When I saw the review for this album in Classic Rock magazine I believe it described them as the best band no one has heard of. It compared them to Queen and The Darkness. I didn't need much more than that. I bought this at the same time as Ruts DC, "Animal Now" and I believe it's re-release is by the same people (Rock Candy).
The band have unwittingly doomed themselves to obscurity by having a common-word name, a self titled album, and only one album at that. In the world of Google it is near impossible to find any information on the band, or album, at all. Thankfully YouTube comes to the rescue again...
The album starts with "Soaring", and really, you could leave it there. It's every 70's prog excess overproduction mashed into one catchy song, all falsetto vocals, piano and soaring guitar solos *music pun intended I assume*.
They really are like Queen, The Darkness, Supertramp, YES and a thousand other bands of the era (or inspired by). The production is incredible. Why on this band, a band that apparently went nowhere? Maybe they were huge and we just don't know?
The fact they are unknown is part of the fun, and probably colours my opinion a bit. You feel excited to discover this great unknown band, and sad they're gone.
In a way they're almost too perfectly cliche. Like Spinal Tap. Maybe it's an elaborate joke?
The album is probably hobbled a little by how good "Soaring" is. The other songs are good, but they're nothing on the first track. The rest of the album sneaks a bit into Scissor Sisters and MIKA territory, and no, that isn't great, but by themselves they're fine.
I admit to avoiding this album after the first few listens. It was just a bit too cheesy. I enjoyed this re-listen though, while doing the dishes. I think you could safely get "Soaring" and avoid the rest, but it's an interesting album worth listening through at least once.
6/10
Monday 26 January 2015
Saturday 24 January 2015
[2007] Various Artists, "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters Colon the Soundtrack"
It's a bit of a disaster that this CD doesn't have "In The Air Tonight" on it, as that's one of the many great gags in the film. Maybe it's part of the joke that the "best song in the world" is missing. Clearly money is a more likely reason.
ATHF isn't everyone cup of tea. I have a friend who wants to kill things when she hears Meatwad speak, and fair enough. Even if you're not a fan, but are a fan of the absurd, the movie is worth a watch.
The soundtrack collects my favourite two songs: the fake "junk food in the lobby" advert "Groovy Time for a Movie Time" followed by Mastodon singing "Cut You Up With a Linoleum Knife", a fantastic metal rant against people in cinemas who do everyone except watch the movie.
I'm also a huge fan of the of the show's theme, and that's presented here in full.
The other songs, often introduced by characters from the show, are usually hard-rock. What I'd call American pub-rock. Good times, get drunk, shout, glass a mate in the face songs.
I really like "More to Me Than Meat and Eyes" by Early Man, and not just for the punny title. It's a slighly less obnoxious, more Black Sabbathy version of Motorhead. Unearth's song is forgettable shout-metal, but demonstrates the face-glassing theme fairly well.
Andrew W.K.'s ridiculous "Party Party Party" and "I Like Your Booty (But I'm Not Gay)" are the audio equivalent of the film, and perhaps the film context is needed to enjoy them as music, but they still make me giggle.
Killer Mike's "Blam Blam" deserves a special mention as it's some seriously catchy hip-hop.
And I kind of wish I was still in a band so we could cover "Nude Love".
5/10
ATHF isn't everyone cup of tea. I have a friend who wants to kill things when she hears Meatwad speak, and fair enough. Even if you're not a fan, but are a fan of the absurd, the movie is worth a watch.
The soundtrack collects my favourite two songs: the fake "junk food in the lobby" advert "Groovy Time for a Movie Time" followed by Mastodon singing "Cut You Up With a Linoleum Knife", a fantastic metal rant against people in cinemas who do everyone except watch the movie.
I'm also a huge fan of the of the show's theme, and that's presented here in full.
The other songs, often introduced by characters from the show, are usually hard-rock. What I'd call American pub-rock. Good times, get drunk, shout, glass a mate in the face songs.
