|
Cease and Desist - Joey Eyebank reviews
Queens of the Stone Age: Era Vulgaris
Smashing into the charts at number 3 came the hypnotic, peculiar album
of odd bods "Lullabies to Paralyze"; after two magnificent
albums "Lullabies to Paralyze" was a poor attempt at "a
different sound" and wasn't fashioned to the tastes of most of
their loyal fans.
This gut-busting, groove orientated fourth album certainly
kicks the arse of "Lullabies to Paralyze" and I dare to say
all of their previous albums as well, as it has everything the band
combine and have failed to use in lullabies. The heavy, down-tuned,
haunting song "Sick, Sick, Sick" is a big-vibed, thrash out
rock-out with a blitzing entry from a diminished sounding chord which
opens the song, giving it the feel that it could almost be the soundtrack
to a fast-paced action movie; with its blood throttling riff and its
racer car aspect it's an almost thrilling second song. The other gems
on the album are "3's and 7's", the tuneful hard rock song
with that Queens of the Stone Age feel to it determined to be an instant
sing along hit around the globe, and the dirty country rock song "Into
the Hollow" with the classic QOTSA style shown on their earlier
albums such as "songs for the deaf". This record is a true
masterpiece from track 1 all the way to 11 and without this in your
collection, you're bound to miss out. Ethereal distorted bluesy rock
songs with that individual QOTSA edge that makes it truly bliss.
10/10
Breed 77- Un Encuentro
This band are amazing and impressive, combining their native music and
tongue with heavy metal formulating it into a Mediterranean metal experience!
Imagine a Spanish Flamenco group colliding with Lacuna Coil and Slipknot,
the heavy meets tuneful, western meets eastern, Falsetto meets growl;
the collision works so well that it could create a new genre all together-
Flamenco-metal. The first track "Petroleo" begins in a traditional
Spanish timing with backing flamenco guitars and acoustic light chords
then suddenly pummelling into an epic amazingly pulp crushing Spanish
metal song! There are so many good points on this album and they always
remain there own band completely. I look to see more Spanish Metal bands
in the future!
10/10
www.myspace.com/breed77
Bjork- Volta
Lets face, it Bjork may be able to create the atmosphere of the sea
by using a kettle stuck in a letterbox made out of rubber, but she doesn't
actually have any musical talent or the ability to make music that goes
to a beat and a tune. She'd rather stick to making arty farty shit with
no rhythm whatsoever - not even a beat in an obscure timing; she also
has no singing ability at all, instead preferring to try and be an innovator
and exemplify her lack of singing ability as she tries to make her music
sound yet more weird. People who listen to this don't actually like
the music, they just think it's creative and innovative and serving
some arty purposes, but do the words have any proper meanings? Is it
danceable? Is it even talented? Is there anything about it apart from
it being unnecessarily weird that will make it a tune that people will
enjoy listening to?
The answer is NO - it has none of those elements whatsoever.
-3/10
The Brakes- Cease and Desist
This band are neither good nor bad they're just average.
Consequently, there's not much interesting to say about them apart
from maybe "I like the way the tempo changes to give the chorus
more of an impact" or "they double track the guitars which
gives it a more edgy heavier style which thickens the song" but
that doesn't really mean anything does it? I'm sure you don't care about
the impact in the chorus or the tempo change, you just want to know
whether you want to listen to it or not, or whether you'd enjoy it or
want to learn it on an instrument etc.
The question in fact which is more relevant would be "Is this
band good?"
The answer to that is "I don't know"; there are about a million
copies of this band worldwide all with names with "The" at
the start and the same tune that you hear in every radio friendly indie
guitar pop song.
Another question I should also ask is "Will this band change your
life?" The answer to that question is NO; you might hear it on
the radio, you might say "I think I've heard this before, it's
alright" and then flick over channels, but this will not change
your life.
So a band that will probably be erased from my memory tomorrow. And
I might even flick on the radio tomorrow and hear them and say "Oh
yeah I think I've heard this before it's aright, cant remember the name
though" and then flick the channel. And that will be the end for
me of that short lived song I once heard and once thought was ALRIGHT!
5/10
www.brakesbrakesbrakes.com
Chris Cornell- Carry On
Chris Cornell's haunting ethereal voice is a true gem which sheds light
on Soundgardens songs which could have been very predictable indeed
if he didn't have such a husky inspirational way of singing. Now later
on he's come to the stage which every artist comes to eventually, and
he's made his solo album where he's decided to take a more slower laid
back approach with a collection of folk/rock tunes full of soul and
bursting with success. The album's songs to look out for include the
anthem to the Bond movie "You Know My Name" with its minor
feel and clichéd chorus, and the classic rock of "She'll
Never be Your Man".
Overall the album is a very good listen with a variety of different
styles and genres incorporated into everyone of his songs, but if you
listen to it all in one go you can begin to become over-bloated with
the samey American rock style he's got on every track, as it just risks
becoming an unplugged Soundgarden concert, or worse, a collection of
Soundgarden's worst songs.
Best in small doses.
