sonicshakedown

[sonicshakedown]

Every Good Boy Deserves Sludge.

What makes good sludge metal? I’ve always sat on the doom side of the fence. But as a lover of low and slow music I often wander into other pastures, one being sludge metal. Most recent bands like the prolific Thou have piqued my interest in sludge. Yet I still find myself intrigued by what it is that makes a good sludge album. A quick recap on the differences of sludge versus doom. Firstly, sludge contains a defining hardcore element, often in the form of screamed vocals. By screamed vocals, I mean more the tough guy hollering screams of NYC bands, Agnostic Front or Boston heavy weights SS Decontrol. Black Flag played the most obvious influence on sludge. My War marked a point in the band’s journey where songs slowed down, incorporating a Sabbath slowness. Henry Rollins’ anguished tough guy hollering confronting the listening with the intention of doing harm. Longer tracks like ��can’t decide’ took the foot off the accelerator for mid paced surfer boy punk rhythms. Instead of clocking in at under three minutes the song lingers on for five. But what really embodies the sludge ethos is the track ‘nothing left inside’. This crawling dirge turns punk rock into a lumbering mammoth with Rollins playing an angry caveman.

In 1994 Boston behemoth Grief gave the world the mightiest slab of sludge. Come to Grief is an album that defines what sludge is and what it should be. Heavier than a ten-pound meat shit, every song threatens to bludgeon the listener with its weight. Check out the opening track Earthworm for proof. Down south there’s the hot bed of NOLA sludge, manifested in primal punishment, Eyehategod and Crowbar. Just take those three aforementioned bands and run a comparison. The music is a slow funeral dirge of lumbering cords and distorted feedback, the lyrics are pained and raw. The bands fuse together the aesthetics of hardcore punk and paste them with the ugly side of underground metal.

Aside from the hardcore influence vocals what really separates sludge from doom? I listened to Paradise Lost, Brave Murder Day era Katatonia, My Dying Bride, Winter, Candlemass. But none of these bands compared to Grief or Eyehategod. Doom has the weight but the guitars are brighter tones. There’s a rawness but the melody permeates the sound. However, a band like crowbar shares an aural link to Candlemass, but it’s Kirk’s anguished lyrics and raw-throated bellow that separates Crowbar from Candlemass. Sludge bands tend to not go into extended soloing. If there’s solos, just like punk, they’re kept short and are accompanied by prolonged feedback. Good sludge avoids progressive wandering. It’s bottom end heavy, a gargantuan sound. Pinch harmonics and feedback disorientate the listener. The vocals are caveman, violent and unhinged; but they are also vulnerable and fragile. There’s a streetwise statement in the lyrics, that like the bluesmen of old spoke of a hard life lived. In fact, it is the blues that can be heard so clearly in sludge. Blues is the lynch pin. Listen to Blind Willy Johnson’s ‘dark was the night, cold was the ground’. From here it’s only a short step to the murky wasteland of Grief.

[sonicshakedown]

One more time with feeling.

Power ballads. The music industry’s equivalent of a nuclear weapon in the eighties. Nearly every rock and metal band were jumping on this particular wagon. It was part of the major label deal. Even unsigned bands used ballads to get noticed. Hell, if it wasn’t for ‘Beth’, then Kiss might not have remained slaves to the club circuit. But the sappy love song has always been a bullet in the love gun. Musicians have written about unrequited love since humans figured out what music was. Bard composed English ditties on beautiful maidens. The blues had plenty of slowed down, twangy guitar ballads. But the eighties power ballad, now that was a different nasty beast. Sound wise it was clearly ripped off from seventies rock bands. The newly added MTV combination saw the power ballad as a vital component to commercial success. And so, with every man, man dressed in women’s lingerie, and their dog, making ballads for cash, the once sentimental song became a nasty bit of soulless business. Take Whitesnake ‘Is This Love’, it’s over the top sentimentality, the fictionalised woes of a lovelorn musician whose previous album charted well after its release, and who was about to experience unprecedented fame. Boo-hoo. But thank god there’s thousands of screaming teenage girls who lap this shit up like thirsty dogs. This was the eighties gravy train. The saccharine power ballad that turned rock musicians into vulnerable meat puppets in need of a woman’s tender touch. Yet the behaviour of these platinum selling musicians in the age of decadence was in complete contrast to how they were portrayed in music videos. Where the video represented the thoughts of the loveless male youth, the musician’s hedonistic debauchery made legends. Motley Crue’s exploitation of women, all too keen to sleep with a rock star, is well known. So much so, that in today’s political climate that type of misogyny is pooh-poohed, and perhaps rightly so, but then again women were not innocent victims of such exploits. However, let us leave the gender politics to the university toilet scum to bitch over. Music is more important.

