9 CDs – 3 hard, 3 mellow and 3 psychedelic

I thought I’d make a little roundup with few mini-reviews of some favorite albums from various regions of my (what I’ve been told) broad music taste. While they come in groups of three, they are not any top lists or anything, just a few albums I thought about at the same time. The mentions got longer than I expected, and at first I thought about splitting it up in a series of posts, but then I thought the mix could be interesting for anyone who drops in searching for something and gets suggestions for something completely different as well. Anyhow, lets start in the the more intense end of the selection, with…

Three hard albums

Vader – Litany
The name Vader might not automatically lead the thoughts to premium grade death metal, but that is exactly what this Polish band has been delivering for two decades – and Litany is a great example. The band’s style is hard but still quite technical – not in the show-off sense, though, it’s just that their performance is so tight. It’s like the whole soundscape has been welded together. Litany weighs in at a modest 26 minutes, but it’s 26 minutes of death metal greatness. If you ask me to name the greatest death metal track ever, it would be “Wings” from this album.

Official site | amazon.com | amazon.co.uk

The Crown – Deathrace King
Another favorite from 2000 is by Swedish The Crown (originally Corwn of Thorns, disbanded in 2004). Not sure if this generally is considered one of their best, but I think Deathrace King takes you on a damned entertaining ride through the areas of thrashy death metal. The sound is a bit more fast-paced than simply crushingly hard, much thanks to Janne Saarenpää’s intense drumming, and while they hail from the region they stay well clear of the typical melodic Swedish West Coast sound. Favorites on the track list are the two final tracks, “Total Satan” and “Killing Star (Superbia Luxuria XXX)”.

Official site | amazon.com | amazon.co.uk

Ministry – Rio Grande Blood
While it is a step away from the two titles listed above, Rio Grande Blood is probably the most metal-influenced album ever produced by Ministry – most likely thanks to Prong guitarist Tommy Victor’s intense riffing. The album is also a continuation of the massive kick in the nuts of the Bush administration, and most everything generally right-winged American, that the previous album was. Tracks I particularly enjoy are the intense outbursts of the title track and the following “Señor Peligro”, “Palestina” and the menacing, doom metal-tanged “Khyber Pass”.

Official site | amazon.com | amazon.co.uk

Three mellow albums

So, after the three albums above I thought I’d leap right over to the other end of the musical spectrum, and it struck me that the next three albums have several things in common: they are all more or less acoustic, and by female artists from Nordic countries. Despite an Italian-sounding name we start in Iceland:

Emiliana Torrini – Fisherman’s Woman
Her international debut Love in the Time of Science (1999) had a relaxed electronic sound, perhaps best mentioned along with Portishead and Björk, but with the following album being released some five years later changes can be expected – and Fisherman’s Woman brings a subdued sound focused on acoustic guitar and that sweet voice, with light background arrangements. It is simple and beautiful – great “soundtrack to thoughts” album, but also full of tracks that have me clicking in the playlist every few minutes so I can listen to them again and again.

Official site | amazon.com | amazon.co.uk

Sophie Zelmani – Sing and Dance
Next is a Swedish singer/songwriter that I started listening to quite recently, and I could have chosen any album for this mention, so I went with what was playing at the moment. She’s another one of those artists that, if they have to be labeled, are best described as acoustic singer/songwriter music. Maybe a bit towards acoustic rock, but still undefinable I think I have developed a bit of an addiction to that kind of music in recent years.

Official site| amazon.com | amazon.co.uk

Ane Brun – A Temporary Dive
While the two women mentioned above have very sweet voices, Ane Brun takes has the one that has enthralled me the most. I saw the video for “My Lover Will Go” late one night, and it didn’t take me many minutes before I decided to go online and order the CD. And it, or one of her other albums, has been on my playlist ever since. The songs are creative and original, but still have a familiar feel the first time you hear them, and the moods range from playful to melancholic, and it is simply beautiful.

Official site| amazon.com | amazon.co.uk

Three psychedelic albums

If the three albums above contain music that is great to think too, the next three are more of the kind that that gets the mind going, in one way of the other. The musical styles vary a bit, but they all share the traits of having plenty psychedelic and surrealistic elements.

