Earthside :"Let the Truth Speak"

 

A minute into the first song it is evident we are dealing with top-tier musicians. The drumming is nuanced and technically flawless. The razzle-dazzle of this kind of brilliance is impressive, but just wonderous playing in and of itself can not carry an album, even if it is progressive rock. The telling factor for this album will be how memorable the songs are.  Much of this brand of progressive metal feels like the emphasis is on the progressive side and less on the metal, as a dialed-in distortion and a few chugs in a dropped tuning do not make you a metal band. Metal is about aggression, if it is dark then even better. This album features a different vocalist for each track. Keturah a Canadian singer, who is very technically sound, with a very precise pitch and delivery, but much like many progressive singers, sounds to me like they are too refined. Like they need to spend less time with their vocal coach and more time experiencing real-life emotional trauma to convince me what they are doing has any soul to it. 

The production is flawless and all the sounds captured are pristine, almost to a fault. Pritam of the New Delhi-based band Aarlon for the song "Tyranny". It is well crafted and very melodic, but in a similar vein as a band like Sleep Token, which is marketed as metal, but really sounds like a grandiose pop power ballad.Pritam is a dynamic singer and can bring it from his guts as called for, but much like the first singer I feel metal is just a hat he is wearing, not truly feeling, there is no struggle he is screaming against. Music for outsiders it is the plights life throws against you that make the struggle inspired. I want metal singers who are nihilistic Satanists, drug addicts, mentally ill, or trying to overcome a world they are left on the outside of and looking in. 

Aj Channer from Fire From the Gods drops a vocal for "Pattern of Rebirth". He is yet another non-metal singer who sings for a metal band making pop music. He is however effective at what he does, and his performance here is in line with the quality of singing that is consistent with who he is as a performer. This makes for perhaps the album's strongest song. "Watching the Earth Sink" is a melodic instrumental that builds off a gradual dynamic, to something that is almost more djent in timing. The guitar solos it showcases, remind me of Joe Satrinani in the way they are phrased. 

Tower of Power's Larry Braggs handled the vocals for the ballad "The Lesser Evil" This highlights the fact they are not really attempting to be a metal band on this song. Harder guitar slowly works its way in as the Saxophone of Sam Gendel, brings things to a funkier place. I prefer the more ambient " Denial's Aria" with Vikke handling vocals and the harp duo Duo Scorpio, performing with them. "Vespers" after this is an intangible cloud of atmosphere. Tesseract singer Daniel Hopkins croons over "Let the Truth Speak". He projects his voice with impressive power when called upon to do so./I also like the more Tool-centric groove of the song. When this song is jammed down into a more introspect dimension. 

Baard Kolstad of Leprous plays drums on the last song. He might be the most metal element of the album given his time with Borknager. His drumming is impressive as the song builds, but the throbbing instrumental is a collection of cool sounds being moved rather than telling much of a story. This album is well constructed, performed, and produced, but do not feel a lot from its soul, I will give it a 8.5, as there are a few strong songs, but for my personal tastes feels a little sterile and soft. 

Let The Truth Speak by Earthside

Sumo Cyco : "Initation"

This band from Canada is driven by the charismatic and quirky vocalist Skye Sweetnam. They play something that is a poppy take on nu-metal. New Years Day and In This Moment are in the same zip code as what goes down here. To Skye's credit what she does is catchy. Sometimes almost too hooky for it's own good. Sometimes here voice holds a Gwen Stefani pout . She is capable of a snarl. The first few songs a entertaining blend of pop and metal, often a little on the happy side for me, or at least overtly bouncing, not unlike Sweetnam's boobs that are relevant in that sex is not something they are afraid to sell here though lyrically it is not overt.

