Tuesday, June 29, 2010
My Iron Maiden month starts to wind down today, as I finally get a chance to see their Final Frontier show. But the work's far from over, I have to slap together a review for Hellbound and then commence work on the massive story for Decibel. Regarding the latter, I'm confident everything's going to fall into place. I have an absolute wealth of quotes to work with, so that helps immeasurably.
Also, my exclusive feature for the new issue of France's Metallian magazine comes out today (Avant-Première : Rencontre exclusive à Dallas avec Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris, Dave Murray et Adrian Smith!!!), and considering the obsessive nature of Maiden fans worldwide, someone should be posting scans within the next 24 hours. I believe it'll be the first feature and review to come out...Kerrang posted a quick Q&A, but I think that's it.
There's no shortage of new reviews to mention right now, that's for sure. First and foremost is an album I cannot get enough of these days, Restored to One by a band called Sabbath Assembly. Featuring singer Jex Thoth, whose retro doom stylings have gotten her a fair bit of attention in the last year or so, this record is all about the peculiar, mysterious Process Church of the Final Judgment, a cult that worshiped Jehovah, Satan, Christ, and Lucifer equally. They were well known in the late-60s and early-70s, an established church, and people from Marianne Faithfull and George Clinton to Charles Manson were linked to them, but after falling apart in the late-70s there doesn't seem to be much documentation other than print material. They even had a complete hymnal, and that's where Sabbath Assembly comes in, as Thoth and musician Dave Nuss offer their own interpretations of nine hymns. There's a heavy dose of psychedelic rock on these tracks, which fits very well with the music, but at the same time the original melodies of the songs (which I've been able to follow on the original sheet music found in my research) are simple enough for Thoth and Nuss to remain faithful to the melodies while being allowed plenty of room to get a little creative. Not only that, but Thoth is so straight-faced, so devoid of irony that it not only sounds convincing, but at times it's downright creepy. It's an enthralling piece of work, and I highly recommend it. Here's my review.
Over at PopMatters, my review of Yakuza's brilliant Of Seismic Consequence was published. I've liked the band ever since hearing Samsara way back when, and as good as their music was, it always felt they were still coming just short of a truly great album. The new one, though, is the closest they've ever come, a really cohesive, fluid collection of songs that balances crushing metal, ambient music, and modern jazz. Yes, there's saxophone, but Bruce Lamont is a genius at integrating that instrument into the metal milieu. Better yet, though, his vocals are much improved, placing more focus on clean singing, and coupled with Sanford Parker's production (the guy can do no wrong this year!), it makes for a thrilling record. It's a lock for my year-end metal list.
What's not a lock for my year-end list is the new Ozzy Osbourne album, but that's no surprise. What is surprising is that for all its overproduction and the frustrating lack of songwriting contributions by talented new guitarist Gus G, I genuinely enjoyed about four or five of the new songs, especially "Diggin' Me Down", which has Ozzy sounding his most impassioned on record in a very long time. In my opinion it's not exactly a buyer, but at least this is a move in the right direction. Next time let's have some Gus G riffs and shredding instead of those boring active rock arrangements. Ugh, that stuff is awful.
Back at Hellbound I reviewed the new DVD by pagan metal greats Primordial. They're a phenomenal live band, and they're only just now starting to peak creatively and commercially, so this is a great time for them to treat fans to a live document. The concert disc is excellent, with its artsy camera work adding to the mood of the Celtic-themed music, while the documentary on the second disc is appropriately exhaustive. Though singer Alan Averill does the huge majority of talking. Quite the motormouth, that guy. He'd be a good interview, I've always thought. Anyway, their new album can't come soon enough.
Lastly, I reviewed a cool new DVD of last year's Fall Into Darkness festival in Portland, Oregon, which features performances by such cool bands as YOB, Ludicra, Earth, Agalloch, Saviours, and a slew of others. It's a nicely put together DVD, and it's only been printed in a limited number of 300 copies, so if you like any of the aforementioned bands, you should go here and order yourself a copy. I think I would enjoy Portland...West coast, liberal, mild weather, humid air, really good music scene.
About eleven days ago I dragged myself out to Amigos with the express purpose of checking out a Calgary band I'd learned about a week prior called Mares of Thrace. Usually these days I get impatient with "post-metal" bands, but while these two ladies are clearly influenced by Neurosis, they do things a little different. Crushing riffs are offset by a mathy intricacy, a huge Jesus Lizard vibe creeping in. Screams give way to tenderly sung passages. Primal beats segue into lithe, jazz-like fills. And refreshingly, despite being very progressive-leaning at times, The Moulting is a very direct album. These are actual songs, it doesn't go through the motions. Live, the music translates very well (I can just picture their music recorded by Steve Albini), Therese Lanz is like Boris guitarist Wata, in that you can't believe such monstrous riffs and screams can come from such a slight person, while drummer Stefani MacKichan is as powerful a female drummer as I have ever seen, yet at the same time seems to walk a flawless line between groove and incredible technical ability. She moves like Meg White, but drums like she can play the Dillinger Escape Plan in her sleep. They're definitely the best new Western Canadian metal band to come along in a while, and I'll be writing more about them in the near future.
Friday, June 18, 2010
One review that was published right before I went on my trip a couple weeks ago but never got around to plugging here is my piece on the new one by Soulfly. Although their best years are far behind them, I'm still always curious to see whether or not Max Cavalera is able to put out a consistent Soulfly record, and sadly that's not the case with Omen. Actually there is a handful of tracks that is some of the best stuff he's done in a while, but far too often it feels like he's coasting, the worst offender being the horrible "Jeffrey Dahmer". Seriously, does he expect to have audiences shouting, "Jeffrey Dahmer!" along with him during the choruses? Please, dude, a little taste and restraint. Ugh. Anyway, enjoy the track with Dillinger's Greg Puciato, but in the end, don't spend your money on this. I sure hope the next Cavalera Conspiracy album will be better than this.
By now you probably have seen (and hopefully bought) the current issue of Decibel. You know which one, the one with Watain's Erik Danielsson looking goofy. On a selfish note I have a ton of material in this issue, the biggest being a good-sized feature on Yakuza, whose new album is incredible, easily the best one they've ever put out. And that's saying something, I've been into this band for a long time now. That was a fun piece to do, vocalist/saxophonist Bruce Lamont is a really nice guy, and we had a fun conversation. My raving about the new Yakuza isn't over either, as I have a review all set to be published at PopMatters any day now.
And for what I think is the first time ever, I have a lead review at Decibel that's not a death metal album (I don't know why that always happened, I just found it a bit weird), that being a nice, big write-up about the excellent new album by Nevermore. I've admired the band for ages now, about ten years (forgive me for not paying attention earlier, it was their "Love Bites" cover that initially got me into them around 1998 or so when I heard it on Music Choice), and seeing how I really dug their last one I had high expectations for The Obsidian Conspiracy. And indeed, they delivered, but not in the way I or anyone else for that matter was expecting. It's a lot more streamlined and subtle than any of their previous stuff. It still sounds like Nevermore, Warrel Dane as powerful a singer as ever, Jeff Loomis as shreddy as ever, but the histrionics are dialed down just enough to let the songs breathe. As a result it's an album that reminds me of Queensryche's Empire, a fully fleshed-out, more accessible version of their signature sound. There are some great tracks on there, but none better than the new single "Emptiness Unobstructed", the catchiest tune they've ever put on record. Watch for this album to make my year-end metal albums list.
Then there's Dew-Scented, a band that's pretty good at what they do, but I always have trouble getting into their stuff. Their new CD is their first in three years, and as I say in my review, it's more of the same: capably performed thrash metal high on speed and brutality but low in the hooks department. Not a massive disappointment, but it's not exactly going to set the world ablaze either.
London band Haken, on the other hand...now there's a good one. Comprised of members of To-Mera (a talented band in their own right), they're progressive rock in the old school sense of the word, heavily influenced by early Genesis and Marillion, and although it revolves around a rather absurd storyline about mermaids, the music floored me, it's as complex as you expect it to be, but the band never forgets to write actual songs instead of noodle away for 78 minutes. This is a very fun album, another great discovery by the always-reliable Sensory label.
