November is Doom- Exhuming the Tunes with Trouble's "Simple Mind Condition"

This is the last Trouble album with Eric Wagner, so really the last Trouble album, though I will still review the 2013 release "the Distortion Field" where Kyle Thomas of Exhorder takes over on vocals.Eric said he could not take touring anymore ,and there was a 12 year gap between this album and "Plastic Green Head".  This album had several delays and was originally going to be called "Seven". It opens with the bass driven "Goin Home" that carries more of a darker grunge feel than their previous work. When the riff kicks in it's more aggressive, and Eric's voice sits back against the guitar to create a more fitting sound for the times. 

"Mindbender" has a riff that brings Nazereth to mind, but it works for what they are doing and pretty driving blues soaked metal, with Wagner's voice still stilling back in the mix. "Seven" which would have been the title track at one point has groove , but is not as memorable as the other songs. "Pictures of Life" is a much better song thansk to it's groove and the vocals slithering through them in a tigheter more ofcused manner. The break gave them time to adapt to the cycle that spun back around in their favor on this album. 

"After the Rain" is likea more typical ballad for them.Then  "Trouble Maker" carries a more Zeppelin swagger that slightly winks in the direction of "Kashmir's " throb, but retains hteir indentity and is one of the album's songs. The vocals melody helps make this song. The first listen to "Arthur Brown's Whiskey Bar" jsut kind of breezed by me, it creeps with more of a psychedelic feel . It gives Eric a chance to relax into his lower register for the verses giving his higher wial more of a dynamic contrast. This also gives things a doomy touch. 

The title track is not as powerful as "Ride the Sky" which is a more overt metal song that hits you with a big chug. "If Only I Had a Reaon" has less metal, but is still metal and works with strong riff and great vocals long with a darker doom touch. The album closes with some what of a power ballad. It's interestinig deviating from the tone of the album so far. More piano focused. For some reason it brings Pinal Tap to mind. Overall this is a great album I will give it a 9.5, so perhaps not afocused as they have been in the past ,but for a 12 year break they had a good grasp of where they stood . 

November is Doom- Rorcal : "Mahre"

 

This Swiss band plays a dense dark punishing version of sludge. This is their seventh full length so they are well versed in the studio and there is no question that htey have dialed in the intended sound. There is a great deal of atmosphere on the first song with the growled vocals snarlign out with more agony than anger. There are touches of black metal in how the drums attack the song, but mainly stays to variations of it's apocalyptic throb. Rather than song titles every thing is referred to as a movement. The second movement is less sprawling and more experimental. There are electronic almsot industrial sounds leading in as the vocals cry out over an otherwise sparse arrangement. This breathing room provides a nice contrast for the more crushing riff to fall upon. It drifts on this for a while, simmering as you wait for the other shoe to drop. 

I can appreciate this album's dedication to atmosphere, this is not a band I have really given much of a chance so I am glad to give this a listen now and hear what they are about. This is a more doom opriented take on sludge as well as there is an aching sense of loss that permeates these songs so far. They excel at using layers of sound, rather than jsut abusing your ears with distortion. That is what makes this album so heavy is it's emotiona lweight, the drum s are more pummeling going into the third movement. 

The drummer seems to be the only one that wants them to be a blakc metal band though the vocalist comes close enough toi rbidge the gap. There is a dissonace that calls for the screamed harsh expressions splattering against the canvas of suffering. The third movments writhes with angular feel than the firwt to songs. The drums are impressive in the rentless tension they add to things. There is an almost Meshuggah like timing to the syncopation this songs winds it's way around to. It almsot feels likea breakdown at times. You can not blame them for not being dynamic, as evne in it's sprawl it's filled with twists and turns. They do blast at you for a solid minute in the secondd half of this song, but it feels more likea descent into chaos. 

Supposedly this album is about dreams becoming infectious, but the lyrics are not articulated in a way that lets you uin one this though, there is a nightmarish feel to the ambiance of the songs. The fourth movement picks back up at the blast and almsot makes you ask if this is a slackened sludge album which might be a possibility if they return to this . As expected they find their way into a weighty stomp. Things get a little lsot in the blur on this one , as it less forgiving than the previous songs. In the second half they drop back into the more welcome feel of doom.Not that I like doom more than black metal, I just like darkness and both genres do that well, they just seem better at the doomier section as it resonates more with hwo they are. 

The last movment opens with industrial tinged ambiance. The secreaming lead s the way back in much like what they did on the second song. The drums do not wait as long to make themselves known here. It is a lingering pound but a pound none the less. It is confrontational in a much different way than the previous song. It midwya into the song when things being to build into a more harrowing sonic force. The roboticc synth sound that creep in a re pretty cool. This song has more of a drone and takes less of an adventurous path almost more like a sci-fi trailer sound track. I will give this one a 9.5, I like what they are doing here and if you like dark confrontational msuci with a fair amount of atmospehre to give it a chilling vibe it is worth your 

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November is Doom- Exhuming the Tunes with Trouble's "Plastic Green Head"

 

