2010 in Review

(I know this is a bit later than everyone else's, but I think it's weird doing a year end piece before the year is over. Anyway, here's my opinion on the best albums and gigs of 2010)

Top Ten Albums of 2010.


1. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis
Album of the year for sure! Working with new drummer Billy Rymer while composing these songs brought out the best in Ben Weinman (instead of the programmed drums used to write Ire Works). This album saw Dillinger get better at everything they do, and add a whole bunch of new sounds. Amazing.

2. Murder By Death - Good Morning Magpie
A collection of songs written in a mountain cabin. Whiskey, broken dreams, living like a dog, carrying the weight of life, death and love, shaving with a knife and the wrath of forgotten gods.

3. Tim Kasher - The Game of Monogamy
Tim Kasher (of Cursive and The Good Life) delivers his first solo album. The Game of Monogamy plays like the score of a musical as Kasher grapples with the idea of settling down to married life. A perfect accompaniment to Cursive’s Mama, I’m Swollen album in which Kasher grappled with growing up (and which was my favourite album of 2009).

4. Julie Christmas - The Bad Wife
Another solo album from one of my favourite singers. This Time from Julie Christmas of Made Out of Babies, Battle of Mice and Spylacopa. Written mostly with John LaMacchia from Spylacopa (and also Candiria), or members of MOOB, it’s fair to say the sound will be familiar to fans of Christmas’s work. But what we have here are a bunch of songs which would not quite fit any of those acts, allowing everyone involved to stretch themselves in new areas. The cover of Jacques Brel’s If You Go Away (or ‘Ne Me Quitte Pas’) is the most beautiful piece of music mentioned on this list.

5. Jaguar Love - Hologram Jams
A huge change from anything Jaguar Love (or their previous band Blood Brothers) have ever done before, I remember thinking when it came out that this album was full of summertime dance jams. I managed to forget about it in the months since until compiling this list, but now that I’ve come across it again tracks like Everything is Awesome and Polaroids & Red Wine will feature heavily in what’s left of my summer.

6. Xiu Xiu - Dear God I Hate Myself
A typically upbeat effort from Jamie Stewart. Just kidding! We love you Jamie, even if you can’t seem to love yourself. What is different about this album is that it’s full of a lot more electro beats than previous Xiu Xiu work. Other than that it’s got all the beautiful soundscapes you’d expect and lyrics so bleak you feel they may collapse at any moment and take you with them.

7. Daughters – Daughters
Just Wow! The changes between Daughters’ debut Hell Songs and its follow up Canada Songs was incredibly dramatic, but made sense at the same time. On their third album they finished that journey. Unfortunately it’s also their last album as the band broke up shortly before it was released due to creative differences. That tension is what makes this album so good though. Not that you have to be strained to make good art, but members pulling in different directions makes for a very interesting combination of elements.

(There were no videos made for this album, but this is the audio of one of my favourite tracks off it)

8. Liars – Sisterworld
Liars started out as a Brooklyn dance punk band. Then they went all ambient and spacey with tribal rhythms. And now they’re doing something that has elements of both those things, but isn’t really either. Whatever, they’ve always sounded awesome.

9. Deftones - Diamond Eyes
This is Deftones' best album since White Pony. On it’s own that doesn’t say much since their last few albums weren’t all that memorable. But this is the first time they’ve gotten close to this level since White Pony. And it’s good to hear them do it again.

10. Deaf Wish - Mercy

2010 wasn’t a great year for Australian albums. A lot of great bands, and some really cool EP’s too. But not a lot of great albums. Then I heard this. I’ve never heard Deaf Wish’s previous recorded output, only seen them live. And I’ve never seen the band with their original guitarist Sarah Hardiman, who returns on this album either. So I had no idea what this would sound like, and was very pleasantly surprised. The rawness and chaos of their live shows is lurking underneath the whole thing, but there’s a lot of well crafted songs and some restrained sounds too. Taking their passion from the stage and turning it into a record with a purpose which you can listen to over and over again.

(No videos made for this album either, but here's some footage of the other version of Deaf Wish live at The Tote)

Honourable Mentions:

Rolo Tomassi – Cosmology
This album is good, but this band needs to be seen live for any of this to make sense. Such a brilliant show. Go see them!

The Melvins - The Bride Screamed Murder
Melvins being Melvins. In every way. Whereas some Melvins albums rock hard and some are full of experiemental weirdness, this one has a lot of weirdness but it’s always underpinned with awesome riffs.

65daysofstatic - We Were Exploding Anyway
65 rely more on their electronic side here than on previous releases, but it works. This sound was always in their style in some form or another, so it’s cool to see them explore it a bit more.

Shining – Blackjazz
Listening to this album you’d never realise that these guys started out as an acoustic jazz band. Jazz musicians who came to heavy music instead of the other way around. Interesting.

My Chemical Romance - Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys
How to follow up a ridiculous caberet emo concept album? With an even more ridiculous retro-sci-fi rock concept album! Good job!

Cancer Bats - Bears, Mayors, Scraps and Bones
Contains my favourite hardcore-love-song line of the year!

“Some people call me a Nihilist / Say I don’t believe in a thing! / I know that can’t be true! / ‘Cause baby I believe in you!”

