Album Reviews

[binnie]

From the vaults: Mark Lanegan - Whiskey for the Holy Ghost (1994)

Oh the river rise
And it's a mile high
Is this worth tryin'
Is this worth tryin'
Cause I could fall
Like a tear
Well there's nothing else I can do

When I'm not alone
Nothings beside me
What one eye sees
The other's blind in
Well I could fall
As if I was young
With a lifetime to think of you

Before Ryan Adams. Before Jesse Malin. Before the whole corpus of alt.country/american bitches whining about how 'complex' their blues are, there was Mark Lanegan - erstwhile Screaming Trees frontman (and later Gutter Twins, Queens of the Stone Age collaborator), the gravel-throated one husks these acoustic tunes full of forlorn life in a manner almost devoid of artifice. There's no staid angst or self-conscious preening: just understated, simply arranged acoustic lullabies hushed into life by delicate percussion and strings. Here is a man full of the silent knowing hewn from life's intricate moments. A man who has lived.

For the most part, Lanegan's bourbon kissed melodies are served up raw and steaming. 'Borriacho' is a bad-ass lament, a low man's lyric in the face of the devil. Frantic and broken, it's offset by the humble country of 'House A Home' or the grungy-Zeppelin folk of 'Riding the Nightingale'. It's harrowing, but uplifting; sparse but full of impact. 'Beggars Blues' is what happens when you stare into the abyss and the abyss stares back; whilst 'Judas Touch' is the sound os Don Mclean's evil twin. You hear the reference points: Reed, Waits, Cave.....even Springsteen. But you'll be hooked by the emotion. Dueting with Sally Barry and Krisha Augerot on 'Sunrise' and 'Kingdom of Rain', you have to wonder why more people aren't listening to Mark Lanegan - this really is music at it's purest:

Are those halos in your hair
Or diamonds shining there
Without a hope, without a prayer
This rain beats down like death
You turn your eyes to better men
Before I go I'm hangin' a cross on the nail
I hung one for you in there

And they say Adelle's got soul? Pfffft. I'll take pathos over affectation any day of the week.

[binnie]

From the vaults: Iron Maiden - Killers (1981)

What a difference a singer makes. You cannot help but wonder - for all the stratospheric heights (sonically and commerically) which Maiden achieved with Bruce Dickinson's air-raid siren of a voice at the helm - what this band might have gone on to produce with Di'anno's pit-bull approach to singing. They were a rawer, less consciously crafted, and more spontaneous band in their orignial conception. After the left-hook out of nowhere at the height of punk which was their debut, 'Killers' - whilst often having the reputation of featuing the weaker set of Di'anno-era songs - took things up a level in terms of intensity.

The instrumental gallop of opener 'The Ides of March' gives way to 'Wrathchild' and THAT bassline. This is Maiden at their most aggressive, most elemental, and dinosaur heavy. 31 years on, you hear the core ingredients of heavy metal: duel guitars, spasming time-changes and multiple riffs wrapped into one composition. The title-track offers up more piss 'n' vinegar, with a melody which almost trips over itself acting as a perfect foil for the gruesome subject matter. But it's the deep-cuts which, erm,.......kill. 'Drifter' is frantic and possessed of an almost punk bite: a beautiful melodic guitar lines gives way to some serious twin guitar meltdown in the middle section as the song explodes. This is an epic squeezed into 5 minutes, and the sound of a band which has been hewn and bred on the road. 'Innocent Life' - a chronically neglected epic - is equally explosive, and the sound of a band hugely at ease with itself. That woud be remarkable of any softmore record - but for one that sounded like this in the punk/new-wave era, it speaks of a remarkable sense of self.

Is it perfect? Far from it. The '70s hard rock of 'Another Life' feels curiously out of place - more UFO than up the irons! And at times, Di'anno's intensity is his undoing. For all the switchblade riffs and piercing melodies of 'Purgatory', the speed of the song means that Paul struggles to add anything effective with the vocals, a problem which mars his performance on the speedier moments of 'Murders in the Rue Morgue'. On the latter - a sign of the grandeur they would later achieve - you sense the band and its singer pulling in two different directions.

