Nick Drake - "Pink Moon" : Album Review

The term "singer-songwriter" is thrown around a lot these days. It seems the modern standard for such a term is you have to make cute little YouTube videos playing the ukulele and singing songs about how quirky you are. A lot of people who labelled as such provide music with no soul or emotion, and songs about sitting at home with tea, toast and video games are considered genius. It's depressing to be perfectly honest with you.
But it wasn't always this way and one of my favourite examples of a singer-songwriter is Nick Drake. His music has always struck a chord (no pun intended) with not just me but countless of other fans. While both Bryter Layter and Five Leaves Left are great albums in their own right, Pink Moon is his magnum opus.
While I'm sure it would have been just a great an experience were you to hear it back in 1972, but the heart-breaking end of Nick Drake's life adds another dimension to the music. His lyrics seem to predict his own demise and it's chilling to hear them sung in such a mournful style.

The album opens with the title-track, Pink Moon. The perfect way to start the album, and arguably the most technically-demanding song Nick Drake has ever put his name to. It's technicality is hidden beneath the surface, but after repeated listens it will reveal itself to you.
The first few tracks are remarkable. Place To Be is truly one of the best songs ever composed, let alone within the folk genre. Road is also stunning, as is Which Will.
Some will argue the album dips in the middle, but in my opinion I think it just adds to the almost-schizophrenic nature of the album. It can be soft and charming, but also as dark as music can go. The final track From The Morning is utterly perfect in everyway a song of this kind can be. It's reserved but it still has that unmistakable hidden power that a musician like this has in spades.
Production-wise, it's very minimalist. Don't expect huge brass sections and sweeping strings to coat these songs, but they wouldn't be necessary. Drake's understanding of tension-and-release is sublime, and while the production doesn't exactly amplify that, it certainly lets the music do the talking.
Lyrically, he's a genius. No question about it. He may not be as technically brilliant as other writers of his era, but his sense of child-like wonder is one that I'm sure many envy and strive for. The simplistic nature of his writing works towards the greater good of the album, which is what it's all about.

Overall, the immense power of Pink Moon can't be over-estimated. It achieves more with less - letting the music speak for itself. It's not surrounded with controversy, Drake wasn't swarming the tabloids because of drug abuse and excess, it's a classic because it deserves to be. There's not a lot of story surrounding the album, but it's given to you to make your own.

Pig Destroyer - "Prowler In The Yard" | ALBUM REVIEW

Grindcore is often unfairly labelled as a genre where evolution goes to die. If you played something like Napalm Death's Scum and then Wormrot's Dirge to your average radio fan, chances are they wouldn't notice many dramatic stylistic changes. That's not me being patronizing, that's just an observation I have made. This may be because it's not exactly the most challenging genre to play and the perfect formula is already in place. Follow the rules and you won't go far wrong:

1) Blastbeats are a must

2) Short songs - over 3 minutes are big no-nos

3) Sing about world downfall and general despair. 

While there are bands that still recycle the standard Brutal Truth riffs over and over again, 

what's even better and more intriguing is when bands break the rules. Pig Destroyer do just that. They explore the very boundaries of a genre they have since helped define. They have followed the rules but also morphed them to fit their own style which is entirely unique.

Lyrically, Prowler In The Yard speaks less of political decay but more of a social one. It follows a morbid love story (like Romeo & Juliet meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre) about a stalker and his victim. Not only am I yet to come across a story like this in a genre like grindcore, but Pig Destroyer approach this concept in a way not metal band has done since or better. It's incredibly disturbing at times but it lets you into the mind of a psychopath. We get to live out fantasies that many of us will never get to - go against the rules society has placed before us and do as we please. While many will never have an urge to do what this person as done, it's pretty much the musical to a psychological thriller/horror such as The Strangers. There's no definite explanation for what the protagonist is doing to "Jennifer" but that's perhaps what's so bizarre about this story.

Musically, Pig Destroyer have a sound all their own. If Agoraphobic Nosebleed grew up blasting Need To Control (by the late, great grind gods Brutal Truth), PD spent their time listening to early Swans records and Earache's sludgier roster. 

Opening track Jennifer sets the scene with some spoken word performed by a speak-and-spell. While this may have a very lo-fi quality to it I personally think it adds to the over-all disturbing nature which is all over this album. Like watching a grainy video nasty, this record delivers a level of suspense that bands can only hope to achieve, but Pig Destroyer gain this quality through their flaws. Yes the production isn't perfect, yes the 8-track recorded may not seem to do the stellar song-writing justice but I think this generally works in it's favour. 

From here on in it's an exhilarating experience. Pig Destroyer are the masters of tension-and-release in grindcore and this album proves this. If you took away the lyrical content you would have a brilliant grindcore album. The riffs and grooves wouldn't sound out of place on a High On Fire album and the blasts would make a band like Napalm proud. However, by adding the masterfully written lyrics, you have a perfect grind album.

