The professor has been busy! Normally my new release wrap-ups sit at five albums. I figure that is an easy amount to 1) write about, and 2) absorb at a time. This month or two however I am pushing it out to a full nine. Why nine? Because I can and because I couldn't find a10th. Without further pissing about, the albums ...
#1 Neil Young & Crazy Horse –
Americana
Neil Young is a rock'n'roll institution
and has earned the right to do whatever strange fancy takes him. For
Americana he takes some classic folk tunes and warps them into
a mangled guitar rock strut. We all know what Young is capable of by
himself but he is making a definite statement by bringing Crazy Horse
back into the fold after many years. Many of these tracks barely
resemble the standards on which they are based but that all seems to
be part of Young's plan. 'Gallows Pole' is a timeless tale that was
made famous by Led Zeppelin and it now has another great rendition to
its name. They even include the very un-American 'God Save The Queen'
perhaps as a nod to The Queen's jubilee (Young is Canadian after all)
but it's more likely someone told him that he couldn't do it.
Americana is exactly what it sounds like.
Rating: B-
Recommended tracks: Gallows Pole, Oh
Susannah
#2 Gojira – L'Enfant Sauvage
French sludge metallers Gojira are back
and are on the biggest stage that their career has ever known.
They've recently toured with Metallica and have released their new
album (which translates to “The Wild Child”) through the esteemed
Roadrunner Records. Unfortunately all of this is starting to show in
their sound. Sure, singer Joe Duplantier (fresh from touring with
Cavalera Conspiracy) still sounds pretty sauvage and the riffs
are mighty thick and plentiful. Check out 'Planned Obsolescence' and 'Liquid
Fire' for abundant evidence of this. All of this new found regard
does have a downside in that the album sounds meeker and more
streamlined (for lack of better terms) than their previous efforts
were. That spark that made previous Gojira albums such memorable
thrill rides is sadly lacking. While the album has some great
passages L'Enfant Sauvage never really reaches that moment of pure
clarity that you can recall long after having heard it.
Rating: C+
Recommended track: The Gift Of Guilt
#3 Smashing Pumpkins – Oceania
If many felt that 2007's comeback album
Zeitgeist was a bit of let down (not me though, cracking album) then
Oceania is what you have been waiting for since the mid 90s.
Oceania might have been conceived as part of the 44 song Teargearden
By Kaleidyscope cycle but it is an amazing coherent album that leans
as heavily on theatrical 70s rock as Billy Corgan's own 90s salad
days. 'Quazars' seems to actively evoke Cherub Rock but this is no
half-heated rehash or reboot. Further along you can hear the
influence of bands like Queen, Rush, Pink Floyd, and The Who but
Smashing Pumpkins is still Corgan's show and bends to his every whim.
Everything. From the ballsy opening number to the esoteric title
track, there is an earnestness and determination underpinning
everything which is something that has been absent from the Pumpkins
camp for too long. Oceania is a fantastic album that deserves to be ranked alongside their very best.
Rating: B+
Recommended tracks: Oceania, Quazars
#4 PHILM – Harmonic
In spite of often being referred to as
the world's most influential metal drummer, Slayer's Dave Lombardo
still feels the need to flex his creative muscles from time to time.
He has had a brief stint with Apocalyptica and drums for the almighty
Fantomas but his new band, PHILM, is completely different again. This
trio attempt to find the common ground between hardcore, post-punk,
psychedelic rock, and free jazz on Harmonic. I know right? The
strange part is that are pretty successful at doing it. What starts
as a pretty conventional hardcore album deconstructs into some
amazing, but still virulent, forms. 'Held In The Light' positively
seethes through its raging punk veneer even as it verges on
industrial goth. Just don't expect to hear Reign In Blood and you'll be just fine.
