Album Reviews

[binnie]

I just love Husker Du, really.

When I'm picking stuff to review, I try and pick out the black beauties and rough diamonds - what would be the point of reviewing 'Led Zep IV' or 'Blizzard of Oz': everyone's heard 'em! So, I look for the records I love others overlook.

I really don't think 'Flip Your Wig' is made of half hearted songs - in fact, I don't think Bob Mould has ever really done anything half hearted. The songs may be left overs, but then again, 'Physical Grafitti' was made up of leftovers - and that was hardly half-hearted.

'Flip Your Wig' is no 'Zen Arcade', but it's still a great rock'n'roll record to me - I'm not as keen on the major label stuff, they lost a little something in my opinion.

Glad to have found another fan, Chef. Did you ever manage to seem 'em live?

[chefcraig]

Glad to have found another fan, Chef. Did you ever manage to seem 'em live?

Yes, with a local band called Psycho Daisies at a place called Fireman's Hall, a joint that was little more than a community center in Fort Lauderdale, sometime in 1985!

[FORD]

I really miss Husker Du. Sadly, I never did get to see them live

And wouldn't you know, they're the one band that never seemed to show any interest in a reunion. I don't know if Bob Mould & Grant Hart still despise each other's guts, but probably so....

[FORD]

Is Grant Hart the only drummer who can actually sing while he's playing the drums. Seems that most of the drummers who they decide they want to sing (Ringo Starr/Phil Collins/Don Henley/Dave Grohl/etc) end up not doing both at the same time.

[chefcraig]

Is Grant Hart the only drummer who can actually sing while he's playing the drums. Seems that most of the drummers who they decide they want to sing (Ringo Starr/Phil Collins/Don Henley/Dave Grohl/etc) end up not doing both at the same time.

It's a pretty short list. There was the guy from Rare Earth who played drums and happened to be the lead singer, Don Brewer from Grand Funk, Levon Helm with The Band and Buddy Miles come to mind. I think the guy in The Romantics sang a couple of tunes, as well as the drummer in Triumph.

[FORD]

Forgot about the Rare Earth guy. I actually have one of their live albums on vinyl. I don't think there's a single song under 7 minutes on it. So I guess he had lots of time to play the drums and NOT sing.

Pretty much everyone sang in The Band, right? Admittedly, I'm not all that familiar with Buddy Miles apart from his work with Hendrix. And Jimi was singing that.

[chefcraig]

Pretty much everyone sang in The Band, right? Admittedly, I'm not all that familiar with Buddy Miles apart from his work with Hendrix. And Jimi was singing that.

Robbie Robertson only sang lead on a couple of songs, and Garth Hudson sang none. Miles sang lead on a few of the Band of Gypsies tracks, but I'd be willing to bet few people know that he was the singer on those California Raisins commercials, doing "Heard It Through The Grapevine".

[binnie]

Now, you see, it's little asides like this that make me love this site!

[binnie]

Stone Sour - Audio Secrecy

This is a cross roads album for Stone Sour, a band fronted by Slipknot vocalist Corey Taylor. First impressions reveal that this is a step up from earlier releases. Not so much in terms of the quality of the songs, but in the efforts made to record them: the production here is crisp, polished and thought through, layers of guitars and vocals encasing songs. At times the effect might be to rob the band of some of the infectious energy captured on their first two records, but it also sees them move to a more commerical sound. A move that will inevitably be met with dismay by those who only heard the beast in Slipknot, and not the beauty, it should not be seen as contrived - the songs here are delivered with the passion, enthusiasm and sincerity we have come to expect. At its best - as on the rolling riff and unbridled adrenalin of 'Mission Statement' or the acoustic lament of 'Imperfect' - the added focus works with aplomb; at its worst, however, it yields songs that feel mired with over-thinking - 'Dying' and 'Hesitate' are little more than throwaway AOR for the maggot generation. A mixed bag, then, but one well worth picking up. Indeed, this is the record which will see Stone Sour enter the big league, the transition point which will see them become one of rock's big players. 'The Bitter End' is destined to be a metal classic, and 'Let's Be Honest' and 'Unfinished' are perfect slices of 21st century hard rock which contain slivers of Slipknot: a testament not to band trapped in the shadow of its frontman's past, but to the unquantifiable impact that band has had on heavy music, present even at the point of assumption. Corey sings perfectly throughout this - from lord of the underground to high priest of the mainstream? Only time will tell.

[binnie]

Converge - Axe To Fall

As a man who has been afflicted by clinical depression, I can tell you quite candidly that Converge have managed to capture that feeling of anguished terror on this, their eigth album, which sounds like a mind slowly eating itself to inertia. If you think rock'n'roll is about having a good time, partying hard, going to strip clubs and celebrating hedonism, you flat out won't get this. If you think music, great music, is about more than that, a reflection of the human condition and something which can touch it, you will be staggered. Can you ever say you 'enjoy' Converge? Maybe that's not the right adjective, but it will affect you - like the first time you heard Swans, the first time you heard Meshuggah, this is startlingly heavy, unflinchingly sparse, and ceaslessly brutal, a total deprivation of sense which paints in countless shades of aggression before culminating in 'Cruel Bloom/Wretched World', a lament which sounds like Tom Waits being tortured. Listen at your peril: this is an album which could scare The Hulk, and will probably leave you with your kness tucked into your chest, rocking back and forth in a dark room and wondering what the point of it all is. Outstanding, and untouchable.

