Sunday 23 November 2014

Steak Number Eight "All Is Chaos" (2011)


Post Rock/Metal outfit Steak Number Eight are a four piece band from Belgium who released their debut EP in 2008 when the band members age was at an average of 16. Three years later these youngsters released their debut full length "All Is Chaos" in 2011 which I was recently turned onto by a friend. I enjoyed this record with no knowledge of their age, which shows it doesn't really matter when it comes to music.

Steak Number Eight have a big, epic, sludging sound. The group stroll their way through many varying degrees of heavy, melodic and grooving riffs that draw influences from Post-Rock and other styles of Metal that give each track its own flavor. These lengthy songs drone and brood rather than progress as moods and atmospheres intensify into bombastic moments littered with catchy riffs and absorbing climaxes. The album opens with "Dickhead", a catchy bouncy track that doesn't quite set the tone for what follows. Offensive lyrics and upfront riffing, the song climaxes with some almost Deftones-esque screams and guitar grooves that starts this one of with a head banger that the rest of the album doesn't quite follow suit with, offering much more moody atmospheres in the following tracks.

The album sounds decent, nothing spectacular but the guitar tones are the highlight, the production captures the best of the melodic guitars often soaked in blissful reverb. The distorted rhythm guitars texture and tone is sublime, capturing the right balance of distortion and fuzz, giving the guitar room to move in and out of the spotlight when providing the momentums grooves or backing for melodic leads. The drumming and bass is a little underwhelming, I don't recall any moments where the bass came to the forefront or the drum patterns were doing much more than guiding and accommodating the guitar department. Decent album with some great riffs but lacked icing on the cake.

Favorite Tracks: Dickhead, Stargazing
Rating: 5/10

Friday 21 November 2014

Carcass "Surgical Remission / Surplus Steel" (2014)


Hailing from Liverpool, England, Carcass are a pioneering Extreme Metal group who's roots were originally in Grindcore before defining their trademark sound with 93's "Heartwork", an album thats originality and production has had a lasting influence on Metal music and could be considered a very important album and the beginning of Melodic Death Metal, a genre, that as the name suggests, brings tune and melody to the forefront of a brutal and dark aesthetic. Disbanding in 95 the group have reformed in recent years and taken their time to write a spiritual successor to Heartwork, "Surgical Steel", released in 2013. This EP contains 5 tracks from the same recording session that didn't make the final cut.

Despite being left overs from the album, this short listen retains the energy and level of quality Surgical Steel delivered. Any of these songs would sound great on the album, however none of them are stand out tracks with anything notably attention grabbing. These are typical Carcass songs, tightly performed Death Metal with melodic leads, tight grooves and a consistent creativity from the rhythm guitar, decorating these tracks with a diversity that keeps them fresh and appealing. These tracks did feel somewhat "lighter" with a focus on the rockable grooves and vocal hooks over any "all or nothing" heavy moments.

After a few listens I am left with a slight emptiness towards this record, these are fantastic songs that really deserve to be part of a full length and the nature of a short listen leaves me yearning for more. Great songs but the format falls a little short for a band like Carcass. On a final note, Heartwork is a special album, one that we will discuss soon.

Favorite Track: Livestock Marketplace
Rating: 5/10

Thursday 20 November 2014

Job For A Cowboy "Sun Eater" (2014)


Job For A Cowboy are an American Death Metal group who made a lot of noise in the Deathcore scene with their 2005 debut "Doom", an EP that personified some of the scenes best qualitys. It created a buzz around the group that quickly gained them momentous popularity. The release of their first full length "Genesis" in 2007 saw the group break into mainstream charts while simultaneously dropping the entirety of there Deathcore roots for a pure Death Metal sound. Speculation would lead me to believe this was probably the plan from day one, to use a trending scene to gain popularity and then write the music they wanted to. I don't think theres anything wrong with that, and their fan base has certainly not revolted because of the transition, but for me it was a disappointment to see one of the finer Deathcore bands turn into another unremarkable Death Metal act, similar to what happened with Annotations Of An Autopsy.