I really thought I would like the dreampop-infused black metal of Svarti Loghin, but although it had a couple good moments, I wound up so frustrated by it I had to cry, "FALSE!" My problem? It doesn't commit. It dabbles in nice shoegaze tones but the band tosses in Burzum-like screams that don't accentuate the music at all. It's okay to employ harsh vocals amidst lushly melodic arrangements (Alcest and Caina are some of the best at this), but not like this, it's like tossing used motor oil on a Cezanne painting. In fact I spend half of the review telling the reader they'd be better off listening to For Against's 1988 dreampop masterpiece December, which was much darker than anything this band could pull off. Which I still stand by. I was ornery when I wrote this review, I have to confess, it was right in the middle of when I was at my sickest this spring, I was having asthma attacks and could barely sit up straight at the computer, let alone keep myself from coughing for 30 seconds. Really rough shape. So although I was in no mood or condition to write a fair review I tried my best and made sure it was a proper assessment of the music and not just me indirectly complaining about my physical state. I think I did that.
Lastly, there's a feature that was a pet project of mine. I've always been a fan of Across Tundras, going back to their first album and had since become friends with one of the band's collaborators. One day on the Decibel forum someone asked why there hadn't been an Up Front feature on the band. After checking to see if that was indeed the case, I thought, yeah, why hasn't there been an Across Tundras story? So I pitched it, got in touch with Tanner Olson, heard the new album (which is terrific by the way), and conducted a fun interview with the band. It made for a good feature, but there was so much material to work with that it would be a shame to let it go unread, so I figured I'd post it here. So here you go!
***
Old World Wanderer has by far the most clarity I have ever heard on an Across Tundras album…Why did you decide to go in that direction?
Tanner Olson (guitar, vocals): I recorded all the past albums myself and for this one I personally wanted to have someone else do it so I could focus on playing and the tunes. All the credit for the sound of the recording has to go to our instruments, amps, Rob McKinney who recorded it, and Matt LeGrow who mastered it.
Matt Shively (bass): There is a lot going on so the clearer the better!
Nate Rose (drums): I felt like there were some things in our jams that a recording like that could bring out a little more. Some subtleties and weird stuff that we were able to do that turned out really well, I think.
Were the more lo-fi sounds of Dark Songs of the Prairie an aesthetic choice or merely out of necessity? A lot of bands whose lo-fi recordings are worshiped often admit they'd always wanted to make a big, professional sounding record.
Tanner: All the sounds of those recordings were definite aesthetic choices we made at the time by recording with different formats - like 8 track tape machine for Dark Songs; to random locations like the warehouse with 30 foot ceilings we tracked Western Sky Ride in. Sometimes lo-fi, unique, or more vintage sounding recordings are tough for some to swallow at first, but if the quality of the songs are there, a unique recording can really give the album a cool quality that can age well.
Your lead vocals seem to sound clearer than ever…was that a case of you becoming a more confident lead singer on record?
Tanner: I am definitely always practicing hard both playing and singing so I am stoked if you hear some progression there! Vocals used to be more of an afterthought or something we used to enhance the atmosphere of the music, but alot of the new tunes were written with stronger, more upfront vocals in mind so I have been taking singing a bit more seriously these days.
Matt: I dig em! Good job Tanner.
As cool as your early albums were, Lonesome Wails From the Weeping Willow was a real eye-opener…for me, anyway! Why did you decide to abandon that quieter side of Across Tundras for the huge sound of the new album?
Nate: Abandon is not really how I would put it. We wanted to make a big, loud, heavy rock record so that's what we tried to do. We try not to get pigeon-holed to a particular sound, because we have a lot of different influences and that ultimately that is what guides you when you're just jammin' out tunes and writing. Wanderer is definitely a different record than wails, but I don't think that our influence by more traditional sounding stuff is absent from it.
Tanner: We like to keep everyone including ourselves guessing, so we just kinda go with the flow and do what comes naturally. I am sure you will see us indulge back in some country fried folk in the near future though. I have also been working on more of that style stuff with longtime contributor Shannon Murphy on her songs and project Brightstar which is coming along nicely (plug!!!)
From day one I've heard a lot of Crazy Horse in your music, but on the new album it's more dominant than ever (especially "Vanguard Battle Hymn"). How big an influence was Neil Young & Crazy Horse on your music and especially Old World Wanderer?
Tanner: I know we all dig on Neil Young quite a bit and I personally really just dig the vibe his music gives off and those nice slow foot stompin' tempos and buzzsaw guitars. I would personally like to extend a jamming invitation out to him anyplace, anytime, we will be there! Lots of influences on this record though: I really view music and influences as this huge ever evolving tradition and I am just happy to be a part of it.
Nate: I mean, I like Crazy Horse, I think we all do, and it shows up from time to time..haha; but it's not a thing like we're set out to emulate it really. it's just a heavy influence and a common ground for all of us so that influence is pretty clear to see and hear.
Matt: I love Neil Young. Also totally influenced and in love with Geezer and Sabbath. Lets do lunch brother!
Scottie Gilbert (electric sitar): Neil Young was a huge influence on me as guitar player He has one of the most distinctive vibratos ever and he pours so much into every note there is a lot of emotional content in his solos, in my opinion The score for the movie Dead Man which is all just sparse Neil Young guitar stuff is excellent proof of why he is so important as a guitarist not to mention as a singer, song writer, and every thing else.
You often dip into traditional American music on your albums, either referencing or straight-up covering…did you do any of that on the new one?
Tanner: The new one is 99 percent original. There are some references and influences in the lyrics for sure though and always has been. "Life on the Grain Belt" is kinda my version of Woody Guthrie's "Buffalo Skinners" and follows the same story line. "Stone Crazy Horse" has some historical and geographical influences from my home state of South Dakota.
I read you were considering getting Sanford Parker to produce the record. Was that the case? How did the recording process go overall? How did the experience compare to your past albums?
Nate: We considered it and he does great stuff obviously, but in the end we just decided for this record to try and stay local and really spend some time with it, and we have good friends in Nashville that were more than willing to help us do just that. The environment was really chill and kind of like a party, so it was relaxing and fun to do it. We'd like to work with Sanford on something and i feel like we probably will at some point.
Tanner: Ended up staying in town for monetary and relaxation purposes. Rob McKinney and his crew who housed, engineered, and produced has a great DIY operation in Nashville called Meltface. Been trying to record with Sanford for along time though and hopefully will someday.
Is there any meaning or concept behind the album's title? Do the rest of the songs follow a similar lyrical theme?
Tanner: Its about the old mindset and way of doing things that is becoming less present in our modern world. Simpler life and times. Traveling, exploring, drifting, just living life as it comes and goes. Doing what you want to do and what feels best.
Matt: *Destroys technology with his bare hands*
Is there any one track one the new album you're most proud of, and if so, why?
Nate: I like "Battle Hymn" and "Rainmaker" a lot for almost opposite reasons, so it's tough to choose. "Battle Hymn" we worked on a lot and sort of took super seriously, and "Rainmaker" came out in a a completely different way. It was just a jam that came together without much effort and within a week we were playing it as well as we are now, probably. I think it's appropriate those tracks ended up bookending the record, because it kind of represents the polar opposites of our personalities and how we end up writing.
Matt: "Vanguard Battle Hymn" is pretty damn fun to play.
Tanner: I am proud of the album as a whole and the work everyone did. It was really a super collaborative writing process and I think we got a good formula going we can build upon.
Scottie: Well for me personally I will say that "Rainmaker- Floodreaper" for sure is the track I'm most proud of. I was asked to come in and lay down some Electric Sitar by my old friend Matt Shively and I just showed up having been a fan of the band already but without knowing the songs I would be playing on. After just a few passes I started getting the feel for Rainmaker and I just improvised over the whole thing and Rob Mckinney the engineer went back and kept the best parts. I am proud of what came out of that and more importantly I am extremely grateful for that song because I'm pretty sure its what got me in this band.
To me it always felt that AT tries to convey musically the vast expanse of the Great Plains. Is that the case? How much does your environment and landscape influence your songwriting?
Tanner: I spent a huge chunk of my life growing up in the middle nowhere on the Plains and later in Denver; so it has for sure influenced me as a writer and musician. I have also spent a lot of time out on the road and I really love every inch of this country. Now I call Nashville home and I cherish the rich musical history of these lands and try to tap into that. In the end I think we are an American band. Kinda like the Guess Who, but not really!
Nate: no matter what you are doing, your physical environment is going to affect you. you could be a painter, a song-writer, a construction worker....your environment affects your mood. Not one of us grew up in a metropolitan environment, we're all kind of country people, and there's something about those kinds of environments that sticks with you.
You've put out albums with incredible consistency these past five years…are there plans for the next one yet, or do you have any idea what direction AT will head in next?
Matt: It'll happen naturally!
Nate: We've really just gotten Wanderer done and completely taken care of, so for the immediate future i think we're just glad to relax and sort of get it out of our hair. we're working on projects now that will be around in the next few months, but for now we're just gonna hit the road and play some cool towns. we'll probably start thinking about that more when we get back from the west coast.
