Album Reviews

[SunisinuS]

The Quireboys – Beautiful Curse (2013)

In a sense, every Quireboys record is the best record that the Rolling Stones never made. A ramshackle bluesy rock ‘n’ roll which celebrates life in all of its gritty glory, guitar licks kiss and tease off each other as the whole band sits on the very back of the beat, sizzling with a more than slightly inebriated cool. ‘Too Much Of a Good Thing’ settles into a groove and rolls, sounding like the Mississippi Delta of the early ‘40s, and you know exactly what ‘Homewreckers and Heartbreakers’ sounds like from the title alone. ‘Don’t Fight It’ is understated and stripped back in a Joe Cocker-like take on the blues, whilst ‘Mother Mary’ shows that even though they’re greying, the Quireboys have found a more sombre way of singing the bad boy blues.

Certainly less hard hitting that their early ‘90s heyday, the songs are arguably richer for being allowed to breathe a little. Spike’s well whiskeyed larynx still sounds like the cackle at the end of a dirty joke, and Guy Griffin and Paul Guerin’s guitars slither and slide their gentle magic all over these tunes. Not a record to get the party started, ‘Beautiful Curse’ is the perfect post-midnight beast to wind it down.

Would you provide a link to one that you have studied? Even though the internet still spells....would be nice to see which out of the Dewey Decimal System you are sustaining.

[binnie]

You certainly put in the effort doing all these reviews. Do you have a list of personal favorites of all time as well? My musical tastes are more mainstream. Mainly limited to bands that get airplay on album or classic rock stations. Physical Graffiti tops my list.

I was thinking about doing a personal favourites list/review section, but I'm not sure if it's a bit self-indulgent (even more so than this thread in general!)

[cadaverdog]

I was thinking about doing a personal favourites list/review section, but I'm not sure if it's a bit self-indulgent (even more so than this thread in general!)

I'm sure there's another thread about favorite albums here somewhere. The search function works sometimes I think. You're giving your opinion about what you like and dislike here anyway. I was just curious what a person less closed minded about rock and roll listens to nowdays. I listen to the music of my youth. 60's, 70's and some of the 80's stuff mainly.

[binnie]

Would you provide a link to one that you have studied? Even though the internet still spells....would be nice to see which out of the Dewey Decimal System you are sustaining.

Not sure I understand what you're asking me here.

[binnie]

Mothership – Mothership (2013)

Whilst critics and fans alike often celebrate innovation and originality over meat ‘n’ potatoes when it comes to music, you have to admit that sometimes you just can’t beat a juicy steak and fries. You’d also have to admit that just as there are an awful lot of things you can cook with meat and potatoes, there is equally a lot of music you can make by tinkering around with the hallmarks of ‘70s hard rock. If ever a band has questioned the equation of ‘meat and potatoes’ with ‘prosaic’ Mothership are that band. Their sound is at once prog, stoner, Sabbath and Lizzy – crusty in places, down and dirty in others, straddling astral planes in places, and always sounding like the sun going down, this is a very pure form of heavy music served up on a bed of damn fine riffs and even finer grooves. A three-piece from Texas, Mothership sound so damn good they make you want to jack it all in, buy a muscle car and just drive: the smile on your face matched by the glare of the sun blaring off your hood. Never afraid to march to the beat of their own drum and just jam, the perennial slacker vibe which cruises through this glorious beast of a record only makes it cooler.

Buy it. And pray for a long summer.

[binnie]

Napalm Death – Utilitarian (2012)

You don’t listen to extreme metal – you feel it. For some bands, adjectives don’t really come close to capturing the sound – or the experience – of the music: in Napalm Death’s case, ‘heavy’, ‘aggressive’, ‘intense’ and ‘brutal’ are merely the starting point of a description to a sound that is beyond music. Pioneers of extremity for over 25 years, Birmingham’s grindcore legends took what Discharge did in the early ‘80s and blasted into the stratosphere. Few bands have been so innovative, so relentlessly dedicated to the cause of pushing boundaries at the expense of commercial success, and so persistently politically provocative. There are a million bands who are brutal for the sake of it, but they’re as contrived as any teeny-bopper pop act. Napalm use extremity as a weapon of social commentary, and it’s precisely the sort of music that should be made in an era when the UK is being choked by a cruel and repressive Conservative government. You may not like it: but you’ll damn well have to acknowledge that this is an expression of artisitc purity.