The title track that this one opens with makes it clear that they are bringing the metal back. There is some rock n roll to what they are doing, in-your-face, but the riffing is more in-your-face. The title track. There is an almost Pantera-like groove to "the Eye".  The chorus is prety great on this one. For 1995, this makes sense as the options were pretty much get heavier or get fucked, though Monster Magnet did take a left turn into different drugs. By this time, bands like Kyuss and Down were doing their thing, so the mood shifted to more bong-worshipping grooves,

Their more melodic side comes out on "Flowers," which has a somewhat grunge feel. It is marginally darker to fit the angst of the time. Legend has it that this is where they were hitting peak drug years. This makes the more Beatles-like "Porpoise song make mroe sense; it works for what it is; however, it is a bit of a hard left turn. "Opium-eater" sounds more like what you expect from these guys but with a fresher perspective than the burgeoning "Hear the Earth," whcih feels more like the band going through the motions to meet expectations. "Another Day" is metal enough that it works and feels less dialed in than the previous song.

"Requiem" is more of a ballad. It falls along the lines of an Alice Cooper, as it's darker than your average power ballad. If you are into guitar solos, then it has one of the album's most tasteful ones, not that these guys go on obnoxious shred fests. "Below Me" is more of your typical rocker, jsut when you were thinking they had gone past that. This might be why they did not get bigger than they were. But it's a catch-22 because they also stayed true to metal. This continues to some extent in a more upbeat fashion for "Long Shadows Fall", though I wish someone had played this song for me when I balked at the thought of them being a Christian band , when they take shots at religion on this one. 

They cover "Tomorrow Never Knows" by the Beatles; this complements some of the earlier Beatles moments. They make it sound more like Black Sabbath. "Till the End of Time" is more of a hard rockc anthem with it's brighter chords, that give way to an almsot gospel undertone.  I will give this one a 9.5, as there are some uncertain choices but it is a much better album than I remembered, and a heavier one as well.  

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Piss : " you made me / skin on linen "

 

This noisy punk band has Needle Drop-level hype behind it. The opening track "I wanted to be a singer" is interesting, as the spoken-word vocals rant over dense bursts as creepy guitar dances behind it. Ironically, no actual singing occurs on this song, so the joke is on her. "Time Loop at hot slit" is more energetic and punk. This couldd have turned more into performance art, but they manage to pull some interesting sounds out, which has to happen or their overt message-first method might be obnoxious. It is not as good as the first song, but it works for what it is. 

"A Little Girl's Horse Craze betrays her" is more of a grindcore stykle temper tantrum that is more noise than music. There are as many sampled interludes as there are songs. "there was a door" benefits from the fact that it is just under two minutes long. Long enough that they can build a song, but not long enough that her voice can annoy you any more than it has to. The samples are the only way you can establish a narrative for these songs most of the time; though, to her credit, she articulates more for  "how can you act opposite of this emotion" . This is not to say she does not scream at all, but it makes snese more, though the cooler sound they start this song with gets lost in the middle. Playing actual music for two minutes is alot to ask them. 

"blocking a scene you can't remember" is a slow strum that departs from the temper tantrums that dominated the album up to this point poin. It creates more of a Sonic Youth feel, as her spoken vocals feel more like Kim Gordon. At almost five minutes, I begin to wonder what else they are going to do with this halfway into things, and the answer is not clear, even though her voice builds it almsot like Suicidal Tendencies' "Institutionalized," , I guess all she wants is a Pepsi, it does crash into a heavier riff three minutes in. 

"self blame with thornnecklace and hummingbird" sounds like they are throwing their instruments down a stairwell while she rants about it. "Rote Zora" has an actual riff to it, and it is pretty cool. There is an almost call-and-response here, as it is interspersed with her spoken word. This cool riff gets deconstructed into jsut rumbling distortion. This song highlights the problem with this album which is that ,her soapbox is more important to them than writing a fuckking song, though most of the songs are about fucking.

 The last song " I keep trying to change the ending" is six and a half minutes long, and it recalls the more King Missile-like feel that they touch on in the first song. It shows they do have potential as a band, but they need ot write more songs; I think if that was the focus, it would make the message hold more weight. I will give this one a 7, which is generous considering that after the destroyed last song, there were about two and a half actual songs on this.I am only scoring it that high because I can hear where the ideas were working. She just writes songs about things that upset her and then can't keep it together, so even if they bought into the psy-op at least the band stands for something as the passion there makes it worth a listen, but not a second listen. That said, it's understandable, end-of-year, why the psy-op crowd is hyped here; if it pops up on anyone's end-of-year list, then you know who not to trust when it comes to music or anything, really. 

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November is Doom- Moloch :"Bend. Break. Kneel. Crawl."

This British band released this album back in February, so glad I am able to go back and give it a listen as it got eclipsed in the States by things like the new Neurosis. These guys play a very angry version of sludge that is influenced by Eyehategod. The vocals snarl with seething venom. The mood is dark and depressive as they pound away with great determination. There is a creepy atmosphere on the first song that does not turn into post-rock. It's very bleak, which plays to their advantage. The fuzzed-out bass line adds more of a hefty dynamic when things kick in. The lyrics are vomited out with such angst that they are lost in the blur of caustic torture being done to his vocal cords. 

