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Von Halen (11-28-2014)
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Slipknot – 5: The Gray Chapter (2014)
A sense of trepidation surrounds album number five from Slipknot. Following the death of bassist Paul Gray – a founding member and principal songwriter – and the exit of Joey Jordison – a drummer who’s idiosyncracies were part-and-parcel of the Slipknot sound – the smart money was on this record being a clusterfuck, or a half-measure. Slipknot-lite. But all of the smart money was wrong. Waaaay wrong. ‘5’ is certainly not this band’s finest hour, but it carries the torch for one of the most important metal bands of this generation remarkably well. Welcome back, fellas – we’ve missed you.
‘XIX’ is a brooding opener. A slow build consisting of orchestration and Corey Taylor’s impassioned vocals which seems built for stadium sing-a-longs, it give way to burst of rage which is ‘Sarcastrophe’, a angular, wounded, raging ball of hate which proves just how unique this band are – even after 15 years, no-one sounds like this. People often criticise Slipknot for sounding increasingly like Stone Sour (Corey Taylor and Jim Root’s other, more hard rock, band). It’s certainly true that Taylor has become a better hook-writer, and the band are more comfortable exploring the melodic capacities of his voice, but when a song like ‘AOV’ slams into you, it’s hard to think of arena rock. Propelled by Death and Thrash metal elements, its rhythmic assault is as infectious as Slipknot has ever sounded. And it just keeps coming. ‘Custer’ is awash with tribal fury; ‘Lech’ is a rhythmic switch-hitter on which Taylor sounds vicious (‘I know why Judas wept MOTHERFUCKER’); and ‘Negative One’ has all of the twists and quirks to make it yet another angular anthem. ‘Skeptic’ – which is a tribute to Gray – is particularly moving, and could be straight from the band’s previous, more muscular, effort ‘All Hope Is Gone’ (2008). ‘The world will never see another crazy motherfucker life you’ bellows Taylor. It is a fitting tribute.
There are moments where the intensity drops. Pseudo-ballad ‘Goodbye’, for example, is more than a little sappy bollocks. But it has always been unrealistic to expect this band to recapture the vicious intensity of their first two albums – what band at 40 possesses the vim they had at 20? Slipknot, however, have grown from their original template into something bigger, more colourful and still vital. They may have lost two members, but they’ve carried on where they left off 6 years ago. ‘5’ is the natural evolution of ‘All Hope Is Gone’ – a big album by a big band which knows exactly what their fanbase wants.
That’s not meant to make it sound as though Slipknot have become a commodity. They’re too immediate for that. This is art in the truest sense of the term – music which produces a visceral response.
TFM_Dale (12-09-2014)
Feed The Rhino – The Sorrow & The Sound (2014)
Album no. 3 from this set of British bruisers is a remarkable piece of work. Part post-hardcore, part metal, this time around FTR have harnessed the unrelenting fury of their sound to hefty grooves and some serious hooks. Whilst still grindingly angular, they’re now also accessible (if undoubtedly heavy). Featuring one of the best sets of lyrics of recent years, here is a band which avoids many of the usual clichés and manages to be as incisive as they are incendiary. ‘The Sorrow & The Sound’ is quite an album.
‘New Wave’ sounds like a hyper-masculine Deftones, all bounce and thrust with a big gang-vocal chorus and gives way to ‘Give Up’, which features a razor sharp fractured, bluesy riff that is infectious. ‘Finish The Game’ shows FTR to be a band with something to say in these troubled times, whilst ‘Set Sail For Treason’ is propelled by a greasy riff and plenty of piss ‘n’ vinegar and ‘Deny & Offend’ is a genuinely world-class tune which should by all rights makes floors all over the world bounce. This band is totally in control of their own sound, and each of the album’s songs is distinctive, a rare feature for a band in the post-hardcore fold. ‘Black Horse’, for example, is emotive, delicate and sombre: think Radiohead with sprinkles of Thursday.
Rich, deep, immediate and full of layers and textures, FTR deserve to be taken seriously as a contender for the big leagues. On ‘The Sorrow….’ they’ve evolved from bluster into something very serious indeed. The title track – which appears to be about depression – is sinewy, powerful and quite, quite beautiful. It is also a fitting encapsulation of how very impressive this album is.
From the Vaults: Stained Glass (1978)
Judas Priest’s commercial peak was certainly in the ‘80s, but their creative peak came earlier. Beginning with ‘Sad Wings Of Destiny’ (1976) and culminating with ‘Unleased In the East’ (1979), Priest released a series of albums which was as good a run as any Metal band – perhaps even any hard rock band – ever had. And ‘Stained Class’ was perhaps the best of the bunch, an album rammed with deep cuts which most bands would kill to write, and certainly capable of rivalling the likes of Sabbath, Purple, and Zeppelin. It is an absolute monster of an album.
Opener ‘Exciter’ clearly set the template for Thrash: speed, double-bass drums, and maniacal energy. And the opening riff? What planet did that come from? When Halford’s hooks kicks into the chorus, it sounds like the chorus of hell bellowing. Energy, drama and passion – this is an opera in 5 minutes. ‘White Heat, Red Hot’ has a dynamite, under-heralded riff, a serious groove, and a hook that oozed class; whilst ‘Better By You, Better Than Me’, with its Bowie-esque dynamics, has a boogie riff which pops and oozes from the speakers. It’s a great rock song – and one which deserves to be far, far better known. ‘Saints In Hell’, by contrast, is demonic, guttural and features another killer riff – the dynamics of this songs makes it breathe and pulsate. These are tunes that you wish the band would play live. It seems that Priest – for whatever inexplicable reason – want to forget albums like this, however.
Best of all are the epics. The title-track is unrelentingly heavy it sounds like ten bands, and may be one of the very best things that Priest ever did. With Halford’s wail over the top it sounds truly bestial, a behemoth of a song with lead breaks that are seismic. ‘Beneath The Realms Of Death’ is a statuesque beauty of a song. A huge riff, an epic Glen Tipton solo, and a song drenched in emotion – Metal has rarely sounded better.
And it is that emotion which elevates ‘70s Priest over ‘80s Priest. The latter incarnation of Priest would descend into comic-book territory. Fun, certainly; and packed with anthems. But music of lasting resonance? Nope. From ’76-’79, however, Priest sounded like a very human band: the blues, prog and folk influences added hues and tones which they’d later throw out to become something much more prosaic. ‘Stained Class’ is evil, demonic and drenched in metallic fantasy: but there’s not a note of melodrama. And that is what makes it a cut above almost anything from the Heavy Metal cannon.
Foo Fighters – Sonic Highways (2014)
On paper, album number 8 from the Foo Fighters sounds intriguing. An out-and-out rock band explores the rich avenues of popular music in America by recording each of the 8 songs on its new album in a different pivotal musical city. Accompanied by a HBO documentary lavishly detailing the music of the cities in question from the street up, ‘Sonic Highways’ is very much an extension of Dave Grohl’s ‘Sound City’ documentary from several years ago. The documentaries are wonderful pieces – full of the scent of each city, packed with the enthusiasm which goes hand-in-hand with musical geekery, and resonating Grohl’s natural warmth, they were clearer labours of love and produced with affection and humility. But the album itself? It’s quite a mess.
And that is a real shame. In 2011 Foo Fighter’s last album, ‘Wasting Light’, was an absolute beast. Tune after tune of what the Foos do best: power pop belted out from the gut and made for the garage. With no filler, and few clichés, this was Grohl and company in the best Tom Petty, Cheap Trick, and Blondie tradition – hook-laden tunes which tear your heart out and give it back to you better. But ‘Sonic Highways’ reverts back to type – yet another half-baked Foo Fighters record made by a bunch of guys who know all too well that when the tour of the megadomes begins, they’ll only ever have to play a couple of these tunes to an audience who want to hear the hits anyway. The whole thing feels like a vanity project, an excuse to make a documentary.
