Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Trying to recharge a little bit these days before what will be a really busy week next week. I should try to get the cool Matthew Sweet reissue taken care of today...
More new reviews, as usual! Back on Friday, my piece on the new CD by Strapping Young Lad appeared. SYL is a band I find absolutely impossible to dislike...everything about them is fun, from the music, to Devin Townsend's demented sense of humour, to the live shows, which are second to none. The new album is an improvement on last year's Alien which, despite being good, was a bit on the dark side. The New Black, on the other hand, is a total blast, highlighted by the phenomenal "Far Beyond Metal". Read the review, download "You Suck", watch the video for "Wrong Side", and go buy the CD.
And speaking of CDs you should buy, the new Motorhead does not disappoint. I've had it for a couple months now, so it was able to settle into my head, and after countless spins, it holds up very well, especially tunes like "Sucker" and "Devil I Know". Yet another new album that proves how ageless metal music truly is. It's been a good year for Lemmy and his guys, what with an awesome DVD, the three recent reissues, and now the new record.
The new Isis album is very, very, very good. Oh my, is it good. The 2006 year-end list is going to be difficult to compile, with so many good albums coming out these days.
Friday, August 25, 2006
I reviewed the new Moonspell album back in mid-July, and it's finally up at PopMatters. An excellent bit of goth metal, one that works the formula very effectively. Great production, too...I'm a sucker for the uber-slick sound that Waldemar Sorychta creates. "Luna" is a real fave of mine...I really should plunk that tune on the iRiver. You can see the video for "Finisterra" on the review page...if that song wets your whistle, you'll like the album. It should make my metal top 20 come December.
Well, well, well. Iron Maiden, you've done it again. The new album is amazing. Earlier this year, I read producer Kevin Shirley's studio blog on a regular basis, and he kept saying how smoothly the recording was going, how focused the band was, how furious the music sounded. Man, was he right...it's like what the Kerrang review says, they sound like they're on a mission in the wake of the OzzFest ugliness a year ago. A Matter of Life and Death is easily their darkest album in quite some time, not to mention their most focused. It's completely epic in scope, with lengthy songs, arrangements that range from haunting to menacing, and a recurring theme of warfare. Unlike such fiery war-related Maiden classics like "The Trooper", "Aces High", and "Where Eagles Dare", there's a contemplative nature to the songs...in fact, you won't find any of the traditional Maiden anthems here at all, nothing like recent tunes such as "Wicker Man", "Wildest Dreams", and "Rainmaker". Oddball first single "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg" was a clear indication of this album's feel. The production is raw (in fact, it wasn't mastered at all), and while Steve Harris has been criticized in the past for his choice of mixes, the no-frills sound here is most appropriate. The band sounds huge, and Bruce Dickinson is in fine form yet again, screaming and singing away as only he can do. There are no real weak moments on the record, highlights including "These Colours Don't Run", "Brighter Than a Thousand Suns", "The Longest Day", "For the Greater Good of God" (what a trio of epics!), and "Benjamin Breeg", which I'm still nuts about. I'll have a detailed review written for PopMatters next week, and hopefully it'll appear not long after the album's out on September 5th. Right now, I'd say this is a better album than Brave New World, which I loved. You can see the album's EPK (that's electronic press kit, kiddies) here.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
I wrote my review of the new Carina Round album nearly two months ago, after I'd had the CD for a couple months. The release date kept getting pushed further and further back, and I was so sick of putting off writing about it, I just got it out of the way. Well, the album (supposedly) was released yesterday, and the review went up at the same time. It's a pretty good album, but tends to suffer from a lack of identity. It kind of veers all over the place, unlike her previous album, which was killer. Still, the good outweighs the middling. Well worth a listen.
On Sunday morning, I dragged myself out of bed at the ridiculous hour of eight to get ready for a 9:00 phone interview with Hansi Kursch, lead singer of Blind Guardian, power metal band extraordinaire, and one of the most popular metal bands in all of Europe. It went well, Hansi's a cool guy, friendly, polite, and smart...but the interview was plagued by the line going dead no fewer than four times. I felt pretty awful, I was his first interview of what was to be a very busy press day for him, but he took it well, and was patient with the hassles, joking dryly, "If this keeps up, I'm going to have a very long day." Well, I came across another interview from later the same day, and whaddya know, his cell phone was acting up during every conversation. Just horrible, in a nightmarishly comic sort of way, but a bit of a relief, because I kept wondering if the bad connection had something to do with my phone. My interview will probably be the focus of my October column, so watch for it then.
For some ridiculous reason, one of the greatest box sets ever released is only .99 at Amazon. Unbelievable, especially when you consider that Chapters is still selling it for 75 bucks. In Canada, including shipping, it comes out to US. A steal. So act now.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
What better way to cap off two straight weeks of writing-related madness with an exhausting day playing with the little nieces? Nothing, I tell you.
My review of the recent Motorhead concert DVD appeared way back on Friday. The double-disc set is so good, I couldn't not give it a 9 rating, it's near perfect in every aspect: superb performance, the concert is extremely well-shot, the lighting is amazing, the editing is exuberant without being too fast, the surround mix is unreal, the commentary is hilarious, and the extras are informative and entertaining. A great memento for anyone (including yours truly), who saw the band play the exact same set on their 30th anniversary tour. I'm reviewing their new album this week, and not surprisingly, it's another good one.
i'm really enjoying Bob Dylan's gazillionth album Modern Times, but all the while, I'm left thinking, Love and Theft and Time Out of Mind did this just a little bit better. Not that this album is without its merit, it's a relaxed, loose record that's once again steeped in both blues and parlor songs, but I prefer the gorgeous atmosphere of TOOM, and especially the the bite of Love and Theft, which had such a great performance by Bob and his awesome backing band at the time. Standout tracks for me right now are "Thunder on the Mountain", "Rollin' and Tumblin'", "Workingman's Blues", and "Ain't Talkin'", which is yet another classic closing number. The blues tunes lack the bite that the previous Campbell/Sexton/Garnier/Kemper band was able to pull off, and I think I prefer "By and By" and "Moonlight" to "Beyond the Horizon" and "Spirit on the Water". Bob's previous two albums were my albums of the year in 1997 and 2001, but although Modern Times won't get top my 2006 list, it's still a wonderful album by the greatest songwriter of the last 50 years.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Busy busy busy these days. It's nuts.
FINALLY, the New Pornographers are hitting Western Canada, coming to Saskatoon for the first time since 2003 on Oct. 16 at the Odeon, and hitting Edmonton for the first time in even longer the next day. If my sister wasn't cavorting in the middle of Utah raiding Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma, I'd be teasing her that she has to deal with the craptacular confines of Red's one more time.
You know, I'd be really, really, really happy if the new DJ Starscream album happens to miraculously appear in the mail today. Just sayin'. Knock on wood.
Edit: not very happy with Canada Post right now. Not happy.
Kelly Clarkson, you're adorable, and kind of cool. Metal Skool, you guys are hilarious. Dude from Yellowcard, you're a big idiot.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
It's metal day at PopMatters! Seriously, this is a first, I have a column and a lead review on the same day. The 10th installment of Blood & Thunder is up, and this month, it's my very detailed account of the big Slayer show from last month. I'm very proud of the piece. Oh, and big thanks to Sandra Sperounes of the Edmonton Journal for actually counting the steps at the Shaw Conference Centre. That climb nearly killed me after being literally clobbered by Slayer.
