Tag: Reviews
Last weekend, Filter Magazine staged the Culture Collide Festival -- a veritable United Nations of indierock, and (if my opinion as one of their freelance writers is to be trusted) a freaking genius idea. Among the weekend's standout international sets (Might I suggest KAMP! and Casiokids for all your dance party needs?) was Hello Saferide (Annika Norlin to her friends) who, with Andrea Kellerman of Firefox AK, made her Los Angeles debut with three intimate shows.
While the size of the venue -- really the backroom of French restaurant Taix -- made it a bid difficult to call her Saturday night performance a case of taking the city by storm, those present were treated to an all-too-brief intimate performance an incredibly skilled storyteller. (Heck, she didn't name her sophomore album, "More modern stories from Hello Saferide" for nothing.) Replacing the album's electric guitars for an acoustic axe and a kick drum, Norlin breathed new life into the material -- most notably during "Anna", and the onomonopia-dense "Arjeplog" where the stripped-down version elevated Norlin's art of the broken heart.
From apologizing to an über fan parked in the front row for playing the same set three days in a row (he didn't seem to mind), to telling the audience about her wacky Los Angeles pen pal ("She slept with all these hockey players and then wrote to me about it. I was thirteen!") Norlin came across as an every-woman worth knowing. Here's hopping Los Angeles was listening.
- Laura Studarus
Dusted reviews the new Islaja album "Keraaminen paa": https://dustedmagazine.com/reviews/6005
8
There has been an increase in the retro death metal style in recent years; new bands strive to create an old sound while old bands relinquish their new sound and attempt to revert back to the halcyon days of death metal. Stockholm's Bastard Priest fall under the first category and are one of the few out there who actually sound properly old-school in every manner. Some may say they emulate the Swedish output of the late-'80s, but it seems to me there's something in there that's more akin to an amalgam of the likes of "Scream bloody gore", "Consuming impulse", and "Morbid visions" with a hefty nod towards their fellow countrymen from back in the day. There's a definite attitude on here that was only ever really captured in the Swedish death metal explosion of the late-'80s and there is, without doubt, the definite punk influence that also permeated the scene back then. Definitely one of the best retro bands around today and so authentic that I almost find myself surprised to come out of the listening experience and find that it's not 1989.
- John Norby
PopMatters reviews Enslaved's masterful new album "Axioma ethica Odini":
The Silent Ballet reviews the new Library Tapes album "Like green grass against a blue sky": https://thesilentballet.com/dnn/Home/tabid/36/ctl/Details/mid/384/ItemID/3651/Default.aspx
Dusted reviews the new Dungen record "Skit i allt": https://dustedmagazine.com/reviews/5991
8
The debut from this Danish crew serves as a lesson in the craft of fusing rock'n'roll nostalgia with heavy metal thunder. As the band name suggests, the album is, indeed, a super-charged dose of metal that drives with an unwavering passion throughout. More often than not, it references a multitude of legendary rock acts in such a deliberate manner that it's clear these guys have absorbed all the essential ingredients of their favorite bands and cooked up their own blend of metal'n'roll that, while definitely familiar, is quite unique. There's a distinct Southern feel on here, so much so that you would be forgiven for thinking that SuperCharger hail from the USA rather than Denmark. As for the variety of bands that are referenced, there are simply too many to mention in detail. From the offset there's a Guns n' Roses thing going on, particularly in the use of the piano and the riffing style they employ. The guitar aspect continues throughout the album, albeit mainly in the small nuances heard in the background here and there, while the use of the piano regularly conjures up visions of Axl and Co. in their "Use your illusion" years. There are also regular nods and winks to Mötley Crüe, Aerosmith, AC/DC and even the likes of Little Angels and Status Quo, all executed with a metalized style that affords it a sound unique to SuperCharger. A great little discovery for fans of any of the aforementioned bands and, I would dare say, an eye-opener for fans of Southern rock.