 

The first song where it sounds like they are going for more of a metal sound is also the first song that feels a little more like filler. The pop dna of their song writing needs to be in play. Sweetnam has an excellent sense of  using the weaving patterns of pop melody that hip hop has influenced . She never raps but rides t he beat like a Niki Minaj might. "Cyclone" is almost too happy in places which offsets the more aggressive guitar punches. They do not have the same weight in the guitar production as say Issues does. Instead the guitars often blend with synth sounds making it hard to tell what is what.  The No Doubt influence I heard was not a mistake as it is more overt on "Run With the Giants" . It is unique in that they take the sound places that might have more in common with IWRESTLEDABEARONCE. The strength of their song writing can be felt again on " Overdrive". Her voice drips with a little more sex in places here.

They get grittier in the groove with |"Power and Control" . She does have a decent voice that works well with what they are doing and she pretty much sound like her own entity. There is a little more chaos on 'This Dance is Doomed"  The grit she add to her voice as the tempo picks up is pretty believable. Overall this album is a great deal of fun, sure there is a tinge of sexy pop in the pot but that is not the only thing being stirred. I feel as a singer Sweetnam is capable and a legit front woman.  I will give this album a 9.

Living Dead Girl : "Exorcism"

 If you came here for the hot girl factor, make sure you stay for the music. While many bands of this sort use the sex to sell it, here that is not needed, and the eroticism is down played. I am not sure what I was expecting when I pressed play. Perhaps it was a more gothed out New Years Day".  In some ways I was not totally off base, though it is heavier, more along the line of older In This Moment, when there was more of commercial metal core element to their Myspace fueled sound.  Vocalist Molly Rennick, has more edge than sultry to her voice. She blends the contrasting vocal colors well. i prefer the darker groove on "Give Up"  over the more kinetic in your face attitude of the first two songs. That metallic energy is used as more of a dynamic than the fuel in the song's tank. The title track has some more sugar filled moments woven in that reminds me more of Poppy, in the way they contrast the heavy and get heavy like something from an anime theme song.

In This Moment is a more fitting comparison on " Dirty Liar" as their is an indsutrial strength anthem vibe to it. "Politergiest" finds them giving her more room to breath on the verses and employ a more melodic vocal color to increase the dynamic range of the album. The stacatto attack of the vocals on " Villian" gives it an almost rapped nu metal feel before the chorus comes in with a pop punk cheer, that might be too happy for my tastebuds. I had to listen to the album a second time before "Escape" really connected with me. It has a more buncing groove to it. The way the vocals soar out of this pretty much falls in with more bands that get airplai via satitllie stations .

"worship Me" well doesn't connect with me lyrically since I never take a submissive role, The song it self pounds you with the smae intensity they have already hit you with. I am more impressed with the more atmospheric and melodic direction they close the album with. I will round this up to an 8.5. While everything is executed perfectly, it is not the most original thing I have heard , though not deriivitive of one particular artist, it was a fun listen kinda like cotton candy, eat it at the circus but can not make it a part of my diet. if you are into more mainstream metal then it will be up your alley,  

In This Moment : "Ritual"

So this is pretty much the Maria Brink show now. There is more spooky stuff going on to open the album and it feels like their will be less sexy nurses writhing around. I have often found her better to look at than listen to so lets see if this album changes that opinion. The first actual song is strange as it takes the stomp of a negro spiritual and molds it into something more sultry hard rock edges. The big chorus hooks don't come til mid way into the song. I am not sure if it is all production but here voice sounds better on this album, if she stays in more of Britney Spears like alto. But it's clear she has a better range than Spears as she can belt into her upper register.

There is a more organic feeling to this album, despite the drums not sounding real. Rob Halford shamelessly shows up on "Black Wedding" . Which makes this inversion of the Billy Idol even stranger. I make no qualms about stealing the chorus in the refrain. But some how it works. Then we get yet another cover of "In the Air Tonight". Not sure when Non-Point covered it, but seems like we don't need another cover of it. She does sing the hell out of it , but otherwise musically there is not much we haven't heard before. "Joan of Arc" feels a lot like "the Beautiful People " but a watered down less aggressive take on it.Pop and metal meet pretty evenly on "River of Fire ". I can do without the oh oh oh vocals in the background, aside from them it's a pretty solid marriage of pop and metal. I think the "let it rain" part would make this a great song for strip clubs.  If I ever wondered what Katy Perry would sound like doing metal the answer is on "the Witching Hour" . This formula is not fool proof as it backfires on "Twin Flames".