Sun Eater seemed intriguing and promising at first, Cowboy deliver a composed and more progressive sound tinged with a touch of Black Metal in the guitar chords. Favoring layered and detailed compositions over pounding brutality, the opening track "Eating The Visions Of God" set the tone for a lush sounding record where anything could happen. The production is outstanding, crisp, dense guitar tones. A balanced drum kit with a bass kick and snare mixed to perfection. The bass was the highlight of this album for me, sounding thick, bold and melodic it continuously came to the forefront, pounding out grooving progressions and high pitched notation that added an exciting dimension to their aural aesthetic.

As the album unfolded, and after several spins, it has become quite clear that this record isn't for me. As much as I enjoy and appreciate the technical aesthetics, the music itself is lacking. With the exception of maybe one track their was very little captivating or arousing. Track after track wandered through purposeless themes that pounded out all sorts of technical riffs, rhythms and solos that failed to spark my imagination, I am left with very little to say about "Sun Eater", my disappointment has left me wondering if this kind of music isn't doing it for me anymore.


Rating: 4/10

Wednesday 19 November 2014

Devin Townsend Project "Dark Matters" (2014)


Its time to talk about the second half of the new Devin Townsend double album "Z²". In the build up to its release I was much more interested in the "Sky Blue" half, while most media outlets were focused on the return of our beloved coffee addicted alien friend Ziltoid! In 2007 Devin released the first Ziltoid record which mixed his unique blend of Metal with a comedic musical about an alien named Ziltoid who visits earth demanding their finest cup of coffee. The cult popularity of the album has set a high grade for this follow up, which I was expecting to be the less enjoyable half of Z², however I have myself pleasantly humbled by this straight forward and entertaining record.

From start to end this album engaged me with its glorious sound and tongue in cheek humor, combining the two effortlessly. Its no surprise this album has a similar production and aesthetic to Sky Blue, with Devin no longer working on his own the Ziltoid franchise benefits from the additional musicians who give this album much warmth and depth that "Ziltoid The Omniscient" lacked. From song to song the album unfolds its story through entertaining tracks that are exciting, integrating the characters and narratives with a touch of class. There wasn't a moment of filler and the story and music both climax together, ending the album on a high with the outstanding "Dimension Z".

In a nutshell, I felt Dark Matters took "Ziltoid The Omniscient" and stepped it up a notch, better production, no drum machine and more cohesion and consistency from song to song. The story and comedic narrative is obviously an important element, but being a silly tale about a coffee loving extra-terrestrial, this squeal didn't need more than some good laughs and humor to justify its relevance, and it did exactly that. Five years in the making, Devin has delivered a rock solid record of which every moment is satisfying. 

Favorite Songs: From Sleep To Awake, Ziltoid Goes Home, Dimension Z
Rating: 7/10

Tuesday 18 November 2014

Machine Head "Bloodstone & Diamonds" (2014)


Machine Head are an American four piece Groove Metal band from California who over the 20 years since their first album "Burn My Eyes" have become one of Metal's most popular and celebrated heavier bands. In 2007 the group released their magnum opus "The Blackening", an album that showcased their musical maturity, ability to write captivating songs and their mastery of heavy, grooving riffs that saw song after song shred through neck snapping head banger after banger. It set the bar high for this band, their 2011 effort "Onto The Locust" underwhelmed me at the time. Thanks to this blog I have learned to be more patient with music, to give it more spins before giving my thoughts and opinions, and in the case of this record I was underwhelmed at first, but stuck at it and after a few listens I started to really enjoy this one.

