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Marilyn Manson – The High End Of Low
After the sheer and utter crap that was Marilyn Manson’s last effort, ‘Eat Me, Drink Me’ – I had all but given up on ever getting to hear anything decent from the Manson camp again.
When word filtered out that he was back together again with sidekick Twiggy Ramirez/Jeordie White who had been in Nine Inch Nails for the past few years – my curiosity was piqued enough that I wanted to see what the end result would be. Hearing a couple of the leaked tracks such as ‘We’re From America’ et al, I was once again, feeling genuinely excited about a new Marilyn Manson album again.
Boy, were my expectations shot to hell when I actually got to listen to this thing.
It’s such a plodder of monumental dross proportions. A bore of an album that becomes painful to sit through as you try and cling to some sort of highlight… some sort of spark to maintain any sort of interest.
It starts off well enough. ‘Devour’ kicks things off nicely but just as the song starts to get really interesting and dare I say it, catchy. it all ends in a sudden stop and pours itself into follow up track ‘Pretty As A ($)’. Again, a decent track and better than anything he’s had on offer for a while.
And then… it all get so stupid and as already stated… dull. Painfully dull!
I wanted to like this album so much. I was so eagerly awaiting its release and had extreme faith that ole Marilyn could pull one more classic from his hat… instead, he pulled out a boring, pretentious turd from his ass. (Seriously, go listen to the track ‘WOW’ and tell me with a straight face that its a decent track!)
Sucks!
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Heaven And Hell – The Devil You Know
Beyond the shadow of any doubt, Black Sabbath are one of the greatest bands to have walked on this Earth. They single handedly created the genre known as Heavy Metal and have a career that has lasted decades. But when one really dissects the band’s original classic line-up of Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward – after the first 5 masterful albums – it went all downhill. Fast. In a sea of booze, drugs and debauchery – the mighty Black Sabbath was a shadow of its former self and very much on life-support.
When Ozzy was replaced in 1980 by the diminutive Ronnie James Dio – the band was once again reborn and spawned some of the most amazing and classic albums of the Metal genre: ‘Heaven & Hell’, ‘The Mob Rules’ and the often maligned ‘Live Evil’ are as classic and times as those first 5 slabs of Sabbath goodness – if not better.
So whilst Ozzy has been relegated to the role of bumbling idiot on yet another stupid television show ‘The Osbournes Reloaded’ – the rest of the band have gone on to create more magic in the form of Heaven & Hell’s ‘The Devil You Know’.
It was with great anticipation I was awaiting the results of this collaboration. When the band wrote three new songs for ‘The Dio Years’ compilation a couple of years ago, the resultant output pretty much picked up where the band left off after 1992’s brilliant (and often overlooked) ‘Dehumanizer’ album – which was the last recorded output from the Dio, Iommi, Butler, Appice version of Black Sabbath.
And here we are.
After all the musical chairs that has been Black Sabbath throughout the 90’s and after the highly successful reunion with Ozzy – we have come to the moment of truth where we are finally getting new output from Sabbath – albeit under a different monicker – it is still very much a Sabbath album.
And a classic album it is. Reminding me more of ’92’s ‘Dehumanizer’ than the masterful ‘Heaven & Hell’ and ‘Mob Rules’ albums of the early 80’s – ‘The Devil You Know’ pretty much kicks things into gear and is one solid track after the other. The Lord of the Riff, Tony Iommi delves deep and has procured some classic doom-laden riffs that would even have ole Lucifer himself reaching out for the tennis racquet.
First single ‘Bible Black’ is as close to a Sabbath classic as you can get. Intertwined with Dio’s soothing vocal stylings in the intro, it twists into a monster of a song with that repetitive Sabbath guitar and bass bludgeoning along to Appice’s merciless BOOM-CHUCK-BOOM-CHUCK beat. Fucking insane! Fucking INSANE! This is what a juggernaut sounds like! This is what it sounds like when an irresistible force meets an immovable object. BANG!
And if that wasn’t enough it all pours into the next track ‘Double The Pain’ which ups the tempo slightly and chugs along again with a riff that only the Devil himself could muster out of an aging Gibson guitar. Iommi just shines and delivers riff upon riff with also some of his best lead guitar work in ages.
It is difficult to compare this album to the brilliance that was ‘Heaven & Hell’ and ‘Mob Rules’. You’d be crazy to. But geez, it comes close and is still a superbly crafted, sinister, mindfuck of a release and one that has not left my iPod for over a week.
Geezer Butler: ‘If We’d Written This Album With OZZY, We’d Still Be Working On The First Track.’ – And there endeth the sermon!
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The Prodigy – Invaders Must Die
I had all but forgotten about Prodigy. Their last album – ‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned’ – was several years ago and it was an album, that by their lofty standards – was a little on the disappointing side. To be perfectly honest, the latest album ‘Invaders Must Die’ totally crept up on me and I wasn’t expecting much. In actual fact, I thought the old Prodigy had all but run their race.