But, for all of these imperfections, 'Killers' remains my favourite Maiden album. That, I think, is probably because it's not trying to be perfect - it is, rather the sound of a band as a gang, a ferral pack of youths on killing mode. This was a band that made music which was as much about feel, character and venom as it was songs, structures and melodrama. Dickinson allowed Harris to reach his ambitions by bringing range - but for all the grandeur of 'Powerslave' or 'Seventh Son...', for all the epic soundscapes of 'Piece of Mind' and pure evil of 'Number...' Maiden would never sound as vital - or as viscious - as they did here.

[Mr Walker]

From the vaults: Mark Lanegan - Whiskey for the Holy Ghost (1994)

Oh the river rise
And it's a mile high
Is this worth tryin'
Is this worth tryin'
Cause I could fall
Like a tear
Well there's nothing else I can do

When I'm not alone
Nothings beside me
What one eye sees
The other's blind in
Well I could fall
As if I was young
With a lifetime to think of you

Before Ryan Adams. Before Jesse Malin. Before the whole corpus of alt.country/american bitches whining about how 'complex' their blues are, there was Mark Lanegan - erstwhile Screaming Trees frontman (and later Gutter Twins, Queens of the Stone Age collaborator), the gravel-throated one husks these acoustic tunes full of forlorn life in a manner almost devoid of artifice. There's no staid angst or self-conscious preening: just understated, simply arranged acoustic lullabies hushed into life by delicate percussion and strings. Here is a man full of the silent knowing hewn from life's intricate moments. A man who has lived.

For the most part, Lanegan's bourbon kissed melodies are served up raw and steaming. 'Borriacho' is a bad-ass lament, a low man's lyric in the face of the devil. Frantic and broken, it's offset by the humble country of 'House A Home' or the grungy-Zeppelin folk of 'Riding the Nightingale'. It's harrowing, but uplifting; sparse but full of impact. 'Beggars Blues' is what happens when you stare into the abyss and the abyss stares back; whilst 'Judas Touch' is the sound os Don Mclean's evil twin. You hear the reference points: Reed, Waits, Cave.....even Springsteen. But you'll be hooked by the emotion. Dueting with Sally Barry and Krisha Augerot on 'Sunrise' and 'Kingdom of Rain', you have to wonder why more people aren't listening to Mark Lanegan - this really is music at it's purest:

Are those halos in your hair
Or diamonds shining there
Without a hope, without a prayer
This rain beats down like death
You turn your eyes to better men
Before I go I'm hangin' a cross on the nail
I hung one for you in there

And they say Adelle's got soul? Pfffft. I'll take pathos over affectation any day of the week.

When this CD was released I was working two full time jobs and there are a few times during the week when I'd be up for 36+ hours at a clip. When I'd finally get a chance to get some sleep it would be during the day and remember having to hole myself up in a darkened room and I would put this CD on to bring me down. I don't mean that in a bad way as if it was a boring disc... it would completely unwind me as I would get lost in the vocals and atmosphere the music created.

[Mr Walker]

From the vaults: Iron Maiden - Killers (1981)

What a difference a singer makes. You cannot help but wonder - for all the stratospheric heights (sonically and commerically) which Maiden achieved with Bruce Dickinson's air-raid siren of a voice at the helm - what this band might have gone on to produce with Di'anno's pit-bull approach to singing. They were a rawer, less consciously crafted, and more spontaneous band in their orignial conception. After the left-hook out of nowhere at the height of punk which was their debut, 'Killers' - whilst often having the reputation of featuing the weaker set of Di'anno-era songs - took things up a level in terms of intensity.

The instrumental gallop of opener 'The Ides of March' gives way to 'Wrathchild' and THAT bassline. This is Maiden at their most aggressive, most elemental, and dinosaur heavy. 31 years on, you hear the core ingredients of heavy metal: duel guitars, spasming time-changes and multiple riffs wrapped into one composition. The title-track offers up more piss 'n' vinegar, with a melody which almost trips over itself acting as a perfect foil for the gruesome subject matter. But it's the deep-cuts which, erm,.......kill. 'Drifter' is frantic and possessed of an almost punk bite: a beautiful melodic guitar lines gives way to some serious twin guitar meltdown in the middle section as the song explodes. This is an epic squeezed into 5 minutes, and the sound of a band which has been hewn and bred on the road. 'Innocent Life' - a chronically neglected epic - is equally explosive, and the sound of a band hugely at ease with itself. That woud be remarkable of any softmore record - but for one that sounded like this in the punk/new-wave era, it speaks of a remarkable sense of self.