So, anyone expecting the Foos to delve into the sonic depths of each of the cities in question – the Foos do country (Nashville), the Foos do blues (Chicago), the Foos do California rock (LA) – is going to be sorely disappointed. Sure, there are a host of guests on each track, but aside from solos by Joe Walsh and Gary Clark Jr you’ll be lucky to notice them because, ultimate, this is just another Foo Fighters record. That in itself is no bad thing, but the songs just don’t cut it – overlong where this band works best as a concise beast, and full of jams where they work best with traditional structures, ‘Sonic Highways’ is a frustratingly meandering trip at times. Sure, it has its moments – ‘Something For Nothing’ is a typical Foos belter, and ‘Congregation’ shows what the album could have been – but the amount of self-indulgence here is nauseating. Closer ‘I Am A River’ is longer than a Peter Jackson film, without any of the special effects.
Three years ago, Foo Fighters had a late career high. ‘Sonic Highways’ is such a disappointment. Those who like their rock unchallenging and built for the radio may take it or leave it, but those of us who know that this band can do so much better will be hugely disappointed.
Grohl needs to drop the sell out to HBO documentary bullshit and focus on making hard rock music...
Kurt would be ashamed...
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Machine Head – Bloodstone & Diamonds (2014)
Making a classic album can be an albatross to wear around the neck. For the first 15 years of Machine Head’s career, the caustic blast of seething, riff-fuelled hatred that was their debut ‘Burn My Eyes’ (1994) made everything they released afterwards – no matter how good it was – seem a little underwhelming. And then, in 2008, they released ‘The Blackening’. A complex, magisterial and as emotive as it was heavy, this progressive thrash masterpiece is probably the best metal record released this millennium, and easily in the genre’s top 50 as a whole. It is also another albatross for the band. ‘Unto The Locust’ (2011) was a brilliant record by anyone’s standards, but the lukewarm reaction to it was largely due to it not matching up to its previous sibling.
‘Bloodstone & Diamonds’ – album number 8 – isn’t as good as ‘The Blackening’, either. It is, however, one of the very best albums you’re likely to hear in 2014. In any genre. This time around Machine Head seem to have realised that the epic song-structures, time-changes and wailing displays of chops need to be scaled back – rather than try to match ‘The Blackening’ (as they did on ‘Unto The Locust’), they’ve moved on from it. Serving up the thing that they’ve always done better than anyone – testosterone-driven, arms aloft and bellow the chorus anthems – the band are absolutely on fire. Opener ‘Now We Die’ is brutally heavily and batters your stereo; ‘Killers & Kings’ is how thrash should be done in the 21st century, and beat-down of a song which will incite moshpits the world over; and ‘Game Over’ – a furious blast against former bassist Adam Duce – is wounded, vulnerable but still face-rippingly aggressive. At moments like these, Machine Head can out power and out rumble anyone on the planet.
But there’s more than just bruising bravura. ‘Beneath The Silt’ is ominous, brooding and macabre; whilst ‘Ghosts Will Haunt My Bones’ – easily one of the very best songs this band have ever written – goes through the gears to produce a sinewy tapestry of metal; and ‘Sail Into The Black’ is 8 minutes of progressive metal which manages to produce what so many bands in that genre do not – an emotional connection. There is, quite simply, no filler here, and all of the band’s performances are superb – Rob Flynn and Phil Demmel shred in classic metal style and riff with their best James Hetfield testicles strapped on; and drummer Dave Mclain once again proves to be the adrenalin shot propelling this band into darker shades of fury than even the very best metal bands achieve. Even by their own lofty standards, there are moments here which are breathtaking.
Anthemic, progressive, ambitious and brutally heavily whilst never extreme for the sake of it, ‘Bloodstone and Diamonds’ is a beautiful album with the heart of a pitbull. It is not as good as ‘The Blackening’, but it is – no arguments, please – the best Heavy Metal record of 2014.
WACF (01-31-2015)
binnie’s Best of 2014
Machine Head – Bloodstone & Diamonds
Machine. Fucking. Head. Rule. The. Earth. Once. Again.
Triptykon – Melana Chasmata
Thomas Gabriel Fischer proves once again that he is one of the most inventive minds in metal. Harrowing, relentless dark, and powerful, this is a dense record which rewards multiple listens.
Opeth – Pale Communion
Opeth continue to blossom as a prog band. Beautiful music from a beautiful mind.
Behemoth – The Satanist
Black Metal of the most terrifying and thought-provoking variety. Where many bands blast away like this, few manage to do so with songs that have such a memorable impact.
Crowbar – Symmetry in Black
None fucking heavier. Kirk Windstein serves up what is perhaps the best album of Crowbar’s 20 year career. Riff after riff after gloriously heavy riff.
Orange Goblin – Back From the Abyss
Is it stoner? Is it doom? Does it matter: it rocks like a motherfucker from hell.
Shrapnel – The Virus Conspires
A thrash record for the 21st century, and the best debut of the year.
Mastodon – Once More Round The Sun
They may not be as truly awe-inspiring as they once were, but Mastodon still release near perfect albums with alarming regularity. They’re one of the best bands of the past 20 years.
Death Penalty – Death Penalty
Great British metal from the ashes of Cathedral. These songs NEED to be heard by all fans of metal.
Animals As Leaders – The Joy Of Motion
An instrumental album that will not bore your to tears. This is a stunningly beautiful and affecting record.
Vallenfyre – Splinters
Album no. 2 from Paradise Lost’s Gregor MacIntosh’s other band. Doom and death metal fighting over the bragging rights to the best riff.
Conan – Blood Eagle
Sloooooow and very, very heavy.
Overkill – White Devil Armoury
Another brilliant record from metal’s most overlooked band. Never less than riveting, and always delivering the goods.
King 810 – Memoirs of a Murderer
Believe the hype, King 810 are a very good band. The most impressive thing about this album is the amount of variety on display.
Down – IV part 2
Perhaps overlooked now, Phil Anselmo, Pepper Keenan and co. served up another riff-fest this year and had a better collection of songs than ‘IV part 1’.
Slipknot – 5: the Gray Chapter
Did anyone expect Slipknot’s return to be this good? The songs on display here are stunning.
Feed The Rhino – The Sorrow & the Sound
Painting on a broader canvass than on their previous two outings, this British band do post-hardcore with boulder style bollocks. No-one sounds like this.
Skindred – Kill The Power
The most fun you will have this year.
Black Label Society – Catacombs of the Black Vatican
The Bearded Squeak is now such a familiar presence that we overlook him. This was BLS’s most consistent record in years.
Architects – Lost Forever/Lost Together
Heavy, catchy, and as emotive as they come.
Orange Goblin – Back From the Abyss
This, ladies and gentleman, is a damn fine heavy metal record. One of half-a-dozen or so damn fine heavy metal records which Britain’s Orange Goblin have released in their career. Straddling Doom, Stoner and traditional Metal with aplomb, there is more than a whiff of weed, real ale and Sabbath about ‘Back From the Abyss’. There is also an heroic amount of riffs – big, bass-heavy, dark and ugly riffs that will re-arrange your internal organs. ‘Sabbath Hex’ is everything you love about Metal in one song; ‘Devil’s Whip’ will undoubtedly become a new live favourite; and the bluesy ‘Into The Arms of Morpheus’ shows that beneath all of the bluster, Orange Goblin can write very, very impressive songs. Few records this year will make you headbang more – and fewer still are more fun. Tapping straight into the quintessence of what makes this genre of music captivating, Orange Goblin continue to come out on attack like and angry bear who’s just bean prematurely woken from hibernation.