Tanner: Wheels are always turning and riffs popping up here and there. We have a few splits and a short soundtrack in the works as we speak. We don't prescribe to the one studio release every two year magazine. We are a DIY band and like to put out random experimental releases and CDR's. So just keep your eyes peeled. We are more solid than we have ever been as band and hopefully we can keep building off of Old World Wanderer.
Scottie: I can't say for sure but something tells me the next album is gonna change the course of Rock History forever!
(Be sure to order the excellent Old World Wanderer here!)
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Last week part of me really wanted to hang around in Dallas for the first show of Iron Maiden's tour (only international press got to do that, which was odd), but another part of me didn't want to miss a much smaller but nearly as exciting show back at home, as the New Pornographers were returning to Saskatoon for the first time in four years. Although the band has a very big following in Western Canada, they're in such high demand that they don't come out here very often, so when they do, you cannot miss it. Especially this time too, as for the very first time they're touring with the complete band lineup, including the always great Neko Case and oddball/destroyer frontman Dan Bejar. Over the years the New Pornographers' audience has been steadily growing: in 2003 they played in front of more than 200 people at a sold-out Amigos, in 2006 there was a big, exuberant crowd of under 1000 at the Odeon, and this time around the same venue was jam-packed. Shockingly so, I was quite amazed. And the people were there to have fun, which was evidenced by the very warm reception they gave opening band the Mountain Goats. Now there's a band I really should get into more. I greatly admire John Darnielle the writer (author of my favourite 33 1/3 book and fellow Decibel contributor), but I never got around to giving his music much attention. Which is a shame, because he and his two bandmates were incredible live, very tight, and intense when they had to be. I don't know the setlist, but it was all very engaging, Darnielle feeding off the energetic audience. The only song of theirs I knew was one of the only Mountain Goats songs I know, that being "Woke Up New". If anything, I'd definitely go see them if they came back here in a headlining role.
It was great seeing the New Pornographers again. You can't not have fun at their shows, they've turned into a tremendous live band...and to think that they started out as strictly a one-off project. The main core of the band, leader Carl Newman, keyboard dude Blaine Thurier, guitarist Todd Fancey, bassist John Collins, and the ever-entertaining drummer Kurt Dahle sounded as excellent as ever (though Dahle's kick drum had to be replaced ont he fly after three songs), but this band's shows are always highlighted by the vocals, and with both Neko Case and Kathryn Calder handling lead and backing vox, it was a huge improvement over the two previous times I saw them. They're both phenomenal singers, and together they harmonized beautifully on all the songs. And what a treat it was to see Bejar popping in and out, looking mildly tipsy, beer constantly in hand, singing songs we never get to hear live, like "Jackie" and "Myriad Harbour". The 90+ minute set was positively epic, the band carting out song after song...so deep has their catalogue become that they left a lot of great tunes out, such as "All For Swinging You Around", "The Fake Headlines", "From Blown Speakers", and the classic "Letter From an Occupant". Actually, if there was one clunker, it was "Moves", which works on record but doesn't quite translate as well in a live setting. I won't lie, I wanted to hear "Letter" more than any other song, but with all the songs they played, it was hard to complain. As for personal highlights, I'd have to say they included "The Laws Have Changed", "Sing Me Spanish Techno", "My Slow Descent Into Alcoholism", and "The Bleeding Heart Show", which brought the show to a wonderful climax. It's painful to think that the band might not come back here for another three or four years, but if that's the case, I along with everyone else thoroughly dug every minute of this show. Here's the setlist (order 90% accurate):
Sing Me Spanish Techno
Up in the Dark
Myriad Harbour
Challengers
Use It
The Laws Have Changed
Crash Years
Jackie, Dressed in Cobras
All the Old Showstoppers
Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk
Testament to Youth in Verse
Your Hands (Together)
My Rights Versus Yours
Silver Jenny Dollar
Twin Cinema
My Shepherd
Moves
Mass Romantic
The Bleeding Heart Show
Encore:
Jackie
It's Only Divine Right
My Slow Descent Into Alcoholism
Monday, June 14, 2010
Okay, things have finally settled down enough to put together a big ol' entry here. Last weekend's trip to Dallas went extremely well...If you saw my twitter posts you might know that I went there to interview Iron Maiden. Which, being a fan of the band for 26 years and counting, was the biggest thrill. Actually I was there covering the band's international press event for two publications; for Decibel (where I had pitched hard to get this white whale of an assignment), and for France's Metallian magazine, who needed a big feature fast but didn't have a writer out here. So after working on my interview questions for a week and getting things in order the only way I know how to do (very, very obsessively), I headed out at 3:45 last Saturday morning to catch my early morning flight to Minneapolis. There aren't many airports that I really enjoy killing time in, but with two and a half hours to pass by, Minneapolis-St. Paul is an awesome place to loiter. It's huge, circumnavigating the sucker can kill nearly an hour right there, and what I like most is how the ceilings are really high, so even if it's busy you don't feel claustrophobic. My connecting flight to Dallas-Fort Worth actually went so smoothly that we got there much earlier than expected, nearly half an hour early. Not too keen on spending 46 bucks cabbing it to downtown Dallas, I was glad to get there early enough to take the dirt-cheap train into the city.
I knew going in that it was going to be mega-hot...it was the first time I'd ever flown anywhere without a jacket on me, which was really unsettling for this Canadian, and true enough, the heat once I got out of the hyper-air-conditioned terminal was crippling. Not a cloud in the sky, well over 100 degrees. I quickly caught the two free shuttles (first to the south lot, then to CentrePort station), things going so efficiently I found myself sitting in the middle of nowhere in an inexplicable outdoor station, literally roasting for 45 minutes. I've been that hot two times previously in my lifetime: Scottsbluff, Nebraska in 1987, and Kansas City in 1994. Ungodly, crippling heat. But it wasn't too bad, the hot air was easy to breathe (more on that later), and I got a kick out of looking at the oak trees (which don't grow where I live) and the orangey-red soil (jet black where I live) across the tracks.
The Dallas area has a very good rapid transit system, covering a huge area and really, really cheap compared to other cities, but it's amazing how few people actually use it. Of course, when you ride the freeways around there (which I eventually did), it's easy to understand why everyone drives, it's the most amazingly planned freeway system I've ever seen. So because everyone drives, the TRE commuter train from Fort Worth to Dallas runs only intermittently on Saturdays and none at all on Sundays. You can't even take the trains out to Arlington for a ballgame, for crying out loud, something I would have done if I had the chance.
And the TRE is pretty cool, a big, double-decker train (as opposed to light rail) that takes you through ugly Irving into Dallas. And tacky as it might seem, when the skyline popped into view, that song popped into my head. While the other parts of Dallas I saw were either boring suburbia or kind of grubby, the downtown is pretty nice, surprisingly clean for an American city and full of those shiny, light-reflecting skyscrapers. I hopped off at Southern-looking Union Station and caught the DAT train to the Westin, which was a ten minute ride away. As we drew closer, some weird looking kid wearing costumes and wielding various forms of plastic toy weaponry got on, which struck me as rather odd. Then a block away from Pearl station I saw a clump of teen girls similarly adorned striking poses on the street. I got off the train, turned the corner, and saw even more of these kids, hooting and hollering, acting goofy with their plastic swords, coloured wigs, and whatnot. I shook my head in bewilderment, went through the revolving door at the hotel, and what did I see but dozens and dozens and dozens of these kids. It was nuts. It took me forever to check in, and not only that, the kids were acting so bratty and belligerently that the four elevators were going every which way, leaving a gigantic line-up in the lobby waiting to go up. It took me half an hour from getting off the train to plopping my bags in the room. Insane. I went back to attempt the elevator to see if I could duck away for some of the local food I was craving so badly (BBQ, Cajun, Tex-Mex), and that again took for-flippin-ever. On the way I bumped into Adrian Smith and Janick Gers, funnily enough. But of course all the hundreds and hundreds of kids int he building couldn't care less. When I got down I found out they were there for the massive A-Kon, an anime-cosplay conference, the hub of which was the Westin/Sheraton galleria thingy adjacent (which draws about 16,000 people ever year I learned). While I like a lot of anime and am willing to let cosplay nerds have their harmless fun, that day those stinking brats with nothing better to do than to press all the floor buttons on a 16 floor elevator, cost me a freakin' meal that day. It was too late to explore, the fast food joints were packed with kids, and to top things off the Canadian cell phone wouldn't work in Texas for some dumb reason,so I had no choice but to loiter in the lobby until I could track down anyone linked to the Maiden presser. Argh.
