Wednesday, November 4, 2009
I've always been on the fence when it comes to the Black Dahlia Murder. They've got the death metal chops, but they never seem to be able to make music with much staying power, at least enough to make up an entire album's worth. Flashes of inspiration, but that's it. With Deflorate, though, it feels like the Detroit band has turned a corner. It's potent enough to send the moshpit children into a frenzy (as yours truly witnessed last month), but this time around the music is actually catchy. You actually remember the riffs instead of having everything go in one ear and out the other. It's nothing very inventive, but there's a lot worse metal bands kids could be listening to (like these dummies). Thumbs up from me. Here's my review.
I'll get to this month's Decibel issue in the next post, whenever I'm not hammering out columns and reviews (oh brother, is reviewing AC/DC's Backtracks ever going to be a headache...more on that soon) and when I can tear myself away from the new Ellroy book. And there's plenty of PopMatters stuff still waiting to be published, too.
a little more than ten months after seeing an absolutely charming performance during their cross-country Christmas charity tour, I headed out to catch Metric again. Fifth time for me...for some dumb reason it's not cool to like Metric anymore, but I could care less. Fantasies is their best album yet, and they never disappoint in concert. I was hoping they'd still be on the same high note that they were on last December, as the entire band seemed so happy to be playing again after coming off a bit icy the last couple times I'd seen them, and while the packed Odeon was about five times too small (people had been begging for tickets online for weeks) and seemed to lack the real joie de vivre of the Christmas tour, the energy was still decidedly positive. The band was as tight as ever, Emily Haines was as manic and charismatic as ever, the sound mix was very good, the effects were cool (projected images on a big silver screen). Heavy, heavy emphasis on the new record, with nine of its ten songs performed, which I was perfectly fine with considering how good the record is. Highlights included the one-two of "Gimme Sympathy" and "Sick Muse", a version of "Empty" with an extended, dancey breakdown, "Collect Call", and a cute acoustic performance of live staple "Combat Baby". A great time overall, but they're going to have to graduate to bigger venues sooner than later. They're becoming a very popular band, which quite frankly is great to see. Here's the setlist:
Twilight Galaxy
Help I'm Alive
Satellite Mind
Poster of a Girl
Handshakes
Gold Guns Girls
Empty
Collect Call
Gimme Sympathy
Sick Muse
Dead Disco
Blindness
Stadium Love
Encore:
Monster Hospital
Combat Baby (Acoustic)
It's November, so that means the year-end doin's are in full swing. Blurbing left and right, more blurbing in the coming weeks, and capped off with my annual blurb extravaganza on this page. I'm still trying to play catch-up (why am I only finding out about this now?), and some titles are still getting better as the months go by (ahem) but this year's best-of list is set to be a really, really good one, a great way to cap off a decade. I'd better get cracking.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Monday's 3 Inches of Blood/Saviours show was one I'd been really looking forward to for the past couple months. As much as I completely enjoy more cutting-edge metal sounds, traditional heavy metal has always been my first musical love, so that interest is always there when a young band comes along and pulls the sound off convincingly. While both of these bands' early years were sketchy to say the least, they've earned credibility by a) creating an audience the old-fashioned way through massive touring, and b) improving greatly with each new record, and both bands are peaking creatively these days, 3IOB with the excellent fourth album Here Waits Thy Doom (PopMatters review coming soon, I promise!), Saviours with the stupidly good third full-length Accelerated Living. And not surprisingly, both bands delivered one of the most genuinely fun shows I've seen this year.
Of course the charming confines of Amigos never hurts, especially when juxtaposed with a rowdy metal show. Theres something about metal at Amigos that's so enjoyable...the vibe is always positive, there's no ugliness to speak of, everyone's all smiles. And 3IOB was clearly thrilled to be back there after a couple years, as they had some very nice things to say about the place. Anyway, like I said, both bands were terrific, Saviours stressing their exceptional new material, which bears striking similarities to grittier NWOBHM bands as Tank and Jaguar, while 3IOB played a rollicking hour and a quarter set featuring songs from their last three albums (come on dudes, I know the first album kinda sucks, but we'd like to hear "Balls of Ice" just once!). All of their live favourites were played (save for "Destroy the Orcs", which people kept screaming for), and while I never tire of "Deadly Sinners" and "Night Marauders", the new material sounded fantastic, a clear indication of how Jack Endino so expertly captured the band's live sound on record. And speaking of which, they also covered BOC's "Cities on Flame", a bonus track on the swanky limited vinyl edition, which I picked up after the show. It's nice stuff, heavy green vinyl that matches the cover artwork...it's awaiting its maiden spin, though. Busy time of year for me. At any rate, for further minute details, read my full review of the show over at Hellbound. And for the record, here are the setlists for both bands:
Saviours:
Acid Hand
F.G.T.
Slave to the Hex
We Roam
Livin' in the Void
Narcotic Sea
Burnin' Cross
3 Inches of Blood:
Battles and Brotherhood
Silent Killer
Demon's Blade
Wykydtron
At the Foot of the Great Glacier
All of Them Witches
Trial of Champions
Execution Tank
Call of the Hammer
Swordmaster
Night Marauders
Encore:
Cities on Flame (Blue Öyster Cult cover)
Deadly Sinners
The Goatrider's Horde
I can't stop shutting up about the new Converge album, which is the band's masterpiece in my opinion, and typical of me, one piece on the band wasn't enough, as I felt I had to provide a more in-depth review of the record. So I did, and the thing went up late last week. Give it a read and go buy the CD, if you haven't already. I don't know what's wrong with the distribution of Axe to Fall, though...HMV only had one copy last week and one this week (out of two locations), and CD Plus, usually a very metal/hardcore-friendly chain, looked to be the similar. Why this album isn't getting a bigger push in Canada by Epitaph, I'll never know. We'll see later today how the album's first-week US sales are. I'm guessing in the 1,500-2,000 range.
Also reviewed at PopMatters is the latest album by the inexplicably popular Anvil. I found it a bit frustrating that the movie doesn't really give you a good sample of what the album they're working so hard to complete actually sounds like, so when I did finally hear it, I was amazed at just how respectable it really is. This is a band that was playing tiny shows for a reason, it had been a long, long time since they last put out a truly great record, but This is Thirteen is a very cool comeback, and it's awesome to see these Canadian headbangers sell a thousand units a week down south. An Oscar for best documentary feature would be the capper, would it not?
I spent the last few days playing the new Brutal Legend PS3 game, and have gotten a real kick out of it. A silly but involving storyline with plenty of metal references and parodies, and absolutely KILLER soundtrack, some cool vocal performances by Jack Black, Rob Halford, and Lemmy, plenty of nicely designed environments, characters and whatnot. Just top-notch all around. That said, though...if a videogame dummy like me can finish the main storyline this fast (the main bad guy took only two tries), just how challenging will it be for the kids who play this battle/fantasy/whatever stuff all the time? It comes with a hefty price tag of 70 bucks here in Canada...I sure was glad I only paid eight to rent the thing. Still, though, it's $8 well spent. Plus you've got to love any videogame savvy enough to put Slough Feg on its soundtrack!
