Album Reviews

[binnie]

Cheers WACF. I'd heard they were great live, but I've never had the pleasure of seeing them. I've just picked up their debut album but not listened to it yet.

'Hail Destroyer' hasn't gotten old yet though. Intense.

[rocknrolldork]

Great reviews Binnie!

[binnie]

Cheers dude! Glad you likey

[kwame k]

Kick ass Thread, Binnie!

[binnie]

Gallows - Grey Britian

Two things separate this band from almost all of their punk/hardcore peers: 1) they write songs about real problems, rather than conveying an aesthetic and invented sense of misery; and 2) they mean it. They REALLY mean it. Songs about broken Britain, the angry laments of a younger generation increasingly desperate, disenfranchised and despondant in the face of the world around them. This is the sound of a furious verve for life turned sour through the restrictions of barriers which they can do nothing about, expressed in lyrics which are both visceral and eloquent. This is a traditional British punk record. But it is one which is saturated with the musical inventiveness of a generation of post-hardcore, and consequently 'the vulture', 'the riverbed' or the epic 'crucifucks' deserve to become points of reference for every band working in heavy music. Imagine Discharge, but with a variety that can only betoken intelligence. The most important British band working today.

[binnie]

Slayer - World Painted Blood

Do I need to describe what this sounds like? If you've been a fan of metal for five minutes, you've heard Slayer. They've influenced everybody for a quarter of a century, they've been mercilessly ripped off, and yet nobody sounds quite like 'em. All the unique parts of the Frankenstein are here: squeaky-slashy duel solos; impossible speed; pariah screamed vocals; lyrics about war, anti-religion and serial killers; and the sheer bluntal heaviness. The AC/DC of extreme music are back with another record and given that in 25 years they've only ever made one clunker - 'Diabolus in Musica' - this is well worth a listen.

It's not great, however. It's not so much that its any less 'Slaytanic' than any other Slayers records, it's just that much of the material on here is a lot less memorable, criticisms that cannot be levelled at the bands other two records this decade, 2006's incendiary 'Christ Illusion' and 2001's later-career high, the criminally underated 'God Hates Us All'. The Kerry King tracks here sound decidedly rushed and uninspired - having a vibe similar to the 80s hardcore covers record - 'Undisputed Attitude' - tunes like 'Psychopathy Red', 'Unit 731', and 'Hate Worldwide' are almost like a Slayer tribute band that has decided to write its own material. Fast, brutal and heavy, yes, but painfully one-dimensional and almost self-parodic.

It's only when the band step out of its comfort-zone musically - as they did with 'Jihad' on 'Christ Illusion' - that we get the real treats. The eerie chill of 'Human Strain' is unlike anything they've really done before; the bruised beauty of the melody on 'Beauty Through Order' is biblically epic; and 'Playing With Dolls' is as disturbing as music can be. Knowing that their fanbase is so unforgiving of anything that moves away from the formula, these are brave choices for Slayer, but they are succesful ones. Even the title track features an unusually melodic riff in the bridge that takes the song up a level from the relentless chugging riffs we've heard a hundred times before, and it's this song with its muti-parts and time changes which shows that Slayer can still take just about anyone in extreme music. For this isn't a poor record by anyone's standards other than their own.

There's a lot of talk about a thrash 'revival' - well, on the evidence of this, 'Death Magnetic', and 'Endgame', the old guard are in little need of reviving. Is it going to be in your top three Slayer albums? No way. But is it still belligerant enough to have you playing every air instrument known to mankind? Yup - so much so your neck will snap.

[binnie]

Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue

Great music leaves something unquantifiable with you. A feeling that soothes you, and is awakened every time you return to a great album. Several Alice In Chains albums have managed the seemingly impossible feat of touching countless numbers of human beings with whom the band have never personally interacted - 1992s 'Dirt' changed everything in heavy music, and 1996s 'Unplugged' is - no arguments please - the best album ever to feature that moniker.

For what AIC do is make music which is impossibly melodic and incredibly heavy. Heavy, not just in a sonic sense, but in an emotional one. This is a band which always sang about real pain, real longing, a band which wouldn't know 'contrived' if it bit them. The death of Layne Stayley - the voice of the band - would seem to be a loss then that would prove to be as implossive as removing the keystone from a bridge. Not so, my friends, not so.

What is amazing about new singer William Duvall is how natural he sounds on this record. He doesn't try to be Layne, to sound like him or replace him; nor does he make the mistake of many new singers in rock bands and try to make it his show, and to alter the band's sound to suit him. He just sings the songs. And, along with Jerry Cantrell, he sings them beautifully - if Layne is missed at any point here its only on the acoustic 'Your Decision' in which Cantrell's lead vocals seem to be missing the ying to their yang.

This is a startling record. It's all there from opener 'All Secrets Known': the hauntingly dark melodies, huge riffs, slow, brooding bass undercurrent and the band's effortless twist from loose verse to tight chorus, a trick repeated on the melodic rumble of 'Acid Bubble'. It's gut-wrenchingly moving stuff: if the title track - Cantrell's hymn to Layne's final days - doesn't touch you then you must be dead inside. This is the classic AIC sound, but its not stagnation - 'Last Of My Kind' is more metallic than they've ever been, and 'Lesson Learned' is a timeless rock anthem. Sure 'A Looking In View' may be a little complicated and over-long, but you can forgive the imperfection in the presence of such power. This is more than a reunion. More than a peddling of the glory days. They've done it again - this album leaves an impression.

[MERRYKISSMASS2U]

This is a side project from Peter Tagtgren, lead singer/guitar player in death metal band Hypocrisy and producer/editor of Dimmu Borgia, Celtic Frost and Immortal.

Let us not forget Bloodbath!

