Old Tower "Keepers Of The Ancient Flame" (2015)

Mistakenly I thought this was Old Tower's first release that I had selected to enjoy next. I learn now this is actually the second. It has the expectant inklings of an early form, music yet to mature to its distinction and baring the more common tropes of the genre. As one eighteen minute track uniting five individual songs it has some charm however its production is yet to allure to those deep and foggy reverberations that bring about meditative states. Its final song does make use of the organ we often hear this paired with but at this stage the music usually focuses around a single, isolated instrument, forming dull and lonesome atmospheres of degradation and decay.

In its opening tracks a forlorn world is envisioned. Sounds of ambiguous destitute create eerie rumblings as winds of secluded whispering voices dance around a solitary instrument. The atmosphere is decrepit and ruined, only echos remain of the horrors once held. The arrival of bright synths turn the tone away from ambiguity only to be interrupted by the growing presence of bothersome rumblings and a crashing strike of lightning unleashes a spooky horn like voice, murmuring, communicating from the depths under the soft pattering of rain. 

From that point we don't return, the punchy, colorful synths glisten us through a simplistic fantasy realm of gleaming horns echoing softly into themselves. Its cloudy and scenic but quite the departure from the gloom and mystique before it. After that the organ signs the record off on a lull after some owl hoots and creepy sound design but its doesn't flow. For a listener a handful of different ideas are put together with not much cohesion however they are all of similar realms which the song names hint at. Its a fair record and I did enjoy my listening.

Rating: 4/10

Sleepy Sun "Fever" (2010)

Californian Rock band Sleepy Sun's sophomore record is a musical experience I hold in high regards. Its peaks echo shivers of the greats, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and King Crimson vibes produce goosebumps however this is no nostalgia act. Fusing elements of Rock music's broader spectrum, Stoner and Psychedelic Rock vibes dominate the focus with touches of Progressive and Post-Rock coloring an ever organic unraveling of vision through inspiration. Composed of nine tracks its one of those records that commands to be lived in full. Traversing its peaks and valleys, electrified eruptions of ecstatic guitar leads engulf acute atmospheres that then descend and dissipate into sombre strolls of folksy acoustic yearnings and surfing psychedelic ambience. Suspense yearns in the shadows it casts.

 Opening with sun soaked melodies to relax the soul, rousing flares of fiery guitar noise break up the harmonica jams and earnest singing, to lead us into tribal jungle jams and choral chants. Its a naturalistic flow that Rigamarro holds over with a soft and dusky bongo led acoustic piece for the eruptions to begin again on Wild Machines. Led on by whistling tunes, unleashed swells of overdrive tonal guitars sludge out a short lived groove that eventually blossoms into a unrestrained force of inspiration as it scales up to a climax. The dynamic is riveting and Ooh Boy and Acid Love tie us down through a shift in tone as we absorb in the anticipation.

With Desert God the record tugs on the heart strings, its careful build through distant rumblings under its timeless melody at front and center let vocalist Rachel Fannan allures us with a soft, serine singing that will soon soar into a roaring of soulful voicing to rumble your belly. Its wholly captivating but far from over. With a flickering percussive rhythm of stick slapping and exotic psychedelic chord reverberations, Open Eyes sways between its entrancing grooves and falling to the soft and comforting breaks, teasing what to come. Eventually it swells up into a dramatic rise, taking both components, elevating and uniting them towards an epic hieght.

Freedom Line brings about some attitude, a sassy baseline purrs with its punchy, binary presence. The withdrawal of guitars gives drummer Brian Tice focus to vibrate a rigid groove that builds its complexity in fractions. We then come to the monumental Sandstorm Woman, a ten minute saga to see the record out with an indulgent high as we descend deep into kaleidoscopic psychedelia. Its colorful construct feels full circle as the return of the harmonica sounds. Its mid tempo pace is challenged by a roaring guitar lead that wails itself into existence. As quick as it came it disappears back into the wash of luminous radiance that is a band in unison.