Is it perfect? Far from it. The '70s hard rock of 'Another Life' feels curiously out of place - more UFO than up the irons! And at times, Di'anno's intensity is his undoing. For all the switchblade riffs and piercing melodies of 'Purgatory', the speed of the song means that Paul struggles to add anything effective with the vocals, a problem which mars his performance on the speedier moments of 'Murders in the Rue Morgue'. On the latter - a sign of the grandeur they would later achieve - you sense the band and its singer pulling in two different directions.

But, for all of these imperfections, 'Killers' remains my favourite Maiden album. That, I think, is probably because it's not trying to be perfect - it is, rather the sound of a band as a gang, a ferral pack of youths on killing mode. This was a band that made music which was as much about feel, character and venom as it was songs, structures and melodrama. Dickinson allowed Harris to reach his ambitions by bringing range - but for all the grandeur of 'Powerslave' or 'Seventh Son...', for all the epic soundscapes of 'Piece of Mind' and pure evil of 'Number...' Maiden would never sound as vital - or as viscious - as they did here.

Not a popular statement, but 'Killers' contains my favorite Maiden track 'Prodigal Son'... I always thought the intro guitar sounded very similar to Ozzy's 'You Can't Kill Rock And Roll'.
I was listening to Killers a few weeks ago and made me think to look for my old 'Gogamagog' EP... I forgot to, but this review just reminded me again.

[hotsummerknight]

From the vaults: Iron Maiden - Killers (1981)

great review. it def has a subtle punk sound on many of the tracks, and interestingly enough if you read any steve harris interview from back in the day, they despised the punk scene and didn't want any association with it at all. they didn't fully shed the punk sound until dickinson/mcbrain came into the picture.

this is one of my favorite albums.

[Dave's Bitch]

Killers is my favourite Maiden album

[binnie]

Glad you likey boys and girls!

[rocking ron]

Without 'Bruce' they wouldn't have never ever made it to the top, he was the key to their succes!!!

But I'm still very happy with those 2 first 'Maiden' albums with Paul D'ianno, great ''feel', good songs and the end of the punk and disco period (4 me) and the beginning of NWOBHM with bands

like Saxon, Tygers of Pan Tang, Judas Priest, Def Leppard , Raven, Motorhead and on and on.

And most of these bands are still there, so you see : ROCK WILL NEVER DIE

[Golden AWe]

I'm really liking this CD... it's what I always figured HR should have sounded like.

Mike Monroe has really progressed as a writer/composer since the 80's...in the old HR, it was the others who wrote pretty much all the best stuff.

[binnie]

From the vaults: Helmet - Meantime (1992)

25 seconds in to their debut record Helmet pretty much summed up what they're all about: delivering hulking grooves on slabs on punchy riffs. With a songwriting approach that was like Bob Mould on steroids, if ever anyone actually managed to captured what it's like to be beaten with a baseball bat, it's Page Hamilton and co. No-one sounds like 'em and no-ever will: as heavy as Black Sabbath piggy-backing Godzilla, they were nonetheless more in keeping with alt.rock introspection and punk ennui than metal's aggressive bravura. It's all about PRESSENCE: 'He Feels Bad' is so simple, but blest with so much weight. Why? Because it's all so direct: direct lyric, direct riff, direct hook. There's no artifice - and that's what makes it human. 'Unsung' sounds like Nirvana jamming with Prong, delivering gloriously snappy guitar-hook body blows, and even on this record's weaker moments - such as 'Turned Out', which sounds like something trying to free itself from the Rollins Band's skin - you got the sense of a real sense of purpose about Page Hamilton. Not only one of rock's best riff-smiths, he's also quitely been knocking out killer records for 20 years. Respect.

