Everything Must Converge

Album: Axe To Fall

Artist: Converge

Genre: Metalcore/Mathcore

Year: 2009

Label: Epitaph

Heavy music and I are good friends; it gives me good records and I give it my praise in return. It amazes me to think back to the beginning. System of a Down, Nine Inch Nails, TooL. The heavy bands of my youth still earn my respect and praise, but over the years my tastes have warped and changed as I continue to research and grow. I’ve gone through various phases in this journey through music. I’ve done Metal, Industrial, Punk, Noise and everything in between. I feel that my experiences with the various genres I’ve been obsessed with have taught me many things, I learned I liked things heavy from Metal, I learned I liked darkness from Industrial. Punk taught me that you didn’t have to be a world-class musician to make good music and Noise taught me that our conceptions of what good music is don’t have to fall into the Pop song box. I feel as though today, I’ve reached a point of eclecticism that allows me to jump from Sludge Metal to Outlaw Country to Folk Rock to Noise Punk and back again. But the heavy darker sides of music will always have a strong place in my heart.

I’ve been told twice recently that Death Metal isn’t music, twice I’ve had opportunities to defend heavy music and twice I’ve kept my mouth shut. Now, I may not love Death Metal per say, but I hate it when people write off an entire genre of music based on the fact that it is both loud and heavy, two things which I think make lots of music great. Seeing as how I faltered in the line of duty as an opinionated music putz, I thought I’d share with you a piece of heaviness that landed on my foot recently and nearly crushed it. When I picked it up, I realized it was a new album by Converge, whom, if you think Death Metal isn’t music, you should stay the fuck away from because they put Death Metal to shame. Converge is, for me, part of the trifecta of Metalcore/Mathcore that also includes The Dillinger Escape Plan and Botch. While Dillinger is the culmination of the Jazz influenced Mathcore construct and Botch is the logical conclusion of any band forced to grow up in Tacoma (loud and angry,) Converge is quite possibly the most powerful of the three as they have longevity, iconography and raw musical ferocity backing them up.

Converge has been around since 1990 but didn’t enter into my orbit till last year, when, while doing research on the history of Mathcore, I ran across their album Jane Doe, which has been hailed as their best album by many. After listening to it a few times, I can see why. What Converge established with Jane Doe was the benchmark by which all Metalcore and Mathcore must be measured. Something like what Sleep’s Dopesmoker is for Stoner Metal, Jane Doe is for Metalcore and Mathcore. It’s even more impressive to realize that all of the albums they’ve released since Jane Doe have lived up to the standard they themselves set. I haven’t heard You Fail Me, but I acquired No Heroes on the basis of Jane Doe’s brilliance and was not disappointed. But this new album, Axe To Fall, has done something theoretically impossible by taking the benchmark Jane Doe set and raising it higher. To put it simply, Axe To Fall is better than Jane Doe.

Jane Doe’s biggest weakness was its production values. They were good for a Hardcore Punk band, but in creating that album, Converge stepped out of the confinements of that genre and into something new entirely. Since then they’ve been better, but Axe To Fall is the best they’ve ever sounded. The clearness of sound allows you to better visualize the impending destruction about to be visited upon your head by Jacob Bannon and company. On Axe To Fall, Converge sounds like the pain and misery of a beaten and broken human being turning into blades as his chance for revenge on the world that wronged him comes within his grasp, and it sounds sweet. The album kicks off with the awesome “Dark Horse” which establishes two things: 1: Converge haven’t gotten any less angry. 2: If you can’t handle this, you should leave now because the punishment is only just beginning. “Dark Horse” is one of those songs I could listen to for hours, its driving rhythm and cutting guitars having burned themselves into my brain on the first listen. It’s up there with “Homewrecker” from Jane Doe in terms of favorite Converge songs of mine.

“Dark Horse” is also one of the few tracks on the album not involving a guest musician. Axe To Fall features an armada of Converge’s friends and allies, some providing backing vocals, some taking up guitar duties and some just standing around looking cool. I’ve gotten the impression that Converge could have pulled off this album without any guests, but wanted to include their friends in the making of this masterpiece. That’s fine, seeing as how they don’t detract from it and rather add to some of the already epic songs by making them even more epic. This band has been together a long time and they play like a whirlwind of glass shards and razorblades, each one screaming as they slice through the air and your ears. Jacob Bannon, the voice and visual mastermind of Converge, is a screamer to be sure, but his scream sounds far from human most of the time. It’s not a screamo scream (he could eat those fuckers for breakfast,) it’s more like listening to the cries of some great bird of doom as it descends upon its prey. It’s the kind of thing you don’t want to hear late at night as move across the open plains because if you do, it means your body is about to get cleaved messily in twain by a massive pair of talons. On Axe To Fall, Bannon has moments of utter clarity though, where it is possible to not only separate the man from the bird, but even understand what he’s saying. If anything, he’s getting better at singing, though the great bird does make appearances and they are most welcome.

