Sunday, February 21, 2010
The last week or so have been totally nuts, a weird mishmash of Olympic hockey, nieces, and interviews, so please forgive the blog silence. Anyway, seeing as it's been a disastrous weekend for Canada in the Vancouver Olympics (we had problems already, but with the loss to the US in hockey we're now a nation in crisis), I might as well hunker down here and do some housecleaning, as a pile of my reviews were published recently.
First off, there's my latest Blood & Thunder installment, in which I tackle three forgotten Alice Cooper albums from the early 1980s. And "forgotten" is the key word...not only have casual listeners avoided this rather bizarre career turn by Cooper some 30 years ago, but as Phil Freeman mentioned a while back, the man simply has no recollection of ever recording these albums. And I was definitely guilty of ignoring those releases as well. The first time I ever heard of Alice Cooper was in 1985, and by then he was a has-been, a guy who drank his career away and never sounded relevant compared to younger acts out there. Actually it was on Twisted Sister's "Be Chrool to Your Sceul" that I first heard Alice...as I've mentioned before, my rural upbringing kept me away from practically all 1970s metal and classic rock for the first 12 years of my life, and Alice was no exception. I was big into W.A.S.P. and other shock rock bands, though, so when Alice made that cameo and subsequently launched his big comeback with this great little tune a year later, I was more than intrigued, and it wasn't long before I was delving into his early discography. But over the years I just glossed over his turn-of-the-80s material. I wasn't interested in hearing Alice do new wave, punk, and artsy stuff at all, I wanted heavy rock. It wasn't until I actually gave Flush the Fashion (and especially the wonderful "Clones (We Are All)" an apprehensive spin that I found out that this stuff was actually pretty good. His next three albums, 1981's Special Forces, 1982's Zipper Catches Skin, and 1983's DaDa are even weirder and more adventurous I discovered, and when I learned those albums were to be re-released last month, I thought it would be fun to offer a bit of a critical re-thinking of three very, very underrated records. Of the three, the bizarre DaDa is my favourite, a pretentious piece of art rock in which Cooper has completely gone off the deep end, relying heavily on producer Bob Ezrin and guitarist/co-songwriter Dick Wagner. it's a total mess, but listening to it nearly three decades later, somehow it manages to work in a weird way. It's theatrical, it's disturbing, it's funny, and it's even poignant, as "Pass the Gun Around" really does sound like an artist truly hitting rock bottom. Anyway, give the piece a read, it was a lot of fun to write, a nice little detour from the usual extensive interviews I do.
Still keeping with the shock rock, I've always had a soft spot for Rob Zombie (and White Zombie for that matter), I've always felt that if I was 14 years old when he came around, I would have been crazy about that stuff. His music has become so predictable, but it's a brilliant formula he's perfected: simple, groovy riffs, insanely catchy choruses, fun cartoonish lyrics, and some very cool movie samples. So when his new album came along, I couldn't let it go by unreviewed. For the most part, it's a good one. The approach is far more stripped down than ever before, he and his band simply hammering out the tracks in garage rock fashion, but at its best, Hellbilly Deluxe II does it well. However, the deeper into the record you go, the more inconsistent it becomes, that is until the last track "The Man Who Laughs" makes things interesting again. So it's not as good as I would have liked, but at its best (like this track, for instance), it's enormous fun. Which in Mr. Zombie's case, is all that matters. My full review is here.
It's always been weird how Meshuggah never put out either a full live album or a comprehensive DVD, the bonus disc on 2007 reissue of Nothing the closest they ever got. Well, the wait is finally over, as the mighty Swedes have come through with Alive, a two disc extravaganza that features a 90 minute concert film. The live footage, shot in Tokyo, New York, Montreal, and Toronto, is exceptional, beautifully shot and recorded, but typically, it's as enigmatic as the band can be. While the live footage is amazing, the documentary bits in between performances are mundane. Inexplicably, despite filming at four different shows, they chose not to include live staple and signature track "Future Breed Machine". And even weirder, as immaculate as the performances and the stereo mix are, there is no surround mix to speak of, which for such a cutting edge band, is a truly bizarre decision. But as it is, it's a great live document, one well worth buying, in spite of the complaints by obsessive fans. I reviewed it for both PopMatters and Hellbound, trying to take different approaches for each piece. I think it turned out well.
For some 25 years, I have never really liked Overkill. They're one of East Coast thrash's progenitors, but I've always felt they've been a step or two behind all the other great bands to emerge in the thrash era, a little too simplified, a little too hardcore-oriented. I've like dtracks here and there, but none of their albums ever sounded consistent enough to me. So imagine my shock when I spun their new CD Ironbound a while back, and found myself completely floored by what I heard. "The Green and Black" especially...what a track! Epic, catchy, intense, tight, and extremely focused. It's without hyperbole the best thnig they've ever done, and remarkably, the band keeps the momentum going throughout the entire album. It's one of the biggest surprises of this early year so far...read my review here!
Meanwhile, Profound Lore has blown me away yet again, this time with the primitive death metal of Vasaeleth, which marks a return to the raw, primal, filthy sounds of the early days of the genre. Dense, dank, muddy, with reverb-drenched vocals spewing some truly disturbing lyrics, it's a far, far cry from the Behemoths and Whitechapels of the world. The polar opposite, in fact, the riffs more Tom Warrior than Chuck Schuldiner, with a shocking amount of diversity, too, best exemplified by "Adorned & Iridescent", which somehow transitions from pure ugliness to something rather beautiful. In an horrific kind of way. Read my review to learn more, and be sure to pick up the album at Profound Lore.