From a song called Black Metal Bicycle no less! I can’t decide if I think that’s cheesy or awesome, so it’s a good thing the riff (and ALL the riffs on this album) is so damn good!

The Toot Toot Toots – Curse The Crow
Like I said earlier, a whole bunch of awesome EPs released by local bands this year. I think this one was my favourite. Sounds even better when you turn it up loud.

Sleigh Bells – Treats
I listened to this album for the first time yesterday. And I’m sure I will be listening to it a lot more over the next few weeks.



Best gigs of 2010

Every Time I Die @ The Hi-Fi
Kicking off 2010 with a bang!

The Tote Farewell Show @ The Tote
A night that was equal parts awesome and devastating. Featuring Kamikaze Trio, Dave Graney, The Nation Blue, The Onyas, Dan Kelly, Beaches, Spencer P. Jones, The Stabs, Kim Salmon, The Meanies, Spiderbait, The Drones and many other Melbourne greats.

Amanda Palmer @ The Butterfly Club
Seeing one of my musical heroes in a room that fits only 50 people, in an old house converted into a bar, playing on a real piano and just singing over the top of it (no microphone needed) was just amazing.

Faith No More @ Festival Hall & Soundwave
It’s FAITH NO MORE!!!!! A band I never thought I’d get to see, and I got to see them TWICE!

Glassjaw @ Soundwave
I couldn’t go to their sideshow ‘cause it was the same night as FNM, but seeing them play at Soundwave was still a dream come true.

Alexisonfire @ Billboards, Soundwave & The Palace
I think I saw Alexisonfire 3 times this year. And each show was great, though their Soundwave sideshow at Billboards was probably the best.

Golden Plains @ Meredith Supernatural Amphitheater
Pavement AND DINOSAUR JR! J. Mascis’s amp set up alone was mind blowing!

Terrordactyl (Last Show) / The Committal (EP Launch) @ Cherry Bar
Yeah I know this is my band, but it was still one of my favourite gigs of the year. After 4 months being out with a broken shoulder I finally got to get back on stage and launch an EP with my new band to a packed out Cherry Bar! And Terrordactyl put on a great show for their final gig too. And openers Johnny Uppercut were also pretty great.

The Dillinger Escape Plan @ Billboards
Probably the best show of the year too. I can’t think of another band who puts this much energy into what they do, while playing such technical and well written songs, and makes it look so effortless.

Xiu Xiu / High Places / Kyu @ The East Brunswick Club
Three great experimental bands in one night. But mainly Xiu Xiu. Jamie Stewart’s mix of fragile pop and noise is beautiful, and live it takes on a special intensity and desperation.

Rolo Tomassi @ Billboards
Like I said, you HAVE to see these guys live. Some bands spend ages cultivating their stage presence. These guys just put everything into their playing and the presence comes from that. Front-woman Eva Spence is the best dancer in all of hardcore, for sure! I had to pay for a ticket to see Architects, Comeback Kid and This is Hell (boring, boring and boring-er) so I could go to this show, but it was so worth it!

Meredith Music Festival
Always one of the best weekends of the year. This year was no exception. Custard, CLipse, Neil Finn, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Those Darlins, Broadcast, Reverend Horton Heat, Rat Vs. Possum, Kyu and, of course The Dirty Three!

And for the future?

So what about 2011? Only six days in and already there’s been some great news and some terrible news. Circle Takes The Square have posted on their blog that they entered the studio on January 1 to begin recording Decompositions. Given their last album As The Roots Undo is still the best hardcore album I’ve ever heard (the only hardcore album I would say that is truly a musical work of art and poetry) I have big expectations. And given it’s been SEVEN YEARS since that album was released, my excitement is palpable. I’m calling this one for album of the year already. On a much sadder note, a few days later they also posted a tribute to former guitarist Bobby Scandiffio, who has unfortunately passed away. R.I.P. Bobby.

From First To Last - Heroine

Given the age of lead singer Sonny Moore when recording From First to Last’s debut album Dear Diary, My Teen Angst has a Body Count, it would be unfair to describe the sound on Heroine as a more mature effort. Unfair because it might focus attention on age only, and not on the huge musical evolution From First to Last have made as a whole. (And don’t blame ME for bringing up Moore’s age, if it wasn’t so prominently raised in the bio which accompanied this album, I wouldn’t have mentioned it either).

Also according to the bio, the debut album was as much a parody of scene politics as it was inspired by the scene around it. Unfortunately most people didn’t notice. For all Dear Diary’s tongue-in-cheek ribbing of the emo/screamo/post-hardcore genres – through tracks like Featuring Some of Your Favourite Words (“Here’s to playing tug of war with my vocal chords / Maybe I can give this another shot or sing about a broken heart / Or imitate the way it feels if this is happening for real”) – stylistically it didn’t bring anything new along with its complaints. The music was catchy and well written, but it still had a lot in common those who were around them (although perhaps this was needed for their point to get across?).

Heroine corrects this imbalance. Guitarists Travis Richter and Matt Good have driven the band’s sound into a much different territory this time around. The albums first two tracks are the closest to what would have been expected had they continued on the one path. But the first indication of something new is there in the end of Mothersound where a “solo” alternates between notes, feedback and the sound of someone chocking their guitar, as well as the soaring background vocals of Jaqueline Marie. The overall feel of the album is a lot darker and atmospheric, while still keeping the band’s passion alive. Think the change from Deftones’ Around the Fur to White Pony, or Finch’s What it is to Burn to Say Hello to Sunshine (although much more cohesive musically than the latter).