Axe To Fall comes off as an album without a weak track, though some do rise above the rest and one requires a little explaining. Some of my favorites include the slower death march of “Worms Will Feed / Rats Will Feast” which is another song that features only the core members of Converge. The track is a perfect example of slow Converge, with Kurt Ballou laying down riffs of heaviness that will make your blood shiver. Bannon is in top form on this take as well, alternating between his main bird scream and a more human howl. Clocking in at close to six minutes, it’s one of the longest songs on the album, but its weight makes it one of the best. Another favorite is the aggressive “Reap What You Sow” which features ex-Hatebreed guitarist Sean Martin on lead guitar. I may not be a fan of Hatebreed, but Sean Martin earned my respect as the main collaborator on Cage’s Depart From Me, so I’m certainly willing to let him have this one. Good thing too, as his slice of guitar malice is wicked.

Again though, there isn’t a weak track on Axe To Fall, but there is one oddity for Converge. The slower, acoustic (yes you read that correctly) “Cruel Bloom” sounds less like Converge than it does something that would have come out of a Supermachiner session or maybe something Nick Cave would have recorded during his Doom Folk phase of life, if he’d been able to get the Steve Von Till of Neurosis on vocals, which the boys from Converge have for this take. The piece is lilting and haunting, and eventually explodes into proper Converge pyrotechnics, but still sounds unusual for them. However, it does sound like it belongs on the album and it comes in pretty close to the end, providing a bit of respite from the rage and fury of the rest of the album, like the calm after a storm.

Overall, Converge have crafted another masterwork that everyone with an appreciation for heavy music should give a listen. To all haters of things heavy and loud, beware, Converge is out there and they’re coming for you.

Here are some links for you to follow:

Converge On Myspace

The Whole Album Is On Youtube

Band Website

Buy The Album

Cage: Beyond Bizkitism

Album: Depart From Me

Artist: Cage

Genre: Underground Hip-Hop

Year: 2009

Label: Definitive Jux

Rarely have I seen such division between fans as I have between Cage fans. One camp desperately clings to the past, because according to them, Cage “used to be” a dope MC, he “used to be” awesome. To them, Movies For The Blind was Cage’s finest work and everything he’s done since then is shit, Emo and boring. They see the steps Cage has taken to get a hold of life and career as some sort of detriment and the brilliant work he has done recently as somehow backwards. And then there’s the other camp, the one I occupy, who understand that the aforementioned camp is a bunch of mentally deficient assholes that listen to Insane Clown Posse and think they know everything. All joking aside, Cage is an artist who has impressed the hell out of me. Considering how strong his last album, Hell’s Winter, was, I’m more than a little stunned that the new one, Depart From Me, is even better.

Cage was once a Horrorcore stuntman who knew how to do little else besides trying to gross you out. These days, he’s still out to give you chills, but not in the shocking for the sake of being shocking sake kind of way. These days he’s all about storytelling and while the stories are still dark; the nature of the beast has changed. Even on Hell’s Winter there were still moments of gore and shock for the sake of gory shock. But Depart From Me has almost completely dispensed with both gore and shock entirely. The result is that this is the strongest Cage has ever been lyrically. I like poetic Hip-Hop and Cage seems to finally have realized his potential in this department. Additionally, Cage’s stories have become a bit more… accessible. Where as most of the stories on Hell’s Winter were specific to his life and therefore hard to identify with sometimes, Cage has adopted a way of talking about things that allows more people to tune in. He’s still telling stories about his life and woes, but I personally found it easier to grasp this time around.

The other major change this time is the structure and form of the music. Hell’s Winter was all over the place musically, mainly due to the fact that there were at least five different producers working on it. Depart From Me feels much more focused as the majority of the production and music comes from one source. That source is probably Cage’s strangest collaborator to date, Sean Martin, the guitarist of Hatebreed. I’ve never listened to Hatebreed once in my life, and while I doubt highly that this album sounds anything like them, I have to tip my hat to Martin for some brilliant production. Some people (who will not be named) claim that by indulging in more live instrumentation and relying more on synths and guitars rather than sampling, Cage is regressing back into Rap Rock or something horrible like that. Calling this album Rap Rock is about a laughable as calling it Horrorcore for it is neither. Just because you have an actual guitar and like to rap isn’t a sign of Bizkitism, really, people can be so closed-minded some times.

Cage’s delivery has morphed to fit the music better too. He still Raps most of the time, but he also speaks, screams and even sings. He’s blurring the line between Indie Rocker and Hip-Hop artist in a fascinating way. This album is not genre defying, but it certainly is genre bending. Cage has created something that combines Underground Hip-Hop, Indie Rock, Pseudo-Industrial, Spoken Word and Punk. What the fuck am I supposed to call that? Anyways. Another interesting thing about the album is that, unlike Hell’s Winter, Depart From Me has no features. This is Cage’s show in its entirety and he doesn’t give up the mic for anyone. Good thing too. This being Cage’s strongest work, no one could possibly feature on the album and not seem to be intruding.