As for the other bevy of capsule reviews I wrote, there's the solid new one by Dream Evil (who are sounding like Firewind more and more), the middling second album by Valkyrja, a decent third album by Through the Eyes of the Dead, the surprisingly strong comeback album by German prog rock veterans Eloy, and the very, very impressive debut by Quebec band Aeternam, which if you like Behemoth and Melechesh, you really should check out. These dudes are promising.
I took my nieces to see Panique Au Village (A Town Called Panic) last week, and we all got a huge kick out of it. It's insanely funny and completely wacky, feeling like as manic and outlandish as a story told by an eight year old wielding the kinds of figures with bases that feature so prominently in the movie. Total lunacy. Don't miss out on it.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
"Still falls the rain, the veils of darkness shroud the blackened trees, which contorted by some unseen violence, shed their tired leaves, and bend their boughs towards a grey earth of severed bird wings. among the grasses, poppies bleed before a gesticulating death, and young rabbits, born dead in traps, stand motionless, as though guarding the silence that surrounds and threatens to engulf all those that would listen. Mute birds, tired of repeating yesterdays terrors, huddle together in the recesses of dark corners, heads turned from the dead, black swan that floats upturned in a small pool in the hollow. there emerges from this pool a faint sensual mist, that traces its way upwards to caress the chipped feet of the headless martyr's statue, whose only achievement was to die to soon, and who couldn't wait to lose. the cataract of darkness form fully, the long black night begins, yet still, by the lake a young girl waits, unseeing she believes herself unseen, she smiles, faintly at the distant tolling bell, and the still falling rain."
Black Sabbath's first album turns 40 years old today. Everyone in metal is talking about this momentous anniversary, and I'd been planning to as well despite the ubiquity of the subject. It's just something you can't not acknowledge. After all, for all intents and purposes, it is the Rosetta Stone of heavy metal: no matter how diverse and eclectic metal music has become four decades later, everything, every single piece of music in the entire genre is directly derived from that eponymous Sabbath album in some way shape or form. Every musical genre has its progenitors, but Black Sabbath is arguably the only instance where they can be legitimately credited with launching an entire genre on their own. Of course, the history of heavy metal is a lot murkier, its roots traceable further back in time, to Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Steppenwolf, Blue Cheer, Cream, the Kinks, and even back to Link Wray, Robert Johnson, and Richard Wagner. However, it was Black Sabbath that brought everything together into a sound that at the time was the most succinct encapsulation of what eventually came to be more commonly known as heavy metal.
It's dark, as murky and thick as a Birmingham fog. It's larger than life, a very loud record loaded with monumental riffs and pounding, primal drumming. It's sinister, either dabbling in the occult or creating mental images enigmatic enough to let our imaginations run wild. It's scary, both musically and visually, boasting one of the most unsettling cover photos in rock 'n' roll history. More than anything, it's that classic tritone riff on side one, track one that makes use of "diabolus in musica" just as the early blues artists did decades before. Three notes that spawned a genre, a culture, and a global phenomenon.
It's all there in that opening track, "Black Sabbath": the sound of pouring rain, a bell's toll, thunderclaps, and blammo, a simple, three-note riff by Tony Iommi, on that tuned-down Gibson SG, his prosthetic fingertips muscularly bending the strings, as Geezer Butler repeats the riff with minimal enhancements, and Bill Ward crashing down on his cymbals. Then one John Michael Osbourne enters, and drones ominously, "What is this that stands before me?/Figure in black that points at me/Turn round quick and start to run/Find out I'm the chosen one...OH NOOOOOOOO!" Its power is absolutely devastating, as the song reaches its coda, where Iommi takes the song on a throttling gallop, getting more and more ferocious as it nears its cacophonous conclusion. To this day it's a thrilling, singular piece of music that never fails to send chills down my spine.
But there's so much more to Black Sabbath than the seminal first track. The band's roots in the blues are actually more apparent the deeper we go into the album, whether it's the harp-enhanced groove of "The Wizard", not to mention the nine and 14 minute suites that make up the bulk of the album. The four song combo of "Wasp/Behind the Wall of Sleep/Bassically/N.I.B." is a total groovefest, highlighted by "Sleep"'s laid back, swinging bassline and minimal lead fills, and the flat-out classic riff of "N.I.B." The fourteen minute "A Bit of Finger/Sleeping Village/Warning" (part one, part two) features a brief verse sung by Ozzy (with mouth harp continuing the strong blues/folk influence), before taking off into the extended jam "Warning", a cover of a song previously recorded by journeyman drummer Ansley Dunbar. "Evil Woman" feels a bit tacked on, but although it's a rather note-for-note reading of the horns-driven the original track by Crow and nowhere near as heavy as the rest of the album, its swing, led by Ward and Butler, is undeniable.