But enough griping, once things settled it quickly became a very fun stay. That night we were bused out to a studio up in Plano (as it would happen, the same studio where Baroness and St. Vincent recorded their cool recent albums) to hear the new album. We're contractually forbidden from publishing anything about The Final Frontierfor the next month, so I have nothing to say about the matter. But it was very cool to be one of just a handful of people in the world outside the band who had heard the record. We were given two thorough listens of the album, all of us hurriedly taking notes...being a long album, though, near the end of the second listen it was getting a little tough to stay awake. But new interview questions were sprouting up in my head constantly, and when we got back to the hotel and waited in line for another elevator (an ungodly 90 degrees at nearly midnight, would you believe), I stayed up a few hours finalizing all my questions. With three half hour interviews set up I was really paranoid about having not enough questions, and I tried desperately to have all bases covered (there's my obsessive attention to detail again), winding up with pages and pages of handwritten questions in my notebook.
In the end, I had nothing to worry about. Every interview went splendidly and I had far, far too many questions. I talked to guitarists Adrian Smith and Dave Murray first...Murray is a very warm, laid back fellow, always in good humour as his perpetual smile always indicates. Smith is more reserved, easily the coolest dude in the band, and I expected him to be a on the prickly side, but that wasn't the case at all. Talking to both was great fun. Bruce Dickinson, meanwhile, was awesome. Very engaging, very funny, very honest...it was easy to get involved in conversations with these guys who happened to be my favourite band of all time, but at times I did find myself thinking, yikes, am I really doing this? I was expecting a tougher interview with bassist Steve Harris, who always comes off as ultra-serious and sometimes rather terse in interviews, and that was the case for the first few queries, but as the interview went on he warmed up more, to the point where he was giving these very detailed and forthright responses. Of the three interviews, I got the most quotes from Harris by far, which I was not expecting at all. In all, everyone was so kind and professional...they know just how important these pre-release press days are, and everyone was talkative, and I think I got some killer material for my story.
Having finished after 3:30 and gone back up to back up my recording files on the laptop and email them to myself as well (again, obsessive and very paranoid), I had some free time on my hands, so I made the short trip downtown to the book depository and the infamous grassy knoll. The entire sixth floor of the depository building has been turned into a Kennedy museum, and it was an enthralling 90 minute visit. You get a cool audio tour to lead you along as it chronicles the JFK presidency and goes through all the details of November 22, 1963. The very corner of the building where Lee Harvey Oswald made his shots has been preserved, book boxes arranged exactly how it was that day, and it's amazing to look through that window down to Elm Street, seeing the two Xs marked on the road where the shots landed. It's interesting how the museum always says he "allegedly" shot JFK, acknowledging all the other conspiracy theories as well, which is surprisingly broad-minded. It was enthralling walking through the museum and around Dealey Plaza, which has not been altered a bit since that day.
After that I walked over to the rather pedestrian Kennedy Memorial and back towards the West End where I FINALLY got my BBQ at Sonny Bryan's, which was mercifully open, a rarity on a Sunday downtown. Brisket, ribs, sausage, beans, fried okra, and gargantuan onion rings with three huge glasses of unsweetened iced tea. I was famished, and it hit the spot like nothing else. I had to leave at 3:20 to catch the shuttle to the airport, so it was either go to bed early or just stay up all night, and me being the perpetual night owl, I chose the latter. Tiring as the weekend was, I felt pretty good, I got to the Delta counter just after four in the morning (that airport is a long, long way out of Dallas). Of all the things I saw, what made me most aware that I was in the South was the fact that it was still dark out at six in the morning. In Saskatoon the sun rises at 3:30 in the morning in June! After enduring the hopelessly farcical chaos that is the self-check-in (seriously, America, this is supposed to make it quicker?) and the patently unfair fee for checking bags, I was finally ready to head back. The 6 a.m. flight out was crowded but smooth, and after making the exhausting sprint from concourse G to concourse B at Minny (probably the worst concourse connection you can make at that terminal), I had a nice, half full plane to take me home, and I dozed idly the rest of the way. Finally! A week later, the interviews are transcribed (12,000 words!), the Metallian feature is done (in French stores on June 28, French metal dudes!), and the massive Decibel story awaits, which I will start writing probably right after I see Maiden on the 29th. Once I get going, I bet it'll pretty much write itself...
Thursday, June 3, 2010
It's been a couple years since I've gone on the road to do a story, and goodness knows it can get stifling cranking out the music-related articles from the same small space time and again, so it goes without saying that I am really, really looking forward to my little trip this weekend. In more ways than one. We're entering dream-come-true territory here. But more on that when I get back. Or who knows, maybe I'll post on twitter while away. Hopefully everything goes well.
In the meantime, more articles have been sprouting up as quickly as those darn dandelions in the park across the street that the city won't do anything about. First off, at PopMatters this past Friday my review of the new 30th Anniversary Edition of Judas Priest's British Steel was published. I've always had a few reservations about that album. It was very popular, achieving exactly what the band wanted to achieve (to break into the US market), and the band is clearly very, very fond of the record, but I've never felt it was as great an album as other people think. It has a lot of classic songs like "Metal Gods", "Breaking the Law", and "Living After Midnight", but certain parts of it always struck me as being rather ordinary. Tom Allom's glossy production stifles the speedy tracks, and "United" is one of the dumbest songs they've ever recorded. In fact, I've always preferred Hell Bent For Leather and Point of Entry. But it's by no means a bad record, and it's nice to see it repackaged here, even as oddly packaged as it is. My review goes into it in more detail, but what they've basically done is made the live DVD the focal point and the actual album more like a bonus toss-in. Not only that, but it's exactly like the 2001 remaster, so if you already have that reissue, your only reason for buying this is for the DVD. Luckily, the DVD is excellent, a complete live performance from last summer's tour, where they played British Steel in its entirety. And "Freewheel Burning". I've always been nuts about "Freewheel Burning", and would flip if I ever got to see them play that one live. "LookbeforeyouleaphasneverbeenthewaywekeepourroadisFREE! ChargingtothetopAndnevergiveinneverstopsthewaytoBAY!" Anyway, as I've said, if you have the 2001 reissue, you'll want this for the DVD, if you don't own the album, this is the one to get. Oh, and as for the 8 rating, that's overall, for the whole package. I'd give the actual album a 7.
I also reviewed the new album by Misery Index. It was weird, during the Bush Administration's reign of terror it was the perfect time for some good protest music, but despite the efforts of some good folks, the idea never really took off. Especially in metal...sure there was the usual moaning and groaning about the usual vague topics, but few pointed diatribes. Misery Index, though, is an exception. They're a very politically aware band, and not only do they put out some of the best death/grind you'll hear, but their lyrics are always interesting. And Heirs to Thievery is no exception, an album that's as face-melting as it is thought-provoking. I highly recommend it. Hopefully they come around here again...I need a new shirt, I've been wearing the one I have for four years now.
Over on the DVD side, I also have a review of the awesome new release by Clutch. I'm always a sucker for Clutch, I think they've become one of the best rock bands in America today, and what better way to celebrate an amazing live band than putting out a killer live DVD? While I think they're at their best doing their notoriously unpredictable setlists, it's really cool seeing them perform their 1995 self-titled album in its entirety. I'd even go as far to say that I'd rather hear these 2009 performances of the Clutch album than the original, simply because the band brings so many different variables to the music now than they did 15 years ago. They've improved as musicians that much...I actually find their last four albums more interesting than their previous four, good as those ones are. Anyway, if you dig this band like I do, you need this DVD.
At Hellbound, which is one year old, I might add, I whipped up a quick review of the two new Rush songs that came out on Tuesday, "Caravan" and "BU2B". It actually turned into a pretty good write-up I think...there aren't many bands that could compel me to write 600 words about two songs, but Rush is one of them! At any rate, both songs are really, really good, continuing right where Snakes and Arrows left off, which certainly bodes well for the actual album, which comes out about a year from now.
On a side note, I'll be seeing the long, long-awaited Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage on the 11th. Speaking of which, I'd better go get my ticket asap!
