Thursday, May 31, 2012
D youtube pop and punk bands
First up DC band Dot Dash who I keep seeing compared to The Jam but in this particular tune I hear a lot of The Cure.
And at Safety Second hailing from the other side of the Atlantic, The Dissociates from London.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
The Memorials - Delirium
The Memorials "Delirium",2012
(Bloodthirsty Unicorn)
Often a mix of various genres doesn’t look good on paper but can still sound great. Take Faith No More for example, their fusion of heavy metal, funk, hip-hop, and progressive rock sounds like the worst concept in the universe on paper however the band themselves are great. Similar to Faith No More, The Memorials are also San Francisco dwellers. The Memorials feature drummer, Thomas Pridgen, who was once in the MARS VOLTA and that alone correctly suggests unpredictability for the group’s song structures and a drummer who bangs the rhythm out hard and steady with the sticks.
The band combine hip hop rhythms combined a no-nonsense garage rock approach although there is an interlude where a brass section lays a downbeat jazzy vibe amongst the angst in “Flourescent’s Unforgiving”. In the song, the band lyrically take on the American prison system using free labour and the illegality of the growth of a sometimes medicinal herb. Funky bass rythms blare out in “Gone” as the soothing soulful voice of Vivecia Hawkens smooths out a smattering of the jagged edges although later in the tune the guitarist suprises due to an allowed permit to go wild. Deceptively “Daisies” starts out like an all to familiar radio rock song but then Hawkins sings in the fashion of the Throwing Muses, Kirstin Hersh and is able convince that she genuinely is sorting out her lovelife by picking the petals off flowers. Deftones style nu-metal weighs heavily in the title track but the band’s potpourri of colliding sounds ensures that there is much more for the listener to be dragged in by with soul and progressive rock all hanging out the bait. “Heavyweight” carries a Mike Tyson punch with steady drumming right through and the soul crooning belies the rock layered underneath until concluding with a strong self-assurance. The close to twelve minutes “Mr Entitled” ensures that the song’s duration doesn’t equate tto edium owing to the band constantly surprising.
Often listening to “Delirium” is akin to peeling an onion with multiple layers underneath. A quirky catchiness mirrored with unpredictability provides the often-lengthy songs with an easy listenability. The vocal talents of Vivecia Hawkins are definitely a huge part of the band’s sound with her ability to provide smooth sultry vocals and then rapidly seethe with rage. It’s tough to pick a highlight or a lowlight on “Delirium” as all the tunes are equally electrifying. Those that need a change from their Bellrays albums will find similar yet far gruntier tunes with this album. I haven’t heard The Memorials’ first album but if it’s of the same merit then ownership is mandatory.
5/5
www.thememorialsmusic.com
The memorials on facebook
The small takeover on facebook
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Reactor - The Real World
REACTOR – The Real World(2009)
(Shadow Kingdom)
Digging around in boxes of cassettes from years gone by often yields pleasing surprises. Tapes that were considered gems that you thought you’d never hear again, get to be listened to and reevaluated through a cloud of nostalgia. If you have a record label, the thought of releasing material from forgotten days is entertained. Shadow Kingdom Records have turned those thoughts into reality by releasing material from 1983-1990 by Maryland metal band Reactor.
As to be expected with members, who were in Pentagram at some point , there are touches of Sabbath, pushing through at full strength in “War Machine” due to Ozzy vocals and a heavy underbelly of destroying riffs. It’s not difficult to gage the punkish “Meltdown” fitting into the time period of the first wave of American thrash metal. The chosen subject matter is also telling with the band’s social conscience coming to the fore covering terrorism, the arms race and corporations taking over work lives. These guys were probably coincidentally spinning the exact same NWOBHM records in synchronized time with Metallica. “The Terrorist” slows pace and concentrates more on melody using a very stripped bare to the bone structure. “The Real World” is that terrible Mister Mister song, “Broken Wing” on metallic based steroids and proves that mullets and leg warmers weren’t the only things better left in the 80’s. Proving that they were en route to suckdom, they went on to use the tepid song title as a band name.
It’s difficult to take in the tinny sound of “Greenhouse” and not think demo band and really as these are old unearthed recordings that’s exactly what Reactor were. I imagine Reactor were a big local drawcard but struggled to get audience numbers when they left town. The inclusion of eight live tracks ensures that the disc isn’t just a six track EP but the CD booklet really elevates the recording from demo status and is impressive as a looker and informative with liner notes, lyrics and band photos. Despite the packaging, this is still more one for the metal historians and archeologists than the run of the mill metal fan who will listen to this then shuffle it towards the back of the collection.