Updated Index: A-D:
A – Hi Fi Serious – page 8
AC/DC – Black Ice – page 1
- Let There Be Rock – page 4
- Flick Of The Switch - page 7
Accept – Blood Of Nations – page 5
- Stalingrad – page 13
- Balls To The Wall - page 16
- I’m A Rebel – page 19
Aerosmith – Night In The Ruts – page 10
- Permanent Vacation – page 15
- Music From Another Dimension – page 19
The Afghan Whigs – Gentlemen – page 13
Against Me – White Crosses – page 7
Ahab – The Giant – page 21
Airbourne – No Guts, No Glory – page 2
- Black Dog Barking – page 23
Alabama Thunderpussy – Fulton Hill – page 4
Alkaline Trio – This Addiction – page 9
Alice Cooper – Welcome 2 My Nightmare – page 8
Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way To Blue – page 1
- The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here – page 24
- Dirt – page 28
The Almighty - Crank – page 4
Alter Bridge – Fortress – page 27
Amebix – Sonic Mass – page 12
American Head Charge – The War of Art – page 31
Amen – Amen – page 13
Amon Amarth – Deceiver of The Gods – page 27
Amorphis – Skyforger – page 30
Anathema – We’re Here Because We’re Here – page 4
- The Silent Enigma – page 15
- Weather Systems – page 18
Angel Witch – Angel Witch – page 2
Anger Management – Beyond The Threshold of Pain – page 8
Animals As Leaders – The Joy Of Motion – page 30
Annihilator – Annihilator – page 5
Phillip H Anselmo and the Illegals – Walk Through Exits Only – page 27
The Answer – Everyday Demons – page 1
- Revival – page 9
- New Horizon – page 26
Anthrax – Sound Of The White Noise – page 4
- State of Euphoria – page 7
- Worship Music – page 8
Anti-Mortem – The New Southern – page 30
Architects – Here & Now – page 5
- Hollow Crown – page 14
- Lost Forever/Lost Together – page 31
Armored Saint - La Raza – page 2
Artilery – Legions – page 29
Asking Alexandria – From Death To Destiny – page 27
Assaulter – Boundless – page 9
Asomvel – Knuckle Duster – page 27
Astra – The Black Chord – page 19
At The Gates – Terminal Spirit Disease – page 14
At The Skyline – The Secrets Of Life – page 19
Attica 7 – Blood Of My Enemies – page 18
Attica Rage – Road Dogs – page 24
Audrey Horne – Audrey Horne – page 4
- Youngblood – page 20
Auf Der Mer – Auf Der Mer – page 22
August Burns Red – Leveller – page 9
Avenged Sevenfold – Nightmare – page 3
- Hail To The King – page 26
The Baby Animals – Shaved & Dangerous – page 9
Sebastian Bach – Kicking & Screaming – page 8
- Give ‘em Hell – page 29
Badlands – Badlands – page 1
Bad City – Welcome To The Wasteland – page 7
Bad Religion – No Substance – page 2
Baroness – Blue Album – page 2
- Yellow & Green – page 17
Beastmilk – Climax – page 32
Beasto Blanco – Live Fast Die Loud – page 29
Bible of the Devil – Freedom Metal – page 1
Biffy Clyro – Blackened Sky – page 2
- Opposites – page 21
BigElf – Cheat the Gallows – page 4
- Hex – page 10
Big Linda – I Loved You – page 7
Billy Talent – II – page 18
Biohazard – Ubran Discipline – page 6
- Reborn In Defiance – page 18
Black ‘N’ Blue – Hell Yeah – page 7
Black Breath – Heavy Breathing – page 6
- Sentenced To life – page 13
The Black Crowes – Lions – page 22
Black Label Society – Order of The Black – page 3
- Sonic Brew – page 16
- Catacombs of The Black Vatican – page 29
Black Moth – The Killing Jar – page 13
Black Tusk – Passage Through Purgatory – page 15
Black Sabbath – The Eternal Idol – page 3
- Technical Ecstasy – page 7
- 13 – page 23
Black Spiders – This Savage Land – page 26
Black Star Riders – All Hell Breaks Lose – page 23
Black Stone Cherry – Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea – page 9
- Magic Mountain – page 30
Black Veil Brides – Set The World On Fire – page 29
Bleed From Within – Uprising – page 21
Bleeding Through – This Is Love This Is Murder – page 9
Bloodbath – Fathomless Mastery – page 15
Blue October – Approaching Normal – page 8
Body Count – Manslaughter – page 31
Bombus – The Poet & The Parrot – page 29
Joe Bonamassa – Black Rock – page 2
Bonded By Blood – The Aftermath – page 19
Boris – Attention Please – page 10
Brides Of Destruction – Here Come The Brides – page 6
Brijitte West & The Desperate Hopefuls – page 5
The Bronx – The Bronx III – page 1
- The Bronx IV – page 20
Buckcherry – All Night Long – page 3
- Confessions – page 20
Bullets & Octane – In The Mouths Of The Young – page 7
Burgerkill – Venomous – page 24
Bury Tomorrow – The Union OF Crowns – page 18
Cancer Bats – Hail Destroyer – page 1
- Dead Set On Living – page 13
Candlemass – Death Magic Doom – page 25
Cannibal Corpse – Kill – page 28
Cathedral – The Carnival Bizarre – page 22
- The Last Spire – page 27
Cavalera Conspiracy – Blunt Force Trauma – page 8
Children Of Bodom – Relentless Reckless Forever – page 5
- Hate Crew Deathroll – page 14
- Halo Of Blood – page 24
Chimaira – Resurrection – page 5
- Age Of Hell – page 8
- Crown of Phantoms – page 26
Chthonic – Takasago Army – page 9
Church Of Misery – Thy Kingdom Scum – page 24
Civil Wars – Barton Hollow – page 10
Clutch – Strange Cousins From the West – page 1
- Earth Rocker – page 21
Cobalt – Gin – page 17
Conan – Blood Eagle – page 30
Converge – Axe To Fall – page 3
- All We Love We Leave Behind – page 18
Gilby Clarke – Pawnshop Guitars – page 5
Communic – The Bottom Deep – page 18
Chris Cornell – Scream – page 1
Coroner – No More Color – page 32
Corrosion Of Conformity – C.O.C – page 14
Crank County Daredevils – Livin’ In The Red – page 12
Crippled Black Phoenix – 200 Tons Of Bad Luck – page 3
Crowbar – Sever The Wicked Hand – page 5
- Symmetry in Black – page 31
The Cult – Love – page 6
- Beyond Good & Evil – page 13
- Choice Of Weapon – page 14
Daft Punk – Discovery – page 10
The Damned Things – Ironiclast – page 22
Danko Jones – We Sweat Blood – page 12
Dark Angel – Darkness Descends – page 32
Dark Tranquility – Fiction – page 5
Darkest Hour – The Eternal Return – page 5
Dead Letter Circus – This Is the Warning – page 10
Death – Scream Bloody Gore – page 17
Death Angel – Act III – page 13
- Relentless Retribution – page 21
- The Dream Calls For Blood – page 27
Decapitated – Carnival Is Forever – page 21
Deep Purple – Come Taste The Band – page 3
Def Leppard – On Through The Night – page 12
- Songs From The Sparkle Lounge – page 20
The Defiled – Grave Times – page 4
- Daggers – page 27
Deftones – Diamond Eyes – page 2
- Koi No Yokan – page 19
- White Pony – page 28
Destruction – Day Of Reckoning – page 14
- Spiritual Genocide – page 19
Devildriver – Pay For Villains – page 1
- Beast – page 5
- Winter Kills – page 26
Dew Scented – Icarus – page 17
- Insurgent – page 25
Diamond Head – Death & Progress – page 6
Diamond Plate – Generation Why? – page 25
Bruce Dickinson – Skunkworks – page 15
Dillenger Escape Plan – Ireworks – page 17
- One Of Us Is the Killer – page 25
Dio –Killing the Dragon – page 5
- Sacred Heart – page 13
