Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction

Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction
Scheduled release date: June 20th 2011 on HevyDevy Records

Buy it.
11/10
Bryan Shuttleworth

James Blake - James Blake

James Blake - James Blake
Scheduled Release Date: 7th February 2011 ATLAS

James Blake has been low under the radar since a good half of 2009, where he debuted his 12" individual track "Air & Lack Thereof". Blake was noticed by BBC1 DJ Gilles Peterson, who praised his talents and asked him to do a special mix on his show. 2010 had a slow start to recognizing the addictive but quiet sounds of James Blake, with the release of him second record "CMYK" which did recieve alot of attention, thus starting the first true steps of the United Kingdom realizing just who this James Blake character was, and why he was causing such an explosion upon the electronic music scene. Enter 2011, The world finally saw James Blake's first official debut release self-entitled "James Blake".
 The record begins with "Unluck", sharp clicks and scratches accompany the harmonics, but not as harsh as a record scratch. Then Jame's unique and soulful voice comes in, overflowing with vocal effects. The track suddenly jumps and the clicks are frequent, the harmonics create a small crescendo then fall back to the original harmony. This track isn't the best opener, but it still shows Jame's exceptional use of effects and electronics. The unfittingly titled "The Wilhelm Scream", which unfortunately doesn't contain the famous Wilhelm Scream, is a gorgeous soundscape of chilling vocals and shapes of soft noise floating around the gentle beat. The way Blake sings "I don't know about my love" compliments the drifting harmony beautifully, this track is definately one of the main highlights of the album.
  "Lindesfarne I" is just James Blake's heavily reduced vocals, almost sounding robotic. The track flows into  "Lindesfarne II" in which the electronic sounds join Jame's vocals, working into a slow and noiseless track, although the whole record is one to lie back and relax to, this is an exceptional piece to fall soundly asleep to.
 The next track is the piano led "Limit To Your Love", featuring some of Blake's best executed vocals on the record. The track starts off with a repeated piano piece and vocals, then everything fades and a slow beat is introduced, in an almost dubstep like fashion, but this record is far from dubstep. Alot of people will have a problem with the same things happening constantly, and I have to agree to an extent, although the record is one to put on in the background, or to just unwind to, so I can't really see a problem with the repititiveness of this record, but that all changes with "To Care (Like You)". This track opens up with high pitched vocals over Jame's regular vocals. Then the beat comes in and the album reaches it's most dub-like part, not to say this is a bad thing. The beat is furious but soft at the same time, it's almost likea bird flapping it's wings, with overlapped "oh's" placed around the beat. The track seems like it shouldn't work, but it does, and it really does hit home with parts that seem to have derived from Four Tet's "There Is Love In You".
 Upon first listen to "I Mind" I noticed it was the first proper upbeat track of the record, with it's fresh beats and vocal harmonies, the track does it's job in waking you up from your gentle journey into a cloud of soft electronic music, whereas the layered chorus of "Measurements" sends you right back in there with the softest landing.
 "James Blake" is a record that is slow and transparent. The cover is true to it's image, as if you are moving slowly but everything is blurred. It will put you in a trance of warmth and tranquility, but whilst you are still wide awake and can suddenly feel that it is still music and not just the voice of your subconscience telling you to sleep and rest forever, although you really really want to.
9/10

Thomas Eccles

Thomas Giles - Pulse

Thomas Giles - Pulse
Scheduled Relase Date: February 1st 2011 Metal Blade Records

