PSYCHEDELIC/STONER/SPACE-ROCK:
AMPLIFIER: Amplifier Digi-Pak Reissue +Ltd Bonus CD DBLCD
This band is like a dirtier, grungier King's X wrapped up in a coat of Soundgarden colours, whipped up to mid-paced, storm force, the guitars, bass and drums going nuclear, injected with space-rock magic and Krautrock jamming capabilities. Across some stunning original songs and good instrumental space, crushingly heavy in a most dynamic way, huge-sounding but never bombastic, the trio provide an intense sense of restrained firepower that then erupts into a white-heat furnace of jamming sound as the guitars, awesome bass and heavy drum work do their stuff. But it's not dumb - the songs are immaculate, the combination of soaring lead vocal and some stirring harmonies, an unexpected icing on the already delicious cake. Over ten incendiary songs, this is one massive slice of searing sound with some positively psychedelic guitar work that's like what made the furnace-heat core of something like 'Uncle Harry's Last Freak-Out' ignited to create an explosion of guitar-driven sound like you've rarely witnessed. With track titles such as 'Post Acid Youth', 'Motorhead', 'UFO's' and 'Panzer', this gives in itself a flavour of the solid intensity that is this most incredible of albums. But, not only that, you also get a bonus EP on this fold-out digi-pak reissue, that contains three exclusive tracks as well as two enhanced video tracks from songs off the main album.
BETHANY CURVE: Flaxen CD
The first new songs from this band fro ages and ages - I thought they'd disappeared - but on the evidence of this, that's far from the truth. A twenty-six minute, 6-song studio mini-album, it's like they never left. Continuing from the gorgeous overload that was 'Gold', the sound is a wonderfully expansive panorama of guitars that smoulder, shimmer, fly high and soar around your head, as the distant rumbling rhythm section makes its presence felt without ever becoming too obtrusive or one-dimensional. Throughout the album you hear that trademark swirling, seemingly endless sea of atmospheric electric guitars like some outworld cosmic soup, that hold the attention as the chilled-out male vocal, slowly unwinds to complement the music to a tee, In many ways, this is more psychedelic than most psychedelic albums as you distinctly feel that this is one trip you really want to experience many times to come. With it's core guitar soundscapes ranging from massively intense to free-floating bliss, nearly always layered and excellently produced, the whole album is so engaging and it's the whole "feel" of the thing that is so vital a component and sure to win a place in your heart. So, turn the lights down, let the sound fill the room and listen with awe to one of the most unique yet satisfying bands on the planet.
JET JAGUAR: Solar Anthem-Live CD(14 tracks) 4LP Box Set (21 tracks) Regardless of which version you get, the core main album is just stunning. This band play a highly original brand of space-rock whereby the overriding influences at work are as much Bob Calvert's Captain Lockheed style of delivery as much as Hawkwind's classic driving riffing, so that in this band, you not only get the best of both worlds but, thanks to their trademark swirling guitar sound, delivered in a highly original and refreshing way. The heart of the album consists of 11 immaculately recorded live tracks that really bring out an energy in the band and yet sound just as good as the last studio album. The line-up of instruments reads more like a musical arsenal with synthesizers, keyboards, percussion, vocoder, pedals, electronic drums, acoustic drums, modules, machines, sampler, more synthesizers, more keyboards, electric bass, electric guitar, pitch shifter, second bass and vocals - phew!!! The sound is just awesome as are the compositions, and anyone who likes corking space-rock and the heavier, powerful tracks on the 'Captain Lockheed' album will get off on this. The tracks are recorded in various venues in the Usa so that you get definitive live versions of each song, but they play as though as single concert, so you get the all-important feeling of cohesion and flow from start to finish. One of the most engaging and incredible of the latest wave of American space-rock, this is yet another crowning glory release. But, not only that, on the CD you get three bonus studio tracks that include a cover of Amon Duul II's 'Archangel's Thunderbird' and a fourteen minute cover of Pink Floyd's 'Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun', while the vinyl set has these AND a cover of Hawkwind's 'Orgone Accumulator' plus a cover of Can's 'Moonshake' as well as extra original tracks. Either way, it's essential listening for space-rock fans and you'll be playing this for ages to come.
