Miller wanted to play the song on the show since he played guitar solo on it. The tracks "Focused Lethality" and "Stoned" were released as singles.
Eye Level Studios created the album's artwork; a live model was masked and photographed wearing actual horns. In an interview with Fazer magazine, Bachman stated they plan to release an artbook based on the cover art with Eye Level Studios.
Kurt Bachman commented that the album sounds like a "sick, insane cross between Tool
, Voivod
, Nine Inch Nails
and Destruction
." Bachman commented the album's musical style:
Justin Donnelly of Blistering
magazine gave the album 8 out of 10. Pointing out that each song on the album is unique and contain different ideas, he states that the experimental “Redshift” is "quite possibly one of the album’s most memorable efforts with its huge infectious chugging riffs, swathes of melodic keyboards and its reoccurring breakdown passages where the bass and drums provide some cool breathing space." Trey Spencer of Sputnikmusic
gave the album four out of five points and noted: "As odd as it might sound, this album is actually a breath of fresh air for a metal community that is becoming increasingly stagnant. With Gabriel the band has managed to bring back that old-school thrash sound, but also mix in a large dose of technicality and originality while still sounding very current."
Chris Beck of HM wrote that "Fifteen years is a long time. Long enough to forget just how brutal Believer’s music was, how insane Joey Daub’s drumming was and how the band composed riffs so technical that most other bands wouldn’t have dreamed of playing them." He also stated that "Gabriel could easily have been released years ago as the immediate follow-up to Dimensions" and praised the album: "Metal isn’t supposed to sound this good." Criticism was given for the elements of keyboard, sound and voice programming throughout that Beck felt were "slightly overused" as he wished that the band would have "let the music stand by itself". Beck concludes that "this is unmistakably Believer, and unmistakably a great album." AOL
listed the artwork for Gabriel among "ten best album covers of 2009 so far" list.
Not all reviewers were excited about the album; an Abort magazine editor commented that Gabriel is "a well-intentioned if somewhat bland return to form".
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
band Believer, released on March 17, 2009 on Cesspool Recordings, an imprint of Metal Blade Records
Metal Blade Records
Metal Blade Records is a record label which was founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The U.S. corporate office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Arizona, Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distributed in the U.S. by Sony BMG Music...
. A comeback album, it is the band's first new release since their demise in 1994. The album was met with mostly positive reviews.
Recording history
Recorded in late 2008, on Gabriel the band line-up consists of Kurt Bachman (vocals, guitar), Joey Daub (drums), Jeff King (keyboards, of Fountain of Tears fame), Kevin Leaman (guitar), and Elton Nestler (bass). Scott Laird (violin) and Jim Winters (guitar) who played with the band previously, also contributed to the album as session musicians, as did William Keller (voices on Dimensions). Deron MillerDeron Miller
Deron John Miller is the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for World Under Blood and CKY , which has been through various incarnations since being founded in 1998. CKY's most recent release was 2009's Carver City....
of CKY
CKY (band)
CKY is an American alternative metal band that formed in West Chester, Pennsylvania in 1998. Centred around core members Deron Miller , Chad I Ginsburg and Jess Margera , the band shares its name with a skateboarding and stunt video series produced by Bam Margera, brother of drummer Jess...
played some guitar parts and went to comment that "Believer have been one of my favorite bands for 20 years so this is really exciting for me. Check out the three records they did in the '90s... All three are works of genius." Other guest performances were done by Joe Rico of the band Sacrifice, with whom Believer toured in the early 1990s, and Rocky Gray of Living Sacrifice
Living Sacrifice
Living Sacrifice is a Christian heavy metal band that formed in September 1989 in Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S. The band has released seven studio albums, out of which the first three were recorded under R.E.X. Records with their original vocalist Darren Johnson as a more thrash metal and death metal...
. Believer signed with Metal Blade Records
Metal Blade Records
Metal Blade Records is a record label which was founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The U.S. corporate office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Arizona, Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distributed in the U.S. by Sony BMG Music...
' imprint Cesspool Recordings, owned by Killswitch Engage
Killswitch Engage
Killswitch Engage is an American metalcore band from Westfield, Massachusetts, formed in 1999 after the disbandment of Overcast and Aftershock. Killswitch Engage's current lineup consists of vocalist Howard Jones, bassist Mike D'Antonio, guitarists Joel Stroetzel and Adam Dutkiewicz, and drummer...
vocalist Howard Jones who commented: "Somehow I got lucky enough to stumble across a reactivated Believer who has always been a band that got and still gets repeated listens from me. Great band and even better people, and they truly bring a unique quality of musicianship back into the metal music genre. I'm truly excited to see them on stage again." Jones contributed some guest vocals for the song "The Brave".
An unmastered version of the song "Medwton" from the album premiered on Bam Margera
Bam Margera
Brandon Cole "Bam" Margera is an American professional skateboarder, television and radio personality, actor and daredevil. He released a series of videos under the CKY banner and came to prominence after being drafted into MTV's Jackass crew...
's Radio Bam show on November 17. Deron Miller wanted to play the song on the show since he played guitar solo on it. The tracks "Focused Lethality" and "Stoned" were released as singles.
Eye Level Studios created the album's artwork; a live model was masked and photographed wearing actual horns. In an interview with Fazer magazine, Bachman stated they plan to release an artbook based on the cover art with Eye Level Studios.
Kurt Bachman commented that the album sounds like a "sick, insane cross between Tool
Tool (band)
Tool is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1990, the group's line-up has included drummer Danny Carey, guitarist Adam Jones, and vocalist Maynard James Keenan. Since 1995, Justin Chancellor has been the band's bassist, replacing their original bassist Paul D'Amour...