A lot more effort has been put into the production of this album too. The work of producer Ross Robinson almost feels like an extra instrument on the album due to the clarity and space given to everything that is going on. It also means the newly discovered industrial elements fit in seamlessly. The quiet guitars of Waves Goodbye are joined at the end by breakbeats and glitches, while The Levy features programming courtesy of Atticus Ross (12 Rounds, Error and engineer on the most recent Nine Inch Nails album). There are a few notable guest appearances on the album with Ross’ fellow Error member and full time Bad Religion member Brett Gurewitz providing backing vocals on Mothersound (Gurewitz also runs Epitaph records to which FFTL are signed), and the band’s vacant bass slot being filled by Wes Borland (Limp Bizkit, Black Light Burns).

But despite this calibre of guests, their input is used to enhance, rather than as a significant element. The real star of the album is the stronger song writing of From First To Last as a whole. When Moore sings of falling on The Levy, “the distance grows as the ground approaches”, the guitar attack suddenly drops out at the end of the line, even though we’re only a minute into the song. The feeling of a fall and sudden stop this evokes is such that it’s difficult to tell whether the lyrics or the music came first. The highlight track for me though is The Crows are Coming for Us. The slow build up goes from a subdued and eerie verse to a chorus which starts out with Moore’s wail, surround only by light guitars and Derek Bloom creating a crescendo on his cymbals before the full drum and guitar aspects come in. Then we move into an industrial whispered section with high pitched guitar and lots of echo, before a final sing along of:

The crows are coming for us
Let ‘em in, Let ‘em in

Heroine is definitely an evolution for the band. The direct cynicism of Dear Diary has been left behind and replaced with a more poetic, darker and atmospheric sound. Having both these weapons in their arsenal should be a significant benefit to From First to Last.

(Originally published on FasterLouder)

Atreyu - A Death Grip on Yesterday

Atreyu’s first album Suicide Notes & Butterfly Kisses, was a straightforward hardcore album – raw, loud, full of energy and shouting. Their breakthrough second album The Curse was a bit of a surprise for most people. Finally the photos of band members in Motley Crue t-shirts made sense as the Atreyu sound was mixed with a generous dose of 80s hair metal. Surprisingly, long solos, sweetly sung choruses and hand pumping rhythms melded well with the existing base and provided a refreshing contrast to the straight-up hardcore which was starting to get a bit tired under the weight of so many clone bands. So well in fact that a cover of Bon Jovi’s You Give Love a Bad Name included as a bonus track on some versions of the album didn’t even make an impact on the flow.

The band’s latest effort falls somewhere between the two. It would be wrong to say it was a return to the early sound, as there is still more variety in rhythms and sounds than there was on the first release. The crisp sound quality of The Curse has been kept too, this time at the hand of producer Josh Abraham. At first listen the solo’s seem to have been ditched too, but after a while you notice them hiding away in tracks such as Ex’s and Oh’s and Shameful. What has been toned down is the cheese factor. Whereas The Curse delighted in mildly tongue in check over-the-top riffs, there are no shouted sing-along’s a la Five Vicodin Chased with a Shot of Clarity, nor the jump out of your seat and clap along intro of Right Side of the Bed.

A Death Grip on Yesterday is a more streamlined, focused attack. The subject matter is familiar as Atreyu still deal largely in broken hearts and regrets (for example see Our Sick Story) but they still do it as well as anyone else and with their ability to write a catchy tune you too will find yourself yelling out “does your body still scream my name?”

The Theft slows things down a bit more, and as with the ending of Untitled Finale (fortunately this is a full song and not just a cleverly titled outro as is becoming too common in this genre) adds an epic element to the album’s sound. But the highlight’s are single Ex’s and Oh’s and My Fork in the Road. Ex’s and Oh’s brings a rock feel to the sound, which is reflected in the lyrics. “Suck me down it’s time to Rock ‘n’ Roll / Let’s hit the bar, let’s lose control” goes the chorus, and this new element to the Atreyu style makes you want to dance. My Fork in the Road on the other hand is symptomatic of the focused and aggressive Atreyu. Sure there’s a harmonised guitar beakdown hidden in there, but it leads straight into one of the albums most direct messages to an ex-lover.

The streamlining continues to the length of the album. With only 9 tracks on A Death Grip on Yesterday, it clocks in at just over half an hour. But considering the quality of these songs compared to the left over track Her Portrait in Black which was recently released on the Underworld: Evolution soundtrack, it seems we’ve been given only the quality songs and spared any filler.

(Originally published on FasterLouder)

Henry Rollins - Talk is Cheap Volume 2

Having just completed another of his frequent visits to our country, now does seem an ideal time to release a new recording of Henry Rollins’ spoken word show, even if this particular show is a little old. Talk is Cheap Volume 2 (as the name suggests), is the second in a series of double CDs released at a reduced price, with part of the proceeds donated to the Hollygrove home for abused and neglected children in Los Angeles, and was recorded live at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney on April 24, 2001.

