Album Reviews

[binnie]

From the vaults: Bigelf – Hex (2007)

Any doubt that modern bands don’t know how to make good time rock ‘n’ roll is dispelled about 5 seconds into ‘Madhatter’, the opening tune on Bigelf’s sonic brew of an album. A glorious T-Rex hook face-fucks some serious Sabbath-inspired rumble in a song so colossus in its sound it could eat mountains. Bigelf are fun – more fun than you’ve ever had with your clothes on or off. Their sound is cinematic, symphonic, and it will make you smile like a crazy person on happy pills. Don’t over-analyze it, don’t confine it to a label. Just listen. Bluesy tones, boulder shitting riffs, epic shredding, huge choruses, and, erm, mellotron – it’s the purest ingredients of 1967-72 amped up and beamed out. ‘Carry the Load’ is all stoner thump; ‘Bat in the Belfry II’ is Queen channelling an Alice Cooper vibe; and the ethereal ‘Disappear’ is so moving it’ll make you melt – is this what Jimi meant by kissing the sky?

‘Hex’ was a more straightforward affair than its follow-up – the sheer clusterfuck of a rock ‘n’ roll circus which was ‘Cheat The Gallows’. It’s the perfect way into this frankly astonishing band. This is not some rose-tinted nostalgia trip of a band – it’s one who has managed to put their own twist on the classic.

[binnie]

From the vaults: Testament – Demonic (1997)

Thank God for Testament. In metal’s hallowed history, it’s hard to think of many bands who’ve flown the flag in the face of adversity (or obliviousness) with such middle-finger totting gusto. After the immense amount of critical acclaim levelled at their early thrash masterpieces (especially ‘Lecacy’ and ‘The New Order’), the mid-90s, post-grunge and Nu-metal era proved a difficult time for band commercially. But not creatively. Developing – rather than abandoning – their thrash hallmarks, ‘Demonic’ was the most extreme record the band ever made. Exploring bigger, chunkier song structures based around huge choruses as they had on 1994’s ‘Low’, ‘Demonic’ saw the band infuse that sound with elements of industrial and death metal (the latter particularly evident in Chuck Billy’s vocal style). The result was something moodier and darker. ‘The Burning Times’ is heavier than anything, and sounds like Slayer on steroids. ‘Demonic Rights’ possessed an anthemic sonic stomp, a low rumble propelled by an incredible wall of riffs. ‘Jin-Jin’ evokes the groove metal vibe that Sepultura pioneered on ‘Chaos AD’ and ‘Murky Waters’ captures the brooding thrash of ‘Sound of The White Noise’-era Anthrax, whilst ‘John Doe’ is as traditional a metal song as you’ll find in the mid-90s, an epic riff and hulking chorus combining to something infectiously catchy.

In truth, even the more experimental moments here – like ‘Ten Thousand Thrones’ – are worth exploring. Although forgotten today and largely ignored at the time, ‘Demonic’ saw Testament producing metal as strong and progressive as the much more applauded Machine Head and Fear Factory were at the time. Without Alex Skolnick, the band was markedly different – the classic guitar interplay with Eric Peterson was noticeably absent here. But different is not necessarily weaker. More brooding, more dark, and more adventurous ‘Demonic’, like ‘Low’ before it, saw the band making great music just for the sake of it – and that, ultimately, is where the real gems occur.

[binnie]

Will Haven – Voir Dire

I once attended a photographic exhibition by Donna Ferrato, renound for her exploration of domestic violence. Her work was utterly remarkable, and for the power with which it is etched onto my memory is disproportionate to the level of pleasure it gave me: I passed through being numb to uncomfortable, oddly guilty, and ultimately haunted. Brilliant in every way, and vital in every sense of the word, the exhibition made me react. But it wasn’t pleasurable (nor, I assume, was it intended to be). Will Haven’s music has always had the ability to tap into the uncomfortable side of being human – ‘Voir Dire’ is no different.

It all starts ambiently enough: the opening moments are serene, the sort of music you’d expect vegans to listen to between bathroom breaks. But the violence soon cuts through, giving way to the form of discordant warfare we have come to expect from Will Haven. There’s a ledge over the edge, and this band sits on it, taking hard-core into territories where conventional song structures, tempos and time signatures are merely a glimmer of a memory. There are no virtuoso egos, no heroics, no flash – this is a band strapped down to its rawest and most passionate, delivering a wall of sound built upon angular riffs, atmospheric keyboards, scorched vocals and a hulking, all encompassing presence. ‘Siege’ – which tackles an abusive relationship – is a case in point. It both repels and captivates simultaneously, kicking you in the guts and provoking you to think. ‘When the Walls Close In’ possess an odd beauty, one born of bareness, of awe in the face of something desolate. ‘A Beautiful Death’ conjurs the stark violence of an early Rollins Band monolgue, whilst ‘Urban Agague’ twists soft/heavy dynamics into something fresh and altogether larger than the band has managed before.