The power ballad has long been a crafty tool in the musician’s tool box. I’m just now listening to Arthur Brown’s rendition of ‘I put a spell on you’. Its oozes with pining guitar solos and a haunting organ. Brown wails and flails over the music. By the late eighties’ bands, even thrash bands, employed the same tactics. But I can’t help but express that by this point the power ballad was a cash cow. And yet, a guilty pleasure is going back and listening to these ballads. They have been a prime product for the MTV generation but some of them have actually held up well. Take Def Leppard’s ‘photograph’, or ‘Love bites’ they ain’t half bad. Maybe a little cringy, but still beats the shit out of modern pop, Post Malone crap. Hey maybe I’m still trapped in a time warp complete with mullet and ‘Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure’ on re-run, but I’m not the only one. So, play those ballads again, this time with more feeling. After all, aren’t men supposed to be opening up and expressing their feelings?

 Album of the day:

Demolition Hammer – Tortured Existence (1990).

Arriving in the midst of death metal’s rise, Demolition Hammer’s debut is steeped in the murky soupiness of death metal. Sprinkled with groove and Steve Reynold’s evil chuck snarl, the album is an underrated gem. Songs range between a mid-paced gallop and brigade of charging warhorses. Gang-vocals and palm muted riffing gives the album an air of thrash especially in songs like ‘.44 Calibre Brain Surgery’, but make no mistake this album lives among classics like Obituary’s Cause of Death, Death’s Leprosy. One thing that works well for the album is its bridging of thrash and death. At times I think it’s Suicidal Tendencies meets early Morbid Angel. The album is solid start to finish, and though it may not hold the accolades as some of their peers, Demolition Hammer can still hold its own in the death metal ring. Favourite tracks:  Gelid Remains, Infectious Hospital Waste.

[sonicshakedown]

Metal music genres, sub-genres, sub-sub genres.

If there is one constant in the Metal world, it’s the constant creation of new genres and the re-establishment of old genres. Metal as a genre has among the most sub-categories that any other form of music. Classification, labelling and categorization are part and parcel of the metal aficionado. Sam Dunn of Banger TV fame has made a hobby out of investigating and classifying metal sub and sub-sub genres. As to who fits in what genre we can argue forever and a day, but it still doesn’t explain why labels are so important. The majority of metal bands tend to brush off genre labels, most will accept the tags placed on their music but refuse to let it define or restrict them. For metal fans, the tags or genre identifiers remain essential. Labelling things is a human function. It’s a way of understanding the world which we inhabit. Labelling hasn’t always produced positive results. Status or class classifications have in the past been used to restrict and oppress members of society. This has in turn allowed for conditions that create backlash or change. There’s a friction that exists in a society that gives rise to fractions and splintering of larger communities. This is what happened to metal.

As a genre of music heavy metal began life as a small infant of weighty, sped up guitars emitting an abrasive sound. Throughout the 70s metal meant anything louder and more intrusive than pasty folk-rock with all its flowers and strumming. But as the mainstream began to accept metal and the shape of metal was further defined by Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Saxon and many more in the eighties, a change began to take place. Heavy Metal began to splinter. Speed Metal, Hard Rock, Thrash, even early Black Metal were born. The tags placed on bands was not the work of the bands themselves. It was the fanzines and mainstream music magazines. The competition was high between the bands as they jostle to create new sounds. Fans and critics strived to differentiate these newer sounds with identifiers, which is understandable because a) a cool name helps sell the music, and b) it helps when trying to describe the music.

Genres, sub-genres and sub-sub genres have become part of a lexicon. Thrash is fast-paced hammering drums and rhythmic guitar forward music accompanied by ripping solos. Speed metal has a little more melody and anthemic solos. Black metal is raw, nasty and evil. Death metal is the sound of death. Genre tags are a shorthand for describing the music. If you label a band post-black metal, then they’re going to know its black metal with a large dose of atmosphere, melody and probably post-punk or new wave vibes.

