Vinyl Review: "The Difference Engine" by Graham Reynolds

The Difference Engine

During my younger days, Babbage's was the store to go and check out new video games. After all, it was the 90's and specialty shops were only starting to spring up here in Middle America.

Then you couple that with my disdain of corporate shopping being a few years out and it was pre-rise of video games as more than just nerd culture, and we didn't have any local shops that we could look into.

So Babbage's it was.

In later  years, I even spent time doing some seasonal work at Babbage's in South County Center in order to help make ends meet when I was still in retail...and that 25% discount off of video games sure as hell didn't hurt.

Back then I was crazy into games.

You know what no one ever asked me, nor did I ask either, was who in the hell was this Babbage character? I mean, the store was clearly named after him. They certainly didn't work for Nintendo or Sega...or Sony.

LP Review: "The Call of the Void" by Anticosm

The Call of the Void

Certainly others aside from myself have come in contact with sub-sub-genre names like Death and Roll, Black Thrash, or what about...

Black Thrash'n'Roll.

My brain responds back..this isn't a thing. Not only does it lack existence, but these three ideas cannot possibly exist in the same space.

Well, New Jersey's Anticosm is tagged with this unwieldy label.

Going back,  yes, these three musical ideas are mutually exclusive.

Anticosm is sort of like the He-Man Villain, Man-E-Faces, except three isn't many, but just three.

The styles come in and go out. Not to say they're interchangeable, but it's not all three things at one time. It's going to be the mixing of styles that creates new music. That's what created the golden age of music.

Anticosm has simply done what bands like Led Zeppelin have done before them. Except they added in a bit of elevator music which is really kvlt right?

By being at expert level in their three main killing styles, they've enabled themselves to make blistering record that can be heavy without exhausting the listener.

Anyway, their new record is coming out soon. Don't pass.

RELEASE 8/16/19 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

Classic Spins with Kris from Prison

Prison

Think about all the great music that's come out Seattle, WA. The Pacific Northwest has been a breeding ground for some truly revolutionary artists.

Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, Mudhoney. 

There have been several artists that have ticked off my personal boxes lately as well. Un, Into The Storm, and Breag Naofa.

It's interesting not that how many acts  have made it out of the Sea-Tac Strip (if that's a thing) and into the wider United States, but how vastly different the scenes are up there.

It must have something to do with it raining all the time. I'm looking at you, The Crow.

Today we're getting to meet a new act from the Pee En Dubs: Prison.

You should be checking out their new EP, Annihilation. It's guaranteed to be nothing like you've ever heard before. It's got all the bravado of youth and the anger of those left behind.

For now though, let's talk about music.

1. My favorite kind of album is the concept album. The Wall is my absolute favorite. Beyond the amazing songs, it has spectacular nostalgia for me. 

What's your favorite one and why?

1 Up with Hosemen

Hosemen

If you're anything like me, right now your entire family is sitting in the sweet (not cheap) seats watching the St. Louis Baseball Cardinals, St. Louis's second best team. 

Yeah, I took the shot...do somethin' so called Best Fans In Baseball!

They're at the stadium, and I'm sitting at home listening to Iron god damned Maiden's Book of Souls live record...

And please don't tell my daughter...this is her favorite Iron Maiden album and she'd be straight pissed if she knew I was spinning it without her.

So, I'm doing my best to drink too much beer tonight for medical reasons and catch up on all these interviews I have to transcribe and publish. So many amazing bands have gotten back to me, and I'm still working on getting through.

Today, we're checking in with Stamford, CT's Hosemen. Am I alone in thinking that this is the Hoitiest of Toity cities?

Is it even a city? Anyway, Hosemen get on that stage and punish their guitars for you.

Find out why on BANDCAMP.

Now, let's talk video games, natch.

LP Review: "The Den" by Freighter

The  Den

My good friends, I stand before you because we are faced with an evil that's been sneaking around the cities.

Downtown shopping areas all across this formerly great nation of ours have been affected and there's nary an Old Navy in sight due to this scourge.

Unfortunately, the drug using youth of the cities is spilling out into the suburbs. What used to be wonderful cornucopias of chain restaurants is now going to beholden to bebop hepcats.

How are we supposed to combat their attractive subversiveness?

Should these San Franciscans ooze west into Nevada, well, after they spend all their dollars at the those houses of ill repute, they'll continue their odyssey east.

