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Written by Sameerah
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Saturday, 11 May 2013 00:06 |
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Mesh Automation Baby 3.0 Automation Baby is a decent album, but it isn’t impressive. Its the industrial equivalent of elevator music; slow monotonous and non-threatening. It fades into the background quickly and never makes any attempt to distinguish itself. Listening to it won’t kill you but it is hardly the kind of album that will set your world on fire. Every track in Automation Baby sounds like something I’ve heard before. Born to Lie reminds me of Depeche Mode, while Flawless smacks of Erasure. The slightly political themes in You Want What's Owed to You feels like a bare bones KMFDM track. Mesh hasn’t bothered to define a signature sound for this album. It feels like they went into the studio and programmed a few recognizable, danceable beats into a sytnth laid some vocals over them and called it a night. The only thing that kept me listening as long as I did was Mark Hocking’s voice. That man could read the phonebook to me and it would sound sexy as shit. Alas his smooth soulful vocals are not enough to save Automation Baby from fading into the woodwork. Just Leave us Alone is by far the best track on the album. It is cynical in its acknowledgement of the hate and bitter disappoint that comes from putting your heart out there one too many times. But it is hopeful that we will find someone or something worth reaching out to no matter how painful it may be to try. It is the only track on Automation Baby that Mesh puts their signature on. They step out of the box of just using sounds that they know will work to experimenting with sounds that give the song texture. Making it the only thing on the album that is pure Mesh When all is said and done Mesh doesn’t accomplish anything with Automation Baby. They’ve created an album that is mediocre at best and seem unable to break out the trap of using sounds that are proven to be hit makers instead of venturing into sounds that will define their sound. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 November -1 01:00 )
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Written by Sameerah
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Friday, 10 May 2013 23:17 |
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Blank Dark Retreat Artoffact 3.0
When I listened to Dark Retreat on the train and it reminded me how much I enjoy ecstasy and how I regret not experimenting more with hallucinogenic drugs in my misspent youth. The driving bass and funky synths are perfect for a nite of staring at glow sticks before franticly trying to hook up with that guy that has really cool hair and the snake tattoo that seems to be moving. But just like a good trip you feel let down when its all over. But unlike my drugs of choice this album isn’t going to have me coming back for more. It was good while it lasted but now that the party is over am in no rush to experience it again.
With Dark Retreat I get the feeling that Blank is trying to distance themselves from the dance friendly pop that defined their last e two albums. And that’s fine, every artist has to evolve and expand on what they do. But Blank’s evolution falls flat on Dark Retreat. What is supposed to be dark, thoughtful and edgy plays like a rehash of Prodigy and early Combichrist. They’ve mastered the sounds that make dark industrial brilliant but they haven’t been able to capture the heart of the music. Even having Sebastian Komor sitting behind the board isn’t enough to save Dark Retreat from being a bit lackluster. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 November -1 01:00 )
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Written by Sameerah
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Thursday, 02 May 2013 02:36 |
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I like a shitty b-movie as much as the next girl, but Stripped is so bad that it tests the limits of my patience. The kills are fuckinging horrible, the characters are a bunch of unlikable douche bros and the the plot makes no sense whatsoever. It’s is the retarded, bastard love child of The Hangover, Very Bad Things and Hostel. Expect not funny or gory.