Between The Buried And Me's versatile vocalist Tommy Rogers adapts the alias Thomas Giles for his well crafted debut solo album, "Pulse". The interesting thing about this album upon first listen is that no two tracks sound similiar, everything has been taken into account and mixed with a broad range of styles and structures that assemble into some intriguing ideas that Giles seems to pull off rather exceptionallyin parts but completely fails in others.
 Take first track "Sleep Shake", in which any BTBAM fan will notice that it sounds nothing at all like anything BTBAM has done before. The track has a huge progressive rock feel to it and with Tommy's fantastic vocal delivery it is a sure winner for old and new fans to understand that this man can do alot more than just scream and shout. I'd also like to add that there are no additional artists in the whole of this album, Thomas Giles plays everything you can hear.
  Then the album is turned on it's head as melancholy piano keys and soft vocals are introduced with "Mr. Bird", Gile's take on a slow, sorrowful ballad that tries to hit the emotional mark, but doesn't quite get it right with it's unfitting echoes and multiple harmonic vocals, it seems like it tries too hard to be something that it isn't, due to it being on such a diverse album. The next song blew me away in a sense that i'm still not sure about. It's hard to describe but I guess my own description would be a cross between Nine Inch Nails and Eurodance. "Catch & Release" isn't to be taken lightly with it's harsh screams mixed behind techno synths and rhythms. What on earth was going on in Thomas Gile's head when he was thinking about the creation of this monstrosity, easily one of the worst tracks on the album. The next two songs "Hamilton Anxiety Scale" and "Scared" go hand in hand with the build up of high powered guitar riffs and frequent drumming until the track flows gently into the second ballad of the album, starting off as Bon Iver, Giles quickly makes note of his flowing voice and puts it to great use on this exceptional acoustic track, the better half of the slow songs on "Pulse".
 From here, the album takes a u-turn into unknown territory, as "Reject Falicon" opens with quiet guitar notes with layered effects, it almost sounds like the opening for an Explosions In The Sky record. The track continues this motion until yet again we are greeted with an industrial beat, behind Gile's singing "So beautiful..." low piano keys are played through a frenzy of beats, this track doesn't really go anywhere, it keeps the same pace and is a real filler for the album. The next track will be pleasing to those awaiting the hard hitting riffs and the progressive nature of the music. "Medic" wouldn't go amiss on one of BTBAM's early catalogue of releases. Unfortunately, the track ends before you can even get your head around the fact you're hearing something you expected to hear from the get go.
 The final tracks are what you were expecting all diverse and unique products of Gile's conscience...but the problem arises again, that the tracks are good, no doubt, but they feel empty and forced as if they are desperate for you to enjoy every single aspect of the album. I feel as if Thomas Giles made this record so diverse and broad, that there would at least be something for everyone, though it seems he forgot that everyone doesn't like everything.
  This record is a rollercoaster of various twists and turns that you can't help but feel that you're music player is on shuffle, and after the first 4 seperate songs you enjoyed, you still feel obliged to press the skip button...
6.5/10

Thomas Eccles

Radiohead - The King Of Limbs

Radiohead - The King Of Limbs
Scheduled Relase Date: 18th February 2011 Self Relased

Radiohead are quite the curious bunch. After releasing the pay-what-you-like album In Rainbows, they slowly faded into the background, whilst once in a blue moon, releasing small sparks and teasers at what the band had been up to, with the Bends-esque "These Are  My Twisted Words" and the mournful ballad of "Harry Patch", followers were keeping a keen eye on these intriguing happenings. About a year later, out of absolutely nowhere, the band popped up to explain that their newest album "The Kings Of Limbs", was finished and would be released within a week. I don't think i'm alone when I say, it was one of the longest weeks of my existence. After what felt like years, the record was available to those who had purchased it, through a download link. So, now i've explained the slightly chaotic backstory, let's get on with the album itself.
 Upon my first listen, one thing seemed to stick out like a sore thumb; this record was very short, clocking in with 8 tracks that equalled just over 30 minutes. The album went in and out before I could even comprehend what I had just listened to. If i'm going to say anything, I will say this: this record needs more than one listen, maybe even three at the most, before you can even start criticizing. I admit, tracks such as "Morning Mr. Magpie", "Lotus Flower" and "Codex" caught my ears upon my first several listens, they had all the ingredients of a Radiohead anthem: Thom's swooning falsetto, hypnotic but simple drum loops and slow, drearing sounds as found on the digital heavy Kid A and Amnesiac.
  But then there were the apparant cacophonies of "Bloom" and the glitchy noise-fest "Feral" which made me think of the ethereal sounds of Burial and Flying Lotus. This record really has a hard time in deciding what it wants to be. There are very few efforts of Jonny's guitar or even Colin's smooth but simple basslines, although "Morning Mr. Magpie" has such a great repititive line that sticks in your head and stays there. After several listens, I started to actually dive into individual tracks. I noticed the sheer intricate details of percussion in "Bloom", the sounds almost feels like you're riding in a train carriage, with the slow bumps and bangs against the tracks. I noticed behind the shaky sounds of "Feral" laid over the sweet undecipherable whispers of Thom and the atmospheric soundscapes that create the image of a surburban rush hour. I noticed the remarkable use of the trombone about halfway through "Codex", as if the track wasn't already a magnificient piece of music, the track puts you in a state of sleep, almost as if comatose. As I say, the album isn't without it's faults. "Little By Little" and "Give Up The Ghost" are mediocre at best in addition to the higher points in the album.
   The King Of Limbs is a maze of a record, but once you're able to navigate it, you'll be sure to understand the hidden beauty within, even if it is Radiohead's most non-Radiohead release, it still sits atop the throne as one of the most innovative and brave albums of this year.
9/10

Thomas Eccles

Red Fang - Murder The Mountains

Red Fang – Murder The Mountains

Scheduled Release Date: 12^th  April 2011 on Relapse Records

I’m quite a fan of Red Fang so I’m just going to dive right into this. Red Fang have matured and boy is it impressive. Murder The Mountains is their second album after the great success that was their debut, and you can tell straight away the sound has grown. Don’t in any way take that as something to be apprehensive about.