I really like "More to Me Than Meat and Eyes" by Early Man, and not just for the punny title. It's a slighly less obnoxious, more Black Sabbathy version of Motorhead. Unearth's song is forgettable shout-metal, but demonstrates the face-glassing theme fairly well.
Andrew W.K.'s ridiculous "Party Party Party" and "I Like Your Booty (But I'm Not Gay)" are the audio equivalent of the film, and perhaps the film context is needed to enjoy them as music, but they still make me giggle.
Killer Mike's "Blam Blam" deserves a special mention as it's some seriously catchy hip-hop.
And I kind of wish I was still in a band so we could cover "Nude Love".
5/10
[1979] The B-52's, "The B-52's"
I bought this cheap a long while ago, probably in a two-for-$10 deal or something.
I, like everyone should be, am a fan of "Rock Lobster", and this, their first album, has that single on it. I would have bought it to hear the song in context, and, to see if anything else on the album is gold.
It's fair to say B-52's had at the time a very solid style and they stuck to it. A lot of the songs have very similar (if not the same) guitar parts to "Rock Lobster". The yelling vocal style persists throughout too.
I have no idea, it isn't my era, but I feel The B-52's are a live band. A party band. They'd have been a heap of fun to watch, and the simple music fun to dance and yell along to.
On an album though... it's missing something. I don't hate it, I just think the songs are a bit long, and shouty, and simple.
"Rock Lobster" is still awesome though.
4/10
I, like everyone should be, am a fan of "Rock Lobster", and this, their first album, has that single on it. I would have bought it to hear the song in context, and, to see if anything else on the album is gold.
It's fair to say B-52's had at the time a very solid style and they stuck to it. A lot of the songs have very similar (if not the same) guitar parts to "Rock Lobster". The yelling vocal style persists throughout too.
I have no idea, it isn't my era, but I feel The B-52's are a live band. A party band. They'd have been a heap of fun to watch, and the simple music fun to dance and yell along to.
On an album though... it's missing something. I don't hate it, I just think the songs are a bit long, and shouty, and simple.
"Rock Lobster" is still awesome though.
4/10
Tuesday 13 January 2015
[1998] Box, "The Apathy Sessions"
I discovered Box around the same time as Pre-Shrunk, having had them introduced to me by a record-store owning mate. I was able to see them live just once, out the front of Rare Records in Hughesdale. They broke up far too early, with the drummer going on to help form The Grand Silent System.
Box were a rock three piece, with a singing drummer. The bass was prominent and often played like a guitar, chunky and distorted, with occasional slapping.
"The Apathy Sessions" contains five great rock tracks, a silly track (The Thinker) and three "sound experiment" tracks that can be safely skipped. Not that "Great Men" isn't silly, with it's fun to shout chorus "Great men, having great sex... with great men!" but The Thinker is barely more than a riff...
They're a lot of fun and I still enjoy listening to the familiar songs. It's hardly world crushing greatness and I wonder if I'm only enjoying it due to nostalgia?
I can certainly complain that the vocal style is very unique at first, but carries over to every song in the same way. Not much variation, and it is grating after a while, perhaps even whiny. I have the same problem with The Grant Silent System, but they're a far more musically interesting band and that usually covers it.
5/10
Box were a rock three piece, with a singing drummer. The bass was prominent and often played like a guitar, chunky and distorted, with occasional slapping.
"The Apathy Sessions" contains five great rock tracks, a silly track (The Thinker) and three "sound experiment" tracks that can be safely skipped. Not that "Great Men" isn't silly, with it's fun to shout chorus "Great men, having great sex... with great men!" but The Thinker is barely more than a riff...
They're a lot of fun and I still enjoy listening to the familiar songs. It's hardly world crushing greatness and I wonder if I'm only enjoying it due to nostalgia?
I can certainly complain that the vocal style is very unique at first, but carries over to every song in the same way. Not much variation, and it is grating after a while, perhaps even whiny. I have the same problem with The Grant Silent System, but they're a far more musically interesting band and that usually covers it.
