COLTRE - To Watch with Hands to Touch with Eyes review

 

COLTRE - To Watch with Hands to Touch with Eyes

Dying Victims Productions

The tagline on this one was New Wave of British Heavy Metal albeit in 2024. But after a few plays I can tell ya (from personal experience) this comes off as pre-NWOBHM aka: mid 1970's sounding hard rock. So sit back and relax as I try to make sense of this to you. 

First off COLTRE are a new four piece act from London, England. This is their debut full length. Prior to this the band put out a five song EP in 2020 titled Under the Influence. Trust me if you like this then you'll want to get that one as well. Line-up wise you've got two guitarists, a bass player and drummer. One of the guitarist sings. How 70's is that?

Now not only does COLTRE come off sounding as something from my early listening ears in the mid 70's. But the production on here is spot on 1970's analog. Yeah this comes off as some rare 70's act that some fuck at a record convention wants a $100 for. Then there's the cover art which to me looks Prog especially with the title. 

But hey as I always say it's all about the music. So if you're into 70'S era sounds by THIN LIZZY, UFO, BLUE OYSTER CULT and even some JUDAS PRIEST then you're gonna like this one. For me I like it but there are some obvious rip offs to contend with. One example is the third cut "Rat Race". Sure it's a great homage to early UFO and a damm good track. But little did I know that the latter half of this album would be a total ode to UFO especially the final cut "Oblivion".

Do you like THIN LIZZY? Then you'll love "Friends Aren't Electric" since it has the bass riff from "Emerald". Add to that I'd swear that the title cut borrows riffs from one of BLUE OYSTER CULT's first three albums. But hey be thankful because COLTRE are not GHOST. And all in all despite this old man's obvious points this is a pretty damm good album. 

For me COLTRE gets huge nostalgia points simply because the music is beautifully done. There's plenty of old school twin guitar lead work. Marco Stamigna has a calm cool and convincing heart felt delivery to his vocals. The rhythm section delivers with thick bass lines as well as cool drum work. 

I mean how can you fault a band when their opening cut "Feast of the Outcast" reminds ya of DEEP PURPLE minus Jon Lord's  Hammond organ. Yeah this is damm good.   

https://dying-victims.de/

LISTEN HERE:

https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/to-watch-with-hands-to-touch-with-eyes

GURT - Skullossus review

GURT - Skullossus

When Planets Collide




This is the sophomore release from GURT a four piece metal act from London, England. According to the promo info the band proclaims themselves as party doom. Well after listening to this multiple times I don't hear a party or feel like having a party. Although I do hear plenty of sludge, a dose of death doom, groove plus a singer with scar tissue for vocal chords. Musically GURT are not paving an inch of new territory as far as sludge metal goes. In fact I look at them as reviving the early primordial days when the genre first came about and bands were just tossing everything together.

After a boring spoken word audio intro about the end of the human race, the music portion kicks into gear with "Gimme the Night, Any Day" which pretty much exemplifies every description I laid upon this band. Ya got the sludge, the crawling doom pounding, the death n roll groove at the end. Hell I wanted to jump up and hit something/someone pit style. This is followed up by death cadence number "Battlepants" which would keep a slam pit going. What follows is a punk rock n roll influenced number "Double Barrelled Shot-pun", once again pit worthy. 

Unfortunately from this point onward the release unravels. You get some Southern sludge NOLA style, a couple of short ditties not worth mentioning, some bass heavy mid paced boredom, "Jon Garseeya Later" does return the band to early form ala hardcore grooves with a sludgey filth coating. "The Ballad of Tom Stones and Reg Montagne (Part 1)" is probably as close to doom as this release gets. Like I stated earlier this does sound like something from the very early nineties when hardcore bands started slowing down. Sure there are plenty of well known names to drop. But I've got a box of cassette demos and a stack or two of 7"ers from unknowns. GURT would make those acts smile.


https://whenplanetscollide.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/GURTsludge

https://gurt.bandcamp.com/album/skullossus-2

http://gurtsludge.tumblr.com/