Album Reviews

[binnie]

Bombus – The Poet & The Parrot (2013)

Album number 2 from Sweden’s Bombus sounds like a bearded psychopath prowling the woods by moonlight and howling at the wind. Walking the post-metal line ploughed by High on Fire, Baroness, Mastodon and Kylesa, ‘The Poet & The Parrot’ is both crushingly heavy and ethereal and spacey. Lashings and lashings of bass ride upon waves of tight grooves and some gargantuan riffs, and the band’s prog chops all the tunes to on a dime with one section birthing itself from another. Whilst much progressive metal has the capacity to disappear up its own complex-chord-progression-led ass. But here the Neurosis-esque interludes are kept to a minimum, whilst the stoner and doom elements of the band’s sound is cranked to the max. It’s a demanding album; but it’s also quite a gem.

‘Enter The Night’ is a punkier, more elemental Mastodon – the sound of something glorious but ugly being born. The title track has a glorious chug and takes all that is great in metal’s DNA in its gigantic, swirling roof: its brutally heavy, but also bounces its sonic bombast off some icey astral plates. ‘Into The Fire’ is Neurosis at their most metallic, a slow, tortured slab of music; whilst ‘Let Her Die’ features and explosive riff and booms out of the speakers with gothic majesty; and ‘Liars’ is a slow, eerie twisted little anthem whilst spirals off into some serious display of chops.

Like the very best bands in this genre, Bombus manage to write songs which simultaneously wield power and delicacy, beauty and the beast. Just when you thought a sub-genre was about to reach saturation point, Bombus serve up a killer blast of bestial, scorched heaviness.

[binnie]

Purson – The Circle & The Blue Door (2013)

This is a remarkable record. Moreover, for a debut album it is incredibly confident. Nothing here is overdone: there are no histrionics in the playing; no melodrama in the emotion; and no overcomplicated arrangements - the band simply trusts in the strength of their melodies to encase the listener in the darkened warmth of their world. Playing a form of occult rock which has come into vogue in recent years (Jex Thoth, Blood Ceremony, Ghost, Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats), Purson have a very late ‘60s vibe to their music. Organs and the mellotron are highly in evidence as the experimental side of The Beatles is combined with the melancholy of The Doors and Jefferson Airplane and then channeled through some of the gothic leanings of the ‘80s (think The Sisters of Mercy or The Cult). The result is far from a retro record – it is a pure and powerful synthesis of some of the most hauntingly beautiful music ever made.

The secret to the magic is front-woman Rosalie Cunningham, who combines sparse and evocative lyrics with a voice so beautiful it could make a demon wail. Luscious opener ‘Wake Up Sleepy Head’ is English folk bounced off several astral planes; ‘The Contract’ serves up misty, oozing music which taps into something very, very dark and more than a little bit beautiful; and ‘Sailor’s Wife Lament’ steers the storytelling of eighteenth-century ballads through the haze of 1968. When the guitars come in to the fore, Purson are also a captivating hard rock band – ‘Sapphire Ward’, for instance, sounds like an effeminate, vulnerable Dio. ‘Spiderwood Farm’ sounds like The Beatles or The Small Faces playing with some funereal organ – all of those quirks which made the music coming out of Britain in the late ‘60s so very English, the folklore, the eerie eccentricities, flavour and spice songs like this. More simply, ‘Tempest and the Tide’ is a beautiful piece of ghostly music.

Theatrical, even vaudevillian in places, Purson tell dark little stories with a fine balance of delicacy of terror. Neither too heavy, or too light, this debut album belies a band that is more judicious in its execution than their youth would suggest. Sometimes those eerie moods become disturbing, but they never step over into mellodrama or self-indulgence. Many bands in recent years have welded late ‘60s psychydellia with ‘70s hard rock: but none even comes close to having the song-craft of Purson.

I imagine many people have fallen head-over-heals in love with Rosalie Cunningham in the past 6 months. I add myself to her ever-growing hordes of devotees.

[binnie]

Sepultura – The Mediator Between The Head & The Hands Must Be The Heart (2013)

In evaluating the post-Max Cavalera era of Sepultura, we need to be clear about one thing: they’re not going to make another ‘Chaos AD’ or ‘Arise’, and they’re not trying to. Reviewing the albums Sepultura have made since 1996 – when Max left and Derreck Green became the band’s vocalist – on their own merits is the only way to get a sense of them and to evaluate them fairly. ‘The Mediator Between The Head & The Hands Must Be The Heart’ – a quotation from ‘Metropolis’ (1927) – is the best of the 7 albums they’ve made in that period; but although remarkably vital in some places, it suffers from the same problems of its predecessors in others.