In addition, there's another significant quirk on this record that's not on any other Sabbath disc: Ozzy's voice. He sings in a much lower register than on any other album he ever went on to sing on since, and it's such a contrast from his subsequent signature style that it feels like his voice has been slowed down to 33 1/3 from 45 rpm. It's a lethargic, perpetually stoned-sounding moan that just adds to the mystique of Black Sabbath, making it stick out even more. It remains one of the most original pieces of rock music you will ever hear, and today is as perfect a day as any to drop whatever you do on a normal Saturday and spend some time with the record that started it all. And if you have the fully remastered version from the Black Box, it'll be even better.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
I've always been on the fence when it comes to Fear Factory. They were without a doubt one of the most important American metal bands of the 1990s, and Demanufacture is a hands-down classic from the era, but aside from that one big groundbreaking moment, not much about the band has grabbed me. These days, it's easy to just lump them in with all the other "dood" metal you hear on Sirius Liquid Metal ad infinitum, like Pantera, Korn, Hatebreed, and just tune it all out. Not exactly fair, I know, but when you repeat yourself for some 15 years, you no longer sound innovative, you sound boring. And when Transgression came out five years ago, that was the ultimate sign that these guys were passe. When you're reduced to doing a lifeless, by-the-numbers U2 cover, you've officially run out of ideas. So when I got Fear Factory's new album in January, I had no interest in hearing it. None. Even though guitarist Dino Cazares had returned and the band was bolstered by the great drummer Gene Hoglan. But word among us jaded writers got out that this album actually wasn't half bad, and, disbelieving, I decided to give it a spin. And it's not half bad. Not great, mind you, but certainly their most respectable album in years. It's definitely their most vitriolic album in ages, but when Fear factory works, it's because of the juxtaposition of those industrial-inspired riffs and triggered drum beats with Burton C. Bell's soaring melodic choruses, and Mechanize delivers that in a big way, highlighted by "Powershifter", "Fear Campaign", and especially the stately "Final Exit", the latter as good a song as they've ever done. The lyrics are often really dumb, and again the album does ten to repeat itself, but despite the fact that this won't be on my best-of list, it's definitely a return to form. I certainly won't get sick of these songs on Sirius...for now, anyway. For a more detailed account, take a look at my review, which is up at PopMatters today.
It's not every day you get a band who records a full debut album only to see it shelved, never to see the light of day, save for dicey quality bootlegs. But that's what happened with Harvey Milk, as their 1993 album was in the can, but their label went under and the masters disappeared. Those recordings, which came to be known as the "Bob Weston Tapes", named after the producer and Shellac bassist, went on to earn quite a reputation among sludge aficionados, and some 16, 17 years later, the fine folks at Hydra Head have finally put out a proper release, complete with a full remastering job by Weston himself. And the end result is fantastic. Sure, the band was still finding its own identity at the time, a few songs still sounding incomplete, but much of this album sounds amazing, and sonically this one obliterates their subsequent full-length, 1995's My Love Is Higher Than Your Assessment of What My Love Could Be. "My Father's Life's Work", especially. If you like Harvey Milk at all, you need to hear this reissue. You won't be disappointed. Here's my PopMatters review.
Going into 2010 one album I was really looking forward to was the new one by Israel's Orphaned Land. A phenomenal band, they fuse progressive metal with very strong Middle Eastern influences and lyrical themes that touch on their heritage, and 2004's Mabool simply blew me away when I first heard it back in early '05 when it came out in North America. It was so adventurous, so exotic, so full of life, it was impossible to dislike, the traditional melodies meshing beautifully with the heavy arrangements. I expected more of the same on the new one, and indeed it gets off to a tremendous start with the good "Sapari", but it's not long before the entire thing derails. Songs that meander for seven, eight minutes, no real payoffs, and some of the most overbearing narration I have ever heard on a record, at least this side of Manowar. And this album simply drags on and on and on for 79 minutes, making it an unbearable slog, especially considering how mediocre a lot of these songs are. Sure, there are some good ones, like "The Path Part 1 - Treading Through Darkness" and especially "New Jerusalem", but yikes. I don't care how much of this convoluted concept album story you want to tell, you've got to trim the fat. Cut this down to 45 minutes, and maybe this would work. But as it stands, it's a big mess, not to mention a significant disappointment. It's an album I really wanted to like, but after two months, it didn't take at all. Anyway, here's my full review.
Meanwhile, over at Hellbound I've reviewed the new album by Chris Jericho's Fozzy. I've always liked Jericho, he's one of the more engaging, fun pro wrestlers to come along in the last 25 years, and he's also a big metal fan. When it came to his band Fozzy, though, I never really took it too seriously. The covers they did were enjoyable, but when it came to their original stuff, my reaction was, meh. well, their first album in five years is out, and I have to say, this thing is good. granted, it's the kind of shallow stuff like Black Label Society and Godsmack, but they make no apologies, they know this style, and they pull it off very well. I had no expectations whatsoever, and Y2J (do they still call him that?) and his mates came through and surprised me. Good on you, duder.
So because Jericho grew up in Winnipeg, does this mean that Fozzy qualify as Canadian Content? Hmmm...
Catching up on Decibel stuff, my White Wizzard review, or at least the first half of it, has been posted over there. If you've seen the new video and were left a bit unimpressed by the song (like I did, it feels a little too stilted with the stop-and-start chorus), take my word for it, the album gets a whole lot better. They've got the NWOBHM thing going, big time...more like late-era NWOBHM, the stuff from circa '84 such as Tokyo Blade, Grim Reaper, etc., with plenty of Maiden-style twin guitars to keep us old fogies happy. LA's Lizzy Borden, too. "40 Deuces" is killer, as is "Out of Control', but the kicker is the epic "Iron Goddess of Vengeance", which isn't so much a paean to old-timey Brit metal but as dead-on an imitation of the current incarnation of Iron Maiden as I you will ever hear. It totally smacks of Steve Harris. Good stuff! Oh, and did I mention the new lead singer is a dead ringer for Metal Church's Mike Howe? It's true!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Apologies for the inactivity, but I've been on an absolute tear as far as the music writing goes, which is a good thing. I've decided to stop doing the little review sidebars in my monthly columns and focus more on doing more Short Takes review for PopMatters. I really should be reviewing as many albums as I can, so I'm going to try to do so. Hopefully it'll work out with minimal burnout.
