Monthly Archive for December, 2009

The Dogmatic Top 10 Albums Of 2009

Looking back at all the amazing releases throughout 2009, it proved to be a monumental task in trimming it all down to a mere top 10.

There was no hard and fast criteria on how I got to these 10 gems, but out of pure enjoyment and repeat playability throughout the course of the year – this lot stood out like the proverbial.

The Dogmatic Top 10 Albums Of 2009

It is a bit of an eclectic mix. Punk, Alt, Metal, Electronica and Rock. Why limit yourself to one genre when there are so many wonderful flavours out there huh?

So without further delay, here are my top 10 albums of 2009.

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The Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones

Based on the award-winning and best-selling 2002 novel of the same name by Alice Sebold, ‘The Lovely Bones’ is a remarkable, moving and ambitious movie that I found absolutely enthralling. And in a movie which confronts two worlds divided – the world of the living and the world of the dead, division has been strong amongst critics who either love or hate this film. There seems to be very little middle ground. And I find that incredibly puzzling. Granted, a movie is never going to fully capture the depth and intensity of any book – particularly one that is based on author Sebold’s own personal tragedy of being raped by a rapist whose previous victim had died. Heavy stuff!

There are some amazing performances on offer here, Stanley Tucci as the murderous George Harvey is unsettling, disturbing and creepy beyond belief. Saoirse Ronan, as Susie Salmon, is positively enchanting and puts in a mesmerising performance throughout. A stellar support cast featuring Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon and Sopranos’ star Michael Imperioli round things off in a movie that also features a musical score by Brian Eno.

Directed by Peter Jackson, who returns to the ‘suburban murder’ schtick after a lengthy absence – (he directed ‘Heavenly Creatures’ in 1994 – a film about two homicidal girls) and deals with an afterlife devoid of any religious overtones (thank fuck for that!) – but an afterlife as interpreted by a young teenage girl. Fanciful, free and confusing – just like teenage life itself.

Critics of the film have commented that the movie is ‘scared’ to look the horror in the face and skips the gory details of the rape, murder and subsequent dismemberment. But do we really need to see that? No we don’t. The horror is all there, permeating under the surface and brimming with sadness and pain as the family splinters into mourning and Susie is left wandering the afterlife looking for some sort of peace – and vengeance.

Rowland Howard Hangs Up His Guitar For Keeps

Rowland Howard Hangs Up His Guitar For Keeps.
Melbourne musician Rowland S. Howard – the guitarist in Nick Cave’s cult punk-era bands The Boys Next Door and The Birthday Party – died yesterday at the Austin Hospital from liver cancer. He was 50.

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Vale Rowland S. Howard

Late today I heard of the tragic loss of Rowland S. Howard.

He was one of my favourite musicians and one whose career and various bands and collaborations I have followed for many years. The photo below was taken at his last show (he cancelled the Northcote Social club one) at The Prince of Wales 29 October 2009, for the launch of his long-awaited album Pop Crimes.

Vale Rowland S. Howard

How could we all know, that 2 months later, he would be gone?

The gig was packed and it proved very hard to push up the front to get a decent shot, but I have many (probably hundreds) of photos of Rowland over the years, as well as 10+ years of bootlegs.
I almost never missed a show…

My ex-boyfriend Anthony and I were die-hard fans and when Rowland played residencies for months on end (when pub nights were plenty and bands could play for a couple of bucks a pop) we used to go with a big group of friends, and then drive Rowland home from the shows, on occasions. He was the quintessential gentleman, and never forgot who his fans were; when Anthony died in 2001, it was Rowland who played a couple of acoustic tracks at his funeral.

How many ‘rock stars’ would do that?

Rowland was possibly the greatest under-rated guitarist and musician in the Australian music scene.
I was stoked he managed to release Pop Crimes to critical acclaim and re-kindle interest in his music and career once more.

For the past few years, Rowland’s health wasn’t good. He needed a liver transplant, something he told me himself, before it was common knowledge. His gigs and appearances became rarer, as time went on, and it was something that would eventually end his life, aged 50.