Divine Heresy – Bringer Of Plagues – page 2
Dokken – Tooth & Nail – page 15
Doro –Doro – page 21
Down – IV: Purple EP – page 17
- IV: part 2 – page 30
Dropkicks Murphys – Blackout – page 12
Duff Mckagan’s Loaded – Sick – page 1
Index: E-L:
Earth Crisis – Neutralise the Threat – page 9
Earthrone 9 – Lo-Def(inition) Discord – page 12
Emanuel – Soundtrack to a Headrush – page 3
Enabler – All Hail The Void – page 20
Entombed – Wolverine Blues – page 5
- Left Hand Path – page 13
Everclear – Slow Motion Daydream – page 13
- Welcome To The Drama Club – page 14
Every Time I Die – The Big Dirty – page 4
- Ex lives – page 14
Evile – Skull – page 24
Exciter – Violence & Force – page 22
Exhorder – The Law – page 6
Exodus – Bonded By Blood – page 7
- Impact Is Imminent – page 14
- Pleasures of the Flesh – page 32
Extreme – Waiting For The Punchline – page 7
- Saudes De Rock – page 19
Face Down – The Twisted Rule the Wicked – page 6
- Mindfield – page 12
The Faceless – Autotheism – page 21
Faith No More – Album Of The Year – page 5
Fear Factory – Mechanize – page 2
- The Industrialist – page 14
- Demanufacture – page 28
Feed The Rhino – Mr Rec Eye – page 6
- The Burning Sons – page 17
- The Sorrow & The Sound – page 33
Fight – War of Worlds – page 19
Firebird – Firebird – page 4
- Double Diamond – page 14
Five Finger Death Punch – The Wrong Side Of Heaven & The Righteous Side of Hell part 1 – page 26
Flaming Lips – Dark Side of the Moon – page 2
Floodgate – Penalty – page 2
Flyleaf – Flyleaf – page 9
- New Horizons – page 19
Foo Fighters – Echoes, Silence, Patience, Grace – page 7
- Wasting Light – page 9
- Sonic Highways – page 33
Forbidden – Forbidden Evil – page 12
- Omega Wave – page 14
Free Fall – Power and Volume – page 27
Fu Manchu – Godzilla’s Eatin’ Dust – page 10
- Gigantoid – page 30
Gallows – Grey Britain – page 1
- Gallows – page 18
Garbage – Version 2.0 – page 5
Ghost – Infestissuam – page 22
Ginger – 100% - page 20
Goatwhore – Carving Out The Eyes Of God – page 1
- Blood For The Master – page 16
God Forbid – Equilibrium – page 16
Godsmack – The Oracle – page 31
Gojira – L’Enfant Sauvage – page 18
Guns ‘N’ Roses – Use Your Illusions 1 & 2 – page 4
- Chinese Democracy – page 13
Grand Magnus – Grand Magnus – page 1
- The Hunt – page 13
- Triumph & Power – page 29
Graveyard – Lights Out – page 20
Halestorm – The Strange Case Of – page 24
Hammers Of Misfortune – 17th Street – page 12
Hanoi Rocks – Self Destruction Blues – page 10
Hardcore Superstar – C’mon and Take Me – page 27
Hatebreed – The Rise Of Brutality – page 6
Hate Eternal – Phonenix Amongst The Ashes – page 6
Haunted – Unseen – page 5
- The Haunted – page 32
Havok – Unnatural Selection – page 27
Heart Of A Coward – Hope & Hindrance – page 15
- Severance – page 29
Heathen – Evolution of Chaos – page 12
- Breaking The Silence – page 15
Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know – page 1
Heaven’s Basement – Filthy Empire – page 26
Heaven Shall Burn – Deaf To Our Prayers – page 22
Hellyeah – Band of Brothers – page 16
Hell – Human Remains – page 21
Helmet – Seeing Eye Dog – page 5
- Meantime – page 11
Hermano – Into The Exam Room – page 11
Hey Hello! – Hey Hello! – page 28
High On Fire – De Vermis Mysteris – page 16
Holy Grail – Ride The Void – page 20
Husker Du – Flip Your Wig – page 3
Hypocrisy – End Of Disclosure – page 22
Iggy & The Stooges – Ready To Die – page 22
Ihsahn – After – page 23
Ill –Gotten Gains – page 21
In Flames – Clayman – page 7
- Come Clarity – page 21
In Solitude – The World, The Flesh & the Devil – page 10
- Sister – page 30
Iron Maiden – No Prayer For The Dying – page 2
- The Final Frontier – page 4
- Somewhere In Time – page 6
- Killers – page 11
- Fear Of The Dark – page 17
Iron Monkey – Our Problem – page 10
The Jim Jones Revue – Burning Your House Down – page 3
Judas Priest – Point Of Entry – page 4
- Stained Class – page 33
- Redeemer of Souls – page 31
- Turbo – page 27
Katatonia – Dance Of December Souls – page 14
- Viva Emptiness – page 15
- Dead End Kings – page 18
Kerbdog – One The Turn – page 3
Kilgore – In Media Es Res – page 1
Killing Joke – What’s This For? – page 9
- MMXII – page 16
Killswitch Engage – Disarm The Dissent – Page 21
King Blues – Punk & Poetry – page 6
King 810 – Memoirs of a Murderer – page 32
Kingdom Of Sorrow – Behind The Blackest Tears – page 8
Kiss – Sonic Boom – page 2
- Revenge – page 14
- Monster – page 18
Korn – Korn – page 13
- Paradigm Shift – page 26
Kreator – Phantom Antichrist – page 16
Krokus – Hardwire – page 22
Kvelertak – Meir – page 21
KXM – KXM – page 31
Kylesa – Static Tensions – page 12
L7 – Bricks Are Heavy - page 8
Lamb Of God – New American Gospel – page 1
- Resolution – page 12
Mark Lanegan – Whiskey For The Holy Ghost – page 11
Laruso – A Classic Case Of Cause and Effect – page 2
Jake E Lee’s Red Dragon Cartel – Eponymous – page 28
Life Of Agony – Broken Valley – page 8
Johnny Lima – Livin’ Out Loud – page 7
Living Color – Stain – page 11
Lizzy Borden – Deal With The Devil – page 22
Lost Society – Fast Loud Death – page 22
Love/Hate – Wasted In America – page 5
Lyrnrd Skynrd – Last Of A Dyin’ Breed – page 17
Index: M-S:
Machine Head – Unto The Locust – page 9
- Bloodstone and Diamonds – page 33
- Supercharger – page 29
- Burn My Eyes – page 28
Mad Capsule Markets – Cistm KonFliqt – page 23
Mad Season – Above – page 21
Malefice – Awaken The Tides – page 8
Malevolence – Reign of Suffering – page 27
Mammal – The Majority – page 2
Manowar – Battle Hymns – page 16
- Gods Of War – page 17
- Lord Of Steel – page 19
Marilyn Manson – Antichrist Superstar – page 14
Mastodon – Crack The Skye – page 1
- The Hunter – page 9
- Once More Round the Sun – page 31
- Leviathan – page 28
Masters Of Reality – Masters Of Reality – page 23
Maylene & The Sons of Disaster – III – page 1
Megadeth – Endgame – page 1
- So Far, So Good, So What – page 5
- Thirteen – page 9
- Youthanasia – page 16
- Supercolider – page 23
- Peace Sells, But Who’s Buying – page 28
Meliah Rage – Kill To Survive – page 16
Mercyful Fate – Don’t Break The Oath – page 17
Meshuggah – Obzen - page 4
- Koloss – page 17
Metallica – St Anger – page 2
- The Black Album – page 9
- Beyond Magnetic – page 10
- ….And Justice For All – page 28
Million Dollar Reload - A Sinner’s Saint – page 16
Michael Monroe – Sensory Overdrive – page 6
- Horns & Halos – page 26
Ministry – Psalm 69 – page 11
- Relapse - page 15
Monster Magnet – Last Patrol – page 27
Monster Truck – Futurosity – page 27
Morcheba – Blood Like Lemonade – page 3
Mortod – The Myth of Purity – page 12
Mothership – Mothership – page 27
Motley Crue – Motley Crue – page 5
- Saints Of Los Angeles – page 11
Motorhead – Bastards – page 1
- The World Is Yours – page 3
- March Or Die – page 29
- Aftershock – page 26
