Up From the Underground: Alnilam 's "Indigo Sky"

It is strange to think this comes from L.A. a city of concrete and traffic jams as it is is blissfully organic with Elena Pinto's vocals sounding at peace with the world around her rather than stressed rat race which takes place in the City of Angels. There is more of an indie rock feel to "Alnilam" as song named after the band which is named after a star in the middle of Orion's belt which translates to "String of pearls" . So much like the bands song their name reflects how their is a meaning with in a meaning. They layer the music much like this as well with thick synth strings creating a peaceful sky above them. There is a more upbeat vibe to the jangle of "Rise".  Pinto's voice works melodies around the more straightforward compositions to add as much of a sense of movement as the drums.

I like these guys despite their lack of a dark side, a song like "New Year" is a more serious look at lost relationships that she has a more accepting outlook of rather than any despondence or drama. It's not ignorant bliss , but Pinto is lyrically self aware even in her reflection. The first hint of melancholy creeps in as "A Song For the Wind" opens. Her voice stay as center stage with the strings and guitar. There is a little more of a folk strum to "Virgil's Request" as Pinto sings of how her soul is ravished and  brain is inspired. The strings hold the dominant melody on this one. There is something more vulnerable to her delivery here that I like. There is a little effected post-rock like guitar on the build up here.

There is a more delicate quality to "Green Mansions". The guitar comes into to add a subtle doubling of her melodies with Pinto reaching up into her upper register for certain accents. There is a more hopeful dreaminess to " Wish" . The strings caress the song like the waves of the oceans pinto claims to have sung to. "Smaller Dreams" is where dream pop meets folk for fairly results despite Pinto's unconventional way at weaving her melodies around the beat, which is also one of her strong suits as a singer.  At times this give a Decemberists like quality to the flow of the songs. They end the album on a more melancholy note with "When it Comes to You" . The bittersweet longing conveyed  here proves to be powerfully especially when the guitar joins in to create the closing swell.
This album will prove to be a fitting listen as the fall settles in .Where they lack the quirk and Victorian gothiness, fans of Raspuntina will be able to appreciate what these guys are doing as they combine song writing smarts with atmospheric elegance. But fans of any sublime beauty from the Cocteau Twins to Azure Ray will find something to latch onto.Check out the video for "Lilac" below.

Killing Joke : "Pylon"

Expectations are always high when it comes to what I want from my favorite bands. Killing Joke is one of the most influential bands ever, so you expect them to deliver. They do. They deliver an album that aligns itself with their length career which has touched upon everything from new wave to metal. Some things are pretty constant here like Jaz Coleman's voice which is smooth over the frantic rock driven by Youth's bass line feels more organic than most of their out put since "Pandemonium" .  There are still flourishes of futuristic effects passing over the mix. It would put them more pack to their punk roots , but  the riff  carries more of a drone. They get heavier for "Dawn of the Hive" . It has the tribal post-apocalyptic chug that would not have been out of place on the soundtrack for the last Mad Max movie.  The chorus backs off and gives a breather before they return to the hypnotic hammering that hold more finesse that how a metal band would approach this, though they  more than capable lock into a more militant industrial which they display later in the song.

"New Cold War"  is more melodic than either of the first two songs , though it also finds Jaz going into more of a roar in places. The disco hi-hat in Jimmy Copely's drumming has become a staple in post-punk, here it is used in context none of the newest crop of  post-punk  bands are forward thinking enough to imitate. The song is layered with so many darkly reflective sounds that this almost dancey element gives it the sense of movement it needs. The upbeat "Euphoria" continues to set this album apart from their more recent output. The chorus to this song is not over blown and the melody is allowed to coast with the atmosphere that has even more of a dancey propulsion than the previous song.

There is weird yet taunt groove to "New Jerusalem" where Coleman's vocals take on a an almost rap-like cadence in their placement, the build the song  busts into is more intricate than just stomping on the distortion. There is a lot going on in there. Kevin Walker's guitar tone at times is more metallic, but the use of effects works perfectly in the over all mix of the songs. "War on Freedom" oddly has a more upbeat vibe to it to the commentary of Big Brother using things like facial recognition software to slowly impose upon us. Its midway into the album that I come to terms with the fact this won't be as heavy as "MMXII" , which isn't bad it's just different. Killing Joke has never made the same album twice and they are not bucking that trend. "Big Buzz" continues this trend with another upbeat almost punk like tempo. Coleman's lyrics give a wink to his mystic interests as he quotes Crowley's Book of the Law exclaiming " every man and woman is a star".