On ‘Utilitarian’, Napalm sound as heavy – and metallic – as they have in years. The whole spectrum of the ouvre – which takes in grindcore, thrash, death metal and hardcore – is on display. ‘Errors In the Signals’ is this band at its most terrifyingly furious, short, sharp, stabbing bursts of rage spasm out of the speakers before the song develops into some serious groove. ‘Everyday Pox’ bears a passing resemblance to the bloody pulp that used to be your face, whilst ‘Wolf I Need’ has the sort of apocalyptic chorus that Killing Joke do to such a claustrophobic effect. There are many, many high points here, and it’s not all unpalatable: ‘Analysis Paralysis’ is a great song by anyone’s standards. Not that Napalm Death are ever likely to win an Ivor Novello award, even if they are perhaps the most important British band of the past generation. Bar none.

At the tail end of 2013, Napalm Death teamed up with artist Keith Harrison. The latter had created an exhibition of an experimental, scultpural sound-system which the band would destroy by forcing it to implode as they played through it. Harrison built a wooden sound system with speakers filled with liquid clay and allowed it to solidify. As the band played, the raw-energy of the sound produced reverberated inside the clay, causing it to slowly crack, disintegrate and explode, changing the music as it does – the point was to show the power of sound and the energy it has to destroy. The volume, by all accounts, was sickeningly painful. Manowar? Pah! This was also the perfect demonstration of extremity as an art form. To truly get music like this, you have to stop focusing on form – don’t try to make sense of Napalm, just give yourself over to them.

[binnie]

From the vaults: Judas Priest – Turbo Lover (1986)

File this one under ‘Albums That Should Not Be’. The band pictures should have been the first warning – Judas Priest here look like a cross between Duran Duran and Mad Max in a drag bar. For five guys who by 1986 were in the mid-30s, that is a bad look. But it is indicative of a record which was, in truth, the sound of a band trying to get ‘on trend’ with the AOR and arena rock of the mid ‘80s; and desperately trying to cash-in on the more image-driven, wham-bam-thank-you-mam sound of the MTV rock era. Was it a clusterfuck? Well, perhaps that’s a bit too harsh – but it did mark the point at which Judas Priest began to disappear simply because they ceased to be as distinctive as they’d once been. If you sound like everyone else, you fade into the pack.

The problem wasn’t that this was too ‘pop’ and not enough ‘metal’. Priest had already dabbled with pop in the ‘80s – the ‘Point Of Entry’ record was a case in point, as was ‘You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’’. On this record, that pop aspect was turned up at the expense of Priest’s founding principals: ripping solos, crunching riffs and piercing vocals. This was a fat-free Priest; and it was also a confused one. ‘Turbo’ was a mish mash of lots of musical styles. ‘Locked In’ has the sheen of an AOR anthem, which sounds a bit like WASP (with talent); whilst (the awful) ‘Private Property’ is more in line with the preening, polished sound of a come-backing Alice and Ozzy; and ‘Wild Nights, Hot & Crazy Days’ (admittedly one of the better written tunes here), is a Sunset Strip derivative akin to the boutique rock that Kiss were shitting out in the mid ‘80s. Confused? Yes. But the bigger offense was that none of this sounded evil or menacing. Old dudes singing about nasty parents (‘Parental Guidance’) is just tragic, and even when Priest did tried to placate their older fans (‘Rock You All Around The World’) it sounds like a by-the-numbers parody.