‘Invaders Must Die’ is the Prodigy’s fifth album and the first to feature the classic Prodigy line-up of Liam Howlett, Keith Flint and Maxim Reality since 1997’s brilliant ‘The Fat Of The Land’. And that’s not the first classic thing one notices about this fine slab of plastic! This is such a welcome return to form and brilliant old-school Prodigy stylings! This thing reeks of attitude, spunk and raw electrical, technical power and balls! This is everything that is so damn cool about the Prodigy and will surely rank as one of the finest albums for the year. Easy!
Strong throughout it’s 11 tracks, the album just gets better and better from the halfway point through to the end. Melodic, intense, exciting, raw and indeed energetic – it exudes a certain attitude and flair that most harder-edged acts can only begin to dream of.
Smack it up bitches! A fucking classic!
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Lamb Of God – Wrath
Ok, I did the ‘illegal’ download thing a couple of weeks back when this sucker finally hit cyberspace. This mob are easily one of my fave bands and I desperately wanted to hear what was on offer this time round. (Don’t worry I bought an advance copy through Roadrunner last week – still waiting on my bonus tee shirt tho!)
On first listen, I felt bitterly disappointed. It all just sounded so one dimensional and bland. The whole thing seemed devoid of any sort of dynamics or melody in any way, shape or form and I was beginning to worry. Hmmm, first listen blues I thought. I’ll give it a few more goes and we’ll see how we go.
Rightfully so, after a couple more listens, I was beginning to get into it a little more. In fact, I was starting to dig it. I mean, sheesh, these guys are a fucking legendary band and as stated previously, easily in my top 10. How could a Lamb of God album possibly suck? Right? Riiiight???
But here is the predicament: I’ve listened to it a few more times since starting to get into it but at the end of the day… I’m finding it all rather dull. There’s no real memorable fist-punching, mosh-inducing tracks. It all sounds so ’samey’ and sterile. I’m finding I just can’t really get into it as I have with past releases from these guys. Where are the riffs? Where are the cool leads? (Bar the nice Ace Frehley sounding lead on ‘Set To Fail’). Sigh!
I may need to devote even more time with it, but I just don’t want to have to force myself to like it. Who knows, I may feel differently in a week or two – but today, right now, this very instant… this album sucks and I guarantee that after all the dust has settled and we’re a couple more albums down the track – even the band themselves will admit, Wrath is their weakest moment.
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Satyricon – The Age Of Nero
To state the bleeding obvious, Black Metal as a musical genre, has always been a strange beast. On the outside it has a look of menacing insanity. Intense visuals and controversial blasphemous overtones that one would expect to hear the Fallen One, Lucifer himself pour out of the speakers. But the opposite is true. In most instances it sounds banal, juvenile and is almost often a parody of itself. Seriously, how many more music videos can one watch of a bunch of pansy, pasty faced dweebs in their ‘corpse paint’ running amok through the cold forests of Europe singing incoherant screeches into ram skulls? And all the while, said dweebs think that by playing as fast as is humanly (or otherwise) possible makes their music ‘Heavy’. Power and dynamics are thrown completely out the door. Melody is about as welcome as your local vicar and song structure is as rancid as a nun’s twat. In short, it comes across as weak and lacking any sort of musical substance.
But for the gazillion wannabes trekking the snow covered extremities of Northern Europe, the blood spattered cream always rises to the top. And at the top awaits Satyricon.
In this age of the digital download, music has become a disposable commodity. No one takes the time to fully ingest an album… to learn its secrets, to listen out for notes and all sorts of musical nuances. It has to be a pretty special release to keep one interested for more than a few listens yet Satyricon’s ‘The Age of Nero’ has hardly left the iPod. This is the finest Black Metal release since Celtic Frost’s brilliant Monotheist of a couple of years ago. In fact in places, it reminds me a lot of Frost’s stylings.
‘Last Man Standing’ has an awesome Celtic Frost groove and feel. Throughout the course of the track one keeps expecting to hear the mighty Tom Warrior gives us his obligatory “Oooh!”. The track has such an old-school Black Metal feel permeating throughout. Killer riff which repeats and repeats over a steady and slow beat. Just insane mosh material here!
There is hardly a weak moment on this album which kicks off with three gems, the brutal ‘Commando’ seeps menacingly into ‘Wolfpack’ and when you’re barely coming up for air it all leads wonderfully into the first single ‘Black Crow On A Tombstone’!
This is all beginning to reek of ‘Album of the Year’ for yours truly, and that’s a stench that brings a smile to one’s face.
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Metallica – Death Magnetic
I think the days of anticipating a Metallica release are long gone. They died back in the mid 90’s when Messers Hetfield, Ulrich, Newstead and Hammet posed in front of the cameras with hair neatly cropped and blankly looking down the barrel of a camera and stating… “We were never a Metal band…”
Umm, ok. Yeah.