5/10
Monday 12 January 2015
[2007] Akercocke, "Antichrist"
Another borrowed album from a work-friend, one of the first I really enjoyed and wandered off to buy at JB HiFi.
Akercocke are described as "blackened death metal", which means they use elements of both black and death metal, but to pin Akercocke down to a single style is to deny them what makes them great.
In a single Akercocke song you might hear acoustic finger picking with clean vocals, death metal growls or 80s goth balladry, always played fast.
The best examples of their range can be heard in the songs "Axiom" and "The Dark Inside".
In re-listening, something I haven't done for a while, I found the songs which stuck to a single style the least interesting. I also found the clean vocals a little rough, especially when they're the focus of the song. Reports are that the clean vocals are generally terrible live, although the rest of the music is played very well.
This album, along with others by Nachtmystium and Keep Of Kalessin restored my faith in black and death metal, showing it can be melodic, and interesting. I'd put this very high on a list of albums to play to someone who was ready...
It's a pity this was Akercocke's final album, although the members have gone on to form other bands that I'm told are worth checking out.
7/10
Akercocke are described as "blackened death metal", which means they use elements of both black and death metal, but to pin Akercocke down to a single style is to deny them what makes them great.
In a single Akercocke song you might hear acoustic finger picking with clean vocals, death metal growls or 80s goth balladry, always played fast.
The best examples of their range can be heard in the songs "Axiom" and "The Dark Inside".
In re-listening, something I haven't done for a while, I found the songs which stuck to a single style the least interesting. I also found the clean vocals a little rough, especially when they're the focus of the song. Reports are that the clean vocals are generally terrible live, although the rest of the music is played very well.
This album, along with others by Nachtmystium and Keep Of Kalessin restored my faith in black and death metal, showing it can be melodic, and interesting. I'd put this very high on a list of albums to play to someone who was ready...
It's a pity this was Akercocke's final album, although the members have gone on to form other bands that I'm told are worth checking out.
7/10
Sunday 11 January 2015
[1996] Cartoon, "The Annexe"
I never really got into Primus, or any of the bass theatrics bands or their slappy friends. Perhaps I'm merely biased because Cartoon are the first band I enjoyed with decent bass mixed with rock/metal guitars and crazy lyrics... but I'd go as far as to say Cartoon's "The Annexe" is one of the best CDs to come out of the Australian 90s music scene.
Cartoon are silly. They're heavy, they're funky, they're all over the place. Their songs are combinations of awesome riffs, often seemingly random combinations. Their album "Ovine/Bovine", which I enjoy, but no-where near as much as this EP, includes songs called "Sheep" and "Cow" and "Bendy Wendy The Man".
The EP starts with the perfect "Plagued By Vague" and ends with the epic "Leon The Lemming" and everything in between is funky and heavy and silly and joyous. They understand the value of a decent stretch and release, with awesome jumpy choruses, extended jams, crescendo.
I wish I'd seen them live at the time. They recorded a Triple J Live At The Wireless apparently. I'd settle for hearing that if I could ever track it down.
7/10
Cartoon are silly. They're heavy, they're funky, they're all over the place. Their songs are combinations of awesome riffs, often seemingly random combinations. Their album "Ovine/Bovine", which I enjoy, but no-where near as much as this EP, includes songs called "Sheep" and "Cow" and "Bendy Wendy The Man".
The EP starts with the perfect "Plagued By Vague" and ends with the epic "Leon The Lemming" and everything in between is funky and heavy and silly and joyous. They understand the value of a decent stretch and release, with awesome jumpy choruses, extended jams, crescendo.
I wish I'd seen them live at the time. They recorded a Triple J Live At The Wireless apparently. I'd settle for hearing that if I could ever track it down.
7/10
Saturday 10 January 2015
[2007] Tomahawk, "Anonymous"
I'm a huge fan of Tomahawk, even though I find the quality of their albums (and tours) highly variable. They don't mind experimenting with rock, and deliberately irritating crowds, and I love that. I always felt they filled a bit of the rock/pop hole that Patton must have been missing after Faith No More and Mr. Bungle.