The song goes on to scale further heights, a remarkable flow of inspired brilliance. This album is gorgeous, its aesthetic has texture, tone and flavor. It captures the spirit of old recordings and feels electric, as if the band were in the room with you. The drum kit sounds especially lived in, the use of effects and reverberations allows the record to ebb and surge. Their performance has a self aware, electric dynamism that the musicians seem to relish within. I can't think of anything bad to say about it other than some tracks are more preferable to others but everything fires on all cylinders and there is much packed in these forty two minuets that you won't be able to forget.

Favorite Tracks: Marina, Desert God, Open Eyes, Sandstorm Woman

Rating: 9.5/10

At The Gates "Terminal Spirit Disease" (1994)

This is the record I have been expecting to hear. Swedish band At The Gates, labeled as Melodic Death Metal, had yet to reach the iconic sound pioneered by Carcass with their Heartwork album of the previous year. Taking a bold step towards a slicker, cleaner sound the band also shape up their compositions into simpler forms. While they do retain some dissonance and unusual approaches to riffing, the music comes together through simple song structures and a focus on the melodies rising from the aggressive construct of battering drums, darkly distortion guitars and fierce screams.

The move forward is fantastic, however to call this an album is a bit of a stretch. Packaged along side three additional live songs, we only have six Metal songs and one fantastic acoustic guitar interlude with And The World Returned. Its the only track to include signature stringed instruments and the seven songs only make up twenty two minutes, however short and sweet is preferable when the bar is set this high.

The record is especially enjoyable from a retroactive perspective. All the tropes and expectant riffing styles of Melodic Death hit from different angles with a unique tone. The band are still transitioning and with that comes the tremolo shredding strings across two guitars exchanging dissonance and harmony in a bright setting. The typical tune chugging, string jumping riffs get interchanged in between and with colorful, energetic drumming all the components gel as abridged sections form with variety.

All components gel sweetly and the guitar leads occasionally burst into life with memorable solos. Its all really good stuff. Perhaps only singer Lindberg is fractionally tiring with his beastly howls and throaty cries becoming drab as they rarely change. I tend to zone him out when listening, its the music below his roars that is great and even riveting on its best songs with riffs the leap out. I can understand on lot more about their place in Scandinavian Metal's history from this record and am very much excited for Slaughter Of The Soul, their last record before splitting up.

Favorite Tracks: Terminal Spirit Disease, Forever Blind, The Fevered Circle

Rating: 7/10

Dead Can Dance "Dionysus" (2018)

Blessed we are to have another Dead Can Dance project on our hands. After a six year absence the duo return with a mid length, sweet and exotic piece of music. Its around seven songs split into two sixteen and nineteen minute tracks. Through the journey of this blog I have been digging into their catalog and unearthing several gems, Aion being the first. They compose and perform meditative, spiritual music inspired by historical, cultural and worldly sounds. Time has not been a hindrance, this release is fondly inspired and fit to sit among the best of their wonderful discography.

The first act is luscious, exotic and wild. A modern production doesn't particularly give the duo anything they couldn't achieve already but its crisp and silky aesthetic has the percussion popping. Earthly choral singing over viola strings sounds dazzling too. It has a warm climate feel that plays out with powerful melodies conjuring deep earthly moods, reinforced by vocal cries of emotion from under the building layers of exotic instrumentation. Its a very primitive and rooted experience, a scenic interlude of rain, howling and chirping of wildlife grounds the link between these songs as its final piece goes into a primitive trance. One can envision star splattered night skies, camp fires, ritualistic dancing and singing around the glowing flickers of flames.

