Pinkish Black : " Concept Unification"

The title track that opens the Texas duo's 4th album is both darker and more organic sounding than previous releases. More Hawkwind than Black Sabbath. The synth sounds carry an almost kraut rock drone. There is a harder drive to the groove of "Until". The vocals have a more defined croon than I recall hearing from them. They back off for a darker slink with "Dial Tone". Since darkness is such a large part of what I listen for , the fact that there is a less metallic intent to these songs, works for me. The synth frequencies can distort enough to get the point across in terms of dynamics . The more retro synth sound finds them cruising towards bong laden prog landscapes on "Petit Mal". As an instrumental it does have a cinematic feel, but I feel like his voice is so unique that I prefer when he is singing.

The album sounds amazing. All of the sounds are really dialed in and the mix finds them sitting where they need to be, though the vocals can fade into the wall of sonics the synths summon. "Inanimatronic" has more swirling ambiance. It is once again another instrumental, though this one doesn't resonate with me as much as the previous song, or perhaps I am not stoned enough. The album closes with the 12 minute "Next Solution". They switch over to a piano sound. Fortunately this one is not an instrumental. The song starts off with a more Nick Cave feel, before a dynamic shift finds them locking into a more space age groove. Where the other songs kept to the same throb this song takes more turns.

I will round this one down to an 8.5 and see how it sits with me. I am mainly rounding it down for the instrumentals which I think is time better spent with a more focused song. There were two bonus songs on the version of the album I got , but for the purpose of the review I am only counting the six songs that actually comprise the album, though I think the bonus tracks are stronger than the instrumentals.



5.3

 

Pinkish Black : "Bottom of the Morning"

Just when you think it's safe to start making your end of the year lists something that I had been waited for so long that it slipped my mind came out. The new one from the Fort Worth synth drone duo, who really defies most genres , but that won't stop me from trying to peg one onto  there dark brand of synth drive post-punk. On their debut for Relapse Records , the vocals are even more prominent coming out from behind the wall of murky effects and over driven synth swirl that dominated previous releases. Due to this the lyrics are more discernible than previous releases. Before you are too quick to compare them to Joy Division they are much more like a darker version of "Obscured by Clouds " era Pink Floyd. I read one review of this album where Mike Patton was brought up and I wonder what album they were listening to.If anything there is sometimes more of a Josh Homme feel to the melodies.  They take on a heavier drive with "Special Dark" that finds their singer dropping down into a more ghoulishly goth croon. It's pretty murky even with the hammering pulse of sounds like a bass, but knowing these guys is more likely over driven synths thickening the low end.

"I'm All Gone " is the most reminiscent of their previous albums with droning groove, the generally balance out retaining their trademark sound while reaching towards new heights, but this is achieved much better on "Burn My Body" that follows. This song is more hypnotic, yet still packs plenty of punch and leaves room for the singer's croon. It spins out into something more proggy around three minutes in taking me back to the previous Pink Floyd comparison. This is also the first song that really hooks me in on this first listen. They returning to the creep of a more driving bottom end sound with "Everything Must Go".  One thing that is different on this is the fact that I never think of this as being heavy as in metal.The vocals take more of a back seat here, not coming in until over a minute and a half into the song. The stay in the background like the ghost of Jim Morrison.

The title track continues the haunting of the Doors, due to the almost jazz like nature of the drumming.The vocals take a back seat in a hushed murmur. The hang on the same groove with the synth melodies bubbling around it. In the final three minutes of the song things get a little more intense as the dynamics build. The chant of "every things the same again" rises. While their Bandcamp lists the cover of "New Dawn Fades"  the did for Cvlt Nation's Joy Division tribute its not on the promo I got so for the purpose of this review the last song is the kraut rock like " the Master is Away". It has a a big industrial strength beat , but not the groove. It instead floats on an opium cloud over the dmt dreamt city of the future. This could be from the Labyrinth soundtrack or really any early 80s sci-fi flick. For an instrumental it's got a nice surreal drugged out drone, but not a song I need on my iPod , so for the songs that will get more of a shot I'll round this up to a 9 and see how it holds up. If you are a fan of their previous work, they have not sold out by a long shot.