, Voivod
Voivod (band)
Voivod are a Canadian heavy metal band from Jonquière, Quebec, Canada. Their musical style has changed several times since the band's origin in the early 1980s...
, Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
and Destruction
Destruction (band)
Destruction is a German thrash metal band. They are considered one of the "three kings" of the Teutonic thrash metal scene, the others being Kreator and Sodom...
." Bachman commented the album's musical style:
Reception
The critical reception of the album has been positive. Greg Prato of Allmusic gave the album 3.5 points out of 5 commenting that, despite being 16 years in silence, Believer is "automatically back in business." Prato notices that the album is closer to the band's origins, as it contains "few nods to vintage late-'80s/early-'90s metal" although "a challenging, almost proggy edge can be detected in all the manic six-string riffing and growling, especially on such tracks as the album-opening "Medwton," plus "Focused Lethality" and the slowly building "The Brave."Justin Donnelly of Blistering
Blistering
Blistering, founded in 1998, is an international online magazine dedicated to heavy metal and hard rock music. Its editor-in-chief is David E. Gehlke, an American music journalist who has written for About.com, Metal Maniacs, and Throat Culture...
magazine gave the album 8 out of 10. Pointing out that each song on the album is unique and contain different ideas, he states that the experimental “Redshift” is "quite possibly one of the album’s most memorable efforts with its huge infectious chugging riffs, swathes of melodic keyboards and its reoccurring breakdown passages where the bass and drums provide some cool breathing space." Trey Spencer of Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic, or simply Sputnik, is a music website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites...
gave the album four out of five points and noted: "As odd as it might sound, this album is actually a breath of fresh air for a metal community that is becoming increasingly stagnant. With Gabriel the band has managed to bring back that old-school thrash sound, but also mix in a large dose of technicality and originality while still sounding very current."
Chris Beck of HM wrote that "Fifteen years is a long time. Long enough to forget just how brutal Believer’s music was, how insane Joey Daub’s drumming was and how the band composed riffs so technical that most other bands wouldn’t have dreamed of playing them." He also stated that "Gabriel could easily have been released years ago as the immediate follow-up to Dimensions" and praised the album: "Metal isn’t supposed to sound this good." Criticism was given for the elements of keyboard, sound and voice programming throughout that Beck felt were "slightly overused" as he wished that the band would have "let the music stand by itself". Beck concludes that "this is unmistakably Believer, and unmistakably a great album." AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
listed the artwork for Gabriel among "ten best album covers of 2009 so far" list.
Not all reviewers were excited about the album; an Abort magazine editor commented that Gabriel is "a well-intentioned if somewhat bland return to form".
Track listing
- Medwton - 7:23
- A Moment In Prime - 6:07
- Stoned - 4:32
- Redshift - 5:21
- History of Decline - 3:49
- The Need For Conflict - 5:14
- Focused Lethality - 3:46
- Shut Out The Sun - 5:38
- The Brave - 4:19
- Nonsense Mediated Decay - 8:49
Personnel
- Kurt Bachman - vocals, guitar
- Joey Daub - drums
- Jeff King - keyboards, programming
- Kevin Leaman - guitar
- Elton Nestler - bass guitar, programming
Session musicians
- Joe Rico (Sacrifice)
- Deron MillerDeron MillerDeron John Miller is the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for World Under Blood and CKY , which has been through various incarnations since being founded in 1998. CKY's most recent release was 2009's Carver City....
(CKYCKY (band)CKY is an American alternative metal band that formed in West Chester, Pennsylvania in 1998. Centred around core members Deron Miller , Chad I Ginsburg and Jess Margera , the band shares its name with a skateboarding and stunt video series produced by Bam Margera, brother of drummer Jess...
, World Under BloodWorld Under BloodWorld Under Blood is a melodic death metal band from Los Angeles, California. The band was formed in late 2006 by CKY frontman Deron Miller and Divine Heresy drummer Tim Yeung.-Early Years:...
) - Rocky GrayRocky GrayWilliam "Rocky" Gray is a drummer and guitarist who has been part of the Arkansas metal scene since the early 1990s. He has an extensive career as a musician and is best known as the lead guitarist for Living Sacrifice and the drummer for We Are the Fallen...
(EvanescenceEvanescenceEvanescence is an American rock band founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995 by singer/pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody. After recording private albums, the band released their first full-length album, Fallen, on Wind-up Records in 2003. Fallen sold more than 17 million copies worldwide...
, Soul EmbracedSoul EmbracedSoul Embraced is a Christian Death Metal band from Little Rock, Arkansas, United States.-History:Originally a side project of drummer David Sroczynski and William "Rocky" Gray from Shredded Corpse formed in 1997, the band dissolved after creating one song for a metal compilation in 1998...
, Living SacrificeLiving SacrificeLiving Sacrifice is a Christian heavy metal band that formed in September 1989 in Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S. The band has released seven studio albums, out of which the first three were recorded under R.E.X. Records with their original vocalist Darren Johnson as a more thrash metal and death metal...
). - Howard Jones (Killswitch EngageKillswitch EngageKillswitch Engage is an American metalcore band from Westfield, Massachusetts, formed in 1999 after the disbandment of Overcast and Aftershock. Killswitch Engage's current lineup consists of vocalist Howard Jones, bassist Mike D'Antonio, guitarists Joel Stroetzel and Adam Dutkiewicz, and drummer...
) - Scott Laird - violin
- Jim Winters - guitar solos
- William Keller - voices
- John and Alexander Boden - voices
External links
- Gabriel at Metal-Archives