If you’ve ever seen Rollins in a spoken word show, you know what to expect. If you haven’t, you’ll soon discover that public speaking is certainly one of his fortes. Rollins delivers his monologue at such rapid fire that you suspect he must have much of it planned already, even as he claims to have been inspired by TV he was watching before starting the show. It is a mix of jokes and humorous anecdotes from Rollins own life and observation of the world, but always delivered with an underlying political message of free thought, tolerance and a refusal to be pushed around by close-minded politicians.

Despite the performance being almost five years old, much of what Rollins says is still relevant. Often when visiting musicians start preaching their politics from stage to Australian audiences it can be a little patronising, but at least Henry has done his homework. His opening tirade against Pauline Hanson (who at the time was trying to use the media to reshape herself in a friendly image) is spot on. Other prime targets include reality TV and a brief swipe at John Howard’s inability to say “sorry”.

At the time Rollins had just turned 40, and his increasing age becomes the main focus of the night. An extended story of his initiation to the world of Kiss (after the other band members of The Rollins Band dragged him along to the Kiss farewell tour), provides a lot of laughs as Rollins pokes fun at the pomposity of Kiss and the redneck fans, but ultimately concludes with a lot of respect and inspiration drawn from a band who at 50, still put on a show which rocked out and impressed Rollins more than any of the other bans he played with on the subsequent Rollins Band tour.

The night concludes with a more serious reflection on the responsibilities of growing old and continuing to kick up a fuss at injustice, his decision not to have children, and the lasting impressions of the poverty seen during his visit to India.

It’s difficult to review a spoken word disc without giving away the best parts or jokes of any of the stories, but if you’re a fan of Rollins, all you need to know is this disc is as good as any of his other spoken words, and if you’ve never heard them before, as a discounted double disc, this may be the place to start.

(Originally published on FasterLouder)

Korn - See You On The Other Side

After guitarist Brian “Head” Welch left last year in favour of a life dedicated to Jesus, many people questioned whether Korn, now twelve years on from the release of their debut album, would continue on. Welch’s departure was the first line-up change in the bands career, which most critics feel has passed its peak and 2005 had also seen the completion of their contract with epic records by the release of a greatest hits album (even if it was sub-titled Volume 1).

When it was announced the band were going to continue, the new question was how would Welch’s absence affect the Korn sound. The answer is, it didn’t make a difference. See You On The Other Side certainly sounds different to the Korn albums of the past, but the sound is of a band attempting to make their sound more accessible to recapture an audience rather than a band trying to fill a void. The biggest sign of this is that for the first time ever, every track is co-written with people out side the band. But not just any people. For See You On The Other Side Korn have worked with The Matrix, the writing team behind the hits of Avril Lavigne and Hillary Duff, amongst others. That’s not to say that the bandhave gone all teen-girl-pop-ballad-y on us, but it would lead you to expect an album with more than the usual amount of hooks designed to reel the listener in.

Sadly this is not the case. See You On The Other Side largely falls flat. Part of what made the band so brilliant to begin was the rawness of their self titled debut and the follow up Life Is Peachy. These albums had an immediacy and passion which gave them their edge. The heavy involvement of The Matrix as production team leaves the new album with more in common with a release like Untouchables, which suffered from an overuse of studio trickery. This is same mistake made by many of the bands such as Static-X and Linkin Park, who tried to follow in Korn’s footsteps. There is not the depth or contrast between parts which made things exciting at the beginning, instead everything sounds flat and cold.

Lead single and album opener Twisted Transistor is a great example of this. Remaining guitarist James “Munky” Shaffer’s main riff is based more around a guitar effect than the actual notes played, while the vocals are heavily chorused. Perhaps the biggest departure from the early Korn sound is mixing Jonathon Davis’s scream into the background, so it sounds more like a grumble. Also lacking is the more percussive tones which were the signature of bassist Fieldy.

Second track Politics is also pretty disappointing. Aside from the music being as forgettable as any other track on the album, it has the added bonus of a stupid chorus.

Don’t wanna talk about politics
Refuse to talk about politics
Don’t make me talk about politics
Don’t give a shit about politics

What Korn seem to have missed is that in this day and age, even writing a song about political apathy is making a political statement. As Davis himself sings:

it’s in religion, sex and everything we do and say.

Without any sense of irony, the next track is called Hypocrites. This may have the most interesting and actually memorable chorus of the album. Says Davis, “I’m telling a story, and it’s very fucking Broadway – I love that shit, it’s what I grew up on, and those influences have finally come out. The reason I got into rock ‘n’ roll was because of the Jesus Christ Superstar.” And for once, the press release that accompanied this album was actually accurate.

Not so accurate was its description of the new Korn direction as “an industrial-strength alter ego that’s been suppressed – until now.” The album is often referred to as an industrial Korn album, thanks to the band also working with Atticus Ross for a number of songs. Ross has previously been a member of 12 Rounds, Error, and most recently was the right-hand man to Trent Reznor for the recording of Nine Inch Nails’ With Teeth. But sadly Ross’ influence seems to have been restricted to the soundscapes between songs, rather than adding a noticeable industrial tint to any songs. Sure there’s weird noises and programmed sounds, but again it lacks the harshness of industrial music, everything is just too smooth.