[binnie]

Good to see you my friend - hope that all is well!

[MERRYKISSMASS2U]

Yeah you too man. I'll be posting here more often now

The site was down for a year or so, so I forgot about it because I got tired of checking to see if it were up or not

[binnie]

No Chan, you can review whatever album you like. It would be great to read your reviews.

[binnie]

Paradise Lost - Faith Divides Us, Death Unites Us

It seems that every time Paradise Lost release an album it's hailed as a 'return to form' but the truth is they've never lost it. This is typical of the British goth-metal pioneer's sound - hulking riffs, brooding atmospherics, uncomplicated yet massively emotive guitar melodies, and tortured vocals - and they are still the missing link between Metallica and Fields of the Nephilm. What's truly staggering about this album is just how finely crafted the songs are, and the vairety of material they offer, from the boom of 'First Light', the intensity of the ironically entitled 'Fragile' to the sombre lament of the title track, a song which concludes by exploding into classic rock at its most epic. This is truly an album rich and stacked deep with gems - the riff-tastic 'Universal Dream' is a masterclass in metal. Twenty years in, and they're still this good. But yet, you sense there's just something holding them back from greatness. Although almost everything here is finely crafted, perhaps that's the problem - sometimes the songs, whilst not sounding laboured, feel over-thought, and Paradise Lost have never been a band to just let it rip. For that reason, they'll always be a nine and never a ten - but they're a damnsight better than 99 out of the next 100 bands you'll hear.

[binnie]

Divine Heresy - Bringer Of Plagues

The opening track of this record is called 'Facebreaker' - do I need to tell you what sort of music they play? Thought not. A band featuring Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares, this is an adaptation on his full-time band's sound - staccato riffing around double-bass drum patterns. Only faster, much faster. It seems that drummer Tim Yeung has three feet. Also like Fear Factory, the vocals switch from full-on agro to melodic croon. The problem, however, is that Travis Neal is no Burton C Bell. So, is this just sub-standard Fear Factory you shouldn't bother with? No, far from it in fact. 'The Battle of J. Casey' has an almost Kreator-esque thrash about it, and 'Monolithic Doomsday Devices' is brutal hardcore. This is an album which should be filed under 'intense', and one which will find a welcome home in any fan of modern metal's collection. The problem, however, is there's only so much you can do with double-bass patterns, and at times the record feels relentless - when it all comes together, as it does on the title track and 'Redefine', we are treated to something special; but when the ideas generator comes up short on 'Anarchaos' and 'Letter To Mother' we are left with something forgetable. A patchy record which comes nowhere near to eclipsing the band's 2007 debut 'Bleed The Fifth' (a near classic) this is well worth your time, but hardly more than the sum of its parts.

[binnie]

Them Crooked Vultures - Self-titled

A minute and a half into 'No One Loves Me & Neither Do I' - the opening track on the debut album from 'supergroup' Them Crooked Vultures, the bastard child of Dave Grohl, Josh Homme and John Paul Jones - you think you have this record sussed. This is just Queens of the Stone Age with a (much) better drummer. Typically understated sunset drawl-rawk, a meandering jam akin to Homme's most recent QOTSA outings, you think. Then, like a left hook out of nowhere, a huge bass riff kicks in and the song takes off in a funk-tastic journey. John Paul Jones sounds like a man half his age on this record - just when you thought another 'supergroup' would inevitably disapoint, this record happens.

The sound is certainly indebted to Homme's full-time project, but its not limited by it. 'Mind Eraser, No Chaser' and 'Dead End Friends' are a cauldren of sped-up blues riffs. 'Elephants' maintains an irresitable groove through warped time-signatures; 'Caligulove' is Cheap Trick schizo-pop; and 'Reptiles' pays homage to '...Levee Breaks' Led Zeppelin, but it sounds like Jane's Addiction covering the tune. This is an un-apologetic rock record, but one which is not self-congratulatory. There is some incredible playing here - especially from Grohl's, a drummer capable of immense dexterity who nonetheless underplays everything with aplomb - but there's no nod-and-wink showmanship, and that's refreshing. It's a good time record that rewards repeated listens, at times and other-worldly jam, but one which never becomes self-indulgent.

Self-editing would have been advisable - 'Interlude With Ludes' and 'Warsaw or the First Breath You Take after You Give Up' add little that isn't already here in a superior form, and slow the record down in its middle section. But all is forgiven by the time you reach 'Gunman' - a bass-driven boogie that you will dance too, trust me. One of the few supergroups for whom you long for a second record.

[rocknrolldork]

A review of the The Flaming Lips cover of Dark Side of the Moon

After watching and hearing the Flaming Lips derailment of what was intended to be a tribute to the Who on VH1 a year or so ago, I was a bit leary of them covering DSotM. It turned I was leary with good reason.

From the brash intro of Speak To Me to the final heartbeat of Eclipse I was left unimpressed and a bit insulted. It's hard to believe this is the same band that recorded some of my favorite efforts of the past 10 years or so. While Peaches does a fine job, the guest spots from Henry Rollins, much like the overall performance of the album, simply falls flat.

There are some bright spots to the album. The Great Gig in the Sky and Us and Them are definitely the standout tracks. They maintain some of the original tunes' integrity while incorporating some of the classic psychedelic synth vibe that originally put The Flaming Lips on the musical radar. That doesn't mean they are very good though.

Overall: I can't help but think some of these tunes would better served on a various artists tribute to DSotM. All the sounds and groove of The Flaming Lips that their fans will dig with an uninspired/lack-lustre performance and sloppy/choppy production. Die hards will want to get it to complete their collection but otherwise not worth the money. If you want to hear a good tribute to DSotM, get the Dream Theater bootleg: MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service

1 1/2 out of 5