Production wise this album sounds loud, bold and engaging, a step up from "The Blackening" with time doing providing progression as expected. Its a fantastic modern production that captures the character of the band without over doing the squeaky clean sound some modern Metal records suffer from, ie Slipknot's ".5: The Gray Chapter". With a great sound laid down all Machine Head need to do is deliver those slamming heavy riffs in captivating songs as they so often do. On the first few listens the "money riffs" were there, with no failure to excite, but the songs and themes didn't initially do much for me, feeling a little dull and dry at times. After several listens the familiarity helped me understand and appreciate what Machine Head were up to. For a band who may of passed their creative peak there was no shortage of ideas, song after song progressing with plenty of new ideas and interesting song structures that felt organic and epic, however these ideas would be a little expansive as the album drew on.

This is an album of two halves, from "Now We Die" to "Eyes Of The Dead" Machine Head sound their usual selfs with the exception of "Sail Into The Black", a moody, brooding track that gentle progresses, roars, and then fades back in the darkness. The second half finds each song sounding distinctly different from Machine Heads usual arsenal of sounds, "Beneath The Silt" brings some low sludgy Crowbar like grooves to the fold with Flynn showing the gentler side of his voice with dreamy leads. "In Comes The Flood" is a blatant social political commentary about America and capitalism that delivers all attention to the lyrics. "Damage Inside" has Flynn bringing a folk like solo vocal leads to some reverb soaked ambiance that builds up and dissipates a climatic moment. "Game Over" focuses its attention on a thrashier sounding rhythm than usual and "Imaginal Cells" bring more anti-system commentaries through sampled vocals over a quiet instrumental. The album ends on "Take Me Through The Fire" and like the ones before, something is a little differed. These songs are all decent, its great to hear the band expand their sound, but the track arrangement makes it very noticeable, and maybe with a more mixed line up I would not of noticed. But either way it doesn't change the fact that this album is loaded with good songs, and that Machine Head still know what their doing, the inclusion of the symphonic strings on a couple of tracks worked well and Bloodstone & Diamonds is another solid part of their discography.

Favorite Songs: Ghosts Will Haunt By Bones, Beneath The Silt, Take Me Through The Fire
Rating: 6/10

Sunday 16 November 2014

Fen "Dustwalker" (2013)


English Black Metal band Fen are a group who captivated my interest with their debut "The Malediction Fields" in 2009. Their sound stood them apart from other bands in the genre by incorporating some Post-Rock elements that gave them a range and diversity that was intriguing and progressive. The bands songs could span a range of moods and incorporate many heavy, or light and melodic moments with effortless fluency. Their sound is charactered by a strong theme of nature, the kind of cold unforgiving beauty the natural world can be without the comforts of the modern age. I saw this band live last year and was, to my surprise, rather disappointed, feeling their live show didn't capture what their recordings did.

Dustwalker failed to grab my attention at first. It wasn't until multiple listens later that I became more engaged with this record, what initially disappointed me is still quite apparent, it is fitting for the right mood, but in the wrong environment the music alone doesn't quite have the spark to captivate my attention. Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between your own enjoyment of art, or the art itself. Maybe there is only the first, but on a long walk in the cold dark of night could this music reveal itself.

Rough around the edges, the albums production is straight forward and unpolished giving it a natural character, not low fidelity, but far from perfection. This plays great in melodic moments that get a hazy distortion from the instruments sharing the space together. The production sets the tone for this record that explores varied themes in long songs that progress through a dynamic range of heavy and melodic moments that are quite awe inspiring in the right mood. The vocals deliver an honest performance with clean leads that bleed the human element into these cold songs. Theres a few golden moments here and there but overall the songs do dull a little as they continually progress through mediocrity. Theres nothing terribly bad happening here, but it just falls short overall.

Favorite Tracks: Spectre, Reflections
Rating: 4/10

Saturday 15 November 2014

My Bloody Valentine "Loveless" (1991)


Scottish group My Bloody Valentine are a Shoegazing band who have been cited a major influence and pioneers of the genre which gets its name from the literal observation of gazing at ones shoes, a characteristic of the guitarists in the genre who would stare at their feet when playing. Having recently enjoyed some Shoegazing influences I felt compelled to check this album out after enjoying the opening and single track "Only Shallow".