Then after they've sinned profusely in Colorado and depleted the evergreens of their godliness, my friends, they'll be in Kansas. The strong and moral folks of Kansas will be of no match for this meth fueled take on The Dazzling Killmen.

Before you know it, they'll be in Missouri and then what will those Midwestern Meth dealers have to sell after their products have been stolen by Freighter.

Let's not even consider what needs to be done in order to save downstate Illinois from the coming of the locusts. Those poor bastards have already been destroyed because of their continual voting for Conservative Legislators who hate them.

Then they'll have to deal with this? Indiana, I weep for your future losses. Ohio... I will not even weep for you as you're already destroyed.

RELEASE 7/12/19 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

Classic Spins with Mortanius

Mortanius

This column is fun because we get to hear all these elder metal guys talking about what great records Led Zeppelin, Metallica, and Iron Maiden put out.

Before get to hearing about Mortanius's favorite Pink Floyd records, let met tell you a little bit about our new friends.

Their latest album, Till Death Do Us Part, was released in March on Rockshots Records. You might wanna pick that up HERE it's four tracks of progressive thunder that could only have been birthed in the City of Brotherly Love, that's right, Philadelphia.

Guys, thanks for Gloria...truly.

Thanks!

So now, let's get it on with the gents. 

1. My favorite kind of album is the concept album. The Wall is my absolute favorite. Beyond the amazing songs, it has spectacular nostalgia for me. What's your favorite one and why?

Vinyl Review: "Fallen Cathedrals" by Ashen Horde

Fallen Cathedrals

Well, let's start at the beginning.

In the windswept wastelands of Hollywood, California, exists a band so brutal, so avant garde, so nouveaux, that they have no idea what they are.

Their story began in December of 2016, or somewhere thereabouts when their debut album, Nine Plagues, was released.

Really, it probably started before that, but our friends here from the most brutal state dropped a double LP to start off their career.

Ashen Horde went straight Chicago on our collective asses.

Not only did they drop the a deuce to begin it, but it was a double VINYL LP.

So, good on you my boys.

Ashen Horde are one of those bands that's hard to pigeonhole into a heavy metal subgrenre due to just how out they are.

EP Review: "Dos" by Pinto Graham

Dos

Is there anything better than kicking back with a big spliff and spinning some stoner metal?

When you're a guy like me, you have to answer with a resounding....

Maybe?

So, maybe I'm not a stoner..actually I'm positively not a stoner, not there's anything wrong with it and I'm pleased to see a liberalization of our Marijuana Prohibition laws sweeping across the  nation.

But one of those things that stoners do ever so well is make art. At least 80% of my favorite artists have made some of their best work either about or under the influence of certain substances.

Great stoner/desert/psychedelic/whatever new tag is being used this weekend music has a swagger that's almost completely devoid in all other forms of music. It's like comparing Black Sabbath to Judas Priest...

Pinto Graham's Dos is a labyrinthine trip through a hallucination. No one really knows where that school bus is going or what these songs are about, but does that really matter?

What's most important about a song and the album is how it makes you feel. Dos gives me a feeling of abject freedom and strength. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but neither does my spaghetti and they'll both give you aid and comfort in these troubled times.

RELEASE 7/12/19 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

Classic Spins with Blind Samson of Coffin Torture

Coffin Torture

It's time we check in with one of those most gruesome death metal bands in the world.

Let's look at the bands we have to pick from today, and South Carolina's (wait) Coffin Torture (HELL YES!) is ready to rock us to our bones with all of their death metal glory right?

Some metal fans don't realize just how brutal the Buckeye State of South Carolina is. 

The Capital of SC, Stockholm, has put out such amazing Tampa Bay Death Metal bands like Carcass, Manowar, and the heaviest and most brutal of them all....Metallica.

So, while your checking out the unholy blast beats of Coffin Torture, let's talk music.

1. My favorite kind of album is the concept album. The Wall is my absolute favorite. Beyond the amazing songs, it has spectacular nostalgia for me. What's your favorite one and why? 

Pizza Pie Do or Die with Huelga's Michael Fonseca

Huelga and Fonseca

So, the Devil went down to Texas right?

Oh wait, that was Georgia and it was country music written by someone who politicizes tragedy. But for all the heat we in the world of metal take, you don't hear songs about the Devil went up to Scandinavia do you?

