Wake : "Sowing the Seeds of a Worthless Tomorrow"

If asked what the next big trend in metal was going to be , I would say grindcore. While it has had a strong underground following every since Napalm Death reared it's ugly head, it is building steam to press into the mainstream metal consciousness. A more punks grow up and into metal the ground is fertile. Canadian bashers Wake might ride in on this wave as they have enough teeth and a dark dismal sense to them that works well in the current climate of today's metal. They hit you with blasts and let you breathe in the cracks their explosion creates. They are not to be listened to if you have a hang over or even a mild head ached. In fact in need at least a half cup of coffee in me to appreciate their spastic attack. If it was not for their darker dissonant side that allows this sliver of ambiance to creep in I don't think these guys would be my thing. While "Drones" has a more metallic riff they attack it with more of a crazed punk fury, before allowing it to groove. I think the transition from black metal to this brand of darker grind core is a natural one for those who prefer the more straightforward intense blast beat heavy brand of black metal. As song writers these songs are in and out in under three minutes.They to do not jerk you back and forth with roller coaster like transitions. "Better Living Through Apathy" relies on speed more often than not with a slight embellishment of the riff twisted around in brief accenting bridge sections. It should be no surprise if you are a regular reader of this blog that the more straight forward moments appeal to me less than the more depressive sections like the opening of "Low" which is onto something cool that gets blasted away and then redeemed slightly when they hit it with a Converge like aggression. Sometimes the lyrics make it through the chaos. A song like "Unrelenting Hate" doesn't do much to win me over. The drummer is rabid monster, and this album sounds great, but they make actual much when it's dialed back just a few degrees. When it becomes a blur then it's hard to hear where a song like "Vultures" begins when coming out of the previous one despite a cool stompy riff. However the rule here is cool riffs alone do no make a good song.


 They are strongest when at their most deliberate and you can make out things like actual bass lines. I'll round this one down to an 8, because at some points when they are locked in the thrall of the speed fest everything begins to sound the same. Playing the album on a loop, when it restarted I lost the separation between the fist song and the second, meaning they did not have anything dynamically to make them stand apart. These guys are angry beasts and have captured what they do really well on this album. Perhaps this band and many other grind core bands coming out these days will continue to press forward and explore new places to take the genre that will be even more interesting and make me more compelled to listen , but it succeeds most of the time in the angry explosion this music is meant to be.

Dream Theater : "the Astonishing"

I guess I latched onto some of  the heavier moments on "Awake"  and have always wanted these guys to be a metal band ever since. Perhaps they were a metal band at that time since metal has evolved since then. Sure they are great musicians. But after two false starts on this one I begin to wonder if they can still really write a song and not just a showcase for collective shredding. The first actual song is "the Gift of Music' . James Labrie continues to be the band's weak spot as he is unable to make them sound any heavier than Journey. They are quick to dip into piano balladry at a minute and a half into the second. With the main riff sounding more like rock radio from the 80s. In the last minute they lock into a heavier groove, and by heavier I mean more aggressive than where the song was heading. There is a little too much happy frolicking on this one. This is the first album without Portnoy that I have given a shot and without him it seems like he was the main advocate for the band being metal.

One the second real song they are on a soaring ballad. Sure James' voice sounds good on this one and you can already hear the big chorus coming before you get there. It sounds almost like christian rock. Of course concept albums are a real novel concept when it comes to progressive rock. The story is something along the lines of 2112. They get marginally heavier with a riff that reminds me of another story telling band ...Coheed and Cambria, and I think I would prefer their Geddy Lee shrieking to the cheese factor packed into the vocals here. Sure the solos are great, would you expect less, but are they enough to hold your attention for one album much less a double album? The chorus has more hook to it on this one, but it's like Marillion circa 1989.

They are offered a prime chance to get heavy even from a story telling perspective when they introduce the antagonist on "Lord Nafaryus" instead it results in a song that  prances around like Queen and makes "Hedwig and the Angry Inch " seem butch in comparison. When it does speed up for a few moments, Labries voice is just as grating. The guitar takes on a more Pink Floyd tone on " A Savior In the Square". Midway into the song it actual crosses the line into metal, though in it's most grandiose form. Their spirits are lifted again into the upbeat "When Your Time Has Come". If you like inspirational rock music then I guess this is for you, but to me in sounds like they are frozen in time. I guess if you are a fan of these guys its easy to wowed , by precision these guys play with and make it hard to stop and take an objective listen to ask " Are these songs any good?" If we are honest there are some better ballads on the last Taylor Swift album, if you strip away the guitar runs along the edges of 'Act of Faythe".