Besides, 2010 is really starting to heat up, with lots of key releases set for the next three months, especially when it comes to metal. Yesterday I heard the new albums by Alcest, Les Discrets, and Landmine Marathon, three metal albums I was very excited about going into this year. Especially Alcest, which was right up at the top of my mental "most anticipated" list, and I'm thrilled to say the new record is a knockout. I'll be reviewing it in the next couple weeks for a certain metal mag, but I'll be sure to post more extensive thoughts on it here too.
Anyway, as far as published pieces go, a biggie is up at PopMatters today, that being the new Shining album. My whole experience getting into the Norwegian progressive rock band was a bit odd, not to mention lucky. I was recommended their amazing 2007 album Grindstone late that year, and then a few months later I found myself standing in a theater in Oslo watching that band destroy the place, trying to pick up my jaw off the floor. They were also the only band at the conference smart enough to sell their merch, it so happened. Compared to the broader sounds on their albums, I couldn't believe how visceral this band turned out to be live, I just loved the fusion of prog, math metal, and free jazz. Well, they must have known their live shows were on to something, because the new Blackjazz is closer to that live Shining experience than any of their studio output prior ot that. It's loud, it's abrasive, it's abstract, and best of all, it's thrilling to listen to. They're unlike any other young band these days, and I sure hope they get some wider recognition.
Oddly enough, it's so weird how two of the best metal albums feature prominently the work of saxophonist Jorgen Munkeby...
I also recently reviewed the second album by Montreal rockers Priestess. It continues to garner a lot of praise north and south of the border, but I cannot buy that at all. I love the traditional metal direction much of the album takes (a few of the harder songs are killer), but too many of the vocal melodies sound mediocre at best, so much so that I cannot bring myself to fully recommend the album. When the middling "Raccoon Eyes" is the catchiest track, you know you've got a problem. Hello Master was so much better...in retrospect I should have given it a 7 instead of a polite 6.
Then there's the new covers album by death metal bores Six Feet Under. You look at the tracklisting for Graveyard Classics 3 and can't help but admire the band's taste in metal oldies. They do Anvil and Exciter for crying out loud! How can you not love that? But as ably played as the instrumental tracks are, perpetually baked gurgler Chris Barnes always ruins things with his boring, self-parodical cookie monster vocals. He was good in Cannibal Corpse (though Corpsegrinder is far better), somewhat of an innovator in death metal, but as time goes on his style sounds more and more ridiculous. And when he dares to perform Mercyful Fate's timeless "A Dangerous Meeting", as good as the rest of the band is, you know it;s going to be a trainwreck. Ugh. Stick to the original material, dude.
Also, the new issue of Decibel is now out. Of course I haven't seen it yet and won't for another couple weeks, but the site's been updated, so I might as well plug away. Even though they've gone back to showing only the first paragraphs of the features and reviews. Bah. Anyway, I have a feature on Canadian thrash metal greats Sacrifice. It was a pleasure to talk to Rob Urbinati, and it's great to see a band come back from the dead and put out one of the finest comeback albums you'll ever hear. As for reviews, I cover the new ones by Ihsahn, which I've been plugging a lot these last couple months, and Miseration, the much-improved second album by the band led by the talented former vocalist from Scar Symmetry. I'm convinced there should be a White Wizzard review in the new issue, but it's not on the site yet, so I'll just have to wait and see. But int he meantime, take a look at their fabulous new video, which is just too cool for words.
And speaking of retro metal/hard rock, check this out. I can't get enough of this stuff. Dead-on. More on that in a day or two!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Time for another update, this coming after spending a good chunk of the day trying to dig out of the biggest snowfall since the blizzard to 2007. At the very least, this isn't half as cold as a year ago, which was just brutal.
Last Wednesday the Village Voice put out its annual Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll...this year marks the fifth straight year I've participated. It's always fun, and I always say this, but having followed the P&J for a long time before doing the writing thing, it's still a great honour to get the chance to participate. My ballot can be found here. Glenn McDonald's annual statistical breakdowns of the P&J results are always great geeky fun, and I always get a kick out of seeing how my votes trend and which other voters are most similar to me. My centricity is 0.283, as opposed to last year's 0.208...this year's ballot included several higher consensus indie picks (Fever Ray, Camera Obscura, Bat For Lashes, Baroness, etc.) while only two titles were of the esoteric variety (Cobalt, Katatonia), so that's not a surprise.
Interestingly, on ILX's big 2009 metal albums poll, my centricity is a whopping 0.793. Yikes! I'm getting too predictable. Well, I stand by all my recommendations.
Anyway, on the writing front I have a big review of the new Exodus DVD. With Cannibal Corpse pretty much setting the standard two years ago, it's clear early on that Shovel Headed Tour Machine won't be quite as well-made, but it turns out to be a very fun set in the end, which was a pleasant surprise. The band is quite rejuvenated these days, thanks to frontman Rob Dukes, who has really settled into the role, and even though the Wacken 2008 setlist on disc one is skewed too heavily towards the band's post-2004 output (with four Bonded By Blood songs tossed in), the new stuff holds up tremendously well when stacked against such classics as "A Lesson in Violence" and "Piranha". The big documentary on the second disc is really sloppy, haphazardly sequenced and edited, but if you keep watching, you find you'll learn a lot about each band member. The DVD kind of encapsulates my long-standing opinion of Bonded By Blood: sloppy, not quite as good as I would have hoped, but still oddly endearing.
Still on the Exodus subject, it's great to see that they'll be joining Megadeth and Testament on what will be a glorious vintage thrash tour, which hits my city in early March. MegaDave will be leading his band through the entirety of Rust in Peace, while Testament will be performing the seminal The Legacy in its entirety as well. So you know Exodus has to be wondering if they should perform all of Bonded By Blood. If not that, I'll settle for Fabulous Disaster! At any rate, it should be an incredible show, full of good friendly violent fun for all.