Even the final track Tearjerker fails to stir up any real interest, despite being co-written with The Matrix, Atticus Ross AND his brother Leopold Ross, also a member of Error. This is truly surprising and a little disappointing since Error’s self-titled EP in 2004 was one of the most vitriolic and exciting releases in years, which took punk and hardcore music and made an industrial electro version which sounded like the ultimate battle between man and machine. Had these two worked with one of the most innovative modern metal bands during their prime, it could have been scary. But now it just sounds like wrapping paper on a not so interesting present.

No band should ever be expected to re-release their same album over and over again – although many would argue that’s what Korn have tried to do from Follow The Leader through to Take A Look In The Mirror. Even See You On The Other Side maintains many of the old Korn tricks. But when a band abandons what made them good, and ends up in a space occupied by the bands who made careers from copying them, the results are no more innovative or interesting.

(Originally published on FasterLouder)

Coheed and Cambria - Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV - Volume I: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness

I really had no idea what to expect from this album. I certainly wasn’t expecting what I got. Good Apollo I’m Burning Star IV – Volume I: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness seems to verge from fantasy metal through to emo, and back again.

One thing I did know, and that’s probably given away by the lengthy title, is that this is a concept album. I was only given the CD to review, and not the Graphic Novel which has been produced to accompany it (this is a trick Coheed and Cambria have used before), so I did the right thing, and sat down with the lyric booklet to try and figure out what this story was all about.

Other than vague notions of a tale of love, betrayal and a fiery and bloody revenge, I couldn’t really figure it out. But such an epic quest is of course suited best to a realm of castles and the supernatural, and the music does a great job of reflecting this. A string quartet intro leads to an acoustic song, before Welcome Home pushes us down the fantasy metal path. There’s squealing guitars, keyboards, epic strings, and a vocal style reminiscent of Iron Maiden. There’s even a dueling guitar solo!

The album continues on in this style for a while, with Apollo I: The Writing Writer, being a strong highlight. Claudio Sanchez’ vocals are distinctive, and not quite to my taste, but he has a real knack for making unusual rhythms sound very catchy. But gradually things start to change. A few whoa-whoa’s manage to sneak their way into tracks like Crossing the Frame, and by the time we reach Wake Up, we’re in true emo territory. Another acoustic track with emotive strings, this song actually features the line “I’ll do anything for you”. Normally I’d find this cringingly bad, and I do, but even with my limited understanding of the story it does seem to fit in this moment, so I’m going to let it go… this time. The Suffering is a bit of pop punk, with hey!s and ha-ha!s. Despite the kind of bummer lyrics, it’s infectious and hard not to sing along.

Things start to get a bit darker again for the last four tracks, collectively known as The Willing Well. II – From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness has a bouncy opening, and you find yourself bopping along to lines like “you’ll burn in hell while they’re digging you out”. But then the whoa’s start to become more reminiscent of the chorus of the wicked witche’s servants from The Wizard of Oz as the guitars shift to a more menacing key. A deep voice threatens “run little rabbit…” and we’re back into fantasy metal territory.

Also making a return is III – Apollo II: The Telling Truth, which contains many of the same ideas as Apollo I, but is to me the more satisfying version of the two. IV – The Final Cut is a fittingly dramatic end. And then we get a lap steel guitar driven ho-down as a bonus track. Huh?

At the end, I still don’t know the story, and I’m still not sure what I make of this album. But give it a shot. Chances are you’ll either love it, or end up utterly confused, but there’s merit in both reactions. My advice is to let the music take its course, even if it’s not your thing, the journey still seems kinda fun.

(Originally published on FasterLouder)

Burst - Origo

Burst are the latest band from Relapse records to be hyped as having the potential to shake their genre down and build something new. Considering the last two bands from Relapse to receive this kind of treatment were The Dillinger Escape Plan and Mastodon, this is quite a precedent to live up to. Burst definitely have a lot more in common with Mastodon than the former. This is a metal band, and if you don’t like metal, you wont like Origo, but if you do, you’ll find it does bring some new perspective and life to the genre.

With their third full length Burst have produced a metal album that has much in common with their peers in bands like Mastodon and Isis. The emphasis on the songs is on texture and depth to provide the heaviness. There’s a very earthy, natural and rugged feel that runs through the music on Origo. Softer passages in the middle of songs like Flight’s End provide moments for reflection as a piano melody weaves its way through the other instruments. Burst are quite adept at using these interactions between instruments to create strong textures through their work.

Immateria features duelling growled and sung vocal lines for much of the song, before a soft guitar interlude leads us into the heavy part. A floating organ melody and double kick drumming finishes the whole thing off with a fitting sense of epic drama. The band’s focus is on creating a full sound to suit whatever the song needs, and throughout they mix a lot of acoustic guitar and piano/organ to create different moods. The breadth of their style and ability is also on show, with Slave Emotion featuring some very fast thrash style drums, that fit perfectly into a song which isn’t really thrash at all. It Comes Into View is a restrained instrumental interlude which builds up a number of times without ever really breaking. But if that leaves you frustrated, Stormweilder is right behind and instantly kicks into full gear.