The group have a low fidelity aesthetic, grungy guitars muddy there way through a wall of fuzzy distortion that consumes and blurs much of the instrumentation around them. Some strummed clean chords are slightly audible and the drumming is lost and buried under much of this hazy fuzz. The vocals the most captivating element, providing a gentle melody and relation through the noise of the guitars. With all that said the production and mixing is very inconsistent from track to track, with the opening drums having a clear and crisp yet slightly narrow sound to them, then in the next couple of tracks they are buried. The guitars also utilize the tremolo bar, distorting chords and pitch shifting them, giving them a sound like the audio had been recorded to old tape and stretched. Interesting at first, but becoming somewhat dull as the album progressed.

This album was a disappointment. Beyond the promise of the opening track the music failed to evoke much emotional response from me. The ideas and aesthetics from the opening track were quickly dulled as track after track meandered through low fidelity noise that didn't offer much in terms of imagination or progression. I understand and appreciate the influence a record like this can have, the experimentation with fidelity and aesthetics is interesting and captivating, however there was an apparent lack of substance behind these ideas as each song drifted by with no remarkable moments or much to talk about. 

Favorite Tracks: Only Shallow, When You Sleep
Rating: 4/10

Friday 14 November 2014

As Blood Runs Black "Allegiance" (2006)


As Blood Runs Black are an American Deathcore band who formed in the early years of the Deathcore scene and dropped this, their debut album, at the peak of the genres popularity in 2006. After giving this one a spin during a work out today, I felt compelled to talk about it. This is one of the better sounds to emerge from the scene that would become plagued with mimicking bands and a flood of mediocre music.

The groups sound leans much closer to Metalcore and Hardcore than its Death Metal counterpart, what is "Death" about it is rather sonicly visceral and full on than anything remotely Death Metal, this is often true of many Deathcore bands that have an abrasive sound only similar in tone and aggression, not often in mood or substance. The heavy side of their sound comes from the aesthetic and songwriting where these typical Metalcore style songs break away into slamming, pummeling breakdowns with simplistic grooves and machine-like drumming that rattles away with exceptional precision, and lots of use of triggers, the end of "My Fears have Become Phobias" being an example. These slams and breaks are accompanied by a solid vocal presence ranging from snarled screams to forceful guttural rawrs, and the occasional gang shout.

Although they will be more noticeably be defined by these characteristics, the group write decent Metalcore leads, with memorable riffs making use of melodics and pinch harmonics that ads up to create exciting and aggressive music. My problem with this album is its lack of substance, after the first three songs the group change the mood with a gentle instrumental "Pouting Reign", a song that lacks any real progression or musical ideas, and from this point onwards the Metal tracks never really live up to the promise of the first few, recycling the same ideas, or trying things that just don't do it for me. Decent record, great sound, but a lack of depth in the songwriting department.

Favorite Tracks: In Dying Days, My Fears Have Become Phobias, Hester Prynne
Rating: 5/10

Thursday 13 November 2014

Sikth "The Trees Are Dead And Dried Out Wait For Something Wild" (2003)


Sikth are a UK based six piece Progressive Metal outfit who have grown a noteable reputation and audience since there hiatus in 2007 which came after the release of their second album. With the growing Math Metal and Djent scenes Sikth have often been cited as a major influence on these new bands, and thus their reputation has grown despite their inactivity. After capturing the final show of their reunion tour I felt compelled to write about this exceptional debut album where Sikth defined there brilliant and unusual sound and stood apart from everyone else at that time. 