Today once again, we hear from Texas based single manned, multi insturmentalist, Michael Fonseca. 

As near as I can tell, he plays all of the instruments in the Texas based instrumental, progressive metal band Huelga.

And I'm not sure if we're supposed to pronounce that H or not...so if anyone could help me here.  There's something deliciously pretentious about having a solo act, but then giving it a band name.

While we're on the topic, check out their latest album and buy it on BANDCAMP. You'll be glad you did.

So let's talk pizza.

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

Classic Spins with Ashen Horde

Ashen Horde

Have you noticed the style lately?

I've been putting out loads of these Classic Spins columns.

These column interviews are one of my favorite things to do because it's something where, with my meager amount of spare time to tend to Glacially Musical, I can keep introducing you the reader to new bands and hopefully talk about something you enjoy personally.

Apparently one thing out there that every musician seems to enjoy is music. Really, I mean, who knew honestly?

I thought they were all just sellouts looking for a big payday, but it appears they all have a passion for the art form and have been listening to it for their whole lives.

So, because of that, I'm often times doubling up on Classic Spins even though my particular MO is to only publish one of each column per week...making them...you know..weekly columns.

So, if you're a band reading this and you're wondering where yours is, it's coming. You have my assurances, unless your answers were shorter than the questions...aka my biggest pet peeve.

Today we're hearing from Rockshots recording artists, Ashen Horde. The Californian duo has the countryside reeling from the release of their latest, Fallen Cathedrals.

In the meantime...let's get with the music

LP Review: "Tomb of Doom" by Tar Pit

Tomb of Doom

Some days are for trying out new things, and some days, it's good to have the same old comforts.

Take Tar Pit for example.

This band, formed in 2014, was basically inactive until 2017, now here in 2019 we have their thunder drum of a debut.

Tar Pit has named themselves and their album in such a way that it's essentially impossible for the listener to get it wrong.

They are a doom metal band that's so full of sludge, just listening to the opening track will make you cough like a two pack a day smoker.

But it takes more than just an on the nose title and band name to get me interested. Songs that clock in around ten minutes certainly catches my attention as well.

Tomb of Doom is a perfect example of Doom Metal out of the Pacific Northwest. It's equal parts soft and heavy. Light and dark. It's as melodic as it is crushing.

They've taken the ten minute doom song to a new level. The band self released the album digitally, but now you can get this 5 track masterpiece on vinyl or cassette.

Don't miss it.

RELEASE 6/28/19 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

LP Review: "Cyber Metal" by Skelator

Cyber Metal

Do not underestimate the power of cover art.

When we as a people all frequented record stores, cover art is what sold the music to us, at least in part.

It's the first chance to catch a listener's eye. Your cover should connect with your possible listener and give me a good idea of what you're all about.

Iron Maiden's entire career can be traced back to a zombie. Eddie was what caught people's eyes, bet it on stage or on the cover.

The cover of Skelator's latest record certainly ticked off a goodly number of boxes for me.

This album cover made me interested in hearing the rest of the album and that's a total win for this guy. Skelator is roots music. At least for me. These guys hearken back to a time when twin gun guitar solos and super high vocals were all over the place in metal.

They're progressive, melodic, and have a damned good imagination when it comes to crafting lyrics. I'm still not precisely sure what a Cyber Samurai is, but I kind of want to watch a TV show about it.

Galloping twin guns, a bassline that'll drive you through a wall, and vocals that'll make your ear drums bleed...all of these things come together to fill that hole in your heart that rests between Def Leppard, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden that you never knew you had.

RELEASE 6/21/19 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

Pizza Pie Do or Die with Billy Myers III of Glorious Rebllion

Glorious Rebellion

This past March, Glorious Rebellion took their first step towards immortality by releasing their third EP: Scholars of War.

This third one is the one, and it's not that this writer simply made an assumption that was incorrect. Hailing from Orlando, FL...

One has to wonder how much of a chance they have of becoming Florida Man...and I'm not trying to deflect from that earlier non-mistake.

This three track EP clocks in at 20 minutes...and it's progressive and thrashy. Looking to get it on?

Look no further, well, no further than BANDCAMP anyway. Now, let's talk to them about the symbolism in their latest release coupled with the backdrop of an impending World War III.

Nah...it's time to talk about pizza.