Mudhoney – Under A Billion Suns – page 6
- Vanishing Point – page 22
My Dying Bride – A Map Of All Our Failures – page 22
Nails – Abandon All Life – page 28
Napalm Death – Utilitarian – page 27
Neurosis – Honor Found In Decay – page 21
Nevermore – The Obsidian Conspiracy – page 4
Newsted – Heavy Metal Music – page 26
New York Dolls – ‘Cause I Sez So – page 2
Nine Inch Nails – Hesitation Marks – page 29
Nirvana – Nevermind – page 25
Obituary – Cause Of Death – page 24
Oceansize – Self-preserved While the Bodies Float Up – page 5
Of Mice & Men – Restoring Force – page 31
Onslaught – Killing Peace – page 23
- Sound Of Violence – page 25
Orange Goblin – Eulogy For The Damned – page 12
- Back From The Abyss – page 33
Outloud – Love Catastophe – page 7
Overkill – Ironbound – page 8
- The Electric Age – page 13
- White Devil Armoury – page 31
Ozzy – Scream – page 2
- The Ultimate Sin – page 5
- Speak Of The Devil – page 11
- No Rest For The Wicked – page 15
Panic Chanel – One – page 2
Pain – Cynic Paradise – page 1
Pain Of Salvation – Road Salt – page 8
Pantera – Vulgar Display Of Power – page 13
- The Great Southern Trendkill – page 28
Papa Roach – Metamorphosis – page 24
Paradise Lost – Faith Divides Us, Death Unites Us – page 2
- Tragic Idol – page 16
Parkway Drive – Blue – page 4
- Atlas – page 18
Pearl Jam – Backspacer – page 2
- Vitalogy – page 5
- Riot Act – page 10
Pentagram – Day Of Reckoning – page 23
Pig Iron – The Paths Of Glory – page 6
Power Trip – Manifest Decimation – page 30
The Pretty Reckless – Going to Hell – page 29
Primal Rock Rebellion – Awoken Broken – page 19
Prong – Cleansing – page 11
- Carved Into Stone – page 14
Purson – The Circle & The Blue Door – page 29
Queens Of The Stone Age – Clockwork – page 24
Quireboys – Beautiful Curse – page 27
Rainbow – Straight Between the Eyes – page 3
Ratt – Infestation – page 2
Raven – Nothing Exceeds Like Excess – page 29
Red Fang – Murder The Mountains – page 12
- Whales & Leeches – page 29
Revoker – Revenge For The Ruthless – page 6
Revoker – Chaos Of Forms – page 12
Rival Sons – Pressure & Time – page 13
- Head Down – page 19
Rocket From The Crypt – page 8
Romeo Must Die – Harship’s In Season – page 5
Royal Southern Brotherhood – Royal Southern Brotherhood – page 21
Royal Thunder – CVI – page 22
RSJ – Higgs Boson – page 29
Rye Coalition – Curses – page 13
Sabaton – Carlos Rex – page 27
Sacred Mother Tongue – The Ruin Of Man – page 18
- Out Of Darkness – page 22
Saint Jude – Diary of a Soul Fiend - page 4
Saint Vitus – Saint Vitus – page 17
- Lille: F-65 – page 25
Santa Cruz – Screaming For Adrenalin – page 29
Satan – Life Sentence – page 27
Satyricon – Satyricon – page 29
Saxon – The Inner Sanctum – page 5
- Call To Arms – page 6
- Rock The Nations – page 7
- Sacrifice – page 20
Scar Symmetry – Dark Matter Dimensions – page 2
Michael Schenker Group – Eponymous – page 10
The Scorpions – Love At First Sting – page 6
- Virgin Killer – page 10
Scorpion Child – Scorpion Child – page 27
Screaming Trees – Last Words: Final Recordings - page 12
Seasons After – Through Tomorrow – page 8
Senses Fail – The Fall – page 22
Sepultura – Roorback – page 5
- The Mediator Between The Head & The Hand Must Be The Heart – page 29
- Chaos AD – page 28
- Nation – page 25
Shadow’s Fall – Fire From The Sky – page 20
Shrapnel – The Virus Conspires – page 29
Silent Descent – Mind Games – page 22
Sinner – Crash & Burn – page 7
Sister Sin – Now & Forever – page 21
Six Feet Under – Unborn – page 21
Skansis – Leaving You – page 7
Skeletonwitch – Forever Abomination – page 10
Skid Row – Subhuman Race – page 1
- United World Rebellion – page 24
- Slave To The Grind – page 28
Skin – Fleshwounds – page 20
Skin – Lucky – page 30
Skindred – Shark Bites and Dog Fights – page 2
- Kill the Power – page 28
Skunk Anansie – Wonderlustre – page 3
- Stoosh – page 16
Slash – Slash – page 2
- Apocalyptic Love – page 14
- World On Fire – page 32
Slashes Snakepit – Ain’t Life Grand – page 4
Slaves To Gravity – Scatters The Crow – page 2
- Underwaterouterspace – page 7
Slayer – World Painted Blood – page 1
- Diabolus In Musicus – page 15
- Hell Awaits – page 22
- South Of Heaven – page 28
Slipknot – Slipknot – page 8
- 5: The Gray Chapter – page 33
Sodom – War & Pieces – page 6
- Agent Orange – page 21
- Epitome Of Torture – page 25
Soulfly – Enslaved – page 13
Soundgarden – Louder Then Love – page 12
- King Animal – page 19
Soulfly – Omen – page 6
Steak Number Eight – All Is Chaos – page 12
Steel Panther – Balls Out – page 14
- All You Can Eat – page 29
Stone Sour – Audio Secrecy – page 3
- House Of Gold & Bones part 2 – page 24
Stone Temple Pilots – STP – page 3
- Core – page 10
Stonewall Noise Orchestra – Constants in an Ever Changing Universe – page 1
Strife – Witness A Rebirth – page 19
Suffocation – Pinnacle OF Bedlam – page 23
Suicide Silence – No Time to Bleed – page 4
- The Black Crown – page 9
Sunna – One Minute Silence – page 9
Supersuckers – Get It Together – page 1
- The Evil Powers Of Rock ‘n’ Roll – page 17
- Get The Hell – page 28
Swallow The Sun – New Moon – page 3
Sylosis – Edge Of The Earth – page 6
- Conclusion Of An Age – page 17
Index: T-Z:
Tad – Inhaler – page 9
Temperance Movement – Temperance Movement – page 26
Them Crooked Vultures – page 2
Taking Dawn – Time To Burn – page 2
Tesseract – One – page 6
- Altered State – page 25
Testament – Demonic – page 10
- Dark Roots Of The Earth – page 17
- Souls Of Black – page 18
- The Formation of Damnation – page 32
Therapy? – Crooked Timber – page 1
- A Brief Crack Of Light – page 11
Thin Lizzy – Still Dangerous – page 1
- Thin Lizzy – page 4
- Thunder & Lightning – page 17
Threat Signal – Under Reprisal – page 19
Three Inches Of Blood – Long Live Heavy Metal – page 13
Thy Art Is Murder – Hate – page 21
Tokyo Blade – Burning Down Paradise – page 8
Tokyo Dragaons – Hot Nuts – page 4
Torche – Harmonicraft – page 16
Tracer – El Pistolero – page 22
Trap Them – Darker Handicraft – page 6
TRC – Nation – page 26
Trivium – In Waves – page 16
- Vengeance Falls – page 26
Trouble – Plastic Green Head – page 21
Twilight of the Gods – Twilight of the Gods – page 30
UFO – Mechanix – page 5
- Lights Out – page 7
Union – Siren’s Song – page 10
- The World Is Yours – page 21
Upon A Burning Body – Red. White. Green – page 17
Vain – Enough Rope – page 13
Vallenfrye – Splinters – page 31
Van Halen – Women & Children First – page 28
Vektor – Black Future – page 32
- Outer Isolation – page 26
Velvet Revolver – Contraband – page 11
Viking Skull – Cursed By The Sword – page 19
Vision Of Disorder – The Cursed Remain Cursed – page 18
Voivod – Target Earth – page 20
Volbeat – Beyond Heaven/Above Hell – page 3
- Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies – page 22
Walking Papers – Walking Papers – page 19
WASP – The Headless Children – page 7