Now, Highlights. At fourteen tracks, the album is littered with great songs and very little filler. In fact the only track I would define as “Filler” is the 2:09 long “Kick Rocks” which seems more like a skit than a song. Every other track feels strong, even the short ones. You’ve got the bitter opener “Nothing Left To Say” which is both our introduction to this evolved Cage and a requiem for Camu Tao, a deceased Rapper and friend of Cage’s. Cage has claimed that “Nothing Left To Say” sounded a bit like Nine Inch Nails, but I disagree. The track that really apes NIN is track 13 “Depart From Me” the chorus and chords of which sounds like it was written by Trent Reznor for Cage to sing. Funny thing is, it sounds great on him, so much so that I think Reznor should produce Cage’s next album… or EP… please?

Three other great moments include: “Captain Bumout” which demonstrates Cage’s maturity more than any other track, being about how there is more to life than “being in a club and getting drunk.” “Fat Kids Need An Anthem” I don’t know whether or not I’m allowed to think this is funny, but it’s Cage’s story of how he used to be overweight it’s the only moment of reprieving humor on the album amongst the gloom. “I Never Knew You” the closing track on the album is by far the most unsettling song I have heard in a long time. The intro states that “this song was written by a serial killer” and it sounds like it. In the song, Cage sings from the perspective of a man stalking a woman to her house, where he breaks in and kills her, because he’s in love with her. Obviously fiction, it’s still a really scary song and is probably, musically, the best track on the whole album. The chorus gives me chills every time I hear it: “it’s like the sky opened and God gave you directly to me.” If Depart From Me is Cage’s Downward Spiral, then “I Never Knew You” is his “Hurt.” If that makes sense. Cage’s evolution as an artist is a powerful thing to witness and from the sounds of it, he’s not slowing down anytime soon. If you like dark music, Underground Hip-Hop or both, I strongly recommend this album to you. Enjoy.

Cage On Myspace

Assorted Depart From Me Related Youtube Videos

Buy The Album

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Back To School

OK. First off, I’d like to thank everyone who’s been reading, commenting, paying attention etc. to The Sound Guardian thus far. This blog is proving to be exactly what I need right now and is great source of fun for me.

Now. To business.

I am returning to school this Tuesday and therefore am about to become extremely busy. I’m going to continue posting to The Sound Guardian, but, in light of my upcoming workload, will be posting much less frequently. It is my intent to publish a piece at a minimum of once a week. If I can publish and write more than that I probably will, but the only thing I can promise for sure is once a week. My plan is to continue to use Facebook as a method for alerting people to new posts and hopefully The Sound Guardian will continue to garner new fans. Anyways. Something new will be up within a few days. Once again, thank you for your continuing support. Here's a picture of a Pink Bunny Rabbit.

Under Cooked Rap Rock

Album: Street Sweeper Social Club

Artist: Street Sweeper Social Club

Genre: Rap Rock

Year: 2009

Label: Warner Music Group

At Sasquatch Festival last year, the biggest surprise I had was Street Sweeper Social Club. A collaborative project between Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine) and Boots Riley (The Coup,) SSSC is the very definition of Radical Left Wing Rap Rock Super Group. This initially made me very wary of them. When Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction embarked on the NINJA Tour last year, they took the SSSC along as the opening act. Trent doesn’t always pick his opening acts very well (Does It Offend You, Yeah?) so I wasn’t at all pacified by that action. The three bands released a tour sample with two SSSC tracks on it, neither of which made me think much of them. “Just Tom Morello’s latest Rap Rock Annoyance” I thought. When I found out they would be playing at Sasquatch right after Mike Watt and the Missingmen, I figured I might as well see them, who knows, I might laugh. At this point the band trouped out on stage in their uniforms, picked up their instruments, and proceeded to invalidate everything I had assumed about them up to that point.

You see, The SSSC puts on a great show. So great, I was left speechless. I had expected nothing from this band and they gave me everything they had, and then some. Rap Rock being what it is, I was genuinely surprised when I found myself enjoying the music. Boots Riley was an engaging frontman: he danced, rallied the crowd, gave us hilarious banter and generally kept the energy up. But the real star of the show was Tom Morello and his guitar. In the words of an ex-girlfriend “Tom Morello doesn’t play the guitar, he just plays.” This is the most apt description I’ve ever heard of the man. Blistering solos, funkified rhythms, playing the guitar with his teeth (not just noodling, but playing the actual song) and playing his hand (yes, his hand) the man can do it all. He threw everything, including the kitchen sink, into the show. Boots Riley at one point commented that “Some people have been saying our guitarist rips off Tom Morello… well, that is because our guitarist IS Tom Morello.” The set was amazing, highlights including The SSSC’s rocked up cover of M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” and their own original song “Promenade” which featured both the teeth and hand playing.

