I was going to type up a long rambling thing about some of these, but life is short and I don't want to ramble on too much. I realized I was typing COC's life history and you know what? I'll just talk about the album.
1. CORROSION OF CONFORMITY - CORROSION OF CONFORMITY
This is a new 11 song album by the Animosity trio that is Woody, Reed & Mike, with Mike singing. The classic lineup that introduced the crossover punk/metal movement 'reformed' without Pepper, the lead singer from 1994-2005. Holy crap, Deliverance (one of my favorite albums) came out 18 years ago. I have worn down CD copies of Blind, Deliverance, and Wiseblood. I had never heard punk before, so I thought Eye For An Eye was a strange one, but also a ton of noisy fun. So when I meet people who love Animosity and I tell them it's my least favorite of their albums, holy crap do I get an earful about what is a landmark album, they sold out with Pepper and Karl, they weren't the same band. It's not like I hate Animosity (reread that phrase again). This is an incredibly interesting band. And they're my one of my favorites, if not my favorite.
So the self titled return to power trio: it's pretty wild. Side B is pretty fantastic (I have the record) and I almost forget about Side A. Side B features "The Moneychangers," "The Doom," two songs sung by Reed, all of them really good, but the standout track for me is "Time Of Trials," the last song with the most impressive guitar riffage. It's all over the place and it's fantastic, and it ends in such a fashion that makes me want to listen to that, Side B, and the whole album again.
I'm glad that it's not a matter of them recapturing the magic and repeating exactly what they did nearly 30 years ago, it was a nice step from Arms Of God (even Reed's "Newness" sounds like something that would be on that album, the one album he wasn't on). It's a bit uneven but otherwise I really dig it. They reunited in 2009 and started doing shows in 2010 hither and yon, and I've been thrilled that they've been so active since. This is the longest stretch that they've been playing out. After America's Volume Dealer and then In The Arms Of God, I was worried that each time they'd just split for good. They seem to be going full steam ahead, and look like they are having a blast. A really different and good album helps too.
2. PELICAN - ATARAXIA / TARAXIS
A new EP from one of my favorite semi-local instrumental bands. I hate the term "post-metal" but whatever. I'd say I buy anything from them, but they have released a bunch of 7"s that I didn't purchase because they were just demos or cuts from albums I already own. Perhaps like any other band I was psychotically devoted to, one day I might lose interest in every permutation of a song they released on some expensive format and find myself selling at least some of the less...impressive entries of their catalog, like the Pink Mammoth EP, which is just two songs. One, a long reworking of a song I already heard before, and the other some sort of strange ethereal remix of something that resembles a song. And I STILL LISTEN TO THIS. Once I listened to it at the wrong speed AND DIDN'T NOTICE. So when the time comes, well, thank goodness I have the foresight to question the releases of the bands I am obsessed about.
Yet, I listen to all their albums and, shall we say, substantive EPs over and over obsessively. The last EP (Emphemeral) had three long songs, one a cover, and the title track appearing on the next full length. How will they treat this EP of shorter songs? Will they appear on another album?
I hope not. Yup, on vinyl again, and yup, it's the preferred packaging. I'm not saying this to be a snob. I think that their use of song titles is snobbish. Why? Side A (Ataraxia and Lathe Biosas) feel like one big song, Ataraxia being the intro (that starts off like someone a block away mowing their lawn...I had to check the window twice to see if that was the case) and Lathe Biosas matching it and continuing on. And Lathe Biosas is an amazing instrumental. It's short and there's a lot going on. That's what I love about this band: the might be known for their long and complicated songs, but they're more impressive with shorter material where you hear something new each time. That's why I love their first EP so much.