Also up is my big review of Agalloch's new album. I mentioned it in my mid-year report (down at the bottom of the page, kiddies), and since then, it's grown on me even more, to the point where I'd say it's one of the three best albums I've heard all year. Like the review states, they remain rooted in black metal, but the band incorporates so many different, accessible sounds, they completely transcend the genre. It's an achingly beautiful album (be sure to download the amazing "Falling Snow" using the link in the review), and judging by today's Qustionable Content, just might become a hit among indie rock hipsters, too. Hopefuly that happens...the album is too good to be ignored.
Well, Decibel's site is all updated for the month, so it's that time again to narcissistically highlight the stuff I've written. I did a little feature piece on Christian metalcore band Alove For Enemies...the guy's really nice and well-spoken (and a hockey fan, too), so that was a really easy piece to do, though he had so much interesting stuff to say I could have doubled the article's size. Their new album is a good one, some good, solid hardcore that avoids getting too preachy.
On the album reviews end, there's my little piece on the new Unearth CD. People like to slag the band for being mindless metalcore, but few bands do it as well as these guys (well, with a few exceptions, as I'll explain this week sometime), and they sound extremely tight on the new album, the production impeccable. Actually, Metal Blade asked if I could give them a quote for them to use in advertisements this summer, and at Sounds of the Underground last week, there were little pamphlets with my quotes on both Unearth and Cellador. It's a silly thing to get excited about, but it's always cool to be quoted in ads.
Also at Decibel is my review of Leaves' Eyes Legend Land EP (which is typically a mixed bag, some good, some sappy), and the new Skullflower, which I found to be a little bit of a downer. No, I'm being too kind, aside from some semi-nice moments, it was a painful thing to listen to over and over. My 5 rating is a bit on the generous side.
One thing I didn't write, but which you should read, is the article about the new cartoon Death Clock Metalocalypse. It's a series of 15 minute episodes about a death metal band called Dethklok, who are the single most influential band on the planet. They might be so popular that they're able to attract hundreds of thousands of fans to the Arctic to hear them perform a short coffee jingle, but they're not very bright, like when they have to go grocery shopping, or try to make their new album as heavy as humanly possible. It's one of the funniest cartoons I've seen in a very long time, suitable for a broad audience, but loaded with smart in-jokes for the metal crowd (the name of the supermarket is priceless). It's on Adult Swim in the States, but because we're only allowed to watch garbage Canadian content in Canada, we can't see it (yet). So we hosers have two options: 1) wait for the DVD (which I will do!), or 2) watch pirated episodes on YouTube. If you're interested in the latter option, click here. You won't regret it.
Speaking of YouTube, have you seen the video for Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Cheated Hearts" yet? No? Well, by all means, watch it. it's adorable. And be sure to catch "Metal By Numbers", a very funny video by comedian Brian Posehn, which parodies everything from DragonForce, to Megadeth, to metalcore, to black metal.
As much a fan I am of Bob Dylan, I was feeling a bit lukewarm toward the prospect of hearing his upcoming album, Modern Times. I loved his former band of Campbell/Sexton/Garnier/Receli, and when Bob overhauled the sound, playing piano instead of guitar, the music seemes to lose a little of its edge. And based on the one leaked track, "Thunder on the Road", it's much looser than most of Love and Theft...but that said, the loosy-goosey playfulness of the track is irresistible, a simple shuffling blues tune with some typically enigmatic lyrics that name check Alicia Keys for some weird reason. It's the kind of song I want to keep going for 15 minutes, and it's raised my expectations for the new record considerably.
And speaking of high expectations, I can't stop playing the new Iron Maiden single. I actually prefer the five and a half minute (Rock Club Version", it skips the tepid intro and launches into that supercool riff. It's one of the darkest Maiden tunes in quite some time, which I really like. Could metal's ageless wonders pull it off yet again? It's looking more and more like it.
And now for another plug that never fails to confuse everyone who knows me. As I always say, I have an unabashed weakness for good female-sung pop, preferably the stuff that's not popular here, and my latest popcentric addition to the iRiver is the LONG-awaited debut album by Iio. They got my attention about four years ago when I was watching BPM TV with semi-regularity (back when they had a good program director). Iio has been putting out singles for the past five years, all of them of the ace variety, and they're all present here...they're not groundbreaking, it's just simple New York house music, but the DJ dude is a good pop songwriter, and singer Nadia Ali never overdoes it. Tasteful, simple, very catchy. Don't believe me? Watch the vids for "Rapture" and At the End". I read they've broken up, but at least they leave us with an enjoyable full-length at long last.
I can't believe I haven't mentioned The Drams yet! The band features three members of the alt-country band Slobberbone, including singer/songwriter Brent Best. I actually know very little about Slobberbone (other than their phenomenal early song "(I Can Tell) Your Love is Waning"), but a good friend of mine is a huge fan of the band, and she greatly prefers the band's sound to the more upbeat power pop sound of the Drams. But in my opinion,, hearing Jubilee Dive without knowledge of Slobberbone's discography, it sounds excellent, country-tinged electric rock, sort of an amalgam of mid-80s REM, Wilco (when Jeff Tweedy wasn't moping so much), 60s Dylan, Tom Petty, the few Ryan Adams songs that don't actually suck, the more accessible side of Guided By Voices, et cetera, et cetera. Bonnaroo rock. Very comfy sounding, the upbeat songs "Truth Lies Low", "Hummalong") are all insanely catchy, the ballads ("Holy Moses", "Wonderous Life") are epic, and very, very lovely. The album goes on for a near-draining 67 minutes, but none of the songs are of the bad variety, it's consistently strong all the way through. It just might be the kind of album that sticks around long enough to make my year-end list. It's happened before! If you want to kill some time, go here and try to win a free download of the mighty fine new single "Unhinged". If you're feeling lazy, watch a performance of the same song here.
Friday, August 11, 2006
And the articles keep on coming! My little feature piece on Ontario band Protest the Hero appeared yesterday. It's my second article for PopMatters' Now Hear This section, my first since doing the one on the Ladies and Gentlemen (who have since changed their name to Small Sins) last year. PTH is a good band, and Kezia is a shockingly great album, one that balances post-hardcore, metal, and prog rock. The weird thing is, it seems like the band is just winging it, just tossing in every weird idea they can think of, and it all seems to work on the record. The piece has video clips and an MP3 link, so give the stuff a listen if you're unfamiliar with the band...you might be impressed.
I did a review for Static, too, a piece on the new Silverstein compilation. I'm slowly coming around to last year's album, but I can't say the same about this collection. There are some early EPs the fans will enjoy, but the music overall is very raw, rote, and undeveloped, and the live tracks that append the CD are awful. Okay for fans, but for the rest of us, no way.
Remember that hilarious Trivium interpretation I posted last month? Well the same dude made a sequel, using the new Trivium track "Detonation". It doesn't work quite as ingeniously because a) the're no screaming and b) the song is killer, but there are still plenty of big laughs.
I continue to be won over by Trivium's Ascendancy...I picked up the special edition the other day, and I'm just becoming more and more impressed by these guys. And to think they were 20 years old when they recorded it.
I have a column to finish, an Agalloch review to do, and a really busy Decibel-related week coming up, but hopefully I'll keep on updating. The new music continues to accumulate here! I want to tell y'all about the new Koop album, which has surfaced. And the new All That Remains album, the metalcore disc of the year so far. Hopefully tomorrow.