- John Norby
10
Now that I've had a week to immerse myself in this record, I can say that it is a masterpiece -- there's really no other way to describe it. I expected it to be great, but I didn't expect it to be this great. I'm not going to hide, I've always been very vocal on my admiration for The Bear Quartet, but I've always felt that as an objective music listener, one can frequently be disappointed by their favorites. Whilst "89" was our reintroduction to the band (as well as their reintroduction to themselves, which they've recently mentioned), "Monty Python" comes off as not only a self-reevaluation, but also as a reevaluation of the current state of music -- "We're not gonna make it" serves not only as a comment on the industry, but as the current social and economic pitfalls which are robbing humanity in all aspects. "You you you you you you", "Fist or hand" and "Lovers goodbye" are some of the most tenderly affecting songs the band has ever written. The album's swansong, "Silent film" sums up not only the record, but the perhaps comes as close as ever to explaining the band -- they not only dictate the audience, but are one and the same -- as are we all.
- Matt Giordano
7
From the minute This Gift is a Curse's debut EP opens, there's a sense of impending dread that heightens further as it progresses. It starts off with a dark ambient intro that is cut short with a doomy passage bordering on a sludgy black metal aesthetic and, despite not really wavering from a single tempo, it works really well. It's got a vibe about it that cries Red Harvest and it wouldn't sound out of place on the likes of "Sick transit gloria mundi". The rest of the disc is very like a more abrasive version of Will Haven, both in terms of music and vocal output. It's a lot darker than most material that the Sacramento four-piece have released, no doubt down to the more extreme influences evident here. Take "Althea" for example: an eerie opening that's definitely of the avantgarde persuasion, moving into a slow Khold-type post-intro intro before embarking on the main body of the song, a trudging slab of Will Haven with that characteristic vocal playing off the beat. The main parts of closing track "Voulet's dream" is even more in the WH vein than WH themselves and, far from being a criticism is an absolute gem of a song for fans of that style. Even though this only gets as fast as mid-paced it's probably best described as metalcore with a grindcore sentiment. We even have a Barney Greenway "Morale" vocal on the end, so that's all the more justification for the grind tag. Not original by any means, but bloody good stuff.
- John Norby
Pitchfork reviews the new Junip full-length "Fields": https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14668-fields/
Pitchfork reviews the new triple-disc/double-DVD Opeth live collection "In live concert at the Royal Albert Hall": https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14661-in-live-concert-at-the-royal-albert-hall/
Halifax Collect reviews the new album "Birds of a coming storm" from Finnish metal/hardcore act Deathbed: https://halifaxcollect.blogspot.com/2010/09/deathbed-birds-of-coming-storm.html
Nö Music has posted an excellent lengthy review of seeing the unholy trinity of Okkultokrati, Haust and Årabrot live: https://www.nomusicmedia.com/2010/09/18/the-new-necromantics/
6
With very few exceptions, purely instrumental rock albums get very tedious very quickly, often highlighting the importance of the vocal element in adding an extra, somewhat essential, dimension to the overall experience. København's Obstacles fall somewhere between exposing this shortfall and revealing that the inclusion of a singer isn't as important as some may think. The album displays an insane amount of technical wizardry, falling in and out of rock and free jazz, at times sounding like an intense math-rock jam session. Closing track "Locomotive" is where "Dividual" both rises and falls. Featuring the only vocal performance on the album, it makes it very clear that the music Obstacles plays benefits greatly from having a singer -- in this case Henrik W. Hald of Trust and Rising fame -- in the fold. His inclusion offers a distinct Mastodon vibe and shows, undeniably, that this is a band who has the potential to reach a level of appreciation that will escalate them to a greater international recognition. The music is of the same style as on the rest of the album; it's just that where the other, voice-free, tracks often wind up sounding a little too much like fret-wankery of the highest order, the vocal addition gives us something additional to concentrate on, resulting in a greater, true appreciation of the musicianship on display. There's great potential here. Whether or not the band decides to capitalize on that is entirely up to them.
- John Norby
Pitchfork reviews the new Dungen album "Skit i allt": https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14604-skit-i-allt/
Also covered, the new The Tallest Man on Earth EP "Sometimes the blues is just a passing bird": https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14639-sometimes-the-blues-is-just-a-passing-bird-ep/
Hello Saferide
Bastard Priest
SuperCharger
The Bear Quartet
This Gift is a Curse
Obstacles