The incessant use of dramatic piano lines is what keeps dragging this album back down into being second rate Andrew Loyd Weber ". They get back into the rock on " Three Days" though it gets to big for it's spandex britches midway into things. But it pulls itself together in a manner similar to Sigh or Therion, though a much more light weight version of either . "Brother Can You Hear Me" starts off a march and builds into something more akin to the more theatric of  the Roger Water's song from the wall. But Roger Water's has way more personality to his voice , despite Labrie being a technically better singer. Technique has actually hindered Labrie for the bulk of his career. It's one thing to breathe right and sing from your gut, but he sounds like his vocal coach is constantly looking over his shoulder.

The beginning of "A Life Left Behind Me" sounds like the intro to Heart's "Crazy" , but evolves into one of the more interesting prog rock pieces  so far on this album, then it gets mucks up by the balladry even the vocals come in and the piano driven melodrama takes things back to a Celine Dion direction. Another ivory twinkling ballad crops on "Ravenskill" which at this point is beginning to make the album rather tedious. Sure it does build into something more hard rock...not metal , by the end , but at this point even power ballads are getting under my skin. And yet that is just what we get on "Chosen". At best you could fall the writing formulaic. The power chords come in at the chorus and the lighters go up in the air. A guitar solo breaks through the piano, and sure it shreds , but is the rest of the song just bookends for the solo?  Tinkling piano trades places with a heavier riff on "A Tempting Offer" that finds the band back in form. Here the piano knows it's place rather than consuming the song and gives them a chance to rock out a little, even the melodrama on the chorus doesn't bother me.

I should have counted the number of songs that start off with piano when a began listening to this album, as now I don't want to waste any more time going back to find out, it is well over half .  "the X -Aspect" is another power ballad. Bag pipes come in midway and really only spare us from the inspirational power chords. "A New Beginning " is more novel as it starts with guitar and has an upbeat riff that serves as the song's spine. Double bass and more metallic trappings battle it out against the more lavish keyboards, but find them back into the kind of dizzying acrobatics that put them on the map. It doesn't sound like the band is at their most inspired , but the playing glosses that fact over. Midway into it and we are back to another piano breakdown. One thing I can say about the fact that their are so many songs that aides the band is it has helped them keep their songs under the ten minute mark and get to the point. Sometimes the point is the grandiose layers of symphonic fluff that open "the Road to Revolution" marking this as an album whose song titles are heavier than what is inside.There is a little chug for the big ending , but not much in the way of balls , which is the theme of this album. But once past that song we are done with the first album and on with the second.

This might be one of the longest reviews I have written so to spare you a painful recounting of every time they launch into something fifty shades of gayer than Styx, I'll just report the moments where that is not the case. So if I'm not writing about it on the second lp, then it's flowery piano fluff. There is the epic overture, big not heavy.  "A Moment of Betrayal" finds some power chords and offer up a chug. This is where I begin to listen for the new drummer. The comes  the brief drama of "Heaven's Cove" that serves as more of the intro to "Begin Again" . "The Path That Divides" where Labrie manages not to annoy me when he gives a more effects coat and rapid fire delivery once the song begins to rock out. This song reaches a better balance of melodrama and finds the band playing to their strengths.  The come out of the gate with a more metallic flare to "the Walking Shadow". The inject some progressive moments into the balladry we are trying to avoid on "My Last Farewell".  But even the heavier riffs sound like something we have already heard from the band before.

The story might not stand out as much as at it does on "Them" or " Operation Mindcrime" , but sits back in the lyrics like some of Coheed And Cambria's stuff. Faythe who is being lost on "Losing Faythe" is the female love interest/ protagonist. There are some good guitar tones on this song. "Whispers in the Wind" like most of this album is well produced. Sonically they are going for big lush Broadway like sounds like do not lend themselves to heaviness. Violin accompanies the piano that leads into " Hymn of a Thousand Voices". This gives a somewhat more organic quality to another ballad. It is a hymn and I would not be surprised if they come out of the closet as being a christian band.   While  "New World" is a rock song, it seems more like regressive rock than progressive as it is middle of the road and sounds like it came out of the 80s.The title track sounds like it would in the closing credits to a romantic drama. It builds up as power ballads do, but never gets heavy. I'll have to round this down to a 6, because even though  much like 'Use Your Illusion" his could have been streamlined  down into one great album, what is presented here is a bunch of power ballads that are hard to stomach. There are some good moments squeezed into the 26 songs, but this makes me wonder if its a case of even a blind pig gets some corn. It scored so high despite this because when they do get the corn it's close enough to golden.