Of all the metal sub-sub genres I find djent to be both the most curious and ridiculous tag. What is Djent? The word is supposed to invoke the sound of progressive palm-muted, high gain sound. When I first heard it used for bands like Meshuggah I have to admit I didn’t get it (the tag Djent not the music). Genre tags are personal, they’re contextual and subjective specific to each person. As I said, they’re part of a language, their lexiconic onomatopoeias. For the average metal fan, by which I categorize myself, genre labels are the perfect way to categorize the music we love. To section it. This is both satisfying and frustrating as bands continue to challenge genre labels by branching out the music. To borrow Sam Dunn’s “Heavy Metal Family Tree”, the tree is getting larger and the branches longer year by year. To understand the importance of metal genre labels is to understand the language that metal fans speak.

I guess that we metalheads are so fanatical about our music that the genre labels act like scientific markers, identifying each Animalia of the animal kingdom. It’s why we fanatics argue time and again over the music we love. It’s a way of life and it’s personal.

Album of the day:

Golden Void – Golden Void (2012).

For the perfect soundtrack to summer’s day when the sun is sky high and the living is easy, then I have to recommend this album. Golden Void’s debut is a stellar distillation of psychedelic 70s rock. The songs oscillate between soaring solos and fast-handed jazz drumming. Isaiah Mitchell’s vocals pine and croon over the music telling folk stories. There’s reverb, there’s an organ, what more could you want from psych-rock. It’s not an album that breaks genre boundaries, it’s an album that knows what it is and delivers.

[sonicshakedown]

Top Ten Songs for a Halloween Soundtrack.

Horror, terror and the spectral. Halloween is the one time in the year when metal and the supernatural collide. No other genre of music is better suited for a night of trick or treating. To get you and/or your kids in the mood, I put together a tempting little list of evil songs. Tasty tracks to devour between mouthfuls of teeth decaying candy. Like all lists this one’s subjective and in no particular order, so take what you like, change it how you will. As long as you have the right sounds, then let the horror begin.

Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath

From the opening sounds of ominous bell ringing and rain falling, this track didn’t just usher in metal proper, it’s one of the most chilling songs committed to tape. The listener is drawn into the sinister by a mysterious malevolent watcher. Satan is coming for you (possibly to steal your candy). Ozzy’s final wail of “please God help me” is in vain. Not even the man upstairs can help you now.

Metallica – The Thing That Should Not Be

The beast has awoken. The lumbering heft of this song drags the listener deep into the underworld of HP Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos. Hetfield’s bark is your narrator informing you, “in madness, you dwell.” The guitars dip and diving at the rear of the song gives it an enhanced etherealness.

King Diamond – Halloween

This namesake song is primed with King Diamonds trademark falsettos. The driving rhythm of the song gets your blood pumping. The song feels like an unabashed ode filtered through quality metal. Got to love those solos and Mikey Dee’s solid marching drum beat. “I command you to scream!”

 Iron Maiden – The Apparition

There’s probably at least half a dozen Iron Maiden classics that could be on this list including the overplayed number of the beast. I chose ‘The Apparition’ of the Fear of the Dark for it’s lumbering creepy tonality. The song picks up the pace mid-way through with classic Maiden solos then slows back down. Bruce is one of the best storytellers and tells of what lies on the other side of the living.

White Zombie – Creature of the Wheel

Back when Rob Zombie made decent music, Astro Creep was an enjoyable listen. Though the album has aged as doesn’t sound as good, this particular track highlights White Zombie at their best. The demonically possessed vocals of Zombie backed by the crunching staccato guitars and accompanied by eerie sound effects and samples.

Motorhead – Hellraiser

What would Halloween be without a little boogie in it? One can always trust Motorhead to bring the boogie and turn a rock ‘n’ roll number into an incantation to rabble-rousing and Cenobites. The track is one of two versions, the other appearing on Ozzy Osbourne’s No More Tears. But it’s Lemmy’s gruff voice that suits this track more, as does the grimy tone Motorhead brings to the song.

Mercyful Fate – Desecration of Souls

The Fate is one of those bands where you could pick an entire album to be a Halloween soundtrack. Like Bruce Dickinson, King Diamond remains one of the true storytellers of metal. The guitar wizardry in this song always gets the headbanging. This is the warning of murder and destruction. It’s Mercyful Fate at their finest.  

Six Feet Under – Lycanthrope

This, I admit, is a contentious pick. Not everyone cares for the death groove of Chris Barnes’ post-Cannibal Corpse outfit. But for me, this song is not only a stellar example of death groove, but it’s also about a werewolf before werewolves became wimpy little horn-dogs in watered-down romance novels. This beast is enraged and ready to slaughter.