After being stuck with a really annoying stream for reviewing purposes, I got an actual copy of Anneke van Giersbergen's new album in the mail yesterday all the way from the Netherlands (her manager appears to be just as nice a lady as Anneke herself), and my opinion hasn't changed: In Your Room is a real charmer. No metal influence to speak of, no similarities to the Gathering whatsoever, just simple, middle of the road alt rock/pop, but done without an ounce of pretension. There's a joy to this record that's undeniable. Sure, it's no Mandylion or how to Measure a Planet?, but she and her band have found their own identity and are clearly enjoying what they do, and it sure reflects in the music. Simple but rewarding.
Then there's Pelican, The Most Boring Metal Band on the Planet. Yeah, the instrumental Isis thing was nice for a while there, but the longer they go on, the more pedestrian they come across. It's not that they aren't capable of nice passages, it's just that it's so monotonous, full of boring, textureless riffs and boring, textureless, borderline inept drumming, that to stretch these songs out past the three minute mark is an exercise in futility. Never mind how lovely the production on What We All Come to Need is...this is just "Suicide & Redemption" done over and over again. Compare this to Wavering Radiant, and Isis wins in a walk. Someone described the new Pelican CD as "a musical version of Picasso's Guernica"...the dude's welcome to his own opinion, but personally, I feel this album is about as deep and exciting as a hippy-dippy painting of sun rays peeking through clouds.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
I've long been an admirer of John Crossingham, who is best known for being part of the Broken Social Scene collective, but has put out some of the most underrated Canadian music of this decade with his band Raising the Fawn. After a strong run of albums, I'd been wondering what became of Crossingham and his band, and while RTF has been silent on all fronts for a couple years now, Crossingham has been hard at work on another project...yes, it's music-related, but it's a completely different medium. It turns out the guy's written a book. A kids' book.
Published by the folks at Canada's Owl Kids (who didn't read Owl as a little kid?) Learn to Speak Music is aimed at the nine to 12 year old set, as Crossingham offers a beginners' guide to creating music. And the scope of this 96 page book is remarkably wide...he takes the reader through the processes of choosing and learning an instrument, forming a band, writing your own songs, setting up live performances, recording your music, promotion and merchandising, and myriad other little tips. Most importantly, he promotes a strong DIY indie aesthetic that serves as an extremely refreshing counterpoint to the mainstream's preoccupation with instant, pre-fab, American/Canadian Idol fame. It's all about the joy of creating, and I can't think of a better message for little kids these days. In fact, reading Crossingham's friendly, lucidly-written advice, for example learning to be fair to your bandmates and treat them with respect or how to organize a well-run, financially responsible concert, there are plenty of grown-up musicians who could even learn a thing or two from this book.
One of the coolest things about the book is all the little sidebar tips from various well-known Canadian indie artists, as people like Feist, Emily Haines, Dallas Green, Buck 65, Melissa Auf der Maur,Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, Andrew Whiteman, and many others offer their own advice for young readers. Also, scattered throughout are excelleently chosen playlists that offer terrific examples of such things as dynamics, cover tunes, unusual arrangements, lyrics, classic live performances, and lo-fi versus hi-fi. Jeff Kulak provides plenty of eye-catching illustrations that help explain what Crossingham is getting at, but in the end it's Crossingham's personable writing style, not to mention his years of experience writing and performing music, that makes Learn to Speak Music so enjoyable. It's not so much a "how to write an incredible song" book as it is a "how to be yourself through music" book, and no matter what style of music a kid wants to play, Crossingham shows that the entire process can be extremely rewarding if you're willing to put in the effort. It's an absolute pleasure to read for kids and grown-ups alike.
Monday, October 19, 2009
More new stuff to plug! And in Baroness's case, plug again. I don't normally write two reviews of the same album, but seeing that I write my Decibel review way back in August after just a week or two of listening to it, I felt fine with the idea. Not only had the CD grown on me more, but I was more able to put together something a lot more detailed than just 250 words having listened to the album for a couple months since. Anyway, my PopMatters review is now up, , so if you need further convincing, be sure to give it a read. It's yet another to file in the Year's Best department...Baroness is a very innocuous band, they don't go out there to make your jaw hit the floor. It's unassuming in an unpretentious indie rock sort of way, but also loaded with enough hooks to keep us riveted. Oh, and don't bother asking why my Decibel review has a 10 score while PopMatters gets an 8. They're just numbers. 8, 9, 10, whatever, it all means high praise in the end, and you really shouldn't be without the Blue Record.
Out later this month is the fourth album by deathcore greats the Red Chord...this one kind of got lost in the shuffle for me, as I've been completely wrapped up in albums by Baroness, Converge, Katatonia, Immortal, Krallice, Portal, Liturgy, Saviours, and on and on. But Fed Through the Teeth Machine does not deserve to be ignored, as it's an excellent, excellent CD. Quite a bit different than their last two especially, thanks to their being stripped down from a quintet to a four-piece, but also because their songwriting is improving greatly. The new record is as brootal as ever, but also loaded with memorable riffs. Unlike the current wave of "scene"-pandering deathcore bands like Suicide Silence and Winds of Plague, they knew how to write actual songs and not just go through the motions for 35 tiresome minutes. If you've found the Red Chord to be on the impenetrable side before, this one might surprise you. My full review has been posted over at Hellbound.
I'm very picky when it comes to prog metal/rock. Love Cynic, hate Dream Theater. Love Subarachnoid Space, hate Coheed and Cambria. Love Between the Buried and Me, despise the Mars Volta. So when I first spun the album The End is Begun by New Yorkers 3, I wasn't sure what to expect, but its very catchy melodies and tremendous discipline amidst such technically sound playing impressed me to no end, to the point where now I'm greatly looking forward to their new one. It's not due for a little while yet, but in the meantime they've put together a little odds & sods collection as their final release for Metal Blade before moving on to Roadrunner. Interestingly, they chose to re-record those rarities, hence the title Revisions, but while the whole re-recording thing has become such a tired gimmick these last few years (which reminds me, I really should review the Arch Enemy do-overs this week), this CD benefits from a) the improved recordings and b) the strength of the band circa 2009 versus five, ten years ago. A lot of the songs are on the safe side, teetering precipitously towards mainstream pop, but the album never derails, and by the end I was quite impressed yet again. A few keepers, some not so much, but if you enjoy 3 at all, you'll like this one. So go read my Hellbound review, and pick up the CD when it's out in the next week or two.
