September 2014 Musical Review

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hellboy
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September 2014 Musical Review

Post by hellboy »

It's that time again! September was another busy month for me with limited listening time, so some of the reviews here may not do the albums justice and I may revisit (and re-rate) later on.

Code Orange - I Am King I really like this album from the band that used to be known as Code Orange Kids. I expected the music to be shitty emo but instead it's much more hardcore. Could well sneak into my top 10 for 2014. 8/10

Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden Falls into the category of"I need to listen to this some more" but as I've expressed elsewhere I don't really dig the vocals of this band, which is a barrier for me. I'm going to go with a 6 for now, but could increase over time. 6/10

Earth - Primative and Deadly I want to like this band, but whenever I try and listen I find them a little tiresome with no real energy. This album was no exception. 5/10

He Is Legend - Heavy Fruit Rock band from NC. Their last album was good, this one is much the same though not quite as good. 6/10

Ty Segall - Manipulator Good collection of fuzzy rock songs. 7/10

DJ Shadow - The Liquid Amber EP The first track was ok, the rest forgettable. 4/10

Opeth - Pale Communion I've expressed my opinions on this elsewhere, suggesting I like this album because it doesn't sound like the Opeth I remember. I still think that, and enjoy this album quite a bit. 8/10

Belphegor - Conjuring The Dead By the numbers death metal. Nothing to see here really. 5/10

The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream Seems to be collecting a bit of hype, so I thought I'd check it out. It's not a bad album, it has a nice vibe but it's not that great either. 6/10

Interpol - El Pintor Sounds like every other Interpol album, and I enjoy their older stuff but for the most part I didn't seem to connect with this one. 5/10

Eyvind Kang - Alastor: Book of Angels Volume 21 A nice album composed by John Zorn I believe. Good variety on the tracks with a SC3 feel in parts, and classical feel in others. I enjoyed listening to it, but I don't see myself listening with any regularity. 6/10

Karma To Burn - Arch Standon This instrumental band always rocks hard, and this album is no exception. High energy stuff rather than the usual slow post-metal shit around the place. 7/10

This Will Destroy You - Another Language Some of teh slow post-metal shit I was talking about. Quite an atmospheric album, but there's plenty of better examples of the genre out there. 6/10

Trans Am - Volume X I really dug this album and the way it melded synths with some great rocking moments. On my shortlist for the best of '14. 8/10

Defamer - Monolith of Filth EP Grindcore band from Queensland from memory. One of the better grind/metal releases I've heard this year. 7/10

Tricky - Adrian Thaws Not sure how to rank this album - there were some tracks I really enjoyed, and others just fell a little flat. I almost gave this a 7, but I think I'll go with a 6 for now. 6/10

Dark Space III I think this was one of Califums recommendations, I can't remember. Black metal for the most part. Some nice soundscapey stuff, but musical elements of the album didn't really do much for me. 5/10

U2 - Songs of Innocence I want to run, I want to hide. 3/10

Shellac - Dude Incredible You know what you're going to get with a Shellac album and this one is no exception. The first 6 tracks are great, but falls away a bit on the end. Really wanted to give this a 9, but not sure that I can. Still, it's my favorite album for this year. 8/10

The Tea Party - The Ocean At The End Maybe they should have gone for a long swim in it. 3/10

The Contortionist - Language I expected this to be some shitty djent metal like Tesseract or something, and while the djent part is true the shitty bit isn't so accurate. Ended up being a pretty decent prog-metal album, in which I liked like the keyboards. 7/10

Aphex Twin - Syro I've never been a huge AT fan in the past, so it shouldn't be a huge surprise that I wasn't super impressed with this album. The genre isn't my thing, but it certainly sounds competent. 6/10

Iron Reagan - The Tyranny of Will Quality thrash punk where the average song length is about 1 minute. I have a soft spot for the genre, so good score ahoy! 7/10

Slapshot - Slapshot Hardcore punk band that I think have been around a while (maybe NYHC can comment). I enjoyed this album, but haven't really listened enough to render final judgement. For now 7/10

Lazer/Wulf - The Beast of Left and Right I purchased this album on the strength of one listen, so you know it's going to score well. Proggy, djenty rock/metal that apparently has various riffs ue both backwards and forwards. 8/10

Meshuggah - The Ophidian Trek Meshuggah sound almost identical live as they do on record, so you can imagine what this live album is like. It sounds great, but since live Meshuggah stuff is not rare by any means, I can't really justify giving this a great score. 5/10

Rush - 2112 I think I've probably listened to this in the past, though I have no real memory of it. Geddy's vocals shit me, but on their earlier albums they shit me less. This was an enjoyable listen and followup to me watching that Rush documentary. 7/10

Coming up next month: Robert Plant, Twilight, Decapitated, Electric Wizard, Philm, Sick Of It All Thom Yorke and a couple of Neil Young albums.
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UndKeineZwEier
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Re: September 2014 Musical Review

Post by UndKeineZwEier »

Busy month, not a lot of time to check out new music.