Bloody Hammers – Night of the Long Knives

Not many know about Bloody Hammers, a gothic horror metal act from the US. The fuzzed creepy tones and Anders’ fragile vocals make for a spine-tingling experience perfect for trick or treating. The songs about the Manson Family murders from the perspective of one of the killers.

Danzig – Until You Call on the Dark

Some may argue I should’ve gone with a Misfits track. No argument here, but I couldn’t pass up the sinister heralding of doom this track invokes. Who better to play the black priest of hell than Danzig? John Christ’s hypnotic guitar needs special mention, it’s like staring into the fires of hell and feeling yourself suck into them.

Whatever you’re up to this Halloween, keep safe, have fun and don’t leave the house without a wicked soundtrack.

[sonicshakedown]

5 posts!

[sonicshakedown]

Top Ten Songs for a Halloween Soundtrack.

Horror, terror and the spectral. Halloween is the one time in the year when metal and the supernatural collide. No other genre of music is better suited for a night of trick or treating. To get you and/or your kids in the mood, I put together a tempting little list of evil songs. Tasty tracks to devour between mouthfuls of teeth decaying candy. Like all lists this one’s subjective and in no particular order, so take what you like, change it how you will. As long as you have the right sounds, then let the horror begin.

 Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath

From the opening sounds of ominous bell ringing and rain falling, this track didn’t just usher in metal proper, it’s one of the most chilling songs committed to tape. The listener is drawn into the sinister by a mysterious malevolent watcher. Satan is coming for you (possibly to steal your candy). Ozzy’s final wail of “please God help me” is in vain. Not even the man upstairs can help you now.

 Metallica – The Thing That Should Not Be

The beast has awoken. The lumbering heft of this song drags the listener deep into the underworld of HP Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos. Hetfield’s bark is your narrator informing you, “in madness, you dwell.” The guitars dip and diving at the rear of the song gives it an enhanced etherealness.

 King Diamond – Halloween

This namesake song is primed with King Diamonds trademark falsettos. The driving rhythm of the song gets your blood pumping. The song feels like an unabashed ode filtered through quality metal. Got to love those solos and Mikey Dee’s solid marching drum beat. “I command you to scream!”

 Iron Maiden – The Apparition

There’s probably at least half a dozen Iron Maiden classics that could be on this list including the overplayed number of the beast. I chose ‘The Apparition’ of the Fear of the Dark for it’s lumbering creepy tonality. The song picks up the pace mid-way through with classic Maiden solos then slows back down. Bruce is one of the best storytellers and tells of what lies on the other side of the living.

 White Zombie – Creature of the Wheel

Back when Rob Zombie made decent music, Astro Creep was an enjoyable listen. Though the album has aged as doesn’t sound as good, this particular track highlights White Zombie at their best. The demonically possessed vocals of Zombie backed by the crunching staccato guitars and accompanied by eerie sound effects and samples.

 Motorhead – Hellraiser

What would Halloween be without a little boogie in it? One can always trust Motorhead to bring the boogie and turn a rock ‘n’ roll number into an incantation to rabble-rousing and Cenobites. The track is one of two versions, the other appearing on Ozzy Osbourne’s No More Tears. But it’s Lemmy’s gruff voice that suits this track more, as does the grimy tone Motorhead brings to the song.

 Mercyful Fate – Desecration of Souls

The Fate is one of those bands where you could pick an entire album to be a Halloween soundtrack. Like Bruce Dickinson, King Diamond remains one of the true storytellers of metal. The guitar wizardry in this song always gets the headbanging. This is the warning of murder and destruction. It’s Mercyful Fate at their finest.  

 Six Feet Under – Lycanthrope

This, I admit, is a contentious pick. Not everyone cares for the death groove of Chris Barnes’ post-Cannibal Corpse outfit. But for me, this song is not only a stellar example of death groove, but it’s also about a werewolf before werewolves became wimpy little horn-dogs in watered-down romance novels. This beast is enraged and ready to slaughter.

Bloody Hammers – Night of the Long Knives

Not many know about Bloody Hammers, a gothic horror metal act from the US. The fuzzed creepy tones and Anders’ fragile vocals make for a spine-tingling experience perfect for trick or treating. The songs about the Manson Family murders from the perspective of one of the killers.