Oliver Weeks – Evil’s Back – page 7
While She Sleeps – This Is The Six – page 18
Whitesnake – Forevermore – page 5
The Wildhearts – Chutpah – page 1
- Must Be Destroyed – page 10
Will Haven –Voir Dire – page 10
Winery Dogs – Winery Dogs – page 29
Witchcraft – The Alchemist – page 14
- Legend – page 21
Wolf – Ravenous – page 1
- Legions Of Bastards – page 22
Wolfmother – Cosmic Egg – page 4
Wolfsbane – Wolfsbane – page 7
- Save The World – page 13
Wolves Like Us – Late Love – page 8
Yob – Atma – page 19
Zico Chain – Eponymous – page 13
- Food – page 25
Rob Zombie – Hellbilly Deluxe – page 5
36 Crazyfists – Collisons and Castaways – page 3
AC/DC – Rock or Bust (2014)
It is easy to be cynical when reviewing a new release – or, indeed, any release since ‘Flick Of the Switch’ (1983) – from AC/DC. So let’s get the rain clouds out of the way. Would a new band get a record deal on the strength of these songs? No: not even if they brought Megan Fox to blow all of the record company executives. Will AC/DC play most of these songs on tour next year? No: not even if Megan Fox turned up at rehearsals and offered to blow all of them in exchange for their airing some deeper cuts. But, in a sense, none of this matters. Rock ‘n’ roll is music for the neck down, and even though you know that ‘Rock Or Bust’ is full of pitfalls, half-jobs and ‘DC by numbers, you can’t help but like it, tap your foot, play several air instruments (often at once) and smile like a 13 year old kid who’s just found his big brother’s porn stash. Such is the inexplicably immediate charm of AC/DC.
Like ‘Stiff Upper Lip’ (2000) and ‘Black Ice’ (2008) – both of which are better than is often remembered – there is quite a lot to like about ‘Rock Or Bust’. There riffs are very good, the production is an lean – nothing screams ‘arena rock’ here and the band sound like they’re playing dives rather than plush enormodomes – and at 35 minutes there is a glorious absence of any fat or cocking about. When the title track kicks in with all of the warm familiarity of an old drinking buddy, you can even feel your gibblets tingling as you progress along your mental checklist. Lazy groove. Check. Big Chorus. Check. Rampaging solo. Check. And Brian Johnson sounds at his squeaky best, too. There are plenty of sleazy-grinned high points, too. ‘Rock The House’ is superb, a sleazy gem of pure knuckle-dragging, chromosome corrupting crassness which smells like a stripper’s g-string during happy hour. ‘Got Some Rock & Roll Thunder’ could have been written on a stamp….but you can’t resist is greasy swing and jagged roll. ‘Dogs Of War’ chimes a blues shuffle like a wounded drunk at closing time, and ‘Play Ball’, with its infectious rhythm and hook, is perhaps the best tune this band has written in 25 years. That good.
Given these gems, you can forgive the crap. No-one needed to hear ‘Rock The Blues Away’ of ‘Hard Times’. And there is something tragic about a bunch of men pushing 60 penning stuff like ‘Emission Control’ and ‘Miss Adventure’. Sure, this is a band from a galaxy far, far away (the 1970s) when Steel Panther would have been a straight-up band, but if the old fella across the street came out with shit like this you’d wince – why should it be any different with AC/DC?
On balance, then, this is far from an indispensable album. It is certainly a mass exaggeration to say that AC/DC haven’t done anything good since ‘Back In Black’ (1980) – they haven’t done anything great, but the window of time in which any band makes truly great music is short. ‘Rock Or Bust’ is certainly one of the best records they’ve made since then. Becoming more blues and less rock as they get older suits AC/DC – the wrinkles, the imperfections, and the creaks all add to the charm of a truly idiosyncratic band. ‘Rock Or Bust’ is surely their swansong, and they’ve certainly gone out swinging.
78/84 guy (12-29-2014),hambon4lif (12-29-2014),VAiN (12-29-2014),vandeleur (12-29-2014)
I got it couple of days ago , my review : it's canny
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Angel (12-29-2014)
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From the Vaults: Breaking Benjamin – Phobia (2006)
‘Phobia’ isn’t a bad album. It just doesn’t make any sense. Mainstream rock has been a very difficult beast to nail since the early ‘90s. Big Dumb Rock is no longer deemed creatively viable in a world which wants rock stars to be a paradox: introverted and arena fillers. Moreover, the audience for which FM radio is designed is not really capable of handling the abrasiveness of alternative rock which is now deemed to be the norm to which all rock bands should aspire. The result is a series of bands which try really hard to do emotional complexity, but ultimately produces a half-way house between the arena and the plaid shirt which is equally short on fun and depth.
Breaking Benjamin are one of those bands. They essentially write 4 minute arena rock songs, but dress them up with a dabble of goth, a dash of grunge and lyrics which aspire for emotional drama but actually produce on staid angst. Think Live, or Incubus, or 30 Seconds To Mars and you’re on the right lines. They are certainly very slick: they know how to write a killer hook and how to balance the peaks and dips which radio likes so much. Musically, this is the equivalent of a Jerry Bruckheimer film – you enjoy it because it gives you everything you’ve heard before, and the sentimentality of the emotions produced a strong enough to satiate you temporarily.
So ‘The Diary of Jane’ has a big chorus and lots of ‘sensitive’ jingle-jangle guitar; ‘Breath’ has the soft/heavy dynamics which Staind used so well and will undoubtedly appeal to suburban 15 year olds who have yet to realise that their ‘complex’ lives are actually rather fortunate; and ‘You’ has a wall of gothic melody which will stick in your head. Imagine Slaughter if Dana Strum had dressed up as Siouxsie Sioux. We are a long, long way from The Smashing Pumpkins here. ‘Topless’ is pure Puddle of Mud or Nickleback, rock for people who don’t really like rock; the illusion of depth for people incapable of perceiving the real thing.
Despite all of this, however, these songs will stay in your head. That is a testament to how well put together they are – the record industry has always being good at producing products. The sad thing in the post ‘Nevermind’ world, however, is that it is no longer any good about being honest about it. Dressing this up as ‘art’ removes the point of what radio rock should be about: fun. At the least the much-maligned Sunset bands of the ‘80s didn’t lie to you – they knew all too well that they were selling cheap tricks and disposable thrills. ‘Phobia’ is the musical equivalent of Burger King aspiring to a Michelin Star.