They get more metal with "Delete". The vocal line coasts over the more aggressive guitar work. They are one of the few bands that can approach this kind of cerebrally heavy sound and bring it to you such dynamic variance.  This is something that even bands they have influenced like Ministry  have not been consistent with and Killing Joke has been doing this since 1978. "I Am the Virus" finds Coleman adding a harshness to his voice on the chorus. "Into the Unknown" closes out the album, this song is heavy in some sense , but not metal. There is some interesting interplay between the synths and guitar. It is going to take a few listens for me to really absorb this but on my initial listen I have no problem rounding this one up to a 10 as the band maintains their sound, but refuses to become a retro act and rehash what they have already done.  If you eve wonder why I can be so harsh on even supposedly iconic bands, when you have a band like Killing Joke who is still putting out music that finds them continuing to expand themselves musically then why should I accept less?

Lluvia : "Eternidad Solemne"

Fallen Empire's name will be put to the test by this black metal project from Mexico. They have put out some quality black metal with doomy under tones and loads of ambiance , but fro mthe first song of this album it sounds like fairly straight  forward black metal and I do not normally think of Mexico as a place that holds the same egregore as Scandinavia where this music originated. It does lock into a chilly drone, and is dark but that is the bare minimum you should be asking from black metal. Atmosphere seems to be designated to the interludes between songs rather than being woven into the songs themselves. Its blasting as usual on the title track. The vocals are a midrange rasp more strangled than growled. It does break down into a clean guitar tone at the end of the song , but this is after you have already been numbed out by the relentless blasting.

A slower pulse is taken on " Hogando La Luz". The song hovers in one place like it is afraid to let go and move on to somewhere else. The drone is firmly locked into , but where else could this go ? If the answer is no where then you too lack imagination and deserve even extreme music that plays it safe. The Agalloch like break is the albums finest moment. "Divinidad" is the first song that really entwines the atmosphere with the black metal in a tangible manner. This even works into a very melodic guitar part that doesn't sacrifice any of the black metal integrity. The blast beats return and once again feel very obligatory as so many bands seem to make the mistake of doing if it serves the song or not , when they fluttering guitar melody is actually what is the most interesting piece of all of this.

 You might want to argue that black metal is just as valid an art form when constructed south of the equator and doesn't need to be a product of the cold of North Europe, New York of the Pacific North West, but here is an argument against that, all the tones are right, drums are blast and not a swiftly picked, but the feeling embedded in the music is different and feels like imitation rather than innovation. Overall it's decent , if you are starving for black metal and trying to shift through all the bands that seem to be springing out from every corner of the world. I'll give it a 6.

Sunken Seas :" Glass"

The fuzz bass line drives into the night in search of the distant vocals muttered from the darkness. The guitar creates a noisy drone make  more opaque barrier between the vocals and the music. The vocals not unlike some of the newer punk coming out of northern Europe. This begins as a strange case of good sounds , but not real interest in writing ...well... songs. None of these pieces are sprawling things, there is an actual beat to "Clear" which crosses it over into being a real song, I hope these guys don't think they are selling out by having something as conventional as drums in a song, because I dig it and heavy wall of dense sound that gets brought to life here. This continues to be built up as the songs progress building a buzzing wall of melancholy that is pretty heavy.  I

Don't let the drum beat that opens "Poppy" fool they are not conforming to any indie rock templates with moaned vocals and angular guitar riff.  There is less of a jamming feel and more haunted introspection to the much darker "Alt Figure"  It is also on this song that I begin to hear if the singer really tried he could actually sing. There is the krautrock ambiance of "Scarlet" that is more of an interlude than  a song. "Crane of Foll" is more rock n roll. This brand of rock they roll with has some new wave tendencies. The singer's voice begins to find melody as they punch some hooky accents letting what would be a poppy melody drone on in the cloud of feed back and effects hovering over them.