 Danzig – Until You Call on the Dark

Some may argue I should’ve gone with a Misfits track. No argument here, but I couldn’t pass up the sinister heralding of doom this track invokes. Who better to play the black priest of hell than Danzig? John Christ’s hypnotic guitar needs special mention, it’s like staring into the fires of hell and feeling yourself suck into them.

 Whatever you’re up to this Halloween, keep safe, have fun and don’t leave the house without a wicked soundtrack.

[sonicshakedown]

Matt Heafy playing back metal on Gimme Metal...

Check it out link below.

https://www.gimmeradio.com/#/radio

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live metal all day everyday. 

[sonicshakedown]

It's rock Jim, but not as we know it.

Writing about William Shatner’s Seeking Major Tom might well be worth the entertainment value but this is not that. No, the Jim I’m talking about is that old psychedelic poster boy of the sixties Jim Morrison. I’ve been on a recent Doors bender and have on more than one occasion have picked up the influence the band has had on modern rock and metal bands. I’m hardly the first to mention rock, metal and Jim Morrison in the same sentence, but let me entertain you, “I’m the Lizard King, I can do anything.” At the height of The Doors’ career what would be known as heavy metal was brewing under the surface, not in sunny California but the grim motherland of England. Listening to The Doors self-titled (1967), where songs ‘break on through’ sound eerily Deep Purple. I’m not suggesting Deep Purple copied The Doors (Purple formed in 1968 and wouldn’t find their sound until 1970). What strikes me as interesting is the combination of organ, crunching guitar blues, drumming precision and baritone wails. There is a connective thread between The Doors and Deep Purple that is unmistakable. This is where the blues became even more petulant. The dusty sunshine motes of swinging commercial rock ‘n’ roll were brushed off the shoulders of youth culture. Vietnam was in full swing, televised brutality. Huxley’s, ‘Doors of Perception’ had swung wide open. It was the darker turn of blues that would spawn a more ferocious sound of blues-rock.

Deep Purple wasn’t the only band forming around the time of the first three Doors’ albums. Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, King Crimson and Free to name a few. Progenitors of modern rock and metal. Of the four bands mentioned, all are British, three from London, one from Birmingham. None of these bands knew it then but the swirling aggressive bent featured in 60s blues-rock would be instrumental in seeds. From these seeds grew the harder nastier heavy metal. Most metalheads all agree that Sabbath is the godfathers of metal, but very few conversations acknowledge The Doors contribution. ‘Light my fire’, the raunch romp which feels every bit like the snaking crawl of the lizard king bears hallmarks in the later sleaze of Aerosmith formed in 1970. Morrison’s snarl as he barks “try to set the night on fire”, has me recalling the aphotic goth charm of the late Peter Steele (this year marks the tenth anniversary of Peter’s death). Type O Negative was a band that featured keyboard and guitar interplay. Though the band proclaimed The Beatles and Black Sabbath as key influences, I would also argue Type O was influenced by The Doors. Not convinced, listen to the end and imagine Steele singing that song.

Blues-rock is the very backbone of modern rock. It was none more evident than in the short-lived and commodified ‘grunge’ era. The psychedelic meanderings, the introspective dirges and the crooning and moaning manifested themselves in the teenage rebellion that MTV thrived on in the eighties. The Seattle sound rejected the unctuous over the top misogyny of hairbands for the moody dirt and grim exhibited by the bands like The Doors. Musically, Seattle and post-grunge rock bands drew from the well of blues-rock and added a healthy dose of punk. However, by the ninety’s blues-rock was barely recognizable outside of bands that self-identified as blues-rock. You can’t listen to Alice in Chains and not hear shreds of blues-rock, it’s there in their Sabbathian influence. Now it may seem like too much of a stretch to link The Doors with Nirvana as the two bands appear like chalk and cheese. Musically Nirvana is more punk; however, listen to ‘Peace Frog’ with its choppy guitar tone that sounds like a milder ‘Smells like Teen Spirit’. Spiritually, Cobain followed in the footsteps of Morrison. Not just because of the fact, Cobain died at age 27, but because he was the anti-hero. The rock icon that refused to play by the rules. And yet sadly, he was also a cliché, much like Morrison.

It’s easier to draw connective tissue from Black Sabbath to many of today's bands, but the musical compositions laid out by Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek and John Densmore cannot be denied as a major influence to contemporary rock bands and metal musicians. The Doors are more than just the flamboyant pomp of Jim Morrison. There is a discography of rock classics. ‘You make me real’ from Morrison Hotel is proof. Without blues-rock, we wouldn’t have hard rock and metal. 