The return of vocalist Grady Avenell for this, the band’s 5th album, has been a revelation. If 2007’s ‘Hierophant’ was disappointing and unfocussed, ‘Voir Dire’ is everything WH fans could want and more: unsettling, immersive and nasty, the band have always been set apart from other avante guard noisemongers by exercising such control over their own extremity, employing dynamics that allow the songs to take hold of the listener rather than spiraling out of control. As intelligent as they are uncompromising, you don’t just feel this music, you submit to it. You can’t always claim to have enjoyed a Will Haven album: but it always makes you react.

[binnie]

Skeletonwitch – Forever Abomination

Brandishing a sound which welds the darker side of thrash – think Kreator and Possessed – with the more tuneful side of death metal – think Arch Enemy or Dark Tranquility – Skeletonwitch break up the staccato riffing assault which is thrash’s hallmark by injecting sickening melody lines and acoustic interludes. ‘Forever Abomination’ is easily their most adventurous, and best, record. The cover artwork’s depiction of a satanic haunted wood perfectly captures the band’s otherworldly and demonic aesthetic. In a sense, then, this is a throwback record. Skeletonwitch certainly capture the excitement of early Slayer or Sepultura, a thrash band which doesn’t overcomplicate their sound and rob the balls out of it. ‘This Horrifying Force (The Desire To Kill)’ is as good as anything being produced in Scandanavia; ‘Reduced To the Failure of Prayer’ is a blast of taut and twisted riffage and old school soloing; ‘Rejoice In Misery’ is blunt force thrash; and ‘The Infernal Resurrection’ is epic, hallowed metal. What we have here is a record which captures the full out fun of early thrash and blasts it through the clarity of Matt Hyde’s frankly monstrous modern production: crisp, crunchy and rich, Hyde has captured the sound of a band alive and ripping. It’s nothing you’ve not heard before: but it comes at you live the demented, twisted demon on the cover artwork.

[binnie]

Metallica – Beyond Magnetic

This 4 track, I-tunes only release to celebrate ‘tallica’s 30 year anniversary comprised a series of off-cuts from the band’s return-to-form ‘Death Magnetic’. A stone me it’s good. Really good. Opener ‘Hate Train’ smashes the ‘greasy’ sound the band were searching for on ‘Load’ into the crunch of their mid-80s hey-day and comes on like some pistol-touting Motorhead nutcase sporting one hell of a hook. ‘Just a Bullet Away’ is awash with RIFF RIFF RIFF RIFF RIFF, sports a melody with a real ‘80s vibe and a melodic mid-section which recalls ‘Breadfan’. ‘Hell and Back’ – easily the least polished piece here – employs the soft/heavy dynamics the band have treaded before, but with a more abrasive allure. There’s something damaged and menacing here, a captivation of the metallic country sound which Hetfield has been searching for all of these years – this is Metallica sounding vital and vibrant, and just for a moment the joy of beholding those bullet-belt wearing evil mothers in ’83 returns. But they save the best for last. Even in demo form ‘Rebel of Babylon’ is easily one of the strongest tunes the band has penned in 20 years: a thrashtastic megaforce of an epic which is very reminiscent of the ‘Mercyful Fate’ medley they threw together in the late ‘90s. In the wake of the Lulu debacle, ‘Beyond Magnetic’ gives us hope – when they actually enjoy being a metal band, Metallica are still fucking immense at doing so.

[binnie]

From the vaults: Aerosmith – Night in the Ruts (1979)

This is one helluva record. It’s even more remarkable considering the conditions under which it was made: this was an era of a strung-out Aerosmith at each other’s throats and barely functioning as a band. Perry threatened to leave a couple of times. Replacement guitarists play on several of the tunes (Neil Thompson on ‘Mia’ and Richard Supra on ‘Mia’ and ‘No Surprise’ and Jim Crespo on various tunes) – the glory days of 4 years earlier must have felt a lifetime away during its genesis.