The second act feels colder and humanistic, the pace and tone turn to a nightly setting and Perry brings mysterious language to his singing. Brooding cultural voices and dazzling melodies stir up a climatic build up on the following song. Its another engrossing atmosphere and then The Forest really throws things back in time with a warm, upfront and gently bouncing baseline giving the track a Post-Punk feel, going back to their roots as a band. The singing is gorgeous, enriched by worldly travel. Its the albums peak as the following song slowly winds things down quietly as the record drifts back into the shadows from which it came. Its a brilliant record that does the best of what these two are known for with exquisite execution. The inspiration is ripe and with that a wonderful thirty plus minutes of riveting music has been birthed.

Rating: 8/10

Old Tower "Ruination" (2017)

In the age of ever changing release formats we have Ruination, The New Darn Cometh, simply a lone nine minute track of meditative Dungeon Synth, the defining style of Dutch musician Old Tower. Its another gloomy and atmospheric piece of brooding, darkly synth that could be placed right alongside The Rise Of The Scepter, released earlier that year. Its pallet and range of events are limited in scope but its sense power to conjure rural visions of dark, foreboding medieval times are on form.

Horns and trumpets of isolated glory sound of the song as a familiar vale of deep foggy synths mystifies its leading melodies, one can see a stoic castle being consumed by heavenly clouds sweeping in over cold and unforgiving moors of a harder time for man. Its crawling pace steadily brews its way towards a break of soft choral choirs that allure in gong strikes and a sense of epic that drifts gently out of focus without a peak. At its end a murmurous melody of lonely mischief winds out the last minutes of the song on a whimper. As a reasonable song packaged within a short project, the music yearns to be part of something bigger but is lonesome. Old Tower has a spell bounding and wondrous sound that I wish to indulge in for far longer.

Rating: 2/10

The Underachievers "After The Rain" (2018)

I was dead excited to see this in my inbox. Rap duo AK & Issa Gold are two bright sparks among a young generation of rappers. Their dark and esoteric Cellar Door - Terminus Ut Exordium was a distinct introduction to the duo however opening half of Evermore - The Art Of Duality has become a favorite a frequent back to. Its lyrics of overcoming struggle and rising up hit me hard. We get a little of that youthful wisdom on the opening Downpoor as the pair exchange themes of changing the world with positive metal attitudes in the face of a materialistic world that can consume a person.

After The Rain has been an enjoyable, reasonable listen where the instrumentals define most talking points. Lyrics circle the waters, recycling familiar topics with a lack of hard hitting lines as the vocals are mostly linear expressions with less wordplay than I would of liked. The production sounds expensive, a step up that might be sideways. It elevates their sound to a crisp, glossy tone that's a tad over polished, squeaky clean samples and drums come close to peaking in a vivid construct.

Its all mostly warm, bright and sunny sounds. A lot of colorful, jazzy and soulful instrumentation with a crisp punchy audacity. A plethora of guest singers gives many songs agreeable choruses with powerful, harmonious singing that steers in a pop appeal direction. Nightmares & Dreams, plus a couple others too, push it a little to far with the broad allure. When either of the two are not on the mic, it can be an unrecognizable sound with guests flexing their prowess with some beautiful singing.

Its a hard record to be dismissive of, The Underachievers pack a lot of powerful, potent empowering lyrics in the run time for a warm, uplifting listen. The instrumentals aim high, a very crisp production with some fantastic Jazz Hop beats. All the pieces are in place but something in the chemistry is just missing something. Perhaps it lacks some urgency or struggle about it. Everything is just to neat and nice, so its hard for any truly memorable songs to emerge. It lives in the shadow of their former works.

Favorite Tracks: Downpour, Let It Rain

Rating: 5/10

Strapping Young Lad "City" (1997)

With their first step a machination of musical extremity was haphazardly birthed and with the next it was mastered. Strapping Young Lad's and Devin's debut album Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing was an embryonic folly, glowing in the light of retrospection and with this next stride Devin Townsend recruits old time band mates Jed Simon and Byron Stroud alongside Metal veteran, beastly drummer and essential component of the SYL chaos, Gene Hoglan. Their first effort as a cohesive unit was defined as "the heaviest record of all time". Despite many bands attempts to further extremify Metal aesthetics, none have brought with it the pure ecstasy of a truly emphatic emotional experience. In my opinion, the heaviest album claim still holds up to this day.