If you know me at all, I've been a big Pavement nerd for a very long time, and I was just like all the other geeks who were interested in finding out what the tracklisting for the band's best-of compilation would be. Well, it came out today, and for the most part it's a good mix, but it's far from perfect, and at times it's quite befuddling. First of all, Wowee Zowee has been unfairly snubbed, with only "Grounded" and "Fight This Generation" making the cut, with "We Dance", "Kennel District", "Half a Canyon", and the great "Rattled By the Rush" all ignored. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain's "Elevate Me Later" deserved to be there, too. As for tracks that made it but shouldn't have, I would have lopped off "Date With Ikea" (catchy but not in keeping with the band's style), "Two States" (too obvious a Fall rip-off for comfort), and "Embassy Row" (good but far from the best on Brighten the Corners). I will say it's great that "The Unseen Power of the Picket Fence" made it. Classic, oft-overlooked track, that one. If I was reviewing the comp, it'd get a polite 7/10. Or by Pitchfork standards, 7.8.
Three tracks from the upcoming new albums by three of my favourite bands have surfaced in the last few days, which has been fun. Goldfrapp's new single "Rocket" is a fascinating departure, completely embracing Xanadu-era Olivia Newton John and early-80s Giorgio Moroder pop, the synths totally reminding me of Dirk Diggler's "You Got the Touch". A very good, airy, ebullient pop tune, but it's weird hearing Goldfrapp so slavishly follow a formula like this. I'm hoping the rest of Head First will be a little more adventurous. Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, the Drive-By Truckers have returned with "This Fucking Job", a solid blue-collar rocker courtesy Patterson Hood. More of the same from DBT, but that's always a good thing. The Big To-Do is out in March. Canada's Dan Snaith is returning with the first Caribou album in three years, and the first single "Odessa" is a real departure, doing away with the psychedelic/krautrock feel of the past three albums, in favour of a more straightforward dance approach. There's a huge Junior Boys feel to the track, not as minimalist as the JBeez, but definitely some of the most bare-bones music Snaith has created to date. It's a strong track which bodes well for the rest of the album, which is due in April.
Monday, January 18, 2010
It's time to get back on that horse again. I've been piling up the articles and reviews as of late, with more to come as usual, and the first biggie of 2010 has been published today, that being my latest Blood & Thunder column, which this month is a gigantic profile of the talented Ihsahn. For those reders who aren't metal fans, Ihsahn (real name Vegard Tveitan) fronted Emperor, one of the finest black metal bands to ever come out of Norway. After the band split in 2001, his solo career took a while to get going, but over the course of three albums he's sounded more and more comfortable on his own, and with the release of After, it finally feels like he's created a real identity separate from his former band while acknowledging his past as well. What's especially cool about this record is the heavy use of saxophone melodies and solos instead of the usual guitar, and Ihsahn chose the perfect collaborator in Jorgen Munkeby, the leader of the insanely talented Norwegian prog band Shining (whose excellent new CD I am reviewing this week, coincidentally). It's a tough blend to create, but they nail it, creating a record that's as graceful as it is heavy. Anyway, I had a wonderful chat with Ihsahn the week before Christmas, and it went so well that I had to include as many of his responses as I could squeeze in. He's super-nice and an eloquent speaker, one of the most pleasant and easy interviews I've done lately, and I think that reflects in the article. So by all means give it a read, and be sure to pick up the album when it hits stores next week. It's a knockout.
The new issue of Decibel has been out for a while and finally appeared in my mail yesterday, so now's as good a time as any to selfishly plug my own contributions to the issue. First off, I have a small studio update with the great Chicago band Yakuza, whose new album will be out on Profound Lore later this year. I loved Samsara but wasn't wild about Transmutations, and I fully expect the new one to be a gigantic return to form. But that piece hasn't been posted online, so you'll have to buy the issue to read all 199 glorious words.
What has been posted is my feature piece on Between the Buried and Me. As you might or might not know, I'm a big admirer of the band, and it's been fascinating to watch their evolution over the past six years or so, but I hadn't yet interviewed the band until now. I came away impressed by frontman Tommy Rogers, he's a nice guy who's capable of smart, thoughtful answers instead of spouting the usual cliches. Plus the fact that when it comes to listening to music he craves great variety, which was I definitely understood. Anyway, it made for a fun, easy article, and if you dig BTBAM, I'm sure you'll get a bit of a kick out of the piece.
As for record reviews, there's a nice stack in this issue. I wrote the lead review this month, which is always fun...this time it's the new one by Arsis, a record that's bound to polarize audiences. Technical death metal geeks will not be impressed with the band's new direction, which leans heavily towards traditional heavy metal. In fact, I keep hearing a lot of Arch Enemy in Starve For the Devil, and seeing that I like Arch Enemy a lot (Mike Amott is probably my favourite lead guitarist in metal right now...well, he and Frederik Thordendal), this album is definitely right up my alley. And regarding the cover of Alice Cooper's great 1987 song "Roses on White Lace" that I mention in the review, if you haven't heard it, you're missing out on something amazing. So here you go, give it a listen. Good bud Cosmo Lee was the one who hooked me up with the A Diamond For Disease EP in 2005, so he gets full credit for getting me into this fine band in the first place.