Wednesday, August 9, 2006
I'm getting too old for concerts, I think. Was doing fine yesterday, but hit the proverbial wall at 5:00. I was in a bleary-eyed daze for the rest of the night. Ugh.
So a quick post here. My review of Godsmack's IV (that's "4", not "intravenous", though this band could probably use one) appeared yesterday. I've always admitted I like several Godsmack songs...they're shamelessly unoriginal, but every so often a tune of theirs grabs me, in a guilty pleasure sort of way. The band is at its best when they go all out, and the new album starts off strong, but then quickly descends into self-indulgent, morose, hand-wringing post-grunge ballary. Play to your strengths, Sully, stop trying to be profound. I'm amazed at how many little kids like Godsmack. Every time I'm perusing the metal section at record stores, there's a teenager flipping through Godsmack CDs. It happened twice yesterday.
Here's a question, who would you rather pay to see, Godsmack, or Jerry Cantrell's re-formed Alice in Chains? Touring with a Layne Staley replacement borders on self-parody, as pathetically money-grabbing as the recent Doors and Queen reunions.
Nina Gordon's first album in a gazillion years is out, and it's not bad. Actually, the sequencing is sort of similar to the Godsmack CD, in that it starts out very strongly with a few ace pop songs..."Christmas Lights" is a purty little song that has a smart little reference to Joni Mitchell's "Blonde in the Bleachers", "Kiss Me 'til it Bleeds" is an ace single in the same vein as "Tonight and the Rest of My Life", and "Suffragette" is a cool little glam rock-infused tune that has Nina abandoning her usual polite delivery into something a little more saucy. After that, the ballads start to pile on top of each other...it's going to take a few more listens, but the second half does seem to drag a little bit (am I crazy, or did I just hear a William Burroughs reference in "Pure"?). Tasteful production by the scourge of Metallica fans everywhere, Bob Rock, which is a nice surprise, as he usually adds a thick gloss to his records. So right now, I'd give it a marginal thumbs-up, and I'll see what I think in a week or so...the lady's a terrific pop songwriter (and was a big reason why Veruca Salt was as big as they were), so I'm going to give this record a chance before jumping to conclusions. If you liked Nina's first solo album from six (six? really?) years ago, you'll like this one.
Tuesday, August 8, 2006
What a day. First of all, my big review of the new Slayer album went up yesterday. I'm very happy with the piece, considering it was written at the tail end of a nine-review week (an all-time record for me). Anyway, it's the best Slayer album in ages, and not just musically, which my review gets into. The lyrics are probably the most focused and passionate of the band's entire career, there's real continuity, and underneath the attention-grabbing blasphemy, some legitimately challenging questions asked. I hate to drag out the old cliche, but it's a record that makes you think. It's in stores today...I highly recommend it.
So, on to the big Sounds of the Underground recap. Where to begin? Well, the big story of the entire day is how a certain Swedish band mopped the floor with the young American headliner, completely stealing the show and making for what has to be one of the most anticlimactic closing sets I have ever witnessed. But we'll get to that...let's just go all the way back to about 12:30 yesterday afternoon...
I arrived too early, which I hate doing. I thought the show started ar 1:00, but actually the doors opened at that time, so I was stuck bored outside in the baking sun. Credit Union Centre has long been known for its prudishness (among other things over the years), and taped to the windows of the locked doors were bold signs that said, "No moshing or crowdsurfing...any violators will be ejected." if you want mayhem at a rock show, post a ridiculous sign like that...it's practically an invitation for trouble. There was much guffawing over the signs, a kid behind me who drove in from out of town quipped, "Saskatoon is, like, the gayest city in Canada." A rather blunt way to put it, but under the circumstances, it was impossible to argue.
The doors eventually opened, and after being subjected to a ridiculously thorough search, it was cheap merch time. One of the best things about SOTU is the ridiculously cheap band merchandise, and I picked up some very nice shirts, an In Flames one with the killer artwork used on the Come Clarity advance, and Behemoth's cool New Aeon Musick one. Both for about the same price as a single shirt at Slayer a month ago. So I was quite happy.
Two local bands started the festivities. One, Streetlight Scenery was a horrible emocore band with a singer who looked like Bjorn Borg, headband and all. The dude kept adjusting his pants (?), and didn't have much of a stage rapport. Damonen, though, was a huge surprise, a melodic death emtal six-piece, with a penchant for the odd power metal riffs, and two lead vocalists, alternating between hardcore screams and death growls. They just need a website. Get with it, dudes!
Through the Eyes of the Dead was okay. Sort of Black Dahlia Murder-ish, but with songs that tended to meander more....it was all decent enough, but nothing really smack-you-in-the-face memorable. Among the four songs they played were "Two Inches From the Main Artery", "Beneath Dying Skies", and "Truest Shade of Crimson". Evergreen Terrace was next, and they did the singing-screaming gimmick, pleasing the karate dancer kiddies, but boring yours truly. Sure, they had melodies, but the music was too similar to every other hardcore band out there. They played "Sincerity is an Easy Disguise in This Business", and "New Friend Request"...two decent songs, but like Lars Ulrich once said, "too stock." The Chariot was supposed to play, but they dropped off the tour, according to one merch guy. A good thing, because it was time for the mighty BEHEMOTH.
I love this band. Demigod was one of my favourite metal albums of 2005, and I was crushed when they cancelled their show here last December, so I was really looking forward to it, and they did not disappoint one bit. After taking about ten minutes trying to fix the drum trigger apparatus, the band took the stage...a dude spinning his hair behind a monstrous kit, and three of the tallest, meanest-looking Polish dudes in spiked boots and greasepaint you will ever see. 30 seconds into "Antichristian Phenomenon", the whole crowd on the floor let out an audible gasp when the black metal picking and blasting kicked in...world class black metal doesn't come around here much, and we were all awestruck. And what a sight they are onstage, the three guys up front, each with a booted foot on a monitor, barking into mikes. It looked almost miltaristic. Singer-guitarist Nergal, interestingly, is a really charismatic guy, and was brilliant at getting the crowd going. They also played a blistering "Conquer All", "As Above So Below", "Demigod", and a blistering version of "Chant For Eschedon 2000". They elevated the quality of the metal to such a high level, nobody wanted it to end.
Black Dahlia Murder had a very tough act to follow, but they held their own very nicely. They might sound like generic metalcore at first, but they include various characteristics of death metal and black metal, and singer Trevor Strnad, he of the, erm, soft gut showed his impressive versatility, as well as a good sense of humour, the latter of which winning over the kids nicely. Their album Miasma had me going, "meh" a year ago, but live, it sounds solid. Hopefully they can put a great album together next time around...they certainly seem talented enough. They played "Miasma", "A Vulgar Picture" (great song), "Statutory Ape" (not so great title), "Built For Sin/I'm Charming", and "Funeral Thirst". Fun stuff.
Next up was Terror, and Terror was terror. Simple hardcore-by-numbers, doing the Hatebreed thing effectively, spewing such nonsense like how life is so wonderful, how hardcore is so wonderful, how spiritually empowering hardcore is, how we're in this together and we've got each other's backs, blah blah blah. The hardcore kids ate it up, but like last year, a little terror goes a long way. I don't know what they played. You know what it all sounds like.
