Blog Archives
Album Review: Karnya – Coverin’ Thoughts
Karnya is a 1970s influenced Progressive Rock band. The era and chosen metal style are two features that lead me to believe the album is built upon classic metal/rock elements, odd time signatures, crafty guitar solos, and comprehensive melodies. My presumption was spot on, but it has nothing to do with extra sensory perception. The band’s information sheet described their work quite accurately. Finally, someone got it right! Covern’ Thoughts is 68 minutes long with one epic beast timed in at just over 15 minutes. Initially, my experienced hear heard influences from Deep Purple, Kansas, Symphony X, and Dream Theater; not a bad combination at all.
Full Album Streams: The Afterman Pt. II: Descension by Coheed and Cambria
Mere months after the release of The Afterman Pt. I: Ascension NY prog rockers Coheed and Cambria have the 2nd part to the album all primed for release tomorrow. And as much as I loved Pt. I, based on the 2 spins I’ve given this record so far, I’m feeling Pt. II is the superior of the pair. Tracks like the mindblowingly awesome “Sentry the Defiant” and “The Hard Sell” simply rock to Valhalla and tunes like “Dark Side of Me” and “Number City” really highlight how damn good CoCa are at writing some of the most catchy and accessible songs out there while still maintaining depth and interjecting some neat experimentation into the music. Front to back a completely solid effort and you should check it out. Click the link here or the album cover above to go to the stream and enjoy till your heart’s content. Let us know what you though. Peace Love and Metal!!!!!
Slammin’ Spotify Spotlight: S/T by Jess and the Ancient Ones
So, I’m going to try something new today. As you may have noticed, I like album streams and find things like Bandcamp are a great way for artists to get their music out there and into the ears of those who may like it. I also like them because they let you decide if you like an album enough to warrant a purchase. Trusting someone else’s opinion on a record is one thing, but forming your own is priceless. Besides the wonderful Bandcamp, another streaming service with a huge catalog of established, independent, and up and coming acts is Spotify. I finally started using the program/service a couple of months ago and have fallen head over heels for it. The catalog of what is available is massive, and the occasional 30 second radio commercial isn’t too intrusive and is fine with me given the insane amount of music I can listen to for free with the service (paid commercial free plans are available). Besides using it to go back and check out some classic albums that I have missed over the years, I’ve been using it to discover new music with its radio station function (the Opeth station is the best radio station ever). With all this music I discovered in there and my natural tendancy to want to tell the world about the latest band I heard and thought was kick ass, this column is born.
While there is a ton of big name music on the service and I will occasionally post about them, Slammin’ Spotify Spotlight will focus on albums that you may not have heard. Between this and the Tales From Bandcamp posts, I hope to help you all discover tons of great music to listen to and hopefully you will chime in down in the comments with what YOU think of the album on topic as well as making suggestions to bands you feel worthy of getting posted about. And as with the Bandcamp posts, I will be doing my best to keep the variety of hard rock/metal as diverse as possible, so fans of different genres can find something they like (or if you’re like me, just find some great music). If you could do me a favor on this post and let me know if the embedding and stuff is in order and tell me what you think of the idea, that would be f’n epic and appreciated.
And those who live in countries where Spotify isn’t available, fear not, there are LEGAL workarounds and at the bottom of this post I will give you instructions on how to make it work (tested and used by myself).
Soooo, onwards with the music. Since I just wrote a nice handful above I’ll keep the description nice and brief. My first choice for this column is an album I chose for the #5 spot on my best albums of 2012 list, the debut, self-titled album by Finnish rockers Jess and The Ancient Ones. This record is chock full of delightful hard rock tunes with a slight metal edge to them. There is a definite 70s vibe throughout the whole record, but the feel is very modern and well produced. While every musician is a highlight on the album, the one you are most likely going to notice first is frontwoman Jess. Her voice is one of the best I’ve heard of all female singers in rock. She is dramatic without going overboard like the Nightwish-y stuff, her delivery is always clear and understandable, she sounds sultry without being slutty, and all round her voice is just very mystical and powerful. Simply a pleasure to listen to over and over again.
And like I said, the other musicians here do more than pull their weight and get plenty of time in the spotlight. From the fat low-end grooves, driving drum work, atmospheric organs and Hammonds, to the killer guitar riffing and soloing there is so much substance to the album that warrants it to be listened to over and over again. If you were to look at my Spotify profile, you’ll see I listened to this album a whole ton, especially the song “Sulfur Giants” (what a massive journey that song is). If you fancy yourself a fan of the 70′s hard rock sound and progressive music in general, do take the time to check out this stunning debut. Enjoy!!!! Peace Love and Metal!!!!
