Andrew Jackson Jihad - "Christmas Island" | Album Review

Andrew Jackson Jihad are one of the most under-appreciated bands of the 21st century.
Quite the opening statement you might say, but I struggle to find another band to have begun in the last 10 years or so that have established their sound so brilliantly. While there is obvious influence from Neutral Milk Hotel, The Mountain Goats and Violent Femmes, their sound is still instantly recognizable. Musically, you can expect folk integrated with catchy bubblegum punk. In sound, they may not sound too spiteful or bitter, but this element of their music comes through in the lyrics. Exploring themes of self-hate, self-obsession, suicide, death, isolation, pain and misery, you might not think their lyrics will stand out too much when we have bands like Converge or Vision Of Disorder. However, Andrew Jackson Jihad approached these topics in a very different way. They put a comedic and light-hearted twist on such topics as disability, racism and social issues (refreshing to say the least).

If you are aware of AJJ but not this album, this is technically their pop record. Before you raise your arms in dismay, assuming you'll be hearing bass-drops and EDM synth breaks, fear not. What I mean by this is their instrumentation has become more full (adding far more of it than even before), their songs have more clear and defined structures and the melodies are more prominent than have been on past albums.
The opening song is entitled Temple Grandin is one of my personal favourites of the album. As soon as the opening line seeps through the speakers ("Open your murder eyes and see the ugly world that spat you out") you know instantly what you're in for. Referencing Helen Keller and Stevie Wonder (both people who have over come disabilities), Andrew Jackson Jihad have added more layers to their music both in the instrumentation and in the lyrics.
This is followed up by Children Of God. This is BY FAR my most listened to song of 2014. It was everything I wanted out of a single, and it's woven itself into this album masterfully. In classic AJJ fashion, topics such as cannibalism, vampires, drugs all arise throughout the song - keeping the listener on the edge of their seat, attentively wondering where the band will take their music next.
We then get Do, Re And Me. One of the shorter songs but it still has a lasting effect. This is possibly the single track on the album that proves Andrew Jackson Jihad's astounding sense of lyrical/musical dynamics. Hearing the sweeping melodies of an acoustic guitar under Sean Bonnette's whiny vocals as they call out "I walked into a room full of corpses" is rather bizarre to say the least.

With these perfect 3 tracks, you'd assume the album would continue in suite.
Sadly no... While there are still some fantastic songs on here, there are certainly some weaker pieces. Songs like Deathlessness had so much potential to be one of the best songs on here, but fell short due to a couple of minor errors...
Production wise this is the best production this band as ever had. It's dynamically brilliant, every performer gets their voice (or musical saw) heard. It's crystal clear, which seems to wipe away some of the grit under the finger nails that so many came to love from this band, but I can assure you multiple listens and it will be revealed.

All in all, this isn't AJJ's best album (People Who Eat People... and Knife Man still hold those titles for me) but it's definitely one of their most important. It's also you that will continue to be appreciated in the coming years.

Falloch - "This Island, Our Funeral" | Album Review

*This review will possibly be posted on the blog Blog Of Putrefaction, I just need to post a review to catch up. Cheers!*

Black metal is undergoing a dramatic stylistic change, and I think a lot of it should be credited to the UK. Artists like Saor, Fen, Winterfylleth and Wodensthrone are branching away from the clichés of the Second Wave and bringing in more reserved and diverse overtones. While Emperor and Darkthrone are arguably the bands that defined the genre, the necessary growth is finally taking place. It’s also proved to be fairly divisive. While many have complained that the genre is losing touch with its roots, it’s possible that this new Falloch album - entitled This Island, Our Funeral  - could convert some of the elitists.

Candlelight Records has black metal credentials above and beyond any other label – In The Nightside Eclipse anyone? Nearly every black metal band on the label’s roster has delivered something that is worthy to defend their name. This is no exception.

Falloch have a deep connection with the Scottish landscape, which translates magnificently into their sound. The whispering guitar leads sit like fog over rolling percussion. The bass rumbles like thunder above Ben Nevis. The production is so pristine that the experience is like walking through untouched Gaellic wilderness. The band seems to have structured their music to reflect the climate, but it doesn’t come across as an attempt to seem pretentious or high-brow. Whether it’s intentional or by pure coincidence that they create an atmosphere that replicates that particular area, they do it in excellent fashion.

There are obvious traits of theirs they share with the classic BM bands. It delivers the same chilling demeanour that an album like De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas perfected when the music calls for it. The instrumentation will liquidize the teeth in your mouth – the guitars are beyond crushing at points. The balance between beauty and ferocity of the genre’s classics is as emotive as it’s been in years. However, the clean vocals may rub die-hards up the wrong way but I’m sure it’ll be a more welcoming to newcomers. While you do hear some infrequent growls, the cleans don’t sound too dissimilar to Brann Dailor of Mastodon. Upon first listen there’s a good chance you’ll question it being a black metal album in the true sense of the term, but its darkness will be revealed to you with repeated listens (a level of mystery a lot of the genre’s heavy weights lack).