Pinkish Black :"Razed to the Ground"

The Texas band comes back weirder with this one. The angular prog bass line of the opener starts the space rock off. I mean the term death rock gets thrown around at times with these guys but on this album I hear more cosmic stuff like Hawkwind. The vocal are more of a swirling galactic chant than the type of singing from the first album an the drumming is running in crazy circles all over the place. It's a sonic feast, but the song writing is then given room to wander into more of jams than actual songs.

"Ashtray Eyes" takes a good minute to land. The keyboard start building up the riff in the distance. This is way more Pink Floyd than I remember the last album being. It more Obscured By Clouds Floyd though, which is good as that was my favorite album to get high to back in the day. The vocals take on a more focused croon here, and we have the making of a real song. When the drum really kick into a groove , I am pretty sure its not metal but something of a more more perverse beauty.

There a more Killing Joke like stomp to "Kites & Vultures". This builds into drum spasms and the tribal throb marches on. Though this album is less metal it still carries an attack to it that would appeal to metal heads, especial those who like industrial. The title track carries the charge forward , the groove is almost more Tool like, the synth sound and darker vocals that bubble up from the nebulous realms create a hypnotic  tapestry of sound while forming a web-like song structure.

The bleak piano lines that open up " Bad Dreamer" create a lingering  mood  that almost feels more like an interlude,  as the crushing doom like bottom end doesn't smack down until two minutes later letting the piano trail in behind it.The baritone moan of the vocal heps create an almost Swans like mood. As the song goes into a more doomy place ,the vocals soar over it with a surprising amount of power.

"Rise" gets even darker with tribal pulse to the drums. The song kicks in and feels like a death rock version of Tool for some reason to me. The album close with the 11 minute "Loss of Feeling Loss" . It doesn't begin to bubble to life from it's dark depths until a minute and a half into the song. The song mainly drone on one pounding throb. Overall the band seems to be more focused on droning space rock, than the line the teetered towards darkness, but they continue to be great in the face of these changes, I would have preferred more dynamics from a few of the more droning moments so I will round this up to a 9, as this keeps the album being perfect, but it is still an inspiring listen.    

 

Best of 2012

This was originally written for the hiplanta blog I write for my metal top fifteen that I'm writing for this blog will be up Sunday ...I'm still sorting the bottom five out...so spoilers for that list will be found here as I did touch on some metal for this article

When it came to mainstream/ commercial music 2012 was pretty horrid, despite the Internet's ability to hold a treasure trove of awesome music waiting to be found, the American Sheeple continued to let the lowest common denominator sink lower making anything on commercial radio unlistenable. How ever a lot great stuff came out from the darker corners of the universe in fact having dug up some goth music blogs in Greece ( of all places, praise Pluto) so I'm going to amend this list after I finally get me iPod on some of the death rock revivalist stuff I have been chasing down all year. Some artists     like Cold in Berlin are excluded from the list as they are unattainable not only from iTunes but also from their record label , who I hunted down trying to get their stuff.

My metal list after lots of downloading and digging through the nine levels of hell still stands strong so here's my list of the top ten non-metal albums of  2012, which will be followed by my album of the year which is also the number one album on my overall top10 list of 2012 , followed by  my top ten of assorted categories  and awards. So let's count down the non metal.

Top Ten Non-Metal Albums of 2012

10-"No Youth" by Wreck and Reference- Just because it's not metal doesn't mean it's not going to be heavy, as that's how I roll. This duo I comprised of a sampler who handles the croons and screams and a drummer, who holds this stark experiment in musical bi-polar together . Dark wave with an edge at times, these guys are influenced by metal as much as they are Kraftwerk and Godflesh.

9-"Les Voyages De L' Ame" by Alcest- If  I was going to have a shoe-gaze album of the year this ethereal French band would win it. Though unlike Sigur Rios, whose meandering drifts off these guys have a drummer whose into metal and knows how to drive the songs forward. Niege's vocals sound great on this, I think the reason it's not higher is it's a little straight forward in the songwriting department and it had to grow on me , but survived a year in my iPod.

8-"Unknown Rooms" by Chelsea Wolfe - This one came out in October and I just got my hands on it, so the even more ghostly approach to the songs is still growing on me , if  you read my personal blog Abysmal Hymns, I'm reviewing it Sunday and from initial listens will get at least a nine, so that should say something. Her voice is great it's just as depressing as an acoustic album with cello e.q'ed so bassy it booms like a doom album.