They get mired in similar almost nu-metal grounds with a slight tinge of 90s industrial rock on "Half God, Half Devil" . The problem then continues to be that they don't feel dark or heavy. They make a better stab at convincing me on "Roots' which was not the Sepultura cover I hoped for. "Lay Your Gun Down" feels more like an outro than ever building into a real song.I'll round this one up to a 7, I think I like the sexier KMFDM sound better, though the pop infused stuff can work. I guess if you are are fan this is par for the course.

Issues: " S/T"

The over at Metal Sucks, seem to be fascinated with Nu Metal, so much so they tend to cry out like Chicken Little that it's making a comeback and claimed this band was going to be leading this. Nu Metal died in lets say 2000, for people who live in urban environments and  are aware of changes in the musical climate, it gave way to emo-core stuff of Myspace so 14 years seems premature for a genre to see a cyclic return, but music is pretty stagnant today so stranger things have happened.

I was unaware these guys were from Atlanta...or the suburbs of which makes more sense, and features members of Woe is Me whose Singer Tyler Carter came out as being bi-sexual so the Johnath Davi like ambiguity is in tact at least . He also has a penchant for covering Katy Perry and Justin Beiber songs, for those Punk goes Pop comps.

From the first song "Sad Ghosts" I don't really feel the Adidas, but this is more of  djent like take on the whole Myspace metal, that happens to have some turntables and pop vocal, if they bust out verse or go with the whole soft to loud Deftones thing, I might have this more claim more credence. I find them less annoying than Linkin Park was. The marriage of One Direction to djent, which if we are going to call a spade a spade is what this really has more in common with then Coal Chamber.

The almost Bruno Mars elements to the opening of "Mad at Myself" is pretty blatant and the ATL urban scheme of the lyrics doesn't ever break into rap, it does remind me Framing Hanley's cover of Lil Wayne's Lollipop. The sometimes sounds like a happier version of Enter Shikari, its not until "Life of A Nine" drop that things get krunk in nu metal direction. But is it anything that Blood on the Dance Floor hasn't already been doing ?

The more djent sound returns , but this time is accompanied by a more Korn like harsher emotive vocal.The clean vocals on this album as cheese filled as they are swoop into to save the songs. The trap music elements that are sprinkled with what sounds like j-pop house music bleeps and blips could work, the late 90's don't really do the House of Pain jump until later in the song. There are moments when this sounds like Alien Ant Farm and they don't have the angst of Slipknot, but this is better than half the of the pop on the radio.

There is a more j-pop dance feel to "Late". This one is less djent and more myspace , mall core and I am sure the catchy neon -t-shirts  they sell, will go over big at Hot Topic these days. It is interesting that pop and hip-hop element have replace the Tool influence that prevailed over most of the more worthwhile.. it it was worthwhile Nu-metal in the late 90's and when Tool transitioned over into A Perfact Circle bands started wanting to have their own power ballads and 30 Seconds to Mars started selling tons of albums before doing drag.

An old skool hip-hop element starts off "Old Dena" which is more of an interlude, I am surprised there is not more dub-step on this album as that seems a more logical band wagon to be jumped on here.  There is a much more Meshuggah like riff at the beginning of "Stringray Affliction".  There is one of the more Bruno Mars like breakdowns in the middle of this which is more convincing than the more djent elements.

I am surprised at this point that I have made it this far through the album, they assume a pop punk beat on " Never Loses Your Flames" that doesn't gel with vocals and the whole song seems more disjointed and filler than some of the tighter hooked writing earlier in the album. "Personality Cult" is just more along the lines of Myspace Mallcore, the riffage at times borders on more Slipknot like phrasing but the masked men from Iowa have a darker element they bring to what they did. This also lack any sort of Pantera influence which weighed heavily on Nu Metal. The closest they come to one of Dimebag's farts is on " the Settlement"

The duet with Nylo on " Tears on the Runway" is an odd choice and the song loses what ever advantage it gains in this creative twist with the breakdowns that at this point have gotten old. When the band closes the album, it has exhausted the brief fun pop elements, and seem to try to be taking themselves more seriously than the songs warrant. I'll give this one a 4 and declare if Nu Metal is making a come back it's the fault of of the same djent that Metal Sucks has kissed the ass of.                  