[Dave's Bitch]

I have been giving this album some serious play time over the past two weeks so i thought i would try my hand at a review ,So here we go

Motley Crue - Saints of Los Angeles

Saints of Los Angeles is the ninth studio album and the first since Generation Swine to feature the full line up.Each song on this album is like a mini story and each one screams Motley Crue.Each track offers a reflection on the bands wild past and shows just why Motley Crue are the most notorious band in rock

The band sound fantastic,Very tight.Vince Neil's vocals are solid,having a rougher more manly sound.The nasal squeal is still there but in general a more mature sound that works well.Mick does what he does best,Play loud aggressive guitar with a tone that makes you want to fight or fuck.Nikki's bass is solid through and through and Tommy is the same blistering ball of energy he always is

The title track makes no bones about it's message.We came,We saw and we kicked some ass,a genuin sleazy number.Other sleazy rockers on here include "Just another psycho","Face down in the dirt","White trash circus" and "Welcome to the machine".There are also a few good time fun songs thrown in,"Down at the whiskey" and the fantastically named "Chicks = trouble"

A few negatives however.Although Nikki Sixx is still the main creator,I felt a bit let down by the guys to see every track is co-written by people outside of the crue,With Mick Mars only having two credits and Tommy Lee with only one.Perhaps on the next outing they could sit down together again and write like they did years ago.Another negative for some,While a trip down memory lane with the Crue is going to be fun perhaps a whole 13 track album may be a bit much.I know the guys have never been about writing deep and touching lyrics but i would say they have wrote better.Some will probably pass this album as a cheesey, cliche mess from a bunch of 50 year old's thinking with their pants

In summary
Saints of Los Angeles is a true to form Motley Crue album.If you are looking for songs that will conjure deep feelings and change the way you view life,This is not the album for you.If you are looking for a sonic kick in the teeth by the kings of fire,chicks and hair spray then i promise you will not be disappointed

[binnie]

'Saints of Los Angeles' is one of those albums that I enjoy even though I know it's not very good and the band could do a lot better. You can't argue with a smile.

[Seshmeister]

I listened to it twice last Summer and then forgot about it.

[Dave's Bitch]

Well now you have read my review you can go listen to it again

the album just has something to it.I don't know what but it gets my motor running

[binnie]

I listened to it twice last Summer and then forgot about it.

A bit like Motley Crue.

[Mr Walker]

Binnie,
I'm too lazy (actually busy) to search through the tread, but have you heard Ghost 'Opus Eponymous'?

[binnie]

Yes.

I played the shit out of it last year when it came out but never got around to reviewing it. I'm suspicious of hype - and find the satanic thing a little tiring - but it's a damn fine, stripped down doom record. Easily one of last year's best (and most refreshing) discs.

Sometimes a record comes along at the right time. Candlemass and Catherdral have been making that kind of music for 20 years with almost no acclaim, but Ghost make 1 record and BOOM! Go figure.

[Mr Walker]

a damn fine, stripped down doom record

There ya go... you just reviewed it.

[binnie]

That's one off the list!

[binnie]

From the vaults: Hermano - Into the Exam Room (2007)

Most people probably wish that John Garcia would spend all of his time singing in stoner-rock Gods Kyuss, but his most long-standing other band, Hermano, have produced some mighty fine records in recent years. This is the finest of them. What makes its appeal so instant is that you get everything you love about stoner rock - the volume, the heaviness, the slacker-cool, the sheer Sabbath-worshipping lunacy of it - but its stripped-down and welded to songs. Great, great songs. 'Kentucky' rawks like rolling thunder - seriously, the next time someone tells you no-one's making good time hard rock, slap them with this. 'Our Desert Home' is huge, the sound of the cosmos eating itself, whilst 'Left Side Bleeding' has a riff which sounds like the soundtrack to the Big Bang.

But it's not all peddle to the meddle. Great albums (like great trips) are about 'the journey', maaaaan. 'Bonafide' is pure Creedence cool, 'Dark Horse II' is a stoner-trance straight out of Led Zepp III on a bad tab, and 'Out of Key, But in the Mood' is crusty, but sexy, Garcia adopting a seductive falsetto to charm the perfect hook from a blues work-out. But it's the title track that really get's it hooks in. Simultaneously cool and anthemic, it's wah-wah funk is offset by some killer incendiary lyrics:

'Well you got 40 more years to drown in your tears, and the little hands slower than the big hand, honey'.