"Anonymous" is their third album, but it's a bit of a surprise. Duane Denison (main composer, guitarist) researched Native American music while on tour and while he found the melodies interesting, he was disappointed in the lack of powerful recordings of the anonymous songs. His ideal of the music was that it should be powerful, primal, so he recorded an album of the songs with a rock band.
Given most of the source material is minor key, with chopped/prog-like rhythms, how could this not possibly be awesome?
The result is strange. The melodies and rhythms are interesting, but arguably each song is a little monotonous. Usually consisting of one riff, played over and over, with varying levels of power. Much of the album sounds like a band jamming on ideas, and I suspect it is mostly just that: here is a melody, let's rock it out until we get bored.
It's unclear if the songs with lyrics had the words sourced from the same places as the melodies, but given the words are in English that seems unlikely. I'm not sure, given how faithful they are with the melodies, what North America's first people's would think of the liberties taken with the songs. The instrumental songs include Patton simply singing "hey-ho" to the guitar's melody, and I can only assume these are more traditional.
I have to admit I was a bit disappointed the first few listens, and I don't play this album much, but this recent listen was great... as background. I know when listened on headphones, my attention quickly wanders.
Perhaps a few more liberties should have been taken with the songs? Mixing various melodies together into more interesting songs? Added some interesting counter melodies? But that doesn't fit the concept, and on this album the concept is clearly the point.
It's an interesting experiment to record the songs this way, and from that perspective it's a huge success, but as a rock record it fails.
5/10
"Anonymous" is their third album, but it's a bit of a surprise. Duane Denison (main composer, guitarist) researched Native American music while on tour and while he found the melodies interesting, he was disappointed in the lack of powerful recordings of the anonymous songs. His ideal of the music was that it should be powerful, primal, so he recorded an album of the songs with a rock band.
Given most of the source material is minor key, with chopped/prog-like rhythms, how could this not possibly be awesome?
The result is strange. The melodies and rhythms are interesting, but arguably each song is a little monotonous. Usually consisting of one riff, played over and over, with varying levels of power. Much of the album sounds like a band jamming on ideas, and I suspect it is mostly just that: here is a melody, let's rock it out until we get bored.
It's unclear if the songs with lyrics had the words sourced from the same places as the melodies, but given the words are in English that seems unlikely. I'm not sure, given how faithful they are with the melodies, what North America's first people's would think of the liberties taken with the songs. The instrumental songs include Patton simply singing "hey-ho" to the guitar's melody, and I can only assume these are more traditional.
I have to admit I was a bit disappointed the first few listens, and I don't play this album much, but this recent listen was great... as background. I know when listened on headphones, my attention quickly wanders.
Perhaps a few more liberties should have been taken with the songs? Mixing various melodies together into more interesting songs? Added some interesting counter melodies? But that doesn't fit the concept, and on this album the concept is clearly the point.
It's an interesting experiment to record the songs this way, and from that perspective it's a huge success, but as a rock record it fails.
5/10
Friday 9 January 2015
[1993] Counting Crows, "August And Everything After"
The soundtrack to so much mid to late 90s sadness.
I've had this album on tape since before memories. I think I might have borrowed it from a friend in high-school. It's certainly one of the first CDs I bought.
I'm fairly sure next to "melancholic" in the dictionary is a picture of this album. It certainly is a great album to put on when you're sad. I'll admit, in moments of intense sadness, I've cried on the train listening to it.
If I'd started this blog twenty years ago, this album would be 10/10. Not today. It could be because I'm a far happier person than I was as a teenager. I can hear the album's problems now, where before they were washed under the waves of hormones and tears.
I still love the strange timing of the vocals over the verses of "Round Here" and the changing chorus stream of consciousness nature of "Mr Jones". "Anna Begins" can still make me sad. The lovely use of strumming electric guitars instead of acoustics, mandolins, accordions. All the sort of thing to pique the interest of a music fan just getting in The Tea Party and The Whitlams.