The Gathering : Disclosure

So by "How to Measure a Planet" we had conceded to the fact the Gathering were no longer a metal band and after initial listens to this one I went looking for my copy of "night time birds" which in hindsight left its fingerprints all over most to the melodramatic female front pop metal bands out now. "disclosure" marks the second album without Anneke van Giersbergen, and I can understand how this might be a sore spot for long time fans, "How to measure a planet" was the last album I remember buying by them , though it was during the drug years so I could have owned others, as I have been fleetingly familiar with their material after that point but have yet to give their new singer ... Who has been in the band now for 5 years so not new at this point ... a chance, so I went in this album pretending it came out after " How to measure...". In that context it still makes sense.

what I do like about it is there's a place in my iPod for melancholy pop music, I'm sure Sarah McLaughlin has put out something recently and I have yet to search for it, her older stuff makes me feel like I'm on an episode of Buffy so not sure why I haven't downloaded her back catalogue yet, and no Sarah is not on this new Gathering album but it sometimes feels like her music, with more emphasis on the band and not an over abundance of balladeer piano. Former Octavia Sperati singer Silje Wergeland, gives a much better nod to the bands legacy than the replacement singers for bands like Kamelot and Nightwish have.

The first song that made me look up from what I was doing and say " oh shit , I like that" was the song " Gemini I". The others tend to have a more subdued continuity to them. I do appreciate the mimickery Silje employs when sliding into her upper register though it has a more delicate pop sensibility to Anneke. In a lot of ways this album feels like " Night time birds" though it lacks distorted guitar and where that album made me think of the winter this feels more like a rainy November, but not in the Guns N roses way. Where "Night Time Birds" is an easier transition for a metal head to make I to this sort of fare and after going back to listen to it I think it's fair to say the album might have influenced Katatonia in some ways, though it has more majestic pre Nightwish moments and is significantly heavier than " disclosure".

Where Anneke once soared, Silje contemplates. Times change and I can see where this flavor of pop might fit on a brooding teen vampire drama. So approaching this as a separate entity, and long time fans are used to the changes so this album won't be a hard swallow.

While the album captures a certain mood through out some of the songs drift aimlessly in the grey clouds while others have more narrative purpose. Dynamically the third and fourth songs, are very similar but of the two " heroes for ghosts" actually goes some where. The subtle use of horn in the songs seconds half gives a different color sonically and when the distorted guitar comes in though hardly metal it creates a good dynamic balance.

Sure the song " missing seasons" is a moody estrogen release , it is a well written one with an endearing melody to it. So if you are writing music for teenage girls who hang out in libraries...you know like Willow from Buffy , then this is the way to do it. Speaking of Sunnydale , most of these songs sound like they would be preformed at the bronze, as they have the late nineties alt rock feel.

The closing melody to "Gemini 2" had to grow on me as on the first few listens I was underwhelms and while it is very Sarah McLaughlin, who is a bigger influence on her than Anneke by far, though not to discredit her for doing the Gathering's legacy justice. Similar approach was made with " paralyzed " whose melody took some time to mesh with my ear drums, the " say my name..." hook stuck but where the point where the song floats off with out the benefit of being anchored by is pointless, but a closer listen to the song kept me from writing it off. So with much weighing the pros and cons of an album so heavily focused on one mood and that mood being decidedly unmetal I resigned my self to giving the album an 8 out of ten points, which I rounded down from a nine due to the flat range of mood button the albums credit the Gathering is very capable of the mood they do weave almost to a fault. I would recommend this album to fans of Katatonia recent non-metal years as well.