Sunday, April 26, 2009

gory blister and other things

This entry is fueled by an ingestion of far too many sleeping pills, as I'm tired of being completely nocturnal.

Gory Blister's 2009 CD is entitled "Graveyard of Angels", and honestly I haven't been too big of a fan of their's the past few albums I've heard, despite the critical rave over "Skymorphosis" when it came out, I just really couldn't get into it, but this cd I really like, although I think it would take a huge amount of listens to completely sink in. Fantastically tight and melodic guitars, drums are all over the place(in a good way), but the same could be said about the 2 guys on the fretboard. These guys are frenetic and spastic, but manage to have wonderfully tightly written songs. Definitely an improvement over their last effort

HERE

Also Abigail Williams is coming here in June, and I'm incredibly psyched that I'll finally get to see Samus play live. Oh yeah, also Obscura next week, getting to see one of the dudes that influenced me to pick up guitar play, Christian Muenzen. Fuqq yeah.

tombs and DEATH

Tomb's "Winter Hours" is very bleak, in a very urban way. On the first track Gossamer they display Neurosis meets Jesu stylings, making me think that this would be a fairly boring standard fare doom release, but as soon as the track switches to "Golden Eyes", imagine my surprise when I hear nigh black metal tremoloing and harsh screams. While this cd is very impressive conceptually, it leaves something to desire in memorability, it becomes extremely hard to tell the songs apart; although I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. This is the soundtrack for our plight right now, for the people who say the end is coming. I can just imagine driving through ravaged Detroit on a dark overcast night listening to this cd and it fitting perfectly. Hypnotic, abrasive, heavy, and almost as much Joy Divison as it is Neurosis/Godflesh. Very much a lonely piece, and as we all know; everyone dies alone.
"These are the final days of our decline".
HERE



On a much happier note here is Death's "For All The World To See". I heard these tracks a few months ago, posted on some message board saying that these guys were a proto punk group from Detroit in the early to mid 70s, and it's incredibly apparent upon hearing this that these guys were way ahead of their time. Alice Cooper meets The New York Dolls, brings us heartfelt, angry, politically charged punk rock, before anyone - even themselves knew what punk rock was. If only shit like this had caught on instead of The Sex Pistols, ugh.

HERE

Friday, April 24, 2009

funebrarum and napalm death!

well i'm glad that yesterday I said that I hadn't really been impressed by anything lately, because I'm sure that's why I found Funebrarum's 2009 release "The Sleep Of Morbid Dreams", which seriously kicks ass. It's been a long time since I've been so impressed by a death metal release, these dudes do old school death metal, and they do it completely right. Mid paced most of the time, but with the occasional lightning fast parts with absolutely visceral, razor sharp riffs with gutteral, vomit soaked vocals. Simple, yet incredibly efficient. Heavy yet melodic in all the right places. If you like death metal at all you would be doing yourself a huge favor to get this.
HERE


also newer this year, Napalm Death's "Time Waits for No Slave". ND is really a band that needs no introduction if you're at all familiar with metal, grind, or punk. Truly one of the most influential bands around, these guys have basically perfected their sound on this 2009 release, although I'm not all too familiar with their recent releases, save 2005's "The Code Is Red", which I also thought was pretty fantastic, but with this release Napalm Death have matured, and truly made something special. Barney Green's voice is one of the most unique in metal, with a very distinguished yell/growl, and a absolutely piercing shriek, which is used at exactly the right time and makes songs so much more intense. The guitarwork here can be pretty varied, but most of the time is pretty much power chords up and down the neck, accompanied by absolutely frantic drumming, which may just be the best part of the cd. Some of the songs are pretty long(by grind standards) at 3-4 minutes, but they actually have structure to them, so as to not drag on. Don't much feel like going on, this shit is good, if you like grind, get it.

HERE!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

well. i havent posted in this for 3 days, so much for trying to every day. nothing has really struck me as good enough that i felt I need to mention it here, although I've been listening to Kaospilot's new cd "Shadows" a fair bit, which is a very thick, textured and i'm assuming incredibly cathartic album for them, might wanna check that out if you're into screamo at all, although it straddles a line between that and metalcore. also Razor of Occam's newest, "Homage To The Martyrs" is black infused thrash metal that I really haven't given a good enough listen yet, but what I have heard is very impressive, might wanna check that out, too.

What I have really been listening to, though, are the works of guitarist Andy McKee, although I'd seen his video for "Drifting" a long time ago, but it was definitely before I played guitar myself; and I can't think of a time I've been more moved by a single musician. Hardly needs a description other than beautiful.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

108

in lieu of me maybe seeing 108 within the next week or two, i feel their cd "Threefold Misery" should be mentioned here. What was thought to be 108's last cd, in my opinion is their best, none of the overtly chuggy guitars that are on "A New Beat From A Dead Heart"(although great cd), this LP is 108 at the apex of what they could do creatively, although they've redone a few songs, including the classic "Blood", it's all for the better. The riffs on this cd, to me as a guitarist are truly inspiring, with obviously eastern-influenced riffs and Hindi beliefs, 108 broke out of the mold for hardcore in 96, with songs that are scathing aural assaults, slowly turned into Hare Krishna chants, but it all sounds natural. This cd undoubtedly influenced throngs of people to follow in this scene, and I really don't think it gets the appreciation it should, so you should get on that.

Threefold Misery

mastodon and armalite

i feel like posting more on this, because i can. i don't have to work for the next 5 days and i'm ridiculously excited for that. and by that, i mean doing nothing.

i kinda feel obligated to mention the latest Mastadon CD here, although I also won't post a link to it. I have really honestly barely heard any of this band's prior material, but I've heard "Crack The Skye" is a departure from their former works, and it's obvious they stepped in the right direction. Obviously recently very prog influenced, Mastodon noodle, soar, and trudge through the albums seven tracks, which contrastingly to the band's earlier work(that I've heard) place huge emphasis on melody and atmosphere, their chops are impeccable, with drummer Brann Dallor being the highlight, dude keeps the pace in a way you really rarely hear. That isn't to say their guitarists are slouches at all; some of the most creative riffs and progressions I've heard in a long time are contained on this LP, with the two guitarists sharing rhythm and lead roles. Their vocal stylings have also changed, to a very haunting almost croon, allowing for much more emotion to be conveyed vocally. i don't feel like going on, just get this

another cd i've been listening to a lot lately, Armalite's self titled, with Adam Goren from Atom and his Package and none other than Dr. Dan Yemin who you all know(or should) and some other dudes, who've made probably one of my favorite punk cds as of late. I discovered this cd just randomly downloading cds, having noo clue that it featured the afformentioned musicians, and after a few listens it grew on me intensely, with it's infectious riffs and singalongs, not to mention some very well written lyrics. "
Passive aggression, a marvelous tactic, engrained so much that it's actually automatic." Such a great line. The song "Dan's Hands Melt", although it being 56 seconds long is easily my favorite song on this cd, with an absolutely stellar riff, and a better chorus then I've heard in 99 percent of normal length songs, but I cannot find the lyrics to it anywhere, if anyone has them please let me know.

Armalite - S/T
HERE