Yes indeed, The SSSC proved they were capable of anything with that show. I left that performance feeling excited for their debut album, which at that point was still a month away. Too bad, cause the album’s a piece of crap. Well, maybe that’s a bit harsh… no it’s not, it sucks. The problem here is that you have an album that is far less than the sums of its parts. Three people perform the SSSC’s self-titled album: Boots Riley on vocals, Tom Morello handling guitar and bass and a mysterious drummer. When I checked who it was I was flabbergasted to learn that it was none other than Galactic/Garage A Toris drummer Stanton Moore! How on earth Riley and Morello hooked up with a drummer this badass is unknown to me, but it doesn’t much matter because Moore is just as much to blame as the other two parties for this schlock filled album.

Again, the problem here is that all three ingredients are great: You’ve got Riley’s anger filled leftist rants, Morello’s electric funk blast guitar and Moore’s brilliant drumming. And yet, somehow, the album fails to produce a cake, rather, it’s a piece of bread. Have you ever had that happen? Where you bite into something expecting cake and instead you get bread? No? Well, go see SSSC live and then listen to the album and you’ll know what it feels like. If you were to ask me what’s wrong with this album I just want to say “everything!” but I think I’m a little better at this than that. Basically what’s going on here is that this album is only half-baked (what’s with me and food metaphors today?) The production and performance should be raw, dirty and dangerous (like a Rage Against The Machine album, say?) but instead, it’s too clean, sterilized, devoid of life.

Instead of songs that burst with energy, you get the feeling that these songs were recorded and then vacuum packed, where upon they suffocated. If a Rage Against The Machine song is like ice cream, then a SSSC song is like that freeze dried stuff that astronauts eat (really, this has to stop.) There’s no danger, no excitement, no spark, it’s kind of scary actually, and where’d all that awesome live energy go? To top this all off, no one on this album seems to have the balls to take it to the next level. Listen to it and you’ll know what I mean. Every single time that Morello could unleash a megablast solo or rip us to shreds with his teeth, he doesn’t. Sometimes he steps up, sounds like he’s about to take the plunge, but then steps back and sort shrugs, as if he’s saying “I don’t really feel like it.” Moore and Riley effectively do the same thing with both of their instruments.

On the subject of Riley: it’s hard for me to take radical leftism seriously when I have no idea what you’re talking about. If you had a specific issue to focus on maybe I’d get it, but either you don’t spend enough time fleshing out the facts or you’re not clear enough on the facts you have or you’re too general about everything. Basically what I’m saying is: WHAT HAPPENED?! You were so cool live and now you’re making me miss Zach De La Rocha, who’s voice didn’t always jive with me, but at least his rants felt like they had actual rage behind them. Rage Against The Machine that is! This album should have been awesome, it really should have, and truthfully, I shouldn’t have been so surprised when it wasn’t as great as the band live. But really, it would not have taken that much effort to make it as awesome, just a little more time, a little rawer production and a little more energy, and it would have been golden. Tom Morello, please understand, I still like you. Moore, you’re still the man. Riley, The Coup is bitchen’. But you guys fell down on the job with this one. Please, you can do better next time.

Here are some Links for you:

The SSSC on MySpace

The Whole Album is on YouTube

Band Website

(Don't) Buy The Album

Random Thoughts On: The Murder City Devils

On December 30^th 2009, at the end of The Murder City Devils set at the Showbox in Seattle, keyboardist Leslie Hardy thanked the crowd for their support and hinted towards The Devils releasing new material in the future. Now, you can read basically the same thing on The Devils Wikipedia page. What that page also tells you is that they debuted a new song that night: “7 Sins.” Except they didn’t: they played an extended cover version of The Birthday Party’s classic “Several Sins.” Seeing as how about half of The Birthday Party is dead as of last year (R.I.P. Rowland S. Howard,) I never thought I’d ever hear any Birthday Party material live in my life. Obviously, Spencer Moody isn’t Nick Cave and neither Nate Manny nor Dann Gallucci can truly replicate S. Howard’s signature guitar sound, but it was still a really fun way to end the evening. New material from The Devils would be most welcome considering the band doesn’t seem to have lost any of its spark since they broke up and subsequently re-formed, but at this point this is all speculation. In the meantime, here are some links and a photo:

MySpace

Website

Weird Little Music Video for "Idle Hands"

Homemade Video for "Press Gang"

Live Performance of "I Want A Lot Now"

Minimalist Technique

Album: Love’s Miracle

Artist: Qui

Genre: Noise/Minimalist Rock

Year: 2007

Label: Ipecac

ATTENTION: If you want, you can listen to me reading the review to you. Look for the media player at the bottom of this post.