7/10
www.chriscornell.com www.myspace.com/chriscornell
CSS- Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above
It wasn't until I read the press release that I found out that CSS
are actually singing about making love to the band "Death From
Above 1979".
It's a typical poppy anthem is not entirely what it is made out to
be; as soon as the song starts it becomes frustratingly infectious with
its steady funky pulsating bass beat and the weird Japanese sampled
dance tune drifting above it, making it a new rave party all out electro-vibes
dance off between a clash of two cultures. This is stupidly memorable
8/10
www.csshurts.com
Sparta - Threes
There is a remarkable resemblance in the vocals displayed from Sparta's
lead frontman "Jim Ward" and "James Dean Bradfield".
Sparta is like an eclectic potpourri of James Dean Bradfield, Taking
Back Sunday and At The Drive-In, with a pinch of dirty indie fusion
topped off with a hard Garage feel. However, when listening to Sparta,
you somehow feel that they may just be a copy of everything else and
that their music is just a jumble of heroes and influences rather than
a conviction of their own sort of style.
4/10
Christmas Fuller Project- The Philosophy of Time Travel
With a name for an album as pretentious as "The Philosophy of Time
Travel" my first impressions of the "Christmas Fuller Project"
weren't good. The album starts off with an enigmatic slow orchestral,
heavily layered track "Captain Webb vs. The English Channel"
with the nasal vocals entering with the line "I'm not afraid to
die" floating into a slow moving tune with female harmonies in
the background. The recording seems to be well produced and the band
display good musicianship and a good sense of philosophical intelligence.
But all the track names are pretentious and stupid such as "Learn
How to Die", "Pop Philosophy" and "I know you're
going to hurt me but I choose to love you anyway" and the songs
themselves aren't that great, as they seem to drag on into nothing but
heavily textured music that is very down moving, and only to the interest
of few music fanatics.
3/10
www.myspace.com/christmasfullerproject
Rise Against- Prayer Of The Refugee
"Rise Against" are political activists in the disguises of
musicians. As well as them being anti-consumerist, left wing, intelligent,
environmentally aware activists, they can also pack a bunch of punk
tunes as fast, melodic and hard hitting as a Quentin Tarantino movie.
Ironic isn't it that the music they play is raging against war and other
struggling issues yet it's about as loud and fast as a bomb raid? But
that seems to be more hard hitting and chantable and gets the message
across fast and loud in their face. Rise Against have struck again.
9/10
www.riseagainst.com
Pull Tiger Tail- Hurricanes
Sounding like an Indie-rape of Fugazi, this band is about as boring
their artwork. How shall I find a new innovative way of describing and
reviewing this band without stating "They're Crap", their
chorus sounds like it's been passed through many other bands and eventually
been shat out into "Pull Tiger Tail".
Don't Pull The Tigers Tail - it will end up with catastrophic consequences.
-5/10
www.pulltigertail.net
Beangrowers- I Like You
Dirty garage rock that can make you groove.
It seems since bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Be Your Own Pet came
along, they've given birth to their own sub genre of feminine dirty
garage rock, and this is very infectious and becoming increasingly recognised
around Britain from its Underground New York/Nashville Birthplace. More
and more bands around Britain are adopting the grungy feminine punk
style and getting recognised by the media. "I Like You" is
a catchy, party anthem spiced with grungy melodies and infectious Rock
'n' Roll.
8/10
www.beangrowers.net
Shiny Toy Guns- You Are The One
As the music scene becomes more and more like it was in the 80's, but
now what was called Electro/dance is now labelled indie disco.
But who cares about labels - if it's good, it's good isn't it? More
and more it seems that record companies are just finding bands that
can be labelled and sound like "today's next big thing", so
that it can make them a killing.
Having ranted, I have to admit that "Shiny Toy Guns" are
actually rather good. Sounding like a mixture of The Killers, Robots
In Disguise, The Feeling and Gary Numan, the variation between the boy
and girl singers, gives the tunes a special space age feel.
7/10
www.myspace.com/shinytoyguns www.shinytoyguns.com
Noisettes- Sister Rosetta(capture the spirit)
Imagine this - The Mighty Roars co-write a song with Macy Gray featuring
her earthy vocals, and they play it at a smokey jazz club, and then
halfway through the chorus the song turns into a fast melodic rock with
vibes as big as an organ. Imagine that, then you'll get an idea of what
to expect from "The Noisettes". The song begins with a bluesy
pumping bass line similar to the one at the start of "Are you gonna
be my girl?" by the Jets, then the rasping coarse female voice
enters, eventually rocketing into a fast rock song with a chorus that
will suck to your head like an angry leech, and wont come off for days.
10/10
www.myspace.com/noisettes
J and Tat- Girl ep (Big Badger Recording Co)
Who could've guessed that a scruffy cd [Who are you calling Scruffy,
Eyebank?! - Big Badgering ed] simply titled J and Tat could be so infectious?
J and Tat are two 11 year old boys that have a hidden talent to make
melodies which, abstract as they are, show a skill far beyond their
age. Girl is a catchy pop-punk song with a bouncy, vivacious feel to
it, similar to Blink 182 but not quite as whingey, and with a more laid
back approach. J and Tat have a bright future ahead of them - if this
is how they sound now, things could be very exciting for them as they
mature.
