Bill Ward

Accountable Beasts

                         ^{Bill Ward — Accountable Beasts} 
•—••—••—•   Bill je Roger Waters hardrocku. Přidejme, že jeho neuvěřitelný a empatický hlas věkem dozrál tak, že teď evokuje Jacka Brucea, v něčem Rogera Watersa a výsledkem je někdo, kdo jistě má být nazýván jako velký zpěvák. Adresa je: creepy and complex of dimension. Legendary Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward solo album!!!
•—••—••—•   “Hi Everybody.
•—••—•   It’s Bill here. First off, I want to thank you all for the support you’ve given me throughout the years. I love to play–whether it’s playing drums in Black Sabbath, making music with my own band or working with other musicians, period. Being able to do what I love for my whole life, pretty much, has been an honour and privilege.
•—••—•   When I started playing in Sabbath, there was an energy of truth about us. We believed in what we were saying, the music we were making and the lives we were living. As time has moved on, I’ve nurtured and tried to save a lot of what I learnt playing in Sabbath. During the more recent years at the Ozzfest concerts, I’ve found myself immersed in the musical rewards of playing in such a unique and devastatingly, powerfully effective Metal band. Sabbath have been, and are, my greatest teachers, and I am forever grateful for the musical journey so far.
•—•   Today, I love what’s happening in music. I’ve been given the rare opportunity to play bands I like — Classic and newer Metal — on our Rock 50 radio show. These bands energize me. I am humbled to know many of you. Music lives and brings and maintains life. Music has always brought me through. Stay strong, safe and live. Enjoy the site. Long Live Metal.” — Bill Ward                                                                 Birth name: William Thomas Ward
Born: 5 May 1948, Aston, Birmingham, England
Location: Seal Beach, CA, USA
Album release: April 21, 2015
Record Label: Aston Cross Music
Duration:     41:33 
Tracks:
01. Leaf Killers      4:39
02. Accountable Beasts      3:16
03. Katastrophic World      4:14
04. D.O.T.H.     4:12
05. First Day Back      3:55
06. As It Is In Heaven      2:25
07. Ashes      5:33
08. Straws      3:03
09. The Wall Of Death      10:16
℗ 2015 Aston Cross Music
•—•  Ward uses Tama drums, Sabian cymbals, Vic Firth drumsticks and Gibraltar hardware.
Personnel:
•—•  Vocals, drums, keyboards: Bill Ward
•—•  Guitars, bass, keyboards, vocals: Keith Lynch
•—•  Bass: Paul Ill
•—•  Drums, percussion: Ronnie Ciago
•—•  Percussion: Walter Earl
Credits:
•••  Produced by Kevin Keller and Bill Ward
•••  Mastering by Stephen Marsh Description:
•••  Bill Ward is the original drummer of Metal gods Black Sabbath; he is one of the most important figures in Heavy Metal history. Bill is currently involved in a very public war of words with former bandmate Ozzy Osbourne over his participation, or lack of it, with Sabbath as they prepare to record their last album and embark on their final tour. •••  In the midst of all of the madness comes, quite unexpectedly, Bill Ward's latest solo album titled Accountable Beasts, released on iTunes. The album comes 18 years after his last solo release, When the Bough Breaks. Bill has not been in any hurry, this one being rushed out after only a six year wait (he has another album titled Beyond Aston that we've been waiting for something like two decades, so a mere six years ain't so bad!).
•••  Classic Rock Revisited is very pleased to announce that Accountable Beasts was indeed worth the wait! Bill Ward proves to the world, once again, that he may be the most creative soul to have been in the original Black Sabbath. This album goes beyond music; it is a work of art, and perhaps Bill's masterpiece. Now, let’s get this straight right off the bat, this album is not the debut Black Sabbath album 2.0. Far from it, as Bill is not reaching backwards in any way, shape or form. He is not attempting to relive the past, or even harken to yesteryear at all. That said, this sucker has some heavy moments... a better way to say it may be.... this sucker has some heaaaavy moments. •••  There is a lot of doom, gloom and despair... however, to describe this as ‘downer–rock’ would be a total disservice.
•••  What can one expect from this album? Well, let me share with you some notes I jotted down upon hearing Accountable Beasts for the first time: "What a trip! I love this! It’s Sabbath meets Meat Loaf meets an insane asylum! Holy shit this is cool! It's weird, disturbing, heavy, rocking and operatic. It's scary, crazy, edgy, trippy and totally unexpected and, at times, unnerving! This is a one–of–a–kind album that only Bill Ward could create!" Ward plays drums on seven of the nine tracks and, in classic Ward–style he bashes it up. It is his vocals that are totally addictive on this album however, as Bill sounds eerily haunting and other times angry — not screaming mad, but more like an evil genius plotting his next move! His band features Keith Lynch (guitar, keyboards), Paul Ill (bass) and Ronnie Ciago (drums), alongside drummer Walter Earl and an array of session singers, including Ward's daughter Emily. All performances are top–notch and leave the listener wanting more.