I feel privileged to have been at his last show, and my thoughts are with his brother Harry, his family, his band mates and ex-bandmate/ eternal soulmate Genevieve McGuckin.

View photos from Rowland’s final gig here.

Rowland S. Howard Dead

Rowland S. Howard Live @ The Prince Bandroom, Melbourne, Australia

Saddened by the news this afternoon that influential Australian songwriter and guitarist Rowland S. Howard lost his battle with cancer.

I was fortunate enough to have been at his last gig and got the opportunity to photograph the man at the Prince Bandroom in October.

He passed away this morning, aged 50.

Howard was waiting for a liver transplant and had cancelled recent shows due to illness.

The influential guitarist came to prominence as a member of Melbourne punk band the Boys Next Door who became The Birthday Party, fronted by Nick Cave.

Howard wrote their iconic hit Shivers, and his guitar skills would inspire a generation to come.

The guitarist was also a member of bands including The Young Charlatans, Crime and the City Solution and These Immortal Souls. Over the years, Rowland collaborated with the likes of Nikki Sudden (RIP), Lydia Lunch, Jeffrey Lee Pierce (RIP), Jeremy Gluck and Barry Adamson to name a few.

His final gig was at the Prince of Wales in October to launch the album.

I had met the man once, as my girlfriend was a friend of his and has quite a substantial bootleg collection of his live shows which she recorded over the course of the last decade.

Ironically enough, he actually lived in the apartment next door to us before we moved into this block.

View photos from Rowland’s final gig here.

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Avenged Sevenfold Drummer Found Dead

Avenged Sevenfold Drummer Found Dead

Totally gutted to hear today that Avenged Sevenfold drummer ‘The Rev’ (James Owen Sullivan) – was found dead in his home. He was 28 years old.

An amazingly gifted drummer and the only shining light when I saw the band live a few years ago.

Sullivan appears to have died of natural causes, Huntington Beach police Lt. John Domingo told The Orange County Register. Police were notified by firefighters who had responded to Sullivan’s home about 1 p.m., according to the report.

For its last two albums, the 2005 breakthrough City of Evil (powered by the single “Bat Country” and certified platinum in August) and 2007’s self-titled effort (featuring the hit “Dear God”), A7X began to model itself more on Guns N’ Roses at its most unhinged to gain some distance from this decade’s screaming metal scene. Hard partying came with the territory, and the band often bragged about its misadventures — so it isn’t unthinkable that Sullivan’s death might have been drug- or alcohol-related. As of now, however, police are attributing his demise to natural causes.

Sullivan dramatically stepped up his game as more than just a drummer along with the sonic advances of those last two records, preceded by the rawer Waking the Fallen, from 2003, and the 2001 debut Sounding the Seventh Trumpet. His rapid-fire yet exact pounding supplied the backbone of the band’s newly chrome-polished approach, but his backing vocals helped offset frontman M. Shadows‘ shift away from shouting and toward a more full-bodied approach, notably on songs such as “Lost,” “Afterlife” and the Rock Band staple “Almost Easy.” He will not be easily replaced.

That latter track, by the way, became so popular that the USC Trojan Marching Band performed it during this year’s Rose Bowl halftime show. But Sullivan’s contributions extended further than what he brought to that popular song — he’s also acknowledged as chief songwriter on the eight-minute piano-driven epic “A Little Piece of Heaven,” though virtually all A7X songs are credited entirely to the band.
Sullivan also took up the mic as lead vocalist for a more avant-garde side project, Pinkly Smooth, launched with Avenged guitarist Synyster Gates and former members of the band Ballistico. For that outfit’s lone album, Unfortunate Snort (2002), the man whose full unholy moniker was The Reverend Tholomew Plague instead went by the name Rathead. Prior to his time with Avenged, he also served as drummer for O.C. ska-pop favorite Suburban Legends.

The band has posted the following message:

“It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we tell you of the passing today of Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan. Jimmy was not only one of the world’s best drummers, but more importantly he was our best friend and brother. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Jimmy’s family and we hope that you will respect their privacy during this difficult time.

Jimmy you are forever in our hearts.
We love you.

M Shadows, Synyster Gates, Zacky Vengeance and Johnny Christ”

Sad news indeed!