Kind Of Blue - Miles Davis: Good album. I especially liked the bluesier stuff like Blue In Green and All Blues. 8/10

Myrkur - Myrkur EP: A one-woman black metal band from Denmark. This EP was pretty meh. Natten Barns is well worth a listen, but the rest of the EP fails to impress. There's potential here, and I'm definitely going to check out her future work, but I don't see myself returning to this EP. 6/10

Once More 'Round The Sun - Mastodon: I originally checked this album out back when they first released the stream, and was pretty unimpressed. I always meant to pick it up, but never got around to it until last week. It's OK. There are some good tracks on the last half (Aunt Lisa, Ember City, Diamond In The Witch), but there are quite a few songs on this album lacking in memorable hooks or riffs. Right now I'd say it's their weakest release so far, but it's grown on me a little bit with each listen so I might end up liking it more in the future. 7.5/10

Too Bright - Perfume Genius: This is the musical project of Mike Hadreas, who is my brother's boyfriend. My brother performs a lot of the instrumention on the album and live but all the songs are written by Mike. This album flows very fluidly from a droney style of synth pop to quiet sparse keyboards piece. There a lot of influences on display here from the finger-snapping R&B stylings of "Fool" to the churning bass line of "My Body" and pounding drums of "Grid" neither of which would feel out of place in a stoner rock song. Not to mention the synth on "Longpig" which calls to mind the soundtracks of '80s action movies like Escape From New York or the blasts of industrial noise that pop up ocasionally throughout the album. There is a lot going on in the 33 minutes that this album clocks in at, but the songs never feel rushed or not fully fleshed out. Overall, I'd say it's a very fine album and one of my favorite releases this year. 9/10
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Re: September 2014 Musical Review

Post by Ravenpig »

Cool, I'm gonna check a couple of these out.

Thanks for the reminder on that Lazer/Wulf album, HB, rhapsody has it now.
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Re: September 2014 Musical Review

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UndKeineZwEier wrote: My brother performs a lot of the instrumention on the album and live but all the songs are written by Mike.
Get me tickets for the Sydney show, thanks.
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Re: September 2014 Musical Review

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hellboy wrote: Opeth - Pale Communion I've expressed my opinions on this elsewhere, suggesting I like this album because it doesn't sound like the Opeth I remember. I still think that, and enjoy this album quite a bit. 8/10

Picking it up this afternoon. First time I'm buying an Opeth album...ever...but I'll be damned if this doesn't sound like something I can go on long drives while listening to.

Belphegor - Conjuring The Dead By the numbers death metal. Nothing to see here really. 5/10

Tried. And tried. And tried to get into these guys. But no dice. My friend likes them though.

Eyvind Kang - Alastor: Book of Angels Volume 21 A nice album composed by John Zorn I believe. Good variety on the tracks with a SC3 feel in parts, and classical feel in others. I enjoyed listening to it, but I don't see myself listening with any regularity. 6/10

May look into ordering at some point...

Tricky - Adrian Thaws Not sure how to rank this album - there were some tracks I really enjoyed, and others just fell a little flat. I almost gave this a 7, but I think I'll go with a 6 for now. 6/10

May pick up from the store also when I go to get teh Opeths...

Dark Space III I think this was one of Califums recommendations, I can't remember. Black metal for the most part. Some nice soundscapey stuff, but musical elements of the album didn't really do much for me. 5/10

Yes. I recommend them - mainly due to the fact that Darkspace is the same chap that bought us the very wonderful and very obscure Paysage D'Hiver.

U2 - Songs of Innocence I want to run, I want to hide. 3/10

They should have teamed up with Domino's Pizza instead of Apple. They'd still suck but pizza is pizza.