It’s been downhill since then. Rapidly. In short, they lost the plot. Big time. And in a weird sorta way, I have wanted them to regain their glory and majesty. After all, I have followed these guys since their fledgling demo days of 1982 when every forthcoming release of theirs was a bona fide classic album. Album after album in the Eighties was such an amazing music-buying experience.
Those days are gone. Long gone.
I’m trying to like this. I’m really trying. And wanting. Wanting to feel genuinely excited about a Metallica release, but the sad truth of the matter is – I just don’t care anymore. Which is not to say that this is a bad album, far from it. It is probably the best we can expect from these guys any time soon.
There are some good moments throughout. There’s plenty of bludgeon-riffola to rock out the sternest ‘Tallica critic, even if one has to subject themselves to the blandest drumming in the Metal genre. (sorry to harp on it folks, but Ulrich’s drumming is a freaking joke. I’ve never encountered a drummer who annoys me so, maybe McBrain from Iron Maiden – two of the most overrated skinsmen in the business) – but I digress!
Having said that, there is also some dross. ‘My Apocalypse’ is dire. ‘Unforgiven III’… Come on guys, enough already. Add to that some stupid Hetfield vocal stylings and a veritable feast of oh-so-boring Kirk Hammett leads.
I just can’t hear Rick Rubin’s influence in this and I was genuinely interested when it was first mentioned he would be helming this project. He’s done some mindblowing things with Metal acts in the past (System of A Down, Slipknot et al) but some of these songs on Death Magnetic are a little bloated for my liking.
I dunno! It’s ok I guess. Just ok. Now, where’s my Opeth album?
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Alkaline Trio – Agony & Irony
One of my most played albums of the past few years has been Alkaline Trio’s ‘Crimson’. I can’t even begin to put into words just how much I love that disc and it would easily ranked as one of my most listened to opus’. Having said that, I was on tender hooks waiting for the band’s new release. ‘Crimson’ hit the stores way back in 2005 and the band were well overdue for some new tunes. Sure the Trio graced us with the obligatory ‘Best Of-cum-B-sides/rarities’ colleciton in 2007’s ‘Remains’ disc, but seriously that just wasn’t enough to tide this fanboy over.
And so after what seemed like an eternity waiting for new tuneage, Alkaline Trio have been very much hard at work. The result is ‘Agony & Irony’. Enlisting the help of producer Josh Abraham who has erstwhile twiddled the knobs for Linkin Park and Velvet Revolver, to name but a few. It all sounds lush and grand as one would expect, and its tinged in the obligatory Alkaline Trio darkness (afterall, two of the guys are proud members of the Church of Satan). However, I found that this release hasn’t floored me as much as the aforementioned ‘Crimson’. Which isn’t to say that this isn’t a good album. In fact, it is a wonderful slab of catchy and smart pop-punk tunes that will hopefully garner the band a larger following. The usual morbid fascination with death, love, evil, is still permeant throughout the band’s imagery and lyrics and none more-so prevalent than in the first single ‘Help Me’ – a tribute to lead Joy Division crooner, Ian Curtis.
Unfortunately the band gets lumped with all the Emo and pseudo Punk bands that are proliferating the mainstream but there is so much more to Alkaline Trio. Much more.
This is a great album but I feel it just doesn’t quite go near to the magic of the band’s previous releases in ‘Crimson’ & ‘Good Mourning’. They’re gonna have a monster smash one day soon, but it isn’t going to be with this one.
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With bassist Michael Todd and drummer Josh Eppard leaving the band mid-tour, things were looking a little hazy for Coheed & Cambria. After enjoying the success and massive buzz of their previous albums ‘The Second Stage Turbine Blade’ (February 2002), ‘In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3′ (October 2003), ‘Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness’ (September 2005) – the band was in a precarious position as it was about to begin work on the ‘Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow’ album. But as luck would have it, bassist Todd returned to the fold and former Dillinger Escape Plan drummer Chris Pennie took over the drummer’s stool. Due to contractual obligations Pennie was not able to play on the album but Foo Fighters’ skinsman Taylor Hawkins appears in his place. Coheed & Cambria play a complex but infectious brand of Progressive Rock that is simply littered with melodic hooks and harmonies that leave you wanting more after each and every listen. Couple all this with some classic guitar riffing and lead crooner Claudio Sanchez’s high pitch Geddy Lee-esque vocals and you end up with (yet another) amazing Coheed & Cambria album! Yet amongst all the prog-rock craziness, there are some brilliant pop moments as these guys have an uncanny knack of writing what is catchy and memorable all at once. Standout tracks for me right now are ‘The Running Free’ and title track ‘No World For Tomorrow’. Bottom line, it’s a Coheed & Cambria album and with that in mind, you are guaranteed a multitude of glorious melodies, serious riffage and the continual nerd-nirvana of the three album space-rock-opera that has even made it onto the pages of a comic book! Geek bliss!
Vox Populi