If that doesn't make you punch your boss in the kisser, nothing will. Wrapped up in a beautifully thick production, these songs sizzle and ooze charm. But it's Garcia's potent vocals - soulful, yet spiced with venom - that sells it. Summer's coming - do yourself a favour and pick this up.

[fourthcoming]

Just wanted to throw this out there....don't know if it's ever been mentioned, but Motley Crue: New Tattoo is an underrated album. Yes it wasn't recorded with the original lineup but the late, great Randy Castillo filled in on drums.

[binnie]

No, it's not been reviewed (yet).

Aside from Dave's Bitch's review of 'Saints of Los Angeles', the only other Crue record reviewed in here is 'Motley Crue' - which I think is very underrated.

[binnie]

From the vaults: Ministry - Psalm 69 (1992)

How to describe Ministry? Killing Joke face-fucking Prong? It certainly gets us close to the sheer dark nastiness of this band, the wall of loops, programmes and atmospherics complementing the concrete riffs. But it misses the sheer sense of humour - the black tooth grin. Long before Rammstein's industrial dance piledriver became part of metal's landscape, Al Jourgensen was making music of such innovative and freakish nature that it's a small wonder that Ministry garnered a claw-hold on success at the turn of the '90s. Dance, metal, punk.......what else you got? announces 'N.W.O's pummeling array of loops as it grabs you in its hypnotic repetitiveness.

How on earth anyone categorized it is beyond me - but you can't deny its instantaneousness. The title track is a mosaic of sample and loops, a tapestry of pop culture references cut to the sound of the world dancing to the tension of the edge. Were the songs all winners? Nope, but it was more about the aesthetic, the moment: that was the dance inheritence. 'Just One Fix' is gnarly, gothic trance, a Hetfield riff laid over some massive beats, the sort of thing Rob Zombie would later make a career out of. But Zombie was always about B-movie schdick. Ministry were about something altogether scuzzier, a black mirror to the downtrodden. 'TVII' is demented punk rock, a inverted piece of evangelism - 'connect the Goddamned dots' Al screams as he twists you into this dark little vision of the world.

Were it not for Korn injecting hip hop into the metal mainstream a handful of years later, you can't help but think that much of the heavy soundwaves of the '90s might have sounded like Ministry. The scene certainly needed a kick as thrash doled out its 456th wave. On the quite frankly genius 'Jesus Built My Hot Rod' - like Jerry Lee Lewis on warp-factor - you really wish history had taken another turn. How can these lyrics not make you smile like an anorexic at fat camp?

soon I discovered that this rock thing was true
jerry lee lewis was the devil
jesus was an architect previous to his career as a prophet
all of a sudden, I found myself in love with the world
so there was only one thing that I could do
was ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long
ding dang a dong bong bing bong
ticky ticky thought of a gun
everytime I try to do it all now baby
am I on the run
why why why why why baby
if it's so evil then?
give me my time, with all my power
give it to me all again (wow)
ding a ding a dang a dong dong ding dong
every where I goeverytime you tell me baby
when I settle downgot to get me a trailer park
and hold my world aroundwhy why why why?
ding ding donga dong dong ding dong
dingy dingy son of a gun

God bless you, Ministry.

[Mr Walker]

From the vaults: Mark Lanegan - Whiskey for the Holy Ghost (1994)

Have you listened to 'Blues Funeral' yet?

[binnie]

Have you listened to 'Blues Funeral' yet?

No. At any one time I have a pile of about 20 CDs I've purchased and am in the process of listening too. 'Blues Funeral' is on the pile, as is the 'lost' Screaming Trees record.

Have you heard it?

[binnie]

From the vaults: Ozzy Osbourne - Speak of the Devil (1982)

Undoubtedly intended as something of a stop-gap release between the Randy Rhoads-era Ozzy and the rebuilding of the band, 'Speak of The Devil' was a collection of Black Sabbath 'covers' which saw Ozzy delving into his own musical past with all the gusto of a fat kid locked in sweet-shop. The only Ozzy record to feature Brad 'Hey, look! It's a whammy-bar!' Gillis on guitar, this takes us back to a time which we are in danger of forgetting - a time when Ozzy was dangerous. Long before he was bumbling, half-cut TV dad, he was a bumbling (and decidedly more bulbous), half-cut rock 'n' roll bad-ass!