When the music settles into a groove it's undeniably crushing - Scott Hull has this dynamic down to a T - and it's all the more satisfying after being pummeled by the wretched vocals of J.R.Hayes and the furious rhythm section. The listener is glued to the very edge of their seat, the mystery within the music and poetic vocal delivery to bizarre and unusual to simply let pass by. 

Many of the "intellectual music critics" may turn their noses up and grindcore claiming that it's to put bluntly - noise. 

But to say that about a band like this? Surely nonsense

The level of intelligence they incorporate into what can be described as quite a simple sound is truly beyond me. I don't understand how they've done it so masterfully but I can assure if I did, I'd be making music to.

In conclusion, Prowler In The Yard is a masterpiece. If proof of nothing else, it's proof that grindcore is in very safe hands in 2014. Despite this coming out in 2001, it's timeless nature will see it be held up as a classic of extreme metal if not metal in general. 

Deftones - "White Pony" | ALBUM REVIEW

Nu metal never had too much in the way of artistic integrity. Coal Chamber played two chords and did their best to be perceived as spooky. Mushroomhead dressed up like a poor-man's Slipknot and tried to sound like the far-superior Faith No More. P.O.D. combined hip hop, metal but infused it with Christian preachings. The music originally written for venting built-up emotions and expressing oneself in a culture where it was looked down upon had morphed itself into everything it initially set out to destroy. The jock culture of high school America. They ate up Limp Bizkit and Mudvayne, each band sold millions of records in the process. They wanted their happy-meal-metal, and bands and labels delivered in spades.
However, this era of metal did produce some quality bands. Korn had a few great records, as did Slipknot and System Of A Down, the godfathers of the genre Faith No More (less an integral part of it, more an influence) put out some phenomenal records in their career. But for me one band stands up above them all: Deftones

For me, Deftones aren't a nu-metal band. They got lumped into a scene due only to timing. Not unlike Radiohead being placed in a world of Britpop despite delivering so much more depth than any of their peers. Their debut is the closest they came: it was bouncy, power-chord riffs and borderline rapping were to be found across the album. But they didn't stick with that sound for long....

Around The Fur is in my opinion the band's first fantastic record. It still had the bouncy riff-o-rama of Adrenaline but certainly displayed where the band would go in the future. Atmosphere brought itself to the front-line through the use of synthesizers (not always accepted in that era). Songs like Dai The Flu and MX are borderline post-rock at times, however their collaboration with Max Cavalera is totally a song of it's time. But on White Pony -  everything changed.

Opening track Feiticeira kicks this record off in unstoppable fashion. They're post-hardcore influence really comes through on this particular track, a refreshing addition to the bands sound. At this point in the listening experience, you may be intrigued but far from blown-away (that was my initial reaction). Don't worry, just prepare yourself to the pure genius of Digital Bath. The trip-hop stylings are in full-swing on this song which I can imagine would appeal to fans of perhaps more experimental genres of music. Lyrically it's obscure, instrumentation is unusual and the production is slightly off-kilter - but the track couldn't feel more perfect.
Elite is a throw back to Deftones' earlier music, distorting Chino's voice definitely adds to the vintage factor. The spite and vigor in this track can't be overestimated but it's still outwardly appealing in my opinion as well as the Grammy's. A fan favourite and for good reason.
RX Queen is one of Deftones' most quintessential songs of this band's carnation. Lyrically it explores terminal diseases as well as relationships (almost as though they predicted the success of The Fault In Our Stars) but Chino approaches these topics with such emotional weight every word hits home.

As the record goes on it changes in more ways than you can possibly imagine. Teenager explores Chino's trip hop/pop/experimental influences whereas a song like Korea or Knife Party goes down Stephen's path of Rage Against The Machine and Pantera. Both examples are still unmistakably Deftones. The stylistic tug of war this band creates means they write the most interesting and unusual songs you can find in the last 20 years of metal and rock. Were one member to get their way their music would not have the impact it does. Passenger (critic's choice track on this record) has a guest appearance of Maynard James Keenan (vocalist of my favourite band Tool) and his call-and-response routine with Chino Moreno is utterly perfect. Change (In The House Of Flies) is one of the greatest songs ever composed - in my humble opinion - and hearing 60,000 people sing along to it last year at Reading Festival was a moment to savour. Hidden track Pink Maggit is a personal favourite, far more atmospheric and emotional than it's deformed twin Back To School.

Production wise, Terry Date doesn't disappoint. His work on Pantera's A Vulgar Display Of Power among other records by Bring Me The Horizon and (soon) Slayer has given him credentials other producers would strive for. It's perfectly mixed and produced and is certainly Terry's magnum opus.

This record is, if nothing else, a reason to love Deftones. This record has a particular emotional attachment for me personally (I listened to it while in Alaska, one of the most euphoric experiences of my life and now this record is part of that). It's everything I want in music in a 48 minute experience and it couldn't be improved. Listen to this album. You won't regret it.