For the fourth time in 21 months, it was GWAR time. Lots of blood, simulated violence, laughs, etc. Does anyone pay attention to their music? Does anyone care about the music whatsoever? Their merch table was always busy, and there were many kids in white t-shorts waiting to get sprayed by blood and goop, and to no one's surprise, it was a gigantic mess. They killed a pig policeman, the Nazi pope (again), George W. Bush (again), the president of their fan club (which was pretty holarious), and best of all, GOR-GOR, a gigantic latex dinosaur. Musically, I know they played "Bring Back the Bomb", "Gor-Gor", "School's Out" (yeah, that one), and I have a hunch they played the new tune "War is All We Know". Sorry, they're a very fun band, but I just find their music unspectacular, to say the least.
Cannibal Corpse. Oh my. I like this band, and I really like their new album, but I had no idea how good they are live. They're like Slayer, they just intensify the sound even more. And all the guys stay glued to their spot, even vocalist George "Corpsegrinder" Fischer. Strictly business with these dudes, and the music is so intense, they needed a minute after each song to towel off and get ready for the next assault. Guitarists Jeremy Turner and Pat O'Brien both sounded incredible (their sound mix was impeccable), but the real revelation was Corpsegrinder...what a voice! Sure, it;s cookie monster, but the way he goes from such a strong growl to a hair-raising, hawk-like screech is amazing. I couldn't get enough of it. Like Behemoth, and like I've said about Cryptopsy and vader before, death metal is a unique, enthralling experience when you see it done this well. The setlist:
Unleashing the Bloodthirsty
Murder Worship
Decency Defied
------ With a Knife (sensitive people, the less you know about this song, the better)
Make Them Suffer
Devoured by Vermin
Hammer Smashed Face
Stripped, Raped, and Strangled
Trivium might be on the verge of becoming one of the biggest metal bands around, but they still have some work to do. They're a good band, and I really like the new direction they've taken (moving away from the generic metalcore screaming), but judging by last night, they try way too hard. They had a gigantic mirror ball over the drumkit. They did goofy synchronized moves stolen from Accept. They played "Hit the Lights" on the PA before taking the stage, and then they covered "Master of Puppets" (well, a third of it, anyway). Singer/guitarist Matt Heafy is going all Hetfield on us, both vocally and with the stage moves. They do silly audience participation shtick (boys, boys, boys, a band as mighty as Metallica never asks a crowd to pogo, and then do it themselves). It was all so shameless. Oh, and bassist dude...quit wearing your bass so high! Sling it low...it looks cooler. You look like Kip Winger. Musically, the band lacked the power that Cannibal Corpse had in spades, sounding thin overall. But they still sounded good, especially the new song "Detonation" and "Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr", which had a big circle pit going, and which had me trying not to burst out laughing, because all I could think of was this. They certainly kicked Smalveh's germacide away...with authority! The setlist (90% sure on this one):
Like Light to the Flies
Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation
Ember to Inferno
Detonation
Master of Puppets
Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr
Of all the bands, I was looking forward to In Flames the most, and so was the huge majority of people there. The floor quickly filled up, and not only did the band fail to disappoint, they completely stole the show, delivering a spot-on, flawless, highly professional set befitting one of the most important Scandinavian metal bands in history. The band was ON, extremely tight and tuneful, the mix very good (not deafening, to my surprise), and Anders Friden's vocals were easy to hear. Friden was actually pretty funny...he wasn't able to say "Saskatoon" (his Swedish accent was too thick), so he just gave up and called it "saxophone". Quite funny. The band roared through a set that was heavy on the Reroute to Remain, Soundtrack to Your Escape, and Come Clarity albums, and while oldsters will undoubtedly complain, I'm such a big fan of the last three albums, that I had absolutely no objection. "The Quiet Place", "Trigger", and "Come Clarity" were personal faves. If there's one criticism, it's that the band relied a bit too heavily on sequencer, but the songs were so perfectly times with the lavish, eye-popping light show, that one could not complain. An unforgettable 40 minues, one that had people shouting, "play longer!" because we all knew there was no way the next band could top this. The setlist:
Pinball Map
Leeches
Cloud Connected
Trigger
Graveland
Come Clarity
The Quiet Place
Take This Life
My Sweet Shadow
You have to feel bad for As I Lay Dying. They're not a bad band, they're just in way over their heads headlining a tour this large. They're a B-list metal act at best, and it has to be awful to be upstaged by an A-list talent like In Flames like on this night. They're decent enough, and I like several of their songs an awful lot ("Confined", "The Darkest Nights", "Through Struggle"), but they're a one-trick pony. NWOBHM guitars, one-note breakdowns, and the hoarse monotone yelling of Tim Lambesis. The band is his brainchild, but he's the weakest part, his vocals lacking any charisma whatsoever, and his failure to connect with the remaining crowd (a good number left after In Flames' set) was painfully obvious, and kind of embarrassing. After each song, there was dead silence...part exhaustion among the concertgoers, part being blown out of the water by the previous band, and partially the knowledge by most folks that they don't deserve to headline, whatever the reason, the reaction was icy. It didn't help that Lambesis kept making Christ-like poses on the risers, and repeating himself all the time (every song is about overcoming adversity, apparently). The hardcore kids loved it of course, doing their insipid, idiotic dance moves without caring who they bumped into, but there had to be about a couple hundred of them, that's it. The rest of the 2,000 or so couldn't care less, and by the time the band was closing their set with "Forever", neither could I. I couldn't wait to leave. You can't fault As I Lay Dying...they tried their best, but tonight the crowd was having none of it, it was quite remarkable. I can't remember the setlist (seriously, after an hour of this band, you can't tell any songs apart), but they did play "Confined", "94 Hours", "Reflection", "The Darkest Nights", "Undefined", "Through Struggle", "meaning in Tragedy", "Forever", and a few others ("Falling on Deaf ears", perhaps?).
Overall, I'd say this year's wasn't quite as fun as 2005's version, but it was still loads of fun for everyone, including yours truly. Lots of bands, several GREAT sets, cheap merch, a comfy (albeit oversized) venue, a well-behaved crowd. A good experience all around.
Now, sleep.
Friday, August 4, 2006
Sad news for DFA1979 fans. They were on the verge of becoming quite big in Canada, they were playing to audiences that got exponentially larger in the past two years, quite an incredible rise in popularity, and it's a shame that potential was wasted. But hey, it was fun while it lasted, and we got a great album out of it. Check my October 14/04 and April 9/05 entries for a couple of concert reviews.
So how are my odds for getting a couple of tickets to the second Rolling Stones date in Regina? I'll know soon enough (update coming at 10:15 CST). Unbelievable that they're going to play in front of 80,000 people that weekend in October. That's almost half the city.
Edit: Woo-hoo! Bit of an anxious wait, but was able to get some lower level seats. October 6, then...
Thursday, August 3, 2006
New review, new review. This time it's LA's own Silversun Pickups, whose new album Carnavas is wining over a lot of indie rock fans, included jaded ones like yours truly. I've been really tepid toward indie bands as of late, but this album won me over, thanks primarily to the way it's indebted to early-90s alternative rock. Big guitars, awesome vocal hooks. I might have been a little too hard on the drummer, but I kept thinking the beats could have been tightened up a bit more. Needs more insistense, not complacency. Still, a very strong debut, definitely one of the better indie rock releases of the year so far. Read the review, download the MP3 from the linkat the bottom, and then takea peek at the live video of "Future Foe Scenarios". Good stuff all around. Then go buy the album, it's a good'un.