They start off quite shakily with this album with “Malverde” and I'm not going to lie, I was worried. It seemed lackluster and dull. But that dives right out the window as soon as the phenomenal “Wires” kicks in. This is definitely the best song on the album and possibly the best song they’ve done. It has fantastic groove to it and brilliant sounding vocals bursting through the mix with a great melody to drag you into a really nice, dark song. The mid section is a dark and entrancing part and it really hits you how much this band has grown as soon as that starts. And it doesn’t stop there. The newly revived “Hank is Dead” is next up and that comes bursting through with just as much groove, and sounds fantastic. This breathes new life into the song that got them out there and brings it back really nicely with a smooth, nice melody.

Then in bursts “Dirt Wizard” with one simple aim: to completely kick your ass. This is a very heavy, groovy, meaty song that bursts in straight away and hits you in the face with a simple groovy riff and harsh vocals that would scare away a prehistoric dog (har har.) “Throw Up” follows next with a really slow, dirty heavy sound and those harsh vocals again. Listening to this song you can really hear an influence from The Melvins with nice dirty, groovy riffs and decent melodies coming out in between too.  It suddenly speeds up halfway through too and really changes the whole mood of the song and really hits that Melvins sound here too. It’s like it was direct from The Melvins themselves with this track.

“Painted Parade” is next up and bursts right in with powerful drumming and fast riffing and vocals that almost remind me of The Offspring. This is a very good song though and very groovy despite its speed. It bursts through its short length and into “Number Thirteen.” This is groove at its finest, the bass line beating through alongside the drums and the lead guitar adding some nice melody to it. The vocals continue to excel on this track and weave wonderfully with the riffing to create a great mix. “Into The Eye” is another song that powers out of the blocks with heavy riffs and harsh vocals.  This use of harsh and melodic vocals differing between songs breaks up the flow nicely and forces you to listen to this very closely and take it all in, and its really good.

“The Undertow” is a wonderfully powerful track and comes slowly grooving in with a really nice bass line and uses quite melancholic vocals to add a very dark mood to this track.  The final track is “Human Herd” and is very groovy and dark and a great way to close the album with a real sense of maturity to it. The melodic vocals weave with the riffs wonderfully and it sounds fantastic.

            Red Fang are a band that had a lot of potential to them, and they have continued to grow from it and so far have not disappointed. This album gets off to a shaky start but after that it grooves right through and never loses its grip on you. This is another fantastic Red Fang album that will help this band hopefully reach new heights again, and continue to breathe their fresh air into a still very alive genre.

8/10


Bryan Shuttleworth

Belphegor - Blood Magick Necromance

Belphegor – Blood Magick Necromance

Scheduled Release Date: 14^th January 2011 on Nuclear Blast Records

When I read about this album coming out and I heard what the band had described their own material as, I thought that they were being a bit excessive in saying that this album would be the rebirth of blackened death metal as a genre. Boy was I wrong.

When the first song, In Blood – Devour This Sanctity, blasts off, you can tell this is Belphegor doing what Belphegor do best. Very eastern influenced guitar riffs coupled with a nice dark atmosphere and drumming that can flow very nicely from blast beats into simple slower beats with ease, and all of this show in this track. It all flows through very nicely and makes for a great song, aside from the ending which is good but doesnt really fit with the rest of the song. The next track Rise to Fall and Fall to Rise uses wonderful discordant riffing coupled with sections of powerful chugging all mixed in and moved nicely by once again well flowing drum beats, particularly with the rolling double bass under the slower guitar sections. A really dark evil song.

The title track is probably my favourite of the album. It begins nice and slow and dark then bursts into powerful drumming and great guitar riffing. The bass leads into the verse riff wonderfully and sounds fantastic but the highlight for me is the chorus section. The group vocals coupled with the evil atmosphere combine perfectly to give such an insane feel to the song and send shivers up my spine. When it fades into an eerie cleaner section I thought that would be the end of this track, but the chorus part belted in once more and it was like being hit by a train on its last time round, the way it burst in with even more insane sounding vocals and a somehow darker feel left me in absolute awe.