Ever since it was announced a couple years ago (or was it more?), I was very excited at the prospect of a 33 1/3 book about Pavement's classic 1995 album Wowee Zowee. It finally came out recently, and I read it a couple weeks ago. And ten, 20 pages in, I was less than impressed, as the author dwelled on and on about his post-college days. When I read a 33 1/3 book, I want to learn about the album, not the life of the author (I prefer the approaches Zeth Lundy and Bill Janovitz took)...a little memoir for context is okay, but this book was veering toward overkill. When it did focus on the actual album, it was presented in a frustratingly sloppy way. He'd go into all these 'meta' tales about the writing of the book and basically post transcriptions of his phone interviews. The thing was a gigantic mess. But you know what? I thought Wowee Zowee was a gigantic mess when it first came out, I was one of those who were a little disappointed it didn't follow the example the band's seminal first two albums set. But it grew on me just like it did for the author. So not only could I relate to his self-indulgent memoir, but the structure of the book actually complements the album surprisingly well. And in the end I did learn a lot about this wonderful, confounding album. It's a worthy entry in the book series, a fun read.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
There's a lot of stuff to mention this week, but I'll keep things simple today, because this is a biggie. My 49th installment of Blood & Thunder is up over at PopMatters, which focuses on one Blake Judd, the madman visionary behind two of the year's finest metal albums, Nachtmystium's Addicts: Black Meddle Part 2 and Twilight's Monument to Time End. I'd read articles about Judd in past years, but had never interviewed the guy, so I didn't know what to expect when I called him a few weeks ago. It turns out he's a really nice guy, and quite the motormouth. We had a very entertaining 45 minute chat, and I was left with a mother lode of quotes. So many, in fact, that I had to ditch about half of them. But that's what blogs are good for, so I'll take this opportunity to post some of the better leftovers here. The excellent Twilight record is out now at Southern Lord, while Addicts, which is the best metal album if the year thus far, comes out in two weeks.
***
On producer/collaborator Sanford Parker:
Blake Judd: Sanford Parker is just in a fucking stride right now, every record that guy makes…I'll check out bands I've never heard just to see what Sanford has done this time. He's so good at what he does, I think he's taking on more of a role as a producer, not even intentionally and not being hired as one, but he knows his gear so well, and he's starting to really develop his own kind of brand identity. I think of him as a young Steve Albini almost, where it doesn't matter what band you are, you can tell, his stamp is on those records. It was great working with those guys, and I'm totally satisfied with the way both of those records turned out.
He's a busy guy, and that's why we can never get him to tour with us. He's constantly got shit booked up for studio time at Volume. Which is great, he's making a hell of a lot more money doing that than he would be running around the country with us playing fucking keyboards every night and hitting the little venues.
I wouldn't say that Nachtmystium couldn't make a good record without Sanford Parker, because we did quite a few records that I liked and other people seem to enjoy as well without him. But at this point it's kind of effortless working with him, whereas I might have to go in with somebody else who has all the same equipment available, but they're not going to have that kind of instinctual directionary impulse that Sanford has, where he's like, 'Man, I know exactly what you're trying to do here and I have this idea.' I'll always sit down for a half hour, and Sanford's like, 'I have an idea, let me fuck around for a little bit an see if I can make this work.' He might not be able to explain to me exactly what he's going to try to do, but I'll always take time out from what we're doing and go, 'You have an idea? Let's hear it, man.' Because nine out of ten of his ideas are pretty fucking good and often times wind up being part of whatever we're working on.
Seeing that Assassins was titled Black Meddle Part 1, did you have Part 2 planned out well in advance?
When Nachtmystium signed to Century Media and Candlelight, we were only under contract for two records. We didn't know if we would wind up staying there or not, and probably expected at the time that we wouldn't since we've always jumped around from label to label, worked with different people all the time to see what different companies could do for us. Our producer Chris Black and myself were talking about it, he was, 'Why don't we make these two records cohesive in some way, we'll figure out how once we're in the creative process, but we'll call 'em part one and part two and that'll be our Century Media years or whatever.' That was kind of the initial idea, it wasn't really planned out to be some grandiose, artistic, fucking pretentious thing or some shit like that. [laughs] But we've connected the two more in themes and in lyrics versus the music.
I think everybody might have been expecting us to come out with another real psychedelic, Pink Floyd-inspired record because of the part one and part two thing, and also because Assassins did really well, significantly better than any record we'd ever made before. I thought that would have been very predictable, had we gone into the studio on this one and just kicked out another Assassins. It would have been really easy to do too, honestly. We did it once, I'm sure we could do it again in that style. We wanted to challenge our listeners and surprise people a little bit, like this is another trick that we have that we didn't do pretty well, so check this one out and see what you think. We just connected the two mostly through the lyrics and the themes, things like that. The artwork is somewhat similar as well, it's kind of a continuation of the first cover, which is animated as you know, and then this new one is actual photography. The head on the front of it is a sculpture, it's not a doctored-up, photoshopped photograph or anything. It came out really good, I like it.
On the much-discussed Killing Joke influence on the new album:
That's just what I've been listening to, man. It's just like any other record of ours, it's pretty reflective of what we've been getting into at the time. I've been listening to a lot of Killing Joke, Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss, pretty much anything Josh Homme is involved in. 'Ghosts of grace' on Assassins is definitely me trying to write a black metal Queens of the Stone Age song, so we tried to continue on and incorporate some more of that driving, tambourine-driven rock. Like garage rock style stuff.
The one that's captivated me the most is Hosannas from the Basements of Hell, which is their more recent record. That's the first one I've heard. Sanford actually played it for me when we were getting ready to record Assassins, the night before we went into the studio. We were loading everything in and he pulled me into the control room and was like, 'Hey man, listen to this. This is what I want your record to sound like production-wise.' What he was going to try to imitate on that record. That album has a great recording, it's real slick but it's still got some grit to it. I was obviously like, 'Okay cool, I get what you're saying, but who the fuck is this band? This is awesome.' And of course I had heard of Killing Joke but they were just one of those bands that I never got into. They fall into a category of bands like Helmet. I recently had some friends say, 'You ever get into fucking Helmet back in the day?' And I'd be like, no, I remember them being around and all my friends liking them, it's just a band I never really checked out. So both of those bands, I'm digging into their catalogs now, and it's pretty cool. It’s like having a wealth of music from 20 years ago that I missed the boat on.
On Collaborating with Wrest of Leviathan:
We work really well together too. That Twilight record, that was the easiest album I ever made in my life, just because it’s a group of people I've worked with so much over the years and know so well personally. It was a situation where we'd be showing each other parts for songs and we wouldn't even have to talk, we would just think, 'Okay, that's what happens there, of course you knew to do that already, we don't even have to tell you.' We were all on the same wavelength creatively I think. It was the same story for this record, and I'm so happy that I asked him to be involved and that he was willing to do it. And he's really happy with the record too, which is cool because he's notorious for not being totally satisfied with his albums after he's done. [laughs] He can always pick them apart, and he really seems to like [Addicts] and the Twilight album.
Can you explain the Addicts intro, 'nothing hurts more than being born'?
Chris Black made that intro for us. I always give him a little room to get creative with intros and outros. He did the piano track in the middle of Assassins, on 'Your True Enemy'. I just asked him if he was going to include any lyrics or anything that fits with the record. I can't say exactly what he's referencing because I didn't write it myself, but when he explained it to me, the little that he did, it seemed to make sense. Being born opens up the opportunities to destroy your own life. Without birth there is no potential for failure or suffering.
It feels like you're having so much fun exploring new sounds these days…do you still find it gratifying to just hammer out more straightforward black metal songs, or are you growing bored with that?
I like to do it once in a while. I think 'High on Hate''s a good example of that, it's about as black metal as it gets. Those songs are really fun to play live, and it really reconnects me with the roots of this band. I think I can write those style of songs pretty well, so when I decide to do it I'm generally pretty pleased with the outcome. I'm never going to deny that's where we come from at all, and throwing that in there every once in a while to be like, we still do this, we still connect with this, and we can connect this raw, aggressive black metal song to this completely poppy song. I don't think it interrupts the albums at all. I think you'll continue to hear other elements of that as long as we're a band.
Friday, May 21, 2010
I won't deny it, a big reason why I was and still am an enormous fan of Harvey Milk's masterful Life...The Best Game in Town is because it was so darn bold. I loved how it teased listeners, walking the tightrope between conventional songwriting and crushing sludge. It was one of the most pop-savvy metal albums I have ever heard, if that makes sense, and if there's one thing I'm a total sucker for, it's heavy music that likes to think outside the box, music that's not afraid to try new things, and that album was as unique and adventurous as it got. However, I knew full well that the classic Harvey Milk, the band that won over listeners in the late 90s and early last decade, specialized in pure ugliness, and it would only be a matter of time before they went back to that core sound. What i didn't expect was the way the band would go about doing it on their new album. They crank up the ugliness, the misery, the despair to an exponential degree on A Small Turn of Human Kindness, a backwoods sludge metal murder ballad-slash-rock opera. A simple, poetic narrative told over the course of a little over 35 minutes, it's stark, minimalist, and unbelievably sad. Certainly not the easiest thing to listen to, but in a way it's just as experimental as Life was, only in the complete opposite direction. It won't be my album of the year, but I still admire it greatly, and I was more than happy to write a review for PopMatters. By all means give this album a listen, but don't expect to feel very sprightly afterwards. It's a gut-wrencher.