7-"The Haunted Man" by Bat for Lashes- Natasha Khan raises the bar for the experimental cold wave influenced pop diva contest so Zola Jesus look over your shoulder girl. Influenced heavily by Annie Lennox and Kate Bush, this is how I like my pop music melancholy even when I'm dancing.

6-"self titled" by Pinkish Black- Another electronic duo , this one a singer/keyboardist who can crush you with his left hand and a drummer. These two stir up a cauldron of very dense darkness that sometimes drones at other time pounds the point home, the album gradually gets heavier with each song and should be played loudly at night.

5- "Information Retrieved" by Pinback- These guys matured a lot on this album which traded in the quirky bounce of the past for a more brooding listen. The bass and guitar interplay is stellar and they are masters of setting melodies and harmonies ontop of one another in compelling ways. I give these guys credit for time and time again not taking the easy way out, even on the most commercial sounding track on here which could have come close to veering into the Fray territory , they still give it a creative twist making it an enduring album.

4-" Love Will Prevail" by Cult of Youth- Considering who the top three are these guys have accomplished something to have crafted a masterpiece that is able to sit next to  legends.  Morose yet still full of hope, the songwriting is really knocked out of the ball park. It borders punk and old wave and rolls along for countless listens o.k ....Last Fm said I listened to it 52 times since November . They really reestablished a musical indentity for themselves , and distanced themselves further from Death in June comparisons with the songs often boisterous energy.

3- "MMXII" by Killing Joke- I already had a deep respect for this band and their tremendous influence , but this really blew me away Jaz's  voice sounds invigorated with his pipes more powerful and fluid that singers half his age, so it should go on record age is never an excuse to to rock the fuck out. Sounds more relevant than any other industrial album that came out in recent years.

2-"Anastasis" by Dead Can Dance- This one was tough and I didn't want to say it was a tie, although this is a very different album than the number one band, and it's my two favorite bands going for the top spot.  this album has some of the years best vocals on it and I might have even listened to it a little more than the number one band's album, as it's an easier listen, but that's the reason it's not in the top spot Because they played it a little safe on this where the number one album was wildly experimental, relentless and darker. That doesn't take away from the fact this album sits next to the classics of Dead Can Dances epic legacy, even if it's a little tame and straightforward for them. 

1-"the Seer" by Swans,  A double album in a year where every one can only muster out an e.ps worth of  intensity Gira and company slap you with a double dose.  I love is album Because it succeed s on two levels, it embraces a return to their more classic sound but still tries new this and integrates it into their sound. Sonically this is heavier than most of the metal albums that came out this year. Gira. 's voice sounds  much better, the groove on this are thick and Sidney as their new bass player has now made himself at home. It like listening to it as one complete work and according to last fm I have gone on that adventure over four hundred times. It was all I could listen to for a couple weeks until i got Dead Can Dance and then they fought for my iPod. 

Overall top ten albums of 2012

1. The seer by Swans

2. Anastasis by Dead Can Dance

3. Ritual of  Passing by Atriarch

4. MMXII by Killing Joke

 5.  Love will prevail by Cult of Youth

6.Sorrow and extinction by Pallbearer 

7. Silencing Machine by Nachtmystium 

8.s/t by Pinkish Black

9. Atra Mors by Evoken

10. Information Retrieved by Pinback

Other bests

1 Best live performance ...Dead Can Dance

2 Best pop album ....the Haunted man by Bat for Lashes

3 Best Rap album...the money Store by Death Grips

4...Best post - rock ...Only the Ocean Knows by An Autumn for Crippled Children

5.Best Prog album... In Somniphobia by Sigh

6. Best Metal album...Ritual of Passing by Atriarch

7. Worst Album...Coexist by the XX

8.Best Black Metal...Silencing Machine by Nachtmystium 

9. Biggest Sell out....Shining

10. Best Tribute band....the Musical Box

the Best in Metal for 2012' so far ...