2.5/5
(Shadow Kingdom)
Digging around in boxes of cassettes from years gone by often yields pleasing surprises. Tapes that were considered gems that you thought you’d never hear again, get to be listened to and reevaluated through a cloud of nostalgia. If you have a record label, the thought of releasing material from forgotten days is entertained. Shadow Kingdom Records have turned those thoughts into reality by releasing material from 1983-1990 by Maryland metal band Reactor.
As to be expected with members, who were in Pentagram at some point , there are touches of Sabbath, pushing through at full strength in “War Machine” due to Ozzy vocals and a heavy underbelly of destroying riffs. It’s not difficult to gage the punkish “Meltdown” fitting into the time period of the first wave of American thrash metal. The chosen subject matter is also telling with the band’s social conscience coming to the fore covering terrorism, the arms race and corporations taking over work lives. These guys were probably coincidentally spinning the exact same NWOBHM records in synchronized time with Metallica. “The Terrorist” slows pace and concentrates more on melody using a very stripped bare to the bone structure. “The Real World” is that terrible Mister Mister song, “Broken Wing” on metallic based steroids and proves that mullets and leg warmers weren’t the only things better left in the 80’s. Proving that they were en route to suckdom, they went on to use the tepid song title as a band name.
It’s difficult to take in the tinny sound of “Greenhouse” and not think demo band and really as these are old unearthed recordings that’s exactly what Reactor were. I imagine Reactor were a big local drawcard but struggled to get audience numbers when they left town. The inclusion of eight live tracks ensures that the disc isn’t just a six track EP but the CD booklet really elevates the recording from demo status and is impressive as a looker and informative with liner notes, lyrics and band photos. Despite the packaging, this is still more one for the metal historians and archeologists than the run of the mill metal fan who will listen to this then shuffle it towards the back of the collection.
2.5/5
Monday, May 21, 2012
Sad Hard-ons News and more
I don't normally publish news but this is terrible news. Blackie from the Hard-ons was assaulted while working as a taxidriver and is currently in hospital.
From the band's site:
"None of it was his fault. The two assailants were arrested by police. Blackie has been in hospital since Thursday night with a skull fracture and 16 stitches, swelling on the brain. We will be there for a few days still, while the docs make sure all tests are done. Thankfully he has been moved from the critical room to where they keep stable patients. He does not remember all details but he is getting better every day. Not sure when he can play music again. We will know more in the coming days. He has already been told he cannot drive for 6 weeks due to his head trauma. Please send him a get-well message through facebook , he'll read it all when he gets out in a few days. I'm sure he'll get better soon. He is a pretty tough cookie. I've known him for many years and I know he wants to get back playing music again as soon as possible, but he will go with medical advice, it's gonna be best to give playing live for a while, so that he can fully recover and come back fitter than ever. Will keep everyone posted. By the way thanks for all those messages. I'll pass 'em on to Blackie and I'm sure he'll really appreciate them."
News story here
Much more up-to-date info is available from the Hard-ons facebook page
In other news, Chicago pop punkers The Projection have a free single and are giving away their album While You Were Out free to anyone in the military. You can grab their single, Florida here.
The small takeover on facebook
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Sanctification - Black Reign
Sanctification – “Black Reign”, 2009
(Pulverized)
You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Neither should a paragraph start with a cliche but convention and rules were invented to be broken. Swedish death metal band Sanctification either missed the memo about crushing the rules or the meaning got lost in translation. “Black Reign” is like when you get a packaged box for Christmas. You give it that shake that lets you know that someone was incapable of thinking of a more imaginative gift than a box of chocolates. The blame clearly lies firmly on the shoulders of the “Forest Gump”scriptwriters.
The expected down-tuned guitars, blast-beats, asthmatic elephant blowing through a snorkel vocals are all present on this album. The clear but gruff spoken chorus of the title song is the closest these guys come to any semblance of melody. “Thirst for Blood” is relentless with crushing riffs over pounding drums. Soundwise Sanctification edge closer to Deicide than Dismember. However most of the songs are the songs are mid-tempo so they blur together. Instead of invoking the feeling of being run over head on by a Mac truck which then reverses to make sure the job’s completed and leaving the victim flattened and incapable of passing on stories to his grandkids, “Black Reign” just leaves a listener flat due to its generic nature.
1/5
The small takeover on facebook
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Shihad - Beautiful Machine movie review
Shihad – Beautiful Machine
Rock documentaries are a dime a dozen these days but bands that last close to a quarter of a century certainly aren’t and that length of time ensures that there are stories to be told. Shihad’s finest moment was their second album Killjoy and soon after The General Electric the band became New Zealand’s answer to Nickelback musically. Though from the band’s strength has always been their live show.
The animation in the trailer may make you think that you’re in for an Antipodean version of the Metallica documentary “Some Kind of Monster” and in some ways it does parallel that movie but there is no life coach for the band but similarly there is alcoholism and inter-personal relationship breakdowns as well as a similar part with the drummer's child sitting on his knee while surrounded by drums.
