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I unbanned everyone if you remember.
When was the last time you made 5 posts about an album you probably haven't even heard?
Hmmm.
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That would be a good way to describe a record.
In fact, you could pretty much describe every record as "sonic", as in "relating to or using sound waves" or "denoting or having a speed equal to that of sound".
Well, with the obvious exception of 4'33'', of course.
Cheers!
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‘Nostradamus’ (2008) was a musical travesty of such ridiculous, over-blown pomposity which not even its protagonist could have predicted.
This line is why Binnie is a great record reviewer.Stay Frosty, muthas!Comment
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That's stupid...
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I liked the album binnie , if they had of played up here I would have gone to see them.fuck your fucking framingComment
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Eat Us And Smile
Cenk For America 2024!!
Justice Democrats
"If the American people had ever known the truth about what we (the BCE) have done to this nation, we would be chased down in the streets and lynched." - Poppy Bush, 1992Comment
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Of Mice and Men – Restoring Force (2014)
Silly name? Check. Overbearing emotions? Check. Breakdowns? Check. Oh, it’s another metalcore band, Yep. Well, with a little bit of emo and pop punk thrown in for good measure. Album number three from California’s Of Mice and Men will undoubtedly be successful. It is a big, shiny sonic soufflé of a record that seems designed to get radio waves rocking and teenage girls’ panties moist. Harsher critics than me might suggest that this is all very cynical, that the band have essentially focussed their metalcore by ‘borrowing’ elements of commercial rock/metal and injecting them into their sound. But to these ears, it’s just refreshing to come across a band that is so honest about what they do. You sense that OMAM looked at the problem this way – ‘we could keep make run of the mill metalcore and play to several hundred people; or we could make a poppier album and play to several thousand people’. They chose the money.
So perhaps it leaves a tangy taste in the mouth. But you can’t deny some of the hooks: big ol’ melodic choruses, full of emotions larger than anyone has ever actually felt, sit on top of well-crafted tunes packed full of rock ‘n’ roll vibes. There is nothing here you haven’t heard before, but in a sense it’s made more immediate by being so familiar. ‘Public Service Announcement’ is big, bouncy metal; ‘Feels Like Forever’ is the sort of post-Linkin Park metal that teenagers love so much, awash with a staid angst that seems to say ‘hey, my life’s challenging, but not so challenging that a half-bag of clichés wouldn’t make it bearable). It seems ready-made for radio. ‘Bones Exposed’ combines aggression and groove in a manner that Bring My The Horizon do so well, while ‘Would You Still Be There’ and ‘Identity Disorder’ are pure pop. Trite? Certainly. But not everyone can be Mastodon.
Hearts are broken, futures are uncertain, wounds are open, and people just better darn well step off (‘You Make Me Sick’). If this is rock ‘n’ roll, it’s more Bobby Darin than Little Richard. But entry-level metal bands are important, and maybe OMAM will ween a couple of Miley Cyrus fans over to the dark side. We all had a band like this: and we can still hum their tunes. You sense that in 2024 many of today’s 13 year olds will say the same about ‘Restoring Force’.The Power Of The Riff Compels MeComment
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Body Count – Manslaughter (2014)
Any sense that Ice T has lost his edge since becoming a media darling is dispelled like a shotgun blast to the head on ‘Manslaughter’, album number 5 from his metal band Body Count. Open ‘Talk Shit, Get Shot’ is baaaaad – slab after slab of guitar, aggression and grime. The music is raw, underproduced and its fusion of hardcore and metal riffs makes a perfect backdrop for Ice’s aggro take on modern life (from the street and elsewhere). 1 part hilarious and 2 parts pariah, on tunes like ‘Get A Job’, ‘Back To Rehab’ Ice is pure rage packed with hooks and riffage; and on the likes of ‘Pray For Death’ (a violent revenge fantasy) the ‘ghetto’ mannerisms are anything but a gimmick. There are missteps along the way (‘Black Voodoo Sex’), but when Ice does things well – like ‘Pop Bubble’s’ seething indictment of the complete absent of balls or grit in modern music – ‘Manslaughter’ becomes one helluva record possessed with the sort of anger that makes the world seem a little bit better.The Power Of The Riff Compels MeComment
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I gotta check this record out.American by birth. Southern by the grace of God.
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Overkill – White Devil Armory (2014)
You already know what Overkill’s 17th album sounds like. What you don’t know, however, is how fucking great it is. Carrying on where ‘Ironbound’ (2007) and ‘Electric Age’ (2010) left off, ‘White Devil Armory’ continues Overkill’s late-career resurgence. This time out, however, the arrangements are simpler and the production is rawer which injects added snap into their maniacal brand of thrash, leaving the whole record dripping with energy. Opener ‘Armorist’ is a neck-straining burst of thrash which leaves no adjective can really do justice, whilst the likes of ‘Pig’, ‘Where There’s Smoke’ and ‘King Of The Rat Bastards’ can rival anything in the band’s 30 year back catalogue – how many middle-aged bands can say that of their new material? Bobby ‘Blitz’s’ vocals are as vicious as ever, and guitarists Dave Linsk and Derek Tailor are on truly bone-crushing form. Put simply, if you don’t head-bang to the riff-fests like ‘Bitter Pill’, you don’t like metal.
Overkill are the US equivalent of Saxon. An over-looked, yet defiantly blue-collar, band that is never anything less than fun. And, like Saxon, that Overkill don’t take themselves too serious counts against them. ‘White Devil Armory’ won’t come near critics end-of-year lists for that reason, but the likes of ‘The Fight Song’ and ‘Miss Misery’ are just fucking metal: they make you feel as excited now as you were the first time you rubbed the little fireman. If generating that type of excitement after three decades was so easy, more of Overkill’s peers would be doing it.The Power Of The Riff Compels MeComment
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