•••  Each track has a personality of its own, yet some are stronger than others. Opening number "Leaf Killers" is heavy and kicks off the album with a bang. "First Day Back" is Ward meets Syd Barrett, while "The Wall of Death" features tons of distortion and a rambling yet addictive guitar with Ward telling us to pick up the pace and throwing in a few F words for good measure. Accountable Beasts also includes Ward's 2002 single "Straws," one of the best tunes he has ever written. It is nice to see the tune finally find a home on an album. At the end of the day, this is truly an artistic statement. The music is heavy, but it is not something one would listen to while in a happy–go–lucky mood. It is not something to wave your fist in the air to, or cruise main street blasting on a Friday night. No, this album is much deeper than that. I suggest a dark candle lit room, incense, late at night with headphones on... getting a massage from an Asian girl in a rubber clown mask...okay, wait a sec...I think I took that last one a bit too far. Suffice it to say this album rocks!
•••  Bill Ward has created a piece of music that is as enjoyable to experience as it is to listen to! •••  www.metal–archives.com                                              REVIEW
By Martin Popoff, Rating: 10.0
•••  Words fail me, but I’ll try. Fact is, I’ve never heard music constructed, arranged, played, recorded — nor lyrics like this — anywhere else, other than maybe Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. The most feverishly creative bits of When the Bough Breaks hint at it, as does the masterful Queen–meets–John Cale “Straws” single (mercifully included on the album), but almost all of Accountable Beasts is face against that hot glass. So I necessarily must repeat what I’ve said before: Bill is the Roger Waters of heavy music. •••  But to add to that, his incredible and empathetic voice, with age, he’s now added evocations of Jack Bruce to his few parts Roger Waters and lotsa parts Bill Ward, who surely has got to be heralded as a great vocalist by now. Addressing the doom, it’s creepy and complex of dimension.
•••  It starts with the contours of the finest goth rock, it picks up with the vibes of Animals and The Final Cut, but then Keith Lynch’s guitars... they are used often for colour, not so often in a lead sense, but riffs separated by lots of space. And when he plays, he dents yer head and leaves a toxic impression. It’s as if a little is enough, because large doses might darken your whole life philosophy toward Magazine, who I’ve called the Pink Floyd of post–punk, but yes, very, very dark. I dunno, and I’m pretty sure I said this before too, but Bill as a solo artist is like Pete Townsend at his courageous and lest predictable, namely circa The Endless Wire, which is a fascinating blowing up of The Who.
•••  A point on the production: it’s not as plush as When the Bough Breaks. While retaining a bit of that record’s expertly used overdrive, often, this record sounds simply rawer, which is both good and bad. There’s something about some of the cymbals that sounds cheap, and the feel is of open architecture and separation between instruments, too much at times, because there are a lot of weird sounds on here, and the writing is challenging — see “Leaf Killers” for example. But it’s also almost brilliantly Zep IV–esque at times, as we can hear on the paranoiac assault that is the title track, where cymbals and trashy snare dominate, and yet it’s so odd and so fresh, it sounds like a wily and deliberate move. I said post-punk, didn’t I? And the more I listen to songs like “D.O.T.H.,” I am indeed reminded of those richly depressive acts moved on from punk but just as fatalistic — Chameleons UK, Joy Division and The Cure — but again, with vaulted hard rock and prog ambitions.
•••  You know, me an’ the buds talk a lot lately about Never Say Die, and how that record is getting a re–evaluation. Well, Accountable Beasts is very much in the vein of “Air Dance,” “Breakout” and “Swinging the Chain,” and even “Johnny Blade,” except thinking about Ozzy singing is 100,000 miles away from this record jarringly back into the real world. Bill sounds like an aristocrat in his massive Morgan library, in 1908, with brandy snifter, pondering life at a level too many layers removed from the ordinary. And it never lets up.
•••  Late in the sequence, “Ashes”... I can almost picture Bill bringing a stack of blueprints to the band for each and every track, testing their patience with his mad cackling genius. I kid you not, this one song alone must have ten or a dozen nuanced bits of production genius that would have Steven Wilson or Kevin Moore scratching their heads. And the crazy part, is that somehow all of these near impossible to describe songs, cohere. In other words, all the points an’ pointers of the inarticulate description above, incredibly, they apply to every song on the album, as if The Final Cut could be Hadron collided down to four or five minutes, in nine novel, provocative ways, and then mainlined to yer mind. (excerpt) •••  http://bravewords.com/reviews/bill-ward-accountable-beasts
Website: http://www.billward.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/billwarddrums
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bill-Ward/109213359124333 ••—••—••—••—•

Bill Ward

Accountable Beasts

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