Rating: B
Recommended tracks: Held In Light, Area
#5 Rush – Clockwork Angels
What can you say about Rush that hasn't
already been said before? The legendary Canadian band who
revolutionized prog rock in the 80s with epic albums like 2112
and Moving Pictures have been steadily releasing albums since
1974 and gaining acclaim at every step. Clockwork Angels is
their 19th record in total and shows the band maturing
into a comfortable but formidable sound. Lead single 'Caravan' has
all the glitz of their best pop songs with enough hard-headed rock to
kick serious ass. 'Seven Cities Of Gold' is a monolith of rumbling
bass and riffs, the gorgeous 'Halo Effect' tugs at the heart strings,
and the title track oozes proggy grandeur. There is everything here
that you would want from a modern Rush record. Messrs Peart, Lifeson,
and Lee are no slouches in the increasing age; they can do it all and
intend on doing just that. Along with Snakes & Arrows,
Clockwork Angels is another great example of later era Rush
still kicking ass in the 21st century.
Rating: A-
Recommended tracks: Caravan, Seven
Cities Of Gold, Clockwork Angels
#6 King Tuff – King Tuff
When you are in a band with J Mascis
his penchant for unhinged guitar pop must rub off on you. That is the
case with Kyle Thomas AKA King Tuff. His second album under that name
is a thrill ride of greasy garage punk and sour pop hooks. The album
lopes and shimmies like it was released in alternative rock's early
90s golden era; you can practically hear the plaid shirts wrapped
around the slacker mantra. What is remarkable is how much restraint
went into the creation of all of this. There are tracks (such as the
riotous album opener 'Anthem' and the sheer nonsense of 'Hit &
Run') that threaten to leap into the abyss and drown in their own
raucous, wanton ways but Thomas and crew know when to rescue them
from the point of no return and reign it in.
Rating: B-
Recommended tracks: Anthem, Baby Just
Break
#7 Be'lakor – Of Breath And Bone
Australia may not be the first place
you think of upon the topic of melodic death metal, but Be'lakor
certainly use that to their advantage. Primal rawness and ethereal
melody appear to have mated and created a child named Of Breath
And Bone – their third album -
and what a bastard it is! What
these Aussies are doing may not be revolutionary (in fact it reminds
me a bit of early In Flames) but their execution is flawless. The
overall sound of the album is very Scandinavian which will please
metal purists (i.e nerds) no end. The guitar solos are a particular
highlight: fluid but not masturbatory they actually serve the songs
as opposed to being a showcase for a guitarist's ego. The only
drawback is in the songwriting department which relies a little too
heavily on genre cliches for my liking. A very respectable outing
from a band who clearly still have a lot to off the world of metal.
Rating:
B
Recommended
tracks: Abeyance, In Parting
#8 Royal Thunder – CVI
Blistering hard rock hasn't been a
novel concept since 1971 but Royal Thunder are a band that actually
have something to add to the conversation. Singer Mlny Parsonz has a
star quality to her that gives the whole band their edge. On
'Whispering World' she lets rip with a melodic howl, tough but still
quite feminine. If you like your hard rock in any flavour other than vanilla then I can hardly recommend this album enough. Given the temperament of modern rock audiences it is
an audacious move to include three songs that break the eight minute
mark. Fortunately, Royal Thunder it seems thrive on being audacious;
a female-fronted heavy metal band from sunny Georgia could hardly be
anything else. CVI is a grab bag album filled with points of
familiarity but enough charisma and aptitude to still make it feel
quite organic. This the real shit right here
Rating: A
Recommended tracks: Shake & Shift,
Blue, Parsonz Curse
#9 Old Man Gloom – NO
This experimental prog metal collective
hasn't been heard from since their bizarre 2004 album Christmas
but the individual members have been anything but inactive. Founder
Aaron Turner was of course the mastermind behind defunct post-rockers
ISIS and the group also features members of Cave-In and Converge.
What we have in NO is anything but comfort music; if anything
the band set out to keep you constantly on edge, throwing new ideas
at the wall to see what makes the loudest noise. The vocals are
ominous and intense, the guitars deep and howling, the beats
punishing and chaotic: this is the sound of madness. The cruel
heaviness of 'Common Species' sees the band's sound devolve rapidly
from cutting-edge sludge to pulverizing drone. And if the apocalypse
is really around the corner then we have the perfect soundtrack to
the end times in the blood-curdling 'Shuddering Earth'. Even the rare
moments of quiet are heavy in their own way. Old Man Gloom are
clearly not progressive in a “look how artsy we are” way but
rather they adhere to a “fuck what you think” credo.
Rating: B
Recommended tracks: Common Species,
Crescent
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