Every one of those records has been hyped as a ‘comeback’ – a bit like every AC/DC record since ‘Flick Of The Switch’ (albeit on a much smaller scale). This time, the hook is return of Ross Robinson, the knob twidler with whom Sepultura recorded their last truly great record (1995’s ‘Roots’ which, according to your viewpoint, was either a shameless, experimental gimmick or a genre-defining metal album which hugely expanded the genre’s vocabulary). Robinson – as he did with Korn and Slipknot – ups the intensity of the band’s performance and commitment to extremity – this is the most visceral Sepultura have EVER sounded. The feel is raw and wounded, and it gives ‘The Mediator’ a spice or character that some of the bands more recent records have lacked. The downside is that with rawness comes and absence of finesse – Robinson’s mix is flustered and odd, with Green’s vocals bafflingly low in the overall sound.

The good – or, rather, great – news is that there are some stunning moments of metal savagery here, moments which can live with any heavy band on the planet (and it’s a long time since we’ve been able to say that about Sepultura). Opener ‘Trauma Of War’ is more extreme than the band have ever been – a showcase for the dazzling dexterity of new sticksman Eloy Casgrande, the hyper-speed hardcore riffs and series of blast beats culminates in a sound that is truly savage. ‘The Vatican’ – a song about the abuse in the Catholic Church – is equally magnificent. Crunchy riffage takes the band back to its thrash roots via Discharge as they produce an incredibly ugly piece of music from an incredibly ugly topic. Elsewhere, the band show some sophistication. ‘Grief’, for example is one half trippy Sigur Ros, floaty and delicate, and one half of cascading metallic power – Green’s vocal is emotive, vulnerable, and the song is as emotively affecting as metal can be. ‘Tsunami’ is an utterly blast of swirling riffs, and ‘Impending Doom’ sounds like a more metallic take on the industrial hypnosis of Killing Joke. Perhaps most powerful of all is ‘Obsessed’, on which Casgrande has something of a drum duel with Dave Lombardo in a piece of music which is as savage as humanely possible and almost Napalm Death heavy. Sepultura sound hungry, and never cease in their commitment to expand their sound.

But then, there’s the other side. As ever with the Green-era Sepultura, there are several songs on ‘Mediator’ which sound half-formed, even unfocussed. On ‘Manipulation of Tragedy’ the vocals and music sound like two different songs, whilst ‘The Bliss of Ignorants’ reaches for atmospherics but only manages to grab messy. No amount of tribal and world music interludes and decoration can disguise the cluttered and under-cooked nature of these songs.

But those failings shouldn’t define Sepultura in 2014. ‘The Mediator’ is a good – even an ambitious – metal record. It would be foolish for even the most diehard fan to suggest that Sepultura are still amongst the very best heavy bands on the planet; but on this evidence, it would be equally foolish to simply relegate them to irrelevance.

[Mr Walker]

I imagine many people have fallen head-over-heals in love with Rosalie Cunningham in the past 6 months. I add myself to her ever-growing hordes of devotees.

I did




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[binnie]

She is remarkably talented. The Purson record is an absolute killer.............

[Zing!]

And apparently she has the same tailor as DLR...

[Mr Walker]

She is remarkably talented. The Purson record is an absolute killer.............

It's a bitch scrolling through these threads on a phone... but have you listened to Blood Ceremony yet? Very similar but BC is heavier in a doomy Sabbath kinda way. And front woman Alia O'Brien plays the flute... Perhaps it's what Tull may have sounded like if Iommi stayed in the band.

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[binnie]

I enjoyed the Blood Ceremony record. There seems to be quite a few occult rock bands around at the moment, which is good as far as I'm concerned.

[Mr Walker]

I enjoyed the Blood Ceremony record. There seems to be quite a few occult rock bands around at the moment, which is good as far as I'm concerned.

I have a Purson shirt being shipped to me from Rise Above Records, the home for all these great bands. I also purchased the new 7" single from Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell. Not really occult rock but a great 3 piece nonetheless... think classic Motorhead mixed with The Young Ones.



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[chefcraig]

... I also purchased the new 7" single from Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell. Not really occult rock but a great 3 piece nonetheless... think classic Motorhead mixed with The Young Ones.



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Those guys are great! I loved "Elementary Man." It sounds like Rush's "Working Man" if covered by a slightly more skillful Grand Funk Railroad.

[binnie]

It's crazy to me that there are so many folks here checking out Rise Above records - I thought I was the only one.

[binnie]

Red Fang – Whales & Leeches (2013)

Red Fang essential take what the progressive metal bands of recent years (Baroness, Mastodon, Kylesa) do and remove to diversions. The result are short and punchy tunes packed full with taut, low-slung grooves and menacing tones powered by bass heavy dynamics and rolling riffs which create a kind of cascading, stoner/doom heaviness rather than the staccato march that has driven most metal since the mid-80s. It’s a very cool sound; but a cool sound with teeth.