My Dying Bride – 34,788%… Complete
34,788%… Complete is problaby My Dying Bride’s most under-estimated album, but I suppose that is what you get if you as a doom metal band lose the violins, turn down the distortion on the guitars and dump a load of electronics on your sound. Personally I enjoyed the the mix of guitars-based passages, psychedelic moments and ambient, dreamy interludes about as much the previous and following albums. “The Whore, the Cook and the Mother”, the twelve minute opening track, is one that can make me feel completely different when I close my eyes and listen intently to it.

Official site| amazon.com | amazon.co.uk

The Tear Garden – To Be an Angel Blind, The Crippled Soul Divide
Featuring Edward Ka-Spel of The Legendary Pink Dots and cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy, this project has all it takes to produce great, weird stuff, and it ends up in the form of psychedelic synthpop (according to the wikipedia entry, and I guess that’s a description as good as any, personally I’ve thought of it as “gothic pop”). The sound is rather subdued, often with rather minimalistic and spacious arrangements. And while it probably is pretentious and “emo” to think so, I think To Be an Angel Blind, The Crippled Soul Divide is a great title for an album (and one that speaks for the contents as well).

Official site| amazon.com | amazon.co.uk

The Mars Volta – De-loused in the Comatorium
Along with Ministry probably the most well-known band in this post, but I think The Mars Volta still are worth mentioning. De-loused in the Comatorium is a concept album, describing events experienced during main character Cerpin Taxt’s week-long coma (which he fell into after attempting suicide by morphine overdose). It’s the band’s debut album, and it is probably the best starting point for new listeners as their intricate progressive/experimental rock gets looser, more jam-session styled on the following album (a trend which, I’ve heard, continues on the upcoming release Amputechture)

Official site| amazon.com | amazon.co.uk

I guess that’s it for now. Turned out to be a rather massive post, but it was a fun way of going through a bunch of CDs. Maybe I’ll do another one with books, movies or more music some time in the future.

CommentsTags: Ane Brun, cd, Emiliana Torrini, Ministry, Music, My Dying Bride, review, Sophie Zelmani, The Crown, The Mars Volta, The Tear Garden, Vader

August 8, 2006 at 3:12 am · Filed under Entertainment & Culture, Music

Strapping Young Lad – The New Black

As I mentioned in an aside a while ago I didn’t get around to listening to Strapping Young Lad (I’ll use SYL from now) until very recently, even though I’ve known about them for a decade or so and thought about checking them out every time I heard them being played somewhere. Now I realize that it wasn’t a day too late. It’s pure extreme metal genius. Lots of bands play fast and heavy, but I can’t think of many bands that manage to play so much at such speed – the intricacy and depth really amazes me.

While the early albums were popularly labeled “industrial/death metal”, the two previous releases have been moving towards something I think of as “progressively crazy-assed metal” (I don’t think death metal is appropriate as anything but a speed indicator), and that is a continuing trend with The New Black.

So is it any good? You bet it is! It’s a big, steaming pile of pure brilliance. Alright, after the first spin I was a bit disappointed – or rather surprised – that there is a bit more lighter bits than before. But it didn’t take long until that became a part of the whole because, you know, when Mr. Hoglan steps it up behind those drums you can really feel your gut move. The man is a freaking machine. And the six-string insanity provided by Jed and Devin doesn’t make those downhill rides any smoother. Speaking of Devy, the vocal efforts are broader and include much more actual singing (which shouldn’t be a shocking experience to anyone who has heard any Devin Townsend Band albums).

I won’t start to dissect the tracks of the album, because I simply don’t know how to choose any details to mention, so I’ll wrap it all up by concluding that The New Black is a hyperdense slab of geniality that takes the trademark SYL lunacy and blends it with flavors of metal ranging from old style Black Sabbath-ish heaviness to System of a Down-like stylings and a few bits in black metal minor. Oh, and some big band jazz as well.

What to do next:
Listen to “You Suck” and watch the video for “Wrong Side” at SYL’s MySpace, check out the official website or buy the album at amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

CommentsTags: cd, metal, Music, review, Strapping Young Lad

July 12, 2006 at 1:05 pm · Filed under Entertainment & Culture, Music