On a much happier note, on Tuesday night I headed out to Louis' over on the university campus (the first show I've seen there in years, as it happens) to catch 3 Inches of Blood and Goatwhore. Those are two bands I love to see live, and they certainly make an effort to play this part of the country several times in a tour cycle. I last saw 3 Inches of Blood last fall and Goatwhore last summer. I was all set to see Goatwhore and Bison back in February, but of all the dumb luck that show fell on the same night as the Olympic men's hockey semifinals, so there was no way I was going out. But Goatwhore plays Saskatchewan so much they should buy houses here, and lo and behold, they returned yet again.
One thing I really like about Goatwhore is they're so darn professional. Want an interview done? Cool, they'll be ready for you on time and provide some thoughtful, friendly answers. Got a guest list spot arranged with the label? No sweat, they'll make sure you're on it. Want merch? They'll sell it at a fair price. And most impressively, they do changeovers more efficiently than anyone. After Vancouver band Savannah played a rather unmemorable set and got their gear off the stage, the Goatwhore guys got going, and man, were they swift. I just sat watching them get ready, it was amazing. Everybody chipping in and lugging stuff, plug in, line check, monitor check, boom, done in less than 15 minutes and we're off to the races. No phoneybaloney leaving the stage, playing dramatic entrance music, and posing away, just get ready and play. As someone who's used to going to shows alone, quick changeovers are wonderful things. Unlike Saturday at Fucked Up's show, where the second last band took FOREVER to set up and get offstage. A punk band. With a tiny trap kit, guitars, no pedals. Total hacks. It was agonizing to witness. Anyway, Goatwhore came, and Goatwhore slayed yet again, playing a crisp 50 minute set of their blue-collar, Celtic Frosty black metal. I can't remember the entire setlist, but they started with "The All Destroying", and also played "Carving Out the Eyes of God", "Shadow of a Rising Knife", "In Legions I am Wars of Wrath", "Alchemy of the Blood Sun Cult", "In the Narrow Confines of Defilement", oldie "Sky Inferno", and ended with a raucous performance of the great "Apocalyptic Havoc". There were a couple others, I think, but for the life of me I can't recall what they were. It was a terrific set by a band that now has a solid fanbase in this part of the country.
3 Inches of Blood was as solid as ever. With four albums behind them they now have a pretty deep back catalogue of music to draw from, and it was very cool to see them mix up the setlist the way they did. They made a lot of people happy by playing some older stuff, including "Ride Darkhorse Ride" and the ever-popular "Destroy the Orcs", but I was happy to hear some newer material like "Call of the Hammer", "Rock in Hell", "Snake Fighter", and "The Preacher's Daughter", which despite never being played last time here has turned into quite the fan favourite, it went over huge. It's wonderful to have a traditional metal show like this to go see, I never tire of this band, every time I see them it takes me back to the mid-80s when the rowdiest a crowd got was pumping their fists. No pushing each other around like morons like the kids do today. Singer Cam Pipes was in fine form on this night...I like watching people's reactions the first time he lets loose his falsetto, the smiles are wide, not in a "this is so ridiculous" way, but "this is so cool!" It was nothnig but a fun vibe at this show, and after they played "Deadly Sinners" for the bazillionth time (I will never tire of that tune) I was so glad I was able to make it out to this show. There's nothing like some good trad metal to put you in a good mood, and both bands delivered mightily. Here's 3IOB's setlist:
Battles and Brotherhood
Silent Killer
Ride Darkhorse Ride
Forest King
Demon's Blade
Call of the Hammer
Wykydtron
Rock in Hell
Trial of Champions
Destroy the Orcs
Snakefighter
Night Marauders
Encore:
Preacher's Daughter
Deadly Sinners
The Goatriders Horde
If you haven't seen Goldfrapp's new video for "Alive", do so at once. Not only is it a snazzy clip for a great little song, but it's the most hilarious send-up of black metal I have ever seen. Alison Goldfrapp never takes herself too seriously, but unlike other artists, she resists the temptation to wink at the audience and just plays it straight-faced. Which is the best way to do it. With her gold fangs and glittery blood she just might have invented a new term: tr00 gl4m kvlt!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
By now you probably know that the mighty Ronnie James Dio passed away early Sunday morning. The internet has been abuzz, tributes pouring in from fans and peers alike, and for good reason. The man was a metal giant. An icon. There is just a small handful of living individuals who fit that bill (off the top of my head, Ozzy, Iommi, Lemmy, Halford), and because the genre of heavy metal is so young and they're still making music today, we've come to consider these artists to be ageless. Dio had cancer, we all knew that, but somehow we expected him to "slay that dragon" as his wife Wendy put it. After all, he sounded as indomitable as ever on his recent tours with Heaven and Hell. But no, Ronnie James Dio was mortal after all, and his death came truly shocked the metal community to its core. Many metal figures have died in the past, but those were all at relatively young ages, so the image of the tragic hero has been foisted upon the likes of Rhoads, Schuldiner, Dimebag, et cetera. Yes, cancer got Dio, but 67 years old you'd have to think his age had somethnig to do with his vulnerability to the disease, so I suppose you could consider this to be metal's very first significant death of old age. And that gets to anyone who's into metal...as vibrant as the music is, we're all not getting any older. Lemmy is going to be 65. Tony Iommi is 62, Ozzy 61. Rob Halford is 58. The members of Iron Maiden are all in their 50s. Metallica and Slayer are in their late 40s. Heck, as a fan I turn 40 this year. Life is fleeting, even for metalheads.
Dio's passing was so significant that I couldn't let it go by without writing a proper tribute of my own, so I spent all of Sunday afternoon and evening piecing together what I hope is a dignified piece. And thanks to Sarah my good editor at PopMatters, we were able to get it published first thing Monday, so if you haven't seen it, by all means give it a read. The feedback I've gotten on it so far has been tremendous, which I really appreciate. But it's not about me, it's about the man and his music, and man oh man, did he ever make a lot of great music. He was in the business for more than 50 years, and didn't start singing true heavy metal until the age of 32, which is mind-boggling.
I wanted to keep myself out of the article and focus on Dio's career, offering a critical perspective of his body of work. But since this blog is meant for self-absorbed rants, I might as well put something down here. I didn't get into Dio until 1984 when I saw "The Last in Line" on Friday Night Videos, that silly video with the goofy kid riding the bike with the basket. He was awesome, it was clear. That voice was something else. However, unlike Maiden, Metallica, or W.A.S.P. I didn't become a hardcore fan of his. Instead, like the rest of my headbanger peers, we respected the music greatly. I listened to those songs, the singles especially, a ton during the mid-80s, from "Neon Knights" to "Hungry For Heaven". He toured Canada, but not thoroughly, so he never hit my part of the world, and consequently that artist-to-fan connection was never quite there. It wasn't until the late-90s that I started exploring his music more, gradually going back in time, to his Black Sabbath albums, to his wonderful records with Rainbow. The critical moment was when I found out just how GREAT an album Rainbow's Rising was...when I heard him simply dominate "A Light in the Black" and especially the timeless "Stargazer", that was when his greatness was hammered home. By the time I finally got the chance to see and hear Dio live in 2007 at the start of the Heaven and Hell tour, it was the perfect time, I was a lot more appreciative of the man's legacy than I was 25 years ago, and I think I enjoyed the experience a whole lot more as a result. He sounded phenomenal, a consummate showman, and though his hair was thinning and wrinkles were visible, he indeed seemed ageless. We had every right to believe we'd get another chance to see him perform again. Sadly that's not the case, but I'm ever thankful for getting that one chance. They say that life's a carousel, spinning fast, you've got to ride it well..and Ronnie James Dio rode it better than anyone. He'll be forever missed.
For the record, here are my ten favourite songs that feature Dio:
1. "Stargazer"
2. "Heaven and Hell"
3. "We Rock"
4. "A Light in the Black"
5. "Holy Diver"
6. "Neon Knights"
7. "Tarot Woman"
8. "The Last in Line"
9. "The Sign of the Southern Cross"
10. "Voodoo"
Okay, back to the present. Exodus has a new album. Five years ago I wouldn't have cared too much, they hadn't put out anything really exciting since Fabulous Disaster in 1989, and re-starting with a new lead singer in the unknown Rob Dukes just didn't feel right to this old fogey. But a funny thing happened along the way, Dukes started to settle into his role as frontman and the band started putting out some reliably good music again. The new album is no exception...in fact it's pretty darn great at times. Gary Holt is still dishing out the classic thrash riffs, the songs are for the most part catchy (which has always been a strength of Exodus), and Dukes puts in his best vocal performance to date. At 74 minutes it's a very tough slog, and there are a couple of throwaways, but strong stuff like The Ballad of Leonard and Charles" and "Class Dismissed (A Hate Primer)" are their best songs in years and years. My review is up today at PopMatters...if you love the old school thrash, you know you need to hear this one.