The film is more about relationships than about music and how time overseas affected them as a band and as people. There is a lot of John Toogood’s partner who rightly priotizes that her child is the more important than her partner following his desire for band fame overseas and felt the biggest strain due to partner absense. Other band member’s partners do get talked to although Phil Knight’s wife really only gets a wave in.
Parents of all the band members are talked to about their sons. Drummer, Tom Larkin’s parents talk about not knowing that the boys were doing pub gigs when Shihad is underage unsurprising but worth a smile. The parents and band members are all candid in all of their answers. The appearance of Killing Joke's Jaz Coleman is a surprise given the band's previous grievance's with him over finances.
The interview with Germany’s Noise record label people is interesting. Shihad basing themselves in Melbourne due to the signing with Warners is covered, as is the tour and recording in the States and how the band blew it in front of a lot of record label representatives. The band changing their name to Pacifier gets a lot of coverage. It was telling when Americans looked at the Shihad name and a few said it was close to holy war but a couple of young woman guess much more correctly. Shihad in front of label people who wanted to manipulate the band down to picking their set list is covered is paralleled with Larkin telling Knight to puff his hair up to look like a big rock star.
There are a lot of fond memories and Phil Knight’s animated first phone call between Ton Larkin, Jon Toogood and himself is a highlight. The band’s manager Gerald Dwyer is shown in a number of clips and remembered very fondly by band members and others associated with him. Dwyer’s drug habit, death and tangi are all talked about. Toogood talks about writing quieter songs because Dwyer wasn’t around to point out that the band’s grunty rock strength is what should be concentrated on. The missteps the band have made aren’t overlooked.
I loved that the band's early days were covered because I was following the band back in their demo days so would have liked to heard from the former bass players and also from other band’s that were around at the time. In fact, I may well be in the Mountain Rock audience footage. I also know people who were at the 91 AC/DC gig, which was bass player, Karl Kippenberger’s second Shihad. The first being a show the night before in Palmerston North(I suspect the then thrash metal band played with a goth band). Head Like A Hole’s experimentation with heroin in Berlin is only covered from the Shihad viewpoint. From a music point of view, the band’s surge into the mainstream when “Home Again” started being played at rugby games total lack of mention disappoints. There are also a number of personal incidents that go unmentioned. This documentary also sadly fails at showing how the band changed from working jobs to becoming full-time musicians. During the movie there is a change in quality of band filming over time as VHS and VCR recorders become digital and professionals can be afforded by the band. This documentary is aimed more than just the band's fans since it is really more about a group of friends from New Zealand chasing their dream of success overseas and the problems that come with it rather than just about music.
The small takeover on facebook
Rock documentaries are a dime a dozen these days but bands that last close to a quarter of a century certainly aren’t and that length of time ensures that there are stories to be told. Shihad’s finest moment was their second album Killjoy and soon after The General Electric the band became New Zealand’s answer to Nickelback musically. Though from the band’s strength has always been their live show.
The animation in the trailer may make you think that you’re in for an Antipodean version of the Metallica documentary “Some Kind of Monster” and in some ways it does parallel that movie but there is no life coach for the band but similarly there is alcoholism and inter-personal relationship breakdowns as well as a similar part with the drummer's child sitting on his knee while surrounded by drums.
The film is more about relationships than about music and how time overseas affected them as a band and as people. There is a lot of John Toogood’s partner who rightly priotizes that her child is the more important than her partner following his desire for band fame overseas and felt the biggest strain due to partner absense. Other band member’s partners do get talked to although Phil Knight’s wife really only gets a wave in.
Parents of all the band members are talked to about their sons. Drummer, Tom Larkin’s parents talk about not knowing that the boys were doing pub gigs when Shihad is underage unsurprising but worth a smile. The parents and band members are all candid in all of their answers. The appearance of Killing Joke's Jaz Coleman is a surprise given the band's previous grievance's with him over finances.
The interview with Germany’s Noise record label people is interesting. Shihad basing themselves in Melbourne due to the signing with Warners is covered, as is the tour and recording in the States and how the band blew it in front of a lot of record label representatives. The band changing their name to Pacifier gets a lot of coverage. It was telling when Americans looked at the Shihad name and a few said it was close to holy war but a couple of young woman guess much more correctly. Shihad in front of label people who wanted to manipulate the band down to picking their set list is covered is paralleled with Larkin telling Knight to puff his hair up to look like a big rock star.
There are a lot of fond memories and Phil Knight’s animated first phone call between Ton Larkin, Jon Toogood and himself is a highlight. The band’s manager Gerald Dwyer is shown in a number of clips and remembered very fondly by band members and others associated with him. Dwyer’s drug habit, death and tangi are all talked about. Toogood talks about writing quieter songs because Dwyer wasn’t around to point out that the band’s grunty rock strength is what should be concentrated on. The missteps the band have made aren’t overlooked.