Lastly, a small reminder to follow me on Twitter! That thing actually isn't that bad at all, it's a good blog supplement.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
The articles continue to s l o w l y appear at PopMatters, but at least it's starting to happen now. First up is my full review of the new Sonata Arctica album...ever since the band started to move away from the effective but repetitious formula of their first four albums there's been a lot of grumbling from stodgy fans (stodgy fans in metal? fancy that), but I found 2007's likeable Unia to be an admirable move. The oddly titled The Days of Grays continues in the same vein, stressing wildly arranged prog metal epics ("Deathaura"), brooding pop numbers ("The Last Amazing Grays"), even-keeled power ballads that play up mood rather than melodrama ("Breathing"), and moments of surprising darkness ("Zeroes"). However, they do throw the fans a bone with the terrific "Flag in the Ground", a simple rehash of the old upbeat power metal tunes they used to specialize in, but they do it as convincingly as ever, the chorus's Celtic-tinged melody enough to make power metal geeks swoon and everyone else cringe. Sonata Arctica isn't for everyone, but if you love hooks, these guys never fail. Here's hoping they come out here on their upcoming headlining tour of North America.
I expected the new Converge album to be good. We all did. They're that kind of band, you always know they'll deliver. However, I wasn't expecting Axe to Fall to be the best album of Converge's career, but it's true, they've done it, topping Jane Doe, You Fail Me, and No Heroes. Nobody plays with as much ferocity and anger as Converge. Nobody is as imposing on record. And the new songs really deliver in a way that the band has never pulled off before...of course, much will be made about how there are tons of guest collaborators, including members of Coalesce, Genghis Tron, Cave In, and Neurosis, but never does it become distracting. There's a cohesion here that feels like the work of masters of their craft. Plus it doesn't hurt to have a guy like Kurt Ballou on guitar. The dude's a genius, and his riff on "Dark Horse" is just nuts. Anyway, a couple weeks back I had a cool conversation with vocalist Jacob Bannon for my column, and just in time for next Tuesday's release date, it's now up. He's a very nice guy, very honest and well-spoken, and I think it turned into a nice piece.
Around this time of year I always get a sneaky little album that comes in from out of nowhere, appears in my mailbox, and knocks my socks off. And it's always a Sonic Unyon mailout for some reason. There was Jens Lekman in 2004, Magic Numbers in 05, Love is All in 06, Gang Gang Dance in 08...and this year it just might be Music Go Music, a weird indie pop collective from Los Angeles. I knew nothing about this band, but I had some free time the other day to give the CD a shot, and what I heard left me thoroughly impressed. Their style is all over the place...one minute they're channeling disco as well as the Scissor Sisters did on their debut, the next they're sounding like the Mamas & Papas, the next they're evoking ELO, ABBA, and the Carpenters at the same time. It's pure pop at its most trite, and nothing but. So when you're making this kind of music, the hooks had better be brilliant and gigantic, and indeed, MGM bring it from start to finish, the highlights being the disco slow-burner "Warm in the Shadows" and the incredible "Light of Love", the latter as good a pop tune I've heard all year. As far as exercises in pop music song craft goes, this record is note-perfect. Just don't expect to hear anything profound. With songs as catchy and contagious as these, what else do you really need, anyway?
I thought I'd missed my chance to see Metric for a fifth consecutive time when the show swiftly sold out, but thankfully I came across a super-nice guy on kijiji who sold me a couple at face value. Whew. Don't know why they're playing the Odeon, though, that venue is far too small. At any rate, the place is going to be jumping on the 29th.
Everyone's going to do their best-of-the-decade lists, and I've been hemming and hawing about whether or not to do it, but I think I just might do a really me-centric album and singles list, maybe write them over a period of time and post them as gigantic one-off posts in January. Just a matter of finding the time during and after the annual holiday madness. Anyway I got think of this just now while listening to Spiller's "Groovejet", one of my absolute favourite singles of 2000, and the song that introduced me to the wonder that is Sophie Ellis-Bextor...
Friday, October 9, 2009
Lots of catching up to do, so here we go...
First of all, a week ago I caught the big Children of Bodom show at the Odeon. It was my fourth time seeing Bodom live, and they continue to win me over each time, and the Black Dahlia Murder, who are becoming more and more popular with the kids, played a decent but often ordinary set. The huge surprise wasn't that Skeletonwitch was good, I've long known that, but I really didn't know just how great they are live. They played for only half an hour, and absolutely killed, wasting no time, a high energy, raucous, tight performance that really turned me into a fan. Anyway, for further details, I suggest you take a look at the review I wrote for Hellbound. A fun time was had by all. For good measure, though, here's Skeletonwitch's setlist:
East Into the Open Sea (I think)
Fire From the Sky
Crushed Beyond Dust
Upon Wings of Black
Beyond the Permafrost
Submit to the Suffering
Soul Thrashing Black Sorcery
Despoiler of Human Life
Within My Blood
Here's a 90% correct approximation of the Black Dahlia Murder's setlist:
Everything Went Black
Black Valor
Closed Casket Requiem
Necropolis
What A Horrible Night to Have A Curse
Christ Deformed
A Vulgar Picture
Statutory Ape
Funeral Thirst
...And here's Children of Bodom's setlist. It was cool to finally see these guys play a full headlining show. Tons of old stuff played on this tour, which had the fans ecstatic:
Living Dead Beat
Hellhounds On My Trail
Silent Night, Bodom Night
Hate Me!
Follow The Reaper
Lake Bodom
Bodom After Midnight
Are You Dead Yet?
Blooddrunk
Angels Don't Kill
In Your Face
Children Of Decadence
Bodom Beach Terror
Downfall
Encore:
Everytime I Die
Hate Crew Deathroll
I was busy this past weekend putting together my October column (which, to paraphrase Jonah Hill, rhymes with "shmon-shmerge") and basically randomly selecting unopened CDs in an affort to decide what to include in my little review sidebar. I reached for the new album by recent Relapse signees Revocation, plunked it in the CD player, and was immediately bowled over. Do you think Shadows Fall is one of the most boring bands out there? Did the last Killswitch Engage album leave you disappointed? Do you with Lamb of God would stop sounding so darn lazy on record? Do you wish Five Finger death Punch should just die, already? If you answered "yes" to at least one of those questions, you need to hear Existence is Futile, the first album to come out in a long while that restores hope in good American mainstream metal. They're accessible and catchy, but they can also pull off technical death metal exceptionally well, and they've got one heck of a shredder on guitar. I've been kicking myself for not listening to this album before submitting my 2009 ballot to Decibel. Whoops. Anyway, if you're at all intrigued, I suggest you read my full review at Hellbound, which got a very nice number of hits...good to see!
