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The Curse of Martha Splatterhead |
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Written by Sameerah
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Wednesday, 30 September 2009 |
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The Accused The Curse of Martha Splatterhead Southern Lord
4.0 I love bands that keep their sound simple and to the point. When they don't get bogged down in lofty ideals and crazy production shit. Those are the things that make The Curse of Martha Splatterhead such a kick ass album. Its balls out destruction, chaos and gore. Framed inside of thick, screeching growling vox. The kind of shit that grabs you by the throat and pins you down. So you can be ravaged by waves of guitars that are so blunt and heavy, that you may have your skull crushed by blunt force trauma. This album may be the closest I've come to in a while that manages to capture a bands energy as well live show. Save a few production tricks to extend some of the vocals this is as close as you get to seeing The Accused live. Making this a bad ass mofo of an album.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 November -1 )
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Written by Sameerah
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Wednesday, 09 September 2009 |
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Burial Horde Devotion to the Unholy Creed Pulverised Records 3.0 With Devotaion to the Unholy Creed, Burial Hordes is trying to take it back to basics. Back to the heady days when Black Metal was as raw as it was brutal. When they were making this album they didn't bother with any production tricks, giving it a lo-fi grainy sound that works both for them and against them. On trax like Absymal Goatfeast, the under produced sound works great. Feeding into the deep sinister bellows of chanting. before being taken over by vicious growls and a full blown assault of sonic wizardy. The same technique that makes Abysmal Goafest great is the same thing that destroys Infernal Necromancers. The lo-fi style devours the vocals with bass lines and riffs to the point where you're not sure who or what you're supposed to listening for. On the one hand it shows the kind of power this band is capable of. On the other had it makes the song sound out of place and chaotic. With no balance to it at all. Yeah I understand what they wanted to do with this album. They wanted to make something that was pure Black Metal, without all of the production tracks that are almost all too easy to rely upon. So while its easy to understand the spirit of the album, its a hit or miss strategy that sometimes does Devotion to the Unholy Creed more harm than good.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 September 2009 )
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Written by Sameerah
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Thursday, 03 September 2009 |
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The Willkills Rough Times Ahead Old Shoe Records 3.0 The Willkills are one of many bands whose middle of the road antics are saved by being solid musicians. Most of the album consists of what you have come to expect forSoCal punk bands. Particularly ones who hail from behind the Orange Curtain, aka Orange County. Rough Times is filled with upbeat SKA and Surf Punk tunes that bands from the area are known to produce. Things that aren't exactly difficult for people who know their way around a guitar. TheWillkills manage to retain a bit of a dark edge to them but they are flirting with the realm of becoming full on Pop Punk. As far as lyrics go, they do a fair job atramping up the angst ridden energy. But its the kind of angst that goes no where. The album is full of vague references of standing up to "them" and the mysterious "they" that are keeping us down. With all of the shit going down all over the world you would think that they would have been able to pin point one or two things as the target of their angst. But instead of doing something that will really rally the masses to their cause they choose to stick cliqche ideas of some mysterious force holding them back. Which is disappointing. They have chosen the easy way out. Its easy to point out a mysterious force to fire your anger at, but its an altogether more difficult thing to give that force a name and point it out with conviction. The track that totally kills the whole thing though is Cheers to You. The standard slowed down obligatory ode' to the bands friends and family. Now I am not going to dispute that they may very well have a good group of folks around them, but this is the kind of song that we're all heard a million times. and Quite frankly it was done better The Dropkick Murphy's did it. The Willkills know their way around a guitar but it takes a bit more than being a competent musician to make a great album
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 November -1 )
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Written by Sameerah
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Sunday, 23 August 2009 |
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The Scarred At half Mast Basement Records 3.5 Listening to the Scarred's latest effort At Half Mast leaves me a bit torn. It rides the line between radio friendly Punk Pop and 90's Punk nostalgia. Its the kind of thing I can envision getting thrust into heavy rotation on a major radio station. But the Darcy Crash-esque raspy vox give it just enough edge that it stirs up a bit of my inner hard core. Songs like 21st Century Girl are ( hopefully ) delivered with a wink and a smile. As they shout about suburban girls with Betty Paige haircuts. Their closeted fathers and respectable junkie mothers. Standard fair for the burbs. The lyrics may be a little light in some places but The Scarred is still a solid band, that knows their shit. They play tight catchy tunes with bad ass bass lines. Still no matter how solid they are there is something about their energy that gets lost in translation. I get the feeling that The Scarred is one of those bands that may be bestappreciated in person where you can get fully wrapped up in what I suspect is some seriously infectious energy. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 November -1 )
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Written by Sameerah
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Friday, 21 August 2009 |
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Arise The Reckoning Regain Records 3.0 The Reckoning is the latest effort from Swedish Metallers Arise. Normally Swedish Death Metal is something that I cant help but to get excited about. They are words that make my mouth water in anticipation of gut wrenching horror. Listening to The Reckoning took myexceedingly high expectations and plunged them into a low that I didn't see coming. There is some fairly solid riffing to be had on this album but after the first few tracks you begin to realize that they seem to be the same riffs over and over again with very little variation. The vocals, whileaggressive have a raspy reptilian twinge to them that wears thin on the ears fairly quickly. Add to that there are sections that are produced to the point where I wasbeginning to wonder if I was still listening to humans. Throughout the album there is the ever present sound of tin being dropped that add a unpleasant metallic flair to the raspy reptilevox. It got to the point where I found myself ignoring the vox completely. And since the riffs and drum work were just dealing with the same beats, riffs and rhythms for the whole of the album the whole thing just faded into the background of the day. Only making my ears perk when there was a particularly nasty productionsnafu.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 November -1 )
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