I loved that the band's early days were covered because I was following the band back in their demo days so would have liked to heard from the former bass players and also from other band’s that were around at the time. In fact, I may well be in the Mountain Rock audience footage. I also know people who were at the 91 AC/DC gig, which was bass player, Karl Kippenberger’s second Shihad. The first being a show the night before in Palmerston North(I suspect the then thrash metal band played with a goth band). Head Like A Hole’s experimentation with heroin in Berlin is only covered from the Shihad viewpoint. From a music point of view, the band’s surge into the mainstream when “Home Again” started being played at rugby games total lack of mention disappoints. There are also a number of personal incidents that go unmentioned. This documentary also sadly fails at showing how the band changed from working jobs to becoming full-time musicians. During the movie there is a change in quality of band filming over time as VHS and VCR recorders become digital and professionals can be afforded by the band. This documentary is aimed more than just the band's fans since it is really more about a group of friends from New Zealand chasing their dream of success overseas and the problems that come with it rather than just about music.
The small takeover on facebook
Monday, May 14, 2012
Into The Storm - Captains
Into The Storm – Captains, 2011
(self-released)
Anyone who has been reading this blog regularly will be aware of the current wave of noisy Seattle rock bands. Into The Storm are definitely in this category and fall under the experimental metal umbrella.
The band have self-released a five song album. There’s absolutely no nice greeting for a listener in the opening song “Bodhi Zephyr” as the song opens with fast complex riffing and raspy scooby doo death metal growls yelling “Fuck Off”, the song does slow down for a little and the death metal growls continue over slow clanging metallic noise. Quick tribal rythms open “Jean-Luc Picard” which then slow down into ambient noise that is not unlike some of the territory Jakob cover but that cartoon dog voice comes into action once again before the song ends with samples over the quieter side of the band. The cliched metal reviewer adjective crushing was coined for “K’nuckles” as it is punishing Obituary death metal. This song is easily the highlight of the album and also the shortest. “Walter White” has a more melodic voice half-singing and dueling it out with the death metal guy and the end of the song the more melodic guy is still left standing.
While the self-releasing an album is applause worthy, Into The Storm could have been a better album if the band either made better use of the melodic vocals or did away with them completely. The death metal vocals make it unpleasant to listen to and that may well be the point but it doesn’t win the band any points here and neither does the fact that most of the songs are just too long.
“Captains” is available from the bands bandcamp site below either digitally at a price of your choosing or on vinyl for $15US.
2/5
Into The Storm on bandcamp.
The small takeover on facebook
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Sigh - Insomniphobia
Sigh, In Somnophobia,2012
Candlelight Records
Admittedly black metal was getting even more boring with a bunch of bands treading out the same old corpse paint and covering the same old ground. But while you’re likely balling your eyes out about the demise of Ludicra, you’ll pleased to know that Japan’s Sigh have returned with a new album.
The latest album opens mixing classical metal with classical music and black metal in “Purgatorium”. For the most part the vocals are clear although it’s pretty hard not to figure out lyrics such as “I live, you die.” Ignoring the black metal vocals “Keeper of The Seven Keys” period Helloween is a band that comes to mind when listening to this song and ignoring the black metal vocals.
“The Transfiguration Fear” is an opera from hell complete with a church trained sounding choral group. The song has a few jazzy moments but it is the choir that assists to convey an aura of unforeseen terror.
The nearly half an hour “Lucid Nightmares” is made up of seven separately titled chapters. “Opening Theme” is exactly that with an evil voice welcoming the listener into their nightmares. ‘Somnophobia” conjures up hell with metallic noise, jazz and more eerie choral voices. The metal works out the door and the jazz takes over towards the end of the track before. L’Excommunication A Minuit” has the vocalist take the role of mad ringmaster with the band walking high upon their carnival music tightrope to occassional bursts of inexplicable laughter. Creeping blues opens “Amnesia” and the vocals are much more film noir blues than metal. When the black metal vocalscome into play the musical proceedings veer towards jazz complete with keyboard tinkering. “Far Beneath The In-Between” adds a short snake charm to the lounge jazz metal hybrid insanity.
While Sigh are going to be exalted in many quarters for “In Somnophobia” due to their innovation, it’s only really their experimentation that keeps a listener interested because there’s a serious absense of hookiness in a high percentage of tunes on this album. This weakness makes difficult for the indiscriminate listener to tell where one song ends and another starts. The vocals are clearer than most black metal but Sigh still often fall into the unclear mirky vocal genre trap. Despite its failings this album will get repeat playings due to simultaneously fulfilling jazz and metal listening desires.
3/5
Sigh on facebook
Sigh- Scenes from Hell review
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