There is a stomp to "Metasoma" the vocals are dragged back behind the beat by depression in their continual challenge to the listener. There is emotion in the vocal it's just very down trodden, like the struggle to sing is on the same level as the struggle those with severe depression have to get up every morning. A slow machine pulse opens " No Way Through the Fog" which is aptly titled as that is what this song sounds like. The vocals are behind the fog until the drums kick in with an ominous pound. It is not doom but heavy in much the same way doom is. The vocal murmur comes closer to center stage. He cries out the songs title as the effect roll over his voice and a guitar melody unfolds. The thing about this album that is making me want to round this up to a 9 is how when they are on it and the song is locked then they have something dark and wonderful, some of the looser noise this album plays a tug of war with  is one of those things I guess I have to be in the mood for. But I am totally down for giving these guys a shot on the iPod and see how they sit with me.

Denner / Shermann : " Satans Tomb"

Looks like we are going to be waiting a while longer for that Mercyful Fate reunion, King parades around the world now playing "Abigail" in its entirety, so Hank Shermann and Michael Denner have gotten together for this ep. The first song kicks in pretty heavy, for power metal at least. Cage vocalist Sean Peck is no King Diamond and in fact the weakest link of this out as they have Snowy Shaw , who once played with Fate so  we have three ex-members of Mercyful Fate rocking the crypts here. The title track opens the album and I think Shaw should have handled the vocals because Peck's vibrato is cheesy as hell, sometimes he sounds like Messiah Marcolin and at other Warrel Dane . The instrumentation is on point, the guitar playing burning with hell fire and Shaw's drumming has never sounded better. It's the multi-tracked vocals that annoy me. I love metal yodels. Some of my favorite singers are King Diamond, Bruce Dickinson, Geoff Tate, Dio, Halford, Gillan and even Matt Barlow. But all of those singers have more colors to their voice, and Peck does if we are counting straws he just sounds like all the cliches that people laugh at when they think of 80s metal.

"New Gods" takes its time before it is built up into and when it lands the chug is well complimented by the bass and drums. I hope this is not Peck's best King Diamond impersonation, though  I know it is and I also can't help but thinking if these guys go on tour they are going to cover Fate songs that this guys is going to butcher. He doesn't have the lower range grow so they pitch shift his voice and add effects to create that kind of sound. While great guitarists  it is once again evident that without King Diamond in the house their writing suffers. There is a riff in this song that sounds like it was lifted from 'Painkiller". The line " the new gods have returned again" is the best that comes from Pecks lips so far. If I was still 13 I think I would dig his voice more.

The album closes with "Seven Skulls" which has one of the albums best riffs. They also speed up into more of a thrash tempo once you get into the verses. There is no denying these guitarists work well together , but once you have worked with King Diamond the bar is raised way too high they should have gotten Ripper Owens. The riffage is flexed more tautly on three minutes in.  The lower effected vocals and the syncopation in some places are paying homage to King Diamond, it's just the execution is not always there. I find myself wondering how could they have been in a band with King Diamond and think this is alright for Peck to do? Anyway you have two legendary metal guitarists and a damn fine drummer bringing their close to a game, so musically it's higher than the 8 I will give it , but it depends on your threshold for caterwauling with no clear focus as to how this sits with you.

W.A.S.P : "Golgotha"

Blackie and the boys have been favorites of mine for years , but when I say favorites its a moment frozen in a particular place in time that ends at "Headless Children". By the time "Headless Children" came out music was changing , and while I like that album when I went to see them on that tour I really went because Metal Church was opening up. So thrash came, followed by death metal and then they didn't seem as heavy as they once did. So I was surprised how good Lawless ' voice sounded on "Scream" that opens their new album. They are not trying to out heavy anyone or be Marilyn Manson for that matter. I supposed after seeing some unflattering pictures of Blackie where the years had not been kind to him I was apprehensive. "Last Runaway" might not be metal by today's standards , but it is a decent W.A.S.P song.

I guess much like many other bands from this era if the most important member is in the band they this is the band. Doug Blair has only been playing guitar for them since 2007, Mike Duda has been playing bass for them since 97, and I wasn't aware  Blackie switched to guitar from bass then I remember that switch took place on "Inside the Electric Circus". "Shotgun" has a big 80s intro. This song sounds like it could have been on "the Last Command". They bring the power ballads only four songs in with "Miss You" , but Blackie sings it with so much conviction you can't hate on it as its a damn good song even with the arena rock build up.