Side B (Parasite Colony and Taraxis) feels almost the same way; on my iPod, going from Lathe Biosas to Parasite Colony is almost so jarring that it felt like something that had to be heard on a record. Like Ataraxia/Lathe Biosas was to be played without hearing the other two songs immediately afterward. Side B is a little slower, with Parasite Colony coming off as something slow and droning that you'd hear on the previous album. The real star is Taraxis, which starts off as an acoustic (distortionless, er, clean, but the first guitar sounds like an acoustic) number and then builds up slowly before halting for another quiet moment before letting it rip with discordant distortion. And each time, it feels like there's something I haven't heard before.
So, thumbs up. It seemed like the in-between-album releases were just strange remixes or bizarre team ups with other bands to rework already existing material. I would hate to accuse them of filler and i do actually enjoy these strange releases, BUT with Emphemeral and now Ataraxia/Taraxis, I'm thrilled that they have put out new material, and in this more recent case, they could, like their first "untitled" EP, pack in a lot of musical action in a short amount of time.
3. TORCHE - HARMONICRAFT
I saw these guys with COC this year and I really dug them. A friend who told me about them said that they were kind of a doom metal version of Foo Fighters. That's not the best description, but they're a hard band to describe. Thanks to some birthday money, I managed to get what I think is their existing catalog. Here's what I think:
Torch - self titled debut. They went back and remixed it, and that's the copy I bought. A little rough around the edges, and the singing is a little harsh, but otherwise it's pretty solid.
In Return - This was the first thing I bought and I loved it. Catchy songs that end abruptly instead of going to a long solo break. Strange way-downtuned noise bits that go on and on. A pretty neat sample of what they are capable of: going heavy, rocking out, singing pretty songs. I got it on vinyl and it came with a CD. Sweet.
Meanderthal - a pretty wild album, with much better songwriting and singing, and still some crazy detuned chug-a-lugs. I can see how these guys can appeal to pretty much anyone, they have a lot to offer.
Songs For Singles - not exactly more of the same, but less noise and more poppish songwriting and good singing. This was packaged strangely: the LP was sealed in a giant (record sized) white paper envelope.
So, here's the latest, Harmonicraft. The artwork is bizarre and wonderful: unicorns vomiting rainbows. The packaging for the LP is fantastic, and I recommend it if you have an interest in records. It comes with a digital download, a poster, AND a turntable mat. I gotta say, when you need a word to describe a metal band, you usually don't want to use the phrase "adorable," but here we are. Then again, I know people who won't listen to Queens Of The Stone Age because they have the word "Queens" in their band name. And QotSA for the most part rocks.
Musically, there's not as many doomy gloomy noise craziness, and I was getting used to that between the sugary sweet happy singalong stuff. I think I'm actually going into a sugar coma and need to take a break from the amount of times I've played the album. I really dig it, but am I getting burned out on it already? Is this too much of a good thing? I've acquired what I think is their entire catalog in less than two months, after all, so maybe I did it to myself. (Did I mention that I was really impressed with them?)
Harmonicraft really good;Yeah, there's the metal Foo Fighters, yet this comes off as a thrashy Cars. I think I know what I don't like: like In Return, a lot of those catchy songs are over and done with. The longer metal songs are long because of some repetitive intros and build ups. The album opens with the short and fast paced "Letting Go," "Kicking," and "Walk It Off," and then it's followed by the longer "Reverse Inverted" and "In Pieces," and they're quite a contrast to the first three songs in that it almost breaks up the momentum. Maybe I need to come up with my own personal track order for this. There's only one instrumental, the title track, and it's a busy wall of sound and it's pretty impressive.
I do dig this album, and I may be slightly burned out from inputting their entire output in such a short amount of time. "Skin Moth" and "Kicking" are probably my favorites. The whole thing is really good and the packaging bumps it up a few notches. Kudos to them, recommended.
4. METALLICA - BEYOND MAGNETIC
If I were still a fan club member, they would have emailed me the songs. Instead, I quit the club because it was something like 50 bucks a year and though there was a time I had 40 releases by the band, like I mentioned about Pelican, after a while I realized that I didn't need 30 live versions of Creeping Death and that that 50 bucks could net me music by other bands I haven't heard of yet. Oh, exploration and soul searching.