"I decree zee punishment for bad metal is death"

For this to be the year of  the Mayan apocalypse we are going out with a whimper  in terms of the creative out put in metal and horror movies both are having weak showings. Of the artists I have compiled for the mid year progress report card , more border on just having metal elements , yetthey sound heavier to me than the half-hearted Meshuggah. So here's who is delivering the goods for the soundtrack to the apocalypse this year .

1- Pinkish Black- Self titled-  recently reviewed, casts it's dark shadow over what most might consider metal but it's still heavier in tone than any of the mall-metal djent crap

2-Ihsahn- Eremita- Well crafted  leaning  towards progressive metal, a sliver cloud with only black metal in the shading around its edges. Will be hard pressed to find better guitar playing on an album this year.

3-Pallbearer-Sorrow & Extinction - I must admit I was a little disappointed with the vocal performance I have seen of their  more recent live footage but it doesn't stop it from being the most soaring doom so far.

4-Lunar Aurora- Hoagascht- Noticed deficit in good black metal, these guys understand ambiance doesn't have to put you to sleep

5-Royal Thunder -CVI- Another non-metal release but close enough to help fill the void, looming ,morose and swinging melodies which get lodged in the back of my mind.

6-Lord Mantis- Pervertor-Kellhammer turned me onto this, sure it's sludge drenched but like Dragged into Sunlight, still comes closer to being being black metal than half of what is slathered in corpse paint these days.

7- Burzum -Umskiptar-Not a big departure from the other post- pokey albums, this one feels more depressing  and has a slower drone it , making it a piece of frost I'm warming up to.

8-Sigh - In Somniphobia- Another step away from black metal and into exotic cartoonish lands where Mr. Bungle and Frank Zappa were only thought to tread.Think evil mario cart muzak.

9-Merrimack-the Acausal Mass- Not the kind blasty mcnastiness I expected, but it is still an all round well crafted slab of hell charred blackened...um death thrash..maybe

10 Huntress- Spelleater- it was a toss up between this and Rumplestiltskin Grinder , but Huntress has melodies I actually find myself singing after the fact, where the Grinders pretty much adhere to just Carcass worship.

Alcest and Christian Mistress are both good albums, just not metal,  the singer of Christian Mistress reminds me of the girl from Rainer Maria, but maybe not as much as the chick from Witch Mountain reminds me of Fiona Apple. Then there's  whole contingency of albums by bands like Horse Back and Nachtvorst which touch on greatness but are too caught up in creating soundscapes and noise.

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Most likely to unseat some of these by the end of the year ...Nachtmystium, A Forest of Stars, Katatonia, Converge

Pinkish Black- S/T

The doctor is here my drugs are in. No not the ones my lack of healthcare can't provide but the ones my soul needs, they arrived in the form of the 7 songs on Pinkish Black's  self-titled 2012 release. This album floats like the ghost of a drug induced suicide yet has the density of a black hole. It's not heavy in the metal sense but in an oppressive sonic sense. This two piece out of Fort Worth Texas have their  metal influences undercoating the drive of the drums and grind of the often distorted bass which churn together on the same post-apocalyptic steam engine which Godflesh rode in on years ago.
  The album opens with a throb...song name rides the pulse until the wave crashes into a eerie shimmer of the second track "Everything went dark " it soars short and sweetly with a melancholy dripping from the crooned vocals.
  If Ridley Scott doesn't use the song "Passerby" in this next Blade Runner venture he's scheming, he would be missing the boat. Though the song feels more grimey like William Gibson than Phillip K Dick, the bleak layering ads to the robotic coldness. The death-rock label is often used to describe this band and I feel it's a little of a misnomer as it looks back with a sense of nostalgia to the 80's and I feel this is very forward thinking music, the only 80's band that really strikes me here is Kraftwerk.
The mix is very strong even in the lo-fi approach to distortion on the bass which dominates the track "Fall down". The Swans influence peeks of  the murk, but in the sense of Micheal Gira driving a bulldozer through the set of Eraser Head. I keep referencing movies here because their is something very cinematic about the vastness of the sound .
The bomb which created the waste land, drops at the onset of "Tell her I'm Dead".  The spectral vocals at this point in the album build into a scream, the tempo shifts into echoes of what I suppose is a blast beat of sorts collapsing  a falsetto which brings to mind what Jeff Buckley must have sounded like as he drowned.
The sparse piano of "Tastes like blood" is crushed by the bass on drums dropped on it , as they hammer it's splinters into the ground when the first riff I might consider doom surfaces. The vocals here also crawl out of the hold  Nick Cave was hiding in when he croaked "release the bats" back in the days of the Birthday Party.
The closer "Against the Door" is the album most straight forward piece with the drums driving and the pyschedelics whirling around it, the interplay of  bass and drums here brings to mind Motorhead if they didn't kick the rock n roll 3's and 4's. This song along with "Tell her I'm dead" I had to give a few listens for it to click as  they contain elments which are not as easilly blended with the rest of the album though made more sense to me with repetition . After a few spins of  "Against the door" I began to recognize the hypnotic pounding was a similar approach to same kind of drone Urfaust invokes, just with more theramin bells and whistles following it down the rabbit hole, where Urfaust is goose stepping into a Wagnerian dystopia.
So this looks to be the closest to perfect an album has come in 2012 and in my book is the album to beat for album of the year,  I have been streaming it on their band camp until the money ship arrives so i can purchase it on my very own as I  forsee this being an indepesible soundtrack for low swings to come and will go ahead an award it the vey elusive score of 10 out 10
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Return of the living death rock

