LP Review: Self titled by Wizard Rifle

Wizard Rifle

In this great big world full of legitimate problems, the one about to be detailed might just not even actually be one.

How in the world am I supposed to refer to a self titled album in the title of a review of said eponymous album?

Nearly 7 years into Glacially Musical, and I don't have a real clue.

This is really a great metaphor for Wizard Rifle's record.

It clocks in at about forty four minutes. That's nearly the perfect length for an album, and from there it gets a little bit weird. Like, there are only five tracks that make up that time. That's an average of over 8 minutes per song.

Even Metallica didn't do that on ...And Justice For All.

The only thing I can be certain of is the fact that this is metal...probably. Being as the band is from the Pacific Northwest, it surprises me very little to hear a bit of a Nirvana/Foo Fighters kind of vibe. (NOTE: Way early Foo Fighters...like before it was a band.... Kinda like Weenie Beenie.)

Kurt Cobain once described Nirvana as sounded like Black Sabbath after an assault by the Bay City Rollers. Wizard Rifle might just be Nirvana after an assault by High On Fire.

RELEASE 8/30/19 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

LP Review: "Latum Alterum" by The Sabbathian

Latum Alterum

How many times have you listened to oddly juxtaposed music?

In this new, modern era of music that's a large swath of what this reviewer finds particularly enjoyable.

King Diamond has made a very long career on doing such things. His vocal stylings are able to cover more ground than anyone on the planet really, but there's one thing he required help with.

That's kind of where The Sabbathian comes in. Though, the vocalist, Anette Uvaas Guldbrandsen, didn't feature on the King's albums, her style did.

Guldbrandsen has linked up with US black metal musician, Chad Davis. The pair of them have created a sound that's lavish and baroque. Latum Alterum has simple songs that drive forwards. The forward motion is what gives them strength.

Guldrandsens's beautiful vocals intertwine into the keyboards and guitars. It's almost just rock. The grandiosity takes me.

RELEASE 1/25/19 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

LP Review: "No Stars Upon The Bridge" by Hallatar

No Stars Upon The Bridge

The prevailing though in my mind is that there's someone missing from my life.

My cousin died about two years ago now. My facebook "memories" have all sorts of statuses about him.

So, there's certainly a melancholy that's coming over me today and Hallatar have entered in and are drawing me to that time.

The best music, in my humble opinion, is something that will grab you by the scruff of the neck and hurtle you backwards in time...or perhaps forwards.

Then without noticing it, your mind is reliving a moment in your life. It's almost as if you're Sam Beckett from Quantum Leap...but it's within your own lifetime. I suppose, the proper science fiction analogy is About Time.

LP Review: "Deceases" by Morbid Evils

Deceases

Under extreme duress, the human mind can slow down time.

When that happens to me, it's like Phillip J Fry on 100 cups of coffee. It's frankly one of my most endearing and useful psychological abnormalities.

Overly stressful situations do not tax me like they do others.

In my mind, I question where this particular ability came from. Was it from years of disassociation, a defense mechanism?

However, the most plausible explanation would be the teachings of Surak and The Time of Awakening on the planet Vulcan, as told by Star Trek.

We all know that Vulcans are logical beings rather than emotional, but it's not that they have no emotions, but they are able to master them. In times of crisis, my emotions are buried deep down so we can live to dissect them....

Album Review: "Wandering Blind: by Brutus

Wandering Blind

Untiled, the director's cut of Almost Famous is one of my absolute favorite movies.

The music business was such an amazing thing back during the Seventies and that flick just captures the raw power of music in those days.

Though music is just as good as ever, if not better, the industry has sure seen better days. No one can deny that.

It's easy to wax nostalgic about some of the towering bands that prowled the earth bringing earth shatteringly loud concerts that have kept ears ringing to this day.

I can't be the only one who thinks that the vinyl rebirth didn't just start because somebody wanted to crank Led Zeppelin II like they did back in the day right? There are many things to remind us of those heady days when cocaine was the subject of song and bathroom breaks.

Album Review: "II" by Tombstoned

II

A number of years ago, in what's become a former life.

My friends would love to go slogging through the woods in combats boots. Naturally they insisted that I come along, and certainly that happened.

We were certainly a mystical bunch and we were out looking for the Gates to Hell, the meaning of Light My Fire, or a place to indulge in private.

Regardless of the activity pursued, there was a common theme: being lost. Never once did we precisely know where we were or what was actually around us.

Being confident in ourselves, our lack of direction wasn't worrisome, but emboldening. Of course in 2016 this is much harder to do as we all have every map of the world on our phone, but those days in the woods, along the back alleys, and everywhere else....still resonate and we're all still looking for that feeling of being lost.

Album Review: "Fort Bak Lyset" by Tusmörke

Fort Bak Lyset

It's not really evidenced on these pages, but personally, I love Broadway Musicals.

Naturally my favorite one is Spamalot which is lovingly stolen from Monty Python and The Holy Grail. Three times I've seen that play.

There are few things in this world that strike me like the flutes of Robin's wandering minstrels.

It's something that's very conspicuously insane. The music they play is just as important as the crazy words they spew about their brave master.

Sadly, their musical bit is very short. In the play it is fleshed out a bit more, but I still think back to the movie, where the show was sourced, when I hear anything with a similar timbre. If only it could be used in some psychedelic Norwegian prog-metal....

Album Review: "Chief" by Talmud Beach

Chief

Recently I had a lovely time with a friend of mine and his wife. He'd invited my wife and I over for dinner and an evening of conversation, laughter, beers, and records.

Jokingly...He was asked if I should bring my Carcass records? Well, my buddy's not really metal at all and his wife is certainly less so.

After we discussed it, Kaki King, The Hiders, and Labors were all under my arm when we arrived. My six pack of Michelob Golden Light Draft was in my other hand.

Many folks have this impression of me that all of my music is hail Satan this and Rock'n'Roll All Nite that. In all honesty, that's very untrue. Perhaps you've noticed the new header photo I recently posted on all of my social media pages and this very blog. There's nearly no metal in that slab of vinyl.

With that in mind, let's check out something from the Heartland.

Album Review: "Peace Killers" by Peace Killers

Peace Killers

Probably the most oft used phrase I see in my email nowadays is "related if you like," typically abbreviated to RIYL.

Why do we need this?

I'd say partially because as music fans, consumers, and writers, we want in immediate picture of what we're going to hear when it comes out of the speakers.

I can dig that, but what if you forgot what you'd read when you wrote down to review an album and what came out was one of the most off the wall records of 2016? (Well I guess 2016 really.)

Peace Killers are a brand new band made up of veterans of the West Coast scene. There's a collective experience of forty years between the four members.

RIYL: D.R.I., Rory Gallagher, Metallica, Death, and Black Flag.

Album Review: "Malady" by Malady

Malady

One of the reasons I started this blog oh so long ago now, was because I no longer would allow myself to be closed off from new music.

In the three plus years of Glacially Musical, we've done what I'm about to do probably at least 30 times....

DEBUT ALUM!

Finland's Malady had a goal, they were going to write and record an album before the band members turned fifty. Well, a full score and 3 before reaching the half century mark, our new Finnish friends are releasing an album, this one.

When it comes to Finnish music, I think most of us are more familiar with bands like Children of Bodom and black metal in general, but Malady are quite far away from there.