Origo is surprisingly short, but it’s nine songs feel a lot longer than the 45 minutes they are thanks to the layers of texture that have been worked into them. It is an album which like many of the metal greats will require repeat listenings over time to be allowed to sink in properly, but those willing to try should find themselves happily absorbed.

(Originally published on FasterLouder)

Deftones - B-Sides & Rarities

Like the trail of stones left by Hansel and Gretel through the forest, sometimes you can follow the history of a band as well by the songs they discard along the way as those that get carried with them. As a compilation, the Deftones B-Sides & Rarities is unlikely to reach as far as a proper album from the band. But paradoxically, this may be one of their most accessible albums to date. I took this disc on holidays last week with some friends who generally shy away from what the Deftones are known for (loud drums, distorted guitars and screaming vocals – for all their subtleties and melodies the Deftones are a metal band after all), but all were quietly taken in and surprised by how much they enjoyed what was on show here.

As songs that were left off the official albums for whatever reasons, these B-sides & Rarities cover a very varied lot of ground. There are acoustic versions, covers, collaborations with other bands and other experiments throughout. The first stop for most fans will be the acoustic versions of old favourites. Be Quite and Drive (Far Away) is given a complete work over with help from DJ Crook (Team Sleep), while tracks from White Pony such as Change (In The House of Flies) and Digital Bath prove their ability to retain suspense and tension without the bludgeoning distortion.

Savory is a combined jam session between the Deftones and Far, another band from their hometown of Sacramento, and the first of many varied collaborations on the album. B-Real from Cypress Hill provides vocals for Black Moon, a left over from the White Pony sessions. Unsurprisingly DJ Crook and the members of Team Sleep (vocalist Chino Moreno’s other band) pop up on a few of the tracks, as do members of Far, while Teenager (Idiot Version) sees Chino join the band Idiot Pilot for a “real instruments” version of the song which was originally built from a drum loop and a sample provided by Crook.

The covers chosen are as varied as the original works on display, proving that this is caused by a band who are willing to draw from a broad range of areas. From the suspense of If Only Tonight We Could Sleep, recorded live for the MTV Icons tribute to The Cure, to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Simple Man, to songs by Duran Duran and The Smiths and back to the more predictable like Helmet’s Sinatra. “We did this one just to play loud/hard.” States guitarist Stef Carpenter in the liner notes. It’s not the only heavy song on the album though, although overall it is a surprisingly mellow collection for the band. A left over from the Around The Fur sessions, Crenshaw Punch/I’ll Throw Rocks At You is what the band do best, grinding guitars, tight rhythms and mysterious vocals which hint at as much as they say.

The album also comes with an accompanying DVD, featuring video clips for every single the band has released, plus two new clips for Engine no. 9 and Root from the debut album Adreneline. The video for Bored (also of that album) is the archetypal mid-’90s rock video. Grainy/damaged footage, the band playing in an abandoned house, skating and bikes, it’s all here courtesy of director Nick Egan. Breakthrough single My Own Summer (Shove It) is given a bizarre shark cage/underwater treatment by Dean Karr which never quite works, but follow up Be Quite and Drive (Far Away) shows the band playing in an empty car park with a simplistic style courtesy of Purge which lets the strength of the song come to the forefront. Change (In The House of Flies), directed by Liz Friedlander, is a visual work of art which fits perfectly to the song as the band play in various rooms throughout a party full of decadence where everyone seems slightly removed from the “reality” around them. Minerva from the self-titled Deftones album is another well directed video by Paul Fedor, which shows the band playing in a desert which accentuates the epic sound of the song.

Generally Rarities compilations are for hardcore fans only, and there’s no doubt the Deftones faithful will love everything on offer here. But considering the DVD is essentially a “Best Of”, with all the singles and well known songs, and the accessible and varied nature of the songs on the CD, this compilation may also be the perfect introduction for new fans as well to what makes the Deftones stand out above so many of their peers in the world of modern heavy music.

(Originally published on FasterLouder)

Killing Joke - XXV Gathering: Let Us Prey

“We have so much work to do tonight” announces Jaz Coleman between the first two songs on this latest live offering from Killing Joke. The fourteen years between those two songs would be a lot of work on its own, but that’s only part of the story. The title of XXV Gathering: Let Us Prey is pretty self-explanatory, a collection of Killing Joke songs spanning their entire career, recorded live at their 25th anniversary shows in February.

Killing Joke are one of those bands who always managed to escape the mainstream consciousness, but nevertheless had a big impact on the music scene by influencing a whole generation who came after them. Nine Inch Nails, The Smashing Pumpkins, Ministry, Metallica, Fear Factory and many others freely admit to having drawn inspiration from the Killing Joke sound. Their most recent, self titled album in 2003 has possibly been the most visible to the general music public thanks to the drumming spot being filled by Dave Grohl, who then spent following interviews gushing about how exciting it was to work with such an important band.

The songs on Gathering span everything from this most recent release all the way back to the 1980 debut, also a self-titled album. So how can you objectively review a show which celebrates the fact that a band is older than you? Fortunately in this case it’s easy. Perhaps Killing Joke are lucky to have been spared mainstream success, as the passion and vitality of their music is still prominent. They’re still around because they still have something to say. I myself only discovered the band through the 2003 release, so it’s good to see a few songs from that album like Asteroid, the fast point of the set and a strong crowd singalong. But the real beauty of this album is that you can forget the time span and listen to this right next to tracks like Wardance (1980), Communion (1994) and Sun Goes Down (1992) with none of these periods seeming weaker than the others.