As for PopMatters, trust me, I have plenty of irons in the fire, with three reviews just collecting dust and three more set to be written this weekend, so hopefully some stuff will be popping up there soon. Over at Decibel, though, the new issue is out (as I mentioned in yesterday's post), and I have no fewer than four reviews to go along with my Hall of Fame article. First is the new Baroness album, which is spectacular. The interesting thing with that one is that it's not too far removed from the Red Album, but every facet of the record is a significant improvement over the last one, superbly written, beautifully paced, and nicely arranged and produced. Funnily enough, I originally gave it a 9 rating, but it was bumped up to a 10, something I'm perfectly fine with, because a) the review really does read like a 10, and b) the album has only gotten better over the last couple months. Year-end list bound, no question about that. I'm pretty much always fine with ratings bumps...it's just a number, it doesn't change the overall sentiment of the review whatsoever.
Also up is my review of the new one by Black Cobra, a very cool guitar/drums duo that actually sounds as heavy as the Melvins, a very enjoyable CD. Then there's the collection of early demos by Swedish death metal veterans Necrophobic, which is pretty solid. And lastly, the biggest surprise of that issue's assignments, the latest by a Finnish band called Ghost Brigade, a band as punishing as Neurosis, but with a knack for the kind of sumptuous melodies you'd expect from Katatonia.
And speaking of Katatonia, oh my, is Night is the New Black ever a beautiful album. I had high expectations, and they were all exceeded. What a great time for new music, as all the gigantic releases I've been eagerly awaiting have all arrived in my mail (or in some cases, email)...the jaw-dropping new one by Converge, the new Immortal which for all its cartoonishness is a real blast, the new Shrinebuilder is killer, et cetera, et cetera. Too many great albums, way too little time.
If there ever was a harsh reminder for writers to PROTECT their watermarked advance copies of albums, it was this week's Converge controversy, which was dealt with in typically hardcore fashion by the band via twitter. That's my worst nightmare, and even though I don't know the writer, or whether the album was intentionally shared or if he was hacked, I still feel awful for him. I actually had a big scare last week...there was one album which I had access to an advance stream of, and I was told, "There's a download option, just click it, get the files, and you don't need the stream anymore." Okay. So I tried, and it didn't work. Tried again, tried again. And again. Streams are awful ways to listen to albums if you're writing about them, so if there's a download option, you can bet I and every other writer do it. Besides, nobody has any access to my files whatsoever, my stuff is well protected. But a couple days later I was accused by the label of allowing other people to download the album elsewhere, which is ludicrous, I work exclusively from a desktop, and I'm so far removed from anybody even remotely interested in the kind of music I write about to begin with. I was furious, not to mention a little worried. As it turned out, any attempt to download the album more than one time, even if every attempt failed, kicked into gear a glitch in the system that had all the alarms going off. Sheesh. So I was exonerated and apologized to, which was a relief after being falsely accused. But anyway, like the story of the Converge leak, if there ever was a reminder to be extra careful about where you listen to watermarked advances and who has access to your computer, it was this past week.
On a non-music related note, the other night I bit the bullet and bought the 11 game medal round ticket package for the upcoming World Junior Hockey Tournament here this coming January. The relegation games, all quarter-finals, both semi-finals, the 5th place game, the bronze medal game, and the gold medal game...11 games of world class hockey in four days! That, my friends, is hockey heaven. I saw three games the last time the WJC was held in Saskatchewan and saw tons of players who would go on to be NHL stars, and that won't be any different this time around. The competition will be incredible, and there's nothing like watching the world juniors in Canada during the holidays, the atmosphere is unreal. Can't wait!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
I still laugh about having to ask for a sample copy of Decibel magazine when they first asked me to join their group of contributing writers...I'd heard of the mag, but we didn't get it here back in 2005, so I was genuinely curious as to what it looked like, content-wise. Needless to say, the second I saw the Hall of Fame section, I immediately wanted to one of my own. As time went by, the big conundrum for me was figuring out which classic metal album to write about. First of all, there was the Hall of Fame criteria: the album had to be more than five years old, it had to reflect Decibel's "extreme" theme, there would be only one HoF entry per artist, and every musician who played on the record had to be interviewed, which meant if a band had a deceased member playing on a record, there was no hope of doing it. Personally, I'm more emotionally attached to 80s metal than 90s metal, so I really wanted to do a record that was from my era. And hardcore was right out, I really don't care for any of the hardcore HoF entries, save for Stormtroopers of Death (and I'd heartily endorse the induction of the first Suicidal Tendencies album). I'd tossed a few ideas out to our intrepid editor Albert, but either it a really good fit or it had been attempted/published already, and every time an 80s album was written about (Lightning to the Nations, The Legacy, Nightfall, Heaven and Hell, Morbid Tales), I'd be going, "Agh, why didn't I think of that one???" Then back in late June, I thought, What about Accept?"
I've been a big admirer of Accept for nearly 25 years, Balls to the Wall being one of my favourite all-time 80s metal albums and Restless and Wild not too far behind. So I sent an e-mail off to Albert suggesting Restless and Wild, thinking it would be a better fit for Decibel, and whaddya know, the folks at headquarters were intrigued. Funny thing is, while the suggestion was being mulled over, I started to waffle between Restless and Wild and Balls to the Wall...I love the slick, cold production of BTTW, not to mention the overall weirdness, sensuality, and ambiguity of the lyrical themes, which were completely unlike anything in metal at the time, so I started to think I could come up with more compelling questions for that one. Eventually it was decided that R&W was the more fitting entry, and by July, the project was in full swing.
I'll say it right off the bat, I have never had more fun working on a writing project as I did on this Hall of Fame entry. It was a joy from start to finish...I'd heard many horror stories about how someone else's piece would be 90% done, but one stubborn member would refuse to be interviewed, and in Accept's case, three of their members were still in the band (guitarist Wolf Hoffman, bassist Peter Baltes, guitarist Herman Frank), while the other two (vocalist Udo Dirkschneider and drummer Stefan Kaufmann) are doing their thing in U.D.O., so I was prepared for the worst. However, once I got in touch with the folks at AFM Records and Accept's longtime manager Gaby Hoffmann, I was amazed how everyone was thrilled to participate in the project, and they all bent over backwards to help out. The interviews were all conducted in early August, including several 3 a.m. phone calls to Germany. It was cool to talk to a legendary frontman like Udo, who's a nice fella, kind of like talking to an old German uncle. Wolf Hoffmann was my most crucial interview, as he's been the musical leader of the band for decades, and he was terrific, very honest and articulate. Kaufmann was a total blast, the dude's got an amazing memory, and he had tons of funny stories. Herman Frank's interview was a strange one, since technically he didn't play on the record but was listed in the credits, but he was very happy to help out, not to mention eccentric in a likeable way (I called him while he was tinkering in the studio, and after the interview he said enthusiastically, "Hey! Wanna hear the song I'm working on?" "Uh, sure." (super-loud guitar playback on a fuzzy trans-Atlantic phone call) "BWAAH BWAAAAHHH BWWAAAAAH." "Uh, that's pretty cool, Herman.") Baltes was my last interview, and he did a great job filling in some of the blanks.