I'd say 77% of anything I listen which resembles punk rock would also fall into the sub genre of death rock and 77% of the people reading this won't even know what that is unless they have heard the term thrown around in a sentence involving the Misfits, take goth and throw in more punk influence and their you go. Referencing the Return of the living dead sound track works as well.
CVLT Nation put out this mix tap for down load and it's so awesome the only thing which sucks is it down loads onto your i-Pod as one track any way the track listing is below

1. LOST TRIBE – Forever (2010)
2. RUDIMENTARY PENI – Annihilation (2008)
3. AGNOSTIC PRAY – Alienation (2011)
4. DEKODER – What’s Left (2011)
5. CHRIST VS WARHOL – Cross of Lorraine (2010)
6. INTERNAL AUTONOMY – Disappear/Appear (2011)
7. BELLICOSE MINDS – Tension Building (2011)
8. DEAD CULT – Surviving in a Dying World (2012)
9. ANASAZI – I Saw the Witch Cry (2011)
10. FANGS ON FUR – Cigarette (2010)
11. CRIMSON SCARLET – Two Kinds of Red (2011)
12. BELGRADO – Visions of Massacre (2011)
13. PINKISH BLACK – Spiritual Cramp (Christian Death) (2012)
14. ATRIARCH – Oblivion (2012)
15. ALIEN SEX FIEND – BBFC (2010)
16. BLUE CROSS – Time to Die (2011)
17. TANZKOMMANDO UNTERGANG – The Walk (2011)
18. CEMETERY – Grave Dance (2011)
19. BLOODY DEAD AND SEXY – Solemn Times (2010)
20. DYSTOPIAN SOCIETY – Dystopian Society (2011)
21. THE DAMNED – Under the Wheels (2008)
22. SPECTRES – Time is Out (2010)
23. CROSS STITCHED EYES – Become Earth
24. ALARIC – Assault Memory (2012)
25. SILENT SCREAM – Hive Mind (2011)
26. ARCTIC FLOWERS – Technicolor Haze (2010)
27. DEATHCHARGE – Newest Dark Age (2011)

http://www.cvltnation.com/cvlt-nationdeathrock-2012-mixtapecurated-by-oliver-sheppard/

it really is only missing Crypts who might be a little to electronic for this , but Atriarch and Pinkish Black are awesome and two bands I have been meaning to feature in the dawning of black metal to come I see more bastard marriages of death rock with black metal , Industrial is no stranger to this and weighs heavy on what we have heard from the new Nachtmystium. It is like throwing my teenage years into a blender, I'm fine with jumping on this bandwagon since I've had my seat on it since 1990.

Below is the Crypts video, the band has some ex-members of These Arms Are Snakes, So if the ironic moustache alarms you then consider the source...but theres enough anger that feels genuine here for me to second guess the sincerity too much, there is a "witch house" element and unfortunatly the album is not coming out til sept, though I am hoping for a leak as this would be the perfect soundtrack for 4 a.m. creeping around dragon-con.