PHARAOH OVERLORD: II CD
It's not often you get an instrumental album by a band bracketed as "psychedelic" or "stoner" that crosses over into the worlds of "Krautrock", but this is a rare exception. The main reason for this is that, for a psychedelic guitar-led band's second album, much of it is remarkably restrained, at times almost melodic, so that you get the feel of a more drugged-out early Ash Ra Tempel, as the electric guitar chimes rather than powers up, with some fantastic clear-cut chording and melodic flow, above a rhythm section that keeps it tight but also quite restrained. Yet it never loses its psychedelic way, with the second track even using acoustic guitar to add to the trippy effect, as the electric guitar and bass gradually intensify and the piece builds to spectacular effect but never breaks out. With the average track length at around eight minutes, there's more than enough room to stretch out but not so much room that they become uninteresting. The first three tracks are all examples of brooding strength and underlying power as the layers of guitars and bass, the slowly moving rhythm section and hints of feedback provide the soundtrack to your mind-trip of exquisite proportions. The, when the ten minute 'Skyline' begins its more thickly chorded outing, it's like being somewhere between instrumental early King's X on a more far-out, fuzzed-up trip with phasing enhancing the swirling soundscapes from the growling bass, searing guitar and slow-mo drums, the whole thing utterly hypnotic and a sea of flowing, restrained, thickly chorded but magnificently psychedelic riffing, the phasing just piling on the effects as the intensity hots up and the track spirals to a gripping and tense finale. The ten minute 'Love Unfiltered' returns to the more languid mode for its chiming guitar and gliding rhythms, this time melodic lead guitars adding a greater focus to the slow waves of Kraut-esque jamming that has by now become the trademark of the album. The final track, 'Who Were You' takes the elements that you've heard so far and goes into some seriously spooky territories, with added guitar effects and layers providing some seriously dark sounds above the chiming leads, growling bass fogbank and deliciously slow drums. A superb album, not what you expected, but better!!
SPIRITUAL BEGGARS: Demons LTD DOUBLE CD
It's probably that area where a stoner rock album turns into THE most sensational slice of seventies-influenced heavy rock, that what is, at heart, a stoner rock album, can be said to be sheer class and quality. That is what oozes - in fact positively streams - out of very pore of this remarkable album. Thirteen tracks of steaming molten metal wrapped up in a stoner disguise, all of which are songs that you'll die for. The guitar work is on fire, the rhythm section fired up and all three produced to perfection so that you hear every facet of the band, even though it's a monumentally heavy wall of electric guitar-driven power. But it's got the whole feel of the best that the heavy metal seventies had to offer, running through its veins and that, allied to the fact that here we have THE best set of original songs that this band has ever come up with, means that this is a totally unparalleled work from this band and certainly an album that can be called "essential listening". Not only that but, if you're quick enough, you'll secure the limited edition release that features a whole thirty one minute album of the band live in Japan in 2005, but it's the main studio album that's going to blow you away for sure, and become one of THE best rock albums in your collection, one you will just play and play and play - oh, that guitar sound - give me more - much more!!!!
ROCK/METAL, etc:
ALONG CAME MAN: Believe There's Nothing CDEP
New Welsh trio with twenty two minutes of seriously rousing rock that bridges a gap between nu-metal, emo and punk with a stirring set of songs delivered with firepower and passion. There's a vocalist who provides a quite throaty roar but well sung at the same time, while the guitars show both a searing and an harmonic quality on an anthemic, albeit relatively chorus-free, opener that sets the stage for things to come, as the band positively leap into life on the more Blink 182-esque second track with a real charge to the vocals and some soaring guitar riffing against hammering drums and booming bass, as over four minutes of emo-laced excellence come into being. The third track is similar and, if anything, more urgent while the fourth track steams into life with a thousand riffs, as the main body of the song in terms of vocals and guitar, simply erupts into life as the whole thing takes off for the ride and sounds just amazing for five glorious minutes. The EP ends on an acoustic number that shows the band can really cut it without the energy, the harmony vocals providing the depth as the guitars and bass continue to roll inexorably on.
AMPLIFIER: Amplifier Digi-Pak Reissue +Ltd Bonus CD DBLCD
This band is like a dirtier, grungier King's X wrapped up in a coat of Soundgarden colours, whipped up to mid-paced, storm force, the guitars, bass and drums going nuclear, injected with space-rock magic and Krautrock jamming capabilities. Across some stunning original songs and good instrumental space, crushingly heavy in a most dynamic way, huge-sounding but never bombastic, the trio provide an intense sense of restrained firepower that then erupts into a white-heat furnace of jamming sound as the guitars, awesome bass and heavy drum work do their stuff. But it's not dumb - the songs are immaculate, the combination of soaring lead vocal and some stirring harmonies, an unexpected icing on the already delicious cake. Over ten incendiary songs, this is one massive slice of searing sound with some positively psychedelic guitar work that's like what made the furnace-heat core of something like 'Uncle Harry's Last Freak-Out' ignited to create an explosion of guitar-driven sound like you've rarely witnessed. With track titles such as 'Post Acid Youth', 'Motorhead', 'UFO's' and 'Panzer', this gives in itself a flavour of the solid intensity that is this most incredible of albums. But, not only that, you also get a bonus EP on this fold-out digi-pak reissue, that contains three exclusive tracks as well as two enhanced video tracks from songs off the main album.