I wasn't alienated by Load. I think I alienated people by liking Load. I was definitely bored by ReLoad. With Street Anger, well, I figured that I didn't have to accept them as the greatest, most powerful, and most influential metal band in my lifetime. I mean, that was just a steaming pile of turd.
So Death Magnetic was some sort of modern day attack on their previous albums. Like, let's get aggressive and make an attempt to get back to our roots, but with James' current vocal range. So instead of ripping off Diamond Head, they ripped off themselves. And it was...pretty good. Scratch that: except for the fact they made an "Unforgiven 3," which only sucks because it's called "Unforgiven" and they can just stop with that, please, it was really good. Not Master Of Puppets amazing when you're 15 years old good.
Some people are just not even going to bother giving them the time of day after the Black album, that's for sure. I can see why. I can see why the hipsters, before they were hipsters, and alternative gen xers hated them, as Metallica represented everything about the lowbrow metal world they thought they knew and could look down on. I don't know. I know that the hard stuff that does make it to the mainstream and that all the hipsters who wouldn't have given two seconds thought about or even a chance back in 1995 but claim they accept today owes it to Metallica for making it remotely possible. So, thanks Metallica. Now delete Unforgiven Too from the original master recordings, please.
OKAY, so, BEYOND MAGNETIC: this is four songs leftover from Death Magnetic. MetClub fans got the songs for free when Metallica played a bunch of shows for their 30th anniversary. The rest of us had to pay for them. I wasn't willing to shell out 4 bucks on iTunes or whatever for leftover unfinished barely mixed songs but I bought the vinyl version they released on Record Store Day?
What?
What's missing from this? In my opinion, backing vocals. Doubling up. Harmonizing. Something along those lines. These songs can use these. James sounds pretty flat through most of these songs, it gets kinda monotonous. Shake it up. I'm not asking to have it sound pretty or anything, but it gets dry.
The only song that sounds close to finished is the 8 minute Rebel Of Babylon. It sounds like something that should have been on Death Magnetic...some parts of it make me think I need to go though DeathM to hear if they were parts of songs that made it on. I also enjoy Hell & Back. Little tweaks and these could have replaced the instrumental and Unforgiven 3 on the actual album.
That's side b. So, side a: Hate Train and Just A Bullet Away. Hate Train sounds like a parody of their own material. It starts off with "Hate! is a train! that thunders in our head." Okay, we've gone back to Street Anger stupidity. It kind of rocks, but just that first line makes me stop taking the song seriously (frankly, I lost interest with the opening solo. C'mon guys, this is a 7 minute long song. Can't you just leave the rockin' opening riff alone before insulting us with that first line?). The rest of the song is okay. It's followed by Just A Bullet Away, which kind of goes for a Harvest Of Sorrow opening, and a pretty cool riff that just goes on for a bit too long. There's some of that on DeathM as well, everything on that album and this EP could benefit from a radio edit. Anyway, the song stops nearly halfway through for a clean guitar jam, and I wonder if this is the reason that it was left off. It's not bad, but it ain't great either.
NOTE: I think this is a side effect from my Goons experience and 'studying' the Ramones for the Goons. Long songs. Just can't get into them. You can cut this, you can cut that. Streamline and you will have something that your fans will listen to over and over and over and over.
Anyway, there's not a stinker on here, very little is worse than what made it on DeathM and at no point do I turn my nose and say "oh, that should've just been deleted!" But why NOT go back and finish it up? Am I a sucker for shelling out money for unfinished/slightly mixed material that the band never intended to share? Was there a reason that these were left off? "Lars, if we put THESE on the album, we'll be RUINED!" That sort of thing. It might not be inspired nor exactly exciting and thus I don't blame the band for leaving it off. But Hell & Back and Rebel Of Babylon are pretty good, and maybe even better than material on the actual album, so at least that's worth checking out.
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