Opening with Velvet Kevorkian and All Hail The New Flesh, City quickly establishes its grandiose sense of self exaggeration and drastic emotional need. With the wobbling of dense electronic noises between Dev screams of intent, the thick wall of sound aesthetic makes itself known before the song kicks in with an absolutely punishing flurry of sound that Dev emerges from with a triumphant roar. Gleams of colorful light burst and tidal grooves erupt from guitars, crushing riffs through punishing distortions. The song elevates these aspects with Devin soaring his stunning voice high above as the music peaks into the heavens before collapsing from above into more over the top sonic guitar grooves. Its all stunning but the pure emotion in the voice of our Canadian genius is something never to be forgotten.

"Well gentlemen, a great amount of money has been invested into this project and we can't allow it fail". We have heard soaring melodic beauty dancing through duality with the primitive powers of groove and with Oh My Fucking God we descend into the madness of the latter. Dev takes all the extreme ideas of Death, Thrash Metal and Grindcore and throws them in the trash can, unleashing his trump card. Led by spurts of maniacal, schizophrenic screaming over hyperactive fretwork we are swiftly led to the mid track mania of over bloated industrial noise dispensing itself into every crevasse of space as all the instruments ramp up into a tornado of utter madness. Through the insanity Dev's nutty, deranged "la la lala" singing just peaks the madness with a cherry on top of this frothing cake of non-directional fury.

The madness isn't over yet! Detox returns to the opening formula of vocally led melodic soaring as Dev cries for his wishes of sleep. Bouncing back and forth with jugular grooves the song hides a trick up its sleeve as when you think it can't get any better he unleashes a rip roaring, pop sensible power chord riff that peaks another sense of emotional purity emanating through the vocal chords. Its a gracious moment. Home Nucleonics sounds like a race of a cliff. More berserk guitar riffs rival up against the unrelenting feet of the beast Hoglan. The song fires through its arsenal of neck snapping riffs like a drill, whilst smothered itself willingly in industrial dissonance.

With its finest of extremities unleashed, the rest of the runtime gets to mature in various directions. AAA dials back the over the top nature, teasing it with its build up of suspense, letting the band show the building blocks of their sound. Great riffs, stunning screams, still with a dense web of electronic noise and powerful drumming, it draws that line it the sand to prove both the music and aesthetic at play is brilliance. Underneath The Waves has a more traditional metallic tone at first but Dev once again fires up the sparks with his neurotic, demented singing that swiftly ramps up the musical energy to the SYL elevation. The synths get more involved in the wall of sound here, a fitting tone to passionate screams from a tiring soul.

Room 429 is the track to make a separation from all heard before. A theatrical approach is taken by the group to create a circus of distant dread that lets some less exhausting ideas flourish. It does sound like the perfect stage for Dev to unleash his humor but fortunately he steers from any cheese. City closes with Spirituality, a slow morphing of atmosphere that sounds like a Post-Metal approach to the wielding density of this Industrial soundscape. Slow chugging stomps of guitars march through apocalyptic soundscapes of warfare as electronic synths let off like missile strikes. A couple of minutes in the song attempts to turn pace with vocals and sludgy grooves. It slowly builds, unable to unleash as the steady march confines it to being a sign off song. Its a really fantastic note to end a remarkable record on.

My passion and enthusiasm for this record is obvious. I only hope a reader could find this connection too. Of the best of the best, City has held up over the years as an unending source of adrenaline release and deep emotional resonance. Its such a dense sounding record that its masterful manipulation of sound waves has me forever engaged with that textural space between all the obvious. There is so much going on it can sound fresh with every listen. Devin Townsend is an utter genius and even under the guise of over the top Metal extremity can he make it truly meaningful. All that's left to be said is Strapping Young Lad rocks my hairy anus!