I'm usually fanatical when it comes to piecing together articles, I'm a relentless editor, always revising, and I was so excited to get going after the final interview that as soon as I finished transcribing, I dove right in. I had some practice with the "oral history" format doing my Manowar piece a year ago for Metal Edge, so I really love creating an in-their-own-words story that flows nicely. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that it took me less than two hours to assemble the 4500 word body of the article. It was that easy...everything fell into place, I was amazed. After that, I slapped together an introduction, got some very wonderful testimonials from Alex Webster of Cannibal Corpse and Schmier from Destruction (I actually used Martin Popoff's The Top 500 Metal Albums of All Time to find out which famous musician loved Restless and Wild!), and voila, it was done. And I consider it the best thing I've ever created as a music writer, I'm immensely proud of the final product. Anyway, the article is in stores now as part of the November 2009 issue (Baroness cover)...You can read my intro here, see a small scan of the opening two-page spread here, and if you can't find Decibel where you live, you can order a copy here.
Once in a rare while you end up interviewing a band from your youth and find yourself coming away an even bigger fan than you ever were before, and that was definitely the case with Accept. It was a very rewarding experience, and I hope any Decibel readers who drop by here enjoy reading the piece as much as I did researching, writing, and assembling it. Plus if you've never heard Restless and Wild before, I hope you give it a shot, it's a truly great record. Anyway, huge thanks go out to Gaby Hoffmann, Timo Hoffmann, Michael Borwitzky, Dave Brenner, Alex Webster, Schmier, and of course, all the guys from the band for making one of the greatest metal albums of all time and being so darn gracious enough to talk about it.
***
One more Accept tidbit...people always talk about the song "Fast as a Shark" when describing Restless & Wild, but for my money, "Princess of the Dawn" is its finest moment. It's one of the weirdest songs to ever come out of early-80s metal, and for good reason. It went against pretty much everything that defined heavy metal at the time. It was brooding and subtle instead of larger than life, it was an exercise in groove instead of a full-throttle rocker, it was more studio experimentation than the sound of a band hammering out a song like it was live. Interestingly, in the past seven years that I've delved into the sounds of 1970s German Krautrock, namely Can, Kraftwerk, and Neu!, I started to notice an uncanny similarity between that form of experimental rock and "Princess of the Dawn". Kaufmann's drum beat is incredibly reminiscent of the "motorik" drum beat of "Hallogallo" and the hypnotic groove of "Mother Sky". Hoffman's guitar work as increasingly abstract and adventurous, all layered and layered on top of each other as the song progresses. And the entire band carries on like they could play this riff for hours, and part of me wishes that they did instead of cutting the song off suddenly at the 6:16 mark. But when I asked the band about any possible Krautrock connection, they denied it, stating that their primary German influence was Scorpions' The Tokyo Tapes. Hoffmann did say that he had been inspired by the hypnotic, repetitive quality of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band's "Faith Healer", which is interesting, because that song was heavily derivative of Krautrock. And Kaufmann did admit in retrospect that his drumming on "Princess" did bear some distinctly German sensibilities. But that's about it. And you know what's really weird? At the time, Accept shared the same label (Brain Records) as some of the great Krautrock bands, including Neu!, Popol Vuh, Amon Duul, and Tangerine Dream! Some weird, subconscious influence by mere association, perhaps? Either way, "Princess of the Dawn" is a phenomenal song, one that I never, ever tire of hearing. In fact, I've played it about five times in a row while writing this! In fact, here's a killer live performance from Japan in 1985. Enjoy!
Monday, September 28, 2009
It's not the coolest form of metal out there, but I was really looking forward to the DragonForce/Sonata Arctica show that rolled into town this past Friday, if anything, because it was a welcome change from the usual metal fare we tend to get here. Not that I'm complainin', I like Lamb of God and Bodom as much as anyone, but it sure would be nice to get some power metal every once in a while. Last year's surprisingly awesome Iced Earth show was a breath of fresh air, and as it turned out, so was this one. As it happened, despite making all the arrangements my name wasn't on the guest list for this show (first time such a mistake was made in a long time), but instead of getting all snippy over it, I just sucked it up and shelled out for a ticket. Which is fine, this was one show I was willing to pay full price to cover, anyway.
It's fun to see all the power metal fans that come out of the woodwork for these kinds of shows...your usual headbanger dudes, nerds in Sonata t-shirts, tough looking guys who would otherwise never be caught dead wearing a Nightwish shirt at a metal show, lots of girls, parents with pre-teens, and even older folks who love highly melodic metal. A total mixed bag. And everyone had a blast, including yours truly. In fact, my full review is up today, so I'm a bit reluctant to go through everything a second time, but I'll try to fill in the blanks. Taking Dawn was exuberant but forgettable. Sonata Arctica was terrific, in fact they were the better band by far, in every respect. It was only a six song set, but the mix was great, Tony Kakko's singing was dead on, and the band seemed chomping at the bit after building up to the release of their cool new album (which I really want to review for PopMatters...maybe I can hammer something out in the next couple days). Plus it was cool to finally hear personal favourite tunes like "Fulllmoon" and "Don't Say a Word" in person. Here's their brief but quite rewarding setlist:
In Black and White
Flag in the Ground
8th Commandment
Last Drop Falls
Fullmoon
Don't Say a Word
DragonForce was as goofy as expected, but although I was sort of expecting the band to sound sloppy live, that certainly wasn't the case at all. The mix was a bit dicey, not very loud, the guitar solos and vocals a little too low, but these guys came a lot closer to nailing their ridiculously complex songs than I'd expected. I got a real kick out of watching guitarists Sam Totman and Herman Li...the two complement each other very nicely. Li is one of the best, if not the best shredder I have ever seen in person, full of gimmicky moves that are undeniably cool, like the bit where he does a whammy bar squeal, tosses up his guitar, bounces it back up off his hip, and catches it in time to continue noodling away. I would have eaten that right up back when I was 14, so i found all that shtick endearing. Totman, meanwhile, is more of a loose cannon out there...like Adam Dutkiewicz of Killswitch Engage, his antics bring a sense of levity to the overly pompous proceedings, and whether it was his garish spandex pants, his gigantic straws for his beer (held in handy mike stand cupholders), his goofy tornado jumps, or his mocking of his bandmates' solo turns, he never failed to keep things loose. That said, though, the dude can keep up with Li in the shredding department, and his songwriting cannot be underestimated...he's responsible for most fo the band's best-known songs, including this one and this one, both of which were the two highlights of the hour and a half set. Oh, and I wasn't familiar with "Strike of the Ninja", but after seeing them play it in the encore, I love it. Great 80s vibe on that one. Anyway, it was a grwat, fun time overall. 37 bucks well spent! The setlist:
Fury of The Storm
Heroes of Our Time
Operation Ground and Pound
Reasons To Live
Starfire
Where Dragons Rule
Fields of Despair
Keyboard Solo
Disciples of Babylon
Last Journey Home
Valley of The Damned
Encore:
Strike of The Ninja
Through The Fire and Flames
Thursday, September 24, 2009
After a summer that consisted of completely un-summerlike weather, September has rebounded with a vengeance out here. In fact, it looks set to be the hottest September ever recorded, which is nuts. And while I'm usually moaning baout how I'd rather it was 12 degrees outside instead of 32 this late in the year, it does seem to make other folks happy, and that was more than evident last night as I headed downtown at 8:00 (normally a pretty dormant time in the middle of the week in September) and found the area to be totally buzzing. Of course one big reason to be jubilant on this night was that after waiting fer-flippin-ever, the Hold Steady finally paid my city a visit. Like the Drive-By Truckers, the Minneapolis band has developed a reputation for being one of the finest live acts in American rock music today, but they tend to stick to the same markets in the States, never making a huge effort to tour north of the border, save for a token Toronto stop. It might have taken them four albums to finally get up here, but I sure was grateful, and so were the 500 or so punters who made their way to the Odeon on this pleasantly warm night.