Shellac - Dude Incredible You know what you're going to get with a Shellac album and this one is no exception. The first 6 tracks are great, but falls away a bit on the end. Really wanted to give this a 9, but not sure that I can. Still, it's my favorite album for this year. 8/10

Yeah I....naaah forget it.

The Tea Party - The Ocean At The End Maybe they should have gone for a long swim in it. 3/10

For people who like The Superjesus.

Aphex Twin - Syro I've never been a huge AT fan in the past, so it shouldn't be a huge surprise that I wasn't super impressed with this album. The genre isn't my thing, but it certainly sounds competent. 6/10

Yeah. A-hmmm. Yeah.

:|


Coming up next month: Robert Plant, Twilight, Decapitated, Electric Wizard, Philm, Sick Of It All Thom Yorke and a couple of Neil Young albums.

Godflesh? Sunn O)))? Melvins?
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Actual quote from Kamala Harris
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hellboy
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Re: September 2014 Musical Review

Post by hellboy »

Calfium Jay wrote:
Godflesh? Sunn O)))? Melvins?
Those are all on my list, though at time of writing hadn't leaked online. I have listened to the Godflesh album, which is good in parts, not so good in others. I have the Sunno/Scott Walker thing in my listening queue. Melvins I'll probably check out when I don't have to stream from a website.
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Re: September 2014 Musical Review

Post by petemasterpete »

Code orange: think I reviewed it in last month's collection, but I liked it, in particular, the cleaner portions where the girl is singing stood out

Earth: mostly bore me (there, I said it)and I can't see them going in different direction, so I haven't spent a minute with it so I can't review it

Opeth: never been a real fan and the last one was shit but gave it whirl and it's pretty good musically and quite a dynamic change from their catalog as a whole, but I'll mostly be giving it passive, background listens if I ever think to put it on again.

The War on Drugs: meh

Interpol: yep, they're still shit.

Tricky: reviewed somewhere else previously. Not likely to revisit this.

Shellac: I liked it. Based on merit alone it's a contender for my top ten. Likely on the lower half still. I've always appreciated albini's stripped back, honest, garage-like approach and this is just that.

The Contortionist: so this is the second record of theirs I've listened to. Musically I think they're tight. I really appreciate some of the writing. They don't lack talent in that department but I find it mostly forgettable. The vocals, both clean and growls, are pedestrian and generally makes me disinterested in listening in parts.

Aphex Twin: where do I start? Oh, wait, I don't because I haven't even made time for it. What if I never do?

Lazer/Wulf: listened to this one quite bit over the last few months. Not too likely there's enough new tunes left this year to knock this out of my top 10.

Thom Yorke: exactly what you'd expect ... Pretty dull but mellow and not horrible on my ears, BUT I like Thom quite a bit, but as is the case with several of the solo projects, he needs radio head to really shine and draw me in. It's like Maynard with pus cider; sure I'll listen to some of it but it's not great by any means.

Godflesh: was kind of looking forward to this one. And it starts with promise. I'll mostly revisit the first 4 or 5 tracks but by midway through I think I forgot I was even listening to it. Immediately forgettable for the most it would appear, literally.

Locrian/Mammifer - Bless Them That Curse You: an album from 2012 that I only found after I got the Locrian record from the band camp thread. I liked this one a fair bit. It's laid out kind of like the melvins/lustmord with the bands essentially taking turns, but not necessarily track by track but by writing parts being noticeably different in style. Probably a higher 7 of 10 for now.

Slint - Spiderland: Old record ... Maybe 91 ... Found it in a collection of tunes I Forgot I had but damn if I ain't happy to have rediscovered it. If it came out this year, no doubt it'd land high on my top 10. 8/10.
Also spent a fair amount of time with Nadja, Orman Lange, Minnow, Yoma, Keelhaul, Mr. Peter Hayden and Locrian, with the latter two being the obvious standouts.

I only made it through the first few tracks of the Melvins stream, but I'll certainly get onto it sooner than later.
The only record I havent listened to on HB's list that really interests me to hear that I haven't is Trans Am. From the review, it sounds interesting. The rest, even bands like TWDY, whom I have in my catalog or have familiarity with in general aren't likely to get any attention anytime soon.

Looking forward to the following over the next bit that I'm likely to spend quite a bit of time with:

Jakob, Old Man Gloom, Mark Lanegan. Got the Lanegan Ep from a cpurple months ago and believe it or not, I don't think I've listened to it.
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