Album Reviews

[binnie]

Coming soon........'binnie's Thrash-back'. in which we look at 10 under-appreciated thrash classics!

We all know the 'Master Of Puppets', 'Rust In Peace' and 'Reign In Blood's of the world, but what about the less heralded thrash classics. We're gonna go from the mid-80s to the present day, and we're gonna go deep. Work your necks in, people!

[Seshmeister]

Coming soon........'binnie's Thrash-back'. in which we look at 10 under-appreciated thrash classics!

Is such a thing even possible?

[Mr. Vengeance]

I hope to see a review of the new Ace Frehley album. Picked it up yesterday and as usual, Ace rocks! He made an album that the current KISS can only dream of making. Not that the last two KISS albums were awful, but Ace blows them away again.

[Von Halen]

I hope to see a review of the new Ace Frehley album. Picked it up yesterday and as usual, Ace rocks! He made an album that the current KISS can only dream of making. Not that the last two KISS albums were awful, but Ace blows them away again.

The music is really good. The vocals and lyrics sound too contrived.

Ace should have brought in a real singer.

[Never was]

I like the new Ace he is playing much better than he did 10 years ago. To me Space Invader and last 2 Kiss albums are half records. Put them together you get one kiss record. There is a vibe and slightly off way Ace plays that is simply missing from Kiss. Its a bit more fun, but more energy, a lot less polish. Ace however needs the structure of better songwriting and a more complete sound that kiss has. If you could get them to co-exist in one place at the same time you could something special but as is each has some promise but comes up short.


No Psycho Circus was not an example of the co-existing. Ace had zero input and frankly was not playing very well either.

[binnie]

Ace should have brought in a real singer.

That is an all too familiar story of 'guitar player goes solo' records.

[Mr. Vengeance]

I don't want an outside singer. The charm of Ace's albums has always been his relaxed, limited vocals, odd lyrics and great guitar.

[78/84 guy]

I hope to see a review of the new Ace Frehley album. Picked it up yesterday and as usual, Ace rocks! He made an album that the current KISS can only dream of making. Not that the last two KISS albums were awful, but Ace blows them away again.

I listened too it a few times. It's fun stuff overall with a few really good tunes. I like his voice but someone else singing a few songs would have been cool. I give it a thumbs up. And ya a few tunes really sounded like Kiss stuff. Some good hooks for sure.

[binnie]

From the vaults: American Head Charge – The War of Art (2001)

‘The War Of Art’ – album number 2 from American Head Charge – stands of one of the few records from the Nu Metal era that is worth giving two shits about as those baggy pants disappear further in the rear-view mirror. What made (and makes) it so compelling is the sheer level of aggression on display here, and the avoidance of falling into the biggest Nu Metal cliché of all: Korn worship. Sure, you can hear traces of Bakersfields chosen sons on AHC, but those traces are mixed in with a little Slipknot, and some of the harder end of punk and hardcore to make one pit-bull of a record. And, yes, there are lots of downtuned guitars and programming – but they’re used as tools to service songs rather than gimmicks to substitute real talent.

Opener ‘A Violent Reaction’ balances violent beats with a groove that is tar-think. This was an incredibly aggressive band, but one who’s aggression came from a form of metal that owed little to thrash templates which, by the turn of the millennium, were considerably out-of-date. ‘Pushing The Envelope’ blends punk and industrial is an immediate manner which avoids soft-heavy-soft-heavy formulas; ‘Just So You Know’ proves that this band could write a hook; and ‘Song For The Suspect’ and ‘Nothing Gets Nothing’ found a sound – and lyrical themes – which were unlike anything else at the time. Under Rick Rubin’s guiding hand, the music was stripped back and focussed: raw, powerful and complete devoid of tricks, this was an album with musical depth that was far more than fodder for frat-boys to lift weights to. You WILL bob your head to the beats on ‘Seamless’, and the likes of ‘Breathe In, Breathe Out’ are slooow, brooding and phenomenally heavy.