Band Links:
Instructions on how to get Spotify to work in non-Spotify regions after the jump:
Matt’s Top 25 Favorite Cover Songs: #24: Animals covered by Les Claypool’s Frog Brigade
I tip my hat to Mr. Claypool and his brigade of amphibious creatures. They could have just covered a single song off of Pink Floyd’s masterpiece (and my favorite PF record), Animals. But Les had too much respect for the album, and to break it up, he felt would hurt the records integrity, so he just covered the whole darn thing. And he released it as an official Les Claypool’s Frog Brigade live album to boot: Live Frogs Set 2. So not only do you get the Claypool take on a classic album, but you get to hear it with wonderfully captured live energy as well as quality sound quality (if you ever purchased a bootleg of another band doing this kind of thing, you know how bad the audio recording can get). I really can not speak enough of how great the sound quality of this record is, hats off to the production and recording team.
Les’ take on Animals is pretty straight forward not changing anything and staying true to the way Roger Waters composed it. But, given that Claypool carries such a unique bass playing style as well as a peculiar voice, it would be impossible for him to replicate Animals note for note. When compared to the original the low ends are a lot fuller and much more pronounced with many blue notes added in. His voice also fits in perfectly with his oddball croon being a nice change of pace from Roger Waters rather pedestrian voice. The rest of the band also does some outstanding work giving due respect to the source material. I particularly like how saxophonist, Shriek, was able to replicate many of the sound effects heard on the original with his saxophone and Jay Lane’s excellent drumming working well with Claypool’s occasional improvised bits.
After listening to both records back to back, I have to say, I almost prefer Claypool’s rendition to the original, almost. And while there is plenty of the Claypool personality and improved moments crammed in, I do wish he deviated from the original a bit more to give it a more Claypool-ish spin to it. Nonetheless, it’s an excellent homage to Claypool’s favorite band and a wonderful cover that all fans of the original should listen to. Enjoy!! Peace Love and Metal!!!
Listen to the cover after the jump:
Album Review: Yellow and Green by Baroness
Sitting here writing this review up and listening to the new Baroness double L.P. Yellow and Green for the umpteenth time I find myself amazed that I am still awed and staggered by the pure majesty of this album. In 75 minutes the Savannah, GA band have presented some of the best music I’ve heard in years. While the bands roots lay in a bog of sludgy prog metal they really stepped up their game for this release and moved out of the murky, metallic waters they have gotten to know so well. With nothing against their previous material, I find the softer, more rock focused, and even more experimental side of Baroness heard on this record to be much more honest to the bands sound. Not having to pigeonhole themselves as a ‘metal’ band has allowed the members to really go out and explore all the aspects of the music they write leading to injections of post-rock, Americana, alt-rock, and folk music peppering their music all with a heavy hard rock/metal-ish base.
Full Album Streams: Yellow and Green by Baroness
Released on NPR mere minutes ago is the stream for sludgy prog metal band Baroness’ highly anticipated double albumYellow and Green. After an excellent debut and even better follow up I have high hope for this record and it is easily one of the most wanted records of the year for me. Seeing all the reviews by all the lucky reviewers who got themselves an early promo copy it seems that the GA boys have hit it out of the park yet again and by the 3 tracks I’ve heard so far from the stream, so far I’m in agreement. According to the buzz of the internets Baroness have taken a more rock and roll approach to this set of album and have an all round brighter sound while maintaining the unique style set up of the previous two records. More on that when the album lands in my mailbox on July 17th. No excuse me while I listen to this a couple hundred times. Enjoy!! Peace Love and Metal!!!
Album Review: Clockwork Angels by Rush
When it comes to the archetype for prog rock no band fits the bill better than the Canadian trio Rush. For their near 40 year career they have been pioneering exactly what a prog rock band should be. Going beyond the typical bullet points of the genre such as high level of musicianship, diverse song structures, and a deeper nod in the lyrical department (usually with heavy sci-fi/fantasy and philosophical themes), they really capture what the ‘progressive’ means in prog rock. Since their start as a blues tinged heavy metal band in the early 70′s their sound has just kept growing and progressing pushing into territories they have yet to explore. Pushing the envelope is something that has defined Rush, and they have continued to do that non-stop (their 7 year hiatus between 96-02 doesn’t count, the boys needed a small break, especially Neil 
). Here we are in 2012 and Rush has hit a major landmark on their career, full length album number 20. Not many bands can boast that achievement, and those that can most likely don’t have a catalog as solid and prolific as the prog masters. Clockwork Angels sees the band still moving forward with their musical landscape and since this is such a major deal for the band they do a little fan service and make some neat little homages to their previous works along the way.
Album Review: Storm Corrosion
Since becoming BFFs back when Porcupine Tree’s Stephan Wilson jumped on board to produce Opeth’s breakthrough record Blackwater Park there has been constant talk of him and Mikael Åkerfeldt consummating their friendship with a collaboration record. Well after over 10 years of waiting and speculation that highly desired meeting of minds has come to form by way of Storm Corrosion. There has been much deliberation as to what this union would end up sounding like, but one thing everyone seemed to agree on is that it would be creative and unique. Completing a trifecta of records, this record fits right in with Opeth and Steven Wilson latest offerings, Heritage and Grace for Drowning (both of which I thought were superb records). But if you go into the record expecting it to sound like something similar if you were to mash the 2 together, disappointment will ensue. Storm Corrosion is a very mellow, haunting, and atmospheric album that sounds exactly like what the 2 artist are known for and at the same time completely different.