CANCER: Spirit In Flames CD
First full-length album for seven years from the Death Metal band and it's a stormer. Eschewing the excesses of the genre, they've sensibly decided to make it revolve around the songs, so that while none of it loses the staggering power levels upon which each track revolves, the vocals are "sung" and the lyrics audible, even harmony vocals in there too. Yes, this is the thinking man's end of the Death Metal spectrum, almost so good it's beyond that classification. The band positively erupt as a Vesuvius like wall of riffs, rhythms and solos rains down on an unsuspecting audience. The intensity meter levels are on "perfect" as they strike just the right balance of weight and dynamics, the band really going for it, and while much of it is completely overpoweringly heavy, they never for one minute lose sight of the fact that they have a song to deliver and the result is jaw-dropping. The sheer quality of the compositions puts this band at the top rung of the ladder and must surely break out into a much wider metal arena as a result of an album so remarkably accomplished as this - time to see this not as Death Metal but as immensely powerful metal with a long-lasting appeal.
CO-EXIST: Surgical Removal…………. CD
Oh I say - this is a tad heavy, Patricia! One can feel the walls shake - and isn't that the sound of the conservatory falling down. You know dear, I really do think you ought to turn that down a bit - I mean, the neighbours are going to complain if you have it at that volume. I know you like it loud, but your mother's already coughing up blood and I really don't think that's good for her. Oh look - now you've killed the parrot! Really dear, if you're not going to turn that noise down, I'll have to do it myself - let me see now - Oh my goodness - that's disgusting - are you really enjoying something as brutal as this - honestly, Patricia, I sometime think your mum and I brought you up to do better than this. What do you mean "it's all the rage" - rage is the one word I have to say that came to my mind, dear, Oh look, now you've turned it up even louder - you're making me shout - now I can't hear you at all - you're lost in that hail of…..are those drums, dear? They sound more like mechanical drills, and I really think that singer's being strangled. It really is a rather large blast of sound, dear - you can't mean to tell me you're actually enjoying this!! You are? Oh, the youth of today - where will it all end!!
Sadly, he was just about to find out when she turned the volume up to ten!!!
ESOTERICA: The Fool CD
Every so often in the world reviewing rock based albums, something will come along that stops you in your tracks on the basis of that it's genuine something new - a completely fresh sounding approach to things with which you've becomes so familiar. So much so that, rather than "review" the album, the first thing you do is forget about all that and just LISTEN. You hear the vocals - a guy who's got a lot to say and it's all interesting - a guy who delivers the lyrics with amazing passion and intensity one minute then heartfelt angst the next, but always pouring his heart and soul into the song. From the giddy heights of the stirring anthem that is the full-sounding 'Salvation' to the more restrained and no less intense flavours of the balldic 'Valium', and leading directly into the stop-start thunder of 'Pushing Providence', this is a thoroughly riveting set of tracks that just dares you to look away - and you don't - it's that confident of its expression and effect. From mountains of soaring, blazing guitars that form a giant fireball in the distant skies, to chiming guitars and a thoroughly wide-ranging display of supreme competence from the rhythm section, all topped off with one red-hot and superbly sung vocals, not to mention arrangements that are positively mind-blowing in their use of dynamics and power, this is the sound of U2, Porcupine Tree, Funeral For A Friend and lord knows what else, all there in one thoroughly original, unique and totally satisfying new set of clothes. This could become a classic - get on board now so you can say "I told you so".
HEADSPEED: Blueprint For Disaster CD
Ah yes - a band from my old stamping ground of Wolverhampton. On the evidence of this, I wish I was back there, because this is one awesome metal album delivere with a confidence that makes you think they've been going for years rather than just starting up. The embody all the best bits of things like Foo Fighters, Linkin Park, Funeral For A Friend and similar, spice it up with some wickedly understated Death Metallizing riffing, but pour the whole mix into their own melting pot to come up with eleven tracks that are wholly original and a decidedly fresh approach to all-out nu-metal attack. The main thing to mention is that this is a song album - the emphasis is on compositions, structure and while the music is sensational, the production and delivery allows you to hear every bit of the vocalists, losing nothing of the sheer rock power that makes this album such a stunner, in the process. Every track seems to fire up with an enthusiasm and, above all, a practically faultless level of composition and musicianship, so that you are totally caught up in forty-three minutes of molten metal that is so magnificent, you'll wonder why this band aren't a household name amongst the rock fraternity already. Not a track on this album is less than unutterable amazing, and if you want loud, well-thought, superbly delivered and refreshingly inventive nu-metal, then look no further. Today Wolverhampton, tomorrow the world. Stunning and then some!!!