Until The Light Takes Us

Until The Light Takes Us

Until The Light Takes Us tells the story of black metal. Part music scene and part cultural uprising, black metal rose to worldwide notoriety in the mid-nineties when a rash of suicides, murders, and church burnings accompanied the explosive artistic growth and output of a music scene that would forever redefine what heavy metal is and what it stands for to other musicians, artists and music fans world-wide. Until The Light Takes Us goes behind the highly sensationalized media reports of “Satanists running amok in Europe” to examine the complex and largely misunderstood principles and beliefs that led to this rebellion against both Christianity and modern culture.

To capture this on film, directors Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell moved to Norway and lived with the musicians for several years, building relationships that allowed them to create a surprisingly intimate portrait of this violent, but ultimately misunderstood, movement. The result is a poignant, moving story that’s as much about the idea that reality is composed of whatever the most people believe, regardless of what’s actually true, as it is about a music scene that blazed a path of murder and arson across the northern sky.

View the trailer here.

Continue reading ‘Until The Light Takes Us’

Doctor Who Beats Onward

Doctor Who Beats Onward

In the Doctor Who Universe, if Donna Noble has wedding plans something is bound to go wrong. And in ‘The End of Time’ (Part One), things go rather badly for all of humankind.

The two-part Doctor Who Christmas Special marks the end of David Tennant’s run as the tenth Doctor and Russell T. Davies role as Lead Writer and Executive Producer of the series. And there have been some fantastic episodes during this era of Doctor Who – ‘Blink’, ‘The Girl in the Fireplace’, ‘The Christmas Invasion’ and ‘Turn Left’ to name a handful. So the cliffhanger of this two-part finale for Tennant and Davies should be an edge of the seat nail biter, right? Unfortunately, not so much.

Long-time Doctor Who nemesis, The Master, makes his return rather ingloriously in some bizarre Saxon ritual and then runs amok devouring hamburgers and humans alike to feed his famishment. And when meeting up with The Doctor, he just happens to turn on some Star Wars style Sith-like powers to pummel him with an electricity bolt and then zoom directly up into the air.

Granted, the quick chat between The Doctor and The Master was endearing. The visions of a little Doctor and little Master frolicking across fields of red grass is charming, but not nearly enough to save a scene which should have been filled with much more tension and suspense in this grand finale.

It was lovely to see The Doctor’s former companion Donna back and mouthy as ever, yet quite sad to know what she has lost. One can feel The Doctors despair in both seeing Donna back to struggling and just getting by when he knows she is capable of so much more and not being able to approach someone he was once so close to. It is yet one more thing The Doctor has to endure due to his strange infatuation of humans. Being so alien he can never maintain any real, long-term relationships with his companions and acquaintances.

Wilfred Moff, who has appeared in previous episodes as Donna’s Grandfather, was really a bright spot in the show. The café scene where The Doctor shares with Wilf his fear of dying was a tearjerker. Of course The Doctor has the capability to regenerate but he admitted to Wilf he will lose a sense of who he was when this happens, thus, it’s similar to dying. And Wilf is empathetic to his situation; more so than any companion could really ever be, as he, too, is in the winter of his days.

Having Barack Obama as the current United States president waiting to make a speech on Christmas Day was a bit jarring. Usually Doctor Who uses a faux president, prime minister, whatever and it is a good idea for a show like this. Something so political and current really can take the audience out of the fantastical experience Doctor Who offers.

The smaller issues of a Time Lord exhibiting Sith-like powers, silly little rituals, President Obama and a maniacal, cannibalistic Master could have been overlooked if the confrontation between The Doctor and The Master led to a thrilling cliffhanger for the final half of the episode. But the episode just didn’t pick up. Who kidnaps a Time Lord, and a deranged one at that, to do some repairs on an immortality machine? Of course The Master will hack the device for his own use. Which is acceptable. But to make all of humanity a clone of himself? What’s the point – why not just wipe them out, make zombies, or turn them into kittens?