It’s also great to hear the older songs in a slightly different format. The recording is clear and despite much being made of the “rough” nature of the performance, the true test of a bands skill is not their ability to play perfectly, but their ability to keep going and not let any mistakes cause an issue. Thus as Coleman states in the liner notes that this recording is “unoverdubbed [and] imperfect”, it’s followed up with “and beautiful”. So there’s a few mistakes, it just goes to show that Killing Joke still put passion into their performance. It still feels dangerous, because the band still aren’t afraid to do and say what they want. “Who killed Dr David Kelley and Diana… Did Tony Blair know? ... I’m waiting for the truth.” Coleman asks in a break in The Wait. The live setting also gives a new life to even the older songs. Requiem may well be the highlight of the set. The thumping drums, crunchy guitar and pulsing bass/synth sounds are what most modern industrial bands still aim for today.

XXV Gathering celebrates 25 years of one of the pioneers of the industrial scene. But it’s far from the end, with a new album planned for next year.

(Originally published on FasterLouder)

Various Artists - The Best of Taste of Chaos

The Taste of Chaos tour attempts to bring together some of the most bands of the post-emo-hardcore spectrum. Despite only featuring about eight bands on the tour (only five made it to the local version which just recently hit our country), The Best of Taste of Chaos gathers forty bands together on two discs. And it does a surprisingly good job of giving an overview of the current state within these related sub-genres.

Loosely split into the more poppy bands (disc one) and the harder edge (disc two), there is a fair bit of ground covered here. All the bands who made the Australian Taste of Chaos are present, such as The Used, Story of The Year, Killswitch Engage, Funeral for a Friend and Rise Against, but some of the bands from the US tour such as Atreyu and My Chemical Romance are absent. Matchbook Romance provide the most emo moment with the mainly acoustic In Transit, but things are mixed up a bit with tracks like Our Time is Now from Story of The Year who combine the emocore verses with an eighties hard rock aesthetic in the choruses and riffing. They also put on one of the best visual performances at the tour, but seem a little lacking without this on disc.

From First to Last’s Note to Self is a nice little catchy ditty, with some heavy kick thrown in at the end to raise things. But to be honest just about every track on disc one has a chorus with the potential to get stuck in your head. Thursday’s contribution is a touching contemplation about life in a world obsessed with the terrorist threat. It’s clear that they have many of the same influences as the other bands that surround them, but there’s something about the way they combine them in War All The Time which makes it the stand out track on disc one and shows off the musical understanding of the band.

Disc two kicks off with the heavy assault of Avenged Sevenfold, Killswitch Engage, Every Time I Die and Shadows Fall all in a row. Every Time I Die’s Kill The Music is probably the best example of what’s in store with this disc: more growling, harder drumming and more technical guitar work. And I have to admit at this stage I got more excited about disc two than I had been about disc one. Norma Jean also offer Bayonetwork which is another slice of heavier, less straightforward music and quite impressive. Oddly enough Saosin provide the only live track for a release that’s supposed to celebrate a tour.

With a compilation which relies so much on the genre relation to bring all these bands together, it’s not surprising that some of them start to sound the same (remember, there’s forty bands on this disc). But there are a few surprises lying around still. The Dillinger Escape Plan provide us with Unretrofied, which is almost the inverse of the typical hardcore song. Uncharacteristically catchy for the band and featuring harmonies and synths, it switches around in the middle to give us a dose of distortion, odd chords and screams, then go back to where we started. Opiate for The Masses bring a bit of breakbeat electronic drumming into their mix, while Chariot add a bit of dark metal to their hardcore sound and some grind style vocals, And Then Came Them is possibly one of the darkest songs here.

But the most different is closer Flaco 81 by the Street Drum Corps, a rhythmic percussive piece featuring drums of many types and some really interesting rhythms. It’s a change from the rest, but still retains the same headspace as everything that’s come before it, and thus makes a nice way to end out the set.

(Originally published on FasterLouder)

The Robocop Kraus - They Think They Are The Robocop Kraus

It’s kind of refreshing to discover that a band with a weird German sounding name are actually from Germany. In the world of quirky indie-disco-pop-punk such a name is almost too perfectly fashionable. As it is there isn’t much else besides the right to claim such a weird name which sets The Robocop Kraus apart from bands like Franz Ferdinand and Art Brut. It’s there in the disco-punk style, it’s there in the self-described “angular” sound, and most noticeably it’s there in the droll-delivery and vocal style of singer Thomas Lang (complete with pronounced European accent, although this can once again be excused due to German origin).

To be fair The Robocop Kraus seem to have been in this game a lot longer than some of their more popular contemporaries. This is their fourth full length album, as well as a number of EPs and shorter releases since 1998. Perhaps the name of They Think They Are The Robocop Kraus is a subtle response to the way popular music seems to have come around to what they have been doing. But the important question is, in this current musical climate, are they doing enough to keep themselves unique and fresh?