The opening track is the longest song at its lumbering seven and a half minutes. "Bleeding Through the Interrogation" does not sprawl out as much as it moves with a taunting stomp that puts it at three and a half minutes, so it takes half the time, but is a different mood, that flirts with noise rock in the angular riff. A lower growl possesses " The Bunker," which is another compact song that still carries nad ominous rumble. It's heavy as hell though neither song carries the dark ambiance of the opening track; this one is more droning than the previous song. Some more harrowing guitar sound so come in but it works off the same throb. 

"Slowly Chewing Umbilical" has the huge wall grime oozing chug that you want from this sort of thing, but I am also listening for the mood, the dynamics, and what might hook you into this song aside for a fetish for your ears being punished. Feedback squeals as they milk this riff for all it's worth. Midway in a begin to wonder what they are going to do for the next three minutes is it going to be the riffs just trambling over you in slow motion. It is so heavy the getaway with it to some extent; it would be fun to hear live, but I am not sure how much I would need to replay this song. The breakdown is a lingering pound, but it's pretty typical for the genre. 

"Another Family Slaughters Itself in the Countryside" is a great song title, but they are going to need to do more than just ride the opening riff to live up to it. The vocals could be random screaming at this juncture. "16.03.13" offers a powerful hammering, but in terms of songwriting, it's compromised for the sake of being abrasively heavy. That leaves this feeling like an idea more than a fully fleshed-out song. Some might be impressed by the sheer heaviness of this. At almost nine minutes, "Mother Medusa" closes the album. The vocals are spoken, well, mumbled from the shadows, until it comes time for the screaming. This song comes closest to recapturing the energy they had on the first song. It is dense and evil-sounding, making the more sprawling nature of it work, since it is a denser riff that trudges the groove. I will give this album a 9, it's dark and solid riffing even if the heaviness at times forsakes the songwriting, keeping them out of the Amenra or Fistula tier, but closing in on it with some of the ideas here. 

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Disfear : "the Last Nail"

The band's firs album in 18 years. It was recorded before the death of At the Gates vocalist Tomas Lindberg and drummer Marcus Anderson, which presumably makes this the swan song for the band. The lead single "Early Graves" finds the more Motorhead-like rock n roll vibes sliding in during the chorus. Entombed guitarist Ulf Cederland plays on this album nd gives a very nuanced performance. . The rock nroll vibes are given a more prominent exclamation point on "Open to the Night Within". Lindberg's bark is more of a percussive instrument accenting the riffs. Though not an obligatory layer, it falls right where it needs to. 

Often referred to as a d-beat band, the first song you cna hear hints of this is on "Oblivion Bound," which is the second song that was released as a single, though the previous song might have been a better choice for that as it was catchier. The songs hover around the four-minute mark, so they are not short blasts of punk but more thought-through songs. "The Revenant" is a lyrical horror story that matches the darker mood conveyed in the music, which feels more deliberate.  There are punk moments but still rooted in punk, with a rock riffing sensibility. 

"Cyanide" is even more rock n roll, with a very 70s-inspired riff driving it. They do attack it with more than a rock aggression. This creates a more Kvelertak feel. This is the longest song at over five minutes. They really begin to bust out more guitar solos on the second half of the album. They kinda jam out at the end of the song. The title track closes out the album. They take their time getting into the meat of the song. This tacked on an extra minute to a song that is more of a rowdy punk rock explosion. I will give this album a 9.5, as it's more mature rock nroll than just beer-drinking punk. Not sure how many repeat listens I will get from it, but it's great for what it is if you are a fan of these guys, you should be pleased.

 

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Ministry : "Hate to Go- Take Out or Delivery"

 

Ministry is becoming like Cher, Ozzy, and Kiss, with lots of farewell tours and last albums being used as a marketing ploy. This album starts off just giving you what you expect from Al these days: more metal than electronic, though about as aggressive as KMFDM, though twice as politcal; this is nothing new for this project. "We Hate" is more deliberate andd has a more memorable riff than what they throw at you in the first three songs. Granted, Ministry has some classic albums; "Filth Pig" is one of the heaviest albums that is still song-focused. Al's vocal delivery is more of a roar in this style. They use samples in a way that fits who they are and supports the songs' narrative. 

"Delete" is a commentary about social media that is fuelled by a pretty mean riff that works well. "Grifter" has a more melodic under current. The recent re-visitation of their early work faked us out and made us think that they were returning to a more synth-driven sound, and this song is the first that holds any of those elements. We get reverbed guitar tones and more sonic colors, which is welcome. While lyrically silly," the White Man Lied " works because it offers some melodic layers. 

"Singularity" carries a more aggressive riff. It carries a pretty effective thrashing stomp. The robot voice serves as a counterpoint, and the groove lingers. "Burned Out" benefits from a darker bass line. The samples take over this one, and the groove just kinda of drones. The last song, "We're Still Here' riffs off the previous song. There is a more Skinny Puppy-like vocal coming out of it. Overall, if this is the last album it could have been better; it is focused on dated topics and feels like recycling ideas, but it does capture the sound that work well for them and is song-focused. I will give it a 9.5 

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