Until the chorus "Fallen Under" was still W.A.S.P ,  but with a tension that did  not come from the 80s making it obvious Lawless is aware of how music has changed he is just deciding to stick with what the band is. They get heavier in classic metal sense on "Slaves of the New World Order" that is more like their "Headless Children" era. It has a very dynamic and well crafted build. The verse to "Eyes of My Maker" is like is Tool decided to cover "Holy Diver' with Ian Gillan singing it. Its not until I listened to this song that it hit me what a big influence Deep Purple were on them. One of the first shakey moments that fills like filler is "Hero of the World" which finds the drummer  Mike Dupke killing it . This album has no shortage of guitar solos.

The title track closes the album and like many of even the classic W.A.S.P songs starts of like it is going to be a power ballad. I am not sure how I feel about the same the band who sang "Dancing in the Fire" singing about how the might need Jesus. Blackie would not be the first rocker to turn into a crispy Christian in order to get sober. The lyrics almost ruin the song for, since I have a fervent disdain for organized religions. Which is a shame because with different lyrics it might be a classic W.A.S.P , but I thought it stood for We Are Satan's People so yet another Crimson Idol goes up in flames. Since that was kind of the turd in the punch bowl for me, I 'll give this album an 8. Went in prepared for the worst and got surprised by how much rock is still left in the old Buzz Saw Buzzard.

John Carpenter: "Lost Themes Remixed"

Its October, and for me it's Halloween every day, but October is an unabashed celebration of the life macabre. Here is a soundtrack for the wee hours of October nights, brought to you by John Carpenter who directed Halloween, the Thing, the Fog, Prince of Darkness,and Escape From New York. He created the theme to Halloween which along with the Exorcists "Tubular Bells" is one of the most recognized horror themes ever. So much like his movies his compositions are dark with a sci-fi edge to them. So its fitting goth and industrial artists should lend their talents to re-mix Carpenter's "Lost Themes" album. Pruient add another layer of density in their re-mix of the opening song "Purgatory". While the undercurrent of "Night" is very Carpenter, when Zola Jesus adds her vocals it sounds more like one of her songs.

 ohGr remixes "Wraith" his voice is kept in distance with the kind of distorted beats which dominated Skinny Puppy's more recent albums driving ahead Carpenters more ambient themes. "Vortex" is re-worked twice , the first time by Civil Servant the second time by Uniform. The synth attack is harsher like early nineties industrial, with a dancey throb injected into it. Faint guitar chords and sax color the corners of the background as the menacing pulse dominates the song. Uniform take their version of "Vortex" directly to the dance floor in a manner I was not expecting from them. The darker modes than Carpenter writes in are of course present creating an interesting juxtaposition of sounds. Blanck Mass which is one half of Fuck Buttons takes on the second song that gets two versions "Fallen" . There is a lot of movement in this song almost militaristic as the snare almost creates a marching pattern. It actually gets heavier than some of the songs from artist I would have expected to take it in that direction as it builds into something like older Nine Inch Nail, even with the buzz of guitar crunching into.

 JG Thirwell who 90s goths may remember under the name of Foetus stares into "Abyss". Harshly percussive synths and a robot snare march over what is otherwise kraut rock. These two work really well together it is hard to hear where one begins an the other ends though the main melody is Carpenters and Thirwells synths are dancing around it. This songs build into sharper melodies and adds some dramatic swell to its tension. It reaches an almost symphonic level. Berlin based artist Bill Kouligas who delves into electronic music under the name Family Battle Snake offers up the the most aurally abrasive level of experimentation as he also gives "Fallen" a shot. His version is very different. In some ways it is more minimalist than Blanck Mass's version, though it remains more amorphous in its atmospherics almost never taking form like some of Philip Glass' more minimalist work.

This is a much better re-mix album those I have heard in the past five years, given the nature of the experimentation involved by some of the artists the ambiance can over take the actual song. So with that in mind I'll give this one a 8. It is worth owning for the Zola Jesus, ohGr and Blanck Mass tracks alone, though their are some other solid moments aside from those, but they have to be my favorites. Out Now on Sacred Bones.