And yet – despite being chronically overlooked by fans and critics alike – it’s a damn fine hard rock record. No-one would state that it matches ‘Toys…’ or ‘Back…’ in the songwriting department. Nor is it as finessed as those records. Indeed, this was a dirtier, rawer and freer affair: it’s almost as those this record should have pre-ceded ‘Toys…’/’Back..’, the sheer bluseiness makes it feel like it should have come after ‘Get Your Wings’. Opener ‘No Surprise’ is pile-driver r’n’b – a punky, New York Dolls riff and gloriously sloppy performance is amplified by a wicked guitar hook, and it’s clear that what Aerosmith had lost in the control of their composition they had gained in a boost of energy and urgency. ‘Chiquita’ is equally on fire, with Tyler in particular exceling on this concrete slab of blues, and the slide-guitar led ‘Cheesecake’ is as nasty a slice of sleeze as Page/Plant ever shimmied over.

Even the covers possess certain ‘perfect in a fucked-up way’ charm. ‘Remember (Walking in the Sand)’ – originally by the Shangri Las – is a schmaltsy croon, a bourdon soaked twist on the Summer of Love. And The Yardbird’s ‘Think About It’ (with a riff reminiscent of ‘Rats In the Cellar’) is raw and gutsy. What we have here, then, is a lusty, amphetemine charged back-alley fuck of a record – in one sense, that was a step back for Aerosmith at the turn of the decade (they ‘big hits’ were not in evidence here); but in another, it ‘Night…’ features everything that they would be lacking in the pop-preen of the post ‘Done With Mirrors’ era.

Far from their best, but still better than most of the rest.

[binnie]

From the vaults: Iron Monkey – Our Problem (1998)

There’s only one word which gets close to encapsulating Iron Monkey’s sound: NASTY. There’s was the sonic equivalent of Satan’s filthiest bowel movement – impossibly dark, painful, drenched in evil and yet oddly satisfying. And no-one has topped it since.

Channeling a Melvins/Fudge Tunnel epic grunge through Kyuss’s stoner funk and Napalm Death’s ‘fuck you’ extremism, Iron Monkey blasted tortured vocals over an endless procession of rumbling Sabbath riffs. The result is something beyond heavy – but what made it so infectious was the fact that amidst the insanity there is always something in the songs to latch onto. Sporting possibly the most offensive, phallic anti-Christian artwork imaginable, this was a deceptive record: on the one hand, it’s metal at its simplest, Sabbath-esque blueprint; and on the other it is metal at its most extreme and nihilistic. That contrast is the source of the malevolence here. Iron Monkey may have been built on the rudiments of a proto-metal sound, but their aesthetic was the anti-thesis of the saccarhine optimism of the Summer of Love: the beautiful children had become bitter old hags, and this was their soundtrack.

Play it if you dare.

(R.I.P John Paul Morrow)

[gbranton]

Whitesnake - Forevermore

A solid effort from DC and co. which is bound to make you smile. Building on the good work laid down by this line-up on 'Good To Be Bad', this time round they have gelled together more closely and the whole record feels more like the product of a band...... a damn fine rock 'n' roll record which will brighten up your summer no end.

Agree mostly with this, I think I liked it more than you did. I think it's pretty fantastic.

BAD CITY = WELCOME TO THE WASTELAND ( released on 4 August 2010 )

After all a good Melodic-Rock album with a very good production and I expect some more 'fireworks' on the next cd to put 'BAD CITY' on 'the map'!!

Best Songs : WILDLIFE // TAKE ME FOR A RIDE

I was peasantly surprised by this album, nice hooks and it even has this thing called guitar solos. Nothing here will make you forget about George Lynch but just to hear a modern record with musicianship that is better than rudimentary is a step in the right direction. I can't hear Take Me For A Ride enough times, it's a fun song. Too bad this band will probably never make another album. Lead singer Josh Caddy was arrested for sexual assault and was dropped from the band. His replacement was in a failed band with a couple of the other members of Bad City previously (smart move) and he sucks.

[binnie]

Agree mostly with this, I think I liked it more than you did. I think it's pretty fantastic.

.

I liked it a lot. It's the best 'snake album for a long time (although 'Good To Be Bad' was good, too). Not everything is a killer, but the title track is sensational.

[binnie]

Boris – Attention Please

Easily one of the most intriguing – and unclassifiable – bands on the planet, Japan’s Boris make albums which span just about every type of heavy music, abandoning each guise with each subsequent release. Here, they’ve made something almost ambient – but in a chilling fashion. The title track sounds like Bjork: a series of trippy, jazzy beats and distorted guitars overlain with some beautiful vocals from Wata. ‘Pretty Boy’ conjours Morcheeba, Garbage and even French ambient dance crew A.I.R – like the Flaming Lips pop of ‘Hope’, is a beautiful lullaby of a song offset with a haunting, eerie vocal. ‘Tokyo Wonder Land’ is trip-hop infused blues overlain with a guitar line which could melt the sun. This is magical, soothing, and unnerving in equal measures. Delicate, powerful and completely unique, they manage to create music which is both freakishly original and instantly listenable.