Opening band Sill Life Still turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Onstage they tend to lack charisma, even coming across as a little shy, but the music it far more colourful than their demeanor would indicate. The Broken Social Scene influence is more than obvious, right down to their being on Arts & Crafts, with the music possessing that layered, loose, yet exuberant sound that BSS made famous, making heavy use of multiple vocalists. It's formulaic, and a cynic might deem it generic, but it's at times incessantly catchy, and I quite enjoyed such performed tunes as "Knives in Cartoons", "Danse Cave", "Kid", "Pastel", and "Neon Blue". They might not look like a band that's out to conquer the world, but there's real potential in the music, and their set convinced me to follow these guys a little more closely (the album is very solid).
At first I thought the Odeon would be too big for this show, as the place was really empty about 15 minutes before Still Life Still went on, but the place gradually filled over the following hour. It certainly wasn't packed like it was for Franz Ferdinand or will be for DragonForce tomorrow night (going to that one too!), but it was nice to be in a comfortably full venue and still have a little space between yourself and the next person. And the enthusiasm was definitely there, the crowd joyous for the entire 22 song set.
Not surprisingly, the band sounds tremendous live, but what caught me off-guard was just how lively a frontman Craig Finn is. His mannerisms are unique to say the least, devoid of any rock star posing whatsoever, but still embracing the bombast of the lead singer role. He's a very magnetic, energetic dude onstage, which in turn made it all the more fun. He clearly is having fun up there, and how can you not like that? Anyway, the band has been throwing their fans a lot of curveballs on this run, and there were a bunch of surprises on this night. They opened with "Yeah Sapphire" from Stay Positive, tossed in older fare like "The Swish" and "Knuckles" ("I've been trying to get people to call me Sunny D/I've got the good stuff kids go for/People keep calling me Five Alive/Because the last guy didn't really die/I just lied, and the first four didn't really die"...love that line), did "Girls Like Status" from that Aqua Teen thingy, and dragged out a bunch of new tracks, the highlights being "Hurricane J", "Separate Vacations", and soon-to-be-classic "Heaven is Whenever". And it was so great to hear "Ask Her For Adderall", a jumpin' little bonus track that I like better than a good portion of the last album. I was hoping to get "First Night" and "Killer Parties", but the substitutes, "Southtown Girls" and "How a Resurrection Really Feels" were great to hear. New stuff like "Constructive Summer", "Sequestered in Memphis", and "Stay Positive" went over huge, and I especially loved anything off Boys and Girls in America, like "Hot Soft Light" and "Chips Ahoy!". However, the two big ones for me were probably the band's most ubiquitous tracks. "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" was the first Hold Steady that won me over big time, while I'm unusually attached to "Stuck Between Stations" a track that hold enormous sentimental value. So I was very thankful these over-played tracks were played once again...and so was everyone else, as "Stations" brought the house down. The show ended oddly early, I got back home at 11:20, but that's good, it gave me enough time to wind down and get this entry down. Just a super show tonight. Those fellas delivered. Here's the setlist:
Yeah Sapphire
Constructive Summer
Hot Soft Light
Separate Vacations
Sequestered In Memphis
Navy Sheets
Banging Camp
Girls Like Status
The Swish
Heaven Is Whenever
Knuckles
Magazines
Our Whole Lives
Your Little Hoodrat Friend
Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night
Hurricane J
Southtown Girls
Stay Positive
Ask Her For Adderall
Slapped Actress
Encore:
Stuck Between Stations
Chips Ahoy!
How a Resurrection Really Feels
Big, goofy power metal extravaganza in store on Friday, so watch for thoughts/setlists in a day or two! That show's going to be a very refreshing deviation from the norm out here, I'm sure.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
It sure is nice to decompress for a day or two after the writing craziness of the last month, but it won't be long before it's back to bidness. I'm contemplating my October column, which will be written in ten days or so. I have a ton of cool options, but I think I've figured out what it's going to be about. In the meantime, though, it's going to be a fun few days...tonight is the hugely-anticipated (by me anyway) show by the Hold Steady, who I've been waiting to see for a really long time now, and Friday is the big Sonata Arctica/DragonForce power metal extravaganza (Sonata Arctica is another band I've been waiting years to see). Two very different shows in very close succession, at the same venue. Very different crowds, obviously! I'll post a Hold Steady recap (hopefully with setlist, they've really been mixing it up on this Western Canadian tour) in 24 hours.
No new writing to mention yet, but word has it the new issue of Decibel is floating around. Not only does it have my first-ever Hall of Fame entry, but it also has my first '10' rated review (granted, I didn't know it would be a 10 when I wrote it, but the score fits perfectly). I'll wait until I get the actual issue, or at least until it goes online, before I go into greater detail. One thing I will do is tell the story of how my Hall of Fame entry came into being. It was probably the most rewarding writing adventure I've ever had, a true labour of love, an absolute pleasure. But yeah, more on that in a couple weeks.
A few days ago I tried compiling a 2009 best-of rough draft in anticipation of the call for lists, and this year's list turned out to be a lot bigger than I'd imagined, somewhere int he neighbourhood of 50 or 60 titles I would deem noteworthy. Whittling it down to 20 will be very, very difficult. And nicely enough, I've heard nearly every metal album I wanted to hear, which doesn't always happen. There are some exceptions, like the upcoming Immortal album, which is not being serviced to the press at all, and of course there are always surprises waiting to be discovered, but it's really looking like my top 20 will be impenetrable as the year comes to a close.