Weirdly this album is wound up in a world where I discovered so much music, the mid-90s. I associate it with Regurgitator, Powerderfinger, The Whitlams, The Tea Party, +Live+, Pearl Jam... even Faith No More and Metallica. In a list of "grew-up-listening-to" albums... this.
I played this album in the car once on a long car trip. My parents both hated it, almost totally because of the vocals, which are, I can now clearly hear, horribly whiny, particularly in "Time And Time Again" where Adam Duritz sounds like he's just waking up from a huge bender and can barely talk.
It's strange to like this album at all, as I can't help but think Counting Crows are the "folk rock" heroes of the 90s, exactly the kind of music that really gets up my nose these days. Bands like Birds Of Tokyo and that friggin' Lantern song...
History.
I still really enjoy listening to AaEA, and maybe if I'm sad in the future I'll pull it out give it a spin. I'll certainly keep referring to it for tips in mixing clean tone guitars. The production is lovely.
7/10
I've had this album on tape since before memories. I think I might have borrowed it from a friend in high-school. It's certainly one of the first CDs I bought.
I'm fairly sure next to "melancholic" in the dictionary is a picture of this album. It certainly is a great album to put on when you're sad. I'll admit, in moments of intense sadness, I've cried on the train listening to it.
If I'd started this blog twenty years ago, this album would be 10/10. Not today. It could be because I'm a far happier person than I was as a teenager. I can hear the album's problems now, where before they were washed under the waves of hormones and tears.
I still love the strange timing of the vocals over the verses of "Round Here" and the changing chorus stream of consciousness nature of "Mr Jones". "Anna Begins" can still make me sad. The lovely use of strumming electric guitars instead of acoustics, mandolins, accordions. All the sort of thing to pique the interest of a music fan just getting in The Tea Party and The Whitlams.
Weirdly this album is wound up in a world where I discovered so much music, the mid-90s. I associate it with Regurgitator, Powerderfinger, The Whitlams, The Tea Party, +Live+, Pearl Jam... even Faith No More and Metallica. In a list of "grew-up-listening-to" albums... this.
I played this album in the car once on a long car trip. My parents both hated it, almost totally because of the vocals, which are, I can now clearly hear, horribly whiny, particularly in "Time And Time Again" where Adam Duritz sounds like he's just waking up from a huge bender and can barely talk.
It's strange to like this album at all, as I can't help but think Counting Crows are the "folk rock" heroes of the 90s, exactly the kind of music that really gets up my nose these days. Bands like Birds Of Tokyo and that friggin' Lantern song...
History.
I still really enjoy listening to AaEA, and maybe if I'm sad in the future I'll pull it out give it a spin. I'll certainly keep referring to it for tips in mixing clean tone guitars. The production is lovely.
7/10
Thursday 1 January 2015
[2006] Keep Of Kalessin, "Armada"
Why?: One of many CDs I borrowed from a friend at work and loved. Purchased via Amazon.
Tell me more!:
Norwegian Black Metal. Exactly the kind of metal I used to hate. Just keep kickin' those kick drums and screaming fellas.
But Keep Of Kalessin aren't like that. For starters, they're "Melodic" Black Metal. The vocals are screamed, but in a way in which the lyrics are easily decipherable. The drums are played faster than can be believed, but with many an interesting fill. The guitars are incredible, with every song filled with incredible collections of riffs, acoustic jams, epic solos.
"Crown Of The Kings" is fantastic, and probably best describes my love for this album. I need to steal a quote from RevengeISeek666's review on Encyclopaedia Metallum as I think it says it best, "The melodic pace of this song is absolutely phenomenal. It never lets out, nor weakens. It breaks everything into millions of pieces and takes your breath away..."
The rest of album isn't any different. I absolutely adore the melodic screamed choruses, the vocal range in general, the chaotic riffing, the incredible musicianship.
This album is close to perfect, and drew me down a very long road of inferior black-metal on a search for something better.