Over at Hellbound I review the new album by Swedish death dudes Laethora. They're a band led by Dark Tranquillity guitarist Niklas Sundin, focusing on a much more aggressive sound than his main band, and I really enjoyed their first one a few years ago. This new album is even better, the production is punchier and the songwriting is much more cohesive, even dipping into d-beat hardcore from time to time. It sounds like the work of a fully formed band this time as opposed to just another side project by a famous guy who wants to get back in touch with his musical roots. It's great stuff.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Even though Saskatoon is one of the better indie rock cities in the country, and even though punk and hardcore is a better draw than underground metal here, it's astonishing that Canada's great Fucked Up had never played a show here. That's just not right. Needless to say I've been waiting a long, long time for this band to play their first show here, and when they announced their show at Amigos I wasted no time getting my ticket. And at , this show wound up giving people more bang for their buck than any big arena show.
The band has always had a reputation for being rather unpredictable at shows, thanks in large part to the inimitable Damian "Pink Eyes" Abraham, and with this show being in the cozy confines of Amigos, with its tiny stage, rows of tables, limited floor space, and 230 capacity, mayhem was bound to ensue. And that it most certainly did...
I arrived intentionally late, at 11:30, because I didn't have any inclination to see the opening bands and I didn't want to waste time and energy with so much writing to do this weekend. Anyway, it was good I waited as long as I did before going there, because the first band was just packing their gear when I got there. The second band played an inconsequential set of straight-ahead punk, and after a 20 minute change-over Fucked Up unceremoniously started playing around 12:40, launching into the rip-roaring "Son the Father" from my 2008 album of the year, The Chemistry of Common Life. The place wasn't sold out (I thought it would be), but the crowd was big and lively, as was Abraham, who doffed the shirt before the second song, spending the rest oft he night performing in all his beer gutted, hairy-backed glory. At one point he walked along he tables on one side of the room while singing, something you rarely see at such a laid-back venue. He's great at engaging crowds, playing up the hardcore camaraderie shtick, letting people shout along into the microphone, slapping hands, etc. But it never seemed contrived, it feels genuine coming from this band. While Abraham was as magnetic as expected, the five other members of the band were phenomenal. While the big dude goes nuts, the others settle in and launch into some incredibly tight grooves, be they double-time speed or straight-up d-beats. The rhythm section of bassist Sandy Miranda and drummer Jonah Falco is especially impressive, they keep everything from flying off the rails, the beats taut, the basslines surprisingly melodic.
As for the songs played, I can't remember everything, but one thing is certain: every song from Hidden World killed. "Crusades", "David Comes to Life", "Invisible Leader", "Baiting the Public", "Two Snakes", they all blazed with intensity, so much more cathartic than on record. It was unreal. As for any Chemistry material, the only song other than "Son the Father" that was performed was "Black Albino Bones". As for their non-album material, there are dozens and dozens of songs in their discography, and the only ones I can remember offhand are "I Hate Summer" and the incendiary "Police". There were about three I couldn't place. After a wicked cover of the Sex Pistols' "Bodies" and the aforementioned "Police", they were jsut going to end things there, they're clearly not ones for somethnig as cheesy as an encore, but the crowd was so great (even stage-diving off the comically low foot-high stage...plus at one point a girl beside me decided to stand on a table only to fall off it in spectacular fashion) Abraham dragged everyone back onstage to play a rousing cover of the Ramones "Blitzkrieg Bop". Prefacing it by saying, "This is a song by the greatest band to ever come out of New York...and I'm not talknig about the Rapture," it brought the house down. These days the song is so ubiquitous that it's easy to get tired of it, but they played it with such sincerity, it was easy to give into the now-cliche lines on a completely unironic level. Hey ho, let's go indeed.
A funny footnote, I received more positive comments on this night about my Lester Bangs t-shirt than I ever have, including Abraham, who stopped me and gave me kudos, and it wasn't until I'd left that I realized that the "freedom or death" slogan is actually a line from Fucked Up's "Generation". I didn't even make the connection at all when I put it on earlier yesterday. So there you go, I had no idea just how cool and appropriate my attire was for this show. Also, you've got to love this band when it comes to merch. They are fully aware that you can sell more shirts and CDs than you can shirts...and I never pass down good cheap band merch, especially when a) they're brilliant musically, and b) they're some of the nicest people you'll meet. So I picked up a snazzy t with all their 7" singles printed on it, A-sides on the front, B-sides on the back. Anyway, it was great to see the band so warmly received (Abraham said he spent 0 buying records at our fine stores today), and here's hoping they'll be back soon. Don't ever miss a chance to see this great band.
Friday, May 14, 2010
The new Decibel magazine is out, the June issue I believe, and I have a number of pieces in it. First of all, and one that is not online, is my studio report on Torche. It was funny, we all thought we'd be getting an update on the making of their third album, which a lot of people, yours truly included, are very, very excited to hear. So I gave bassist Jon Nunez a call, and he proceeds to drop a bombshell...they're in the studio, alright, but there won't be a proper album, only a seven song, 20 minute EP. Uh, okay. Thanks for that after we've committed a 3/4 page article to your band. But that's alright, any new music from Torche is always a good thing. And the whole interview made for a good little article, so go pick up a copy of the issue and give 'er a read.
As for reviews, there are a few that have appeared in annoyingly truncated form online. First off, I review the new album by Lair of the Minotaur, and I won't mince words, I am just nuts about this one. I've always dug these guys, they're one of the more fun "battle metal" bands around, their albums always consistently good, but there's somethnig about Evil Power that really strikes a chord with me. The band's approach has always been a touch on the primitive side, but their sound is even more stripped down than usual on this one, going for a sound that totally evokes pre-1984 metal. You've got NWOBHM aggression, proto-thrash, the epic influence of Hellhammer and early Celtic Frost, the classic metal of Maiden and Priest, and the hardcore punk of the Misfits and Discharge. As Steve Rathbone told me a few weeks ago (more on that article soon enough), this is a total party album, meant to sound like a victory celebration after the bloody War Metal Battle Master. Simple, catchy riffs, loads and loads of shout-along choruses, and some suitably crushing production courtesy Sanford Parker. It's a total blast and I'm not sick of this album yet...in fact I wouldn't be surprised if this makes my 2010 favourite metal albums list come fall. And if you haven't seen the ultra-violent, NSFW video for "Evil Power", do so now.
One band that's really grown on me is Ohio band Woe of Tyrants. One of my last assignments for Metal Edge before it was tragically shuttered was to interview these guys, and at the time I thought that the music seemed promising enough, but it didn't exactly knock me out. However, it soon became apparent that these youngsters have a knack for melody in extreme metal that so very few bands their age have, tossing in power metal flash amidst technical death metal. And their new album really starts to deliver on that initial promise...it's a bit on the busy side, so it takes a few listens to digest, but wow, these kids can play, and their songwriting is really starting to show some glimpses of greatness. Anyway, I gave the album a pretty good write-up, and if you like the slicker, more technical side of extreme music, you might want to give this album a listen.
Last and certainly not least is the stupendous Addicts: Black Meddle Part 2 by the adventurous and always great Nachtmystium.It knocked me out the first time I heard it, and I've played it countless times since. It's definitely the best metal album I've heard so far this year, and has a good chance of being at or near the top of my overall list of faves. Its two key tracks, "Nightfall" and "No Funeral", have surfaced, and without question those are the two go-to tracks on the album, a total shock especially when heard right after the pure black metal of "High on Hate". Later on in the album "Blood Trance Fusion" is one of the second half's highlights, I really dig all the mad scientists blips and bleeps that go with that mechanical Ministry beat. The band liked my review and have posted it in its entirety, which was nice of them. Incidentally, I had a terrific conversation with frontman/visionary Blake Judd last week, and that interview will be the focus of this month's Blood & Thunder column, so watch for that in the next couple weeks. And you can bet I'll be posting some cool quotes that didn't make it into the gigantic, 3000 word article.