I was really hoping to hear two BIG ones asap, and on Monday and Tuesday I got my wish. I know Converge's Jane Doe is going to get a lot of attention when people start naming the best extreme albums of the decade, but I'm of the opinion they're an even better band now. They just keep improving with each new record, and the new one Axe to Fall is definitely their best album to date. There are a lot of ways to gauge the impact of a metal band, but Converge is without a doubt the single most intense band in the genre. They put so much anger into every vocal line, every drum fill, every riff, that no one else can ever hope to match it, and hearing a song like "Dark Horse", your jaw just drops. They're a cut above the rest, simple as that, and the new tracks are unreal. It's one fast album, that's for sure, tons of D-beats. And Kurt Ballou's guitar work is darn near masterful. I'll have more on this album once I let it settle some more, but no question, this one's list-bound.
The one I was waiting for most eagerly, though, is the new one by Swedish sourpusses Katatonia. Like Converge, they really evolve with each new release, but Katatonia is far more subtle and graceful. And on Night is the New Day they're totally on top of their game. As always, its approach is quite understated, but this time it's more so than ever before. Opening track "Forsaker" is about the closest we ever come to something as insistent and immediate as "Ghost of the Sun" or "Leaders"...the rest of the record really gets brooding, with a mix that I can only describe as sounding luxurious, with synths, electronic effects and beats, and other innocuous bells and whistles adding to the overall mood. So carefully crafted is the album's atmosphere and ambiance that at times it feels like Will Gregory from Goldfrapp had a hand in the production. It's still metal, the doomy chords are still there, but it's not just dour, it's drop-dead gorgeous. Jonas renske turns in a magnificent vocal performance...he's really become a great singer on the last three albums, but this one's his finest hour. "The Longest Year" is absolutely breathtaking. It's amazing how he was forced to abandon harsh vocals for clean singing, and how that in turn gradually turned Katatonia into truly one of the most unique bands in all of metal. This is one beautiful piece of work, and will place very high on my list come December, no question.
I can't say how pleased I am that Fucked Up won this year's Polaris Music Prize! I was listening to CBC Radio 3 on Monday night, hoping like crazy that the band would take the award...they had some very good competition (Metric, K'NAAN, Chad Van Gaalen, Elliott Brood) and some very ordinary opponents (Joel Plaskett, Hey Rosetta, Great Lake Swimmers), and I didn't want the jury to take the safe route, because they've been accused of doing so in the past. Plus a lot fo much more deserving bands were snubbed from the short list (Handsome Furs, Japandroids, La Patere Rose, Coeur de Pirate<, Junior Boys, A.C. Newman). The Chemistry of Common Life was far and away the most exciting Canadian album of the last 12 months, and I was elated when Dan Snaith made the announcement. The band's raucous performance of "Son of the Father" sounded amazing, and it was fun reading the twitter updates as it was happening, photos of Pink Eye stripped down to his underwear posted by incredulous audience members. All the performances from the show should pop up on YouTube over the weekend when the show is aired on tv.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
As promised, here's the review of the In Flames/Killswitch show from Sunday night. I think it turned out well. It was definitely fun to write, I pounded that out in an hour or so after I got back home. Fun time for shows right now...Hold Steady next week, which I'm extremely pumped for, DragonForce/Sonata Arctica in a very rare helping of power metal in my city, Children of Bodom.Black Dahlia Murder/Skeletonwitch at the start of October, Metric once again (have to get tix, can't forget), 3 Inches of Blood/Saviours (a great pairing), Trivium/Chimaira (okay, I'm not overly thrilled, but I might go review this one), and the mighty Cannibal Corpse in December. Not to mention all the interesting punk shows that are hitting here in the fall. Spring and fall, that's when things really pick up here.
I might as well mention the stuff I have appearing in the new issue of decibel before I forget. There's a tiny little studio report on Katatonia that's not online, but that's pretty minor. No features, but I do have four album reviews. The new one by 3 Inches of Blood is right up my alley...they've ditched their former lead screamer and focus completely on old-fashioned heavy metal, and the results are stellar. Had it for about three months, and I'm still not sick of it. Just as good, or maybe a little bit better, is the second album by Quebec's Augury, the first technical death metal album this year to really grab my attention and keep me enthralled from start to finish. This just might squeeze on to my ballot for the year-end issue (ugh, speaking of which, I really should try to sort out my 2009 faves one of these days). Then there's the new one by Danish NeurIsis clones The Psyke Project, which got pretty tiring awfully fast. If you can't sound better than Neur and Isis, why even bother? Lastly, and I do mean lastly, is the disastrous new album by Ensiferum. I'm not picking on the band or their music, I'm a bit of a fan and they're all nice guys, but they completely lose focus on this one, and I'm just amazed at all the slavering reviews it's been getting. They're just randomly throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks instead of simply sticking to what they do best. When they keep it simple, they're terrific. When they try to be ambitious, it's not pretty.
I've been listening to the new CD by Brooklyn black metal band Liturgy a lot lately. It's just insane, it's got some of the fastest black metal drumming you will ever hear, and it whips itself into a trance-like state, creating a dense wall of sound that first feels jarring, but quickly feels comfortable, and at times euphoric. There's not much to it, the production is bare-bones and the length is rather economical for the genre (38 minutes), but it achieves what the band sets out to do with surprising confidence. Awesome stuff. I did an interview with their main dude, and it came out really, really well, he's a smart and articulate guy. But more on that in November when the issue comes out!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Apologies for the lack of new posts, but several Decibel assignments have run way past deadline, and I've been busy non-stop. Still working on two pieces as I speak, but I thought I'd better slap a quick update here just to keep things moving.
First of all, egads, I'm on Twitter. Yeah, I caved. But it's not too bad. It's not like I'll be posting dumb mundane minutiae, either, it'll be a good spot for quick mentions of ephemera as well as a place for me to post my initial reactions to whatever new music I'm listening to at the time. So head over to my page and follow me!
With the new Megadeth album coming out, I wasn't exactly quivering with excitement, but being a fan for 23+ years, I was still looking forward to it, as I've come to greatly admire Dave Mustaine's recent creative rebirth. I was expecting a good album, nothing more. Little did I know that MegaDave & co. had put together a near-great one. Seriously, Endgame cooks, it's easily their best record in a good 19 years at least. Chris Broderick is the best thing to happen to Megadeth in ages, as he and Mustaine shred like crazy on this album, which seems to have really lit a fire under the main man, because the eleven songs all hold up extremely well, especially the BRILLIANT "Headcrusher", "Dialectic Chaos"/"Today We Fight!", and "1,320'". Interestingly enough, he seems to draw more from bands like Kreator and Testament, simply sticking to his strengths, his reach never exceeding his grasp. It's not a reinvention, but more of a reaffirmation of Mustaine's standing in the metal world. This is definitely an album to file under the "year's best" category, I just love it. My full review can be found here.