Discipline Through Punishment is the only track that I feel disappoints on this record. It starts off very well with an eerie clean guitar combined with powerfully dark distorted chords, but the section before the chorus has guitar riffs that wouldnt feel out of place on a generic deathcore album, which is very unlike Belphegor. Luckily the chorus is good enough to make me forget about that, but the ending is too sudden, as if they ran out of ideas for this song and leaves me thinking that they could’ve done better with that particular track. Angeli Mortis De Profundis on the other hand bursts straight in with an absolute onslaught of blast beats, fast riffs and mighty vocals that doesnt relent throughout. It may be the shortest track on this album by quite a bit, but that in no way stops it being one of the best.

The rest of the album carries on exactly how the first few songs started it, with Impaled Upon The Tongue Of Sathan being a very evil sounding song and certainly living up to it’s name, and Possessed Burning Eyes continuing the same flow of great riffs, interesting song structures and dark atmosphere. The closing track, Sado Messiah burst in with a fantastic opening riff and insane drum work and blasts straight through the entire of the song. The drumming somehow continuing throughout at the same pace and overall has that same fantasticly dark atmosphere to it that the rest of the album has had.

This review may seem a tad long as you’re reading it, but once you have listened to this album I think you will fully understand why. The blackened death metal genre hasnt felt this alive and fresh in a long time and Belphegor were fully justified in their statement. Bravo.

9.5/10

Bryan Shuttleworth

The Republic Of Wolves - The Cartographer

The Republic Of Wolves - The Cartographer
Scheduled Release Date: 1st January Self-Relased

I jumped into this release with a very open-mind as I had only heard one track by this band, which was The Oarsman, and it did not disappoint, so it left me feeling skeptical on the band's debut, until they released The Cartographer which is a borderline lengthy EP or a short but very sweet LP.
 The Pilot And The Pilot's Boy is an interesting introduction that starts with very mysterious sounding bells over crashing waves, which gives quite an eerie feel, but leaves with a very abrupt finish that leads nicely into Home with clean electric guitars and layered vocals which reminded me very much of Suede's very own Brett Anderson in small parts. It's an enjoyable but quite subtle song, some nice sounds make it feel almost like a more epic sounding Brand New, complete with clever flowing lyrics on a totally different sound.
 Flowing very nicely into the next track Calm Down, including very similar vocals and lyrics, as if continued but with a more calm and relaxed feel. The use of chiming bells and echoed vocals give this track a real dream-like, transparent feel.
 Widow's Walk opens and i'm very impressed by how great the flow is from track to track, slight rocking sounds are heard, mimicing a stationary boat at sea, then drums come in with great sounding crashes and hi hats and some very emotional vocals. Suddenly the vocals change to screaming over the top of the drums and guitar, the vocals become more layered, and the drums sound so good in this track. Then everything goes quiet and its just a simple guitar, then joined by another, the vocals return with rattling drums and everything is seriously working brilliantly, this track has a great solemn feel to it. And then the screamed vocals and drums come crashing in one more time and then its over. Fantastic.
 Again flowing in with simple guitar work, drums and more layered vocals, India sounds quite depressing and low, and then everything explodes and screamed vocals cross between layered clean vocals, with great feedback guitar work, everything just fits wonderful. After another chorus everything slows down and a clean guitar starts playing over some very emotionally propelled vocals and then it bursts again and the drumming is absolutely fantastic, the whole sound is compelling and it just sucks you in until it spits you out right at the end. Mirage starts with great vocals over a simple acoustic guitar that feels very lonely and lost. Tambourine and drums intrude and then more layered vocals come in, everything gets louder and a very interesting second guitar riff plays over the others. Suddenly a quoir of "oh's" appear and i'm quite let down with the idea of the shouty chorus vocals, making them sound too over the top with their repetitive shouting. The track starts off really well, until the quoir comes in, which is a shame, and brings this track to a mediocre at best.
 The Dead Men Stood Together totally drags you in with really hard riffing and drums and clean electric guitar playing over the top. The vocals come in and then several vocals come in over the instruments during what is a really simple and great chorus. The second verse repeats and the end has some wonderful guitar moments and then you're left with a slow guitar riff over increasing hi-hats and then some lengthy vocals come in and everything starts to build up with a chant of "we are" and then it brings everything together, and then more screamed vocals layered in with increased "we are" chants until everything fades out and you're left with the haunting chants as everything slowly fades until silence for around 2 minutes until a raw drearing acoustic comes in with crackling vocals. Not really that impressive, it comes off as a very generic acoustic song, bit of a poor finish.
 At the close of the record, I feel that The Republic Of Wolves have some very big ideas up their sleeves, both equal in high and low factors. Taking in the full sound of The Cartographer, it's a wonderful experience, if not just a little too short for my taste, and I am left wanting alot more from these promising musicians.
9/10

Thomas Eccles