The writing's been in overdrive lately, in an effort to get a bunch of leftovers out of the way so I can have next week to piece together my September column, which will be about Sounds of the Underground, which I'll be attending this coming Monday. it should be fun...like last year, it's in the spacious big arena here, and while it lacks intimacy, it won't be overcrowded, it'll be cool indoors, and it offers lots of places to duck away from the noise. Unlike the Toronto show, which sounded like an absolute shambles, an organizational disaster. I'm most looking forward to seeing In Flames and Behemoth (I'm still stinging from last December's cancelled Behemoth show), as well as Cannibal Corpse, Trivium, GWAR (fourth time in 21 months), and I'd like to see if As I Lay Dying can headline a show. They're a decent band, but from all accounts, the aforementioned bands have been blowing them off the stage. We'll see.
I got the recent Motorhead DVD yesterday, which is a real treat because it was recorded on the same tour as when I saw them in April of last year. See my April 2005 archive for a detailed account of that wild and wooly night. Thoughts on the DVD will be posted as soon as I finish the thing...it's incredible so far!
Wednesday, August 2, 2006
My DragonForce review appeared yesterday. You've heard Inhuman Rampage, right? If not, you're depriving yourself of one of the year's cheesiest pleasures. When you like metal in any form, from black metal to power metal to the artsier stuff, some level of acceptance of bombast is required, but if you're going to like DragonForce, you're going to have to let a lot of histrionics slide. What a crazy album...it's so unnecessarily busy, but those hooks get you. The songs build, build, build some more, and then nail you with a ridiculously catchy chorus that has you singing along. I've been playing this album a lot lately, and the more I hear it, the more "Operation Ground and Pound" emerges as the best song on the entire disc.
While cynics were busy slagging Trivium, calling them a bunch of mallcore poseurs, I had rather high hopes for their new album. Ever since I heard that the band had abandoned the generic screaming in favour of a more melodic vocal approach, I knew they were onto something good, and wow, do they ever deliver on "Detonation", the first song to surface from their upcoming album, due out in October. I was kind of lukewarm towards their earlier stuff (see my July 14 entry below for some huge Trivium-related larfs), but they've hit paydirt with this one it seems, modeling themselves after Ride the Lightning-era Metallica, tight melodic thrash and power metal hooks. The next couple months are going to be great for metal fans, with some top notch stuff on the way.
And another new Mastodon track has surfaced. Based solely on the merit of "Circle of the Cysquatch", "Crystal Skull", and "Capillarian Crest", I'm going to bet right now Blood Mountain will be my album of the year.
Stolen from I Love Music:
How so you make a duck into a soul singer?
Put it in the microwave until its bill withers.
Tuesday, August 1, 2006
The cool thing about getting an advance copy of the new Slayer album: you get a Slayer album with your name printed on the CD. The crummy thing about getting an advance copy of the new Slayer album: few CD players are actually able to play the thing. Gah, curse these watermarked discs. Still, a minor hassle, seeing as I'm already familiar with the album. Christ Illusion continues to grow on me, and with Monday's arrival of the real deal, it's great to have the lyrics and the songwriting credits handy. Not surprisingly, Kerry King handles most of the songwriting...it's never a bad thing, he writes good Slayer tunes, but he tends to stress the brutal, punishing side. It's like blunt force trauma. Jeff Hanneman, on the other hand, is a more creative songwriter, capable of just as much visceral power, but displaying lots of subtle touches, too, and you can hear the difference on the three songs he contributes to the album, as "Eyes of the Insane", "Jihad", and "Black Serenade" are among the disc's best tracks. Plus, Dave Lombardo's presence really makes a big difference...it's his first album in fifteen years, and it's so great to hear him drum with Slayer again. Not only is he powerful, but his drumming glides, it sounds so effortless, so flexible. No drummer in metal can swing like Lombardo can. It's a fine, fine album ("Cult" continues to sound way cool). My full review will be written this week, and my Blood & Thunder column will be about the Unholy Alliance show last month, which I hear will be up the week after next.
Completely shifting gears, the Pipettes' "Pull Shapes" has ranked among my favourite singles of the year so far (see the mid-year list at the very bottom of this page), and the video is just as great. It's an exact duplication of the party scene from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls where the Kelly Affair performs "Sweet Talkin' Candy Man" in front of the freakydeaky partygoers, only the girls are performing their own single. All the characters are there, from Z-Man, to Martin Bormann, to even a Princess Livingston look-alike (or the closest anyone could ever get). A note-perfect parody video, and loads of fun, especially for BVD fans.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
It's been a while since I last had a main feature up at PopMatters, but I recently put together a fun little (okay, not so little) piece about four different albums, and it was great to see it published so soon after writing it. It's basically about four of the biggest names in the recent wave of American metal, and how their labels are looking to shill a product, any product, during the summer concert season, so they're all putting together a bunch of odds & sods compilations this year, and I decided to highlight the most prominent. If you read the piece, you'll see what I'm getting at. People have been slagging the Between the Buried and Me covers album, but I'm a big fan of it, despite its mis-steps.
Finally heard the new Slayer album tonight, and it's as good as I'd hoped. Lots of speed, some great drumming by Dave Lombardo (his first album since Seasons in the Abyss), and plenty of killer riffs by Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman. Of course, the lyrics are a bit on the, erm, provocative side, but that comes with the territory. Attention-grabbing, but ultimately harmless. Standout tracks include "Cult", "Jihad", "Flesh Storm", and "Supremist". "Consfearacy" has to be the dumbest song title they've ever come up with. Ten tracks in all, so it's a nice, taut album (instead of those unbearable 79 minute affairs), and there's nary a dull moment. Expect an eight out of ten when I review the sucker in a week or two.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
The new Killers single is glorious. There, I've said it.
Back sometime around late 2003 or early 2004, a colleague of mine was telling me about the band, sending me demo tracks of "Somebody Told Me" and "On Top", and so impressive were they, that the both of us were prepared for an absolute knock-out of a debut album. What we got was a record that indeed went over huge with the public, but was horribly inconsistent. But that was the most fascinating/frustrating thing about The Killers, they tried so hard to make the Greatest Music of Their Generation, swinging for the fences every time. When they connected ("Mr. Brightside"), they smacked it right out of the park, but when they missed ("All These Things That I've Done"), they struck out clumsily, and the entirety of Hot Fuss went on like that, to the point where I could only recommend half the album. It was maddening. Well, with "When You Were Young", they're back in my good books, a single that combines the stadium-ready rock of U2 with the hokey sentimentality of Bruce Springsteen. You've got the thrumming Claytonesque bassline that leads to a sweeping, soaring crescendoes, Edge-style shiming guitar notes, some audacious glockenspiel and synth brazenly stolen straight from the E Street Band (oh my, just listen to the bit at 2:52), and lyrics from Brandon Flowers that are so ludicrous, they're perfect ("We're burning down the highway skyline on the back of a hurricane that started turning when you were young"), sung in a quasi-sincere, quavering attempt at sounding robust. It's the perfect sound for a band hailing from Las Vegas: garish, polished, huge, grandiose, shallow, but oh so spectacular. A major contender for my single of the year.
This abridged version of The Big Lebowski cuts out all the filler, and gets right down to the heart of the subject matter. Quite astonishing, really. Not to mention hypnotic.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
My Lily Allen review appeared yesterday, just in time for the UK release of her fine new album. I'm mildly satisfied with how it turned out...I'd been listening ot the album for the past month, but jumped right into reviewing it on very short notice, and it's in cases like that where you have to be careful not to make any stupid mistakes. So after a ton of proofreading, I'm still hoping I didn't flub anything.