I wrote a gigantic review of Sunday night's In Flames show, so I'll post the link when it appears at Hellbound tomorrow. But overall, the show was very good. I've been spending the past few days playing the new album by Between the Buried and Me non-stop, so it was cool to see them live mere hours after reviewing The Great Misdirect for Decibel. The album is amazing, and the band sounded phenomenal. It was only a three song, half-hour set, but it was absolutely impeccably performed and mixed, starting off with "All Bodies", continuing with new track "Obfuscation", and concluding with the 15 minute Colors epic "White Walls". The new album has the band on the verge of becoming progressive rock masters (more King Crimson than Pink Floyd), and you can definitely feel that when you see them live. It's something to behold.
I can't say the same for Protest the Hero, though. They're a good live band, their shows can be fun, but coming after the masterful BTBAM, you really noticed how Protest the Hero really lacks the songwriting skill despite having all the technical chops in the world. They looked like rank amateurs.
Most people at the sweltering Prairieland were there to see Killswitch Engage, but after a rousing five songs, ailing singer Howard Jones had to bolt backstage, where he proceeded to throw up for a good 15 minutes. Thanks to the inimitable Adam Dutkiewicz, however, the band kept things nice and loose, whether it was his hilarious tribute to Canada, a cowbell solo or the rendition of "Rose of Sharyn" with the fans singing the words. Jones did return to do "Holy Diver" and "The End of Heartache", but that was it, the band barely made it halfway through their set.
In Flames nicely made up for the disappointment, though. It was easily the best set I've seen from them to date, for the most part a nice mix of material from their last five albums, highlights being the ubiquitous "Cloud Connected", "Only For the Weak", "The Quiet Place", "Disconnected" (yes, I like that song a lot), and the unabashedly sappy "Come Clarity". Especially cool was hearing the Colony track "Embody the Invisible" live. The sound was thin yet again, which always seems to happen at In Flames shows, so we had to get right under the PA to feel any semblance of oomph...elsewhere, the volume was too low, the mix punchless. But the all-ages crowd behaved themselves, the light show was all strobey and blinding, and the band was workmanlike but charismatic. I know, it's not coll for a metal writer to be an In Flames fanboy these days, we're supposed to worship the 90s stuff and blow off the 00s albums, but although their sound has been streamlined (read: "dumbed down") on the last five records, but I think it's a cool reinvention after taking melodeath as far as it could go. I won't stop going to their shows, they're predictable but too much fun. Anyway, the setlist:
Cloud Connected
Embody The Invisible
Delight & Angers
Disconnected
Square Nothing
Drifter
Clayman
Only For the Weak
Come Clarity
Leeches
Alias
The Mirror's Truth
The Quiet Place
Take This Life
My Sweet Shadow
Have you heard the new Katatonia track yet? No? Then go download it at once! It's phenomenal, and I cannot wait to hear Night is the New Day in its entirety. Which should be real soon...
Friday, September 4, 2009
Sometimes you see a band whose live show is so tight, so efficient, so professional, that it makes all their contemporaries seem like rank amateurs in the process. There wasn't much at all to Franz Ferdinand's show last night, either. I don't know whether it was the limitations of the stage size at the Odeon or what, but this show was absolutely bare-bones: some amps, a modest drum riser, a black curtain, and a simple row of generic club lights. That spartan set-up turned out to be perfect, as it happened, as it placed the emphasis solely on the four guys in the band, who absolutely tore it up for an hour and a half. It turned out the show did sell out, which was nice to see, and with the place jam packed on a night where it was 25 degrees at 8 pm, the joint was sweltering, which only added to the festive mood. The folks were there to have loads of sweaty fun.
You know a crowd's in a good mood when they manage to have fun during a set by Think About Life, a middling Montreal band that ranks somewhere between Wolf Parade, TV on the Radio, and MGMT, sans the good songs. Thankfully their set was mercifully short, and by 10:15, the real pros hit the stage. The floor was as packed as I've ever seen it (I was a bit removed, having secured a decent spot behind the mixing board), and when Franz tore into "Michael" and "Do You Want To" (what a way to open a show!), the mass of humanity was merrily pogoing along to those infectious, thumping hooks. It's a shame Franz Ferdinand is a bit taken for granted these days, as they've quietly amassed a very solid discography, and their 17 song set was terrific from start to finish, Alex Kapranos & co. pulling out knockout after knockout, of course including the ubiquitous "Take Me Out". As for my own personal highlights, "The Dark of the Matinee" was very cool, "Ulysses" translated exceptionally well live, "This Fire" brought the house down, and "Lucid Dreams" brilliantly transformed from a taut rocker into an extended krautrock jam, bringing the sweltering night to an immensely satisfying close. Plus I'd actually forgotten how good "Outsiders" (they did a great four-person drum solo at the end of that one) and ""40'" are. No "Darts of Pleasure" or "Auf Asche", but the setlist was so strong, it's impossible to complain. Those guys delivered, plain and simple, one of the best shows I've seen all year. I can't remember the exact order save for the beginning and encore, but all the songs are there:
Michael
Do You Want To
Bite Hard
Walk Away
The Dark of the Matinee
Take Me Out
This Fire
What She Came For
No You Girls
Can't Stop Feeling
Tell Her Tonight
Ulysses
Outsiders
Encore:
The Fallen
Turn it On
40'
Lucid Dreams
More new reviews keep surfacing...over at Hellbound, I wrote a rave review of the awesome new album by new York band Black Anvil, who follow the leads of Darkthrone, Goatwhore, and Crucifist, serving up a platter of old, old school mid-80s proto-black metal infused with strong hardcore influences. The sound of a great early Celtic Frost/Bathory knockoff is something I find deeply satisfying, and these guys nail it on their first record, even going so far as to cover Celtic Frost's classic "Dethroned Emperor". Not much to it, but it's immediate and disciplined, hitting you on a primal level. Simple, but just plain great. Be sure to check out the review, and give the album a listen via the link at the bottom of the piece.
Also published today is my review of the new Killswitch Engage album, which I find to be mildly disappointing, especially coming from a band that is on the cusp of becoming huge. Sure, the album is selling well, but it doesn't really feel like an album by a band that's about to conquer the world. It's too safe, from the songwriting to the production, with none of the revelatory moments their last two albums had. It simply stays the course, and nothing more, some good tracks, but nothing to write home about. Their joyous cover of "Holy Diver" remains the best thing they've done in the last couple years. That said, I'm looking forward to seeing them in just over a week. They've been here a lot in the past, but I've always missed them. This time, they're co-headlining with In Flames, with Between the Buried and Me and Protest the Hero opening, so you can bet I'll be there.