Sometimes I stare at the wall and wonder what I’m gonna be when I grow up. If this college thing works out then I could actually be an actor. Sometimes though, I stare at the wall and imagine that I’m going to be David Yow when I grow up. As fantasies go and rock frontman to worship, Yow may seem initially like a strange choice. He can’t really sing, he’s shorter than you and weirder looking than anyone you’ve probably ever seen in your entire life. But goddamn if the man is not one of the greatest frontmen and performers I’ve ever seen. I had the good fortune to catch The Jesus Lizard at the Capitol Hill Block Party last summer and witnessed this whirling dervish of a man in person as he howled his way through their impressive set list. For being 49 years old, Yow is still as crazy as he was back in the day, if not crazier. He spent most of the show crowd surfing and still managed to sing the songs. But The Jesus Lizard is only reuniting briefly and this is going to be the last time, so what is Yow doing with the rest of his life? The answer is the band Qui. Qui started out as a two-piece Los Angeles band made up by guitarist Matt Cronk and drummer Paul Christensen who released their first album as a duo in 2003. In 2006 Yow joined them as a guest at some of their shows and eventually graduated to fulltime band member and lead vocalist. The band’s most recent release, 2007’s Love’s Miracle, is the first album with Yow and it is perhaps the strangest album in the man’s remarkable discography.

I had a conversation with another music writer friend of mine about Qui. I asked my friend what he thought of them seeing as how he was a fan of The Jesus Lizard and Scratch Acid. My friend was indifferent and more or less said that he couldn’t quite get into Qui because it was just Yow being crazy and there was no Duane Denison or David Wm. Sims to balance him out. This to me sounds like the opinion of someone who hasn’t listened very closely to this album. Here’s why: The first reason is that Qui was around before Yow joined and he is in a way the junior member of the band. The core duo of Cronk and Christensen have been playing music together for a long time and they’ve got great synergy. Their dual musicianship does balance out Yow’s insanity and does it very well even. The second reason is that Love’s Miracle is one of the calmest albums Yow has ever lent his vocals to and it shows him doing things that you’d never expect from him if you were only familiar with Scratch Acid and The Jesus Lizard. Namely: singing. He still howls, yowls and screams bloody murder like someone just took an axe to his fingers but he actually has some sobering moments of calm that I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere else in his musical repertoire. It’s strange, but I like it.

Qui is a very different sounding band from The Jesus Lizard seeing as how they’ve only got a guitar and drum set to work with and their musicians come from very different places. But both bands can at times be brought under the umbrella of Noise Rock, the difference is that Qui has a more minimalistic bent to their song structure. In fact, I’d have to say when you boil it down, the only thing the two bands have in common is Yow and an appreciation for raw noise. “Apartment” is the album’s opening track and its taut simplicity sets the album’s stage. The song makes a crashing entrance. Then the drums drop away and we’re left with just a twitchy guitar line over which Yow intones somber inquiries about his apartment. As the song continues, the drums slowly creep back in. Yow’s vocals disappear entirely as the twitching music becomes more and more agitated before returning to its taut guitar line and Yow’s repetitive questioning. It’s an unusual beginning to an album featuring Yow, hardly a “Cannibal” or “Boilermaker.” He doesn’t even scream once. But the song is still a good one.

On the second track, “Today, Gestation,” the band maintains this atmosphere of tension that occasionally explodes into full throttle fury. Yow tells a story about a cross-dressing nightmare full of surrealist images and full on screams. “Gash” and “Freeze” are the two tracks that best demonstrate Qui’s Noise Rock sensibilities and both feature Yow at his irate pinnacle. After those two tracks comes possibly the strangest song on the entire album in the form of “New Orleans” which takes a good chunk of time trying to get off the ground before finally flying. It’s also strange because it features some of Yow at his most tuneful. Again, he’s actually singing melody instead of just screaming, which for him, is downright weird. What follows “New Orleans” is the second half of the album, which contains two more original Qui songs and two bizarre covers. The first original is the minimal “A #1” which is the finest example of Qui’s use of slow (but not glacial) tempos and ability to show restraint in all the right places before bursting into crushing walls of sound. It’s the quiet-loud-quiet formula taken to logical conclusions.

The other original is the somewhat forgettable screamer “Belt” which finds itself uncomfortably sandwiched between two epic covers of Frank Zappa’s “Willie the Pimp” and Pink Floyd’s “Echoes.” Probably the second nosiest track on the album, “Willie The Pimp” is done severe justice by Qui, and was probably chosen because it’s a perfect song for Yow to sing considering the vocalist on the original version was Captain Beefheart. And Yow gets into it, getting madder and madder throughout the song before wildly yelling obscene nonsense like a lunatic at the end.