Very exciting news for geky Iron Maiden fans like yours truly, the new video for "The Reincarnation of benjamin Breeg", the first single from the new album A Matter of Life and Death, is now out. I think it's a fantastic song...it starts a touch slow, but then launches into a swaggering riff we haven't heard from the band in a very long time. And for the most part, Steve Harris plays a normal bassline! Shocker, I tell you. I'm really looking forward to this album now. Watch the video here.
The more I hear "Crystal Skull", the more excited I get about Mastodon's Blood Mountain. That sucker can't come out soon enough.
One of the earliest album leaks in recent memory, the new Junior Boys album surfaced online in May, yet won't be in stores until September. Although I snagged the MP3s quickly, I've taken my time getting to know the album, and yesterday's arrival of the actual CD got my interest back in gear. I like the record a lot, but it's still going to take a while before I can figure out how it compares to 2004's brilliant Last Exit, but for now, "In the Morning" is turning into quite the gem of a single.
The new Arch Enemy DVD is really, really good. The surround mix on the concert is astounding, and Angela Gossow is a much more interesting screamer on a live recording than on record. I've been up and down with this band for the past three years (and gave 2005's Doomsday Machine a decent review despite its flaws), but this is the kind of release that just might sway me to their side permanently. I've yet to go through the entire two-disc set, but it's very promising so far.
Yummy.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
It's quite a month for me, Decibel-wise. Or I should say, May was quite a month...at least I think that's when I wrote this stuff (man, it's hard to keep track). No fewer than five pieces, and at the top of the heap, my biggest piece for the mag to date, a feature on the band Misery Index. I'm very, very happy with how it turned out, but the project wasn't without its extremely stressful moments, as I was forced to put the thing together at the very last second. As it turns out, Sparky Voyles from the band is a great interviewee, never short on stuff to say, the album Discordia is a really good one, and the article was fun to assemble.
In addition to that piece, I have four reviews in the new issue. There's the new CD by Apiary, some half decent metalcore by a band who seem to be preoccupied with bees. The new Neaera is a pretty solid album, as is the latest by Polish death metal veterans Trauma, but the best disc of the bunch is the new Zyklon, a terrific album by a band featuring two former members of Emperor.
With all my linydinking and Slayer rambling lately, I neglected to mention the great little store Octopus Ink in Edmonton, easily the finest metal/punk store I've seen in a very long time. Good selection, and unbelievable prices (less than half of what HMV charges!)...I have a tendency to buy a lot of new albums and leave the older back catalogue titles for later (always downloading, but rarely buying), so I was able to do a bit of catching up, getting a lot of 90s stuff, plus a newish one. Had to be careful not to go too nuts with the spending, but I did snag six CDs for just over 80 bucks. So if you're ever in Edmonton, head to the dumpy little building a block south of Whyte and 101st, and binge on the best-priced metal you'll ever find.
On the same subject, Leviathan's Howl Mockery at the Cross is some underground US black metal zaniness courtesy the reclusive, San Francisco-based one-man band named Wrest. I've been starting to pay some more attention to the USBM scene, having heard some impressive music by the likes of Nachtmystium, Wolves in the Throne Room, and Merrimack, and despite the fact that this Leviathan CD is a collection of early demos, it's quite astoundingly great, an hour's worth of lo-fi recordings that blaze with intensity and eeeeee-vill atmospherics. Real kult suff. or is it kvlt? Or grim? Either way, it's scarily good...as Mike Myers once put it, "the frew-its of the dev-ill."
And shifting gears completely, I'm writing a review of the new Lily Allen album this weekend. It hits UK stores on Monday, and is going to be a monster hit over there...it's already a hot topic among hipster circles, and over the past five weeks, I've come to like the little album. That said, it's an imperfect one, as her lyrics get too banal at times (seriously, despite one Streets-style song, those comparisons to Mike Skinner have to end), but the little lady is so charming (not to mention snarky as all get-out), both in the music and on her blog, that I just have to cut her some slack. Plus, she's put together a couple of fantastic mixtapes, the first of which actually manages to upstage the album.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Blood & Thunder #9 appeared yesterday, and it's a good one, a lengthy piece on the new Voivod album, with a nifty interview with Denis "Snake" Belanger, to boot. It was a long time in the making, and I think I'm quite happy with the end result. Katorz is quite the special little album, and the circumstances surrounding the recording (the death of Denis "Piggy" D'Amour, recording around the existing guitar tracks) make this all the more impressive. As I stated at the beginning of the month, it's one of the year's better albums so far, so be sure to pick it up in a couple weeks!
I like the new Motorhead album. To nobody's surprise, it's more of the same, in keeping with the simple Motorhead sound, but playing to the strengths of the lemmy-POhil-Mikkey trio, which has becomce quite the formidable one over the last decade. Nothing quite as strong as "In the Name of Tragedy" from Inferno, but it has its moments, as on "Sucker", "Going Down", and "God Was Never on Your Side". A bigger review will be forthcoming in the next month.
I got the new Korn Kompilation in the mail the other day. Expectations were low, and nothing swayed me. Nothing against the music, as the live tracks are solid (including a cover of "Another Brick in the Wall (Parts 1, 2, 3)" that really works well), but it's so sloppily assembled, it's almost insulting to the fans. No, change that. When a label slaps two hidden tracks from previous albums onto a rarities comp, that definitely is an insult to the fans. Doesn't appear to be the band's fault, as they're no longer with Sony, so blame the label for this atrocity.
The new DragonForce album is crazy. Easy stuff to criticize, as it's little more than Gamma Ray played at twice the speed, and the guitar noodling is the craziest stuff this side of Nitro, but what this band brings are hooks. Every song has a great chorus, huge, corny blasts of bombast sung by an operatic John Arch impersonator. It's stupid, it's completely over the top, but as someone who listened to this kind of stuff 20 years ago, it's still pleasing to these ears. Plus, "Through the Fire and the Flames" is, like, the most awesomest video ever.
You have got to see the surreal, strangely hilarious Drive-By Truckers videogame that just appeared. You control a floating Mike Cooley (gravity's gone...get it?), and avoid the various Wes Freed-drawn obstacles to rescue his stranded bandmates. It's quite well done, and a real challenge. You have to have a soft touch (Stroker is quite sensitive during the landings), not to mention a good sense of timing, and if you can get past level three, you're rewarded with a free download of the new, previously unreleased song "Talking George Jones Cell Phone Blues", a new country-tinged tune sung by Patterson Hood. Fun game, cool song. Well worth wasting half an hour over.
And if you're in the mood for a huge laugh, you have to see this special Trivium interpretation. I'm going to have to sing along the mis-heard lyrics when I see Trivium at Sounds of the Underground next month. "BOAT! RUDDER! LIME!!!!"
I was going to do my big Decibel post right now (and it's a big one), but the website is currently down, so it'll have to wait until later. Stay tuned, I contributed a lot of stuff to the August issue!
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Well, I finally know why Slayer is renowned for being one of the greatest live bands ever. Wow.