   Album of the Day:

‘Point of Entry’ – Judas Priest (1981).

The first four Priest albums of the nineteen-eighties are pure gold. Point of Entry begins with a classic Priest anthem. ‘Heading out to the Highway’, kicks in a driving melody. It has a big rock sound that builds to a catchy chorus. ‘Don’t Go’ has this slow mid-paced stomp to it. ‘Turning Circles’ is another mid-pacer that builds into another solid chorus. This is probably the only let down of the album. We know Priest can play hard and fast, but the majority of the album is mid-paced. To me, this is so bad as there’s not a weak song on the album, but I would’ve loved a few quick numbers to break up the pacing, something like ‘Electric Eye’ that would appear on the following album Screaming for Vengeance. If there’s one thing that Point of Entry has in spades, it’s anthemic numbers. The type of songs that deserves fist pumps and head nods. It’s also a great album to drive to. Favourite Tracks: ‘Heading Out to the Highway’ and ‘Solar Angels’.    

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Long live rock 'n' roll

Al Jourgensen once sang about a musician being worth more when they’re dead. He’s not wrong. Take the passing of Eddie Van Halen. Record sales of Van Halen classics increased in sales. Soon will come the box sets, rare releases and numerous books, but this isn’t a criticism as such, because it is more than just a record company cashing in. Necrobutcher of Mayhem put it quite succinctly, that the way we listen to music changes after the death of the musician. 

The death of Lemmy Kilmister was a sad blow back in 2015 as was the death of Bowie. And there have been, and sadly will be many more rock idol deaths to come. My point is not the obvious fact we all die, we know that and don’t need reminding, it’s how we cherish the music more after one of our many golden gods topples off their mortal mountain. The recent release of Motorhead’s self-titled 1977 release sparked in me a pleasantly haunting experience. It was like imagining myself in a time warp hearing the blistering speed rock and knowing how it would inspire countless thrash bands that followed. Listening to Rainbow’s Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll (1978), Dio’s spirited snarl burst from the stereo speakers. There’s a timelessness to the sound, that is perhaps due to the record being produced in a certain time and place, or perhaps it’s the fact that the musical landscape has profoundly changed. Nostalgia can be a powerful seducer.

Taking Necrobutcher’s point, a certain chilling-ness can be felt if one was to drag up from the rotting depths of hell, Mayhem’s 1990 demo of Freezing Moon. Dead’s gravel-throated spewing of tortured lyrics, is my opinion, untouchable. The conflicted anguished lyrics screams choking screams made all the more potent by Dead’s demise a year later. All the more wrought is listening to De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. The canon of black metal hails this album as among the quintessential albums of the genre, but listen to it. It’s a howling beast made more ghostly by the death of Euronymous. What’s more, the album is hypnotic. Good Black Metal will hook you under the skin and drag you into a place colder and blacker than the dark side of a funeral moon. It’s a shame Dead didn’t sing on the album.

Even though a band may lose a member and continue, there are times when continuing is not an option, hence the aforementioned Motorhead. I sat down recently to spin Bad Magic, Lemmy and Co’s final album, and despite the inevitable lingering over him, Lemmy puts up a blistering front, something Motorhead fans had come to expect from him. However, one can’t help but hear the strain in his voice, the man was ill after all. That album, much like Bowie’s Blackstar is a true swansong. When such a momentous death occurs, after the dust settles comes the need to rediscover that musician’s oeuvre. It is when we do that, we hear things differently. As a fan, you connect certain emotions or memories with music, and that in turn becomes part of how we hear and interpret the music. I found that post-death listens offer something else. It’s like a part of you becomes contextualized along with the music and remains embedded in a bygone era. I imagine it’s what a paleontologist feels when looking at dinosaur bones. Try listening to Type O Negative’s world coming down, particularly the song ‘everything dies.’ A prophecy to Peter’s death, eleven or so years later.

The nostalgia afterglow is not just personal, it’s connective. A good album, Rush’s 2112 or Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti, they tell us how the collective ‘we’, that is connoisseurs of fine vintage rock and metal, lived. It’s a record of humanity. Rock ‘n’ roll is as important as the moon landing. The next time NASA plans to send a golden record into space, then let them send out the words of Lemmy, “we are Motorhead, born to kick your ass.”

