| Blood Root Mother - The Rabbit Hole
| It took me a third of the album to really warm to BRM, and not because there was a problem, it's just the band started off pretty good then slowed a bit much before they got to the really good stuff. When I found the button though, I experienced cooking psychedelic hard rock without the organ inserted, very rooted in the monsters of the past, every great band from Zeppelin to Tool. What Blood Root Mother brings to the table is raw, big beat, shifting rock n roll sculpture, as it lives and breathes in the zone. Songs like All The Way Down and Dead Sea stomp a big imprint with flowing vocal harmonies and shifting vamp. When the band wants to sound classically indie, they throw one like Cain If You're Able, and when they want to bring the riff they tear into something like Free. Plenty of stuff, that Blood Root Mother. Contact: http://www.bloodrootmother.com, http://www.myspace.com/bloodrootmother |
| Before The Torn - 8 Days... And A Crushed Ghost
| What makes Before The Torn amazing, and there are many things, is most of all the complexity of the issues of musical diversity. They are master of the heavy metal riff and lead, partakers of the punk machine gun, all immersed in the ethos of melody. They can be heavy psychedelic (Coming To An End, from the first half of the 8 Days combo which is four songs of the EP Behind Every Treason), bombastic riffing (EP's self title) and downright epic (from the latest 8 Days stuff - "The Hardest Winter"). They write screamo flavored hits (Rising From Within, and the compilation opener The Day We Died). Hopefully vocalist Guilherme Henriques is drinking his aloe vera gel, because he strips his chords of any protection on every song, he is screaming his ass off. Another thing I really liked about the band was the fact that lead guitar was in high esteem. Sometimes today that is missing. Before The Torn are highly recommended. Contact: http://www.myspace.com/beforethetorn, beforethetorn@hotmail.com, mobile +351916943667 |
| Outsider - Death Without Honor
| A top metal release of the year, Outsider combine thrash, with a large dose of metal hardcore. The band brings classic tones and riffs to the show, production on this disc being top notch. From the get-go they grind and spit out the metal, when Tombstone takes off all the way into Drunken God, the band plays at a blistering pace. "Dark Pit" only momentarily slows for the sabbatical grind, before taking off into the modern stoner march. As they do though they shift it up, hardcore makes it's appearance more than once. "Flag Of Misery" combines that with the groove of a giant riff at the chorus and then too into the lead, good for what ails ya. They bring up the horns one more time for set closer "Lack Of Wisdom", throwing the grind into the pit, always. Contact: http://www.outsiderthrash.com/ |
| Neal Sorabella - s/t
| After I got over the initial low fi trempadation of this demo, it became pretty interesting. First quarter of the disc is mainly acoustic guitar stuff, reminding me of some mediterranean art show. Then we get some electric stuff, percussion thrown in, that's trippy like sydney, Barrett that is. Neal likes the echo machine, his abstract lead playing gliding above the stratosphere. It's when Neal sometiems adds vocals to the mix that things get really strange. His pleading warble is akin to another Neal - Young - taking a sabbatical on a rainy day. If I got a song lisitng with this I've lost it, but for kickin' back, Sorabella provides the canvas. Contact: http://www.myspace.com/nealsorabella |
| Pastors Of Muppets - Fanfaire Metal
| Thank God we still have bands like this, who can play modern rock classics on symphonic instruments (no pun intended). This brings back memories of junior high, when I learned to read and play music, we did the classics of those days - Bee Gees, Kiss, Fleetwood Mac. Pastors of Muppets plaus rock classics of today, System Of A Down, Metallica, Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Iron Maiden all get the Pastors treatment. The application on Maiden's Trooper of just the right mix of solos by the saxophones will have you rolling. It's fantastic man! The expression of the phrases in the song are true; as they are on most of the remakes. Worth the price of admission. Contact: http://www.myspace.com/pastorsofmuppets |
| Temple Of Soul - Brothers In Arms
| Strong party record; big heavy grooves, foot slammin' funk, big on boogie. At least 3 or 4 good hits on this showcase of a coming together; the video for the first single, Anna shows a band relaxed and having a good time. This attitude shines over the whole of the music - first 4 songs on the CD are like an entrance to a good club show in progress. After the title cut Temple of Soul jams out (a hit in itself), the album slides into a steamy ride with Ode To China. Clarence Clemmons has never sounded so smooth, his breath wrapping around you, sax singing the melody. The complete Temple Of Soul package is a dream team, besides Clemmons, Michael Walden is a pleasant surprise handling the skins, and the propeller is funked with Ice Black on the strings (Diamond Girl riffs out) and TM Stevens throwin' fours. Songs like the Purple Haze remake will actually work in a group setting like this, the talent is there. I usually despise remakes, but I can get down with this funky ride around the mind. Everyone in this band sings, which is a real badge. If you remember the early days of real funk, as a young child I was privileged to hear, "Salty" brings the spaceship back for another round. Excellent. Long Distance Entertainment, 561-369-755, LDEPR@aol.com, WWW.CLARENCECLEMONS.COM |