In conclusion, This Island, Our Funeral is the obvious progression from their debut Where Distant Spirits Remain.  It may be less triumphant than anything they’ve done, but it’s still refreshing to hear a band evolving so noticeably this early on in their career, experimenting with sounds an established band would fear to. Falloch aren’t waiting to define parameters for themselves; they’re keeping their music free and formless so anything is possible. Excellent.

-          Elliot Paisley

Sunn O))) - "Black One" | Album Review

Musically, drone isn't very complex. It's often a single note played for long periods of time. However, that's not to say that it's easy to do well. Despite it being a relatively simple genre, it still has to remain engaging to the listener. Bands can add layers upon layers to their music, creating an atmosphere no other style can truly conjure.
With a new project involving music icon Scott Walker and Sunn O))) collaborating together for a new album Soused, I thought it'd be good to review the band's magnum opus: Black One

Greg Anderson (owner of Southern Lord Records) is in my opinion, a bit of a genius. His music has an obvious simplicity which peels away slowly and painfully to reveal a whole new form of darkness. You don't get death growls and thrashing guitars, but this is so much heavier than those things could ever create. Doing more with less is a feat in itself and this artist is the perfect example of that.

Black One starts as it means to go on, as sinister and as bleak as you can imagine. Attila (of Mayhem and other outfits) provides vocals that don't just send shivers down your spine, they shatter it. The riffs (if you could call them that) are quite simply: hypnotic. They spiral and churn in a way I'm yet to encounter again. The rumble they deliver isn't unlike having your entire body in a vibrating chair. While they are highly repetitive (which is an understatement if ever there was on) I find this really does work in their favour.Lyrically, this album is surprisingly complex. It may take repeated listens, but it's very assuring to know that there's more to what you're listening to than want you initially imagine there to be.

In conclusion, Sunn O)))'s Black One is a fantastic drone album, and one that I'm sure will be a gateway for many to get into the genre.

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.

Top 5 Bloodstock Sets Of 2014

This summer has been brilliant in the way of music festivals. While Download's 2014 was slightly shaky (due to the fact the past couple of years have been pretty much perfect) Sonisphere and Bloodstock put on hugely enjoyable events. Today, I'm going to be talking about my 5 favourite festival sets of this particular summer.

DISCLAIMER : All of them happened at Bloodstock.
Enjoy!

5. GRAVEYARD at Bloodstock 2014: Sophie Lancaster Stage
Taking into account the Swedish rock act had issues getting on site and setting up, it's all the more triumphant seeing them put on one of the most brilliant shows I've ever seen. Their brand of psychedelic/bluesy rock music shook the Sophie Lancaster stage down to it's very foundations, hypnotizing every member of the audience in the process. Competing with Amon Amarth's stage show is no mean feat, but Graveyard brought Bloodstock to a close in spectacular fashion.

4. DECAPITATED at Bloodstock 2014: Ronnie James Dio Stage
Not only are Decapitated one of the most ground-breaking outfits in death metal, they are quite simply one of the best. Both Winds Of Creation and Nihility stand up as two of the strongest records in the history of death metal, and hearing those songs performed live in front of 10,000 people in the most crushing manner possibly was quite the experience. With a new record on the way next month, this is a band to keep on your radar.

3. DOWN at Bloodstock 2014: Head-lining the Ronnie James Dio Stage Friday
Supergroups often suffer from the same issue: lack of chemistry. The members don't adapt to the other member's capabilities, thus making the music muddled and confused. Down, quite simply, don't. Since they all formed in the same scene, they share similar backgrounds, both musically and in lifestyle. They have written some of the strongest albums in the history of metal, and the crowd knew that. Hearing 12,000 people scream the lyrics to Lifer back at the machine that is Phil Anselmo is worth the price of admission alone.

2. Carcass at Bloodstock 2014: Ronnie James Dio Stage
Extreme metal rarely creates bands as dynamic as Carcass. They have evolved more throughout their career than pretty much any other band in their world. The death metal stylings of Necroticism and Heartwork provided refreshing variety to the Bloodstock bill, not only did the kick start some of the biggest mosh-pits of the festival but also some of the most powerful sing-a-longs. The Surgical Steel tracks fit in perfectly with the set (Unfit For Human Consumption being a personal high-light). With a potential new album in the works, catch these guys while you can.

1. Emperor at Bloodstock 2014: Ronnie James Dio Stage
Few albums are as influential and as important as Emperor's 1994 album In The Nightside Eclipse. It changed metal in as many ways as can be imagined. It summoned the Norwegian metal scene to unforeseen levels of critical acclaim. Hearing this band reform to perform the album in it's entirety at Bloodstock Festival among 12,000 black metal fans is an experience that I doubt I will ever forget. Having pretty much the original line-up on stage (bar some replacements) just added to the experience. While some may not have wanted Faust (the drummer who was convicted for a murder in the mid-90s), for me personally it didn't take away from the experience. It's difficult to put into words the experience, so I'll just leave it here. Utterly perfect.