Gillis takes the moment with gusto, ad-libbing his way through Sabbath's catalogue and jamming on some of the greatest riffs ever written. It's a hell of a performance, oozing with energy. Adding LA sheen to Iommi's dinosaur rumble, these are less bassy and more histrionic interpretations - what the songs lose in darkness, they make up for in vibrancy. A ripping 'Symptom of the Universe' escalates in a sheer triumph; 'Black Sabbath' is still shit-your-pants scary, even in its hair-sprayed veneer; and the funked-up 'War Pigs' is truly raucous. And Ozzy? He's having a wail of a time: 'THE MAD MAN IS BACK!' he tells us after one song; 'KEEP ON SMOKIN IT' he orders after 'Sweet Leaf'. With the sheer joy which the presence of the world's most loveable nutter brings to the table, we can almost forgive the fact that his voice is all over the place on 'Never Say Die', or that the performance on 'Paranoid' is stodgy and that 'The Wizard' sounds flimsy.

In truth, the whole is much, much more than a check-list of perfections and cracks. Great live albums are about more than capturing a performance, they're about encapsulating the moment: and you can almost taste 1982 here. When the endless 'Greatest Live Album' polls are drawn, this warts and all take on the genre really deserves to be there - is there a better metal album to party to? The accolades always fall on 'Tribute...', but that's more down to emotion than reason. Whisper it: this is better......

[ELVIS]

The SOTD version of The Wizard is not "flimsy."

[jhale667]

SOTD is what got me interested in Mesa-Boogie amps and cemented my (already EVH-inspired) longing for a Floyd Rose trem as a kid...loved that album.

[chefcraig]

Speak Of The Devil is one of my all-time favorite live albums, mainly because of Brad Gillis. The guy literally gets to act out the fantasy that me and a million other guitar players have always had: Get onstage and blast out our vague recollections of the Sabbath catalog, with the actual fuckin' Prince of Darkness standing stage right on vocals.

The tune "Sweet Leaf" only became available when the album was re-released on CD. Now the damned thing has been deleted from Ozzy's catalog entirely. OK, swell, but where in hell is that freaking DVD, Sharon? For that matter, how's about The Ultimate Sin, you bitch?

[binnie]

The SOTD version of The Wizard is not "flimsy."

It really is - it doesn't sound evil like the original.

Like I said, however, it's a great record, warts and all.

[binnie]

Speak Of The Devil is one of my all-time favorite live albums, mainly because of Brad Gillis. The guy literally gets to act out the fantasy that me and a million other guitar players have always had: Get onstage and blast out our vague recollections of the Sabbath catalog, with the actual fuckin' Prince of Darkness standing stage right on vocals.

The tune "Sweet Leaf" only became available when the album was re-released on CD. Now the damned thing has been deleted from Ozzy's catalog entirely. OK, swell, but where in hell is that freaking DVD, Sharon? For that matter, how's about The Ultimate Sin, you bitch?

It was all about the moment. I suspect if Ozzy had written/recorded with Gillis it would have sucked (Night Ranger, for fucks sake). But on that night, with those songs, it worked.

[binnie]