With Polaris long list ballots due soon, I've been trying to catch up in the Canadian music department, and one album that's knocked me out is the new CD by Hannah Georgas. She's the first in what will likely be a post-BSS wave of female singer-songwriters influenced by the likes of Emily Haines, Feist, and Amy Millan, and This is Good is an absolute charmer, especially this song. Considering that Polaris has a bit of a proclivity towards singer-songwriters (which I find frustrating), I would say she has a good shot at making the long list, if not the short list as well. Anyway, she's playing at Amigos tonight and I'd really like to go, but I'm busy, I'll be tired, plus there's the huge Fucked Up show tomorrow night at the same place that's going to tear the roof off the joint, so I'll probably save my energy. But this artist is going to be big, just watch.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
It's been a busy time these days with too many distractions to boot. The usual interviews and reviews, as well as some very interesting new music either hitting stores or arriving in the mail, the greatest playoff fun by the Canadiens since 1993 (and we all know what happened that year!), and on top of that a pretty darn big business trip in less than a month. Well, "big" is an understatement. But more on that in the coming weeks.
So now that the Habs have rebounded from a frustratingly wishy-washy, injury riddled season and have done away with Ovie and the Capitals and Sid and the Penguins, earning themselves a crucial three days off after 14 games in 28 days, I can set my hockey fandom aside for a bit here, take a breather, and focus on this page a little bit. Which includes plugging some writing. So here we go...
As I've said here and elsewhere, I adore the new Alcest album, but after reviewing it for Decibel a few months ago I still felt like I had to write about it in greater detail. So I took a different approach and put together a piece for PopMatters as well, which you can read here. The album continues to sound as strong as when I first heard it way back when, and I find it amazing how a record can sound so much darker than the pastoral and innocent Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde yet sound so much more refined. The production, the arrangements, Neige's singing voice, everything sounds stronger on the new CD. Will it be my album of the year like Souvenirs was three years ago? I doubt it. That one had a special X-factor that was impeccably timed, and as much as I love this one the emotional attachment won't be as overwhelming. Top ten, though? You can count on it.
As I Lay Dying has always bugged me. Here's a band that is insanely popular with the metal kiddies, yet they don't have an ounce of creativity. Their music is boring, their vocalist is boring, and ye gods, their live show is boring. I don't ever want to endure one of their sets ever again, it's just a complete waste of time. Though I'm familiar with their albums, they only have one song that I can identify from memory (okay, there's this one too, but I hate that song). The rest is just metalcore by numbers: screamy-screamy, twiddly-widdly, chuggy-wuggy. So you can imagine my surprise when their new album turned out to be rather engaging. There's no change to the formula whatsoever, but this time they actually sound comfortable. The riffs are catchier, they toss out the twin harmonies and melodies with the confidence of a veteran band, and the melodic vocals are the strongest they've ever sounded. Sure, Tim Lambesis still sounds as devoid of charisma as ever, but three out of four ain't bad. And these new songs aren't bad either, good enough to compel me to give The Powerless Rise a mild, politely positive recommendation. It's still inconsistent, but for once it sounds like these guys are on the right track. There might be hope for them yet.
At the other end of the spectrum is Jucifer, who are always awesome. I've really grown to love this band over the years, and their new album Throned in Blood is quite the shocker. Usually there's a clear divide between Jucifer the album artist and Jucifer the live band...their albums are always open to exploration within heavy music, displaying a lot of nuance, but their live shows are completely the opposite, a massive, hyper-amplified exhibition of sonic catharsis. With this record, though, we hear Amber and Edgar trying to truly translate that live sound on to record, and although I was initially disappointed there wasn't any of the slinky melodic fare that they do so well, it's still a very strong, very good piece of work, the songs at times echoing the likes of Darkthrone and Hellhammer. In other words, pretty darn intense. Go give my review a look-see, and check this sucker out, it'll floor you.
I'll try to stay on the ball and post some more tomorrow!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
As you know, I'm big into Alcest and pretty much whatever music Neige is putting out for that matter, but for all the attention he's been getting with his projects, it's time to give his former Amesoeurs bandmate Fursy Teyssier his due as well. The two guys are longtime best friends (Teyssier has been playing second guitar on Alcest's first tour, which ended recently), and they've always complemented each other very well on record in the past, and as his new band les Discrets shows us, Teyssier is perfectly capable of fronting a band of his own. I first learned of Les Discrets when I interviewed him early last year for my Amesoeurs feature and I really liked what I heard, not to mention the split CD with Alcest that came out late last year, but Septembre et ses Dernieres Pensees sounds even more confident than I'd expected. It mines the same territory that Agalloch does, and at times it approaches that band's greatness, but for the most part Teyssier keeps things relatively close to the vest, and while the music gets predictable, it's clear this band has its own sound, and it certainly won't be long before they put out something truly transcendent. In the meantime, though, we have a wonderful debut album that is well worth listening to. So by all means, read my review and go hunt this record down.
Also over at PopMatters I review the second album by Vancouver faves Bison BC. I was supposed to go see them back in February when they were touring with Shadows Fall and Goatwhore, so I could so a little write-up for this blog, but the show fell on the same night as the Olympic men's hockey semi-finals. Needless to say there was no way I was going to miss that game, so the show had to be sacrificed. Which was a shame, because I missed Bison playing the terrific new song "Stressed Elephant", which kicks off Dark Ages on a rousing, triumphant note. The album doesn't waver from the formula set on Bison's first two albums, only this time around everything is done a lot better, thrashy sludge mixed with crust punk with catchy vocals and progressive touches. Sure, it's a Mastodon/High on Fire knock-off, but these guys do it extremely well. And I'm sure they'll be rolling through my city a couple more times this year with a trail of empty beer bottles coming from their battered van.
One band that I'd been wanting to see for years but never got a chance to was Canadian indie darlings the Besnard Lakes. I loved their 2007 album Are the Dark Horse, as did many other people, but strangely enough they didn't play a single show in Saskatoon. They went to Regina, which is very weird because a) Regina's more of a metal/hard rock town and b) indie rock draws very well here, but nope, despite having one of the best indie venues in the country, the band totally skipped us. So it goes without saying that a lot of people were anxious to see the Besnard Lakes in person, the anticipation heightened by the masterful Are the Roaring Night, which if you ask me is one of the best albums of the year so far. And it was a good thing I got my ticket for Friday's show a month early, because it was sold out, the most jam-packed I've seen Amigos since Broken Social Scene in 2005. The constant rain forced everyone inside, and it was wall to wall people, making for an extremely humid room, water dripping from the ceiling due to the condensation. Not particularly excited to see the two opening bands, I got there just as Hollerado was winding up a rockin' little set, and after quickly snagging an LP copy of the new album and running it back to the car (this band is meant to be heard on vinyl) I squeezed my way back in and secured a good vantage point for the headlinders. At Amigos the stage is only a foot or so high, so if you want to see anything you have to get right up there close to the stage, and even though the changeover had just started, there were already nerds like yours truly staking out spots (which is a very rare thing for such a laid-back venue). Anyway, the band went on at about 12:15 AM, smoke machine on full blast, amps turned way up high, and they practically blew the roof off the place with their sumptuous blend of Beach Boys vocals, progressive rock tones, and deafening shoegaze. For a band that balances the delicate with the crushing as the Besnard Lakes do, the sound mix was impeccable, the guitars deafening (thank goodness I'd remembered my earplugs!) but the vocal mikes very prominent in the mix. Even bassist Olga Goreas (who is so small she could be knocked over by her own bass tone) could be heard clearly, which is a rare thing...soft female voices rarely sound good under loud guitars live. Their setlist leaned heavily on the new material, as the band played all but one of the new album's songs. Opener "Like the Ocean, Like the Innocent" was outstanding, "Chicago Train" and "Albatross" were gorgeous, "Land of Living Skies" got a big cheer from the crowd when Olga sang the line (it's our province's license plate slogan), and "And This is What We Call Progress" sounded so much more intense than on record. As for older stuff, "Disaster", "For Agent 13", "And You Lied to Me", and the cool "Devastation" were the Dark Horse selections, while the encore tune "Thomasina" was the only track from their first album. It was a tremendous 90 minute set, and we all staggered out of the sweaty club thankful for fresh air. Here are some photos from the show.
One slight criticism of the band I have is that they shouldn't be so genial between songs. After those majestic, soaring songs of theirs they turn into your typical friendly indie rock band and do the witty stage banter, band members trading one-liners. Which is okay, it's cute and endearing, it shows that they're nice people. But as someone who covers metal and heavy music, it's a better idea to play up the mystique that their music creates. it's big, it's grandiose, it's seductive and mysterious, and you should play it straight-faced. get stoic onstage, go up there and destroy the crowd with the heavy riffs and dulcet vocals. Let the New Pornographers be funny onstage; there's no real need for that with the Besnard Lakes.