I made my way to downtown Edmonton quite early on Tuesday, around three in the afternoon. After snagging a perfect parking spot for the night, I made my way to the Shaw Conference centre along the banks of the North Saskatchewan river. Normally, it takes forever to get into that building...last time I waa there, the lineup was several blocks long, but on this day, it wasn't too bad, so I had some time to do some record store perusing for a while. To be safe, I returned before four, because they were opening the doors at five, leaving 30 minutes between doors opening and the show starting. Inside the glass-enclosed lobby, where people sat parked on the three big stairways leading down to the underground auditorium, in the afternoon sun, it was like a greenhouse in there, so we had no choice but to bake while we waited. Impatience reigned among the kids, but they were too busy chanting "SLAYER!!!" to care.
Once the line did start to move, it was comical to see the pat-down queues for the men and women, as it became hilariously clear that the male-female ratio was going to be about 99-1. So it was slow going for us guys...that is, until a certain member of Slayer appeared in sight of the line, on another floor in sight of the stairs. Everybody ran to the edge to catch a glimpse and holler idiotically, which afforded the smart ones (ie., me) a quick twenty yard dash ahead. Once in, it was only a fifteen minute wait until Thine Eyes Bleed took the stage. The Ontario band (featuring Tom Araya's brother John on bass) served up some workmanlike metalcore...I have their album, and while it has its moments, it's not the most memorable stuff, and that's just how their quick set played. They played about five songs, two were apprantly new, and the others I couldn't identify for the life of me. I really should listen to the album a bit more!
I was there to see Slayer, but I was also really excited to see Mastodon, having been a fan since Leviathan came out. And did they ever sound huge. Living up to their moniker, as it were, making every hair on my arms vibrate with every churning chord. Those sludge riffs were so full-sounding, and Brann Dailor's drumming (his Randy Rhoads tribute drumkit is very cool) was just as phenomenal as it is on record, extremely tight, loaded with jazzy fills. The band was quite personable and energetic, too, bassist Troy Sanders leading the way. Older songs like "March of the Fire Ants" and "Where Strides the Behemoth" were great, as were the new songs "Circle of the Cysquatch" and "Crystal Sword", but it was the Leviathan material that sounded best, especially "Iron Tusk", "Megalodon" (I love that brief segue from Southern rock to pure thrash metal), and "Blood and Thunder". I liked this band already, but that set was a revelation. The future of American metal, ladies and germs. It's a shame the merchandise was so overpriced, because Mastodon had the best sirt of the lot, featuring the new artwork from the upcoming Blood Mountain album. Here's the setlist:
Iron Tusk
March of the Fire Ants
Circle of the Cysquatch
Where Strides the Behemoth
Mother Puncher
Crystal Skull
Aqua Dementia
Megalodon
Blood and Thunder
Children of Bodom is a band I enjoy from time to time, but it's hard to call myself a fan. Alexi Laiho is quite a character, and he's a darn good lead guitarist and charismatic frontman, but too often the songs fail to draw me in. And coming on the heels of the mighty Mastodon, their overall sound paled in comparison, devoid of any real muscle, and their more straightforward style coming off as overly pedestrian. They certainly weren't awful, but there was something lacking throughout the entire set...it didn't help that the diminutive Laiho tends to take himself a bit too seriously. An approximation of the setlist (there might be a wrong title, I'm guessing):
Needled 24/7
In Your Face
Living Deadbeat
Angels Don't Kill
Silent Night, Bodom Night
Hate Me!
Downfall
To nobody's surprise, Lamb of God was the second most popular act of the night. In a few short years, they've inherited Pantera's title of blue collar metal gods, and they're well on their way to becoming the biggest Americna metal band today. Always a good live act, Mark Morton and Willy Adler prvide plenty of thrash-tinged mid-tempo riffs, while Chris Adler anchors it all with his distinct frumming. Randy Blythe (head shaved this time around) did his usual shtick, stalking the stage like a raving lunatic, and the crowd bought it, doing whatever the dude told them to. The Shaw is an easy venue to move around in, and I was able to watch the first bit of their set up close ("Ruin" and "Laid to Rest" went over huge), then quickly walk underneath the temporary seats on the side and go back to my favourite spot in front of the sound board. New song "Redneck", which I've been playing a ton this past month, sounded terrific. Live staple "Black Label" was played, but there was no Wall of Death. Considering how pumped the crowd was for both LoG and Slayer, this was probably a good thing. Here's what I'm almost certaint he setlist was:
Ruin
Hourglass
Laid to Rest
Now You’ve Got Something to Die For
11th Hour
What I've Become
As the Palaces Burn
The Faded Line
Vigil
Redneck
Black Label
After a changeover that featured Pantera songs played while a photo of Dimebag was projected on the screen (the massive sing-along to "Walk" was impressive), it was Slayer time. What Slayer really showed is how NOBODY in metal comes close to topping their live experience. They just elevate the music to a new level entirely. After the 22 year wait, I had to make that night's show count, so I was right in the middle of the densely crowded floor for the entire set, and it was glorious. Of course, it was the 80s material that had me flipping out the most, like "The Antichrist", "Angel of Death" (greatest breakdown in metal history, folks), "Hell Awaits", and "Silent Scream". The one real revelation was "War Ensemble", which sounded absolutely unreal...it sounded so powerful, it made me see the song in a new light. Bassist/vocalist Tom Araya was in good form, sounding alarmingly easygoing in between songs, and the formidable tandem of Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman looked absolutely imposing on either side of the stage. My favourite moment of the entire night was "Chemical Warfare"...it was the very first Slayer song I heard back in 84, and I felt like the only one shouting the lyrics to that one. One cool bit was the Ed Gein criminal file that was projected during "Dead Skin Mask". Right when the line, "Simple smiles elude psychotic eyes," came up, Gein's face suddenly appeared. Neat touch. The set was quick, little more than an hour, with no encores, but by the time "Angel of Death" ended, I was spent. Although I felt as if I'd been pummeled for six hours, and despite the fact that I literally had to grab the banister and pull myself up those huge stairways exiting the place, the concert was well worth the wait. It was a performance of "Postmortem" short of perfect, but I'm not complaining! The setlist:
South of Heaven
Silent Scream
War Ensemble
Blood Red
Cult
Disciple
Mandatory Suicide
Seasons in the Abyss
Chemical Warfare
Dead Skin Mask
Hell Awaits
Raining Blood
Antichrist
Angel of Death
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
The Big Slayer Update has been postponed, because I am absolutely dead. Heading home today, so expect a huge recap, including setlists, later tonight.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
My Priestess review is up. A good debut by a good Canadian hard rock band. Maybe lacking a bit in the charisma department (unlike, say, Wolfmother), but it's definitely enjoyable, especially if you like your riffs to be of the huge variety.
Slayer tonight. SLAAAYYYEEER. Will post a recap after the show, though I fully expect to be completely exhausted.
Friday, July 7, 2006
Quick little update from Edmonton, where the Slayer Countdown is now at T-minus four days...
My review of the new album by Enslaved appeared yesterday. I was introduced to the band when a bud turned me on to their 2003 album Below the Lights, which was quite the revelation, blending Norwegian black metal with more progressive rock influences. It took me a little longer to warm up to last year's Isa, but it's grown on me tremendously over the past year. The same can't be said for Ruun, though, as I think it's darn near brilliant, a strong blend of melody, groove, and aggression, easily one of the best metal albums of the year. So read the review, and watch the video for "Path to Vanir" at the bottom. What a fascinating band.