Conan : " Revengeance"

The  new album by this trio from Liverpool opens with  a wrathful rumble, moving at a faster than Motorhead speed. The dual vocals split the difference tonally with one gong for a coarse lower bellow and the other a crazed higher cry. It slows for what could be the chorus. "Thunderhoof" is like a slower version of the first song. The vocals use a similar pattern to yell out the lyrics buried in the fuzz of distortion. This feels more like sludge than doom or stoner metal. The guitar eventually finds a more mournful melody as the song progresses. The bass hits  flatulent subsonic brown tones over the pound of the drums. There is a more scraping drag to the tempo of "Wrath Gauntlet" . The vocals come closer to singing. They are sparser and bringing more focus to  the over driven effects heavy  churn of guitar. The lower growled vocals come in midway into the song. It's not really a chorus just another progression that drones out until the end.

There is a blast beat introduced into the intro of the title track , that seems a little out of character for the band, until the find driving groove. On this song you begin to realize how good their drummer is Aside from tempo the album remains one dimensional when it comes to melody and veers from one rumble to the next. This doesn't change , but only becomes more deliberate in the pound of " Every Man is an Enemy". Here cadance of the vocals becomes more syncopated and flirts with singing. Here the vocals still seem like an after though rather than a crucial part of the song. The bass begins to indulge in a weird phase like effect that might be a moog pedal plug in added in post production or the actual pedal since they do have a more organic sound.

The album grinds to a close with "Earthenguard" The slow creep here is the albums most doomy moment though the murk of distortion doesn't lend it self to being the albums most memorable as the lower vocal randomly roars out.  I paused this song midway to go work out came back to my desk and picked up where I left off to find that nothing changed it was just droning on for another six minutes. So while there are some heavy sounds here and solid musicianship, I could have used a little more to pull me into the songs , but will still give  this one a 7 for their honest effort.This slab of sludge is being released by Napalm Records.

Public Memory : "Wuthering Drum"

I've been in more of a metal mood with the cold weather, but always looking for something dark. I cam across this project that is helmed by Brooklyn based;Robert Toher. It opens with a shadowy take on trip hop. With ghostly chimes ringing through the opener the song has a solid pulse and unique vocals. The second song "Mirror" came closer to floating by me as it's so ethereal it's almost not there. The vocals are more of a layer to the atmosphere than a focal point. More grit is added as the beat are dirtied up a bit to put " Ring Leader" into more of a Massive Attack place sonically, though the vocals hang in an emotional purgatory that reminds me of Thom Yorke. More organic elements creep in creating more of a Cure like sound. The synths give a lower pulse as "Domino" takes on a more minimalist approach to its composition. It's so minimal and atmospheric until it becomes intangible. There is more marrow to the bones of  "Cul De Sac" .  It has a more up beat melody until the despondent vocals come in and haunt the song.

"As You Wish" is more fragile, until the beat comes in to seal everything together. There is more groove to this one which allows the vocals to occupy more of atmospheric space in the sonic picture being painted. This song offers the album a stronger sense  of dynamics.There is an even more solid and creeping beat to "Interfaith" that gives the song and an almost erotic slither. The vocal are not dominant like a pop song, but a somewhat more defined role. He ebbs back out into a spacier place on "Zig Zag" that finds the beats a little more muffled as the song takes on a more lo-fi sound. The vocals are more distant, like they are being sung from out in the hallway. The melody does use some interesting intervals. This same sonic space is inhibited on "Earwig" though the song is more straight forward in its approach. The album closes with "Lunar" which brings the album around full circle as it has a similar bell like jingle as "Heir". The vocals take on a more conventional role in guiding the verses. The lyrics are more distinguishable and some organic guitar tones bubble up from the chiming wall of sound circling the fey melody. Toher's reedy tenor is vulnerable and moody and gracefully hovers in the holes left by the oddly opaque instrumentation.I'll round this one up to a 9. It was an enjoyable listen, very low key and laid back think it will provide a better soundtrack when I'm working rather than running around on the iPod wedged in-between Anthrax and Skinny Puppy. The album drops on March 18th via felte records. Check out the single below.

the Top 10 Drummers of 2015

There is a ton of truth to the old saying "A band is only as good as their drummer" great vocals and guitar fall flat without a solid beat behind. This list we are looking at those who really laid down the bed rock and not just played in the pocket , but contributed to the song it self. While metal drummers are obviously the most over the top, we are also looking at other genres such as  noise rock , goth and straight up rock n roll.