9/10
Tell me more!:
Norwegian Black Metal. Exactly the kind of metal I used to hate. Just keep kickin' those kick drums and screaming fellas.
But Keep Of Kalessin aren't like that. For starters, they're "Melodic" Black Metal. The vocals are screamed, but in a way in which the lyrics are easily decipherable. The drums are played faster than can be believed, but with many an interesting fill. The guitars are incredible, with every song filled with incredible collections of riffs, acoustic jams, epic solos.
"Crown Of The Kings" is fantastic, and probably best describes my love for this album. I need to steal a quote from RevengeISeek666's review on Encyclopaedia Metallum as I think it says it best, "The melodic pace of this song is absolutely phenomenal. It never lets out, nor weakens. It breaks everything into millions of pieces and takes your breath away..."
The rest of album isn't any different. I absolutely adore the melodic screamed choruses, the vocal range in general, the chaotic riffing, the incredible musicianship.
This album is close to perfect, and drew me down a very long road of inferior black-metal on a search for something better.
9/10
[2003] Underworld, "Back To Mine"
Why?: I was on a bit of an Underworld kick in the early 2000s. I was particularly interested in DJ mixing, beat matching and all that jazz that you can do with your iPhone these days. I bought this CD hoping for a cool DJ set with the tracks all mixed together. That isn't really what this is...
Tell me more!:
I think before this list I'd listened to this CD maybe twice at the most. I dismissed it because I thought it wasn't a big DJ set with tracks all mixed together.
That's unfair, because it is, it just gives each track a lot of time, and the mixing between each track is so subtle you could be forgiven for thinking there wasn't any.
I'm grateful to hear this again because I discovered the incredible intro track, Gil Scott Heron's "B-Movie" which is 12+ minutes of 1981 political rant and funk. It's brilliant. B-Movie is followed by TLC's "Creep" which I can't make myself like, despite TLC frequently coming up in 90s must-listen lists, but the next track, Doctor Octagon's "Bear Witness" is great. It's these first tracks, and the way they're presented, that probably initially put me in a bad mood with this album, as they're not really DJ set material.
But after these intro tracks the set really kicks in with Rave Signal, "Horse Power" and Remy & Sven, "Piano Power", both tracks closer to the Underworld style that I expected for most of the complication. They're followed by the great reggae of Toots & The Maytals, "'54-46" which in the best DJ mixing effort on the album, flows beautifully into LTJ Bukem's "Music", followed by a drum&bass remix of Depeche Mode, "Barrel Of A Gun" which sounds so much like an Underworld song I didn't pick it for what it was, into Aphex Twin's "Didgeridoo" and finally seamlessly into Dead Prez, "Hip Hop".
Just to show off they follow the set with a couple of tracks from Mali artists: Ali Farka Toure, "Machengoidi" and a small sample of Tartit, "Buloululba", which sounds like it might have inflenced the introduction to "King Of Snake".
The CD ends with R&B D'Angelo, "Brown Sugar" and a dub track, Gregory Isaacs, "Public Eyes". I Googled Gregory Isaacs and he's described as the "the most exquisite vocalist in reggae" so it's a pity this is a vocal-less dub mix.
I enjoyed this listen, but R&B isn't my thing at all, and the dance tracks are interesting in showing Underworld's influence, but I'd prefer to listen to Underworld. I'm really happy to have been exposed to Gil Scott Heron though. That's worth the price of admission.
[A bit of Googling has found GSH was homophobic. That's spoilt the fun a bit...]
5/10
Tell me more!:
I think before this list I'd listened to this CD maybe twice at the most. I dismissed it because I thought it wasn't a big DJ set with tracks all mixed together.
That's unfair, because it is, it just gives each track a lot of time, and the mixing between each track is so subtle you could be forgiven for thinking there wasn't any.