Excitement does ring in the hall of the Time Lords, though. The whole ‘last of the Time Lords’ plot has only existed in this current Davies imagining of Doctor Who. The current Doctor believes all Time Lords perished in a Time War, which does seem a bit of a leap of faith being they are so powerful and ancient. Apparently, the Time Lords have not perished after all and are ready to return. And that allows a little leap of faith in hopes the big Tennant finale will tie up this messy first half and give the tenth Doctor the regeneration he deserves.

A Very Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year

A Very Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year

As a committed atheist I can honestly say that every Christmas season I find myself looking forward to Boxing day. Still, since we live in a world where luddites rule and belief in magical sky fairies and pretend friends is de rigeur, we can but make the most of this excruciatingly jolly time. Thus, in the spirit of “if you can’t beat them to a pulp, join them” I’ve decided to wish you all the very best for the holiday season and take you back to some metal moments you’d perhaps rather forget – yes, I’m talking METAL CHRISTMAS SONGS!!!

So without further ado, here’s my top 5 metal christmas songs. Why only 5? Because this time of year I feel especially empathic towards my fellow ape-descendants and I want to limit the damage to your feeble little minds.

5.   Jingle Balls (Korn)

4.   I Am Santa Claus (Bob Rivers)

3.   No Presents For Christmas (King Diamond)

2.   Black Xmas (Venom)

1.   Christmas With The Devil (Spinal Tap)

And as an extra special Wizardly bonus, here’s one that despite not technically being a Christmas song at all, is sure to put a smile on your dial:

0. A Charlie Brown Heavy Metal Christmas

Now, go forth and make merry – eat till you gag, drink till you spew, and max out the Visa buying cheap Chinese crap for your friends and family. Remember, he who spends most wins. Keep on Jingling!

Genocide (Nippon) : Destroy and Hell (30th Anniversary Edition) CD/DVD

Genocide (Nippon) : Destroy and Hell (30th Anniversary Edition) CD/DVD

It’s come late to the table, released the 16th of December in actual fact and yet this is My Album of the Year, because it serves up all that is needed to sate my voracious demands from a Heavy Metal recording. For a start it is an intoxicating exultation of Genocide’s 30th Anniversary (1979-2009), an absolute fervid album release which is as much about Genocide’s cult status among Metal fans as a labour of love by the band themselves. Hark back to Dogmatic’s album review earlier this year applauding the magnificent Shadow Kingdom Records’ rerelease/remaster of the 1988 original Genocide debut ‘Black Sanctuary’ and you will know that this servant of Dogmatism is utterly enthralled by Genocide’s ability to sauté your ears with the finest heavy metal music ever.

The Destroy and Hell release puts together the original ‘Black Sanctuary’ album (remastered of course plus a bonus track) in its first domestic only outing in Japan and what is for me the tour de force, the DVD. This is not your usual pissweak extras DVD so common with other ‘bigger’ bands featuring one or two videos, the ‘Destroy and Hell’ disc it is a jam packed collection of live performances videoed through the preceding years, the highlights to my taste remain ;The Rites’ footage from Tokyo in 2000 and the superlative triumph of the band from 2008 at Club Mission’s Tokyo. In both gigs the band’s masterpiece, the prodigious track “Living Legend” is given a sanguine outing. It really is a chance to uncover Genocide in all their glory and get a raw taste of their exhilarating talent.

What do I like about Genocide?
Well they are everything I crave about Heavy Metal, a ravenous demonic fusion of NWOBHM, archetype 1970s/80s metal yet original innovative and delivered with flawless precision and impassioned rigor. Black Sanctuary is such a recording ascendancy in the classic sense, it enjoys all the attributes – transcendent vocals, preeminent guitars and superior rhythm.

Five Unholy Stars of unrivaled virtuosity

Genocide (Nippon) : Destroy and Hell (30th Anniversary Edition) CD/DVD

Genocide (Nippon)’s album ‘Destroy and Hell’ is a CD/DVD package released in Japan only on the 413Tracks label but easily obtained beyond those shores via the likes of HMV Japan and other online Record peddlers, you would boost your spirits by kicking off 2010 in a most agreeable fashion, just dare to taste the double trouble of unwonted audio-visual ambrosia that is the CD/DVD set.



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