I also wrote a piece on the new one by Russian pagan metalers Arkona. I really like this band and especially their talented singer/screamer/songwriter/warrior Masha Scream, and the new CD doesn't disappoint (check out the truly epic new video for the title track!), but at 75 minutes it does start to drag on. Albums that long are rarely rousing successes. Then there's the goofily named but unquestionably brootal Mr. Death, a band formed by former members of Tiamat. If you like simple, traditional Swedish death metal like Entombed, Grave, and Unleashed, you'll like this one. lastly, there's the new one by Finnish doom sourpusses Swallow the Sun...it came out right when Katatonia's brilliant Night is the New Day was released, which was the worst timing, because as I put it somewhere, going back to the formulaic new Moon after the lavish Night is the New Day is kind of like going from prime rib to Spam. But you know what? When done properly, Spam's not that bad, and neither is New Moon. Even if it lifts its title from that awful sparkling vampire movie.
Meanwhile, over at Hellbound, I have a review of the new one by Epica. I've always been on the fence with Epica, I do enjoy symphonic metal when it's done well, and the Dutch band is certainly above average at times. In addition, they're capable of some decent, flouncy, hooky singles like this one and this one. However, they've never really been able to translate all that into a good, cohesive album, always winding up too overblown for their own good. I was hoping that would change with their fourth album, but it's gotten even worse, as at times Design Your Universe is a complete trainwreck, the sound of a band trying far too hard to impress. Thumbs way down on this one.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Spending my pre-teen years in a tiny isolated town in the 70s and early 80s had many great advantages. A kid with a bike had so much more freedom than any kid who lived in a city. But living in that kind of cultural bubble doesn't exactly prepare you for life as a teen in a city, especially when it comes to popular music. The first 12 years of my life were spent solely in AM radio land, and by the time we moved to a much larger place, going to junior high and hearing of all these bands I had never heard of before, it was clear I was in way, way over my head. These days it's astonishing to think of just how out of touch I was, especially when it came to what would be known as classic rock. I didn't hear AC/DC, Bruce Springsteen, or Pink Floyd until 1984, when I was 13. I didn't hear Rush or Black Sabbath until I was 14. It still boggles my mind that I didn't hear Led Zeppelin until I was 16! Needless to say, I had a heckuvalot of catching up to do as my interest in music grew.
Worst of all was my knowledge of the work of Neil Young. It's not that I was totally unfamiliar; in fact songs from such folk and country-themed records as Harvest and Comes a Time were staples of Canadian AM radio. But by the time he started experimenting in hte early to mid-80s, Young seemed completely irrelevant to us teens at the time. No matter how hard he tried ("This Note's For You", for instance), he still came off as a dinosaur. The plain fact was I had no idea that once upon a time this guy knew how to rock, and it wasn't until "Rockin' in the Free World" broke in 1989 that I started to take notice. But that was new music, and as subsequent singles like 1990's "Over and Over" continued to draw my mild interest, I still had no interest in his older material, which I still assumed was of the folky variety. It's embarrassing to admit, but it wasn't until I was 21 that I learned just how awesome, how visceral, how loud old Neil Young songs could be.
Weld was the album that did it. A double live album recorded on Young's 90-91 tour with Crazy Horse, it absolutely blew my mind when I heard it on the radio. By then Neil Young had taken to the "godfather of grunge" tag in a huge way, and that tour, with Sonic Youth opening a lot of those shows, was all about the volume of the performances. The band of guitarist Poncho Sampedro, bassist Billy Talbot, and drummer Ralph Molina was at its raggedly glorious best, but it was all about Young, who stuck to his classic black Les Paul and hammered out gigantic riffs, searing, soaring solos, and wave upon wave of drone and feedback. Much to my amazement, the 16 track album had songs that dated back to as early as 1969. I had no idea! Suddenly an entire musical realm had opened itself up to me, thanks to the scorching, impassioned performances on this record.
Nearly 20 years later, Weld has aged beautifully. "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" sounds ferocious thanks to the heavily distorted crunch of Old Black. "Cortez the Killer" and "Like a Hurricane" are epic in every sense of the word, the latter featuring one of my all-time favourite guitar solos. "Tonight's the Night" is darker and more vicious than the original, while "Welfare Mothers" seethes with cynicism and "Roll Another Number" and "Farmer John" are pure garage rockers. The material from the great Ragged Glory album is superbly performed, especially "Love to Burn" and "Love and Only Love", but out of all the tracks, it's the two from 1989's Freedom that steal the show. The album version of "Crime in the City" is subtle and brooding, but here Young transforms it into an almost metallic anthem, the rhythm guitars galloping during the verses. Better yet is "Rockin' in the Free World", which is actually slower than the original, Crazy Horse making it rawer, much more primal as Young spits his acid-tongued lyrics, a perfect State of the Union address for Gulf War America. And speaking of Bush Sr.'s war, the cover of "Blowin' in the Wind" was powerful then, and with things even worse these days, it's just as powerful now.
An interesting bit of trivia I have always known, after listening to Young's fascinating appearance on Rockline in late '91, was that all the harmony vocals have been overdubbed in the studio. Purists would consider that insulting, and it's never fun to learn just how much studio doctoring goes into classic live albums, but from day one I've felt the retouched backing vocals work extremely well on Weld, especially on tracks like "Mansion on the Hill", "Blowin' in the Wind", and "Rockin' in the Free World". Had they not been retouched and the backing vocals turned out to be sloppy, there's no doubt it would have been far too distracting to bear. It was a gamble by Young, but one that worked brilliantly, at least in my own opinion.