I'm grateful to hear this again because I discovered the incredible intro track, Gil Scott Heron's "B-Movie" which is 12+ minutes of 1981 political rant and funk. It's brilliant. B-Movie is followed by TLC's "Creep" which I can't make myself like, despite TLC frequently coming up in 90s must-listen lists, but the next track, Doctor Octagon's "Bear Witness" is great. It's these first tracks, and the way they're presented, that probably initially put me in a bad mood with this album, as they're not really DJ set material.
But after these intro tracks the set really kicks in with Rave Signal, "Horse Power" and Remy & Sven, "Piano Power", both tracks closer to the Underworld style that I expected for most of the complication. They're followed by the great reggae of Toots & The Maytals, "'54-46" which in the best DJ mixing effort on the album, flows beautifully into LTJ Bukem's "Music", followed by a drum&bass remix of Depeche Mode, "Barrel Of A Gun" which sounds so much like an Underworld song I didn't pick it for what it was, into Aphex Twin's "Didgeridoo" and finally seamlessly into Dead Prez, "Hip Hop".
Just to show off they follow the set with a couple of tracks from Mali artists: Ali Farka Toure, "Machengoidi" and a small sample of Tartit, "Buloululba", which sounds like it might have inflenced the introduction to "King Of Snake".
The CD ends with R&B D'Angelo, "Brown Sugar" and a dub track, Gregory Isaacs, "Public Eyes". I Googled Gregory Isaacs and he's described as the "the most exquisite vocalist in reggae" so it's a pity this is a vocal-less dub mix.
I enjoyed this listen, but R&B isn't my thing at all, and the dance tracks are interesting in showing Underworld's influence, but I'd prefer to listen to Underworld. I'm really happy to have been exposed to Gil Scott Heron though. That's worth the price of admission.
[A bit of Googling has found GSH was homophobic. That's spoilt the fun a bit...]
5/10
[2003] Alchemist, "Austral Alien"
Why?: I can't remember why I got into Alchemist. I know their CD "Lunasphere" had been on a tape in my collection from very early on, which makes me think I might have taped from a neighbour. It was the song "Garden of Eroticism" that first grabbed me.
Tell me more!:
I remember buying this and dismissing it very quickly. I didn't enjoy the last album ("Organasm") and felt this was more of the same. The melody wasn't there and the epic long guitar jams were missing.
On this listen though I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the slower pace, it gives the guitars a bit of extra oomph, and lets that trademark Alchemist clear-guitar-solo-over-distorted-chords sound shine.
It helps that over the last decade I've learnt to enjoy a much larger range of metal. I now like the shorter songs, the more pop elements. The mix with industrial and progressive reminds me at times of Akercocke, Max Cavalera's projects, Fear Factory or Ministry.
I'm still really not a fan of Alchemist's clean vocal sound, which is used heavily on this album. I much prefer the shout/screams, although clean vocals help the lyrics shine a little more. The album's central theme is Australia's environment and how it has been damaged.
It's not an album I can see myself choosing to listen to very often, but I think I'll continue to enjoy it when I do. I'm interested to have a listen to their previous albums again now. I never bought their last album because of my original dislike of this, but I might track it down now.
6/10
Tell me more!:
I remember buying this and dismissing it very quickly. I didn't enjoy the last album ("Organasm") and felt this was more of the same. The melody wasn't there and the epic long guitar jams were missing.
On this listen though I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the slower pace, it gives the guitars a bit of extra oomph, and lets that trademark Alchemist clear-guitar-solo-over-distorted-chords sound shine.
It helps that over the last decade I've learnt to enjoy a much larger range of metal. I now like the shorter songs, the more pop elements. The mix with industrial and progressive reminds me at times of Akercocke, Max Cavalera's projects, Fear Factory or Ministry.
I'm still really not a fan of Alchemist's clean vocal sound, which is used heavily on this album. I much prefer the shout/screams, although clean vocals help the lyrics shine a little more. The album's central theme is Australia's environment and how it has been damaged.
It's not an album I can see myself choosing to listen to very often, but I think I'll continue to enjoy it when I do. I'm interested to have a listen to their previous albums again now. I never bought their last album because of my original dislike of this, but I might track it down now.
6/10
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)