Obituary- Inked in Blood (2014)
This is the third ‘comeback’ album from Death Metal legends Obituary, and it is easily the best. Whilst ‘Inked…’ is still a long way from the glory days of ‘Slowly We Rot’ (1989) or ‘Cause of Death’ (1990) – when Obituary were about the heaviest band imaginable – it is an absolute motherfucker of a metal record. In days when Death Metal is increasingly driven by sterile, pro-tools polished perfection, Obituary’s raw, and bludgeoningly simple, take on the genre is a glorious reminder of how down-right nasty it used to be. Topped off with the inhuman bellows of John Tardy – easily one of the top 5 all-time Death Metal vocalists – the results are often chilling.
‘Centuries of Lies’ kicks things off with a blast of social commentary – short, sharped and brutish, it is the musical equivalent of a headbutt to the nose. ‘Violent End’ features a bottom end which sounds as nasty as a four-day old corpse dragged from a Florida swamp looks; and ‘Visions In My Head’ taps straight into the sheer ghoulish joy of early Death Metal – an immense wall of sound which just OWNS. Trevor Peres and Ken Andrews conjure some nasty, gnarly riffs using their guitars to hack, not to achieve the surgical precision and intricacy of modern Death Metal, and ‘Inked…’ is a lot heavier for it. Where many contemporary riffs require a PhD in quantum mechanics to play them, the beauty of ‘Pain Inside’, the title-track and ‘Deny You’ is that the only instrument you’d need to master is a chisel. Obituary’s stomp-stomp-stomp approach to grizzled heaviness channels all that is good about metal, a facet of their feel that is showcased nowhere better than on the hypnotic power of ‘Minds Of the World’.
Relentless, incessant, dark and still formidable, Obituary have once again made a record worthy of their legacy. It was worth the wait.
Bigelf – Into The Maelstrom (2014)
Album number 4 from zaney rockers Bigelf is a vast rock ‘n’ roll carnival of the bizarre. Imagine the quirkier end of prog being fisted by the glitziest of glam bands and you’re somewhere close – Hawkwind dressed in pink and playing Bowie songs whilst dosed the eyeballs with happy-pills. It is an awful lot of fun. ‘Incredible Time Machine’ is a muscular Beatles romp; ‘Hypersleep’ captures the bluster of Monster Magnet; and ‘Already Gone’ has the sleepy haze of The Kinks and The Small Faces as performed by The Sweet. Smiles all round, then. Main man Damon Fox plays everything here bar the drums, for which he’s roped in ex-Dream Theater man Mike Portnoy, with typically brilliant results.
Lyrically it’s all a load of nonsense, but therein lies the fun. Who couldn’t adore the grandiose pout of ‘Alien Frequency’? When you hear the outright rock thump of ‘Control Freak’, you will scream ‘RIFF’! The funky, hedonistic hyper-trip of ‘The Processor & The Madman’ is big, orgasmic bang of music; whilst the luscious soundscape of ‘Vertigod’ sounds as good as the best cocaine you’ve ever had feels. Wrapping all of these tunes up in big ol’ Beatles melodies makes feel like old friends at first listen.
Rock music should be larger than life. It should be fun. And ‘Into The Maelstrom’ is a big, bravura, thrusting cock of a record waiting to spray you with the contents of its hairy sack of magic.
Marmozets – Weird & The Wonderful (2014)
Metal is experiencing a golden age at the moment. Across the spectrum of heaviness – from Death Metal to Black Metal, prog Metal to post Metal – bands are releasing genre-defining and genre-expanding slabs of heaviness. It is a wonderful a thing to be a part of. But rock music is experiencing a real slump. We may celebrate the complexity, the extremity and the uniqueness of much metal, but it’s hard to get straight up rock ‘n’ roll right. Music that hits you in the gut, makes you shake your ass and tears your heart out and gives it back to you a little bit better is important irregardless of the IQ and moral fibre of many of the people who play it. And in the 21st century, the number of great rock bands is slim. There a plenty of ‘70s pastiches, plenty of corporate entities who make records designed by committee, but very, very few bands who tap into the lust for life and sense that life could be spectacular which a truly great rock record delivers for 45 minutes.
That is where Britain’s Marmozets come in. It is very rare to encounter a band who sound fully-formed on their debut record; rarer still to encounter a rock band that isn’t just re-hashing all of what’s been done before. There are few clichés here – no screaming guitars, no misogyny, no bozo booze blitzers. But this will kick you in the head nonetheless. Opener ‘Born Young and free’ is seething with the sense that life’s possibilities are limitless (as they only ever are when you’re young); ‘Why Do You Hate Me?’ smashes together the best bits of punk and metal with more than a little dash of Artic Monkeys for added quirkiness; and ‘Captivate You’ and ‘Cover Up’ are rock at its best, kicking your ass and breaking your heart in one song.
In Becca Macintyre, Marmozets have a singer who can croon and wail with aplomb, and she’s backed by a band with chops (which isn’t rare) and a discerning sense of when to use them (which certainly is) and a way with hooks that will set your brain on fire. No one sounds like ‘Particle’: the band have buried their reference points buried in a sound which is very much their own. And the variety on display is staggering, too – they can do heavy (‘Vibetech’) and ballads of modern poignancy (‘Cry’). There’s no a second wasted, or one where you’re not begging for more.
‘Weird & Wonderful’ is the most immediate record I’ve heard in years, a record that will make you sing your throat hoarse and throw your neck out. The Marmozets drip with the vim and lust of hot, yearning, sweaty youth, the g-spot of all truly great rock.
Trap Them – Blissfucker (2014)
There are no adjectives to describe just how terrifyingly furious Trap Them sound. Serving up three minute tune after three minute tune based on primal, seething rage without ever becoming remotely tedious is quite a feat, and this bunch of Boston natives’ unholy maelstrom of thrash, grind and hardcore punk does just that. Imagine Crass, Discharge, Cro-Mags and DRI with a few lashings of Motorhead and you’re on the right lines. Then throw in some crack, the nastiest bass sound you’ve ever heard, and desperation and you can go some way to appreciating this musical headbutt. Perhaps not quite as shit-out-your-entire-insides-into-your-pants as ‘Darker Handcraft’, ‘Blissfucker’ is still one of the most furious explosions of music you will ever hear.
Plenty of bands are really heavy, but few that are makes songs this distinctive and memorable. Go ahead: sandblast your soul.
Messenger – Illusory Blues (2014)
This record harks back to a time when you put a recordon, lay back, shut your eyes and immersed yourself in a soundscape – the time of Floyd, Hendrix and the earliest throws of prog. That’s not to say that Britain’s Messenger are a retro band – far from it, in fact. It’s just to note that ‘Illusory Blues’ feels decidedly unique in the 21st century. Opener ‘The Return’ is a balance of folk and rock, organs and clean guitars gently create something very grand and the feel is of a beautiful summer night kissed with melancholy. ‘Piscean Tide’ is prog with the rock dialled down, intricate clean guitar lines entwining in a serpentine embrace. ‘The Perpetual Glow of the Setting Sun’ is as an appropriate title as you’re likely to encounter on a record this year, a beautiful, emotive song whose memories pulsate and breathe. It’s mesmerizing stuff.
‘Illusory Blues’ is not a record for a party: it’s a record for the after party. ‘Prog’ here must be used with care: the songs come first, the melodies second, and the chops are only there to realise the first two. This is a very pure musical vision realised in beautiful songs.
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Nah, nowhere the top 20. I dig it, but I wouldn't write home about it.
From the Vaults: Black Sabbath – Born Again (1985)
Black Sabbath’s 11th album was a weird one. Dio had gone, but Bill Ward was back. And they’d brough in Deep Purple fog-horn Ian Gillan in what promised to be a meeting of the Gods. Thirty years later, the jury is still out on whether or not that meeting was profitable – few records in rock history have proven so divisive.
