The Vertical Struts
The Vertical Struts
(Pop Echo Records)

B+

Website: www.verticalstruts.com

Circa Survive
Juturna
(Equal Vision Records)

A



Website: www.circasurvive.com

Circa Survive is amazing. Lets just get that out of the way right at the start. These guys are so talented it hurts. That said, new album Juturna is equally amazing. Anthony Green, arguably one of the best rock vocalists around, writes lyrics that are incredibly intelligent and abstract, and the band creates an ambient rock soundtrack for a sad yet beautiful world. Green was the former frontman of Saosin, a fast-rising alt-metal band, until he made the split-second decision to leave and put together Circa Survive. That was a great decision, and Juturna proves itself to be the prize for enduring a difficult period of change. Do yourself a favour: buy this album and go catch the band live. Catch the band at The Venue with Saves the Day and Moneen on April 27.
Brodie Sanderson

Helloween
Keeper of the Seven Keys — The Legacy
(Steamhammer/Fusion 3)

B

Helloween’s 1987 release Keeper of the Seven Keys, Part 1 has long been the broadsword by which other power metal has been measured. The German quintet has never quite equalled that disc — and they don’t here — but the two-disc Legacy set is nonetheless something that should get a few Vikings stirring in Valhalla. Most of the 13 lengthy songs on Legacy are galloping anthems, but Helloween also continues in its willingness to venture a little further out into the realm of prog metal. That separates the band from its wanky colleagues; writing a three-minute power metal song about killing elves is relatively easy compared to penning a 14-minute magnum opus. Opening track The King for a 1000 Years is just such an epic, and its numerous sections prove Helloween isn’t just a founder of the genre but one of its foremost members.
Mike Warkentin

Born in Argentina and raised in the Canadian North, Indio Saravanja cut his musical teeth on the road in places as diverse as Montreal, Spain and New York City — all by the time he was 20. Now he’s relocated to B.C.’s Gulf Islands, where he’s no doubt right at home as a world-travelled singer/songwriter specializing an interesting sort of international Americana. This album is very good, with strong writing and wonderfully spare arrangements. A fair bit of melancholy world-weariness is in these tunes, as well as the occasional sign of thoughtful social criticism. Saravanja is anything but a great singer. In fact, he half-speaks his way through most of the songs. Then again, some fairly big-league players have, by virtue of their larger gifts, more than compensated for this particular shortcoming.
Jamie Howison

Geunter Schulz is a god of rock. Now the former KMFDM guitar torturer has put his wizardly fingers to work in a neu-rock duo that holds only the master’s name as its moniker. Actually, this tidy little screamer harkens back to all the finest alternative industrial metal noise of a more than decade ago. It has that swing to it. Schulz has teamed up with some gritty growler named Jeff (Lizzy) Borden to chop the rock and grind up the pieces. Tight may not describe the gated drum throb or Schulz’s controlled melt, and the 11-tracker fits best on those sparkly days when you’ve had just a little too much Red Bull. A cover of angst-rock classic Love Will Tear Us Apart has Schulz riding the sustain pedal into a spacey flow until the chorus, at which time the riffage takes a decidedly more complex path.
Jeff Monk

At times we all feel like punching holes in drywall. Yep, every office could use some ventilation. The next time you go postal, I recommend letting Sepultura provide the soundtrack. This thrashing follow-up to last year’s Live in Saõ Paulo is packed with enough blind rage to ensure you don’t run out of steam until the police arrive to take you down. A concept album based on Dante’s The Divine Comedy, Dante XXI continues Sepultura’s string of solid releases, incorporating strings, throat singing and all the other elements that make the band stand out in a sea of crap. This quartet is simply more imaginative and talented than most others, and it shows in every song. Together with offshoot Soulfly (fronted by Sepultura founder Max Cavalera), Sepultura is proving that some of the best metal is being made south of the Equator.
Mike Warkentin

Sergio Mendes is one of Brazil’s most popular artists. On this not-so-timeless release he joins Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas to rework some classics — but this disc is not for Mendes fans. Mas Que Nada features BEP, with some useless contributions from Fergie. On That Heat Will.i.am provides an unoriginal rap as Erika Badu moans over Mendes’ Slow Hot Wind. Other guests include Justin Timberlake, John Legend, India Arie and Jill Scot, but too many tracks are overshadowed by Will.i.am’s incessant spelling lessons. OK, we get it. Will.i.am had a part in the making of this disc and Will.i.am needs to share the spotlight on every track. This release is as timeless as the pastel suits Mendes wore in his early days.
Shannon Ander

One obviously sarcastic music critic once proclaimed that England’s UB40 is a great reggae band if you’re too lazy to search out the real thing. While the band’s latest, Who You Fighting For?‚ flaunts a lead-off track with a questioning political tone, the balance of the 13 cuts on the album are pleasing but somehow unremarkable. Main vocalist Ali Campbell has a pleasant enough voice, and the band skanks with a certain relevance, but the combination of Campbell’s affected, Sting-like rude-boy patois and the band’s generic tone practically scream cod reggae. For some unfathomable reason the group has included a cover of the classic soul gem Groovy Situation, renamed as Good Situation. Who on the UB40 management team decided that the word ‘groovy’ just wasn’t hip enough to use in this version? A good album, and miles from groovy.
Jeff Monk