Inane lyrics about boy-meets-girl and the all-conquering power of rock are beneath Halford: this is the aural equivalent of catching your Dad fucking the family dog. Perhaps the worst moment here is the synth-heavy ‘Out In The Cold’. Imagine some old men from Birmingham attempting to be smouldering – this ain’t no Huey Lewis show, boys. The synths work to far better effect on ‘Turbo Lover’, which, regardless of what you think of it, is a well-written song drenched in clever dynamics. As camp as this tune is, it sounds like BIG ROCK should a year before Def Leppard’s ‘Hysteria’ made the guitar/synth forumla such a dollar-magnet.
It’s hard to fathom why Priest decided to take this route in 1986. Given that previous album – 1984’s ‘Defenders Of The Faith’ – had seen perhaps the greatest collection of metal they released in the ‘80s, you have to wonder why they didn’t continue to walk that path. Perhaps the Sunset $ really was all conquering.

[binnie]

The Defiled – Daggers (2013)

Well, this is a lot of fun. Britain’s The Defiled essentially take the meat ‘n’ potatoes parts of modern metal and spice it up with synths, pop dynamics and more than a little nod to the fun side of goth. ‘Daggers’ consequently references Marilyn Manson and early Slipknot as well as more traditional metal, and is equally capable of filling dance floors as it is mosh pits. ‘As I Drown’ is awash with a crusty bounce made to whip festival crowds into a fury; whilst the whoosh of music which is ‘Sleeper’ sounds like a simplified Strapping Young Lad – yep, THAT good. Elsewhere ‘Unspoken’ and ‘Fragments Of Hope’ walk the same middle-ground metallic beatdown that Devildriver have long perfected, and ‘Infected’ has radio hit hooks – here is a British band that does big dynamics far better than Asking Alexandria. Unlike so many bands who incorporate electronica, the Avd’s programming enhances the tunes and never dilutes the heaviness. When anchored to Jason Suercof’s superbly excellent production – the sound here is scuzzy, rather than pro-tools perfect, and sounds raw and rancid in places – it all combines for one helluva party. The Defiled are not going to change the face of modern metal. Nor are they going to change your life. But they may very well brighten up your day.

[binnie]

Sabaton – Carolus Rex (2012)

Most Power Metal sounds like a liquified chedder whirlpool. Built upon the component parts of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Helloween – high vocals, major key melodies, and lots of duel guitar harmonies – it is, generally, all of metal’s cliches played without the slightest hint of a tongue in the cheek. Thank heavens, then, for Sweden’s Sabaton. Yes, they have faux medieval uniforms; and, yes, they only have one lyrical theme (war); and, yes, their approach to musical development is straight out of the book of AC/DC. But they’re always a lot of fun, and over the past decade they’ve barely put a foot wrong.

‘Carlous Rex’ – their 6th album – is easily one of their very best. Based around the emergence of the Swedish empire between 1613-1718, this is a metallic treatment of history handled with passion and respect. In places, it is even quite powerful. Musically, everything chugs along at an eminently singable pace – these are tunes to pound your fist and chug beer too (military regalia is optional). The soaring power ballad ‘Lifetime Of War’ may not translate all that well once it leaves mainland Europe, but if you don’t enjoy ‘Killing Ground’ and ‘Poltava’ you don’t like metal. ‘1648’, ‘Lion From The North’ and the elemental Manowar-esque metal of ‘The Carolean’s Prayer’ are affecting simply because they tap straight into the heritage of metal. Sure, sometimes it sounds like anything after 1987 never happened, but by the same token it’s a long way from parody.

Sabaton are on the verge of becoming a cottage industry. For those looking for metal that’s not overly frenetic and ultra aggressive, this is an album for you. Now, where’s my chainmail……….

[binnie]

Havok – Unnatural Selection (2013)

Album number three from Colorado thrashers Havok is a mightily meaty proposition. There has been a considerable thrash revival in the last decade or so, with very mixed results – some bands do little more than venture down nostalgia lane, serving up albums that plagarise the period 1985-88 to a contrived degree, even consciously making their records sound like they have a shitty, concrete bunker ‘80s production; some take the progressive and technical elements of thrash into the hemisphere; and others simply take the core ingredients of the genre and serve up gigantic slabs of power. Havok are decidedly in the third camp – ‘Unnatural Selection’ is a defiant, 21st century thrash record, but it’s definitely a record concerned with power rather than precision.