10/10
www.myspace.com/jandtat
Falloutboy- Thnks Fr Th Mmrs
It sn't ntl I hr th sng tht I rlse tht th sng nm sys "Thanks For
the Memories", why wld y mss t th vwls f th nm, wht s t tryng t
prv, y cnt spll prprly? s th ftr f th nglsh lngg tht w'll ll vntlly
b mmblng wrds d t th fct tht w cnt sy r vwls? Nt nly tht bt ths sng
ls cnssts f th sl Flltby m-pp sht nd thy hvn't srprsd s wth nw flck
r mldy, thy'v bsclly r-wrttn Dnc Dnc. Why s th msc ndstry sbjctd t ths?
-0/10*
* I've just written this review in the style of the song
(This actually says: It isn't until I hear the song that I realise that
the song name says "Thanks For the Memories", why would you
miss out the vowels of the name, what is it trying to prove, you cant
spell properly? Is the future of the English language that we'll all
eventually be mumbling words due to the fact that we can't say aeiou?
Not only that, but this song also consists of the usual Falloutboy emo-pop
shite; they haven't surprised us with a single new flick or melody,
they've basically just re-written Dance Dance? Why is the music buying
public subjected to this?
Burn Cambridge Burn - An Anti Cambridge Compilation (R*E*P*E*A*T)
After Rosey put a comment on a Cambridge message board of how he thought
the Cambridge music scene was boring, it sparked off a lot of controversies
among the people of the City. So Repeat released this CD of a bunch
of exciting bands from Cambridge, but ones that aren't part of the cosy,
dull and worthy indie scene.
First off are the Anti-Social Burn-Outs who begin with a hard brutal
punk assault, with their 3-chord quick fire songs erupting in a ball
of flames. Mixing an alluring (if slightly samey) concoction of chords
and deadly bass lines, their two fiery tracks jump start the album.
They remind me a bit of an American sounding Sham 69 fighting with Dirk
Tourette at an Exploited gig.
Next up we have the not so exiting CosyCosy, who sound a bit like a
dumbed down version of "X". However they do have quite an
old, 1980s tuneful sound to them, especially in their melancholy track
"Seen the Light" and its sing along "sha la la"
ending.
Third on the album is the Grungey, sleazy, punk of "The Hope"
with their hard edge no messing attitude. The vocalist has a growly
voice remarkably like Kurt Cobain and it fits brilliantly with the dirty,
fast distorted backing.
Next up are my old favourites The Khe Sanh Approach with their droney
industrial garage rock tunes full of lyrical genius and genuinely brilliant
musicianship - the end of "Crocodile Teargas" does drag on
abit though.
Lastly there's a hidden track by the Bomb factory starting with some
deliberately boring old Cambridge bloke describing the attractions of
Kings College before Bomb Factory launch into the brutal poem/song whose
lyrics are written in the album sleeve, and then accelerating into an
all out brutal breakneck Bomb Factory, like Crass cavoring with Attila
the Stockbroker, and then ending abruptly.
9/10
Sum 41- Underclass Hero
The bouncy inane pop-punk band has returned with an album of surprises.
Although the chord structures and hooks of the songs are basically the
same as their old stuff, it seems that Sum 41 have finally matured and
ditched their old stupid childish lyrics about masturbation and oversized
lips, and taken a new turn including powerful lyrics such as "I
wont be caught living in a dead end job, While praying to my government
guns and god, Cause it's us against them, we're here to represent".
Yet they don't use these meaningful poetic lyrics with style, instead
carrying them with melodies that would be rather suited for songs about
masturbation and oversized lips.
To sum up the whole album, it's as if the songs from their old albums
have been cut out and poorly glued onto "Underclass Hero"
by a four year old toddler who then sews in the new lyrics.
4/10
www.sum41.com
Deathstar Preview- Digital Retro Futurism
Gritty electro rock swollen up in digital distorted fused neon layers
of paralysed disco punk that are almost hypnotic, with the pumping heavy
bass verses that lead into anthemic choruses, the songs have enough
tune and melody to keep you hooked. Deathstar Preview are not just your
usual new wave disco-punk band as its their signature dark heavy reverbed
overtones which make the songs not only ideal for the dance floor but
also dark and mysterious to keep you listening to their weird and wonderful
synth driven music. Ideal for anyone really who likes songs you can
dance to or music that is heavy and mysterious.
9/10
www.myspace.com/deathstarpreview
Bowling for Soup- London Bridge (fergie cover)
Originally by the ex-Black Eyed Peas front women "Fergie",
this funny slapstick rock take on the laughably bad chart song is a
(surprisingly) heavy epic sing along, that's so cleverly adapted, it's
almost as if they wrote it themselves. Even the riff is almost a mock
of the song as it's deliberately terrible and out of tune, in every
way this song is a Bowling for Soup style insult against "Fergie".
One for the Light hearted!
10/10
www.myspace.com/bowlingforsoup www.bowlingforsoup.com
Joey Eyebank
Trsh ths rvws n or mssg brds hr!
|