Sikth's sound is a beautiful and creative mess of musical ideas expressed with a wild and excitable energy that can most notably be heard through the sporadic and jolty rhythm guitar, energetic, bouncy rhythms and riffs, organic and sporadic in nature, almost sounding polyrhythmic and mathematic yet being neither. Although the guitar tone isn't full Djent, Sikth bang out tightly performed rhythms, crunching the isolated notes in the low end, It's clear to hear the influence they have had. The guitar leads, at the time, had a refreshing approach with hammered on melodic leads the group would use diversely in frenetic moments and to build captivating atmospheres. In the drumming department Loord Foord ads another creative and detailed layer to Sikth's sound, never settling for anything simple, he consistently decorates these tracks with fantastic rhythms, fills, patterns and provides a solid backbone. Vocalists Mikee and Justin bring more energy to the mix with their charactered and diverse presence, offering some memorable sing along melodic leads on tracks like "Peep Show" as well as playing to the frenetic energy of the guitars with sharp gruff screams sounding like a mad man on the loose. The bass is solid throughout and occasionally comes to the fore front with some bold baselines like on the track "Hold My Finger" as the notes slide up and down behind a hammered on lead.

For all they do different, their end product is not Avant-Guard or Experimental. Despite having an unusual sound, Sikth are a group with a great sense for song writing and Rock sensibility who's unusual and experiment elements are executed to a perfection that allows the group to explore their selfs in these songs that are progressive and well structured. As well as their Metal sound, Sikth also have a great appreciation for ambiance and atmosphere which can be heard in the longer tracks "Tupelo" and "Can't We All Dream", two very different but absorbing songs. The production of this album is solid. So much so I don't think I have ever given it a second thought, which is testament to its quality. Far from a squeaky clean sound, but their is no muddiness or technical issues and at all times it captures everything this band is about. A stunning record, one that has stayed with me over the years and has never lost its charm.

Favorite Tracks: Scent Of The Obscene, Pussyfoot, Hold My Finger, Emmerson, Peep Show, Tupelo, Can't We All Dream
Rating: 9/10

Tuesday 11 November 2014

Kraftwerk "The Man-Machine" (1978)


The world of Electronic music is one I'm fond of, but not well educated on its history and evolution. From my understanding it is Kraftwerk who are often hailed as the godfathers of all modern Electronic music. I've frequently heard about them in the highest of regards from enthusiasts who point to them as pioneers in the field who's influence is enormous and lasting. After enjoying the song "Robots" and its quirky music video on Youtube I have failed to listen to this record for too long.

It was impossible to listen to this record with out thinking about its context, era and what it would have meant for the music of the future, but this didn't effect my enjoyment of this record, what I found were 6 repetitive and minimalist songs that had a gentle, yet unusual soul about them. Kraftwerk's sound is powerful considering the lack of depth on hand. Songs mostly consisted of three to five layers of synthesizers, an electronic kit and vocoded vocals. The beauty of there music was in the expression, through limited options the four created catchy and memorable tunes with an unusual air about them, probably reflecting the new frontier they were sailing with Electronic music. It was this ingenuity to bring melodic sensibility and catchy notation to the electronic sound that I suspect is what has earned them their reputation. Previously I had heard synthesizers being used as evolving tangents of progressing sound on such a record as "Dark Side Of The Moon" or some Tangerine Dream of the same era.

As a whole the record sounds pristine, so much care was put into the mix and the texture of these synthesizers, at a time when production was not as advanced. With a fantastic sound the group craft absorbing songs that, despite the minimalism, feel rich with atmosphere and character. As the album progress the vocal content develops a little, but always sticking to a simplicity that expresses a non-human characteristic as vocoded vocals repeat words in an alien use of language. As the album sucked me in I felt the repetitive synth leads becoming more memorizing and absorbing, with a fantastic moment on "Neon Lights" as sweeping, glistening synths captivate and dance there way through half the duration of this track. Impressive album, even more so considering the era of time. That being said nothing here feels dated, Kraftwerk didn't just experiment or push boundaries, they created honest music as they did it.

Favorite Tracks: Metropolis, Neon Lights, The Man Machine
Rating: 9/10