Ultimately, never over-cooking these songs makes the whole more powerful and each individual tune more memorable. The hallmarks of thrash are all here – the double bass drums, the incredible speed, the crunching rifffs, the seering solos, and…………….the inability to write a chorus(!) – and its served up on a bedrock of beefy and crisp production (the mix by Terry Date proving, once again, that he is a master of this sort of music). ‘Give Me Liberty….Or Give Me Death’ is pure riff-o-rama; ‘Under The Gun’ is simple but crushingly heavy; ‘Waste Of Life’ is a mid-paced bruiser; and ‘I Am The State’ is everything that’s great about Heavy Metal. There are certainly some filler moments (the cover of Sabbath’s ‘Children Of The Grave’, for instance), but overall this is quite a record – the perfect balance of punk spark and Heavy Metal pomp which made the early years of thrash so irresistibly good, friendly, violent fun.

You could argue that this has little to do with the state of metal in 2014, that it’s backward looking and uninventive. But it’s certainly no nostalgia trip. What it is is a timeless display of thrash metal with the full power of a modern production.

BANG THEY HEAD!

[ELVIS]

The synths work to far better effect on ‘Turbo Lover’, which, regardless of what you think of it, is a well-written song drenched in clever dynamics.

I heard it all...

[binnie]

I think it is a well written song. Not what I want from Priest, but well written nevertheless.

Given the rest of the stuff on that album, the dynamics stand out on 'Turbo Lover'.

[binnie]

Satan – Life Sentence (2013)

‘Life Sentence’ is proof that you should never judge the contents of a record by its band’s image. ‘Satan’ is an appaullingly silly name; and the inner-sleeve photos for the band members makes them look life 5 dads about to dance at a wedding. But this is a remarkable record. The sort of Heavy Metal record you could quite easily fall in love with.
Put simply, it sounds like NWOBHM in 1983. Far from cod Satanism, these are tunes written with a finely tuned balance of raw power and sophistication. Formed in 1979 and having a not inconsiderable role to play in NWOBHM, the band released a series of largely unheralded albums in the ‘80s before reforming several years ago. In the wake of Helll’s rejuventation at the hands of uber-producer Andy Sneep, it seems the NWOBHM bug may be with us. But this is no quick cash in. The songs bristle with the enthusiasm which those bands of the early ‘80s so captivating – think of the energy that crackled out of those early albums by Iron Maiden, Angel Witch and Praying Mantis. The sound here is metal before thrash changed the game forever: freer in form than today and still having half a foot in the blues, this is a licks-first record on which guitar players Steve Ramsey and Russ Tippins play like absolute motherfuckers. Like Hell, the drama and chill of ‘Life Sentence’ is quite impressive – had history been more generous to these two bands, either could have been a British Mercyful Fate.

‘Time To Die’ is a face-ripping opener. On ‘Incantations’ and ‘Testimony’ the quintessential hooks and melodies which make the galloping forms of metal very, very loveable are heavily in evidence, and fans of D’ianno-era Maiden will lap up the cacophany of serpentine riffs that is ‘Cenotaph’ with gusto. The quality here is very impressive indeed: ‘Twenty Twenty Five’, for example, captures the ambitions of those NWOBHM bands perfectly – more than just full-tilt metal, here is a band with the chops to create arrangements that make things sound epic.

If you love the metal of the ‘80s, you need to hear these songs. The last five years has brought us a wave of twenty-something bands desperately trying to sound like this – none of them even comes close to Satan.

[ELVIS]

Dang...

Your review had me interested...

Then I heard Twenty Twenty Five...

Comparing this satanic crap with 1983 Maiden is a joke, right ??

[binnie]

I'd say there's a lot of the first two Maiden records in there, and a whole lot of Angel Witch and Diamond Head, too.

It's not really Satanic - most of the lyrics have very little interest in the occult. It's just a really free, riffy metal record.