To wrap up the album though, we have a faithful rendition of the first part of Pink Floyd’s classic “Echoes” which is about the last thing I was expecting when I picked this album up. With all the noise and screaming I was hardly expecting something as beautiful as this final track which, while still being a crunchy rocker when performed by Qui, gets two thumbs up. Meddle is my favorite Pink Floyd album and it makes me pleased as punch to find a cover version of “Echoes” that A) doesn’t suck and B) doesn’t take a half an hour to play. Qui’s version clocks in at six minutes and 37 seconds.

Qui is every bit as worthy of your attention as The Jesus Lizard or Scratch Acid, but Love’s Miracle is destined to be one of those albums that most people completely overlook. Hence the loving review. With this piece of awesome under their belt, I’m excited to see what Qui does next. Another album with Yow wouldn’t be out of the question… please?

Qui On MySpace

Qui On Ipecac

Qui Performing "Today, Gestation"

Buy the Album

An Ocean Of Noise

Album: Wavering Radiant

Artist: ISIS

Genre: Post-Metal

Year: 2009

Label: Ipecac

ATTENTION: If you want, you can listen to me reading the review to you. Look for the media player at the bottom of this post. Take note: When I recorded myself reading this review it was early in the morning and I recorded it hastily in one go. I've since learned to record in parts and things will be much smoother from now on. I slur pretty badly on the word "Metal," it sounds like I'm saying "Mell." Like I said, things will be smoother from now on. Enjoy!

Review:

It would be easy to pigeonhole a band like ISIS. After all, the comparisons to groups like Tool and Neurosis come easily enough. I’ve heard some people go so far as to accuse ISIS of “ripping off” both of the aforementioned acts. While influences from (and alliances to) both Tool and Neurosis can be seen in ISIS’ music, to say that they are simply “ripping them off” is a gross misperception. While Neurosis sounds like a great deathly machine rolling through a vast desert and Tool’s music is the sound of your circulatory system having an out of body experience, ISIS’ vast sound churns and eddies like the ocean.

The day may be clear one minute, the sea shimmering like a great field of crystals, but then the clouds move in, the wind picks up and suddenly the once peaceful sea is a violent swirl of waves and currents. Your little boat is tossed about in the storm like a leaf. Things will seem to clear for a moment, but then it will pick up again in earnest. The tumultuous storm will become more and more violent, the waves almost capsizing you. And then, it will fade, and the waters will once again become a shimmering field of diamonds, as if it never even happened. This is why the ocean is the perfect metaphor for ISIS’ music. It flows like water and can sweep you away from yourself before you know what is happening.

On Wavering Radiant, ISIS’ brand of Metal combines elements of atmospheric sludge and Explosions In The Sky-like guitar cascades as well as Hardcore growling from front man and guitarist Aaron Turner. This is the basic formula for an ISIS album, but this time around, a few things are different. The first thing that I noticed was that Turner’s vocals, usually found buried in the mix beneath torrents of guitars, have been pushed further into the forefront. I guess it was only a matter of time before the front man wanted to be in the front.

It was initially surprising, usually it seems like the band would be playing and Turner would be shouting to be heard above the din. But this time, instead of yelling across the room at me, he’s stepped right up and is roaring in my face. Some people will be turned off by ISIS simply because of Turner’s vocals. He can sing, but the really important stuff comes out in a gravelly roar. It isn’t a death growl or a pig growl, just a regular growl, but it’s got a lot of rage in it and some people just won’t be able to take that. Turner’s voice can provide a sharp contrast to the transcendental beauty of the music his band creates.

Another major difference is the way the drums sound. Aaron Harris is a skilled drummer, but the drum sound on ISIS’ previous album, In The Absence Of Truth, was far more tribal and furious than on this one, where he seems to have returned a less primal sound. His drumming, along with Jeff Caxide’s moody bass lines, still provides excellent backing for the radiant guitars and glimmering electronics, but it just seems smaller, more contained.

There are seven tracks on this album, six actual musical pieces and one sound experiment. The title track, “Wavering Radiant,” is less than two minutes long and is essentially just filler, a bridge between part one and two of the album. ISIS included pieces like this on In The Absence of Truth as well and it didn’t make any sense to me then either. Ultimately though, that’s the album’s only real weak spot, you can skip it if you want, everything else is dandy. In the end, Wavering Radiant is a stellar addition to ISIS’ already sterling discography and a fine piece of music for any Metal lover. Though I do encourage fans of bands like Explosions In The Sky and Red Sparowes to check them out as well. You won’t be sorry.