Is it perfect? No – few records need 16 songs, and there is a pervasive sense that less might have been more. But how many truly classic Nu Metal records are there? Do you need more than 5 digits to count them? ‘The War Of Art’ would have to be up there. Metal journalists’ forced-amnesia of 1995-2002 is considerably hypercritical – the bands who sold a lot of records in that era also sold a lot of copies of their magazines. But before ‘Nu Metal’ becomes generation Y’s ‘Hair Metal’ – a cheesy bad joke wheeled out for gripes and jibes – we might like to remind ourselves that there were more genuinely creative bands in that genre than Korn, Slipknot and System Of A Down. American Head Charge weren’t far behind that leading pack.

[binnie]

From the Vaults: Godsmack – The Oracle (2010)

Why Godsmack are an arena-level band remains something of a mystery: if success went hand-in-hand with talent or innovation, they surely wouldn’t be. When they first appeared some fifteen years ago they were labelled ‘Metallica-in-Chains’ but in recent years their sound might be more aptly characterised as ‘Nickleback-with-muscle’: simple, to the point, radio friendly ‘metal’ for people who don’t really like metal. Derivative? In every possible way. Challenging? Nope. Does Sully Erma’s yarling grate? You bet. But I can’t help but like ‘em. Call it a guilty pleasure, but although you can hear every flaw in their sound, Godsmack know what they do and they do it well – unchallenging blasts of contemporary hard rock dripping in cheap. Grungy thrills.

‘Good Day To Die’ and ‘Cryin’ Like A Bitch’ are bruisers fitted out with some hulking choruses, and if you don’t take them too seriously they’re an awful lot of FUN. You WILL headbang to the title track whether you profess to hate this band or not, and the likes of ‘Forever Shamed’ have a hulking swing to it. Sure, there’s filler – some of these tunes sound like over-long jams – but that’s what the skip button is for; and, sure, they take their lyrics straight from the big ol’ book of clichés (‘Saints & Sinners’, ‘War & Peace’, ‘Devil’s Swing’) – but sometimes cheap and nasty works. And cheap this certainly is – you get the sense of a band as a very corporate entity, with the music designed to shift units and concerts tickets, heavy, but not abrasive enough to make you spill your over-priced beer in the enormodome. There’s a place for music like that, even if Godsmack are nobody’s favourite band.

[binnie]

Beastmilk – Climax (2013)

I am deeply suspicious of hipster records, which have a tendency to fall into one of four categories: gimmicky, pretentious, naval gazing, or whatever world music is trendy this week. Beastmilk, however, are genuinely worth the hype and ‘Climax’ is one of the best rock records I’ve heard in years and years. Fuck The Killers, fuck Kings Of Leon, fuck all of those tight-jean wearing bands that sound like them (why be a pastiche or a pastiche?) and fuck all self-consciously ‘retro’ bands. Here is a band making rock ‘n’ roll the way it should be: familiar, yet unique; immediate, yet challenging; and purely their own.

To be clear: this isn’t ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ in the AC/DC/ Led Zep variety, it takes its cues from a far wider spectrum of guitar-based music from the past forty years. ‘Death Reflects Us’ has a New Wave riff and ‘80s alternative vocals, a heavier Replacements doused with The Jesus & Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and The Cure. ‘Fear Your Mind’ is a furious burst of yearning, a claustrophobic punk rock which bleeds vicious lyrics; ‘Genocidal Crush’ takes the sweep of ‘80s alternative rock and amps it up with rock ‘n’ roll abandon; whilst ‘You Are Now Under Our Control’ is a hymn to Killing Joke wrapped up in the claustrophobic goth of Nick Cave; and ‘Ghosts Out Of Focus’ is a twisting, swirling morass of music which takes in the early Goth of The Sisters of Mercy and the poppier dynamics of Blondie and The Pretenders. These are songs which need to be heard. In the hands of producer Kurt Ballou, they sound raw, primal and very, very much alive.

By all rights, this band should be huge. If I was a thirteen year old kid right now, I’d feel lucky to be here for this album. Staggering stuff.

[Von Halen]

The new Slash album KICKS ASS!

Gene Simmons doesn't know shit! Rock ain't dead!

[Von Halen]

Binnie! Have you reviewed the Gemini Syndrome album "Lux"?

[cadaverdog]

Gene Simmons doesn't know shit! Rock ain't dead!

Not yet but it's an endangered species.

[78/84 guy]

Review. Slash World On Fire. If you like Slash buy it. Good tunes. Maybe a little long.