Weld was the album that kicked off a serious Neil Young fixation, as I started to search out his old records, and although I enjoy the full range of his music, to this day I am drawn to Neil Young the Rocker more than anything else in his diverse catalogue: "Mr. Soul", "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere", "Down By the River", "Cowgirl in the Sand", "Southern Man", Tonight's the Night, Rust Never Sleeps, Live Rust. His music can be as hard edged as the heaviest of metal at times, and it's something I'm continually drawn towards. After all these years I finally replace my old worn cassette with the CD version of the album, and my interest in it has been reborn in recent weeks. It's a record that was glossed over by Young's baby boomer fanbase (Jimmy McDonough barely gives it a mention in his fascinating but flawed biography), but it had a much bigger impact on my own generation, and I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only Gen Xer who was amazed to find out that there was more to Neil Young than Harvest. Under that heart of gold lurks a lot of darkness, and Weld exudes that darkness perfectly.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Cleaning up more loose ends, I should mention some recent writing that got lost in the shuffle over the holidays. First off, the new one by Immortal, which I reviewed for PopMatters. It's been getting varied reactions, some people love it (enough to place it surprisingly high on Decibel's 2009 top 40), others are totally bored with it...personally I enjoy it, it's harmless fun, an admittedly watered down album that holds true to Immortal's formula from their albums with Peter Tagtgren. And speaking of fun, it's impossible to hate Dethklok, and the cartoon band's second album is tremendous. Show creator/songwriter Brenden Small continues to improve as a metal songwriter and vocalist, and Dethalbum II is a lot more ferocious than its predecessor, doing away with the jokey shtick and going for full-throttle, fist-pumpin' metal. Of course it never hurts to have Gene Hoglan holding the fort on drums, and he makes this record ultra-tight. They might be on Cartoon Network, but you can't listen to "Bloodlines" and "Laser Cannon Deth Sentence" and dismiss this as a mere novelty. This is good music, plain and simple.
Over at Hellbound I reviewed Dark Tranquillity's cool new DVD, which includes a very slickly shot club show from their last tour in 2008, as well as a very enjoyable band documentary and amazing early live footage, including rehearsal clips with Anders Friden on vocals before he joined In Flames. Better yet, though, is the debut EP by Seattle's Black Breath, just some good, old-fashioned metal in the vein of Celtic Frost's Morbid Tales and Slayer's Show No Mercy. They have a new album coming out this year, produced by Kurt Ballou no less, and you can bet I'm excited for that one.
One thing I didn't get a chance to mention was Decibel's special Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums of the Decade issue. It turned out excellent, it's a great discussion starter, which is always good. But I was a bit nonplussed about how much hardcore there was on a list that purported to be "metal". Converge, Botch, Trap Them, yeah, those can count, but not Fugazi, Shellac, Fucked Up, or Melt-Banana...I like those bands a lot, but we all know they're not metal. And neither is Queens of the Stone Age, for that matter. But who am I to complain? I had Alcest at #8 on my ballot, for crying out loud! I could bicker about the choices, but Phil Freeman did a much better job of that a month ago. I will say it was disheartening to see a lot of melodic metal ignored...DragonForce, Nightwish, Nevermore, Arch Enemy, even Lamb of God all made a very big impact on metal over the last ten years, and that deserves acknowledgment. I could slap together my own list of 100 metal albums, but that'd just be overkill right now. Decibel's list is controversial, but that's good, it got people talking.
Every December I run off a list of albums from the previous year that I missed out on when I did my end-of-year project, but in 2009 I couldn't think of many that I felt deserved mentioning. I can't say the same in 2010, though, as I missed out on a few biggies from 2009. First off, and don't laugh, but the CD by Them Crooked Vultures wound up blowing me away. I knew about the hype from day one, but I ended up cooling on the notion of QOTSA's Josh Homme, Dave Grohl, and John Paul Jones jamming away for an hour or so. Supergroups rarely if ever work, so why should this? Well, this album does work, even if it is three guys having a lossey-goosey jam session. All three musicians are on equal footing, Jones providing those fluid basslines and keys, Grohl doing what he ought to be doing (instead of, say, singing and playing guitar), but Homme really comes through with some quality riffs and vocal hooks, as the album is every bit as good as the last couple Queens records. It does stumble for a bit on "Interlude With Ludes" and "Warsaw", but as for the rest, I love it.
Another album wound up growing on me immensely. When I first heard it, Micachu's Jewellery sounded like merely ordinary indie rock with a lot of clatter stuck on top. But very much like Can's weirder, more playful sonic excursions, those off-kilter melodies and oddball arrangements just wound their way into my head, like the Fall-esque riff on "Lips", the whimsical "Golden Phone", or "Calculator". I should know better than to immediately dismiss something, but sometimes I need the odd reminder, and this wonderful little CD did just that.
Another grower was St. Vincent's Actor. I'd heard "Strangers" and "Actor Out of Work" all year long, but it was actually the clever integration of indie and electronic on the single "Marrow" that ultimately commanded my attention, compelling me to look past that admittedly annoying cover art. Seriously, her album covers freak me out. Thankfully the music doesn't.
But hey, it's a new year, enough looking back. What about the new stuff? Just a week ago I was lamenting that my physical and virtual stacks of 2010 albums were looking unusually scant, both in number and quality, but things were set right very quickly this week, thanks to the arrival of two of my most-anticipated records of the year, Dillinger Escape Plan's Option Paralysis and High on Fire's Snakes For the Divine. My initial reaction to the Dillinger record is positive, and we all know just how much their music can grow on a listener, so I'll be giving this plenty of time to settle in. I like it, it's a good, consistent balance of everything they've been doing as of late (insane technical tracks offset by more restrained melodic passages), but my gut's telling me that it won't end up being better than Ire Works. That one knocked my socks off from my first listen...if the last three albums felt like 9 outta 10 records, this one feels like a 7 or 8. Still very good, but not as mind-blowing.