Therapy? – A Brief Crack of Light

Opening with sharp 1-2 to the jaw of ‘Living in the Shadow of a Terrible Thing’ and ‘Plague Bell’, Therapy? announce that they’re back to their best on an album which is relentless in its delivery of eerie and angular riff rock. Coming across like a crack-riddled Husker-Du/Killing Joke hybrid, men in their 40s really shouldn’t sound this visceral. Where their last record was bass heavy, a glorious free and tortured barrage of noise rock, ‘A Brief Crack of Light’ pays homage to the band’s ‘90s heritage: shorter, sharper songs wrapped around pop sensibilities and simple dynamics cut hard, and cut deep. But don’t think they’ve turned up the ‘happy’ dial. Indeed, the linear notes quotation from Nabakov – ‘the cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness’ – tells us that this more concise Therapy? should not be confused with a lighter one. The sound is grizzled and worn in the face of acceptance – a black-tooth grin of life’s perpetual underdogs. And it suits the band well. The hymnal ‘Ghost Trio’ feels like New Order jamming with Placebo, and sounds like Belfast; ‘Get Your Dead Hand Off My Shoulder’ is the torn outlaw punk of The Skids; whilst ‘The Buzzing’ is a schizophrenic trip through the radio dial of rock ‘n’ roll’s history. The band’s punk heritage give the music an almost literary depth, but it’s one devoid of pomposity and rich in directness. The gaelic trip hop of closer ‘Ecclesiastics’ may be a damp squib, but this is as vibrant as Therapy? have sounded in years.

[binnie]

From the vaults: Living Colour – Stain (1993)

Living Colour always inhabited their own little pocket of the rock ‘n’ roll hemisphere. Smashing the sheen and va-va-voom of 80s metal into punk’s sense of commentary and an urban grittiness, there’s was always a heady sonic brew. Album number three was a left turn into heavier directions. Restlessly funky and relentlessly thought-provoking, many didn’t know whether they were meant to dance or take notes – but few could deny the infectiousness of their songs. Sure, the social commentary comes off as a little naïve in the post Rage Against The Machine world – this sound more like Extreme than Refused – but you can’t deny the charm of the songs. ‘Mind Your Own Business’, ‘Never Satisfied’ and ‘Auslander’ are all bluesy, grinding and muscular, featuring Vernon Reid’s seriously tasty riffage and searing solos. ‘Nothingness’, conversely, opts for a soulful r’n’b vibe where most metal bands would have cobbled together a power ballad; and ‘The Little Pig’ and ‘Postman’ are darker, more twisted metal, the latter spliced with recordings of drug taking. Living Colour always made bold and brave choices, and this variety should not therefore surprise us. But it does, however, make for a curiously unbalanced album, an accusation that could not be levelled at the band’s earlier work. In the presence of that glorious guitar, coupled to Doug Winbush’s sultry bass and Corey Glover’s easy, effortless vocals, you can live with the foibles of this disc, however.

[binnie]

From the vaults: Velvet Revolver – Contraband (2004)

‘Is it like Guns ‘N’ Roses? Is it like Guns ‘N’ Roses? Is it like Guns ‘N’ Roses?’ ran the hype before this release. The answer? A bit. But without the Izzy cool. There were several pieces of the puzzle missing, and in truth VR always felt like an unbalanced band: 3 badasses jamming with an artiste whilst their baldy friend made up the numbers.

For all the hype, ‘Contraband’ really was little more than a solid record doomed to disappoint. It certainly rejuvenated the careers of a bunch of ageing rockers in their post-Guns limbo, launching Duff, Sorum and Weiland as celebrities as much as musicians, and ultimately proving to Slash that he just doesn’t need the other guys to keep on producing music that is credible.

But there are some glorious moments. Some killer riffs and, of course, the solos. The Slash solos. They come straight out of the Angus Young School of Belt ‘em out, and they’re cooler than Steve McQueen in a freezer. ‘Contraband’ also bequeathed us two songs to play the shit out of: Weiland’s delicate take on separation and a power ballad without the cheese – ‘Fall To Pieces’ – and a downright nasty piece metal – ‘Slither’. The latter is close to being a classic, and that’s quite an achievement for a bunch of middle-aged rockers 15 years past their prime. But elsewhere, this trades on memories rather than substance – you have to wonder how far a bunch of unknowns would get if they presented ‘Superman’ or ‘You Got No Right’ to an A&R guy.

There are some deep cuts worth pursuing, however. ‘Do It For the Kids’ has a serious of epic hooks and melodies that Cheap Trick would be proud of, a gnarly punk song wrapped up in silk sheets; ‘Dirty Little Thing’ is a slicing kick to the head; and ‘Headspace’ is constructed around a rolling-death riff. But so often the highs only serve to throw the lows into relief. On ‘Illegal I Song’ – with its crazy timing and sense of fucked-up abandon – you get the sense that VR really wanted to shake off the shackles of their past and do something different with this record, but they just didn’t quite have the balls to do it. Instead, we get a half-way house that rarely satisfies, a punkier Guns ‘N’ Roses fronted by someone who’s vocal-range is so limited that the overall feel is somewhat monochrome.