The Polaris Music Prize short list came out the other day. Three of my five ballot choices made the cut (Wolf Parade, Broken Social Scene, New Pornographers), but I flubbed, accidentally voting for Caribou when it came out a month before the cut-off date. Embarrassing...I should have voted for Propagandhi, darnit! I also voted for Sunset Rubdown, which is slowly becoming one of the finest Canadian albums of 2006. The Deadly Snakes is a cool inclusion (Porcella is indeed very good), but I'm not too sure about Final Fantasy and Cadence Weapon. Much ado about little, in my opinion. The "Hot dog, we have a weiner!" announcement will be on September 18.
Heard half of the new Mars Volta album today, and it was more of the same, alternately inspired and irritating.
Man, is it hard to update a blog using a laptop. These contraptions just aren't for me!
Monday, July 3, 2006
As promising as the first half of 2006 seemed to be, and despite the fact that there was, as usual, no shortage of quality music out there, the one word that most aptly sums up the last six months is, disappointing. It's been a very long time since I've seen so many talented artists drop the ball at the same time. The list of underachievers is, quite frankly, amazing: The Flaming Lips, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Streets, Grandaddy, Carina Round, controller.controller, Richard Ashcroft, Elefant, The Sleepy Jackson. And a lot of the stuff I liked was good, but not great. I liked the albums by Tool, The Strokes, Calexico, Amy Millan, and Delays, but was expecting more from such great bands. The ridiculously hyped Arctic Monkeys put out a solid debut album, not nothing great enough to warrant being one of the most successful UK rock albums of all time. That said, I've heard an absolute ton of great music, and here are my choices for the finest albums of the first half of 2006:
The Best Album of the Year So Far:
Boris - Pink
Around December of last year, word started spreading about the new album by a Japanese band called Boris. At the time I was just getting to know the outstanding roster of talent on the Southern Lord label (yeah, I was horribly late to the party), having been blown away by such artists as Sunn O))) and Oren Ambarchi, and I had been thoroughly impressed by Jesu's first album early that year, but when I downloaded the Japanese version of Pink, the force, the heaviness, the staggering beauty of this strange hybrid of sludge, doom metal, shoegazer, and garage rock grabbed me instantly. Rarely do you hear a band sounding so massive, yet so incredibly adept at injecting some feeling into all that noise. Bassist Takeshi provides some terrific lead vocals, and while you can't understand a word the dude is saying, you don't have to (a cliche, but it's true). Drummer Atsuo is versatile, ranging from deliberately paced rhythms to all-out, primal fury. It's guitarist Wata, however, who carried the entire record. The most powerful female lead guitarist I have ever heard (ironically, it comes from someone so diminutive), she belts out those riffs, notes, and feedback like a dozen King Buzzos. It's staggering. There's quite a wide range of styles on Pink, too: "Farewell" is a gorgeous drone ballad that bears an uncanny resemblance to Ride and My Bloody Valentine, the title track is a ferocious four minute explosion of churning riffs and beats, there's a bit of boogie that permeates the Stooges-like "Woman on the Screen", "Blackout" is blues turned WAY up, and slowed WAY down, "Electric" has a contagious groove that Wolfmother would kill for, and the epic "Just Abandoned My-Self" seems to toss all those different sounds into one single, monolithic track. An awe-inspiring piece of work, it's made me a fan of Boris, and I've been seeking out their back catalogue ever since (Akuma No Uta is pretty darn good, too).
As per usual, here are my ten leading contenders for my year-end top twenty:
Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain
The Portland, Oregon band's third album is one of bleary-eyed beauty, a sumptuous blend of the melodic power of Isis and the atmospherics of black metal, and folk music. Rarely does a metal album beg the adjective "pretty", but this one certainly does. A stunner.
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Thank goodness Neko didn't disappoint. In fact, she delivered her finest album to date, cementing her status as the best female country singer of her generation. The heartbreaking "Star Witness" is pure songwriting brilliance, the best thing she's ever done.
Celtic Frost - Monotheist
An astonishing comeback by the wayward metal legends, who sound reborn on what is quite honestly one of the heaviest albums I have ever heard. It's not dark, it's pitch black.
The Dresden Dolls - Yes, Virginia...
Many people don't go for the duo's cabaret theatrics, but something about this album got to me. it's more polished than their debut, and Amanda Palmer sells the heck out of her compositions, which show more depth than on their much-lauded 2003 debut.
Drive-By Truckers - A Blessing and a Curse
America's greatest rock 'n' roll band strikes again, on a record that sidesteps their usual sprawling Southern rock in favour of a more succinct, focused disc that hearkens back to such bands as the Rolling Stones and the Replacements. Their sixth great album in a row, these guys (and girl) never fail to impress.
The Gathering - Home
The best band nobody knows a thing about, the Dutch quintet continue their evolution from metal innovators to progressive rock auteurs, a beautiful album that's as intimate and accessible as it is eccentric. As usual, it's singer Anneke van Giersbergen who impresses the most.
Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance
The Swedish doom metal band has been plugging away for years, but they really nail their latest album, an hypnotic blend of brooding riffs, stately tempos, and sumptuous vocals by Jonas Renske. For all those people who say they can't listen to modern metal because of the harsh vocals, this is the album you have to hear in 2006.
Marit Larsen- Under the Surface
The biggest revelation of 2006, this former kiddie pop singer comes along with her acoustic guitar and charms the living daylights out of us, giving us a collection of lively, winsome songs that exude charisma and charm. The pop album of the year, hands down.
Peeping Tom - Peeping Tom
The great vocalist/label owner/renaissance man marks his long-awaited return to mainstream music with an album brimming with hip hop beats, guest artists, and some of his best work since his Faith No More days. Welcome back to Planet Earth, Mike Patton, it's nice to have you back.
Voivod- Katorz
What better way for a band to honour the memory of their departed lead guitarist by piecing together their best album in 17 years? Piggy might be gone, but he lives and breathes on this astounding disc, and his surviving bandmates sound reinvigorated in the process. Merveilleux!
Ten other albums that are definitely worth mentioning, in alphabetical order: Centro-Matic - Fort Recovery, Edguy - Rocket Ride, El Perro Del Mar - El Perro Del Mar, Enslaved - Ruun, The Forecast - In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Forward, Russia! - Give Me a Wall, Futureheads - News and Tributes, In Flames - Come Clarity, Killing Joke - Hosannas From the Basements of Hell, Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I am Dreaming
And for good measure, here are ten more metal albums that are too great to ignore, again, in alphabetical order: Amorphis - Eclipse, Misery Index - Discordia, Moonspell - Memorial, Place of Skulls - The Black is Never Far, Protest the Hero - Kezia, Rammstein - Rosenrot, Scar Symmetry - Pitch Black Progress, Yakuza - Samsara, Zyklon - Disintegrate
And for something new, I give you my top ten singles so far this year:
1. Tool - "Vicarious"
2. Peeping Tom - "Mojo"
3. The Pipettes - "Pull Shapes"
4. Katatonia - "My Twin"
5. Marit Larsen - "Don't Save Me"
6. In Flames - "Come Clarity"
7. Gnarls Barkley - "Crazy"
8. Lily Allen - "LDN"
9. The Dresden Dolls - "Sing"
10. The Streets - "When You Wasn't Famous"
Second half titles that could every well save the year: Arcade Fire, Scissor Sisters, Nina Gordon, Bob Dylan, Yo La Tengo, Natasha Bedingfield, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Lamb of God, Mastodon...I remain optimistic!