Rating: 10/10

Logic "Young Sinatra" (2011)

I'm glad Ive worked through Logic's discography in reverse. This third mix tape, Young Sinatra, would have had a hard time luring me in without knowing whats to come. This is that point where a notable dip in quality occurs, or better stated, an artist in their infancy yet to fully blossom. Its a bloated seventy two minutes where Logic's reoccurring themes seem to regurgitate themselves several times within this one project itself. Ive heard so much of the Maryland rappers self assertion and tireless ambition that its getting a little tiring at this point, mind the pun.

Its an enjoyable project but the production is on the mediocre side. The beats tend to set an easy going tone within simple constructs of repetitive drum loops and warm sampling leaning to summery, jazzy vibes most the time. There is an undeniable 90s influence firmly in its stride and Logic too shows his influences lyrically. A lot of his future rhymes dazzle and impress on their own but unfortunately the best words heard on this project are mostly straight rewording of Nas and other classic lines of that era. To young fans they must sound killer but to an old Hip Hop head they don't get past. It leaves much of his lyricism firmly capable of getting a point across but the word play and attempts to be clever are often hit or miss.

Young Sinatra has a handful of tracks like "Are You Ready" that give of strong pop appeal vibes with overtly simplistic hooks and repetitive beats. There is also a sample picked up by Kendrick Lamar on Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe that can be heard on Addiction. Like the Young Sinatra: Undeniable mix tape, he has cuts rapping over classic East Coast beats from Craig Mack to Jay-Z and Nas to Mobb Deep. This time around he doesn't gives very little to the originals. As stated at the beginning this is an obvious drop in quality which of course is actually a step up on the next project. I enjoyed it when in the mood but this project doesn't leave much to be taken away.

Rating: 5/10

Strapping Young Lad "Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing" (1995)

At the time it was musical genius Devin Townsend first solo release under the Strapping Young Lad moniker that would go on to become a fully functioning band by their sophomore album City. I'm astonished as to how far Strapping Young Lad has slipped from my mind, its been over a decade ago since I last binged on them. Its understandable how this embryonic sounding debut has drifted the furthest but Ive had a fantastic time rediscovering these oldies and the calamity of good and bad it is.

Reading into its backstory as the first Dev album, I discovered that it was born out of frustration with working for the likes of other musicians, Steve Vai and The Wildhearts. Devin wanted to write his own music and only Century Media would offer him a five album deal on the condition of making extreme music. The result is this mesmerizing, botched brew of angular ideas that would fail to capture anyone's attention, barely selling any units before future releases would bring retroactive attention to it.

Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing has all the hallmarks of an SYL record. An over the top wall of sound aesthetic. Stomping, slamming, brutal chugging guitars. Fierce and frantic screams, coupled manic roars and the occasional soaring of Devs clean range. Frequently synths wail in to further the thickness. Its a fusion of Death, Thrash and Industrial that has got all the right ingredients but its preparation and cooking is a botched brew. Its hard to praise at its surface but given a few spins there is plenty that's enjoyable and many familiar riffs, lyrics and moments reworked for later songs.

The production is sloppy and chaotic at best, the wall of sound comes together not through craft or design. Its slapped together with deliberate volume wars that more often that not find some haphazard cohesion. Distortion guitars often falter into choppy thuds of sound that loose sense of notation and become like a percussive instrument. Its mostly the ideas that lay themselves bare. When the guitars, drums or screams are being extremified its all to obvious. A majority of these moments tend to not lead anywhere but further into a sprawl of chaotic ideas. It even extending to a cheesy 80s synth beat on Cod Metal King but most his ideas will be heard with far greater execution on following projects.