High on Fire's Snakes For the Divine, however, sounds like a winner as soon as you hear it. Granted, there's no such thing as a bad High of Fire album, Matt Pike is too talented to let that happen, but it feels like Snakes really raises the bar. Some folks prefer the density of Surrounded by Thieves, the glorious Steve Albini sound of Blessed Black Wings, or the more adventurous Death is This Communion, and I cannot see how anyone will dislike Snakes. First and foremost, it gets down to brass tacks after the somewhat more measured pace of Communion: it's all riffage, all aggression for 46 spectacular minutes, every single track a barnstormer, seven songs averaging 6-8 minutes in length, early faves the first three tracks actually: the epic "Snakes For the Divine", the rampaging "Frost Hammer", and the menacing, Sabbatherian "Bastard Samurai". Greg Fidelman's production is terrific, achieving the same dry tone as he did on Slayer's World Painted Blood, and he does somethnig that no other producer dared try yet: put Pike's vocals right up front. His strangled growl is one of the more unique voices in metal, and he really puts in a charismatic performance, making an already excellent album even better. Out of all the January-March releases I've heard thus far, this is easily the best of them. Better circle February 23rd on your calendar...
Monday, January 11, 2010
Well, it's about time I got back at the blog, no? October to November gets so crazy that once I get my year-end thing all done before Christmas, I just have to take a break. So I did. But this year the break was extended because I was off on my own little hockey holiday, attending the World Junior Championships here in Saskatoon. It was something I couldn't pass up, I went to a few games the last time the tournament was held in Saskatchewan in 1991 and just loved it (I got to see many future NHL stars as well), and even though ticket prices were super-inflated, I splurged on the medal round package. It was exhausting...eleven games in four days was tough, and in the end heavily-favoured Canada didn't win, but the whole experience was fantastic, and I'm so glad I went. In an effort to keep things relatively concise, here are some thoughts from the dozen (in total) games I saw:
- The gold medal final was one of the best games I have ever seen in person, in hundreds and hundreds of games I've never been in that crazy a hockey crowd, and when Jordan Eberle worked his magic in the last few minutes to cap an incredible comeback, it was unreal.
- I saw the US victory coming from a mile away. Having attended four of their games, they played like a unit, a team, while Canada just got by on raw talent...placing second in their pool galvanized the US, while Canada was very rusty after earning the first place bye. No matter how much Don Cherry whines, the US flat-out took it to Canada over and over in this tournament and fully deserved to win.
- Canada deserved to be brought down a peg. All the media hype and expectations of the fans just made this country look too arrogant, and as much as I wanted them to win (decked out in my Team Canada jersey of course!), John Carlson's OT winner didn't leave me anywhere near as shattered as other folks in the building.
- The second best game was the Switzerland-Russia quarterfinal, in which the Swiss goalie put on a clinic against the very aggressive Russians and we all witnessed the emergence of one Nino Niederreiter.
- Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall, Alex Pietrangelo, John Carlson, Jordan Schroeder, Danny Kristo, Cam Fowler, Matthias Tedenby, Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson, and Adam Larsson all were incredible to watch.
- It was nice how the city embraced the Latvia team after they were mercilessly slaughtered 16-0 in the first game against Canada. Everyone cheered for them even though they were horribly overmatched, and when they won their final relegation game against Austria, they looked so happy and grateful for the support. That's Saskatchewan right there, never mind the mean-spirited anti-American sentiment when the US played.
- This was the best organized event I have ever seen Saskatoon stage. The public transportation was perfect, buses had priority over cars, so getting in and out was so much faster than driving, and when I did park, traffic flow was coordinated as well as it could be, everyone did a super job.
- World Fest was awesome. Game ends, head out the east doors, hop on the bus (the longest I waited was 30 seconds), drive two minutes to the venue, get dropped off right at the door, grab something good to eat, look at the memorabilia displays (I am such a nerd when it comes to old senior hockey sweaters from Saskatchewan), and basically take it easy for an hour before heading back to the next game.
- Pepsi's corporate slogan disguised as a cheer was a complete and utter failure, something I'm very proud happened. They started off aggressively pushing it on the crowds at games, but by tournament's end people booed whenever someone brought it up, and the hired "fans" and announcers just gave up trying to do it by the semifinal and final. It's like an advertiser trying to make somethnig go viral: it's impossible. These things happen organically, not by force-feeding the public. We didn't buy into it. Eh, oh, I'd rather drink Coke.
- The 50/50 was NUTS, featuring a very cool ticker that just compelled folks to buy more tickets. The New Year's Eve game nearly topped $200,000, while the final came within a couple hundred of $300,000. Staggering.
- The Family Fest the week before Christmas was awesome, with loads of exhibits and interactive stuff for the kids, and best of all, it gave my niece and I a chance to spend some quality time with the Stanley Cup. We went at a time when we knew there wouldn't be a line-up (6 pm on a Tuesday), and were able to take our time with it and snap some photos.
- It was a great time to people watch. Just walk on the concourse of Credit Union Centre, and you'd practically bump into someone famous. Saw lots of hockey people, but the biggest geek moment for me was seeing Mark Messier, who still looks like he can go out and play. Plus the fact that he spent an entire intermission signing stuff and saying hi to kids speaks volumes.
-My seat was awesome. 18th row upper deck doesn't sound great, but I was right on a blue line and the sight lines from there in the cozy rink are amazing. $558 well spent, I tell you!
More catching up tomorrow!