Here are some links for you to follow:

ISIS On MySpace

The Whole Album Is On Youtube

Band Website

Buy The Album

Check This Out: 2010

2010 has just begun and there are already things on the horizon to be excited about. Here is a list of some of the things I’m looking forward to:

-Tapestry of Webs by Past Lives-

When The Blood Brother split in 2007, a little more than half the band reformed as the cold and angular Past Lives. They’ve, so far, only released an EP on Suicide Squeeze and their first full length is due out in February. If it’s going to be anything like the EP or their live show, then it’s going to be good. If it’s not, it’ll probably still get reviewed. You can listen to a sample from the album at their MySpace.

-Heligoland by Massive Attack-

The kings of Trip-Hop haven’t released an album since 2003 and that album was more of a solo project for Del Naja than anything else. Heligoland features such luminaries as Tunde Adebimpe from TV on the Radio, Damon Albarn from Blur and, of course, Mr. Horace Andy. Could this be a return to form for Massive Attack or have they lost their spark? We’ll have to wait and see, but if you want samples from the album go to their MySpace.

Additionally, the band has released an EP called Splitting The Atom, which features songs from Heligoland. Check it out or buy it.

-Option Paralysis by The Dillinger Escape Plan-

The Dillinger Escape Plan haven’t been back to Seattle in a long time and I’m hoping that the release of Option Paralysis brings them here on tour. If you’ve only heard but never seen Dillinger, you should know that their Jazz influenced Mathcore is even more spastic and spectacular live than it is on record. If Option Paralysis is half as good Ire Works than it promises to be good. But, if was even better that’d be cool too. They’ve released one song from the album, which can be heard here.

-Blood Cells-

The Schoolyard Heroes buried themselves this past year, but Jonah Bergman and Ryann Donnelly lost no time in forming a new band. Blood Cells drops the zombie shtick of Schoolyard but retains the furious energy and operatic vocals. From what they’ve got on their MySpace, it’s not super different from Schoolyard, but it could be in time. I don’t know if they’ve got an album coming out soon or at all, but it’s nice to know that Donnelly & Bergman haven’t quit music entirely. Listen to them at their MySpace.

-New Pinback?-

In 2009 Pinback announced a new album to be released in 2010 on Temporary Residence Ltd., home of Explosions In The Sky and Mono, among others. There’s no additional info besides speculation, but it’s exciting, nonetheless. Here's their MySpace, but there's no new info.

-New Nine Inch Nails/Trent’s Collaboration wit Gary Numan-

Trent Reznor and NIN have called it quits touring and playing live shows, but Reznor has stated that he’ll continue in music. He’s also mentioned recently that he’ll be releasing new material under the name NIN, but also something that isn’t NIN, in 2010. I don’t know which I’m more excited for. Gary Numan has also stated that he and Reznor are planning to collaborate. Whether it’s this collaboration that Reznor was referring to or not, it’s all very thrilling.

-New Jaguar Love-

Jaguar Love is made up of the other two members of the now defunct Blood Brothers. With this new album, to be released on Fat Possum Records, they’re planning to take things in a more Electroclash direction than their previous, Indie Rock record. I’m not sure exactly how I feel about this, as I liked the sound on their last album, but it should be interesting at the very least. You can listen to the first single from the new album at their MySpace and download it here.

-Fix. The Ministry Movie-

Ministry was a legendary Industrial Metal band from Chicago. Fix is a documentary about them. This movie can join Spinal Tap, DIG! and End Of The Century: The Story Of The Ramones in the list of movies that best detail how NOT to run a band. I’ve had some insight into the Ministry camp after reading Chris Connelly’s book on his time as a member of RevCo, but this documentary looks like it might have some pretty epic footage. Just remember, Ministry was a traveling engine of debauchery the likes of which have rarely been known to man. This will not be for the faint of heart. View trailer here.

-Transit Transit by Autolux-

OK Autolux. It’s been six years since Future Perfect. You’ve been promising a follow-up since 2008. Release the damn thing already. I’ve heard Audience No. 2. Obviously, it’s going to rock our socks off. So what’s the holdup? Well, the holdup is not having a record label to release the album, but they say they’re working on that part. In the mean time, enjoy this, their cover of Helter Skelter by The Beatles.

-Sisterworld by Liars-

All I know at this point is that Liars have a new album coming out and it’s called Sisterworld. Simon at Pretzel Logic says it sounds like a combination of Drums Not Dead and Lairs Self-Titled. Should be good, I think. Here's their MySpace.

-Contra by Vampire Weekend-

LIKE OMFG. VAMPIRE WEEKEND IS LIKE THE GREATEST BAND IN THE WORLD! HAVE YOU HEARD THEIR SONG “BLAKES GOT A NEW FACE?” LIKE OMFG, I DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY’RE TALKING ABOUT BUT LIKE OMFG I LOVE IT… Actually, I thought Vampire Weekend’s Self-Titled album sucked and I have no hope for Contra in the slightest. I only put this here because I’m looking forward to reviewing it. I’ll give it a fair trial but, really, if it’s going to be anything like Self-Titled, then we’re fucked. Doubly so, because everyone LOVES Vampire Weekend except for me. Which makes me a pariah. But I think I’m comfortable with that. You can listen to it here.