These criticisms were more apparent at first glance but if you try to love something you often find reasons. Given how much I adore Devin's music it was all to easy to hear the links with whats to come. For a first timer tuning in it will be a much harder task. I'm a sucker for these songs, there is objective criticism all over yet through it I always hear something worthy of charm. Perhaps Drizzlehell is an exception. I really don't get along with that one. Otherwise its all fun, it has a mood, persona and strange vibrations that occasionally descend one into maniacal listening.

Favorite Tracks: SYL, In The Rainy Season, Happy Camper, Critic, Filler

Rating: 7/10

At The Gates "With Fear I Kiss The Burning Darkness" (1993)

Stripping back on some of its Avant-Guarde songwriting and non-metal instrumentation, bar sparing acoustic guitars, Swedish outfit At The Gates return with a sophomore album just doesn't spark any magic within me. Its dated, dull and dingy aesthetic dominates the mid ranges leaving a narrow feeling in the ears. Its a firm step backwards compared to The Red In The Sky Is Ours. The approach to riffing clearly has a keen experimentation in mind but not as fortuitous as before. Dissonant and moody tunes, plaid mostly through tremolo picking shapes up a resemblance of melody within its gloomy and pale tone. Sudden riff changes and energy shifts gifts the music when the chemistry works but dispels charm when the shifts make little sense, which is more often the case. Its such a consistent approach that the result is constantly hitting and miss. The good bits get buried fast.

I really gave this one a good go. Theie previous album revealed itself after some time listening but I believe the poor production value is a true hindrance in this case. I used words like gloomy and dingy in an unflattering sense. Often low fidelity aesthetic sparks imagination and vision when done right. In the case of this record it holds back the music with an uninspired tonality. Sunken within are a couple of good grooving riffs and gothic atmospheres but these are also in competition with the harsh and unfavorable howls that salt the wound of this ugly sounding record. I'm being harsh because this could of been much more. Its not awful, I can sit through and enjoy it on a mediocre level but ultimately is a disappointment worsened by its dreary production.

Rating: 4/10

Turnstile "Nonstop Feeling" (2015)

One of the years wilder records has been Turnstile's cracking Space & Time. As the months rolled by its weight has grown, the blossoming familiarity of these infectious songs has had me on the binge many times. Its will probably make my favorite albums of the year list and so Ive been prompted to go back and give their older records a try. Upon first checking out the Maryland based Hardcore act, I found these older songs to be a little stale but understanding their intent and musicality better now this previous record sounds like a whole new beast! One i was totally wrong about.

Their vein of Hardcore is so clearly rooted in the guitar groove and Crossover camp, baring some momentary resemblance to the likes of Biohazzard. They have two things that make them stand apart and have gone on to master with Space & Time, curation and eclecticism. Firstly the band have a lot of riffs in the arsenal that they churn through. Its exciting and energetic but with short songs and linear structures they burn through a lot of fantastic composition swiftly, leaving your appetite ripe for another spin. There is something to be said about hearing the same riff over and over in the context of listening to a record three times, or the verse chorus structure.

On the second note, the band shake up their sound with passageways that deviate from distortion guitar led riffage. Sometimes colorful inflections diversify the tone and with a couple of songs they drop the core identity entirely. Its always an organic transition that seems shaped up to dull the monotony that half an hour of straight Hardcore can bring. Bleach Temple's effect soaked guitar leads are uncannily akin to a Killing Joke record and it perfectly fuses a chugging guitar beat down and gang shouts. With clean melodic singing Blue By You transforms into a Pop Punk song, the decent sort of course. The influences they show off manifest wonderfully.

Another thing that has struck me about this band is the lyrical maturity. Ive heard some lines that resonate with me greatly. The angered approach to real emotion reminds me fondly of the Rollins Band and some true wisdom shapes up in the words "There is no such thing as truth. We all have a filter. Got to let it through". This record sounded deceptively straightforward at first. Turnstile continue to impress me, I hope more of their back catalog reaches this level of flavorful  artistic output.

Favorite Tracks: Gravity, Can't Deny It, Bleach Temple, Addicited

Rating: 7/10