You could accuse Boris of being baffling, but never boring – indeed ‘Attention Please’ was released alongside another album – ‘Heavy Rocks’ – which could rip your head off at 50 paces. You have to be seriously gifted to slip from beauty to beast with such ease.

[binnie]

The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow

Plenty of bands have made a name re-crafting folksy Americana in recent years (hello Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver), but it’s nice to be presented with someone who does it really, really well. If the music here doesn’t carry you to a better place, it’s time to suck on a tail pipe, my friend. Joy Williamson and John Paul White craft achingly beautiful songs around simple harmonies and simple guitars – the music is sparse, breathless and tinged with human longing. Their voices blend perfectly in harmony, and Williams, in particular, could warm the heart of a dead man. Opener ’20 years’ is moody folk of the simplest kind, whilst the title-track is a more bombastic take on demonic blues which proves that this band can do beast alongside beauty. ‘C’est la Mort’ and ‘Poison & Wine’ are wrapped in sinewy vocal lines, and twist from delicate introspection to howling peaks on the flip of coin. This is music crafted from experience: the trials of love, melancholy and redemption.

Get in on the ground floor before everyone else does.

[Mr Walker]

The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow

Plenty of bands have made a name re-crafting folksy Americana in recent years (hello Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver), but it’s nice to be presented with someone who does it really, really well. If the music here doesn’t carry you to a better place, it’s time to suck on a tail pipe, my friend. Joy Williamson and John Paul White craft achingly beautiful songs around simple harmonies and simple guitars – the music is sparse, breathless and tinged with human longing. Their voices blend perfectly in harmony, and Williams, in particular, could warm the heart of a dead man. Opener ’20 years’ is moody folk of the simplest kind, whilst the title-track is a more bombastic take on demonic blues which proves that this band can do beast alongside beauty. ‘C’est la Mort’ and ‘Poison & Wine’ are wrapped in sinewy vocal lines, and twist from delicate introspection to howling peaks on the flip of coin. This is music crafted from experience: the trials of love, melancholy and redemption.

Get in on the ground floor before everyone else does.

I've had this one for a while... kinda cool if your looking for something new (yet old).

[binnie]

Yup. It's all in those beautiful harmonies.

Sometimes you need something delicate, y'know?

[Mr Walker]

Michael Monroe – Sensory Overdrive
With a band featuring Steve Conte (New York Dolls), Sami Yaffa (Hanoi Rocks) and Ginger (The Wildhearts), this was always going to be cooler than John Travolta’s favourite dancing shoes. And cool it is. An arsenal of Ginger-penned songs sparkle with pop-rock genius. Uncluttered with ego and frills, the ingredients are few and perfectly balanced: fuck-off riffs, silky choruses and performances which sizzle and crackle with all the fire of ageing desperadoes kicking the crap out of the last chance saloon. Jack Douglas’s raw production plays to the power of that simplicity, and he’s extracted the best vocal performance from Monroe since Hanoi’s glory days – THAT voice is punkier, raspier in its tones, with Monroe barking the lyrics and eschewing the more effeminate end of his delivery. ‘Got Blood’ is a furious rock ‘n’ roller cooked in eternal piss ‘n’ vinegar; ‘Later Won’t Wait’ is Cheap Trick in a bar brawl; and ‘78’ has an old-skool punk bite which only guys who couldn’t give a flying fuck whether you take ‘em or leave ‘em could pull off. But it’s the opening and closing tracks which really kill: ‘Trick of the Wrist’ – with its bulldozer bass and slippery chorus – is the grizzly swansong of an ageing rock God; and mixing Lemmy with Monroe on ‘Debauchery on a Fine Art’ is like tattooing BADASS on your forehead and breaking anyone who gets in your way. You’ll not here a more fun record this year.

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

[binnie]

Glad you dig it - easily one of my top 20 for 2011, and best record Michael Monroe has released in looonnng time. I've just penned a review of a HR record, which will be coming soon.

Ginger wrote most of the tunes: if you're impressed, check out some stuff by The Wildhearts. I recommend 'Phuq U', 'Earth Vs. The Wildhearts', and 'The Wildhearts' to start with. Sort of metal/punk/hard rock with HUGE choruses and melodies. Kicks you in the balls with a smile.