HOUSTON CALLS: A Collection Of Short Stories CD£
Now this is hot - it's like an intelligent Blink 182 in many ways. Every song tells a story, and it's all delivered in that classic Americana pop-punk style with solid guitar riffs, anthemic songs, hooks and harmonies to keep you happy and a thoroughly attention-grabbing set of performances. The song-writing is superb as you enter the personal world of the composer and experience their lives, loves and lifestyles, while the arrangements bring the lyrics to life, the result being a set of 11 songs that are catchier than the common cold. You simply don't need vast amounts of words to describe this - it's the sound of your life, the sound of summer, the sound of everything you ever wanted and plenty that maybe you didn't - all wrapped up in pop-punk perfection. Glorious!!
LAZARUS BLACKSTAR: Revelations CD
Doom metal of the slow burning, ultra heavy, intense, dense, crushing, overpowering gloom variety. They sensibly print all the lyrics in the booklet as, without that, you can make out few of the words that the vocalist is singing since they've decided to keep him upfront in the mix but at such a level where he's close to being drowned out by the awesomely heavy river of disemboweling bass, sludge guitar riffs and crunching, crashing drumming. Across 7 tracks and 46 minutes, the compositions exude a decidedly hypnotic effect as you find yourself more than enjoying this river of molten doom that's flowing like lava from the erupting speakers of your room. The arrangements and production really bring out the best of the band so that, while it is seriously intense, at no point do you want to leave it, as you witness the massive wall of sound slowly coming ever nearer. One of the best of its kind, that's for sure.
MOLLY HATCHET: Warriors Of The Rainbow Bridge CD
It must be wonderful living in Molly-world - you never have to worry about what to do next on a musical level, the word "adventure" lost in the mists of time. For here we have their quadrillionth album and - sure thing - it sounds just like the first one did 25+ years ago - hell, yeh!! For in their eyes, "Suvvern Rock" has never lost its shine, and so they keep on playing it. For you, the dear listener, you'll want me to tell you why you need this album in addition to what you've already got - what makes this SO special that you just HAVE to have it. Well - tuff, 'coz I can't. It's good - don't get me wrong - it does everything it says on the tin - with guitars blazing and the good ol' Southern Rock flag flying high and proud throughout. BUT I'VE HEARD IT ALL BEFORE!! - and better than this too - mind you, to be fair, they've done a lot worse albums as well. I'd say that if you're a part time fan with the first two studio albums, the awesome first live album, the last live album and one more, then you should get this because you really should have a gem from the current band, but otherwise, try and cop an earful first.
MOUNTAIN: Official Live Bootleg Series Vol 8: Detroit 7 June 1985 CD
Now the reason this is here is to correct a myth with this band held by many, that if it isn't seventies, it ain't worth talking about. Well, this concert recording from '85 cranks the guitars up to ten, with the bass and drums not far behind, and sees the band steam through a set of classics old and new with an energy that's electrifying. The guitar riffs and rhythm thunder leap out of the speakers with a vengeance as legendary guitarist Leslie West unleashes a whole sea of solos that leave you breathless, the near nine minute 'Hard Times' being a corking example of this within the structure of a song, while the six minute 'Nantucket Sleighride' sails into a "solo" slot from West that just blows you away for twelve minutes until it's headlong into a rip-roaring 'Mississippi Queen' to end things on a high note. Mixing desk recording sounding fuzzy because of the sheer volume at which they played and just the business!!
NAILED: A Pure World Is A Dead World CD
Well, it's only thirty-two minutes long and there are 9 tracks, but trust me, you couldn't survive more than that, for this is one of the most crushingly heavy slices of rampaging Death Metal that you'll have encountered. It takes no prisoners and becomes this nuclear force howl of rifle-fire drums, disemboweling bass and napalm-soaked, on-fire guitars, the vocal growl rising and falling in the mix to jaw-dropping effect. Forget understanding the words - just feel the heat. This lot crush you mercilessly then drive up and down over your lifeless corpse, enjoying every minute of the experience. It's intensity personified, it's smokingly addictive and it's so heavy you expect the floor to give way any minute. But it's produced immaculately so that every facet of what's going on, right down to the cascading and erupting lead guitar soloing is as clear as a bell over the armed warfare that's going on in the background. Overall, it's monumental and quite quite brilliant.