Opener ‘Doen’ is a pure primal rumble, whilst ‘Blood Like Cream’ and ‘Behind The Light’ sound like a much heavier Queens Of The Stone Age – dusky, quirky hard rock which hits like a piece of 2x4. The range of tones on ‘Whales & Leeches’ is impressive, creating a record which is varied and spiced peaks and troughs. ‘No Hope’, for instance, sounds like Southern Rock that has mated with a muscle car, whilst the seven minute slow burn of ‘Dawn Rising’ (which features guest vocals from Yob’s Mike Scheid) takes elements from punk, stoner and psychedelia to create something very captivating indeed. What makes Red Fang so compelling is the fact that they are a cool rock band who are not just ploughing the field of retro rock over saturated with nostalgia. In John Sherman (drums) and Aaron Beam (bass) they have a rhythm sections which can pop and swing, ensuring that no matter how heavy Red Fang get they always have one foot in rock ‘n’ roll abandon rather than two boots firmly planted in metallic rage. The result is immediate, like nitro-glisterine in the veins.

You could suggest that the songs on ‘Whales and Leeches’ are more distinctive than on the band’s first two albums. But it’s hard to shake the fact that they also have quite a defined sense of how they should sound, and longevity of interest will only come if they push those definitions. There are hints of that here – the fuzzy ambience of ‘Failure’, for example, shows a side of the band that is delicate and fragile. One day they might pen a classic. This isn’t it, but it’s a helluva a record nonetheless.

[binnie]

New feature: binnie's Dirty Dozen.

So, I was going to do this for the run up to review number 500 in this thread, but I missed the moment! Essentially, I'm going to review 13 of my all-time favourite albums - the albums that mean something to me and shaped my life in metal. They're not necessarily the best records ever released (though some are classics); they're not even necessarily the 'best' record by the band in question - but they are my favourite.

In a sense, I'm producing a work of fiction - I've already reviewed some of the albums which made me fell in love with music (The Almighty 'Crank'; Kerbdog 'On The Turn'; AC/DC 'Let There Be Rock'; Pantera 'Vulgar Display of Power') but, hey, sometimes you've just got to pay tribute to your special memories.

[binnie]

Binnie’s Dirty Dozen: Megadeth – Peace Sells…..But Who’s Buying? (1986)

I first heard this record when I was 11 years old. We were on a family holiday in Skeg Ness (a bum-fuck seaside resort when rain is a given) during the summer of 1993 and I bought ‘Peace….’ with the holiday money me Grandma had given me. It owned me – I can’t remember an album which took over my will and made me NEED to listen again and again and again. I got up early every morning of that two week holiday to crank it through my (brick like) Song Walkman. Even though my world was populated by Metallica, Anthrax and Iron Maiden, this was the first record I’d ever heard that sounded evil. Not pantomime evil, but genuinely, nastily evil. It captivated me in a way which only something that simultaneously excites and scares you can.

Most people would cite 1990’s ‘Rust In Peace’ as Megadeth’s finest hour. It’s certainly a stunning record, a watershed moment full of the calculating precise technicality that made Mustaine and co. so remarkable and ushered in (along with Annihilator) a whole new level of technical to finesse in metal. But to these ears, ‘Peace….’ is edgier, darker………..nastier. You can smell the blackened heroin in Mustaine’s veins here, and in some of the songs there’s something eerie, something beyond human present (maybe that’s why the Born Again Dave will no longer play some of them). The other remarkable element of ‘Peace…’ was drummer Gar Samuelson, a drummer from a jazz background who added groove and feel to the songs – with him at the helm, those patented Megadeth time-changes were powered with added snap and weight. And, of course, the lead work just killed – as with all of the best thrash bands, this was all of the elements of Heavy Metal on steroids and crack.

‘Wake Up Dead’ has a claim to being the best song which Dave Mustaine has ever written: a symphony in 4 minutes, this is a pitbull of a song which moves through a succession of pieces of music to become something truly gargantuan. The title track is a Cold War anthem and a weapon for Mustaine’s cynicism. There is a decidedly classic rock feel underneath the thrash power of the music here, and Megadeth perhaps penned the first arms-aloft thrash anthem when they came up with the refrain. ‘Black Friday’ is just sheer unbridled thrash – a menacing, downright nasty bite which still tears out of the speakers almost 3 decades on. Even in 1986 – the year which spawned stone-cold classics like ‘Master Of Puppets’ and ‘Reign In Blood’ – Megadeth could trade punches with the very heaviest and very best of metal’s golden era: ‘My Last Words’, ‘Devil’s Island’ and ‘The Conjuring’ allow room for no let up, propelled by some of the best thrash riffs ever penned and played with an almost nauseating intensity. Amidst all of this power, my 11 year old self could even forgive them the rather clumbsy cover of blues staple ‘Ain’t Superstitious’.

As good as Megadeth have been since 1990, it is worth remembering that whilst we now think of them as a technically dazzling whirlwind of metallic precision, there was a time when they were genuinely DANGEROUS. Mustaine certainly penned more accomplished songs after ‘Peace…’, but there was never the same sense of crackling abandon. The Mustaine/ Ellefson/ Samuelson/ Poland line up could be seen as the band’s zenith. Heroin would ensure that it would be over way, way too soon.

[vandeleur]

Very cool bin ,looking forward to them