the Weekly Shuffle

I suppose there's a few album reviews , I could stand to catch up on namely the newest Chelsea Wolfe, but it's the first of the year so not a lot of new stuff coming out though p/r companies have begun sending stuff nothing has grabbed me yet...so here's the weekly shuffle to keep you occupied until then, so let's give shuffle mode a spin.

"No City" By Aesop Rock, I like this "None shall pass " album better than his 2012 release as its darker, more experimental and seems to have real instruments on it , which are all qualities I look for in rap music, along with a lack of rhymes about gold teeth and Benjamins. This track has a lazy seventies funk vibe, the bass lines feels organic and keeps a glaze of melancholy under the oddly jabbed time of the rapping.

"Isle of Avalon" by Iron Maiden, From what may or may not be the bands last album of new songs, not that it matters as their shows are time warp of assorted greatest hits, they still have it as the "Final Frontier" was loaded with winding epics like this and reminded me most closely of "Fear of the Dark" which seems to be the last album. Ost fans accept from these guys. I for one really liked " a Matter of Life or Death" and felt like this one was more of a wink backwards to the glory days. The bass groove at the four and a half minute mark leading into the solo is forward thinking and the whole section is proggy enough for kids these days. I think Bruce sounds good on the line "mother earth/ I can feel you" , live his voice was strong but not what it was even on the seventh sun tour granted that's twenty years, in the studio on this one there's notable strain on his voice that I would not have minded if they smoothed out.

"this time We Fight" by Unleashed, My favorite song by these guys. I remember when I first heard opening for Morbid Angel on the " Blessed are the sick" tour, they almost seemed more like what was being considered as black metal at that time , now they sound more like thrashing pagan metal...like Tyr not the overly frolicking stuff. The verse riff age is catchy but powerful , is this still being passed of as death metal these days? He almost sings more than he growls, just a raspy bellow and nothing guttural.

"Recycled aire" by the Postal Service, I like the " give up" it's bittersweetly bleak and casts a smirk on the idea of a love song. I like the guitar on this if this Ben Gibbard fellow ever tried to say he never listened to the Cure Robert Smith should strike me dead.

" Incorporeal" by Tiger Army, Not something I listen to a lot, the singer reminds me of if Danny Havok was using a lot restraint, similar dark pop punk vibe . This could be labelled as pyscho billy I suppose and there's some goth crossover, back in the days of MySpace they were pushing the look to get those friend requests. The guitar playing is pretty satisfying.

"Christbait Rising " by Godflesh, a song that was ahead of its time from a band who was ahead of their time . Any of the dreadlocked troll doll looking goth kids of today if they do not know who these guys are and try to talk about Combichrist, need make sure they hang themselves in the dressing room of hot topic. The drums in this be they real or programmed , crush and this sound has influenced tons of band even though it's derivative of early Swans, it still carries enough venom and ambiance to more than hold its own.

"Ancient ones" by Morbid Angel, I think I'm over my disappointment of their last album so I can now listen to these guys again , they use to be my favorite band of this ilk and I guess still are as I don't listen to a lot of straight up death metal. This song is pretty straight forward now listening back a few decades later. Trey's guitar playing was certainly ahead of the curve.

"Song for a Warrior" by Swans, this Karen o, swung ballad could almost pass for a country song, isnt my favorite on the album but I appreciate how it breaks it up and is like some of the more mellow stuff Jarboe used to do on the classics from the nineties and late eighties. The twinkling ambiance in the last couple minutes and the drive like pace helps indentity this.

"Drunk on the Moon" by Tom Waits, a crooned bar ballad, back when Wait's voice had not yet accquired and this could pass for bluesy better penned Billy Joel. Like a rainy day in new York, good music to drink by yourself to kinda a pre depression binge soundtrack.

"Worship Industrialized" by Ortargos, these French black metallars don't get as much play from me as say Death Spell Omega, but when this came out I like it a lot it's very pummeling, dense production and in your fucking face drumming that doesn't let you get a breath in . I like the way the vocals are produced and the eerie guitar in the background are a couple thing I didn't notice when it came out and the thrash chug in the songs second half peels paint.