Album of the day:

The Hope Conspiracy – Death Knows Your Name (2006).

A ferocious, uncompromising slab of hardcore. A foreboding air lingers like the warning to the coming apocalypse. The driving stomp of ‘dead town nothing’, the timely solo in ‘Animal Farm’, shows shades of variation within the bark and pounding of traditional Boston hardcore. This album is an emotional rollercoaster diving into dark and darker still with Kevin Baker’s throat-shredding leading the way. Favourite tracks: Animal Farm, So Many Pigs So Few Bullets.

[sonicshakedown]

Gimme more metal.

For the last two decades, musicians and record labels have had a love/hate relationship with the digital age. At times it’s been understandable with major streaming services undercutting musician’s royalties. However, in the age of being careful who you sneeze on, the digital realm is even more important to fans and bands. This year has seen a remarkable increase in rock and metal releases. In September over 34 extreme metal album releases in one day. Not that I’m complaining. The world is a global cesspit of twisted talent. Global quarantines have shut down touring, festivals, promotional events; quarantines have even prevented most of us at some time or another venturing out to the local record store. But alas, as the apocalypse looms, thank god (or the devil) for live streaming and music sharing platforms. The digital explosion of the 2000s has changed the way we consume music. The internet has opened the floodgates for more and more bands to enter armed with Pro-tools produced albums.  Yet I have found that this year has been a year of pros and cons. And when it concerns music consumption, I have discovered that the pros and cons are becoming so clear. While the digital world delivers instant music fixes with an all you can eat buffet of the new rock and metal releases, nothing beats the look and feel of a physical record, disc or tape. Lately, I have found myself acquiring more physical copies of albums than previously, and I stopped to ask myself why. It was obvious why. The answer is in the resurgence of vinyl, the cassette tape resurgence, box-sets and more. The physical product gives you what the digital release can’t. It’s the difference between getting head from a cheap hooker and getting head from a lingerie model. Where some of us are just happy to get head, others seek out the real experience. It’s a convenience to listen to Sabbath’s first album on a streaming service and though it may suffice given the circumstances you might find yourself in, nothing, and I mean nothing, beats dropping the needle and listening to the rain and bell toll creeps in under the crackle of the record player. It’s not just nostalgia. It’s opening the gatefold or the cd booklet. It’s a return to innocence, to rediscovery. Okay, so perhaps that is a little hyperbolic, but every music nut knows this feeling because music isn’t some passive consumption of top forty pop tunes. It’s the lifeblood. And so, for all consumer-friendly expediency, the digital world presents us, buying the bands albums, t-shirts, patches, posters and coffee mugs is all part of the musical experience, and bands will undoubtedly thank you for it. Life is too damn short, buying albums is a go-go, and you need more love in your life. Well, no one loves you more than your favourite album.

The internet age has brought us closer. This is no more evident than Gimme Metal, 24-7 radio. Radio DJs, guest musicians and industry gurus deliver two-hour sets of rock and metal.

 https://www.gimmeradio.com/#/radio

From new releases to yesteryears. The best part is, the sets aren’t pasted together as commercial radio stations do. Music selected by surveys and algorithms, or a team of passionless sales reps looking to fill slots and sell air time. Gimme metal is more. If you like the set, tip the Dj with the virtual tip jar. You can go to the virtual store and buy albums. Now, this is what radio should be. It’s all about the musical experience beyond the live concert (which, of course, is the ultimate experience). Covid is the great bummer, the monkey on everyone’s back. But don’t let it get you down. There’s music out there. Sweet, sweet music.

Album of the Day:

Uada – Djinn (2020).

Their 2018 ‘Cult of a Dying Sun’ didn’t quite grab me the way it did others, making several end of year lists. Djinn has. Upon listening to Djinn, the band branched out with their brand of post-black metal. There’s a playful ‘maidenesque’ quality to the guitars. The title track ‘Djinn’ begins with a foot-tapping melodic bounce that sounds more like modern rock, ala, Queens of the Stone Age. The guitar work soars on this song dipping and diving into post-black territory. The album carries a heavy dose of melody that allows for the darker passages to become darker, the atmospheric passages wholly immersive. The second track, ‘The Great Mirage’ has this majestic crescendo where the guitars and drums take centre stage before falling away. There’s no filler on this album. If you’re looking for post-black metal with solid production, then you can’t do wrong with Djinn.  Favourite Tracks: Djinn, The Great Mirage, Forestless.