Cheers!

Mars Voltage

Album: Cryptomnesia

Artist: El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez

Genre: Progressive Rock

Year: 2009

Label: Rodriguez Lopez Productions

ATTENTION!: If you want to listen to me reading the review, go to the links section at the bottom of this post and look for the media player.

(Disclaimer 1: In the recorded version of this piece, I said that The Bedlam in Goliath was released last year. It was actually released two years ago now. Whoops.)

I briefly threw my lot in with The Mars Volta two years ago, around the time of their fourth album, The Bedlam in Goliath, and then later decided that I needed to think things through more before I declared my admiration for a band I’ve only known a couple minutes… Now I think about it, I should probably apply that theory to woman as well… but I digress. The Bedlam In Goliath effectively got me into The Mars Volta, as the album I had heard before that, Frances The Mute, was a bit too daunting with the 32 minute long suite that closed it. I don’t really know what it was now that made me feel so enamored by Bedlam. It’s a good album sure, but I feel I was a little too foaming at the mouth in my review of it. I blame this on a few things, my wish to piss off an ex-girlfriend, my misguided beliefs that I alone could topple Pitchfork (oh, the hubris) but largely, I think I was just being stupid. Still, I do own five Mars Volta albums and enjoy them on occasion. I also hold that Omar Rodríguez-López is a fascinating, if not always rewarding, musician. However, I promised myself that I would be more wary of Rodríguez-López and his band in the future.

Rodríguez-López is ridiculously, perhaps even, disgustingly prolific. Last year alone he released an album by The Mars Volta, five albums under his own name and this one by El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez. Trying to keep up with the man is like trying to sprint after Usain Bolt, impossible. I don’t know what mad demons he made a pact with, but the blood on the parchment must have spelled out Workaholic. I found out about this album around the time I stumbled on Rodríguez-López’s Wikipedia page and read his impressive discography, but what lead me to the album was the involvement of one of my favorite drummers: the infamous Zach Hill. I remembered clearly stating once that The Mars Volta would be better with Zach Hill as their drummer, and this album seemed to me to be the heavens opening and blessing me with exactly that. Zach Hill balancing out Rodríguez-López? What could possibly go wrong?

“Sigh.”

I really, really should know better.

I usually don’t have to worry with Hill, all I have to know is that if he’s drumming, it’s going to be good. And the drumming is good; it’s the rest of the album that confuses the shit out of me. First of all, this album is under the band name El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez, which is a mouthful to begin with, but really, it should be under the name The Mars Volta Light because three of the five band members are also of the Volta. The other two are Hill and former Hella member Jonathan Hischke on synth bass. If The Mars Volta is truly the collaboration between Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala then what’s the point of forming another band where the core of the music are the same two people? It just doesn’t make sense to me. Rodríguez-López writes all the music and Bixler-Zavala writes all the lyrics? Sound like the Volta to me. And they clearly are his lyrics; you can’t mistake that kind of surrealism for anyone else.

More problems. The album, rather than being a collection of stand alone songs, runs together into one 36-minute whole, with no real breaks in between tracks. More than that the songs on the tracks are difficult to locate due to the inclusion of bizarre samples, audio experiments and interludes, which makes the album seem even more schizophrenic. On top of this, I was wrong: Zach Hill doesn’t make The Mars Volta better: he just makes it busier. You’d think that having a smaller line-up would make for a less confuzzeled album, but somehow, these five musicians manage to take up just as much space as the entire Volta. There is effectively no room to breath on this album; it’s all claustrophobic explosions of Prog Rock bombast. Finally, this album represents a sort of failure to me. A great idea: Zach Hill and Rodríguez-López together on the same album, which was met by lousy execution.

To add to the already great confusion, is my final verdict on the album. I don’t hate it. I don’t like it very much, but I don’t hate it. Because, occasionally, the band will get their act together, kick out the bullshit, samples and gallons of pretentiousness and just play, and, despite being busy, it’s good. There are moments on this album where genius shines through, problem is that those moments, already few and far between, are hidden in a sea of samples, interludes and the aforementioned gallons of pretentiousness. It probably says something that my favorite moment on the album was when Bixler-Zavala starts screaming “I won’t get Tourettes if you won’t get Tourettes” over and over again. I don’t know exactly what that says, but it says something. In the end, the album is interesting, both in the good and bad sense of the word. I’ve done all I can, except one thing: Zach! Consult me next time before you lend your vast talents to a track called “Paper Cunts.”

Listen to me reading the review and a song from the album here:

Here's some links you can check out (if you dare:)

Myspace For Rodriguez Lopez Productions

The whole album is on Youtube

Bizarre Band Website with Link to Purchase

Buy The Album