The feel is certainly different from the Ozzy and Dio eras. The darkness expected of Sabbath is wholly missing as Gillan essentially cocks about with the lyrics: ‘Trashed’ is about a boozy race and ‘Digital Bitch’ is pure Spinal Tap. When the band does try to go dark, Gillan sounds like a stage-show villain: more ‘Carry On’ that the shit-your-pants terror of Ozzy’s stint in Sabbath. But if we get past what is absent a look at what is actually there, we find some lost gems. ‘Zero The Hero’ is a heck of a lot of fun, and features a ‘Paradise City’ riff several years before Slash had made it more famous. The spacey title track is also very effective, and features a powerful vocal from Gillan. You can even revel in the Heavy Metal clichés: the grandiose melodrama of ‘Disturbing The Priest’ undoubtedly connected with hordes of thirteen year old boys in the mid-80s, and makes more than a nod to Maiden. No-one would be fooled into thinking that this was vintage Sabbath, but it’s not entirely without merit, either.
Indeed, ‘Born Again’ was ultimately a lot of fun. Listening to ‘Hot Line’ or ‘Keep It Warm’, you are more than aware that they are waaaaay beneath all of the men involved, but you can’t help enjoying them anyway. When something is this dinosaur heavy, it’s meant to numb brain cells, not engage them. And the riffs on this record could numb at 1,000 paces.
Slipknot actually wrote songs? Really? Could be. I always thought of them as the less suburban version of Marylin Manson; a band that a fourteen year old listened to in order to "rebel" against their parents because Manson was too much of a sellout and Rammstein was no longer "kwel."
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Black Star Riders – The Killer Instinct (2015)
The band that began as a revived Thin Lizzy return for album no. 2. Now featuring only Scott Gorham of Lizzy fame, the rest of the group is an all-star ensemble of nearly men: Ricky Warwick (The Almighty and solo), Jimmy Degrasso (Megadeth, Ozzy Osbourne, David Lee Roth, Dokken), and Damon Johnson (Brother Cane, Alice Cooper, Santana). As with all supergroups, we have to ask two questions of this album: first, if a bunch of unknowns presented these tunes to a record company would they get a deal? No. Secondly, does that mean that ‘The Killer Instinct’ is a waste of your time? No again. This is a record a wonderful moments surrounded be mediocrity.
BSR’s first record was a clusterfuck – the sound of a band desperate to move on from Lizzy but incapable of doing so. Here, for the most part, the Lizzy-isms have gone (the odd Gaelic reference and twin-guitar harmony aside). Indeed, Gorham himself is almost a bit player, leaving most of the song-writing to Warwick and Johnson and playing only a handful of the album’s solos. The result is something which feels more like a band than a project, and in the hands of producer du jour Nick Raskulinecz the whole thing feels more focussed and meaty almost defied of a cheesy ‘retro’ vibe.
The title track is the best thing here. A belting rock ‘n’ roll tune drenched in urgency and hunger which Warwick’s gravely voice sells with conviction. ‘Bullet Blues’ is a raw, contemporary take on classic rock and comes across like a heavier Social Distortion; ‘Charlie Let Go’ is a great little rock song – muscular and punkish; and the Gaelic ‘Soliderstown’ – whilst the most obviously ‘Lizzy’ tune here – takes the folk-ballad tradition and spins it into something venomous. Ricky Warwick, we salute you.
But it’s not all great. ‘Finest Hour’ and ‘Through the Motions’ have ‘filler’ written all over them, and you sense that no-one involved is convinced by the cliché soup that is ‘Sex, Guns and Gasoline’. Moreover, surely a producer of Raskulinecz’s character should have recognized that allowing closer ‘You Little Liar’ to be fattened up to 7 minutes essentially ruins what could have been crunchy rock tune.
78/84 guy (03-28-2015)
More boring as well...
'Boring' is not an adjective that could appropriately be applied to Slipknot, even if you loathed them. 'Boring' implies that they're flat, which clearly isn't the case.
Okay. How about "total shit"?
ELVIS (03-08-2015)
Is that a fair criticism? I feel that so often people confuse 'I don't like that' with 'that's shit'. The two things are different.
Slipknot can certainly play. Joey Jordison, in particular, is a demon on his instrument (drums). Corey Taylor is also a hell of a singer (check out Stone Sour stuff for proof). When they started in 1999, they were also completely unique - no metal band had sounded like that. And they also had the intensity and conviction of a lot of punk - their early albums remind me of early 80s hardcore in the sheer demented weight of their anger.
All of that is artistically valid. You may not like it, but that's not the point.
Wovenwar – Wovenwar (2014)
A lot of metal bands play highly technical music that dazzles you into appreciation – but only a handful make music that is moving and memorable. Wovenwar achieve both on their debut album. Emerging from the ashes of metalcore stalwarts As I Lay Dying – whose singer Tim Lambesis was convicted for conspiring to murder his wife – Wovenwar have produced a record even more captivating than the story from which they were born. Where AILD were all about metallic bluster, Wovenwar add sonorous melodies, atmospherics and dynamics to their sound. Elements of Dream Theatre and Tool are present, as is the sheer hulking riffery of Meshuggah – but where those bands combine progressive music with expansive time frames, Wovenwar utilize in songs of conventional length. This is a debut record with song after brilliant song.
The atmospheric ‘Forward’ gives way to the sheer controlled assault of ‘All Rise’: massive riffs smash into killer hooks in what is both ultra heavy and instantly accessible. ‘Death To Rights’ manages to combine thrash with elements of post-hardcore, welding alt.rock atmospherics to heavy thud. This is progressive metal you can sing. Shane Bay’s vocals switch from soaring to crooning and sells these songs by injecting a highly human connection to complex music. On ‘Moving Up’ the band shows us its fire-power, on ‘Profane’ the sheer thump of the riffs bellies the fact that there are some serious melodies holding it all together.
The musicianship is inspired without ever being showy. Drummer Jordan Mancino clearly has some octopus DNA, and guitarists Phil Syrosso and Nick Hipa pen riffs that kill, switching from bludgeon to laser precision as the song dictates. The album is a little over-earnest in places (‘Father and Son’ is a prayer for humanity) and this is certainly not a party band. But, like Alter Bridge, there has to be a wider market for rock music of this calibre and sophistication. It is very rare to hear a debut record this complete: Wovenwar made me run laps around the room in sheer glee.
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Crobot – Something Supernatural (2014)
Hype is often highly contrived, the product of record company PR departments rather than something genuinely deserved. Not so here. Pennslyvania’s Crobot have produced an assured debut record made up of tune after tune of sizzling, contemporary heavy music with one foot in grunge and the other firmly planted in classic rock. Riffs that could shatter boulders sit on top of a rhythm setion which make the universe shake and the whole thing is topped off with irresistible rock ‘n’ roll swagger that makes your dick hard and your day better. ‘Legend of the Spaceborne Killer’ sees you do yourself an injury by trying to headbang and air-drum at the same time and introduces us to Crobot’s goofy sense of fun; ‘Skull of Geronimo’ is the way Audioslave might have sounded if they weren’t so contrived; and ‘La Mano de Lucifer’ is a ballad based on Lucifer’s fall from heaven which is incredibly powerful and features an almighty stomp of a riff. Perhaps best of all is closer ‘Queen Of The Light’, a slow burn which reimagines classic rock for a modern audience. Sure, there are clichés abounding – the devil, wizards, going down to a river and no-one getting out alive – but the band embraces them with tongue-in-cheek abandon and in the hands of singer Brandon Yeagley they feel alive. Somewhere between Andrew Stockdale and Chris Cornell, Yeagley wraps his mighty pipes around hooks which make you want to hit ‘repeat’ again and again.
Vibrant and visceral heavy music.
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