They Think They Are… is The Robocop Kraus’ first release on Epitaph records, and the move to a bigger record label seems to have made an impact on the sound quality of the release. It is their first record working with a producer, namely Pelle Gunnerfeldt (Status Quo, The Hives), and the quality of the production work is clear, giving clarity and a sense of energy to every song. The record also has a driven pop focus, with strong melodies and choruses balancing out the quirky electronic blips. They Think They Are… is at least as strong as any other albums in this style at the moment, and hopefully for The Robocop Kraus it may get them some exposure to an audience who are now ready for the sounds they produce.

Lead single You Don’t Have To Shout is certainly dancy enough, and You Don’t Need a Doctor has a great combinations of vocal and keyboard melodies. Tracks like A Man’s Not A Bird and Concerned, Your Secular Friends are great examples of the social commentary throughout the album which is one noticeable feature the band have over their contemporaries. But it is tracks like Life Amazes Us Despite Our Miserable Future, where they slow things down and try mood writing rather than hiding behind disco dazzle which are the only ones to stand out from the rest of the album, which sounds very familiar very quickly.

The Robocop Kraus may have arrived before the fashion wave of disco punk, but now that it’s here, without adding something new to their mix to keep ahead of the pack, they’re in real danger of getting lost amongst the crowd.

(Originally published on FasterLouder)

Mobius Band - The Loving Sounds of Static

Mobius Band take the typical indie-rock equipment of guitar, bass, drums and electronic sounds, to create a sound which has seen them become popular with fans of bands like Broken Social Scene and The Walkmen, but also incorporates elements of more laid back electro acts like The Postal Service.

The Loving Sounds of Static is a quite appropriate name for their debut full length. It doesn’t sound like static, but there is a lot of texture on display, coming from the interplay between the instruments, but just as much from the spaces between them. And the songs are all quite embracing. Similar to The Postal Service’s Give Up, it’s an easy album to lie back and get lost in.

Perhaps a little too easy though. I found the songs lack a little bit of excitement. As good as songs like I Just turned 18 and Twilight are, they washed over me at first without much impact and required a few listens to really make an impression. And I must admit to dozing off to the album at least once. This is only partly a criticism since the prevailing aim on The Loving Sounds of Static does seem to be to create a state of relaxation and comfort.

Only a few songs such as Taxicab and Radio Coup properly show off the rocking energy the band can be capable of as well. They use it very carefully so as not to overwhelm the softer elements of the songs, but it’s rocking nonetheless. Largely this seems to be a problem with production to my ears. Everything is clear, but even though the pace and use of many instruments is often there, much of the album just feels flat. It doesn’t have the sparkle and inviting warmth of tone that something like Give Up does, and that seems to be its biggest defeat. It’s just so frustrating that an album so full of musical textures can seem so flat.

(Originally published on FasterLouder)

From Autumn To Ashes - Abandon Your Friends

I wanted to enjoy the new From Autumn to Ashes album. I’ve been feeling angsty recently, so I was really looking forward for something to pour my heart out to. Into my hands pops Abandon Your Friends.

Opening track Where Do You Draw The Line starts out promising enough. There’s distorted riffs, some rhythmic muting, screaming vocals and drums which get your body moving. The album also closes with title track Abandon Your Friends which is a sufficiently moody piano based track that slowly builds to powerful guitar lines, and a haunting chorus.

Sandwiched between these two tracks though is a rather boring collection of songs. I initially hoped that second track Inapprope would be the exception on the album. The standard-punk-drumming-chorus, off key in just the right way vocals (what happened to the screaming? At least that was exciting), and nu-rock production lead to a very generic sounding piece. Unfortunately this sets the tone for most of what is to follow.

Nothing on Abandon Your Friends sounds really unique, and some how much of it even sounds tired. Tone-wise the album sounds like it was produced in the same way a Vines album might have been which is inappropriate for this style of music and may be part of the problem. This is particularly odd given that it was mixed by GGGarth, who is responsible for the sound on many highly acclaimed albums.

There are a few glimmers of hope. he Funny Thing About Getting Pistol Whipped Is… sees a return of the heavy drumming and vocals, as do Short for Show and Jack & Ginger, but the latter two sound not only like typical genre songs, they sound remarkably like each other as well. Placentapede takes the well established route of screaming the final word from each line of the chorus in the background.

Vicious Cockfight starts out with an odd acoustic finger picked section, before the real song begins, bearing no relation to the intro whatsoever. It almost seems to be there just so guitarist Jonathon Cox can point to it and go “See! I really CAN play guitar”. Not that his guitar work is shoddy on the rest of the album. There are some killer solos if you listen hard enough to notice them from somewhere within the mix.

In fact the whole album is really competent. All members are well in control of their respective instruments and singer Benjamin Perri doesn’t really sing off-key, he just has that modern-punk whine that is popular with singers in the genre these days (I assume it’s him anyway, everyone in the band aside from Cox is credited with providing vocals, but I’m going to assume as the lead singer it’s his voice we hear most often). But Streamline does show off his ability to sing, and the bands ability to harmonise over a slower composition.

On repeated listens I’ve even come to enjoy the album more than at first, but it still just seems to be lacking vitality. There’s nothing about any song which really establishes them and stops them from blending together, making it very hard to pick out highlights.

(Originally published on FasterLouder)