[binnie]

36 Crazyfists - Collisions and Castaways

Always an above average metal band, the enjoyment yielded from 36CF's previous outings has always been the result of enthusiasm rather than originality: such is the passion and power of this band's commitment that they have traded thus far on perspiration not inspiration, a trait that has seen them become of the world's most deadly live bands. 'Collisions and Castaways' marks a step up, for there is a real sense of purpose about this recording, a purpose felt most keenly in the remarkably provacative lyrics ('Anchors' is a case in point). The songs contain little flab, boiled down to their fighting weight without feeling over thought, and on 'Trenchers' and 'Death Renames the Light' the delivery is visceral. Opener 'In the Midnights' is the past 20 years of metal in five minutes: vocals are alternatively screamed and crooned, double kick-drums predominate, and breakdowns crush all. The charred melancholy of 'Caving In Spirals' is chilling, and the Glassjaw-like creepiness of 'Mercy and Grace' makes for a career-high performance. Perhaps a more extreme affair than previous albums, the rigid production has a tendancy to rob the band of some of its natural groove. Nonetheless, it is hard not to be impressed with this record. Certainly of its time rather than timeless, there is little here that Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall or a host of other modern American metal bands don't do - what makes 'Collisions and Castaways' remarkable, then, is not its styling but its delivery, the unrelenting commitment which ensures that this release is far more powerful than much of the mainstay of Roadrunner's roster. Indeed, listening to this one is led to feel that, like Devildriver, 36CF should be a much, much bigger band. Perhaps the perspiration will finally pay off.

[binnie]

Avenged Sevefold - Nightmare

Oozing with emotion, 'Nightmare' was recorded in the aftermath of the death of drummer Jimmy 'The Rev' Sullivan. But if this is a record gripped by a sense of loss, it is also one drenched in purpose, an epic album dressed in pop sensibilities. Imagine 'Use Your Illusions'-era Guns 'N' Roses with Dave Mustaine at the helm, and you're getting close: this is a band that blends a wealth of music into every single song, double drum patterns, complex arrangements, soaring guitars, piano interludes and huge riffs swirling in lengthy tracks. What has always made Avenged Sevenfold work, however, is the fact that this complexity is so accessible: these intricate structures and inter-realted parts held together by beautyfiul melodies which drive the songs forward. It also makes for much variety: the Hetfield-esque strut of the title track offset by the sheer beauty of ballads 'Fiction', 'Victim' and 'Tonight the World Dies', bravdo offset by tenderness in a real journey of an album. Mike Portnay deputizes for the Rev beautifully, his astonishing drumming overshadowed only by Synster Gates's epic guitar-playing: groove ladden riffs, Helloween like melodies and soaring guitar solos, and, most importantly, the sense of when to underplay, he is an axeman with it all. Is it perfect? No. This is a band which has remarkable talent and a paints with a broad pallet of colours. It is the template that often holds them back: too often cliches emerge, aggressive verses merging into the safety of melodic choruses. When they losen up on the second half of this album, they are startlingly good: the confidence to throw the rulebook away and embrace their own potential could quite easily see Avenged Sevenfold make the metal album of their generation; as it stands, fans will have to settle for a really, really good one. I'm sure 'The Rev' would be proud.

[sonrisa salvaje]

I really miss Husker Du. Sadly, I never did get to see them live

And wouldn't you know, they're the one band that never seemed to show any interest in a reunion. I don't know if Bob Mould & Grant Hart still despise each other's guts, but probably so....

I listened to Husker Du for a little while in college. I also used to listen to a band called The Hoodus Goorus (i can't even remember if i'm spelling that right). They had a record called Blow Your Cool that i used to really dig. Anyone remember them?

[binnie]

Crippled Black Phoenix - 200 Tons of Bad Luck

Hushed into life with 3 minutes of restrained organ, listeners are immediately aware that this is an album which belongs to another era, an era in which songs developed in their own time and pace and in which instant gratification was eschewed in favour of the slow burn. The music on this record - a 'supergroup' of members from Iron Monkey, Electric Wizard and Mogwai - feels like the moment at which the 'Summer of Love' faded into something darker. Lost in the ether, songs exist on the cusp of jams in music which is egoless, melodies and harmonies emering from waves of instrumentation before disapearing seamlessly. It's an eclectic affair: opener 'Burnt Reynolds' consisting of a choir laid over southern rock riffs, sounding like a gentle storm; and the impossibly beautiful 'Wendigo' blending guitar, celo and trumpet in a piece that is hauntingly solemn. For the most part the songs are vocal-less, dark lullabys for broken souls - although their elegance is soiled by liner notes which are somewhat pretentious, awarding each piece an explanatory blurb which often read like a self help book for a character in a Russian novel. This is a little sleepy in places, and the injection of some pace would have made what is a long album more accessible, but it is well worth persevering into these often mezmerizing pieces of progressive rock laments.

[binnie]

Swallow the Sun - New Moon

For an album whose lyrical are so depressing - even despondent - it is a triumph that the music here manages to be inspiring, even touchingly uplifting in places. This is doom which is more than bleak, each song elegant in its drift from the speakers, both evocative and provocative; thoughtful and immediate. It is also a very complete album: becoming progessively heavier, songs like the title track and 'Servant of Sorrow' combine the ultra-heavy with the irrisitably melodic. Inobtrusive keyboards, wailing riffs and intricate guitar melodies blend seemlessly into one, birthing songs both powerful and diffuse. Indeed, the likes of 'And Heaven Cried Blood' and 'Light on the Lake (Horror Pt III)' are near faultless in their trying beauty, and exist as further proof - should it be needed - that the last 10 years has seen a high point in the history of heavy music. Surely eclipsing even the likes of Katatonia and My Dying Bride, Swallow the Sun have delivered something here which is truly innovative: inventive doom metal played with conviction and restraint. They may not have received the attention of the likes of Mastodon, but this will surely be hailed as a modern classic - many shades of melody carress the listener on a voyage from the beautiful to the harrowing.