Album Review: "Black Sea" by XTC

My knowledge of New Wave is pretty sketchy. Even when it was popular in my preadolescence I was into metal. Twisted Sister, Iron Maiden, Kiss, etc. XTC never caught my attention. However, it does appear that this was certainly my loss.

From the word go this album pops off in all directions. Black Sea is a very good title for this record. Whilst sitting with it coming through the headphones it feels like you're the captain of an 1800's sailing vessel as it paws its way over stormy seas and you're hearing what the men are doing down below. It's a truly pleasing experience.

They have been labeled power pop, but this album is pure new wave. It's the perfect marriage of synthesizers and instruments. It would be hard to really nail down what this group is doing in terms of a genre. From dirty rock riffs, to ska choruses, to new wave synth, it really feels like they leave no stone unturned.

Album Review: "Koloss" by Meshuggah

Once again, it's about to get very, very brutal. Meshuggah is a band that has been around for what seems to be a very long time. Honestly, they have never crossed my path other than to have heard their name and that they exist.

Last year they were profiled in Guitar World as they were beginning their tour for their latest album, "Koloss." At this particular show, they had taken delivery of their latest 8 String Guitars from Ibanez and they were rather excited.

As a music fan, guitar music is what this blogger finds to be the most enjoyable. A deftly played riff, a screaming solo, an instrumental lead that makes the listener tear up, and more.  This is my favorite thing in music. So, hearing about their playing 8 string guitars...yes interest was piqued.

Album Review: "Silver Age" by Bob Mould

It's time for me to try something very much out of my comfort zone. For many years, the names Bob Mould and Husker Du have been well known to me. That's not to say that these names ever found their way into my music library. It is far more appropriate to say that they were avoided like the plague.

But here we are and it's 2013 and there are only so many classic rock acts and there are only so many metal bands that are worth a damn and so on and so forth. This blog is part of a continuing mission to document the music I acquire, listen to, etc and it serves as a reminder of the dark days when I switched to MP3s and I heard Kiss, Metallica, and Megadeth 60% of the time. Bob Mould (and Husker Du) is someone that a great many people in this world hear something that I simply do not hear. So it's time to listen to his most recent solo effort and see what's there.

Album Review: "Blues For Jimi" by Gary Moore

There are still a great many artists out there that I am trying hear what the others hear. Gary Moore fits into this list. Seeing his name bandied about on guitar forums and on the head stocks of signature model Les Pauls caught my attention.

Turns out he was a solo artist and a member of Thin Lizzy for a time. These things took me completely unaware. He is also mentioned frequently in interviews I've read in Guitar World. If he sets so many other guitarists, including high level pros, then this is someone who should stop being unknown to me. 

He's also another in the legion of white guitarists who love the blues and obviously he's rather adept at it. The more and more I hear, the more and more I realize that I need to give this man a full listening. "Blues For Jimi" is something that Amazon has recommended to me over and over, so maybe there is something to this. It was recorded in 2007 at a special tribute to Jimi Hendrix, obviously.

Album Review: "Hush Hush" by Kentucky Knife Fight

This band came to me by complete accident. There was a chance meeting and I met one of the members. Until this meeting, this group was completely unknown to me. But here we are with the album and checking it out. It's always nice that music is everywhere and you never really know where you're going to find it.

Admittedly, the St. Louis Music Scene isn't indelibly inked into my brain like it once was. Right now if you asked me to name five local bands, at least 4 of them would no longer be a going concern. Although the heyday of the middle nineties in St. Louis has not left me. Many a night I spent down on Laclede's Landing. Mississippi Nights, Kennedy's, and Bernard's Pub were my hangouts, but we've quickly gotten off track.

So, as it is, the St. Louis Scene is currently something of a mystery to me, but I am trying to wade back into the waters and find more and more new stuff and here we have the latest release by St. Louis's own, Kentucky Knife Fight.

Album Review: "Infestissumam" by Ghost B.C.

We have another metal record today. In the past on this blog, it was mentioned by me that metal is back in a very big way to me and that no one is happier about that. Doom metal, stoner metal, groove metal, etc is something that is very accessible and it might actually become something that's more than just a niche genre.

These bands are far more Black Sabbath than they are Metallica or Slayer. It still seems so strange to me that Black Sabbath, the first heavy metal band, seems to have had far less musical influence on the next generation than Judas Priest and their other contemporaries, but I do go on.

Ghost B.C., or simply Ghost (there was a lawsuit), is a metal band from the far away land of brutality and hockey players, Sweden. To call them a theatrical metal band is an understatement. The names and faces of the members remain unknown. Only the singer has a designation more significant than "a nameless ghoul," as the rest are called. If you believe everything you see, Ghost is on their second singer, Papa Emeritus II, but no one but them knows the truth of the situation.

Album Review: "Living The Blues" by Canned Heat

Some time back, I did a review on Hooker'n'Heat by John Lee Hooker and Canned Heat. Since then my love of the blues has really become a thing. In the time between then and now, I have gotten a bit more by John Lee Hooker and now it's time to turn my attention towards the other half of that album, Canned Heat.

The first Canned Heat record that I'm going to look at is their 1968 Double Album, "Living The Blues." In the current day and age where an album can be anywhere from 30 to 80 minutes on a single disc, if even on a disc at all, it can be easy to forget that there was a time when albums were limited to a mere 45 minutes and that when a band released more material than that, the records had to come with two discs. Mostly double album sets have been the purview of live albums, but there are few things cooler in this world than a properly done double record. Thankfully, this one does not disappoint.

Album Review: "Likewise" by SixStringNoise

One of my favorite parts of this blog is that musicians seek me out and ask me to listen to their stuff and tell the world what I think.