| Stuck Underwater - No Script To Follow
| Besides an album title that sounds like a description of my life, Stuck Underwater mix metal and hardcore stlyes, with a hint of gothic here and there. Mostly it's intense high energy stuff, great drinking and slamming vibe going on. Songs like "Clocks" are old style hardcore, in the vein of such dignitaries as SOD. In a spot or two, like "Bound And Gagged", they come off as trying too hard, almost like a parody. They can veg though man, like the dimensions displayed in "Through The Eyes Of Reincarnation", before they slam you into the black with "So What's The Question" where they excel both on a music, theatric and art (if it can be said) collision. I think they cover almost two decades of fine lines and air time with "Banking On The Holy Ghost", while giving religious hypocrisy hell. That is the beauty of Stuck Underwater, they have no problem with telling you to fuck off if it ain't real, in their own special way. Contact: http://www.stuckunderwater.com |
| Chingalera - In The Shadow Of The Black Palm Tree
| Masters of the lead-uoto-groove, Chingalera are to West Coast Sludge what Steve Albini is to underground music, the shit. Albini's big raw fat tape sounds are all over this great album. The band begins the disc with the mid-temp grind that takes about half of it's 10:36 time to get past the lead-in riff. Like I said, masters they are. This band never comes close to not finishing the task at hand, which is usually pounding your head with plusating feedback thick with distortion textures, while on the bottom end there is something like Keith Moon rifling the skins, all the time the bass walking all over your ass. Occassionally shouts penetrate the fuzz, but only to plead with you, engage your head for that second of clarity, then it's back to the mad mash of speaker cone. When I came along acid rock had segued into early industrial which is kinda what these guys are doing, they'd go over like some thick molasses at the arts show; yet the west coast coating of the tar is on thick, and like flies to shit, you're there. The psychotic meltdown of "The Occidental Apology" is on the verge of a bad trip, but the smile is there, like what do you care! You've got on the heaviest bands on the plant breaking down the walls, just let it flow! Contact: http://chingalera.org |
| 7 Leaves - 3 song EP
| Three song EP that shows potential for these two guys. I had to laugh at the delivery a few listens before I could actually jive with what they were trying to do. Two white guys doing hip hop coming off like white guys tend to do sometimes can grate, but if you give 7 Leaves a chance they'll make you smile, because there is definitely talent here, as slickly presented as it may be. They do best with some r&b base thrown in (see " Get Out Your Seat Ft. Dose") and in many ways if they'd slow down a bit and just chill that loosening up could be the ticket. Contact: http://www.myspace.com/7leaves |
| Shoved - Still Alive
| Idaho is in the heart of America, and homeboys Shoved display the stuff that makes American Hard Rock ultimately classic. Big beats, large riffs, great melody and overall songs that for a better term, no matter how cliche, rock! The band brings it like a steamroller with big kahunas. It's straight heavy rock n roll, with ass in the boogie and steel power chords. The band has people that can sing, seemingly hrmoniously rarer as we get to the screaming and grunting fallout of the past 20 years. More than a couple of cuts here are classics (Run For Your Life, Knife In The Back, Take It Off, a thriple shot of rock!). There is just enough street punk in the blood to make the veins pop. Prose strong in the songwriting, and there is enough robust tension in the modal spark to be complimentary. I did trip when "Seventeen" came on, though D-Generation had responded, but seemingly it was just tribute, maybe. Shoved goes to prove though, beyond a doubt, that the mid can hold it's own with the coasts. Contact: |
| Craft Club - S/T
| When I first got this top play on Live At Underground (the previous before the review, generally), I thought, "what the hell can I do with this?" That's probably just because the lead off alternapop single "Lost At Sea" didn't hit me just right. A half dozen listen later and I'm more in touch with the reality of C.R.A.F.T. Club, and more into the scene. The disc progessively gets better, and by cut 3, "Where We Live" there is abundant substance to dig. Along the way the band loses the minstream feathreing and instead rely more on concrete song structures with soaring chorus, always a good sign. Some defined lead would have been great, but I'm not disappointed because effort is well extended for overall feel. Kinda between a night groovin at the fair-grounds and one down at the Bistro. Where melancholy tends to want to keep, the band keeps the emotions in check as they switch gears to staunch the immersion of depressives. A couple of rave-ups, a few sneers and one or two narratives. Yeah it grows on ya! Contact: http://www.knarecords.com |