The first 20mins of this film were so boring I made dinner. So I can’t really tell much about how it started. What I can tell you is that some dude bros are going to go to Vegas to get fucked up for what is either someone’s birthday or a bachelor party. It is a really bad sign for your film if I would rather cook and do dishes instead of watching your setup. What made the intro so unbearable was the characters. It’s a cast nondescript boring dude bros that don’t seem to be able to do anything but flash their abs (and their abs are nothing to write home about). The fat kid who can't get laid is the only highlight in the cast. But only because all he has to do is trip over himself and be fat. It’s just a bunch of alright looking dude bros ed hardy t-shirts and some chick whose only purpose seems to provide a non stripper related vagina/damsel in distress. Once our crew gets to Vegas it is painfully obvious that the people behind this film have never been to vegas in their lives. Nevada is only of the few states in the union where prostitution is legal. Its so legal that there are dudes standing on corners up and down the strip handing out flyers to brothels, escort services, dancers you name it. If paying for pussy is your thing vegas is the place for you to be yo! With hookers so readily available in the city of sin why anyone would decide to go to the brothel behind the abandoned truck stop is beyond me. I’m all for people being murdered while they fuck, but if you’re going to set your film in Vegas, your brothel needs to have glamor and glitz. No one goes to Vegas to kick it a stank ass brothel behind a truck stop. They go to the Bunny Ranch for some glamourous strange. After such an abysmal set-up I was ready for some blood. But once again Stripped has disappointed me. During a lap dance some chick starts stabbing fatty for no reason. While I was happy to see him go, his kill was wholly unsatisfying. Few things are more annoying than when a horror film cops out on it’s kills. I’m used to films that go weak on murder when the victim is a kid, but when you have a film that is all about frat boys and strippers there is no reason not to give up the gore. From the first slice to the last each and every kill in Stripped is a cop out and a waste of fucking time. No guts, very little blood and no gore. If you can’t get any of those things right, why the fuck are you in the horror business. And that brings me the the doctor. He appears out of nowhere and not in the good way. I’m sure they’re going for something menacing but the dude they got looks like a cheap version of Larry Drake in Dr. Giggles. But unlike Larry, this guy isn’t menacing or funny. His presence is an insult to what is already a pretty shit film. He has no backstory, they never say what he is doing in the brothel other than awkwardly lurking in corners. It would have been nice to know how he was related to the strippers or what his end game was, but Stripper pays no attention to things like plot or characters. Just throw together some shitty sex scenes and some half assed kills and call it a movie. Bang, brilliant, game over! It’s a sad state of affairs really. Hookers and psycho killers generally work well together. Bordello of Blood, Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, and Monster all work hookers and murder together brilliantly. For some reason, the people behind Stripped forgot the cardinal rules of horror writing; write characters that people will care about , and if you’re going with a threadbare plot the kills better be fucking good! In the end kids this is another example of me watching bad movies so that you don’t have to. You’re welcome.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 02 May 2013 02:44 )
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Written by Sameerah
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Tuesday, 16 April 2013 04:16 |
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Head of the Demon Head of the Demon The Anja Offensive 4.5
Head of the Demon isn’t the first or the last band to base their album or parts of their sound on the works of the late great H.P. Lovecraft, but they are definitely in my hot 100 for bands that have done it the best. When people use Lovecraft as influence there is a tendency to interpret the stories as literally as musically possible. Not that I blame them, Lovecraft has created some of the most enduring images in the history of modern horror. But when every band that uses Lovecraft for inspiration writes songs that are all about tentacle beasts and something clawing its way out of the depths of the moors it can become cliche no matter how good the band is.
Head of the Demon captures the spirit and the mood of Lovecraft without giving you a musical interpretation of the stories that may have influenced them. They conjure the horror of the coming of the ancient ones with blues tinged darkness and heavy riffs. The deep resonating chant of All Are One and The Key is sexy, menacing and inviting. I don’t know if this these tracks are supposed to be based on The Other Gods or Call of Cathulu, but I do know that I want this voice to be the last sound I hear as I am lured into the mouth of madness as the elder god devour my soul and grind my bones to dust.
On the production side it is so nice to listen to something that is compressed to death! The production team that handled Head of the Demon may have smoothed out some rough edges here and there, but after that they let the band go to work and the heavy flows through the way the dark lords intended. By Titan Hand is slow, grinding heaviness at its best. It goes down smooth like a shot of single malt whiskey. Warming you slowly before bringing you to a fever pitch of insanity with crushing sadness and the suggestion of things lurking in the dark coming to annihilate you as you sleep. If you’re lucky you won’t see it coming, but Head of the Demon and the darkness they worship will offers any kind mercy when they claw their ways from the blackness. After listening to Head of the Demon I have decided that I welcome the arrival of the ancient ones. Sure I’ll die screaming but at least I know there will be some bad ass tunes playing as I suffer. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 November -1 01:00 )
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