In this case, a a Greek band called SixStringNoise. They started as a he, Markos 6SN wrote and recorded a debut in 2010, and now they are a they and have released their debut record: "Likewise." This album intrigued me greatly. In the email I received there was a list of American and Canadian hard rock bands as influences, many of whom I enjoy.  I cannot say I've ever heard any Greek Music aside from the bouzouki players at the annual Greek Festival around Labor day in my home town of St. Louis.

I suppose at this point, rock music has gone global. After all, how much of American music wasn't stolen from English musicians who stole it from American blues players?

Not much!

Album Review: "Wretched and Divine" by the Black Veil Brides

The Black Veil Brides (all men like Twisted Sister) have recently released the first part of a very ambitious project. This concept album will also be birthing a feature length film and a tour in support.

The Black Veil Brides' music has been all but unknown to me, though their name was not. Upon seeing photos of them in a recent Guitar World article, it was hard to even think about taking them seriously. They were dressed like Motley Crue circa 1984 and wore eye makeup like Alice Cooper.

This is not a good look and it's not one to get me interested in what you're doing as, frankly, it's too derivative. What caught my attention was their passion for what they are doing. They have taken a lot of grief for their stage personas, but Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue  has reached out to them (shocker right?) to tell them to keep on keeping on and it appears to be working.

Album Review: Coheed and Cambria "The Afterman: Descension"

This is an album long awaited by me. Seeing a trailer of the Afterman records was enough for Coheed and Cambria to become a part of my musical library.

At the time, it was disappointing that their double concept album would be released in two parts, and honestly, that is still disappointing. Between the releases of the Afterman, I've also picked up another of their records which clocks in at about the same length as their acclaimed, Apollo album.
I still find that Coheed and Cambria are a bit confusing. Very talented, but seemingly repetitive in terms of tone and vocals, it feels that they have finally broken out of their mold a bit with the Afterman set. Frontman, Claudio Sanchez, still tends to sing in his standard, but larger than life, register for much of this disc, but not for all of it. Though for the life of me, can someone explain to me what they are trying to musically?

Album Review: "Drenched In Victorious Blood" by Aetherium Mors

Drenched In Victorious Blood

Brutal mode: Engaged.

Once again it's time to look at an artist submission to Glacially Musical. Checking my email after returning from the hiatus and I have a few bands that would like me to check out their stuff.

First up is Aetherium Mors based out of London. (Gunners fans, am I right?) You have now been warned: The lyrical content of this band is inflammatory. If you are offended by evil lyrics, you will not enjoy this band or this album.

This album was actually released on my 37th Birthday. (I'm not old! I'm 37.) I must apologize to the guys for it taking me so long to get to this review.

They were cool enough to send me the record and now I'm going to check it out for them and for you.

Album Review: People, Hell and Angels

Once more, Experience Hendrix has put together another posthumous album. Their first attempt, First Rays, was their attempt to piece together Jimi's follow up to "Electric Ladyland." The successors to that album have been unreleased material, outtakes, and unfinished songs and "People, Hell and Angels" is no different there. What makes this album different from it's predecessor is the people that are accompanying Jimi on the record.

Like Neptune, there is no single line up of the Jimi Hendrix Experience here, but unlike Neptune, there are far more lineups, and some noteworthy guests. The Cherry People, the Ghetto Fighters, Lonnie Youngblood, and even Stephen Stills are on this album that is presupposed as the direction Jimi was going to take after finishing the tour he was on when he died. This is not an album, but a collection of songs that Jimi recorded over various sessions over the years.

Album Review: "Robert Randolph Presents the Slide Brothers" by The Slide Brothers

When one is on a musical journey there will always be twists and turns. Sometimes and the idea of an album will take the listener out of their comfort level. In this case, The Slide Brothers are presented. These four gentlemen grew up playing sacred steel guitar in their churches.

This is where comfort zones are tested. They have decided to break with tradition and bring this music to the masses. Popular music is so very rarely equated with religion. Obviously there was Creed and for us older folks, Jars of Clay. As a child of the 80's, it's hard for me to forget the attacks music took.

Even though the inspiration is quite different than the bands that took the attacks, there could be a little blow back, but there is no need to delve too deeply into that here. This album is a very esoteric collection of music.
 

Album Review: "Live At The Regal" by B.B. King

Live At The Regal

Many times in my life someone has said how much they love the blues or something like that. Honestly, even just hearing "the blues" has always sounded a bit strange to my ears.

Most of my heroes talk about old bluesmen. As stated, many of my friends and family love the blues. My guitar teacher talks about 12 bar blues all the time. (Now I do too.) So now, it's time to really begin looking into this music.

So, after looking into, mostly modern blues and quite a bit of later stuff in the past few weeks, let's turn to an elder statesman of the blues, B.B. King, and see if he has anything to offer. (Tongue planted firmly in cheek)

This album is an exercise in the 12 bar blues. From the first to the last track, B.B. sings his tales of woe and shows how he has made quite a career basing his songs off of just three chords in a very simple progression.

Album Review: "Hot Cakes" by The Darkness

Here is the first album by the newly reformed The Darkness in about 7 years. Apparently, they had broken up for about five years and decided to give this another go. Based on this particular record, I think we should all be quite glad that they did!

Recently, while reading the music section of My Les Paul.com someone posted about the greatest Les Paul tone in the world, and it was this band. Well, the curiosity's piqued and well, does this band really have a great Les Paul tone?

In a word, yes. The guitars are this album not only sound spectacular, but they were recorded expertly. In fact the production quality on this record is just top notch. It's always a wonderful thing when an album  has been recorded well because the listener only focuses on the music.