But despite the fact that I know that most of this record is not terribly good, I can’t help but like it. Why? That’s the blinding power of nostalgia.

[Dave's Bitch]

Very tempted to do a review of Chinese Democracy to follow that up

[binnie]

I've thought about doing that one, too. It's an odd album with spectacular highs and lows.

As I said, I really like VR (even though I know they're solid rather than spectacular). I thought 'Libertad' was a better record, because atleast they tried to do some different things. But at the end of the day they never really found a producer who could capture the raw power of the band live on a record. But 'Slither', 'Fall To Pieces', 'Dirty Little Thing' are all magic...

[Dave's Bitch]

I have tried to like VR but i just cannot stand Scott Weiland.I like the band and i like the music behind some of the songs but Weiland just creeps me out.He is like a skeleton slinking his way around and i really do not care for his voice.I think with a different singer (Baz) I would have been a fan

[binnie]

I think they avoided a Sunset Strip singer because they wanted to move away from their own past. I respect that.

Weiland and STP are truly awesome, and he's one of rock's unique talents. But often with VR it didn't work. I think 'Libertad' was far closer to a synthesis of their talents - less 'metallic', but ultimately more rewarding.

[binnie]

From the vaults: Prong – Cleansing (1994)

There is a scene is Casino where Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) – having tortured an enemy for hours on end – crushes his head in a vice. In the moments before the unfortunate gentleman’s eyeball popped out of his head, the sound of compression in his skull must have been remarkably similar to Prong. Tommy Victor’s not-so-merry band of brutalists have specialised in delivering a relentlessly abrasive wall of sound for over two decades. One of metal’s most influential – and incendiary – bands, Prong have always been orchestrators of their own unique aesthetic: sparse where most metal is busy; tense where most metal is flailing; and almost devoid of histrionics where most metal nods towards its own ridiculousness, Prong have always been a band who have pointed to the capacity of heavy music to be truly and devastatingly impactful.

Opener ‘Another Worldy Device’ sums up that barren aesthetic. Hardcore vocals and a thrash wall of riff are laid onto chemical grooves: drum, guitar, bass and vocal perform a staccato dance of colossal weight – ba-ba-ba-ba-BA! ‘Whose Fist Is It Anyway?’ ushers in industrial, urban beats in a manner far more subtle than Ministry and brims with mechanical intent. With its whip-crack delivery, the ‘hit’ ‘Snap Your Fingers Snap Your Neck’ is a more muscular Killing Joke (perhaps aided by the pressense of the latter’s Paul Raven and John Bechdel). But it’s the variety that kills. Whilst ‘Cut-Rate’ is pure DRI circle-pit mania, the mid-paced ‘Broken Peace’ – awash with sing-along rhythmic charm – recalls the urban swagger of Biohazard before they became a bloated parody. ‘Not Of This Earth’ is a further departure. Trippy, and featuring clean guitar, is dark without being maudlin, and proof that this was a band who did not resort to heavy for the sake of it.

This was a genuinely forward-thinking record in the limbo between thrash and nu metal. ‘No Questions’ is a collage of riffs and newsreal soundbites and is awash with the sort of guitar-crunch which Machine Head have made their name on. In truth, Prong ooze underground cool but they have never – and probably will never – get the respect which they so patently deserve. ‘Truth’ sounds like the final song before the apocalypse, and features a riff that deserves an award for welding ungodly heaviness to infectious groove. Any Prong album is worth your time – but this is the one where there’s just no dip in the quality.

[Dave's Bitch]

I've thought about doing that one, too. It's an odd album with spectacular highs and lows.

You really should do it.It would be great to hear a review that did not just piss and moan "Slash is not there so it is shit" or "Axl is fat and an asshole it is not a carbon copy of what they did in 1987 so the songs are all terrible".If i were to give it a review it would probably be the most biased one sided review in the history of the world as Guns N Roses are my all time favourite band (even above Megadeth),So i think you would handle it much better.

For me