10  Brian Chippendale of Lightning Bolt

 He might have grown up a punk drummer , but one listen to 'Fantasy Empire " and you can hear speed is only one part of his skills. He thrives in the rough and tumble chaos of their music, in fact I couldn't hear him playing in a straight up punk band as I think he would get bored.

9- Dylan  Fjuoka  of Chelsea Wolfe

Not to detract from his contributions in the studio as "Abyss" is given a more organic feeling when he is present, but it's live that Dylan's talent is really allowed to come alive. He brings the energy of metal to his playing , but has sharp finesse that is almost jazz like. On the doomy songs he shows restraint , and still plays around with it.

8-  Ben Fox of Liturgy

Another entry whose contributions live are a better indication of his prowess than the "Ark Work" album his band released last year. Similar to the previous entry, his band was more experimental in the studio this time around which found Fox having to play around programmed sections of music. Fox not added a more organic component to their sound , but continues to prove himself as one of the best black metal drummers going , when it comes to knowing his way a blast beat , but not being limited by their conventional use.

7- Zach Richards of Irreversible

 Sadly another one of Atlanta's best bands is now defunct as Irreversible released it's self title swan song . Richards is the key to what made that album great. His grooves air tight, what could have been cumbersome sludge was giving precision and grace. They touched upon math rock with their odd meters, which owe a little to Isis and Tool , but are delivered with Richards with much less pretense.

6- Jean Paul Gaster - Clutch

Here is a drummer of a much different ilk than the others on the list as Gaster is much more of a straight up rock drummer in the vein of John Bonham. On "Pyschic Warfare" the rest of the band is going off in more of a blues rock direction and Gaster gives the attack more power than even ZZ-Top on steroids. Every things boogies and punches just like the best classic hard rock album that never came out in the 70s.

 

5- Daniel Tracy - Deafheaven

 He changed with the other members of the band to add teeth to their sound and put to rest any doubts as to if these guys are a metal band. His drumming carries more power and thunder this time around with some really impressive double bass work. He compliments all the riffs well and gives the band the kick they needed to push "New Bermuda" over the edge.

3-Frost -1349

Here is where the metal guys really begin duking it out. Frost earns his spot because of precision in his chaos. He gave "Massive Cauldron of Chaos" the rabid feel of 80s thrash at it's peak, but still gave a black metal performance. The guy filling in on 1349's tour could have made this list, but since Frost came up with the blue print he gets the spot.

 

2- Andrew D'Cagna Nechowhen/ Obsequiae

 He contributed to two great albums this year it was on Nechowhen's that he really killed it. The songs had a dynamic range that needed a player of his caliber and he nailed it as hard if not harder than as the drummers of bands like Opeth and Mastodon who get more accolades for their playing than this album that will probably be underrated in the annuls of metal.

 

1-Nicko McBrain of Iron Maiden

 This time the guitars and drums stole the show from the bass and vocals. He is a veteran who know what to bring to his band. As far as metal drummers go there are plenty of players who get more props because they have a bigger double bass sound or are more bombastic, but Mcbrain played on some of the albums that laid that ground work and he never dials it in, in fact his playing on "Book of Souls" holds up to his playing on "Piece of Mind".
 

Black Sabbath : "The End" ep

The only good thing to come out of David Bowie's death is he is now perfectly preserved and there is zero chance of him diminishing his legend. Ozzy and the boys are still kicking the chance that they could taint my memories of Sabbath are very real. The chug that drives this song, works but does it living up to the monolith of music that is their first 11 albums and If we are counting the Dio albums and "Born Again" as the classics, so some people might dispute "Technical Ectasy" and "Never Say Die " as classics , truth be told, I have given the Dio albums more air time than those two. The four new songs were from the "13" sessions, so are the four song that didn't make the album. "13" is not a bad album. It got an 8 on here. So falls short of "Blizzard of Ozz" and "Diary of Madman", and more than likely even "No Rest For the Wicked". Middle of the road solo Ozzy.