Classic Spins with Ghost:Hello

Normally, I wouldn't do this, but I think the press release bio sums up Ghost:Hello better than I ever could:

Ghost:Hello is a synth-loving stoner rock family affair from northeast Ohio.  Made up of a husband/wife duo and their cousin, the band members have been playing for decades.  

With extensive individual histories touring around the US and in Europe in other DIY groups, this project just feels like a natural continuation.  

Together as a family and as musicians, Ghost:Hello is now ready to take the rock n roll world by the horns.

Well, there you have it. In the mean time, they've got a record hitting the shelves this September.

You can preorder The Sound of Color in Space on their BANDCAMP page. In the meantime though, let's find out what kinds of albums they dig, mmkay?

Vinyl Review: "Fight The World" by Motive

Fight The World

Music is a personal thing and beucause of that it's time I got a bit more personal with you, my readers.

On September 12, 2015, my cousin died. Jamie was more than a cousin to me. He and his siblings were like brothers and sisters to me due to how we grew up.

Jame and Al were constant sources of new artists for me. From them, I learned about Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Slayer, Metallica, Morbid Angel, Carcass, Napalm Death, Iron Maiden, and countless other bands.

Jamie died the day after Slayer's last album, Repentless, was released. It's funny, but one of the first things I thought of was, I hope he got a chance to hear that new Slayer record before he left us.

Well, that answer I don't have.

But, in the early 90's, before I'd ever grown out my hair, seen a show, smoked anything extra-legal, or even enjoyed a beer or a bourbon, Jamie introduced me to an indie band called Crucible.  The next week, I saw them open for Agnostic Front and I picked up a T-Shirt and a cassette tape. (It was the 90s.) That was my first introduction to independent music.

LP Review: "Crown" by Axioma

Crown

In the past, a friend of mine asked me to lend my critical ear to his friend's nephew's band who was starting to gain some traction.

They were a very talented group, but their album lacked any identity. Instead of it being overly the same, it overly different.

That was what not to do in order to make your name.

Cleveland's Axioma didn't do that...well not exactly.

The amount of variety on this record is staggering, but there's nary a drop of who is this?

Axioma's debut album is a full on stamp of who they are as a band. What they stand for and the kind of music they make is apparently whatever they damned well feel like at that precise moment.

In order to do this well, one has to have a musical signature. There aren't any techniques here to make a stand behind, but when they dive in and out of nearly every single metal style, they it never sounds like they're someone else.

Axioma may still be settling on a style, or their style may be a complete and utter lack of a style. We can't know yet, due to the small sample size, but it's going to be interesting to see where they go from here.

RELEASE 6/26/19 PREORDER FACEBOOK

LP Review: "Take The Stairs To Hell" by Cable

Take The Stairs To Hell

Welcome back old friend.

That's what I would be saying if Cable had ever been inside of my orbit, but don't let my ignorance deflate any of the joy you might be having at the New Englanders returning after a ten year absence.

It took no time at all for Cable to sink their hooks into me. (Pun intended.)

Throughout this record, they balance between sludge and extreme metal, but they never lose the songs.

Never is there an attempt to be the heaviest, the fastest, or the most technical. Honestly, there weren't even any guitar solos that stuck out in my mind.

What makes that exceptionally odd is that extreme metal is my favorite genre, first and foremost, because of the guitar solos. The whole group locks into an emotion and then they shake the buildings.

Heavy is good, fast is great, and kick ass guitar solos are the best, but none of those accolades will mean a single thing if the tracks aren't awesome.

If Cable's version of the underworld is accurate, I won't be taking the stairs to hell, but falling down them in order to get my ticket punched even faster.

RELEASE 7/26/19 PREORDER 

1 UP with Justin Weiks of Burial Party

Burial Party

Before we get started. Can we talk about the term hoosier?

In St. Louis, MO, it's the insult of insults. You call a drunkard a hoosier in a South City bar with an old Budweiser sign on the front, and you're probably going to get punched in the noise.

But in Indiana, they're all about being hoosiers. It's very strange for me.

So, deep in a moment of hoosier styled existentialism, riffs were created and those birthed songs. Those songs will be on the 7" release, Please, Electric Move Slow.

This would be a good time to sample the wares HERE. Preorder this stuff on BANDCAMP.

Glacially Musical: My first system was a pong clone, the yellow and black Odyessey 300. What was your first Console?