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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