The militant chug to "the Season of the Dead" marches in a manner that would be impressive if it wasn't from the band who wrote the book on metal, instead it feels like they are pulling from the cliff notes. "Cry All Night" sounds like it  was left off "No Rest For the Wicked" rather than a Sabbath. Though it's giving Ozzy props since that album came out in 1988. The middle section where the solo surfaces is the first place where it really feels like Sabbath.   This one grew on me the most after repeated listens. Half the drums on this album are handled by Tommy Clefetos a session guy who has played with Ted Nugent, Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper.


Geezer has some nice runs and proves he still has the chops on " Take Me Home" and the song has some mean punches to it that are heavier than most solo Ozzy, but does this measure up to Black Sabbath? The acoustic section in the middle reminds you Tony Iommi is much better than people give him credit for, but from a song writing perspective, Bill and Tony need to take the wheel from Ozzy, who is doing what he does, but this is what he does post "Bark At the Moon".  There is more fire in the attack of "Isolated Man".  I don't mind the lower voiced Ozzy melody on the verses, it's a cool effect and it would have worked well on "Ozzmosis" .  I'll give these songs a 9,  for a man his age Ozzy sang his ass off and sounds as good as he did in the late 80s. Even if Iommi is dialing it in he captures enough moments to remind you who he is.

Black Tusk : "Pillars of Ash"

If you like the lines blurred between punk and metal then this band from Savannah is for you. With Kylesa's Cory Barhost stepping in to fill the shoes of the late Johnathan Athon who died in a motorcycle accident. Without question Black Tusk is back with a fury. With barked vocal trade off, this is sludge amped up at warp speed. The album as a whole doesn't let up, but attacks with relentless rage. Right from the opening "God's on Vacation" which is more of a punk song than a metal song until the chugging bridge kicks in. There is more of a metal drive to "Desolation of Endless Times" , but with these guys it's commonly hard to see the line where one begins and the other ends. The riff have an almost hard core punch to them which makes sense as that's the normal cross roads where punk and metal meet if it's not thrash. The first riff that bears a hint of Motorhead is on "Bleed on Your Knees" the vocals take a more punk approach one they grind into the verses. The opening riff to "Born of Strife" reminds me a little of AC/DC , but from there is muscles ahead in a straight forward fashion cramming a ton of mean into three minutes. Born of Strife " really finds the point pounded home before being lashed against the rabid punk speeds the band accelerates to. 

Sometimes the punk side really wins out like on "Damned in the Ground" which I don't find as compelling as when the  band's more metallic edge is rooted in place even if it's for a brief snarl. This one like the bulk of the album takes a nod from grindcore  and punk by clocking in at three minutes. After a few listens even this song grows on me, they work quite a few riffs into this quick blast of ferocious bellowing with Barhost's higher shout adds to the dual vocal attack. " Beyond the Divide" gets off to a slower swampy intro , but soon shifts into a angrier slugfest.  The drums open up the ripping crust of  "Black Tide" A minute into the song and there is an almost more rock n roll riff getting trampled over by the drums. At just under four minutes this is one of the album's longer songs.  It is also one of the albums as melody creeps into some of the darker riffs. "Still not Well" has a syncopated chug that recalls Helmet's more aggressive moments. If you haven't already been convinced that their drummer is a beast he really shines playing around this groove.It's also one rare moments on the album where the metal is clearly a distinct element in and of it's self. "Walk Among the Sun" blasts off before finding a more hard core groove to slip into . As far as punk goes "Punk Out" reminds me of DRI, they write a song that holds it's own against classic punk rather than just pretending to be Agent Orange or Gang Green. They close the album with "Leveling" which is another punk hybrid, though it relies more on pounding the anger into you than expressing it lyrically like the previous song.These guys have forged a solid slab of metallic punk that is equally dirty and abrasive.I'll give it an 8.5.If you miss back when Kylesa would really go balls out then these guys are a must. They play tonight at the Earl with Royal Thunder and Bask. 10 dollar Cover doors are at 7:30.



1/25 Johnson City, TN @ The Hideaway
 1/26 Memphis, TN @ Hi Tone
 1/27 Little Rock, AR @ Vino's
 1/28 Dallas, TX @ Gas Monkey
 1/29 San Antonio, TX @ Korova
 1/30 Austin, TX @ Empire
 1/31Houston, TX @ Rudyard's
 2/01 New Orleans, LA @ Siberia
 2/02 Panama City, FL @ Mosey's
 2/03 Orlando, FL @ Will's Pub
 2/04 Tampa, FL @ New World
 2/05 Jacksonville, FL @ Burro Bar
 2/06 Savannah, GA @ Jinx 8

9.1